life without internet & cable

turns out day-to-day life is totally different when you are living without internet or cable at home.
have you tried it?
i mean, of course we "tried" it when we were younger and those things were a rarity in homes.
but now, everyone has at least one or both, and it's weird to not.

so why did we ditch both, you ask?
to be honest, i was just sick of paying for it.
sick of forking out $82 a month, and then $94 a month,
and eventually $105 a month for it.
you know how they do it,
they just creep up and up until you're paying double what you were paying in the beginning.
and that's lame.
so i said (after a few months of back-and-forth) be gone with you!!
and now it's gone.

weird.

now, in the evenings when both Jae and i are home, we don't get some dinner and sit down to watch a basketball game or catch up on DVR.
we don't search the web for awesome things for our house that we can't afford.

some of you may know this, but we still have two bedrooms that have not been painted/finished/organized/anything yet since we finally moved in our home 8 months ago. why haven't we finished up those two rooms? why have they remained closed-doors junk/storage rooms all this time?

two reasons: because we've been busy, and because we've been lazy. avoiding them like the plague.

well, now that our internet and cable is no more, what did we do last night after work?
we went through our "office" (it will someday be an office..) and started the finishing work to get the walls prepped for painting. how long has it taken us to do this???

well folks, if getting rid of the net and cable is what it takes to get those darn rooms finished, then so be it!

it's not even just about getting work done on our house, though. it's like all of a sudden we have time to make dinner or sit and chat about our day or play with the pup. our house is much quieter without the tv always on, and it's kind of really nice.

but i'll be honest, not having internet at home and not even having regular tv much less DVR is a little sad at times. it has put a little damper on my blogging habits.

someday i'll post about our Thanksgiving and our work at home and stuff. and perhaps there will even be pictures! just maybe.

until then, please love me anyway. and enjoy our sweet little tree :)

...and then i talk some more about nothing

it just so happens i eat basically the same thing every morning for breakfast (monday-friday). and it just so happens this food involves syrup. and it also just so happens that i SPILL the syrup on myself and/or my desk and/or the floor every.single.day. it really really really irritates me. do you have any idea how hard it is so get syrup off your clothes

for how horrible mondays are (just for the simple fact that they're mondays), the work day almost always seems to go by fairly quickly. still haven't figured that one out.

i'm super stoked for Christmas this year. well, just the holidays in general. it's the first year we're in our own home to celebrate the holidays since we've been married! i've been picking up a couple things here and there to start making our house look a bit more festive. every holiday comes and i realize how much we lack in the holiday decor department. like, we have nothing. well, NOT this time!

i went to target the other day, and found like 17 sweaters that i wanted. it is like sweater city over there right now! i may or may not have planned (and bought) my Christmas presents for myself from my mother and mother-in-law. i mean, what was i supposed to do?

i absolutely love making lists. i already knew this about myself, but my co-worker pointed it out (again) the other day. lists are just my favorite organizational tool ever.

the day before Thanksgiving is officially the slowest day of work. like, ever.  agree?

my co-workers think it's the funniest thing ever to speak in an asian accent. admittedly, it is pretty humerous sometimes. i'm just waiting til the day comes when an easily-offendable asian walks by and hears them and let's them have it. it will be humerous too.

 nielson's frozen custard in Bountiful needs to lower their prices on concretes. they're just so delicious but too dang expensive. i'd buy them a heck of a lot more if they weren't an arm and a leg to buy. who's with me?

 speaking of being excited for Christmas, we set up our tree on Thanksgiving. *gasp!!* i know, i hate to trod all over Turkey day with Christmas stuff, but i just couldn't help myself. plus, we didn't even have a turkey dinner that day. and i am super happy to have a tree up. so whatevs.

we (as in just Jae and i) ate at Buca di Beppo for Thanksgiving dinner. it pretty much rocked. we stuffed ourselves silly with delicious italian food and got a free serving of mashed potates just for the heck of it. oh, and they have us our dessert for free too. have you ever eaten at the kitchen table there? it pays! we had leftovers for 4 days after. so.much.food.

we bought Zo Zo this little sweater a couple weeks ago. she just shivers and gets cold when we take her out places, so i decided to bite the bullet and get her one. trust me, i'm NOT one to dress my dog up in a bunch of doll clothes. but a sweater to help keep her warm when we go somewhere is ok, i think.

