Go Cardinals!

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Reuter may be cheering for the Steelers...

But, I have to go with my hometown roots and cheer for Chike Okeafor!

I am friends with his little sister on Facebook and she has been posting stuff all week about going to the Superbowl. That would be sweet!

My mom is even interested in the game now that she knows Chike is in it. (Usually she somehow doesn't even know that there IS a game happening.) She once had to break up a fight between Chike & one of her students in high school. I can't imagine who would have been dumb enough to think it was a good idea to challenge that guy!

Lauren's Latest Country Music

1. Jason Michael Carroll - "Where I'm From" I heard this song for the first time on Tuesday and thought it was pretty good! Last night when Lee got home from class, he went straight to the laptop to look up a song. Turns out, it was this one.

I said I'm from the front pew of a wooden church
The courthouse clock still don't work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers' maiden names
It may not sound like much
But its where I'm from

2. Joey & Rory - "Cheater Cheater" This song I just heard last night. I was laughing out loud at it. You may remember Joey & Rory from the CMT show Can you Duet. We can all relate because we all know some no good white trash ho's...

Now I'm not one to judge someone that I ain't never met
But to lay your hands on a married man's bout as low as a gal can get
Hey I wish her well as she rots in hell and you can tell her I said so
Cheater cheater where'd you meet that no good white trash ho

3. Kenny Chesney - "Down the Road" I have mentioned before that I have a love hate relationship with Kenny Chesney's music. So, after his STUPID song "Everybody Wants to go to Heaven", it makes sense that he would come out with a song I love. It makes me think of Lee & Reuter who married only children and are now ready to have baby girls of their own. (Awww)

When I was a boy
Four houses down from me
Was a family with an only child
She was the only girl
In this whole world that could make me smile
Down the road
I made up reasons to go
Down the road

A couple days late, but...

Happy anniversary to Mich & Reuter!

I dont take my whiskey to extremes
Dont believe in chasin crazy dreams
My feet are planted firmly on the ground
But darlin when you come around
I get carried away by the look by the light in your eyes
Before I even realize the ride Im on
Baby Im long gone
I get carried away nothin matters but bein with you
Like a feather flyin high up in the sky on a windy day
I get carried away

*Sorry this was late. I haven't been able to figure out what day it is all week! *

Fubar disowns me as a friend...

Taco Bell came out with a new gordita recently. As expected, Fubar rushed out to have one... And loved it! As a fellow Taco Bell enthusiast, he wanted me to check it out as well.

It took me a few weeks since my po-dunk town doesn't have a Taco Bell, but I finally got to check it out while in Lafayette last weekend.

The verdict?

I was not a fan. I was just as shocked as anyone! I mean, Taco Bell, cheese, bacon? What's not to like. Another shocker, I thought it was TOO bacon-y. Never thought I would say those words either.

I texted Fubar to tell him the disappointing news. He wrote back and broke off our friendship via text message.

So, in the future, I will stick with the best Taco Bell foods:
1. The cheesy gordita crunch
2. The beef mexi-melt
3. The crunchy taco

Sorry Fubar!

Lauren just can't get into the Bachelor

Sorry folks, but I just couldn't get into the Bachelor this season. Something odd has been happening to me. I only managed to watch one episode of the destined-to-be-douchey show Mama's Boys... Normally I would have suffered through the entire season questioning my sanity and the intelligence of everyone on the show. And now, the Bachelor can't keep my interest? I'd like to say I'm maturing, but I'm sure that's not it. I think having to share the tv with Lee has made me cut down my tv watching and other shows are just more important to me! Oh, and the Comcast ordeal didn't help things either.

So, no Bachelor updates here... Please check Fubar's blog for recaps!

Oh, but you will be able to find some Biggest Loser updates here. I'm still in love with that show!

Our bathroom enters the 20th century

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Yup, that's a sink... Running water, SWEET! (There is a faucet on it now too.)

And a toilet!

Oh, and the walls are painted and the tile grouted. It's really a bathroom now and not just a tiled closet!

And it is awesome for those 2am, 4am, 6am trips to the bathroom when the baby mistakes my bladder for a moonwalk. (You know, those bouncy things kids jump in?)

SURPRISE!

This Saturday was my mom's surprise party! My mom has a knack for ruining every surprise. I mean, this is a woman who guesses each of her Christmas presents (usually correctly) before opening them. She can be a pain in the butt!

