Questions Answered: LISA!

Tonight’s questions come from the most awesome Lisa. Lisa is so full of funny and I actually get a little giddy any time I see her pop up on my twitter or facebook feed or my feedreader because I know that I’m about to giggle at her fabulous sense of humor.

Favorite feature about Ben?
Physically, his eyes. They really are a window to his mind. I can generally tell what kind of mood he’s in from across the room by his eyes. They look the best though when he’s smiling.

Non-physical would be his passion for everything he believes in. He LIVES life.

Biggest fear?
Death. I’m scared to not be here to watch Cassidy have children and grandchildren. To not see the kind of man and husband my brother becomes. To not see Ben grow more handsome as he get old and wise. It’s something I try and deal with but there are times where the fragility of life hits me and I can’t breathe and I can feel adrenaline pump into my veins as a panic attack starts but I just close my eyes, think of the HERE and NOW and remind myself to be thankful for that, and to live each day like it’s the most important one yet.

Biggest wish for Cassidy?
To know what it feels like to love somebody so much, you’d walk in front of whatever danger might exist to protect them. To know that overwhelming feeling of aww and joy as you look down for the first time at a new life you have created. To know struggle, and what it feels like to overcome, and to persevere and to LIVE. Just to experience EVERYTHING life has to offer.

Favorite healthy food?
It’s say a toss up between Ellie Krieger’s turkey meatloaf and my own homemade turkey chili. I’ll have to post that recipe soon!

Favorite unhealthy food?
Homemade: Fettuccine Alfredo with Parmesan Crusted Chicken!
Restaurant: Hamburgers! I’m a TOTAL red meat eater. Thick, and juicy and rare and smothered in blue cheese, please!
Dessert: Godiva Chocolate Soufflé from Bella Vista

Questions Answered: AMY!

I’ve decided after seeing the questions from my last post that it will probably be easier to answer them each in separate posts. You can still go ask questions here if you want and I’ll get to them all eventually.

First up is Amy who is pretty damn awesome. She’s been a huge inspiration to me in my weight loss battle. You should go check her out!

What are your tattoos of? Will you get more?
My 1st one is on my lower back and is blue daisies and a sunflower. It reminds me of my Nonnie (my dad’s mom).

The 2nd one I got because one night my dad served us entirely too much wine and somehow my step-sisters and I talked ourselves into tattoos. We each got a lotus flower in a different spot. Mine is on my ankle. My step-mom calls us the Lotus Sisters.

The 3rd one is on my wrist and is a hibiscus which is the Hawaii state flower. I got it a few days after Ben proposed to me next to a waterfall I’d just swam in in the middle of a beautiful tropical fain forest.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to get another one and as soon as I have the money (and the design) I will. I already know what I want and it will be something special for Cassidy.

I know that people are either totally PRO or AGAINST tattoos and I fall pretty much in the pro category. I’ve heard girls say before “Why would you try to dress up a Bentley” and other equally narcissistic bullshit and WHATEVER. Pretty much every girl I’ve heard utter those word has more in common with a used up busted Honda than a Bentley. Also, the answer is: for the same reason you put makeup on, wear perfume or keep scrapbooks. Memories and beauty. Nothing wrong with that.

Where did you meet Ben?
I met Ben streetracing. True Story. He had friends that hung out in the same circles I did and he posted on a local streetracing message board that I moderated. We had a lot in common and would hang out if the group all happened to be together. I was still married at the time and it wasn’t until a few months after Troy and I had separated that Ben started showing “interest”. We have SO MUCH in common that it was hard not to like him right back! Everybody ASSUMED I liked another guy so I think people thought I’d end up dating him. They were wrong. Ben was so nice and sweet and really sensitive to my feelings being a new single mother struggling to make it on my own. I knew within a month or two that I never wanted to be without him. <3

How did you name Cassidy? (Love her name! You don’t hear it often.) What are other names you considered?
My first Cabbage Patch doll was named Cassidy. I’ve known since then, probably around 7 or so, that my first daughter would have that name. For a week or two I considered Breann but at night when I’d dream about her, it was always Cassidy. So she became Cassidy Breann Stacy.

Do you think you’ll have more kids?
I want one more, yes. The timing just hasn’t been right for it to happen. I imaging a baby with Ben’s eyes and smile and my heart swoons.

