Finally Friday!

So, a few months ago you might remember me talking about eating healthier and working out more. I actually did really well, for a while at least. This past month I have "fallen off the wagon", for lack of a better phrase. Actually, I did more of a "tuck and roll" off the wagon. After going almost 3 months without it, my morning caffeine addiction has returned (that being a Dr Pepper, I don't drink coffee). I was doing pretty good and would only have one can a day, but this morning, temptation got the better of me. I stopped at the gas station across the street and got the "mother of all fountain drinks". Oh so good though!

My morning beverage. And for the record, that is NOT a real turtle in background.  

It's Friday, which means it's NEW FRIEND FRIDAY!! Welcome everyone visiting from The Girl Creative, thank you for stopping by!

The question for today is: What is your most embarrassing moment?

I guess mine would have to be the time in college when I got a concussion and cracked my tailbone, all in the same move (oh yes, I'm that talented). My college friends never seem to get tired of this story. A little background: I went to a small Christian college and the rules of the dorms were that members of the opposite sex were not allowed past the lobby. Now, every so often, the dorms would have "An Open Dorm". Guys could come visit the girls in their dorm rooms, and vice versa. Visitors had to sign in with a picture ID in the lobby (no, I'm not kidding). And, our doors had to be left open. Oh, I'm very serious. This is a key part to my story.

One night during an Open Dorm, my roommate and I had about 8 or 9 friends hanging out in our room. Important side note: Our dorm doors were what I call "fire doors", so we had to use a chair to prop it open. We had a chair in the middle of the doorway to keep it from closing. At some point during the evening, our R.A. said we had to have an emergency meeting in the hallway. My roommate left the room first while I told our friends to stay put, we would be right back. My roommate yelled at me to grab a pen because we had to fill out forms, so, in my attempt to hurry and get out to the hall, I thought, I'm just going to jump over the chair. Yeah, I jumped a little too high, hitting my head on the doorframe. On the way back down, I hit the chair, which slid out from under me, causing me to land straight on my butt on the floor. Everyone laughed at first, because I suppose it looked a little funny. Then, they realized I wasn't moving. My boyfriend ran over to check on me, and according to him, some "un-Rachel like" words came out of my mouth. (Sorry mom!) THAT is when he realized something was very wrong.

At first they were more worried about me having a concussion since I hit my head pretty hard. So, my roommate and boyfriend drove me to the E.R. After a CAT Scan and an X-ray, they realized I not only had a concussion, but a cracked tailbone as well. For anyone who has had a cracked tailbone, you know there is NOTHING that can be done. Except heavy duty pain killers and a donut pillow to sit on (we aren't going to talk about that stupid pillow though).

So, that night my poor roommate had to wake me up every two hours and ask me three questions. The doctor said if I hesitated at any question, I had to come back in. Needless to say, on a small campus such as mine, word got out what had happened. The vice president of the school even called to check on me. I'm still a legend to this day in that dorm. I hear whenever there is an open dorm, that story comes up. Beautiful. That is just how I wanted to be remembered!

Anyways, happy Friday friends!! Make it a great one!! : )

Thursday Thirteen

13 Apps I Have On My iPhone

(Sadly, I have a lot more than 13, but I'm only listing 13).

The Holy Bible- The app I downloaded has like 15 different translations of the Bible. My personal preference is the New International Version (NIV). The only problem with trying to use it during church is that I look like I’m texting or not paying attention. I promise that I’m looking at the Bible! : )

Genesis 29:17- a GREAT Bible verse! ;)

Facebook- Yes, yes, I have a social networking addiction. And I do go crazy with my mobile photo uploads!

Sportscenter/Fox Sports/MLB (I decided to group my sports apps into one). This comes in handy when I’m trying to catch the score of a game (instead of texting people to find out). Also, when I’m not able to watch the game, it gives me real time game updates. I especially like the Fox Sports baseball gameday page. It tells me who is at bat, who’s on base and who’s pitching. I can even get play by play of the inning. 

Shazam- Who ever created this app is a genius. You know when you hear a song on the radio and you wish you knew who sang it? With the Shazam app, I just open it, hold my phone up to the radio, and it will tell me the name of the song and the artist. I was even able to tag a song at a restaurant one time (if there is a lot of background noise, it doesn’t always work).

