Meet Bailey

This is Bailey, the new dog that Shawn adopted a few weeks ago. He loves dogs so we started looking around for a cute little furry friend to bring home. We ended up finding Bailey at the Austin Humanes Society. We've gotten different stories about his breed--from being purebread Dauchshund to being part coon, etc etc but either way he's gorgeous.

For some reason he LOVES me. Like beyond anything I've ever experienced. Cat's are kind of non-commital with their emotions, and my dog growing up wasn't really bonded to anyone. But Bailey is my shadow. He will follow me around everywhere, and stare at me like I am his long lost love--which is precious, but overwhelming because he really suffers from separation anxiety. It probably stems from abandonment issues, but it's been quite a struggle. Anything Shawn and I have read online says that separation anxiety is the hardest behavioral problem to overcome, and that training begins by reducing the attention you pay to him. How hard is it to not let him come give me loves, follow me around, or sleep right on my lap!! Argh!!! Slowly but surely, we're working to help him realize that we love him and he has no reason to be concerned.

Potty-training is another issue. Since he's been passed around from puppy-mill to animal shelter most of his life, he has been stubborn. For the first little while he would ONLY take care of business a) on the carpet or b) when going for a walk. Even though Shawn has a perfectly fine backyard full of very friendly grass. Doxie's are one of the more stubborn breeds to train, but the timing and strict patterns are starting to set in.

All of this probably explains why I'm soooo tired lately! They say that couples try raising "pets" before raising children and I can see why. We try not to let all of our time together be Shawn, Amy and Bailey time but it tends to go that way a lot. Bailey's worth it, but I also can't wait until things fall into place again :o)

Ahhh sleeping

What in Heaven's Name is this a picture of?? It's a picture of me demonstrating how I take naps at work. I am a responsible employee, so of course I only nap during my lunches. I can shut my office door and blinds and revamp my energies by engaging in a rewarding nap.

I find it works quite well to recline in my chair, lean my head back, and open my business card binder to block the light out. It rests perfect on my shoulders/chest to still allow me ample breathing room. I'm one of those people can that fall asleep at the drop of a hat--mid conversation, sitting straight up, and driving. To me, a cat-nap sitting in a chair is just as rewarding as a cat-nap on my bed.

I've tried other variations--sleeping with my head on my arms on my desk, sleeping with my head on a pillow on my desk. They all result in those obnoxious red marks that give away my Siesta Secrets. Turning the light off is also a no-go, as I'm often interrupted during my lunch naps to help customers. But by using the business card binder, I can quickly sit up straight, set it to the side and prepare to help masses of waiting customers with their engaging financial needs.

If you're interested in your very OWN business card binder, you may purchase one at fine retails stores such as Office Max, Office Depot, or Best Buy. Happy Sleeping!

For Josh...

#26-I've never had a cavity

*apparently I can't count. Stay re-tuned for what will technically be #27 :)

26 1/2 things you may not know about me...

It's January 13th, 2009 and I'm officially 26 1/2. Don't ask me how, but I've made it this far. I'm feeling both celebratory and informative, so please enjoy the following 26 1/2 tidbits about me--Amy Sue Blackham!

1. I'm scared of clowns and marionettes. Horrified.
2. I prefer to write in blue ink.
3. My nickname growing up was Boo-Bear.
4. I only grew 1 wisdom tooth, which was subsequently pulled in a horrific fashion.
5. The wispy/stray hairs around my face prefer to be called "wings".
6.My right foot is a 1/2 size bigger than my left foot.
7. I'm addicted to Chapstick Brand "Vanilla Mint" Chapstick. I currently have at least 7 sticks in various places around the house and work.
8. I do not like bananas, but I love banana bread and those banana chips you can buy.
9. I read Pride and Prejudice, and To Kill a Mockingbird once a year.
10. I call my Boobs "The Girls"
11. I can say my ABC's backwards
12. I can write backwards in cursive.
13. I have a record fewest pair of shoes of any woman in the world--4.
14. I ran away from home once.
15. I wanted to be a librarian when I was a little girl.
16. I hate wearing makeup
17. I love Cheetos. A lot.
18. I only spend a lot of money on purses
19. I'd rather sleep than do just about anything else
20. My alarm clock is set 15 minutes fast, my car clock is set 18 minutes fast, and the clock in my office is set 5 minutes slow--so I'll always feel like a rebel at leaving at 4:55pm.
21. I have an uncanny ability to remember dreams.
22. I don't like milk, butter/margarine, mayo or mustard.
23. I'd really like to live in Neverland
24. I have the super-hero power of Heat. I'm Heat-Girl.
25. I really don't like talking on the phone or going to the mall.

1/2 I always _________--tune back in 6 months from now!

Argh!!!

I think I need 5 days straight of constantly being at work to catch up with everything that needs to get done! On the positive side, being busy is usually a good thing. In the last week, 2 of the 3 customers I had appointments with invested money which means I've made my quarterly quota for investment revenue already. One of them also will be getting a loan, so that helps me out greatly too. Now if I could just get all the problematic things resolved :o(

It's been a good couple of days on the personal goal front. Once Shawn and I were both over our chest colds, we started back at our workouts. I get sooo pumped up before hand, but then immediately start wishing it was already over once I'm started in, lol. Attitude adjustment time!! No personal trainer would laud my efforts, but I'm taking baby steps to better myself. So I'm proud all the same!

I've been LOVING the mini-fridge I have in my office now (Thanks Shawn!). It's so nice to be able to bring some meals and snacks from home. I think it'll really help me have better eating habits too.

