From This Paper Bag

I could rule the world!!

I am fairly certain that is what Spaz thinks whenever we bring a paper grocery bag home...

So, as a month, September was a bust. Between hubby mama drama and being sick for about three weeks I really don't remember much of it.

Collin and I are going to start going on weekend adventures. By adventures I mean explore and meander around town. Yesterday is a sample of what I mean.

We went out to Cornelius to WalMart (always good for meandering), tried on some fashionable items (you can see this on my facebook if we are friends), and bought a wicked zombie poster. Then we wandered (in the truck) back into Hillsboro and went over to the Dollar Tree. That was interesting. We did find some toy guns that shot plastic balls that we wanted to get. I was thinking we could be like Mr. & Mrs. Smith in the house with them... When we got to the register and saw the insane lines at the two open check stands we just humbly placed the toys in a nearby basket and left. We began to head home but went to REI first. With the changing seasons we thought it would be a good idea to get some nice gloves to wear for our walks (especially the early morning ones!) and also checked out some other gear. Collin really wants to invest in a CamelBak. I do too. They would be great for when we really start getting into long distance running.. But that is still a ways off. I also found a cute lidded camp mug that is perfect for work for tea and cider and other hot beverages of my choosing (we have a hot water dispenser at work). After REI we went home. End of adventure...

Or is it just the beginning?

Collin starts his classes tomorrow. Just nine months to a better paying job (we hope!). Collin will be getting his CCNA (CISCO Certified Networking Associate) certification through PCC. I am so proud and excited for him to be following his ideal/dream career path. He is truly a nerd wizard. So for the next nine months I will get two evenings a week to myself... Yay...? Yes, it will be nice.

In other news, Collin and I are seriously considering adding a new member to the family. We have discussed it repeatedly and given it tons of thought, and we are ready to take this next step and share our lives (and love!) with another. We are thinking adoption. And hopefully all will be said and done by December. We will have to be moderately selective, because there are restrictions where we live. Ideally we are wanting to adopt a Labrador between one year and three years old. We are being very responsible about this, if we weren't we would already have adopted this adorable black lab named Clyde that we saw on the Oregon Humane Society's website a week and a half ago. We know when the time is right we will meet/find the right dog. And I am adamant that it be a shelter dog.

I know, that was slightly a cruel joke for some of you, but if you really know us you know that we are not interested in having human children (at least not anytime in the near future). I would rather continue to spoil my nieces, nephew, and all of my friends' awesome kids.

Well, it's off to make dinner. This should make you salivate: I will be making chicken, boiled potatoes, and steamed carrots and broccoli with a nice chicken mushroom sauce. Yea, I am that awesome.

Puppies!

Chocolate apple juice

I was in the kitchen stirring stuff in a glass...
Collin: chocolate milk?
Me: no...
C: what then?
Me: chocolate apple juice...
C: ....

That just happened.

What's The Filet To Carcass Ratio

This was a serious question my boss had to ask the CEO today... Yea, that's why my job is AWESOME. I seriously love it. We curse ourselves constantly. Criss and I that is. Back in May she told me that we would use the typically slow summer months to get me cross-trained to be back up on international and lab orders.... For the most part we have been successful in getting me cross-trained, but it has never once slowed down. This is good for work obviously.

Friday afternoon managed to be pretty dead and my monitor was dying like the matrix was caving in on itself, so we decided to FINALLY do the great monitor swap... I say finally because we have had the new monitor for Criss since I started. I got her flat screen and she got the newish one that had been waiting. During the swap we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and totally clean and rearrange our desks. My desk looks awesome now.

Monday was fairly calm as well, and that was when we shot ourselves in the collective foot. Criss mentioned that maybe (like the weather) we were finally hitting the summer period and slowing down. WRONG. We have been pretty freaking busy since then.

Now to get to the fun, juicy, personal stuff. I will kind of be working backwards from most recent to around the last posting.

Tuesday I had my first root canal. It was just so wonderful I got to have it split into two appointments (part deux is on the first... Yay...). It really wasn't too bad. The endodontist my dentist referred me to is amazing. He also (after the initial consult and me telling him my dental visit anxiety was about a six on a one to ten scale) gave me a nice little .25 milligram pill by the name of Triazolam to take an hour and a half before the appointment. I honestly had more anxiety about taking the pill than the appointment because I have never taken any prescription drugs of this nature (it's an awesome little sedative; google it). I honestly only remember bits and pieces of the rest of the day, here's the highlight reel:
While waiting at the dentist's office I really wanted to lay on the love seat in the waiting room and my argument to Collin was that if they didn't want me to lay on it they wouldn't have it there.
Collin flipped someone off on the way home.
Once home (around six something) I decided I wasn't tired and for some reason ended up on Food Network watching Iron Chef America.
I woke up at 7:30pm and ended up going to bed... I don't remember getting upstairs or anything...
Collin apparently tried (futilely) to wake me and see if I would eat something since I hadn't eaten a meal since breakfast at 5:45am and had only had a couple small snack at work.
Next I knew my alarm was going off and I had to get up for work.

Yeah, all that on a Tuesday to boot, and we all know how much I freaking HATE Tuesdays.

The 21st we celebrated our sixth anniversary; Collin gave me a new frying pan and candy (sticking close to traditional gifts, which has been our thing).

Last Saturday we walked eight miles. Awesome.

On the 16th my beautifully awesome older sister hit the big THREE OH (30 for those of you who went to Taft). I went and saw her a few days prior at work. I surprised her with flowers and balloons, including one that said over the hill... They didn't have any turning thirty balloons.

During that weekend (which was a four day weekend because we both took Thursday and Friday off) K also came to see me finally! It was great. I wish she lived closer (but soon enough, all things in due time)! We also went to IKEA and got a nice cabinet for our booze and the printer.

Let's see what else.

We got our big kid phones (aka "smart" phones) a couple weeks ago. Collin got the Droid X2 and I got my Samsung Charge (which I totally heart). We also learned that through Collin's work we get an uber discount on his phone line (which is the primary).

We rearranged the living room.

I am thinking I am going to start posting on here the random dreams I have been having lately, along with the random awesomeness that Criss and I conjure at work.. We are insane geniuses. I noticed while at the copier today that I need to give the truck a bath. I learned today that Meth Spirits are not what you think. It's actually a form of ethanol with additives that make it poisonous so people won't be inclined to drink it. And in New Zealand they use it to prep animals for sterile procedures. Yea, I learn cool shit like that at work.

I am sure there is more, and I hope there will be more but now I would like to watch an episode of Mad Men before bed.

Peace out bitches, and welcome back to my insanity.

If I Had A Taco Salad

What a weekend; mostly good with just a slight overshadowing.

 

Saturday the group met for the “Magic Mile” in which the runners see how fast their mile is. While they tortured themselves we walked two and a quarter miles around the track (nine laps). I can’t wait to get to the point where we are in good enough shape to run, but I don’t necessarily envy them on Magic Mile days… At this point we are pretty sure we are going to do the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest 5k as our first “race” (I use the quotes because we will be walking it…). I am excited.

 

After the wickety walk we cleaned ourselves up, had a delicious scramble made with the left over BBQ fajita mixture, and then went to see Grams (Collin’s grandma). She is doing amazing. We almost made it out of there without her asking about the Camry (which used to be her car) but alas, she asked and we had to tell her. I think she was pleased that we donated it to a good cause. From Grams’ nursing home in Canby we made the dreaded drive down to the Tron (aka Silverton).

 

When we arrived, for some unknown reason, mom was wandering around outside near the road like she was looking for something. I thought one of the dogs had got out or something. She was happy to see us. We gave her a birthday card and flowers. The three of us walked into the house (I am not even going to go into the state of the house or the yard; all I will say is it was shocking and depressing). Mike was “asleep” in the living room. As mom walked in she announced that we brought her Mother’s Day flowers… Yea, it was kind of painful but nothing new. We are aware that her memory is steadily deteriorating. Mike didn’t even acknowledge our presence and given the lateness in the day we are confident he was not necessarily sober. It was frustrating for me; I know it was even more difficult for Collin. After some uncomfortable and awkward small talk we left.

 

We had a great lunch at one of our favorite places and then moseyed back this way. There were some other minor events on the car ride home but none of them were note worthy.

 

Sunday was spent doing chores and cleaning. It was nice though. I always love the zen-esque serenity that comes over me after cleaning. I made an amazing lemon herb chicken in foil packets on the grill and steamed a nice herbed veggie mix in these wicked awesome Ziploc steamer bags. Oh, and I also managed to slice my left index finger while slicing the lemon… Yeah that hurt. It seems fine today and I don’t think it was quite as deep as I first thought. After dinner we watched Sucker Punch; which I must say is a very interesting and vibrant movie. I would love to own it on Blu-ray and have a 70” Quattron TV to watch it on. The graphics are just so artfully explosive.

