Because I Love You...

...and because I got some cool stuff for free!

Megan from BuildASign contacted me a month or so ago about doing a review on their products.  I was really interested in participating, but didn't have time to breathe, much less play around with their cool stuff.  Megan was super patient with me and gave me all the time I needed.

Last weekend, I made time to sit down at the computer.  I played with bumper stickers, window clings, decals.  You name it, I played with it.  It was super easy, and though I'm not the graphic designer in the family, I pretended I was.  I ended up designing some window clings that I think are kind of cool.

The site was fun to play around with and they got my order out to me faster than promised.  Megan told me to expect my order to arrive around February 16.  Imagine my delight when my order arrived on the 11th, just three days after I placed it.

Megan, in addition to being exceptionally patient with me, offered some really good suggestions to make sure that I was happy with the product.  I'm glad I listened to her suggestions.

I do have a problem, though.

I can't take a picture of the cling, because it's white writing on the white backing. So you'll have to trust me that it's pretty darn cool and Ripley's already sporting one (but RCC has Ripley at work, so I still can't take a picture).

I have ten to give away, but instead of using the Random Name Picker like I usually do, I'm going to give them to the first ten commenters. Family (Mom, Bill, Nebalee, Deejo) doesn't count because you're expected to put one on your vehicles and I've already got yours set aside.

I had such a good time with BuildASign that I've already got other projects in mind.

Anti-Valentine's Day

RockCrawlinChef and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day.

I know that shocks a lot of people.  For years, I both dreaded and anticipated Valentine's Day.  I dreaded it because I *hated* all of the hype and the "you're nothing unless someone's head over heels in love with you and draping you in diamonds" bullshit that goes along with it.  I anticipated it because it finally meant that the season of torture was over.  In case you hadn't noticed (and if you're single, I'll bet you've noticed), single people are tormented from mid-October all the way through Valentine's Day.  Everything's love this, family that.  If you're single, every damn commercial is a slap in the face. 

Bah!

After RCC and I became "us", and our first Valentine's Day together approached, we decided we weren't going to celebrate it.  And we haven't.  Instead, we celebrate our Anti-Valentine's Day (also known as our "Eye Contact" Anniversary) on February 16.  This year will be our third.  Because we're both working that day, we sort of celebrated last night by buying a new TV, as ours is mostly dead.

I think it still makes him a little nervous that I tell him I don't want to celebrate Valentine's Day.  I mean, men are conditioned that they have to remember it, even if their woman says not to.  I actually mean it.  I'm not doing anything for him for the over-priced Hallmark Holiday and I don't want him to do anything for me.

Instead, we'll spend the evening after work enjoying our new TV.

And My Li'l Heart Went Pitter-Pat

Pitter-Pat

PitterPat pitterpat

pitterpatpitterpatpitterpat

pittitititititititititititeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

So.

I have this pesky little dysrhythmia called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), which basically means that I've got a little bundle of traitorous nerves somewhere above the ventricles (supraventricular) who just lie in wait for take over the Cardiac Kingdom.  I supplement the forces of the Cardiac Kingdom with a little white pill called Knight BetaBlocker.

For the most part, Knight BetaBlocker and I are pretty good friends.  I am not always a good Queen for the Cardiac Kingdom, in that I don't always utilize Knight BetaBlocker.  However, when I work out, I always call for reinforcements.  On days that I work out, Knight BetaBlocker and I are friends.  I never forget him on days when I know I'm going to purposely be raising the heart rate of the Cardiac Kingdom, for the Evil PSVT is always lurking, the sneaky opportunist.

Evil PSVT loves to use Cardiac Kingdom's elevated heart rate as a Trojan Horse, he hides out in the elevated heart rate until the time is right for him to strike.  Knight BetaBlocker is a good Knight and thwarts most efforts of the Evil PSVT.  Sometimes, however, Evil PSVT manages to sneak past Knight BetaBlocker's defenses.

And sometimes Queen GunDiva of the Cardiac Kingdom does something to inadvertently - and oh so innocently - undermine Knight BetaBlocker's strong defenses, as was the case on Tuesday.  Queen GunDiva, in looking out for the good of her fellow man, decided to donate a pint of blood, roughly 480 grams of the stuff.  Good for her fellow man, bad for the Cardiac Kingdom.

On Wednesday, Queen GunDiva diligently recruited the efforts of Knight BetaBlocker, knowing that she was going to be working out and thus elevating the Cardiac Kingdom's heart rate and forgetting that she may have accidentally - and oh so innocently - undermined Knight BetaBlocker's defenses.

Tragedy struck!  Cardiac Kingdom's heart rate elevated as planned, Evil PSVT rode the Trojan Horse to the gate and slipped beneath Knight BetaBlocker's weakened defenses.  Evil PSVT knocked out the Cardiac Kingdom's trusty AV Node and took over pacing of the heart.  The Cardiac Kingdom went on a wild ride; first breaking 160 beats per minute and galloping rapidly toward 180 beats per minute.  In no time, Evil PSVT had reached 180 beats per minute and continued on toward 200 beats per minute.

The poor Cardiac Kingdom was exhausted and struggled to keep up with the driving task-master, Evil PSVT.  Queen GunDiva became short of breath, developed a "tickle" in her throat, felt nauseus and started seeing stars.  She tried valiently to help Knight BetaBlocker by performing the Valsalva Maneuver and Carotid Massage, but to no avail.

Finally, with the help of her personal trainer, she was able to sit, take big gulps of air and control the Evil PSVT until Knight BetaBlocker could overtake the traitor.

