Life with Duane

Wow

2009-08-03T10:51:00.002-05:00

So things have been pretty crazy since March. I really have been too busy to even consider posting. Today I don't feel much like working, so I am taking the time to give an update.

I still don't have a kitchen. In fact my kitchen is the very same state it has been for several months. However, I have decided on floor tile and backsplash tile, cabinets, sink and a range hood. I am still trying to find a faucet I like. Maybe one day something will actually be installed!

We did have a recent event that would give us some push to finish the kitchen. We checked out a super cheap 1 bedroom condo in Madison in our ideal location. It is so cheap that we could afford the montly payment before selling our current house. One problem though, the house is in no way ready to go on the market and wouldn't be without a significant amount of work. I am not comfortable with purchasing the condo when the house is not ready. I think this caused a light to go on in Duane's brain and (fingers crossed) he will be more amenable to working on the house.

We are going on a trip this month to: Prague, Salzburg, Switzerland, Nice and Amsterdam (3 weeks away!). We are going to increase our search for a new dog when we get back. Brisco's moods have been up and down a lot lately. He recently had a visit from one of his doggie friends and he was so happy to see her!

random thoughts

2009-03-10T23:00:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in forever. Yesterday was my birthday and I am OLD. Found out that my little sister is pregnant again on Saturday. I still think it isn't something that she really wants (she got accepted to the Physical Therapy program at the UW which is really tough to get into and is now deferring for a year) but I will help her as much as she lets me.

The weather is depressing and my kitchen is still a room with no floor or anything else.

I did have a great visit to see friends in DC last month.

I WILL get back to my crafts. I have onesies to make for a friend and some great ideas for toddler t-shirts that I need to work on.

I have been getting a fair amount of appreciation and validation at work which is nice.

I remembered that I can do and teach myself just about anything which is not something that everyone can say about themselves.

I need to increase my resolve to go to the gym. I have been dinking around with losing weight for too many months.

Home from vacation

2009-02-02T17:23:00.003-06:00

Well it was a wonderful month of being on vacation and we have over 900 pictures to sort through. I would highly recommend New Zealand as a place to visit, it is an amazing country. I hope to have pictures of the trip up soon.

I realized when we got back that the state of our house is pretty depressing. The basement is still a mess from the flooding and of course the kitchen is a work in progress. A depressing house is depressing to come home to. There will be hard work ahead to get everything in order.

The animals all survived. Mr. Kitty was pretty po'd. He had to stay home by himself and got a whole day of us being home by himself. He even slept with us, which he never does. Boots is the one that usually sleeps with us, and I guess Mr. Kitty won't sleep with us if he is there.

It is going to take a little while to get my head back into work. I want to stay through my coworker's maternity leave, so I think that puts me around April for giving notice. Duane was already looking for new jobs for me last night.

Well hello....

2009-01-07T03:09:00.002-06:00

from Fiji!! It is mother f'ing hot and humid here but very beautiful. Duane and I went snorkeling and swimming! We both got sunburns though. We fly out to New Zealand tomorrow and we are both looking forward to less hot, humid, and bugs! Lots of bugs here. It was definately a memorable experience.

I am so hoping that work will settle down once I get back. I switched us over to outsourcing our email (which was a pain), but I am hoping that will be the answer. I really want to quit working as a staff member. I miss science!!

Christmas for us was good, we mostly got money for our trip, but the time with family is always nice.

I am busy...blah...blah....blah

2008-12-12T11:28:00.001-06:00

We are slowly working the kinks out at the new office. My phone still rings all day long, but at least it makes the days go faster.

Half of the New Zealand trip is planned, now I need to start thinking about what the heck I need to pack.

The kitchen is completely ripped out. We need to get out a layer of subfloor this weekend and go pick out tile for the new floor! It is exciting, but I am pretty sure it won't be done before we leave for our trip.

We have a ton of snow here, so it feels like winter! It doesn't quite feel like Christmas yet though.

Have you missed me?

2008-11-21T16:13:00.002-06:00

Our internet connection at work was severed on November 4th in the evening (by mistake). My life has been hellish since then. Work has been a giant ball of stress and will be until we (successfully) move in to our new building. The move starts in 1 week.

I had to put Hershey to sleep Monday evening. He took a major slide over the weekend and was ready to go. I catch myself calling him to go outside and then I remember that he isn't there.

We ripped out the base cabinets in the kitchen and I am SO excited about having a new kitchen.

We still haven't planned half our trip to New Zealand in January, but I (think) all the animals have people to stay with.

I am going to Chicago tonight to see a friend and go to some craft shows tomorrow. I am not going to think about work or anything else stressful!

Oh Halloween....

2008-11-03T11:14:00.003-06:00

I raced home on Friday to put candy out for trick or treaters. I don't answer the door because the dogs and cats are a pain to deal with and I was working on Duane's costume. We don't have many kids in our neighborhood but sometimes they come over from other areas. We didn't get that this year so I was left with candy. Luckily I can stay away from it and I can take it to work for other people to eat.

I stayed up late hunched over the sewing machine, but I did finish Duane's costume. Sewing fake fur to a sweatshirt and sweatpants is a bitch. I was up relatively early on Saturday to drop Duane off to go golfing and I had a hair appointment at 12:45. My costume was an interpretation of Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl and I was still on the search for most of the costume on Saturday (I did finally find some kiss ass clothes).

Unfortunately my hair appointment was traumatic. My usual stylist was not working on Saturday so I had someone else. It is this lady that always has a bad attitude (don't know if she is the manager or what). She waxed my eyebrows and gave me 1st degree burns right below my eyebrows. I didn't know what she had done, just that it hurt a little more than usual. She proceeded to style my hair (keeping me away from the mirror) even though I think someone else was scheduled to do it. I came in because I wanted a shampoo and style (they massage your head during the shampoo and it is very relaxing). She bullied me into not having it washed (she said the style would hold better) and I hadn't washed it before I came. The style turned out exactly the way I wanted, but since my hair wasn't washed it didn't hold up very well throughout the day. They mysteriously took $10 off my bill and I left. When I got in the car I saw the 2 bright red stripes below my eyebrows and it hurt like hell. I can be sensitive to the waxing (it usually stays red for 30-45 minutes) but I had no idea how bad it was.

I continued shopping for my costume and then got home around 4. I spent 2 hours with ice and a cold washcloth on my eyebrows, but the damage was done. It will heal, but it looks pretty stupid. I tried to let it not ruin my night so I got ready for the party. My outfit was pretty sexy (let's just say I did not bend over much) so I was a little embarassed. I ran with it though and I got some compliments. The party was strangely lame. This friend of Duane's usually throws cool parties (good music, lots of people to talk to) but this was not one of them. I drank too quickly (didn't have much to eat with the trauma and being nervous for the party) and was pretty drunk. We played some Rockband (hard to sing when the words are all blurry). Duane fell asleep (he had been golfing all afternoon and drinking all evening before I picked him up for the party). He did win scariest costume though! I know there are some pictures out there (hopefully not too horrifying). I will post one if I can get someone to send me one. I zonked out on the couch and Duane woke me up at 7 to go home.

Today was supposed to be a stressful day at work (new software going live) but there has been a delay. They are saying it should be ready tomorrow, so tomorrow can be the stressful day I guess.

The house is a complete disaster area (bits of fake fur everywhere) and I am way behind on laundry. Calgon take me away........

p.s. I am going to say something to my regular stylist about the traumatic appointment. I am seeing her this Thursday.

Here I am, rock me like a hurricane...

2008-10-30T12:49:00.002-05:00

The weird things that pop into your head while thinking about blogging.

We traveled to Minneapolis last Friday. We got into town around 7:30 and hit up the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. It was kinda snobby in there. The beer I had was good, but not excellent. Duane had 2 beers, and liked 1 a lot. We moved onto the next place, Stub and Herb's, which was near campus. It was formerly a total college bar but has been renovated up a notch. The atmosphere was a lot nicer. We met up with this guy that Duane was trading beer with. He was wear a hoodie with beagles all over it and his handle on the beer trading site is regalbeagle. Was he a little weird you ask? Yes, just slightly off. We had good beer there, even having a pint of the special beer we were picking up the next day. This did involve talking to the beagle guy for way longer than we wanted to though. Duane also gyyped the waitress (by mistake) and got me to steal a pint glass.

We got to the hotel with no trouble (downtown Hyatt $50/night on Priceline) and checked in. It was a very nice and comfortable room, despite the wireless (not free) access sucking. At least they took it off the bill with no argument. The next morning we were up at 6am and to the brewery by 7 (yeah). It was a little chilly to be sitting in a chair for 5 hours, but it was an experience. It turned out later that they had plenty of beer and we could have gotten there at 3pm and bought what we wanted. I keep trying not to think about that part. After we got our beer ($300 worth), we went to another brewery for lunch. It was a cute place and they have good beer. Duane ordered a chipotle pizza for us to order despite the spicyness disclaimer on the menu. Holy Hell it was spicy!! It was almost too spicy to eat. Eating this pizza involved a CVS stop later in the evening for some Pepto. We went back to the hotel to shower and rest after lunch.

Our hotel was near the sculpture garden (think giant spoon with a cherry on it), so we walked over there. We then walked all around the downtown area. We were looking for somewhere to eat, but also just looking around. We ended up back at the hotel (after the emergency Pepto stop) and picked out a restaurant near the hotel (Nick and Eddie's). It was very nice (despite an anemic beer list) and the food was excellent.

We were up the next morning to travel to Janesville for some family time. We were slow getting out of town (looking for coffee and a LNT that was open). I had a breakfast sandwich from Sonic that was quite tasty but probably all my points for the day. We finally got out of MN and got stopped by a State Trooper! It was weird, we were in mixed traffic and not speeding excessively. He ended up giving us a warning, which made me think that they must have been looking for a car that looked like ours.

We did have a nice family visit even though we were pretty pooped.

This week has been decent so far (despite the internet going down this morning at work). We have still been busy, but work isn't bothering me as much. I did hear something this week that made me laugh. We were in the new office building looking around and I heard: if Carey becomes our IT person in the future she can have this office!! Oh lordy, these people can't guess that I want outta here?

We have a Halloween party on Saturday and our costumes are not ready yet. I have a feeling I will be working on that tomorrow night.

Tonight is Weight Watchers (missed last week). Duane drank a ton of beer over the weekend and still lost 5 lbs! I don't expect to see a loss.

Tuesday better than last

2008-10-21T15:32:00.002-05:00

Well WW last week was not a loss, partly because I weighed in on Friday morning instead of Thursday evening (it makes a difference) and partly because I drank too much beer last week.

I have to weigh in on Friday again this week but I will not be wearing heavy jeans. I do work at the G Mansion Wednesday and Thursday though, so I will have to stay away from the food.

The weekend was good. Friday involved a movie, a good dinner, and too much beer. Saturday was corn maze and pumpkin carving day. The corn maze was oddly anticlimatic. The last time we went it was night time (much spookier and harder to navigate) and this time it was day time. Last time was with friends and this time was with some of Duane's coworkers. Pumpkin carving was fun though and we ended up with some yummy toasted seeds.

I watched My Own Worst Enemy last night and thought that it was much better than the first episode. Smoother and less cheesy. I am not missing 90210 (or Knight Rider which I have given up on). I am thinking about tossing a few other shows as well.

We are off to Minneapolis this weekend. Someone is watching the dogs so I really need to get to cleaning up the house. It seems like it is always a mess!

Hey twice in one week!

2008-10-15T15:06:00.002-05:00

Well work yesterday was not better by any means. Today has been fine, mostly because it has been slow. Maybe I should do a countdown till our vacation.

TV

My Own Worst Enemy (Christian Slater show) - Not 100% awesome, but worth watching again. The spy version of CS was very creepy while the dad version was good lookin'. It has started off as a hardcore spy show more Alias like. Plot and dialog could use a little work.

Eleventh Hour - Liked the pregnant cheerleader from the movie Sugar&Spice as the hardass FBI chick. The science guy is a little better than so-so. They started off with a hot topic (cloning babies) and didn't distort the science of it too badly. I will watch it again next week.

90210 was not on this week and I didn't miss it. I will be taking it off the DVR list.

Tomorrow is weigh in. We shall see how it goes. It should be a loss, but probably not a huge one.

