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Wordless Wednesday

Lazy Day

I am slowly coming to the realization that my little vacation will soon be over. It's the understatement of the year to say that I have enjoyed my time off. I have loved every single minute that I have had to spend at home with Laura. With her working from home we have been able to spend a lot of time together. This is the first time that we have been together 24/7 for more then one week. We learned quickly when the other person needed some alone time, etc.

I will be working in a field of social work that I have never worked before. I am looking forward to the challenge. The first 2 1/2 weeks I will be in training which will hopefully bring me up to speed with what I need to know for this position. I am excited that this agency is giving me a chance even though I have very little experience in this field. When I was unemployed 4 years ago I went to interview after interview being told "we're sorry we are looking for someone that has a little more experience in this particular field". I was so frustrated because I kept thinking, how am I suppose to get any experience if no one will give me a chance.

The weekend before I start my new job Laura and I are flying to Dallas to meet up with our friends Sharon and Jen. We are so excited for this trip and I think it's a great way to end the time off I have had. I will then only have to work 3 weeks before we are off to Florida for a week. The cool thing: I will get a paycheck before our trip to Florida. Our savings account is very thankful for that. But like Laura has always said, we would have been ok regardless.

I woke up this morning with a horrible headache. I haven't had one this bad in a while. It seemed that my entire head was pounding. Compared to my other days where I go to the gym, pick up the house, etc, I am having a lazy day. I need to remember there won't be too many days where I can just sit on the couch all day, so I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

Last night after we had headed to bed I got up to go to the bathroom. When I walked into the bathroom our cat Bonk was on her towel under the vent (like she is every night) and I noticed that one of our other cats, Astro, was just sitting in the bathtub. I have never seen anything like that. I stood there looking at him while he was looking right back at me. It was as if he was saying, "What? Haven't you ever seen a cat in a bathtub before?" I wish I had my camera because I am not sure I will ever walk in on him just sitting in the tub again.

Thank you all for all your wonderful comments regarding my new job. I know I keep saying this, but I really do have the best blogger friends out there. Thank you so much for all the support and friendship you have given me. I heart all of you.

You're Hired

It's official: I am now employed!!

I got a call a few minutes ago stating they wanted to offer me the job. The wonderful news: it's more money then what I had expected.

I start on March 26.

That means I have one more month off to continue to workout and watch my daytime shows.

They know that I will be gone in April and don't have a problem with it.

I am very happy.

Opportunties

We've had a very nice weekend. It started out Saturday morning with it being cold and rainy. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to go to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. I love crab legs and have been craving them for a while now. It was good, but not as good as I remember. It seemed to me that there was not as much meat in the crab legs. Once we got home Laura informed me that she had 2 hours of cycling to watch on TV. I then realized this would be the perfect opportunity to go to the casino and try my luck there. I was on my favorite machines and I was just inches away from getting the $22,000 jackpot. That would have been so nice. But it wasn't meant to be. I want to go to the casino just once and have all the bells and whistles go off at my machine. Just once. I don't think that is too much to ask for, is it?? :)

Back in the fall Sassy showed a sign on her blog. I loved it and she was so nice to pick one up for us. We received it a few months back and I have been trying to find the perfect place for it. Finally yesterday we decided to put it up in our living room. I heart this sign so much. It says so much in just 7 words. It's amazing how much Laura and I have for the simple fact that we fell in love.

We are getting all ready to watch the Oscars tonight. Laura and I have picked out who we think will win and we are playing with our friends Sharon and Jen. We are still trying to figure out what the prize will be for the person who picks the most winners. I haven't seen all the movies that are up for best picture and now I am wishing I had seen them. We are expected to get Babel later this week and we are anxiously awaiting for The Queen and Notes of a Scandal to come out. Anybody seen any of these movies and if you did what was your thoughts on it?

Have a good evening everyone and go Little Miss Sunshine!!!!

Evolution of a Bathroom

So the bathroom is 99% done. We are so happy with the end results. I thought I would go back through to show you what our bathroom looked like before and how it looks now. We have a few more things we are going to do in the bathroom, but we are so happy we've gone this far.
Here is what our bathroom looked like. I knew it needed some updating, but now that I am looking at these pictures I am wondering why it took us so long to do something. Don't you just love those colors?

Here is the shower. It really looks bad. I am so embarrassed.

Another view of the bathroom before. If you will notice we had carpet in there. It was a huge pain to clean.

After day 1 of the construction this is what our bathroom looked like. It really felt like we were camping for a week. We even had to use Lynilu's shower for 2 days since we only have one bathroom and the shower was not done.

Here is the bathroom today. We have our pictures back on the wall, the walls are painted and I think it looks pretty good. I am not sure what that white line is under the picture on the back wall. Don't worry we did paint the entire wall.

Another shot of the wall. You can kind of tell the color of paint we picked out for the wall. I tried getting a close up, but it didn't turn out well.

Here is a shot looking the other way. I love the look and feel of our bathroom now. It's very warm and cozy. It has the island feeling.

