bite me

finally

I wanted to add this, because I know I have been difficult for everyone to deal with lately...
I feel good and positive for the first time in a long time. This buying a house and moving and all this has really been getting me down. But now that we are done with the apartment and are making headway at the house, I feel happy and good about the direction in my life. I am glad that I took all this time off work to get settled, even though we won't be done packing by the time I go back to work on Tuesday. I am getting settled and calm and that's what I needed. There was so much turmoil and chaos and now most of that is over and I am able to deal better with what is left.
So, I am relieved and emotionally refreshed, if nothing else.

what a weekend!

Well, we are out of the apartment. Yesterday we finished all the cleaning that we felt like doing and turned in our keys. My sister asked me if I was sad to be leaving the apartment for good and my answer was, "No, not at all." I think that I separated myself from the apartment so long ago that leaving it yesterday was not a big deal. I was sad to be leaving a lot of the places we frequented like the Denny's and my nail place. I will also miss terribly our favorite pizza place, Rosati's. There is one not all that far from our house, but it is not across the street anymore. One funny thing about Rosati's... On the pizza boxes there are these coupons that you tear off and save and once you get 12 of them, you can get one pizza for 1/2 price. Well, we finally saved up enough and on our way out of Scottsdale yesterday, we stopped and got our favorite BBQ Special deep dish pizza for 1/2 price. That was more bittersweet then leaving the apartment. We also thought that we would miss the chinese place next to Rosati's that we frequented, but we found a new place on Friday night, on our new side of town. We just searched online to find a place close and just took our chances. We had it delivered. We mutually decided that we would not go and see the restaurant, even though it's close. We decided this because the food is good and cheap and we don't want to ruin it for ourselves. There are a lot of little family run restaurants in this part of town that are in run down buildings. We assume that this is from a place like that and if we see the place, we might not want to eat the food. So, we are not going to look for it and just enjoy the cheap chinese delivery.
Today was a busy day too. This morning, my dad came over and brought us the rest of the patio furniture that my parents are giving us. They bought themselves new furniture and had already brought over a couple of the chairs before. Today, he brought the rest and a shelving unit that Chris is going to use in the computer room. That was really cool of him to bring it all over. Plus, he brought my the address labels that my mom bought us. Every time either we or my sister move, my mother buys us new address labels with our new address on them. It's like a tradition or something. And with my frequent moves (lived in 4 places in 6 years) it means a lot to know that she will take care of that for me. Then Chris put up the rest of the blinds today. I say that and you assume it was a simple task. I assumed this also and had been giving him a hard time about not hanging them. But this was no simple task. See, our windows are metal framed instead of wood framed. Chris had to do all sorts of research and then buy special tools and drills bits to hang them. It took him all day (and three trips to the hardware store - Ace Hardware: 1 trip, Home Depot: 2 trips) to hang three sets of blinds. Now that they are all up, they look amazing. I had been giving Chris such a had time about the blinds. I had even said that he is spending more time thinking about how to hang them then actually hanging them. I wanted them to be up and I was tired of a drop cloth covering the window. But talking to my mom about it gave me a new perspective. Even though it took forever for him to figure out how to hang them, once it was done, it was done right and good. That is one very good thing about my husband and I am glad that my mom reminded me about that. So, while he was hanging the blinds, I was doing a little unpacking, some organizing (which involves moving boxes to the extra bedroom to be dealt with later) and I cleaned the guest bathroom. I had started cleaning the drawers and cabinets a few days ago, but stopped when I ran out of contact paper for the shelves. I finished all that today, plus cleaned the floor, shower and all that. I also put on a new toilet seat. And let me tell you one thing - when you move, the least you can do is clean the toilet. Apparently the freaks we bought this house from didn't think like that. There was this stain in the bottom of the toilet and I thought for sure that it would not come off and that I would have to use bleach or something to try to remove it. Nope not a stain, just hadn't been cleaned in god knows how long. Came right off with just regular toilet bowl cleaner and toilet brush. Mind you, I am very happy that it came off. But I am just more and more disgusted by the way the people lived in this house. They were filthy. That's the best way I can describe it. That is why I had to clean every drawer and shelf and every last little crevice. Seriously. What was wrong with these people? Anyway. It's done and it looks like a brand new bathroom with a brand new toilet (well, a clean one with a new seat, at least). I still need to go to Target tomorrow and buy more contact paper so that I can fill in the big cabinet. There is this huge cabinet in that bathroom that I am going to use as my linen closet. I have all the linens ready to go inside and that'll get done tomorrow.
Last night, we finished putting together the last of the furniture that we got from IKEA. What we put together is very similar to this. Just imagine the unit without the smaller bookcase to the right of the tv stand and the two end bookshelves are open, meaning no glass or wood doors. Just all shelves. I like ours better than the one they put together. You could have bought that one as one unit, but we parts is parts ours and made it what we needed. I am waiting to load it up with books until we decided exactly where on the wall it will go. Meaning does it need to go more to left or to the right. We need to get rid of some other boxes before we can decide on that. So, it's just empty bookshelves for now. Oh, this is funny. Chris just came in here and told me that he found what is controlled by a switch on the wall in the living room. Apparently everything on the tv stand (tv, stereo, cable box, xbox) that is plugged into a power strip that is plugging into the outlet that is controlled by the switch. Neat. Guess we are moving that one.
Damn, it is getting late. I need to go to bed.

.

i'm back...

Here we are, back online. It's a little ghetto right now with a lot of broken picture links and stuff. But online with problems I guess is better than not online at all!

I have never felt so white in my whole life

Now for those who don't understand, we moved to South Phoenix. South Phoenix is a mainly Hispanic area of town. Now, I am used to mixed neighborhoods and different cultures, but I am still a (REALLY) white girl no matter where I live. Ghetto or barrio. And after last night, there is no denying that. I went to the Kmart across the street from our house and I literally was the only white person in the store. I am not exaggerating. Believe me, if I saw another white person, I would mention it. I just felt like a freak. I was getting all sorts of strange looks. I wasn't acting differently or anything, but I felt very uncomfortable. It's strange to be on the flip side of that. I am sure that is how minorities (for lack of a better word that would sum it up) feel on a regular basis. I feel very comfortable in our neighborhood, despite the strange looks we get, but last night was the first time I've ever experienced something like that.

augh

We moved.
We slept in our house for the first time on Saturday night. I was not a restful sleep. Dogs barking. It just felt weird too. Last night was much better.
I am sick of looking at boxes. I just want it to all be unpacked. I hate feeling like I am living out of a suitcase, or camping - as Chris called it. I sorta set up the bathroom and the bedroom so that we can function, but other than that, we are roughing it. Plus, the cable and internet did not get turned on Saturday like it was supposed to. There is some filter on the line, blah blah blah. They told me that no one needed to be at the house, but apparently the cable guy came to the house on Saturday and no one was home. Well, duh! Whatever. They are coming back on Friday to set it all up and now we have to pay for installation, depending on what they have to do. Bastards. I hate Cox Cable.
I have bruises all over. I bruise so easily. I hardly carried anything, compared to Chris, but I am still hurting. My back was spasming last night and that was neat.
I am so out of it. I just want all this to be over.

good song

I may have been consumed with the move and the house lately, but don't think that I've forgetten about my other favorite blogging subject.
Go here and check out the new Rob Thomas album and listen to the track called Steetcorner Symphony. Think to yourself, "Gee, that guitar playing is really great. I wonder who is playing on that track?" I have your answer. But you can probably already guess, since I am bringing it up in the first place. Yup, Johnny boy. John Mayer. And my favorite part, no mention of featuring John Mayer or anything like that. He just lends his talent and doesn't care about the credit. That's awesome. Here's what Rob Thomas said about the song: "It was written by myself and Matt Serletic, my producer and friend. John Mayer played guitar on it. I think John is one of the most talented guitar players in popular music today. He's such a great singer and songwriter and when you see his live show he tears it up. We both happen to live in the city and we were at a dinner and I said, "Hey you want to come play on my record?" He was like "Yeah, sounds great." It's nice when there aren't managers and labels and people trying to cram artists together so it can be marketed like "featuring this and this guy and this guy."

it's so close now I can feel it

I can feel it in my head. My headache.
We are moving all the big stuff in a UHAUL on Saturday. Thank God Chris has people helping him, because I've already told him that I am not carrying anything down the stairs. I told him I think we should've hired movers. We said that after we moved in over two years ago. But he thinks he can handle it. I almost don't even want to be there while they are moving the stuff, because I don't think I can handle watching someone walk backwards down the stairs carrying the coach or whatever. Plus, the boxes are heavy. They are gonna kill themselves carrying that junk. It's stressing me out. But I am trying to not let it. I will just not watch. But apparently my parents are gonna help too. We wanted to borrow my dad's truck to do some extra moving after we are done with the UHAUL and when I asked my dad, he said that he wanted to help move. Cool. And then my mom is gonna meet us at the house to help get some stuff set up there. That's cool too. The more help the better.
I am going over to the house today to clean the floors before we bring over the big stuff.
We still have to hang most of the blinds. The HUGE blinds for the front window came the other day. We had to special order them and FedEX attempted to deliver them, but we were obviously not there. So we had to go over to the FedEX place and pick them up. Mind you, these blinds are almost 8 feet long, but with the box it's about 10 feet. We somehow managed to get them into our Kia. Again we got to say, "You'd be surprised how much you can fit in a Kia." So after we move in we gotta get all those blinds hung. Right now there is nothing on the windows, but we don't have anything there really. Once our junk is there, we need to cover those windows.
This house is running my life!

