Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Married Couple Delima


Every married couple, wants at least one other married couple to hang out with on occasion, It's nothing against all the single friends, it's just nice to not have to worry about the odd man out, or even better they understand what the other couple is talking about cause they have been there. Not saying that every single friends is the odd man out either, hubby and I have a few friends who are single and love hanging with them and they are no way ever the odd one out.

Richard and I have yet to find a married couple to hang out with, not saying we have never hung out with married couples cause we do, but then it seems that the married couple starts fighting and then their marriage ends.  This has happened quite a few times now. It almost makes you wonder if its us causing the problems. Now I know it's not but it seems that way to us. We do have a married couple that yes has it's problems but we spend more time with her then both of them because he is always off at work when we all have free time. 9 times out of 10 we hang with just her, then one time it's both of them. So yes they are a married couple but we don't count them cause we see her more then him. But other then that, no one. I'm not kidding about marriages falling apart either we have hung out with 4-5 married couples and all of them have ended, or are going to end. We have been hanging with another married couple the last month or so and he just called it quits with her this last weekend, after hubby and I left from hanging out with them. See? see how we think it's us?

Why can't we find a nice NORMAL, HAPPY married couple to hang out with on a regular basis and play games and do dinner with?  That's all we want, as much as we like staying home and just being with each other we also love hanging out with friends. We don't get to hang with friends all that often cause all of them live very busy lives so it's when they have a spare moment, or they live to far away for regular get togethers, or they live in a different state all together.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Morning Routine

Good Hello,

  I really need to start writing here more often, I have let this go a bit. Oops. Since the last update a few things have changed. We rearranged our living room to fit in our new TV stand that we got with our P.F.D.'s, our TV then decided to die on us this week so now we need to go get a new one, I have finished one of my brothers Christmas gifts and haven't come close to finding a design for the second one yet, I also have gotten back into reading YAY!

 I have been getting up at 6am for a few months now and have gotten quite the routine down. I get up, walk to the kitchen turn the Keurig on and get out the pods of coffee for Richard and I, fill up the water for the Keurig if need be, make Richards coffee first, while it's being made pull his lunch box out and make his lunch, switch out mugs and make my coffee, pour dry cereal into a container for Richard for breakfast while at work, get the creamer, fix up my coffee and go sit down in front of the computer till 6:30 which is usually 10-20 minutes later depending on if I have to actually make Richards lunch or just throw leftovers in. Go wake Richard up and done.  I enjoy making Richard his coffee and lunch, plus it helps him not run late if all he has to do is pour creamer into his coffee put the lid on and go.

I have gotten the apartment back into shape and now again am not embarrassed if someone comes over to let them in. I'm going to try  and keep it this way again. We shall see how long that lasts. I hate when I slack off, cause I know I can keep this place up and it's so much easier to just keep up with it then letting stuff pile up especially the dishes.

that's all for now, hopefully I will update this again sooner rather then later

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Hanging and painting

The month of September has flown by for me. I want to say that's because we have been doing something every weekend this month. Mostly we have been hanging out with our friends DM and AM (not sure if they would be ok with me using their names). We all get along and have the same sense of humor, so it makes things.... interesting to say the least. We have played Cards Against Humanity with them a few times now and it's always a blast. If you don't know what CAH is, all I gotta say is look it up cause I'm not explaining it to you.  I have also hung out with AM while Richard and DM and our friend B when he isn't busy with other things have gone fishing. Which they are doing this Sunday. I believe this will be the last trip of the year. as it's starting to get pretty freaking cold.

 I have been spending a lot of time at Color-Me-Mine lately working on a lot of projects. I do so enjoy painting there. I think I'm going to switch gears and start making more pieces for friends as we are slowly running out of room here. Not to say I wont paint more stuff for us cause if something is really cute and I just have to have it I will get it lol.  Mom is even a V.I.P. there now too and is slowly branching out and learning new techniques. Richard is going to spend some of his P.F.D. money and get a chess set to paint. This set comes with the board and all the pieces to paint. I think it would be fun to paint on it together but it's up to him. I have already started working on both my mom's and my brother's Christmas gifts. Granted my brothers is farther along then moms but that's because mom comes with me a lot when I paint so I can't paint on hers with her there.

