Monday, December 31, 2007

WE GOT IT!!


Our bid was accepted, we signed the contract this morning, the home inspection is on Thursday! The first of many hurdles has been cleared!! Only several hundred more hurdles left!! :)

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Found It!! Maybe....

We looked at 5 houses yesterday. I will detail each one.

1) The first house was very large and in a really great neighborhood. Most people would move heaven and earth to live there. Really great schools, close to everything, safe! The house itself was built in 1976, and the owners have not done ANYTHING to the house since then. We found orange shag carpet in the family room, green carpet in the living room and dining room, PINK shag carpet in the bathroom. Each room would need paint and updating. We liked the house and felt that the work might be worth it to get the neighborhood and the resale value.

2) This house we initially dismissed looking at because it only had one bathroom, but my husband wanted to look at it anyway and see if there was a way to build in another bathroom. We ended up really liking the house, the kitchen is kind of small but there is a way to add more counter tops. There is a roughed in second bathroom in the basement too! The location is close to my dad's and within minutes of work and everything else. We really liked this one!

3) This house was built in 1928 and had been totally remodeled. It is about 2 blocks from our current apartment, so the location is convenient. The bedrooms were small, and there were issues with the floor, it was not level in places, like the kitchen slanted downward! It was also right across the street from train tracks, and there was no yard. So we ruled this one out.

4) At this house the owner was home and hovered all over us the whole time we were there. It was hard to look at it fully with him right there listening to everything and telling us about oddball stuff.

5) This house was in the same neighborhood as house #4, but about $30,000 less! It said that it needed some cosmetic repairs. The house was totally trashed! It smelled! I mean we got half way up the stairs and turned around and left. The stench was a mix of animal, filth and human waste!

We decided at that point to go back to house number 2 and my dad met us there, he and his wife loved it too! This house is at the top of a hill and the property line is long and skinny, it is only about the width of the house, and there are neighbors very close on both sides. There is about 75 yards of wooded land out the front door and about 400 yards of woods behind the house. There could be another house built at some point next to our neighbor, but other than that, it is totally private. We met one of the neighbors and he told us that there is a family of 6 deer and several turkey's that rome around the front yards all the time. Smug-Hub is in heaven! The house is a great compromise between city living and country living. It only has two bedrooms, but it also has a one car garage, so there is plenty of storage! There is a skylight in the bathroom!

We are meeting out there again today with my Mom and Smug-Sister, and we are going to make an offer!! Wish us luck - I feel slightly sick to my stomach as this is really huge!!

I know that if it does not work out that it was not meant to be and we will find something else, so this is helping me not worry about it too much!!

Friday, December 28, 2007

House Hunting and News Years Resolutions.

House Hunting:
SUCKS! We found a house that we love, we wanted to sleep on it for a while as the house had been on the market for over 118 days, it wasn't going anywhere! The selling agent called our agent to tell us that another couple was looking at the house for the second time. We decided to bid on the house. That bitchy selling agent called that other couple and told them that we were bidding on the house. They decided to also bid on the house, they bid slightly higher than we did, and requested a sooner closing date. They discarded our bid!! OK, so my brain is telling me that this was not the house for us, that we will find a better house and all will go smoothly. But my heart has cracked a little and I have been depressed for a few days.

We are going to look at 5 new houses tomorrow and they all look promising. I am sure that we will find something, but whatever....

New Years Resolutions:
I have decided to start the year off by cleansing everything. I am going to cleanse my body, heart, mind, home, and office!

Body: I am going to start the Master Cleanse (a.k.a the lemonade diet) on January first and do that for 10 days. During this time, I am going to do low key workouts. I have gotten some beginner yoga and Pilates videos and I plan on doing one 20 minute workout each day. This will help with the cleanse, yet not be so demanding on my body that I pass out from lack of food! After the 10 days, there are 3 days of easing yourself back into normal food. I plan on setting up a low fat, low calorie eating plan for myself, so that I can 1) continue losing weight and 2) not clog my body up so fast again! I also plan on getting back into going to the gym a few days a week and working out at home a few days a week.

Heart and Mind: I am going to work on my negativity. I would like to think of myself as a "glass-half-full" kind of chick, but in reality I am not and I tend to see the worst in people. I am going to work on this. I am going to try to emulate my Mother-In-Law, whom I have never heard utter a bad word about anyone!

House and Office: I am going to continue the work that I have started at the house, packing up unnecessary items and taking them to mom's attic or the storage unit. I am going to finish getting my shoes and clothes cleaned out and taken to Goodwill. I am going to organize all paperwork in my office, so that I can easily find anything that I happen to go looking for.

As for the money part of my life, I have already made really good strides in that area, my checking and savings accounts are being balanced and handled properly. The credit cards are on a payoff plan that is steadily reducing the balances (albeit, very slowly). I have changed my 401(k) plan to take advantage of the new matching program. After the house is purchased, I will sign up for a Roth IRA and Smug-Hub and I will work on our Will's and Revocable Living Trusts and make sure that our Life Insurance is set up correctly. We just can't make too many changes to our finances while they are being looked at for the home loan and it makes no sense to create the will or trust when we don't have anything to put into them yet.

I am looking forward to all the new things that 2008 will bring into my life. A House. Financial Stability. Time with my Husband. A Baby Perhaps.....

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

I gave Smug-Hub an iPhone for Christmas and he was totally wowed! He loved it!! He gave me several of the items that I had asked for and several things from New Mexico. His family gave me 2 different sets of a necklace and earrings. I really love everything! I have to say though that the best part of the day so far was watching his face when he opened the iPhone! It was priceless! I love him so much!

We went to Dad's for Christmas Eve dinner last night and they gave us a blanket with one of our wedding pictures embroidered on it. It is actually very cool and I think that we will hang in on the wall when you buy our first home!

We then went to church for Midnight Mass, which actually started with carols at 11 and then mass started right at midnight. It ran long as there were so many people taking communion that we did not leave church until about 1:30. By the time we got home and settled into bed it was after 2:30am before we got to sleep and then woke up about 8:30 this morning so we would have time to play with our loot before heading to moms.

We will be heading to mom's here in about 10 minutes for dinner and gift exchanging! We plan on heading back to the house after this shindig to take a really nice long nap!!!

Happy Holiday's to all you guys out in blog land! Remember to hug everyone you love as often as they will let you!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

On The Eve of Christmas Eve

Today is the eve of Christmas Eve. I sometimes think that I like Christmas Eve better than Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is still full of all the wonder and excitement and anticipation of the big day. Christmas Day is kind of whirlwind of food, family and gifts, and it goes by really fast and leaves you feeling sort of let down at the end.

Christmas Eve on the other hand (at least in my world) is much better! In my family, we get together with my Dad on Christmas Eve, and normally I have to work. So, the day is full of food and laughter all day at the office. The work load is very light and most of the departments bring in food and pass out cards and goodies. Everyone is laughing and sharing goodwill with everyone else. Then we hand to Dad's for a gift exchange and a big dinner! This year the company has given us Christmas Eve off, so I will get to spend the day cooking and shopping.

Everything that HAS to be purchased as been purchased, so any shopping that we do today or tomorrow will just be for fun. Shopping without the pressure to find the perfect gift, or any gift. You can enjoy the hustle and bustle without getting caught up in it!

Yesterday, Smug-Hub and I looked at 3 more houses and they all sucked! We decided to wait until the hot sheet comes out on January 2 before we make a decision about bidding on the Reedland house.

After that we headed downtown. There were street vendors selling everything from hand painted bird feeders to fresh, hot kettle corn. We ran into my mom and my nephew and Smug-Hub bought some kettle corn for us all to share. We started to walk over to the Orvis store and ran into 4 different people from the office on the way. Everyone walking around downtown was in a good mood, most people you passed said Merry Christmas to each other. Everyone was smiling and having a good time.

We then all went to the Tahi place for lunch and met up with a couple that Smug-Hub and I used to hang out with all the time before they moved away. So the 6 of us ate lunch together. Then mom and Will left to take Will to a show called Winter Wonderland that the local theater put on for kids. Smug-Hub and I headed to the toy store to pick up one last minute gift. The store was full, but not in a crazy way. Perhaps the fact that we were not crazy or panicked helped the scene feel less intense!

We came home after that and got a phone call from the realtor. He told us that the selling agent of the Reedland house called him to let him know that they were showing the house to another couple for the second time. He said that sometimes Realtors will use this as a selling tactic, so he did not know if it was true or not. This sent us into a tailspin. Should we bid, should we wait, etc.... We talked with our parents and his brother and Smug-Sister and finally decided that if this was meant to be our house, it would happen. If it was not meant to be, rushing into bidding would not make a difference. I hope that this is the right decision and we don't let this house slip through our fingers....

Today is Sunday, I plan on getting the house cleaned up a bit, doing laundry and spending a lot of time on the couch. This head cold is getting better, and I don't want to over do it! Smug-Hub was talking about going to mass, but since he did not come to bed until about 4am, I doubt that will happen! We may head out to the mall to see if there are any good sales, but then again, we may just stay home!

