Now vs. Then

I've been thinking a lot about things I know now vs. things I knew when I literally thought I knew it all! It's so funny how things, times, people, etc, change!

Then - I thought pregnancy was all glitz and glamour, and while I wasn't so sure I'd love EVERY second of being pregnant, I was sure I wasn't going to complain. After all, there are tons of people who don't get to experience this miracle.

Now - Now, I know that, although I still try really hard not to complain for said reasons listed above, it's hard. And sometimes, whether I like it or not, I cannot do it, or do not want to do it for the simple reason that "I'm pregnant!".

Then - When I was in high school I thought I, like many of us, was invincible. I'm a little embarrassed (and proud too!)to admit that I didn't have sex in high school. For numerous reasons, but my life was drama enough (or so I thought!) that worrying about being late, or getting pregnant, or losing it to the wrong guy would have been way too much on my plate.

Now - Now I know it's a damn good thing I didn't have sex in high school. While I didn't get pregnant while on the pill, the minute, yes almost literally, that I went off the pill I was pregnant. While I have much respect for many people who have children in their teens, it wasn't for me and I wouldn't be where I am today if that would have happened.

Then - I thought my best friend would be my best friend FOREVER!

Now - Now I know that friends come and go, and while I have a few friends that I call my best, I would rather have one good friend, then all my "best friends" from high school combined.

Then - I used to tell myself I'd never do a job that I didn't ABSOLUTELY love.

Now - Life happens. You have bills, and things you want to do, and more bills. And with the economy in shambles like it is, you take what you can get. I'm fortunate... I use my degree and make good money. But, I defintely don't ABSOLUTELY love my job!


These are just a few silly things I've been thinking about lately. I can't believe everything that changes, whether or not we want it too! What about you... what did you think, then vs. now?

In a Nutshell

We had a great weekend spending time with friends and family. Here’s a short recap.


- We introduced our friends to this really fun game called “Chickenfoot”. Since we’ve introduced them to it, we’ve played 3 times and we’ll probably continue to play like every weekend. It’s so much fun. (I fully realize that we are nerds!)

- On the only Saturday that Joe has had off in a long time, I scheduled to get my hair done so I couldn’t get up in the morning and go on another bike ride with him. It was such a bummer :-(

- I’m going back to blonde. Don’t get me wrong, I liked having dark hair, if nothing else, for the ease of not having to dye it constantly over the winter. Oh blonde hair, how I’ve missed you!

- Saturday night we had some friends over for a cookout and cornhole. We had so much fun finally spending time outside. It got a little windy and put our games on hold for a bit, but it was fun, none-the-less.

- After some of our friends left on Saturday, we decided to head out to the bar. Remember the drama I told you about before, well it came into full swing Saturday night. I drank heavily.

- Sunday morning we missed breakfast with the family. I was still sleeping. Riley has another ear infection so we didn’t get a great sleep. We finally woke up around 11 and got a quick lunch before heading out for all the Easter festivities.

- My husband refuses to go to my dad’s families house if he can help it. THEY ARE CRAZY and they are always making my husband and I feel like an outcast because we have our lives somewhat in order. It gets really old to be criticized for everything you buy!

- My 18 yr. old cousin started working at a car dealership washing cars. He showed up yesterday at my grandma’s house with a Mustang convertible and told the whole family they let him take cars home every night but that he has to have them back before the shop opens the next morning. Now, I wasn’t born stupid… we all think my cousin is hiding keys during the day and coming back at night to take the cars out for a midnight spin. Thank goodness he’s 18 so my aunt won’t be in trouble if he does get caught.

- My husband is trying to sell my car from high school to buy himself a truck. AHHH… I hate car shopping, and I think I’m going to miss that little Civic. But I also think it’s time to get an adult car. HEHE

Well that’s just about the gist of my weekend. How was your weekend?

