What I'm Thankful For

I love this message of "what are you thankful for?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuwid8_O8dk

Good bye, Ambien

I've now officially been off of Ambien for 2 months now...whoo hoo! I never thought this day would come... (literally). I was prepared and completely content to stay on this little bedtime pill for the rest of my natural life. I have had a hard time falling asleep the last couple of years (light sleeper), and since my seperation, I almost couldn't sleep at all. So, Ambien had become a lifesaver in more ways than one. Not only would it put me to sleep, it did it quickly so I didn't have my mind wandering about all the craziness of life. The second my head hit the pillow, my mind would start thinking about anything and everything. Things to do, things that had been done, things that could possibly get done, things that make me sad, things that make me happy, do I need gas in the car?, do I have enough eggs for breakfast?...stupid stuff...important stuff...but stuff that didn't need to be thought about when one is trying to recooperate from the day and recharge their batteries. Even if I was so exhausted, I couldn't see straight, I would just lay there....for hours.

A few months ago, I decided to try to get off of it. My doctor said it takes two weeks to get out of my system, and that it's difficult to sleep the first few nights without it. I didn't sleep great, but I slept. I figured though in the end, I'd need to get back on it, and just realize it's something I might always need to get to sleep. I decided to power through though and went to GNC and picked up some Melatonin...which is a natural herbal sleep aid. That does the trick if I'm having a hard time falling asleep. I'm so happy!
So, a final farewell to my good friend, Ambien. You were amazing and did the job you told me you would do. You helped me to sleep. You made it possible for me to get up and go to work. Thank you, Ambien, but I will no longer need your services.
Forever in your debt,
Rachel

My nephew and Brother come out for a trip!

My younger sister Joy has 3 children, and her middle child (Brooklynn) had the wonderful opportunity to spend 3 days with my twin sister Robyn all by herself. Since this fun escapade, her older brother Isaiah has been begging me for when it would be his turn to come spend alone time with me. It's been a difficult year to find a time to pin down, but finally I was able to get him out to visit the week before Halloween. My younger sister had reservations about him flying all by himself, so my wonderful brother, Allan said he'd leave after his last college class on a Friday and fly out with Isaiah and spend the weekend with us. We had a wonderful weekend. Isaiah really wanted to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I think he really liked it a lot, and I felt bad telling him we had to leave so we'd have enough time to do everything else on the agenda.
We went to In and Out Burger..and Isaiah ate his entire cheese burger!... I'm not the biggest fan of In and Out (I'm a Fatburger girl if I'm being completely honest), and I haven't eaten at one of these in years, but it's quite the experience and he got a t-shirt to take home with him as well.
He got to feed the sting rays and eagle rays...I love watching them in the water...and still consider scuba diving with them in the ocean as one of the top things I've done in my life. There's something magical about it.
I didn't do the best job with his makeup for his Halloween costume. He wanted me to write the words "BOO" in red blood makeup, but we ran out of time. He was so cute and loved the spook alley and all the booths at the carnival. I'm so glad he was excited to come the the Halloween Party!
Uncle Nathan came with us to the beach. Isaiah loves Uncle Nathan and was so happy he came. He would have been happier having him do his Halloween makeup as well I'm guessing! Isaiah had a great time. I loved watching him just happily playing in the sand and running into the water. He was excited for every little sea shell he found and was equally excited chasing the pigeons and sea gulls. He went on the roller coaster on the pier with Allan and Nathan and had a great time. I'm sad to see them go...it was such a short trip and I wish it could have been longer :)

Blog name?????

I have no idea what to call this blog anymore. It can't be Nannie News now...since I'm no longer a Nannie.
I decided to go back to my maiden name when the divorce was finalized. Keeping the Nannie name would just be a sad reminder that I was happliy married once....even though currently, that is not the case. And I know myself, keeping the last name would only make it a difficult sad reminder to me. Remind me of happier times that are no more.

Ok, enough of my sad thoughts...so, what should I name this blog now? I really have no idea..not one creative bone in my body these days...and I need some help. Ideas please...make a comment as to what you think I should name it. I need all the help I can get.

Isn't she the best?!

Nika turns 8 years old (oh crap, or is it 9???) on Halloween. It makes it easy to remember the day she was born. I remember buying Nathan some Oakley sunglasses for Christmas one year. He always could tell what presents he was getting...so to throw him off one year, I pretended to let it slip and mention something to do with "naming" his Christmas present and picking it up that year. He fell for it hook line and sinker. But, then he told his mom he was so excited to be getting a dog (we had talked about getting a lab, and I knew Nathan wanted a female black lab). Of course his mom called me to tell me, and I freaked out.