And she learned an important lesson: Sometimes donating blood for the greater good requires more rest than Queen GunDiva gave herself and the Cardiac Kingdom.

Sometimes You're the Windshield, Sometimes You're the Bug

Today, I'm the bug.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be the windshield.

Don't know what the heck is going on in the Universe today, but everything's off-kilter for everybody it seems. 

All I can say is WTH? 

When did we step into the Twilight Zone? 

And can I get off the ride?

Off to see the wizard personal trainer, who is all of about twelve years old and super enthusiastic.  Luckily, he's also not annoying in his enthusiasm, so I haven't had to break him in half and sit on him.  'Cause I totally could.  I may be old and fat and out of shape, but what's the saying?  "Old age and treachery always trumps youth and skill"?  Yeah,  believe it!

Mistaken Identity

It's that time of the week again.  That time when we share our most embarrassing or uh-oh moments with the rest of the blogosphere.  Thank you to Rachel and Mr. Daddy for hosting this each week.

When Tara and I were walking around SHOT Show, we stopped to talk to several people at booths.  Everyone was really nice and offered up a lot of information.  At one booth (which shall remain nameless) Tara mentioned that we were tossing around a blog post idea and got into a discussion with a couple of guys at the booth.  Tara mentioned that I wrote for the Girls With Guns blog.  The guy we were talking to got really excited and went to get the PR guy for the booth, who was also super impressed and bent over backward to answer any questions we had.

He then motioned over another person, a female shooter, and got her involved in the discussion.  We had a great time and were both beyond impressed that they were reading GWG.  Holy moley!  I felt like Mrs Mom and I had hit the big time.  The PR guy from a very major gun manufacturer read our blog!  And offered to help us out in any way he could!

Tara and I talked about how to help the blog grow and gain more followers.  The first step was to register a web domain name.  When I got home from SHOT Show and had time to sit at the computer, I started looking at domain names.  Thinking that we should keep our domain name the same as the blog name, I searched http://www.girlswithguns.com/.  Let's just say I was more than a little shocked to find that our domain name was basically a T & A site (with poor gun handling to boot!).

Guess what?

We won't be pursuing that domain name any time soon.

Ugh! A Slacker Update

I don't know what's happening to my days.  Seems like they're slipping away too quickly.  I wake up, go to work, come home, go to bed, rinse, lather, repeat.  I don't much remember January.  Does anyone?

Ripley got her first ouchie while we were enjoying the unseasonably nice weather.  Before our cold snap, we had some spring-like weather.  Beautiful days in the 60s!  I miss them already.  I digress.  RockCrawlinChef and I were out shopping at Sam's Club and when we got out of the store, we saw this...

They're small gouges, but they go into the plastic on the bumper.  There's no sanding them out and pretending they didn't happen.

My husband loves me - before the cold snap hit, he made a point to "install" a rear window in the Jeep so I wouldn't have to turn into an ice cube.   It was such a gorgeous day outside the Scamp decided to oversee the project from the roof...

RCC pulled out his inner redneck ingenuity and fashioned a rear window out of a shower curtain, duct tape, and nylon cord (and I got a new leather punch out of the deal).  I'm pretty sure Ashinator wishes that we could stitch a window into the Accord - she's pretty sick of the plastic wrap/packaging tape window she's got.

 
It got bitter cold for a couple of days.  I had students pissed off that we didn't cancel school.  All of the public schools were closed, why wasn't the college?  Here's the short answer:

It's only cold!  Man the eff up!

Put on your coat!

Get your ass in the car

and get to school!

I really wanted to channel my inner R. Lee Ermey...


Of course, as much as I wanted to scream that at them, I couldn't.  What I could tell them was that they were adults and able to get themselves to school.  The roads weren't bad; the reason the public schools were closed was that they couldn't have so many kids standing out at the bus stops (to which, I'm sure my Northern readers will laugh) or walking to school.

It warmed up slightly, but not enough for my riding lessons in an outdoor arena.  Being Colorado, it'll be cold again in a couple of days, but I do appreciate the break we get in the weather between cold snaps.

One of my resolutions at the beginning of the year was to lose weight.  Hell, it's on my list every year.  RCC and I have both decided that the forty-plus pounds we each gained when we got married has got to go.  He - the brat - lost 20# in January just by changing his eating habits.  Me?  I lost four.  That's right.  Four freaking pounds!  Can we say pissed off wife?  Yep.  He hasn't even started working out.  He's just eating a bowl of cereal in the morning, a salad with a protein at lunch, and something for dinner.  Pisses me off.  I can't lose weight without blood, sweat and tears.  I wasn't able to join a gym until last week - that crap's expensive.  I bit the bullet and not only joined a gym, but paid for three fifty-minute sessions with a personal trainer.  My first session is tomorrow.  He's going to kick my fat arse and I'm more than a little afraid.  But if it's going to take blood, sweat and tears, I'm willing to give them.  I've got forty pounds to go before my birthday in July.

And in the good news category...
Tara Janzen's newest release, LOOSE ENDS, hit the NYT Best Seller list! This is the third (or is it fourth) time her Steele Street boys and girls have ended up on the list.  I'm so thrilled for her; she deserves it.

Go Here!

Well, rather, go here, to The Damage Is Done, written by musician-former writing teacher-current firefighter, Brian.  I promise, you won't regret the trip.  I was one of his followers when he was Switch 2 Plan B, but he lost the domain name and had to change it up (bummer).  BUT... it is an excellent time to discover (or re-discover) a fun, well-written, ecclectic blog.

Tell him I sent you in his comment section.