Funny Conversations

I've had the pleasure of participating in or overhearing some funny conversations this week. Here are a few:

This conversation is between my dad and I via text message:

Dawn: "We should go boating on Sunday."
Dad: "Tuesday or Thursday would be better."
Dawn: "But we have jobs."
Dad: "Sucks to be you."

This conversation was between my nephew, Anthony and his dad, Josh:

Josh: "I love you."
Anthony: "I love..... Grandma."

Lastly, this conversation took place between Tommy and myself:

Dawn: "While I was waiting for you outside of the gas station I overheard this dad yelling at his four year old kid. The dad said 'Stop your fucking whining. We were only supposed to stop for 10 minutes but because of your stupid fucking ass we have been here for 40 minutes.' Can you believe that?"
Tommy: "Wow! No. They stopped for 40 minutes!?!"

10 Things

Here are 10 things I love this week:

1. Camelbak Water Bottle. Seriously! Have you guys ever had one? Sure, they can be a bit spendy, but it is so easy to drink watter out of these things!

2. Hiland Kettle Cook BBQ Chips. Ironically, I can only find these for purchase at Kum & Go. They are a tasty treat.

3. HyVee's breakfast sandwich prepared fresh from the kitchen. Tommy and I usually share one on the weekend. I splurged and got one this morning for myself.

4. Fresh Fruit! I love all the fresh fruit that you can get in the summer. Its cheap, and its good! I'll be even happier when the local farmers start selling their sweat corn out of the back of their trucks. Peaches and Cream, anybody?

5. Kohls Coupons. Somehow I manage to frequently receive the 30% off coupons in the mail. I am not a big fan of in store credit cards, but Kohls makes it worth it.

6. Airline Miles. Tommy and I have worked hard to earn approximately 55,000 airline miles. We are now planning a trip to spend them. The only thing better than vacation is a free vacation! Any ideas?

7. Uncle Joe. As we speak my uncle is at my house cutting down weeds and trimming some plants. He offered out of the kindness of his heart! I'm so grateful!

8. Summer Weather. Its about time we finally get some sun and heat! Here is hoping the rain can stay away this weekend!

9. I-Tunes. I know for years now we have been able to buy our favorite songs for around a buck. But how great is it? Remember the days where you would have to buy the entire tape/cd for just the one song you wanted (or illegally download the music?)

10. Blogs. I cant believe it has only be a few months now that I have been into blogging. Every morning I look forward to my friend's updating their blogs or finding something to post about!

What do you love this week?

Thankful Thursday- A Day Early

I know it is only Wednesday, but I have something I am extra thankful for this week so I wanted to share it anyway.

Some of you may have heard on the news that Tommy's bank got robbed today. Tommy generally does not work up by the Tellers but occasionally will if he is offering a translation service. He was doing so this morning when Wells was robbed. Tommy said he noticed the guy in line because he had sunglasses and a hat on, and it was raining here today so that did not make sense. The robber went to the line next to Tommy's, passed a note, said he had a gun, and demanded money. I would love for this story to take a dramatic turn and tell you how my honey pulled out his ninja moves, caught the robber, saved his coworkers, and was named citizen of the year. Instead, after thoughtfully noting that the robber looked very suspicious, he carried on with his own business until the teller next to him exclaimed after the robbery "Ive just been robbed." Thankfully, nobody was hurt. I imagine Tommy is going to be a little spooked over the next couple of days and will want to keep the closet light on when we go to bed.

The robbery prompted me to realize two things:

1. I need to increase my husband's life insurance policy.

2. I work in a bank. We should institute some sort of plan in the event of the robbery. While I understand it would not make any sense for a robber to come to the second floor of the bank, he may panic if he sees police outside and run upstairs. I discussed this plan with Anne and Brenda and we came up with the following plan. Anne declared that she had no talents to save us. Anne really is a friendly lady who can carry on a conversation. Anne will distract the robber while contemporaneously page Brenda by using the code "Ninja." Brenda will then do flips all the way up the hallway until she reaches the hallway. She will then drop kick the robber, take his gun and save us all. I will sit in my office, but unlike my bosses, I will not be hiding under my desk.

