I am tired of being a grown-up!

The last couple of months has been rough in the grown-up department. I am a homeowner and was quite excited when I bought my house. I teased my parents that I was going to move into the basement of their new house. Then I got over my homeowner woes and thought of a solution then another homeowner woe came along. It wasn't an emergency like the first one but still another thousand's of dollars type of repair. ::sigh:: I have been wanting to refinance for quite some time. I had the bright idea of doing a cash out to pay for these thousand's of dollar's repairs. I find out this week, I am unable to do this. Home values have went down since I bought my house and it has affected my plan. I wish I had known this months ago when rates were a little lower.  I would have started this process sooner but I was under the impression I would need an appraisal.  I wanted to do a few things to my home prior to this.  Drats. Now I am stuck with a huge payment from these home repairs. I miss the days of calling a landlord! On the bright side, I will be saving money on my house payment with my refinancing.

Then last night, I got out of Wal-mart and I noticed I had a flat tire.  I call roadside assistance and they put my spare on my car.  I was happy that it was included in my car insurance so no charge.  But a screw was in the side of my wheel which they can't repair, the tire has to be replaced.  I went to Sam's and they told me I needed two tires, not just one.  The reason was they couldn't find a tire to match my other tires, it would mess up the balancing or whatever.  It was going to be over $200 for two tires!  He asked me what I wanted to do and I said I want my keys.  I waited for 2 hours to get nothing done to my car.  GRRRR!  I hope I can find a tire that will match my other tires to save money.  I don't have the extra money right now for all this craziness!

Just a little vent on the last couple of months.  I am redoing my budget and all will be good again.  Please, no more unplanned repairs, big or small!

My pug in action!

Created with Gifboom

My niece is always showing new apps I would have never searched for. She introduced me to this app and I made a gif of Phoebe.

 

Looking for a REAL man!

In the last month, I have been stopped by three different men to tell me I am beautiful. One was at Wal-mart, the second was downtown (the rose panhandler), and the third was while walking down the street today.

I went to the C-street loft walk which I try to go to every year.  I just love seeing the different lofts and how people decorate their lofts.  I have a few ideas of stuff I would like to do.  One loft I went to I recognized a guy in the pictures and it was his girlfriend!  I like their loft the best with all the decor.

I was walking back to my car and this guy driving down the street was staring at me.  He parks his car down the street, not far from my car and approaches me.  He introduced his self to me and then preceded to tell me that I caught his eye while walking down the street.  He was wondering if we could go out and have a drink to see if there was a spark between us.  Very flattering but he just didn't seem like my type.  I was curious his age because he seemed younger than me by quite a few years.  He asked for my number but I asked if I could have his number instead.  I could tell he was a smoker which is a turn off to me.  I could just smell it!

The guy I meet at Wal-mart seemed like a decent guy but he didn't ask for my phone number.  He just told me that my husband was very lucky to have such a beautiful wife.  I was shocked and didn't say I was single.  He might have been a real man but I was to shy to say anything.

I am hanging out at the Mudhouse and looking forward to go home and see Dexter!  I am interested on how this season will go!

Summer is winding down

I can't believe that summer is technically over!!  School is back in season and the weather is cooling off a little.  This summer was too HOT!!  We had about 2 months of 100+ weather.  I like summer but this was a bit too much.

In June, I had a 3 week vacation that was great!  I went to St. Louis for CKC and also got my first out-of-state geocache.  I also had a goal to get at least 30 geocaches in June and I got 35!  My nieces and I went geocaching for a day and we found lots of ticks!!  We decided to wait on crawling in the woods till tick season is over.

July brought lots of sadness for me.  I lost my cat Chloe.  I came home from work on morning and she was dead in the hallway.  She was just fine before I left for work that night.  She had been fighting hyperthyroidism but her levels were finally in optimal range and she seemed to be doing better.  It was quite the shock for me.  I have been wanting to make a blog post in regards to this.

Navy Pier

Then in the middle of July, I traveled to Elburn, IL to see my Scrap Jammie friends!  One was traveling all the way from Australia!  We even took a day trip to Chicago which was a blast!!!  I need to order pictures and get to scrapbooking them!

I got back from my trip and my A/C wasn't able to keep up with the 100+ weather.  It is leaking freon and I need a new system.  They at least got it working for me but I need to start saving $$$$ for a new unit.  Ugh!!  At least the weather has cooled off to the 80's to 90's which is nice.

