Sarahology

This was a note going around facebook. I have been done with my work for the week since Tuesday. So, I had some free time on my hands and thought I would jump in.
***********FOODOLOGY***************
What is your salad dressing of choice? Caeser
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Macaroni Grill
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? French Fries (I know, it's bad!)
What are your pizza toppings of choice? I prefer just cheese, but adding pepperoni isn't so bad!
What do you like to put on your toast? butter and grape jelly ***********TECHNOLOGY***************
How many televisions are in your house? 3
What color cell phone do you have?black
***************BIOLOGY******************
Are you right-handed or left-handed?right-handed
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Part of my hamstring to repair a torn ACL
What is the last heavy item you lifted? A box of work mugs for Amber to fill for guests to FBC
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Not completely; I did get a pretty bad concussion once and was very disoriented but not out cold
************SLAPDASHOLOGY**************
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Nope! I would always be paranoid!
If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I got to change my last name! I like my name, simple and plain.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Probably
How many pairs of flip flops do you own? Oh gosh, I'd have to go home and count!
Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Hmm- When Jim and I were dating, we were out on a country road talking, apparently in a place where drugs are a problem and we got stopped. The guy that we were up to no good and kept asking me if I was okay.
Last person you talked to? Samantha Jordan Pace sitting right across from me in my office.
Last person you hugged? Jimbo this morning before I left for work! **********FAVORITOLOGY****************
Season? Summer or Spring
Holiday? Christmas
Day of the week? Saturday
Month? April - Thunderstorms!
***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Missing someone? Not really... which might sound harsh.
Mood? Bored
Watching? No TVs at work, but I will watch the occasional YouTube video
Worrying about? Nothing currently- but that can change pretty quickly
***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************
First place you went this morning? Kitchen to get some cereal
What's the last movie you saw? Driving on our Spring Break, I listened to Beverly Hills Chihuahua
You smile often? I try!
Sleeping Alone Tonight? Nope!
***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************
Do you always answer your phone? Nope
Its four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? Someone under the age of 16
If you could change your eye color what would it be? I like my eye-color
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? Cherry
Do you own a digital camera? Yes; but a new and better one is on the wishlist!
Have you ever had a pet fish? Yeah! And I can remember flushing them when they died.
What is your favorite Christmas song?12 Days of Christmas, Relient K version or O Holy Night.
What's on your wish list for your birthday? Stuff for my house!
Can you do push ups? a couple
Can you do a chin up? Maybe 1
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? A little of both!
Do you have any saved texts? I keep them to remind me about things to do!
Ever been in a car wreck? Yeah
Do you have an accent? Probably more noticeable when I leave this area
What is the last song to make you cry? Don't really remember
Plans tonight? Hitting with Jim and painting my living room!
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Definitely!
Name 3 things you bought yesterday: New bra from Victoria's Secret, Shampoo from Bath and Body Works, Sweet tea from sonic
Have you ever been given roses? Yes; my husband loves to give me them and he knows Yellow is my favorit!
Current hate right now? school! I just want to be done!
Have you ever met someone who changed your life? Jesus Christ
What song represents you? Sarah SMILE!
Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? I don't know. Would like to go back to "simpler times" but they had their troubles too.
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? Yes
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? I have pierced ears!
Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now? Yes! Praise God!
What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever is in my head!
Ever had someone sing to you? yeah.
When did you last cry? Don't remember
Do you like to cuddle? With my hubby and puppies! Or my sweet little siblings!
Have you held hands with anyone today? not today!
Who was the last person you took a picture of? My step sister. She shaved her head for cancer research.
What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? I don't even remember!
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? A little of both!
Do you like pulpy orange juice? Yes! That's all we buy!
What is something your friends make fun of you for? Not being girly or being dramatic.

Hi/Lo Thursday

Sarah here. This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

Hi's:

Things at the house are coming along, slowly, but surely. I'm trying hard not to be too uptight about it, but it's a really hard thing for me to do. I just keep telling myself that I would rather it be done right and slow, than fast and sloppy. I have had only one dr. pepper since Monday. This is monumental for me, seeing as the week before I was having two or three a day. I've converted to sweet tea. Not really sure if it is any better for me. Lastly, this week, I've been driving my mom's red convertible miata around. I feel like a movie star! Also, I'm doing extremely well in my two classes at MSU.

