Ramblings of a Wannabe Ninja

This Little Piggy. The 2009 Version

2009-11-15T21:24:00.001-08:00

Annika LOVES when I do the Little Piggies with her toes. Her toes are so ticklish that by the time I get to the pinky toe she is already cracking up and wiggling so hard that someone might think she was having a seizure.

Recently when doing the Little Piggies, Annika stopped me after the first piggy (The one who goes to the market) and informed me that the piggy does NOT go to the market, in fact the piggy goes to get gas instead.

So this is how we do the Little Piggies in the Null household:

1 – This little piggy goes to Starbucks

2 – This little piggy gets some gas

3 – This little piggy eats some chicken nuggets

4 – This little piggy takes a bath

5 – This little piggy goes "Wee wee wee wee wee" all the way home

I am hoping to get a video of it here pretty soon. It is just too cute.

An Update on Us...

2009-11-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

Since it has been a while since I updated my blog and a lot of my family has been connected to the interwebz, I figured I might as well take advantage of my awesome blog and write some stuff down…

Our Business

We are moving!! After 8 wonderful years at our current location we have decided to move on to bigger and better things. A developer in Seattle found us online, was impressed with our experience & credentials and offered to build us a brand new facility! The location, although it is a ways away from our current location, is wonderful. We are minutes away from the highway and right smack dab in the middle of high class housing.

Our new location should be done building in 2 weeks. Until then we are hanging out in a temporary location. It’s really nothing pretty as it is a huge warehouse, with no insulation, and lots and lots of room to echo. Our sound sensitive mama’s REALLY can’t wait to move outta there! Actually as we speak (write?) Jim is at the new location installing tile with our awesome friend Loren. I however, am not helping out because I am home with a sick kid.

Annika

Speaking of, Annika has been doing awesome! She started Taekwondo officially back in August. She is absolutely adorable.

She does a really good job at following directions and getting along with the other children. She is little miss social so everyone wants to be her friend, and she wants to be everyone’s friend. Life should be interesting here in a few years, I think my house might be the hang out place.

Last week (2 Fridays ago) Annika came down with a fever of 102*, but no other symptoms. This has happened a couple times in Annika’s life. She has a great immune system so she hardly ever gets sick, which we are very thankful for. But when she does get sick her first symptom is a fever, so we knew something was coming. Long story shorter she ended up having H1N1. She never got tested but the nurse diagnosed her symptoms perfectly over the phone and said the worst symptoms would last 3-5 days and she would be all better in 7-10 days.

By day 8 she still had a fever ranging from 100.5 - 101, it was low, and it would go away if I gave her ibuprofen, but there was still a fever present and that’s not normal. In combination with the fact that her cough seemed to go deeper in her chest, I figured a call to the dr. was in order. Which was pretty useless. They basically said even though the fever has lasted 3 days past what it should, she’s fine until it hits 104*. I really wasn’t convinced and neither was my mom who urged me to take her into urgent care.

I had the best trip to Urgent care ever! We walked through the doors, got checked in, got seen by the dr, got a prescription, and walked out in less than 20 minutes! That’s better than seeing a regular dr! The urgent care doc said the long lasting fever was unusual and most likely the H1N1 turned into a sinus infection and the drainage down her throat was most likely causing the cough. So we got bubble gum flavored antibiotics and are on our way!

I am amazed at how well they work! She went from looking like this

To this

Er... well.. you get the idea, all in 24 hours.

We are hoping this is the end of her illness and we are making a routine of vitamins to keep her healthy for the rest of the winter because it seems like it might be a hard one!

Jim and I

We are doing really good, trying to stay healthy! I have been bouncing from one cold to another to another for about a month now. My poor nose hates me and the company that makes Theraflu LOVES me. I am also jumping on the vitamin wagon because I would really like to stay healthy during this move & the rest of winter!

We are also keeping very busy with the move, since I have missed out on an entire week at the school, I have A LOT to catch up on when I get back this week.

I have a couple more blog ideas stewing around in my head… so stay tuned!

Yes, I'm Still Alive

2009-09-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

I suck at this whole "blogging" thing. I have nothing fun to talk about. When I actually DO have something fun to talk about I type it out on Facebook, KTT, MySpace, and tell everyone in person so when I do get down to typing, everyone I know has heard it already. On top of that I never take pictures so I can't even rely on that... I am a horrible blogger

Ok so i'm going to update you on some things, if you're already heard it, i'm sorry, my memory sucks.

Annika is taking Taekwondo!!! I have pictures but I, yet again, misplaced my camera and it (still) has the pictures on it. I know Jim uploaded them onto his Facebook, so if you're interested, go look there :-)

But ANYWAYS! She is doing awesome. I am SO glad that classes are only 30 minutes long because in the first 10 minutes she is a GREAT listener, has loud "Yes Sir!"s (<---- I know it's grammatically incorrect, please don't tar & feather me), and her technique is pretty good.

the second 10 minutes, you can tell she's starting to get tired/bored because she's starting to wiggle and I have to direct where to go more.

During the last 10 minutes, i'm about ready to kick her little booty off the mat! She truly shows her two year old-ness. But all in all she is a great kid and it melts my heart when she call's Jim "Master Null" :-)

hmmm.... What else has happened???

