I'm really not that angry....

5 more days until Christmas!

2008-12-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't been in the blogging spirit lately. Maybe because I consider my life pretty boring. But I'm in the mood for a quick update so here it goes....

We're so broke this Christmas it's not even funny. We don't have a tree, we don't have presents, we barely have food and gas. Andrew hasn't gotten paid from his sub-contracting job since Sept and we've been making do with my measly salary (which isn't enough to cover the rent + car payment let alone anything else). I know the economy sucks and everything but we get paid from a Canadian company so they have no excuse! I'm probably going to have to suck it up and borrow money from my parents to be able to buy gas to get around to our families for Christmas! I hate borrowing money from my parents, especially at Christmas time. But it's a little out of my control right now.

In better news I'm really starting to like my new position in Criminal. People talk to me now which is nice and I'm really liking my boss even though I was a little scared to work for her at first :). For the first time in awhile I don't dread going to work! I applied for a court room clerk position a couple weeks ago and I had an interview Wed which went horribly!!! I'm pretty sure I'm not in the running but I'm actually ok with it because I think I'd rather stick around in Criminal.

The candle business is going pretty well. It's slow right now but I did way better than I ever thought I would! The new catalog is coming out in January so I'm pretty excited about that. What I'm not excited about is that 2 different people (one who happens to be related to me!) have given me checks that have bounced!! And even worse than that my bank not only takes the money back from me but they charge me an extra $6! WTF?? Like it's my fault that the check bounced? I wouldn't have deposited it if I had any idea it wasn't good. It's a crock! I do take credit cards but of course I lose a percentage when I do it that way but I'm seriously considering going that route. My webpage is mygc.com/sarahkaba if anyone is interested :).

Hmmm... let's see, what else is new? I'm reading Marley and Me and I can't wait to see the movie!! I bet 90% of the people in the audience will be Lab owners. Oh, I was on the Holiday party committee at work this year and it was a ton of fun! I brought in a bunch of centerpieces which I made out of glass bowls with red and silver ornaments in them and I got to help decorate. We had secret santas at work too and mine gave me a big Hot Chocolate mug with a saucer that I LOVE and a set of bowls that have sugar cookie makings inside. I'm going to break into them tomorrow I think. Monday I have training all day which is cool because it means I only work 8:30-4 instead of 8-5. Extra 1.5 hours to myself! Hooray! And last week I got to observe Misd and Felony arraignments and a Felony law and motion calender which was awesome. I always wonder what's going through the judge's heads when they decide to release or not release people from custody. Oh that reminds me that I'm thinking about taking a Criminal Justice class at the community college this spring just for fun. Sometimes I really hate my job and I think I need to get into a different line of work and then something always comes along to remind me that I love the Judicial system... even with all it's flaws :).

Cocoa's Christmas Hat

2008-12-07T16:27:00.001-08:00

I know I'm a horrible blogger these days but I have to share this:

This is why I rock

2008-11-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Because I made this super cool Halloween spider web bean dip and home made Halloween shaped tortilla chips!

Deer Hunting

2008-10-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my first adult deer hunting trip. Thank god we didn't shoot anything! I hate seeing animals get hurt. You might ask why the hell I was deer hunting when I don't like seeing animals get hurt. Well it all started like this....

Andrew was spending every damn weekend in the hills with his stupid friend and his stupid family. After the second weekend in a row I visibly perterbed. He asked me to come up to this stupid people's ranch with him the next weekend which I refused to do. First of all, it's a dust bowl up there and there's nothing to look at but dirt, oak trees, and cows. Second of all he was cutting wood. I don't cut wood. And lastly of course I don't like animals getting hurt. He was coming home every weekend talking about his great time and how his friend's mom made such good food and worked so hard cleaning up after everyone, blah blah blah. At this point I'm angry. Why the hell does he notice when Old Stupid Lady cooks and cleans but my efforts go unnoticed? And he wants me to be friends with this stupid woman! Not going to happen. I tell him I have plenty of friends and he shouldn't make me try to be friends with this stupid lady so that I'll think it's ok when he spends so much time with her and her stupid family. Let's just call them The Stupids from now on.

Skip forward through a week of fighing. He claims I never do what he wants to do and we always do what I want to do. He also claims that he would just LOVE for me to come up and hang out with him at The Stupid's ranch. He says he'll take me out to lunch and we can ride 4-wheelers. I stupidly agree (maybe I should join The Stupid Family). So I drive for two hours with Cocoa practically on my lap and when I get to the house he gave me directions too there's a sign giving me directions to a different place! That's irritating. So I find the damn place (we're talking hills, unmarked roads, and no civilization here) and he informs me that we'll be having lunch with The Stupids. OH HELL NO. I insist he take me to lunch as promised so he does. We get back and I ask about my 4-wheeler ride and he tells me he doesn't know where the 4-wheelers are and I should just come sit in the dust bowl and watch him and the Stupid men work. I find this akin to watching grass grow so I blow that pop stand.

The weekend ends and there isn't so much fighting but some discussing. I tell him he tricked me into a wasted day at The Stupid Ranch. He says he loves being in nature and he wants me to be there too. I say that I love nature too (not a lie!) but I don't want to share it with The Stupids and I don't want him too every freaking weekend either. I point out that we are newlyweds and spending every weekend apart isn't cool. I mean I'm not co-dependant or anything and I infact love some alone time but we're talking 3 weekends in a row at this point. The dog poop is not being picked up. The grass is not being mowed. Not to mention the importance of quality time! I tell him I'd be more than happy to revel in all mother nature has to offer if it was just us more often than not. So he asks me to go hunting/camping with him the following weekend and of course I can't say no. I just said I love nature and I would do things if it was just him and I. BOO!

So I dread the trip the whole week but put on a happy face until Saturday morning. I woke up and the weather was beautiful and we were going to cover some ground that my grandpa used to hunt. Somehow I got excited about it! Not about the deer killing part but since Andrew's been hunting deer unsucessfully for about 10 years I wasn't that worried.... We drove up in the Mendocino National Forest and drove around scouting out deer all day. The scenary was amazing! Then we found a little camp site to spend the night in. We were packing light and sleeping in the back of Andrew's Tahoe so it was easy set up and take down. We had both of our dogs with us but I still ended up freezing my ass off that night. I should have packed one more blanket. The next morning we drove around a bit more and then we decided to head out of the forest and back into the foot hills. He wanted to drive around The Stupid's land a little bit to see if he saw anything. I swear to you he's obsessed with this family. Or maybe it's just Old Lady Stupid, I don't know. We end up taking some road thinking it would put us out at a spot on the way home. We were wrong. It went on FOREVER and we ended up back in the damn forest that we left that morning! I was SO done about half way through that last drive. I was tired of being in the car and tired of bumpy switch back roads. We finally made it home about 7:30 and I can not wait to get into bed. It's too bad I have to work in the morning :(.

Here's a picture of the sunrise this morning in the forest.

Fort Bragg

2008-09-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

So first of all I just want to ask.... does anyone else feel like a brand new woman after something so simple as an eye brow waxing? If the answer is no than just pretend like I didn't say that.

But seriously, I feel like I have a whole new face.

Anywho! Last weekend Andrew and I packed up and went to Fort Bragg for a 3 day camping trip. I hadn't been to Fort Bragg since I was a wee little lass but Andrew claimed to be an expert on it. My friend Carina suggested that we accompany her and her boyfriend, Ivan, on a camping trip to Mackerrricher state park. I'd never been there before and since you had to reserve your campsite online I chose my blindly but I did a damn good job if I do say so myself! I was just trying to be close to Carina and the bathroom but our campsite ended up being huge. Which is good because I INSIST on a 7 person tent for the two of us on top of my screen tent house. And to top it off the weather was absolutely amazing. Amazing is a difficult temperature to acheive on the ocean as you probably know because it's unpredictable and usually windy. But mother nature was on our side last weekend!

Friday we just set up and then went to some expensive restaurant that Andrew wanted to try. I just had a salad since I don't eat seafood but it was delicious. Plus it left room for some creme brulee which I can NOT pass up if it's on the menu. Saturday the boys took off to do some fishing while Carina and I hit up some tide pools and collected glass on Glass Beach. When we first parked Carina thought that she had found the correct trail to the beach although I had my doubts from the get go. I didn't say anything though because a trail is a trail right?? WRONG. Our trail ended up snaking around through some 5 ft tall bushes for like an hour. At one point we were crawling on our hands and knees to get through the brush. I was laughing and telling Carina that we HAD to be on the wrong trail. I wish I had taken a picture. Anyway, we were on the wrong trail and there was a nice, wide, semi-paved one that led straight from the parking lot to the beach. But oh well... it gives us something to remember it by. Glass beach is called Glass Beach because back in the day people used to dump their garbage (including appliances, cars, etc) into the ocean. Over time the ocean broke the glass up, smoothed it out, and it has been depositing peices on Glass Beach every day since. I will post a picture so you can see the peices of glass mixed up with the rocks. After we got back to camp we went on a search for my famously late husband who always "loses track of time." When we finally pulled his happy ass out of the ocean we had lunch and then took a little drive to Mendocino. If you're a country fan you've probably heard of Willie Nelson sing songs about Mendocino. On the way back we stopped at this light house that I really wanted to see. It said the hike was only 1/2 mile but I'm pretty sure they lied. It was straight down hill one way and straight up the other and of course I didn't plan the stop so I was wearing my slippers without socks. My feet hurt so freaking bad by the time I got to the bottom I almost didn't make it back up. Plus I had my gimpy other half trucking along beside me.

Sunday was a perfect day to leave because the fog was rolling in and the wind was picking up. We left at about noon and I almost barfed about a million times with Andrew driving home. The road is switchbacks of 20-25 mph which he took at like 40. I was convinced that we were going to die and they'd find me with puke all over myself. Great way to go. But we made it and next time I'm having him drop me off at the Skunk Train station and I'm riding the train into Fort Bragg. He can pick me up at the Depot... if he makes it alive.

Glass Beach

Long and Busy Weekend

2008-09-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's currenlty 7:30 pm Monday night and I'm stuck wondering where in the hell my 3 day weekend went. Saturday I just cleaned the house in the morning and then went to my parents house for dinner in celebration of my dad's birthday. When that party was over we hit up my friend Lindsay's End of Summer Luau party. We didn't stay very long but I did manage to get dinged in the forehead by a Beer Pong ball gone astray. That's so my luck.

Sunday I met my friend Michelle at Mimi's Cafe in Fairfield (oh how I love Mimi's!) to plan the craft shows that we have coming up in October and November for her line of soaps and bath and body products. We ended up doing a little shopping at Michael's where I bought some mini-cupcake pans which I'm going to use to promote her business by giving away the mini-cupcakes at the shows. Her business is called Cupcake Bath Shoppe so I thought it was a cute idea and everyone always flocks to the booths with free food or samples. At least I know I do :). After Michael's we hit up Babies R Us where I bought a gift for a friend and then I speed home to meet with another friend to build a diaper cake. I'd never made a diaper cake before and I had my doubts about how the whole thing was going to go down but in the end I was mighty impressed with our work. We were going to go the state fair that night but since I was beat and Andrew wanted to go hunting in the morning we have our tickets to my brother.

Today I've just been bumming around. It's a bit windy and I like it because it makes me think that Fall just might be here already. I'm sure tomorrow will dash my hopes with 100+ weather. I made some snickerdoodles which taste yummy but the bastards would NOT come off of the cookie sheet. What's the deal with that? Does anybody know? Is there a trick to snickerdoodles? Andrew took Gidget hunting this morning so me and Cocoa have been lounging around and doing alot of cuddling. It turns out she's a much better behaved dog when it's just her. Before I know it I'l be back at work. Luckily I only have a 3 day week this week and Friday I'm off to Fort Bragg! Hooray!

Sewer Rat

2008-08-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

Remember the dead mouse I kept smelling at work? Well the maintenance guys finally came over to check it out and guess what their conclusion was? The urinals in the men's bathroom weren't getting enough water flushed down them so they were starting to smell and the reason that I was the only one that could smell it is because I share a wall with the men's bathroom.

First of all, EWWW.

Second of all, since when does sewer smell like a dead mouse? I'm from the country, I know the difference! I still think there's a dead mouse somewhere although I haven't smelt him lately. He's probably going to get good and ripe over the 3 day weekend for me....

Third of all, if the men's bathroom was so stinky that I could smell it THROUGH THE WALL then how is it that none of the men who used it said anything? It's the public bathroom but the security guards and baliff's use it to so how come they didn't say anything?

I don't know but it all sounds a little fishy to me. I guess only time will tell.

And it better tell me that my desk smells fresh and clean come Tuesday morning, damn it!

Dog Days of Summer

2008-08-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Andrew and I were enjoying some peace in quiet before my cousin moves in (we are seriously a half way house for women who want to leave their men) and we decided to take the dogs for a swim. We drove up the Capay Valley which is my old stomping grounds and basically where I grew up. We wanted to let the dogs swim in the creek but I wanted to find a spot that didn't have too many rapids and wasn't running to swift because you never know how Dumb-Dumb (Cocoa) is going to react. She got shorted in the brain cell department but luckily she makes up for it in the loving department. I mentioned to Andrew that in high school my friends use to go to this place called "the top of the world" and I've never been. Now when I say "the top of the world" I mean that in the oakiest of ways - I mean the top of a mountain and a very windy (<--like lots of switchbacks, not like the weather) dirt road to get up there. It was beautiful at the top though! Hotter than hell but beautiful!
Here's a few from The Top of The World:

Here's the bastards at The Top of the World

Anyway, we eventually found a swimming spot for the dogs which I thought was still pretty scary but they did alright. They didn't get too far from the shore because they spent the entire time jumping in and getting wet and then jumping out and shaking all over us. Poor Cocoa kept slipping on slimy rocks but she didn't learn and kept jumping on them instead of taking the dirt route. At any rate it was a nice afternoon and it was fun to get out and about. This weekend we're plannin on going to my parents Saturday for my dad's birthday, then to my friend Lindsay's for a Luau, then my cousin is moving in so it's a good thing I've got 3 days off! Hooray for Labor Day!

Otter Dog, Otter Dog. Does whatever an Otter Dog does...

Daddy, you look hot - let me cool you down with a little water....

Can we go home now?

I smell a rat....

2008-08-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Literally. My desk smells like a dead rodent but I'm the only one that can smell it! It's lunch time and I've already got the worst headache and I felt like barfing once. I couldn't smell the dead rat anymore though so that probably means that I got used to it and when I get back to work it will assault me again! I know this is gross but I hope the smell gets worse so that someone else smells it and rectifies the situation!!!! I think the bastard died between my desk and the wall because I can't find him anyway.

Moving On Over....

2008-08-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

To the Criminal department!

I applied for a transfer a few weeks ago because I just couldn't do Traffic anymore and they accepted me! I knew they would because that office works closely with my mom's office and my mom is the supervisor so naturally she's in contact with the Criminal supervisor all the time. Luckily for me the supervisor in Criminal (Pam) really likes my mom so naturally she'll like me.... or so I hope. I had a hard time deciding to make the switch because I really like most of my coworkers in traffic and my boss is so easy going. But on the other hand I'm sick of the work and I'm not going to go anywhere there because you need experience in the court to be able to move up so I had to do what I had to do! I don't know when I start over there yet but I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. It's normal stuff though like I'm worried that I won't make friends over there and I'm nervous about going from knowing a heck of a lot about what I do to not knowing very much and having to learn all over again. But it should be a new challenge and it should be fun and I'm definitely ready for change!

Andrew and I went to a birthday party for my friend's sons today. They turned 3 and 4 - she's crazy, I know. It was pretty fun and the kids liked our gifts so that was a bonus. Andrew is bugging me again about having kids. He just doesn't understand how much work really goes into a kid. They are not cute little well behaved babies 24/7. And you KNOW I'll be the one that has to get up at night to take care of them because he won't wake up and I'll be the one that takes care of them 90% of the time because of his work schedule and that's not even considering the 40 weeks of pregnancy and LABOR! The idiot gave a one year old some play dough today at the party and before I could say "Don't, she'll eat it" she put it in her mouth and I had to fish it out and I'd just met the kid 1/2 hour before! Luckily her mom was easy going...

In other care-giving news Cocoa ate an entire bar of soap and the proceeded to vomit it up all night long. Luckily my friend had made the soap and it was all natural. She owns this business called Cupcake Bath Shoppe where she makes all her own soaps. I'm actually going to be doing some craft fairs with her shortly so I'm pretty excited about that. One is in October in Yuba City and the other is in November in Colusa. I don't know how the Yuba City one is going to go down but the Colusa one is huge. It's like one of the biggest things that little city sees all year so I'm pretty excited about that. Plus my in-laws live there and know a ton of people so hopefully my last name will sale a few things :). Oh, my bastard dogs picked up Kennel Cough at the park so they're popping more pills than Amy Winehouse right now (I don't even know if she pops pills but it's the first druggy I could think of). I should seriously buy some stock in Kraft Cheese because we go through it by the ton whenever they get sick. One of the perks of having labs is that they'll eat anything and they rarely chew which makes it great for giving them meds. I mean, after eating an entire bar of soap (which takes some serious effort) those pills probably taste pretty damn good!

The zoo is not just for kids anymore....

2008-08-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday Andrew and I got up at the butt crack of dawn to meet my friend, Michelle, and her family at the San Francisco Zoo. S.F. is only about an hour and a half away from us but who wants to get up at 7:00 on a Sunday? Ok, I admit it - I do if an outing is involved. Andrew... not so much. I was excited though because I hadn't been to a zoo in years and the last one I went to was the Sacramento zoo which really sucks these day. Their animals keep dying and they don't replace them. Plus the S.F. zoo is right on the ocean and the weather was an amazing 78 degrees. Y'all might have heard about the S.F. zoo last Christmas when one of the tigers jumped out of it's 12 foot cage and ate a teenager. It wasn't the dead teenagers fault though, it was the fault of his dumb friend who was antagonizing the tiger. IDIOTS.

Anyway, the zoo was loads of fun but of course they rainforest exhibit was closed which figures because that's the one I wanted to see the most. Here's some pictures for your enjoyment.

The county fair opens up tomorrow and for us small towners that's a big freaking deal. Our county fair is the last free county fair in all of Califorina! Pretty special huh? I think what it really means is that we spend so much money on booze and food that they don't need to charge admission. But whatever, I'm ready to eat me some corn dogs and watch a good ol' fashioned destruction derby!

Wow, I suck at blogging

2008-08-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

I just haven't felt any urges to blog lately. I read blogs... but I never post my own. Sheer laziness I guess. So I guess one could say I've been busy. Work is pretty all consuming right now and doesn't leave me much energy after work to do much. We bought an eliptical machine and a bike for Andrew in an attempt to not be so fat. The idea is that eventually I'll lose some weight and then maybe I can have a baby but for now that's a pretty far off goal. I have been getting up early about 3 times a week to pump out 10 mins on the eliptical machine. 10 mins is hard, ok? It kicks my ass! Eventually I'll work myself up.... or I'll just start sleeping in. One of the two. Gidget is on a diet too so we bought a "chuck it" and have been taking her to the dog park. I even started monitoring their food instead of letting them pig out like I used to. It's a sad time at Casa de Kaba.

Last weekend was a blast though. We went to The Punchline Comedy club for my friend's birthday and saw John Capparillo. I had no freaking idea who he was but my friend informed us that he's on CMT's Mobile Home Disasters. I was a bit surprised as I'm a die hard country fan and she's.... not so much. But whatever, I laughed my ass off!! All three of the comics were hilarious which doesn't usually happen too often. Usually the first guy gets a few chuckles, the second guy has a few really good ones, and the third guy splits your gut but this time I had a stomach ache before the headline even took the stage! Andrew was DYING. I literally thought he was going to laugh so hard that he would forget to breate and he would die. He made it ok though.

Sunday we went boating with my family and they had this new toy which is basically a floating couch. It seats 3 people and when you get that much weight on it and you start hitting waves you catch some serious air. It was a blast but I paid for it the next day in my arms! It actually managed to help my back though because I'd been having pain in my tail bone for the last few months and after getting jerked around on that floating couch thing the pain went away! So much cheaper and more entertaining than seeing a chiropractor...

I applied for a tranfer at work to the Criminal department. I just told my boss today that I had applied. I was scared to tell her but she was really nice and encouraging about it and she said she understood me wanting to get more experience and they would be lucky to have me. She's probably on the phone with someone cussing me right now but oh well, I hopefully won't have to deal with it for too much longer.

This weekend I have a going away party to attend for my last partner at the counter and then Sunday we're going to the San Francisco zoo with my friend and her kids. I'm pretty excited about it! Yeah so the tiger ate someone on Christmas last year... I'll just have to refrain from dangling my feet over it'2 12 foot cage like the last guy did. In any case, it should be fun :)

Everybody's Working for the Weekend...

2008-07-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

At least that's how I feel lately. And the weekend is finally here!! WOOHOO!!!! The weekdays are become unbearable. I want to look for a new job so badly but then again I don't want to be the "new" girl who doesn't know shit. But in any case it's SATURDAY!!!!!! And I have a full 48 hours to do whatever I want!! And what might I have on the agenda you ask? Well this morning I'm taking Gidget to get a booster shot, then I'm cleaning the house which will probably take the better part of the day, then it's dinner with Andrew and maybe a movie. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in until I can't possibly sleep anymore, then I'm going to lounge around the house reading and watching movies and trying to make the last few hours of my freedom last as long as humanly possible. For those of you who work full time you know that this means that right now it might be 8:07 am on a Saturday but in about 15 mins it will be Sunday night and I'll be dreading the coming week.

I'm really itching to go to Tahoe now thanks to Carina. I want to lounge around on a porch in the fresh mountain air and read a book or go to sit by the lake and relax. I have to get out of this smoky valley! I wonder when California will stop burning? It seems like every year it gets worse, and worse, and worse. I heard on the news that the Butte County fire might have been intentionally set!!!! Butte county has been on fire for the better half of a month now. If someone set that shit intentially they are going to go away for a long, long time. Why are people so stupid?? I also want to take a roadtrip to Oregon and go to a drive thru animal park and ride dune buggies on the sand dunes. On top of that I want to take Andrew to Disneyland since he's never been. I just need a vacation!!!

I See Stupid People

2008-07-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've had that saying stuck in my head all day!!! Probably because I do see stupid people every day that I have to go to work!

Sooooo.... anything interesting happening out there? Nothing here. It's almost too mellow. I might have a break down any day now from sheer boredom. Work sucks very much bad but you already knew that already. Andrew's official last day at his job was yesterday. He's officially self employed. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out. Better yet cross your fingers and hope that he makes so much money that I don't have to work and I can live out my dream of staying home and baking cookies and pushing my offspring around in jogging strollers (of which I will never use for actual real life jogging).

