the entirely true stories of tbooty, vrock & jdogg

now that THAT is over....

2011-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

well that was quite the stretch of 2 weeks.

man, i'm tired. still. ugh.

first i started a new full time job. ok, that's a good thing, right?

it is. BUT. i had already committed to working at the local fair for 4 days. and those days? of course coincided with my first weeks of working. which meant that i worked 12 days straight before i got a day off. then? 1 day off, 1 shift at the fair and then boom. off on labor day and then right back into a work week.

plus? i have an event sat until 2ish. not that i'm complaining. i'm just really eyeing sunday when i can sleep in.

in the good news department, i got about 8 leads from one of the booths at the fair and when i started calling them yesterday, i booked a party. woot! so maybe, just maybe, that whole "paying for the time i spent in the booth & working the booth for free" thing might be starting to pay off. we'll see what the order totals look like.

back to work now. if i can stay awake long enough, that is.

and that's when things went splat & i fell off the face of the earth

2011-09-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

so.

it's been awhile. a great while. i'm aware.

i'm also aware that i am most likely writing this purely for myself. which is totally fine with me. it's an outlet.

things have been hectic since i last wrote. back in OCTOBER of 2010.

this is what's been going down over here:

we went to texas for christmas and saw my brother & his wife & vrock's family.

we came home and i had surgery on my foot, a little more than a year after i first injured it. (long story)

after surgery, i couldn't walk for EIGHT WEEKS. ugh. i do not reccommend that with a 16 month old in the house.

i had been getting a flow of business going, then couldn't do anything do to surgery.

vrock, unable to find work here, opted to move to texas to look for work in april.

vrock, unable to to find work in texas, moved home at the end of june.

i got a job at the end of may and worked there until mid-july when i quit because i HATED IT.

the same week i quit, got a call from an agency that found me online. i didn't get the first placement they put me up for, but i DID get the second contract they put me up for.

which means, I GOT A JOB!

and of course, both businesses are starting to BLOW UP!

bottom line. add in a now TWO year old, getting up at 5am to get to the new job, working the fair a few nights to promote the businesses, booking parties, and trying to find time to sleep and you've got ONE MEGA TIRED MOMMY!

but, i'm back. while i have time during the day to actually breathe.

hope you check in occassionally and say hi!

taking the plunge

2010-10-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

no, not that plunge. we're already married, remember?

and no, not that other one either. we. are. NOT. PREGNANT.

ok. so can i tell you WHICH plunge i'm referring to?

SELF-EMPLOYMENT. yikes!!

it's becoming glaringly clear that for whatever reason, i'm just not destined to get a real job. anytime soon. at least that's how it feels.

case in point: last weeks' job interview. for an advertising company. sounded pretty good on the careerbuilder.com website. so i applied figuring i wouldn't even rate a phone call since i have zero sales experience. not only did i get a call, i got an interview. okay. so i went. and about 1/3 of the way through the "pre-interview" (yes, she basically called it that), i realized that this was one of those 100% commission gigs. um, no thanks. i fully understand that my unemployment will not last forever. and that we both need to find a job, any job so that we will be able to pay our bills. but a job where they DON'T PAY YOU? um, no. because as far as i'm concerned? a 100% commission job is a job that doesn't pay you. with a 14 month old? that's not really an option. so i deliberately gave a bad answer to ensure that i wouldn't get called in for a 2nd interview. mission accomplished!

that leads me back to the SELF-EMPLOYMENT thing. back in august we went to the fair. at the fair was a book booth with a "ask me how to earn income from home" banner. so i asked. and was intrigued. and looked into it some more. and by the end of the weekend, had decided to sign up as an independent consultant. i've done a home show (with a few in the works) and worked a fair & some other "booth" events. i'm set to work a book fair with my sponsor & finally earn my first bit of commission. yes. commission. see, this is also a commission only type job. but? these books sell themselves, so i have no fear about it. and? i don't have to leave this everyday.

because really. who would WANT to leave THAT FACE everyday for 10+ hours? sure as HELL not me!

so i've been doing the book thing since the end of august. and have made sales of roughly $1000. cool. but i'm not quite as busy as i'd hoped. and since i figured that i should probably take the bull by the horns, i'm also signing up tomorrow to be an independent consultant for pampered chef. i figure that between the two i should be able to bring a decent amount of money in. maybe not enough to replace a full time income for me, but then i'd only need to get a part time job to supplement my SELF-EMPLOYMENT! those words still scare the crap outta me!

anyhow, that's where i am at this point. trying to take control of my own destiny and make some good things happen for my family. i figure if i'm going to "sell" something, then it might as well be something i love & something that my family can use. because let's face it. who doesn't LOVE books & pampered chef??

has it really been 3.5 months since i last wrote? it seems so much longer than that!

2010-09-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. at least for a bit.

what have i been doing you ask?

surprisingly, not much.

here's whats been happening since we went on vacation in may:

after getting back from hawaii, we made plans to go to texas to see vrock's family. then we actually went. to texas. in july. yes, i am an idiot.
vrock was forced to "retire" from his job due to lack of work.
i continue to look for a job, any kind of job, and it continues to be an excercise in futility.
my bff came to visit the weekend before my birthday and took me to see her husband in concert! (ok, ok. so he's only her husband in her head. DON'T tell her that! LOL)
i sort of started my own business last week. not much has come of it yet, but i'm hopeful that it will at least bring a little money in the door.
jdogg turned ONE! (how in the hell did that happen? i told that boy he wasn't allowed to grow up!)
vrock & i have seriously considered moving to texas, provided that he can obtain a job with the company he had to "retire" from.
we continue to prepare to go to san francisco at the end of the month for my brother's wedding. those preparations included buying a tux for jdogg. OMG! so! freaking! cute!

and while all of that has been exciting/caused anxiety/thrilling/sad, i find that time is zooming by and i never seem to have time to do ANYTHING without major planning sessions. and even then, if it's not something ESSENTIAL? it doesn't make the cut.

for someone who doesn't work outside the home, is living with family (and therefore not really responsible for "household chores"), and is still drawing unemployment, i have NO IDEA where all of my time goes!

my dearest blog, i really haven't abandoned you....

2010-05-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

i've just been extremely busy with this................

hopefully you can forgive me. we're on vacation at the moment, but i promise to attempt more updating once we return to our crazy life!

dear blog, i really didn't forget about you.....

2010-02-18T14:40:00.001-08:00

i'm wondering if i've hit a wall with the blogging.

yes, i have a 6.5 month old that keeps me very, very busy. but lately i've gone WEEKS without even thinking about blogging. i could chalk that up to being so wrapped up in the baby that i barely have time to think. Or to the fact that he doesn't sleep in his crib for more than 2 hours without me having to get up and get him. (by which time I'M EXHAUSTED so he just ends up in our bed for the remainder of the night.)

i could blame it on the energy i'm spending praying/hoping/willing vrock to get the most recent job he applied for. or that after a winter of no colds whatsoever (yay vaccinations!) i've got the sore throat from hell and since i'm still nursing at night i can't really take anything for it. (although, if this keeps up, i'm going to take something!)

but i think the answer that feels the most right is this: i don't know what to say anymore. i don't necessarily want this blog to become a commentary on the day to day life of the baby. yes, i love him and think he's adorable, but i know that not everyone wants to hear about his daily activities.

my life has become an endless string of taking care of the baby. i'm fine with that, most of the time. but i'm pretty sure it would bore the hell out of the few readers i have to report on his adventures. besides, who else would find it amusing EVERY TIME he grabs himself during a diaper change? LOL

benefit 4,928,761,350 of being unemployed & living with your folks

2009-12-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

it's really handy when you do something tremendously stupid to not have to worry about mundane stuff. like work. or carrying your child around. or how to feed yourself when your room is on the first floor but the kitchen is on the the second.

thursday night i was cold. i've been cold at bedtime for the last week or so, primarily because our bed is located directly below the only window in our room. that means that even though the window is completely closed, when it's say 20 degrees outside (which it has been at night for the last week or so) that even if you have the heat on in the room, there's still a cold spot right where you put your head down when it's time for bed. i don't know about you, but if ANY part of me is too hot or too cold when it's time for bed? i can't sleep.

so i decided i was going to get the nice, fluffy, warm uw huskies blanket that i got for christmas two years back down from out of the closet to put over the comforter on the bed. vrock is a furnace so i'm not allowed to have an electric blanket on the bed. that means that if i'm cold, i have to pile blankets onto my side of the bed. fine. i can do that. i pulled the office chair over to the closet, braced it against the dresser, and climbed up. there was a little wobble, but no big deal. i've done this a million times. up, grab the item in question, and down with no problems. not so much this time.

when my parents built the garage (where the 5 of us are currently living) they put an apartment over the garage and a bedroom with a bathroom downstairs. they also made 9 foot ceilings, so you HAVE to climb onto something to get anything out of the closet downstairs. ideally that something would be, i don't know, a STEP LADDER, but i digress. the basket that the blanket was in is VERY light. 2 blankets, a pair of slippers, a pair of gloves, and i think a scarf is all that is in the basket. so i knew that it would be no biggie to grab the blanket.

EXCEPT.

i didn't know that vrock had also put an armband for his ipod in the basket. this wouldn't be a big deal except that he just kind of tossed it into the basket, meaning that it landed on top of the blanket. again, not really a big deal. except. when i pulled the basket down towards me to grab the blanket out, the ipod thing fell out. and startled the shit out of me. which caused me to lose my balance and fall.

luckily i didn't bang my head on the crib or the bookshelf that is right next to it. unluckily, i heard a distinct SNAP as i landed on my foot. i was sure that once we went to the er and got x-rays that there would be a break somewhere. luckily i was wrong and it's just very badly sprained. but man. it HURTS! i spent all of friday, saturday, and most of sunday in bed with my foot propped up and icing it off and on. and today it's STILL all kinds of lovely shades of purple and yellow.

the er doc didn't give me enough pain meds to last me to my follow up tomorrow with my regular doc, so i'm raiding dad's pain meds from his surgery last month. (only after checking with the pharmacist that they're safe to take while breastfeeding.) they make me sleepy though, which is great for at night but not so much for during the day. today i finally ventured upstairs, but had to have my mom bring the baby up since i don't trust my balance enough to carry him yet.

what a great way to spend a weekend, huh? on the plus side......it's not broken. and? vrock has been pretty awesome through the whole ordeal. after 4 days of being an invalid though, i'm ready for it to heal and to be able to walk on it without pain. we'll see what the doc says tomorrow about the timeline for that.

i know this though........i'll never use a chair to get something out of the closet again!

time flies when you have an infant

2009-10-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

not much has changed around here.

except that this:

has become this:

he's perfect. and gorgeous. and we've never been happier. especially since we're actually getting some sleep these days! i'll try to write more often, but with that gorgeous little being around, it's amazing that i get anything done. LOL

reasons 461,925,873 thru 461,925,877 of why i haven't posted

2009-09-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

need i say more??

not dead.......yet

2009-09-08T23:20:00.001-07:00

just zombified. you know, because of this......

and of course, munching on these...........

and while i miss my sleep, desperately, i've never been happier.

and this? is what they call a holding pattern

2009-07-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

so last week i went in for my 37 week appointment and was VERY excited to learn that i was already dilated to 3cm and 75% effaced. it has been MISERABLY hot here the last few weeks (today? FREAKING 100 degrees! wtf??) so i was excited by this development because as anyone who has been pregnant knows, the last month is THE WORST as far as being uncomfortable, etc. when i went in today, i was hoping for some more dilation, but figuring i wouldn't get quite that lucky since it's apparently VERY unusual to be 3 weeks prior to due date and be 3cm already. i, unfortunately was right. no further dilation OR effacement.

DAMN!

i wasn't super surprised, but i was a little bummed out. i have been EXTREMELY uncomfortable with all this heat. i'm good at 75 degrees when i'm not knocked up. i can deal with 80 as long as there is a breeze. it's been WAY hotter than that the last 2-3 weeks and it's forecast for mid 80's into the end of next week. THIS SUCKS! all that being said, i am VERY ready for little dude to make his appearance, although i'm TERRIFIED about what to do AFTER he's here. LOL i know, i know. i'll be fine once i get the hang of things. i know this. but i'm still starting to freak out a little.

so my next appointment is on monday. something had BETTER have changed (in the correct direction!) by then! LOL

in other news, we had a bit of a scare yesterday in that when we tried to go to babies 'r us in order to get the rest of the things we really NEEDED for the baby, the car wouldn't start. at all. nothing. no lights, no "door ajar" binging. nothing. thank God we have AAA. turns out it was nothing more than a bad cell in our battery, so we just needed a new one. but still. i think vrock had a minor stroke thinking that we'd have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to get the car fixed. (we bought it used, and it's still under the original warranty, but it's only 3 years old.) the battery price was more than i wanted to pay, but it's done and we're back in business.

all of that rigamarole with the battery totally shot yesterday though. so today after the doc appointment, we went to babies 'r us. we didn't get EVERYTHING that was left on the registry, but we did get the things that i think we needed the most. we still have a good chunk of the money my brother & his fiancee' (the godparents) sent for the bambino, so we just moved that money into the baby's bank account until we need to buy something else for him.

since it's been so damn hot, we decided to go to one of the local casinos so vrock could people watch and i could gamble, a little. money is very tight for us these days and while i probably should have just left it in the bank, i wanted to play just a bit. so i went with $80 and hoped for the best. i'd been to that casino in june when my bestest friend in the world was here for my baby shower. i can't remember if i won, but i think i either broke even or won a little bit. (on a side note, vrock & i went to our other local casino last week to see the gallagher comedy show. we played for about 2.5 hours and came home with $50 more than we left with, which promptly went in the baby's bank account. LOL)

anyways, so today i was doing ok, and then all of a sudden i was down to my last 10 cents. (i used to play nickel slots. now? pennies all the way!) i would have had to cash out had this last spin not been a winner of some kind because that machine's minimum bet was more than a total of 10 cents. so i spun. and hit the bonus. right on! this particular game is called "great wall" and i found it last month when i was there. the bonus consists of free spins where you can accrue points & "picks". after the free spins are up, it takes you to the "picks" page where you choose from various ying-yang's and get either points or free spins. so this first bonus i won $121. WOO HOO! not bad for literally being down to your last 10 cents! i decided that i'd play until i was at 100 and that way i'd still be coming out 20 bucks ahead of where i'd started. i spun a few times and nothing. so i cashed out. i was going to leave, but decided "what the hell"? so i put my money back in and spun and hit another bonus. this time? i won 50 something in the bonus. i played for a bit and tried to get my total up to $160 which would have doubled my initial funds for the day. i didn't get there, and decided to cash out at $150.

all in all? not bad for less than 2 hours work. i won $70, so even after i subtract the $40 that i gave vrock, i still walked out $30 up. not bad, not bad at all.

