I Feel Great!

Not long ago, I commented that I was starting my caffeine habit again. Well, I'm proud to say that I've nipped caffeine in the bud, completely. I was still having caffeine in diet drinks, chocolate, and I'm sure other sources. That's all completely out of my system. I'm living healthy, and part of that means no more caffeine. So while the going was tough for a little while, now I feel great. I've got energy and my mood has improved greatly. I've got to put this energy and good mood to good use. I see YBB in my not-so-distant future. Until then, I'll find other ways to burn off this healthy energy ... maybe the dogs are going to benefit from my kicking the habit.

Unconditional Love

Pets really warm my heart. I'm an avid animal lover, as most people realize about me about 2 seconds into knowing me. I believe my fondness for animals really stems from the utter sense of unconditional love that you get from them. They put all their trust in you to care for them, and their love and silly antics are rewarding tenfold. You'll never hear an animal scream "I hate you" in frustration. Most pets want nothing more than to please their human counterparts, and I have some of the best companions one could hope for. I like to think that the pets I get realize how very much I care about them and that is why they turn out so good, so loving...but that might just be me patting myself on the back.

My pups are probably the most reciprocating of my affections. They are such sweet little fuzzballs, and they really try hard to be good dogs. I really get the warm and fuzzies when Piper lies on my chest looking at me with those soulful, puppy dog eyes. And nothing brings a smile to my face faster than when Tokie comes running over, tail wagging, happily panting for a hug and kiss. I can't imagine either of them ever turning against me.

The ferret is probably the funniest little pet we own. She is independent, but really likes checking things out on her own time. She spends her days in our bedroom, but even when she ventures downstairs to check on everything, we inevitably will find her back in her bed upstairs after only 10 minutes of exploring. We call her "The Gatekeeper" because she always blocks the door before we leave, insisting we give her a treat. But anytime I want kisses from the little rugrat, she's always willing to oblige. It's hard to imagine a sweeter, more well-behaved fuzzbutt.

My sugar gliders are my newest companions, and I wasn't sure how well they would get along with the humans. After doing research and talking to vets, they sounded like sweet little companions to have. They allow humans to be a part of their colony and bond with them as well as any dog. So, we started with 2 and ended up with 4 after we found out the female had joeys in her pouch. The 2 adults certainly seem to love us, but their affection doesn't compare to that of the babies. We got to experience something a lot of other glider owners haven't. We've been with those babies since they came out of the pouch, and they absolutely love us. They sometimes even groom us, and let me tell you, there is nothing more surprising than the feeling of a wet, glider tongue on your ear. But we really made a challenge for ourselves when we adopted another glider who needed a home. The family of 4 are not accepting him into their colony, but he seems content to be in a colony with just Cliff, him, and me, although Cliff is by far his preferred human. It's been a struggle, but he seems to be trusting us, cuddling with us at glider playtime, and sometimes grooming Cliff's facial hair. They really are such interesting little critters.

And last but not least, are the cats. Cats are a little tougher. They are more independent, so there are plenty of times where they don't reciprocate our affection. But when they want to be loved on, they are some of the most amazingly loving critters you could imagine. There's something calming about the way a cat will rub his face against you when he's in a loving mood. And although it's not the most pleasant sensation, you'll never see a more content animal than a cat who is lost in his kneading past time. I have 2 cats: Bingbong, who most often lets us be, and Misser Kitty, who is so grateful for an inside home that he lavishes us with lots of affection...sometimes in the middle of the night. Although they are some shedding beast, they'll always have a special place in my heart.

They prey on the weak

Until recently, I had always been against going to the home hostess parties like Tupperware and Mary Kay. I was quite anti-home parties. I had no intention of purchasing the products, so why even go to listen to the spiel?

But these days, I'm more open to most everything. I feel like Jim Carrey in "Yes Man" as I feel I'm pretty agreeable with everything.

They must be able to sense this agreeable nature on people, those home party consultants. It seems they always manage to find the weak link in the crowd and get a party booked.

I am that weak link.

I recently attended a jewelry party, and I guess all the sparkles made me goofy. Before I knew what had happened, I was signing up to host my own party.

It's ok. I don't mind being weak for pretty things.

A girl's weakness

Good grief...when did I become one of those girls? You know the type...into all things sparkly and giddy over baubles.

Well, I'm not quite as bad as I could be, but I definitely love jewelry. It doesn't have to be real; it just has to be pretty. I think I started liking jewelry when I started dressing more professionally for work. My weaknesses are earrings and necklaces, whereas rings and bracelets don't really phase me. I like a pretty ring or bracelet, but I think I just get annoyed at having things on my hands/wrists (although, I confess to wearing a watch everyday).

Tonight I'll be attending one of those home shopping parties. Normally, I will bypass these kinds of events, but the host tapped into my weakness. My real mistake was actually looking at the jewelry catalog. I'll be lucky if I don't leave the event in major debt.

What can I say...I'm just a shiny type of girl.

Saturday breakfast routine

I'm a bit ashamed of my Saturday breakfast routine. I usually stumble down the stairs, take a look at the pile of dishes from the night before, and decree that this is my indulgence day.