OH! I had to buy Rarity #2 this morning. Rarity #1 got sick with fin rot and lost her entire back fin last week. I was very upset and was waiting for her/him to go belly up. He never did and I was a good momma and cleaned out his water everyday and his fins started to grow back! I knew he was gonna recover. Buuuuuuuut obviously that wasn't the case or else we wouldn't have a Rarity #2

I headed out to Petco this morning before Annika woke up because last time I was there they had like 3 fish that looked exactly like Rarity. But just my luck the only color fish they had was Red and White (white Beta look weird BTW). So I grabbed the red one that had a little bit of red on it and brought it home.

After giving the fish a pep talk and telling him that his name was Rarity, he belonged to a 2 year old girl, and to hide if any animal that says "MEOW" comes to play, I was ready to put him to the real test. I brought Annika down and was ready to tell her all sorts of excuses.

She hopped up

She looked into the tank

and she said...

"HI RARITY!!! Mama I wanna feed Rarity now!!"

[jaw drops open]

I got so lucky... so incredibly lucky.

Hopefully She won't see him again tomorrow or something and realize it's not the same fish. I might flub up without my game face on.

Big Things are Coming Soon......

2009-08-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

...So Stay tuned.....

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's Off To Work I Go......

2009-08-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

If I didn't know any better I would say I was turning into a workaholic. Because when sane people get bored on a Sunday night, they don't start researching sample enrollment forms for new clients, or draft emails and make to-do lists for first thing Monday morning.

For the past 2 or 3 weeks I have worked EVERY DAY up at the Taekwondo school, including Saturday and Sunday. At first it was difficult getting adjusted to working that much. However, we are losing an employee very soon so it will just be Jim, Annika, and I running the show, so I needed to adjust slowly. Meaning that I HAVE to be at TKD only on Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday, Monday & Wednesday are not required and when I go in, it's only for a couple hours. It started out with, "Maybe I'll come in on Monday/Wednesday" but now I have so much crap to do it's "I should go in on Sunday so I can get it done!"

Luckily Annika LOVES it at TKD. I don't love that she is stuck at the family business all day while Mama and Daddy works. But Ms. Social (BTW I have NO idea who she inherited that from) asks to go to TKD every morning so she can play with all of her friends, instead of boring old Mama. I do love that we can do "school" during the day and work on cutting, pasting, numbers & letters, where she probably wouldn't if she was in a day care.

So I may not be around much because when I get REALLY bored I crack open an excel sheet and balance the checkbook! WHOO! Crazy stuff!!!

It's ALIIIIIVE!!

2009-08-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here on my laptop that was once dead but me awesomely cool husband fixed it!!! It required a new hard drive though.. but a new hard drive is ALOT cheaper than a brand new laptop!!

Thank you Jim!!! I love you!

I lost my camera....

2009-08-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Granted I haven't looked for it very hard. But it wasn't where I left it, so either someone took it or it grew legs and walked away. I really hope it is the 1st possible option because it had some awesomely cool pictures of Annika taking her first Taekwondo class.

I am going to form a search party tomorrow and try to find it. If I do then expect some AWWWW inspiring pictures later this week :-)

Here fishy, fishy....

2009-08-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

We added one more member to the Null family this past week.

Meet Rarity.

Annika wanted a pet. Mama wanted to get Annika a pet. Daddy thought 4 cats was good enough for pets, but Annika convinced Daddy otherwise (by using her puppy dog eyes and asking "PLEEEEASE Daddy can I get a pet???"). So we headed off to Petco Thursday morning before work. Annika went and looked at all the animals. First she wanted to get a hamster, mama wanted her to get a hamster, but the reasonable side of mama's head (aka: DADDY) convinced Annika that a fish would be a better choice for us at this time.

Annika looked at the tetra's, the goldfish, the guppies, then the nice sales lady showed us Nemo and the salt water tank that accompanied Nemo at the cheap price of $399.99. At that point we briskly walked the other way. Then Mama showed Annika the Beta's. Annika saw the pretty purple fishy and was sold. Mama and Daddy were more than happy to comply when the price for everything came out to under$20.

When we got to the car we asked Annika what she wanted to name the fishy. Being that it's a BOY fish Annika decided that Boots would be an appropriate name. Then it changed to Dora. Then it changed back to Boots. Then Dora. I told Annika that the fishy was a boy and Dora was a girl's name. She thought about it for a while and said, "No Mama. The fishy is a girl and her name is Rarity."

Ok..... What?? Where did that come from?? I'm scanning my memory trying to remember where she heard Rarity as a name......

Then I remembered it was a My Little Pony character she watched a long, long time ago!

But it works, because Rarity will be staying at Taekwondo for a while until we are sure She/He can survive with 4 cats. And how many Beta's do you know are both a boy and a girl and live at a Taekwondo school? It's a rare thing :-)

I still want a Hamster.

I'm Taking My Ball and Gonna Play With Those Kids Instead...

2009-07-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get that feeling that people leave you out of things? Like maybe there is another secret group within your friends that they retreat to and don't tell you? Like something happens behind the scenes and everyone seems to know what's going on besides you?

You don't? Well let me tell you, it sucks. Life always sucks when you're not a "cool kid".

It's Dead Jim..

2009-07-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

R.I.P Dell Laptop (8/2006 - 7/2009)

I was stupid and clicked on a shifty looking link on facebook and it gave my computer a nasty virus. I cried to my wonderful nerd husband and he promised that he could fix it. Unfortunately, after 3 days, a case of beer, and a whole lot of swear words, my laptop is still dead. I guess I was a lucky duck and found a very malicious virus.

I am super sad because my laptop had a bunch of pictures and music I JUST bought on it and worst of all it had my Photoshop CS4! So now I have un-edited, old, pictures and no music. I backed everything up back in January, but theres still a lot of stuff gone forever. I should have saved everything *kicks self*

Maybe i'll buy a Mac next ;-)

Beach Trip!!!

