Monday, July 13, 2009

I smell like fish

My hands smell like fish :( I just spent the last 45 minutes washing and taking out bones from some bluegill. It wasn't gross, not like I figured it'd be, but now my hands smell like fish, and I already washed them with some extra-strength soap.
Kevin was fishing yesterday and caught himself a lot of bluegill. His buddy took some pictures of the ones he caught, and he had one that was as long as a Vault 20 oz bottle. He kept telling it was really big, since I don't know much about fish and he's never caught any that he's kept when I've been with him fishing, I really don't know if that's big, but I do believe him.
Yesterday, I went to the Hardin County fair to judge the small animals show. Unfortunately, no one showed up. 5 people had signed up, they told us earlier on that 3 of them weren't going to show up, and the other 2 never did either. My friend, Loretta, is the pet superintendent for the fair, and it's her job to find a judge, so she asked me. I was pretty nervous, but I was pretty interested and excited to do it too. It bummed me out I didn't get to judge.

I totally bummed myself out today. Kevin and I went to Boone, and I picked up a magazine about Okoboji, IA. I was reading it at work, and remembering things, and totally bummed myself out. When I was about 5 or maybe younger, my parents started taking my brother and I up to my grandparents condo on Lake Okoboji, I have so many memories of the 6 of us up there. I've seen so many pictures with my grandparents and I having fun. I remember one year, sometime after my grandparents stopped going, most of my extended family on my mother's side came up and stayed at a hotel/resort very near to our condo. I remember they had everyone in one room, people were sleeping on the floor, the beds, the patio, everywhere they could fit someone. I think, they surprised us, but I really don't know. Kevin and I went up there, the first year we were dating, we usually have a week, but both of us had to work on Tuesday, so we got there Saturday night/afternoon, and left Tuesday morning. I showed him as much of my childhood hangouts as I could stuff in those few days, and I'd love to go back with him. I told him last weekend, it would be really great if some year his parents, his brother and sister-in-law, nephew and Kevin and I went up there. I'm pretty sure they would all enjoy it, and there's something for everyone. From fishing and swimming in the lake, to the various restaurants, to the amusement park, to the mini golf places, to the places to shop. And most everything is within walking distance of our condo. I miss it so much when I can't go.

OK, now I'm getting a little nauseous, I sure hope it's not because of leaning over a sink washing fish for 45 minutes. I sure don't need to be sick tonight.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

I've got a pocketful of sunshine

OK, I forgot something. My mom was whining at me the other day about volunteering. Yesterday, she shows me a page in the newspaper about volunteer oppurtunities, and says how volunteering at the library isn't really doing anything for me. Silly me, I thought a person volunteered to help the community, yes it's a bonus if you get something else out of it, but the way she said it, it seemed like that's the only reason a person volunteered. Anyways, she showed me something to look into, which I did, and the person emailed me today, and said how for this opportunity, it was a year commitment, that I'd get about an $800 stipend a month, but that I wouldn't be able to work at any other jobs while doing it. I'm not quite sure I want to give up my 3 part-time jobs for a year and then come back to them. Especially the store I'm working at, I don't think my boss would appreciate that, "Can I leave for a year for this volunteer thing and then come back and work for you?" What's the guarantee I'm gonna get the jobs back? It also said something about vacation time, but what if I'm not able to get the 2 weeks for the Hawaii trip that we already have planned? How does that work, we're not gonna cancel because of it. I've already got the OK from the store job. It just doesn't seem to work. Yes, it would be nice to get that $800 a month, but how much would it screw up my current jobs/job connections to do it?