My mood

2008-10-13T16:42:00.003-05:00

My mood is not anything remotely related to "good" or "happy" at this moment, but I am posting anyway.

I am enjoying the new show Valentine on the CW and 90210 still sucks. The Mentalist and Fringe are 2 outstanding new tv shows. I haven't watched the Eleventh hour yet, so I can't comment on that one. Christian Slater is on tonight, so that is something to be happy about.

I was down 1.2 lbs at WWs this past week for a net loss of .6 (I was up .6 the week before). I am going to have to go to the gym at some point if I want this to move any faster. The reward at 15 lbs is a tattoo and I am already behind by a couple of lbs to my WWs partner.

We went to an apple orchard on Saturday and got a shit ton of yummy apples. The afternoon probably would have been a little better if the other people we invited hadn't been over an hour late. We then had a yummy dinner (flank steak and chimchurri).

Sunday was pretty uneventful. There was some cleaning and some laying around feeling like doing absolutely nothing but catching up on some tv watching. The weather was warm for the weekend so that was nice. We are heading back into regular fall weather so it will be time to switch the closets. I did get a garbage bag full of clothes out of the current closet, but I need to do the other closet. I was thinking about clothes shopping after work, but I am not sure if I still feel like it.

Mondays suck.

Geez Louise

2008-10-06T12:57:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize that it had been that long since I posted. Duane is down 20 lbs and I am down 7 lbs. Last week was a bust for me as far as WWs goes. I worked at the Governor's Mansion twice and I ate a days worth of points in Brie the night before weigh in. Whoops!

The tv is getting scary. I think I have 18 or 19 shows that we watch. 90210 has gotten a smidge better, but may have to drop off the list. I just can't imagine why they put the effort into bringing that show back and then have it be so lackluster. The Mentalist is an awesome show, and is going into regular rotation. I was looking forward to Knight Rider, but it is terrible (awful, no good, waste of energy). They cancel the Bionic Woman for this crap? I just watched Valentine last night on the CW and it is a cute, funny show. Cannot wait for the new Christian Slater show which starts next week.

Duane and I successfully completed a charity bike ride at Tyranena (local brewery) on Saturday. Duane biked 26 miles (with lots of hills) and I biked 18 miles. I was pretty much by myself out in the country and it was a nice ride. I wanted to quit at mile 12, but I pushed through.

I am on the edge of a head cold, and trying to keep it at bay with Airborne. My eyes are all gunked up too. I have a 5 hour roundtrip drive tomorrow for a 4 hour training session. At least I don't have to drive. I do, however, have to get up way earlier than I would ever get up on purpose.

No laptop for me at work yet and it is back to super sucking. Mornings have been awesome when I get up and think about how I really don't want to go to work and how am I even go to figure out what to wear when I really don't want to go? I am doing a big closet purge tonight. I have too many things I do not wear. Some new clothes might make me feel a bit better.
Duane is in St. Louis till Wednesday night.

Better go look like I am working.

Is it Friday yet?

2008-09-24T11:37:00.003-05:00

I have been reading sTori Telling and finding it interesting. I usually would have finished it by now, but I read while I dry my hair so it takes longer to finish a book.

I am down 4.6 lbs with weigh in tomorrow. Duane is down 12.3 lbs. He is finding that he can wear some of his old favorite t-shirts that he felt were too tight before. He is still wearing the same 1 pair of shorts. I told him that hopefully he will be lucky and these shorts will last till it is pants wearing time. I am doubtful!

Tv is getting in full swing and it is really irritating when there are 3 shows on in the same time slot. Our DVR can only record 2 things at the same time! No, I don't watch too much tv thankyouverymuch.

Work is fine (it only sucks instead of super sucking). It looks like I might get a new laptop. One of the other staff members pointed out that it was kind of strange for the IT person to not have a laptop (I have a desktop). The previous IT person was allowed to keep her laptop.

We got our new featherbed and it is awesome! We have had our old one for quite awhile (2 years maybe?) and after awhile they get squished. I still haven't found any new dress pants. They don't have the black pants that I bought last year at JcPenney's anymore (it seems they stopped carrying short sizes in misses) and petite pants are not fitting quite right (the length is good but the top half is bad). You really don't want to know how many stores I have been in trying on pants.

It is cut and color time tonight and I can't wait. I have been spacing out my appointments longer than 6 weeks and now that my hair is long it drives me a bit nutty. I also have a strangely shaped head so headbands all look totally weird on me. My hair is also very fine, so it is difficult to find a hair clip that works. My scalp is sensitive too, so wearing a ponytail all day makes my head hurt. No wonder I had my hair short for so long!

My nieces bday party is this Saturday and it has been quite some time since the whole family has been together. We were all pretty busy doing our own thing this summer. It will be nice to see everyone. I also need to clean up the yard so I can put my Halloween decorations. I am sure Duane is thrilled that it is decorating season again!

I totally forgot....per the usual

2008-09-14T23:48:00.002-05:00

To pick up my reserved copy of sTORI Telling at the library. I think I can still pick it up tomorrow though!

I watched the second episode of the new 90210 and was still underwhelmed at the writing. Predictable again, but not quite as weird as the first episode. I do love Kelly Taylor on the show but not her subplot (who is her baby's daddy, Dillon or Brandon?). Brenda has been in and out, but she looks weird (plastic surgery?).

I lost 3lbs at Weight Watchers this past week, but Duane is doing awesome. He has been to the gym all week and wears a pedometer now to count his steps.

One of Duane's favorite local breweries is looking for a new assistant brewer to start next year. It is something I could definitely apply for. I am learning more at my job with the new title (through necessity) but it isn't awesome. I think I will be looking for something new next year anyway.

This weather this weekend was really sucky and didn't inspire much. We cleaned Duane's office (HIDEOUS), spent too much time looking for brown dress pants for me, saw Babylon A.D. (not awesome, but Vin Diesel is yummy), went to Tyranena, and watched TV. Oh, I almost forgot we ordered a new feather bed from QVC today, can't wait to get that!!

I also conquered a problem at work and I just about did a happy dance. I upgraded the wireless router at one of our offices and couldn't get their printer/scanner/fax machine back on the network. I bought them a new machine, which they immediately complained about. I went back last week and got the old machine back on the network and working! It took me a couple tries but I finally figured it out. Unfortunately the hard drive I was trying to clone tonight did not work out so well, but I think that is because the drive is shot.

I am up late working on some laundry, so I better go finish it up so I can get to bed.

Behind per the usual

2008-09-09T15:32:00.002-05:00

So we ended up not ripping up the kitchen and it looks like we will be using IKEA cabinets. The floor is there is really grossing me out, can't wait to rip it up. The downside is that I need to pack/donate/get rid of everying in the cabinets.

Instead we drove to Michigan and drank beer all weekend, some of us more than others. Don't you think your wife deserves some nice treatment after suggesting/doing most of the driving/putting up with someone's drunk self? Me too.

We are both doing Weight Watchers now and Duane is doing a very good job of following it. He has realized that he was probably eating twice the amount of calories he is now eating on plan. We have been exercising more too. Lots more upsides to this than downsides, but it does involve more planning and cooking. We also got a Wii Fit, but we haven't gotten it all set up yet.

The weather has cooled off here, but it is still warm during the day. Our pumpkin patch is growing (only 1 baby pumpkin right now), so hopefully it doesn't get too cold before more pumpkins grow.

I finished watching the new 90210 last night. I thought the writing and situations were extremely predictable. It is no where near as witty or glamorous as Gossip Girl. They seemed to throw weird dialog in there just for the hell of it (like the penis convo). I am dvring it tonight and hoping that it improves.

I am working at the Governor's Mansion tonight (little side job with a friend from work). More money for clothes!

Oh, job is on/off as far as good/sucking goes although last week was more sucking days. We have an office about an hour away and they are the whiniest/most helpless bunch ever. Conference call tomorrow morning, should blow.

My "position"

2008-08-25T14:58:00.003-05:00

Well I had the talk with "HR" (my transaction dept boss) and the "almost" big boss (not the owner but the VP). It was not awesome (by any stretch of the imagination).

My new fancy title: Transaction Coordinator/IT Director
My new not fancy salary: $20,000/30hr week

I was stunned frankly. We are not in the hey day of our market certainly, and we have cut 1 million dollars in costs across all the offices. But really?? So I am staying here purely out of loyalty and my need to have a job until we take our vacation in January. I can't say I will be sticking around long after we get back.

We (me enthusiastically, Duane less so) are planning on ripping up the kitchen this weekend. I am sick of everything in there (not the appliances) and can't wait till all that is left is bare walls and a new sub-floor. We are going back and forth on what flooring and cabinets to put in. We were decided previously, but things have changed now with the thought that we will sell the house next year. We feel like we should do something more neutral/traditional than previously planned. So it looks like IKEA cabinets are out and a more traditional maple are in.

Duane had a good weekend visiting with his friend Chris. They had lots of beer and participated in their yearly fantasy football draw and some golfing.

Yea right

2008-08-13T14:34:00.004-05:00

I love it when someone doesn't follow the procedures that they have put in place, and then it is your fault when things get goofed up. Yea right.

I am doing well on my 1 movie a week promise to myself. I saw the Mummy (SUCKED pretend like it was never released), Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (good Disney movie), and tonight I will be seeing the Incredible Hulk at the cheap theater. Lots of fun!

The Midwest Beer Festival was amazing and so much fun. People were very nice and we tried tons of different beers. We were pretty drunk (the kind of drunk where you remember what happened but not all the exact details) but we had dinner and then played some Rockband. A great day.

The weather has been nice here and things have been good generally. Just really busy!

Update

2008-08-01T10:47:00.002-05:00

I talked to my boss this week and straightened out the job situation. I will become a salaried employee (although we didn't discuss what my salary would be doh!) and he would reimburse me for buying a fancy (smart) phone. There is a need for me to receive emails wherever I may be, so thus the new Blackberry Curve. It is totally cool and I have barely tinkered with it. I am usually always the one that gets the plain jane phone, so it is fun to have a cool phone!

We are planning on going to the State Fair this weekend (YUM fried cheese curds!) and continue cleaning up the house. Our poor birch tree in the front yard has a beetle infestation. They are eating all the leaves and pooing on my car. Gotta figure out what to do about them.

The following weekend is the Midwest Beer Festival. Duane has really been looking forward to this. One of his friends from grad school is traveling here to go to it. Another friend was supposed to come, but predictably bailed this week (in an email no less!).

Summer is shooting by, but I do look foward to good sleeping weather (and no air con)

Did I mention

2008-07-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

As far as I know I am not being paid any more money or working any more than 30 hours. This is not my forever job nor has it been any fun for the last week and a half.

The last month has been stressful. I haven't been walking the dogs as much and I have been eating way too much. I feel like I stuck my finger in a helium tank and have blown up. I keep thinking about going to the gym, but I haven't got there yet. I know it will help with the stress.

We went to see the Dark Knight and it was awesome. We also saw Hellboy and it wasn't as good as the first, but sequels usually aren't.

Not much else exciting here.

Big Update

2008-07-22T14:09:00.001-05:00

I found out last Monday that our IT person is leaving effective August 1st. I am taking over many of her roles and now need to learn everything she knows before she leaves.

Thus I have not been posting.

Duane hogs the laptop at night, but maybe I will get on and write some more.

I went to the Dells and all I got was food poisoning

2008-07-07T16:39:00.003-05:00

Here we are 2 weeks later.

The sink downstairs is still clogged and the back basement area isn't much cleaner. I think we will call someone this week to fix the clog.

We are 2 weeks behind in the Snatchlorette. She will be announcing her wedding before we catch up.

We did absolutely nothing on the 4th. On the 5th we went up to the WI Dells to take a ride on the Ducks. The Duck ride was cheesy, the mini-golf was kind of lame (no windmills), and dinner was not good at all. Duane picked a bad rendition of a German restaurant. His schnitzel was tiny, our friend's kaas spaetzle was gross, and I loved my sausages (but not the next day or today unfortunately). We walked around a bit to get some fudge and taffy and were quite appalled.

On the 6th we had a fabulous steak dinner in Janesville with my parents and played with their mini weinerdog.

Last week was really no good, so no need to go into that.