   

what does Zoey think of it?...
well, she totally hates it.
i put her in it anyway.
her grandpa told her the polka dots aren't flattering.
that's probably why she hates it. 

how was your thanksgiving? we had the pleasure of enjoying two full turkey meals. spoiled, i tell ya. i'll post on all the festivities soon. 

oh, and by the way.....if i'm slower at posting and just not blogging as much in general, it's because we finally said to HECK with paying for "extra" stuff, and got rid of our internet. we'll see how that goes.  

modern-day prophets

today (and every day) i am grateful for prophets on the earth today.

both past and present.

(yes, i miss Pres. Hinckley & Pres. Faust. and i just love Pres. Hinckley in that hat. reminds me of my grandpa, i think.)

i am grateful for their infinite wisdom. i am grateful for their kindness. i am grateful for their humor and lightheartedness. i am grateful for their humility and grace. i am grateful for the amazing work they do and the beautiful spirits they share. i am grateful for the conference edition Ensign we recently got, and that we can catch up on the talks we missed (we were in Malaysia over conference weekend) and enjoy their sweet words.

there's your sign

it's monday. and while i'm super de-duper happy i got some yummy turkey dinner last night....it's still monday. and i'm still sniffly and stuffy. and stuff.

so here are these to help with this monday. they're super random, i know. and mostly just for my benefit and enjoyment. but perhaps you'll chuckle at them too.

now that i have a dog with these ears, i know. this is true.

don't even act like you don't relate to this!

story of my life. it's a constant battle.

 

and last, but certainly most important........

i'm grateful for eecards and quotes and inspirational thoughts and funny pictures 

to help remind me that life is good.

happy birthday to my mama

it's this pretty lady's birthday today.

the real celebrating is being post-poned until Sunday, but we wanted to take her out to dinner on her special day. i'm not sure anything i write down would be enough to express how grateful i am for her.

i am grateful for her thoughtfulness. i am grateful for her craftiness and ability to make awesome bows. i am grateful for her answering my million phone calls when i'm trying to cook something new and don't have a clue what i'm doing. i am grateful for her love for her family.

newly brunette

it feels sooo good to be a certified brunette again.

it's been too long.

it's pretty dark and i love it!

oh, and yes, i got some (long) bangs cut.

we'll see how that goes.

i am grateful for the ability to completely change a look and give a boost of confidence

with a little hair dye :)

i caught the sniffles.

i've been posting this month on things i'm grateful for (i mean, it is one of my very favorite holidays next week. plus i have many things to be grateful for.) i woke up this morning with a runny nose and a sore throat. i grabbed these on my way out the door this morning. so today, while i don't have too much to say, i am putting these things to good use:

i am grateful for (soft) tissues (which these aren't, necessarily, but it's all i've got to work with right now, so i'll take 'em). i'm grateful for cough drops that don't taste like plastic. i'm grateful for DayQuil (which i've obviously already taken this morning). and somewhat randomly, i'm grateful i can swallow large horse pills without difficulty. because that's what those are. horse pills. and some people (named my husband) have a hard time with that. (one of the only) benefit from getting my tonsils out? sure.

the seasons

i love living in Utah and being able to experience all four seasons every year.

admittedly, winter is my least favorite (i am so not a snow person), but i love it all the same. if i could just stay inside with my blankie and hot chocolate in hand all winter, i probably would.

stay safe this weekend, everyone!

i am grateful for the first (real) snowfall of the season. i am grateful for windows to look out while i stay safe and warm inside. i am grateful for warm boots and snuggly scarves to keep me warm on snowy winter days like today.

chocolate and m&m's

i love me some chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt any day of the week.

i won't discriminate - i'll take either :)

and of course, some m&m's to top it off is never a bad thing.

i am grateful for it's creaminess. i'm grateful for the crunch of the m&m's. i'm grateful for the splash of color amid the neutral chocolate. i'm grateful for the happiness it gives me.

{i know this sounds silly, but i am oh-so-seriously grateful for this lovely treat that not all get to enjoy.}

next on the list...

we've already established that Jae is my favorite person.

next up, we've got the rest of my family.

i'm grateful for their loads of personality. i'm grateful for their willingness to jump in whenever someone needs anything. i'm grateful for their kind hearts and their goofiness. i'm grateful for the constant love and support we always have for each other.

my favorite person

i figured there's no better way to kick off the month of November than to blab on and on about my favorite person and how grateful i am that he's mine! am i right?

{there may or may not be some sappy parts ahead - consider yourself warned.}

i am grateful for him because he makes me happy. i am grateful for him because he knows how to cheer me up. i am grateful for him because he's such a hard worker. i am grateful for him because he pushes me to be better. i am grateful for him because he cares how i feel. i am grateful for him because he's a dork, which makes me feel better about being such a dork myself. last but certainly not least, i am grateful for him because he does laundry on his days off   :)