B-Wagon

Oh hell.

I got wrapped up in life and forgot to update my blog.  I apologize.  As I will again next time this happens. 

But for now, Melissa has inspired me to come back.  So, let's do the quick recap of what's happened in my life...

November:

• Terrie had a birthday.  We celebrated with friends.  Good times were had.
• Hubby & I did Thanksgiving solo - I made a turkey & fixings and then we went to see a movie.
• My coworker JB informed us that she had been accepted into the LPN program at the local community college and at the beginning of year, she would need to either become part time or leave the company.  Part-time was not available to her, so she helped in the interviewing and hiring process for her replacement.

December

• I received a Christmas card and $200 cash from an 'Anonymous Friend' in the mail.  Over the last few months, I sorta accidentally found out that it was from a coworker.  I sent a thank you card back to the return address (which had no name and was in California), and have let that person remain anonymous.
• I asked for a raise in lieu of the new responsibilities and additional workload that I'd be taking on with JB leaving.  I was denied.  But managers said that they would continue to push Bossman Bob to compensate me for the work I'd be doing.
• Holidays were lovely - had Christmas Day at our house for my mother-in-law & her boyfriend.
• Sang in the Christmas Eve mass with the choir - super long HOT mass, but very nice.
• Joined a...club?  A friend from choir invited me to join a group that she's in that consists of women that live in the area.  They do monthly events, which I've tried to attend at least one of per month.  December was my first time playing Bunco.  LOVED IT!

January

• I turned 29.  Holy hell.  How did that happen??
• JB's replacement was hired and started.  She's older (in her late 40's probably?), but very nice and is getting the hang of things.  I don't see us becoming good friends and going to lunch and getting our makeup done together, but I know we'll be able to work well together.
• JB left for good.  I cried as I walked down to my car that day.  I hate goodbyes.
• I planned a Baby Shower for Terrie with a Gone Fishing theme.  The invitations were handmade and amazing, if I do say so myself.  I had all type of fishy themed things planned, including fish bowl centerpieces with live goldfish on the two main tables.
• My managers continued pushing Bob for my raise and he finally gave in.  Yay!

February

• Terrie's shower was a success!  Everyone enjoyed themselves and I received a ton of compliments on what a nice job I'd done.  If only I could plan parties for a living.  That would really, truly be a dream come true.
• I have a new pet fish.  :-)  One of the two centerpiece fish went home with a guest from the party as a door prize.  The other one was abandoned.  No, really, the other guest who won the second fish had no interest in taking it home.  And I have to admit that I was kinda happy about that.  I wouldn't have minded keeping both of them. 
• You can't have just one fish in a ten-gallon tank, so we got two more.  They all seem to be coexisting happily together.  Freddie, Mortimer & Albert are all different types of goldfish and totally fascinating to me.  I can literally sit in front of the aquarium for over an hour and just watch them swim around.  Ridiculous, I know.

And I think that's about it.  You'll notice there are no updates on Hubby - he's still not working.  And there's still not a chance of a baby in the near future.  One is very dependent on the other, so I just continue to wait....:-P  Life is actually pretty good right now.  I mean, aside from the lack of a job on Hubby's part, things are plugging along.  The new responsibility at work is welcome.  I like having stuff to do for the entire day.  I like being the more experienced one.  I like feeling like a big fish in a small pond.  Always have.

Anyway, that's life for now.  Melissa is doing a fantabulous challenge, which I will be happy to steal and start doing tomorrow.  :-)  I hope that I'm able to get back into the swing of things.  I'm just going to have to figure out how to blog and watch tv at the same time. 

Lost in YouTube...

So, I'm relatively new to the whole YouTube phenomenon. I mean, I've known what it was and occasionally, I would go there if I was looking for something in particular. But I've been spending more time lately just clicking around. There's some really stupid shit. And some really bad stuff. And then there's some really good stuff.

Today, I somehow got the idea to look for karaoke songs. Which led to two hours of me singing one random song after another. Good times. I then started looking up some oldies, but goodies. Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tom Petty and then this gem. I absolutely adore this song. Easily one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time.



It literally brings me to tears everytime. Even if I listen to it two or three times in a row. The one real memory that I have of this song, a guy named Brian requested it at one of our high school dances for his girlfriend, Jenny. Not me and my ex Bryan, but I imagined that it was, as we danced together. That couple isn't together anymore, either. But just the sentiment behind the song does it to me. It's like a fairy tale. And it makes me wonder if there really are men out there that feel this strongly about the women that they love. *sigh*

In other news, the reason that I was able to sing along with my newfounnd karaoke songs in my kitchen tonight is that Hubby is working this week. And he worked last week, too. I'm super excited about that. And what excellent timing. One of my coworkers is getting married down in Peoria this weekend (about a three hour drive from our house), so we're getting a hotel room and getting sloshed. Should be good times getting drunky with some of my current and past coworkers. I found out today that the groom-to-be was kind enough to not seat me and O.B. at the same table. He'll be at the other table of current and former coworkers. I'm also going to get my HURR DID on Wednesday. I'm getting the same color that I've been getting for a while (a dark brown all over and super dark purplish lowlights). But I'm getting a "gloss" on top of that. Which is supposed to make it super duper shiny for a longer time. And she's got some coupon code that's gonna make the gloss free! Woot! Love FREE!

I'm very excited about getting out of the house with Hubby for the weekend. And I'm excited about getting to dress up. And spend some time with my coworkers outside of work. I wish JB was coming, but her little one will only be a month old on Friday, so she's decided to stay home. Probably a good call. :-) Anyway...That's all for now. Hubby will be home shortly and I really should be getting bed. I hope everyone is doing well!

A little of this and a little of that

It wasn't a fluke!

We had another really nice weekend! I made French toast for breakfast on Saturday, we watched some tv together and did some yardwork together. Hubby came down to the kitchen and ate dinner with me. Sunday, after church, we grilled burgers & brats for lunch, relaxed together for the afternoon and then I went to dinner with some of my favorite girls.

I'm looking forward to the weekend again, not just because I won't be working, but because I'll be able to spend time with Hubby! What a complete 180!!! And he seems to be pretty content, as well. I feel like he's a different person. I don't know if it was that he heard my unhappiness and finally felt like it was time to do something about it. Or perhaps it's directly related to the lack of green. I don't know what exactly to attribute the change to, but I'm really encouraged. Two weeks in a row and things are still good. We're both putting forth an effort to make one another happy. And it's really nice!!!

Yesterday was Opa's 88th birthday. At the last minute, I decided to take off of work a couple hours early and visit the cemetary with Omi. She didn't want to stay for very long. I can understand that, but I would have liked to stay longer. Now I know where he is, though, so I can go see him on my own and stay longer if I choose. Omi and I are both very emotional people, so once one of us starts getting choked up, the other is sure to follow. Definitely, next time I'm down there, I'll go see him and have a little chat on my own.

I contacted JB's tattoo artist about the piece that I want to get. It's not going to be cheap. He said it'll probably take more than one session and each session is $250 (3-4 hours, depending on how much I can take) or $100/hour. So, it could be anywhere from $350-500. But he sounded really stoked about the idea. I told him that I'll have to book the appointment a couple months out, so that I can save up the money. I'm hoping by late June, I can do the first session. Hubby isn't totally thrilled about the idea - he'd like to see me spend the money elsewhere - but he has said that he isn't going to tell me I can't do it. He's probably right. It would be more responsible to spend the money on something more practical, like a storm door for our front door or make a larger dent in our credit card debt. But it's important to me to do this in memory of Opa. I don't want to wait forever for it, ya know? I've set aside $50, so I'm that much closer!

I have my first choir practice tomorrow! The director called me last week and invited me to come to rehearsal. I did go up and introduce myself to him this Sunday. He seems very nice. I can't wait to start singing in a choir again. I'm so super excited about it!!! Last week, I went to the youth ministry adult planning meeting. They do so many different activities and events for the teens in the parish. I'm really excited to get involved with them, as well.