2009-07-13T11:07:00.001-07:00

Team Trials are over!!! That means that the Null family actually has spare time to have some adventures! First item on the agenda? BEACH! It was a rather impulsive idea, being that I thought of it on Tuesday and we went Saturday. We had a BLAST!! Annika is still talking about it and asks when we can go back to the "beesh"

The night before we left the forecast said Seaside was going to be overcast, rainy, winds at 13mph and 60 degrees. So we did what any normal Oregonian would do and grabbed an extra jacket.

We left the house first thing in the morning and when we stopped to get gas in North Plains, Annika was screaming she so was excited.

The car ride was about an hour and a half and Annika did awesome! She read through all her books and started to get antsy when we were about 30 minutes away. Luckily we made it to Seaside without any major drama and headed straight to the aquarium!

We didn't get any pictures but we got to watch the seals jump around and bark. Other people fed the seals but Annika had no desire to touch the smelly fish. Smart girl! Then we went to the touch tanks and Annika was more interested in splashing the water than actually touching the sea creatures. So we didn't stay there long.

When we were heading out we saw a small crowd around the octopus tank. We headed over to see what was going on and the octopus was going crazy! I've been to a number of aquariums and I have never seen the octopus actually MOVE. I have been able to see a tentacle poking out from behind a rock. but this Octopus was swimming all around the tank and trying to jump out. I wish I got it on video.

After the aquarium we headed to the beach and built sand castles!!

This was father/daughter picture attempt #3. I can never get her to look at the camera long enough!!

Annika and her castle (it's very small but it's there I swear)

Our castles (Left to right): Annika, Daddy, & Mama.

After the beach we went to grab a bite to eat
Cheers!!

See? We DO give her juice! it's only once in a blue moon, but we do let her have it.

After lunch we ran over to the Merry-Go-Round. I was a bit weary because when we went last year, Annika was not amused AT ALL. Luckily this year she loved it! She loved it so much we went on 2 times! We would have gone on a 3rd but mommy was getting sick from going round and round and round.While watching before we got on Annika spotted the black cat and was determined to ride on it
Mama had to ride too

After that Annika wanted on Mama's horse because it was "High up in the sky!"

The only way to get Annika away from the Merry-go-round was to point out the nearby toy store. We went in and she didn't quite know what to do. She wandered around and back tracked almost like she didn't know what to play with first! She made her way over to the books (surprise, surprise) when she spotted an abacus. Jim and I were pretty much amazed when she started moving the balls and counted to ten in English first, then in Spanish, then in Korean, and then she counted up to 5 twice in German. She must have played with it for 10 minutes! When I finally said, "lets go buy it so we can take it home with us" she said no, put it back and grabbed a Dora book instead. Maybe when we go back in late August we can buy it (if she's still interested).

After the toy store we wandered our way back to the car and headed home. Annika passed out shortly after reaching the highway.
The day was absolutely magical and we get to go back here in 3 weeks for my birthday! We will be going to Newport instead of Seaside. But I love Newport. It's cold and windy and there's only 2 days a year where it doesn't rain, but I still love it :-)

Adult Time?

2009-07-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my time in a Martial Arts Studio. While here I observe a number of different personalities. Everything from the Sport-loving-push-my-kid-till-they-cry-then-push-them-harder Dad's, to the Cradle-and-coddle-them-till-they're-25 Mom's. And I know which parents/kids to stay away from and which one's I want to take home and make my pet (in a purely innocent way... Sickos)

Today I have noticed an influx of Stay-at-home Mom's who like to talk my ear off. Not saying this is bad, typically SAHM's like to talk about nothing but "Mom stuff". You know, potty training, bedtime routines, best torture methods, and I love it. I have a kid and I like to swap my mom stories but when there are other things I need to be doing (i.e. paperwork, take care of Annika) and the other mom does not take a hint and stops her story until I pay 100% attention to her, it gets a tad bit annoying.

I'm also the type of person who does not require alot of adult interaction. I can be content in talking to my computer until Jim gets home and then we talk for about 30 minutes before bed. So maybe I just think this is weird or rude or both:

There are 2 women here at Taekwondo and they have been standing, leaning on a wall, talking to each other for at least an hour and a half. This is all good and personally my legs would be dead tired for standing in one place for so long. But they each have 2 kids and they have been letting the kids run around the school, running into people, slamming doors WITHOUT CORRECTING THEM! I have been the one putting the smack down on the delinquents.

How desperate are you for adult time that you ignore your own kids in public and leave it to someone else to scold your kids when they get out of line?

Hello Rainy Oregon!

2009-07-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaand we're back! Since I majorly failed on trying to update my blog everyday while in Austin, Tx I guess I will give you the short and sweet version!

Day 1

We flew in. The 100+ degree temperature wasn't THAT bad (when we were inside) but I was still thankful to have my Capri's with me. We wandered around and checked out the competition venue, stretched and went to bed!

Day 2

Our portion of the competition started today. The boy we were chaperoning was competing with his 2 teammates in the qualifier. They rocked it and beat the other team earning themselves gold! My Emmi-kins also competed at Junior Olympics and earned herself a silver medal (I'm so proud of her) and Chris (aka SHOW OFF) got his first 2 gold's of the weekend.

For lunch we found this cute little cafe on 6th street that had the BEST gay waiters. really. The guy we got was hilarious and was hitting on Jim, and me, and everyone else at the table. The food was decent but the entertainment was better! He earned himself quite a tip!

