house of hobson

A Year of Hobsons

2012-01-10T16:41:00.004-06:00

Since I'm already so good at updating this blog and Beck's, I decided to add another one to the mix. I've had friends that took the picture-a-day challenge, but I never really got into it. Then on Pinterest I found this blog post, and for some reason I liked the idea more after that. So we'll see how it goes.

A Year of Hobsons! (I couldn't think of a cooler title.)

Lack of blogging and amazing people

2012-01-03T00:48:00.001-06:00

Wow, I have been on a huuuuge blogging break, haven't I? I kind of see blogging as a huge drag, but I feel like I have to do it because it's cool to look back at later. It's kind of journalish but without the deep thoughts and feelings like, "I ♥ Matt! He is sooooo cute!" And sometimes my blog is somewhere for me to put cool stuff that I doesn't fit on facebook or pinterest.

Speaking of cool stuff, some people are amazing. You know how Facebook is going over to the timeline thing? I was thinking about how I can't do a cool connecting picture thing now without the picture tiles at the top, but man are there cool things you can do with the new layout. You just have to think outside the box.

from

Food addendum

2011-11-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

I forgot a place to mention on my Texas food post. There's a place here called Freebirds. It does burritos. I didn't love it, but I'm willing to give it another shot sometime. Sorry for the blurry picture (as if most [if not all] of my pics aren't blurry). Maybe one day I'll use a camera that isn't also my phone. I don't think you can really appreciate the size of the Monster and Super Monster burritos. That Super was B.I.G., like Notorious.

2011-11-16T15:45:00.000-06:00

I followed through on a couple Pinterest finds.

First I made a wreath. Foam wreath + 100s of thumbtacks = sore finger. Sometimes when I look at this wreath, I hope its welcoming vibes deter the Beast from chewing me out.

Then my bobby pins went from blah to ah! Nail polish, baby. Paint is the answer to almost everything.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2011-11-15T22:40:00.001-06:00

On Sunday, I was smart. Rily smart. As I was about to leave for church, I stepped on our air mattress* to get my phone. In my high heels.

We went to church and came back to this sad sight. Is it site or sight? Now we sleep on the couch. So far, I don't mind. You all probably know that I'm an amazing sleeper. I've thought about going pro, but I'm not quite sure how.

Excuse the disarray.

I tried a new 'do that day (a faux braid), and now I almost do this every day. It's so easy that it's pretty much equivalent to not doing my hair at all. But it looks better. From certain angles.

Matt had to go to downtown Austin that evening because one of his projects (Chase Bank) was opening the next day and he thought his superintendent was stressed. Beck and I accompanied him on his voyage, and B wore his Clark Kent glasses that he refused to wear on Halloween

Then he tried on my sunglasses. Upside down. With a finger up his nose. Boys.

He also let me try on his CK glasses. Talk nerdy to me.

*Remember how we're poor? Yeah, we've been sleeping on an air mattress since we've lived here. Neither of us have minded because it's actually pretty comfy. Just maybe a little ghetto...we'll look back and laugh.

The Color Run

2011-11-10T14:47:00.001-06:00

Facebook alerted me to a cool 5K race called The Color Run. You wear a white shirt and get colored dust stuff thrown at you as you go. It reminds me of the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, Utah that I've never been to, but I've seen pictures of it on facebook since a lot of my friends have been. The race in Austin is in February, and I'm thinking I should do it. Anyone want to do it with me? They will be all over the country next year: Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Boise, NY, DC, Raleigh, etc. I kind of just want to follow it all around!

Here's a video:

Flashback Wednesday because I feel like it

2011-10-26T17:57:00.001-05:00

Look, Natalie, just for you! I was going through old pictures today and found this gem.

I hear that Texans are a fat people.

2011-10-25T15:46:00.000-05:00

I think I know why. We have good food. Good bad food.

Beck at Salt Lick

When our friend Jared was here, we had to go to the cool places to eat. I had just read about the Salt Lick in a magazine on the plane and other people recommended it. I do not. A letdown for sure. It's supposed to be great barbecue, but Smokey Mo's was better. And Rudy's. Oh I almost forgot Rudy's.

Rudy's is in a gas station. At least this one was. And you don't have plates! They give you this crappy bread to make sandwiches, but I just ate my meat by itself. Texas is not for vegetarians. Except my brother was once. And a vegan for a while. My aunt made some kind of amazing meat for Christmas dinner, and he was like, "That looks too good!" so he ate it and got so sick. And that's a lesson on why you should never be a vegetarian.

Round Rock Donuts. I saw this place on Man Vs. Food, and I knew I had to go. They cut out their Texas donuts with a bucket. A BUCKET!!! Not a let down at all, and the fact that we've been there four or five times proves this. The only other place we've been more is DQ because I love their Chocolate Xtreme mini blizzards. Yeah, I've gained seven pounds.

Texas-shaped tortilla chips!

My aunt, cousin, and grandma planned a trip to visit my mom, and my other aunt and cousin surprised her. We went to Babe's Chicken. I knew this one wouldn't let me down because everyone I know loves it. My mom and Matt are missing from this picture because they're behind the cameras.

Texas State Fair. Each year that I lived in Utah, I would see what crazy fried food my friends were eating at the fair because they'd post about it on Facebook. Since I now live in the state again, I knew I had to go. Food ordered: turkey leg (good), fried cheesecake (not very cheesecakey), fried brownie (it was ok), funnel cake (I scarfed it even though it was "Matt's"), and my mom got some kind of weird nut ice cream bar thing (didn't try it, but she liked it). I wish I tried the fried Oreos and/or fried Snickers. There's always next year.

There was a self serve frozen yogurt/soft serve ice cream/custard place in Utah called Farr's Fresh in Riverdale. It had these weird orange-yellow fish egg-looking things called bobu fruit. They are liquid in a thin skin, so when you bite down, it gushes. (Much like some women's water as they go into labor.) We always look for them at frozen yogurt places, but we never find them. Until now. They had strawberry weirdo things here. They're so crazy. If you ever find 'em, try 'em. But maybe you won't now that you relate them with birth.

And that is a post all about food.

P.S. Here's another place I forgot.

Short post to balance out the novel below

2011-10-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I hit 500 (running) miles for the year 2011. I pretty much quit running about 6-8 weeks ago, so I should have more, but oh well. I'm now training for a half marathon on New Year's Eve. Had to get one more in before the end of the year, and I'm cutting it close!

The Beast

2011-10-18T23:51:00.002-05:00

Remember my post about my lovely neighbor? Well, I have so much to update you about! I'll make a list.

1. "I know who you are."

[After that, each time we saw her, she was so friendly. Our nice neighbors were always talking about how much they hate her, but I didn't know how much of their stories to really believe, but I would always think back to the "I know who you are" story, so they could be telling the truth. I just hadn't really seen anything myself.]

2. Beck and I were playing during the day, and yes, he was running back and forth a little more than usual, but he just loved playing this game. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. I opened the door, and the neighbor goes, "Can you PLEASE keep your child from RUNNING and JUMPING on my head?!?!" I was shocked, and I said, "OK..." As she walked away, I said, "You know he's two, right?" "What?!" "You know he's two?" "I KNOW HE'S TWO! BUT I CAME UP HERE AND NICELY ASKED YOU..." I stopped listening at this point and just said another, "OK..." Lesson: You can be really rude, but if you include the word please in your sentence, you're nicely asking someone to do something. Good to know.

[I no longer talk to her when she comes around and does her super friendly act.

Also, sometime between these two run-ins, Beck threw his ball into her fenced-in patio area. We were like, "Well crap. That ball's a goner." It was like our own version of the Sandlot. Matt ended up holding Beck from his feet and dangling him over so he could grab the ball. Success. During this, I decided to call the precious little darling The Beast.]

3. Evening. Matt was outside with the nice neighbor (really, the actual nice one), and Beck and I were hanging out in our apartment. Matt came in and said, "A cop just pulled up and went into the downstairs neighbor's apartment." I thought that was weird. All the different options of why he was there ran through my head. Was she dead? Was he here because of us? Matt went back outside for a while, then came back and said, "Yep, she called the cops on Beck." The cop had come out and asked if Matt or the nice neighbor lived upstairs. Matt said that he did. The cop then explained what she was upset about, but he also said he had a two-year-old and knows that you can't really control them. (And why should you stop them from being two?!) He also didn't have any sympathy for her since she was yelling at him about us. He said she'll probably call again, and that he'll have to come back out, but to try to deal with her until she moves out. (But that's not until February, which is when we move out.) WHO CALLS THE POLICE ON A TWO-YEAR-OLD?!

[After that, I got a pretty hardcore glare as I came out of my apartment one day.]

