THE SINGLE LIFE.....

Local Harvest

2008-04-16T08:17:00.001-05:00

With Spring upon us, I know that many are looking forward to shopping their local farmer's markets. I thought I'd post this link again if you need help locating one near you! Enjoy!

Visit Local Harvest

Really cool charity site!

2008-02-05T09:29:00.000-05:00

Everyone should check out Free Rice. Every vocabulary word that you guess the correct definition for equals a donation of 20 grains of rice. It is an easy way to help people out, and you get to learn some new words in the process. Also, it's a fun way to waste some time and de-stress while you are working!

For all of us creative people...

2008-01-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

Check out Lulu. It is a self-publishing site where you can do books, brochures, all kinds of stuff. It looked interesting to me, so I thought I'd share, just in case any of you want to publish your blogs in book form. :)

Neat gift ideas

2007-12-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for a unique gift to give someone this year, and have some money to spend, check out this site. They have hot air balloon rides, wine tasting trips, all kinds of interesting things. Enjoy!

We miss you Burnsy

2007-11-27T16:43:00.000-05:00

When you’ve just had one of the hardest weeks of your life, and it just happened to contain Thanksgiving Day within it, how do you answer people who ask you how your Thanksgiving was?

One week ago today, the world suffered a terrible loss as Sean Burns passed away. Known to his friends as Burnsy (as much as he might have hated that name) he was a wonderful friend who will truly be missed by all who knew him.

It is so difficult to put into words how I am currently feeling. I feel so strange when people ask how my Thanksgiving was. If I am truthful, then it is likely I am going to start crying as I try to explain why it was an incredibly tough day this year. And that is not something that I care to do with just any random person that asks. But, at the same time I don’t feel right acting as though nothing unusual happened. It would be an insult to Burnsy's memory to pretend that all was well. To really think about it though, my Thanksgiving was a wonderful day, even if it was filled with sadness. I spent it with a large group of my friends, all brought together by love for a fallen friend. It was experience that I would never wish on someone, because I would never wish for someone to have to experience this pain. But, at the same time, it was an experience that I will forever treasure and cherish. It was a day filled with such sadness and tears, but at the same time a day filled with such wonderful memories and love. It was a day when a group of friends decided to forgo Thanksgiving with their own families, no matter how tough that was, so that they could be together to celebrate and remember their lost friend. It was a day that would never have happened had Sean not been a part of our lives. It was a day that I will always be thankful for.

At this point in our lives, we don't expect to lose friends to death. Thirty is too young to go. It made me realize just how often I've taken my friends for granted; how I've always expected that they will be there, no matter what. I consider myself to be very lucky to have the group of friends that I've got, and I am going to do my best to not neglect those relationships in the future. And I consider myself lucky to have known Burnsy, even it was wasn't for nearly long enough.

My thoughts are so jumbled right now, I'm not even sure if this post makes any sense. I'm sure with time my brain will start to function normally again, but for now, this is the best I can do.

We all love you and miss you buddy. It hurts so bad to have lost you so soon.

Halloween!

2007-10-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

Halloween is in full swing around here! I had my annual party this past Friday, and I feel it was a success. I think I ended up with about 15 or so people, maybe 18, and everyone seemed to have a great time. We had lots to eat and even more to drink, and played many a game of Twister. What else would you expect at one of my parties? I couldn't find my camera that night, but some of the guests were taking pictures, so hopefully they will share with me. If I get some good ones, I'll post a few on here. I was dressed as a fallen angel or evil fairy, depending on who you asked, and it was a very fun costume, other than the wings were about to kill me. I finally had to give in and take off the wings before they cut my arms off at the shoulders.

Saturday night I had another party to go to at a friend's house which was 70s themed. I struggled figuring out what to wear and finally just did a generic hippie. With my own party to plan and prepare for, I just didn't have the time to devote to doing something really cool. Not that my costume wasn't a good one, it just wasn't what I would have liked to have done. It was a much larger party, with probably 40+ people at it. Thank goodness mine didn't get that big--I don't know where I would have put everyone!

Now I am waiting on trick-or-treat to get here. :) Last year I had an insane number of kids come to my house, and I ran out of candy. I bought six giant bags from Sam's for this year though, so with any luck I won't have that problem this year. I think I am going to dress up as a witch to hand out candy. My neighbors may think I am nuts, but I don't care--I LOVE Halloween! What fun is that--three costumes in one year??? :)

I hope everyone else is having as much fun celebrating this year as I am!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Cool link that I had to share!

2007-10-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

This is a really cool site to listen to music, called Pandora Radio. You put in an artist name or song title and it searches out music that is similar to it and creates your own radio station. Check it out!

Local Harvest

2007-09-11T08:56:00.000-05:00

If any of you are interested in local farmer's markets and such, this is a neat site to be able to find one near you. Enjoy!

Visit Local Harvest

I think I have a name...

2007-08-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

I haven't decided for sure, but I am leaning towards Roxanne for the Box, with the nickname Boxy Roxy of course! :) And she will have a cool theme song as well. :)

Let me know what you think!

What a great weekend!

2007-08-13T09:33:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was one of those weekends that you live for during the summer. Saturday I spent the afternoon at the Howard County Fair with Steph and Jim, petting farm animals, riding rides (gotta love the ferris wheel!), and eating fair food. There's nothing quite like a funnel cake at the fair--yummy! That evening I was invited over to Steph and Lucinda's for a cookout. After the small issue of their grill running out of gas and the cookout being moved to my house, we had a wonderful dinner of fillet mignon with mashed potatoes and asparagus. MMM, MMM! That night ended then with Lucinda's boyfriend, Kevin, leading Lucinda, Jim and myself off into the middle of the woods to watch the Perseid meteor shower. Where he took us was not that far from my house, maybe 15 minutes or so, but it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. I had to park my box at a gate and then we hiked for a while into the woods to this clearing. Well, to call it a clearing is not quite right--it was more like the remains of an old demolished house. We were pretty certain that Kevin was taking us out to kill us. :) But, it was worth it--we had a great view of the night sky and got to see lots of meteors shooting across it. Jim pointed out all the different constellations, which made the night even cooler. The sky was perfectly clear, and even though Saturday was not the peak night for the meteor shower, we still saw 20 or so in about an hour.

We finally made it home a little after 2:30 am, and went to bed. Ah, but there is no rest for the wicked! After waking up at 6:30 am, wide awake and unable to fall back to sleep, I gave in and got out of bed about 8:00. I got ready, gathered up all of my gear and headed to Jim's house to pick him up and we went to Ocean City for the day. It was the PERFECT day to be at the beach! It was sunny, with only a random cloud now and again in the sky, temperature in the mid-eighties, and little humidity. We spent the day on our boogie boards catching some waves and it was so much fun! It turns out that I am a natural on a boogie board--that, or I just don't know enough to be afraid. I caught some killer waves that Jim was floored I was willing to attempt. After one really awesome one where I was able to catch the bounce and head all the way in, steering my way through the crowd in the water, I had people all around me shouting out, "Nice Ride!" It was so freaking cool!!! :) I turned around and saw Jim standing out in the water, having wiped out on the same wave. I swam back out to him and he managed to say through his jealousy, "You looked cool as shit up there!" (For you old people, yes, that is a compliment, lol) Yep, I was smiling ear to ear. By the way, I've decided to quit my job and become a beach babe. It seems to be my calling. :) I only wish....After much sunning, a ride on the ferris wheel (two in one weekend, woo-hoo!), and getting our fortunes told, we had to pack up and come home. It's always so hard to leave the beach. :( There was a multi-car pile-up on the way home that delayed us for a while, so we took a detour and parked out in a corn field for a bit, hoping to see some more meteors. Alas, it was overcast, so no luck. Jim saw one, but I didn't get to see any. We finally made it home a little before midnight and my weekend had to come to an end. But, it was fun while it lasted!

Oh, another note, my box is officially a very cool car. Her first road trip was to the beach--you can't get any cooler than that! :) Still looking for a name....anyone like Bonnie? Bonnie the Box, hmm... Jim thought of Boxilla, but there is a neon green box already known as Boxilla. Who is "married" to another neon green box known as the Bride of Boxilla. So, gotta come up with something else...

I finally did it!!!

2007-08-04T11:05:00.000-05:00

It only took me months and months of researching it, but I finally bought a new car! Last Friday I became the proud owner of a 2008 Scion xB. If I weren't such a slacker, I'd post a picture of her, but I can't seem to remember to take one, so you will just have to take my word for it that she's pretty. :) She is Hypnotic Teal Mica, which is kind of bluish-green. Eventually I will get pictures and post them, I promise.

Have any of you ever donated a car to charity? That is what I plan to do with Bessie. She has been a great little car to me, and I'd like for her to have a good end--even if that does mean that she gets recycled for money. At least the money will do for a good cause. So, I'm interested in hearing who you donated to, and what the experience was like, would you do it again, etc. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Update: For lack of a picture of mine, here is a picture I found online that will give you a good idea of what she looks like.

Where have all the balls gone?

2007-07-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

Are you men hiding them somewhere? Because my understanding was that men were supposed to have balls!

Do you know how many men have recently told them that I intimidate them? Seriously???? I am so sick and tired of hearing that. God forbid a woman in her thirties has her shit together! At this age shouldn't a guy be LOOKING for a girl who has a decent career and knows what she wants out of life? Instead they are terrified of me. And it is just disgusting.

So seriously men, grow some balls. Or at least try to bring yours out of hiding.

My 30th Birthday is complete!

2007-05-29T17:48:00.000-05:00

I made my way back to WV again this past weekend since I had three lovely days to spend there instead of my usual two. The traffic on the trip was horrendous, and reinforced my opinion that Maryland drivers get their licenses out of gumball machines. But anyways, that is another post.

Once I finally made it home, I had a big surprise waiting for me...my family had planned a surprise party for my 30th birthday. I stepped into the house and heard everyone scream "SURPRISE" and I was truly shocked! But I have to admit, all I could think was, "Man, I have seriously got to pee!" lol Give me a break--I had just driven 400 miles!!! :) The family had invited a bunch of people over including friends and old neighbors (who are also friends) and we had cake and ice cream and I got lots more presents. Not that the presents are the important part, but they are a pretty nice perk!

I then spent a wonderful weekend with family and friends, doing lots of cuddling with the kiddies. I got to see Tricia's baby who is now five months old and so cute! I delayed leaving on Monday by a couple of hours so that I could meet Tamara's new baby who is two months old and just gorgeous! And of course I hugged on my nieces and nephews as much as I could! Izzy about broke my heart though. He is getting to that age now where he understands that I when I leave, he won't see me for a long time, and he hates that thought. He gets so upset when he thinks about it, and begs me to not go. It is so difficult to leave him when he acts that way. So, I have a little while before he gets to the age of understanding why I have to go, but by then I will have Noah and Sophie getting to the age of crying when I leave. So, for at least the next, oh, three or four years, I will have my heart wrenched out every time I have to say goodbye. :( Luckily Maddie is already to the age where she understands why I have to go, and though she gets sad, she doesn't normally cry or throw a fit. Gotta count my blessings where I can find 'em! :)

That is about it for now, just a quick update. BTW, you guys suck--not one person commented on my Ents post! Are you not the geeks that I thought you were?!?!?!? And yes, not being a geek is a bad thing. :)

The Ents Attack!

2007-05-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

Forgot to mention one thing about my day at Wine in the Woods on Sunday...I was attacked by Ents! I learned a very important lesson: Never compare Maryland Ents to West Virginia Ents, because they will seek revenge. Guess they don't much like their hillbilly cousins. :)

Seriously though, the strangest thing kept happening to me on Sunday. It didn't matter where I decided to sit, the trees kept dropping leaves and such on me. Nobody else in our group was having the same trouble I was--an occasional leaf would hit someone else here or there, but nothing like they were getting me. Within minutes I had a little circle of leaves around me EVERY time I sat down. Once a big seed pod of some sort bonked me in the head, and that actually hurt a bit. But the worst was when something hit my arm and actually cut me--I was left bleeding!!! Granted, just a tiny little dot of blood, but still--the trees were attacking me and they weren't happy until they drew blood! I'm just lucky there were lots of witnesses, so they couldn't take me out! :)

What a wonderful day!

2007-05-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was one of the best days I have had since moving to MD. I went to Wine in the Woods with a few friends, and met a bunch of new people once I was there. The event is a big outdoor wine festival, held at one of the outdoor concert venues here in Baltimore. Twenty bucks bought you admission, a souvenir wine glass, and as many samples of wine as you could want/handle. If you found a wine that you really liked, you had the option of buying a bottle to drink while at the festival...and we found many a wine that we enjoyed and shared in. :) The weather was gorgeous, the wine was tasty, and the fellowship among friends was priceless.

I am left with one small query after yesterday though. I was invited to attend a themed cookout in a couple of weeks with some of the new people I met. Anyone know what I should wear to represent 80's wrestling? I am thinking ring girl attire.... :)

Maybe they don't suck so bad after all

2007-05-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

Today my coworkers came through for me. I was surprised with cake and card this morning and lots of singing all day today. So far I have had people sing "Happy Birthday" to me seven different times!!! It is starting to get a bit embarrassing. :) But I am loving every minute of it! The one in charge asked me if I thought they had forgot about me, to which I truthfully replied that yes, I thought they had. She then told me that she had planned on doing something yesterday, but that there weren't many people her (which is true) so she figured she would hold off until today so there would be more people to celebrate with me. I can't really be too upset by that, now can I?
Just a note, I got a couple of phones calls last night with people worried that my coworkers don't like me. I NEVER thought that. I just figured they were thoughtless idiots. But they proved me wrong today, so have to take that back as well. :) Oh, and I want to note, I don't think this was a "pity-party" either--as far as I know, none of them even know about this website, so they wouldn't know that I had said they all sucked.

I can now say that my thirtieth birthday has been a wonderful occasion, in every way so far. Now to wait and see what my family does for me over Memorial Day weekend..... :)

Being 30 isn't so bad after all

2007-05-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

So far, so good; I can't complain about being 30. I had a wonderful day on Saturday with my sister, Cindy, and her family visiting. My day started with me becoming an "official" MD resident, in that I finally switched my driver's license over. It was about time I got around to doing that. :) Then I went out car hunting with my family, taking out a Scion xB and Toyota Matrix for drives. I really liked the feel of the Scion, but unfortunately the 2006 model doesn't come with cruise control. They redesigned the 2008 (there wasn't a 2007 model made), and although I could get cruise on a new one, I hate the new styling. So, it looks like the xB is not going to be the car for me. I liked everything about the Matrix except for the driving position. With me being so tall, I have to have the seat back as far as it will go for my legs to be in a comfortable position. By doing this though, I had to have my arms completely straight, elbows locked, to reach the steering wheel. So, it isn't looking too positive either. Hopefully I will make it out one evening this week or next weekend to look at some more and have better luck. Next up, the Honda Fit.

Once we finished with the car hunting for the day, we took a trip to the zoo with the kids. It was so much fun!!! I spent the day reclaiming my childhood, eating snow cones and cotton candy, petting animals at the petting zoo, I even went for a ride on a carousel. It was a gorgeous day also, so it was perfect to be out and about. Once we got home, my brother in law went out and picked up a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and my family threw a little party for me out on my balcony. They gave me a ton of new stuff to go with my new patio set, so I will have the best balcony in the neighborhood! We went out to dinner after that at Five Guys, which of course was delicious, and then ended the evening with Chris and the kids in bed while Cindy and I killed a bottle of wine and a couple pieces of cheesecake. MMMM, MMMM! :)

Now the sucky part about my birthday. My coworkers have done nothing, not even a card. We normally have a birthday cake and card for everyone, but nada for me. I would have thought they completely forgot about it, except for a few have wished me a happy birthday or asked how my birthday went. So it just looks like they just don't care enough to actually celebrate mine, and that REALLY sucks to think about. Oh well, I will live. But they can forget about me joining in and putting up money to host parties for everyone else now. Petty, yes, but I don't care. They could have at least pretended to want to do something for me to keep from hurting my feelings.

Other than my coworkers sucking, my birthday was nice though. I even had a couple of surprise calls from people I wasn't expecting to hear from. And being 30 isn't so bad after all. In fact, I don't feel any different than I did this time last week. :)

The BIG 30!!!

2007-05-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I only have a little over a day left in my twenties. Yep, that's right...on Saturday I will be turning 30! And how am I spending the last days of my youthful twenties, you might ask? So far today I have worked my regular job, come home, finished four loads of laundry, deep cleaned the kitchen (including scrubbing the drip pans on the stove), and mowed the lawn. And now I am on my computer, typing away. Exciting day, eh? Big plans for tomorrow also--work, of course, and then finish straightening this place up, woo-hoo! Tomorrow evening will be nice though, because Cindy, Chris, Izzy and Sophie will be getting here (late) to spend the weekend with me. :) My house will be a little crazy for the next few days, but it will be so much fun, it won't matter.

