Disappointed ...

Haven't we all been there?  I don't know if any of you are like me, but I have this curse.  No, I'm serious.  Any time I look forward to ANYTHING it almost always. never. (can you use those two words consecutively, cause I'm gonna ...) follows. through.  Seriously.  This is why I try and not plan anything until a few days out.  Because if I give myself time to be excited about it, SOMETHING happens to make it ... not happen.  My husband doesn't believe me, he thinks I make this up, but that's neither here nor there. 

Well, there's a little bit of disppointment going on with me right now (don't worry, no biggie, I'm pretty sure I'm just being a big baby but if I can't whine to y'all then who CAN I whine to?) and it's making my soul a little saddened.  And whenever my soul is saddened, the best thing I can think to do is turn to the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Because ...

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning (even THIS morning); great is your faithfulness.  "The LORD is my portion", says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who SEEKS Him. 

Lamentations 3:22-25

And here are a few quotes that pick me up when I'm "in my disappointed funk" ...

When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you're right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.   ~Charles (Chuck) Swindoll

Faith is often strengthened right at the place of disappointment.  ~Rodney McBride

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, "O God, forgive me," or "Help me."  ~Billy Graham (LOVE me some Billy!)

If I look at myself, I am depressed. If I look at those around me, I am often disappointed. If I look at my circumstances, I am discouraged. But if I look at Jesus, I am constantly, consistently, and eternally fulfilled!  ~Anonymous

And as I was typing this, a song from the Women of Faith Conference I went to last year came on and these lyrics are exactly my prayer (and really are most of the time, because let's face it, we're all broken and need to be rescued)

"I need you Jesus,

to come to my rescue

Where else can I go?

There's no other name by,

which I am saved

Capture me with grace,

I will follow you."

And when I need a visual reminder of the OPPOSITE of disappointment, I just pull up a few of these and turn that frown upside down.

{P.S.  Dear long hair and skinnyness, please come back.  Thank you.}

Little Stinker ...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this.  But I. LOVE. animals.  Like more than a person should.  I am actually pretty sure I like animals more than I do most people.  I am that person that cries when I drive down the street and see an animal that has been hit, while simultaneously yelling at the "hypothetical person" that hit the animal, calling them all kinds of names while screaming WHAT kind of person just hits an animal and keeps going!?!?  I swerve to miss hitting squirrels, which someday will more than likely lead to me hitting another car.  I will swing my car across multiple lanes if I see a stray cat/dog/racoon that I need to rescue and either find it's owner or try to convince my mister that we need to be.  I talk to my fish.  I even rescue earth worms from frying on the concrete in the summer.  Yes, I'm serious.  I return them to the dirt.  By using a stick to pick them up of course, don't get me wrong, I care about them, but they're still a little gross.  I used to work at a doctors office where we had a big flat-screen TV for the patients to watch while they wait.  It was a butt doctor's office.  You know, a gastroentrologists?  Oh the stories I have, but I'm pretty sure it's against Hippa for me to divulge.  If I ever meet any of you in person I'd be happy to fill your ears.  You might laugh.  A LOT.  My friends and family sure have.  Anyways, back to the TV.  We couldn't get cable so we had to play DVDs.  Apparently they thought it was a good idea to watch Planet Earth.  Which, in theory, is a great series.  Well, I worked at the front desk.  And if the TV is on I can't HELP but watch.  And so I did.  Now, I don't know if any of you've ever watched Planet Earth, but it's all about the circle of life.  Which is beautiful, I get it.  But there are parts of that circle that I'd be happy to never be included in.  Like the hunting and killing of sweet, cuddly little animals.  I KNOW a lion needs to eat a zebra and that it will chase it's calf, but I DON'T NEED TO SEE IT!!!  Goodness KNOWS I don't need to see it!!!  And I KNOW a shark will prey on a baby whale when it gets seperated from its herd, but Lord HELP me I DON'T NEED TO SEE IT!!!  Our poor patients would come to the front desk to check in (already having abdominal issues and not being in the bestest of moods) and I would look up and say "Hello, which (sob, hiccup) doctor (sob, sob, sob) are you here (sob, hiccup, sob, honking nose blowing) to see?"  And they would look at me with a "What's wrong with the emo front desk girl?" kind-of-a look.  Until finally I had to ask my office manager if we could watch some happy-go-lucky chick flicks because the violent daily killings were making me depressed.  And I'm pretty sure giving our patients even more gas than they already came in with.  So regarding my love for animals, y'all get the idea.  Well there's a stray kitty that me and my boss feed at my work.  I call him Sammy.  Because I don't know if he's a girl or a boy and Sammy goes both ways.  Here is mr. (or miss, but for some reason all animals are boys to me) Sammy ...

