Christmas Gift for the bro.

Here is the picture of my brothers Christmas gift, it's a companion cube from the video game Portal. I went through many different ideas of how to make it before I decided on the way it is. He really likes it and said that I did a great job of making it. I am already thinking out and researching how to make his birthday gift, gotta start the planning early, so I have enough time to get all the parts I need and get it together. I'm hoping that his birthday gift goes a lot smoother then the cube went, so we will have to wait and see.

Mom got me a Donald Duck ornament for Christmas, it was a total surprise because she said she wasn't going to do gifts this year. She said when she saw it, it just screamed me so she got it. I have loved Donald Duck since I was a little girl. It is now hanging on one of my 3 Christmas trees.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning the living room, dinning room and Kitchen. I even dusted! I thought about taking down the Christmas decorations but decided I would do that this weekend instead. I might do a bit more cleaning today as well. I'm not sure yet though. I might also see if I can convince Richard to go shopping for some new pots and pans, if not just replacing the one sauce pan that is just totally destroyed. It all depends on how much a new set would cost.

I still have the cold, its better then what it was and worse then what it was at the same time. My left ear is plugged up so my hearing isn't very good. I'm going to wait it out and see if it will get better on its own before I call to make an appointment to get meds for it. I hope it clears itself up, I hate having to be on antibiotics.

Worst Christmas Gift EVER!

I wish I could say it was a pair of sock or underwear, which my parents always told us we were getting for birthdays and Christmas. But sadly that is not the case, I just got the worst Christmas gift ever, what is it? Well I got a freaking cold!!! It has been months, since I have been sick I was thinking I would make it to 2012 before getting sick again, nope I get a Christmas cold. So far it's not so bad, just a really runny nose and a tad bit of a sore throat, mostly caused by the fact that I have snot running down the back of my throat. Other then that I'm just tired and feel like napping all day which I wont allow myself to do and lack of appetite all which is normal when I get sick.

Tomorrow Richard and I head down to Ninilchik, to see his sister Bobbie and spend Christmas Eve with her and their parents. Should be a lot of fun. I am taking the scarf I am knitting for Richard with us, so I have something to do while there. I figure with the knitting I can be doing something and still visiting, where as with a book I would be in my own little world. I thought about bringing down the blanket I'm knitting but I have to really concentrate on it cause of the pattern and I wouldn't be very good company with it. I don't have to think with the scarf, just knit so it's the winner.

I finally finished up my brothers Christmas gift and got it all wrapped up. I have to say it turned out pretty good. I think he will totally like it. Since mom reads my blog at home I will wait until after Christmas to post a picture of it, you never know he might come up the stairs when she is looking at the pic and then the surprise is ruined.

Well that's all for now, I will be back to writing a blog after Christmas.

Goodbye M.

Yesterday morning was interesting to say the very least. I'm not torn up over what happened either, in reality I'm glad it happened the way it did, cause it doesn't make me out to be the bad person and feel guilty about it. I had a "friend" who I knew for years, we stopped talking for awhile cause I just couldn't take it anymore for a while and I felt bad about the way I "ended" it and about a year later I started talking to her again. Thing between us had improved a little and she wasn't bugging me the way she had. Well that all changed a couple of months ago when I made a scarf for a different friend of mine and she got jealous. She had asked me awhile back to make her a scarf but would never tell me the colors she wanted so I could make it. Any ways I guess it just went down hill from there. Cause I'm not mean enough to name her we will call her M.

I'm not made of money, so I spread out buying Christmas gifts through out the year for friends. I have a friend who's birthday falls only days before Christmas so I send her a box every year of a few gifts for her birthday and Christmas. This year I was able to buy her a sweatshirt from the local hockey team as one of her gifts. I sent off this box thinking nothing of it, cause I was making M her scarf for her as her Christmas gift. Well I was tagged on a picture in Facebook of my friend wearing her new sweatshirt I got her. I again think nothing of this besides sweet she likes it!

Well yesterday I was talking to M and she wanted to know if I had saved her some Christmas cookies for her. I had told her no, since she had changed when she was coming up to visit cause they wouldn't still be good by the time she got up here. Well that was the last straw for her I guess, She ranted at me about how I spend all this money on other friends and bought one a sweatshirt, but I wouldn't do anything for her and that she was through with this friendship. I was talking to her on yahoo messenger and she signed off and blocked me on Facebook. I'm thrilled by this, cause who needs a friend like M anyways!

I told this story cause I'm totally floored by the fact that she was truthfully that petty about the fact that I sent a different friend of mine gifts. I know now that she wasn't really a friend if she just wanted to be a friend to just get stuff. She acted like I wasn't allowed to have any other friend but her. I honestly feel kinda bad for her, cause she will live a very lonely life if she continues to act like this. This will be the last time I will ever think about or talk about M. I do hope that eventually M does get all she wants out of life, and that she finds true happiness some day.

Catching Up

December 10th would have been my dad's 65th birthday if he was still with us. Richard mom and I went to an Alaska Aces hockey game that day and the Aces won 6-1 against Utah. There was tons of fight and the Utah coach got a game misconduct and got kicked out for the rest of the game. Dad would had loved that hockey game.

Mom took this week off from work, which she really needed to do cause she has been working way to much per usual with her. This has been nice for both of us cause she gets to relax and unwind from work and I get to spend time with her during the day while Richard is at work. Monday we did a little running around, Tuesday we just hung out at her house and I watched her work on a project, yesterday we made Christmas Cookies. We got started late making the cookies so it was an all day thing, but we still had fun and this year went a lot smoother then years past. Not sure what we will be doing today or Friday.

This weekend will be peppermint bark making frenzy, but before I can do that I need to get a new cookie sheet or 2. The one we have had for the last 7 years sucks to use, I have hated that thing for years. Mom and I used it once yesterday and she even said it sucked and that we weren't going to use it again. I have 11 batches of bark to make, luckily enough for me Richard has said he will help me out a bit by breaking up the peppermint for me. I don't mind doing it at all, I just think he wants to pound on something.

Also this weekend I need to finish up making my brothers Christmas gift, It's almost done, I just keep putting it off cause other things kept coming up. and it wont take me that long to do either so I know I could truly get it done the night before Christmas but I want it done sooner then that.

Skype

Last night I downloaded the Skype app to my iPod, I did this mostly cause my friend Tara has it on her cell phone so we can occasionally talk to one another, now if we could just figure out the cameras to get them to work that would be cool. I talked to her for 21 minutes last night and had a blast. Then just a few minutes ago I opened up the app to see if I could figure out the camera and got a call from my friends Rob and Anastasia so I was able to talk to them for a couple of minutes. They had their webcam on so I was able to see them, so I know I can receive video feeds. It will take some time to tinker with it but I'm sure I can figure it out, if not well then at least I can talk for free.

I have skype for the computer but didn't really like using it, and haven't downloaded it onto this computer yet, I don't think I will cause I really rather like using it through my iPod cause I can hear the person I'm talking to better cause I can get the speaker closer to my ears to hear. I might still download it onto the computer if Richard and I want to video chat with like his grandparents or something.

*WARNING* Deep blog ahead

I hate when it's time for bed and my brain just wont shut up and I have to blog about whats going on in my head so I can then go to sleep. Tonight is one of those nights so here I go, let me first say that I am in all means ok this is just what is going through my mind and it's good that it is happening cause it means my outlook is changing for the better. Or well that's what I take it to mean.

I honestly wish that after dad died that I never turned to food for comfort. That I had looked at the junk food in my hand and thought 18 years from now you will not be happy with your body if you eat this, you might feel better now but in the long run you will ask yourself why you did it. I wish I had listened to my mom all those times she told me that I didn't need to eat, that I was just bored or upset and that I was only hurting myself. Should of, would of could of. Oh how my life would have been different, or maybe not so much. Who knows.. I just know that as of right this minute I wish there was a magic pill I could take that would take away all this weight that I gained and make me healthier then I am.

I know it is going to take hard work and dedication and a complete change in life to get me where I want to go, I know that I have the strength to do it and the will power to do it. My problem is getting started then sticking with it I get so side tracked easily. I started out really well at the beginning of this year, I lost a lot of weight, then I went to California and once I came back I just stopped trying. I have tried a couple of times to get started but can't seem to get back on track again. I have gained a few pounds back, not a lot so that's good but still I gained. I'm not beating myself up over this cause what is, is. I can't change it, just learn from it and do better. I think if I had been Stricter with myself in California I wouldn't have done so bad, but it was vacation and I was having fun.

