It has been a long week. Every day I got up and worked on garage sale stuff. And apparently standing for 6 + hours on concrete in flip flops doesn't make your feet happy. They still hurt, especially since I spent all day walking around Adventureland on Sunday.
It turned out to be a good garage sale, we made well over $300. Originally, my dad had said if I organized a garage sale, I could have all the profits. Well, mom decided that since she helped out so much, she needed a cut. I don't think she helped out a ton, she seemed to be complaining more than helping out, oh well, I still got a nice chunk of change. I want to go and spend it on something huge and cool, but I'll probably just end up sitting on it in the bank. I deposited it yesterday. I needed to get it out of the house, so I didn't spend it. I was thinking of transferring some of it to paypal so I could spend it at Etsy, but I don't think I'm going to spend it there either. I am going to transfer some though, I found some cute Monoply board coasters, that I think my brother might get a kick out of. His birthday's coming up in September and it would be nice to get the present out of the way, he's a hard guy to buy for anyway. I know what he likes, but he usually wants stuff that's kind of expensive.

Sunday, Kevin and I went to Adventureland. Every year the mine does this nice thing for their workers, just for fun. We met up with one of his co-workers and his wife and pretty much wandered around with them all day, it was pretty fun. Somehow Kevin managed to spend $20 or so that day, I haven't quite figured out how yet. I guess combining the food/drink he got and the games we played, it kinda eats it up. I did get some cute stuffed animals though. We were riding the train and someone walked by with a giant banana (it was probably 4 or 5 feet tall) and one lady said "what are you going to do with a giant banana", Kevin and I laughed and I whispered to him "what are you going to do with all the other stuff you get here?" Like anything's really gonna be done with anything you get that you're not gonna eat. We went to Kokomo Cove this year, but I remembered how mean the kids were last year, and I really just wanted to go swimming, not wandering through the water slides. I sat on the chairs and soaked up a little sun, Kevin went on a water slide, he said he had more fun last year, he kept saying because it was hotter last year but I know part of it was because I wasn't enjoying it with him. Kids are so mean when they don't have anyone to tell them no, when you have giant waterguns and buckets of water that you can just throw on people, they do whatever the hell they want to, I just didn't want to deal with it this year. It would be way better if there was a pool.
I also got up the courage to try a roller coaster this year, I went on the Outlaw, their wooden one. After we got on it, Kevin said he remembered it was the one with the most bumps and turns and stuff, guess I picked the wrong one huh? I didn't like, granted I didn't get sick, but all those quick turns, ups and downs, and bumps didn't help me any. But, at least I can say that I know I don't like roller coasters. When I was little, I went on a mini one at Arnold's Park, and I got sick on that one, so I'd been using that excuse ever since. But, Kevin was so bummed last year when we got up to the roller coaster and I chickened out at the last minute I thought I'd try one this year.

On the 18th of August, I start back at the University Bookstore, I'm looking forward to that. This year I'm working 3 weeks. I can't wait, we're generally pretty busy the week before classes start (the 17th through the 23rd), I don't think the week of classes will be too bad (24th through the 30th), I think it's busier than winter RUSH because any new students are most likely going to start at the new year rather than half year. I'm not quite sure what the last week will be like (31st through the 4th), In January, we started getting slow at the end of the 2nd week, I bounced around and helped in textbooks, because I wanted to keep busy. It's pretty boring if you can't keep busy, but you deal. I just keep thinking I have to save all my money for Hawaii. Add the money from the garage sale and then what I get at the bookstore, and money from events at Hilton until I have to leave, I should have a nice chunk of savings to take with me. Hopefully I won't spend it all, I'm hoping I'll be pretty smart with my money, though I love getting souveneirs at places, and I don't know if certain food will be extra on the boat or not. If I stick to my water routine, I should save money there, but I'm gonna be on vacation, it'll be some hard choices. Hopefully, I won't have some emergency that I'll need the money for between now and hawaii, but if I do, I'll have extra money. I feel so much better when I have a nice buffer in the bank in case something happens. I've always been a big believer in having things even if you don't need them at the moment.

This week, I have to make it to the post office today and get my hair cut, I have an event on Thurs at Hilton, and hopefully on Friday I get to get together with my friend, Loretta, and her puppies and have a picnic. I'm really looking forward to that, I haven't seen them since the middle of July.

My hair cut is one of my extra spendings. My hair is so full of split ends, the place my mom always took me costs $20 per haircut, but you get used to a certain person cutting your hair. Anyways, I was thinking last night as I was picking off my split ends, that I should wander over to Great Clips and get it trimmed, then I thought, now that I have a little extra money I can afford the more expensive place, so maybe I'll just go there. I'm not getting anything drastic, no new hair style, just a nice trim. As many split ends as I have, I'm thinking she's taking at least 3 inches off, so it'll be a little different. It always feels like a new start when I have quite a bit taken off at a haircut, course I usually wait a while for my haircuts, so it's always a new start. Someday I think I will get a new hairstyle, but I'd have to research and really think about it. Sometimes waiting the 2 hours to have my hair dry is a little annoying (I don't have or like hair dryers), and after being outside in the wind it tangles easily (course part of that could be the split ends). I did get a layered look one time, but it grew out and I didn't get it again, I also grew out my bangs awhile ago, that was the best decision in hair other than growing my hair long that I made. I just wish I knew more things to do with my hair that didn't take a lot of effort, I am basically a get up, brush it, and throw it in a pony tail kinda girl. If I take a shower in the middle of the day, I usually french braid it, just so it's not so messy the whole time it dries, and I get the cute little crinkles the next day. I also wish there was a way to enhance the subtle wave I have. I've found out if I take a shower at night and then sleep on it, it really shows, but I haven't found any other way to coax it out.
Now that I've rambled enough, maybe I'll get dressed and meander over to the post office.

