Christmas and Vegas!

Mom & I at Mandalay Bay--Las Vegas

Got in late last on Wednesday night. Southwest flights.. blargh. The one on the way out there was nice because it was a straight shot to Vegas. But then on the way home, they made us change planes in Phoenix (flight was delayed).. So we were supposed to leave at 7:55..didn't end up leaving till 8:45..That got us into Oklahoma at 11:30.. so long day. We left Vegas at 4:45 (their time)..another time change in Phoenix, then again in Oklahoma so I was all jacked up by the time I got home..Also had twin screaming toddlers, and a new-born baby hollering all the way home. LUCKY ME! I have been battling horrible allergies and I think because of that its weakened my immune system so I went to the Dr. Yesterday and she gave me a steroid shot...but then last night I guess I OD'd on allergy meds.. Had the steroid, the Aleve D, a Zyrtec D, and an Ibuprofin.. then realized, that I COULD NOT SLEEP AT ALL! Too much pseduoephederine I suppose, so I was up till 4am.. Ridiculous. Not doing that again.

Had a great time in Vegas..Stayed 3 days, 2 nights and that was plenty.. Got in around 1 (vegas time) on Monday..went to a show at BB Kings to hear some blues music.. and had some drinks at Fleur.. We stayed at Mandalay Bay since thats where the Michael Jackson show was playing. Then got up on Tuesday and went to the mile of shop to do some shopping.. got myself some sequined pink Uggs, and you the glitter red ring... I had seen the Red/Gold/Silver sparkle uggs, but not the Pink, and I loved them.. Then went to the Michael Jackson show.. it was awesome..good music, good acrobatics. They had these guys wearing light up suits that were great..plus I just loved the Cirque shows.. such talented people, and the music was awesome.. I just love Michael Jackson music, so it was a great show to watch..plus it was the last night of it in Vegas, so everyone was there. So the Vegas trip with mom was Awesome!

WE also had a good Christmas..Jordan got his guns.. He got a Beretta Hand gun from my dad, and a scope from my mom.. he was thrilled..Got a bunch of other small stuff.. I got money from dad and mom.. So with that money I bought a new Lazy Boy.. the back had fallen off mine (it was about 12 years old) so it was time to replace. Got one today at the Lazy Boy store.. Its very comfy. Also went back to the dentist today to get a porcelain crown put on.. man, they can make those things look so real nowdays! So that is done.. Now one more crown and I'm home free!

Supposed to have a New Years outing today, but a lot of my friends are not feeling well.. Including me.. So I'm not sure what we are going to do. WE are supposed to go to Mcnallies tonight for drinks and food..but not sure any of us are going to make it.

In reflecting on this year I'm so happy to be where I am. I have an amazing job, amazing family, amazing dogs, and an amazing man.. Looking forward to more awesome things to come in 2012~!

Peanut brittle heart time

So I've realized that I love Peanut brittle..I had forgotten how much till recently.. My grandma Leona used to make it for me at Christmas, and I guess I always have that memory which makes me love it even more.. There is an amazing Chef here at Chesapeake that made it for me yesterday and its so good.. I just love it. I've sort-of been sharing it.. lol.

MJ gave us quite a scare last week.. He woke up in the night with his heart racing and we couldnt get it to go back down.. A normal heart rate beats at 60-100 beats.. his was racing to the point that he could feel it in his throat, and was short of breath, so we decided to head over to Mercy to get him looked at.. Well when they hooked him up to the machine his heart was beating at 180..not good.. so they gave him some meds, and it went down to about 130, but they couldn't get it to go much lower than that so they admitted him to the Heart Hospital where he was given two options 1) take more meds and see if that works to bring it down or 2) Shock his heart.. The shocking thing sounds crazy, but its not as bad as you think it is.. They knock you out, and do a small shock to regulate your heart beats..kinda "shock" it back into beating correctly.. So he opted to do that because he wanted to go home (t was Bedlam the next day) lol.. So they came in, shocked him, and it worked immediately!