Christmas Time

It truly is the "most wonderful time of the year" in the Marchion household. But, I want to share a little bit of advice to those of you mailing out Christmas cards because I have had my feelings hurt this Christmas.

First, Joe and I have been together for 6 years, living away from home for our third Christmas this year, and married for 1.5 years... START SENDING US OUR OWN CARD! I love getting mail, and I love Christmas, so naturally I love Christmas cards... and we've gotten 4 this year! One from each of our moms, an aunt, and a friend (Thanks Mama Reg!) but other than that... NOTHING! Seriously?

Then I was at my MIL house and saw all of her Christmas cards, and people just have included Joe and I's name on their cards. People... I'm not sure how many times I can spell this out, but we no longer live with them and do wish to receive our own card!

Second, if you're sending a cute card with your children's picture on it... I would still like one even though I don't have children. Sometimes I feel like people with children have these weird circles that they share super secret information with and I'm not allowed to be a part of it because I'm not a mom yet. Send me a damn picture of your child... I love them too!

This rant stems from the fact that we had a family member giving Christmas cards out at Grandma's for those people she didn't have their address. I said... "Oh... I didn't get one!" and she proceeds to say "Oh, I didn't think you'd want one... let me go get one out of the car, I didn't even count on you guys!"

Again... They are our family...why the hell wouldn't we want a card.

And Third, stop using Xmas or X-mas as a form of shortening CHRISTmas. There is a meaning behind the word Christmas so stop trying to take that away. It peeves me off when people cannot take the time to write out the entire word!

Ok... enough with the ranting... I'm really not a bah-humbug! I just prefer to be remembered when the holidays come around. Christmas was so much fun as a child and the older I get I feel like the more of a hassle it is... and I refuse to let that ruin Christmas for me! It is a time in our family for family and friends spending time together, which is really all that matters!

Merry Christmas to everyone.... now send me a Christmas card ;-)

Friendsgiving 2009

First of all, I'm sorry to all my blogger friends. I've been bumming around the last few weeks and not feeling as though ANYTHING important is going on in my life right now. Therefore, it's been approximately a month and a half since I've updated this blog. I do apologize. I've still been reading up on people's lives (sounds creeperish) but I haven't really been leaving comments either. So again, I apologize.

Now... on to the good stuff! This past weekend we had Friendsgiving. We decided that every year, for as long as humanly possible, we are going to get together with our good friends and have our very own Thanksgiving. One that starts with fried turkey, and ends after a whole night of great time with great friends. This year was our first attempt at it. And by first attempt at it I mean... first attempt at every single part of having a Thanksgiving dinner. The most coordinating I do for dinner is pushing start on the microwave when the oven says 5 minutes left. I do say... I've gotten damn good at that! ;-) Anyway, everyone brought some sides and we cooked for about an hour while the bird was frying! It was so much fun!

We managed to get the turkey cooked all the way through on the first try! (Thank goodness because Joe dropped everything to lift the bird out into the bubbling oil so... he had one shot before we were going to have to do some seriously dangerous improvising!) I got all the food on the table while it was warm! And everyone liked everything!

It's been so long since we've had all our friends together for an ENTIRE evening and it was so refreshing to catch up with them. And guess what... 7 people ate an entire 20 pound turkey. I guess everyone thought it tasted good.

This is definitely a tradition we've decided we want to continue, even after our familes start growning. What better way to spend a second holiday than with great company. I love my friends :-) I'll have to post pictures tomorrow because I CANNOT get them to work tonight. you can check them out here if you so desire though :-)

Intervention

Last night I watched the show Intervention on A&E. I used to watch the show all the time, although I’m sure why. I can’t sympathize with any of the people on there. I don’t know what they are going through, nor do I know why they are going through it. I seriously sit through the whole hour long show and ask myself… WHY are these people like that? I know, I know… I shouldn’t be so quick to judge, but I don’t understand it.