Tomorrow, We are meeting with my Dad about 5:30, so I can spend the whole day cooking. I can make everything that I need for Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the same time! I want to make some cookies too, cause I have these cool cookie cutters! Maybe I will pick up the stuff to make those while we are out today! We can also do more shopping as we will have the whole day free!!

I have not really felt into the Christmas Spirit this year. I think that it has been trying to push through and I really think that small kitchen has a lot to do with it. I know that sounds silly, but Christmas, for me, is a lot about the food. With such a small space, things go wrong, spills happen, things fall on the floor, etc. With more space, you can spread out and things just don't go wrong as much. I have decided that since I have the whole day to make all the food that I need to make, I am going to make one thing at a time. Finish each thing before starting on the next. We will see if that makes a difference!

Happy Holiday's to EVERYONE!!!! :)

Thursday, December 20, 2007

My Fucking Car is Fucking Broken.. Again :(

I got in the car last night after work and the fucking low power light was on again! I have not even had my car back 24 hours! I called the dealership and the little girl answering the phone told me that everyone in sales and management was gone for the day. I told her that I was on my way, my car was not drivable and she would find someone who could help me. I told her that I had been promised 3 different times that the car was fixed and I was not missing anymore work waiting to bring it to them in the morning.

She got a sales person on the phone and he told me that he would find something for me to drive. He found a traded in car that had yet to be cleaned up, it was stained and dirty and smelled bad. But it was drivable so I took it. I had dreams of cars all night and did not sleep well.

This morning I have a sore throat and stuffy nose. My husband thinks that all the stress is getting to me. Damn Skippy! I have already spoken with Lori (yes, that's right, I am on a first name basis with the service personnel) and she is going to keep me posted as they try to figure out what is wrong.

I think that after the morning meeting, I am going to call back and try to talk to the head person of the whole dealership and try to see if they will help either get the car fixed for real or talk about a trade or something. This car seems to be a lemon and I am fed up! It is only 2 years old for Gods sake. I bought a brand new car and pay a new car car payment so that I can have reliable transportation!! I am missing work, using up precises miles, putting tons of gas into loaner gas hogs, and stressing out big time!!

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The House Saga Continues....

We went to look at 2 new houses the other night (we decided not to waste time looking at the third as it was even smaller than the 2 we did look at). The first one was really close to work/where we live now and was built in 2005, so we were excited to see it. It was dirty. No, you don't understand, we tripped over shoes and clothes in every room. There was food and dirty dishes all over the kitchen. Papers, bills, kids drawings, coupons, etc on every available surface. Poop in one of the toilets - God I wish that I was making this up!! And it was way small! Hard to tell if was really as small as it felt or if it felt overly small due to all the clutter. The floors were hard wood, the kitchen had all white appliances with a flat top range, the kitchen also sported dark cherry cabinets and faux granite counter tops. I really, really tried to like this house, but it was just too small. Add to that the lack of good parking, tiny yard and possible lack of resale value (it had already been on the market for 263 days) and this one was a good, hard NO!

The second house was the same layout and size as the first. It still felt small, but much less small than the first house. It was in much better shape as far as clutter and had new carpet instead of the hard woods. But the kitchen was still to small for my liking and we did not care for the neighborhood. Again, we tried to like the house, but it had too much stacked against it.

We decided to go back to the Reedland house and take another look and see if we still loved it as much as we had before. On a whim, I called my Dad and his wife and my Mom and they all came out to take a look. They all noticed things that we had missed and brought up good questions to ask. We left there still loving the house, but still wanting to proceed slowly with the decision.

The next morning several new listings popped up, one of which seems to have a good size kitchen and is very close to work. I think that, for me, the only stumbling point on the Reedland house is the fact that it will take us 20-30 minutes to get to work each day. I would love to find a house that has everything that the Reedland house has, but is really close to everything that we do (work, school, family, etc.)

There is another house that is about 20 minutes from town in Shawsville (God, that is a redneck sounding place!!). It seems to have a bit of land with it, so Smug-Hub really wants to check it out. I am finding myself extremely resistant to moving out of the city center. I grew up very isolated up in the sticks. Add to this the home schooling and I had no friends, no sports, no group activities. I was miserable a lot of the time. Now, Smug-Hub and I are not planning on home schooling and we both want to make sure that our kids have lots of outside activities, but I know that I would not be happy driving 20 minutes to get milk! I told him that we would look at the house, but unless we fell head over heals in love with the house itself, I would not be open to it. The thing is, it would probably take less time to get to work from this house than from the Reedland house. My point is that it would take 20 minutes to get ANYWHERE.

I want neighbors, sidewalks for bike riding, kids for my kids to play with, post office, bank and library close by, stuff like that. I don't want to be in boonies losing power all the time, not able to get anywhere when it snows, no one hear by to help if there is trouble. What if we lived there and I went into labor, we might not make it to the hospital in time. OK, I know that we have not even seen this particular house and it might be in the middle of a great neighborhood and the only reason it is a bit of a drive is due to there being so many stop lights or something. But, I would say that I near panic mode when there is even a possibility of being out of the city. I love the city, I love people, I love traffic (OK, not really, I can deal). I never want to go back to being trapped.

OK, let's look at that a second... Why did I feel trapped? Because I did not go to school, sports or whatever. I relied on others to take me places and they did not. I was trapped by my age. Now I am a grown person with a full on driver's licence, I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want. As long as I have my car, I will never to trapped. Do I feel better about living in the sticks??? .....


NO

I must calm down! Everything will be fine. I am not going to agree to buy a house that I am not totally happy with! It will all work out fine (I am now doing some deep breathing). I am calm....

Monday, December 17, 2007

Ho Hum Day

I am having a very ho hum kind of day today. Last week was so crazy, both with work and personal stuff, that I have been running 90 miles per hour. Today, I am already caught up on everything that I need to get done today. There are two items that I could be working on, but they are not urgent and not any fun to do, so I have been procrastinating on them.

Smug-Hub got home last night, his flight into Greensboro was about 25 minutes late and then getting the luggage took some time, so we did not make it home until about 9:30. We did not even turn on the TV, do any unpacking or anything, we just fell into bed and were asleep before ESPN could even get to talk about the highlights of the Dallas game!

He woke up this morning with a sore throat and his head all stuffed up, so he stayed home from work today. I had suggested that we take today off from work, but he wouldn't hear of it until this morning. So, I had to come on into the office :( Only good thing is that I came in about 7, so I can justify leaving before 5 no problem!

We are planning on looking at the last 3 houses on our list tonight, (there were 4, but one of them sold, which is sad because out of all 4, that one was the only one I was feeling excited about). It will get dark while we are doing this, but since I don't really have high hopes, it will be fine. I am really thinking that the first one we liked is going to be "THE" house.

A friend of mine is possibly going to need to find some short term housing after the first of the year, so if she was able to sub-let our apartment, we could close ASAP and get moved!! I honestly believe that all things work for good, and if this is the house that we are supposed to buy, we will. If we are meant to stay out our full lease, we will. If we are meant to get out of the lease, we will. There is nothing gained from worrying about it :)

I am listening to a really good book on CD, called Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert my mother recommended it to me, and I was initially sceptical as my mom tends toward books that are all spiritual, and self-help-y but it is incredibly good and well written. The writer is the one reading, so you really hear exactly how she wanted things to come across and it is wonderful!!

I have failed to send out Christmas cards this year. I really wanted to have the wedding pictures by now and have been able to make those cool picture Christmas cards, but we don't, so we can't, so I didn't send anything. First of all, I am still having a hard time not bah humbugging everyone this year. Secondly, we are saving every penny for the house and cards cost money, not to even mention the ridiculous cost of postage! I think that my friends and family will forgive me - I will be able to send pictures of our new house next year!! I am sure that I will be feeling much more Christmas-y next year!

I got an "A" in my first MBA class! I was concerned about the final presentation and paper as my group failed to reach a consensus on a couple of points in our paper. I still think that his markings on the paper itself will prove that I was right, but never mind now! I am happy to have the "A" and hope that I will end up with a whole lot more of them!

OK, I have killed 10 minutes, I need to get back to work and knock out at least one of these little nasty's that are currently hanging over my head!!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Cookies, Rum, and Tons of Laughs!!

Sassy, Sherry and I got together tonight for a cookie baking party! We were each supposed to have made one type of cookie on our own to share and then we were going to make two types together. I was unable to hold up this part of the deal because of this marketing class that is killing me already!

Sherry made 3 kinds and Sassy made two kinds and then we made chocolate, white chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread. The gingerbread was the one that I was really excited about, because of all my new cookie cutters, but they did not end up tasting very good, and the whole decorating part was a lot less fun than I was expecting. Sassy and Sherry agreed and we ended up tossing most of those.

The rest of the cookies were great and we ate ourselves silly! Sherry also brought egg nog and when combined with Sassy's rum.... needless to say we were having a great time! We ate and cooked and drank and ate and drank some more! We giggled over girl talk, sang to the Christmas songs on the radio and Sassy danced around the kitchen!