4. Today. Daytime. We had the sliding glass door open because it's actually starting to cool down! Beck was standing in the living room watching a movie, and I was in the kitchen or walking back from my room. I don't really remember, but my point is that it was quiet. Then I heard yelling outside. Basically she yelled up to us through the open door and threatened to call the cops again if I didn't make Beck chill. Uhhh he's not even moving! I couldn't believe what just happened, so I called Matt and told him. I decided to go talk to the office about it since there's nothing else I could really do. I cried, then I went to the bathroom to make myself a little more presentable to go to the office, and I was totally shaking. I won't lie...I'm PMSing, and it sometimes makes my bad emotions get even worse. Writing this out also makes me feel stupid for being so upset, but I was (and still am). Beck and I went over to the office, where I swear the girl has a crush on Matt. I'm down with that since we'll probably get preferential treatment! I filled her in on the latest incident, and of course I cried at the end. This crying thing should be over in a day or two...hopefully.

So basically we need to be sleeping, gone, or quietly laying on the couch without breathing too loudly to make sure The Beast doesn't get upset.

Matt's more worried about Beck pleasing The Beast than I am. He is two (have I drilled that into your heads enough?), and I'm going to let him be two. I tell him no all the time, but I'm not going to tell him no when it's a perfectly acceptable thing to do. I'm going to let him run to his room because running is so much more entertaining than walking! I'm going to let him do normal two-year-old things. He's not jumping off the couch or bouncing balls on the ground. Damn it, he will be two!

_________________________________

Story that kind of goes along with the post:

I got the mail while coming back from the office and opened them when we got back to our apartment. Two pieces of mail made me cry--one bill and one random act of kindness that is making me cry as I think about it. Yeah, I'm a psycho right now. Beck heard me sniffle (what a stupid word), and he goes, "Nose?" and I nodded. He went to the bathroom and after quite a while, he came out with this:

Oh my gosh. Cutest munchkin ever. Makes me tear up just looking at it! I don't like being a psycho crier!!!! Hormones, go back to normal!!!!!!*

LONG post! Did anyone even read it?

*extra exclamation points especially for Clint.

Music Nostalgia

2011-10-10T18:27:00.001-05:00

I'm sure this is common for everyone, but I often relate songs with people/events/movies/whatever. Today Beck and I were listening to the oldies, and Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools came on. I always think of the movie Michael when I hear that. Anyone else? Also, I think it's funny that those two ladies were picked to dance with him. The girls they would pick these days would look waaaay different.

While I'm on the subject of music, can you believe this video below? I wondered if it was a joke, but I'm pretty sure it's not. (I always relate this song with The Wedding Singer, but who doesn't?) I got Beck to spin around and dance to it, and he ended up getting dizzy and hitting his head on the end table. He's cool, though. No big deal.

Terror

2011-10-07T15:33:00.002-05:00

Today on Swiss Miss I saw these pictures of really scared people from this album by Nightmares Fear Factory. Here are some of my favorites.

He looks like he's going to cry.

I just can't stop. There are so many good ones.

wow.

flight.

Ok, I need to just stop and publish this now or else I'll keep adding and adding. This makes me feel like watching the clips of when Ellen scares people on her show. Have you seen those? So funny.

To amuse two of you...

2011-09-19T01:35:00.001-05:00

found through Grammar Girl

Bad News, Beck

2011-09-16T22:21:00.000-05:00

I was on Baby Center and decided to see how tall Beck may be at age 18, according to the Height Predictor. I double and triple checked the info I had to input, and it kept coming up with something I did not expect.

He might end up being short (Sorry, Buddy. My fault.), but I really don't think this is accurate.

Murmur to Me

2011-09-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I had some heart issues while I was in labor with Beck. Ever since, I've felt some weird beats, but I never got it checked out. Today I finally went to a cardiologist, got an EKG done, and had the cardiologist listen to my inner workings. (They pull your shirt up a lot. It's kind of awkward.) He told me that I have a heart murmur, it's probably nothing to worry about, but I should do a few things just in case.

I'll have to go to the hospital to get an ultrasound of my heart (echocardiogram) soon. I also have this weird thing that I have to use for a month. Each time I feel the weird beats happening, I have to press a button on this pager-looking thing, and it will record my heart rate. I have two sticky things on me that are hooked up to the pager, and I have to wear this getup all the time, unless I'm in the shower or something like that. Oh, and the annoying part? After each recording, I have to call the pager company from a LANDLINE. A landline! Where do I find one of those??

This picture is flipped, and the thing is really on my right side.

The other one is on my ribs on the left side.

cool, huh? I guess I need to wear higher shirts.

Heading back to the '90s with my pager. As if!

Abbey Road

2011-09-14T17:27:00.001-05:00

There is a website that has a live webcam watching the crossing outside of Abbey Road studios. You know...from this...

here

...or this...

here

You can watch people walking/posing like in the picture, and it's kind of funny. Right when I started watching, a couple started posing and taking pictures. Now it's 11:30pm so no one is really around, but I'm going to have to check back tomorrow.

a screenshot of the website. someone saved this picture and uploaded it to their archives.

Fred, go there and tell me when to watch!

Randoms

2011-09-12T17:10:00.001-05:00

- I love pinterest.

- Sometimes I keep the previous description on a pin I'm repinning, but I delete the exclamation point because I don't want to sound THAT excited about it.

- I don't have an iPhone, but I like the conversation bubbles it has for texting. I got an app to do that, and now I want to text all the time. I don't want to sound desperate, but TEXT ME PLEASE!

- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU'RE AND YOUR IS NOT HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- I guess I'm in a yelling mood today.

- Tonight I might go to the YMCA and try out BodyPump.

- The YMCA here has a theater room! I can run my little heart out (hopefully not literally) while watching movies.

- Matt and I watched the first season of Friday Night Lights this past week. I have two new crushes.

Tim Riggins:

from

Coach Eric Taylor:

from

That's all for now.

Example of annoying thing below

2011-09-02T10:44:00.001-05:00

Lady: My daughter has the same birthday as you. Matt: What? Lady: the same birthday as you.

Oh that's helpful.

Things I do not like, things I hate, and things that annoy me

2011-09-01T01:45:00.001-05:00

Maybe you're thinking, "Gee golly, that title sounds so gosh darn negative," but I think these things are way more interesting to read about than lovey dovey stuff. And this is my blog, and in the words of Adam Sandler/Robbie Hart*, I have a microphone (metaphorically), and you don't, so you will listen to every damn word I have to say! Unless you click away, of course.

- the L key on my keyboard. Olive did something to it, and now it's crooked and hard to push. If you read something without an L, that is why, my friends. Please forgive me. Know that I am competely humiiated to make an error ike that. Ok, I did those on purpose.

- when a CD is playing in my car (is that old school yet?) and it gets turned all the way down instead of off. I hate that it keeps playing, unheard.

- when the volume on the TV is too loud.

- when people say/write "needless to say..." followed by whatever it is that is needless. Don't say it then!

- when people write a smiley face this way (: instead of this way :) It just throws me off!

- excessive use of smileys. Some people may hate smileys altogether, but I don't hate 'em. I do hate this one: :P Stick your little cyber tongue back in your cyber mouth or I'll want to punch you in your real life face.

- when bloggers don't tell you what they're talking about and make you click on a link to see. Tell me what it is, and if you pique my interest, I'll click over. Example: "My husband bought me this!"

- when people post Facebook statuses that leave you with questions. Do you know what I'm talking about? The ones that sound kind of juicy, so you want to know what they're talking about, but they tell you basically nothing, just so you'll ask.

- when bloggers say local. "I got it at my local Home Depot." Seriously?! You didn't drive three states over and get it at THAT Home Depot?? GOOD TO KNOW!

- stupid (made up) names and names with stupid spellings. Each time I see a ridiculously spelled name, I post it on my cousin's facebook wall so she can join me in a mutual groan of disgust.

- when people call their baby's room a nursery. "The nursery." I just hate that for some reason! And why doesn't my room get a special name?

- when I don't get a reply. I aksed you something. Respond. (Yeah, I meant to spell it aksed.) Oh, I just remembered something that goes along with this. I called a doctor's office to make an appointment, and the lady said she would get the nurse to call me back. She didn't call me that day, and she didn't call me the next day either. Today I called and explained that I was waiting for a nurse to call. She was busy and needed to call me back. I'm still waiting. Hopefully I don't die waiting for this appointment that I can't schedule!

- when couples have a joint facebook profile. How 'bout you each be your own person?

- soft talkers. I don't want to have to focus really hard to understand what you're saying.

