Yep. There are only 7 hours left of 2011. So anything you wanted to do, learn, or see this year you'd better get on that. Anyways, as everyone celebrates the end/beginning of another year, I'm sitting here reflecting on 2011 and making new plans to make 2012 awesome.
Here are some highlights from 2011:
- Moved out of the ghetto (you may be steeped in history OV, but I will never call you home again!)
- We learned how to live like no one else so that later we could LIVE like no one else. (We will achieve financial peace!)
- We walked away from a major car crash for the second time. We know God was looking out for us and as a bonus we don't have a car payment anymore!
- I learned how to can preserves. Round 1 with strawberries didn't work so well, but the figs came out awesome!
and finally....
- I went through all of the boxes that have been sitting in our bedroom for months and they are now ready to go to goodwill on Monday!
Some of my plans for 2012 are:
- Learning how to use my sewing machine
- join the CSA at our local farmer's market. Also utilizing the meat and dairy vendors at the market as well.
- try to become preservative free with our food. Or as close as we can.
- Take Paulie on a REAL vacation.
- walk more
- have less clutter!
I'm sure there will be more things in store for 2012. I'm excited. I can't wait to see what happens!
Happy New Years everyone!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
I didn't think we'd make it
You have a 1 in 16 chance of getting into a car accident. This can be anything from a fender bender to something fatal. I want to know what the odds are of being involved in two major accidents within one year resulting in a total loss of a vehicle, but all parties involved walking away. Because that would be Paulie and I.
Last year we were sideswiped by a car on 64 and thrown into the jersey wall. At the time I was amazed that we survived. Paulie even went to work the next day! This time was way worse.
We were coming home from the grocery store just joking and laughing in the car. We were coming off the interstate onto Indian River Rd. As we got out of the exit, Paulie passed out(I didn't know this yet), drove straight across three lanes of traffic, across the median, hit a tree in the median, and was finally stopped when we hit a tow truck on the other side of the road. Yes, we were facing oncoming traffic. I didn't realize Paulie had passed out until he slumped against me when we went across the median. I can only imagine how he felt driving one moment then waking up to me screaming and the car being wrecked. Luckily, there was an accident on that side already because if that tow truck hadn't stopped us I don't know what would have happened.
But I'm not concerned with what could have been. I am so THANKFUL my husband and I are alive. We were taken to Sentara Leigh to be checked out. I just had a cut on my neck from the seat belt and a busted lip and nose from the air bag. Paulie was taken somewhere else to have an EKG and other testing to figure out why he passed out. After a few hours the doctors determined he had what's called a vasovagal response. This can occur to anyone at anytime and is more commonly associated with fainting at the sight of blood or being scared. This happened to Paulie because he was laughing too hard. Sounds kind of funny after the fact. And I'd much rather it be something dumb like that than all of the things I was thinking of while in the ER(ie tumor, stroke, etc).
Initial impact with the median.
The firemen had to cut both doors off so we could get out.
The tire almost came up through the floorboard on Paulie's side.
We hit the tow truck on my side.
What my view of the accident was minus the blue tarp.
God definitely has us on his watch list. I am so grateful that we are. I don't know what I would do without my Paulie.
The silver lining in this is that we don't have a car payment anymore. Haha
p.s. If any of you donate to non-profits, maybe this month you can send something to the Kempsville Rescue Squad. They are an ambulance/emt service that is fully staffed by volunteers. They were some of the nicest people we have ever met and should be recognized for what they do for our community.
Last year we were sideswiped by a car on 64 and thrown into the jersey wall. At the time I was amazed that we survived. Paulie even went to work the next day! This time was way worse.
We were coming home from the grocery store just joking and laughing in the car. We were coming off the interstate onto Indian River Rd. As we got out of the exit, Paulie passed out(I didn't know this yet), drove straight across three lanes of traffic, across the median, hit a tree in the median, and was finally stopped when we hit a tow truck on the other side of the road. Yes, we were facing oncoming traffic. I didn't realize Paulie had passed out until he slumped against me when we went across the median. I can only imagine how he felt driving one moment then waking up to me screaming and the car being wrecked. Luckily, there was an accident on that side already because if that tow truck hadn't stopped us I don't know what would have happened.
