WG's Ramblings

Ready for mid April

2010-03-20T21:58:00.002-04:00

Dale and I went to the VCU game two Sundays ago and watched them lose to ODU in OT. It was hard to watch them lose as I'm really not used to watching them lose. We had a good time though. We upgraded our seats again and sat in the lower bowl by the pep band again. /basketball season
Work has picked up due to the nice weather, people going outside to do yard work and then call to complain about their lawn/shrubs or wonder why we haven't been out since we normally come out in February. Apparently people don't remember the foot of snow on the ground in February and must think that they are the only customer that we have. Plus we're under-staffed and can't keep appointments. And my hours changed again to 10-7. Come on mid-April! /rant

Last week I started getting a sinus infection (due to the nice weather mentioned above). I decided to try a neti pot for the first time. As gross as it is, it worked. My sinus infection/pressure was lessened and it never moved into my chest, so I didn't have a week's worth of coughing like I did last time. So by Thursday of this week, I could taste my food again and breathe without constantly blowing my nose. /nasty

Last weekend since I was sick we didn't do much of anything. I even asked B to accompany me for grocery shopping. He did and we got home in time to watch the Blackhawks/Caps game on NBC. Since there was no NASCAR, I fell asleep watching hockey with the Caps in a 3 point deficit and woke up in OT and a minute later the Caps won the game. /Nap Time PerfectionThis weekend we dropped off B's truck at the new Firestone near my house for a state inspection. The Durango needed 3 new tires and new wiper blades. We bought 4 tires and the blades and almost $700 later we picked up the truck. There went the rest of B's OT money. And I'm pretty sure that we're going to end up owing both the feds and state taxes. *sigh* /money woes.

I'm almost done with the hallway wall. The damn wall that I've been fighting since August 09. This morning it looked like this:

This evening it looks like this:

I am SO very excited about this. At first the contact paper had us stumped. Then we thought we had its number, but it showed us. Then my cousin came over and gave a suggestion that worked quite well and even let us borrow his power sander to make it happen. Tomorrow night that wall will finally match the kitchen and the rest of the hallway. /giddiness
5.5 months until Buffett! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

The week plus some

2010-03-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

Dale and I went to the CAA basketball tournament today. We watched ODU crush Towson and then watched VCU vs GMU. VCU won! Good times. We upgraded our seats for the 2nd half for the VCU game. The lady behind us for the 1st half was so negative. I think she was for VCU, but I couldn't tell from the way she was bad-mouthing everyone. It must be horrible to watch a game like that. We moved and sat in a VCU section downstairs where even when one of the guys fouled out of the game the girls behind me were "It's ok we still love you". THAT's the type of fan I am too...I felt more at home downstairs. We were closer to the Pep Band too, which is always nice :-) After the game I met my hubby, Mom and K at Grandpa Eddie's for dinner. It better than Brock's or Sibley's IMHO. I got the brisket which was good, but I didn't care for their BBQ sauce. Their peanut butter pie was really yummy though.
This past Wednesday the Region VP, Division Commercial Mgr and Division VP came to visit work. That went well to the best of my knowledge. The DVP is a really nice personable guy and wouldn't mind seeing him again. I didn't really talk to the DCM and we see the RVP on a semi-regular basis already. The branch is about 90% rebranded due to the DVP visit. The customer calls will start heading to the call center in Mid April (silent Hooray!) and we'll be getting the hand held devices for the specialists within the month.
I went to DMV this morning to renew my baby truck's registration. I spent a total 15mins in DMV. That was awesome :) I get my old plates back. Hooray!! I can't stand my current plates because I misspelled something (backwards) so I took my old plates with me and they let me keep those and I'll be getting my new sparkley (correctly spelled) plates within the month. In related news, on the way to the VCU game there was a checkpoint on Hopkins Rd. That was not even 3 hours after being at DMV. So. Happy.
6 months to Buffett! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Ready for Spring

2010-02-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

I had to change the background of this blog from penguins to spring flowers.
The Capitals game has been postponed. I can't find any decently priced tickets. So stupid! In other news, I did find some decently priced Jimmy Buffett tickets. Byron, Suz, Mike and I will be going to the Labor Day weekend show in NoVa!!! So. Freaking. Excited. I got the tickets from StubHub and they arrived on Friday. Friday night I promptly bought stuff for tailgating and shirts to wear. Yep. I'm ready.
Two Fridays ago Melissa, Crystal, Chris, Doc, Jesse, Amanda and I went to Shamrock's for drinks and karaoke. Melissa got more than drunk...if that's possible. She doesn't remember anything past singing her last song (well...if you call that singing). Jesse carried her to my truck and Chris followed me to take her home to carry her in the house. Well, we got within eyeshot of her house and her body decides that's the perfect time to be sick...in my truck. Ewwww. We got her in the house and the Chris had to drive my truck (I drove his work van) to a car wash place to clean up my baby. We got that done while it was snowing and then went our separate ways. I went home and played on the computer until I couldn't stay awake.
Last Saturday Crystal came over and we had pizza, watched movies and drank until Crystal couldn't remember. I kept up with her shot for shot (we drank a bottle and a half of tequila...14 shots each). I guess I just can't get "blackout" drunk. Not that I was trying, but I've never been so drunk that I've forgotten chunks of time...it might be fuzzy though. Oh and I don't have hangovers either, but boy was my stomach and liver pissed off at me for a couple of days.
Work is changing. Ch-ch-ch-changes! They're coming hard and fast now. The Division VP is coming this week and our GM has lost his mind. And I think I've gone there with him. I forgot a route for one of the guys for Saturday this week. I didn't know he was back from his accident earlier in the week until after I had scheduled Saturday's work and forgot to go back and schedule a route for him. Not too bad, just a route right? Well, on Friday at 7am I have a missed call and VM. I check (at 8:45 when I'm ready to walk out the door) and it's my boss saying that two people didn't have routes. One wasn't really my fault because I was told that the guy wasn't going to be going out on a route and the other hadn't worked all week but the day before and had taken a route that was from a guy that called out sick. I didn't get in much trouble for that one, but two days in a row? I pray that I got everyone routes for Monday...I'll find out tomorrow morning. Oh some of the changes I mentioned was that the branch got a bit of a face lift on the inside. Some fresh paint, new tracking boards and new signage & posters. It looks 70% better. The carpet really needs to be replaced, but that's not going to happen soon and we're not quite done putting up posters and the warehouse face lift hasn't been started to my knowledge. And we're going to handheld devices for the routing. It'll make my job a bit easier once the transition has taken place. They aren't allowing my boss to replace Sharon since that person won't have a job past June (maybe sooner) when the customer calls start going to a call center. But for now, that still leaves me as the main phone person and trying to dispatch....maybe that's why I'm forgetting routes? Too much multi-tasking. Nope, that can't be it. No excuses and just own it.
I went to a VCU basketball game this week with Dale. That was good times, but the last home game of the season. We might go to the CAA tourney depending on where they seed and the weather.
Today I took Lilly to Petco's Salon to get some Shed Less grooming. While waiting for her appointment to be done, I went to Dad's house and had lunch with him and Dale. Then I taught Dad some features about Facebook since he joined last weekend. I went and picked up the best smelling Lilly ever and she's very fluffy even though she has much less fur than when I dropped her off there. They say she did well. I saw a Lab in a muzzle getting its nails clipped and I had to wonder what they'll tell his owners if they ask. I know she's good for me, but is cautious around people she doesn't know. Anyhow, I dropped off Lilly at home and went to Barnes & Noble and picked up Melissa (after getting a couple of books) and went to Ross to get her something to wear to a wedding. After getting that we went to Red Lobster for dinner. The chowder was good, the dinner was so-so but the biscuits were yummy as usual. Came home and am I'm listening to the last live concert of the Summerzcool tour on Radio Margaritaville.
They're calling for a big snow storm this week. I hope not. I am SO tired of sNOw.
6 months and 1 week until Buffett. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Stupid Snow

2010-02-05T20:38:00.003-05:00

Since my last post two weeks ago, it's significantly snowed twice. TWICE! This is Richmond, not New York. Where's my Global Warming??? I did get a few good pics of Lilly this past weekend, here's my favorite:

You can see the rest of snow pics here.
I baked cookies last weekend when I couldn't go out due to 8inches of snow. I ended up making three different kinds of cookies in one day. It was like Christmas baking all over again. I took some of them to work and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I'm sure I'll be baking again tomorrow since we're supposed to get another 6-8 inches.
B's been working OT due to inventory and is tired quite a bit, but was able to sleep away most of last Saturday when he would have been working. There was the only good thing about the snow.
My Washington Capitals have won 12 in a row and right now are going for 13. Hopefully they'll be able to pull out this season and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals (and win!) We plan on going to DC in March (after the Olympics) to see a game. Our first one since 2004. I will finally will get to see Ovechkin play in person. I'm way excited about that. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Just a week

2010-01-24T18:45:00.003-05:00

This week was just a week. Nothing real special. Monday-Friday I worked. On Friday they changed the desks around in the office, so now I sit in the back corner of the room behind Crystal. I also was told that I will be doing more dispatcher responsibilities and my hours will change to 8am-5pm. Normal hours! Whoohoo! We also found out that Sharon's not coming back to work. This was her decision, not my company's. She has a daughter that is very sick with cancer and a bacterial infection. She's bedridden, any visitors must suit up in order to visit due to the bacterial infection and has lost so much weight that the only weighs 80lbs. Sharon just can't leave her right now and sacrificed her job. Any thoughts, prayers or vibes that you can send to Sharon, her daughter and family is greatly appreciated.
Friday night, Crystal and I went to the FunnyBone and saw Gary Owen. He was alright. Definitely not the worse I've seen, but not the best either.
Saturday, I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house to help train their dog. He's a lab/pitbull mix and weighs about 60lbs (twice as much as my Lilly) and is a cutie. He's pretty smart and caught on to what we wanted him to do and was even taking voice commands by the end of the session. After that I went and picked up Crystal and we headed to Norfolk. The Lindt store is going out of business and is selling chocolate from 30-70% off. We each bought about $30 worth of chocolate that easily would have been worth $80-90. We walked around the mall, shopped and window shopped. We ate at California Pizza Kitchen (her first time) and we split the best dessert that I've had a while, White chocolate strawberry cheesecake. Yum! I drove back and we sang songs from my iPod the whole way home. Good day.
Today I ran some errands and then went to my mom's house to set up her two computers to her new wireless printer. That only took 2 hours...one hour per computer. So much fun, but at least I was able to get-er-done :) Now, it's Chinese delivery for dinner and watching the NFC Championship game. (Go Saints!) Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Yikes

2010-01-17T21:21:00.003-05:00

It's like I forgot this thing existed. So three months later I'll play a little catchup.
Crystal, her mom, B and I went to the '09 Meadow Highland Games & Celtic Festival and here are the pictures. We had a really good time even though it was pretty chilly that day.
We went to Ocracoke for vacation with Mom and K. We had a good time. The week seemed to fly by though. We stayed in a different house this year and didn't really like the house and we'll be staying at the house next door. It's smaller, but it's nicer. When we went fishing on the charter boat, I caught 3 fish. A total of 6 were caught for the day and we were able to keep 5. They were Good Eats :) Here are the pics.
I got laid off from TG in December. I was out for three weeks. I baked and baked and baked during that time. I made 10 different types of cookies! I also made the entire Christmas Eve dinner from the turkey to the cornbread stuffing to the pumpkin pie.
Christmas was good. We went to my dad's house in the morning and then my mom's in the afternoon. B's mom was out of town. Pictures of the cookies and from Christmas are here.
It snowed in Richmond in December for the first time in FOREVER. Pics are here. Of course it did this on my birthday weekend and ruined all my plans with family and friends. So, instead of being with them, I had to stay in the house. We did finally get out on Sunday and go to lunch with my mom and K, but not where we had planned to go originally. We went by her house on the way home and picked up my awesome birthday present. I got a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer. Words cannot explain how I feel for this machine:
I had to have a tooth removed the Monday after my birthday. That's always fun, but at least the dentist was professional, nice and handsome to boot! I have to go back for a root canal soon...boo!
I've been to two Norfolk hockey games, both with Crystal and once included B. The one where the three of us went, we stopped at the Cheeseburger in Paradise in Newport News on the way home and us girls got very drunk. That was the longest ride home, even when dozing. This past Saturday just Crystal and I went down to Norfolk. We had a good time, stayed sober and even went to Wild Rose Cafe for some karaoke before going home.
We've seen a few movies as well. The most recent are Alvin & The Chipmunks 2 with Crystal and Avatar with Crystal and Byron. Both were enjoyable and Avatar was visually stimulating.
Last weekend Dale and I went to a VCU basketball game and watched them win. We're going again on Wednesday and hopefully they'll repeat that win thing.
Well, that's not everything but it's a good overview. And until next time...keep your stick on the ice.

