Well, why are you telling me? (and that's my new philosophy..)

Open lettters to people who need letters written:

Dear my new dog,
I love you.  I love you for you sticking your head in peoples laps (even when they're standing up) to be petted.  I love you for following me from room to room all day just to be with me.  I love you for learning some things very slowly but surely, and I love you for helping me not go crazy all day long.

I also don't like you.  I don't like how you bark at Matt every time he comes home (until he changes out of a uniform).  I don't like how I'm waking up at 4 every morning now because you bark at Matt when he changes INTO his uniform.  I don't like how if you are in the kitchen alone nothing is safe.  And I don't like how you have heartworms so soon we can't even walk you (which is sad, but we'll get through it).
-sett-

Dear Adidas,
What is it with your Super Nova shoes (so confy and wonderful) getting squeaky after like two weeks?  ALWAYS!  I can deal with ugly colors every few seasons, and I can deal with changing out my insoles because the people at the running company tell me to, but I can no longer deal with your squeakyness.
-sett-

Dear Thanksgiving,
You are my effing favorite holiday and this is the first time I've ever had to cook the whole meal.  If I mess you up, I am sorry.  And you are DEAD TO ME.  So SHAPE UP! 
-sett-
(see how I use scare tactics to get what I want now?  It's new... since the dog...)


Dear Winn Dixie stores,
I went to you because you weren't the Piggy Wiggly (seriously?  it's a horrible store), I wasn't close to the post, and you looked clean...  and your people were stupid.  I asked for pie cherries and was given Marachino cherries, and asked for lard (making pie crust... don't judge) and was told "that's just a fancy word for vegetable shortening."  Ummm.... no.  Your workers are inept and I'd like a refund of my many dollars of money because I had to spend for freaking ever to get the stuff I needed.
-sett-

Dear Georgia Weather,
Your rain smells horrible and it sucks.  Ooh yeah, and would it kill you to be cold enough all day that I don't feel like an idiot by 2pm if I'm wearing a sweater?
-sett-

... and I am thankful.

it's 5am and everyone is awake in the Thompson house.  Yup.  All both of us.  Not exactly as I'd planned (although I have no issues with Matt waking up before 5 even if he does, I like to sleep until 7-ish and start my day when the normal people do...).  But I'm thinkin "not exactly as I'd planned" is about par for the course these days.  So i roll with it.

It's coming on Thanksgiving and people are Thankful.  It's my favorite holiday and time of year because it's a holiday about coming together with the people you love and giving thanks.  No presents needed.  It's simple and calorie-laden which are two of my favorite things...  And so, a list to look at to remind me of some of the things I'm thankful for this year.  (a bullet point list in random order?  Don't mind if I do...)

• The Cell Phone.  There was a time this year when I would have given anything to not hear a phone ring (work calls at all hours of the night will do that to a person), but now it's something I am most thankful for.  The cell phone is with you when you're not sure weather to buy marshmellows at the store, and you can call your husband.  The cell phone is with you when your husband has been training for days at a time and you need to talk to a human.  The cell phone helps you call people miles away to make sure they have something before you spend an hour to get there.  The cell phone will let you text someone when you don't want to call them.  The cell phone is magic and I'm thankful.
• The Automobile.  When is the last time you didn't have use of a car?  For me, it had been months since I gave up my car (even for the day), and let me tell you... even feeling you have the option of going somewhere is wonderful.  After weeks of not having a car, we got one this weekend.  A sporty little Nissan Rogue.  I sit up high, I don't have to know where my key is (honestly, as long as it's in my purse it doesn't matter... I just push the button and go), and there's room in the back for me to pick up my dog today.  The automobile is endless amounts of freedom and I'm thankful.
• The Family.  I have a large Utah family.  I know people's business, and they know my business.  If there's a problem, someone steps in to get it done.  I can call them when I need to make decisions and they give me advice.  I can call them when I need to talk, and they give no advice.  I can call them when I'm feeling the worst version of myself, and they still love me.  The family is a rock in the storm and I am thankful.
• The Family (part 2).  I got married this year, which means I have more family.  And they are understanding when I get depressed and don't call them back.  And they are worried about me in our new adventure, and they are there just waiting to be as supportive as I let them.  And so far, not one of them has said anything about how it takes me time to let people be supportive.  The second family is patient and giving and I am thankful.
• The Internet.  It used to be that when you wanted pictures of something, you would get pictures developed and printed, and if you wanted someone far away to see them, you would use the mail.  Well thank you internet, it is now almost instant!  I knew what my neices and nephews were for Halloween on Halloween.  It used to be that when you wanted to talk to someone, you had to call them (which is inappropriate when one of those people is at work and you call them all day).  No longer an issue, thanks to our friend the internet: IM all workday long...  The internet has hours of distraction, easy ways to tell everyone about something, and countless amounts of information.  The internet listens when I write about things nobody cares about.  The internet is informational and I am thankful.
• The Husband.  The husband doesn't like to be blogged about so this will be short (ish... as if I can do short...).  The husband is understanding and fun to be around.  He works hard all day long and is patient when he comes home to a wife who is having a breakdown.  He is funny and awesome, and litterally learns things overnight that others learned in training for weeks.  The husband is brilliant and kind, and I am thankful.
• The Oven.  Yesterday we got our oven fixed.  It was taking about an hour for the temperature to reach 350 degrees, and that wasn't okay with me.  The oven is useful for baking things when you want to drop things at the neighbors, the oven is useful when you want to eat chicken.  The oven is working and it gives me hope that I can pull off a Thanksgiving dinner if I have to.  The oven is useful and I am thankful.
• The Friends.  The friends are there for frantic phone calls from the grocery store, or IMs when you have a question about anything.  The friends keep you moving forward, or are there to vent to when you want to just stay where you are.  The friends tell you to stop being crazy.  The friends tell you to go ahead and be crazy.  The friends are priceless and I am thankful.
  