Sweet little muffin sits outside next to the bushes around 4:30, when I usually come to get his bowl.  I took this picture through the window because the MINUTE I come out the door he shoots off like a rocket and hides in the closest to the set of the bushes that I put his bowl in.  I SO wish he'd let me pet him, and maybe catch him so I could get him neutered so he'll stop making stray baby kitties find him a permenant home and won't have to worry about him every night it's either cold/raining/windy/misting outside.  Wondering if he's warm enough or has a place to sleep or made it to his food bowl that day.  However, on Friday (the snow day) some of the guys at work came in for a few hours.  During those few hours I get a few emails saying "Um, Katie, I think you're feeding the wrong kind of kitty ..." along with pictures attached of ...

Heading STRAIGHT for the kitty's food!  Little STINKER.  How cute is he by the way?  I have named him Pepe (you know, le Pew?) and if I was sure he wasn't going to raise his tail and engulf me in a permanent stink, I would probably go looking for this little guy.  However, I DO know that I am feeding Sammy, because I've stayed behind to watch him eat his little bowl of food after work ... from my car of course, because he's skiddish.  However, you better BELIEVE that I squat down, pull up the blinds in front of his little bush where I put his food bowl, and check to make sure there isn't a little stinker waiting in those bushes to snatch the kitty food and cover me with a new, permanently pungent perfume ... but the little guy is welcome to trot around in the parking lot all he wants.  I think he's darling.  In a stinky kind of way.  Just call me Dr. Doolittle.

What A Weekend ...

Happy late Valentine's Day ladies (and gent)!!!  Holy weekend.  We really didn't have too eventful of a weekend (and, of course, I didn't take pictures ... well, with people in them anyways ...) but it feels like, with the snow and Valentines Day, that it's been a "long time no blog" kind-of-a-feel ... SO that being said.  Let's get caught up, shall we?  Friday night (after the Great Snow of Texas 2010 ... seriously I feel like I might be telling my grandkids about how long ago, there was ONE day that Texas got 10 inches of snow.  And they will look at me like I've lost it and never believe me.  Unless they write about it in the Texas History books, which considering as much snow as we got, would not be surprising ...) me and the mister did a whole lotta nada.  Which was nice.  We snuggled up in our jammies and enjoyed being "snowed in" (even though the snow was starting to melt and look slushy on the roads, like I said before, doesn't. happen. in Texas, we hold on as long as we can ...)     The next morning, my mommasita called me and asked if I would like to meet her for a mani/pedi & Starbucks.  Translation "Would you like me to TREAT you to a mani/pedi & Starbucks."  DOUBLE SCORE:  Time with my favorite lady on the PLANET AND treated to a (DESPERATELY NEEDED) mani/pedi while toting my daily fix in hand?  Um, no thought necessary, yes please!  You will all be pleased to hear that I STILL am acrylic-less.  Even though my hands have a bit of "chew wear and tear" they aren't as bad as they have been in the past.  AND I found the coolest grey/brown/goes-with-everything OPI color and I. LOVE. IT.

