The dream I had...

I can't remember the details of the dream I had last night but what I do remember is that I was pregnant. Hmmm, could it be?

Our week without Suri

We dropped Suraya & my sis off 2 Saturday's ago at LAX. they were Florida bound to visit my dad. My unemotional butt got all teary-eyed when I had to say bye. It's scary sending your baby off for the first time. What if something were to happen and I'm not there? It's really scary but I let her go. I can't be forever sheltering her, not that I ever have really.

After we dropped her off Andrew and I decided to make use of our season passes to Universal Studios. It was the first day of Grinchmas and they had Whos running around. It was cute. The makeup they did on the characters was awesome! Oh and the Grinch was sooo mean! HAHA. Anyway, we were able to get on all the rides right away. It was so much fun not having to wait in line for a ride!! After that we headed to a Puerto Rican restaurant where I was able to eat the yummy food I missed so much!

The next day we went on a bike ride and explored more of our little city. Who falls off a bike while standing still? ME!!

A few days later we went to watch Avatar in 3D with my BFF and her family. Let me tell you...3D is a must! I don't care what the movie was about I was captivated by the animation in 3D.

Christmas Eve we ended up going to my Grandmother's/aunt's house. Man, I missed how crazy it gets there. I haven't been there in a few years because of some grudges I hold. I hold grudges forever but I decided to put those aside. I am so glad I did. My grandmother is crazy. There's no other way to describe her but CRAZY! What 73 year old woman runs around chasing people with guns? My grandma. What 73 year old woman gets drunk and starts flashing people? Yup, my grandma. What 73 year old woman talks about people's asses she kicked? My grandma. What 73 year old woman calls everyone a Mother Fucker? Yup again, my grandma. What a night! Andrew got a taste of my whacky family.

On Christmas day Andrew and I went snowboarding. It was a ton of fun especially because it wasn't crowded at all as people had warned me it would be.

This past Saturday we ended up going to a club. Now clubbing isn't my thing anymore and it's definitely not Andrew's thing but we went anyway and had a blast. I wish I would have listened to him and not drank so much. Oh well, I was dancing my little butt off all night! The next day not so great.

Sunday I was hung over! UGH! So THAT'S why I don't drink anymore, huh?! Lulu decided to dig under the fence and run away. Little turd head. In my fuzzy hungover mind I didn't freak out as bad as I would have had I been all there. We ended up finding her on the next street over. BRAT! That night we picked up Suri and my sis from the airport. Got home at 2:30am...OMG...we were sooo tired and called off Monday.

So that was our week without Suraya. it was fun even though I missed the little brat. She text messaged me up the butt while she was gone. So cute!

My purchases of the day!

I went out to buy some clearanced Christmas decorations but only ended up buying gift wrap, tags, and a storage container. I didn't feel like spending money on Christmas decor afterall. Instead I spent money on this....



and this...



The boots I had to have! I saw them in a store at the mall, yes San Jacinto has a mall..a small one...very very small. The store didn't have my size so I was kind of resigned to the fact that I couldn't have them BUT there was still one store in town I could try. I went to that store and guess what they had? MY BOOTS!!! I bought them and plan on wearing them tonight. I'm dragging Andrew out with me...mwuahahhaha!

While I was at the mall I saw that the bookstore was closing and they had books on sale. I ran across Philippa Gregory's books, the author of "The Other Boleyn Girl", and was intrigued. I'm really excited to start reading it. I loved the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl" so I'm hoping to enjoy her books just as much.

So there ya go. My day was fun! I ended up with some cool boots and a much needed book to read!

Grades are in!

Finally this quarter is over! Just 8 more classes or 3 more quarters (sounds better) until I am DONE with my BA. FINALLY! So what did I get in my Social Psych and my Senior Seminar classes? A "B" in both. Now I'm used to getting at least 1 or 2 "A"s every quarter but I think I can handle "B"s. Hey right now I'm all about passing with no less than a "B" and maintaining above a 3.0 GPA. As long as I do those two I can live.

Let the festivities begin!