Things had gone well with the planning so far. Lee and I snuck into town early on Saturday to pick up mom's cake (german chocolate, yum!). We got it from the same woman that made our wedding cakes. She makes an AWESOME cake and only charges $20 for a sheet cake! We hid it in the back of our SUV. Seemed like a good plan...

So, we are finally on our way over to Burlington for my mom's party. The problem is, my mom is always early, so we realized we were going to end up getting to the party way too early. Not good when you are bringing the guest of honor to a surprise party! So, I told Lee to drive REALLY slow on the way over.

At one point during the drive over, Lee turned a corner and we heard the spare tire go smashing down in the back of the Explorer. OH F___K. I just knew that it had landed on the cake. Lee and I just shared an "Oh crap" glance and my mom was suspicious. When we got to the restaurant, we discovered that the cake had been saved by a big bag of dog food for Lee's brother's dog. Thank goodness!

So, we get to the restaurant 20 minutes early. Man, I hope there are already people here!

There were!

My mom now claims that she knew all along that it was happening, but I don't buy it. She was surprised there at the beginning! Some of my mom's friends had brought gag gifts for her big 50th birthday. There was lots of beer drank, and someone even bought her a shot! She only did 1/2 the shot (it runs in the family), but it was pretty funny just the same!
Here are some other pics from the night:

My mom's friend Laurie (and the woman I'm named after) tries on an adult diaper that was given to my mom. Interesting story about my namesake, her name is actually Lauren Leigh. So she was pretty pumped when I ended up with a Lee.

The ladies of the family (minus a few).

The dudes of the family (also minus a few).

My mom poses with her granddaughter-to-be. She is pumped that they are going to be 50 years apart. Something about being born in a year ending with 9 being cool... I don't know, sounds like a stretch to me!

Seriously, is it spring yet?

I am sooooooo ready...

To see my yard again!

And to be done freezing my butt off!

Hurry up SPRING!

A little late but...

Friday was my mom's 50th birthday, so I sent her this in an email:



More to come about how the surprise birthday dinner went!

We don't exist...

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More woes with Comcast... I mentioned in a post before about how dumb Comcast service seems to be.

Well, Friday, our remote control stopped working. We changed the batteries, NOTHING. It turns on our DVD player, so I know it is functioning. But our cable box/DVR thing does not acknowledge the remote. This really doesn't surprise me that much since the DVR is a piece of dung.

So, we tried calling Comcast on Friday. Lee spent a lot of time on hold and then was having trouble getting a live person. I told him just to hang up and we would call when our cell phone minutes were free.

Lee called back today. They couldn't find our account.

Seriously, how can you not find out account? You take money out of our bank account every month. We have functioning cable & internet. WTF? We tried phone number, name, address, social security number and even-EVEN the account number. Nothing.

Finally the woman figured out that we were in Northwest Indiana, so we actually should be talking to the Illinois Comcast and not the Indiana one. Oh, that makes sense since I live in Indiana.

We finally got to someone that could find our account. They asked all the "Are you an idiot?" questions like "Have you tried changing the batteries in the remote?" "Is there anything blocking the DVR box from the remote?" "Did you try turning off the DVR and turning it back on?" Yes. No. Yes.

So, now we have someone coming to fix our remote on Wednesday morning. Until then, we're back in the olden days where we have to press buttons on the box to do things. Especially annoying when you like to fast forward through commercials. Argh!

No worries!

My mom doesn't read this blog! So, I didn't spoil her surprise b-day dinner... That would have been a typical ditzy move for me though. My mom isn't techno savvy enough for blog reading. However, I bet she'll miraculously figure it all out once there are baby pictures getting posted!

I am so behind...

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Sorry I haven't been blogging much. I'm keeping pretty busy with the holidays, tv and work. Here is a quick post to catch up on some of my life:

* Just spent part of the week in Savannah. The weather was nice, but I barely got out of the hotel. Darn client meetings!

* Traveling is not too fun when it is -15 degrees out. Not to mention when the airline you are flying has a plane land in the Hudson river. Surprisingly, I made it home!

* In the words of Tommy Boy: "D+?... Oh, my God... I passed!" Yes, the EA2A results are out and I passed. Hopefully now my company won't be too mad that I am taking the next sitting off to finish this baby-making thing. Going into labor in an EA2B exam is not my cup of tea.