(Isn't it so pretty?  It's called "You Don't Know Jacquis")

I also got my eyebrows waxed.  Apparently I need to avoid waxing.  For.ev.er.  But don't worry, this time I wasn't worried about losing a brow.  I was worried about the WAX that the sweet little Vietnamese lady GOT IN MY BANGS!  Are you KIDDING me!?!?  I pushed them back several times to avoid said happening.  But then, the inevitable happened.  And I felt her trying to pull it out of my hair.  And that's when the panic attack happened (internally of course) and I thought "I have wax in my bangs.  I have to go home.  I don't have time, I have errands to run, Valentines to deliver.  I am going to have to deliver my Valentines looking like Cameron Diaz in "Something About Mary".  Awesome.  But.  I sucked it up.  And then.  I proceeded to run 500 errands.  In my VS sweats.  A scarf.  My "Something About Mary" bangs ... and flip flops.  YES.  Flip flops.  Faux paux of the century.  Not flip flops, per se, but flip flops when the HIGH is 41 degrees.  With sweats.  And a scarf.  But I had no choice!  I'd just had a pedicure!  Didn't everyone KNOW that?!?  And don't worry.  By the end of the day I was one nasty look away from hanging a sign around my neck that said "I just had a pedicure, I don't NORMALLY wear flip flops in 40 degree weather, DON'T JUDGE ME!!!"

My next errand including running to deliver flowers to my grandma's for Valentine's Day.  I went to my Mamo's first because I was closer to her house.  After I dropped her flowers off she asked if I would do her a favor and drop off a birthday card to a ladies luncheon that she couldn't attend because she wasn't feeling well.  Because I "looked so cute" ... Um, Mamo?  Looking cute is the opposite end of the spectrum of what I look like right about now.  Do I need to explain to you all again?  VS sweats, a scarf, NO MAKE UP, day-old washed hair w/ "Something About Mary" bangs ... and the flip-flop faux-paux ... But she insisted that I looked adorable (her pain medicine must've been kicking in) and asked me to run on over.  I obliged her and show up to a house FULL of adorable little ladies and their husbands.  I ring the doorbell and one of them, Marci, opens the door and raves about how cute (she must be on pain meds too) I look and that she didn't recognize me because of my bangs (i.e. code for head-to-toe faux paux) and proceeds to WHISK me into this house-full of my Mamo's precious, very well-dressed friends and ... ask me ... to have ... cake.  At the head of the table.  With the birthday girl.  WHO'S, by the way, nieces, nephews, grandkids, kids their dogs, their friends dogs and everyone that she has known in her life I think were there ... I can only imagine they are all thinking "What cat dragged THAT in and WHY DOES SHE HAVE ON FLIP FLOPS?!?!  Not to mention, what's in her bangs?"  Thankfully they were all as hospitable as they could be and I hurried out of there as FAST as possible.

That night, my mister got invited to play poker and I got the "best wife ever" award and told him to go have fun and play.  The night before Valentine's Day.  I'm not bitter.  No seriously this time I'm REALLY not.  He had a great time and I got to go to Taco Diner and eat this ...

With THIS cute girl ...

(Miss Kelly of Fabulous K ...)

(I stole this from your FB page K, I hope you're okay with that ... I'm sure you are, being Fabulous and all)  Kelly and I had a FANTASTIC time chatting and drinking Mango Margaritas (mmmm) and THEN heading over to see Valentine's Day (fitting, right?) which was adorable.  Kinda Love Actually-esque.  Even though I liked Love Actually better, it had that kind of feel.

Sunday my mister and I served communion at church, went to lunch at La Madeline (because I LOVES it) and then I proceeded to lay around in my pj's with my Koda Bear all. day. long.  My mister and I didn't get to celebrate our heart day until about 10:30pm due to my mister having some ... issues ... with ... his truck ... being stuck ... in a LOT of mud.  Needless to say he got stuck at 5pm and didn't get home until 10:00-ish.  And even though he was frustrated and freezing after a HUGE ordeal, he came home with these ...

Man.  I'm spoiled.  And until he came home to keep me company, I had this little (big) guy standing in ...

(Pardon the awesome iPhone quality picture ...)

Is he not the CUTEST?  And I don't think it's just cause I'm biased.  Seriously.  Look at that snuggle bug.  I hope you all had GREAT Valentine's weekends!

Snow Night!

We decided about about 10 o'clock last night, when there wasn't a SOUL outside and all was peaceful with the world, to take Koda out to disrupt the peace and bound around in the snow. And boy did he bound and BOY did we laugh. It was obvious the camera HAD to come out. And I hope you enjoy the results ...

