I hate birthdays.

    "Not only is the glass half empty, but the water is warm and it tastes bad."

    I hope you read this with the understanding that I am almost never 100% serious. Everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. I like to complain, but things really aren't that bad. They never are.
    The night before I turned eight years old I cried because I thought I was getting old and my parents were going to die. That was twenty years ago. Twenty! The day I turned ten I told my Nana that I was a decade old. I'm almost three decades old now. I turned twenty-eight today. To some that might not seem like a big deal, but to a little girl who, for no good reason thought death was nigh at eight years old, it's painful.
    To be clear it isn't my death I fear. It's of those that I love. Death is something I've always been very aware of. My first best friend died when I was three. Her name was Alma and she was a smoking, cussing, wheelchair bound ninety-eight year old woman in a foster home for the elderly. Then an aunt, classmates, friends of the family, church family, a life-long friend, my sweet Papa. I understand loss is inevitable. I believe that I will see some of my loved ones again and I am comforted by that. I have watched friends lose their parents so young and again I am thankful that mine are still here.
    How did a post about birthdays become a post about death? Well you get older on your birthday. To me it's a day that boasts the loss of time. Time really goes in a blink of an eye. Even a long life seems short. I've always struggled with change and get frustrated with the lack of control I have with time. If I had one super power it would be to control time. To be able to pause those rare, perfect moments in the sun with loved ones when you're perfectly content. Obviously I don't though. I don't even have half decent time management skills.
    Getting old isn't the only reason I don't like birthdays or even one of the most nagging reasons. The reasons I get upset on my birthday are much more simple and even more selfish. I want acknowledgement and presents and to be the queen. I get sad when it doesn't happen. Boohoo. That makes me feel ashamed and then I'm a party pooper.
    I have no good reason to hate birthdays. I'm a selfish brat. I have had not so good birthdays and great birthdays. Today was a good day. I had a good birthday and it started with me having a better attitude from the start. I complained, but there was no crying. There was a lot of smiling, some laughing, a few hugs, a couple of presents, a good dinner cooked by my loving husband and some great birthday songs sung by my nieces and nephews.

Meet Tuff and A Shameless, But Amazing "Affiliate" Link

    I'm not feeling well this evening so I'm sitting in bed watching LisaLisaD1 on YouTube with my little Tufferly. Surprise! Surprise! I thought it would be a good use of my time to update the ole blog. My one reader will be so excited :)
I have so many things I want to blog about and have such a hard time finding the time to put the words together and take pictures. Anyone else? I thought now would be a good time to just do a 'Get To Know Me' type post. I got distracted by that wicked siren, Sephora and have completely forgotten what I was going to write about. Fail! At least I used ebates and am getting 8% cash back. If you don't use it, you should! It's the best thing for online shoppers. I even order things through ebates and then go pick them up at the store just to get the cash back. With a home renovation it's coming in handy at Home Depot.

Sleepy puppy pillow

So in keeping with the 'Get To Know Me' idea here is a part of me. My little Tuff puppy. He was 9 months old on the 3rd. He's such a good boy. If you're into yorkies he has his own instagram, "tuff_enough".  Don't make fun. Haha

His shaggy chic look.

How We Met

This is the short version of how my husband and I met. 

The groom's story...

Long story short, I went to a party at the river. When I got there my friends asked if I had seen the hippie yet so I looked around. I thought they were talking about H. That was when I first laid eyes on my beautiful future wife ;) The night went on and I had tried talking to her once or twice, but she blew me off. Her friend Ginger (a boy) told me not to bother trying and that it was a waste of time. Later on I was standing by the fire and I felt something tickle my ear. I turned around and saw our friend Jake with a smirk on his face so I thought it was him. That happened a couple times until I decided it had to be H. I followed her around and annoyed her for the rest of the night and got a ride home with her and her friends.

The bride's story...