Winters up here are hard, due to lack of light and bitter cold temperatures at times, people tend to hibernate and stay indoors. I am one of those people, I love the winter and the snow but it's just to dang cold to go out and do anything. Plus I'm not all that well coordinated so I tend to fall A LOT in the winter due to ice or my own two feet. I'm proud to say I haven't bit it yet but we are only 1 month into winter.

Anyways, the things I have learned this year about myself are: I eat when bored, upset and mindlessly in front of the tv if I let myself, If my hands are busy I tend not to eat needlessly, if my mind is busy either reading or working on figuring out something like a counted cross stitch or knitting I don't eat, I do better when I don't bring junk food into the house, I do have self control and can manage to not eat all the junk food in one sitting for the most part. I love soda a little too much but am limiting my intake of it. I love tea doesn't matter if hot or iced, as long as I can have some equal in it I'm a happy chappy, I love eating apples, yogurt and smoothies, I can make a really good omelet and a not half bad pizza (yes I know pizza isn't good for ya), I love to cook and bake. The most important thing I learned about myself this year, is that I'm a good person and that as long as I don't beat myself down others wont either.

Where the *bleep* did the month go?

Where the bleep did November go? Last night (Friday) mom calls me up and tells me that the Big Craft show/bazaar that we like to go to is happening tomorrow (aka today) and that she will pick me up at 9:30 cause it starts at 10. It was after I hung up the phone that I realized it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, I got all confused cause I swear the month just started the other day and now we are at the end of the month. I can't believe how fast November has gone by or in that fact, how fast the year it's self has gone by. I feel like I was just in California and that was Back in May.

Yesterday Richard and I helped his department manager/friend Aj with his home remodeling project. Well more like Richard helped and I supervised or as I like to call it stupervised. It was so bloody cold outside and they were having to be outside to get to his attic so I would be out there till I couldn't take it any more then would go into the house to warm up. While there we got to meet his wife and 6 month old baby girl. They are a very nice couple and we have invited them over for dinner when things calm down for them a bit, which will be after Christmas. It will be nice to have a married couple to hang out with on occasion. Every other time that Richard and I have hung out with a couple, they never last, they end up breaking up or getting divorced. Ok well not every couple, my friend Kaori and her husband are doing good, but we only ever get to see them about a week or so once a year cause they live out of state at the moment. Don't get me wrong I love our single friends but at the same time, its nice to have a couple to hang out with too.

So it's 3:30 and I have been awake since 1:30 I think I'm going to go try and get some more sleep before mom shows up to take me to the craft show.

Creative Juices Flowing

I have all these ideas in my head of stuff to make out of polymer clay, only problem is, I don't have a lot of clay and only certain colors of clay at the moment. I need to go Clay shopping, but I need a ride and money to do so, so for now I will sit here and do some research on shapes and designs and see what I think I can do. I love working with the clay cause it seems to be the one art form I'm good at, I can't draw worth beans, I can trace really well but draw not so much. But with the clay it just kinda comes to me and I at the moment can make very simple things, I'm getting better and my work is improving a lot. I would probably improve faster if I was able to do it a lot more but alas I don't have the money to keep myself in a supply of clay.

I have this great idea for a Christmas gift for my brother, I just need to get the supplies and figure out where and how I'm going to get it put together, it will require paint and I'm not sure if I will spray paint it or buy the paint and paint it myself. It's going to be made out of Styrofoam so not quite sure what will be the best way to go about it, I know at one point I will be hand painting details onto it. Or I could make the base of it styrofoam and cover it with paper then just make the rest of the decorations out of paper as well, lot less mess to deal with there but then it wouldn't look right either. Hmmm......... I guess I still need to think a little bit more on that one.

Back to the clay, I might actually try and make earrings out of clay too, Richards grandma gave me the idea. I don't know how well they would hold up or what kind I would do if it would be stud earrings or the ones that dangle down. so going to do some research on that as well, man my creativity is just a flowing. Hopefully I will have some pictures to show you all as I get things made.

When did it happen to you?

I think we have all thought at one time or another while growing up, watching our parents and how they behave and what they say that and I quote " I will never do what they do, or act like them". I know I did and usually it was when mom was "embarrassing" me by complaining about something, or yelling at me about something I did. I swore to myself I would never act like her, I probably would have said it about both her and my dad but well he died when I was young so he never got to the "oh my god dad you are embarrassing me" years.

Anyways my question to you is when did you first start noticing that you were in fact turning into your parents? Every once in a while I say something but it isn't me saying it, it's my mom. I never catch it before it happens it's always afterwards and I'm going "oh god, I'm my mother!". Every great once in a while I catch a glimpse of her in me as well, I will do something and it would be just like she was doing it.

Even worse, when I was a teenager I don't even remember exactly how old I was prob about 14-15 years old, mom and I were in the car going somewhere and she was trying to open a drink while driving or something and I said "oh just give it here" took it from her and opened it, to which she said that I had just reminded her of grandma with what I said and how I acted. I was mortified at the fact that she had just compared me to my grandmother! But at the same time I thought it was funny that I skipped being her and went straight to grandma.

What's even better is when I am hanging out with mom and she says or does something and does the "Oh god, I'm turning into my mother!".

So my answer to my own question is, I was about 21 when I first started seeing my mom in me.

An update from my iPod

Just a fast update while laying in bed playing on my iPod. I didn't have to go in at all for jury duty this is by far the best experience I have had with it. Let's hope the next time I get it it goes just as smooth.

Other then that the weather has gotten colder but still no snow to be had, I figure it should snow any time now.

I have been reading a lot lately, I have finished 5 books this week, yay me!

Well that's it for now, Im tired of typing with only 2 fingers.

Jury Duty Week

This week is my Jury Duty week and so far so good, haven't had to go in yet. Just have to call in today and tomorrow then I will be done. This is of course if they don't call me in for a case. In other news I'm pretty much back to being healthy, my cough is still hanging around but is just like a normal cough now, so no more barking for me. I also seem to have my hearing almost all the way back again so that is nice as well, I hate having to ask people to repeat themselves so I can hear them. The down side of me being better, mom now has the cold.

In bummer news, Richards hours are being cut back down to 22 hours a week again. They have hired 2 new people for him to train for his job. I wish they would give him a permanent full time job there already. I'm getting frustrated with them, it takes them no time at all to find replacement people for people that leave but take their sweet ass time filling other positions that Richard has applied for. We had decided a while back to give them till January then I think he will start looking for other places to work, while I find a cheaper place for us to live.

The End is Near

I am actually starting to get better, thank god, it's about freaking time! I have been sick since the beginning of September. My nose is no longer plugged up, my couch is all but gone, Still on an inhaler for it but only have to use it once or twice a day instead of 4 times a day, my ears are showing some improvement as well. The end of this sickness is near.

I have been wanting to bake as of recently, I get this way every fall and winter, I want to bake and knit and cross stitch basically do all stay indoor activities that I like to do. I'm like my mom in that way, every fall when the weather gets cold she starts working on quilting projects and making doilies.

Other then that Saturday we are going to an Aces hockey game with mom, should be fun. I love going to the hockey games, I always have a great time when we can go.

What a fall I have had

Sadly I am on meds again. Went to the doctor on Monday because my ear was still bugging me and I developed a cough over the night. I have air bubbles in my left ear which is causing the pain, basically I don't have an ear infection but if I had waited any longer I probably would have ended up with one. I am on 20 days of pills that I have to take 2 pills 3 times a day. That's a lot of freaking pills to take, never mind the fact that I can't lay down for at least 10 minutes after taking them. I asked my mom about that and she said it was a first she had heard of that, so what the heck is up with that? like why is 10 minutes the magic number? like if I lay down at 9min and 59 seconds am I going to explode?

Jury Duty is coming up just around the corner for me. I guess on the bright side I will be healthy for it since I will still be popping all those freaking pills. I don't mind if I get put on a jury, it will make my life interesting for a little bit, plus I will get paid for sitting on my butt listening to people talk. On the down side, I would have to find a ride to and from court and the seats prob wont be all that nice to sit on. I told mom my number that I have to listen for when I call in every night and she said I was screwed because I got a low number that I will be called in. But that doesn't start till the 23rd of this month so we will have to wait and see what happens there.

