Facebook According to Real Simple

I have a subscription to Real Simple magazine. I have had several magazine subscriptions over the years (Seventeen, you'll be missed...) but my favorite by far has been the one Matt got for me this year, Real Simple. I've gotten a lot of recipe and decorating ideas from it, and overall just good advice. There was an article that I have to share parts of with you titled "Social Disgrace" because it's sooo true! I love Facebook, especially now that every one from college and family has gone their own separate ways and it's a great way to keep in contact and just know what's going on. Well, on the other side, some people just act a fool on Facebook and it needs to be stopped! Actually, it's sort of entertaining, but also saddening. So here's some highlights from the article:

What's the most annoying kind of Facebook update?
24%- Intentionally vague posts meant to generate concern and attention; aka vaguebooking "Jennifer wonders whether it's all been worth it" or my personal favorite "Some people really make me so upset and they're not worth my time" OR OR "I'm going to quit Facebook"- where they try to get people to tell them not to. Then a month later they're back. And then they delete it again! Make up your mind. we're not calling you off the ledge here. It's not that big of a deal.

20%- Chronic complaining
19%- Meaningless calls to action "If you want to fight world hunger, put the color of your socks as your status update for the next half hour. I want to see who is brave enough to take a stand"
Don't even get ME started
14%- Over sharing. Like when people tell the world about the details of their divorce. Or their labor. With pictures Up to the minute.
13%- Miscellaneous posts including polarizing religious beliefs or political statements, indecipherable txt spk, and game updates. Want a one way ticket to being defriended by Shanna? Ask me to join FarmVille.
10%- Posting too frequently. "12:03 Chicken salad or tuna? 12:10 Chicken it is! Thanks for the input!"

A note of vulgarity:

"If it's not something that you would say on national TV, the best strategy is not to post it. Dozens of survey responses specifically mentioned swearing as a turnoff... For R-rated commentary, use the messenger"

Did you know that the average user has 130 friends?

Photos we would rather not see:

Multiple PDA photos
Every single one of the 3668 blurry shots that you took of the Grand Canyon
What you are eating/are about to eat/ have eaten (I'm not sure I agree with this one)
Self portraits in the bathroom mirror (AMEN!)
Inebriated people
Shirtless people
Endless baby pictures
Profile pictures of pets, cartoon characters, or anything that isn't the person in the picture (I say to each his own on this one)
Duck Face (guilty)

I'm not saying that I'm not guilty of some of these things (especially when I was younger), but I think I have around 700 facebook "friends" and I and everyone else need to think twice about what we're putting out there. I really try to live by the rule, "Would this compromise a political career one day?" I really think the party of Shanna is going to catch on one day, and I need to be prepared when that comes around.

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A Shout Out to the Moms

Like I've said before, my Christmas break has been 40 days. I go back to school on Monday and it's kind of a bummer. I like school but I love being home doing what I want to. The thing is, normally I would think, "40 days! That's so long! I would be so bored!" I haven't been bored for a moment. I seem to constantly have tasks to do. Since school is starting next week, I am trying to take care of my personal stuff in the morning and then start reading for my classes in the afternoon. I never get to complete everything! I was thinking about it this morning. I started straightening things up, got some laundry going and decided to work on a task that I have been avoiding for a long time. Ya see, Pistol is a chewer.

I present exhibit A:

This is the infamous baby duck that landed Pistol an over night trip to the emergency vet. Not only was it extremely expensive, but it was heart breaking. I was faced with the possibility of losing my dog (he ate a LOT of stuffing and it could have caused major problems in his intestines) and I realized that I was forever changed by this little creature.

Since this episode, Pistol is no longer allowed to have toys with stuffing in them. Turns out he's not the first canine with this problem so we have been able to buy him substitutes. However, he STILL chews on them and tries to get the squeaker out. So we have a little collection of toys that need to be sewn back together. I sat down this morning and took on the task. I am terrible at sewing. I just imagined myself sewing little Halloween costumes in the future and I just can't imagine it! Store bought it is!

