Posts Tagged Not Me! Monday
Caved
Today is “Not Me!” Monday, a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. You can also head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week! MckMama and Stellan are finally back home from the hospital and getting used to life at home, so there’s a chance she may be doing her wonderfully amusing weekly post again today.

Because most of John’s office is TDY, he brought home 5 movies from the office last week. We watched Yes Man and two other movies, one of which I did not already forget the plot, actors and title. Not me!
I have been adamantly opposed to reading the Twilight series ever since I heard about it. I did not see the point in wasting my time on what I had heard to be terrible writing and a so-so plot line. I never understood the hype. However, John wanted to at least see the movie. For months, I refused. I did not cave this weekend and watch part of Twilight on Saturday. Nope, not me! (more on that later)
John and I recently got into watching Heroes, which I think I have mentioned in the past week or so. However, I have not gotten so into the series that I have had TWO dreams this past week where I had super powers. Definitely not me. And even if I did, I would not have dreamed that I could fly at lightening speeds both nights. No way.
On a less lighthearted note…due to carrying Béni up and down the stairs multiple times a day, I have not developed a sharp pain in my left forearm. I did not try to push through it last week and as a result, did not drop Béni twice in as many days while trying to set him down on the ground at the base of the stairs. Meh.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ok, I couldn’t just let that Twilight comment sit in my “Not Me!” Monday post and move on. I know the Twilight series has a huge following and many people absolutely love the storyline and characters. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had read the book, though I doubt it…The Book Lady has posted several times about Stephenie Meyer’s writing, and I trust her critiques. You can two of them here and here.
The movie was like a low-budget B movie at best. The lines were incredibly corny and often awkward. The music was awful, and the storyline moved way too slow. We only made it through an hour to an hour and 15 minutes of the two-hour movie before turning it off and declaring it a waste of time and a complete mystery as to why so many people think the series is amazing.
I did read a short synopsis of the rest of the series, so I know what would have awaited me had I continued the movie and read the rest of the books. And no, it did not make me wish I had finished watching the movie. It only served to make me feel worse about having wasted an hour of my time watching it in the first place.
I know I’m jumping in on the Twilight/Stephenie Meyer discussion about 10 months too late, but oh well. That’s what you get when you’re 25, and you’re suddenly too old to know what’s supposed to be “all the rage” until it’s over.
- Sarah
10 comments May 4, 2009
8 Things
Today is “Not Me!” Monday, a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. Normally, you can also head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week; however, MckMama’s baby boy Stellan is still in the hospital, so she may still not be posting her own “Not Me!” Monday.

Dogs, especially big ones, seem to grow up and not realize they are much bigger than they were when they were puppies. Béni already has this problem. I, however, do not suffer from any form of this forgetful/ignorant behavior whatsoever. When I walk through doorways, I always clear the door frame and never hit my shoulder or arm on the door frame. I never run into the banister or kitchen counter with my hips. Nope, not me. And this week, I most certainly did not open the cupboard by the sink and misjudge the open space. I knew I was small enough to squat down in the little area to grab a trash bag and did not whack the everliving daylights out of my upper leg/hip. No, definitely not me.
Also, I like to believe that John and I are good puppy parents, so there’s no way we would have given Béni a new bone yesterday and left him to his own devices while I read and John surfed the internet. And even if that was the case, Béni definitely did not manage to eat about 7 inches of the bone in 15-20 minutes. (Note: it was an edible bone, but we had no idea he could eat it that fast…we called an emergency vet line and everything was ok but we still worried about him for a few hours.)
Because we were worried about Béni, we had him drink quite a bit of extra water yesterday, so of course, we were vigilant about taking him out to go to the bathroom (seriously, even 1.5-2 hours). We were not confused by his behavior around 10:15 last night when he barked at the hallway went to sit at our bedroom door. And he did not get up a few minutes later and have an accident in the hallway. Nope, not our dog.
I realized today, that although we thought he must have gotten confused as to which door takes him outside, perhaps he was actually being smart. I often have to go to the bedroom to grab my shoes before I take him outside, so MAYBE he was telling me to go get my shoes. Either way, poor puppy! He must have really had to go.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My blog friend, purejoy at consider it pure JOY tagged me in this “8 things” meme, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m not going to do the final step, which is to tag 8 other bloggers to continue the meme, but if you’d like to re-post this meme in your blog, by all means copy it and post!
