It seems that as of my last few jobs, I get right to the 3 year mark, and I bail.  I just get so fed up with / sick of them.  I am nearing that at my current job… and I honestly don’t know if I will be able to make it much longer.  Without going into great detail… I feel worthless most of the time.  I am made to be more versatile than I want to be.  I can cover many people’s jobs, and no one seems to care if mine is done or not, until they need something, and then it is “WHY ISN’T THIS DONE!?”  There are a few specific people that really get to me, but no matter how much I complain, no matter how wrong they are, when it comes time for punishment, or time to fix the problem, nothing happens.  Ever.  I just hate it.  I am told constantly how “valuable” I am, and how I am irreplaceable, but when co-workers make my life harder, no one seems to care when I get upset or frustrated or have a problem, ever.  It’s like there isn’t even a point in complaining anymore, because nothing ever gets done.  It’s really shown in my attitude lately, because I simply just don’t care, and I don’t want to help.  I have been making minimal talk with the majority of my co-workers, but again, none of them seem to care unless they need help someone.  I feel like I am drowning.

In other news nothing is happening.  When we’re not dealing with the daily grind of work, we’re dealing with the nightly grind of homework.  I just want to be free, and not have to work, or have to go to school, just have the ability to do what I want, when I want.  I’ll keep dreaming though…

For our first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife, nothing really happened.  We ran our errands, as Sunday is pretty much the only day that we have available to do so, and that was about it.  We exchanged gifts in the morning, Jason got Heath bars, and a big fat book, and I got a stuffed frog, and real frogs!  We actually bought the tank a week ago, and I have been adding to it slowly.  I’ve always wanted a fish tank (beyond a glass jar) and we found a really nice 2 ½  gallon one with a filtration system, light and the works.  Currently, I have two African Dwarf Frogs, an Otocinclus (which looks like a mini shark, but he sucks all the algae out), and 3 Glass Shrimp.  Sadly, I think the shrimp are the most exciting.  They are so active, and so comical.  I fed the frogs today, which is basically little pellets of food, and the shrimp all grabbed a pellet and looked like they were playing with them.  The frogs are active every now and then… and the Otoconclus just sucks… haha, but he looks pretty cool, and I am happy with the entire set up.  So cute!

That’s it for now.

We need a vacation.

I have started to flip out about our caterer.  She seems vaguely crazy, and controlling.  I just figured out tonight, that when she wouldn’t let me round up when I asked, she actually rounded down, and I don’t know if we are going to have enough place settings for everyone.  I spent most of yesterday flipping out about how I had 18 spots of bridal party and family to seat in 16 seats, and totally missed this one.  This also messed up our table decorations as we got enough for 6 tables of 10, and she has given us 7 tables of 8.  I also forgot to decorate the sweetheart table for Jason and me.  These are the kind of things I hate because you can’t really know until the very last minute exactly how much you need.  I’m super frustrated because we have some “definite maybe” people that we still don’t know if they are coming or not, and I hate to say this, but I hope they don’t because we will be screwed if they do.  I’m sorry, but don’t wait until we track you down almost 2 months after the RSVP date, and then tell me you may be coming, and that you’re still not sure.  I am pretty sure bridezilla will come out on October 3^rd, and she will not be pretty, and heads will fly if I see someone who is not expected to be there.  Just sayin’.