That's pretty much been my life since the last update. just hanging with friends, and painting.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Weather change

Good Hello,

    There is a change in the weather now that it's pretty much the middle of August. Our summer was a pretty mild one, which was nice seeing as how last summer had some ridiculously hot days in it. The rain has come rolling in, which is nothing new for this time of year. This means that the air is going to start getting cooler and more crisp and leaves have already started changing on some trees. It's the time of year where I start grudgingly pulling out a light jacket to wear depending on the day, cause there are some days when the sun is out that it is just to warm to have a jacket on. Heck even days where I should be wearing one I might not put one on cause I'm stubborn and hate having to wear a jacket. Even when I do have to wear one it's hardly ever zipped up. This change in weather also means one more thing, THE ALASKA STATE FAIR!!!!!!!

 The state fair is the last big thing to do outside before the snow flies and I love, love love going. I always have some form of a jacket even if it is just a hoody on and an umbrella cause lets just face it, it aint the fair unless it rains. I'm hoping that the clothes I ordered get here before we got cause I have a hoody I really want to wear to it if I can.

The weather change also means putting off as long as possible of turning the heat back on. We tend to turn it on at the end of September first of October. We are still sleeping with windows open till about then too, we just add more blankets to the bed. Yep we are stubborn. It also means more crock pot dishes to be made and finding out how much the PFD is for the year. I already have plans for mine so hoping it's as good as people are predicting.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Living with Elephants that vacuum

Good Hello

   I live in a bottom floor apartment, I have for over 6 years now. I understand that not everyone has ever lived below someone else and that they don't get how loud they walk. Over the years the people above us have come and gone, for the most part all have been great about being quiet up there and did not thud around. Mind you I know I have complained about the upstairs neighbors before like when we first moved in and for a couple of years after the people that lived up there were horrid, not so much on the walking loudly but they complained about us and we are quiet and well she was just a mean lady, the landlord didn't even like her. But they moved out and everyone else that had moved in and out over the years since them have been great neighbors. Heck one set we didn't even know were up there unless they accidentally dropped something. Then came the sisters, our neighbors right now, one of them has a daughter and one of them not sure which one got custody of one of their nieces from another sister, so we have 2 kids under the age of I'm going to guess 7 living above us. It sometimes sounds like a heard of elephants has moved in above us.

  Now don't get me wrong, I love kids and I know they are going to be loud especially at that age range. I never hear them screaming and hollering unless our windows are open and they just got in trouble, and are being punished but I do hear them loud and clear when they decide to run or throw a hissy fit and thud on the floor. so granted kids will be kids and they don't bother me all too much. What weirdly gets to me more noise wise is the constant vacuuming that the sisters do, EVERYDAY! At least once a day if not more often the vacuum comes out upstairs. So now not only do I have to deal with the heard of elephants from about 6am to when ever their bedtime is, so anywhere between 8-9pm. I have to hear the vacuum every stinking day. It makes me long for the lady who hated us to be living there again.

So I just deal with the vacuuming cause I understand that kids are messy, and that the sisters could in fact be neat freaks since they vacuum so much. But last month they crossed a line with the vacuuming by doing it at like 6:45 in the morning. Now this was before I decided to start getting up at 6am and making Richard his coffee. I'm dead asleep and get woken up by one of them running the vacuum right above my head. Mind you I sleep with a fan to help drown out noise and I could hear their vacuum. So I got up got dressed told Richard I would be right back (he was on vacation) went upstairs and knocked on their door. When one of them answered the other one had left for work already, I explained that I live downstairs and am a light sleeper, plus there are noise restrictions, that you can't make any loud noises including vacuuming until 9am and not after 10pm. I also explained that I was being nice and coming up there to talk to her about it, and to please not vacuum so early again. She did apologize and hasn't done it since. Thankfully.