Then we stretched and went to bed.

Day 3

Today was our competition day! Everyone put out a great effort but nobody got gold :( But we did get a ton of silvers and bronze. We were THAT close! But it was very interesting to see who kept up with their training and who didn't and what that did to their performance.

That night we grabbed a bite and drinks at PF Changs, they have the BEST Mai Tai's. Then we went and grabbed some dessert around the corner at the Melting Pot! Strawberries, bananas, marshmallows all dipped into warm white, milk, and dark chocolate! YUM! DELICIOUS!

Day 4

Our juniors competed and owned the boy division! we had 6 of the 25 competitors and Chris (show off) and his brother took 1st and 2nd place! Congrats Chris! He gets to advance to the 4th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Cairo, Egypt! I'm so incredibly jealous but life goes on :-)

I also competed in the Senior National Championships. There was 1 other girl in our division and I had to beat her twice (double elimination) and the 1st time through I had all 5 judges voting in my direction. The second time, I had 4 of the 5. So that technically makes me the 2009 National Champion!

That night to celebrate a job well done we all went to Fogo de Chao. Fogo de Chao is best described as a all-you-can-eat steakhouse! Men walk around with skewers of Filet Mignon, Top Sirloin, Bourbon Chicken, you get the idea. You also have a little disc in front of you and when you want meat, you flip it to green and everyone attacks you with their meat. When you need a break or are finished, you flip the disc to red. When you are thoroughly in a "Meat Coma" they pass you the bill hoping you won't notice that they are trying to take your 401K and your first born. But it was so delicious we didn't complain... too much.

Day 5

We flew home. It was pretty uneventful since I took a xanax and slept through the flight.
We are now spending the next month or two doing nothing with our spare time but spending it with Annika. She had been neglected and has been missing out on park trips, ice cream socials, and general family time because we've been so busy with Team Trials prep. I am beyond happy that we can spend lots of time together now! So this weekend... BEACH TRIP!!!

Goodbye Rainy Oregon!!

2009-07-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Don't worry though, I'll be back.

Jim and I are leaving with the Horizon team to go to Austin, TX to compete at the US National Team Trials! Our flight leaves Portland at 7:15 and after a short stop in Denver we arrive in Austin at 5:00 local time (3:00 Portland time).

Here's hoping to a quick and uneventful flight!

YAY! Fireworks!!

2009-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

A little early though... Jim and I will be in Texas on the 4th of July and Annika will be with Grandma and Grand-pops at the beach so we decided to celebrate last night.

Hold on tight and pull!

Nope, nothing left in there.

Daddy's turn!

I'll throw the popper!

OH! It didn't pop, I'll just stomp on it!

Jumping works too!

Ooh! Sparklers!

And one with Daddy too.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Once a year everyone takes a day out of their busy lives to appreciate the special men in their lives. In my opinion, one day a year is just not enough. If you think about it, if my special man wasn't around this silly,

Messy,

and beautiful,

Little girl would not fill my every day with more love and joy than a person can imagine.

Thank you honey. Thank you for being a wonderful husband, and a perfect Dad. Annika and I couldn't ask for more. We love you!

Cooking 101

2009-06-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time my mom taught me how to cook. It consisted of:

1. Grab a bowl

2. Pour Cheerios into it

3. Add a dash of milk

4. Enjoy

I've had to figure the rest out for myself. Being a wife, mom, and athlete, I figured that I needed to start being domestic and healthy. Which meant not getting PF Chang's every night or serving up chicken nuggets from the microwave.

This has been my goal for the last 6 months or so. So far I have been somewhat successful, we've really only had to throw out like 3 dishes. 3! Thats not too bad, right?

And besides, none of those were my fault... really.

Last night the domestic bug bit and I decided to make spaghetti for dinner so I put the sauce in the crock pot and let it marinade all day long while I was at work.

Seems simple really, cook meat, stick it in the pot, add sauce from the jar into the pot, mix, & cover. Easy right?

Not so much.

When we get home 8 hours later, we walk into the house and it smells great. My mouth is watering, tummy is rumbling, ready to go.

We walk over to the crock pot and find this:

mmmmmm..... Appetizing.....

Ok, so i've thrown away 4 dishes now.. but who's counting??

New Years Resolution? SUCCESS!

2009-06-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of my New Years Resolutions was to read at least 12 books by the end of the year. I was doing pretty good doing a book a month until April when we moved then it slowed down until mid-May when someone introduced me to a cute little series. Some of you who live under a rock might have heard of it... Twilight? Yeah it's about vampires and is totally addicting and I think I might be in love....... But ANYWAYS! I'll share the list of books I have read already. Mostly because I have a horrible memory for stuff like this and I need to write it down before I forget. So if you don't care, just close the page now...

Ok in January/February/March I read the T'En series by Cory Daniells:

It was the 2nd time I read the 1st two books but this was the first time I actually finished the series. It was good, it was your typical love triangle involving Imoshen the last female of the mythical race (the T'En). A General has conquered her homeland killing her family and the King and Queen leaving her in charge of the kingdom. Her plan to keep herself alive is to bed the General and make him fall in love with her. It works and all goes well until her ex-fiancee shows up to take her away. She is torn between staying and protecting her kingdom or going with her ex, who by the way is the last male of the T'En race. Drama ensues and it's a pretty good story.

