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.

Just a week

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

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.

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.

Made it

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

Playing Catchup

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

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.

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.

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.

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.