Most of the people on the show have gone through something traumatizing in their lives that has led them to drugs/alcohol/eating disorders. Some of the things are terrible things that have happened, other things are not. I honestly do not understand how something gets so bad that they have to turn to drugs in order to deal with the day to day. I feel terrible for these people, and my heart literally breaks everytime I read at the end of the show that they failed in their recovery efforts, or worse, they lost the battle with their addiction completely.

While watching this show, my thoughts always travel to my sister. Not because of her, but because she lost one of her very best friends to addiction. He was on cocaine (I think, don’t quote me) and decided one night in the middle of the night that his life was too hard. He killed himself. My sister was the last person he tried to call before he did it and she didn’t answer because she was mad at him. Now my sister deals with that guilt on a daily basis. She believes that had she answered the phone and talked to him, she may have been able to “talk him off the cliff” so to speak. I struggle with understanding what my sister is going through, and hope that I NEVER have to go through something like that.

I guess the reason for this post is because I seriously struggle with the why in all these situations and everytime I watch the show, I conjure up these thoughts and struggle with understanding why people’s lives get so bad that they turn to drugs, or killing themselves. I seriously thank God everyday for the life I was given. Sometimes I wonder how I found my husband, and why things have worked out the way they have. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful family, great friends, and a seriously great life.

My mom once told me I was judging from a pedastool. I don’t want this post to sound like that at all. I just don’t understand! I don’t understand how one makes that decision and I just wanted to share my thoughts with you guys this morning and get it off my chest.

Thanks for reading and any responses.

Wonderful Weekend Pa

So… after everything went crazy on Saturday, things got a little better. Joe proceeded me home after the “accident” and told everyone to leave me alone and not to razz me about it so when I got home, not one person mentioned my stupid mistake. After everyone left (yes, I made EVERYONE leave except one friend who was already asleep inside and he didn’t have anyone to drive him home) and Joe and I were home alone, we talked for a little bit and he told me everything was going to be ok and to stop worrying about it (yeah right!). We went to bed that night with the hopes that things are going to look better.

Sunday morning Riley wakes me up as usual, at about 7:30 AM. That is about the longest she can hold it from the night before. I get myself up and get some clothes on to take her outside and notice something really weird out the front window. First I realize Joe’s friend is already gone and then I notice that the doors and trunk on Joe’s car are wide open. What the heck? I know that Joe wouldn’t have left it like that, especially not overnight. I immediately assume it was one of Joe’s friends that left the car doors open before they left the night before as a prank of some sort, although I can’t quite figure out what the reasoning behind it would be. I do a quick inventory of the car and head inside to wake Joe and tell him what the heck is going on. I also call Joe’s friend to see if he did it. I talk to him for a minute and find out that his car was also broken into and his GPS and digital camera are gone. Joe looks around his car and notices that NOTHING is gone. Not even the 20 he left in plain sight in his center console of his car. We lucked out, but we felt terrible for Joe’s friend. And… before you ask. No… we didn’t file a police report. I had had my fill of police officers for the weekend and nothing was missing from Joe’s car. The only things that were missing were from friend’s car, and he was already gone.

AWESOME. I’m looking forward to a much better weekend this coming weekend!

Ten Things Tuesday

In light of recent purchases in our family, my ten things are… ten things we have to purchase before we can move into our new house :-)

1. Refrigerator. Although most houses leave their large appliances, we didn’t purchase one of “those” homes. Oh, and did I mention that the hole left for the refrigerator is smaller than standard refrigerators today. This should be fun. Thanks to my husband, who has searched far and wide, we have been able to find a few that will fit in there that are to our liking.

2. Range. Again, not left by previous owner. And to boot, we are very serious when we say we have to have a gas stove/oven. We have rented two different apartments with electric appliances, and I can’t cook anything on electric. Mind you, they were probably the worst quality appliances ever, but I couldn’t even get a chicken breast to cook in less than 5 hours without butterflying it or cutting it into little pieces, and who really wants to do that? Anyway, there is no gas line run to the kitchen, so guess what… we get to spend more money on that! Lucky us!