I finally got my test results back from my MRI, and that was also not good.  It wasn’t “bad” just not good.  I have a 4mm tumor on my pituitary gland.  Sure, 4mm isn’t big, but when my pituitary gland is only 9mm, it is pretty large in comparison.  Jason and I have seen my regular doctor, who couldn’t (or wouldn’t, I’m not sure) tell us much; but she referred me to a neurosurgeon to discuss options—the appointment isn’t until the 14^th of October, but it just adds to my list of worries.  She also stated that there is a likelihood of having to be rescanned and several more tests.  Not what I am looking forward to.  I do not want another MRI.  If you have never had one, they are horrible.  I felt like I was in a lighted coffin with jackhammers on top of me.  It was so close, and so noisy, I seriously felt like this device was meant to drive people to insanity.  Mine took 45 minutes, and it felt like hours or pure hell.  I left with one of the worst headaches that I have ever had.  There are a few things that bother me about this entire situation.  My insurance denied this claim.  Why?  They went through my records, and found out that I was on a specific drug that can elevate levels of prolactin.  Fine.  They did not go through my records enough to see that I hadn’t actually used this prescription in over a year.  Not fine.  They did not notify me (and my doctor) until a month later, at which point, I had already had the MRI done, and paid out of pocket for it.  Also not fine.  The original denial was just that I was on a specific drug, not which drug, so I didn’t know to stop it, for how long, anything.  Neither did my doctor, or the facility that I was going to get the MRI at.  I called them last week to see if I could get reimbursed, and they basically told me to screw myself.  I am glad this is not life threatening, because they honestly expected me to wait a month, and wait for them to tell me the drug, then schedule with my doctor, then wait for my doctor to write a note that I wasn’t on this drug (or that I had stopped it for a week) and to resubmit the referral, then wait for them to approve or deny it again, and then wait for my actual MRI to take place.  Thanks for being a quality insurance company.  No thanks.  Another scary thing was that the list of drugs was long.  Some of it included anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, stuff for bi-polar people, stuff for people with ADHD, etc.  I’m sorry, you’re an insurance company and you want people to stop taking drugs that they (sometimes) need to survive their life, and function in society as normal people for a WEEK?!  Are you kidding me?  Seriously, I’m not one for naming names, but Aetna is a JOKE.  Now, here’s the kicker.  I finally found a doctor who examines every possible angle in every situation, and I really like her.  She may have found the solution to many of my health problems, including the massive weight gain over the last 4 years… and if I drop my insurance to go to Jason’s insurance (which is beyond awesome) I will lose her.  If I take Jason’s insurance, most of my medical procedures are covered with a small fee; surgery would literally be like $75; if I stick with mine I have something like a $3,500 deductible before my insurance kicks in.  I’m sure with all of my doctors visits, blood draws, and tests I have at least half that covered, but it is still so frustrating.

I have three days of work this week, and then a week and a half of freedom from it.  I wouldn’t say freedom from work though.  Freedom from the 8-5.  This week is still going to be a ton of work I am sure.  I am going to try and see if I can maybe get Wednesday off as well to tie up some loose ends here and there.  We have people coming in starting Wednesday.  I am so excited, and so nervous because there are so many things still up in the air.  Eeek!

Lastly, on a note not about Jason and I:

If you like to eat, and you like to feel good about doing good in your community, I would like to offer you this:

Monday, September 28^th, 2009, is St. Jude’s Day at Chili’s.  One HUNDRED percent of your food and drink bill goes to St. Jude’s on this day.  Please eat, not only to fill your bellies, but to help childhood cancer research at this wonderful facility.  Just think about it.  For two people you could be making a $30-$50 donation, and you’re getting a meal out of it!  Please eat out at Chili’s today, Monday, September 28^th, 2009.  There is seriously, no easier way to donate, and you have nothing to lose, but your empty stomach!  You can read more here:  St. Jude’s.

*Last year, Jason and I unknowingly went, and sadly the restaurant was empty.  We ended up racking up close to a $70 bill, all of which went to St. Jude’s.

Blah blah blah, I know neither one of us hasn’t written in forever, but we have been super busy, and / or super lazy depending on what day it is.  (*cough* and Jason never feels the need to update anyone on anything *cough*)

Anyway, Saturday, we had tons to do, guess what? None of it got done.  We were planning on building a step for Landon so that we could let the dogs use the doggie doors again.  Well the screws we bought work for one part, but not the other.  Super.  Jason is currently out buying longer screws for support.  We also bought a shelf-stand-organizer-storage-thing for our beverage fridge.  Now we can store more crap!  Too bad its ½ inch too short to fit our fridge, so we have to build an “extension” as we’re calling it.    Yay!  We also bough stuff to put more shelves in our laundry room, so that my habit of buying in bulk when I can save money, will no longer continue to clutter our house.  However, the shelves were too short, so we will use them on another project, and have to buy more tomorrow.  Ho-hum.

