Here We Are!

By Popular Demand...

2007-10-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

I am updating this blog to hide the depressing. I apologize.

Good news: I AM PREGNANT!!!! And Nervous! Ha!

And now to my rant....

Fazoli's is now charging $0.25 for unlimited breadsticks! What?! When did that start??? 3 weeks ago. So now you have to order unlimited breadsticks. I don't mind paying the extremely small fee for them, but I could have been TOLD when I ordered. Hello!!!! I am PREGNANT! Do not keep the unlimited breadsticks from me!!!

They said "Oh, there's a notice on the door." The "NOTICE" is a letter from corporate that is facing into the restaurant and is apologizing for the inconvenience. So... let me get this straight... There's no note on the door explaining this as you come in, no one told me this when I ordered and there is a note apologizing for the inconvenience on my way out. Did they plan that??? Because seriously! Wouldn't it have been easier to have the cashier ASK if I wanted the unlimited breadsticks?? Then they wouldn't have had to APOLOGIZE for the inconvenience!!!

O.k. I'm done. Sorry. It just bugged me and I'll reiterate... please don't mess with a pregnant girl's food. It's for your own safety. I'm serious.

O.k. so for the answers to the burning questions. I'm due April 27. We both kind of want a boy, but we'll be happy either way. I don't think I can find out until the end of November. And... I'm feeling fine. Other than random anger when I'm hungry and inconvenienced.

O.k. I'll "talk" to you all later!

I wish God were a Fairy Godmother

2007-08-05T02:25:00.000-05:00

It's 3:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. I'm having a night that I haven't had in months. I miss my nephew. The truth is, I've missed him more in the last few weeks than I had since Christmas. I've been thinking about him a lot lately. The truth is, I think about him every day. But lately, more often than that even.

The anniversary of his death was about a month ago. A week later (or so - can't remember exactly) I had dinner with friends and one of them asked me how I was doing with everything. I, of course, made a funny comment to hide what I wanted to say. I didn't want to ruin dinner. I'm tired of ruining dinners and being the person the brings the room down. I know my friend really wanted to know how I was handling things, though, and I should have told her. I have a feeling they knew, though.

I've been thinking about her question ever since. How am I doing? I don't really know. I'm kind of just numb about everything now, I think. And I've decided that I really wish God were like a Fairy Godmother. I love Cinderella, Snow White and all of those movies where, towards the end, a Fairy Godmother of some sort comes out, waves a wand and everything is solved.

Some days I even wish that Fairy Godmother wouldn't just fix things, she would wave her wand and make it so everything was different. If I could do it, I'd go way back and just start things over with. I'd go back to high school and find out what happened to my brother to change him so severely after his freshman year. I want to find out why he went from a happy, funny, straight-A student to a moody, mean, pot-head, who was failing classes and seemed to blame his family for all of it. I always just assumed he'd snap out of it. Well, he didn't.

I'd also wave that wand and make it so that he never met his (now ex) wife. Although, I think if the first problem got solved, this wouldn't have happened. I don't think they should have gotten married. No one does. I think, now, even they think they shouldn't have gotten married. Hence, the divorce.

However, I'm glad I met me nephew. He was an amazing kid. I'm glad, too, that we have his brother and sister around. They are adorable. I just think a lot of pain for my brother would have been avoided had things been different. O.k. for my parents and I, too, but mostly for him.

See, people don't realize this part. I'm frustrated with my brother because I love him. I know how smart he is and it's frustrates me that he never did anything with it. I know how good of an artist he is. I see what his life could have been like if he had done the things that he used to want to do. I want better things for him.

People have told me to read the Parable of the Prodigal Son. That I shouldn't get angry. The older brother in the Prodigal Son ended up rejoicing when his brother came home. Well, if Brian would come home, I would dance in the street. But he hasn't and for the most part, he stands at the end of the road, making my parents think he's going to come home soon and then making them watch while he keeps doing the things that break their hearts. It breaks mine, too. For all of them.

That's not really why I'm awake tonight, though. I got off on a tangent. Sorry. Tonight, I miss Kai. I miss getting calls at work from him saying "I'm at Grandma's and I'm bored. Come play with me." Then having to explain for the 100th time that I have to wait to leave until I'm done working and why I have to work. :)

I also miss not knowing what can happen to kids. Jerry and I want to have kids soon and a huge part of me is scared to have them. What if something happens to my kids? I loved Malakai a lot, but I was just his Aunt. I admit that I'm scared to have my own kids that I will love even more. What if they get sick? What if something hurts them? What if I can't handle it? What if I'm not a good Mother? I wish I could go into having children a little more blindly. I wish I hadn't just watched my nephew die and I wasn't scared that it could happen to a child of mine.

For those of you thinking... Wow, you're not even pregnant. You worry way too much. Hi, have we met? I'm Mel and I worry. It's what I do.

So how am I doing? I'm sad and I'm worried and I'm just trying to let God handle it.

Well, I think I'm going to go back to bed and try to sleep. Although, last time I was in our room, Jerry was laughing in his sleep. It's amusing and a little creepy all at the same time. Maybe I'll sleep on the couch.

Melissa's Been Busy!

2007-08-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

O.k., ok. I'm sorry! Sheesh! Things have been a bit busy since I started working at CarPartsRUs. I work a lot. I get overtime now, so there's incentive to work a lot. :) Especially if we want a new house! Which we desperately need, we've decided.