Words With Friends- This is basically Scrabble® without using the Scrabble® name (copyright issues). You can play games with other friends that have the app. I will admit that I got too addicted to this one so I stopped playing for a while. I just started a new game with a friend today.

Yelp- This app will find your current location and locate the nearest restaurants, bank, grocery store, gas station etc. It also has reviews. This is great to have when you are in a town you are not familiar with!

WFAA DFW/Dallas News/CBS 11 (again, grouping these into one group)- this has all my local news, sports, traffic and weather updates.

Echofon- This is used to update Twitter. I haven’t really caught on to Twitter and how to use it exactly, but I do follow some famous people. They are entertaining! I try and update my “tweets” at least once a day.  

Sudoku- I finally learned how to play this game. It can be entertaining (and frustrating) all at the same time!

Chick Fil-A- Oh yes, there’s an app for that. I can find the nearest Chick Fil-A from my location with just one press of a button!

U-verse TV- Don’t you hate it when you are not at home and you realize you forgot to set your DVR for a show? Yay, I have an app that allows me to control my DVR from my phone. It’s awesome!

Fandango/Flixster (another grouped together set) I can find out what movies are playing closest to my current location (instead of having to call “The Movie Phone Guy”). I think I can also purchase tickets through my phone.

PAC-MAN- I just downloaded this one. Come on, if you are a child of the 80s, you know you wished at one point you could have PAC-MAN at your fingertips whenever you wanted!

For more Thursday Thirteen blogs, go here.

Wednesday Ramblings...

For the past month, leaving my apartment in the morning to go to work has been an obstacle course. Our sprinklers are set on a timer, and I guess the best time to water is the same time that I'm leaving for work in the morning. My work schedule changed back in February, so I started going to work an hour earlier. The issue with the sprinkler didn't start until right after we changed for Daylight Savings Time. I figured that the timers just hadn't been reset, so I gave it about a week. No change. At that time, the sprinkler was rotating so I literally had to walk halfway down my steps, wait for the sprinkler to start moving away from the building, and take off running. So, I called my front office and politely told them about the situation. They said they would look into it immediately. After the "Great Air Conditioning Unit Disaster of 2008", my front office is pretty good about listening to my complaints. For those who don't know me or my ongoing "situation" with my apartment complex, I'll try and be brief.

Two years ago my AC unit wasn't working properly. One of the complex's maintenance men even told me that I needed a new one. Basically, there was something malfunctioning that was causing it to overheat every other day, and also MAJORLY affecting my electric bill (for those of you in Texas, this happened in June-July-August, so yeah, during our triple digit days). After going round and round with my front office (who swore up and down that a $400 electric bill was normal for an 800 sq foot apartment), I called my lawyer. It's amazing how my front office's attitude changed once they received a call from an attorney. Within 48 hours, I had a new AC unit, the apartment complex owner's personal cell phone number and free rent for a month (and a discount on the next month). The complex owner swore this was the first she had heard of the situation and was not happy how it was handled. She apologized and said to call her personally if I ever had any more problems. SIDE NOTE: I noticed about a month after I got my new AC unit, other buildings were getting new units as well (I have a picture of my old unit somewhere. It looked like the first AC unit ever built!) I have no doubt that I'm known in the front office as "The White Girl With A Lawyer". BTW, my lawyer is like my second mother, she was not going to let anyone mess with me! : )

Okay, so that wasn't brief. Anyways, back to my current situation. I talked to the complex manager and he said he would come out and take a look at it. After a week, I noticed the sprinkler no longer rotated, it just sprayed one direction. But a new problem came up. Something was causing the sidewalk to start flooding (so I either had to run through the sprinkler or wade through water). I sent a friendly email to our manager thanking him for fixing the sprinkler situation, but now the sidewalk was flooding. Last Tuesday as I was leaving for work he was actually out there observing the situation. He said he could see the problem and would make a phone call (he also complimented me on how nice I looked. I tell you, the man fears me). Thursday afternoon as I was picking up my mail, I ran into him. He said he called the landscaping company to come out and fix the flooding situation ASAP.