We really had a wonderful time, and I laughed until my sides ached!!

I have a lot to get done tomorrow, but it should be fine! Sunday my baby comes home to me!!

Sassy may be heading to Greensboro tomorrow and I told her that if she ends up staying the night (for "whatever" the reason), she could join me for some shopping while I wait for Smug-Hub's plane!

This has been a really busy, crazy week, but my love will be home with me soon and all will be right with the world!!! :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Ringing Phone and Other Reasons Why I'm Sleepy..

I took Smug-Hub to the airport yesterday in Greensboro, about 2 hours from here. We ate lunch and got him all checked in and he took off without issue. I then got some ice cream as it was 78 degrees!! I then drove all the way back home. I was really worn out, so I went to bed about 9:15pm.

The phone rang at 9:45pm, it was Smug-Hub calling to tell me that he was still moving along on time and getting ready to start on the last leg of his journey.

The phone rang again at 10:45pm, it was my Dad, who wanted to make sure that I made it home safely.

The phone rang again at 1am, it was Smug-Hub again letting me know that he had landed and was safely home with his family.

The alarm went off at 6:15 and I got up and was in the office before 7:30. I had so much to do to get caught up from having Tuesday off, that I never stopped moving all day! I had several errands to run during my lunch break, so no time for a nap!

I got home from work about 5:45 and washed the dishes and wrapped most of the Christmas gifts. I still have 4 left, but my Dad came over to watch a show that he had mistakenly erased. He will be here for a couple hours while his wife is doing something or another at the church. After he leaves, I will finish the wrapping and get the house cleaned up and ready for Sherry to clean and me to start a new class tomorrow night!

I am getting really excited about the cookie making party on Friday night with my girlfriends! I got some really neat cookie cutters and I found a bunch of icing stuff at Kroger today (I had to go there to get dish washing liquid for the Finance Department... the oddity's of my job!!). I am looking forward to this bit of holiday fun!

OK, I am going to try to spend some quality time with my Dad. Gee, I really want to fall asleep!!!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Wrap Up This Week

Well, I made it the weekend... Finally!

This has been the week from hell as both Smug-Hub and I are reeling from separate pain and separate stresses.

For Smug-Hub, the death of his Grandmother has hit him hard and he is feeling guilt for not being there and for not spending more time with her while she was alive. He is frustrated with his various family members for fighting or name calling or generally not honoring Grandma as Smug-Hub feels that they should. I tried to tell him that people grieve in their own way and it is much easier to be mad at someone for money owed, than it is to be mad at Grandma for dying or mad at yourself for not spending more time with her. He did not understand, and got mad at me. I try to remember that he is trying to grieve in his own way too.

I have been increasingly buried under the mounting school and work pressure. I have been spending one evening a week at class, one evening a week taking care of Will, one evening a week walking with mom and have no time for myself. Running the house, managing the bills, budgeting money for the new house, arranging showings of different houses, laundry, food shopping, fixing the car, etc. I feel like I am doing everything around here and being crushed under it all.

I talked with both mom and Smug-Sister about my various responsibilities, and I am going to stop getting Will and put the walking with mom on a flexible basis. This way all the evenings of the week are mine and school! I hope that this will help with ease the pressure.

I also took half the day off today, had lunch with Smug-Sister and spent some good quality time on the couch with my best friend - the remote!! I just finished making some chocolate chip cookies too, so the comfort food is ready for me!

Tomorrow is going to be very full, pull the Christmas stuff and the winter clothes out of the storage unit, buy a little Christmas tree and decorate it. Have lunch and then meet up with the realtor and look at about 6 property's. Have dinner and then there is a preview of a film called "The Business of Being Born at a local university at 7pm. Sunday is going to be the normal laundry, food shopping, Christmas shopping, etc.

Monday will be the last Human Resources class, Tuesday work half a day then drive to Greensboro to take Smug-Hubt to the airport. Wednesday will be work and then getting all the homework done for the first Marketing class on Thursday night. I will have Friday and Saturday to myself and I plan to make no plans!! Sunday I drive back to Greensboro to pick him up!

Maybe once Christmas is over, and we buy the house, and we move, and I get finished with school.... oh, wait, then we are going to have kids! I doubt that I will ever have free time again!! Oh, stop listening to me, I am just feeling sorry for myself!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Sadness and other things.

My husband's grandmother passed away this weekend. He is hurting, and feeling guilty that he is so far away from his family. I feel badly that I am not able to take this pain away from him, but I am moving heaven and earth to get us there for the services. Plane tickets are a fucking racket!

I checked online about grief discounts and they are most often 50% off the full retail ticket price, which would still be more than you can get it for at a travel site. Living in this crappy small town, means that everything is a connecting flight and therefore double the price it would be from a larger airport. I did find some tickets fairly good priced out of Raleigh, NC, which is a 4 hour drive from here. Once we pay for gas there and back and long term parking, it is still cheaper by about $180 EACH!!

I was thinking about asking Mom or someone else to drive us and pick us up, to save on the long term parking costs, but that would double the gasoline costs, and not end up saving anything in the end.

We are waiting to find out the exact dates of the services. There will be a small viewing this weekend, then she will be cremated. Then the real funeral will be next week, and then the family will scatter the ashes per her instructions. Next week is when Smug-Hub wants to go. He is unsure if he wants be to go with him and I understand his concerns. It will be the first time meeting most of these people and there will be family meetings to go over the will and there has already been some fighting and name calling - he is concerned about subjecting me to the darker side of his family. Smug-Hub will also want to spend time with him mother and brothers while he is there. I just want to be his support system in whatever way he needs. He is going to make a decision today.

In other news, I am finishing up the first class of my MBA program. I have been really struggling to keep up with the work required. I had gotten out of the school work habits and gotten into having a life again. I never see Smug-Sister, finding time to walk with my mom is very hard and I hardly ever see my friends! I want to go house hunting every weekend, I need a hair cut, I have got to finish Christmas shopping, Smug-Hub wants to get a tree - which means digging through the storage unit to find that stuff (which I am going to have to do anyway, as it appears that all the winter coats, hats, gloves, etc. are there). The weekend is only 2 days long, and besides all the stuff listed above, each weekend there is housework, laundry, food shopping and the like to accomplish. When exactly do I have time to read 4 chapters on human resources, read the wall street journal each day to find articles to turn in with the homework, several case studies to report on, AND work on the final team project??

I seem to have made it through this first class OK, an 85 was the lowest grade I have gotten on a paper, so I will live. The next class starts next Thursday (which I will miss if I go with Smug-Hub to the funeral) we have to read 3 chapters, have about 100 terms defined, and do a presentation on an article. WTF!! This program was supposed to be designed for working people!!

I am going to have to work hard this week and weekend to get everything finished up for the HR class and everything done for the Marketing class, just in case I have to leave town. We are supposed to look at 5 houses on Saturday (was supposed to be 6, but one of them sold). I need to go check on my dad and make sure that he is not going out of his mind. My family is trying to nail down Christmas, New Years, and Superbowl (yes, Superbowl, this fucking early!!) plans. I want to tell everyone to bugger off and leave me the hell alone! Boy, arn't I just glowing with the Christmas spirit???

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Update's

I have really fallen down on the posting lately! I have been relaxing throughout the holiday weekend and then crazy busy with work and school since. Posting has not really been of that much importance!

My wonderful husband and I spent a good amount of time over the holiday weekend getting some deep cleaning done in the spare room. We tossed 3 bags of trash and took 2 bags to Goodwill. We also boxed up leftover wedding stuff, school stuff, wedding gifts, and other misc. stuff and took it to my mom's attic for storage. Now we can actually use the spare room, Smug-Hub has a place to try flies and Will can actually sleep in the bed when he spends the night!

We have also made the picture choices for the wedding album and sent them to the photographers. We spent some time playing with the budgets to try to account for everything. Then we decided that on paper, we can afford a certain dollar amount in house payment, it is time that we see if we really can. We currently pay $525 in rent and think we can afford $1,100 in a mortgage payment. We are going to take the $1,100 and pay the $525 in rent and put the remaining $575 into savings. This way we not only save money, we get used to coming up with this much larger payment each month. We have decided to wait until January to start this, and let us get Christmas out of the way.

I called each of my credit card companies and asked them to reduce the APR on my accounts - all but one of them did!

My mother has decided that I am going to have twins! She has talked about almost nothing else since she returned from FL this afternoon. She s even making 2 cross-stitch thingy's - just in case! The other thing she has decided, is that I need to start trying to get pregnant right now, like tonight! She keeps pointing out my age and how upset I would be if I never could have children. I know that she is not meaning to scare me or pressure me, but I feel scared and pressured anyway. Oh well!

So that pretty much updates things!!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Smug-Hub and I spent a really wonderful Thanksgiving with my Dad and Step Mother. My brother actually showed up for a little while too!!

