Happy Valentines Day...what?

Happy Valentines Day! I know, I know its April but hey my Mom still has her Christmas decorations up so that must be where I get it from.

It's always Valentine's Day at the Graves house

So Valentine's Day is my most favorite day ever! It's also my birthday, I love everything about it and I mean everything. If it is red or pink with hearts on it, I probably have it. My Mom always gives me all the valentines day stuff, I have everything from ice trays to casserole dishes...and then some....see for yourself, obsessed much? I also leave it up all year round, I have a happy little Valentine's bathroom and all. I think Nick is a good sport because he seems to think we don't need everything in hearts, I do however disagree. Take a look at our Valentines day garb, and I hope everyone had as great a day as we did.

Don't worry Cardinals fans there's always next year ;)

I keep forgetting to post about our wonderful experience to a live Cardinals game. I tell you what I work for a great company, because the vendors that want our business take us out to fancy shmancy lunches, fly you on jets with real mahogany ;), and give you private box seats to foot ball games!!!

Iwas given 2 tickets to see the cardinals a couple weeks back vs. Seahawks. Let me paint you a picture...we get in the gate and I have to hand my ticket to the guy and he looks up at me and giggles and hands back my ticket....then we go to a private elevator and I hand my tickets to that guy...and he looks at me and smiles and says "Enjoy" like he really really means it....then we get in the elevator and have to show the tickets again and we go to the TOP!!! and the elevator guy says wow and hands back the ticket! That's right private box seats owwwwww!!!! I was already enjoying myself and we hadn't even gotten off the frickin' elevator yet this was going to be good.

We are directed down a really long hallway that goes all the way around the field and every so often you would pass someone who worked there in a suit and tie and they just sort of nodded at us and smiled and said enjoy...weird it was like we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be. I didn't have the heart to tell them I didn't pay for the tickets and I probably couldn't afford them in the first place...shhhhh our secret. Then we finally find our room and we are the first ones to arrive. The room is decked out with awesome red furniture for the cardinals fans and it had a private bathroom and free food and drinks! We were about on the 30 yard line and could see everything, we were also right where the cardinals come out of the locker rooms in the RED ZONE . AWESOME!!! Are the capital letters expressing how awesome it was?

That is the way to see a football game, I really wanted to ask for Superbowl tickets but I didn't want to push my luck :) If you ever get the chance to go.....GO even if you don't like football that was an amazing experience but I am a Packers fan, and also a cardinals fan....there's always next year, next year.

Then Martha Stewart came to me in a dream and demanded I make foot ball cookies for the Superbowl party, and I listened.

Hmmm Little Footballs ah ah ah ah aha

Belated Happy Homemaker Monday!

I'm a little late I know it's Wednesday but I made some really good cookies this week, which I can't eat because I started my diet a couple of days before the new year. This diet entails no chips, cookies, candy, anything tasty is basically out! And no ramen noodles which I am particularly missing right now :(

My main goal was no chips because I have a problem, I admit I have a very big problem with chips. We will go to the store, buy a bag, I'll have chips for dinner and later a snack and Nick will hardly get the chance to try them before I eat every last crumb, and I'm not exaggerating at all which is really sad. I did this "Diet" before the wedding and with exercise I lost about 13 pounds which was awesome so I'm back on.

I made these Peanut Butter cookies for Nick because he loves them and it was Mom's receipt. I'll admit before the marathon I did load up on my carbs with my pasta dinner the night before....and I did sneak one cookie. It was really good but not the way Mom makes them, I don't know what her secret is???

26.2 + Bum Knee = 13.1

So Sunday was the Phoenix Marathon and I was ready to go! I was so excited the last couple of days that my heart was beating a little faster than it probably should have but I was excited. This marathon is very different from the Tucson marathon, they have live music every mile and Jr. High school cheerleaders cheering you on. They also allow spectators the whole way through which was very encouraging to hear everyone cheer you on with signs and noise makers. It was great! I felt really good, I had a decent pace and I wasn't out of breath and I only stopped for a little bit to streatch or get a drink. I felt so much better than last year and I hadn't trained as much which I thought was weird but who cares keep going....then somewhere between mile 11 and 12 things took a turn for the worse. My right knee started to hurt, and at first I though just stretch and you'll be fine...then I had to sit down and stretch and try and rub my knee to see if that worked and it didn't I couldn't go more than a couple of feet without having to sit down!

Me and Runnin' Elvis before the run he said "Thank you, thank you very much." Hilarious!

I heard someone say that the medic was at the next mile post so I started to hobble my way there which took me almost 30 minutes!!!!! I had a very average pace of about 12 minute mile so you can see there was clearly a problem. I finally make it to the medic and by this point I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to finish the marathon like this but I hadn't completely thrown in the towel yet I thought maybe it will get better with the ice she wrapped my knee with. The medic said I probably had tendenitis which I'm not exactly sure what that means but I guess there are several different things this could mean from inflamation and pain all the way to surgery. And then I remembered that just 2 days earlier my knee was hurting because I went bowling, yes I hurt my knee bowling that's so lame!