He was going to be so disappointed to just be getting sunglasses, that I had to get him a real dog. I couldn't find one so close to Christmas...and I had to let him in on the whole thing. I felt so bad. My stupid plan had blown up in my face. Well, Nathan went to work on his own to find a dog in time for Christmas. He went out and found a breeder near Colorado (we were visiting Nathan's family that year for Christmas and would be in Colorado when it was time to pick Nika up).

It ended up working out great because Nathan's brother Brian got a boy lab from the same litter. The two of them were adorable when they were puppies! They hated it when we'd leave at night and lock them in the kitchen as we'd go out to dinner or a movie or a play. We'd come back and every night pooped their body weight all over the floor. None of us could believe that such little things could have that much come out of their little bodies in just a few hours. We'd moan and laugh at how disgusting it was...as we were mopping and sweeping at 11pm at night.

Those two dogs were like night and day. Nika was fearless...her brother Buddy was afraid of the stairs. She'd jump run and tumble down the stairs, and Buddy would cry and whimper until someone would carry him down the stairs. She was high energy, he just wanted to lay next to somebody and nap. She'd run circles around him with some toy or other. They were adorable. When I get pictures from Nathan, I'll post her puppy pictures as well. Of course now, Buddy is HUGE and is like an old papa bear. Wants to be comfortable, and with Nathan's parents all the time...he hates being left behind on family vacations. Nika is tiny (she was the runt of the litter) and still high energy. She's super smart and will do anything you tell her to do (back up. sit...shake off the water after getting out of the pool on command)...lay her head down...whatever. They are both such great smart dogs. We really got lucky finding them.

She's adorable. A well behaved, but highly energetic dog. People still think she's a puppy. She tore her meniscus a year and a half ago and had to have surgery. She'll limp now if she runs too much on it or too hard...but her mind is still willing to go a hundred miles a minute. She is so social, sweet, and good with kids. She is besides herself with glee when she gets to ride in Nathan's truck and go to Home Depot or just the gas station. She loves anyones frisbee, or a tennis ball. She has never met a swimming pool she doesn't like. And the squirrels in the backyard torment her til there's no tomorrow. She loves to run on the treadmill and she will go on a walk with anyone holding a leash.

She's one of those dogs who rarely gets any "people food" and we mainly only feed her dog food. But on her birthday she gets to go to the fast food drive thru and get two cheese burgers and a kiddie ice cream cone. She loves it and I think I love it more to watch her get so excited. It's the one thing that Nathan and I did with her that made me feel like we were "weird dog owners". It's only once a year and she seriously thinks it the best thing since the invention of the tennis ball. This year, I'll try to film it and post it...it's something to behold...lol.
She's getting older and white hair is creeping up everywhere. It's sad to see her get older and tired so quickly. I love her with all of my being. She's made a very difficult year for me, less difficult. She would come and put her head on my lap and just sit with me. When I was packing up my things to move out of my house she would just sit in my doorway of my bedroom (she's not allowed in the bedrooms because I have asthma) and sit there with me..beaconing me to come out of the room and let her comfort me. I'd go lay with her on her dog bed and just cry. I miss that I don't see her every day...but I try to go by and walk her two times a week. She's the best dog I could have ever hoped to have and she makes me life more happy...more joyous and more gleeful. I love her. Maybe one day, I can have my own place again, and get some time to let her live and spend some time with me again on a daily basis. I'm going to hold this hope close to my heart as I really hope some day it comes true.

