The Job Search Continues...

So, shortly after my last post, the negativity creeped in.  I had a SUPER awesome interview with a local insurance company.  They were already talking about which promotion would be perfect for me once I learned a little more about insurance and whatnot.  I'm telling you, the interview could not have been more perfect.  Then I had to take some spelling, grammar, and computer tests (which were super easy).  Before I left, she assured me she'd be calling me to set up another meeting for the following Monday or Tuesday (I interviewed on Thursday) to finalize everything.  

Well, Monday came and I hadn't heard anything so I emailed her.  I got an auto response that she was out of town.  So, I waited.  A week passed.  I called on Monday to see what's going on.  No response.  Today, I finally emailed her again to see why they decided against hiring me.  I just sat and cried yesterday.  I just keep going over it in my head and can't see what went wrong.  It was perfect.  I just want to know what made them change their mind.

Anyway, elsewhere on the job front, I was interviewed and hired on the spot last week on Thursday.  I lasted one day.  Unfortunately for the owner, when I am hired to do the books, I can see that the payroll checks are going to bounce.  That company was a disaster and I didn't want to be a part of it.  Plus, the guy flat out lied to me.  So, that didn't work out.

I have two interviews this week.  One tomorrow and one on Friday.  Both for car dealerships.  Hopefully one of them will work out.  Especially since our savings is dwindling.  And I'm getting depressed for feeling like a failure.  

And I'm disappointed in that other job that I didn't get.  I really thought that it would go through and I really thought that I would love it.  It made me think that I might actually find a job that I like again.  I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it all works out. 

Finally back!

I know I've been away from this blog forever.  However, it's been a very busy month.  We moved over 1,000 miles to my hometown of Plymouth, Indiana.  My dad and sister and a friend of ours came to Colorado to help us finish packing, cleaning, and painting and then we loaded up the truck and drove to our new home. 

It took us a little bit to get settled and then we began our job searches.  Philip got a paper route almost right away.  However, he hates it and will probably not be keeping it much longer (until he gets another job!).  I've turned in about a million resumes but it is paying off.  I had an interview within a few days and I have two more this week.  I have a job beginning at the end of the month as a server for a new restaurant in town.  I'm actually really excited about it.  

I'm hoping to do it in the evenings/weekends and still have another job for days.  The interview I have on Thursday is for an insurance agency.  It's really promising but only part-time (25 hours a week).  It has potential to be more though and I'm really looking forward to the interview.  The interview that I have on Tuesday is not nearly as promising, but you never know!  

I'm not freaking out about my lack of job quite yet.  I've been keeping busy (and reading A LOT) and our funds are still holding out -- especially with Philip able to contribute now!  I've had quite a few bites on resumes and things are still pretty positive.  I am just going to keep thinking good thoughts about this week and hopefully I'll have a job soon!  :)

As far as flight school for Philip goes, things are on temporary hold.  We visited the school and it was fantastic.  We purchased the starter kit and Philip has begun online training.  However, he can't begin actual flight instruction until we have jobs so that we can get financing.  Philip is really eager to get started, but he seems to be enjoying the online stuff so far!  

As I said, it's been a long month.  But, so far, I haven't had any doubts about our decision.  I'm sure it will be the right one for us.  Of course, it helps that my family has been amazing.  It's been so nice to be home.  Today we planted trees.  Last night, mom and I went to the movies (Cabin in the Woods -- SOOO good!).  Friday I went to a doctor's appointment with my mom and then we went to lunch.  I had forgotten how wonderful it is to be with my family.  

The dogs are adjusting really well.  I was a little worried since Jippy doesn't really like change, but once we got everything unpacked and have a kind of schedule, they've all settled in nicely.  I think we're all glad for our new home.  :)

Work Update!

The person that we had in mind for my position has officially passed her drug test and background check.  It's a huge weight off my shoulders!  She will likely be starting next week.  And then I just have to train her how to do my job.  

::Sigh::

It's been incredibly crazy busy the past few weeks and my stress level is out of control (not sleeping, forgetting to eat, my face is broken out like a teenager, etc.), but I still love this job.  I really do hope I can find a job that I will like as much as this one when we move.  I'm not going to hold my breath though.

Only 5 weeks left of work.  And only about 5 1/2 weeks until my family gets here to move us out to Indiana.  I know it's going to fly by.  I guess that means I really need to get on that packing and cleaning stuff!

I bid you adieu...