Any how, they wrapped my knee and said good luck basically. I tried to walk it very slow and take it easy but by the time I actually made it to the medic and sat with them I had wasted a ton of time which is not good when you are trying to finish the marathon by 5 hours (which is also not good but I just wanted to finish ;) I knew I wasn't able to finish and I wasn't about to try, I wasn't there to hurt my knee permanently it just wasn't worth it. I make it to the next medic and by this point I am in tears trying to find a chair to sit down. It was over, but I didn't even realize through my tears that I had just crossed the half way mark at 13.1.

I'm really glad that I crashed and burned where I did because if I wasn't able to finish the half marathon I was going to be really pissed off and yes Mom I used the P word and I ment it :) At least I didn't get sun burned this time too.

I heard that day from one of the volunteers that every race is a learning experience and they are all different, ah so wise. I havn't quite figured out the balance of training etc because last race I trained consitently but I didn't go on very long runs and I felt so crappy during the run but I finished...and this race I didn't train nearly as much but I felt alot stronger of a runner and I was only able to do the half marathon. I'll figure it out, I will probably do a couple more but I don't think my knees like me right now. Take a look at the photos it's kind of funny how I have so much energy and excitement in the beginning and you can see where I'm not feeling all that great.

This guy ran the marathon bare foot!!!!!!!

Good News!

So, Tiger A.K.A "Grandma Stinky" has gotten very very old and has over the last couple of years lost a lot of weight. I think the vet said she is between 16-18 years old which is almost 100 in human years...she's just old. We took her to the vet last year and all he said was she had a urinary tract infection, gave us some pills and sent us on our way.

Then within the last couple of weeks she has started meowing and meowing and meowing and meowing like crazy and it's driving me crazy and I didn't know what was her frickin' problem! I almost put her on the doorstep until she stopped crying like Jane does with the kids but I changed my mind. :)

I called the vet and they actually come out to your house for those "Difficult animals" which Grandma Stinky falls into that category and do the exam there which is very convenient and worth the extra cost. So this Doc said some really scary things about Tiger and what she might have...she was saying things like colon cancer, liver cancer etc which is so sad my poor baby Tiger but she said she would have to wait till she got the results back.

She calls and says everything is great! No cancer no problems really. There are still some minor issues she has Inflammatory Bowel Disease which is very treatable so all I have to do is put her on a new prescription cat food and a pill once a day. Not bad I can handle that. Grandma Stinky should be lookin' good or as good as she can look for 100 years old here soon. To any of you who care about Tiger, Mom I know you really really miss her.

It was sort of funny the Doc also had some things to say about Snax A.K.A Fat cat. She said that she is probably on her way to being Diabetic...I had a hard day when she came over I had a cat with cancer and one with diabetes what a day. So starting next week Fat Cat has to be on a new diet. Ey ey ey ey ey cats! But to anyone who loves their animals get them checked out and on good food and as Bob Barker always says "Don't forget to spay and neuter your pets."

I guess I don't see a problem with these pictures...Diabetes, silly Doctor ;)

And as for Roxy she is just as content as can be sleeping in really uncomfortable positions and getting into the mail box drop in the wall :)

Happy Birthday Nick!

Well it was Nick's 29th birthday last week...this is where I sing "Old Man River" in my deepest voice :) I made his favorite German Chocolate Cake. Thanks to Mom I was able to get the ingredients over the phone while I was on my way home, which saved me a lot of time because I always manage to do everything last minute, that's the Turner way no? It didn't look much like the picture in the cook book but it was absolutely amazing, Nick said it was the best he's ever had and I don't think he was just telling me that because he had to, it was really really really amazing.

For a really long time I've heard Nick say that he wanted a game from his childhood, Rattle Me Bones the pirate game anyone remember it? Anyhow, I was able to track it down THANK YOU EBAY! Even though I ordered it over two weeks ago we just got it in the mail today while I was at work. Nick called and asked if he could open the "Mysterious box on the door step" and I could hear him opening it over the phone. Listening to him get all excited was the funniest thing I think I've heard in a long time and I quote "Alright that's mine!" Ah ha ha ha he was so excited, I'm glad I was able to find it for him I think it made his day.

Also, here is the picture of Nick on his first day of school in front of our door like Mom made us do, hilarious. I love it, he's got his school shirt on and his brand new backpack over the shoulder, way cool.

I got a little in the holiday spirit and put up some of the Christmas crap I have, still no tree yet I don't want to get it to early.

Happy Homemaker Monday and such

Happy Homemaker Monday, here is my latest creation this week. I purchased this chair from the company I used to work for. It was the exact chair I sat in for two years while I worked there and I have really grown to love it. That's right I said it I LOVE THIS CHAIR! So when I left the company I bought it just in time to keep my employee discount and got some awesome new fabrics to re-uhpholster it. It used to be a really bright blue which I wasn't really diggin'...but the obnoxious orange I love. It's called an Uno chair and it may not look like much but I think everyone should have one, it's quite amazing.




Here is a video of Nick takin' a bath...curious?