- when I don't hear something, so I say, "What?" only for that person to repeat just the last part of what they said, which does not usually include a subject or verb, and I still have no idea what they're saying. Ok, I'm really struggling with explaining this. I wish I could come up with a good example, but I can't. Do you know what I'm trying to say??

(Perhaps those last two should make me get my ears checked. I think I listened to my music too loudly in my younger days. I have old neighbors that would agree to that. They sure were lame college students. Looosers...ha, just kidding. Kind of. Ok, not really.)

- stupidity. In June, I overpaid a bill (I guess I'm stupid too), so I had an email conversation with the billing department. I told the person, "Go ahead and have the clerk send the whole amount." Recently I was thinking about how I don't remember ever getting the refund. I emailed them, and they said, "She misunderstood and thought you wanted to leave the money on it in case you reopened the account." Hmm yes, I can see how "send the whole amount" could be confusing...

Has this been enough ranting, or are you thirsty for more? I just love that Kevin McCallister. You know, from Home Alone. "You guys give up yet? Or are you thirsty for more?" Crap, I just said that I love something in this post. Consistency fail.

*I also love The Wedding Singer. Double fail. Oh no, love is coming out to counter all the negativity in this post. I'll try to repress it.

Know your pop culture

2011-08-28T06:14:00.000-05:00

On 2/22/10, I wrote a very important post, but I didn't post it. I just came across it, so I thought I'd bless you with it. How many times can I say it?

I read on Perez Hilton that Lorenzo Llamas is getting married for the fifth time, to a 23-year-old girl that he's been dating for three months. I tell you this because I'd like to talk about Lorenzo. Do you know who he is? He is the dorky boyfriend of Sandy in Grease.

but THEN he became Renegade!

Unless you're my mom, I bet you didn't know that. But now you do. And you better care.

Won't you be my neighbor?

2011-08-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

from

Matt has been living in Georgetown, Texas for about six weeks in an extended stay hotel. Last week he moved into an apartment, so last Saturday Beck and I moved down. We're on the second story, and a lady lives underneath us. Our neighbors to the side told us that she complains about EVERYTHING, so we've tried to be really good about noise and what we let Beck do. Obviously we don't let him throw the basketball on the ground, we don't let him jump up and down, we don't let him play Dashboard Confessional so loud that it shakes things on the walls. You know, normal obnoxious stuff. I do let him be two, though (so playing Barney that loud is ok), as long as it's not too loud or annoying. I had never seen the lady, but she showed up one day as we were outside talking to our side neighbor. As she walked up, Beck waved at her energetically, so I turned around to look at her, thinking it would be interesting to see how she responded to him. Surprisingly she waved back (she seemed a little reluctant, but how can you ignore a kid that's waving at you while everyone's watching?). Then Matt said, "How are you? We're your upstairs neighbors." She kept walking, never looked at Matt, and said, "I know who you are."

Woman, you just earned yourself some relentless toddler jumping.

These people have my heart

2011-08-18T23:39:00.000-05:00

My friend Jen sent me a link to The best obnoxious responses to misspellings on Facebook. I'd seen it before, but I guess it gets updated occasionally, so there were many more that made me laugh this time. You can go read the whole thing if you're a nerd like me, or just read my favorites below.

i luv nowing their r people out they're that lov 2 corect othr ppl. I tri nought two doo it to mutch, butt sumtime's eye just halve 2.

I really love when they are so oblivious to the jokes people are making about them.

This one is one of my favey faves.

Bless her heart.

Reason 397,048,306 Olive hates me

2011-08-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

Two Years Ago

2011-08-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

Shoot, I'm a few minutes too late posting this. This is a post for AUGUST 13.

Well, at 10:48pm Utah time, it was two years ago that I had Beck. Here's the birth story if you want a refresher or never read it.

Happy birthday, babe! You're my favorite munchkin in the world.

August 13, 2009

August 13, 2010

August 13, 2011

P.S. Fun fact: I learned yesterday that the heart problem I had during labor is called tachycardia.

My last day with my one-year-old

2011-08-12T12:18:00.001-05:00

Does anyone else have an eye that closes more than the other when you smile?

Mormonland

2011-08-10T17:12:00.001-05:00

Beck, my mom, and I went to Utah for about ten days (Beck's last free trip). We were busy the whole time, and I didn't run at all for 12 days. It's hard getting back into it.

I got some dental work done (and a new fun smile).

I saw the jungle my condo now has.

I painted some rooms in my condo (thank you mom, Kaylene, Grandma #4, and William). Goodbye blue and purple.

Beck got to be part of my cousin's son's birthday party and also got a cupcake.

This video is so cute, but I'm not sure if I can make it portrait instead of landscape.

My friends got married. I hooked them up!

My cousin also got married, but I don't have any pictures. I REALLY wish I had a video of my cousin Todd and my mom dancing at the reception. It was goooood. My other cousin goes, "Does your mom embarrass you?" I said, "No, not anymore." He goes, "Well she's embarrassing me."

And now we're back in Texas, meltinggggggg!

I GOT A COOL PHONE

2011-08-06T01:08:00.001-05:00

The other day I got frazzled and frustrated to the point of crying several times. I kept thinking, "if I had a smart phone, _____." The day would have been better, that's for sure. I say that "if I had a smart phone" phrase at least three times a day. After the day of frustration, my mom and I decided to finally just get some. Wow, just getting these freaking phones caused a huge amount of frustration (that could be a whole different blog post), but here I am, posting from my new sweet phone. Finally. Ahhhh.

Camp Pendleton Mud Run

2011-07-18T19:50:00.017-05:00

I almost forgot about this one. This will catch me up as far as races go, and I'm sure there won't be another one for a while. After my half marathon in May, I wanted to keep doing them because I had worked so hard to get to that mileage. After a few weeks I decided to drop to the middle range so it wouldn't be hard to work back up, but it's hard when I don't have any races to train for. (Races in this Texas heat would be murder. No, suicide.) That was a long explanation about why there won't be any race posts for a while...

Anyway, on June 18th, I ran in the Camp Pendleton 10K Mud Run with my family (that's in California if you didn't know). Matt, my mom, aunt, four cousins, and two cousins-in-law ran in it. The girls got matching shirts that said Hirschi Squirts (Hirschi is a family name) on the front and We got the runs on the back. We're a classy bunch.

During the beginning, it was really slow. We were all hyped up when we started the race, the fire engines hosed us down, and then it got backed up and we took pictures and became friends with the people around us. This guy was going to hold my mom over his head like a barbell for a picture, but she got wimpy. She also said she saw my face that said, "Mom dont!" I don't know if I really made that face, but it could be true.

we had nothing to do but take pictures

We were fake running here, recovering from the hill we (or was it just me?) ran up. (Preposition fix: The hill up which we ran...?)

Jami got so gross.

While some people (Alex) took this race seriously and swam across quickly, we just leisurely floated along. This was nice.

Jami tackled Lori in the mud.

Jami also tackled Kelly and they had a wrestling match (where everyone cheered). I got tackled too, but there's no evidence.

One of our walls we had to climb over. The first one was easy to jump over, and I thought I could do the second one by myself too. This marine was standing there asking if we wanted help, and I yelled, "I can do it myself!" acting all tough. Then I got to the wall and realized it was taller than I thought, so I said, "Uhhh I think I need some help," and he let me step on his thigh and jump over it. I felt stupid.

Real running this time.

Oops, mud on the lens.

The team had to run through the finish line arm in arm.

All of the runners.

Go Hirschi Squirts!

One of the few funny parts from Dumb & Dumber

2011-07-18T08:13:00.000-05:00

from

It's like I can't stop being a badass

2011-07-17T23:08:00.001-05:00

My grandpa's surprise 85th birthday party was on Saturday, and my mom was in charge of the cake. She had been planning on ordering one, but I had seen so many cool cakes on Pinterest that I wanted to try making it ourselves.

Inspiration:

from

Process:

First we baked four cakes, froze them, and used an electric knife to cut them into sixths.

Then we cut the curved tops off and stuck them together with lemon curd. This is called cake masonry.

Then we covered it with a coat of frosting. The crumbs made it look like funfetti.

Then we (my mom) covered it with another coat. Sounds like we're painting. B.e.a.utiful.

This is the best picture I have of the inside. Sorry it's not too pretty. Next time, we'd make the layers thinner so you could get a slice of more colors.

It was a success. Everyone oohed and ahhed, and we have a LOT of cake to feast on for a while.

