Learning to Be an Auntie...

I have to admit... My fear of babies just about ranks up there with my fear of spiders, minus the nausea. That is why I have a dog! However, I do feel that I can be a pretty good Auntie if given the chance.

When I found out that Braden (Dustin's little one) was going to be born right before Christmas, I jumped into action! I was DETERMINED!!

I got all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving (I don't do crazy crowds of shoppers... sorry), and I had everyone's presents wrapped, packaged, and in the mail about two and a half weeks before the big day. I wanted everything to get where I needed it to be ON TIME!!

I got Dustin and her husband a gift card to Blockbuster and a big box of popcorn... I thought that would be a nice gift for new parents. I also got Braden this REALLY cute pair of pajamas from Red Envelope that had "My First Christmas" embroidered on the butt. They were adorable and I was SO excited for Braden to have them at Christmas. I guess I should've known...

The last week in January, I received a notice that I had a package at my apartment office. I hadn't ordered anything, so I was a little excited to see what it was. When I saw the package... my heart sank! I had sent the package to her physical address rather than her mailing address (which is at a UPS Store), so the postal service ended up not being able to deliver it. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it took SIX WEEKS for the package to get back to me.... GRRRRRRR!!!!!

Anyways... After screwing up her mailing address one more time (Yup... I did it again) and re-mailing the package again... It FINALLY got there! WOO HOO!!! I got the following picture in my e-mail just a couple of days ago...



As it turns out... It's a good thing they were late! The PJs fit him really well now at three months, but he would have been swimming in them if he'd gotten them at Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, BRADEN!! (A little late...)

Love,
Auntie Kasey

P.S. I'll get better at this "Auntie" stuff... I promise!

Snow, Snow, and MORE Snow...

I love winter... and I LOVE snow... However, even I have my limits!!

This past weekend, the state of Ohio got the biggest snow storm they've seen in a really long time. The city of Columbus received 20.5 inches... It was actually really fun to see! I haven't seen snow like this since I was a kid!

I just wanted to share some pictures...

These pictures were taken on Saturday afternoon as the snow was FINALLY starting to let up. The storm moved in on Friday, and My car stayed burried until this morning!

I am SOOOOOO ready for spring to be here!!

A Good Surprise...

The past couple of weeks have been really busy for me. I worked an extra day last week, so that cut my weekend down to two days. And this week, I didn't really get a weekend at all. On Tuesday, I had to be at work for 8 hours to do Matrix training (basically shadowing different departments) for the promotion I've applied for. Wednesday, We had a mandatory department meeting (3 hours of boredom), and then volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House. And Thursday, I had to be back at work to finish up a class and wrap up my Matrix training. My work week started again on Friday morning, so my weekend was SHOT!

Just yesterday morning, my mom and I were e-mailing back and forth about all of the things we needed to get done. I had two weeks of laundry to get done, piles of mail to go through, a stack of dishes to get washed, floors that needed vacuumed, work manuals that needed read/updated... And the list goes on. I was telling my mom that I wished that I could be five years old again... just for a little bit. That list of things to do can seem never-ending at times and a couple weeks of no worries other than what Barbie I was going to play with sounded SO nice!!

Well... Yesterday afternoon, when I got home from work, I got one of the best surprises I've had in a long time. Steve was sitting on my couch snuggled up with Cookie and watching TV! That alone was a good surprise... but it got even better. First, I noticed that my living room had been picked up and vacuumed... Then I walked into my kitchen and found that the pile of dishes in the sink had been washed and put away... Then I headed into my bedroom and saw that my bed had been made (No, I don't usually make my bed), and that all of the laundry I thought I was going to have to do when I got home had been washed, folded, and stacked on my bed. I couldn't believe it!

When I asked Steve about it, he gave me his best sweet and innocent look, pointed directly at Cookie and said, "It was all her... I had nothing to do with it.. Did you know she could vacuum?!?!". I couldn't help but laugh!

I don't know how he does it, but Steve always seems to know just what I need... right when I need it. My apartment and the chores that come along with it are in no way Steve's responsibility. Yet, he does little things to help me out all the time.

He is such a sweet guy... I'm still trying to figure out what I did to deserve him!

An interesting drive home...

I got off work at 4:00 this afternoon. It had been a long and busy day, but a relatively good one compared to the previous two. I wrapped up my end-of-the-day paperwork, hopped into my frozen car, and started my routine and usually uneventful drive home... Yee haw!!

As I'm driving north on one of the surface streets, I came to a red light... I stopped. This light is always a really long one, so I just put my head back and relaxed for a few seconds. The next thing I know... The car in the lane next to me (which happened to be filled with 3 rather large African American women who were laughing like hyenas) started honking like you wouldn't believe. I looked over to see what was so funny and absolutely could not believe my eyes...