We have now decided against getting a camper this summer. Why? Did I already say that we needed a new house? Maybe a bigger house that holds all of our unnecessary stuff! I've recently decided that we have too much stuff. I think we could survive longer in the tiny house if we had less stuff, but since we don't want to get rid of stuff... we need a bigger house. I know, the logic is astounding to me, too. ;)

So I might be having my first ever garage sale. I looked in my closet and thought... wow, there are 9 purses up there that I'm not using. I'll probably never use them and they are in very good condition. I'm not throwing those away! So I'm thinking about a garage sale. We'll see. I may just send it all to Peggy, who will send what she doesn't want to Goodwill. That's most likely what will happen. However, if you want a purse and want to see the selection, just ask. I'll let you have one as long as you'll get it out of my closet. ;)

Things that we have done recently.... Jerry had his first trip to the Indy 500. I got tickets for free so we went. It was a lot of fun. We had really good seats under cover across from the pits. We took some awesome pictures. I'll try to post a couple later. (I'm at work right now and they are on the laptop at home.)

On the 4th of July, we visited Marengo Cave in Southern Indiana. BTW, I never really understood how long the state of Indiana is. I usually go East or West and am out of state within 2 hours, so I didn't think it would take too long to get to the cave. Especially since the directions only included 3 roads. Wow! After about 2 and a half hours, Jerry said "Where is this cave?" I said "I really didn't think Indiana was this big.

Turns out that A. Indiana is a long state, especially that section towards Evansville and B. the cave was darn near the border of Kentucky. Oops... Oh well, we had all day anyway. We stopped in Bloomington to get gas on the way down and called my friend from high school, Margie to let her know we'd be coming through. Then we stopped in Orleans, birthplace of New Co-Worker Friend Teresa, and looked at a garage sale.

On the way back, Jerry slept while I drove and we stopped at HSFMargie's party for a bit and had dinner. Her boyfriend is a Master at the grill! Wow! Good! Food! We left at around 8:30 and headed home because we were tired. Then we decided to skip the fireworks (it was storming anyway) and I went to bed early. We have pictures of this trip, too, but again... not at home right now.

That's about all of the excitement we've had. We did see Harry Potter on the IMax. That was kind of cool. Part of the ending is in 3-D if you see it on IMax. It was a good movie.... for ADULTS! I think that maybe the 1st 2 books were for kids, but not the last ones and definitely not this movie. Too scary. I just read the last book too and it's DEFINITELY not a kids book. It's a good book, don't get me wrong, but not for kids. However, please refrain from giving me your reasons why the whole series of Harry Potter books should be burned, especially if you're letting your kids watch Disney movies. There are just as many good witch/bad witch, good magic/black or dark magic concepts in Disney as there are in Harry Potter. I'm just sayin....

In the future... this month is "No Unnecessary Spending" month in the Gustafson household. It's going to suck, too, because a new very cool knitting store is opening around the corner from Kira's. I don't know how I'll handle that, but I'll try. I promised Jerry I would use up some of hte current stash and actually finish projects that I've started. Oh, well. I'll ask Cammie (yes, I already know the owner's first name - scary, isn't it?) if she'll help me finish some of them quickly and I'll start getting ready for September. He, he, he!

Finishing the knitting projects is just a part of the 'we have too much stuff and therefore, either need to have a garage sale or buy a bigger house' problem. Hopefully, if I actually finish some of the projects, I'll have more room on the shelves to put up stuff that is cluttering the guest room. (Did you just laugh, too, at the thought that I WOULDN'T just buy more yarn to fill in the space the projects are now? I crack me up.)

The only exceptions to "No Unnecessary Spending Month" are:

The State Fair. We're going Aug. 9. I've already taken the day off. Now, we aren't going to go buy a bunch of junk (I'm laughing at me again, are you?), but we like to go look and hang out, etc.

BFFKira's birthday. We have started a tradition of doing dinner and a movie. Just us. No family or other friends. We hardly ever just hang out together. We're either at her shop 'working' (I "work", she really does work) or we're with doing something with other people. So that's the plan for her birthday. Oh and I have to remember to find her a card that is NOT from her store. I get all of my cards at her store and I accidentally gave her one from her store for her baby shower. I got teased a lot for that. Oops... So I have to go into another card store and get her a card. :)

So that's about all that's going on! I'll try to update this again before Jerry does. Ha!

Where is Melissa?!

2007-07-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

So this is where Melissa talks bout me huh? Yet she has not posted anything since May 31st, so I thought I would bore a few people with a few thoughts. So things are going well with us despite rumors that might be floating around. Hmmmmmmm.......

Also I have a new vehicle (excited jumping up and down) cause the old Rue (the old green Subaru) was on its last legs and was making wierd noises and was leaking some wierd things on the pavement. Also when it rained it seemed to complain when I wanted to go faster, so that was a problem all its own. But I showed that Rue a thing or two when I traded it in for 500 dollars, car sales men are such suckers you know! I ended up buying a 99 GMC Jimmy, and to my astonishment Melissa even liked it! I know, go figure! It is a six cylindar vehicle which to me is way to much power since every car I have every know has been a four banger. So now I feel a little more cooler then before in the Rue.

Though I have a new truck it also comes with a curse. This curse is the fact that now I want to buy a pop up campter to tow behind my new truck! Will it ever end? Next thing you know I will want to jack it up and put swamper tires on it and get lost in hugh mud puddle! But my will power is stronger than that, so I am not to worried.

Hmmmm......well perhaps that is enough for now, even I am boring my self.......sorry I fell asleep again. Perhaps now Mel will get back on here and get things right! (=

White slacks? Really, Dad?

2007-05-31T20:10:00.000-05:00

Next month is my Dad's birthday and Father's Day. (Father's Day is June 17th... just a reminder.) My Dad's birthday is about a week later. So I emailed my Dad and asked what he wants. Luckily this year my Dad has a trip on his birthday, so I can combine gifts. I do this alot anyway and he doesn't care. Anyway....

My Dad's request for his birthday was (drum roll please....)

White slacks and short sleeved dress shirts for church.

White slacks? Really, Dad?

So I wrote him back and said... "White slacks? Are we going yachting? I'll call Mom about your sizes." Translation... "I'm going to call Mom and see if you're allowed to where white slacks because I don't think you really are."

So all afternoon I wondered why my DAd would suddenly want white slacks. He was in the Navy, but last time I checked he wasn't the sentimental type. So I started listing in my head the people who wear white slacks.