Say Thanks to a Soilder

2009-12-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

What a weekend!

2009-10-11T19:11:00.004-04:00

Well, I didn't get done everything I wanted to do and lots of stuff I hadn't planned on doing. I did get to Ace, Home Depot and WalMart on Saturday morning, but didn't get home until 12noon. I needed to switch out our satellite receiver. I did that but it's no good either, so I'm still DVR-less. *sigh* The only thing I got done in the hallway was taping the doors, doorbell and a/c register.
There was no branch meeting on Friday. It's been rescheduled, but no one knows when. I got a call on Saturday morning that told me that my hours are being changed to 9-6 starting Tuesday. The sales crew is the reason I work so late and management changed their hours, so that means my hours change too. Hooray! I'm working "normal hours" again. Hopefully, this will last for the rest of the year. I'm only working 3 days this week. I took off Thursday/Friday because Thursday is B's and mine 4 year anniversary and sometimes we'll go do things around that date and want to make sure that's possible. But, this year I'm just off to head to take Lilly for her yearly shots/checkup and do my painting that I didn't get done this weekend.
We went to Norfolk for some hockey last night. It was good to see live hockey even if I didn't care about the teams either way. I did notice that Manchester had a guy named Hickey on their team, so that who I started to root for and of course they lost. We'll be going again in December for my birthday with again I team I don't care about, but then in January we'll go and see a team where I can root against Norfolk (as usual).
Today, Crystal came over and we cleared out the flower beds of dead/dying plants & ground cover. Byron replaced the rusted out mailbox and B & I replaced the doorbell button and cleaned out a closet that needed it and took most of that to the dump. We're finally doing stuff with the house that should have been taken care of when we moved in 4 years ago.
Only 20 days to my Outer Banks vacation :)
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Just a week

2009-10-08T22:30:00.006-04:00

We decided that since there's no hockey in Richmond and watching it on TV just isn't the same, we're headed to Norfolk on Saturday to see the Admirals play. But, we need to continue work on the house first. So that means I have to get up and get moving much earlier than I usually do on Saturdays. I need to get to Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart all before 11am.
I can't believe the names that they're coming up with for the new double-A Richmond baseball team. The Hambones, Flying Squirrels, Rhinos, Flatheads and Rock Hoppers. Then CNBC gets in the mix and adds Hush Puppies. The owners said that they don't want anything normal...well they're certainly not going to get it. Teams like the Mudbugs and Jackalopes (both minor league hockey) make more money on merchandise from out of towners than people that support the team locally, so I guess that's where they're trying to go with it.
Tomorrow is the branch meeting where we might get more info about the changes coming. My guess is there will be less talk about the changes and more about how much we suck and need to improve. Nothing unusual there though. Hopefully, it'll be short and I'll be able to still got my work done despite having this "break" in the day.
Byron has stated that now that he's gotten his promotion and raise he wants to start saving and take us to Austin, TX for our 5th year anniversary (one year and one week from today). If that's the case, then I need to lose weight in order to fly in a plane without having to buy two tickets. I've started to watch my portions and stop eating extra meals (by stopping at Mickey D's before heading home for dinner). Soon, I'll start exercising by walking. Then, I'll be able to buy a bicycle and be able to exercise two ways and still get the dog moving too.
Lilly gets her yearly shots next week. And we'll be checking on her head shaking as well. It hasn't been as bad as it was, but she's still shaking. Her ears are clean and I used the drying solution after I washed her last. I'm hoping it's something little or even nothing at all.
Only 23 days till my Outer Banks vacation :)
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Zombies!!!

2009-10-04T19:06:00.005-04:00

We went to see Zombieland today. It was pretty funny. I'm not one for horror movies at ALL, but I did enjoy Shaun of the Dead and read a review last night that said it was very much the same type of movie. I will not spoil the best cameo in a movie in a long time, but it was awesome.
After the movie we went to TGIFridays because I was one of Woody's first 500,000 fans and got a coupon for a free Jack Daniel's burger. I'm not a big JD fan, so I gave that to Byron and I had something else. For the second weekend in a row, B did not like the burger he ordered. I feel like I'm on the quest for burger that B will enjoy. I guess we'll have to go to Five Guys next weekend. They never disappoint.
We also discovered that when flooring was bought for the kitchen that not enough was bought. I don't know if we gave the chick at Home Depot the wrong measurements, they were right and she figured them wrong or we got less boxes than recommended or a combination of any of the above, but we're about 5 boxes short. So now more flooring has to be bought. First, we need to paint the ceiling, prime and paint the hallway and paint one piece in the kitchen and the outlet/switchplates. Then we can lay the flooring. I'm hoping to be done by the second weekend in November.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Changes are coming!

2009-10-02T23:30:00.004-04:00

This week wasn't horrible for a change. Monday was a bit hectic as it was my first day back after four days on vacation. I felt appreciated when I came back. My direct boss was very happy to see me and now understands I'm not just circling dots to schedule work. Tuesday though Thursday the main boss was gone and we just worked and talked and had a few good days. Friday the main boss was back and all the managers went into a meeting before I got there and didn't come out for 90mins after I arrived. The main boss had gone out of town to a meeting to get the new direction of the company. (Backstory: The company I work for and its sister companies were bought out buy a private equity investment firm early last year and they're trying to make us grow so they can sell us.) There are some major changes coming to the company at the branch level. Changes have been happening for a while in the company, but that the corporate, division or regional level. Lots of middle management and admin is gone and our help desk was closed and is handled out of India now. Now, my direct boss is losing her title (and probably some money to go with it, but that's none of my business so I didn't ask) and there are LOTS of branch level changes coming. The good news is that since my branch was working with few customer service/admin people that we should all keep our jobs...at least for now.
Byron got a promotion and raise and both went into effect this week. He's finally considered full time and can start getting paid vacation and benefits (I think). He even has someone working under him. He's very happy...at least as happy as B gets.
Hockey season started this week. Unfortunately there is no hockey in RVA this year. I'm already going through live hockey withdrawals. I think we're going to Norfolk next weekend to get a fix. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Movie and lunch

2009-09-27T11:58:00.004-04:00

Two posts in two days! I might try for NaBloPoMo in November.
We went and saw The Informant! yesterday. That was interesting, kinda slow but amusing as well. LOTS of stand-up comedians: Paul F. Thompkins, Tom F Wilson, Allan Havey, Joel McHale, Tom Papa, Bob Zany, Patton Oswalt, Tom AND Dick Smothers (!) to name a few. Some you may know by name, most you'd know if you watch a lot of Comedy Central and HBO One Night Stands like me.
After the movie we went across the street to Spinnakers Restaurant for lunch. That was okay. Byron was disappointed with his cheeseburger, but the club wrap that I was good. We had their Caribbean Cream Pie for dessert and I'm going to try and remake that for dessert sometime next week. Graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding, bananas and pineapple topped with toasted coconut and walnuts. I'm going to substitute macadamia nuts for walnuts when I make it. Yum!
After that we went to Michael's, but their Christmas stuff was lacking...too early yet. But I was just getting ideas for kids activities for the Open House. We went to Barnes & Noble and picked up the first book in the series that inspired the show on FOX, Bones. Byron's reading that while I finish the recent Sookie Stackhouse book. After that we went to Game Stop and I got Batman Lego for the Wii. That's a pretty fun game. We have the Star Wars Lego for Gamecube (for the Wii), but I enjoy playing Batman more.
Today is sports day in the house. Football and NASCAR...and naps :) I'm off to enjoy my last day of my 4 days of freedom. Tomorrow's back to work...blah! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Nothing much to say

2009-09-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

I haven't been blogging because I'm lazy and nothing much has been going on lately.
The kitchen is still a mess, but it's painted now. I did most of the priming and then Crystal came over and helped with the actual painting of color on the walls. I think it looks good and am pleased. We also got a new rug for the living room. What we had was something that came with the house. It was a wall-to-wall rug that was falling apart in several places (no help from our four legged kids). It's a bit bold for what I usually do when decorating, but I like it.

Work is just that. I finally had some vacation time this week after not having any all year. I didn't win the big Mega Millions jackpot a few weeks ago, so next year I'm taking some days off in the summer to keep me from having a mental breakdown.
I'm working on starting my invitations for the Open House. I'm just getting the wording together so when I can buy the stationery I'm ready to print them. Most places are setting out their Christmas decorations already. I've gotten one or two things already. As much work as it's going to be to pull this off, I'm excited about it.
We went to the NASCAR race a few weekends ago. B was sick and he didn't go, but my mom, step-dad and I had a good time.
Chris and I went to the State Fair on opening day (Thursday). It was hot and humid, but we had a good time. We saw some dog stunts at the Extreme Canines Stunt Dog Show, played with Legos, petted some barnyard animals, played some games (and won), rode some rides and walked around the exhibit halls. Pictures are on my Flickr.
That's all for now...like I said not much going on here. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Another Weekend

2009-08-16T14:28:00.002-04:00

This weekend has been nice but a bit tiring. Yesterday my dad came over and he and B replaced the kitchen faucet. I went grocery shopping while they did this. Wal-Mart is remodeling their Chester store and this week most things were not where they normally are. It was tiring having to go down every single aisle trying to find things. But there's only a month or so until it's done and I can understand the whole needing to move things around while remodeling. My kitchen is a mess! The stuff on the main counter is on my table, the stuff on the left counter is on my main counter and the painting stuff is on my left counter, main counter and kitchen table. Ahhh! B moved the refrigerator and I got the wallpaper off from behind there today. I'm waiting for him to come back so he can move the stove and get the wallpaper from behind there. With that done, all the wallpaper in the kitchen will be removed. Hurrah! The bad news? We found out that the wallpaper in the hallway isn't wallpaper. It's contact paper. What a mess! And there's no really easy way to get it and its adhesive off the wall.
We went to Target to look for some new curtains for the kitchen, but they didn't have much of a selection. B took me to Bed, Bath & Beyond and I found what I liked, but they didn't have the size I needed and didn't have the valance I wanted. I did find some online this morning and will be ordering them soon.
We also made a trip to GameStop and checked out their used games for the Wii. We picked out SSX Blur. After dinner we played the Wii for the rest of the night til bedtime.
Lilly also got her bath today. She hated it as usual, but she behaved well. I think she's got an inner ear infection. She's been shaking her head and scratching her right ear quite a bit recently, but the ear itself is clean. When I put in the ear drying solution after her bath she whined a little. A guess a trip to the v-e-t will be in order soon.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