No, not you, blog readers!  My job.  And our house.  And our Colorado friends.  Yes, I did it.  I put in my two month notice with work 2 weeks ago.  It actually went really well.  My boss was very understanding.  It's still not fun for me though.  I really do like this job.  I wish I didn't have to leave it.  

I put up an ad looking for potential replacements the very same day.  I received a TON of resumes in response.  Less than a tenth of them were actually any good.  Then we started narrowing down further.  I sent out emails to the candidates asking why they left/are leaving their previous/current job and what their pay requirements would be.  That knocked out a good chunk of the remaining candidates.  

Speaking of which, I've come to the conclusion that I am worth far more than what I'm paid!  That or these people are insane (seriously, a good chunk of them want double what I currently make!).  Either way, the economy in Colorado is apparently much better than I thought!  

We will most likely be starting interviews later this week.  Hopefully we will find the right person.  *fingers crossed*

And, as I said, we put in our notice with our landlord.  However, we had someone lined up for him before we even put in our notice.  Friends of ours are really interested in our place.  They met up with our landlord on Saturday and everything seems to be a go!  I'm so glad that it all went so well!  

It seems that everything is falling into place for our big move.  So, we will definitely be leaving that last week in March.  We've even got our two spare rooms (the spare bedroom/library and the Star Wars room) all packed up.  And our yard sale pile is growing by the day.  

I'm actually becoming less stressed the closer the end of March gets.  More things are getting crossed off of our list and things are still going well.  The only problem we've really run into is that we owe Uncle Sam a huge chunk of money (money that would have been used for our move or for holding us over until we find work).  But, we will get through all of that and it's all going to work out.  We will be just fine.  No fingers crossed about it.  It's just happening that way!  :)

The Next Step

There will be a lot of changes for Philip and I in the new year.  Philip calls it the next step for our family.  I like the sound of that.  It sounds really nice.  In reality, it's actually pretty terrifying to me.  

In the spring of 2012, Philip and I will be quitting our jobs and moving to Indiana.  This is because Philip wants to go back to school to be a pilot.  I support his decision 100%.  The easiest way for us to be able to make this happen is for us to move to Indiana and stay with my parents for a while.  

It's not what I thought I'd be doing at 26 years old, but it's what's best for us.  Hopefully financing will come through and Philip will be able to finish pilot school quickly.  Even after he's finished, it will likely take a few years for him to really get his foot in the door.  So, we will be making far less money than we are now.  Philip's solution?  He's encouraged me to go back to school.  

It's no secret that my college degree has gotten me absolutely nowhere.  I make the same amount of money that I would had I not gotten a degree.  There's not really any potential for me to make any more money unless I get a different degree.  

I understand that.  It's just terrifying to think about going back to school at this point.  I just thought I was done, you know?  Classes and papers and tests seem really scary after spending the past few years in office jobs.  

So what am I considering?  Nursing school.  I know it's supposed to be really hard, but that's not the scary part to me.  I'm good at sciences and have an excellent memory.  I'm even really good with people, so that part doesn't bother me.  Most people who know me would assume that it would be the needles that would keep me from nursing.  However, needles are mostly just bothersome to me, not other people.  I just don't want needles entering my body (which I have been working on in recent years -- I even had to have blood taken and didn't hyperventilate or have a panic attack just a few months ago) -- other people's bodies don't bother me so much!  Ha!  

I honestly think I would like nursing if I got into the right field.  The part that scares me is, what if I don't?  What if I spend thousands more dollars getting another degree that I don't like or won't use?  

Hopefully some of my credits will transfer so I can get a jump on it and not have to be in school for as long.  Ugh.  It's just scary.  

But, you all know me: always up for a challenge.  

The school thing isn't the only scary part about our "next step."  We are packing up and moving across the country again.  It's been less than 2 years since our last cross-country move.  And, I love Colorado.  It's so beautiful.  I love seeing the mountains every day on my drive into work.  And I love the weather.  I will certainly miss the lack of humidity come summertime.  It's just so nice.    

And I'll miss my job.  Philip has it a lot easier in that area.  He hates his job.  It's no big deal for him to put in his 2 weeks notice and say adios.  I actually like my job.  And, I don't want to leave them high and dry.  So, I will have to put in my notice soon so that I can find a replacement and train the person before we move.  And that all sounds depressing.  