They claim I was a nasty person

I love it how my parents don't think anything I do in my life is important.
Mom has been trying to clean out my stuff of my old bedroom (so she can put more stuff she never uses into it), and we're kinda planning a garage sale for next weekend. Today, my dad calls and says we need to make a plan for when we can work on getting stuff out. Really? Why do I need to help you get stuff out of your house? No one helped me when I was sorting out stuff. Then, he gets all upset, because I'm busy taking care of stuff I need to do before I go help out at the library this afternoon and asks what I'm doing. Like it's any of his business.
And I really don't think it takes much to organize a garage sale, put an ad up on craigslist and the free paper people get in the mail on Weds, move your car out of the garage, move a couple other things out that aren't going to be for sale, put up some table, put up some signs saying this stuff is X amt of dollars, put some price tags on bigger things and there you go.
Why do my parents insist on making things so much harder than they are?
And why does all the things I do in my life not important. Like last week when mom asked me to get part of the foundation painted before they got back from their trip on Weds, did she ask me if I had stuff to do? No, because I guess since I don't have a full time job, all I do is sit in my apartment and do nothing all day.

Can he see that I can't breathe?

People have a tendency to piss me off sometimes with the way they act in the store, but the couple I had tonight tops them all. They came in looked around for awhile, then the chick asks if we have a bathroom to fill up her water bottle, I said no (we have a bathroom, but it's through our storage room, I could send her back there and risk things being stolen, or I could go back and risk things being stolen, neither one is gonna happen). She then chatted with the guy and decided their baby needed changing and proceeded to change it in the back of the store, didn't ask me or anything. After that, they come up front with the guy complaining about the baby weighing too much, then sat down and fed the baby, for 10 minutes, while the chick walked around and pretending to look at stuff. She also asked me if we had a garbage can, which I also said no, like I want your stinky baby diaper in our garbage can. And of course they left without buying anything. If I had realized she was changing the baby before she got halfway through, I would have asked her to leave, she had conveniently sat down and positioned the baby stroller in front of her.

They also stayed so long and in the right time frame that I didn't get to talk to Kevin on his way to work, that helped in my annoyance of them. But it started when she decided to change the kid without even asking. When people leave I always tell them to have a good night, when I told this couple that, they ignored me, you'd think they could say you too, for coming in the store for half an hour, changing your kid, feeding your kid and then leaving without buying anything. I was very lucky the chick had to go to the bathroom, who knows how long they would have stayed if she didn't.

I had a group of ladies come in one time with a little child. It needed changing while they were in here, but they were nice the whole time, they ASKED, and since I didn't have anyone else in the store, I let them change it in the back.

I guess some people just think they can do whatever whereever they are. That couple pissed me off so much.

born to fly

I wish I could sleep right now. It's been a long day.
I got up, cleaned my pig's cage, mowed the lawn. My mom has me doing a project this week where I'm scraping paint from the foundation, cleaning it, putting primer on it and repainting it. I spent about an hour and a half on that, ate lunch, walked to Walmart and back. That's about a 4.22 mile walk. Unfortunately I only had about an hour before I had to go to work, so after taking a shower, I couldn't sleep.
My mother wants me to have this project done by Wed evening, only it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, I can't paint when it's raining. Of course she's gone on a mini vacation and won't know it rained, and then she'll whine at me when it's not done.

Kevin had to work all weekend, so I figured I wouldn't get to see him. He called me this morning as he was getting ready to go to bed and told me, he thought he broke his nose. He said he tripped over his boots and connected with the doorknob. Needless to say I was very bothered by that. He called me while I was on my way to work and we went to Taco John's for supper. OK, we got Taco John's for supper and proceeded to eat in the store. Somehow an hour went by and he had to leave to get ready for work. An hour is never enough with him.
He told me about a supper thing this weekend with his work. We're also going to Adventureland courtesy of them. I do appreciate that they're doing that for us, but it'd be really nice if they made it so people didn't have to work so much.

I hate it when people ignore me when they come in the store. I always greet everyone with a smile and a hello. Then I ask if I can help them find something. A few of them ignore that question, and then seem to get annoyed that I didn't ask if I could help them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Who knew

My feet are soo tired. I walked 2.5 miles Wed and Thurs.
Today I pretty much hung out with my dad all day. We went to a pizza buffet place for lunch, then decided to go to a dinosaur exhibit at some local gardens. We walked around that trying to avoid the kids. It must have been family day or something. I loved how one family felt they needed to take off their shoes and play in the pond, it was nice that mom was holding one child as he sat on the edge and dangled his feet in, with grandma watching close by. The ponds are not supposed to be played in.
On our way home we stopped at the grocery store and got some really good deals on Naked fruit juice, a couple varieties were $0.99, that's pretty good when they're usually $2.50. As we were crossing the street to go home, a car stopped in the middle of the crosswalk and my dad almost walked into it (my dad's legally blind, so he walks with a white cane), so my dad tapped the back of the car a few times while we were walking behind it. I thought it was a nice way to get the point to them, but I also worried, if he does that a lot, what happens when he does it to someone's car who has road rage or a bad day or a gun in the car? I glared at the people as they turned the corner and looked back at us. They deserved it, they stopped in the middle of the crosswalk, and ignored a blind man walking.

I think tomorrow my feet are taking a break.

Needed to vent

I just had a chick come in and ask if we were hiring, I said no. As she walked out the door, her friend said They're not hiring? Nope. "Probably cause you is black" "Probably".
It couldn't just be because we're not hiring, that we've told every single person that's come in lately no. That we have enough people to cover all the times we're open. No, it must be because you are black. But, of course that would be against the law if we weren't gonna hire you because you were black. Here's a thought, if you're going to go around looking for a job, dress a little nicer, the capri sweat pants and T-shirt isn't really gonna have anyone begging you to work for them.
That's kind of annoying, I haven't seen one single person come in lately dressed nicely when they ask if we're hiring. Every person has been in jeans or sweat pants, I had a guy with a huge backpack on yesterday. I get that it's summertime and that everyone's looking for a summer job, but you should try to make a good impression.

What the hell is wrong with people?

How wrong is this? Security is going to be way tighter after that. I can't believe you can go in with a .22 and start shooting at a museum. Apparently the 88-year-old guy has "a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past". And shooting up the Holocaust Museum in D.C. is how you get people to listen to you. Most likely people are going to be against anti-Sematics even more now than they were before.

