Anything but Mustard!!!!!

I was recently noticing that as I get older, my taste buds are changing.

My mom told me this would happen, but I of course rolled my eyes and didn't believe her.

Here is a list of foods that I vowed never, ever to like:

~Baked Chicken I love it now & can cook it many different ways!

~Mayonnaise I can't believe how much I hated this in the past!! I never even had a real sandwich until I put mayonnaise on it!!

~Seafood I have come to terms with Crab Meat & Lobster, all other sea food is still not on my good list.

~Eggplant I still don't know what is so good about this THING

~Venison EWE, I like some meat, but eating Bambi is not enjoyable.

~Baked Beans Still gross to me, lol

~Fish My mom must have cooked it pretty bad, because I really like it now, in fact its one of my favorite meals!!

I think that just about sums it up. Except for one thing.

Now, I want to explain this very clearly, you can consider this  food to be my enemy. I have hated it VERY much since I was small child. 

My Dad bought me a hot dog from the local stand when I was about five yrs old or so. I guess he "accidentally" put this yellow-looking, disgusting smelling substance on my hot dog and I was forced to eat it. I remember the pure nastiness of the taste and the following question remained in my head for years, why would any one want to eat this awful stuff? 

This is why I am so disturbed by the recent cravings I'm getting for mustard  on a sandwich. I can't believe this!! I Hate mustard!!! This is going against all of my beliefs and creating self doubt. Mustard.... I swore I wouldn't do it. I swore I couldn't do it!! 

But then I did it, I put mustard (just a tiny bit) on my sandwich. There was mayonnaise on it too along with the turkey breast & lettuce, so it wasn't too bad. Actually, I never thought I'd be saying this, Mustard is not as bad as I originally thought!! 

I feel like I'm at a Mustard's Anonymous meeting, Hi my name is Hollie and I HATE mustard. I am not in denial, I really do hate it, or at least I thought I did...

I guess this is just another one of life's lessons? What we think is impossible usually is not. Life is constantly changing. Our own beliefs and opinions are subject to change without warning us and we have to be ready to accept it!

 Getting older stinks, especially if it means that I'm going to be eating mustard, and like it.

 

Saving my Money(attempt):

After countless times of breaking self promises such as, 

"I will not use my debit card," (It's way too easy to swipe this damn thing!!)

"I will not order anything off of the internet," ( I have my account number, expiration date & security code memorized  and yea, I'm that bad).

"I will absolutely not withdrawal money from an ATM." (Don't you hate how they charge us to take out our own money? I sure do.) 

 I think I have come up with a possible solution! First, I'm chopping up my debit card so I am not tempted to swipe at any point before my plan has been completed. I am pretty sure I will maintain the will power to not purchase anything from the internet...(i hope). Then I am going to my current bank(the one that can be found on every corner of every street) and canceling my accounts. I'm going to pull out the money I have in two different accounts(My savings and checking), I'm so done with that bank!!! They have too many locations and I am not liking it.

I am taking all of my money and opening an account at a non-local bank (they only have two branches). The bank I chose is not just any, "unknown" bank, but it is about a 40 minute drive from my house to reach either of their two locations. And not to mention they close daily at 3pm, there are no extended hours..HA! By the time Joe gets home everyday, it will be too late to get money...

even if I want to!!

To me, my plan seems flawless!! I know I will not be driving 40 minutes a pop just to grab some money (not regularly anyways). I have a Ford Explorer, All Wheel drive, V-8, and it's not going to be fun to put the thirty dollars in gas each time i go there. 

And I am definitely NOT letting them give me a debit/credit card. NO~WAY, 'cause if I have it, I know I'm bound to swipe it sooner or later!! 

So there you have it, my Money Saving Technique. I am probably just screwing myself, locking away my money like that~but what the heck, its better then spending it all of the time, right?!!!

I just want to have things, nice things. I can't stop myself from buying the petty random things I buy, so there has to be another way!  At least I am not in denial, I know the problem, I admit the problem and i hope to fix the problem...No more problem! :)

In the Beginning...

I had so much fun creating the "Rug Rat" Blog, I've decided to start another one & this one's for me!

I had some trouble deciding were I would begin. I don't want to make this a long, drawn out type of Blog that you don't even want to read, so I'm only telling you the points of interest.

 Bare with me it might be a long one...

hmmmm

Okay, I got it:

About five years ago when I was still a teen who enjoyed parties, I was at a house that was considered to be the current "hot spot".  I could always count on this "hot spot" to have music, people, alcohol & pretty much a "whatever" attitude. So for someone who JUST left mom & dad, it was were I wanted to be!!

After a few times of seeing the same drunk people doing the same stupid drunken things, I began to re-think my priorities.

I mean, how many times can the SAME girl get SO drunk that she takes off ALL of her clothes and start climbing on the furniture??

(And NO!!! That girl was not me, I maintain some type of class while drinking).

Sick of seeing random stupidity, I decided to sit on the back porch of this so-called "hot spot" to regroup my thoughts.

It was pitch black outside and I couldn't see anything. I found myself to a chair and sat down wondering if any of these people would ever care to have a sober conversation (sadly the answer is no).