This move will be more stressful because neither of us has a job lined up for when we arrive (last time Philip had a job to start when we got to Colorado).  And, now we both have car payments.  So we will both need to find jobs very quickly upon arriving in Indiana!

It's going to be interesting and terrifying all at the same time!  I like thinking about the positives.  We'll be with my family who I miss so much (and Philip does, too).  We'll be making steps towards our goal of starting a family.  Philip will be doing something that he wants to do rather than a job that he hates.  I'll get to learn new things.  We'll eventually be making a great living!  

It's all going to be wonderful in the end.  I'm just nervous about taking this giant leap!  Wish us luck!

I Milked A Cow!

Okay, so I've been gone almost a month with the wedding, honeymoon, and Indiana reception.  You'd probably think that I'd first blog about one of those things.  You'd be wrong.  ;)  I probably won't be doing a whole lot of blogging about the wedding and honeymoon here (I'm going to be posting all of that on my wedding blog instead).  If you'd like to read about those things, you should scoot on over to my other blog: http://taragettingmarried.blogspot.com. 

Anywho, back to what I want to blog about.  I MILKED A COW!  It was awesome.  For those of you who don't know, I love cows.  I spent my high school years dairy judging and I have spent lots of time visiting cows.  However, I've never had the opportunity to milk one (not for lack of want!).  

Well, my sister's boyfriend finally gave me the opportunity on Saturday night.  

I milked her using the milking machine and by hand.  Well, actually I milked one cow (Millie) using the machine, and one cow (Tugs) by hand.  :)  And then, for good measure, I bottle fed a week old calf!

And, of course, Philip thought it would be hilarious if I posed as one of the cows.  Since I was in such a good mood, I obliged.  ;)

And, there you have it.  I'm a happy camper!  If I lived closer, I'd definitely be milking the cows more often!  :)

Home

It seems like a simple enough word.  Four letters.  One syllable.  Home.  It really shouldn't be complicated.

Well, mine is.  My family is in northern Indiana.  I lived there for the first 19 years of my life.  After that, it was on to North Carolina for college.  And, now I live in Colorado.  

That means that I am over 1,000 miles away from my family.  And, I'm about 1,600 miles away from some of my very best friends.  Sometimes I get incredibly homesick, for both my Indiana family and my North Carolina friends.  

My awkward sleep schedule, living so far away from work, and living in a very small town of families (Philip and I are the only couple without children in our neighborhood) hasn't been very conducive to making friends.  I have made a few really awesome friends, but it doesn't take away the homesickness.  

I am really close to my family.  And, my college buddies were the first true friends that I ever had.  They understood me and were there for me through some crazy stuff.  So, I'm just going to always miss them.

It may seem that a simple solution would be to move back to Indiana (or North Carolina).  It's not that easy.  I don't like Indiana.  The only reason I really go back to the state is because of my family (and the racetracks!).  Indiana has cornfields, cornfields, more cornfields, and some bean fields thrown in to add a little flavor.  It's also really humid (no me gusta).  I also spent a lot of my childhood and teen years feeling like a freak.  As I said earlier, I didn't have any real friends until college.  

Indiana has a lot of people who I'd just as soon forget exist: closed-minded, ignorant people.  While those people exist everywhere, I've found a whole lot less of them in Colorado.  

Colorado is also breathtakingly beautiful.  I have lived here almost a year and I still can't believe the awesome views I get on my way to work every morning.  The mountains are absolutely gorgeous.  

(Source)

Denver is an amazing city.  It's just a wonderful place to live.  

(Source)

I just wish I could transplant everyone I love to Colorado.  I'm sure they'd see what a wonderful place it is!  

The Big Day

We are moving in 30 days. We will be leaving for Denver on June 26th. It is now May 27th. Less than a month to go.

Honestly, I am getting a little scared. However, I'm also SO ready to do this.

I cannot wait to live with my pups again. I know I can probably find a job pretty quickly. I know that Philip and I will be okay.

It's just the fact that we are leaving for good. I will likely never live in North Carolina again. It hasn't been perfect for me here, but it has become home.

I know that Colorado will be a better fit for me. I have just had a lot of good times here. And, I've made my only true friends here in North Carolina. However, most of those friends have now moved on as well.

The only things that are really tearing at me are the memories. And there have been so many. Good and bad. But, either way, they have been my life for the past 6 years.

I know that I will miss North Carolina. Just as I miss Indiana. I will miss them for the memories that I have of them. But, I know that neither can be my true home. I need to go out and find that place that is perfect for me. And for my family: Philip and my pups and our future family. I think that I will find that in Colorado.