• The Present.  Okay, I may not be where I planned.  I may not be where I am confortable.  But I am somewhere that's a growing place.  And years from now, I will be more thankful for right now.  The present is growing and I am thankful (ish).

 What are you thankful for?

Didn't know what a good thing you had when you had it.

When I was a child, the two greatest things to ever grace my television (be it from PBS or the BetaMax machine, because we were too cool for the VCR until later) were "Mister Roger's Neighborhood"  and "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." I can distinctly remember being home sick one day and watching Mr. Rogers and when he sang "It's you I like, It's you. The way you are right now- The way down deep inside you.  Not the things that hide you.  Not your toys - they're just beside you." I found myself thinking "but Mr. Rogers, I am in my pajamas... and you still like me?"  And Winnie the Pooh... well, I watched it daily.  At least.  "He bidged, he badged, he budged!"

Later in life I found that the NEW and IMPROVED best thing ever to grace my television was "The Parent Trap"  Starring Maureen O'Harah, Brian Keith, Hailey Mills and Hailey Mills.  This show is CLASSIC, and can still make me happy when I am having the worst of days. 

Yes, friends... as the charming maid Verbena (who I now learn has a real name of Una Merkel... gross) said "you didn't know what a good thing you had when you had it."

Things I didn't know what I good thing they were when I had them: A list by Sarah Timms Thompson

• The ability to watch the same movie every day.  I love Winnie the Pooh. 
  
• Friday Sno-cone days.  At Woodstock Elementary during warm months, the PTA would have sno-cones available outside the lunch room for a quarter on Fridays.  And if you got there early in the year, they had tigers blood.  A QUARTER!  And practically on your way home...
• Sleepovers on the trampoline.  Or any sleepovers, really.  These days even if I'm out late with my friends I think to myself "I should go home and sleep in my own, confortable bed" instead of "I want to call my mom to ask if I can sleep over."  And although you had to be crafty with trampoline sleep overs (everyone winds up crushing everyone in the middle of the tramp...) they were the very best kind.
  
• Block Schedule.  I'm not the girl who wants to go back to High School.  I enjoyed my time there and politely decline to do it again.  Plus, I am way less of a nerd now... but the block schedule... it was brilliance in school form.  You don't have to do the same thing every day, you always know when lunch is going to be, and you have two days to do any homework.
• $1.50 for Lunch.  While we're on the subject of high school (or Jr. High)... let me just say that eating all of lunch for a buck-fivety would be a glorious idea.  And, by the way, most days I used that to buy a doughnut and every-other day I would get a lemonaid to go with it.  In High School this was changed to eating at Subway about 3 days a week with Becky and her Bitchin Camero.
  