The problem he has is called Atrial fibrillation (AF or A-fib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). It is a common cause of irregular heart beat, identified clinically by taking a pulse. Chaotic electrical activity in the two upper chambers (atria) of the heart result in the muscle fibrillating (i.e., quivering), instead of achieving coordinated contraction.. It can be caused by a number of things, so they didn't really give him a to-do, not -to-do list, but he goes back tot he doctor tomorrow. They did put him on some heart meds, and a blood thinner, and tomorrow we will see if he needs to stay on those or not. They did stress the importance of aspirin..so for those of you who may have clots, asprin is literally a life saver, so remember that. My grandpa Shep died of a stroke, and I can tell you that is something you don't want to go through, or watch someone you love go through.

MJ is good now though. Has to lay off the caffeine, so thats been tough, but drinking 6 pops a day is NOT good for anyone, so thats probably for the best. We are very excited about Christmas! I've gotten people some amazing gifts, so I'm excited to give them to them! Plus MJ is getting some awesome stuf.. I know what it is, and he is going to be so excited!! I'm also excited about my presents.. of course..

The babes and I have been visiting.. Sawyer went last week with Payslee & I, and he was such a sweet guy! He's really getting better at being a therapy dog. Meanwhile Miss P's Christmas dress came in, and its adorable! Can't wait for you all to see it! I'm going to take pics of her in it this week, so I'll post them soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well this year has just flown by! I can't believe we are already at Thanksgiving time..but I always love this time of year..I loved it even more when I drove to work this morning and the ChesaCampus was all lit up with those amazing lights..Man, they really go all out! So my hair is dark now..I must change it too much because I really can't tell the difference..but people tell me its very different..I like it though, and it was by MJ's request..

Being that it is Thanksgiving I thought I'd go over my Thankful list: ( In No Particular Order)

1) I'm Thankful to have an amazing family.. Especially around this holiday time I am thankful that I had a mom and dad who took me to church and allowed me to learn the true meaning of Christmas. I feel so sad for those kids who never get to go to church because their parents are too lazy to take them, or too crazy to take them. They miss out on the cool stories about Noah, Adam, Zaccheus, and more.. They also miss out on learning that even if they are around bad stuff, bad people and bad situations that there is always someone looking out for them, willing to help, and willing to listen..And to know they always have a friend in Jesus.

2) I'm thankful for a great boyfriend.. This has been an interesting year for MJ and I to say the least.. but we made it through it. He's my best friend, and even though most of the time I think I have him scratching his head about the things I do and say, he does love me..He's a patient man, and a sweet man, and to be with me, you have to have both of those qualities. Plus Payslee & Sawyer are crazy about him!

3) I'm thankful for a great job. I never thought I would enjoy anything after the radio business..and truth be told, I still miss it every single day, and every single time someone asks me about it. But I have realized that working for good people who actually want you to succeed at your job, and encourage you to do so is Amazing.. Not only that, but pay you well, reward you, and support you! Its been crazy, because in radio that is NON-existent. I've never had a boss that wanted me to go to training, or told me I do a good job..so this has really been a blessing.

4) I'm thankful to have an Amazing relationship with the Lord, and an awesome Church home. Crossings has been such a blessing to me throughout the years..Especially during some of my darkest days when I lost my job. I was surrounded by so many smart people who offered guidance and wisdom about the path I was on..and what I should be doing.. I look back now and realize that the Lord always has a hand in what we are doing..whether you acknowledge that or not..He's always in charge. At the time I lost my job, I lost a big part of who I was and felt like I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing anymore.. Terry Feix said to me, "KC Did you ever think that God probably already knew you were great at radio, so now he's prepping you for something else?".. wow..Never even considered that, but Now I'm so excited about it! I've met an awesome guy at Chesapeake named Robin Wood, and I can tell that he is also going to be very important to me, and he's already a blessing..I have so many people around me that say they dont' go to church because they don't believe in "organized religion" or "I'm smarter than most pastors"..and the one that is the worst to me is "Your God is an angry God, and I don't believe in him..he lets bad things happen to good people".. those are the folks I pray for every night because I know they are hurting, and lost.. it took me a LONG time to find Crossings, but man, it was worth the hunt!