3. Microwave. Not a huge purchase, and actually the only reason we are buying one is because the owner left a spot above the range for a microwave, and it would look extremely stupid if we just put a hood there. Joe and I never even use the microwave. Joe is convinced it kills all the nutrients in your food, so… if you ever come visit, please use our microwave so it doesn’t feel like we spent a couple hundred bucks on NOTHING.

4. Dishwasher. This was left by the previous owner, but it’s white. Joe and I decided, if we have to buy our own appliances, we are going to go with stainless steel so the white won’t match. If you know anyone who needs a brand-spankin new dishwasher, let me know!

5. Paint. I refuse to live in an all white house. Not only does it get dirty extremely fast, but it’s boring (at least to us) so before we even move in, we are going to paint every room. Yep, you heard right, we are going to paint every room, including the basement. And… I HATE PAINTING. But it’s so worth it in the end!

6. Furniture. We have enough furniture to fill the living room, dining room, kitchen, and 2 of 3 bedrooms, however, we have a finished basement which I am making my husband put the 50” plasma down there because it will look way too big in my living room. So, we are going to put the big TV down stairs, which means we are going to need some couches and stuff to put down there for the guys. (For some reason, the boys are drawn to the TV and we end up hosting all big sporting events at our place!)

7. Electric Fence. The house we bought has a half-acre lot. Enough room for Riley to do all her running. Unfortunately, it isn’t fenced in, and we don’t really want to have to chase a black dog all around Tallmadge, so we are going to buy an underground fence to keep her in our yard.

8. Lawn Products. By lawn products, I mean absolutely anything you need for a yard. We don’t have a lawn mower, weed whacker, garden hose, and whatever else you may need outside. That isn’t my area, so I’m not even sure what Joe has planned for outside, but we are going to have to buy something immediately, as it’s been raining here for the past few days and I’m sure our grass will be nice and long when we get the keys Thursday!

9. Patio Furniture. We have a little concrete patio outside, which will be there only this summer and will be replaced with something next summer (Joe doesn’t know that yet, but I’m already making a list for next year’s projects HAHA!) We have a patio heater, because in Ohio it goes from 90 to 50 at night really quick. We also have a little fire pit. I would ultimately like to get something from Lowe’s that’s on sale, but I don’t think it’s in the budget until next year.

10. Window Coverings. I thought these were pretty cheap, however, I have found some really nice ones and guess what, they aren’t cheap! We also have a HUGE picture window in our living room (which I love) but to put blinds on that is going to cost us an arm and a leg!

Now, with all the stuff that we have to buy, I have to tell you that we got an awesome deal on this house. The gentleman who owns the house (for two more days) bought it as a flip a few years ago, and re-did everything. He even added another bathroom in the basement! The kitchen is brand new, as are the tubs, toilets, and showers in all bathrooms. So while I’m whining about all the expenses we are going to be facing in the next few months/years, we also have a lot of stuff we aren’t going to have to spend any money on, which is fantastic.

On another note, while we are both very excited, we are also very well aware that we are going to be broke for awhile, so if you’re going to ask us to do something, the answer is probably no… followed by an invitation to put on your paintin’ clothes and come over. Oh, and if you happen to have any spare change lying around your house, you can go ahead and put that in an envelope and mail it to us, as we are going to need any and all extra money! HAHA!

As always, thanks so much for reading, and I can’t wait to get some pictures posted. Look for those this coming weekend :-P

Zip Line Adventures

To start things off, when we were planning this trip (and by we, I mean Joe’s wonderful parents) Joe’s sister couldn’t decide if she wanted to go. She ended up taking one of Joe’s very best friends as her “date” for the week. It made the vacation so nice because it was fun to hang out with them, and they were just friends!