Yesterday Marked a year since Richard was let go from Lowe's,. Where the heck did that year go? So I guess now if he really wanted to go back there he could apply and see if they would hire him back. We have talked about it a couple of times, he doesn't seem to want to go back though because of how much stuff has changed with the company. He does seem to like Home Depot, just not how slow they are about filling job positions.

What a week

This last week has been a rather busy one for us. Monday I hung out with mom and helped her pick out some fabric for one of the two quilts she is making at the moment. It took us going to 4 quilt/fabric stores to find the fabric that I wanted for the quilt and I'm super glad that we found it cause it will look amazingly cute when done. Tuesday we had to go to Joann Fabrics to get you guessed it more fabric for said quilts, then Richard and I helped mom haul some furniture, then we took her old couch and an old mattress of ours to the dump, then we went to the first of 2 Aces hockey games called paint the rink pink, where all the money raised goes to cancer research. Wednesday was the 2nd game of paint the rink pink, by the way the Aces won both games!!! Thursday was pfd day, we got our money and then went shopping, cause we wanted to get it done and over with before the weekend and all the stores being crazy busy like they are when the pfd's come out every year. Friday was Richards birthday, we went out to dinner at Outback with mom, Yesterday Richards parents treat us and mom to dinner at the Glacier Brew House, where we ran into our Friend Jenny who was having dinner with her hubby celebrating her birthday which was on the 4th. Today was laundry day, but other then that more relaxing then any other day this last week.

Richard and I both got iPod touches and I gotta say I am really liking them a lot. It can do everything the iPhone can but make calls. Mine has been going pretty much everywhere with me and I use it to get online to check in on Facebook if there is a wifi hotspot. Other then that we bought a few movies/tv shows that we like and got some food with our PFD money.

In other news, I'm not sure if I am coming down with an ear infection or not, my left ear is bothering me at the moment but I don't know if that is just my ear acting up or if it is the start of the ear infection. It feels like someone is poking my eardrum with a pin. I will decide when I wake up in the morning tomorrow if I need to go in or not. Richard is coming down with a cold and has been coughing and sneezing for the last 2 days. Nothing too bad so he will prob get over it in the next day or two.

Still no word on a full time job with Home Depot yet.

Priming Job and apartment

On Saturday Richard, his mom and I painted mom's living room with primer, we did 2 coats of the stuff on Saturday then Richard and I came back on Sunday and put a 3rd coat on. It took three coats of primer to cover up the paint my dad chose over 18 years ago. Yesterday Richard and I went back and put her living room back together again. It's tons brighter in there now which is nice, the only part we didn't paint was the stair ways, we figured that would wait till Richards dad fixes the one wall.

We are still waiting to hear from Home Depot about Richard getting a full time job with them, he has applied for a few but they go so freaking slow about interviewing for the positions it's driving me crazy. We are waiting on them about moving cause he applied for a job at the Home Depot by where we live now and if he gets that one and we can afford to stay here why not cause he will be really close to work. But we can only wait for so long before we will decide to move. We did find an apartment complex we wouldn't mind living in, it's cheaper then where we are now, only draw backs are the location cause its kinda out of the way so if mom was to pick me up it would take longer, and it's only 1 bedroom. On the bright side the complex allows cats as is, they don't need to be declawed. I can't believe how many places here will allow cats but they have to be declawed and fixed with proof from your vet. I wouldn't declaw Kramer now because he is so used to having his claws, nor would a vet declaw him because he is old. I wish people were not so against people having pets when renting out places.

Just my luck

So I totally jinxed myself with my last blog. I'm sick yet again and you guessed it, it's another sinus infection. I have an appointment at 2:30 today to get meds for it, before mom leaves to go on another trip. At least this time I got it before she left and not after she left, makes life a little easier. Now if I could just find something to take the pressure away till the appointment I would be happy.

There is officially snow on the mountains now, so winter is just a few short weeks away. We haven't gotten cold enough at night to frost over yet but we are getting there. We prob wont get any actual snow on the ground till prob end of October, first of November but I could be wrong, that is just my guess at this moment in time. It has been a pretty cool fall so who knows.

Today at 11am we Alaskans get to find out how much our PFD is going to be this year. Richard and I have decided our big money buy is going to be a new bed. We keep putting it off every year saying we can go one more year but we can't do that this year as our bed is in really sad shape and both of us are having problems falling asleep and getting a good nights sleep once we do fall asleep. Other then that I think we are going to try and save the rest of the money.

It's that time again

Richard finished up working for his dad on Sunday. I got to spend Saturday with him but he had to go out to the valley on Sunday to finish up the floor. He worked 72 hours in one week, and that's just what her worked with his dad, add his 22 hours from Home Depot he works in a week and he worked a total of 94 hours in a week. Yikes that's a lot of hours for a week. Yesterday brought on another dentist appointment for Richard as well, he had to get a tooth pulled that he broke back in May. He stayed home from work today because he was in too much pain, but will be back to work tomorrow.

I came down with a sinus infection last week but am well on the mend from it and feel pretty dang good at the moment. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as some of the ones I have had in the past. I can't believe I'm about to say this but I rather get a case strep throat then get another sinus infection. At least if I get Strep my ears don't get bothered by it at all. But sadly the last time I had strep was back in high school, got it 3 times in a row in 3 months, they threatened to take my tonsils out, but when I finally got better they decided against it and I haven't gotten it since. I know it hurts really bad but I rather deal with that pain, then deal with not being able to hear. I also believe anyone that deals with me on a regular basis would agree that they rather deal with me not being able to talk that much, then having to repeat themselves over and over and over again. Am I right mom? Though knowing mom her response will be, I rather have you not get sick at all.

We are getting into what I like to call my sick months, it gets cold I get sick. Last winter I didn't do to bad actually so maybe that is changing finally. Like my doctors said when I was a kid, maybe I finally out grew it. Though I did get my changing of the weather cold which as I stated above was the sinus infection, maybe I can get away this winter with out getting really sick, or falling down a lot *knocks on wood*

It's worth it in the end.

This last weekend Richard was out in the valley helping his dad put floor down in a house he is working on and I stayed home here in Anchorage. It was the first time in years that Richard and I spent the weekend away from each other. Saturday I pretty much stayed home and just was kinda lazy besides having to clean up broken glasses that Kramer broke and pieces went everywhere then I went and helped mom pick out some fabric and was brought back home. Sunday I spent the day with mom cause I had to do laundry, we ended up going up to Deb's house to drop off a quilt project my mom finished. While on the way up to Deb's place mom got called saying she had to be at work by 3 for an endo case at 4. So she dropped me off on her way to work and I watched some dvds and ended up going to bed at about 11 cause I was dog tired.

I was so tired Sunday because I didn't go to bed till 2am on Saturday cause I wasn't tired/couldn't sleep because Richard wasn't there snoring next to me. Plus some drunk SOB called my cell phone 4 times at 4 am. So the sleep was much needed.

Yesterday however I was Bored out of my mind all day. Mom had gotten called into work bright and early and as it turns out didn't get to bed till midnight, so she spent all day at the hospital. Richard didn't get home till after 8pm and my usual chat buddy during the day went on a hike with her boyfriend since they both had the day off. So that left me to fend for myself in stuff to do, I played video games watched some dvds, went back to video games, got onto the computer but nothing held my attention for very long. When Richard finally did get home he took a shower, messed around on the internet then went to bed. so I got maybe 30 minutes with him last night.

All this week he has to go out to the valley and work with his dad, once he gets done with his job at Home Depot. So basically he goes from work to the valley, I don't get to see him till he gets home at night. I keep telling myself the extra money is worth it, and it is. This week is just going to be very long.

Tonight Richard and I are taking mom to the airport so she can go down to Philly till the 12th of the month. Then later this month she is going down to Oregon I believe as well for some nursing conference so she is a busy traveler this month.

Lumberjack Squirrel Revival

I went to the State Fair on Saturday, went with Richard, mom and my brother, it was fun. The weather behaved too, it was cloudy and windy so a tad cold but it didn't rain. While at the fair we all went to the lumberjack show that is done every year. Richard and I have kind of made it a tradition to go to it every year cause its so fun to watch cause of the corny jokes. It's about a 45 minute show and all of us were having fun.

