For the first time in ages my Monday went off without a hitch.  Dare I say it was down right enjoyable?  Amazing what spending quality time with your husband, fresh air and groceries can do for a person’s mood.

It all started Friday when my office decided to take a long lunch and hang out at the Medieval Fair.  What, it was work related!  I am glad I went Friday because I never got a chance to head back out there.  I love the Medieval Fair.  It’s prime for people watching.

Saturday B and I got up early to run some errands.  Somehow in the midst of our shopping we ended up at Lowe’s with the idea to build a stone patio off of our screen porch.  We have been wanted to do something for months now due to the uneven ground and lack of grass.  Outside the doggie door we have a horrible mud pit that forms when the slightest bit of moisture is in the air.  I promise I will posted some before and after pictures once we finish.  Here is a sneak peak for now.

We are 65% finished.  Thanks to yet another freezing weather change we were unable to finish Sunday.

Between the freezing temperatures, the 40 mile per hour wind and the incredible pain we were in from our hard work the day before, B and I decided to have a nice, relaxing Sunday.  And by nice and relaxing I mean shopping!  Both of us bought new sneakers and some spring clothes.  We also did major grocery shopping.

Speaking of grocery shopping, I must brag about my new hobby.  Coupon clipping!  Two weeks ago B signed us up for the Wednesday and Sunday newspaper.  So maybe I only care about the sale flyers and comics, it is only $4.50 a month.  And the paper has already paid for itself!  Two weeks worth of coupons has already saved me $70.

Now the goal is to use those groceries.  I have set a goal of taking my lunch to work at least four days a week.  Tonight we made dinner, first time it wasn’t from a box or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in months!  It has only been one day, but one day at a time right?

So how was your Monday?  Is anybody out there having a nice spring?  I am so ready to be outside!  Stupid weather.

Spring in Oklahoma is always pretty wild.  Between the torrential downpours, hail storms and tornados, who knows what the next day will bring.

Which is why I guess this weekend shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.

This was my Saturday.

This was my Sunday.

Wonder how many more times I am going to have to switch my heat on before the warm weather decides to stick around for good.

Where is my cane?!?  Or my walker?!?  I need something to shake in the air while yelling like a mad woman.  Nothing like pesky squirrels to make you feel like the crazy old lady in the neighborhood.

Exhibit A

This is the small bird feeder outside my kitchen window.  I love watching the chickadees and meadow larks hoping around the feeder in the morning.  I do not love finding Mr. Squirrel hording the feeder.  Dude, you are fat enough.  Lay off the birdseed.

Exhibit B

This picture was taken a few minutes after the first one.  This is a completely different bird feeder and a completely different squirrel.  Notice how this guy just knocked the lid right off the top and helped himself to handfuls of birdseed.  Seriously dude, that is just rude.  But wait, it gets worse.

Exhibit C

Also a completely different bird feeder and a completely different squirrel.  This picture was taken a few minutes after the picture before.  I had three squirrels helping themselves to my not-so-cheap birdseed all at the same time!

Oh the huge manatee!  By the way, I think I should stop and tell you I have become a bit of a bird person lately.  Now that spring is here we are spending much more time outside.  I love sitting on our back porch watching the birds flock to our feeders.  Thanks to the small wilderness behind our house we have quite the variety of feathered friends.  So far I have spotted red winged blackbirds, brewer’s blackbirds, cardinals, blue jays, meadow larks, chickadees, a variety of sparrows, wrens, robins, finches, mockingbirds and one giant crane.  My mom is a bit of a bird person too, I think her influence has rubbed off on me.  (Someone else made the comment that I was turning into my mother.  That someone else who shall remain nameless also got the cold shoulder later that night.)

But back to the squirrel problem…

Finally I did what any annoyed crazy old neighbor lady would do, I released the hounds.  Ok, the hound.  Servo loves him some squirrel chasing.  Notice I said chasing PETA.  He has never actually caught one and thanks to the doggie door he has to go through first he really doesn’t stand a chance.  That is of course if the squirrels lay off the food.  Pretty soon those pests are going to get so fat Servo might actually catch one.

I guess I should just be thankful it’s not three raccoons in my backyard.  (Knock on wood times 1,000.  Karma don’t you dare push me this week!)

I just spent the last two hours sitting in the floor reading the Sunday paper (the early edition) and clipping coupons.  Can I officially call myself an adult now?  After months of me talking about subscribing to the paper, B finally signed us up.