Please pardon the crazy eyes on Koda. That was the only editing option I had, either crazy eyes or bright, shining lights of heaven REFLECTING in his eyes, making him look ... posessed. So I chose the edited-eye look. We are BOTH off of work today. Everything is closed. And rightfully so. We got close to 10 INCHES here yesterday! I don't know if any of you knows much about Texas. But that just. doesn't. happen. IF we get snow, it melts, while still in the air, and hits the grown immediately turning to rain. Now we have trouble with ice, that's for sure. But not 10 inches of snow. And I am pretty sure the general feeling of everyone in Texas is PURE joy. At least that's what it is at the Fulmer household. PLUS we have an excuse to stay in our jammies ALL DAY and not do a dang THING! Oh, and remember how I talked about my "snowed-in" menu yesterday. Well apparently I didn't believe the hype because I didn't get a DANG thing and now our choices are the contents of our fridge and pantry which include the following: Diet Coke, wine, spinach dip, salsa, ketchup, coffee creamer, two bags of half-eaten tortilla chips, Splenda and a crap TON of Valentine's candy. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is a movie-watching party in the making, BUT at 9am, when all I want is Starbucks, it's not so helpful. As MUCH as I want to eat spinach dip for breakfast ... I equally DON'T. So my mister may or may not know he's about to drive me to Starbucks :) I hope you all enjoyed pictures of our "Snow Night"!  Have a WONDERFUL weekend loverlies!!!

Valentine's Girl's Night At Casa De Fulmer And Snow Snow SNOW!

Um, PS, it's snowing in DALLAS.  Yes, you read that right.  SNOWING.  And what call does DFW make?  When they FREAK OUT a single drop of sleet falls from the sky, close all school districts, start "Sleet Watch 2010" and RUSH to the store to stock up on necessities.  You know, toliet paper, canned goods, flashlights.  Which, by the way, if I'm preparing to hold up in my house for a few days.  And be "snowed in".  The last thing I'm buying is CANNED GOODS.  Heck, I'm buying everything Little Debbie makes, Diet Coke, icing and frozen pizzas.  What kinda fun is a perpetual lock-in if you can't have slumber party-like food!?!?  Anyways, moving right along.  What do they do?  Don't close a dang thing.  No schools, no businesses, no NOTHIN'.  Figures.  It IS beautiful here though.  Big, fluffy flakes falling from (HELLO alliteration) the sky ...

Now.  Onto last night.  I had a Valentine's Girl's Night at my house.  It was a smaller one, which I ended up LOVING.  I wasn't running around my house like a nut.  Screaming one or two word sentences to everyone while mustering a smile and trying to move onto the next one, and at the end of the night feeling like I didn't talk to a SOUL.  We laughed, ate, drank, played a game or two and partied til about 11:30pm!  Thankfully, I'm not really that tired.  Thank all you girls that came, you all made my night!!!

(This later had ice and wine bottles in it - first time I've used this wedding gift, ha!)

 

(L to R:  Ashley, Kelly of Fab K (my only friend there w/ a blog!  shame on the rest of you girls!), my MOH, me, Alysia and Laura ... this was after my mom, MIL, Silly and Cousin Natalie left ...)

Thank you ladies for the FUN evening!  I can't WAIT until the next one!!!

Girl's Night Birthday Celebration And A Tiny Victory ...

Good MORNING lovelies! Happy “Middle of the Week” day to you all! Remember? I don’t like the phrase “Hump Day” ? It just ain’t right …