In April I read 'The Ends of The Circle' by Paul O. Williams:

I am glad I am done with this book. The story wasn't necessarily bad, but it certainly wasn't good enough to read the rest of the series. It was about a society that lived post-apocalypse and the main guy of the story leaves his home because of a lovers quarrel. His wife follows him and the story basically follows them through different communities and the drama that follows them.

That was when I took my hiatus until.....

Ahhhhh... just looking at them makes me all happy inside.. yeah so basically everyone knows what these are about so I probably don't need to recap. If you don't, then you're a loser and I'm not wasting my time on you. I do have to say that my favorite of the Twilight series is Breaking Dawn, and that I am beyond sad that the story had to end. I mean, really? Only 4 books? Sookie Stackhouse isn't anywhere as good and they have 9 books! I think if we all show up at Stephenie Meyer's house with torches and pitchforks she might make another book. It might be wishful thinking though... *please please please*

After Twilight *sigh* I read 'The Host' by Stephenie Meyer:
I loved this book. Note to anyone reading this book after reading the Twilight Series, just make it to chapter 3 before you decide to drop it. I say this because Twilight was so fast paced and you find yourself suction cupped to it until you finish. But 'The Host' is a bit slower. In the beginning it is hard to figure out who is who, who is talking, what the different fonts mean, etc... But just fight through the first 3 chapters and I promise you, it will be worth it.

The story follows Melanie Stryder and her host, Wanderer. Melanie is the one of the last of the "wild" humans. The others have been taken over by aliens because the Human race was too violent and the Spirits (that's what they call themselves) are extremely non-violent, with a few exceptions. Wanderer is implanted into Melanie and all seems to go well except when Melanie refuses to give in and disappear in her mind. Wanderer sees all of Melanie's thoughts and falls in love with Melanie's little brother & former boyfriend. They stray away from the rest of the spirits in search of their family. They find themselves among a whole population of wild Humans and both Melanie and Wanderer try to stay alive. It's good. You should read it. Really.

Then I started the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. First in line is 'Dead Until Dark':The storyline was great! The actual writing... not so much. Maybe I got spoiled by Stephenie Meyer, because she really is a good storyteller. Meyer can describe things so clearly that you can easily put yourself into the story without having to assume details or having to read the same sentence over and over to figure it out. When reading 'Dead Until Dark' I found myself re-reading paragraphs to try to figure out where we were. Umm.. Example: The doorbell rang, the very next sentence they were all talking. Not bad until 2 paragraphs later they brought up the fact that they were all sitting on the couch in the living room. Not horrible writing, just annoying. So much that I decided that I could not make it through another 8 books of that. HOWEVER, on the plus side, the book is pretty erotic. Makes you need a cold shower.

Then I read Twilight again... I told you... Obsessed.

Now I am reading 'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult:

The main reason I am reading this is because the movie is coming out later this month and I love to read books before I see the movie for comparison, and this looks like a real good movie. It follows Anna who was born solely as a "spare parts" kid. Her older sister, Kate, has a rare form of leukemia and no one in her family was a match for what she needs. Enter Anna. Before Anna is even able to cry they have taken Anna's cord blood and use that on Kate, and that's just the beginning for this little girl. They take Anna's bone marrow, platelets, and now they are going to take a kidney. Anna gains some independence and decides that she no longer wants to be a donor for her sister. She retains an attorney and he fights for Anna's rights. I'm only half way through it but it is so far good. It seems like it will be a real tear jerker here in a few chapters.

Ok so.... *counting*...... carry the 1...... that's 12! Twelve books in 6 months! Woo hoo! Take THAT New Year's Resolution! you got PWNED! HA!

Unfortunately, after I finish 'My Sister's Keeper' I will have no book waiting to read.. So does anyone have any suggestions? You kinda know what I like to read after talking about all of them above, so if you come to me and start talking about Westerns or Historical Non-fiction, I will not only ignore you on the computer, but I will point and laugh from my couch.... but only a little :)

I truely suck at this...

2009-06-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

But I warned you in the very beginning that I would probably quit posting after the shininess wore off. But since all my friends have resurrected their blogs, and peer pressure is all the rage, I thought, why not?

Not much longer until Team Trials! I am getting so excited and every time I think about it my abdomen fills up with hawk sized butterflies. Am I nervous? No. Not entirely sure why though. It's human nature to become nervous when a big competition comes up, but I don't feel any negative emotions about it. I am excited beyond belief though (and now i'm being repetitive).

I have been training like crazy this year, I am currently in phase 3 of our periodization table. Basically, I am turning all my muscle mass that I have been working on for the past 9 months or so into speed, and snap to add that extra "WOW" to my techniques.

We leave to Austin on July 1st and I think I may pee my pants a little that day. Last year on our flight home from Detroit we flew on a DC-9. It has roughly 26 rows. That was the day I realized that I hate flying and am prone to panic attacks in small planes. So Jim, either trying to be funny or an ass, booked us on a 72 seater plane! 72 SEATS! 72 divided by 4 seats in a row.... 18 ROWS!!

Yeah i'm gonna die...... But luckily my "supplier" aka my mother, gave me one of her xanax so I can survive the flight. Maybe i'll bring a new book with me for the flight, I have heard that that helps. I also downloaded a bunch of songs off Amazon to put on my MP3 player for the flight. I bought Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Beyonce to name a few.

Ok I posted something... Maybe i'll post again sometime before Christmas, and maybe it will be something about Annika :)

Just Real Quick.....

2009-03-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

I Love Spring...

...There are beautiful flowers popping up all around me.

I Hate Spring...

...The stupid pollen is making my head want to explode.

I Am The Winner!