August I have been working on getting my house better organized, especially my extra bedroom!  I made good progress but still have lots to do.  I have lots of stuff I just need to get rid of.

I am hanging out at the Mudhouse trying to stay caffeinated!!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Getting used to blogger changes

I noticed about a month ago that blogger has changed how you post a blog.  My dashboard is all different and a little confusing.  I am trying to get used to it.

I would like to give my blog a lift but unsure what to do.  If things look funny, that is why.  I might try out a few looks and see what happens.

Zombie apocalypse here?

I walked into my favorite coffee shop downtown and the barista was talking about this in the news:

How the Zombie Apocalypse starts!

You can find several other articles along with youtube videos of this incident.

Then doing more searches on zombies online I found this.  Hmmmm . . . . .

I did watch a special once about zombies I believe from the History channel.  They say that the zombie virus was a mutation of the rabies virus and they are trying to do this.  Why?  I am not sure.  I believe I need to get prepared and read my Zombie Survival Guide!!

I took this photo when in 2010 when zombies came to my town to dance to Michael Jacksons Thriller!

 

Good Bye 2011, I hate/love you

A video my niece made! <3

New Years Day!

The new year has started out with family and friends!  I was happy this year that I didn't have to work New Year Eve or New Years day.  One of the cons of being a nurse is having to worry about being off the holidays.



Last night I went to my sisters and we hung out together.  Our plan was to dance to Just Dance, Michael Jackson Experience and do some Zumba.  My niece and cousin was chatting online with people from other countries.  Then my sister ended up falling asleep on the couch!  I have picked up learning how to knit again and brought a project I had recently started.  It was 1am before I knew it!  I was ready to leave about 0130 and my niece told me I couldn't leave!  They did get Just Dance Summer Party out and they did some dancing.  Then I decided to leave after 0200 as I wanted to have some sleep!  I didn't last long when I got home.



I slept today until 1430!  I woke up to 4 texts on my phone which the last one getting me up.  My sister texted me asking if I wanted to come to dinner.  I went to dinner at my sisters.  She had also invited our parents.  It was a fun family evening!  I also made plans with my nieces later in the week for some afternoon vintage fun!

I am bummed that I have to work tomorrow but then I get a couple of days off.  I do enjoy working 12 hours shifts and having more days off in the week.  It helps keep me sane!

Till next time . . . .

Happy New Year!!

It has been a while.  I have really slacked at blogging this year but hoping to pick it back up next year.  I am thinking of doing Project Life next year and this is a good tool to assist with journaling.



I had an interesting night/morning!  I had suspected that I had a mouse in my cabinet near the stove.  I am unsure how but there must be a hold somehow and they are getting in from the crawl space.  Felix was really watching something but I went on with my business.  Later I am in bed and I can hear a commotion coming from the kitchen!  This went on for about 30 minutes till I got up to check it out.  I put my shoes on just in case but I didn't see anything but the cats had things out of place!  There had been a chase.  I am guessing the mouse was hiding in between my recycling sacks.  I went back to bed and went to sleep as it was 3am at this point.  This morning, I walking into my dining room to HALF a mouse!!!  The rest of the mouse was mutilated in the kitchen.  YUCK!!!!  I disinfected the floor this morning.

I have had some type of shoe on today just in case!  The cats keep hanging out in the kitchen like they hear something.  I wonder if they mouse came out because I had noticed last week my popcorn kernels were made into corn meal.  The mouse had also tried to eat Phoebe's dog treats!  I removed anything edible from that area.  The mouse came out to possibly find food not realizing it was going to be food!!!

I am going to celebrate the new year with my sister and one of my nieces.  The youngest niece has plans tonight.  I need to find a veggie tray for some healthy snacks!

Happy New Year!!!

Changes . . . .

I have been wanting to do the Fit Life program at the fitness center most of the year.  I was waiting till I saved some extra money to do this.  Since getting a newer car, that has been harder to do.  Just a few days after buying my newer car, I found out I was going to have hand surgery.  I ended up being off work for 5 weeks which wasn't easy on the finances but I survived.  I was glad that finally on September 7, I was able to start this program at the fitness center.

