Mo-onday

Well I haven't been blowing my nose every other second tonight, so it could be possible that my cold is ending. My chest feels very "scratchy" though (like I ran for a long time and am trying to catch my breath), so that may be bad.

I had an update on the kitty litter box I made. The kitties are using it and my sister loves it. I just got her some SimpleHuman carbon odor filters to stick in there too. Their house is small and no one wants stinky litter box odors in there.

We did have sunny weather again on Sunday. We were pretty low key around here, but got out for a little shopping. I did not go to the Craftacular (the local craft show I applied for), so I can't report on that.

Today was busy. I took the dogs into the vet to have their nails clipped. They were both good. I did some poop removal and mowed the front yard (it would have been 2008 if I had waited for Duane to do it). It is time to start the outside decorations and the lawn needed that last mowing. Work was busy, so the time went fast. (the weather was cloudy and gloomy though)

Tomorrow is an early work day, so I am hoping to get lots done in the afternoon. This means I should go to bed now, but I am going to watch Journeyman instead.

And now I have a cold

I got my eyebrows waxed on Wednesday and I think my esthetician gave me her cold. My Mom said they looked nice, but she must have been plucking for a long time (thanks mom!).

Our Thanksgiving was low key, but nice. We ended up bringing a cheese plate. We did this the year before last I think, and my family really liked it. It opened them up to cheese beyond cheddar, colby, swiss, etc. We also had prosciutto, Genoa salami, and pepperoni. There was a fiasco when Duane and I went to get the cheese, but I will tell that story later.

I didn't get up on Friday to go early shopping because of the cold. There were only a few things I would have bought, and nothing I really needed anyway. I did get a rotating tree stand (I waited too long last year and they sold out), and I love it. It actually spins pretty quickly.

We had nice weather today and I am hoping for more tomorrow (and for this cold to go away).

New Job

The new job is keeping me from posting, but I will catch up soon. Job is going well. It isn't difficult, but my "boss" is kind of (anal). I like her generally though, so it doesn't bother me.

I have no idea what I am contributing to Thanksgiving, but it won't be fried stuffing on a stick or fried pumpkin cake (Paula's Party is on right now).

I am going into work tomorrow at 9 and I am so hoping I can get up in the morning, which means I had better get in bed now!

Late Night

It is a Woot off, so I sit here hitting the refresh button. Will something super exciting come up? Who knows???

I am driving to Chicago tomorrow to go to the Design*Sponge Biz Ladies meet up. I am then staying at my friend's house through Saturday. I don't know what we will do on Friday, maybe hit up some fabric warehouses? Saturday is the DIY Trunk Show. I am supposed to bring a snack for the meet up. I am going to put goat cheese and homemade tapenade into little phyllo shells. They should travel well.

On Monday I start my new job. My plan is to work 4 hours for the office and then 3-4 hours for myself. This also means I will have to plan my craft time (as I will have less time to sit around and not do it).

2am is paid programming time. Good thing there is a Christmas Decorating show on QVC. I also have some good kitty belly sleeping next to me. He has cute little snores too.

Kitty Litter Box pictures

I got the idea from the Ikea Hacker website. It is meant to look like a trunk from the front. The entrance to the litter box is at the back. Inside the box is a spot for the scoop and bags.

Seattle pictures

Duane at Pike Place Market (the place where they throw the fish is right behind him)

Space Needle

PSA

Diet Dr Pepper now has a cherry chocolate version that is super yummy!! The label said it is out for a limited time, so get it while you can!

Grocery shopping wasn't bad. I managed to hit the time period after the old people and before everyone that is trying to figure out what to get for dinner. I picked up a couple of Kashi frozen dinners to try out.

I also went to Target and got an Amaryllis bulb to plant. My mom always plants one at her house and I usually never remember to. I did not pick up the blow up Santa & reindeer that I am going to put on the roof yet. I get way way way too into Christmas decorating.

I got a few new shirts at Kohl's for work as well. We had a 30% off coupon, and I needed some shirts to wear with my brown dress pants. I also ordered from Old Navy online yesterday and got 10% off + free shipping (Duane has an Old Navy credit card we never use). They let you use mulitple coupon codes!

Weekend

Duane did go to his dinner on Saturday and I went babysitting. I think that means that I get to keep the babysitting money for myself! :) The kids were very good. We played the Wii and Candyland (the computer version). Duane enjoyed his dinner (pork schnitzel and spaetzle). I had EasyMac (not so great).