I can't believe how quickly the summer starts filling up with plans! I'm planning a camping trip in June with some of my girlfriends, Hubby & I are going to take a vacation in July (He even suggested getting on a PLANE to go somewhere...This is HUGE!!!!), some of the girls & I are planning a "hookie" day in August, September is my 10 year high school reunion (holy crap!), October is a coworker's wedding and November is a sorority sister's wedding. Today is only April 14th! I can only imagine how many other things are going to fill up this summer. I'm SO excited!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Okay, maybe not ever, but it really was a nice weekend. And I had every intention of telling everyone all about it yesterday and then stupid work got out of hand. I was actually required to focus on my job. :-P

Oh, but today is another story. I have the time to tell you all about my fantastic weekend today!

It started with Friday...I decided to take a half day on Friday. Initially, I thought we were going to have my mother-in-law over for Easter dinner this past weekend, and I wanted to make sure that I gave myself plenty of time for cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc. Then Hubby decided that he didn't want to do all that work (Pfft...Yeah, like he'd really be doing the work...), so we decided that we'd join the rest of the family at his aunt's house for the holiday. But I'd already requested the afternoon off, so I wasn't about to reneg on that.

So, I took the afternoon and did some shoe shopping!! I've really wanted to get some cute flats - something with a print, like a zebra or leopard print. Or some funky color. I'd bought some super cute ones from Kohl's the weekend before, but didn't try them on until I got home and found that they didn't fit. So, I returned those and then headed out to Shoe Carnival. I tried on probably 20 different shoes. They were all either too big or too small or not wide enough. I finally found a cute pair of silver flats. They weren't exactly what I'd had in mind, but they were close enough.

After shopping for like 3 hours (how the hell does the time go so quickly????), I finally headed home, made myself a tasty dinner and got ready to... Wait for it... GO OUT! My BFF has made some friends in her new town and she invited me to hang out with them on Friday night. We called another one of our girlfriends and she actually came out with us, too. I have to admit, I have a minor crush on one of BFF's buddies, so that's always fun. Last time I went out with all of them, I had a good time, but when you have to drive 30 minutes home, it's a bit restricting. So, I asked Hubby, if I could find a ride out to the bar, would he come pick me up. At first, there was some resistance, but he eventually said he would come get me. Even if it meant he had to go home for a while and then come back out to get me.

So BFF came out to get me and we hung out with all her people. It was a great time. Her friends are all very nice; a lot of fun! They convinced me, after quite a few shots, to sing at karaoke, which was alright. I get super nervous singing in front of people. I get all shaky and my voice sorta dies. But I think I did alright. Everyone said what a nice job I did, but I'm a firm believer that what people say and what they mean can be very different things. Hubby came to get me and, to my amazement, came in the bar and met everyone. I later found out that if I'd asked, he would have stayed and hung out for another hour until the bar closed. But I was ready to go. There was a minor amount of drama with BFF and her boyfriend, and I was kinda bored by that point. And I was really happy that Hubby was being so...social!!

We went home and had ourselves a nice, halfway drunken time. :-)

Saturday, we slept in and then spent most of the day (IN THE SAME ROOM!!!), watching tv together. I made tacos for dinner and a carrot cake for Sunday dinner. It was a very nice day, just spent relaxing together.

Sunday, I went to Easter mass. Boy, was it crowded!!! I'm so glad that I remembered about the twice a year Catholics! I got there early enough to find a seat close to the choir. Next week, I intend to go and talk to the choir director after mass and ask him about joining. I've been putting it off because of my stupid shyness, but this is really the reason that I chose this church. I was so impressed with the choir and really want to be a part of it, I need to just get the guts up to introduce myself and ask about joining! So, the plan is to talk with him this Sunday. Say a little prayer for me for some courage, would ya? :-)

After mass, I came home and woke up Hubby. We got ready and went off to his aunt's house for dinner. Both of her kids (our age) and their kids were there. As were my mother-in-law & her boyfriend and Hubby's other aunt & uncle. It was a very full house, but it was really nice. Highlights of the day:

• Four year old Maddie told me that I look like Hannah Montana with glasses. Thanks, Kid! Now if only I could fit into Hannah Montana's clothes!
• Aunt Laura & Maddie's conversation about how Aunt Laura lost one of her fingers:
• Aunt Laura - I was driving and there was a deer in the road.
• Maddie - And he bit it off???
• Watching Hubby take care of Maddie's 9 month old brother while their parents ran to the store for a while. Everyone kept telling how good he looked with a baby on his lap.

We got home around 8 and watched a movie together before I headed to bed. Nothing extraordinary happened this weekend, but it was so nice. Hubby decided on Friday that he wasn't going to buy a bag of green, that he's ready to be done with it, so I was really expecting a grumpy, mean asshole. But he completely surprised me. He was super sweet and we had a great weekend together. I definitely didn't think that he heard me the week before, when I complained that we never spent time together. That I was lonely and hated feeling like we were just coexisting in the same space. And then he shows me that he really DID hear me!!! What a nice surprise!!!

I'm at about 50%...

I always end up all over the place in these posts...I have so much to say, and just want to tell you everything! Perhaps if I posted more than once every two weeks, I wouldn't feel the need to jam it all into one post. Oh well. I do. Get over it. :-)

In one of my more recent posts, I discussed resolutions. I've been doing quite well with the church one. I've gone to mass every weekend since the beginning of the year. Granted, that's only three weeks, but it's 2 more weeks than the last time I thought I was ready to go back. And frankly, I don't see myself slacking on this one. I feel really good about it. That first Sunday, I went back to St. Charles Borromeo (SCB), the church that sort of reminds me of my old "home." It's about the same size and probably about the same age. They've got a choir (which is very important to me - I NEED to get back singing) and it's the closest. But I wanted to check out some of the other churches in the area, to make sure that I find the one that is right for me.

So, for the last two weeks, I attended mass at St. Mary's. I don't think I've ever seen a Catholic church this big. When I pulled into the parking lot, I literally out-loud, to myself, exclaimed 'Holy Crap!' It looked enormous to me. Inside is beautiful. Very, very large. It was built in 2001, so it has these modern-ish features. I don't know if I'd ever be comfortable in a parish that is so enormous. I've always enjoyed being a part of small things - small church, small(ish) high school, small colleges, small company. It does seem like St. Mary's has a lot to offer, including a choir (and a youth group that is looking for adult volunteers!). But I have to admit, I feel a bit overwhelmed there. And to be perfectly honest, the pews are really uncomfortable. lol They're low to the ground, and I find it near impossible to kneel on the kneelers. Maybe a silly con, but a con still.

This coming weekend and the week after, I'm planning on going to St. Catherine's, which a bit further (maybe 15 or 20 minutes from home), but I've heard a lot of good things about it. My aunt/uncle/cousins live in the area, so I asked for some suggestions. My aunt and cousin highly suggested this one, saying that they have a nice choir, youth programs, and while it's not a small church by any stretch, it's not as gigantic as St. Mary's. One of my coworkers told me that this is the church that she grew up going to and says that she likes it much more than SCB, where she had her children baptized. I'm really excited to go to mass at St. Catherine's on Sunday. I'm hoping that this one will be the perfect fit for me.

My second resolution - keeping better track of my sugar levels - is going okay. I'm testing at least once a day (supposed to do twice a day). I'm often surprised to see how high it is. Especially in the morning. I guess knowing is part of the battle, though. If I know it's high, I can be better prepared to combat it.

