Still nothing on the job front yet... and the waiting is killing me. I have been searching for housing in Vermont. Not finding that much out there that I can afford. And what I can find that is attractive, I can't act on it because I don't know if I have the job or not. (In reality I don't think I will get the job offer. Just a gut feeling but it is what I am feeling. Nonetheless, I have to prepare like I am getting the job. I want to proactive versus reactive). Anyways... I want to know now whether the job is mine. Or rather, I want to know yesterday not next week. Arrrrggghh!

So now my next dilemman with Vermont while I am waiting to hear is that if I get the job, do I:

A) Find a cheaper apartment away from work so I would have a little bit of a commute but pay for gas.
B) Find a more expensive apartment closer to work so I wouldn't have the large gas bill.

In reality I guess it would be the same thing. The apartments a little further out from the job are cheaper then closer to work. So I either pay for rent or for gas. I guess I just need to worry about finding a place to live if I get the job and worry about the commute later. I think there are a lot of commuting opportunities with public transportation in the area... so that is another thought.

Thanks for listening to me ramble!

05.07.2008 Interview Update

So I survived my telephone job interview yesterday. Of course about 5 minutes into the interview, my phone was turned off by some IT people installing some equipment here at work. I had to do the interview from work because I was on the only one in the office since my mom had to take one of the dogs to the vet. And yes my mom, also my supervisor, knew I was doing an interview. Originally I was going to take a late lunch and make the call from home.

Anyways.... The phone was restored after a couple of minutes and I was able to call them back. They completely understood. I think I did reasonably well during the interview. I got a little too wordy on some explanations and didn't really know what to say on other questions. We'll see.... you never know what they are looking for. My experience is perfect for what the job entails. A decision will be made next week and I will hear either way.

I will keep you posted!

05.04.2008 Seriously Nervous

I am so nervous regarding my job interview on Tuesday. Thank goodness it is a telephone interview. So I can throw up during and the interviewer will be none-the-wiser. I don't know why I am so nervous... I guess because I really want this job. I do want it and then I don't want it. I do want it because it would be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door that would lead to bigger and better things in the future. I do want it because I really need the change. I do want it because I am a good employee and I need a place where I can showcase my skills. I do want it because it would be a great adventure working and living in New England. Now I maybe don't want it because it will be a big process to relocate (with dogs). I don't want it because I have been searching Craigslist for rental property and I really can't find anything that is reasonable that accepts dogs. I don't want it because it will be a financial hardship at first... remember it will lead to bigger and better things (and I have plans to make it financially). I don't want it because E and I will probably have to live separately for awhile. In reality my reasons for not wanting the position are just hurdles that aren't that big of a deal and I will be able to master them. It's just the unknown.

Regardless, please keep me in your thoughts and definately wish me luck. Because in the end, I would love to get the job offer and have to turn it down if I REALLY had to but I am thinking I won't.

05.01.2008 Mad/Glad Day

I know it has been forever since I posted last. Sorry. However, I have plenty of news today.

First of all, I want to thank Aimeslee for tagging me with this:The rules for the *you make my day award* are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times yourself, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved.

So if you have ever posted a comment on my blog, consider yourself tagged. My day is always made by a reader when I get a comment. (Shame on me for not leaving more comments than I do on the fab blogs I read.) Michele has tagged me again. So here it goes:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog.

RANDOM FACTS THAT ARE KIM:

1. I desperately want a tattoo but sadly do not have a tattoo.
2. I attended high school for 5 years yet graduated with honors. (Yes I was one of those badass teens that thought they knew everything so they didn't need to go to school. Thanks to my high school counselor when I moved to Texas... she worked some wonders with the transcript and with the A's and B's I earned my Junior (second time around) and Senior years I was able to graduate with honors).
3. One of my great friends from my childhood found me through an internet search and we were able to reconnect after 20 (or so) years. (Hi Minica!)
4. I make myself cry when I think about how much time I have left with my dog, Baby. She is 10.5 years old now and blind. I cross my fingers that I have a good 5 years left but no matter it isn't enough and I have to stop typing about this now because my eyes are all watery!
5. I own a gun. (And I know how to use it.)
6. I have worn glasses since the third grade.
7. I named my dog Sugar after Marion "Suge" Knight. The name fits perfectly because Sugar is a total bully.

Let me tell you why I am mad today. I am mad that the shipment date for the delicious deer paper from October Afternoon keeps getting put off. I have already placed my order with a fantastic little groups of chicks that I know. However, I want and need this paper in my hands today. Okay it really wouldn't do anything other than sit in my craft room... but that is beside the point. The point is I want this paper today. Not tomorrow. Not mid-month as promised by October Afternoon. I am sure this is a short-lived madness....

