No too much exciting happening here. I am looking forward to the Superbowl. I tried relentlessly to win tickets on a radio show this week, even had the office calling in, but just couldn't get through! Are there really that many people with nothing better to do at 10am? Guess so! It was for 2 tickets, airfare for four days, hotel accommodations and parking pass to the game! How awesome would that be! The radio game started at 7 am - a contestant had to guess an envelope from 1-40. I tuned in at 10 am and there were 16 envelopes remaining. So your chance of winning was 1/16!!! It came down to 11 envelopes before someone picked the correct one! Crazy!! But I was nervous/excited to be calling! Pick me! Pick me!

I bought a washer and dryer this weekend. Finally have clean clothes. Just kidding- I have been going to the laundromat. That sucked! I picked up a demo, front loader from Sears. I think I got a great price on them. Not sure the front loader is so great. The jury is still out. I definitely use less water but the cycle seems longer and I don't think I am fitting any more clothes in it, but maybe they are getting cleaner?!? Also- you have to buy High Efficiency laundry soap which seems more expensive than the regular kind, but again maybe it goes further because you are using less?!?

I guess I need to have children. My friend has to get up at 5 AM to get a workout in! That is insane! In fact, I have been soooo lazzzyy lately that I am getting up at 7:30/8:00, hardly working, and coming home to watch movies/ TV. Last weekend, I watched football ALL day on Sunday! I could almost be back in college.
This inactivity is starting to bother me though. I am working on my next task/assignment. It's not that I DON'T have things to do - it is just that I am NOT doing them. Sometimes- you can have a job and not do things and nobody notices.

Aaron wants to go down to FL (Orlando) to see his brother. I have never been to Disneyworld. His brother lives right next to it! Is is worth going? Any thoughts on that subject. Would an adult child like it?
Anyone with connections and tickets to the Superbowl? Course if you did, and decided not to go, don't know why you would consider me instead of making a fortune selling them but can't blame a girl for trying!!!! It is such a good game for folks like me- sandwiched right between the two teams!!!!

I was thinking about my family lately. It is very interesting to me how families change. As a youth- you play and hang out with your siblings all the time. Sometimes when you get older- you and your siblings are good friends. My siblings and I live the closest we have lived to each other since we all lived in the same house and we hardly ever see each other or speak to each other. I am really not happy about that fact. Growing up as an only girl, I looked forward to having sister-in-laws. Someone to shop with, hang with, talk to about girl stuff! But truth be told, neither one of my sister-in-laws and I are friends. We get along, sure, but we don't have things in common to hang out. And now that my brothers are married, they seem to only have time for their wife and their wife's family. My mom says that is just how it is, but I don't really believe that.
I have even tried to incorporate all of us into events we can share, like I rented a cabin last summer (all the people are teachers except my mom and my younger brother and me and Aaron) for a whole week to enjoy swimming, boating, games, etc. The place even had a small pool for kids and was only 1.5 hours away. Guess who came? Aaron and myself! Excuses from the rest. This winter- I was planning a family skate together and again---excuses. Maybe it is me. Nah..... really?!? Maybe I am intimidating??
Comments welcome-- but I did discover last year that I am easily offended.

Really not sure why cooking is so foreign to me. It really isn't that difficult but for some reason.... all the variation makes me unsure. For example- I bought a pork loin roast and I wanted to cook it in the oven on a roasting pan. So how do I do that? Well- I researched it on the internet and found a million different ways to do it. Add water, use apple juice, add wine. Cover with pepper, cover with cherries, blah blah. I was confused. Should I cook it in the crock pot, the oven, the roasting pan, a covered pot??!?? UGH! What to do What to do!
So - I let Aaron do what he wanted and it turned out well.

Yesterday- I had an enjoyable day of football. Pretty exciting that the Bears (Chicago) are playing the Colts(Indiana) for the superbowl!!! I am excited for the match-up. Even though I hate the Bears.... Guess that means I am rooting for the Colts.

My football treats yesterday didn't taste all that good either. Made meatballs in grape jelly and chili sauce (bland meatballs or something) and my mexican dip recipe, which I stole from Jeny's friend Amy- was off too and usually that is a hit but I insisted on using some tomatoes that were "chili ready" and I thought that would be like Rotel but it wasn't. My store bought French onion dip rocked!

I was really happy to have my Grinch comment appreciated in the reader comment section. I like to throw a little something interesting in!!!

Man...I really need more pictures on this blog!

You know that old expression: if it seems too good to be true -it probably is! Well- I believe it! Last summer/fall, Dr. Coleman and myself (but really mostly him) were offered an opportunity to buy in to the surgery center we were using mostly at that time. The buy-in was very costly in comparison to other surgery centers but the payouts were also higher than the others. In total each investor would be on the hook for $400,000!!!! Most of that money was a debt note you signed at the bank so you only needed 10% up front. We puzzed and puzzed till our puzzlers were sore!!! (expression from The Grinch-just couldn't help myself) But in the end- we decided not to go forward with the investment. Since that time- we have taken most of our cases to the surgery center adjacent to our current office. Apparently, the volume has dropped SOOO much at the previous surgery center the stock shares are worth 1/3 of what doctors paid for them, and the center might just go out of business!!! So glad we didn't invest with that company. It just was too good to be true!!!