I'll give into you

2011-07-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

Have you seen Country Strong? My mom and I rented it a while ago, and it was ok. I didn't love it, but I liked parts of it. I didn't really think the young guy in it was that cute, but by the end of the movie, he grew on me. I gave into him, I guess. Probably because of this scene:

It's not that easy

2011-07-14T20:14:00.003-05:00

I just read this on someone's facebook status:

Don't like gay marriages? Don't get one.. Don't like cigarettes ? Don't smoke them.. Don't like abortions? Don't get one.. Don't like sex? Don't have it.. Don't like drugs? Don't do them.. Don't like porn? Don't watch it.. Don't like alcohol? Don't drink it.. Don't like guns? Don't buy one.. Don't like your rights taken away??? Don't take away someone else's. {re-post if you agree}

I did not re-post. While I agree with some of these things, I disagree with most of it. It's just not that easy. Nice try, though.

It's back

2011-07-14T00:42:00.003-05:00

The freezer paper stencil bug came back. I had it before having Beck, and it returned. Here's what I've done recently:

First, sorry that my photography skills suck. You might just have to deal with it because photography just isn't up there on my list of interests. Now, looking at myself looking marvelous after YOU take MY picture and work your magic? That's an interest of mine.

Second, I realize that all of these but one have the same design. I was kind of lazy, but I'm prepared to explore now. Spread my wings. Take my knife to different parts of the paper.

Third, isn't my model cute? I get him to smile like that by saying something that I also say to Harley to get her to do one of her tricks. "Show your teeth!" and then I show him what I want him to do, and he does it. I've said it a hundred times: kids and dogs are so alike. So far.

Sharing Time

2011-07-14T00:09:00.004-05:00

I love these. I eat at least one every day. (One slice, not the whole thing. But I bet I could do that pretty easily.) The title of Sharing Time was because I'm sharing this piece of information with you. I would rather you buy your own.

Veronica + Logan Forever

2011-07-10T23:41:00.000-05:00

from

To the two of you who watched Veronica Mars on Netflix while you were sick, Logan or Piz? (I'm talking to you, Natalie and Missy. I think.) I would also like to be friends with Veronica. Or Kristen Bell.

(in)Appropriate Birthday Card

2011-07-10T22:09:00.001-05:00

Here's a card I got this year for my birthday:

Then inside it said, "Where's your birthday party at, bitch?"

Hair

2011-07-01T21:31:00.001-05:00

That's all I could muster for a title.

I may or may not have gotten extensions. (Clip in. And I did.)

Is that piece of hair in front of my left ear bugging anyone else?

Oh, and here's a picture without them:

Firefly

2011-06-26T19:33:00.000-05:00

I have another race to document. This isn't the last, so if you think these are boring, come back another time.

On June 4th, my mom, Matt, and I ran in a night race. It was a 5K or 10K at 9pm, so you were supposed to wear glow sticks or anything that would be good in the dark. On the website, it said that for the 10K, you had to finish the first 5K (the first of two loops) in 30 minutes. I emailed them and asked if that was strictly enforced because I run closer to an 11 minute mile. The person wrote back and said that it was strictly enforced until last week because they were approved for a new route and that we would have two full hours to finish. I signed us up. The website continued to say that you needed to finish the first half in 30 minutes, so I asked them again on their facebook page. Again, they said the time limit had been lifted.

After all day of working on costumes (mainly Matt's), we got to the race. We should've gotten there earlier, but it was an hour away and we had to carbo load (ha) at Ihop and pick up Beck's babysitter, etc. We looked for the end of the line to get our bibs, but we couldn't find the end. We kept walking, walking, walking, and walking! It was crazy long. We became friends with the people in front of us, and we weren't sure we'd be able to run. We definitely wouldn't start on time, but that's ok. Around six or seven people asked Matt if they could take a picture with him. About 45 minutes later, we finally got our bibs and some velcro things that had blinky lights on them that we could put on our legs.

We finally started the race, and we left my mom pretty much at the beginning. It was so packed with people that we had to weave in and out for a long time. We saw a water station that was filled with people, so we didn't bother to stop. That ended up being the only water station during the whole 5K, so we had to wait until the 2nd half to stop there. People made comments the whole time about Matt's costume. A cop that was stopping traffic said, "That is a secure man." Everyone loved it.

The 5K runners split off and went through their finish line, and we kept going. After about a mile, we should have seen the runners behind us, so we wondered if they closed the 2nd loop to the people behind us. Sure enough they did, and they didn't let my mom complete the 2nd half. That was very annoying since they assured me twice that there was no time limit. I know Matt and I didn't finish the first half in 30 minutes, so I don't know what was up with that.

When we finished, there was a costume contest. The prize was an iPad2, and I thought Matt had a good chance of winning. The judge looked at a few people and then gave the iPad to some kid and his dad, and they didn't even run with their costumes on. I was really annoyed that she didn't even look at everyone when it was such a nice prize.

The idea of the race was cool, but obviously some aspects were not too great. I'd recommend doing a night run if you have the chance! I'll do it again next year if I'm around since I'm sure they'll learn from their mistakes.

(Oh, then I was dying in the car on the way home and ran as fast as I could into the house and went to the bathroom. Running is FUN!)

My feet hurt from kicking so much ass

2011-06-14T02:15:00.001-05:00

Ok, here it is. Half marathon. May 7, 2011. Provo, Utah. 8am.

Let's see what I can remember...my mom, Matt, Jared, and I were running it, so we all drove there (from Orem to Provo, not Texas to Provo) together. I was planning on running with my mom, and Matt was deciding whether or not he was going to run with Jared the whole way. We got to the starting line, and we started looking for the pacer for a 2:30 finish. We didn't see it or anything longer than maybe 2 hours, so we were thinking that we were too slow to even have a pacer. But no, we found her. We talked to her until the race started, and then we kept talking to her as we started running. Some chumps took our spots as the pacer's friends, so we just ran behind them until they stopped for water. We didn't need any water yet, so we kept on trotting (with our feet, not with other body parts, if you know what I mean. That comes later.). I knew that as long as the pacer stayed behind me, I'd beat my goal of not taking longer than 2:30. No problem.

So we ran. And ran. And ran. Then around mile 5 I said hasta la vista to my mom. And ran. And ran. And ran. I would also like to mention that I did all this running while holding onto my giant, dinosaur-of-an-iPod from, like, 2005, and I didn't even listen to it. Because we were talking to the pacer as we started, I didn't have my earphones in, and I just didn't want to bother putting them in. We ran through neighborhoods for a while, and I often thought about putting it into someone's mailbox.

I'm trying to think of anything noteworthy to mention between leaving my mom and mile 8 or 9, where Matt caught up with me. The only thing I can think of is that there was a pretty old lady running, and she was going pretty fast for how awkward her running looked. She had to be like 50. Ha, just kidding. She was way older than that. At least 55. Man, I'm a comedian tonight. Oh, another thing I thought was funny was that I passed this area with all these people, and I thought it looked like a place that should have water and all that stuff, but it didn't. I didn't realize until wayyyy later that it was the relay pass-off place. Whatever you'd call that. I was like, "I think that girl just got to the race and came in there." Duhhhhhh. Oh, and these girls were doing the run/walk thing, and it annoyed me, so I was glad when one of us passed the other for good.

Ok, so Matt found me at mile 8 or 9. He told me he was glad to find me because he was getting really tired from running fast after leaving (abandoning) Jared. So we ran. And ran. And ran. And I wanted to stop because I was having my fun intestinal issues that popped up during my training once I hit 8 miles, but Matt didn't stop, so I didn't stop. I tried entertaining myself once after a water station by stepping on as many uncrushed paper cups as possible as I ran past them. Quite satisfactory. Better than crunchy leaves. Highly recommended, but only if you're not running in front of me, because that would be rude of you to take my cups.

Let's see, let's see...I guess I don't remember that much to talk about until we came to the end. There was a bridge that went over the freeway, and we had to run over it at the beginning, and since I was having a really stupid day, apparently, I didn't think about how we'd have to run over it at the end too. I saw that bridge, and I was like, "Oh crap." Just like Peter Boyle from Everybody Loves Raymond, even though they really don't love him. I don't. But I did like Peter Boyle's character. RIP, Pete. Anyway, looking up at the bridge at the end was totes different than at the beginning. At the beginning, you'd look up, and the whole thing was covered in people. At the end, I saw like four people. (Dad, when I write like, I think of you. No Lexus for me.) So we ran up that damn hill. RAN. And ran. And ran. We probably did it slowly, but we ran.

As we came down the other side, we could see the blow up finish line thing. It looked so far away, so I didn't feel excited or anything. Then all of a sudden, I felt like it was close. Really close. And I started crying like a freaking idiot. Not just tearing up, like sobbing crying. I turned to Matt, and I was like, "I'm CRYING!" I knew I would cry, but this just hit me, and I was surprised. So I said, "I'm so stupid! Marathoners can cry. Halfers can't!" So I made myself stop. But then I looked up and saw my friends who came to cheer me on, and it all started again. The stupid sobbing! I covered my face so they couldn't see how lame I was, and then I tried to keep it in. And I did. And I finished.