tomorrow will be a stay at home day to do laundry and to see what all we have for the little dude that we'll need right away. and hopefully the walking around today helped jiggle things so that he's thinking more about coming OUT OUT OUT already! LOL

oh, and i'll be spending a fair amount of my day with my feet elevated. i'm tired of vrock teasing me about my "elephant feet". they are SO swollen it's not even funny.

we have reached week 36

2009-07-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

and i am SO FLIPPING READY for this little boy to be born.

the hip pain is gone, but now it's settled into the the center of my hips (as opposed to being just in one hip or the other like it was before.) so that means everytime i roll over in bed, i hurt. lovely. i'd still rather that than the pain with every other step that i was dealing with.

i've started on the weekly doc visits. last week i was VERY excited that i'd only gained 1 pound from the previous visit, 3 weeks earlier. woot! that was good. i go back tomorrow so we'll see how well i did this week. the doc told me last time that everything looked great and on track. i see my regular doc this week & next and if nothing has happened by next week, we'll schedule the induction for the due date. (i see his partners the last few visits, so i want to make sure it gets scheduled, just in case.)

tomorrow is also my mom's birthday. she's going with me to the appointment and the plan is to go to lunch after and then to see harry potter. (vrock has no desire to see it, and mom reads the books, so it works out.) depending on how crowded the theater is will make the decision if we actually see the movie or not. if not? i'll be back up there next week for another appointment and will go see it then.

i'm almost done with the twilight series, with only about 250-300 pages left in breaking dawn. still can't really understand what all the fanatacism is about with that series. it's no harry potter, that's for sure. it's been an enjoyable read, but i'll be selling the books to the used book store when i'm done. no need to re-read them.

got some bad news today, but i'm not really ready to share, as it's not my news to share. i would really appreciate some extra prayers though. any good thoughts would be great.

i'm going to try to keep updated on this the next month or so, but i can't promise anything. i'm in countdown mode. 28 days to go, should he be stubborn like his parents and not come until his due date. that will be my luck. LOL although, with only 3 chapter submissions and the final left to take for class, that could be a good thing. at least then i'd HOPEFULLY be done with class and wouldn't have to worry about having to still take the final!

sloth, thy name is tbooty, or why i haven't posted lately

2009-06-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

all kinds of interesting things have been happening out in seattle. (ok, not really, but there have been a select few.)

mostly the reasons i haven't posted can be boiled down to this:

i'm just generally feeling lazy the last few weeks. i've been told this is normal.
i often THINK about doing something (posting/laundry/errands) and that's as far as i get. this does not bode well for my post partum period. LOL
i've found that while the extreme exhaustion of the first 16 weeks of pregnancy has not returned, i AM more tired than i was from weeks 17-30. case in point, i wake vrock up in the morning for work and go back to sleep when he leaves around 8am. then? even though i went to bed at 1am? i end up sleeping until around 11am. unless i'm going somewhere where i have to leave/arrive at a certain time. weird.
i'm already feeling overwhelmed about the baby's arrival. we don't have all of our "gear" yet. no stroller/car seat (although that's just a matter of mom & i going to target together.) we have a bassinet. we have a pack 'n play (that we may just have him sleep in for the first few months due to space issues). we have a crib mattress, but the crib is still at my brother-in-law's. but there are still quite a few things we registered for that haven't been purchased yet. it's kind of stressful.
i am SO UNCOMFORTABLE at this stage. between the HUGE belly, the hip pain (so. very. hard. to. walk!!!) and the intermittent ankle/foot swelling, i am PAST being ready to reclaim my body.

the baby shower was good. none of my bridesmaids showed up, including the one who threw the shower, but 2 of the 3 had valid reasons. still, it REALLY upset me. UNTIL. my best friend in the world surprised me by flying up from utah for the weekend. BEST FRIEND EVER! after that i didn't really care about who hadn't shown. her being there made up for it more than 100 times over. of course, she made me cry though. bitch. LOL (don't worry, i TOTALLY got her back when i wrote out THAT particular thank you card. LOL) we got a fair amount of stuff, but of course not everything that we actually NEED. LOL go figure. it's ok. i've still got about $250 in gift cards/cash (not including whatever amount my brother is sending) to get the necessities that we don't yet have.

i'm up to chapter 13 of 18 in the transcription class, which means after i get back the chapter 13 submission, i have 4 graded transcripts left before the final. i'm not sure if i'll be able to start work before the baby is born, but we'll see. it'll be cutting it close, what with me only being 44 days away from my due date. it'd be nice to be able to start before he gets here.

i also had a job interview on monday (long story), and while it seemed to go well, the sacrifices it would entail (2 months unpaid leave, paying for childcare, no guarantee of job being held) make it so that i've never wanted to NOT get a job offer before. they were interviewing all of last week, so in theory i should hear something by wed of this week. like i said, it'll be one of the few times in recent memory that it won't hurt my feelings if they go in another direction. LOL

and i THINK that catches us up. the next 6 weeks are going to be an interesting ride. i'm ready to reclaim my body for myself. LOL let's see when this little boy decides to make his debut. i'd like him to wait at least until 36 weeks (7/14) but ANYTIME after that is totally fine with me! (plus, that would negate the 10 family birthdays in august that we're looking at currently. LOL)

i swear i haven't fallen off the face of the earth....at least not yet

2009-06-13T23:14:00.001-07:00

i believe i owe you a post about the trip.

the trip was fantastic. it was the first time in TWENTY (count them!) years that my entire immediate family (all 4 of us. LOL) were in hawaii at the same time. both my brother & i have managed to go see our grandparents while our parents have been there over the last 20 years, but this was the first time we'd all managed to be there together. and it was awesome.

between vrock totally loving my grandparents (they love him too!), asking my grandpa for his blessing to name the baby after him (of course, he's THRILLED!), and talking about my brother & his fiancee's wedding next year, PLUS celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary AND mother's day, it was just an AWESOME trip.

it was a little too warm for me, what with the humidity and the whole "i'm growing a person so my internal thermometer is all out of whack", but vrock loved the weather, even the humidity! we didn't "do" a lot while we were there, until my brother got there. most of our days were fairly lazy, with the most strenous things we did being walking downtown throughout the shops and eventually going to the beach. (my bro & his fiancee' ended up coming in later than planned because her grandmother died a week or so before the trip. that was a major bummer, but i'm really glad that they decided to come anyways. i think it was therapeutic for her.)

the highlights of the trip were these gems:

vrock, my bro, dad, & grandpa having daily "cocktail hours" starting around 3:30pm complete with each one smoking a cigar. (vrock & my brother do not normally smoke AT ALL and dad only smokes pipes/cigars every once in awhile.) grandpa was definitely in his element as he held court with the boys.
everyone hanging out in the pool room at my grandparents playing pool and just enjoying the family time.
my brother & his iFlip getting some of the best sound bites EVER from grandpa!
and of course, seeing grandpa's reaction when we asked for his blessing to name the baby after him. it was priceless and something i'll never forget.

vrock is ALREADY talking about next years trip. he wants to make sure that they get to see the baby in person. i love my husband!

seriously????

2009-05-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

i know, i know. i haven't written about the trip yet. i will, promise.

i just need to vent about this first.

when we first got pregnant, i was worried about the normal things: my age (37) being an issue, genetic abnormalities, miscarriage, etc. things that just about every woman is concerned about until she knows that there's nothing to be concerned about.

so we opted to do some genetic testing (first trimester testing & completely non-invasive) to "guide" us in the right direction. fortunately for us, the tests came back with no worries of any abnormalities and we were able to end that particular journey there.

that was in early february. while we were on vacation, i received a call from the billing department of that particular hospital. (not the one i'm delivering at, as that one is too small to have a maternal-fetal medicine clinic that does the genetic testing.) the guy proceeded to say that i had an outstanding bill ($30) after insurance had paid and wanted to know when i would be paying it. i'm in hawaii, and have no recollection of seeing a bill for that amount, so i told him that i was on vacation, if the bill had come prior to leaving i'd have paid it and since i'll be gone for 10 days, i'll have to look into it when i get home. fine he says and i figure that will be the end of it.

so we get home. i get the mail and sort it out. bills in one pile, etc. at this point, (about 2 weeks ago) i'm still not receiving my unemployment yet. vrock is working (huzzah!) but it's only part time. so while we do have some money floating around, there's not a lot that's leftover for extra bills. i put the bills on the desk in their spot and turn to other things.

i get a phone call a few days later from this guy again. telling me again that i still owe $30. now, i'm 27+ weeks at this point and my memory has become more faulty than i'd like to admit (HELLO list writing!), so i inform him that i have NOT received this bill and that i don't care that his system tells me they mailed it, i don't have it and therefore it will be hard for me to pay it. he says they'll send it again. fine. (of course, a day or so later as i'm preparing to pay bills i find it. but it's for $45.08 and NOT $30, so it's not completely my fault.)

meanwhile, vrock's job has become FULL TIME & BENEFITTED (woo hoo!!) and now i can pay the bills knowing that there will be more money coming in. great! so last week i write a check for this particular account and a few other non-monthly bills (we're STILL paying medical bills from his sinus surgery in oct) so that i can mail them in. i check our bank account online about every other day, so i'm glad to see that the check for this particular account has cleared. YAY! no more phone calls from this guy. right? WRONG!!!

this morning i'm sleeping in. (with vrock working full time now, the alarm goes off at about 6:45 and he gets up about 7:20. this wouldn't be an issue, except that 1) the alarm is on MY side of the bed, which means i'm the one hitting snooze and then rolling over to make sure he's awake, 2) i've done this every morning this week because i'm afraid if i don't sort of wake up with him that he'll fall back asleep and be late for work, and 3) last night/this morning i stayed up until 4:30am finishing a book because i'd had a 2 hour nap yesterday.) my phone is almost always on vibrate overnight, but because i'd grabbed it and put it by the bed this morning when vrock left for work, i hear it buzzing.

normally, i don't answer if there's no number listed. this one pops up as "private call". now, i know it's not my mom, because she left earlier and her cell number shows up on my phone. the only other "private call" that i know of for sure is my almost 38-weeks pregnant friend who lives about 8 minutes away. i'm her emergency ride to the hospital and since yesterday she was dilated to 1cm, it could be her. so i answer. it's the guy about the bill. he starts his spiel and i'm already PISSED because i KNOW that the check has cleared. i'm civil, barely, as he spits out the info about the visit date and the amount owed. and then i inform him that not only did i ONLY get the one statement (when they were supposed to send me a 2nd since i didn't recall getting a first) but that i've PAID it and IT'S CLEARED THE BANK! (there are few things that irritate me more than someone who doesn't have all the facts getting ready to "tell me off".) he then asks me to FAX him proof of payment.

um FUCKING HELLO??? just how am i supposed to do that? 1) i paid by check you asshole. i'll be DAMNED if i'm going to go to the bank and ask for a copy of the cancelled check because you can't be bothered to CHECK YOUR FUCKING SYSTEM to see if the payment has applied. (the check CLEARED on 5/22. i know monday was a holiday and all but seriously? it should be in your system by now!) 2) i don't have ready access to a fax machine and all i'd have to fax you is a copy of the statement. so i'm PISSED now. i explain to him that it's paid, cleared the bank, etc. he can tell i'm pissed because he then says "i'll just note your account paid then."

good idea asshole. of course, now i'm awake, so that annoys me even more. oh well.

i suppose i wouldn't be so mad about it if i wasn't already irritated from yesterday when the cop pulled me over.

more on that later.

all you get is a few photos from the trip because blogger is pissing me off!

2009-05-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

25 weeks & vacation errands

2009-04-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

so it was pointed out to me that i haven't posted in almost 3 weeks. (thanks stace! LOL) and with the trip looming up, i figured i'd best post BEFORE we left for hawaii on friday, otherwise it'd likely be ANOTHER week & a half before i was able to post. so, here i am.

i've been unemployed for not quite 2 weeks, and i don't think i've EVER been this busy! it's crazy. here's a sampling of what's been going on the last 2 weeks, broken down by day:

mon (1st day unemployed) - trip to costco & target, which took almost all day
tues - trip to the outlets with my mom, and to pick up some baby clothes & a bassinet from freecycle.org people
wed - errands for the trip & a chiropractor appointment for vrock
thurs - trip to the nearest joann's with mom to find some cute maternity patterns for later in the pregnancy, along with other trip related errands.
fri - blissfully NOTHING was planned out and i did some spring cleaning stuff
sat - one of the local communities has a yearly garage sale weekend, & i went with my folks. scored some good baby stuff (clothes, brand new pacifiers, size 1 diapers) and a few other things and only spent $16!
sun - pre natal massage & out to dinner with vrock for our 1 year anniversary
mon - doctor appointment (everything looks great! no issues other than the norm of heartburn & aching hips), lunch with mom, more shopping for the trip & a mani-pedi.
tues - trip to storage to pick up & drop off stuff, over to a friends' house to drop off some baby girl clothes i'd picked up for her from one of the freecycle people
today - took my folks to the airport this morning. the rest of the day? probably studying, laundry, clearing out the tivo. stuff that needs to be done, but that i can do from home.

so you see, it's not that i haven't WANTED to write. it's that by the end of each day i've been EXHAUSTED!

now i'm off to warm up vrock's lunch before he leaves for work (more on that later!) and then i can maybe take a nap later this afternoon!

and then there were 6

2009-04-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

it's a very freeing feeling to know when your job is going to end. you can plan for things. you have the chance to make sure that all of your "loose ends" are cleared up. as much as being laid off sucks (cobra, unemployment, etc.) it's a good thing to KNOW it's coming. (unlike my friend who walked into her office one day in dec & was escorted out of the building a mere 90 minutes later.)

that being said, in a sick way i'm LOOKING FORWARD to not working. granted, i'll still have my school work to do and all that, and as long as i continue to pass all of my lessons on the first try, i'll be done mid june. that will hopefully translate into a gig working from home transcribing, which means that when this little boy makes his debut sometime in august, i'll have a paying gig. (not sure how the whole "i'm having a baby" thing will translate to the job, but the benefits to the employer are not that many "sick" days since i'm already home.) from what i've been told, around the middle of this part of the class (18 chapters & lessons) i'll be getting a call from the school to set up phone interviews, etc. if all goes the way it should, that should be happening around the end of the month. with the way the grading is timed out (once i turn in something, they have 4 business days to get the graded lesson back to me) i'll only have to worry about 1 chapter while we're on vacation, which is a good thing.

vrock's mom & sister are moving into a different house next month & they want him to come out and help them move. if he's still not working, that's not a huge deal, as they'll pay for his plane ticket. since i won't be working either, we've been debating the idea of me going with him, since after the baby is born i won't want to go ANYWHERE, much less to texas. so we'll see what happens. i can take all my school stuff with me, it'll just depend on how much i'm getting from unemployment & how much/if he's still getting unemployment. not to mention, our childbirth class starts on 5/5 (we'll be in hawaii) and runs every tues night. i don't want to miss any more than the one we have to miss since we'll be gone. so there's that to consider too.