I started out the morning about 7am, by making a chocolate cheesecake recipe. The recipe called for a chocolate wafer cookie crust, but in the interest of time, I just used a pre-made Oreo cookie crust. The only issue with this was that the recipe made enough filling for 2 of those size crusts, so I had to make a mad dash back to the store for another crust! So I made 3 chocolate cheesecakes, pumpkin pie, cranberry salad, baked macaroni and cheese, and sweet potatoes. I was able to make everything one at a time since I got up so early, so all that needed to be done at Dad and Smug-StepMom's was to warm the sweet potatoes and bake the mac and cheese.

We left the house about 12:30 and upon our arrival, my husband kept dad (who is still mostly flat on his back) occupied, while Smug-StepMom and I got all the food on the table. My brother showed up, but was very sullen and silent throughout the meal. Then Smug-StepMom asked Smug-Hub and my brother to help her pull her Christmas boxes down from the attic. While they were pulling all 50 (yes, 50!!) boxes down, my brother came across the old drum set that my Step-brother had received about 10 Christmas's ago. Smug-StepMom told him that he could have it and his whole personality changed! He became animated and laughed and was part of the conversation - for about 30 minutes until he left to take his new drum set home ant set it up!

We stayed until about 9:30pm or so before loading up the leftovers and heading home! It was a really great day!!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Thanksgiving Woes

My dad has hurt his back. He has a pinched nerve and has been in constant pain since Tuesday of last week, 6 full days and counting. He had an MRI over the weekend and got the results today. He was given some harder/better drugs and is scheduled for surgery on the 30th. I have been very worried about him and have spoken with him or seen him every day.

We have all been planning to go to Richmond for Thanksgiving. The entire family always gets together for Thanksgiving and if you have been reading past posts, you know how much I have been looking forward to going! My dad will not be able to make it, he can't spend 3 minutes in one static position, let alone 3 hours in the car. My husband offered that we would also stay in town and celebrate the holiday with my dad and his wife.

Dad is waffling on this offer. While he does not want to be alone, lonely and without celebration on Thanksgiving, he knows that he is going to be sleeping and moving from the couch to the bed every 15 minutes to help change his position for maximum relief. He knows that he would not be good company. So we have decided to see if the drugs help him any by tomorrow, if he is still feeling really badly, we will go to Richmond and then have a Thanksgiving dinner with him after his surgery. If he is feeling slightly better, we will stay here and celebrate with him.

I am torn on all this. I don't want my dad to be alone (with only his wife) for the holiday that, for our family, is all about family. But, I have been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS! This will be the first Thanksgiving since I have been married and I will be able to see family that was not able to make it to the wedding. I look forward to seeing how big all the babies have gotten and catching up on the lives of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I want to her all the gossip that I have missed out on.

I know that if we go, I will spend the whole time feeling guilty that dad is not only in extreme pain, but has no family to spend the holiday with. If we don't go, I will feel resentful and spend the whole time thinking about what the rest of the family must be doing. What I really want is for the drugs to help dad so much that he is able to make the trip. If that can't happen, I want dad to "force" me to go on the trip. How selfish is that? I want what I want and I want my poor, in pain dad to help me feel less bad about my selfishness. I feel like a really horrible person right now.

As I type this, I think that I have decided that I am not going to Richmond for this holiday. I would not have a good time, knowing that dad is alone. This way, I can do some major cooking and have a more intimate gathering, just the 4 of us. The food really is the real reason for the day right? There is another Thanksgiving next year and I did just see most of the family at the wedding. It will be fine - I am still a horrible, selfish person though! Doing the right thing, does not always erase something evil.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

House Obsessed

I have become completely obsessed with buying a house. We met with the realtor yesterday morning and he gave us MLS print outs for about 27 houses that meet our basic criteria and price range. After we left there, I took Smug-Hub to meet the guys to do some fishing and went to Wal-Mart and then home and did my homework for school on Monday.

I then went through all the house listings and printed out directions for each of them and organized them by zip code, then I organized each zip code into a logical driving order. This way we can take one zip code and drive in a logical pattern to check out each house in that section. A bit OCD, I know, but I am who I am!

After all this, I picked Smug-Hub up and we had enough day light left to check out about 3 houses in one area. We liked 2 of them and took the third off the list. That one said that it had a fenced backyard, what they have is about 8 feet of fenced dog run! The house butts right up against the mountain - no real back yard to speak of!

We then went to my Dad's house, he has hurt his back and has been in bed for the last 4 days. He had an MRI that morning and will get the results on Monday to see if he needs surgery. We wanted to visit and give him a change of pace. We stayed there for about an hour. My step-mother said that our visit was the most chipper and upright he had been all week. She said that he has been really quiet and whiny and the visit really cheered him up.

When we got home, I played on the house buying website and updated the notes on our tracked listings. Smug-Hub slept! We went to bed about 11pm and I woke up this morning and have been watching the GoScoutHomes channel for the last hour and a half! I can't stop talking, thinking, watching, etc.. when it comes to houses!!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Writer's Strike.

I don't really know much about the writer's strike that is going on now, except that it has to do, in part, with getting fair compensation for the Internet playing of shows and fair compensation for future technological advances. I really wish that they could get it all worked out, because I really like all my shows and I don't want to give them up!

I am not sure if I personally am seeing the effects of the strike yet, but it does seem strange to me that shows are going on a week or 2 break from fresh episodes right in the middle of the November Sweeps. I know that most of the daily/weekly shows like Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live are already running reruns (read: off the air!) What does this mean for soaps and for the regular scripted shows?

YES, OK, I admit it!! I watch General Hospital! Give me a break, it is my little guilty pleasure and I have been watching it since I was very little, these people have been my friends and part of my life for a really long time. As dumb as it sounds, I care about what happens to them! I don't want the strike to affect them and put their "lives" on hold! What is going to happen?

Several of the weekly shows, like Desperate Housewives, Bionic Woman, and others are going on a two week break from new shows. Is this in an effort to draw out the shows that they already have shot or written? Is it going to get worse?

I really hate that I love my TV so much, but I do - I want to keep watching my shows, like I always have!

TV People: get out there and fix this!!!! NOW!!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Friday!

I like Friday's! I get paid for one thing, and each paycheck that I receive I pay off or down some credit cards, I make sure that we have a place to live, food and gas for the car - you know the normal life stuff. I normally eat out for lunch on Friday's, most of the time with Sassy, but today with Smug-Sister. She was not feeling well, but it was still nice to see her!

I also got my car back from the shop this afternoon - they did nothing! I am serious! The CD player was messing up and they have ordered another one, but it is not in yet. The power loss issue they were unable to replicate, so they checked and reset all the computer/sensor codes and are hoping for the best. I am just glad to have my own car back! That huge truck was costing me a fortune in gas - $70 in 3 days!!

Today was also cool, because Smug-Hub and I got pre-approved for a home loan and we set up an appointment with a realtor for tomorrow morning! We think that we can afford about $150,000, but would like to keep it closer to $135,000. I don't want to hike our housing payment by so much that we pass out when we receive the first bill!! I also want us to be able to pay more on the principal each month too, so having a smaller payment gives us that option!

Smug-Hub's mom said that she would give us about $3000 to help with a down payment, and the mortgage lady suggested that we negotiate with the seller of whatever house we want to pay the $3000 needed for closing costs. Then, we would only need to come up with about $900 on our own to make up the rest of the down payment needed.

She also told us about this rebate thing that GMAC is offering, where if you used an approved realtor, they will give you $3 back for each $1000 that you borrow. After closing we will get a check for roughly $400 (this, of course, depends on what we end up paying)! They also assign you a consultant to help answer any and all questions that you have throughout the house hunting, bidding, buying and moving!

This is all making me way happy and excited! I have spent most of the evening looking at what is for sale in all the areas of town that we want to live in. There are 17 houses that I think we want to look at! That is a lot!!

Anyway, I love Friday's!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Favorite Things!

I really could not think of anything to bitch about today, so I thought that I would try to be positive for a change!

I love cold weather, I love being warm under a blanket while it is cold all around. The tip of my nose is cold, but the rest of me is warm and toasty.

I love waking up without the alarm, like on a Saturday. I turn on the TV and watch something on HGTV or the Food Network and get hungry. I listen to my husband snore and stay warm and toasty. I know that he will wake up soon and we will cuddle and talk before getting up and heading out to get some breakfast!

I love coming home from work and curling up on the couch to watch something funny on TV with my husband close to me. We make some dinner together and just spend time with each other.

I love eating! I love fresh hot bread. Hot, sweet coffee with steam rising off it. Pasta with cheese melted all over it. I love thick, dark chocolate, creamy and slightly bitter. Those nachos that you can get at the movies, all salty and cheesy. Notice that I have not mentioned much that is healthy :)

I love my family! I called Smug-Sister today to let her know that our Mother had made it safely to her family's in Florida, and my nephew answered. He is 4, so he kept asking who it was and when he finally figured out that it was me, he could not understand why I was walking in the wind (which was causing noise on the phone line). It was actually funny and made me so thankful to have him in my life!

I love comedy. Stand up is my favorite, I normally fall asleep to Comedy Central at night. I tape and watch certain people over and over! I quote funny lines at inopportune times.

