| Home Again |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|06:11 am] |
Well we are home, in one piece, or mostly anyway...
I feel like I've gained about 20 lbs over the past week. I don't think I'll be taking a look at the scale any time soon. D:
We had some pretty rough hurdles to overcome on our way home.
First we drove and drove until ~1am, stopping at a rest area in Kentucky right past Louisville. We found a good spot, folded down the back seat of the hatchback and curled up in the back. We left the CD player playing, but little did we know that the stupid car also apparently had turned on its automatic headlights; they're dimmer than the regular headlights but still bright enough to kill the battery. Joe woke up about two and a half hours after we fell asleep because he heard the music stop playing-- do you know how hard it is to find someone to jump your car at 4am?? And Highway Patrol isn't even open until 8am. (And this was central time so to them it was only 3am-- that would've been 5 hours to wait for Highway Patrol!) Thankfully there was a guy in a mini van that was willing to jump our car. Lots of people passed us by even though we were sitting there with our hood open and the cables hooked up just looking for someone to give us two seconds of their time. ._.
That wasn't the worst of it though! Oh no, there is more... we kept driving through the rest of the morning and finally we were both just dragging soooo bad, we decided to drive through a Starbucks. (Remember the time I was high on the Java Chip frapp? Yeah, I was counting on that kind of buzz to get us home again.) We ordered, paid, and then had to wait a minute for our drinks. Joe put the car into park to wait. We got our drinks and Joe goes to shift it into drive aaaand... the thing slides, but the car won't actually shift out of park. WTF?? He tries again, no luck. He turns the car off and then on again, no luck. We try pushing but because it's in Park and we can't get it to Neutral, we can't get it out of the way. So here we are, blocking the Starbucks drive-thru window at 10am! AUGH! Joe called AAA, and the kids working the Starbucks window just kind of chuckled and said "Well, don't worry, we could use a little break anyway." So they closed the drive-thru as we continued to look around for what the problem was.
Joe popped off part of the console and we started from one end to try and find out what the problem was. Nothing wrong inside the console; the cables still seemed to be working on that end. We're looking and looking, and finally after about half an hour Joe was going to have me try shifting again to look under the hood by the engine to find the right cable, when he noticed... the little cap connecting the cable to the engine had simply popped off and was sitting on the little box NEXT to where it should have been sitting. O_o He popped the cap back on, we try it, and sure enough, it works!! Thankfully nothing major was wrong and we didn't even need AAA to come help us out. Joe called & cancelled the order for the guy to come out, and we were back on our way again.
We had been TRYING to get back in time to pick Reo up from the vet's, but we didn't even reach Atlanta until ~1pm, and we *know* it's at least a 6 hour drive from Atlanta (assuming no traffic/construction) so we decided not to even panic about getting home "in time" any more. We resigned ourselves to getting there whenever we got there. Good thing, too, because just after we made it through Atlanta we got hit by a really bad storm. It was pouring rain and lots of loud thunder/lightning. So we went and walked around a Wal-Mart for a while, then got back in the car and off we went.
We stopped @ "The Smokin' Pig" in Valdosta for some awesome BBQ (we had stopped there after FWA this year and loved it!) and their excellent peach and pecan cobbler.. yum! Just what we needed after a long day. (And I even have some BBQ leftovers for lunch today!)
We finally got in around 9:30 last night. Oy! What an adventure. So we slept pretty hard last night.
Otherwise our week was a good one. Sad, of course, that we had to go to Joe's grandpa's funeral, but it was good that so much of the family could be there. We also got to see a lot of Joe's mom's side of the family. Then we went on up to Michigan for a couple of days to see my mom, my sister and her kids, and my youngest sister was supposed to be there too but I think we saw her for all of three hours, and even then she was too busy being prissy to worry about her sister that she "came up from Illinois just to see." We had lots of fun with the nephews though, including getting to go with them to Chuck-E-Cheese's (I haven't been there in years!) and the zoo. Needless to say the whole week was PACKED with activity.
So now I have a week and a half to work before Ancient City Con arrives, and a week beyond that before Megaplex.
I think I'll go collapse for a bit, now, before getting to work. D: |
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| Quick (Public) Update |
[May. 16th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
Things are still crazy. Eh, what's new?
Pushing pushing pushing to finish up that illustration project. I have three out of five complete, one of the remaining two is 75% done. Tomorrow should be the end of it! Whew! Lots of work but producing great images.
Moving in a WEEK AND A HALF. OMG. This is coming up so quick. And it's going to be an absolute weight off of my shoulders. With the illustration project, I haven't had time to pack anything. Joe's been a wonderful help with packing boxes for the move.
