Fantasy Football Season

SO - Fantasy Football season has begun! I drafted my team last night and I'm ready for action!!! I'm dissapointed that I don't have Tony Romo...because he is just so cute. I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, getting an awesome team together or the ice cold beers that I am still relishing! Even better, they were free beers - thanks Madden! Here's the current lineup:

Get ready for FOOTBALL!!! Bear Down....

Dance Off

I would like to address the lack of content and ample discussion of food in this blog that I have been acused of by my younger siblings. Today, I will only slightly discuss food...and do a lot of dance-off discussion.

On a typical work day, I like to escape the confines of my small prison (AKA cubicle) and head to my favorite location - the golf course across the street from Madden. I like to take that time to bitch and moan about the suck of work which just leads to more and more negative thoughts upon returning to work. This week, my lovely friend Brandy and I have decided to stop that non-sense and start dancing off! We turn on the most popular Kesha or LMFAO (or whatever Red Fu's band is called) as loud as possible and rap / dance our way to lunch...we have found this to create a GREAT mood both before, during and after lunch.

I did try to do this on my way to work and found that the results are not typical. I'm not sure if it's the fresh air after breathing in the waste of my building or the fact that I have Brandy by my side...or any combination of those things...but the lunch dance-off is a huge win!

Many of you may be surprised (or may not be surprised) to find that this is not my first experience with a dance off. Bri and I did at one point find ourselves drunk on a Friday afternoon dancing off with our neighbors who had just been dropped off by their bus driver after school. But that was long ago.

I think that my sober, positive-mood-inducing dance offs are probably the better choice over weird, drunk neighbor ones. I just wish that I could find a similar mood-lifter for the mornings. I could copy my friend who thinks that she sounds like Taylor Swift...just sing along to the radio while recording your voice on your phone to play back later! Now that's entertainment...

Party Weekend

I was lucky enough to win a drawing at work giving me 4 tickets to the Sox game on Sunday. I brought them home to my husband who replied, "oh, I'm already going." SO...I extended the offer to Betsy, Pat and Theresa! We spent a beautiful day out tailgating and sweating our butts off at US Cellular watching the Sox win a blowout game! Although I'm a true Cubs fan...baseball is always a good time!

 I haven't been to a baseball game in a loooong time. It was awesome though! I enjoyed a grilled hot dog with lots of onions - WAY better than the boring dogs they used to have. I saw everyone go to town on a bag of shelled peanuts...not my scene! And then there was the taste of an ice cold ballpark beer - it's been too long old friend!

Red Neck Yacht Club

If you aren't in Chicago and you didn't see my other posts, it was a beautiful weekend! There were a ton of random parties that sprung up because everyone just wanted to be outside - including us. After over a week away, Ryan & Sadie stopped by to pay us a little visit. We ended up having ourselves a little redneck party!

We chilled outside, played with dirty motorcycles, drank some brews/wine and practiced some archery on unconventional targets. The boys created a makeshift target out of an old beer box and an old bag of soil from a previous hobby (forget to mention that one...I try to get a green thumb on an annual basis). We were a class act!

We even got Ninja in on the "red neck" fun. What red neck day would be complete without your cat outside on a makeshift leash?

After everyone was a little buzzed, we ordered a pizza. By the end of the afternoon, Sadie had spilled red wine all over her shirt, I had pizza sauce all over mine and both boys had managed to destroy their forearms from shooting - but at least nobody lost an eye!

Sadie and Ryan left too early for our taste - so we drove out to Roselle to the Foster house. We sat around a fire and got pretty much eaten alive by mosquitoes. We even got a little cruise on Dennis's new jeep.

All of this fun meant that nothing adult-like or responsible got done this weekend! I guess that's what next weekend is for!

6 Months!!!

Happy Last Day of Coumadin!!! Six months ago today, Bri and I were racing off to the hospital with pains in my lungs. I spent a few days there and have been thinning my blood ever since. I'm VERY happy to be done with the medicating process and still a bit nervous to come off of them. I'm sure that life will return to normal before I even notice.

I have to be completely off the blood thinners for a month before revisiting the hematologist for one last check on my blood. Nobody expects to see anything though since I've also been off of birth control (with hormones) for 6 months too. So fingers crossed until September 21st for that final look.

In the meantime, I am being showered with love & support! Bri (who is on the road this morning to Oklahoma) surprised me last night with day-before-off-coumadin clean house, champagne and flowers! I also have a "Re-Birth" party on Friday - hosted by Betsy - complete with an all beer themed dinner (beer cheese soup, beer bread, beer can chicken). I am excited to kick back and have a few with my friends!

Thanks to everyone for showing me so much love and care over this time! I hope I never have to repay the favor...and everyone who ever got a sober ride from me over the dryest period of my life since I was in highschool...get ready for payback!!! I know who you are!!!

Big Sale Weekend!

There was lots of buying going on the Siedor house this weekend! If you haven't already heard, Bri found another great motorcycle deal that he jumped on...he was already at the dealership today giving it some attention and he hopes to have it out the door with a profit in the very near future....well, to be honest, I'm not sure how much he hopes that! Maybe it's just me!!!