Here is a picture of the tile.

One last shot of our vanity. I think this is my favorite part of our new bathroom. This vanity/mirror set usually sells for $300, but we found it on clearance for $99. Not bad if I do say myself.

Waiting

Still no phone call, but I am not going to worry about it. I am sure I will hear something by early next week.

Today has been a busy day for me so far. I keep thinking that I had no idea that being unemployed would mean I would be so busy. I went to the gym this morning and did 55 minutes on the Elliptical trainer. I love how I now have the mind set that anything less than 40 minutes is not good enough. I never thought I would be like that. I got on the scale this morning and have officially lost 25lbs. I am a little less the halfway to my goal. After the gym I decided since I had such a good workout that I deserved a bagel. Not having my bagels everyday really makes me appreciate them when I do have them. Once I got home I realized the cats were out of food so it was out to the pet store. And now I am finally home ready to relax.

The above picture I took of myself and Ben. I used to have a love/hate relationship with the pictures that were taken of me. I loved having a picture of whatever we were doing, but I hated seeing pictures of myself and how I had let myself go. Last night I took a couple pictures of myself and the pets and I really like what I am seeing. I love how my face is getting it's shape back. I still have a way to go, but I am liking what I am seeing so far.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are probably going to be staying in most of the weekend. We are suppose to get storms this weekend that could include snow. I guess we have to say goodbye to our 60 degree weather for a while.

New Job?

Well, I think I may have a job. I got several calls this morning from my references saying that they got calls from this agency looking into my references. Usually they only call your references when they are about to offer you a job. So, we'll see what today and tomorrow brings. Laura asked me if I wanted to hear from them today and I said "no" because I wanted to enjoy one more day before knowing that I do have a job. Make sense?? Like I said the good thing is the job doesn't start for one month. It will probably be the best month of my life. There is nothing better then a few weeks off knowing you have a job at the end of that month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.


I will say that I will miss spending my mornings with Robin Roberts from Good Morning America. I first noticed her during Hurricane Katrina. I remember her reporting from Mississippi and being so upset at the devastation and not being able to get in contact with her family that lived in the area. While on the air she got word that her family was ok. She could barely speak because she was so upset. I don't know if it's just me or not, but is anyone else's gaydar going off? Both Laura and I think that there is a pretty good chance that she is gay. But we could be wrong.

Meme

ON THE OUTSIDE
Name: Caroline
Birth date: May 29, 1973
Current Location: Kansas City, MO
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Light Brown and now with a little grey
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac Sign: Gemini

ON THE INSIDE:
Your heritage: Since I am adopted I have no idea.
Your weakness: Babies
Your perfect pizza: Pepperoni, Cheese, Italian Sausage and Onions with a thick crust
Goal you’d like to achieve: Get down to my weight before I got married to my ex.

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW:
Your thoughts first waking up: What day is it?
Your best physical feature: My Smile
Your bedtime: Usually around 10:30 or 11pm
Your most missed memory: The good times I had with my family

YOUR PICK:
Pepsi or Coke: No question Coke
McDonald’s or Burger King: McDonalds..where smiles are always free :)
Single or group dates: I don't really care. Sometimes I like to be alone with Laura and other times it's fun to hang out with friends
Adidas or Nike: Nike. When I was in 5th grade I wore an Adidas shirt to school and this kid came up to me and asked if I knew what Adidas stood for. He then told me it meant "All day I think about sex." Never worn Adidas since then.
Lipton Tea or Nestea: Lipton
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or coffee: Tea

DO YOU?
Smoke: Yes.
Cuss: Yes. I need to work on it. Laura and I said we were going to give up cussing for Lent. Lasted about 5 minutes.
Take a shower: Um....Yes.
Have a crush: Yes
Think you’ve been in love: I don't just think..I know I have been and are in love
Like(d) school: I am not a huge fan of school. I really liked my college days when I got my bachelors degree.
Believe in yourself: Most times I do, but I have my days when I have a lot of self doubt.
Think you’re a health freak: I didn't used to be, but I think I am now. Working out makes me think twice about what I eat.

IN THE PAST MONTH:
Drank alcohol: No
Gone to the mall: No
Been on stage: No
Eaten Sushi: No
Been dumped: No
Gone skating: No
Dyed your hair: No

HAVE YOU EVER:
Played a stripping game: Yes. A few years back Laura and I played strip Monopoly. It was actually a lot of fun.
Gotten beaten up: Only by my brother
Changed who you were to fit in: Not since I left the Jehovah's Witness religion.

GETTING OLD:
Where do you want to retire: I really don't know. Maybe somewhere warm.