I just finished reading this book called "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. It was oddly intriging. It's about a Greek girl who is genetically a boy but lives as a girl until she's like 14. It sounds crazy and when I first started reading it I was thinking "what the hell have I got myself into" but I ended up really getting into it. It won a Pulitzer Prize so apparently I'm not alone. It turns out a friend of mine has also read it and enjoyed it as well. Currently I'm reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." I'm having a hard time with it because I cheated and watched the Lifetime movie that was based off the book. Actually I might have watched it twice. What? My mom wanted to watch it and it was on my DVR. I had to watch it with her otherwise that would have just been rude. Next up is "The Glass Castle." I read alot. Oh and my new obsession is E True Hollywood Story.

OHHH!!! Speaking of stupid people - someone spit gum on my truck today!! ASSHOLES!! And of course it's like 90 something degrees so it melted and ran down the side of the door and when I tried to clean it off it smeared everywhere. Andrew is NOT going to be happy. Why do people do that shit?? I mean seriously!?!?!? Why??? This is a prime example of why I hate people. Bastards.

I'm Sirius, Man!

2008-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

So I finally broke down and bought myself a Sirius radio. My mother in law had given me a gift certificate for Radio Shack like 6 months ago to buy one and I never got around to it. I figured they'd be having good sales today so I got all pumped up and did my research and everything and of course there's no sale. Bastards. I got a Starmate 4. It's not the newest or the fanciest model on the market but I like it because it's on the smaller side and as long as I can rewind and listen to my classic country I'm good. So I'm pretty excited about that.

I should have known that there wouldn't be any good sales today because I already had my stroke of good luck for the week. I went down to the Social Security Office to apply for my new name and there was like a bazillion people in there. Some old dude was bitching about his 45 minute wait so after I told a computer why I was there and received my number I settled in for some cell phone Tetris. I only got through one game and they called my number!! I thought they had screwed up because I was the last person to arrive and surely the people behind me were going to rip me away from the window by my hair (they were seriously ruder than the customers at my office!!). I asked the guy if he was sure he called the right number because there was plenty of people that arrived after me and he said that he was new and only knew how to do the change of name applications!!! Woohoo!! That totally rocked! Only bad part was that it takes 24 hours for it to roll over to DMV so now I have to take more time off work to go to DMV. Grr... I think our DMV is open one Saturday a month though.

Tomorow we're going to Indian Valley Reservoir for a day of boating and BBQ'ing. I have a feeling the water level is going to be waaaaay down and there's probably going to be more boats than water but oh well... it will be nice to get away for a day and spend some time with the family.

My green review

2008-06-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

I finally ran out of a few cleaning products and was able to try some new "green" products. I bought them both at Costco although the Green Works you can buy almost anyway. My first purchase was this random green laundry detergent I found after getting irritated with Costco for not carrying the Tide with baking soda detergerent that I love.

It has a nice, clean scent and it's made for high efficency washers (of which I am now a proud owner!). It seems to do the trick ok although I have to admit that I've only used it on my clothes so far and my clothes don't get that dirty. Once the other kind runs out and I start using it on Andrew's clothes I'll be able to give a better perspective. But so far so good.

My second purchase is one that I think most everyone has tried - Green Works by Clorox.

I was a little skeptical at first because I'm a die hard 409 fan but so far so good! I haven't found anything that 409 can do and Green Works can't so I give it a thumbs up. I've only been using it for a few days though so again, I might have a better perspective in the future. It smells like a real life lemon and it's made from all natural ingredients. You know what that means...... these bastards can lick the shower as much as they like and I don't have to worry about them dying.

What the hell is WRONG with people?!?!

2008-06-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

DUNNIGAN, Calif. -- A parolee accused of killing a Yolo County sheriff's deputy in Dunnigan was captured Monday morning following a massive manhunt that lasted several hours.

Police arrested 35-year-old Arbuckle resident Marco Antonio Topete on suspicion of shooting to death 37-year-old Deputy Tony Diaz, Sheriff Ed Prieto told reporters.

Diaz was airlifted after the shooting to Woodland Memorial Hospital, where he later died. He was the father of three girls - ages 2, 4 and 16.

"It's just tragic," Prieto said during a news conference. "It hurts your soul."

Prieto said Diaz was shot in the shoulder and was able to report his own shooting to dispatchers. Prieto added that police will be studying dash video captured by the deputy's police car for evidence related to the shooting.

Prieto worked in information technology for Yolo County for several years before becoming a deputy. Prieto described Diaz as a "very gentle man" and "easy-going."

Prieto said Topete had ties to gangs and served 12 years in prison for shooting another person.

"He is not a stranger to violence," Prieto said of Topete.

Topete was captured shortly before 8 a.m. in a rest area near Interstate 5 in the Dunnigan area. Investigators said they found a rifle that was used in the slaying.

Prieto said Topete recently moved to Arbuckle from Davis.

"I'm just thankful we have this individual in custody," Prieto said.

Topete was taken to jail in Yolo County for questioning, Prieto added.

Prieto heaped praise on other local police agencies that helped in the search. Dunnigan was swarming with officers from Sacramento, West Sacramento, Davis and elsewhere during the height of the manhunt.

A 10-mile stretch of I-5 was shut down in the area for several hours during the search. The road has since reopened.

The shooting occurred around 10 p.m. Sunday during a traffic stop at County Road 6 and County Road 99W. Police said Topete fled on foot.

Police said the incident began at about 9:30 p.m. in Davis when police tried to pull Topete's car over after a report that he was drinking and driving. Officials said Topete drove way, and a police pursuit continued north to Dunnigan.

Deputies looked in Topete's abandoned blue Ford sedan and found an infant girl around 3 or 4 months old, who was said to be doing fine. She was identified as Topete's child and was returned to her mother Monday afternoon.

Diaz is the second Yolo County deputy to be killed in the line of duty.

**This is 10 mins from my home people! And it's the second officer to be shot since I started at the court.

I know it's not Thursday but.....

2008-06-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

This things on the road just couldn't wait. And with my sporatic blogging activity I might let it pass and we just can't have that. I bring you.....

CLOSE MINDED REDNECKS!!!!

Yes, it's true. We even have these kind of people in California (which has the highest percentage of gay and lesbian couples in the nation!). Idiots.

How hard can it be?

2008-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

I recently put Andrew on my medical insurance since my copay is a lot cheaper and my coverage is alot better. Plus he's considering going into business for himself full time but that's a whole 'nother blog. So I tell my HR department that his doctor is Josie Santana and I know she's in the network because I've seen her myself a few times. They say they will double check everything and they will let me know if there is any problems. I got our new cards in the mail yesterday and they have his doctor listed as Jyoti Saxena. What the hell? Did they just assume that since this doctor has the same initials as his doctor that we wouldn't notice the difference? So I went online and of course his doctor is not listed but I know for a fact that she accepts my insurance because I've seen her numerous times (she's absolutely amazing by the way). So frustrating!!! And to make matter worse they are not open on the weekends so I can't call them up and get it straightened out. And to top it off this is not the first time this has happened to me!! When I worked at a local winery I was HR so I know I filled the forms out correctly and they sent me a card with a doctor that was 100 miles away (and not even in the Chico area which I previously lived in so it would make some kind of sense. No, no, it was like 100 miles in the other direction). When I got to the doctor one afternoon to be seen for a horrible sinus infection they turned me away because they weren't listed on my policy! IDIOTS!! I mean really, how hard can it be?

The Fitted Sheet

2008-05-31T17:11:00.001-07:00

Seriously - does ANYONE know how to fold the fitted sheet? Mine always comes out looking like a 3 year old folded it. Then I cram it into the closet making matters oh so much better. I was hoping that would be a skill that came with age but apparently I'm still not quite old enough...

So... life is pretty boring here. I'm hitching to go to the grocery store and then tonight I'm having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with my long time best friend, Andrea. I'm pretty excited about that! Although picking a meal off of their menu is like picking a favorite child - it can't be done. There's too much goodness to choose from! Today I vow to not fill up on bread in the beginning (even if it is fresh from the oven) so I can have my lemon raspberry cheesecake dessert. Mmmm.... cheesecake. Wow, I have issues.

All Hitched Up

2008-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a busy last couple of weeks! I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow. Grrr..... I'm not happy about it.

The wedding was ok. Not amazing, not what I dreamed about, just ok. First of all it was 103 degrees in MAY which never happens and of course my wedding was completely outside. Alot of people didn't even show up on account of the heat and then there was quite a bit that left immediately after the ceremony. So here we were with a little less than $4,000 invested in food and drink and hardly any guests to eat or drink it. Luckily we got to keep the leftovers (if I ever eat parmesan chicken again it will be too soon). So I lost my ass big time there. Plus guests where dropping like flies because of the heat so I missed out on all kinds of traditional wedding stuff. I won't bore you with all the details but it was a very hurried, very disappointing reception. Then the DJ's equipment took a shit right when Andrew and I were supposed to have our first dance. Luckily the photographer listens to country as well and happened to have our song and the song for me and my dad on his Iphone so he spliced some wires and made it happen. Andrew and his mom weren't so lucky though. Oh well, she was on my LAST nerve as was his brother (who is still on my shit list).

In the end it accomplished what it was supposed to though, I'm now proud to say I'm a married woman. The night of the wedding we stayed at the Hampton Suites here in town where we promptly fell asleep and sleep until noon. The next day we had dinner and stayed the night on the Delta King which is a historic steam engine river boat that used to shuttle people and goods between San Francisco and Sacramento back in the steam boat days. It's docked permanently now but it was so much fun! We ate a horribly expensive dinner complete with 3 drinks a piece and then we drank our complimentary champagne on the balcony outside our room. It was awesome. The weather was still in the hundreds and we had a little money left over so we decided to go on a roadtrip/camping trip in the Redwoods for 3 days. The redwoods are right along the northern most coast of California so we thought we'd get a nice break from the heat. Wouldn't you know the temperature dropped 40 degrees and the wind picked up the VERY DAY we decided to leave. We still had a great time but we froze our freaking asses off! Figures!!!!

All and all I did enjoy my time off of work and it was awesome to spend an entire week with Andrew since we never see each other. I wish we could get married more often :). But honestly, other than the additional ring on my finger being married is just like it was when we were engaged. Which is just like it was when we were together. I guess that's a good thing :)

So now we're back to normal. Good ol' boring normal.....

It's finally here!!!!

2008-05-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!!!!!!!!!

As long as I don't kill someone first.....

The Wheather Man must die....

2008-05-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto will start baking today as part of the first big heat wave of the season.

KCRA 3 WeatherPlus meteorologist Eileen Javora said temperatures will reach into the triple digits today in all three cities, breaking records for this date.

Sacramento and Stockton will both reach 100, while Modesto will see 101 degrees.
Sacramento will hit 101 on Friday, 100 on Saturday and 98 on Sunday.

The last time Sacramento saw 100-degree heat was on Sept. 2.
*********
Seriously? In the middle of May? On my OUTSIDE wedding weekend??? WTF people?!?!! It waws in the 80's all last week and it will be in the 80's all next week but this week and this weekend it's in the 100's! I urge the men out there to avoid the garter toss at all costs as it may be drenched in sweat. I just had a thought.... I'll go into the rest room right before the garter toss and sneak it on so that's it's not acting as a sweatband for my leg. Damn I'm smart.

My last name

2008-05-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at the computer right now attempting to burn 50 copies of the same cd which I'm plastering my smiling face to and attempting to give away at my wedding. Needless to say I have plenty of time to think since there's really only so many things you can do on the internet while burning cds. I started thinking about my upcoming nuptials and how I plan on taking Andrew's name afterwards and I have to say it's a little depressing. Not the whole getting married part but the giving up my family's name part. I knew this day would come (ok, let's get real - I thought this day would never come and I'd end up an old spinster with too many cats) but now that it's here I feel like I'm giving up my link to my family or something. I know, I know - I'm crazy. It's just that my last name has so much history and so many tall tales that go with it! And Andrew's doesn't.

Originally my dad's family was from Italy. Our current last name does not sound Italian. It sounds like a breakfast plate (Eggs Benedict). There's much speculation on how it exactly got changed. Some people say that the town where my ancestors were from was itty bitty and practically everyone had the last name Benedetti (how does the whole town get the same last name? Incest anyone?) so they held a town meeting and announced that everyone on the right hand side of the room shall remain Benedetti's while the left had side shall forever be known as Benett's. Still, where does Benedict come from?

The second story is that the name got changed at Ellis Island just as so many other immigrants had. My ancestors showed up, nobody at the docks could understand them, and therefore they just assigned them a name. That story sucks and I'll tell you why.

My grandpa's birth certificate says Benedetti. Fast forward over a bunch of kick ass stories to Roseville, CA during the prohibition. My great grandparents were working on the rail roads with all the other immigrants in sunny California and as all good oakies/rednecks/hillbillies did in those days they ran moonshine. And what better way to transport it than the railroad? There was only one little itty bitty problem.... Folks back in that day didn't know about the reaction alcohol has with certain metals, namely tin. So my great grandpa was packaging up his moonshine in tin cans and shipping it up north via the railroad. When the fellas up north drank the moonshine they got horribly ill and were convinced that my great grandpa was trying to kill them. They sent word down that they were going to kill my great grandpa for his attempt to kill them with his poison moonshine. So my great grandpa did what any smart man with a family would do in those days - he changed his last name by a few letters and moved 30 miles away to Yuba City. Needless to say he was never found by his buddies up north.

So you see why I'm a little saddened at the idea of trading in my rich-with-history name for a name that we think came from Turkey, Syria, or Egypt but we don't really know.

Oh Holy Hell..... I've only got 8 cds down. This is going to be a long night.

Don't worry, I haven't died..... yet

2008-04-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything lately because I've just been busy with crap nobody cares about but me. Picking vows, learning how to decorate cupcakes in semi-professional way, spending $80 on color coordinated m&m's and jelly bellys. That's right, I said $80. But seriously people, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things. And no they're not my favors. They're just for decoration on the dessert table. I'm hard core when it comes to sweets ok? We can skip the chicken for all I care. Just cut the cake! I'm having cake AND cupcakes at my wedding. I wasn't kidding about the sugar facination. And I decided like a fool to make my own cupcakes because it would be sooo much cheaper. Which it totally is. But now I'm trying to round up volunteers to help me decorated all 60 cupcakes. Any takers?

Work still sucks. We're still short staffed and I'm hating it. HATING IT. Like in my body feels like I got ran over by a bus from all the tension and all the bending over the counter. Like in chocking back tears over the stupidest things. Like in getting a mysterious stomach ache on the drive to work that miraculously disappears at 5 pm. My reformed pessimist co worker keeps telling me to be happy. She says "at least you have job security." I liked her better before her seminar. She's asked me if I want to borrow her motivation tapes. I wanted to tell her where to stick her motivational tapes. I only have to make it through 12 more days in hell and then I'm on VACATION!!!!

And not just any vacations, my HONEYMOON!!!! Woohoo. And hell no we're not going anywhere special. We just spent an atrocious amount of money on our "budget" wedding. If we get a tent we'll probably go camping. For one day. 'Cause that's all I can handle. Seriously. But don't worry, we'll take a big trip for our anniversary next year. I'm thinking Hawaii. He's thinking Alaska. Maybe we'll go to Mexico. We'll see :)

Let the festivities begin!

2008-04-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

I officially have less than one month until my wedding which means that I'm a busy, busy girl! Friday night my friends from work took me out to the Thunder from Down Under. Oh boy... what a night! First we started with a pre party at Morrison's where they gave me a blow up penis necklace, a pink boa, a veil with devil horns, and a bachelorette sash to wear for the night. The we hit up the show. Ladies, if you ever get a chance you must see Thunder from Down Under!! They are sooo hot! And it's entertaining because they do group dances and stuff while stripping so it's not like one guy dancing around a pole. And of course with all my garb I was the first one called on stage to get a private session with a stripper. I almost died. Literally. I think I died. And not because the guy was so dreamy I couldn't stand it - because I was embarrassed beyond belief! After he made me grab his butt, rub him down, strip his pants off, and dance with him he finally let me go. Oh wait, he ripped by penis necklace off too. Bastard. Anyway... after that was over we moved the party to another bar and did a little karaoke. I finally got home around 1:45 and I think it was probably 2:30 - 3 by the time I fell asleep.

Then I was back up at 8 for the bridal shower! Which was also super fun. We played wedding bingo and then we had everyone tell a story about me which ended up with my mom finding out about a bleached out spot on the carpet of my old bedroom that she never knew anything about. Damn Michelle. I got all kinds of nice gifts and it was a really nice turnout. I was really surprised and happy that everyone could make it.

Now I've got bachelorette party #2 coming up and I'm hearing rumors that I might be in for some more embarassing fun. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't involve any more strippers.....

Then it's the big day! Yeah!!! It's finally here! All that work and it's finally coming into reality. Everyone always asks me if I'm nervous but I'm surprisingly not nervous. At least not yet... As for the relationship we've been living like we're married for over a year now (sharing money and everything) so I won't have much adjusting to do after the marriage. Just gotta get used to signing my new last name is all. The only things I sometimes worry about is that everyone will have a good time at the wedding.

Here's some pics for your viewing enjoyment :-)

Where I come from

2008-04-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

The boy and I decided to take a drive today seeings how it's like 90 degrees here in the Sacramento Valley and everything is in bloom. We loaded up the bastards in the back of the truck and headed North West into the coastal range towards East Park Resevoir and Indian Valley (Carina, that's the lake you and I went boating at with my aunt and uncle). Andrew wanted to show me some roads that he used hunt off of instead of taking our normal route through Maxwell so I said sure. At first it was just another bumpy country road and then when he pointed out a particular ranch I realized we'd taken this road before and I hated it because it was in horrible condition and it was extremely narrow along a canyon (as most roads are around here) and he drives entirely too fast for my taste. But it was far too late to turn around so we plugged along. The good news is that the last time we took this route it was summer time and it wasn't nearly as green and pretty as it was this time of year. I have to admit it was gorgeous!

One of the things I love most about where I live is that even though the city of Woodland is getting far too out of control population wise the country is right in our backyard. And save for the scary wild animals that live in the country it's where I much prefer to spend my time during day light hours. I have an unnatural fear of the country at night time because I think a bear/mountain lion/coyote/rattlesnake is going to eat either myself or my dogs. The town where I grew up is at the base of the hills that are at the base of the coastal range. And by the base I mean that the town of Esparto is all mostly flat land but if you drive 1/4 -1/2 mile west you started gaining elevation. Most of my best friends growing up lived in the hills known as the Capay Valley and that's where I spent alot of my time until just recently.

I always love a drive into the hills because it reminds me that the country still exists in this nation. It seems to me that cities are growing at unnatural rates anymore and I fear that my children or grandchilden won't be able to see the beauty of nature the way that I did. I know that even since my parents grew up that sooo much as changed. My dad remembers when there wasn't a freeway that ran through Woodland at all and if you wanted to go to Sacramento (a short 20 min drive these days) you had to drive your car onto a ferry that would transport you across the river. My mom remembers when the highway that is the heart of Yolo County used to be on the other side of the cache creek canyon and when deer outnumbered residents. Even Andrew remembers when he first came to California at age 10 (he's Canadian) that the deer and pigs and ducks where plentiful and now they've been hunted so much that you're hard pressed to find one at all. All we saw today is 5 hours is 1 deer, 3 turkeys, a handful of quail, and a million squirrels. And we went so far up into the mountains that we literally had to turn around because there was so much snow on the mountain still that we couldn't pass through. Crazy!

So here are some pictures of the America that is in my backyard. The sun was high and bright when I took them so it washed the color out and the pictures do not do the landscape justice AT ALL. Notice how the California flower, the poppy, grows like crazy up there! For those of you who have never seen a California poppy they are the prettiest, most vibrant orange you'll ever see. And here's a fact for the day: It's illegal to pick a poppy in California. Looks like these folks better invest in a goat!

It's that time of year again....

2008-04-11T20:12:00.001-07:00

For me to post pictures of my dogs and plants because I have nothing better to write about!!!!

I <3 Jasmine

This is the first year my barrel has looked this good!

The coneheads

We'll just stay here while you go to work......

You know you're on meth when.....

2008-04-08T11:08:00.001-07:00

You engage the cops in a high speed chase through town and then start shooting at them with a BB gun. Hey smart guy - first of all, a BB gun??? Seriously, why even bother? Second of all, you just opened fire on the police. They are going to shoot back. They have real guns and seeings how they are NOT on meth and are highly trained individuals it's probably not going to work out in your favor.

I regret that I don't have any information on how that one turned out. I would have really liked to know!

So I'm home from work this morning with a backache from hell. I told my boss that I'd try to go in this afternoon and now I'm trying to decide whether or not to actually go. On one hand, if I don't go my work will pile up like crazy and I'll feel bad because Karina is doing the counter by herself and it's her last week. On the other hand, going will probably only make my back hurt worse tomorrow and I keep trying to tell myself that I have to stop being so loyal to those assholes because they don't give a shit about me!

I know y'all are wondering how in the hell a desk job can hurt you back so much. It does. Whoever designed our new counter was on crack I think. First of all our desks are at an angle which kind of makes sense because you don't really want your computer blocking the window. But it's one of those desks that has a space cut out for your legs and the rest is drawers and stuff so there's not a whole lot of leg room if you turn to face the window the right way which means you're always kind of helping people with your back twisted. Plus the counter is like 3 ft away from your desk so everytime someone tries to hand you something they just lay it on the counter and I you have to bend over your desk to get it. So lots of bending forward and turning your torso away from your legs. Multiply that by 100 customers a day, 5 days a week and eventually your back needs a rest. I think I'm going to stay home.

My job sucks right now

2008-04-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Let's see... I hate my job right now. Nothing new there. I just found out that they are putting the NEW girl who starts Monday at the counter with me. New = knows nothing = me doing all the work. How and why they came to this decision I'll never understand. I guess I should be flattered that my boss trusts me to do EVERYTHING but sometimes I can't help but wonder if they're trying to run me out of there. If this wasn't the pattern to my life I would 100% think that.