Are you thankful for anything this week?

If you think you are having a bad day....

If you think you are having a bad day consider this....

When Tommy and I were in Houston we spotted this car on the freeway. Let me answer a few questions for you that I am sure are buzzing through your head as you view this photo.

1. Yes, this is a live shot. You can see my arms in the side mirror of car.

2. Yes, this is a Mercedes Benz. Newer model, although only a C class.

3. No, nobody was hurt from what we could tell. There was a man standing next to it very upset though.

4. No, at the time we drove by no police or fire trucks had arrived at the scene.

5. Yes, I did ask Tommy to get into the lane closest to the burning car so I could get a better picture.

6. No, I have no idea why it burned. I can only speculate as to why a nearly brand new Mercedes would start on fire and be completely engulfed in flames within a matter of minutes. And I will speculate.... mafia member, cooking meth in the trunk of the car, scorned ex wife.....

Now does your day seem as bad?

Thankful Thursday

Its Thursday again. For your faithful blog readers, you know that this means two things. One, the start of my five favorite days in a row; and two, time to blog about something I am thankful for.

This week I am thankful for my dad. No, he didn't do anything extra special this week to make me more thankful for him. He is just a rocking dad. Let me count the ways:

1. Caring.  Some people do not know under the intense outward demeanor of my dad lies a very caring and emotional person. When he is leaving my house after swimming in the afternoon he makes sure to warn me to get out of the pool since there are no people left at the house to be my swimming buddy. When I haven't seen him for a few days he hugs me like it has been years. And when his family is around, you can truly see the comfort and happiness in his demeanor. He loves his family.

2. Intense. My dad's intensity did annoy quite a bit when I was a minor, but now his intensity is a pleasure to see. The intensity really comes out when he talks about politics or his world views. Let me provide an example:

Dawn: "Dad, what do you think about the war?"

Dad: "I think we should nuke them until they glow and fight them at night."

3. Funny. My dad says the funniest things. Some of my favorite quotes:

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."
"If  'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts oh what a wonderful Christmas we would have"
"If she fell into a pond they would be skimming ugly off it for weeks."

Unfortunately the best quotes come out randomly and I cannot think of a lot of them right now- but trust me, he is funny!

4. Handy. My dad is handy. I have especially come to appreciate this when fixing things at my house. He is an electrician, plumber, mechanic, carpenter, and pool boy. He is so handy that every time Anthony, my nephew, is at my house and sees a new light fixture or change he says "Look! Grandpa fixed it!" In fact, Anthony was so impressed with the ceiling fans being fixed that he still yells it out like he is seeing it fixed for the first time. If Anthony is at my house and sees even a light bulb burnt out he politely says "Grandpa needs to fix it."

I hope you all take time this weekend to honor your dads!

Basement Progress and Summer TV?

Tonight Tommy and I finally got our tv hooked up in the basement. We bought a tv several months ago but never hooked it up. Last week we bought a new couch for our basement which motivated us to hook up our tv. Wow- when we bought this house we had no idea how much we would love having our basement. The basement was about 75% finished when we bought the house, but we had to put new carpet down, we added a fireplace, finished the trim work, and painted it a much more pleasing color. It is such a great space to have, and I really see appreciating this space once we have children.

The bad news about this space is that we do not have the cable hooked up to the tv yet. The cords looks like a mess. Fortunately, the tv has a built in antenna so we have some of the hd channels. Unfortunately, all that is on is The Voice. I had almost forgot that I did not like Carson Daly.

I have a few other projects that I am hoping to finish up this summer. I got the major parts of these projects done but then got tired. The finishing details always makes the difference.

Speaking of bad tv, do any of you have any summer tv shows that you enjoy? I always hate the summer because of the lack of good tv. I always end up watching Big Brother not because I enjoy it, but because it is on three evenings a week. It is about the only show that I watch in the summer.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for the invention of Dim Sum. Have you heard of it? The first time I heard of it was back in 2007 when I traveled to Houston for the first time. I have had it a handful of times since then (whenever we travel to Houston) and it never disappoints.

