A Bad Day...

Most days, I am an optimist. I love the world. I am happy.

Today is not one of those days. Don't get me wrong. My life? It's wonderful. I'm in love with a wonderful man. He's perfect. I have a fabulous family. I have awesome friends. Besides my job search, my life is pretty flipping spectacular.

So, what's got me down? People.

Why do people insist on hurting each other? Why are people dishonest? I just don't get it. Just love one another. Care about your fellow human beings. Tell the truth. It's going to hurt a lot less in the long run.

Why don't people know how to have healthy relationships? Be honest with each other. Even if you think it's going to hurt. It's going to be better in the long run; sooner or later, the other party will realize your lies and it's going to HURT.

Trust is the most important part of a relationship. Most people would say that it's love. They're wrong. I've loved all of the people that I've broken up with. However, I didn't trust them. That's the end.

If you can't trust your partner, there isn't a relationship. You should be able to trust the person you spend most of your time and energy on. If you can't trust your partner, they aren't really your partner anymore, are they?

What's the worst hurt you've ever felt? Most likely, it's when someone you truly care about has broken your trust. Why inflict that on other people?

People should just learn to be honest and to love one another. The world would be a better place. And the divorce rate would be a lot lower.

No dice :(

Well, my interview went really well. I got called back for a second interview. That one went even better. Still, no dice. I came up a little short. I was their second pick. The woman they chose had more a/p and a/r experience than I did. Oh, well. They said they'd hold onto my resume and if this woman didn't work out, they'd give me a call.

I'm not holding my breath. I was depressed for a while, but then I applied to a gazillion more jobs today. Last week, I applied to be a state trooper. I won't find out for a long time about that one, but I thought it sounded really cool. I think it's something that I'd actually like. I could have a job that I would like, a job that would still pay me a decent wage, and a job where I'd actually be making a difference. How cool would that be? Super cool. :)

Today, I mostly applied to office jobs... it's what I have experience in. However, I did apply to something that I don't have any experience in. A Correctional Officer at a prison. I was pretty psyched when I saw it. I applied immediately. Again, how cool would that be? I'm not sure which job would be cooler. My mom would probably flip a gasket if I got that job though. Dealing with criminals every day. But, seriously, a person could actually make a difference working in a prison.

Eh, I will just have to wait and see what happens. Wish me luck. :)

Harry Potter

Well, I finally finished Harry Potter last night. It took me a while to get through the first two books (they were really slow), but books three through seven were definitely exciting enough to keep me interested. :)

J.K. Rowling certainly doesn't have a problem killing people off. I spent quite a bit of time crying through books 5, 6, and 7 when she killed people off. Also, they were rather depressing. I know that book 7 ended on a happy note, but still, it was kind of hard to come back after how depressed it made me earlier in the book!

I've watched the first three movies, so far. Philip and I are watching movies 4 and 5 this weekend (I had never read the books or watched any of the movies before a few weeks ago... Philip wanted me to come with him to see movie 6 when it comes out next week, but I told him that I needed to read the books before I watched the movies). So, I will be caught up after this weekend. Number 6 comes out on the 15th, but Philip works nights and I work days, so we won't get to go see it until Friday the 17th. No biggie. Philip has no idea what happens. He just knows that I cried through a lot of 6 and 7 and that people are killed off. I'm interested to see how he feels about them.

Also, I would like to say this: I totally had Snape figured out. I knew I wasn't wrong. :)

And, now that I'm finished with Harry Potter, I can read the next installment of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series: Finger Lickin' Fifteen. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for it for months! :D After that, I think I will be starting Charlaine Harris' True Blood series, since I now watch the show. I'd like to see how they differ. And, I bought a few books at Books-A-Million a few weeks ago... a book about a woman who grew up in a LDS polygamous cult, a book about a man who's family was in concentration camps during the Holocaust, an Agatha Christie novel recommended to me by a friend, and a Wonder Woman graphic novel written by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I shall be busy! :)

No surprise...

The countertops were not right. No one called us yesterday, so we assumed that everything went smoothly. We walked into the kitchen and still had no countertops when we arrived home last night. This is a big problem. The plumbers are coming today to hook all of the water up to the sinks (and also the dishwasher and the garbage disposal). They can't do that if THERE IS NO SINK!

We tried to get a hold of Steve, but there was no answer. He finally called us back this morning while we were on our way to work. They cut the countertops wrong, so they couldn't put them in. I was freaking out because we don't have time to wait another few weeks for countertops. No problem, says Steve. They ordered a new one yesterday and it will be put in today. What the hell!? It's taken us WEEKS to get these counters in, but they can get them in one day!?

This remodeling project is going to be the death of me. I'm going to end up in an asylum. Please come visit me...

Anyway, the plumbers can't get there until about noon, so they're going to get started in the bathrooms with installing the sinks and the toilets and the shower in the master bath. Hopefully by the time they finish with that, the countertops will be installed and they can finish up the kitchen. If not, Steve needs to be paying for the plumbers to come back out because it's his damn fault that we're behind. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I am so absolutely serious. Do not ever even consider remodeling your house. If you must, do NOT hire these fools: Paul Kitchen, Buddy Dyer (tile guy), Hensons Cabinets, or Bolton Plumbing. It will just end up being ridiculous. I am just about ready to go insane. I feel like crap, I'm not sleeping well, I have dark circles under my eyes, I cry at least every other day, and I still don't have a finished house. It is not worth it. I don't care about how beautiful this house is when we finish, I would not do it again. At least not with these assholes that we hired.