Rich men with yachts - not my Dad.
Cruise ship Captains - nope.
Naval Officers - not anymore (not sure he was an officer anyway)
Airline pilots - my Dad's an airplane mechanic by profession, has his pilot's license, but technically hates airline & other types of commercial pilots, so I'm thinkin' no.

That's about all I could come up with. I called my Mom on my way home and the first words out of her mouth....

"When your Dad says white slacks, he means Khakis." Ahhh... mystery solved. So I amused her for a few minutes with my mercilous mocking of my Dad wanting white slacks, but it's not as much fun when he can't hear me so I gave up. We're going to go shopping together for him in a week or so.

Jerry and I decided to start calling him Captain Steubing and sing the Love Boat theme to him next time we see him, though. Someone understands me. (I think Kira & Heather will too when they read this.) Maybe I'll buy him one of those ship captain hats if I can find one.

In other news, the job is going.... o.k. Not my dream job, but it pays the bills (and then some). So I can sacrifice my happiness and dreams for good pay, a 401K and dental, right??? Well, until we can save the money for a house anyway.

Well, that's about all that's new. Besides the fact that I bought shorts in a size that was 2 sizes smaller than the ones that I bought for Cancun. Yeah!

Love you all buhbye!

A Whole New Life

2007-05-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

O.k., I'm sorry that it's been so long. Things have been crazy, though. I survived my last week and everything either got wrapped off or handed off and all was pretty much well when I left.... I think. Do you every wonder what your co-workers say about you after you've left? Because you know how every office does that "blame it on the person that just left" thing. I'm pretty sure I've been burned in effigy (I have no idea how to spell that.) several times over the last few weeks. Who knows and well... who cares. It happens everywhere.

So now that I work for CarPartsRUs as an admin, things are going o.k. I started the week that my division was splitting off and being sold to a finance company to be run as it's own business. On my 1st timesheet, I got to turn in 7.5 hours of overtime. Last night alone, I earned 4 hours of overtime. Yep, I actually worked 12 hours. I'm tired...

For those of you who know me, did you ever think that you would see me out of bed at 5:30 a.m.? I have to be at work by 7:00 a.m. (and by the way, not only am I ontime, but I'm EARLY by almost 10 minutes EVERY DAY), so I get up around 5:30 every day. Actually at about 20 'til 6. I eat breakfast (and no I do not define "breakfast" as 2 pots of coffee anymore) and am out of the house before I need to be every morning except 2 so far. And on those 2 mornings, I was still on time, just not early.

Freaky, isn't it?

I've lost 14 pounds now on Weight Watchers and I'm doing o.k. It doesn't feel like a "diet." I eat fast food when I want, as long as I'm careful. I can even have pizza or ice cream occasionally, but probably not together. It's weird to me. I love it! This is making me hungry, so let's move on.

I almost decided to sell Creative Memories, but changed my mind. I really wanted to do. It sounded like fun, but now is not a good time. We need to put so much money into savings to buy a house that I think starting something like that is a bad idea. Maybe after we're in the house. I'll need room for inventory anyway, so ya... after we're in the house.

I have this idea that I want to bake bread. I'm not sure why. I don't even have a good bread recipe, I don't think. I'm sure I do... I have a million and a half cookbooks up there in the cabinet. I love buying cookbooks, but I hardly ever use them. I need to use them more. We should stop eating out.... Ya, right.

Maybe I should have named this blog "random thoughts". Remember "random thoughts by Jack Handy"? Sorry.

O.k. I'm going to go look at a cookbook and decide to have Jerry get KFC on his way home. Neat, huh?

The Capacity to Care

2007-04-23T11:18:00.000-05:00

Today is my last week at The Firm. Actually it's the first of my last 3 days! My last day is Wednesday and I'm so excited! So that means that I did find a new job. I will be the newest Executive Admin at ArvinMeritor Tech Center in Columbus starting Monday. I'm nervous about it. I've been working in law firms for almost 10 years. While I'm sure that the large company won't be that much different, it's still different and I'm a little nervous.

The good news is that there will be a bit of familiarity. They want me to be the liason between them and the law firm they hired to represent them. No problem, I can do that. So at least 1 part of my job will be somewhat easy.

So the title of today's blog comes from the fact that, given I only have 3 days left here (2.5 as I write this), I have lost the capacity to care. I mean.. I still care about my clients, etc., but I have lost the capacity to care about when things get done, because... hey... in 2.5 days it won't be my problem anymore. I'm trying. I really am... It's just really hard. ;)

We've decided to go to Kansas this fall for few days. Not exactly sure when, but we're talking about October. So we'll see what happens.

Nothing else is really all that new. I've lost almost 10 pounds on weight watchers and I'm pretty happy about it. It hasn't been that big of a deal, either. I can eat what I want, I just have to watch how much and when. No big deal. I have pizza and taco bell regularly! :)

O.k. I better get back to trying to care. Hope everyone is doing well! :)

Oh ya... the baby. We're waiting and possibly more than a year. That whole discussion went South when we met w/ a realtor and found out that my house still isn't worth what I paid for it and we'll lose money trying to get out of it. So... that being said, the job I took pays very well and has guaranteed overtime and the plan is to throw so much money into savings that Donald Trump would be impressed so that we can sell my house and buy a bigger one.

Ya... I know... Donald Trump will never be impressed with my financial status. It's a nice dream, though. ;)

No News is Good News

2007-03-16T09:41:00.000-05:00

Things have been a little stressful the last couple of weeks. My office is moving to the Northside. I know... I told you that already. BUT... in light of that move, there has been a lot of debate about what I'm going to do. (Mostly between me, myself and I and sometimes we include BHEJerry.) I've applied for just about 1,000 jobs, mostly corporate administrative assistant jobs and 5 in Franklin. I also kicked around the idea of just quitting, going part-time, going sort of part-time and just sucking it up and driving up there.