And that is the end of my ass-kicking story. Because the race then kicked mine, and I went to the bathroom. A few times.

Oh, here are my stats:
1st half: 1:11:12, pace: 10:52
2nd half: 1:12:55, pace: 11:08
Total: 2:24:07, pace: 11:00

Matt's:
1st half: 1:16:59, pace: 11:45
2nd half: 1:07:08, pace: 10:15
Total: 2:24:08, pace: 11:00

before

One year ago

2011-06-07T01:36:00.000-05:00

I randomly looked over at my slideshow gadget that always runs on the side of my computer, and I saw this picture. It's almost exactly one year ago today.

6.5.10

I don't know what's up with me. I need to update this stupid blog, but I just don't have the motivation. Soon, though. Soon. Maybe all of my blogging energy is used up running. I still need to write about my half marathon that was about a month ago and also a 10K that we ran on Saturday night. Then in about two weeks we'll be running a mud run 10K in California. Yeah, that's pretty much all I do. Run and watch Barney. I never thought my kid would watch Barney, and now I wake up with his songs in my head. That's the life.

Timber

2011-05-25T00:29:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, Matt noticed that my mom's tree was splitting in half, kind of. One of two main branches was splitting off of the tree, and it looked like it was going to fall onto the fence and maybe the AC units. Tonight we had a big storm with a tornado warning. We rushed home from a church activity that was called off early, and my mom's neighbor called her to say that the branch was splitting farther. We went out to look, and yeah, big time. Last time we looked, you could barely see through it. I decided to take pictures of the progress, so here they are.

using Beck's sand/water play thing umbrella

(I couldn't tell what I was taking a picture of...)

It was pretty exciting and interesting. I happened to be wearing my heart monitor, so I checked my heart rate after it was all done because I could tell it was going fast. It was up to about 112. ha. (I probably couldn't handle being a photographer of crazy stuff if this falling tree got me so excited.) It happened a lot slower and nicer than we expected, so for now there hasn't been any damage. It just slowly went down and rested on the fence. I'll have to take pictures tomorrow when it's light.

Saved by the Bell!

2011-05-20T21:40:00.002-05:00

I googled Saved by the Bell to get ideas for a project I'm working on, and I came across some good pictures.

ok, you should know that's Zack on the left.

Stacey Carosi (Leah Remini aka Carrie Heffernan from King of Queens)

And........any ideas who is on the right?

McDreamy.

I really like the fluorescent shirts.

My guess is that this is the "I'm so excited! I'm so scared!" scene.

Important conversations in the Collmar household

2011-05-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

Here's some insight into our everyday life.

Wendy: With Ashton Kutcher? (pronounced cooch-er)
Kari: Mom, it's Kutcher. You don't want to say cooch.
Wendy: Ku-coo-coocher?
Kari: Kutcher!
Wendy: Coo-Ku-coo...It's a bad name.

sloooow jellooooo

2011-05-05T14:46:00.000-05:00

watch this.

Wow

2011-04-28T01:10:00.000-05:00

Look at this before and after of Kelly Osbourne:

She looks awesome. Good job, Kelly! (She reads my blog regularly, so she'll see that.) You have some nice legs! I could look at this for quite a while. It's such a transformation.

35

2011-04-26T23:04:00.001-05:00

My parents had a bench put in at a big park by our house in Texas, and the bench has a plaque next to it with a dedication to my brother. It says something like, "Brandon Dennis Collmar, April 26, 1976-September 9, 2007, You're forever in our hearts. Love, Mom, Dad, Ryan, and Kari." Today my mom, Beck, and I went to the park to hang out at Brandon's bench. I put Beck on the bench and we tried taking pictures, but he didn't want to hold still.

Uh...almost the exact same weird pose...

This disgusting thing fell on my leg.

Whenever I read the "You're forever in our hearts" part, it makes me think of the time my mom told me what was going to be on the plaque. I don't remember if I misread the text or if she mistyped it, but I thought it was "You're forever in our ears."

Anyway, happy birthday, Brando! How do you celebrate there?

Another "did you know?"

2011-04-24T14:35:00.000-05:00

Did you know Sirius Black...

is also Commissioner Gordon from the Dark Knight?

Well now you do.

Happy birthday, Olivia Newton John Collmar Hobson

2011-04-22T16:57:00.001-05:00

My little pup is four. We're in Texas now, and we've been trying to get the dogs to be friends. For the most part, they're ok, but sometimes the B in Olive comes out, and she kind of attacks Harley. That surprised us because Harley has been the not-so-friendly dog in my life.

I'm lazy and just took a picture of her with my mom's laptop.

Here's cute little Harley.

I was thinking of taking Olive to the park to go swimming in the pond. We did that the other day, and I have some pictures of her doing it, but I'm lazy and don't feel like getting them from Matt's phone.

Oh, and here's Beck.

He's like, "Whaaaa? That's me?"

This made me LQTM (laugh quietly to myself)

2011-04-14T14:40:00.001-05:00

from here

and here

See more here.

Sup.

2011-04-11T01:14:00.001-05:00

Gator boots with the pimped out Gucci suits
Ain't got no job, but I stay sharp
Can't pay my rent, cause all my money's spent
But that's okay, cause I'm still fly

Remember that song? It makes me think of my senior year of high school.

I was just thinking about how I haven't posted in a long time, and that song just popped into my head. So there you go. Go listen to Big Tymers, I guess. (Or don't, you people over 30.)

Oh, have I mentioned that we're moving out of our condo in about a week? So help us sell this place!

Ever heard of moderation? A happy medium?

2011-03-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

I came across this on pinterest, and it really bugged me. Please say it bugs you too.

from skinny--bones.tumblr.com (the site name goes well)

I understand parts of it. I KNOW that it's nice not being fat. Maybe it's the hip bones part that rubbed me the wrong way. The whole thing just gave me the impression that you can't do anything you want, and that being a stick is how you'll be happy. I may just be sensitive to this stuff because my old roommates are working on their PhDs and studying representations of female bodies in popular media, and I've kind of been following their blog about things like this.

Well, for whatever reason, I don't like it. I like positive motivation instead, and lately I've been finding that on Awesome for Life, which is a blog of a personal trainer who is really into running. Here's something I liked from her blog:

Personal power is finding something you believe in and are passionate about and making it your own. You have the ability to do anything you want as long as you have 100% focus and tune out judgement from others. Women especially need to stick together, encourage each other and support each other. You need to honor and respect that you have the courage to take the journey and step into the void. Take out the ‘I cants’, the ‘I don’t knows’, the ‘buts’, and the ‘what ifs’ and replace them with ‘I can’, ‘I will’, and ‘I do’. Stay true to yourself and be the hero of your own journey.

I like that one much more.

I actually finished a project!

2011-03-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

Unfinished projects in our house at this moment:

- kitchen ceiling repaint in the spot where Matt moved the light

- regrout tile in entryway and downstairs bath

- paint the front door

- paint kitchen cabinets

- finish fixing hole in bathroom wall

- finish fixing hole in living room wall

- paint molding behind TV and desk

- finish sewing ruffles onto drapes (UGH)

- finish fixing wall and molding in laundry room where Olive ate it about three+ years ago

- sand stripes in upstairs bathroom, then paint it white, then paint yellow stripes

- paint new frame around mirror

- paint all molding upstairs

- regrout upstairs bathroom because of Beck's paint spill

- paint to ceiling in our room since we're not going to do crown molding anymore

- touch up ceilings everywhere

- frame and hang pictures in living room

I'm sure there's more, but I'll stop there. I saw a blog recently where the girl painted her refrigerator in chalkboard paint. You know I've been interested in doing something to my refrigerator. Remember this post? I started doing the polka dot idea, but it became a hassle, and when things become a hassle, I quit. I have every intention of finishing it, but I never do (that's also why I'm about to paint my upstairs bathroom for the...let me count...fifth, I think, time). This project was easy enough to finish.

I forgot to take a good before picture, and when I remembered, we had already taken the fridge out of its nook and I moved all magnets and papers to the front so I could paint the side. So here she is.

Here she is in all her painted glory. Minus handles. I haven't painted those yet. See our new tile backsplash? I should write about that sometime.

I read that you should first prime/season/prep (what's the right word?) the whole area by using the chalk on its side, then wiping it off. So now we're ready to go. Notice how Beck got a little excited and confused and started drawing on the wall. I laughed really hard at that. And don't mind his attire. Matt dressed him for bed, and we were out of pajamas his size.

