Once you go relaxed, you'll never go back

Many people don't like to be touched. I sorta don't like to be touched. If I initiate it, I'm more than happy to touch someone. None of this is in a dirty way, BTW. But if I offer a hug, or a hand holding, a momentous occasion. You've broken my inner sanctum. If I have never let it seem like I'd want to do any of this, you better stay away. I'll break an arm if you try to get it near me without permission. This also goes for massages. People, I find, usually hate them. Me, I love them. They feel awesome, and the effects last for hours, if you get a good one.
For my birthday, I got a free massage from a friend of mine who is a masseuse. I've been wanting to get one from her for a while, and this was the perfect gift. I have gotten many a massage before, and was looking forward to this one. As the date got nearer, I was getting more nervous, because it occurred to me, the closer we got to the date, that I would be in my skivvies for this! Now, I have had many massages before, and I've stripped down with nary a second thought. The different thing this time, is that its a person I knew who'd be seeing me in my skin. I'd have to look her in the eye the next day!
Ok, it wasn't actually that bad. I was a little nervous to get it done, but when I arrived there, and I relaxed and laid down, it was ok. I was calm, and totally looking forward to it. And let me tell you-it felt awesome! She did such a great job, and by the time I was done, I was totally and completely relaxed. I even almost fell asleep. It was a great time-and I feel really good now. I'm so glad I got this great gift. I totally recommend that everyone get one-if they don't mind people touching them.

Is this a real holiday?

As I was watching the Emmy's last Sunday, they kept hyping that it was "National Stay-At-Home Week". I wondered why they would even have such a week. Was it because nobody can afford to go anywhere right now? Was there something going on that I didn't know about? But then, it dawned on me. Last week started the new seasons of everything on TV. They want you to stay at home, they want you to watch all of their shows, and not go anywhere. For the most part, their ploys are working.
I have survived the first week of TV shows being back on. I have signed on to too many shows this year. I'm not sure I want to give out the exact numbers, because I don't want to be too harshly judged, but it's a lot. If you can think of a show that's on right now, chances are, I'm probably watching it. But because there is so much to watch, I end up starting Monday shows, not having enough time, so then I have to finish those shows on Tuesday, which pushes those shows back, and so on and so forth. I know what you're thinking, because people keep saying it to me. Why don't I just stop watching so many shows? Here's why: mostly everything I watch, I've been watching for a long time. I've invested my time and attention into these shows, and I'll be darned if I stop watching now. I gotta find out what's happening to my characters and the plot lines, however ridiculous they might be. And I know that people nowadays don't have the time for TV, but I do. I make the time to watch my shows. Someone said to me the other day that if I stopped watching all these shows, I would have time to do what I want. But the thing is, this is what I want. I don't know what else I'd do!
I realize, now, that admitting all this is maybe a bad thing. I do have a TV problem, and everyone who reads this does know that, so its not horrible, but still. I'm sure someday, when I have other things going on, I'll not watch as much as I do know. But as it stands, I'm ok with my addiction. I'll cling to it, at least until winter, when I get a break. Until then, I'll sleep with the knowledge that my Tivo is always filling up.

Learning is great for kids of all ages!

Lately, I have been learning so much! From both real life and TV shows, I want to share some of my new knowledge with all of you readers. (All 3 of you)

Taco Tuesday at Del Taco is a great idea! But...eating 4 tacos, half an order of chili-cheese fries and then running three miles? Pretty much the worst idea in the history of the world.

It's very easy to pretend to be a psychic. Just zero in on small, insignificant details around the room, and you can know everything there is to know about a person you've never met before.

TV season seems like such a good idea, and something I was really excited for. Until the new seasons of everything started, and I have 6 bloody hours of TV recording a night. Who can stand this?!

Plucking various hairs off of my brother is really fun. The trick is to wait until he's not paying attention, then quickly grab some eyebrow hair and tug while trying to get away.

$700 billion dollars is a lot of money. Who knew?

If you want to have a serious conversation with a close friend, it's best to pick a room with flattering lighting, wear lots and lots of black eyeliner, then make sure to cry. You'll really get the point across that you're serious about what you're talking about.

Closing your eyes while walking on an uneven sidewalk is so the wrong thing to do. Those dang things will trip you if you're not careful!

Apparently, when I'm sleeping and my dog makes noise at night, I will throw water bottles at her. I woke up one morning, and there were water bottles all around where my dog was, and I vaguely remember throwing them that night. I felt bad. But, to be fair, they were empty.

I'm sure there's more I learned, but in the interest of time (meaning, I'm barely awake right now and wanting to go to sleep, even though it's barely after ten...) I'm just going to share these. I hope all of you are also learning loads in your daily life, and if you're not...try to put yourself in a situation where you can learn a lot!

There's no crying in baseball!