Andrew's dad and stepmother coordinated a nice evening out as a Christmas gift for the family. The evening started off at the Mission Inn where we were going to see the building all lit up and decorated. Now if you've never seen the Mission Inn during Christmas you're really missing out. The building is amazing period but all lit up, wow! We all met up around 4 on a rainy and wet evening but that was OK. I was very happy most of us in the family showed up. Only the usual ones didn't but no one was surprised. Unfortunately by 5 the lights weren't all on but we stood around enjoying the site for a little while before we went on to the next event....ice skating!

Ice skating was so much fun! Suraya did a great job. She caught on very quickly to the whole skating on ice thing. Andrew, as always, did freakin' awesome like he does this all the time. Me, well I did good. I think all the years of roller skating helped. Everyone was out there having a good time and it was so much fun just skating around with everyone. The girls had blisters but they managed just fine while sitting and gobbling down hot chocolate and cookies.

After skating we went to dinner where we were given our presents and we gave his dad and stepmother presents. Then Andrew and I stopped by his dad's house. We chatted for awhile and went home. It was a lovely evening.

Our heater died

The heater died on us on Monday. It was working fine then boom, it was dead. It won't turn on at all. We have a home warranty on the house but they probably will do anything to get out of actually doing a real fix or replacing it. I called one of the subcontractors we use for work and they told me if we have any issues with the company the warranty people send out then call them.

It is FREEZING in my house! Last night I had to do a serious workout to warm myself up. LOL. The thermostat read around 59 degrees in my house this morning. I know it;s much colder outside but it still felt like an igloo in my house. We've even been putting jackets on the dogs (yes I bought them jackets!!). Welcome to homeownership!

I had to force myself to do it.

I almost didn't work out today. It was so tempting not to. I just wanted to sleep. I walked by the mirror and saw that my gut was going down and I want to keep it that way so I got my butt up and did my cardio. I was a little lazy with it and didn't push as hard as I normally do but to make up for it I stayed on the elliptical longer and made sure I reached my goal of 400 calories. I feel much better and am really glad I forced myself to do it.

I think if I keep this up for a long time I may reward myself with a better elliptical. Right now I have a low end model. I didn't want to be the person that spent a fortune on exercise machines that collected dust so I went for a low cost machine. If I keep this up and make it a permanent part of my daily routine I think I will get a fancy shmancy one.

Look what I can do!

Do you notice anything different about my blog?

I learned something new!

Remember my failed baking attempt?

Man, those poor cookies were horrid looking. They didn't taste bad but they were FUGLY! Huge fail on my part. After that I decided I couldn't bare to present those ugly things to others so I made 2 new batches of different cookies. Now with these cookies I wasn't expecting much. I just needed something simple for the cookie exchange. Someone suggested cake mix cookies. Now THAT sounded easy and yummy, and it was. I made chocolate with peanut butter chips and strawberry with funfetti frosting. These came out much better looking than my failed batch!

When I got to the exchange I realized my poor little cookies were kinda just eh. They weren't elaborate and only were made from 4 ingredients. I found out when I got there that there was a contest for Most Creative, Most Delish, and Best Presentation. Now way was I going to win any of those categories! I had no clue we were competing. My cookies were in tupperware, not a pretty plate like any of the others so there goes best presentation. Creative? No way, mine were plain! Most Delish, no to that too I thought. Mine were just basic cookies. Well, guess what? I was WRONG! My strawberry cookies won "Most Delish"! Surprised the crap out of me!




Since everyone seemed to like them I decided I will make cake mix cookies for Christmas to hand out. I will make different combos, not just pink with white frosting. Can't wait to see how my new creations will turn out! I found a winner!

Day 13 - weight loss update

When I started my weight loss I didn't want to step on the scale. I was planning to measure my weight loss by how I felt and how my pants fit. Well, my pants and shirts have been fitting much much much better. I can actually wear fitted shirts again and not have a bulgy blubbery belly jiggling around. That excited an motivated me more so I wanted to see what my weight was looking like. I wasn't expecting anything to have changed from the last time I posted on here but guess what...it did!! 3 more lbs down!

Today I decided to step up my workout a bit and went for a run/walk/hike with my sister-in-laws. It was pretty awesome and after 1 1/2 hours I felt good! After that Andrew, Suri, and I played tennis. Let me tell you, I am exhausted now. I need a nap.

Oh back to my whole point...I lost more weight!! I can't believe it! I mean I know I lose weight fast when I put effort into it but I'm pretty surprised at how fast it's happening.