When the President does it, it's not against the law

I watched Frost Nixon yesterday/today. It's a really good movie. It's about the interview that David Frost does with former President Nixon after he resigned from office. Granted, I wasn't alive in the 70's, so I don't know how the original interview went (except for the clips in the bonus features on the DVD), but I thought it was really good. I think a person should watch All the President's Men, about the two reporters Woodward and Bernstein blowing Watergate wide open, and then watch Frost Nixon. I'm pretty sure I had to watch All the President's Men in school, unfortunately Frost Nixon is rated R, but I think it would be a pretty good one for kids to watch in school as well.
I have a habit of watching movies twice in pretty quick succession. Usually when I'm watching a movie for the first time, it's in the evening when I'm tired. Last night, I was half listening to the radio as we had a tornado watch going on while we were watching the movie, so today I watched it again with my full attention span. Very good, I'm gonna have to go out and buy it now.

Also, in news, I will be going to Hawaii at the end of the year. I am very excited, we'll be there almost 2 weeks.

Oh, I almost forgot. I did a local event called and Art Walk here on Friday night, where I displayed my art work: quite a few ATC's, the scrapbook page/framed piece I did for Kevin, and a few other pieces I have done in the past, check out my art blog here for some posts on the other pieces I showed. It was pretty fun, I chatted with a lot of people about my art, and I sold 4 ATC's, I was really excited about that. Now, I need to get more ATC's up on my Etsy store. I hope people will be as interested in them there as they were on the art walk.

She blinded me with science

I've been wanting to do a meme for awhile. Today, I found an email from Goddess with a link to this meme. Perfect. This is from I aim to misbehave by way of Goddess.

A - Age: 26 in a little over a month.

B - Bed size: Twin?

C - Chore you hate: The dishes, I have a tendency to leave them piled up in the sink until they start growing mold. So, it's my own fault, I should just learn to do them at least once every couple of days.

D - Dog's name: I don't have a dog, I have a guinea pig named Val.

E - Essential start your day item: a voicemail from Kevin. He works nights and calls me before he goes to bed in the morning, it doesn't feel like a new day until I get to hear his voice.

F - Favorite color: Bluish green. I love green and blue mixed together, not turquoise mind you, just those two colors mixed, like a mix of yarn or fiber.

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: I like white gold, it's a little different but not obscenely expensive.

H - Height: 5'8"

I - Instruments you play: I don't play instruments

J - Job title: Cashier/artist/house staff

K - Kid(s): none

L - Living arrangements: 3rd floor of an over 100 year old house that has been home to a Victorian family, sorority, fratrenity, and apartment house over the years.

M - Mom's name: Sharon

N - Nicknames: weink, weinkermeyer, TheFrogPrincess

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: none

P - Pet Peeve: Stupidity.

Q - Quote from a movie: Not even God knows what you're doing. It's Herbie Hancock.

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: Older brother.

T - Time you wake up: somewhere in-between 8 and 10AM

U- Underwear: What's the question, yes I have underwear, yes, I'm wearing underwear, but you don't get to know what kind.

V - Vegetable you dislike: asaparagus, brussels sprouts, artichoke as/in anything but dip.

W - Ways you run late: procrastination

X - X-rays you've had: teeth and one for a kidney stone awhile back

Y - Yummy food you make: like from scratch? I rarely cook, but my bread pudding is pretty good

Z - Zoo favorite: lions, tigers, meercats, fish. I'm a huge fan of zoos and aquariums.

if I could just crash here tonight

My parents are planning a cruise to/around Hawaii for the end of this year/the beginning of next year and my dad had me looking at dates/prices. The lowest price for the dates he had me looking at was $899 PER PERSON. I think that's a little much. Think of all the other things you could spend $900 on. I mean if you really wanted to spend that much money on me, I could think of a couple other things I need like a new power strip for my computer, an external hard drive so I could set my computer back to the restore point, a new MP3 player, a couple HD TV's so I could see the edges of TV shows, a nice TV stand for my bedroom, digital antennas, a new swimsuit for this season, money for other things. I'm sure I could rack up $900 worth of stuff I need that's not a vacation that I can enjoy once (ok, pictures and souveneirs you enjoy more than once, but still). Granted I do like vacations and it's always fun to get away, but I'd really like to have those things I need instead.
I have/had a giant power strip/box thingie for my computer that has been acting up lately. It's called a CyberPower 525SL, it's a box thing with 6 outlets in it, plus a serial cable to plug into your computer (not really sure if that does anything though), it's got 3 outlets that run on battery and 3 that only run when the power strip is turned on. Anyway, it's been flicking itself on and off for the past couple of days. I noticed it Sunday, it clicks on and off, but I couldn't figure out what the hell the noise was. Then last night, I realized it was coming from the vicinity of my computer tower (the power strip sits on top of it under my desk), and I turned the computer off, then noticed it was the power strip, so I turned that off, thinking if it was off for a little while that would cure it (always works for the computer). Today, I turned it back on, still did it, then I unplugged it, plugged it back in, same thing. Finally I disconnected it, and plugged everything into the wall. Luckily I have 2 outlets (2 plugins each) cause I'm in a corner, and I only have 5 plugs, I decided I didn't need the speakers plugged in all the time, especially since I rarely use them. So, now I have to go buy me a power strip. Nothing like spending money you don't really have.

Dedicated to those who serve

The American Revolution
The War of 1812
The Mexican-American War
The Civil War
The Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II
The Korean War
The Vietnam War
Desert Storm
Operation Enduring Freedom
Iraqi Freedom

Soldiers have fought and are fighting around the world for us to be free to think, say, do, believe what ever we want, however we want.

Memorial Day is a day to remember all the people who fought for our freedom from 1792 until now. Please take a moment sometime in your day and think of them, thank them for what they have done and are doing for us.

I know lots of people are all excited because they get a 3-day weekend, time to grill outside and get together because you get the day off from work and get to hang out with your family. I'd think some time in this 3 day weekend you could think about those soldiers who are fighting for your freedom, attend your city's Memorial Day parade/ceremony, go to your local cemetary and find the veteran's graves, go to your local veteran's memorial, or even just stop a moment and say a silent thank you. Do something to remember them.

put a little medina in your glass

Good news everywhere.