Phew!

The next two months are going to be crazy busy. My schedule:

May 7th: Leave for St. Louis. We are spending the night there.

May 8th: Leave St. Louis for Denver. We will be in Denver through the 15th (our one year anniversary). We will be getting everything situated for our move and having a nice vacation.

May 16th: Leave for home. We will probably spend another night in St. Louis because the drive straight through to Charlotte from Denver is 1600 miles.

May 18th: Leave for the beach (Virginia Beach). We will be there through the 21st.

May 22nd: Leave for home.

May 25th or 26th: Leave for Indiana. I will probably spend about a week there. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it back home once we move to Denver.

June 3rd or 4th: Leave for Charlotte.

June 5th through June 11th: Cleaning and packing all of our stuff for the move.

June 12th: Our going away party.

June 13th: Leaving for Pennsylvania to spend about 10 days with Philip's family.

June 24th: (hopefully) Getting my Sizzling Sixteen book signed by Janet Evanovich in Charlotte. :)

June 25th: Getting our Penske truck rented and packed up.

June 26th: Leaving for St. Louis to meet my parents.

June 27th: Leaving for Denver.

June 28th: Unpacking. Yuck.

June 29th: Spending a nice week with my parents in Denver. :)

July 5th: FINDING A JOB! haha

So, as you can see, I will be very busy for the next two months. But, it is going to be awesome! Wish me luck. :)

Running...

Long time no blog, right? Well, I actually went on "vacation" to visit my family in Indiana. I had a pretty nice time, but I slacked on running. I decided that I was fine with this because it's supposed to be vacation. However, I did feel a little bad and I didn't want to ruin everything I had worked for, so I did about 2 miles on the elliptical for each day that I was supposed to run (I'm supposed to run every night, Sunday through Thursday).

Also, I didn't get to blog before I left about Monday and Tuesday's runs (March 30th and 31st). I finally found the keycard for the fitness facility at the apartment complex. So, Monday night, I went to the facility to use the treadmill. And, it was HOT. I'm used to running outside at night where it's cool and there is a breeze, so indoors with no air circulation was quite difficult. But, I did very well.

I like the treadmills because I can time myself more easily and know exactly how far I ran and how many miles per hour I'm running. I did 1.91 miles without stopping on Monday. And then on Tuesday, I did 2.15 miles. And that, my readers, was over my goal for the week (my goal was 7 laps... that translates to about 2.1 miles)!

Then, I left on Wednesday. I did the 12 hour drive and didn't get to do anything Wednesday or Thursday night, but I made up for it on my normal night off (Friday night). I did 5 miles on the elliptical. Then, I did about 2 miles on the elliptical for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. I drove back Thursday... and, I didn't honestly do a workout. But, I did get a little bit of a workout on Saturday afternoon by playing d-ball with some old college friends (it's a game we made up... a cross between dodgeball and baseball).

Unfortunately, I forgot my running shoes (I normally only wear flip-flops unless I'm going to be working out). So, I had to run in my bare feet. I've had to do it before, but I pay for it. It kills my back and hips. I think it's because there is no support and it's just jarring my body. So, needless to say, I was very sore today. And, I REALLY did not want to run tonight. Especially since it's been over a week since I actually ran.

But, I did. I was so sore that I only ran for one mile and then did two miles on the bike. And, whoa, I felt the burn in my buns! But, the bike seemed to be easier on my back and hips. It's not as jarring. And, tomorrow, I hope to be able to run at least 2 miles. My goal for this week is basically just to build myself back up to where I was, and hopefully excel a little beyond that. So, I'm going to push myself for 2.5 miles.

Eventually, I would like to work up to 3 miles per day. And then, I'll start working on my speed (if I haven't mentioned it already, I am incredibly slow). And after that, I will run a 5K and cross one of my life goals off of my list! :D Wish me luck!