Can I have a drumroll please? Sorry don't know how to type the equivalent of a drumroll.... but on to the good news of the day...

I have a job interview. One of my applications has hit paydirt. Now I don't really want to jinx myself but I didn't want to tell my friends that know of my job journey (and that read my blog) that I finally have an interview. I am doing a telephone interview next week. I will reveal that this position is in the very Northeast of the country. A long way from Texas. However, if given the chance I think this would be a great opportunity and not one I would pass up! As this journey goes I will reveal more information about the job!

So I think I have reported a fair amount of information for today. Thanks for listening!

04.10.2008 Design Team Call

A True Friend is a challenge blog about pets. And you know me and my pets... well I was on this Design Team last year and had a blast. It is a great group of ladies with some great pets. If you have a pet or two or 17, I suggest you send in your DT submission. Here is the information:

Design Team Call

We are looking for one new member to join our design team.

Being a member of our design team involves:
*Designing a layout or altered art item for each challenge
*Finding pet related inspiration
*Help think of new ideas for challenges

If you're interested please email 2 layouts and why you would like to be on our dt to lovestorock@hotmail.co.uk.

The deadline is Sunday 4th May.

Here are a few of the layouts I did for challenges at A True Friend:

You and Your Pets challenge

Cuddle challenge

Pet Peeves challenge

This layout is for the last challenge I participated in as a Design Team Member. The challenge was "Then and Now" as you can see:
BTW, I don't think I ever posted this layout here. Anyways, you should see this poor layout now. Got caught in the seats of my car and it tore up from the floor up. I told my sister I was going to scan it and show what happens when good layouts go bad!

04.02.2008 Certified Fiskars Craft Demonstrator

03.27.2008 Pity Party is over!

First of all I want to thank all my girls for posting after I cancelled my 200th post celebration. My apologies but I was having a pity party for a second there. I just was a little (okay maybe ALOT) disappointed that I didn't have any comments for a couple of days. Maybe I just need to post better stories.

Anyways, on to bigger and better things. Maybe. I recently purchased this book from Barnes and Noble online.
Maybe it is just me but this book was extremely disappointed. Now I am no Betsy Ross but I know some shit in regards to sewing. (Sorry Nikki but I couldn't help it... just a little rephrase of something my sister always said.) Maybe it was the hype that I have seen over this book. Maybe it is the Flickr group. Maybe I was just looking for something grand not dealing with papercrafting. So I ordered this book. Please don't think that this book isn't a good book, for the beginner sewer. For me with my average sewing skills and crafty mind, this book is not the one. Anyone else have an opinion about this book? Would anyone like me to "pay it forward" and send you this book?

03.23.2008 Disregard Previous Post

Gosh I am kind of disappointed. I know I don't have a gang of readers (ie a lot) but I do know I have a few readers. I even posted my blog milestone post on SIStv. And not one comment. Is it because I didn't post the prize? I did not get one comment for my blog milestone celebration. Not one. Maybe folks are out-of-town for the holiday weekend and do not have internet connection or are spending time with their family for Easter. Whatever the case may be, I am cancelling my prize drawing for my blog milestone celebration. Really what is 200 posts anyways? I thought it was a chance to giveaway a nice papercrafting prize. Thanks anyways!

03.21.2008 Blog Anniversary Announcement

With all the blogs I have been reading lately celebrate a blog milestone, I decided to celebrate myself. This will mark my 196th post since starting my blog. I will give an anniversary present to celebrate my 200th post. To qualify, leave a comment between now and my 200th post on any of my entries for an entry in the drawing. Each comment will earn an entry. So your odds of winning can only increase by posting more comments. The present will consists of paper goodness. The winner will be announced in my 200th post. Good luck.

03.12.2008

As promised, here are some pictures of Pearl.

This is a very, very tired Pearl obviously because I was able to take some good shots of her sitting still. Anyways, this is a very, very tired Pearl after spending the day playing with this dog:

This is Lucky in his snooze mode. Get your rest on Lucky dog!

03.11.2008

I know it has been awhile since I blogged last.... especially since I was on a roll and posting daily. Frankly I haven't had much to say let alone report in the last couple of weeks. My dream job didn't come to fruition but that hasn't stopped me. I am still submitting applications... already submitted another four, I believe. And I am working on several more. This will consume me until I get a Federal job!

I am considering applying for another Design Team. I resigned from my DTs at the end of the year to focus of myself and get my life in order. Not much has changed... still working at getting my life in order. Baby steps. Really baby steps. But I have noticed that I miss scrapping. Without deadlines, I really don't do anything. I just haven't been motivated. But I am feeling the itch... we'll see. Of course I will keep you posted.