5) I'm thankful for my sweet dogs. Payslee, Sawyer, and Rally make me laugh every day, and they are so loving and cute.. I love the fact that they are so sweet and make everyone else laugh too. Payslee has turned into an amazing therapy dog who always seems to know just what people need..and Sawyer is so patient and gentle with everyone who loves on him.. Rally is almost 14 now and not going as strong as he used to, but he's still kicking on!

Those are my biggies..Now for some Random things I'm thankful for..

1)That Rob Kardashian didn't win dancing with the stars! I'm so sick of that whole family! I don't want to hear anything else about them!

2)My Iphone 4s.. Siri is amazing..and so is the Iphone..Man I love that invention!

3)American Horror Story.. What a great show!

4) Spray Tans.. Who knew you could look so dark without having to lay in the sun and get cancer!

5) Good Hairdressers..without Nicole at Changes my hair would not be as fabulous!

6) Popcorn..who cares about the movie..give me the popcorn!

7) 30" computer monitors.. Its like looking at a big TV at work!

8) Thyroid Meds..My metabolism is -36%, and this is supposed to kick it up a notch!

9) Woofs Gone Wild--without this awesome store, I couldnt order Miss Payslee so many cute dresses!

10) New Friends..This has been a year of meeting new people and trying new things..and I'm so glad I did it!

Hope you all have an amazing Holiday, and be thankful for What God has given you..

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chesaweeeeen & Broken Thyroid

Well being that most of you know how crazy competitive I am, it will be no surprise to you that my team WON the Chesapeake Skit Contest for Halloween! Which means we walked away with a $2,000 prize! How great is that! I have been excited about Chesaween since I first got hired there because its such a big deal! They give away cars, trips, cameras, computers, TV's, vacations, etc.. So I was already on board..well then I found out you also got prizes for dressing up for Halloween, which I Always do every year.. So I was in the Hallway talking about Costume ideas and a person from my team said "You know we have never even entered the contest" and I was like "WHAT!".. so from that point on, we started planning..

We came up with a great idea called "Office Move".. it was a skit about having to change offices..For those of you who don't know, Chesapeake does about 5,000 moves per year..which means you will move from building nine to building 13, or building 5 to building 7..and so on and so fourth..so the skit was about the Computer equipment being sick of moving and not wanting to go. My costume was a "UPS Battery Backup" which is basically (for those non-IT people) like a giant surge protector that keeps you from losing all your documents and work if the power should go out..

I built my costume, and also the costume of the "Desktop PC"..and all our costumes looked amazing! You can see the front and back of mine to the left..As you can see our costumes were GIANT and we fit inside them..We also had a giant phone, giant keyboard, two monitiors (shown above) and a mouse..It was a great skit and my team did awesome, so we were thrilled that we won!

So the Halloween party was awesome..I didn't win a car or trip, but was happy with my portion of the $2,000 prize for sure! Plus there were some amazing costumes, Gene Simmons from KISS, The Swiffer Wet jet girl, Whole Foods, Zombies, smurfs, etc.. If you want to see the pics go to http://chesaween.shutterfly.com/ I tried to take some pics of the best ones.. The whole party was great!

Payslee & Sawyer looked so cute in their Bee Costumes..Sawyer was a little apprehensive at first, but then realized he was really cute and started hamming it up. We've been visiting a couple that has been married for 65 years and met during WW II. So cool to hear their love story of writing love letters and building their own house..Very neat people.