Lo's:

While painting is going on, the rest of the house has been put on the back burner. I hate when my house is a mess. I know it's a pride thing. But when my home is a mess, I just feel like my entire life is. The other thing is that potty training with sweet Josie isn't going to well. She is constantly sneaking off and going in the floor. I guess, at least, she goes in the same place.

Spring Break Trip Day #2 and #3

Spring Break Day #2 was so fun!! We got up took showers and headed to the park in their neighborhood. We hung out, played on the merry-go-round, chalked it up, and took some pictures, thanks to my aunt Joy! Next, we drove an hour south to Crystal Beach. In this area, the sea came onland 17 miles, obviously destroying everything in its path during Hurricane Ike. It felt very weird to be there, and see with my eyes the destruction that was caused. I fell asleep and got really sunburned, and am now starting to peel on my face. BUMMER! Oh well, it was really fun and really worth it! We ended the day by eating at a Cajun restaurant that was VERY yummy! The drive home, although not as eventful as the drive there, was still long. Zach nearly drove everyone crazy, but no one threw up so I consider it a great trip! Here are just a few pictures here!

When we returned, we met my family at Parkway for my Dad's Birthday! He turned 47! I got to see my family and it was fun eating dinner with them and not having to cook after a long day of driving. Big thanks to Sherrie for staying at our house and taking care of our sweet puppies!

Spring Break Day #1

Sarah here. For our spring break "vacation," we traveled with my family to visit my aunt and uncle who live in Lumberton, Texas. My aunt Joy is a photographer and my uncle Chris is the manager of a television station in Beaumont (about an hour north of Houston). They have three awesome kids, Jason who is 13, Walter, who is 11, and Ellie who is 8. They have a beautiful house in Lumberton (about 15 minutes from Beaumont) that they moved into last year right before Hurricane Ike hit. They had lived in Midland, Tx, but got transferred from there to Beaumont because of Chris' job.

All of day 1 consisted mostly of traveling. We left Wichita Falls at 8 am. We had a three car caravan: Jim and I in my car with my little sister Lexie and little brother Josh, my Mom's van with her driving, and the rest of the little kids (Zach, Alijah, and Charlie) and my aunt and uncle bringing up the rear in her car with my sister and her boyfriend Gary riding. It took us a total of eight hours to make the trip. 

You expect a trip to be a little longer because of the kids, but we had no idea what we were in for. Not even two hours into the trip, this is what I hear from the back seat:

Lexie: Ohhhhh SSSIIIICCCKKK!

Josh: crying

Sarah and/or Jim: What happened?

Lexie: I thought he sneezed, but he frowed (throwed said without front teeth) up.

Disgusting smells overtake my car immediately. I quickly take the next exit, with everyone following/wondering what was going on. Sweet Joshua is crying because he feels bad for making a mess, and feels bad, period. We get everything taken care of, cleaned up, changed clothes, and got back on the road. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's in Corsicana. Of course the kids wanted to play so we stayed a little longer. Also, at this point, Jim downloaded Oregon Trail on my iPhone. It is awesome....totally worth $6. 

The next couple of hours of the trip were pretty uneventful. Joshua kept saying in his cute little voice, "Where are we go-wing?" or "Are we the-were yet?" or "Go faster Sawah." 

Woodville is where we were making our turn to head south again for Lumberton. We were at a stoplight, first in line, when a motorcycle is coming across in front of us, making a turn. Mid intersection, this little (or not so much little- he was a little fluffy) old man hits a slick patch in the road and tumbles off his bike. It was very scary to watch. I threw my gear in park, jumped out of my car, waved my mom and aunt in (who are both RNs) and run to the man. He had blood running down his head, stuff running out of his bike, and he was yelling at me to get him out of the road. I thought he was just embarrassed and stubborn, but it turns out that he had some unpaid tickets, didn't have a motorcycle driving license, and no insurance. Anyways, we pulled him up and got him to the side of the road, got his bike out of the middle of the road, and called 911. We pulled our cars into the McDonald's parking lot only to be blocked in by cop cars for about 20 minutes. I didn't think we were ever going go to get there.

But we did finally arrive. We ate the most delicious meal, hung out, and then went to bed. I was so ready for it!