July, exit stage right

2009-08-13T23:30:00.005-04:00

July started off busy and pretty much stayed that way. About mid July I overheated my truck to the tune of having to replace the radiator. The thermostat was broken, so that needed to be replaced as well.
Soon after, we went to Carter Mountain for some peach picking. Brian and Ale were supposed to go, but Ale had a really bad sinus infection and they couldn't make it. So, the three of us made the trek up to C-ville. Warning: Cute Dog Pics and Scenic Mountain Views Inside
A few weekends ago we attended Richmond Tea Party's Libery 101, a freedom rally. Nothing like some info for the noggin. Warning: Funny signs and one cool video inside That night Carolyn, Todd and I went to the Funnybone to see Tom Wilson (the guy that played Biff in the Back To The Future movies). He was hilarious.
Two weekends ago it was B's birthday. We went to Captain Chuck a Muck's in Rescue, VA (just east of Smithfield). We had seen the place on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and B wanted to go there. The food was good (and mid-ranged priced for seafood), the atmosphere and staff were friendly...however the owner left much to be desired. The table I called ahead for was the Captain's table. It's reserved when there are 7 or more people in your party and there's a 90mins limit on the table. Yes...a time limit. I can see why. The place is busy and you want to make the most of your space. We got there 5mins earlier...well two in our party didn't. They got there 10mins late. At about 5mins late the owner came over and made a big deal about the time limit and that they had a group coming in after us and then just walked away. Wow. Really? No "thanks for coming". No "I hope you enjoy". Just "they'd better get here". So, we had a good time making fun of him for the rest of the evening. Oh and we left 5mins past our allotted time-limit. So there! K caught up with the owner after dinner as we were leaving and asked him how long he had been in business. He answered 12. K said that he wouldn't make it to 13 if he kept treating his customers that way. The owner could do nothing but apologize to K, but K didn't do it for the apology.
We would go back, but not as a large group and not if we were coming from home. Ninety mins is too far to drive for that. Captain Toms in Colonial Heights is just as good if not better. Maybe if were were already in Surry and the Rocky Bottom Grill was closed and we wanted seafood. Well...I just went to see if Rocky Bottom Grill had a website to link to and it seems they went out of business in September 2008. RIP RBG
Last Saturday we went to see G.I.Joe. That was good and a nice way to round out the Summer Movie Season. Lots of explosions with just a hint of plot. Yummy! We also took advantage of the tax-free weekend and went to Best Buy and got a new wireless router. Yippee! I can finally play my Wii online. I've been playing Mario Kart Wii all week online. I love that game. If you wanna be my Wii Friend, lemme know and I'll give you my number.
Last Sunday we started on the mini-renovation of our kitchen and hallway. The plans at the moment are to remove the wallpaper, apply primer and paint to both, get new curtains, replace the faucet and possibly replace the flooring in the kitchen. You can watch the progress on my Flickr. All this is because I'm still planning my Open House in December (mentioned in my Welcome 2009 post).
That's all for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

LOL 7: What's in a name?

2009-08-02T08:39:00.003-04:00

My second Living Out Loud entry.
When people ask me my middle name I ask, "which one?". I was born Sarah Catherine Elizabeth. Sarah Catherine was my great-grandma on my dad's side and Sarah Elizabeth was my great-great grandma on my mom's side. I love my name. Not many people will actually admit it. I love having family history right there.
I'm very protective of the "H" at the end of Sarah. People at work constantly leave the H off even though we've worked together for 12 years. It's annoying. When people ask, "Is that Sarah with or without the 'H'?" I proudly answer, "With." I can't explain my attachment to one letter other than it's my name. I always do my darnedest to make sure I spell other people's names correctly and feel the same courtesy should be made to me.
Putting all my names on "official" documents was interesting. Sometimes I was able to put Sarah Catherine E. on these documents, but I usually ended up having to drop the Elizabeth all together.
I was the last of my surname to get married. I had always said growing up that I was just going to tack on my husband's last name to the great list of names since all of them meant something. Then I got engaged. There began the internal debate on keeping all of them and having five names. On the way home from meeting the florist, I brought up to my mom that I was thinking about dropping Elizabeth when I added on my hubby's last name. I promised her that when we had a kid and if it was a girl that I was use Elizabeth in her name. Mom agreed and when I filled out the paper work after getting hitched, I dropped the Elizabeth and kept my maiden name as my second middle name.
I miss Elizabeth sometimes when I fill out paperwork. I didn't think I would. It's just a name after all, right? But it was a part of me, who I was and what I was known by for 25 years. I think I'm allowed to miss it.

Party Pics

2009-07-08T14:11:00.003-04:00

Some pics from Joshua W's birthday Party

Ctrl+Alt+Del on Billy Mays

2009-07-05T10:08:00.000-04:00

Ctrl+Alt+Del

Shared via AddThis

Good Bye June. Hello July.

2009-07-05T09:06:00.005-04:00

I check some blogs every day or so (others, not as often), hoping to see a glimpse into what's going on my friend's, relatives or complete stranger's lives. Yet, I barely update my own. Like my friend, Carolyn said this past week on her blog, "I guess I love reading about everyone else's lives but I am less likely to share mine."
In June, we had a co-worker quit in a pretty irresponsible way. She called out on a Friday and didn't bother to show up on Monday, but had her girlfriend call in and say that she wasn't coming back to work. She had told Crystal that she had gotten another job. What a shitty way to quit a job! So, since she was the night-time CSR, that left us with no one to answer the phones at night. Enter me. I'm now working 11am-8pm. It totally sucks, but I'm trying to stay grateful that I even have a job.
I got back in touch with an old best friend from High School (and beyond) last month. She contacted me via Facebook. We mended our past and are speaking to each other again. And eventually our schedules with align and we'll be able to go out and do something together and catch up things.
June means my stepmom's birthday and Father's Day. We had my stepmom and Dad over to the house for both occasions and fixed lunch both times. Both times, they enjoyed food and some T.V. before heading back home. Having company over keeps my house clean and I've been trying to keep it that way. So far, so good.
B and I had a "stay-at-home and watch movies most of the weekend" in June. We watched Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Run Fat Boy Run and Bully. PE and Bully were the worst two movies of the weekend. TT and RFBR were the best of the group.
On the amount of recent Hollywood deaths: Enough Already! I've officially heard enough about MJ and I haven't heard that much at all about it. I was really sad when I heard Billy Mays passed. I recently had begun to watch Pitchmen on Discovery and gotten to know the man and even some of his family. His son worked for/with him helping with commercials and they showed his current wife and little girl in a recent episode. He was certainly more than just some sleazy salesmen.
This weekend is Independence Weekend. B and I had off on Friday and boy was Friday busy for me. I got up early because Ukrop's was having a sale and I wanted to beat the stupid people there. I boiled 13 eggs before I left for my Dad's potlock dinner that night. I got to Ukrop's around 9am and there were no carts to be found! Luckily, I wasn't going to do my weekly shopping and was able to use one of their half-carts. I did $40 of shopping and only spent $14. With that $14 we got bread (2), soda (5), cheese (3), hot dogs (2), beans (4) and ice cream sandwiches (2). B's mom went also and got us soda (6). I think we're set on Pepsi products for a while. I went home and dropped off that load and went to WalMart for grocery shopping and to get some clothes for my nephew's 1st birthday. Came back and unloaded those and left to see My Sister's Keeper with Crystal. Nothing like a good cry to release some stress. I came back to fix the eggs, but had forgotten to put them in the fridge and they all went bad. I had to boil another 13 eggs. Luckily it was still a few hours before Dad's potluck and they had plenty of time to chill after making them into deviled eggs...or divine eggs as they were called that night. The potluck went well. Lots of good food and laughter.
Saturday, I cleaned up around the kitchen a little and cleaned Madison's box. Then we went to my nephew's 1st birthday party. My brother and SIL did a nice job. It was jungle themed party. They had a kiddie pool shaped like a gator, a sprinkler shaped like an elephant and a giraffe who's neck made a semi-circle for the kids to walk/crawl under to get wet and they had an inflatable monkey and parrot in the trees as decorations. I have pictures, but haven't downloaded them to the computer because my dad has my camera bag which has my USB cable. We had to leave the party early to go feed the girls before heading to B's mom's house for dinner. After spending some time with her and gathering up the sodas and other stuff she bought us we headed home. My mom and K were coming over to watch the Chesterfield County fireworks from our back deck. We made space on the back porch for everyone to sit and watch. And I just want to say that I have the most amazing dog. She sat in B's lap and watched the fireworks with her ears perked. She only barked once and that while we were inside and everyone was moving outside because he had heard the first boom. The other dogs around us were barking up a storm and Lilly was the perfect lady. The fireworks were pretty even though we could barely see some of them because our trees have grown over the past two years. All and all a very busy two days. Now I'm off to start my more peaceful Sunday. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

LOL 6: I have found me a home

2009-06-19T21:59:00.006-04:00

"I Have Found Me A Home" Lyrics by Jimmy Buffett
This song plays in the background as I start my first Living Out Loud entry.
Going home can be hard when coming from a "broken family". I lived in the actual Richmond City limits for the first 3 years of my life before my mom and dad moved to the suburbs of Chesterfield County in a then new subdivision of Kings Forest off of Cogbill Rd. We lived as a "happy" family there until Mom asked Dad to move out when I was 11. Mom and I continued to live there while Dad found a duplex off Iron Bridge Rd to rent. I no longer had one house; there was Mom's house and Dad's house. Eventually, Mom had to move due to finances and she rented a place off Dundas Rd. Later, Dad moved out of the duplex and into Orchardhill off Beulah Rd. He did his best to establish a relationship with me since the one we had was basically non-existent. We fixed up the house in Orchardhill by painting the inside and fixing the kitchen up a little. It was good bonding for us. The memories we made in that short time included when he helped me when I had to dump my first boyfriend, we watched the same 2-3 movies over and over and when we decorated for Christmas. Dad soon met his second wife and moved in after the wedding with her and her son into Salem Woods off Salem Church Rd. My Mom dated and wedded her second husband and moved into Mason Woods off Beulah Rd. Both prom and homecoming dances always started at this house. I also spent my last night as a single woman in that house. I stayed at both these houses until I met my future husband and I spent a good portion of the time with him, Rich and Genie at B's and Rich's apartment off Gayton Rd in West End of Henrico County. Eventually, B moved out and we got an apartment off Patterson Ave in Henrico. Two years later we were engaged, ready to be married and we bought the house where my dad and stepmom lived as they moved to a place off Kingsland Rd. Currently, we reside in Salem Woods house while my mom, dad and respective step parents live within 8 minutes of our house. At Mom's house my old bedroom has been converted into a "Man Room" for her hubby, but if we ever needed a place to stay I know I can "come home" there.
When asked where I'm from I generally say the Richmond Area, South Side or Chesterfield depending on who is asking. When we moved to the West End it was like telling people you came from some rural part of the state/country when you said you were from the other side of the River. It was my private school experience all over again. There it is was snobby kids thinking they were better than me because of where I lived and what my parents drove. Probably why I jumped at the chance for public schooling when it was given to me. Just like I jumped at the chance to not only move back to South Side right before our wedding, but into a house that was already a home to me. I consider myself very fortunate. Despite having had multiple homes, they were all that...homes.