So, all this rambling is to basically get to this: As of this morning, the situation is not fixed. In fact, the flooding is worse. I'd like to present pictures (or as I like to call them, "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit B".) ;)

As you can see, the sprinkler is right at the bottom of my steps, there is no way to go to the left. And to the right, we have "Lake Ghetto" (as I call it).

A closer look at Lake Ghetto. I have to jump over the water (landing in mud) to get around it. This is quite a challenge when wearing 3 inch heels I might add!

So yeah, that is my "venting" for today. Thank you for listening.

Next, I would like to publically apologize to C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers for all the ugly things I said about him last season (he blew a few saves, I got mad, we are moving past that now!) :) Anyways, he's a starting pitcher for the team this season and has done a phenomenal job! If the bull pen could have done their job, he would be 4-0 right now. But let's not go there. So, I'm sorry C.J. As of now, you are on my good list. I would have my picture taken with you if the opportunity came up. Just don't do that ridiculous looking Fu Manchu mustache thing again! :)

C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers

  

And lastly, a friend sent me this cartoon today. I wanted to end my post with it (I think it's sweet):

Giddy 15-year old girl moment...

Sorry friends, you have been warned (and my close friends are already aware of this), when I meet someone famous, I turn into a giddy 15-year old girl. ESPECIALLY around baseball players (I know, I know, they are "regular, normal people", but I can't help it). : )

Okay, as Rangers fans know, Ian Kinsler has been on the DL since Spring Training. He's scheduled to return to the Rangers line up THIS FRIDAY. Anyways, they decided to have him play a few games with their AA team, the Frisco Roughriders, before his return. His first game was last night. Luckily, I was already planning on going to that game with my friend Will (yes, yes, he had free tickets. I know, my "spiritual gift" is being able to obtain free tickets from friends. God is good, what can I say?) :) Thanks again Will for the tickets (and for letting two of my peeps have the extra ones). So, when we get there, they are giving out Ian Kinsler bobbleheads (he played with the team back in 2004, I think these were leftovers). We realized that other Roughrider team members were signing autographs near the third base side, so my friend Monica and I decided to chance it to see if Ian would sign the bobblehead box (it was the only thing we had). We realized while waiting that neither one of us had a pen or marker. This sweet little boy overheard us talking about it and offered to share his extra Sharpie marker (the kid was prepared- he had baseballs, pens, baseball cards, and other things to be signed. I can learn from him).

I know, I'm rambling. Moving on. Ian eventually walked out. He was very sweet. He gave one of his bats to this little boy and he signed so many autographs. When he finally got to where Monica and I were waiting, we asked if we could get a picture, and he was like, absolutely. Very nice guy. Looking forward to him being back in the Rangers line up!

Me and Ian. Yes, it looks like I'm holding his hand, but I swear he was just handing me back the marker. I just didn't move my hand until after the picture! : )

Monica and Ian. We'll never tell him that we were both wearing our Jarrod Saltalamacchia T-shirts! : )

Our view of the field (with Ian up to bat).

 The man with the tickets- thanks buddy!

Me and my peeps! A cool front decided to hit and the temperature dropped to like 60 degrees before the game started. I'm so thankful Monica had extra jackets in her car!

Me and Deuce- one of the Roughriders mascots (Daisy is the other one). He's supposed to be a prairie dog, but we thought he looked more like a Chupacabra.

If you are ever near the Frisco area, I highly recommend going to a Roughriders game. The park is very family friendly (there is even a playground for the kiddos). The cheap seats are $7 and the most expensive seats are $19. Honestly there isn't a bad seat in the park. I think the "cheap seats" are 26 rows from the field. Food prices are about what they are at any major league ballpark. Unlike the Ballpark in Arlington, you cannot bring in outside food or drinks. They do allow you to bring in bottled water, but the label has to be removed. You can check out the Roughriders website for more info!

It's just another manic Monday...

It hasn't necessarily been a BAD day. I'm just ready for the work day to be over!! :)

New Friend Friday...

TGIF!!!



It seems on the New Friend Friday website the question of the week is:

What is (are) your favorite TV show(s)?

