It's Christmas Time in the..... office

Last year being my first year at RTT I found out that everyone there really liked to decorate for Christmas. This year was not any different.

Below is the File Opening, Summons & Complaint and Service side of the 2nd floor. They have all their stockings hung over a fireplace and some Christmas trees!


This is the stuffed Santa suit oustide Kiki and Lauren's cubes. The santa suit was stuffed with news paper and they had to give it a head!


This is the Contested Team's side of the hallway. Stockings, garland, big pieces of "candy" with their names on them.


Amy and Elizabeth's cubes. These are clear plastic sheets with the designs on them.


The Twelve Days of Chrismas outside the Sales team cube


The Sales team stockings and Christmas Tree (We use this Christmas tree for the Hannah House Charity we do at christmas time)

QA's stockings. They wrapped wrapping paper around a bunch of their cubes.

This is where I work in the Hearings Team Hallway. We are the only 4 cubes that go in this direction. It makes it good for us when we are having "team meetings". My cube is the first on the left!


Caity, our 1, and newest, (she transferred from Sales) annexed team member. There are 5 total on my team. The 4 of us in the hallway above and Caity!


Loss Mit's singing and dancing Christmas bear.. oh how entertaining they are!


Loss Mit's stockings. Bonnie has the Pink one. She loves pink. Her whole cube is pink. Seriously.

And that's the 2nd floor Christmas Tour! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Get Ready...

We are getting the internet back here shortly!!! I cannot wait. I have been up at the Maduro Room for the past hour and a half ordering my Christmas Photo cards. I had all intentions to blog my Christmas Decorations, but I have got to get out of this smoke!!! Anyways, hopefully my blogs will pick back up to normal! I am so excited about our Christmas cards. This is our first year doing them, since this is our first Christmas as a married couple! I would show them on here but then it would not be as fun when you get them in the mail. After searching Shutterfly and Snapfish, I chose a Snapfish. It was cute and for the right price. There were some I really liked, but they were almost $2 a piece and I could not fork over that much for a Christmas card. Anyways, I hope you will enjoy it when you receive it in the mail in a week or so!

Color

I have decided that I am bored with the brown/grey neautral color that my den area is painted. I want something different. Any suggestions? My kitchen is red and so is the bottom half of the dining room. Also, the guest room needs to be painted a different color too. The bedspread is orange, lime green and a bright blue... the wall is currently yellow (how we bought it).

Facebook

After years of nagging Michael finally joined facebook! He said he had to for the Maduro Room facebook page he made. Sure... Anyways, add him as a friend and become a fan of the Maduro Room!

HaLLoWeeN decor

Okay, so this post is a week after these decorations were actually done but, better late than never..

candy corn in some square vases with little tea lights

Decided to paint one for now and I will carve one close to halloween

And I stole kristy's wreath idea (painting a vine one that is)

forgot to take the chain off the porch that Tank was hanging out on when I was out painting. A little ghost pumpkin. I wish my paint pen had not run out during the eyes...

Some cut outs I bought at Michael's. They are fun and glittery! There were also 2 black cats, but they did not show up on the wreath.

I had fun with these! And they did not take long at all. Thanks to everyone else for all the inspiration!!

Ironman

As some of you might know my dad is an Ironman! He has participated in 5 full Ironmans and a million half Ironmans. For those of you who do not know, an Ironman, is a triathalon. A full Ironman is a 2.2 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike and then finished with a 26.2 (yes a full marathon) run. This past Sunday my parents came dad and my dad did a Half Ironman (which is half the distance of all of the above) in Augusta.


getting ready for the swim ...
there they go 1.2 mile swim in the Savannah River





Mike has the camera at this point and missed him going by. I however got a good picture with my Blackberry and uploaded it to facebook so I could tag my dad and all his friend could keep track of how he was doing.

on to the run.. only 13 miles

and he is done! with a victory beer! not bad for 58!!!

OH Walmart...

www.peopleofwalmart.com



trust me these pictures are classic!

Best website EVER!!!

As some of you know, I have a bit of a Pug obession. Just a little one ;)

I came across this website today at lunch. I can't stop smiling and laughing. it is so cute. basically it is a website with cute dog pictures that have captions of what the "dogs" are saying. You can pick by breed or just browse. I could probably spend all day on this website!

http://www.ihasahotdog.com/

internet

okay, I have found it is very hard to keep up with my blog without the internet.... what to do? get the internet back? make some visits to the Maduro room and use the internet, or somewhere else? I can type my little heart out here at work, but I cannot upload pictures...