Made it

2009-05-27T20:31:00.005-04:00

I almost didn't blog in May. Oops. Oh well.
We went to the Richmond NASCAR race and had a good time despite the rain. Thanks to Jaime for finding someone who wanted to buy my extra tickets. The money was well spent in acquiring #39 Newman stuff since all I had was #12 Newman stuff. I only got rained on once...coming back from the Porta-potty. Other than that we were under our canopy or I sleeping in the back of the Durango. We met David Reutimann (#00) and he's a nice guy and let me take this picture of him: We actually stayed till the end of the race. I hadn't done that since Ricky Rudd won in September 2001 and B's never done it. Too bad Kyle Busch won, but Newman had a really good night and I was proud of him and his crew.
I was supposed to go to Va Beach a couple of weekends ago with Crystal and Carolyn, but Mother Nature apparently didn't like those plans and rained on our parade. Crystal still came over to the house and had dinner, drinks and watched movies until the wee hours in the morning. B made us yummy pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Last weekend, B and I headed down to OBX (Outer Banks, NC) to stay with my dad and stepmom for the weekend. They're on vacation down there for 2 weeks and invited us down. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring Lilly cause the house they rented wasn't pet friendly. So, for the first time since we adopted her (November 07) we left her at home for a weekend. Crystal was nice enough to stay with her for the weekend and Lilly was sad, but did okay without us. I missed my dog and there were dogs everywhere down there. Our neighbors had 3, two doors down had 5, we saw several dogs walking and playing on the beach. I got to see a Great Pyrenees in person. He was a big puppy...115lbs and he would top out at about 180lbs! This isn't him, but to give you an idea of the dog: He was huge, but very cute and sweet. He had an entourage on the beach. They were trying to walk the dog and every few feet was getting stopped by other people wanting to talk about him, pet him and even take pictures with him. I got to fly my kite while we were down there. We went to Jockey's Ridge and there was no wind! We had to drive down onto Hatteras to Coquina Beach to fly. It was worth it. B wanted to go back to a restaurant that his family went to when they went to OBX, Tale of the Whale. It's casual fine dining, but it was REALLY good. Our waitress and the food were awesome. I ordered off the Lighter Fare menu and still got a lot of food. Their bread was awesome too. We enjoyed it so much that I actually emailed the owners to let them know...and I rarely do things like that.Those were the highlights of my May. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Date Night?

2009-04-23T20:02:00.005-04:00

Howdy all! The Monday 4/6 B hurt his back before he left for work and was out all week :( He went to the doctor and they gave him some exercises to do and some pain meds. He went back to work the next Monday and all is well now. Easter was good. I went to church and then later we went to B's sister's house for dinner. This past Saturday, I worked and then laid around waiting for it to be time to go out again. Chris and I went and hung out Saturday night. We went to see "State of Play", had dinner at Capital Ale House and then went bowling. "State of Play" was pretty good. It was the best choice out of everything that is out at the moment. I'm not a big Ben Affleck fan, but he did well in this. Capital Ale House was wonderful. Even though I was fighting a sinus infection and my taste wasn't 100% the food and the beer was amazing. We had a very good waiter, Jay who did a good job of picking out what beer went with the meal and waiting on us. I had crab-stuffed Virginia rockfish and Chris had the steak. Both were outstanding. I love Capital Ale House and wish I could afford to go there more often. We had a good time. I'm glad that we remained friends and that my hubby loves me and trusts me to go out with an ex. Sunday was a lazy day and we did a bunch of nothing after going grocery shopping. This week has gone by not quite quickly, but not slow either. I'm getting actual work done without drowning in the stuff I can let slide for a few days.
One last thing ~ I have Richmond NASCAR tickets for sale. There are three of them, but we are willing to sell just two if that's all you need. They are face valued at $90, but are asking $45/ticket for them. They are in the Henrico Tower which is at the beginning of Turn 3. The race is Saturday May 2, 2009 at 7pm. If you, or someone you know is interested, please email me: bandsburger (AT) verizon (dot) com

Personal Fail Whale

2009-04-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

Twitter has almost fallen to the way side for me. Not being able to access the web at work, not wanting my phone buzzing every few mins with a new tweet and having my laptop confined to the home office due to my non-functioning wireless router has combined into my tweets becoming practically non-existent. However, this is still amusing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8IfYFyLgQ

No more hockey and sick kitty

2009-04-05T19:49:00.006-04:00

It's update time again. Hockey for Hope 5 was good. I worked the merchandise table with one other lady and in the time period that we were there we made over $600 in merchandise. I don't know the final tally for the money made that day, but it had to be good. We went to Capital Ale House on Main St afterward with the rest of the gang. I love their food. The pretzels are always so good. We left there and headed back to the Coliseum to watch the end of the Richmond Legends game and the last Richmond Renegades game of the season, year...forever. They announced later that the team would not be back next season. So now Richmond has lost baseball and hockey in a matter of a year. All we have left is NASCAR, the Kickers and college teams. Sad :(
Last Saturday was my job's sell-a-thon. Luckily, I have some of the fastest fingers in the branch and I get to enter all the sales instead of trying to make them. The time went by quickly. Afterward, Crystal and I headed to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping. Sunday, B and I were busy. We spent the last of my gift card to Moe's for lunch, we headed to Casual Male XL to get B some clearance work shirts and a belt, went to Hayne's to look at carpet and promptly left, went to Home Depot and found some remnant roll out linoleum, pulled up the cat-stained carpet and took it to the dump and rolled out the linoleum. All in all a busy and productive day.
Since laying down the linoleum, Madison is using her box more often. I got up early (5:30am) Saturday to take Madison to our vet. They put out their "first come, first serve" list at 7am and they open at 8am....we got there at 6:45am and were 5th on the list. We were done and gone by 9am. The vet is not quite sure what the exact problem is. It's not worms, but there is definitely a bacteria overgrowth. So now I get to inject some medicine orally for the next week. I had to go and buy a syringe because the vet didn't get me one. Funny enough I used my FSA card to buy it. Last year I bought the dog motion sickness pills (to calm her for the long drive to NC) with the card. My entire family benefits from that card :) Hopefully this will work and I'll have a completely healthy kitty.

So much

2009-03-15T11:59:00.005-04:00

Hello All! I hope this finds you well. I volunteered with BARK at Strange's Florist's Dog Days in the Garden. What a good time that was! I got to spend some time with and show off some adoptable doggies. I wasn't well a few weekends ago as I caught a stomach virus from Crystal and spent most of the day Sunday either in the bathroom or in the bed. The next day it snowed a few inches, I called in sick cause I was running a fever and B didn't have to work because Ft. Lee closed. So, he took me to Patient First since my doctor was closed due to the snow. I was told it was the stomach virus and to drink fluids for 24 hours and then slowly work my way back to normal foods. I had never had so much flat Sierra Mist and Jell-O in a 48 hour period. I was back to normal foods by Friday. Last Saturday and Sunday, my stepmom and I went to see VCU play in the CAA basketball tournament. My Flickr pics for those two days can be found here. This week at work was the busiest we've been all season as the weather went from several inches of snow to 70-80 degree weather and the Spring weeds have popped. Wednesday and Thursday were the worst days because I had to enter sales which is usually done at night but Crystal was so busy that she didn't have time to do that. Friday wasn't so bad because she had time to enter some of them and my boss helped by doing some other data entry that I usually do in the morning. Plus it was raining/snowing and that usually slows down the amount of phone calls. Friday night was a Renegades hockey game. We left early cause we were tired, they were losing badly and the people behind us were obnoxious. Yesterday, B and I went to see Watchmen on one of the movie gift cards that my dad gave us for Christmas. Just about every preview we got was something we're going to see while they are still in theaters. Public Enemies with Christain Bale and Johnny Depp, Terminator: Salvation with Christain Bale, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Hugh Jackman and the one that we'll wait and Netflix it is Observe and Report with Seth Rogan. I like Seth (who looks much better with his curly hair), but I can't see shelling out the money to see this one on the big screen. Today we're going to a Sunday afternoon hockey game and home to watch some TV and relax before heading back to work on Monday. Next Saturday (3/21) is the RHFC's Hockey for Hope 5 at the Richmond Coliseum. The game starts at 2pm and admission is a donation of your choice. I'll be running the RHFC merchandise stand, so if you can make it please stop by and say hi (and buy a shirt, puck or patch!). Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Playing Catchup

2009-02-22T22:31:00.004-05:00

It's been well over a month since my last actual blog. I'm still working nights, but hopefully that'll end soon since March is upon us and generally we go back to a full staff then.
To round up January, I went to a VCU basketball game with my Dad, went to several Renegades games, finished cleaning my bedroom and office, my dad and step mom grieved the passing of their beloved cat (who had cancer), with the help of hubby, Mom and step dad- cleared out the rotting woodpile in the backyard and fixed the fence so Lilly can't escape and moved in a new desk to the office and started going back to church.
To round up February so far, I stopped cleaning the house, washed the dog, found a tick on the dog(!), continued going to church, went to the restaurant attached to the Bass Pro Shop (yummy!), watched the Super Bowl, NASCAR season has started, learned a friend is leaving for Iraq for military duty and another started her basic training last week, went to her going away party and got the news that Jimmy Buffett is going to stop in NoVa for his tour this year.
This past week I battled a sinus infection. I loaded up on the pills: Acetaminophen, Vitamin C, Claratin, MucinexDM and another anti-coughing pill that I don't remember the name of at the moment. I'm pretty much done with it and never felt extremely horrible. This weekend after B got off work we headed down to Norfolk to meet with Rich (Genie-his wife-had a school Alumni event and couldn't be with us), have dinner and go to a Norfolk Admirals hockey game. Dinner was at Johnny Rockets, that was a good time but the portions were a bit small. We headed to the game and Rich ended up getting some money off the tickets with his Military ID and we sat in the lower bowl for the upper bowl price. The game was good and we had a good time. Afterward we went back to Rich's house and I played Rock Band for the first time. That was fun. I might end up having to buy that once our finances settle down a little. Today, we slept in since we didn't get home until after 1am so we missed church. We went to 5 Guys for lunch and went to Food Lion to get things I forgot with my weekly WalMart trip, came back and our wireless internet was not working. I fooled with that and got it working and it went down again. I kept on fooling with it and getting frustrated and working on it some more and before I knew it was close to 5pm! I was supposed to have gone to a friend's baby shower and that started at 4pm, sadzies. And I still don't have a wireless network. I think the router or the laptop's network card has gone bad.
Two more things: Dog Days in the Garden and Hockey for Hope 5. I am volunteering at both of these events. Dog Days in the Garden is at Strange's Florist on W. Broad St in Short Pump and I'm volunteering with BARK that day from 10am-1pm. Hockey for Hope is a Richmond Hockey Fights Cancer event held at the Richmond Coliseum. For $10 you get into the RHFC game, the Richmond Legends game and the Richmond Renegades game that night. There are raffles, auctions and of course hockey. It's for a good cause: all the proceeds go to local and national associations, as well as families of cancer patients in the area. You can buy tickets from the website (above) or contact me. I hope to see you there! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

RHFC

2009-02-21T01:25:00.002-05:00

We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About

2009-01-25T20:36:00.004-05:00

I promise to write a real post sometime this week. But, for now something stolen from Miss Misery:

INSTRUCTIONS
-Put your music player on shuffle.
-Skip to the next random song to get your answer for each question...
-Write it down, even if it sounds silly (no cheating!)