Christmas

Wow. Christmas was a blast. We had several Christmases. With one to go. First, we went to Pennsylvania to have Christmas with Philip's mom's side of the family. It was just for the weekend, but we had a great time. And I can't believe how many presents we got. Santa was really good to us this year. lol

Then, we had Christmas with our friends from Catawba. It was wonderful. We decorated sugar cookies and goofed around and smoked the hookah. We were jolly. :)

Then, we went to Indiana. We got there on the evening of Christmas Eve. We went to my Uncle Randy's Christmas dinner that night. That's the redneck part of my family. We had fun... but I'm sure it was interesting for Philip. ;)

That night, we opened presents at my parent's house. We seriously made out like bandits. And my parents loved their blu-ray player. And my sister was definitely amused by her Hope Chest. She kept saying, "Now all I need is the house!" That's a hint to her boyfriend. lol

Philip had to leave on Sunday. He flew back that morning so that he could get to work that night. I stayed through New Year's. I spent some time with my family and with my pups. I miss them like crazy.

I drove back the evening of the first. It was a really pleasant drive. I wish the rockslide would get cleared up soon though. I don't like the detour around the North Carolina/Tennessee line.

I had to get back the night of the first (I made it in about 11 hours) because we had another Christmas with Philip's friends from high school yesterday. It went really well. Everybody seemed to like what we got them and we played a bunch of games. It was fun.

And today, we let Brandon open his presents from us and we opened his presents to us (since he couldn't make it to the Catawba shindig). We got him a season of Family Guy, a classical music CD, the new Fast & Furious DVD, and the Hulk Smash board game. I'm not really looking forward to having to play it with him. lol

We got a TON of books, movies, and lots of other cool stuff. I shouldn't be bored for a good, long while. :) Thank you to everyone who made this probably the best Christmas EVER. Oh, and thank you, Santa. :D

Goings on...

WARNING: This blog post is going to be completely random. :)

If you haven't seen Transformers: Rise of the Fallen, you need to. It's incredibly awesome. Philip, Joe, and I all agree, it's better than the first. And the first, it was awesome! :)

I'm going to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on Friday night. :) In 3-D. It's going to be incredible (In case you didn't already know, I am a HUGE Ice Age fan).

I'm going to go see fireworks in downtown Charlotte on Saturday night. :)

Philip and I will be making the journey to Plymouth, Indiana on the weekend of July 24th. And, Philip will get to, officially, meet my parents (they met once for a few minutes at my graduation). But, he talks to my mom about as much as I do (the wonders of Facebook), so that meeting will probably be anti-climactic. ;)

People continue to make too much of our situation. Joe and I are still really good friends. I think he's crazy (he's aware), and we are completely incompatible in a relationship (we've discussed this topic quite a bit... how did we ever stay together for over 4 and a half years?), but we are still close. We still work together and we still talk outside of work (sometimes for hours on the phone). And, Joe and Philip are still friends.

However, people still imagine that there is some sort of hostility between us. They're trying to pick sides or egg on drama. It's completely ridiculous. I don't understand why people think it's any of their business. I was angry earlier this week over some stupid crap that was happening, but I've decided just to let it go. If people want to be crazy, I can't stop them.

How is it that some people can love drama so much?? It hurts me. I can't handle drama. Some people seem to feed off of it, though. Even if there is drama which in no way involves them, they find a way to make themselves a part of it. And there are people who want to be miserable. I don't understand it! The more bad things that happen, the happier those people are... It's disturbing. How do people live like that?

I'm looking for somebody to go with me to the Aerosmith/ZZ Top concert on July 9th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte. Is anyone interested?? If so, give me a call or send me a message. I really want to go, but I don't want to go alone (there will probably be a lot of creepers there and I'm not very scary... lol).

I've finished reading the first five Harry Potter books. I'm on the sixth. And I've watched the first 2.5 movies. :) Philip and I are going to see the sixth movie when it comes out.

I'm going to see Coldplay in concert for my birthday. :)

I will be 24 years old in about a month. Damn, I'm getting old.

I miss Heroes/Sylar. I'm going through withdrawal. I can't wait until September 21st when season 4 will start back. :)

Well, I think that's enough randomness for now. :)

Feeling great!

I was feeling pretty damn stressed before I left for my long weekend in Indiana. I feel great now, though. :) Life is good. I feel like I know who I am again. And I'm pretty awesome. :)

And, because of my trip, I now have physical as well as mental differences. First of all, my hair. It's really dark and purple-ish. It was an accident. I picked out this really awesome color that I loved. It turned my hair pink. Like, hot pink. Seriously. I don't know what happened. I think there must have been something wrong with the dye. I've never had problems before. Well, I hated the pink, so it had to go. I didn't want to go back to the store though. My mom had some dye in the cabinet called "Black Cherry." It looked decent, so we tried it out. It's really dark. And sort of purple. It was really purple at first. It's washed out some now though, so that's good. I was going to re-dye it this week when I got back to the Carolinas, but everyone seems to like it, so I figure I'll keep it for a while. :)

Secondly, I have a new tattoo. :) I asked my sister to get one with me, and of course, she was all for it. It's "Lyn" in script on my stomach next to my right hip. I love it. I'll have to put up some pictures soon (the battery is dead in my camera right now, otherwise I'd take some and put them up now). I've wanted another one for a while. Joe hates tattoos though, so I was trying not to irritate him by getting one. I thought it was appropriate now. :)

*** UPDATE ***

I've got pictures up now. See below :)

Okay... So, maybe I am a bad person.

