It's been a few days

Sorry I haven't really felt like blogging much this week. I have actually had work to do the last few days so I have been busy at work and going home and doing nothing.

I am looking forward to my vacation. Its starts this afternoon and I won't be back to work until Jan 2. So I don't know how much blogging I will be doing. Maybe some here and there, not sure.

Bear with me, don't leave me people. I'll snap back into the swing again.

My car stinks

I own a 2001 Jetta, I love my car. It's one of my most favorite buys. For the last few days the 'ol girl has been emitting a smell. A burning plastic smell. It's bad. On friday I consulted my brother, the car guy, on what he thought it could be. He told me to buy something or other and put it in the gas tank and that should work. As any good sister would do, I ignored him and kept driving it.

So today I go to work and I don't really notice it. But when I went home for lunch I noticed it and it was worse than ever. So I called Pep Boys and brought her in to have her checked. Turned out to be the fuel system (damn brother being right). So they fixed it, I payed for it and drove it home. No smell.

However, they also told me the interior had a smell and they recommended that I have the ventilation system cleaned. Now anyone who has been in my car would tell you that it has a smell. That smell is crayons. I have been tortured by the man about it. He doesn't even like to drive in it because of the smell. I don't notice it unless I don't drive for a week or longer, which is close to never. So I assumed that that was the smell they were talking about and told them to not bother with the ventilation because I wasn't concerned about it. But when I got to my car at Pep Boys the interior was all fogged up, like someone had a good time in the back seat while I was gone. And when I got inside the crayon smell was intensified. I don't know what they did to my car but I am seriously hoping it goes away because it was damn awful. I am cool with a faint smell or one I am used to but this was bad and it started to give me a headache.

I hope it fades, because it has made me sad. Oh and I also got in it to find my engine light was suddenly on because the asshead technician didn't clear the codes when he was done with my car. Fucktards I tell ya.

I am a blogger slacker

I actually had work to do today so I didn't have a chance to blog.

This weekend was so so. Saturday I put lights on the tree while the man worked on some electrical stuff in the garage. Then we did a little shopping for some family Christmas presents and ended up buying stuff for ourselves (teehee).

My mom called me in the afternoon to see if I wanted to go to see Peter Pan since my dad wasn't feeling too great. So the man went to work and mom came to pick me up to go see the play in the city. good times.

Sunday we lazed around the house in the morning, then to the gym. Afternoon was decorating the tree time! There it is in all it's brightly lit goodness. YAY!

Not much else happened. Sorry to bore anyone who may stumble by.

la-zers

Work has been so slow l lately it's almost painful. I sit here and just read blogs and news all day long and then I go home and my eyes are so dry I need to use my drops and my eye gel.

The reason my eyes get so dry, other than the reading, is that I had laser surgery to fix my horrendous vision.

I started wearing glasses when I was 6 years old and it just went down hill from there. Between 6 and 8 I would go to the eye doctor about every 6 months and every time my vision got worse. By 8 I was wearing bifocals to try slow the degeneration of my vision. Bifocals suck especially for an active 8 year old. By the time I was 11 I was in hard contact lenses. This was another attempt to slow the worsening of my vision. The theory being the contact lens would hold the curvature of my eyeball and slow everything down. By 15 I wanted laser surgery, but they wouldn't do it until I stopped growing...bastards. So I wore hard (semi permiable) lenses for a while until we realized that my body liked to destroy them by leaving deposits all over them, leading to needed them professionally cleaned every few months. So I switched to the disposable soft ones. I wore them until college when I got to the point where they weren't making them in my virtually blind prescription. So I ended up going back to glasses.

At 25 my prescription had relatively stopped getting worse. And my parents made me the promise that they would help me pay for the laser surgery since no freaking insurance company would pay for it. (At the time they didn't, not sure if they do now) So I decided to go for it.

I made my appointment at Kremer Laser Center and got the news that I would need to go with their top tier plan because my vision was so poor. They couldn't guarantee me 20/20 vision either because my prescription was so bad. However, with the top tier plan I would have lifetime coverage in case I needed to go back for touch ups. Apparently when your vision is so poor there is the chance that your vision will slide back a touch and you can go back and have it redone.

So I had it done and ended up with 20/20 in both eyes. It was the coolest thing I have ever done. Nothing like waking up and being able to see every morning. My eyes were so bad I couldn't even see the clock next to my bed without glasses or without bringing the clock 2 inches from my face.

The only issue I had was my night vision wasn't that great afterwards and it still isn't, but I think that's a small price to pay. I also did have to go back in for a "tune up" about 3 or 4 years later. Which opened up a whole new can of worms. That part sucked, but I still recommend getting it done.

Alphalist

YAY I got my second alphalist cd! Music goodness.

WOOT!

That is all

death warmed over

All week I have pretty much felt like poo. It started Monday and hasn't really improved.
I think it's some kind of stomach flu thing, that is going around. And I have been trying to stave it off. But I am failing.