So what if my favorite parts are the comics and coupons.  Last week I saved $16 on groceries from coupons in my $2 newspaper.  I am reprising my childhood role of coupon girl!  (As a child, I was always in charge of the coupon stash when we went grocery shopping.)

So for the past two hours I have been sitting in the floor and B has been laying on the couch behind me reading a book.  We are pretty wild around here.  I know you are probably concerned about our wonderful recliners being left empty.  Don’t worry, the dogs have the situation under control.

Before B abandoned his spot, we had this:

(Yes, Zoey is being squashed.  Her big brother has little concern for her personal space, but God forbid she comes with in two feet of him while he is sleeping.  Cuddling, if you can call it that, is on his terms only.)

Shortly after B’s move to the couch we ended up with this:

Such protectors of the leathery goodness.  Except my butt is starting to fall asleep and I would really like my chair back.  Do I dare disturb the beasts?

Free time?  Is that you?!?  Where have you been this year?  March is almost over and I can’t remember what you look like anymore.

(Alright, so that is a bit dramatic.  What do you expect, drama is my middle name.  Or is it trouble.  Or brat.  No, B I am not open to suggestions.  You either MOM!)

Anyway, remember this blog I had.  And how I would post almost every weekday.  I was really funny.  (So the voices in my head tell me.)  Then things got crazy.  Work things.  My job got much, much busier.  I would come home at work and refuse to turn on the computer.  I stopped reading other blogs.  I cleared my feed reader.  (The horror!)  Life on the Interweb ceased to exist.

Well, I am not saying I am back.  But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  (Knock on wood times 1,000!  Karma, don’t you ruin this for me.)  I hope to return to my normal hilarious status soon.  I really miss being the funniest person I know.

But, just in case I am totally lying to you, I will leave you with this:

and this:

I made the first LOL (and it wasn’t even my original idea, it was her’s), the second one was done by the creative users of http://ihasahotdog.com/.

It is that time of year again!  No, I am not talking about spring (though blue skies, blooming flowers… LOVE!), I am talking about charity walk season.  From now until June I think you can find an event every weekend.  If you need some inspiration to get outdoors, I highly recommend this method.

But let’s be honest, I love my Saturday sleep-ins a little too much, so I focus on one charity walk.  The one that matters most to our family.  The MS Walk.

As some of you know, B has multiple sclerosis. He was diagnosed December 1998, a little more than ten years ago. While it has been a mild and, for the most part, healthy ten years, B and I hope every day that a cure is found.

Because this is a cause near and dear to us, we will doing the MS Walk again this year.  B and I are rounding up a team for the Oklahoma City walk.  Remember last year? Best. Time. Ever.  My parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece all came in town for the event.  We had family, friends, coworkers and friends of friends all join our team.  I am starting my recruitment efforts later this year, but I am hoping we have an even bigger turn out.  I have already recruited two team members, bring our team total to seven so far.

If anyone is going to be in Oklahoma next month, sign up! The walk is going to be at the Oklahoma City Zoo again.  Who doesn’t love the zoo?  If it wasn’t for the charity walks we sign up for I don’t think I would ever get B to take me to the zoo.  This will be the fourth year in a row I have managed to sneak a trip in!

Our team webpage is http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/sagowitz. Please pass this link on to all your friends!

We hope to see everyone at the zoo April 25!

(If you are interested in joining Team Sagowitz, click the link above and enter the team password: sagowitz.  Send me an email if you have any questions, naturallyright at sagowitz dot com.)

Photo courtesy of chiccolo on Flickr.

Nothing like being startled awake in the morning by the sounds of your dog barking ferociously and your husband yelling, “LEAVE IT!”

In the midst of the commotion, B ran back to the bedroom to grab his shoes and quickly mumble something about an animal in the backyard.

“Duh, genius.  That animal is our dog.  Tell him to shut it before he wakes the neighborhood.”

As my eyes began to focus I realized B said, “Servo has an animal in the backyard.”  As in, an animal that should not be there.

I jumped up and ran to the window.  It was still dark out, but I could make out the shadow of an animal in our tree.  Me, being the perfectly rational human that I am, immediately jumped to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that it was a baby bobcat.

(Yes, we live in the middle suburbia.  No, there are not bobcats around here.  Shut it, it was early.)

I grabbed a flashlight and pointed at the shadow.  A raccoon.

(Oh yeah, that would have made more sense.)