My sister's coming down on Thursday already! She was supposed to arrive on Wednesday but I guess that got delayed. Thursday night they'll be here. Then Memorial Day we are going to camp at Disney's Fort Wilderness. I don't think we're going to hit the parks though, we're all pretty broke, so we will just enjoy the freebies @ Disney - there is a LOT to do at Fort Wilderness alone.
I didn't realize until after we booked our stay that Reo's usual kennel is not open on Memorial Day though. D: So we can't drop him off to stay there. If we did, it would have to be SATURDAY because they're not open Sundays either. So I need to find someone to look after the dog for a day. I'm thinking about asking my landlord since she lives nearby and she loves my dog. ;) Then Reo can stay at home, and just be taken out for walks.
Then comes the move... then comes another surprise that I will announce after the move. Hey, y'all can wait two weeks to hear good news, right? :)
and THEN finally things will settle back down. Things that need to be shipped, will be shipped. Things that need to be finished, will be finished.
I can't wait to get through the end of this month. Stop the Earth, I want to get off!! D: |
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| Keepin Busy! |
[Jan. 15th, 2009|08:13 am] |
Hey all! Sorry I've been off the radar for a little while. After being sick over the holidays, and dealing with a cat with a UTI and a dog with hot spots, we finally got past all that and now we've got ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nomadfox visiting from England this week. So we've been kind of scarce. :P
Today we're going to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees. I got the day off from work. I *was* supposed to go with a coworker to the children's hospital in Jax to do a mascot gig with Skittle, but it fell through at the -very- last minute and the hospital contact decided they hadn't had enough notice (though they were given notice several weeks ago, well before Christmas even) and that they would not allow it. Alas. But we're going to try and do it again next year.
Anyhoo, we've been having a good time this week. The guys built a potato cannon and attempted to fire it out at the beach the other day. I guess that was only a partial success. XD We've been playing lots of Wii and we've been doing some art stuff, last night we went for sushi and then to Hobby Lobby where Joe wanted to get some more art supplies but I ended up coming out of there with three big bags of Christmas decorations for about fifteen bucks. Ah, I love Hobby Lobby clearance... XD We are going to have a slightly larger house next year, so I stocked up on some more garlands and stuff to decorate with. Figured it couldn't hurt, especially when now I can get a $40 garland for four bucks. Yup, it was all 90% off! XD
In other news, as of today, we have a new nephew! Hehe, I forgot to set the alarm last night and Joe needed to go in to work for the morning; my mom called us ten minutes after the alarm SHOULD have gone off to let us know that baby Toby has finally come! Apparently, my mom told me that he seemed to be treating the umbilical cord as a bungee cord, since there were several "false-alarms" but finally he came out this morning. So, welcome little Toby!! =)
I think that's about it... gonna go run through the shower and get ready to play tour guide this morning until Joe is done at work at noon, then off to see the huge manatees. XD |
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| Meep |
[May. 4th, 2008|07:06 pm] |
It's been a crazy busy weekend. In-laws visiting means lots of being out and about. I haven't had a break since.. oh a while ago. Because lots of hard work at work and then the house stuff and then family.... it's been nuts. I haven't had a spare minute until this evening. Ah well!! It's all good now. :) Joe's folks are out at the beach and I'm finally caught up with over 300 entries on LJ that I hadn't read. Whoops.
So!
Happy birthday (belated, to some) to a bunch of my pals!!! Likeshine's tomorrow, Tet and Matricies earlier this week... and JOE! <3 Happy birthday hubby. :) I got him a really neat silver wolf pendant made by fatfred, who was selling them at the Highland Games back in January when we went down to that. :D Plus I took him out for sushi. Can't go wrong with sushi. :) And Joe's mom and I picked out a chocolate cake with buttercream icing for his birthday cake. :)
In other news we are preparing for RCFM which will be our last fur con for this year, at least that we're planning on. Anything else will be short notice. We will NOT be in attendance at MFM because we have plans to go to Dragon*Con instead. We'll have Ancient City Con later this year, in August. I must say I am a little disappointed in the move of FWA to March. I really liked it being in February and it was easy to get away. Ah well, that's alright. If I were still working the shop downtown I would've been able to get it off easier since it's no longer over a holiday weekend. Hope it still does well. FWA has been a favorite since the beginning though I feel kind of distanced from some of my friends since it's been growing. Guess that happens though. We need to have a con-that-isn't-a-con, that's just a bunch of pals hanging out, that we can just catch up and spend time. I miss that sometimes. But then again, who has the time or the money?
So I've got some work to do tonight, going to work on some icons. I want to do a lot more art but I need to find the TIME. It will be nice when we finally do get our house and have work space so we can spread it all out and manage ourselves more efficiently. :) |
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| Zzzzz |
[Apr. 7th, 2008|09:11 pm] |
Okay, ferret snores are the cutest things in the world. <3
Joe and I have been so freaking busy you wouldn't believe it. OYY. It's been nuts. Our weekend off flew by far too quickly.