a lot going on in the next couple of weeks but it's all good. and i feel calm. which is always a good thing.

t-minus 11

2009-04-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

work days, that is.

eleven days. that just seems so weird!

it also means that i'm 4 weeks & 1 day away from leaving for hawaii for a family reunion of sorts. which means i'll get to see my brother & his fiancee' for the first time since she became his fiancee' in feb and that they'll get to see me for the first time since we told them at christmas that we're pregnant & asked them to be the godparents. all in all, i expect it to be a great vacation. i just hope i can find some decent maternity shorts between now and then.

and speaking of maternity clothes, why is it that if whatever article of clothing you're looking at ISN'T a solid color it's HIDEOUS??? i can't quite figure this out. i've found ONE, count it, ONE cute maternity top. (ie: something that ISN'T just a tshirt/tank top) ALL of the others that i've actually seen? FUGLY! i don't get it. you'd think SOMEONE would figure out how to make ALL maternity clothes cute. what's even worse? you find a cute shirt (in other words, you like the cut, etc.) but they've made it in the WORST possible print possible. i'm sorry. i don't feel the need to look like a circus tent when i go out in public.

that being said, this is what my maternity wardrobe consists of:

1-black tank top
1-grey tshirt
2-royal blue tshirts (1 v-neck, 1 rounded neck)
1-black tshirt
1-red tshirt
1-red polo type shirt
1-cornflower blue tshirt style, with tie-backs
various xl or xxl victoria's secret/old navy tank tops
3-pairs maternity jeans that i only have to pull up every other 5 minutes
3-pairs black maternity yoga pants (SO COMFORTABLE!)
1-pair jean shorts
1-pair cotton type shorts (that i'm not sure will fit by hawaii)
2-pair grey maternity pants, suitable for work

that is IT. i may have 2 other tank tops that are specifically maternity, but it's a bare bones wardrobe. i'll be 25 1/2 weeks by the time we leave for hawaii. i'd toyed with the idea of getting a maternity swim suit, but i may just try to wear one of my tankini's instead of buying something. i can't find ANY cute little sun dresses or anything like that to wear in hawaii, so this will be challenging.

any ideas where i can find ANYTHING that's cute? i've planned an outing to the local motherhood maternity at our outlets, probably the week after i'm done with work. (mom & i will no doubt also hit the carter's outlet there too, for the little guy.) i've gotten the few things i have at target & penneys. help!

all the news that's fit to print

2009-03-26T15:50:00.001-07:00

i guess i have to make this a quickie since blogger says it's got a scheduled outage in 10 minutes!

1. we found out at our ultrasound on monday that it's a boy! vrock is thrilled and while at first i wanted a girl, i'm thinking that maybe having a boy first is a VERY good thing. so there's that big news.

2. i found out today that 4/17 will in fact be my last day at my current job. this is not a huge surprise to me, as i was supposed to be out of here on 1/16. my boss did try to see if he could keep me, but it was a no go. while i'm bummed about the fact i'll be losing that income, i'm not really bummed that i won't be working here anymore. the people are great, don't get me wrong. i just think i'm ready to be doing something else than financial stuff for a long while. i've been doing this since 8/01 and i think it's time for a change.

and if i can collect unemployment while i finish my transcription course AND only have to pay 35% of my cobra costs (thank you Mr. President!) all the better.

plus, this means i don't have to buy anymore maternity work clothes!

just about the halfway mark

2009-03-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

in 4 days we have our ultrasound.

in 5 days i officially am 20 weeks, the halfway mark.

it's been an interesting time. i'm excited for the ultrasound. we'll get to see the baby and how it's developing and all that. then of course, we *may* get to find out the sex, which is always exciting. (although just about EVERYONE i know thinks that it's a girl. won't they be surprised if it's not? LOL) i've been reading my books (pregnancy & other) and reading the zero to forty blog written by the lovely amalah during her last pregnancy and was a little flabbergasted yesterday to realize that my stomach is no longer *squishy*. instead? it's rock hard. (at least in the front to center area where my uterus apparently has taken up residence.)

and the last few days i've finally caught the "heartburn train" that i had so far avoided. joy. i'm not really excited about that part, however since i've gotten off fairly lightly as far as some of the other less than pleasant pregnancy syptoms go, i guess i can't complain too terribly much. my hips ache all the time and it's hard to get comfortable to sleep. but. i slept through the night last night WITHOUT having to get up to pee. it's a small victory, but i'll take it.

now, i'd like to start feeling some movements from the little one. think it's too early to start bossing the kid around?

news & other assorted tidbits

2009-03-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

all kinds of things happened over the weekend & the early part of this week. and most of them were squarely in the "good" column. woot!

we found a crib. well, technically we were only really "browsing" for a crib, knowing full well that we can't afford to buy one unless we got a totally screaming deal. and then we found one. we didn't buy it though because we found out from my brother in law that we could use theirs. (and most likely we'll get to keep it since their youngest is almost 8 and they have no plans to have any more.) they apparently got a screaming deal on this crib (i've yet to see it, although vrock is going over there this weekend and he's going to take pictures for me.) and paid around $200 for a $600 crib in cherry wood. and it's a convertible, which is what i wanted. so, score!
my dad officially got the position that he applied for within his company, so he will NOT be laid of mid-april as we had originally anticipated. woot! granted, dad is 61 and had thoughts of taking early retirement if this job didn't pan out. for my mom's sake, i'm glad it did. with vrock still not working (more on that shortly) and me likely being out of a job next month (more on THAT shortly) i don't think mom could have handled it if ALL of us were home all of the time.
we got the ruling on vrock's unemployment mess. not sure if i detailed that fight here, but here's the short version: due to his surgery in oct, he had to "quit" his job. (he didn't really quit, they just told him to call back after he was released to duty and they'd put him back on the schedule. he'd only worked there like a week & a half.) he called after surgery & nobody ever called him back. then? they challenged his unemployment and he hasn't gotten paid since christmas week. he appealed and his hearing was last week. the old job didn't bother to call in. judge heard the complaint anyway and ruled in OUR FAVOR! woot! so we're looking at 10 weeks of pay that they owe us.
we DID get a deposit yesterday, but it wasn't for the full amount, so vrock is calling today to find out wtf is going on. since the judge ruled in our favor, they are supposed to pay the whole amount due. keep your fingers crossed on that.
vrock's been applying for EVERYTHING, but sadly there's no "new job" news there. there hasn't been a lot in the paper/online lately, but he's trying to stay positive.
i had gotten a call last week from one of the temp agencies that i'm hooked up with. there was a permanent full time position available & they wanted to send my resume. the place wants someone to start on 3/13. i haven't heard back from anyone about an interview, so i guess they passed on me. which frankly? i'm ok with. initially i was torn. yes, it's a job with more money & benefits and all that. but? i'm kinda looking forward to working from home as a transcriptionist and being able to be around for the baby. not to mention that the job was a little bit further away than where i'm working now and it would take FOREVER to get there on the bus. so there's that.
there's also the slim chance that i'll just be able to stay at my job. things with the industry have gotten interesting. my boss is still trying to see if he can keep me, but i'm not planning on that. it would be nice. but we'll just have to see what happens with that.

so there's the big news from around here. add to that finishing up the first half of the transcription course (i'll be taking my final either tomorrow or saturday) and trying to think of what i do and DO NOT want for my baby shower. things have been keeping me busy, to say the least. and all in all, that's a good thing. although, i have to admit that i'm kinda looking forward to the end of april when i don't have to get up at 7am to get ready to go to work and can instead work from home in my jammies. :)

countdown

2009-03-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

so today's the 5th.

that means the following:

in 18 days i have my ultrasound and hopefully find out if we're being blessed with a little boy or a little girl.

in 43 days i'll be working my last day at my current job. (unless something happens between now & then. there IS a small possibility that i'll leave BEFORE 43 days, but i'll keep that to myself for the time being.)

in 57 days we leave for hawaii for the family reunion/my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

somewhere between all these milestones, i need to finish my online transcription course (almost done with the first half and averaging 92% for the class so far!), interview for transcription jobs (that will start 14 chapters from now, once i'm halfway through the 2nd part of the class), go shopping for hawaii appropriate clothes (i think i have maybe 3 pairs of shorts that MIGHT fit by then since i'll be 25 weeks by then, if not, consignment stores here i come!) and various other things.

oh yeah, i also have to come up with a guest list for the baby shower my friend is planning for me. granted, i'm almost done with that, but still. it's one more thing to do. on top of all the reading i'm trying to cram in before the baby's born (plus that allows me to get rid of a lot of books too!) i almost wish i had the money for a kindle, so i could take like 5 books with me to hawaii and be able to read easily! hint hint stace! LOL

free is good

2009-02-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

i knew that having a baby is an expensive process. from all the doctors bills to all the new gear the kid will need once it's here.

but good lord. i didn't realize i'd be SO overwhelmed with STUFF. do i need to register for THAT or should i just try to buy THIS 2nd hand? i'm kinda at a loss as far as what are ABSOLUTE must haves and what are "it'd be nice but not 100% necessary" wants. my head spins every time i look at babies 'r us or target online to try to figure out WHAT i need to/should register for. honestly, it's making me a little bit crazy.

THEN, there's all the unasked for advice. the "you HAVE to buy a new crib! you can't borrow one or buy a used one!" the "are you going to do THIS or THAT?" i know these people mean well. honestly i do. however, they're just making me crazy!

the bottom line is threefold:

1. we don't have any money. i mean we barely have enough money at this point to pay our bills. i'm hoping that vrock gets a job soon, but with the economy the way it is and the fact that i'll be out of a job come mid april, well, you know how that story ends. that's a HUGE factor as to why we moved in with my folks at the end of last month. which has helped.

2. i REFUSE to pay massive amounts of money (that we don't have!) for certain items (crib included) that the baby will only use for a specific period of time and then not need anymore. i'm willing to buy (or register for) the car seat/stroller combo because i know that we need to have something that will pass all the safety inspections, etc. i have a few friends that i can possibly borrow a crib from, FREE, and when i don't need it anymore or when they need it back i can return it to them. i'm TOTALLY ok with that.

3. we don't have a lot of room, since we're not in our own place. this also makes it difficult as far as procuring baby items, etc. IF we had our own place & the funds? this would be a totally different post. we'd get a new crib that converted to a toddler bed & then to a headboard/footboard for a full size bed. at least THAT way? we wouldn't be buying a piece of furniture for 2-3 years, as would be the case if we bought JUST a crib.

so i was talking to a gal at work and she said the magic words: freecycle.org

i'd never heard of it. so i checked it out. and boy, did i score!

first i got a basically brand new baby bathtub. yeah, it would only have cost $20 to buy a new one and it's something i probably could have registered for. but? i didn't have to. it was free. all i had to do was go pick it up.

then? i really scored. i got these:

for free. yes. i got them both from the same gal plus 2 big bags of cloth diapers (some of the nicest i've ever seen) & a few other assorted things that she threw in. all for FREE! the pump alone is around $200 and the swing runs between $75 - $125. now, once we're done with them, i'll put them back up on freecycle for someone else to use. they're in excellent condition and i'm just so excited about being able to start collecting things for the baby & not damaging my wallet in the meantime.

i'll still look on there and at consignment shops & the big garage sale one of the communities around here has at the end of april. but it's looking like we can at the very least cut some of the baby gear costs in half if i continue to be lucky with freecycle!

it almost makes some of the crazy go away.

almost.

and when i say atlanta, i mean the braves

2009-02-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

so the other day i posted about how ANNOYED i was with atlanta for prohibiting the seattle fans from getting their nostalgia fix by stealing ken griffey jr from us, the fans who were there for the first 11 years of his baseball life.

well. it seems that i may have to take a step back from dressing them down.

see, on tuesday, an atlanta paper published a story that jr had decided to sign with atlanta. which of course started a flurry of "atlanta sucks" comments & feelings from the seattle fans. and i was on that band wagon. (technically i still AM on that band wagon.) i'm not a national league girl. never have been. and i'm a true blue mariner fan & hometown fan kind of girl. (or homer, whichever you prefer.) about an hour or so after THAT story surfaced, was a denial by jr that he had chosen, yet.

so, there was still hope alive in the hearts of all jr fans that our beloved "kid" might, just MIGHT come home to be celebrated as he deserves.

this is a new position for most mariner fans. i can't recall another mariner who has gone to play with another team that would be welcomed home with such open arms & excitement. maybe jamie moyer, who now plays with philly. but that's about it. our greats have retired. edgar martinez, jay buhner. yes, we had randy johnson & alex rodriguez but i honestly don't think that mariner fans would want EITHER of them back, EVER. jr is the exception to that rule.

why? because he helped not only save baseball in seattle (1995 refuse to lose season anyone?) but he also helped to get our beautiful safeco field built. and he was a perennial all star for 10 of his 11 years here. and he's ALWAYS been a fan favorite. when he left the town was crushed. when he came back in 2007 he got a heroes welcome, even though he wore the opponents uniform. standing ovations. declarations of love from the fans. from the management.

and a declaration from jr himself that he wanted to return to seattle to finish his career. to retire a mariner. to go into the hall of fame as a mariner.

and atlanta swooped in at the last minute to try to turn that dream into a nightmare. and for that i'll never forgive them. luckily they didn't succeed and jr WILL return to the town that loves him. who is excited about baseball for the first time in a few years. yes, he's not the player he was in his prime. but he's a mariner. a family member that we've missed for the last 9 years. and i couldn't be happier.

but the braves? they can still suck it.

the braves can suck it

2009-02-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

i am a die hard hometown fan kind of girl.

that said, i had hoped against hope that ken griffey jr would come home to seattle and resign with the mariners, even if it was only to end his career in the town that he helped save baseball in.

everything looked good for that for a while. and then the freaking atlanta braves swooped in at the 11th hour. and with that, seattle's dreams of welcoming home their beloved jr fell by the wayside.

i knew that it was a longshot that he'd actually come home. to a place where even after defecting 9 years ago, he received multiple standing ovations when he FINALLY returned to play ball (albeit as a visitor) in the last season or two. yes, i was longing for the nostalgic days. and yes, i realized that the chances weren't good once i heard that atlanta was in the mix.

but still. atlanta braves? you can suck it! you deprived this homer of a chance to reflect in the sweet nostalgic glow of one of baseball's good guys. and for that? i'll never forgive you.

settling in

2009-02-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

i tried to post this yesterday & blogger ate my post. let's see if it "sticks" today.

life is slowly getting back to normal after the move. all of the big moving/storage issues are pretty much settled. there are still a few boxes & bags to go through and unpack/donate/trash but thankfully those number only about a dozen or so.

since we have limited room in our closet, i've been packing away items of clothing that i don't want to get rid of, but that i can't actually WEAR at the present moment. i'm not entirely sure if my belly has "popped" since i was a little chubbier than i'd like when i got pregnant. it definitely seems bigger to me though. LOL

since things are finally calming down, i'll be able to pick up the medical transcription course again and start studying. i'm halfway through the first class & have taken the midterm. i'm hoping to finish by the end of march if not sooner.

things at work are still kind of up in the air. since the initial push that preceeded me getting the 90 day extension, things have slowed a bit. which means, if it slows enough i'll be out before mid april when the extension was set to expire. we'll see what happens. we need the insurance, so i hope that doesn't happen (since i don't really want to pay for cobra a month or two early if i don't have to.) but part of me really would like to just be able to sleep in & study & look for jobs while getting unemployment. we'll have to see how that goes.

i have no words

2009-02-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

ok, that's so not true.

i have MANY words. most of them heated/angry/incredulous, in fact.

i read a story this morning about the "octuplet mom" in california. you know the one. the one who already had SIX (count them, SIX) children UNDER THE AGE OF SEVEN when she got pregnant. the one who is an unmarried, "full time student" that expects (at least from what i've read) her parents to shoulder the burden. the one who DESPITE the 6 kids, unmarried status, non job working PROCEEDED to not only use fertility drugs (yes, i'm assuming that fertility drugs were used because 8 babies does not happen naturally unless you're a cat!), but chose not to selectively reduce when it was discovered that there were SEVEN fetuses. (the 8th wasn't found until she was in the delivery room.) and the one who EXPECTS someone to PAY her TWO MILLION dollars to share her "story" and "parenting expertise".

these are the first words i had when reading that little tidbit:

WHAT

THE

FUCK??

now, i'm all for people having babies. i completely understand the draw & desire to have children. and i understand that for some, fertility drugs are the ONLY way that the dream of children can become a reality.