We do have our tickets purchased for our trip in January. 20 days in New Zealand and 3 days in Figi. Should be excellent.

Mother f'ing DVR

2008-06-24T17:01:00.003-05:00

I can't believe Deanna kept Jesse instead of Sean, even though Jesse hasn't made out with her yet!! We didn't get to see her reasoning behind that one.

The DVR didn't record last night's NEW Snatchlorette because it was labeled in the guide as "To Be Announced". We were home but working around the house and didn't check to make sure it was recording. I was pissed.

Duane is getting a crown this afternoon and was very nervous about it. Hopefully all went ok with that. We have been having gorgeous weather lately. I don't know if it is to makeup for all the rainy weather or what. Unfortunately rainy weather + nice weather = a shit-ton of mosquitos.

No new shoes or purse yet, although I did look over the weekend.

Crap it's Monday

2008-06-23T17:24:00.002-05:00

Well I think I got home right at 7:30 last Wednesday night. The lawn didn't get mowed by me as when I got home on Wednesday I completely crashed.

I did go on the lake cruise and I did get drunk. I brought enough money for 2 beers, but then they gave away free beers!! Duane had to take a cab to the bar we went afterwards and then drag me home. I promptly fell out of the car when we got home and then told Duane every detail he missed when he was gone.

On Friday we went to a new bar in town (which is like heaven for Duane, more Belgian beers on tap!) and then to a Mallards game (baseball). The game was SO boring. It was scoreless until the 7th inning when we gave up a bunch of runs due to errors. The company was nice and the funnel cake was awesome!

Saturday was supposed to be the big clean up day. We did a little clean up, lawn mowing, beer drinking, shopping, and hanging out with friends. It was a good day.

On Sunday we did go to IKEA. They are having a summer sale, but there wasn't anything we couldn't live without. We DID go to a liquor store and Duane DID buy $100+ of beer. He said he isn't going to buy any beer for a month. Who believes him?

We are way behind on tv, including the Snatchlorette. We need to watch last week's episode and there is another episode tonight! We also are watching the new season of Tori & Dean (Tori Spelling and her hubby) on Oxygen. Throw in a Deadliest Catch and an American Gladiators.

The sink is still clogged. We tried some non-toxic enzyme stuff and Duane attempted to snake it. I am not interested in calling "roto-rooter", but we might have to.

Another sunny day!

2008-06-18T17:19:00.002-05:00

Well I stayed at work late last night so I am mowing the lawn tonight. Why mow the lawn (as it is not my chore)? We have to put out all the garbage on Friday and I figured I should mow the lawn before I put all the garbage on it. I could just mow the spot where I am going to be putting the garbage. That would be classy. The city is only having 2 pick up days for flood garbage (as we just moved to a new garbage policy of only 1 container) and Friday is the last day. We didn't know about these "special" days last week.

I did get all the drywall and paneling cleaned up, although I wanted to quit after I got the drywall up. The basement smells much better, so that was definitely the main source of the ick smell. My utility sink won't drain though despite much plunging and some clog buster. I am going to try some industrial strength clog buster tonight. Hopefully it works because A) I don't want to "snake it" and B) I can't do laundry because the washing machine drains into this sink and it overflows (figured that out last night).

Tomorrow night I am going on a 2 hour lake cruise as a "fun" outing for Duane's work. We signed up before Duane had this trip and thus will be required to pay. 2 of Duane's friends from work are going though, so I can hang out with them. This cruise is typically called the "drunk boat" as you cruise around, drink, eat appetizers, and drink some more. It isn't like the lake it cruises on is really that big.

We might go to IKEA on Sunday as long as all the house stuff gets done on Saturday. IKEA is a fun trip for me although I am sure Duane will try to go to some bar/liquor store even though he had a TON of beer left over from last weekend.

Alright, I have to get home before 7:30 tonight and I need to go to the grocery store before I go home.

New shoes!

2008-06-17T11:23:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I vacuumed water Friday night and Saturday morning it was all back again. I went to Janesville for Saturday and Sunday to hang out with family. By Sunday night the ground had dried out enough, so that Duane and I got the water all vacuumed up. Duane had a freak out episode before we cleaned it up which wasn't very nice.

Last night I was going to start mopping the floor as the basement is starting to smell icky. Duane is off again, this time for work. I think we had both kind of "forgotten" that there was drywall in the bathroom, as it is covered up by some icky paneling. I ripped off the paneling and then discovered that some mold was growing at the bottom on the soggy drywall. I then proceeded to rip out every piece of drywall. This created quite a mess (I will post pictures later). I have to clean up this mess tonight (I was pooped out last night). I am also going to mow the lawn tonight.

I think I should at least get some new shoes for all my effort, maybe a new purse too.

I think one day soon my thoughts will not be filled with the water in my basement or the effort needed to clean up my basement.

You know it is bad when...

2008-06-13T16:08:00.002-05:00

They have closed portions of the Interstate.

They need the WI Dells Ducks to save people.

Home are washing away.

Entire towns are impassable.

So I have a little water in my basement. It is a pain in my ass more than anything. Instead of relaxing tonight, I will be vacuuming water for hours. At least I have some beer to drink.

This is the sunnyside folks.

Fucking Rain

2008-06-12T20:10:00.002-05:00

I don't usually say fuck but man I am sick of this fucking rain. I had the floor almost completely dry today and, you guessed it, it started raining again. When I got home tonight there was no new water on the floor (yeah!) but within an hour some small pools started developing. The chances for rain look pretty steady until 11pm, so I will have to be viligant with the vacuums.

Duane is off drinking beer, so it is just me. No good movies on tv but I do have some things recorded.

I wanted to write more about the Don Q Inn. You can read about it and see pictures here. You have got to check out the pictures of the Fantasuites! We stayed in a regular room, but this room did have mirrors on the ceiling! There is a giant airplane in front of the hotel that has a room in the cockpit. There is also a church steeple attached to the main hotel that is another room. I would love to go there sometime and stay in a Fantasuite.

Well back to the laundry and water.

Is there a cozy island out there?

2008-06-09T12:13:00.004-05:00

Man, you would think I had a life with how infrequently I post.

We have been having terrible weather. Tornados, torrential rains, etc. I am pretty sure the world is going to hell in a handbasket. I had a thought of selling everything and moving to an island somewhere.

We got water in our basement. Gallons and gallons of water. We have a low spot in our backyard and it filled up with water. The water backed up right to the wall where we have a crack. While we were upstairs watching a movie, the crack was pouring water like a faucet. The floor drain got clogged and viola shit-tons of water. We have a laminate floor down there and the water is just floating under the floor. We worked for about 5 hours last night vacuuming the water. Duane got smart and is now off to Home Depot to pick up an attachment so you can hook a hose to the shop vac and drain the water outside. There is no way to believe or understand how much water results in just a 1/4 inch of water on the floor. I had gone down there to do some laundry and 1.5 hours later, the basement was flooded.

Also, we went camping this weekend. We had tornado warnings and thunderstorm warnings, but almost all of the weather passed us by. Friday was good, Saturday all day was good and then we got complacent. We didn't look to see that there was a giant storm front coming our way and it was not going to miss us. It started pouring around 10:30pm. We all ran for our respective tents and cars (my mom and dad stayed in a hotel). We had my niece with me and she was scared (I was a little scared too). The tent we had borrowed was leaking a bit. We decided to make a run for it and stay at a hotel. We dropped my niece off with my parents (her brother was there) and then Duane and I went to the Don Q Inn. A little piece of WI kitsch (more later on that).

After being soaked Sunday morning, we didn't think we would get soaked again. At least the rain did eventually stop and the wall stopped pouring water.

It is freezing in my cave of an office

2008-05-22T16:04:00.003-05:00

The finale of Gossip Girl was pretty good. The swing has not been put together yet (no sign yet if the improptu pumpkin patch will return). The phlegminess did develop into a cold. I still have no new tops and I haven't returned the water bottle yet.

But we ARE going to Maryland this weekend to visit our good friends the Bird Man and the Hot Librarian!! We are excited and the weather is going to be awesome. I think this cold will be all the way gone before we fly out on Saturday (it better be).

Tonight is my niece's bday dinner. She loves Webkinz. For those of you out there who may not have heard of Webkinz, they are stuffed animals that have lives on the internet. You log your Webkin into the site and then you can create rooms, feed it, etc. I think it is a cute idea. It becomes depressing though, when she told me that one her friends had 20 of them. No kid needs 20 of anything.

I did finally complete some onesies that my sister asked me to make for her to give as gifts. It only took me forever (and a day).

I did look at Boston Store yesterday for some new tops, but I didn't have much patience for it since my nose was running like a faucet. I have been on the look-out for a new purse, and I found a good candidate there. I will get Duane's opinion though. He has a weird thing about purses!

Did I mention that Duane and I have been carpooling lately? Gas (regular) hit $3.85 today. We are definitely considering moving closer to Duane's job. The kitchen needs to be finished before we can sell though and I don't know if that will happen this summer.

My house is not all the way clean yet. I think I will die of embarassment if someone had to stop and use the bathroom. It is pretty gross. It will have to wait until next week though!

This post is so not interesting.

Ha, I forgot to give this post a title!

2008-05-19T16:44:00.003-05:00

Well the weekend was pretty nice. The potential (not) client finally emailed me to say she was working with someone else. I think she was working with someone else all along, but thought I might drive her around without making her sign a contract (not happening). Way to go and waste my time.

I have picked up some phlegminess, which I am not sure if it is allergies or an actual cold. It certianly isn't any fun.

I bought a new water bottle to help me drink more water (it has a flip top straw) and the f'in thing leaks! You take a sip, set it down, and it leaks all over the place. Now I have to return it, such a pain.

I have been trying to find some new short-sleeve tops for work and I am having no luck. There is an abundance of those tops that look good on tall people, but make the rest of look like we are pregnant. I do have some cute new bottoms, but no tops.

We got all caught up with our season finales from last week (Smallville, Supernatural, CSI, ER, and Ghost Whisperer). Tonight is the season finale of Gossip Girl (Duane loves this show). Hopefully it will be good!

We bought a 3 person swing to put in the backyard yesterday. We haven't put it together yet though, which should be fun!

Whitney won America's Next Top Model!

2008-05-15T17:19:00.002-05:00

Holy cow, couldn't believe this. I thought Anya had it in the bag. Whitney is a "full figured" model. I think she is a size 10. I guess they figured it was about time. Also, Parvati won the million dollars on Survivor. I guess Amanda didn't figure out that crying in the end causes you to lose the money (she did that on Survivor:China and lost too). The next Survivor is going to be in Africa, but it looks like it will be on water. The other Survivor in Africa was pretty dull because they were not near water (no cute guys either) and had to eat canned food (boring).

I think there are a couple more season finales tonight (ER, Smallville, Supernatural, CSI). We have volleyball tonight though, so we will have to catch up on those.

I met with a possible new client, but she hasn't responded to my emails. She acted like she was all excited to see properties on Saturday. Maybe she will email me tomorrow.

My other buyer still believes that she should get a property for whatever price she wants to pay for it. Darn it, why won't those banks just accept the offer? What dummies. At this point I will be making no money on this, but maybe I will get the award for the most patient agent?

Duane had a walking up the stairs incident last night, and gave himself the project of putting up a new railing on the basement stairs. Who knew it would snap so easily (or that you should pay attention when you are walking up the stairs)?

We are switching to a new kitty litter system (put out by Tidy Cats) which seems like it will be much cleaner. It uses pellets on top, and the pee filters to the bottom to a pad. The kitties seem to like it already. Regular kitty litter sticks to their feet and gets all over the place (gross).

We went to a restaurant tasting on Monday for Duane's favorite beer place. We both tried fois gras (nasty) and I tried a chicken liver (also nasty). The chicken liver had a good flavor, but I couldn't get over the creaminess. There were a couple of winners on the new menu and they will still have the frites. We had fun, even though the douche factor was very high. The people we sat across from were halfway decent (the wife was a little snoooty, but she was pregnant).

My rhubarb looks like it has gone to seed already (3 flowering stalks have popped up). I haven't been able to get out there and pick it, but I will this weekend. I am thinking of some rhubarb muffins with a crunchy sugar topping.

