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.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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!)
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!)
Friday, February 18, 2011
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!"
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)
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)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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!)
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!)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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!!!!!
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!!!!!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
This Was Secondary But Still Important
I really ought to have posted this one first, but the zombie one was stuck in my mind begging for escape.
As we all know, I have a spectacular new job up in the metro area. It is seriously like a vacation compared to my previous job, but I miss my friends dearly.
With my new job and the fact that Collin already works in Portland it only makes sense that we relocate are happy butts up here. Since the first of the year we have been getting up at 3:30am and it is really wearing me out. Our weekends are the only time we have to DO anything other than eat and sleep and shower.
I can happily say that on the fifth we found our new place! We are so excited, it's just unbelievable. We won't be moving until the beginning of April, which is fine. This will give us the time we desperately need to go through ALL our belongings and Goodwill, trash, or recycle those items that we no longer need. In the past two weekends we have already made three trips to Goodwill and this next weekend we will probably be making a couple trips to the dump; one for recycling and one for garbage. The cherished things we decide are for keeps are getting packed as we go. We already have the living room shelves packed, and I can proudly say we cleaned out the garage and most of the second bedroom. The garage was full of junk that Collin and I cannot figure out why we kept in the first place. Now it just contains empty boxes, holiday decorations, camping gear, and our bikes.
But, on to the good stuff, THE NEW PLACE! It is awesome. We'll start with the amenities the community offers: seasonal pool, 24/7 fitness center, AMAZING club house, and SUPER AWESOME LOCATION. It's not far from my work (only a few miles versus fifty), and it's close to the MAX and tons of stores (but not TOO close).
Now for the unit itself. It's a three story town home with about 1400 square feet (it's almost DOUBLE our cottage!!!). The first floor is comprised of a one car garage and a bonus room which will be our office/Collin's "Man Cave." The second floor is made up of the living room (with a fireplace and sliding glass door onto our deck that has a storage closet), HUMONGOUS (when compared to our current galley kitchen) kitchen with an island, built in microwave, AND a dishwasher, and there is also an ACTUAL DINING ROOM! It's all open so it'll be great for get-togethers. The third floor consists of a laundry closet WITH washer and dryer, a linen closet, spare bedroom with HUGE closet, main bathroom, and the MASTER SUITE. The master suite has it's own bathroom with DOUBLE sinks and a shower (the main bathroom has the tub).
And here is the killer part; the office room, living room and master suite DO NOT look out at other homes or buildings. They look out at a gorgeous wooded creek!!!!!!!!!! Yea... Suck on that! (No, I don't know who I am directing that at, I am just that excited.)
And it all happened so fast when we got the place, I think I was in shock for a couple days... We went up to tour the model unit, loved it (it was the exact same floor plan as what we wanted), did the applications, paid the deposit, left to go have lunch with some friends and then got the call (after lunch) that we were approved and we could come up and sign the lease anytime between now and April. A big selling point was also the INSANELY low pet deposit ($150) which is half of what most places charge, PLUS there is NO PET RENT (which most places in the metro area charge $10-20 per month per pet).
Yea, we're excited. I am counting down the mornings that we have to get up at 3:30AM... Come on April!
This weekend we are going "shopping" for new couches and a couple other things ("shopping"== window shopping/pricing items out/figuring out financing) and we are going to sign the lease!!! Go us!
Good times!
After thought: We already have a list of people who want to come and stay with us!! HAHAHAHA!!
As we all know, I have a spectacular new job up in the metro area. It is seriously like a vacation compared to my previous job, but I miss my friends dearly.
With my new job and the fact that Collin already works in Portland it only makes sense that we relocate are happy butts up here. Since the first of the year we have been getting up at 3:30am and it is really wearing me out. Our weekends are the only time we have to DO anything other than eat and sleep and shower.
I can happily say that on the fifth we found our new place! We are so excited, it's just unbelievable. We won't be moving until the beginning of April, which is fine. This will give us the time we desperately need to go through ALL our belongings and Goodwill, trash, or recycle those items that we no longer need. In the past two weekends we have already made three trips to Goodwill and this next weekend we will probably be making a couple trips to the dump; one for recycling and one for garbage. The cherished things we decide are for keeps are getting packed as we go. We already have the living room shelves packed, and I can proudly say we cleaned out the garage and most of the second bedroom. The garage was full of junk that Collin and I cannot figure out why we kept in the first place. Now it just contains empty boxes, holiday decorations, camping gear, and our bikes.
But, on to the good stuff, THE NEW PLACE! It is awesome. We'll start with the amenities the community offers: seasonal pool, 24/7 fitness center, AMAZING club house, and SUPER AWESOME LOCATION. It's not far from my work (only a few miles versus fifty), and it's close to the MAX and tons of stores (but not TOO close).