But I tell you all of this because it seems like I have endless tasks to do every day and I'm off, free to do what I want. I keep thinking about moms. Pistol demands so much of my time and attention- but a child!?! Perhaps multiple children! Some people are fortunate enough to be stay at home moms-but geez. I imagine that they stay busy all stinkin day. It's hard enough to keep this house clean with the two of us. Kids are so messy! And there are moms every day that keep their lives together with kids. They are super humans. THEN. THEN there are moms who work full time. Holy Moly. My mom worked full time and kept everything together and I just can't figure out how she did it. Joe and I made it to school (pretty) clean, with a lunch, came home to a snack every day and well, survived in general. How did she do it?!? She kept the house clean, we even ate dinner at home every  night.

So if you're a mom- I just want you to know that I think you're amazing. Your house might not be clean all the time. You might have fruitloops in your hair. Your kid may be a total spaz that jumps off things and writes on the wall. But if you've kept yourself and your little spaz alive, then any other accomplishment is a total bonus and makes you that much more superhuman.

One day we will probably have a little spaz of our own, and I'm going to need your advice. Until then, I need to go read so I can graduate and get a cool job where my spaz can be taken care of if he/she needs me. Professor jobs are where it's at. I hope.

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The Trouble with Blogging

The trouble with blogging is kind of like scrap booking. You just get so far behind that you stop getting excited about it and then you put it off. Or at least that is my experience. I always have my best ideas for blogs at the most inconvenient times like when I'm sleeping or driving. I made a list of things I was going to do during my break from school- so let's look 'em over and see how I'm doing:

1. Clean off the DVR. Hello Glee, Biggest Loser, Sister Wives, 19 Kids and Counting, and Greys Anatomy. I've missed you
I've done a FANTASTIC JOB. Tip Top. Not sure how proud I am of this though...


2. Eat dinner with my husband EVERY NIGHT
I believe I have spent one night away from Matt since I've been on break and it has been truly wonderful. It's going to make it that much harder to go back to school.

3. Sleep in my bed for more than 4 consecutive days

Done and Done! But barely. We have traveled to soo much (Christmas and the Fiesta Bowl) that I have just barely achieved this goal.
4. Wrap presents
I wrapped my little heart out. Every gift was wrapped with love. I hate that wrapping is SO wasteful and I love it [wrapping] so much. For the record- yes wrapping paper is recyclable- but you do have to take the tape off


5. Bake Christmas goodies like a mad woman

This was a ton of fun. Once again my aunt showed me up, but I am just going to have to learn her amazing ways.
6. Exercise. Remember when I "pledged" to lose a pound in November? I was totally full of it! Zumba, here I come!
Have been going to the YMCA more- but would like to kick it up another notch. I rented Dance Party 3 on the Wii. You MUST MUST MUST try this game. It's too much fun!


7. Read just because I want to. Any recommendations?
Started reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and I'm addicted. The movie was pretty close to the book, which was good because it's so irritating when it goes in a whole other direction. However, this book/movie deals with some dark topics so I have to read in small doses.

8. Go watch Breaking Dawn. Again. By Myself.

FAIL! They only play it twice here in the evenings and Matt draws the line at going with me twice. He does have a work dinner next week... so I just might go. I also got an email from Amazon that you can pre-order it. Comes out Feb 11th. Woo!
9. Cuddle with my puppy.
You have no idea. He may have to start coming to school with me. He's the sweetest little creature I have ever met.

10. Sleep in.
If you call 8:30 sleeping in, then YES!

11. Build fires in the chimney.
It's been kind of warm for the break (except for snowing twice- why is Midland so confused about weather??). We have put on a couple of fires- but I could totally go for more.

12. Christmas SHOP

Check.
13. Catch up on Redbox movies

Check-ish. We rented Hanna the other night and it was really good. Go check it out!

14. Craft- Thank you Pinterest
Not even a little. For some reason I'm having a hard time getting expired. I went to visit Lo and she created a whole house full of awesome projects. Maybe I'll go to Hobby Lobby later. Thanks for reminding me!