My goal was to get off this diuretic my doctor put me on in August.  He told me that I was starting to develop venous insufficiency (occupational hazard?) and put me on a diuretic to help with the edema.  I also have compression stockings to wear to help.  I am actually officially off the medication as I started having dizziness with it from possibly pulling off to much fluid.  The swelling of my legs have improved and hasn't gotten any worse since stopping the medication almost a month ago.  :-)

Fit Life is a 12 week program which you meet with a nurse, trainer & dietician.  The dietician said he wanted me to eat 1400 calories a day.  He told me about an iPhone app, Nutrition Menu, and I started using it to track my calories.  The first week I lost 5 lbs.!  That gave me the motivation to keep up with the changes.  So far, I have lost a total of 11 lbs.

I have a goal of doing 3 cardio workouts a week.  I have been doing water aerobics as I feel like I get a full body workout.  I love it!!  Then I am also trying to do 3 weight training days as well.  I love doing weight lifting and could see me being like the women on Muscle and Fitness Hers!  I love that magazine!  It reminds when I used to workout hardcore with a personal trainer 3 days a week.  <3  I really want to be strong and fit as I was in 2003-2004.  I need to find pictures of me when I went to Cancun.   I do have a goal of being that fit in the next couple of years as I plan to go St. Lucia to hike and bike in the rainforest.  :-)

I have found that my biggest struggle has been finding time to workout.  Since I work the night shift, I am tired most of the time.  I wasn't doing as well getting workouts in the beginning but then decided to do them after work.  That is doing a little better but yet at the same time, I am tired when I am finished.  I am doing better with getting 2-3 workouts in a week but want to make it 3 days at least.  Then I might start increasing it to 5 days a week.

Till next time . . . . . .

I am still here

I was off work for about 5 weeks as I had surgery on my left pinky to have a cyst removed. Since returning to work almost a month ago, it has been busy!! My summer schedule isn't good the way my work schedule ended up. I really like my days together so I can group my days off but it didn't work out that way except the week I have vacation. In less than one week I will be on vacation! I am looking forward to it.



I need to gather the pictures I took of my finger as it was healing.  I was using Instagram on my iphone to document the healing process.  I need to share them in a post and share my Michael Jackson experience I had during surgery!!  It wasn't very funny at the moment but I have to kinda laugh now.

I have been sleeping to much on my days I get off and 0700 and I am off that night.  Then I am not sleeping as well at night and then need a nap during the day.  I was hoping to nap at Moonshine Beach today but I slept to late at home and my towels were still drying and needed another hour of drying time.  I decided to just hang out at the Mudhouse instead.  Prior to coming to the coffee shop, I went to the Bistro Market for a veggie grill sandwich.  I had this sandwich before and loved it.  This time it wasn't so good.  It actually cost $1.00 more than the turkey burger I enjoy and it was horrible.  I had a couple of tomato slices, 3 cucumber slices, humus, basil mayo and leaves (aka field greens).  I hate leaves!  They have never made it this way before.  Yuck-o!  I was a disappointment today and I won't order that again.  My veggie sandwiches are much better.

I am going to do some scrappy blog searching for a bit and then it will be time soon for the Mudhouse to close.

Camera Critters!

Last night, my sister and I took our dogs to a pet stroll on C-street.  My dog, Phoebe, cracks me up!  She is an a/c dog for sure!!  :)



Phoebe was drinking from the water dish then sat down and leaned against the planter! I think she was telling me it was to hot for a pet stroll. :-)

Blog Love

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Artsy Weekend!

It has a busy but fun weekend!  I always enjoy the first weekend of May for Artfest on Walnut St.!  Friday night was the Downtown First Friday Art Walk the the weekend was the Artfest.  Also on Saturday was National Scrapbook Day (NSD).



My sister and I went downtown and checked out a few venues full of art.  It was really busy so it was hard to see all the art.  Parking is always an issue downtown.  There are no cruising signs up every where but I am waiting for the day that I get stopped for cruising when I am only trying to find a place to park my car!  It makes me wish I was able to push a button in my car like George Jetson.  He turns his car into his briefcase.  I never understood why he was always trying to find where he parked though.  Shouldn't he just have a button in his briefcase to turn it back into his car?  I didn't notice that till I was older and watching The Jetson's one day when my nieces were younger.

Saturday I went to the LSS to celebrate NSD.  I attended Super Saver Scrapbooking, did the make-n-takes and then did a little shopping.  I almost over slept as I decided to take a nap and slept through my alarm.  I am glad that I woke up and made it to my class!