I baked yesterday

I am not a baker. Never have been and apparently never will be. I can cook and make things look and taste yummy but baking is not for me unless it's from a box. Why would I try baking when I know I suck at it? Well, it's the holidays and my sister-in-law thought it would be a great idea to have a cookie exchange. I was all for it until I decided I didn't want to make the thin mint cookies that I have mastered. With school and work I don't have time to put all that work into them that they require.

Since I vetoed the yummy cookies I know how to make I asked for suggestions. I got some really good recipes and had to decide between them. Andrew ended up being the actual decision-maker in this since I'm not a fan of cookies anyway. He chose Pinwheels. They looked really pretty in the picture and didn't seem hard to make. Here is what they look like in the picture...






Pretty huh? Yea, I thought so too. And here's mine....










Ummm, yea....not so pretty. I think I need a new easier recipe for the exchange. maybe like buy some from the store and pretend I made them? LOL!

Day 10 - 3-4lbs down

I had to ask a coworker what day I started working out! I completely forgot. OK, so it looks like November 22 was Day 1. I didn't exactly weigh myself but I know I weighed 160 or so, definitely NOT less. So I am going to go with 160 on Day 1 and start keeping track of my weight loss on here. Hopefully it helps me!

Today is Day 10 and the scale said 156! Maybe it said 157 but the little lines are tiny...LOL. Either way it's a loss in some pounds so I'm doing pretty good! Pnats are fitting really good!

I'll update at least weekly. Maybe I'll post weekly pictures....hmmm.

It's time

I have let myself go. I stopped working out. I stopped wearing makeup. I stopped doing my hair. I stopped caring. Why? I don't know. I got lazy. I went from working out 4 times a week, wearing makeup everyday, straightening my hair daily, and really making an effort....then it ended. I have gained anywhere from 30-40lbs and since I didn't care about my looks I began to look frumpy. It's time to change back to the old me.

This frumpy Kasi lasted for a very long time. Last month, or maybe the month before I decided to start wearing makeup again and doing my hair. I feel so much better everyday now that I look presentable. I feel pretty.

Next was on to clothes. I bought some new clothes that actually fit and complimented my figure rather than my clothes that were 3 sizes too small and made my weight gain very noticeable. I feel pretty.

My last task is underway and that is to lose weight. When I met Andrew 3 years ago I was a gym rat. I worked out a lot and looked really really good. I had a bikini body. Since then I have gained a considerable amount of weight and still wear a bikini but don't exactly look good in it. Last week I started working out on the elliptical that has been my shirt holder for many months. I threw all the shirts off and got my butt into action. I make sure to burn 400 calories a day (about 30 mins) on my new best friend. The best part is it's in my room so I can watch TV while I'm working out. It helps a ton! On top of that I try to throw in walks and other activities that will help me out. Andrew wants to play tennis this weekend at the park down the walkway from our house. We'll buy bikes soon...anything to help my fitness level.

So far it's been a week and I've stuck to my routine everyday and already see results. My pants fit better. My bulgy belly is looking smaller. And best of all I feel better!!

House Renovations

We finally decided to get off our butts and work on the house. Andrew has been doing the baseboard and casing and I have been shopping for the decor. We finally decided on paint colors for the 2 main areas we haven't started painting yet. Here's what we have so far.


Entry before






Entry after









Bar area before



Bar area after





What we have so far for the dining room



This is just the beginning!! It's so exciting to finally be making the house a home. Next we'll be casing the windows in the main livingroom, building mantel, and painting.

Our first family vacation

This year we decided it was time for a family vacation. A real vacation, not just any old "let's go to the beach" vacation. Our destination? Hawaii! More specifically, Oahu. Why? Well, last year Andrew and I went there for our honeymoon and loved it. Unfortunately when we went we didn't rest at all. We were up doing the whole "tourist" thing the entire week. It was a vacation but it was exhausting! This time we decided it was all about relaxing. And relaxing is exactly what we did this time.

I booked our vacation one month in advance. We didn't even know we were going to go there until I realized the trip would cost just as much as staying at a local beach for a week. Really, who would pick the local beach over Hawaii when it cost the same? So once that realization hit I discussed it with Andrew and booked that night. Man, we were excited and full of anticipation! We started planning what we'd do...OK, I should say I looked beaches & activities up and ran it by Andrew. Yea, he's not the planner/researcher in the family.