1. How would you describe your personality?
"Spatula City" Weird Al Yankovic

2. What is your best quality?
"Alone" Bluebeat Revue

3. What do you look for in a lover?
"Beast of Burden" Rolling Stones

4. What is your life's motto?
"Monster" Bluebeat Revue (bad shuffle iPod)

5. What do you think about all the time?
"Let's Do That Again" Trace Adkins

6. What do other people think of you?
"Pickup Man" Joe Diffie

7. What do you like to do when no one else is around?
"Pencil Thin Mustace" Jimmy Buffett

8. What is your favorite hobby/interest?
"White & Nerdy" Weird Al Yankovic (ha!)

9. What is your biggest secret?
"Suffer" Staind

10. What is your life story?
"Losing My Religion" R.E.M.

11. How will you die?
"Someone I Used To Love" Jimmy Buffett (I'm dying of heartache?)

12. What will they play at your funeral?
"Big House" Audio Adrenaline

13. What is the one thing you regret?
"In The Shelter" Jimmy Buffett

14. If you could go back in time, what would you change?
"My Generation" Limp Bizkit (yep)

15. What makes you laugh?
"Told You So" Barenaked Ladies

16. What makes you cry?
"Small Town" Eve6

17. What scares you the most?
"Coastal Confessions" Jimmy Buffett

18. What's the worst thing that could happen?
"Addicted to Love" Robert Palmer

19. What is the meaning of life?
"Folsom Prison Blues" Johnny Cash

20. What title will you give this post?
"We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About" Jimmy Buffett

Cleaning

2009-01-08T22:41:00.003-05:00

I should have taken a before picture so I could track the progress of the cleaning. I've taken an hour each morning since Tuesday to start cleaning the house. I'll pick one area to do and work on that for an hour before going into work. I've already got my dresser and nightstand cleaned and the floor between those two pieces. My mom is getting a new desk and offered up her old one to us and I wanted to replace the POS desk that's in there now. There's nothing wrong with Mom's desk, she's just upgrading to one that she found on eBay. That meant that the "catch all" room that used to be the computer room (before we got the laptop) needed to be cleaned at least enough to get the old desk out and the new desk in there. I started that cleaning this morning and got everything off the desk but the electronics. I have an iMac that I was given for free that I've never bothered to hook up or use. I guess I'll be giving that to Goodwill. I also cleaned under the desk (lots of dustbunnies!) and into the corner. I need to work on the other side of the desk tomorrow morning. B's clothes are kept in this room and I did ask him to start getting them up and he did, but now he needs hangers to get more of them cleared. Fun! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Weekend Update

2009-01-05T09:24:00.003-05:00

New Year's Day I went to Dad's house for dinner and watch football. Friday at work the computers were brought down for the year end process at noon and that takes 6-8 hours. I was supposed to be there until 6pm, but my boss let me leaves at 5:30. We watched the movie "Be Kind Rewind". I wasn't impressed, which is sad cause I like Jack Black. Oh well. Saturday we didn't get up until after 10am and decided on Moe's for lunch. After Moe's we went to Target to use my gift card. I need a new purse probably about a year ago, but a couple a months ago the shoulder strap broke and couldn't be repaired. I found one that was on clearance that was still pretty small but would hold my meds, iPod, wallet and still have room. B found a 09 calendar in the "Dollar Spot" so I can be reminded of Lilly's heartworm meds. We then looked at the bed linens getting ideas for the guest bedroom when we put that together. It's gonna be my "purple room" as hubby calls it. We went to PetCo and bought the girls toys that we weren't able to buy during the Christmas season. We got home and took down Christmas decorations, had dinner and went to the Renegades game. I went to my season seat and there were people in my and hubby's seats as well as some surrounding. Had it just been two people I would have asked them to move myself, but there was eight of them. I had the security lady go down with my ticket and move them for me. Funny thing about that was I knew 3 of the people in the group as I went to high school with them. I was in JROTC with one of them. I'm pretty sure they didn't recognize me. I contacted the JROTC one via facebook and confirmed that he didn't recognize me right away. The game was good. By 12 seconds into the game there had been four fights. After that, they settled down and was up 2-0 halfway through the first. They ended up winning in a shootout. We came home and crashed. Sunday I got up and headed to WalMart and grocery shopped. I got there around 10am and it was a bit more crowded than last time and there was one crying kid. I had a gift card from my aunt, so I was able to buy a little less frugal than I have been and got some of those blue "hideous" reuseable bags. I'm tired of those damn plastic bags in my house and forgetting to take them back to be recycled. Hopefully I can remember to take them with me. I came home, had lunch and cleaned up the house a little...still a long way to go. We went to the afternoon hockey game...that was a really bad game. Everything about the team was off yesterday. They lost 7-3. We wouldn't have stayed till the end of the game if I hadn't been playing Monopoly on my iPod. We came home and watched TV the rest of the night. I start working 12noon-9pm today through at least the end of January. I'm missing my day hours already. Hopefully the night time girl will be brought back from layoff sooner than later and this won't go past January. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T15:02:00.002-05:00

So long 2008. I will not miss thee. 09 has got to be better, right?
My resolutions? I want my house clean. I never really finished unpacking from moving in back in September 2005. There are unpacked boxes in bedrooms and crap everywhere. I want to have a Christmas Open House this year. That's going to be a ton of work throughout the year, but it'll be worth it. I also want to lose 50lbs this year. I've lost 60lbs over 2 years. I'm not getting any younger and it's not going to get any easier.
Happy 2009 everyone! I hope it's a great one!

Christmas Wii Game Hunt

2008-12-29T20:19:00.005-05:00

Christmas was busy and okay. We started on Christmas Eve and my step grandma's house. That was better than Thanksgiving. She gave us cash for Christmas since she can't really get out of the house and doesn't seem to want to use magazines to order stuff anymore. Christmas day we started out at Dad's house with my aunt, brother, his wife and two kids. Breakfast was good and my coffee cake went over well. I managed a rather cute shot of Joshua:

After Dad's, we headed to my mom's house. We ate again. Mom gave herself UNO Attack! for Christmas, so we played that. Much fun was had playing that. Then it was time to head over to B's sister's house for dinner (which I was too full to finish) and presents. They gave the kids a puppy for Christmas, so there was lots of puppy talk and fawning over. I'm not really a puppy person. I love dogs and cats, but their baby counterparts...not so much. Also, I much rather adopt than buy from a breeder and don't believe in giving animals as presents especially to children (even though I did get a gerbil for my birthday one year...I loved that gerbil). /rant
Cute pic of Josh giving Jade a "shot" while holding Rocco:

We got home and were completely exhausted, but managed to get everything inside the house. We sat around the living room and chilled infront of the TV for about an hour and headed to bed. We both had to work on Friday. What a horribly slow day that was AND it felt like a Monday. We ended up leaving at 4pm instead of 5pm. I'll take the cut in pay just to get out of there! Friday night we used a gift card and went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner and then I decided that since I didn't get Mario Kart Wii for Christmas that I was going to use my Target gift card to buy it. We did a quick search online and found no Targets in southside had one, but the one at Broad & Libby said "Limited Availability", so we headed there and came up empty handed. To make the trip worth it, we went to Barnes & Noble to get books 6 & 7 of the Southern Vampire Series, but they didn't have them! I called Game Stop at Stony Point to see if they had Mario Kart Wii and they had just sold out of them. We decided to head over to Chesterfield Towne Center to that B&N for the books and check out Circuit City and Best Buy for the game. We scored at B&N with the books, but struck out at CC and BB. The guy at BB said that they were going to get a shipment early the next morning and try again tomorrow. We checked and they opened at 8am and we made plans to be up early the next morning to get the game. Well, I didn't wake up until 7:30am. I fed the animals and took a shower and woke up B to take his. While he was in the shower I checked Game Stop again. They don't have info online, so I started making calls. The one in Chester sold out on Friday. The one at Commonwealth 20 had them and they didn't open until 9am! We got there at 8:55am and they had opened. We got in, got my game and an extra Wii Wheel and got out in less than 5mins. We rounded out the morning with breakfast at the River City Diner (yummy french toast) on Hugeunot and headed to Casual Male to exchange some stuff that B's mom gave him. Then it was home to re-set up the Wii. Dad had given us his TV when he got a HD and I had never hooked up the game consoles to the TV. We had to head back out to Ace to get a power strip for the extra hardware needed to make the Wii work with this older TV. I got everything hooked up and since I had given B the new Star Wars game that uses the lightsabers, I let him play first. We found out that even though it says it's a two player game, that's only in the one-on-one battle and not the story mode. So, I had to watch him play for a while and finish a boss off for him. Then it was lunch time, so I left him playing while I made myself lunch and ate. Then he gave up on the game and I got to play Mario Kart Wii for a few hours and completed the 50cc courses by the end of the afternoon. I'm working on the 100cc courses now. I didn't play tonight so I could write this book about how I got the game. We went to a hockey game Saturday night and they lost horribley, but it wasn't the worst played game by the Gades. Sunday, I got up and showered and went to WalMart to grocery shop at 9:30ish. It was wonderful! There was hardly anyone there, no crying babies and no rude people! The most enjoyable WalMart trip all month. A friend from one of my private schools was in town and called and we chatted for about an hour. That was nice. I played more Wii and fixed dinner and watched football for the rest of the night. I started cleaning up the living room and kitchen from Christmas. I haven't even put a dent in the mess, but I have this weekend to get it done and the tree is coming down then too. Well, that's all for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice and Happy New Year!

Cookies and other holiday things

2008-12-24T06:56:00.003-05:00

It's Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all that read (and Happy Hanukkah just in case).
My bday party was ok. At least the people that said they were coming showed up, but no one that said "maybe" did, so it was just Crystal, Carolyn and her man Todd, Chris and two of Crystal's friends. The karaoke was really country and really bad. I sang Buffett's "Changes in Lattitudes..." I can't stand to hear myself sing. Crystal and her friends did their best to keep the rock going in the karaoke, but Crystal had to leave because she was working the next day and her friends left soon after. Carolyn had already left due to a company party. So, that left Chris and I until about 1:30am when I had had enough and wanted to go home. I need better planning for my 30th bday next year.
Saturday B and I went to my mom's house and then drove to Texas Roadhouse to meet B's mom for my bday lunch. Afterward Mom, K, B and I went shopping at Macy's for K's mom, then to Bed Bath & Beyond to replace the spatula that I broke while making cookies. Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and walked around and Mom and I sat infront of the fireplace. That night Lilly and I went caroling on Monument Ave with Carolyn, Todd, Virginia and others. I had a good time, but Lilly wasn't too thrilled about the Ms. Claus dress. Everyone thought she was too cute and got lots of love and was definately the center of attention at some houses. We went to my dad's house before caroling so they could see Lilly dressed up and here's a pic that Dale took of my sad puppy:

Sunday, B and I went to see "Yes Man". Not Carrey's best film, but it was good. I finished up my Christmas cookie making. If I ever have to make cookies again, it'll be too soon. I love that my baking gives people's tastebuds some satisfaction, but it's a lot of damn work.

Tonight the Christmas festivities begin, but Friday it's back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Whoohoo

2008-12-16T19:50:00.002-05:00

Hubby got a job!!! He starts tomorrow! It's a gov't contract job that he tried out for last week. Thanks to all that gave good thoughts and prayers.

Mid-dec Update

2008-12-14T21:13:00.002-05:00

My birthday is December 19th. That's this Friday! I'm having a party...so if you're in the RVA-metro area, come to Wild Rose Cafe' (4620 Chester Square Rd, 23831) anytime from 7pm-1/2am and celebrate with me :)
My niece's 2nd birthday is on the 20th, but Mike and Shannon had her bday party this weekend. It was just the family at their new house and I think a good time was had by all. Pics and a video are here.
B and I took Lilly to see Santa Paws at Petsmart this weekend. Poor girl was scared. I think she thought we were going to leave her there with the scary looking man:

Since we're going caroling this weekend I wanted to get her a festive collar or something. Petsmart had 50% off some of the Christmas stuff already and included was a Ms. Claus dress. She hates it, but looks way too cute in it and I'm not the type to dress up my dog, but here she is, looking highly pitaful and pissed off:

It's too big for her so I'll be saftey pinning it when we go out that night.
I only have to work two days this week and then I have the rest of the week to myself :)
Update on my step dad: He looks much better than when he had to go to the ER and he's going back to work tomorrow (Monday 12/15).
I started my Christmas cookies tonight. I got one batch done...hooray! I hope to get everything done by Sunday 12/21. I don't really want to have to come home from work at 7pm and then bake cookies. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Yikes!

2008-12-08T14:16:00.006-05:00

Well, since it's been almost 2 months since my last post I'm only going to do a short catchup:

B's still out of a job. He starts a temp job on 1/5/09 if nothing else comes up before then.
We went on vacation with my mom and stepdad to Ocracoke, NC. Pics are here.
A new President was elected and I can't say I'm pleased. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
I went to my PCP for a checkup and my blood pressure was normal for the first time in a year! My blood tests came back OK...I need to work on my cholesterol and that's it.
I had a sinus infection for about 10 days and was miserable the entire time.
Thanksgiving was at my house for my mom, step dad, his mom and B's mom. Food was good, but stepdad's mom is not in good health and had some issues I'm not going to disgust everyone with here.
Crystal's birthday party was good. Some pics are here. I sang karaoke for the first time that night and sang three songs with Crystal. We had fun and managed to Crystal as drunk as I have ever seen her.
My step dad was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy in the beginning of December. Mom and I think it's the stress of his mom's health that is part of the issue there, that and his 14-hour work schedule.
We've been to several hockey games. Took Crystal to one game and we've been to the rest on our own.