Hey, did you guys know that raccoons like birdseed?  Me either!  That is what lured Mr. Raccoon into our backyard.  And I thought squirrels were the most annoying birdseed eaters.

In case you are keeping a tally, we have now seen rabbits, beavers, raccoons and crocodiles in and around our backyard.  (Ok, maybe the crocodile was just something I heard, and yes, maybe it was a beaver, but you know me and my perfectly logical mind.)

Stupid AT&T and their stupid contract rules.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  Nope, not upset or anything.  Also, not pouting like a toddler.

For months now B and I have been talking about getting me an iPhone on my birthday.  Well guess what.  Today is my birthday and I have no stinking iPhone to prove it.  Really up until about a week ago I didn’t even care about getting the iPhone.  Then I started regularly playing with my friends.  Then I started counting down the days until my birthday.  Then I got excited.

Then AT&T crapped on my parade.

Stupid contract rules.  Turns out I can’t upgrade until August.  Add $200 to the price of the already most expensive phone I have ever wanted and I said no way.  Actually I think my exact words were, “Oh hell no!”  That was about the time B started ushering me out of the AT&T store.  Something about kids being present when I get mad.  Whatev.

Don’t worry, my birthday wasn’t really ruined.  B brought me flowers at work.  Nothing can ruin your day when you get flowers at work!  And, my friend Kacee brought me two cupcakes.  Flowers and cupcakes equal the best day ever!  Even if it was a Monday.  Even if it was the Monday after Daylight Savings.  Best Monday EVER!

Since my plan for world domination getting an iPhone was a wash, B has promised to treat me to some Internet shopping.  My favorite!  Plus he promised a back rub tonight.  And maybe even a pedicure.  Store bought on that last one, you think I would trust B with toenail polish and my feet.  Ha!

P.S.  Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  Trust me I am hearing about it.  (JENNA!)  Things have gotten out of control at work so the last thing that crosses my mind is turning on the computer when I get home.  Not to mention the amount of work I have been bringing home anyway.  Have I told you how much I miss free time?

P.P.S.  My computer recognizes iPhone in spell check.  Pretty sweet!  My computer tells me I spell ok wrong so for it to get iPhone, I am impressed.

P.P.P.S.  Happy Birthday Kari!

My mom and Memaw are finally in town.  Can you believe I actually completed my to-do list?  And then some.  My spring cleaning was done before March 1. Go ME!  (Ok, and B too, he helped out TONS.)

B safely escaped the house of women this morning.  I think 18 hours was about all he wanted to stick around for.  Probably for the best, I don’t think us hens have stopped clucking yet.  Clucking, cooking and shopping.  That is what we have planned this week.

I love having my mom and Memaw here.  Having someone help you in the kitchen and do the icky tasks (like deboning a whole chicken) is wonderful.  Already we have made chicken salad and the Pioneer Woman’s chicken spaghetti.  (Don’t worry B, we froze half of the chicken spaghetti so you could have some one day next week.)

We have also already hit up Target.  New spring purse for me!  I have seen so much green in the stores lately, I couldn’t resist buying a cute green purse.

Tuesday Morning is on the list for Monday morning.  Heh.  I am pretty sure there is a joke or sarcastic comment in there somewhere.  I am thinking B shouldn’t have left me with the money we made from selling the couch.  Muwhahaha.  (Um, that is my evil laugh, incase you couldn’t tell.)

Sorry we kicked you out of the house B, but I promise the fridge full of food you are coming home to will be worth it.  Plus, I am pretty sure you would rather attend computer training any day.

I love you Craigslist, oh yes I do
I sold a couch, in one day it’s true
I love you Craigslist, don’t make me blue
Oh couch man, see you in a few

I came up with that on my way to work this morning, but the couch was already gone before I got around to posting. 

Craigslist made me a very happy woman today.  In this whole preparing for mom and grandma visit, my wonderful husband cleaned out the entire garage.  Somehow he took, “make a path so we can walk through,” to mean, “clean the garage to the point where I can actually park my car in there or eat of the floor if I so choose.”  I didn’t correct him, HELLO, sparkly clean garage.

Anyway, after his hard work, the forgotten couch was suddenly looking like an eyesore.  Craigslist to the rescue.  I posted an ad around 9 p.m. last night.  By 11 p.m. we had four inquiries.  By 9 a.m. the couch was loaded and cash was in hand.  (We also had 5 more inquires this morning.)

Suddenly I have the urge to put everything up for sale on Craigslist.  Let’s see what else we can sell!