I gave my boss proposals and then took them back and revised them until I think he was hoping I would just resign all together. BUT, yesterday, all of my personalities and my bosses came to an agreement on my hours. 9:30 to 6 4 days a week. I'll be off on Wednesdays. I won't lose my benefits. I can breathe again. I also promised BHEJerry that I would go buy groceries TONIGHT. See... the debate included sudden and frequent panicked declarations that we could not afford to spend a DIME and therefore, BHEJerry is starving. So tonight's activities include re-stocking the kitchen so that my husband comes home to his normal friendly environment. (Peggy - it's a good thing we got him those 9 extras boxes of Samoa Girl Scout cookies or this whole thing might have gone differently. We might not have survived.)

However, in other GOOD NEWS, I have an interview next Friday, March 23rd. It is with the Franklin Juvenile Court. I'm excited. :) Government jobs usually have good benefits, but not necessarily great pay. However, with it only being 4 miles from the house, that will save us money and we can handle it. So we'll see. I believe I'll have all of those little holidays off too. Which will be great! :) It's like working for the Post Office only without the crazies. Well, at least the crazies will be there with an armed guard and a purpose anyway....

And let the Baby Discussion begin...

O.k. the first person to tell my Mom about the next part of this blog gets banned from the blog and I'm never speaking to you again. And if you tell my Mom not to tell me who told her, good luck with that theory, my Mom cracks easily and we, her children, can play her like a violin. I haven't had a Christmas gift that was a surprise since I was about 10.

I want to start trying to have a child. But weren't we going to wait a year? Yes, we were. Aren't you in the middle of a big job transition and thus, a big health insurance transition? Yes, see the above note on my multiple personalities. One of them seems to think this won't be a problem. Don't you guys want a bigger house first? Yes, but again one of my personalities likes to build closet units and such things that will magically organize the whole house. That personality watches HGTV and Trading Spaces WAAAYYY too much. (Stop laughing.) How did this start? Long story... keep reading...

Last year was just full of babies and weddings and new families beginning. I went to about 4 weddings, not including my own. There were several babies of very good friends. The babies are so! cute! Now Co-Worker Amanda is pregnant and so is Bossman Jeff's wife. So there is much talk of baby furniture shopping and day cares and such in the office. Also, Jerry and I started babysitting his niece Breanna (1 year old) once a week. (And by Jerry & I babysitting I might mean Jerry sitting on the floor playing with Breanna's toys, while I do the actual babysitting.)

So you can see where all of this babyness is leading me, right? Also, let's remember that I came 1 year closer to the "high risk pregnancy" stage of life recently. So the first discussion came while we were taking Breanna on a walk through the park Tuesday night. Since it was so nice, there were lots of parents pushing strollers and so were we and it was fun and I said to Jerry...

"Can we have a baby?"
J: "Not today."
Me: "Well... you're in luck. It takes me about 10 months to get the job done."
J: "No, there's too much turmoil right now."
Me: "Turmoil?" (As if I had momentary amnesia about the whole job thing.)
J: "Ummm... your job and insurance stuff?"
Me: [sigh] "Alright.... we'll wait."

So Wednesday night I showed him how we could fix the guest room to include a baby AND the office furniture. His response "So you're saying all of my stuff would have to go?" Me: "Ummm... ya?" Him: "We need a bigger house first."

Last night, I asked "So if I get the job with the court and the insurance isn't a problem can we start?" J: "I thought we were going to wait a year?" Me: "Well, we've been married 3 months and it takes about 10 to have a baby, so that's 13 months.... that's more than a year!" J: [expression that said he was not so impressed with my logic] Me: [sigh] "Alright.... we'll wait."

I think if I don't say anything for few days and try again, maybe I can wear him down. We'll see, BUT... we'll probably wait.

So that's about all for now. Talk to you all later!

Coincidence... I think NOT!

2007-02-26T11:21:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know what the actual signs of the Apocolypse are? I think the weather plays a role doesn't it? I forget the rest, but they don't matter to this blog anyway...

Saturday between about 4:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., the weather went from rain to freezing rain, to snow, back to freezing rain and back to rain. I felt that since I was turning 31 this weekend, that this meant the end is near. I looked at Kira and said "I turn 31 and hell freezes over... that's convenient."

I never thought I'd be one of those people who had trouble with their birthday, but this year I am. I'm not sure why. Usually, I'm excited about my birthday. People give me gifts! I love it! This year, though, when asked what I wanted... I said "nothing." That's not like me. Last night, I simply went to bed at about 9:30 and went to sleep with the lights on. I didn't even worry about the fact that my favorite sweater was up next for the dryer in the laundry rotation and would Jerry (despite his possibly being the best husband on the planet) remember that it needs to be laid flat to dry and the other clothes in that load go on a special setting in the dryer. I just went to sleep.

I did not watch Desperate Housewives or The Amazing Race. I opted to CLEAN(!!!) the vent in the bathroom. I am clearly not right in the head.

This is not to say that I had a bad birthday. It was pretty good. Saturday, my best friend Kira, took me out to dinner and we saw "Music & Lyrics." Which is funny and you should see it. (Hugh Grant dressed up as an 80's Pop Star - enough said.) I came home BHE Jerry had bought me roses and a nice card. (I got a Palm Pilot earlier in the week.) Then on Sunday, we went over to my parents for lunch and they got me a wall sconce that will go with the other large candle holding scone thing that we recently purchased for the living room. Another sign of the Apocolypse - My Mother bought me a gift that I don't need to return. Everyone prepare for eternity.

After lunch, we went to Sprint to complain... again... about the battery on my cell phone. They gave me a new charger to try for FREE and said to give that a week and come back if it doesn't fix the problem. Then BHE Jerry & I did a little house hunting. We drove around Whiteland and Franklin looking at houses and pulling those sheets that are posted about the homes for sale. We actually got to go through one when we happened to show up right at the end of the Open House. Then we went home and he helped me clean. A lot of the cleaning was in a kind of panicking state about the fact that the Realtor is coming Wednesday evening to look at our house and tell us what needs to be done to list it and let us know how much it is (not) worth.