Vacation day comes, we hit the road at 4:30am for our 8:00am flight out of LAX. We're tired but full of excitement until we get to the airport. First off we find out you have to pay for meals on the flight, pay to check our luggage, and our flight is booked and Andrew and I don't have seats. Notice I said Andrew and I, Suraya had one. Guess she was going to Hawaii alone. My bad for not looking up the airline info but their bad for overbooking. It was a little stressful but in the end we got to Hawaii on the original flight we booked but the nightmare didn't end there.







We land in Hawaii and of course the excitement has hit us pretty hard. We couldn't wait to get the rental car and head to the hotel to unload and hit the beach. So we're at the baggage pick up at the airport. we get Andrew's and Suraya's luggage but where's mine? They lost it! I was fuming! I filed a claim and they were going to call me when it came in. Needless to say the drive to the hotel was not as exciting as expected. I had to go out and search for a new bathing suit. I'm not skinny minnie and I have a larger than normal top area so bathing suits are a pain to find. Once we go to the hotel I set off on my mission. Thankfully while I was still shopping Andrew called and told me they had delivered my suitcase. Oh sweet relief! Let the fun begin!!!

So the hotel wasn't as great as the one we stayed in during our honeymoon. I wanted to upgrade but found out the price was outrageous so we made due. We were only going to sleep there anyway. The first evening we walked around Waikiki and didn't do much. I was still getting over my close call with losing my luggage. Later we ended up going to the grocery store and buying a weeks worth of lunches and breakfasts. Little did we know that the nearby Walmart was cheaper! Here's what $70 worth of groceries looks like in Hawaii....












Day 2 was much better. We decided to head to the North Shore and check out some beaches. Suraya got to snorkel for the first time. She loved it.









Day 3 we went to the Honolulu Zoo. It was quite interesting to see some of the animals. We saw Pumbaa, Timon, and Simba.








After that we picked my sis up from the airport. They lost her luggage too! Eventually that was found as well but with some serious damage!







Day 4 and on we explored and went to every beach we could fit in. It was so much fun. We had an amazing time. We mainly stayed up in the north shore where the beaches are less crowded.
























We checked out the Dole Plantation as well and got some yummy pineapple chocolate and tried to conquer the gigantic maze!









Our last day there my sister and I went to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. We saw the most beautiful fish!



And then our vacation was over. It was time to go back to real life. We plan to return in 2010...can't wait!

Where have I been??

Apparently I've been everywhere but here!! I get so easily excited about new things such as "blogging" then after a few days my interest fades. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed. What do I write about? I didn't even write about our Hawaii vacation in June! I need to step up my game a little. I am definitely one that doesn't like to take time out of my day to get on here...if I do I will be sucked in and stuck here. It happens with other sites. So....what to write about...there's so much yet way too much to actually write. See, this is the problem I run into.

I was coming back from a weekend at the river when I decided to check on a local social networking board I frequent. I was expecting the usual chatter or even "silence" since it was the weekend. I was completely wrong. What I read shocked and saddened me.

One of the ladies, Jewelyn, was due to give birth and everyone was excited for her. She had posted a few days ago asking for advice and what to expect in the delivery room. One of the other ladies (a friend of Jewels and also a member of the networking site) was even all set and ready to head to the hospital as the official photog for the beautiful event. None of this was to be.

The photog (I would rather not say her name since I have not asked her if it's OK) was the bearer of the heartbreaking news. Jewelyn was taken in for an emergency c-section. Baby Gabrielle was born but Jewelyn did not make it. She suffered an amniotic fluid embolism & disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). She lost brain activity and was placed on life support. Her husband had to make the most difficult decision he probably will ever have to make. Jewelyn passed away Sunday September 27 at 11:30 PM. Jewelyn leaves behind a wonderful husband and beautiful baby girl.

The ladies of the networking site have come together and set up a Paypal account for donations. Donations can be sent to; 4jewelyn@gmail.com. 100% of the donations will be given to Jewel's family. Also we are holding a yard sale this Saturday. All the proceeds will go directly to Jewelyn's family.