2009-03-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

I think this is my first post about Taekwondo. I competed yesterday in poomsae. The best way I can explain poomsae to all my non-taekwondo friends is like a pattern dance. There is a sequence of moves that has kicks and hand strikes in it. They are really easy to do but very hard to perfect. I have been on a high performance team for 2 years now and I still have a way to go before my poomsae are "perfected" (if it will ever happen).

Anyways yesterday I competed in a tournament, and I got 1st!! Yay me! The only downside is that I was the only one in the division. So I guess I could be a pessimist and say that I got last place. But this is a good opportunity for some self reflection. I performed 4 poomsae. The first 2 I will confidently say I rocked them. I had alot of power yet it was graceful enough. But the 2nd two weren't as hot. The 3rd poomsae I did really knocked my score down. It involves standing on one leg for about 5 seconds. Well that doesn't sound too difficult, except when you try to turn your body to your back 90 degrees with alot of snap and then FREEZE! and then try not to wobble. Well... I wobbled. Actually my balance was so bad I put my foot down early which got me a .5 deduction from each judge. After that poomsae I was flustered so the next poomsae didn't go so well either. BUT now I know what I need to work on. Luckily this wasn't a National competition. I think I left with an average score of 7.6. Which is pretty good comparatively.

Our pairs division did good also. I wasn't able to look at our scores, but we got gold. Of course, again, we were the only ones in the division (i'm beginning to think I smell funny). We were pretty much in sync. We still have alot to work on with our technique in the next 3 1/2 months until the National Team Trials.

Tomorrow I start my new training schedule, it isn't too bad. I train 6-7 days a week but 6 of the 7 are only a hour training a day:

Monday: Weight lift/Strength train - 1hr. Poomsae Class - 1 hr
Tuesday: Poomsae - 30 min, Aerobic - 30 min
Wednesday: Strength train - 1hr
Thursday: Poomsae - 30 min, Aerobic - 30 min
Friday: Strength train - 1hr
Saturday: Aerobic - 30 min
Sunday: High Performance Team - 3 hrs

It's 10am and all is quiet

2009-03-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am still in bed. It is awesome. The reason I am still in bed? It's because Annika is still sleeping. Some mornings she gets a wild hair and decides to sleep until I wake her up.. usually around 10 or 10:30. But since Daylight Savings just happened, it's really 9am, and that is her normal wake up time. So any second now I should hear................................ Nope no screaming yet.

But we had somewhat of an interesting day yesterday, we are potty training.We are doing a modified "3 day and-we-promise-your-kid-will-shit-in-the-toilet" program. Basically Annika runs around all day wearing panties. I make a HUGE emphasis on her panties being dry, like I ask her every 5 seconds if her panties are dry. When she says yes, we jump and shout and say that Annika if the best person in the world, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. I'm also supposed to wait until Annika tells me that she has to go potty. So here's how the day goes:

"Annika, are your panties still dry?"
"ummmm... Yup!"
"OH YAY! THAT MAKES ME SO PROUD!! YOU ARE-(I'll spare you the rest of it)"
"yaaaay!"
"Annika, make sure to tell mama when you need to go potty ok? that way we can keep our panties dry"
::No response::
"OK Annika?"
::No response::
*******45 Min later*********
"Annika you look like you are doing the pee pee dance. Do you need to go potty?"
"Nope not yet!"
"Ok make sure you tell mama when you need to go potty, ok?"
::No response::

Now I start hovering over the child because I know she has to pee, She knows she has to pee, but she refuses to sit on the potty.

******2 hours later*********
"Annika are your panties still dry?"
"yup!"
"oh good, do you need to go potty? You look like you need to."
"Nope not yet"
"Annika I think we should go sit on the potty"
"Nope I don't need ----- uh oh"
"RUN TO THE POTTY!!!"

Luckily she has started to get the idea that pee goes in the potty. She has hardly any accidents anymore... if I stay on top of her. But I can't stay on top of her until she is 25! Today we go to work.. and we're going in panties... i'll keep my fingers crossed that this works.

Null and Void

2009-03-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

Today I had to go to a special class/orientation thing so some people could tell me how to use a job search engine that I used to work when I was a recruiter. I show up to the 2 hour class and we start by reading the hand out information for about 30 min. After that we needed to login to the system so the lady up front could walk us through how to update our resumes, do a search, etc.

When I get to the front page I noticed that they upgraded the system into a super cool flash page, one that I have never been to. When I put in my information, they system said it was not accepted. One of the women came by and assisted me by clicking some buttons on her computer and assured me that it would work. Buuuuuuut it didn't. So another lady comes by, sees I am having issues, clicks some buttons on her computer and says it will work. Ummmmmm no. So after those 2 attempts both ladies start hovering over me, at the small and getting smaller computer desk, trying to figure out what could be the issue. There was a phrase posted on the computer screen that neither of them knew what it meant. "The value cannot be null". After awhile I told them, "My last name is Null. Often computer programs don't accept my last name because it thinks there's a blank value" Both of the ladies stared at each other and started busting up laughing and sent me home because they couldn't do shit for me. I was told to call the Employment office when I get home, as I leave a man looks at me and says "Make sure you have a spare 3 hours to wait on hold" and as I close the door the entire class bursts into laughter behind me.

I hate people.

SUCCESSFUL!!

2009-03-04T23:52:00.001-08:00

Annika came home in the same diaper I sent her over to Grandma's with. I am so proud of her! I hope this keeps up, soon we will be rid of diapers!!! Well until Jim gets older :)

I might be jinxing myself...