I'm pooped.

I like finding things on other people's blogs and then using them on mine. Like the new mood indicator. I like that.
So, I am at work today and it does seem like a relief to be here. We worked so hard on the house all weekend and it's nice to have a break. I am only here until noon today (I am working a half day.), but it is a nice little break. I am really worn out, but I feel sort of refreshed right now. I hope that I can keep up this mood and get out of the sleepiness. I am planning on getting caught up on life today. I have dishwasher and a sink full of dishes that have been there for I cannot remember how long. That's not a good thing when you can't remember when the last time you did dishes. We have been eating fast food all week. It's not that we don't have food in the frig, it's just that fast food is well, fast. Plus, when we are at the house, we have no food there. Anyway, lets get caught up day! Gotta do laundry - haven't done that in two weeks. Gotta do the checkbook and make sure I am not late on any bills. And I gotta pack. We are officially moving next Saturday. I don't have to have everything packed, because we don't have to be out of the apartment until May 1. But I would like to have as much stuff packed as possible so that it can be taken over in the truck. I am trying not to feel pressured with the packing, but that's not really working. Chris went and got more boxes so at least now we can really pack. I have a lot done already, but not enough. AUGH! This is ruining my mood.
I will talk about happier things! Chris (almost) finished the painting. We still have to paint the computer room, but we think we can do that after we move in. All the painting that we wanted to have done before we moved in is done. Hooray. I did finish cleaning all the kitchen cabinets and at least the are better than they were. They did not get really clean, but something is better than nothing. We also bought some of our appliances on Thursday. We got our refrigerator and our dishwasher from Sears. We got smokin deals. The frig was on sale and we got the dishwasher, which was already on sale, price matched from Home Depot. Home Depot had the regular price lower than the Sears sale price. Sweet! We got really nice appliances. I am really glad that we were given the money to be able to do that. Otherwise, we would have had to keep the crappy ones that are there or gotten really cheap ones. So, that's really cool. They are going to be delivered on the 22nd. That means we have to live with the frig we have now for about a week. That'll be ok. The dishwasher that's there does not work - or it works, but I would not want to put anything in it. It's so old and gross. I will be so happy when we have new appliances! YEAH!
Also, my mom and pa came over to the house and helped us tremendously yesterday. They came (and brought me flowers for the yard!) and helped carry out a huge pile of trash that had been growing since we got the house. Old curtains, carpet, blinds. A bunch of crap that we had just been throwing into the middle of the room to not deal with. They helped haul it all to the trash. Then my mom used her carpet shampooer and cleaned the two rooms that have carpet. That helped me, I can't even tell you how much. It would have taken me just as long as it took her to clean, to figure out how to work it and do it right. But since it was hers to begin with, she just swooped in and did it. It saves me almost half a day. I was gonna do that next Thursday and now I don't have to. They also hauled away some other trash in their truck and bought me some more cleaning supplies that I was running out of. All of this was so nice of them and we appreciate it so much.
And on a completely different note - yes, maybe we all should think before we post and/or comment on things that we know that people are sensitive about. That might be a good practice.

I blame everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive aggressive-ness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting and you've never met anyone
Who is as closed down as I am sometimes

- Everything by Alanis Morissette

So, I am passive aggressive, huh? Interesting. I know that is true, but really isn't being passive aggressive better than being aggressive? Whatever. I was upset and chose to deal with it in that way. (here I go again...) We all can't be perfect. I'll stop now because this is definately not the forum for this.

this is what I'm talking about!

.

Family having fun without me!
I've covered the face to protect the innocent. hehe.

and as if that wasn't enough...

As I was leaving work today, I got a message from the apartment complex manager. It said something like this: Your water heater was leaking and flooded the apartment below yours. We had to go into your apartment and shut off the electricity so that we could go into your laundry room and replace your water heater. Some of the things in your laundry room had to be moved so they could get to the water heater and they didn't put everything back, so those things are just stacked around. Call us. Ah, WHAT!?!?!?! Yup. That's really what happened. All the things they moved were piled on top of the washer and dryer. Now, other than having to move the crap to do laundry, this was a blessing in disguise. We had stuff piled all around the water heater for storage and I looked at it all the other day and was dreading having to get down there and clean that all out. Now, I don't have to at least do that. But still, it was the last thing I needed today...

a life less ordinary

Watching the Cameron Diaz's show, Trippin, the other night reminded me of the movie, A Life Less Ordinary. I love that movie. Although the movie has nothing to do with what is happening in my life right now, I think the phrase itself certainly applies. Life seems to be so chaotic, but I am getting used it. I am not a fan of the craziness, but I am slowly trying to catch up with my own life. I am way outside of my "norm" but when I look around, I am really not lacking what I normally have. This might not make sense. I don't think I'm explaining it right, but whatever. Anyway. Blah Blah Blah.
I am bummed that we have so much to do at the house this weekend, because the Phoenix Film Festival is this weekend I would really like to go. This year looks interesting. They are doing a tribute to Kevin Bacon. Who wouldn't want to see that? Plus, they are showing a movie called, Happy Endings with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lisa Kudrow, that looks decent. I would just want to go mainly because I've never been. And also because it is close to our apartment. Next year it will seem really far from home and out of the way to go. Whatever.
house junk...
Chris spent all weekend prepping the house for paint and painting our bedroom. I had picked this Ralph Lauren paint in a suede texture that looked neat. He bought the paint and when he read the directions and realized he needed twice as much paint that you would normally need. It takes one coat primer and one coat of the paint rolled on and then a second coat of paint brushed on by hand in an X pattern. That gives it the suede look. It took him a long time. He's quite a trooper. He finished the bedroom last night around 9pm and it looks AWESOME! He did such a good job on it. I feel bad that I picked it out without realizing how difficult it would be. But being the former pro-painter that he is, he managed. We (who am I kidding, he's the one painting!) have the rest of the house to still paint, but he is glad that it's just "regular" painting. We are going to do a Mondrian design wall on one of the walls in the computer room. At first we were going to do the whole room that way, but then decided it would be too much. So, we are going to do the wall with the window that you first see when you walk in the room. It will look neat. We went back and forth with ideas of what to do in that room. We wanted to do something different and cool and that's what we finally agreed upon. We (again, lying!) are painting all the other rooms too. (so no, we are not just focusing on the computer room! *wink*wink*) While Chris was painting, I started working on the kitchen cabinets. Those things are so nasty. I can't believe that someone would wash dishes and put them into those drawers and cabinets. I guess you just get used to the filth and don't notice it. I just can't imagine that, though. There was contact paper in the drawers and cabinets with orange and yellow mushrooms on it that probably hasn't even been produced in the last 30 years. It was so old and nasty. I still feel gross after pulling it all off. Plus, some of it was so attached that it pulled off pieces of the wood. The cabinets look like a home made job. The dude that owned our house was a real "do it yourselfer" and installed all sorts of junk by himself. And these cabinets look like that. They are not really even finished. I started to wipe them down and remove 40 years worth of junk and they are basically raw wood. Lovely. We are planning on painting them and it looks like that needs to happen sooner rather than later. I am going to put down some self adhesive tile on the shelves and drawers just so that we can use them. It will be better than contact paper. Contact paper, as far as I'm concerned is useless. I hate it. As much as I love this house, the more I am in it, I wonder why we didn't just get a new house. I think it needs so much cleaning that I don't know what to do. Maybe I am nuts about cleanliness, by I am (hoping, praying) planning on bringing a child into this house and I would like for it to be as safe and sanitary as possible. There is no way that I would bring a child in the way that it is now. I know that once I am finished giving it the cleaning that I want (and plan) to, it will be ok. But until then, I am grossed out by my own home. Actually, I am grossed out by both places I live. My apartment is driving me nuts because it is in a strange place of packed and not packed. Too many packed boxes to function and not enough packed to make me feel ready to move. I have issues. I am also really not wanting to be at work. I just feel like I have so much to do and work gets in the way. I have to keep telling myself that work makes me able to do these things. But that doesn't seem to help. And then talking to half of my family while they are in Disneyland and I am up to my elbows in nasty contact paper doesn't help. Yes, I am glad they had fun. But damn. I am working my ass off and they are at the happiest place on earth. So yes, I am jealous dammit. Can you blame me? Then I get told things like, "If I wasn't going on this trip, I would help you..." And what am I supposed to do with that information? I know it's supposed to be the thought that counts, but when I am so overwhelmed by all this, I do need the help. I'll stop now. I will try not the hold a grudge, but if you know me at all, you will not believe me when I say that. But I love you still...