All in all, it was a good day. So my birthday depression is not at all related to it being a bad day.... just me being old, I guess. Although, as Kendra commented in the last post, "31 is not old. 32 is." :) I love Kendra. :) Her birthday was 2 weeks ago, btw. Happy belated birthday, Kendra! (I'm a schmuck.)

I do still think though that the weather was related to my turning 31 and my end might be near.... I'll keep you updated.

O.k. I better get back to work. I have a LOT to do. Love you all!

O.k. Here it goes!

2007-02-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

I've tried to write a new post about 3 times since the last one. Every time, I get interrupted and don't get back to it until everything I've written is irrelevant and I might as well start over. So we'll see how this one goes.

Since the 10th....

1. I've gotten the results of the colonoscopy test back. Nothing. So now I have to have the Upper GI test and that will be next Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. I'm nervous because I HATE having things down my throat. Every time I've had surgery, I immediately start trying to pull the tube out of my throat before I'm even fully awake. The last time, my Dad had to hold me down while my Mom went and got a nurse. (I was 22.) Granted, they should keep me sedated the whole time, but still. If I'm at all aware of what's going on, it will be bad.

2. We went to Pennsylvania. My Aunt's surgery went well and Jerry got to see where I came from... sort of. He got to meet 2 of my cousins and we had a good time. We had to sleep in my Grandma's bedroom, though. That was creepy. The last time I slept in there I was about 10 and scared of the dark. Plus, she has a small double bed. That wasn't good. I didn't get much sleep.

3. Sunday is my birthday and I'll be 31. Old... that's old. Well, it's not young anymore, at least. The good news is that I caught up with 1999 and got a Palm Pilot for my birthday. I didn't get the fancy-dancy phone/palm pilot/Ipod version either, just the basic bottom of the line Palm Pilot that doesn't even have internet access. I just wanted the calendar and To Do List for the most part. It's pretty cool little toy and I've been playing with it on and off all day. I hope my boss doesn't read this....

4. I have Bible study tonight and I'm thinking about not going. See I've missed the last 2 weeks, I'm severely behind in my homework and I'm going to miss next week, too. I should go. I'll still learn something even if I am behind. Although, I should actually be only 1 week behind because they didn't have it last week for V-Day. Alright already! I'll go! Sheesh!

5. My office finally announced that they are actually going to move to 103rd and Meridian. Considering where I live... this is a big long stinkin' drive for me. I'm going to look for another job. 2 others who live around where I do have already quit, so I think that Jeff & Scott are nervous that they won't have any staff when they move. But seriously, when 4 out of 6 people live South of 465, what did they think would happen???

6. Yes, I still knit. I'm working on a sweater for my Mom for next Christmas... back is done. And I'm working on more baby blankets. I'm going to put some in Kira's shop and see how they sell. Also, I might start taking orders. So if you want a blanket for a baby shower, etc., coming up, let me know. Give me a month, if you can. I can't guarantee anything quicker than that. In fact, it would help if you just let me know as soon as the Mother knows the sex of the baby. Or, if you want a neutral blanket, as soon as she knows she's pregnant. That would be good. :)

7. Co-Worker Amanda is pregnant. She's due about the middle of October. She's excited and I'm excited for her. She's getting a blanket.

8. I'm bored.

9. I'm ready to go home.

10. I need to end this before you all quit reading my blog all together! ;)

O.k. Love you, kids!

A Whole Day...

2007-02-10T08:52:00.000-05:00

Today I have a whole day to myself and absolutely nothing that I have to do. It's kind of nice. The problem with days like this, though, is that I tend to get bored and end up doing nothing. So this morning, I made a list of things that need done and assigned an amount of time to each that I thought it might take to accomplish these things. The bathroom needs cleaned... half hour, for example. (It probably actually takes about 15 minutes, but I gave each extra time.) So I made the list and even decided to prioritize it....

and then I decided to write this blog. :)

Well, I'm going to re-organize the list in order of things that I can do in my pajamas first. Then I'll prioritize things that I have to get dressed to do (grocery shopping). Last will be things that can happen while I do other things (laundry). I'll probably sort the laundry first, throw a load in and then start my first thing that I can do in my pajamas.

I want to stay in my pj's for as long as possible today. I want to feel like I'm resting and for some reason, even though I was up by 8:30 a.m. and am going to clean the bathroom, the fact that I'm still in my pj's makes me feel like I get to be lazy today. It's all in my mind and some of you know that THAT is a dangerous place! ;)

So I will get to work on my list of things to do today as soon as I finish this. I guess I should get to some updates and get on with my day then!

1. Stomach.... I had 1 test Wednesday. When I got there, I was only down for the colonoscopy and the nurses didn't understand why I wasn't getting the Upper GI test either. I think he's doing the tests 1 at a time so my insurance sees it as process of elimination and will pay for all of them. I like my doctor, but I was hoping to already know what's wrong. HOWEVER, he did say I need to eat more salads and that eating more salads than other food right now might help. It did... yesterday I had a big salad from Georgio's Pizza (yes, it was torture to go in and completely ignore the pizza & calzones) and I felt pretty good! A little nausea and pain, but not too bad in comparison to most days. I am currently waiting for his office to call and schedule the Upper GI test.

The good news that came out of this test... I definitely do NOT have colitis. I think my Mom about cried when he said it. She didn't want me to have to live like she did with all of the medications and their side effects. So that's the good news!

2. We still haven't made any decisions about Jerry's job situation. We were kind of focused on my test this week. Besides, I think things are going well at work for him right now and he doesn't feel like it's really urgent.