Am I where I always thought I would be at this stage of my life? Not in a million years. Had you asked me ten, even five years ago if I thought I would be living in Baltimore by the time I was thirty, I would have laughed at you. But here I am closing in on being here two years. I had always imagined that I would be married with kids by this age, but I can honestly say that I am thankful that I am not. Had I married when I was younger, I almost certainly would have married a guy from WV, and never had the chance to live the life I have now. I really think that living alone in a big city has helped me grow as a person, and I am very thankful to have had that opportunity. It has forced me to become independent, whether I ever wanted to or not. :) Career wise, I am pretty much where I thought I would be. Well, there was a time when I thought I would be a pharmacist, but that changed during college. I guess I am meaning more the kind of success I have had with my career. I have a great job that pays me well, with great opportunities ahead for me, and that is more what I mean when I say that I am pretty much where I thought I would be. All in all, I am pretty happy with how my life has turned out in the first 30 years.

Here's to hoping that the next 30 are just as happy (or happier!) for me! :)

Too Funny!

2007-04-18T14:35:00.000-05:00

1. go to Google
2. click on “maps”
3. click on “get directions”
4. type “New York” in the first box (the “from” box)
5. type “London” in the second box (the “to” box) and hit enter
6. scroll down to step #23

That would be one heck of a trip! :)

Update: Here is a direct link!

Totally addictive

2007-04-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a completely addictive riddle/puzzle thingy, Tricky's Riddles, that makes for a great time waster. It has 102 levels to get your brain working. Here is where you can find some hints, helpful at times, other times they annoy you just as much as the puzzle itself. I started on Wednesday and have made it to level 50 so far, working for a few minutes here and there each day, usually when I need to take my mind off work for a few. Good luck and enjoy! If you need help, ask and I will give you hints to lead you in the right direction. :)

This about sums it up

2007-04-12T07:41:00.001-05:00

"I gotta work out. I keep saying it all the time. I keep saying I gotta start working out. It's been about two months since I've worked out. And I just don't have the time. Which uh..is odd. Because I have the time to go out to dinner. And uh..and watch tv. And get a bone density test. And uh.. try to figure out what my phone number spells in words."

Ellen Degeneres

And, if you are interested, find our what your phone number spells here. :) Much easier than working out!

This about sums it up

2007-04-12T07:41:00.000-05:00

Ellen Degeneres

And, if you are interested, find our what your phone number spells here. :) Much easier than working out!

Just when you think you've seen it all

2007-03-27T15:25:00.000-05:00

Pet Butler Yes, you are seeing that correctly. It is a pooper-scooper service. For just under $70 per month, they will come and clean up Baci's poop once a week for me. Yeah, I think I will spend that $70 on something else.... Of course, if you go here and join their mailing list, you will get a magnet and bumper sticker that says "Got Poop?" Too funny!

Uh-oh...

2007-03-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you."

Rita Mae Brown

A note to the men of this world

2007-03-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

If you are 60 years old, wearing a purple velvet sport coat, and shopping at Value City...

DO NOT HIT ON WOMEN HALF YOUR AGE!

Thank you.

I'm moving back to WV!!!!

2007-03-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

The freaks here are far too weird for me to understand! :)

Before I start, let me state for the record that I do not advocate fornication with animals. That being said...

Last night there was a story on the news about a farm here in MD that had someone break in three weeks ago, take a ewe away from her baby, cut off one of its hind legs, and decapitated it. When the lady who owns the farm went in the next morning, she found the baby bawling something fierce, and the body of the mother sheep was laying in the walkway, no head or hind leg to be found. Okay, so I know that isn't so weird yet....wait for it....

This past Tuesday, three weeks later, the people broke in again AND RETURNED THE HEAD!!!!! What kind of messed up state am I living in now???? When people in WV decide to do freaky things to animals, it usually means they are having sex with them. NOT STORING THEIR HEADS FOR THREE WEEKS TIME AND THEN RETURNING THEM TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME!!!!! I just can't figure out what the deal was with this. Who keeps a sheep's head lying about for three weeks, and then decides, you know, I should return this???? And I don't even want to think about the leg...when is it going to get returned???? Anyways, I have always thought that the freaks who have been caught screwing sheep over the years had issues, but that seems almost rational after hearing about this!

So, that is my rant for the day. I am not really going to be moving back to WV any time soon, but I am starting to worry about what kind of people live around me now... :)

Maybe I really can play poker...

2007-01-06T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today I played in my first online poker tournament. I figured it was a good way to pass the time while I was working on my laundry--yeah, I know, a wild and crazy Saturday afternoon. :) Anyways, 4920 people started the game on 492 tables. When I was finally taken out, I was on table #5 and finished in 45th place. 45th out of 4920! Considering this was my first poker tournament ever, I was pretty impressed with myself. So, I thought I would share it with you guys! :)

On a side note, I was looking at my last post, and figured I need to clear something up. That post has nothing to do with me or anything that has been going on in my personal life recently. It is about a close friend of mine who is in a really tough place at the moment. So, if you read it and thought it was about things that happened a few months ago, nope. Just thought you should know. :)

WHY, WHY, WHY?????

2007-01-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

Why do people keep going back to people who are horrible for them and to them????? I will never understand this! It is so damn frustrating watching friends continually hurt themselves in this manner. I won't put details on here because I promised my friend that I wouldn't, but I didn't promise to not vent in vague terms about what it going on! This person feels that they owe the other person something...but what, I will never understand. The funny thing is, my friend has never really been happy in this relationship, at least not that I know of. I am sure there has to have been some happy times, but those are not the times that the public sees, not the times that are shared and talked about with friends. Maybe that is why I can't understand why they want to go back to them, maybe I need to hear about some of the good times, just so I know that they really do exist. URGH!!! It is making my head hurt just thinking about it!!!

Anyways, enough ranting, it isn't going to make things any clearer for me. I pray that eventually my friend will see how unhealthy this relationship is for them and get out of it before they suffer any longer. And if my friend reads this and realizes that this is about them, please don't get upset with me--nobody knows who this is about but you and me. Hell, most of the people who read this don't even know you, so I could have mentioned you by name and they still wouldn't have known who I was talking about. I am just worried about you and needed to get this off my chest. Take care of yourself, and quit worrying so much about the other person, okay?

Still Alive

2006-12-16T14:08:00.000-05:00

...but super busy. Isn't that always the excuse? :) Let's see, since my last post I have made a trip to WV (five day this time!), worked like a maniac, had company in, and somehow found time to still enjoy the Christmas season.

The trip to WV for Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time with my family, got together with an ex (Chris, interesting, as always), and I threw a baby shower for Tricia and Joe, where I got to see some old friends as well. Speaking of the baby, with any luck she should be here some time this weekend. Yay! Which means when I head home for Christmas next weekend, I will get to meet her and I am so excited! I can't wait to cuddle a little newborn baby again. :)

At work right now I am working on an asbestos inspection that has me ready to pull my hair out. I am working 12-13 hour days every day, and I even worked five hours today. I think Monday is the last overtime work though, and I can't tell you how excited I am realizing normal days are in sight again. Don't get me wrong, I am going to love the paycheck when it gets here, but damn, I am tired! Only one more day....

Shawn came to visit last weekend, so you know I was happy about that. :) Unfortunately he was only here for one night. We still had a good time though! We went to dinner at Ciao Bella in Little Italy with Christina and Dave and had some fairly good food--my tortellini was delicious! Then the four of us went to some a hookah bar, I think called Zeeba? It was interesting; there was a stripper there pretending to be a belly dancer, which made for some really strange dancing. Okay, so maybe she is a stripper trying to change her image, but from her dancing, trust me, until recently, she was a stripper. Anyways, after that Christina and Dave felt the need to wonder around Baltimore looking for hookers and pimps--the night got pretty fuzzy at this point for me and I kind of fell asleep on Shawn for a good bit of the ride. Hey, it was like two in the morning and I had worked 60 hours that week! It was really cold out though, so they had no luck finding hookers and finally they brought Shawn and I back home to my nice, warm cozy bed. The next day we did a little shopping and had lunch at this awesome little deli nearby, and then he had to go. :( Next trip, you have to stay longer!!!!

With what little spare time I have had, I have been trying to get things ready for Christmas. I put up a few lights outside and did a little decorating inside, so now I just have to get some presents under my trees. Yep, that's right, I haven't done my shopping, much less gift wrapping. Going to be joining the maniacs out this week, fighting to find presents for everyone. So, if I end up completely losing my mind before Christmas, you guys will know that the last minute shopping pushed me over the edge. I am excited to be going home again next week though, but as always, I'm dreading the 400 mile drive. Yuck. But, it is always worth it when I finally get there and collect all my hugs and kisses from my nieces and nephews! God, do I ever miss those kids! Oh yeah, the rest of the family too...really. :)

As for my dating life, I am not even going to try to go into it on here. I know, that is what this blog is all about and everything, but if I tried to put everything in writing on here that has been happening over the last few months, you would be reading for the next week. Plus, I think I have some spying eyes who I really don't care to tell all my business to. So for now, I am going to have to say mum's the word. Sorry.

That is all I have time for right now. Hope everyone is well and doing better at getting ready for Christmas than I am!!!

An interesting quote

2006-11-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

"When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."

~Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Let the sun shine, ohhhhhhh, let the sun shine in...

2006-11-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

Cryptic posts, you've got to love them! I've had multiple people e-mail asking me what my last two posts are about, and my reply was that I wasn't ready to go into it. But, now I am!

Work has been stressing me out lately. Being in safety and health isn't easy people--nobody ever wants to listen to you, and they constantly want to prove you wrong, so you are always fighting to assure people that you really do know what you are talking about. Back in May I got assigned to a project with another of my coworkers, and without going into all the details (trust me, they would bore you), I will try to summarize what has been happening. We offered up our opinion of what was going on, but nobody wanted to believe us. Six months now we have been telling them what they need to do, but to no avail. There have been people doing everything in their power to disprove our theory, and in essence, discredit us. And it has sucked, to say the least.

Recently an outside company was brought in to give their opinion on the situation, and, unless I am mistaken, this is to be the final word on things--what they say, goes. AND THEY AGREED WITH US!!! Vindication baby! Yesterday reading their report, it felt like holding gold in my hands. We had a good feeling (aka: a glimmer of hope) that their report would agree with ours, but I couldn't help but doubt it right up until I saw it in black and white. With color photos. :) So, not stressing so much now--hopefully this will get things fixed quickly, and maybe, just maybe, people will give me a little more credit in the future!

On a more personal note, things have been going well--I'm happy with my life, so I can't really complain. I haven't seen my family in what seems like ages, and I am especially missing the kids like crazy. But, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, so I will get to have some time with them then. Hope all is well with all of you!!!

Forecast for the future...

2006-11-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

...a glimmer of hope overcast by a shadow of doubt, but with a good chance of clearing in the near future...

It may be happening again.....

2006-10-31T13:27:00.000-05:00

My first complaint

2006-10-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ah, I knew things were going too well...my neighbors have all been so nice, I haven't complained about noise, even Baci seems a bit more calm. Or so I thought.

Last night, after being gone for no more than FIFTEEN MINUTES, I returned to find a note stuck on my screen door. "Crystal; Your damn dog barks constantly when you leave and we can hear her throughout our entire house. Perhaps you should consider bringing her along when you leave." Unsigned. Cry me a freaking river, wussie!!!

Even though they were too wimpy to come and talk to me in person, or even to sign their name to their complaint, I know who it was since they said they can hear her throughout their entire house. I have two houses connected to me, one with a couple living in it (hence, we) and the other with a single woman. Whom I have never met. Meaning, there is no way she could know my name is Crystal. And it appears to be a man's handwriting. So, therefore it must have come from the couple on the one side of me.

First, let me say that if she really does bark constantly, I really do hate that it is bothering them. In her four years with me I have never had a complaint that she barks constantly while I am gone, not even in the apartment complex where I could hear every single thing that went on in the apartments around me. That is why I have to say if--likely she did, because I can't imagine they'd have made it up, but it does seem a bit odd. In two months time of living here, all they have had to say about Baci is how cute she is. Once, the lady of the house said that they occasionally heard her barking and I told her that I was very sorry for that, that I hoped it wasn't often enough to bother them. She assured me that it was never often enough to bother them and then went on again to talk about how adorable she thinks Baci is. That was about two weeks ago.

I find it hard to believe that in two weeks time Baci has done a 180 and started barking maniacally every time I leave the house, enough to out of the blue start bothering them. With that said, whether she has been bothering them for two weeks, two months, or most likely FIFTEEN MINUTES, why couldn't they have just said something to me? Why feel the need to place a note on the door damning my dog? Seriously, if this had been something that they had complained about multiple times, I could see the use of the word damn. But this is the first time they have ever complained about her!!! The first time ANYONE has ever complained about her. I hardly feel that such a harsh note was necessary--a polite comment over the fence would have sufficed in my opinion. You know, I am NOT THERE, so how would I know that she is barking incessantly without someone telling me? Funny enough, a couple of hours prior to the note, when I had been gone for an hour or so, I passed the lady out front as I was going into my house--the perfect occasion for her to say something if Baci had been barking like crazy for the last hour. All she said was a happy hello, how are you and continued on her way--not at all how I would expect a woman who has been listening to a barking dog for the last hour to behave.

Now on to the second part of the note, that I should consider bringing her along with me when I leave. Can we get serious, PLEASE? Can you imagine me bringing Baci to work with me? Or the grocery store, pharmacy, pretty much any store other than Petsmart? Even if she was a perfectly well behaved dog, those places don't allow pets! So I guess they are advocating that I leave her locked in the car while I go in shopping. Or how about for 8 1/2 hours while I am at work? Especially when it is 100+ degrees outside or below freezing--that will go over well. I guess on the positive side, I would only have to do it once! Either she would die and no longer be an issue or someone would call the cops, and rightly so, to have me arrested for animal cruelty! These people, though a bit odd, seem intelligent enough, so I can't believe that they suggested such an idiotic idea.

I am starting to think they must sit around stoned out of their freaking minds all day long. Every time I have been home during the day, weekdays and weekends, they play Bob Marley, nonstop, full-blast, all day long, every day. I can sing along when I want to. Have I complained? No, because I realize that we live in townhomes and you are going to occasionally hear things from the homes on either side of you. They turn it off at night, so I have learned to tolerate it during the day. But, other than getting stoned beyond belief, why would you listen to THAT MUCH Bob Marley? I love me some Marley, but eventually, you gotta turn it off. Maybe that is why the guy is so obsessed with his lawn--he has a huge cannabis garden in his house and he thinks if he keeps the outside of it looking all perfect, it won't draw attention to what is going on inside. This guy has a serious issue when it comes to his lawn. He is out there at least every other day, mowing, trimming, edging, and picking up what little he comes up with. Yes, sometimes it is EVERY DAY! Edging and trimming are things that I see myself doing every couple of mows, maybe once or twice a month. Ever think that maybe I am sick of hearing your mower or Marley? Hmmmm???????

Anyways, sorry about the tangent, I am just irritated. Had they spoken to me about this or even just left out the word "damn" I would not be upset by it. Well, I would be upset that Baci is bothering them, but not that they had said something about it. I feel like they handled this so terribly though, and in the process took the wussie way out and made themselves look like fools. Next time I see them, I am going to make sure to apologize for Baci bothering them, and I might have to say something about how I thought it was a little harsh to damn my dog in their first complaint to me, and that, as much as I would like to have her with me, it is impossible for me to take her to work and other places with me. That takes care of letting them know that yes, I know it was them who left the note, and also to get it off my chest that I think they are idiots, all in a very tactful manner.

And just so you know I am not a complete bitch, I left her confined to the upstairs today rather than her crate, so that hopefully she won't feel the need to bark while I am away.

Oh, and one other thing: let's presume that she really is barking like crazy while I am gone, just for shits and giggles. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make her stop, other than what I tried today?

A quote for you

2006-10-05T07:41:00.000-05:00

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. ~William Dement

Now if only I could find an excuse for the insanity during the day.... :)

Just an update

2006-09-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the chance to update recently, so I thought it was about time for one!

I am loving my new place! The neighbors are still being very nice, and though I can occasionally hear music from the houses on either side of me, it has never gone on late into the night and kept me awake. Every time I step out on my balcony, someone says hi. The tree out front is home to lots of little critters and I often see birds and squirrels frolicking in my yard. My sister, Cindy, and her family were up this weekend to visit and they helped me put some much needed finishing touches on the house, hanging pictures and such so that it is really "home" now. This morning I had to come to work and leave them there, and when I went home at lunch they had finished hanging things in two more rooms! It looks great!