Haven't gone to the movies in awhile. Might try to go see something this weekend since E will be in town. As you may or may not know, every other week (payday weekend) E goes to Shreveport to visit his kids. Well basically to visit his youngest, who is now 15. I hate it because I do miss him terribly even if just for the weekend. But it is good for him and his kids. At first, I really bitched and moaned to him about it. Then I realized I only made myself miserable because E wasn't going to change. So now I just deal with it. When I need him to stay home, I ask him. Most times he does stay home when I ask but that is not very often that I ask.

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow of Pearl. I got my camera in an attempt to take a picture of Sugar because she was on the couch sleeping like the slacker she is with her tongue hanging out a good three inches. Of course by the time I got the camera ready because I had to get the battery off the charger and install it, Sugar was off the couch looking at me like I was the crazy one. Well Pearl was relaxed and sat perfect for some pictures. She didn't always look at me since Sugar was right there. But I finally got some pictures of Pearl where she wasn't running around like a kid with ADHD! Seriously!

So since I don't have any pictures of Pearl or Sugar to post right now, I will introduce you to another family member. Meet Peanut.
Peanut is another stray that we adopted. She is of the Lab family. She has a beautiful honey colored coat and the hyperness of a Lab. She has yet to settle down. Peanut showed up at the Pleasanton (TX) warehouse one day. I was in the office and all the dogs started barking. This wasn't necessarily not normal but they wouldn't settle down. So I went outside to see what the ruckus was... and there was Peanut wagging her tail on the other side of the fence. Peanut was about 6 months old with a collar. She was the only female in a world of males. So I brought her inside the fence to see how the other dogs would act. The other dogs being Convict, Blackie, Cowboy, and Buddy. They were fine with her... didn't really even bother with her. So she became another member of the family after trying to find her owners with an ad in the local paper. Nobody claimed her. Peanut is now probably 2.5 years old. She is a pretty good dog. She is definately Type-A, Alpha Dog. She races the other dogs and has to win. She is also pretty aggressive when she wants to be and is usually in the middle of a fight, if they are fighting. But all-in-all she is a good dog. I took her to the vet a couple weeks ago for a regular annual exam and shorts. The doctor told her she was a little on the heavy side even though she runs at least four miles a day with our commute - runs two miles to work and two miles home. I stopped a long time ago giving her a ride since she has to bark all the way with this loud and piercing bark. My hearing has to be affected by that somehow!

02.25.2008

Today I am sad. Made a phone call to follow-up with my dream job application only to find out I was not being considered for the position. I qualified for the job and my application made it to the selecting official. But they were looking at a couple other people for the job to interview. If those don't work out, they will call me. I am not holding my breath. All I can do is start working on more Federal applications. Something will come my way, eventually.

This is one of my favorite shows lately. I am sad to say there are only two more episodes left. They aren't coming back after this season. I don't see how they are going to tie up all the loose ends in two episodes. If you want to stay on the edge of your seat, The Wire is the show. I will be looking to invest in all the seasons on DVD.

02.23.2008

I took my sister out to breakfast this morning at Madden's. Then we were going to the movies but decided against it. So we went to T. J. Maxx where I successfully bought a new kitchen knife, pizza cutter, and rug for the guest bedroom that E and I are going to redo next weekend. Then we went to Target where I wanted to buy some magazine holders. I am going to use magazine holders as a new organizing scheme in my {s}crap room to store Thickers, stickers, bling, etc. Target did not have the regularly cheapy ones so I will probably have to take a trip to the truly evil Wal-Mart. I did buy a couple of outfits for Pearl which she has basically already destroyed and a couple of dog blankets. Then we went to get pedicures. I really wasn't in the mood because I am exhausted but I relented. We went to a new place that was divine. I have been rocking the same orange polish since before Thanksgiving - that is how long it has been since my last pedicure. Too long my friend and the orange polish was raggedy! Now I have a beautiful deep deep dark reddish burgundy. After we came home we both tried to nap until dinner. Mom made a delish prime rib for dinner for my sister's birthday manana. Truly delish! Not much going on of late. Maybe tomorrow I will have some excitement to report!

02.22.2008

I.AM.EXHAUSTED!

And I will be $165 broker after I pay my speeding ticket I got today. Nice.

02.21.2008

Guess who has to be up at 5am tomorrow morning to be on the road at 5:30am to help deliver wine to Dallas/Ft. Worth? Oh you are having difficulties thinking who it could be. Let me help you out! Me. Fun.

