Weiner Wednesday

Well, I'm off for a few days.

I will be traveling to the middle of NOWHERE/Canada upstate New York to a little town called Oswego. I'll be recruiting at one of the SUNY schools. I have about a 6 1/2 hour drive ahead of me today, but luckily I'll be picking someone up in Hartford along the way.

Hopefully I have some fun stories when I return.

I will miss you all!!!

Oh, and Happy Weiner Wednesday!

I am (finally) out of my slump!

So, I'm pretty sure it's official.

I think I've completely ended my winter-long slump.

It was a joint effort between the beautiful SPRING weather we had this weekend and the willingness to wake up this morning and say to myself "I AM going to have a good day...even though it's Monday."

Plus, I had a really good weekend. It's funny. The second it reaches a decent temperature, it's like this state comes to life. The sun is shining. People are out. Dogs are playing in yards. Rhode Islanders are actually...smiling. Ok, maybe I wouldn't go that far. But there is a definite change in the atmosphere...that's for sure.

We went to dinner with a big group of friends on Friday night and then headed to another friend's house to watch the KU game. Sadly, they lost (and for those of you fellow K-Staters who are reading this...ignore that part that I was cheering on the Jayhawks).

Then Saturday, it was B-E-A-utiful outside. So, of course we took full advantage. Clean the cars? Check. Walk the dogs? Check. Grab two iced coffees, place patio chairs in the middle of the yard and enjoy the amazing sun? Definite check!

Later that night, we enjoyed Newport's Restaurant Week. We went to this ADORABLE 1930's Paris-inspired restaurant called Tucker's Bistro. It was amazing. AND, Mr. Ruby and I had an incredibly romantic dinner for two with the best seats in the house. I love me a good date night.

An amazing weekend...

Now, I'm ready to tackle an amazing spring & summer!!!

The most irritating nuisance

It strikes at the most inopportune times:

Smack dab in the middle of a conference call. 

Just before the thrilling climax of a number-one-at-the-box-office movie. 

Right when the waiter brings out my steaming hot fajitas...and I'm starving.

About 15 minutes into a 27 hour road trip from Dallas to Providence. 

And worst of all...in the middle of the night. Interrupting my precious beauty sleep.

The culprit? 

My bladder. 

I can't explain to you how many times I've been beyond irritated with my hyperactive bladder. It seriously must be the size of a grain of sand. Oh, and the fact that I drink two 32 ounce cups of water (that's just before lunch) probably doesn't make the situation any better. 

I can't help it. I like a lot of fluids. 

I'm known to be the absolute last person you want in your car when heading out on any kind of long distance road trip. When Mr. Ruby and I started our road trip from Dallas to Providence, he learned to accept the fact that we would need to stop... a lot. 

What brings on my annoyance? Because last night, I was woken up by my bladder...Twice! I was so annoyed. 

This nuisance comes and goes. Sometimes, I only go two or three times in a day. Other times, I literally may go every 20 minutes. 

It's just something that I (and poor Mr. Ruby...and every other person that has been around me for any amount of time) just have to live with. 

Lord help us all when I'm pregnant someday.

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P.S. Tonight is EARTH HOUR! Make sure to turn off all power for one hour at some point this evening. Let's do everything we can to help mother earth and God's precious creation!!! 

Weiner Wednesday

Happy Weiner Wednesday!!! 

I seriously just love Wednesdays because it means we're only TWO WHOLE DAYS from the weekend. (If you haven't picked up on it...I LIVE for the weekends!!)

Yesterday, we had a birthday celebration at the office and I decided to try a new SUPER easy recipe. Well, it paid off. It was seriously gone in 3 minutes...flat. I made this a-ma-zing Buffalo Chicken Dip. 

I'm not kidding when I say it may be the best thing you've ever had. And I don't like buffalo flavored anything. See the recipe below...

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 (8 oz.) Pkgs cream cheese softened

3/4 cup pepper sauce (i.e. Franks Red Hot)

1 cup Ranch dressing

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together cream cheese and hot pepper sauce until well blended.

Mix in ranch dressing, chicken and cheddar cheese. 

Spread into a 9x13 baking dish. 

Bake for 30 minutes. 

Serve with tortilla chips.