 

The one thing that soured the day for me was the night. I was content and happily exhausted (take from that what you will) and was ready to slip into the blissful black coma of sleep but I never quite made it over the edge. In turn, I feel like I didn’t hardly sleep at all, and I was plagued with constantly waking up. So frustrating.

Today, for being a Monday, was a pretty good day. We are going for our walk after dinner. I need/want/crave it. I am sadly no longer "under the radar" at work it seems... The owner was talking to me today... About his concern with regards to my weight. I know, I know, most people are screaming, "Inappropriate!" But seriously, the dude is a million years old and he truly does care about his employees. It was hard not to laugh though when he started asking about the "when" I put on the weight... I know he was trying to psycho-analyze me, it was adorable. What was even better was his reaction to the fact I walk two to three miles a night on the weeknights and five miles on Saturdays. I really don't care if he believes it or not. Considering the type of people I have worked for in the past, his attitude towards his employees (for the most part) is refreshing and completely opposite from my previous job. Some of his tips are bound to be helpful, but I will pick and choose which pieces I will use. Again, he is 85 and still kicking ass and taking names so he must be doing something right. It was adorable when he admitted that he eats ice cream TWICE a day. His biggest thing is a mostly to completely gluten free diet.

I hope Collin gets back soon. I iz hungry for dinner (chicken salad wraps and green salad).  It doesn't help that I am watching Food Network... Not a good way to curb the hunger pains... 

I need to go wash my face. 

Random statement right?  Probably thinking something bad right? WRONG! I don't like keeping my make up (==eyeliner) on after work. 

Hell yes add booze to that coffee and ice cream.... Mmmm, this is so wrong... Booze soaked pound cake with almonds and ice cream. Okay, I think she has a problem, she has a charge account at the liquor store... 

FACE!

Let's Play a Game

I play this game everyday at work. It keeps the job interesting... It's called "You Can't Win." Yea, it's a super fun game where every avenue of possibility leads to FAIL.

Don't read into that, the job is still awesome.

I should have gone to the gym tonight. I am tired and restless all at once. My legs want to run but my head says it's sleepy time.

Collin and I are steadily increasing the distance of our walks. On weeknights we are walking two to three miles; on the weekend days it's closer to five to six miles. It feels great and I feel great. I am hoping to see some results on the scale next weekend too.

We bought a nice propane grill a few weeks ago, and I heart it. Since it is "summer" (the weather until the past week hasn't really exhibited summer but this is Oregon) most all of our hot meals have been done on the grill. I love experimenting on it.

I really have to pee right now, but if I go up stairs I don't think I will come back down tonight... This is a laptop though so I could take it up there with me.... I am a GENIUS!

SUCCESS! Empty bladder and the blog action continues.

Not much has happened since the last post... There have been some moments but nothing to earth shatteringly important. We did have to put another few hundred dollars into the truck... Yay! He needed a new catalytic converter. AND I got to see an old friend from way back in the day.

Work has been so busy time has just flown by. It's good for job security. I have learned so much, and as far as I can tell people love me... It's kind of weird. This is definitely a great job to have until I get everything in order for what I would REALLY love to do.

Bear with me on this because it may seem outlandish (and before you decide to be a nay-sayer remember I would never deny you your dream), but I want to be a tattoo shop manager and eventually owner someday. I DO NOT WANT TO ACTUALLY TATTOO (I think). The blood thing kind of freaks me out a little. I think it would be awesome to just own and run a nice, respectable, clean shop where talented artists can do their work. Plus it would be a space where I can display MY ART (and my fellow artists art). It's a far off dream like many of my dreams but it's what I think I would really enjoy doing when I grow up.

Here's one funny anecdote from the past month (it actually occurred Monday of this week):

Collin and I decided to walk to the Walgreen's near our place and so I had on my purple sak pak that I got as a freebie from Arie's Apparel. When I was putting on my shoes Collin came down the stairs and saw the purple thing on my back and thought at first I was wearing a tiny purple cape (in hindsight this would be awesome, like an homage to the "Purple Dude" I used to see going to the chiropractor across from the collection agency in Salem). It was a hilarious moment that soon passed. Then as we made our way to the store I was joking aroung like I was going to weave down the sidewalk with my arms out (kind of Supergirl-esque) saying, "Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!" Natuarally, we let our imaginations run wild with this and we made up a whole background story about why I do that in case someone were to stop and ask. And now we have yet another weird retard (differently abled for you sensitive types) scenario in our inside jokes.

Okay, thank god  I went pee when I came up here... Spaz just scared the beejeezus out of me. I thought I had closed our bedroom door all the way and she just pushed it open. I thought it was Collin (which still would have startled me) but I think it being her scared me a little more because she doesn't have opposable thumbs and she cannot reach the doorknob, and, like I said, I could have sworn I closed the door all the way....

I am in another blackhole with certain friends again it seems. And it really kind of pisses me off. I see what will happen already, in about a week or so I will get a call or a message about how this that and the other thing and blah blah blah. Then down the road another favor will be asked that I can't do anything to help with and then it will be the perpetual silent treatment all over again. WHY? Why do I let myself be suseptable to this kind of bullshit. At least now in my life I can recognize it. Oh well. I know who really cares about me and that's all that matters.

Spaz is going to hate in a couple minutes when I kick her out of the bedroom so I can go to sleep. Luckily the group is meeting a little later tomorrow so we don't have to be up before 6:30. Tomorrow should be a fairly busy day. After the walking we are going to go see Collin's Grandma (today was her 83rd birthday) and then we are going to *shudders* swing down to his parents (his mom's 60th birthday is Sunday). That will be a blast I am sure. I am excited to see Grams though. Love that old bird.

Some things to look forward to: Collin and I are taking a couple days off soon for a nice four day weekend. It will be great, even if we end up having dental appointments during some of that time, it will still be great.

I am going to go to bed now. I was trying to kill some time so my wonderful (yes for once that IS dripping with sarcasm... Okay not so much but maybe a little) husband would be up here to come to bed at the same time. One because I enjoy climbing into bed together, and two I don't want him to wake me up right after I fall asleep, thereby disrupting my natural sleep cycle and turning me into super MEGA bitch wife... LOL

Good night.

You Can't Autoclave A Penis

It's been well over a month. So here's what's been happenin':

We donated Lucy to the Portland Rescue Mission.

We have are back in the habit of faithfully walking four to five nights/days (on the weekend) a week, and on average walk AT LEAST two miles. I hope to start walk/run/walking in the next week or two. Small running intervals...

I finally put stuff in our bedroom only to decide I want to get a headboard and a new dresser so I can rearrange the room...

I decided to use the new bedroom furniture as my next weight-loss goal "prize." Since we are a team the goal is for both of us. Once we have each lost another fifty pounds we will get the new bedroom furniture (Collin wants it too so it is a good motivator for us both).

There is a conspiracy out there that didn't want me to have bridge mix. Saturday night we went to Safeway and I was HARDCORE craving bridge mix. I cruised up and down the candy aisle AND the bulk food area... Nada... Oh well. We were at Rite Aid on Sunday and I decided to look there (this was one of those cravings that once set in motion must be appeased and satisfied). THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY! Bastards... Monday evening we were discussing what route we wanted to do for our walk and it came to me that we could walk to Winco (round trip is only two and a half miles) and I could see if they had any bridge mix in their bulk food area or candy aisle. As we got ready to leave Collin's bff (and our walking pal) called to see if we had gone for our walk yet and if not could he come to (he lives about five minutes away), we said sure and gave him ten minutes to get there. Fifteen minutes later I told Collin they could catch up to me, I wanted my bridge mix. They caught up about a third of the way there after I slowed down a little. Once we reached Winco I made a bee line straight to the bulk food area and it was as though the heavens had opened up and warm golden light was shining on the wondrous sight that was the bin of bridge mix. I was THRILLED. I got myself a little baggie of it, went to the checkout, and then we walked back home. I iz happy.

Last night (Tuesday) we went and got our teeth cleaned. It's great to be able to get back on track with our dental treatment. We have check-ups/new x-rays in a couple weeks so we can revise our treatment plans and get stuff done.

Collin got a new laptop this weekend. Just a nice straight forward one, nothing too insanely spectacular. He needs one for when he starts his classes in the fall and I am mean and didn't want to let him take mine.

Work is still awesome. Friday will be my six month marker. It's crazy for two reasons. One, I can't believe it's already been six months... It seems like the blink of an eye. Two, I can't believe it's only been six months.. I feel like I have been here for a lot longer, in a good way. It's nice. I know I will be okay with this job until the next big phase of our life happens. When that will be who's to say, or where it will take us...

I can't wait for the weekend! Three days that will supposedly be GORGEOUS! Oh, it will be fantastic. Even if it is raining the three day weekend will be SPECTACULAR! As of today the forecast is calling for 80s and sunshine; I can handle that.

By the way, I am done promising how often I will post. Every time I make a claim of how often I plan to post it never seems to work out that way... The titles should be interesting as my brain has become more addled and unhinged in the recent weeks... In a good way... I think I am loosening up the creative muscles for the first time in a while now...