02.20.2008

I got my car back from the dealer today. Turns out all it that was wrong was a little wire got disconnected. Turns out that little disconnected wire cost $112. Turns out $112 is a lot better than the estimated $800. Turns out that car dealers are kind of rip-offs.

Well in the interim before we took my car to the dealer for repairs, E changed the fuel filter trying to do all he could think of to fix the car to make sure we didn't have to go to the dealer for some expensive repirs. The fuel filter DID need changing but that wasn't the problem. Now we know it was just a wire the came loose. The dealer also told us that we needed the fuel lines replaced. Because E changed the fuel filter and didn't use the correct tool to remove the clips that hook the fuel lines in place, they had to be replaced per the dealer. No the clips couldn't just be replaced, the whole fuel lines had to be replaced. Do you realize that fuel lines cost $322 for a 2005 Ford Freestyle. This is without the labor. If it would take up to the estimated four hours of labor, the total cost would be $800. All they can estimate is that it would take one to four hours for labor. Seriously! Seriously! E balked at that. Because of two clips, you have to replace the fuel lines. No. So Edward is using some other type of claspy thingy to ensure the fuel lines stay secured in placed. Granted I am a little leery about this but he tells me it will work. Cross my fingers because I am paranoid of breaking down and/or getting a flat. Changing a flat tire I can do... I may not want to do it but I can do it! Breaking down, I don't like not being in control of a situation so I get real anxious. I am considering investing in a premium membership with AAA.

Today was not a very fun day at work, so needless to say I search USAJobs for some Federal positions. I can up with 8 jobs that I qualify for and am going to submit applications for. All in the job that I love and in some funky places that I would never consider except on the government's dime. One is in Washington state, another in North Carolina, another at the Grand Canyon. There are a couple more locations but places I have lived before. I am still anxiously waiting to hear on my "dream" job but in the meantime I cannot let life pass me by. I need to be proactive instead of reactive.

I also have a new attitude I am going to try at work starting tomorrow. I really need to refocus my energy and quit making myself upset over something that isn't going to change and over something that only upsets me. All I need to worry about is my job and the kind of job I am doing. Period. Quit worrying about what others are doing. Quit worrying about what is fair and what is not. Others are either doing the right thing or the wrong thing. The right way gets recognized. The wrong way gets ignored and/or put on front street.

02.19.2008

Why is it that....
when I am trying to nap
I have a 20 pound dog
that insists on sitting
on my head and
licking my face
approximately 10 min. after
she has been outside
chewing on a dead mouse.
Thanks Pearl!
Awwww, life in the country!

P.S. I called on my application to check on the status and all I could do was leave a voicemail for a person that will be out the rest of the week. Nice.

02.18.2008

Not a big fan of using the phone until I don't have one. My house phone and the phones at work at not working. Already called the phone company before I left work but the repair technician won't be here to fix the phones until 9:30 tomorrow morning. Another regular day at work without hearing about my "dream" job. I think I am going to make a phone call about it tomorrow. See ya!

02.17.2008

As you may or may not know, my family has a total of 17 dogs. Well really 19 dogs but three are still at my parents old house under the care of the housesitter and Tiger found a new home with one of the guys that works in the warehouse. This was a weekend trial for Tiger. Chris (warehouse guy) took her home this weekend to see how she meshed with his family. While I hate to see Tiger leave, we have too many dogs and being with fewer dogs would really be great for Tiger. However, I will miss our sweet Tiger.

