Men & Their Garages

Why do men love the garage? To me, it is a place to park your car, store your tools, and dump junk in. It certainly isn’t a place that I would want to spend much time in. Steve, for some reason, enjoys organizing and reorganizing ours. He even takes everything out and sweeps or uses the wet/dry vac. A couple of weeks ago, he came home with cabinets for the garage. I can understand why he wanted them mainly because they were for free from work. The strange part is that he seemed so excited to have an excuse to reorganize. This makes no sense to me. There are a million tasks inside the house where the cool a/c is blowing, but he prefers the garage.

Lately, I have discovered that it is a normal male trait. My dad was a computer/book nerd, so this love of the garage isn’t something I am used to. A few weeks ago, I was at a party with a bunch of old friends from high school. One of our other friends (still a bachelor) put his house up for sale and the guys were talking about it. Basically, they said that they couldn’t believe he would sale his house because he has the most amazing garage and that he had dumped $8 grand into it. The house is great for many reasons, but for them to single out the garage made me laugh. He doesn't live near us, so I have only seen pictures in this link (Grand Garage). My impression of the garage was that it really clean and organized. However, a four car garage on a single story house seems a little silly to me, especially for a guy who lives there by himself.

I guess I have always assumed that the kind of guy that would LOVE a garage is one that is a mechanic or at least a recreational mechanic. I picture this kind of guy with a classic car that is being restored or has been restored. One of the guys even mentioned that he would like to spend a lot more time in his garage, but there are too many boxes he needs to clear out. I should probably mention that I wasn’t adding to the conversation or asking questions. They were all just going on & on about their love of garages. Steve fits right in with my old friends.

Maybe I am the strange one, but I just don’t see what could be so interesting about a plain old HOT garage. It makes me wonder if they want to use it for a refuge. It would make sense if they were trying to get out of the house away from their wives, but I don’t think that is the case. When the kids are sleeping, Steve often asks me to come out there and chat with him while he is working. One of the other guys is out there on Saturdays when his wife is running their smoothie shop, so I know he isn’t avoiding her. There is also the bachelor guy who doesn’t have anyone to hide from.

Does anyone know the answer? If not, I guess I’ll just have to assume it is some manly or primal type of activity.

Lucky Number Seven

Lucky for me, Del of My Relish Blog kindly decided to give me an “I LOVE THIS BLOG” award. I was very surprised & flattered, especially since she has such an interesting blog herself. For the past few days, I have been trying to come up with a mental list while I have been working on a huge project for work. My mind flips back and forth between the blog list and all the work things I need to do. You can easily guess which one I’d rather work on.

Unfortunately, it was not easy only picking seven. I had to leave out several of my favorites. I did follow the rules though. So, here it goes in alphabetical order:

Aerin’s Cranberry Blog
Aerin is always thought provoking, witty, and somehow manages working full time, taking care of her twins and dealing with her crazy large family.

Amyeliz
Amy simply cracks me up with her adventures in Miami, Utah, New York and other places.

Crazy Blogging Canuk
Amber is a talented writer who can make hiking, traveling, and the everyday adventures of a mom quite hilarious.

Death Chic
Stephanie is one of those people who just aren’t easy to sum up. She has so many diverse interests and talents including mortuary school, photography, running, and many other things.

Diva Tee’s Thoughts
The Diva is a working single chic with lots of fascinating experiences, people in her life, and thoughts.

The Princess and Johnsy
The Princess has two adorable daughters that I absolutely love and I know quite a few of the family members that she mentions from time to time. I’ve been able to meet up with her in person a few times. Did I mention that she is my husband’s cousin? I'm sure I would love reading her blog even if we weren't related.

Reformatting My Brain
RFM is a mom with two cute boys who runs a daycare out of her home, works part time, and still finds time to post.

There you have it ~ seven GREAT blogs.

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

My Kind of Art

Several times over the last few years, my mom has asked me what kind of art I like. She likes to go to art festivals and figured that she could pick something up for me. The problem is I don't particularly care for any type of style. Something just has to hit me. I don't have a lot of art because things just don't tend to stand out enough for me to want them on my walls. I do have a few photos of breath taking scenes though. Considering I was a geography major, I guess that makes sense. I also have lots of photos of my kids.

I think my mom might have given up on buying art for me this year. She just decided to draw some pictures for me. Guess what...she hit the nail on the head.




Now, I just have to nag my husband to hang them. I'd do it myself, but the carpenter in him is just TOO PICKY about using the right screws & leveling it off with a laser pointer, etc.

Creating Goddesses

When I moved here a year ago, I got to see one of my friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I was blown away at by her physique. She always had a nice body, but now EVERY muscle has distinct definition. She told me that she had hurt her knee and started physical therapy. Once it was over, she joined a gym and loves working out. She went on to tell me all about her gym and how much she enjoys it. She also mentioned that it costs about $100 a month.

I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but since then I have met several women (all moms) with the same type of AMAZING body (think Demi Moore in Charlie’s Angels – minus the boob job). All of them have praised the same wonderful gym that they can't stop raving about.

This last year, we have been involved in a play group that is filled with moms that have great bodies. In their case, it is a combination of having great genes and being exercise fanatics. Some of them are marathon runners and others just love spinning or yoga. It is no stretch to say that I have the WORST body there and I am just a normal/average sized person. I have found out that they all go to the same gym, but a different one than the goddesses. These women have the kind of bodies that I dream of having. It takes hard work, but seems obtainable. They look FABULOUS, but nothing compared to the goddesses.

With all of these amazing looking chics around me, I decided to start going to my gym. Jordan is old enough to go to the nursery now, so I figured it was time. It is a national gym that everyone has heard of. The closest one to me is brand new and very nice. While I enjoy it, I can’t help but notice that the people around me are an even slice of the population. It is nice to be surrounded by all different fitness levels, but I have to wonder what is going on at the other gyms.

I am tempted to get a tour of the gym where the goddesses work out to see if they do DNA screens before allowing someone to be a member, hypnotize people into becoming exercise freaks, have magic potions or all of the above. There just has to be something strange going on. Goddesses are not normal. …or could it be that anyone willing to pay $100 a month is bound to spend several hours a day there?

Nothing to Say

Every once in a while, I come to a point where I am tired of my blog. I don't have anything interesting to say (ok, so that hasn't stopped me before). TOO MUCH WORK and entertaining kids keeps me busy. I guess mainly I should admit that this week I am distracted by the newest book in the Twilight Series "Breaking Dawn." I have admitted on this blog that I am not an avid reader. I just don't make time for it. However, I started reading the first Twilight book soon after Jordan was born & certainly had to read the other two. Now, the newest one came out & is over 700 pages. It is sucking up (**it is a vampire book) all the extra energy & seconds of down time I once had. It will soon be over though and then life & blogging will resume.