* I am so behind on tv, it isn't even funny. My dad is coming this weekend, so I'm not sure how much time I will be able to dedicate to the DVR.

* Speaking of tv, LOST starts back up next week. I'm incredibly pumped!

* Lee got the bathroom painted. It really looks like a room now instead of a war zone. And, I have to give Lee props on the color. We disagreed, but went with his choice, and I think it was a good one. In retrospect, my choice was a little too dark for a tiny bathroom. I can't wait until it is a functioning bathroom again. I can't believe that I have made it through 5 months of pregnancy having to walk down the hallway to pee in the middle of the night!

* Speaking of peeing... A couple weeks ago I saw EuroTrip for the first time. At one point the guy is drinking and says "All right, I gotta piss like a pregnant woman." Ah, truer words have never been spoken.

* My mom turns 50 a week from today. Pretty amazing. We are surprising her with a dinner for all her friends. I hope it goes well! I only have one more week of keeping it quiet. I'm a bad secret keeper with my mom. She can usually just read my mind.

Good News / Bad News

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The good news is, some awesome shows are coming back on tv. These include 24, the Biggest Loser, the Bachelor, Damages, Nip/Tuck, and oh-my-gawd-I-just-shat-myself-with-excitement-LOST!

The bad news is, tonight there are too many shows to record because 24 is 2 hours long, so something has to get the boot.

That something is the Bachelor. (To be honest, I have trouble concentrating when there are still so many girls, so this isn't a huge loss for me.)

So, no Bachelor updates this week.

Also, I am off to Savannah, GA for work, unless the blizzard we're getting stops me. So, I will check ya all at the end of the week.

Almost there...

Bring on the grout...

And paint...

And trim...

And toilet & sink...

And we're done!!! Woohoo!

P.S. Can you find the missing tile? This was before Lee put the final tile in!

The Bachelor

Monday night was the premier of The Bachelor. But I didn't get to watch it until tonight. The suspense!

I really like Jason. The beginning was like a commercial for him. Showing him being hot and working out and stuff. Then they went through his Deanna saga. As soon as they showed her I said "BITCH" as I'm guessing all the Jason fans did. The only thing that bothers me about Jason is how everytime they show him kissing Deanna, he always had his hand on her face or chin. That is ok and endearing every now & then, but every time?

There is more of a variety of girls this time. They threw in a couple of divorcees and single moms. One widow. Then there is your typical assortment of flakes mixed in.

I absolutely hate when everyone gets out of the limo. Oh my. Awkward situations really make me anxious and I sometimes have to change the channel. So watching 25 of them in a row is truly painful. Actually, pretty much the whole first episode is painful.

Oh my gosh, Shannon is a stalker. She knew his birthday, his younger brother's name and that his younger brother is dating a Shannon too. WOW. Restraining order.

One girl has a theory that she can tell what kind of guy someone is by their favorite hotdog topping. Weirdo. It sounds like "ketchup" or "mustard" are the two good answers. If this girl was Clint, ketchup would mean you should die. Jason put mustard on first. He's a keeper.

In true reality show fashion, they had to throw in a twist. During the party, the girls got to all vote a girl out. Things got catty. Not too surprising. As if the girls needed a boost. Then, they announced the three girls that got votes. Just so they could piss off three people, I guess. Then they said that the winner would be leaving... WITH A ROSE. WTF? That doesn't even make any sense. Whatever. So, basically, they just pissed off three girls.

At one point, one chick was talking about how she was engaged to a guy and in the middle of the night she left the engagement ring on the pillow and bailed. RUTHLESS! She married someone else and that was wrong too. But, now "she knows what she wants". I bet.

Nothing too exciting or shocking about the rose ceremony. He did keep the stalker girl. I probably wouldn't have made that choice... I thought Renee's eyes were going to pop out of her head. She was the nutty one that was talking about her vision boards. I guess your "love" vision board is going to need some work cause you didn't get a rose. Wow, in the final interview she is STILL talking about the vision boards. The wedding planner is a little drunk and is on a rant because she didn't get picked. She says she had already planned her wedding to Jason... Hmm, I wonder why he didn't choose you.

Scenes from the rest of the season... One girl shacks up with Jason. Another has her hands in his pants. Wow. THEN Deanna comes back. Who let her on the set? WTF. That appears to really stir things up. You had your chance bitch. Back off! This season is intense!