My company's Holiday meeting/party was last Friday and there was nothing special about it this year. The awards went to some deserving folks and some not so deserving folks. No, I didn't win anything, but I didn't think I would since I just drone through the day. We went to a Latino restaurant afterward for what I call "generic Mexican". There was nothing special about it at all and I much prefer my normal Mexican joint. But, it was a half-day of work and free food.
Yesterday I volunteered for BARK at a microchip clinic. If you're interested in getting your pooch chipped at the next clinic, let me know and I'll let you know when the next one will be held. The clinic was fun. I got to play with different kinds of pups and only one made a fuss when the chip was inserted.
Next weekend we're taking Lilly to go see Santa Paws at Petsmart. And it's also my neice's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. Then Sunday is a hockey game. Until I actually update again, which will hopefully be before my bday on 12/19, keep your stick on the ice.

Cheap Trails

2008-10-12T19:34:00.006-04:00

Not much eventful happened this week. I just worked my 40 hours and spent time at home. I'm getting used the new schedule. I now go to bed later and get up around 8am, but still getting 8+ hours of sleep. B had an up and down week. He got a call from a former temp agency and had a job for him at CapOne, but then CapOne changed the rules and since he worked for them before he can't work there until the 2nd week of November. That would be more than a month of him out of work if nothing came up before then. This week (Wednesday) is our 3 year anniversary. In the past, we've gone out of town to the mountains somewhere and spent the weekend. But, that wasn't going to happen this year. Yesterday, I got up, made and ate breakfast and picked up my mom and went to do a little discount shopping.
There was a grocery store near her house and it went under new manage- ment and for the past month or so they've had a tent sale in the parking lot while they revamp the store. Mom and I went there and spent $40 and got a crap-load of stuff, mainly for me but some stuff for her. Yeah there was lots of GOYA stuff there, along with other Hispanic brands but it was a store that catered to the surrounding area. Some of the stuff was out of date, but most of it wasn't. After that I went to WalMart and did the weekly grocery shopping. I did manage to spend less than last week.
After I got home, Crystal called to see if I wanted to the 17th St Farmer's Market. I had just gotten home after being out for several hours, but B wanted to go to get out of the house. So we ate a couple of sandwiches, got Lilly ready and headed to Shockoe Bottom. We met up with Crystal and her mom and walked around the sparsely vendored market. I did get a two of those checkout stand recipe books for a dollar. We walked around some more while Crystal did some shopping and then went back towards the house. We went back to the tent sale and got some applesauce and 4 pkgs of candy and didn't spend $4. We went to Mom's and then home to have dinner and watch TV for the rest of the night.
Today after breakfast I suggested we go to a nearby park, pack a picnic lunch and walk a trail. So we went to Point of Rocks Park in Enon. We figured out where one of the trails started and began the journey. We picked a trail and it ended up at the Appomattox River.
We walked back to the truck. We decided not to walk all the way back down the trail and go up this huge incline behind a shelter and then walk the parking lot to the truck. That incline kicked my butt. I stopped 3 times and at the top I started to hyperventilate (yeah I need to exercise more). B calmed me down and got me breathing correctly and then I sat down at a picnic table to regain my composure. After I felt better we walked the rest of the way to the truck, got our picnic, found a shady spot and had lunch. After lunch the three of played around in the grass a little and packed up to head home.
I had been craving buffalo chicken wings all weekend, so we stopped at Kroger and I went in and found chicken wings that expired tomorrow and got them for about $3 cheaper than normal. We got home and I realized that we didn't have any ranch dressing for dipping, so B went out and got that while I did the pizza dough for dinner and started the wings. While they combined and cooked (respectively) I went to Dad's house to take care their cat while they're in Kitty Hawk. I came back and finished the wings. They were yummy and curbed my craving perfectly and much cheaper (and yummier) than any restaurant in the area. Now it's Planet Earth on Discovery HD while waiting for our usual Sunday night TV lineup (minus Fox programming due to baseball).
I have tomorrow off (asked for in February when I thought we might go out of town). We're taking Lilly to a vet that was recommended by a coworker's neighbor. It's in Powhatan, but the pricing seems worth the drive. An "healthy" office visit is only $12. She's getting her yearly checkup and vaccinations. B's mom gave us money to go out to dinner for our anniversary. We're doing that on Monday since I'm off and that allows us to eat at a decent time. We haven't picked the place yet. It won't be fancy, but it won't be cooked by one of us either. That's all for now, keep your stick on the ice.

Meh

2008-10-05T18:36:00.005-04:00

I haven't really felt like blogging and I still don't. B doesn't have a job at the moment and borrowing money from family has gotten old. We're in the hole big time and will take forever to get out now. He'll have a temp job for a few weeks and then nothing for a few weeks. I'm tired of it and I'm tired "doing nothing because we can't afford it". I know he feels horrible and I'm trying to be as strong as possible. I was planning on getting second job and then on Thursday my boss informs me that my hours are being changed until the end of the aeration/seeding season (sometime in November). My hours are now 10am-7pm. That kinda ruins any chance of me getting a second job. I was planning on getting one this year anyways because of Christmas, but no can do now...not until November anyways.
Speaking of November, my vacation is in November and is less than a month away. My mom goes to a conference on Ocracoke Island, NC and pays for a house for the week and we go down and spend time together as a family. This year will be Lilly's first year going to Ocracoke. I'm looking forward to not having to do anything for a week and getting to fish on a chartered boat.
Sometime before November, Lilly needs most of her yearly shots. I'm in need of a cheaper vet than Banfield. At about $20/shot and a $30 office visit fee we can't afford to take her. Anyone go to a vet that offers the above for a more reasonable price?
Last weekend I cleaned up my kitchen a little. I cleaned the microwave cart out and got rid of stuff we don't use or had multiples (read-gave to Goodwill). Also opened a few old Christmas presents and that meant I needed to get rid of our old flatware and pots & pans. It was nice to get some new stuff in the house, even if it has been there for almost a year (or more). I still have a new set of plates and glasses to unfurl. And I need to clean off the top of Lilly's crate that still has some kitchen Christmas presents on it. After that is to clean the Tupperware cabinet (again) and then work on the living room and kitchen. I'm hoping to have an Open House at Christmas and that means that the entire house needs to be accessible and hardly any of it is at the moment.
This weekend I worked on Saturday and went grocery shopping. B mowed the lawn while I was at work. We watched some random TV and then Eddie Izzard's "Glorious" DVD. Funny stuff. I love that executive transvestite. Today, Crystal and her mom came over with lunch. We ate and then played Wii. After they went home I started dinner. Normally I don't mention what was had unless it was really good. Well, my White Chicken Chili was damn good. Of course it was 80degrees outside today and I planned chili, but it was still really yummy. My Redskins won today and B's Cowboys are on now and winning. It's more TV tonight and then the new shift continues tomorrow. I guess the upside is that I get to sleep in as long as Madison and Lilly let me.

Working to the Bone

2008-09-23T19:45:00.003-04:00

Not much happened last week. I just worked and when I wasn't working I was at home not doing much of anything. Friday night Mom called and invited us to dinner, but I had to pick where we were going to eat. Mom wanted to be waited on, so Moe's and Five Guys were out. I listed some places near the RT10/RT1 corner in Chester and it was settled that we'd go to Chili's as they hadn't been to that one. Dinner was really good. Our waitress was awesome and the food was really good except for their corn on the cob. It kinda reminded me of KFC's corn cobs...mushy and maybe frozen at one point. But, the sweet and spicy chicken tenders were very yummy. After we got home from dinner we sat down to watch some Smallville, but my mom called to work on B's resume' so I went into the bedroom and watched almost the entire disc of Dexter season 2 disc 3.
Lilly and I went on a walk at least 3-4 days last week and once on Saturday. I'm practicing letting her off leash in the park if there's nobody around and if the traffic isn't bad on the main road next to the park. The one day that the traffic was too heavy and I had her on leash, two big yellow labs came bounding up to Lilly and me. They had obviously had some sort of training because they responded to my commands of "No" pretty well. They moved on from the park to the next block playing in the street and on the corner lot's lawn. Later I saw a lady carrying a leash and a box of treats then a man limping with a bowl of food. After some coaxing they came to both of them and they walked them back to their house. Saturday our walk included Crystal. She came over after we both got off of work and we walked Lilly to the park and played ball for a while and headed back to the house and we watched Season 1 Episode 1 of OZ. Crystal had never seen it and I own it, as it's one of my favorite (if not my fav) shows. She left and B came from my mom's house where he was working on his resume' for a government job. After dinner we finally got watch some Smallville. Sunday we were lazy for most of the morning but I did made waffles for breakfast. I brushed, bathed and dried Lilly. I also cleaned her ears, clipped and filed her nails. She's puppy soft now :)
Sunday night I went to the Funnybone with Crystal, Carolyn and Chris. Crystal scored the free tickets to the show. We saw a bunch of comics: "Big Al" Goodwin, Eddie Pence and two others. They were funny and I think we all had a good time.
My mini-rant: On Twitter I think I'm one of the only Republicans. I don't really voice this because I don't want to argue politics. But, I am so damn tired of all the Obama talk. There was some sort of Obama rally in Richmond this weekend and I thought I was going to explode reading all the pro-Obama stuff. I'm not saying that I'm pro-McCain. I'm just tired of it all. I sent my forms for my absentee ballot, so at least my vote will be counted while I'm on vacation.
Well B's bitching for the laptop, so I'll go now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Talk Like a Pirate Day 9/19/08

2008-09-17T21:22:00.002-04:00

Gentle Lunch

2008-09-14T19:54:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I bought a Gentle Leader for Lilly because I was hoping it will help train her not to pull while on the leash. Yeah, we went through loose leash training during her class, but I didn't work on it like I should have. This has made walking her so frustrating for me that I just don't walk her. Recently her weight has been showing on her now roundish body, we weighed her at Petsmart and she was 35lbs. I figured out that her healthy weight range is 30-35lbs. It's not fair to her that my lack of training her on leash caused her weight gain. We finally had a free weekend for me to work on the harness and walking with her. I put it on her and she did not like it at all. I watched the video that came with it and figured out that the nose loop was too tight. I fixed that and we went for a walk in the front yard to get the mail. She pawed at it a couple of times, but finally decided to just walk with me around the yard so I moved to the street and walked down the cul-de-sac and back and she did wonderfully. After dinner, we went for a walk while B mowed the front yard. She was perfect. I don't think I had to pull on the leash but once. Today we went for a walk in the morning while B mowed the back yard. I had to pull on the leash a few more times than the night before, but that was because there were cats out wondering. We walked to the neighborhood lake and because there was nobody around I let her off her leash

She went for the lake. She doesn't swim, she just splashes around in the water.

She stuck her feet in at the edge and went between the shore line and where I was sitting off to the side. Then she just sat down at my feet and watched the lake.