Girls Weekend

I had a girls weekend in Vegas this past weekend. Having a relaxing time and being with best friends is the best therapy a girl can have! My divorce is finalized a week from today, and I've been very emotional these past few weeks as it's getting closer. In California, they have what they call a "cooling off" period for getting a divorce. Basically, that means there is a 6 month minimum grace period to finalize any divorce. I've been doing good with the reality of my situation for the past several months, and making the best of it. But for some reason these past few weeks have been really rough on me. I think it's that the divorce is getting close and knowing that the first Monday in October, I will no longer be married. It's a pretty scary thought for me. A few friends and I got together and headed to Vegas for a fun getaway. Celebrating 3 things: Rachel F.'s birthday, Heather's soon to be baby, and me learning to be a brave girl out on my own.....(Mormon style...no alcohol or gambling involved!). We had the best trip. We went to the number one rated spa in all of Las Vegas, we ate at (one) really good restaurant (we tried many, but only one was knock your socks off amazing). Went shopping, floated down the lazy river at the resort, laughed, ate, laughed, danced, and laughed some more.
This is the spa at the Venetian hotel called Canyon Ranch. It's over 134,000 square feet. I can't tell you how many things there are to do there. We laughed so hard that I'm sure we must have annoyed some spa goers who were trying to get some peace and quiet. They had an Igloo room where the temp. was 45 degrees. You could pick different rains to fall on you with tropical noises and light changes while in the room. We'd go from there to the Salt room (same PH as the ocean but with added aromatherapy), to the Zero Gravity room...this room is amazing and it might be too difficult for me to explain...but it was my favorite. The waiting chairs were heated, there were more than 63 individual spa treatment rooms. This place was amazing. We could have spent all day (literally 8 hours) there. I went and got a massage with a Wild Lime scalp and head treatment. Pure joy I tell you. I adore the little fruit we call the "lime" and to get it massaged into my head was really close to Utopia for me. You really must go, and plan on spending at least the very least 4 hours there. We all agreed, the best spa we've all ever been to.
This is the beginning of our first night out. We had a great time. All of us girls are so very different, and we get along great. My friends remind me of my sisters... we too, are very different but we love being together. Every one of my friends is married, and all of them but Linda and I, have children. Everyone made BIG TIME arrangements in order to go (thank you to the amazing husbands, neighbors, and extended family members who took over work duties, watched children, and kept house while we were gone). Just to give you a small idea: Linda's husband had a 3 day weekend, but worked 2 days of his 3 day weekend for Linda (since she's the manager) so she would be able to come. Rachel F.'s husband lent us his brand new truck...diesel, quad cab, extended bed so we could travel comfortably. Then he stayed home with the kids all weekend. Sheron's sister came in from San Diego to watch her little boy for the weekend AND her husband has a bad back (he's home recovering from herniated disks). Heather is very pregnant, and her husband stayed home with her son (whom got sick I might add while we were away). Her mother in law came to watch him the night we left town. What amazing families to work together so we could go have a great time.
A picture of the lazy river at night...so much fun floating and laughing. Rachel, thanks so much for finding this place...it was amazing.
Linda was brave and signed up to climb the rock wall at the spa. It was really high! Thank you girls for lifting my spirits...I appreciate all that you do for me.

Random Happenings this week

This week has been a good one (minus the car damage you will see in following photos). Work was good. The weather was good. Church was good. I always feel like I have to have some major amazing thing happen to me in order for me to blog about it. I decided, if I waited for something amazing to happen, I might never blog again...lol. So, I wanted to share a few of the things I've been up to this week.

I've started this new book that my friend Kirsten recommended. It's the true story behind how the first Oxford dictionary came about (through about 20 years of research) and it's amazing. Seriously, I don't think they can make this stuff up. Reality is sometimes way more bizarre than fiction ever could be.
It's Halloween time again (well, even though it's a bit early, the stores are filling up with Halloween goodies and decorations, and that's all I need to get me motivated with this fun holiday). I'm ready to start buying Halloween stickers for my nieces and nephew's . I love this time of year.
This is what happens when on the freeway, you don't see a complete blown out tire laying in the middle of the road, and you hit it going 70 mph. I'm lucky it didn't do more damage than it did. I'm pretty worried at what this is going to cost me...wish me luck when I call the dealership and AAA tomorrow. Clint (Kirsten's husband) kind of clipped the side panel of the bumper back on, so it doesn't look as bad as it did when I took a look at it the first time. At least my rates shouldn't go up since it involved a road hazard and not another vehicle. I wish it wasn't dark outside when I was on the freeway...then possibly I could have seen it and avoided it. Car damage is never fun. It was a huge tire,too. Looked like it came off a semi truck. It wasn't just the tire tread..it was the whole tire. When I ran over it, I was amazed my car climbed over the thing and spit it out the back...(yippee...see, things could always be worse. I could have had the tire being drug under the car or had major problems).

This is one of the things I hate dealing with without a husband...car problems. It feels yucky inside just knowing I have to deal with it all by myself. But, with a dealership with open arms to take my money that I don't have, I'm rest assured they'll take care of my problem. I'm debating though....should I "white-trash" it and just get some duct tape?... I'd love to hear everyones opinion!