Dim Sum is served at a Chinese restaurant usually during lunch hours on the weekend. Cute Chinese girls push around carts in the restaurant with different individual portion sized food. You generally order approximately 2-3 dishes per person but to be shared with the entire family. You end up getting a lot of variety and trying new things. Its also fun to look at all your options when the carts travel by your table and stop the waitress to grab the dishes your family wants. I especially love going with my father-in-law. He is very experienced with Dim Sum and always knows the goodies to order.

Here are some pics from when we had Dim Sum last week in Houston!!

10 Things

Here are the ten things I am happy/excited about this week:

1. Tommy's family. I just got back from spending six days with my in-laws in Houston (Tommy is not home yet. He is staying until Sunday and his family is now in Mazatlan. When I booked my return ticket the plan was to go to Orlando so I booked a return early. Now I am jealous I didn't get to join them in Mexico!). I had a wonderful time in Houston. His family always makes me feel so welcome and they are so accommodating. Tommy's brother, Hikaru, graduated from high school. This is a family picture from his graduation.

2. Tommy. As I mentioned previously, Tommy is gone for the next week. I was originally excited to have a week to myself, but I already miss him and am looking forward to his return on Sunday!

3. Costco. Big surprise, right?! While we were in Houston, Tommy's parent introduced us to this sparkling lemonade/orange juice combo package that is sold at Costco. It is quite refreshing in the summer and I just picked up a case of it for our home. I also just picked up a new book there. It is the new Chelsea Handler book.

4. TJ Maxx. I used to be really addicted to TJ Maxx. I intervened at the beginning of the year and now only go twice a month (as opposed to three times per week). I just went there tonight and found a few good purchases!

5. My Job. I know some of you must have reread "my job" a few times because I generally only complain about my job. I am coming to realize that I have a pretty good job that provides a lot of flexibility and opportunities for my family. It has its moment, but really I have it pretty good.

6. The History Channel. It features some great shows. Right now I am watching "How State got Their Shape." It is surprisingly interesting.

7. My Furniture Order. Before Tommy and I left for Houston we purchased a couch for our now finished basement. The couch is in. As soon as I can convince my dad to go pick it up (I refused to pay $75 to have American Furniture deliver it less than one mile) it will be in my house. I cant wait to take some naps on it!

8. Mindy. Many of you know my friend, Mindy. She is 22 weeks pregnant with triplet girls. She has been on bed rest for 3 weeks. She will be on bed rest until the babies come- hopefully six more weeks. She is doing well! I am so proud of her for being so strong for those girls!

9. Air Condition. I did not turn the air on before we left for Houston. I walked into a 92 degree house last night. The house finally cooled down by around 1:00 am. I do not know how people sleep when they are hot- it is miserable!

10. Peaches. While in Texas, Tommy and I went to the famous Texas Pride Restaurant near Houston (and recently featured in the RHWOC). I had some wonderful peach cobbler there. While at Costco I bought some peaches that I hope to turn into peach cobbler later this week! Does anybody have a good recipe?

I hope you take time this week to find things to be happy and excited about!

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

My hubby is a huge fan of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We do not necessarily watch the show, but whenever we are traveling to another city he always googles the show with the city to see if there are any places that have been on the show.

We are in Houston right now visiting Tommy's family. Yesterday we decided to go to Niko Niko's, a restaurant that has been featured on the show.

Niko Nikos is a Greek restaurant; however, I was still not inspired enough to have a gyro. Instead, I tried a "Philly cheesesteak" type sandwich. Tommy and Silivia shared a sampler platter. It was nice to try something different. By the way... those yellow things that you see in the pictures are potatoes, not pineapples! Crazy!

Speaking of traveling, I recently read in a magazine that you can use www.bing.com/travel to compare the cost of an airline ticket or hotel that you are contemplating booking. Supposedly this website has the history of airfares and hotel costs and will indicate whether the ticket or room you are about to purchase is a deal, average price or whether you are paying too much.  I have not used it yet so I cannot attest to its abilities, but I will tell you that I often stress about when to buy a ticket and worry about whether the ticket price will go down (since I always buy non-refundable- cannot afford the refundable). It'd be nice to get some confidence in the purchase price to know whether to buy the ticket/room or not. Have any of you used this website?