15. Finally update my journal. About the wedding. Whoops.
Still no- geez!

16. Work on some photo projects I've been putting off.

I basically did the exact opposite of this when I dropped my camera at the Fiesta Bowl and now need it to be repaired.
I did make an awesome calendar with photos for the family for Christmas which I am pretty proud of =)
17. Spend time with friends
I could always use more of this, but it's been a lot better with having time off and the holidays

18. Find fun ways to spend time with Matt.
We've been doing all kinds of fun stuff. I even let him talk me into going to Lowes (I HATE Lowes. I get to bored). Question- do you think that kitchens and bathrooms should have fixtures on the cabinets and drawers?? I say no- he says yes. Help!

19. Clean my house until it sparkles. I love a clean home.
Too legit to quit.

20. Whatever I want. All day. Every day. For 40 days.
Check!!! This break has been AMAZING!!!!!

Now I need to get serious about preparation for school. I'll try to throw in a few blog posts in the mean time. I've been cooking like a mad woman and there's some recipes that I need to share. I was going to do a review of 2011- but I feel like there's a statute of limitations on how late you can do a year in review and still have people interested... so I may have to pass. Or maybe not. We'll see!

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First Married Christmas!

We're finally home and have everything in order from our first Christmas as a married couple. It was really nice, and so busy! So much to do, so little time!! Matt and I are weak so we exchanged one gift at home and did our stockings before we headed out of town. Last year he got me a zoom lens for my camera, and this year he got me an external flash. Woo!! So I used my lens (on Friday) that I rarely get to use and took some pictures of the buffalo at the Wichita Mountains Wild Life Refuge on our way to see Grady, Erin, and new baby Ralph. 

Erin and Grady are committed to producing foods that are Sustainable to the earth and the human diet. They had a whole operation going and it's fascinating to listen to them talk about it. They both interned at Polyface Farms in Virginia (Have you seen Food Inc? The farm is featured in the documentary). This farm is where Grady and Erin met. Due to the drought and a huge fire on their farm, Grady and Erin are going to go back to Polyface for a while and pursue the work that they're passionate about. I sincerely hope that we go visit them, it sounds like an excellent opportunity!

Erin and 7 week old Ralph. It should be noted that I think Erin may be the nicest person I have ever met. Oh, you thought it was you?? Ah well, this is awkward. I'm sure you come in a close second, but seriously, this chick just beams with kindness. I wish I were more like her.

 Ralph and I are cuddling. He smells like a baby. His little chubby cheeks make my heart melt. It's so sweet.

Saturday was Christmas Eve. I'm going to let you in on a little family tradition of my family's. It's a game, that I guess is called "Christmas Eve Gift." We've played it my entire life. This is how Christmas Eve Gift goes. On Christmas Eve, if I see you first, I say "CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT!" and I then "got you" first, so you have to give me a gift on Christmas Eve. You can't get someone after they get you. You're gotten. Time to pony up a gift. And it can't be the gift that you were already going to give them for Christmas. Usually, this is a small gift. Like.. a scratch off lottery ticket. A bottle of body spray. Socks. See what I mean? Like a $1-$10 thing. It's fun. You and your family should try it. We don't own the rights to Christmas Eve Gift. It's all yours.

Well Matt decided to up the Ante this year on the Christmas Eve Gift. It was hilarious that I beat him though. I laid in bed waiting for him to get up and go to the bathroom or something. Eventually I look over and he's checking his email on his blackberry, so I lean over and whisper in his ear, "CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT!!!". He was so mad. For like half an hour. He was mad because he had been pretending to sleep for about half an hour waiting on ME to get up. So he got mad at me for doing to him what he was trying to do to me. I got a Keurig. Woo!

 And just in case you were wondering, yes those are my footie pajamas from our Christmas card this year. So what? They're so comfy!

 I got Matt a board game (it's fun!) even though he didn't win just so we could play. He got his mom so she got him socks. I'm getting the in-laws involved! Except Roger. He just ignored me when I tried to get him.

Lisa some how schemed Roger into letting her have her gift early (a lime green Kitchen Aid mixer). She's doing her "Shanna Smile". She thinks she's clever! Let me tell you a little secret about being in a picture. If you want it to come out well, you gotta smile like you mean it. Seriously. You can go ahead and do that half smile thing without showing your top teeth if you want, but don't come running to me saying you never look good in pictures. Don't shoot the messenger, I just calls em like I sees em.