On another high note, at Chesapeake they do something each year called a "Health Check" encouraging good health with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, etc checks.. And if you pass it, you get a $300 bonus at the end of the year, and money off your insurance premium..So I went and had mine done last week and I passed! So that is awesome..it also showed the problem with my thyroid..Apparently a normal working thyroid operates at a 1-3 range (I dont really know what any of that means) but mine is operating at 6..which means its really not working at all! Well this was really good news because my metabolism was a -36% and I have been working out for 3 months and not really seen any weight loss or results..so now we know why! So I have some thyroid meds that I started taking today, and I'm really excited to see if that helps with the weight loss..

MJ has a new hobby now.. Hunting wild pigs. Lol. He has been going with his friend who has land near Ada, and the wild hogs are tearing up his land..So far they have shot....NONE...but he's going to try it again tonight. Being that he is a 'city boy'..he has not had the pleasure of hunting like most of my family has done all my life..so now he's getting excited about Deer Season, Turkey hunting, and anything else! This is the first time he's ever been able to shoot his assault rifle, so he's been having a good time..and his next hunting trip will be to the farm to shoot a Turkey for Thanksgiving!

They are tiling my bathroom this weekend..and its such a pain..3 day event.. and I cant leave my house.. blargh. Already sick of that.. Also sick of anything pertaining to the Kardashians, because that whole family is full of media whores.. and I was sad to hear about Andy Rooney.. My mom always loved him, and turned me onto his 60 minutes bit a few years ago..I loved him too, but so cool that he got paid to give his honest opinion for so many years.

Things I love right now:

The TV show "Happy Endings

The Song "Mr. Know it All" by Kelly Clarkson

The Song "Easy" by Rascal Flatts

The Fact that I now work for an amazing company

Sawyer's new Haircut that makes him look like a little Chinaman

Cafe 7 (if you haven't been here..its so good..and everything is $7)

MJ & My Family

My Church and Church Family

Don't forget to take time to count your blessings for the things that you love!

Who has negative Metabolism??

So I've been working out fiercely for 2 months..and when I say fiercely, for me, I mean 5 days a week for an hour.. I get there at 6am, and workout till 7, 5 days a week, which I think is pretty good.. I do 30-45 minutes of cardio, and then I either go lift weights, or do some sort of strengthening exercises..

So I'm going along and a month in, NO weight loss, Not feeling any differnt..I got nuthin.. I of course find this very irritating.. So I decide to ask one of the trainer what the heck is going on, because why would you work out every day if you are seeing ZERO benefits from it?? So he puts me on a circuit training program along with my cardio, but also suggests I get a test done for my resting metabolic rate.. so I signed up. Well you go into this room and lay flat for 15 minutes while you are breathing into a tube..your nose is pinched, so you can only breathe into that tube.. So I sit there, and after 15 minutes she comes back and goes over my printout.. and I find out my Resting Metabolic rate is NEGATIVE 36%!!! What the hell is that about! So basically to put that into perspective.. If I worked out, and hour a day, like I have been, I could still only consume 1000 calories if I ever wanted to lose weight! Heck you could do HCG eat 700 calories and NOT work out and lose weight! So as you see, this was quite defeating to me..

But all is not lost.. My benefits kick in on November 1st..which means I can take me results to the Dr. on campus and he can tell me what is up with that... It is something that has to be fixed with medication..probably thyroid, or something.. So not much longer.. In the meanwhile I continue to work out every day like I have been.. Because I get to listen to Kidd Kraddick in the morning, and that motivates me.. I had forgotten what it was like to listen to a good morning show, so I was glad to find them again. I listen to them on my I heart Radio app on my phone..which is an awesome app by the way.. You can listen to radio stations all over town and its so clear! Its a fun show and it makes the workout go by fast, so that has been enjoyable..

As you know, Halloween is upon us.. My costume this year is amazing, but its only going to be funny to IT people, and people who work at Chesapeake.. I can't talk about it yet, because we are going to enter the Costume Contest skit..I could win some awesome stuff like a CNG Car, Ipads, Cameras, Vacations, TV's, etc.. Its like the most amazing Halloween party and I'm so freakin excited to be going to it!! So I'll post pics of the costume after we win! boom! The Pic of me above is when I was Marie Antoinette.. One of my fav costumes.

