So, a while back I discovered that I had a cavity. Shortly thereafter, I discovered a second cavity! I'm not one of those people that go to the doctor very often, and I haven't been to a dentist in years. In fact, I was 9 the last time I saw a dentist and 19 or 20 when I last saw an orthodontist (not for a checkup.. just to get my braces off.)
After waiting as long as I felt that I could, I finally made a dental appointment. When I got there, they asked if I had a note from my baby doc saying that it was alright for them to treat me. I didn't because I didn't know that you had to have one.
After about an hour, we got approval for my doc and they did some xrays. Everyone in the dental office is pregnant, including my dentist, and so we all chatted about babies and pregnancy while they took a look to see what we needed to do.
My dentist came back in with a small model of a tooth with a cavity. She said that if it had been shallow, they could have just filled it. She then went on to explain that since I had been so stubborn and waited, that I would need to have root canals. Not just one, oh no, two.
Since I had requested the day off, they said that they could do one of them today. My baby doc only approved a few medications, so the type of novi cane they had to use was very weak and did not last long. She ended up having to give me 5 or 6 shots of it.
The root canal itself wasn't that bad, but about 30 minutes before they were done I had a very strong urge to pee. Since I wasn't expecting to be there long, I drank a lot of water beforehand. Most liquids willl stick with me for a little while, but water is not one of them. I sat there trying to be as still as possible, wiggling my toes and adjusting my legs to keep from peeing all over myself and the nice, clean, sanitary office.
Once they were finally done, I hopped up and ran to the bathroom. The nurses all laughed.
Then the showed me how much this thing is going to cost.
This visit was fairy inexpensive- only $170. The next one will be about half the cost of our brand new 40 inch 10180p Samsung LCD television.
By the time we are done with both, it will cost more than our TV. Even with the calibration, installation, and extended warranty.
Yeah.
So... right now, I'm all hopped up on baby approved medication and I think it's probably time to put the computer down before I start doing things that I won't remember.
I wish you all a wonderful evening, be glad that your christmas doesn't include root canals!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
We got the turkey...
Every Thanksgiving the Air Force gives the enlisted airmen a box of food so that they can have an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. Typically, this box is delivered to your home on Monday or Tuesday so you have time to get everything else you need.
This year, they had the people in My Husband's squadron pick up their boxes. My Husband got his today... with the last turkey.
Our neighbor left his turkey in the freezer at work, assuming that it would be there when he was ready to get it. We aren't exactly sure what happened, but somehow his turkey disappeared. Since My Husband got the last turkey, our neighbor feels that it belongs to him instead.
Now, we had planned to have both families celebrate together and have one big dinner. Through a series of horrible events, none of us can stand him at the moment so we won't be doing that.
He wants the turkey.
I say, it's our turkey, in our fridge... screw him.
Since we love his wife, we're going to allow her and the children to have some of our turkey, along with whatever delicious sides we come up with.
Personally, this year, I'm incredibly thankful that I have a wonderful, loving husband... and that I'm not married to that asshole.
For weeks, his wife O has been craving an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins; one with blue icing and sunflowers. He has been taunting and teasing her, pretending that he bought it and then crushing her. He has made it very obvious that he does not care how is actions affect those around him, and I am very glad that he will not be joining us this Thanksgiving as I do not want to censor my snide remarks. That's alright, apparently he "Doesn't want to deal with my hormones" anyway.
That comment stemmed from one night when I told him how much of a jerk he was, expalined that he was hurting his wife with his stupidity, and then told him not to yell in my house when he started talking back.
Yesterday, My Husband and I took O to Baskin Robins to get her cake. Blue, with sunflowers, with the jerks favorite ice cream. I looked over at the girl who was taking our order, and asked "Will you write anything we want on the cake?" She, of course, said yes. I said it again, "I mean, ANYTHING?". She said that they got weird requests all the time.
No one was in the store, so we pushed further. "You mean, you will write anything we want. Anything at all?"
The cake, with beautiful blue icing and sunflowers, read as follows:
"Bought my own, Fucker!"
Whoever decorated that cake did an amazing job. "Bought my own" was on the top of the cake in beautiful red letters. "Fucker!" took up the entire side of the cake.
Once O sends me me a copy of the picture, I'll be sure to add it. You really don't understand how pretty this cake was.
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving.
This will be our second Thanksgiving away from our families, so it's up to us to make all of the yummy things we want. I really don't know if I'll be able to recreate my Mammaw's dressing, but I hope I can do a half decent job.
While stuffing our faces full of (hopefully) delicious turkey, we will remember all the things we are thankful for- Friends. family, free food, and a paid day of freedom.
Oh... one more thing.
It's our turkey, spunkstain. Hope you like your bowl of corn.
This year, they had the people in My Husband's squadron pick up their boxes. My Husband got his today... with the last turkey.
Our neighbor left his turkey in the freezer at work, assuming that it would be there when he was ready to get it. We aren't exactly sure what happened, but somehow his turkey disappeared. Since My Husband got the last turkey, our neighbor feels that it belongs to him instead.
Now, we had planned to have both families celebrate together and have one big dinner. Through a series of horrible events, none of us can stand him at the moment so we won't be doing that.
He wants the turkey.
I say, it's our turkey, in our fridge... screw him.
Since we love his wife, we're going to allow her and the children to have some of our turkey, along with whatever delicious sides we come up with.
Personally, this year, I'm incredibly thankful that I have a wonderful, loving husband... and that I'm not married to that asshole.
For weeks, his wife O has been craving an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins; one with blue icing and sunflowers. He has been taunting and teasing her, pretending that he bought it and then crushing her. He has made it very obvious that he does not care how is actions affect those around him, and I am very glad that he will not be joining us this Thanksgiving as I do not want to censor my snide remarks. That's alright, apparently he "Doesn't want to deal with my hormones" anyway.
That comment stemmed from one night when I told him how much of a jerk he was, expalined that he was hurting his wife with his stupidity, and then told him not to yell in my house when he started talking back.
Yesterday, My Husband and I took O to Baskin Robins to get her cake. Blue, with sunflowers, with the jerks favorite ice cream. I looked over at the girl who was taking our order, and asked "Will you write anything we want on the cake?" She, of course, said yes. I said it again, "I mean, ANYTHING?". She said that they got weird requests all the time.
No one was in the store, so we pushed further. "You mean, you will write anything we want. Anything at all?"
The cake, with beautiful blue icing and sunflowers, read as follows:
"Bought my own, Fucker!"
Whoever decorated that cake did an amazing job. "Bought my own" was on the top of the cake in beautiful red letters. "Fucker!" took up the entire side of the cake.
Once O sends me me a copy of the picture, I'll be sure to add it. You really don't understand how pretty this cake was.
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving.
This will be our second Thanksgiving away from our families, so it's up to us to make all of the yummy things we want. I really don't know if I'll be able to recreate my Mammaw's dressing, but I hope I can do a half decent job.
While stuffing our faces full of (hopefully) delicious turkey, we will remember all the things we are thankful for- Friends. family, free food, and a paid day of freedom.
Oh... one more thing.
It's our turkey, spunkstain. Hope you like your bowl of corn.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
This time I have a good reason...
So, yet again, I took an abnormally long vacation from blogging... to go on a mini vacation!
We haven't seen very much of each other lately, so we stayed at a moderately amusing hotel about an hour and a half away. This hotel, Buffalo Bill's, is right across the street from our last In-State mini vacation. Appropriately named, the hotel has a Wild West/Frontier theme and our room was located in the Annie Oakley tower.
We decided that we had better take all of the mini vacations that we can, because in about 7 1/2 months, we won't be able to!
That's right, I've been infected and all of my time and energy will be devoted to raising a normal, functional member of society.
In the coming months you can expect updates about the many wonders of pregnancy, including all the yucky stuff you probably won't want to read. Since I got the news, I've been reading lots of books to try and get a really good idea about what is going to happen. So far my favorite is "The Unexpected When You're Expecting" which is a parody of the 'mom-to-be's best friend', "What to Expect...".
"The Unexpected..." was able to break some of the tension and finally get me to laugh at the whole thing. Then again, laughing when you are so gassy that you feel like you're going to float away may not be the best idea. Especially near an open flame...
Friends, family, and strangers have already started giving me advice. I have decided that the best thing I can do will be thanking them for their input and doing what I want anyway. I understand that many women have done this long before I ever thought of having a child, but I don't want someone trying to guilt me into naming my baby Sanfred just so they can feel better about their life.
If I want a cup of coffee, I don't need 18 women screaming at me to pour it out. If I have a few cigarettes, even after I've officially quit, I don't want to hear one complaint from anyone that has not had an up close and personal view of my cervix. They may have gone through pregnancy, but they have no idea what I'm going through.
Yesterday, my hormones were going haywire and I cried for several hours. Everyone kept asking me if I was ok, and I mostly was. There are some tough things that I need to tell a lot of people, some happy things, panic at a stupid thing I did, realizing that my embryo has probably been drunk at least once since the conception date may not have been accurate, and trying to quit smoking have all taken a toll on my emotions.
My Husband has been wonderful and has graciously agreed to pick up my slack. Keeping the place clean is going to be very important since we are adding another person to our household. (If only this new person came with an extra room...)
Our Roommate is still working out what he wants to be called. I've come up with a fun list of things that wont involve my baby calling him Uncle, since he is not comfortable with that.
Woobie
Scooby
Boppy
Name-Name (His name, not the word name...)
Boba (or Bobo)
Yabbo
Ok, so the list isn't that great... but it's really hard to figure out what your baby is going to call this dude that lives with you, but isn't related-- completely family, but no blood ties.
Oh well, we've got a few more months to figure it all out.
We haven't seen very much of each other lately, so we stayed at a moderately amusing hotel about an hour and a half away. This hotel, Buffalo Bill's, is right across the street from our last In-State mini vacation. Appropriately named, the hotel has a Wild West/Frontier theme and our room was located in the Annie Oakley tower.
We decided that we had better take all of the mini vacations that we can, because in about 7 1/2 months, we won't be able to!
That's right, I've been infected and all of my time and energy will be devoted to raising a normal, functional member of society.
In the coming months you can expect updates about the many wonders of pregnancy, including all the yucky stuff you probably won't want to read. Since I got the news, I've been reading lots of books to try and get a really good idea about what is going to happen. So far my favorite is "The Unexpected When You're Expecting" which is a parody of the 'mom-to-be's best friend', "What to Expect...".
"The Unexpected..." was able to break some of the tension and finally get me to laugh at the whole thing. Then again, laughing when you are so gassy that you feel like you're going to float away may not be the best idea. Especially near an open flame...
Friends, family, and strangers have already started giving me advice. I have decided that the best thing I can do will be thanking them for their input and doing what I want anyway. I understand that many women have done this long before I ever thought of having a child, but I don't want someone trying to guilt me into naming my baby Sanfred just so they can feel better about their life.
If I want a cup of coffee, I don't need 18 women screaming at me to pour it out. If I have a few cigarettes, even after I've officially quit, I don't want to hear one complaint from anyone that has not had an up close and personal view of my cervix. They may have gone through pregnancy, but they have no idea what I'm going through.
Yesterday, my hormones were going haywire and I cried for several hours. Everyone kept asking me if I was ok, and I mostly was. There are some tough things that I need to tell a lot of people, some happy things, panic at a stupid thing I did, realizing that my embryo has probably been drunk at least once since the conception date may not have been accurate, and trying to quit smoking have all taken a toll on my emotions.
My Husband has been wonderful and has graciously agreed to pick up my slack. Keeping the place clean is going to be very important since we are adding another person to our household. (If only this new person came with an extra room...)
Our Roommate is still working out what he wants to be called. I've come up with a fun list of things that wont involve my baby calling him Uncle, since he is not comfortable with that.
Woobie
Scooby
Boppy
Name-Name (His name, not the word name...)
Boba (or Bobo)
Yabbo
Ok, so the list isn't that great... but it's really hard to figure out what your baby is going to call this dude that lives with you, but isn't related-- completely family, but no blood ties.
Oh well, we've got a few more months to figure it all out.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Oh dear...
Wow, it has been quite some time since I was actually able to update. For the longest time, our router was "not working" because My Husband forgot how to use a computer... for all intents and purposes, we shall assume that he was abducted by aliens.
He offered to have K, one of our neighbors, come take a look at it. "NO!!! He is NOT going anywhere NEAR our computer... even if it is broken!".
After that, it was totally up to me to save the world. I had no clue what My Husband had done, or how to undo it, but under the watchful eyes of Our Roommate and O, I managed to get it fixed.
We found a (nearly) foolproof way to ensure that we never loose our network password again... just don't look at the bottom of our router.
After fixing our life force, I started working on a baby blanket for a woman that I work with. Her son's girlfriend had a baby, and she wanted to get something nice for them. I hope my blanket will suffice.
A week later I got frustrated with the blanket (it will never end...) and turned my attention to our neighbors, K and O. O was talking about how she wanted to redo their living room and took me over to get my opinion.
I walked into her living room and immediately asked why there was a mattress in the floor. She said that K had been sleeping on it, and that she wanted to put it in her son's room. She was afraid that they would jump on the mattress and wanted to wait until she had a bed frame.
We went to Home Depot.
There is nothing more dangerous than two girls and two kids at Home Depot. Especially when we realize that we are going to have to get large pieces of wood home somehow.
After a little bit of work from all of us, we got the bed frame built. Then we had to get it into the boys room... It was after midnight, and no one thought to measure the door ways to make sure that the bed frame would fit.
It did... barely. Once we got the bed frame where it belonged, we put the mattress on top of it.
At that point, I realized that I based my measurements on how high the bed should be, including the mattress... What we wound up with was a bed that was 2ft high, plus mattress.
This bed would be wonderful as a princess bed, or a fort... or even a small set of bunk beds... but I am not sure that the neighbors are happy.
Oh well, maybe I can make it up to them soon.
He offered to have K, one of our neighbors, come take a look at it. "NO!!! He is NOT going anywhere NEAR our computer... even if it is broken!".
After that, it was totally up to me to save the world. I had no clue what My Husband had done, or how to undo it, but under the watchful eyes of Our Roommate and O, I managed to get it fixed.
We found a (nearly) foolproof way to ensure that we never loose our network password again... just don't look at the bottom of our router.
After fixing our life force, I started working on a baby blanket for a woman that I work with. Her son's girlfriend had a baby, and she wanted to get something nice for them. I hope my blanket will suffice.
A week later I got frustrated with the blanket (it will never end...) and turned my attention to our neighbors, K and O. O was talking about how she wanted to redo their living room and took me over to get my opinion.
I walked into her living room and immediately asked why there was a mattress in the floor. She said that K had been sleeping on it, and that she wanted to put it in her son's room. She was afraid that they would jump on the mattress and wanted to wait until she had a bed frame.