So my in-laws did Christmas on Christmas Eve because we had to go to my parent's house on Christmas day.

Here's Ian admiring Auntie Shanna's handy work on his gift. Oh my Auntie Shanna, look at this bow work. Is my gift talking to me? We gotta get this thing open!

 Ian is the most serious child I know. He's so sweet though. (Ian is our nephew).

OH! And I forgot to mention my awesome Christmas sweater. I saved this from Lisa's garage sale a couple of years ago.

 Check out the detail! My mom bought me the "Santa Baby" pin.

 And here's the icing on the cake. Little hair clips. Who's got Christmas spirit? This girl.


We went to my parent's house for Christmas day. I had a picture of them and it somehow disappeared and  Blogger gives me picture issues sometimes so I can't get it back. Anyway, my aunt and my cousins came over for dinner. We haven't spent Christmas day with them in a really long time, and it was such a blessing to have us all together in one place. Ahhh- the holidays. Don't they just warm your heart?

 This is my cousin Khi. My parents got him this crazy stuffed dog that's about 8X bigger than him. He LOVED it. Loved it.

And finally here's Joe and I. He's planning to go to OSU next year, so we have to get him accustomed to our rituals. Go Pokes!

Hope your holidays were wonderful. Can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2011. It's safe to say it was the best year of my life. For that I am very grateful and can't wait to see what 2012 holds!

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Is Santa Taking Applications?

Is Santa Taking Applications? Because I'm about to start charging an "elving" fee. I love Christmas and I just can't help myself but be super involved in all of the happenings of the season. Not only have I done all of our Christmas shopping, wrapped every present with care (including hand made- yes I said HAND MADE BOWS!!!), baked with every ounce of Christmas spirit that I have in me, but I've also shopped for other people and sent out ideas a plenty for gifting ideas to keep every one happy. It may sound like I am complaining a little bit, but the truth is I live for this stuff.

I've been on break for a week now and I have loved every minute. I've cleaned off a lot of the DVR, as promised. I finished up my shopping. I've spent quality time with my husband. I even got to see my little Lo Lo last weekend! Last night we went to visit our friends Lonnie and Sara, and I got the chance to make up this holiday treat that was actually inspired by Matt.

I really just wanted an excuse to use this dish that we got as a wedding gift and I wanted to make something Christmas-y. So I used green apples, red apples, green grapes, strawberries, and marachino cherries and I layered them with cool whip in between each layer. I crumbled up vanilla wafers and put them in the bottom and the top to give some texture. It was deeeeelicious. And, not so full of guilt like a typical pie or something. Great food and great fellowship. 2 of my favorite things!

Continued to the next day...

Yesterday was a day and a half. I felt like superwoman, or at least got a dose of what Santa goes through every year with all of the last minute hustle and bustle in preparation for the big day. There’s little that I love more than going on a trip and then coming home to a nice clean home. So I got after it. All of the laundry in the house got washed (including all of the sheets). I mopped the floor. I vacuumed. I put everything in its place. Then, I took the box from the Craftsman toolbox that Matt got from his parents for Christmas and put it in the trunk. I then played Tetris with the Christmas gifts and strategically placed them so they wouldn’t crush the other gifts, OR smash any of my perfect (ish) hand-made bows. I’ve never been good at making bows, but somehow I figured it out this year. I honestly think that how the package looks it almost as important as what’s in the package. People like personal, pretty gifts. It’s a fact. Go look it up. In the words of my good friend Siva, “Google it, B****.” We have to be careful what we say around Siva, he picks things up quickly. (Siva is my friend in the Poli Sci program with me at Tech. He is from India and is often tickled by our American expressions. Just for the record, I didn’t teach him that one). Anyway, so I cleaned the house, packed the “sleigh,” and then I baked.