You are probably asking well why don't you complain about the noise to your landlord? Well I could, but really she can't do anything about the noise either, Cause yes she could call them up and say hey can you guys not be so loud but then again, they can be loud from 9am to 10pm sooo really can't do anything about that. Plus why bother her about the noise cause it just paints us in a bad light because we are bothering her over something she really can't control to much. Now I have no problems complaining if they start vacuuming during quiet ours and I have done it in the past with the lady that hated us. I choose to pick my battles wisely when it comes to apartment living cause I don't want our landlord to hate us, and she doesn't cause we are so low maintenance and quiet and get no complaints about us (anymore). Side note, she never took the complaints from the one lady seriously after the second one in one week cause we had rented from her before and never got complained about the first time we were living here, so our record is good.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

All over the place

 Good Hello Readers,

Since my last post, I have turned another year older, July 11th I celebrated turning 31 by going out to lunch with a great friend of mine that I have known for almost 10 years then went to Color Me Mine to paint and sat with a friend I made through there and cheered her up because she was kinda having a crap day. The next day it was time for the family Birthday dinner, since mom works evenings now we have to the dinners on the weekends. So Hubby, mom and my Mother-in-law and I went out to dinner at Piccolino's Restaurant, they serve Greek and Italian food. My mother-in-law surprised me with a gift of paint brushes and a holder for them. I can't wait to get to Color Me Mine so I can use them!

Richard and I are making an effort to not sit in front of the TV every night, we either play board games, put a puzzle together or read. We now only watch TV a few nights a week, which is a lot better then every day. One of these weekends I want to challenge us to go the entire weekend with out turning on the computer or TV and see if we can do it. We also wont use our cell phones to get online, they will still be on in case someone needs to get hold of us but that's all that they would be used for. I think it's a good idea to disconnect from electronic devices every once in a while. We are so dependent on devices for entertainment now days it's sad. I don't even turn on the TV anymore for background noise and have been known now to just sit around the apartment in silence. It really is rather nice. Everyone should try it, even if it's just for a moment or two.

July 27th will mark 6 months of no soda, or desserts. I have almost gone half a years with out it. I don't really miss the soda, but every now and then I crave a cookie or a piece of candy. The first month was the hardest for me with the no desserts. and there was a moment in April where I almost accidentally ate some cake because I was starving, it had no frosting on it but before I even got close to taking a bite I realized I couldn't eat it because it was in fact cake. I blame Richard for this because he gave it to me, he claims he was going to stop me before I actually took a bite. I don't know that I believe him on this though lol.

I have gotten a nice little routine going in the mornings now, I get up by 6:30 and make Richard his coffee for the day with our Keurig, mine as well, then I make myself breakfast and make sure his lunch is ready to go. I really do enjoy getting up and making him his coffee, it's a nice little thing I do for him and he enjoys it as well. .

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Things Have Been Good

Dad's Celebration of life went really well, we had a great turn out and it didn't rain. It was nice to see all the people that knew dad come together and have a party. Which is exactly what he wanted, well ok he wanted a booze party but well yeah no booze was had. 

Hubby and I have been married for 10 years now, our anniversary was 2 days before dad's celebration of life. We had a big family dinner the day after our anniversary as hubby had to work the day of our anniversary. Then just the two of us went up to Fairbanks last weekend to celebrate as well. We had a great time. Hard to believe it's been 10 years, some days it feels like just yesterday other days it feels like it has been a lot longer. All I know is we have had some rough times through these last 10 years and made it through and for that we are stronger.

The last two days I have been helping mom move stuff back into her living room after the remodel. I hurt all over and was very thankful to get today off so I could not do a dang thing and relax. She had some class to go to today. I will hang with her tomorrow as she is leaving to go to grandma's celebration of life which is this weekend. She will be gone for 2 weeks and gets home right after her birthday.  So tomorrow will be a shopping day and making sure she packs what she needs.

Other then that not much is going on, all the out of state family is gone, it was nice visiting with them all though. I miss them all, I am a very social person with not a lot of ways to socialize. But I'm used to that and I do like my alone time as well.