But I'm not concerned with what could have been. I am so THANKFUL my husband and I are alive. We were taken to Sentara Leigh to be checked out. I just had a cut on my neck from the seat belt and a busted lip and nose from the air bag. Paulie was taken somewhere else to have an EKG and other testing to figure out why he passed out. After a few hours the doctors determined he had what's called a vasovagal response. This can occur to anyone at anytime and is more commonly associated with fainting at the sight of blood or being scared. This happened to Paulie because he was laughing too hard. Sounds kind of funny after the fact. And I'd much rather it be something dumb like that than all of the things I was thinking of while in the ER(ie tumor, stroke, etc).
Initial impact with the median.
The firemen had to cut both doors off so we could get out.
The tire almost came up through the floorboard on Paulie's side.
We hit the tow truck on my side.
What my view of the accident was minus the blue tarp.
God definitely has us on his watch list. I am so grateful that we are. I don't know what I would do without my Paulie.
The silver lining in this is that we don't have a car payment anymore. Haha
p.s. If any of you donate to non-profits, maybe this month you can send something to the Kempsville Rescue Squad. They are an ambulance/emt service that is fully staffed by volunteers. They were some of the nicest people we have ever met and should be recognized for what they do for our community.
Monday, August 8, 2011
No cupcakes
Thursday night I was making a batch of chocolate cherry coke cupcakes for my coworkers at Kyoto. I turned on the oven to preheat and went back to mixing the batter. About a minute later I heard this weird buzzing noise like a bug caught in a spiderweb. I turn around and there is a bright light in my oven. My first thought was "hmmm that's odd. The light doesn't work in the oven." Then I opened the door and saw that my oven was on fire! The element on the bottom had fire and sparks on the left hand side that was traveling toward the back of the oven. It looked like the spark leading toward a stick of dynamite. I quickly turned off the oven, but the fire/spark continued to travel so I grabbed my phone. Trying to decide if I should call Mom (I was kind of not thinking clearly) or 911 I chose 911. I told them my oven was on fire and as I was giving my address, the coil popped in half and the fire went out. I told the dispatcher this and that maybe they didn't need to come out. She told me to call back if I had any problems.
Fire is a scary thing. I'm so grateful that this was something very small. I was home alone and my main thought during this was "How am I going to get all the animals out safely?" We will be buying a fire extinguisher soon and I will add making up some sort of fire protocol to my list of things to do.
Fire is a scary thing. I'm so grateful that this was something very small. I was home alone and my main thought during this was "How am I going to get all the animals out safely?" We will be buying a fire extinguisher soon and I will add making up some sort of fire protocol to my list of things to do.
Monday, July 18, 2011
I hear you now.
As you may or may not know, Paulie and I aren't particularly religious. Neither of us have been to church on a regular basis since we were children. I've always been a believer in religious freedom. I actually believe that most religions are right because they give a person faith in something. There have been plenty of times when I have been jealous of that faith. It was so hard for me to believe in something I could not see, hear, or touch. I think now I just wasn't paying attention. Let me tell you what happenned last week.
Paulie and I have been partaking in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University for the last few months. It's a once a week class where you learn how to win back your financial independence from debt and build a financially secure future for you and your family. One of the big points Dave makes is tithing. Whether you tithe to your church or to charity it didn't matter. We decided we would donate money once a month to a worthy cause.
The last few weeks I have been trying to think of who we should donate to this month. On Saturday morning I decided I would talk to Paulie on Sunday about what he thought we should do. So I just put it to the back of my mind and went to work. While at work I was talking with one of the hostesses. She was telling me about an old coworker of ours who was going through some rough times dealing with an illness, a mortgage, and a new baby. Instantly I knew where our tithe would be going.
A while later Paulie had texted me a picture of a tattoo he had done that morning. I told him it looked great and that I thought maybe God had spoken to me. He called me almost instantly and was like, "What's going on?". I told him what I had heard and what I felt we should do. He told me that was amazing because he had been thinking about where our tithe should go right before that phone call.