IN A GIRL:
Best eye color: Blue
Best hair color: Dark Brown
Short or long hair: Medium length hair

IN A GUY:
Best eye color: Blue
Best hair color: Blonde
Short or long hair:Short

WHAT WERE YOU DOING
1 MINUTE AGO: I was still doing this meme one minute ago
1 HOUR AGO: Cleaning the house
1 WEEK AGO: Getting ready for our Valentine's Day date
1 YEAR AGO: Working

FINISH THE SENTENCE:
I LOVE: My life
I FEEL: Tired and crabby
I HATE: Really hot weather
I HIDE: nothing from Laura
I MISS: my nephews
I NEED: to win the lottery

Getting Older...Dammit

The last few weeks I have been noticing more and more gray hairs in my hair. I am not too happy about that because that really means that I am getting older. I am lucky though because my birthmom's Mother had gray hair by the age of 20. I think I would have freaked if my hair had turned gray when I was only 20. So today we are sitting on the couch and Laura says "oh my gosh you should see the gray in your hair." I didn't think that was too appropriate for her to say. I don't need to be reminded that I am getting older.

Later in the afternoon I decided to do some touch ups on the paint in the bathroom. I started with the white that is on the trim/door frames. While I was in there Ben came in and was rubbing up against me. I got him to go away, but apparently not soon enough. I guess he also noticed the gray in my hair and wanted to be just like his Mama.

Here is a picture of my gray hair. It's not much, but enough for me to notice and apparently Laura.
Another picture of the gray.

Here is Ben's tail. Usually it's all black. Note he has the markings of a skunk.

Another shot of his tail. Does anyone know how to get paint out of cats hair??????

One Month

Last night as I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep I kept thinking about our trip to Florida in April. I am getting so excited that every time I think about our trip I get butterflies in my stomach. We still have a lot to do before we get on the plane and here is our "to do" list:

*Find our outfits for the commitment ceremony. We have some pretty good ideas as to what we are going to wear now we just need to find it.

*Decide on flowers (Laura's younger sister who is coming with us and is helpin us decide on things will freak when we jokingly tell her "we'll just get some wild flowers from the side of the road on our way down.")

*Decide where we are going to eat after the ceremony

*Write my vows. Luckily the charter that is taking us out has vows they use (which we love), but we are going to add something just to make it more personal and more "us".

Last week I got an email from Expedia saying there was a change in our itinerary. I looked and it was showing us leaving at 9:15am instead of the 6:20am we had originally booked. We were suppose to get into Florida at 12:30 and now we are not getting in until 4:00pm. After talking with Expedia we were told we would have to call the airline. So I called American and I waited and I waited and I waited. 30 minutes later I finally talked with someone and they said our original flight was canceled and this was the best they could do. The only good thing is we are now on the same flight as little sis and hubby. But we are still getting in way later then what we had planned.

My ticker that is counting down to our ceremony is now at the very bottom of my blog. When I switched to the new template I couldn't figure out how to put it at the top. Today is reads: 1 month 3 weeks and 6 days. I know it's really 2 months, but I am just so excited to see it read "1 month".

**Update**We found where we will eat after the ceremony. If you click HERE you will see where our celebration dinner will be.

Good Home

So I had my interview this morning. It went really well. I am feeling really good about this position and I think I would like what I would be doing. Plus, as I was walking out someone that I knew from my previous job came up and said HI. I was surprised she was working there, but it would be good to know at least one person when I start. Oh and the other good thing is the position does not start until March 26 which would give me one more month of time off. I did tell them about my trip in April and that I would be off for one week and it did not seem a problem at all to them. So, we'll see what happens and if I receive a call, but right now I am feeling pretty good about it.

One of the questions they asked me was "how do you handle the day to day stress in your job". I didn't even have to think about this question. I simply told them "I am lucky because I have a really good home to go home to. Some days I just need to vent and other days I just need to not say anything at all. My home is very supportive of my work and that really helps me get through the days that are very stressful."

It is such a breath of fresh air to have a happy and loving home to come home to. I am so thankful and grateful that I have a supportive and loving partner that always seems to know exactly what to say to me. It used to be that when I would have a bad day it would last days and days and sometimes weeks. There was even one period where I was having a bad day that lasted months. It was the worst time of my life. Now when I have a bad day it is usually just hours not days. As I was sitting in the dentist chair on Friday with tears running down my face trying not to let my sobs get too out of control I thought my world was ending. As I left the dentist I sat in my car just crying. I waited a few minutes and called Laura. All she said to me was "come home and we'll talk". That was what I needed to hear. I wanted to know that she was not disappointed in me and this was not the end of the world. My world did not end and in no way was she disappointed in me.

The result of my mini breakdown was two kick ass workouts which has helped me feel better about myself. Those two workouts gave me the self confidence I needed for my interview this morning and to remind myself that I am a good person and that just because I had a bad day it does mean it has to extend into more then one day.

Crash & Burn

Ok, so I think I over did it at the gym. This morning we got up and we were at the gym when it opened at 10am and I did my 55 minutes again. I was so excited because my new heart rate monitor is the same brand at the elliptical so my heart rate was also showing on the machine. I had no idea that it would key in with the machine, so that was a pleasant surprise.

After the gym I noticed that my left ear was hurting a little. Well, I noticed it was hurting yesterday but I ignored it.

Because it is the Chinese New Year we opted for take out Chinese today. Damn it was good. It's been months since I have had Chinese and it was so good.