My final resolution - the same one that I have had every year since I was probably 9 - is stagnant. I just don't have motivation. I'm not hashing this out again. I'm just sayin...1.5 out of 3 isn't too bad, right? :-/

In other news, my birthday was a week ago today. It was really a fantabulous birthday! Seriously, best birthday in years. I must have gotten about 200 emails/facebook posts/blogs wishing me a happy birthday. I spent some extra time that morning and curled my hair, wore my favorite sweater and was ready for a happy day. Hubby texted me and told me to get home by 4, so that we could go to dinner. I got to work and my coworkers had decorated my desk (it's a tradition to do this, and usually I'm the one in charge of remembering bdays and buying a card & balloon). They got me the COOLEST balloon! It's bigger than your standard mylar balloon and it's clear! (I used to collect balloons in high school...Yeah, I'm an oddity of sorts...) I got to leave work a bit early, so I did a bit of shopping. Then went to dinner at Olive Garden with the Hubs. It was really a great day. It doesn't take much.

I spent a good part of Saturday working on my resume. I've finally decided to stop being passive about the whole situation and hoping that it gets better. I sent it to my dad, who gave me some suggestions on improving it, so I'm intending to update it later this week and perhaps start applying for some job openings next week. I'm nervous about it, but I need to at least see what's out there.

Today is 4 months since Opa passed. I still get choked up (and usually in tears) on a pretty regular basis. Songs do it for me a lot of the time. My birthday was kinda tough. But I guess I'm doing better. I talk to him a lot. Especially when I got teary eyed. I do feel his presence and I know he's always listening. So I take those moments to tell him how much I miss him and love him.

Hubby asked to go back to 2nd shift yesterday. He thinks his 1st shift boss is out to get him. I don't know what to think. He has a bad track record with authority figures (as in he pisses off his boss for some stupid shit and gets fired...), so if he thinks the boss might be heading down that road, then I'm supportive of the 2nd shift. I was really liking him on 1st, though. It's nice to spend time with him before bed. And to actually sleep with him at night. And to wake up together. I told him that I would've liked him to stay on 1st, but not if it means that he's going to end up without a job!

I think that's all I've got on news...I may be posting a meme next...We'll see. I really should be working right now. But I'm at a bit of a standstill with work tasks, so meme-ing sounds a lot more interesting. :-)

Making Progress!

I've been updating my to-do list as I complete tasks on it.

I did the grocery shopping last night and watched a couple shows. Last night was way more about just taking it easy than getting anything accomplished.

This morning, I got up and started cooking and cleaning. I'm about halfway done with all of that stuff. I also have updated my layout here (Purdy, no???). I decided to take the easy route and use stuff that other people have done. It's a lot more work to create layouts on your own. And frankly, these look a lot better than what I come up with. My only objection to using premade layouts is that other people could be (and probably are, because they're super cute) using the same ones. But I just gave in to the ease and prettiness. lol

I also added a Mister Linky & an icon to my page for my new Thankful for...Thursday meme. I hope that you all will participate next week! :-)

I'm off to start baking brownies and one of my super secret projects next! Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Lame Weekend Update

Ugh...This weekend was really rather crappy. Friday afternoon, I went to visit the fam. That was the highlight of the weekend, for sure. Played dice with Mom & Omi. Had dinner with Dad & Uncle. Was exhausted by 6:30. Cancelled plans with Melissa because I'm lame and wanted to go to bed. And did just that as soon as I got home.

Woke up early on Saturday, with a pounding headache. It was so bad that I felt lightheaded and nauseous. SO not the way I wanted to start my weekend. Especially since I had plans with my BFF to go out for her birthday. I made coffee, hoping the headache was due to lack of caffeine, but I think that just made me feel worse. I camped myself out in bed and tried to sleep it off. I napped and watched food network on and off all day. I was committed to going out. I got up around 4 and showered (in the dark), hoping that would help, but that didn't do it either. I felt horrible, but I ended up cancelling with Bestie.

I just felt like a terrible friend. I know how disappointed I'd have been if it had been my birthday and my friend cancelled on me. But I really would NOT have been any fun, if I'd gone out. We were supposed to go bar hopping and just the idea of alcohol or loud noise made me want to cry. So, I called her up and heard the disappointment in her voice, and at the last minute, considered sucking it up and going out anyway, but I ended up staying in bed.

I was feeling a bit better on Sunday, headache and nausea were gone, but I still had a scratchy throat. Honey lemon tea and Theraflu helped with that, so I did some grocery shopping and made a turkey breast with sausage & apple stuffing and mashed potatoes for dinner. We started to watch HP & the Half Blood Prince and ended up going to bed an hour into the movie.

I'm feeling much better today and have made plans to take Bestie to dinner to make up for my flaking out on Saturday night. JB isn't at work again today - sounds like she's got the same thing I had this weekend - so I'm relatively busy. Although, apparently not so busy that I couldn't post to my blog. lol

I'm going to try to hit up the library tonight after work. I need to get the book for my book club and I just cannot afford it right now. What's a library for, afterall? I just need to figure out where it is. lol!

Happy Monday, Ya'll!

Change is a-brewin...

Next week, Hubby and I are both starting new schedules. Hubby's company is shutting down third shift again (not sure for how long, again), and he was going to go back to second shift. Which, of course, I was super excited about. I think it works best for us. However, his boss offered him first shift this time, which will be a pretty significant change for him. The last time he was working day shift was like 7 years ago. His hours will be 6am - 2pm. This means he has to leave for work at 5. Should be very interesting to see how this goes. He told the boss that he'd like to try it out, but if it doesn't work, he made sure the boss agreed that he could go back to 2nd.

I think I'd be more excited about this if I was starting a later shift next week. :-P One of our customers is FINALLY putting our software into production next week (this has been a very long time coming...Like since before I started working here 3 years ago...so it's a pretty big deal). One of my managers asked me & JB to rearrange our schedules so that one of us is here between the hours of 7 and 6. She has a kid and is taking classes, so she's very limited on the days that she could work late. And frankly, I wouldn't want to do 7-3 twice a week and 10-6 the other three days, so I'm gonna suck it up and do the later shift, at least for the next month or so.

I love the idea of not starting until 10. That means I can get up later and still have the time to go for a walk, eat some breakfast, shower and get ready for work. But the other side of that coin is that I have to work until 6pm. Which means that I won't get home until 7. I think I'm going to have to start cooking something on the weekend that I can eat leftovers on for the whole week.

We'll see how it all goes down. I worked the late shift yesterday, and I really thought I was going to die when it was 2pm and I still had 4 hours to go. But that may have been compounded by the fact that JB wasn't here yesterday. Her daughter was sicky, so she had to stay home. Her not being here sucks. lol Having a friend around helps to pass the day. Especially JB. We usually go make/buy lunch together. And we chit chat throughout the day. And we encourage one another to not work. lol

No major plans for the weekend. Going home after work today, putting on my pjs and watching a new show that I just found called "The Colony." It's a reality show...The idea is the some natural/catastrophic event took place and they have to start over, pretty much. It's a group of ten people with different backgrounds - a couple different types of engineers, a doctor, a nurse, a handyman, a marine biologist, a contractor and a few others whose jobs I can't remember - and they have to figure out how to survive. They find an abandoned warehouse and figure out a way to filter rain and river water so that it's drinkable. They generate electricity from some old car batteries, but have to come up with a generator for the batteries. They have to figure out where to get food from and how to survive without the comforts of everything that they would've had pre-disaster. Hubby and I watched the first episode together and he totally loved it. It's kinda like 'Kid Nation' was, if you ever saw that. Except with adults. And no "rewards". I dig it. No plans tomorrow. Sims 3 and Chinese food, I think. lol Sunday, I'm going out to my parents' house for lunch. We're going to visit Opa (my grandfather) in the afternoon. He's not doing so well. They've finished the radiation treatments, but I don't know that it's helped any. They started him on hospice a few weeks ago, which is no good sign. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about him next week, and I'm supposed to be working right now, so tears are not an option.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Hopefully this rain is done for a while and the sun can grace us with his warmth!