Falling in and out of love with you

I apologize profusely, I meant to write this on Monday.
I was all bummed I wasn't going to go to the Good Guys Car Show last weekend, but I did it to myself. When I learned that Kevin would get the 4th of July off this year, I asked if we could go, and he said yes. When I learned the 4th was on a Saturday, and he would get the whole weekend off, I told him we should go back to his parents place instead. A couple weeks ago, it looked like we wouldn't get to go because he'd be working. Friday morning in his message, he asked me if I was working that night. I wasn't quite sure if that meant he didn't have to work just that night, or if our plans were back on for the weekend. I called him after work on Friday, and he said he had the weekend off and asked if I wanted to go home with him, to which I gladly sad yes.
We left about 10pm that night. I just packed up and left, didn't tell my parents, didn't really care if they knew or not. Yesterday, I was talking to mom on the phone and she said I should have told them, because for all they knew I was kidnapped on my way from work. I was thinking, if you were worried, you could have called, which they didn't do all weekend, I think she just wanted me to feel guilty for not telling them. Not like it's any of their business what my schedule is. I don't live with them, it's none of their damn business.
We got to his parents house about midnight, and slipped into bed. Saturday, we basically lounged around hanging out with his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. About 3:30 (it felt later than that), we went to Texas Road House in Cedar Rapids, because I had a coupon for a free appetizer. After that we went to Menard's. I have never been to a Menard's and it was really really cool. I coulda spent about an hour or more in there. On the way back to his parents house, we got some custard at Culver's. Later that night we went back to Cedar Rapids to watch the fireworks, and we were treated to an early show from a guy setting off fireworks about a block in front of us. That was cool except for the cardboard raining down and the sulphur billowing back at us.
Sunday, was also a lazy lounging day. Kevin had to fix the brakes on his truck, so we went to town to do something with the rotors and get brake pads, we had lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant, that had some pretty damn good cream puffs with whipped cream with taste. After getting back to his parents house, he worked on his truck while I watched TV. That night was also a loungy night with supper from Culver's. Monday morning, his brother, sister-in-law and nephew came over and his mom, sister-in-law, nephew, one of his brother's beagles and I went on a 2 1/2 mile walk. Shortly after that we headed back home.

It was a really nice weekend. No phone calls from my parents nagging about stuff, though I did say at least once a day, I was surprised my mom didn't call me to complain about something. I didn't realize that til later, and I so didn't mean to bring her up so much, but it really did surprise me, she didn't call and complain about something I hadn't done yet.

A note to people in cars at stoplights. Don't watch me (the pedestrian) as the cue of when to go. Within the past month, I've had 2 vehicles start to cross the street on a red light, because I was walking. I do walk against the light quite a lot, only when I won't be in the way of any cars. I had one vehicle almost get hit by an oncoming car because they were paying more attention to me than the light.

I got my brother's Best Buy gift card in the mail yesterday. Now I have a total of $550 dollars to spend in Best Buy. I know I mentioned wanting a new TV, but I also gave my parents and brother lists of stuff I wanted. If you're going to give me gift cards for that much, have them be for Fareway or Walmart or Target, where I can use them on stuff I need. Yeah, it'd be nice to have a new TV, because everyone has their shows in HD now and if there's any wording on the screen, it's guaranteed to fall off the edge, but there's so many more things that I need. I guess I could buy all the DVD's and CD's from my Amazon wishlist at Best Buy, I could even start buying the seasons of 3rd Watch that I heard were coming out on DVD. I just wish people would pay attention to lists instead of just deciding on their own what they're going to get me. Most of the time when they do that (at least when it's my parents and brother), they don't get something I really want. My friends and Kevin are way better at getting things that they know I'll like. The other thing I'm annoyed at, is if they want me to buy a TV, why don't they just buy it for me, then I can't (ok, technically I could) return it and use the money for something else.
I'm also a litter perturbed that I never got a cake this year. Yes, I know it takes me a long time to eat cakes, but I love getting cakes, it makes me feel that much more special. And, as long as I'm complaining about things I didn't get, I didn't get a card until I received the card from my aunt, and an ATC from my yahoo group in the mail. Ross also mailed me a card, actually his was pretty funny. He got it here, and it's the procrastination one. "Procrastination: Hard work often pays off in over time, but lazyness always pays off now." He said he thought it fit perfectly since he hadn't mailed my present on my birthday. It's a pretty cool site, you should all check it out.

I'm working on taking a picture of the frog pillow my mom made me. I've just been behind because I've been busy filling up my new computer with everything from my old computer, then I had to reset it to its factory settings, so when we have our garage sale in August, I can sell it for a giant profit, or at least a profit, as I didn't buy it.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Mama's dancing, baby on her shoulder

Leave it to my mother to ruin a perfectly good day. I go out to look for my mail (which isn't there yet) and she gets on me about what I did for my week, and then when I tell her and none of it included volunteering she gets on me about that. How I'm supposed to have a full time job, implying that I'm not looking, or doing I think it's 15 hours a week volunteering. And how I'm supposed to be doing 5 hours of work for my parents, she complains about how she had to do yardwork today, and now she can barely feel her hands, I scoff at that inside my head. Here's a thought if you want me to do stuff around the house, tell me what the hell you want me to do, I can't read your fucking mind. And that whole thing about the job and volunteering, I love it how just because I have a job, I have to do all this stuff to fulfill what you think I should be doing. She said I needed to have a plan to her by Wed about how I'm going to change that. She says I'm not in the real adult world. I really wish Kevin would buy a house, so I could get out from under my parents roof. Maybe that'd get them off my back, most likely not.
It's so funny how my mom said a couple weeks ago, that they're going to sell the house in 5 years, but pretty much last week and last weekend, she's been giving me pointers on how to make my apartment better (I'm on the 3rd floor of their house), what's the point if you're just gonna sell the house in 5 years? I can find everything fine, it's just her and her damn expectations.