Painting Continued

Last night, we continued painting. Here is what we accomplished.

We also go to go hang out at one of my very best friend's houses last night. Emily Fulcher was in town, so we went to her Mom's house and had tea, the best carrot cheesecake ever, some fruit salad, and got to play with her adorable little Kai. I love it when my friends get to come back home and we get to hang out. I miss them! Cassidy was in town last week, and we got to have a good, although short, hang out!

Weekend Doings

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of my two sweet girls hanging out with us for  restful afternoon on the bed.

Aren't they precious? 

________________________________________________

In other news around the house on Dayton, we started painting our living room. Here is what we accomplished yesterday evening.

Jim painted the fireplace and I painted the walls. This was Jim's first time painting, so he didn't want to get to walls just yet! Didn't he do a great job? Our plan is to put a candlescape inside the fireplace (it's not an actual working fireplace) and all the trim will be a cream color to lighten things up. You can see a hint of it on the window frame to the left of the fireplace.

A New Addition

This week, another Johnson was added to the family.

Meet Josie Johnson. She is almost six months old (will be March 19th) and is a miniature schnauzer. She comes as a gift from my Mom, who knew we wanted a schnauzer. Her and Janey get along great, like two sister's would. She is a big snuggler, especially with her mom, and doesn't potty outside on a regular basis, which makes her dad very angry. 

Issues

Sarah here. There have been two major issues this weekend; one has been on-going, and is actually just getting fixed this weekend, which motivated me to blog about it. 

I'll begin with the toilet. Here is what happens when you flush the toilet. 

Our little fountain right in our own home. Thankfully, Jim's dad works with plumbing equipment and is able to help us get it fixed! Thanks, Mike!

The other issue this weekend was my back. I have this spot in the middle of my lower back that starts hurting, and pretty much paralyzes me with pain when it does. It's hurt really bad one other time before, when I was putting together our kitchen island. I was out for the rest of the evening and most of the next day. Heating pad and advil were the cure. Yesterday, in my indoor soccer game, we only had three players show up, against five, and it didn't work out for us. It was a really good team, and only having three players gave me a good workout. First, I had to block a shot with the inside of my knee; an hour later, I still had a bruise, and it hasn't gone away yet, even a day later. If you look closely, you can see the imprint of the ball on my leg. OUCH! 

Then, a girl who wasn't very good (not that I am some superstar) missed the ball and kicked my leg, which twisted me around and something pulled in that spot in my back. I've been out since 6 pm yesterday. Still not better, but on my way. Maybe I am getting old...

Recap of the Week

Sarah here. I've been mostly absent from the blogging world because of Disciple Now. For those of you who don't know why this would keep me busy, let me enlighten you. I (and another administrative assistant, Samantha) were in charge of getting together a weekend for our 7th-12th grade students in the area. This included finding people to open up their homes to host 8-12 students at their houses, finding co-hosts who would come along side them to help out, Bible Study leaders who would also be in the homes, teaching 5 sessions, writing one of the lessons, getting all necessary paperwork and bills done, budgeting, ordering, re-ordering, keeping up with who has paid what and when, who has registered, assigning kids to homes (which is a large task because people go crazy if you don't put them with their friends) and then orchestrating anything I've left out. We hosted just at 300 students so it's a big undertaking. It was this past weekend, and it was incredibly successful.

So this week has been my refresh from Disciple Now week. I had to catch up on homework, housecleaning, and sleep. All (for the most part) has been accomplished.

I'm continuing to work out and counting calories to try and lose weight. Most days its okay, but I had no idea it would be so hard to count calories. It's easy when you eat something pre-packaged, like yogurt or a lean cuisine, but Jim made delicious chicken georgia last week, and you just have to guesstimate. This is really hard for me, because I am person of exacts. Don't give me round about answers or instructions- tell me what you want done and exactly how you want it done and I'll do it. Also, I am still hanging on to my Dr. Pepper, just in moderation.

School is an incredible disappointing, discouraging, and depressing point in my life right now. I have now dropped two classes this semester (down to two classes, one online) which dropped me below half time (because the online class is only two credit hours, not three) and my school loans were canceled. Financial Aid is so confusing! I had to sit with a counselor, as she explained the consequences of my decision, and laid everything out. Nothing major is going to happen, but I felt like a little kid in that office.