I'm in an exceptionally good mood today. No idea why. Maybe a mixture of the great 80's music I'm listening to, the fact that I'm kinda doing some art stuff (OK just making up packets for my collageATC's group, but it's fun) and I didn't have to chat (argue) with my mother this morning.

I am going to be participating in an Art Walk in my area on June 5th. Take a stroll over to my art blog here and on the links on the side bar to read more. I ordered me some very cool business cards the other day for the Art Walk. They have a few images of my ATC's plus a tin, a pin and an altered CD on the front with my name, etsy store and blog addy on the back. I'm pretty tickled that I got to upload images of my artwork to the front of them.

And I now have 2 followers!!!! Hey that's huge for me. Thank you Mr. Police Man for coming over and checking out my not-so-exciting blog. I'm adding a link to your blog very soon.

OK, I went and edited a couple things on my template, plus added a Blogs I'm Following place. I took out all the links of blogs that I read because they are now under Blogs I'm following. I love how it tells you when they last posted. I'm very tickled now.

Makes you think

WOW! I just finished watching the season finale of Southland (don't worry I'm not going to spoil it). And I definitely did not see the end coming. It was all happy and then bamn! someone gets shot. But it was a good finale, that's what you want, something to bring you back next season, and I'm pretty sure everyone's coming back to see if this person lives or not.

But, it also got me thinking. There's a situation where a detective is protecting a witness and they come into her house and she protects the house and witness with her shotgun. It made me think that I want to keep my .22 at my apartment. If anyone ever got into my house, I don't have anything to protect myself. Granted, I live on the 3rd floor of a house, my door is in a sheltered area (you have to come in the back porch and then up a set of stairs that's unseen from the street) and I have a steel door, so I'm pretty safe. But, Kevin says it's pretty easy to just take the hinges off my door, and if someone wanted to, they're getting in. I'd love to have something to protect myself, and since I own the gun I should get to keep it in my residence. When I was chatting with my dad not so long ago, I asked him what he thought about me getting a gun. He first said he didn't want me spending money on a gun, to which I countered what if someone gave me one, and he said he didn't want guns in the house. I know my town is not that bad compared to other bigger cities around, but I know that we have problems, I know where the problem areas are, but I also know that we have had armed robberies in the past (none really near my neighborhood, but still...), and I'd love to be able to protect myself should the need arise.

I feel summer creepin in and im Tired of this town again

I must apologize. I certainly don't mean to update so infrequently and take so long to do it.
If I have any cops out there that read this, I have a question about guns, but I don't particularly want to post it for the whole internet community to see, and I don't want to ask the guys here in town that I know, because they'll know who I'm talking about. It's not something bag, at least I don't think it is. It's a question about legality of something.
Nothing exciting has happened since the 5th, that's why I haven't updated. Just work and life. And considering my work doesn't really produce anything exciting, it's not worth blogging about. I guess I could come on every day and say I went to work, it was an OK day, we made money. Not that I really have too many people reading (according to Blogger, I have one follower, and I know who she is), so I don't need to scare anyone away. I'd love to get more people to read, but I'd rather have them reading on their own free will, and I will not pump my blog full of random words just to get someone to notice me. But, I wonder if I posted a racy picture of me, would I get more hits??? Hmmm. That's ok, I don't need those.
But, I have been linked to from a cop blog. That's pretty huge if you ask me, especially since I'm under his links for VIP's. I mean, how cool does that make me sound? A lot cooler than I actually am, but oh well. I do have a link for him on the side bar, but I'm gonna pimp a link here as well. He's works at a juvenile hall, so if that interests you go here to read him.

It's summer (more or less), at least by the temperatures we've had lately, one would think so, when I walked to work today, one of the many temp signs I passed said 87 degrees. I may live in Iowa, but that's still a little warm to be considered spring temperature. And, of course, I'm dying to have a motorcycle ride. I hate that I haven't been on the back of a bike in over a year. And, since I work Thursday nights, I can't go to Porky's or Trophies in Des Moines, so I can't meet up with a certain guy that I know would take me on a little ride.
With it being warm, I'm supposed to be going on my walks, but I find it really hard to motivate myself to do that. One reason being my MP3 player's battery doesn't last over 3o minutes, I have been given my brothers' with all his music, but I know quite a few country songs that are great to walk to, that I can't listen to. Also, the last time I attempted my walk, I was too overzealous. I pushed myself way too much and barely made it through a quarter of it before I had to turn around and go home. Plus, as I learned today, with me not drinking pop, drinking water instead (which I don't drink near the amount as I did in pop), I'm not near as hydrated as I should be, and that leads to annoyances with the amount of exertion I put on myself and problems with dealing with the heat and sun.

All right, I've bored you enough for one night. But, I will try to update more often (though I wouldn't hold your breath on that if I were you).

So busy out there

Kevin and I's 2 year anniversary went pretty well. It was May 1st, Friday, he came over after getting off work Friday morning and then cuddled with me. I left him to sleep while I did my daytime stuff, woke him up about 4:30 when I had to leave for work, he gave me a ride and we picked up food. I didn't expect to see him at all on Friday, so that was a nice surprise.
On Sunday, he came over after work and slept, I went down to Lucullan's for our supper, a seafood pasta, woke him up and we went to a park to eat. I gave him his presents: Madagascar 2, a book, a couple HotWheels cars and a wallet. We went back to my house and fell asleep watching TV. Monday we went to Des Moines, stopping in Ankeny to get breakfast at IHOP, to Jordan Creek mall where we made a turtle at the Build A Bear Workshop. We went to Hu Hut (I think that's what it's called) for supper, stopped at the Brass Armadillo Antique store before heading back home, again stopping in Ankeny, this time at Walmart to get some stuff.
It was a pretty fun day and I'm very tickled about being able to make the turtle, thankfully there weren't any screaming kids in the store at the time. It turned out very different than what Kevin had planned, he said he was going to make a frog in a cop uniform for me, instead we did a turtle in construction clothing with a roaring device.

Tomorrow (May 1st) is Kevin and I's 2 year anniversary, but I won't get to see him until Sunday (maybe). It would be great if he stopped by tomorrow for at least a couple minutes, I'm not holding my breath but it would be really cool. It's been rumored that he may have to start working Sundays this week, meaning I don't get to see him.

