HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Our house all decorated:

ERAC

ooh. using my work jargon.
It stands for Enterprise Rent A Car.
I mention it because I work for a car insurance company and thru my company, I get a discount when renting a car thru ERAC. Since we are going out of town in two weeks when our company comes, we need to rent a bigger vehicle. I called ERAC last night and set it all up. We are going to get a standard size SUV and because I am an employee of XXX company, I saved about $100 on my rental! I am so stoked about that. I said to Chris, "My being a XXX employee is really starting to pay off." I ran a quote for the same rental that we got online and saw the difference. My employee rate was about $37 a day and the online rate for the same vehicle was $59 a day. That's a major discount. I love it. I am so excited about our trip. Even more now that we are getting a cool SUV to drive.

2 months until...

my 7 year wedding anniversary. (as I begin to itch... kidding)
I know I talk about boys on here and I go ga-ga over them on tv, movies, and magazines, but I am happily married. And I know this because he understands that my being obsessive about celebrities and singers is just part of who I am and that I would never ever leave him for anyone. Seeing the ticker on my blog this morning made me all introspective about marriage. We are such different people. I know people say that, but I think we are more different than most. That brings up so much conflict. But I was not blind to what marriage is really is like. My parents are still married after, shit - almost 36 years. (Their anniversary is 1 day before mine.) I saw growing up that marriage is not all romance and flowers. It's a life. There are fights. Financial struggles. Illness. Stress. Insane kids. Times when you just want to leave it all behind. But it all comes back to those vows. Sickness. Heath. Good times and bad. And if you went into your marriage with the knowledge that those were more than just words. That they are potential realities. And you still wanted to go thru those times with this person, then it will work. I think so many marriages fail because people just don't want to try anymore. I can't judge people for that. I know marriage is hard. But I am married to my best friend and even though I want to ring his neck sometimes, I can't imagine my life without him. Yesterday at work, this 21 year old who sits near me asked me what it was like being married compared to not being married. I told her that one of the major things I appreciate about being married is not having to deal with boyfriend/girlfriend drama. She said, "You've been with him so long and were so young when you started dating (since we were 16 - if you are playing along at home), don't you regret not dating around?" My answer was, "Hell no." I told her that when you find that right person, you don't feel like you are missing out on anything. And that's the truth, for me. I see the drama that other people go thru in dating and it makes me appreciate so much what I have. I say that to my husband all the time. "Aren't you glad we don't have to deal with that drama?" And he agrees. I told her that I just knew in my gut that being with him, even at that young age, was right. When you are with the right person, you can't explain it to other people. You can surely list off the things that you love about them. The fact that they cook for you, the fact that they are so intelligent, the fact that they make you feel safe. But you can't explain why it's right. It's right because you just know it is. I can only hope that she and everyone else can have that feeling about another person one day. I was lucky. I know I was. I do believe in soul mates and fate and all that other crap. I believe it because I lived it. It's part of our story. And I love our story. We went through so many rough times before we were even married. Being apart for so long. I missed him every second. I cried so many nights that I can't even count. I think it helped me appreciate him so much more. I cherished the time we had when we were able to be together during that time. And now I know how lucky I am to be with him all the time. I also know that I am lucky to just plain know him. My husband can be on the shy and quiet side. Not to me. We are very alike in the regard that it takes us a long time to open up to people. But to each other, we are not shy at all. People tell me that they think he never talks. And I like that I have that little secret. I like that I know that's not true. He surely talks to me. I like that I know him better than anyone else does. I like that, even though he doesn't really say it, I know I am his best friend. I know that there is no one else on earth that I am supposed to be with. I know that he loves me and I love him. How do I know this? I just do.

VV

Last night I watched the last 20 minutes of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and I about died laughing. I need to catch it again on HBO and watch the whole thing. I loved the commercial at the very end of the movie. It reminded me just how much I heart Vince. Then today I find this article and I agree that he should be this years sexiest man alive. He might not be the most gorgeous, but I think being sexy is so much more about personality than looks. But you can't really argue with the tall, dark and handsome.

DAMN - I'm married.

a day late...

but definitely not a dollar short.
My boss and my boss's boss took me into a small conference room today and I was wigging out. I had a pretty good feeling that I was not getting fired, but who knew what it would be about. Turns out it was good news. I was one of a very few people that were getting a mid year bonus! It's gonna be in my paycheck next week. How cool is that? It's like $500! I rule!

look what I made!

I stole my mom's idea and made it my own. I made these center pieces to have on my dining room table for fall.

and one more thing I am looking forward to...

An Idiot Girl's Christmas : True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List by Laurie Notaro
Got it pre-ordered!

stuck in my head for 2 days...

Behind These Hazel Eyes by Kelly Clarkson

Make it stop.

Anyway. Work is getting a little better. I am so hesitant to say that. I am still sure that I do not want to transfer to glass. At least not now. At least I do not dread coming to work everyday... as much.

Big days (stolen from my sibling unit) coming up!
This Friday is a party at Chris's bosses house.
This Saturday we are having a yard sale to get rid of all the crap in our extra bedroom to make room for...
The Logans are coming on November 4th.
But before that, my birthday.
Before that, Halloween.
I am so excited to have trick-r-treaters for the first time. I still need to buy the candy. I am putting that off because I know I would eat too much of it and just have to buy more. I can't wait to see the cute kids. I am not looking forward to stupid teenagers with pillowcases and no costumes. I should tell them "NO!" and slam the door. I crack myself up.