3. My office is almost definitely moving to 103rd and Meridian. I talked to my boss when they first announced and said that I would be looking for a new job because I don't want to drive an hour and 20 minutes 1 way to work. They understood. However, now that my tests are dragging out, I told them yesterday it looks like they're stuck with me until I know what's wrong with my stomach. I'm not trying to change insurance companies in the middle of all of this. So, that's where things stand.

Well, it looks like the laundry and the rest of the list are calling so I better go. Have a great weekend! :)

I. Am. A. Genius!

2007-02-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

All day today, I've been making calls to various restaurants, coffee shops, etc. trying to track down my debit card. See... I noticed this morning when Co-Worker Lindsay and I were ordering at Starbucks that I had no ability to pay for the coffee that I had just ordered because seriously... cash is a thing of the past. I hardly ever have cash on me. I may start keeping a $10.00 bill stashed in there just in case now, though!

So because my debit card was MIA, Lindsay very sweetly paid for my coffee. Co-worker Amanda bought me lunch. I called both places that I could have used it yesterday and made them open their safes to see if I had left it there. THEN I called my Mom....

I was running around with my Mom yesterday afternoon and we ran through Starbucks (whom I called before I called the Mama - I should have called the Mama first). I thought... and I was right... that I had handed my card to her to put back in my purse. So after determining that my card was none of the other places... I called the Mama... who said...

"Oh, ya, I put it in that little pocket on the front of your purse next to the cell phone pocket."

Ahhhh... The Mystery of the Missing Debit Card has been solved, Nancy Drew! There it was... and I now feel like a complete idiot. I should have called her first. Of course, I probably should have checked all pockets of my purse first, too, but I NEVER put anything in that pocket. Just keys and hardly ever them since I leave them in my coat pockets. Needless to say that empty pocket doesn't get used.

I AM A GENIUS!

Number 11

2007-01-30T08:52:00.000-05:00

So when I was thinking about doing the "10 Things" Post, I had a few in mind. However, by the time I got to 5, I forgot what most of them were and was making it up as I went... for the most part.

So... Number 11 (which was supposed to be one of the 10) was the fact that I got to see my friend Kendra from college on my way to PA last Thursday. I stopped in Columbus and had lunch with her and her 2 kids. They are adorable and Kendra is a great Mom! She is homeschooling, but by the time I got there they were done with school for a bit. Her son is in Kindergarten and her daughter is 3. I had a great time and wish I could have stayed longer or can see them more often! :)

O.k. that's all for now... OH! Except if you read the blasphemous comment from my friend Meghan about the Bears in yesterdays post, don't worry, she can't help being from the Chicago area. Please pray for her. GO COLTS! ;)

January 29, 2007

2007-01-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

A few of the knitting blogs that I like to read periodically do a "10 Things" list for their post. I'm going to try one for the week's update.

1. Jerry did NOT take the Air Force test. Sgt. Singleton is now on my people to never like list. She had nothing prepared. Basically told us that she's not the Officer recruiter and gave us a phone number of who to call. I was TICKED. So was Jerry. The only helpful thing she did give us in the 10 minutes that she was wasting out of our lives was the requirements to get into Officer's school. They included 3 letters of recommendation from prominant political people, etc. and since we know none of those people, Jerry decided maybe the Air Force wasn't for him. Besdies, you go through this whole process and they still might not take you, so he decided he wanted something more "for sure" and we would go another route. We were too disappointed (o.k. I was downright angry) to talk about what that other route was before I left. We'll keep you updated.

2. I had a good and uneventful (by that I mean, no major collision because of snow) trip home to Pennsylvania. I took Grandma to her therapy evaluation with her new Physical & Occupational Therapists and got her all set up to start therapy this week. She had to transfer therapy up to a New Castle (PA, not IN) PT/OT place because she had been living down in Pittsburgh with my Aunt and had been doing it all down there. So we got all of that accomplished and she's doing well. They said her strength in her left arm was good (her left side was affected by the stroke), but they were going to work on her coordination, etc. Over all, she's doing great.

3. We went to the Otter Creek Store in Mercer, PA on Saturday. It is an adorable knitting/crocheting/gift shop. Grandma did well. She went in and sat with the knitters while I shopped. I bought enough Dale of Norway Baby Ull to make the "Ring Around the Roses" scarf, hat and mittens from Nursery Rhyme Knits book that I got a while back. Grandma maintains that it was all "very expensive", but it was reasonable for the type of yarn. I'm hoping to go again in February if I get to go see my cousin when she comes home. Also, the shop owner was very nice and said she would ship me anything I wanted if I couldn't find it here at home. This is the sign of a GREAT knitting store in my opinion.

4. On the way up to Mercer, we passed an Amish buggy and an overlook and I was reminded at how God blessed Pennsylvania with the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. And yes... I've seen most of the country, so I do have stuff to compare it to. However, it had snowed the day before and everything was blanketed in white and it looked like a picture you would find on a calendar. It's also gorgeous in the fall when the leaves change suddenly and everything is bright and colorful.

5. Jerry is the most wonderful husband ever! I came home to a completely clean house! I, unfortunately, did not leave the house clean and he had told me not to worry about, that he would clean up a few things. He cleaned nearly everything! I love him! O.k. I love him anyway, but yesterday I loved him even more!

6. Pittsburgh is having their Annual Knit & Crochet Festival Feb. 10 & 11. I won't be going home again until the 16th, if I can get off work, but I'd love to go. Unfortunately, I don't think my Aunt will move her surgery back a week so that my cousin moves her trip back a week just so that I can go to this. Or would they??? Aunt Gaye? Erica? Let me know! Kidding....

7. The Colts are in the Superbowl. Duh. If you didn't know this by now, where have you been? Amanda & Lindsay are trying to get our office closed the day after the game. Other companies here in Indy are closing the day after. Seriously, most of the employees are going to call in sick anyway, so why not? I doubt it will happen.

