Our last week at home

Right now Travis and I are in the process of going through our things and deciding what we absolutely must have to survive for the next eight months. We have to fit both of our wardrobes for all four seasons, kitchen, bath, bedroom stuff (including our bed, the trusty air mattress), baseball bags (two HUGE bags), and of course, golf clubs, all in our car. Luckily, we have a large gas guzzling SUV (despite how green I want to be, we just can't get rid of it yet), but it's still quite a challenge. You would think I would be a pro after three years of doing it, but I'm not. We are really trying to simplify and bring as little as possible, but we'll see.

I can not express how excited I am about spring training this year. This is the Reds first year out in Goodyear, AZ and I can't wait to get there. I've never been out west at all and can't wait to see everything. I hope we have lots of time for sightseeing (which probably won't happen, but I can dream). I can't even name what all I want to see and do while we're out there. I just want to experience it all. The Grand Canyon, Vegas, Sedona, anything and everything we can fit in, I want to.

I'm also looking forward to catching back up with all of the baseball girls. Kalee Maloney is heading up a book club for us. Our first book is "The Pilot's Wife" by Anita Shreve (which I ended up getting on Amazon for $5.48 with shipping!). I haven't started it yet, but I have a 20 hour car ride that I think I'll be able to finish it in. Kalee is also a personal trainer and plans on doing a boot camp with all of us. I'm super excited about it because I need motivation to work out. I was doing pretty good for about two weeks, and then failed miserably by letting life get in the way and just quit. Which is horrible, but I'm going to get on track when I get to AZ.

We have a busy last few days in Arkansas. Saturday is Travis's birthday and he's going fishing all day with his dad. If they catch a lot, I'm going to go with them Sunday morning. Then we have a Super Bowl party to go to that afternoon. We have dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousins Monday night. We have to go to by all of our families and say our goodbyes which is always hard. We're heading out Tuesday morning and should be in Phoenix Wednesday night. I'm making Travis take his time and stay the night along the way, which he is fighting, but I'm insisting.

The worst part for me is that we're not taking Abbi, our puppy, to spring training with us. I hate leaving her, but hopefully this will be the last year. She will stay with Travis's parents again. Hopefully she won't gain four pounds like she did last year, and they'll bring her up when they come to visit us at the beginning of the season.

I leave you with a few random pictures from the past few weeks.

Travis showing off his new suit

Bella trying to get a better view of the Crawfish Boil
We went bowling Tuesday night with some friends
Travis bowling a strike I'm sure

As you know, my husband is a huge hunter. He made me kill this poor squirrel. It was the first thing I've ever killed so he made me take a picture with it. I shot it out of a tree :( I now I'm smiling in this picture, but it's just so I could put the poor thing down. I was really sad about this.

Crawfish in the snow, yes please!

Travis decided he wanted to have a big cookout before we leave for spring training. We normally have some sort of big gathering/going away party where we get our friends together one last time. He wanted to try out a new way to cook his duck (which I didn't get any pictures of because it was gone too quick, but it was amazing) and his friends decided they wanted crawfish. None of them had cooked crawfish before, but we had a savior who owns his own restaurant that specializes in catfish, and now he's also serving crawfish. Check Travis Hester out at Eatmycatfish.com or go by and try it out first hand. Eat My Catsfish is located in the Benton Wal Mart parking lot. He makes his own seasoning for the crawfish, and it was absolutely amazing. Sooo spicy, and sooo good.
The day before our cookout we had a bit of an ice storm and even SNOW! I was so excited because every year we seem to miss out on the snow. This year I've seen snow twice, but this was the first time there was a little bit left the next day. So we made a fire and pigged out. It was really a great time and I think we may have started a new tradition!

Mouthwatering

My outfit for the day. Camo was the only thing warm enough.

Everyone pigging out

Enjoying the fire

Sweet, sweet husband

I came home from work one day and found the bedroom completely clean, all of the laundry clean and put away, and these wonderful flowers, card, and stuffed animal. And before you ask, no, he didn't do anything wrong, he was just doing something sweet.

Oprah, you've disappointed me

I recently came across a Facebook group banding together against Oprah because on one of her shows she said that it would be fine to tip 10% while dining out because of the poor economy. Let me just say, no matter what state the economy is in, tipping less is not the answer (unless you've just been an obscene tipper). If you have never waited tables, it is not easy. Servers work very, very hard. No, it's not challenging mentally, but it requires someone to be on their toes, be aware of every one's needs, and to have the stomach to deal with the complainers (that's really the hardest part). I have waited tables during the off seasons for 3 years, and let me tell you, every dollar I make is well earned. Servers make less than $3 an hour before taxes! So tips are their income. Also, servers normally must tip out a percentage of their sales to bartenders/hosts/kitchen/table bussers. So if someone comes in and tips me 10% I have to tip out 3%, so I've made 7%. Normally, someone sits at a table for at least an hour. Say their tab is $40, I've just made $2.80 for an hour! Woohoo, take that straight to the bank. Not only did I make $2.80, but you just took up a table from someone that could have been a great tipper. Then, there are those people that tip nothing at all and then I literally have to pay to wait on them. Yes, if you do not tip your server, they still have to pay that tip out. Now I'm not saying that a server always deserves 20%, but if you've had good service, not had to wait on anything, then you need to tip adequately. Just imagine waiting on 12 people at once, all needing refills, ranch, more napkins, etc. all at different times. Also, look around you. If your server is extremely busy because maybe someone called in and their section is double what it's supposed to be, but they are truly working as hard as they can to take care of everyone, make sure you're aware of that. There have been times during Razorback football games that I have been waiting on over 100 people by myself. If people follow Oprah's policy, all of the good servers are going to leave the industry, everyone is going to get bad service, or restaurants will have to raise prices to compensate and pay the servers more. Neither of which is good, so just tip accordingly for the service you are given.