Today I went to see my grandpa and his wife. My grandpa's wife had a sewing machine built into a small table that she wanted to get rid of and she wanted to know if I wanted it. Of course I said sure, so, I picked that up today. It's a pretty piece of furniture and the sewing machine folds down to sit under the table and the tabletop folds on top so it's completely hidden. It looks like a pretty little side table instead of a sewing machine. And it's a nice heavy-duty metal thing.
In a strange twist of events, my coworker is looking for sewing machines to be donated for her church group she's organized, where they are teaching Hispanic women how to sew so they can become self-sufficient. So my old machine (plastic parts and all) will probably going to her once I'm familiar with the new machine. I don't have room for two sewing machines!
Speaking of getting rid of appliances.... well, Joe and I had a neighbor give us a washing machine because it "sometimes overflowed" and they have hardwood floors. Rather than try to figure out how to fix it, they just kicked it to the curb.... or, in this case, to our apartment. :P Since we've been house-hunting and not sure of where we'd get a washing machine, we took it in and kept it on the back patio.
Well, I got an e-mail in my in-box a couple days ago about a family in need of one. Nine children, four (or five?) of which are still living at home. No washing machine. We figured, it's easier for Joe and I to woolite clothes for two for a little while than it is for this family! So we donated the washing machine to them. The woman brought her two teenage boys with her to help load it into the van, and they were excited to be able to have clean clothes again. Sure they'll have to hang them out to dry until they get a dryer, but, half the work (MORE! than half) is done for them now. It felt much better to give that washing machine to someone who really needed it. After all, we aren't even using it.
The house hunt continues, and we're looking at all sorts of properties. Our realtor is all kinds of awesome and just a really sweet girl. I'm glad she's working for us. She works -hard- and so deserves every bit of pay she gets. And she's not skimping on the work for us, either; even though we're just looking at houses under $150k, and she -could- be trying to sell houses for three times as much. She still gives us the individual attention. I couldn't ask for more!! So we will keep working with her until we find the perfect house. :)
I don't know why, but I've still been really sleepy early in the evenings. I'm probably going to head upstairs to bed now, and curl up to read for a little bit. It's nice to be able to veg a bit in the evenings. Chores done... groceries bought, the floors vacuumed, the kitchen cleaned up a little bit... Oh, and I want to sing the praises of my new grocery bags I got from Publix. They're re-usable and only cost a buck apiece. I got four of them, and only NEED four for our normal grocery shopping. Not only that but because all this stuff fits into just these few bags, I can pull them up over my shoulder and carry them all inside in one trip. A -lot- easier than using the plastic bags!! It will be nice to eliminate the waste of the plastic bags. We use them for doo-doo duty and that's about it. No real reason to have all those plastic bags kicking around.
Right! So, off I go. <3 |
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| Whirlwind Gone |
[Mar. 16th, 2008|09:58 pm] |
Last week, my sister and her friends were here. Four 19-year-old girls invaded the house. It wasn't TOO bad. ;P
They left Saturday, early afternoon.
Then Joe's grandparents came in mid-afternoon on Saturday. They'd called in Thursday to say "Hi! We're in central Florida and we're thinking of driving up!" They didn't mention they wanted to stay the night :( but we couldn't have them stay in a hotel room, so.... they stayed here...
They left this morning before church. Then this morning at church we got to see Wendy and Jonathan. After church, we drove down to the campground where my grandpa has his beach house (mobile home park model) where my great-aunt and great-uncle are staying this week. We visited with them for a bit, and then also went to visit my great-aunt and great-uncle (who also live in the park, and are 93 and 90, respectively) whom Joe had never met and I hadn't seen in a long time. (The last time we tried a visit they weren't home.)
This evening we just chilled, Joe helped teach me some chain mail stuff and I made a choker with one of the 'tard fish charms. :D I felt useful. ;)
While the girls were here they slept in the guest bedroom and we just left the cat in there with them, but we didn't want to leave the cat in with the grandparents and we also didn't want to leave him in the living room area because he would go after the bird. So we brought him into our bedroom to sleep with us. We promptly experienced exactly this:
Okay, going sleep now, gotta get up early and get to work early because we have a new employee starting under me that will need to be trained. Oyyy. |
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| If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes... |
[Mar. 12th, 2008|10:39 am] |
My sister and her friends are driving down to Cocoa Beach today, and they're going to spend the night in Kissimmee and play around in the Orlando/Disney area tomorrow.