After my scrappy fun, I went home to pick up my dog and went to Artfest!  It was a fun adventure but Phoebe always gets so hot!  She makes me nervous since pugs can't tolerate heat well.  I was glad that various artist had bowls of water out for the dogs.  I will often buy bottled water and make sure she gets lots to drink.  We will also sit in the shade and just enjoy the people and music!  Phoebe just loves adventures!

Then we went home to chill for a bit and then I took Phoebe to the park.  We just walked around and I was noticing some areas to do some photography someday.  Since we have had a lot of rain, the ground was quite soggy!  Here is a picture of Phoebe in my car.  She gave it her pug approval!  :-)

Finally after 10 years . . . . .

I have been busy with work and also a little vacation in April.

While i was on vacation in April, the car I had for 10 years irritated me.  I had just went to Sam's, had a trunk full of various items including perishable items.  I get home and the trunk on my car decides to not open!  The release button sounded like the motor was stuck.  GRRR!!!!  I had a hatchback so I was able to crawl into the back seat and lower the seats to get my items out.  I worked with my key some more after getting my items out and figured out a way to get the trunk open.  Phew!  It was annoying and inconvenient.

Then a few days later, I was heading to St. Louis.  I just hoped my trunk release behaved and didn't go out anymore than it already had.  I have been told by people that I needed a new car.  This Integra had been the best car I had owned.  I also like the fact that it was paid for!



When I got back from St. Louis, I decided to at least look at used cars at Acura.  I wanted another Acura as they have been good cars for me.  I had an '86 Integra prior to my "98 Integra.  When I looked at the cars, they had gotten bigger and more expensive in the last 10 years.  After talking with a salesman, I test drove an Acura TSX.  It had all the luxury features like seat warmers, leather seats, bluetooth and more.  It was nice but I just wasn't in love.  It was too much car for me.  I was more curious about seeing an Acura RSX but they don't make them anymore.  They didn't have one on the lot.  I was content with not coming back and just keeping my car for another 10 years that day.

A few days later, the car salesman calls me to tell me they had an RSX on the lot!!  Someone had traded one in.  I was excited to see this car and was able to the next day.  The car was very sharp and had been taken car of.  I liked how it drove.  After talking and doing some dealing with interest rates and my payment options I asked If I could take the car out again but without a salesman.  I wanted to make sure this was what I wanted before making a final decision.  I drove it around and even took it over to my parents house so they could see it.  They thought it was a nice car.  I was pretty sure I was going to buy the car at this point.



I went back to the car lot and said I would buy the car since they were giving me the interest rate and working with me on my payment.  I was trading in my old car for a down payment.  They only gave me $1000 for my old car but it had a few exterior blemishes that needed repair.  Like the power antenna, trunk release, side view mirror was busted, the misting on the windshield wipers was wimping out.  It was otherwise in good shape.  I signed all the papers that night but I had to take my old car home because they hadn't had time to detail the car for me.  I got to pick it up two days later.



As I was driving my Integra home after driving the RSX all day, I could tell that the RSX drove better.  I am not excited about having payments again but I like the fact that everything that wasn't working as well in my old car, worked in this car.  I will miss my '98 Integra as has been the best car with minimal repairs.  I just hope my new car treats me the same.

I keep checking to see where my old car has ended up.  I have noticed that Acura hasn't listed my Integra.  I have been doing searches on cars.com.  This morning I have been up since my pup woke me up and checked cars.com and found my old car!!  I can tell it is mine for the dent above the rear passenger side wheel.  I had a little mishap backing into my garage one day quite a few years ago.  Oops!  I can tell from the pictures, they fixed the side view mirror.  It looks great!!  I am just curious who will end up buying it.  I miss my Integra but love my RSX!

Shattered dreams . . .

The day the registration for the Camp Shutter Sisters opened up, it was in the middle of my sleep.  I had to work that night and really needed to get some sleep.  I decided to wake up in the afternoon to register for Camp Shutter Sisters.  My dreams were broken when I saw that registration was full.  

It is time to make new dreams that include photography, friends and the ocean!  ♥

Dreaming . . . .

camp shuttersisters from xanthe berkeley on Vimeo.

I am dreaming of attending Camp Shutter Sisters!  It is going to be on the coast of California.  Not only would this trip let me meet new friends with the love of photography, it would also help fulfill my love of the ocean.  ♥

I hate nursing!