Someone I knew throughout Elementary, Middle, and high school asked to be my friend on Facebook a few days ago (I actually had a crush on him in the 3rd grade). I confirmed, but I didn't look at his profile. So, today he showed up on my newsfeed. I clicked on him to see what's been going on in his life. It wasn't all that interesting. He's younger than me but he's been married for 3 years (yikes). He works as a cop in a podunk town next to the one we grew up in. He seems to be happy. He looks the same as I remember. He was a good enough guy and I hope that the happiness that he's showing is legitimate.

As I was looking at his profile, I noticed that he had recently become friends with a few of our other classmates. I was never friends with those people. They were always snooty and worthless people. The thought they were better than everyone and were mean. Well, I couldn't help myself. I had to look at their profiles.

Here comes the part where I'm a bad person. Each of them wasn't as sucessful as I have been. And it made me a little happy inside. None of them had graduated from college. A few had gained a bunch of weight and were not nearly as attractive as they once were. Some had already had a child or children. I know I'm awful. I just like that I've been able to make it this far without screwing up and they hadn't. It's just nice that there was actually some karma for what horrible people they were as I was growing up.

Now I have to make up for being a horrible person so that karma won't catch up with me! :)

Christmas

First of all, I want to say that today is Cody's birthday. He turns 2 years old today. :)

Christmas was good. Our drive to Indiana went well. We ran into some heavy rain for about an hour, but other than that, no problems. We got there about 3:30 AM. It took about 10.5 hours. Not bad. There was snow on the ground when we got to my parent's house. It was covered with ice though, so we couldn't actually play in it. The next day there was an ice storm. Lots of accidents. My parents took us shopping and out to dinner at my favorite restaurant (the day after Christmas).

We went to see 2 movies. Yes Man and Seven Pounds. Both were pretty good. Other than that, we pretty much just lounged around. It was relaxing.

We opened one present when we arrived very early Christmas morning. Then we went to sleep for a few hours and then got up and opened presents. I got the Twilight Saga collector's edition box set, Edgar Sawtelle, and a beautiful, huge purple vase from Joe. I got a bunch of movies, books, candy (as if we need any... I still have the candy from Halloween!), games, and a Roku Netflix player from my parents and my sister. Joe got a toothbrush sanitizer, bongos, a rain stick (musical instrument), movies, candy, and a beard trimmer from my parents and sister. I got him the Absolute Batman Hush book, a tea infuser with loose tea (he's been on a tea kick lately and he thinks that the loose tea with the infuser is better than the bags), and a handheld sudoku game for his traveling (he likes to do Sudoku while on planes and while he's waiting).

While we were at my parents we also played Trivial Pursuit and Mad Gab. Trivial Pursuit or at least the edition we played, is much harder than I remember. They were a lot of really obscure questions! I had never played Mad Gab but it was a lot of fun. My mom is insanely good at it!

We had a good time, but it's good to be home. We sleep in the spare bedroom there and it's just a full size bed so it's smaller than we're used to and also, my parents keep their house a lot hotter than we keep ours so it was hard for us to sleep. My parents heat their house with a wood burning stove, so the air is really dry. I got laryngitis. I still can't really talk. I'm just glad that it's all I got. I haven't been sick in over two years. However, I forgot my vitamins and my parents don't drink much juice (no vitamin C) and I wasn't eating very well because my parents don't have a whole lot of vegetarian food on hand (they normally stock up when they know I'm coming, but it was a surprise, so no food for me!). And all of that combined with the dry air, my defenses were down. My nose and mouth were dried out so there was nothing to stop the cooties from coming in and then I wasn't taking very good care of myself, so my body didn't fight it well. I'm already getting better though, so I don't think it's going to go anywhere other than my throat. It didn't make it to my nose or my chest. Isn't that weird? I'm still going to insist that because I didn't get any worse than what I did, it's because I'm not poisoning my body with meat. :)

Well, it's back to work today. It's quiet though. We have the day off on Thursday for the New Year. Joe said we might only work a half day on Wednesday or have the day off on Friday if it stays slow. Unfortunately, we won't get paid for that, but a day off is a day off! And the way it's looking so far today (only one phone call all morning), we are likely going to have a day off. :)

Pet Peeve + Christmas

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people are hipocrites. It drives me nuts. With MySpace and Facebook, it's especially easy to spot some of these hipocrites.