After lunch I crashed. I laid down at 2:30 and just now got up (5:30). And I didn't get up because I was feeling rested and ready to get up. I knew that if I didn't get up I would never sleep tonight. It didn't help that I had very disturbing dreams.

When I got up I realized my ear is hurting even worse then before I laid down. I think I have an ear infection. I was put on antibiotics by my dentist but never started them and I really don't have an explanation as to why I didn't start them. I woke up and took an antibiotic as well as some Tylenol. My only other concern is that last summer I also had an ear infection and it was due to the teeth problems I was having. The ear that is hurting is on the same side as where those 2 teeth are that need to be looked at.

Tomorrow is my day off from the gym, thank goodness. I am not sure I could handle another day like this at the gym.

What a Difference

It's amazing how one day can make such a big difference in my attitude. After thinking about it (and talking with Laura) we decided we are going to call my dental insurance company and ask them for someone on their list where I can get a second opinion. Because even if the dentist and the person I go to for the root canal are not connected in some way my dentist still makes a profit when I have a root canal since I then need a crown. And even if yes I have to have 2 more root canals (although I am hoping for just one) this is the worst it is. After this I am done with all my dental work. Things always have a way of working out.

Yesterday I was depressed and worried and this morning when I woke up I decided to choose to have a positive attitude about it. We got up, went to the gym and I have the best workout yet. I did 55 minutes on the Elliptical trainer and burned a whopping 604 calories. That is double my other workouts and burning of calories. It felt amazing. To celebrate this accomplishment we went out and bought a heart rate monitor for me. I have found if I keep my heart rate in my target zone then I can go on forever. Well, not forever, but at least 55 minutes. This afternoon I also downloaded 6 new songs for my MP3 player. I am tempted to go back the gym just to listen to the songs, but I think my body needs a little rest after today's workout.

After the gym I was starving. So we went to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I enjoyed every bite knowing what kind of workout I had just a few hours earlier. It's amazing how much better the food tastes when I am working out and I don't have a constant feeling of guilt.

I have a job interview on Monday which I am looking forward to. But I will tell you the job will have to be close to perfect since I am enjoying my time off so much.

Oh, and we are now under 2 months until we leave for Florida. Do I need to tell you how excited I am???

Shock

I was expecting this post to be a little different. It was to be a celebration in a sense.

I went to the dentist this morning to have the last of my cavities filled and then I was going to be done; at least until June for my regular cleaning.

I have 2 teeth that need to be looked at for possible root canals. The dentist is 90% sure on one tooth, and the other is about a 50/50.

I am thankful that I kept my dental insurance through my work.

But it's still a lot of money.

$900 per tooth for the root canal and crown.

I feel like I just can't catch a break here.

I am depressed and worried.

What a great way to start the weekend.

Neighbors

When I moved into this house in 1998 it was a nice neighborhood. I remember my parents being a little worried about the neighborhood because it was starting to go down hill a little. It was my Grandmothers house and I really wanted to buy her house after she passed away. When my ex husband and I moved in we found that our street was still very nice. There were nice neighbors and everyone seemed to look after each other. Boy have things changed.

I hate our neighborhood now. I don't feel safe and I don't trust 99% of our neighbors. In the past year we have had 4 new neighbors move on either side of us or on our street. Here is an example of our new neighbors:

*I don't know the people that bought Lynilu's house. I don't think they have moved in, but I think they will be ok. From what we know it's a couple in their 50's and all their children are grown and don't live with them. We are happy about that.

*The people that moved in the house on the other side of us are very young. They look like they are in maybe their 20's and I see lots of little kids. Yesterday while they were moving in someone was in the car and to get the attention of the person in the house they honked their horn for like 5 minutes straight. Here's an idea: Get out of your car and go get the person that is in the house instead of disturbing the entire neighborhood with your damn horn.

*The person that lives across the street is a real trip. The husband came over to our house last April when we were having problems with the bathroom and asked what happened with the company that was doing the work on the bathroom. He then asked if he could come in and look at the work because he did home improvements and maybe he could help us. Oh, and it was 8:30 at night. Um, no thank you. He also has a motorcycle that he will ride up and down our street and at all hours of the day and he always makes sure he guns it. It's very loud. Last summer he had a pitt bull that he was starving. Animal Control came and took the dog away. Within a month he had another pitt bull. I have seen this horrible creature running outside of the yard. Today when I came home from the store that dog was in our yard up by where the cats are. I honked my horn and chased it (in my car) back to his house. I then got out and went up to the front door and rang the door bell. I hear a man yell angrily "who is it?". He finally answered the door and I told him his dog was out and was in our yard. He looked like he was having trouble understanding what I was saying and I then said, "if I find your dog out again I am calling animal control". This made him angry. He asked why I would do something like that. I told him he has a pitt bull running around the neighborhood and that we had a dead cat a few weeks back. His response was, "he's just a puppy, he wouldn't do that." Ok, ok . Pitt bulls are known for their gentle nature. NOT. As I was walking back to my house he mumbled something about he didn't need this. I kept walking. Of the neighbors I do trust, none of them likes this family.