I love thinking about and planning for buying a house! I think about almost nothing else. I watch the news to find out about the changes in the housing market. I play with the amortization chart, changing interest rates and purchase prices. I look at our finances and play with possible house payments. I can't wait to get moving - literally!!

There are more things that I love, but I think this is enough for today!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Busted!

I don't really have much to write about today. My car started messing up again today, doing the same crap it did the weekend of the wedding. Losing power and only being able to go about 20 miles per hour. I called the Saturn dealership and they tried to put me off, saying that they only had one technician working today, and that I would have to wait. I told them that the car was under warranty and I had already given up a day waiting for them to fix this same problem. He said that if I wanted to bring it out, he would rent me a car, that I could use until they got time to look at/fix my car.

They put me into a Ford F-150! It is freakin HUGE! I am not normally intimidated by large cars/trucks, but I have a hard time getting into and out of this one! It has like no turning radius, so it is really hard to park! When my husband found out what rental I had, he lost all train of thought, apparently, girls in big trucks are hot! He was babbling on about big trucks, and tank tops and sunglasses, etc... Dude, it's cold and dark out, what are you talking about??

I got busted big time too. After I went though all the car stuff and I was heading back to work, I was so hungry that I started feeling really shaky and all low blood sugar and stuff. I knew that I had veggie soup at home, but it was going to take me 30 minutes to get there and I really needed to get back to work. Then I saw it! Krispy Kreme and the "hot" sign was just glowing at me!! I stopped and got 2 original glazed and ate them on the way back to work.

After I had been back at the office for a while, my husband calls me up. "Did you go to Krispy Kreme?" "Um... yeah..." from me. "I can't believe you! You did not bring any for me??"

Someone we work with had seen me pull into KK and asked Smug-Hub when we had gotten a blue truck - I was so totally busted! Now I am going to have to go home, put on a tank top, some sunglasses, and pick up donuts before I can pick him up from work!!!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Tagged by Sassy...

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player list 6 facts/habits/secrets about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

My 6 things:

1) My dream job for the first 12 years of my life was that of a rock star. I did not care that I could not sing, nor play any instruments and I certainly was not interested in learning - I just wanted to be a rock star.

2) The only other thing that I have ever wanted to do with my life was be a mother. I struggled through elementary and high school and I put off college until I was in my mid twenties. I just did not have any other career aspirations. As much as I enjoy my job now and am proud of what I have accomplished - I still only want to be a stay at home mother.

3) It will probably never happen. The cost of living comfortably to way too high for one income of normal proportions to handle. I will have to bring in some money each month by teaching, consulting, or working part time.

4) I am lazy! I have tired to tell people this before and no one believes me. I may do a lot of things and keep a lot of balls in the air, but I hate it and I really want to spend more time on the couch, watching TV and eating junk food. I really want to do more than I do - like get the spare room cleaned out/packed up, I really want to go to the gym - but my laziness overrides those wants.

5) I hate shopping for clothes. I hate when I have to face the fact that I need something new, because finding something that fits the needed function, fits my body, is comfortable, and is affordable is extremely rare. I have this odd body type, my bust, waist, and hips are not that off each other, tops that fit around me, are too big in the boob area, jeans and pants that are higher waisted fall into 2 categories, if it fits in the butt and legs, I can't get it buttoned or zipped. If it fits comfortably in the waist, it is huge in the butt and legs. It is killing me that the only 2 pairs of jeans that fit, are getting worn in the butt area and I am going to have to start the search all over again soon :(

6) I really don't like too many people. I am very much a loner and I need time by myself. I have a few very close friends and even them I can't spend every day with. I love my husband and I miss him when he is away, but I also love having that time alone to be totally alone and able to do whatever I want and only what I want.

I am going to tag evilsciencechick, Virginia Belle, and Charming but single - mostly since they are the only blogs that I read everyday that Sassy did not already tag!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Weekend Wrap Up!!

I really wanted to go the bank on Saturday and start the pre-approval paperwork on the house buying, but I was holding the morning open in case I was needed by someone, and Smug-Hub made plans to go fishing, but we were both hoping to be finished before noon and then be able to get to the bank before they closed. It did not happen! I did homework and he fished until about 4pm. No bank this weekend - but we are both not making any other plans next Saturday!!

Last night we watched movies and talked and ate junk food and laughed and tickled and talked some more! It was really nice and relaxing and fun just to hang with my baby!! We ended up watching a movie and some stand up until about 2am! So we slept in this morning! Big Time!

I got up about 10 and Smug-Hub about noon. The only other thing that I wanted to do this weekend was go to some open houses, which normally run from about 1-4pm. Because we slept in so late, we had to wait an hour for a table at Cracker Barrel and by the time we left there it was 3:15pm. I had not been able to find a listing of open houses online, but we had seen several signs. It was so late that we really did not have time to stop at any. The Cowboy's game started at 4, so we rushed through Wal-Mart and got home about 2 minutes before the kick off.

I am not feeling like it is anyone's fault, but I only wanted to 2 things this weekend and I did not get to do either of them :(

I have a couple of loads of laundry working and made two days worth of dinners, since I will be in class tomorrow night and unable to cook. The kitchen is cleaned up, the sheets on the bed are changed, there are fresh towels in the bathroom. I still need to straighten up the living room, but other than that... All my homework is done too! It was actually a really nice weekend!

Have I mentioned how much I am looking forward to Thanksgiving?? I can't wait!!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

I Love Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is for sure my favorite holiday of the whole year! I normally go up to Richmond to spend the day with my dad's side of the family. This has been a tradition since I was a very little girl, Thanksgiving with Dad's family and Christmas with either Mom's family in Florida or as a family ourselves at home. Sometimes Mom's family would come to our place for Christmas too.

My Mother's family is smaller and while they are just as close it is a more serious and formal king of gathering. The TV is normally off and dinner is served at the table with fine china and cloth napkins - which is fine when the entire family can fit at a table for 8!

The Richmond family is very large and very loud and very loving! They are friendly and welcoming to everyone and fiercely loyal to their own. Dinner is on paper plates and everyone eats all day long! We have issues such as a few criminals, many smokers and several marriages each and several teen pregnancy's, but we also have more love and dedication and closeness than most of the other families that I have experienced over the years. We have shared each other's deepest grief and greatest joy and there is so much love that it can be overwhelming!

Thanksgiving to me is about family and food! That's it! Simple and complex at the same time! I love eating, as my waistline will testify to, and I love being in the company of so many generations of family. My me-me and pa-pa will be there, all my aunts and uncles, all my cousins and the children of my cousins and sister. There will be husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, a few friends of various family members, and even an ex or two may show up - all will be welcomed with a plate of food!

I am in charge of Cranberry Salad this year. We have always had the canned cranberries until a few years ago, when I brought my secret recipe - it was gone in about 10 minutes and it has been requested in larger and larger quantities every year since! I am also going to bring a dessert, but I have not decided on which one yet. I think I made the coconut cake last year (or Smug-Sister did) so I would like to do something different, but not something that would have issues making the trip! We both have Friday off work, so we are planning on driving up on Thursday morning and back home on Friday afternoon. This will give us plenty of time with the family, and still plenty of time at home to relax and get all the normal weekend stuff done!

I love Thanksgiving and I am looking so forward to it!!

Friday, November 9, 2007

The Down Side of Christmas

Well, it is official! I was in Barnes and Noble on November first and heard the first Christmas song of the season playing on their overhead system. Wednesday (November 7) I saw the first Christmas commercial on TV. That was the beginning, the first sign of a crack in a foundation. Now the flood has broken loose and Christmas has attacked in full force! People have already put up lights in their yards and on their houses, the stores are full of decorations and sales.

I normally love Christmas, but in recent years it has just bombarded me and assaulted me at every turn for so many months before the actual holiday, that I end up dreading it! This year, my family is drawing names and most of my gifts will be given from the pool of Wedding pictures anyway, so the gift giving thing will not be too stressful. I love the food aspect of the holiday, I love the cooking and the eating and the being with family. I love the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the candles and decorations, the music, etc.

I guess the only thing that I dislike about Christmas is the commercialism - all the attacks of Christmas everywhere you turn. It starts too early, sometimes even before Halloween!! I know that everyone talks about the "True Meaning of Christmas" which is fine, but no one seems to do it. I am Catholic, but still not an overly religious and I don't care if you associate Christmas with the birth of Jesus or not - the true meaning of Christmas to me is about love and family and taking time to be with your loved ones. I love this concept - but being bombarded with what you have to buy drives me nuts!!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Dream House

Warning!!! Very Boring Post Ahead!!!