The yard to the new place is a bit of a stumbling block to me yet. It isn't all that big, but as I discovered the hard way, it really is too big to use a weed wacker to cut the entire lawn. So I am now trying to decide between a reel mower, a gas powered mower, or an electric mower. The reel mower would be nice because it would give me a huge amount of exercise along with making the yard look great, but from what a lot of people say, it can be a real pain if your grass gets the tiniest bit high, which I am sure mine will be prone to do. The drawback to a traditional gas powered mower is that the only storage area I have for it is inside in my basement, and I am not too crazy about having gasoline stored inside of my house. And then there is the obvious drawback of a power cord in the way with an electric mower. What to do, what to do....any suggestions/recommendations for me?

In the realm of fun stuff recently, I have been busy, busy, busy. I have had company on a couple of occasions, went to the Maryland Renfest, had a trip to Ocean City, played poker, went home for Maddie's birthday...and those are just the things that immediately come to mind. Poker was fun, but I lost this time; I couldn't get cards for trying! I had a lot of fun at the Maryland Renfest and may even make another trip back at some point before the end of it, this time in costume. Yes, I have geeky enough friends here as well that they are willing to dress up for renfest. :) The trip to Ocean City was a blast! It was a wonderful way to bid farewell to the summer, although I am still paying for being stupid and not putting on sunscreen. Give it another few days and hopefully all of the peeling will be over with. Rose and I went on this sling shot thingy where they strapped you into this cage and it shot you up 15 stories into the air in 1.5 seconds and then you kind of bobbed up and down, spinning around for a while. I can't quite do it justice, but if you ever have the chance to do it, definitely do--it was exhilarating!

While my sister was here this past weekend, in addition to decorating my house, we went to the Baltimore Zoo and to the Baltimore Farmer's Market. It was my first trip to both since moving here and both were very cool. Izzy and Sophie were a lot of fun to watch at the zoo, as Izzy kept running trying to find more animals and Sophie felt the need to growl at a few. :) Those two kids crack me up. Plus, it was just fun to be a kid myself for the day and enjoy seeing all the animals also. And then Cindy was a lot of fun to watch at the farmer's market. :) Not that the farmer's market in Charleston, WV isn't a good one, but going to one in a big city was a whole different experience. Cindy was in her zone and had a great time, picking out all kinds of goodies for us to cook up that evening. Everything was so fresh and smelled so delicious--yummy! Unfortunately they had to go home today though for Chris to go back to work. :( But I am sure they will come for another visit as soon as they can. And I hope that Micki and her family make it again soon also--they have to see my new place!!!!!

Though that just touches on everything I have been getting into recently, this post is starting to get long, so I think I will end it here. Hopefully I won't wait close to a month this time before posting again! Take care everyone!

U-haul, BAD!

2006-08-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a busy few days! Mom and dad arrived last Wednesday to help me finish packing up my old place. Other than dad having a strange tape obsession, things went well. Seriously dad, one piece of tape across the top of the box is fine when only moving fourteen miles. Taping every square inch of the box is a bit overkill. :) So, many rolls of tape later, everything but necessities (shampoo, soap, those sorts of things) was neatly packed away. Cindy and Chris arrived with their kids Friday evening and it was off to the new place to ready it for move-in!

My new landlord had done a decent job cleaning the place up, so there wasn't too much deep cleaning to do. We wiped everything down, disinfected everything in the bathrooms and kitchen (yes, I am that crazy), swiffered the floors, and lined the shelves in the kitchen. All of that was done pretty easily, we went to dinner, and then we went to sleep my last night in hell....ummm....I mean my old apartment.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to get started. Dad and I headed to U-haul to pick up the truck by 8:00 am while the rest of the family stayed behind to pack up the last of the necessities. We step up to the counter at U-haul at about 7:45 and BAM, we hit our first road block. They couldn't find my reservation. Luckily, I not only had my confirmation number, I also had the name of the girl to whom I spoke to make the reservation. Armed with this information, they were forced to find me another truck. Unfortunately, this one was at another location, but only a couple of miles away. For my trouble and additional mileage, they gave me $20 in gift certificates--remember this, it is important later.

It is about 8:15 by this point and we go to the next place to pick up my truck. The first bad sign was that the place looked shady as could be, but we pulled onto the lot anyways and went to the door....only to find that the place is not unlocked. Second bad sign, we didn't actually see any trucks. I called the number that the first place had given me to be told very rudely that they did not open until 9:00. Okay, second road block, but still doable--it just put us a little behind schedule, no big deal. Surely they had the truck out back, right? So, we went next door to McDonalds and hung out until 9:00 when the place would open and I could get my truck.

Nine o'clock came and we headed back over and as we were walking across the lot this guy sitting outside told us that they are not open yet. "Yeah, we know, we called and they open at nine." To which he replied, "I know, I work here and the guy that is supposed to open isn't here yet. You guys here to pick up a truck?" I then explained the situation and how we were sent there to pick up a 17' truck, only for him to tell us that he doesn't have any 17' trucks--all he has is two 10' trucks and they are both rented. After waiting for an hour, yes, I was told that they didn't have my truck either.

As you can well imagine, I was starting to get mighty ticked by this point. I called up the original place and they gave me another number to call because they could no longer help me. I called this number, explained the situation, and was then told that my reservation was at Aarons (the second place) and was there anything else they could do to help me. It took everything in my power to not scream at them, "WERE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME?!?!?" I explained, again, as nicely as I could possible muster, that yes, I knew that my reservation was at Aarons, that they had sent me there after my original reservation was "misplaced," but still, I was not able to get a truck. I also added that I didn't care if they had to give me a bigger truck, so long as I was able to get it at the price of the smaller truck that I had reserved. Finally, they located a 26' truck at yet another U-haul, still a few more miles away.

We got there and as we walked in a guy walking out warned us to have our patience ready. Not a good sign. Thankfully, once we finally got to the counter, the guy was very nice and YES, THEY HAD MY TRUCK! By this point it was 10:00, only two hours after I was supposed to be able to pick up my truck. And instead of the nice cozy little 17', automatic truck I reserved, we had a 26' standard truck. Thankfully dad is able to drive a stick, so that wasn't a problem. But did I mention though that where I was moving to only has on street parking? For a 26' truck? Yep, we were more than a little worried. Oh, one other thing to note, I had reserved a utility dolly with my truck, but all the third place had to give me was an appliance dolly. By that point though, I was thankful to even get that.

Dad and I finally got back to the apartment and by that time Rose had got there to help, and the loading of the truck went pretty quick. We had lunch, loaded the table and chairs, and then it was off to the new place to unload. The night before dad and I had left our cars parked out front of the new place (we all piled into Cindy's van to go to the old place) so we could secure those spots for the 17' truck the following morning. But now we had a 26' truck and there was no way it was going to fit into those spots. The plan was to double park it and just hope that whoever we blocked in did not have to leave. At this point though, God smiled down upon us, that is the only possible explanation. We got there and the spots both in front of and behind where dad and I were parked were open. We had more than enough room to pull the truck in and position it so that the ramp was right in front of my sidewalk. The off-loading progressed well and we were finished by 6:00 when we went back to U-haul to return the truck.

Remember those certificates from earlier? Now is when they become important again. They brought up my account, dialed in the mileage and such, and went to enter the certificates into their system so I could save my $20. THE IDIOT AT THE FIRST PLACE GAVE ME USED CERTIFICATES!!! I couldn't believe it when they told me that. They called him up and he was absolutely no help. I think they were afraid that I might spontaneously combust or go completely nuts and kill them all right there on the spot if they didn't do something quick, so they ended up sacrificing two of their own certificates for me; I guess each location has a limited number of these things to use, and pretty much they are akin to gold, so it was quite a sacrifice. A note to the wise: If you need to rent a U-haul, first, rethink that theory, and then only if it is absolutely, vitally, necessary that you rent from a U-haul in the Catonsville, MD area go to the one located on Washington Blvd, Baltimore. It is a few miles out of your way, but at least the people there didn't strike me as being complete freaking idiots, and they did everything they could to make my life easier after the other two places had seriously screwed things up.

Anyways, I am moved into the new place now, and actually quite a bit of stuff is already unpacked. It already feels much more like "home" than the old place did after living there a year. I have met quite a few of my neighbors and even got interviewed by a couple of the kids for The Alley Weekly, a little paper the kids "publish" for all of the families living along the alley. It is really cute and I love that they do something like that. I think it is going to be a nice neighborhood to live in and I should be much, much happier now.

Wish me luck! And remember: U-haul, BAD!!!

Pregnancy News!

2006-08-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

Now that I have your attention, no, it's not me!

My best friend Tricia (many of my readers know her) is going to have a little girl! She is due December 30th, which puts her at about 5 months right now. She just had an ultrasound yesterday and things are looking good. I have known since she was only seven weeks along, and it has been killing me to keep it a secret, but she wasn't telling everyone yet, so I had to. But last night she gave me the go ahead to spread the news, so there you go!

Everyone please keep her and her hubby Joe, as well as the new little baby in your thoughts and prayers. Oh, and she is soliciting ideas for names, so if you think of a pretty one let me know and I will pass it on!

Moving on up....

2006-08-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the chance to post about it until today, but I am moving!!!! I am so excited to get out of the hell-hole that I currently call home!

Right now I am in a two bedroom apartment with nosy neighbors who have lots of annoying children that they never look after. (I just had to run another one off last night, 8-10 years old, who thought the appropriate reaction to Baci barking at him through the patio door was to run to the door and start beating on it as hard as he possibly could, seemingly trying to break through. Considering I was in the bedroom at the time, this is exactly what I originally thought was happening!)

Anyways, the place I am moving to is a three bedroom townhome, two stories and a basement. It has two bathrooms, a half-finished basement (where the Kabuki Rodeo will go), a front porch, a back balcony off the kitchen, an a little fenced in backyard with a patio. And of course the usual things like a living room and dining room. It has all new windows and before I move in it will have a new furnace and central air. It is in a nice neighborhood in Catonsville, and getting to work should take me maybe 10 minutes, with traffic, and that is all on side roads--no beltway. Woo-hoo!

That is what has kept me so busy recently, looking for a place and now packing. And packing and packing. I will be moving on August 26th, so I can't wait for that day to get here!!!

Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me that it will be much, much nicer than my current place!

P.S.--Who all went on to sing ...to the east side... after reading the title of this blog? :) If you didn't then, I bet you that song will be stuck in your head now! No thanks needed! LOL

I'm a model...Part 3

2006-08-17T12:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I have made you wait more than long enough for the rest of the modeling story, so here it is.

The first part of the Philly story happened when I was minding my own business, just walking down the street with my friend Tara. Out of the blue this woman grabbed hold of my arm and said,"Now honey, I don't mean you any harm." Of course my mind took that the mean RUN FOR YOUR LIFE and I started backing away from her. She then went on to ask me how tall I am. When I told her six foot, she exclaimed loudly, for everyone around to hear, "Well, you are just so beautiful, I just had to stop you and tell you that you should be a model. I mean it, you really should!"

Little did I know that my chance would come the following evening, while still in Philly...

Some of my coworkers and I decided to head out to happy hour the next evening at a little place called Rotten Ralphs. The bar is a pretty small area, so I sat in the window and my coworkers were scattered around me. At one point I noticed this one lady looking out the window behind me, laughing. I turned around, looked for myself, turned back to face my coworkers, once again turned to look out the window, and finally turned to my coworkers and said, "Is that man taking pictures of my ass?" By this point my coworkers were laughing hysterically, because whether he was meaning to or not, that is exactly what the photographer was doing. His camera was aimed directly at my behind, he took a couple of shots, adjusted the camera, and then took a couple more. So, with a little creative searching, you may now be able to find pictures of my behind on the internet. I started to search for "random asses in Philadelphia" but then I was afraid of what kind of pages would turn up.

I hope you have enjoyed my tale of being a model; even retelling that last story has made me blush once more. If you do happen to find the pictures of my butt, I am not so sure I want to know where... ;)

One other quick note: If you ever want to pay a random stranger a compliment, do not preface it with, "Now honey, I don't mean you any harm." Trust me on this point, they will think you are crazy and try to get away from you as quickly as possible. :)

Which is worse?

2006-08-17T12:40:00.000-05:00

A married guy telling you that he had a dream about you? (Ick)

Or

The married guy proceeding to tell you that in the dream you were just playing video games with him?

Come on, at least if you are going to dream about me, make it good!!! :)

But, at the same time, if you are married, don't go there at all!

WV Hot Dog Festival

2006-07-28T05:16:00.000-05:00

Only in West Virginia: An entire festival dedicated to that wonderful cuisine of the hot dog. Another site (I think the "official" one) can be found here.

Man, do I miss living there. :) I actually might be able to swing by Huntington on Saturday, so maybe, just maybe, I will be able to stop in for a few mintues and grab a hot dog or two.

I'm a model...Part 2

2006-07-26T09:12:00.000-05:00

Our story begins a couple of months ago...It was a dark and stormy night...

Just kidding!

So a couple of months ago I was sitting at home, relaxing, minding my own business when my boss called. There was going to be some pictures taken the next day and he wanted me to be in them. In other words, he was calling to tell me to make sure I looked pretty the next day. I spent the rest of the evening far from the relaxed state I had been--I had to find something to wear!!! After many a phone call to helpful friends and family, we decided I would go for a pair of black pants and a cream colored shirt, pretty, professional, and solid colors so that it would look good in pictures. The next morning was spent with myself and a few of my coworkers primping and posing, having a ton of pictures taken. We kept asking what these pictures were going to be used for and strangely enough, nobody could answer us. All we were told was that the higher-ups asked for some shots, and these were going to go to them.

Jump ahead to a couple of weeks ago. A guy that works in another section here brings a calendar by to congratulate me. Yes, that is correct, I made the company calendar. Come September my face will be gracing tons of cubicles in SSA offices across the nation. Turns out thousands of these things were printed up and handed out at a diversity conference held recently, to show the diverse staff of SSA. My next question is: What am I, the whitest white person you could find? Or maybe they needed to show a hillbilly? Seriously, I couldn't understand how I represent "diversity" within our company. I am a white non-handicapped woman with no outstanding ethnic features. Oh well, no matter what their reasoning, I still made the calendar and my modeling career has begun!

I cracked up laughing when I found out what the pictures had been used for! I moved to Baltimore to advance my career, and instead I became a pinup! As you can well imagine, I incurred much teasing from my coworkers, as would they from me if our places were reversed. And once September gets here, I can only imagine what I am going to have to face....

But wait, you didn't think that would be the end of my modeling career, did you? That was just my debut! Stay tuned for my adventures in modeling Philly-style, sure to be enjoyed by all! :)

I'm a model...

2006-07-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

...you know what I mean...And I do my little turn on the catwalk...yeah on the catwalk yeah...I shake my little toosh on the catwalk...

Interested in knowing what is behind this? More to come when I have time! :)

Independence Day Update

2006-07-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

I survived the picnic!

I was pretty much sick to my stomach as we walked between the houses to where all the people were, but in the end, I was able to suck it up and have a good time. People are always amazed to find out how shy I really am, but doing something like that, going into a crowd of people where I only know one, maybe two people, really freaks me out. Thankfully Rose is a great friend and she went with me to keep me from having a heart attack. Christina was supposed to go, but after agreeing to go with me, she made two other sets of plans for the day, so I wasn't surprised that she backed out in the end. But Rose, YOU KICK ASS, and I owe you big time!

Anyways, when we first got there Todd took me around and introduced me to everyone. I am pretty sure I know now who it is he wants to fix me up with. He is a tall, cute, bald guy who is even shyer than me. I am not kidding--once I got there and started talking to some people I was okay and was able to carry on conversations with pretty much anyone around me. This poor guy took four hours just to get up the courage to come over and join the group of 6 or 8 people who I was talking with. It was actually kind of cute in a way. Unfortunately though, by the time he finally got around to trying to talk to me, this older man had attached himself to me and would NOT stop talking. He was a very sweet, funny guy, but he completely took over the conversation and would call you on it any time you tried to talk to anyone else, guilting you into talking to just him again. "Oh, I can see I am boring you. I am a silly old man who doesn't know when to shut up." Of course when someone says something like that to you, you are going to turn your attention back to him! The other guy got a few words in here and there, but not enough that I can really say we got to talk. So, doesn't look like it was a go this time. I don't really know if I will get to see him again, but hey, you never know. What little I did get to talk to him, he reminded me of my close friends, so that is a good sign--he is likely someone that I would get along with well. We'll see!