Last night we celebrated my Cousin Natalie’s 25th birthday. Apparently this is a big one. I really don’t remember anyone making a big deal about the fact that I was half-way to 30, but Natalie informed us all last night that people told her “it’s all downhill from here” … good to know I’m on a downward slope. I really don’t get why that’s regarded as a bad thing. Have you ever tried to walk/run/bike/anything uphill? It’s not pleasant I will tell you that. Downhill on the other hand? Fantastic. No one goes jogging LOOKING forward to hills, it’s the other side of the hill that people look forward to. So HERE’S to going downhill. Anyways, back to last night. We went to Red’s Patio Grill in Plano. My mom and I split a mushroom burger (um, yumsters) and then ordered steamed broccoli as our side (this was our attempt to off-set the fact that we just ate a mushroom burger?  You see the logic?). When our food comes out my mom and I each have 1 ½ stems of broccoli on our plate. Now I understand we are splitting this order, but seriously, 1 ½ TREES?!?! Let’s be a little less stingy here Red’s (Who, by the way, adds an immediate 20% gratuity to the bill – 20% gratuity? You best bring us a BUSHEL of broccoli. And be sitting by our table waiting to refill our drinks with bated anticipation). So we ask for another order so she and I can have, oh I don’t know, at LEAST 2 spears each.  Here comes our apparently 20% gratuity-worthy (or so Red’s says) waiter with THREE florets. Um. Seriously? Has broccoli rapidly increased in price so much that restaurants are RATIONING? Is the economy THAT BAD? So my mom and I bite our tongues (and really have been biting our tongues the whole time – we never complained to the waiter initially, we just requested another order) and our 3 florets and move on. The rest of the evening with the apparently 20% gratuity-worthy waiter was just fine. He didn’t do any back flips or tricks (which, I think, should be expected of someone that counts themselves worthy of telling me that I need to tip them 20%) but he did a pretty good job keeping up with the 7 of us.

(No idea why I look sleepy ... and sunburned?)

(Sisters, birthday girl on the left with her new Micheal Kors watch Mama gave her!)

(Begin Erica & Katie photo-shoot, for some reason we always think this is a good idea ... Oh and halfway through I realize I have a flower headband that I bought, AT DOLLAR GENERAL, that NEEDS to be put on because Erica had an adorable flower headband on ...)

(Last but not least, me and my momma (who makes me look like a midget by the way, thanks genetics for skipping out on giving me THAT trait...).  Ain't she purty?)

Oh and highlight of my night. My Mama lives close to me so for these girl’s nights, if Joanna doesn’t pick her up (which we let her slide in not coming to this one, being that she just birthed a child and all …) then she comes to my house and I drive her to our evening’s destination. On the way home she proceeds to tell me that she went to get some soup for lunch that day. At Rin Tin. The restaurant is called Tin Star. This was after, at dinner, my mom asks my Aunt Belinda if she brought any “silverneers” back from her trip to Ecuador. If you couldn’t translate that, she meant “souvenirs” … I hope this isn’t catching … or hereditary. I’ve apologized to my husband if it is. He says he already sees signs … I don’t know WHAT he’s talking about ...

Last, I have to tell you all a funny, short story. This morning, during my morning trip to Starbucks (my fix) I parked my car about the same time as another woman. Now, I have this problem. If someone is parking, at the same time as me or right before me, I don’t know WHAT it is, but I have the urge to RACE them to the door. To be the first one in line. Most of the time the poor people are completely oblivious and I have my own personal victory in my head. Complete with victory dance. Today, this woman was SO on the same page. And she was the size of a linebacker. And I don’t know if you can tell from blog-world (or the picture where I'm standing, I promise not squatting, next to my momma) but I’m 5’ 3”, 5’ 4” on a good day (when I lie). So I rush, and by rush I mean speeding with power-walker like movements (You know, those women that swoosh their arms back and forth and walk like their tush is on fire. I better stop, I’ll probably be one of them someday …) to the door and SHE speeds up too! So of course I think “Oh H no, it’s ON!” and speed up even more. I can now hear the sound of announcers at the horse races ...

“IT’S Katie, now it’s the linebacker, now Katie and the linebacker comes around the corner and closes in, now Katie speeds up and she MAKES it TO the finish line! It’s going to be a photo-finish!”

 You know, in the really-fast talk, like the Micro Machines guy from WAY back in the day? Anyways, I then SWOOSH in front of her and open the door (and then proceed to hold it for her, my manners are impeccable) and jump up to the front of the line. I can FEEL the linebacker’s eyes burning into my back. My sweet little barista, Jordan, who knows my order and has it ready for me .5 seconds before I get out of my car, hands me my Chai, I pay the cashier girl who ALWAYS acts like she has no idea who I am (hello, I come in EVERY DAY at 7:25) and head out the door. Smiling. Victory is mine!

I hope you all have victorious days!!!

Heart Day Decor and Blog Awards!

