work is all relative

Okay-- this post is monumental. Earth shaking, and unprecedented.

Why? You ask.

Because it's cold outside. And with that wind chill, low temperatures (and ridiculously high electric heating bills) I am cold now as I write this...

And because of the cold, I am looking forward, even excited about going to work today. Going to work in a nice heated building, a building that is often a touch too warm, but definately the opposite of cold.

And here, the first time I've ever uttered the words... I'm excited and grateful that I have an office job and I'm not working on the ranch.

Gasp! (Cries of outrage and amazement)

Yup. It's true.

If I was on the ranch I'd be bundled up like the little brother on The Christmas Story, with so many coats and layers on that I couldn't force my arms to be at my sides, they'd stick straight out, and I'd be walking around like a cold, fluffy Ghostbuster's Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

I'd be driving a tractor, feeding the cows, or doing whatever else needed doing.

So, suddenly my cushy office job where I sit all day at my computer in relative comfort makes me very grateful. It's the little things in life, right?

Debbie Downer

So my last post was a bit pathetic... I realize that now. As I try to be super organized, super wife, super law student, and super employee, I see that I'm dropping many balls that I'm trying to juggle. And instead of having grace on myself, giving myself a little slack, I wallow.

I've become, Debbie Downer.

I realized this when I try to explain to people what I did over the weekend. I immediately freak out, as I didn't "Get it ALL done" and so can't think of the fun or things I did accomplish.

So this is my decision: no more wallowing, no more Debbie Downer. I need to learn to have grace with myself, so I can be graceful and forgiving of other people.

But because, I do LOVE Debbie Downer from SNL, so please enjoy this skit featuring Debbie Downer and Lindsay Lohan.

Domestic Goddess?

Ahh, the joys of a three day weekend!

I had mountains of homework to do. I had a house to clean. I had a husband and a brother to hang out with.

How in the world is it now Tuesday, when I'm back at work, and looking back at my long weekend, that I feel that I got nothing accomplished!? Where's the justice in that?

On my list of things to do this weekend:

• Organize my office: which included moving books onto my brand new bookshelf that my husband installed for me. In order to do that, I pulled ALL of my books off of their existing book shelves and began sorting and organizing so that FINALLY I would have some sort of order and find books easily.
• Fix existing bookshelf, which has shelves that sag pathetically in the middle. 
• Find, clean, paint, and move filing cabinet into office, put files into new cabinet.
• Clean the house, including bathrooms, kitchen, and vacuum.
• Do my myriad tons of homework, so I can start my law school semester off to a good start.
• Go for a run.
• Go to a movie with husband.
• Set up my sewing machine and start quilting a few baby quilts.

 And what did I accomplish? Well, I found a filing cabinet and painted it. I bought pieces of wood from Home Depot, sanded and stained them to help support the shelves in my old booksthelf. I started moving books onto the shelves, but there is still a huge pile of books in the middle of the office and I still can't see the top of my desk.

sigh.

Three days without work, and I feel that I accomplished pathetically little. And I didn't get all of my homework done.

I'm definately not winning any prizes this week for being a housewife or a law student.

The real domestic goddess in my life is my mom-- who can be the bookkeeper for the family ranch, be a ranch hand, be involved in the community, cook three meals a day, keep the house clean, and still have time to create incredible quilts like this:

I have big cowboy boots to fill. Maybe next weekend I can do some quilting.

Or I might just sleep in.

First Day of School

Do you remember the first day of school when you were a little kid? I remember that my mom would make sure brother and I were in our cutest outfits, our hair neatly combed/styled, and would line us up in front of the school for a picture, seeming to wait for the exact moment when our friends would be near so we were painfully embarrassed by taking her actions.

Those days are long gone.

But, the Chef celebrated the first day of school with me in a completely different way, one that I hope becomes a tradition.

He cooked steak for me. Well, granted, I am an honest-to-goodness, REAL, cowgirl, and usually only beef passes for me, but in this case, he made perfectly tender, scrumptious bison steaks, with yummy mashed potatoes, and veggies. In this one case we'll let the bison idea slip... (beef is really so mujch better!) but it was a lovely meal.

And he made it healthy... he only used milk in the potatoes, no butter. But the sauce had a ton of butter in it, so well... that's why I'm in the process of the fitness boot camp!

To make me feel even better (or worse!?) about myself, after gorging myself on dinner, we sat down and watched the Biggest Loser-- I'm completely hooked this season!

A great tradition started, yummy, healthy (?) dinner before the first day of school.

