beat texas

working on game day could be a bummer if not for....

....sister working with me.
....amazing, thoughtful friend bringing me breakfast.
....being called 'honey britches.'
...knowing my parents are doing this....

...while enjoying this.

hope you enjoy your weekend. you deserve it.

thank you for working so hard.

i love you.

does anyone else...

...sing in the car and then check their phone to make sure you had not accidentally called someone?
....eat Fignutons for dinner?
....water their crystal light down in the pitcher so it lasts longer?
....shake their sheets out before bed so they are extra fluffy?
....get woken up in the middle of the by a shih tzu who seems to not be able to get close enough?
....wish they knew how to paint?

....have a blanket made by their mom which they cuddle with every evening?

because i do!

does anyone love glee?

what a perfect show.

the singing (i am a sucker for singing)
the sometimes bad acting
the one liners
perfection

my favorite actress was on the show which made me love her and the show that much more.

but since she was just a guest.....

...this darling actress will have to do as my favorite character.

- Ralph Marston

If you feel like you're stuck, in many ways that's a positive sign. It means you're eager to get moving.

this made me smile

the magic pill

now there is a question for me.....if you could, would you fix your congenital anosmia?

this is a though one....and my thoughts are very random on this so bare with me.

if i was deaf at least i would never hear bad news, bad music, something in pain..... this would be wonderful...right? no?

this is like saying at least with my 'condition' i cannot smell yucky smells such as farts, litter boxes, and dog poop. (but if i can't smell it how will i ever know if i step in dog poop?) sure not having negative smells invade my nose is a good thing but really so minor compared to what i am missing.

yet even with knowing i am missing beautiful moments such as smelling new babies and new cars i have never spent a moment of my life wishing my olfactory abilities would kick in.

in short, no i do not want a surgery to 'fix' my sniffer. i do not want a magic spell because i do not think my life would be suddenly filled with beautiful moments. i think i would be overwhelmed and maybe even sickened from the world around me. my food would probably be uneatable from being too powerful. i like my simple and plain air better than something which would knock my socks my off every time i walked into a new room.

but i would like a little magic pill which i could hide away and look at every once in a while. kind of like me having the choice to have a faulty olfactory. i would never take this magic pill but if i did one day it would only be do to curiosity not me really wanting to change how God made me.

pass the salt and pepper

fyi: all lip smackers taste the same to me.

the first question usually asked after someone finds out i can't smell is "can you taste?"

of course i can taste.

when i take a bite of something it is only not as strong and full of life as your bite would be. as someone with a working nose eats the aromas and gases mix with the taste of the food which creates the flavor you know and love. when i take a bite all i get is the taste. (think about how food tastes when you pinch your nose)

but i am getting ahead of myself so let me explain. 'Taste' is the the senatorial input we get from out tongue, 'smell' is what we get from our nose. Combine these two, and you get 'flavor'. what most don't realize that at least 3/4 of the experience they get from eating is actually provided by their nose. pretty cool, huh? take away the nose and i am left with 1/4th of the eating experience. (poor poor christel....)

so with my little nose defect i can only taste sweet, salt, sour, and bitter. (this is all the tongue can do) there is something like 60,000 flavors and i get 4-5 tastes. (poor poor christel)

all green herbs taste like grass to me. no difference. hence when people eat my cooking "bland" comes to mind. i try to use spices but i have NO idea what tastes good with what. so i usually just go with "omit" than totally ruin the meal. oh i can taste salt and pepper and a few other non green herbs.

my mom told me when i was little "girls don't say curse words...you don't look pretty saying ugly words." (i was a good daughter and listened to my mom and this is why you will not hear potty language in my vocabulary) but my parents also told me "being a picky eater is not a good trait." so i have always thought i was being a good daughter again by liking all food. nope. not true. i like everything because so much of it tastes the same! i have not started realizing this until the past 4-5 years.

maybe you have never realized all candy is only scented of whatever it is suppose to be. (starburst, skittles) the "strawberry" flavor is not mixed in with the sugar. so all these sweet temptations all taste the same to me. good but the same. the only sugar candy which has a real distinct taste is Runts bananas. (that i can think of off the top of my head)

i never realized how lacking my eating experience was until my friends baby shower when we played the Baby Food game. we were blind folded and then we sampled baby food and had to guess what it was. most people knew what it was before the spoon was even in their mouths. (there are those gases and aromas) but when it was my turn i could not even tell if it was a veggie or fruit. i knew the texture but could not place what is was.

it turned out to be Pear. sad but true.

so what most veggies tastes the same me, i like fresh broccoli the most anyways.
so what i am ultra sensitive to spicy stuff, i still LOVE Mexican.
so what i can't tell you what kind of cheese is in my mouth, i still like cheese.
so what i can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi in a blind taste test, i drink diet anyways.
so what i really do not know what anything REALLY tastes like.....

i don't care because i don't know any better.