dry skin

I am so far behind in blogging. Life finally seems to have some meaning now. I have things that need to be done.
We got the house on Good Friday, March 25th. We signed all the papers on Thursday and it took until Friday night to get the keys. The sellers were dragging their feet getting to signing and the title company too their time getting it recorded with the city. And thank god that the closing costs were not out of control. We could actually pay for it all by ourselves. We have not had to borrow money for any of this house stuff and we are really proud of ourselves.
Anyway, we finally got them and then went crazy. We went to Home Depot on Saturday and spent loads of cash. New locks, handles, blinds, etc, etc. Lots of fun. Then we spent the rest of the day starting to clean and replace the locks. Then on Sunday, I went to work, but came home early cause I could. We went to Home Depot again to rent a floor sander. Chris decided he was gonna rip the carpet out of the computer room and leave the floor concrete. So, we rented the sander and went back to the house to rip up the carpet. Then my parents came over to bring cleaning things, like the power washer and they help a lot. They helped rip up the carpet and helped us clean. That was really nice and made life a lot easier. I had been getting so overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, but having them there calmed me down a lot. We stayed at the house until I dropped. Chris took me home and then went back and stayed until like 2am - the crazy fool. We then both had yesterday off and we slept in a little then went to the house and worked some more. Chris put the sealer on the floor, since he had finished sanding it the night before. I power washed the hell out of the house. This is funny. I was cleaning the back patio walls and Chris came out to see how it was going. He was in shock at the lack of power it had. He then looked at the washer and realized that I, being the brilliant one I am, did not have the motor turned on. When he turned it on, it was awesome. That's a lot of power washing power. It took me a lot less time to do the rest of the walls. I did the walls on the back of the house, the car port and most of the front. I couldn't finish washing the front because the window in the computer room was open and the paint was drying on the floor. I then started to clean more windows. The fool that lived in our house was a terrible painter. When he painted the house he made a mess. There is paint all over all of the windows. I have been going at them with a razor blade and scraping the paint away. The difficulty with this is that there are security wrought iron bars on all the windows and they do not open. I know, I know. Fire hazard. Blah blah blah. Anyway. I have to squeeze my hands between the bars and that's a pain in the butt. So yesterday, after Chris painted himself out of the room, we went back to the apartment and vegged. We are both so worn out. I decided I needed to take a break from heavy duty cleaning tonight and just do some minor packing and stuff at the apartment. I know that if I keep up the pace that we have been doing for the last few days, I will not make it to moving day. That's 3 weeks away. I am thankful that we have all this time to get ready to move. I can take these breaks and not really fall behind on getting things done. As far as I'm concerned, there is a lot left that needs to be done so that we can move in (as far as cleaning). But if think we should be able to pull it off. It's still really overwhelming, but I am trying to relax and enjoy it. It did feel good that all the cleaning I was doing was for our benefit. Cleaning the apartment just feels like we are keeping it nice so that we can get our security deposit back. But cleaning the house is totally different. Plus, I loved watering the trees in the front yard yesterday. I was dragging around the hose to each tree - there are 6 or 7 - when I noticed something neat. There were sprinkler heads. I went back to where I had attached the hose and found the things to turn them on and THEY WORK! We have functioning sprinklers. That made my day. Why is that so cool to me? Maybe because they are MY sprinklers? But I think because it will make life a lot easier when we finally put in a yard. I know all the trouble that my father has had with sprinklers in the past, so having functioning ones is neat to me.
ok, shut up.
Damn, I can't. I just realized I never explained the title to this post.
The skin on my hands is so dry from all the cleaning supplies.
Damn, that was anticlimactic.

my crazy life

I just want life to calm down and be normal. Is that too much to ask?

Today is the first day in two days that I can touch my legs without cringing. They are so pink and they still hurt, just not as bad.

Last night was our final walk thru. Final my ass. Aren't the sellers supposed to be there? Were they? No. Nobody home. Just a pile of keys on the kitchen counter. It was a fun game to figure out what key was for what door. We gotta get that place re-keyed. Each door has a different key and we never found the key for the front door. At least they repaired all the things they were supposed to from the inspection. The only thing that is still an issue is that the seller says that the evap cooler DOES work, but we have not been able to get it to work. The seller was supposed to show us how to work it, but that has not yet happened. Our agent said that he was gonna talk to the listing agent to make arrangements for the seller to show us how it works or fix it. That's really frustrating. The air conditioner works too, but the thermostat needs to be replaced. It's tricky to get it to come on. But the air works. That's what matters. We checked everything to make sure it all still works and is in good condition. They are mostly moved out. There are a few things here and there. The car and RV were still in the backyard, but as we were leaving some people came saying they were there to pick up the car. What that told me is that we FO SHOW need to change the locks on the back gate. Cuz we had locked the gate and were in the house. NEAT. We'll get on that. And they (meaning title company and agent) are saying that we should be able to close either today or tomorrow. I don't know why they want to rush it, but they are and I guess that's cool. As long as it's all done correctly, it makes no difference to me when we close. But I still do not know the final amount for our closing costs. I am praying to God that we have the funds. Especially since they are rushing this thru and we won't have a lot of notice to get the money together. That is what is driving my THE MOST crazy. I can't deal with not knowing this. I just wanna scream about it. About the whole thing.

Plus, I am still feeling freakin sick. I woke up coughing like no other last night.

I just want to go home and lay down. But I know that will not happen because we are at the beckon call of the title company. If they call and say it's a go, I have to pick Chris up and go.
WWWWWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

thank god for aloe vera

I went to work today, even though I came home sick from work yesterday. I went because I was only scheduled to be there for 4 hours. Today was the day of the spring training baseball game that my team was going to. I really wanted to go and so I decided to tough it out and go. I told myself that I would only go to the game for a little bit. I ended up staying for about 2.5 hours. We were so far away on the lawn seats that you couldn't see a damn thing. The best thing that was going on was this sluty chic in front of us who was hanging all over a group of like 8 guys. She would let them take pictures up her shirt and down her shirt. She clearly had no bra on. She was laying on top of one guy and then hugging on another. She even gave the beer selling guy her phone number. That was much more exciting to watch than the game. After a while though, I just started to feel worse and worse. Being in the heat and the sun blazing down. I totally spaced on the fact that it would be sunny. I had worn capris because I knew it would be warm, but did I think at all about sunburn? Nope. I'm an idiot. I borrowed a hat from someone to protect my poor scalp, but my legs are nice and crispy. My arms got some burn too, but nothing compared to my legs. It hurts really bad, even after putting the aloe vera on. And the support that I get from my family? Things like, "...another thing to complain about" and "...another thing to bother you." I can feel the love.

my doll. Only one question: Why only one choice for body type? lots of noses, eyes, even face shapes, but only one body. Needless to say, my body looks nothing like this.

yes, I'm a freak

So I was almost late for work today.
And why would that be, you ask?
Did you sleep late?
Did you have car problems?
Nope.
I hate to admit this, but I've gone this far...
I was watching New York Minute on HBO. Shoot me now.
Why is that crap entertaining to me? It really was bad. But it's like a wreck. I just couldn't look away. I eventually just had to leave and so I did not get to see the end. Dr. Drew from Loveline is their father. That's odd. Ah, whatever.
I'm a freak.

House Update

Our final walkthru is scheduled for Wednesday, the 23rd at 6pm! Holy crap! That means this is really happening. It really hasn't seemed real until the last few days. I just can't stop thinking of things that I want to do to the house and things that we will finally be free of. The other night I dropped something heavy on the floor and had to deal with the guilt of knowing the freak show who lives in the apartment below us was disrupted. No more of that. No more carrying groceries up stairs. No more stairs period. I could go on for days. But I won't.

This week is gonna be hectic. On Monday, Chris is going to the OC for work. His office is based there and he is going to work on some computer networking issues that they are having. He is just the bomb and they need to start paying him what he's worth. But I think they have realized that. He has been giving so many opportunities lately, with this trip on Monday and all the trips to Vegas. I really think they are started to appreciate him and isn't that what we are all looking for in our jobs?
And on Tuesday, I am going to a spring training baseball game. The field where the Angels have spring training, Tempe Diablo Stadium is really close to where I work, so my boss bought us all tickets and we are all going as a team building thingy. The Angels are playing the Diamondbacks and the game is at 1:05pm. So we all get to leave work early and we are walking over to the stadium together. It should be really fun. I am looking forward to it. Then we have the walk thru on Wednesday and I have a feeling that we are going to be meeting sometime this week with the title company. We are still waiting on the final numbers from them for closing. We are down to the wire on this. And if all goes well, we will have keys to our house next Monday!

brackets update

As predicted, I did not do as well with the second day of the first round. After all 32 games were played, I ended up getting 21 correct and 11 wrong. With those, I am now out 3 of my picks for the sweet 16. Damn. But all the teams I really wanted to win did, so that's what is most important. The U of A game is in an hour and the Cincy vs Kentucky game is tonight. LOVE MARCH MADNESS!!!!