Troublemaker

We have one of these across the street. A punk ass teenager who has no respect for others or their property. The cops have been called on this kid for trying to set fire to people's cars. He vandalizes property. The mom thinks he is an angel and everyone else is delusional...*sigh*. Laying on the roof and shooting the kid with an airsoft rifle sounds really good right now.

Question of the day...

How can one be happy for someone when that person (the someone) is not genuinely happy themselves?

Reading is my passion

Lately I have been reading a lot. My passion for reading was rekindled with the Twilight series. Now, this series and type of story is not my normal genre. I tend to stick to John Grisham And Mary Higgins Clark and maybe some Dean Koontz but I am so bored of those books. I have read almost all books from these authors. It's time to try new books. Since I finished the Twilight series I have read a few more books that were very interesting. First is The 19th Wife.



The 19th Wife has two stories within. One is nonfictional and about the start of polygamy in the Mormon religion in the 1800s and the fight of one woman to end it. The second story is fictional and set in the current day and is of a young man who was kicked out of a polygamist sect and his involvement with a murder scandal within the sect.

This type of book is not what I normally read but I have been stepping out of my reading comfort zone and reading genres that are new to me. I loved the historical part of the book. It was very interesting to read about the struggles women faced when it came to polygamy. The fictional part of the book was OK.. The stroies jumped back and forth each chapter so when I started reading a new chapter I had to get my mind set for whichever story was being told. In all it really kept my interest.

Then there was Summer Sisters by Judy Blume...yea, I know...she writes adult novels?? Well, yup, she does!



This book was really great and an easy read. I read it in one day. The novel is a coming of age story where two girls begin a friendship at the age of 12 and spend each summer together. The book chronicles their experiences and friendship each summer as they grow older. As the summers go by and the girls get older they become closer and eventually further apart as their relationship strains.

Great great great book! This is the book that I was reading and posted about below.

Currently I am reading The Doctor's Wife and I am not into it at all. I am hoping it picks up some.

Coincidence??

What the heck? So yesterday on our way out of Hawaii (will post about the vacation later) I picked up a book from WalMart to read on the plane ride back to Cali. They had a horrible selection so it took me some time to choose a book that interested me. None of the books I planned to read were there. So anyway I finally choose a book and while on the plane I start reading it. Well, a few pages in I realized I made a bad choice...here is why:

Cassandra & Von are characters in the book that was published in 1998.

Why does this even matter to me? Well, here ya go...

My name is Kasondra. My ex's name (Suraya's dad) is Vaughn and we met in 1998.

So do you see the connection here? Names spelled different but same names. I mean really, how coincidental is that? Who actually has those names? I mean mine is kinda normal but his isn't and they just so happened to be in the book I bought on a whim. So weird! Sheesh...that must be what I get for reflecting on my past!

A Decision Has Been Made

No No No! There's no baby in my belly BUT there will be....one day! HAHAHA. Ok, so on a serious note, yes there will be a baby in the future. Andrew and I have deiscussed it and as of right now we are planning for the end of next year (2010) to begin trying to conceive. Hopefully by that time I will be about done with school and graduating with my bachelors. Hopefully more stable financially with paying off debt and maybe just maybe making more money. We have a good foundation right now but we want it to be better before bringing another child into our lives.

Ever since we came to this decision I have been at peace. I no longer have "baby fever". I think I needed a more concrete answer than 1 or 2 years. It seemd like with Andrew that was always the answer and it never changed. It's been almost a year since our wedding and it was still "1 or 2 years". I finally broke down and verbally attacked him on this. I know...mean, huh? But my baby fever was getting to be really bad, to the point that I was secretly hoping my birth control would fail! I would never purposely get pregnant without him agreeing but I was still hoping to be the 1% statistic that gets pregnant while on birth control.

Anyway, after the talk and our goal I no longer have that hope or wish. I'm perfectly content. Of course our plans may change and we may push it back and it may be a longer time before we decide to try but for now the end of 2010 is it.

Pondering....

I wonder what has been up with me lately. I seem like I am in a dark place all over again with my last 2 posts. It's really not that I am. A few weeks ago an issue arose that got me thinking about the past and realizing how much better things are now for me. My past is something I have kind of kept to myself. Everyone knows the basics about it but I have never really opened up about the feelings I had.