BUT.

for a woman who ALREADY has six kids? fertility drugs/egg stimulation/etc should NOT have been an option. AT ALL. i could ALMOST understand it if she had ONE prior child, maybe two and had turned to fertility treatments to conceive THOSE kids due to problems in previous pregnancies. (a la John & Kate Gosselin who'd had twins, wanted one more & ended up with 6 more.) not only do i believe that the doctors who assisted her in this folly should come up before some type of review board, i think that the state/federal governments should REFUSE to assist this woman with any type of money. (i know that sounds harsh, as the babies themselves did NOTHING wrong and shouldn't be punished for the stupidity of their mother. but still.)

i'm just floored at the things that continue to come out about this story. such as the woman's parents have hinted that their daughter may have some sort of mental illness. um, HELLO?!?!?!? did NO ONE think that after 6 kids MAYBE she should have been "fixed"??

nothing about this "spectacle" is easy or in black & white. there are 14 fatherless kids to think about. 8 of whom are still in the hospital fighting to get off of machines. the children are not at fault. i have MANY ideas as to what should happen to the mother in all of this. none of those ideas have a good outcome for the children however. it just makes me immensely sad that in today's world where there are so many people who struggle to have one baby, there are women like this that feel no compunction at all to have children that they are ill prepared to care for.

and the worse part? it's sounding more & more like this woman PURPOSEFULLY got pregnant with these babies to capitalize on the publics fascination with multiples. unless i'm TOTALLY misreading the stories, she PLANNED to sell her story and wanted to try to get a reality show/sponsors/etc.

i understand wanting the american dream. but at the expense of your own children? shame on you lady.

edited to add photo:meet the jumping bean

2009-02-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

we haven't come up with a nickname for the baby yet, so jumping bean will work for now.

especially after today's performance!

we went in for the genetic testing this morning complete with ultrasound. we got to hear the heartbeat (154 bpm) and of course see the bean on the screen. and let me tell you, that little one did NOT want to stay in one position long enough for the sonographer to get her measurements! (hence the nickname jumping bean. although, to be fair, this baby is 1/4 mexican/latino/whatever you want to call it, courtesy of vrock. LOL)

according to the genetic counselor, everything looks good. we'll get the final blood results sometime in the next 7-10 days. i have another appointment on monday with my regular ob. all in all a good visit. the bean was VERY active during the scan (vrock kept saying he/she is camera shy what with all the movement!)

the biggest surprise? the bean is measuring 13 weeks 3 days. according to the in room scan my doctor did on 1/12, i should only be 12 weeks 4 days as of today. (although from my lmp, i was dating at 12 weeks 6 days) so i guess we'll have to see. since the difference was less than 5 days, the sonographer said that they wouldn't change my due date so we're still looking at 8/11.

if i can remember to do it, i'll add the "photo" tonight when i get home. provided i can get my scanner/printer to cooperate. moving is such fun. (LMAO i just typed "moving is suck fun" before correction. i think that's MUCH more accurate!)

kitty time out

2009-01-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

so the big move is today. and i'm at work. granted, it's not like i would've been a huge help anyway since i can't really lift too much without everyone looking at me like i've grown a second head. talk about overprotective! it's all good though.

in preparation for today, we've been taking stuff over to my folks' house including the fish & the cats.

when we moved into this apartment last year, it was the first time that the cats had "moved". (other than when i brought them home from my friends house, they'd pretty much never been outside the house except for vet/groomer visits.) bob does NOT like being in the cat carrier. he cries and it's so pitiful that it breaks my heart every time. i don't remember gabby being as pitiful last time as she was last night.

see, i KNOW that they hate the cat carriers. i KNOW that they'll most likely cry the WHOLE time that they're in them. i had FORGOTTEN, however, about what they did the last time we moved.

in short, they put themselves in kitty time out. the apartment has a bathroom with two doors. one into the hall and the other into the extra bedroom. so that was the natural place to release the cats when we moved in, as they wouldn't be in the way or try to run out the open door. what i didn't count on was that BOTH of them would immediately put themselves face first into the nearest corner they could find. it was at once heartbreakingly pathetic and funny at the same time. after a few days they got used to the new place and things were fine.

last night though? OMG! we got bob into the carrier no problem (which was a surprise in itself.) and made plans to corral gabby. here's where i need to give a little backstory. when gabby was maybe 1 or 2 she was severely traumatized. like any cat, she was curious about a plastic bag from target that was sitting on the floor. so she stuck her head through the handle to peek inside the bag. well, the bag was empty and she heard a noise or something and tried to back quickly out of the bag. bad idea. it got stuck around her neck, which would have been ok, but since she was spooked she took off and the bag looked more like a cape. the noise scared her even more and she ran into the garage and hid for hours. finally my dad was able to coax her out (she was originally his cat) and remove the bag but ever since then she's been a little weird. hides all the time, etc. except with me. she always wants to be with me.

so, when we moved, it was a great surprise to find that over time, she became less "freaky". she still doesn't like strangers too much, but she started coming to vrock the last few months, eating treats and even climbing up onto his lap for attention. then we had to move her last night and i have to wonder how far back she'll regress.

after trapping her in the bedroom last night so we could get her into the carrier, we took them over to the parents house. we let them both out upstairs and stood back. presumably she rocketed out of her carrier and straight down the stairs towards my old room. i'd left the door not quite closed and she darted in. and found the furthest corner of the room she could and put herself in time out. i talked to my mom this morning to see if she'd come upstairs at ALL last night and found out she hadn't. not a huge surprise. bob, on the other hand, cried for a bit after letting him out and then was fine. he's much more a people cat than she is.

i hope that she recovers soon. it'll get worse before it gets better though. vrock & the movers will be there in a few hours unloading the "non storage" items and she really won't have anywhere to run to then. poor baby.

think she'll forgive us?

bean spillage

2009-01-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

so for the limited numbers of you that actually read this, this may or may not be news.......

we're knocked up.

due date is roughly 8/11, which is my grandfather's birthday, so that would be kinda cool. we're very excited and of course, a little scared. we plan to find out the sex only because i think the suspense would kill me to not know. lol

so we have a lot going on these days. gearing up for our move this weekend, preparing for a baby, etc.

life is good.

one armed paper hanger

2009-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

have you heard that expression? "i'm busier than a one armed paper hanger"? well that's been me the last week or so.

between helping more people at work, spending the weekends at my folks to help them make room for us to move back in and packing up our stuff? i'm fried. (then of course, there's also the finding stuff to post on craigslist that we don't want/need anymore!)

i'm not sure where i find the time to do anything that's not move related. oh wait. i DON'T.

luckily that will come to an end next week. (and i don't even have to do any heavy lifting! bonus!)

in other news, one of my "band kids" that i haven't seen since at least '94 (if not longer) is in seattle this week with his wife & son and we're going to attempt to meet up this afternoon for a quick catch up over coffee. (but only because he's willing to come to my office. LOL)

hopefully we'll be able to connect. with my 20 year reunion coming up this year (for both high schools i attended) AND one of my best friends' son being 18 already (seriously. who told him he could grow up??) i've been feeling a lot nostalgic these days and a little old. go figure. LOL having a 20 year reunion will do that to you, i suppose. then again, so will staring 38 in the face. at least i have 2+ years to face down 40. no such luck for vrock. that milestone hits this year.

packing

2009-01-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

so we've officially started packing for our move at the end of the month.

ugh.

it's not that i so much mind the packing itself. it's more the trying to figure out what can go into storage for an indeterminate amount of time that i'm having a hard time with. since we're moving in with my folks, there are quite a few things that we can store. (ie: basically the whole kitchen, minus whatever food we have. all of our collectibles, most of my books, etc.)

while i'm overjoyed that i get to stay at work for an additional 3 months, that means packing is strictly relegated to evenings after work for me. then add in that this weekend & next, we'll be over at mom & dad's to help them move stuff around, etc and that makes for a VERY tired tbooty.

luckily, it will go pretty fast. we've hired a moving company to actually move the stuff once it's packed, since i'll be at work the day of the move. they're reasonably priced and they'll make the 2 stops (one at storage, the other at mom's) that we need without charging us extra. which is helpful.

there's so much to do though. just thinking about it makes me tired.

news

2009-01-09T23:42:00.000-08:00

so i got a bit of good news today.

my boss requested & received permission (is that the right word?) to keep me on for another 90 days.

so that means that not only do i not have to pack up my office next week, i also won't have to pay cobra for at least 3 more months.

happy days!! (at least the next 90) :)

busy, busy, busy

2009-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

2009 has started.

boy has it started.

i've got 8 days left of work. we're moving on the 30th. there's so much to be done and not that much time.

even my planning ahead (picking up used moving boxes from a gal on craigslist) backfired.

i got the boxes no problem. but then i locked my keys in my car. vrock was at his brother's about 45 minutes away. my cell & purse were in the car.

luckily, mom & dad still have a spare for the car i was in. (thank God that i wasn't in the volvo, as we only have 2 keys for that car and they're WEIRD ones!) dad drove out and opened the car for me but still. grrrr! (and the people i was getting the boxes from were very nice and let me stay inside until dad got there.)

it's been one of those years. already.

is it february yet?

post holiday blahs

2008-12-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

my brother & his girlfriend got in on friday and will be leaving on thursday. we spent friday night at my parents (the snow/ice/slush was so bad that we couldn't get up their driveway and had to park at the bottom. because of that and the fact that we didn't get done with our christmas stuff until around 11, we spent the night.) saturday we came home and just chilled out. sunday it was back over to the old homestead to watch football and just hang out. all in all, good times.

then today i woke up for work and started feeling sick while i was in the shower. dizzy, achy, the whole ball of wax. so i opted to stay home (what's one more day off when i'm only there for another 12 working days??)

i have gotten REALLY disorganized the last couple weeks, which is not like me. there's been so much going on though, that i've gotten a little lax. so today after i finally dragged myself out of bed (feeling marginally better) i paid the bills.

OUCH.

while i knew that the chances of vrock & i having to move back in with my parents after next month was almost a foregone conclusion (unless by some miracle we BOTH get jobs in the next 4 days) i didn't realize JUST how much our funds were depleted. it was depressing to say the least. part of it is that this year has been really difficult for us both as far as jobs go. there was a period of about 6 weeks this year when our jobless status overlapped. that was hard. then, he had his surgery and we've got those bills added on to our regular bills. it just sucks.

so, the reality is this: we have a LITTLE money (after i pay the rent on thursday) left in the bank and i'll get 2 more paychecks from my job before we're done there. we have to give 30 days notice of moving out (which, with our lease up on 2/1 means THURSDAY we have to give notice). then we have to pack all this stuff up again and most of it will have to go into storage as there's just not any room at mom & dad's for it.

on the plus side, i'll be getting unemployment (until i finish my online transcription course and can start working as that from home), we won't have to pay rent/utilities and with not having to pay those, hopefully we'll be able to pay our bills down enough that within 6 months or so (maybe sooner) we'll be able to move out again and be on better footing.

here's to 2009: may it be nicer to everyone job-wise than 2008 was.

snow hell

2008-12-19T23:55:00.001-08:00

so we were told last weekend that we were going to get snowed on. it happens from time to time, but it's not usually too awful. every once in a while we get really dumped on, but thankfully it's not that often. so this is what it looked like on saturday night/sunday morning:

not too bad. i can deal with that. roads weren't too awful. there were parts that were worse than others, but for the most part it was all good. of course, ANY amount of snow meant that vrock was out in it as soon as possible.

then came thursday night. and 7 inches of snow. which of course, meant this:

this was the view out of our back door. snow. lots and lots of snow. (our apartment is on the greenbelt, which always makes for a nice view.)

we ventured out today because i had an interview. (it's a long story and when i find out what's going on, hopefully on monday, i'll fill you in.) i made vrock drive because i DON'T DO SNOW as far as driving. so that meant that i had my hands free to take some shots while we were driving through town. this one was my favorite.

i hope that you all are safe wherever you are and that the weather is being kinder to you than it's been to us the last few days. we're supposed to get one more system through here this weekend that is supposed to drop another 1-3" on us. and then?

HEATWAVE! it's supposed to get up to 35 on tuesday and it might just break 40 by christmas. i can only dream of RAIN! LOL

you've GOT to be fucking kidding me!

2008-12-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

so i'm sitting here with vrock watching tv. (well, he's sort of watching it and i'm just listening since i'm still glued to my new laptop.)

and i hear: "shop rite refuses to decorate a three year old's birthday cake..."

wtf?

so i disengage myself from the computer screen long enough to watch the story.

the REASON they won't decorate the cake? the kid's name is ADOLF HITLER. his stupid stupid white supremecist parents named him that. and they WONDER why the store has an issue decorating the cake with that name?