Joe’s friend has never been out of the country, and was the ultimate tourist in Mexico. We laughed because he bought stuff from vendors on the beach, bought Mexican tequila, and wanted to book every single tour available. After explaining to him that money doesn’t grow on trees (HAHA), we decided to pick one tour. He chose zip-lining through the jungle.

Now for those of you who know me, you know that I am not the type of person to take risks like that. I was nervous and very anxious. Thankfully, it ended up being a new experience. I don’t think I would ever pay to do it again (it was freakin’ expensive) but it is something I am happy to say that I have done before.

Now… on to the story. When you arrive at this place in the middle of the jungle, they immediately suit you up in a harness, leather gloves, and a helmet. This was what I like to call a cluster **** because people were hurrying to the front of the line as if there are only so many sets and everyone who doesn’t get a harness has to zipline without one. Seriously PEOPLE! So after waiting for all the ignorant people to run to the front, we finally got suited up. After all four of us were ready, we looked around and realized that we were the very last people through everything in our particular tour. No biggie!

We proceed to an “ampitheather” for lack of a better word. It had wooden bleachers and there was a zipline set up between two trees so that they could fully explain to all of us how to properly zipline. After a, no joke, 15 minute speech on where to put your hands so you don’t cut your fingers, how never to let go of the line no matter what!, the tour guide says “Preguntas?” (Questions for those of you who don’t remember your Spanish days.)

This dumb ass (I’m sorry, I don’t usually call people that but this lady whole-heartedly deserved the title!) raises her hand and says “If I want to go fast then I just let go right?” Every person, including her husband (we concluded they were on their honeymoon) looked at her in shock. Did she not just sit through the same exact speech that all of us sat through? We were the last ones to speech and we still gathered the concept of NEVER LET GO OF THE LINE!

Anyway, drunk Ryan (Joe’s friend who had way too much tequila the night before) proceeds to yell “WHERE WERE YOU?” Everyone looked at him and started laughing. It was hilarious. I almost fell off the bleachers because everyone was laughing.

Long story short (Ok, So it’s not really SHORT… but…) after the entire zip-line adventure was over, they served us lunch. During lunch, all you could hear was people taking about how the high-light of the tour was the drunk in the back putting the dumb-ass in her place. HAHA…

I almost wish the tour guide would have told her to let go, it would have taught her a lesson! And in case you were wondering…. THERE ARE STUPID QUESTIONS!

Hope I made you smile!

Here's the website, if you want to see some crazy pictures (they aren't us... we weren't about to pay $15 for a picture!)

I'm Still Here

Sorry blogging friends. I haven't had the best week this week, and frankly, I didn't think publishing my work/friend woes would make things much better. And, I knew that if I did blog, they would inevitably come out... so I opted not to write for a LONG time.

About my week, without going into details, last weekend we went on a mini vacation again. We had fun, but we drank too much, things were said, and I got myself utterly upset over nothing. I wish so much that women could take care of their problems with each other like men. Seriously, they say EVERYTHING they want, and the other one just takes it. THere is no catty fighting, or hating. I envy my husband and his relationship with his friends. He is so lucky!

Then came work. I had the WORST week that I have ever had at work. I cried over work. And I've never done that before. With the details of the weekend, work, and starting my period... I have been a bubbling idiot for the last couple days.

I woke up yesterday and decided there wasn't anything I could do to change what has happened over the last week, so I just decided to DROP IT! Best idea ever because I'm feeling much better already. Oh... knowing that I'm leaving for Mexico in 6 days helps with the "feeling better" as well.

Anyway, I just wanted to touch base with everyone. Thanks for your continued support!

Torn Up

This is going to be short and to the point.

I am so upset. Last night I got a text message from a friend whom I haven't heard from in awhile. She is a very busy person, pursuing her masters degree and working many hours a week. I understand not hearing from her very often. I know I can count on her if I need something.