*Two neighbors that live on the street behind us (we live on a corner so our yard backs up to their yards) have no respect for their house or yards. There is one house that currently has so much crap in their yard you would think no one lives there. Last summer they had a table out in the front yard and had clothes on it. It looked like a garage sale set up, but I think they were just doing laundry, I think. The house right next to them the family has just got up and left. Who ever owns the house has put all their stuff at the end of the driveway. It's been there for 3 weeks now. Our big item pick up is not until the end of March. Lovely isn't it?

*The people that live directly behind us have a teenage son. Laura and I laugh all the time becuase that kid is out in the shed (in all kinds of weather) either smoking pot or sniffing paint. I feel bad because I know the parents are good and have always been nice to us and their kid is hanging out with the wrong kids. One funny thing: they have a daughter that is maybe 7 and a few months ago Sophie was outside and barking. I tried to get her to stop and then I heard the little girl say, "Sophie be quiet". I thought that was cute.

I just want to live in a neighborhood that has people that respect their houses and yards, oh and the other neighbors. I want to pull into my neighborhood and feel some kind of pride, not being ashamed because of where I live. I don't think it's a huge request.

I hope I can hold on until we put the house on the market and I hope the improvements we made to the house will not be too much for this neighborhood.

For Those Who Are Lonely

For those of you that are lonely this day, I think you can relate to this little guy. Be sure to watch until 2:15 when he really Breaks it Down.

Let It Snow

Well we got the snow they were predicting. It was fun last night watching the snow come in and by 10pm it was snowing pretty hard. It had rained most of yesterday so the city was unable to treat the streets before the snow started falling. Because of this, the roads are pretty bad today. Because we are so dedicated to working out we got up this morning and headed off to the gym. We have to drive on the highway for about 2 miles and even the highway was horrible. The road that was the best was the driveway up to the gym and the gym parking lot. After working out we had to pick up a few things at the grocery store. That was an experience all in it's own.
Sophie is thrilled that it snowed. I have never known any dogs that love snow as much as she does. And she's just like a little kid because her favorite thing to do when there is snow on the ground is to eat it. When we let her inside she immediately runs to the couch and jumps up. That's her way of warming up.

Here's our back deck. I guess we won't be using these chairs for a while.

It's suppose to get very cold the next couple of days. I think the high tomorrow is in the teens and then Thursday morning when we wake up it will only be 0. Brrrr!!

We have great plans for tomorrow for Valentine's Day. Laura planned all of it and I am so looking forward to it. Not only is it Valentine's Day tomorrow, but 2 months from tomorrow we are off to Florida. I need to really start working on my vows. I know what I want to say, but finding the words is hard. How in the world do I tell the woman I love how much I love her and how much she has changed my world?

Cabin Fever

I went outside a few minutes ago to take some pictures of the wet and gray day we are having. We are expecting snow later on this evening which I am so excited about. I love winter, but I would rather it be white outside then brown and gray. As I was standing outside taking some pictures I noticed Ben (picture) at the door meowing. Ever since he got out in April he is more interested in going outside. I think he is suffering from Cabin Fever today. When it's warm outside I will carry him outside with me when we take the dog outside. Now he is wanting out on his own. We are going to have to keep an eye on that because if it were up to me he would never go outside again. I don't think I could handle losing him again.

This morning we got the second coat of paint on. And I have to tell you we LOVE, LOVE the color we picked out. There have been a couple times when we picked out a color and started painting and decided it wasn't the color we had wanted. This time the color is just perfect. Tomorrow I will priming the door frames and the window in the bathroom. Then I will be painting them white. I am so excited to see the finished product. We have pictures that we picked out a year ago for the bathroom and I can't wait to finally get them up.

We watched part of the Grammy's last night. I was so thrilled that the Dixie Chicks won all 5 awards they were nominated for. The minute I heard their song Not Ready to Make Nice, I loved it. That song says a lot about what I am going through with my family. During the Grammys Carrie Underwood sang the Eagles Desperado and I got to thinking about how my Mom used to say that was my brothers song. It got me to thinking about what song she now hears and thinks of me. I am not sure I would want to know either. When I hear Not Ready to Make Nice I think of my family. I am not sure they would want to know that either.

Step Two

Most people I know take it easy on Sunday. Not us, at least not on this Sunday. We got up and went to the gym. After watching The Guardian last night I decided I wanted to do my workout in the pool. BTW, The Guardian is an awesome movie and at the end I looked to Laura and said, "well now I want to join the Coast Guard". I had a really good workout and I can really tell that my other workouts on the Elliptical trainer is paying off. Then we came home and got started with the bathroom.