So, yeah, everything happens for a reason. I can now say yes, there is a plan. I can also say this experience has scared the crap out of me. I have some thinking to do.
Paulie and I have been partaking in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University for the last few months. It's a once a week class where you learn how to win back your financial independence from debt and build a financially secure future for you and your family. One of the big points Dave makes is tithing. Whether you tithe to your church or to charity it didn't matter. We decided we would donate money once a month to a worthy cause.
The last few weeks I have been trying to think of who we should donate to this month. On Saturday morning I decided I would talk to Paulie on Sunday about what he thought we should do. So I just put it to the back of my mind and went to work. While at work I was talking with one of the hostesses. She was telling me about an old coworker of ours who was going through some rough times dealing with an illness, a mortgage, and a new baby. Instantly I knew where our tithe would be going.
A while later Paulie had texted me a picture of a tattoo he had done that morning. I told him it looked great and that I thought maybe God had spoken to me. He called me almost instantly and was like, "What's going on?". I told him what I had heard and what I felt we should do. He told me that was amazing because he had been thinking about where our tithe should go right before that phone call.
So, yeah, everything happens for a reason. I can now say yes, there is a plan. I can also say this experience has scared the crap out of me. I have some thinking to do.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
And now for something completely different!
Happy almost St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I won't be celebrating this year because we will be participating in that chaos we call moving. (Although we did see the Ocean View parade this morning and there are currently about 5 billion wasted individuals within a 5 mile radius around my house)
Yes, you read that correctly. We are finally MOVING! No more nightmare house! No more of my husband having to shower in sewage (I was lucky enough to use my parents shower). No more having to wait 3 weeks for the landlord to send someone to fix the pipes/lights/rodent problems that kept popping up in this 100 year old house. No more parallel parking! No more having to wonder if I'm going to be robbed or shot while walking to my house. All of these things happenned at some point over the year and a half we lived here. Some people have this great pride for living in OV...I say good riddance!
On a more positive note, our new house is awesome! It's a townhouse near Indian River Rd. in Virginia Beach. It has a full bath and master bedroom downstairs and a full bath, one bedroom, and one loft/office area upstairs. It has a cathedral ceiling and a view of the lake from the backyard. Best of all it has a WASHER and DRYER! I hate the laundromat! The ladlord seems cool and I'm hoping he'll let us plant a vegetable garden. I'll definitely post pics as soon as we're settled.
Now I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. We move on the 20th which is one week from tomorrow. I can't wait!
Yes, you read that correctly. We are finally MOVING! No more nightmare house! No more of my husband having to shower in sewage (I was lucky enough to use my parents shower). No more having to wait 3 weeks for the landlord to send someone to fix the pipes/lights/rodent problems that kept popping up in this 100 year old house. No more parallel parking! No more having to wonder if I'm going to be robbed or shot while walking to my house. All of these things happenned at some point over the year and a half we lived here. Some people have this great pride for living in OV...I say good riddance!
On a more positive note, our new house is awesome! It's a townhouse near Indian River Rd. in Virginia Beach. It has a full bath and master bedroom downstairs and a full bath, one bedroom, and one loft/office area upstairs. It has a cathedral ceiling and a view of the lake from the backyard. Best of all it has a WASHER and DRYER! I hate the laundromat! The ladlord seems cool and I'm hoping he'll let us plant a vegetable garden. I'll definitely post pics as soon as we're settled.
Now I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. We move on the 20th which is one week from tomorrow. I can't wait!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Apparently the universe is out to get my left hand...
I don't know what my left hand did while I wasn't looking, but it sure has been taking a beating lately. Within twenty-four hours over the weekend my hand was injured not once, not twice, but THREE times! And I don't mean like slammed in the door or just general banged up. I'm talking about sliced open and bloody mess injuries.
Sunday morning I was preparing things for a baby shower for my friend, Liz. I was making some party favors involving safety pins. I jammed a safety pin into my cuticle and blood was everywhere. Then I was cutting fruit for a fruit salad and sliced my thumb open. This time there was copious amounts of blood and use of the F word. Fast forward to Monday when Paulie and I visited AC Moore. I grabbed a cart without looking and had my pinky sliced open because the plastic on the handle was broken.