2009-03-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

But we are on Day #3 of successful potty training. Granted this is our third attempt at this whole thing, but she seems to be catching on. I was scared that she would regress so far from our last attempt that it would just be holy hell trying to potty train again.

Monday was pantie day and Annika wore nothing but panties. We had 3 accidents and 3 pee's in the potty! All in all I think that is pretty good. My poor carpet didn't appreciate it, but whatever. I think the hardest part was that she was watching cartoons and she would space out and pee herself. Once I turned the tv off she did better, for the most part.

On Tuesday, we were at Taekwondo. I didn't have high hopes because she is always on the move with friends or while watching class and the bathroom is dark and.. well it's basically a public bathroom and no one likes spending time in public bathrooms. We changed her first diaper of the day and (here's the cool part) she stayed in that SAME DIAPER ALL DAY!!! No Accidents!!! We made sure to do the pee pee dance after each potty break. Annika really likes that.

Now today she is at her grandmas, so I am not able to watch her.. Hopefully grandma will stay on top of it and we will have another successful day!!!! Wish us luck! Hopefully the next post will be a successful one!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2009-03-02T16:19:00.001-08:00

And Annika celebrated in her own special way...

Note the book in her hand :)

And this also gives me an opportunity to use the best quote in the world:

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”

Doesn't that just give you the warm and fuzzies??

Where'd all my friends go?

2009-03-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

Blogger somehow deleted my list of blogs I was following. I had like 10 or 15 blogs on there. This is the second time they have done it to me too. Maybe Blogger is trying to tell me to get off the internet and do something productive with my life. Now I have to go on a great search because there is no way in hell I remembered all the addresses.

If you have any good Blogs, let me know. I'm always looking for another thing to do while attached to the couch.

I Blame the Rain...

2009-02-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's Monday. That means it's my day to clean the house. Yet I sit here on my butt playing online. My excuse for today? Annika was being needy and I couldn't clean while she was attached to my leg. That's partly true too. But now she is in her room having quiet time and I am still sitting here browsing random websites. So I need a new excuse... I blame the rain. The rain makes things dark and gloomy which makes ME dark and gloomy and cleaning is not compatible with dark and gloomy. So yeah, I blame the rain for being lazy.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

2009-02-21T10:44:00.001-08:00

My head hurts... About once every couple weeks I get a gnarly headache that makes me cringe anytime I move. The cause of this one? I don't know. It could be the tempura that I ate from the Sushi restaurant yesterday, which is irritating my shellfish allergy. It could be the tequila I drank last night. Or it could be because my brain hates me and it trying to escape through my ears.

Either way, I have tried Excedrin, a very hot shower, and sleeping with a heating pad. None of those have done the trick, but it has certainly helped. Now I am just all hopped up on the caffeine from the Excedrin.

Hopefully it will go away soon because the house is driving me crazy and I need to clean it...

T-Minus 18 hours...

2009-02-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Until I am on a plane headed for Vegas. It will be a bittersweet trip for me.

Sweet because I am going to be testing for my 4th Dan black belt and I will be testing in front of a panel of Korean teachers from the Kukkiwon (center of all taekwondo). Which will be an experience that I will never forget. And, of course, I will be in VEGAS!

But bitter because I will be away from my family, especially over Valentines day. I am going to be so incredibly busy to enjoy Vegas for what it really is, gambling and drinking. But most of all it is costing way more than we should spend. I feel a little... I don't know... guilty? All my friends know how broke we are but then I spend hundreds of dollars to go on a trip. Doesn't seem very responsible. But on the other hand, I have saved for months and months to go on this trip. I have gone without other luxuries (I have had the same pair of shoes for almost 2 years!) and have "rat holed" money just so I can travel and not put ourselves in the poor house. So I don't know... Maybe I should stop caring about what others think of me ;-)

Now that I have confused myself I have to go do laundry and ponder life more...

What the Funk?

2009-02-10T19:37:00.001-08:00

So for the past couple days I have been in a funk. Not sure why exactly. Maybe it's the cold weather, or maybe it's because i'm leaving my family in 2 days for Vegas, or maybe it's that time of the month. But all I know is that I wanna stay home and lay on the couch or go to sleep. I also can't think straight. I am getting the simplest things mixed up and have been laughed at many times today because of it. Hopefully I will be able to go to bed early and tomorrow I will feel like a new person.

On a happier note, I got my eyebrows waxed today. So now I don't look so... German.

I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty.

The 25 Random Bug Bit me

2009-02-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

The latest rage on Facebook (and I think everywhere else) is tagging someone to type out 25 random things about yourself. Well, I am finally bored enough between Desperate Housewives commercials and cuddling a sick child. So, anyways, here is 25 Random Things about Adrienne:

1. I was on the competitive swim team when I was 9. I was really good and won a lot of medals until I decided I didn't like getting up at 6am everyday, so I quit.

2. When I was much younger (like not allowed in the front seat younger), my older sister would sit on the right side of the back seat, I sat on the left, and our little brother sat in the middle. We would often squish him until he got pissed and did a double backhand to us right in the face.

3. I love horses, I would love to own a couple one day.

4. My favorite coffee in the world is Iced White Mocha. I could drink one everyday, but my healthy self says that they are horrible for me, so I only have 2-3 a week.

5. I go through spurts of "good wife-ness". I will clean, cook, and be super motivated for like a week or two, and then it all disappears for another 2 weeks.