After we'd spent a while at Todd's party Rose and I headed down to Inner Harbor to watch the fireworks. What a complete waste of time! It was so incredibly crowded that it was miserable and uncomfortable to stand there. We were wedged shoulder to shoulder with people, with other people trying to shove their way through, and of course the guy right beside Rose and myself didn't have the decency to think that in such tight quarters maybe lighting up a cigarette wasn't the kindest thing to do. After about 5-6 minutes of what could best be described as mediocre fireworks, I asked Rose if she wanted to go ahead and head out. I LOVE fireworks and have never in my life left a show early--that was how disappointing these were. My hometown of maybe 15,000 people normally puts on a really good show, 30-60 minutes of nonstop fireworks, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, one on top of the other. The best that Baltimore could do, a city of over 600,000 people, was 15 minutes of pop......long...delay...............pop........long...delay...........pop. It definitely was not worth breathing in second hand smoke and the nasty body odor of those around us. Nor was it worth the traffic and parking fees. Maybe I have been spoiled by growing up in small-town USA, I don't know. I do know now though that I will never bother heading to the Harbor again for a fireworks show! The good news about the show sucking so much though was that Rose and I were back to her car and heading out of town long before most people were back to their cars, so we didn't hit the madhouse traffic trying to get back out of the city.

All in all though, I had a good day. It was strange to not be with any of my family, but in time I will get used to that. I hope everyone else managed to have a great holiday as well, but hopefully you weren't so let down by the fireworks you saw!

Fix-up on the horizon

2006-06-21T11:41:00.000-05:00

For some reason, every time I think about this, I start singing, "I feel a bad moon rising..." Don't ask me why; I should be very happy for people to think highly enough of me to want to fix me up with their friends. But the thought ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIES ME!!!

Here is what has been going on:

For the past two weeks I was stationed at our Operations Building doing oversight on some construction going on there. For the first week one of my coworkers, Deb, was over there with me. We have worked on a couple of projects together, but not for any real length of time, so we have never really had the chance to get to know one another. While doing oversight though, outside of about two hours a day, we had all the time in the world to chat and get to know everything we ever wanted to about the other. Through these conversations she was able to find out that yes, I am single, what kind of guys I go for, some of my interests, those sorts of things.

Before I continue, let's jump back a few weeks. I had to meet with this guy Todd to discuss respirators--nice guy, we get along well, he cracks a couple of Darth Vader jokes, all is well. (You can't talk respirators without at least one Darth Vader joke, for the record.)

Now, jump back to two weeks ago. I had to leave early one Friday, leaving Deb and Todd alone. When I returned that following Monday, I had an e-mail from Todd, identifying him as Deb's friend, asking me to a party that Todd is having for the Fourth of July. Before I had finished reading the invite, he was at my desk, asking me if I had plans. I told him the truth--I am not sure yet what I am doing for the holiday, that I might be heading back to WV to visit family. So, a bit later I had another e-mail. It was at this point that I started figuring out what was really going on. In it he was telling me about who would be at the party, describing some as sci-fi/fantasy folks and others as science geeks/musicians, 25-35 years old, and a mixture of singles and couples. Interesting, but I think all of those topics came up in conversation with Deb the week prior....

Now, you would expect that this is where things end, right? I choose to go to the party or not. NOOOO, my life is NEVER that simple, haven't you people realized that yet???

One note: Todd is married, so if you are thinking he is the guy, WRONG! :)

With my obvious indecision about coming to the party, Todd approached me about going out to dinner with he, his wife, and some of their friends one weekend. Sure, I am always so excited about meeting new people! (READ--I freak out when meeting new people--they scare me half to death. I am actually extremely shy, no matter what anyone says.) Of course I say yes though, because hey, I am new to the area. It really would be nice to meet some people my own age to hang out with. Todd also saw right through my excuse for maybe not coming to the party, realizing that I was totally freaked out at the thought of going to a party where I really don't know anyone. He said that he'd like for me to meet some of the other people who would be there so that I would feel more comfortable coming. So, this was all him being nice, trying to ease my fears. Or was it???? Later in the conversation I was point blank asked if I am single, and one fact I haven't mentioned yet is that the only person mentioned specifically other than his wife and neighbors was that neighbor's brother, who happens to be tall. Funny thing to mention unless...ding, ding, ding, ding!!! We have a fix-up!!!

I am not certain when I will end up meeting this guy. Todd called this past weekend to ask me over to hang out with he and his friends, and guess who was mentioned again...yep, the neighbor's brother. I was in WV for Father's Day though, so I wasn't able to make it.

I have to say though, I am so mortified at the thought of going to hang out with these people. Todd seems nice enough, and I am sure his friends are, but what if it ends up that I have nothing in common with them? I don't even really know Todd, so I could end up sitting there, not being able to think of a single thing to talk about with these people. I will go though, as much as it may pain me. For one thing, Todd is trying way too hard for me not to. I can just imagine the conversation with his wife and friends..."I can not call her again, she is going to think that I am after her!" Which, I have to admit, with my track record of having married men hit on me, that was my first thought. Think about it, I had met the guy once, and all of a sudden I was invited to a party and to dinner--it was a bit suspicious. Right up until the neighbor's brother was mentioned. Since then, the brother has been mentioned multiple times, so I am pretty sure he is looking at me for someone else. Please, oh please, let that be the case! I seem to have finally broken the curse of having only married men hit on me, not having had a single new one try since I moved to Maryland. Some of the old ones have continued trying, but I keep pointing out how pathetic they are and that they need to pay more attention to their wives, so I think they are starting to get the hint. But so far, the guys who have hit on me here have been single!!! What a wonderful thing! Of course, one of them did look like a monkey...but at least he was single. :)

Here is what is going to be tough for me now. Todd has been playing this as though he is just a nice guy who is trying to help the new girl in town meet people. So, even though I have figured out his ulterior motives, I get to try to pretend to not know when I meet this guy. Which I guess isn't so bad; at least if I can't stand the guy, I can just pretend that I wasn't there to specifically meet him. Man, now another thought just crossed my mind! What if I go to the party, meet this guy as well as other single men, and I like one of the other ones better? Oh well, I will worry about that if it comes to that.

Well, that is about it! I will let you know what happens!

Kind of like, "Hey ya'll, watch this..."

2006-06-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"I dunno, press the button and find out."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

If only...

2006-06-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

You Should Drive a Jaguar XK 4.2

You don't care how you get there as long as you get there with class. And having a little power doesn't hurt either!

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

Smiley!!!

2006-06-12T11:54:00.000-05:00

You Are a Smiley Face Cookie

You're happy go lucky. So happy, in fact, it's a little past the point of normal sanity.You usually make those around you smile ... when you're not creeping them out!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Crazy ramblings...

2006-06-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

This week I realized something about women's clothing, which unfortunately has made dressing this week very difficult for me: the sleeves are all screwy on most shirts. All of my shirts have little capped sleeves, so maybe what would equal 1/8 sleeves. This has not been an issue before this week, but I am working on a construction site through next week, and one of the requirements is to wear a shirt with at least 1/4 sleeves, so in essence, a t-shirt. I have gone through my closet, and I only have a couple of shirts that will meet this requirement, at least shirts that would be appropriate for work. I have a ton of traditional t-shirts, that, while they would fit the sleeve requirement, I have a feeling I would be sent home when someone noticed that Calvin and Hobbes are smoking a joint on the back of my shirt, or that "Jokers, Aces, and Phi-Mus are WILD," or I could go with the ever professional Grateful Dead Bear shirt that proclaims "My parent's think I am in college." Ooh, ooh, or maybe I should try wearing a shirt from one of the political campaigns I have worked on; considering I work for the feds, and pretty much Bush is my boss, how do you think it would go over if I wore a Kerry shirt?

Anyway, dressing has been tough, to say the least. And I am here all next week also, so I guess I will just repeat all of my clothes next week that I wore this week--there is no way I am going to come up with ten different shirts.

The funny thing is, I never noticed this phenomenon happening. Did sleeves just gradually start getting shorter so that there wasn't an outcry about how strange they look? Are they just going to keep getting smaller and smaller, until there are only sleeveless shirts? Crazy ramblings, I know, but it is what is going through my mind at the moment.

All right! To make matters even better, I just learned that from now on, I get to start wearing a neon, fluorescent green vest over my shirts. I am going to be looking good this afternoon! Currently I am wearing an orange gingham checked button-up shirt. Isn't that going to look fabulous with a neon green vest?!?!?!?! Toss in the hard hat, safety glasses, and steel-toed boots, and I am so sexy it hurts! All I can say is thank goodness there isn't anyone at the construction site that I am trying to impress!

Missing home

2006-05-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

Most of the time I absolutely love living in Baltimore. One thing though that I really miss about West Virginia is that pretty much anywhere you went in the state, you were completely surrounded by nature. I was reading my dad's blog earlier, and today he posted a blog about birds nesting at his house. At my house in St. Albans I had about thirty trees on my lot, so I always had an abundance of birds. Most mornings during the Spring and Summer I would wake to the most beautiful music coming from the trees. And I had a family of House Finches that decided to make their home in the awning of my front porch. I was able to watch that family go from building the nest and laying the eggs, all the way to the babies hatching and eventually leaving the nest. If you are interested, this is a post from last year telling about the family, complete with pictures.

Here in Baltimore, I don't have nearly the access to nature that I did in WV, and I really do miss it. At my apartment complex, "nature" is implied with the landscaping. If I wake to any noise, it is usually my neighbors having sex or watching TV, noise that is far less happy to wake to than the music of birds chirping happily to the rising sun. And the birds here don't have many trees and such to make nests in, so most of them have made nests in the dryer vents. Which to me is terrifying--I am so afraid that I am going to roast a little baby bird when I dry my clothes! But I guess they wouldn't nest there though if that was a real possibility. Doesn't stop me from worrying though. :) They have learned to adapt to their surroundings, something that I guess will happen to me in time.

Busy, busy, busy...

2006-04-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a busy couple of weeks I have had!

It all started at Easter, when I went home to spend the holiday with my family. I had the worst time trying to figure out my taxes this year, so I made sure to get home early on that Friday and my sister and I spent the evening getting them figured out. With any luck, they are right. I guess it is too late to worry now though, since they are filed and I await my moola. :) I then spent Saturday morning getting my hair done (short cut, colored a little darker than my natural color) only to rush home, help with some cooking, and then back to Cindy's for Easter dinner. Since I knew I would need to leave in the early afternoon on Sunday, my family helped me out by having dinner the night before. And what a dinner--everything was delicious! Easter Sunday I got up early, headed to Church, and left to head back here to B-more very shortly after Church ended. I was so busy I didn't have the chance to even think of trying to get together with any friends, much less actually do it.

Which brings us to this past weekend. My little niece turned one last Friday, so it was back to WV for another weekend. Let me tell you, making that trip two weekends in a row is tiring, to put it nicely. Pretty much as soon as I got there on Friday, Micki, Johnny and I headed to Hurricane for a little Mi Pueblito. For those of you who are die-hard Rio Grande fans, you seriously have to try Mi Pueblito. It has the same menu as Rio Grande, but their food is SOOOOO much better! Especially the cheese dip, mmmmmmm. But, I digress. :) Saturday was Sophie's party, so I went to Cindy's to make heart shaped foods (the party was Love themed). Poor little Sophie had a stomach bug, so she was miserable for her whole party. To get the idea, go here for a picture and her mom's description of things. She just wanted to stay in someone's arms, and wasn't even interested in eating her cake. I sat her down at one point in the middle of her gifts, and she just fell head first onto them and laid there, not even caring to see what was inside. The biggest reaction we got out of her over her presents was over a little soft baby doll that I go her. She hugged it up close to her and laid down on her mommy again, more than ready to go back to sleep.

Eventually Tricia and I left there and went out shopping for a bit. I bought three shirts that remain in WV, since I am an idiot. We had plans to meet up with Michelle for ice cream at 7:00, and Carla later in the evening to go to the Comedy Zone. Little did I know that it was all lies!!!! When we walked in the door at Maggie Moos, a cow-themed ice cream joint, my whole family was in the back and they screamed "SURPRISE" and shocked the hell out of me. :) My birthday is May 12th, and since I won't be in WV for it, they decided to throw me a surprise party while I was home. It was a very fun, and incredibly embarrassing evening for me. I don't believe that I knew true embarrassment until an EIGHT FOOT TALL COW in a pink dress came out carrying my cake to me. Go here, and you can see the cartoon cow that the costume looks just like. It was such a fun evening! I got a goodie bag and all, with two little cows, some candy, and even a coloring book. I may have nightmares about giant cows for the rest of my life, but it was well worth it.

After that party, Tricia and I really did meet up with Carla at the Comedy Zone, where we saw two really funny comics, Russ Nagel and Scott Oseychik. If you ever get the chance to see these guys, it is well worth the money! There were times I was laughing so hard I was crying!

This past Sunday I had two more birthdays to celebrate, Micki's and my granny's. Yes, I had four birthday parties in one weekend. Like I said, I have been busy. :) I felt bad because once again, I had to rush out of there to head back here. But, even being rushed a bit, I think they both enjoyed their birthday!

You would think now that all of that was over, I would have time to breathe, right? Nope! My friend Christy and her sister and little boy came to visit me for a few days. I took Tuesday off work and the four of us spent the day at Inner Harbor, touring the aquarium and a two tall ships they had docked there, The Cisne Branco from Brazil and The Virginian (couldn't find a webpage). The Cisne Branco was especially cool because it was huge and absolutely breathtaking, and the cute Brazilian men aboard didn't hurt anything. :) Unfortunately Christy and her family couldn't stay but a couple of days. We had a good time while they were here though! Sadly, they left this morning, but now my life is slowing returning to "normal" and I might have a chance to breathe for a minute.

So, sorry for not posting in a while and sorry for this long post, but as you can see, I have been busy. :) This weekend I plan to just chill and rest a bit, then get busy again and see what I can get into the following weekend! :)

Kids.

2006-04-04T17:54:00.000-05:00

You know, I absolutely adore kids. I miss my nieces and nephews like crazy now that I live so far away from them!

But, man-oh-man can kids be annoying little creatures!!!!! The complex I live in has a LOT of families, most with little kids. Now that it is starting to get warmer, the kids are out back of my apartment playing all the time. Now, this wouldn't really be a problem except for the fact that they have decided my patio looks like a GREAT place to play. It has short walls built on either side of it which are the perfect place to sit. Lately the kids have taken to sitting on the walls and bouncing tennis balls between them. Oh, and they put their faces up against the glass doors, staring in at me, watching me eat, watch TV, clean, whatever. Again, not really a problem, except for I have the CRAZIEST DOG EVER PUT ON THE EARTH!!! Every time the kids decide to step foot onto the patio Baci goes insane barking, running at the window, trying to get to them. This of course entices the children to taunt her, making her go even more crazy. I have been trying to think of a way to go out and tell them to not play out there without sounding like a mean old lady, but alas, I can't figure out one.

And this evening, I had to become the mean old lady. After having one small kid stare at me eat my dinner, I finally decided to give up and come to my bedroom to get on the computer; they won't bug me in here, right? Wrong!!! My bedroom window is ground level (part of my bedroom wall is below grade), so they followed me in here and stared through this window to see what I was doing. Eventually something else caught their attention for a minute, so I ran and pulled my blinds shut so that I could have some tiny bit of privacy. Then they started poking a stick into my air conditioning unit, making it make a terrible racket and throwing a tennis ball at my window! Luckily they missed more than they hit with the ball, but still. I finally had to be the mean old lady and go out and say something.

It was actually kind of funny. :) As soon as my patio door opened, they all shut up and stood perfectly still, just knowing they were in major trouble. I asked them if something was wrong for them to be bothering the AC unit, to which of course they pointed out the one who had been doing it and told me exactly what she had been doing (how I knew a stick was being poked into it). I was very nice and asked them not to bother my windows or my AC again, letting them know it would be really easy to break, and then went on to ask them to stay off my patio since it drives Baci crazy. They all agreed and I stayed out there and talked to them for a few minutes, so hopefully I didn't come across as too mean. I actually enjoy watching them play, so I don't want them to NOT play out there; I just don't want them to terrorize my dog or break my AC. So, with any luck they won't decide that they hate me and start doing things on purpose just to bother me. *sigh*

Kids--can't live with them, can't kill them. :)

One Gallon Day!!!

2006-03-24T15:06:00.000-05:00

I finally made it to one gallon donating blood! Yippee!!! It has only taken me six years! For those of you that don’t know me and my history, my iron level is always just one or two points too low to be able to give. Hence, my trying for six years to donate eight times. But hey, at least I finally made it.