Just for the sake of not wanting to be questioned, the title for this blog is common sense... Not something that I learned by experience. Sheesh. I'm not that kind of crazy.

Yet.

Two Hundred and Forty Five

Posts!

I started to type a post yesterday but got insanely busy at work and afterwards with all the car shuffling and what not.

Both of our cars had to go in for repairs at the same freaking time... You'd think by having two vehicles the odds of this occurring are pretty slim... But noooooo!

It all started with Ricky (the truck) last week. I noticed that he kept going from 2-Hi to Auto 4WD all on his own. I guess I should mention that Ricky has on the fly push button 4WD. It got to the point where I couldn't get him out of Auto 4WD and he began to switch over to 4-Hi when the urge arose. In parking lots (like while trying to turn into a space) Ricky would kick over to 4-Lo. This was absolutely not necessary since I only drive on pavement. Yea, good times. We decided he needed to go to a shop for service, knowing to wait could mean much more damage to the 4WD system depending on the issue or that he could potentially just "break down."

We agreed that Friday I would leave work early to take Ricky in and I would drive the car to and from work, along with driving Collin to the Max station (and picking him up of course!). I noticed on my way to work (while stopped at 198th and TV Hwy) that there was the slightest bit of smoke coming out from under Lucy's hood.... NOT A GOOD SIGN... We knew that her seals needed replacing (instances of some blue smoke coming out of the tail pipe. As soon as I got to work I text Collin and said Lucy HAD to go in now, and about the smoke.

We both know enough about cars that we are confident we are looking at new seals and what not for Lucy, which is not cheap by any means... But it's better to get it repaired now while it's just wisps of smoke here and there and not billowing clouds accompanied by any "banging" or "knocking" sounds.

We got Ricky in, and since the service center we went to didn't have a loaner program we rented a cute Nissan Versa for the weekend (with our AAA discount it was just over $15.00 a day). We got Lucy scheduled to be dropped off Monday (last) night at the Beaverton Toyota Service Center, and they DO have a loaner program. We planned on taking Lucy in, picking up the loaner, going to fill up the rental, returning the rental, and then going home... As things tend to, that plan blew up in our faces.

Collin got stuck on a call and left work almost a half hour late. Then his train was delayed five minutes. By the time I collected him from the Max station I had to go fill up the rental and get it returned so it wasn't late. So , Collin had to take Lucy to the service place on his own and then come pick me up... It was great fun hanging out at the Hillsboro Airport for over a half hour.... Yea... LOADS OF FUN....

But, I must admit, Beaverton Toyota takes care of their customers and (depending on the rest of this experience) I totally see myself using them in the future. Not only were they really cool (according to Collin), like to the point that the tech was excited to work on Lucy (she is technically a classic by age), but they gave us a super sweet 2011 Rav4 LTD while they fix Lucy.

Ricky should be done and fixed, and we will be picking him up tonight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We did pick him up! And he is all better and it was fifteen dollars less than they quoted! Yay! He drives perfectly now. They did suggest the we do a fluid flush on the transmission, power steering, and cooling; we will do so in a few months. They also noted a slight leak in the power steering pump but it is not an emergent issue. This repair set us back four hundred and ninety dollars. Lucy, we know, will be much much more than that. The repairs are necessary though and cheaper than a new car (or used), and I happen to be very attached to our cars... 


Well, I am missing the hockey game and I should probably pay dinner some more attention than I currently am. Spicy teriyaki stir fry! Yum!

Do They Have RadioShack In Sweden?

Today has rapidly become a day where I wish I had stayed in my nice warm, safe bed...

It hasn't been a "bad" day really... Just a stupid and frustrating one. It was like on stupid person after the other wanted to call in today. Then, maybe because I was so flustered with the stupid people and stupid things I found, I started making a couple stupid little mistakes. Nothing big. And I have fixed all that were mine...

What kills me the most is that through the course of the day, while helping all the idiots, I have found a grip of other stupid things that I will have to deal with....

There are not enough hours in the day.

That's fine, I am letting it all go.

The maintenance dude is coming to fix our alarm system, I am going to go for a walk or attempt gaining access to the fitness center again, make dinner (orange chicken, broccoli, and brown rice. Yum!), and then we are going to the store for our weekly perishables. It will be a great evening...

Since it is raining I am hoping we can work out in the fitness center.... If not oh well, we went walking in a downpour on Sunday... Well, it turned into a downpour... It was actually kind of sunny when we first left for that particular walk....

Two more days until the weekend! We are going to see my dad and take him out to lunch. Try and get his mind off of some stuff he is dealing with. Plus, I get to see my niece and nephew and sister. And then the ultimate added bonus: I get to see K!! Which is good because I was starting to have withdrawals! It has been almost three weeks since I saw her!

Yea, lots of stuff going on... 

The title is a serious question from work today... I'd like to think that they do...

Collin is trying to sabotage my grocery list by throwing random nonsensical stuff in the wrong place on the list!!! (Have I mentioned I write my grocery lists based on the lay out of the store I plan to shop at? Yea... I'm special.)


Dinner awaits!

Ah! He Is Home Early

I forgot how addicting walking/working out in general is for me... I have been rather lax about it since the fall... But since the move I had been trying to get back into a regular workout schedule. I love it, and I find myself day dreaming about it... Weird, right? I imagine it is not unlike the way a drug addict feels when they are thinking about getting their next fix. I just know that I crave it.

I have always been a big girl, for as long as I can remember. Bear with me on this next part because this is where it really gets crazy: I feel like there is a runner trying to claw her way out. I know I am not quite there but I hope to be, and know that I will be. I am pretty sure I will be joining a run/walk group in the near future.

I know that I have already come a LOONNNNNNGGGG way from where I was at my worst, and I still have a LOOOONG way to go. Some day, hopefully soon, I will be comfortable enough share just how bad the "worst" was for me...

Anyway, let's steer clear of that dark patch for now....

I can't wait for Collin to get home so we can go for our walk. (But I will) Tomorrow I will probably start walking on the treadmill or elliptical in the fitness center when I get home and then we can go for a walk on top of that or Collin can come and work out in the fitness center. I attempted to do this yesterday and the key that was issued to us didn't work.... Like, it wasn't even the right style of key... I figure we will deal with it tomorrow...  Tonight I just want to walk through the park area and then watch the hockey game. Plus it's looking pretty nice outside right now, and I needs my vitamin D.

Oh, back to the walking/running group I am planning on joining. Collin's best friend and his wife are part of it (so Collin wants to do it too!). Since joining the wife has lost seventy pounds, she runs six to seven miles on Saturdays, and she is training for a 10k in June or July and a half marathon in September. She is really good inspiration for me. I want to get to that point, and I know I have it in me. Plus then I will have a running buddy other than just Collin (though he has been a really good work out buddy all these years).

I was going to add more but Collin is home now and I am totally distracted and derailed from typing any more on here... I will say this (since I have ten minutes until the potatoes are done anyways): Crap... I forgot... Hmm... Maybe I will post again later during the game...

WALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALKWALK


Now I know what puppies think when you grab their leash off the hook.... LOL!!!

This One Was A Two Parter...

Back in action.

Sunday night we watched our Netflix movie. It was called "Mirrors" with Keifer Sutherland... We were sadly disappointed in the movie. We had expected it to be halfway freakish or something... It ended up being rather predictable but (and maybe this is because we watched the directors cut) with one of those "M Night Shimalyan" (forgive the spelling) -esque twists at the end. Yea, lame.

So to help us forget the fact we just wasted almost two hours of our lives on this movie, we started to joke that it was the origin story for Jack Bauer. And as he exited the smoldering pile of rubble (***please note this next part is totally fictitious and a product of our demented minds***) he stretched and said, "I am no longer known as Ben; I am now Jack Bauer and I have twenty four hours to save the world!"

To us this was hilarity incarnate. Then, as we were in the kitchen getting our evening/desert coffee, Spaz happened to stretch and in my peripheral vision she reminded me of a lemur... I then said, "My name is Jack Bauer and I HAVE a lemur." We both broke into hysterical laughter. What made it even better (this next part is so awesome it still makes me have to hold back insane giggles... even three days after the fact) was when Collin repeated what I had said, or at least what he thought I said, "I am Jack Bauer and I AM a lemur." Crap, it still makes me giggle... Crazy, right?

It was one of those epic moments of hilariousness we both about died laughing. I had just peed moments before and I had to go again or I was going to pee the couch... Plus, we just couldn't stop laughing so we figured we needed to be in separate areas while we calmed down... I barely made it up the stares amidst the fits of laughter and insane giggling. That would have been great... Pee my pants and fall down the stairs while laughing like a crazy person...


Today the weather has been gorgeous. Naturally it's like this in the middle of the work week but oh well. The IT guy here came walking into the office (his office is in another building in the complex) and tells us we should really have the door open.