The show was about done there were only a few things left for them to do and they wheeled the wheel barrel out that holds the hare chairs in it that they make to sell. Well in said wheel barrel there was a squirrel that was hiding out. There is a little wood building that they have there at the set that they use for 2 weeks out of the year and the rest of the year it's the squirrels home well the poor thing didn't know what to do so I guess it hid in the wheel barrel. Anyways, the squirrel got spooked by having the wheel barrel move on him and jumped out when it stopped moving and then didn't know where to go or what to do with its self. So it took off into the audience to find a place to hide. It ran across peoples laps, jumped off people, I mean this thing was booking it, people were screaming, including me. Why me? well it bounded of the lady in front of me, and was headed right at me so I scream and jump up, it missed me and was headed straight at Richards face, he was sitting behind me. He put his arm up to protect his face and the squirrel bounded off his side ran behind us and got away. It was quite a sight to see really. Sadly no one got it on video cause everyone agreed it would have been a youtube smash.

That whole thing reminded me of the Ray Stevens song Mississippi Squirrel Revival. I mean if you have ever heard that song you can just pretty much picture what happened at the lumberjack show.

Lunch Limbo Anyone?

I'm sitting here starving, I can literally hear my stomach growling, why don't I get up and make food to eat? Well because nothing sounds good. I have dinner all figured out but lunch well lunch is throwing me for a loop today. I hate when this happens, I think of all these things I could eat and go, meh doesn't sound appetizing at all, I will end up going into the kitchen staring at food for like ever then just decide that what ever my hand lands on that's what's for lunch no mater what.

Richard has put in for a few full time positions with Home Depot, so we are just waiting to see if he gets one or not. 1 position is here in town and he would be working at all 3 stores here in town, basically one day be at this store the next day at this one and so on. The other 2 positions he applied for are out in Wasilla, one is the paint department manager and the other is working in receiving. Richard has experience in all 3 positions, so hopefully he gets one of them.

Meanwhile, We are kinda in limbo, we need to find a cheaper place to live but can't really look for one till we know if we are looking out in Wasilla or here in Anchorage. Well we can look and we do but can't do anything else but that, cause I don't want to sign a lease here in town then have him get one of the jobs out in Wasilla. So once again we are in the wait and see game.

Dinner Disaster

The story I'm about to tell starts with me getting a gift card from my godfather to Applebee's for my birthday, it ends with said gift card being left on the table with me telling the manager to take it and know that Richard and I will never set foot in there again. I'm missing the middle of this story so let me go there and then you will know why we choose not to go back.

I was originally going to make dinner tonight but I thought it would be nice to go out and hey got a gift card and a few spare bucks laying around so why not. I run the idea past Richard and he goes for it, so off we go to AppleBees for what we thought would be a good dinner, boy were we wrong. We get seated by the hostess who looks like she has raccoon eyes or two very black eyes, her eye makeup is just horrid, not to mention she has flaming red hair, but to each their own. Our waiter comes over we go to order drinks only to find out the ones we want we can't have because the machine that makes them is broken, no biggie so we stick to water, before we can tell him we want an appetizer he has turned around and is talking to the people sitting across from us who were sat before us, again no biggie. He takes off then about 5-10 minutes later he shows up with our waters and takes our orders, and off he goes again not to be seen till he shows up again with our appetizer which show up in a timely manner and then off he goes. We finish our appetizer, the plate goes away and we wait for our dinners to show.

While we are waiting for our dinners, the people across the way who ordered just a minute or two before us get their dinners and are eating, so we figure in just a couple of minutes ours will come out. We wait and we wait and we wait, we haven't seen our waiter since he brought out the other tables food, time is ticking by and we are getting hungry and impatient, finally about 15-20 minutes have gone by and here comes our waiter saying he didn't know what happened but our food would be out in 2 minutes then off he goes to where ever he has been hiding. But before he goes he asks if he can get us anything like chips or something while we wait, we say no and I say that this is by far the worse service I have ever gotten from there. Our food is dropped off and we begin to eat our dinners (which weren't all that good) a few minutes later he comes back to tell us our meals have been comped. Ok well that's a way for making up for the crappy service.

We finish up our meals and are sitting there cause we aren't sure if we have to pay for the appetizers or if everything was comped The manager who we haven't seen because she has been back in the kitchen shows up to clear our plates and again says that our meals are comped so I ask well do we owe anything and she says no and that she asked the waiter what happened and he told her that he FORGOT TO PUT IN OUR ORDERS! I'm floored by this cause he had told us he didn't know what happened, so we were lied too, we are getting up ready to leave and I throw the gift card onto the table and tell her to keep it cause we are never going to come back. She says Mam, it was just the waiters fault, it had nothing to do with the kitchen or me. Really, Really? she is going to sit there and pass it off as the waiters fault? That's just not right, I have had some pretty crappy service from restaurants and the managers always take the blame they never sit there and go oh well it was his fault. I looked at her said I didn't want to hear it and walked off.

I do feel bad for wasting my godfathers money, and I should have just held onto the card and gave it to someone else but I was pissed and wanted to leave. I am just floored at that manager and the fact that the waiter freaking forgot to put our order in, I mean if he is going to forget to put orders in he shouldn't be a waiter. But there is my story I think I'm going to go have a piece of cake that I made earlier today then maybe a nice relaxing bath.

Going for Broke

It's August, lots of things can happen this month and a few things already have. First the stuff that can happen, after the 13th or 15th of the month Richard will have been at Home Depot for 6 months. This means that he can apply for a full time position. I have told him to apply to any Home Depot here in town or the one out in Wasilla if there is a position that he wants there. If he does apply and get a full time job at the one out in Wasilla it means we will be moving out to the valley. I am totally fine with moving out there again, cause this time we won't be living with his parents. But that's all up in the air for now, he would have to get a job out there first. Depending on where he gets the job and how much he makes, we still might end up moving cause if he doesn't make enough that we can cover all our bills and rent we will need to find a cheaper place to live, as it is right now my mom has been nice enough to help us out by covering our rent and she can't afford to do it much longer and I don't want her to have to. I am truly grateful she has done it this long.

Today also starts what Richard and I have called the eating like we are broke cause we are phase of life. Not that we were wasting food, but we hardly had left overs, depending on what was made for dinner. So basically we are going to make our food last longer by eating less at a meal and having left overs for lunch and dinner the next couple days depending on what we make. This will be good for us cause not only will our food last longer we will be eating less and might actually lose weight.

Today is probably going to be a very long day, I have been up since 3am and not by choice, I was woken up by my stomach being upset then I just couldn't get back to sleep. I might end up taking a nap at some point in time today, which I'm fine with if it happens, if it doesn't it just means I will probably crash really early tonight. Hopefully if I do take a nap I can actually get more then just like 10 minutes then have maintenance show up to install the new dishwasher. It never fails that as soon as I take a nap they decide to show up. Oh well can't really complain cause I will be getting a new dishwasher.

Singing Hot, hot, hot

Our oven got fixed, the element just needed to be replaced and I can tell the difference, doesn't take nearly as long as it used to for the oven to warm up. But now, we are waiting for a new dishwasher. It was leaking before the oven acted up, Mike from maintenance came and ran it a few times and it didn't leak once, didn't leak again until after we got the stove fixed. I called the landlord and left a message about our dishwasher needing a huggie and hadn't heard from her about it. Then yesterday got a call from her saying that either today or Monday or Tuesday I would be getting a new dishwasher. But as I stated above we are waiting so it didn't happen today. So until we get the new one I am washing dishes by hand cause I don't want a bunch of dishes sitting in the dishwasher when they come to replace it.

Meanwhile our apartment is Hot, hot, hot, it gets to about 80 degrees in here during the day and that's with all 4 windows open and the fan going, I love the nice sunny days but don't love how hot our place gets. But at the same time the nice days are a good thing cause maintenance is painting the buildings, and outside our dinning room window we now have the lovely view of scaffolding. A change of view for the worse I say. Plus we get to look at it all weekend cause they don't work on the weekend, Joy (not).