I thought I would introduce (or re-introduce as the case may be) a couple of our other dogs. The first one is Convict. Convict really is everyone's favorite. No one really knows what kind of dog Convict is. I would say he is part Pit because his head has that Pit look. But his overall size is probably double that of a Pit. Someone said he looks part German Shepard. Who really knows. Although at first meeting with Convict, he is a scary and intimidating looking dude. If you only knew. He is a sweetheart. Not to say he won't fight a dog (or whatever) if needed. Since we have moved to the College Station area, Convict has got caught up with some wild hogs on two separate occassions. You cannot even imagine how expensive it is to sew up a wild hog wound. Now the dogs seem to be fighting with coyotes. Convict came home the other day with a few scratches on his nose. Awwww, country living. The one thing I like about Convict is the color of his eyes. They are perfectly matched to the color is his coat. A golden honey color. Gorgeous... but still scary looking at first. Lately Convict has been having trouble with his hips. He likes to think he is still a young dog. He is not. He spends his day laying in the cool comfortably temped warehouse which stays a cool 58-60 degrees (for the wine). He does his running at night. He runs the streets (well the acres) with Patches and Walker whom you will meet in a moment. Too much running the streets creates some sore muscles for an aging dog like Convict. I don't know how long we have had Convict but his back story is... My mom and stepfather saw him running behind the warehouse (in Pleasanton, TX at the time). He had a thick chain around his neck. He had broken away from somewhere with scratches, scars, and nicked ears. He was a very agressive dog at the time. He obviously belonged to some street thug somewhere thinking he was a badass gangbanger with a badass dog. It did take some work to get that agression out of Convict. While he doesn't back down from a fight with our dogs he is extremely gentle. A true sweety!This is Patches. Patches has a dear place in my heart. When we first moved to the new warehouse outside of College Station, Patches lived down the road. Patches would come to visit and just pal around. We would all talk and pet him because he was a kind and gentle young dog. Not a pup but not necessarily full-grown. He had all sorts of names. Smiley (obviously because it looked like he was smiling). White Fang. Freckles. He went through several names. I went to the bank one day and say Patches at the end of the road. I stopped to talk to him. I knew something wasn't right because he wasn't himself. I let him be and was on my way to the bank. Forty-five minutes later or so I saw Patches on my return trip. This time Patches was curled up in a fetal position in a drainage culvert. I knew something was really wrong because he didn't respond when I called him. And I saw blood. I raced up to the warehouse and got my mom. I always go to my mom when one of the dogs is hurt. I explained that something was wrong with Patches and we raced back down the road. She went up to Patches and she could see there was alot of damage and blood. The immediate decision was to take Patches to the vet. I went back to the warehouse to pick-up our warehouse guy to help me take Patches to the vet. The warehouse guy proceeded to pick-up Patches and hold him all the way to the vet. We wrapped my coat around Patches since he was bleeding. Patches was so lifeless that I kept asking if he was still alive all the way to the vet. What worried me was that he had a little blood dripping from his nose. We all thought he had been hit by a car. Once we go to the vet, they took him immediately and set to see what was wrong. Come to find out, he was not hit by a car at all. Patches has been in some kind of fight with another animal.... whether that be a dog, coyote, or wild hog, no one knows. Hell it could have been a Chupacabra for all we know. The insides of his back legs were all ripped up with some of the muscle gone. Not a pleasant picture... imagine having to witness it. Once Patch was released from the vet, I was tasked as his Physical Therapist. His woulds had to be flushed to promote healing. Needless to say, Patch got to sleep inside and come to work with me everyday. He and I were buddies even if he hated the water treatment. His wounds healed wonderfully. He still has some visible scarring but no other reminders of that horrible time. This is partly where Patches got his name. I had named him Freckles. After his hospitalization, his name became Patches. His patches of color on his coat also helped with the name. Patches is still one of my favorites! On a side note, after Patches accident we notified his owners of his whereabouts. His owners are farm laborers that speak Spanish only. I called their boss and asked him to explain the situation. The situation was Patches was attacked, we took care of his vet trip, and he was theirs to claim with no worries about the expenses. No claim was every made by Patches' owners. Patches should thank his lucky stars and I think he does!
This is Walker. Walker is Patches' son and Texas Ranger's brother. (Yes, Texas Ranger is another member of our family). Walker and Texas Ranger were pups at Patches former home down the street. Their owners went home to Mexico for a visit during Christmas of 2006. It was a good week or so before I noticed that their owners were gone. I also did not see anyone visiting their house to feed them. I called the boss of the owners of Walker and Texas Ranger. He suggested the dogs be shot versus starving to death. He also noted their owners would be home eventually but he wasn't quite sure how long they would be in Mexico, a good month or so is what he said. So we started feeding Walker and Texas Ranger on a daily basis. At first, they were starving and couldn't eat fast enough. Eventually they got used to knowing we would come by with food. I tried to go the long way to feed them so they wouldn't know I was coming from the warehouse. All my stepfather could say was that we didn't need two more dogs at the warehouse. Well you know the rest of this story... Walker and Texas Ranger soon found their way to the warehouse. They are not dumb dogs. Soon enough they came for good. Their owners were gone to Mexico from say December 23rd or so to March 12th. I know March 12th exactly. They never came to claim Walker or Texas Ranger and I know they have to know where they are. Pitiful that they left those pups to fend for themselves for two and a half months. Every now and then, I did see someone at their house but not enough to know they were left to care for these pups. I don't know what they were thinking.