Even when I was working 30+ hours a week, my parents were still saying I needed to find a better job with benefits. Nothing I do is good enough for them.

I did have a pretty good birthday yesterday. Kevin came over in the morning and gave me my present, a new desktop computer, it's way cool. I'm still getting stuff set up on it. I tried getting some stuff off some CD's I thought I burned on my other computer, only to find out they were blank, guess my CD burner didn't work on there either. So, now I have to set up the other one and slowly save things on my 1GB flash disk. I don't think I have a lot, just some pictures and word documents. It's jus the whole process of finding a place to set it up.
We all went out to lunch: mom, dad, Kevin and I. After lunch we went home, and I pretty much had to go to work, so I did that. My brother called me at work and we had a nice little chat. After work, I was pretty tired, and basically sat on the couch and fell asleep watching TV. It wouldn't have been a good birthday if Kevin hadn't come over.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

just a small time girl living in a lonely world

I hate it when I build myself up for something, and it's not what I expected. For some reason, I am extremely excited about my birthday this year (it's tomorrow), not like it's any big milestone. 26 doesn't do anything, at least 25 was kind of a milestone, 26 not so much.
I know I have no idea what' s going to happen tomorrow, but tonight, not as interesting as I hoped. Since I work tomorrow night and Friday night (my mom's birthday), we went out to supper tonight. As I said before we planned to go to The Spice, and we did, but we didn't make it to Hickory Park for dessert as my mom had a meeting at 7. After supper, we came back to the house and opened presents, my mom was particularly intrigued about her gift. I gave her a two-year subscription to a magazine, Our Iowa, it's basically all about Iowa it's got pictures and stories.
My parents gave me a frog pillow, that my mom made with some fleece I bought awhile ago, that she embellished with some sewing and beads and a little extra fabric, she also sewed a frog to the top of it. They also gave me quite a big gift card, which I'm still in shock about the amount (I just looked it up online), but it's so much more fun to get something material, granted I will be spending it on material stuff, but I could have used this much on a Fareway, or Target/Walmart gift card, anything I spend this gift card on, I don't really need. I'd rather use it on stuff I need.

I've noticed now that I've been eating/drinking a little more healthily (don't know if that's a word, but it is now), certain things I used to love, don't taste as good anymore. Ever since Easter Sunday, I've been drinking water except on Sunday nights and Mondays, when I get together with Kevin and we go out. I know it's cheaper to drink water then too, but it's like a little bonus for me. I've even got to liking water more. I'm also trying to eat more healthy and not snack on things as much, or if I do, snack on more healthy things like carrots, or yogurt, or some of the healthy bars rather than chips or cookies or candy bars. I do still buy some sugary stuff, but I'm spending most of my money on healthy food when I go food shopping. I've noticed I've slimmed a bit since then, I'm not fat, I know that. But, I have noticed I gained more of a stomach lately, and I got new stretch marks on the inside of my thighs. I've gone down a couple pounds, and some clothes that were getting tight fit better. A month or so ago, I bought a juniors medium skirt at Walmart, I didn't know it was junior's, anyways, when I tried it on at home, I couldn't get it over my thighs, it now fits over my thighs. I also need to get my ass out on walks, like I used to do, I used to walk on 4 mile walks around town. Part of me not doing that lately is that my mp3 player's battery is sucking a lot (course now I can get a new one with my gift card), but my brother gave his to my father, and I have it on loan, but I can't put my songs on it, so not the same.
Getting back to stuff tasting different. I bought me some champagne cake the other day, wasn't near as good as it used to taste. Also, I bought a Coke the other day, and opened it tonight, it doesn't taste as good either. Guess it's a good thing, I won't be eating/drinking these things if they don't taste good.