They stopped by my work about an hour ago to get maps and directions from me, and then took off. My sis just called me, and they're just past Daytona by now, and she said they were driving through some heavy rain. She begged me to look up the weather online because OMG IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RAIN!!!1one
So I pull up the radar and of course it's one random little spot, hardly even a speck, right where they're driving. She said it looked sunny on the other side but wanted to know what it was really like. Yep, it's sunny alright! Just like it is here. Only cloud in the sky here is the one left by an airplane. :P
I had to explain to my sister that this is just how Florida weather works. If you are in the middle of a rain storm, wait a short time and it will go away. The sky has a weird habit of spitting on us once in a while but it's nothing serious. Just because the forecast is "clear" doesn't mean you won't get rained on! Hah!
And in other news... no teenagers home tonight. LOL. Joe and I get a night of REST!!! XD |
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| Zzzzz. |
[Mar. 10th, 2008|09:11 pm] |
Oh my, I am Dead. Tired.
Went to work this morning. Finished all my day's work by 11:00 so I left work at noon for a half-day with my sister and her friends. We loaded up the car and went to Jacksonville to go to the zoo. It was fun as always. I was disappointed that they charge money for entry to the stingray lagoon, wtf?? I'm not going to pay $2.50 per person to go touch stingrays when I can touch them out here in the ocean, LOL. :P No, I'd much rather take my $3 and get nectar for the lories, thank you very much. Which is exactly what we did. :D
The frog conservation house was neat to see. They had a very nifty display of the types of amphibians they're raising. There were little bitty tadpole-things! It was cool to see.
Then we took the girls to The Loop for pizzas, well, they got pizzas, Joe and I got burgers. :D And then to Rita's for some frozen custard, and a short walk on the beach by the Jax pier. Then we stopped at Publix on the way home and got some groceries, and came on back.. been lazing around ever since. Man, I am just so tired.
I carried around my big ol' 2-liter water bottle at the zoo, and while I drank it all throughout the day, I was still carrying a freaking heavy water bottle so my arms are kind of sore. :P
So now the girls are out getting coffee and sitting on the beach; this week they want to head to Orlando/Kissimmee and also possibly Cocoa Beach (in search of boys of course) so we will have a couple of days with them out of our hair. ;) But they've been pretty good so far.
Kip has been semi-terrified. He's not sure what to think. He feels weird because his room is not his alone anymore, and so he seems nervous, but at the same time he apparently snuggled down with the two girls that were sleeping in his room. He seems to be warming up slowly but still unsure. All around he's been doing good though. And of course Reo is loving the constant attention.
Joe called State Farm today and they did receive our app and apparently we will be hearing from them within a couple of days. They'd better hurry up. I figured mortgage underwriters would be just as fast as my company and try to process an app (especially a PREQUALIFICATION app) as soon as possible, within one business day. But I guess they are going to take their time. Meh. I just want to hear back so we can know whether or not we should bother moving forward with trying to get this house.
Man, I am so sleepy. I can't quit yawning. I need to just go up to bed. G'night! |
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| Meep |
[Mar. 10th, 2008|07:33 am] |
Busy weekend. Cleaned house before my sister and her pals came down. They got in yesterday afternoon.
Saturday had lunch with "the regulars" (it was good to see everyone again!) and that was nice. Had "chicken fried chicken" at Cracker Barrel, it was pretty good. And we came home with a ton of biscuits and cornbread. Which the girls have since devoured.
Yesterday morning we went to church (it was empty because of the time change, hehe) and then met Angyl and Josh for lunch at Pesky's. Mmmm burrito. :d Came home and the girls were just getting in, they went out to the beach with the dog while I cleaned the other critters' cages out ('cause no one likes to be around while poop is being scooped!) and then they came and took a nap; they made an 18 hour drive overnight. So they were tired. It was nice because I was able to sit and read my book for a while.
All of the girls brought laptops with, and of course all the laptops were wireless enabled so Joe took it upon himself to be a Good Samaritan and go to Staples and pick up a wireless router (which happened to be on sale! yay!) since we'd been meaning to get one anyway. So now we can do away with our old router and the hub we'd been using. Now we can also use our DS's online, woo! :D But the girls were all excited, they woke up from their nap and Joe said "We've got wireless!" and they all immediately hopped on Facebook. Haha.
Well anyway. I need to head out for work. I feel like it's too early for work - probably because it is, hehehe. I get to take a half day at some point this week so I can spend time with my sis. I also get to go to lunch with her and my grandpa. So it's going to be a busy week. They want to do soooo much, I don't think they'll be able to pack it all in! LOL.
So... heigh ho! |
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| Storming! |
[Mar. 4th, 2008|03:20 pm] |
It's storming outside. :) We have a big line of severe storms sweeping through Florida, bringing cooler weather with it.
Of course we get rain and thunder with all of this, yay!