But here's how things roll in my life: I do what's asked of me (I'd like to say I do it without complaint but I'm not much of a liar). I do it right for the most part. I mean everyone makes mistakes. Everyone else is a slacker so like a freaking idiot I offer to help. Suddenly I start finding myself with more and more responsibility but no extra compensation. Before long I'm busting my ass trying to do my 10 things while my coworkers/classmates/friends/whatever take their sweet time with their 1 thing. I get bitter and pissed off but refuse to ask for help or admit that I can't handle it because I'm afraid of the answers I might get. Then I get completely overwhelmed and start making mistakes. Suddenly my ass is being ridden over stupid little stuff that I know my coworkers do all the time but they don't hear about it because it's "expected" of them. It's not expected of me. I'm expected to be perfect. Always. Just like when I was a kid and my little brother got away with crap that I didn't because I was older and should have known better. Or in school when teachers let slackers fail classes without so much a hiccup but if I don't do my homework or if I get a detention it's a BIG freaking deal. Or when teachers/professors make you work in groups and I'm the only one that does my part and then I end up doing everyone else's part last minute because I don't want to fail on their account. I could name a 100 other examples.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or say that I'm super woman or anything else. And I'm not saying that everyone in my life is totally ungrateful either. I'm just saying I'm fried. I'm done. I need a break. I can't handle going to work and doing the job of 3 clerks while waiting on the counter (where 2/3 the customers are assholes) and then coming home and having to be a wife and doggie caretaker. Work is sucking the life out of me. I think I need a career change.

So I know nobody likes these "I hate work" blogs but it feels good to put it in words sometimes. It makes me feel a tiny bit better.

Dear Fate.....

2008-03-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Fate,

I've got a few questions for you. First of all, why do you give me a sinus infection every time I have a three day weekend? And why do you make it worse by making it the three day weekend that was on Andrew's birhday and the three day weekend for my birthday? It just doesn't seem fair. Don't I put up with enough crap while at work? Why should I be miserable when I'm supposed to be enjoying myself?

Secondly, I realize it's kind of funny that both my dogs are wearing cones but it's really starting to bug. Have you ever been plowed into by a dog wearing a cone? I didn't think so. It hurts. Also, I'm having company today and I don't appreciate that I have to set my garbage can on the counter because the cone heads knock it over every 5 mins along with the dining room chairs. I find it especially upsetting that the medication I'm supposed to be giving Cocoa is making her barf and giving her the shits. I refuse to give it to her any longer. And if I wake up a million times tonight to the sound of Cocoa scratching at her cone I'm going to lose it.

And lastly, why did you throw $850 in vet bills at me when you KNOW that overtime money was supposed to help pay for the wedding? Now my parents have to pay for table and chair rentals after we promised we'd pay for it. That's just not nice - not only to me but to my parents. I mean really, what have they done? They're good people, they pay their taxes.

So seriously, lets make this next week a little better ok? Maybe I could win the lottery or something? It would really help. Or if you could just lower gas prices I'd be happy. Everything little thing helps.

Yours Truly,
Sarah

Birthday Recap

2008-03-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ok listen up 'cause you're only going to here me say this once in my life:

I'm glad my birthday is over.

Not because it was a bad birthday and not because I'm a year older but because I feel like crap and it's been a struggle to get through the day. I don't know if it's massive allergies or a vicious cold but I've had one runny nostril all day, plugged ears, watery eyes, and a head that feels like exploding. And on top of all that my stomach hurts from sniffling while searching for a tissue. I didn't let on that I felt as bad as I do though because alot of wonderful people did alot of special things for me and I didn't want their efforts to be a waste.

To begin, my boss decorated my desk this morning with 3 banners and a shit load of confetti which you know I left on my desk all day long. One of my coworkers, Sue, gave me the cutest wooden angel I've ever seen in my life and brought a massive cake. My counter buddy, Karina, gave me a card and a gift card to Walmart which really surpised me and then I got the usual card that everybody signed.

My mom picked me up for lunch and took me to Judy's where we eat every year on her birthday and mine although she's dieting for my wedding this year so she skipped the greasy burger and fries. I'm not dieting for my wedding. I know this should be a problem but my theory is that I've been fat since I was 8. Andrew met me when I was fat. Andrew loves me even though I'm fat. I'll be fat after I get married so why stress over trying to not be fat for the wedding? As if I don't have enough stuff to stress about?! Anyway....

My two friends took me out to a deliciously expensive dinner at Tazzina Bistro tonight where I had Gnocchi and cobbler. So yummy! We skipped the after party on account of my health.

Andrew gave me a cd and a movie last night and a beautiful card this morning. He works swing shift so I didn't get to see him for lunch or dinner but he's going to take me out tomorrow. Sunday we're having the big dinner at Chevy's with my parents for my birthday and my brother's birthday. Hopefully I'll feel better by then. I plan on vegging out all day tomorrow.

Cocoa AND Gidget are staying over night at the vet. I swear those bastards know when we have extra money 'cause every time we do they end up in the vet. Cocoa is going to be fine. Her swelling has decreased greatly and her sores are from having the wrap on too long. Apparently we were only suppossed to keep her foot wrapped for 5 days but we both heard 10-15. What she has is like bed sores - her foot wasn't getting any air and bacteria was growing in there and all we have to do to fix her up is put neosporin on her foot every night and keep her head in a cone for about 2 weeks. Much better than the $500 tests the emergency vet here in town was going to do. I do thank them for the new antibiotics though because I really think that's why her swelling went down so much so quick. In the midst of all of this we noticed that Gidget kept licking the shit out of one of her back feet so we took her in too. She sliced her foot between the toes along the nail. How she did this I have no idea. I don't even know how the vet found it because Andrew and I both examined her foot and found nothing. That's why they are vets and we are not I guess. So Gidgie had to go under to have her foot sewn up and she too has to wear a cone for 2 weeks. Plus neither one of them can play outside while we're at work until they're all healed up so the poor babies will have to live in their kennels while we're at work. I feel bad 'cause the weather is so nice right now. So I'm going to have two cone heads running around for the next two weeks. Ought to be fun....

Tomorrow may be my birthday... but today it's Things on the Road Thursday!

2008-03-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've done Things on the Road Thursday (brought to us by Barnmouse) but this week I have a real treat for y'all. Now bear with me 'cause my camera phone takes shitty pictures and blogger always puts a big white box next to them.....

First off we have the completely saran wrapped car I spotted outside of a Red Robin in Yuba City. Apparently it's this guy's birthday or something because they wrote all kinds of stuff on it in ketchup but I didn't get close enough for a good picture. We actually saw the culprits in action while going into the Red Robin and we got to see the final project when we left. Now if only we had seen the guy's face when he found it.....

Second, we have ourselves a 3 door car. Yes, a car. Not a limo. Not an SUV. Just a ghetto 3 door car. Damn those Yuba City people are creative. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the flames that were painted on the hood or of the 2 trashy looking ladies sporting this fine peice of machinery but you get the point. Someone put alot thought and effort and probably money into this pile of crap.

In other unrelated news my birthday is tomorrow. I'll be 27 in case y'all were wondering. Nothing horribly special planned. My mom is taking me to lunch, my friends are taking me to dinner. Andrew works swing so we'll probably do something on Saturday. Then my folks are taking us all out to Chevy's on the river to celebrate my birthday and my brothers 'cause they are only 2 weeks apart.

Cocoa chewed the wrap off of her foot from her toe nail removal today. All I can say is HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. I couldn't take pictures because someone might have eaten before reading this and they would certainly have lost it. Needless to say we took a $200 trip to the vet down the street because her foot was twice as big as it should have been and had 2 open wounds that weren't anywhere near the stitches. The bastards at the vet made me feel like I abused the poor baby so I choose to just get a new wrap and a new cone and take her to our normal vet. They don't understand that she never once showed signs that it hurt her or bothered her at all. In fact everyone kept commenting on how well she was doing. She hated that place which made me hate it because she normally loves going to our regular vet. So she's going back to our regular vet tomorrow for probably $200 more in work. I have no idea how it got that bad!!! I wish she had just once limped or walked without it or something so I would have known! Poor baby :(

PlanetPluto.com

2008-03-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

This nice, lazy eyed fellow just came to my window and told me that he went to the planet Pluto and there was a bunch of women there that were having hot flashes and they went to Pluto to cool off. He asked them how they got there and they said they went to PlanetPluto.com but the trick is that you have to put the .com on it. If you don't you'll fall into the black hole. He thinks they went there because Pluto has recently been recognized as not a planet at all, but just a big ball of ice.

I much prefer the dillusional customers over the mean ones.

Happy Easter!!!

2008-03-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Easter is so ridiculously early this year! But it's a beautiful day here in sunny California and I'm baking a banana cake so I guess it's all alright with me :)

My amazing friend Rashell came over last night to help me finish up my invitations. They are so cute!

The detail on the map and the response card is super cute too but I'm too lazy to take it all apart. Today I have to repo my envelopes from Andrew's mom and tomorrow (hopefully) they go in the mail! Andrew's mom was supposed to calligraphy the envelopes for me so I gave them to her a month ago and as of like Monday she hadn't even started so I'm pretty sure we're going with regular ol' address labels. Oh well, you can't have everything perfect :-)

If dogs could talk....

2008-03-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

I would ask mine how in the HELL she managed to get the inside of her cone so filthy in a matter of hours......

Poor baby has allergies really bad on top of her wrapped leg and her cone :(

100 posts and a new Hemi

2008-03-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

So this is my 100th post!!!! And just to think that I never thought I had a future in blogging. I never cease to amaze myself. Originally I had planned to have a Happy Spring 100th post and give you some awesome pictures of Woodland in the Spring time but then I had some vehicular drama in the meantime. I'll get to that but I'm going to start with my spring pictures.

Almond trees are HUGE around here. My hometown is home of the Almond Festival

The Trees in the parking lot at work. So pretty but cause so many headaches....

Some random honeysuckles growng wild in my unkept yard
My iris peeking out

Looking out my front door.....

Ok, now on to my vehicular drama. It all begin in the fall when I started noticing a funky smell in our Kia. I kept telling Andrew that it smelt like ass in there and we needed to clean it out really well. I even shampooed the seats thinking that the smell was from having the dogs in there. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned to no avail. It still reeked. Fast foward to the end of February. Andrew and I make the hour drive in pouring rain to have dinner with his folks for his birthday. Dinner is delicious, I have creme brulee (my favorite!!!!) and we drive home in the pouring rain. The next day I go to the grocery store and while I'm packing groceries into my back seat I notice that there's STANDING WATER on the floor boards in the back seat. I immediatly look around to see if there's a water bottle that might have spilt or something but common sense is telling me that a water bottle couldn't possibly have made that much of a puddle. It was the whole back floor board and most of the way under the front seats but there's a raised spot that held the water and stopped it from going into the front where we would have noticed it. I smelt it just to make sure it was water and as far as I could tell it was. Like I said, the whole car smelt like ass so it was hard to say. I got home and alerted Andrew who checked out the situation. He was equally as baffled and while rummaging under the seat he found an old receipt that was 90% black with MOLD. Suddenly the smell of ass makes sense. We then came to the conclusion that there was a leak on the floorboard and that when we drove though the rain our back seat filled up. Since there's only two of us we never really noticed the back seat floor board. So we dry it out the best we can and sure enough the carpet reeks like ass. Now at this point this has been going on for about 5 months and God only know how much mold/mildew has been growing under the carpet between the floor board and the actual carpet. Andrew shows the mold to the mold abaitment guy at work and he says that it's bad mold and it could make us sick and/or kill us. Nice! We don't fret though because we have a Kia and the only good thing about a Kia is the 100,000 mile warranty. So we take it to the Kia dealership and explain the problem. They say no problem, we'll call you in a couple weeks. A couple weeks go by, we get the call, we go to pick the car up. Kia tells us that they could not get the authorization to take out the carpet but they did discover that the door seals were leaking and they changed those. The car now smells like orange flavored ass. So here's the dilema: nobody has pulled the carpet up to dry it out or bleach it out or anything else. The water had been leaking for quite some time and since it was standing when I noticed it it's safe to say it soaked down to the floor board. Mold/mildew thrives in dark, damp environments which the spot between the carpet and the floor is. It still reeks which tells us that there's probably quite a bit of it growing down there since you can smell it through the carpet and it's not exactly a subtle odor. So we talked. And talked. And talked some more. I wanted to keep the Kia and get someone else to change the carpet. Andrew wanted a brand new car. We talked some more. We visited dealerships. The sales people got sick of us because we only looked and never bought. We talked some more. I don't want to eat shit on the Kia which we would do if we traded it in. We talked some more about what kind of vehicle we'd like for our future. We talked about our finances. We talked about how we're paying $700 in car payments right now for two cars (one of which always sits). We talked about how nobody would buy my mistsubishi. Finally we came to this conclusion: Give the dealer both our cars which gets us out of the mitsi with no hassle and no money lost (I owe almost exactly trade in value) and take home a pickup or SUV with at least 4 doors and a tow package. We ended up with this:

It's a HEMI!!! I'd like to say I'm thrilled but I have mixed feelings. On one hand it's an awesome truck. It's used but it has low mileage (it was a lease trade in) and it's fully loaded. It has leather seats that heat up, different air controls for the passenger side and the driver side which I love, a 6 disc cd player, an infinity stereo system with controls on the wheel, cruise control, power everything, a digital thingy that tells you the temp, how many miles you have left on your case tank, what your gas mileage is, what direction you're going, etc. Even the pedals have a control to move them closer or farther away. Dodge's are known for transmission problems so we got a 5 year warranty. It's got a tow package too so we can tow any boats or trailers or anything we might accumulate in the future. And it's fun to drive. My biggest problem is that while it's fun to drive, it's not so much fun for me to park and this is now my everyday vehicle. I'm sure I'll get used to it but for the time being I'll be parking in the south forty and hiking it to the store. I'm content because it will fit the kids that are hopefully in our future and the dogs and all our junk. Andrew's happy 'cause he's a country boy and all country boys need a truck. So we'll see how I feel about it in the future. I'm hoping I come to love it. I already love the amenities :)

March Madness

2008-03-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Feels like I haven't posted in forever. Last week was my new counter partner and good friend Celina's last week at work :(. She didn't work for the court like I do but for the California Traffic School Institution and she got paid waaaay less than us and got shitty benefits and she moved on to work for UC Davis where she starts out at $17 and gets benefits up the wazoo. I'm so sad to see her go but she was making $10 an hour here after 2 years so it's a huge step for her. Plus she has two sons so she's gotta think about them. She was sad to go, we were sad to see her go, it was a depressing week. Friday night we all went out for drinks to celebrate though and that was a blast! I wish I could have continued to party with them but I had to make an hours drive to Roseville to pick up my alterted wedding dress. What a nightmare that was.

First of all, I think they sucked in the boobs a leeettle too much but it's doable. Then the lady helping me tells me that I need a bigger bra because this one is too tight around me. Now the bra they make you buy is a strectchy, girdle like thing that goes from your boobs to your waist. I don't think it's supposed to be loose but whatever, I go exchange the girdle bra and try the dress on AGAIN. For those of you who have gotten married in a traditional wedding gown (or helped anyone with one) you know that getting in and out of that thing is no small feat. My dress is the all white version of this one. Anyway, so I try it on with the new bra and it's so big that it's popping out of my dress everywhere. The lady keeps saying "oh much better, much better" and I'm like hell no! I'm not wearing this $80 girdle bra thing if it's going to hang out the top of my dress. Ain't gonna happen. She she gets mad at me and goes and finds a 3rd bra which we both agree on but I'm still thinking that the boobs are too tight. I'm just going to have squished boobies all night though 'cause there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm paying them another $100 to take them back out.

Bah! She after that I need some relaxing time so Andrew and I went to Armstrong woods in Guerneville, near Santa Rosa. It was so peaceful there! I love me some redwoods and those are the closest coastal redwoods to us even though it's nothing compared to the real redwoods up north. I love it up there! Andrew has never been to the redwoods anywhere so it was a nice teaser for him. We even found a great campground up there that's way out in the boonies by a little pond. It was so cute and quiet up there, I loved it. I don't particularly love camping but I think if it was just me and Andrew I would like it more. That way I have someone to snuggle with at night when it's 20 below outside and I'm buried up to my eyeballs in a sleeping bag and blankets. I'll only camp if we get the 7ft tall tent and the 2 foot tall air mattress I want though because I hate nothing more than trying to get dressed in a tent that is itty bitty and you have to bend over to walk around and it's hotter than hell in there and the sides of the tent are sticking to you. HATE IT. I also hate bugs. But I think if we went in the spring it wouldn't be so bad. Here's some pictures.

Prank Call!

2008-03-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my couch a few moments ago minding my own business when my house phone rang. Now my house phone almost never rings unless it's Dish Network trying to get me to upgrade my service or something but seeings how it was 5:30 I thought maybe it was mom trying to call before she left work or something. Who knows? Luckily for me I have caller ID and I saw that it was a private caller and I got scared because we didn't put the alimony check in the mail until the 29th of Feb and I thought it was Andrew's ex - wife getting ready to rip us a new one.

*It only takes one day for mail to get from our house to hers anyway but knowing our luck it didn't get delivered on Saturday the 1st and godforbid she get it on the 3rd.

I let it go to the answering machine and some dude starting leaving a message saying he "liked how I gave it to him last night"!!!!!!! Then he passed it off to another dude who said some more of the same shit. Now mind you I don't have much of a social life. I have a few friends that I've had for ages and my work. Period. I haven't run amuck since like 2004 when my best friend and partner in crime got pregnant.

Normally I would assume that Andrew's ex has something to do with it (yes, 2 years later she still occassionally decides to be a pain in the neck) and I would laugh it off but this time I'm kinda... I don't know... I guess a little scared? A few months back two dudes left a prank call on my voicemail at work that was similar in nature. It was a teeny bit unnerving but I'm not one that gets upset easily so I mostly just laughed at it. Most likely they were idiots and I had to get an attitude and they were pissed (they did mention in the voicemail that they thought I hated my job). I was a little bit curious how they got my direct line but my first initial and last name do pop out on receipts and I believe our phone system allows you to look people up by name so I just laughed at it and passed it on to my boss who tried to have the number tracked with no luck. No biggie. Now a very similar incident at home? Am I being crazy or should I be a little bit worried? IF it's the same guys and IF they looked up my home phone why would they still be after me months later? I mean that would take some thought and work on their part. Thank god I don't have my address listed anymore (thanks to Andrew's ex!).

Or could it just be Andrew's ex getting bored with her lastest beau and deciding to stir the pot a bit? I haven't been prank called since she stopped calling a year or so ago and before that I hadn't been pranked called for like 5+ years! As I said before - that only thing that disturbs me is how similar in nature it was to my work prank call and if someone is really that angry what will they do next? Do y'all think I'm jumping to conclusions????

Spring Cleaning!

2008-03-01T18:44:00.001-08:00

Since Andrew had to work out of town this weekend and I'm broke I've been doing allll kinds of cleaning today. Stuff I don't normally do like clean the floor boards (you know that trim between the carpet and the wall?), clean the oven, wipe the dust off all my picture frames and stuff (usually I just dust under and around things but let the actually things collect dust like crazy), move my bedroom around and dust everything, clean out drawers, etc. It sure seems to take alot longer than I anticipate. Of course it doesn't help that the bastard dogs have to be under my feet everywhere I go. Today I pulled a chair into the kitchen so that I could throw away some old plastic containers that Andrew had been harboring on the top cabinet and Cocoa decided to join me.

Oh! I got my order of stuff from Cupcakes N Kisses today and I'm sooo excited to use it. Cupcakes N Kisses is a bath and beauty type thing that my good friend Michelle owns and operates. Don't ask me how she finds time to make all her stuff with 3 kids but she makes it all herself. I'm seriously impressed as I don't have any kids and that seems waaaay too overwelming for me. I got some lavendar/camomile bath salts, some foaming sugar scrub and bath tea bags! They are filled with stuff that makes you bath aromatherapeutic. She even makes those damn things! I thought for sure she bought them. She used to make this wooden sign things that I LOVED. They're so cute and I was getting them for free instead of having to buy them in the store. It's good to have friends. Now I just need to find someone more local that sells Gold Canyon Candles 'cause I'm ADDICTED. Oh so if you like bath and body stuff check her out. She has all kinds of goodies for kids too. She has a cupcake soap that that seriously smells like cupcakes. Ok, I'm not trying to promote here - promise. I'm just a proud friend :).

I bought more girl scout cookies today. I need to be stopped. Andrew wanted some of those nasty coconut ones so I accidentally got another box of the lemon shortbread ones too. I don't even feel guilty. Am I horrible? I just paid $200 to have my wedding dress altered too. I better stop before I grow out of it! Good thing it laces up the back. The only good news about being fat is that it generally takes a major gain or loss before you actually don't fit into your clothes anymore. Skinny people clothes have like a 3 lb difference between sizes. Fat people clothes tend to have more like a 20-30 lbs difference and that's not because there's elastic involved just for the record. I don't 'do' elastic. Period.

Things on the Road Thursday!!!!!

2008-02-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

Brought to us by Barnmouse!

I regret to inform you that I did NOT get the picture I wanted so this weeks TOTRT is going to be a little bit lame for me. This week's theme is things that make you mad and I had my heart set on a picture of the parking nazi marking cars outside my office in her little buggy. The nazi (there's 4 of them and 3 of them are from my itty bitty hometown!) is out marking cars every single day at 1:30 when I come back from lunch but of course the day I came equipped with a camera she's not there. We only have an itty bitty all day parking lot for our building, the public library, and the county administration building not to mention all the people that need to come to court and it fills up fast! The street parking is 2 hours anywhere near the office so every two hours there's a wave of employees that get up and move their cars. I've received 4 tickets in my 3 years at traffic court I believe. Bastard.

Anywho... here's what I've got:

Construction on 1st st making it difficult for people to get to my office which in turn makes them complain to me as if it's my fault.

The Jack in the Crack that I have to drive by 4 times a day that smells soooo good but does such bad, bad things to my tummy.

And the Goddamned Woodland train that runs down East st and goes soooooo incredibly slow. If you get stuck behind it you might as well settle in for a long winters nap.

On a happier note it's Easter season which means it's Cadbury Mini Egg season!!!!!!! Oh how I love me some Cadbury Mini Eggs!

Confession

2008-02-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

I um..... love the new Mylie Cyrus song "See you again". I also like the song she sings with her dad called "Ready, Set, Don't go" but that's to be expected as country is generally my favorite type of music. I do enjoy all kinds though which is how I stumbled upon ol' Hannah Montana. Imagine my surprise when I found out who sings it! Oh well, what can I do? It's catchy. It's cute. It's good (in my personal opinion). But then again I guess I should have known this day was coming as it seems to be a general rule of thumb these days that all teenagers that have a famous family should also have their own television show/record deal/movie contract.

Next she'll be pregnant if she's not already. I usually hear celebrity gossip like 2 months after everyone else unless I happen to splurge on a People magazine. I guess because I just don't care that much. Britney is probably dead for all I know. Oh! I did hear on the radio yesterday the The Neverland Ranch is in foreclosure. Now how the hell did that come about??? Speaking of People magazine does anyone know the latest on that Peterson asshat who killed a couple of wives? You know the one that's a cop? Update me please!