My dream house would have all of the following:

Be on a tree lined street in the suburbs, like Wisteria Lane, full of friendly neighbors, sidewalks where children ride bikes, etc.
Be within walking distance of a nice park
Be 5 minutes from work
A flat yard and driveway - for easy mowing, and winter parking
Built brand new, so we have some control over paint colors and cabinets, also we should have a longer time before things start to go bad and have to be replaced
A garage
4 Bedrooms, including 1 large master suite with a bathroom
1 other full bathroom and at least 1 other half bathroom
A formal dining room
Laundry room on the main living level
A chef's kitchen, complete with large counter tops, stainless steel appliances (including a dishwasher), plenty of cabinets, and a pantry with shelving.
A large family room with built in bookshelves
A partially finished basement
A screened porch
A large fenced yard, with plenty of room of a tree house and a garden
No gas heat
Central air
A fireplace

What I will settle for:

Enough space (this could be 3 bedrooms and a full basement, or 5 bedrooms and no basement, or 3 bedrooms and a storage building, etc - you get the idea)
Central air
On a street without yellow lines
In a nice area of town
Large Kitchen
Less than 20 minutes from work
Under $120,000

You see? I am dreaming of a lot - but I don't really NEED much to make me happy!!
I just want to make sure that whatever we buy is big enough for us now plus a baby or two!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Stupid People

My company used to have (in the olden days) something called "bucks", which were a paper coupon that was given to a sales associate who met their sales goals and could be used the same as cash for merchandise. They began over the years to become a substitute for pay for some contractors, summer help or special event help (ie: given to non-employees instead of any real pay). This was a fine system and everyone liked it. The only problem was with the IRS. There was no tax being paid for this "income" - it was not trackable and easy to forge. No one in the company had any real idea of how much of this "money" was being spent.

Enter the Associate Rewards Card!! This would be a credit type card, that would be given to each associate at hiring and then the store manager could assign funds to the card for a myriad of reasons. We would be able to track how much incentive money a store was spending, it could be budgeted, associates would be taxed on this "income" - all issues would be over!!!

Not quite! Apparently, there are people who have been hired as both store managers and as district managers who are just plain stupid! Why, you say?? Allow me to explain!!

When I received the reward cards from the manufacturer and I assigned one card to each individual store associate. This took several days has we have about 500+ associates total working for our various retail stores. I then created a package for each store which included their cards, a list of who was assigned to each card, a letter stating the purpose of the new program and the procedure each manager was to follow, a packet of instructions as to how to fund the cards, check balances, etc. all from their registers. I then e-mailed the letter, instructions, and assignment lists to each manager. This way each store manager would have both an electronic "heads up" copy, plus hard copies of everything along with their cards. This whole process took me about 10 days to complete, from the day the cards were delivered to the day I shipped them out to the stores.

During the time it took me to get these cards shipped out, a few associates had left the company and a few more had been hired. I each case, I allowed the store manager to take a card currently assigned to a recently terminated associate and give it to a new hire. I would then delete the terminated associate off my spreadsheet and assign that card number to the new associate - both sides matched!

Each week, HR sends me a list of every store associate who was terminated and who was hired that previous week. I then delete terminated associates and assign cards to the new hires. I put a Post-it note on each card with the new hires name on it and send it to the store manager with that weeks payroll checks.

The initial roll out was in JULY!

Today, the payroll manager comes into my office and has a couple of cards that have money attached, but she can't find who the cards are assigned to. I don't have the cards on my list, so they must be fore terminated associates - this would be fine, except money was added to one of the cards this week, it can't be for a terminated person, if they are still getting money assigned to the card.

We e-mailed the store manager for that store asking about everything. Her response????

"Gosh is there a way to differentiate who is what card, I just gave them out depending who was here and what card I grabbed. If certain ones went to certain people I guess I might hae messed that up. That one went to XXXX.
Sorry if I messed up."


WHAT??? WHAT???? WHAT????

It is not even possible that she missed EVERY SINGLE PIECE of information that I sent to her! There were e-mails to the store managers on this project from the district managers and above! EVERYONE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!!

I spoke with the person who developed the program and helped me put together all the instructions and procedures - she was cussing like I have never heard. Her main complaint is that now we have to go back to EACH store to check and make sure that the store managers are capable of reading and that no one else handed out cards to the wrong people. I have to call this particular store manager and get her to get with each of her associates to make sure that the cards they each have match my list. People have been being taxed based on the money assigned to their card!!! People may have been getting taxed on money they did not earn!!

Oh lordy - I have to call this manager now, please grant me the calm I need to get to the bottom of this without taking her head off!! I am PMS'ing after all - it could happen!!

Monday, November 5, 2007

I Am Such A whiner :(

I have this ongoing issue with my sweet and loving husband! He constantly falls asleep on the couch at night, coming to bed at all hours of the night/morning. First problem with this is that I keep waking up when he is not there and should be, (funny, when he is out of town, I never wake up wondering where he is...) secondly, if he comes to bed by about 1am, I don't normally even notice, I don't wake up or anything, but if it is after that when he wakes up cold and with a neck cramp and comes to bed, he wakes me up. I think that my body is coming out of its deepest sleep by then, I usually hear him coming up the stairs or in the bathroom and then he often bashes a toe while on the way to actual bed. I am fully awake at this point and usually have to pee. By the time we are both back in bed, he falls asleep very fast and within about 45 seconds is snoring LOUDLY! I have trouble getting back to sleep, and normally lay there in a half sleep until the alarm goes off. Then I have the worst time dragging myself out of bed and into the shower.

This morning we were supposed to go to the gym, we set the alarm for 4:45am, this would allow is 15 minutes to get clothes on and such, and be at the gym about 5:15-5:30, workout for an hour, shower and be at work about 7:30-7:45. Smug-Hub came to bed at 3:15am, he went to the bathroom first and the light woke me up. He then proceeded to wrap his extremely cold feet and legs all over me - I had to pee... I lay there half asleep until 4:45, he asked if we could workout on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. I agreed, and then lay there unable to go back to sleep until the normal alarm went off at 6:00.

I am already fighting with major PMS this week, but I am really pissed! Not only was my sleep messed up, the whole week got off on the wrong foot. Now, I totally realize that I could have gone on to the gym without him, but I was soooo tired!! This morning, my eyes hurt and feel dry, and I feel achy all over - this is the normal reaction that I have to a lack of sleep. If the deprivation is enough, I will feel sick to my stomach also (not so far today yet).

The icing on this you ask?? I start my first MBA class tonight, with a teacher that I have had before. The class is from 6-10pm tonight!! While most teachers attempt to end class about 9pm or so, this teacher will keep the class going until the very end and then some! He is never done until 10 or 10:15pm! By the time that I get out of class, pick up Smug-Hub and get home it will be after 11. THEN he wants us to go to the gym? Get up at 4:45am?? I am not feeling the love people!!

I have asked him in the past that if he falls asleep on the couch and when he wakes up, ready to come to bed, if it is after 1am - just stay on the couch. Let me sleep! This would only solve half the issue as I wake up all night anyway looking for him, but it would help some. He keeps forgetting that and coming to bed!

What should I do here? Talk to him again? That really has not worked, as is evidenced by his continuing behavior. Yell? Write him a letter explaining all my feelings? Divorce? OK, not divorce, but I am really tired and feel like crying. Tonight is going to suck ass, and there is nothing I can do about it. Tomorrow is going to suck ass, if I go to the gym, I will be even more tired all day. If I don't go to the gym, I will feel guilty all week that I let another week go buy without trying to get rid of this weight that I have put back on. Lose, Lose for me - My OCD side is whining that the whole week has been messed up!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

PMS??

Why is it that I am never clumsy accept for the week before my period? I hardly ever bend my fingernail back. I hardly ever dump the trash all over the yard when I attempt to put it into the outside trash can. I never have trouble making the bed, dropping the sheets, tucking the bed skirt into the mattress. I never never fall down the stairs. I never scrap both sets of knuckles in the door jams while carrying the laundry basket. I never cut myself while shaving my legs. I never drop food on the floor while cooking..... except..... for every month during the week before my period.

I also have the longest fuse on my temper, except during this week when I am irritated at everything! I mean everything!! I can't stand people driving in front of me, or behind me. I get so mad at the major lack of customer service EVERYWHERE! I see red when Smug-Hub leaves his shoes on the living rooms floor - he does this everyday, only during this week does it really bother me.

On the up side - I did clean out two boxes of junk in the spare room. I have changed the linens, and am working on the laundry. I have completed all of the homework that I needed to do (although it took many more hours than I was thinking it would). I planned menus and did the food shopping. I made pumpkin bread and Smug-Hub is currently in the kitchen getting his pork in the oven to go with the vegetarian meal that I am going to make. Overall, it has been a very productive weekend, even if I have been causing myself bodily harm due to all my clumsiness.

In the morning, we are heading to the gym - all part of the "we are now adults" life plan!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Perfect Weekend!

Last night I forgot to turn on the heat. It is that time of year when you may or may not even need heat, so I have been turning it on only right before we go to bed and then turning it off in the morning. Last night, it got really cold! So we cuddled up close and used body heat to keep warm, (well, that, and a couple more blankets!) It never occurred to either of us to go downstairs and turn on the heat!

This morning we laid in bed for a couple of hours after waking, just watching TV and staying under the warm covers. It was really nice, not to have to jump up and get moving, or keep hitting the alarm or anything. Just relaxing and cuddling and talking! How nice!