I can't believe the last time I blogged was in November!  Yikes!  After I returned to work after my vacation in November, I was busy with the holidays.  Then after Christmas, I got sick with respiratory stuff.  I finally got over that and then got food poisoning!  I finally got over that and a week later ended up with sinus problems.  Ohhhh!  I am tired of being sick!  I have been slacking in my water aerobics I enjoy.  I hope to be able to get back into the groove soon!

I just had to say how much I hate nursing!  Another nurse I work with suggested I google, "I hate nursing".  I have found lots of post of other nurses that feel the same way I do!  I have to say I enjoy being a nurse but it has changed and I am not liking how things are going.  I have about 30 years till I can retire so I need to renew my spirit in nursing!!  I am sure it is only going to get worse instead of better.  I do my best to make sure my patients are taken care of and hope they are appreciative of what I am doing for them.  Some are and some aren't no matter what you do!

I am hanging out downtown at my fave coffee shop to destress a little.  I am off to google about art journals and read about photography!  My hobbies keep me sane.  I am looking forward to another vacation later this month for a much needed vacation!

I hope it won't be so long before another post.

Scrappy Fun!

I am sad that my vacation from work is about over.  Only 2 days left.  :-(  I didn't do everything I was planning because the weather has turned cooler.  We have been getting in the 30's at night!  Yikes!  I really dislike winter.

Saturday was my LSS's 6th b-day celebration.  It was a great time as it always is at my LSS.  :-)   They were opening at 9am which is quite early in my book!  The first 350 people got a number as you walked in the door which got you a tote bag.  The first 200 got more free stuff and then the next 150 got a little less.  I wasn't feeling very good when I woke up so I was being a little sluggish getting ready.  My plan was to be their around 0830.  I ended up showing up at 0905 and was number 203.  I was just glad that I was one of the first 350 people!  :-)

Then I walked into the store and you could hardly move!  I saw my friends car parked outside so I was trying to locate her.  All the LSS regulars that I am used to seeing were their.  One told me where i needed to go to get my Fiskateers goodies.  Then I stood in line for the make-n-take with the fiskateer ladies.  The make-n-take book was cute and used the unibind system.  I would love to have the unibind system.  My friend had done some shopping and was in line.  I went to go talk to her for a bit and then I went back outside where it was calmer!  Since they handed out numbers, I was able to come back and shop later.  I ended up storing my number in my bra!  I about lost it with it being in my pocket.  It was in a safe place then!



Afterwards, I ran back home real quick.  I realized I had forgotten to put my watch on and it was bugging me.  Then I went to a friends house as a bunch of us was meeting up to scrapbook the day away!  Their was 7 of us all together.  I was the only one who got into a class at the LSS for that day.  I tried to get into the class when they first opened up registration.  Working nights, by the time I woke up and realized registration was open, it was to late.  I was added to a waiting list.  I was surprised that they called me in October for a spot in the class!  I originally turned it down as my friends were all going to an all day scrap event and I signed up too.  It got cancelled so I was lucky that I got a spot!

The store was much calmer when I went back.  I did a little shopping and then went to my class.  I got some fun goodies in my tote bag!  Then after my class, I went back to my friends house and scrapbooked a little longer.  We ended up wrapping the night up around 8pm.   We have talked about getting together more often and scrapping.




I meet all the ladies I scrapped with at an all day crop.  I went to the crop by myself and I was seated with these ladies.  It turned out we work for the same hospital.  One of the girls, I kept running into at various scrapbooking & photography events.  I have gained more friends since I started scrapbooking!  I just love it.

First class drawings

I wanted to post my drawings from my first class.  She had us draw a face and our hand before giving us any instructions.  It took me forever to draw my face it seemed.  I kept erasing and redrawing!  These might be hard to see since the drawings are in pencil.



Then she gave us some instruction and then told us to do blind contour.  We were to draw our hand but couldn't look at our paper!





Then after doing this exercise, we did modified contour which we could look at our paper 10% of the time.  I kept moving my hand and then I didn't get it back in the original position.  My hand looks a little off for that reason!



Then she got out a photo of an eye and had us draw the outline and then we added shading.  Shading really is what makes the picture.  I feel like I need to work more on shading.  I didn't like how I did my eyelashes.  This isn't bad for my first try!



Then class was over.  :-(  I hope to be able to go back in the next week or so and learn more!  :-)