Oh! I am trying to watch American Idol this year. I figure one day it will be one of those legendary shows like American Bandstand or something and my kids will ask me what it was like watching it and emails will go out saying "if you lived through 2000-2010 you'll remember all this cool stuff" and Idol will be on it and I'll be the only idiot on earth who never watched a damn episode. I should probably pick up a Harry Potter book sometime in the next 5 years as well.

While I'm admitting to rocking out to Hanana Montana and watching Idol I guess I should admit to the 10 gazillion girl scout cookies I've eaten the last couple days. I just can't stop. They have these new cookies that I bought that are shortbread circles with lemon icing on the back. Heaven!

I'm like a teenager out of control.

The Poke Cake

2008-02-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

Andrew's birthday Poke Cake turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Especially since I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Basically you make a cake and the stab it with a knife when it comes out of the oven. Then you mix up some jello with cold water only and pour it over the cake. I could swear that most of my jello was running off the side of the cake and not getting into the cake but when I cut it I realized that some had sank in after all! After you pour the jello over it you put it in the fridge for an hour or so and voila! Poke cake. I decorated Andrew's with cool whip at his request which I colored pink since it's still Valentines day month. I tried to write "happy birthday Andrew" but I quickly realized I was running low on gel so he got "happy b-day A" instead. He didn't care. Here's the finished product. Keep in mind I'm nowhere near a professional cake decorator:

You can see here how the jello that ran off the cake formed around the cakes on the plate. Luckily on the big cake I used a pretty red plate and you can't see it :)

Here's what a poke cake looks like when you cut into it. You can see the jello!

And here's Andrew - filthy because he insisted on doing a side job on his birthday with Gidget trying to see what all the commotion is about.

Email Oopsie

2008-02-23T11:16:00.001-08:00

So the other day I was forwarding this funny email about Always pads onto some friends and I accidently sent it to a woman who was helping me with my banking a few months back! Shit! She was in my contacts because I was emailing her quite a bit for awhile so to make life easy on me I put her in my contacts and somehow I accidently picked her instead of the person that was above her. She hasn't responded or anything but she probably thinks I'm crazy. Hopefully I got blocked by her spam filter or something. Anyway, for your reading enjoyment here's the email I sent:

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph... PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best web mail-award-winning letter....

Dear Mr. Thatcher, I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the Leak Guard Core or Dry-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsadancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach intight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionaryFlexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call an inbred hillbilly with knife skills. Isn't the human body amazing?

As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating,puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, cryingjags, and out-of-control behavior.

You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants..

Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'

Are you fu*ing kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin andKahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to Slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer'or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately,there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullsh*t. And that's a promise I will keep. Always.

Best,
Wendi Aarons
Austin , TX

Chicken in a biskit

2008-02-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hands down the best crackers ever. Especially with easy cheese. Mmm... I could eat them all day.

Anywho! I'm not dying anymore! I don't actually feel good but I did manage to go to work today. I pulled a whole 8 hours this week. Yup, I'm hardcore like that. I have tomorrow off for Andrew's birthday. Originally we were going to go to Dillon Beach but it's looking like rain so I guess we'll be sticking close to home. I'm making homemade biskits and gravy for breakfast and then I'm going to try to attempt to make him a "poke cake" in which I poke holes in the cake after it's done and then pour cold jello mix over the top. Not sure about it myself but he keeps talking about it so we'll give 'er a shot. Then I'm making his spoiled ass lemon chicken, garlic red potatoes, and broccoli for dinner. Saturday my folks are taking us out but the place has yet to be decided. As always, money is tight so all he got from me was a Deal or No Deal hand held game that he's been wanting and a fishing game for the computer. Horribly exciting, I know. But we have a wedding to help pay for, dammit.

I just finished reading The Innocent Man, A Thousand Spendid Suns, The Kite Runner, and Water for Elephants. I liked the ladder 3 better because The Innocent Man is a true story and rather infuriating but they were all really good. I think Splendid Suns was my favorite even though it's depressing as well because it's set against the real history of Afganistan.

I'm currently accepting any and all recommendations for new books to read as I seem to be on a roll lately. Any recommendations anyone???

Lastly but definitely not least - It's THINGS ON THE ROAD THURSDAY!!!! Woohoo!!!

Brought to us by the oh so talented Barnmouse. This week's theme is "things that make you happy." I'm assuming this means something that makes me happy and is related to the road so I bring you Gidget getting ready to go for a ride:

Cocoa doesn't make me happy in the car because she climbs all over me and/or drips slobber down the back of my neck. Sooooooooo nasty!

So did you play? Carina did :)

Very Angry Boss

2008-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it was worse than I expected. Not only did Celina and I both call in sick but Karen did too which means that there was NOBODY at the counter today. Not a soul. I thought the lead clerk would just have to run the traffic counter and Karen would be there to do small claims but apparently that's not how it went down. On top of that my boss pretty much blames me for the illnesses 'cause you know, I can pick and choose when to get sick and when to spread it. Apparently I shouldn't have gone to work Friday when I only had a cough and Celina was already out. I don't see what good that would have done since Celina and I both started feeling it Thursday night which meant that the virus had already been spread and since I had no idea it would get so bad but whatever. I'm sure she was just taking out her frustration on me but seriously - like I have any control over the issue. I'll tell you what though, from now on if I feel even a little sick I'm staying home. This is the last time I'm going to stay to work because I feel guilty making someone else do my job if I'm not dying.

As always with that job - I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. At least they gave me my flipping raise/promotion.

I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you!

2008-02-16T13:31:00.001-08:00

Actually I'm not burning for anybody. I'm just burning up. As in a 101 fever and a cough that ignites my lungs on fire. I haven't been this sick since I don't know when! I never run fevers. Of course it happened on a weekend that I had many plans of course.

I had a lunch date with an old coworker this afternoon and dinner at my parents house this evening planned. They've both been cancelled.

I'm supposed to go to Yuba City and go wedding shopping with a friend tomorrow. That's questionable.

Luckily Monday is a holiday and I don't have any plans which means I will undoubtably feel better that day.

Or I'll continue fevering well into next week which would suck horribly because my partner at work is sick with the SAME DAMN THING and if it's still going we'll both have to call in sick which will ultimately piss my boss and the lead clerk off immensely. There's only 2 of us at the counter and Tuesday is going to be hell since we're closed Monday.

Lots and lots of people + no counter clerks = very angry boss.

But what's a girl to do? My partner went home from work early yesterday and I stayed 'cause, well, someone had to. I mentioned to my boss that I didn't feel well either and she said "oh great, so you stayed to share?" Whatever. Fine, next time I'll go home too which will probably result in me getting written up.

Where the HELL is Andrew with my F'ing apple juice already? I'm starting to get pissed.

The wedding has been saved

2008-02-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

So after frantically searching for a new place to hold the wedding with no luck my mom finally called my aunt and asked her what the F was going on. The wedding is back on at her house. As suspected she knew nothing about my grandmothers phone call to my dad claiming that they are moving. In fact they have taken the week of my wedding off and have invested money in making the landscaping nice for the wedding. My mom threatened to call the owners of the house and ask them if we can have the wedding there whether they are there or not (she knows the owners because, well, Esparto is small town). My aunt said there was no need. So GOD WILLING everything runs as planned. Luckily grandma has no say in where they live because she fucked herself years ago and she's at the mercy of my aunt and uncle.

Things On The Road Thursday!!!!

2008-02-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

Brought to us by Barnmouse!

This baby was right outside my office making my participation in Things On The Road Thursday almost too easy for me. So how many of y'all can say that your city has a Dead Cat Alley?

I looked high and low on the internet to find the true history of Dead Cat Alley but I couldn't find it anyway so you'll get the version that I remember:

Nobody knows the true origin on the name Dead Cat Alley but there are a few spectulations. In the 1800's when the Land of Wood was being founded the alley was inhabited by Chinese immigrants who ran various businesses and probably a few opium dens. They all lived in shacks in horrible conditions. Some say that Dead Cat alley got it's name because when the city started renovated the alley they found all kinds of cat bones with hack marks in them, insinuating that the Chinese immigrants who occupied the area ate the cats. Others say that the alley was overrun with rats and the residents put out poison for the rats which the cats ended up eating or they ate the poisoned rats thus causing cats to drop dead left and right. Historical documents say the name was around long before the Chinese immigrants but nobody knows for sure.

In any case it's pretty unique to say the least. One of the best BBQ places in town (and one of my personal favorite restaurants) has claim to the address 666 Dead Cat Alley. It's said to be haunted which wouldn't surprise me as it's right smack next door to the historic Opera House which is haunted by a fire fighter that died in there during a fire (it's true, I found it in a book about haunted houses all over the state).

Did you play?

And just because it's valentines day - look what the boy sent me:

Dogs + Vacuum = Enema

2008-02-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

Let me illustrate:

=

EWWW!!! I wondered why my trusty vacuum hadn't been working right and then today it stopped sucking all together. I pulled the bag off and saw a hair ball sticking out of the tubey thingy that the dirt get sucked through. I pulled the tube off and shoved one of those things that you use to take off your lugnuts with down the pipe (it's just one stick, not like the swastica ones). All this crap came out of my poor little vacuum! I'll tell you what though - my carpets got a good cleaning today! My vacuum worked like it was a young stud again!

The Margarator

2008-02-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today I had big plans to get all kinds of stuff done. I imagined we would register for gifts, get the tux thing squared away, pick up some envelopes from the friend who is making my invitations, and check out some craft stores where I would purchase a calligraphy pen for Andrew's mom (she's addressing our envelopes) and the ribbon to use on my cake. I think like two of those things happened.

First we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets which was oh so yummy! Then we wandered over to Sears to register for gifts. We asked the first employee we saw where we should go to register and she said HR. I knew for a fact that was wrong but we thought maybe HR knew so we went there anyway and asked. They sent us to the housewares which makes more sense. We ran into some guys trying to sell washing machines and they directed us to go right. We went right and another sales rep directed us to go left, back past the washing machine guys to the kiosk that was hiding behind some stoves. The kiosk went skitzo on us so we went back to the lady who told us that they get jammed up on the weekends alot and there's nothing she can do until Tuesday. Nice.

Then we tried to leave the mall to go to Rashell's house. Oh. My. God. I totally remember now why I can't stand big cities. It took us literally 20 mins to leave the parking lot. Then we had to fight traffic all the way down Arden to get going the right direction. Horrifying. I could have walked home from the mall here in Woodland in like 5 mins. Ok, so I live next door but whatever! It was insane. Not to mention all the ghetto ass people that were blaring their music with their windows down with their $1,000 rims on their $200 car. BAH!

Finally we made it out of that mess and to Rashell's where we got our envelopes and then headed to the Elk Grove Target to register. You know those commercials for Osh that have a guy who's always lost in the warehouse store and he tries to tie a note to a pigeon leg just to realize he already pinned a note to that pigeons leg and that pigeon hasn't found a way out yet either? Yeah, it was like that. I literally had to take a break in the furniture department because my dogs were barking something awful! I didn't realize how much stuff I would want in there! Sheesh!

While we were in Target I saw the coolest thing ever - The Margarator. It even switches from AC to DC power so you can take it camping or boating!! Yes!!! I wanted it sooo bad but we couldn't find it on the shelf anywhere and the display was missing it's cords. Bastards. I saw the much coveted chocolate fountain too but there wasn't any chocolate to put in it :(.

Finally we got out of there and scooted over to Michael's where they didn't have shit for calligraphy pens or cute wedding stuff. By then we'd been out and about for 5 hours and I was ready to hit the road.

Oh wait, I forgot we stopped at the Mens Wearhouse where Andrew picked out a $400 suit (not including the shirt, tie and shoes!!!!!) that he wants to buy for the wedding. He says he hates tuxedos. I like suits just fine except for the price! Holy Jesus! I told him that if he can convince the other boys to go for it than ok but if not HELL NO. To rent a tux is only $150 and you get the whole nine yards! His damn suit will end up costing as much as my dress by the time he's done. Craziness.

The hunt for a wedding venue is still on. I think we've got it somewhat narrowed down but we have to do some visiting before we make any decisions. I'll keep ya posted :)

Political blog

2008-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

I did something this week that I haven't done in a loooong time. I registered to vote. Normally I don't give a crap about politics because I believe they are all liars, they all suck, and my life doesn't change too incredibly much. I still pay taxes out my ass, foreign countries still get bombed for shits and giggles, and too many American's go without health care. There are a few issues I do feel strongly about though and my coworker informed me that McCain has made remarks that go totally against my beliefs. Namely, he wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade. I'm not surprised seeings how he's George W's number 1 choice and we all know that George Jr. lacks a great deal in the common sense department. I'm partial to the democrats anyway because I'm pretty liberal in my beliefs but I strongly believe in pro-choice.

I believe that every woman should have the right to choose whether they become mothers or not. I say this with limitations of course. I do believe that you should have the right to an abortion as long as it's in the first trimester or so. None of these abortions at 6, 7, or 8 months! That's just crazy. I know alot of people will argue that it's a baby the day the little spermy entered the little eggy and God went to work on his miracle. Whatever. It's a bunch of cells that are splitting. Yes, eventually it will become a baby and I don't like to see babies killed. But I much prefer the "baby" being killed when it's a mass of cells without a brain than when it's two and it's meth addicted father beats it to death. Or neglects it until it finally dies. Or beats it, locks it in closets, refuses to feed it, can't feed it, can't house it, can't cloth it, etc because Meth is #1 and baby is waaaaay down the list. Or maybe is mom is a 15 year old girl who can't tell her family she's pregnant because they will beat her, disown her, stone her to death, whatever. She can't get an abortion thanks to the government (or she can't get one without her parents consent) so she gets a back yard abortion and both her and the baby die. Or maybe mom was raped and she's having a hard enough time getting her life back together let alone trying to raise a kid who looks like her rapist and will ask a million questions about how he/she came to be. Or maybe mom is trying really, really hard but she has to work 2 jobs, dad isn't around, and they have no family support so the kids falls into a gang and kills some folks to be "cool." I'm not saying that abortion will end all of our social problems. I'm just saying that it's only going to get worse if women are forced into having children that they don't want.

I believe that if crack heads, rapists, child abductors, and the like than are allowed to get married than homosexual couples should too! Hmm... let's see. Cracky and Child Molester have the state and the church's blessing to wed and procreate little devils that do nothing but bring down our nation but Joe (a successly attorney who pays taxes like everyone else and volunteers at the homeless shelter every Saturday) and his boyfriend Bob (A nurse in the neonatal division who also pays taxes and donates money to help animals) have to sneak into Canada to get hitched. Of course the formal hitching doesn't count here in the good ol' USA and neither Joe or Bob (who are totally fictional by the way) can benefit from one another's health benefits or life insurance, etc. Neither can they adopt children which they both long for and have more than enough means to support. The children are instead left in foster care, in orphanages, on the streets, wherever while they wait for a qualifying heterosexual couple to come along. What's the deal people? Are you afraid that they will turn out gay because they're parents are? Is that really such a bad thing? Does it make you a worse person for choosing an outstanding same sex partner over a lousy opposite sex one? I don't get it. I believe the church should be able to turn away gay marriages but I believe that judges and such should have to perform them.

I'm also anti-war. This war is a joke. A JOKE. It's more like a competition to see who can kill more people. I think we're winning. I completely support the soilders and I am proud of them and proud of my country but come on! It's going on 7 years now and I don't think anyone has even looked for Osama Bin Laden! He's probably been at home this whole time watching ESPN. Now McCain says that when he's done in Iraq he's going to go after Iran. For what? Oil rights? I have an idea - why don't we show the world we're smarter than that and learn to become less oil dependent. We've got it started with hybrid cars and such now let's finish it (and hell no I do not drive an ugly ass hybrid. Why can't they make them cute?). Oh and here's another thing for the white house to chew over - Umm... maybe they hate us because we bomb their countries killing innocent civillians like crazy, we make shit up (i.e. weapons of mass destruction) in order to start a fight, we demand their natural resources, and all around act as the bully's of the world. They don't hate us because we're "free." Who gives a crap about us being "free"? If they wanted freedom they would start a revolt in their own country, not concentrate on us.

So after all that's been said I'm voting for Obama. I don't give a shit that he's black and that he's muslim. Nor do I give a shit that Hilary is a woman (more power to her!). I don't think us democrats have a chance in hell because there is alot of the country who will still vote for a white male NO MATTER WHAT HIS POLICIES before they vote for a black man or a woman. But at least when the middle east starts bombing the shit out of US for a change and the streets are littered with unwanted children I can say I voted against it all.

So in closing I hope I didn't offend anyone. I'm really not a political person, I just have a few sore spots. I guess now isn't a good time to bring up the dead kitty we found in our driveway that we're guessing froze to death. Poor kitty!!!!!! It was always milling around the block meowing and meowing but it wouldn't let anyone get near it. The neighbors said they tried to take it in but it wouldn't come in their house and it wouldn't let them touch it. It makes me sooo sad to think about that little kitty shivering on the cold concrete with no home while my big furry bastards cuddled up on their big furry bed (or with us) in a heated house. Why can't all animals be taken care of??? It's not fair!!!

Here's a pic of my two beasts for the road:

Minor problemo

2008-02-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

Did I say minor? I meant seriously F'ing major. My wedding has been scheduled for May 17th of this year at my aunt and uncle's house in the country. They rent the house but they've been there a few years and they promised me that they would never leave unless they owners drug them out by their hair. My mom gets a phone call the other night that went much like this:

p.s. my psycho grandma lives with my aunt

My grandma: The electricity bill is rather high here and we're probably gonna move. You might want to have a back up plan for Sarah's wedding.

My mom: Ex-cuse me? Come again? I know you did not just say we better come up with a back up plan 3.5 monts before this wedding is supposed to go down after I've already put thousands of dollars down on services for that day.

My grandma: Well Kim (my aunt) won't chop any fire wood for next year (hello, why would she? It's been pouring ass rain for two weeks and they already have a huger arsonal of wood stacked up) Kurt won't do things that I've asked him to do and we can't barely afford to live so we're thinking about moving but it's not for sure yet so we just don't know. I'm being nice by giving you fair warning.

*side note: my grandma is fucking crazy and her and my mom have never seen eye to eye for a good reason.

My mom: Well if you're even considering it we're going to have to find a new place right now because places book up and we can't just decide the week before the wedding that we're changing locations.

Then my mom calls me and I become as infuriated as she is. First of all, I won't go in to it but let's just say my grandma has never been one to want to see me or my mom happy. Second of all, what the FUCK is wrong with my aunt for letting it come to this? I've been close to her my entire life and she bends over backwards for everyone. Why does she have to screw me? Thirdly, invitation almost got printed with their address on it. One more week and I would have had to toss my invites! Thanks god my friend is making them for me (she's in the business). Fourthly, how in sam's hill and I going to find a place to hold the wedding this late in the game? I've already got contracts out for May 17th -what if everything is seriously booked up? Lastly, where the hell are we going to come up with the money to pay for a venue? We never budgeted for it so now either my parents or Andrew and I have to pull a grand or two out of our ass to pay for place to have the wedding! Most likely we'll end up with a shitty local that puts a serious damper on my garden theme. There goes my gerbera daisy cupcakes in terra cotta pots.

Assholes! How can they even consider moving before my wedding? We have out of town guests that have already booked their flights and made their travel arrangments! Some of my contracts may not allow me to change the date if necessary without paying out the ass!

All this and that's just the latest of my problems with them. So here's the breakdown of my family - the grandmother of which I speak is my dad's mom and she's hated my mom since day one for taking her son away (Oh wait! She kicked him out at 17 so he joined the army and then she pulled him back out for no apparent reason 'cause parents can do that before you turn 18 and then let him live in his car for awhile. But nevermind all that, my mom is seductive whore in her eyes). She does NOTHING but critize me and my mom, constantly bringing up the fact that we're fat. She sneaks it in like saying "I didn't think your dad would go for a larger woman like your mom but I guess he liked her face. Some day you'll find someone who doesn't mind your size." Then she wonders why I don't care to spend time with her.

Her daughter Kim is my dad's half sister and the baby of the family. I've always been really close to Kim as her daughter, Krista, is my age and we grew up really close. In grandma's eyes Krista is God. Krista can't keep a job, flakes on everything, and picks her boyfriends based on their ability to buy her things. Kim is stuck having grandma live with her because she spends every dime she gets before she makes it and somewhere along the line grandma sold her house to bail Kim out of debt or some shit like that.

Krista is the 3rd generation in this fucked up matriarch and I've already mentioned some of her qualities. I love her to death regardless though and she is my maid of honor. I've been engaged since August. A few weeks ago I told her it was time to order a bridesmaid dress. She wrote back and said that she was so broke she can't even buy food and she can't order a dress. Now if we didn't order our dresses by Feb 1 they wouldn't have arrived in time for the wedding even with super rush delivery that I paid $30 extra dollars per dress for so I had to spot her $100 to order her damn dress and you know I'll never get the money back but whatever. She's also flaked on me every time I've asked her to do something wedding related with me.

I'm seriously at the point where I want to call the whole thing off and elope to Tahoe but I can't because I have contracts already and they would probably cost my mom a fortune if we broke them. So now I'm frantically searching for a place that's affordable and has my day open. Nice, real nice.

Stolen from Myspace.....

2008-02-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket
3) Take a picture from the first page of results and copy the html code.
4) You cant copy the persons answers who posted this before you!

1. The age you will be on your next birthday:

2. A place you'd like to travel:

3. Your favorite place:

4. Your favorite object:

5. Your favorite food:
(I love this picture!!!)
6. Your favorite shape:

7. Your favorite color:

8. The town in which you were born:
Not really 'cause there isn't a hospital there but that's where I lived when I left the hospital
9. What did you do last weekend?

10. The name of your pet:

&

11. The first name of your love:

12. Your nickname/screen name:
(Boons - and not 'cause I drink 'em)
13. Your Current Job?

14. Favorite Show?

15. A habit of yours:

16. Your first job:

17. Your grandmother's name:

&
(OCIE)
18. Your favorite book:

19. Your favorite animal?

20. The town in which you live?

21. Your name?

22. Your middle name?

23. Your last name?

24. Favorite Band?

Hello again!

2008-02-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

I was out of commission for awhile as my internet decided that it didn't want to cooperate for about a week so I was sneaking peeks from work but now I'm back in full force! Let's see... nothing new here. Today I'm taking my car to Folsom Chevrolet to see if they'll buy the damn thing. They have a new "sell us your ride" promotion going on and I for one would like to take advantage of it. The selling of the mitsubishi has not been going as well as planned. Nobody wants the damned thing. Apparently it's not that popular of a model. I'd rather sell it to a dealership anyway because than I know I don't have to worry about any title issues down the road like when the new owner doesn't register it and then I start getting owner's responsibility tickets in the mail and I have to go to court and prove that I sold the damn thing. Not something I want to deal with.