Nothing else too exciting here. We will be traveling to Maryland to visit some friends over Memorial Day weekend, so I am really looking foward to that. I am also looking forward to having a clean house some day in the future, maybe this weekend?

3 weeks and no post

2008-05-07T17:01:00.003-05:00

I stink at blogging lately. It seems that things may finally get back to normal. Normal is actually having time at night to sit on the couch. I haven't been using the computer at home much, because I am busy or Duane is using it. He comes home from Denver late tonight. He called me this afternoon to tell me that he could work at this HMO in Denver (where he has been the past couple of days). Apparently they have less stress there in Denver.

I got caught up on my laundry, I super cleaned all the dog beds, I vacuumed my bedroom and the guest bedroom, and I only have a super messy office and dining room left! I thought I was going to have Saturday all to myself, but a friend of ours will be staying at our house. And he says we should do something fun! Yes, my idea of fun this Saturday was to mow the lawn (desperately needs it) and work around the yard. Oh well, maybe on Sunday!

Sunny but windy

2008-04-16T16:03:00.003-05:00

Life is still chaotic around here. Friday night we stayed up late (around 4:30-5 am) just talking with friends, not even drinking! Saturday was the IKEA trip, which we got back late from since we went to bed late and we got up late. Duane spent $140 on beer, seems like I should spend $140 on something doesn't it? Sunday was working at the friend's house all day.

Duane's customers were in town Monday and Tuesday for a thing at his work. I went out to eat with them on Monday. It was a very nice dinner that I didn't have to pay for, but it meant being out late again (who knew we would talk for 2 hours after dinner?). Yesterday was a blur at work and then I was at the friend's house working. His brother helped, so that was nice. We had dinner afterwards (Duane was "resting" at home).

Next Thursday-Sunday I will be on my own. Duane is going to PA to.........drink beer with a friend. He bought his ticket with ff miles, so I guess I can't complain about the money.

Tonight is working at the friend's house again. We were supposed to finish the crown molding on Sunday but we ended up being a little short (guess someone didn't measure quite right). The open house is going to be this Sunday. TV is gangbusters next week, so I am looking forward to being home at a reasonable time and vegging on the couch.

It is really nice out today, but very windy. Luckily rain is predicted for the next three days. We wouldn't want to get too happy with all this sun.

Bug 2.0

2008-04-08T17:50:00.002-05:00

I gave Duane the bug, but I think that was inevitable. He was sick Saturday night and you know a lot of guys are big babies when they are sick. My niece was having her first communion at 8:15 mass on Sunday (45 minutes away in Janesville). Sick boy got to stay home, but barely awake girl got to go to Janesville. I did get to spend some quality time though.

Saturday was a party at my brother's house for his father-in-law's 75th birthday. We played Rock Band most of the time and didn't get home until late.

We are currently immersed in getting a friend's house ready to list. He wants to have the open house this weekend, but I don't see that happening. I know it doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to be finished. Duane and I are going to IKEA on Saturday (and a beer store), so that will be fun (although we are going to IKEA to get things for the house). Why is this house taking so much effort? Well the friend lives out of town, so can't be here all the time. He lived in it during grad school and then rented it, so the condition was pretty bad. Our market is getting better (450+ showings on our listings the past two weeks!), but if your house is crap it won't sell.

We had beautiful weather this weekend, but we are back to crap weather this week. Low forties, heavy rain/snow possible. Yuk.

I got nothing except for this intestinal bug

2008-04-04T16:55:00.002-05:00

It sucks let me tell you. I was out sick one day this week, and probably should have been out 2 other days. This weekend isn't a calm one either.

The person who invented Immodium should be praised.

That is all.

Texas

2008-03-25T22:42:00.002-05:00

My cold cleared up pretty quickly after we got back. I was using Zicam, so I think that helped.

We flew to Texas on Friday, which was the start of spring break here. Our flight was oversold, so we volunteered to take a bump. We ended up getting to Houston earlier, and we each earned $300 towards a future flight. We had a weird experience when we picked up our rental car where we were told to pick any car we wanted (huh?). Unfortunately Duane was a deer in the headlights, so we ended up with a stinky Nissan (it was ok).

We thought we would try to eat at a bbq place near the airport. As we drove there, a huge cloud of fire burst into the air. We determined that it may have been a transformer blowing up, but we didn't see anything in the news. The traffic was nuts. We found the restaurant (shack), but it wasn't open. The area surrounding downtown Houston seemed to be a giant strip mall with a lot of traffic. We left Houston and went from the strip mall to the middle of nowhere.

We got to our hotel in College Station (Courtyard Marriot). It is definitely on the low end of the Marriot chain. It was also overrun with tweens in town for a state basketball tournament. The in-room wireless did not work, but the tv had a lot of channels! We looked on Chowhound to find a place to eat. We went to the Chicken Oil Company. It was food anyway. It was also spring break in College Station which means everyone who can leave, does.

The next day we went to the Bush Museum and Library. It was interesting. The weather was nice (80s) and we were in shorts. We had a friend that was coming in from Tucson for the wedding and picked a different hotel to stay at. He called us from the motel and asked if he could stay with us (his motel was a nasty, filthy place). The wedding turned out to be pretty nice. We didn't know anyone though so we didn't stay too long. It was kind of disappointing to travel that far and spend 10 minutes talking to a friend you haven't seen in 3 years.

We were on another oversold flight on the way back and took another voluntary bump. We thought we were going to have to stay overnight in Minneapolis, but we ended up making our connection. We earned another $300 each. Duane is already thinking of places to fly to.

The weather has been ok, but there is a chance of snow in the forecast. No more snow please!!

End of the trip

2008-03-25T22:28:00.002-05:00

Ok, so the ibuprofen wasn't in the car. I guess it would have been nice to figure that out beforehand, because we could have bought some earlier.

Bruges was very nice, probably our favorite city in Brussels. I think the countryside wins overall location though. There was this one restaurant that we had to go to 3 times in Bruges so Duane could sample the last beer on his list. The first time we went was at dinner (32 euros/per person, no thanks!), then next day we tried to go at lunch (closed on Thursdays), and the finally successful time was just before we left Bruges. Duane was super happy to have that last beer though and it was unique.

Luxembourg City is nothing to write home about unfortunately. The coolest thing is that the city center is wired for wireless internet, so you can sit in the park and check your email (for free!). Our hotel was nice (the Novotel), despite its proximity to the strip club part of town. It had the hugest breakfast buffet! We actually ate at Pizza Hut there, but the Pizza Hut there had about 15 different kinds of pizza.

Next and last stop was Dusseldorf. It was rainy, but we walked around a bit. We had a great (and cheap) dinner of goulash, frankfurters, and cheese. The flight back was fine, although my nose had started running. I ended up with a migraine when we got home because the ibuprofen got misplaced. There was a little snafu where I told a friend to pick us up on Tuesday (but we really got in on Monday). She had forgotten about a show she was going to, so I got my sister to pick us up. We would have been waiting until Tuesday otherwise.

The rest of the week was a blur. We had dinner in Janesville with my parents to celebrate our birthdays, we had dinner with another friend, and a haircut appointment.

Spring Snow

2008-03-20T22:36:00.003-05:00

So much to say....

I have a lot to report on. The end of our trip (in which I got sicker), our trip to Texas for a wedding, and the supposed snow that is coming tonight and tomorrow.

We get to enjoy the first day of spring before one last winter storm warning. A possible 1-2 inches tonight, 4-6 inches during the day tomorrow, and 1-2 more inches tomorrow night. Good thing one of the windows in my car won't roll all the way up. I taped a garbage bag over it (classy!). No, I won't be driving it with the garbage bag taped to it.

The UW Badgers are playing their first March Madness game and winning at this point. We have a friend over that wanted to watch the game. He fell asleep right about when the game started.

We are watching my little sister's kitties while they are away for Spring Break. They are cute, but kind of drive you nutty. One of them has white fur on his paws, but he has gray fur growing in between his toes! One of them was nibbling my ear this morning in an attempt to get me out of bed.

I will probably have time to catch up after the weekend. Duane has to go to South Dakota for work for a few days.

Crap, I'm sick

2008-03-06T15:42:00.002-06:00

We have been having a great time here in Belgium. I woke up this morning with a slight fever and a scratchy throat. My chest kind of hurts too. I think I would feel better if I had some ibuprofen (which may or may not be in the car which we are too lazy to walk to as it is about a 30 minute roundtrip walk). I have been keeping my chin up though and I hope to sleep well tonight.

Bruges is very nice. I would recommend it over Brussels (although Bruges has more frite stands it has fewer waffle places than Brussels). We have had so much beer, that I will have to detox for a couple of weeks.

We are off to Luxembourg tomorrow!

Hello from Antwerp!

2008-03-02T13:11:00.002-06:00

We are having a great time, drinking lots of beer and eating lots of frites (fries). The weather has been decent, but a little on the windy side. We may be getting more wind and snow tomorrow.

Yesterday we went to a beer festival and sampled 22 beers. We were a little drunk on the way back to Antwerp (the festival was a little outside of town). We stopped at another bar and had more beer. I think we were a little noisy when we got home (especially when I tripped over my suitcase and fell down).

Today's highlights included seeing a naked man. Not sure why the dude was naked with the sidewalk level window and curtains open. It was just a butt view, and he was a younger guy (not wrinkley). We had a nice day walking around and had more fries and beer.

We head to the countryside tomorrow to stay at the b&b at the brewery and see some monks.

Are you sure I am leaving the country in 2 days?

2008-02-25T23:10:00.003-06:00

Things have been so crazy here.

On Friday we had our all you can eat meat dinner. It was good, but more of a once in awhile thing. They had the tables really crammed together so you were constantly shifting to allow them to get the meat to your plate. There was no music when we first started dinner, which made for a weird ambiance. They have live jazz Sunday thru Thursday, but not Friday and Saturday (?). Eventually some music was turned on. It was fun though, and the duck was fabulous.

Saturday was the big beer festival. The weather was decent, which was a problem. There were so many people there that you couldn't get any beer. What is the point of standing line for an hour to get a beer? The band stunk, and we never found the friends were supposed to be hanging out with.

Sunday was working all day getting our friend's house ready.

Today at work was totally crazy. The main printer/scanner/copier was not working and the service guy didn't show up until 4! I was planning on going to our friend's house to do some painting, but it took me all day to wade through the paperwork.

3 of the pets are being delivered tomorrow with all of the stuff they need. I am hoping to find some time to pack my suitcase. I am working on Wednesday as well and this house needs to shape up a bit. I am taking Hershey to the vet in the morning for a couple of shots and a bloodwork check and then in to work for my "review". It isn't really my 1 year review since I haven't been working in this position for a year.

Breathe in, breathe out.

My car has been freed!

2008-02-21T14:57:00.003-06:00

We left my car in my office parking lot over the weekend, as we have done in the past. The freezing rain/snow/frigid temps led to my car being stuck in the parking lot. It is a front wheel drive, so usually I don't have trouble. There was a sheet of ice under the car though, and it was on a slight decline. Duane called AAA this morning and they came right out. It turns out the right rear brake was stuck, so he had to get under the car and hammer it a few times. The guy was nicer than nice, but I did notice that he had no front teeth.

I don't have to carpool with Duane anymore. It hasn't been terrible, but it has lead to my being gone from the house from 9-8 or so every night this week. It is difficult to get much done when you are never home.

I am giving a seminar tonight for first time home buyers. I may only have 1 person. These seminars stress me out, so I will be happy when it is done. It would be nice if this 1 person decided to buy a house with me, but I won't hold my breath.

Wow

2008-02-19T21:30:00.002-06:00

I am so happy it is frigid out and the roads are like giant ice rinks. Did I mention that it is 55 degrees in Belgium and I am going there in 8 days? Many of the houses have death icicles right now, the kind that look like they would slice right through you if you happened to be so unlucky to be walking under one when it fell off. Oh and the emergency brake seems to be frozen on my car so Duane and I have been carpooling.

This Friday were are going to a churascaria. This is a Brazillian all you can eat meat buffet! It is pricey, but oh so worth it. The one in Madison has gotten rave reviews, from the food to the decor. I will report back. Tomorrow night we are having dinner with my little sister and her husband.