8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
- our trip to the States in August
- being able to move back to the States in 2 years
- graduating in May…being completely finished with my master’s by July/August
- family & friends (hopefully) coming to visit in the next 2 years while we’re here
- our 1-year anniversary 4-day vacation at the end of next month
- going to visit Jackie in the Netherlands next month
- the idea of a 4-day bike trip over the 4th of July holiday weekend (we may or may not do this…)
8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
- watched the season one finale of Heroes
- went to the train station
- enjoyed brunch at the Kaffeehaus
- vacuumed
- went to the commissary (aka grocery store)
- did the dishes
- read some in Real Simple
- talked to my mom on the phone
8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:
- take a vacation
- fly to the States
- be done with my degree
- have a job but still stay at home
- teach Béni that sit/lay down means to do just that and STAY
- take Béni swimming
- cook amazing dinners every night
- know the recipe to Alamo Cafe queso
8 SHOWS I WATCH:
- Lost
- Heroes
- Ugly Betty
- How I Met Your Mother
- Scrubs
- Greek
- Chuck
- House Hunters International
- Sarah
4 comments April 27, 2009
Outdoor Mishaps
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Today is “Not Me!” Monday, a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. Normally, you can also head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week; however, MckMama’s little baby Stellan has now been flown to Boson for more specialized medical treatment and will most likely be going into surgery tomorrow, so I don’t think she’ll be posting again this week. (This marks about a month in the hospital for her little boy.)
It’s really hard for me to think of things for today’s post that top last week’s moments of not being accident-prone, but I have managed to come up with two…
I have most certainly not been stalking a dress on Ann Taylor LOFT’s website waiting for it to go on sale. It’s been two weeks, and I am definitely not still checking daily to see if it goes on sale.
This morning, I put on a knee-length skirt, because after a few days of rainy, nasty, cold weather, I wanted to celebrate the sun. While walking Béni this morning, he did not bite the hem of my skirt and pull my skirt so far down that the waistband was at my knees. No, not Béni. And even if he had, he would not have refused to let the skirt go so I could pull my skirt back up! Also, I am definitely not wearing bright orange underwear today. In fact, I do not own any bright orange undergarments. Nope, not me.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I recently heard a TV show call libraries lame. That is so ridiculous! We love the library here. We just checked out 3 books and a season of a TV series, which we figure is about $120 in merchandise. I think that’s a pretty sweet deal.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yesterday was actually a nice day as well – the rain finally cleared up sometime during the night. Instead of heading to the gym, John and I chose to go on a long walk up at the Königstuhl. It was gorgeous! We have been up there several times, but yesterday it was finally clear enough that we could see to Speyer, Philippsburg, Mannheim and many other nearby towns (all about 8-12 miles away).
We walked around for about an hour and 15 minutes or so, and Béni was exhausted when we got back to the car. Poor little guy! He sure enjoying his hike though!
When we got back, he needed a bath pronto. The mud from the rain had splattered all over his coat – yuck! After his bath, we let him rest while we headed to the Kaffeehaus to enjoy our weekly Sunday brunch. We ordered a bit more than usual, and it was yummy. We wish that we could have had our regular waitress, though. We haven’t managed to get a table in her section in over a month.
When we came back, we ran to the library (as I mentioned above), and got a few books and season 1 of Heroes. We had seen the first 9 episodes and are excited to be able to have access to the DVD set for the rest of the season.
…Just a quick recap of Saturday: We checked out another Army housing area in the city and took Béni with us to Kaiserslautern so he could practice riding in the car (he doesn’t like it much). We brought his kennel for him to ride in (facing forward) with the seats removed in our Xterra. He LOVED it. (yay!) He used to bark the whole time he was in the car if no one was holding him, and now, he just lies down and enjoys the ride. Good stuff.
Anyway, we went to K-town and visited with Jamie and her 2 month old baby boy, Wyatt. He’s so adorable! After hanging out with them for a little bit, we drove to Ramstein for some yummy Chili’s.
All in all, we had a great weekend, and now I’m in awe with how much extra time I have during the week days since I’m not working on school work for the first time in about a month and a half. Woohoo!
What did YOU do this weekend? (Seriously, I want to hear about it!)
- Sarah
4 comments April 20, 2009
Bites & Bruises
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Today is “Not Me!” Monday, a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. You can also head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week!
(Actually, MckMama’s blog says she’s not feeling up to a “Not Me!” Monday still since Stellan remains in the hospital with bouts of SVT and may have to be flown to Boston to have an ablation on his heart, which is scary on a baby as young as Stellan. However, she is letting her readers still link to their own “Not Me!”s today, so head over there, and see what her readers haven’t been doing this week!)
Yesterday morning, I was heading to the shower to get ready for our Easter brunch, but I had to maneuver through all the opening and closing of doors in order to get there. (We had the doors closed so Béni could only wander through a small portion of our apartment.) This is really a silly story, because of course I made it safely to the shower. I couldn’t have been clumsy enough to open the living room door straight into my forehead. Nope, no siree. And even if I did, I most certainly did not, when asked by John if I was ok, respond with a mixture of laughter and tears “nooooo.” Not me!