There are a couple of differences in donating in MD versus the times I donated in WV. First, and this was very distressing to me, there were no Little Debbie snacks in the cantina. I had to choose from Utz pretzels or Famous Amos cookies. Not that those aren’t perfectly good snacks, but I miss my Little Debbie Fudge Rounds and Zebra Cakes. Secondly, a difference that I am VERY HAPPY about is that they didn’t put half a roll of incredibly sticky tape on my arm to hold on the cotton pad after the donation. Instead I have a bunch of bright pink gauze wrapped round and round my arm to hold it in place. This means that this evening when I go to remove it, I won’t end up removing large chunks of skin with it. YAY!!! Removing all of that tape and tearing away skin and hair was always the worst part of donating blood. But, looks like I won’t have to deal with that here!

It was an interesting day for donation today. First, though I know only a handful of people here outside of my component here at work, the girl in the chair next to me was someone I had met a few weeks ago. There are close to 20,000 people who work here and I maybe know 100 of them, yet I knew that girl. Sing with me, “It’s a small world afterall....” The poor thing was completely freaked out and started crying the first time they went to stick her, so she had to wait for a while and calm down. They came and stuck me while she waited, and finally they were able to get her calm enough that she was able to give her donation. They kept having me talk to her just to help keep her calm, so it was kind of funny. But, that wasn’t the most interesting part of the donation. The guy on the other side of me decided to pass out half way through his donation. Imagine how excited the girl on the other side of me was to see that happen! Anyways, while they were working on him to get him awake, my bag dropped, meaning that it was full. I kept looking at it, then at the people working on the other guy, then back at it, wondering how much really would be too much. After another maybe three minutes, they finally were able to revive the other guy and someone finally noticed how full my bag was and clamped it off so that it would quit drawing blood. I was just about to say something when the girl came running over and stopped it. So, they got just a little more than a pint out of me today. But, I felt fine and still feel fine two hours later, so I guess it didn’t hurt me much.

Well, I guess that is my story for my “One Gallon Day.” Hope all is well and they all of you donate blood when you can also! :)

What Muppet are you?

2006-03-13T15:57:00.000-05:00

You Are the Swedish Chef

"Bork! Bork! Bork!"Your happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies.No one really gets you. And frankly, you don't even get you.But, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse

The Muppet Personality Test

Cool, cool, cool

2006-03-09T17:34:00.000-05:00

I was just checking out my statcounter, and it seems that the majority of people who read this site stay for over an hour during their visit. My question is: what are you doing?!?!? I like to think that I lead a fascinating life, but even I don't spend hours on here. :)

Seriously though, I think it is pretty cool that people enjoying reading my stuff, and will spend literally hours doing so. I have lots of people from other countries that read this as well; it is really neat to see that people all around the world find this interesting enough to keep coming back. So, a big THANK YOU to my loyal readers, United States and abroad--you ROCK!

Strangers in the night....

2006-02-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmm, hmmmmm....

Greek gods kick major ass! ;)

Love,

Bubbles

It's about time!

2006-02-15T15:27:00.000-05:00

I finally got an apology from Elliot!!!

Last week he was at the same poker game I went to, at my friend Jim’s house. Shortly after I got there, while we were waiting for our final player, he asked me about his CDs. To which I replied, “You will get them back as soon as I get an apology.” His reply to that was simply, “Well then,” and that was the end of the conversation—no apology offered. After much deliberation, I finally decided to send him an e-mail telling him exactly what happened that night, just in case he didn’t realize just how terrible he had behaved. I was very nice in it, just laid out the details of the evening--I even had a friend read over it to make sure I didn’t sound too accusatory or bitchy in it.

Sure enough, he had no idea of how things ended that night. Today I received an extremely nice, very apologetic e-mail from him. And it seemed to be very sincere. He admitted to not being in his right mind that night, that there was absolutely no excuse for his behavior, and that he felt terrible that I suffered any injuries because of him.

So, even though he didn’t specifically admit that he was drunk that evening, I will accept that. I will return his CDs to him and all of this can finally be put behind us.

Winter is here!

2006-02-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

It is all white and fluffy here!!! :) And completely gorgeous! Overnight we got at least a foot of snow, likely more. Unfortunately though I don't have a yardstick to really be able to measure it. There is so much of it that it made snow drifts, so against the buildings there are places where it has to be two or more feet deep!

I let Baci out this morning and it was the funniest damn thing I think I have ever seen in my life! It is well over her head, and every step/jump she took she just sunk deeper. I put her little cow-spotted coat on her, so all you could see was this tiny little black head and the occasional black spot from the coat. It was so cute and I was laughing out loud the entire time she was out. I had put some tiny boot on her also, but even though they would likely fit a preemie baby, they were still too big for her, so at this time they are lost in the depths, to be found only after the snow melts. She absolutely loves the snow, always has, so this is heaven to her. I had to practically drag her back in the house! With any luck I will be able to get some pictures a little later on today!

Well, I am off to get dressed (I'm in a bathrobe you pervs!) and go out and build a snowman or two!!! :)

Just an update!

2006-02-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

What a grueling two weeks! I was in class these past two weeks, one week for lead and the other for asbestos. Truly, I don’t think I could have been more miserable. The lead class was rough because they tossed in a bunch of wanna-be realtors with us, and they were no where near the same level concerning lead as those of us who work in safety and health. Every single thing that the instructor said had to be repeated LITERALLY ten or more times! I finally got to the point where I now believe that yes, there IS such a thing as a stupid question. There was one time where the instructor was talking about “two years.” After repeating and rephrasing himself as many times as he could, he changed “two years” to “24 months” to see if the others in class could comprehend that. To which a guy in the back of the class yelled angrily, “I thought you just said it was two years!” Yes, that is the kind of people I had to deal with. The second class wasn’t so bad; except for I had to have Elliott (see previous post) in there with me for two days, actually sitting next to me one day. Can you believe the ass still didn’t apologize for his behavior? Oh well, I have a bunch of new CDs now, so I am not going to complain.

Luckily though, I had a good weekend to finish things up. My nephew’s birthday was this past weekend, so I went home to WV to celebrate with him. He is two now and so cute! I decided to stay through until Monday so I could watch the Super Bowl with my family, so we had his party on Sunday to coincide with it. And what a party! We had more food than we could ever have hoped to eat, with plenty of beer (for the game, not the 2-year old’s birthday--what kind of person do you think I am?) and soda to wash it down. I was so stuffed that it was all I could do to not fall into food coma during the game! It was a fun party and I was so thrilled to see my Steelers win! :)

I finished out the trip with lunch on Monday with my sisters and two friends, Carla and Tricia. It is always so great to see everyone, but still so sad when I have to say goodbye. People say that in time, it will get easier, but I think I will always miss living so near everyone. Then it was back off the B-more for me and Baci! Poor thing—at one point early in the trip I had to slam on the brakes, which threw her around pretty hard. Now, she has her own seat belt, so she didn’t get hurt, but that didn’t stop her from getting ticked! She would hardly look at me the entire ride home! At first when she kept her nose stuck in the corner, I was afraid that she had got hurt, so I pulled into a rest area to check her over. But, she was fine, just mad—such an expressive little dog!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!

Last night

2006-01-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here's a question for my loyal readers--what is the proper (and successful) way to take someone's keys to keep him from driving drunk? It is amazing, but I have had the Kabuki Rodeo for two years now, and this is the first time (and hopefully the last) that this has ever been a concern.

Last night I hosted my first poker game in my new place. We had seven players and the night went really well. There was one rebuy, and the game ended with the last three standing agreeing to split the pot. This was about 1:00 am. We were ready for the night to end, so we continued playing another card game, followed by a drinking game. By 3:00, as you can imagine, everyone that was drinking was pretty well toasty.

It was at this point that people decided they were ready to leave. All but one person in the group had a designated driver with them, so there was no problem letting them leave. This left me and this guy Elliott. Here is a little history about him--the last time I had him over he and his friends refused to stay and sober up before driving home, and we couldn't get their keys from them. So this time, early on in the evening, I got Elliott's keys and put in my pocket so he wouldn't have them at the end of the night, just in case. By the time he was ready to leave he and another guy had finished off a bottle of Jack Daniels, plus many other drinks. His eyes were completely glassed over and he was barely able to stand straight, but to him he was "perfectly okay."

I tried at first to get him to stay without him knowing his keys were missing. This didn't work. The first time he "left" he made it out the door and up the steps before he realized he didn't have his wallet, keys, phone--anything. He came back in and we argued for a few more minutes about him leaving in the shape he was in. The second time he "left," again he made it to the top of the steps, but then I told him I would be there when he figured out he actually couldn't go anywhere. It was only then that he realized his keys were missing. He came back in and IMMEDIATELY was pissed. We kept talking, me telling him why I had took his keys, him telling me that he was "perfectly okay" to drive. His next argument was that I let everyone else leave, why not him? When I told him that they had all had a designated driver he tried arguing with me that they didn't. Had he not been so freaking drunk, he would have seen that we had multiple people NOT DRINKING, even during our DRINKING game. By this point he was starting to yell and curse like crazy--another way to tell that he was "perfectly okay." I told him it was fine for him to be pissed, I could understand, but that it wasn't getting him his keys back, which just managed to piss him off even more.

It was at this time that he decided it was time to use force to get his keys back. Again, another way to tell that he wasn't drunk, no, not at all. He backed me up against the couch and stood on my feet so that I couldn't move and began pretty much groping me looking for his keys. He finally found them in my front pocket and I fought back the best the I could trying to keep him from getting them out of my pocket, but in the end I lost when my finger got cut (just a small cut, but it hurt like hell) and I jerked back from the pain. He stormed out the door and left. At this point, I don't know if he made it home okay or not. I figure he will call eventually if he did because in his haste he left his CDs here.

So, back to my original question--what is the proper, and successful, way to take someone's keys to keep him from driving drunk? Luckily, all of my close friends are smart enough to know not to do this. At all of my parties in the past they have either come prepared to stay or had a designated driver. Had there been other people left here, maybe the group of us could have kept Elliott here, but I am not even sure about that. He will NEVER be invited back, so I won't have to deal with him again, but, it could happen with someone else, so I need to figure this out. Any help?

Poker Night

2006-01-21T15:44:00.000-05:00

Yippee!!!! I finally won my first game of poker when there was money on the line!!! Pretty freaking cool, I have to say! :) I was getting cards like crazy last night--twice I had three aces, three or four other times I had three of a kinds with lower cards, even winning the game with three sixes. And then I think I had four or five flushes, one straight, and numerous one and two pair hands. It was unreal how well the night went for me--well enough to keep Jim from buying back in when he busted out. Fun times, fun times!

I am hosting my first game here next weekend. With any luck I should have a full table, and possibly a dart game going on with a few other people. I can't wait!!!

Me and the girls

2006-01-17T09:12:00.000-05:00

Me, Tara, Gemma, and Kelly

My perfect man

2006-01-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

I took one of those fun little tests tonight to see who my "celebrity love match" is. (Yes, true boredom has hit.) Can you guess???? PAPA SMURF!!!! It seems that all these years I have been wasting my time on men when I should have been smurfing a smurf. :)

Papa Smurf

He may seem like an odd choice as a celebrity love match. First, he is tiny. Second, he has blue balls. As the patriarch of the Smurfs, he has demonstrated that he is mature, responsible, and horny as hell. Plus, you can take road trips with him and say, 'Are we there yet, Papa Smurf?'

So, it seems my perfect man is a tiny man with blue balls, oh, and non-existent. Should have seem that one coming! :)

Too good to be true...

2006-01-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

...but according to Snopes.com, it is. :)

Bush: One of the worst disasters to hit the U.S.

Enjoy!

Krav Maga

2006-01-10T19:37:00.000-05:00

I went to my first, and unfortunately only, Krav Maga class last night. It is the training that the Israeli defense forces use, and now various law enforcement agencies use it in the United States, the FBI being among them. It is very hands on and meant to teach you real world self defense and to kick your butt into shape extremely fast. It was so cool! They taught us the proper way to punch, and showed us one kick. And then they had us punch and kick the hell out of this pad until we truly couldn't punch or kick any longer. My knuckles are all swollen on my hands! The one "move" they showed us was how to break a choke-hold if someone attacks you from the front and chokes you. To test us on this, they made half of the class stand with their eyes shut while the other half of the class went around choking us. It definitely made you panic just a little bit, not knowing who was going to get you or when they would get you. My friend Kelly from work went with me and I think we both had a good time beating up on the other one! We would both love to join and take the classes (last night was a free intro), but they charge $99/month, plus sign a contract for a year, and we both thought that was pretty excessive, considering we would probably only be able to make two classes a week. They have a full gym and other classes that they offer as well, but those aren't even included in the $99. I also didn't like the times of the classes that I would be able to take, so I guess it all works out. But, for those of you that have money to blow on fitness, trust me, this is an awesome class!

I have to say, I must not be quite as out of shape as I thought also. I figured I wouldn't be able to move today, but I really don't feel too bad at all. My arm muscles are tender and I have some bruises on my hands and wrists that bother me when I touch them, but overall my muscles aren't incredibly sore. Don't get the idea that it wasn't a good workout though--tomorrow will be day two, so I figure that is when I will really feel the pain!

Speaks for itself

2006-01-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Mine Tragedy Editorial Cartoon

WOO-HOO!

2006-01-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

I had such a fun, crazy night on Friday that I am just now recovered enough to post about it! Okay, so maybe I was just too lazy to post during the rest if the weekend. But anyways, fun times!

A couple of girls from work (and one’s boyfriend) and I went out downtown with a girl we met in class last month, Gemma. She turned 21 on December 27th, and this was our first chance to celebrate with her. We all met up at her house in Cockeysville, and then headed out, trusting our lives to Mike behind the wheel. After circling for what seemed like forever looking for street parking, and one miserable attempt at parallel parking, we finally gave in and paid five bucks to park on a lot close to where we were wanting to go. Then off to Magerks we went!

It was such a cool little place! Downstairs there were two bars and upstairs was the dance floor, along with another bar. Not that I am really sure the second floor was meant to be a dance floor—I think it was more a matter of everyone up there was just sort of dancing. They played the best mix of music! One minute you would be dancing it up to Prince or Madonna, the next 50 cent or Gwen Stefani. In other words, you never knew what was going to come on next, so it kept you on your toes!

It was a strange night, of course. I have finally come to terms with the fact that if I am involved, strange things are going to happen. The first oddity of the night came early on, when we asked this guy to take a picture of our group for us. Before he would, Gemma had to take a picture of him with me. Don’t ask me why—he didn’t even continue talking to me at this point (he later came back, but still). He had our picture taken, took the picture of the group, and walked away. Who knows! Eventually we started dancing some with him and his friends, who included this girl named Kelly. She seemed normal enough, but ended up being a bit off. She danced with us for maybe half an hour, and then the rest of the night, she kept bringing random people over to meet us, guys and girls both. She would walk up to us, do introductions, they would dance with us for a few minutes, and then she would be off again, only to come back a little while later with someone new. It was very, very odd and we couldn’t figure out the reasoning behind it, no matter how hard we tried. But, even that wasn’t the strangest thing of the evening, at least not for me. That point came when some guy took my picture. I looked up and there was this camera pointed straight at me, and snap, my picture was taken. The guy who took it then caught my eye and smiled at me, then went back to dancing with the girl he was with. I looked around to see if I was mistaken and maybe he was taking a picture of someone or something else, but nope, nothing else on interest was in my general vicinity. I was taller than most everyone around me, so unless he was shooting for the tops of heads, he had to be aiming at me. Weird, weird, weird. As my coworker, Kelly, so nicely put it, “You are in the spank-bank now!” I don’t even want to think about what my picture is now being subjected to....

There was one point in the night that was very emotional for me. I haven’t posted any about the tragedy in WV last week because I try to keep this blog at least somewhat light hearted. But, right now is an extremely emotional time for West Virginians, no matter where they may be located now. Most everyone in WV has or has had someone they know that works in the mines, and an event like last week is a constant threat that you dare not to think about. The death of those twelve miners is something that I can’t find the words to explain, and my heart goes out to all of their families, and I continue praying for the one man that lived. With that being said, the sad part of the evening came when the DJ played County Roads as a tribute. Even typing now, my eyes are becoming glossy with tears. It touched me to think that all across the country, people are coming together to remember those men and their tragic deaths. And I have to admit, hearing that song here made me just a bit homesick. It is a staple at bars back home, but I can honestly say I never thought I would hear it here, much less hear an entire bar of Baltimoreans singing along. It was a very touching, emotional moment for me, one that won’t soon be forgotten.

The rest of the evening, minus odd occurrences, was spent dancing and drinking, just all in all having a good time. I will definitely be heading back to Magerks sometime in the near future to spend my night dancing away once again! Gotta try to keep myself young somehow!