Monday, June 29, 2009

You're busted

It doesn't feel like Monday, and it wasn't a very nice weekend. I had a friend's (Amanda's) baby shower to go to on Sunday, so Saturday I made a survival kit for new mom's and a card. Check them out here. That took pretty much all day on Saturday. Sunday I woke up to go out and mow the lawn, took my pig out to enjoy the weather while I ate my lunch. After that, I took a shower and spent way too much time figuring out what to wear. I decided on a cute little skirt Kevin bought me a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I opted to not wear anything under the skirt, so I felt rather self-conscious and on the way inside for the baby shower, the wind was blowing, so I was having a hard time not flashing anything to anyone.
The baby shower was fun, only I knew Amanda and one other person there and there were at least 15 people there. But, it was fun seeing what other people got her and eating extremely good lemon cake.
The mine decided Kevin had to work yesterday night, so he slept all day yesterday, I got to chat with him for a couple minutes while he was getting ready to go to work, and then he went off to work. Today, I didn't really know what to do. I thought I'd try recreating the "bag" I made for Amanda, but then I ran out of double-stick tape. I was thinking if I made and decorated a whole bunch of them and put them up on my etsy store, maybe they'd sell, we'll see.
Also, Kevin might be working next weekend (that is the 4th of July). I'm really hating his bosses right now. We were planning to go back to his parents house sometime Saturday and stay until Monday afternoon. But, looks like that won't be happening now. I'm really hoping they don't end up working, they already ruined one weekend for me, I don't need 2 crappy weekends in a row.

My birthday's on Thursday, I'll be 26, but I won't be doing anything really fun. My parents and I are going out to supper on Wednesday, since I'm working Thursday night. The plan is to go to The Spice, a Thai food restaurant, for supper and Hickory Park for ice cream. Sunday, mom suggested we do something actually on my birthday, like it really matters, and we might be going to Legend's for lunch. She also wants to do something on the 4th of July. She has been really clingy lately, she wants to spend all this time with me, I don't know why, I'm pretty sure she has some other motive than just hanging out, and I'm pretty sure it's to talk about crap I don't want to talk about. She made such a big deal about doing something on my birthday and about doing something on July 4th. Maybe she can sense I'm rather bummed about Kevin not being able to get together with me, I don't know.

Mentioning Hickory Park reminded me of a guy I had come into the store a couple weeks ago. He said someone told him about a really good BBQ place but he couldn't remember the name. I asked if it was Battle's. He said no, and replied that they had ice cream. I asked if it was Hickory Park, he said, yes it was. Now, if you're from around here, and have gone to Hickory Park, it's not something I would call a BBQ place. It has all different foods from hamburgers to smoked meats to salads and tons of really great ice cream sundaes. It does have BBQ, but it's not a huge thing on their menu. It has five different BBQ things on it's menu (I looked, I don't have it memorized), so it was lucky for the guy that I knew they had BBQ and ice cream.

UGH!! Ok, one more thing, just because it's bothering me as I sit here and type this. If you know me, I can't breathe cigarette smoke. Lucky me, my place of work sits between 2 businesses where the employees smoke, and since you can't smoke inside businesses anymore, they smoke outside, and on a day like today, when it's nice outside and the door is open. I have to shut it. On one side, there is a pizza joint, some of the delivery drivers smoke, they sit on the little railing on the ramp to the place next door to them and smoke away, so I get smoke from the south. On the other side is a check cashing place, and the lady apparently can't leave the premises, so she stands right outside the door and smokes away, so I get smoke from the north. I can't win. If I ever had to use a check cashing place (and I really hope I don't have to, because with what they charge, I would get into so much more debt), I would be so turned off to see this lady standing, basically in the doorway smoking. I'm sure that really keeps the cigarette smoke out of your business too.
I had a guy one time, almost walk into the store with his cigarette in his hand still lit. I gave him one hell of a look. He got the message, apologized and wandered off. I can't stand it when smokers come in, they all have this cloud of smoke hanging around them, and I can smell it no matter where they are in the store. Granted it's not a very big store, but it's not that massively small either, if you're in the back of the store, I shouldn't be able to smell you in the front. That's just nasty. I'm done rambling now. :)

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Your breath is still on my lips

