Thanksgiving

 Gary and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend (minus the sickies- but I'll go into that later). Thursday morning, we headed to Bakersfield to meet with my family, where we spent the day and Thanksgiving feast. It was delicious!

 We also were able to play some Wii, and I was able to run a couple of miles on their treadmill after dinner- haha. I so needed it.

Family picture! From left: Gary, Andrew, Me, Garrett, Karen (Grannie), Carrin (Mums), Jazmine and Lexi, Blaine (Pops), James, Devonn, and Carla

 We enjoyed Thanksgiving and being able to spend time with family! As usual, I brought my camera but didn't take pictures. I am awesome.

Friday morning, after a good workout with the chubby dog, Gary, I, and my dad all met up with Devonn, Carla and the boys to an area off of Taft Hwy to go shooting. We were able to try out our new Kimber while we were there- a bit heavy, but it was nice and comfortable. I think I hit maybe 2 targets- meaning I should probably practice more often. There's no membership gun clubs around here, which is kind of a bummer. We had a membership to one while living in Bakersfield, but not here. There are some beautiful shooting ranges, but we have to pay per day to shoot. Eh, I guess it's not all that bad. We'll just have to look into it. We did have a lot of fun, though! Reminds me of old times- shooting cans and such while I was a kid with the family (I was only able to shoot a .22 until I was older, but it was still fun).

Anyway, we headed out Friday afternoon to avoid rainy and cloudy weather on the 5, and spent the rest of the day doing some shopping and relaxing.

Saturday was totally lazy.  We did some shopping, but spent most of the day inside, playing video games and, well, being lazy. We also went out to eat at New Moon, a lovely Chinese restaurant (and has nothing to do with Twilight). The food was amazingly delicious and we had to take it home to eat the rest later on. I then made the mistake, for dinner, of eating leftover food from a meal I cooked only a few days ago. It was chopped up steak and potatoes with some beans. It was only a small portion, so I ate the rest of it for dinner since neither of us felt like cooking- Gary had cereal or something. It backfired on me later.

4am yesterday morning, I awoke out of a dream feeling extremely nauseous. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it didn't work. I ended up running to the bathroom instead. Every half hour to an hour, I was forced to visit the toilet. This went on for over 5 hours. I didn't have a fever, just some chills. The only thing I could think of was that leftover food I ate- and I was for sure poisoned by it. Lovely, huh? It was terrible- I HATE throwing up; the thought of it makes me sick. But, I had to let my body do what it wanted to do. Gary woke up around 9:30 to get ready for church, but instead had to run to the store to buy me everything he could think of to help. Dark soda, soups, crackers, breads, etc. Such a good man for taking care of me. I spent most of yesterday wrapped up in blankets and sleeping- and tried to bring some Skyrim into it. Hey, it distracted me from the nauseating feeling. At one point during a nap, I woke up to find Dexter curled up in my arms. He was extremely affectionate yesterday. Maybe he knew I was sick?

Anyway, I'm glad that's over. I'm still a little achy and sore today, but thank goodness the nausea is gone. I hope that doesn't happen again for a long time- if ever!

Well, time for me to do things today. I'm avoiding video games since I spent a good chunk of the weekend playing. I'm ready to get out and exercise and visit the lake. Wrapped up sick inside all day is making me stir crazy. So, I'm completely ready to hit the sunshine and catch some fresh air.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Snuggles and Tea

 Snuggles is something that has definitely been on the list of things to do around here. The mornings are absolutely gorgeous with crispy cold weather (which I understand is warmer than other places in the world) and bright orange and red foliage.

 Totally beautiful out there.

 Drinking delicious and herbal teas has been handy and nice as well (and a little hot cocoa on the side). It definitely helps bring in the colder weather spirit.

 So far all has been well in the Pollock household. Gary's still growing and excelling in his job, and I'm still...well, doing what I normally do. Wife stuff with a little work and school on the side. However, thanks to the new season, I've become sick. It started with waking up one morning with the worst sore throat. Regardless, I went out and ran at 5:20 that early morning in the icy weather. Probably not the smartest move. The next day, my chest started hurting a little too. My cough was more of a dry cough so I assumed it to be irritation (which I still believe) from something I possibly inhaled. This went on for a couple of days and today the cough seems to be a little worse, but not horrific. I'm still hoping it's an irritant issue and not a virus or bacteria issue. So far, no fever has come my way, so I'm ruling out anything serious.