Her dad has been fighting cancer for about 3 years. He has good days and bad days and I would get an update on him, probably about monthly, or when something major happened.

Well, last night I got a text message asking me to kick up my prayers for him, they had only given him hours to live. I was crushed. I haven't talked to her in a few weeks, and last I had heard, he was doing alright. Well, through the night I got the message saying he had lost his battle.

I am absolutely beside myself. She is younger than me and her parents are about the same age as my parents. Let this be a message to everyone, you never know what tomorrow holds, so make sure to tell everyone you love them TODAY!! And pray for my friend!

Tricia

Outside

So, I love to be outside as much as the next person, but what I don't understand is how we here in Ohio think that 60 degrees constitutes shorts and tank tops, tops down on the convertible, and not putting an f-ing jacket on a young child.

We live in the apartment complex in Stow where, I have decided, children do NOT have responsible parents. One day, and this is the honest truth, I was sitting outside reading and I had Zoey outside and a bunch of children came up to pet her and ask questions about her, that's fine. She is one of those dogs that attracts attention. But, the next day, I had one of the little girls knock on my door and ask if Zoey could come out and play. SERIOUSLY? She's a dog. Then, when I said Zoey couldn't come out and play she asked me to come inside and play with her. That's all I need, to be suspected as the neighborhood stalker by letting young kids into my house. Don't get me wrong, I love children, but I do not like it when children have no friends and no parents to play with them that have to play with my dog. UGH!!!! But anyway, back to my story... these kids were outside in shorts and tank tops and no shoes, at like 7 at night... when at its highest yesterday it was 60. Where are their parents? I am not a parent, but yet I know that 60 is not 90 and kids should still be in long pants and sleeves and SHOES!!! UGH!!!

ANYWAY...to enjoy the weather today I went on a nice brisk walk. It was great, besides the terrible aching that happened in my leg. I am super excited to get this all taken care of and HOPEFULLY be done with knee problems forever. STUPID SOFTBALL. Don't get me wrong, I am completely greatful that I was given the great opportunity to play a sport in college, none the less, get my school paid for, but I am not sure if it is totally worth all the pain and agony I went through and am still continuing to go through with all the knee pain.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the great day outside, and is planning to enjoy the weekend. We are having a cookout/bonfire with friends this weekend at our place. I LOVE entertaining, so tonight Joe and I went and bought a fire pit and scouted out the flowers I am going to buy to make our patio a nice place. I am so excited. I LOVE SUMMER AND WARM WEATHER!!!

I hope everyone has GREAT plans for the weekend!

Love, Tricia

Bad Blogger

So I have been a TERRIBLE blogger over the past like three months. Sorry! I continue to read a certain few blogs on a regular basis, but frankly, after sitting in front of a computer all day at work, I have no desire to come home and sit in front of a computer there too. And since blogger is blocked at my work unless you somehow stumble upon it, I don't get much time to read and/or write my blog. But I am going to try and make a conscious effort to do so on a more regular basis, not because any of you care what goes on in my life, but because I need somewhere to put my thoughts.

So here goes, this past weekend we took a much needed little get-away with friends down to Lake Mohawk. Joe went down to help friends during the day and me and Britt met them down there in the evening for some drinking, corn hole, and cookout food. It was a blast. We don't get a chance to do that very often, with us being all grown up and whatnot, so it was very needed and a lot of fun.Other than that, nothing too exciting has been going on in our lives. I have been trying to spend as much time as possible outside, because in two weeks, I am going to have my legs cut into AGAIN and I am not sure how long it is going to take me to bounce back. When I had knee surgery in high school it was only a few days until I was up and moving (slowly and in pain, but still moving) so I am hoping that even though I am older and not near as athletically fit as I was then, that I can bounce back quickly.

Well, that is all for today, and I appreciate the opportunity that I was given to be able to find old friends from high school and learn a little bit about their lives. The internet truly can be a good thing.

Tricia