What did my left hand do that was so awful?
Sunday morning I was preparing things for a baby shower for my friend, Liz. I was making some party favors involving safety pins. I jammed a safety pin into my cuticle and blood was everywhere. Then I was cutting fruit for a fruit salad and sliced my thumb open. This time there was copious amounts of blood and use of the F word. Fast forward to Monday when Paulie and I visited AC Moore. I grabbed a cart without looking and had my pinky sliced open because the plastic on the handle was broken.
What did my left hand do that was so awful?
Friday, February 11, 2011
It was a good try...for a carnivore anyway.
By Wednesday Paulie had had enough of the vegetarian thing. He called me in the afternoon to tell me he was angry at having no meat. By the time he got off of work that night he told me he felt dizzy and nauseous because he had not eaten any meat. So I said that's ok I was just glad he had tried it. I told him to pick up a burger and come home. Oddly enough he couldn't even get through half of the Whopper that night.
I have never felt better. I have energy and just have a nice sense of well being. I don't think I'm going to be one of those hardcore vegetarian types, though. I'm totally craving sushi, but honestly other than that I think I could do the meatless thing for a long time. I made tacos last night using black beans and Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles for the filler. They were so good I didn't even have time to take a picture before we beasted all of them! Paulie loved them, too. So, now there are three meatless dinners I know my husband likes. Tonight we're trying veggie crumble sloppy joes. Wish me luck!
I have never felt better. I have energy and just have a nice sense of well being. I don't think I'm going to be one of those hardcore vegetarian types, though. I'm totally craving sushi, but honestly other than that I think I could do the meatless thing for a long time. I made tacos last night using black beans and Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles for the filler. They were so good I didn't even have time to take a picture before we beasted all of them! Paulie loved them, too. So, now there are three meatless dinners I know my husband likes. Tonight we're trying veggie crumble sloppy joes. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day 1 and we blew it
Ok so I told you guys we were going vegetarian for a while. Yesterday was day one and we both blew it! Here's how:
Paulie calls me at around noon and he's a little upset because they had company evaluations and they didn't go well. Everyone got crappy evals, too. I don't really agree with how this was done because how can you evaluate someone when you don't even work in the shop with them on a day to day basis? Oh, well. A little while later Paulie texts me that he was so upset he already had a burger. One down, one to go.
Before we closed for break at 2pm, Manny, one of the appetizer chefs, told me they were making chicken katsu for dinner. This has been one of my favorite things to eat at Kyoto forever. It's just a piece of chicken breaded and fried, but you put katsu sauce on it and it is awesome! By dinner time Manny had reminded me about 5 times to not forget about the katsu. I finally decided to eat the katsu to not hurt his feelings. While I was eating, Stacey was like "Margary killed a chicken."
But I redeemed my slacker husband and I with the beautiful vegetarian pizza I made after work.
I used fresh mushrooms and veggies sausage crumbles so it would be more appealing to Paulie. And you know what? They taste like sausage without the greasy nasty feeling you get afterwards. We both enjoyed it and Paulie even admitted he'd eat it again. Success!
Paulie calls me at around noon and he's a little upset because they had company evaluations and they didn't go well. Everyone got crappy evals, too. I don't really agree with how this was done because how can you evaluate someone when you don't even work in the shop with them on a day to day basis? Oh, well. A little while later Paulie texts me that he was so upset he already had a burger. One down, one to go.
Before we closed for break at 2pm, Manny, one of the appetizer chefs, told me they were making chicken katsu for dinner. This has been one of my favorite things to eat at Kyoto forever. It's just a piece of chicken breaded and fried, but you put katsu sauce on it and it is awesome! By dinner time Manny had reminded me about 5 times to not forget about the katsu. I finally decided to eat the katsu to not hurt his feelings. While I was eating, Stacey was like "Margary killed a chicken."
But I redeemed my slacker husband and I with the beautiful vegetarian pizza I made after work.
