Young at heart

Today is Maxwell's 10th birthday.

picture of a picture but he was such a cute puppy!

He's lost his eyesight and has no desire left in him to acknowledge the neighbor's dogs. But he is definitely still Max. He is still the dog that loves to chase people around the staircase and hunt down possums in the backyard.

Walks seem to be a thing of the past but he still pretends to be excited when you ask, for your sake, because he doesn't want you to realize he is getting old. But he will still kill for a ride in the car.

He still knows every trick from giving high fives to army crawling. But he has learned that he no longer has to do tricks for treats, because he deserves them anyway.

He has changed many dog haters opinions.

He loathes getting his picture taken (hence the stink eye).

Best dog ever.

All I want for Christmas is for you to still be around. Then I promise I can let go.
Let's shoot for that, okay Fluffy?

English 101

English is not one of my stronger points. I add comma's and periods wherever I so desire and I have no idea how you are supposed to punctuate written conversations, as you will notice. But the way some people speak is like nails on a chalkboard.

A whole nother. What is that? nother? is nother a word? You cannot split a word like that. Defi not nitely.

"I could care less" Alright which means that you actually care. "What do you want to eat?" "Oh, I could care less" ok now that we have established you indeed have an opinion....."so what do you want to eat?" "Huh? I already said I could care less" We could really just go in circles with this one.

What I wouldn't give. "What I wouldn't give to have a lollipop". Well I know that I wouldn't sacrifice my car or shave my head...but I would give a starburst in trade for said lollipop.

My favorite of all was this conversation on my little brother Jake's facebook status:

Brandon: Wow your cool
Jake: What about my cool, Brandon?

That is just a small example on how you could be made to look like a fool if you do not know how to use punctuation and it makes it more enjoyable for the bystanders when you do not notice the subtle mockery.

Lastly:
"How are you today?"
"I am doing good."

Glad to know how many people in the world do good!

Green with envy

Why is it so difficult to be happy for people but so easy to be jealous?

I didn't exactly love my high school life. I have always been a bit of a friend hopper, I had one friend from every group of people you can imagine and so I would kind of hang out here and there but never had a set group to call my besties. I thought for so long that my life was terrible and everyone else had a life of bliss.

I would killed to have had a better car, better job, and some real friends. I looked at all the people that I thought had it made and I had a hard time liking them because I was so incredibly jealous of their lives. I felt like everyone saw my life the way I did, but as insecure as I was about myself I always wonder if anyone looked at my life and saw things that I had that they didn't, that I took for granted or didn't notice because to me it was no big deal.

It wasn't until about a year ago that I started to realize I lived the life I envied so much. I have the better car, I have the better job, and I definitely have the better friends. Even though I still am a definite friend hopper, I don't feel out of place in every group that I hang out with.

But now I look around and I can't help but to get jealous. I'm jealous of the people that are broke because they are going to school. I am jealous of the people that literally have no time in their day because they are going from school to work to homework. I'm jealous of the people that have stability. I'm jealous of people that say they don't have time for TV (kind of).

I'm jealous of the people with a plan and that know where they are going.

But every so often someone will come along and tell me how much they envy my life. They are jealous that I have so much time in my day and I can do whatever I want at my own discretion. I have had people tell me they are jealous of my freedom or the relationship me and my sister are able to have or the fact that I get to live with my nephew.

Admittedly, it is nice to have the life I do. Contrary to my father's "life is not a party" speech...or lecture rather, some points in life are most definitely a party.

I always wonder if people look at other people's lives the same way I do. I see everyone's successes and progress and their struggles. But their struggles all seem to have a purpose. They have to spend their money on school, they don't have enough time in their day because they are too busy trying to achieve their goals, or they don't know if they should buy a house or continue renting until grad school is finished. It's all part of their plan to move forward with life and become something. I'm so jealous of these people.

My struggles seem so minute. The only thing I can muster up complaining about is the square shaped polo I have to wear to work and that my free dinner of the week was a bust. Or that I don't have a puppy, but that's legit.