My husband took a shower and then made us breakfast while I was in the shower. We ate and watched Blazing Saddles and laughed! He is going to take Smug-Sister's boyfriend golfing this afternoon and I am going to tackle a few things in the spare room and get my homework done!

After we finish our respective tasks this afternoon we are going to use an Olive Garden gift certificate for a nice dinner together and maybe make a Wal-Mart run for some essentials.

Tomorrow, we are planning on going to church and then doing the normal laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning thing! I really love the relaxing weekend - no drama, or appointments, or busyness!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Clutter Clean Up

Virginia Belle has inspired me! She was talking about all the pack rat tendencies that she has and while I was reading it, I was thinking about all the unnecessary stuff that I have in my apartment. I don't like clutter and I don't like waste. I want to clean up my act and start acting like a grown up! I have also been listening to Suze Orman's book called Women and Money and I am totally inspired by her too. I am listening to it on CD, but I think that I am going to buy it as it is full of charts and websites and tips and tricks to becoming financially secure.

I want to be financially secure! I want to have a nice, comfortable retirement, I want to live comfortably now and feel safe! I want to buy a freaking house!!!!!!!!

I am on the path! She has created a 5 month plan for getting yourself positioned to be doing the best you possibly can with your money. First, on the list it to get organized. She says that having bills and receipts and statements all over the place leads us to feeling powerless and helpless. She also says that if you are disorganized and/or feeling helpless to stop blaming yourself (or others) for your situation and start doing something about it!! She talks about taking 5 minutes with the mail each day to look over your statements/bills and put them in a folder/envelope/box whatever that is just for them. Then toss any and all trash accumulated from the mail. You only need the statement and the envelope to mail back the payment. I am going to apply this to all the areas of my life that seem to collect clutter. I am going to get rid of the magazines that I have/have not read that are older than 3 months. I am going to shred/trash everything in the spare room that I don't need anymore. I am going to create folders for tax information, rental information, house buying information, etc.

I am going to clean out my closet of all the clothes that I have not worn in 6 months, I am going to remove all the shoes that I have not worn in 6 months and take everything to the goodwill, I may not have money to give to help those less fortunate, but I have clothes that are going to waste in my closet.

I am going to go through all the old school work and file what I need to keep and trash what I don't. I am going to list all my old textbooks for sale on Marketplace or eBay. I am going to pack up all the wedding memories, one box of bigger stuff and another for the cards, papers, certificates, notes, etc. once we get moved into the new house, I can unpack those and turn them into a scrapbook.

I am even going to tackle the kitchen and box up anything that we are not using much of - this will make the cooking that we are doing easier and keep our stuff nice until we have a kitchen worthy of it!

I think that this is going to take some time, but I think that I can devote 1 day a month to tackle one room at a time. This way it will not be too overwhelming!

We are going to go to the bank to do the pre-qualifying in month of November, so that we can start house hunting! I hope that all the timing works out so that we don't have to extend our lease any, or pay anything to get out of it early!

My dream house would be of new construction, that will not be finished until about the time we are ready to move. All new appliances! Fresh warren ties! Some home builders will let you pick different stuff, like colors, cabinets, flooring options, stuff like that! That would be totally cool.

I would love to have a fenced back yard, a finished basement, a fireplace, and a garage. I am not naive enough to think that any of these will be possible with our first house. The only real major stuff is: 2-3 bedrooms, at least 1 full and 1 half bath, central air. I think that we would settle for something with 2 bedrooms if there was a good sized basement, or without a basement we would need at least 3 if not 4 bedrooms, and a storage shed or garage. I would really like to find something without gas heat since the prices are so outrageous. We would like to be fairly close to work, and Smug-Hub would like to have some land with the house. All these things are negotiable! We just need to see what we can get for what money and so on! I am sure that we will find just what we need for just what we can afford!! I have faith!!

Yesterday's Post - Work and Stuff

I got this all done yesterday and then forgot to hit the "publish post" button - I think it is the blond in me! Anyway, here it is again, or first, or whatever... also, an update - I did not spend my lunch break yesterday as I had planned, so it falls to today's lunch break... :(

I have been putting in a ton of hours the last couple of weeks, we are finishing up one fiscal year and starting a new one, we are gearing up for the peak selling season (Christmas), having board meetings and auditors coming in and all kinds of employee programs, and planning the Holiday party!

This has turned into a ton of extra hours and late evenings. My husband is also busy as he is deep into the spring pre-selling for his accounts. We have hardly seen each other and nothing has gotten done either around the apartment or had time to go to the bank to work on the house buying project.

I am also starting the MBA program on Monday and I have not been able to force myself to do the reading that I need to do before the first class. I need to get a copy of the Wall Street Journal so I can cut out an article on something HR related - it has to be the physical news paper, not something online, as the teacher wants us to be reading the whole WSJ each day. HOW IS THAT FUCKING POSSIBLE????? I don't have time to read the new Janet Evanovich book for fun, how am I supposed to read an entire news paper everyday?? Maybe it will be really interesting and I will totally retract this post later! I have to spend my lunch break today finding a copy and, of course, we don't have any kind of book store on this side of town, so I have to drive a good 20 minutes to even have a chance of finding a copy.

On a positive note, I did attend a seminar on mortgages given by the local library last night and I learned a ton of stuff about credit and credit scores and how the process works and everything! Well, I am sure it is not everything, but at least I feel a lot more ready to take on the process than I did before!

Also, yesterday was Halloween and I went by Smug-Sister's house to check out my nephew - see these pictures as he is too cute for words!!

See you all tomorrow!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A few wedding pictures, from the professionals!!










14 INCHES!

I got my hair cut on Saturday. I decided that it was my hair and I was really ready to have something new and different. The results of which was FABULOUS! I even decided to color it too once I got home so it is more brown now too. My husband really liked it, once he warmed up to it, except for the color - he liked the blonde and wanted me to go even blonder than I had been before. Maybe, maybe not!





I love it!!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

To Posh or Not To Posh...


What do you guys think??
I am planning on getting my hair cut like Posh's on Saturday. I say planning to, because, while I have the appointment scheduled, work may interfere and I may be forced to reschedule. I have had (like most women) a lot of different hair styles over the years, and have never been nervous about trying new styles or colors. That said, I have had long, straight, blond hair for about 7 years now.

I think that I am ready for a change!

I am also really looking forward to donating my hair to help make wigs for children with cancer. I don't have a lot of money to donate to charities and I have low iron so I can't even donate my blood! But I do have a lot of freakin hair people!! I can help ease someones pain and suffering a little. I can do good and help my fellow man!

Knowing that the new style is a bit drastic, I have enlisted the opinions of my friends and family. Everyone is cautious, telling me to think about it or start with something less dramatic. My sweet husband, bless him, told me that while he will love me forever, even if I am bald, he is warning me that he will never cease to make fun of me if it does not turn out well! Sassy and Smug-Sister were both positive, but both expressed their disbelief that it would actually happen!

It is hair people - it does grow back! What is the worst that could happen? I hate it. I have to wait for it to grow out. Big deal! People are losing everything the own in CA right now, there is serious water shortages in GA, and no one knows for sure if J. Lo is pregnant or not!! These are the issues worth worrying about - not hair!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Best Laid Plans...

Well, I have spent most of the weekend on the couch with a nasty sore throat and sinus headache. My sweet husband has been doing the male bonding thing all weekend, so I have been pretty much on my own. Which has been fine, because I have not felt like doing anything, or talking to anyone, or, I hate to say, cleaning the spare room.

I have been taking Airborne and Immuno-Shield, I have done the Netty pot a few times and took some Benadryl - nothing has giving me much relief, but the vodka that I drank last night was a wonderful sleep aid!! I have been sleeping on and off all day.

I am sort of half watching the Redskins v. Cardinals game since that is where Smug-Hub and my family are today. I am thinking that I would like to eat something but nothing sounds appetizing right now. I am glad that I have this weekend to rest because I am going to be working a lot of long days this up coming week.

I am working on the laundry, as I am out of bras and underwear and putting items from one machine to another is not what one would call stressful! I really wanted to get some gifts returned and the spare room cleaned, but I think that it is in my best interest to rest while I can.

You know what is ironic? I am sick with allergies or a head cold or whatever, but I am scheduled to get a flu shot tomorrow, which may make me feel a bit sickly for a day or two afterward! No matter what, I am going to feel crappy most, if not all, of the week! Great!! :)

Friday, October 19, 2007

Week Wrap Up

So, this week was pretty good overall. The Transformers movie was finally released on DVD, the president of my company came to town and was pleased with how things are going, we held the annual employee tent sale and it was a rounding success, and best of all.... the weekend is here!!

Transformers was released on Tuesday, I had pre-ordered it from Amazon, so it did not arrive until Wednesday which worked out well, since we had my nephew staying with us Tuesday night and we would not have been able to watch it while he was awake. My time with him was really nice, we played in the park and then he watched some Generation 1 Transformer cartoons while I made dinner and then he helped me make ice cream. He had trouble falling asleep, which I think was caused by not being in his own bed with his own stuff and his normal routine. Not to mention when you are 4 your mother is your whole life and when he stays with me he misses her terribly. It breaks my heart to hear him quietly sniffing and wiping tears away while trying to fall asleep missing her.