I had an interesting customer on Tuesday I think it was. Andrew's ex wife's dad came to my window with a registration ticket and started grilling me on my life with Andrew and our up coming wedding. They still won't go away!!!! Andrew and I have been together for a year and a half already and the bitch still can't get over it. I even saw her ass spending my money at Target with a new beau on her arms and yet her family is still pestering me! I didn't tell him SHIT. I just smiled and said everything was hunky dorey. Idiot. I guess he got in an argument with the security guard too because he wanted to bring his knife in the building and she said hell no. He said he had the right to be armed. She pointed out that his right stopped at the doors of a court house. Is he trying to get himself arrested?! Turns out the company my dad works for is suing them in my office too for non payment. That outta be interesting. I just can't shake 'em.

Speaking of my job, we almost made it on the news the other night. I guess a gay couple were making out on the stree outside our office and THE sheriff walked by in plain clothes and they all ended up in a brawl. The sheriff says that he was just minding his own business and the two guys picked a fight with him for no apparent reason and he was happy that they picked him because he's trained to take them down and the next unfortunate soul may not have been able to handle them. The gay couple's story (the one I believe) is that the sheriff who I remind you was in PLAIN CLOTHES started making homophobic remarks towards them and was insulting their sexuality and the gay couple (who had just left drug court hahahaha) started getting pissed off and threw a punch at him. I've been working with cops and druggies long enough to know that cops are fucking assholes and they think they can get away with treating people anyway they like because, well, they can. Druggies who just got released from drug court generally don't start fights with known officers because they don't want to get put back in jail. The cop of course will claim that they were high on meth. I find that hard to believe since we do the actual drug testing in our building and report to the judge within minutes of the result. So you mean to tell me that the guys tested clean, got released, walked 1/2 a block away, got high on meth and jumped a cop? Uh-huh...... sure.

In other news I'm reading "A Thousand Spendid Suns" and I love it!!! It's horribly depressing and morbid but I can't put the damn thing down! I got the recommendation off of another blog along with The Kite Runner, Water For Elephants and The Glass Castle but Suns is the first one I got so it's the first one I started reading. I pridict I'll have it done by tomorrow. It's raining here so really I have nothing better to do :)

Well I better pay some damn bills and take a shower so I can try to sell my car. Andrew went to work on a car and took Gidget with him so I'm finally getting some peace and quiet!

My first tagging!

2008-01-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

Rule #1: Copy all the links below and replace the link that starts with the same letter as your blog. If your domain name, or title of your blog, starts with an “A,” you’d replace the link under that letter and put the replaced link at the bottom. Link to the person that tagged you so they get more hits as well!

A. acowboyswife.com
B. barnmouse.wordpress.com
C. caffeine-overload.com
D. DadThing.com
E. Everydayrandomness.net
F. forumfinder.net
G. gothic-peach.net
H. happykeg.com
I. ipentimento.com
J. justsimplyholly.com
K. kabalyero.com
L. lil-mousehouse.blogspot.com
M. michaelpark.net
N. notjustmama.net
O. originalmx5.net
P. peapodsquadstuff.com
Q. qweddings.com
R. rowdigrl.com
S. sarahlovescheese.com
T. thesocalledme.net
U. utada-online.net
V. valmg.com
W. wildrose.rpgraphics.net
X. xaviermedia.com
Y. yimto.com
Z. zbudapest.com

Replaced link: http://shirleysdelight.com

Rule #2 - tag 5 more people!

I don't have anyone to tag :(

The Internet: The Good, The Bad, and The Idiots

2008-01-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

So today I got an annoymous message from a post I posted waaaaay back in June about the incompetancies of Dish Network saying "wow, you guys are faggots." My first thought was "and so it begins....." I'm not one to get easily offended so I really didn't give a crap that annoymous from who the hell knows where thinks I'm a faggot but it irritates me what people do to other people that they don't even know and have no reason to care about. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has gotten hooked on a blog just to find that it's mysteriously vanished one day because the blogger couldn't deal with the abuse anymore. I'm not saying I blame people, I'd be tempted to shut down too if I was getting slammed by random strangers everytime I posted a blog. What I don't understand is where people get off coming down on people they don't know or judging them publically.

This has been brewing in me for a long time because I've seen it happen to so many bloggers. It's just insane! If you don't like what someone has to say in their blog don't read it! That's why the blog hosts have the "next blog" button at the top of the screen. Don't mothers teach respect to their children anymore? What ever happened to the old saying "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it all"? Blogging should be about expressing yourself, connecting with other people, and giving and receiving support from those who have been in our shoes or who are just generally sympathetic.

On another note, what kind of people attack other people on the net? Do they really feel so horrible and helpless about their life that they have to search out people ONLINE to pick on? Did they run out of people in real life or do they get regularly shit on in real life so this is their outlet? It just seems to me that these people should be using the net to look up therapists in their area, not attack others.

It's especially disheartening when it comes from bloggers who you thought were your friends. My real life friend spent a bunch of money traveling across the country to meet with someone she had met blogging just to have that person disown her shortly after her return over an opinion she expressed in her blog. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this particular person doesn't keep too many friends for very long if she attacks them over an opinion she doesn't agree with.

Luckily for me the very few people who read my blog are awesome and I've never had any problems before the Dish Network guy called me a faggot. And chances are that the comment came from someone who works at Dish Network and stumbled across my blog and was pissed off that I called them incompetant and that's the only thing he could come up with (proving my theory that Dish Network employs crack addicts).

In closing I want to say to every blogger out there (I know only like 3 people read this but pass the message on, with ya?) that if someone is harrassing you online FUCK 'EM. Smile to yourself because you're life is so much better than theirs and you are blessed with people who love and care about you. Just keep in mind that people that do that kind of stuff aren't quite right in the head and hopefully someday they learn to use the net for the GOOD (i.e. looking up therapists or joining a singles network or even finding support through a blog of their own) rather than the the BAD or the IDIOTIC (harrassing and abusing other people, passing judgement when you're no angel yourself, etc).

Bridal Show and other boring stuff

2008-01-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

So last week was hell. My old partner moved on to a different department and my new partner started at the counter with me. It would have been ok except that my boss took off on vacation and never delegated my old partners work out so I got stuck with it. We'd known that she was transferring for a good month now but for some reason my boss didn't think it was important enough to figure out how to switch the work load around. It was loosely decided that I would take on her work and someone else would inherit mine but nothing was ever set in stone and she left and the boss went on a 3 week vacation. NICE. So my inbox was absolutely out of control as I tried to do my work, do her work, help people at the counter, and train my new partner. Finally the lead clerk said that they were going to pass my work off to another clerk but she had to catch up on her work first. Well her work just kept piling up so nothing ever happened. Why they chose the particular clerk they did to take on my work is beyond me. She's already got her hands full with the juveniles and the CHP citations (which is the biggest ticket issuing agency in Yolo County) and there's another perfectly smart, competant clerk who doesn't have anything to do. Horribly stupid decision if you ask me. I inquired as to why they had decided it like that but of course the answer was "because that's what we decided." I HATE those kinds of answers! They preach to us about being a team and all that crap but then they just arbitrarily make decisions that are obviously not going to work and they don't open it up for discussion. So as of Friday I still had all my work on top of everything else. My new partner was going a little crazy too because the boss never gave her an answer as to what to do with her agency when she moved up to the counter. Us counter people don't enter the citations because we have customers all day long as opposed to the phone clerks who only answer phones for 3-4 hours a day, 3 weeks of the month (they take turns having one week off of phones to catch up on work). So my partner just asked another clerk to handle her citations until the boss comes back from her 3 week vacation and makes a decision. Luckily my new partner is well liked and the boss won't care if she takes it upon herself to delegate her work. If I did that they'd find a reason why it was horrible, they'd make me take it back, and then a week later they'd make the same decision on their own. But I'm not going at being teacher's pet since I ask too many questions and make suggestions instead of just sitting back and accepting whatever random decision the bosses make. Oh well. OH, and I forgot to mention that my boss wants me to start doing small claims now so she showed me one example and then left on vacation. I hope she didn't expect me to actually do any small claims when she was gone because I'd never make it through it.

So at the end of that horribly, rant worthy week I got to go to a Bridal show in Sacramento where I stole some good ideas from local vendors who I'll never hire. I just go, steal the ideas, and then do it myself :) I did make an appointment with a wholesale florist for next Saturday so that was somewhat productive. They sell you the flowers at a discount and then you make your own arrangements. That has been our plan all along as my cousin (the maid of honor) used to be a florist and she can make them for me. Plus we're using gerbera daisies that don't require much arranging so it should be a piece of cake. Speaking of cake, how cute is this idea? Cupcakes that are decorated to look like gerbera daisies? I love it! I would post a picture but my computer is being and asshole and claims I don't have an internet connection. GRRRR....

Katrina's California Cousin

2008-01-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

It all began about at 5 am yesterday morning when I heard the wind blowing so ridiculously hard that I thought the roof was going to blow off. It was crazy windy and rainy so I told Andrew that I wanted to keep the dogs in the house because something bad was bound to happen. Boy was I right. I got to work and we didn't have any power in our building at all and the ASSHOLE CEO made us go over to the main court house to wait and see what PG&E can do. Now the main court house is on the same block as us but it was THAT BAD outside. By the time we got there every single one of us had sopping wet feet, clothes, and hair. The entire sidewalk in front of the courthouse was a lake, I kid you not. My boss was sooo pissed off, especially since I think she was offically the wettest out of all of us. And when I say wet, I mean we all looked like we had just taken a shower with our clothes on. Finally we got word from PG&E that since practially the whole town of Woodland was without power they weren't going to be able to make us any promises so they let us go home!!! Woohoo!

Getting home was an obstacle in and of itself. There was SO many trees in the streets and toters and Christmas trees were everywhere. They were in the middle of the roads, in the middle of intersections, everywhere. Plus all the drains in town were backed up so the city streets were flooded because it literally hit us in flash-flood fashion. When I got home there was like 12 tree limbs laying on my street and I could see shingles literally flying off of my neighbor's roof. Today they are down to just plywood in some spots. My roof was ok but there was a Christmas tree in my driveway and one of the trees in the back yard had snapped in half (thank god I didn't put the dogs out!). About a half hour after I got home our clothes line which was bolted to a cement wall fell down and the shelter we had made for the dogs was literally being picked up by the roof and dragged around. I called my mom who commutes to work and she said that the electrical wires were arching over the highway on her way to work and twice traffic was stopped because telephone poles just snapped in half and laid across the highway.

3/4 of the town lost power and mine kept going in and out so I finally just laid down and took a nap. When I got up the worst of it was over and the street sweepers were out trying to get all the trees up out of the streets. I can't tell you how many fences and trees I saw broken. It was crazy! Later that night Andrew and I went out to dinner because we were out of groceries and there was no way in hell I was going to attempt the grocery store in that mess. Apparently everyone in Woodland had the same idea because every single restaurant in town was packed!! I'm sure it was because nobody had electricity. The news said it was the worst storm we've had in 12 years with wind up to 65 miles an hour at times. WOW! For us California's that is some seriously crazy weather!

Get a new parking lot!

2008-01-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

So awhile back I mentioned that I was at the mall and a lady wearing pj's and carrying bags with a kid and an old lady approached me in the parking lot and asked for money and I was quite pissed off at them for a number of reasons.

It got worse.

The other day I was IN MY CAR getting ready to back out and talking on the cell phone (soon to be illegal in CA) and the same bitch approached me, knocked on my F'ing window and asked for money! WTF!!!!

Then today I was pulling in to take advantage of some sales and the same old hag was cruising the parking lot AGAIN and approached me for a 3rd time! I told her to kick rocks this time. The worst part about it is that she keeps bringing that innocent child with her to get sympathy! Now I mentioned before the various reasons why I hated those particular pan handlers but it's just getting far too out of control at this point. Another stupid move on their part is that they always hang out in the same section of the parking lot and apparently they do it every day. There is parking all the way around our mall here (as small as it may be) and she is always chilling in the 3 row itty bitty parking lot between Mervyn's and JCPenney's. I'm surprised none of the employees have called the cops on her yet! I know I should have probably learned my lesson the first 2 times and parked somewhere else today but there's no way I thought this lady was going to get me for the 3rd time! Never again though, I'll tell you that much! I'm finding new parking grounds next time around!

So I think I forgot to mention the dream I had the other day in which Wayne Brady tried to make out with me while I was a contestant on Don't Forget The Lyrics and I TURNED HIM DOWN because I was engaged. I guess that means I really do love Andrew if my subconscience is turning down freaking celebrities for him! And I love Don't Forget The Lyrics and Wayne Brady (probably why I had the dream in the first place)! He did make a mean pot of pork and beans today and really... who can resist pork and beans? Ok, so I usually can but this stuff was seriously good. I just wish I was able to make corn bread to go with it. Mmmm.... corn bread. Bah! There I go dreaming of food again! Why can't I love food and be skinny? Why oh why?

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

Last night was pretty uneventful for me. We had dinner at Cattlemans steakhouse which turned into a 2 hour ordeal. The paramedics were called while we were there but all we saw was an empty stretcher leaving so apparently whoever was having issues started feeling better. They were in the bar area too which really makes me believe it was probably just a drunk. We came back and we were going to go out but then my friend's baby was still awake at 11 (grandma couldn't get him to go down) so she opted out and I was tired and pissed off at Andrew so I decided to just go home. I put on a movie I had from Netflix called Hollywoodland and of course Andrew fell asleep before midnight. Big whoopity do! So anyway the movie was about George Reeves, the guy who played Superman and if he really killed himself or if it was actually a murder. The damn movie never does say so I'm going to assume it's still a mystery.

This morning we took down all our outside Christmas lights and went to work on the frigging spare bedroom that we've been painting for like 3 months now. GRRRR. Andrew built a shelter for the dogs so that they can escape the rain that's expected this week since we don't have an actual dog house yet. Everytime we get money to buy a dog house something happens.... For instance, today I washed Andrew's cell phone. He says it's my fault for not checking the pockets. I say it's his fault for leaving his cell phone in his laundry. Regardless of who's at fault it cost our innocent checking account $355 to buy a new one since we're not eligible for any contract renewals or anything like that. Plus they passed a law in California saying that as of July 1, 2008 you have to use your phone wirelessly in the car so we went ahead and bought him a blue tooth thing as well. I still refuse to buy one as I don't find them comfortable in the least. Eventually I'll break down and get one. So anyway, back to the dogs. Cocoa found some cat shit in the front yard today and ate it. Then she promptly threw it up upon entering the house. Shit and barf altogether! Sometimes I seriously think she wants to go to the SPCA. Oh and while I was painting she ate a bag of jerky my grandpa made for me that I didn't think she could reach. I'm never having children.

So in approximately 17 mins we're supposed to be meeting my parents and grandparents at a Chinese Restaurant for dinner for my grampa's 77th birthday. Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!!! Of course Andrew is still in the shower because that's how he roll. Late, as always.

Christmas Recap

2007-12-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

So far I've only received one bath set this year! Amazing, I know. The bad news is that I still have two more Christmas's to do this weekend. I guess my aunt and uncle from Texas are coming to visit with their kids so we're doing a Christmas on Saturday with my dad's mom and my dad's other sister and then on Sunday we're doing another Christmas with my dad's dad! My dad's dad always makes me jerky at Christmas time so I'm pretty excited about that.

So let's see... Christmas Eve Andrew and I both worked but he did slip out a tiny bit early so we rushed to his Aunt Cenza's house for their traditional Italian Christmas dinner with meatballs, garlic bread, salad, and what I thought was lasagna but I was told later it was Eggplant Parmesan. No matter, it was yummy anyhow! Then we went back to Andrew's parents house where we opened a gi-normous pile of gifts! It was madness! We only bought them a few things each 'cause we're on a budget and all but they went crazy! I got a jewelry box, a gift certificate for a photography lesson, slippers, 4 or 5 cd's, a bunch of wool socks that I love (I'm totally sporting my pink ones today with my black slacks and black shoes!), and all kinds of other misc stuff that's slipping my mind right now. We crashed at their house and then woke up Christmas morning and had pie for breakfast. My father in law to be watched the 24 hour marathan of The Christmas Story just like he does every year and he kept swearing that he's never got to watch it all the way through! I don't know how that could possibly be since I swear I watched it all the way through 6 times that night.

Christmas day we went out to my parents for some more yummy food and presents. My dad deep fries his turkey every year and it is soooo good. I know it sounds Redneck but it's good, I promise. And we are rednecks so it doesn't matter anyway! My folks hooked us up with a shop vac and some fancy egyptian cotton sheets. We got a lot of other little odds and ends too including a cd and a book that I wanted and a hammer that we needed :).

My brother and I have a tradition where we never wrap each other's gifts in wrapping paper. Ever. We always come up with something clever. He totally sucked this year and wrapped mine in aluminum foil and labeled it with a Sharpe. So been done before! I totally took the cake. First I wrapped his book in traditional wrapping paper. Then I wrapped it up in a bright yellow bag that my phone book got delivered in that said "Yellow Pages" all over it. Then I shoved it into an empty garbage bag box that I had. I thought it was good enough like that but Andrew grabbed a ceiling fan box that we had and threw it in there and then wrapped it with spill pads (you know, to catch the oil that drips from your car) and electrical tape. He topped it off with a bow he made from zip ties. It took my brother like 20 mins to open it! It was great.

For some reason my brother's inlaws gave him the game "You Might Be A Redneck..." and my brother is like totally metal, dresses in all dark colors, and has hair to his waist. I guess they figured he couldn't escape his roots. We broke it out Christmas night and while we were all expecting Andrew to take the cake my brother actually won! Good stuff!!!!

Christmas night Andrew lit a fire and we snuggled on the ground eating Pumpkin ice cream out of the carton. Our dogs came and laid down next to us too and it was so peaceful. We had all the lights off so it was just the Christmas lights and the fire and us with our ice cream. I wish every night could be that relaxed and romantic. But then again I guess that would take the charm out of things if it was the norm.

The day after Christmas I officially had to come back to work. No time off for me! Luckily we don't have any court going for 2 weeks so we've been able to play catch up. In fact I caught up on like day 1 since I was never behind so it's been a teeny wit boring for me but whatever! I'll take boring over court any day! In fact, I've just typed this whole blog while waiting for my coworker to return and relieve me for lunch. Wouldn't you know it, she just walked in.......

2 more days......

2007-12-23T09:21:00.001-08:00

So Andrew and I have a bet going to see how many freaking bath sets I get for Christmas this year. I've already got one from my secret santa at work so the trend has already began. Now don't get me wrong, I like bath sets. The only problem is that I've received a minimum of 2 every year since like 1999 or something and while the body wash does get used regularly I can't say the same thing about the lotion or body sprays. I appreciate any gift that anyone gives me because it means they thought enough about me to want to give me something on Christmas. That or they felt guilty because I got them something last year but whatever.... But seriously people, I've got enough bath sets. Have you ever noticed how some people do that? They remember something you liked like 10 years ago and they buy it for you every year without a hitch. It's like frogs. When I was in high school I liked frogs and people would buy me frog stuff and such and it was cool. I'm hitching to be 27 now and I swear to you I still get frog stuff once in awhile. I accept it graciously of course but you have to wonder if the person giving it you has taken the time to notice that 10 years have gone by since you last asked for frog stuff.

I'm not trying to be ungrateful in the least. Like I've said before, if anyone takes the time to buy me a gift of any sort than it's special to me because it means they like me well enough to spend their money on me which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I guess my real agenda here is to pat myself on the back for thinking up (or at least trying really hard to) original gifts every year. My brother made himself an amazon wish list which made my life sooooo much easier and dad just got food but everyone else I really tried to think of. I could have done better had I not been on such a serious budget but in any case I'm looking forward to handing out my gifts and seeing if I did good or not :).

In other news we're selling my car. I finally put my foot down and told Andrew we're selling it whether he likes it or not. There's absolutely no point in keeping it. We have two cars and his beater truck which he drives every day. I can't drive both cars at one time so one of them is always sitting. My car is the oldest and it's actually worth more than I owe (finally!!!!!!) so it's only logical to sell the damn thing and stop wasting $350 a month on a car that we hardly ever drive. So I got a brand new windshield on Friday and I'll be taking her to get smogged this week and then the ads are going out! I'm going to advertise on Craigs list and in the Pennysaver since I've had such great results from them in the past. I'm a little sad to see it go but I'm sure the money I save will more than make up for it.

On top of that I'm thinking about getting a second job. I loathe working two jobs but I really, really want to help pay for our wedding and I want to be able to afford an awesome honeymoon. Not to mention we have all kinds of debt we need to pay off before we can buy a house (credit cards, lasik surgery, student loans, my wedding rings...... ). Yuck! Even the idea of working two jobs make me feel ill. I say this not because I'm lazy but because I've worked two jobs many, many times in the past and I know what it does to you after awhile. It kicks your ass. You work 40 hours at one job dealing with assholes all day, then you rush off to your other job which is usually retail or something and you have shitty customers AND shitty management, then you rush home to gobble something up before hitting the sack and you wake up to do it all over again. Then on the 1/2 a day you MIGHT get off a week you have to run around like a meth addict trying to get all your laundry done and the grocery shopping done and somewhat clean your house. And forget real meals or spending time with friends and family. Not an option.
Now I know y'all are thinking "doesn't Andrew do side work to help with that stuff?" Yes, but it's pointless. He works these side jobs with his "business" to make money that he almost always puts directly back into his gas tank on the peice of shit truck that we wouldn't own if it wasn't for the "business." Not to mention all the crap he feels the need to buy for the "business." It's a huge joke if you ask me but you can't tell him that. Basically he spends all his time doing side work just to pay off expenses that we wouldn't have if he didn't do side work. But he's convinced that one day he'll become a sucessful business and he won't have to work a regular job, etc etc. I can't tell him it's a joke because then I won't be letting him chase his dreams and I would be a bad wife but it's really quite ridiculous. Plus he has no way of keeping track of anything other than a binder that he shoves all his work orders into and he doesn't want my help at all so undoubtably the IRS will come a'knocking at our door at some point at which point I'll remind him of his quote "It's my business and I'll run it the way I want to." Good luck with that, honey.

Pictures from Vegas

2007-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

My favorite, the Venetian -

No I don't know why Andrew wore his Army issued Duster to Vegas. This is us in front of a fountain at our hotel, The Monte Carlo -

Paris!!!

The Mirage Volcano exploding!! We got there just in time after a 20 min fast walk past the ONE casino between the Bellagio and the Mirage.

My favorite place to eat - Margaritaville. The drinks are soooo yummy!

And last but not least the Bellagio before the fountains started dancing.