Okay ladies (and gent - i.e. my mister) I am so SO excited to show you all what I came up with.  One, because I'm kinda (okay, real) proud of it and TWO, because it's SO easy and I'm going to do what my momma always taught me and SHARE this bit of craftyness with my sweet readers (I have decided that I will no longer use the word "followers" because SOMEONE this weekend, whence I was referring to my wonderful followers, referenced the word disciples whilst making FUN of me.  That SOMEONE will remain nameless, however I'll give you a clue.  He's the gent that reads my blog ...)  That said, moving right along.  I wanted some sort of a garland "feel" for my mantle for Valentine's Day.  While I was at Dollar Tree (LOVE this store for cheap, decorating materials for the holidays bythaway) I found these little white doiles.  During Christmas I saw a lot of different ideas regarding stenciling out phrases, "Merry Christmas", "Happy Holidays" you get the idea, and stringing them across your mantle.  SO when I saw the afore mentioned "doiles" I immediately thought about getting some stencils and cutting out "Happy Valentine's Day" and stringing it across my mantle!  Um, apparently I thought my mantle was 20 feet long, because "Happy Valentine's Day" would barely string across my whole living room, let alone just my mantle.  So I modified it to read "Happy Heart (but an actual heart, can't for the LIFE of me get one to post on here) Day".

See what I mean?  I could BARELY fit the "heart" between the "Happy" and "Day" ... my last result was going to be to just throw an "O" in front of it and go wth "O Happy Day" ... not really sure how that relates to Valentine's but I would've dealt with that later.  That's how I roll ...

SO, I hope you all like my little bit of craftyness.  Like I said, I got the doiles at Dollar Tree (for a DOLLA, make you holla ... sorry, tourettes) and the stencils and red sparkly paper from Hobby Lobby.  Making this project cost a whopping $7.00!  Let's here it for CHEAP!  I'll take some more pics of the rest of my scarcely decorated house for Heart Day.  I usually don't go all out on this one (except for my mantle apparently?) ... at least not compared to the decorating explosion that is Christmas.

Now, on to my next topic.  Actually let's back track a bit.  Anyone watch The Bachelor?  I'm not going to do a whole recap and bore all of you non-watchers with my thoughts but, #1 - is it a REQUIREMENT that all the girls RUN AT Jake when they see him?  I mean seriously.  Every. single. one. RAN at him full force like he was ACTUALLY their husband/boyfriend/insert relationship here that had been sent off to war or had come back from the dead and they were seeing him for the first time in years.  Come on ladies.  EASE UP.  Little less coffee and Adderall ... #2 - Drama on isle Ali.  Puh-lease home girl.  Quit. it.  We all see that you're trying to make drama by concocting some big, HUGE, gut-renching decision and that you're trying to get the boy to say "Stay, I'm picking you in the end, I love you, let's go look at rings, and make babies together, now let's have sloppy tearful kisses."  I used to like this girl, but now she has officially been voted off my island.  I'm all about Tenley.  At first I thought that her constant positive attitude and voice that only dogs can hear was annoying, but now I really think she is the personified version of Disney's Cinderella, her dumb-A ex-husband playing the wicked step-mother and step-sister parts (that was a LOT of hyphens) and I SO want to see her with her Prince Charming (Jake, if you didn't catch that).  She's darling.  And had the most normal and precious family if you ask me.  In other news, is it bad that I wanted Jake to throw Vienna off the boat to the gators?  Yes?  Or are some of you with me on that one?  Truthfully, if you're not, I'm not sure we can be friends.  Because she. bugs. the. STUFF. outta me.  Okay really, that's all, I promised no full recap, so I gave you half one.

NOW onto my blog awards!  I received the ...

From sweet Summer over at Summer's Story AND from marvelous Maria over at Two Heart's Made Four.  Thank you girls SO much for the honor! 

The second award I received was the ...

From loverly Lesli over at One Day At A Time.

Thank ALL you ladies for the honor, please head over and check these darlings out.  They are SO much fun, I will go ahead and guarantee they will brighten your day!!!

All right, in the words of Porky the Pig, "a-deb-a-deb-a-deb, thhhhhaaat's all folks!"  Can you tell I'm in a silly mood today?