I got up and we walked the length of the park, mostly off leash. She did really well coming to me when I whistled for her and the walk home was uneventful.
B's mom came over for lunch. Last week was her bday, but this week was B's first decent paycheck in a while so she came over for hamburgers on the grill and potato salad with brownies and ice cream for dessert. We watched the Redskins game, Colts game and the NASCAR race until the Skins game was over (hooray, we won!) and she went home. We watched the rest of the NASCAR race while a dough ball worked in the bread machine for the pizza we had tonight for dinner. We watched some DVR'd shows (Feasting on Waves, Guy's Off the Hook and Ice Road Truckers). True Blood will start soon and then it's off to bed. Tomorrow starts a long work week. It's all 40 hours, but 11 of them will be tomorrow and the last 4 will be on Saturday. Hopefully, in there somewhere I'll be able to take Lilly to a new vet to get her rabies and combo shot. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Catching up again

2008-09-13T08:35:00.007-04:00

I did not want to go this long without blogging, but I just haven't felt like it recently. Since my last post I've gone to a Jimmy Buffett concert and a NASCAR race, B's had three jobs and we have a mouse in our house.
Jimmy Buffett concert:
The Buffett concert was at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, VA (no I'm not spelling Bristol wrong. Bristow is near Manassas, VA). We got up there around 12noon and it said that general parking didn't start until 2:30pm, but there was a line forming already, so we jumped in line. A little after noon they line started moving. I thought it was because traffic was already backing up, but as we got closer I realized that it was the V.I.P. parking and that costs $30. We didn't have the cash, so we turned around and drove back about 30 miles to a shopping center and had lunch and walked around Target until general (free) parking opened. I was not a happy camper about the VIP parking thing and it took lunch and most of the walking around Target to calm down. We got into the parking lot around 3pm and set up the pavilion and realized that our setup was rather meager. The people on one side of us had two pavilions, AstroTurf under their big long table, two blow up palm trees, a Parrothead parking sign and lots of food and alcohol. On the other side the set up wasn't as elaborate, just four chairs and their food on a table. Here's what was on our table:

The tailgaters with no decorations were very cool. We had several conversations and they shared their post-concert wings with us and we shared cookies with them. One of the ladies was my potty buddy as we braved the lines and the porta potties before dinner. I hadn't been in a porta potty in years and that was in VA Beach. These were actually cleaner. I'm sure they weren't that way after the concert though.
The concert was awesome. The set was great, the crowd was into it and Jimmy and the band rocked it...hard. The pictures from the concert are here.
NASCAR Race:
The race is usually held on Saturday nights, but Tropical Storm Hanna had other ideas and on Friday NASCAR postponed the race until Sunday 1pm. Because it was on a Sunday, my mom and stepdad were unable to go and we got their tickets. I tried to sell our seats, but no one wanted them...not even as a buy two get one free. We got to the track around 7:30am, parked about 5 rows back from the front and set up the pavilion and ate breakfast. I then climbed in the truck and dozed off for about an hour. B saw people walking around with what he thought was travel mugs and found out where they were getting them. We walked to the merchandise area and walk the wrong way at first (bad directions) and then backtracked and found where they were handing them out and got in line. We received what we found out were mini iced tea pitchers and went back to the truck. We sat around and people watched for a while, then it was lunch time and time to pack up to head into the race. We headed inside, up to the seats, watched driver intros, the invocation, said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem. The flyover was amazing as usual. They were some sort of stealth jets. Then it was racin' time. We stayed for the whole race. As we were walking back to the truck, a golf cart passes us and inside is Ryan Newman...my favorite driver! I just stood there and let the cart pass us as I became a blithering idiot. It took me a minute to gather my senses and we continued on to the truck. We got in the truck and braved traffic and got from RIR to 64E in about 30mins, which is almost amazing. Photos from NASCAR are here.
Rest of the post:
Since my last post B was released from the sales position, took a part time job in Ashland and then took a full time job in Glen Allen with a temp agency. Right now, he's still at the temp job and while it's not making much, we should be able to pay our bills. My job has become more stressful as it usually does this time of year. I'm scheduling anywhere to 2-3 days worth of work for two sets of crews (regular apps and aeration/seeding) along with some data entry and answering the phones.
We were cleaning the house for my mom and stepdad to come over on Saturday for dinner and I found mouse droppings on the kitchen counter. After taking a second to be totally grossed out, I called Byron to confirm my findings and we proceed to clean the counter off and check the cabinets for remains. We find nothing in the cabinets and no sign that it was getting into the boxes or bags of food. The dog food is in a plastic container to keep her out of it and that showed no signs of mouse entrance. Our friend is an exterminator and he's showed up while I was typing about the mouse. He's outside checking and will hopefully get rid of the damned thing.
Speaking of damned things...Madison's not using her box completely again. She'll use the box sometimes and use the bathroom floor or hallway carpet others. Very frustrating.
Our laptop's power source died on Sunday, so we were without the laptop for a few days. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There was some new TV on Sunday and Monday and I worked late on Tuesday.
This week there was Twitter drama, but I'm not going into it because I'm over it. I did stay up late talking on the phone with someone from Twitter last night. I haven't done that in ages. It was a good conversation and helped me understand the drama a little better. I hope we're able to talk again.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Bailey on the rocks

2008-08-23T18:51:00.004-04:00

My mom, stepdad and I went to see Ben Bailey at the FunnyBone last night and it was a great show. His standup is very funny even though it seemed as if he really didn't have much a set. He made fun of "Short Pump" but most of the comedians I've seen there have poked fun at that. He handled the hecklers very well, shutting up all of them. Afterward he was outside the club selling his CD and signing autographs. Since we're lacking funds I couldn't buy the CD, but he did sign my FunnyBone glass and allowed a picture to be taken with him. And here it is, straight from my camera phone:

The three of us had a really good time. I haven't been to the FB in a while and was glad to finally score some free tickets.
I got to make an observation today. Lately, I've been going to WalMart to grocery shop and I've been doing so straight from work on Friday nights to free up the weekend and so I don't drag my feet about going. Friday nights WalMart is full of well...trash, of the people kind. Color doesn't matter in regards to this trash. This morning there were a)less people b)a different/higher "class" of people. Not quite sure if it was the less people so the different class was more obvious or what, but it was interesting.
For those wondering, Madison is using her box again. Hooray! It took two days of B being at work, but we're all happy again.
Speaking of B working, the job is a bit rocky. It's a sales position, and even though it's base pay + commission, the hours worked are based on performance. B's never had a flat out sales job before now. He's been in retail and at JaniKing he did some sales, but only to current clients. But, we REALLY need the money, so I'm praying this works out for a little while or until he's got another job set up already.
Well, that's all for now. 7 days until Buffett '08 and 14 days until Richmond NASCAR. Keep your stick on the ice.

Jobbing for dogs

2008-08-20T21:32:00.007-04:00

The second of B's interviews turned in a job! Hooray! I don't know the name of the company, but he's selling packages to people that have showed interest in them. Base pay plus commission. Hopefully this will work out for a while at least.
I'm still looking and sending out my resume. I got a call back from a pediatrics office and I called back and left a message but haven't heard anything back yet.
I'm still watching the Olympics. I don't have to be into work until the afternoon tomorrow (I'm covering for the evening girl who's on vacation), so I get to stay up and watch the Women's beach volleyball gold medal match. Right now the artistic gymnastics is on and B's in the other room watching Tv.
When I let Lilly out for her evening potty break she got out of the back yard. This makes the third time in about a week. She's never left the front yard and she's got her collar/tags on (plus the microchip). I can't figure out where she's getting out of the yard. And until then, she will no longer be taking unsupervised free run visits in the backyard. She hates being on her lead and will wrap herself around the trees, but I'd rather have to untangle her than go to the pound and pick her up there or worse!
In other pet news and probably a bit TMI, Madison isn't relieving herself in her litter box. She's chosen to still go upstairs but not into the box but on the carpet in the hallway. I haven't changed litters or bags and the box is the same one as always. Last time when Byron was out of work she stopped eating, so I hope this is the same thing (that her routine is out of whack). B just started the new job today and she still relieved herself on the carpet, but hopefully by the weekend she'll be using the box again. Bright side...I don't have to buy litter this week.
Tuesday I got an email from the Funnybone stating that Ben Bailey (the host of Discovery's Cash Cab) would be preforming there this weekend and if I called I could get free tickets. I did just that and coaxed my mom and stepdad into going with me. B doesn't want to go because he "doesn't know who he is". He's only watched Cash Cab twice, but I watch it on a semi-regular basis and am interested to see what kind of stand up he does. However, this leaves me with a free ticket available. You'll have to sit with me and the family (who is very much like me). So if you're interested, let me know. It's this Friday 8/22 at 7:30pm (be there at 6:30pm for seating).
Well, that's all for now...10 days until Buffett 08 and 17 until Richmond NASCAR. Keep your stick on the ice.

Clean Weekend

2008-08-17T14:08:00.004-04:00

Well, last weekend I was to have gone to a Tweetup at Legend's, then that got switched to Triple and then it was figured out that we didn't have the money to go no matter where it was held. So instead we just had Crystal over for a spaghetti and meatball dinner and her and I played Lego Star Wars on the Wii for the rest of the night. Peach ice cream and strawberry margaritas were consumed and fun was had by all.
Sunday we went to the Carytown Watermelon Festival. What a hot mess that was! Years and years ago the last time I went there were plenty of people, but there was plenty of room to walk. Now they have the stands in the middle of the street and people stop to look at the items for sale and block the flow of traffic. We took Lilly and it was just too hot for her and too many people. We found out that she doesn't like watermelon. She took it in her mouth, but then spit it back. However she does love peaches.
Last week at work was mostly uneventful. They took away 98% of my internet. Pretty much the only sites I can use are Google Maps, weather.com and the website where we get our paycheck info. That made for a very boring Thursday and Friday. And will make for a very boring rest of my time there. I did have an interview with a company this week, but nothing will come of it. B's got two interviews this week, hopefully one of them will pan out...we will need the money. He didn't work at all this week.
We've been watching the Olympics most of the week. Phelps is amazing and I'm glad he was able to reach 8 gold medals. B's not that into the games and has been in the bedroom most of the weekend watching Smallville while I watch random games like badminton, water polo, weight lifting, table tennis and handball. What I really want to watch is beach volleyball, but what's on now is indoor volleyball.
Yesterday after not getting out of bed (other than to feed the furry ones) until almost 11am, we were eating breakfast when my mom called and wanted to borrow my truck and husband to move their old entertainment center to Goodwill. So after loading that into the back of the truck, we took her SUV to Petsmart and bought Lilly's anti-flea/tick/mosquito medicine and some styptic powder. We came home and I made some salsa for Sunday's dinner and then watched some Tv until we went back to Mom's for dinner and movie and more Olympics. We had steak, potatoes and corn on the cob and watched National Treasure 2. Dinner was good and the movie was ok, nice action but very Indiana Jones but not as cool. We came home and he watched more Smallville while I watched Phelps win gold #8, an interview with Phelps and then to bed at midnight.
I didn't get up until 8:30 this morning and by then poor Lilly's bladder was ready to explode and Madison thought she was going to waste away without breakfast. We sat around watching DVR'd TV for a while and watched some water polo. Lilly really needed a bath, so I brushed her and washed her bedding while she got a shower. She did well this time and smells so much better. I normally take her to Petsmart grooming for a nail trim and ear clean afterward, but that's just not in the budget right now. Her ears were clean so I just put some drying gel in there in case some water got in there during her bath and then proceeded to clip her nails for the first time. She did really well and so did I since I didn't cut the quick. Here are the before and after pictures:
Before:

After:

She just laid in my lap and let me cut them. The back paws were a little tougher, but I didn't have to cut as much off of them. She even let me file all her nails smooth. And she's not mad at or scared of me...she's laying on the floor next to me, sleeping, as I type this. Well, I guess that's it for now.
14 days til Buffett Concert 08 and 21 days till Richmond NASCAR. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Isn't it ironic?

2008-08-07T20:20:00.000-04:00

Funny enough after I posted the last entry, I got called into my boss's office to tell me that it was obvious that I did not like my job, and if I wanted to move on, then I needed do to so, or step up the pace at work. listen

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At Work

2008-08-07T16:28:00.000-04:00

I'm at work and trying not to work at the moment. It was nice this morning not having to get up early and go into work. Since I'm working on Saturday (boo!) I didn't have to come into work until 10am. I get to do that tomorrow also.
I love my podcasts, at this time my favs are We're Mean Because You're Stupid and Wasting Away on the North Coast. They have made me laugh either at lunch or on the way to work the past few days. And I have seriously needed that laughter. Work has not been fun. It's getting ready to pick up also. Aeration & Seeding season will be upon us next week. Yep, that's right we will start seeding customers next week. Gratefully we won't be starting full force, but we'll still be starting.
I've signed up for Jott this week and have used it couple of times on Twitter and once on Blogger (see below). I'm not sure how much I'll be using Jott especially with Blogger, but I guess time will tell.
Well, it's getting down to crunch time and I should actually get some work done around here. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Testing out jott with...