Monday, May 19, 2014

No denying I'm his kid

I am my fathers daughter. There is no denying it, not that I would, I mean I know I look like him, and according to my mom I have his sense of humor, and his love of sausage (both mom and my brother like bacon better). But every once in a while something else comes out of nowhere and smacks me in the face and goes hey this is just like dad too. Today was one of those days, I was just waiting for my Keurig to make me a cup of coffee and BAM right in the face, dad loved coffee, he drank it every morning, now mind you he had his black and I have creamer in mine but still there it is. For the longest time I didn't like coffee, I loved the smell of it but didn't like the taste of it. Then starting late last year I started drinking it every now and again while painting and it wasn't so bad, now it's a daily thing, almost like I can't function with out it, which I can and do go a day or so with out any. But still it is yet just another thing I have in common with my dad.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Old Man Kitty, and other fun stuff

I have always it seems since being married have had a knack for cleaning up my apartment before knowing I needed to. Mostly it was just when Richards dad unexpectedly would come over for some reason or another. Usually it was just to use the bathroom before heading back out to Wasilla. But it never failed I would clean up the apartment and then the phone would ring and it would be dad wanting to come over.  Other then that I always managed to clean it up and make it look good before we get a note on the door saying that the landlord was going to be coming in for the smoke detector test and fire extinguisher. Well it happened again, I just finished cleaning up the apartment yesterday and when I got back from getting wet food for Kramer there was a note on the door saying that the landlord would be by for the check and to see if there was any maintenance needs for the apartment.  The whole reason I cleaned was we have family coming up beginning of next month and on Sunday we are having some friends over for dinner and game night.

My poor Kramer kitty is starting to show his age. We have noticed for a bit now that he isn't making the jumps he used to make. I'm talking like easy jumps like from the floor to my lap when I'm sitting on the couch jumps. He is looking for steps to get to places, like to get into the dinning room window he gets onto the computer tower which sits on the floor, then onto the printer then walks onto the window ledge. It's not an all the time thing though so I'm thinking he is arthritic. I got him some hip and joint pills today and he will be started on them tonight when he gets his wet food I am hoping that they help him move better. I have had Kramer since February of 2002 so I have had him for 12 years now and he was 1 or 2 when I got him so he is 13-14 years old now. If the pills don't seem to help then I will take him into the vet and see what they have to say. I also know it's going to take a bit for the pills to kick in so I know not to expect to see a difference for a week or two.

The weather has been amazing here, so sunny and warm during the day, the only bad thing is because of all this nice weather my poor allergies are going nuts. We have hardly had any rain so far this spring. I think we are in for another scorcher of a summer and with lack of rain more of a risk for wild fires. We already have warning about burning.


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Yet Another Blow from Death

It saddens me to sit here and write that yet again someone that I love has been taken from me. This time it was a very dear friend of mine that was one of my many mothers as a grew up. Lynn lived across the street from us from I want to say my 7th grade year till about a year or two after I was married and moved out. I would go over to her house everyday after school and would hang out there till my mom came home from work. I was able to go to her and complain when I thought my mom was being unfair and she would help me see that maybe just maybe mom was doing what was best for me.

In the second half of my senior year Lynn suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed on the left side of her body. Getting that phone call destroyed me, I didn't want to believe it happened and stayed in my room for quite a few hours. I only ever visited her twice while she was in the hospital one of those times was prom night with Richard. She came home shortly after that but it took me a while before I could spend more then 5-10 minutes with her at a time. It just brought up painful memories of my dad being sick and I had to concur those memories and then I was able to spend a lot more time with her.

If any one is keeping tally that's 3 deaths in 5 months, we are done now right? Hopefully for a long time.

So as is tradition when ending one of these blogs.

R.I.P Lynn you will be missed.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Death Strikes Again

Earlier today I got a call from my mom to inform me that my Grandma Rock passed away this morning, this one wasn't unexpected as she had been sick with pneumonia. It just sucks cause I no longer have any blood related grandparents left. She was the one grandparent I was the closest to, Grandpa Rock died when I was about a year old, and Grandma and Grandpa Evans died when I was in Kindergarten and 1st grade. She was the one I got to grow up knowing and will be missed.

I remember the summer after my dad died I was able to fly down to Spokane and visit with my grandma by myself, I did this for a few years and had a blast going down.  We didn't do a whole heck of a lot mostly just stayed on the farm, but aunts and uncles would pick me up and I could spend time with cousins and have fun. I managed to make it down to the farm quite often after that with mom, god it was fun although a lot of the time I got annoyed cause I was a teenager and wanted to go do stuff and not have to wait for grandma but I wouldn't trade those vacations for anything.

