Stupid Snow

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

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

Yikes

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

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.

Changes are coming!

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

No more hockey and sick kitty

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

So much

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

Playing Catchup

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.

Weekend Update

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

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!

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.