This is going to get embarrassing. I have more "shows" that I watch now than I have in my entire life. Due to my constant busy schedule (thank you for the little "life" that I have), I don't always get to watch them the night they are on. Thank goodness for a DVR. So, here you go (please don't judge me). I'm literally hanging my head in shame, but I think this will explain why my DVR's memory is constantly full.

-The Big Bang Theory (I love, love love Jim Parsons, AKA, Dr. Sheldon Cooper)

-CSI: Miami (I enjoy making fun of David Caruso)

-CSI: NY (I LOVE Gary Sinise. He's an awesome actor, and musician!)

-CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (I know, I watch all three of the CSIs. Personally, this one is my favorite). :)

-LOST (only FOUR episodes left before the series finale. SO MANY QUESTIONS ARE LEFT UNANSWERED! But I did find out the series finale will be on my birthday! :)

-V (okay, I actually have only watched 3 episodes of this one, the rest are on my DVR. I plan to catch up, eventually. Maybe this summer while there are only reruns on. And yes, I'm talking about the new one, not the one from the 80s!)

-Criminal Minds (those close to me know my reason for loving this show!) ;)

-Psych (although it's in the "off season" right now. The USA Network has weird TV schedules. The new "season" will start in July or August).

-The Mentalist (I actually feel guilty watching this one. It's like I'm cheating on Shawn and Gus from Psych. For those who don't watch either show, they are very similar. Psych was the first one to air, and The Mentalist has a very similar scenerio. Psych makes fun of The Mentalist a lot!)

-Ghost Whisperer (although I feel this one has jumped the shark. The past season has just been too weird).

-Cold Case

I know, I have an unhealthy addiction to crime shows. I guess it started when I was younger and would watch Murder, She Wrote with my parents. :)

Anyways, happy Friday, thanks for stopping by! I'm going to leave you today with this HI-LAR-I-OUS cartoon my sister Mary sent me! It made me laugh!!

FOR THE MEN WHO HAVE US, THE LOSERS WHO LOST US, AND THE LUCKY PEOPLE WHO WILL MEET US!!

Thursday Thirteen...

So, I found out this week that Rascal Flatts will be making their yearly stop in North Texas in July (**insert Rachel doing her happy dance around the room**). After missing their concert last year (for the first time in five years), I'm determined to see them this summer. In honor of that, I decided to list 13 of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs (I obviously like them all, but since it's called "Thursday 13", I'm only going to list 13 of them). If you would like to hear the song, click on the name. It will take you to the music video.

So, in no particular order...

1. Bless the Broken Road

2. Life is A Highway (from the soundtrack to the movie Cars)



3. Take Me There

4. This Everyday Love (I included this one because Joe Don Rooney looks so dorky in this video. It's off their first album so it's 10 years old. FYI, he's not dorky looking anymore! His hair is MUCH better!) :)



For those not familiar with Rascal Flatts, this is Joe Don.

5. These Days

6. Here's To You

7. Me and My Gang

8. Bob That Head

9. Summer Nights

10. Prayin' For Daylight (another one with an a-dork-a-ble Joe Don!) :)

11. Unstoppable

12. What Hurts The Most

13. I Melt
 

Wednesday Ramblings...

I saw this video online earlier today. It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a......baseball player!? (FYI, you will not need sound, even with my speakers turned all the way up I couldn't really hear anything). Still, it's a funny video.

So, Monday night a friend and I used our free Studio Movie Grill passes and went to see How To Train Your Dragon. I guess I've been living under a rock because I had never even heard of this movie. It was a-dor-a-ble! We saw it in 3D. This was the first movie I had ever seen in 3D (not counting the 20 minute ones they show at Six Flags or at the IMAX theaters.) It was fun!

Lovin' the 3D glasses!