I remember this one trip that I went down by myself, grandma woke me up and the first thing I see is this little old lady holding a mouse trap with a dead mouse in it. Let me just say that was not one of my favorite ways to wake up but it definitely sticks out as one of the grosses/weirdest ways. She was so proud that the mouse trap had worked.

The last time I saw grandma was shortly after Richard and I married, my cousin had married her husband and a few months had gone by and it was time for their "wedding reception" for the family, We were able to fly down for that weekend. that was I believe about 9 years ago.  It sucks that we live all the way up here away from the majority of the family.


The last 6 months has not been the best for my family, starting in October with Richards car accident, then dad passing away in November, Then Richard slipping and falling and going to the ER to make sure he didn't scramble his brain,earlier this month (he's fine just a bit sore) to now the passing of Grandma Rock. I hope things now get on to a better track and the rest of the year is smooth sailing.

R.I.P Grandma Rock at least your stubbornness will live on through mom and I

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Lunch is highly overrated

It has not been my week for making a successful lunch so far and it's only Tuesday! Yesterday I was making fish sticks and heard the timer go off the first time letting me know it was time to flip them over but somehow missed the second time it went off. I have clue how I missed the second timer going off, I didn't have music playing, wasn't on the phone or anything but I didn't hear it sound off. Yes I did actually start it too, cause when I remembered about them it was flashing that it had ended. Then today I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich cause it just sounded good, get all the stuff out for it have the pan warming up on the oven pull the bread out only to find it moldy, so no grilled cheese for me today. I have other bread that I just pulled out of the freezer so I can try again tomorrow for the grilled cheese.

I can only assume that I have angered the kitchen/food gods so I need to find out a way to please them so I can have a successful lunch time. Or I will just give up lunch cause it is highly overrated, well that's what I'm going to tell myself if I can't cook lunch tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Want to rearrange/declutter the apartment yet again

Been thinking about this small apartment of mine, which is small but not small all at the same time. I love my apartment just as much as I hate the thing. It's very hard to decorate it/ arrange furniture in it. There is only 3 ways that we have found to arrange our small living room. Our kitchen is a one butt kitchen and lacks storage and counter space, plus doesn't have a pantry so we have to have a set of cupboards as food storage and the pantry is the coat closet. We have 2 bedrooms, the actual master bedroom which is our spare room/catch all/media room and our bedroom. The thing that I hate the most about this place is the 1 stinking bathroom! It's small, there is only 1 so if we both have to use it, it's a matter of who can get to it first, which by the way is hardly ever me. The location is nice, close to mom which makes it easy when I need her to take me places, the landlord is awesome and very friends, I have great neighbors and this is the longest we have stayed in one place.

I think I know why I have been thinking about my place a lot lately, and getting that rearranging bug, I want to say it's cause I'm antsy cause the days are noticeably longer now and I'm wanting to do more stuff. But since I'm home all day with no real way of getting around I turn that energy into moving stuff around the apartment and getting rid of stuff and so forth which bugs Richard cause he hates when I want to rearrange the living room. SO I'm trying not to go there this time and just leave it be.

Who knows maybe later today I will go through some of my stuff and get rid of the stuff I haven't used in a long while. Maybe that will get rid of the rearranging bug for a bit.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Shoe hurting painting

Here I sit with new shoes on my feet thinking, ugh I hate breaking in new shoes, it's such a pain. This is the first pair of new shoes I have had in about 3 years, yes you read that correctly my last pair lasted me 3 years. I loved those shoes, but they have fallen apart way to much to be worn in the winter now, lets just say I have been suffering from wet sock syndrome for the last few months and it sucks so glad to have the new shoes even if they do kill my feet till I get used to them. I just hope I can adjust easily cause I'm going from having rocker bottom shoes back to normal ones.

I need to get back into updating this thing more often, even though I know not a lot of people read this, it's more for me anyways. I have always found writing a journal to be a big stress relief even if it's just random stuff that goes through my head and I edit what I put on here cause there is just some stuff that the entire world does not need access to. So that's a goal for this year, to update this more frequently. We shall see how well I do.