This is the before picture. Looking at this picture I am glad we decided to to paint it because I can see how bad it really does look. I guess we just got used to looking at the sheet rock and the bare walls.
Here we are right before we started painting. It was a lot of work, especially right above the shower. My arms are very sore. We painted the walls a light brown/tan color. It has a hint of green which matches the tile on the floor perfectly. We are going to be painting the trim of the doors and windows white. I think the color will really stand out once we get the trim/window painted. We got one coat of the paint on today and will do the second coat tomorrow. Then later in the week when we are certain the paint is dry I will paint the trim/window. I will wait to show the after picture when the trim is done.

Here is a picture of Sophie to show that we have gotten back to normal. Sophie is very happy to be back on her bed. She only sleeps on it during the day or when we go somewhere. At night she is always right next to us. And yes that is the shower curtain on her bed. We had to take it down to paint. And you can see Sophie doesn't really care.

We have just a couple more things to do to the house before we could really think about putting it on the market. The minute the markets turns around I think we are going to put the house on the market. Even if it's just to get out of this neighborhood and to move to a neighborhood that doesn't have as much crime. Just yesterday the K-Mart that is about a mile from our home one of the employees was taken back into a back restroom and almost raped. And this happened in the middle of the day not at night.

Laura and I often talk about moving out of Kansas City. If we didn't own this house we would be out of here next week. Laura's work enables her to work at home and she could work from a distance. Since I am already looking for work this would be the perfect time to look for work in another state. We'll see what happens in the next few months. I am very excited about thinking about where we would want to move. Even if it's not a different state I think it will be nice to move to a new house that we find together as a couple.

Step One

Well this morning we dropped Lynilu off at the airport for her adventure back to New Mexico. It was great spending some time with her and we miss her already. We'll see her again in a few weeks when she comes back to get her things out of storage and then she will be "done" with KC for good. It was great having her as a neighbor and friend. The people that bought her house will not come close to how good of a neighbor she has been.

Last night we went to dinner to another neighbors and had a great time. Lynilu was closer to these neighbors then we have been and it was great getting to know them. Laura and I had said hi to these neighbors, but never spent an evening with them. We had homemade lasagna and it was so darn good. And the best part was we all were laughing the entire night, OH and gossiping about most of the other neighbors. It was fun. The neighbors we went to dinner with live across the street and they have several stray cats they have also adopted. They showed us their "cat condo" that they have built for their strays. They have a nice size dog house that has a cover on the door and a light inside to keep it warm. They also had this water/food dish that has lights under it to keep the water from freezing. I was so jealous and decided that we needed to do something like that for our strays.

As we were driving home from the airport Laura and I were talking and I told her we had to paint the bathroom. I was a little embarrassed that we didn't get it done before Lynilu got here, but it will surely be done when she comes back to town in a few weeks. We are suppose to get some major snow Sunday into Monday so I told Laura that would be the perfect time to paint the bathroom. So while we were at Walmart we got the paint and we are all ready to get the bathroom done. I can't wait to have it done.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

The Sky is Falling

This was what downtown Kansas City looked like yesterday afternoon. There was a chemical plant that exploded and there was a huge cloud looming over Kansas City. From 2pm yesterday until 7pm the news channels were on with this breaking news. Amazingly no was injured or killed.

While we were watching the news yesterday afternoon one of the news people came on and they were in the area when the explosion happened and there was a bunch of debris falling from the sky. One of the news people picked one up and they were showing it on TV. I am not sure what they were thinking holding and touching this stuff that was falling from the Chemical Plant explosion. About 5 minutes later the news person said they had just got a call from the EPA saying "don't touch it again, and make sure you wash your hands." Then they told all viewers not to pick up any of the debris that was falling from the sky. Then they were laughing and saying, "it's too late for us". We were laughing because it seemed like they were saying, "it's too late for us..save yourself."

So that was the big news event in Kansas City yesterday. The wind was blowing to the south west so we didn't get any of the smoke over our house.

Day 2

Well day 2 with Lynilu has almost come to an end. When I got up this morning the first thing I did was go to the gym. I didn't go on Tuesday and was really feeling like I needed to go. It was a great workout and I was very happy that I went. Lynilu was busy getting the last few things done at the house. Here are some pictures of our day.
Sophie dog is very rude when it comes to people eating. Here she is eyeing Lynilu's lunch.

"If I get a little closer and give you those sad puppy dog eyes will you give me a bite?"

Sophie moves in just a little bit closer. You would think we don't feed her at all.

As you can see Lynilu gave in and gave Sophie a bite of her lunch. The result was one happy dog.

The cats are adjusting to have company. Today Sophie-cat did something she has never done and something I personally didn't think she was able to do: she got on the arm of the love seat and just sat there. You will see that she needed the extra support by putting her front paws down on the cushion.

Here is our nightly routine: We surf the net and watch Dr. Phil. Notice Bonk on the arm of the love seat. I believe Lynilu and Bonk were watching a video of cats on Youtube.

This was Bonk's way of saying "I am ready for bed".

That's all for Wednesday.

The Eagle Has Landed

Well, Lynilu has made it here safe and sound. We are busy catching up and just enjoying each other company. I forgot how much we all laugh when we get together.
We had to wait about an hour for her flight so we stopped and got a drink at the airport bar. Here's yours truly.

