30 Something

As of May 20th I am officially a "30 Something." This year for my birthday I was an extra lucky girl. My husband, Andy, organized an awesome birthday bash that included a night out with some of my best girlfriends. Fortunately, I still have two years to think about what to do for his 30th! By the way, Andy and I were both born on May 20th. But, this year he graciously stepped aside and allowed me to take center stage on our birthday.

I imagine that it is typical to reflect upon your life when you are hitting a milestone year. You consider your ups and downs, where you have been, where you presently are, and the direction that you wish for your life to take. At least this has been my experience. This past year has been especially tumultuous due to the recession, loss of a job that I loved, fibromyalgia flare ups, depression, and sadness over not being a mother yet. So I've had a lot to reflect on and have done a lot of thinking about what I want and do not want for my 30th year here on earth.

1.) I hope to have a closer relationship with Christ.
2.) I hope to have more faith and less fear.
3.) I hope to have more more peace and less worry.
4.) I hope to be more unwavering and less unsteady.
5.) I hope to be more bold and less timid.
6.) I hope to be more proactive and less reactive.
7.) I hope to trust God more and have more confidence in His perfect plan, as imperfect as it may seem to me at times.
8.) I hope to become more patient with God's timing.
9.) I hope that when my heart is downcast and my spirit discouraged that I will remember that "This too shall pass."
9.) I hope to exercise more and strengthen the body that God chose to give me in all His wisdom.
10.)I hope to be more responsible with the resources that God has blessed me with.
11.) I hope that I spend a lot more time with my friends, both new and old.

Adventures in Puppy Sitting: Part 1

Remember that old 80's movie, "Adventures in Baby Sitting?" I used to love that movie when I was a kid. Especially the part when the baby sitter rushes the kids home while driving 80 mph on the freeway and the kids think she's driving like an absolute maniac. I don't remember how old I was when I first watched this movie, but I remember thinking "Wow, 80 mile an hour, that is fast!" I'm sure my mom wishes that I still thought 80 mph was really fast!

Well, lately I have had my own adventure in baby sitting, or I guess you could call it "puppy sitting." My sister Morgan and brother-in-law Ryan have a little four month-old English Bull Dog named Ruger. And yes, he is a pistol! Ryan is in Italy serving in the Army Reserves and Morgan works long hours. So, somebody needs to let this little germ bucket (just kidding Morgan, he's not really a germ bucket) out to tinkle and well, you know.

So during the daytime we have a special addition to our zoo, which already consists of two dogs, two cats, and I must not forget the fish (which oddly enough I never see Andy feed him or her, but yet he's still alive.)

So here is how a typical day of puppy sitting goes at the Walker house:

7:45 am (I think)- Morgan arrives with Ruger in tow and lets herself in with a key I provided. She is sure to follow my strict instructions of arriving quietly and placing Ruger in his crate so as not to disturb my beauty sleep.

9:00 am (at least as far as Morgan's concerned)- I joyfully awake, excited to greet the day and whatever it may bring. Okay, okay, this isn't exactly how it plays out. It's more like; I finally force myself to get out of bed, slowly limp to the living room, yawning all the way and wondering what harm would it really do if I just went back to bed. But, I responsibly resist the temptation, because I know that my zoo needs me.

9:05 am - I sleepily smile at Ruger, let him out of his crate, and whisk him out the door before he does his business on my living room floor. Ruger is then eager to oblige and after proudly glimpsing at me to make sure that I saw his "work" he runs off to chase dried flowers that are blowing in the breeze, but then he easily becomes distracted by a lizard. I become annoyed because I'm still entertaining the idea of going back to bed.

9:05 am -12:15 pm - I try (key word is try) to find job opportunities listed on the Internet and work on an appropriate resume for each one that I want to apply for. Ruger however, has his own agenda for the day. Top priority, torment the cats! I attempt to run interference because I'm concerned that this will not end well for someone and I'm not talking about the cats. Ruger remains completely oblivious that his short life is close to being snuffed out by a four pound kitten. At one point I even made myself laugh because I actually yelled "Kids, stop before someone gets hurt!" Sound familiar?

12:20 pm - I remember that Ruger has a bladder the size of a pea, so he probably needs to go out again. We go outside, Ruger lays down in the hot gravel and goes to sleep. Okay, I'm really annoyed this time, because I'm still in my pajamas and I'm standing in the front yard. After all, I don't want the neighbors to think that I'm lazy! "C'mon Ruger, go pee! Go pee Ruger!" I'm careful to use the cue words, just as I was told by his mama. By the way, did I mention he came with a set of instructions? I've been told that I'm not so good at following them. Finally, I'm feeling pretty huffy and I just pick the 20 pound dog up and take him inside. I guess no treat for Rugs this time.