Kelly and Bryan wedding

This past weekend one of my of my best friends, Kelly, got married back in Richmond. We started out friday with Mani/Pedis



Me and Colleen (Colleen fell asleep in the chair)

getting ready for the rehearsal at Gina's house (colleen, me and kelly)

Kelly and her dad

Kelly and Bryan

Kelly and me at the rehearsal dinner

gina, colleen, nikki, kelly, kristal, becky and me. holding up Bryan.

kelly getting some earrings from Bryan

me putting on the garter I hand made for her

it

said Mrs. Otto on one side and had a yellow ribbon on the other side. she cried when I gave it to her



cake

first dance

funniest picture of colleen

mike and me :)

colleen, kelly and me

austin (colleen's fiance) mr. kinnier (colleen's dad) my dad (had too much to drink), and mike

and they are off to the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana not Puerto Plata like us. We had a great time! so much fun and I am so happy for them! Can't wait when they come to visit in August!

My parents are coming!

So my dad called last weekend and said that him and my mom were going to come visit me and Mike as long as we had no plans. We had not planned anything but to stay in town and do things around the area. So when they asked, I said c'mon down! I am very very excited! My parents have only been to our house ONCE since we moved in. With the wedding we were home A LOT! So... they never came down because we were always going up. However, that trend has not stopped, nor will it for a while seeing as 2 of my best friends from home are getting married. I have been burning rubber up and down 95 and will continue to until at least next February. (seriously, I could probably drive home with my eyes closed .. and I will tell you all the good and bad exits!)

Mike has to work friday night :(, so I guess it will just be me, mom and dad for dinner. They are planning to get in around dinner time. Then Saturday Mike , my dad and a few others are going to play golf. My dad doesn't really play golf, he has no clubs, but he knows mike likes it and I think its cute. However, my dad, is a scratch golfer. I am not sure yet what my mom and I might do, maybe the Gilbert Peach Festival?? Who knows. Then we planning on cooking out and catching some fireworks somewhere on the lake. Sunday they will have to head back to ole virginny, but I will see them in just a few weeks for Kelly's wedding.

No they are not bring the puggles :( Mom wanted to, Dad was not so excited about it, especially since they have still not fixed Titan. There will be a lot of traffic and it will be hot, so it's probably for the better. And mom can spoil Tank with her loving!

***Also, if anyone has notice lately my blogs have been pictureless.. here's why. Michael and I decided to get rid of the internet at the house since we both have it at work (mine is a little restricted) and we both had it on our blackberries. My problem is getting photos on my computer to the internet. I plan on downloading some here and there when I get a chance to go somewhere with my computer and the internet.. but in the meantime, you will have to READ! ***

Let's just call it Backosis

Last night I had my follow-up visit to my chiropractor. After the doctor had looked at the x-rays and heard all my symptoms from the last visit, his conclusion was - a million different things. So here it goes.

1) I have a mild case of Scoliosis
2) I have 2 Pinched Nerves in my neck.
3) I have 2 Pinched Nerves in my lower back between my L4 and L5.
4) My neck is apparently too straight. This is what caused # 2
5) And the one causing the most pain, I have a severe case of Lumber Hyper Lordosis . This is what caused # 3.

Needless to say, I have A LOT of work to do on my back. And.... it's going to cost a small fortune. ( I will be taking donations and selling a kidney on Ebay if you know anyone that may need it.)Apparently my health insurance is horrible when it comes to Chiropractic care.

I am currently scheduled for 30 adjustments and massage therapy sessions, along with 2 re-exams. For the next 4 weeks I will be going 3 times a week and then we will go from there. I am not to do any physical activity for the next 2 weeks. No walking around the block, no vacuuming, not bending over, no lifting, no nothing. I can sit and I can stand, that's about it! If I have to go to the store or go to an event or something I can walk around there, as long as I try not to over do it and as long as I sit when I get the chance. And as long as I am wearing my tennis shoes (with my new inserts they gave me - more $.)

I can use the heating pad as much as a I want as long as it is 20 mins on, 40 mins off. Which is good, because I love my heating pad. I actually take it to work and use it throughout the day.