An unsuccessful day at the track...

Yesterday Travis and I went to the horse races in Hot Springs with several of my friends from work. We had a great time, but we left broke, only cashing in two tickets the entire day. One for $40 and one for $12 (I picked the horse for that ticket!) It was a great time getting to hang out with everyone and we don't ever take more money than we would be sad to lose, so better luck next time I guess. The weather was perfect for the races because I personally like to stand outside and yell for my horse. I was sure the louder I yelled, the better my horse would perform (obviously, I was wrong). After the eighth race, we were tired of losing, so we decided to go check out the gaming room Oaklawn offers. There are no actual casinos in Arkansas, and the closest thing we get is Oaklawn's gaming room. They offer slot machines, black jack, and poker. It's all computerized though, so it's legal somehow. I don't really get it. I played the slot machines because that's all I know how to do and lost $20 within about 15 minutes so I gave up on gambling for the day. Travis went and tried his luck at the black jack tables, but once again, left empty handed. Oh well. It was a fun day.

Now for a long gripe:

On our way to the horse track Travis texted his workout/throwing partner Cliff Lee to tell him he wouldn't be working out till much later and Cliff told him he was going to the track too. Cliff played with the Indians and won a Cy Young award (highest award for a pitcher), got traded to the Phillies and won 2 games in the World Series, and just recently got traded to the Mariners. So needless to say, over the past two years, he's become quite a big deal especially in the Saline County area. While we were at the races, several people came up and wanted to get their pictures taken with him. He agreed to every single one of them. Now, he's not at the races making an appearance. He's there to have a good time and hang out with his friends, but he signed and took pictures with everyone that asked. A guy came over and asked if his girlfriend could take a picture of them, Cliff said sure. Today I get on facebook and the picture is posted and a friend of mine had commented on it (the girlfriend went to high school with me, and her photos weren't set to private so I could see it) under the photo the caption says "Jeremy with Cliff Lee (he's a rick jerk btw)." How dare you. I was standing there the entire time, and Cliff was not a jerk. He agreed to take the picture. No, he didn't have much small talk for the guy. But we were all standing there in the middle of trying to decide what horses to bet on the next race. He's not at a baseball camp, or anything to do with baseball. He's in the middle of what little personal time he does have, leave him alone. I know he's a professional baseball player and he's a "big deal" to some people, but he still deserves to be able to go out with friends and be left alone. And if you don't leave him alone and you do interrupt what he's doing, and he does take the time to take a picture with you, how dare you say he's rude.

Sorry to rant for so long, but it just hit a nerve.

P90X: Round Two

And by round two, I don't mean I've already finished the 90 day program and I'm coming back for 90 more days. I mean I'm trying to finish a full 90 days. I completed two full weeks back when I started, but then life happened, and I got behind on my workouts and just quit. You have a specific workout for six days and then rest on the seventh, but if something would come up I would just double up workouts. Then I got a few days behind and there was no way I was going to be able to do four P90X workouts in a day, and I just gave up on it. This time around I just have to make time for it. Whether that means getting up before work, or suffering through a workout after...NO EXCUSES. This time I plan on at least making it until we leave for spring training, and then I can start running again. I'll be bringing the dvds just in case I feel motivated to continue the program, so be prepared Lisa. I'll even bring along my extra yoga mat :)
I'm excited to get to spring training because all of the girls are so motivating. Everyone's in such great shape, many of them are personal trainers and very into working out. When Lisa and I lived together last spring training, she always made me get out and run. She was an athlete in college and still has that drive I guess. I just don't have it. I want to have it, and once I get started I can motivate myself, but this cold weather really makes it hard for me to get motivated. What are y'alls motivations for working out?
I really, really want to run a marathon one day, and I'm definitely thinking the sooner the better. I mean, I'm not getting any younger. But when I'm running I always get to the 2 or 3 mile mark and just bottom out. What are your motivations to get past that slump, to add more reps, or more weight, or add distance, etc? I don't know what to tell myself to get past it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Pictures from Silver Dollar City

Silver Dollar City at Christmas has to be one of the best places on Earth. The lights are absolutely beautiful. The tree at the front of the park has lights that dance to Christmas songs every 15 min., there's a parade, good shows, and wonderful hot chocolate.