Duane and I voted tonight! One of the talk radio stations was talking about Obama this morning totally self interpreting a statement his wife made while she was in town and dissing her for it. She made a statement that they had only paid off their student loans 3 years ago. The talk radio announcer said that she was trying to get people to think that they were just like the common man, but wait they live in a 1.2 million dollar house! I think she was saying that they both had student loan debt (like many people out there) and had finally gotten it paid off. The news stations are reporting the Obama has won here.

No tv tonight. We have been watching a bunch of movies, which has been fun too. I should get to the library and read something. I have a bad, bad habit of racking up library fines though (which I always pay). The local library checks books out for 2 weeks, and allows you to renew 3 times. My local library at home checks out books for 3 weeks, and allows you to renew 2 times. The two weeks comes up too fast and I forget to renew things.

Oh and this Saturday we are going to stand outside (and freeze) and drink cold beer! One of local breweries has a doppelbock fest every February. You stand outside in their beer garden, drink beer, and the eventually throw smoked fish off of the roof of the building. Everyone one tries to catch the fish because they contain coupons for free beer. Luckily you can stand far enough away that you don't get any fish parts on you. I avoided going last year by being the chauffeur, but a couple of Duane's friends from work (and their spouses) are going this year, so I can't be the party pooper.

There seems to be a million and one things to do, so I haven't gotten much done lately.

Hey did I mention the weather?

2008-02-17T23:52:00.002-06:00

So it was freezing and then it warmed up to about 34 degrees. It rained, then it was freezing rain, and then it was snow. The busses stopped running, and the Urgent Care was closed.

I am pretty sure I hate this weather. I will be happy to go to Belgium where it is sunny and 55 degrees.

We went to IKEA on Saturday which made me happy. I would have been happier if there hadn't been 9 million f'ing people there. There is usually about 7 million people there, but Saturday added 2 million non-native English speakers. It made it a little less fun.

I was good on the 11 o'clock rule for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday was later and Friday was way late. I did sleep till noon today though. As you can see I am up late today too.

I am sick of all of my clothes, so I may try to find a few new things for work. It makes getting dressed in the morning difficult, when you don't want to wear anything you own.

What is up with this f'ing weather?

2008-02-12T22:26:00.002-06:00

Madison has officially broken the record for the snowiest winter. I have absolutely no interest in shoveling our driveway and we have been parking on the street. We had more snow last week (and today) and terrible driving conditions. There were trucks jack-knifing all over the place and people were stuck on the interstate for 9 hours! The roads were bad again on Saturday, so we ended up staying overnight in Janesville. We had gone down there for my brother's 40th birthday party, which was a great time. We had windchill advisories (-30 windchills!) and lows below zero.

I have a plan to be in bed before 11 and tv off at 11 this week. It is 10:30 now, so I had better get going!

Here I sit

2008-02-06T13:48:00.000-06:00

Well, we are getting dumped again with the weather this week. We are quickly approaching the snowiest winter ever. The office is closed today, but no one put my name on the email that went out saying the office was closed today, so here I sit.

There were plenty of clues that I shouldn't come to work. The snowplow came by and plowed the driveway in just as I was getting my car cleaned off. I got my car stuck trying to get out of the driveway because I didn't shovel enough (and there was ice beneath the snow). The main highway to get to work was totally blocked due to jacknifed semis. I went through town and drove slowly. I checked my email and my messages before I left thinking that someone would tell me the office was closed if it was. Duane went to work this morning, so maybe we will meet up for dinner! (silver lining)

Saturday and Sunday involved some intense manual labor. A friend of ours is getting his house ready to sell and it needs quite a bit of fixing up. We spent the weekend painting, and I learned how to use my new paint sprayer. It works quite well, but it pretty tiring. You fill it up with 1.5 quarts of paint, and wave it around the walls. The sprayer itself has some weight to it, so your arms get pretty tired. I am excited about staging this house and getting it sold though.

Friday night Duane and I went to a UW Badger hockey game. We used to go more regularily (when we first met), but we hadn't been in quite awhile. It was fun and a great game. We had dinner afterwards at the Old Fashioned. A restaurant that prides itself on being very Wisconsin. All the beers on tap and in bottles are local brews (the imports on hand were Miller Lite and Budweiser). There are several cheese plate appetizers. We had a wurst appetizer that was excellent. I had a pulled pork sandwich and Duane had walleye.

My brother's 40th birthday party is this Saturday. It should be fun. It is a mexican fiesta/game theme. The Wii will be going and we are bringing Rockband and Singstar. The mexican part comes in because we were in Mexico 2 years ago for my little sister's wedding and we celebrated my brother's birthday there. He wanted to go to Mexico this year for his birthday, but it didn't work out.

Our trip is coming up in 3 weeks. We haven't figured out what we want to do for the last 3 days, but the other accomedations are planned. I hope we have good weather.

My New Years to dos are still going on, or I am still working on them anyway. I have been better about eating breakfast and lunch, and getting my vitamin and fish oil in. I haven't made the trek to the gym yet. I am still trying to get myself on some sort of schedule.

Oh and the tv schedule still sucks. American Gladiators is fun, but it ain't no Heroes.

I should write more...zzzzzz

2008-01-30T22:15:00.000-06:00

This week has run me over so far, can't believe tomorrow is Thursday.

I am sick of the writer's strike, but so happy that Smallville and Supernatural will be on tomorrow.

I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow!!

It is restaurant week around town (3 course dinner at fancy local restaurants $25/person). Duane and I had a very nice dinner tonight.

It is frickin freezing here again!!

Sad news

2008-01-27T18:41:00.000-06:00

The weekend has been crazy so I hadn't had time to check my email.

I opened my email this evening to find an email from my Mom. My little sister called her yesterday morning to tell her that she had a miscarriage. Why my mom disseminated this info via email, I don't know.

Sad news though.

I will report on the rest of the weekend tomorrow.

Slightly irritated

2008-01-24T13:55:00.000-06:00

Our company-wide party is tomorrow night. I had Duane reserve a room at the hotel adjacent to the convention center and the plan was to split it with a friend of mine (she lives about 30 minutes away). I talked to her right after the reservation was made and ok'd the cost with her. Now she emailed me today and said that they would probably just go home after.

The cancellation policy is 72 hours, so no dice there. I am not made of money. Oh, she thought I was going to get the room with or without her. Funny, but I don't remember ever saying that.

I did find a dress, but I need to find shoes tonight.

I should just eat some lunch and try to be less cranky.

So how was the party of the year?

2008-01-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

The family party at my house was this Saturday and it was a humdinger! Everyone arrived around 2 and they didn't leave until 10! The house was mostly clean. It was not quite perfect as I still had the cold and was feeling pretty crappy. We had brushetta and bread w/dipping oils for an appetizer. The bruschetta was a loaf of basil bread from a local bakery cut up and toasted on my grill pan. I topped it with fresh bruschetta mix from Trader Joe's. I also topped some with an olive tapenade from Trader Joe's. The bread with dipping oil was a loaf of white bread dough that I rolled into balls and then baked in an angel food cake pan with some herb butter. I used the other bread dough (comes in packs of 3 loaves) to wrap lil' smokies ala pigs in a blanket. Those were for the kids, but they were playing so much that I don't think they ate much.

Dinner was a traditional meat lasagna (I used genoa salami) and a pesto asparagus lasagna. I used Trader Joe's noodles in the meat lasagna (I usually use Creamette noodles) and I did not like them. The pesto asparagus lasagna was fabulous. I used frozen asparagus from Trader Joe's and a jarred pesto. You make a white cheese sauce and stir in the pesto. I used the Creamette noodles and they were great as usual.

We played the Wii, Rock Band, Singstar, and Pictionary. Even my mom and dad got into the Wii! It was really nice.

Sunday was the Packers game. The defense sucked and lost the game (my opinion). I made hot wings which turned out SUPER hot. I broiled them in the oven and then put them in crockpots with 2 different sauces (bottled). Well normally the wings are cooked, tossed with the sauce, and then eaten (at BW-3). The wings sat in the sauce for a couple of hours, which made them almost too hot to eat. Oops!

My Christmas decorations are not all put away yet. I left them up for the family party. It seems the bag I bought to store my tree in, might not actually fit my tree. I also need another box to store ornaments in. I think I could use a whole separate room to store my decorations.

My office's big shin-dig party is this Friday. I bought a dress yesterday (the first dress I tried on, which usually never happens). We are staying at the hotel which is connected to the place where the party will be. It will be fun, especially if this darn cold would go away!

RIP

2008-01-17T16:03:00.000-06:00

May our battered and chewed laptop power cord rest in peace. It finally gave out a few days ago so we have been without the laptop. A new cord is being shipped as we speak, so hopefully we will be online in the living room again soon! We do have a desktop computer, but you know it isn't as convenient.

I am also sick, and my supervisor probably gave it me (she is off in Mexico right now, but she was sick right before she left). I have been pushing the Airborne, which seems to be keeping the worst symptoms at bay. I left the house without my purse this morning though, so I guess the Airborne doesn't improve your memory.

Duane's beer glasses from Belgium were shipped on Monday (oddly enough right after I enquired if the order had shipped). I am hoping they don't show up this weekend though, as the high on Saturday is -2. I am also waiting on something else that I ordered 2.5 weeks ago, which also (oddly enough) shipped right after I enquired WTH it was. I don't know if orders slip through the cracks when you use Paypal, but that is the second time that happened.

The family comes this Saturday (on the -2 day). I have the apps nailed down, but not a veggie lasagna recipe. Spinach is the default, but I would like to find something a little more exciting.

Work has been going well. I had a good talk with my "new" manager. The staff typically use one manager and she wasn't my manager previously. We talked about my interest in staging and it sounds like more opportunities will be coming down the line.

Alright, I am headed home now. I am hoping the road conditions are better (and not worse) than this morning. We were supposed to get a significant amount of snow (6 inches), but they backed that down to 2-4. Since I don't have my purse, I don't have my cell phone either.

Is it still a shop?

2008-01-14T14:37:00.001-06:00

Is it still an online shop if you don't post anything to sell (and therefore don't sell anything)? I forgot to post an update about the hemp fleece I am trying to get to make baby wipes. I got a message from the guy sometime around Christmas, that he could no longer get that fabric. I was pretty po'd. He said I could come in and get my money back. Last week I got a message from him that he found a different source (or fabric) that he thought would work and he has it for me to pick up. I was happy to hear that, now I just have to get over there and pick it up.

The craft business took a slide with Christmas and I need to get some motivation to get it back on track. My sister mentioned that she needs me to make some onesies for friends, so that will be a start!

There was a little productivity this weekend. Duane got a new door installed downstairs, but I didn't work much on my projects. The Packer party was fine (especially since they won). My haircut was good. It is a little darker now and a little shorter. I had her curl it and Duane wants me to curl it all the time. Well I would need a curling iron for that to happen.

I drank a teensy bit more water than usual last week. I did no exercising. The productivity level is up a teensy bit.

I did eat breakfast AND lunch today, so that is a better start to the day.

I am planning

2008-01-11T17:32:00.000-06:00

I am planning on some productivity this weekend, although I feel like taking a nap right now. I know I am not getting enough sleep, but jeez louise I have the hardest time getting in bed earlier!!

I have a cut/color/eyebrow appointment tomorrow. My hair looks good today, but I feel like something different. How different? I don't know.

We are also going to a party with realtor people in the afternoon. It will be interesting. As a staff member I have been getting a little closer to the other staff members. It is nice to be another step inside a circle.

My supervisor is in Mexico all next week (she is going with another staff member and they wrote up mini-wills this afternoon, wth?). I should be busier, which means I will try to prepare for the family event this weekend. I am making lasagna, but I don't know what kind yet (I have to do a meat and a veggie).

Duane and I are hitting Trader Joe's for a Friday night date, how exciting are we? We are both a little run down, so low key it is.

I could take a nap right now.

A break in the weather

2008-01-09T17:05:00.000-06:00

Today was sunny and not too cold. The dogs were happy to get out for a nice walk, as was I. I didn't have time to do some damage control on the poopy back yard though (as I slept in an hour). I took some meds last night for the post-nasal drippyness. I slept but the cats and dogs were in and out all night. We were out of kitty treats (someone put an empty bag back in the cabinet!) and Boots was not amused. Brisco usually zonks out, but he was in an out all night (maybe the leftover steak I put on their food?)