How do your brackets look?

So far there are 8 games played in the Men's NCAA Tournament. And of those 8 games, I am 8 of 8 on my picks! WOO HOO. I even managed to pick Wisconsin Milwaukee to beat Alabama. I'm good. After tonights games, I might not be so happy. But for now, I'm good! Not that I will win anything from this, but I like knowing that I can pick 'em!
GO BEARCATS!
and go wildcats & spartans too!

I love my reality TV

I have two favorite reality shows on right now. And no, one is not Survivor. I am so over that show. It's not even good anymore. Although, I was flipping last night and noticed they were doing something cool on Survivor. They had the other tribe voting on who they thought should get immunity from the tribe at tribal counsel. That was a neat twist. But anyway.
I am obsessed with my two shows...

The Amazing Race
What a kick ass show! I was concerned about having Rob and Amber from Survivor on this season because it was such a disaster the last time they have reality "stars" on the show. Remember Allison from Big Brother? I thought not. Anyway. I LOVE ROB & AMBER! I hated them on Survivor All-Stars and all the crap afterwards with them getting engaged and whatnot. But they are really great players. I am very impressed. He managed to not only quit doing a roadblock challenge, but convince other people to quit too so that there was no chance of them being eliminated. It was crazy. So crazy that my mother and I both called each other at the exact same time to talk about it. I called her house and got a busy signal, then hung up the phone and it rang. It was funny.

America's Next Top Model
Oh my god BECKY! Literally! Does anyone else watch this show? Last night, this contestant named Rebecca was at judging and she was standing there while the judges talked about her photograph. She passed out! Flat on her damn back. They had to call an ambulance and take her to the hospital. Turns out she has some condition that she's had her whole life that causes this to happen. It was crazy. So crazy that the played her passing out again after the came back from commercial. Totally instant replay. I love this crap.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Get to Know your Blogging Buddies

And you thought I had a life. You would be wrong. She wanted it, she got it...

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
In Paris, with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

2. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING?
jeans and Birkenstocks

(Edited to add): 2a. LEAST FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? bras

3. THE LAST CDs YOU BOUGHT?
Seriously? Damn. I don't buy music anymore. Lemme think. I can't remember the last CD I bought, but the last CD I GOT was Songs About Jane by Maroon 5.

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
no more than 9 hours after I go to bed. If I sleep longer, I get a migraine. And we all know how pleasant I am with a migraine.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?
yuck. none. well, I'll have to agree with Dr.H on the dishwasher.

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
well, I did play an instrument. Alto Sax and I was 3rd chair, damn it!

7. FAVORITE COLOR?
at the moment, taupe and sage. they are the colors that I am gonna use in the master bedroom in our new house! normally though... red, purple, green

8. WHICH VEHICLE DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR, MOTORCYCLE, OR SUV?
none. sports car - too fast and scary. motorcycle - dad fall down go boom. suv - gas guzzling mother f@#$%&s. I'll keep my little sedan thank you very much.

9. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE AFTERLIFE?
sure. I can't wait to see some friends.

10. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK?
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. I thought I was just like Ramona.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Spring. Right now in Arizona it's so gorgeous. It'll only be this way for another couple weeks, but man it's nice.

12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
In order of acquisition - Daisy on left ankle, Heart on lower back, Ladybug on top of right foot.

13. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERPOWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
telekineticly clean my house

14. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
no. But they tried to teach us in my special PE class in high school. Being overweight, they put me in PE with the, how can I say this without being mean???, "slower" students. We got to do random things like learn to juggle while the "normal" kids got to run around and play sports. Shit, I'm not complaining.

15. ONE PERSON/PEOPLE FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?
There is more than one.
Tarah. Referencing question #9. If I knew my time with her would be so short, I would talk to her forever. It's been 8 years since she died and it still seems like yesterday.
Robert. I would want to help him and make sure he's happy.
Ryan. I would explain a lot of things and say that I am sorry.

16. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED?
Another lovely trait I've acquired from my mother - empty gift boxes. And blankets.

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DAY? Friday.

18. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Hamburger. never have and never will eat sushi.

19. FROM THE PEOPLE WHO NORMALLY READ YOUR BLOG, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? probably no one. but whatever.

20. ON WHICH BLOG DID YOU FIND THIS MEME?
Dr. H's (but, am I dumb to not know what a MEME is?)

21. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? daisies.

23. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
Grilled Caribbean Salad from Chili's. especially now that I can't eat it!

24. DESCRIBE YOUR PJS.
usually just long t-shirt nightgowns

25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BREAKFAST?
mmmm, donuts

26. DO YOU LIKE YOUR JOB?
sure. It's the highest paying one I've ever had, so I can't really complain.

27. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?
Not having one and/or being a mother

28. WHAT AGE DO YOU PLAN TO RETIRE?
Well, if the answer to the last question ever comes true...

29. WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
Long story. Short answer - church at age 16. At the end of April that will be 11 long years ago.

30. SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO THAT YOU HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE.
Own a house - oh, wait. Something else - go to NYC with my sissy.

what do dreams really mean?

Last night I had a dream that I really don't want to admit to. Not because it's nasty or anything. But because I don't like that I dreamt about it. I had a dream that my grandma died. She was in the hospital last week, so that was obviously on my mind. But I still don't like that I had a dream about it. Weird that we had watched Nightmare on Elm St that is all about dreams and then I had a dream about death. In my dream I don't know how she died, but it wasn't tragic or anything. I know that my dad will be upset reading about this, but I wanted to put it out there just so that I would not feel so bad about my dream.

She wants your boots!

I just thought about this again! And I am cracking up all by myself.
The other day, Chris called me from work because he was bored. He told me that I need to entertain him the way that I entertain my family. I told him that I couldn't because he doesn't think I'm funny. He would not have laughed at half the things that happened that day. At least some people think I'm funny.

1, 2 Freddy's coming for you...

Can you believe that Chris has not seen ANY of the Nightmare on Elm St's? I couldn't either! Last night we watched the first one. It was on Bravo. I love those movies. I'll admit when I first saw them, I was scared to death. But now, they are just so funny to me. I remember bonding with my sister over those movies. She liked them and because she did, I did too. I wanted to be just like her back then. Even though the movies scared me, I watched them to be cool and to be like her. NEAT!

Anyway, I am having a major anxiety attack right now. I am thinking of every possible thing that could go wrong with closing on our house. Everyone I've talked to and everything I've read says that you will pay more at closing then you think or then you've been told. This is really what's freaking me out. On Thursday, we have to give our loan officer proof that we have enough funds available to pay closing costs. From what she's told us, we should have enough. But if everyone else is right, we might be short. We are trying to do this on our own and not borrow money (not that there's anything wrong with that - because that might end up happening). So, I've been freaking about that. Then I go and read my stupid horoscope for Thursday and this is what it says:
Don't be depressed by financial shortfalls, and advise the others the same. Just because you can't do what you want now doesn't mean you never will.
WHAT!?!?!? That does not help! I keep telling myself that horoscopes are never true and they are against my damn religion, but I can't stop thinking about it. I hate this. I think that I have been rather calm about this whole home buying process up until now. I am normally a person who freaks out at the littlest things and I am always stressed out. But I have been relaxed about this house, for the most part, because Chris has been taking care of most of it. But it's getting closer and closer to becoming reality and I can't stop myself from wigging! I keep telling myself to calm down, but it's not working. I've given myself a headache. Shit.

yikes

Has anyone seen this new Britney video and/or heard the song? I feel visually assaulted after watching it.

one word

migraine

Chris wanted me to share this...

He found this article on the internet and wanted me to post the picture that goes with it. You need a dirty mind like ours to get why it's funny. It's all about the angle.

we all live in a yellow submarine...

That's the song in my head right now. It was on the radio on the way in to work.
Neat.

Things on my mind:
- Even though I like to find out about the lives of people I used to call my friends, it really gets to me. I found out last night that one of my old friends is getting married next week. Not only that, but another one of my old friends who is in the wedding is already married. Great for them. I know I am no longer part of their lives, but I sometimes wonder why. I know I moved away and I know I am not the best person at keeping in touch. (Actually, I suck at it.) I am trying to just be happy for them. But maybe it would be better if I didn't know.