Tonight Lawyering Process. Tomorrow morning at six I'm in the gym (because of all that butter), and then Contracts and Criminal Law at night.

Breaking News: ShamWow not a Wow!?

Shocking but it's true...
Investigations have shown that perhaps everything you buy on tv isn't worth the money you spent on it! Shocking scoop!

In today's Denver Post, an article talks about some of the most popular infomercial products and how they don't live up to what's promised. The article, But Wait! Avoid TV product Rip Offs, breaks down a lot of the products, including the ShamWow, PedEgg, and of course, the Snuggie!

You can buy a snuggie for your whole family (now in designer prints like leopard print and zebra!) and for your canine friend. I've seen Snuggie's sold everywhere, most particularly Wal-Mart. But now-- after the Christmas season when everyone's Aunt Laura bought them a snuggie of their very own, people are realizing that it's a rip-off! Come on people! Just use a blanket!

My dad is legendary in his late night infomercial viewing, and he often orders miracle drugs and exercise equipment. I have the same bug, and I'll admit that I've bought makeup (Bare Escentuals) and skin care (Cindy Crawford's Meaningful Beauty) products.

While I love Bare Escentuals, I promptly returned the Meaningful Beauty. It's hard for someone who loves shopping to deny herself getting on the internet and ordering! I'm gullible, so I am trying to simply limit my tv infomercial viewing completely!

So what about you, is there anything you've bought from an infomercial? Was it worth it?


Source: Migoya, David. "But Wait! Avoid TV product rip-offs." The Denver Post. Jan. 12, 2010

Shredding it at Boot Camp

This morning marked my first day at fitness bootcamp. And I've been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.  Hopefully, the combination will help me lose some much needed weight. The combination of the holidays this year, the Chef's new obsession with making pate, and stress eating during the first semester of law school have all resulted in a softer midsection and the scale tipping further than it should.

Sigh.

But boot camp today was good. We weighed in, (gasp!) took measurements (do they really have to measure that part of my love handle?), and than ran up and down stairs in the stadium.

I already hurt, that can't be good.

But hopefully working out every day (even for 20 minutes) and starting to jog again will help me deal with the looming stress of Law School-- which starts tomorrow.

Good luck out there to all my bloggie friends who are also starting/continuing to fight the Big Evil Fat.

The Jury's Still Out

Happy New Year's! I'm only a week late!

I know I haven't been blogging much over the past few months... law school finals, the exhaustion after finals, the holidays with family, too much rich food, traveling, and I think sheer exhaustion have really put a cramp on my desire to blog. However I love blogging, I love the blogs I read, I love the discipline and the accountability to actually write something down formally or not every few days.

I did not do a resolution this year, but am still working on my 101 List. But I'm making an effort to be organized, to be more conscientious with my time.

One of the books that I read over break was Jean Chatzky's book, The Difference: How Anyone can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times. It's a non-fiction book of the financial persuasion, but had some excellent nuggets in it, including a chapter about the importance of hard work.

In the 60’s and 70’s researchers had determined that all personality traits could be lumped together by their similarities into five larger personality buckets: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and intellect. Working hard falls into the conscientious bucket.

Conscientiousness encompasses traits including being punctual, ambitious, and orderly, as well as two factors that deserve elaboration: competitiveness and something called grit. When you have grit you are a hard worker. You have stamina and are able to persevere to achieve your long-term goals. You are focused, dedicated, self-controlled, and finish what you start, even when you’re down.

According to a self test, I am about average when it comes to conscientiousness. But this is something I know is important, necessary, and even vital to my survival in law school, work, even day to day.

I just need that something called grit.

As for how I survived law finals? I don't know, the jury is still out and I haven't received all my grades yet. I need to be patient.

And to have more grit.

BSU UNDEFEATED!!!

Pure Joy...

The Boise State Broncos won the Fiesta Bowl last night.

And one of the key plays was when the punter, instead of kicking the ball, executed an amazing trick play.

Watch and see.

BSU plays in the Fiesta Bowl Tonight!

At long last, the time has come.

Tonight, my beloved Boise State Broncos will be playing Texas Christian University at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Broncos against the Horned Frogs... its a no brainer. We'll squish those little Horned Toads into the dry Arizona desert.

 BSU is currently ranked 6th, and TCU is ranked 4th. Both teams are undefeated.

Odds are in the favor of TCU, But I think the football party will turn the tides in favor of BSU, and they will dominate, showing the world that there's more in Idaho than potatoes.

Happy New Years!

So, quick question.

Do you say...

Twenty Ten

Two Thousand and Ten

One Oh

This is something I've been worrying about.
Just curious.