02.16.2008

Tonight E and I saw Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. Hilarious. Definately go see this movie if you want to laugh and laugh alot. Grade: A+

02.15.2008

Pearl had to go to the vet today for the third set in the series of her puppy shots. Not only that but she had to get treated for mange. She was dipped today and on Monday we start a series of oral medicines along with vitamins. The vet warned me that she would be lethargic for a day or so.... seriously, Pearl needs to be dipped every day! She has been the sweetest lovingest pup evah! Except for when she peed on me when I picked her up from the vets and when she tinkled a little on the sofa cushions when I can in from running up to work for a minute. The excess peeing is not so cute. She pees a little anyways when she gets excited and this isn't the first time she has peed on me, but it is a little much today. But I feel so bad for my baby because she just seems so blah, not herself. It is much nicer than crackdog but my heart hurts for her. I just hope she gets rid of the mange. (Note: This photo is from the Craigslist ad from where I got her... so no those are not my feet. And I haven't been able to get a good clear picture of Pearl yet. Maybe tomorrow. I haven't taken a photo of Pearl in awhile and I have a freshly recharged battery ready to go!)

I got this fabulous ring in the mail today from this fabulous Etsy store. I am not a big jewelry wearer but I fell in love with the simplicity (and the gree) of this ring. I will definately be ordering more jewelry from this shop again in the near future. And the prices! You cannot beat these prices!

This posting a little every days isn't bad. Just when I think I have absolutely nothing to talk about, I ramble on about anything and everything. Time to go smuggle (read snuggle) with Pearl again. Goodnight.

02.14.2008

Sorry but I meant to mention this on my first post.... last night I sent an e-mail requesting the status of my application for my "dream" job. This morning I had a response waiting for me. Really didn't tell me anything except they are done with their part and couldn't advise me on anything. I searched and searched for another e-mail address or phone number to contact someone on the next stage. Nada. Nil. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Couldn't find shit! So now back to the waiting game.... I am getting so anxious. I hope I at least get a chance to interview for this position.

02.14.2008

Happy Valentine's Day!!! My day was pretty uneventful. E got me a flower for V day. I got him this photo from Etsy. When I got my order, they also threw this in as a freebie! I thought they would look pretty neat hanging on the wall. I didn't get the put my sentiment on the back of the photo like I wanted... oh well. We did go out to eat at some little rinky-dink steakhouse that is at a cattle auction. Lucky for us there wasn't an auction going on but that didn't mean it didn't smell like one! It was an excellent dinner though and you couldn't smell the cow smell in the restaurant... thank goodness.

E did get the floor done... well with a little help. A couple hours into it he decided it was too big of a job for him so he found some guy to help him. It looks wonderful.... even if it is just sub-flooring. We will probably lay down some linoleum this weekend. Haven't figured out the color yet but it will definately be this type of flooring... gives the look of real wood but in vinyl for high-traffic and damp (kitchen) areas. I have seen it in person and it really does look good.

Tomorrow I get to take Pearl, Lucky, and Convict to the vet. Pearl and Lucky for their third and final series of puppy shots. Plus Pearl has the mange and I think she might have given it to Lucky. So they are also going to do a mange treatment. And Convict just needs his annual shots... Convict (as well as Patches, Walker, and Texas Ranger) like to run the streets, well acres, at night. They have tangled with coyotes and wild hogs that we know of... who knows what else. So we like to keep their rabies shots current. Fun.

02.13.2008

My day so far:

1) Work - same old thing
2) Sam's - loaded up on bulk items to last through 2010 at least (in fact I don't think I will ever need to buy deodorant again in my lifetime)
3) Texas Roadhouse - really delicious grilled pork chop tonight
4) Home Depot - E is planning on replacing the kitchen floor since the current pressboard is rotting and nasty
5) Michael's - looking for that owl line (Urban, I believe) from K & Company (found it after I checked out with some clearance Martha Stewart schtuff)
6) Home - already for bed (after I do a load of clothes so I don't have to go to work nekkid tomorrow!)

And what did you day consist of?

02.12.2008

Bought this place setting from Crate and Barrel for my friend Jan's daughter's wedding. That is a mouthful.This is about all I did today. Well I did work too but that is the norm. Not much else going on. Car still broken. Pearl still a pain in the ass. Sugar is still is bully. And Baby is still the sweetest little baby dog in the whole wide world. I am seriously considering getting in my {s}crap room tonight and cleaning a little. Even if just for an hour. That would be something. Will update mañana!