- Don't you hate it when you are waiting for something, then you get teased like it's about to happen, but it still hasn't yet? It's like enough already! Happen if you're going to. Damn.

- We went to Home Depot last night and spent like 2 hours going through the store and saying things like, "We'll need that." Random things that we don't own that we will need to now that we have a house. A weedwhacker! We need a weedwhacker. That's cool, right? A wheelbarrow. Oh, we need one of those. Plus, we were looking at paint colors and all sorts of good stuff. We had to price new door locks. We have 6 doors that need new locks. Great. We are gonna be poor for a long time. All the extra money we have will have to be spent on house crap. That's cool though, I suppose.

To bring you up to date on the house:
- Friday was the termite inspection and it passed.
- We had submitted the request to the seller to repair certain items from the inspection report. We got a list back of the things that they will repair and the things that they won't are not a big deal. So, that worked out well. I was concerned that they wouldn't fix anything. And the biggest thing to me is that they are going to get the chimney cleaned. Thank god. Who knows how much that would have cost us!
- We are still waiting for the appraisal. Chris talked to the loan officer Monday of last week and she said that we should know by the end of this past week or Monday (tomorrow). I feel like it's all still up in the air until we find out about the appraisal.
- We have to have the funds to cover closing in the checking account by like the end of next week. I am pretty sure that will work out. I know that we have the money by the time we have to write the check, but having proof of it a few weeks ahead of time might be tough.

to my dad!

This is totally random

but its something that has been driving me nuts for a really long time. Back in like 2000, I saw an interview with John Mayer and he was talking about this condition that he had. It has been driving me nuts ever since, because I could not remember for the life of me what it was called. And the strange thing is that now that he is much more popular, he does not talk about it. There are subtle things here and there that if you knew he had this condition you would understand. Anyway. Today I found out what it's called! His condition is called synaesthesia and its a condition where he associates one sense with another. Like sound with color. He hears sounds and associates a color with that sound. It's kinda cool. They say that a lot of musicians and really creative people have it. The reading that I have been doing on it says that it's just a genetic condition and it's not a big deal. It's not gonna kill you or anything. So, the now that you understand his condition, I feel like sharing a couple of his subtle references to it. One is that liner notes to the Heavier Things album. There are color charts all over it. Colors assigned to each state that he wrote a certain song in. The same goes for the concert t-shirts from the spring tour last year. Each state that the tour went to is a different color. And the most well know reference is the first line to the to song Bigger Than My Body. The line is: "This is a call to the color blind. This is an IOU." Get it now? I always understood the line, but I am sure there are millions who have no clue that line means. Now you do.
Damn, I wasn't supposed to write about JCM anymore. Opps. Oh well.

to my husband

didn't get picked

I had to appear for jury duty today and after a long day (at least it seemed long!) I did not get picked. One cool thing about not getting picked is that I was able to go online and find out about the case. And damn, it would have been cool!! This is the trial. There were only 4 defendants that were actually on trial. Here is another article about the case. Seriously! BLACK MARKET BABY FORMULA! That would have been an awesome case. The judge asked us if we had heard anything about the case after he read the defendants names and charges. He didn't say anything about black market baby formula. If he had, I would have remember the case. Whatever. It's over now. I do still have to be on call, though. I have to check each weekend to see if I have to appear again. Joy of joys.

new house pics!

just what I need, jury duty...

According to the Automated Jury Information System:

You are CURRENTLY scheduled to appear at 8:00AM, Tuesday, March 1 to the U. S District Courthouse located at XXXX in Phoenix. You MUST check this message again after 5:00PM, the evening before this appearance date to verify your reporting status.

suck

favorite song of the moment

Ordinary People by John Legend

house update for the day... so far

The inspection is tomorrow at 9am. Chris is gonna go and be there during the inspection. He said he will take tons of pictures. I am still waiting to find out about my visit to the house tomorrow. Chris is gonna check with the realtor to see if he can take me over in the afternoon.

house update for the day...

The realtor called and he is gonna schedule the inspection for Friday. I am taking the mom and sibling unit (who is in town - WOOOO HOOOO!) by the house on Friday. We might even get to go through it, depending on if they are doing the inspection then. We are gonna pay for the inspection out of pocket and that will take that amount out of our closing costs. If we waited until closing to pay for the inspection, they charge more for the delay. It's all good. We might as well pay for what we can while we have the money and have to pay less at closing. Speaking of closing, notice my new counter up to the right? I got that idea from a poster on my sister's website. It counts for you. Sweet.
The husband is in Vegas for the day. That's fun for him. He called me on his lunch to tell me that the realtor had called. I am really thankful that Chris is taking care of all this house stuff. I am usually the one with all the responsibilities for things such as this, but he is taking this all on and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that.
I do have a headache today and it sucks ass.

our new house

The picture is not the greatest, but so far it's all that we have. Today, we put in an offer and it was accepted. We are planning on closing on March 28th. That gives us a whole month to move from our apartment into the new house. The house has a lot of things that we want to improve, but it is move in ready. The dude that owns it has lived there for 22 years and has a lot of crap, including and RV and a car in the back yard. We are excited, but we don't close for 5 weeks, so I am trying to refrain from really freaking out.

the dry cleaning dilemma

I wanted to share what has been going on with our dry cleaners, but I figured I would just post the letter I emailed to them and save the time typing. Here's the letter:

First of all, let me say that we have been loyal customers of yours for over two years. However at the end of January, I dropped off some shirts of my husbands to be laundered. One particular shirt came back with a marking on it that I have since learned was done by one of the thermal tags your company uses to put the names on the shirts. We took the shirt back to the same location and showed the marking. We were told that it would come right off and that we would not be charged to have it re-cleaned. When we picked up the shirt about a week later, the marking had been removed, but we were charged for cleaning it. I dismissed this, because I was happy that the marking had come off. However, when I went to take that same shirt out of the bag, I noticed more stains. All over the bottom half of the shirt there are red marks that hadn't been there before. I worked at an Ultra Cleaners in Glendale for over 2 years and I recognized the stains as color transfer from the press. I was so upset about this shirt, that I had my husband take it back to the same location and show them the new stains. That was February 12th. An employee there told him that since it was a weekend and no managers were there, that a manager would call him on Monday the 14th. He did not receive a call back and on Wednesday, the 16th, he called the store. He was given the excuse that they had our phone number wrong and was told that a manager would call him the next day. The excuse of having our phone number wrong frustrates me even more. Every time that we drop off the shirts, we are asked for our phone number and I give the correct number each time. The fact that this was not updated in your system is not our problem. My husband did give his correct number when they found that error and was assured that a manager would call him. By around 3:00pm on the 17th, my husband had not received a call, so I drove to the store to speak with someone in person. I spoke with a women who identified herself as Ann. Ann said that she was just told about the shirt. Mind you, the shirt had been in the store for over 5 days at this point. Ann told me that she would look at the shirt to determine if the stains could be removed. She said that if they determine that the stains cannot be removed, that the shirt would be replaced. She also told me that she would call me by the end of business that day. I gave her my correct phone number again and saw that she wrote it down correctly. I was very respectful and kind, despite my anger and frustration. I left the store with confidence that the situation would finally be resolved. It is now February 18th and neither my husband nor myself have received the call backs we were promised. This is the some of the poorest customer service that I have ever experienced. As I said, I worked at a dry cleaners for over 2 years and I know the things that can happen. I am not naïve to that reality. However, not resolving issues and flat out lying to my face, is not customer service or any way to run a business. My husband and I have already decided that we are no longer going do business with your company and we will advise all those that we know who use your company of our situation. I understand that it is only one shirt, but the fact of the matter is, the shirt was ruined and not one person seems to care. We would just like this issue to be resolved.

Update on the story: it's still unresolved. I got an message on the 18th from the manager Ann and she gave me all sorts of excuses about dialing the wrong area code. Blah blah. She said that she only found two red spots. It's all just more lies. It's red all over the bottom. I don't know what is gonna happen with it and it's still unresolved. Thank god we're moving.

countdown ends...

My mom and I are going to see Lion King tomorrow afternoon. I am so excited.

mmm, philosophy

I just started using my philosophy chocolate chip cookies shower gel and it smells more like Coco Krispies then chocolate chip cookies. But it's still neat. I am on a program where I get two new shower gels every 60 days (that's when they are supposed to come, in theory) and my last shipment was shipped today. I guess I will have to buy some on my own from here on out. But I am backed up with what I have. At home now, I have white chocolate hazelnut, and mini's of double rich hot cocoa and spiced cider from my Hot Toddies collection that I got for Christmas. What's coming in my last shipment is key lime pie and coconut cream pie. Yum. I was going over the website and they have new flavors like lavender pound cake, vanilla cupcake and crumb berry pie. Yum again.

to my mom!

to blog or not to blog

In an effort to make my blog more "interesting" and less "about John Mayer", I give you the following article: Have a blog, lose your job?
The funny thing about this is that I am posting this while at work. HEHE. I am breaking the rules, but at least I don't write about work things. Sometimes I mention it here and there, but nothing really specific. I learned that lesson. Who would be dumb enough to post stuff about their job? Plus, all the businesses need to do is block access to blogger. But I better stop before I give them any ideas.

my flowers

These are my Valentine flowers. The picture does not do them justice.