The following is a testament to how far I have come at being able to control my word vomit: The first thing that came to my mind for a response to his observation was, "You should really shut your mouth." The second response that came to my head was, "Yea, but having it closed barely keeps the riff raff out as it is. (implying him being riff raff)"

This is what I actually said in response: "Hmm, maybe." And continued on with my work.

Go me for not randomly insulting people as a knee jerk reaction... I now save this behavior for my husband or when I am driving or when I am watching hockey.

Speaking of hockey my boys, the RedWings, are playing tonight... They need to get their heads in this series. They are down 2-0... I really do have my heart set on seeing the Western Conference Finals coming down to the Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit RedWings. I heart both teams dearly and would be happy to see either one win the Stanley Cup (but with preference to the RedWings). But my boys need to get it together and put San Jose in their place. I am starting to think the nice "break" they had between the quarters and the semis didn't help them as much as I had hoped... Fingers crossed for tonight.

Tonight we are also going grocery shopping for the month (other than fresh produce of course!). It's so nice having the time to do these kind of activities DURING the work week. It makes the weekend that much more enjoyable, AND there are less people at the stores on Wednesday evenings.

Yea, about that TPS report... Did you get the memo about putting the cover on the TPS reports? I can get you another copy of that...

More and more I realize there is but a handful of truly mindful and intelligent people on this planet...

Can't touch this.

Mr. Zircon Is Coming To Kill You

This last weekend was AWESOME. We did a little exploring. Collin's friend came over Saturday and they hung out in the "Man Cave" aka the bonus room/office off the garage. Sunday was spent relaxing and doing laundry. We went for a nice little walk around the area. I realized I need to get new tennis shoes... Okay well I have known about this for a while, but after the walk it was obvious...

The shoes I have are too big... Not sure how that happened... Unless as I have lost weight my feet have got less fat.... Regardless, new shoes are going to be needed soon. I would like to get some of those nifty looking toning shoes. They look like they would be super comfy for walking.

Yesterday, after work, I got to go get my hair done and catch up with an old friend from high school at the same time! She happens to work at a place out in Forest Grove which is only about a half hour from my work. I love my new do! It is PERFECT! Everyone at work was gushing about it today. It was awesome.

I had hoped to write more tonight but I need to go put dishes away before bed.... There will be more tomorrow.

You thought you had seen the last of Mr. Zircon...

I Wouldn't Call It Slacking...

More like developing an artistic build up of anticipation....

Okay... So that's a shit lie...

We have been fairly preoccupied getting settled in up here and exploring our new surroundings. I love it up here. There are so many positives I can't even name them all.

The place is wicked awesome, and SOOO much bigger than the cottage in Salem. We have an amazing view, and it is so peaceful in this neighborhood.

Another major super awesome plus is my commute to work... It is now non-existent. I now only have a ten minute drive to and from work. We have so much more time after work now too. It's insane.

Our weekends are much more fun too and we have technically only had two of them so far... I don't really count the weekend we moved because that was mostly filled with manual labor. But the two weekends since then have been CRA-mazing (stole this word from the hubby!).

Our first real weekend up here we went to IKEA, Target, and lunch with some good friends. And then we worked on getting the house more set up. We got a couple bird feeders for the deck. The monkey LOVES birdwatching! It's great to watch her chirping and clicking at the birds.

This last weekend we rented an Altima Hybrid and went for a nice little day trip to the coast. It was seriously cheaper with our AAA discount to rent a hybrid than fill up the truck multiple times. It was great. We went to Indian Beach in Ecola State Park and then cruised down the coast to LC. Had coffee with my K, I missed her like crazy. I can't wait until she can come up here for a visit! Especially since we have a spare bedroom now for guests! Cannot go so long without seeing her again. I hadn't seen her in over a month with all the madness of the move and her insanely long hours at work.

Now that we are mostly settled in I really truly hope to start getting back to the blogging that makes reading this awesome. Posting about things such as marketing a laser guillotine... Want to know more do you?

My boss and I were discussing whether or not one could use the laser cutter at the metal shop to cut off a persons head. I felt that if it burned well enough that this would actually be a cleaner and more humane way to behead someone. So, we began to discuss how and who we would market the "Laser Guillotine." I said it would be easy; we would start off our presentation to investors as follows:

"Ladies and Gentleman, have you seen Star Wars?"

Hells yes that would totally sell it.

And then of course there is Collin bursting into flames from the inside out....

I don't remember how it got to this point... But for those who don't know us, it's just how we are. Over dinner (oh yea, we eat dinner at the table like semi-civilized humans now...Crazy, right?) the other night for some forgotten reason (I think I made a face at him or something.. Or asked him what he would do if... blah blah blah?) Collin said he would run me down with his car and I said I would take him out first. hen we were talking about him running my down with a completely silent hybrid car so all I would hear is him screaming, "I am coming for you!!!" At some point I turned it around so that I would manage to take him out as he runs me down with his car. That's when Collin said in my moment of death I would probably have the supernatural ability to cause him to burst into flames with a look, but he thinks he would survive... I told him if I had that kind of power he would burn like Johnny from Fantastic Four; from the inside out!!! Yeah!!! Survive that shit, ass... (before there wasn't a comment so it looked like I was calling him a shit ass... LOL)

I love him so much. We are so totally in sync with one another it is slightly disturbing even to us. Like this past Sunday morning, we had discussed going to breakfast after we returned the rental, and as we were waking up in bed at almost the EXACT SAME MOMENT we both had the epic idea (since the rental had to be returned to PDX) we should go to breakfast and then go to IKEA to get the last piece we needed: Collin's desk.

This plan would have been flawless... If it hadn't been Easter.... IKEA was going to be open... But an hour later than normal... And just about everything else was closed. This became a rather fun adventure, just I had hoped we wouldn't have been gone for as much of the day as we ended up being gone. But it still ended up being an awesome day.

Work has still been going great. I am valued by my boss and many of my co-workers which makes any job a little bit easier.

Okay, I keep getting distracted by the hockey game that is on. It's game seven of the Canucks/Blackhawks series in the Western Conference Quaterfinals. The outcome of this game affects my boys (the Detroit Redwings) in more ways than one. One, if the Canucks win they will play the Predators next and my boys will play the Sharks (this is something I want). Two, I want my boys to have a good team to play against in the Western Conference Finals (so maybe I am jumping ahead here) and I would like to believe that the Canucks would be the best team for an interesting series. Plus I would be happy to see either my boys or the Canucks win the Cup.

I am going to go now.

Seriously, I'm out.

There will be more soon, I promise.

=D

Deliriously Happy or Deliriously Tired

You choose.

I am in the home stretch. Two more mornings and then we have Friday off and then we move!

We went and bought our new furniture this past Saturday and set up the delivery. I was proud of myself, and still am, because I didn't/haven't had any panic attacks. I have a hard time buying stuff (other than necessities) sometimes... Especially when I am spending a large amount of money... At once... It's overwhelming and difficult for me... But that's another story, for another time... Assuming I ever share it.

It was hilarious to see us trying to navigate and maneuver our FOUR flat carts to the register and then to the "Home Delivery" counter... Thankfully the super awesome people at IKEA were way helpful. Everything will be delivered between five and nine pm on Saturday. First thing I think we will put together is the couch! The armchair will have to wait until we go back to IKEA because the cover was out of stock. We still got the armchair itself just not the cover, and I don't intend to put it together until we have the cover.

The weather is looking promising for this weekend. At least for the important times it is. I am keeping my fingers crossed. It is April... In Oregon... Yea.

I just can't wait. For everything. The new place. The new furniture. Getting to drive my "Ricky" (the truck) to work again. Sharing the pictures with all my friends. Having ALL of my life back (instead of losing five days of the week essentially). All the new places to explore. EVERYTHING.

Work is still heavenly compared to the collection agency. As of last Friday I now have medical and dental benefits! AND my day off this Friday will be paid thanks to the vacation time I have accrued so far! I know there will be bad days. It's inevitable, but I am not going to let them get to me. I am doing my job and I have learned so much. I haven't upset anyone that I know of. I hope should I ever do so whomever I tick off will tell me.

Today my boss is out sick, which is part of the reason I have time to do this. I really can't leave the front office if no one else is here... Which sucks because I really have to pee... But I am trying to hold out as long as possible before I ask my one person available to cover me while I run to the restroom... The other woman who works in the front office (though today is one of her regular work days) is long gone... She "didn't have anything to do" so she left right after my lunch was over at 11:30.... Yea... I have been trapped at my desk since then... I was able to get all my filing caught up which was nice.... God I have to pee... Just an hour and fifteen minutes of this workday left... I know I can't wait that long, but I can maybe wait another fifteen to twenty minutes..... I hope my bladder doesn't explode...

I wonder if Edgar is going to get the washer and dryer tonight... If not, no biggie... I am sure he will come get them in the next couple days... He lives in our little "complex" and does the maintenance. We told him he could have the washer and dryer if he wanted them since we won't need them (and I REALLY don't want to move them).