Oh before I leave, isn't this cupcake party the cutest idea. I seriously need to get some IRL friends to have my own cupcake party with. I am obsessed with cupcakes. Well not these cupcakes. Oh they look and sound delicious but in real life, not so much. If you are in the Austin area, please never, ever order cupcakes from the company. We ordered cupcakes for my 40th birthday and got dry, stale cupcakes. All 12. Not a good one in the bunch. And the flavors weren't all that special... just regular flavors far from gourmet. I e-mailed the chick to complain. A rather nicely worded complaint too not my usual.... WTF are you people doing complaint. No response. How's that for business for you... at least a response would have softened the blow. My sister finally called since she was the one who actually ordered the cupcakes. The ladies excuse was there had recently been an article in the local paper and their business had skyrocketed. So to meet all the orders they were passing along substandard cupcakes and they were okay with it. She did say that after she received my e-mail, she tasted the cupcakes. She agreed that 9 out of the 12 were dry and stale. I have to disagree but that is beside the point. Seriously how to you in good conscience do business like this!?!?!?!?!?!

02.11.2008

Had an okay day at work today. Just a normal busy Monday. I am starting to dread the doom of not getting my "dream" job. I am rather miserable at work. Some of it is my own doing but I am at the point now that I am going to explode from keeping a bunch of stuff inside and not expressing my true feelings. It would be so much easier if I just got this job. But at the same time I don't want to have an easy out... I need to fix what is wrong versus just masking it.

E tried to do a quick fix to my car that isn't working so far. He really didn't have time to do much but change the fuel filter. Regardless if that is the problem, the fuel filter seriously needed changing. It seems right now the fuel isn't getting through the lines. E goes to Dallas/Ft. Worth overnight for work tomorrow. So maybe when he gets back on Wednesday or Thursday he can really get into the thick of what is wrong and fix it. Versus having to take my car to the dealer and let them rob me of $600-800. No thanks!

I made dinner tonight. I feel rather good about this accomplishment. It isn't that I can't cook. I think I am a pretty good cook. It is that I prefer not to cook. But we are trying to cook more at home versus eating out so much. Eating out is so much more expensive and not very healthy. My goal is to cook about 4 days a week with the other nights a leftover night... mainly the nights E is out of town for work. He does not do leftovers. Weirdo. I would like to go out about one night per two week pay period. Make it more of a special event... something to really look forward to. Back to dinner. I made Beef and Broccoli. Not a real stretch by any means. It is easy with the sauce mix. Of course I could've made it myself with a little water, cornstarch, and soy sauce. But thought I would take it a little easy on myself and use the mix... a little assistance getting back in the swing of cooking regularly. I just made instant rice to go with it. I have used instant rice for years. I think it tastes the same and comes out perfect almost every time. (Well not a couple weeks ago when I made it a little wrong and it ended up with too much water. Yuck!) I started using instant after making crummy rice the traditional way. Either too sticky or not done. Tiresome. Now I don't have to worry.

Pearl loves bugs. She is constantly finding crickets and playing with them until they are dead then eating them. Of course she isn't really particular. A dead cricket will work in a pinch. Pearl is gross. Tonight she was messing with a spider. We have these ginormous brown spiders here. They are harmless, I think, other than being a ginormous spider. They kind of jump too. Scared the shit out of me at first but now I don't even think twice about them. Pearl found one tonight. I didn't know what she was playing with at first. Then I was kind of weirded out because the spider was still alive, sort of. Then I had to play the game of trying to catch Pearl to throw her outside. Fun times!

02.10.2008

Nothing new to report today. I had some goals for today but at 7:45 p.m. they seem kind of lofty. Not necessarily lofty but considering I don't want to do anything on the weekends... I wanted to get started in my sunroom which is really a storage room. It seriously needs to be sorted and purged. That didn't happen. Not only did that not happen, I didn't lift one finger today to do anything. Well I have to admit that I did soak a load of dishes. Yes, soak. Not wash. Soak. And I did do a load of laundry but it still needs to be dried. So I can report that I did do something today. Oh and I did watch a lot of TV. Not good TV but a lot of it. Why is it that I have almost every channel that DirecTV offers but yet can't find anything to watch!?!?!?!?!

02.09.2008 Later in the day....

Drama. This is the only way I can describe my afternoon. Not this Drama:
And certainly not this Drama:
(This is supposed to be Drama from Rob & Big per Photobucket.) My drama consists of going to the movies with my sister to see Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show. The movie was rather entertaining. But c'mon, Vince Vaughn could be sleeping and I would find that VERY entertaining! So we leave the movies and I decide to fill up my gas tank seeing I was at about 66 miles to empty and it was at least 30 miles to home and another 20 miles back to town on the next trip.... so you see I was desperate for some gas if I was going to make it anywhere on my next ride.

We gas up. I attempt to start the car after filling up to a sputtering engine that won't stay running. Now it is very difficult to move a vehicle from a parked spot when the car won't run without physically pushing the car and getting quite sweaty. After several desperate phone calls, a purchase of fuel injector/carburetor cleaner, and a push from a sweetheart of a young man, we were parked waiting for AAA. Another 30 minutes waiting for the actual tow and I was on my way home.