Last night at the wine tasting I pondered going home after the second wine. But I stuck it out.
I learned some things about a few of the women on my street. Nothing I would want to commit to the interwebs. But interesting. And I found out the host, whom I have posted about before, the one who I don't think likes me...yeah she doesn't even remember my name so that's confirmed. Lovely huh. Whatever...

So I came home mildly drunk and went to bed around 11. Slept til 7 which is decent, but I am so tired I am zoning out and almost falling asleep while sitting here. I had to force my breakfast down and try not to be sick. Blah.

so yeah i feel like crud.

Hump Day

I have basically done close to nothing all day...

...Until Vuboq left this little link in his blog. I have literally been playing it for the last 3 hours.

It's freakin hard. And some of the associations I am just not getting. And I play this without knowing what the outcome will be. And I assume it will be completely anticlimactic.

On a completely unrelated note, the blaklava is pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself.
I just need to go buy some little decorative paper cups to make it look pretty for the wine tasting.

Back to the farm...

Do you know the muffin man...

No I am not making muffins. I am makin Baklava for the monthly wine tasting.
The filo I got didn't seem right and I don't think there were as many sheets as I am used to. So I sort of ran out and had to use fewer sheets on the top layer. And it was larger that I am used to but not large enough to cut in half to use in my pan. ARGH Hopefully it comes out ok.

Post Office

I finished my alphalist cds so I figured I would get them out today. So I go to the post office thinking it wouldn't be too crowded at 1:15. Wrong! The line was almost out the door. And they only had 2 people working at the counter. BLARG!

So I wasted about 20 minutes of my lunch hour sitting in line. The only good thing was that it cost me less than $5 to send out 6 cds and one was to Australia. YAY!

I still hate dealing with the post office.

HAPPY DAY

WOO HOO I AM DONE WITH STUDENT LOANS!!!!!!!!!

now if I could pay all my other debt off.

LADY'S IN TOWN

My sister was in from California this weekend. YAY LADY TIME!

She was here to go bridesmaid dress shopping with the girls. So we all got together on Saturday morning and went to the same place I bought my dress. I already knew what I wanted so it was quick and easy and the dress turned out to be cheaper than I thought it would be, so that was good times.

So Lady tried the dress on, everyone said they liked it, which could have been a lie. And then the four of them were measured and off to lunch we went. I think it took a grand total of 45 min. The man's youngest sister couldn't make it so we will have to go when she is on Christmas break, no biggie.

After lunch I went to my mom's house to hang out. My brother came down from north jersey to see Lady and her man T. So we all hung out and my mom was thrilled to have all her babies home. T lost a bunch of weight so he looked good. And good times were had by all.

Then Sunday the man slept really late. We went to my mom's for lunch with Lady and T. G-mom was there to enjoy my mom's Ropa Vieja as well. Very tastey. Then Lady and T had to leave to catch their plane home. Sad.

Then the man and I went to the mall for some shopping. We didn't buy anything, figures. Then wine shopping, food shopping and a quick stop at Chez Depot.

Weekends are too short. I can't wait until Christmas when I have my vacation time. WOOT!

A feeling of creepiness

I had a very odd dream last night, or this morning not sure.

I was living in a house that was basically falling apart. I didn't know this when I bought it.
The house has weird add ons to it that were just silly and poorly constructed. Like the front door had an enclosed entryway built around it, i assume to provide cover from rain upon entering and it was falling apart and made the house look odd from the outside.

So I was walking down the street to get to my house and I ran into my friends ex husband. I knew it was him because as I approached I noticed the feathered mullet, yeah he had a mullet, and it was black sprinkled with white hair. So I was gaining on him and as I passed him I looked over and said hey "J" and the look of shock on his face was priceless. I think he almost ran. And it turned out he lived a few houses down from me.

So I get to my house and I noticed my actual neighbors that live behind us in my current house. And they were cutting through my entry way area, which I assume was on the side of the house, to get to their house via my side yard. They said something like you should really just tear this entry way off, it looks horrible and it's falling apart. I said yeah I know, and I opened the door and it was all rotting away.

Then I went inside and it was dirty and there were a lot of bugs. And I went upstairs and the hallway felt cramped and narrow. And I noticed a rotted spot in the middle of the hallway that looked wet and soft. Then I went into my bedroom and there were rats everywhere. I went to the bed and the sheets all had rats and mice in them and I pulled the covers to the side and there were 2 mangy cats asleep or decomposing in the bed all surrounded by the rats and mice.

So I freaked out and started shooing mice and rats on the floor and scooting the cats out of the room. I got a lot of them out and I closed the door. And then I realized that there were just too many to keep them out. They seemed to be multiplying.

And then I woke up.

*shiver*

Whatever it is I think I see...

...becomes a tootsie roll to me!

Someone brought in a 5 lb bag of tootsie rolls. That is basically all I have been eating for 3 days now.

This can't be good.

This is not good...

I have blogged in the past about the "chickens" that we own. They are noisy and messy and expensive and all that. We have two large cages for both of them to enjoy in our office area. Today I came home and did a few things before retriving them and bringing them to their perch in the living room.

So I went into the office and I found this ---->

Um no birds?! WTF? They were in there this morning, I swear.