A thin, pale white man, with long, frizzy red hair (balding on top) was running from east to west across the crosswalk in front of us. What's so odd about this, you ask???... I'll tell you. This freakishly white man was running (happily it seemed) across the street wearing nothing but a pair of saggy tighty-whities and some purple striped tube socks! No shoes, no pants, no shirt, no coat... NADA!! Zip, zero, zilch. I was STUNNED!!! It's about 25 degrees here today, snow on the ground, and this dude was running as if he were out for a leasurely summer jog.

Being the picture lover that I am...I immediately reached for my phone to try and capture this moment in time. But, by the time I dug my phone out of the bag-o-crap that is my purse, Mr. Fruit of the Loom was too far away. However... I did notice that two of the three ladies in the car next to me had their phones held up high trying to capture forever this unbelievable Kodak moment. The third lady??... Well, she was hanging half way out the back driver's side window yelling "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!".

What an interesting, interesting drive home.

The ABCs of Me...

A - Attached or single: Attached

B - Best friend: Dustin

C - Cake or pie: Depends on what kind of cake or pie... lol

D - Day of choice: Thursday... It's my day off with Steve!

E - Essential item: Lip stuff!

F - Favorite color: Blue

G - Gummy bears or worms: I don't really do "gummy"

H - Hometown: Eagar, AZ

I - Indulgence(s): Chocolate, bubble baths, and good books!

J - January or July: July... I love the 4th out here!

K - Kids: My dog is my child!

L - Life is incomplete without: Loved ones

M - Marriage date: No idea... and I'm OK with that!

N - Number of siblings: 1 big brother

O - Oranges or apples: BOTH!

P - Phobias or fears: Spiders make me want to throw up!

Q - Quotes: This one used to hang on my mom's fridge... "There have been no dragons in my life... Only small spiders and stepping in gum. I could've coped with the dragons."

R - Reason to smile: I have a week of vacation coming up...WOO HOO!!

S - Season of choice: Fall is beautiful in this part of the country

T - Tag three friends: Dustin, Melissa Jo, Jeff

U - Unknown fact about me: I'm a crappy cook! (I'm working on it though)

V - Very favorite store: Archiver's

W - Worst habit: Right now... It's clenching my teeth!

X - X-ray or ultrasound: Huh???

Y - Your favorite food: Shrimp!

Z - Zodiac sign: Aries... I'm a rebel!

A Challenge...

The past week (my work week begins on Friday and goes through Monday) at work has been a week from hell... There's really no other way to put it!

A typical day in my line of work includes dealing with computer malfunctions, weather issues, air traffic control problems, broken airplanes, unhappy Owner Services reps, and pilots that are less than thrilled about where they are or where they are going. It's just the nature of the beast.

I consider myself a people person and most of the time I really enjoy the challenge of what I do (in a "bang-my-head-against-a-wall" kind of way). However... there are a few times a year when my people skills and "How may I help you?" attitude pretty much fly out the window. One of those times is Super Bowl week. I absolutely dread it!

First of all... I don't understand what is so special about the Super Bowl anyways. It's a football game. We see them all the time. Same big guys, same spandex pants, and they're STILL running around trying to tackle the dude with the ball. (Can you tell I am not a football fan?) Secondly... Even if you are a football fan, why on earth would you spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to watch (possibly from the nosebleed section) something that you could easily enjoy from the comfort of your own living room? I don't understand it...

So as I'm driving home from work yesterday... mind racing, blood boiling, and exhausted... I decided that I needed to shake it off and turn things around. After all... It was my Friday. So, when I got home, I started writing a list of all the little things that make me happy. Here's what I have...

1 - Steve (OK... so he's not exactly "little", but he still makes me happy)
2 - Cookie greeting me at the door every afternoon with "bed head"
3 - Green traffic lights
4 - Warm towels fresh from the dryer
5 - E-mails from friends
6 - Chocolate
7 - Paydays (Who doesn't enjoy these?)
8 - New posts on my friends' blogs
9 - Pictures
10 - Diet Coke
11 - Turning on the TV just in time to catch a good show
12 - Finding money in the washing machine
13 - Bubble baths
14 - Scrapbooking (it's cheap therapy)
15 - A good book
16 - Oranges (YUM!!)
17 - Best friends
18 - Mail that isn't a bill
19 - Cookie's snores (My favorite sound EVER!)
20 - Days off!!

This is just a short list... Something to get me started. However, I've challenged myself to come up with at least one more thing to add every day. So, next time I post, I should have a few more to add to the list!