Duane worked on the laptop ALL day on Sunday so the day was pretty boring. We did watch Knocked Up. It was ok. The movie tried to be a comedy and a drama (a dramady if you will) and it didn't work for me (although some of the funny parts were really funny).

I have to go to the grocey store today and I don't feel like it!

I do need to get those pictures up.....

Update on work news

I start the new job on Monday and it pays $11/hr!! I was worried that the pay would stink, but that is decent. 4 hrs/day and I can work them anytime between 8-5 that I want. Now if only someone wanted to buy a house......

I did some sewing yesterday!

Not a ton, but it was a start! I finally sewed the cloth diaper wipes that I need to send out for some real life testing. I finished the Halloween t-shirts. I hemmed the sleeves on my rain jacket (now I just need to sew some buttons back on). I have had about a million crafty ideas for Christmas too (my brain is keeping me from falling asleep at night lately).

I have a dentist appointment in Janesville this afternoon. It is just for a clean up, and my teeth are usually great. I do need to get back to flossing though. I will see my mom and pick up the products I bought at a Body Shop at Home party at my sister's. I will report back on the products.

We are babysitting tomorrow night for my sister. We were supposed to go to one of Duane's coworkers for dinner (she just asked yesterday), but my sister doesn't have anyone else. Duane might still go to the dinner though.

Brisco thinks he is a lap dog (80lbs of lap dog). I was on the phone with Duane and on the computer. He jumped into my lap and knocked the computer on my foot (OUCH). The dogs go for a walk every day and I take them on separate walks now. They are on my case from the moment I get up until we go for the walk (especially after I take a shower). Sometimes I wait to take a shower just so they won't bug me.

I need to leave for the dentist in an hour or so, so I better get moving. I will have pictures later!

Work news

While I was in Seattle, I got an email that one of the office admins is quitting. I thought to myself that I could do that job. On Tuesday my manager called me about the job. It seems she had thought the very same thing. She had already talked to the big boss and he was good with the idea. I don't know the exact schedule, task list, or pay yet. It will be part-time though. It will get me in the office and still allow me to sell houses.

This job does not have the glamourous side of my jobs in the past (researching the HIV virus always seemed to impress people), but it has things all those jobs didn't have. It has a supportive boss (he came to me yesterday and told me he thought the job was a great fit. Anything that would allow him to see me more, was a good thing!) and a good work community. I need some money coming in and some structure. This job provides both of those things while still allowing me time to work on my other projects.

I will know more next week.

I have a hole in my arm

I went to give blood yesterday. I just started doing this recently. I think I always had this fear that there would be something wrong with my blood and I am not a huge fan of needles.

I had no troubles the first time I gave blood, but I drank a lot of water beforehand. I didn't drink as much water this time, but they couldn't say if that was a problem. I think the technician stuck me incorrectly, but the other tech couldn't say so.

Basically I filled up 3/4s of the bag before the blood gave out. They said that if you get the needle too close the wall of the vein then a soft clot can form, which blocks the needle. They can't use your blood if you don't fill up the whole bag. Bummer.

I did get some awesome free bread and bagels. They had bags and bags of it from a local bakery.

Seattle Cont.

Ok. Giving blood totally sucked yesterday, more on that later.

We jumped in a cab to go to the restaurant Sunday night. It was a damn good thing we knew where the restaurant was because the cab driver had no clue! He got no tip as we were charged for him driving around the block (and he had a gps!). We had the restaurant call us a cab. I think our waiter (who had an awesome mohawk) thought we were drunk. We jumped in a cab (turned out not to be the one he had called) and headed to the UW campus. This cab driver also did not know where he was going. We managed to get onto campus and then we just got out. We were going to have an easier time finding the place by asking a student.

We asked someone and got heading in the right direction. Now the union building on the UW campus in WI is a happening place. They have live music there regularly and ice cream, beer, and snacks. The union building on the UW in Seattle is not a happening place. We saw online that it had a games room (with bowling!). This room was closed at 8pm. We headed up to the "ballroom" where the concert once. The concert was in a giant room (not unlike a gym) that had one of those big wall dividers. There was nothing to eat or drink (nor could you bring anything to eat or drink into the room). The lighting was abysmal (2 spotlights on stage). The music was great (the lead singer of Art Brut was totally pissed about the venue but then got over it). Everyone stood around and some tapped their feet. There was about 200 people there and the concert ended at 10. Wheeee...a rocking time!