The Oven Threw a Hissy Fit

I was preheating the oven tonight so I could make dinner, it was all going per usual, I set the temp and walked away for a bit then walked back in to see if it was ready. As I was standing there the oven made this weird noise and then there were sparks and a white-ish light coming from the vent that is under the rear right burner. It looked like there was a fire in our oven. I quickly turned the oven off and opened the door to see what the heck was going on. I couldn't see what was wrong but Richard looked and said it looked like the element was going out on it. It was glowing almost like the oven had a light in it, which it doesn't and just in that one spot. I called our land lord and left a message about it for her, she called me back a few hours later to ask about what was going on and to let me know that Maintenance will be here tomorrow to look at our stove and fix it or replace it. So needless to say after our stove had its little fit, dinner went into the fridge to be cooked at a later date and we ate something else. So not what I was expecting to happen tonight, oh well can't say my life is dull.

In other news, I'm no longer working with DVR, it was a mutual decision for me to stop working with them for now. In time if I want to go back to them I can, but since I haven't gotten very far with them, we decided to stop for now. Which is fine cause it gives me a chance to focus on my health and get it in check. For those still wondering yes I still have a big announcement to make on here but its taking me a bit longer than I thought to get to the point where I want to share what I am up to.

The Computer Story.

What a day today was, it all started at 5am when I awoke with a start because I thought Richard had to work today and the alarm didn't go off, thankfully I realized it was Saturday before I woke him up. Then I couldn't go back to sleep, so I have been up since my 5am wake up call.

At 10am Richard called Best Buy to see if our computer was finally done and it was so we get ourselves out of the construction zone that is our neighborhood and head off to pick it up. We get the computer and ask to talk to a manager cause we got really lousy service from Geek Squad cause we only ever got one phone call from them asking if it was ok to send our computer out of state to get a new motherboard. We told the manager it was lousy customer service and we thought we should bring it to their attention. Then we were on our way home with our working computer, or so we thought. We get home hook it up, turn it on and then we get a screen that says we need to put the reboot discs in. We were just told it was done and working and we had 30 day guarantee and we have had it less than an hour and back to Best buy we go. We once again make our way through construction hell and end up back where we just were not to long ago. As we walk in the Manager who we talked to was right there at the doors and his face just fell when he saw us, I being smart took a picture of what the computer screen said and showed it to him, all three of us walk back to geek squad, showed the guy the picture and he goes, and I quote "man this is embarrassing, we didn't put the operating system back on." THEY FORGOT TO REBOOT THE COMPUTER!

Richard and I sit there as the guy puts the recovery discs in, and we wait, and we wait and we wait, while the operating system gets installed. Finally after watching the grass grow, the paint dry and Christmas come and go its all installed and the computer decides to find a corrupt file and not load the right way. Imagine me beating my head against the geek squad desk out of frustration. No I didn't actually do it but man did I want to. While we were waiting for the computer to fail the manager came over and said we were going to get a $50 gift card to Best Buy for our inconvenience. Geek squad guy says leave the computer here and I will try to reboot it again and give you a call when I'm done. Off we go back to construction hell aka our apartment.

I have gone off with mom for lunch and then to go return the cat she was watching to its owner, while getting the cat ready to go I missed the call from Geek Squad Guy and a call from Richard. So I return Richards call and he tells me that they can't fix our computer at all but that we are getting a full refund of what we paid for it last year in store credit and a refund of what's left of the protection plan and they have a computer that is about the same if not slightly better then the one we had all picked out for us if we want it. Mom drops me off at Best Buy so I can meet up with Richard for my 3rd, yes count it 3rd trip in there today. We decide to go with the computer they picked out, and surprise, surprise its on sale (Sweet!) not only was it on sale so was the 2 year protection plan. So we didn't have to spend a dime to get the new computer or new 2 year protection plan and we walked out of there with $25.00 CASH! Not very many customers can say they went into Best Buy and made money.

So, We ended up getting a brand spanking new still in the box computer, a $50.00 gift card to best buy and $25.00 cash, not a bad haul for a very stressful morning.

Computers and Birthday

I'm still fighting with our laptop, but so far this entry is going better then the last one. Talked to Geek Squad before the 4th of July, our computer was failing the diagnostics first because of the memory then when they got that figured out they had to replace the hard drive then we got the phone call saying that it needed a new motherboard and in order for that to happen it had to leave state so they needed my permission to send it out. I gave them my permission and that is where we are at with that. It's getting a new motherboard and so far not costing us a dime to get it fixed cause it has been all hardware issues. All I know is I want my computer back. I am sick of fighting with my laptop to do the simplest of things, like closing a chat window to continue on doing something else.

I have had some fun this last weekend. Richard and I got to hang out with our friends Kaori and Peter who are up till August. They live down in Texas but both want to move up here when they can cause they miss being up here, I miss them being up here too. I invited them to go out with us for my birthday dinner on Monday so that's going to be fun. Kaori hasn't been around for my birthday in years, so it will nice to celebrate it with her, Peter, Richard, mom and Kaori and Peters little boy.

Computer Sickness

Our computer is sick, it wont even start up all the way before it blue screens of death. We took it to Best Buy on Thursday to see if they could figure out what was wrong with it. They said it would take 3-5 days for them to do the diagnostic test on it then they would give us a call, if it's a hardware issue we don't have to pay to get it fixed, if it's a software issue we do. We dragged out our old laptop and have been using it to get online. I hate this thing, its so freaking slow, I am typing faster than the words are showing up on the page so I have to keep going back to fix mistakes and it takes even longer. Not to mention that this is the laptop that likes to shut itself off. something else I just noticed is it tends to not register all the keys that I hit or if it does it puts them in the wrong order or adds to many of them. I hope we get our computer back soon, cause this thing is going to drive me nuts. I have more I want to type out but am at the point where I am about to throw this computer out the window so I will save that all for later.

Chick Lit

I made this cute little chick, eggs and nest yesterday while watching Smallville with Richard. I really love how the chick turned out. The picture doesn't do the nest or eggs justice, they turned out pretty good too, but I just love the chick.

I have read 30 books so far this year, I am on my 31st right now. I'm reading I Am Number Four. So far I'm really enjoying it and it seems to be a quick read. Before that I read One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich, which was also a good read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of her books that I have in that series as well. I'm not quite sure what book I'm going to read after I finish the one I'm on now, I guess that all depends on the mood I'm in.

Not much else going on here, I have been mostly catching myself up on Smallville, reading and playing with clay, I have another great idea as a gift for my brother to make out of clay I just got to do some research on it to see how easy or hard it's going to be for me to make it.

Playing with Clay

I have been playing around with clay a lot lately and this little bow is just the most recent thing I have made. It has a magnet on the back of it and is now sitting on my fridge. I have also made a butterfly magnet and a forget-me-not magnet as well. The butterfly is going to a dear friend of mine who is up from Texas visiting and the forget me not went to a lady I know who works at the video store down the street from here. I liked the way it turned out but it was the wrong shade of blue, it was too dark but she loved it so I let her have it.

I need to get busy and get my brothers birthday gift made for him. It too is going to be made out of clay, I just need to sit down and make it. But his birthday is still over a month away so I have the time but I just might need all that time to get the shape right and everything. I like to make sure I have plenty of time to get it right.

The week of Blahs

I haven't had any energy this week. Yesterday I managed to get the dishes done and today I picked up the living room but I still have stuff I need to get done and here I sit with no desire to do them. I hate when I get this lazy. I ended up having to put Kramer in kitty time out this morning cause he wasn't letting me get my work done at all, he kept getting under foot and then getting mad at me when I would step on him or trip over him, so I locked him in the spare room for about an hour so I could get the living room picked up.

I have been dealing with dizzy spells again this week. I hate when I get them. I do the exercises that the doc told me to do a few years ago when I first got them and they go away. but this time they seem to be hanging on a bit longer. I wonder if my allergies have anything to do with that? They aren't bad and only happen when I do certain things so that's nice.

7th wedding anniversary/camping

We came home early from camping, we were going to stay till today but it was just too cold for us so we came home yesterday. Camping was fun till we went to bed, where I proceeded to freeze to death till 2am then gave up and went and slept in the truck till morning. I am not put off from camping though, we will go camping again this summer when its a bit warmer out.