Zach Braff

for Dr. H :

i gots me some flowders

neat! I got a message on my voicemail from security that I had a delivery. I went down and found some purty flowers. It has orchids, tulips, lillies, and a bunch of other neat smelling flowers. It was a total shock, especially since we weren't supposed to give each other anything for Valentines Day. I did get him some chocolates, a Simpsons trivia game and a card, so I guess we were both trying to trick each other with saying that we weren't going to give gifts.
What a neat husband I have?!?!?!?

a valentine's day song...

to my husband, my favorite and only valentine...

Believe
by The Smashing Pumpkins

close your eyes
until the sunlight dies
in your head a thousand stars
through the darkness you can see love light
and if they steal your light
your heart is still in mine

i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth is no other
i want to believe in you, dear

of someday...

there's a life i hide
but i try to disguise
and i could take you a million miles away

i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth is no other
i want to believe in you, dear

on sunday i made amends
of all my mistakes
may godspeed be with you

and i...
i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth is no other
i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth is no other
i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth, a lover
i want to believe in you and i heard you
your song, you sing, a truth, is no other
i want to believe in you, dear
of someday...

on sunday i make amends
for all my mistakes
may godspeed be with you

Grammy's

YEAH! Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. I had my doubts, but can I just tell you how pleasantly surprised I was. For once, awards went to those deserving, not just the most popular.
The show was pretty lame. The tsunami tribute song was terrible. I can't imagine anyone wanting to download that. It's sad when the best part of the song was sung by Steven Tyler. Melissa Etheridge scared the crap out me with no hair. I get the cancer thing, but that doesn't mean she's not scary. Joss Stone, I thought was the best performance of the night. Yes, better than JCM's. J.Lo and Marc Anthony's performance was disturbing. Let's pretend to play house while we sing in spanish. No thank you. One thing that really pisses me off is that I am in Mountain Time and all the pre-show shit didn't start until after the awards actually started here. So annoying. They don't adjust for the time zones on the cable channels. But really, I can't stand Star Jones on E! anyway, so it's not that great of a loss.

Beck - both our boys won Grammys! Zach Braff won for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. NEAT!

rain

It has been raining since noon on Thursday. Most people would not find this information blog worthy. But here in AZ, that's amazing. I think the storm has moved on now, but it left us wet and humid. The other reason I mention it is because our bedroom window leaks. I have two towels on the window sill and I had to change them out because they were soaked. This is inside the window. I even had to the window closed for most the day. I will be so glad that we will be leaving soon.

guess who's pre-qualified?

WE ARE!!
Yesterday, we met with a mortgage broker and we are pre-qualified to buy a house. This is scary and cool all at the same time. This means that we are really going to be getting house. Being pre-qualified was a huge relief because now we know that it can be a reality. We have been working really hard on paying things, like credit cards, down and it has paid off. We have to start saving money now so that we can actually do this. But at least we know we can get the financing. And now, we have to get a realtor and find house. YIKES!

HOLY CRAP! WE ARE GONNA GET A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

music of the moment

Here are some songs that I can't seem to get out of my head right now:
Get Right by Jennifer Lopez
Disco Inferno by 50 Cent
Pain and Work by Jimmy Eat World (gotta support the local boys!)
Over by Lindsay Lohan (yes, I know. I'm ashamed of this.)
Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney
Now, I'm not saying these are good and/or high quality songs. Just songs that I like to blast and groove to.

This is a cute interview with Gavin DeGraw. We love him too.

Grammy's are Sunday! JCM is performing Daughters, of course. He's up for two awards. Song Of The Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He will probably not win, but he's got my love and support, so what more could he really want anyway? hehe.

and if you have some time, Kanye West's live show is available to watch. JCM was there and performs about 40 minutes into Kanye's set and stays for the rest of it. Or you can just watch All Falls Down and see the best part of JCM performance. Watch it.

Edited to add: for anyone new to my blog, JCM is John Mayer.

magic brownies

Ben & Jerry's have come out with a new Dave Matthews Band ice cream flavor. The first was called One Sweet Whirled. I love the new flavor name : Dave Matthews Band Magic Brownies.

oh the irony

This is another crazy thing that Chris found on the internet. He was bored yesterday. This is total irony.

blast from the past

Chris found this on the internet. He said that he did the floorplans for these when he worked at TCI in college. He didn't design them, but when you click on the floor plans, he did those drawings. that's neat!

Happy Chinese New Year - 4702 !

GoDaddy.com

This company is getting the most publicity from the Super Bowl commercial then any other. The cool thing is, GoDaddy.com is based here in Scottsdale, very close to my house and to make it even closer to home, my co-worker's husband works for them. She said that she got an email from her husband today and all he said was that they are so busy and they are making so much money. Read an article about them here. Just goes to show you that any publicity is good publicity.

my boy speaks

Thought that I would share his column from Esquire this month:

Music Lessons
THIS MONTH'S LESSON: Five More Songs of the Year

by John Mayer | Mar 01 '05

I was stunned to learn that I was nominated for Song of the Year at this year's Grammys for my tune "Daughters." There's so much great music out right now. So I've decided to sublet my nomination to five equally deserving songs.

"Float On," Modest Mouse
When I first heard this tune, I thought Mick Jagger had gotten together with Dexy's Midnight Runners. That would've been cool, but no cooler than this perfect little number. This is the kind of song you listen to when you lay out tomorrow's outfit just before bedtime, thinking, Being me is about to get awesome. Too-rye-ay!

"This Love," Maroon 5
I'm surprised this song didn't get nominated, being that it was one of about seven on the radio that actually had a chorus, let alone one strong enough to hold its own next to any song from the last ten years. You might think it's overplayed, but this one is a half-court shot, nothing but net.

"99 Problems," Jay-Z
When Jay-Z came up with the lyric "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one," he probably celebrated at Friday's over an Oreo Madness dessert. Oh, wait, that's what I do. But consider this: Jay is the only mainstream artist brave enough to release a capella versions of his music. The man is not only one of the greatest rappers ever, he shows his work on the back of the test.

"I Don't Wanna Be," Gavin DeGraw
The problem with having Gavin DeGraw shoved down our throats is that he's so good, he didn't have to be. Once you get over the shooting pain of a twisted arm, you realize that this is one badass song with a unique chorus and a nuts-out vocal performance. It's never come on the radio when I didn't want it.

"I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You," Colin Hay
This is without a doubt my favorite song of the year. I'm still trying for a tune like this of my own. It's my favorite kind of ballad, "chin up" sadness that even a cold bastard would get swept away by: "And if I lived till I could no longer climb my stairs/I just don't think I'll ever get over you." No further comments.

i guess it was worth it

Last night was the company party that I reference below. I was really not wanting to go, but we went anyway. I put on a nice shirt (the beautiful one that I bought for the JCM concert last February) and flat ironed my hair. oooh. Not like I wanted to impress these people, but I felt that if I was going, at least dress up. So, the food was ok and the music was all country. YUCK!!!!! But I guess it was worth it because I won a $200 door prize. Sweet! It was a Visa gift card. I am gonna save it for when we ever get a house. We were home by 9:30, which worked out good because the SAG Awards were on.

what a crappy day

Today sucked.
Our electric company notified us yesterday that our power would be turned off for about 4 hours this morning, starting at 8:00am. This pretty much altered all my plans. I was intending to cook pork chops in the crock pot today. So, I had to cook them overnight and then had to get them out of the crock pot by candlelight. My kitchen gets no light, so you have to turn on the light, which I couldn't do, obviously. That's just one thing. I don't want to start complaining. That's just making me more upset. I also know that the next few days are gonna suck too, so that doesn't help. I have my stupid work party tomorrow at Corona Ranch and I am not really looking forward to it. Plus, on Sunday I was gonna try to leave work early to watch the game. But that can't happen. I have to do some coaching and I have an interview to be an official "on-boarding guide". That's what I did when I was helping the new hires when they first got on the phone. They are putting together a team of people to do it each time a new class starts. It's no more money and not a promotion, but they are still having us interview. So, I have to deal with that and I have dress up. None of these things are a problem, they are just things that I have to deal with and I would rather not. AUGH! I can't seem the bring myself out of the grumpy mood that I am in. AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

wet bed

This may be TMI, but bear with me.
Last night, I was up late watching Sex and the City in the living room when I heard Chris scream from the bedroom. At first I didn't think I was him. I thought it was someone outside because it was kind of muted. But then I heard more talking and then he walked out into the living room. He looked so confused. I switched into maternal mode and went in the bedroom to see what happened. There was this huge wet spot on the bed and on his pillow. It was soaked down to the mattress. We stripped the bed, dried the mattress and put clean sheets on the bed. The reason I am sharing this is because we have no idea how on earth this happened. It was so crazy. We started ruling things out. Definitely not pee. Totally wrong place for that to be it. It was not hot in the room, so it couldn't be sweat. Plus, even when it's 120 he does not soak the bed like that. Plus, and this is kinda gross but it's reality, it didn't smell like sweat. He had taken a shower before he went to bed, but he was dry when he got in bed. So, that wasn't it either. We kept looking around thinking if something had fallen from somewhere, but there was nothing. There was nothing on the headboard that could have caused that wetness and there was no spot on the ceiling. We couldn't figure it out. Did he puke water? He said he didn't think so. Plus that didn't smell like that either. It didn't smell at all. Meaning it was just regular water. It couldn't have come in from the window. Not only are we on the second floor, but his side of the bed is no where near the open window. How did this happen? This is crazy. We still cannot figure it out. It's the strangest thing.