It has been windy all morning, and overcast too, and finally it just started to rain. Just a minute ago there was a bright flash of lightning (I can see now that I have a window, hooray!) followed by a pretty loud "BOOM" of thunder. And my supervisor called out over the floor, "SAVE EVERYTHING!!" Hehehe. :3
I really don't like overcast days when it starts out like this in the morning because it makes me really sleepy. I didn't sleep well last night anyway (it was HOT upstairs for some reason, and Joe ended up opening the window but it didn't help too much) but the lack of bright sunlight just made it all the harder to get out of bed.
Kip got The Snip this morning. I dropped him off, and Joe just picked him up. I got him there around 8:15 and they had him finished up by 10. Aww, poor non-male kitty. ;) Joe said he's doing alright, and that the vets loved him, he did really well. They used internal stitches that will dissolve and then a type of skin glue on the outside so hopefully it won't be a problem.
We got him fixed just in time, too. He hadn't started spraying yet, but, there are plenty of feral cats outside and he'd been showing interest in trying to slip out the door every time it opened. I think he'd been smelling a kitty in heat and wanting to go visit. Poor kid.
Reo's little spot on his knee seems to be healing up pretty well. I think tonight we should be able to take off The Cone. Sometimes it seems like he spends more time IN the cone than out of it. Kip loves it because he can torture the dog more. XD
And an update on Slinky too while I'm mentioning all of the pets. She's been doing pretty well since getting the new prescription. She HATES the cherry flavor, but I found that it's actually easier for me to administer the medicine on my own rather than having Joe help me with it. When I catch her while she's sleepy it's even easier. ;) She's got more energy but she still feels so very frail. I don't think she's getting enough protein. Perhaps I'll have to find a way to supplement her diet.
So that's the news lately! My sister's getting in on Saturday night, and will be here for a week. Kinda looking forward to that, kinda not. Hoping it will do her some good. |
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| Updates |
[Dec. 16th, 2007|02:56 pm] |
Last night was the Christmas party out at walkertxkitty's house. Got to see some old friends, and meet some new. Spent the earlier time there helping Tyger catch up with some housework while she made some AWESOME foods, and the males all chopped up trees and burned things outdoors. XD Then spent the latter half of the night chasing around carlfox's young'un trying to keep him occupied. He helped me make the apple pie. :D
Reo's cyst on his ear broke open a couple days ago, and it was leaky and gross. :( The vet tech that knows me and loves Reo gave me some suggestions for keeping it clean, since we couldn't afford to bring him in to the vet until next Friday; they seem to have been working. This morning when I cleaned his ear it looked much better, less gunky and the cyst much smaller. He isn't too pleased about having gone back into the cone, though. :P
Been working on icons a lot! I have a bunch of them sketched out and will be sketching some more this afternoon. Also I want to start work on a fursuit I want to have made for FWA and Megaplex. You'll see what it is! ;)
On Friday night, my Mom called to let me know that my great-grandma has finally passed away. She was 104 years old this past October; about a month or so ago she woke up and thought that she was in the 1930s. We knew that she didn't have much time from then on; Friday she finally did pass. She had kept SOOOO active though, starting Bible studies in her assisted living home, and in her spare time she'd knit wash cloths and hand towels for church fundraisers. She got to meet her great-great grandson, my nephew Robbie. She got to see a LOT in her lifetime.
Other than that, not much to report. Just business as usual. Tonight I will be taking a bath to soothe my child-chasing muscles. :P |
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| Christmas! |
[Nov. 25th, 2007|09:14 pm] |
Okay, now that it's past Thanksgiving (and I've survived the in-laws being here; we really had a full house!) we can start thinking about Christmas. XD
Today Joe helped me take down the fall decorations and put up the Christmas decor. I'd forgotten how much Christmas stuff we had! I went all-out last year, and it looks good again this year. :) I had left most of my garland-and-light combinations in tact so all I had to do was put them up on the hooks. Joe also helped me hang another pine garland with some cute little fuzzy lights I'd gotten at the close of the season last year. I have to find some more little decorations to put on the banister right inside the door (separating the kitchen and the living room area) but that shouldn't be too hard with Hobby Lobby right around the corner. ;)
The past few days have really been a whirlwind. Had Thankgiving with the in-laws, like I mentioned... then I had Friday off and we spent the day just going around town. Took them down to the old mission, then to the heart of the historic district where we were lucky to find parking. It was packed!! We were going to hit the Spanish Bakery for lunch but got there just as she was closing the doors because she'd run out of food. But she still had a loaf of bread! So I bought it so family could have some with dinner. :)
We spent the day just really laid back, and then Saturday morning Joe's parents left, but his brother and brother's wife stayed behind for one more day, leaving at 4:00 this morning. We took them out to the Alligator Farm and then to Pesky's for dinner, and had fun in the evening watching a movie and playing Scrabble. It was fun to have their company.