Strange things...

2006-01-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

A few months back I opened an account with Myspace, because some of my friends have blogs on there, and the only way you can comment on one is if you have an account. Since I joined, I have had quite a few weirdos try to "befriend" me, all of which I have denied. The cool part about it though is that I have gotten back in touch with some people from my past who I had lost touch with. Which now brings me to the strange part. A girl who once seriously threatened my life sent me a friend request. This is a girl who had very detailed plans of how she was going to torture and kill me. And she thinks I would want to get back in touch with her!?!?!?!? I don't care if it has been ten years ago--that is just something that you don't forget. For years my nickname for her has been "Crazy Psycho Bitch." I was floored when I saw the request. At first, I didn't believe it could possibly be her, because, come on, just how crazy would she have to be to do that? But, looking over the rest of the profile, sure enough, it was. Now I am not sure what to do. Maybe she is sane now and just wants to be friends, or maybe she is trying to pad her friend list with as many people as possible. Or maybe, just maybe, she is still nuts and is trying to find me to carry out her plans! Okay, so I doubt that is what it is, but you can't help but feel that way about someone WHO HAS WANTED YOU DEAD. If I accept her request, that lets this psycho back in my life. But if I deny it, and she is even half as nuts as she used to be, it might just piss her off and I definitely don't want to do that! Urgh!

If you were me, what would you do?

My dog is a demon, and other Christmas tales...

2005-12-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I went home to WV and spent the long weekend trying to see all of my family and as many of my friends as possible.

For the trip home my car was packed so tight with gifts that I think it would have popped if I had tried to squeeze one more thing into it. As it was, I barely had room to sit and drive, and poor little Baci had just enough room to lie down in. We hit some traffic between Frederick and Hagerstown, which was expected, but the rest of the way was easy.

For the first time, I spent a good portion of Christmas Eve shopping. I have always been against doing that, but I gave in this year and went. It wasn’t quite as bad as I expected and I did have fun getting to spend some time first with Micki and her kids, then later that day with Tricia. This past Thursday was Tricia’s birthday, so we decided to go out to lunch at Rio Grande to celebrate. Lots of good food and drink later, we went to the register to pay, only to be told, “Thanks! Merry Christmas!” When I asked, “Excuse me,” the guy told us that he was giving all of his favorite customers free lunch that day! . It was so funny—the guy in front of us paid $47 bucks for his meal, but Tricia and I got out for free. It could have something to do with the fact that this guy flirts with me every time I am in there, I don’t know... ;)

My whole family got together at Cindy’s house later that evening to open presents, my goodness did we have a lot! The kids had so much fun, which just increased how much fun all of the adults were having. I ended up with so much stuff, that on the return trip to Maryland, my car was still loaded with as much as the trip to West Virginia! I have tons of new stuff for my bar, including an awesome drink mixer/shot set that is made to look like a chemistry set (complete with biohazard and radioactive labels), two coaster sets, a clock, and three or four wall hangings, a beautiful new sweater (strange enough, the only clothing that I got), a new set of pots and pans for my kitchen, and tons of other stuff that I know I am forgetting. I was still in quite a bit of pain from my ribs that evening and doped up on vicodin, so my mind wasn’t all with me. I really feel lucky to have remembered that much! I figure as I put everything away over the next few days I will be happily surprised once again as I look through all of it. I ended the evening by attending the Christmas Eve service at my church with my dad. It was a beautiful service as always, and it was nice to see my church family again.

Christmas morning I opened my stocking from Santa and then got ready and headed off to church again. I heard about some churches canceling services because it was Christmas morning, and I just have to wonder what they were thinking. I am far from being a religious zealot or anything, but isn’t the whole meaning of Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth, so why would a church decide that opening presents at home was more important that telling the Christmas story? But anyways, on with my day. Once we got home I directed dad in how to prepare the turkey and got it cooking. It has become tradition now for me to cook the turkey (cook one good turkey and you will never live it down), but STILL in pain from my ribs, I couldn’t lift it, so I had to have dad do the work for me. We worked the rest of the afternoon preparing a delicious Christmas dinner, then joined around the table and made complete pigs of ourselves! Micki and her family weren’t with us for dinner, but came over later to spend the rest of the evening with us, and we celebrated my aunt’s birthday. The only bad mark on the day was when my aunt decided to go in and pet Baci, who was locked in a bedroom to keep her away from the kids. I don’t know exactly what happened, but somehow Izzy ended up in there as well and before it was all over and done with, Baci had bit him and left a nasty gash on one of his fingers. I felt so terrible, the little guy screaming and crying, not wanting anyone to touch his hand. Chris held him and comforted him while I got a washcloth and cleaned it up. The poor little thing didn’t even want me to touch it to put a band-aid on it, and he LOVES having a band-aid for anything. As of today, it is all irritated and swollen, so Cindy is awaiting a call from the doctor to see if she needs to take him in, and I am awaiting a call from Cindy to see if the doctor wants my dog put down. With any luck, since she is a family dog and it was a minor bite, nothing will have to be reported. Wish me luck!

Monday I went out to lunch with one of my old coworkers, Carla. We spent two hours trying to catch up, but I think we could have spent the whole day. I didn’t have as much luck at the steak house as I did with Tricia at Rio Grande—Carla and I had to actually pay for our meals. That evening my family and I celebrated my dad’s birthday with dinner and cake and ice cream afterwards. Lots and lots of good food all weekend long! I guess that is one perk of having so many birthdays to celebrate right at Christmas! :)

Then yesterday I made the long trek back home to Maryland, but not before hitting Mi Pueblito for one last bit of good food! I got back here about 8:30 last night and spent the next half hour unloading everything from my car. And now the clean up and put away part of Christmas begins...with any luck, I just might be done with it before the New Year!

I hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as I did!!! Now onto New Year’s! I am really thinking I might just stay in this year, see if I can’t rest up some and maybe, just MAYBE, get over this whole rib thing and start feeling better. It has been a month now, and that is more than long enough! Anyone got any good plans for New Year’s Eve? If I don’t post again before then, have a safe and happy one!

Party time!

2005-12-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

Long time, no post. Sorry for that!

I had an amazing weekend! First, Shawn came for a visit Friday night, and as my loyal readers know, I always love getting to see him. We stayed in for the evening, and had a wonderful night. 'Nuff said. ;)

Then on Saturday I hosted my first party here in B-more and it was a resounding success! The Kabuki Rodeo impressed the hell out of everyone! I had I think 10, maybe 12 people show up and we spent the evening and well into the night drinking it up and having a great time. I got presents also, so that always makes for a good night--a few bottles of liquor, one bottle of wine, and two really cool pictures for the bar. I have met some really great people since I moved here, and they are quickly becoming some of my closest friends. In fact, everyone that was at the party was someone that I have met since my move. Most of the party we spent talking, eating, and drinking, but it just wouldn't be one of my parties unless something crazy happened. So, the night ended with one of the guys stripping for us, to "I Will Survive." Funny, funny stuff--a skinny, pasty white guy, that I had just met, (friend of a friend) running around my house in his boxers. Thank goodness he stopped there! He did moon us, but I, as I am sure everyone else at the party would agree, had seen more than we ever wanted! Interesting times, interesting times....

Unfortunately though, that was the end to my wonderful weekend. :( One of the reasons I haven't posted recently is that I have had a terrible cold and just truly felt like crap. Since Thanksgiving. Anyways, on Friday a pain started in the left side of my chest, but I really didn't pay too much attention to it. It got a little worse on Saturday, but I was so busy with the party, I didn't really worry too much still. Well, Sunday when I started coughing up blood and could barely get out of bed because of the pain, I decided that I had better get my butt to a doctor! He checked me over, did x-rays and told me that I have acute bronchitis. Luckily it isn't pneumonia, but it could still be a fractured rib. Honestly, I am beginning to think that one of my ribs has completely broken off and is floating around in there stabbing me, torturing me until I slowly die, as much pain as I am in. I have a high tolerance for pain, and this is seriously kicking my ass! Never in my life can I remember hurting like this, not even after knee surgery. Anyways, he put me on an antibiotic and vicodin. To give you an idea about the pain--the vicodin isn't touching it. Yep, it's THAT BAD! With any luck I will start feeling better in a day or two, but right now, I am wondering if I will make it that long. So, keep your fingers crossed for me that I live through this!

I think that is about all for now. Even if the vicodin doesn't stop the pain, it does make me loopy and knock me out, so I think I am going to go lay down for a bit.

If I don't get around to posting again soon--HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Having fun now!

2005-11-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks! I have to still occasionally say that just to remember my roots. :) Baltimore and myself are getting along well. I am slowly corrupting the people I work with--my accent has already rubbed off on one girl! And they thought that I would pick up theirs....

I have been having some fun here lately. For Halloween, Christina, Crescent, and I went out with their men to this little tapas/wine bar called The Iron Bridge. It was a very cool little place with great food and wine. But, the best part of the evening is that it was Halloween, thus time to let the whores out!!! :) Okay, so I was a belly dancer, but doesn't that conjure up images of whores in most men's minds? Christina and Crescent were both typical whores--short, tight black skirts and skimpy, tight tops. We got lots of crazy looks, but it was Halloween, so we were able to get away with it!

Right now I am waiting on my friends from work to get off and then we are heading downtown for dinner and who knows what else. There are four of us newbies going, the four girls, so I am sure we will have a great time no matter what we get into. It is funny, we all came from very different backgrounds and are all different ages, from 22-35, but we all get along great. Looks like Tara is finished, so gotta get....time to go corrupt then in worse ways than just my accent! ;)

2005-11-02T07:52:00.000-05:00

I am smarter than my sister!!! And yes, the lower the number, the smarter you are. :)

A funny for you

2005-11-02T07:28:00.000-05:00

1- Go to Google
2- Type in the word "Failure"
3- Instead of clicking "Google Search," click "I'm Feeling Lucky."
4- Giggle
5- Spread the word before the people at Google "fix" it.

Enjoy!

And the answer is....

2005-11-01T15:10:00.000-05:00

...the fear of long words. :) Isn't that ironic? Thanks to those of you who left comments on the last post! If you'd like to see that I am not lying, go here, here, here, or here. There are many more links to definitions of the word, but I think those are enough to convince you that I am telling the truth!

A question for you...

2005-10-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

What is hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia a fear of? Post your guesses in the comments. And no cheating--just guess, don't look it up yet!

Okay, okay, here's an update!!!

2005-10-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

I have had multiple people “fuss” at me (read: bug the hell out of me) about not posting recently, so here you go.

Baltimore is treating me well so far. I still hate apartment living, but I think I can make it through the next 320 days. Yes, I am counting the days. Figure it out for yourself—I will be able to move out September 2, 2006.

I am finally getting some work to do at my job, so that makes it a little easier to pass the day. In fact, this week I get to work my first overtime. Woo-hoo! I will be working 7-3:30 on Thursday, go home and let Baci out, then head back here by 6:00 that evening to work until 6:00 Friday morning. Then it is my understanding that I am more than welcome to continue working on Friday so that I will get the full 12 hours of overtime. Frankly, I think I will die if I don’t go home and go to bed. Another option is to work 6 pm to 12 am overtime, then sign in at 12 am and work until 8:30 to complete my normal shift. As much as I would like to have the extra money, I think this is likely the option that I am going to take. Sleep is more important to me than money. Especially since I am headed to Columbus on Friday to see everyone! Yippee!

I am really looking forward to Ren-fest this year. I am so excited to see what everyone came up with for their costumes. Unfortunately, I will be wearing mine from a few Halloweens ago. I had plans to make a new dress, but then I had to go and get this new job and move and all that, and it just didn’t happen. I will be adding a lovely purple cloak as a jacket of sorts to it though. If we do the whole dress up thing again next year, I will be working on a new one next summer. I already have multiple patterns to choose from—bought them on sale the other day, just in case. They are all so pretty; it will be hard to choose which one to use!

I have made two trips back to WV since my move—one a few weeks ago and one this past weekend. It is so wonderful to see my family again, especially those kids. Izzy is really starting to say a lot now, and on Saturday when I saw him he grabbed my legs and gave me a huge hug and said, “I love you!” Well, it still sounds more like “iwuvwou” but you could tell what he was meaning. It was so amazing—just makes your heart melt. And so far Sophie still remembers me, smiling really big the second that she sees me. And I swear she was hugging and kissing me! I don’t know if she really knows what she is doing, but hey, I will take what I can get. As for Noah and Maddie, I didn’t get to see them this past weekend, so I will probably have to wait until Thanksgiving to get my big hugs from them. BTW Micki, I know it was your 10th anniversary and all, but you still suck for taking the kids with you. : )

Oh, almost forgot—back to the essence of this blog. I had a date last week. Don’t get excited, it isn’t going anywhere. It was a guy (my last try with online dating) that I met on match. Let me just tell you, if you are into online dating and the person’s pictures are blurred, GET A GOOD PICTURE BEFORE MEETING THEM!!! I can’t help but think this guy blurred all of his pictures on purpose. This guy had a SERIOUS resemblance to a monkey! Now, I am not someone who has to have a greek god or anything like that, in fact, I am perfectly happy with average. But, I have to be able to look at my date and have something other than “how am I going to keep this guy from trying to kiss me at the end of the night” going through my mind. Every time I thought about him trying to kiss me, I truly felt revolted. But, me being the nice person that I am, I gave him a chance to impress me over dinner and a walk around Inner Harbor, to see if his personality would be so wonderful that it might win me over. All hope was lost when he had to go to the bathroom. Men, please listen to me. If you are out on a date with a woman that you are obviously interested in, DO NOT repeatedly keep saying that you have to “go potty.” This phrase only works if you are talking to a two year old or a dog. Trust me; it WILL NOT impress the woman you are with. If you slip and say it once, maybe even twice, you can play it off that you were being cute. But when the word “potty” comes out of you mouth ten or more times in a span of maybe five minutes, trust me, the night is over. To be honest, I would rather he had said he had to go take a whiz or needed to piss like a racehorse; at least one of those would have sounded like something that you expect to hear out of a 32 year old man’s mouth! So, my first try at dating in Baltimore, not so great. But, I haven’t given up hope! There is someone out there for me! He may be a little bit shorter than me, bald, and like to occasionally grab men’s crotches, but he is out there! (Love ya Shawn!)

Anyways, that is about it for now. My place still pretty much looks like a hurricane has hit it, but eventually I will have everything packed neatly away again. Not this evening though, I have to do laundry. Can’t wait, really.

Just an update--Some bitching, but keep reading, I am still happy

2005-09-29T19:44:00.000-05:00

I truly hate apartment living. I'd forgot just how much. Right now, and for the last hour, I have been sitting on my bed, listening to my neighbor's music. And I can't tell you how many times I have had to listen to the neighbors above me have sex. One year, and I am out of here. I don't care if I have to live on bread crumbs and water, I will have a place of my own next year. Whether I pay an exorbant amount to rent a house or I buy, I WILL have a single family dwelling again. Right now I can't decide which is worse--my old house with mold and pest (mice, bugs, spiders, etc.) infestation, but nice and quiet, or here with noise galore, but so far no serious pest problems (some crickets) or mold. I do not function well in group housing, that is just all there is to it.

And to continue my little bitch fest, I am so sick of comment spam. So I am turning on word verification. I would love to be able to get my hands on spammers just for a few minutes, with no repercussions for what I might do to them. I really wonder how their lives can be THAT boring that they sit around creating programs/malware/spyware to spam people. Come on people, seriously, GET A LIFE!

But now, onto a happy note. I am occasionally getting work now, so things are slightly more interesting. Still very, very slow. I also know what projects I am going to be working on. Two of them are pretty major, one short term (ending in November if all goes well) and one long term (years). Looking at the things they assigned me to, I worry even more that I won't be able to live up to their expectations. I have never had a job where I have been so highly praised, especially not before I have actually done any work! It is nice, but scary at the same time.

I bought the ultrasonic bark thingy for Baci--works well when I manually push the button, but for some reason it doesn't recognize her bark, so it won't work in the automatic mode. Now I am back to square one, and just not sure what I am going to do. I hate the thought of shocking her, even a few times, but I am seriously thinking it is the route I am going to have to take. Of course, I guess I could just let her bark and return the favor of annoying the hell out of my neighbors. If it didn't annoy me so much, I just might be tempted to do that. :) I can say, this is the first time I have heard the neighbors beside me, so with any luck, it is just a fluke. I just hope that they turn it off soon so I can go to bed!