In Amanda news:
I’m dying.  No really, I feel like it.  I got a second run of blood tests to check out some wacky results, and the results were still wacky.  My doctor is guessing there is a growth on my pituitary gland, and she ordered an MRI of my brain.  Well, since my insurance is so super duper, they denied it and I don’t know when or if it will ever happen.  However, since mid-July, I have also been having massive headaches, which I never used to have.  Don’t really know if it’s related or not, because they are generally in the front/facial area of my head, and I’m pretty sure that the pituitary gland is towards the back, just kind of scary (and annoying.)  She also found that I have severe inflammation “somewhere” in my body.  The test she ran I guess, from what I understood runs on a specific scale, if your levels are between 2-3 you are at risk for coronary problems, mine was between 8 and 9 which means there is severe inflammation somewhere, they just don’t know where.  She’s told me to go to a rheumatoid specialist for that, which I haven’t done yet.  I also went to see her because my foot had been hurting.  It really started killing me on Memorial Day.  I worked that day, but was on my feet a ton more than normal, so I let it go for a few days, and told her at a normal appointment I had.  I had it x-rayed that following Friday to check for heel spurs with no luck.  Well, now it’s been two months, and she referred me to a podiatrist.  Well, he said the x-rays they took weren’t showing everything they should because they had me sit down.  He redid the x-rays with me bearing weight on them, and poked and prodded a bit.  Well turns out, just like everything else in my life, my foot issues were a domino effect.  Started out I have plantar fascia, when that got to me, I walked different and caused a contusion on my heel, which later developed into a hairline fracture, and when that got to me, I started walking different and messed up the tendon that goes from my ankle to my foot, because its rubbing up against bone that fused, and got irritated, and voila!  I am now in a boot that goes up to my knee for at least two weeks to hopefully correct the heel and ankle problem, and if all goes well with that, then we will start attacking the plantar fascia.  Super.  Well like that wasn’t bad enough, on Thursday, the day after I got the boot, some “wonderful” person decided to use the shredder that is across from my desk, while I was on the phone, and since we got a talk about how we have to be nice to everyone, because “someone” (who happens to be this particular person) felt that they were treated worse than everyone else, I just decided to move to a new phone rather than deal with drama.  Turns out, that was a bad idea.  I walked to the vault, and WHAM, the boot slid out from under me, and I went into the splits on the tile floor, with my other leg folding behind me.  One person saw it, and I thought they were going to have a heart attack, and I just started bawling, not because I hurt anything, but because I was just so frustrated.  He called someone else in, which just made me feel more stupid, and they were both asking if I was ok, but I just tried to focus on not crying, and getting back to my phone call.  Turns out, when the guy who made this all possible left, he called me a gimp, and I had just snapped.  I spent the next two hours in and out of meetings with supervisors and managers, because I was so pissed.  It didn’t really do much, as all I got was an apology and an “I heard someone else say it, so I thought it was ok” out of it.  Meh.

To wrap up my exciting week, I got jalapeño juice in my eye (even though I’ve washed my hands twice after cutting them, and it huuuuurts, they were red, and now so is my eye.)

More, coming up!

So as a few of you may know, Jason caved into my crazy last weekend, and he allowed me (I didn’t give him a choice really) to take our pups to a Dog Whisperer.  Not The Dog Whisperer, but a really good one, that not only helped us communicate, but gave us a lot of help with other things in training aspects.  Her name was Krista Cantrell, she has actually written several books, and been on TV and blah blah blah… and totally not a hoax, as I am sure know some of you thought she was… She had some AMAZING insight and knowledge.  Jason was skeptical until she got to Lucy, and then he was sold.  I recorded the session, that we went to with two of my co-workers (as one had been to her before, so we set up a “group” like session) but unfortunately, we had to stop recording during Lucy’s session, and when I went to save it, having not used the program, screwed something up, and the last hour (which was ALL Lucy) was not saved.  There are some interesting tidbits in there from Maggie (co-workers dog who went first), Landon, who is a ham, and Sadie (other co-workers dog), plus about 5 minutes of Lucy before we had to stop.  The file is about 2 hours long, but interesting.  You can find a zip version, and the straight MP3 version, here. 