Our sweet little Béni is so well behaved, you wouldn’t believe he’s a puppy, and there’s no way he is going through a biting phase. He totally knows what kisses and soft teeth mean, so he would never mix that up with a good ol’ bite. Béni always drops stuff he has in his mouth when we command “drop it,” so there’s no way he refused to drop a small stick while out at his potty spot. Since he dropped it, I certainly did not have to forcefully open his mouth. In the moment I had my thumb in his mouth, he did not decide to clamp down HARD. My thumb did not bleed. Nope, that definitely did not happen.
While on the topic of Béni’s non-biting…
I have a completely flat stomach. There’s no doubt about that. While playing with Béni last night, then, there’s no way he could have bitten my tummy. No way.
What have you not been up to this week?
- Sarah
1 comment April 13, 2009
Just Another Monday
It’s “Not Me!” Monday, which is a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. Normally, you can head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week, but I don’t think MckMama will post a “Not Me!” Monday post today. A week ago yesterday, she took her youngest son, Stellan (5 months old), to the ER and he ended up having SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). He has not been able to come out of SVT for a prolonged period since before last Sunday evening. He has also had periods of V-tach (ventricular tachycardia), which is even more dangerous than SVT. Please pray for their family.
In honor of Stellan, I will still post my “Not Me! Monday,” so without further ado:
As I have mentioned, I was in class all last week (Tuesday-Sunday) and will be in class Tuesday-Sunday again this week. Often, my attention will wane in class, especially if I haven’t had a break in awhile. In the past, I have daydreamed about what I’m going to do after class, on the weekend or just some random other thoughts. My life is not so domestic and grown up that I spent a good portion of class on Saturday daydreaming about using our brand new vacuum. Seriously. My life is more exciting than that.
Most of you all know how prepared I am at all times. For goodness’ sake, I sent out detailed itineraries for every family member on our wedding day. It’s impossible, then, that I would have failed to finish reading ANY of the 5 books assigned for my history course last week. So when I went to class on Tuesday, I was not surprised nor panicked that the professor assigned each of us to TEACH a book to the class in the following days. I did not spent the next 2 days reading a book about the Russian and Mexican revolutions and the US’ involvement in each, nor did I spend the last 2 hours before class frantically putting together a slide show with notes so I would look like I knew what I was talking about.
While playing with Béni last week, I did not stand up directly into the corner of the bathroom counter. Subsequently, I did not scream so loud that I scared our poor puppy, causing him to run out of the room and far away from me. Poor thing! (And my poor head! It was not bruised for a better part of the week.)
On Tuesday night, I was not so tired and out of it in the middle of the night between taking Béni out to go to the bathroom that I dreamed I had forgotten to put him back in his crate. I did not dream (but think it was completely real) that he was wandering around our bedroom and partially wake up and frantically reach around the bedroom floor looking for him. Nope, I definitely did not do that.
What did you not do this week?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you all for your messages to feel better. After resting up yesterday evening, I feel so much better, and I’m pretty sure I’m ready to conquer this week and this course!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I took quite a few pictures of Béni this morning, so I put together a short slide show of all the pictures John and I have taken of Béni since we brought him home. Enjoy!
- Sarah
1 comment March 30, 2009
Puppy is Here
We got to bring home our sweet yellow lab puppy on Saturday! (Yes, I will tell you his name in this post.) He is super sweet and cute, but I am very sleep deprived…he is not used to being alone so he cries a lot. We’re working on that, but it’s a slow process. John left yesterday for his week out of town for work, so it was extra hard last night with only one adult here.
He’s done very well with the rest of his training, but we can’t do much at this point. He’s still so much of a baby that he sleeps about 20 hours a day.
So, I suppose I can finally stop referring to our puppy with just the “he” pronoun, and I can let y’all know his name. Please welcome Béni as the newest member of the SoJo family! The name Béni comes from the French “béni” which means “blessed.” We also plan on calling him Bendito, which is Spanish for blessed.
I put together a few clips from this weekend of Beni playing with his Kong toy and chewing on his first bone. It should appear below. For those of you using Google Reader or something similar, you may have to visit our actual blog page to see the video.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Our giveaway closes tonight at midnight, so cross your fingers that you’re the winner! We’ll be drawing a number sometime tomorrow.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It’s also “Not Me!” Monday, which is a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. Normally, you can head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week, but I’m not sure if MckMama is posting a “Not me!” Monday today. She had to take her youngest son Stellan to the hospital last night. He had some heart problems before he was born, but by the time he was born they had gone away. He’s been sick the past few days, and they took him to the ER last night and his heart rate was almost 300 bpm. As of when I posted this entry, they still hadn’t found an effective way to slow his heart rate down.