Another happy note--got to see Christina and Rose yesterday. Christina's boyfriend is a chef for a new restaurant that is opening in DC. Last night they had pre-opening evening that we went to. It was pretty cool. We had a reason to get all dressed up and then we had a wonderful dinner. We had a BBQ chicken flatbread thingy for an appetizer, salads, steaks, chicken, and pasta for dinner, and they even gave us this chocolate thing for dessert. It was all so delicious! Colin has done a great job training his chefs!And best of all--it was all free! :) All we had to pay for was our bottle of wine. And of course we tipped the waiter well; he did a really good job and he was really cute, so he deserved it. ;) Too bad he has a girlfriend and he lives in Cleveland--just here for maybe a month to help get the place open. We gave him all kinds of ideas on ways to make his girlfriend just absolutely adore him, so he treated us really well. :)

That is about it for now.

All moved in!

2005-09-19T19:21:00.000-05:00

I bet you guys thought I was gone forever, didn't you???

I am back though, and now officially a Baltimoron. ;) I moved here on September 3rd, with the help of my parents and both of my sisters and their hubbies. My new place is nice enough, nothing spectacular, but nice. I am still working on finishing up the bedroom, and then I will really feel like I live here. Cindy stayed my first week with me, helping me to unpack, or I am sure I would still be completely living out of boxes. Christina came by the other day and said the place looks like something out of a magazine, so I guess we must have done something right when we were arranging things. Cindy took some digital pictures that I planned on posting, but on her trip home her camera got wet and so far she hasn't been able to see if the memory card survived or not. If not, then eventually I plan on getting another digital camera and I will get some pictures myself.

Work is going well, but a little boring. The guy who was supposed to be my supervisor got a promotion, effective the same day that I started. There is a guy acting in his position until they get it filled, but at the moment, nobody really knows what to do with me, or the other two new IHs that came on staff two weeks before me. Or, for that matter, the other two that are coming in the next three weeks. So, shortly there will be fine of us without a clue as to what we are here for. But hey, I am making the big bucks now, so I am not going to complain. I have done a few interesting things, and I have some training later this week, so I guess in time things will pick up. Everyone keeps apologizing for the lack of work. It isn't their fault though--just a bad bit of timing. For the most part I spend my days reading health and safety programs and surfing the new employee website. I think I have read everything twice now. :) Well, it really isn't that bad--I've only read a few things twice. On Thursday I get to go through confined space training and then on Friday I get to go out to a mobile shoe van and pick out my new safety shoes. I can only imagine what this thing looks like--a shoe store on wheels. Should be interesting!

Things for the most part are going well. Baci is loving going for walks everyday. And I am enjoying it too, for now. We haven't had a rainy day yet since I have been here, so I am sure I won't enjoy it nearly so much then, nor once it gets cold and I have snow up to my behind to walk through. That might be kind of enjoyable, seeing Baci try to make it through feet of snow. :) The biggest problem we are having right now is her barking. SHE IS DRIVING ME INSANE!!! In two weeks time, you would think that she would have gotten used to the noises at least. But no, every single noise, every person that walks by the patio doors, she goes nuts. I truly envisioned myself kicking her across the room tonight, as if she were a football, with the patio doors being the goalpost. Only in my sick little world, she just kind of goes thud against the glass, rather than passing through it. See, I am not kidding when I say she is driving me insane! But to those of you who know her, don't even try to tell me that you guys haven't thought of booting her across the room on more than one occasion... :) To save what tiny bit of sanity I still have (if any), and to keep her from becoming a grease mark on the patio door, I finally picked her up and locked her in the bathroom until she quit barking, twice. And now she is blocked so that she can't get out of my bedroom. I feel so mean doing that, but I am at my wit's end trying to figure out what to do. I think tomorrow I am going to go buy one of the ultrasonic no-bark devices and see if that will work for her. I was researching it tonight, and it seems more humane than a collar that shocks her. Wish me luck. Her too for that matter. If it doesn't work I swear I am going to go out and buy the strongest shock collar I can find and see then if she has even one tiny little brain cell that can learn barking is BAD.

Well, I think that is about it. I know, nothing great and exciting, but that is life. Hope everyone is doing great and I can't wait until I start getting some company!

Going away...

2005-08-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

I just got home from my going away party! It was an absolutely wonderful evening, but I think I am going to hold off on the details. I have been typing for fifteen minutes now, and just keep crying my eyes out every time I start to try to put things into words. And I have a feeling that I am being incoherent at the moment anyhow. So, I will try tomorrow when I can hopefully have slightly better control over my emotions! :)

I've got to quit taking quizzes...

2005-08-18T10:14:00.000-05:00

congratulations. you are the kiss my ass happy
bunny. You don't care about anyone or anything.
You must be so proud

which happy bunny are you?

Maybe this blog should be "The SINFUL Life"

2005-08-17T12:12:00.000-05:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Moderate
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's" Inferno Hell Test

Couldn't resist.... :)

2005-08-15T13:50:00.000-05:00

Your Boobies' Names Are: Betty and Veronica

Get your own Boobie Names

And so the men won't feel left out: Get your own Penis Name

2005-08-15T13:47:00.000-05:00

My Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Dixie

15% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

BALTIMORE, HERE I COME!

2005-07-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

Now, I can really say that! It is official, I am moving to Baltimore! They called today with another offer, still not what I asked for. Rather, IT WAS MORE!!! I about fell to the floor. Not only did they offer more money, the reason they offered more is that they raised the offer to a higher GS level. If you know about the federal government then you understand that, if not, sorry, but I am not going to try to explain it. :) Let's just say that is a good thing. :) Anyways, my start date is September 12th, so I will likely move that first weekend in September. Woo-hoo, nothing like moving over Labor Day weekend! And my niece's birthday, eek. What a way to say happy birthday! But, I am not going to think about that right now--I have time to figure all of that out. Not much time, but enough that I don't have to figure it out tonight!

In other news, daddy unfortunately did not win the backyard makeover. :( Thanks to everyone who voted though--it was worth a shot!

It worked!!!!

2005-07-28T21:44:00.000-05:00

Or, at least it seems to have worked. :) I got another call today from the job in Baltimore, this time from my potential boss. I won't go into all the details of the conversation, but it was all good. :) They really want to hire me, and made a better offer. It still wasn't quite what I wanted, so I countered with a little bit higher. And he actually said he would try to get it!!!! I was so excited that I seriously think my head was about to explode! I have never done any real negotiating, and was sick just thinking about it, but it looks like it will pay off for me this time! Nothing is official yet, but I am about 99% certain that I will accept whatever they come back with. So, Baltimore, HERE I COME! :)

Please tell me I made the right decision!

2005-07-26T16:19:00.000-05:00

I finally received the call I have been waiting almost four weeks for. I was offered the job in Baltimore! But (does good news ever follow the word but?), I turned them down. :( They offered me the absolute lowest pay that they are hiring at, and it was beneath what I set as my limit. I tried to negotiate a higher salary, and they said that they only way it may be possible to get a higher salary is if I turned down their initial offer. So, I refused it and told them that I hope to hear from them again soon with another offer. I so hope that they will call and offer more because I really want this job. But, it just wasn't a financially wise decision to move at what they were offering. So, keep your fingers crossed for me that they will call back and offer at a minimum some sort of recruitment bonus!

Help out my dad!

2005-07-20T15:01:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Cindy and I entered nominated dad to win a backyard makeover from a local radio station. He is one of their five finalists, and now they are taking votes to decide the winner. So, I want everyone I know to go vote for dad! If you'd like to see the entries, go here. Scroll down and click "Vote" and it will bring up an e-mail window. Put "2" in the subject line and hit send--that is all you have to do. Or, I guess it is fine to just send an e-mail directly from this site by clicking here. Remember to put the "2" in the subject line! However you do it, just please send them an e-mail and vote for dad before Friday! Thanks!

I'm suffering from empty nest syndrome

2005-07-12T20:05:00.000-05:00

No, seriously. My nest is now empty. What nest do I speak of? The bird's nest that is on my front porch, in the corner of the awning. I have had birds in it pretty much non-stop since last summer--even had one live there this winter--but it is now empty. I did catch some pictures before "my" babies left though.

Here is one of my momma bird. They are House Finches.

And these are "my" babies.

Don't you love the feathers sticking out on each side of his head? There were actually three of them, but you can only really see the two. If you look closely to the right of the picture, you just can see the third one's head. He was camera shy, and the best shot I got of him was his tail feathers.

All three of "my" babies.

These pictures were taken the day before they left the nest. I was trying to get a picture of momma feeding them, but never got the shot. And daddy was just being stubborn--I tried on multiple days to get a picture of him, and as soon as I would get my camera, he was gone. I guess the camera shy baby took after him.

I actually got to see one of the babies leave the nest--the one in the center of baby pictures. He was a camera hog, and not the least bit scared of me, so I have lots of pictures of him. I came in the day after these pictures and it was like he had been waiting for me. He looked straight at me, squawked a bit, almost like he was saying goodbye, and out of the nest he jumped. With me standing right there, watching every move! It took him just a second to steady himself, but then off he flew. The other two were still in the nest, perched on the edge, but by the time I made it in and got my camera, they both had flown away also.

So, I guess it was a wonderful, but very sad day for me. I had watched as mommy and daddy perfected the nest, laid their tiny eggs, hatched them and helped "my" babies grow and leave home. The mommy and daddy birds had even gotten used to me being on my porch and thought nothing of flying in and out of the nest, feeding the babies while I sat and watched. The daddy had to squawk at me occasionally, but I never kept him away.

And now they are gone, even mommy and daddy. And my nest sits empty.

My butt hurts and other tidbits of info from my weekend....

2005-07-10T19:29:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a wonderful weekend at Cass and Snowshoe!

Tricia and I drove up Friday evening to meet her hubby and one of his friends (they’d gone up early and spent the day biking) at one of the cottages at Cass. Ours looked like someone has recently put a lot of time into redecorating—new paint on the walls, matching lampshades and curtain tiebacks that coordinated with the curtains, pillows, and wall hangings, little things like that—all done to make it very cozy and welcoming. We had a front porch with a swing and grill, and a back porch that was nice for coolers and hanging out on the railing, trying to not fall off. And there was this gorgeous field beside the house where we laid out and fell asleep under the stars both nights.

Friday night we decided to stay “home” for the evening. Tricia and I didn’t get there until something after seven, and they guys had been biking all day, so we figured we would just take it easy. We had a few beers, grilled up some brats for dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening hanging out on the porches sipping some “Crystals.” For lack of knowing what to call them, that was the name they got since I was the mix master for the night. It was this wonderful concoction of Stoli Vanil Vodka and orange juice, with a splash of cranberry on top. The night sky was clear and full of stars, so we found a blanket and went out in the field to star gaze. It was amazing how many more stars we could see without the lights of the cities around here! At some point we finally woke up and went in the house to actually go to bed.

Our day on Saturday began with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs with a dash of cayenne pepper and lots of cheddar cheese accompanied by the left over brats from the night before, cut up and sautéed with peppers and onions. As with the beach trip in April, the guys did all the cooking and did a wonderful job with it! After breakfast, John went to meet some friends at Snowshoe and do some crazy downhill biking that I can’t ever imagine trying. They had to have full protective gear on—full face helmets, chest and shoulder protectors, full arm and leg pads—you name it, they wore it. He was doing things like riding off of ten foot drops and stuff like that—you know, the kind of stuff that if you mess up, you die. This was my first time mountain biking and Tricia has only been a few times, so Joe chose a nice easy trail for the three of us to do. The two of them had their own bikes, but I had to rent one. After finally getting one that would work, we drove to Durbin to the West Fork Trail. It is actually 23 miles long, but we only did 9, maybe 10 miles of it. Trust me—if you have never done any biking, that is plenty for your first try! Click here and you can see a map of the trail. We planned on starting at the May trailhead, but never really found it, so we started somewhere near it and rode into Durbin.

The view on the trail was breathtaking, but I forgot to take a camera this time, so you will just have to take my word for it. The trail follows alongside the Greenbrier River and it was so peaceful to listen to the water falling across the rocks. It was overgrown most of the way and needed some maintenance, but was nice nonetheless. At some points we were riding through daises that were so tall they were hitting my knees! It was pretty, but made riding interesting at times. There was even one place where a tree had recently fallen across the trail and we had to stop and carry out bikes across. There was one place, probably about half way on our ride, where there were rocks leading into the river. Had we known about it, we would have had swimsuits and a picnic lunch! It would have been the perfect place to jump in the river and cool off, then have a sandwich to refuel for the rest of the trip. I was pretty tempted to jump in fully clothed, but couldn’t convince Tricia and Joe. Well, I really think if I had pressed, I might have been able to, but decided against it. :)

Shortly after that break, I had my first bike wreck and received my first biking injury! Woo-hoo—I’m a real biker now! We were riding along and this deer ran right out in front of me! In avoiding it, I almost ran off the side of the hill and into the river. Still trying to regain control of my bike, I hit this big rock in the middle of the path, and that was it—I went down and skinned my arm. Okay, so maybe the real story is that we were crossing a bridge and I was looking at the pretty rocks in the river and ran into the side of the bridge and skinned my arm. And maybe I am not so much a real biker as I am an idiot. But, isn’t the first story WAY more interesting!?!?!? ;) Your bike truly goes wherever your eyes go, so I guess I can be thankful that the bridge had sides built up on it, or I really would have ended up in the river! I’m glad I didn’t drive into the river, but man of man, does my arm hurt!

Anyways, we finished the trail and ended up back in Durbin. Joe rode back up the trail to retrieve his truck, while Tricia and I rode into town and got nice cool drinks and ice cream. He volunteered—we really aren’t that mean! He rides all the time, so doing another nine miles on pretty much flat terrain wasn’t anything to him. In fact, today he is doing a 70 mile bike ride, from Cass, up the mountain to Snowshoe, some back-road riding around there, and then back to Cass. Eighteen miles in one day was a cinch for him. He came back with his truck, picked us up, and we headed back to the cottage to get cleaned up and then spent the evening at Snowshoe.

John had met an interesting couple during his ride, so when we got to Snowshoe, we met up with the three of them. We went to where they had been doing the chili cook-off, but we were too late to get any—everyone had packed up and left. So, we went into the village and watched the last few minutes of Buffo the clown’s show. Looking at him, I can see why some people are scared of clowns! The guy had a mohawk and bulging muscles, and only a small circle of his face was painted—not exactly what you think of when you think “clown.” After that we went to the Bistro for some drinks and munchies. During dinner, John kept egging on an argument between his new friends, and at the end of dinner they just left! Not even a goodbye! It was kind of funny actually. The guy had spent the day out biking with John and some girls, while his girlfriend sat at home by herself. Now, at first she wasn’t really mad, and was just teasing with her boyfriend about how ticked she was. She was a little miffed because of being home alone for so long, but not really mad. The boyfriend was extraordinarily drunk though, and kept saying stupid things so that by the end of dinner he had dug himself a hole so deep I am not so sure he was ever getting out of it. Entertainment for dinner, I guess. After that, we come back to the cottage and fell asleep under the stars again.

Eventually we did make it into the house and into beds again last night, to wake up very early this morning. Joe had to call his friends about his ride at seven, so his alarm went off at 6:30, and woke us all up. We had another wonderful breakfast of cinnamon rolls and sticky buns from Meck’s Bakery, with a side of omelet-like stuff. I think the initial plan was for it to be an omelet, but it didn’t quite make it. It was a mixture of black beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, eggs, and I am not even sure what else, topped with salsa. Yeah, if you are thinking there is no way that I would eat something like that, you are right. My breakfast consisted of some of the best cinnamon rolls around—if you are ever in the area of Cass/Snowshoe, you have to get some Meck’s cinnamon rolls! Joe left then for his ride, John headed to Snowshoe for another death-defying ride, and Tricia and I went to Greenbank to tour the National Radio Observatory before heading home. It was a very neat tour; definitely one that you should take should you ever get the chance. They have one dish there that has 2.3 acres of surface area and you could fit a football field on with ease! We would like to have spent more time there, but had to hit the road so that we could free their dog from the kennel before it closed today.

That is my weekend, in a very big nutshell. Before anyone asks, yes, my butt is sore from riding. What do you expect? :)

Good, yet scary news

2005-06-30T20:38:00.000-05:00

I have a second interview tomorrow for the job in Baltimore! And they want my references! EEK!

I am so excited on one hand at the thought of moving there, but terrified on the other. I have lived in WV my entire life, so it is scary to think about leaving behind everything that I know. At the same time I am thrilled to think of all the new things I will be able to do and experience if I move. I guess I am just torn. If they offer me the job, and enough money, I have decided I will take it though, and just deal with my nerves at that time. Not that money is everything, but, I would be an idiot to try to survive in Baltimore on my current salary, so it will have to be a considerable pay raise for it to make sense to move. There is just so much going on in my mind right now!