Wednesday the president of my company was in town, I went pretty much undetected by him, which, if I am doing my job right, is the desired result! He did have all good things to say about the way that we are running things and all the improvements and updates that have been done to help make our peak selling season run smoothly. When I left work, I took a walk with Mom while my husband finished up at work. This gave mom and I time to catch up and get a little exercise. When he was finished, we picked up some dinner and turned on the movie!!! It was so much better at the movies, but our big screen TV made it seem almost as good!! We have decided that we really NEED to get a surround sound system, to really do the movie justice!

Thursday was the employee tent sale and I was in charge of the people working it, so that translates to on my feet for 14 full hours, on asphalt!! My feet, knees and legs were so killing me by the end of it - I normally work at a desk, in an office, so my body is just not used to all the physical work of lifting, carrying and standing for long hours. I ended up spending the majority of the time working security at the tent door, to make sure that no unauthorized people got in. It sucked! But, my wonderful husband went for Chinese take out while I took a hot shower and then rubbed my feet until I fell asleep - at 8:00pm!! He got me up and I brushed my teeth, took an Advil and went to bed! I actually tossed and turned for a little while, my legs were hurting/burning/tingling so bad that I had a hard time getting comfortable. I was asleep before 10pm anyway! Smug-Hub said that he tried to wake me a bit later without success. I have no memory of it at all!!
Today, was more relaxed. I was able to get my whole list of "to do's" done and get all prepped for next week, which is going to be a killer week, but I only have these really crazy ans stressful weeks 4 times a year, the rest of the year - much better, even fun most of the time, so it is a totally cool trade off!

My sweet husband is going to an NFL game this weekend with my dad and uncle. It should be fun filled day of male bonding, easting food that is soooo good, and yet soooo bad! They are leaving Saturday evening and will be back late Sunday night. Smug-Hub is also taking a few guys out to test a new fishing rod in the morning, so I will have the house to myself most of the weekend! I bought a small pumpkin and a small butternut squash and I have plans to see what wonderful fall treats I can make! I am also going to catch up on all the taped TV shows that I have missed all week, return some wedding gifts, and clean out the spare room.

Speaking of the spare room... what a huge mess it has become! This apartment is way too small for us and we are trying to use the spare room as an office for us both, a guest bedroom and a fishing/hunting supplies room - it is just not working! I think that I am going to try to get most of my stuff organized and packed up. I can get all my school stuff packed up or tossed and everything that is needed office stuff (checks, bills, thank you notes, banking statements, etc.) I am going to take into my office at work. It will be much easier to keep important stuff there, where I can get to it, than spend an hour looking for the blank check register here at the house. I think that I will try to take everything else, including the wedding gifts that we want to keep, but have no room for, to the storage unit. While there I will pull out one of the boxes of books that I want to sell and get them onto eBay. We have got to get our lives in order and while I can't make the bills go away or make the landlord keep this place nice, or speed up the home buying or baby having processes, I can de-clutter the spare room!!

Everyone! Have a wonderful weekend and remember to be thankful for what you have and take time to smell flowers and enjoy fall!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ice Cream, You Scream

Well, I attempted to make Mango Mint Sorbet with my new ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have been wanting this attachment for a long time and finally got it from my dad for my birthday.

I thought it would be fun to make with Will, who was having a sleep over. So, I made up the mix the evening before, because it has to chill for like 10 hours before putting it into the mixer. Will sat on the counter and helped me put all the attachments together and turn on the machine. I poured in the mix and we watched it start to thicken. Now, let me explain something about this mix. It was oddly separated. The recipe was followed to the letter, but you know how you are supposed to temper eggs into a hot liquid or they will scramble? Well, this is what the ice cream mix looked like, like tiny little pieces of cooked egg, only there are no eggs in this batter. Milk, sugar, corn syrup heated together until all dissolved. Pureed mango with a bit of lemon juice and chopped fresh mint (more on the mint later). Mix together and chill.

We let it mix/freeze for about 3 times longer than the recipe said, and it was still pretty slushy. Will said that he liked it, but when I gave him a little bowl of it, he left a lot behind! Now about that mint - it was all stuck to the mixing blade, I guess that I did not chop it finely enough or something, cause it was really odd. I thought and my husband agreed that the taste did not come out all that well either. It was a bit gritty (I guess from the "cooked egg" thingies) and had a strange aftertaste. Maybe too much lemon? Maybe? I don't know?

I put it into the freezer to see if it just needed to get really hard or something. I will test it out tonight, but I have a feeling that it will be getting a nice up close look at the garbage disposal!

I am going to try freaking vanilla next - how hard can this really be??

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Fridge That Never Was

When my husband and I moved into our current apartment, we listed two (count um, TWO) type written pages of items that needed to be fixed. Several were of urgent need and others were less urgent and still others were things that we would like to see fixed but weren't causing problems. The ONLY item on the list to be fixed was the ceiling fan in the master bedroom, and that only after many phone calls and begging and pleading. There are safety plates missing from the electrical plugs, we were told that all the flooring would be replaced, they only replaced the carpet, leaving the vinyl which is yellowed from the previous tenants smoking and full of holes. We were told that screens for all the windows were "on order", they have never arrived. The fridge does not close/seal correctly, thus wasting electricity if you are not careful to push the door shut from all 3 sides. The paint job was terrible and many places were missed. The whole place still smelled like smoke!

Now, I was deep into finishing school and planning the wedding, so most everything else was left alone. I just did not have the time to do all the begging, pleading, phone calls, and letter writing needed to get anything done. Then the bathroom sink begin to leak... hot water... I called the maintenance guy on a Friday morning and no one called me back. On Monday I called the landlord, no call back. He did finally call me back on Tuesday and gave me the phone number of a plumber. While I had the landlord on the phone, I mentioned that it had been a few months since he told me that the new refrigerator would be arriving. He told me that the one that he had ordered was on back order and it should only be a few more days. I think that this man must either be very dumb, or just used to dealing with dumb people. Anyway, the plumber came out a few days later and the leak was fixed - really not the point of this post, but it still burns my ass that my hot water dripped for 5 full days at the rate of 1 cup full every 20 minutes! Yes! I timed it! You want to make something of it?!?!?!

Yesterday afternoon about 3:30pm, I received a call from Lowes, letting me know that they were going to deliver the new fridge this morning between 8-noon. When I tried to figure out who scheduled this and why I was getting such late notice and how I might be able to re-schedule, he was very rude and basically told me that he was doing me a favor even calling. He told me to call the retail store in the morning and ask for this certain guy. When I asked for his name he would not tell me - this tells me that he knew he was being nasty!

I got up this morning and started making phone calls to all 3 of the local Lowes stores. I attempted to call the landlord (to find out which store he got the fridge from) but his phone was going right to voicemail. None of the 3 stores could find a record of my delivery. I arranged for my husband to stay home while I went into work to put together the important morning status report and then I would come home to wait while he went into work. During the drive to work, while at work, during the drive home and during my 3 full hours of waiting I was still trying to call the landlord.

At about 5 minutes before noon, I called the stores again and finally found the store where the certain guy worked, but he was out sick... I asked to speak to his boss and when he came on the phone I explained everything including that now it was noon and I had missed work and no one was there. We put me on hold and when he came back he told me that the landlord had called late yesterday evening to reschedule the delivery for after the end of October and he would call to reschedule.

I am livid! Not only was Lowes rude and unhelpful both yesterday and this morning (the final guy was very nice and it turns out it was not Lowes fault at all), but I wasted half a day that I could have been working, wages that my husband and I both would have lost (were we hourly) come to $301.28, not to mention the missed meetings, late reports and everything else. I am going to tell him that I am taking the $301.28 out of next months rent. I am sure that there is some agency or government body that I can complain to about this! We seem to be a sue happy country, maybe I can sue for a few million in damages for mental and emotional anguish!

I have left an urgent message for the landlord - it is going on 31/2 hours without a response from him. I did not tell him what I was calling about, I just told him who I was and asked him to call me right away. Now, if that was a message on my voicemail, I would be thinking that the place was flooding or something and I would be calling right away - nothing from this man.

I think that I dislike him very much. You know that we have never met this man? He had an agent show us the place and sign the lease. I doubt that he has even been on the property to see what a dump it is. He must be used to renting to people who don't mind living in filth, if the last tenants are any indication. How can he run his business this way? I would think that it would be a landlords dream to have clean, non-smoking tenants who pay on time and have a history of long term rentals. We were 2 years at our last place, only leaving because it was being sold as a home not a rental. The place before that we lived for 5 years! Again, only leaving when the landlords changed and rented the other unit to drug dealers - two slashed tires later, we felt it time to move!!

My husband says that I need to calm down and stop being mad, that being mad does not solve anything and make things better and he is right - that is one reason that I have this blog, I can let out all my anger, or pain or whatever without hurting anyone.

Fuck it - we are buying a house soon anyway and then we will be out of there :)