We went to Home Depot.
There is nothing more dangerous than two girls and two kids at Home Depot. Especially when we realize that we are going to have to get large pieces of wood home somehow.
After a little bit of work from all of us, we got the bed frame built. Then we had to get it into the boys room... It was after midnight, and no one thought to measure the door ways to make sure that the bed frame would fit.
It did... barely. Once we got the bed frame where it belonged, we put the mattress on top of it.
At that point, I realized that I based my measurements on how high the bed should be, including the mattress... What we wound up with was a bed that was 2ft high, plus mattress.
This bed would be wonderful as a princess bed, or a fort... or even a small set of bunk beds... but I am not sure that the neighbors are happy.
Oh well, maybe I can make it up to them soon.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Frustration rhymes with...
So, our router is dead (which is why the promised update has not happened) and I'm going to try and fix it sometime tomorrow.
Lately, it seems that I keep encouraging time sucking projects/games/things even though I don't have half as much free time as I'd like. My Husband bought a Wii after getting to try one out back home, and we've all had fun bowling, golfing, and playing tennis when we should be sleeping.
The Roommate, O, and I are trying to get some handmade goods available for purchase for the holidays. We already have a few custom orders (that are getting amazing prices... ) from my co-workers. I have to finish one project asap because it is for a newborn baby. It's going to be a really cute baby blue blanket (hopefully) trimmed with blue, white, or yellow (whichever looks best) binding.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Renaissance Fair with O... My Husband might be wearing a kilt soon!
Time to get back to work so that I can leave early. I hope everyone is doing well!
Oh, one more thing-- If you were going to buy a handmade good, what would you be likely to purchase?
Lately, it seems that I keep encouraging time sucking projects/games/things even though I don't have half as much free time as I'd like. My Husband bought a Wii after getting to try one out back home, and we've all had fun bowling, golfing, and playing tennis when we should be sleeping.
The Roommate, O, and I are trying to get some handmade goods available for purchase for the holidays. We already have a few custom orders (that are getting amazing prices... ) from my co-workers. I have to finish one project asap because it is for a newborn baby. It's going to be a really cute baby blue blanket (hopefully) trimmed with blue, white, or yellow (whichever looks best) binding.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Renaissance Fair with O... My Husband might be wearing a kilt soon!
Time to get back to work so that I can leave early. I hope everyone is doing well!
Oh, one more thing-- If you were going to buy a handmade good, what would you be likely to purchase?
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Back to the grind
We got back from our trip Monday night and The Roommate was waiting for us near baggage claim. He brought us home and we chatted for a little bit before he had to go to bed. Overall, the trip was awesome. We got my Mammaw (Mammaw is southern for Grandma...) to play Wii bowling, which was a lot of fun.
We got to make these really awesome candle sticks in my dad's shopped (he helped a little). Dad showed us how to draw out the metal, bend it the way we wanted, taper the ends, and weld things. I think I had more fun doing it than My Husband did, but we have a fantastic hand made souvenir.
Two separate candelsticks...
Join forces to become Amazing Candlestick of Awesome!
We used a brass finish to make it all fancy, which looks better in person than it does in the picture.
There will be a more thorough post later on, but it's late and I have to work tomorrow!
On a side note, I'm going to try making and selling scarves before Christmas to earn a little extra cash.... anybody need a scarf? I'll give you a great deal!
We got to make these really awesome candle sticks in my dad's shopped (he helped a little). Dad showed us how to draw out the metal, bend it the way we wanted, taper the ends, and weld things. I think I had more fun doing it than My Husband did, but we have a fantastic hand made souvenir.
Two separate candelsticks...
Join forces to become Amazing Candlestick of Awesome!
We used a brass finish to make it all fancy, which looks better in person than it does in the picture.
There will be a more thorough post later on, but it's late and I have to work tomorrow!
On a side note, I'm going to try making and selling scarves before Christmas to earn a little extra cash.... anybody need a scarf? I'll give you a great deal!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tidbit
I do not have, nor do I want, a cell phone. I'm not sure how many people have had to experience this, but when you tell someone that you don't have a cell phone, they look at you like you like your closest relative has died.
"I'm so sorry... I had no idea. You looked so happy."
"You don't have a cell phone? What, do you hate technology? Do you have a computer?"
"No cell? Where are you from?"
I used to be one of those people that had a cell phone pressed up against their ear non-stop. I never answered my cell phone during a movie or a play, but that's only because I actually wanted to watch the show.
While we were in Texas, and the first month of living here, we had cell phones. The reception in the area is awful and we had the worst provider possible as far as customer service goes. Against our better judgment, we signed a 2 year contract with Sprint on the condition that we could cancel our plan, at any time, with no cancellation fee since My Husband is in the military.
Sprint screwed us. Hard. We ended up fighting for months to get the cancellation fees waived, and finally settled on having them cut in half. They did not want to do it, but a previous rep had left a note (thankfully.... most of them promised the world but didn't leave any notes) saying that they could waive the cancellation fee on one line. $500 and a lot of emotional trauma later, I vowed that we would not have cell phones until we could find a good plan that worked for us.
We stopped looking about 7 months ago.
At one point, we got "emergency" pre paid Virgin mobile phones. I love Virgin Enterprises and have always had great luck with them. All we had to do was buy minutes and load them onto the phone. Easy peasy. I can only think of one time that I actually used that phone. I was shocked that I even had it with me, and was even more surprised that it had a charge.
We eventually forgot about the phones and never put any more minutes on them. The minutes expired, along with our phone numbers.
There are times when I really wish that I could call My Husband and see if he picked something up, or just remind him that I love him... but I wouldn't trade our newfound freedom for anything.
When you have a cell phone, people want to get ahold of you 24 hours a day. Even if you turn your phone off, there's a pile of text messages waiting for you when you turn it back on. What part of that sounds appealing?
People are always loudly wondering how we ever lived without cell phones. Quietly! We didn't have to raise our voices in a restaurant just to be heard over someone screaming about their infected toenails. Before everyone had a cell phone, I never heard someone talk about 'that time they got crabs' in line at the DMV. Sermons were not interrupted by these annoying personalized ringtones.
Sure, they have their perks. You can call AAA if you car dies on the freeway. You can call and get directions while en route. Show times are just a few buttons away. You can get updates on everything sent straight to your phone so you are always ahead of the curve.
To me, the convenience is not worth the hassle. Be happy that I'm not answering your call, because I might be in the bathroom or 'in the middle of something'. So, the next time you try to call me and I don't answer, leave me a message and I will get back to you eventually.
"I'm so sorry... I had no idea. You looked so happy."
"You don't have a cell phone? What, do you hate technology? Do you have a computer?"
"No cell? Where are you from?"
I used to be one of those people that had a cell phone pressed up against their ear non-stop. I never answered my cell phone during a movie or a play, but that's only because I actually wanted to watch the show.
While we were in Texas, and the first month of living here, we had cell phones. The reception in the area is awful and we had the worst provider possible as far as customer service goes. Against our better judgment, we signed a 2 year contract with Sprint on the condition that we could cancel our plan, at any time, with no cancellation fee since My Husband is in the military.
Sprint screwed us. Hard. We ended up fighting for months to get the cancellation fees waived, and finally settled on having them cut in half. They did not want to do it, but a previous rep had left a note (thankfully.... most of them promised the world but didn't leave any notes) saying that they could waive the cancellation fee on one line. $500 and a lot of emotional trauma later, I vowed that we would not have cell phones until we could find a good plan that worked for us.
We stopped looking about 7 months ago.
At one point, we got "emergency" pre paid Virgin mobile phones. I love Virgin Enterprises and have always had great luck with them. All we had to do was buy minutes and load them onto the phone. Easy peasy. I can only think of one time that I actually used that phone. I was shocked that I even had it with me, and was even more surprised that it had a charge.
We eventually forgot about the phones and never put any more minutes on them. The minutes expired, along with our phone numbers.
There are times when I really wish that I could call My Husband and see if he picked something up, or just remind him that I love him... but I wouldn't trade our newfound freedom for anything.
When you have a cell phone, people want to get ahold of you 24 hours a day. Even if you turn your phone off, there's a pile of text messages waiting for you when you turn it back on. What part of that sounds appealing?
People are always loudly wondering how we ever lived without cell phones. Quietly! We didn't have to raise our voices in a restaurant just to be heard over someone screaming about their infected toenails. Before everyone had a cell phone, I never heard someone talk about 'that time they got crabs' in line at the DMV. Sermons were not interrupted by these annoying personalized ringtones.
Sure, they have their perks. You can call AAA if you car dies on the freeway. You can call and get directions while en route. Show times are just a few buttons away. You can get updates on everything sent straight to your phone so you are always ahead of the curve.
To me, the convenience is not worth the hassle. Be happy that I'm not answering your call, because I might be in the bathroom or 'in the middle of something'. So, the next time you try to call me and I don't answer, leave me a message and I will get back to you eventually.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hmm...
It looks like I'm really going to keep doing this blog thing, so I need to find a direction.
I can do unstructured posts like I have been, or I could try and focus on one area. I figure I'll let you guys, all 3 of you, tell me what you want. Do you want updates on the skills, my opinions/reviews, or just a general life update. If you have any other great ideas I'm open to suggestion, so just let me know what you want to see.
Pretty soon I want to start a weekly "crafting corner" (with a better name of course) and do tutorials (Hey You, I haven't forgotten about the bow making... I just haven't resized the pics yet.)
Hopefully after the trip I'll do a blog overhaul, but it might take a bit longer.
YAY!
I can do unstructured posts like I have been, or I could try and focus on one area. I figure I'll let you guys, all 3 of you, tell me what you want. Do you want updates on the skills, my opinions/reviews, or just a general life update. If you have any other great ideas I'm open to suggestion, so just let me know what you want to see.
Pretty soon I want to start a weekly "crafting corner" (with a better name of course) and do tutorials (Hey You, I haven't forgotten about the bow making... I just haven't resized the pics yet.)
Hopefully after the trip I'll do a blog overhaul, but it might take a bit longer.
YAY!
Vacation?
Wednesday we will get on a plane and go home, together, for the first time since My Husband got out of Basic Training. I was able to go home a little over a year ago, but he has not been back for two years.
This trip is mostly to visit my dying Mammaw, but it turns out my Aunt is having surgery just before we arrive. She fought with breast cancer a few years ago (she even wrote a book. Find out more here.) and thought she was doing well, but it looks like it is back in full force. It has spread, and they are going to try and remove as much of it as possible... There is a small chance that she will not make it through the surgery.
This means that we will be adding some hospital visits to our agenda, leaving even less time to try and cater to My Husband's family.
During this time we will have to adjust to a different time zone and switch from being night people to having a daytime schedule. Immediately upon return, My Husband starts working overnight. I will have one day to re-adjust to normal life before plunging back into my 11 hour workdays. We are going to have a lot of fun, and we are going to wish that we could stay forever... but this is going to be really hard on us.
Meanwhile, no news from the doctor yet. They are checking my hormone levels to see if they can figure out what's going on.
I've started knitting an afghan for the living room. It is going to be huge and just might function as our new home if we are not able to get our finances together in time. I mean, financially we are doing just fine, but we need to come up with a large (for us) amount of cash in a really short amount of time. This is the part that's killing us.
We have worked really hard to achieve a certain comfort zone and, as it turns out, we do not want to stick to a strict budget (even short term) that requires us giving up the things we have become accustomed to.
Now, I'm not talking about lobster dinners every night, or even spending a lot of money on entertainment... I just want to be able to buy some shoes or a handbag without worrying when payday is.
During our first year of marriage, I became an expert at "Poor People Math". If you are not familiar with the term, PPM usually involves calculating exactly when a purchase will hit your bank account, how close it is to payday, and the likelihood of that purchase putting your account in the negative. Often you are trying to figure out how many meals you will have to skip if you rent a movie, or how many pennies you think you can find between now and the end of bank hours.
We considered ourselves very lucky if we had 17 cents in our bank account at the end of the week, and every indulgence required a corresponding sacrifice. I ate once each day, usually around 2 am, and it was carefully chosen from the dollar menu or the "Manager's Special" space at the grocery store where I worked. I remember one week I was going to buy a head of lettuce and my debit card was declined. How embarrassing is that? I had to have one of my cashiers ring me up, and then my debit card was declined... Fortunately, I found 54 cents on the floor so we were able to have a ranch salad topped with Parmesan cheese packets.
Admittedly, that was one of the low points.
This year we have, financially, been better off than I ever could have imagined. I usually don't have to worry about the bank account unless I overspend while grocery/clothes/entertainment shopping or if we make a major purchase.
We really enjoy having less stress, and we are finally getting out of debt. I'm really not sure whether I want to give all of that up for a house... especially for one so small... and expensive...
Decisions, decisions...
This trip is mostly to visit my dying Mammaw, but it turns out my Aunt is having surgery just before we arrive. She fought with breast cancer a few years ago (she even wrote a book. Find out more here.) and thought she was doing well, but it looks like it is back in full force. It has spread, and they are going to try and remove as much of it as possible... There is a small chance that she will not make it through the surgery.
This means that we will be adding some hospital visits to our agenda, leaving even less time to try and cater to My Husband's family.
During this time we will have to adjust to a different time zone and switch from being night people to having a daytime schedule. Immediately upon return, My Husband starts working overnight. I will have one day to re-adjust to normal life before plunging back into my 11 hour workdays. We are going to have a lot of fun, and we are going to wish that we could stay forever... but this is going to be really hard on us.
Meanwhile, no news from the doctor yet. They are checking my hormone levels to see if they can figure out what's going on.
I've started knitting an afghan for the living room. It is going to be huge and just might function as our new home if we are not able to get our finances together in time. I mean, financially we are doing just fine, but we need to come up with a large (for us) amount of cash in a really short amount of time. This is the part that's killing us.
We have worked really hard to achieve a certain comfort zone and, as it turns out, we do not want to stick to a strict budget (even short term) that requires us giving up the things we have become accustomed to.
Now, I'm not talking about lobster dinners every night, or even spending a lot of money on entertainment... I just want to be able to buy some shoes or a handbag without worrying when payday is.
During our first year of marriage, I became an expert at "Poor People Math". If you are not familiar with the term, PPM usually involves calculating exactly when a purchase will hit your bank account, how close it is to payday, and the likelihood of that purchase putting your account in the negative. Often you are trying to figure out how many meals you will have to skip if you rent a movie, or how many pennies you think you can find between now and the end of bank hours.