8. Tonight is Girls Night. We're going to a Noodle place up near IUPUI. I forgot to remind my husband about this. Jerry... if I am not home yet and you are reading this because you got home before me and wonder where I am... I am probably still with the girls and/or will call soon to let you know when I'll be home. Although, I'm getting ready to call you to let you know that I have that tonight.

9. I am starting a new Bible Study at our church. Since I only know 3 people in the whole church and none of them are doing the Bible Study, I'm a little nervous. The 3 people I know are... my husband, Shane & Melissa. I should branch out. We've been attending there for over a year together now. Anyway... the study is a Beth Moore study, which is why I wanted to do it. Her studies are wonderful and I always learn a LOT! I'm excited!

10. I'm going back to being a brunette this Saturday morning. I'm not too excited about it, but being a redhead is getting expensive. It looked great in the wedding pictures, though!

O.k. kids... have a great week! I'll let you know if anything new comes up!

So Many Tests So Little Time

2007-01-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

Today is Jerry's Air Force test. We have to be there at 2:00 p.m. I'm worried because he has a cold. I wish he would reschedule it, but he says it will be fine. So we'll see how it goes. I, of course, am worried because I know how much he wants this and I don't want to see this cold mess it up for him.

My tests are scheduled for Feb. 7th. I'm nervous. However, I'm also happy I found a doctor who let me finish a sentence and listened to that sentence and actually wants to find out what's wrong with me. He even gave me some hope that it might not be colitis. He said "Hmmm.... have you ever had your Gall Bladder taken out?" No, I haven't and that made me think that maybe I have something wrong that can be removed and I won't have to deal with medications and tests and special diets and trying to explain all that for the rest of my life. I watched my Mom deal with all that and I don't really want it. So if I can just have something fairly simple, like my gall bladder needs to come out, I will be thrilled. That's weird, I know, but I don't want to have the other. So 2 more weeks of the "brat diet" and maybe we'll know something.

Tomorrow I leave for Pittsburgh. I'm going to stop in Columbus, OH and see my friend, Kendra from IWU, on my way. I miss Kendra and wish we lived closer to each other. She came to the wedding, but of course, I couldn't really spend much time talking to her. So I'm glad I get to see her so soon!

My Grandma is pretty excited that I'm coming. I'm going to help take care of her for a few days. She had a stroke in November and has been living with my Aunt. Well, my Aunt had a vacation planned that they had paid for, etc., so Grandma decided it was time to go home to her apartment. Her doctor agreed and she's been home all of this week. I'm going tomorrow to kind of check in and see how she's doing. See... she'll lie to her kids. She tells everyone she's fine. So I'm just going to go check.

Anyway... she's funny. She called me the other night and said "I'm going to have to leave you alone at my apartment Friday morning for a while, is that o.k.?" 2 funny things about this question.... A. I'm almost 31 years old. Yes, I can stay in my Grandmother's apartment for a few hours alone. B. She's not supposed to be driving. Where is she going and how is she getting there?? She asked the neighbor lady to take her to her physical therapy. I said "Ummm, Grandma, I'm coming out to help you. I can take you to therapy." She said "Oh! Well, I wasn't sure if you would want to do that." She cracks me up.

I also talked her into a road trip on Saturday. Just a short one. And only if she feels up to it and the weather is good. There is a yarn store in Mercer that makes and dies their own yarn. I really would like to check it out while I'm there. My Grandma crochets so I thought she'd like to go and Dad said she needs to get out more. I thought, she can ride in the car on the way up, sit somewhere at the store, and ride back and it won't be too hard on her. She agreed, so we'll see how things go. If I don't get to go, it won't be the end of the world. I probably shouldn't be so near a place where I could go crazy with the credit card anyway... ;)

Have a nice weekend! I'll be back to report on Monday!

Week of January 22

2007-01-22T10:20:00.000-05:00

And my parents did it again! Every time they leave to go someplace warm and sunny, it snows here. This is my Mom's fault because she loves snow and prays for it to snow all the time starting in about the middle of October. However, it never gives us a really good snow until she's gone. I'm beginning to think she does this on purpose.

We didn't get a lot of snow this time. Just about 4 inches. No big deal. It's Indiana. We should be able to handle this, right? Well, Saturday afternoon Wal-Mart was packed as if this snow would bury us all alive and we wouldn't dig out again until Spring! They ran out of milk! A forecast of 2-4 inches brought on that kind of panic. People in Indiana are weird. Want to know when Jerry & I went to the grocery? Sunday afternoon in the big, scary snow! Ooooohhhh... Anyway... ;)

Things will be busy this week. Today I go to the Gastroenterologist and hope I get an actual answer other than... "Hmmm.... that doesn't sound normal." We'll see. How am I feeling? Worse... you don't want to know, but thanks for asking.

Jerry takes the Air Force test Wednesday afternoon. He really, really, really, hopes to get in. He's been running and doing sit ups and push ups. He's so good.... I'll let you know how the test goes. I'm not sure when we'll find out the results, though.

If all goes well with my doctor's appointment today, I'll be leaving for Pittsburgh Thursday morning. I'm going to go visit my Grandma. She had a stroke in November and couldn't come to my wedding, so I haven't seen her for a while. She's finally at home again at her apartment, so I'm just going to go help her fix meals, clean a little and try to get her to go to Church. For the most part, I'm sure I'll just be sitting in her apartment knitting and listening to how much weight I've gained since last time she saw me. Fun! I'll be home Sunday afternoon. :)

Anywho.... that's about all. Everyone have a good week!

News!

2007-01-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

Well, we've decided to try to make some changes in life. Jerry is going to take the test to see if he qualifies for Officer training for the Air Force. January 24th at 2:00 we're going to go see the Recruiter. Yep... I'm going with him. (Hey! It affects me too!)