Moving on....So, before you ask, I can go ahead and confirm, yes, I am making voodoo dolls of the whole Rangers team. Sheesh, we have lost FIVE in a row. Who do they think they are, the ASTROS? Come on guys. Seriously. IT'S TIME!!! I'm going to the game Saturday. I might have to walk down to the dugout and have a talk with them (FYI if you hear on the news about a 31 year old female arrested for jumping into the Rangers dugout, be advised it might be a while before my blog is updated again). : ) Just kidding, I would never do that. I hear you get arrested and BANNED FOR LIFE from the Ballpark if you jump onto the field (I'm assuming the same rules would apply for the dugout). Is it sad that the arrested part doesn't bother me as much as the being banned for life from the Ballpark? I'm sure my parents will be proud of that statement! : )

Anyways, happy Wednesday! We have made it to the halfway mark of the work week. I leave you with this (yes, I LOVE Garfield!!):

Habitat for Humanity

This past Saturday some fellow co-workers and I had the pleasure of working on a house with a great team from Habitat for Humanity. I had never helped out building a house before so I was a little nervous about what I would be doing. The team from Habitat was great and explained exactly what we needed to do (they even loaned me a tool belt!) : ) I felt very professional!

I spent the morning putting up an insulation dam around the garage area and front door, and then after a quick lunch break, I was up on the roof nailing down shingles. If you don't know me, I'm not the biggest fan of heights, especially heights that don't have something around you or a rope in case you fall. But I eventually got used to it (I even stood up, instead of scooting around on my butt!)

I thought I would share a few pictures with you. Pictures are courtesy of my friends Monica, Kaci and Mary.

Looking cute with my toolbelt!

Waiting on instructions.

Waiting for the pre-build meeting to start (okay, I'm smiling at the camera). Unlike Michael who is not paying attention! :)

This picture was taken after we carried 85 pound bags of shingles to the side of the house. My shoulder still hasn't recovered!

Nailing up the insulation dam.

Me and Marci finishing up the insulation dam.

The team that brought lunch was welcomed with open arms!

 

At this point I'm not too sure if I want to be climbing up there!

 

 I made it to the top! Well, the top of the ladder at least!

 

Praying I don't fall!

It was very windy, my cap almost blew off once. Look mom, no hands!

Victory! I'm now Rachel the Roofer!

 I think this is when I got scratched by the sheet of shingles. It was only a flesh wound, I survived! : )

 

Me and Marci perfecting our "shingling skills".

 

Yes, we were having fun!

Me and Christy taking a much needed afternoon break!

Pink Doing Green...Go team!!

A Somber Anniversary...

This morning I was reminded that today marked the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. It's so hard to believe that it's been 15 years since that day. I remember I was in my junior English class when we heard the news. In a "pre- 9/11" era, it was the worst terrorist attack we had ever seen on American soil.

I wanted to honor and remember the 168 lives that were lost that day (that included 19 children). Garth Brooks made a video to his song, "The Change" by using footage of that day. I honestly don't believe anyone can watch this video without crying (so you have been warned!)

For the men, women and children who lost their lives that day, we will not forget...


Garth Brooks video: The Change from Tim Miller on Vimeo.

Hello Friday, you are looking good!

A big shout out to Sherwin (a new friend who stopped by my blog yesterday) for sharing this verse with me. I had to share it with ya'll today, I know there is someone else out there who needs to hear it.

Have you ever just needed to hear something? THAT verse is something that I needed to hear today. Thank you again Sherwin!

I've tried the following website out the past few weeks and have made some new friends, so I  wanted to post about it. Welcome everyone from New Friend Friday!

This website allows you to meet fellow bloggers. It seems practically everyone on there is very creative and always posting a new craft item or recipe. Sadly, I'm not that creative (and we all know I can't cook-well, if you know me, you know that I can't cook). I know how to plastic canvas stitch, that is about it (my grandma taught me how). I keep promising my friend Lindsay I will make her a Kleenex box cover (speaking of which, I need ideas Linds!) Once I do that, I will post it on here. Until then, here are a few items I made at Christmas for some friends: 

For my friend Martha, I made Veggie Tales magnets. These are two of the three that I made. Her grandsons love them when they go visit her!

For my friend Paula, I made this plastic canvas Christmas stocking. This was quite possibly one of the hardest patterns I've ever worked on, but I enjoyed it!

I know what you are thinking. I plastic canvas stitch and my favorite actor is Dick Van Dyke. I'm a 60 year old trapped in a 31 year old body. Sometimes I feel about 60. But I'm told I look about 25 (23 on a good day). Although a few weeks ago I went to my nephew's high school baseball game and I was asked if I was a student. I almost hugged the guy! :)

Anyways, happy Friday friends!! Have a great weekend!!!