(don't feel sorry for me, it's all i know, i love food, just ask the scale)

smell ya later

i have a birth defect called Congenital Anosmia. but if you ask me i will tell you i was simply born without the sense of smell. and i do not think i have birth defect......no matter what the scientific world thinks. they do say my olfactory bulb (the part of the brain that is suppose to make sense of the sensory input from the nose) did not developed right early on in my mom's pregnancy. it comes down to not getting lucky in the genetic pool. (i do like my green eyes but could of received longer legs) yet with all of this known i think so little about my "situation" i have never even taken the time to learn how to pronounce the name of the condition properly.

yet as i was rolling around in bed for days and days last week i became extremely bored of tv and being delirious from my temperature i googled "born without the sense of smell" and i then sat for hours reading about my non-working nose.

i learned there are 2 million of us Americans with not functioning sniffers. and the ones which have written about how they "smell" the world sound just like me! i am giddy to see the wording they used........i thought i was the only one which thought gum smells "cold."

i joke sometimes saying "i never learned how to smell" when someone asks me to give something a sniff. they usually say "sorry" like they have hurt my feelings. but really my feelings have never been hurt by someone (even a best friend of 21 years) asks me to smell something. so Don't Worry About it Friends!

if i really think about it i feel left out at times. such as when everyone is enjoying the aromas of cookies baking and i have to wait till they are cooked and cool until i can enjoy them. or the thought of knowing i will never enjoy what my babies smell like after i give them a bath or i will never know what people mean when they say "puppy breath."

there is one thing i can join in the fun on which is rain......you can smell the rain coming or going and i can feel the rain in my nose. the air feels heavy and thick when i breath in. i know you probably are thinking "yeah that is what it feels like but not what it smells like" but to me this is as close as i will ever get to smelling a rain shower and it is still gosh darn special to me.

i do like it when individuals mention aromas to me because how else would i ever know a room smells like Christmas.....or my dog needs a bath.....and i really like it when i am told i smell good. because once again how in the world would i ever know. it can be annoying when i am having a conversation with someone and all i can think about is if i have bad breath.

so in short, do i think it is sad i will never know the smell of a clean house? sure. but really i think my non-working sniffer is just something which makes me special.

and the best road trip buddy.

Happy Thanksgiving yesterday to all my fellow Canadians!

Enjoy your left overs today!

that was bad.....

so i am on the other side of the swine flu and all i can say is...........it was the most horrible sickness i have ever experienced.

i hurt too bad to even sleep.

now i feel like i am simply sick and need to take it easy. so i am off to the lake with my parents for some r&r. it was on my Fall To Do List to get to the lake so i am happily getting ready to get into their back seat for yet another nap to wake up at my happy place....lake tenkiller.

being sick alone sucks. it is terrible. my mom came over and spent a lot of time taking care of me but she still had a business to run, a husband to feed, and was getting over the flu herself. thank you mom for being wonderful.

but when my temperature read 102.5 and i was alone i put myself in the shower, had a good cry, felt sorry for myself and told myself when i got out of the shower the pity party was over and to snap out of it. i did just that by putting on fresh flannel pj's, snuggling with Otis, and a really cheesy lifetime movie.

now i am on the way to the lake with my parents and i know when i get back i will be feeling good and ready to take on the world!

Still alive...kind of...i have not left my bed in 2 days...

I am the new proud owner of the swine flu. Be back in a few days.

hey mom

will you please make me one of these to hold my phone? thanks.

i really like the chicken but a pink penguin would be nice as well.

will you be my friends?

phone home

Dear Peng and Shadow,

we would appreiate it if you would phone home. i understand if you feel your time with us was up but please give us a call to let us know you both have a warm bed and tummy's full of cat chow. Peng do you have a big chair to call your own? Shadow do you have a desk to nap on with a computer screen to stare at?

our hearts are sad without you. so feel free to come home at any moment. 5 days without you, our dear cats, has been terrible.

all our love,
your owners

pretend

yesterday i.....

was a restaurant manager
was a referee
was a giver of a thousand kisses
was a receiver of a thousand hugs
was a hair client
was a jungle gym
was a bucking bull
was almost given a black eye
gawked at a brand new baby
was a gymnastic coach
shared my drinks
was called the bad guy
had black-bean soup, corn bread, and strawberry short cake

in other words i spent the morning/evening with my sister and her beautiful boys.
we played pretend.

this is from a couple of weeks ago....Wyatt and Sutton working hard on their great granddaddy's garden on the land which their great great great great grandpa homestead.

There is more to life than increasing its speed. Mahatma Ghandi

out of order

is something not working? are you tired in the morning? or is your car making a weird sound?.........then fix it.

i know you're saying "if it were only that easy!" i mean if something is bothering you weekly or daily make it go away. do whatever it takes! why in the world would you sit around with something nagging at you if you have the power to change it......i promise you can change the world.....

i was unhappy with something huge.....something which literally was my everything. i took a leap of faith and did something about it. and now i am happy. finally.

i believe in "don't tell me, show me." actions are better than words. don't talk about it....do something about it!

what is making you think before you go to bed? a wall needs to be painted? then paint it this weekend. someone is bugging you at work? on monday be the first to say "good morning" and give them a compliment. then see what happens....

my little man already has fixing his problems down to a fine art. here he thought the couch was not comfy enough so he pulled the pillow down for added comfort.

here my little man did not think i had loved on him enough one day. so what did he do about it? he just chilled with his tiny tongue out till i noticed and gave him lots of cuddles because of the cuteness.

the pups were trading off napping in the big bed at work. a few weeks ago otis became pro active and instead of wondering around the office till millie stood up he just plopped down with her. and this is now their daily napping situation.

(pretty cute, huh?)

i promise you can change your world. one tiny little action at a time.

to leash or not to leash

not much ruffles my feathers. do what makes you happy and i am happy. yet there is one thing which makes little flames come out of my ears.

children on leashes.

your child is not a dog, please take them off the leash. and please don't say that you are too busy to watch your child in public. your priorities are kid first, remembering milk second. but who knows maybe when the blessed day comes and i have my very own little one i too might think it is more important to look at the hamper helper than teach my kiddo manners.

i guess these individuals think it's okay that little Timmy is opening cereal boxes as long as he is doing it while tied to his stuffed animal backpack leash.

love your children. pay attention to them. and don't yell. it makes everyone uncomfortable.