Pays and Saw's costumes came in and theya re so cute.. Payslee is a bee fairy and Sawyer is a bumble bee.. I'll post pics of them in a bit.. I was going to do it this weekend when we went to the farm..but they rolled in dead carcass and smelled like it, so I had to give them baths! They had a great time being dogs though!! We've got some awesome club-calves at the farm and they are by the house..so Pays & Saw went to visit them..until the calves looked at them..then they would run off scared! It always makes me laugh..

K

Do ya drink the Coffee?

MJ & I before Grant & Jenny's Wedding

So today I heard that women who drink 4 cups a coffee a day are less likely to be depressed...This is bad for me because I could never drink 4 cups of coffee a day or I would pee NON STOP.. however, I'm a pretty jolly gal, so I feel like I'll be okay with my 2 cups..MJ got me a Keurig for my birthday, so I've been enjoying the deliciousness of Chai Tea every morning, and found that I can mix it with a Vanilla Roast, and you get a perfect cup of Coffee!

I don't think I have mentioned to you that I changed offices at work. At first I was kinda sad because I had this amazing office in Building 5..and I was moving to the Old Funeral Home building, which I heard was Haunted..Once I got over there I setup my office in the front portion of the building because there were no other empty offices. Well the first day I moved over there I could was supposed to turn off the alarm..They had told me to spell a word and thats how you would turn it off, which would have been awesome, except there were no letters on the alarm panel! So it was blaring off and I had to call security..That was day 1. Day 2 I plugged in my small coffee pot (this was Pre-Keurig) and it blew up the outlet. Like sparks and such..and wiped out all the power to one wall of the building, which everyone just loved me for! The Battery backups were beeping till noon because of my little coffee pot! That was day 2. Day 3 I had come back from the gym (around 7:00am) and no one was in the building, since I get there early and others come in a bit later..Well..I'm thinking that since no one is in there I'll just go ahead and put on my work clothes at my desk (remember I'm in my gym clothes) so I do, and just as I'm buttoning my pants I realize: THE CAMERAS CAN SEE ME CHANGING!! WHAT! Yes, that happened. All day I kept expecting to get an email saying "Dear Miss Sheperd, please refrain from taking your clothes off at your desk, thanks, Security".. Thankfully that didn't happen. At all Chesadoors there is a security camera and why I forgot that, I'll never know..but its been a funny story. And so typical of me. I also realized after that day that I needed to move myself into the former kitchen, and set that up as my office, since I could not be trusted to not change my clothes in front of the camera!

So we went to my brother Grant's wedding last weekend. I sang "When you say Nothing at All" and it was really pretty. They had purple as their colors and so at the reception they had purple cotton candy, and some awesome center pieces on the table. Here's a picture of he and Jenny. Their wedding was beautiful, and afterward they went onto the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon. My amazing purchase for the weekend? Well that was when Dad, MJ, and I went to "Uncle Sams Guns & Ammo" in Lawton and I found my amazing Pepper spray gun! What! I know! And it came in hot pink, and shoots over 25 feet! Yup. So now when I walk and rollerblade with the dogs, I'll be packing..Pepper spray that is.. So keep that in mind in case you are ever thinking about coming after me.. Boom!

I think I'm going to be pretty lame this year for Halloween..I dont know anyone who is having a party, so the only costume I'll have is the one for the giant Chesa-Halloween party..Its going to be pretty good, but I'm not sure if I wore it out in public anyone else would "get it".. so we'll have to see.. This year I was lame on my birthday, and now I'm going to be lame on Halloween? Pretty sad..I'll have to kick it up a notch next year.