We considered ourselves very lucky if we had 17 cents in our bank account at the end of the week, and every indulgence required a corresponding sacrifice. I ate once each day, usually around 2 am, and it was carefully chosen from the dollar menu or the "Manager's Special" space at the grocery store where I worked. I remember one week I was going to buy a head of lettuce and my debit card was declined. How embarrassing is that? I had to have one of my cashiers ring me up, and then my debit card was declined... Fortunately, I found 54 cents on the floor so we were able to have a ranch salad topped with Parmesan cheese packets.
Admittedly, that was one of the low points.
This year we have, financially, been better off than I ever could have imagined. I usually don't have to worry about the bank account unless I overspend while grocery/clothes/entertainment shopping or if we make a major purchase.
We really enjoy having less stress, and we are finally getting out of debt. I'm really not sure whether I want to give all of that up for a house... especially for one so small... and expensive...
Decisions, decisions...
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
the crow flies at midnight...
So... I was told to stop being so cryptic. Basically, I was afraid that the offending party might read a rant about them and get mad.
The crazy thing is... I don't really care. I'm not saying anything that isn't true, and they are aware that I feel this way, so I don't think expressing my feelings should be a bad thing.
We are planning a trip home at the end of the month because my Mammaw is dying. She has lung cancer, and the doctor gave her 6 months about 4 years ago. She just celebrated her 91st birthday and her health has really gone down since I last saw her.
Since My Husband's family lives a few towns away, we wanted to stop by and see them while we were down. This turned into a huge mess, because they thought that we should entirely devote our trip to them. His Mom wanted to know why we have not made time for his grandma's and basically just wanted to guilt us into canceling plans with my family.
His family came down for about a week a few months ago and were planning to come back in November. Since I have not seen my family in over a year, and My Husband has not seen them in over 2 years, I don't think it's fair that His family want's to monopolize our time.
There was some drama, and My Husband ended up yelling at his parents. He told them that they were being selfish and that if they were going to be jerks we wouldn't see them at all.
I do not want anyone to tell me how I can spend my time. This is my vacation time, and I can use it however I want. I swore that we would not come home again simply to avoid all of this drama, and now I realize that I shouldn't have to stop myself from seeing the people I love.
In other news, we were supposed to go camping with The Roommate and Our Neighbors this weekend, but that didn't happen. I went up to the campsite to drop off The Roommate and hang out for a bit. Then O and I went to pick My Husband up from work. I needed her help to get down the mountain because we got so lost on the way up. We thought we were going to be late, and ended up having to wait for almost 3 hours since My Husband had to sit through a debrief. I don't know all of the specifics, but My Husband took a shot that helped blow something up somewhere in the world. Less than an hour after the debrief, we were roasting marshmallows over a campfire.
It takes someone with amazing mental capacity to go straight from blowing things up, to singing songs and having fun.
In other other news, my skill for the day is lactating. Which, is not so much a skill as a medical concern. Since I'm not pregnant I've made an appointment with the doctor next week to get my hormone levels checked, as well as getting checked for tumors and whatnot.
It scared the crap out of me.
So, for now, everything is great. I've got some pictures taken for a future post, the cat isn't being completely insane, and we have a few hours left to ourselves.
Life is awesome!
The crazy thing is... I don't really care. I'm not saying anything that isn't true, and they are aware that I feel this way, so I don't think expressing my feelings should be a bad thing.
We are planning a trip home at the end of the month because my Mammaw is dying. She has lung cancer, and the doctor gave her 6 months about 4 years ago. She just celebrated her 91st birthday and her health has really gone down since I last saw her.
Since My Husband's family lives a few towns away, we wanted to stop by and see them while we were down. This turned into a huge mess, because they thought that we should entirely devote our trip to them. His Mom wanted to know why we have not made time for his grandma's and basically just wanted to guilt us into canceling plans with my family.
His family came down for about a week a few months ago and were planning to come back in November. Since I have not seen my family in over a year, and My Husband has not seen them in over 2 years, I don't think it's fair that His family want's to monopolize our time.
There was some drama, and My Husband ended up yelling at his parents. He told them that they were being selfish and that if they were going to be jerks we wouldn't see them at all.
I do not want anyone to tell me how I can spend my time. This is my vacation time, and I can use it however I want. I swore that we would not come home again simply to avoid all of this drama, and now I realize that I shouldn't have to stop myself from seeing the people I love.
In other news, we were supposed to go camping with The Roommate and Our Neighbors this weekend, but that didn't happen. I went up to the campsite to drop off The Roommate and hang out for a bit. Then O and I went to pick My Husband up from work. I needed her help to get down the mountain because we got so lost on the way up. We thought we were going to be late, and ended up having to wait for almost 3 hours since My Husband had to sit through a debrief. I don't know all of the specifics, but My Husband took a shot that helped blow something up somewhere in the world. Less than an hour after the debrief, we were roasting marshmallows over a campfire.
It takes someone with amazing mental capacity to go straight from blowing things up, to singing songs and having fun.
In other other news, my skill for the day is lactating. Which, is not so much a skill as a medical concern. Since I'm not pregnant I've made an appointment with the doctor next week to get my hormone levels checked, as well as getting checked for tumors and whatnot.
It scared the crap out of me.
So, for now, everything is great. I've got some pictures taken for a future post, the cat isn't being completely insane, and we have a few hours left to ourselves.
Life is awesome!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Hypotamoose
So, lately I've been a bit of a Drama Llama I guess. When something dramatic happens in my life, I like to share it with others so that I can get it off my chest and get their unique viewpoint. I always hope that learning someone elses view will help me clarify my own.
I will not be sharing the most recent drama just yet, but this is what has caused me to be so lax with my updates. I promise I will have something great this weekend, but for now... I'm in Zalcatraz with no forseeable escape.
Have a good night!
I will not be sharing the most recent drama just yet, but this is what has caused me to be so lax with my updates. I promise I will have something great this weekend, but for now... I'm in Zalcatraz with no forseeable escape.
Have a good night!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
It's finally over...
So, this has been one of the longest weeks of my life...
And my weekend will not be as restful as I had hoped. We are going house hunting again.
My ideal home would be big, with several extra rooms that I could use for various things. Like, we'd have a theater room for movies, a sewing/crafting room, a computer room, a library, a quiet room, extra bedrooms, the living room, dining room, at least 4 bathrooms, and a garage. It would probably be somewhere around 6000 sq ft, with a big open yard.
Unfortunately, this is Las Vegas and that is just not going to happen. Ever.
Hopefully we can get something where there is an extra room that I can cram full of things that I don't want anyone else to touch. I'm not sure if it's just the hoarding instinct that I grew up with or if I'm just incredibly selfish, but I like to have a stockpile of things handy just in case something happens. Unfortunately, I think it's insane to tell look someone straight in the eye and say "don't drink the water, I'm saving it" when we live in the desert.
I've already been told that I was insane for telling My Husband and The Roommate that they could not use the kitchen if they were unable to keep it clean. Somehow, I don't find this unreasonable..... but now I know that I should. (apparently...)
Whatever, the mood has passed-- I'm done being crazy about cleaning. I realized that if I want it cleaned the way I like it, I'm just going to have to do it all myself and then I will hate everyone and resent them for depositing their filth everywhere.
So... That Guy and My Husband got into a big of a spat a few days ago. My Husband can be kind of insensitive sometimes, and That Guy has issues with expressing his emotions verbally... this led to a rather nasty email that was sent in the wee hours of the morning, just before we went to bed. We read it, and looked at each other... I told My Husband to tell O that That Guy was not allowed in our house until we could sort this out. I was so mad that I didn't know if I even cared to talk about it, but ultimately decided that our friendship was more important. (Rather, That Guy and My Husband talked about it while I was at work, so I really couldn't say anything.)
omg the cat just dug his claw into my back and i'm bleeding...
OW!
I can't wait until this little bastard... err... lovely kitten doesn't have any more claws.
Oh yeah! I promised pet pictures.
Meet Professor Chaos Alastory Moody: Eater of Crepes.
Cute, isn't he?
Imma go bandage myself now. Until next time...
And my weekend will not be as restful as I had hoped. We are going house hunting again.
My ideal home would be big, with several extra rooms that I could use for various things. Like, we'd have a theater room for movies, a sewing/crafting room, a computer room, a library, a quiet room, extra bedrooms, the living room, dining room, at least 4 bathrooms, and a garage. It would probably be somewhere around 6000 sq ft, with a big open yard.
Unfortunately, this is Las Vegas and that is just not going to happen. Ever.
Hopefully we can get something where there is an extra room that I can cram full of things that I don't want anyone else to touch. I'm not sure if it's just the hoarding instinct that I grew up with or if I'm just incredibly selfish, but I like to have a stockpile of things handy just in case something happens. Unfortunately, I think it's insane to tell look someone straight in the eye and say "don't drink the water, I'm saving it" when we live in the desert.
I've already been told that I was insane for telling My Husband and The Roommate that they could not use the kitchen if they were unable to keep it clean. Somehow, I don't find this unreasonable..... but now I know that I should. (apparently...)
Whatever, the mood has passed-- I'm done being crazy about cleaning. I realized that if I want it cleaned the way I like it, I'm just going to have to do it all myself and then I will hate everyone and resent them for depositing their filth everywhere.
So... That Guy and My Husband got into a big of a spat a few days ago. My Husband can be kind of insensitive sometimes, and That Guy has issues with expressing his emotions verbally... this led to a rather nasty email that was sent in the wee hours of the morning, just before we went to bed. We read it, and looked at each other... I told My Husband to tell O that That Guy was not allowed in our house until we could sort this out. I was so mad that I didn't know if I even cared to talk about it, but ultimately decided that our friendship was more important. (Rather, That Guy and My Husband talked about it while I was at work, so I really couldn't say anything.)
omg the cat just dug his claw into my back and i'm bleeding...
OW!
I can't wait until this little bastard... err... lovely kitten doesn't have any more claws.
Oh yeah! I promised pet pictures.
Meet Professor Chaos Alastory Moody: Eater of Crepes.
Cute, isn't he?
Imma go bandage myself now. Until next time...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Uh oh, I made a mess... time to be cute so they don't eat me!
So... I mentioned that we have a kitten now, right?
Did I mention that our apartment complex is unaware since there is a $500 pet deposit?
The complex left a note on our door saying that they would be coming in to do some preventative maintenance...
We decided to go with the "cat sitting" excuse, but also to try and hide all traces of the cat as well as possible.
To fully understand the story, we must travel back in time-- about 2 years ago.
My Husband decided to join the Air Force and I moved in with my parents while he was in Basic Training. Part of this decision involved saving money, and part of it was because I didn't want to live by myself in our neighborhood (especially after my car got broken into, twice, while we were sitting in the living room, right next to our parking spot).
We ran out of time and space during the moving process and ended up filling 3 dumpsters full of crap that we couldn't/didn't want to take. Since we had been sleeping on a waterbed, we threw away our regular mattress. Then I remembered that a) waterbed sometimes leak, b) it's a pain to fill and drain a queen sized waterbed, c) we usually have a bedroom on the second floor.
I decided that we needed a regular mattress since it would be much easier to move, so I went on a quest to find the perfect sleep time friend. I talked to several sales people, each with a different idea of what the perfect mattress should be, and found myself going back to the same one over and over, bringing different friends and family members to get their opinion.
I got an amazing deal.
A $3,000 king size designer mattress ended up being a little over $700 for the mattress, foundation, and bed frame.
She is named after her designer, Vera.
Rather than being able to sleep on her immediately, she was shoved into storage where she would wait to be transported to our new home.
My Mom is one of the most amazing people in the world, and she helped us get moved into our new place. Since My Husband was going to be at work, Mom came to help me get everything cleaned up and situated so that we could get off to a good start. We had a hotel room on base, since the apartment wasn't going to be ready right away. Once the place was ready for us to move, Mom decided to stay there so that My Husband and I could... get reacquainted after the months he had been away.
Since she was staying in the apartment, my mom was the first to sleep on Vera. She immediately told me of the horrible, crippling pain she had after sleeping on our new friend. I was mortified-- Had I made a critical error in choosing design, squishyness, and price over stability and support?
My Husband had to live in the dorm rooms on base for a little while, so I stayed in the apartment with Mom.
The first night on Vera was hell. Every muscle in my body, including those that had been forgotten long ago, was screaming at me. I felt terrible because not only were we outside the return time frame, but we were in a completely different state. As most members of the military, we did not have the money to spend on another new mattress. I just knew that I was going to have to sell her and buy something different
Before we went to bed, Mom told me that the second night wasn't as bad... I didn't believe her.
I woke up, and all of the pain was gone. It was like I had been sleeping on soft, fluffy marshmallows. My dreams were filled with unicorns and upbeat guitar melodies; butterflies danced across fields full of rainbows... It was that awesome.
Since then, Vera and I have been the best of friends.
She lays there, all soft and squishy, calling me to her when she feels lonely. Every night I lay on her and think about how wonderful she is. Even now, I can hear her whispering softly.
If anything were to happen to her, I'm not quite sure what I would do.
Fast forward to last night.
The kitten has not been allowed in our bedroom for many reasons, but mostly because I didn't want anything to happen to Vera.
I know how kittens like to claw things, and I didn't think it would be right to ask my friend to put up with that. She may be a mattress, but she has feelings.
So... we decided to keep the kitten in our room so that we wouldn't have to explain it's existence when the people came to work on the HVAC.
The kitten was a little hyper from being exposed to a new area and started pinging around the room. After about an hour, we grabbed the cat and started petting him so that he would calm down and go to sleep.
He bounced around the bed for a few moments before settling on the comforter between My Husband's legs. He sat there, watching X Files. I reached over to pet him, and My Husband let out a terrible cross between a scream and a groan.
"Paper towels. Now."
He flung the cat from the bed so that he could move away from the giant wet spot. I tossed him a roll of paper towels and turned on the light... I don't know how much the cat had to drink, but I really think he had been saving it up for just the right moment.
I threw the comforter into the washing machine and pulled the sheet off the bed. There, on the glorious white surface of my beloved Vera, was a lake of cat urine.
We grabbed the cleaning spray.
After 30 heartbreaking minutes, I finally got everything cleaned up. After everything had been washed and dried, we dressed her up and tried to let her know that everything was going to be alright; that we still loved her.
Even though the spot is gone, the memory will last forever. I let her down... and she will never be the same.
I hope, in time, she will forgive me.
Did I mention that our apartment complex is unaware since there is a $500 pet deposit?
The complex left a note on our door saying that they would be coming in to do some preventative maintenance...
We decided to go with the "cat sitting" excuse, but also to try and hide all traces of the cat as well as possible.
To fully understand the story, we must travel back in time-- about 2 years ago.
My Husband decided to join the Air Force and I moved in with my parents while he was in Basic Training. Part of this decision involved saving money, and part of it was because I didn't want to live by myself in our neighborhood (especially after my car got broken into, twice, while we were sitting in the living room, right next to our parking spot).