Have you heard of the website pinterest ? I have a conspiracy theory that Hobby Lobby actually invented Pinterest, because seriously, think about what their sales have to be since the development of the website. It’s out of control! Raise your hand if you have made something from Pinterest. Maybe soon I’ll do a blog dedicated to my Pinterest projects .Anyway, there’s also good cooking ideas on Pinterest. My roommate made these awesome chocolate toffee dessert things She said the recipe was on her Pinterest board “The Fat Lady Inside Me.” This thing doesn’t have many ingredients and so I decided to go for it. I should have taken pictures of what unfolded but I really couldn’t bring myself to add insult to injury. Plus, I was dealing with a crisis. I guess I had too many crackers on one tray, and there weren’t lips to the baking sheet. I don’t really know what happened, but I had this liquid caramel toffee stuff running into the bottom of my oven at a rate I couldn’t control. The smell also wasn’t fantastic. I sort of recovered some of my treat, but they don’t really look like what my roommate made. The good news is that I conquered the milestone of purchasing my first can of oven cleaner and now my oven is cleaner than I had started. That’s good news, right?

Check out all of the goodies that I made! This tray is for my Aunt. Making Christmas candy reminds me of my grandma, which I guess is why I’m so determined to do it every year despite all of the disasters. My aunt also makes Christmas candy every year and she always shows me up. I’m just glad I have someone to look up to and learn from.

I also made some treats for both sets of families.

Matt and I also did our stockings last night because we’re weak. Our Christmas day is going to be all over creation, so we wanted to do our stockings together. Here’s the pictures of our loot! Sooo fun!

 

PS- this is what I look like after a long day of cleaning. My apologies.

Pistol also got his! He got a rawhide candy cane that’s almost as big as he is. He keeps trying to hide it from us like we’re going to take it away from him.

Then to top it all off, I made my very first pot roast. I had to start it at 8:30 a.m. and it was finally done around 7:00 p.m. Turns out that Matt isn’t crazy about pot roast (who knew???). I thought it was delicious. We completed the meal with some of our leftovers from my holiday fruit dish. Yum!

Hope your holidays are happy and safe!

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Top Lists are Back!

I'm going to hang up my football commentary for a little while. Someone in my office said that he was really sad that there wouldn't be much college football for the next month. I said, "I'm not!" It's been a lot of fun, but I'm a little worn out. Are there even other channels outside of ESPN? I wouldn't even know these days...

You know what I noticed the other day?? I have 20 followers! In the past I have done an ode to my followers as my count has increased in the form of a top list. So I'm going to do:

The Top 20 Things I'm Going to Do When These Rotten Finals are Over
(In no particular order)
((Why I am bloggin during finals?? I'm having writers block on a project so I'll come back to it))

1. Clean off the DVR. Hello Glee, Biggest Loser, Sister Wives, 19 Kids and Counting, and Greys Anatomy. I've missed you
2. Eat dinner with my husband EVERY NIGHT
3. Sleep in my bed for more than 4 consecutive days
4. Wrap presents
5. Bake Christmas goodies like a mad woman
6. Exercise. Remember when I "pledged" to lose a pound in November? I was totally full of it! Zumba, here I come!
7.  Read just because I want to. Any recommendations?
8. Go watch Breaking Dawn. Again. By Myself.
9. Cuddle with my puppy.
10. Sleep in.
11. Build fires in the chimney.
12. Christmas SHOP
13. Catch up on Redbox movies
14. Craft- Thank you Pinterest
15. Finally update my journal. About the wedding. Whoops.
16. Work on some photo projects I've been putting off.
17. Spend time with friends
18. Find fun ways to spend time with Matt.
19. Clean my house until it sparkles. I love a clean home.
20. Whatever I want. All day. Every day. For 40 days.

Can't Wait!

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Bandwagon Fans Need Not Apply

Welp, the big game has come and gone. Of course I’m referring to Bedlam. Where OSU and OU go head to head and dole out bragging rights for the next year. What’s a little interesting is who actually gets the bragging rights. Is there really a “we” when you didn’t attend the university? Maybe never even saw the town where the university resides? I mean, there’s a few exceptions. You can be a die hard fan if you didn’t go to the school, I’ll give you that. But I think that to be “die hard” you have to do a little more than contribute to the university through a couple of t-shirt sales throughout the year. If you’re going to talk the talk, you need to go ahead and walk the walk. For example, my mother-in-law didn’t go to OSU, but after 30ish seasons of OSU football attendance (and I mean attendance, not watching on TV), and sending three kids there, I’m not going to try to take that away from her. She earned her “we” in a pretty serious way. But this is all really just a side note and some ramblings that have been wandering around in my head for a while.


