Let's Start Over...

I failed. And I failed miserably.

My attempt to not be so feisty has been hard...and it finally came to an end.

Today.

I was stopped at a red light when I saw a kid throw paper after paper out his window and onto the street (I think they were receipts).

My feisty big black-woman like attitude burst out of my little body and I'm sure the words in my head went something like, "Oh HEEEEEE** NO".

I LAID my hand on my horn for a good couple of seconds just before rolling down my window and yelling, "Hey!!!!!!!!! It's called
a TRASHCAN you MORON!" and I laid on my horn yet again.

The sassy little 10th ish grader rolled up his window and his friend waved at me through the sunroof.

This is when I flipped them off.

Then turned into the church parking lot for Activity Days.

Oops.

Slacky McSlackerton!

Holy slacker! I have been off the grid lately. No feisty Facebook status updates, no blog posts, no telling the world exactly what I think of everything. (That might be a good thing...)

Speaking of feisty- I am going to be making some major changes, people!

I decided I don't particularly love that I'm so strong minded. I mean, I'm the type that if I see someone litter, I would walk up to them, hand them their trash and show them to the trashcan. I would grab the e-brake and step out of my car in 5 o'clock traffic if some moron almost made me crash by cutting me off. The type who would force people to speak English to me because hey- we live in America, don't be tryin to speak to me in Spanish! (Even though I know it. Rude? Eh, maybe.) But that's the thing. If I feel strongly about something, I will defend it to the death. In fact, I had this dream once. It's hilarious.

Derek and I were hanging out downstairs in our kitchen when 3 twenty-somethings came in and started to rob him. I grabbed one of the guys by the hair, swung him around and cracked his skull against the wall corner, knocking him out. Isn't that wild? I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me in my dream. But the crazy thing is, I would really do this! If a robber ever came into my house, or if someone held me at gunpoint, I honestly HONESTLY do not think I would care. I would have too much anger and feisty-ness inside me to just sit there. I would beat the guy to the ground! All 108 pounds of me!

So, I'm going to try and not be so crazy. I'm going to let people be rude to me and only in extreme cases defend myself. I'm going to let things roll off my back like I used to. Nothing will be a biggie and nothing will stress me out. Think I could do it?!

Oh and I'm going to try and drink more water. Those are my goals.

Is there such thing as TOO much?

Does your life ever feel like this? A post with signs pointing four different directions and yet each destination is pretty much the same as the other? Yeah, that's me. Life, Work and Home can be one entity sometimes. Although I have been trying to leave negative news at the door when I walk into my home. That way my husband doesn't get his own re-told version of my sometimes Jerry Springer-like day.

On Friday, I felt like this:


Why, you ask? Well, one middle-aged woman came in for an x-ray and while filling out paperwork, there is a space that asks for your age. She got all tangled up into a hizzy and couldn't remember her age so she said, "Ah, what? I gotta put my age? I don't know it! Here!" and flung her paper at me. I laughed because of course I thought this must be a joke. Well, I quickly realized it indeed WAS NOT.

Another lady called me earlier to confirm her appointment with us. After looking her up in our system, I found she was a week off and her appointment wasn't until NEXT Friday. She laughed and said "ok" and we came to the conclusion that she was going to be seen next week, as scheduled. Well, 3 hours later she shows up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for her exam. I asked, "Ma'am? Do you remember calling me earlier? We laughed and talked for a long time about how your appointment is next week. Remember?" She says, "Oh dear. No I don't!" While I felt awful for this cute little lady, my brain was just about fried because not only had I been thinking for myself all day- but I had been thinking for everyone else. Haha (This is funny, but only in retrospect.)

So...the kicker. Last night I had NIGHTMARES! About none other but MRI's. Seriously?! Do I work that much? I mean, I did work close to 50 hours this past week and that is definitely a lot for a working mom but heck- waking up at 4:50 AM because I can't sleep because I'm having nightmares of people adding patients on at the end of the day and making me stay later at work??? This could be unhealthy. I think I need a vacation.

So next time you talk to me and I seem a little off, my mind probably went here:

Husbands.