We ran out of time and space during the moving process and ended up filling 3 dumpsters full of crap that we couldn't/didn't want to take. Since we had been sleeping on a waterbed, we threw away our regular mattress. Then I remembered that a) waterbed sometimes leak, b) it's a pain to fill and drain a queen sized waterbed, c) we usually have a bedroom on the second floor.
I decided that we needed a regular mattress since it would be much easier to move, so I went on a quest to find the perfect sleep time friend. I talked to several sales people, each with a different idea of what the perfect mattress should be, and found myself going back to the same one over and over, bringing different friends and family members to get their opinion.
I got an amazing deal.
A $3,000 king size designer mattress ended up being a little over $700 for the mattress, foundation, and bed frame.
She is named after her designer, Vera.
Rather than being able to sleep on her immediately, she was shoved into storage where she would wait to be transported to our new home.
My Mom is one of the most amazing people in the world, and she helped us get moved into our new place. Since My Husband was going to be at work, Mom came to help me get everything cleaned up and situated so that we could get off to a good start. We had a hotel room on base, since the apartment wasn't going to be ready right away. Once the place was ready for us to move, Mom decided to stay there so that My Husband and I could... get reacquainted after the months he had been away.
Since she was staying in the apartment, my mom was the first to sleep on Vera. She immediately told me of the horrible, crippling pain she had after sleeping on our new friend. I was mortified-- Had I made a critical error in choosing design, squishyness, and price over stability and support?
My Husband had to live in the dorm rooms on base for a little while, so I stayed in the apartment with Mom.
The first night on Vera was hell. Every muscle in my body, including those that had been forgotten long ago, was screaming at me. I felt terrible because not only were we outside the return time frame, but we were in a completely different state. As most members of the military, we did not have the money to spend on another new mattress. I just knew that I was going to have to sell her and buy something different
Before we went to bed, Mom told me that the second night wasn't as bad... I didn't believe her.
I woke up, and all of the pain was gone. It was like I had been sleeping on soft, fluffy marshmallows. My dreams were filled with unicorns and upbeat guitar melodies; butterflies danced across fields full of rainbows... It was that awesome.
Since then, Vera and I have been the best of friends.
She lays there, all soft and squishy, calling me to her when she feels lonely. Every night I lay on her and think about how wonderful she is. Even now, I can hear her whispering softly.
If anything were to happen to her, I'm not quite sure what I would do.
Fast forward to last night.
The kitten has not been allowed in our bedroom for many reasons, but mostly because I didn't want anything to happen to Vera.
I know how kittens like to claw things, and I didn't think it would be right to ask my friend to put up with that. She may be a mattress, but she has feelings.
So... we decided to keep the kitten in our room so that we wouldn't have to explain it's existence when the people came to work on the HVAC.
The kitten was a little hyper from being exposed to a new area and started pinging around the room. After about an hour, we grabbed the cat and started petting him so that he would calm down and go to sleep.
He bounced around the bed for a few moments before settling on the comforter between My Husband's legs. He sat there, watching X Files. I reached over to pet him, and My Husband let out a terrible cross between a scream and a groan.
"Paper towels. Now."
He flung the cat from the bed so that he could move away from the giant wet spot. I tossed him a roll of paper towels and turned on the light... I don't know how much the cat had to drink, but I really think he had been saving it up for just the right moment.
I threw the comforter into the washing machine and pulled the sheet off the bed. There, on the glorious white surface of my beloved Vera, was a lake of cat urine.
We grabbed the cleaning spray.
After 30 heartbreaking minutes, I finally got everything cleaned up. After everything had been washed and dried, we dressed her up and tried to let her know that everything was going to be alright; that we still loved her.
Even though the spot is gone, the memory will last forever. I let her down... and she will never be the same.
I hope, in time, she will forgive me.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Confessions that have nothing to do with new skills.
I want to be a Super Hero.
Not the typical spandex wearing, bullet deflecting, masked hero with a tragic past or the Average Joe Hero that saves 5 billion orphans from a burning building, stopping only long enough to help an old woman cross the street... I want to be more a clumsy, dorky, "good villian" sort.
There aren't many causes I really want to fight for, and I don't really want "crime fighting" to be my thing... I think I mostly want to save people from themselves.
I want to help others realize the truths that have been glazed over in favor of a bright colored package loaded with buzzwords. Rather than showing people how good the world can be, I want them to see how bad it could become if we don't open our eyes and use our voices to stop shiny, charismatic people from doing horrible things.
--Warning: Personal Views Ahead. If you hate the earth and want to see it die in a fiery ball of doom, stop reading right now. Pretend that the post is over, and go on with your day. You have three seconds....--
The other day, a co-worker forwarded an email titled "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less". I read the petition that she had signed and wanted to grab her by the neck with my kung fu grip and punch her in the face until the words on the screen really made sense.
Drilling for oil in protected areas to decrease our dependence on foreign oil is not solving any problems, but instead is creating a whole host of new ones while ignoring the fact that we will eventually run out of oil and must find an alternative fuel source.
Yes, most people are mad about gas prices, and I was one of them. Then I realized that my commute became so much less stressful when people stopped driving as much. Drivers were less aggressive and more likely to go the posted speed limit, which helped me become more calm behind the wheel.
Of course I wish that gas was more affordable right now, but completely tapping the earth to save a few buck doesn't seem right.
Rather than responding will a witty, well thought out reply... I deleted the email.
This is why I am not, and never will be, a Super Hero.
Not the typical spandex wearing, bullet deflecting, masked hero with a tragic past or the Average Joe Hero that saves 5 billion orphans from a burning building, stopping only long enough to help an old woman cross the street... I want to be more a clumsy, dorky, "good villian" sort.
There aren't many causes I really want to fight for, and I don't really want "crime fighting" to be my thing... I think I mostly want to save people from themselves.
I want to help others realize the truths that have been glazed over in favor of a bright colored package loaded with buzzwords. Rather than showing people how good the world can be, I want them to see how bad it could become if we don't open our eyes and use our voices to stop shiny, charismatic people from doing horrible things.
--Warning: Personal Views Ahead. If you hate the earth and want to see it die in a fiery ball of doom, stop reading right now. Pretend that the post is over, and go on with your day. You have three seconds....--
The other day, a co-worker forwarded an email titled "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less". I read the petition that she had signed and wanted to grab her by the neck with my kung fu grip and punch her in the face until the words on the screen really made sense.
Drilling for oil in protected areas to decrease our dependence on foreign oil is not solving any problems, but instead is creating a whole host of new ones while ignoring the fact that we will eventually run out of oil and must find an alternative fuel source.
Yes, most people are mad about gas prices, and I was one of them. Then I realized that my commute became so much less stressful when people stopped driving as much. Drivers were less aggressive and more likely to go the posted speed limit, which helped me become more calm behind the wheel.
Of course I wish that gas was more affordable right now, but completely tapping the earth to save a few buck doesn't seem right.
Rather than responding will a witty, well thought out reply... I deleted the email.
This is why I am not, and never will be, a Super Hero.
Monday, August 25, 2008
It's picture time!
The other night, The Roommate and I were very bored and had a bit of time on our hands. Rather than doing something useful, we dressed up and had a mini photo shoot in the living room!
I didn't take a lot of pictures that I was proud of, but I got a few good ones of The Roommate!
Yes, that is The Roommate with a pillow tied to his head. The night began with silly pictures, and then moved on to Faux Artsy pictures!
We snatched various things to use as props and ended up with some pretty funny pictures (that I will not display because, well, they aren't the most flattering). From Faux Artsy, There was a brief costume change, and we slammed straight into emo.
I was pretty happy with most of the pictures that I took. A lot of them ended up too blurry to ever use (low lighting at whatnot), but I think they look great.
We took turns playing model/photographer, and The Roommate took some of the best pictures that have ever been taken of me! (yes, the middle two are supposed to look like that. Just go with it.)
When I pulled the pictures off of the camera, I realized that many of them were way too dark-- you couldn't even tell what they were supposed to be!
I had a crash course in photo editing with some of the worst software I have ever used. ( Yay, Vista! You crash every time I try to use Adobe!) I think I managed to save most of them and I'm sure I can eventually figure out how to make the "effect" middle two look like it was done on purpose.
So, in lieu of an actual post documenting the real skills I picked up, you got pictures! Yay, pictures!
My work schedule has changed, so I'm going to have to figure out how to blog around it... anyway... See ya soon!
I didn't take a lot of pictures that I was proud of, but I got a few good ones of The Roommate!
Yes, that is The Roommate with a pillow tied to his head. The night began with silly pictures, and then moved on to Faux Artsy pictures!
We snatched various things to use as props and ended up with some pretty funny pictures (that I will not display because, well, they aren't the most flattering). From Faux Artsy, There was a brief costume change, and we slammed straight into emo.
I was pretty happy with most of the pictures that I took. A lot of them ended up too blurry to ever use (low lighting at whatnot), but I think they look great.
We took turns playing model/photographer, and The Roommate took some of the best pictures that have ever been taken of me! (yes, the middle two are supposed to look like that. Just go with it.)
When I pulled the pictures off of the camera, I realized that many of them were way too dark-- you couldn't even tell what they were supposed to be!
I had a crash course in photo editing with some of the worst software I have ever used. ( Yay, Vista! You crash every time I try to use Adobe!) I think I managed to save most of them and I'm sure I can eventually figure out how to make the "effect" middle two look like it was done on purpose.
So, in lieu of an actual post documenting the real skills I picked up, you got pictures! Yay, pictures!
My work schedule has changed, so I'm going to have to figure out how to blog around it... anyway... See ya soon!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
H. R. Stuff'nstuff.
I've been crazy busy, and just plain crazy, all month. We are all moving teams at work and I'm stressing out trying to get my Lead to take care of some things that he's kind of slacked off on. Basically, either he isn't doing his part, or everyone else isn't doing theirs. I'm not sure which, but either way it's a bit frustrating (I really don't think it's his fault.).
The following are a few things I've harassed him about lately: I need a QA so that I can move to another department, two pay raises that are owed to me, the $25 gift card from my Birthday, having someone on a specialty team do normal emails for 2 hours so that I can finish her review, checking my points because I think I had perfect attendance last month (we get an award... I don't have one.), and approving me to come in for an hour on a day off so that we can get at least one medal in the Workolympics.
I hate to hound him daily, but I want it done.
Just like with the Roommate. I hate to keep asking for rent, but he keeps saying he's going to give it to us... If we didn't need it, I wouldn't be asking for it. True, I did make some interesting financial choices, but I thought we would have the check Friday since... that's what we agreed.
Anyway, I've learned a lot this month and I really hope that I get to tell you all about it. Maybe include pictures and directions, but I may not get around to that. Just know that it's been a blast.
Have an awesome day!
The following are a few things I've harassed him about lately: I need a QA so that I can move to another department, two pay raises that are owed to me, the $25 gift card from my Birthday, having someone on a specialty team do normal emails for 2 hours so that I can finish her review, checking my points because I think I had perfect attendance last month (we get an award... I don't have one.), and approving me to come in for an hour on a day off so that we can get at least one medal in the Workolympics.
I hate to hound him daily, but I want it done.
Just like with the Roommate. I hate to keep asking for rent, but he keeps saying he's going to give it to us... If we didn't need it, I wouldn't be asking for it. True, I did make some interesting financial choices, but I thought we would have the check Friday since... that's what we agreed.
Anyway, I've learned a lot this month and I really hope that I get to tell you all about it. Maybe include pictures and directions, but I may not get around to that. Just know that it's been a blast.
Have an awesome day!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Uh oh...
So I've been missing for a bit... I'll try and post soon with an actual reason, but for now I'm calling it "Madame Bunbun's Special Time."
The blog isn't dead, I am still learning new skills, and life has a way finding a way around your plans.
p.s. the kitten is driving me crazy.
The blog isn't dead, I am still learning new skills, and life has a way finding a way around your plans.
p.s. the kitten is driving me crazy.
Monday, August 4, 2008
wooosah
The other night I wrote my very first angry letter. I don't actually expect it to do any good, but it really made me feel better. I think I am going to start writing them, even if they don't get sent.
Tonight, we added a new family member. We don't have a name for him yet, but he is an adorable kitty that we picked up from some total strangers. They were really cool, but their daughter was afraid of us.
As soon as we got home, we cleaned up a little bit so that the kitty wouldn't choke on anything (and to make it more apparent if there was a litter box mistake).
We aren't technically supposed to have a cat unless we pay the pet deposit, but we are moving soon anyway so I think we can play it off as "cat sitting" (after the crap this complex has pulled the last few months... I think we're just about even.)
At least the cat wont howl all night like our dog in Little Rock did... It was really hard to keep up the charade that we watched Animal Planet at high volumes when we didn't even have cable.
On the way to pick up the kitty, I ripped the seat out of my jeans. I expect this from older pairs that are a bit worn, but this one still had good, sturdy stitching! I think I'm going to take two damaged pairs and combine them to form Frankenjean. If it works, I will post pictures!
Soooo... I've started slacking on the updates, which is not a good sign. This means that by the time I sit down to write it all out, I've already forgotten what skills I gained!
It's probably more important that I actually gain the skills, rather than post them... but this helps me keep track and motivate me to keep going. I know over the last few days I was trained to train others on our email writing process, and then I was trained to do email reviews.
Those are separate skills on separate days, and they're really difficult. I just keep thinking that I may be the reason someone fails a QA... but hopefully I will teach them enough positive things that they will be able to avoid the mistakes I've made (and boy howdy have I made a lot of them...).
Anyway, it's time to go play with the kitty again. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Tonight, we added a new family member. We don't have a name for him yet, but he is an adorable kitty that we picked up from some total strangers. They were really cool, but their daughter was afraid of us.
As soon as we got home, we cleaned up a little bit so that the kitty wouldn't choke on anything (and to make it more apparent if there was a litter box mistake).
We aren't technically supposed to have a cat unless we pay the pet deposit, but we are moving soon anyway so I think we can play it off as "cat sitting" (after the crap this complex has pulled the last few months... I think we're just about even.)
At least the cat wont howl all night like our dog in Little Rock did... It was really hard to keep up the charade that we watched Animal Planet at high volumes when we didn't even have cable.
On the way to pick up the kitty, I ripped the seat out of my jeans. I expect this from older pairs that are a bit worn, but this one still had good, sturdy stitching! I think I'm going to take two damaged pairs and combine them to form Frankenjean. If it works, I will post pictures!
Soooo... I've started slacking on the updates, which is not a good sign. This means that by the time I sit down to write it all out, I've already forgotten what skills I gained!
It's probably more important that I actually gain the skills, rather than post them... but this helps me keep track and motivate me to keep going. I know over the last few days I was trained to train others on our email writing process, and then I was trained to do email reviews.