Home Sweet Home

2007-12-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

I'm back from Vegas! Actually I got back Tuesday but it was late and yesterday I was way too tired to blog. So it was fun but I don't know if it was worth it. It was cold which is better than hot in Vegas for sure but my skin was dry and my jeans managed to chaff the skin off of the back of my knees. Don't ask me how. Then I walked so much that my little toe nail rubbed up against my 4th toe and rubbed some skin off. Not pleasant. That on top of the normal wear and tear you get from hiking it everywhere really did me in! We did ride the gondolas though which was fun and we did the Nascar simulation and I won!!!! Haha suckers! I didn't even want to race because I'd done it before and I know it makes me car sick so I was puttering around the track taking great precautions not to hit anything and I ended up winning! I guess all the guys were too busy ramming into each other and stuff to win. I know Andrew thought he was going to win for sure and he came in last place!!! That just cracks me up to no end.

Of course no trip of ours can be complete without a few issues though but luckily they waited until the end. So we get to the airport at 2:45 for our 4:00 flight because we don't have any baggage to check and we hate sitting at the airport waiting. We get to the counter because there is no kiosk to check in at and the guy tells us that all the flights are delayed and they are moving us to the 1:30 flight because it will be here before the 4:00 flight and they want to get us home as soon as possible. Then they tell us to haul ass to the gate so we did. We get there after practically running through the airport with Andrew leaving my ass behind because I could barely walk let alone hustle and the lady tells us that the 4:00 flight and the 1:30 flight are both going to leave at the same time, around 4:30. Ok, no problem. The people that work there are hella cool and they are having a competition to see who can board faster and blah blah blah. Then our luck kicked in. The 1:30 flight which we had been moved to has mechanical problems and it's delayed indefinitely. OH HELL NO. I whipped out my printed itinerary showing that I was originally on the 4:00 flight and they moved us to a different flight without us asking them to and now I'm being screwed. They said they would try to get us on the 4:00 flight anyway and they actually did. Plus we got to sit in the first row that has more leg room! So actually our luck wasn't horrible but our trip just couldn't have gone off without a hitch. That's just too easy!

In any case I'm glad to be home. I was dead from hauling ass around Vegas for 2 days, even with the tram rides we got! Plus it's as expensive as all hell. Maybe later I'll post pictures for now I have to check on my shortbread cookies :)

I'm off!

2007-12-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we set sail for Vegas! Woohoo!!!!! Andrew has never been before so I'm excited to show him around. I'm especially excited about not having to work on Monday and Tuesday and getting to sleep all night long uninterrupted for 2 nights in a row. Can't wait :)

I'm almost done Christmas shopping! I need to pick up one more thing for my soon to be father in law and Andrew's step grandpa and I'm done. I really need to send off my gifts for Canada ASAP or they won't make it in time for Christmas.

I booked a wedding photographer today, finally. I found him on Craig's list. I friend of mine told me that she found her photographer there that gave her everything she wanted within her budget so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm getting 200 4x6 prints, 20 5x7 prints, 5 8x10 prints, 2 11x14 prints, a flush mounted album (I prefer them to new trendier ones), 10 hours photography, engagement session with a framed 11x14 picture, 30 wallets, all the pictures on DVD, and 2 parent albums for $2,120. The best part is that his pictures are awesome and he has the best personality! Such a good deal!!! Or at least in my book it is because everyone I've talked to so far wants $3,000 minimum just to take the pictures and give you one album with no extra prints. I couldn't believe how many responses I got from the craig's list add! It was insane. Almost as insane as when I advertised in the penny save for the puppies only it's been spread out over a week instead of 20 calls in one day. In the end he had the best bang for my buck without comprising quality. So all the big stuff is officially done. Now onto the little stuff......

I think I'm going to attempt to make some fudge tonight. Last time I attempted it was disasterous.

Ok, seriously not to change the subject and all but my weirdo puppy just went in the bathroom to snuggle up by the toilet for the 2nd time today. What the hell is she thinking? I guess it's a good thing I cleaned it today. Ok, now she's chilling in the shower. Gidget must have stepped on her head one too many times 'cause it's freezing in here and I know she's not trying to cool down.

Anywho... back to the fudge. Last year mine didn't set and I followed the recipe to a T which is something I never seem to do. I'm going to try the recipe that claims to be No Fail. We'll see how that turns out. In any case I'll be over the stove/oven so at least I won't be cold. This house is so drafty. Damn rentals. I've got the heater set at 70 and a fire going and my fingers are still turning purple!

It's been awhile....

2007-12-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

I've really been lacking on the blogging material lately. You can only talk about your puppies so much, you know? The last one is gone and now we're just working on training Cocoa. Horribly exciting, isn't it?

Last night we went to the CWA crab cippiono feed in Colusa. Andrew's parents are big into the CWA (California Waterfowl Association) so we go every year and spend loads of money. My parents went this year so that was cool. We bought $100 in raffle tickets which is the lowest amount you can spend and guess what we won? More raffle tickets. Woo-freaking-hoo. Those extra raffle tickets did nothing for us. The highlight of the evening was when my dad's cousin showed up out of nowhere and decided to sit with us. I guess he hasn't seen her in like 5 years or something. My mom and dad cut out after dinner as they refused to spend $100 on raffle tickets to win a gun that they don't want. Lucky them. I was stuck with the cousin who proceeded in getting utterly shitfaced and making a fool of herself and of course everyone kept asking ME about her as word had gotten out that I was somehow related. I wouldn't have even known she was family if it wasn't for my dad! Anyway, girl was sooo shitfaced that she was dancing in her chair to the auctioneer. I guess "$500 going once, going twice, sold for $500 to the man in the red hat" has a good beat to it. Then she stopped dancing and just bobbed and weaved in her chair for awhile looking totally comatose and severly disabled. Then she passed out with her head hanging backwards over her chair and her mouth wide open while she hiccupped. I bet y'all are thinking "why in god's name didn't her boyfriend take her ass out of there?" Well because he has bought $1,000 in raffle tickets andyou have to be present to win. And guess what? He did win. The very last prize. So I guess he stuck it out for good reasons but sheesh! Girl was seriously embarrassing me.

Tonight my folks are coming over for dinner for my mom's birthday. We're having tenderloin. Mm.... tenderloin. So yummy!

Oh! Next weekend we're going to Vegas for a few days. The Monte Carlo had rooms on sale for $50 a night and Virgin airlines had flights on sale for $39 so we thought what the hell!!! We're leaving Sunday night and returning Tuesday night so it will be a short trip but that's ok 'cause we're on a budget and Vegas can really suck the money out of you.

We're doing Secret Santa's at work and guess who I pulled. The damned new girl, Sara. Freaking figures! I've never spoken so much as a word to her! I had my friend do some detective work and all she could get out of the girl is she likes cherry scented stuff so I guess I'll get her some bath and body Cherry Blossom stuff and maybe some cherry lip gloss or something. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

So I leave you now with some pictures. Don't mind my bangs, they were horribly misbehaving. The folks in the crab bibs are my parents :)

Bad Panhandlers and Puppies

2007-12-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

I was walking out of the mall today with my hands full of very heavy bags and a lady wearing sweatpants and a big jacket with a pastic bag in her hand and a kid and old lady at her side asked me if I was willing to make a donation to something (I wasn't really listening as I could tell from the get go they were panhandlers). I turned her down for a multitude of reasons. First of all, if you're going to ask for money on the streets don't involve your kid and your mom. That's just wrong. Second of all, don't cruise the parking lots carrying your newest purchase with you as you go. Third of all, be honest. If you need money for whatever reason just tell people you need money. Don't try to talk them into making a donation to some non existent cause while wearing your pj's and huge winter jacket. Get a cardboard sign and sit at the entrance like every other bum in town. Fourthly, my hands were about to break off and there's no way I was going to stop my hustle to the car for such an un original attempt at getting other people's money. Now I'm not one to automatically say no to all panhandlers. There are days when I will give them a couple bucks and I'm always willing to pour my change into those salvation army collection bins. That lady just didn't do it for me.

Speaking of the salvation army bell dingers..... They set up shop at the post office. BASTARDS. I go there 6 days a week. There's no way I can afford that so now I have to feel guilty everytime I walk by and don't donate. Especially when the bell dinger smiles at me and says hello.

So we're down to just one puppy to sell. It's cuddle bug, the one I considered keeping for a second. Boy am I glad I didn't! The little bastard is a barker and he has waaaaay too much energy. I've been letting him in the house because I have to let Cocoa learn how to be a house dog and it's just not fair to make him stay outside but I'll tell you what - he's a handful. Within 20 mins today he shit by the door, ran around the house with my kitchen floor mat, chewed on the back of my pants while I was trying to unload the groceries, chewed on the paper towells I bought, and tried to drag Cocoa around by her neck. I booted the puppies back outside and now I can hear his bastard ass barking. It's freaking wonderful considering that we just called the sheriff to do a welfare check on the consistent barker next door. Now they'll have reason to retailiate. Oh how I love neighbors.

So the sheriff that did the welfare check on the dog next door said he's fine. Granted he has no shelter from the 36 degree nights, no food, and no water but he's fine. I guess our dogs are treated as royalty then if that's fine. The sheriff did say that they've been called out to that house quite a few times in concern for that dog. Hmm... and you haven't gotten the hint yet? At least write the idiots a ticket for a barking dog. It's the least you can do. Now other dogs on the block bark as well (including mine!) but this is a non stop, consistent, I'm-freezing--lonely-and-hungry bark. I'm just waiting for the day when I come home from work and find his ass snuggled up in our backyard on one of the puppies blankets (they have two out back) under the heat lamp munching away on the puppy kibble!

A visual

2007-11-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

My mom sent me this picture and it kind of shows where the puppy made his fall. Don't mind the random people in the picture, they're just family friends. The trailer on the right is my parents, the trailer on the left is my grandpa's. The deck/yard you're looking at is my parents. Notice the tops of trailers behind the deck on the second row behind the arrows. The staircase they climbed is in between the two back porches.

It's raining cats and dogs! Or puppies at least.....

2007-11-25T11:01:00.001-08:00

Little dude fell off the roof and bent the cartilidge in his rib and injured his foot. But's that's not all of it. I shall begin at the beginning.....

Friday morning Andrew and I packed up all the beach stuff we needed for a night, the 4 puppies, their massive kennel, and Gidget and headed to Dillon Beach for the night because every year my family has a huge Thanksgiving feast at their trailer and all kinds of people come from far and wide and it's a blast. It's about an hour and a half trip from our house and the bastard puppies will whine the entire way if you don't have the A/C on full blast (they get hot when they're stuck together in their kennel) so I froze to death the whole way there. Andrew was fine since he had Gidget on his lap the entire time as there was no room for her in the back seat. We really need a bigger car. But anyway, about 20 mins from the beach one of the puppies went poop in the kennel and oh my god I've never smelt anything so bad in my life before! But there was nothing we could do but suffer and drive faster until we got there. We were there a couple hours before we headed off to dinner at Dinnuci's and we locked Gidget and the puppies up on the back patio to stay warm while we were gone.

*Side Note*

Now the way that Dillon's Beach is set up is that there's rows of old travel travelers that have been left there over the years and people buy them and build decks up around them and such and then people like my parents and grandparents buy the trailer and everything around it but they have to rent the land from the greedy bastards that run the place. They are pretty large (ours has an actual bedroom and a sliding glass door) but there's no electricity and everything runs off of solar power or propane. Ours has a heater with a theromsat, a telephone line, and a large TV antenna. Not everyone is that equiped but everyone has hot water and a gas refridgerator and usually a stove/oven. My dad built this massive enclosed back patio with a storage room, a wood stove, another oven for outdoor cooking and a sink. There's a picnic table back there for the cold morning and nights when you want to visit with everyone but you want to stay nice and toasty (the trailer itself is way to cramped for visiting with guests). Outside there is a regular deck with another picnic table and a stair case that goes to the row of trailers behind us. There's two levels and we're on the bottom level. My dad's assigned boat parking is behind our trailer on the upper level so he built a staircase for easy access. Also, since the trailers all used to be on wheels they do not sit on the ground and there is about a foot of space under each one. If you don't block them off completely critters like to make their homes under there. So I hope that's enough of mental picture of the upcoming story....

So we get home from dinner and let Gidget out to go potty and to run about a bit. No sooner does she get out the front gate and in front of my grandpa's trailer (right next door to ourse) but a damned skunk comes sauntering out and skunks Gidget right in the face! Andrew had to run up to the local store and buy tomato juice, simple green, and dish washing liquid to try and get the smell out of her! After about a 45 min bath she finally acceptable enough to be allowed near other humans again. No sooner had we started bathing her but some friends of ours that have a trailer on the other side of my grandpa come over and ask who set the skunk off. Apparently it went off while they were eating dinner inside their trailer with all their windows open. Whoops. Personally I feel that the people who own the beach should do something about the skunk problem but that's a whole 'nother issue. Finally we get Gidget all dried off and warmed up and we hit the sack.

About 6 am the bastard puppies wake up and they are screaming bloody hell. About 6:30 I decide I can't take it anymore I let them outside and I put them in the blocked off pen area my dad fashioned for them the day before. My mom wakes up before the sun so she came out to visit with me when she heard me out shuffling around. About 7 we hear one of the puppies straight up shrieking. We ran to pen and 3 of the 4 puppies were missing..... Only little Cocoa was left. The bastards had climbed up the steps that my dad had built to access the boat and they were playing on the roof of my grandpa's back patio! The one we call Little Shadow because he looks like his grandpa had fallen off the side of the trailer between my grandpa's back patio and his neighbor's trailer! Nobody saw him fall so we don't know how he fell or what he landed on but Andrew kept claiming he broke a rib. Nobody else could see or feel it and he was acting ok so we let it go a bit. About 20 mins later he starting limping and sitting weird so I picked him up and poked and prodded him a bit and he didn't even twitch. We thought for sure if he was broken he'd jump when I ran my hands over his ribs. Nothing. Little dude fell asleep in my lap and all was well with the world until he woke up and wanted down. I put him down and I could instantly see what I thought was the bone sticking out. His little fur was all ruffled strange around it and you could see it clear as day. So Andrew and I rushed him to a 24/7 vet hospital in Rohnert Park and they did full body x-rays on him. $420 later we found out that he doesn't have any broken bones, no interal bleeding, and no bruised lungs. He had some cartilidge that got bent out of shape and that's what we were feeling and seeing. He also had a very sore foot but all and all he's fine! Thank god! They said that within 24 hours he should start acting like a normal puppy again and sure enough as soon as we got home he started rough housing with his brothers. If nothing else he sure proved to everyone that he is definitely his grandfater reincarnated :)

Seriously disturbing

2007-11-24T20:24:00.001-08:00

Every day my neighbor's dog parks to no end. NO END. He barks all morning, all afternoon, and all night. I know they never play with the poor thing but the daughter once told me that he slept in the garage at night. I had my doubts but whatever. The other night it was going to be 35 degrees during the night and it was advised to bring all your pets inside or to make sure they would be plenty warm for the night. Gidget is in the house as long as we're in the house anyway so she's taken care of. The puppies all had to sleep in a huge Extra Large size dog kennel that belongs to Gidget inside the house and we were out rounding them up when I told Andrew to toss a couple Milkbones over the back fence to get the dog to stop barking. He decided to investigate and peek over the fence a bit. What we discovered was that no only does that dog NOT have so much as a blanket let along a dog house but he didn't even have any food or water. At the very minimun he should have some water! Especially with all that barking he does. Now I've never called the cops before in my life and I'm not one to get nosey on my neighbors and I don't expect everyone to let their dog have free range like mine does but I CAN'T STAND to see a dog suffer. It was going to 35 freaking degrees that night and he's a short haired bastard. He could literally freeze to death! Literally. And he's doing all he can to say "hey! I'm fucking cold you assholes, let me in!" If I see it again I'm going to call the sheriff's to do a welfare check on him. I don't want to see him get taken away from his family (as if they care about him anyway!) but in my opinion you don't deserve to have animals if you can't care for them properly. If I can make sure that 8 puppies and a momma are fed, watered, warm, and entertained by billions of toys they can take care of one for Pete's sake! Assholes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the holidays are here already! I'm not ready! Stop! Wait! Let's go back to September for awhile.....

I went to the future inlaws for dinner tonight. Yummy! We had ham and smoked turkey and my famous caramel apple crisp for dessert. Tomorrow we're headed off to the beach for a night and Saturday is the big Thanksgiving party with my family and friends complete with my dad's cajun deep fried turkey. Mmm..... Turkey. I have Monday off of work which means 5 day weekend for me! I love it! Since I don't have much to say I'm going to force some pictures of my dogs on you.

Notice how the two up front are mid attack!

Now they are making up!

My computer screwed the color up on this one but this is Cocoa, my bastard puppy. She's cuter in real life :)

Found 'em!

2007-11-16T20:33:00.001-08:00

Andrew came home and found my keys laying in the grass on the edge of the driveway. Don't ask me how they got there but they were cold and wet when he returned them to me! I can only assume that while I was pulling the Kia keys off my key ring that my car keys slipped off as well and I didn't notice because I was too busy worrying about the Kia keys. Plus they fell in the grass so they didn't make a noise. In any case I'm ecstatic. I was seriously concerned there for a little bit!

Tomorrow we head off to Colusa again where one puppy is guaranteed to go home to a new home. They named her Lucy and I've already fallen in love with her! She's so much sweeter and better behaved than my psycho puppy Cocoa aka Runtie who is only good for A) peeing in the house B) chasing Gidget relentlessly trying to nurse even though she's freaking 8 weeks old already or C) whining incessantly because she has to sleep in the nice warm cozy house in her own personal soft bedded kennel. I want a cat instead.

My current rants

2007-11-15T18:32:00.001-08:00

1. My internet has been acting like an asshole lately. It never ever wants to work! I don't know if it's the internet provider or my router but I'm about sick of it already! Work, you bastard, work!

2. I can't find my car keys anywhere. In the whole 5 years that I've owned my car I've never actually lost the keys and had no idea where they might be. I can't even blame Andrew as he has his own key to my car and he has no reason to steal mine. Plus he refuses to get in my purse for anything, even if I ask him to. He flat out will not put a finger in my purse. Don't ask me why, he just doesn't. He claims he was raised that way. Losing my key is bad for a number of reasons. First of all Andrew took the Kia to Sacramento taking his spare key to my car and the keys to his truck with him leaving me stranded at home. Grr... I was headed to the grocery store for some avocados and sour cream for our dinner when I realized the keys were missing. Now I feel trapped even though the grocery store is in walking distance but it's dark and cold outside and there's no way I'm going to carry all those groceries home. Secondly it worries me that I have NO IDEA where the damn things are. I never lose things. I don't even know how they got off my keychain! I have one of those hooks that rock climbers use and I have a couple different key rings on there but I don't know how that one got off! I can only assume that it's at my desk, in the Kia, or buried somewhere in the house. I hope to God I didn't drop them somewhere. Thirdly, my post office box key is on the same ring as my car keys and the post office ladies are going to get seriously bitchy with me if I don't check my mail at least every other day.

3. My house is under remodel and we're sleeping in the living room. Fun times. It all started when I tore the spare bed out of the small spare bedroom and put it in the bigger spare bedroom (unassembled of course) and started painting the small room. Everything was running along smoothly until the boy came home and then of course we had to primer shit and sand shit and of course it's nowhere near done. On Tuesday he fixed a horrible patch job in the small bedroom and then decided to fix the nasty spot in the roof of the big bedroom since he has all the stuff out. So at this point we have a half painted small bedroom, a clutter in the big spare bedroom with a drywall patch drying in the room and dry wall and plaster peices all over the floor. At this point we're still ok because our bedroom is in tact. Andrew took on the job of repainting our hall closet hinged doors and putting on the new handles I bought like 6 months ago and while putting the doors back in place he noticed the ceiling fan we had bought for our bedroom like 4 months ago but it was too hot in the attic to put it up. He decided it was a good time to put it up now. Out goes our bed and in comes the ladders and spot lights and drywall patching kits. He had to put up a ceiling fan support bracket thingy in the roof and with his bum knee he decided just to cut out some roof and do it that way which would be fine had our other 2 bedrooms not been in disasterous states. And OF COURSE the procedure requires crap to dry overnight so our bedroom is now a mess.

The good news is that Andrew got all kinds of stuff done that I'd been asking him to do for months. The bad news is that he did them in a totally random order which has rendered all 3 bedrooms of my house useless. NICE.

4. Gidget has really bad gas.

My hands hurt!

2007-11-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

I got up at the crack of dawn today to assist Arlene in moving out and to start putting my house back together. My body hurts so bad my hands even hurt! The moving part was actually quick and painless, it was the moving all my crap around that killed me! That and shampooing the carpets and cleaning the walls with TSP so that I can paint them. I sent the boy to his mom's this weekend to sell puppies while I handled the house. I know it would seem logical for most women to leave their man in charge of the whole moving heavy furniture thing but that's not practical with Andrew. He always has a "better" way to do everything and it always involves spending money and it takes him 2-3 months to actually get it done. Left to my own devices I just use what I have and get it done effectively within a few short hours. Then we he gets home he can't bitch because it's done and he has no idea how I got it done. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped so I'm a little dissapointed. I got the spare bed pulled apart and started shampooing the dog piss out of the matress and I got both rooms shampooed and TSP'd. I got two book shelves moved which was a pain in the ass!!!! Andrew has soo many heavy ass books that he never ever reads but feels the need to have. We have gun manuals up the wazooo 'cause you know like twice a year he has time to go shooting. That's not even the worst part though! It's the 5 million HUGE binders that he insists on keeping even though each one has like 5 pieces of paper in there. Oh well, he gets one shelf and I get the other so as long as all his shit fits on one shelf I allow him to keep it.

About 3 pm I gave up and went to Big 5 to get a start on some Christmas shopping. I got Andrew and my dad both binoculars that have digital cameras in them. They were normally $130 and this weekend only they're on sale fr $30! It's a steal! I also got Andrew's step dad a couple of pocket knives that were on sale as well. One was normally $40 and it was on sale for $10. The other was like normally $20 and it was on sale for $7. He collects pocket knives I guess so he's getting $60 worth of knives for $17! That's my kind of Christmas shopping!

Tomorow I have a movie date with Ange. We're going to see American Gangster. I'm pretty damned excited because Ange and I never get to hang out anymore! It's hard for us to get together 'cause she has a kid and I'm always busy and/or broke. Woohoo! I'm also super excited because Monday is a holiday! And then the week after that is Thanksgiving so I get two days off and I took off the following Monday which means no more 40 hour weeks for me for the rest of November.

Something is poking me in the shoulder through my shirt and it makes me paranoid because I think there's a bug in there. I hate that.