Another note: I have been working to refinance my ARM mortgage to a lower rate and take some cash out. What a ridiculous process! I feel the whole process is shady!!! (Comments shouldn't be taken personally, not meant to hurt anyones feelings. I really don't trust car salespeople - again how do they figure out the price to charge you- just appears shady to me - that's all!)

Please note...the haze is from sanding the countertop. I didn't take up smoking and my house is not THAT dirty!!

Alas- Photos
Here are some photos of the new house. As you can see- I am still working on the yard and since we didn't have snow when I took the photo it really looks bad.
Also- I took a photo of the painted concrete floor in the basement and the before and after staining of the concrete countertops. On the top bar we sanded it to expose some of the aggregate or rocks to get more of a texture and the bottom two bars left smoother. I chose the "warm shale" stain. Now we have to seal it (several coats) to make it water proof and shinier! Enjoy!

I will post photos today! Promise... I just have to log onto a different computer to download my camera pictures...my "home" computer is so old it doesn't have a USB port! Yikes.... still works though...doesn't seem fair to throw it out!

For all of you thinking about switching to the "new google blogger" DON'T! I am unable to log on to any of the blogsites to post comments. I have to log into my own blog and then go back whoever's blog I want to post a comment. I can't figure out why they did it like that but somehow google can only recognize my password through their site.

So - I bought into the company as of January 1st and we are at the half way point into the month and it doesn't look like I will get a salary this month. It was a tough decision to invest into the company. It will either go really well this year or really badly. I am optimistic it will go well! But I have this weird ability to see into the future (not really) and therefore tend to plan things for "down the line" (really) so this not having solid income is driving me crazy!! Yesterday I had a headache that just would not quite. Could be my eyes are failing me and I need new contacts!?! Or stress!
Speaking of eyes--- Katie, how did you get your eye prescription from changing? The only time I was able to do that was when I was wearing gas permeable lenses. Those lens suck but I certainly don't want to end up legally blind!

I was very proud of myself for remembering my college roommates birthday on Friday! Even sent a little gift ... only to find out I totally forgot my other "tangent" college roommates birthday on Sunday :( So sorry Katie!!! Hope you had a great day! I will be celebrating it April 14th as I originally thought.

Rather dull weekend. We were suppose to go up to Michigan and visit with my podiatry school buddy and her husband but that didn't work out as planned. I had already booked our hotel using Aaron's frequent stay points and by the time we were notified the trip was off it was too late to cancel. Aaron was not happy about this so I made him call the hotel and they put the points back on his account no questions asked! That just reaffirms my point- ALWAYS ASK and you may just GET!!!

My friend in Texas is doing Weight Watchers..... most of my office did that this past fall! Unbelievable how much you can over-eat in one day! One trip to McDonald's and you might as well go home to bed...day over!!! Thanks god for floating points! Good luck to you! I am sure you will conquer and beat WW!!! Lifetime membership here you come!!!

And last rambling of the day...still working on the concrete countertops. I second guess the stain color and purchased two colors. Problem is when you go ahead and stain it ... that is the one you live with. Not sure which one I will go with but if anyone is interested in doing some concrete work...I will have a whole gallon of unused stain! Verdict so far: very cheap but labor intensive! I really need to post some photos!!!

My good friend Katie is having an ugly sweater party today with the 'girls' from MN! I was just thinking how I could use an ugly sweater!!! Wish I could be there :( Miss hanging out with all of you! BUT today Aaron and I are making concrete countertops for the basement bar. This is round two ... so I hope we get it right this time. Tomorrow is the Lembcke Family Christmas. Should be exciting... I will fill you all in on the details later.

I had a great New Year's Eve! I was going to have a party at the house but couldn't get the basement bar finished in time so we moved the party to a friend's. (Way better because I don't have to clean a thing today) Watched my beloved Packers beat the snot out of the Bears :) Yeah!!! And drank and danced the night away. Left the party at 1:15 because one of my friends was wasted and hitting on a particular man at the party (she is unhappily married) so I whisked her out the door and we headed home. Half way to her house we got pulled over by the police. Scared half to death, thinking for sure Aaron is heading to the slammer... I got out all the necessary paperwork from the glove compartment and had it ready to go when the officer got to the side of the truck. Needless to say 2 cop cars and 1 deputy sheriff came and let us off with a warning on speeding!!! See 2007 is going to be my year!!! What a lazy day today! Talked to Kazmierkowski last night and feel the need to host a reunion party this year... maybe in August?!?