• Musical Theater.  Talk about a time-sucker.  I envy and am amazed by my friends who still do it (and have those magical moments...) but every weeknight and in the morning on Saturday to have rehearsals?  And I was excited to miss vacations and camps so I could go to said rehearsals?  Really, Sarah?  And still, I would do it again.
• Schedules I Can Stick To and Plans I Can Make.  This is a relatively new one for me, and isn't so nostalgic as most of these... but it's true all the same.  I am a plan-planner and a list-maker and a schedule-haver.  These days those are all worth about the same as having a buck fivety for lunch... it doesn't get you very far, and you just get a quick sugar high and then a plans-got-nixed-again low.  
  

Aah well... back in the good old days...

Please stay tuned for pictures of our house in Georgia, and our new pet dog whose name may or may not remain Barney.  (The joy of buying a dog at a shelter where they didn't know his name either is that you can give him a new name... and the dog will still be happy.)

It's 'cause I'm short, I know...

Here is the update from my very exciting last couple of days...

Meet my new car...

ooh, she's pretty...

And meet my new dog, Barney

BAH!  Is this a great couple of days or what!?!?

ABC, easy as 123

AHHH!  Look how scary!  Hmm... what is this, I wonder.  Is it... a demonstration of what happens to your coffee table if you fail to use a coaster?  nope.  that's not that scary.  Is it... a child's learning activity?  Is it the beginning of me drawing a cookie?  Yes, friends, it could be all these things.  But those things aren't super scary.  This is a picture of the CIRCLE OF DEATH!  (duh, duh, duuuuuuuuuh.)  I'm sorry to give some of you nightmares, but it has to be put out there for the world to see.

You all remember the Circle of Death, right?  For those of you who've lapsed their memory, it's one of those vicious circles you can't get out of, no matter how hard you try.

Let's examine a few now... because it was Halloween recently and scary things have their place.  Even on my blog.


Circle of death the first: in which there is a battle between productivity and empty calories.

Today I ate almost an entire stick of butter.  I know this because I put an entire stick of butter into a batch of Rice Krispie Treats to take to my neighbors.  The Treats, however, ended up being a little bit crappy due to something called "stale marshmallows" and so I decided to save them for me... I mean us.  Me and my HUSBAND, who also eats food here (occasionally).  And when my husband was at work I ate... a lot of Treats.  Okay, most of the pan of Rice Krispie Treats.  I finally put the rest in the cupboard so Matt could eat the one I promised him this morning.  (Does it make me sound less like I have a problem if I mention that Matt is working for like 15 hours every day?) 

WHY DID I DO THAT?  I don't want to eat an entire stick of butter.  I know this because when I'm playing Greed and I think about losing, I think to myself "I hope I don't lose so I don't have to eat a stick of butter... or Bim's chest hair (etc.)"  (umm... because the standing dare you can do if you lose said game of greed is to eat a stick of butter, but other things like eating people's facial hair, or eating cheese fondue out of someone's beard come up too).  But instead of being productive, unpacking, eating well, exercising, drinking fluids, etc I just kept eating Treats.  Sure, a 1/2 inch here, 1/4 inch there - it was no big deal.  But then they were gone (minus that one piece I would be a bad person if I ate... so, for all intents and purposes it's gone).  And I had wasted my day and done nothing.  No unpacking, no productive... no avoidance of eating all that butter.  Because "nothing" is a bad circle to be stuck in.  Because you don't want to do ANYTHING if you're not already doing SOMETHING.

To further illustrate my point I forced myself to run about 6pm.  I had just realized how much I'd eaten and needed to punish myself.  (By the way, if you're interested in eating nothing but a pan of goodies in a day and then running up a hill - don't do it. )  When I came back from said run I unpacked 8 large boxes, moved furniture around (all by myself), made myself dinner, organized my clothing system in the new house and finished the laundry.  All in about an hour and a half.

And this is because doing nothing and eating crap all day is a vicious circle.  it only leads to more crap-eating and nothing-doing.  But being productive like running leads to more productivity and boxes getting unpacked. (did I mention I also broke-into the new Ben and Jerry's?)

Vicious Circle the Second: In which there is a battle between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

As many of you dear readers know, I don't do well with not having a lot to do.  I really enjoy being overloaded properly loaded down with tasks, activities and social engagements.  Right now I am the opposite of that.  There was a day last week where the biggest agenda item on my day was turning on the dish washer.  (which, for those of you wondering, I did beautifully.)

And this makes me not so easy to live with.  Again, that makes me want to sit and do nothing.  And that is counter-productive because I know that if I get out and exercise it will make me feel better.  Because exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins make you happy and happy people don't kill their husbands.  But it's a vicious cycle with myself.  Vicious.