SERIOUSLY? i mean i know that celebrities want to name their kids "unique" (and often downright stupid names like apple, zuma, etc.) but ADOLF HITLER? you have GOT to be shitting me! then vrock tells me the ultimate capper.......

they named this poor childs siblings with middle names of "aryan nation" and "heinrich himmler".

seriously. some people should be sterilized at birth.

good news, bad news

2008-12-17T13:59:00.000-08:00

so, the job thing? didn't work out. the other group either wouldn't or couldn't (i'm still not really sure which) transfer me over to their group for whatever time period they needed me for. which sucks. but isn't really a huge surprise these days. (what is anymore?)

that's the bad news.

the good?

my laptop came today! (yes, i'm at home. i used a weather/sick day today so that i could stay home.) i've been waiting for weeks for this laptop to get here, ever since i enrolled in school. there was a delay because they were missing a part, but it's here now. it doesn't have a bunch of bells & whistles, but it's mine. woo hoo!

we've been getting some REALLY fucked up weather here the last few days. it snowed over the weekend. not a lot, but enough to screw up the roads. ice, butt ass cold weather (HIGHS in the 20's!) and now more snow forecast for today made today a good day to stay home. lol. (i'm sure my boss didn't think so, but oh well.) as it is, i only have a few weeks left there (my last day is 1/16) so it's getting harder and harder to make myself go in. they're forcasting more snow this afternoon & evening (we didn't get any from this morning, THANK GOD!) and then again this weekend. vrock of course, is hoping for lots of snow. me, not so much.

i'm hoping that we stay in the snow free zone, but i'm not holding my breath.

school update & misc stuff

2008-12-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

so i've finished the first 6 (of 22) chapters of the medical transcriptionist class that i'm taking online. so far so good. i'm averaging 91% through the first 6 chapters. so not bad, considering i've been doing all of my reading/classwork while at work. the last 2 weeks i've had a few days of not feeling well, and i stayed home those days, so i didn't do any school work. i need to get back on track so that i can finish about 1 chapter a day.

i've got 3 chapters to go until the second review test & then the midterm is right after that. that'll put me approximately halfway through the first part of the class. (the 2nd part is the actual transcription part. what i'm doing right now is all medical terminology stuff.) i'm hoping to finish the terminology part this month so that i can concentrate on the transcription part next month. keep your fingers crossed.

in other news, a strange development has come up on the work front. i had signed up with a few temp agencies last year when i was laid off. nothing came of them, but i still have the contacts at a few. so when i needed them this year, i got back in touch with them and put them to work looking for jobs for me. while i'd prefer temp to hire, i'm amenable to taking a contract gig if everything works out.

in that vein, i went on 2 interviews this week. (they were for the SAME company, which is IRONICALLY the company i work for NOW.) one wanted me. yay! i thought, well, at least i'll be getting a paycheck for a little while longer, even though this was a contract position. i told my boss about it and he asked me to contact hr to see what the process was for that. (since i'm being "displaced" i had to sign a form saying that i'd stay through my notice period, etc and since my boss hasn't dealt with having to displace anyone before, he wasn't sure what the protocol was.) so i did. and i explained the situation to them. and i was told that i CANNOT accept the position through the temp agency. apparently since i'm ALREADY an employee of the company, the manager that wants to hire me would have to transfer me to their unit and have me work as a regular employee for the duration needed. then, once the need was fulfilled, my notice period would start back up.

all in all? VERY confusing. although i think i understand it now. so, long story short, even though i can't take the job through the agency (and the job was NOT posted internally), if my bosses boss is able to talk to the manager of the other unit AND that manager agrees, i may get to stay with my company a while longer. which would rock. so we'll see what happens.

keep your fingers crossed, k? thanks!

the countdown begins

2008-12-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

so i found out yesterday that my brother & his girlfriend are coming for christmas. yay! they were here in october for his 35th birthday and we saw them in april for our wedding, so this is a good year. (we typically only see them once, maybe twice a year. 3 times in one year is a record. although, now that i think about it, we'll be seeing them AGAIN in may when we all go to hawaii for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. so, FOUR times within a 13 month period. that'll be a tough record to break.)

where was i? oh yeah. so they're coming on the 26th and leaving on the 1st. this is typical for them as it allows them to spend time with her family on the actual holiday. and we don't mind pushing christmas dinner & opening presents back a day or so if they're coming up. it also makes the hassle of thanksgiving (2 family deals 45 minutes of travel time apart) obsolete.

as i was reading his email yesterday i realized that holy crap, christmas is only 21 (now 20) days away! and i'm not done shopping. i have NO idea what to get my dad this year and mom's been no help in that department. i'm already done with my brother (amazing in itself) and i'm almost done with his gf's stuff. vrock is done and with one or two minor things to get for everyone else, we're pretty much done. i'll be doing some baking this weekend which will round out the gifts and then it'll be time to pack up the boxes for shipping.

this time of year is always a whirlwind for me and it always seems that christmas comes & goes much too fast. i wonder if it will always be like that? i've noticed (much more so this year than ever before) that the things i've looked forward to (predominately the wedding) have snuck up on me much sooner than i'd anticipated and then POOF, they're done. what happened to the time when you could savor something?

blech

2008-12-02T03:51:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure what's wrong with me but i haven't been feeling 100% for a while now.

last week it was the massive exhaustion. i figured that it was just stress catching up to me. or stress from the holidays. the last 2 days it's been back pain and waking up at 3am. throw in a little congestion when i first wake up (i attribute that to the fan that vrock has going at night) and the general feeling of lethargy and i don't know what to think.

i've got 6 weeks left at work, unless something drastic happens. i've got 8 weeks left of insurance unless we pony up for cobra, which i'm not sure will be possible.

all i know is i'm tired of being tired and of not feeling 100%. make it stop.

35 days

2008-11-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

i don't know if i should be stunned that christmas is a mere 35 days away or amazed that vrock & i have survived this year with all of its ups and downs.

regardless, i feel somewhat accomplished today.

with everything that happened this year, christmas is going to be much smaller than it usually is. (read: done on the cheap) my family isn't huge and his isn't really until you start counting the nieces & nephew. all in all, with the select few friends i also exchange with, we're talking 18 total people including vrock. (let's face it, i buy the majority of the gifts. he buys for me and has input for everyone else.)

that's a lot of people when you're trying to keep costs down. (and i cut out 2 people last year.) i used to try to spend around $100 each on my parents & brother & vrock. that's just not possible this year. it's so hard to buy for most people these days that i'm trying to figure out what to do.

for his mom & sis, he wants to do food items, which should be easy enough and shouldn't cost too terribly much. i was able to get a bunch of gift certificates for really cheap a month or so ago, so some will be receiving those. (lifesavers i tell you!) and i think we're getting omaha steaks for my grandparents & his brother & sister-in-law.

but i did score today. i was able to get all of vrock's gifts (all 2 of them) online today. and on sale. woot! shipping was free and all told, i spent $108 and change. i know he'll love what i got and i'm just relieved to be done with at least one person.

i'm almost done with a few others that will be getting the aforementioned gift certificates. all i need to do with those is to bake the pumpkin bread that i'm going to send along with those. but i can't bake them too soon or they'll go bad. we don't have the room to freeze them, so those will be a weekend before christmas type of thing.

but at least i've started. back in the day i would have been completely done shopping by now.

i miss those days.

1/2 the dilemma is over

2008-11-18T11:43:00.000-08:00

my parents ROCK! (not that this is news to me, but they totally deserve a shout out!)

so here's the scoop:

i got my "notice" package at work. i knew it was coming and was actually kind of looking forward to it if only so i could ask all of the questions i had milling about in my brain. i called hr and got most of my questions asked.

the bottom line is this: i will get paid through 1/09. which means i'll also still have medical insurance through that time. which is an immense relief. (even though vrock already had his surgery, we're covered for a little bit longer.)

the notice period (60 days - thru 1/16) can either be working or non, but i'll still get paid.

so, i took the plunge and enrolled in the transcription course today. i should receive my books & course materials (sans the laptop which will be sent directly from Dell) either friday or monday. so this time next week, i'll be a student. :)

i'm excited to start on this new path. i don't know yet if my boss will want me to come in for any or all of the notice period but i should find out tomorrow. i know i'll be there through next wed, though.

wow. i'm doing it. (thanks again to mom & dad for the loan!) i'm actively taking hold of my future. it feels good.

dilemma city

2008-11-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

this being in limbo about the specifics of my getting laid off is getting old.

i'm supposed to be "officially" notified on monday. finally! (not that i'm excited about losing my job, but at least i'll be able to ask questions of hr!)

there are quite a few questions i need to ask them. about our healthcare coverage should i NOT choose the lump sum payment.
about if i DO take the lump sum, do i have to pay that back if i get a job before the end of january?
about if i choose to do a non-working notice, am i still counted as an employee?

there is literally about 20 questions i need to get answers to.

see, there's this online transcription course i've been looking into taking. it is ideal for me as i already have a background in medical terminology from when i worked as a medical assistant for 5-6 years. plus, i already have a healthy typing speed, so i'm already ahead of the game. the course is sort of expensive ($2800 or $2600 if you pay the tuition in full) but, you get not only a brand new laptop included in all of the class materials but LIFETIME assistance with job placement. and as a transcriptionist, i could work from home. (plus, due to the ability to work remotely i would not be "limited" to jobs only in my immediate area.)

it's a lot to think about but i'm more and more leaning towards the "this is the way to go" route. after i'm able to ask all my questions next week, i'll know more, but i'm really thinking that if i can find a way to take this course, i will.

who knew i'd actually be looking forward to studying again??

shoe droppage

2008-11-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

and the other shoe has dropped. i was told "unofficially" that i will be receiving notice that my job is being eliminated.

so.

it's on with the temp agency sign ups and interviews.

joy.

another tomorrow

2008-11-04T13:41:00.001-08:00

until i have news about my status with my company.

grrrr. i hate it when hr reschedules things that are vital to my status with the company!

angels

2008-11-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

we have some good news. (no, i don't know about my job status yet. i will hopefully know something later today.)

1. vrock started his contract gig today. woot!
2. we received a completely unexpected check in the mail yesterday that was enough money that IF i don't end up getting this position at work? we will NOT have to move.

grandparents are special angels and God DOES provide.

now, hopefully he'll provide a win for Obama.....

after all, tomorrow is another day

2008-11-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

in the good news department: vrock will FINALLY be starting his contract gig tomorrow.

(as you may or may not recall, he was due to start it last week when he was felled by a combo cold/post op infection. the rest of the week he struggled to get SOMEONE to call him back to let him know when to come in.)

it happened, as it always does that he was preparing to go apply somewhere else when he got the call saying they wanted him to start tomorrow. he still applied at the other place as it was for a full time, permanent position AND it pays $5 an hour more than the contract position. we'll keep our fingers crossed and keep saying copious prayers and hope it all works out in the end.

on my end of the job saga, i may know something tomorrow.

my boss has a call with HR scheduled for noon tomorrow. i'm staying positive and proactive. as much as i want this job and to stay with my company, i'm not naive and i know there's a very real chance that i could be one of the odd women out here. with that in mind i've spend the last few days polishing my resume and getting it out to anyone and everyone i can think of.

there will be more crossing of appendages and a plethora of prayers to that end.

here we go again

2008-10-31T15:38:00.001-07:00

so it appears that i may be unemployed again. and soon.

my boss called me yesterday to let me know that they are going to be eliminating 2 positions and restructuring mine, in order to absorb the duties of the 2 being eliminated.

which? could be a GREAT thing for me.

or it could be a totally sucky thing for me.

see, the other 2 people, both are interested in the position that will be remaining. MY position. they've both been here longer than me, although one is only by a few months.

because we all already work for the company, there is some sort of internal hr thing that we have to do instead of a traditional interview process. my boss doesn't know what that is yet, but we're hoping to know BOTH what it is and what the outcome is by next friday if not sooner.

because, if i DO end up having to leave? (and, let's face it, it's a 66% chance) then i have to give notice at the apartment because we won't be able to afford to stay there.

which would suck. big time.

is it friday yet?

2008-10-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

is it? i so need it to be.

i need it for various reasons:

vrock will be getting a call today from the contract gig people to let him know when to come to work
if it's friday, i get to sleep in the next day
if it's friday, i get paid
did i mention the one about getting to sleep in the next day?

i don't know what it is this week (maybe vrock's post op mishap that caused him to miss his start date at the contract gig, maybe listening to bob "big game hunter" cry and cry yesterday as i took him to the groomer) but this week has totally sapped me of energy.

all i want to do is go home, put on my sweats and curl up on the couch and totally veg out. and if i'm really lucky, vrock will go over to his brother's place on saturday and i can do that without feeling like i should be using my time for good. or, at least, you know. getting some shit done around the house.

(not that i WANT my husband to go away, because i don't. i just don't want to feel guilty for not doing anything!)

and we have relapse

2008-10-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

vrock has a post op infection.

FUCK!

the last 14 months have been a trying time for us. some very good things have happened and some very bad things have happened.

good:

we had our first anniversary and went to vegas
we returned to vegas and got married
we got our first apartment together
we celebrated 6 months of wedded bliss yesterday
i got a job in my industry again after almost a year out of it

bad:

i got laid off
i couldn't find a job in my industry, so i applied for & got a job as a 911 operator
between moving, getting married & starting a new job i was sufficiently stressed to the point of being sick for 4 weeks.
i ended up quitting the 911 gig because of the stress/illness
within 3 weeks of getting married & returning home, we both lost our jobs (his permanent, mine temp)
he's had a hell of a time finding a job that pays decent money
he had sinus surgery & a wrist injury

he was to have started his new contract gig this morning. "was to" being the operative words there. due to his infection, the fact that he can't see the doc until tomorrow & the fact that since he can barely breathe he didn't get more than 30 minutes of sleep last night, he didn't.

luckily for us, the company he'll be contracting for is AWESOME and when he called his liasion this morning, he was told to go to his appointment tomorrow and come in on wednesday to start instead. THANK GOD! i was REALLY freaking this morning (and maybe not overly the caring wife i normally am) because we really need that money that he'll be bringing in & i was afraid that they'd just replace him for not coming in today.

can you say WHEW?!?!

catching up

2008-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

has it been a week already? wow.

last weekend was VERY low key what with vrock having surgery on wednesday. we ran some errands, did some shopping & watched some football.

then i was sick on monday. (no fun AT ALL) and the rest of the week i've been busy with work.

so that brings us to today. i've done most of my work already and it's not even noon yet. (makes for a long day.)

this weekend is the big notre dame vs. univeristy of washington game that vrock & i have been waiting for since his birthday. i hope we have a good day for it. it's an evening game, so we'll need to be prepared to freeze our butts off.

vrock got a contract gig with a MAJOR corporation that we're hoping could become permanent down the road AND the other job he was working before his surgery & wrist ailment? they want him to come back too! it's only a part time job, but the hours he'll be working at the new place are such that he'd be able to do BOTH jobs, should he choose to do so. he's leaning towards doing that, which would be a MAJOR help to our finances. he's just going to wait a few more weeks before he tries to go back to the part time job to make sure that he's recovered enough.

i'm cautiously optimistic that things are looking up for us.

now, if only i could get knocked up.....

how do you spell relief?