This will be an interesting ride..

Oh! and I got my first adjustment last night, which was very weird. Having my neck snapped around was crazy!! And my massage therapist, is a very strong man. I am very tender, but they told me that is to be expected because they are trying to loosen all my outer muscles that are too tight.

Come Monday..

So a quick update on my Weight Watchers this week... my first gain. After 5 weeks of losing, I finally had a gain week. I knew it before I went in. We do not have a scale at the house, but I knew. It had been a long, stressful, eat-out filled week. It was only a little over a pound and I am okay with that. Weight Watchers motto when it comes to gains is, "It's not failure, it's feedback." Which, I agree. This is not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. It took me 26 years to get where I am at with battles, it's not surprise that it was very easy to slip. I have been very good since Tuesday, so I have a positive outlook for next week. I will keep you posted.

In other news, my back has been killing. So, I have had lower back pain, since ohh.. I don't know.. since I can remember. I go to the doctors, and they tell me it's my weight. Which, I understand, all my issues pretty much are due to the fact that I am over weight. But I am tired of them just sending me home with a prescription and telling me to use ice and/or heat. ENOUGH!!! I am 26 years old, I cannot be drugged up my whole life. I take advil around the clock. I can't take any of the other prescription stuff they give me during the day because I will not be able to mentally function. So HealthSource Chiropractic & Progressive Rehab, was on my list to contact. I went yesterday for my Free Consultation. I thought what the heck, the consultation is free I can atleast hear what they have to say. After talking with Dr. Bunce, who is great, young, easy to talk to and has the same birthday as me, he told me by my symtops it sound like I have a bulging or herniated disk in my L4/L5. So he took some X-rays (all part of the free consultation) and I go back Monday after work to talk to him about what he found on the X-rays and she what kind of plan he may have for me. Also, I have pinched nerve in my neck, which I have known for a while. Again, all the doctors do is give me meds. They tell me if it gets worse I can get cortisone shots or if worse, surgery. So he took an X-ray of my neck to see it and see if anything else was going on up there. So we will see what he has to say Monday. Again, I will keep you posted. But for now, the heating pad is my best friend. Actually I am using it right now... how sad.

This week and the Puggles!!

So this week was not as good as the weeks in the past, but - I did go down. .6 pounds. Which is a little over half a pound. I know what I did wrong, I know my bad habits.. However, I have been sick. I found out yesterday I have a sinus and ear infection, that I probably had last Friday and the whole weekend. Anyways, I am trying to not look down on it, because a loss is a loss. On to another week!

And I am a slacker and never got around to my parents new puggles, so here they are - the weekend with the three T's - Tank (my dog) Titan and Tabby (we did not plan that, they were already named Titan and Tabby when mom and dad adopted them.

As soon as we got there, the puggles went crazy!! Titan, the boy, has not been fixed.. he would not leave Tank alone :o/ poor Tank

I kept calling them the Hyenas because they would get up on the ottoman, make these funny noises because we kept telling them no when they were "attacking" Tank. They seriously sounded and looked like Hyenas. Tabby the girl has some crazy looking eyes. She reminded me of the silly Hyena from Lion King. It was funny!

Tabby, the girl. So sweet, loves to cuddle!! Does not like anyone else to get in her cuddle spot!!

Tank, thinking what the heck is going on, where did these guys come from!!

Titan, the boy, the bad boy!! Mom is going to get them pink and blue collars so it's easier to tell them apart. But Titan has the chain and Tabby has the black collar.

Mom put them outside quite a few times to let Tank have a break. They would run and run and run, they love it outside and then relax for a bit on the deck, and then run some more!!

Cousin Adam meeting them for the first time on Mother's Day. He's a big dog lover like me too!! That's a bad shot of Tabby, sorry y'all!!

It turned out to be quite an adventurous weekend. By Sunday, Titan had calmed down a bit and they started to co-exist. But most of the time Tank was following them around and very interested. I haven't seen him play like that since he was a puppy. Tank is 8, the puggles are 2. Next time Tank makes the trip home, mom hopes to have Titan fixed. That should help. But, then again, they will probably have to get them to know each other again. Tank has been funny, ever since we got home, we will say the names Titan and Tabby and he gets all excited and starts wagging his tail. I wish I could get him a friend!!