So I look over to the other side of the room and I see this
<------ (Oh hai wuz u lookin for uz?)
Notice the bird poo spot on my couch just below the bird on the right. Also notice the half torn down baby wallpaper and crappy curtains left by the old owner that I have yet to finish removing.
(Yeah lived her over a year now)

Seems they have figured out how to open the cages. Little bastards. And one of them figured out how to open BOTH doors.
I have no idea how long they were out. I am assuming not very since there were only two spots of poo on the couch.

This is just what we need flying escape artists.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Yay snowin! It's not much but I still love it!

lunchtime photo (snow on the front bushes!) --->

Man I wish I had a window...

Holy Windiness

It's hovering a few degrees above freezing today, but its windy as hell.
Which makes me look kinda like this when I go outside ---->

I just heard it's snowing, but I don't know if it is doing it here yet.
Why you may ask? Because we have no windows in my section of the office. We are basically kept like mushrooms in the dark.

This morning our wood pile had a tarp on it. When I went home for lunch it was suddenly gone. Dastardly wind! I do wonder where the tarp ended up. I would have liked to see it blow over our fence and into some lucky neighbors yard like some huge fluttering giant plastic bag.

Confuzzled

I have been wondering this for some time.
And it just makes me think of it every time I see a commercial for it.

What the hell is "performance fleece"?
Why is it called that?
What does it perform? Cause if it's performance it to make me warm, that's just moronic.
Do I have to perform in it? Cause I don't wanna.
If it does perform some kind of task, can it do my taxes?

Also confusing to me...metallic jeans.

Does this mean I am getting old or that marketing it becoming really retarded?

(and I know your answer before you comment so, SUCK IT PRINCESS, you know who you are)

Disappointed

We recently got a blower for our fireplace, to circulate the heat across the room better.
It looks like this ---->

The idea is to build the fire on the bars and the bars heat up, then the blower sucks air from the room through the little box on the side through the heated bars, which blows heated air into the room through the holes in the bars on the top.

Great idea right?

Well it seems that this thing is blowing smoky air into the room. And the entire house smells. The thing sits right in the opening of the firebox and if a log gets too close to the front I think the smoke makes its way into the room. And we also think there is a gap somewhere where the blower attaches to the tubes that is getting smoke into it and heating it up and blowing it back into the room. it's annoying and we are sad.

It seems to help heat up the rest of the room a little bit but not a huge amount. And the damn thing cost a lot of money. It was basically a waste, I hope we can return it.

Just another...

...Manic Monday.
Ohhhhh Weee Ohhhhh.

Not really manic, just Monday.

I finished my Christmas list. And I have just started a bunch of emails back and forth with the siblings to figure out what the hell we are getting for mom.

I went shopping and to lunch with mom this weekend for stuff for the man and my dad. Got a few things. She bought something for me to give to my sister (score no shopping). So my brother is the only one left in my family.

Now I have the man's family to shop for. And they are difficult. They all say get them a gift card when I ask what they want. But I hate doing that cause it takes no thought and it's too impersonal for me.

So the younger sister-in-law (J3), when asked, said she wanted a new boyfriend, a million dollars and a new car. (silly when you can get a new car with a million, but I digress). Then she said gift card. I said so you want an impersonal gift card? She said I don't know get me a pony.

Yeah she should be careful what she wishes for...hehehe.

A little scare

I just realized that at some point I am going to have to change the address on my drivers license.

Now if you live in New Jersey you would understand how much of a pain in the ass this is.
Why you may ask? Well because they came up with this new set of rules on how to get your license and it's involves a point system. You need 6 points of id to get your license, even if you are renewing.

Step 1 - Primary document: at least a birth certificate or a passport, that's 4 points.
Step 2 - Secondary document (show at least one but not more than 2): Marriage or divorce cert - 3 pts (I don't have), school, college, federal id - 2 pts (yeah don't have them either), Current drivers license - 1 pt (!!!!! WTF), SS card, bank card, health ins card with pay stub - all one point (could they possibly ask for more documents?)
Step 3 - Proof of address: Any bill or statement sent to the address, a lease, property tax bill, IRS correspondence or mail received from the government.

Then the need your SS to verify your name and date of birth match the SS number, because nothing you already gave them would tell you that!

So once you get all that shit together you go and stand in line and someone makes sure you have a all your points, so that they will renew or change the license you already have!

The kicker...I thought I lost my birth certificate (4pts!!!!) and my SS card. Spent an hour going through my filing cabinet and found them amongst a bunch old utilities bills.

Why were they there? Well when we moved here the man was brining my small filing cabinet in the house and dropped it on the concrete, it's exploded all my paperwork everywhere. So in a frantic attempt to pick it all up it ended up mixed up badly.

But its found and now I have valid identification. Hurrah

ow my fingers

...are frost bitten! We just put up the outside Christmas lights. It's 35 degrees outside and weather.com says it feels like it's 28. (for those Canadian and Aus readers it's 1 but feels like -2)

The lights look awesome, however, I think we need more. But not until I get feeling back into my fingers and toes.

I will post a crappy cell phone pic once it's all done! YAY!