There's a reason for the caps! Yes, I am yelling!

I JUST HAD A GUY TAKE A PISS WHILE FILING A CLAIM WITH ME. I HEAR THE SOUND AND I SAID TO MYSELF, 'PLEASE TELL ME THAT'S WATER.' AND THEN I HEAR IT - THE FLUSH!!!!!!! AND THE ZIP!!!!!!! THEN HE DIDN'T EVEN WASH HIS HANDS. THAT WATER I DIDN'T HEAR.
THAT IS THE NASTIEST THING IN THE WORLD. I AM GONNA HURL.

Yes ma'am

I just took a claim with the freak girl and after every thing I said, her response was, "Yes ma'am." I wanted to kill her! She was not saying it in a nice way either. It was getting on my last nerve. And to top it off, she had this southern accent that made it like nails on a chalk board. Mind you, I like listening to southern people talk, when I am not trying to get information from them. I sound really bad, but if you did my job, you would understand.

dear God

I wish I had never found this game.

TAXES

Our taxes are done! Thanks to TaxSlayer.com I was able to get the taxes done is less than an hour. We are getting nice little returns from Federal and State and they should be direct deposited in two weeks! What a relief!

drama

more water drama
On this topic I have strong opinions. We here in AZ are very quick to overreached when we are told there is any kind of a storage or problem. The gas "crisis of 2003" when people waited in lines for hours just to get gas. Now this water thing. And this wasn't even for real! That's the worst thing about it. If I lived in Phoenix proper, I would sue the government for inciting panic.

Church drama

too much drama. thank god none of it affects me directly.

blame it on the rain, part deux

Phoenix residents have turned into a bunch of paranoid freaks. So, there is a problem with the water. It's not gonna kill you, people. But places are closing down and panic has set in. It's really making me laugh. Here at my work alone, there are signs everywhere saying not to use the water. Signs on the bathroom that say, do not use water to wash your hands. Um, what else can I use? I have hand sanitizer stuff at my desk anyway, but it's just funny. Plus, they are handing out bottles of water to anyone here who wants them. People are taking like 5 or 6 bottles at a time. Plus, since the cafeteria here does not want to use water, the managers are buying pizza. Like delivered food with be so much safer than food made here. I just can't stop laughing at this. I had put ice from the ice machine in my cup and poured my soda before realizing that I shouldn't drink it. But I am. And i'm ok. I really don't think it's a huge deal. Plus, when I am home, I am not in Phoenix. I plan on running my Scottsdale water until my heart's content!

oh great

Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year!

suck

Just found out that my review will not be today.
My boss said that she has not gotten final approval on our raises and so she wants to wait to do the reviews until she does. She said it has to be sometime this week. But not today. boo hoo.

blame it on the rain, yeah yeah

It rained last night.
I woke up with a headache.
Today is my performance review. I keep telling myself it will be a good day because I get to find out what my raise will be.
Today we are working out for the first time.
Last night, I got home 11 and 1/2 hours after I left that morning. I don't like that. I don't know if this new schedule is all it's cracked up to be. I hope I get used to these long days. I was so tired last night I hardly got anything done that needed to be done. I am lucky that I managed to get our gym bags ready.
Plus, I know we are going to be busy today. We were busy yesterday with all the fools out driving in the blizzard. I slid into this, I slid into that. He slid into me then I slid into that. Blah. Blah. Blah. STAY OFF THE ROAD WHEN IT SNOWS, freaks!
Anyway. Let's see what the rest of today brings...
at least more money. at least more money. at least more money.
(yes, I am trying to convince myself its worth it.)

Saturday

This is what we did on Saturday...
Verde Canyon Railroad

more shoes

got these new shoes, in white, so I have something to work out in. I love that they are mesh and are very breathable.

jury duty

So, on Wednesday (another thing to add to the shitness of that day!) I got a summons for Jury Duty. The last time I got one I was a college student, so I got to be exempt. But now I have no excuses. So, not only did I get the summons, but they informed me that I am going to be on call for the entire MONTH of March. What I have to do is every weekend in March, starting with February 26th, I have to call to find out if and/or when I have to appear. So, for one whole month, I am the federal courts bitch. Great. I am not happy about this at all. I had to fill out the questionere where you can put down your reasons for wanting to be excused, but I figured "Cuz I don't wanna do it" wasn't good enough. Why me? Chris said to just tell them that I am racist, but I can't lie about shit like that. I think I am the perfect juror candidate actually. And that's why I'm pissed.

more bonus cash-ola

My bonus check is broken up into 80% in December and 20% at the end of January, or beginning of February. I just found out that I will be getting the other 20% on Monday! Party. Party. Party. It's not much, but any extra money is good for me. Plus, I get paid today! Don't rob me. hehehe.

Plus, my work day is almost over. I hate to brag, but that's awesome!

early start to today

but maybe it will get off on a better foot than yesterday. yesterday was just bad all around. the only good thing that happened yesterday is that Chris wanted to go out to dinner, so we went to Macayos. that's become my favorite restaurant.
anyway, we carpooled today for the first time. we had our orientation at the fitness center. thrilling. she just showed us the machines. one really cool thing this that they have satellite radio and TV. you bring headphones and plug in and you can watch or listen to whatever you want. with the radio there are only preset stations, but with the TV, as long as no one else is watching it, you can put on whatever you want. neat. so, I am only here for 4 hours and I am rejoicing over that! Chris is coming back to pick me up at noon and then I am gonna take him back downtown and we are going to lunch together. sounds nice. at least we are getting along today...

in case you needed confirmation (of me not wanting to be here today)

...been arguing with husband all day via email
...some new hire freak from sales sat with me and listened to my calls for two hours
...lunch changed until right now, so that the freak could sit with me. been here since 8:00 and haven't eaten anything. ok, that's a lie. I ate a Krispy Kreme! DAMN!
...all our systems went down all at once
...still really tired

AT LEAST I ONLY WORK FOR 4 HOURS TOMORROW!!!!!!!

I don't want to be here today

this is not my day... I just typed a long post and then my stupid computer freaked out and it's gone.

the jist of what I wrote was that I have been tired for the last 3 days. I've been going to bed at around 10:30 every night, but I wake up and I am still tired. I wish I could wake up. All I want to be doing today is sitting on my butt at home watching QVC scrapbooking day. And I hardly ever even scrapbook!

get that damn SONG out of my head

why do I have On the Way Down by Ryan Cabrera in my head?
I hate that song.

Happy MLK Day

looks like lots of things are changing...

Chris and I are signing up for the gym at my work. It's about $40/month of the both of us and it's open 24/7. We are going for our orientation on Thursday morning, before I start work. We are going to start going after work at least 3 days a week. Chris is gonna start taking me to work and then meeting me in the gym after I get off work. I don't know how I feel about it. The trainer chic I met today is not real nice and I am very intimated by it all. But I am really only planning on starting on the treadmill. I can walk and not look like a fool. I know it's something that needs to be done and Chris really wants to do it. So, we are going to try it together. I would love for the outcome to be that I loose weight, but I have no goals attached to this. I will go to support him, and get some benefit out of it myself, I'm sure. I just want to start feeling better. Doctors can't really help me. I know my body better than anyone and I need to start paying more attention to it.

more neatness from QVC

I think this weird stuff just happens so frequently with me and QVC because of the frequency in which I purchase from them. So, anyway. I bought those new Birks from them a few weeks ago and right before New Years, the clogs came. I was sooo happy, until I started wearing them. They were busted. I had to send them back. So, I got an email from QVC that they could not exchange them for another pair because they were out of stock. I was pissed. I went to the website and found out that the email lied! According to the website, they have them in stock. So, I just ordered a new pair. And - THEY HAVE SHIPPED. Which means, they had them in stock all along. Unless... and I just thought about this now... they are going to send me back my old, busted pair. No, they would not do that. They shouldn't have put that pair back in stock. If they do, they are fools. Anyway. I am getting a new pair, either way. They are freaks.