Allow me to explain. One person who shall remain nameless has photos up on their MySpace page of them getting wasted, kissing people of the same sex, and doing vulgar/sexually suggestive things. In her interests are listed, "getting wasted," "partying," and "sex, drugs, and rock and roll." Not very many things after this is listed, "and I love my lord and savior Jesus Christ." I come across this sort of thing all the time. Christian references and then references to sinful things. Don't get me wrong, I know that people aren't perfect. It just seems to me that the people with pages like that one aren't even trying. Why would God choose to save people like that and send some of the best people I know straight to hell simply because they didn't believe that Jesus was divine and died for their sins? Does this make any damn sense to anyone? Why would God be so ridiculous? I could never believe in that God. But, I am a Unitarian, so I don't believe that Jesus was divine. And, if I did believe in heaven or hell (which I don't), I would certainly be a Universalist... God would send all of God's creations to eternal bliss, not eternal damnation. But, who am I? Nobody. I just would like to think that God would save good people before God would save people for simply believing that Jesus was divine and died for their sins. Anyone can say that they believe, but how many of those people live as if they care about those beliefs?

Okay... I'm tired of rambling on about that. I have good news. Joe and I are leaving for Indiana tomorrow. :) We are going to Joe's doctor's appointment tomorrow morning (he's having a wart on the bottom of his foot removed), and then we're going to his Uncle Joe's house for Christmas dinner (they always have it on Christmas Eve). And then, as soon as we're finished there, we're going home, packing up all the boys in the car, and headed to Indiana. :) Unfortunately, tomorrow is probably not going to be the best day for driving. There is supposed to be rain during the day, and then snow that night. Which means ice covered by snow. I'm hoping like crazy that they have plenty of salt and plow trucks out so that we don't have to worry about accidents along the way. :S

My mom and dad have no idea! I'm so excited. My mom tried to send all of mine and Joe's presents to us yesterday. My sister and I planned for it and she intercepted the package. It's now in hiding in my sister's closet! :) Tonya (my sister) had to give her a phony tracking number. She's wondering why it isn't working, but the lady who did the shipment told her that it's probably because there are so many shipments going out right now for the holidays (it's one of my mom's coworkers who is in charge of shipping -- she's in on it as well). I was worried that my mom would end up finding out and then ruin the surprise, but so far, so good. :) I think we're actually going to pull this off! And I owe my sister big for jumping through all sorts of hoops and such to make sure that we can do this surprise!

My mom is upset because this will be the first Christmas that we haven't spent together. Well, I can't wait to see her face when she realizes that it won't be the case! She's going to cry... she has cried for much less. It's going to be awesome! :)

Wish us luck!

Vacation...

Well, I got back from Indiana today. I had a wonderful time. I wanted to blog multiple times, but my parents only have dial-up internet and it wouldn't work right (they live in BFE, so they can't get high speed).

My family was wonderful. We went to the Blueberry Festival (my hometown's annual Labor Day festival), to the racetrack, shopping, eating, vegging out, and plenty more. It was quite splendiferous. :)

I watched the second season of Dexter while I was there. I was disappointed through much of it, but all's well that ends well, I guess.

Jack came with me. The other boys stayed with Joe. My mom loves Jack. She is one grandma who definitely plays favorites. I met my mom's new dog. He's sweet. He's the one who was temporarily paralyzed. A bit annoying at times, but he seems to be good natured. However, he's not the cutest dog... I said goodbye to my old dog, Magic. She died in June, but I hadn't been back to Indiana since May, so it was strange to be there without her. I was okay for the most part, but when I was playing with my parents other boxer, Tank, I started to miss her. He reminds me a lot of her.

I made my family vegetarian lasagna. They liked it. Even though my dad was extremely surprised that he did. :) He thinks that anything vegetarian has to be gross. He's a freak like that. :)