Oh boy...Well, I don't think I looked like a hippie. I had curly hair and a shirt with flowers on it. I was not the fire dancing girl with dreadlocks. 
My sister, J introduced me to all of her friends at the river. One of them she called Spud. Everyone else called him Idaho (Where he's from). We were there quite a while and I got bored. I picked a piece of dead grass and looked at the people next to me. Without thinking it through I used the grass to tickle an ear a few times. I immediately regretted that decision. I claimed it was Jake and walked away, but it was too late. This Spudmuffin guy followed me around for what felt like hours. He wouldn't give up. When it was time to leave he asked for a ride home and I told him there was no room for him. Ginger was driving and being the nice guy he is told the truth and said we could give him a ride. Idaho talked the ENTIRE way to the boat (Where he lived. Fancy!). When he got out he made a phone with his hand, put it to his head and said, "Call me." I replied with, "Yeah right!" and thought, 'Oh crap...'

The rest of our story...

Idaho made some bad impressions the next several times we met, but no matter how mean I was to him he wouldn't give up. I found him so amusing and funny I couldn't be mean for long. I stopped resisting and soon we became friends, but I still wouldn't date him. I planned on moving to Oregon and he was supposed to go back to Idaho after crab season. I thought we would move away and lose touch. Idaho joked about us getting married from the beginning. Neither of us thought he would be right. His late boss/friend and my dad seemed to push us together. Once my dad even called his boss, told him Idaho was done working for the day, picked him up from work and made him go to dinner with us. We became fast best friends and started dating on Idaho's 20th birthday. I was 24.

This always makes me think of my husband.

How To get Blood Out Of Anything

   Almost a year ago I found myself needing to get a large amount of blood out of an entire outfit. I had to wear those bloody clothes for 12 hours, stuffed them in a plastic bag and left them for a week or so. I didn't want to throw them away. My mother-in-law is a nurse and when I told her about my clothes she told me her remedy. It's so simple! I don't know why I don't hear of it more often. The secret blood removing remedy is...

Hydrogen Peroxide

   Just poor it on the stains and throw them in the wash. It works for any color clothing. It worked on my jeans, shirts, sweatshirt, everything. It's all gone. Coincidentally I'm wearing one of the shirts from that night as I type this. I keep a bottle with the detergent and bleach above my washer. I don't get covered in blood often, but it's really handy for the smaller, more common stains.

Catch of the day!

 First I'd like to list a few important contradictory details about myself and fishing:

• I never ever wanted to marry a fisherman. I am very proud of my dad (a commercial fisherman), but I didn't want the stress of a fisherman's wife...and fisherman are always dirty and stinky, often on parole and talk so dirty. I married a fisherman two years ago. He has at one point or another been all of the cons above, but he is the best husband and friend I could have asked for.
• The ocean is my biggest fear. I am terrified. I don't like to hang over the ocean, don't want to touch it and I sure as hey don't swim in it. It's also one of my favorite things. I am most comfortable on the coast. I love boat rides when the boat is big enough and I love to learn about it. Aquariums, documentaries, ect.
• I hate fishing. I always found it boring until I went bass fishing. Bass bite constantly. Which leads to the fourth contradiction.
• I hate when fish bite. It feels disgusting. The wriggling makes me nauseous. If they aren't biting though I am bored.

  This morning my husband took me out on his 15 ft. sport boat, the Short Bus. Not a boat large enough to feel safe. Aye yi yi. It was extremely calm, but I managed to panic. I was constantly asking him if we were taking on water, too close to rocks, If I could be pulled in by a creature, how far he thought I could swim if we sunk, etc. I even texted my dad a message telling him where I was and to stand on shore with binoculars to watch me and have the Coast Guard on stand by. He pretended he did.
 We were out for an hour or so trying to catch some dinner when it happened. A GIGANTIC lingcod bit! In fact it was so large it had to be released shortly after capture. You know, because it couldn't fit in the boat ;)

Yes I'm crying and laughing at the same time. Don't judge me. I was excited. I had the same reaction when I discovered some places (states away from me) still sell the once discontinued Hostess raspberry filled powder donuts.  So while I like to physically handle my own fish I can't quite handle it emotionally.

Children

A couple of months ago my husband and I were visiting his family in another state. I was talking to my sister-in-law and said this exact sentence. She found this someecard on Pinterest and sent it to me.

I love it. I do want kids someday, but someday is pushed back whenever I am forced to spend any amount of time with other people's children. Except my nieces and nephews of course. They're perfect. ;)