HALLELUJAH! My bladder is empty!!! I feel so much better. Now to make it through the last hour and go home to slave over a broiling hot microwave! We having hot pockets for dinner! Yea, I am not cooking AT ALL this week. The entire house is packed except for most basic of necessities. We have just enough clothing each to last the week, we have only a couple spoons and forks out, our bathroom stuff (shampoo, toothpaste, etc), and so on. All of Spazzer's toys are still out but that's because I don't want to freak her out anymore than necessary, and trust me, between the couches being gone the last couple weeks now, and everything else going into boxes or being "Goodwill-ed", the monkey is sufficiently agitated.

If I successfully remembered to post this, I am posting it while Collin takes his shower... And our bedtime is fast approaching... Only one more bedtime like this left... Tomorrow night...

I have found the best way to shut off my mind so that I can achieve blissful sleep: I start playing songs in my head, at random. Or I just start thinking random items/words and then I sort of drift... Incoherent thoughts is the best way to throw my mind off... Otherwise it would focus uncontrollably on EVERYTHING that is coming up this weekend, and then I wouldn't sleep a wink, and I would turn into a freaking zombie... Well, more of one than I already am.

Well that's it for now... We'll see what the next couple days bring!

Down To The Wire

We're getting closer!

So close it's getting intensely exciting... One more weekend in Salem and then we move!

This weekend we are packing everything but our clothes for the week and bathroom stuff. We will be eating microwaveable food only during the last work week in Salem... And a night of takeout.

We are going to buy our furniture and set up the delivery Saturday! I am so excited about that I could pee my pants. This will be the first time in MY LIFE I have bought NEW furniture!

We just have seven, SEVEN more mornings of getting up at 3:30am and leaving the house before 5:00am.... And only seven more early bedtimes.... We will finally be able to sleep in again. And I mean sleep in later than 5:30-6:00am on the weekends.... It's really starting to feel real now that we are so close.

It's almost the halfway point of this week... When you have a schedule like the one we have been keeping since January the work week goes by insanely fast.

Start/aka Monday: Get up at 3:30am; drive to Portland; work; drive back to Salem; make and consume dinner; prepare for next day; in bed by 7:30pm; get up at 3:30am; drive to Portland; work; drive back to Salem; make and consume dinner; prepare for next day; in bed by 7:30pm; get up at 3:30am; drive to Portland; work; drive back to Salem; make and consume dinner; prepare for next day; in bed by 7:30pm; get up at 3:30am; drive to Portland; work; drive back to Salem; make and consume dinner; prepare for next day; in bed by 7:30pm; get up at 3:30am; drive to Portland; work; drive back to Salem; make and consume dinner; End/aka Friday night.

That has been my work week for the last three months, and I really cannot express how freaking ecstatic I am that I will be reclaiming the rest of my life in a week and a half!

Oh the adventures we will have... I hope to be able to post between now and the 9th but who's to say... A lot of it depends on how busy work is... But if I don't just know I have excitement seeping out of my pores!

Jesus Doesn't Love You If You Drive Like An....

Hold your tongue and say "apple..."

This past weekend wasn't TOO eventful.

We got rid of the couches and Collin sold his "extra" PC.

The house looks even more empty.

We had put Spazzer in her room when the people came to get the couches. I forgot that I had left her blinds open, so she watched as HER couches were loaded up and taken away. When we released her she went and looked about the living room in an appalled fashion. She also would glance at us like, "How could you!? Those were MY beds!"

To appease her some Collin and I sat on opposite sides of the now empty living room and rolled a couple of her toys back and forth. It was a nice distraction for her.

To appease her more still we went to Petco on Sunday and got her a nice little bed AND one of those double stacked "kitty condos." We had intended to get one after the move for the living room anyways. This way it is something she can "mark" (== claw) in this house and it will be something familiar in the new living room.

I know... It's disgusting how spoiled the little heathen is...

Twelve... Just twelve more mornings of waking up in the middle of the night for the wonderful commute to Portland.

I know/hope/have faith that the next two weeks will fly by. This weekend is more "tidying" and packing other items as we don't require them to survive the next two weeks. Otherwise it looks to be a nice mellow weekend.

It looks like we are squatting in our house... With the couches gone we have camp chairs to sit in while we watch TV. 

I can't wait for the first weekend in April (AKA the weekend after this coming one). That is when we are going to buy the new furniture and set up delivery. And we will be packing everything except for the absolutely essential clothing and toiletries. Almost everything in the kitchen will be packed at that point too. The only things we will need are a couple spoons, forks and cups, as well as the microwave and the coffee maker.

We are getting so close I can taste it... What "it" should taste like I am not sure.... I just know I am freaking excited... Like a kid the night before Christmas or some other equally awesome event. I am going to be a wreck the next two weeks, aren't I? Just need to keep a level head... I have my lists, so those are comforting. I know what I need to do and when. And a lot of things are already taken care of. Yea, I will be fine... Thank god for Collin... Poor bastard is going to have his hands full the next couple weeks... Oh well, I'm sure he'll manage... LOL

Today is going by soooo freaking slowly... I keep hoping by stating such that I will get inundated with work... That hasn't happened yet... Lame.

This would be one of those days where I would love it if I could surf the interweb at work... No such luck. That is the biggest downside to this job so far.

I guess I can go file.... Can you hear my enthusiasm for it? Can you hear how excited I am to file?? Oh yes, mmmm, filing....

I just vomited in my mouth a little.

It's Friday, I'm In Love!

FRIDAY!

THREE WEEKS UNTIL THE MOVE!!!

ONLY FOURTEEN MORE HELLACIOUS 3:30AM WORK MORNINGS!!!!!

Can you tell I'm in a good mood? This should be a fairly relaxing weekend; just some visiting Collin's family and light tidying/dusting and packing a few more things...

I also need to figure out the "dinner list" for the last two weeks that we live in Salem and the first week at the new place... The final week in Salem will mostly be TV dinner type stuff and sandwiches. The first week at the new place will mostly be quick and easy throw together meals (that won't require much in way of groceries that we will need to move).

We are getting so close! To say I am getting excited is a freaking understatement.

Hmmm....

The time that this is actually posted at is when I am making Friday night pizza. This week is turkey kielbasa sausage, onion, and swiss cheese. Yum! Trust me it is awesome!

It's Like Going Into A Night Club Called Balls Deep...

Now, I realize I have kind of slacked off the last week. I had more than enough "free" time on Friday at work... The only problem was our computers were all down... Since Thursday afternoon. Blessedly they were functional (moderately) yesterday.

Last week we posted the couches on craigslist, but sadly they still reside in my living room... Which is fine for now. They need to go by the twenty sixth, I'd prefer if they were gone by the twentieth. C'est la vie. Worst case scenario is that we will have to borrow my FIL's truck and take them to Goodwill. If they aren't gone this weekend we will repost them as free. (I really don't want to move them ourselves; even to Goodwill... They are freaking heavy as sin.

This time change BS has been more brutal than normal for me. One, instead of getting up at three thirty we are in a way getting up at two thirty. I know, technically, we should be getting the same amount of sleep if we are maintaining the same bedtime... True, but not as easy as it sounds. With the time change it means that it is still slightly light outside at seven thirty when we are trying to convince ourselves it's late and we need to go to sleep... Yea. Kind of sucks... Especially when you consider that over the next three and a half weeks (until we move) the days will just get progressively longer and longer.... Thanks once again to our esteemed former president Bush... (He's the one who changed WHEN we change the clocks forward and back...)

This last weekend Collin and I spent the entirety of Saturday cleaning, and I mean DEEP CLEANING, the bathroom (Collin), laundry room (me), and the kitchen (me). When I say deep cleaning I mean cleaning EVERYTHING, including the walls. I even pulled out the washer and dryer in the laundry room and the fridge and stove/oven in the kitchen.

Some of you may be thinking, "Why would you do your move out cleaning SOOOO early?!" And I will be kind enough to answer you now. This way all we have to do is easy tidying up between now and then and we won't have to stress over it.

At this point anything we don't use at least every other day (except for a few items that I know WILL be used in the next two weeks or so) is packed. The house will look even more empty once the couches are gone... There will most definitely be pictures of that.

I can't believe how close we are finally getting to the move. The sucky part is that try as I might I am stressed about the move... It's natural, even the best and most well planned move is gonna create stress in a person. What makes it worse for me is that it is causing my psoriasis to flare up... As it is trying to go away... I am confident that once the move is over and done with my psoriasis will clear up nicely, until then I will survive as I have before...

I frequently find myself day dreaming about the new place. It's nice, but my brain is still trying to make it smaller than it is... Weird, right? As far as I knew that's not how the human mind works...

I just got my insurance paperwork!!! This is the FIRST job I have had where I get ANY kind of insurance coverage (and it's really good, my employer pays for all of my medical and dental, except ten dollars a paycheck). Yea, I am excited.