I know things'll never be the same

May 1st is Kevin and I's 2 year dating anniversary. He asked me yesterday what I wanted and I said something to the tune of "You should know me by now, I'm sure you can figure something out". I realized later that was a bad answer. We always read everywhere how hints and hoping that guys know what you want doesn't work, so it was good he asked, but I really don't have an answer. I know what I want, but what he can actually get me, I'm at a loss at.
I would love to spend a whole weekend with him, I'd love for the mine to stop demanding so much for him, I'd love for him to be back on days, I'd love for a spring/summer/fall without severe weather, I want a nice 30 hour or so job, a nice motorcycle ride (actually a bunch of them), to have money to pay my bills and then some. But how much of that can he actually buy me?
Things that he could buy me: a new MP3 player, a nice working laptop, cute cover-ups for my job (long-sleeve but cool shirts), all seasons of Supernatural and Third Watch. Some nice jeans that fit. But I really don't want him to spend that much money on me, I know he loves spending money on me and likes making me happy, just like I love making him happy, but why spend tons of money on things?

Any suggestions from my readers?

The other day I was watching the Amazing Race, and this season they have a deaf kid and his mother. There was a little incident between that team and a team of sisters when they were both going for the clue box, and in the end he "tattled" on the sisters because he was upset over it. I found that really wrong, yes you're upset, but how old are you? It's a race things are going to happen (hell, they always do), get over it and move on. He also "said" that all hearing people think deaf people are dumb. I found that a little rude to the rest of us. We all know there are people that make fun of deaf people and decide they are stupid, but not everyone is like that.

According to the thermometor on my computer (from KCCI) it has now reached 80 degrees. That's kinda funny. At the beginning of the month, we had snow, now it's summer.

I'm being tortured

OK, I love the warm weather, don't get me wrong, but ever since it's hit 45 (sometimes even before), everyone has been out riding their bikes, and it's been so very painful to hear them.
My motorcycle helmet has been collecting dust in my closet for over a year, it sure seemed like a good purchase at the time. How was I supposed to know I'd get a boyfriend who didn't ride a motorcyle? I always thought that would be a requirement for a boyfriend.
What I wouldn't do for a ride nowadays. OK, there's a lot, but I hate being outside and seeing and hearing a bike go by. Plus, Zylstra's Hog Roast (you'll have to scroll down on the link) is next weekend and Kevin has to work both Friday and Saturday night, so I won't be going to that. Though I wonder if it won't hurt less not being able to go to that. Just having all those bikes and bikers around me and knowing I'm not able to ride on the back of (with) any of them.
Trying to think of a way to explain this to people that aren't into bikes. Think of something you love to do and then imagine you aren't able to do that thing anymore (for whatever reason), it hurts, deep down inside, it really hurts.

I want one

After seeing Jacob (Kevin's nephew), I have decided I really want a kid. If anyone has known me for a very long time, you know I have never wanted a child, I have never been really interested in children. But, I fell in love with him, and I really think I want one. I've noticed I've been on the look out for toys and clothes with construction stuff on it to buy for him.

I had a kid in the store on Friday night, he was really cute and well behaved. The mother said he was going to be 16 months, and he was dressed in a shirt with an excavator on it. It got me into chatting with her about construction equipment and how we're both excited to find dump trucks, cranes, and other stuff. I was so impressed at how well he behaved, when his mother said to put something back he did it. He was more well behaved than some older kids I get in the store.

I've tuned into the new cop show Southland, I think it's pretty good, though it's annoying that when they swear, they beep it out. If you're gonna have them swear on a TV show, leave it in. It's on a 9:00PM, kids should be in bed by then, if they can't watch/listen to swearing. They also start the show at the end of the day, that's pretty annoying as well. They do start back at the beginning, but why the hell would you want to see the end at the beginning?

What season are we in?

I'm so glad it's April, and we'll finally get some nice weather.

Nope, according to the big weather people, tomorrow we're supposed to get 2 to 7 inches of snow, and there's a blizzard warning in parts of Iowa.

Wait a damn minute here, it's spring, spring isn't supposed to have snow. We're supposed to be past the freezing temperatures. We're supposed to be able to put away the heavy coats, boots, and snow shovels. I saw that ice melt and shovels were on clearance at the local stores. I betcha they knocked the prices back up when they heard what the weather was doing tomorrow.

And from Tuesday through the end of the week it's supposed to be in the 50's. Lets hope this is the last round of snow until next fall. That would be nice.

Yay for Iowa

Looks like the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. Now gays and lesbians can get married in 3 states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa, Iowa being the first in the nation's heartland. How cool is that?

On other news, Kevin is now an uncle, his brother and sister-in-law had their baby early yesterday morning. Congratulations to them.

CELEBRATION!!!

YAY GOT MY TAXES DONE!!!

OOOHHH!! Movie Meme (we all know how much I love meme's)
1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times:
Just one? UMMM, The Blues Brothers, I know practically every line in that movie (people don't like to watch it with me)

2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater:
The only one I've seen multiple times: XMen: The Last Stand, I saw it with different people each time.

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie:
Johnny Depp

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie:
Benecio DelToro (I think that's how you spell his name, he is ugly)

5. Name a movie you can and do quote from:
Tommy Boy, all the time, you can use "I need your John Hancock, It's Herbie Hancock" anywhere.

6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs:
I don't do musicals

7. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with:
I don't think I sing along with any movies

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see:
Anything on my movie shelf, I can't name them all

9. Name a movie you own:
Only one? I own at least 50. A favorite: Any of the Die Hard 4-ology (don't know what that's called), 3 or 4 are the best

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops:
No idea

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?
Nope, ours close before I ever went to it

12. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet:
Paul Blart: Mall Cop, that looks funny

13. Ever walked out of a movie?
At the end, sure. During? never

14. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater:
XMen the last stand

15. Popcorn?
Depends on my mood

16. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?
Very rarely

17. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?
It was the day after Christmas of 2007, but I really don't know, before that it was the 3rd Pirates of the Carribean

18. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
Action. Out of the over 100 movies I own, most of them are cops or war

19. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
Don't know

20. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
I don't recall any

21. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
SAW I and II and III


I'm not gonna tag anyone, cause they don't usually play along anyway, but if you want to feel free.

