Ready for Spring

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

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.

Yikes

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.

What a weekend!

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.

Changes are coming!

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

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.

Another Weekend

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

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.

Good Bye June. Hello July.

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.

Date Night?

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

Christmas Wii Game Hunt

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!

Whoohoo

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.

Yikes!

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

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

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

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.

Gentle Lunch

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

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

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

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.