Why? Well, because we both just kind of need a change of pace. Jerry would like to change careers but we can't necessarily afford for him to go back to school and well... with his work schedule, he'd never make it to class! The military provides the opportunity for new career training with pay! It also provides housing, discounted groceries, free medical/dental and a chance to see the world! It really does sound good.

Of course we do know there are down sides to this. I mean, there is that whole war thing going on. We hope, though, that with the Air Force he wouldn't be in any immediate danger even if he did get deployed because he'd be doing something not really combat related. It might be a dream, but please... if you know better, please keep it to yourself for now. Thanks! ;)

No, we seriously know that there are risks. We've thought about it, talked about and I've gotten sick over it. (More on my stomach problems below.) We're going to try it. At this point, if he doesn't make it then we stay here and look for ways to make life better. Or just accept that this is life and move on! Either way, we'll be fine.

Now... my stomach is not getting any better. Almost a week and a half ago, I got a new medication and told to try it for 3 weeks and let my doctor know. I'm at 1.5 weeks and things are getting worse, so I'm calling him today and telling him the gig is up. I want to see a specialist STAT! Enough is enough already.

Minor News... Kelly's blanket is almost done. Give me another few hours and it will be at her house this weekend. Connor is only a month old. I'm not too far behind, am I? ;)

And now for a small public service announcement. Please support your local small business owner. This time of year is particularly hard on them. Big businesses budget the "after Christmas let down" into their yearly plans, but small businesses may not be able to do so. So especially since many of us complain that there aren't enough Christian businesses out there, please remember that the next time you need a card, skip Hallmark, Target or Wal-Mart, look in the phone book for a local gift shop and support them! I can honestly tell you that they may actually be less expensive than the big guys and you'd be helping a fellow Christian! Come on people!

O.k. have a good day everyone! :)

Nike + IPod = Brilliant Scam

2007-01-11T12:22:00.000-05:00

As part of our resolve to be healthier, Jerry wants to start running again. See, when I met him, he ran every night. I really admired that. However, I have a knee/hip problem from birth and am not allowed to run. So over time, he has quit running. Partially because of his work schedule and partially because of trying to spend time with me. Yes, I will blame everything on myself. You know that about me, right?

Anywho... he would like to start running again. I may.. I said MAY, Mom & Dad & Phyical Therapist, try running with him short distances and see how my leg holds up.

Back to reality. Jerry is going to start running again so we went looking at new running shoes for him. He's been wearing the old ones to work and he needs good ones to get started in. Motivation, right? So we decided to check into the new phenomenon of Nike + Ipod.

Holy Moses, the marketing people who have convinced the public that running should cost $400 in equipment are BRILLIANT AND I HOPE THEY ARE PAID WELL FOR IT. Seriously, the minimum cost of buying an Ipod (even with Overstock.com discounts), PLUS the shoes PLUS the chip and receiver to go with this system is $250.00. The high cost is $450ish.

I've decided that the reason they named the product Nike+ is that they keep saying PLUS you have to buy this, PLUS you have to buy that or the whole system doesn't work. And heaven forbid you try to exercise without having this whole system. I mean, seriously, how did people survive before this or at least how did they know how they were progressing in their run without music and a little person in their Ipod to tell them?

And the huge difference in these Nike's from the other Nike's? Nike went to the huge trouble of cutting a hole in the shoes for you to put the receiver. THAT'S ALL!

I digress... as always. Jerry got shoes. Regular running shoes that were on sale. If he really needs music and someone telling him how far he's running, I'll drive next to him with the car like in Nike's commercial. I think we'll be fine. ;)

Love you all!

Jerry Meets CrankyPants!

2007-01-10T12:18:00.000-05:00

O.k. So this may be a little hard to believe, but Jerry apparently doesn't know what I'm like in the morning. He had to get up and take me to work this morning and he kept asking me what was wrong. Now granted, I was a little more tired and cranky than normal because we had to leave early to take his car in for repairs, but I wasn't too bad.

However, I figured out that Jerry just didn't know that I'm not a morning person. He kept asking me if I was mad at him. (I had a dream that he cheated, but I knew it was just a dream.) See... Jerry and I have different schedules. He never sees me get up to go to work. He's still asleep. I get up and quietly get ready and leave almost an hour before he gets up most days. I also get home at least 2 hours before him. So Jerry wasn't aware that I'm not a fan of conversation in the morning. I pretty much don't want to hear a word until I've had coffee. I've learned to be cordial and say hi to people as I walk into the office, get my cup and head to Mr. Coffeemaker, my hero.

This is not to say that I can't manage to be nice to people if needed. I recently stayed over night at Red's house for a special Girls Night and managed to get up and take orders for Starbucks without being mean or hurting anyone physically. (Side note - Rachel doesn't have a coffee maker. This was just wrong to me and should be remedied. Rachel - if I get you a coffee maker for your birthday, don't be surprised.)

However, in my own home... I just go about getting ready until I've been up for a little while and have had coffee. Even on Sunday, though, I'm up and have had coffee before Jerry. I just wake up early now. Usually I get up, make coffee and knit for a little while until I have to get ready for church. So by the time he gets up, I'm my nice normal happy pleasant self. (Yes, all comments to the contrary will be edited.)

So Jerry experienced Crankypants Melissa this morning and I think it worried him. He may change his mind about finding a 9-5 job so that we're on the same schedule. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to deal with that on a regular basis. In fact, I think if he had met me like that before the wedding, he wouldn't have married me. Ha!

We're Back!

2007-01-10T08:34:00.000-05:00

Hello Kids! Since many of you have been asking where my blog is... here you go. :) To answer questions:

Did we all survive the wedding? Yes, if the police ask. ;)

How was Cancun? Fabulous! It was 85 and someone brought me my coffee every morning! Heaven, I tell you! Heaven!!!

Will I put pictures from Cancun up? Yes. I got them all on disc so hopefully some will be coming to a theater near you very soon.

How was Christmas? Good. How was yours?

O.k. I need to get to work. We'll have more for you later. Film at 11.