In which I hiked.

We hiked 3.5 miles up and then UP SOME MORE, then back down the UVAS canyon. It was a gorgeous day out and it was great to get out into the open wilderness and get lost in the beauty around us for a few hours.

We started out with a decent ascent up the first trail which became a narrow set of switchbacks through a beautiful shaded path. It was a little steep at times but doable and Ben walked out in front of me to set a pretty decent pace. I was able to keep up with him for the most part and only had to stop a few times for water breaks.

And to admire the view.

And to make sure that we were avoiding the poison oak that was EVERYWHERE!

We made it to the peak of that hike and I was feeling pretty great and checked my heart rate monitor for the first time to check my calorie burn and it was at almost 500 calories! So it was time to refuel with some Kashi bars before heading back down the mountain on the more scenic, but not as steep trail.

We were checking the map and I saw this offshoot trail that was only half a mile long and thought that we should totally try and tackle that and Ben was up for anything so we decided to hike up it and see what was at the top. The map had the name of the trail and the word STEEP in brackets but I thought that it couldn’t be much more steep than the one we had already hiked, right!? BOY WAS I WRONG! I jokingly asked Ben to pose in front of the sign so that I could title the picture “before I died”. I didn’t realize then that THAT HALF MILE WOULD ALMOST KILL ME!

It took pretty much every single bit of will power I had in my system, then some of Ben’s, to get me up that hill. It was TOUGH. We stopped at one point to take pictures and after the first two Ben was like, “You should at least TRY and look happy! LOOK HAPPY!”

So I did.

You can kind of see how steep the climb was there. Trust me, it was twice as steep as it looks there. Even though Ben is in much better shape than I am and was able to motor up that climb MUCH faster than me, even he stopped to enjoy the break at the top.

After that short break we started back down that steep path and it was then that I realized that the rest of the hike back to the car would be down hill and this is how I felt about that.

All in all it was a GREAT way to spend 2.5 hours of our Saturday and burning 1480 calories in the process. We had such a great time that we are planning on hitting a more challenging 11 mile hike next weekend. I was pretty proud of myself for making it not only through the hike, but up that last half mile section. I know that a year ago, I’d NEVER have been able to do that. I’d have either not even attempted it or quit half way up because it was too hard. It’s just such an amazing feeling to know that I accomplished a big goal for me which was to go on a hike with Ben. It’s a goal that I’ve been working towards for a long time and I DID IT!

Not only did I make it through the hike but I felt AWESOME after the fact. We stretched really well when we got back to the car and my legs feel great now. We set a goal to keep doing these mini practice hikes and eventually, hit Half Dome in Yosemite. Ben has done it before and he’s said he’s in better shape now than he was then but it’s a TOUGH hike so it’s not something we are going to rush out and to tomorrow, but eventually!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

In the meantime.

It’s been a hell of a month.

I was in an accident. My car was totaled. I’m sad about it but Ben and I had already been throwing around the idea of a more fuel efficient car since I drive 100 miles round trip to get to work every day. We are trying to take the payout for the car, then money we can make selling some of the aftermarkets parts off if it to pay for a used Prius or comparable car.

Ben had surgery on his spine to fix a protrusion the size of a silver dollar. The good news is that the numbness and constant severe pain he was feeling in his leg has gone, the bad news is that recovery from the surgery was not nearly as easy as they made it sound! He’s about a week and a half out from surgery and is slowly getting better every day. He’s even been able to spend a little bit of time at the dog park the last few days.

Oh, and also, we are like totally broke. Well, that’s not completel true but for the first time in a long, long, long time I am REALLY worried about money. And it sucks. I look at everything around the house and wonder what I could sell it for. And the stress is finally starting to break me down. I’m so much more lucky than a lot of people in that Ben and I have a support system, like my amazing Dad and step-mom, but we both REALLY want to NOT have to ask for help. I mean, if it comes to that we are both willing to do it, it’s not so much a pride thing, it’s more of… we REALLY just want to be able to do this. To prove to OURSELVES that we are fighters and willing to do whatever it takes to fix things.