So one puppy went home to her new home today and 3 others are seriously interested but they have to talk to their significant others so we'll see how many dogs Andrew comes home with tomorrow. The one that went bye-bye went to a good home so I'm happy. My coworker wants one too and I know it will have a good home as well so that brings me glee. I get worried that bad people will buy them and then leave them outside all the time in the heat and cold and such. I can't stand to see animals mistreated!!! It's not fair 'cause they can't stand up for themselves. My heart hurts just thinking about it. I'm sad now :(

The other Sarah

2007-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

My boss hired another girl named Sarah today. This does not make me happy. Not only are we going to get the usual issues with people confusing us but when she starts answering phones she's going to give people wrong information and screw stuff up and such and then the defendants will want to fight ME about it. I'm not saying she's going to be retarded or anything but as a general rule your first year in traffic court is a learning year and most of the time you only have a vague idea about what's going on. There's so many if, and, or but's with the policies you can't expect anyone to learn it all right away. Usually it's not a problem. For instance, if Karina tells someone something that is incorrect and the asshole at the counter wants to fight me about it and he says "Karina said so!" I will calmly tell him that Karina is new and she is learning and there's alot to learn and then I will set his ass straight. If they say "Sarah said so!" and I try to convince them it wasn't me there's just going to think I'm crazy and they will continue to act like assholes. Or people will talk to her and then call back and ask for her and the other lazy clerks will send the call to me. Bah! My boss said I can go by "Number One" but that doesn't make me any happier. Radyne suggested Bad Sarah (like Bad Santa, hahahaha) but nobody else will use it. I like it. I think it's fitting. Everyone who has met the new Sarah says she's so sweet and blah blah blah. I'm evil and I like it that way. In fact her arrival makes me feel more and more evil by the minute!

In other news, Gidget is suppossedly doing fine. According to the vet it's normal for her to bleed at this point even though I think it's crazy. But this is the vet that took the time to save her life when she was a puppy when all other vets suggested Andrew have her put to sleep instead so I have to trust him on it. It's just hard. This is my stinky, annoying, food dribbling baby we're talking about here. She goes back in two weeks for another check up though so that makes me feel a little bit better. I guess Andrew sold a puppy today. Yippee. I'm so tired of those stinky bastards. I can't even go in the garage to do the laundry anymore because I literally gag and we clean out their cage every day! It's insane.

Finally!

2007-11-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

I finally got my pictures from Canada! Woohoo!!!! Turns out their not as good as I remember but whatever. Somethings are hard to capture with a photograph there because it's soaking wet everywhere you go. At least I have them though. Andrew and I will only get engaged to each other once, I gotta have the pictures from it!

Speaking of Andrew, he's enjoying his couch potato life right now. Occasionally he'll get a pain in his knee when he moves it the wrong way but all and all he's feeling ok. Tomorrow he's going to start bearing weight on it so we'll see how that goes. The doctor anticipates that he'll be great in a few days but he doesn't know how accident prone Andrew is so I have to make him rest a little more than a normal person would for precaution. I've enjoyed the movie fest we've had the last 2 days too. I don't remember the last time we got to sit around with each other for 2 whole days without something we had to get done. Unfortunately for me I will go back to work tomorrow. BUT I have Monday off, then the next week I have Thurs and Fri off for Thanksgiving and then the following Monday as well! Yippee! Andrew's getting off the couch tonight for a good ol' American Redneck meal at Denny's. All you can eat soup and salad and it's broccoli cheese night. Oh yeah, we're so there. We have to start going to a new denny's though because the ex wife's ex best friend works there now and while she's sweet as pie to us you just never know when they'll rekindle their friendship. Most crazy, manipulative, backstabbing people don't keep friends long and they often move from one best friend to another and never look back (it's a bonafide sign of craziness) so we may be ok but who wants to take chances?

Gidget and the babies go to the doctor tomorrow for their shots and a check up! I'm worried about Gidget though. She's started bleeding again after she stopped a few weeks ago and I can't imagine that it's normal to still be bleeding 6.5 weeks after giving birth. The doctor said last time that she may have to have a hystorectomy so I guess we'll find out tomorrow. My poor stinky baby :(

Today's the big day!

2007-11-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Andrew is getting his knee fixed up in about 45 mins! Woohoo! He's a little scared but I know he'll be fine. It's called arthoscopy - basically they stick a camera into one whole and the surgery tools in another hole and fix his artho stuff up. In other words, they're cutting out some flappy meniscus that's in there rubbing up against his cartalidge and causing pain and swelling. I've got today and tomorrow off to make sure he's alright before I go back to the hell hole.

Yesterday was a big day in the hell hole. While one person was checking in with security another person grabbed his wallet out of the little x-ray bins and ran out the door with it! Sounds like he's an idiot right? Oh you have no idea. First of all, he had just checked in with security about his court date so they knew his name. Second of all he was standing at the security station where he could literally see himself being videotaped on the security cameras. Thirdly, he skipped out on his court date which means he not only has a warrant for not appearing but now he has an arrest warrant. And lastly, they chased him outside where he jumped in his car and took off so they know what car he drives. HELLO LOSER.

Then the asshole of all assholes comes in demanding to know why his fine was so high. I tried to tell him, he refused to listen. Then I told him that he could have had it reduced had he appeared at his court date. He insisted he never made a court date. At one point he cut me off and told me "I'M THE ONE TALKING HERE!" Not for long buddy.... Then he insisted on talking to my supervisor and he gave her the same shit. Security was already standing beside him after the way he treated me and he continued to treat my supervisor in the same manner. He spoke to us like he was an authoritarian figure and we must listen and obey him. Finally security had had enough of him and ordered him to leave the building. He refused to leave. Security said that he was going to be arrested for trespassing and he said he'd like that. Hehehe.... the sheriff's love people like him! So 3 of them came down and out the door Mr. Demanding went. Then the asshole spent a half an hour arguing with the sheriff's! I would have totally cuffed his ass if I were them but they try not to have to write reports for assholes like that. Personally I would have cuffed his ass and given him a ride to the sheriff's department, booked him for a couple hours, and then let him find his own way back to his car. That would have taught him. It's pretty bad when security tells you to leave. I think I've only seen like MAYBE 5 people get asked to leave in the 3 years I've been there! Fucker.

*update*

Andrew is home and feeling fine. The surgery was very quick and easy and he's not having any pain right now. We'll see how he feels after the super strong drugs wear off and he's left with just his prescription.....

Hmphf

2007-11-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

So apparently there was only 3 of us that had bad luck with the trick or treaters.

Anywho! I put an ad in the paper today for my puppies. Damn thing cost me $40 and I said like 15 words. Hopefully it works.

Today was also my coworker Davina's last day with us :(. I'm gonna miss her! We had a nacho bar that I orchestrated and it turned out wonderfully except for the fact that the fiscal dept decided that just because we share a building with them we must share our food with them too and they helped themselves to not only the nacho's but the dessert. WTF? I hate them anyway but where are their manners? I mean really, who does that? Plus they barely moved into our building a couple months ago and they are down a hall and through a door (not even the same building as me thank god as I sit next to the court room). They don't even know Davina that well! Some people are just so rude.

Speaking of work, it's killing me physically this time. I'm probably the only person in history to get work related injuries at a freaking office job. You see they remodeled back in April and revamped our customer service counter where I work. Sounds great and all but the counter is seriously like 4 ft from my desk. 4 ft doesn't sound like alot until you're trying to reach over everything a million times a day to get various paperwork or money from people and to hand them their receipts. After awhile your neck, shoulders, and back start to protest. I've been doing it for 6 months in the new building and I can't hardly walk when I get off work! It's horrible! First tendenitis and now this! I guess it's just a sign that I'm getting old and haggard. I mean really, who gets hurt at an office job? No worries, I still go every day and I have no intention of claiming workers comp. That's not how I roll. I'd just assume get off the counter and go back to phones before I start pulling that shit. It's my choice to be at the counter and nobody else seems to have any issues so it's obviously my body that's jacked up although my boss things our counter is the most ergonomically INCORRECT set up ever built.

So... on that note I think I'll hit the sack.

Where have all the trick or treaters gone?

2007-11-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

I was horribly disappointed in last nights trick or treaters. I was giving out as much candy as my fist could hold to the kids and I still had left over candy! Everyone I know said the same thing. The trick or treaters have vanished. I even got reports from two different cities and the reports were all the same! Where have all the children gone? Do they not crave candy like little meth addicts anymore? When I was a kid you had to wait your turn at the door of any house you went to because there was a million kids in front of you! I don't blame the parents though. The world is a crazy place and you really got watch yourself and your kids anymore. I just can't believe we didn't even get the kids that live on my street!

I had lunch with my girls at work today at Ludy's. It was much fun. Too bad the occassion is that one of my favorite girls is leaving us to go to Sacramento courts :(. We didn't have power when we arrived at work today which was horribly entertaining. My coworker talked my ear off about the new movie American Gangster. I hadn't even heard of the damn thing but now she's got me alllll interested. So if I have any extra money this month you'll know where I'll be spending it.

Oh, big news! Andrew is having surgery on his knee Tuesday. We found out yesterday at his follow up to his MRI. I guess his meniscus is torn and it's ruining his cartalidge or something. Anyway, it's very bad. So bad that they scheduled him for surgery less than week later! The good news is that it's microscopic surgery and he'll be up and running in no time (2-4 weeks). The bad news is that he works for an ASSHOLE of a company and he's going to get paid for his time off. NOT GOOD. Hopefully we'll sell some puppies or something to make up for it. He'll get disability but you don't get it for the first week here in Sunny California and it's only a fraction of your regular wages. So that's going to hit us hard with Christmas coming up and all. But hey, that's our luck. At least he's getting all fixed up and he'll be able to somewhat walk again! He's going to have them check out the other knee after this is all done and see if there's anything the stupid navy missed.

10 more days until I get my whole house back!!!! I'm so excited. I made a scrapbook for a friend this last week and I remember why I never scrapbook when I don't have an office. It's way too cluttered and I can't find half the things I know I have. Plus it will free up tons of space and I'll be able to spread my shit out again making my house look like a real house and less like a rummage sale. Now if I can just get rid of the dog smell...... Luckily for me Gidget doesn't want to be around the puppies anymore because they try to rip her boobies off so it will start being easier to keep her clean. We're going to start seperating our puppy now too since she's 6 weeks old this weekend and we've begun house training her. That will keep her from stinking too. She's so freaking cute. I can't believe something that small is going to grow up to be as big as Gidget!

Toter Clarification

2007-10-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

First off, a toter is what us Woodlanders call our big garbage can. The one that you put all your garbage in and then put on the street for the garbage man to pick up and dump. We have two on our street - garbage and recyclable. Today was garbage day. I give you my case in pictures.

Notice the distance that my neighbors have to go to put their toters behind our car. Notie the loads of empty curb space surrounding their home where they COULD have put their toters. Notice how they are sqaurely placed behind my car, not in the parking spot next to it. That's their garage in the picture by the way.

Also, here's my neighbors giving you an example of what we got a ticket for.

Notice how they park perpendicular to the curb and not parallel as my blue car is. Parking like that is illegal my friend. If you weren't hispanic the other neighbors wcould call the cops on you. They'd probably bitch about your damn dog too. BTW, I'm about to put a bullet in your dogs head because it's even starting to annoy ME and I have 8 puppies. Yeah, it's that bad.

I rest my case (at least for now).

Won't you be my neighbor?

2007-10-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've spent alot of time on here bitching about various things but I don't think I've quite covered how much I hate my neighbors yet! First of all let me give you some background. Somehow we stumbled upon a house in a regular neighborhood on a regular street where we seem to be the only white people. Wait, let me rephrase that - we're the only rednecks. We are not model citizens. We have too many cars, too much junk, and too many dogs but we are respectful of our neighbors. Unfortunately, it doesn't go both ways. Oh, and just for reference we live on a couldesac that does not have houses at the end, it just has about 6 parking spaces and we live in the 2nd to last house. Since the pictures suck, let me recap. The arrows pointing around the boat points to our junk and the unregistered boat that we worked on for someone who has yet to pick the damned thing up (a point of contention in our home). The arrows pointing to the tree just says I hate that ugly tree and we're going to rip it out.

Let's start with the who dunnit incidents. First, we had a dumpy old boat that we had parked in our driveway that ran like a champ but we couldn't find the guy who owned it 3 owners ago so we couldn't register it. We moved it to the extra parking area at the end of the street (which is still essentially right outside my front door) so that it wouldn't make our house look dumpy and we had plans on taking it to the junk yard that weekend. The next day I went off to work and came home to find the boat had been marked for towing! Now this didn't really surpise me as the parking nazi loves stuff like that. What did surprise me was that she was cruising my street. A little peculiar but whatever. The boat gets hauled off, problem solved. Next: we decided that with our many cars and with Arlene's car being added to the mix that we should start parking perpendicular to the curb instead of parallel to it. As we're at the end of the couldesac the street is much, much wider than it is anywhere else and this prevents us from taking up spaces in front of our neighbors house (which we never, ever do) or from taking up most of the extra parking area. Low and behold, I come home and there's a parking ticket on my windsheild for parking the wrong way. Next week there's a parking ticket on my car because it doesn't have a front plate (which we removed to put the bra on the car). Ok, now it's obvious that someone is calling the cops on us 'cause there was a beat up peice of shit with broken windows in the extra parking for MONTHS that didn't get touched before we put our boat there (it ended up getting towed instead of our boat! Haha suckers!).

Now on to the East side neighbors. The first incident occured when they came over and said that Gidget barked all day long and the guy couldn't get any sleep 'cause he works nights. I believed him and I quickly started leaving her in her kennel in the house which she hated with a passion. Then I become accutely aware of the West side neighbor's dog who barks 24/7 in a very repitious, bored manner (he's going at it right now as Gidget lays silently at my feet). I started putting Gidget out back again and we've never heard anything since. Shocking. On top of that I started seeing the guy out and about during the day when he was suppossed to be sleeping. But whatever, right? The East side neighbors have 2 adult kids living with them although I'd swear there were about 50 the way that they have cars parked up and down the street and a million people in and out. I thought they were just friendly people until I walked out back the other day and was assaulted by the VERY strong smell of marijuana burning! Now I'm not against weed. I don't smoke it but I don't have a problem with other people doing it and in fact I used to live with a major pot head and I've taken part in a sell or two. But I would never have the audacity to tell my neighbors off about their dog barking when I'm running a drug house! HELLO! But druggies never think about shit like that. He's probably so dumb his kid is growing pot in his closet and he doesn't even know. Sure explains why every single one of them drives a new car though! Oh, and about the kid(s). Since they've taken up all their parking spots and they refuse to park in the extra parking they've taken to parking in the little space between our driveways in front of our boat. I wouldn't mind this so much since the boat (which isn't even ours!!!) doesn't move as it's not registered but a problem occurs every garbage day. We put our toters out in front of the boat for pick up (which is in front of our property) and every day when we get home the toters have been moved directly in front of our driveway making it impossible to pull up and we must stop the car in the street, move the toters, and then park. Where I grew up if you noticed your neighbors toters were in the way or you wanted to park there you grabbed their toters and hauled them up to their house and placed them in their designated toter area which you were familiar with because neighbors looked out for each other.

Now on to the West side neighbors. Besides the fact that 25-30 people live there, they never mow their back yard (ever), they parked a basketball hoop in the extra parking area, they have blankets hung in the front windows (I HATE THAT!), and their dog barks 24/7 they were ok. But then it started. On toter day (a bad day for us). We always have a car parked in extra parking because we refuse to park in front of our neighbors houses out of respect. We drive both of our cars so they get parked in various parking spots along the extra parking. Every toter day the West Side neighbors take their toter out and place it directly behind our car, no matter which space it's in, making it impossible for us to get out forcing me to either move the toter or drive the other car (I always opt for the latter). Now keep in mind that sometimes this means that they have to put their toter almost on the other side of the street just to piss us off. WTF? This is the payback I get for buying candy from your damn kid's school fundraisers and fetching balls from my backyard for the kids before Gidget eats them? In the picture below you will notice how my car is right about in the middle of the extra parking, next to the basketball hoop. West side neighbors driveway starts over by those bushes on the right. Notice the distance they have to go to put their toter behind my car. Then they tell us that our dog is shitting too much in the front yard and it stinks. Ok, I give them that one. For some reason every time Gidget goes in the front yard she thinks she has to take a poop and I'd been telling Andrew for some time to clean it up because you could smell it when you drove up and it was NASTY. So we apologized profusely and dilengtly cleaned up every peice of poop we could find, even cat poop and small dog poop that somehow made it to our yard.

Then the Mother F'ers pulled this shit:

Ok, so my writing is really small but what I'm trying to get at is the fact that there's 2 cars parked directly behind me blocking me in. Not one car, TWO. Now I could have called the cops and had that car towed. It would have brought me great pleasure actually. But then the bastards would retaliate and god knows I can't afford anymore tickets! Especially with someone already eagle eyeing every move we make. So here I sit with assholes on both sides of us. I refuse to move again because I hate moving and because we've put alot of time and money into fixing up the inside. Ok, so the bathroom door is only half painting and the folding doors in the hallway aren't painted at all but that's 'cause we ran out of paint and haven't been able to find the same kind and color again.

Bastards.

Typical night

2007-10-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

So here's a typical day in my life. I wake up and my tooth is hurting for the 4th day in a row so I call the dentist who makes me an appointment for 10. I get to the dentist and they decide that there's something lodged under my gum on the side of my tooth (nachos no doubt) and they have to pick it out with sharp object. If I wasn't in pain before I went in I sure as hell was when I got out! I came home and ate lunch at 12:30 like I normally do but then my stomach took to BURNING as it has been lately. I serioulsy think I have an ulcer. It hurts soooo bad! I finally stumble through the day and then head home where I have to take care of Gidget who is an obnoxious asshole anymore. All she does is whine and bark and rub up against everything including me. I'm still generally ok so I decide to bake a cake and make stuffed bell peppers which I've never done before. Andrew calls and tells me he has good news and bad news - he has to go to San Fucking Jose tomorrow night and stay there all weekend because some bus company down there fired all their mechanics and him and 4 other guys have to go keep them up and running. Fan-fucking-tabulous! The ONLY day we get to see each other is Saturday and now he won't even be in town. So when this week is up we'll have officially only spent Tuesday night together which we spent in the hospital getting an MRI on his knee. The good news? SUPPOSEDLY he's making over time. That's not good news. A) his company lies to him all the time about shit like that and B) they'll take so much out in taxes his check will probably actually be less than it would have been if he didn't work overtime. Now someone is ringing the fucking door bell. A neighbor who wants to bitch about something, no doubt. Oh, and did I mention how on top of this all I have to take care of the puppies who roam free in their kennel now and piss and shit everywhere making it near impossible to get inside the cage to clean up or refill their water and food. Why don't I make Andrew do it you ask? Oh, because he's never freaking home. If he's not at his regular job than he's working a side job for some asshole who will undoubtably take 3 months to pay us. Oh, and to top it off Radyne and Jane are both going to be gone again tomorrow leaving me to do the counter alone again for the second time this week. I wish I could go to the beach this weekend to relax but no, no someone's got to take care of the dogs who can't make 2 bowls of food last more than 3 hours.

Engagement Pictures

2007-10-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm going to torture you with a few of our Engagement pictures taken by none other than Carina Rochelle (see my links 'cause I have no idea how to link things). They were taken in the tree preserve in Chico.

Furry Friends

2007-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to put an updated picture of the little ones up :). Nothing too exciting going on here. Andrew got an MRI on his knee today to see if he need surgery. Work has been CRAZY. That's about it.

Pictures and North Star

2007-10-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Andrew and I went to Chico to have Carina take our pictures in the Chico tree preserve. At first we were going to do Bidwell Park but we decided to go to the preserve first and I liked it better than Bidwell! It was sooo nice and she takes GREAT pictures! I'll be sure to post some when I get a copy. Then we stuffed our faces at Chili's which was sooo good. Yummy, I'm craving it again. This is like a record breaking year for the amount of time I've spent with Carina! I love it! I'm going to use the pictures she took of us as our engagement pictures and I'm going to use one of them when I make my invitations. No idea which one yet because I like them all but I'll eventually narrow one down.

Today I went to see my coworker in North Star. It was a play that was being held at Sac State and it was sooo good! It was about a little girl growing up during the Civil Rights movement and how her dad wanted her to participate in the sit ins and her mom didn't because she wanted to preserve her innocence. It was fun to watch my coworker James (who is also DJing my wedding) in a different setting outside of work. He's so fun at work and during his play he had to get serious. I'm sooo not ready to go back to work. Customers are bringing me down. Blah.

Finally Friday!

2007-10-19T22:30:00.001-07:00

So I told my man that he was being an ass and pissing me off so he started making an effort to kiss my ass by doing the laundry and washing the nasty blankets in the dog kennel and filling all of Gidget's bowls up to the max. He did a few other things of note but I can't remember what right now because I'm tired and slightly buzzed. The good thing about Andrew is that he loves me. I mean he really loves me and if he thinks I'm unhappy he'll do what he can to change it. He even offered to talk to his boss about his schedule because I hate him having to work Sunday's but there's nothing he can do about it. He's low man on the totem pole and we're just lucky he doesn't have to work the night shift. He's offered to give up his business before too because I complain about never seeing him but I can't let him do that. He loves his business and even though I know he'll never make a full time career out of it I have to let him give it his best other wise he'll resent me forever. Besides, I'd rather him get it out of his system now than when we have kids. Today I was just thinking about poor Andrew and how he has no life outside of what he does with me. Most of his friends are in Colusa and with his schedule it's just not easy to hang out with them as often as he'd like. I was thinking how sad it was that I got to run off with my friends for shopping trips or movies or whatever and he never goes anywhere. Then tonight when I was off getting drunk with my coworkers he called and left a message that he was going out with some of his coworkers. I'm trying to be happy for him but part of me is wishing he was home because we have to get up early tomorrow and because I'm not used to him going out without me. It's good for him though so I'll just do my best not to get pissed off tomorrow morning when I practically have to drag him out of bed. The good news about Andrew is that I never feel insecure about him being out without me because I know he wants to come home to me. I do worry about him making stupid decisions about driving drunk and spending a shit load of money though. Andrew and I are the same - if we have money we're more than happy to spend it on our friends buying rounds or buying dinner or whatever. It sounds nice but it's truly a bad habit.

Now if only I could get customers at work appreciate my feelings.... I'm sooo burnt out on assholes it's not even funny.