That's when I realized I wasn't alone. A voice spoke through the darkness.

A guys voice. "Whats a girl like you doing at a place like this?"

"What do you mean a girl like me?" I should have asked him why he was hiding in the dark...but I was struck more by the compliment from a mysterious stranger... :)

The voice from the dark responded,"Your not like the other girls. You hold yourself different, you act differently and you seem like your better then this party scene."

This was completely shocking to me. ME? He was talking about me??? hahahaha. Before I even thought about a logical response, I blurted,

"I can't even see you, how do you know who I am???....have we met?"

"Yea, I've met you once or twice. I don't need light to be able to tell who I am talking to." He sounded so calm and at ease.

I started to let go of my initial tension that was brought on by an unknown man in the dark. For some reason I felt comfortable with this mystery man & we began chatting...even though we couldn't see each other and I had no clue who he was.

Our conversation was brief though, the voice from the dark left about 15 minutes later when his ride pulled in.

As he walked to the car, i remember staring at him trying to figure out what he looked like, but of course the headlights from the car made this impossible .

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          ~Jumping forward a week or two~

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I had met a guy who was different from all of the losers I had been meeting prior to him. He was nice, sincere & funny. We could hold long conversations and we got along great. I had hung out with him a few times and was really beginning to like him.

It was late June and I had just turned nineteen. I had received a phone call from this guy I was interested in, he asked me if I wanted to go camping with him, his brother, his brother's girlfriend and their kids. I decided it sounded like fun and said, "Sure, I'll go!"

When we arrived at the campsite it was already dark out and they had a fire going. Joe, was the name of the guy who invited me. We sat by the fire chatting with his brother and girlfriend. It was fun, It felt comfortable, no awkwardness involved.

When Heather(the girlfriend of Joe's Brother) said she was putting the kids to bed, Joe asked me if I wanted to walk down to the lake with him. I agreed. I always love late night walks, especially near a lake!

When we got the lake it was pretty dark, but thanks to the moon, I could see the water glistening. We found a spot on the small beach and sat down. Joe put his arm around me and I still remember the butterflies in my stomach were going crazy!

We talked about life and our opinions on it, we also talked about our pasts and got to know a little bit about each other. We stood up and walked around a bit on the beach.

That's when he did it...

He threw me into the lake....clothes & all!!! This type of random surprise attack didn't bothered me at all. Even though the water was ICE cold, I swam around and I started laughing and made him come into the water...

When he swam out to me, we splashed around like little kids and we were flirting like two love birds.

The moon was a little brighter now then when we had first arrived to the beach. The water was glistening even more and something in the air gave it a romantic feeling. We kissed and embraced each other in that cold water for a few minutes before decided to head back to camp. On the walk back we held hands and stayed close~with our dripping wet clothes on still.

Back at camp, I had no other option but to hide behind a truck and change into dry clothes. When we were ready for bed, I climbed into Joe's tent and curled up next to him.

Now, we all know how men can be when they are alone with a girl that they like(or even a girl that they don't like!!). This was not Joe. He was so respectful of me and was not pushy at all. We kissed for a while and we talked more before going to sleep. It felt wonderful. I felt so comfortable around him, almost like we had already known each other or had been friends before! It was a nice feeling and I knew already that I was falling for him

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

After camping, we hung out several times at his house, sometimes mine. At the time, I was rooming with 5 other girls, this was not a place were I wanted to take my potential boyfriend. It was a messy, PMS-ish, boring place to be & I didn't want the other girls teasing me while he was over. I would only invite him when I knew the house was only going to have 1 or 2 of my roommates home. lol.

After seeing him for 2 months, we made it official, we were dating!!!

I couldn't be happier!

He was so understanding and we could talk for literally hours. From the beginning of our relationship, we had both always felt a scene of comfortableness with each other. It was as if we had already known each other for a long time. I had never, ever felt this comfortable with ANYONE!!

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                  ~skip ahead two months~

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After only dating for 4 months, I moved into Joe's, Mom's house with him.

YES!!! I didn't have to live with the 5 other roommates anymore!!!

Things were going great, we were falling in love each other more and more everyday.

After about two weeks of living together, we were talking one day and Joe had mentioned something about the back porch at the "hot spot" that night.

At first I didn't know what he was talking about. Then it hit me!!, "That was YOU?" I asked. I was so surprised and in shock. He smiled at me and I continued to go on about it, "I can't believe I didn't figure that out!" I was laughing at him and remembered the voice from the dark. I couldn't believe it was Joe!! He had known all along but for some reason didn't tell me.

So in conclusion I am either in love with a stalker or just a very romantic man....lol.

We are still together and still in love as much as were back then...We have been through some adventures together, such as moving to Florida and other stories....but I will save that for another time.

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 Let me know how you liked my story of meeting Joe. Did it get your attention? Or did you have to force yourself to read it?? \

I'll be adding more tid-bits of our journey daily. We had been through a lot together in our 5 years and stuck it out through the thick & thin...It will be exiting for you to hear!!!

:)