Those are separate skills on separate days, and they're really difficult. I just keep thinking that I may be the reason someone fails a QA... but hopefully I will teach them enough positive things that they will be able to avoid the mistakes I've made (and boy howdy have I made a lot of them...).
Anyway, it's time to go play with the kitty again. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
it's a pity party.. .no, you aren't invited.
Today's skill....
Watching other people get what I want and being completely happy for them.
I'm sad because I can't have that right now... but I know that they deserve it so much more than I ever will.
It's really hard to give up on something that you have wanted so bad for so long, but I think this is going to help in other arenas of my life. Maybe I can focus more on My Husband, or myself. Maybe we can get and do some of the things we have dreamed of.
Just not this.
Congratulations, I know you guys will be excellent parents.
Watching other people get what I want and being completely happy for them.
I'm sad because I can't have that right now... but I know that they deserve it so much more than I ever will.
It's really hard to give up on something that you have wanted so bad for so long, but I think this is going to help in other arenas of my life. Maybe I can focus more on My Husband, or myself. Maybe we can get and do some of the things we have dreamed of.
Just not this.
Congratulations, I know you guys will be excellent parents.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
eerrrr...
So, I had some skills all lined up and accomplished some of them, but I honestly do not remember what they were.
I can tell you about my skill of yesterday and my skill for today, but that's about as far back as I can go.
My skill yesterday may sound absurd to anyone that wasn't there, but believe me... it is worthy of making the list.
I managed to not pee all over myself.
Now, for many, this comes naturally as they tend to take periodic bathroom breaks. I have a terrible fear of public restrooms and will only use one if I absolutely have to. Last night, I had to.
For those of you that pay any attention at all to my twitter bar, you know that I work for one of the most amazing companies in the universe. If you have ever heard me talk about it, you know how completely devoted I am... and no, they don't actually pay me to say that. I am in love with my job, and I can't imagine ever working anywhere else. (well... maybe some day...)
Periodically, we have amazing parties and we actually close the call center for a few hours so that everyone can attend (if you have ever worked in a call center, you know how crazy that is... but yeah. we do it.)
Last night, we had our Vendor Party at Rain nightclub in The Palms casino. I wish so bad that everyone could have been there, because it is probably the best party I have ever been to in my life.
Thanks to our awesome customers, the company pays for us to get drunk a few times a year. Knowing how much we all love a good drink (or 20) they also provide vouchers for a cab ride or for a designated driver. The designated driver program lets you and your buddies drink all you want, and then you call up the DD guys and they come get you, and your car, and deliver you safely back to your home.
How amazing is that?
So.... we're at the party, right? We get there at like, 9 or something, and the first thing you see when you walk through the door is a bar. Stop for a drink. Then you walk a little further, and theres a huge ice sculpture... with another bar! Stop for a drink.... then you may your way on down, and there are these girls offering alcoholic snow cones. Everyone loves a good snow cone, so you have two or three and keep on movin to the next drink station. Now, you just got to the party and you've already had 5 drinks. There's 3 hours left in the party.
The theme was Fire and Ice, and I think they did an amazing job of pulling it off. The outside was all Ice and inside was Fire.
Get this, they even had penguins. One of the small pools was drained, filled with salt water, and chilled so that 4 penguins could entertain us. We were not allowed to pet the penguins (though the CEO got to later) so we went back down the stairs and ran right into, you guessed it, another bar.
During the night, we sat down for quite a bit and just watched the people walking by. We amused ourselves and laughed a lot, grabbing a snow cone here and there as the girls walked by.
Eventually we made it inside and stopped at another bar. There were people dancing and there was this really cool fire show that I only vaguely watched. I'm not quite sure how many drinks I'd had by this point, but I know that by the end of the night I had downed, like, 20 glasses of Jack and Coke and had eaten a crapload of snow cones. The one thing that saved me was that the snow cones were full of Vodka. For some reason, Vodka does strange things to me and I think it kept me from absorbing all of the other alcohol. I really think I should have passed out.
It could have been the fact that I loaded up on pizza before we left, but who knows.
The best part was that no matter who you were standing next to, they were your best friend. Not just because you were both drunk, but because that is the kind of team and family spirit that we work so hard to keep alive in the company.
I nearly stumbled right into the CEO and he just smiled and greeted me like we hadn't seen each other in years. Everyone was smiling and happy, and it reminded me that I am so lucky to work for the company.
After a bit of drunken flailing (dancing) we went back outside for a cigarette and a snow cone. At Midnight, the free drinks stopped and most of us headed for the door (for us, that meant that we had been drinking for 3 hours straight and it was time to go home.)
We stopped for a few minutes so that My Husband could put some money in a slot machine. I don't remember how much he won, but we ended up giving it to the DD guy.
At this point, we stumbled and chatted our way to the doors and parked ourselves on the benches outside. My Husband called the DD guys and it was going to take about 45 minutes for them to arrive. We sat and chatted with people as they were leaving and then loaded into the car.
It was then that I realized I hadn't gone to the bathroom all day, and I had an incredibly full bladder. There wasn't time for me to go back inside, so I figured I could just hold it until I got home.
BIG MISTAKE.
Halfway home I made it very clear that I was not going to make it much further and My Husband convinced the DD guy to take us to a gas station so we could fill up the gas tank, and so I could empty my own tank.
Our Roommate had to assist me while I was exiting the car, and entering the gas station. The attendant (I see this guy weekly) just kept laughing. As soon as I got directions to the bathroom, I ran (or, you know, stumbled) my way over there. I don't remember if I locked the door or flushed, but I know that I washed my hands and nearly did a face plant when I tried to stand up.
I was about 5 minutes away from destroying the back seat of the car.
I don't know how much we tipped the guy, but it was so worth it to save myself that embarrassment.
When we got home, I ate a little bit more in an attempt to stop myself from having a hangover. It didn't really work.
At some point I remember My Husband lost it and had to evacuate his stomach. I am terrified of throwing up, so I managed to keep everything down. As soon as I started to actually feel sick, I fell asleep.
For some unknown reason, I woke up at 7:45. Note, I had just gone to sleep a few hours earlier.
I was thirsty, my head hurt, and I was slightly hungry. I got up, had a coke, some pizza and two excedrine, then tried to go back to sleep.
It took about an hour, but I finally did it.
When I woke up, I felt fantastic! I did not want to get out of bed, but I felt fine.
Today's skill was treating a hangover and I think I did an amazing job. I've never really had a bad hangover before, and I think I took all of the necessary precautions to make this one as pleasant as possible.
When I got to work, I took my first call with a glorious smile. I know that I made someones day a little better, and they helped make mine just as awesome.
I can tell you about my skill of yesterday and my skill for today, but that's about as far back as I can go.
My skill yesterday may sound absurd to anyone that wasn't there, but believe me... it is worthy of making the list.
I managed to not pee all over myself.
Now, for many, this comes naturally as they tend to take periodic bathroom breaks. I have a terrible fear of public restrooms and will only use one if I absolutely have to. Last night, I had to.
For those of you that pay any attention at all to my twitter bar, you know that I work for one of the most amazing companies in the universe. If you have ever heard me talk about it, you know how completely devoted I am... and no, they don't actually pay me to say that. I am in love with my job, and I can't imagine ever working anywhere else. (well... maybe some day...)
Periodically, we have amazing parties and we actually close the call center for a few hours so that everyone can attend (if you have ever worked in a call center, you know how crazy that is... but yeah. we do it.)
Last night, we had our Vendor Party at Rain nightclub in The Palms casino. I wish so bad that everyone could have been there, because it is probably the best party I have ever been to in my life.
Thanks to our awesome customers, the company pays for us to get drunk a few times a year. Knowing how much we all love a good drink (or 20) they also provide vouchers for a cab ride or for a designated driver. The designated driver program lets you and your buddies drink all you want, and then you call up the DD guys and they come get you, and your car, and deliver you safely back to your home.
How amazing is that?
So.... we're at the party, right? We get there at like, 9 or something, and the first thing you see when you walk through the door is a bar. Stop for a drink. Then you walk a little further, and theres a huge ice sculpture... with another bar! Stop for a drink.... then you may your way on down, and there are these girls offering alcoholic snow cones. Everyone loves a good snow cone, so you have two or three and keep on movin to the next drink station. Now, you just got to the party and you've already had 5 drinks. There's 3 hours left in the party.
The theme was Fire and Ice, and I think they did an amazing job of pulling it off. The outside was all Ice and inside was Fire.
Get this, they even had penguins. One of the small pools was drained, filled with salt water, and chilled so that 4 penguins could entertain us. We were not allowed to pet the penguins (though the CEO got to later) so we went back down the stairs and ran right into, you guessed it, another bar.
During the night, we sat down for quite a bit and just watched the people walking by. We amused ourselves and laughed a lot, grabbing a snow cone here and there as the girls walked by.
Eventually we made it inside and stopped at another bar. There were people dancing and there was this really cool fire show that I only vaguely watched. I'm not quite sure how many drinks I'd had by this point, but I know that by the end of the night I had downed, like, 20 glasses of Jack and Coke and had eaten a crapload of snow cones. The one thing that saved me was that the snow cones were full of Vodka. For some reason, Vodka does strange things to me and I think it kept me from absorbing all of the other alcohol. I really think I should have passed out.
It could have been the fact that I loaded up on pizza before we left, but who knows.
The best part was that no matter who you were standing next to, they were your best friend. Not just because you were both drunk, but because that is the kind of team and family spirit that we work so hard to keep alive in the company.
I nearly stumbled right into the CEO and he just smiled and greeted me like we hadn't seen each other in years. Everyone was smiling and happy, and it reminded me that I am so lucky to work for the company.
After a bit of drunken flailing (dancing) we went back outside for a cigarette and a snow cone. At Midnight, the free drinks stopped and most of us headed for the door (for us, that meant that we had been drinking for 3 hours straight and it was time to go home.)
We stopped for a few minutes so that My Husband could put some money in a slot machine. I don't remember how much he won, but we ended up giving it to the DD guy.
At this point, we stumbled and chatted our way to the doors and parked ourselves on the benches outside. My Husband called the DD guys and it was going to take about 45 minutes for them to arrive. We sat and chatted with people as they were leaving and then loaded into the car.
It was then that I realized I hadn't gone to the bathroom all day, and I had an incredibly full bladder. There wasn't time for me to go back inside, so I figured I could just hold it until I got home.
BIG MISTAKE.
Halfway home I made it very clear that I was not going to make it much further and My Husband convinced the DD guy to take us to a gas station so we could fill up the gas tank, and so I could empty my own tank.
Our Roommate had to assist me while I was exiting the car, and entering the gas station. The attendant (I see this guy weekly) just kept laughing. As soon as I got directions to the bathroom, I ran (or, you know, stumbled) my way over there. I don't remember if I locked the door or flushed, but I know that I washed my hands and nearly did a face plant when I tried to stand up.
I was about 5 minutes away from destroying the back seat of the car.
I don't know how much we tipped the guy, but it was so worth it to save myself that embarrassment.
When we got home, I ate a little bit more in an attempt to stop myself from having a hangover. It didn't really work.
At some point I remember My Husband lost it and had to evacuate his stomach. I am terrified of throwing up, so I managed to keep everything down. As soon as I started to actually feel sick, I fell asleep.
For some unknown reason, I woke up at 7:45. Note, I had just gone to sleep a few hours earlier.
I was thirsty, my head hurt, and I was slightly hungry. I got up, had a coke, some pizza and two excedrine, then tried to go back to sleep.
It took about an hour, but I finally did it.
When I woke up, I felt fantastic! I did not want to get out of bed, but I felt fine.
Today's skill was treating a hangover and I think I did an amazing job. I've never really had a bad hangover before, and I think I took all of the necessary precautions to make this one as pleasant as possible.
When I got to work, I took my first call with a glorious smile. I know that I made someones day a little better, and they helped make mine just as awesome.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
It only took you how long?
When we were in Texas, I bought a dresser at Goodwill instead of getting a big fancy entertainment center. We move around a lot, so we like to keep our furniture as light (and inexpensive) as possible. I needed something that would be easy to move up and down stairs. Plus, I didn't really want to worry that the air force contracted movers would damage it
My Mom had come to visit us and she helped me pick it out, stuff it in the van, and laughed with me all the way to the apartment (it was hilarious. I had to use rope to tie the back doors together because the dresser was too big. I didn't know my way around town very well because we had just moved there, and I had to make several quick, awkward turns... awesome) She also helped me get the thing upstairs and put it in place. Since then we have moved. And while we are still upstairs, the dresser is being viewed in a much different light.
I thought it was the coolest thing in the world... until I saw it's full glory in direct sunlight. WOW. How on earth did it manage to hide all of the ugly? How did I not notice there there were holes from previous hardware? Holy cow, this thing needs a makeover right this moment.
For a larger image, click here.
And that is exactly what I spent most of yesterday doing. I had to remove a lot of (what appeared to be) glue from the front so that I could sand it. Normally I would have attempted this with a razor blade, or a putty knife... but I didn't have either. I chose scissors! Excellent if you want to gouge a ravine into your High Class Wood-like Entertainment Station, not so great if you need to dig in and crack off gobs of industrial strength, government issued bonding cement.
I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of the really bad spots, but you can see a little bit of it here. It looks kind of like drops of wax. Those were the small ones that were pretty easy to remove. ... I wish so bad that you could see the other ones.
After fully sanding and prepping the doors, I was finally able to start painting. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during this time as I did not want to document the insanity. Rather than fully showing and explaining the process, I'll just tell you a little story about the day.
My Husband had just finished his lunch of Bratwurst with a side of beans, and was getting ready for work. He decided that he would take my car since his has been having a bit of trouble, and I didn't really have any plans so I told him it was fine. He kissed me goodbye and walked out the door. I stepped out onto the balcony to have a cigarette and wave to him as he left.
The second he was out of sight, I ran back inside and emptied the dresser. I knew it would take a while for the paint to dry, so I wanted to get started as soon as possible. This was going to be a surprise for him since he always tells me how much he hates the dresser.
First, I pulled off the doors and started sanding, and once I had two coats of paint on them, I started on the drawers. Thinking I would be done within a few hours, I just dumped everything in the middle of the living room floor.
I pulled the knobs off the drawers and started sanding. Once they were sanded, I put another coat of paint on the doors and then realized... the dust from sanding was going to start sticking to the fresh paint.
Everything on our small balcony was moved to a new spot to maximize the distance from paint to dust.
Then I painted the drawers.
After a few coats, I realized I was going to have enough time to do the whole dresser and immediately began ripping out cables and finding temporary homes for the electronics. Once I had the dresser unloaded, I started to drag it outside. It was a lot bigger than I remember it being, so it took a little while to do it by myself and I kept being reminded of old I Love Lucy episodes.