Sometimes I think about my ex boyfriend and wonder if he ever really loved me. I just thought of that because I looked at my necklaces hanging by my computer and I saw a heart necklace he had bought me right before we broke up. It was my birthday and he had called my mom to ask her what to buy me because he knew he had struck out big time with the freaking gift certificate he gave me for Christmas and he wanted to buy me something that would make me happy. It's times like that when I think he truly did love me but then there's other times when I felt like he just wasn't there emotionally. According to him he truly did love me and according to my friends he tells them to this day that he loved me and that breaking up with me was the hardest thing he ever did and blah blah blah. I guess it's a question I'll never know the answer too and I probably shouldn't care but it would be nice to know that I didn't waste more than a year of my life with someone who only stayed with me because he was too passive to dump me. Long ago I came to the point where I wouldn't trade Andrew in for Jimmy if my life depended on it but the question still haunts me and he still makes appearances in my dreams. I've always been like that with my ex's. The question of how they really felt about me always haunts me. I don't know if it's just my insecurities or that I've dated losers but when I think about them, any of them, the question always pops in my head. I guess I'm just crazy :). Thankfully I'll (hopefully) never have to feel that way again!

I'm grumpy!

2007-10-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't be because I just bought my wedding dress this weekend but I am! My boyfriend is driving me crazy, customers are driving me crazy, my future inlaws are driving me crazy. Bah!
First of all, I don't make up the amount of traffic fines. Nor do I make up the rules and procedures that we follow in the court. SO DON'T TAKE SHIT OUT ON ME. You're the one that got the ticket, asshole. You got yourself into it. We don't have to help you. In fact, we're not supposed to help you. So be happy that you get any guidance at all. If you have a problem with the fine amounts take it up with the state legislature whoever comes up with the fines. I don't know who it is, they don't work in little ol' Yolo County. Also, while we're at it - the money that I collect in no way goes into my pocket. I make less than most office workers who only have to deal with their computer all day and they never have to put up with assholes. I make less than the court accounting department that does nothing but send out bills and refer all questions or concerns to ME and my department. In fact, the money doesn't even go to our court. It goes to the state and a portion of it goes to the cop who gave you a ticket. Go bitch him out, he deserves it more than I. Sure you refused to yeild to an ambulance because you were talking on your cell phone to a very important client of yours. Yes I'm sure you're an upstanding citizen who always upholds the law and I totally understand why you think it's not that big of a deal. I mean it's not life or death right? Oh wait... It is. One guy bitched me out because I wouldn't take an emailed copy of his traffic school certificate and he insisted that I know why the court's policy doesn't allow it. This was after he talked nonstop shit about how I'm ripping him off and I probably get a great satisfaction stealing from him and blah blah blah. Hello, asshole - you're going to get a hard copy of your certificate. Is it really that fucking hard to put it in an envelope and mail it? I mean it can't be any harder than scanning the certificate and then attaching it to an email and trying to send it to our totally cryptic email address. I'm seriously so sick of people blaming me for shit I have no control over.

I'm also sick of Andrew expecting me to take care of everything for him. I swear to god it's a wonder he can wipe his own ass anymore. Then if I ask him to do something for himself he gets all bent out of shape and pissy. Like last night, for example. He insisted that the dog stay in the house even though I told him to put her out. In the first 1 1/2 hours that I was attempting to sleep she woke me like 3 times. First she wanted out. Then she wanted food. Then she decided to dig through the trash. I woke Andrew up and asked him to take her out to the garage where she sleeps with her babies and he threw a freaking fit and got all bent out of shape. Ok, first of all it's his dog. Second of all, he's the one that insisted she stay in the house. Third of all, he's always telling me to wake him up to take care of her when I bitch that I didn't get any sleep thanks to the dog. Lastly, he didn't have to work today but I did. It just pisses me off even thinking about it! Then today he wonders why I'm not all freaking loving. He swears to god that just because he works 2 jobs that he's off the hook for everything else. I'm so freaking sick of it. I mean I don't expect him to clean house or cook or run errands or anything. I just expect a little cooperation and some help once in awhile. He wants kids like crazy but he's high if he thinks I'm going to have kids and then be the only one that takes care of them while taking care of everything else and working. I don't think he realizes what exactly is involved in taking care of everything at home. Especially when he does nothing to make it easier on me like putting his clothes in the laundry basket or rinsing his dishes. He's such a freaking pig and then he has the audicity to bitch about other people! I'm just so freaking tired of everyone expecting so much from me and expecting me to make their lives easier for them. What about me? When do I get to relax? When is someone going to make life easy for me? I've asked around and everyone says it's the same thing with their men. Everyone has their issues I guess. I don't think it would bother me as much if the whole freaking world didn't treat me the same way. I'm tired of bending over my backwards to help people and being taken for granted. Nobody would do that shit for me.

On the subject of my inlaws - my future mother in law is insistent that I have religion in my wedding. I don't do religion. Not because I'm ignorant and I don't know anything about it - because I spent many, many years involved in the church and I made an educated choice NOT to buy into it. She's flying out a freaking preacher from Georgia who is a family friend and she keeps trying to talk me into having him be a part of the ceremony. A) I'm being married by a judge B) I HATE religious ceremonies and unless you're a bible thumper you probably do too. Nobody likes listening to a sermon while they're hot, uncomfortable, and sitting way too close to the bride's great aunt Mary who has a beard longer than the bride's father. Then she asked me if I'm going to do that bread breaking thing. WTF? NO. Now she's insisting that the dude pray before dinner. I think I'm going to let him but I'm going to pick the bible verse and I'm giving him a time limit. On one hand I think it's my wedding and since neither Andrew or I do religion we shouldn't have it at our wedding. On the other hand I know a marriage is a blending of families and I'm going to spend the rest of life compromising with her so I might as well start now. I'm also annoyed because she claims she's paying for this fellow to come out from Georgia and it's costing her $500. That's awfully nice of her but I'd much rather her pitch in that money towards the ceremony that at this point my parents are hosting alone. I mean I know they're tight on money and my parents aren't anymore but it's just the idea. To me it's not worth the money to have the dude fly out for a small garden wedding when Andrew hasn't seen him in 10+ years. But whatever, it's out of my hands.

I guess I'll quit ranting now. Mostly because it's F'ing freezing in here and I want to cuddle into my bed.

2 shotguns and camo gear

2007-10-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

So we get home last night and our damned front door was open AGAIN because it hasn't been latching. Andrew got pissed and decided that he was going to fix it right then and there and he took off to Osh to get some supplies and then he was headed off to his shop to fabricate a new latch thingy. I got tired of waiting for him so I put Gidget in her kennel with her babies and I went to bed. About 11:30 I was awakened to the sound of a helicopter flying about 3 feet away from my roof. Andrew had came in the bedroom about that time to tell me that he had just finished the door and he heard the chopper too. I made a comment to him that it must be life flight and they must be landing nearby. Andrew took a peek outside and commented that the chopper was circling the area with it's flood light on. Uh-Oh. Life flight doesn't do that shit. I immediately became scared to death and Andrew grabbed his gun and went outside to get Gidget and let her back in the house. We huddled in the living room with our police scanner which is a piece of shit trying to figure out what the F was going on. We only live about 1/2 - 3/4 mile from the county jail and we thought for sure someone had broken out and they were looking for him. Now I wasn't scared because I thought a hardened criminal was on the loose, Yolo County only houses druggies and the occasional wife beater or drunkard. We only get like one murder a year maybe. What I was scared about is the possibility of seeing or hearing some guy running through my backyard or hiding on the side of my house or anything else that's equally as scary. I kind of thought that if dude was smart enough to get out of jail he would be smart enough NOT to run down the highly lit and highly used Gibson road that runs behind my house but you just never know. After about a 1/2 hour the chopper stopped and we never did hear anything on the POS scanner so we hit the sack. Today my grandma informs me that some dude managed to get into the mall and hide out while they closed down and sometime around 11 pm he was picked up on survelience cruising the mall in camoflauge while packing two rifles. Problem is that only one freaking house and a wall seperates me from said mall. I can literally hear the a/c on the mall running from my front yard. SCARY. Of course nothing came of it 'cause, well, this is Woodland and we just don't have a ton of serious crime but STILL. It's just scary to think about the crazy people in this world and it's scary knowing that we are never safe, no matter how many locks or cameras or security measures we take. The idea of bringing kids into this mess scares the crap out of me.

Freaking Fabulous

2007-10-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

I fucking LOVE Brooks and Dunn. I also fucking LOVE Alan Jackson. And by love I mean LOVE!!!!! I went to their concert last night (they were playing together in Concord) and I don't think I have ever enjoyed a concert as much as I enjoyed that one. Toby Keith is a close runner up but you really can't beat Brooks and Dunn AND Alan Jackson. The night started out questionable because it was raining and of course the concord pavilion is outside. It cleared up in time for the concert though and it actually turned into a beautiful night. I'd seen Brooks and Dunn in concert before and I knew they rocked so I wasn't surprised when they had me covered in goosebumps with tears in my eye (that happens to me when I'm really into music. I'm a freak, I know). When their concert was over I didn't have any voice left from singing and screaming and I couldn't believe I was still going to hear Alan Jackson! Alan had me screaming and dancing and crying ("remember when" is emotional when you're trying to plan a wedding). I have to say it was one of the best nights of my life. Hands down. Oh and Brooks and Dunn had 4 marines come on the stage when they were singing "Only in America" and they had flags waving on the background. Shit like that always covers me in goosebumps and blurs my eyes. Even now as I remember it I'm getting covered in goosebumps! Just as a side note - I'm against Bush and against the decisions our government sometimes makes and our foreign affairs policies but I am ALL ABOUT THE SOLDIERS. I even teared up on fleet week when the ships came in and all those boys were lining the sides of the boat in their white uniforms. I took some amazing pictures with my mother in law's camera but unfortunately I forgot to download them before she took off with camera in tow so those will have to be a later post :).

If you EVER get the chance to see either Brooks and Dunn or Alan Jackson I strongly recommend it!!!!!

My new baby

2007-10-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

So blogger is being an asshole and not letting me post pictures but my new baby is a Bissell steamcleaner for the carpets!!!
(Insert picture of Andrew shampooing the carpet here)
I got it yesterday with my credit card which I'm cancelling on the 15th. Might as well go out with a bang, right? I know this doesn't seem incredibly thrilling to most people but that's because y'all don't have my carpet issues. Namely, my carpets are disgusting. Now that I'm puppy free it's time to get my carpets back in shape! I'm down to just Gidget who is a relatively clean dog. Sure she drools alot and she tracks in dirt by the back door but she doesn't potty in the house (unless I lock her in the house after giving her canned food that I didn't know would give her the shits). Anyway, Andrew and I are pretty excited. Andrew spent an hour or so last night working on our closet. He looked so cute I realized why I keep him around :). I sure love to see a man with a steam cleaner going to town on my carpets!

So me and my best house hold pal, Magic Eraser, have had one hell of a day today. We cleaned my bathroom which included getting on our hands and knees to do the floor. Then we tackled the nasty ass kitchen floor by hand. It still looks as ugly as sin to the naked eye but I can see the difference. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself right now "wow, Sarah has a 3 day weekend and she's spending it house cleaning? What a loser!" YES. I am a loser. A broke loser who's fiance, friends, and mother are all at work today. So what else is a girl to do? Clean house of course. Especially since my new baby put me in the mood for some heavy duty cleaning! I even cleaned out our closet and threw some old, stained, nasty clothes away. Shhh.... don't tell Andrew. He'd kill me if he knew I tossed some of his old nasty clothes. God knows they could be shop rags or some shit.

So normally I'm an excellent typist but I've begun to notice that blogger screws my words up all the time. WTF? I can type anywhere else like a pro ('cause I am a pro) but on blogger I end up with missing letters and it's like I have to bang on the keyboard to get it to work! I know it's blogger 'cause I've been doing alot of typing on Word on my computer alot lately and it works like a champ. What the F is going on?

Overwhelmed

2007-10-07T11:09:00.001-07:00

That's how I've been feeling lately. Don't ask me why, there's nothing going on now that hasn't always been going on. I think it's just wearing on me. I often wonder to myself how I'm ever going to handle having kids at this rate. Everyday is the same. I get off work, come home and do whatever chores need to be done (grocery shopping, laundry, unloading the dishwasher, etc). Then I have to cook dinner and I usually have to clean up after dinner as I'm usually home alone. This is on top of taking care of the dog and the puppies. Just the other day I walked in the house to find that Gidget had diarrhea all over the living room. Great! Just fucking dandy! I actually did call Andrew and work that day and told him to get his buns home because I wasn't handling that shit alone (it was making me gag). By the time I'm done with all of that it doesn't leave much time for unwinding. I think I realize why people with kids are so high strung all the time now :). I've been getting really resentful to Andrew lately too because he doesn't have to do shit around the house. He work until like 7 every night and then often runs off to a side job. I know he's working his ass off and without it we wouldn't survive but it gets really, really old after awhile. Plus he can't ever just simply do something - everything is a big freaking project to him. If I ask him to do the dishes he'll decide that he has this special doo-hicky in the garage that would make doing the dishes easier so he'll go out there and look around for 1/2 an hour for the damned thing. Then it'll take him another 1/2 an hour to get it set up. Then it won't work so he'll have to fix it. By the time everything is done it'll have turned into a 3 hour project! It's insane!

Plus I think alot of it is the wedding planning. It doesn't seem like I should be busting my ass this far in advance but everyone wants deposits and a 5 month notice. So that leaves me deadline at Decemeber. Hopefully everything gets fun after that point :). It wouldn't be so bad if I was doing it all myself but everyone has an idea for me or knows someone that I should use. Especially my mother in law. I love my mother in law, I truly do. But she wants to use all these Colusa people and my wedding is in Esparto. On top of that her catering dude hasn't returned any of her calls which tells me that he's not interested in our business and I haven't heard from her cake lady either. All that kind of scares me because most people in the wedding business call you every day to check up on your plans 'cause they want your money. My mom is the total opposite, she has no ideas, no preferences and she thought I was going dress shopping with my cousin. Duh, mom! That's a total mother-daughter time. Her and my dad are footing the bill though so I can't complain too much. Just the other day I commented to my friend about how when women get married they get a lifetime of more laundry, more dishes, and a garage full of shit and what do we get back? Love? Companionship? More money in the bank? Men get home cooked meals (ok my man does cook sometimes), a clean house, clean laundry neatly hung in the closet for them, and a personal accountant. Hardly seems fair :). But yet we continue to do it because oddly enough it still beats being alone and at the end of the long, hard day you still love him. Even if he punched you in the mouth last night while attempting to cuddle you in his sleep.

On a brighter note we got the stink pots moved out of my closet and into the garage and it costs us a lot less than I thought it would to build a pen. Only problem ('cause you know there had to be one)? Gidget barks her ass off whenever you put her in with the puppies because she's a spoiled bitch now and she thinks her place is in the house. I'm starting to rethink the idea of keeping a puppy. Dogs are pissing me off right now. Actually, everything is pissing me off right now. Good thing Monday's a holiday!!!!

Apple cider, caramel apples, apple butter....

2007-09-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Just a few of things I put in my tummy today....
Oh, and some kettle corn and a tri tip sandwich. So yummy! It was such a perfect day at Apple Hill! The weather was unbeatable. It was actually kind of chilly at home but it was perfect once we got up there. Even a little warm at times. The taste of Harvest thing we were looking forward to was lame. There was one itty bitty table with some cheese and some apples. Big whoop. Needless to say we didn't spend too much time at that particular stop. I wanted to buy some pumpkins but I know that they will be icky by the time Halloween comes around. Plus I don't know what kind of pumpkins you use for cooking and Andrew wants me to try to make a homemade pumpkin pie. Actually, I say Andrew wants me too but really I'm curious to see if I can do it :). He just encourages me because he loves pumpkin. We were so freaking excited when we saw the pumpkin ice cream out in stores. We bought 2 containers and then I went back for 2 more a week later. Now I'm going to have to be crazy about apples because we bought a 20 lb box at Apple Hill. I'm going to make a big apple crisp and give some to my coworker and some to my sister in law because they are both crazy about apples. Personally I'm not a huge fan unless they are covered in caramel or baked in a pie. Maybe I'll attempt an apple pie this year too.... I'm actually a little disappointed because I was looking forward to some caramel toffee apple pie that I saw advertised on the apple hill website but I couldn't find any! Bastards.

On a totally different note Gidget stinks really bad and I swear the smell of the puppy piss is penetrating the clothes that we still have in the closet. They must be moved. As much as I love them I can't go into public smelling like puppy pee. Plus I'm suppossedly hosting a bunko party at my house on Oct 19 and I can't have people coming over when the house smells like this. It just ain't right. Once they get moved I'm going to shampoo the whole house again. Frankie isn't around anymore so I'm free to do some hard core carpet cleaning once the puppies get booted.

Andrew's BBQ'ing tri tip for dinner tonight. Guess he didn't get enough in the tri tip sandwich we ate earlier. Mmm.... tri tip. I never buy it 'cause I insist on trying to buy healthy foods. Ok, Gidget really stinks. I can't be on the computer anymore because I can't breathe....

Banana cake anyone?

2007-09-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

We had a pot luck at work today that was supposed to be Mexican themed. I never follow the rules of course so I decided to make this banana - sour cream cake that I saw in the Raley's magazine. I had made it once before and Andrew gobbled it up so I gave it a shot again and everyone loved it! One of my coworkers even proposed to me (jokingly) because he thinks I'm such a good cook! I was really surprised and happy. I mean, I don't think I'm a horrible cook or anything but I'm nothing special either. I have a few tricks up my sleeve and apparently this is one of my new ones! I just love when you make something that everyone likes :).

Tomorrow I'm off to Apple Hill!!! Woohoo!!! Then Sunday I'm getting together with my mom, mother in law to be, aunt, and cousin (maid of honor) to look over the wedding site and decide what we're going to need and how we're going to set things up. Should be fun. I feel like I'm jumping the gun on my wedding planning but people want sooo much notice for their services! Once I get everything figured out and booked I'm hoping I'll be able to relax a little bit.

The puppies are growing like weeds! I'm about ready to give them the boot to the garage because they're reeking up my house something awful! At least they're blocked into my closet so it's a relatively small area to clean up. We've already shampooed in there once after they were born and it's horrible already. I didn't know the little bastards could piss so much. We've got a box set up for them in the garage but we need to put up some fencing around it so that they don't get out and get into anything harmful. In order to put up the fencing we need to get paid by one of our customers who is thiscloes to NOT being our customer anymore because he's been jerking us around lately. He was supposed to pay us $900 on the 25th. It's now the 28th and he refuses to answer our calls. Of course he still expects Andrew to do work for him while he refuses to pay us. Time to cut him off. Bastard.

Speaking of bastards, I'm still mad at Andrew's father! GRRR..... He STILL hasn't given my the pictures of my trip! His computer sucked all my photos off my camera a month ago when I was in Canada and I've been begging them to upload the photos onto a website for me. Do you think they've done it? Yeah right. 'Cause you know, it's so freaking hard to set the pictures to upload and then go to sleep. If I was in their position I would have done it right away. Maybe that's just because I know how important pictures are to people. Especially when they're pictures of the weekend YOU GOT ENGAGED AT NIAGARA FALLS. I could scream. Really. Needless to say they did not get an engagement announcement and they will not be receiving a wedding invitation (but that's mostly 'cause they drive me insane).

Day 3 with the babies

2007-09-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

Today we had to take Gidget and the puppies in for a check up and to get the due claws removed from the babies. They have to have them removed because they were bred to be hunting dogs and hunting dogs run a huge risk of getting the due claws caught on something and having them get in infected or having them ripped out all together. Not a pretty picture! Andrew and I both went 'cause one momma and 8 babies is alot to handle. Surprisingly everyone is doing well even though Gidget refuses to drink any water. The vet said as long as we feed her wet food and add water to it she should be ok.

This is a pretty exciting week for me! Other than having puppies I get to see my friend Rashell on Thursday when she comes to visit me. She's a craft designer so she's going to see about making me some wedding invitations :). Fun, fun! Plus I just like to see her once in awhile since we don't get to visit very often. Saturday is going to be the 3rd time I've seen Carina in the last couple of months!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!! I normally only see Carina like twice a year so this is a special treat. Even better, we're going to Apple Hill for a tasting event they are having up there. Oh how I do love food..... Probably how I got so fat but sometimes I think it's a fair trade.

Puppies!

2007-09-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

My dog Gidget just had 7 puppies today. 4 girls and 3 boys. They are so cute! I feel bad for my little Gidgie though 'cause she's hungry and sleepy and those little babies are all over her and they are making cute little puppy noises. I think those noises are going to become not so cute Sunday night when I try to go to sleep and I have to wake up early! Not to mention that they are in my bedroom closet.... But for now they are horribly cute :)

Death to me!

2007-09-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

I just had a customer with the WORST B.O. EVER!!!! I literally couldn't talk because I couldn't breathe. Luckily his ticket wasn't here yet and I got rid of him quick. Oh my god.... it's still lingering. I seriously might die.

Double Bah!

2007-09-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

How come everytime I try to scan through blogs to read people's drama I only come across crap? It's either in another language, porn, or an add. WTF? Is there something that I don't know? How do you find the real people? Grr.... Today I found a pick up for sale, All About Al Gore, and porn, porn, porn! Oh and the 800 million blogs in another language that I'll never understand!

BAH!

2007-09-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

I'm still sick. This is not good. Two people have told me I'm probably pregnant already. Can't a girl get sick without being preggers? Ok, so I was secretly thinking I might be too, that's why I took the test. In the meantime I'm miserable. Can't eat, sleep too much, feel hungry but dread food. This is no life. Andrew is on a side job again. I wish I knew how to put an angry face in here because I would. Not that I'm mad at Andrew, I'm angry at the lack of cuddling going on in my bed right now. Boy works too hard. But then again we do have a wedding to put on. My mom and dad said they're going to help out alot which will be nice because we are poor, poor, poor! I'm trying to wait up for him which is why I'm rambling on and on right now. Trying to stay awake. Can't drink soda, bad things happen when I put stuff in my tumtum.

In October I'm going to walk for Breast Cancer. Hey wait - It's a damned Sunday! That means the boy can't go with me! Damn his job! Anyway, y'all should come join us. It's for a good cause and all. Only draw back is that you have to get up early. On a Sunday. Booo!

Barfing and pregnancy tests

2007-09-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

So I've been nauseated the last week for no particular reason and today I lost my lunch shortly after eating it. I decided that I might be pregnant so I went to the local Walgreens to buy a pregnancy test. Low and behold my damned brother was in there! Blah! So I told him I was there to buy medicine 'cause I was ill (which was true) and left out the part about the pregnancy test. I'm not pregnant just in case you're wondering, just dying. Poor little Andrew was quite disappointed because he wants a baby BAD but we can't afford ourselves, let alone a screaming poop machine! I told him we could get on the baby bandwagon as soon as we get back from our honeymoon..... which I'm planning for like 4 months after our wedding...... which is next spring.