Proactiv

So, I have resisited it for a long time, but I do have zits and I hate them. I have finally broken down and purchased Proactiv. It was on QVC - shock of shocks - and that's were I bought it from. It was a kit that has everything you need. It is on auto-delivery, which means it will ship every 60 days. But I am not sure if I will keep that up. I want to try it first, but I bought the auto delivery so that I can keep that cheaper price, in case I do keep it. I am praying that this will work. Nothing else has. I am even eating better and nothing seems to work. I will keep you posted...

last night's concert

In case you haven't heard, the only interesting thing that happened on the Tsunami concert last night was my boy cursing. You can read this article if you want to. This article says that when he said (hold your breath - it's a curse word!!!) shit, it was bleeped on the West Coast broadcast. Um, nope. It wasn't. Maybe my broadcast is not considered the "West Coast," but whatever. I heard him say shit and it was only because he was so into his playing. It just came out as he was turning his head. I think it's hilarious though that people are making a big deal out of it. What a controversy he has started. I guess those people who just stood there and sung and were not emotionally into their music are better than John Mayer.
Oh, in case you did watch it and were wondering what he sung... it was Bold as Love by Jimi Hendrix.

Watch it - Saturday, January 15th.
Not only is it a good cause, but my boy's gonna sing. What more reason could you need?

credit card fraud

I have finally had my first experience with credit card fraud. On Monday night, I was looking at my credit card statement online and noticed a charge from some random web site. I didn't think I had bought anything from there, but I went to the website and then I was sure that I hadn't made the charge. It wasn't porn or anything. Oh, that reminds me, we did have one unauthorized charge to our debit card from a porn website. But this is much worse than that. Anyway. On my statement, there was a phone number next to the website name, so I called it and it was a voicemail for some guy named Alex and it sure did not sound like a business phone. So, I called the credit card company and wanted to dispute the charge as unauthorized. The dispute department was closed for the night. This is find very strange. Anyway. I came home early yesterday and was gonna call them back, when I checked my email and saw that I had an email from the credit card company saying that my account had been suspended due to possible fraud. FRAUD! Holy crap! Heck yeah there's fraud because I didn't make that charge! So, to make a long story short, I talked to the fraud department and they asked me if I made that charge that posted - um, no. Then they asked me if I made two other charges, one for $339 something and $33, to two different website companies. Um, no. He said that they had declined those charges, because they (being the credit card company) suspected that they might be fraud. I was totally shocked. The guy said that they will close that account and issue me a new account number and take care of the charge that did post, so I will not be responsible for it. Thank god. It wasn't a lot of money, only $25, but I still didn't want to pay for it. I just kept saying, "Oh my god. I can't believe this happened." I thanked the guy over and over. The last time I had used that card was on Amazon and when I purchase using Amazon, they have my credit card on file, so I just point and click and I don't have to put the number in each time. So, I went to Amazon and deleted all the cards that I had kept on file with them. I recommend you do this too. I don't know if Amazon is responsible for these three different places getting my info, but since that was the last time I used it, I am taking precautions. And after my mom's advice, I put a fraud alert on my social security # with the credit bureaus and got a copy of my credit report. There was nothing on my credit report that was fraud, thank god. (that rhymes!) It will all be ok. It will not effect me in any way. The worst part about it is not knowing how it happened. I have my card in my possession. It was not stolen. People used to tell me things like that all the time when I worked at Discover, but at least I am not naive enough to have thought it would never happen. I will not say the cliche that I thought it would never happen to me. I am just upset that I don't know how. I want to know how. Bastards.

Lots of water

Look at this picture.

Looks like people enjoying a nice meal until you look out the window!!
This is apparently in La Jolla, California from the storm the last few days. Those are waves hitting the windows of the restaurant. That's nuts!

whataday

Chris is in Vegas. His plane landed on time. Well, at least I assume he's there. I told him if he does not get on the plane for any reason, to call me. No call. So I assume he's there.

Last night he was coughing like no other and it kept me up. AND - I think I've caught his sickness. My throat hurts. I've got pressure in my head. I WAS JUST SICK! How does one person get sick so often? I guess mom was right when she said that I get sick all the time. I was taking echinacea, but I haven't been taking my vitamins (see New Year's resolutions). So, my immune system must be shot to hell. Lovely that I am sick again.

I put in to leave early, even though I have to pick Chris up at the airport at 7:15pm. It would actually work better if I get to leave early. That way I can go home, then come back and pick him up.

Must go back to work for now...

movie reviews

I keep forgetting to post my reviews of the weekend movies...

Troy: it was decent. Glad I didn't pay to see it in the theater, though. It was really long. I thought it was really funny that Orlando Blooms' character used a bow and arrow, just like Legolas. Brad Pitt is very nice to look at. But I really liked Eric Bana's character, Hector. He was an honest, just man who protected his family. He is a good actor, too. I would say that if you have 3 hours to kill, this is not a bad way to do it.

Garden State: I actually got Chris to watch it with me. (This is a rare occasion worthy of mentioning.) At first I was not sure what to think about it. I really liked Natalie Portman's character and the music was great. I think I liked it. I was not blown away by it, but it was good in it's own right. SPOILER ALERT: It ended very traditionally, but as I discussed with Mandy, you were not sure if they would end up together or not. In most movies, you know for sure that they will. But it was not clear until the last moment in this movie. So, that was good. It is worth watching.

movies to watch

forgot to mention that I have two new movies to watch... Garden State & Troy.
need to get to watchin...

flowers make me smile

Guess who bought these for me today? ME. I bought them at the store this morning.
I said to Chris, "I am easily pleased. These flowers have made my day." I am hoping he took the hint. (He never buys me flowers unless I come right out and tell him to.)
Hopefully, I will be able to get through my crampiness and enjoy my flowers.

ooh, gotta take the Christmas tree down today. It's starting to get on my nerves.

It makes perfect sense...

This lady called today to report that her vehicle had been vandalized. Before I could really start to take the claim, she just went off. She said that someone took her car keys and took her car out and backed it into something that ate off the paint on her bumper. She said that it was done by the people that have been harassing her for a long time. She said that they were satanic worshipers and doctors of parapsychology. She said that she has a government case worker at the state senate office who she reports the harassment to. She kept going on and on and then she said that she worked for the grassroots efforts (she lives in Florida, mind you) to re-elect President Bush - ENOUGH SAID.

new hours?

So, we have this thing here at work called your Optimal Schedule. You get to submit to scheduling your ideal schedule. If you could work any shift in the world, what shift would you work? So, I guess every once in awhile they review everyone's Optimal Schedule to either declined it, approved it or give you other options (they call it "counter offering"). Well, this has taken place. I had put my Optimal Schedule as 4 - 10 hour shifts, Monday-Thursday. Well, no one got Monday-Thursday or Monday-Friday shifts. They were all declined. But my boss told me that my counter offer is to work 10 hours on Monday & Tuesday and 10 hours on Friday & Saturday. Yikes! I do not want to work Friday AND Saturday. Plus, the hours I might have to work on the Friday & Saturday would be (maybe) 11am to 10pm! YIKES again! So, no. I don't want that counter offer. I counter offered back and I have a good feeling about it. I said that I would want to work 4 - 9 hour shifts and 1 - 4 hour shift. The 9 hour shifts would be Sunday-Wednesday, and the 4 hour shift would be Thursday. That would be great. I really don't mind working Sundays. We are so slow that it doesn't seem like working. So, we are waiting to see if my counter offer has been approved. If it is, it will take effect on the 16th ( but I will only be working 1/2 day that day, because it's Golden Globe day!!).

Five for 2005

I really like this too...

Five Resolutions for 2005
1. Find more balance in my relationships
2. Re-connect with my friends
3. Control my stress level
4. Drink more milk
5. Get my headaches under control

Five Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2005
1. Buying a house
2. Not living in an apartment
3. Paying off debt
4. Getting new furniture
5. Baby?

Five Things I'm Not Looking Forward to in 2005
1. Change (ie. Buying a house)
2. Moving
3. Moving
4. Moving
5. Did I mention moving?

Five Books I Want to Read in 2005
1. Magical Thinking: True stories
2. Why I'm like this : true stories
3. Bad girl : confessions of a teenage delinquent
4. Hello Kitty : The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon
5. any and all James Patterson books

Five Things I'm Going to Try to Cut Back On in 2005
1. Doritos
2. Carrying grudges
3. Spending money on useless crap
4. Procrastinating
5. Worrying about things I can't control

Five Things I'm Going to Try to Do More of in 2005
1. Exercise
2. Save money
3. Drink water
4. Take my vitamins
5. Blogging (hehe)