Update 3:45 CET Apparently Stellan has been put in the pediatric intensive care unit. Today’s not much of a “Not Me!” Monday, so I’ll just carry on with a few of my own:
John and I did not refresh MckMama’s blog incessantly for 10 minutes until last week’s Not Me! Monday appeared, quickly post to Mr. Linky and yell in triumph when we saw we’d made it to number 2. I have a very interesting and busy life and would not get so excited about being in the top 10 or so that I experienced an adrenaline rush.
When we realized we might be getting a few extra hits on our blog as a result of our placement on with Mr. Linky, my husband did not insist on checking my most recent post for typos. I’m a perfectionist, so I would not let a post go up without double and triple checking it.
John left for 6 days in Grafenwöhr yesterday, and it’s been something we have been dreading since we’re also in the first few days of puppy parenthood. My husband did not ask me if I would run over his foot with the car so he wouldn’t have to go.
I like my sleep a lot, and when I’m woken up without enough sleep, I’m not a happy camper. Last night, I put Beni into his area at 10 and tried to go to sleep around 10:30. Beni woke me up with his whimpers every time I was about to go to sleep until 12:30. At 12:30, I took him downstairs (remember, we live on the 3rd floor) and across the street to his “potty spot.” When we got back upstairs, he just kept whimpering and wouldn’t go to sleep until just after 1 AM. In a fit of frustration due to lack of sleep, I definitely did not start crying just before 1. (I was up again from 4-4:40 AM, 5:50-6 AM, and I don’t remember what else. I’m tired.)
- Sarah
10 comments March 23, 2009
Giveaway & Not Me! Monday
Guess what?! This Friday we’re doing a BIG giveaway for you guys, and it’s all because we bought a new gadget for our house that we absolutely love. In fact, we love it so much, we want to give another one away (compliments of the manufacturer). So mark your calendars and be sure to come back Friday – and hopefully every day in between just because you love to read our blog – we’ll tell you all about the product and give everyone a chance to win our new “favorite thing.” (I kind of feel like Oprah with her favorite things show!)
And if you need some extra incentive, the giveaway is worth around $100!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As another week begins, it’s time again for “Not Me! Monday,” a chance for everyone to be brutally honest about what they have not been doing this week. You can also head over to My Charming Kids to see what MckMama and others have not been up to this week!
After taking my parents to the airport yesterday morning, John and I went to the Kaffeehaus for our weekly Sunday brunch. While eating my pretzel bread, I most certainly did not confuse the thoughts in my head and declare “this pretzel is thirsty.” No, not me. I articulated my thoughts clearly and said “This pretzel is making me thirsty.” Of course I intended the Seinfeld reference. I would never let something as great as that be unintentional nor would I completely mess up the statement and say something nonsensical.
I haven’t let a few snorts slip while laughing lately (I’m really not a snorter), and so I did NOT ask John “am I snorting a lot because I’m getting fat?” I would never say something that blonde.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Don’t forget to check back for our giveaway on Friday! Have a great week!
- Sarah
11 comments March 16, 2009
Snow and 45 degree weather minutes apart

It’s time for another “Not Me! Monday”! Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report this week, so it’ll be short.
Anyway, this blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I did not fully vacuum our apartment for the first time in months discovering our huge need for something else besides a broom & dust pan and electronic sweeper. I wish Dyson vacuums weren’t almost $400!
John and I like to read (for leisure, not for school), and we wanted to still exercise our brains while both of us were under the weather last week. Naturally, we read a lot and there’s absolutely no way we watched about 6 hours of TV one day. Not us.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My parents got here EARLY Saturday morning. Their flight was supposed to arrive just after 7 AM, but instead, they got here just after 6 AM. We also have about an hour drive from where we live to get to the airport. Needless to say, we got up early. We explored Frankfurt a little bit after picking them p from the airport, but because it was so early, nothing was really open so we drove back to Heidelberg.
We toured the city a bit in the car and drove up to Königstuhl, which is about 10 minutes – maybe 15 – from where we live. It’s up at the top of the hill by our house. At the bottom of the hill, it was partly cloudy, but by the time we got to the top of the hill, it was foggy and guess what? snowy! I guess the previous day it had snowed up there, while it had only rained all day down where we live. This picture was taken up there:

my dad, me and my mom
Later in the day, we went to the Schwetzingen Schloßgarten (the Schwetzingen castle gardens) to walk around and this is how it looked:


Isn’t it crazy that these pictures were taken on the same day?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yesterday, we took my parents to our favorite restaurant (the Kaffeehaus am Schlossplatz in Schwetingen) for brunch, and they loved it! We will definitely go again before they leave. After brunch, John gave everyone a tour of his office and then we showed my parents the PX (Post Exchange), which is like a miniature Wal-Mart with a fairly poor selection, but hey, since we don’t have any other options, we’ll take it!
Today I’m attempting to get some schoolwork done, so I’d better get back to it. John is at work and my parents are relaxing and reading. Have a great Monday!
- Sarah
5 comments March 9, 2009