Yesterday afternoon was not super productive. I was still feeling like crap and only got a few things done here and there.

I felt better at work today, probably because I ate some lunch before I left. My latest (unintentional or is it?) weight loss plan is to not eat breakfast or lunch. Oddly enough I can be a little low energy during the day. Our pantry needs restocking, so I am planning on doing that tomorrow.

I need to go dress shopping (big work shindig) so maybe I will get to that tomorrow afternoon as well.

Weekend

2008-01-07T20:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, I have not been to the gym yet (although now that my legs have been de-sasquatched, I have no real excuse). I have not starting drinking more water and this weekend was WOEfully under productive. *sigh*

Friday night we hung out with Duane's friend from work. We played with his kids and he and Duane played some video games. We got home late.

Saturday night we hung out with some realtor peeps (it was a going away party) and got home late (and Duane got druuuunk, probably not the best idea to start the evening with a giant glass of 10% alcohol beer). We also drank some boots that night!

Sunday was spent laying around on the couch all day.

I meant to go to the gym this morning, but slept like crap and turned off the alarm. I have some post-nasal drip thing going on which has made me feel like yakking all day. My supervisor was pissed today (maybe at me, who knows), which was not a good start to the work day. The weather has been shitty (2 huge pile ups on the interstate yesterday). Warm, foggy, and rainy.

It is an early work day tomorrow, so hopefully my afternoon will be more productive.

My New Year to dos so far

2008-01-03T14:30:00.000-06:00

Drink more water (not so far but I did bring a clean water bottle to work)

Exercise some (not so far but I aspire to tomorrow)

Be more productive (we got the house clean in record time for the party, I started clipping one of my blankets that is woefully overdue last night, and I have productive plans for the weekend).

I think I will do a weekly update on the to dos.

Oh look....

2008-01-03T13:09:00.000-06:00

I forgot to report the most surprising recent news (which I don't think was a slip btw).

My little sister and her husband are having a baby! I have very mixed feelings on this, which you can email me if you want to know. They are planning on cloth diapering, so any suggestions for books on that or new parenting books that were actually helpful, would be great.

Oh and yes, I thought it was fabulous when my extended family members (and one not so extended, my other sister) wondered aloud on how I felt about this or that they thought for sure the baby news was going to be from me.

New Year dos

2008-01-03T09:42:00.001-06:00

Today is a long day at the office, so I am getting in a post early (work, class, work, going away party). Ok, I was writing this earlier but got interrupted.

I don't get much laptop time at home (Duane is a computer hog), so I haven't had a chance to post pictures. Maybe this weekend, if I can remember!

I have some want-to-dos for the New Year:

I want to drink more water

I want to exercise (some) more

I want to be more productive (craft wise, job wise, house wise)

My family is coming on the 19th for their yearly trek to my house. Really my house is not that far away from Janesville and they should come more than once. I am hoping we can keep the house clean until then.

Oh and in other news, we are going on a trip. February 28th to March 10th (I think). We are going to Belgium (for sure). Maybe Luxembourg, maybe Paris.... I know it breaches the 6 month no travel rule, but Duane insisted that the airfare prices go up considerably in April. Besides, I am renovating the kitchen in April (no excuses Duane!!).

Holy Crap am I behind

2008-01-02T14:20:00.001-06:00

December 15th was the last time I posted? You would think I had forgotten I had a blog.

Well the NYE party actually happened to be a party without the afore mentioned guests. Since a couple of our friends were going to be there (i.e. we weren't going out), I decided that we could invite some other people. My little sister and her husband came, Duane's mentoree and her husband came, and later another friend of Duane's from work stopped by.

The party preporation got slammed into Sunday night on Monday afternoon as we had unexpected company and a birthday party. We went bowling Friday night with the 2 friends that were to come over for NYE. We "some" how ended up buying Rockband (a PS2 game with a guitar, mike, and drum set) and the friends stayed over Friday and Saturday. We stayed up late both nights playing the game (which is fun).

The food for the party all turned out (good thing I invited people that like their meat rare). My sister brought an excellent salad and succotash (made with honey yum!). I made flank steak and a 2 potato dish. One of our guests bought a french silk pie for dessert. We had good food and played Rockband, Singstar (which is a lot harder than singing in Rockband), and the Wii. I will remember for the future to NOT drink champagne out of a regular glass because then you somehow end up drinking a whole bottle yourself and the result is NOT a good one.

Yesterday was a veg day but we did watch the third Pirates movie. Not as ridiculous as the second, but not any good either.

Boots also had a stressful weekend and spent all Monday and part of Tuesday at the vet. It was due to the mystery peeing problem that he had once before. Our animals always seem to get sick on the weekends! We took him in right away on Monday. He will need to eat a special food (which he ate when he had the problem before) for the rest of his life (i.e. we shouldn't stop feeding it to him) because this problem is such a mystery (most likely caused by stress).

Christmas was good all around. Duane bought me a necklace he picked out at an antique mall in Pasadena. I found some great things for him at the Columbus antique mall that he liked. 10 days before Christmas he mentioned he would like these certain Belgian beer glasses. I told him I would do my best (he says, "well can't you just go on the internet and order them?) and it turned out that all local suppliers were sold out! I ended up ordering 4 different glasses from a Belgian website and I have NO idea when they might show up.

Alright, I should get back to work. More later!

Disappointment

2007-12-15T21:39:00.000-06:00

We found out this week that some guests we were expecting for New Year's Eve cannot come. They never guaranteed that they would be able to come, but we had been planning on seeing them. We were going to have a party, but now I think it will be pretty low key.

Duane is off playing poker tonight, hopefully he has fun. He has to go to LA next week Monday through Friday. A sucky time for it, but they insist that they need his help.

My holiday party was yesterday and it was fun. My bowling stunk though, except for the last game. I never bowl at this particular alley (smoking allowed since it is not in the city of Madison) and I swear their lanes are different (more oily, less oily..who knows). I came up with a gift, although some how I missed that it was supposed to be white elephant. I framed 2 pictures I had taken of the Capitol. They went to the one man who participated and he was happy with them. I almost ended up with a weird bottle of pink merlot and a box of chocolates, but I switched with someone.

I made the most amazing macaroni and cheese recipe (Martha Stewart). It was so good I even ate the last bits of it cold. It has 2 pounds of cheese in it (it makes a 3 qt pan), but I think it could be lightened. I also took wonton wrappers and made little shells. I filled them with goat cheese and tapenade. I should have made a label though because people didn't know what they were. I wanted to make cupcakes (chocolate stout) but I was too tired.

We got MORE snow today.

Let's make it

2007-12-12T16:07:00.000-06:00

less than a week since I last posted!!

Last Friday I headed up to the WI Dells for our staff retreat. I managed to get the car stuck in the driveway (my fault because I didn't shovel first). I was proud of myself for getting it unstuck though, especially since none of my neighbors would help me.

On Saturday I picked up Duane from the airport and then headed down to Jville to help my sister out with a party she was catering. She did all sorts of appetizer things and all the food was good. The party was held at the local curling club so the party goers got to try drunk curling! (this was not witnessed by me).

On Sunday I wanted to work at home all day, but we shopped all day instead. Duane needed to look at luggage (which he was supposed to do while I was in Jville), but I got a little of my own shopping done as well.

Tuesday was a snow day this week (seriously the snow has been out of control here). The road conditions were dicey and Duane worked from home. My office ended up closing in the afternoon, so it was no big deal that I didn't go in. I got a lot of work done at home as well.

See, things have been kind of boring! My holiday party is this Friday. It should be fun! I have been practicing up on my bowling, but I have to remember that my bowling does NOT get better with drinking! I need to think of something to make, and come up with a gift for our staff gift swap.

Hey

2007-12-06T19:21:00.000-06:00

My cold is gone! You would certainly hope so since it has been elevenity* days since I posted last.

I do not like this working thing, but why would one after they had many days in a row of doing whatever they wanted? The work is not hard (lots of details to not f up though). Even though is it is 4 hours it seems like it takes up my whole day.

My Christmas decorations are way behind. I haven't put any ornaments on the tree yet, as I am having a problem with Boots jumping INTO the tree. I got a rotating tree stand this year, and I think the turning lights are irresistible.

I made a very nice necklace and earring set for my sister's birthday. She was in town today for work, so we got to shop and have lunch. I had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with goat cheese, bacon, and pears on homemade cheesy bread!! I am hoping to get a picture of her with the necklace and earrings on to post.

We have had tons of snow here. This isn't so good for me (although my yard looks pretty) because the shoveling responsibility falls to me. I guess when you grow up in North Carolina you never learn how to shovel (or clean off your wife's car in the morning). Underneath this snow is the other snow we got that was then covered by a layer of freezing rain. Yuck is right. Walking the dogs the day after that freezing rain was pretty comical.

I am up early tomorrow morning to drive up to the Dells for the staff retreat. It feels a little weird going to this since I have only been staff for 2 weeks. It it interesting to see things from the "other" side.

Duane is in Portland until Saturday. Maybe he will come home with a renewed sense of non-laziness? We are having people over on New's Year and there are certain things that need to be done before then. Time speeds up as Christmas gets closer.

*elevenity is not a real number

Mo-onday

2007-11-26T22:20:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-24T21:51:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-20T23:22:00.001-06:00

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

2007-11-15T01:46:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-14T16:35:00.001-06:00

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

2007-11-14T16:27:00.000-06:00

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

Space Needle

PSA

2007-11-13T20:15:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-13T13:57:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-12T15:34:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-09T11:27:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-08T11:28:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-08T11:18:00.000-06:00

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.

2007-11-08T11:04:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-07T13:54:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-05T11:16:00.000-06:00

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!

Trick or Treat

2007-10-31T22:40:00.000-05:00

Answering the door with only one person home isn't easy (2 dogs wanting to know who is at the door), so I put out a pumpkin bucket with candy. I have done this in the past, but this year I put a sign up saying 2 pieces of candy per person please.

When I came home at 6:30ish there was at least half of the container left. We don't have too many kids in our neighborhood and trick or treating was to end around 7. I went out and got the bucket at 8ish and it was totally empty. I have a feeling that the older (uncostumed) kids from the neighborhood about a mile away came and took it all. Nice huh? It has happened before, but I have a feeling I wouldn't want to be answering the door to these kids either.

The power went out at 4 today, so that made up my mind to go to the laundrymat. We have a winter weight synthetic down comforter that doesn't fit in the washing machine. I got a new duvet cover from the Crate and Barrel outlet, so I washed the comforter and put it on the bed.

I am up early tomorrow for a work event but home in time to take the dogs to the kennel. Steepwater is playing in town tomorrow night as well. I have to be at the airport by 6am on Firday, so hopefully the show doesn't go too late!

I picked up some books at the library including some Seattle ones. I am excited about going!

Hell has frozen over and Pigs are flying

2007-10-31T11:07:00.000-05:00

Duane ate sushi (more sashimi than rolls) and liked it last night. The night before he ate raw tuna!

I like sushi, but we never eat it, because Duane refused to even try it. Now I am not so jazzed on Madison sushi restaurants, but we have traveled to lots of places that have great sushi! Even Honolulu where Duane is now. We are going to be eating some sushi in Seattle!!

He has this weird thing where he won't tell other people what he doesn't like to eat. He was with work people last night and they went to this restaurant and had sushi. He went along with it because he doesn't want to be the dissenter (or "bad guy"). He also seems to think that he can't call me when he is in a car with other people, but I should stay up until 12:30 when he does get around to calling me.

Yesterday was a better day. I got some cleaning done around the house and my IKEA hack project is almost finished. I went to see Lars and the Real Girl at our new Sundance Theater (a lovely theater but not sure it is worth the $10 ticket). Lars and the Real Girl has Ryan Gosling in it and is an excellent movie.

I am debating on going into work today. I will be at a work event all day tomorrow. Maybe I will stop in. I have a dresser to paint, more cleaning to do, and I need to pack.

It was not a good Monday btw

2007-10-30T00:07:00.000-05:00

The day was supposed to go much differently. I was not supposted to go to bed at 12:30. I was in bed around 11, but Duane was dinking around till then. I was not supposed to be woken up right after I fell asleep by a dog who needed to go outside. I was not supposed to be woken up at 5am by a dog that need to go outside again. I was supposed to go right back to sleep, not lay there for an hour. After I did fall asleep, I was supposed to sleep until the alarm went off at 7 and not be pestered by a cat the whole time.