New favorite quote

2011-03-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

When my mom was training for her first marathon, she kept thinking to herself, "If Oprah can do it, I can do it. If Oprah can do it, I can do it." I just registered for the Provo half marathon. From now until a little while after I cross the finish line, I will be thinking/saying/screaming to myself

How can you think/say/scream that without getting pumped up? And smiling? I think I should have a shirt made with this quote on it.

Falling in love. Over and over.

2011-03-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

We got a Winco within the past year, and I have fallen in love with it three times so far.

Falling in love #1: This was the first time we had been there, and we went because they sent out coupons for a lot of free stuff. I ended up paying about $25 for the stuff I bought.

Falling in love #2: I discovered the bulk section. Blueberry muffin mix?! Pasta?! Oatmeal?! I have definitely gotten older.

Falling in love #3: I discovered more of the bulk section: flavored honey and peanut butter (and almond butter) that you make into the butter before your very eyes.

This says orange honey. It's not all that orangey.

The peanut butter is on the left, almond butter on the right. I haven't tried these yet, but next time.

I don't think I can fall in love again, but I'm starting to hope for more surprises that make falling in love (again) inevitable.

Things that make me happy. At the moment.

2011-03-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

The screaming kids outside of my house while Beck is sleeping are NOT THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY. They are totes ruining this post.

Ok, in no specific order...

Afrin. This is magic in a bottle without a genie. I tried it in January with less-than-awesome results, and this time I used the heavy duty stuff. At first I scream "It burns! Oh it burns!" but then in a little while, I'm breathing in and out without it sounding disgustingly juicy. And I can say I'm fine instead of find. That comes in handy when I'm trying to seduce Matt.

Our new Dyson. A couple weeks ago, against my better judgement, we bought a Dyson. It was almost 50% off, I've been annoyed at our current vacuum, and Matt said DO IT! So I did. I bought it online and picked it up at Sears a couple hours later. I can't believe the dog hair that ends up in the canister. That's the best part. You can see everything you suck up. I keep saying that I can't believe that Olive's not naked with all the hair I keep vacuuming up. Isn't vacuum such a weird word? Anyway, if only the Kirby guys that came by a few months ago knew about this. They are the ones that inspired my longing for a new vacuum, more specifically a Kirby. But since I don't want to go into debt for a vacuum (they thought this idea was preposterous), I sold out and bought a much cheaper vacuum that is likely ripping my carpet apart. You win some, you lose some.

The thought that my Nike+ SportBand will come soon. Since I don't have a cool phone that has cool apps, this little cutie will tell me how far I run. I'm gonna be that really cool person that wears two watches. One will be this, and the other will be my Polar heart rate monitor/calorie counter. COOL. (how many times did I write cool? four. how many were sarcastic cools? two.)

And that's all the happiness I can muster for now. It was really descriptive happiness.

Weevil & Shaq

2011-03-12T01:03:00.001-06:00

I've been watching Veronica Mars on Netflix while I run on my treadmill, and I just came across something that surprised me. Did you watch Veronica Mars? If not, you won't care about this. Weevil, this guy,...

(from here)

was also Max from Kazaam! Don't act like you never watched Kazaam.

(from here)

Adoption

2011-03-10T15:15:00.000-06:00

My friend Chelsi wrote an awesome blog post about adoption and abortion. Check it out. It's goooood, and I agree with everything she said.

This reminded me of a Private Practice I watched a few weeks ago where a young girl with Down Syndrome got pregnant, and her mom decided to abort the baby because she couldn't go through raising another baby. Can anyone explain to me why those were the only two options? Give the baby up for adoption!!!

I just googled abortion for images, and they made me close to crying. Here's a good one, though:

Something you can count on

2011-03-10T11:06:00.000-06:00

Chocolate for me. Fruit for Matt. Always.

Reason 4,306,788 Olive hates us

2011-03-10T00:24:00.000-06:00

See! Punctuation IS important?

2011-03-08T23:47:00.003-06:00

from

Another commercial I hate

2011-03-07T23:42:00.003-06:00

Sorry for cutting off the right side of the video. I don't want to do anything to fix it.

Just because.

2011-03-01T23:21:00.000-06:00

from here

Newest Obsession

2011-02-24T19:57:00.000-06:00

I came across a site called ana-white.com where she has plans so you can make your own furniture. This is the one I'm most excited about at the moment:

Looks pretty normal, right?

How about now?

She also mentioned the idea of putting a Lego mat on the bottom of the panel.

This idea will work perfectly with our current coffee table. I've been waiting for inspiration about what to do with it, and it has finally come. See why I needed some inspiration?

When we got this table, it was just a brown coffee table, so I painted it black. Matt decided it would look better with some marble tile in the middle, so he cut out a rectangle from the top and put in the tile. Do I wish he asked if I thought it would look good? Yeah, but he didn't. When it broke, I obviously wasn't sad, but I didn't know what to do with it. Sometimes I thought we should just throw it away or donate it to the thrift store where we got it, but I could never make a decision, so it stayed. And now, it's destined to be brilliant! Hopefully.

Commercials that I hate Part 2

2011-02-15T21:49:00.000-06:00

I also hate the State Farm commercials with this guy. I hate the song in the background and how the camera looks around at random people while he's talking. Isn't it weird how things rub you the wrong way for no truly good reason?

Commercials that I hate

2011-02-15T16:53:00.000-06:00

In case you were wondering, here are some commercials that I hate:

I think it's the combination of her teeth and the way she talks at the end about tweeting.

LOLtastic

2011-02-15T13:32:00.000-06:00

Ok, maybe it's just LQTMtastic. Don't you know what LQTM is? Laughing quietly to myself. (Alex, did I say it right?)

For you, Jen!

Smile!

2011-02-15T00:44:00.002-06:00

I played more with the feature on my camera that I talked about the other day. Where the camera takes a picture automatically when it sees a smile. I'm not sure why this would be beneficial, but I guess it could be handy at some point. It also makes for some funny pictures.

sometimes it doesn't seem to recognize your smile, so you can't help but make your smile REALLY BIG!

I was yawning.

Not ready, and not smiling, you stupid camera.

It saw her smile.

This makes me think of The 40-Year-Old Virgin movie cover.

Still trying to help the camera recognize my pretty smile.

This was probably when Matt said, "ok, last one."

Essay question: What kind of point-and-shoot camera do you have, and do you like it? Explain.

LOL

2011-02-13T22:51:00.002-06:00

I'm not a fan of when people write lol. Sometimes I do it with certain friends, but it's always as a joke. I really don't like when people write it when they have a popular blog. It realllly turns me off. Just letting you know of that pet peeve.

Have you ever looked at the Stats feature about your blog? I never did until last night, and it definitely made me LOL. I loled as much as Jared when he watches talking animals on TV or the cat in Shrek when he makes his kitty eyes.

Jared, you're laughing, aren't you?

Anyway, here are the keywords people used to search for something, my blog came up in the results, and they landed on my blog.

That many for lotoja? Weird.

Five for ok hand signal?

Much more muchier made me laugh a little. I mean lol a little.

Literally gramar "pet peeve" is ironic.

"my goiter" made me lol to Jared heights. But I was also really tired. (Refer to last post for proof.)

A Vaster Improvement

2011-02-13T02:36:00.001-06:00

Vaster isn't a word, is it? Back when I got bangs, I wrote a post called A Vast Improvement. This post is about an even better improvement, so I'm calling it A Vaster Improvement.

Tonight I've been playing with a new digital camera to see if I like it, and I was trying out a trick it can do. It recognizes when someone is smiling, and it will automatically take a picture. While I was reviewing the pictures, I was thinking, "Wow, my double chin isn't showing up much anymore!" Have you ever heard the Kate Moss quote "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"? Well it's pretty controversial because people interpret it as not eating at all, but I interpret it as just not eating more than my daily caloric goal and keeping my eating in check. (Caloric goal? Is that an acceptable term? Because I just came up with it.)

Here's the bangs picture with tonight's, which also includes bangs.

Yay.

Oh, remember how I wanted to lose five more pounds? Well I've pretty much done it. I keep hopping back and forth over the number, but I'd say I'm there. I didn't really feel any different after losing those five, so I'm kind of going for another five. We'll see. Anyway, I'm glad that second chin of mine is getting the hell away. I wish there were a way to show a really big smile after I swear. :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Does that work?

Do you say swear or cuss? I used to say cuss, but maybe I changed to swear after living in Utah for a while. Maybe I should write a post about cussing. Or I mean swearing. Because sometimes I think it's really funny, but mostly only when coming from funny girls. Like my girl Chelsi. And I like writing in fragments. Obviously I'm tired.

Blog Boredom

2011-02-07T02:13:00.001-06:00

I should update my blog. I guess I'll just go through my camera and show you what's been UP.