Today marks 7 years of marriage for us. We are taking it easy today. Richard made lunch for us and is going to make dinner as well. Depending on the day I find it hard to believe that it's been 7 years since we said I do, other days it feels like its been ages since we did. We have had our moments when we aren't to happy with one another but those are few and far between and every couple has them. I count myself lucky that I found such a great man who loves and takes care of me the way that he does. Richard spoils me, and not with gifts, just by doing simple things like making dinner or getting me something to drink, or letting me choose what we watch. We are happy together and I hope it stays that way for many more years to come.

Fun in the Sun Week

Thursday I went to the Zoo with my friend Paula and her two girls, we went and saw the baby polar bear that was orphaned by its mom earlier this year. Man o man was she cute! Not the best picture of her but not a bad one either.

The brain won't let me sleep so here I be, blogging of course. My sunburn is tons better, sadly I burned myself pretty well on my chest and have a few small sores but they are on the mend. I really have learned my lesson, I don't want to be in that much pain EVER again, so sunscreen and I will be best buds for now on in the summer months. But as Richard loves to say, I have color now, so for awhile at least I won't be a pasty ass white girl.

Richard and I are going camping Friday when he gets off of work, we will be back on Sunday. I'm so looking forward to going, it will be my first time tent camping. I went camping with my neighbors as a teen but that was in a motor home so this will be a new experience for me. I'm sure I will enjoy it, cause I love being outdoors in the summer. I have gotten some of the big ol marshmallows and gram crackers now I just need some chocolate bars so we can do smores while sitting around a fire. I never have really done smores before. I have roasted marshmallows before but that was just at home in the fireplace that doesn't exist anymore, or in recent years with a lighter and a toothpick.

Richard is back to 4 hours a day again at work. They hired on the 2 people they needed to fill in the empty spots. I wish he could of gone longer withe the 8 hours a day, but at the same time it works out cause he gets off work at 9am so we can beat the traffic Friday when we go camping. Hopefully here when he reaches 6 months of working there he can apply for a full time job at the Home Depot that's just down the street from us.

Richard and I went on a 3 mile walk on Sunday on the coastal trail, I had fun but man am I hurting a bit today, it was down hill at the beginning and uphill on the way back. We saw a moose while walking and going up hill about killed me. Then today mom and I went and walked the boardwalk at Potter's Marsh, which was fun as there were ducks and birds to watch. So I had a pretty good Memorial Day Weekend. It could only have been better if our friend John had come to dinner on Friday, like he said he would but he forgot and went gold panning instead so he missed out on homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. We are going to re invite him to dinner this week and I will make some peanut butter cookies this time.

Home Sweet Home

Richard and I had a blast down in California, the week went by so fast that I just wasn't ready to come home but I knew we couldn't stay any longer. While there Grandpa got out his trains and we played with them out in the garden. We had 3 trains going at once at one point and I was able to get the above picture of two of the trains.

I was thrilled that these two pictures turned out so well. I tend to like the one above a bit more then the other but given that I chose to take the second picture at a tricky part of the track I do like how the train below looks.

While in Sacramento we went to a place called Leatherby's which is well known for their ice cream. I got Grandma's Sundae and man o man was I surprised at how big it was. I lovenly call it the what the hell was I thinking sundae. That sucker was huge! as you well can see in the picture below. I finished it all cause I wasn't about to be out done by Richards grandparents who finished all of their ice cream. This place also makes their own caramel sauce which was to die for. They even sell the sauce in jars and had I had a bag to check you better believe that I would have bought a jar or two to bring home with us.

I did get sunburned pretty good while down there, right before we left in fact, so I am still recovering from that, I looked like a lobster the first 2 days but now am starting to turn brown. Today is the first day I can actually wear an actual shirt instead of my tanks. My upper arms still hurt when I move around and do certain things but hopefully here soon that will go away as well.

Kramer was thrilled to see us when we came home, he was loving on us, following both Richard and I around the apartment and meowing up a storm. Apparently Saturday night he was laying on me while I was asleep and I told Richard to get Kramer off of me, I don't remember this at all but that really doesn't surprise me either, I was pretty tired that night.

Vacation in 3...2...1...

It's 5am and I have been up since 4, why? well because the alarm went off and woke me and now I'm excited about leaving tonight for California. Plus, since I am up so early I will be tired on the plane and sleep from Anchorage to Portland, or well that's the plan, if that actually happens I have no idea, we will have to wait and see.

Richard ended up packing his bag last night so he wouldn't feel rushed when he got home from work today and forget something. He placed the clothes he is going to wear on the plane on top of his bag last night, when I got up and came out into the living room, I found Kramer laying on them. I don't think he wants us to go.

Well I need to go get my long, slow day started. I still need to pack, clean a few things, check us into our flights and make sure that everything is ready to go for tonight.

This will be my last post till May 22nd. So until then, may the force be with you :-)

Trimming off Vacation Sickness

It's getting closer and closer for Richard and I to go to California for a week, we are in the final stretch of days, 5 days to go, and we are both getting sick. UGH! So Monday I am going to call my doctor and see if I can get in and get some meds, cause it feels like a freaking sinus infection creeping in. I can't believe this, well yes I can, every freaking time I go out of state I get sick right before I go. EVERY STINKING TIME!

Today I chopped off quite a few inches of hair and got a few layers at the ends put in. My hair is now to about mid shoulder, man o man does it feel lighter and is going to be so much easier to take care of. Plus it should take half the time it used to, to dry after taking a shower, which will be really nice. I can still pull it back into a ponytail as well which is what I wanted as well so it all works out.
I just had way to much hair and it was a pain to brush out everyday, took forever to dry and had to pull it back to do damn near everything because it got in the way. I think I will now try to get regular trims so it doesn't get so long again.

What a week

After a minor scare earlier this week where Kramer was puking I am happy to say I have my pain in the butt cat back. I had to call the vet because of him tossing his cookies so the vet said pick up his food, take him off the antibiotics and see what happens, so I did as he said. Kramer begged and begged for his wet food back, being a royal pest about it. He has been acting like himself since I took him off the meds so no more of those for him. At this moment he is running like crazy through the apartment, annoying me but I'm happy to have him annoy me again.

In other news, I made mom her Mother's day gift but seeing as how mom reads my blog, I will have to wait to post pictures of it till after I give it to her. I know she will like it though. I actually made it while she was out of state for 2 weeks. Look for the post on Mother's Day to see what she got from me.

Richard and I have to go out to the Valley on Sunday to help his dad finish up his shed before we all head down to California to celebrate Richards grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. It shouldn't take to long to finish the shed, cause like all it needs is a door if I remember correctly. Plus I get to see how Charlie is healing up and play with him and Munchkin.

Hopefully by the end of May I will be able to share my big news that I have been hinting at all year. It's finally getting close to the big reveal. I'm excited about it, so yeah that's coming up.

Other than that I gotta practice my drawing skills and ooo, maybe get some clay in certain colors to see if I can make what I'm drawing out of clay as well. We will have to wait and see, I might not be able to draw this that well lol.

Zombie Jesus and Kramer

Kramer is on antibiotics to see if they help him get better, if I don't see a change in him in a week it's back to the vet for blood work. I'm hoping that we don't have to do that and that the meds work for him. So twice a day for a week I have to fight with him to squirt liquid medicine into his mouth. Oh joy! (not). The only good thing about this is that I know where to put my fingers to make him open his mouth and if he decides to try to bite me he wont be able too cause where my fingers are he has no teeth.

Richard got the tooth that was bugging him pulled on Thursday, so he is a lot happier now, and just like me when I got teeth pulled was back to eating normal food the next day. He hasn't had any problems with it besides it being a little sore.

Richard and I are going up to mom's house for Easter dinner, we are having some kind of roast or something. Mom got us a little bit of Easter candy as well, mmm mmm good. I love me some Easter candy. I remember bits and pieces of Easter's past and getting a basket full of candy and toys from E. Bunny. Then either mom or dad would hide the plastic Easter eggs around the house for my brother and I to find. I also Remember that ever Easter mom would get this huge chocolate Easter Egg, well huge in the eyes of a little kid, but still it was a pretty good sized chocolate egg. I remember this one Easter I got a Reba McEntire tape in my Easter basket and it was the best gift I could have gotten. I still have that tape to this day too.