Forty Six minutes....Go!

Forty six minutes until the weekend begins. Yay!

Last weekend went pretty well. Mouse's surprise party for her mom was very nice. Mouse was dressed as skanky as ever. I wouldn't expect any less. :-) It was cool hanging out with my Pops for a while. We chit chatted and had a nice prime rib dinner. Mouse's mom didn't recognize me at first - after a little reminder of 'Jenni down the street from kindergarten,' then she got it. She gave me a hug and thanked me for coming and then turned to my dad and said 'And this is your husband?' I laughed and probably turned a little red and then told her, no, this is the guy that used to drop me off at your house just about every weekend. Yikes! Although, I suppose when your own husband is 24 years older than you, that appears normal...? (She just turned 60 and her husband - Mouse's dad - is 84.) We stayed at the party until a bit after 8 and then went back to the 'rents house.

I hung out with my mom for a while, and was reminded that while I do put her on a well-deserved pedestal for being the strong woman that she is, sometimes, she's just a regular mom. We were watching an Ugly Betty rerun when she decides to tell me how America Ferrera went on jenny Craig and lost a bunch of weight. Oh yeah? That's cool. And then she tells me that I should do JC, too. I tell her that it costs a lot and that my problem is mainly that I'm lazy. I HATE getting sweaty. To which she tells me she feels sorry for me. Ugh. Mom, stop. There's no reason to feel sorry for me. Maybe I can't fit into a size 8 dress (hell, I couldn't fit my right ass cheek in a size 8 dress...), but I'm okay with that. Yeah, it'd be nice to be smaller. Might Would help in the baby-making process, but just like ten and fifteen years ago, your telling me that you feel sorry for me, that doesn't help. Just irritates me. So, I take that opportunity to tell my mom I love her and that it's time for me to go now. My dad assures me when I'm walking out that she's just trying to help. :-P Thank you, Mom.

I didn't get home on Friday night until after Hubby left (which was really quite nice. No sandwiches to make, to assholes to wake up. Good times!). I watched some tv, did laundry and went to bed around 1. Woke up at 6 and started getting ready for our camping trip. Hubby got home at 7 and informed me that we wouldn't be camping - just going to the rally and then back home again. I was bummed about the lack of camping, but what're you going to do? We drove down to Pontiac and hung out with all of his parents' buddies from the BMW club. Found out that a friend of mine is dating the roommate of the son of one of the other club members (Lemme break it down...A is my friend. She is dating M. M is living with Z. Z's dad, J, is in the same BMW club as Hubby's mom, and used to be pretty good friends with Hubby's dad before he passed). Small world, right??

The rally was nice. No games or events were going on. Just sitting around in a camping chair, listening to them all tell stories about their bikes and their trips. I was told a couple times that I don't talk enough. Well, yeah. I have no similar stories, Guy. Nothing to banter about when you're talking about your '89 Goldwing. Sorry. I was content to just sit in the shade, with the breeze blowing through, and just listen to them all chat. We got home by 10 on Saturday night and were both sleeping within 20 minutes of arriving at the house.

Sunday was grocery shopping and relaxing. And then back to work on Monday.

This week has had its fair share of ups and downs. Wednesday took the prize for the worst day in a long ass time. Got stuck in traffic on the way to work, which resulted in my getting here at 8:30, instead of the usual 7 or 7:30. Work was going all kinds of wrong. Not enough programmers in the office. A deadline that looked like it wasn't going to be made. Ended up staying late. And then the drive home...At 5pm...in a thunderstorm...with no a/c...I had to drive with the windows cracked, so I could get some cool air circulating. So, I'm getting rained on. And then, since it was 5pm, traffic was essentially standing still. I decided to take a different route home, thinking it'd be easier than the planned route. But there were lights to deal with. Every time I had to sit at a light, my windows got all fogged up and I got re-drenched as the rain came in the open window. Luckily, I wore two shirts that day, so I was able to take one off and wipe off the windshield as needed. When I got close to home, I hear tornado sirens going off and then I'm in the middle of horrible wind, downpouring rain, the sky's all greenish. I was pretty much scared shitless, but I managed to make it home in one piece. I made a yummy (leftover) dinner, put on my PJs and watched Top Chef, so that aided in making it a better night.

And then yesterday was a total 180 from the previous day. I waited for Hubby to get home, so I took HIS air conditioned car to work. Traffic wasn't horrendous. I stopped at Walmart (which is apparently growing on me...I'm a bit scared...), and bought a new shirt, which is totally cute and a fabulous color, for $15. I didn't work much in the morning and then we took an almost three hour team lunch at Maggiano's (paid for by the manager). After lunch, I futzed around for another hour and a half, and then was out of here. Picked up my photos for class (which were AWESOME! - I'll post them on FotoJenic soon) and headed to my last photography class. I felt very accomplished with my photos...I do feel like I've learned a little something. And I got some really interesting photos out of the deal.

Today's almost over (just 12 minutes left!)...On the way home today, I'm planning to stop and get my nails done...Afterward, I'll head home for a bottle of wine and some dinner. Maybe catch up on some missed shows from the week. Excited to get out of here and let my weekend begin.

Tomorrow is actually the first wedding of this summer. I'm letting Hubby stay home and bringing my BFF as my date. She just moved back here from TX, and I'm SO happy to have her back. She's freaking out a bit at the lack of control she has over her own life right now, but she's here and that makes ME (at the very least) a happy girl. Sunday will probably be spent chillaxin and doing laundry. Why does it seem that there's always more dishes to be washed and more laundry to be done? No matter how often I do them both, there's always more!!!

Anyway...1 minute left. I think that's close enough. Hope everyone has a fabu weekend!!!

I'm still kickin...

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. And I haven't gone into hibernation (though the idea of it is really, really nice...). I've just been busy sucked into a new tv show. I started watching Rescue Me a couple weeks ago, and have finally watched every episode, including the latest one which aired on Tuesday. I'm so in love with Denis Leary right now. He's not hot...But there's something about him or the character that's so super sexy.

I've actually had shit going on in life, too. Work's been a bit busy, so that's nice. When I don't have time to blog and/or read other blogs while I'm at work, that means I'm actually doing something worthy of being paid. Well, either that or I'm checking Facebook every five minutes for new updates and quizzes and emails from another tv-obsessed friend of mine.

A few weeks ago, some of my girlfriends and I got together for our first book club meeting. It was fantabulous! We went to dinner, where we discussed the book ("My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult) and then after chatting for a while, went to see the movie in the local theater. We chose our next book ("The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, a Chicago native! Woot! Reppin' the hometown!) and decided that we'd do the same thing for our next meeting - dinner & discussion, followed by a viewing of the movie. I haven't gotten very far in the book. Not that I'm not into it, just that I've been so busy with Tommy Gavin, I haven't had time for reading. Our next book club meeting is on the coming up soon, so I'll have to get on that.

Last weekend, I spent Saturday running errands and pampering myself with a fresh fill on my nails. Spent some "quality time" with Hubby. Twice. lol Sunday, I made some potato salad for a BBQ at a friend's house (which apparently turned out quite well...Everyone seemed to like it. I'll post the recipe some time. SO easy!). I managed to get Hubby to get out of the house and go to the BBQ with me. I didn't really give him an option of saying no. I just told him WE were going. That worked out pretty well. He wasn't the most social person at the shindig...He spent most of the afternoon on the couch, watching Mythbusters, but at least he came with me. He chatted with a couple guys that he's talked to before and tried to at least listen to what was going on. I wish that he was more outgoing sometimes. I feel bad when we go to one of these parties and he puts himself in the loner seat. I like to be in the conversation, rather than standing around on the outside. But when he's with me, I don't want to make his uncomfortable-ness worse by leaving him to fend for himself. So, I stick around and keep him company. Anyway, the BBQ was a great time.