After sanding the rest of the dresser and starting on a coat of paint, The Roommate came home. He had a rough day at work and we talked for a moment before he decided to go to his room. After a little bit I somehow ended up standing with one foot on a chair and the other on the edge of the balcony railing. I very nearly fell.
At that point, I decided to ask The Roommate if he could supervise me, lest I pass out or fall to my death. ( I really have no idea what I was doing.)
He came to sit with me for a little bit and made a comment about this not being a lot of work. I very nearly slapped him with my paintbrush.
At some point, he decided to go to his bedroom (I think I may have accidentally yelled at him from our bedroom. I knocked a cup over and screamed.) and I was left to supervise myself.
I decided to add some detail work to the doors so that the entire thing would not be black. During this process O (one of our neighbors) showed up to keep me company. We sat and chatted for a bit while we were waiting for everything to dry and while I was finishing the doors.
My Husband pulled up, hopped out of the car and asked if dinner was ready. At this point, I have been working on the dresser and doing other house things for nearly 10 hours. I was covered in sweat, paint, dirt, and dust. My hair was a wreck, and he was home about an hour early. No, dinner was not ready. He let us know that he had a horrible day, and asked what we wanted from Burger King. I picked something that I knew would take a little longer and as soon as he was gone, O and I jumped up to put the dresser back.
We got the dresser moved, drawers in and filled, and put the doors back on. Then I realized that we were missing a knob. I frantically searched for it and discovered that it had not been painted. Since I mixed the color myself, I had to dive in the sink to grab the paint dish before it got washed. I painted the knob and put it back on the dresser while it was still a bit wet.
The second O and I stood back up, My Husband walked through the door. It took him a minute to notice the change, but he said that it looked much better.
Though we got most of the stuff back in place, I didn't have time to hook everything back up. So, instead of watching a movie, we just hung out with the neighbors for a while before we went to bed.
I kept moving things around the living room to make everything look a little better and I am so happy with the results!
My Mom had come to visit us and she helped me pick it out, stuff it in the van, and laughed with me all the way to the apartment (it was hilarious. I had to use rope to tie the back doors together because the dresser was too big. I didn't know my way around town very well because we had just moved there, and I had to make several quick, awkward turns... awesome) She also helped me get the thing upstairs and put it in place. Since then we have moved. And while we are still upstairs, the dresser is being viewed in a much different light.
I thought it was the coolest thing in the world... until I saw it's full glory in direct sunlight. WOW. How on earth did it manage to hide all of the ugly? How did I not notice there there were holes from previous hardware? Holy cow, this thing needs a makeover right this moment.
For a larger image, click here.
And that is exactly what I spent most of yesterday doing. I had to remove a lot of (what appeared to be) glue from the front so that I could sand it. Normally I would have attempted this with a razor blade, or a putty knife... but I didn't have either. I chose scissors! Excellent if you want to gouge a ravine into your High Class Wood-like Entertainment Station, not so great if you need to dig in and crack off gobs of industrial strength, government issued bonding cement.
I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of the really bad spots, but you can see a little bit of it here. It looks kind of like drops of wax. Those were the small ones that were pretty easy to remove. ... I wish so bad that you could see the other ones.
After fully sanding and prepping the doors, I was finally able to start painting. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during this time as I did not want to document the insanity. Rather than fully showing and explaining the process, I'll just tell you a little story about the day.
My Husband had just finished his lunch of Bratwurst with a side of beans, and was getting ready for work. He decided that he would take my car since his has been having a bit of trouble, and I didn't really have any plans so I told him it was fine. He kissed me goodbye and walked out the door. I stepped out onto the balcony to have a cigarette and wave to him as he left.
The second he was out of sight, I ran back inside and emptied the dresser. I knew it would take a while for the paint to dry, so I wanted to get started as soon as possible. This was going to be a surprise for him since he always tells me how much he hates the dresser.
First, I pulled off the doors and started sanding, and once I had two coats of paint on them, I started on the drawers. Thinking I would be done within a few hours, I just dumped everything in the middle of the living room floor.
I pulled the knobs off the drawers and started sanding. Once they were sanded, I put another coat of paint on the doors and then realized... the dust from sanding was going to start sticking to the fresh paint.
Everything on our small balcony was moved to a new spot to maximize the distance from paint to dust.
Then I painted the drawers.
After a few coats, I realized I was going to have enough time to do the whole dresser and immediately began ripping out cables and finding temporary homes for the electronics. Once I had the dresser unloaded, I started to drag it outside. It was a lot bigger than I remember it being, so it took a little while to do it by myself and I kept being reminded of old I Love Lucy episodes.
After sanding the rest of the dresser and starting on a coat of paint, The Roommate came home. He had a rough day at work and we talked for a moment before he decided to go to his room. After a little bit I somehow ended up standing with one foot on a chair and the other on the edge of the balcony railing. I very nearly fell.
At that point, I decided to ask The Roommate if he could supervise me, lest I pass out or fall to my death. ( I really have no idea what I was doing.)
He came to sit with me for a little bit and made a comment about this not being a lot of work. I very nearly slapped him with my paintbrush.
At some point, he decided to go to his bedroom (I think I may have accidentally yelled at him from our bedroom. I knocked a cup over and screamed.) and I was left to supervise myself.
I decided to add some detail work to the doors so that the entire thing would not be black. During this process O (one of our neighbors) showed up to keep me company. We sat and chatted for a bit while we were waiting for everything to dry and while I was finishing the doors.
My Husband pulled up, hopped out of the car and asked if dinner was ready. At this point, I have been working on the dresser and doing other house things for nearly 10 hours. I was covered in sweat, paint, dirt, and dust. My hair was a wreck, and he was home about an hour early. No, dinner was not ready. He let us know that he had a horrible day, and asked what we wanted from Burger King. I picked something that I knew would take a little longer and as soon as he was gone, O and I jumped up to put the dresser back.
We got the dresser moved, drawers in and filled, and put the doors back on. Then I realized that we were missing a knob. I frantically searched for it and discovered that it had not been painted. Since I mixed the color myself, I had to dive in the sink to grab the paint dish before it got washed. I painted the knob and put it back on the dresser while it was still a bit wet.
The second O and I stood back up, My Husband walked through the door. It took him a minute to notice the change, but he said that it looked much better.
Though we got most of the stuff back in place, I didn't have time to hook everything back up. So, instead of watching a movie, we just hung out with the neighbors for a while before we went to bed.
I kept moving things around the living room to make everything look a little better and I am so happy with the results!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
If you're happy and you know it, slap your mom!
I have no idea what that title was about... but I just watched video of the CEO at Work getting slapped at a recent Happy Hour.
I would so post it, but then everyone might know everything about my life. Let's just say that I work in the call center for one of the most amazing companies ever. You have probably heard of them or seen them on tv recently. Lots of news stories and interviews pop up every day.
My primary job is to answer calls, but I rarely do that. Mostly, I'm answering emails, watching holds, or working on Live Chat.
I was looking through work related videos (instead of cleaning) because I was trying to find footage of my most recent skill. I just completed a 4 week sign language course!
Someone recorded us all saying "We love to work at Work". We had to finger spell the name since there is not a sign. Then I did a short little video thing about how awesome it is that Work pays for us to take classes, during our workday, that help us grow both personally and professionally. In fact, those may have been my exact words.
Anyway, now I have a fancy certificate hanging up on my wall at work (drat. I should have taken a picture of that...) and I can, slowly, form very short, choppy sentences.
The biggest set back is that I have injured both of my hands this week, so my signs are not as perfect as they could be. Then again, the instructor kept saying "If it hurts, don't do it."
My skill for today (that will probably be posted tomorrow) is refinishing the dresser that acts as our entertainment center. Pictures will be included (so it may actually take a day or two) and that will be another skill! While I'm doing that, I may go ahead and do the tutorial for Hey You and I think I might have this week covered. YAY!
I would so post it, but then everyone might know everything about my life. Let's just say that I work in the call center for one of the most amazing companies ever. You have probably heard of them or seen them on tv recently. Lots of news stories and interviews pop up every day.
My primary job is to answer calls, but I rarely do that. Mostly, I'm answering emails, watching holds, or working on Live Chat.
I was looking through work related videos (instead of cleaning) because I was trying to find footage of my most recent skill. I just completed a 4 week sign language course!
Someone recorded us all saying "We love to work at Work". We had to finger spell the name since there is not a sign. Then I did a short little video thing about how awesome it is that Work pays for us to take classes, during our workday, that help us grow both personally and professionally. In fact, those may have been my exact words.
Anyway, now I have a fancy certificate hanging up on my wall at work (drat. I should have taken a picture of that...) and I can, slowly, form very short, choppy sentences.
The biggest set back is that I have injured both of my hands this week, so my signs are not as perfect as they could be. Then again, the instructor kept saying "If it hurts, don't do it."
My skill for today (that will probably be posted tomorrow) is refinishing the dresser that acts as our entertainment center. Pictures will be included (so it may actually take a day or two) and that will be another skill! While I'm doing that, I may go ahead and do the tutorial for Hey You and I think I might have this week covered. YAY!
Monday, July 21, 2008
another day without a post.
I hope this doesn't become a habit....
This more of an accomplishment than a skill, but it took learning some new skills to do it.... so it counts! Right?
In January, My Husband and I made New Year's Resolutions for each other. I wanted him to become a better shopper (checking for grocery sales, price comparison, shop around before you make a major purchase, things like that.)
He wanted me to get back down to the weight I was when I first moved in with him.
A) That is so rude!
B) It's impossible for that to safely happen in 1 year.
C) That really killed my self esteem considering it was shortly after another major event. Since this is trying to remain anonymous, I may go into it some time...
So, I don't know that mental image you have of me (for those of you who don't know me personally).... I'm not a tiny person, but it is mostly muscle. (No, really. My bicep is way bigger than My Husband's and my thighs are like concrete. I did a lot of strength training when I was younger.) I was about 110 lbs lighter (than when I started exercising in January) when I moved in with My Husband.
I started to go into detail about the entire gaining and losing process, but it got too complicated so I'll just say that I am now the lightest I have been in over a year by paying attention to what I'm eating and exercising on a regular basis.
I am still way off from hitting the goal My Husband set, but I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.
This more of an accomplishment than a skill, but it took learning some new skills to do it.... so it counts! Right?
In January, My Husband and I made New Year's Resolutions for each other. I wanted him to become a better shopper (checking for grocery sales, price comparison, shop around before you make a major purchase, things like that.)
He wanted me to get back down to the weight I was when I first moved in with him.
A) That is so rude!
B) It's impossible for that to safely happen in 1 year.
C) That really killed my self esteem considering it was shortly after another major event. Since this is trying to remain anonymous, I may go into it some time...
So, I don't know that mental image you have of me (for those of you who don't know me personally).... I'm not a tiny person, but it is mostly muscle. (No, really. My bicep is way bigger than My Husband's and my thighs are like concrete. I did a lot of strength training when I was younger.) I was about 110 lbs lighter (than when I started exercising in January) when I moved in with My Husband.
I started to go into detail about the entire gaining and losing process, but it got too complicated so I'll just say that I am now the lightest I have been in over a year by paying attention to what I'm eating and exercising on a regular basis.
I am still way off from hitting the goal My Husband set, but I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Oopsie doodle!
I neglected to update last night because we all packed up and headed to the theater! That's right, we saw a midnight showing of The Dark Knight, because we are incredible geeks.
Though it caused me to get to sleep much later than intended, it was worth every moment! I don't even feel guilty spending nearly $60 to take us all out! I wish we had been able to see it at the Imax, but we figured that they would be sold out by the time we got over there.
So anyway...
Yesterday's skill involved setting up the printer/scanner/copier/ice maker that came with our most recent computer system purchase. Though we have had it since march, it has lived in a box in our hallway. I took it out once, to see what kind of printer it was... and then I put it back in the hallway.
We spoke to a lender yesterday to see how much we can get approved for, and he needed copies of our 07 and 06 w2's, our last two pay stubs, and... something else.
Since it was too late to run them by his office, he said that we could just email them. Then I remembered that we have a scanner! When we got home, I popped it out of the box and hooked it up. This thing is so fancy that we will probably never use half of the functions.
my skill for today: taking some information I've learned over the last few weeks and putting it all together! I now know how to form simple sentences in american sign language.
For more info on ASL, click on this handy link!
My Husband is planning to enter a Guitar Hero contest at one of the nearby casinos tonight, so I came home early to cheer him on (at least, that's my excuse :P)
I should probably do some laundry with all of this extra time, or figure out what my next skill is going to be. Maybe I'll work on that tutorial that Hey You wanted...
Either way, gotta go. Thanks for reading!
Though it caused me to get to sleep much later than intended, it was worth every moment! I don't even feel guilty spending nearly $60 to take us all out! I wish we had been able to see it at the Imax, but we figured that they would be sold out by the time we got over there.
So anyway...
Yesterday's skill involved setting up the printer/scanner/copier/ice maker that came with our most recent computer system purchase. Though we have had it since march, it has lived in a box in our hallway. I took it out once, to see what kind of printer it was... and then I put it back in the hallway.
We spoke to a lender yesterday to see how much we can get approved for, and he needed copies of our 07 and 06 w2's, our last two pay stubs, and... something else.
Since it was too late to run them by his office, he said that we could just email them. Then I remembered that we have a scanner! When we got home, I popped it out of the box and hooked it up. This thing is so fancy that we will probably never use half of the functions.
my skill for today: taking some information I've learned over the last few weeks and putting it all together! I now know how to form simple sentences in american sign language.
For more info on ASL, click on this handy link!
My Husband is planning to enter a Guitar Hero contest at one of the nearby casinos tonight, so I came home early to cheer him on (at least, that's my excuse :P)
I should probably do some laundry with all of this extra time, or figure out what my next skill is going to be. Maybe I'll work on that tutorial that Hey You wanted...
Either way, gotta go. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Smoosha!
Well, there's not much to report today... I spent my entire day off cleaning, looking at houses, and paying bills.
My Husband helped me pay the bills because he found an online bill pay program that lets us pay our gas, power, and cable/phone/internet all at once! Now I don't have to worry that I forgot about something!
My big skill for the day was repairing the bifold doors where the washer and dryer are. Both sets of panels were coming off the track every time you open the door, so I got out the drill and the mallet. After a few minutes of banging around, I managed to get the outer panel hinges to stay put so that the doors don't pop off the track. I'm not sure if it's a permanent fix, but it's doing the job for now! The only down side is, I wasn't sure exactly where the hinges were supposed to go, so now there is about an inch gap where the doors are supposed to meet...
It's a design feature!