I used fresh mushrooms and veggies sausage crumbles so it would be more appealing to Paulie. And you know what? They taste like sausage without the greasy nasty feeling you get afterwards. We both enjoyed it and Paulie even admitted he'd eat it again. Success!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Challenges
So this year instead of having a New Year's resolution I decided to have what I call challenges of 2011. Now most of you are probably thinking "Isn't that the same thing?". Well maybe, but the word resolution just screams, "You are going to FAIL at this!", to me. The word challenge is more encouraging like, "Let's see how far you can go with this." Do you guys get what I'm saying?
To tell the truth, this all came about quite accidentally about three days after New Year's. As you may or may not know I have been a smoker since I was 13. I have been a full time smoker since I was 16. I am now 31...you do the math. I LOVE to smoke. I love hanging out with friends and b.s.ing for hours smoking cigarette after cigarette. When I have been drawn as a cartoon or a caricature I always have a cigarette in my hand. On the third of January I ran out of cigarettes right before I went to bed. No big deal, I would just pick up some on the way to work. So I woke up the next morning, went to work, and around noon realized I hadn't had a cig yet. WTF!?!? "How am I not homicidal?", I thought. Well, I decided to roll with it. So as of today, I have had about 5 cigarettes since January 4th. Now I'm looking forward to no cigarettes next month.
My second challenge: Go vegetarian for a month or forever maybe. This isn't actually a big challenge for me as I was vegetarian for a while a few years back. I've been having moral and health issues with meat. Things like high cholesterol and recognizing that the meat in the cooler at Walmart used to have a face. Which is really unfortunate because I really like Taco Bell. I even got Paulie to jump on the bandwagon for a week. "I'll try your stupid hippy dippy food, but I'm not going to like it.", he said. I'm ecstatic that he's willing to try it for an hour let alone a week! My husband believes the four food groups are burgers, tacos, pizza, and ice cream. This next week I'm going to try my hardest to show him that meatless meals can be tasty, too.
For now these are my biggest challenges to deal with. I have some minor challenges which are more like things to learn that I think would help me grow as a person this year. Such as:
-learn how to use a sewing machine
-learn how to crochet(I got knitting down last year)
-canning some fruit preserves
-grow some vegetables with my dad
-spend more time with my husband not in front of the tv
I'll keep you posted on how everything goes.
To tell the truth, this all came about quite accidentally about three days after New Year's. As you may or may not know I have been a smoker since I was 13. I have been a full time smoker since I was 16. I am now 31...you do the math. I LOVE to smoke. I love hanging out with friends and b.s.ing for hours smoking cigarette after cigarette. When I have been drawn as a cartoon or a caricature I always have a cigarette in my hand. On the third of January I ran out of cigarettes right before I went to bed. No big deal, I would just pick up some on the way to work. So I woke up the next morning, went to work, and around noon realized I hadn't had a cig yet. WTF!?!? "How am I not homicidal?", I thought. Well, I decided to roll with it. So as of today, I have had about 5 cigarettes since January 4th. Now I'm looking forward to no cigarettes next month.
My second challenge: Go vegetarian for a month or forever maybe. This isn't actually a big challenge for me as I was vegetarian for a while a few years back. I've been having moral and health issues with meat. Things like high cholesterol and recognizing that the meat in the cooler at Walmart used to have a face. Which is really unfortunate because I really like Taco Bell. I even got Paulie to jump on the bandwagon for a week. "I'll try your stupid hippy dippy food, but I'm not going to like it.", he said. I'm ecstatic that he's willing to try it for an hour let alone a week! My husband believes the four food groups are burgers, tacos, pizza, and ice cream. This next week I'm going to try my hardest to show him that meatless meals can be tasty, too.
For now these are my biggest challenges to deal with. I have some minor challenges which are more like things to learn that I think would help me grow as a person this year. Such as:
-learn how to use a sewing machine
-learn how to crochet(I got knitting down last year)
-canning some fruit preserves
-grow some vegetables with my dad
-spend more time with my husband not in front of the tv
I'll keep you posted on how everything goes.
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About Me
- Margary
- A crafty girl who loves her tattoo artist(so much she married him!), the Misfits, and dancing to Lady Gaga when no one is looking.