The truth is, I really didn’t have the time to go to Bedlam this weekend. It could not have fallen on a more terrible weekend! What happened to Thanksgiving weekend? You know, the one where we’re already in town?? I just looked at my odometer and it says 12824.9 and we bought the car at the end of July. We’re dedicated. Well Matt is, He’d go with or without me (and actually did for the K-State game!). This week is finals week and it’s going to be a trip, but how could I justify missing the biggest game in OSU history? How would I explain that to my kids? So we packed up early Friday morning and headed to God’s country (I sincerely miss Oklahoma). We got to watch Joe play the first home game of his senior year, where I thankfully held it together (if you think I’m proud of the Cowboys… let me tell you how proud I am of that kid). They won! Great start to the weekend (furthermore, my Aunt came so that was a bonus!).

Then it’s time to head to Stillwater. My little brother is planning to attend OSU and went with some people from Inola to go to the game. He watched it at the tent at Eskimo Joes. What a game for his first OSU football experience! Wish he could have actually been there. Next year though! He’ll probably be one of those nuts in the freezing cold painting their bodies orange. I’ll be so proud. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings (is there a better game day location?) and met up with my cousin and her friend. We decorated Pistol in his best game day attire and walked around campus where it was confirmed that we have the cutest dog on the planet. He even did his infamous trick! Pistol, would you rather be a Sooner or a dead dog? Then he rolls over and plays dead. He's so smart.

We met up with Matt’s parents and headed to the game. The nerves started setting in. But at lunch my cousin had told me so matter-of-fact-ly, “We’re going to win.” No questions about it. She had made up her mind and our bad attitudes weren’t going to help the situation. So I decided to take her lead. So we took our seats and watched senior night and thought about how much the season had meant to us. Those guys, win or lose, had worked their behinds off and played with nothing but determination and heart.

Now, let’s talk about what happened after that. I struggle with my thoughts on OU and typically feel that the actual people of OU are pretty decent and it’s their rotten fans that are in no way affiliated with the school that give them a bad rap. One of my bridesmaids was an OU graduate and her husband made an excellent point that people in Oklahoma treat OU as their pro team because we don’t have one. See? Rational people. Great people. Well, I read an article in the O’Colly this week that was in the OU newspaper that was nothing short of arrogant and rude which made me think that maybe I’m giving OU too much credit. THEN, before the game started, OU came out and ran all the way down to our end zone where our players were about to come out. They kneeled down to what seemed like praying (but why would that in our end zone? Isn’t prayer kind of a personal thing and a humbling experience before the Lord? Isn’t respect the point?). Maybe they always do that (Matt edits me), but I don’t get it. THEN after their [fake?] prayer, they move themselves in front of the gate where our players were about to come in, I guess to make a statement. Well I hope the statement was, I just wanna give you a good look at my face before you whip our behind. The arrogance! Why, why, why can’t OU be classy? WHY???????? I want to like them! I want to be one of those, I always root for Oklahoma people, but if they keep giving me reasons not to, then why would I? I was just appalled from the get-go and that’s 100% on them.

We all know how the game turned out, and it was the most fun game that I have ever, ever been to. I am so blessed that I got the opportunity to be there. Watch the goal posts come down. Sing the Alma Mater with my family in unison with 50,000+ people. That’s a memory I’ll never forget.

The next 7 days are going to be miserable. I have a mountain of work to do. But you know, I’ll always have work to do and experiences like this only come along every once in a great while.

But I don’t think I speak for just myself when I say, listen Sooner fans. Don’t give up on “your” team. You stand by them and be who you need to be. Here at Oklahoma State University, we uphold a standard that you’ll never understand and frankly, we don’t want you to.

See ya next year.

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