I'm super stoked about this weekend. Tomorrow night, my dad and I are going to a surprise party for the mother of one of my oldest friends (Mouse). I've known Mouse since kindergarten. So, that's like 22 years. Shit. After kindergarten, we never got placed in the same class. I always wondered if they did that on purpose...I assumed so. I mean, there was something like 120 kids in our class, spread between four classrooms. But we didn't let that hinder our friendship. We sat together on the bus and played clapping games like 'Miss Mary Mack' and 'Down, Down Baby'. I'm pretty sure we were laughed at. Whatever. It was fun for us. Every Saturday morning, after I got out of CCD, my dad and I would go pick her up and she & I would go rollerskating. Toward the end of elementary school, we started growing apart. She was hanging out with a different crowd and in junior high, I transferred schools. We lost touch, but then freshman year of high school, I got in contact with her again (gotta love the internet!). She started dating my boyfriend's best friend, and then after we broke up with those boys, we still continued to hang out. However, in high school, things started getting a little crazy. There were some incidents that involved beer and cigarettes and boys. Oh, the plethora of boys.

Since then, we've had this relationship where we drift in and out of one another's lives. But I've always considered her a friend. She was supposed to go to a wedding with me a couple months ago and while that didn't pan out, she did invite me to her mom's 60th bday party, which is where I started with this whole thing. She invited me and a guest, which was supposed to be Hubby, but he has to work. And the whole anti-social thing...So, I asked my dad to go with me. I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing. I got THE CUTEST DRESS which I'll pair with a white, short-sleeved sweater, brown wedge sandals and this incredibly hot piece of jewelry, which I can't find on the FB website. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow. I'm kind of excited to have a night out with my Dad. I've always been Daddy's Little Girl and it'll be nice to have a dinner with him that he doesn't have to prepare first. I doubt that we'll know anyone else there, but it's cool. Should be fun.

Saturday, we're driving out to Pontiac, IL, for what's referred to as the Dinks Rally. It's a motorcycle/camping...thing... Something that Hubby grew up doing and his mom still does. It'll be about a three hour drive for us. I haven't been to this rally before, but apparently they do funny games and there's a band and sounds like a good time. Hubby says there should be a couple hundred people there. I just hope the weather cooperates. It's supposed to be stupid hot again, but if it isn't too muggy, I can probably deal. I think I'm going to lug the camera with me. I'm not usually one for participating in stuff, especially stuff that's going to result in me looking stupid, but I'm always up for capturing OTHER PEOPLE making fools of themselves. :-)

We'll camp Saturday night (that's the tentative plan...Hubby may put the kabash on that, depending on the weather) and then drive back home on Sunday morning. The rest of Sunday will probably be spent recuperating, and then back to the grind on Monday.

Anyway...I started this post thinking it was going to be short and sweet...Saying I'm still alive and this blog will soon return to it's regularly scheduled blathering. But apparently, I just had too much to say to keep it all in! I think I've expelled all I have for now. Hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend!!!

Weekend Update

This weekend was pretty uneventful. To make it appear more interesting, I present to you this week's Weekend Update in List form! Oooh...Ahhh....

Friday

• Grocery Shopping After Work - Not NEARLY as crowded as I was expecting. Might make this my new grocery day.
• Shake n Bake chicken with baked taters for dinner - Yum!
• A glass bottle of blackberry wine
• TV and internet til 2 am

Saturday

• Woke up at 7am, despite Hubby's attempts to let me continue sleeping
• More TV shows (Hell's Kitchen has started again and BOY! does it look like it's going to be a great season. Not to mention my FAVORITE chef from last season, who had to leave due to health issues, is BACK FOR THIS SEASON!!! YAY ROBERT!!!!!!!!!!!)
• Created my house in the Sims 3 - I did a damn good job. I should have taken screen shots.
• Created Hubby and myself in Sims 3
• Played our sims and immediately had us create a baby...If only it was really that easy.
• Made/ate dinner

Sunday

• More simming...It's an addiction, what can I say?
• Made spaghetti sauce with Hubby - awesome batch. Thick and luscious. Fabulous sausage from the newly-found butcher.
• Managed to keep the kitchen clean while sauce bubbled all day.

Yeah, that's it. I was happy to have a task-free weekend. But I really meant to create a new layout and wash my car. Oh well. Maybe this weekend?

Almost over? Already?

Geez! I will never get over how fast the time goes by when you'd like nothing more than for it to slow down or even stand still. My summer vacation is almost over. It's almost time to go back to work. Bleh. Just wanted to say what's up to all my homies. lol

We did go to Columbus - did an overnight trip. Checked out the zoo. No waterpark. It was a compromise. Had a very nice time at the zoo, but if we'd been in that car together any longer, I'm pretty sure my husband would be missing an eyeball. We can only be in those tight spaces together for so long before I want to poke him in the eye.

The rest of the week has just been spent here and there. Picked up my new glasses today. Apparently the shape of my eye changed since I last got glasses, so my eyes have yet to adjust to the new prescription. The lady who handed my new specs over said that I should put them on first thing tomorrow morning, so that my eyes adjust to them first thing, rather than getting all used to the old ones first. I'm excited for new eyes, though. Lost my sunglasses a couple months ago. Was hoping that they'd turn up, but they didn't. Gave in and bought new ones, along with new regular glasses, too. Maybe pics to come.

Today started the second session of my photography glass. We have assignments now. I'm stoked. We're working on composition this week. She gave us some things to focus on, but what I got out of the assignment is that she wants us to take some macro shots. I'm good at those!!! Yay! Five printed photos. So, we'll see how that goes. She also suggested that we play around with b&w and sepia editing, which will work nicely with this week's You Capture.

Anyway, this was meant to just be a short what's up! And I will be returning shortly with a more in-depth recap of the week. Hope everyone's having a good week!!

I just need one more day...

...to recover from this weekend. Geez, did it fly by!!!

Thursday, I left work later than planned and actually missed my last photography class. The traffic between work and home was horrendous. And I hadn't thought to bring my camera to work with me, so I had to stop at home to pick up my cam. By the time I got to the park district, I was a half hour late and everyone was gone already. Boo. No class this week, but then round two starts next Thursday. I'm pretty excited about this one. We'll have actual assignments. We'll have to have them printed for class. I'm stoked about that. Give me a challenge! :-D

The rest of Thursday was just getting Hubby off to work and lounging around the house. Friday, the morning was quiet. Played the Sims for a while and then went over to my Uncle's house for a big birthday bash. He and his son share a birthday and this year was a big one for both of them - 50 for Uncle Jack and 21 for my cousin, Ryan. They only live about 30 minutes from me, now. I wish I was closer to them. Obviously not distance-wise, but like...Familiar-wise. I really don't know them at all. Ryan has always been very quiet at family parties, not much to say and one word answers when asked a question. I just figured he was a shy kid. No big. His younger sister, Erin, is a lot more outgoing with the family. Has plenty to say. I recently hooked up with both of them on Facebook. It's interesting to see them in pics with their friends or to see how they interact with other, non-relative, people. When I was saying goodbye later in the afternoon, I told Ryan that I'd love to have him and his sister over sometime. I wish I could be the cool, older cousin whose house they feel like they could hang out at, if they just wanted some time away from Mom & Dad. When I suggested that they come out, he said yeah, sure. But I know it's all a facade. That's not how our family works. We get together a couple times a year - once at Christmas and generally once in the summer - and that's it. My dad and his three bros get together every once in a while, but that's really it. It just saddens me that I don't have a real relationship with any of my extended family, other than my mom's parents.