The dogs are great! Payslee is going to be a bumblebee fairy for Halloween & Sawyer is going to be a Bumblebee.. I know you can already see the cuteness forming..When their costumes come in, I'll post them (of course) and post pics.. Hope you all are enjoying the awesome fall weather! I went to Bath & Body works and got the best smelling fall candle known to man, which is called "Leaves".. (clever right?)..Yeah, but it is the best ever. Go get it.. Love ya, bye..

When it rains.. You step in a lot of Mud.

Well what a week I have had..I'm not going to go into all the details, but its pretty much been an emotional roller-coaster. Some of these situations I look at and think 'How did I end up here?' or "How did this all happen?" But I have to remember that through trials comes grace, and I have been giving lots of Grace lately. I can honestly say that this week has proven to me that God can in fact, get you through just about anything..Its ironic too, because at the first of last week everything was all roses and cotton candy..How quickly things can change..But I do think its on the upswing, or at least I hope it is, so hopefully things will calm down a bit..

Well the other day Lauren & My mom were at my house and Lauren made the crazy mistake of parking on the side of the road by my crazy neighbors house.. She came out and glared at her for awhile..then we all get into mom's car, and she races out..sits on the bench by her door, sticks her hand down the front of her pants and starts scratching her crotch.. Lauren and Mom thought this was the funniest thing they had ever seen, however, they don't have to live by her!! She looked so scary that day that I thought she actually had a mask on!! Then she ran out by the road, shot us the bird, and watched us drive off. .How is she still in her house???? She is certifiably INSANE! I wish I had had my camera, because I totally would have taken a picture of it.. I know how you all love to ready the stories of my crazy neighbor, and on this day she DID NOT disappoint.. seems like she is crazier when Lauren was around, because the last time she was over, the woman charged me in a giant Turban and had her grand kids come after me..I think she is evil. MJ is even scared of her because he says she gives him the heebie jeebies.. lol.

I went to the farm last weekend..the weather turned and it was nice to be home..I always love to go out there and just spend time back in nature. The dog babes of course LOVE IT because they get to go around with the cow Dogs thinking they are 'working'.. or at least Sawyer does..Miss Pays is like "huh uh, Cows are giant and weird" so she leaves them alone..A herd of them were following her the other day and she got scared and ran back to the house. I think the cows are like "What is that? A bunny? A Rat? A dog?..we're not sure".. So they are always intrigued by her..

I'm going to an awesome church class right now called "Hard Questions".. Last night we talked about Why bad things happen to good people and the knowledge was pretty awesome.. So you want to know the answers? Alright..well assumption #1 is that There actually are good people in the world and they deserve good things to happen to them.. Who are we to know who's good and bad? Thats not biblical..Assumption #2 was that we should be able to judge..Are we really in that position? We can't judge because our fears and insecurities get in the way..so we don't have that ability.Thats also not biblical. God's Goal for us is for us to look and act like Jesus. He wants to shape us, but God is not interested in events, he's interested in who we become as the result. This is something that hit very close to home for me this week. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may become mature and complete, not lacking in anything."~James 1:2-4.. So wait a minute..we are supposed to be thankful for trials and hardships!!?? Yup..we are.. Why? Because it shapes our character..The Lord is willing to trade a few hardships for the end result/bigger picture, which is way better than anything we could come up with.

This is a hard concept, especially for those who go through tragedy..But in the events of tragedies we really don't see the alternatives, or the blessings..because there are things worse than dying..and if We know what God knows and could see it through to the end, we would have to make some really tough choices, and I don't think we are capable of always doing that, so God is gracious for NOT showing us the whole picture all the time, and NOT telling us why.. We'd probably gripe about the answer anyway! You also have to remember that life is not always all about you.. Maybe sometimes your hardships (or mine this week) were actually there to help others..So we always have to remember that he is working things out for the enternal Good..He loves us, and God is big enough to take something really crappy and make it work out for good..So if you are going through the trenches this week.hopefully that will help.. If not, come on by the class next WED night at Crossings and I bet Terry can help answer your questions too.. Dang, he's a GREAT teacher. Love,
KC