For some reason lately I have been reflecting a lot on who I was back then and by doing that I can feel the "ghost" feelings from them. It's not like they come rushing back or anything but I can remember what it was like. You know how a scent or a song can bring back memories....it's kind of like that.

So, no there's nothing bad going on in my life. It's just time for me to let it all out.

Reminiscing

I had a seriously hard time a few years ago after I left me ex. I wasn't much of a mom to Suraya. I was lost in my own world of anger and loss. I sometimes look back and wish I was there emotionally for Suraya. Poor child kind of had to raise herself. How does a 2 year old raise herself? I have no clue but she managed.

This entry stems from some pictures I came across of Suraya when she was younger. She was maybe 2 or 3. I had bought a camera and left it on the couch. I slept in, as I did many morning probably hungover (this was normal for me at the time...sad), and woke up to find this on my camera:

















































These pictures always put a smile on my face. I wonder how I could have been so caught up in my anger and pain? How could I have missed this stage of her life? Sure I was there physically but in all other aspects I was gone. I was in a dark place. I missed many years of her life and I won't get to relive them. Sadly, I don't remember much of how she was when she was this young. I missed it and now I regret it. I have few pictures to look back on and I'm thankful for those. I should have been happy then...look at her? How could I not have been? She was such a hilarious little child!

I'm too smart for your scam

I got a letter int he mail yesterday postmarked from Canada and with no return address. *fishy* In the envelope was a money order for $3700 which is supposedly a portion of my winnings from some sweepstake that I won for $37,000. The money is to pay for taxes on the winnings. The letter instructed me to deposit the money order and wire X amount of dollars to some place to pay the taxes. After that I would get the remaining $30,000.

SCAM! I tore that sh!t up right away. A former co-worker of mine fell for it and lost a few thousand $'s in the process. The money order is a fake and will not go through but you don't find that out for a few days in which time the stupid scammers hope you wire them some $ before the bank rejects the check.

I looked up the scam and it turns out it is targeting new homebuyers. The letter and check was addresses to me with my middle initial noted as well. The only time I used my middle initial to was when buying the house.

Stupid scam. Glad I knew what it was up front.

Emotions

For some reason I decided to listen to a cd that I bought years ago after my separation from V. I don't know why I wanted to listen to it but I was drawn to the cd. There are 2 songs on the cd that hit me hard years ago. One about a guy cheating and the second about him trying to get her back. The 2 songs pretty much played out my life at the time and I would cry my little heart out listening to the first one. The second one was kind of a "Yea, I thought so. Now you see what you lost but it's too late" type of song. That one always made me smile.

So as I'm in the shower I'm listening to this cd and some little emotions start creeping up. I didn't cry, not yet. For some reason it wasn't enough to make me cry. I am not a crier so something has to be serious to get me going. I get out of the shower and BAM, the flood gates open. I am in my robe bawling my eyes out for no real reason. I have zero feelings for V so I wasn't shedding tears for him...no way. It seemed like all the hurt that I felt all those many years ago came creeping back and I was mourning who I was then. I cried and cried hoping Andrew wouldn't walk in. How would I explain that one to him?

Finally the tears dried up but I still feel like there's more left in me. I still need to cry but like always I shut it all inside me only to let tiny bits seep out now and again. I am sure the flood gates will open again. It's therapeutic. I need to mourn the loss of myself and my innocence. All that pain is still within because I never fully let it out. Again, it's not pain for V it's pain I never let myself feel. It's more residual pain than anything. Maybe this is why I never feel fully satisfied....

It's been awhile since I posted

Since my last post I have finished the entire Twilight series! YAY and boo. The books were so gripping that it was difficult to put them down for any period of time. Poor Andrew was without a wife for awhile while I holed up and read my little heart out every chance I got. I love love love the series. The last book was the best! Next on my list is Angels & Demons.

We went to Wango Tango...more on that in another post. :P

This past weekend Andrew took me on a mini getaway to Laguna. We left Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. The getaway wasn't all we dreamed. We booked a room on the beach. We thought it would be decent for the price we paid. Yea, that was untrue!