So now the crazy weekend is winding down to an end, and another work day tomorrow. This work week will be easy too - I have Friday off for my birthday! Joe and I leave here Thursday night to go to Orlando, where we'll be camping at the Mouse House and spending Friday at Disney World. We plan to spend Saturday and Sunday just farting around Orlando and the surrounding area. Saturday we'd like to spend just lounging at the campground, and then Sunday hit up some shops in O-town, particularly the Vietnamese neighborhood we passed through on 50 when we went to Furloween last month. If anyone in the general area is up for meeting for lunch or dinner or a movie or something, let me know and we can try to work something out. :) |
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| Not going... |
[Oct. 4th, 2007|07:18 pm] |
Well, change of plans. We are not going to WV after all. I was looking forward to it, too, even though we would have had to put the whole thing on credit cards.
Turns out, either local relatives weren't telling my grandpa, or my grandpa wasn't telling my mom, that my great-grandma hasn't been very... responsive is not the right word, but maybe receptive is? Not that she doesn't respond to things but she's just been very passive of things, not acknowledging things and such, and that's how she's been lately.
Since her situation is not what we thought it was (I figure a family member probably just didn't want to tell us she'd gone downhill - not that there's much farther down the hill to go at a hundred and four years) my mother decided that it was for the best to call it off after all. My great-grandma probably wouldn't have recognized let alone acknowledged us if we stopped in even for a quick visit.
I'm relieved that we won't be driving ourselves into debt (even more so than we are, heh) but also regret not being able to go and see her. We probably won't get a chance to see her again, and Joe hasn't even been able to meet her. However, my mom and I would still like to some day arrange a visit to the area again, even if my great-grandma passes away (which she may not! She may recover from "being out of it" even though that is very unlikely) we would still enjoy seeing it because it's where my grandpa grew up, where my mom always visited growing up, and a place I was able to play growing up too. It's a place that will probably never get paved over the same way some of these other towns and cities are, hopefully it will always remain the cute little mountain town it's always been.
Work's been great, still. We've had orientation all week, they actually take time each day to let us sit in and observe other departments. We've sat with collections agents, we've sat with people doing insurance/legal stuff, and had the department leads explain the whole thing to us. It's great because not only does it give us an idea of the inner workings of this company (and how our work affects others' work) but it also allows us to meet people from the other departments and get to know them. In addition to all this orientation I've been spending half the day also working in my department, still getting to know the jobs I've been assigned to do, and helped finish up a big batch of docs to be entered. Because I have been trying to get this stuff entered, I've also managed to rack up five hours of overtime this week, and two and a half last week. Sweet. :3 So even though I've essentially gone three weeks without a pay check, it'll pay off. :D
Well, I'm going to scoot for now. My head hurts, and I think it's from my contacts... I really need to get my eyes done, and one thing I will be doing is getting updated glasses. I haven't had glasses in about five years - only contacts - and if I'm going to be staring at a screen all day at work, I don't want to have my eyes not able to breathe as well. So definitely going to be making a change there. I'll even pay for them to put the UV coating on so it blocks some of the damage from the monitor. It'd be worth it....
Since we won't be traveling this weekend, I'd like to get my other computer up and running again. That's why you haven't seen anything art-related from me - I haven't really produced anything new anyhow, but my computer with the scanner hasn't been hooked up since we moved it upstairs. Things have just been too wild. But hopefully this weekend I'll have some eye candy to show you guys. I miss LJ-land, but it's been nice to be away from it, too. :P |
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| Is everyone traveling or something? |
[Oct. 2nd, 2007|07:20 pm] |
Joe and I are planning our trip up to see my great-grandma this coming weekend, and it seems most of the hotels are booked. O_o How strange... A lot of places just don't have rooms available.
I think I have our mid-way stop and our destination hotels chosen, but I have to call them tomorrow to check and be sure they're okay with pets. If not, perhaps it would be easier to board the dog. We'll see... although I really would like to bring him with.
In any case, we're going to be leaving here Friday after work, stopping overnight in Charlotte, finishing the four and a half hour drive up to Lewisburg, WV, and spending the afternoon with my mom and sisters (and nephew) and going to see my great-grandma. We won't be spending TOO much time with her, because she is going to tire easy (at 104 years, wouldn't you?) and then we'll be leaving WV on Sunday morning. Seems a bit rushed, but I can't take time off of work yet, and I (and my mother) have an odd sense of urgency about visiting her. So... visit we will.