2008-10-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

i spell it:

i-n-s-u-r-a-n-c-e

we had yet ANOTHER snafu with insurance coverage on wednesday after vrock's surgery.

quick back story:

when vrock went in for his doctors visit on 9/30 he was given an Rx for antibiotics. when he got to the pharmacy they told him that we didn't have coverage. excuse the hell out of me?!?!? after MULTIPLE phone calls, i got it fixed and i picked up his prescription the next day. (the pharmacy didn't have what he needed but it was coming in the next day's shipment.)

fast forward to wednesday. after being at the hospital from 8:30am to 2pm, we were both ready to go home. we made 3 stops: one at the pharmacy across the street for a specific nasal wash not carried at our normal pharmacy, one at my parents to drop something off and the third at our local pharmacy to pick up all of our prescriptions. he's still kind of loopy from the anesthesia so he stayed in the car. 40 (count them!) minutes and $85 later i FINALLY came out with our prescriptions.

seems that SOMEHOW there was an error in reporting and we were shown as having our coverage EXPIRE on 10/11. EXCUSE me? needless to say i was PISSED off. after multiple phone calls (pharmacy called, i called) to multiple places (prescription coverage, hr, etc.) i decided to just pay the $85 (no insurance rate) and take my man home to rest. i was PISSED though and made a few MORE calls yesterday when i got back to work. nobody can give me a satisfactory answer as to WHAT the hell happened, but it appears to be fixed for the moment.

all i know is that i better NOT have to go through this every 2 weeks. see, my hr updates the insurance company who in turn updates the prescription people every 2 weeks. and if i have to do this every time we need a damn prescription, heads are going to roll. that is just BAD customer service right there.

since it was finally fixed and it had been less than 7 days since the pharmacy had run the prescriptions through the system, i called and had them rerun them so i could get credited the difference. which means that we get almost $40 back after all is said and done.

too bad i have to do some grocery shopping this weekend. i'd much rather use that $40 to soothe my stress with either thai or chinese for dinner.

aftermath

2008-10-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

vrock's surgery went very well yesterday. so well, in fact, that he's not even taking his pain medication. his only complaint (other than a faint headache), so far, is that the rinsing agent he has to squirt up his nose forever (ok, only 4 times a day for 3 weeks!) kinda burns his nasal passages. so far, no black eyes.

update

2008-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

i'm in a better place this week than i was last week at this time. which is good.

here's what's on tap for this week:

vrock is having his surgery tomorrow. while he's doing that, i'll be having my own doctor's appointment. might as well kill two birds with one stone.
tomorrow, i'll be nurse/taxi driver/wife to vrock's patient/husband/crankypants
i'll try to catch up on tivoed shows tomorrow while he's resting
work

that's about it. i've been reading up on the recovery and it doesn't sound like fun AT ALL. i hope that the surgery goes well and that it takes care of all of vrock's sinus issues.

keep your fingers crossed, k? thanks!

and the hits just keep on coming

2008-10-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

how do you know if you're passing the tests that God gives you?

is it if you DON'T break down and cry (& scream & throw things) that you know you're going to be ok?

because i REALLY think i'm being tested.

and i don't know if i studied hard enough.

i feel 300 pounds lighter

2008-10-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

ok, maybe not 300 pounds lighter. but definitely lighter.

yesterday i started to write a post about how frustrated i was with the people at the doctor's office. the doctor that is doing vrock's surgery next week. i was so angry i was on the verge of tears all afternoon.

our insurance kicked in on 9/1 and knowing that, we didn't go to the doctor until after that. we have a $3000 deductible and a health reimbursement account of $750 from my work. basically that means the hra pays the first $750 and we pay the remainder. after that everything is covered at 80%. because our insurance didn't start until 9/1 though, both amounts were prorated for the rest of the year. (at $1000 and $250) vrock had to have a ct before we could officially determine he needed surgery. then he had to go see the surgeon so he could look at the scan. neither item has been billed to our insurance yet.

that being said, when the surgeon's office called the insurance they were told that we have a $1000 deductible and a $250 hra account. so what does the surgeon's office do? they called vrock yesterday and basically said "you need to bring in your deductible amount before surgery so that you can have your surgery." excuse the fuck out of me! so he called me and told me and i went ballistic. i called the office and our exchange went a little something like this:

me: this is vrock's wife. i understand that you called my husband & told him that we had to bring $1000 in to your office before he could have surgery.

snotty bitch at surgeon's: that's not exactly what i said. i called your insurance company and they stated that your deductible has not been met. with a high deductible, the doctor requires that it be met prior to surgery.

me: wtf?!?!? look. yes, we have a deductible of $1000. we also have a hra which is $250 so that our portion is only $750. on top of that, vrock has had a ct scan on 9/15 AND been to see you last week on 9/30. NEITHER of those have been billed to my insurance yet, but i KNOW they will run close to the $750 that we are responsible for.

sb: oh. well, let me look and see what the allowable amounts are for those and i'll call you back tomorrow to let you know what i find out.

that was the MUCH abriged version of that conversation. i've never heard of a doctor's office requiring your deductible to be met before they'll perform surgery. that's just ridiculous. i called my insurance company and they verified that it does happen, although they ask the doctors to not do that. it's all turned out fine (we don't have to pay anything up front) but i was SO upset yesterday that i gave myself a headache.

it's funny to write this now after all the angst of yesterday. it's almost anticlimactic in a way. (that's probably because i'm not feeling homicidal at all anymore.) i did talk to the office this morning and they pulled their heads out of their asses and figured out what the allowable billing amounts were for the 2 visits he's already had and how much of that would translate to our deductible. when they did that our responsibilty comes to $330 which, since it falls UNDER the $500 mark, they don't collect up front.

peeking out from underneath the covers

2008-10-06T13:22:00.001-07:00

it's been a rough couple of weeks for myself & vrock.

so much so that i've literally felt like climbing under the covers and hiding until everything gets better. i know that approach rarely works but it does sound so appealing.

a lot's been going on. from a snafu with our insurance (cleared up now, thank God, but we're going to have to change insurance at the beginning of the year so that i can keep a hold of my sanity), to finding out vrock definitely needs surgery, to dancing the financial line of "do we have to move or can we figure out a way to stay here?" it's been a roller coaster ride, and not the GOOD kind.

the economy sucks. financial markets are crashing left & right. the election is 29 days away so of course the commercials are getting nastier and nastier. all in all, that sounds to me like the PERFECT time to take to my bed for an extended period of time. too bad life doesn't work like that.

and the verdict is in

2008-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

and that verdict is:

SURGERY

ugh. even though we were 99% sure that was what the doctor was going to say, it's never what you want to hear.

so it's scheduled for the 15th. which means that i get a day off in the middle of the week (yay!) but it also means that my husband is going under general anesthesia for the surgery (boo!).

keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and that this will resolve his sinus problems.

big game hunter

2008-09-30T10:45:00.001-07:00

this is bob. he is the absolute sweetest cat i think i've ever owned. he's big (15 pounds) but he's not fat at all and he always wants to play. he can be needy (especially if his "person" vrock isn't home) but over all he's a great cat. as a rule we do not let him or his sister gabby outside.

once we moved to the apartment, vrock started leaving the back door open to the patio when he was outside to see if bob would come outside. he now goes outside only if one of us is on the patio. (we have quite a few dogs in our apartment complex, so i am adamant about not letting the cat out if we're not out there to keep an eye on him.)since he's sort of gotten used to going outside he'll now sit at the back door and really look out. he doesn't really try to go out often.

well, last night my sweet boy wanted to go outside. BADLY. i was in on the computer and since vrock had been sent home from work because he was sick, he was sitting in the living room watching the football game. he called me over to look at our cat. he was pacing back and forth and trying to get outside. (the glass sliding door was open but the screen was closed.) it was obvious he wanted to get outside. and at first we couldn't figure out why. then we saw it: a little white mouse was on the patio. and bob could see it. and he wanted to get to it. i don't think he wanted to kill it. the cat has ALWAYS been an indoor cat and as such does not have ANY experience with anything other than bugs & spiders. i think he was just interested in it because it was moving and it didn't seem to care AT ALL that this big furry 15 pound cat wanted to get at it.

and THAT was the funniest part about the whole thing. here bob is running back and forth between our bedroom and the back door (our window sills in the bedrooms are very low to the ground to where bob can sit on them and look at the patio) so he could "track" the mouse's movement. vrock was just about in hysterics and kept asking me if he should let bob out. um, negative ghost writer.

that's all i need. for my "big game hunter" of a cat to take off after this mouse once it does start running. no thanks!

now i ask you, does this look like a "big game hunter" to you? me neither.

today's the day

2008-09-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

vrock finally gets to go see the specialist today about his chronic sinus infections. i'm at work, so i won't be going with him to ask all the questions i want answers to. damn. i did talk to vrock last night about the main things i wanted answered, so hopefully he remembers to ask those, at least.

we're both figuring that he's going to have to have surgery. what we don't know is the following:

1. will he have to be put completely under? if so, will he need me to stay home that day to "watch" him for the first 24 hours after surgery?

2. how long will he HAVE to be out from work? he just started this job last week and they sent him home last night because on top of all his sinus issues, we think he's getting a cold too.

3. when can he have the surgery? if he hadn't already promised his brother that he'd feed their damn dogs from the 3rd to the 13th, he could do it this friday without too much disruption of our lives. as it is, he did promise so it would be a major hassle to try to do it this weekend. then, next friday, my brother & his girlfriend are coming up for the weekend from california. THEN, on the 25th we have the uw vs. notre dame football game. so, you see the dilemma. right now the IDEAL weekend would be the 17th. hopefully that's an option because we don't want to push it too far out. and if he is getting a cold, they probably won't want to operate until that passes.

his appointment is at 1:15 and it's only 9:37 here. so i'll have to hang out all day and wait to hear from him, hopefully around 2 about what the verdict is.

have i mentioned that patience is NOT my strong suit?? ugh!

so NOT the way to get me to do something

2008-09-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

have you ever had one of those "friends"? maybe someone you knew casually or someone that you worked with but didn't socialize with outside of work?

i have one of those. someone that i USED to work with. someone who i was friendly enough with while we were working together, but not someone i'd consider a "friend" friend, if you know what i mean. i've never seen her outside of the work environment. we don't talk on the phone. we don't meet for lunch. she's an acquaintance. i don't dislike her by any means. we just don't hang out.

she's moving to las vegas next month. she had twins about a year - year and a half ago, on her own. she gets season tickets to the seattle mariners every year and usually when i hear from her it's as part of a mass mailing trying to sell tickets that she can't use.

so i got an email from her (not just to me, mind you) stating that she needed some help with her garage sale this weekend and with another one she has planned for 10/11 - 10/12 for anything she doesn't want to take that's left over after she packs up the moving van. i'm still unpacking from our move and my weekends have become my refuge. MY time. yes, it's time i share with vrock. he IS my husband after all. (and with him starting his new job this week, i've barely seen him as he's going in as i'm getting home and i go to bed right after he gets home.) i very occassionally will do something with a friend on the weekend. this saturday vrock will be going over to his brother's to watch the texas football game & then coming home sometime on sunday (i think before the cowboy game). which means i essentially have saturday to myself.

in theory i could go and help out at the garage sale. and i MIGHT have done just that. (another gal that we worked with, who i ADORE and who actually traveled down to vegas from seattle for my wedding, is going to go help out and i haven't seen her since june.)

except for this: "So, I beg…If you are my friend, can you please help on one of these days?"

if you are my friend? what?!?! i barely know this woman. it's not like we became real friends from working together and hang out all the time. or EVER! it just really rubbed me the wrong way. could i go and help her out? yeah, i probably could, even though i've been making a concerted effort to not drive around too much. (my car was doing some weird things a little while back and while it hasn't happened in about 1000 miles, i don't like to drive it very far.) one, gas is still expensive. two, she lives about 25 miles away. that roundtrip would take at least 1/4 tank of gas. three, even though vrock is working it's not a lot of money per hour and he won't get paid until next week for this week so money is really tight right now.

and of course, there's always the fourth reason: i don't like to be "guilted" into doing something. it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. and seriously. the only people who i let get away with that are my mother, vrock (although he wisely doesn't try it often) and a few choice friends. real friends.

you know, the kind you'd go to jail for.

seriously?!?!?!?!?

2008-09-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

beware. rant ahead!

ok. i know that people magazine is an "entertainment" rag. i know that the majority of the stories they cover relate in some way, shape or form to the celebrity industry.

but.

a COVER story of clay aiken outing himself??

not only is it NOT news that he prefers men but there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it to be the COVER story. i suppose "technically" it's a story because he's never admitted it before. fine. then have a little blurb in the magazine with the details. fine.

but a cover? seriously?

i guess there was absolutely NO other newsworthy stories out of hollyweird last week.

*i could care less if he's gay/straight/crooked/green/purple/whatever. i believe that whatever preference someone has is their own business & it's not for me to judge. i'm just incredulous that not only was this deemed a "big" story but that it was deemed important enough to put on the cover. aren't there other more important things going on in the world right now???

at last!

2008-09-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

vrock has had a chronic sinus infection since thanksgiving last year. every time he gets on antibiotics it goes away. until, of course, he stops taking them. then it's back. it's not completely awful every day as far as the symptoms go. some days he feels just fine. then there are the other days.

the other days usually start out with him feeling fine. then he gets the sniffles. no matter how often he blows his nose, it still feels like a "worm" is in his nasal cavity. (from what he tells me anyway.) sometimes it progresses to the point where it makes him sick to his stomach and he becomes physically ill. sometimes it makes him unable to eat. it ALWAYS puts him in a bad mood. i understand this, truly i do. but thankfully i won't have to deal with it too much longer.

he has an appointment on tuesday with the specialist to determine once and for all if he needs to have surgery, or as i like to call it "roto-rooter of the nose". we are both anticipating that he will indeed need surgery. he had his ct scan last week and his primary doctor referred him back to the specialist. (we saw the specialist over the summer at a cost of $400 to us. he told us that without the scan he couldn't really tell us if surgery was the way to go. DUH! but we had to wait until the new insurance from my job kicked in before he could go get the scan done.) so, it's looking like there is at least 1 day in my future where i get to play taxi & nurse to vrock, if only for the day of surgery.

in related news, while i'm thankful that i work for a large corporation that treats is employees very well, i've been VERY frustrated at the incompetence of a member of the hr team. see, i've worked for this company before. so i knew when i started exactly when my insurance would kick in. (9/1) knowing this, and knowing which plan i wanted to sign up for, i immediately filled out my medical benefits so that i wouldn't have to remember to do it before such and such a date. so i signed up in the MIDDLE OF JULY for my benefits. you can then understand why i was surprised that when i called the insurance carrier last week to get our member id numbers (something the specialist's office said they HAD TO HAVE in order to schedule vrock's appointment) that they had NO RECORD of the new plan. excuse me? so i called the hr deparment and they ASSURED me that the information would be going to the insurance company the next day and that the insurance company would then have the info in their system between 3-5 business days later. (this was on the 15th.) fine.

i started calling on the 18th to get the info i needed because the specialist actually had an opening on the 30th. i called EVERY day to check in to see if we'd been uploaded into the system. finally after yesterday's "i'm sorry but i only see the information from the last time you had a plan with us" i was pissed off. i asked them why it was taking so long to get this into the system? i had been told that the information had been sent LAST WEEK! basically i asked her "wtf?" she said that if the info had been sent, it would be in the system by now. you see where i'm going with this? i then called hr and the gal there was very helpful but what she told me was anything but. i'm sure you've guessed by now that the person i talked to last week? the one who ASSURED me that my info was being sent on the 16th? DIDN'T SEND IT! so we effectively lost a week's worth of time where vrock could have had his appointment made. i was, understandably, less than pleased. (and if you saw my facebook status, you saw how displeased i was.)

the new gal assured me that the info would get sent over yesterday and that she'd have her manager call me to let me know when it had been sent. i get the call that it's been sent and wait a bit to call the insurance company. by the time i call them, they have the info i need and i'm able to relate it to vrock. finally! someone who DOES WHAT THEY SAY! brilliant!

so i'm getting ready to leave for the day and i call vrock on my way up to the bus stop. i ask him if he was able to get his appointment set and am prepared to hear that now he has to wait until mid october or something to get his appointment. (this specialist has 2 offices and is not always in the one closest to us.) his response?