In December we (Matt) poured concrete countertops over our existing countertops. They're not quite finished, but here's a preview.

Before, about to pour.

After, but with some imperfections we're (Matt) is trying to fix.

Beck was banished from the kitchen during the process.

Matt's new toy

Beck was playing with a ziplock bag of fish rocks. They flew EVERYWHERE.

In the hinges. They're still there at this moment.

On top of all the drawers and doors.

I made Hasselback potatoes that ended up being pretty boring for how long they took. More seasonings needed for next time.

Olive doesn't like when Matt holds her up to the ceiling. She holds completely still.

Tape and paint

2011-01-31T14:51:00.000-06:00

The nice thing about buying cheap furniture from the thrift store is that you feel free to do anything to it. I got inspired to paint stripes on to my table. So I did.

Before:

During:

After:

19 : Something you miss

2011-01-27T16:25:00.001-06:00

College was fun. I didn't work, and I just did whatever I wanted (and went to school).

I dyed my hair cool colors.

Hung out.

Went to the Howl.

Learned to hate the snow.

Played tennis, racquetball, and other interesting games.

darts thrown from the couch.

sometimes we'd close our eyes, spin in circles, then throw the darts.

we patched a lot of holes.

the gallon challenge. didn't end well.

Dyed Easter eggs that had swear words on them. I won't show you the picture of those.

Ate at the Junction to put junk in my trunk. (can also be categorized under "Dyed my hair cool colors.")

Learned to tie a tie and get Utah Hair.

Hung out on the LoveSac. A lot. And sometimes we'd fall asleep on it and wake up to go to class and decide to just skip it.

Took bowling. Twice. From our favorite teacher, Professor Lofthouse.

Made a lot of money from my friend Tony (the one smothering me in the snow above) through bets.

Shot guns. While sporting cute hair.

And much, much more.

18 : Something you regret

2011-01-26T00:40:00.001-06:00

I don't feel like I have many serious regrets. I guess I've gotten over most things. I'll try to think of some.

I regret ordering my couch in a brownish gray instead of a gray gray.
I regret painting my living room green.
I regret not listening to the paint people when they told us to get primer for our red walls.
I regret the paint I used when I painted our kitchen cabinets.
I regret the paint I chose for my bathroom. I'm in the middle of painting it for the 4th time, I think.
I regret not transferring my Gold's Gym membership sooner.
I regret being confused when I took the picture for my license.
I regret ever watching Anchorman.
and You Don't Mess with the Zohan.
and The Waterboy.
and Jon Heder movies.

K I'm done thinking. Bye.

17 : Something you're looking forward to

2011-01-24T01:49:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I skipped some, but moving on...

I'm looking forward to moving into a house and out of Ogden. Have you ever watched Revolutionary Road? Well I feel like Kate Winslet's character, but without the abortion and whorishness. When we moved here, we were supposed to be here a year. A YEAR. It's been almost 3.5. I feel like we're trapped in limbo. Something that doesn't help is that because I thought this would be a temporary place, I didn't put any effort into getting to know anyone. I just went to work and came home and hung out with Matt. That worked at the time. Backfire.

I know you're not supposed to constantly look forward to the next thing in life, but I'm doing just that. I'd like to think that I'll be content once I get there, but let's be realistic...I'll be looking forward to something else.

2011-01-22T01:03:00.000-06:00

Have you heard of Pinterest yet? You can browse other people's pins or add things you find on a website. It's kind of like saving your favorites, along with a picture. See? Here's mine:

14 : A picture you love

2011-01-20T00:29:00.001-06:00

Looking back at this photoshoot from last April is funny because Beck is so little and fat. And he only has two teeth! Cute little munchkin.

13 : Goals

2011-01-18T21:27:00.000-06:00

Right now, I can think of only one goal. Get to my goal weight. I thought it would be pretty doable, and once I got there I would go further, but I've been stuck with about five pounds to go. Now that I have my Polar calorie counter (and since the holidays are over), I'm hoping it will be easier. I was also really annoyed at my scale because one day it would seem fine, then the next day it would say five pounds lighter. That would be nice, but only if it were true. So today I got a new scale. Much like the one below. Yeah, I mostly got it because it looks cool. Well, wish me luck.

12 : What you believe

2011-01-18T01:40:00.000-06:00

This is a recent conclusion, but I believe that most hairstyles (for women) would look better with bangs. Here are some pictures I saved on my computer. If you have cute hair, you might be in my Hair folder, too.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

11 : Favorite TV shows

2011-01-16T11:28:00.003-06:00

I just discovered How I Met Your Mother. My least favorite character is Ted, the guy who narrates it. Marshall, the guy from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is my favorite.

Favorite guy: Ross. Favorite girl: Monica

Favorite: Gabby

Favorites: JD & Elliot

And I had to add this one:

10 : Something you're afraid of

2011-01-15T11:59:00.002-06:00

Like Ron Weasley and almost everyone I know (yeah, I know Ron), I don't like spiders. I looked up pictures on Google, and gross! Look what I found!

supposedly that's from a brown recluse.

Here are some more pictures to turn your stomach.

I'm gonna have spider nightmares now. If you want to see more disgusting pictures, just do a Google search, and you'll be thoroughly grossed out.

9 : A picture of your friends

2011-01-14T11:20:00.020-06:00

I like all of these people.

From bottom left:

James, Sara, & Sophie

Tony & Ashley

me, Beck, & Matt

Ryker, Ashley, & Jesse

Jared & Dustin (aren't they cuuuute?)

Jared, are you gonna kill me because of these last two posts?? :)

Speaking of Jared, you should check out his weight loss blog here. Do you watch The Biggest Loser? If so, you will know of Rulon Gardner. He owns a gym in Logan, and his wife is a personal trainer, and Jared is doing a biggest loser kind of thing with them. He's planning to lose 100 pounds by the 4th of July! He blogs every day about how things are going, so check it out.

8 : A place you've traveled to

2011-01-13T11:19:00.000-06:00

Last night I was looking at pictures of a cruise I went on with Matt and our friends. It was in March 2008, so almost three years ago! I kind of think we need to go again, but to somewhere new (better). We went to Ensenada and Catalina Island. I'm sure some of you have done the same cruise.

We stopped in Vegas for the night.

We're in front of the shark tank at the Golden Nugget.

Classy Vegas.

practicing for Titanic

waiting for dinner, I think.

The group.

Jared sang.

We were walking up this street from the blow hole, and some vendor guys heard me say my friend's name so they started yelling "Ashley!" for her to go over to them. It was funny, but creepy.

Jared wanted to dance, but I didn't really.

Then we stopped in Laguna Niguel on our way home to hang out with my cousin and go to the beach.

Bliss. Haha

7: Favorite Movies

2011-01-12T13:38:00.001-06:00

Let's play a game. I'll post a picture, and you have to guess what movie it is. Answers below.

When I watched this for the first time when I was older, I realized how funny it is and how much I didn't understand it when I was younger.

The only movie that has ever been better than the book.

I don't know why.

The country, maybe?

1 Edward Scissorhands; 2 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory; 3 Donnie Darko; 4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; 5 Brokedown Palace; 6 The Wedding Singer; 7 Girl, Interrupted; 8 Home Alone; 9 Back to the Future; 10 The Wedding Date; 11 Dirty Dancing; 12 Death Becomes Her; 13 Stepmom; 14 10 Things I Hate About You; 15 Major League; 16 Now & Then (you should browse this)

I just came across this picture and decided to post it because Zac Efron is hot. Or pretty.

6 : A picture of something that makes you happy

2011-01-11T21:52:00.001-06:00

If I haven't made it clear, I enjoy being warm. I was a lifeguard in Texas one summer, and any time I would feel like complaining about the heat, I'd say to myself, "Just think about Logan winters," and I wouldn't feel so bad about the heat. I'll take heat any day over the cold. I used to agree with the whole "you can always add more layers, but you can't always take off more layers" idea, but now I totally disagree. COLD SUCKS!

You should check out this post. It will make you want to travel.

5 : Your Siblings

2011-01-11T00:45:00.001-06:00

I have two brothers.

Here's Ryan. I call him Rojo (because he has red hair, but it's not so red anymore).

(not beck)

Here's Brandon. We called him Brando. He died September 9, 2007. This is a picture of a collage we put together for his funeral.

Sleeping

2011-01-10T14:31:00.002-06:00

Remember how I was looking for a certain sleeping picture when I was talking how I love to sleep? I found it. Someone once told me that my legs look plastic in this picture. Or maybe he asked me if my legs were plastic. I don't remember what he said, but it was weird.

Matt and his Gingerbread/Graham Crackers

2011-01-09T23:30:00.001-06:00

My mom likes to make us make gingerbread houses when we're in Texas for Christmas. Matt is usually the most inventive. Here he is making his space needle in 2006.