My mom is cleaning all my stuff out of my old room and wants me to put it up here in my apartment, because I clearly have all this room. We're looking at a box of dolls which I decided I didn't need anymore, she informs me that I should keep them even if I think I don't need them anymore. Guess I should go rent a storage space for all the shit you think I should keep that I'm never going to use again. Maybe she's hoping I'll use it for my kids someday, I don't really plan on having kids. Yeah, I had that moment a few months ago when I wanted one, but now that Kevin's brother has one, he doesn't see the need to have any. He had told me once in the beginning of our relationship, that he wanted kids because he didn't think his brother could have any. Now that his brother has a kid, he told me, he figures that if we're meant to have kids somehow it'll happen, even though I'm on birth control. And, even if I ever have kids, I sure don't want to push dolls on my daughter (if I have one), I want my kids to decide what they want, but I sure don't plan on doing anything totally girly or boyish when they're young. Why not, give my old toys/dolls/etc to Goodwill where some other kid can have some enjoyment out of them? Cause you sure don't want to keep them in your house, but yet you think I should keep them when I don't want to.

She had to come up and measure one of my closets to find out if some totes she bought to put my stuff in them would fit. As she's leaving she says I need to devote 2 hrs every day to cleaning/sorting/rearranging. She didn't say it in so many words but it's because she doesn't like the way my apartment looks. Sure, it's messy, but I can find everything I want, I don't have problems with it, what business is it of yours? She's starting to treat me as if I'm a little child again. I have a responsiblity to mow the lawn in the summer (shovel the sidewalks/driveway in the winter), the other day she called me and told me I needed to get my chores done. Chores? Really, is that what you think of them. I'd love for Kevin to hurry up and buy a house, so I can move in with him, sort through all my crap and get rid of what I don't need (without my mom knowing, cause she'll think I need to keep some of it) and get away from her. Just cause I live in your apartment doesn't mean you get to say how it looks. I don't have bugs, I don't have rotting food, the only thing you can't handle is that it's messy. I have no doubt that when I do get my own place, when she comes over, she'll still complain about the way I live.

Friday, June 19, 2009

People amaze me.

I had a couple come into the store yesterday at 8 (when I close), they guy says to the chick they have a couple minutes, though by my clock it was 8. He says he knows exactly what he wants and he'll go get it and come back, apparently he was wrong because he didn't buy anything.
I had a guy come in last Friday, saying he was from some charity, but didn't want any donations. He just wanted to put a candy machine inside the front door, to which I told him, he'd have to come back in the morning and ask my boss. He let out this giant sigh and left in a huff. I told Kevin about it, and he said the guy was probably trying to ambush the lowly workers into saying yes. Then you already committed to having it, and it's your ass if your boss says no, and you have to contact the people to come take it out. That wouldn't happen to me, if I am unsure about anything, I just tell the people to come back when my boss is about. It's not my choice whether or not something gets put in the store.

I saw a guy yesterday riding his motorcycle without a shirt. Now, I know it was hot and very humid, but this guy was old and saggy, no one needs to see that.

I like to watch Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods whenever I go downstairs or get to be at someone's house where there's cable. Today he was eating something totally gross (no surprise there), but I was getting hungry watching him, it's pretty bad when you think something he's eating looks good. I knew it was about time I go get some lunch. In the episode I was watching he couldn't eat something. I've never seen that before, there have been times he's had troubles getting something down, but he actully spit the fruit out he was trying to eat.
I'm actually watching The Dr's on ABC right now, they had a segment about heart attacks in women. They had this one lady on that was saying she was 44, overweight and afraid she was going to have a heart attack and not be around for her children. She had said that watching her elderly overweight mother go downhill healthwise was her rock bottom, and then said how she's a stress eater, eats a lot, doesn't exercise. I said bullshit to her hitting rock bottom, usually when you hit rock bottom, you change something to make yourself better. Then they sent her to a doc who did a bunch of tests and said she was in relatively good health. On the show, after telling her the results of her dr's visit, they asked her if she was going to exercise and start eating right, and she says Absolutely, I called bullshit on that too. How can a dr's visit where you find out you're in good health change your mind set when seeing your mother's health detoriate not change it.

I keep getting calls at about 8PM from an unknown number. I got one Wed night and last night, I wonder if I'll get one tonight. I don't answer unknown numbers, if it's really that important leave a damn message. I hate it when people call me, wait around for 4-6 rings and then don't leave a message. You obviously called me for some reason, it's not like you can't just leave a message. My guess it's nothing really important as it's at 8 at night. If someone has my number, I probably gave it to them, so most likely it's someone I know, and if that's the case, what's so hard with leaving a message? I guess I do put my cell # on job app's, but most job people leave a number, and why would they be calling after 5PM? Course, most of the people that call my home # don't leave a message either. The only messages I get are from politicians or groups about something that politicians are looking at.