Anyway, back to the weekend. After the family party, I went back home and hung out with Hubby for a while. Played some more Sims and went to bed pretty early. Saturday morning, did a bit of cleaning and chillin. Took a four hour nap after lunch. Did a little more cleaning and then we went to the new Walmart at like 11pm. Spent entirely too much money. And then stayed up til 3am, making potato salad, which, it turns out, needed a lot more salt.

Sunday, got up at 7, made a wonderfully tasty and beautiful dessert - Red, White & Bluebarry Trifles (Hopefully Hubby won't dig in to the untouched one that's home. Assuming he doesn't, I'll take some pics tonight) - cleaned until noon and then showered and got ready for our guests. A friend from out of town was visiting for the weekend, so we had a BBQ. I was prepared for about 20 people, 7 of which didn't show. Everything turned out pretty nicely, though. I grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs. We set up a couple tables and chairs out in the garage and had a nice afternoon. It was really nice to get together with the girls. I'm so glad that they were able to make it out. Everyone was gone by 8pm. Hubby helped me clean up and then we were in bed by 9.

I couldn't believe the alarm was already going off at 4:30 this morning. I'm dragging ass today. It's so quiet in here. Half the office is out today (4 out of 9) and it's just silent. My eyelids keep drooping. Each time I blink, I'm sure I'm going to fall asleep. And I've got a bit of a tummyache. I was going to suggest sushi for lunch, but I'd hate to ruin it by not feeling so well. That shit is so expensive...I have no desire to get sick after I've spent $30 on lunch - for myself alone. Maybe tomorrow instead.

Five more days (including today!) until I am off for 9 days straight. O.M.G. I cannot effing wait. I still have no idea where we're going or what we're doing, but it is going to be fun, damnit. :-)

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!!!

Weekend Update

I had a very nice, albeit short, weekend! Friday night, I came home and watched back episodes of The Cleaner with Benjamin Bratt. It's the story of an ex-addict who in his own recovery has found a calling to help others through the same thing. He is hired by people who have loved ones suffering from some kind of addiction - drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex - they mostly focus on drug addicts in the show, though. William (Bratt's character) and his team track down the addict, find the supplier, "catch" the addict and bring them to a rehab facility. They talk about how the failure rate of these caught addicts is 75%. Only one quarter of all the people that they bring to rehab are successful in kicking their habit. Yikes. Anyway, I got sucked into the show. That's what I did on Friday. I had leftovers for dinner, made Hubby his BLT's and went to bed.

Saturday, I woke up around 7 when Hubby got home from work. We hung out for a while - he played WoW, I played Sims 3. I did a bit of cleaning and then took a shower and ran some errands. Finally got my pool pass - definitely going to take advantage of that soon. Went to JoAnn Fabrics and got some material to make a backdrop for my photos. Came back home and ordered a pizza for dinner. Watched some more Cleaner and went to bed around 10.

Sunday, Hubby woke me up around 6, after he'd been up for an hour and a half. Before I even woke up, he did some cleaning and put on a pot of coffee for me. We had some breakfast and I finished up with the cleaning while he went out and mowed the lawn. I did a bit of sewing - my backdrop isn't quite what I'd planned, but it's not bad. It serves its purpose. And then around 2, Mel & the kids came by. We took some pics at the house, but I had forgotten how difficult it can be to get 2 and 3 year olds to sit still and look in the same direction at the same time. So, we put the nix on that and went out to the park. It was a beautiful day and I think the kids had a nice time. I got some great pics at the park, which I'll be sharing soon. After while, the kids got tuckered out, so they all headed back home. Spent the rest of the evening having dinner with Hubby and talking about plans for the week.

Like I said, short & sweet. :-)

True to to nature...

I'm going to do two posts in one day, one was a meme and the other, a belated Weekend Update. Good times, huh?

My weekends have been pretty quiet for the last few weeks. Hence the lack of Weekend Updates. Last weekend (the weekend of the 13th), I went out to see Steph for her 23rd bday. The plan was to hit up the local drive-in, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. So, instead, we went to the regular movie theater. We saw The Hangover. It was a pretty good flick. We sat in the third row, because the little theater was PACKED! I thought I'd be feeling nauseous or have a headache by the end, but I didn't, so that was good. Quite funny. Andy from The Office (I don't know his real name and don't really feel like going to look it up) was in the movie. HilARious! Love that guy!

This past weekend, Hubby came home from work early on Friday night...Got home at like 3am. I didn't know he was there until 5, when I was hollering at the cat and he responded. Scared the shit out of me for a second until I remembered that his vacation time started over and it was only a matter of time before he left early. I could care less, as long as he has the time. He has a bad habit of using all his vacation and personal time early in the year and then for the last six months, every time he wants a day off, or a couple hours off, he has to take no pay. Which he never seems to have a problem with. I could kick him every time.

Anyway, I went back to sleep and woke up around 7, thinking that we were going to go to Menard's to pick up some yard stuff and then work in the yard for a few hours. That never happened. Hubby didn't leave his desk chair all weekend, with the exception of a few hours when he napped and a couple potty breaks. What a turd. Saturday was just a blur. I got Culver's and TacoHell for dinner. We did not a damn thing.

Sunday, I went to visit the fam. My grandparents were there, which was nice, but they only stayed for a while. Opa wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back home. Poor guy. He starts radiation this week. I don't really have any more info, except that they did some more tests last week to determine if the cancer has spread to any organs. As far as I know, we don't have any results on that.

The rest of the afternoon/evening, I just hung out with my parents. I read to my mom for a while (who needs a book on tape/cd/mp3 when you have your own personal readers??) and then checked out my dad's Father's Day gift - a new grill. He was testing it out on me - he made ribs, red potatoes and asparagus (and showed me an awesomely easy way to grill the asparagus!!! You take a couple toothpicks and stick them through the spears, making a "boat" of sorts. Makes it way easier to turn them and you don't lose them through the grates of the grill...Good deal!). Very nice dinner with my dad. After dinner, I got back in the car - I had Hubby's - no way was I going to put up with the heat when I didn't HAVE to - and made the long journey back home. I pretty much went to bed as soon as I got home, while Hubby continued to play the game straight through the night and until noon on Monday. Seriously, that man has an addiction. Last night, though, he did comment that he needed a break from WoW. Like a whole weekend. Call me Thomas, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Not much else is going on with me. I'm bored with life in general. The future of my company is still up in the air. Bossman Bob met with the potential purchaser (we'll call him the Donald) yesterday, and while he hasn't accepted the deal yet (wasn't offered enough moula), he also didn't turn them away. He's going to mull it over for a week and get back to them. If he does decide to sell, the Donald says that he'd like to keep all of us on, but in new roles. He'd want to send the programming/development over to India and the existing programmers/developers would move to sales/support. Which made me question my own job. If the programmers, who have far more knowledge than I do, are bumped to support, where does that leave me? I mean, that's what I do now. As a tester, JB and I are the main contacts for our clients. They call us, JB and I try to work out or duplicate the problem and then we submit the issue to the programmers. If they're doing our job, where does that leave us? It's a little concerning, but, as I've said before, I feel bored. And if my job security was in question, chances are, I'd be on monster and careerbuilder faster than ... well, I dunno what. But fast.

I sent an email to a bunch of my friends, with a link to my photo blog and told them all that I'm looking for human subjects and that I'm offering my services free of charge. I have three or four pretty definite things set up, and a handful of others saying they're interested, just let 'em know when. So, I'm glad I did that. I'm a bit nervous that I won't be as good as I'm hoping, but that's the whole idea, right. Develop the portfolio. Develop the skills. And they're my friends. They've gotta at least pretend to like the photos. ;-)

Wow...This turned out to be much longer than expected. Well, there ya have it. That's most of June, so far. :-)

Belated Weekend Update, and then some!

Hello Friends!

I'm getting a little lax on these weekend updates. I mean, we're halfway to next weekend already! (Woohoo!)