2008-08-06T23:15:00.000-04:00

Testing out jott with blogger. Spelling out wylbgade. Love watching the date. listen

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::::EDIT::::
HAHAHAHAHA What I said was "Testing out Jott with Blogger. Spelling out WyldGade. I'm watching Good Eats."

My photo is famous

2008-08-01T23:45:00.001-04:00

Below if you roll over Gaylord Opryland you'll see a picture I took while there.

The Dark Peach

2008-07-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

Hello all two of you that read this dribble :)
I got to see The Dark Knight :) If it were 20mins shorter, I would've given in 5* but I'll give it 4.5* still an awesome movie though. Heath Ledger was great, Bale was great, Eckhart and Oldman were great...overall best acting for an action movie in the longest time. After we saw TDK we went to Jersey Mike's for the first time in ages and split a giant sub because that's cheaper than buying two regular subs. I know we went home after that but I don't remember doing much. Sunday was another lazy day and I never got out of my pajamas.
This week was ok minus the passing of Jimmy. That obviously made me sad. The rest of the story is that he had stopped eating last weekend and mom noticed this and since he had become very listless as well she took him to the vet. His kidneys had already started to fail. His thyroid problem had speed up the shutdown process that's why he took a downturn so quickly. The vet said they could do things to prolong his life, but he'd eventually pass. Mom knows that giving Jimmy medicine would have been impossible because he'd just go and hide under the bed and never come out again, also his quality of life just wouldn't be the same. So she made that hard decision to have him euthanized. I did well, I just typed everything up without crying. One more story...after I had thought I was done crying and putting up memorials at different sites I cut on Radio Margaritaville through Dish Network and the saddest freaking Jimmy Buffett song was playing (He Went to Paris). So, I wasn't done crying at that point especially the part of the song that goes:
If he likes you he'll smile then he'll say
Jimmy, some of it's magic, some of it's tragic
But I had a good life all the way.
(Great I've teared up again...moving on)
Work has been work. However Byron's work has not. He's temping through an agency and working at Capital One in collections, recovery, hardship and now debt management. The most recent problem was that they have been sending him home early because there isn't enough work. Now, I guess I can be a bit grateful (and still hate CapOne) because Thursday and Friday was the last day for a lot of the people that had stayed in collections after B moved on hardship. They kept 4 people from his group and B and his friend Will made the cut. They're moving them to debt management to try and get them more hours. The better news is that B has a job interview with Va Blood Svcs for an inventory position. No, he wouldn't be counting blood. Think more like needles, bags and things of the like. It involves some traveling to Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, but we'll know more details on Tuesday.
Speaking of Charlottesville, B, Lilly, another couple and I headed to Carter Mountain in C-ville yesterday for some peach and nectarine picking. We all had a good time picking the fruit and then sat down behind the store building for a picnic lunch overlooking the city of C-ville. The pics for that trip are on my Flickr site.
The last night we went to Dad's house for dinner. That was good. We came home and watched the 1953 animated Peter Pan on ABC and some other TV before going to bed. Today we're going to Texas Roadhouse with B's mom, my mom and stepdad for B's bday lunch. His bday's thursday and I have yet to get him anything...I'm bad. I guess I'll be doing that this week during a lunch break. Well, Lilly's clicking around the kitchen and needs to go out, so until next time keep your stick on the ice.

R.I.P. James "Jimmy" B. Shanks

2008-07-21T19:25:00.000-04:00

My mom had to put her oldest cat, Jimmy to sleep this afternoon. I don't have all the details at the moment as my stepdad was pretty shaken up about it and isn't the best at details in his better moments. He's had a thyroid problem for a while now. But for now, what I know is that the second cat that I've lived with has now passed and is in no more pain.
RIP Jimmy Buffett Shanks

Blogging about blogging

2008-07-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

I feel I've been neglecting my regular blog. It's been over a month since my last post. We've done some stuff, but nothing too adventurous.
I've been on Twitter for a while now and that's where a lot of my "what I'm doing" has been going since it's instant. I've got quite a collection of RVA people as followers and some of us have been meeting up ("Tweetups") at various locations around town. Mainly they've been Starbucks in Short Pump or Stony Point.
Most recently a couple of us met up at The Wetlands (down from the pony pasture) on Sunday and let the dogs romp. Pics and video of Lilly and her Twitter buddy, Hussi can be seen here.
I had to give Lilly a bath after her romp in the mud with Hussi. I realized that I didn't have any pics of her post-bath yet pre-dry. I had to take some and this is my favorite pic of Lilly I've ever taken so far:

The weekend before was the 4th of July weekend. B ended up with a three day weekend. My newest nephew was born on July 3rd. Mike and Shannon had their second child (first boy), Joshua Wayne. He was 8lbs 5oz and was 20 1/4in long. Here's a cute pic:

The rest of the set from our July 4th visit with Joshua and Shannon are here.
Friday night we went to his mom's house, ate dinner, watched it rain out there and see on the news where our house is getting pummeled. Mom texts me that she has no power. I call my house and get the answering machine therefore I have power :) About 6:30pm Channel 12 announces that Chesterfield will not be having their fireworks. I was not a happy camper. I can see those fireworks from my back porch. I had to make ice cream for dessert for mom's get together so I couldn't head out to watch them anywhere else. I didn't see any live fireworks this year :( I even forgot to watch the Macy's fireworks on TV. Saturday we went to mom's house and had dinner and watched 3:10 to Yuma and watched the end of the NASCAR race. Christian Bale is one good looking man. I've loved him ever since American Psycho and he plays the newest reboot of Batman. Speaking of, today I bought our tickets to the Sat 9:30AM showing of The Dark Knight. I'm a Batman geek at heart. I may not know everything about the comic series, but there's something about Batman that sucks me in and doesn't let go. Sunday we did a bunch of nothing...I don't remember leaving the house.
The last weekend of June is fuzzy. We went to see The Incredible Hulk on Saturday morning and Commonwealth 20's power was out, so we went to Petsmart and bought dog food and then went to Home Depot to price a new mailbox stand. Ever since B and K took down the holly bushes you can really see how icky our mailbox and stand are. We have a new mailbox as we got one as a gift from my mom...almost 3 years ago. Then we went to Vinny's on Hull St for lunch. They have some of the best pizza from a small chain in the area. I know we went home after that, but don't remember what we did for the rest of the day. Sunday, we actually did manage to go and watch The Incredible Hulk. That was OK, but not as good as Iron Man. We went to Home Depot again after the movie and bought a plumbing snake and some screws so B could secure the flagpole holder to the house again. After that I don't think we did much of anything.
OK I think that's it for a while...hopefully not too long though. If you decide to try Twitter, my username is WyldGade. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Double Weekend Update

2008-06-09T20:45:00.001-04:00

Well, we couldn't go to Woofstock as planned. Money just didn't allow it. I did take Lilly to go get her microchip however. That was easy and almost painless for her. We waited around for some Twitter friends and when the got there Lilly and Shasta had a good time playing together. We came home and did nothing the rest of the day.
Last week at work was ok. I'm not complaining since it's a paycheck and that's more than some people have.
This past weekend, I gave Lilly a bath and went grocery shopping while B and K removed the holly bushes that lined our driveway. Since K's chainsaw ran out of battery power during this process, we have three sets of stumps sticking out of the bed. I'm still getting used to being able to see the road when I look in my rear view mirror as I leave the driveway. After they were done, B took a shower and I took Lilly to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed and ears cleaned. We came back and watched TV until it was time to go to my Dad and D's house from D's bday dinner. Dinner was good, I came hungry since the only thing I had eaten all day was a sub sandwich and 5-6 Pringles. We came home and B watched a Netflixed TV series and I watched Hellboy to remember what happened before going to see the 2nd one next month. Sunday while B worked I did a bunch of nothing until the afternoon. I made a strawberry cheesecake for him to take to work tomorrow and started dinner prep. B came home pleased to find that the cheesecake was completed and finished dinner. We sat around and watched TV for the rest of the night including the season premiere of "Ice Road Truckers" on the History Channel. I wish they wouldn't dumb down that show so much, but it's still fun to watch.
Tonight after dinner I did some searching for dog friendly beaches. I found one in a state park that used to be called Seashore SP and is now First Landing SP. We'll probably go there sometime this summer. I did find the most disturbing ending of a sentence I had heard in a long time. It comes from the Cape Hatteras National Seapark's website: "Pets running at large will be apprehended and returned to their owner, if known and located, or delivered to the local animal shelter for disposal in accordance with local procedures." Since there is no "no-kill" shelter in OBX, we all know what that means :( Lilly will be on leash/harness at all times in the outdoors while we're in OBX in November. I guess that the microchip comes in handy here as well if she did get away from us.
I'm grateful that our A/C broke a month ago and not now in the middle of this ungodly June heatwave. 100+ heat is no fun. It's like Richmond was moved to the surface of the sun. Oh and my truck's A/C isn't working again. I had it fixed last year and had A/C for the first time in 3-4 years and now it's broke. Nothing like sweating on the way to and from work. Bleck. Well, until next time keep your stick on the ice.

Memorial Day Post

2008-05-28T17:52:00.000-04:00

This was originally posted on MySpace on Monday 5/26/08:

Happy Memorial Day.
Hubby has to work since CapOne doesn't believe it's a holiday. So, I'm here listening to Jimmy Buffett concert replays on Radio Margaritaville off Sirius from our TV dish service. He's coming to NoVa again this year and I'm hoping to go again this year. We're saving money to buy some scalped tickets off eBay.
The NASCAR race was good. Warm, but breezy. We had some stupid people behind us. They had a megaphone and were making comments to people walking by them. So, there was little sleep for me. I had my iPod and listened to a podcast or two and watched an episode of Dexter from season 2. By dinnertime the guys behind us were shotgunning beers. I like watching stupidity, so I was amused.
B had to work Mother's Day so I took a casserole, bread and dessert to grandma's house and we had lunch with my mom and K. All went well and my chicken broccoli casserole went over well. The day prior B and I went to lunch with his mom at Vinny's and then to ice cream at Cold Stone.
Last week I had Thursday through Monday off work. We were originally going to Ocracoke, NC for a mini-vacation, but we couldn't afford it. Then we were going to spend the weekend in Tappahannock, but we couldn't afford it. So we just went to Westmoreland State Park, Stratford Hall and the Westmoreland Berry Farm on Saturday. Pics and a video can be seen on my Flickr site.
We found out this week that Alton Brown (food network chef) is going to be in Nashville again this year. I called and got prices for packages and since they want almost $1000.00 for the AB package and to stay there we can't afford it. Plus the price of gas to drive there and back, uh..no. Maybe next year.
This past Saturday we cleaned the pigsty known as our house. Then had Mom and K over for a simple dinner for his birthday and then went the Braves baseball game as his bday present. We had a good time. Yesterday while B worked I had my own mini-marathon of Dirty Jobs that I had recorded from this most recent season. I went grocery shopping, came back and B made pizza while I went to check on Dad and D's cat since they're in the Outer Banks for their vacation.
Next Saturday after I get off from work we'll be going to Woofstock at Innsbrook. We'll be meeting up with some people from the Twitter RVA Dog Play Group and listening to the Buffett tribute band, B2B. On Sunday, I'll be taking Lilly to a micro-chip clinic held by the rescue group from which we adopted her. Yay! For $25 she'll be chipped and I'll feel that more secure if she ever got away from us.
Now I'm off to make some cookies to keep from sitting on my butt all day. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.