"yeah. they had ALREADY scheduled me for an appointment on the 30th at 1:15."

so, yeah. i went through all of that for NOTHING. they'd scheduled him even though they SPECIFICALLY told him that they would NOT schedule without the insurance information.

bastards.

my ipod's in love with huey lewis

2008-09-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

my office is notoriously quiet. so much so, that the other assistant and i are always asking each other if the sound from our ipod docks is too loud. because it is difficult for me to function in dead quiet i always have my ipod with me at work and running, typically on shuffle. among the first things i do when i get in every morning is to plug the ipod into the speaker docking thing i have at my desk.

friday was no different. i got in. plugged the ipod in and settled down to listen to whatever random song out of the 7,826 that are on there that ipod chose for me that moment. i then went on with my morning routine and was going along on auto pilot. after a while, i realize there is no music playing. wtf? i look over at the docking station and the screen on my ipod is still lit up with "now playing" and all the song info. the counter at the bottom though? the one that shows how much time has elapsed on the song and how much is left? is stuck at "0:00". it's not moving. there's no sound. hmmmm.

so i take the ipod off the docking station and try to turn it off. nothing. ok. i hold it up to my ear and can hear it humming. it is also CLICKING. that doesn't sound good. i can't afford a new ipod, so i'm freaking out that this one is broken. (it's a 4th generation ipod classic. a 40gb one that apple doesn't even MAKE anymore. i bought it used on ebay back in 2005 and i LOVE it.) it won't do anything. won't turn off. won't put out any sound. so i let it sit for a bit. finally, in response to all my frantic button pushing it turns off. i let it sit for an hour or so. reset it and try it out again. same thing. no sound. clicking & humming. won't turn off. SHIT!

by this time, i'm looking up online how much a new one is ($225-$250). trying to figure out if we can afford a new one (we can't.) or if i can figure something out to tide me over until christmas, where hopefully i can get my parents/vrock/my brother to go in on a new one for me. (that's a possibility.) in a fit of inspiration i remember that before i got the docking station so that i could use my ipod at work, i had used launchcast radio from yahoo to listen to music at work. so at least i'm covered for the day and am not sitting in complete silence. (i'm extremely spoiled by tivo and satellite/internet radio/ipod listening in that i HATE to listen to/watch commercials anymore.) i get home friday and reset it again. it still won't play. so i plug it into itunes and restore it (which wipes everything off of it). then i try to re-install my entire music library. i had a dear friend over friday night and so i just plugged it in and let it sit.

by saturday morning, itunes said that the ipod had been re-synced. i took it off the docking station and it had 200+ songs on it. um, hello? that's a far cry from the 7,826 songs that SHOULD be on there if, in fact, it had completely re-synced. well crap. but, at least now it's actually playing. i tried a few more times to reload the songs, but it just wasn't working. we were going to the mall anyway later that afternoon, so i took it with us so that i could take it to the apple store and see if they could tell me what was wrong with it. (of course by now it's actually playing just fine. figures.) so after much waiting around, they run some diagnostics on it and can't really find anything wrong with it. it's not clicking anymore (which some suggested sounded like a hard drive in the beginning throes of dying) and it seems to be playing the music just fine.

they told me that i'd done all the correct things and to keep an eye on it. we got home and i was able to reload all of my music onto it and it would still play. yay!

the big test was today when i got to work. (i don't listen to it on the bus, so i don't carry my earphones with it.) i plugged it in, put it on shuffle and held my breath. and? other than a love affair with huey lewis & the news (there are only 21 songs out of 7,826 on there and i've heard at least 3-4 of them in the last 4+ hours!!) it seems to be working just fine. whew!

keep your fingers crossed, k?

i guess i looked like a heathen

2008-09-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

something odd happened to me the other day that i've been meaning to write about but haven't gotten around to it until today.

i take the bus to work since my work will pay for my pass and since gas was so outrageously expensive when i started a few months ago. which means that every morning i either drive or my husband drops me off at the park and ride that is about 10 minutes from our apartment. part of why i like riding the bus is that it means i get to read on the way to and from work. (which means i don't have to find time to read after i get home.) it also means that i have at least 45 minutes extra in the morning to wake up fully by the time i get to work. i also don't have to pay attention to anything or anybody else on the road. all in all, a win-win situation for me. (i am NOT a morning person, so having this extra time to wake up is great for me.)

that being said, i usually don't talk much to people at the bus stop or once i'm on the bus past "good morning". so the other day i'm standing there waiting for the bus. i'm half asleep, as usual. as i'm standing there yawning and generally trying to wake up, a woman walks up. she says good morning, so i say good morning, fully intending to leave it at that. then she launches into her spiel about what do i think God's plan is for the government, etc. WTF? it's barely 7:15 in the morning, i'm half asleep and you're asking me about God at the bus stop of the park & ride? i tend to do my best to not be rude to people, even if i DESPERATELY want to be rude to them. i mean, come on. i was raised that you don't talk politics OR religion in polite company. EVER. and this stranger wants to talk BOTH before i'm even awake? um, NO.

(let me say this: i believe in God. i'm just not one of those people that will start a conversation with a total stranger and start espousing the wonders of what God has done for me in my life. it's just not who i am or what i do. does that make me a bad person? does it make others doubt my belief? i don't think so. and i think that the people who DO think that may not be the brightest crayons in the box. i have a relationship with God that i don't ever feel the need to justify/define for other peoples satisfaction.)

i was polite. we chatted a bit. i told her i'd grown up catholic. that while i didn't read the bible as often as i probably should, i generally enjoyed it when i did. she wanted to give me some pamphlets which i politely declined. mercifully my bus showed up then and i had to go. as i got on the bus i looked out the window. i was wondering if she was going to accost someone else and get their take on who should run "God's government". and? apparently i was the ONLY heathen at the bus stop that morning, because she was walking back towards the parking lot to her car. wtf??

unpacking

2008-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

so my office moved from the 40th floor to the 39th floor over the weekend. this means that i spent the majority of last week packing and tossing stuff out. the movers came in on friday and moved everything that we had packed up and labeled.

which means this week? i get to unpack almost all of the crap i packed up last week. which also means that i'll be all hot and sweaty (and most likely sore if yesterday was ANY indication) for the remainder of the week. ugh.

on the good news front, vrock got a job last week! it's part time for now, but it's with a great company and we're optimistic that he may be able to get another part time job to supplement. if that happens, the chances of us having to move in with my folks goes down, which would be awesome. we love my parents but, being newlyweds and all, don't really want to move in with them and put all of our stuff in storage. so if you wouldn't mind keeping your fingers crossed? that would be awesome!

now that i'm not all hot and sweaty (for the moment anyways) it's time to resume the unpacking!

life of the wife

2008-09-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

so it's been almost 5 months since we got married. people still ask me if anything is different. or "how" is being married different than being engaged.

for us? it's not really different at all. my last name changed. that was about all though. and even that was a fairly painless transition. it was weird, to refer to myself by a different last name after 36 years of being "me". but i'm pretty much used to it. i liken it to how when the new year turns the calendar and you REALLY pay attention to the date when you have to write it out so that you don't write the old year. then, about 6 months in, you have a total brain fart and write the old year. it happens. almost every year without fail. i'm still waiting for it to happen when someone asks me for my last name. lol.

granted, there are places i have not been to since we got married. which means that there are still places (like the dentist) who still have all my information under my maiden name. which is fine, but a little weird sometimes.

for example, this morning i had to call and make an appointment to take my car in for some work. i'm taking it to the dealership i bought it from 10 years ago (almost 11 now) and everything was still under my old name. no big deal.

the weird thing was this: i've almost been married long enough that it's weird to think of my old last name as having been my name.

the fair & the concert

2008-09-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

so i'll apologize now for the plethora of photos in this post. sorry!

ok, now that that's over......let's continue with our story.

after the the debacle that was the beginning of vrock's birthday, we definitely needed a low key day at the fair.

the salem fair is just like the local fair we have here in seattle. it did have some "oregon touches" to it, but for the most part, it has what you'll find at any fair on the planet: animals, rides, games, exhibits and FOOD. (and let's face it. unless you have a child in 4h or ffa OR there's a band you're just dying to see, you go to the fair primarily for the food.) i've lived in the seattle area for 22 of my 37 years and therefore am VERY familiar with the layout of my local fairgrounds. it's not like it changes much from year to year. the salem fair? no IDEA where anything is. so once we got there, we picked up the little book they were handing out at the gate so we could look at the map. neither one of us was super hungry yet, so we looked up the most important thing to us at the moment: where was POISON playing that night?

once we had determined where the venue was, we started taking in the sights. now, i've been to a lot of fairs but i'd never been to one that boasted the "world's largest pig" (or something along those lines). so we paid the 50 cents per person to climb the stairs of the trailer to see this "big pig". i'll let you be the judge of if this is, in fact, the world's largest pig:

it's definitely A LOT of bacon standing there!! this was taken with absolutely no zoom on my camera and while i couldn't get very far away from him due to the size of the trailer, i couldn't get ALL of him in the frame. crazy!

then of course, i had to take the picture that my husband wanted. feel free to avert your eyes.

after the pig, we went looking for something to eat. vrock has been going ON & ON about the food at the texas state fair and all that so i was happily surprised that he found what he wanted to eat at the salem fair. of course he went for food on a stick. (at least i THINK it was on a stick. i didn't really look closely.) he was overjoyed to find out that they had fire roasted corn on the cob and wasted NO time at all in getting himself an ear. i wasn't hungry yet so we wandered around some more.

it was his birthday and he wanted to go on some rides, so we did. we went on an octopus type ride, a flying type of ride and the ever so scary haunted house ride. other than a little boy sitting behind us, we were the only ones on the ride. so i pulled out my camera and took some photos. they turned out pretty well, if i do say so myself.

after the rides i was finally hungry. so we wandered around the "food court" area and looked at our choices. i'm not sure why we did that since everyone knows that the absolute FIRST thing you must eat at the fair is a corn dog! which of course, is why there was a HUGE line at the ONLY corn dog cart in the place. (who plans these things??) so while we're waiting in line, we notice the signage the have sitting outside this cart. and we promptly did what anyone would have done. we took a picture of it. then? we took pictures WITH it. (i've looked at these photos again and again and i'm sorry. this sign is just SO WRONG in so many different ways! i suppose that's what makes it hysterically funny to me.)

after we were done eating we went to look at the animals. we still had a lot of time to kill before the concert so i figured that would eat up some time. we were on our way to look at the horses when we walked through this little section that had "things indigenous to oregon" in it. among those things? a waterfall with a stuffed bear. of course, we had to take a photo. (what? you expected less? i think this is my favorite photo of vrock from that day, although the ones from the concert run a close second.)

then it was on to the stables. we wandered around looking at all sorts of farm life, ending up with the horses. where, of course, my husband just started reaching into the stables and petting the horses.

finally it was concert time.

we went in right when the doors opened at 7 since i wanted to look and see if they had tshirts and stuff for sale. (they did.) once we got our shirts & shot glass, we went to find our seats. we'd been walking around for 6 -7 hours and i was glad to sit down for a stretch. we were enjoying the people watching (we had pretty good seats) and listening to the music they had playing to pump the crowd up. (i know that they do this at all concerts, but i found it WAY amusing that they had guns'n'roses and bon jovi playing before the poison concert.) finally it was time for the show to start. let me say, having never seen poison before, that i was impressed with the show they put on. i was not, however, impressed with the length of said show. it was a $40 ticket (and we weren't even on the floor) and they played for 90 minutes. hell. i got a longer show from weird al earlier in the week at my local fair. other than that, the show was great. it mostly consisted of their big hits, which was to be expected. we did take some pictures, but it was so dark in there that none of them really came out of the stage. maybe if we'd been on the floor they would have, but oh well. the photos of us came out just fine. even if i do look sorta zombie like:

so there you have it. the story of our trip in 3 parts. the trip home was delayed (stupid fire on the train tracks!) and we were both exhausted. but overall we had a great time. and? my husband TOTALLY owes me an awesome birthday next year. hopefully i won't get in a fight.

weekend rehash continued....

2008-09-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

so let me pick up where i left off.

i'd given vrock his kick ass birthday gift and all was right with the world. we had cake. he couldn't stop looking at the tickets. it was all good.

we decided to go downstairs to the bar and see if we couldn't find some food along with a few refreshing beverages. we get down there and notice that they have a wii set up in the bar. score! we have a wii and love it, so we were excited about the prospect of maybe getting to play. it took a bit to get our drinks and after looking over the menu, we weren't really interested in the food.

by this time, 3 women had descended upon the wii, but they had no idea how to maneuver the main menu to get it to do what they wanted. we talked to them a bit and showed them how to set up the bowling & vrock ended up playing with them. they seemed really cool and told us that they were working a kettlecorn tent at the fair. i watched for a little bit, but i was exhausted and i headed up to bed about halfway through the first game. i figured that vrock would play 1 game, maybe 2 and then come upstairs himself. i got up to the room, got ready for bed and crashed. it was maybe 1am.

