More Awesome!!

• The sound of rain from inside the tent - Those last three words are unnecessary.  You'll never catch me inside a tent.  But the sound of rain IS awesome.
• Seeing a cop on the side of the road and realizing you're going the speed limit anyway - And to take this one step further, having someone SPEED past you, and then seeing a cop pulling out after them.
• When the DJ plays your request - This is a really dated one.  What DJ takes requests anymore?  Regardless, it reminds me of a time when I was dating a guy named Doug who was a DJ.  Charlie and I were at home decorating our Christmas tree and Doug dedicated...ON AIR...different Christmas songs to us.  It was awesome.  
• Singing in the car on the way home from the concert - We also sing on the way TO a concert.  So when we went to see Elton John recently, we played his songs all the way to the concert.
• Wearing your favorite pair of underwear - Haha....this IS awesome.  There are just certain pairs that I like better than others.
• Spotting your house from the airplane window - This has actually never happened to me.  Our house is not usually in the flight path.  However, I do get excited if I see the stadium or recognize anything really.  Also, one time I flew home from Chicago on the 4th of July and it was awesome to see the fireworks from above instead of below.
• Getting your guests to help you move something really heavy - We rarely have guests and when we do, I hate to make them do heavy labor.  But I will say it was awesome when the Trznadels helped us move in here in Colorado.
• Finding hidden compartments in things you already own - This doesn't happen often but I do like getting new purses or tote bags or suitcases that have extra pockets.  
• Typing in your user name and password at the speed of light - This makes me laugh because it's so true.  It makes you think you're a corporate superhero or something.
• Finally farting after the guests leave - Yes, and also being able to fart in your rental car after you've held it for the entire flight
• When something lucky happens to you on Friday the 13th - I've actually always thought that Friday the 13th is a lucky day.  It's all in your perspective.
• The moment of anticipation just before the first kiss - This, to me, is the saddest part of marriage.  There is a lot of good that comes from being married, don't get me wrong, but never, ever being able to have that first kiss again is the saddest thing.  It ranks right up there with having your children grow up and leave.
• When you tune the radio station perfectly so there's absolutely no static - To be honest, radio stations suck these days.  That's why I'm glad there's Spotify.  And you never have to worry about static when you're streaming music.
• When your friend makes sure you got into the house safely after dropping you off at the end of the night - I don't have anyone that does this for me but I rarely ride with anyone either.  I will say I ALWAYS do it for other people.  I simply cannot pull out of someone's driveway until they are safely in their house.
• When the thing you were going to buy is already on sale - Yes, that's cool, for sure.  I try to find sales all the time anyway.
• The feeling of brushing your teeth with a new toothbrush - This reminds me that I really need to get a new toothbrush.
• Walking on clean grass with bare feet - I used to like this but my fears of what lies in that grass have gotten worse as I age.  You'd think it would be the opposite, wouldn't you?
• When your guests ask for seconds of the meal you cooked - Absolutely!  I will never forget Jeff Gimar being so enamored with my cheesecake that he asked for seconds.  It made me feel wonderful.
• Staying up past your bedtime when you were a kid - Staying up late was something we got to do when we had company, especially if that company included other kids.  But if Mom and Dad had other couples visit them, they made us go to bed.  I would lay awake and listen to them visit.  I could also hear the TV so I remember Johnny Carson.  
• Using anything besides a screwdriver to turn a screw - Why would you not just use a screwdriver?  I don't get it.
• Flavor pockets - When you hit the good stuff as you eat.  Like the cookie dough in cookie dough ice cream.  Or the nuts in banana nut muffins.  That kind of thing.  Yes.
• Riding home with a box of pizza on your lap - Getting pizza and bringing it home is double awesome.  First, pizza!  Second, no cooking.  Win/win.
• Successfully giving strangers directions in your hometown - In this day and age of GPS, it is no longer necessary to give directions.  And good thing too because I'm not very good at it.
• When you get a seat close to the bathroom on the plane....but not too close - Gag.  No!  This is not awesome.  Getting the exit row aisle seat is awesome.  Bulkhead is kind of awesome.  Upgraded to first class is over the top awesome.  But being close to an airplane bathroom is definitely NOT awesome.  
• Peeling your socks off under the sheets - I never sleep with socks on.  It makes my feet feel claustrophobic.  

**You'll notice that I disagree with some of these things.  That's because I didn't write them.  I'm taking them from a calendar that a nursing school friend gave me that was called a Year of Awesome.  I didn't really want to just get rid of these suggestions when the year was up so I decided to put them on my blog and just add notes about what I thought of them. 

Catching Up!

Another post of awesomeness....