We then had to figure out how to get home. I was all for taking the bus, but Duane didn't want to figure out where to pick up the bus. There was a large mall just down from the campus, so walked down there. The Barnes & Noble was open, so we called a cab (who knew how to get to our hotel).

On Monday we drove up to the Boeing plant and took the tour. It was very cool (no pictures inside). The building is the world's largest, verified by the Guiness World Book of Records. We headed to the airport after that and flew home.

I forgot to mention that the coolest building was the Seattle Public Library. It was just down the block from our hotel. It was built in 2004 with lots of green principles. I got some good pictures.

Let's go back to Thursday

Ok, so on Thursday I had a work event all day. Every year Century 21 corporate has a sales rally for our area, and this year the event was a different venue. The rally is basically speeches, lunch, and a motivational speaker in the afternoon. This new venue sucked hardcore. The whole place needed an overhaul out of the 80s. I feel for anyone who may have actually stayed at the hotel. The conference room was freezing and the bathroom was disgusting. The lunch was nasty (grisly roast beef and what looked like boiled chicken). You can fill out a review of the rally, so I really hope they got enough feedback to go back to the old venue.

I was not going to go downtown to see Steepwater (if you like music you should check out their website), but then I found out that our friend Chris was going to be there. We don't get to see him too often as he lives in Bloomington (Indiana). I was exhausted, but I went to the show. It was great to see Chris and the band was great, but I didn't get home until after midnight.

I got to the airport with no trouble and arrived in Seattle at 11. Duane met me at the gate. He had checked a bag and we ended up gettting a tour of the airport while trying to find it. The NWA WorldClub agent had told Duane it would be in lost and found (which I hope you never lose anything at the Seattle airport because the lost and found is in timbuktu). Lost and Found had no clue what we were talking about and it turned out the bag was in the NWA baggage office down in the baggage claim area (which makes much more sense). We got our rental car with little trouble (the guy printed the receipt to a different printer and then spent 10 minutes trying to fix the printer he thought he sent it to) and headed to the hotel.

It was a clear day, so we saw Mt. Rainier on the way to the hotel. Our hotel was decent, and we got a good priceline rate. Parking was $30/day though! My only hotel complaint is that the bed was extra extra firm. It was like sleeping on a piece of plywood. I also thought it was creepy that the window opened outwards (it was on a hinge) and we were on the 19th floor. With a little modification you could have opened that window far enough to jump out of it.

We went to lunch (I am going to do a separate post for food/beer) and walked around downtown Seattle. We were both exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and slept for a few hours. I ended up with a stupid migraine (overtired and dehydrated duh). It hadn't been that bad in the afternoon, but I didn't take anything (couldn't find the ibuprofen). Duane went out an picked up a pizza for dinner, but forgot the ibuprofen. He got some from the (rip you off) gift shop. We watched Friday night tv and the headache eventually went away.

On Saturday we got up and went down to Pike's Market. It wasn't what I had visualized in my mind, but it was still neat. We got lucky and saw them throwing fish right when we got there. We checked out all the neat shops and walked quite a bit. After that we jumped on the monorail (it only goes between the downtown and the space needle), and went to the Seattle Center. We didn't go up in the Space Needle (because we are cheap $16/person). We went back to the hotel and figured out where we were going to dinner. We took a cab to dinner, but then walked home. Seattle is very hilly, if you didn't know (I didn't), and walking can sometimes be a challenge. On the way back from dinner, we saw a bowling alley. We like to bowl, so we stopped in. It was small and very hipster looking. The guy gave us shoes, and then asked what group we were with. We weren't with a group (a 2-2.5 hour wait) and the guy took back the shoes. I guess he figured we didn't want to wait!

Sunday was the day of the show. We went and checked out the Fremont neighborhood (the center of the Universe so they say). We had a nice breakfast and did some antique shopping. We went back to the hotel because we had decided to take a cab to the dinner and concert.

More later.....I have to give blood this afternoon and this post is super long already.

Live from Seattle!

We are heading up to tour the Boeing plant this morning and then off to the airport to come home.

Seattle was very nice. We had some great meals (no sushi though) and some great beer.

I will have a longer post later!