Here is Matt's sunflower this past Christmas. It fell over right after I took these pictures.

4 : Your Parents

2011-01-09T18:50:00.000-06:00

Here's one:

And here's the other:

3 : Your First Love

2011-01-08T21:56:00.000-06:00

Well this seems a little awkward.

We met in the fall of '01.

His name was Jason.

He was tall and skinny.

I guess that's kind of my thing.

2 : Meaning behind your blog name

2011-01-07T13:42:00.000-06:00

This one's a toughy. My blog name is House of Hobson. My last name is Hobson. Clever, right? Especially since house and Hobson both start with H?

Maybe I need a new blog name. Suggestions?

1: Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

2011-01-06T17:00:00.002-06:00

Ok, hello, my name is Kari. Duh.

This is the most recent picture of me.

Beck has been sick, and man has he been sad. You can tell he's sad and tired because he never lays his head down on your shoulder.

15 interesting facts? This is always hard, and I recently had to write some, so this will different. It'll be more like 15 things that come to my mind.

UNO: I get ingrown toenails a lot. I just dug one out. (Thanks for the technique, Mandeigh!)

TWO: When I was little, I had an ingrown toenail and had to play a soccer game. After the game, I took my sock off, and it was bloody and puss-y.

TRES: Beck just went to sleep without a binky. Hell yeah. (Since he's sick, he has a stuffy nose and can't use it because he can't breathe with it in, so I thought it was perfect timing to take it away. Only five months after I wanted to take it away, but whatev.)

CUATRO: I'm watching a neighbor kid for a little while, and I'm scared that it's going to ruin #tres.

CINCO: The other day I was thinking, "I'm so glad no one asks me to watch their kids because I just don't know what to do with other people's kids."

SEIS: But this kid is so good! So I don't mind.

SIETE: When I was younger, I probably babysat like three times.

OCHO: In high school, I would talk in Spanglish. I'd just throw in any Spanish word I knew.

NUEVE: Yes, I did notice that I wrote TWO instead of DOS. Did you?

DIEZ: Am I spelling these numbers right? I just looked them up, so now they should be.

ONCE: I ♥ nap time.

DOCE: It's funny how you really like your kid, but you also really want a break from him/her for a little while.

TRECE: I got a Polar heart rate monitor that calculates how many calories I've burned. 893 since 9 this morning.
CATORCE: Counting calories sucks.
QUINCE: My scale told me I lost 27 pounds since the other day. I'm gonna call BS.

Switch Up

2011-01-06T13:25:00.000-06:00

That challenge was too hard. I'm gonna start a new one. This one has a couple that are repetitive of the last one I did, so I'll either skip or change them. Hopefully I follow through this time!

Day 1 - Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2 - Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3 - Your first love
Day 4 - Your parents
Day 5 - Your siblings
Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7 - Favorite movies
Day 8 - A place you've traveled to
Day 9 - A picture of your friends
Day 10 - Something you're afraid of
Day 11 - Favorite TV shows
Day 12 - What you believe
Day 13 - Goals
Day 14 - A picture you love
Day 15 - Bible verse
Day 16 - Dream House
Day 17 - Something you're looking forward to
Day 18 - Something you regret
Day 19 - Something you miss
Day 20 - Nicknames
Day 21 - Picture of yourself
Day 22 - Favorite city
Day 23 - Favorite vacation
Day 24 - Something you've learned
Day 25 - Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26 - Picture of your family
Day 27 - Pets
Day 28 - Something that stresses you out
Day 29 - 3 wishes
Day 30 - A picture

1 : Something you hate about yourself

2011-01-03T13:11:00.000-06:00

Something or somethings? I hope this isn't too much of a downer post, but I have no control over the topic, you know!

Let's start with the superficial, shall we?

- boobs. too big.
- stomach. too fat.
- stomach. too stretched.
- face. too fat-prone.
- toes and fingers. too stubby.
- hair. too thin.

And a little deeper...

- I don't have confidence in myself. That's why I'll never have a career. I always thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom because that's just less scary. Luckily I want to raise my own kid, so it works out.
- I'm shy. I think this kind of goes with the above issue.
- I cry easily. Thanks, Mom.
- I'm judgmental.
- I'm not tidy.
- I'm moody.
- I don't admit that I'm wrong.

Here we go again

2011-01-03T00:02:00.001-06:00

I have a new list of topics to blog about for another 30 days (thanks Jen!), but if you have any ideas, keep 'em coming.

This list is deeper than the last, and some seem too personal to put on here, but I'll just go with the flow and see how it goes. I'll start tomorrow because I don't feel like it tonight. Maybe some of you should try it, too. Could be interesting.

Day 1 - Something you hate about yourself
Day 2 - Something you love about yourself
Day 3 - Something you have to forgive yourself for
Day 4 - Something you have to forgive someone for
Day 5 - Something you hope to do in your life
Day 6 - Something you hope you never have to do
Day 7 - Someone who has made your life worth living
Day 8 - Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit
Day 9 - Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted
Day 10 - Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn't know
Day 11 - Something people seem to compliment you the most on
Day 12 - Something you never get compliments on
Day 13 - A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 - A hero that has let you down
Day 15 - Something or someone you couldn't live without, because you've tried living without it.
Day 16 - Someone or something you definitely could live without
Day 17 - A book you've read that changed your views on something
Day 18 - Your views on gay marriage
Day 19 - What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 - Your views on drugs and alcohol
Day 21 - (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 - Something you wish you hadn't done in your life
Day 23 - Something you wish you had done in your life
Day 24 - Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 - The reason you believe you're still alive today
Day 26 - Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 - What's the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 - What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 - Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 - A letter to yourself, tell yourself everything you love about yourself

Help

2011-01-02T19:51:00.002-06:00

I liked that 30 day challenge because it gave me the topics to write about. I need another one of those. Any ideas?

I'm having issues

2011-01-01T01:13:00.000-06:00

Now's it's up to 16 days and 20 hours. This isn't going to work. Stacy, we need to talk.

17 days and 4 hours...

Days 27 & 28

2010-12-28T17:49:00.000-06:00

A Place I Love

A Person I Love

Day 26

2010-12-26T15:26:00.000-06:00

I didn't think of anything to write yesterday for A Funny (True) Story, so I may come back to that. (And maybe not.)

A Child I Love

Duh.

Day 24

2010-12-24T15:20:00.000-06:00

Something that makes you feel better

Sleeping. When I get really upset or depressed, I get this overwhelming feeling to sleep. Have you ever heard that you shouldn't go to bed mad? Total crap. Everything is better after you sleep. And I'm freaking awesome at it. That should have been my hobby the other day.

I'm on my mom's computer to look for a certain sleeping picture since she has pictures from forever ago, but I found these instead. I kept asking her if they were real. As in not pretending.

Day 23

2010-12-23T12:21:00.048-06:00

A travel story

In May 2005, most of the girls on my mom's side of the family went to Italy. There were nine of us, one was pretty pregnant, and another had a baby. Oh, and my grandma was 81 or 82. Either way, she was old. (None of you better show her this post and what I wrote!!)

Here we are, minus Kaylene, in an awesome hotel.

Was it the Ritz? Whatever it was, it was awesome, and we got to stay in it thanks to Carol.

At the Colosseum.

I was so hot in that shirt, and please notice I was staying In Touch.

No clue why we took a picture here. I think it was in Florence.

Missing CA.

Posing by all of our luggage. Minus CA again.

And now for my story. Oh I'm going to have to tell a couple stories about this trip. We were going to take a train from one city to the next, and the train was going to leave very soon, so we all just jumped into the nearest car, and the train left. Then we realized we were ten cars away from where we were supposed to be. So all nine of us, with all our luggage, had to walk to ten cars. That's a lot. When we'd go into the next car, everyone would stare at us. In one car, they all clapped and cheered, "Bella bonita!" when they saw the baby (Ansley) because she's so fair, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She turned heads everywhere we went. It was weird. Anyway, if you've ever been on a train like this, you know that when you need to get to the next car, you push a button so the doors slide open, you're in the middle, and you push another button for the other side to open. This is pretty tricky when you you have luggage and/or a baby and/or a stroller. I was one or two people behind my grandma while she was trying to get through the doors, and I think she was leaning forward as she tried to get the stroller (with no baby in it) through the doors. While she was bent over, the doors shut on her head! I couldn't stop laughing, and I turned around to the rest of my group, saying, "Grandma's head got shut in the door!" and laughed a lot more. The doors also shut on my aunt's foot as she tried to stop them from shutting, but that wasn't as funny.

Was that funny? Or did you have to be there?

I don't remember my other story now. Well bye!