Recently, I decided we were going to switch cat litter. I really like the litter we were using since it clumped so well, but the sandy texture got everywhere. No matter how often I vacuumed, the little bits and pieces got into every little crack. It, well, got annoying. So, I thought we'd try the bigger pellet litter. A couple of Saturdays ago, Gary and I were visiting the local flea market when I noticed a family was selling Petsmart products. Cat food, cat litter, small animal stuff, etc. They were selling the higher quality litters and food...for cheap. A 45 lb bag of the good cat litter was $4. So, I bought it. I'm thinking I'll start heading over there on Saturdays when our animal stuff is getting low. Although I doubt I'll find their food there since it's a special and specific brand, I could use other stuff there. But anyway, this cat litter I bought did take me for a bit of a surprise. It smells nice, does the job well, but unfortunately, it's dusty. Not good. So I'll be switching brands again (poor cats) next time around. When I would change their box nightly, I would inhale a bit of the dust; which I'm guessing is what started this whole thing with my throat and chest. I'm hoping so anyway. I'm not down with bronchitis or any other similar illness.

But besides this annoying thing on the side, everything is good. Gary and I have been playing Skyrim which is super duper fun. I play in the day when I have the time, and he plays in the evening. We're nerds; but we have fun.

Anyway, that's all for now. I have errands to run today, but first I need to exercise. Speaking of, new exercise blog updates are posted. Have a great day peeps!

I Love November

  I can never decide which month I love the most: October or November. October is when the real change from summer to fall hits; regardless of the first day of autumn being in September. October is also my birth month- which of course is always the coolest. As for Halloween, it used to be my favorite holiday. The scary movies, the candy, the whole atmosphere of it. However, this time around, I just didn't feel it.  I stayed away from candy (okay, I had a few pieces), watched maybe a couple of scary movies with Gary, had a small get-together with friends, and that was about it. No costumes or anything; we didn't even stop at any Halloween stores this year. It just kind of passed by. Less spending in the long run, so that's always a good thing. And we missed our ward party this year. Of course, this was because I thought it was on a Friday night (the night we got together with friends), and discovered too late it was on Saturday. Whoops. The get-together was fun though. Gary and I rented out our theater and invited a group of friends/couples to watch a scary movie. We ate popcorn, amazing cupcakes, delicious spinach and artichoke dip, etc. Mmm. There were 10 of us, so seeing a movie in our apartment wasn't going to happen- so we used the theater instead- and thankfully got our full deposit back because we kept it so clean. :)

But November; November is different. A new spirit arrives. Halloween is gone and done, and now a more peaceful, cheerful, and uplifting presence shows itself. It's a happy month. Cold, but not as cold as December, January or February. Fall decorations start showing, stores begin their festivities and displays. It's just a happy month. So you know what? I'm choosing November.

I do have to admit I get a little annoyed at all the Christmas decorations and such. I know many people agree with me when I say this month should be about Thanksgiving. It's such an important holiday but seems to be lightly tread over because everyone becomes obsessed with Christmastime. Heck, I heard Christmas music in a store yesterday- I mean, really? Chill out, Sparky.

 

 You tell him, turkey!

 I'm excited about this month; I love seeing and being with my family. I love being able to truly count my blessings and find gratitude in everything. It's something I should be doing more often year-round, of course, but it feels so special this month. And let's definitely not forget to remember our pioneers and the suffering they went through for their families and our future.

 Anyway, I suppose I should start getting ready for church. It has been hecka-cold here and raining like crazy. But despite that, I am grateful for the changes as well!

 Just real quick, Gary and I decided to get something nice for ourselves (mostly him since I kind of "stole" the Nookbook). We bought the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet. It's pretty stinking awesome and can pretty much do everything (it's an ipad competitor, and we're not really Apple fans). We love it.

 

PS- Two new fitness updates and my argument with the scale.