So, I dunno, that’s where I am right now. I know there are a lot of people out there worse of than we are so I feel like an ass complaining about stuff like this but… this is where I am. I don’t know what the future holds for us right now but I know that we are going to face it together and fight it as a team. I’ve heard that money problems like this often are hard on relationships but it’s been the opposite for us. We’ve both realized that no matter how broke we are, a hug, or one of us grabbing the other’s hand while watching the dogs play somehow feels more powerful. We are one and we are going to do this together and this hug, it’s free, and it feels good.

Friday is so full of Random.

So is this post.

And lots of hard breaks.

Because they’re fun.

See?

They really get the point across.

Like, THIS SENTENCE is DIFFERENT than the last and deserves to be on it’s own.

So does this one.

This one too.

*nods*

Cassidy has an 82.91% in math, the class she really struggles with, which is a B-. A regular B (minus the minus) is 83%. That .09% added that bastard minus to the B and she has to have B’s or better to continue band. Our rule, not the school’s. Since tests are 30% of her grade, I think if she’d have gotten just ONE MORE QUESTION right on her test she’d be above the 80%.

I can’t actually figure it out though because, according to the website the class is weighted as:

30% – Test
20% – Homework
20% – Quiz

So. Where is the other 30% coming from? Is it based on how adorable and happy the kids look while doing the HOURS of homework at night? Because if so, Cassidy should totally have an A++++++++ EXCELLENT STUDENT WILL DO BUSINESS WITH AGAIN!!

Don’t you just love Ebay?

And pie?

THREE DAY WEEKEND!

This morning about .526 seconds after I got into work at 6:00AM one of the managers asked me if I’d come in tomorrow for some overtime and since it was so early my brain was all OMG OVERLOAD SERVICE UNAVAILABLE!! 503 ERROR! ABORT!! ABORT!!

So I used the “I have to check with my husband to make sure we didn’t have plans already” excuse.

So I messaged Ben.

Then he messaged back that when he went to bend over at the dog park his back went all haywire and I kind of feel like I’m responsible because I was looking for a valid reason not to have to work. Like, I wanted to tell the truth but I didn’t want the truth to be “Because I don’t fucking want to.”

Sorry, Ben.

I made ThePioneerWoman’s Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce last night but I added sauteed mushrooms too. OH. MY. GOD. I died and came back to life after every bite. It was a religious experience that I recommend everybody try at least once in their lives.

I’m going to reread Twilight then New Moon again so that Cassidy and I are prepared for the movie. Cassidy won’t have to read them again since she’s already read them 73 times each. Also, she wore some shirt to school on Wednesday that said something about how ‘every girl has to have a vampire’ or something. She’s totally Team Edward according to her backpack and you aren’t even allowed in her room unless you profess that Edward is, in fact, where you allegiance lies according to the handmade sign on her door.

Reading New Moon again is going to be a chore. It was my least favorite till I read Breaking Dawn, DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BREAKING DAWN, but the movie looks promising and I want to go in fully prepared to be able to pick it apart with the rest of the internet the next day.

I think that might be all I have for now.

OH!

I’m knitting again. I really missed it. Knitting is fun and productive and yarn smells good. Did you know that?

Also, official list of COMPLETE SEASONS of shows I’ve watched (while working, heh) in the last 3 months:

Gossip Girl: Seasons 1-3
Booth: Seasons 1-5
Dexter: Seasons 1-3
True Blood: Season 1
Six Feet Under: Season 1-3 (need to finish this series)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1-7 YES! SEVEN!
Angel: Seasons 1-5

And actually, I watched Buffy Season 1-3 then started having to rotate in Angel so that the crossover episodes would make sense. So, an episode of Buffy, an episode of Angel, and episode of Buffy, an episode of Angel. It went pretty much that way except for a few times when the crossover made more sense if you watched one or the other more than once before picking up the other again according to the Buffy/Angel crossover guide website. There’s a website for that!

Did that just make sense?

I hope so.

Also, I’ll totally repeat that process again sometime in the future because cheesy vampire and corny slayer jokes are awesome. Also, Buffy and Spike totally belong together. Also, I kind of have a crush on Warewolf Seth Green.

Also, the ending of the last show of the last season of Angel was lame.

I hate when they do that to shows I love.

Okay, NOW I think I’m done.

Yes, I am!

Later!