I will end this blog with what my brother says on this day. Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

Snot Rocket of EWWW

Kramer has been sneezing a lot the last week or so, but today just took the cake and made me call to set up a vet appointment on Saturday. I was in the bathroom and Kramer came in and sneezed and when he sneezed he shot snot onto the closet door. I was grossed out by it and decided that if he is shooting snot rockets that he needs to go in so we can see what is up with him. He prob just has a kitty cold and a few days of meds will cure him. I just hope that I can handle giving him his meds, he isn't the best patient out there, he squirms and tries to get away from you. I usually end up needing Richard to hold Kramer so I can give him his meds.

The Wait & See Game

Richard called me from work today to inform me that he gets to work 8 hours a day till Home Depot hires 2 more people to fill the open spots for BIA's (Bay integrity associates). This is a good thing cause it means more money for us, and a bad thing cause he has to do the work of 3 people and will prob be tired when he comes home from work. I have no clue how long this will last, so it's kind of a wait and see thing.

It seems the weather has finally calmed down and is doing more spring weather then winter weather, its been sunny here pretty much all week, I hope this means we will have a nice summer this year. Guess that's another wait and see thing as well.

Other than that, I have finished up two books this week and am almost done with a third. Depending on where I am in my books when our trip comes up depends on what book I will take with me, I have 3 books coming out the beginning of May so I might just take one of those with me. I know it won't be the James Patterson book cause I will get that one read in a matter of days if not hours. It will prob end up being the new Kane Chronicles book, or it might just be a Vlad book. Just gotta, you guessed it wait and see to see what I wanna take.

My big news, is coming closer and closer to getting revealed on here, Hopefully by June I will be able to share with you, but we will just have to wait and see on that too.

April Showers, bring May flowers

Mom made it back from her trip safe and sound last night, she had a great time and like all people when they come back from vacation was happy to be sleeping in her own bed at last. I'm glad she is home, and glad that she had a fun time while in Seattle.

While mom was on vacation I managed to get a cold, I got it from Paul a family friend, who was nice enough to share his cold not only with me but also mom, Josh and Richard. Sadly I am the only one who can't shake the dang thing. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to get some meds cause once again like usual it went to my ears and my ears are plugged up. I want to be able to hear when we go to California next month.

We went out to Richards parent's house out in the valley today to visit for a few hours, we ended up watching of all things golf. I have never been so bored in my life. Thankfully I had the dogs to play with. Munchkin is so cute and full of energy, we all believe she has springs in her back legs cause that little dog can jump! Charlie wasn't feeling to good, he got into a dog fight earlier this week to protect Munchy, the neighbors dogs came over to go after her and Charlie got in the way to protect her. He doesn't have any puncture wounds but poor boy has this huge swollen spot on his neck, he is on pain killers and antibiotics, just looking at it made my neck hurt and I feel so bad for him but I'm glad that he put himself in the way and that he also didn't get hurt any worse than what he is.

We are having "typical" Alaskan weather for spring, it keeps snowing on and off and melting and getting up to like 50 degrees during the day, so messed up. It was actually hailing earlier today. Never fails every April for the last few years it snows a couple times the first half of it then finally goes away and summer shows up. I hope it shows up soon because the city is ugly right now because of dirty snow. I know we have all heard the saying April showers bring May flowers but I don't think it was referring to snow showers. :-)

Yay a small Vacation in May

Some exciting news, earlier today I bought tickets for Richard and I to fly down to California for a week next month. We are going down to go to a party for his grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. I'm stoked about this because we thought we weren't going to be able to go because of him losing his job last year, but with our tax return and a little bit of help from his parents we get to go, and a little help from mom too.

Now I just have to figure out, what clothes to bring down with me, what to wear for the party and what the heck I'm going to do with my hair. Since it's may I'm assuming its going to be a tad on the warm side while there, I might just cut some of my hair off so I don't have so much of it when we go down. I also have to find out if a friend of ours will cat sit for us while we are gone, cause if he can that would be great, if not then mom said she would do it.

We are also going to try to get back down to California for his grandparents Christmas party, but that is up in the air at this moment, that all depends on The PFD's and if he can get the time off to go.

I'm just thrilled to be traveling again, I loved going down there in 2009 and to be going back again so soon is sweet.

Daydreams

I have been daydreaming about the future lately, I want a house, with a nice yard so I can have a garden and a dog. Don't get me wrong I love my cat and will always have a cat, but I want a dog too, I miss having a dog around, I love how they want to play and want your attention unlike a cat who only wants your attention when you don't want to give it. There are only a few things keeping me from getting a dog, the place where we live doesn't allow them and we can't afford to have one right now, but when that changes we are soooo getting a dog.

There are a few breeds I wouldn't mind having, I want a boxer, a bulldog, a french bulldog, a boston terrier, rottweiler, german Sheppard and finally a beagle. Of course not all at the same time but those are the breeds that I find insanely cute! It's a long time goal and I will get a dog when the time is right.

I so want to have my own Garden, I miss gardening and would love to grow my own veggies. Plus I find gardening really relaxing and fun. If mom had a nice backyard I might try to convince her to let me have a garden back there but, she doesn't. So its one of my dreams.

I am sick of living in apartments, It's more to do with space then the neighbors. I would love to have a bigger kitchen then what I have a nice living room, a view that isn't a side of a building and more natural light.

But for now, these will all just be dreams, but hopefully one day they will become reality.

Yep, still here

Haven't really had anything blog worthy as of lately. Well ok that's not the case there is something blog worthy but I don't want to post it yet. Pretty much it's the same stuff just a different day.

The days are getting longer and we are at about 12 hours of daylight now. It's making me really stir crazy, I wanna get out and do stuff, just gotta wait for the snow to melt all the way. Richard has a tooth that needs to be pulled but can't get it pulled till the 7th of April, poor guy. Our dentist is out of town and I really only trust him and so does Richard so he opted to wait till he got back. He does have pain meds, that he only takes at night to help him sleep other than that its advil all the way. Richard loves his job, just wishes there were more hours.

Mom got me a pretty cool watch yesterday at the old bag auction. I haven't had a watch in so long, it's nice to have one again. Lucky for me it actually fits, I have had hard times finding watches that actual fit my wrist. Not only does this one fit but its a bit loose!

That's pretty much it for me, so laters

Training on St. Patrick's Day

I went in to Hospice of Anchorage today and did some training. The phones are something else, it's going to take me some time to get them down and to get to know everyone and who deals with what. Other than that, all the ladies there were really nice. I think once I get the phone system down I wont feel so flustered. I at least have the greeting down.

I have been making some more crock pot recipes, had mom over for dinner on Monday for a chicken dish that was super easy to make and tasted so very good. It had carrots, red potatoes, cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup. Today I made Chicken a la King and wasn't to impressed with it, Richard and I had to do a lot of doctoring to it to make it taste right, it was just to bland. I don't think I will make that dish again.

Seeing has how it's St. Patrick's Day I will leave you with an Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine upon your face,
And the rains fall upon your fields
And until we meet again...
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Furby Memories

For some weird reason, I woke up thinking about Furbies, and had this overwhelming urge to go to my moms house and get my two furbies out of my old bedroom closet, put fresh batteries in them and see if they still worked after all these years.

I remember when Furbies came out, the year was 1998 and I was a freshman in high school, and I wanted one so freaking bad. Sadly living up here in Alaska getting the hottest toy at the time is damn near impossible specially if you are late finding out about said toy. Plus limited supplies so you have to be on your toes and know when shipments are coming in and hope that no one else does. This goes for gaming consoles as well. So no matter how many stores we went to, mom and I just couldn't find me a furby.

This went on for quite awhile, any time we went to the store I took a shot and looked for a furby, Then mom and I went out of state for a long weekend down to Washington to visit my half brother, we figured since we were down in the lower 48 we might have some luck, so we went around to a few stores and NOTHING no one had this blasted furby! I was giving up hope of ever getting one, then if I remember correctly we walked into a store and they had a few I was so excited and begged and pleaded with mom to get me one even though they were expensive, we ended up getting one, actually I think we got 2 cause I think we got one for my brother as well, but I don't remember if he was up here at home or if he had moved to California yet.