Tomorrow we meet with a Realtor to see if there is anything in the area that we like AND can afford. I'm really really done with apartment life, and we are looking to purchase something in the next 6 months or so, depending on if the complex will let us out of our contract. (If we break the lease, we owe them a little over $5,000 thanks to our really awesome move-in special)
Sorry to cut this short, but we've got a big day tomorrow :)
My Husband helped me pay the bills because he found an online bill pay program that lets us pay our gas, power, and cable/phone/internet all at once! Now I don't have to worry that I forgot about something!
My big skill for the day was repairing the bifold doors where the washer and dryer are. Both sets of panels were coming off the track every time you open the door, so I got out the drill and the mallet. After a few minutes of banging around, I managed to get the outer panel hinges to stay put so that the doors don't pop off the track. I'm not sure if it's a permanent fix, but it's doing the job for now! The only down side is, I wasn't sure exactly where the hinges were supposed to go, so now there is about an inch gap where the doors are supposed to meet...
It's a design feature!
Tomorrow we meet with a Realtor to see if there is anything in the area that we like AND can afford. I'm really really done with apartment life, and we are looking to purchase something in the next 6 months or so, depending on if the complex will let us out of our contract. (If we break the lease, we owe them a little over $5,000 thanks to our really awesome move-in special)
Sorry to cut this short, but we've got a big day tomorrow :)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Every little bit helps...
Today's skill only vaguely counts because I had an actual skill but I forgot what it was.
At work I discovered that my team is going to be moving again! We got to pick which seats we wanted (though that may change) and since I'm not going to be there for the next two days, I had to pack my desk tonight.
For the first time in the history of desk moving at My Job, I was able to fit my entire desk into one box.
Nevermind the fact that this box used to contain a two drawer file cabinet... I packed my desk in a little over 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, I will have to go back to work tomorrow to retrieve the wall adapter for my Zune (and the cord that allows me to upload music) because I neglected to pack that into my box. I must remove the evidence before someone notices, since we aren't supposed to have things plugged into the outlets anyway.
Enough about work, let's talk about me.
My skill may have involved sticking to the cigarette goal for the day (I'm making an attempt at trying to quit) or it could have been completely unrelated... It might have involved something I did when filling my gas tank, or something I did on my lunch break.
It could have been the way I controlled the urge to hit someone at work, or the urge to disconnect a call when someone was talking down to me (Me, the person they called for help because they can't figure out how to do on their own...)
It may have been me finding a way to get out of something I didn't want to do, or thinking of a way that I might be able to do something that I thought I wouldn't be able to do...
Or I may have imagined it.
I took some bad news with a grain of salt, helped some people out of seemingly hopeless situations, reminded everyone that I am 100% batshit crazy, and had a glass of wine before bed. All in all, I think it was a successful day.
At work I discovered that my team is going to be moving again! We got to pick which seats we wanted (though that may change) and since I'm not going to be there for the next two days, I had to pack my desk tonight.
For the first time in the history of desk moving at My Job, I was able to fit my entire desk into one box.
Nevermind the fact that this box used to contain a two drawer file cabinet... I packed my desk in a little over 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, I will have to go back to work tomorrow to retrieve the wall adapter for my Zune (and the cord that allows me to upload music) because I neglected to pack that into my box. I must remove the evidence before someone notices, since we aren't supposed to have things plugged into the outlets anyway.
Enough about work, let's talk about me.
My skill may have involved sticking to the cigarette goal for the day (I'm making an attempt at trying to quit) or it could have been completely unrelated... It might have involved something I did when filling my gas tank, or something I did on my lunch break.
It could have been the way I controlled the urge to hit someone at work, or the urge to disconnect a call when someone was talking down to me (Me, the person they called for help because they can't figure out how to do
It may have been me finding a way to get out of something I didn't want to do, or thinking of a way that I might be able to do something that I thought I wouldn't be able to do...
Or I may have imagined it.
I took some bad news with a grain of salt, helped some people out of seemingly hopeless situations, reminded everyone that I am 100% batshit crazy, and had a glass of wine before bed. All in all, I think it was a successful day.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Double the pleasure, double the fun
I missed updating yesterday in part because I was dealing with the fact that one of my old friends died.
He was a giving friend and always had a story to tell. I have not talked to him in a while, but I thought about him often.
My skill for yesterday was managing to do three jobs simultaneously since there wasn't anyone else at work that is qualified to do them. It was a little difficult, but I think I did pretty well.
As for today, I finally mastered the art of driving across Las Vegas without fear. This may seem pretty simple to those who have not driven in Las Vegas, or those who do not fear tragic accidents... but to me this is major considering I have put my life at risk nearly every day for the last 9 months.
I was almost squished to death by an 18 wheeler that did not allow space between us when the string of traffic in front of me came to a sudden stop. Fortunately, the cars moved just in time for the truck to come to stop on the exact spot where my drivers seat would have been.
More recently, an Avis bus tried to switch lanes through me in a construction zone. I was so close to the concrete barrier that my mirror was getting scratched (The bus was touching the passenger mirror) when one of the passengers yelled at the driver.
Between people who drive entirely too fast, those that drive way too slow, and the ones that think everyone is psychic so they don't need to use their turn signals, it's a wonder that I'm alive.
I've noticed that I've been getting more used to the traffic lately, but I had the first day where I was nearly smashed by someone that misjudged distance and I didn't even freak out. I barely reacted except to speed up a little bit.
I have shared my traffic stories with others, and none of them have had the amazing luck that I seem to spew. They have rare occasions where they are almost in an accident, but for me it happens daily. Perhaps it's just a part of the melancholy mood I've been in, but I like to think that I am growing as a person and becoming less afraid of the world that I so often find myself forced into.
Tomorrow I'll try to have a real skill for you. Good night!
He was a giving friend and always had a story to tell. I have not talked to him in a while, but I thought about him often.
My skill for yesterday was managing to do three jobs simultaneously since there wasn't anyone else at work that is qualified to do them. It was a little difficult, but I think I did pretty well.
As for today, I finally mastered the art of driving across Las Vegas without fear. This may seem pretty simple to those who have not driven in Las Vegas, or those who do not fear tragic accidents... but to me this is major considering I have put my life at risk nearly every day for the last 9 months.
I was almost squished to death by an 18 wheeler that did not allow space between us when the string of traffic in front of me came to a sudden stop. Fortunately, the cars moved just in time for the truck to come to stop on the exact spot where my drivers seat would have been.
More recently, an Avis bus tried to switch lanes through me in a construction zone. I was so close to the concrete barrier that my mirror was getting scratched (The bus was touching the passenger mirror) when one of the passengers yelled at the driver.
Between people who drive entirely too fast, those that drive way too slow, and the ones that think everyone is psychic so they don't need to use their turn signals, it's a wonder that I'm alive.
I've noticed that I've been getting more used to the traffic lately, but I had the first day where I was nearly smashed by someone that misjudged distance and I didn't even freak out. I barely reacted except to speed up a little bit.
I have shared my traffic stories with others, and none of them have had the amazing luck that I seem to spew. They have rare occasions where they are almost in an accident, but for me it happens daily. Perhaps it's just a part of the melancholy mood I've been in, but I like to think that I am growing as a person and becoming less afraid of the world that I so often find myself forced into.
Tomorrow I'll try to have a real skill for you. Good night!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Ba dump bum bum
Today at work around 3pm, they sent out a message saying that you had the opportunity to leave early if your shift ended at or before 10pm. This happens every once in a while when it gets slow, and I jumped on the chance to leave! Now, figuring that it takes me about an hour to get to work, and about an hour to get home from work, I used more gas in transportation that I actually made by going to my job. Does that count as a skill?
Anyway, since I got home so early, I taught myself how to play "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" on the guitar. I'm getting a lot better at it, even though my fingertips are not cooperating.
I also go a phone call from one of my friends. She wanted to let me know that another friend of ours is in a coma. For the first time in my life, I wanted to use teleportation for good instead of evil. She dated this friend for several years, and they were even engaged at one point. I really wish that I could have been there to comfort her. Note to self, call her Wednesday around 4.
Well, now I'm off to make brownies! I hope they turn out well.
Anyway, since I got home so early, I taught myself how to play "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" on the guitar. I'm getting a lot better at it, even though my fingertips are not cooperating.
I also go a phone call from one of my friends. She wanted to let me know that another friend of ours is in a coma. For the first time in my life, I wanted to use teleportation for good instead of evil. She dated this friend for several years, and they were even engaged at one point. I really wish that I could have been there to comfort her. Note to self, call her Wednesday around 4.
Well, now I'm off to make brownies! I hope they turn out well.
Bow Makin'
Tonight I learned how to make gift bows from magazine cuttings.
I thought the craft might be a little more therapeutic that it turned out to be, but perhaps I'm just not in a bow making mood.
I'm in a little bit of a funk right now, and I can't pinpoint the cause. Lately life just doesn't have it's usual sparkle.
Ideas for skills that can be easily learned are running thin, so I might have to resort to the cop-out semi-skills that I have stashed away unless I can get some good contributions.
It isn't much, but I think that's all I have for tonight. Have an awesome day.
I thought the craft might be a little more therapeutic that it turned out to be, but perhaps I'm just not in a bow making mood.
I'm in a little bit of a funk right now, and I can't pinpoint the cause. Lately life just doesn't have it's usual sparkle.
Ideas for skills that can be easily learned are running thin, so I might have to resort to the cop-out semi-skills that I have stashed away unless I can get some good contributions.
It isn't much, but I think that's all I have for tonight. Have an awesome day.
Friday, July 11, 2008
MIA, but two new skills!
So, My Husband and I went on a "weekend" excursion, since we both have our days off in the middle of the week. I really needed to get away from the apartment and the city for a little bit. We wound up about an hour away in a town called Primm. We were gone for less than 24 hours, but being away for a bit sure did help a lot. If I had my way and we had lots of money and could take as much time off work as we wanted to, we would still be there.
I need another week.
Though lots of interesting things happened on the trip, I shocked My Husband by revealing that I had not played Texas Hold 'Em with actual, real live cards. I have played poker with a lot of my friends, but never Texas Hold 'Em.
Though we were in a Casino/resort(ha!)/(mo)Hotel, we bought a deck of playing cards in the gift shop and sat in our room playing cards and watching CNN. He still owes me $20 bucks, but I'm sure that we can work something out ;)
After a while we decided to venture out for food, and went to the Casino, Buffalo Bill's, right across from us. It was like Silver Dollar City tried to cram itself into a small gaming hall. Most of the restaurants were closed, so we ate at a small sandwich shop. I was turned around in my seat, trying to take a picture of what looked like a Hillbilly in a mine cart, and this big headed bitch stared straight at me through the lens, and sat directly in my shot. I would have forgiven her, except she made a few comments about photographers needing to learn their place. Had I stood up, the restaurant would have blocked the shot, so I just started talking about the most obscene things I could to make her and her two devil children leave. I don't remember exactly what I said, but eventually it worked.
At that point, I didn't even want the picture from that angle anymore, so I walked around the wall and muttered (loudly, apparently) "Now that Mrs. Hoebag McWhoreson is out of the way, I can take the damn picture." I turned to My Husband and noticed an elderly woman at a slot machine behind him. The memory of her expression will bring me joy for years.
"Oh my god, there is someone behind you. Screw the picture, let's go."
We walked rather quickly to a group of slot machines near an ashtray and lit two cigarettes. Somewhere between me taking pictures of the Hillbilly figures and a security guard giving me a few rather odd looks, My Husband decided he wanted to try out the $1 slots. I handed him some cash, and we sat there for a bit.
Rather than saying we lost all of our money, I like to think that we made a charitable donation to the Nevada Public School District. They should really enjoy the gold-plated toilet seats that our generosity will provide.
We got back to our hotel and I remembered that we had two 12 packs of drinks in the back. I was kind of thirsty, so I thought that we could take them inside and dump them in the ice bucket since our lavish accommodations did not include a mini fridge, or mini bar. More on our penthouse suite later...
We opened the hatch and reached for the drinks. The boxes pulled away. I turned to My Husband "The drinks exploded. Have these been in the car since Tuesday?".
Rewind-- Tuesday I went grocery shopping. My Husband came home and I asked him to get the drinks out of the car. He didn't. They sat in the car in 114+ heat for well over 24 hours.--Fast Forward
He replied "No... why does it matter?" I then explained that heat will cause carbonated drinks to burst. He apologized. He pulled the cases out so that we could throw them away... the drinks fell out and erupted all over us, the car, and the parking garage.
After a moment of laughter, we cleaned up the drinks and set off to find a Car Wash nearby so that we could shampoo the mat and wash the sugar off. There was not a car wash at the closest gas station, so He asked if we should go across the street or down the interstate. Since we live in a city with a million exits, I told him to go down the interstate. I did not realize that this town has three casinos, 2 fast food restaurants, two gas stations, and a strip mall... and NOTHING else.
Silly me! We drove over an hour to the next town! This happened to be across the state line, and through some of the most insane construction zones I have ever seen in my life. At one point, both lanes AND the shoulder we closed, so we had to drive on the dirt and gravel that line the highways of the Mojave desert.
When we finally got to the next town, we found out that they didn't have a car wash either! We used the windshield cleaner from the gas station to remove most of the syrup and then decided that we would shampoo the mat some other time. We got back in the car and drove another hour back to our hotel.
With only two working elevators, we waited about 20 minutes to get back to our floor. Walking down the hallway, you would think that this had been the scene of a spree of violent crimes. The carpeting was ancient and covered in bleach stains from people either trying to clean up or cover up bodily fluids.
It was a little horrifying.
We got to our room and I was a little shocked to see that everything else looked pretty clean. I hadn't paid much attention to anything when we first got there because I was just so excited to get out of the house, and now I realized that there was no remote control for the tv, no fridge, only two pillows, one towel, and none of the fancy toiletries that I was accustomed to finding in a hotel.
The pool closed at 8pm, there was no gym, no internet access, and only a questionable vending machine on the ground level. But there was free adult entertainment. If the room had come with a remote control, we could have ordered regular movies, or checked out the viewing guide. Instead, My Husband stood at the tv and changed the channels manually... until we stumbled upon something that mystified and intrigued me. Free adult television. Not the 'late night cinemax' stuff either... I was shocked.
If we were the sort of people that would rack up a huge porn bill, the free stuff would have been well worth a night in this place.
Instead, we watched cartoon network until we fell asleep.
The next day, we got in the elevator so that we could go to the desk and check out. It didn't seem odd at first, but we were in one of the elevators that was not working the previous day.
When we got to the bottom, there was a repair man in one of the other shafts. "Oh good! It finally came down! I was just about to shut them all off, just in case that one fell!"