But like I said, often people will tell me how jealous they are because I am so lucky. I'm so lucky I get to live where I do. I'm so lucky I have such a good job. I'm so lucky I get to see my nephew everyday. I'm so lucky to have a good car. So lucky to have unlimited options on what to do with my time.

(Cliche moment) That is all true, although I prefer the word "blessed" over "lucky", I am definitely one of the two. Or possibly both.

But I still can't help but to observe the lives around me and wish for the stability they have or the exciting things that are happening in their lives, as I sit at the same computer I've been at for almost three years, wondering where my success is hiding.

As I sit here, I realize that I have been complaining about things I wish I had to complain about. I have hit a new low. You should all be jealous.

For everything else, there's Mastercard

When I was younger I was a compulsive money saver. I would take the same 20 dollars to the mall every week and the only thing I might end up buying would be a churro from taco time. I one time bought an $11 large Ty stuffed animal, and it a monkey so that was a rather dumb purchase. I still hate myself for it.

I had always tried to save my money, and then I learned a valuable lesson. When I was 13 I bought a dog for $275. I was so proud that I had saved enough money from babysitting to get this dog. I then paid $90 for training and $40 to get him fixed. Two abrupt years later I sold that same dog for $35 on KSL. All of the sudden I learned that money sucks.

The same thing happened with my old car. I spent x amount of dollars and for five months after the death of that car I was still making payments. This was after who knows how much money was put into it to keep it running in the first place. That's when I learned things that suck, cost a lot of money.

I have lived a life of many an unfortunate financial event. I save for a rainy day and it instantly starts pouring and I always find coupons for great things, the day after they expire. I was feeling comfortable with how things were going for a while until every penny that was saved had to go to dentist bills, plane ticket (guess that wasn't a need, but for my sanity it certainly was), car registration, FIVE...oh yes, five..new tires, safety and emissions, and any other random event to come along and ruin my financial life.

Every time I check my account I hate what I see, or rather don't see. In which case I say screw it, go get some food and hit up Target. Because I love what I see there.

To the woman that was only 8 when she had me.

A simple prayer

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE bless that I do not screw this up.

Wednesdate

Last year around this time I got an oil change and the young man doing it decided to ask me if I liked boating.

Conversation went as follows:
him: do ya lak boating?
me: yes I do
him: would ya wanna go with us sometime?
me: (looking around for the "us") yeah sure

give him my number, discuss the area code, move on. He never called me, whatever.

Last week, I went to get my safety and emissions and the young man doing it decided to ask me if I liked boating.

Conversation went as follows:
him: do ya lak boating?
me: yes I do
him: would ya wanna go sometime?
me: ("they" must not be here anymore) yeah sure

give him my number (didn't have the courage to ask if it were still in his phone from last time he asked), discuss the area code, move on. He called.

Bless this boys heart. That being said, boys are so cute when they comb their hair over their receding hairline.

I would hate to bore you with the details and poor grammar of this date. With questions like "is potatoes vegetable" and "Once you eat canned potatoes, I promise you'll never go back to real ones-they're so convenient and you don't have a tam limit on when you can eat them". He failed to mention that as long as it takes them to expire, that's how long they take to digest.

He was very nice and continued to compliment me throughout the night, except when he told me he liked that I was not pretty. I like blunt, but maybe be nicer. He corrected it and said "not prissy". Nice save. He left his wallet in his car when we went into smith's to get some groceries. A few minutes after that he asked me what the most embarrassing time of my life was. I said 2008-2009 and went into an explanation as to why. He said his was when he left his wallet in the car. Oh..then please ignore that useless information I just gave you.

In theory, who wouldn't love a guy that wants to take you boating, four wheeling, and said that for your second date you should get a Friday off work and he will take you to New York or Florida for the weekend, all expenses paid.

Theoretically, I'd be all over that. Sadly, I'm trying to cut down on using boys for their toys...and plane tickets, so I just told him it would be a good idea and refrained from asking if he was actually a murderer.

It was nice getting to know him, he really was so nice. But as the evening came to a close my feelings from the first few minutes had not been changed. I wanted so badly to hug him and let him know that things will work out with someone, one day. But I didn't.

Instead, I wrapped my arms around me and humbly muttered those encouraging words to myself.