Is it over?

I need a break, or better yet a vacation.

I am so physically and mentally exhausted from dealing with taxes and I haven't even filed them yet.

Fun for a rainy day

Remember this post? I certainly hope so, it was the last post. Anyways, here are some of the cars we've been painting.
I don't have a before of this one, but it was pretty much the same, I didn't change the base color, I took out the plastic green crotchrocket in the bed, painted the bed grey and outlined the flames on the side in white.
Chevy Silverado:
I don't have a before of this one, but it was pretty much the same, I didn't change the base color, I took out the plastic green crotchrocket in the bed, painted the bed grey and outlined the flames on the side in white.
1966 Impala. Go here for a before shot.

Kevin painted the whole thing in blue, then added the red and white flames and the American flag on the trunk.
Custom Ford Bronco. Go here for before shot.

Kevin painted it black and grey.

1969 Chevelle SS 396. Go here for a before shot, but picture it in silver.

Kevin painted the blue on it.

Check out my flickr pictures to see all the cars.

We got it going on

I forgot to mention what Kevin and I have been doing lately. One time when were at smallmart, he picked up tome plasti-kote truck/car color touch up, that they were clearancing out for $1.00 each and a whole bunch of Hotwheels/Matchbox cars, and we have been painting them to our liking. It's pretty cool. The first night we did it, we were up until 4:00 am, and unfortunately woke up my mom a couple times. Got an earful from her on that.
Also, I've had a jonsing (don't know the real meaning of that word, or where it came from, I know it means something like craving, cause they used it in the Red Dragon) for ice cream, no idea why. Last Wed, I watched Modern Marvels or something like that on ice cream on the History channel, and they were at the Dreyer's factory and other places. I did learn that the ice cream sandwich was born in Iowa, pretty cool huh?
Anyways, I finally bought me some last night at mallmart. Creme Brulee and half-baked from Ben & Jerry's. I've always wanted to try B&J's but its so expensive, I decided to splurge last night. It's good, but you can basically get the same stuff from Blue Bunny for less.

People Annoy Me

Big surprise on my title, huh?

I had a chick in the store the other day with a phone glued to her ear chatting about how she didn't like that her babysitter had someone come over to the house while they weren't there (yes, I listened, when you come into a store, are the only one there, there's no music, you can pretty much expect I'm gonna hear your conversation. If it's so private, chat in your car, or your house), and then when she walked out, gave me a look that was something to the fact that I didn't help her. If you're going to be rude enough to have your phone plastered to your ear the whole time you're in here, I won't be greeting you. I've had enough people give me another look when I greet them while they're chatting on their phone. Because, then, I'm interrupting their conversation.
If I need help in a store, I'm not talking on my phone, and I sure don't have earphones in my ears (as I've seen enough times at the bookstore, while checking people out).

I'm also quite amused at people that say they're looking for ideas, then I have to pry out of them who they're looking for, and they get annoyed. My job is to help you with stuff in the store, if you're coming into the store looking for something, at least have the decency to tell me what, or who its for, then I can help you without (hopefully) getting on your nerves.

I hate it when people park illegally and then turn their hazards on, cause that makes it OK. Kevin loves writing tickets for those, cause then they argue, and they still get a ticket. Like today, there's a pizza delivery guy parked in the driving lane with his hazards on, cause I guess he's too lazy to park, go in and get his next deliveries and then leave. Course the pizza guys do that all the time, there have been numerous times when Kevin drops me off and he has to drive around a car in the fire lane with its hazards on, and while we're sitting there (for 3 seconds) the pizza person gets in and drives off. I think it'd be very funny if they were there when the fire trucks had to use the fire lane, cause they'd just push them out of the way. I'd laugh.

They had a segment on Tyra about morals, and showed some features of the ABC show, What Would You Do? One little 'experiment' they did was have a chick walk away from her laptop and cell phone in a hotel lobby, and then someone 'steals' them. I would've laughed. I've seen so many people do that at the library when I worked there. It's not my job to watch your stuff, how do I know whose it is? Mind you, I do pay attention. People have this false sense of safety when they're are people around. I would never walk off with my stuff sitting out. Even when I worked at the library and we were able to have our laptops out front, if I had to go to the bathroom, you can be sure I tucked my laptop (and anything else) underneath the counter, where my bosses would see someone go into.
The world is not as safe as it was when I was a kid, when you could leave stuff out. There's so many people that do crimes of opportunity because you were too stupid to take your laptop with you, or shut your car off and take the keys when you went into the grocery store for a minute. Yes, it sucks when those things are taken, but it's your own damn fault.

One of Kevn's coworkers the other day said they hated ruining people's days writing meter tickets downtown (when it was 70 degrees out), we were both thinking you are in the wrong profession. They took the job, to get closer to the police department because they want to be a cop someday. Good luck no ruining people's days as a cop. Someone somewhere said about 90% (I have no idea I'm paraphrasing) of the time when people run into cops its because something bad happens. Very true. I also read this, about how the cop wanted to help people, we had a guy at the PD here like that, he was a teacher, now I don't know the reason he quit, but I can guess it's because people didn't want his help. That's how it is, so many people have this idea that people are good. People aren't good, yes there is a percentage that is good, but most people you run into have other intentions.

The way you make me feel.