I also decided to jump on the shopping bandwagon...I made several attempts on Friday evening to cheer myself up with some new clothes..........but that was a big fail!!! Instead, we woke up earl on Saturday morning to do some garage sale-ing! I picked up a few picture frames and a basket (shocker - I think I am obsessed). We also found a really cool Stanley(?) level from 1865. We picked it up and thought it was wall-worthy, so that will be hanging in our home sometime soon! It was a gorgeous weekend so it was nice to just be outside and in the convertible...we even found out that there was a twin yellow Honda S2000 that also lives in Bartlett. There are a lot of interesting characters to meet when you are off garage-sale-ing.

Speaking of hanging things in our home - we are trying to find a spot for a collage wall. I found inspiration from one of my favorite blogs here and would like to follow in the footsteps of Sadie who actually got hers up (all by herself too!). It's on the list this week...along with that chalkboard I talked about from last weekend. Any ideas?

P-P-P-Poker Face

After a long (loonoong) day at work for me…and a long (FUN) day of shooting for Brian, we met up at the Cunningham household with Anthony and Theresa for a “friendly” game of poker. I don’t know how friendly any game can be when you are required to put money into a pot. Regardless, the cards were dealt and we rocked it out.

Well, things didn’t start out too well when I publicly destroyed my husband by going “all in” and things only got worse when his cards never came…several hours later, we had determined that Theresa slowly bled everyone dry and managed to pull at least one Ace in her hand every round, but that Pat was the big winner.

I would say the biggest lesson learned was that playing “The Gambler” on repeat all night doesn’t result well for anybody!

Dinner Tonight

Most people would agree that the hardest part about getting dinner on the table is the planning...or the grocery shopping...or is it the prepping...or maybe the actual cooking & timing of the meal?!?! I guess it's just a hard task overall! Bri and I have a great system and typically run VERY smooth...we had all of the tools necessary - we had a meal plan, the groceries were at home, the food was cooking, it turned out delicious...it just never made it to the table!

After cooking an entire meal we packed it up, hopped in the convertible and went to downtown St. Charles for a night sitting at McNally's outdoor patio. It was just too nice of a night to not be driving around - and who can handle the twists and turns of Brian's convertible driving on a full stomach?

At least we had good grubs for lunch today!

COLLEGE

Seven years ago I left the happiest place on earth – COLLEGE! This weekend I was lucky enough to go back for a day and stroll down memory lane. I saw all of the sites – the lovely quad, all the new buildings that seemed to have just popped up (I was reminded it has been 7 years!), the college bookstore, Budget Liquors and the sorority house. While I reminisced about all of the places I had puked, my new friends were able to have their first ISU pukes in my presence…they just didn’t have hair to hold back. That’s right, I hit college with a bunch of babies…real babies…

There were a lot of memories being shouted out. Remember when you got your public urination ticket over there? Remember when we burned those pictures of guys? Remember Parrot’s Echo? I felt like I was giving the most realistic and entertaining campus tour to a few future students!

It was a fantastic weekend – Bri and I got to see my old stomping grounds, meet the newest Reuber – Carson, see Jackie get a little hammered and have a great time with my old college friends and all of our new families! We only had to explain maybe a dozen times to Nichole that we were not having babies any time soon…

Sorry Nichole! We like to play with everyone else's babies!



Todd's theme song of the night - I ain't got no money...way to go Jeff!



Going back to college really knocked us out – we crashed hard on Sunday!!! But hopefully our trip will turn into an annual tradition…I know I can’t go that long again without Pub food…I love me some good cheese balls!!! THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!











And don't worry - no matter where we go...Brian seems to find a weapon!!!

I'm baaaaaack!

I would assume with the many followers out there, people may have noticed the plunge in blog posts. I know this was very disappointing...but I'm back! Perhaps 30 straight days was a bit radical but I believe that the real problem here is my hobby commitment.

Over the years I have felt the need to devote my life to something. That something could be anything. The most obvious first hobby that comes to mind is bicycling. After college, I decided what better way to spend a free afternoon, but on a bike - perfect in solitude and with friends! I grabbed my bike expert Ryan and headed to Target. At least I was smart enough to not buy anything too expensive! I went on a few rides with friends, but alone was lame. Then, late one night, I was wooed into an "easy" little bike ride in Aurora. It was called the Night Ride and it was a NightMARE. Everyone says it's SO fun and easy but it was literally the worst 4-1/2 hours of my life...yes, it took me that long to ride 25mi on a bike in the middle of the night...through a rape zone. Fermilab after hours was a scary place. F Bike Riding as a hobby!

Shortly after that, I purchased a teach yourself to knit book and starter set. I was a natural! I got through a few inches of my first scarf. Then everybody started going to the bar, so I put that down. Several years later I was convinced to take a class. This was last winter. I was such a superstar! Attending Knitting 101 every week...I bragged to coworkers...I made a yarn washcloth. Life was great! After graduating, Sadie really tried to get me to sign up for a Socks class...but it just seemed silly to spend like $100 on yarn to make A pair of socks. This hobby sucked...plus, who wants to knit when the weather starts to warm up?

After that, I got engaged then married and just made Brian my hobby. He is a lot of work! After all, you all saw that last post with Sears (FYI, to follow-up, Sears has sent Brian an email apologizing for the bike being out of stock and has offered him a $15 gift card).

So, never fear my blogging fans! This post is my first step towards re-committing. I mean, in retrospect, it doesn't hurt my ass, doesn't make me too hot and doesn't give me a headache!