How to Plan & Implement a Successful Man-date

Man-Date: (n) Night of man-tivities such as drinking beer and playing video games
ex. My husband and his friend Jason had a man-date on Thursday night.

Step 1. Call your friend to set-up the date

Step 2. Call your wife to consult on the dinner menu

Step 3. Go to Harter House 24 hours prior to the man-date to purchase your steak & marinade

Step 4. Place the steak in the marinade before you go to bed

Step 5. Toss the steak around in the marinade before you go to work

Step 6. Call your wife again to confirm the sides that will go with the steak

Step 7. While you are at work, daydream about your night of man-tivities

Step 8. When you get home, make sure the house is clean

Step 9. Start the grill

Step 10. Pour a glass of wine

Step 11. Wash the windows (yeah, I don't know) while you are waiting on the grill

Step 12: Place your deliciously marinated steaks on the grill

Step 13. Eat your wonderfully crafted dinner of steak, sweet potato chips and corn on the cob

Step 14. Lock your wife up in the bedroom

Step 15. Lock your son up in his bedroom

Step 16. Have your buddy make his profile on the PS3

Step 17. Stand as close to 46" High Def, Flat Screen TV as possible

Step 18. Demolish all players & conquer the world of Call of Duty while you drink

Step 19. Say things such as:
"Get out of my way, dude."
"That's freakin' awesome."
"HaHaHa, did you see that?!"
"I couldn't move! They were right on top of me."
"OOOOHHHHHGGGG!!!"

Step 20. Say "good-night" to your buddy, go to bed, and dream about next man-date where you will resume kicking of ass and conquering of the world.

Extreme Weekend of personal records, joyrides and dream coats

I had one of those "perfect" weekends last week. Nothing special happened, it was just a fun and relaxing weekend. It started out with a unplanned date night with Nick. We decided to go to dinner and while I was in the shower, he told me that he was going run to "get something" from his dad. When we walked out the door to leave, I saw that the "something" was his dad's little black convertible. We had such a good time riding around in the car all weekend. I think Nick had an even better time driving the car. After a nice dinner at Rivals, one of Nick's favorite places, we decided that we really wanted ice cream. So, off to Andy's we went! YUM!

In the morning, I ran in the Girls Just Wanna

Run 5K with Katie, my mom and her friend Marilyn. It is a fun race because (if you didn't get it from the name) it's an all girls run. What made it even better was that I ran a personal best at 26.54! The last race participated in was the Turkey Trot which I ran around 28.30. Fantastic!

After the race, we went to Anton's. Believe it or not, Nick and I have never been to Anton's. For those of you who aren't from Springfield, Anton's has been around for a LONG time. It way surpassed my expectations. The coffee was wonderful, the pancakes were crusty around the edges, my omelet had yummy feta inside, and the hashbrowns were not greasy. Perfection.

My day continued at the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition site near Ash Grove. I helped my friend Jessica in the VIP tent. I know this sounds special, but I think the volunteers in the hospitality tent actually had more interaction with the people from the show. I did get to see Michael but not being a regular viewer of the show, it wasn't too exciting. Jessica and I were able to get in a shot for the show. I told Jessica that it would probably get cut in the final edits - but we were excited anyway! I found out later in the week that Jessica has a higher chance of getting on TV because she was able to be in a few more shots. She is a pretty big deal now and I hope she will still be friends with an "extra" like me! She also got to meet Ty.

Back to me! The weekend wrapped up with a performance at Missouri State's Tent Theatre. Jason, Katie, Nick and I saw Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. The weather was perfect for an outdoor theatre and the show was pretty good too.

What a GREAT life God has given me!

I miss Carrie

My friend Carrie moved to Detroit in May and I miss having her around the office. Not only is she extremely sincere, but she is probably one of the wittiest people I have ever met. After random emails between the Squirrels today, Carrie posted A Day With Squirrels. I encourage you to read it!
I love you, Carrie! Your story is fantastical (fantastic & magical)!

Squirrely Girls

I am a proud Squirrely Girl. The Squirrely Girls are comprised of fellow crafters that spread across the country (yes, I can say that because Carrie now lives in Michigan). Squirrely Girls originated when Jessica and I decided to craft our own Christmas ornaments. See Squirrely Girl Craft post. The name fits us, not only because we are squirrely of nature but we also like squirrels. We have squirrel nicknames, a logo, set-up a site on Etsy to sell our squirrel crafts, cut out random pictures of squirrels from the newspaper to give to fellow Squirrels, craft our own squirrel shirts and basically go over-the-top for anything squirrel.

In saying that, I don't believe you will ever find one of the Squirrely Girls in the situation as this lady (that might be too proper of a term) in this news story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_BQNP7pM8