Now, there was no sign anywhere that said "Elevator to Certain Doom" or "Elevator Out of Order" or even "Use at Own Risk", so I was a little concerned that we could have fallen to our death, but I just laughed it off. Somehow, it just seemed fitting.
At this point, I might add that the grand total of our room charge was $25.75, and that it was the same price as all of the other hotel rooms in town.
Less than a full day in this town made me realize how much I love home, and I guess that was well worth it.
On the way home, we stopped at a music franchise store and purchased a "learn to play the guitar set" along with a few picks and some strings. My Husband and I both have guitars, but neither of us know how to play. Mine was given to me as a gift when I was senior in high school, several years ago, and My Husband received his when his Great Aunt died. It had been one of his relatives, and no one else wanted it.
When we got home, we put the DVD in, sat down, and had The Roommate act as our remote control. He would pause, fast forward, and rewind upon request, while reminding me that no one expected me to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan right away. Once it occurred to me that it takes everyone more than 5 minutes to master chords and fingerings, I felt a little bit better. Since I am still doing the very basic, it took me a little while to get the G7 chord. It really confused me that there would be a G and then another G, so I am counting that as my second skill.
To recap: I learned to play Texas Hold 'Em with actual cards, and I learned all about the G7 chord.
I'm sure there are several other skills from this trip that I could have chosen, but those are the most memorable.
I need another week.
Though lots of interesting things happened on the trip, I shocked My Husband by revealing that I had not played Texas Hold 'Em with actual, real live cards. I have played poker with a lot of my friends, but never Texas Hold 'Em.
Though we were in a Casino/resort(ha!)/(mo)Hotel, we bought a deck of playing cards in the gift shop and sat in our room playing cards and watching CNN. He still owes me $20 bucks, but I'm sure that we can work something out ;)
After a while we decided to venture out for food, and went to the Casino, Buffalo Bill's, right across from us. It was like Silver Dollar City tried to cram itself into a small gaming hall. Most of the restaurants were closed, so we ate at a small sandwich shop. I was turned around in my seat, trying to take a picture of what looked like a Hillbilly in a mine cart, and this big headed bitch stared straight at me through the lens, and sat directly in my shot. I would have forgiven her, except she made a few comments about photographers needing to learn their place. Had I stood up, the restaurant would have blocked the shot, so I just started talking about the most obscene things I could to make her and her two devil children leave. I don't remember exactly what I said, but eventually it worked.
At that point, I didn't even want the picture from that angle anymore, so I walked around the wall and muttered (loudly, apparently) "Now that Mrs. Hoebag McWhoreson is out of the way, I can take the damn picture." I turned to My Husband and noticed an elderly woman at a slot machine behind him. The memory of her expression will bring me joy for years.
"Oh my god, there is someone behind you. Screw the picture, let's go."
We walked rather quickly to a group of slot machines near an ashtray and lit two cigarettes. Somewhere between me taking pictures of the Hillbilly figures and a security guard giving me a few rather odd looks, My Husband decided he wanted to try out the $1 slots. I handed him some cash, and we sat there for a bit.
Rather than saying we lost all of our money, I like to think that we made a charitable donation to the Nevada Public School District. They should really enjoy the gold-plated toilet seats that our generosity will provide.
We got back to our hotel and I remembered that we had two 12 packs of drinks in the back. I was kind of thirsty, so I thought that we could take them inside and dump them in the ice bucket since our lavish accommodations did not include a mini fridge, or mini bar. More on our penthouse suite later...
We opened the hatch and reached for the drinks. The boxes pulled away. I turned to My Husband "The drinks exploded. Have these been in the car since Tuesday?".
Rewind-- Tuesday I went grocery shopping. My Husband came home and I asked him to get the drinks out of the car. He didn't. They sat in the car in 114+ heat for well over 24 hours.--Fast Forward
He replied "No... why does it matter?" I then explained that heat will cause carbonated drinks to burst. He apologized. He pulled the cases out so that we could throw them away... the drinks fell out and erupted all over us, the car, and the parking garage.
After a moment of laughter, we cleaned up the drinks and set off to find a Car Wash nearby so that we could shampoo the mat and wash the sugar off. There was not a car wash at the closest gas station, so He asked if we should go across the street or down the interstate. Since we live in a city with a million exits, I told him to go down the interstate. I did not realize that this town has three casinos, 2 fast food restaurants, two gas stations, and a strip mall... and NOTHING else.
Silly me! We drove over an hour to the next town! This happened to be across the state line, and through some of the most insane construction zones I have ever seen in my life. At one point, both lanes AND the shoulder we closed, so we had to drive on the dirt and gravel that line the highways of the Mojave desert.
When we finally got to the next town, we found out that they didn't have a car wash either! We used the windshield cleaner from the gas station to remove most of the syrup and then decided that we would shampoo the mat some other time. We got back in the car and drove another hour back to our hotel.
With only two working elevators, we waited about 20 minutes to get back to our floor. Walking down the hallway, you would think that this had been the scene of a spree of violent crimes. The carpeting was ancient and covered in bleach stains from people either trying to clean up or cover up bodily fluids.
It was a little horrifying.
We got to our room and I was a little shocked to see that everything else looked pretty clean. I hadn't paid much attention to anything when we first got there because I was just so excited to get out of the house, and now I realized that there was no remote control for the tv, no fridge, only two pillows, one towel, and none of the fancy toiletries that I was accustomed to finding in a hotel.
The pool closed at 8pm, there was no gym, no internet access, and only a questionable vending machine on the ground level. But there was free adult entertainment. If the room had come with a remote control, we could have ordered regular movies, or checked out the viewing guide. Instead, My Husband stood at the tv and changed the channels manually... until we stumbled upon something that mystified and intrigued me. Free adult television. Not the 'late night cinemax' stuff either... I was shocked.
If we were the sort of people that would rack up a huge porn bill, the free stuff would have been well worth a night in this place.
Instead, we watched cartoon network until we fell asleep.
The next day, we got in the elevator so that we could go to the desk and check out. It didn't seem odd at first, but we were in one of the elevators that was not working the previous day.
When we got to the bottom, there was a repair man in one of the other shafts. "Oh good! It finally came down! I was just about to shut them all off, just in case that one fell!"
Now, there was no sign anywhere that said "Elevator to Certain Doom" or "Elevator Out of Order" or even "Use at Own Risk", so I was a little concerned that we could have fallen to our death, but I just laughed it off. Somehow, it just seemed fitting.
At this point, I might add that the grand total of our room charge was $25.75, and that it was the same price as all of the other hotel rooms in town.
Less than a full day in this town made me realize how much I love home, and I guess that was well worth it.
On the way home, we stopped at a music franchise store and purchased a "learn to play the guitar set" along with a few picks and some strings. My Husband and I both have guitars, but neither of us know how to play. Mine was given to me as a gift when I was senior in high school, several years ago, and My Husband received his when his Great Aunt died. It had been one of his relatives, and no one else wanted it.
When we got home, we put the DVD in, sat down, and had The Roommate act as our remote control. He would pause, fast forward, and rewind upon request, while reminding me that no one expected me to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan right away. Once it occurred to me that it takes everyone more than 5 minutes to master chords and fingerings, I felt a little bit better. Since I am still doing the very basic, it took me a little while to get the G7 chord. It really confused me that there would be a G and then another G, so I am counting that as my second skill.
To recap: I learned to play Texas Hold 'Em with actual cards, and I learned all about the G7 chord.
I'm sure there are several other skills from this trip that I could have chosen, but those are the most memorable.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Sangria + Crazy = good feelings
So, tonight my skill was to repair a set of headphones that The Roommate broke.
I repaired them. Then I went into crazy mode.
My everything decided that the apartment must be clean RIGHT NOW, and My Husband and The Roommate helped make that happen.
It isn't perfect, but it is way better than it was.
I am so lucky to have two people in my life that understand the fact that I can't help it when I go crazy. I usually don't have much warning, so it isn't like I can just say "Hey guys, I'm going to go crazy in about 45 minutes, so we should probably start cleaning up or go see a movie or something."
Fortunately, they get it and are more than willing to help.
Next, I need to learn how to properly thank them.
I repaired them. Then I went into crazy mode.
My everything decided that the apartment must be clean RIGHT NOW, and My Husband and The Roommate helped make that happen.
It isn't perfect, but it is way better than it was.
I am so lucky to have two people in my life that understand the fact that I can't help it when I go crazy. I usually don't have much warning, so it isn't like I can just say "Hey guys, I'm going to go crazy in about 45 minutes, so we should probably start cleaning up or go see a movie or something."
Fortunately, they get it and are more than willing to help.
Next, I need to learn how to properly thank them.
Two half skills is the same as one real skill, right?
Today I learned to do two semi-skills, so I think that should count!
I learned how to ask for a letter of recommendation, and how to turn the captions off on my T.V. using the remote control.
For some people, the T.V. thing may not be so special, but we have not had a working remote control for our main T.V. in... over 3 years.
About a week ago, we had to have the cable guy come out to replace our box because it was doing crazy things and I was tired of paying for cable that I wasn't watching. While he was out, he did something that I never imagined possible... he programed our remote control.
For the first time, we were able to turn the T.V. off without getting up! We can change the volume, the channel-- even switch over to a game system-- all from the comfort of our couch!
Again, this may be old hat for some people, but it completely amazes me. Sometimes I will switch channels, or go to picture-in-picture just because I can. Note, I am not actually watching more T.V., I am just watching it differently.
The letter of recommendation thing is something I have never been able to do before. I could never walk up to my boss and ask them for anything, much less permission to go to a different department. Today, however, I walked up to my Lead and said "Hey Lead, do you think I could get a letter of recommendation to move to -insert department here-?". He looked at me for a second and said that he would be thrilled to do so! He offered to set up a Shadow session so that I could sit with that department and really learn what they do.
I was completely in shock! I have moved departments, but my old Lead just came up to me and told me that he put in a recommendation, I didn't actually have to ask. I overcame a fear that I have had for years with one single sentence.
These may not seem like huge things to a lot of people, but they mean a lot to me.
I might also add that I work in a Call Center for one of the best companies in the universe. No department there would be a poor choice, but I really want to learn everything that I can while I have the chance!
So, that's really it for today! Have an awesome night!
I learned how to ask for a letter of recommendation, and how to turn the captions off on my T.V. using the remote control.
For some people, the T.V. thing may not be so special, but we have not had a working remote control for our main T.V. in... over 3 years.
About a week ago, we had to have the cable guy come out to replace our box because it was doing crazy things and I was tired of paying for cable that I wasn't watching. While he was out, he did something that I never imagined possible... he programed our remote control.
For the first time, we were able to turn the T.V. off without getting up! We can change the volume, the channel-- even switch over to a game system-- all from the comfort of our couch!
Again, this may be old hat for some people, but it completely amazes me. Sometimes I will switch channels, or go to picture-in-picture just because I can. Note, I am not actually watching more T.V., I am just watching it differently.
The letter of recommendation thing is something I have never been able to do before. I could never walk up to my boss and ask them for anything, much less permission to go to a different department. Today, however, I walked up to my Lead and said "Hey Lead, do you think I could get a letter of recommendation to move to -insert department here-
I was completely in shock! I have moved departments, but my old Lead just came up to me and told me that he put in a recommendation, I didn't actually have to ask. I overcame a fear that I have had for years with one single sentence.
These may not seem like huge things to a lot of people, but they mean a lot to me.
I might also add that I work in a Call Center for one of the best companies in the universe. No department there would be a poor choice, but I really want to learn everything that I can while I have the chance!
So, that's really it for today! Have an awesome night!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Meet The Cast!
Hello again!
To make reading this blog a little easier, here is a list of the people I will probably talk about, along with a short description:
Me- The writer. The one with all of the skills.
My Husband- This one is pretty self explanatory. This is the man that I married on Oct 31st, 2005. I love him even more now than I did that night.
Our Roomate- This guy has been one of my best friends for years. He has been living with us since Christmas of 2007.
O- One of the most awesome Neighbors (and friend!) that anyone could ever ask for. She is truly spectacular!
K- Her husband! He works with my husband, we became friends, and then they moved in next door.
Child 1 - O's oldest son. He is from a previous marriage, and is insanely adorable.
Child 2 - That Guy's only, and O's youngest son. This child (when calm) is one of the many reasons I want children of my own.
As this list grows, I will probably go into more detail about the lives and relationships, but for now this is really all you need to know.
For everyones privacy (and sanity) no actual names will be mentioned (hopefully...). This is not because we are crazy afraid of stalkers and the like, but after the experiences I have had, I think it is best that we keep it simple. I apologize if this leads to confusion, but there will be a handy link if you ever need to refer back!
To make reading this blog a little easier, here is a list of the people I will probably talk about, along with a short description:
Me- The writer. The one with all of the skills.
My Husband- This one is pretty self explanatory. This is the man that I married on Oct 31st, 2005. I love him even more now than I did that night.
Our Roomate- This guy has been one of my best friends for years. He has been living with us since Christmas of 2007.
O- One of the most awesome Neighbors (and friend!) that anyone could ever ask for. She is truly spectacular!
K- Her husband! He works with my husband, we became friends, and then they moved in next door.
Child 1 - O's oldest son. He is from a previous marriage, and is insanely adorable.
Child 2 - That Guy's only, and O's youngest son. This child (when calm) is one of the many reasons I want children of my own.
As this list grows, I will probably go into more detail about the lives and relationships, but for now this is really all you need to know.
For everyones privacy (and sanity) no actual names will be mentioned (hopefully...). This is not because we are crazy afraid of stalkers and the like, but after the experiences I have had, I think it is best that we keep it simple. I apologize if this leads to confusion, but there will be a handy link if you ever need to refer back!
In the begining... there were Zebra Cakes
Lately I've found myself learning a new skill each day. I decided that I wanted to keep it going, so this is today's new skill-- Blogging! I've had a journal and a myspace, but those are more like personal diaries than really having a blog.
My hope is that by next year, I will have all of the skills necessary to survive without running to Google or my mother everytime I need to know how to do something. So far I have learned how to solder, repair the ac cable that is used to charge a laptop computer, and last night I dabbled in minor upholstery repair.
If you have any suggestions for skills to learn, whether elementary or advanced, please let me know so that I can keep this up!
Hopefully, this Blog will become a real thing for me, but if not... I at least learned a lot about blogging.
My hope is that by next year, I will have all of the skills necessary to survive without running to Google or my mother everytime I need to know how to do something. So far I have learned how to solder, repair the ac cable that is used to charge a laptop computer, and last night I dabbled in minor upholstery repair.
If you have any suggestions for skills to learn, whether elementary or advanced, please let me know so that I can keep this up!
Hopefully, this Blog will become a real thing for me, but if not... I at least learned a lot about blogging.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)