Now to go over all of it with Collin...

*****NOTE: this was typed two days ago.... I just now felt like getting on the lappity top to post it.............

There Is A Pirate Elf That Lives In My Chest

The house is starting to look very bare...

We have packed just about everything that we can pack (that we don't require to survive the next month). We've been really smart about labeling and grouping the boxes.

We have also Goodwill-ed at least a third of the stuff we had in the house. I am fairly positive that we made our last trip to Goodwill yesterday. We got rid of Collin's nasty beat up, falling apart desk, and our old vacuum.

We do and do not have a lot to move... I am sure when we are loading the U-Haul, and unloading and carting all of it up stairs it will start to seem like a ton of stuff. The only BIG items we will need to move is the bed, dressers, my desk and the book shelf. Oh and the chest freezer which is smaller than our washing machine, so it's not really that big...

I am eager to get rid of the couches but in the same breath I would like to hold on to them as long as possible. They are rather comfy, and I like being able to curl up on them when we get home... BUT they are absolutely NOT coming with us when we move. Hmmm.... I know if I put them up on craigslist this week, my luck they will be bought right away. Yet, if I wait it'll probably stress me out and no one will buy them until we get down to the wire... Or worse still no one will buy them and we will have to take them to Goodwill. (I am thinking via my FIL's truck...) I will have to ponder this further....

Yea, I think we are going to post them tonight... Or at least this week... I just have a feeling... Someone out there is looking for some super comfy (slightly beat up... we have a vicious beast after all) ivory colored heavy duty couches, and I have them to sell! They have served us well, and they were great starter furniture, but a new chapter warrants new furniture!

I think I will also try and get around to taking and posting some pictures on FB of the progress of the house. I shall title the album: "The Move 2011" and it shall be epic!

Collin and I got the respective "go-aheads" from our bosses so that we can just take the eighth off entirely which will help us immensely! And, it also means...

ONLY twenty three more super early mornings and long ass commutes... Thank goodness!

My Life Is Now A Major Motion Picture

What a Wednesday...

I am still slightly dazed.

It ended up being one of those days that was unexpectedly busy (which is good... I mean it's good to be busy. Busy == Job Security). One, it was V's Friday so she was at her twenty hours around noon or so. Two, C was dealing with some stuff and ended up going home early (around half past twelve). This left me by my lonesome self, and I had a decent amount of work to deal with.

Today, other unexpected things happened as well. But first I must explain a little background.

If you're familiar with "The Devil Wears Prada" (book or movie) you will understand what I am about to say... In many ways my new job shares several parallels with "Andrea's." I work for a highly respected person, who is set in their ways. I have now worked here for two months. The owner of the company has only been in Oregon (== here at the factory) three weeks of the last two months, but in that time I hadn't hardly been acknowledged as being within his realm of existence. Much like "Miranda Priestly's" presence within the office warrants subdued behavior and more formality, so does my company's owner's presence at the factory. If his stuff isn't where he thinks it should be... Yea... Just think of the scene from "Prada" when Miranda wants to know where her lunch is... Or the Harry Potter books for her twins. The only difference is that this is not a fashion magazine and the head honcho looks nothing like Meryl Streep...

You get the picture.

Back to today. The owner came in this morning in a rarely-seen good mood. So much to the point he not only acknowledged my presence, but he told me instead of C that he was expecting a call around ten (kind of reminiscent of the Andrea/Emily dynamic, right?). He also took time to explain why this call was "special" as opposed to the other salesmen trying to call him and claiming they know him personally.*~*~*~*~ Yea, there are other similarities too, but alas my train was derailed when I had to finish some reports and am typing this chunk now as I sit at home preparing to post this.


It's official, I have reserved our U-Haul! Yay!!! Just twenty seven hellacious workday mornings left! Yay!

Crow Cow

Holy schnikeys it's freaking March!

Now I can truly say that we are moving next month. It sounds so much closer now. Opposed to (when it was still February) saying we are moving in April. Yay!

Had another splendiferously full weekend. We went to see Collin's parents and he fixed their computer for them... Yea, my MIL + the interweb == BAD. It was a good visit. My MIL was having a fairly good day.

After we were done there we went to see his grandma. We finally got to tell her we found a new place and that we were moving. She is happy for us. The downside is that (because of all the stairs) she wouldn't be able to visit us. I should explain that she is wheel chair bound. I'm sure we could get her up the stairs but yea.

When we got back to Salem (Collin's grandma is in a nursing home in Canby) we had some lunch and then I decided to vacuum the couches. It wasn't nearly as scary as I had expected so that was nice. We also took down the remaining few pieces of wall decor except for the clock in the living room.

I kind of lost track of time so we skipped going to the mall that afternoon and just made for the coast. We attempted to visit my family but pretty much the whole house was sick so we opted to wander the mall before meeting K and Miss for dinner. It was destiny that we decided to go to the mall. We wandered into the Kitchen store place and meandered through the aisles of various kitchen paraphernalia. Just as we were about to leave the store Collin noticed a cheese slicer hanging amongst the other multitudes of kitchen gadgetry. And this wasn't just any cheese slicer; it was an old school style all metal cheese slicer (like the kind my parents had when I was a kid). We had been looking EVERYWHERE for one of these damn things! Collin snatched it up and we bought it like it's hot (sorry, I get a little nerdy about kitchen stuff sometimes). Then  we wandered the mall a little longer before deciding we had had our fill of crackheads and tourists.

A short while later we met my girls at the 60's Cafe for dinner. The food was good, the conversation even better. I always love getting to see my best friend and her always amusing daughter!

Before we left I decided that I really wanted a milkshake. The 60's Cafe was infamous for making these killer awesome (and huge) milkshakes back in the day. I mean they literally came in TWO cups. So I had Collin order us one and request that they split it in two cups so we could each have our own. Yea, I was shocked and appalled at what was brought to the table... Two, not quite full eight to twelve ounce cups (kiddie sized)... What the fudge?! Mind you, this milkshake cost $5.75.... I could have bought a tub of Tillamook ice cream (or TWO) and thrown it in the blender at home and come out with a pitcher sized milkshake for what they charged. Sheesh, super lame... My younger brother put it best, yet another reason NOT to go back to Lincoln City. I wish we could have taken snapshots of each other's expressions when we gazed upon the lackluster remnants of some childhood nostalgia. The upside of the tiny overpriced shakes is that: One, less unhealthy caloric intake, and Two, I WILL NEVER BUY ONE AGAIN!

We made our way home and decided to rearrange a couple of things. The idea being to start condensing things into a couple of areas as more and more stuff is packed. For the most part we are getting to the point where we will be packing everything but what we need to live day to day. Honestly, I think we have already packed the majority of our stuff other than our clothes and the kitchen... I plan to tackle the kitchen this weekend. I have already packed some of it up when I was "Goodwill-ing" stuff earlier.

Oh, yea... That's my major task for this weekend... After I pay bills and file everything I am packing everything from my desk except stamps, address labels, a couple envelopes, and any paperwork (which is all conveniently in a folder) that we need readily available for the move.

Ooooo! Another thing I need to take care of this weekend; I need to call the Comcast rep for where we are moving, ask him a couple questions and set up our appointment for when we move. AND I need to reserve our U-Haul.... I might do the U-Haul after I post this. Hmm... Decisions, decisions. I also need to get our beast in to get her claws trimmed in a couple weeks.

Freaking responsibilities.

Sheesh.

Pineapple Fried Shrimp

Well, R had to cancel due to an unexpected family emergency. I am not sure of the nature of the emergency but I hope to catch up with her at some point this weekend. I hope she is okay, whatever it is.

As much as I looked forward to spending the morning with her I am sort of happy about having a not so busy weekend. I'm sure that I will be busy, just not so much with driving.

OOOOO!!!!! I know what I can do tomorrow morning! I can go use my $10 off coupon at Torrid! Maybe even do two transactions and use BOTH my $10 off coupons! Yay!

I will also be packing more stuff and taking care of some other chores/errands with the hubby. Then in the afternoon I am going to the coast!!! Well, WE are going to the coast and we're going to meet up with K for dinner! This is going to be a spectacular weekend.

I need to fine tooth my checking account because I am off for some reason. It's in my favor but then I need to figure out what I deducted in the register that wasn't supposed to be deducted... I am going to work on that now I think...

Sunday will hypothetically be a relaxing day.. We shall see.

**After word: I found the error in my register and it's all Collin's fault... Okay maybe a little mine too, but no big deal. 

Snow Flakes Something Something....

This week has been exceptionally busy which is a-okay with me. It makes the weekend get here so much faster. And what a weekend it shall be!

Saturday is going to be a super busy fun day and I am totally excited. Originally three of my good friends and I were going to come up to Ikea and do some other stuff. Well, two of them canceled on me; instead my BFF R and I will be coming up here in the morning and going to Ikea and a couple other places, then in the afternoon Collin and I are going to the coast and we hope to have dinner with my other BFF K! It will make for a fun day!