You know, I've been thinking a lot about HUSBANDS lately and I'm not sure how to roll it all up into one blog post, but I'll give it a try. I have found that:

*Wives who are constantly bringing their husbands up negatively in conversation are only making fools of themselves...usually people enjoy the husband and no one likes the wife.

*People think husbands have a one-track mind and are uneducated in anything womanly. Well, how much do you know about manly things? Could you go out to the shooting range and hit the target with your 22 caliber gun? Could you go to work every day at a job you very well may despise for 40 + hours a week and come home and give your husband a foot massage only to get harped on at how stupid you are at life? Could you tell him to kick back and relax while he plays video games and hangs out with his friends and spends money you've earned because you feel like "he needs a break"? Teach and learn. Life is about give and take, people. Are you perfect?

*Being a good husband is probably a really hard job.

*Every now and then, husbands like surprises too. They just might not prefer roses. : )

*Husbands are usually the ones taking flack for things. I've always thought that was ridiculous. Haha. Without Derek, I would probably get ripped off by mechanics, wouldn't know how to change my tire if I was stranded on the highway with a blowout, I wouldn't always understand politics, I'd never know when my oil needs changing and I wouldn't be able to fix our internet problems. When it comes down to it- we should be thanking our husbands for the awesome jobs they do for us and our kids every day.

Now even if these ARE good books (I don't know because I haven't read them so I don't wanna judge a book by its cover!) - wouldn't the title alone make you feel like a moron??? Poor husbands. I think they deserve more than this...what do you say? I know mine does.






This is a shout-out for you, Derek! I think you're super awesome. I love you & thanks for all you do for us!

A Preview of My Shots!

I briefly mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was trying to get a portfolio together for photography. I'll be moving to Georgia in June and wanted something to keep me busy while Derek is in basic training! So here are some pictures I've taken- I know most of them are of my family or some extension of it but that's how it starts, right? P.S. I still need some people to volunteer being my guinea pigs to take glamour shots of. You can also see a bunch more of my pictures through Facebook if you search under "Remember Me Photography". Thanks!

BABIES:











PREGNANCY:









FAMILY:














SCENERY AND STRUCTURES:















WEDDING:







I am by no means a perfect photographer- I have had it as my hobby for about 13 or more years but never really tried doing it as a business. If you have any suggestions on good shots or angles I could use, please let me know! Hope you liked the photos. : ) I love taking them.

Welcome to life!

Hey! So I feel like running away! Far away! (With Derek and Titan, of course). Preferably to a place that has absolutely no women and no drama! As you know, I have currently been promoted to supervisor and who knew one minor change in a title could be a MAJOR change behind the scenes in the work place?! I have been burned out, sold out, lied to, lied about, hung to dry and stabbed in the back. And that's to name a few. But on the up side, I've been thinking hard about how to be the best supervisor I can be. I want every one in my office to feel appreciated because really, they all work hard. I can definitely see why medical dramas are a hot item on the television. You find all the juicy stuff there...*sigh*

I am loving having a one-year old for a baby. That boy is the funnest thing ever. I am sad, though because my time spent with him is very limited. Sometimes he wakes up just minutes before I leave for the office and goes to bed an hour after I get home. If you ask him to flex his muscles, he lifts up his arms and grunts. He loves to say "daddy" and "mum-mum", and he loves feeling his teeth with his tongue. He is super goofy and happy and he makes my day so much better when I get home. He even leans in to give us kisses and that's my favorite.

Derek is Mr. Crocker, over here. He made the best meal I've ever had in my life today. Check it out:

Cream Cheese Enchiladas

2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
2 10-oz cans mild green chile enchilada sauce
1/4 c. jalapenos, chopped
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 sweet onion, chopped
8 to 12 flour tortillas

In a large bowl, blend together cream cheese, sour cream, enchilada sauce and jalapenos; set aside. Combine ground beef and shredded cheese in another bowl; set aside. Fill each tortilla with 1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture and 1 to 2 tablespoons beef mixture. Sprinkle each with onion and olives; cover with remaining cream cheese mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes; cover if top begins to brown. Garnish with olives, tomato, lettuce and green onion if so desired. (We ate it without garnish and it was awesome.) Makes 8 servings.