***You can substitute the Ranch and cheddar cheese for Blue Cheese dressing and blue cheese crumbles***

Be prepared to eat the.entire.thing. 

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

I've always been a target for all things unlucky, odd, and just plain random. 

You know those people where something happens to them and you say "That would only happen to (insert name here)". 

Well, I'm (insert name here). 

Although not extraordinary, I did experience 3 random happenings this past weekend:

1). I walked into our house after a night out to dinner with friends and found one of my winter gloves soaking in the middle of our dogs' water bowl. This may not seem that odd...however, my gloves were zipped away in my purse...which was on the kitchen table. Quite freaky if you ask me.

2). I was at the mall walking around aimlessly and completely in a daze (nothing new there). However, my daze was suddenly interrupted as something began to rapidly fall from above. I looked closely and realized...no it couldn't be...I focused my eyes. Yep. It was money. I'm not lying! I looked up and sure enough, dollar bills kept falling from above. I just kind of stood there shocked as two little kids greedily started filling their pockets. 

Another girl who witnessed this whole thing looked over at me, shrugged, and went into Victoria's Secret. 

3). I was on a major highway (again minding my own business) when I saw something in the distance. At first it wasn't that odd. It was just a random car on the side of the highway. I mean, I see those every day. Well, as I got closer I realized it was a HEARSE. There was no driver, no passenger and no one else in sight. Just an abandoned hearse on the side of the highway. 

At least things are always interesting around here. 

Fun Little Surprise...

I am extremely fortunate and blessed to have amazing in-laws.

I hear so many horror stories of overly forward, annoying, intrusive and don't-know-how-to-mind-their-own-business in-laws. I'm very lucky to have quite the opposite.

Seriously, I couldn't ask for better in-laws. And a major bonus is that I have a very close relationship with my mother-in-law. We always have the greatest talks and we helped each other through quite difficult times while Mr. Ruby served two deployments in Iraq.

While on the topic, let me paint a picture for you so that you can fully envision my mother-in-law. Not only is she quite the pretty lady, she dresses super cute and fun, and everything about her screams "girly" and "feminine". She's the wife of a retired pastor and was a stay-at-home-mom/homemaker her entire life. She is soft-spoken when you first meet her, but she gives the best advice and is full of wisdom. I would also consider her poised and proper. (All of this information is necessary for what I'm about to share with you).

 

Oh, and she gives the greatest gifts. Like I said, she's quite girly (as am I) so she has great taste! I've gotten fabulous stationary, cookware, jewelry etc.

Well, she and my father-in-law were recently in the Dominican Republic and of course they picked up a couple of souvenirs for us.  Mr. Ruby's dad told him "Make sure to search for the special surprise for Mrs. Ruby..."

Yeah! Something just for me!

I just knew my MIL would get me something great. So, Mr. Ruby opened our gift and was THRILLED to get some cigars. He searched, and didn't see anything else in the box. He searched some more.

Finally, at the very bottom of the box was this:

wrapped in a pink note that read:

Enjoy!

Mrs. Ruby, the small one is for you to try. It's my new-found pleasure. Who knew?!?! It's vanilla...very yummy!

Needless to say, not exactly what I was expecting but simply picturing my MIL actually smoking a cigar is quite a good enough gift for me.

I can't wait to try it!

My new toy is finally here!

My new MACBOOK arrived a couple days ago:

Isn't she a beauty?

So now, Mr. Ruby and I have matching 13' aluminum Macbooks.

I don't know who is more excited...me or him. (I mean, I don't think you understand how much technology and computers really rile him up). 

However, I must admit. Receiving my new toy was a bit anti-climatic.

How could a new Macbook be anti-climatic?

Well because for months I had been saving ALL this money  to give Mr. Ruby the surprise of his life by presenting him with the new Macbook for Christmas last year. I mean those things sure do cost a lot. Well, I realized that spending such a ridiculous amount saving all that money was totally WORTH the look on his face. It was so priceless and I think he was as happy as he was on our wedding day.

Well now, after using his so frequently, I decided I needed one.

Needless to say - I love it!

Now the real question: For those of you Mac-users out there, is there a special Mac blogger program you use to type your posts? I MUST know!