Night Owl R Us

What, pray tell, has kept me up until nearly 3:00am??

a) I took a much needed, much deserved albeit inappropriately timed nap today from 4pm-7:30pm. So therefore I am wide awake right now.

annnnd...

b) I've been working on #2 of my resolutions: Organize my Recipes. Are you super curious? Have I peaked your interest? Of course I have. The world is DYING to know how I've begun the journey of organizing my 8700 recipes. Well here it is! It's a work in progress, but I already feel resolved and happy :)
http://recipes713.blogspot.com/

I Resolve to be Revolutionary!

I am kinda failing already, being that it is 2:48am, 04 Jan 2009 and I haven't come up with my 1 zillion resolutions, nor have I started them. So I resolve to at the very least document what they will be

1. Early to bed, Early to rise makes an Amy healthy, wealthy and wise: I'm going to aim to be in bed by 11:30 pm every night and wake up and start getting ready at 6:30am. This way I can:

-leisurely shower and get ready for work

-eat breakfast at home

-pack a lunch and snacks for the day

-stop taking the toll road to work every day (saving $80 month)

2. Organize my recipes: I have a plethora of food goodness at my disposal but it's not all in one collective place. It's hastily scrawled on a stained post-it note, in some random email inbox, online, or in one of my 27 cookbooks. I want to carefully look through all my recipes and decide on tasty, healthy, easy-to-make recipes that I can make. I'll probably start by planning just a week ahead and shopping for ingrediants, but ultimately I'd like to plan a month ahead. I spend WAY too much money on eating out. Not only is it unhealthy for me, it's a waste of money too.

3. Exercise at least 6 days a week: Get back into the exercise routine Shawn and I had going. Some movement is better than no movement and while we don't have a huge gym at our disposal, he has a LOT of resources we could use.

4. Spend 2 nights a week sorting through junk: I have, well more randomly things than anyone needs. Most it has come with being left with 97.5% of the stuff that used to be mine and Spencer's cuz he didn't want it. I'm tired of having so many boxes full of misc stuff. I need to spend a lot of time making piles of stuff to go to Goodwill, Garbage, and to keep.

5. Organize my important papers/bills: When I moved from Utah, most of the bills and papers went into a ginormous-impossible-to-lift-box. Then I have proceeded to stick the bills and papers I've gotten in the last year and a half in another box. I am a box fiend! I used to be able to find anything from a birth certificate to my Dentist Cleaning Bill from March 2005 at the drop of the hat, and now I can't find anything. It's going to require a lot of sorting, shredding, and filing but it's high time it gets done!

6. Get completely out of debt: I'm not sure yet if I'll do this by paying off the little bit that I have using my savings account or save up and pay it off in a few months. But I want to be debt free and live within a budget

7.Find a new home for Coco: Love her, but she's gotta find a different forever home. She destroys my house and irritates my other cats to no end.

8. Pass my Group 1, Series 6 & 67 tests: Gotta be done. It'll get me more money, more business, and more opportunity in general.

9. Set and follow through with a attainable weight-loss plan: In progress--for maybe the rest of my life! No really, all joking aside it's something I've wanted to work on for entirely too long. I lack the dedication, willpower, desire--you name it--to succeed. I want to be healthy and in shape, but it's such an uphill battle. I have a ton of great examples in friends--Katie, Janna, Aimee--that show me it can be done. It may not have started 01/01/09, but it'll be in the works soon!

***I probably won't amend this list, but I'm sure to come up with some other things I need to resolve about. As a side note, here are some random things I've always wanted. Wouldn't it be great if 2009 is the year for that??

1) learn how to write left handed. well
2) win a major award (a bowling alley, a leg-lamp--those sort)
3) share my love of alphabetizing with the world. Seriously, do you know how nice it is to have all your dvd's in alphabetical order. Just try it--you'll never go back!

Christmas Fun

I know I'm a bit late, but I still wanted to document Christmas. It was different/hard, but not as lonely as I had worried it would be. Shawn flew home to Kentucky on Monday, so we spent our first Christmas "together", apart. I drove up to Dallas after I got off work on Monday to spend Christmas with the Timiney's. They are friends from back in Utah that I've known for the last 5 years. In the whole move down here to Austin, we had lived there with them for a few months.
Some picture highlights:

Me and Madi

Me and Ashlyn

Me and the kids

Madi, Brennan and Ashlyn playing

Me and Brennan

I got so many nice gifts from them, and it was so magical to watch Christmas through the eyes of kids. I loved Ashlyn's expressions of "Oh my gossshhh!! What I always wanted!" about--well everything, lol.

My family sent me a package that got there just in the nick of time for Christmas. Even though I'm a stinker for opening gifts early, I actually waited until Christmas morning. Mom and Dad and each of my brothers wrote me a Christmas Card. I got some Christmas Music, a quilted tablerunner, a quitled pillow, a little 3-pack of Bath & Body Works lotion, and a copy of my mom's life history that she finished documenting this year. They also sent some goodies--fudge, chocolate chip cookies, reeses pieces cookies, fudge, candied walnuts, and one of my favorite bar cookies-Hello Dolly's. Yum! I shared, even though I could probably have eaten those all on my own :) I even got to talk to my brother Jonathan who's on a mission in Arizona right now. My dad got the 3-way calling to work, so we got to chat for a few minutes.

Shawn and I exchanged Christmas Gifts after I got home from Dallas on Saturday. I was stressing about what to get for him. I had a million ideas but very little follow through. It was always either an issue of price or knowledge. He's an artist and loves artwork and comic books, but I'm not confident enough that I a) know what good art is and b) know if he'd like it or not. I settled on buying him a WWII book since he's a big WWII buff. He got me some diamond stud earrings (omg perfectest gift evah). I can't get a picture of them to post here, but they're lovely I promise you. Exactly what I would have picked out!

And on that note--HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! 2009 is bound to be a better year than 2008 was for me. I hope it brings everyone else happiness as well :o)