Because of working full time, online classes are preferred so I don't have to be gone from work so much. However, not a lot of upper sociology/pyschology classes are offered online at MSU. I started looking around the internet for online programs, but I'm so close to being finished that Jim's advice was to stay at MSU, take one, maybe two classes a semester, and be done. I have 6 classes left to take. I just want to be done already.

At this point, I'm just negating the need for a degree. My plans sort of changed once I got married and once I started to realize the importance and desire I have to stay home with my children. I started out in sociology because it was interesting to me and was the study of people and societies. I was going to be going into the ministry and after graduating, was going to head to seminary. The Upward position I held taught me a lot about minsitry and myself, and I learned that I didn't want to be the in-front person of any minstry. I couldn't handle dealing with people; turns out, just like learning about them. I would still like to go to seminary some day, but it's not in the near future.

Just let me take the stairs!

It's FRIDAY!!! This weekend is not going to be all that spectacular (especially after last weekend's Disciple Now festivities) but I will get to spend a ton of time outside in particularly awesome weather working in my yard/garden and running. There's only one thing that could make this weekend better and that would be Rangers baseball. Unfortunately, the Rangers' opener is exactly one month away so Spring Training and Sony Playstation baseball will have to continue to fill the void.

Let me say that I love my job and I love the office building we inhabit. First of all, there are only four of us in the office so a lot of the weird "corporate America" things that a lot of our friends experience in bigger operations don't really apply. Additionally, I have a great view from my 5th floor office. Granted, there aren't a whole lot of "great views" in Wichita Falls but I have one of the better ones. One of my co-workers also happens to be a great cook and constantly brings good food to work to share with us. However, there is one aspect to our building that annoys the heck out of me: you cannot take the stairs! For some reason you cannot enter any floor from the stairwell and you can only exit out of the bottom floor to the outside. What this means is that you may use the stairs to exit the building in case of an emergency or if you happen to be leaving the building but you cannot go up the stairs to get to your floor or use the stairs to travel between floors.

Why? I don't know. I have heard that it is for security reasons. Security from what?! Fire safety? Having worked as an RA in a 12-floor dorm for two years and knowing that 1100 college students (a portion of whom are too intoxicated or stupid to accomplish basic tasks such as dressing appropriately, getting out of bed, or not getting kicked out of school) are entrusted with leaving fire doors shut, surely a professional building can handle it as well. I'm asking all of you...what reasons can you think of that might remotely explain this situation?

Haven't we been hearing for years that taking the stairs is healthier for us (it is)? Wouldn't it be less of a strain on the building's elevator systems to allow us to take the stairs? I don't get it...

Run you idiot!

Jim here with profuse apologies for not posting in the last week.

No, the subject line is not my formal announcement to run for public office in 2010 but the public acknowledgement that I have been thoroughly inspired to train for and run a marathon before the end of the year.

Let me explain. As some of you are aware, I have run in the past and continue to do so on an on-again, off-again basis. Honestly, I enjoy it. I feel better when I get to run (physically and mentally) and I love setting a goal and accomplishing it. However, I do not enjoy being cold...at all. And the thought of going outside at 5:30 in the morning in January gives me chills even now. However, no more excuses. It's March and the weather is, in a word, FANTASTIC!

Why the inspiration to do this now? Well, that comes from two sources really. Number one, my uncle who lives in the Austin, TX area recently completed his first marathon and he ran it under 4 hours! That is impressive and listening to him talk about it after he finished the race in February really made me want to get out and do it too. As if that weren't enough to convince me that this is something I need to do, something happened on last week's Biggest Loser that completely pushed me over the edge. If you're not a fan of the show (or my friend Chelsea's blog), the gentleman who got booted from the show last week weighed almost 400 pounds within the last 6 months. He lost a substantial amount of weight before getting booted and then proceeded to run a marathon with his wife. After the episode ended last week, I looked at Sarah and said "If Dane can run a marathon, I can definitely do it!"

So, here I am, saying that my training has begun. The plan is to build up to a 10K in the summer, a half-marathon in the fall, and running the marathon in Austin next February. I'm having to start slowly again because all of the endurance I had built up prior to the job change and buying a home in October has disappeared over the winter. However, I'm here and, with the Lord's help, I will do it!