So now do you see why this circle is so scary?  What's that you say?  You agree with me?  This should have been a Halloween post it's so scary?  Yeah, I totally know, right!?!?

SouthernTV... a glimpse.

If I really cared about my blog, I would have blogged at 1am this morming.  I say that because I was awake, and I had the most FANTASTIC ideas about what to blog about.  I was so excited about blogging... but I was also excited about not getting out of bed.  And, as is usually the case, I have no clue what I was so excited about this morning.  Curses!

A random thought this morning.  I've been trying to watch the local news while I was writing this.  And I have three things to say about local news in Columbus, Georgia.
  THING THE FIRST: why do I need an anteana to get local channels?  Honestly, I have DirecTV (as of yesterday... hooray) but needed to pay an EXTRA $50 to have an anteana installed for local chanels.  Was I high and just thought the WHOLE NATION went digital?  Also, I can't search for shows to record on local chanels either.  Which means when I wanted to record GLEE, my television couldn't find the show.  I'm working on a solution so I don't punch anyone.

  THING THE SECOND: your newscaster has a fat face.  I don't think she's a fat person... just one of those people with a chubby face.  How did she become the lead news anchor? (HA!  found a picture.  she's on the right.  Obviously she's not getting crowned anything...)

  THING THE THIRD: your bullet points SUCK.  They say stupid and pointless things.  Honestly, there was a (very sad) report about not finding a baby's body in a landfill (what?) and the third bullet-point (out of 4) was -from BlahBaleh police department.  As in, we got this information from the BLehBleh (obviously i don't remember the name) police department.  a) why does that get it's own bullet point and b) why is that bullet point 3 of 4?
  THING THE FOURTH (I know I said you only got three, but I am continually astounded): a guest on the news just said "you know what they say here in the South, bigger hair, closer to God."

Okay... this has to be it for now.  There is really nowhere you can go after that new catch-phrase.  This has been your glimpse into the South for the day.  And, yes, you're welcome.

When I up, down, touch the ground puts me in the mood... for food

And we're back to titles that are lyrics or movie quotes.  This one comes from my most-watched movie as a child: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

And we're also back to blogs about {HIGHS} and {lows}.  Mostly because it's fun.  And secondly because there is so much stuff to say.

{HIGHS}

- We got to Ft. Benning safely, and found a house quickly.  And it's huge.  4 bedrooms.  At first I was a little bit scared that I wouldn't be able to fill them with anything.  But our stuff got here in a timely fashion and... well... luckily, turns out I have a lot of stuff. 
- This is a house we live across the street from.  Isn't it adorable?  My house doesn't look like that.  But it's nice to run past houses that do.

(what's that you say?  You want pictures of what MY house looks like, and not just my neighbors?  Please wait for another blog.  A magical blog where I have actually used my camera.  Man, this no iPhone is really hurting everyone.  I have got to get ON that.)

- I feel just like a 1950s housewife here.  Children walk to school past my house, the plumbing here was obviously around then, wives walk babies around the block all day.  It's picturesque.  I need a big poofy skirt and pearls.

- The weather here is great.  Most days it is either mid-upper 60's.  On days it isn't that, it's probably monsooning.  (You know... monsooning... to monsoon?)  It's rain like I've never lived in before (having lived in Utah for most of my life) and it is strangely thereputic.  None of this is "fall" to me, but I'm working on "new normals."

{lows}

- the house is covered in what can best be described as tile from any given high school built between 1930 and 1970.  Covered.  The whole thing.  You'd be surprised at how much you wish for (even ugly) carpet to dampen sounds, absorb any trace-bits of leaves that come in on your shoes and not feel so cold.

- Once, again, I don't mean to point any fingers (US ARMY) but could you BE more of a jerk?  I think you'd really have to put real effort into it if you wanted to achieve a higher jerkiness scale level.  minus 150 points to Slytherin.

- I met someone in my neighborhood.  It's my mail man, Charlie.  And although I should be positive and put that on the {HIGHS} section of this email, he's the only person I've met.  Not to worry, though... I'm sure my charisma and shere needyness to talk to someone while Matt is gone for days at a time will draw them to me.  Or me to them.  Or something.  Did I mention training with the Army isn't everything we'd been lead to believe?  ooh... just making sure.

Well, friends, this is me... signing off from Georgia.  I think I'm going to run past the houses from "We Were Soldiers."  And walk where Mel Gibson walked... *sigh*