In other news money is tight for the time being due to me not being paid every week. Ugh. I get paid when Joe does, and when it hits it'll hit real hard (about time!) but for now things are tight, especially with plans for this trip. Sigh. |
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| Civil War Bible Update |
[Jun. 12th, 2007|10:21 pm] |
I wrote a couple weeks ago about a Civil War Bible that my mom had found at an estate sale. She gave it to me to bring back to the south, so I've finally had time to take some photos! This post is going to be VERY image-heavy, under the cut, so dial-up users beware!
( A little treasure chest of sorts... )
I have more photos available on my Photobucket account (found here) if you are interested in seeing more. I have huge hi-res versions of them stored on my computer, too.
I hope you all enjoy these photos... and if anyone has any suggestions for someone that may be interested in buying these items (perhaps a collector, a society, a museum, or something?) or a way to look up the family, please let me know. :) If I can't find any nibbles in the next couple of weeks, I'll be putting this stuff up on eBay, since I know some collectors browse there.
There has just been so much HISTORY in looking up the names and finding out what I can. It's really neat. :D
EDIT:
I was poking around a site for Civil War collectibles, and found a familiar name -- one of the historic souvenir companies that is actually located in downtown Saint Augustine is listed as an expert dealer. Wow, what chance! I've already e-mailed them. |
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| Pics! |
[Jun. 12th, 2007|03:57 pm] |
I've got some pics to share from our trip. Mwahaha.
( We can't stop here, this is bat country! )
Now I'm working on cropping photos of my mom's civil war Bible. I haven't done art yet today, though when the storm was raging I did go dig out my envelopes to mail stuff. I might not get it all out tomorrow morning - Wildfox, your stuff is on the top of the list, since you're moving! Don't worry! - because I'm almost out of envelopes, I only have a bunch of the really big ones left. I will try to pick some up tonight but we're so close to broke right now after our trip. Le sigh. I kind of wish now that we hadn't even gone; that was two weeks' worth of pay, plus a couple hundred in gas that we did NOT need to spend. At least we got to see family, I guess... |
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| Home |
[Jun. 10th, 2007|09:52 pm] |
Well, we are home safe.
Brought with some cute little sculpey figurines I made while at Joe's extended family's reunion thingy. Will have to show pictures. :)
Stopped at a fireworks store on our way through South Carolina. Came away with quite a nice haul for under $25. nomadfox, are you ready to set Florida on fire? >_>
We come also bringing delicious ramen from Grand Asia in Cary, NC. Mmm. And Pocky. Cake Pocky. OMNOMNOM. We also have lots of rice, bánh bao (dumpling) flour, green tea flavored candy, ginger tea, and all sorts of goodies. Oh how I wish we lived close enough still to bring home frozen/refrig goods....
Oh! And Joe's mom also gave me a stability ball, she'd gotten it but never really used it, so she randomly asked me if I wanted it. Sure! I have pilates exercises that need the ball but I hadn't gotten around to getting one yet. So I have one of those, in addition to two pilates videos my sister gave me. I also noticed, in some photos Joe took of me while we were on vacation, that I *am* showing improvement in my size, it's just harder for me to notice (especially looking in the mirror) because I have to see myself every day. Ugh. :P
We had a good time. What was only a week, felt like two, because we spent so much time just taking it easy. I finished Harry Potter book 6 so I'm ready for the new one to come out.
Joe and I are also contemplating future moves. Considering moving to the Orlando area so he can go to Full Sail for game design stuff. We're not sure where we want to go from here, we kinda feel stuck in limbo. I was also considering looking into a job at Disney, if we were to move to O-Town, because I know a couple people that work for The Mouse and enjoy it.
Well, I'm gonna go. I gotta go hunt down some pillows, because we forgot to grab ours out of Joe's bedroom before we left his parents' house. Whoops.
So, er, what did I miss while I was gone? :) |
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| We're Alive! |
[Jun. 3rd, 2007|01:13 pm] |
We made it to Michigan in one piece, after a quick stop in North Carolina at Joe's parents' place. We went to Grand Asia for lunch, stocked up on our ramen that we like, bought a few other things we can't really find in St. Augustine, and we also got to meed up with janyse and her husband for a little bit.
So now we're in Michigan, went to church this morning, and now we're just hanging out at my mom's house. My little nephew is being a ham, and Reo is having fun with Cubby. Actually, he is more ignorning Cubby while Cubby yaps and barks and follows Reo around. We're going to be here until Wednesday then we go down to Ohio.