I was supposed to be awake enough to get in the shower after I dropped Duane off at the airport, and not get back into bed. After I did get back into bed, I was not supposed to be woken up by the other dog and pestered by the cat.

I was not supposed to have a headache all day that I still have even though I took some ibuprofen.

I was supposed to get some sewing done, which I did not do because I didn't get home until 8:45.

Tomorrow I am going to dinner and seeing a movie with a friend. Let's home tomorrow is a better day.

Another 5 days without posting

2007-10-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

I think I can see why I don't get many comments. My posting can be rather haphazard!

Duane is currently on a plane to Hawaii (Honolulu) where he will be until Thursday night. On Thursday he takes a red-eye flight to Seattle arriving at 5am Friday morning. Friday morning I leave Madison at 7am and get to Seattle at 11am. I think it will be a fun weekend.

I have been doing some crafty things. I purchased a book by Amy Butler with some really cool patterns in it and a book called Craft Inc. which teaches you about starting a craft business. I am almost finished with an IKEA hack (from the IKEA hacker website) to give to my sister. I will try to remember to take a picture tonight. I made a bracelet for her from feldspar stones, but (as usual) I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her. I have many more things to work on though.

Yesterday we went a pumpkin carving party at my sister's house in Janesville. I made crescent rolls w/little smokies inside and decorated them like gross looking fingers and I made a candy corn look alike appetizer (it was pizza dough in the shape of a candy corn with spinach/artichoke heart dip on top and white/yellow/orange cheese arranged like the layers of a candy corn). My pumpkin turned out nicely. I forgot my camera, but my sister will probably email me a picture. I donated my pumpkins which unfortunately turned into stabbing victims. The kids had already carved 1 or 2 pumpkins and I didn't keep an eye on what they were doing with my pumpkins. No big deal though as I had no particular plans for them. My little sister was supposed to come, but stayed out too late at FreakFest. This is the Halloween event on State Street. We had some intense vandalism a few years back, and the solution was to sell tickets to the event. It has been quite orderly for the past 2 years, but my sister said it felt a little sterile.

The Cable guy actually came early last week. Unfortunately the dvr box we really like (the Moxi box) is no longer being made. He tried to replace our box with a refurbished one, but no go. We got a new dvr box that I don't like. It does not support an external hard drive, but we were able to return the one we bought. It's functions are very basic and limited, but it does record.

I am at work clipping coupons now, but I will head out in a bit. The Bombay Company is going out of business and I am hoping they still have some good stuff at the store here!

No good news

2007-10-23T14:13:00.001-05:00

No word on the work situation and there may be no information for a few weeks. I think I will need to do my own thing and if something comes up, so be it.

The market isn't looking to get any better. Sellers are having a hard time accepting the correction to the market (i.e. lower list prices) and buyers are either scared or waiting for prices to go lower.

The good news is that my company is #8 in the world, so at least I am working for the right people.

The bad mood continues

2007-10-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

And I almost gave myself quite the electric shock. I had plugged in the laptop cord and it had a kink in it. I untwisted the kink and sparks and smoke shot out. Good thing someone had some electrical tape at the office.

The cable company is coming this afternoon to fix or replace our dvr. It seems the thing is really f'd up and it isn't just an outage in our area. I don't have a good history with the cable people. They usually end up being here 2+ hours to fix whatever needs fixing, so I am hoping that isn't the case today. The window is only 2 hours, so at least I won't be waiting around for 4 hours. I also have to shut the dogs in the bedrooms. Hershey is very nosy and Brisco does not like strangers coming in the house.

I need to order a new filter for the refrigerator. You are "supposed" to replace them every 6 months, but they are $40 each! I also have not seen them in any stores so you have to order them and pay shipping. I think the current one has been in the fridge for a least a year.

Sleeping last night was so-so. It took me a little while to turn my brain off and fall asleep. I woke up at 2 when the dog had to go out. I was having a dream that my sleep was really fake sleeping. The dog had to go out again at 5:30. I have been having lots of strange dreams lately as well.

My manager is here today, so maybe I will get an update on the job situation.

Crazyness

2007-10-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Ok. I cannot be concerned with my bad mood anymore. The fires in CA have gone crazy, burning everything! A lady on a message board that I read is in danger. People cannot travel to the airport because highways are blocked.

Another lady on the same message board was diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread. It is bad enough that they have taken her to a big hospital in Houston. She hadn't been feeling good for awhile, but thought it was allergies.

Crazyness.

I am not in a good mood today

2007-10-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

but nothing is really wrong or terrible so I should just be thankful that nothing is wrong or terrible.

We watched Transformers last night. It suffered from bad dialogue and a lame soundtrack. The soundtrack could have been so cool, but they spent all their money on special effects. The Autobots and Decepticons were very cool though.

We also watched Club Dredd. Beerfest was much better. Club Dredd suffered from too many inane sex jokes and boob shots. It was Duane's movie pick though and he liked it. It didn't help that we had already watched most of it awhile ago when it was on HBO.

I went shopping in the Chicagoland area on Saturday with my mom. We had a great time. We went to IKEA, TJMaxx&More (which is a TJMaxx and a Homegoods combined), a quilt shop, the Crate&Barrel Outlet Store, and Trader Joe's. We spent most of our time in IKEA and the TJMaxx. We had plans to go to an outlet mall, but we didn't make it there. The TJMaxx was amazing, very clean and organized (which is unusual). Almost everything there is made in China though, which is why it is so cheap. According to the Economist, we better be happy that China has a strong economy because our economy is sucking so bad and someone needs to bolster the world's economy so we don't all go to hell in a handbasket.

I have not slept well lately, so I slept really late on Sunday. Duane played Metroid all day Saturday and all morning Sunday. He has beat the game now, which means he probably won't play it again for a long while. We had beautiful weather, so we headed out to an apple orchard. Unfortunately the place was crawling with people and there were no cider doughnuts left. We almost didn't get a caramel apple because people were taking 4 at a time. Hey, someone else might want a caramel apple you know!

Last night I went to bed at the usual time. I felt very restless. My pulse was not too crazy, but it wasn't at a resting rate. I was trying to do some deep breathing, but I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I have felt like this on and off at night. The weird thing is that if I go and lay on the couch in the living room, I will fall asleep within a few minutes. If I lay in bed, I could be awake for hours. Very strange.

The weather is cool and rainy.

Tagged

2007-10-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

I was Tagged by TheHotLibrarian last Thursday.

1. Link to your tagger and post rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of post and list their names.
4. Let them know they were tagged by a comment on their blog.

My 7 facts:

Fact One: I watch way too much tv. I know this but I don't want to give it up.

Fact Two: I love to cook, bake, and entertain. My older sister is this way too. I used to suck at cooking and baking. Cooking is more of a recent improvement. I got the hang of baking while I was in 4H, but before that I had a bad habit of switching the salt and sugar and things like that.

Fact Three: I hold grudges for a looooong time. I might not treat you any differently, but I remember everything.

Fact Four: I went to a Catholic elementary school but left in the 6th grade. I would have stayed until 8th grade, but a new crazy principal was chosen. She was too nuts for my parents (and others), so they pulled us out. I believe it that the school failed me educationally, but it certainly wasn't as depraved as public school.

Fact Five: I was kicked out of confirmation class and I made a nun swear. I was kicked out because I said that I did not believe in God and I refused to discuss the matter. I was let back in (we got a new director) and my penance was teaching CCD classes (religious classes for kids in public school). We did a lot of crafts.

Fact Six: I want to be a science teacher. I wished I had figured this out when I was in college. I have always thought that I was meant to do something important for mankind, but I always thought I was going to discover a cure for a disease.

Fact Seven: My mom wants me to be a nurse. I think my saving grace at this point is that WI does not have an accelerated nursing program (1 year of classes for people who already have an undergrad degree).

I do not know 7 people to tag (I know 4 people who have blogs but don't write in them so there is no point in tagging them). I can tag:

1. Kandy

Holy Crap Batman

2007-10-22T10:52:00.001-05:00

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since last Tuesday. I even knew I had been tagged, but I kept thinking I would post on the weekend. Well that didn't happen.

I will get to the 7 things as required by being tagged later today.

I just looked out the front window to discover that both trees (which I swear were green yesterday but maybe it was Friday) and totally changed color. Our temperatures this week are definitely more fall like.

Our DVR box has been non-functioning all weekend, supposedly due to an outage with our cable company. We hate our cable company in general.

We (as in me it seems) are taking care of chinchillas this week. I have seen them before, but have not petted them or fed them. I will pet them and report back.

Yawn

2007-10-16T11:16:00.001-05:00

The flip side of picking Duane up from work was also driving him to work this morning. Oddly enough he left that part out when asking me if I would pick him up. :) We did go to Trader Joe's last night, so that was nice.

I talked to my little sister yesterday and she is not doing so great. She is attending UW-Madison completing pre-reqs in the hope of going on to PT school. She got her undergrad degree from UW-Milwaukee and was taking classes there last year. She is overwhelmed with classwork and struggling. UW-Milwaukee is a much smaller school with more resources per student. Her husband is also not living in Madison 100% of the time, so I don't imagine that helps. I am making dinner for her and we will talk it out. She was crying on the phone last night, so I know she is really stressed. We have a "problem" in our family where we each think we can do everything on our own with no help (and we are extremely stubborn).

I am somehow missing a pair of work pants. I don't know if I mistakenly put them in the "give to charity bag" or the "no longer fits" bag, or some random drawer. I may go to Kohl's later as they have dress pants on sale (well really everything is on sale there at one time or another). I remember a time when sales at the department stores were a big deal. This is also the time when I thought $100 was a lot of money (junior high or so). What is the real price of things if they are all on sale at one time or another?

I talked to my manager yesterday about how I am obviously not interested in doing the work required to make money at my job lately. I don't want to leave Century 21, it is almost like a second family (although I swear I was getting weird looks after the agent retreat-I really shouldn't drink and dance). My manager is going to look at some possibilities for me within the company.

Blue October

2007-10-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

I totally forgot to report on the Blue October concert.

We weren't going to go out to dinner, but then decided to at the last minute. We went to the Milwaukee Ale House (www.ale-house.com) and it was infinitely better than the Water Buffalo. We had $2.50 Imperial Pints (20oz) of their beer and it was tasty. I had lasagna and Duane had the walleye fish fry. Both dishes were tasty.

The concert started at 7. We arrived a little after 8 to find that we had missed Shiny Toy Guns. :( I couldn't figure out how they had gotten two bands on stage and through their sets in an hour, but who knows. Yellowcard was playing when we got there, and they were so-so. When we came in, they were handing out free (really free) tickets to an upcoming Fuel show. Guess no on likes Fuel anymore. Duane had a beer, a Miller product this time, and it was $6.50. We managed to find a street spot this time, so no $15 for parking. They had us enter through a side door instead of the front door, but then we just ended up back at the usual place. They searched and wanded people, so I guess they expected more violent offenders than at the Regina Spektor show. The concert itself was good, but they were better in Madison. I also realized that the acoustics at the Rave are horrible. The music has to be super loud to actually hear it (all the people talking doesn't help either) and the people singing seem to have to yell.

It must be money that motivates bands to play in Milwaukee instead of Madison. Regina Spektor and Blue October were both in Madison last year and I think both shows were sold out. I think it has to do with the lack of a middle size venue in Madison.

I also think I must be an old fogie because I prefer to have good, reasonably priced beer available and actually be able to sit down when I go to a concert.

It was fun to go to all the concerts we went to this month. I don't know anything about the venue for the concert in Seattle, but hopefully it will be decent.

Hey I am actually posting on Monday

2007-10-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

The weather was gloomy this weekend and Duane didn't make my life any easier. I got through my work on Saturday (ended up being later and lasting longer than I wanted it to). Our friend came over which resulted in Duane's ass growing roots into the couch. He didn't do any of his chores, even the ones that have been on the list for 2 weeks (and would take 5 minutes). We ended up watch baseball all night as well.