I have converted my sister-in-law into yet another monster. First time I did it I converted her into an Alaska Aces fan, this time it's Color-Me-Mine. She is going to try and come into Anchorage once a week to paint with her boyfriend. Now to just get mom to go in and look at the stuff they have, I'm not giving up on that one it will happen!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Oops I Did It Again......

I have challenged myself once again, this challenge is no soda or desserts for 1 whole year. I started this on Monday so this is the beginning of day 3. I was inspired by a 10 year old boy in one of the many vlogs on Youtube that I watch who gave up sugar for a year. I'm not going that dramatic cause well sugar is in everything! But I figured if I gave up desserts that I'm giving up a lot of sugar. What do I classify as desserts? Here is my answer, candy, cake, brownies, suckers, ice cream, cookies, pie, donuts, basically all kinds of sugary junk food. I am allowing myself to have sugary cereal if I want it, gum, and lemonade, the occasional juice though I am not much of a juice drinker. Other then that my drinks of choice are going to be: water, tea, monsters (the one I drink has no calories or sugar) and like I said before lemonade, maybe even crystal light, and sparkling ice (fizzy flavored water with no calories). A really good friend of mine says if I make it the entire year he will pay me $50.00, which was unexpected and cool of him. So January 27 2015 will be the end of my challenge hopefully I can make it, I think I honestly can.

Richard in his own way is doing the challenge as well, though his is a bit different then mine, he is limiting his sugar intake. Basically right now he is trying out sugar free options of candy. He is I wanna say a bigger sugar junkie then me so if he just limits how much he eats I will say its a success. He is supporting me in my challenge though and says he is proud of me for even just trying to do it and will be proud of me even if I do fail at it (which I wont).

In all honesty after a year with out soda, I might just give it up for good or just have it on a really rare occasion. We will have to wait and see what happens a year from now.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Thinking About You

It's been 10 years and 2 days since I lost a really dear friend of mine to cancer. She started out as my freshman year math teacher and from there our friendship grew cause she saw me at my truest self and I showed that I could handle bad news with grace and dignity. It took a bit for her to realize I was able to handle what was going on with her and that I wasn't easily scared away just because she was diagnosed with cancer. She was diagnosed my sophomore year with breast and bone cancer and moved down to California to receive treatment, that's when our friendship took off cause we would email back and forth pretty much daily.

She made a few trips back up here but then it got to the point where she couldn't travel anymore because it was just to difficult for her. Part of my Christmas break my senior year was spent down in California visiting with her, she had asked for me to come down, I went down with a teachers aid whom also was friends with her and we got there on New Years Eve and I was greeted with a gift from her of a necklace and I loved it. I still have this necklace and for many many years I refused to wear anything but it. Now I switch between it and other necklaces because if I was ever to lose it I would be heartbroken. I am in fact wearing it again cause I haven't worn it in a long while. In fact I have gone through a few chains for the necklace because they have given out or broken over the years.

While down visiting anytime I was introduced to one of her friends I got so you are the famous Stephy we have heard so much about. Turns out she talked about me all the time, everyday she was updating her friends on me and how I was doing in school and that I had a heart of gold and that I was as sweet as can be. This is when I was informed that she thought of me as the daughter she was never able to have. Talk about high praise and feeling almost famous.

I was able to make it down to California one last time before she passed away. She didn't know I was coming to visit it was to be a surprise for her and boy was it ever. Her mom picked me up at LAX and as we drove to her house, her mom told me don't feel bad if she doesn't act surprised or shocked no one has ever been able to surprise her. We get to the house, knock on the door and walk in. She was in the computer room with her back towards the door so I knock on the door frame and said "knock, knock" She turns around stands up, starts crying and just says over and over again "my girl" I was the only one to ever surprise her. Exactly a month to the day that I visited she passed away. I miss her dearly and do keep in touch with her mom and brother through email, not as much as I should but every now and then I will write them and update them on what's going on.

Just thought I would share a little about my friend, yes I left her name out for a reason and I know at least one person who reads my blog will know whom I'm talking about.