First, we get to the hotel and there's no parking. NONE. We had to park 2 blocks down and 3 blocks up a hill! No joke. It sucked. Then we get into our room and it was majorly ugly. I could deal with that though. What I couldn't handle very well was the super hard bed and the paper thin walls. We didn't sleep well and it was worse when our neighbors came back 2 times in the middle of the night. They sat up and talked forever both times. At times they were loud but even when they were speaking in what seemed to be normal volumes their voices STILL carried into our room keeping me awake. I was miserable. Oh and Andrew grabbed a few muffins for breakfast the next morning which was part of their continental breakfast and started eating them only to notice mold!! *barf*

Enough of the horrid room. Saturday we went out to dinner and walked. We were in bed by 9:30pm. How lame am I? LOL. We woke up at around 6:30am (lame again) and went to breakfast. it was cloudy and a bit chilly so we decided to wait in the room until the sun broke so we could lay out on the beach. That didn't go as planned. We had to check out by 11am. We checked out and laid on the beach in the cold. No sun! It was forecast to be sunny at 1. 1 came and went with no luck on sun so we decided to get lunch and hope it came out. Nope. Never did. At least not in the area we were in. We left at 3pm and drove a few blocks out and guess what...it was freakin' sunny! WTH? So yea, it was a great getaway...NOT! It was nice to be alone but it didn't pan out the way we'd hoped.

I'm so lame!

I'm forgetful. Insanely forgetful. I switched from Depo to the pill in December. Since then I have had to double up on pills numerous times. I can't seem to take the pill daily. It doesn't matter if the pack is right in front of me or if I have an alarm set. I will hear it or think to myself that it's time to take the pill then I get distracted and forget about it completely. It's so bad!

I only have to pick up a pack once a month right? So my forgetful self put in an order and FORGOT to pick it up!! UGH...I haven't been on the pill since Thursday! I am picking it up tomorrow but I can't believe I forgot not only one pill but the entire pack! Now my body is probably gonna go all whacky on me.

This weekend

Friday after work we went and purchased curtains for our house. We looked into all tge other window covering options and this was the cheapest route. We bought beautiful poles (thanks to Ross) for super cheap and found curtains & Target. After Target we went to Anna's Linens and found the same curtains for cheaper so of course we bought those and returned the Target ones. We put them up that night and realized brown curtains with brown furniture was just too much. :(

I had an epiphany while I slept that night...why not leave the brown curtains that we like so much but get tan sheers to match the pillows on the couch and break up the dark brown some. Perfect! Found cheap ones at Target Saturday morning but we haven't put them up yet.

Saturday, went to Renee & Jason's for Braden's birthday. That boy is getting so big and looks like he's 4, not 2! Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have to wait fro pics from Renee.

Sunday we went to Lowe's and scoped out baseboards, crown moulding, and casing for the house. We priced the items we liked and plan to get a start on that next month. We decided on colors for some of the rooms as well.

Livingroom/formal diningroom (bar area): Green & tan
Kitchen/diningroom: Orange
2nd Livingroom: Dark Borwn & tan
Master Bdrm: Red accent wall

That's all so far...still working on the rest. We also decided we are going to put wood floors in our bedroom. We may take the vanity out and replace it but that's up in the air. Oh, I also found the flowers I want to plant in the backyard. i found orange lillies that I must have!!

Busy busy weekend. In between all that I did some homework and read half of new Moon!

HTML codes...

I am sooo lost rigth now. I have tried a few times to cut & paste an HTML code for a new background on here but it never works! I have no clue what to do. It's frustrating. I am going to the right sites as far as I know. I need help.

Stupid phone!

I have this lovely phone that is supposed to be a "smart phone". Well, this "smart phone" is a piece of ish. I have had issues with it from day one. My alarm doesn't work on it when it's on the ringer. It doesn't ring at all sometimes. It does psycho weird things! Yesterday the battery died. I went to charge it and the screen that popped up was asking me to calibrate the screen. OK..sure. I did that. Then the stupid thing jumped to the regular screen, except it wasn't the right background. My biggest fear had come true! My phone reset itself. It wiped it clean of any info I had in there. Email, phone numbers, text messages, pictures...GONE! Yea, so much for a "smart phone"!!

Oh the suspense!