• The moment at a restaurant after you see your food coming from the kitchen but before it lands on your table - Yes, that's fantastic but my negative side is creeping up by knowing what it feels like when you've been waiting forever, you see food coming your way, and the waiter keeps on walking to take the food to another table.  Sad.
• Scraping all the lint off an overflowing lint trap - I get this treat EVERY week when I do laundry....and after every load.  I don't know why people don't know that it's important to clean out their lint traps....do they want a fire or something??
• Cooking a giant meal with your husband and making a huge mess in the kitchen - This is the sort of thing that sounds fun when you're single but in actuality, making a mess in the kitchen is not fun.  Who's cleaning that shit up?  Also, I like cooking by myself.  I don't bump into anyone in the kitchen plus I can concentrate.
• Bedhead all day long - My hair actually looks pretty decent when I get out of bed. :)
• Finding the last item in your size - At this point, finding ANYTHING in my size that's cute makes me happy.
• Sneaking under someone else's umbrella in the rain - Does anyone you know even have an umbrella big enough for two people?!  Because that would be awesome.....IF it existed.
• Grabbing the cereal bowl with both hands and slurping up all the sugary milk - This is pretty awesome.  I did it so often growing up that I'm pretty sure that's how I ended up with diabetes. 
• Thinking it's Thursday when it's Friday - Or anything like this.  For instance, we normally go out to breakfast on Sundays.  But we went today instead which was Saturday.  So all day, I've felt like it's Sunday.  Yay....I still have weekend left.  
• Staying up late to read a few more pages - Or watch the rest of the movie.  Or play some games of Solitaire or Candy Crush.  I actually do this almost every night.  That's why I'm so tired all the time.
• Waking up before your alarm clock goes off and realizing you've got lots of sleep time left - I usually wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  I admit that it's pretty nice knowing I still have 3 or 4 hours to go before I have to get up.
• When you spill something on your shirt and it doesn't leave a stain - Or better yet, thinking that whatever you spilled landed on your shirt but it didn't....it landed on the floor.  
• Watching the odometer click over a major milestone - I don't pay any attention to this at all.  I barely even notice if I need gas.  I'm not super observant.
• Seeing baby photos of your husband for the first time - I wish, wish, wish Ruth had thought to take separate pictures of the twins and had labeled the backs of them.  I only have seen pictures of Rich and Ted together and you can't tell which is which.
• Reading the nutritional label and eating it anyway - I actually think it's more awesome to see something that looks delicious and finding out, after reading the nutritional label, that it's not so bad for you after all.
• When the subway door stops right in front of you - OR when you're taking the train at the airport and you stand directly in front of the perfect door that allows you to get off before everyone else does.
• When someone unjams the photocopier for you - Or better yet, when you unjam it yourself.  Why rely on other people?
• Getting into a bed with clean sheets after shaving your legs - And also you're clean, too, because you've just showered.
• Squeezing through a door as it's shutting without touching it - This is especially true if you make it through a revolving door without touching any part of it
• Mixing cookie batter with your bare hands - I've never done this, I don't think.  I do mix up meatloaf with my bare hands so I get the allure of having egg squish through your fingers. 
• When you know all the buttons to speed through the automated telephone system - I learned a trick to this.  When the automated voice is droning on and on with all the choices, just hit 0 and you can bypass the entire thing and go directly to a human.  
• The perfect long-distance shopping cart return in the grocery store parking lot - I absolutely love stores that have perfectly placed cart returns in the parking lot
• Falling asleep in the backseat of a car late at night on the drive home - This reminds me of coming home from my grandma's house.  I would fall asleep and my dad would carry me in the house and put me to bed.  
• The first squeeze from a new tube of toothpaste - It's also awesome to think you have no more toothpaste left but surprise!  You get one last squeeze before you have to throw it away.
• Putting potato chips in a sandwich - I also like putting them on a burger, which I guess is the same concept.
• Seeing someone laugh in their sleep - Especially if it's your children
• Getting the armrest at the movie theater - This is a given for me now because I'm so picky about theaters.  I will only go to the theaters that have the big reclining seats.  But getting the armrest on the airplane....I will fight to the death for that.
• When someone brings you coffee in bed just the way you like it - Rich used to always do this for me in Kansas City.  But now, in Denver, he goes to bed by 8 and is up by like 4.  So now I never get coffee. 

Back Again!

Jeez, it's been a long time since I updated this blog.  I've started a couple of other online venues....one through Penzu, where I basically just griped about my job, and a Word doc called Merci, where I try to list the good stuff, the stuff I'm grateful for.  However, I was cleaning out my desk this week and came across the calendar that my nursing school friend gave me.  All those awesome things that trip our trigger on a daily basis so I figured, rather than throw them away, I should write my thoughts about each one to finish it up on this blog.  So here goes:

• Eating the part of the cookie that fell in the milk - Rarely do I dip cookies in milk.  I have just never been a milk-drinking girl.  But eating cookies...that's an entirely different story.  Ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven?  Yes please.  And if they have nuts, that's even better.
• Interspecies action-figure wars - Nope.  I'm the kind of person that doesn't watch movies if they can't actually happen in real life.  So no sci-fi for me, no intergalactic anything.  I've never even seen Star Wars!  Once in a blue moon, I'll watch something magical:  Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Princess Bride.  But most of the time, I'm like "nah".  
• Passing under a bridge on the highway when it's pouring rain - I do like this.  It lets me catch my breath for a second when I've been holding it due to the stress of driving in the pouring rain.  I'm not the kind of person who parks under a bridge and waits for it to stop raining....that's kind of idiotic, if you ask me....but I do like the momentary reprieve you get when you drive under them during a shower.
• Snagging all the free stuff from hotel rooms - Haha...this made me laugh.  I'm in hotel rooms SO often that the allure of the "free" stuff is no longer there.  I do get a little excited if they have something different in the room, like for instance, we got slippers in our room when we stayed in Kuwait.  I have them to this day. 
• An inbox of personal e-mails waiting for you when you wake up - The very first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone.  First, work emails.  Second, FB notifications.  Third, personal email.  An invitation?  A request for travel at work?  A compliment on FB?  Those are the nice things to wake up to.
• Taking your glasses or contact lenses off at the end of the day - I mainly just use reading glasses so this doesn't really pertain to me, but if you switched the word "glasses" for "bra", I would be totally onboard with that kind of awesomeness!
• Laughing so hard you make no sound at all - I don't do this.  But sometimes I do laugh until I cry.  I get this from my dad.  And that's the kind of funny that no matter if it happens time and time again, you'll laugh every single time.  Like dropping the tacos at Taco Bell.  
• When the free bread they bring you at the restaurant is warm - Now that I've read Anthony Bourdain's book "No Reservations", I am leary of restaurant bread.  (He says they reuse the uneaten bread....ugh).  However, if the bread you are served is warm, I'm of the thought that it's fresh bread.  Yum with a capital Y. 
• The smell of Play-Doh -  I do love play-doh but I don't necessarily think it smells good.  Magic Markers, on the other hand......I'm high off that shit.  
• Taking a shaving break - This doesn't pertain to me.  I shave my legs EVERY day and love the way it feels!
• Catching somebody singing in their car and sharing a laugh with them - This used to happen sometimes when I was younger.  Nowadays, everyone has Bluetooth so when you see them flapping their jaws in the car, they could just be chatting with their mom.
• Kissing your significant other for no reason - I do love smooching Rich.  I just smooch him sometimes for no reason at all.  He rarely does that for me but oh well....
• When you go out for lunch and come back to a way better parking spot - The only time I had a job like this was when I worked for Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry and I hated the job so badly that even if I got a better parking spot, it was still dismal to have to get out of my car, knowing I still had an entire afternoon left at that hell hole.
• The sound of barely frozen puddles cracking when you step on them - I get this.  Crunching anything when you're walking is awesome, whether that be frozen puddles, leafs, anything. 
• When a chunk of earwax randomly falls out of your ear - I have never actually had this happen but anyone who knows me knows that I find a weird sort of satisfaction of watching ear wax removal videos on youtube.  If there was a nurse job where all you did was remove ear wax, that's the kind of nurse I'd like to be.
• Your first day in brand new underwear - I like getting new underwear, truly I do, but they're not soft until they've been washed a couple of times.  Then they're really awesome!
• Taking off your high heels at the end of the night and walking home in bare feet - Substitute "bra" for "high heels" and I'm in 100% agreement.  (See above)
• That smooth feeling on your teeth after you get your braces off - I actually had gotten so used to having braces that it was kind of sad when they were removed but on this same note, I do love the smooth feeling of your teeth after you have your six month cleaning.  No plaque.  That's perfection.
• Dangling your feet in water - Only if it's clean water, like a pool or a fountain.  Not any water where something could nibble your toes. That's just terrifying.
• Kicking those clumps of frozen slush off the back of your car's mud flaps - I hate, hate, hate grey snow but I think it's hilarious that someone else realized how satisfying this is to kick this crap off your car.  
• When you arrive at the bus stop just as the bus is coming around the corner - I can't remember the last time I caught a bus but I guess this is the same feeling when you time it perfectly for the subway or train.  You feel like a pro at commuting.
• Wearing pajamas to do anything besides sleep - I do like spending time in pajamas but only for laying around.  I have to really watch myself since I work from home and make myself get dressed; otherwise, I'd end up in pjs all the time.
• Celebrating your pet's birthday even though they have no idea what's going on - Not a pet person.  But celebrating a dog's birthday does sound kind of fun.
• Dropping a glass and then sticking your foot out so it hits your foot and doesn't break on the ground - I don't think I've ever done this.  But having a glass hit your foot doesn't sound very awesome.  I guess it's better than broken glass but still...  Maybe you should just be careful and not drop your glass in the first place.
• Eating the extra fries at the bottom of the bag - This is especially awesome if you've gone through the drive through and are eating the fries while you drive.  You get to the bottom of that little paper bag of fries and you're like "Aww....bummer" then you reach deeper into the bigger bag only to find some fries laying in the bottom of that.  That is kind of awesome.