…Or anywhere else, for that matter. I’m not a crier. I don’t get teary very often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I really cried. I probably just don’t have the drama in my life that some people do. Things are casual and easy-going, so there’s never anything for me to get worked up about. I think it’s weak to cry (for me, not for others, I don’t mean to offend anyone here who cries) and so I try not to. Usually, when something is painful is when the tears come.
Of course, there are exceptions. I cry in movies and TV shows all the time. I went to the movies this last weekend; saw Ghost Town (good movie, by the way. I recommend) and I teared up in it! I didn’t cry a lot, it wasn’t like sobbing or anything, but I definitely got misty. And this last Monday, I was watching One Tree Hill (don’t judge me, people. I love this show despite how ridiculous it is) and I definitely cried a little there too. I don’t know what it is about TV that makes me cry. I know it’s not real, but they have a way of pulling at my heartstrings! And I’m always so embarrassed when I cry while watching. I’m hoping that nobody will come downstairs (where I’m usually watching TV) or that nobody will hear my quiet sniffle or glance over at me at the theater.
The worst is when I’m working out and something makes me cry. While I’m running indoors on the treadmill, I’m watching TV. I have to watch something, or else I get bored within 2 minutes of running. Sometimes, I’m watching a movie that makes me cry, and there’s nothing more embarrassing then crying and running at the same time. I feel so ridiculous. In addition to my shows and movies, I also do sometimes cry during commercials. That’s right; I’m one of those girls. I don’t even consider myself very sensitive or anything, and here I am, crying at the drop of a hat. I sometimes can’t believe myself.
Most times it’s just a tear or two, and once in a while, I’ve got tears streaming down my cheeks. Maybe someday I’ll move past this business of crying during everything I watch. Until then, I’ll see if I can stay away from the really sad movies-while I’m running, at least.

I'm staying young and beautiful until the day I die.

I know I'm a young chicken. All around me are people that are older than me, whether it be by a month or twenty years. I only recently turned 25, and I know how young that is. I didn't even have a hard time turning 25, even though it's halfway to fifty, which means halfway to dead. (Just kidding, ya'll.) There are a few things that make me feel my age-or even older than I am. Those few moments make me a little sad.
One of these moments is when I was filling out a form shortly after my birthday. I realized then that I had moved up a bracket. When filling things out previous, I was in the bracket 18-24. Now, I'm in the 25-35 box. I know thats a dumb thing to feel bad about, but for some inexplicable reason, that tugged at my heartstrings a little. I know longer am in that "young" demographic-I'm actually probably starting to be an adult.
Another instance is when I was at the store today. I had bought a bookcase, and the 17 (I think) year old kid who brought it up to me also carried out to my car. I thought this was polite, and a good show of customer service. When he loaded it into my car, he turned to me and said, "Have a good night, ma'am" and I almost died. Am I now a ma'am? I feel like I'm not even that much older than him, and I'm getting called ma'am. I know, it's a polite way of addressing women, but I feel like ma'am should only be used to address older woman. Someone of my still relatively young age should not be called this yet!
I know that none of this is really a big deal to people, and everyone who reads this is older than I, but different people have hard times with different things. And I'm not even having too hard a time with it, but I just have these few little issues with getting older. There are many good things, and I'm just trying to focus on those. Renting a car without paying that extra fee-woo hoo! I'll stay focused on the positives-until I have another of these moments.

It's here, it's time!

Fall is my favorite time of the year. The weather is lovely, jackets are all the rage, and the holidays are the best. It's sad that there's no soccer, but EPL kicks in, so I watch those to pacify my need for the sport. The best thing of all though, is a food, found at the Olive Garden. I don't know how many of you knows of the deliciousness of the pumpkin cheesecake, but if you have never had it, I am telling you to go right now. Stop reading, get in your car, and order a slice. It is delicious.
We went to the Olive Garden on Friday night, and you can imagine my surprise when I saw that they already had the pumpkin cheesecake. I was totally psyched though, and of course, ordered it. I wait all year for this. They only serve it from the end of September to December, so you have to get in during this time to get it. I've had the pumpkin cheesecake at many places, but nobody does it quite as well as the Olive Garden does. I don't know what it is about it from there, but its so good. I'm hoping to get back to the Garden at least a couple more times before the end of the year, to take advantage of the deliciousness of it. I do get sick of that place sometimes, so maybe I'll have to go there, grab some cheesecake and leave.
I can't believe I just did a blog about a dessert, but there ya have it. It is that good, though. I am telling you all that you need to get to the Olive Garden in the next little while, to get a piece of this. Just look at that picture - I can tell you're salivating already!

What was I thinking?