Here's Laura. I am trying to figure out what she is trying to say to me through her eyes and smile.

I have heard of mall walkers, but never airport walkers. As we were waiting for the flight this couple walked passed us at least 6 times. I found it very interesting that they were walking in the airport.

And here is Lynilu. Boy is it good to see her.

Lynilu Day

In about 5 hours Laura and I will be heading to the airport to pick up Lynilu. We are very excited to have her back in town even if it is just for a few days. We will be helping her pack up rest of the things in her house and moving it to storage. It's going to be a busy couple of days so if I am not around too much you will know why.

In anticipation of Lynilu coming and staying at our house we did a major cleaning the last couple of days. That has kept us busy the last couple of days and now we are just sitting here waiting for our company to arrive.

For the first time in more then a week our temps are suppose to be above freezing. It's just suppose to be for a couple hours this afternoon, but it will be a nice change. We thought for sure that Lynilu was going to bring snow with her since the snow seems to follow her everywhere, but it looks like she may be bringing warmer weather with her.

I will try to post while Lynilu is here, but usually when she is here we start talking and before we know it hours have passed. I am so excited to try my new camera on something other then the pets.

Just One Day

There are so many days when I wish I lived in a different town. Kansas City is not a small city, but it's not so big that you can disappear and not be seen from certain people. I wish I could just disappear so that I didn't have to see certain people and they couldn't see me.

Laura and I shop at a Walmart that is in the same neighborhood as my parents house, my aunt/uncles house, my old congregation as well as numerous members of that congregation. We like that Walmart because it's always clean and we know where everything is. Just driving to that Walmart the chances of running into someone I know from my past is very high. Once in that Walmart or any of the other stores in that area the chances that we will see someone that I know is again very high.

Saturday we went to Walmart to do our shopping and as we were driving home we were right behind my aunt. I didn't honk or do anything to be pointed out and I just minded my own business. She turned onto her street and I don't even know if she realized I was right behind her for about two miles.

What I hate is all the feelings that suddenly push to the front when I see someone that hates me because I am gay. I get angry at them. I get angry at the entire Jehovah's Witness religion. Then I start thinking about my parents and how crappy they are treating me.

I think I have done pretty well at moving on with my life without my family. Considering that 3 years ago I will still do dependant upon my parents that I could barely make any decisions on my own, I think I am doing very well. I thought about my parents last week when I bought my camera. To them that would have been a silly purchase and they probably would have told me what I should have done with that money. It feels wonderful making decisions and not having anyone question my reasons for buying this or that.

Laura and I have talked often about moving. It would be nice to have a fresh start somewhere. It would be nice going to the store and not worrying about who we are going to run into. I just want one day where I can go to the store and not worry about who will be there and what they will be thinking or saying about me. Just one day.

Super Bowl Party

We had just a small Super Bowl party; it was just the two of us and the pets. We find that the best parties are when it's just the two of us and our little family. I hope you aren't tired of seeing the pictures I am taking with my new camera. I just love it so. Oh, and with Lynilu coming in on Tuesday (YEA), I will have someone new to take pictures of. Get ready Lynilu!!
Busted!! I came down last night around midnight and found Sophie-cat on the couch on my side. She was caught red handed. As you can see she didn't care. Bitch.

Because it has been so cold we have been closing the blinds during the day. The dog usually lays at the back door to keep an eye on the yard. You know we might have people trespassing in our yard or other furry animals. She does not like the blinds shut.

This was taken after the kick off to the game. Laura is in the background yelling because the Bears ran it back for a touchdown. The cats were confused as to why she was yelling.

Brady's new favorite song is Beyonce's song that has the lyrics "to the left, to the left". Here is is trying his new dance move. Such a Queen.

Part of our Super Bowl party included wings. Boy were they good.

Laura said this picture is why we can't have other people over. I took a bite of my cheese and cracker and then got busy doing something else and forgot about it. I think she may be right.

We have had our fish aquarium for one year and Astro has just recently "discovered" it. I am just waiting for the day when he jumps on top and knocks the whole thing over.

Here is a picture of Astro looking at the tank. He will sit for hours and watch the fish.

The End of our Super Bowl party. It's 8:45pm and The L Word comes on in just a few. Night Everyone.

Missing Summer

Last summer it was hot. It was really hot. We were miserable because of the heat. During the whole month of July all we did was stay inside because it was just too hot to do anything else. We spent lots of weekends at the pool or lake trying to stay cool. Even Laura, who loves the heat, was miserable.

Right now the temperature is 15 degrees with wind chills near 0. I was thinking this morning of how green our yard is during the summer and how much I miss it. Now when you look out our window all you see is brown. It's very depressing. I love winter, but only when it snows. When there is snow on the ground it doesn't seem as cold and it's a lot prettier then the brown grass.

I miss looking at the trees with the big beautiful green leaves that sway with the wind. I miss going under a tree for shade and feeling the breeze in my face.