Our Internet access is limited, so I'm not going to be around. I wanted to toss out a note to the people I was going to mail stuff to, I didn't have a chance to get it out before we left. We were too busy packing and cleaning, plus my working extra at work and on the web site, the other stuff just got lost in the shuffle. So I will get all that out when we get back on Monday. I am kicking myself for not getting it out sooner, and not having time to work on art beforehand, but so much stuff was going on. X_x
Well I'd better get going. Just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive. :) See you all again in about a week. :) |
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| Pirates and Workouts |
[May. 25th, 2007|08:54 am] |
Last night Joe took me to see the new Pirates movie. It wasn't bad, although I do wish they would've stopped at just the first movie as a stand-alone, not make it into a trilogy. It's true that the second movie doesn't seem so lame when you've seen the third one (it puts it all together) but still. I liked the happy ending that came with the first one, instead of keeping it so open. :P At least this time they didn't dwell on the usual rum jokes, and they didn't entirely recycle the soundtrack from the first movie, like they did in the second.
So as far as my workout game plan goes, I've decided (after reading what my sister wrote, and a couple of web sites and such) that I need to add a more hefty cardio workout. I tried jogging that one time and it just didn't quite work. So this morning, I tried DDR. Played for half an hour consecutive, and the workout mode said the equivalent was jogging for about roughly 2.5 km or so, which is just shy of two miles. My guess is that, while I have been strengthening muscle, I haven't been actually burning calories. So I'm trying to both take in less, and burn more.
My plan of action now is to do about 45 minutes of DDR every day I have the time in the morning: Tuesdays and Wednesdays (my days off) and then again on Saturdays, when Joe takes me in to work around 10:30, instead of the usual 9:30 I leave here when my boss picks me up. On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, I will continue with my pilates/core strengthening and my resistance. That way I will get an even amount of cardio workout and toning workout. Sunday will be my rest day, especially since we have to get up pretty early for church anyhow and I don't usually have time for my exercises in the morning.
Hopefully this will help with my not-losing-weight issue. :P Also I've changed my lunch menu yet again: this time I've got all-natural lowfat yogurt (since lots of the yogurts they had at the store contained high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, and this was one of few that didn't) with granola in, and then an apple for a "snack" later on in the day. Yesterday that seemed to tide me over well enough, so hopefully the calorie intake will be lower and I will end up burning off some of the excess fats.
I'm still not getting my hopes up yet, as I haven't discussed all this with my doctor yet, but my hopes aren't down either. At the very least, I am feeling healthier, and that is what is most important.
And on a final note, my mom called me last night. Her latest interview went well enough, that she's got a new job!! I'm not sure if she will be able to keep her house, but she will be making a little more money - she's got a small cut in hourly pay, but she works an extra day (five days a week instead of four) and they also have a discounted benefits package so she won't be paying $500 a month for her insurance any more. Go mama! :3
And now... to work! |
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| Naughty Foxie |
[May. 22nd, 2007|11:10 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | exercise, family, health | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Hanson - "MmmBop" (I'm getting into all this bad music again! hah) | ] |
I had some money left over in my PayPal account after we got those new tires. So I did some online shopping for something I'd wanted to do.
See, my mom's been real depressed this month, and that's because this month contains two dates that had been significant for most of her life. First, my dad's birthday was on the 18th. (he's 47 already..) Second, her would-have-been anniversary is coming up on Friday. I believe this would have been 27 years, had they stayed married. So, naturally it is going to be a stressful and depressing time of the year for my mom.
So I did some searching, and found a reasonable rate for flowers to be delivered. Instead of the usual $50+ for roses, I found a site that offered a mixed-color bouquet of twelve roses for $20, plus another ten for delivery. Naughty me, I scheduled to have roses delivered to my mom on Friday, with a card in it from me. Because she is going to need a pick-me-up on that day.
My mom's not the type that would get upset and freak out over that. She will see it as thoughtful, and will make her day go by better. Because even though my dad might have walked out, she still has a family that cares. We used to bring my mom carnations from the corner store (back when it was a family-owned fruit & veg & flower market, before it became a gas station) all the time, for no reason whatsoever, and she always loved it. I just wanna take care of my momma. :P
In other news, I slept in today and read in bed for a little while, but I did do my exercises as usual. I walked the dog - who, might I add, is getting much better at walking on his loose lead since I've been practicing "heel" with him on my morning walks! - around the neighborhood, then came in and did my pilates and my resistance stuff. It's interesting, because when I warm up with a walk, then come back and do my other exercises, I break a sweat during the other exercises. It used to be that the pilates and resistance exercises wouldn't really make me sweat, they'd make me sore and I could feel my muscles working, sure. But never sweating. *shrugs* I guess walking warms my body up and gets it into a working mindset. So we'll see where we go from here. I think the working up a sweat is a good sign, and hopefully another six weeks of THIS (the sweaty-cises) will provide results. I also plan on getting more fish than we'd been eating, because fish tends to speed up my metabolism. (Oooh, and I could get corn on the cob to grill to go along with the fish... mmm)
Well, I'd better find my way into the shower, since I haven't done that yet since getting up.. I just finished my breakfast. Yay for a late start! ;P |
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sleepy
busy
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contemplative
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