Aggh! I finished Twilight this morning and read the exerpt for New Moon. OMG!!! I am so anxious to buy the book and start reading it. It's killing me that I'm at work all day and can't run off to my vampire world. I'm so curious as to what's going to happen in the rest of the series! The exerpt has got me all worked up! They are celebrating her bday and she cuts her finger...not a good thing to happen around a group of vampires. Oh the suspense!!

Starting a food blog

By popular demand I will be starting a food blog. OK OK that was an overstatement but I am asked quite freqeuntly about my recipes so I decided rather than write each one down for each individual person I will just make a blog for everyone to view.

It will probably take awhile to post all my favorite recipes and even longer for me to make them and take pictures but I will get started on that ASAP!

I will keep you all updated.

Insanely Slow

Work has been super slow. I have been here nearly 3 years and this is the slowest it's been. I was verifying timecards yesterday and noticed most of the crews were off yesterday because there was no work. We've been lucky that Andrew hasn't been told not to come in. He has been mostly getting 4-5 hour days so that is a blow to our pockets but at least he is getting some hours in.

As for me, I'm safe so far. I work in the accounts payable/receivable/collections dept. I'm a one woman show and since my boss doesn't want to have to do my work I haven't had to take time off. The other girls in the office have been told not to come in or come in a half a day. I am thankful we have jobs, I just wish the economy would pick up so things can get back to normal.

With work being so slow it give the owners a chance to nitpick everything and it's so freakin' annoying. Oh and they complain about money and how we need to save money yet they use company funds to fund their vacations, buy the new release DVD's every Tuesday, buy things for friends (I'm talking about a few hundred dollars worth), food (claiming it was for a company party), etc. The list goes on. It's rather frustrating to see all these company charges that aren't for the company at all yet they sit here and say they can't give anyone a raise because of the poor economy. I understand it's their money but if you can't give your employees a raise then don't run around spending the company money that can go towards raises frivolously! They make a 5 figure paycheck monthly(thousands) so why can't they use thier own money for things outside company expenses? It irks me that there is this hypocracy when it comes to the money.

I think I deterred Suraya from college

My poor kid is being tortured. Andrew had to work overtime today which just so happens to be a school day for me. This meant I had to take Suraya to school with me. Thanfully it's not a 4 hour day for me at school. She'd lose her mind. She's sitting here spinning in the chair, wiggling around and telling me how boring it is. This is probably not a great way to get her excited about going to college.

*gasp* The Read My Blog!

In yesterday's shopping blog I mentioned that the kid stores like Charlotte Russe & Forever 21 have no concept of normal sizes. Well, they must have read my blog and went into action because this morning I heard Forever 21 is intorducing their "extended sizes" line. Umm, yea. extended...I'm thinking now an extra large will be a medium in a normal size.

Day of Shopping!

While Andrew went of to the shooting range Suraya and I decided to go shopping. Well, really, I decided to go and she had no choice but to follow. We spent most of the day at the Cabazon outlets. It's so great that I live so close to it now! The outlet has tons of designer stores with their items for a fraction of the price.

Anyway, we walked the entire outlet center and I only made a purchase at one store. Well, the smoothy we had doesn't count. Awhile back Andrew had suggested I shop at Bebe so we went in and walked right out when we saw the cost of the clothes. They were way out of my price range. I hit the jackpot today though! At Cabazon they have a Bebe's outlet! The clothes were still more than I am used to paying but I figure it's time for me to start looking cute and get away from the kid stores, which I have pretty much already banned. For my body shape the kid stores like Charlotte Russe and Forever 21 (ugly clothes) or Papaya make no sense. A large is really a small in their standards. They have no sense of a real person's body. Anyway, I discovered Bebe and am now in love!!

During our shopping spree, if you can call it that...it was more like a window shopping spree, I realized that my little girl is growing up. For some reason she seemed all grown and just looked like a miniature teen to me. She aided me in picking clothes that looked good on me and told me which looked bad. Sometimes she can be a little too honest (yea, I know my tummy jiggles) but today she was super sweet and didn't blurt out any craziness. It hits me sometimes that she isn't this little baby anymore...she's growing up.

On a side note....I STILL haven't gotten my bookshelves for my office or my filing cabinet. My office is turning into a wreck with nowhere to put all my crap.