I loved my furby and a few months later was able to get another one, so I had 2 furbies. I played with them for quite a while then as most things go, got tired of them put them in their boxes which I had kept and put them on the shelf in my closet. Years later a friend was having a garage sale and had the Gizmo Furby and I bought it for like a buck and had it up in my closet for a few years but my brother wanted to give it to a friend of his as a gift so I ended up selling it to him for more than the actual price of the furby. So not only did I make a profit on it, but a dang good one cause I only got it like I said for a dollar.

I think later today or sometime soon I am going to go over to moms and fish my two furbies out of the closet and bring them home. I kinda miss having them around.

Dance, Boogie..... Doot doot dooo! hehehehe!

New Volunteering Gig / reading update

To help me get some experience and to better myself and helping other people in some of their worst hours, I am going to start volunteering at Hospice of Anchorage. I will just be doing reception work and possible some filing and organizing for them. But I am willing and glad to help them out. I will be there 3 days a week for a total of 12 hours a week. I hope to continue volunteering there even when I get a job if at all possible. I will have to wait and see.

I am over half way through Inkheart and am totally enjoying the book, I can't wait to read the other 2 books in the series. I am also looking forward to reading the Princess Bride and a bunch of other books. If you hadn't noticed, I have a bookshelf on the side of this blog that has the books that I'm reading on it. I thought it would be fun to show what this bookworm is reading. Keep an eye on it cause it does change as I finish books and add new ones to it.

Wishing for summer and a bookworms worst fear.

As much as I love winter, and I love it a lot, I am ready for summer. Not because it's warmer cause I rather be cold then hot but more do to the fact that I want to go and do stuff outside again. Richard and I are making all these plans for the summer and I just want to be able to go and start doing them. One of the things being going to Thunderbird Falls just outside of town. The last time I was there I was a little kid and don't remember to much about it besides the fact that my feet hurt, and that it took FOREVER to get there. In reality it's only a mile walk so yeah. But I want to do that, and do some other stuff like going on a picnic or walking at Potters Marsh or going on road trips.

Richard has started working this week, its an adjustment for me not having him here, but I'm glad that he has a job and is happy. He is getting 8hrs a day this week then he goes back to only 4 hours a day so his paycheck will be a little nice when we get it.

I haven't forgotten that I have big news to tell you all, but you just have to wait a little longer, but trust me when I say it's coming along nicely, slowly but nicely. Lets just hope that it keeps up.

In sad news, at least to me, my favorite bookstore is closing. Boarders is going out of business up here, I think it's extremely stupid to close the only one in the state but at the same time I also know that it probably costs a ton to ship books up here. I have a lot of fond memories of that place, I went there for math help in high school, that's where I got the Hairy Potter Books and did 2 midnight release parties there for them, It's where I get together with a dear friend of mine anytime she comes up to visit. I now have to get used to Barnes and Noble, I don't like that store at all, its layout makes no since to me at all. It will be a sad day when the doors to Boarders close for the last time.

One of those Nights

I'm having one of those nights, where I am in a really bad mood. I don't know why that is but it is. I guess part of my mood problem is I'm bored, I did my usual cleaning chores today and even worked on the blanket that I'm knitting, and done everything on the internet that I like to do and have ran out of things to do. I'm also getting sick of a certain someone playing video games all day while listening to an ipod. This person has been doing this for days on end and its gotten well past old. But then again I think its just bugging me cause I'm in a bad mood and I'm trying to avoid a fight, and so far so good but that's just because I'm keeping my mouth shut. I know that I will pick a fight because of my mood.

We have no plans for Valentines Day because we have no money to do anything. So tomorrow will be uneventful. Which I'm fine with, cause I know he loves me and I don't need a day to make him tell me that.

In other news, things are going good. I still have something blog worthy that I'm sitting on, cause I want to wait till there is more to tell before I share it with the whole world. so keep tuned for that. The job search for me, has been put on hold so I can do a bit more in the job assessment area and get some more experience in the field before starting to look for jobs. Richard is just waiting for his background check to come back then he will be able to start work. SO any day now with that.

The Morning Crazies

So since Monday Richard and I have been getting up between 4-4:30am, it's not all that bad, the days seem a bit longer but I think I will be able to keep this up. The only down side to getting up this early is that all week I have been getting sick in the morning. Monday and Tuesday I thought it was the coffee so I stopped drinking it, then today I had tea and an omelet for breakfast and it happened again. My stomach gets upset and I feel like I want to toss my cookies but have yet to do it. I don't know if it's just my body protesting to getting up so early but it happens at like 7-8am and lasts till about 10am then I am fine for the rest of the day. So far, if I manage to force myself to eat a yogurt when this is going on it helps me get over it.

I had a meeting today over at DVR, we renewed my contract with them and discussed where I go from here, we are going to do some more job assessments to get me out there and get some more job experience so I can hopefully land a job. Speaking of jobs, we still aren't quite sure when Richard will start working for Home Depot, he is going to give them a call tomorrow and see if they have gotten everything straightened out on their end so we can get this ball rolling.

Other than that, not much going on here. Kramer meows at us from the time we get up till 9am when he gets his wet food. Today he was a bit better and didn't start meowing till after 5am so hopefully here soon he realizes no matter how much he makes noise, he has to wait till 9am for wet food. If you were to walk into our apartment you would hear him meowing and then either Richard or I saying its too early cat you have x amount of time till 9am.

Good News!

Richard got a job at home Depot! It's only part time, M-f from 5am-9am but its 20 Hours a week and it's a start in the right direction. He is going to keep an eye out for full time positions there to try and get but at least he will be working again. We don't know much else besides he has the job. Don't know when he starts cause we have to wait for clearance for a pay rate then, his background check and drug test then he starts.

On a side note, we will both be getting up at 4am in the morning which means going to bed between 9-10. Which I'm fine with besides not knowing what the heck I am going to do at freaking 4am! oh well, I will figure something out. I'm just excited that he finally has a job.

Apartment: The final Frontier

There are a few things I would love to blog about but I have to wait for now, so hang in there with me and when I can, you better believe that I will blog about them. But for now I will continue with the day to day stuff that I can blog about.

My apartment is once again clean, it took me a couple days to do it but I managed to get it done, I did it that way cause I wanted to make sure that the stuff I cleaned stayed clean so I wouldn't have to clean it again, and so far it has. I have quite a nice routine down now. Every Sunday I now, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, vacuum the living room, dinning room, hallway and both bedrooms and pledge the desk and dinning room table to protect them from dust and dirt for the next week, oh and clean the bathroom as well. I figured if mom can keep her house clean then I should have no problems keeping my apartment clean as well. Oh and of course I do the dishes after every meal as well.

Not much going on other than that really, same ole same ole here, we just keep trucking along making the best out of what we have.

Until the next blog I leave you with these words of wisdom:

BORK! BORK!

Choices

At my last DVR appointment in December, I came to a crossroad I needed to decide what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go, do I keep working with DVR or do I quit and give up looking for a job. I asked my counselor there to give me a couple of weeks to think on it because I needed to talk it over with Richard, cause my choice directly affects him. It's been a long few weeks of me going I gave them 2 years and nothing, I haven't gotten a job, I probably wont get a job, who would hire me I have no experience and can't get any experience because no one will hire me. Did I really want a job? why did I really start working with DVR was it for me? Was it because my mom wanted me to? Was I doing this to please people or was I doing it to better myself? All these questions rattled around in my head, I had a few arguments with my mom over the subject, it wasn't until tonight that I finally decided what I wanted.

I am going to give DVR a few more months, It would be great for me to get a job and help support Richard and I. I am going to do a few more job assessments to get myself out there and more comfortable around people and get some more job experience. Not that I'm not comfortable around people cause I am, it's more the job atmosphere that I need to get used to. I did enjoy the job assessment I did at CHD and am bummed it didn't work out there but that's just because it wasn't meant to be. Maybe with more job assessments I will find my dream job and they will hire me on. If not at least I know I gave it my all. I figured I would reassess my situation with DVR come November, I figured that was a fair amount of time.

I am for once in my life doing something for me, because I want to, not because someone else thinks it's something I should do, I do value peoples opinions, but that's just what they are opinions. I feel great about my choice and am hoping that everything works out the way I want it to in the long run. I am making the best out of what was dealt to me in the game of life and I am proud of myself for finally sticking to my beliefs and convictions, it's about time that I did. I am a new Stronger Happier me and if you can't deal with that, well then I don't need you in my life.