Anyways, wish me luck! I need it, if for no other reason than to keep me sane!

Shawn and Crystal aka Fred and Ginger!

2005-06-26T15:03:00.000-05:00

I just got back from watching Land of the Dead, and let me tell you, that is ONE GORY movie! I definitely enjoyed it, but there were times that my face was buried in Shawn’s shoulder with me telling him to tell me when it was over! I felt like such a girl!!! lol What I am about to write is a little bit of a spoiler, one of shock value, so skip to the next paragraph if you plan to see it and want to get the full shock value of the scene! In one scene a zombie rips a girl’s navel ring out and you get to watch the blood pool in her belly button. That really got me since my belly is pierced—kind of how all men groan when a man takes a hit to the groin in a movie. That was one scene where the face went buried—I couldn’t stand to watch it—it hurt so bad!!! I foresee nightmares in my near future….

Anyways, good flick, you should see it. The movie was not the best part of my weekend though, far from it. Saturday night Shawn took me out dancing, and we had such an amazing evening! He came over about a half hour early and gave me a crash course in ballroom dancing, and then off to Huntington we went. Just as we figured, we were the only young people there, but I think that made us all that more popular. The older people just loved us and kept giving us pointers! The first few dances were kind of rough, but we still had a good time. Eventually I just decided to go with it and not really pay attention to what I was doing and I actually did quite a bit better after that. We did the cha-cha, tango, swing, rumba, waltz, foxtrot, and probably more that I don’t remember. I even got to where I was doing a decent job on spins and such—nothing too advanced, but still, I was doing them and not stomping his toes. I think my favorite was the rumba or the tango. I could see the tango being an incredibly fun dance if you were really good at it. At one point after we started doing a little bit better, Shawn said to the people sitting with us, “I think we do better when we are just screwing around.” You should have seen them laugh! There was one man that took a liking to us and took me out dancing a couple of times and tried to teach both of us a couple of things. I had this huge smile on my face all evening, and laughed and giggled non-stop; more than a couple of the ladies told me I looked like I must be having a great time. And I was! We have definitely got to go back sometime. One lady that lives near me gave me her number and told me I could borrow some tapes of hers to practice with, so I am going to give her a call this week. Next time we go out, I am going to look like a pro!

After the dance was over we thought about hitting the club on the river in Huntington, but decided it was too hot, so we came on home. After, as Shawn so elegantly put it, “screwing around” all evening, we finally made it to bed at almost 5:30 this morning! Now that I think about it, I am surprised I stayed awake during the movie today. We were up at about 9:30 to shower and head out to breakfast. So, we got somewhere between three and four hours of really bad sleep—my AC is on the fritz, so my house it too hot to sleep comfortably. With any luck, that will be taken care of soon!

Oh, oh—almost forgot something about Saturday evening! For some reason there were fireworks in Huntington last night. So, during one of the DJs breaks, we got to go outside and watch fireworks! It was truly a perfect evening; dancing, fireworks, drinks... :) I have to tell you Shawn; that was one of the best dates I have had in a very long time! The whole night was fabulous, and I hope we get to do it again sometime. ;)

Now I don’t mean to critique you, but….

2005-06-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

It doesn’t matter what you say after these words, it is NOT going to go well. Especially if you are on a date with a person that you would really like to see again. And, if you are going to say something like that, yes, you DO mean to critique the other person--giving a disclaimer like that only prepares the other person to get pissed at you!

Yet, last night on my date, the guy felt it necessary to say those exact words. Things had been going well up to that point, but after that, it was all downhill.

You might ask, why would he be so dumb as to say something like that? In his opinion, I don’t know how to flirt. I know, I know—for those of you who know me well, that may come as quite a shock to you. And for those of you who don’t know me, a little background—I am such a huge flirt, that it has been said I would flirt with a lamppost. But this guy not only decided that I didn’t know how to flirt, he felt he needed to bring it up in the middle of our date and ask me to try harder!

Other than that, we had a wonderful evening. We laughed non-stop, had lots in common and never had a problem with conversation. And if this had been the first time he had done something like this, I might have forgiven it. But this was not the first time he felt the need to critique me about something. Always before it was on instant messenger though and I figured I might be taking things wrong, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and went ahead and agreed to meet him in person. If he could have just kept his mouth shut, things would have ended on a much better note, and he quite possibly would have gotten a yes when he asked if I would see him again. Instead, I decided that he is not the kind of guy I want in my life and I told him that I didn’t see things going any further with us, and therefore I had to say no to another date.

What I didn’t tell him is that I see him as the type of guy who belittles a woman to the point that she feels she had better do everything in her power to hold onto him, because she no longer feels she is worth enough to be able to find another guy. Boy, did he choose the wrong girl to try that with! I fully feel that I deserve the type of guy who will treat me with respect and will only make me feel better about myself—never worse. And I refuse to settle for less.

So, a word of advice to you single people out there. Never, EVER utter the words, “Now I don’t mean to critique you, but,” when you are on a date, ESPECIALLY not on a first date. IT WILL NOT END WELL! The only possible reason I can think of to say something like that is if you want to get rid of the other person—you know, the kind that clings and won’t take the hint that you aren’t interested. In that situation, those words just might come in handy.

So, to sum it up, I had a good time on the date, but he is definitely not someone I could ever see myself dating.

Onto other, much better, news...Shawn is coming for a visit this weekend! Can’t wait to see you babe! We might try to go out ballroom dancing, if we can find a place. So, if anyone knows of somewhere in or near Charleston, WV to go dancing, please leave me a comment! Thanks!

I just had a job interview!!!

2005-06-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

I finally had a bite with my resume. I just finished a phone interview for a federal job in Baltimore, MD. I am so excited! It seems to have gone well; even the interviewer stated that it “went very well” and said that he would be in touch soon. I am terrified by the thought of moving away, but at the same time, it completely thrills me! They are going to be conducting interviews tomorrow as well as Monday and Tuesday of next week. Hopefully I will hear something shortly thereafter! I will let you know!

Oh, I still have my date tonight. He ticked me off the other evening when we were talking online, so I am not really looking forward to it now. But, I figure I will go have a beer and see if he isn’t so annoying in person. I will post on that later also!

One other thing...

2005-06-14T15:06:00.000-05:00

Oh, one thing I forgot to put in my last post! I am no longer a redhead. I am now back to being a brunette. A very, very dark brunette, kind of a dark chocolate like color. At least for now--who knows what it will be a month or two from now! :)

I'm not dead yet!

2005-06-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

I am getting really bad with this updating thing, aren’t I? Let’s see…what has happened over the last few weeks…

For Memorial Day weekend, I spent that Sunday at a neighbor’s cookout. I was a bit nervous heading down there, but ended up having a really good time. We had some volleyball and badminton games going on most of the day and horseshoes pretty much all day. And an enormous amount of food—everything you could want at a picnic. Then on that Monday I hosted my own cookout, a small, but enjoyable one. Still had an insane amount of food for the amount of people I invited, but it was so good, I don’t think anyone was complaining. I was up until 2:00 am getting things ready—it was a miracle I didn’t fall asleep in my deviled eggs!

I then spent the first weekend of June traveling the road and partying my butt off. On Friday I traveled to Columbus to celebrate my friend Debbie’s 21st birthday with her. It was such a great evening. We were staying and Chris and Shawn’s place, so of course they were there, as well as Debbie and Kevin, Tricia, Ken, Christina, and me. It is always so much fun to get to see everyone! We went to dinner at a little pub called the Old Bag of Nails, if I remember right. Had a good steak and finally came to the conclusion that I like a steak cooked medium well now instead of well done. I never thought I would say that, but ‘tis true. We then went back to Chris and Shawn’s for a while, where the drinking began. We started with very strong cosmopolitans and once us girls were good and tipsy we headed to Fados. Many, many shots and a few mixed drinks later, the birthday girl couldn’t hold any more, and ended up puking on the floor of the bar. Shortly thereafter, we were asked to leave. I had never been kicked out of a bar before, but I thought it was freaking hilarious that it happened! It was about 1:30 in the morning and all of the bars were closing anyways, so we went back home. Finally at about 4:00, we gave up and went to bed. I am shocked to say that I drank drink for drink with the birthday girl and did not get sick! I of course ended up sleeping in Shawn’s bed with him, and the next morning he was up and talking to Sean online when he said, “I have a woman in my bed!” To which Sean’s reply was, “Hi, Crystal.” Yep, I sleep with Shawn too often. But I am not going to stop!!!!! You can’t make me!!!! :)

After everyone slowly getting up and showered we went to eat at Red Robin, and I unfortunately had to leave to come back to Huntington. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to Saturday night in Huntington—a bachelorette party!!! For the night, my name was Mounds ‘O Plenty. I felt I fell short of the name in the chest area, so I put the name badge on my butt—figured there was more than mounds ‘o plenty back there! We all had buttons with various adjectives on them also, mine being sexy flirt. We did some drinking and eating at the hotel, then headed to a bar on a barge on the river, called Holderby’s, I think. I would give details of the evening, but a pact was signed at the beginning of the night saying that no details of the evening would be divulged, so that is the most I can give you, for fear of the bride hunting me down. We will just leave it that an awesome time was had by all!

This past weekend I had some good ole family time. Izzy turned two on Friday!!!! I can hardly believe he has been around two years. We spent the day at Waterways swimming, then came home to get ready and went to his house for a birthday party. I was so nervous before the party—Cindy asked me to keep Izzy and get him ready for the party so they could decorate the house. I had about an hour to get both of us showered and ready, and really didn’t think it was possible. But, I am proud to say, not only was I successful, I managed to get him to his house 15 minutes early! He had a great party and received a ton of presents. That boy loves to play with his mom and dad’s vacuum cleaner, so I got him his own little play Dirt Devil. When I left he was having a blast pushing it around—it really picks up! Granted, nothing of any real size, but it is still pretty cool.

Sophia is growing like crazy, and getting cuter everyday. I know I am biased, but she is one of the pretties little babies I have ever seen! Every time I go shopping with Cindy, I carry her around and people are constantly stopping me to admire how pretty she is. And she loves to smile also. Supposedly she is too young to really smile and they are involuntary, but I find that so hard to believe. She smiles at the most appropriate times, so I think she knows what she is doing! Maddie and Noah are both still great kids also. Noah always has the biggest grin on his face, and loves to give hugs now! He is growing up to be so adorable! And Maddie is growing up too fast. I swear, that kid is going to be as tall as me before she finishes elementary school!

Other than that, there is not much else going on. I started using match.com again, and actually have a date next week. I have been talking to the guy for a couple of weeks now, and he seems nice enough, so we are finally going to meet and see what happens. Wish me luck!

Pictures from the beach

2005-05-18T19:41:00.000-05:00

Here are pics from my beach trip! And yes, I was a bit tipsy (read: DRUNK) in some, before you ask. :)

Finally able to breathe again!

2005-05-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

Daddy's hearing was today and he WON!!! It was not the decisive victory that we were hoping for, but it was a victory nonetheless. He will return to work and get back his leave and benefits. Unfortunately though, he will not be returning to the same job/pay that he was at. His old position has been eliminated. (Kinda convenient, don't you think--they wanted to get rid of his position and out of the blue he was fired? Anyways...) Right now they are trying to figure out what they are going to do with him. But, even if he returns to less pay, he will be returning to work and will still have health insurance. And he will not have a firing to haunt him if he decides to look elsewhere for work. So, we are all happy. We took him out to celebrate this evening, and he was already well on his way back to being his old self--laughing and joking and having a good time. For those of you who know him, you probably can't imagine him any other way. Before all of this, I couldn't have imagined him as depressed as he was either. But, my daddy is back! And we are all finally able to relax a bit again. Thanks to everyone for your concern and prayers over the past few months! Now keep your fingers crossed that they will find a decent paying job to put him back to work at!

I'm Back!

2005-05-13T14:18:00.000-05:00

Wonder where I have been lately? BUSY! I have had friends in from out of town, got a new baby niece, had a very, very sick sister, turned 28, had a best friend move away, and just for fun I threw in a trip to the beach!

Two weekends in a row I had old friends visiting me. First “the Sheawns” (I have to spell it that way so neither of them gets jealous) came in for a visit. Of course, this meant a lot of drinks were had by all. Well, I guess not Sean—he doesn’t drink. But I know that Shawn and I put away a few. Sean wanted to karaoke, so we ended up going to this little dive in St. Albans, the El Dorado. The three of us were the only people in that place under the age of forty, and I am fairly sure we were the only one not smoking. We had a good time though. Sean was brave and did four songs, I think, with Shawn helping him out on one. Instead of singing, Shawn and I danced the night away! Every slow song that came on he had me on the floor, twirling and such—it was so much fun! And yes, dancing slow was the norm in this place. I think the DJ had a thing for Shawn though and got ticked at me for being with him. He once tried to cut in—to dance with Shawn, not me, and eventually started calling me, “that little hussy” over the mike, to everyone in the bar. Shortly after that we left. The next day the three of us got together with a bunch of other people and went to see Sin City—good flick, see it if you haven’t by now. Then I had to say goodbye and send them on their way.

The following weekend Tamara came in from DC for the weekend. I went to Huntington to hang out with her for a while. We went to the Union for Quarters, something I don’t think I have done since college. That place has changed so much. It used to be the place to go drink if you were underage, and if you were much older than 21 or 22, you didn’t fit in. Now, even though she and I are both heading towards 30, we fit right in. There were even a good number of people older than us there! It is just strange how things change over a few years. After a couple of drinks we decided to head to dinner, where her hubby met up with us. While we were eating we were trying to come up with something else to do and realized that we just are up for hanging out in bars drinking any longer. So, we headed to Starbucks for some tasty drinks and then called it an evening. She had a formal to attend the next day, so that was the only time I was able to spend with her. Its too bad—I really miss getting to see all my old college buddies on a regular basis!

During the last few days of April I went to the beach with Tricia. Joe and some of his friends had a house rented for the week and invited us down to join them. We were only there a few days, and I so did NOT want to come home. We spent one day just being beach bums. We were in Waves, NC and a couple of very cool things about it were that we could have drink and have a bonfire on the beach. So we spent most of the day on the beach, out in the sun, sipping on fruity drinks. That evening after a wonderful dinner of steak and trigger fish (that the guys had caught the day before), we headed back across the dunes and had a bonfire, still sipping fruity drinks. It just isn’t the beach if you don’t toss in some fruity drinks! I think I may have had a couple too many fruity drinks that night though, ‘cause I couldn’t make it back across the dunes to the house on my own. Oops. :) And there are stories of me rolling around in the sand and playing with the fire that for some reason I just don’t quite remember. Maybe is could have something to do with us drinking straight from a bottle of Maker’s Mark. :) With some help from Alan, I did eventually make it back to the house and managed to sleep it off. This was good, because we spent the next day at Okracoke biking around the island. I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride a bike! One of these days I plan to get one and start biking around town. I had my first can of PBR that day, funny enough. And we went to Howard’s Pub where I tried an Indian Pale Ale for the first time. It was a great day and we planned on having another bonfire on the beach that night, but we were all asleep by 11:00! I guess that biking wears you out! Then we had to come home the next morning. I want to go back!!!

You guys already have seen pics of my new little niece. She is growing cuter every day! Little did I know that on my return trip from the beach my mom would call to tell me that Cindy was back in the hospital, having trouble recovering from her c-section. Somehow she ended up with a really serious infection under her incision, and the poor thing had to go into the hospital for six days with it. She still hasn’t recovered fully from it, and went back to the doctor about it again today. Earlier this week, I took a day off work and spent at her house taking care of her and the kids. I feel so sorry for her! I know, and she agrees, that Sophia is completely worth it, but it still sucks. :(

Yesterday I turned 28. Since Christy moved to Ohio last weekend, wecelebrated it the day after Tricia and I got home from the beach. But, I celebrated yesterday with my family. Gotta love stretching your birthday out over a couple of weeks! :) I got all kinds of awesome gifts—a picture for my living room, a birdhouse (with a cow on it!), some bar stuff, a poker table, a yoga set (with a tape and CD so I can do it at home), a garden gnome, some socks (if you really know me, you understand how cool I think socks are), a gift certificate for a pedicure, and a whole bunch of really amazing gifts. I can’t remember them all at the moment, but you get the idea. I spent most of my day yesterday at one of my companies doing a noise survey. They may have been being nice, but they owners guessed me to only be 22 or 23, so not looking too old just yet!

Well, I think that about updates things now. I will try to be better about updating in the future. Oh, one more thing--Dad’s hearing is on this coming Wednesday, so please keep him in your thoughts/prayers! Thanks!

2005-04-23T20:56:00.000-05:00

Sophia, one day old!