You won't be disappointed! P.S. My blog may be going private in the next couple of days so if you want me to send you an invite; leave your email address below please. Thanks!

Up and Running

Well, I'm not literally running. Running out of breath, maybe. In fact, I think I have whooping cough. (Can I ever go like...a month without getting some 24 hour bug or having some part of my body crap out on me?) Sheesh. So one day I get a scratchy throat or something and cough a couple times an hour. Then a couple days later I'm coughing like thirty times an hour! I look up whooping cough on Wikipedia because I had a friend who had it a few years back. It says you may have whooping cough if you cough til you faint or cough til you vomit. Oh, that's not me, I thought. I exited the page and moved on with my life as normal. NEXT DAY- I'm driving to work and I cough until I dry heave! Sick! I almost vomited in my car! And I've coughed until I was dizzy twice. Eeho stupid viruses. Who gave me this worthless cough?! Today I have coughed until I almost threw up about 15 times. Bleh. Ok moving on.

I have been the worst blogger ever lately. Sorry. I never know how many people actually read my blog and enjoy it so I figure if I miss a couple of days- no biggie! But my lovely sister has stated she enjoys the read, so here I am!

We went to Snowflake, AZ for Christmas and it was a blast. The drive stinks, as always. But when we're living in Fort Benning, GA we'll be wishing we lived 6 hours from family. We spent New Years here in our little apartment, just the three of us. Titan was sick for about 7 weeks and is barely getting over a cough. (Little booger probably gave me mine.) A week later, Titan turned 1! Derek baked him a funfetti cake and mom, dad and Sher joined us for a mini-celebration. We didn't do anything crazy for him (seeing as he was still sick) but we let him smash cake in his face and I'm thinking so far that was the best day of his entire life. And it was surprisingly easy to clean up!

Derek has been dreaming of an X-Box for who knows how long. I was always afraid to buy one because for some reason, guys get so sucked into those things. It was the last thing he ever thought I'd buy him and then voila! He was so happy he was almost in tears : )


I learned to play guitar when I was about 15 but I always sort of played by ear. In college, I started writing my own music to the guitar and then as I got married and had a baby, life got busier and I had less and less time for hobbies. The only thing I wanted for Christmas was a guitar and Derek got it for me. I am in love with it.


Titan's friend got him a present for Christmas and while I was trying to teach him to open it, he got so frustrated because he didn't know what he was doing or why he was doing it...so he got a little Scrooge-ish on us there for a minute. It was too hilarious.


He was loving all the toys he got from grandmas and grandpas and mom, dad and Santa.


Also, last week I was promoted! It was a promotion I had not at all expected and was very much grateful for. I received many much-appreciated compliments from my bosses. It made me feel like working hard, being honest and having good work ethic DOES pay off!

I'm not sure how many of you knew, but I love to take pictures. Since I was about 10 I've had my own camera. My first one was purple and I had to load film into it myself. It probably looked similar to this (but purple, of course.)

The others that followed consisted of disposable cameras but looking back- I bought so many of them that between the cost of the cameras and the cost of developing the film- I could have easily bought a digital camera! I got my first digital camera in 2007 and I still use it ALL THE TIME. Last year, Derek bought me a fancy DSLR. I got my first request to be a photographer. I'm photographing a wedding reception tonight so wish me luck! I am going to send out a mass email to friends and family in the El Paso area but I'll put it on here as well. I want to start building a portfolio so I'm going to need some models! I'm going to be available on Saturdays and I'd like to do some photo shoots. Here's what I was thinking:

Family shots (3+ people): One hour session to include location of your choice or location choice of photographer (whichever you choose), photo editing and pictures on a disc- $75
Couple shots: $55
Single shots: (Good for graduation or other milestones) $30

I'll be doing this for about 3 months or so until I build up a good portfolio and charge normal prices! Call me or comment on this post to make an appointment with me. If you haven't seen pictures that I've taken where I've edited them and stuff- let me know and I'll show you. Most pictures I post on my blog are just quick snapshots that aren't super impressive haha.

I promise I won't wait another month to blog again.

Love, Lauren