Needless to say, I either:

A) Got a bad tank of gas.
B) Need a new fuel filter.
C) Need a new fuel pump. (This is what the tow truck driver votes for).

I have had a very drama filled afternoon which has prepared me for a nap. I am exhausted. Goodnight!

02.09.2008

You ever get that random phone call at like 5:15 in the morning hoping it is just some random jerk calling the wrong number!?!?!?!?! That happened to me this morning except that random jerk was my sister telling me she is down the road. Granted I knew she was coming this weekend but I certainly did not expect her at 5:30 a.m. Needless to say I had to get up out of a warm cozy bed where I was smuggling (what we around here call snuggling) with my sweet Baby dog from a deep deep sleep to open the front door. Nice!

02.08.2008

I thought I would try posting a little something every day for awhile to see if I can do it and to keep the nags at bay. Yes I said it. Blog nags that remind me I need to post (when I need reminding!) And I only say it with the sweetest meaning... you know I love you nags!

I went to a little crop after work today with my meetup group and had a wonderful time. I finished two altered canvases for my friend Jan. One she requested I do for a picture of the boyfriend's of all her daughters... all four daughters. She only made this request a good six months or so ago. I finally did it. Plus she had a birthday this past week and I wanted to make her an altered canvas for a picture from her daughter's wedding. The wedding takes place next month... The projects turned out great so I am excited to present them to Jan on Monday!!!! (I will post pictures later!)

At the crop this evening, I got to talking about my "dream" job. Explaining where it was and such. One of the chicks from the crop has been to the part of the country where this job is and said it was wonderful. She spent a week of vacation at this location and said it was beautiful (especially for a photographer). SO now I am even more jazzed about the prospect of getting this job.

Tomorrow will be consist of binging and purging... not that kind. Binging on some food and snacks - not too much binging but I have had what my sister calls sugar worms lately. I have been craving sweet sugary snacks. I can't get enough of it. Maybe it would be enough if I was actually eating sugar off a spoon. But that kind of turns my stomach. The purging part is some much needed housecleaning. Not the normal sweeping and mopping with a little toilet cleaning here and there. More the sorting/organizing/cleaning out the boxes that have been through 2-3 moves plus all the other crap I have accumulated over the years. I seriously want to reduce my household crap by at least half if not more. And that is a bunch of crap. Truly I would like to live a more simple lifestyle. Doesn't necessarily sound reasonable but it is a goal.

Let's see what tomorrow brings by way of blog news....

02.07.2008

I got two online nags telling me that I need to update with posts more often... and both told me this today. So here is to Kerry and Aimeslee, a little update... and a good update plus another damn tag.

Two good things happened to me today (for which I am extremely grateful since I have needed something to go my way). One, I got an e-mail regarding my "dream" job that I applied for. So far, I have been determined qualified for the position and my application has been forwarded to the selection officials. To be honest, I really was automatically qualified because I have already worked in this position at the same play level (well really the next lower pay level) and all of this makes me an automatically qualified applicant. Now the selection officials will review all the applications from the qualified individuals. My fingers are crossed that I get a call for an interview. Two, I got a mysterious phone call this afternoon at work. I answered and the person calling me asked if I was Kim Langston and did I remember Minica. I said of course I remember Minica. Minica was a friend of my sister's when we lived in Colorado. We all three palled around right before we moved to Texas. I was about 17 which made my sister 14. It was so good to hear from her. She said that we have been weighing heavily on her mind and she did an internet search to find us. I am glad for the reconnection because I have thought of Minica often over the past 20+ years!

Those are the good news items of the day. Now for the tag. Again, with the damn tags Aimeslee!?!?!?!?!

1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter.
3. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
4. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers.
5. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).

My middle name is Lynn and here are my facts:

L - Lazy as I don't know what when I get home from work. Not so much at work but by the time I get home, all I want to do is nap and do basically nothing!
Y - Yearns for a baby. I am not sure that it will ever happen for me and I am okay with this. But I would like to have a baby.
N - Not a fan of Steven Seagal. Frankly I don't like his acting nor his movies.
N - No willpower against Etsy. I am addicted to this damn website and can't find enough things to order. I am glad that I am a fan of homemade gifts.

There are some new facts about me. I am hoping not to be tagged for awhile since I lead a rather boring life. Not too much about me I keep secret for I tend to be an open book. Some say I can't hold ice water.

The four people I tag are Nikki (my sister), Julie, Susan, and Brandy.

Now I need to pack a little stuff for a mini-crop I am going to tomorrow with my meetup group.