Sunday will just be packing and chilling.

The weather this week has been different to say the least. Some snow. It's all mostly gone already, so it maybe lasted all of twelve hours. Hopefully the remaining moisture will evaporate before it freezes tonight. Whereas snow doesn't freak me out, ice most certainly does. The only hiccup we had in our commute started before we could even leave home this morning. For some reason Lucy wouldn't start. I think she will be fine if we give her a jump when we get home. She might need a new battery soon. Cold weather like this is a good way to find out the strength of your battery. So we drove Ricky today.

This felt like a waste of gas since the road conditions would have been more than manageable in Lucy... Oh, well. With my luck; if we had taken Lucy then it would have got worse (weather wise) and they would require chains (which we DO NOT have for Lucy).

Hmmm... Back to more important things... Have I mentioned we only have thirty one more mornings of getting up at 3:30am for work? Yea.

I'm just going to apologize now. For the next six weeks and one day I will probably be rather redundant about the upcoming move. It's just a big thing in my life right now.

Ugh, I keep blocking out the fact that we have to troubleshoot the car tonight... Lame.

Oh, this just killed me today. So it snowed (and was snowing for a little bit of the morning) right? And I drove up from Salem in this "extreme weather," right? Well, there is one other employee here that commutes from Salem, and he called in stating that he wouldn't be in due to the snow... Um, yea, dude... Really? A bunch of people called in today... Pathetic.

Whatever.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am excited for that. Which reminds me of another awesome thing about this job. I asked my boss if I could take off around noon on the 8th of April (day before we move up), and she said yea, not a problem. All I had to do was write it on her desk calendar and the big calendar on the wall in the office. After this exchange she also informed me that in the summer when it's slow we can alternate who can leave early on Fridays! Freaking sweet!

*sigh* Just a little bit longer now and the day will be done. By the time I post this though it will be much later and I will be snuggled up in my pj's.

**PS- The car IS fine, just needed the posts and terminals cleaned! And, K I will post new hair pics.... Eventually *sheepish smile* =D

Just Another Manic Monday

Weekend re-cap!

Friday night we went to go grocery shopping but before we went to pick up a new vacuum. We had found an awesome one on sale that will be great for the new house, PLUS it is supposed be awesome for pet hair (because we have like six secret cats in our house... At least one would think so when Spaz is shedding...). When we got to Costco I decided to just check and make sure (for my peace of mind) they didn't carry the vacuum I just paid $180.00 for, and if they did have the vacuum that it was more expensive. Yea, that was a bad idea... They had the vacuum, in a rich brown instead of the blue, and it was $25.00 CHEAPER THAN THE OTHER PLACE'S "SALE" PRICE!

After much internal debate, we bought what we needed at Costco, went BACK to the other store, RETURNED the vacuum, went back to Costco, and bought the vacuum there. Then we finished grocery shopping and went home.

Saturday we went to Portland. We got to IKEA only to realize they don't open until ten... I could have sworn it was nine but oh, well. We found a restroom (respectively) in a Staples nearby, and ended up purchasing a shredder...

Just before ten we went back to IKEA to start meandering the showroom. We weren't there to buy at this point, just peruse. After much plopping down and getting up we found the couch and chair that we want. We also found the ideal dining table (still a little undecided about which chairs to get with it...). We found a great sofa bed for the second bedroom.

While we were there we also looked at bedroom furniture (for future purchase), and we talked to the people in home delivery. Since we will be up here (why the heck would we want it delivered to Salem just to move it up here?) and where we will be lands within their "Zone 1" the delivery fee will be just $49! Regardless of the amount of stuff we purchase! Plus, if we ride the MAX when we order the stuff we get another $20 off the delivery fee!! Wicked awesomeness, right?

After IKEA we moseyed over to the community and signed all the paperwork for our lease. We were also able to go into the model unit and the outlets are in the PERFECT places in the living room. I noticed something funny while we were in the model unit.

You know how the human mind tends to remember things bigger than they really are (this is especially prominent in small children)? Yea, mine did the reverse of that. I remembered the unit being smaller... WRONG! It's even bigger than I remembered. I think I was kind of overwhelmed that day and felt rushed (not sure why) and my brain just shrunk it down.

Once we were all done there we went back to the east side and took my sister in law out for lunch. We walked from her house to a great little place called Bar Carlo (it's at 65th and Foster). Great food and atmosphere. I had the Carlo's Scramble (it was weekend brunch, even though it was two in the afternoon) which is a happy marriage of scrambled eggs, bell peppers, sausage, marinara sauce and mozzarella, along side their killer potatoes. It was great hanging out and visiting with her.

Sadly I had developed this splitting headache (bad enough that as soon as we got home I HAD to lay down for a bit... Or I would have chucked my Carlo's Scramble everywhere). I realized as the head ache developed that my hair was adding to the uncomfortable-ness, and I became very eager to shave my head. Later that evening I picked up a hairstyle magazine to find a nice short cut to get. I had reached just past the two year mark since I had chopped all my hair off before (I have had it cut and trimmed in the interim but mostly I let it grow).

We spent the rest of the evening watching "Big Fish" (I love this movie and really think I would enjoy the book). Sunday we got up at a lazy 5:15ish and had breakfast. I did my laundry and then we worked on getting together a grip of recyclables and garbage to take to the dump. I also packed a few boxes with stuff we don't need in the next six weeks and four days (who's counting? LOL) as well as most of the wall decor and the curtains.

We loaded up the truck with all the stuff destined for the dump and recycling center. It has been awesome purging all this useless junk.

After the dump we went back home for a bit before we went out to the salon where my rock star stylist used to work and had the owner chop off my hair! It feels great!!!! I figure after we move I will get it colored and trimmed by someone up here, but I knew I couldn't make it another month or more before getting my hair cut. 

Once we were done with running some other errands we just spent the last few hours of our weekend catching up with some shows and relaxing. It was the perfect end to another AWESOME weekend. We only have six left until we move... I'd be lying if I said we weren't excited.

Next weekend I am going to IKEA with my home girls from the collection agency. The rest of the weekend will be spent packing and relaxing. At least that's the plan as of today, but it is only Monday...

Sadly, it is a slow Monday at that, being that it is a "holiday." Lame. But I hope it is a good day for a slow day... I have offered to help the repair lady with playing catch up (she was on vacation last week) but she seems to be doing okay on her own... She did let me input ONE repair order... Yea, and I am waiting on some customers to get back to me about their orders and/or returns, but they are probably off today. I could do the filing right now but then what will I do later. I did the past dues on Friday so, yea.

Ooooo, project.... 


(note: this was written on Monday, I realize it is now Tuesday!)

Turtle

Never fails, the last forty five minutes and I have completed all of the tasks I had to do today... I am sure there is some other random task I could find to do to kill the last little chunk of the work week... As predicted there are only eighteen people left on the clock...

From a discussion with my boss earlier:

We were talking about whether or not God has a sense of humor. Naturally, the duck-billed platypus came up. I mentioned that if God saw fit to give a beaver a duck's face then yes, he/she/it/they (hey, we're non-denominational here) must have a sense of humor. Then I pondered aloud if a duck billed platypus is what happens when someone from Oregon State hooks up with someone from U of O and they have a kid.... I think it's a valid question.

You know that was funny.

Well I had a slight side adventure that took up fifteen minutes... We played find the hard-copy packing slip! And in the process I found a hard-copy that apparently needed to be deleted because it wasn't needed but someone never canceled it...

My hands are dry. Must moisturize. Um, that was just a little too much lotion... Instead of just my hands I was able to lube up both my forearms... Now I smell like super yummy Hempz lotion. I love this stuff... I need to re-order it... Like last month. This time I figure I will REALLY go for bulk and buy the GALLON jug... It should last me a year. What can I say? I really love this stuff; for my skin it works the best and I love the original scent of it. It smells fresh and faintly of bananas.

Twenty more minutes. I am hoping that the shipping dude will be bringing me the "pinks" so I can kill the rest of the day with matching them to their hard-copies for invoicing on Monday.

I really do love this job. Hell! I love the turn my life seems to have taken with the end of 2010! I am grateful to be coming out of the slump that the past year had me in. I am starting to feel more like myself, and then some. I hope that I can share my positivity and pay it forward.

I really don't take much stock in these things, but my horoscope for 2011 said I would gladly give away much of my personal belongings this year. So far, I have taken three trucks of stuff to Goodwill. I intend to get rid of my couches (we are looking at new ones tomorrow), I am selling my washer and dryer to our maintenance dude, and I plan to give my microwave cart and microwave to my dad and sister. The town house has a microwave built in, and washer and dryer set, and like I said we are looking at new couches.

Actually we are looking for a couch with a chaise at one end and a nice comfy chair with an ottoman. I am thinking gray and/or black for the color(s). I do not want OFF WHITE couches... EVER AGAIN. Yea.