6. I love soap operas. Not daytime soaps, but evening ones.

7. I want to be on EVERY continent at some point in my life, including Antarctica

8. My favorite car was my 1982 Honda Accord. It was my first reliable car, and alot of memories happened in that car.

9. I REALLY want a bagel and cream cheese right now.

10. I want to read more but I only read at night and when I crawl into bed at 11:00pm I don't want to stay up longer to read.

11. I REALLY want to become an International Referee so I have a credential that people respect.

12. I am so excited for Vegas this week. But I am so nervous because this is the first time I am traveling by myself.

13. I love it when Annika sings along with her tv shows.

14. Even more I love to sing along with Annika's tv shows.

15. I have broken 5 bones. Each one was a year before the next break.

16. I am SO glad Annika was born on Jan 31st, I really didn't want a Feb baby.

17. I hate ginger. I had a horrible experience with ginger pills and morning sickness. Now whenever I see a bottle, I want to vomit.

18. I hate it when people call all carbonated beverages "coke". A sprite is NOT a coke.

19. I love Taekwondo. (but you already knew that)

20. I want to live in a warmer climate. I am tired of the cold and the rain. But I love Portland too much to leave.

21. I always say I want another baby... until I realize that that cute baby will grow up to another snot nosed kid.

22. I surf the internet alot during the day, probably more than I should.

23 (almost there!) My favorite treat in the whole wide world is marshmallow pinwheels

24. When I was younger I used to pretend I was a superhero and I would beat up all the "bad guys". Which is probably why I got hooked into Martial Arts.

25. I would LOVE to take up a dance class. I would be very happy if Annika wanted to do dance.

Diet FAIL

2009-02-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

One day, in early February, while looking at my muffin top in the mirror I decided I would go on a diet, I weighed 130 pounds, give or take a few depending on the day. I was so gung-ho. A friend of mine told me of a website (www.fitday.com) that you could put in what you ate and it automatically told you how many calories you consumed and how many more you can eat for the rest of the day in order to achieve your weight goal. I was supposed to limit myself to 1,200 calories per day.

The first week went GREAT. I cut out all sodium, soda, and fast food. I planned my meals out everyday, cooked dinner every night (Jim LOVED that), and prayed that I would keep it up long enough to at least make my muffin top noticeably smaller. End of week 1 I weighed 127.

Week 2 started out great too, I had all the meals planned out for the week. Chicken and noodles, meatloaf, maybe even a steak or 2. By the end of week 2 I was working with Jim more at his business which meant less time at home to cook. so the meat was defrosted, yet not cooked. It was a sad sad day when I had to throw out 4 chicken breasts. By the end of week 2 I weighed 124.

At the end of week 2 I was very proud of myself, 6 pounds in 2 weeks! Awesome! After I lost all that weight I realized that it was all water weight. Since I cut out so much sodium the extra fluid absorbed into my system and I slimmed down quickly. After week 2 Jim was so happy for me so he got me a treat from the store. He knew I couldn't have sweets, so the nice man got me a big bag of pretzels!!! Remember what I said 3 sentences ago?? Pretzels=6 pounds on my ass!!! I know what you are thinking.. Adrienne, DON'T EAT THEM!! Sure, easier said than done. Once you get Annika a snack and she asks for pretzels you know you are doomed. The aroma of yummy pretzel-ness is overwhelming and results in one eating a bag of pretzels over a couple days.

End of week 3... 130 pounds.. damnit.

So after starving myself for 2 weeks and then gaining it all back in a matter of days, I had a realization. I can't do a short diet. Even if I do starve myself and workout like crazy and eat nothing but organic greens. After I finish my diet, it will all come back. So really it will be a lifestyle change. Which as of right now, I am not ready to do. I like being able to eat a chocolate chip cookie and not feel guilty about it afterwards. I have 50+ years to live, I can be a size 0 later. But I didn't walk away empty handed, I have learned better eating habits (and I still haven't eaten fast food!) and I am going to still cook dinner as much as I can. But for now, my hubby and daughter still love me whether I weigh 120 or 300 pounds.

And to all of you who can eat whatever they want and still be a size 0..... I hate you...

I should be cleaning...

2009-02-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

But I'm not. This is a common occurrence in the house during the day. But we went to the park and I am just wiped out! It was a good trip. The weather has been amazing and today it was almost 60 degrees! We went a little early before all the school kids got out because I knew that the play structure would be filled with "big kids" and the mama bear would have to protect Annika by kicking some snot nosed brat right in the butt. We got there at about 12:30 and there were a handful of kids playing there. Annika latched onto another little boy who was about her age and ran up and down until he got bored with her and ran away.

While we were there there was another boy who was about 8 or 9, way too old to be playing on a toddler play structure and should have been in school. But anyways, he was here, in my bubble, running up and down the structure like he was practicing to be the next Usain Bolt. Annika was watching him fly by and I was having to watch both of them, waiting for mama bear to come out and strike the second he knocked my child over. Luckily nothing happened and Usain jr. left with his mom after she was done eating her McDonalds and then Annika and I had a great time!

While we were there I got a couple good shots which makes me happy since I have been neglecting my camera and I hope to remedy that soon. **After I posted I realized the pictures are all off center.. I will figure that out later. For now click on the picture to enjoy all the cuteness :) ***

Here we go!

2009-02-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

So this should be interesting... I will either blog a couple times and then abandon it once the shininess has worn off, or I will blog almost everyday and have *maybe* one person read it and a semi-normal basis (real optimistic right?). Either way, it gives me something to do while I am bored during the day and it will make me think I am having some adult interaction!

So, enjoy! I'll talk to you again in August!