12:30 pm - Morgan calls to check on Ruger. Actually, I'm convinced that she calls to check on me, to make sure that I got out of bed to take care of Ruger and that I'm following all instructions as written. "Yes, Ruger's fine. Uh, huh, of course, I already took care of that." Oops! I make a mental note to give Ruger his medicine and to make sure his food is s-l-o-w-l-y fed to him to ensure that he doesn't turn into a combustible canine for Morgan later that night.


To be continued........

Only in My Dreams

Okay, so I tend to have alot of nightmares, really bad ones. Sometimes even hellish ones, you know, the kind horror movies are made of. Probably nothing to fret over too much. Most likely just the culmination of an over active imagination and watching way too many things on t.v. that I shouln't. But that's for another day. Today I would like to share some very strange, yet kind of funny dreams that I have recently had. So hear it goes.

The other night I dreamt that none other that Lil Wayne (he's a rapper, Dad) himself actually kidnapped me. What was even funnier was that he held me hostage in an r.v. Once Mr. Wayne was preoccupied I managed to escape to a nearby home, which, oops, turned out to be Lil Wayne's! Upon deciding (which even in my dream didn't take long) that maybe I should seek refuge somewhere else, I went next door. There, the kindest older Southern women (looked just like Della Reese) welcomed me in. She was a midwife, too. Just thought you should know that. That's where my dream trails off.

Actually though, if I was to be kidnapped by someone who looks like he would just assume cut my heart out and then eat it for lunch, it would be Lil Wayne. Because, believe it or not, I do like his music and I looked him up on Wikipedia (my news source for all things of no consequence) and he was in the gifted program as a child and played the part of Tin Man in a play while in middle school. Seriously, how bad can he be?

A couple of nights later I had yet another dream about American pop culture. This time I was accompanying Nora Walker, the matriarch from Brother's & Sisters, to find her missing son Tommy. Okay, so in real life I'm starting to worry a little that my fantasy and reality are starting to overlap. Because, on the show Tommy really is missing. Back to my dream; We found him alright, yup he was dead (which wasn't so funny.) Don't worry though, because two seconds later he was alive again. Then I proceeded to call Sarah, Kitty, Kevin, and Justin to tell them all about our adventure (which was really funny.)

Well I can't really think of a moral to this story. If you can, will you please let me know?

Seek and Destroy

Ok, well here it goes. I have decided to start blogging. "Why," you ask? Well, I took this quiz on Facebook and this is what the almighty Facebook quiz had to reveal about my life.

"Candice took the What is the theme song of ur life??? quiz and the result is "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica
The I-Hate-This-World-So-You-Can-All-Die type! You hold a lot of resentment towards this cruel, cruel world, and you feel no one understands you and its all your parents fault... Don't blame them for being naive... Just simply take out your anger without hurting anyone... Like getting a hobby? Or just destroying everything in your path, as the song suggests (please do not take that literally....)"

So here is my new hobby. I have decided to start my very own blog in hopes that I wont become a domestic terrorist or throw my cat in the dryer just because I'm curious what would happen to a feline after an hour of permanent press. I can hear the sighs of relief and I know that you must be thinking that since Candice is now blogging, you can rest easy and feel safe. Hmm, I wonder how many other fabulous ideas the Facebook quiz has brought forth?

Seriously though, I have way too much free time on my hands and about 23 years ago I learned how to write. I might as well put that skill to some use. Besides, I've never exactly been shy about letting people know my deepest, darkest secrets. But, before all the fun begins, let's get some housekeeping out of the way.

1.) If you read my blog in hopes of being enlightened or extremely entertained, you might end up being extremely disappointed. Really, there's not a lot of noteworthy events happening in my life right now. But, I promise to do my best and if all else fails, at least I will be entertained.

2.) I'm going to attempt to be as "real" as possible, so I won't sugar coat too much. As a note to my liberal friends (you know who you are,) I dearly love you and I respect you. But, this is my blog and I promise not to be offended by anything you may write on yours.

3.) Sometimes (okay a lot of times) I tend to use words like "crap" or "dang." If this offends you, then cover your ears, or eyes, or, well, okay that doesn't really make sense. Moving on...

4.) I don't feel so fantabulous (Andy's word) all the time and this may occasionally reflect in my blog. I'm not trying to garner any sympathy, donations, or casseroles, or rain on anyone's parade, I just want to be honest. Plus, it's cheaper to blog about how I feel than it is to go to counseling!

5.) Finally, I may quote scripture from time to time and I know that I will talk about being a Christian. This I will not apologize for!

Whew, that's a lot of rules! Can you tell that I'm an oldest child?