UGH! I'm so bad at keeping this regularly updated, and for that I apologize.
In the meantime, I have been dealing with an ear infection that finally cleared up yesterday. I never had ear infections as a kid, so I really hated dealing with this. There was a basketball game that I was working, and I guess I had the radio up really loud (on the case of being partially deaf in one ear), and one of the officers made a comment about it. Thankfully, it finally cleared yesterday and I can hear again.
It's been pretty nice out lately, Sun and Mon we got into the 70's and this week promises to be all in the 50s. I'm pretty happy about that, though I'm having a hard time getting my butt in gear to get out of the house and go on my walks. Sunday, I walked down to Target and back (I mapped it online afterward and found I walked about 3 miles), I spent way too much money on Hotwheels cars. Why do they have to have all those cool '60s models out? So, yesterday I told myself I was going to go on my 4 mile walk, left at 4:30, so if it took me 2 hrs I'd be back before 7. That didn't quite work out as planned. For some reason my left ankle started hurting and made me cut the walk short. I haven't mapped it out yet, so I don't know how much I walked. I'm also finding it annoying to have to go without music.
My Mp3 player's battery will not last over 30 minutes lately. It's pretty annoying, and seeing as it's an internal battery, I'd have to buy a whole new replacement and send it in to be replaced. I feel kinda annoyed since it's only a little over 2 years old (I got it for my graduation from college in Dec of 2006) and I know it cost my brother a pretty penny.
I do have a little portable radio, but the antenna must suck, cause I seem to walk 2 feet and can't get the same station in.
I have found out that walking to and from work every night I do walk a mile. That's nice to know, but seeing as how I've plumped up lately, I need to do a little more and actually work out.
In other news, after getting my new toy, Kevin and I went back to his parents home and then went shooting where I shot up this guy. Kevin says it was from 20 yards away. I'm not sure if that's really good, considering I have a scope on my rifle, but I'm pretty happy about it.
Sorry, about the quality of this picture, I did something to my camera and now it won't zoom as close as it did before. I'll have to ask Ross to look at it next time he's in town. Anyways, if you can see, I hit the van 4 times. Once through the top, next to the circle window, once close to the front windows, once at the back wheels there, and once that you can't really see, but I kinda nicked it at the bottom of the undercarriage.
In this picture: you can (hopefully) see I hit the whole packaging 6 times. The 4 on the van, and then once on top of the van, and once through the cardboard picture near the front of the van.

I was remarking how much fun I was having shooting things that day. It was Kevin, his brother, his dad and me. We had his brother's plywood target stand, with my van, another hotwheels car, some paper targets, shotgun shells sitting on top of it, pop bottles on the ground, shotgun shells on the ground, and some wood sticking out of the ground. We spent about 3 hours (maybe?) shooting. I was having so much fun. Plus, Kevin says the rounds for my .22 are pretty cheap. I really can't wait to go shooting again. Kevin and I are considering buying a membership at Ike's here in town. He's got a fun little arsenal to play with, and I am loving my rifle.

Also, I did find some new boots, I went to Kmart, Walmart, Target, JCPenney's, Younkers, Journeys, Hot Topic, Payless, Thiesen's, everywhere that sold boots are our mall, all the places downtown (there's a couple), a few places in Cedar Rapids (Famous Footwear, Macy's I think, Sears), some places in Des Moines (DSW, Scheels, G&L Clothing, Sportsman's Warehouse {OK, that's in Ankeny}, Dillards), I even went to Zappos.com and didn't find what I was looking for, and finally found a couple pairs at the Payless in Des Moines, at a pretty fair price, I bought 2 pairs, so if one wears out, I still have another one. They're working out pretty well.

I'm surprised at the lack of hiking boots/nice looking boots people had. I've made the conclusion women aren't supposed to hike at all. I found minimal pairs of hiking boots at best, and the ones I found were just that, hiking boots. That's what I loved about my Harley boots, they looked nice so you could wear them to work (I have) and then go hiking at the Ledges after work in them. It's kinda annoying to have to switch shoes to do things, but I guess I'll have to in the future.

That's my news, I'll try to do better at updating, but I can't promise anything.

A little help, please

Alright, kids, I could use some advice.
I'm shopping for new boots, you all remember when I bought these? A couple years ago? Well, they're wearing out (guess that's what happens when you wear them all the time), I have holes in the soles inside the boot, in the heels, going all the way down to the rubber soles, plus I'm getting holes under the toes.
I'm hoping to get something about mid-calf height, black, nice durable tread on the bottom, easy to care for, leather, less than 2 inch heels, and under $100.00 I love the style and everything about my current boots except that they're wearing out, if I could find something like that, I'd be in heaven. They don't need to be Harley-Davidson boots, it's just that those fit and were a great price at the time.

AAAAH! It's Friday the 13th

So, Sunday night I spent the night at Kevin's house (that's when I got the other huge frog), and in the morning we went to Earl May (OK by that time it was more like afternoon, as we didn't get out of the house until noonish, and after making some trips to the bank and somewhere for lunch, it was well after noon) and look at their critters, and they had a cute little guinea pig, so cute. The lady said they received it on Friday, and it hadn't really been taken out and played with that much, and while we were there it never made a sound (important tidbit there).
That night, I go home and Kevin calls later saying he's bringing me a Subway sandwich and to meet him downstairs, I'm wondering why I have to meet him downstairs if we're just going to eat the sandwich here. So, I go downstairs and starts walking towards me with something in his hands, turns out his was holding the guinea pig we saw earlier. He said he was going to keep it at his house until Sunday (this being before he decided to go to the conference, mentioned in last post), and then give it to me, but his roommate didn't want her staying there. Apparently after dropping me off at work, he went in search of a cage and then went back to Earl May and picked her up.
Her name is Val, for Valentine's day and the fact that she's got bright red eyes. I've been missing having a guinea pig since my last one died. Val is ours, though she stays at my house.

Love is in the air?

I hope you all are getting ready to celebrate Valentine's Day or Friday the 13th, whichever strikes your fancy, or both, that works too.
I have already received all my presents (and there were a bunch of them too), as Kevin is out of town at a storm chasers conference in Denver, CO. I was telling him he needed to bring me back something and suggested they should be giving away stress balls shaped like tornadoes. I don't think I'm getting anything though, oh well. You wouldn't think I needed something more after you see what all I got for Valentine's Day.
Last week he started by giving me this giant frog. He's at least 3 feet tall.
And after (or before, I don't remember which), he gave me this little one.

And this week he started (with something else, but that will be in my next post, as I haven't quite figured out how to upload more than 4 photos per post in the order I want them) with these guys, he picks me up from work Tuesday night with these 3 (or 4, depending on what you're counting) in his truck.

And then yesterday, we had to go out to his house to pick up the rest of the lot before he went on to CO.

Plus, the caterpillar

That equals 11 (there's another one at his house), well that's weird, I thought for sure there were 12, wait a minute, I forgot the one that's still attached to the mug he's in, guess there are 12. And the giant caterpillar, and.... Oh you'll have to look at the next post (or previous as it comes up on my blog) for that, it's the best present out of the lot.