Now for the unit itself. It's a three story town home with about 1400 square feet (it's almost DOUBLE our cottage!!!). The first floor is comprised of a one car garage and a bonus room which will be our office/Collin's "Man Cave." The second floor is made up of the living room (with a fireplace and sliding glass door onto our deck that has a storage closet), HUMONGOUS (when compared to our current galley kitchen) kitchen with an island, built in microwave, AND a dishwasher, and there is also an ACTUAL DINING ROOM! It's all open so it'll be great for get-togethers. The third floor consists of a laundry closet WITH washer and dryer, a linen closet, spare bedroom with HUGE closet, main bathroom, and the MASTER SUITE. The master suite has it's own bathroom with DOUBLE sinks and a shower (the main bathroom has the tub).
And here is the killer part; the office room, living room and master suite DO NOT look out at other homes or buildings. They look out at a gorgeous wooded creek!!!!!!!!!! Yea... Suck on that! (No, I don't know who I am directing that at, I am just that excited.)
And it all happened so fast when we got the place, I think I was in shock for a couple days... We went up to tour the model unit, loved it (it was the exact same floor plan as what we wanted), did the applications, paid the deposit, left to go have lunch with some friends and then got the call (after lunch) that we were approved and we could come up and sign the lease anytime between now and April. A big selling point was also the INSANELY low pet deposit ($150) which is half of what most places charge, PLUS there is NO PET RENT (which most places in the metro area charge $10-20 per month per pet).
Yea, we're excited. I am counting down the mornings that we have to get up at 3:30AM... Come on April!
This weekend we are going "shopping" for new couches and a couple other things ("shopping"== window shopping/pricing items out/figuring out financing) and we are going to sign the lease!!! Go us!
Good times!
After thought: We already have a list of people who want to come and stay with us!! HAHAHAHA!!
I Knew It Was Only A Matter Of Time
It figures that the zombie apocalypse would start on Valentine's Day... or Easter...
Yesterday morning, as we made our way down the street we live on the most terrifying thing transpired. We came to the first cross street that we turn on, and at the corner was a pedestrian getting ready to cross.
First this was odd because, as I said we were on our way to work, and just having left the house it was barely 5am... You don't see much in the way of pedestrians in Salem at 5am.
Second, she was kind of stumbling... Shambling, you could say. Also, I'd like to note that she appeared to be talking/mumbling/moaning to no one in particular.
When she was about a third of the way across the street she suddenly became aware of us and began to shuffle towards the car. As she got closer and closer I sort of froze; afraid to go for fear she would jump in front of the car, but wanting to go because the woman looked disturbed.
She began to extend her hands toward the car and Collin told me, quite firmly, "Go, go, go, GO!"
So, I did.
No, she didn't leap in front of my vehicle.
The whole experience kicked my body into fight or flight mode, so I was trying to calm myself down before we reached I-5.
I didn't admit this to Collin until after work, but the irrational part of my brain (where my overactive imagination syndrome resides...) when presented with the shuffling, shambling, decrepit looking woman went to the one logical place any overactive imagination would. The following is the exact thought that passed through my mind as these events unfolded:
"Oh, crap. It's happening... ZOMBIES!"
Yea...
I know...
This encounter just left me off my game for the rest of the day. Efing crackheads...
Yet, another reason why we can't wait to move (I know I haven't shared/posted all that yet but I will, I just haven't had the time), our once picturesque neighborhood is apparently going to hell...
I apologize if you laughed so hard you peed your pants, or milk came out of your nose (I hope you were drinking milk if such an incident occurred....). But I hope you got some humor out of this story. I know I did... ^.^
Yesterday morning, as we made our way down the street we live on the most terrifying thing transpired. We came to the first cross street that we turn on, and at the corner was a pedestrian getting ready to cross.
First this was odd because, as I said we were on our way to work, and just having left the house it was barely 5am... You don't see much in the way of pedestrians in Salem at 5am.
Second, she was kind of stumbling... Shambling, you could say. Also, I'd like to note that she appeared to be talking/mumbling/moaning to no one in particular.
When she was about a third of the way across the street she suddenly became aware of us and began to shuffle towards the car. As she got closer and closer I sort of froze; afraid to go for fear she would jump in front of the car, but wanting to go because the woman looked disturbed.
She began to extend her hands toward the car and Collin told me, quite firmly, "Go, go, go, GO!"
So, I did.
No, she didn't leap in front of my vehicle.
The whole experience kicked my body into fight or flight mode, so I was trying to calm myself down before we reached I-5.
I didn't admit this to Collin until after work, but the irrational part of my brain (where my overactive imagination syndrome resides...) when presented with the shuffling, shambling, decrepit looking woman went to the one logical place any overactive imagination would. The following is the exact thought that passed through my mind as these events unfolded:
"Oh, crap. It's happening... ZOMBIES!"
Yea...
I know...
This encounter just left me off my game for the rest of the day. Efing crackheads...
Yet, another reason why we can't wait to move (I know I haven't shared/posted all that yet but I will, I just haven't had the time), our once picturesque neighborhood is apparently going to hell...
I apologize if you laughed so hard you peed your pants, or milk came out of your nose (I hope you were drinking milk if such an incident occurred....). But I hope you got some humor out of this story. I know I did... ^.^
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