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!

Cookies and other holiday things

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

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

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!

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.

Talk Like a Pirate Day 9/19/08

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.

Clean Weekend

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?

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

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...

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

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

The Dark Peach

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

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

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

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

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.