Don't ever say that I'm not a team player

Tomorrow I get to work another basketball game. I sure hope it's a little less exciting than the last one. Last week we played Kansas and it was interesting, not because of problems by the fans, no the fans were very nice. But we had some very entertaining guests attend. I had Chewbacca come in my door and I saw a gorilla with a giant banana getting a drink at the water fountain.
I did have some annoying people too. I had a couple of guys that decided to go out and have a cigarette pretty much right after they were let in. Because of the law passed last July there is no smoking on public property (or something like that), all I know is you're not allowed to smoke anywhere on University property. They were smoking RIGHT outside the door, that's just annoying in itself whether it's legal or not. So, I go out there and yelled at them (it was windy, cold and I was annoyed to have to talk to them), I told them they couldn't smoke there and they better go to LWay or not come back in. I told the other person working the door with me, she'd have to deal with them when they came back in because I was so pissed. Apparently they weren't so nice when they came in either. I guess they were very rude to my co-worker.
I hate smokers, not all of them, I have come in contact with ones that are very considerate, but the ones that just disregard anyone else that gets in the way of their smoking. Those are the annoying ones.

Find what you loved about it and start there.

Ok kids, here's my late Christmas present.
Let's just say I am very giddy about having this.
I don't know much about it except that it's a .22 bolt-action rifle (?) and it's fun to shoot. Kevin says I should take a hunter's safety course to learn more.

I never stray too far from the sidewalk.

I started working full time at the bookstore for the university on Monday, it's whooping my ass. I stand for about 7.5 hours (actually for the past two days it's been 8.5 hours), and then I get home and sit all night. My feet still hurt this morning, I've noticed I'm walking on my toes.
Nothing like the -10 degree days to make you love Iowa weather. Tonight the low is -14 and tomorrow the high is -2. I hate Iowa winter. Plus we've pretty much had it snowing since Saturday. We got about 9 (maybe) inches on Sat, about an inch Sun, 3 or 4 Mon, and another 3 or 4 last night. Since it seems to be coinciding with me working all day and then night, I haven't shoveled that much, I shoveled on Sunday, and I'm guessing when I get home from the game tonight I'll be shoveling again.
I'm so tired.

Let's take our time, relish

OK, I am no longer allowed to look at buttons. I went to Hobby Lobby today to look for a shadow box frame (it's like a frame, only it has more depth to it for 3D objects) for this, before work, after finding a couple, I still had a few minutes before I had to be at work, so I went to the button aisle. They have these button bags that are just mixes of buttons, and I have a tendency to look and see something cool (like the tree button I saw today) and buy them. I did that and bought 3 bags. BAD WENDY!!!

Has anyone seen the Dr. Pepper commercial where the Diet Dr. Pepper 6pack of bottles "walks" to the candy aisle? During the commercial, the theme song to Cheers is playing, the one that starts "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name...", everytime I see that I stop and listen/watch it, I can't help it, I'm drawn to the TV. I'm not going to go out and buy Diet Dr. Pepper, yet I'm mezmorized by the song.
The Marines commercial has that same effect on me, though I'm drawn to them, not a song.

Speaking of commercials, am I the only one that's sick of Campbell's VS Progresso and their MSG thing. You'd think they could come up with something better.

Hope all is well with my readers.

Fun with technology

How great is technology? I don't have cable and get my TV channels through an antenna. I have already bought the digital converter box and hooked it up. Tonight, CBS's local channel was having troubles with their digital connection and the only way to watch the channel was to unhook your digital box.
I certainly hope they figure out this before February.

Happy New Year!

Found this in my past posts:
What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Began to seriously think about selling my art and sold some of it
Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make resolutions, though I am planning on changing a few things in my life this year (we’ll see if they stick until 12/31/09
Did anyone close to you give birth? No
Did anyone close to you die? No
What countries did you visit? US of A
What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A full-time job and a steady income where I didn’t have to worry about if I’ll have enough money for bills
What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 1st, that’s what Kevin and I decided is our anniversary for dating
What was your biggest achievement of the year? Somehow having money and getting by even though I was basically unemployed for 5 months
What was your biggest failure? Can’t think of one
Did you suffer illness or injury? No, but I’m sure I messed up my knee a few weeks ago when I walked into my radiator (that’s what happens when you have a small amount of room around your couch next to your radiator), I realized it was really bothered yesterday when I was standing for 4 hours.
What was the best thing you bought? All the Hotwheels and Matchbox cars this year, I’m loving being able to collect the cars I think are sweet, but aren’t thousands of dollars.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My parents. Just little things that they do without even realizing it.
Where did most of your money go? Food, health insurance, credit card (all the usual things)
What did you get really, really, really excited about? Any time I got to spend with Kevin
What song will always remind you of 2008? Nothing really comes to mind
Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. happier or sadder? Happier
II. thinner or fatter? Fatter, I’ve developed a stomach, which I’m hoping to get rid of this year
III. richer or poorer? Most likely poorer
What do you wish you'd done more of? Work, only because that gives me more money to pay off things
Did you fall in love in 2008? No, but still in love from 2007
How many one-night stands? None
What was your favorite TV program? A new one from this year would have to be Flashpoint, continuing one would be Supernatural
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Not that I’m aware of
Do I like anyone now that you didn't like this time last year? Probably, but no one comes to mind
What was the best book you read? I don’t remember reading a whole book this year (that’s pretty sad, seeing as I had all that time when I had no job)
What was your greatest musical discovery? Nickelback, but pretty sure I discovered them before this year
What did you want and get? Die Hard 4, new toaster oven, new coat
What was your favorite film of this year? I haven’t gone to a movie since last Christmas
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Nothing out of the ordinary, 25
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Getting a full time job
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Same as before. jeans and a T-shirt. Whatever's comfortable. I really love summer where I can wear my favorite outfit: jeans, tank top, barefoot.
What kept you sane? Music and Kevin and Loretta
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None
What political issue stirred you the most? The election, just cause I’m not happy with the results
Who did you miss? No one
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: Have fun in life. Plan ahead. Don’t take anything for granted.