With the addition of my brother to my house, there are definitely more things around. And I’m trying not to be all anal-retentive about it, but it’s hard. I have to bite my tongue whenever I go into his room (my office) and I try to understand that he needs the space too, especially in the bathroom. Since there’s more than one person using the bathroom, it tends to get dirty quicker. I don’t always have the time to clean it, so yesterday, I asked him to clean it while I was at work. This was a mistake.
He didn’t get it cleaned while I was at work, he was out doing…ok, I actually don’t know what he was doing, but he wasn’t home. When I got home, he had actually gotten home a few minutes before me. He assured me, however, that he would be cleaning it post haste. I relaxed, and started watching my Ellen. Every few minutes, he would shout something from the bathroom, be it to make fun of me for all the hair stuff I have in there, or a question about the cleaning stuff. I had told him where all the cleaning supplies were, but of course, he couldn’t find it until I came in there to show him where it was. And he kept shouting questions to me, and after about 20 minutes of this, I was ready to kill him! But he seemed to be doing a good job, so I just left him to do his thing. After he finished, he called me in to look at it, to show me what a good job he did, and he did do one. It was looking pretty good in there. He left, and I stayed in there, to do my usual making-sure-everything-is-in-the-same-place-I-left-it thing. Holy crap, he didn’t leave anything in the right places! The hair products were askew, and he had changed up where everything in the shower was. I had to put everything back where it was.
I know it’s my fault for being crazy, and for asking him to do it, but oh man. I opened the cupboard, and everything down there was in disarray. The towels were not where they go, it was like he just shoved everything back in there when he got finished. I know I should be grateful that he even cleaned it in the first place, and I am. It’s better than me just cleaning it all alone.

Casa de Vieve-a fabulous place to stay!

Things have been a little crazy here at Casa de Vieve. We've had some family from Germany come into town, and we've been entertaining them while they were here. They spoke some English, my cousin really spoke the most of it, so she translated a lot. I never realized, until now, how hard it is to explain what some words mean. There are a lot of English words that don't translate, and I kept having to explain these words. Its so difficult for me to explain what words mean without using the word in the explanation. Like, to explain blow up, I was like, oh, like, explode. But then she didn't know what explode meant, so I used an action, I made the blow up sound with my mouth, while using my hands. (See if you can picture that!) Other words weren't as good, and thank goodness my brother was here-he was actually really good at explaining everything. My mind just went blank trying to think of alternate words!
There are a lot of things that we have here in America that we take for granted. I do it too, and there are many things that I just expect us to have here that my family was blown away by. Being able to buy pineapple cut into chunks is just something we expect here, and they couldn't believe it. Also being able to buy pre-shredded cheese was something they just didn't imagine. It was crazy for them that we had that convenience. They also couldn't believe the size of our grocery stores. I actually am with them on this-I can't believe how much food is in a store, and all the varieties and everything. But to me, it's commonplace. I'm used to it-they're everywhere. I just never think about how it looks to other people that aren't from here. I forget that not every country is like ours, no matter how much I hear (and see) that our country is very different.
It was a great few days with them, and I'm glad I finally got to meet them. I learned some German, only basic stuff really. I learned how to count to ten, to say cheese and mushroom. I'm sure there are other things I learned, but I only remember those. I'm glad to have all of the space back-fitting another family into the house for a few days got a little full. Now everyone is back in their rooms, with all the space they require. And if you know me, you know thats all I want-my designated space!

Did you buy tickets?

To the gun show, that is. This labor day weekend, I did some shootin'. (Yes, I feel that taking the G off there is necessary)I was told by Pop that he and my brother were going to go to the shooting range and PJ and I went along. For those of you who don't know, Pop and my bro are military types. They have shot for a long time, and they're really good at it. This would be my second time shooting (ever!) and the first time was like, fifteen years ago. Needless to say, I was pretty sure I would barely be able to fire the gun.
After some gun tutorials and safety rules (if you're wondering, its not good to point the gun at people, even if its not loaded. I didn't do this, but I was told of this rule. Also, apparently, its not good to even joke at a shooting range. All of my best material, unusable) We got some aiming tips, told about the kick backs, explained which guns we had, and told to go for it. I loaded up the gun, the .357 Magnum, put up a target, put in my earplugs, and took aim.
The first shot scared the heck out of me. The kick-back wasn't too bad, but it still surprised me. I was shaking the whole time, so trying to aim or anything like that, was really difficult. Even after I finished my turn, it took a while to get my heart rate back to normal. PJ took her turn, and did about as well as me, I think. We then took a turn with a .44 Magnum. The kick on that was definitely more, but my aim was improving. After the .44, we did the .45 ACP, which was my favorite gun. It was light, with a manageable kick-back, and I aimed much better with it. I got some shots near the bulls-eye! We took a few more turns with each gun, then had to go, the range was closing up.
I think the more I go, the better I'll be, so I'm going to try to keep this up. I'm feeling pretty good about my skills now, which include loading a gun (several ways-I can do a barrell and a clip) and cocking the gun to shoot (I don't know if thats what its called). I learned that you can't do all the things you see in movies, which would take far too long to explain here, but it saddened me a little. I can't wait to go again-I will not rest until I hit the bullseye.