This weekend (tonight actually) we are possibly going to get a new vacuum. We will need one that has attachments and that I can maneuver up and down the stairs (and clean the stairs with!). Sadly, our old school Eureka just won't cut it. I have my eye on a really cool "Pet Hair Removing" Bissel that also has a "Lift Off" canister which would be handy while vacuuming the stairs.

Okay, well I have killed all the time I can kill... Just need to make it ten minutes. Yay! Here come the "pinks!"

Glazed... Raspberry Filled

We have reached yet another Friday!

Today on the way to work Collin and I had a discussion about why people were driving slow. Collin said he had three reasons; I said I had three as well. Mine were the following:

#1 Because people are stupid.
#2 Because people are stupid.
#3 Because people are stupid.

Collin must have had a little more faith in humanity this morning because he said yes but for other reasons too. His are next:

#1 Because people are stupid. (I love my husband; we agree on a lot!)
#2 Because it's Friday and no one really wants to go to work. (Okay, good point)
#3 Because some of the stupid people think there may be ice and doing just under the posted speed limit will surely save their lives... (AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!)

I love Fridays here because they are fairly relaxed so to speak. The downside? It can be excruciatingly slow, with sporadic bursts of activity... I mean, it hasn't been going by that slowly really, I am almost halfway through the day (three hours in at least) and once I get past lunch it's just a four hour downhill slide to the weekend.

I am hoping that the important dude visiting Intel today doesn't eff up the traffic too much when I get off at 3:30... Tonight Collin and I are doing one last "Big Grocery" shop before we move. Then at the end of March when we are almost out of everything, I am going to take stock of whatever is left and shop for (as close to) three weeks of food; two weeks for while we still live in Salem and the third week is for the first week we live up here. I know we won't want to go grocery shopping the weekend we move except for bare essentials (bread, milk, eggs, etc.).

After much thought put into this we have agreed on a plan of attack for moving our insanely neurotic cat; affectionately known as Spaz. We have a sedative that her vet prescribed for the move since she suffers from anxiety and motion sickness (so an hour long car ride would be hell). We originally planned on moving everything in the morning and then coming back for her when we come get our 2nd car and the TV that afternoon. The problem with this plan is that we would have to sit and wait for about an hour to see how well the sedative works and whether she will need the 2nd half of the pill before we go. Plus, we plan to have pizza and beer with our "movers" (a few of our friends), so yea...

The new and approved plan is that we will drug her up that morning while we finish loading the u-haul (which I plan for us to just need to load the bed and her kitty tree the morning of the move), and then move her with everything (she will ride in the car with Collin... What kind of mommy would I be if I put her in the u-haul? Sheesh...). This way she can be confined to the second bedroom while we unload everything and get stuff situated, AND we won't have to go back for the second car until Sunday when we hope to schedule the walk thru with our maintenance dude. The sedative is supposed to keep her fairly zonked for six to eight hours. We plan to set her up in the second bedroom with food, water, her box, kitty tree and this handy dandy plug in called Feliaway. The Feliaway is like a Glade plug in that emits cat pheromones and is supposed to help keep her calm and mellow.

We shall see, we plan to get some soon so we can keep her kind of mellow as we slowly pack up the house...

It's weird. It seems to me that there is AND isn't that much stuff to pack for the move... We have a bunch of boxes and I can EASILY get a bunch more as we need them but I don't know if we will really need more boxes... I'm sure we will, and we will have to cross that bridge when we get there. Honestly, most everything we don't use REGULARLY will probably be packed up by the first weekend of March which will give us more than enough time if we end up needing more boxes...

Oh, sad moment this morning. Collin got me this really pretty stainless steel water bottle for part of my Valentine's Day gift, and I freaking dropped it this morning in the parking lot as I got it out of the back seat. It hit the pavement just wrong that it dented the bottom edge making it uneven and all wobbly. It also chipped the "paint." I am going to try and get the dent out this weekend and put some sort of clear coat over the chipping paint so that it doesn't mess up all of it.

***This is being added a few hours later*** Oh, back to the thing about Fridays here. While me and a few other crucial people MUST be here the whole regular eight hour shift (7am-3:30pm), the production crew is on a flex schedule of sorts. So, typically, by about 2 to 2:30 on Fridays the "factory" is deserted! It can be difficult seeing everyone gone but us, but oh well. It's almost 2pm so I have less than two hours until I am off for THE WEEKEND!! There is typically forty five to fifty people clocked in on a normal day; in the last hour or two of a Friday there is twenty or less... Yea. But it makes it easy to get out of the parking lot at the end of my day.

Thankfully, the last two hours zipped by because about half a dozen people across the country decided, "Hey, before I go home for the weekend I need to return/order/exchange this equipment..." I thank those random procrastinators for giving me some busy work. Now to just kill an hour and forty some odd minutes... I know filing.

I think this is where I will leave off for the post.

TGIFF! (You figure it out... I put the extra F in on purpose)

Doughnut Friday is Forthcoming!

Today has been much busier than yesterday, so it has flown by.

It has turned into a rather suspenseful day as well, but that story is for another time when it is settled rather than before things are definite. It is a good suspense... Sort of... It's the last "thing" Collin and I really have been waiting on since I got the new job. I know, "Sheesh, Alicia what is with all the enigmatic innuendos and double speak?!" Well, I am superstitious so suck it.

And no, I am not sure why I suddenly have an affinity for telling people to suck it...

Last night, I found out how easy it is to move my PGE service. All I had to do was go online, tell them when I wanted to disconnect at my current residence and when I wanted to start it at my new residence. There will be a one day overlap since we won't technically be "out" of the current place until the day AFTER we move everything to the new place. I don't think that will be an issue. We shall see when I get my email confirmation from them.

Next I need to call the community's Comcast rep to set up our TV and internet stuff. I am curious if he will still be able to get us a good deal even though we HAVE an account already. Currently we just have basic BASIC cable which == the first thirty channels (we really don't watch TV other than the news in the morning with our current schedule).

Ah, and then I will have the pleasure of telling Qwest when I want to be disconnected and NO I do not plan on having a land-line when we move... It would be a total waste of money. We have cellphones and I am more likely to answer my cell than my home phone (that may change someday but for now it is what it is). If we didn't currently have our internet through Qwest I would just disconnect the service now... Then we wouldn't get anymore god-foresaken calls for this damn Hispanic family that APPARENTLY DOES NOT PAY THEIR BILLS! Yea...

The only other people who call our land line (other than my mother who is being effectively retrained) is my former employers... ... ... ...

Anyways, I am really getting along with my new boss. She is pretty cool and easy to get along with. Lots of laughs! Good times. She will never replace my BFF Renee, but I am grateful that I get along with my new co-workers. It was one of my biggest fears; life will always imitate high school, it is miserable to be the "new kid" after being in one "school" for so long.

Tomorrow is Friday! And apparently the production department will have doughnuts to share with all in the morning!!! Yay!

By the way, more and more I am finding that this place isn't as dull as one would think... I still don't know EVERYONE by name, but I am getting there. There is like forty to fifty regular full time employees just in my building (there are TWO other businesses in the complex aka the "Plaza"). This is more like a fish being transferred from a bowl (with a meager three other fish) to a lake with many schools swimming around...

That is all for now. See, aren't your proud? I found a way to post more... But it's a secret how I do it... (Trust me I don't have the time and energy to do this at the end of the day!)

Segments of....

Grapefruit! I am in love with grapefruit at the moment.

Today was one of those days that flew by...

Until the last forty five minutes of the day that is...

But, this was much better than the whole day plodding along at an Amish pace (no insult meant... it would be nice to have a weekend at that pace...). An interesting note, it snowed for about an hour here and then preceded to be rather sunny for a large portion of the late morning and early afternoon.

I love Wednesdays. Weird I know, but it seems so much closer to Friday and the weekend once I reach the middle to end of a Wednesday. I am eager to get to this weekend and the fun of Saturday. How nerdy-adult-y that I am excited to sign a lease and look at furniture! It will be great. I think I already mentioned this next bit but oh well. When we are up signing the lease I want to go back through the model unit so I can map out where the various outlets are located (specifically in the living room).

Okay, I realize I am kind of rambling and not making much sense in this post... Part of it is an attempt to kill time and the other part of it is I really truly do want to post more often, but alas time hath become mine enemy dearest. Well, the lack there of.

I am hoping that the precipitation (whatever kind it ends up being) will hold off until AFTER Collin and I get south of Wilsonville. Or at least onto I-5 and off of 217... I effing HATE driving on 217, any time, but especially when it rains because everyone seems to forget that it rains in Oregon... ALL THE TIME... and they then decide they need to be driving at least ten miles per hour BELOW the posted speed limit. Bastards...

I said south of Wilsonville because of the "Wilsonville Effect." The "Wilsonville Effect" is this unexplainable slowing of traffic with no root cause other than to make my commute hell.

Yea... SOUP!!!!!