This weekend was great! It was so nice to have an extra day off. Saturday, we spent the morning in the yard. Hubby mowed the lawn & did the edging/weed wacking while I trimmed the bushes and pulled weeds. We planted some flowers (petunias, pansies, lamb's ear & New Guinea impatiens. I haven't taken any photos yet - I'll have to get on that sometime this week. We were going to put down mulch, but Hubby made the mistake of asking the neighbor across the street how much he used. He tells Hubby he used THIRTY TWO bags of mulch!!! We only had six. And I'm still not convinced that six wasn't enough. But Hubby didn't want to start the job if we couldn't finish it. So, that was the end of our yardwork. It was fun, though, what we did do. I got a bit of a sunburn, but I needed some color and pink is better than pasty! We took a four hour nap after our hard work outside and then hung out in the office for the rest of the day. Sunday & Monday, we just relaxed. Hubby slept most of the days, while I worked on my blog layout (which, I think I may change again this weekend...Maybe I'll just use a different bgd on the actual blog part...). I grilled a couple times and then it was Monday night and I was back to getting ready for work. :-P

We still don't have any news on the future of our company. My coworkers are doing a demo of our software this week for the high-ups at this other company, who might be interested in buying us. We will see what happens. I have to admit that I was surfing around Monster & CareerBuilder this weekend...Just keeping my eyes & ears open.

I'm starting a photography class through the park district tomorrow. I'm really excited about it! Not just about learning how all the settings on my fancy dancy camera work, but also about meeting other people in the area who have an interest in something that I enjoy. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make a friend!!! Someone who lives less than an hour away! How exciting! It's a six week "beginner's" class, then a break for the week of July 4th, and then another 6 week "intermediate" class. Did I mention how excited I am??? :-)

I have something else to discuss, but that topic will get its own blog post. Probably later today. Until then, hasta!

Belated Weekend Update

This weekend was quite nice. I already gave ya'll the lowdown on the wedding Friday night. I drove home in the pouring rain, took me nearly two hours. But it was definitely worth it.

Saturday, we did a whole bunch of nothing. I convinced Hubby to help me clean a bit. And I think I cooked dinner, though, for the life of me, I can't tell you what I did or didn't cook...Must've been really great. I made it to level 80 in WoW...This is the highest level and Hubby is definitely more excited about this than I am. He now has another 'toon' to play on. :-P Whatev. I'm so over WoW. I can't wait for Sims 3 to come out! It'll be nonstop, I tell ya!

Sunday, Hubby's Mom & her boyf were planning to come over around noon. I needed to go grocery shopping and Hubby really wanted to get a firepit, in case they stayed after dark. So we hit up the grocery store first. Man, is he like a little kid. Not that he wanted everything he saw, which is how he used to behave when we did the grocery shopping together. No, now he feels like everything I purchase is too much. He tells me I think I'm a gourmet chef. Sorry I don't like mac n cheese, frozen pizza and hot pockets for every meal, Buddy. I prefer real food...Like chicken and beef and vegetables. And God forbid if I want a couple bananas, too. Apparently THIS is why he doesn't go with me anymore. Because I like to buy food that's not processed a million times over. I do my best to ignore the 'tude and we make it out alive. BTW, I spent only $100 and this is for a week's worth of groceries. That's better than I've done in quite a while! After the grocery store, we head over to Menard's to look for the firepit. We set a budget of $150 and end up finding one for $60. We also got some tiki torches to put up near it and a couple other odds & ends. Spent less all together than we planned on spending for the firepit alone. Woohoo!

We went home, got the house all ready and waited for our guests to arrive. His mom showed up at 12:30 without boyf in tow. Turns out he had made plans to go on a ride (he's a motorcycle rider) and had forgotten about it. So whatev. We watched the Cubbies lose (they tried really hard, though!) and then I BBQ'ed. M-I-L has a charcoal grill and doesn't really know about the gas ones. Hubby has no idea how to work any grill. So, it was nice to kinda show off my grillin skills. lol We had burgers (if anyone has a good burger recipe, please pass it along. I had WAY too many onions in the mix...), dogs, corn on the cob and grilled pineapple (my mouth waters every time I think about grilled pineapple...It is one of the best tasting things on earth). Everything got eaten, so I guess it was a hit. Hubby didn't stick his nose up and MIL gave me a couple compliments, so that was nice. After cleaning up all the dishes, we played some Guitar Hero with his mom. We're both pretty out of practice, so we all sucked it up. Good times. :-)

She left around 5:30, we went for a walk and spent the rest of the night relaxing. I was exhausted! I don't know whether it was all the cleaning and cooking or if it was the walk or what, but I was out by 9:30.

Hubby's back on 3rd shift this week - and it sounds like this is going to be the end of the flip flopping. Ugh. Third really sucks, for me anyway. Positive things about third shift:

• I get the bed to myself - I can sleep sideways, if I choose to.
• I can snooze in the morning without having to worry about disrupting Hubby (the negative of this is that I turn off the alarm and sleep til 6am...Duh.)
• If he wanted to, we could have dinner together before he leaves for work.

Yeah, that's all I've got...But it's something, right? :-)

I have some sorta unsettling news, as well. On Friday, the reason that I was wearing a skirt was that the programmers were giving a demo of our product to a gentleman who works for another software company. There is potential that he could do marketing for our product to the European market, which could be great for our company. However, the programmers that I work with are a bit leary about this, as another option is that they could be interested in buying us out. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the big Boss decided that was the route he wanted to take. He's all about the bottom line - and for him, it's all about the money. If he can see better potential with a buyout, I would imagine he'd have no hesitation.

So, let's just say he does sell. Where does that leave me? One of the "managers" that I work with seems to think that if Big Boss sold out, he'd be loyal to us. As in, part of the sale/contract would be that they keep all of us on for five years, or something like that. I can't imagine, even if that did happen, that it'd be a good situation to be in. So...this leads me to the question of where would I go? What would I do? Do I look for another job testing software? Do I look for a job that's related to accounting? Do I try to find something related to my degree, which was in business administration? Do I fall back on what's easy and familiar, and I have connections - retail? Or do I sit down and think long and hard about what I want to do? What could I be passionate about? What would I enjoy doing every day and be excited about doing? If you asked me right now what my dream job would be, I couldn't answer you. Teacher? Hair stylist? Chef? Event planner? Computer programmer? Software tester? I'm sure I have no idea...

If you were given the opportunity to start anew, in terms of your career, what would you do?

Weekend Update!

So, I should totally be working for the next 32 minutes. Instead, I'm going to fill you all in on my wonderful weekend. And then if I have any time left over, I'll be making out my grocery list. So there!

This weekend was actually great, as have been many weekends in the last few months. I'm so glad that things have turned around for us. Hubby seems to have taken a chill pill. Or maybe I've stepped up my game. Or maybe God smiled on us. Or maybe all of the above. Whatever the reason, I'm happy.

Thursday morning, I peed on another stick. Once again, I saw that dreaded single line. A minus sign. Telling me you are "without" child. Ugh. Asshole stick. I still haven't started bleeding yet. I'm 3 and a half weeks late. I called the doctor's office this afternoon, spoke with the nurse, who suggested that I come in and see the doctor, though she wasn't too terribly worried about it. So, this Thursday, I go to the doctor. We'll see what she has to say. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed (yeah, I love being let down) that both tests were wrong and that by some miracle, there's a baby in there.

Thursday was also the day that the flowers that I sent to my mom, my grandmother and my mother-in-law were delivered. They all seemed to like them, though they all told me I shouldn't have spent the money. Why can't these women just say thank you and enjoy them? Whatev. I liked sending them.