The only breeze we have now literally takes your breathe away. Walking out of the gym this morning it was as if my breathe was taken away because it was such a shock to my system.

I miss summer. Just one more month and the green will be returning to our yard and the sun will actually warm the air instead of teasing us.

I am sure come July when it's really hot again I will be thinking back to this day and wonder why I was complaining so much.

*The above picture is when Laura and I went to the lake for her birthday*

Laundromat

I think I have lived a pretty privileged life. Growing up we always did our laundry at our house and I never remember going to a laundromat. The first time I went to a laundromat was 9 years ago. My ex husband and I had a comforter that was huge and it would not fit in our washer or dryer. I remember it being such a pain dragging it there, having to pay to wash it and dry it and then trying to get it home without it getting dirty again. I came home and retired that comforter.

About 6 months ago I got out that comforter and put it on our guest bed. This is the room that Sophie dog sleeps in and I knew that it needed to be washed, but just never got around to it. I knew that meant a trip to the laundromat.

So last week Lynilu called us and said she is coming to town and asked if she could stay with us. There was no question, she was going to stay with us. But my first thought was, I need to get that comforter cleaned.

So this morning I ventured off to the laundromat to wash the comforter since I thought Lynilu wouldn't want to sleep on a comforter that smelled like dog. My trip to the laundromat this morning was not what I expected at all. It was actually nice. I enjoyed watching the other people there that were washing their clothes. I imagined how hard it is for them to bring all their clothes there each time they needed to wash something. Made me thankful that we do have a washer/dryer at our house and that we don't have to get out in bad weather or hot weather to have clean clothes.

When I put the comforter in the dryer I was thinking the number on the dryer meant that was how many quarters you needed to put in. As I was putting in my 10 quarters I realize at 5 quarters I was already at 40 minutes. Then I realize it was the dryer number, not the number of quarters you need to put in. Duh. So there I am with 48 minutes on my dryer and I knew I wouldn't need all 48 minutes.

When the comforter was dry I still had 18 minutes left. As I was walking out there was a lady there with two small kids who was just putting her clothes in the washer. I told her that there was 18 minutes left on my dryer and she could use them. She immediately sent her son over to the dryer to grab it and she was very thankful. To me it was just $3, but I can only imagine what that $3 meant to her.

I left the Laundromat feeling good and also very thankful.

TGIF

Since I have been off work my days tend to blend together. When I first wake up I usually have to stop and think about what day it is.

For the first time since I have been off, I am so glad it's Friday and the weekend. It seems like it's been a very busy week with lots of things going on and lots of running around. And on top of everything else I am PMSing which never makes things easy around here. I am looking forward to this evening when I don't have to go out in the bitter cold and I can just lay around in my PJs for as long as I want to.

When I graduated with my bachelors degree I graduated from a private Catholic college. It seems weird that my parents let me go there considering I was a strict Jehovah's Witness. When I graduated Sister Helen Prejean gave the commencement speech. Sister Prejean is the nun that the book/movie "Dead Man Walking" was based after. I remember her speech was so good and it was that speech that motivated me to go on to get my masters. As an alumni of this college I get their quarterly magazine with the upcoming events. I have never attended one yet. In the magazine that came last week I noticed that Sister Prejean will be at the college to give a presentation on Prisoner Exoneration. Since the summer this is something that has really fascinated Laura. I went online to get tickets for us and it said it was sold out. Damn. Well, we called this morning and because I am an alumni not only will we get tickets, but we will get them for free. Plus, the college is putting on the play "Dead Man Walking" and we also get into that free the next night. I never knew there were great benefits from being an alumni, but I do now.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, warm weekend.

Blogger Needs to be Spanked

Some days I hate blogger. Some days I love blogger. Today, I hate blogger. I get so frustrated with the outages they have and now it seems no one can comment on my blog. I can't even access the comments on my blog to respond. I hope they fix it soon because it's a pain in the ass.

Thankfully today has gotten back to my normal schedule. Tuesday and Wednesday were so busy and I really missed the days when the only thing I did was go to the gym. I think I am starting to like my time off way too much. Since eventually I will go back to work I am going to enjoy every single minute that I have off and really consider myself blessed to have this time off. I have loved spending time with Laura and it was nice finding out that we would not kill each other if we were together 24/7. Since being off work I have found that when we do have an a *disagreement* we get over it faster then before. I will say she has made my transition from work very easy and has made sure I enjoy my time off and not stress.

Tomorrow I go back to the dentist to have my crown put on. I was able to keep my same dental insurance for just $17/month. With as much money as we have spent in the last year on my dental, we wanted to make sure I didn't not go without dental insurance. While we were preparing our taxes (well, not we, Laura) we totaled the amount we spent on medical/dental for me in 2006. Would you believe we spent $5300 out of pocket. It's shocking when you see that number in black and white. Makes me thankful for the changes I am making in terms of my health. Be sure to check out my other blog to watch my progress in weight loss, etc.

*The above picture is Brady who is the only pet left that is not tired of me taking his picture. But then again Brady is weird.*