I don't like to brag, but...

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West Lafayette was just ranked SIXTH in the nation as a Smart Small City.

I don't think many people from West Lafayette are surprised that the city made the list, but to be ranked 6th is pretty impressive. And it worries me a little. The city already has an inflated ego, and this will only make it worse. They start talking about how great the public schools are... And as someone that went K through 12 at West Lafayette schools, I can tell you it isn't because of the schools. It's the students and their parents that make it what it is.

Here is the top 20:
1. Bethesda, Md.
2. Wellesley, Mass.
3. Palo Alto, Calif.
4. McLean, Va.
5. Los Altos, Calif.
6. West Lafayette
7. Potomac, Md.
8. Lexington, Mass.
9. Mountain Brook, Ala.
10. University Park, Texas
11. Brookline, Mass.
12. Chapel Hill, N.C.
13. Wilmette, Ill.
14. Blacksburg, Va.
15. State College, Pa.
16. Saratoga, Calif.
17. Needham, Mass.
18. Cupertino, Calif.
19. North Potomac, Md.
20. Mercer Island, Wash.

Fun Lauren fact: I have lived in two of the cities listed above (#6 & #15) and worked in another (#4). Yes, that makes me special.

Called Out

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At the beginning of last night's Biggest Loser premiere, Bob totally called me out. He & Jillian were doing a "wake up call" for America about not sitting at home watching TBL while eating ice cream... Hmm. What was I doing? Watching TBL & eating ice cream. Oh, and cookies. Didn't see that one did ya Bob?

This season should be an interesting one. We've got the biggest woman, the biggest contestant, the oldest couple... Oh and two girls that used to be models and are now fat. And last night they sent home NINE people. What? I looked at Lee and said "This is going to be a short season." Basically, two couples were left intact, but the other 9 couples had to decide which partner stayed and which partner left. If the partner on the show is still there in 30 days, then the partner at home gets to come back. Pretty crazy stuff. It does add incentive to the players. And it's just the latest gimmick to keep the show fresh. I mean, American Idol has a new judge, right? (I DON'T watch American Idol!)

Oh, and I should have some comments on the new Bachelor, but I don't get to watch it until tonight while Lee is at class!

Weirdest... Comment... Ever!

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Today my mom, Lee & I went to Burlington Coat Factory in Merrillville. Lee & I were checking out. The cashier was a friendly older black woman. At one point she smiled at Lee and said "You look like a minister."

What?

"I don't know, something about you. You just look like a minister."

It was the weirdest comment I've ever heard! I have no idea what she meant. Just to note, Lee was wearing a hooded Purdue sweatshirt, so nothing minister-ish there.

On the way home, Lee got a new nickname: The Reverand.

"West Lafayette Red Devils"

Lee and I are watching the Cardinals/Falcons game... Killing time until the Colts game.

The first tackle of the game was made by Chike Okeafor of the Cardinals. What is interesting about this is that Chike went to my high school. We were a small high school (2A at the time, it goes up to 5A) and Chike led the way to a state championship. He was a senior when I was in 7th grade. It was pretty intimidating to cross his path in the hallway.

Chike went on to Purdue and had a good career there before joining the NFL.

Shortly after his tackle, they introduced the defense. Most guys say what college they went to, but for some strange reason, Chike said:

"Chike Okeafor, West Lafayette Red Devils."

Our high school team! Probably the first & last NFL player to give a shout out to West Lafayette High School! It was awesome!

NYE

For New Year's Eve, Lee & I headed up to Chicago to hang out with Matt & Stacia. They had lots of good appetizers and games, and of course wine, champagne & beer! (Don't worry, this is sparkling grape juice.)
Matt & Stacia also had some BIG NEWS!

Uncooperative Plothow & the future Mrs! Seriously, there were some great outtakes in the quest to get a picture of these two. Unfortunately, most were on Stacia's camera, so they'll never see the light of day! They are still in my mind though...

I was in bed by 1am, but I still outlasted my hubby! However, at about 3am, I came down with a stomach bug. Seriously, even when I don't drink I end up throwing up on New Year's Day. This is seriously unfair!

I haven't come up with any New Year's Resolutions yet except to stop doing things I wouldn't want my baby learning. First on the list is licking my plate after we eat spaghetti. (It's just so tasty!)

Happy 2009 everyone!