Friday, after work, I went to visit the fam. It was also Omi's (Omi is German for grandma) birthday, so I had another gift that I knew was going to get the same 'Don't spend your money' response. Before she could even get it out, I told her to just enjoy it and say thank you. Everyone laughed a bit, she called me a Smart Alec and proceded to open the gift. I got a bottle of Reisling and a variety box of cheeses that are specially chosen to go with Reisling. As I though she might, she loved the gift. After that, I went outside with my camera and took some photos of flowers and things around the yard. Mom & Omi are/were very Martha Stewart, so there are so many possible subjects for photos. While I was out there, I noticed how many young children are in the neighborhood again. It's nice to see all the kids out playing together again. Reminds me of when I was a kid. Granted, there are also a lot of older kids that hog the road when you're trying to drive down it, but it's nice to hear the squeals of children and see them enjoying life. Gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling. :-) Once I finished my photo shoot, I went down to the basement and dug out a box of photos. I wanted to pull out some pics of me and past friends to scan and post on Facebook, because seriously, who doesn't like to be embarrassed by photos of themselves in 7th grade? lol I was amazed at how skinny I looked back then. Even in high school. God, I wish I were that thin still....:-P Finished the evening with dinner with my dad and his brother and then watched Happy Feet with my mom. A very nice Friday night.

Saturday morning, got up a bit early, made some coffee and got ready for the handyman!!! We FINALLY had our garage door opener installed!!!!!! The darn thing has been sitting in the garage, in the box, since October. Hubby insisted for months that he was going to do it. When we got our tax return in February, he finally gave in and said that I could pay someone to do it. And why have I been waiting all this time? No good reason. I just never did it. So, he and another guy came on Saturday morning and now I can get in and out of my house with so much more ease! I am THRILLED! The rest of Saturday was spent lazing around, playing WoW and editing photos (Yay Picnik!). Made burgers for dinner on the grill and Hubby actually ate them - an amazing feat, as he never eats anything that's not out of a box or the drivethru.

Sunday, got up around 9, when I could no longer deal with the pain in my shoulder/back. I dunno what it is. A pulled muscle or something. Hurts like a bitch during the night. Made cinnamon rolls and coffee and woke up Hubby around 10. Spent the day doing laundry and playing some more WoW. Started to try to figure out making my own blog layout. I SO want to do this. I have this fabulous idea in my head, but I've just got to a. pull it all together and b. figure out how the hell to get it to work. lol One of these days... Oh! And I took my last test for the class I've been taking!!! I got a 92, which solidifies my A in the class. Yay!

Things I'm excited about this week - Grilling steaks tonight and BBQ chicken later in the week, going to the zoo on Thursday after the doctor (I really want to go to the zoo to take photos. But I want to go alone. I don't want Hubby rushing me or stealing the camera. So, I decided to take the whole day off. After the doctor, I'll drive my happy behind out to the zoo and spend the evening there taking photos of all my favorite animals. Hopefully they won't all be hiding...And the weather cooperates with this plan...), buying and using some new fun makeup, and a wedding for a friend from high school on Friday night. I can't decide if I'm more excited about seeing a. the friend that's getting married and the best man or b. the person that I'm hoping to take as my date. Another very old school friend, who used to hang out with all of us back in the day. God, it's been like 10 years. Boy, do I have stories about her!!! Maybe I will share some tomorrow. For now, it's time to pack up and hit the road, I spent an extra 7 minutes on this post!!!

Weekend Update & Brilliant Idea

Happy Monday, Everyone. :-P I hope you all had a nice, relaxing weekend. Ours was very nice, though not the most relaxing ever. That's okay. I don't mind a little excitement.

I've been battling this stupid cold since St Patrick's Day - THANKS DAD! I started with a head cold - totally stuffy, head ache, phlegmy cough...Good times. That weekend, I was still a little congested, but I thought I was pretty much done with it. I had some minor coughing, but nothing that I couldn't handle. And then last week, like Thursday, it started to feel like I was getting worse again! Scratchy throat and dry coughing...I feel like I've got something stuck in my throat, but at the same time, I feel like it's dry as hell. When I try to talk after being quiet for a while, I sound horrible. So, the throat's kinda keeping me down, but whatever.

My mouth is mess, too! The fillings didn't really start to bother me until late last week. I can finally close my mouth all the way, and the foreign material is starting to feel more like tooth. But there's a spot on one of my teeth that's just not right. It feels very sharp when I slide my tongue over it. One more week and I'll be going back for the other side. Yay. :-( And then once I recover from all the fillings, I have to go in and have all four wisdom teeth pulled. I'm terrified.

On to the good stuff. My house is CLEAN! Like awesomely clean. My mother-in-law & my grandparents came up to visit on Saturday afternoon, so the house had to be spotless. These two women are the cleanest neat-freaks I know. My grandparents hadn't seen the house yet, and seemed quite impressed with it. Made me very proud. When my mom got sick, they moved down to be near us. They have been a very big part of my life and I am really scared for the day that they're no longer around.

They arrived around 1 and I immediately gave them the tour. After that, we talked about what we were going to do. I told them that I wanted to take them to the winery that we go to and then m-i-l and Omi decided that they wanted to see our grocery store. Side note about the grocery store - it's HUGE. And they've generally got great prices. Hubby and I have both raved about the store, so m-i-l & Omi, being deal chasers, were stoked to check it out. Woodman's (the grocery store) happens to be right across the street from the winery, so we were in luck. We had a little tasting at the winery, Omi & Opa got a couple cheeses & a bottle of Reisling. M-i-l and I tasted some Almond Champagne, which was really fabulous! And then Hubby and I picked out our free bottles, for our wine of the month club. We drove across the street and wandered around Woodman's for a half hour - not my favorite thing to do on Saturday at 3pm, but whatever floats your boat.

When we were done shopping, I suggested we head back to the house, so Omi could refrigerate her purchases (eggs, cheese, pork roast), but she insisted that it'd be okay in the trunk. Yikes! We went to our favorite Chinese place for lunch and had the whole restaurant to ourselves, which was very nice.

After lunch, they decided to head home. I kinda felt bad, as I think m-i-l would've liked to come back to the house and hang out for a while, but Omi & Opa were quite obviously pooped. After getting them back to the highway, we went home and I watched some tv while he played WoW. A very chill evening. Went to bed around 9, which was so nice!!

Sunday, I slept until 8:30 - yes, I slept almost 12 hours. I SO needed it. I didn't make it to mass, and felt sorta guilty about that. I was kinda bummed that I missed the palms, but isn't the Gospel on Palm Sunday like the longest ever? I gotta say, I'm not so bummed about missing that. I'll definitely be there this weekend. Maybe I'll try to drag Hubby. Probably not though. We didn't really do anything Sunday. Played the game for a while and then decided to go back to Woodman's so I could cook dinner for the Hubs. Which leads me to my next BRILLIANT IDEA!

I think I'm going to start posting recipes (perhaps even with pictures). I love to cook and I usually have no one to share it with, since Hubby is very picky about what he will and won't eat. I didn't take any photos last night, but I made a very tasty dinner - one of Hubby's favorites. I figure as long as I'm cooking, it wouldn't hurt to share some of the really good stuff with anyone that happens to be reading, right? Plus, I just recently took some time to delve into The Pioneer Woman. OMG...I thought I was going to die when I started looking at her site. She is everything that I wish I could be. A fabulous cook, photographer, baker, website pro, mother, wife of a cowboy (I mean, really, who doesn't want the Marlboro Man as her husband?), and GORGEOUS, to boot!!! Seriously, enough already! Spread some of the wealth! She's like Martha Stewart, but better. I figure the only way I'm going to get to that level of Susie Homemaker-ness, is if I give it a shot! So...That's my brilliant idea. Perhaps tonight, probably more like tomorrow, I will put up recipes for last night's dinner - Chicken Saltimbaca & Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes. Woo Hoo!

Oh, PS, we got another 2 inches of snow yesterday. WTF is that all about!?!!??? Where's my effing spring at!?!!???