I may have gone from the biggest fan to the worst fan.

Can you believe I forgot yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of
John Clayton Mayer?

Well - day late, dollar short, but...

Happy Birthday John.

my week in hell

It's finally 4 days removed and I think I can start to process it and talk about it. As I mentioned before, I was asked to become cross-trained in the glass department and I went through training for it last week. It was my week in hell. To sum it up, we were trained on 6 weeks worth of material in 5 days. We would discuss a topic, then the trainer would say, "That was 4 hours worth of training in 15 minutes." It was so stressful that more than one day after work, I felt like throwing up. I have finally put it all together. The people that care about doing a good job are the ones that were overwhelmed. It was one of the worst experiences I have ever been through in a work environment. And that says a lot, because I have had some shitty jobs. What bothers me more than anything is that when I was first asked to volunteer for this, the thought that went thru my head was "They won't put us through this if they don't think its possible and the right thing to do." And my doubt was accurate. I hate that. They screwed us and knew it. I don't like the direction that this is taking my job. They all knew it was wrong and it would be chaos, but they did it anyway. Now you want me to do the right thing, when you didn't for me? No way. I felt very taken advantage of. But I can be the better person. I can take the hit. I was stressed beyond belief. Last Saturday night, I slept for about 45 minutes. I have been having trouble sleeping for the last week or so. It's not that I don't think I can do this new job, but I just hate that I was pushed thru and not trained and forced to do a job that I am not prepared to do. This is not the kind of job that you can learn "on the job". That means I have to figure out what I'm doing with the person on the phone. "Please hold" has become my new favorite phrase. I am slowly learning and feel more comfortable with it. But we are not taking all the kinds of calls that we will have to, yet. They are adding them in slowly. At least I know now that I do not want to do this job forever. There is going to be that option to become one permanently, but I want my old job back. I am better now and I can deal, but it was so bad that I couldn't even really talk about it.

the (your name here) needs meme...

I saw this on my sister's blog and gave it a shot. And I have to say, I am totally freaked out by it.

...needs a son to carry on her legacy (this was the first one and I knew it was downhill from here.)
...needs our help (See.)
...needs "a man" (and it was in quotes. But I already have one, right?)
...needs a hug (true)
...needs to get stronger and louder (again, true)
...needs to teach (can google read my mind?)
...needs me (and who might you be?)
...needs to do online research (about?)
...needs more fat, less carbs (um, you're half right)
...needs to take the train (where?)
...needs to learn a few things (again, true)
...needs a boob job (and it starts to get creepy again)
...needs a friend (and creepier)
...needs to, like, back off (ah, valley girl speak. what a relief!)
...needs to be confident and outgoing (shit! this is about all I can take.)
...needs to do more photo shoots (ok. we are cool again. I was gonna try to be a model, but they wanted me to take classes and I vetoed that.)

some pics from Chris's trip

Click on the pics to make em bigger


The one that says 1-800-RV4rent is the one they drove and they other one has his company's banner on it.


Chris


Destruction to the Hard Rock Hotel.


Destruction to the Beau Rivage (the hotel that his company is working on).


More destruction to the Beau Rivage.


Mold inside the Beau Rivage. yuck.


Destruction in Biloxi, Mississippi


More destruction in Biloxi, Mississippi

And, oh yeah. He made it home. It took a while for him to recover from the lack of sleep. He said that slipped on Katrina and got some Katrina on his shorts. He just slipped on some sludge and scraped up his knee and is fine.

what an adventure!

So, Chris ended up going on the trip. He just called and they are near Vicksburg, Mississippi. They have not stopped since yesterday around 4pm PST. Well, they've stopped for gas and food, but other than that, they have been driving this whole time. They are taking turns and while one drives, the other sleeps. I googled it for him and found out that they are about 6 hours away from their destination in Biloxi. Chris said that when they get to Jackson, they might stop at a rest stop and sleep for a few hours. Their flight home tomorrow does not leave Biloxi until 3:10pm CST. So they are gonna make it, no problem. Chris called every couple of hours today. It took most of the day today to get thru Texas. Normally, they could have gone straight thru southern Texas, like San Antonio and Houston. But with all the road closures and chaos down there, we decided that they should go north and go thru Dallas and northern Louisiana. If they had gone thru Houston, it would have taken them thru New Orleans as well. But since the goal was to get the RV there, they took a route that we knew would get them there without getting lost or road closures. So, it added a few more hours to the trip, but they'll get there. I am so glad that they are so close.
I had a terrible day. I stayed up late last night without really meaning to. I had some Mountain Dew with dinner and since I am trying not to drink caffeine, when I do it really effects me. So, I was awoken this morning by my husband calling to say they were in Texas. It was a pleasant thing to be woken up to. But after that, the day went down hill. I woke up with a headache. A very dull migraine, but it made me nauseous. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon in and out of the bathroom thinking that I could throw up at any moment. I finally just laid down on the couch and rested and I started to feel better. I had been trying to fight my head and stomach all morning, so when I finally rested and slept for a little bit, I started to feel better. I still don't feel all that great so I have not really done anything but watch TV all day. I watched a few episodes of What Not To Wear and there is a marathon of the second season of America's Next Top Model on VH1 and I have been watching that. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I get to pick the boys up at the airport around 6:30pm PST and I can't wait! I am so lonely. It's hard knowing that there really isn't anyone to talk to. But that's a story for another day.