I did some research online last week and discovered that our new hard drive for the dvr was malfunctioning because it was going into sleep mode. Duane made the necessary repairs and it is working just fine. Of course in the process of "testing" it (which was dumb in my opinion), some of shows recorded earlier in the week got deleted. Not a big deal, but there was a simple way to keep them from being deleted.

I got to sleep in on Sunday, while Duane went to BW3 to watch the Packers game. This was an error on my part, because Duane sometimes needs someone to act as his common sense. The Packers won, and BW3 has a raffle. Duane won a lot of free beer (which has to be consumed that day) and was with 2 non-drinkers. It was MGD, not worth drinking even if it is free in my opinion. He called me to say he would be home right after the game, so I had planned to go together and run some errands. He really came home about 1.5 hours after I expected him, and was totally drunk. It certainly did not make me happy as we could no longer run those errands, and none of his chores were going to get done AGAIN. It did not make him happy as he wasn't feeling so great.

The BMW is in for service today, thankfully the last inspection under warranty. Now we can take it to other garages to have things fixed, instead of relying on the overpriced dealer. Duane called a couple of other garages about things they wanted to fix today (not under warranty) and got much cheaper quotes. The car may stay overnight though, so I will stick around the office until it is time to pick Duane up.

I watched Bridge to Terabithia last night. I will have to read the book, because the movie was quite dull.

We may see some sun this week in between rainy days. I hope so!

Thank you

2007-10-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

For the comments on my hair. I do agree that the yellowness of the door made the color difficult to see. Maybe you will just have to see me in person to marvel at the redness! :)

I need to harvest the other 7 pumpkins in the backyard today as they are calling for frost tonight. They still have quite a bit of green on them, but I like them anyway. I think I was supposed to remove the leaves of the plant awhile ago to promote the orangeness. I will know better next year when I may actually plant pumpkins on purpose!

We have cloudy and depressing weather today, but supposedly tomorrow will be sunnyish and warmer. I have a little bit of work to do tomorrow (which may result in a paycheck so I shouldn't grumble). Hopefully the work won't carry over into Sunday.

We are back to Milwaukee tonight for the Blue October concert. I wish they would tell you approximately when the band you actually want to see will be playing, but they want you to get in there and wait around (all the while buying $7.50 beers and $3 glasses of water).

We have a friend in town this weekend, but I am hoping to get some crafty work done. Most of the house is clean, the laundry is done, and the Halloween decorations are done SO no excuses!

Spam

2007-10-12T14:57:00.000-05:00

Some of the more savvy spam out there (actually spelled correctly and everything!)

Have you ever heard this, "God! Your penis is really tiny!"?Didn't you feel sad? Don't let girls choose sexual toys but not you! Megadik will improve your situation once and forever! You just have to trust this wonderful preparation! "Oh! Your penis is impressive!" Is it what you just love to hear? Soon you'll be the only one ladies will dream about! Megadik is your true rescue!

I even like the name, Megadik!

FYI

2007-10-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

I loathe pictures of myself but here is one of the new hair color. Can you tell that it is red?

Hot and Humid but back to Sunny and Cool

2007-10-09T13:55:00.000-05:00

Supernatural was good last week, too bad we don't get CW in HD (stupid Charter Cable). We also watched Pushing Daisies, which I found entertaining. The narration idea is not new, but the concept certainly is.

The Of Montreal show was last Thursday in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theater. We had dinner at the Water Buffalo. I got the rec off of the Chowhound site, and unfortunately our dinner was disappointing. They had 4 beers on tap (what? I thought I was in Milwaukee) and the beer was expensive. We had an appetizer that was tasty, but our entrees were nothing special (although I did finally get some tuna actually cooked rare!!). Duane and I shared a plate of macaroni & cheese that was penne in alfredo sauce (huh?). Everything seemed under-seasoned as well.

Unfortunately the show was lackluster as well. We did catch an opener that was hilarious (two dudes and pre-recorded synth tunes). We first saw Of Montreal at the Pitchfork Music Festival. I understand that a music festival is an opportunity to do a full blown show, because it doesn't have the carrying costs of a tour. There were stage antics and lots of original costumes. The Pabst Theater show had no stage antics, the lead singer barely acknowledged the audience, and everyone seemed to be playing to get it over with.

On Saturday Duane and I walked the 5K to raise money for an Easter Seals camp up in WI Dells. The walk was nice and not too difficult. I was having some tummy troubles and made the error of not going to the bathroom before walking (there was only 1 bathroom though). There were no portapotties along the walk either. We had a hair appointment that afternoon and I am now sporting the lastest fall hair color.

I had just enough work to do on Sunday that we couldn't do anything fun (like go to an apple orchard). We did watch Babel. I understood the point of the movie, but I was underwhelmed. I think it is in the genre of Crash, which I found much more moving.

So last night we were back in Milwaukee for the Regina Spektor show. We were back at the Rave (still a horrible venue). It wasn't extra smokey this time, because they had posted signs that Regina requested that people refrain from smoking. I think if you are paying money to see an artist that you like, you might respect that artist's wishes (given that there were mulitple other areas to smoke), but people still smoked. Regina did call people out on it, but that didn't get people to stop either. She played by herself on the piano and guitar for 1.5 hours. I liked the show, but this was not the right venue for her at all (and probably not a great impression of Milwaukee, this being her first time there). People were talking loudly over the music, although you could probably hear it ok if you were one of the people all smooshed up in the front of the stage. Duane and I had a beer this time (instead of a $3 glass of water). Heineken was the only import (and about the only non-Miller beer-they did have two Leinie's beers). We payed $15 for 2 glasses (they were 16oz glasses at least). Yikes! It did taste very good (even Heineken taps can taste skunky sometimes), but we didn't have another.

On Friday we are back at the Rave to see: Shiny Toy Guns, Yellowcard, & Blue October. Yellowcard & Blue October seem to be co-headliners. The show does start at 7, but it will probably be a late night. We bought all the tickets to the Rave shows at once, not having been there before. I can say that I will probably never buy tickets to a show there again.

I haven't mentioned that I will be going to Seattle at the beginning of November. Duane had an opportunity to travel to Hawaii for work and he needs the miles to retain his Northwest status. He would have to miss a show in Chicago (Hold Steady/Art Brut) though. He figured out that the show was playing in Seattle the following Sunday. He can travel to Seattle from Hawaii and stay there for a few days, at no extra cost to him (company pays the flight cost). I was not that excited about going, and didn't pay any attention to the details. Oops. That Saturday is the craft fair I was going to participate in at my nephew's school. I hadn't reserved a spot, but it was something I really wanted to do. I am sure Seattle will be cool though.

No new craftiness to report.

Sunny, but cool

2007-10-03T09:58:00.001-05:00

It is sunny today, but about 56 degrees out right now. I think we are supposed to get back up to 80 at some point this week.

I watched Music & Lyrics last night. I thought there might be some shred of humor or interesting bits in it. Nope. Hugh Grant was looking old. Drew looked very nice. There was a lame attempt at conflict but everything ended happily ever after. Good thing I can send that back to Netflix.

I got the check I was whining about yesterday in my home mail. It was half of what I expected it to be. Not a good thing when you are not bringing in any money. I am thinking about applying for temp work.

I went out in search of items to finish my Halloween decorating yesyerday. Why can't I remember that as soon as October 1st rolls around, Halloween is shoved to the side and the Christmas stuff rolls in?

I am excited about Supernatural starting this week. I have loved Jensen Ackles since he was on Days of Our Lives.

The daytime tv schedule got all moved around too. Martha is on at 2pm(although for some reason the new season stinks), Creative Juice (on DIY) got moved to 2pm (from 4pm), and Passions on NBC was cancelled (I didn't watch it but it was weird to see a game show come on after Days).

I have also finally accepted that I am both a perfectionist and a procrastinator. Not a good combo.

Ha...hopefully not too late

2007-10-02T14:24:00.000-05:00

Well the funny thing about the show on Thursday was that the band we went to see did not, in fact, start at 9:30. The band we went to see started at 11:30. It was good thing we went, because there were only about 4 other people there. This venue used to be pretty cool, but I guess it isn't any more (the bar side of the venue had all you can drink for $10 w/free food--should have been a clue).

This weekend involved some working around the house, some babysitting, and some movie watching. I got a whole bunch of t-shirts on clearance at Super Target, so I have some designing to do! I also bought some fabric paint made in France (shown on Martha) so I need to get working on onesies too.

We went to see The Kingdom on Sunday. I liked it. Duane was so-so on it, but he doesn't like Jamie Foxx (who is a main character in the movie).

On Thursday we are going to a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee (Of Montreal). The Pabst Theater is a really nice venue. It is no smoking, you can sit, and you can drink your beer at your seat (and they serve PBR). On Saturday we are walking the 5K for Easter Seals. I am trying to get to $100 in sponsorships, so far I have $40.

I started my Halloween decorations yesterday. I will post a picture as soon as I have everything finished.

A check came into the office a week ago, and I am STILL waiting for my cut of the check. My manager isn't here today to complain to either.

2007-09-27T17:39:00.001-05:00

2 kitties were out (one almost all night) because I left the garage door open. They both seem no worse for the wear though.

I liked all the tv last night. Bionic woman was good, but not great. Life was very amusing and Dirty Sexy Money was interesting. Tonight is CSI, Smallville, and ER.

My mom is being proactive and offering her help for the November 3rd craft show. I have been brainstorming ideas, but I need to write my ideas down.

We have almost all of our lightbulbs switched over to CFLs. We have 3 light fixtures that are on dimmers, which CFLs do not work with. 2 of the fixtures do not get turned on much though. We are thinking about changing the switch on the dining room fixture so it doesn't dim. We don't eat at the table often, so we don't have much need for mood lighting.

I love the my cats can take care of small pests in and around the house. I don't much like cleaning up the guts though. At least it was outside.

Duane got a new mp3 player from Woot. Hopefully this one will last longer than a year.

We are out tonight in Madison to see The Steepwater Band. Hopefully not too late.

Wed-nes-day

2007-09-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

The dishwasher detergent worked as well as the Clorox bleach pen! I was trying the technique they demonstrated on the show (dipping cookie cutters into the gel and stamping the shirt). On the show they said that the outline would bleed into the shirt (creating a thicker outline), but that didn't happen for me. The shirts are for Halloween and I will show them when they are done.

I was also working on another shirt yesterday. I was very surprised when the cloth showed no reaction to the bleach!

I got some sewing done as well. I have 2 baby blankets in the works and I got one almost all the way put together. I need to call about having some embroidery work done on one of the squares.

The weather is nicer today, partly cloudy with a high of 68, so I will be able to work outside.

Bones was good last night and we liked the new show, Reaper. It was quite funny. It made sense when Duane found out that Kevin Smith is the director.

America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl tonight, with new shows Bionic Woman and Dirty Sexy Money. I want to check out Life on NBC too.

Yes, I watch too much tv.

No dice

2007-09-25T09:45:00.000-05:00

I was not chosen as a vendor for the Craftacular. I think this is will be the third event and they received 3 times as many applications as they have space. Hopefully this will lead them to find a larger venue for the spring show.

I have done some research and I know my product is unique. I don't think I showcased it well enough in my application though.

TV watching was so-so last night. Duane didn't really like Chuck and with so many other shows out there I don't think it will make the cut. Heroes was cryptic as usual, and CSI:Miami was good. Journeyman may be a keeper as well. The first half was confusing, but the second half had some interesting bits.

Tonight is Bones and the new show Reaper.

I am trying to get the front yard ready for Halloween decorations, but the weather is not cooperating.

I learned through one of my crafty tv shows that dishwasher detergent with bleach may work as well as the pens with the bleach gel in them. I bought some t-shirts and will be trying it out today. It would be a significant cost savings if it does work.

WTF

2007-09-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

It is now the 24th. The day I am supposed to hear whether or not I will have a table at the Craftacular. Am I supposed to wait all day?

I am feeling better than I felt last week. I am started to wonder if the crappy feeling was caused by all the smoke I inhaled at the show I went to. Madison is smoke free, so my every day exposure is pretty low.

I continue to slack off at my real job.

Tonight's tv watching includes: Chuck (new), Journeyman (new), Heroes, and CSI:Miami. I am trying out the two new shows, not that I need anymore tv to watch though!