Breakfast typically includes a spin through the Biscuitville drive-thru for a quite tasty, but greasy, biscuit sandwich, or if I'm feeling fancy, we'll go to a restaurant for breakfast, our favorite being the State Farmer's Market Restaurant.

This has to stop. From now on, I will make the crappy breakfasts on the weekends.

Some call it lazy, I call it convenient

The Internet has really changed my life. I know the Internet has been around for a while now, but I still get amazed at how easily accessible everything is. Anything one could think of is probably available for purchase online. I did most of my Christmas shopping online for the past holiday season, and I was able to find some really nifty items for people. And with my iPhone, I feel technologically unstoppable.

Side note on how my iPhone changed my life. Cliff and I went on vacation to Busch Gardens and Washington DC a few years ago. We had just gotten Tokie a few months before, and we were looking forward to a "family" vacation. Well, when we were traveling from Williamsburg to DC, we had some time to kill before we were able to check into our hotel. We didn't really know what we could do that would be pet-friendly. Within a couple of minutes, thanks to the help of my trusty iPhone, I found a boat tour around the capital that was puppy friendly. Tokie had quite a good time riding on that boat with her mommy and daddy. That was the moment I knew things had changed. Information was immediately accessible.

Anyway, that's a little of an aside to my real post. So, recently, I've been on quite the online shopping kick. I've purchased some clothes for myself, most of the Christmas gifts (which I already mentioned), and I even do my grocery shopping online. It's so much easier to just have a company send me the things I want or in the case of the grocery store, to do my shopping for me and bring it to my car. Although I am perfectly capable of going to a store and shopping for clothes, gifts, and groceries, I feel that be letting other people send me my purchases or load my car with groceries, I'm actually keeping from doing impulse purchasing. And now that we have an Amazon Prime account, I get shipping for free...they may not be such a good thing to help with impulse purchasing...

The Relapse

I had prided myself on being able to kick my coffee habit. I used to drink coffee all the time when I worked at UNC and then partially into my work with my former company. Usually, it was just a cup in the morning to get me going. I would brew a pot at home, and Cliff and I would leave with our steaming mugs of "wake me up". One day, I just got fed up. I decided that I didn't want to drink coffee anymore. I believe part of it had to do with the fact that we were drinking such strong coffee, grinding our own beans from Starbucks and brewing it on the "Strong" setting. The other part was probably my own resistance at being addicted to any kind of substance. I don't like to take pills for pains, so why should I let myself depend upon a substance just to get me going in the morning?

So, there I went, off the coffee cold-turkey leaving Cliff with his addiction. Instead of brewing coffee at home, he started purchasing a cup of joe from Starbucks in the mornings. I felt kind of bad for leaving him alone with that horrible vice. After all, I was the one who insisted we brew coffee in the mornings. But he's gotten better with it, and I was happy being caffeine free...

At least, I was caffeine free. Then I started working at my new job. Now, I'm not blaming my new job or any new stresses for my rekindled flame with coffee. I certainly could have withstood getting coffee. But my company has this really cool Flavia coffee machine, and it's really hard for me to resist. The coffee packets are really good, and mugs are small (probably about 8 oz.), so it hardly seemed as bad as it was when I made my own brew at home. But still, my coffee addiction is definitely back, no matter how mild.

At first it started with a cup in the middle of the morning; a snack before lunch. These past few days, I have been having my 1 cup of coffee at the end of the day. Around 4 or 4:30, I'll slink into the kitchen to get a quick jolt. I've decided that I'll be ok with this afternoon vice as it is helping me have enough staying power to cook dinner when I get home instead of melting into my chair after a long day.

My new concern regarding my coffee addiction is based on the new coffee machine we got for Christmas. We've always liked grinding our own beans, so we had a separate grinder from our old Mr. Coffee. Now, we have a glorious Cuisinart coffee maker with a built-in grinder. I haven't really programmed it yet to have the sweet caffeinated elixir ready for us when we awake in the morning, but it's just a matter of time. I believe tonight will be the night that I program that machine and reintroduce my long-shunned morning addiction to my routine. Oh, coffee. You're such a little vixen.

Peeving Over The Hidden

One of my biggest pet peeves is not being able to find something that shouldn't really be hidden. My most recent example of this is our digital camera. I know I've seen that thing somewhere recently, but this weekend's hunt for the elusive picture maker ended in defeat. I don't know where I saw it, but now it is deliberately hiding from me. I'm not amused.

My quest for the camera began on Saturday. I don't really even need it. I have an iPhone that takes ok pictures. But I've been wanting to find the camera so that I can have it nearby for when I start my YouTube series. The digital camera has video capability, and while I have video capability with my iPhone, Cliff's iPhone, my Macbook, and Cliff's Macbook, I just really wanted to setup the digital camera as well. After all, how can I be a YouTube sensation without multiple camera angles?

I suppose I will rear it's digital head when I least expect it. I'll be on the search for something else, and it will just come out like we're playing a game of hide and seek.

Grrrrr, it's so frustrating, but I'm getting over it.