It's absolutely amazing. We hired people with empeccable recommendations. Now the people that recommended them are saying, "hmmm... they are known for X." It really pisses me off. If you knew that this person was lazy or sloppy or slow or known for never showing up, why in the hell would you recommend them?! I am not like that. I will never recommend these people to anyone. Because, even after it has taken over 3 times as long as it was supposed to, it is not as good as it was supposed to be. So, Fuck 'em.

If you need your hardwood floors refinished, I can give you a recommendation: Maurice. I don't know his last name, but I do have his phone number. If you need a handyman (woodworking, shelves, trim, painting, hanging doors, installation, etc.), I have two people to recommend: Sammy Hood, who is wonderful, and Zach (idk his last name either). I have phone numbers for both. Also, Sears did a wonderful job helping us with our heating and air conditioning unit. They cleaned up after themselves and did everything they could to make everything right as it should be. And they never wavered on cost, even though lots of things went wrong and it probably hurt their profit a lot. They took a little while, but we weren't in need of the unit with the way the temperatures were at that point, and we were too focused on everything else going wrong. So, if you need a unit and you have some time, definitely go with Sears. :)

Another day, another problem... with the house.

Yesterday, the vanities were installed in the bathrooms. The one for the master bath is wrong. Of course it is. Because nothing can go right with this damn remodeling project. It was supposed to be a really dark brown wood. They sent us a really red wood. So, it doesn't match the rest of the bathroom. And, because they took over a week longer than they were supposed to, we now do not have time to get a new one in before the appraisal. So, we will have a beautiful bathroom with a vanity that does not match. Wonderful.

The countertops for the kitchen are being installed today. Finally. If they aren't right, I don't know what we will do. I'm just hoping that they are perfect. Just give us this one thing! Because that would be it. That would be the only thing that didn't have something go wrong. It's really hard to stay positive while remodeling. I get more depressed the longer it takes. Not just in that it's taking forever, but in that absolutely nothing has gone the way that it was supposed to.

Tomorrow, the plumbers are coming back to finish up. They have to hook up the sinks in the kitchen and the bathrooms.

I still have to finish painting the kitchen. I have to finish hanging the doors for all the rooms. I need to replace the handles for all of the doors. We have to have the locks changed for the house. And we still have to clean the entire house. We've been cleaning, but it will need more cleaning. And then we have to actually move in. Almost all of our stuff is still sitting in the garage. Yay.

I will never, ever do this again. EVER.

Mixed Emotions...

Last night I was so incredibly happy. Barrack Obama won. Not only that, but John McCain gave an incredible speech. It left me feeling so wonderful about the direction that our country is heading. We will have change. We have a nation where truly anyone can do what they set their minds to without having to feel discouraged about race or gender. We have a nation where republicans and democrats are willing to work together to make our country a better place. I was brought to tears several times throughout the evening because of how proud and euphoric I was. It was incredible.

And then, today, I was still riding that high. And then part of me cracked. Proposition 8 passed in California. And other gay marriage bans passed in Arizona and Florida. So incredibly disappointing. I am really hoping that it will be overturned. No one has the right to take other people's rights away based upon sexual preference. It's ridiculous.

Blahhhhhhhhhh

I am depressed. I thought I had a home for a pup that I fell in love with at a shelter earlier this month (a previous post is devoted to her), but it fell through today. Now I just want to cry. Her time is about up and if she doesn't get adopted, she will be put down. It's very upsetting. If you know anyone interested in adopting her, please, please, PLEASE, let me know. She's incredibly sweet and I'll pay for everything she needs to get started. :)

My mom called about an hour and a half ago. My sister is out of surgery. She was supposed to be in recovery for about an hour, so she's probably awake now. She had breast augmentation. She's only 20, but she's wanted this for a long time. And she paid for it herself. She worked hard to earn the money for it. I would NEVER in a million years do this, but I support her decision. We come from a family of large breasted women. I am a C cup and I am one of the smallest breasted women in my family (except for my sister). She is a small B cup. She just wanted some boobies... lol. Anyone who met my sister would tell you that she is a strong woman and secure in who she is. She doesn't take crap from anybody and she loves her body (she takes care of it). She is doing this for herself (ligitimately... her boyfriend and several of her male friends do not support her decision), and no one else. So, I say go for it.

In house news, we are no longer using Paul. He's about as worthless as handymen come. It was pathetic. But, we have someone who is doing an excellent job. The tile guy has finally gotten going and the half bathroom is about finished (he's slower than Christmas!). Joe gave him until Monday to finish the tile in the kitchen (as of yesterday, he hadn't even started on it). Our cabinets will be arriving on Wednesday. They will take all day to be put in and then the countertops will be installed on Thursday. Our appliances are in. As soon as the kitchen is finished, we'll have them deliver the appliances (so probably Friday). So, by this time next week, our kitchen should be finished. :) And then the only thing that should be unfinished is the master bathroom. I have hopes that even it will be finished, but it's not likely with as slow as Buddy is. We'll see.

This weekend is homecoming weekend at Catawba. Joe and I will hopefully be going. There is a wine party in Salisbury that we will probably be going to. Especially now that the dog thing has fallen through. :( And after the game tomorrow, we will be coming back to work on the house. I will be painting all of the doors in the house (except the entrance/exit doors to the house -- they will stay the way they are). The doors are ugly, so I'm painting them all white. We can't afford to replace all of the doors in the house, so we're just giving the old doors a new look. They'll go much better with the wood floors and white trim then. :) Also, I have to paint the places in the hallways where the baseboard heating was. Luckily it is low to the ground so it won't matter that the paint won't look exactly the same (no one will be looking that closely at the wall a few inches from the floor!).