3 hours later, my cell rings. it's vrock, asking what our room number is because he can't remember. i tell him and hear the door open a few moments later. (he remembered the floor #, just not the room #) immediately, even though i'm half asleep, i know there's something big time wrong. he's overly emotional. WAY pissed off but also on the verge of tears. i'm wide awake now, asking him what is going on.

before i tell the story, i need to note that vrock is NOT a violent man. AT ALL. he's (as he likes to say) "fun sized", meaning that he's roughly 5 51/2 and 140 pounds. that being said, here's the story i heard:

after playing wii for a bit, the women decided they wanted to go across the street to their hotel. (i know what you're thinking. why did he go?) while i agree that this was a fundamentally stupid thing to do, i also know that there was absolutely NO WAY that anything untoward was going to happen. that's just NOT who vrock is. anyway, they apparently told him that they knew the bartender or whatever across the street and that they could probably get a bottle from the bar. (remember, i had been asleep and jolted out of sleep at 4am to hear this story. for reasons you'll understand once you read this, we haven't really gone back and rehashed the story, so forgive me if this retelling is a little choppy.) so they went. somewhere along the line a big black man had joined them. (according to vrock, he had been in the bar at our hotel, but i never saw him.) no big deal. across the street they go. get their bottle and somehow gain access to the pool across the street.

they go in the pool and vrock keeps his distance from them, close enough to have conversation, but spending most of his time in the hot tub. he's apparently been having a conversation with the youngest of the women and she says something to the effect of how one of the other women gets her "closer to God." now, the next words that come out of my husband's mouth would have been better off left unsaid. however, i don't know that that would have made ANY difference in what transpired next.

vrock says "what? is she your cult leader or something?" granted, a VERY stupid thing to say at any time. let alone when you don't know these people at all and alcohol is involved. bygones. the woman in question starts freaking the fuck out and getting in vrock's face. he argues back with her (something about politics & religion) and decides it's time to go. meanwhile, the other guy has been hanging around watching all of this. i'm not sure if he went in the pool or not, but by the time vrock is out, dude is having words with vrock.

out of nowhere (remember, as this is told to me. i have no first hand knowledge of what went down, but i also have absolutely NO reason to doubt vrock) dude punches vrock in the back of the head. he then PICKS vrock up and THROWS him to the ground. (dude must have outweighed vrock by 100 pounds, or more.) luckily, a plastic chair broke vrock's fall so he wasn't thrown completely to the ground. that small miracle kept vrock from getting seriously injured. it also enabled him to get up and start throwing punches. (something that dude did not figure on.) apparently he knocked dude to the ground and then just snapped. (he's always gotten picked on and "pushed around" because of his size and because people erroneously think that he can't defend himself. he always holds himself in check because he's not a violent person. but he knows how to defend himself and he will if he's pushed to it.) he told me details i won't share here, but suffice it to say that he didn't let dude get back up. and then, he did what i would have done initially. he ran.

by the time he's done with his story, i'm speechless. i have no experience in what to say or even what he wants me to say. i'm afraid. for him, for us. i don't know how badly he may have hurt that dude. granted, it was self defense, but still. i'm in shock. it was ugly. it was BAD. and i'm freaked out.

mostly because we're going to possibly run into these women at the fair the next day (we didn't) and if we did, i had no idea WHAT would happen. it was not a great moment, as you can imagine. even in this retelling, i'm freaking out a bit. as it turns out, nothing else came of it other than a very large and ugly purple bruise on vrock's side. we did see the women at the fair the next day, but they didn't see us, so there was no confrontation. thank God. i honestly don't know what i would have done if it had come to that.

happy fucking birthday, huh?

anyways, there's the "drama" portion of our show. stay tuned. next i'll tell you about how awesome the fair & concert were.

exhausted & confused

2008-09-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

ok, maybe not confused. but definitely still exhausted! what a long weekend! it was great for the most part. there were some drama filled moments, but other than that it was great!

we left seattle on friday afternoon on the train down to salem, oregon. vrock had never been on a train before and it's always been on his "list". so we could have just ridden the train all weekend and that would have been present enough for him.

we got in a little later than anticipated and after waiting 30 minutes for the shuttle to pick us up, ended up calling a cab to take us to the hotel. (we got a receipt and the hotel reimbursed us for the cab ride.) we went up to the room and after settling in a bit, i gave vrock his birthday gift.

now, i need to give you a little back story in order for you to understand WHY this particular gift meant so much to him. vrock is a born & raised texas boy. he's a die hard texas fan (stars/rangers/cowboys/longhorns/etc.) but he also grew up watching the notre dame fighting irish football team. he's been to see just about ALL of his teams of choice (not including some of his favorite hockey teams) but he has never had the chance to see notre dame in person. when i found out that my beloved washington huskies were hosting the irish this year, the first thing i did was go online to find out if there were tickets available. (we went to a uw-usc game last year and had a blast, so i was hoping i'd be able to score tickets to this game.) predictably, the university web site only had scattered singles. so i went to my friend, stubhub.com and looked there. they had tickets! in roughly the same area we sat last year, which was AWESOME. so i bought them.

then, i proceeded to tell my wonderful husband that "hey! notre dame is coming to play the huskies this year! but, they're sold out. so i guess we get to watch it on tv." (i know, i know. i'm a sneaky little shit, aren't i?) i knew he'd be excited and maybe even freak out a bit. i was right. :) he was, overwhelmed seems like the right word. shocked, maybe? all i know is that he started tearing up, which made me tear up. and i believe the first words out of his mouth (after "holy shit! these are irish tickets!) were "how am i going to top this??"

he was so shocked, he didn't even see the cake i had had delivered to our room prior to check in!

there is more to this story, but i need to get some work done so i'll write more later. i haven't even gotten to the "drama" portion of our weekend.

hey! it's friday! (finally!!)

2008-08-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

so this afternoon vrock & i are taking our long anticipated trip down to salem for the weekend.

i can't wait!

here's what i'm looking forward to:

giving vrock his birthday present & seeing the look on his face

seeing his face when we get to the room & he sees the surprise there

seeing poison in concert tomorrow night

getting away for a few days with my hubby & best friend

hope everyone has a great weekend!

is it friday yet?

2008-08-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

it's not that i don't enjoy being at work. i do. i mean, that's where i get the most of my internet surfing time. it's just that this weekend we're going out of town.

here are the reasons why i'm itching for it to be friday:

we're taking the train and vrock's NEVER been on a train. frankly, he's more excited about that than he is about the fact that we're seeing poison on his birthday.

and? it's vrock's birthday on saturday.

and? we're seeing poison in concert & going somewhere neither of us has been. (salem, oregon for those that want to know.)

and? not only am i having a birthday cake awaiting us at the hotel when we check in, but i also have a FABULOUS present to give him. so i'm ready for it to be friday already. so i can enjoy the surprised look on his face.

and trust me. i WILL get a photo of the surprise. maybe not when he sees the cake, as i'm not exactly sure when that will get to us. it's supposed to be in our room when we check in, but it might be delivered shortly thereafter. that reminds me. i need to make sure to pack some tupperware or something to bring the leftover cake home. :)

my husband gave me a box of cheese its for my birthday...

2008-08-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

you read that correctly.

cheese its. for my birthday present.

now, to be fair, i did WANT cheese its. have been craving them, in fact. i just didn't want them for my birthday present.

truthfully, vrock does A LOT for me. little things, big things. he does it all. i get the feeling that sometimes he feels like he doesn't do enough though. which is just silly. but sometimes, he does tend to lean more to the "overboard" side than not.

take this birthday for example. last year, he gave me a beautiful wool peacoat from victoria's secret. true, i didn't actually receive the coat until sometime in february of this year, but it wasn't his fault that the coat was on backorder for so long. this year? i got my presents early. one (the wii fit that i asked for), i got at the beginning of the month. the rest? last night. 2 days before my birthday. and not because I wanted them early. no. but because he was just DYING to give them to me. it was rather cute, actually. like a little kid who can't keep a secret and HAS to tell you what it is.

so this year has been rough. between us both being unemployed (sometimes at the same time), getting married and dealing with various illnesses, we've been more stressed out than normal. and i think he felt the need to try to compensate for that. so here's what i got:

1 $50 gift card to the cheesecake factory
1 snowglobe of a married couple
1 "you rock" magnet for the fridge
1 wii fit (previously given)
and
1 box of cheese its

what? you thought i was kidding about the cheese its??

weekend plans

2008-08-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

so this weekend we have a surprise party to go to. for one of my dearest friends 30th birthday.

vrock is happy because this means that we're actually GOING OUT. as in, out of the house and not only to run errands or go to my parent's for dinner.

real live going out. where we'll have to pay for drinks. and we can play darts. you know. things we can't do when we stay at home. for FREE.

it's not that i don't enjoy going out. it's just that with finances being what they've been the last few months, we don't go out very often. we don't order dinner. we just haven't had any extra money floating around. it's been like that for a lot of people. i'm a homebody by nature, so it hasn't really affected me all that much. it doesn't bother me to stay home and veg out.

but tomorrow we're going out.

wonder if vrock will have a heart attack if i go all out and wear make-up?

hump day

2008-08-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

i don't know what it is about wednesdays, but they're almost the best day of the week for me.

it's not easier to get up on wednesdays. but it seems that the work day goes by a little faster than it does on monday & tuesday.

it's almost the weekend and that's always a good thing. don't get me wrong, fridays are still my favorite day of the week, but wednesdays are running a close second.

hallelujah! it's working!

2008-08-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

so i tried to post on friday. i typed the whole entry up, hit "publish". and exactly nothing happened.

blogger, it seems, was on the fritz.

i looked today while i was at work and this screen? the create a post screen? was all kinds of screwed up. wtf?

so what did i do instead of blogging today? i did research. you would think that by "doing research" i'd mean for something work related. you would be wrong.

vrock & i have been talking about the feasability of attending the vancouver 2010 olympics. it's only going to be about 5-6 hours away. we could take the train (for CHEAP!) and if we were able to get a hotel room with a kitchenette? we wouldn't have to spends mass quantities of money on food. plus, how cool would it be to actually get to go to an olympics? it will, most likely be the closest one ever to us, unless seattle gets awarded one down the road. we'd get to go to another country. (yes, i've been to canada once before, but it was 1986, for expo 86 and i was in high school, so i didn't get to do anything cool.) and since we didn't go on a honeymoon, i'm guessing that this could be a suitable alternative.

even if it will be almost 2 years that we'll have been married by the time it rolls around.

now, if he only gets the job he interviewed for today, we can start putting a chunk of money away for this "rainy day". wish us luck.

randomness

2008-08-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

i've already successfully wasted over half of my work day doing nothing. part of me is perversely pleased at that.

the other part? wants it to be 4:30 already so that i can get on the bus and dive back into my new book.

boredom

2008-08-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

i suppose i shouldn't complain too much that i'm bored at work. after all, i'm getting paid to surf the net right now. that beats not getting paid.

but it gets SO boring after awhile. luckily for me, my boss is pretty awesome and i get paid for 8 hours even if i am only here for 7. which is nice. i know that down the road when i'm NOT bored, i'll long for these days where i didn't have anything to do with my work time. it always happens that way.

i just wish i had more of a balance right now. that would rock.

day 5 & still loving it

2008-08-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

the wii fit, that is. it's rather amazing, actually.

i HATE to excercise. seriously. i loathe it. i don't know why, that's just the way i am. but, the wii fit? doesn't SEEM like excercise. yes, you get your heart rate up and yes, you do sweat. but the entertainment factor? makes it seem like it's just a game and not actual fitness. whoever came up with this idea is a genius. seriously. nintendo should give this person whatever they want. which is probably why i love it so much that when the "fit bank" hits 45 minutes i'm all "what? 45 minutes already?"

if it continues to entertain me, i may actually stick with some sort of fitness routine for a change. and that? would make me very happy. and, i guess, fit. go figure.

the first birthday as a wife

2008-08-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

so my birthday is coming up. traditionally, i don't like to have a "big deal" made of my birthday, because, after all, it's just a day. if someone asks me what i want as a gift, i usually say "i don't know". not that i'm trying to be difficult or anything. i just don't usually want something that is within the range of whoever is asking.

for example? i WANT a new computer, a job for my husband, a HD television roughly 40+ inches. i don't expect anyone to purchase those things for me, even if they were a joint gift to vrock & myself. (another reason i love my husband. his birthday is 7 days after mine. it's almost impossible for him to forget my birthday.) sure. there are things that i WANT. unfortunately for me, most of those things are so out of the birthday present range that i usually say that there's nothing i need. which, is mostly true. i DO "need" for my husband to find a job. unfortunately i don't know that many people that have the capability to give that kind of gift.

so when vrock asked me what i wanted for my birthday, i had a ready reply. i wanted a wii fit. we've had a wii for a while. it's awesome. all kinds of crazy games, most of which we enjoy playing together. we even kill zombies together! i tell you, this is a GREAT relationship! lol. so, since my dad works under an umbrella of best buy, and i KNOW how much of a pain it was to find the wii zapper around christmas in the seattle area, i asked my dad (he was going to california for work) to see if he could find a wii fit down there. he did. and even though my birthday isn't for 2.5 weeks, i got my present on saturday. and holy mother, it's HARD to do some of these "excercises". but? it's also FUN! and if you're even a little bit competitive? look out. you'll have excercised for 40+ minutes without realizing it. i was very pleasantly surprised.

my husband gets big points for my wii fit! it's a good thing that i already have his present all picked out for his birthday. luckily, i think it will top even the wii fit.

becoming acclimated to newlywed status

2008-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

so we've been married for just over 3 months. and other than dealing with job issues (mostly lack of jobs for most of those months) things are going great. we haven't had a big fight (we argue on occassion, but that's about it) and when one of us is sick (it's ususally me) the other one steps it up and takes care of everything. i'm a very lucky woman to have found my equal in my husband. he is an amazing partner for me and i'm not just saying that because he does most of the cooking. that's part of it, of course. lol. but overall, i think all of my friends actually like my husband.

you know there's always a friend (or two) where you look at her relationship with her man and you just can't figure out how that works? we are not one of those couples. we work because we're total dorks and can be TOTAL DORKS together. joyfully we found this out quite early in our relationship. within 2 weeks of our first date we were finishing each others sentences like an old married couple. instead of calling each other "dear" or "honey" or "sweetheart", we use "fucker". as in.... "i love you fucker". there is always humor when we speak to each other and it makes us not take ourselves too seriously. we can remember that what drew us together in the first place was our personalities and our goofiness.

in fact, my best friend from high school came to vegas for the wedding in april and met vrock for the first time. after meeting him and talking to him for a bit, she looked at me & said "he is PERFECT for you!" to which i said something along the lines of "DUH!" this is how compatible we are.

that doesn't mean that there won't be little bumps and things we need to get used to now that we're living together as man & wife. there are always small things one does that annoys the spouse and vice versa. but those things are minor. for which i'm eternally grateful. there was a long time when i never thought i was going to be lucky enough to marry my best friend. well, i did. and i'm overjoyed. he IS perfect for me. and together we make a good team.

now, if we could only stop getting funny looks when we look at each other and say "i love you, fucker!"

i suppose introductions need to be made...

2008-08-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

i am tbooty.

ok, that's obviously not my real name. it is, however a real nickname a friend (and now my husband) calls me. it's even the name of my avatar on our wii.

hubby is vrock.

we are newlyweds (3 months & counting) who met via the internet. i shit you not. we are a success story. not because we met online, but, perhaps, in spite of it.

we're extremely happy. still in the "afterglow" of getting married. i'm sure that everything will not always be wine & roses, but i got to marry my best friend, so i know it will be a great adventure.

and we're back

2008-07-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

i used to blog. a few years back i even had my own domain name and everything.

and then it all became too much for me. i needed a break.

and now, i feel like i need an outlet again.

even if it's just a place for me to vent about things that piss me off.