A few weeks ago, I built a garden.  I think I mentioned it.  I put up pictures of it in the gallery.  Well, our sweet devil of a dog, Lucy, decided to jump into it, and have a hay-day in the dirt yesterday, demolishing everything in there.  I was so upset, I didn’t know what to do.  All the onions were shredded, and there was no saving them, and I got to save five out of the 6 jalapeno plants.  Luckily, we have a separated yard, and we moved the garden into the back yard, where they cannot get into (now anyway.)  Sadly though, I don’t think the jalapenos are going to make it.  I replanted them yesterday, and when I went to water them today… they were all shriveled and… almost dead.  So sad.  :(  Luckily she only got into one bin, and not both.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and artichokes still have a chance.

As for the gallery, I added a few new pictures / categories:

• Camping
• The Garden
• And the kids and Jason sleeping on a Sunday  (really important, I know.) 

Enjoy!

So I shall start off with an amazing story: Jason constantly teases me about how creepy I am because I “stalk” people online.  I don’t see it as stalking as most people have their information on there, put there by themselves for other people to read… I mean there are some specific cases where I may be seen as creepy… but meh, we’re not talking about that right now. Anyway, when I was a wee one, I had this best friend named Sharifah, we hung out, and did little kid things like play with Barbies, play on the swings, run around like maniacs, you know, that kind of stuff. Well, she moved away when I was in first or second grade, back to Kuwait. I was heartbroken. She wrote me letters, well letters as far as little kids can be concerned, and we kept in contact for what was probably a short while and then the letters stopped. I didn’t really know what happened to her after that point. I never heard from her again. To this day, a good nineteen to twenty years later, I wondered about her.   I looked for her online, on MySpace, on Facebook, and just google-ing her name to no avail. Disappointing to a pro like me.  Anyway… SHE FOUND ME!  After such a long time, I was so amazed that she even remembered who I was, especially since she is still living in a country so far away from her life back then.  It was great to know that she was not only still alive, but that she missed me as much as I missed her.  I love hearing from her, and although her English isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good, so I can understand all of what she says to me.  She got married, and has a 3 year old daughter, and she looks completely different, but I think this has been the one friend reunion that I have been looking forward to all my life! (Almost literally!)  Ah, I love the powers that the internet has to bring people together, who have been lost from each other no matter how long.  

Next up:  Tax Money!
Tax money is quite a confusing and exciting topic.  First off, we got a lot of it!  So much, that we have spent most of it!  We love it!  Money, money, money!  What sucked for me was that when we bought the house, they told us to lower the percentages taken out of our paychecks because of the interest write off.  So we did, well, they forgot to tell us, that only ONE of us should do that since we can’t file jointly.  Since Jason had more deductions, it was more beneficial for him to take the home credit, which left me owing the government (state) $57.  Not bad really… except I haven’t paid it yet.  Today I get a notice from the Arizona Department of Revenue.  Thinking they are mad because I was supposed to have mailed them money by some unknown deadline, I started flipping out, only to find a nice $420 check saying I had overpaid.  Overpaid what, I am not sure, since I haven’t paid anything, but a nice little reward nonetheless.  I’m not going to do anything with it until Monday when I can call them, and find out what the heck is going on, because while the extra money may be lovely now, when I don’t have it, and have to pay it back, it will not be so lovely.  As for the rest of the money, we paid off ALL our high-interest loans / credit cards, and our “big” debt is now the house, and car.  The only outstanding credit card we have is my David’s Bridal card, which is soon to be paid off anyway.  It is so nice to be free.  We also got caught up on our house payments since we had fallen a smidge behind with Jason pretty much being jobless for two months.  The remainder of the money went towards some down payments for wedding stuff, invitations, doggie doors, and hopefully replacing our fence.  Unfortunately, we didn’t really think enough when we first got the money, and didn’t allot the practically half we would need for a block fence, so we are getting some estimates on new wooden fencing instead.  Disappointing, but new wood fencing will hold up better than what we have now.  

Wedding Stuff
I still don’t have my dress, and although David’s Bridal is an “on the rack” store allowing you  to walk out of there with the dress you want that day, I have had to order mine.  And then another one… and then ANOTHER one.  I am sure glad I did this early.  My third order will hopefully be the last and that is just because my hips and chest don’t match classic measurements.  (Heh, imagine that.)  Luckily, the order time they have given me so far has been about 2 months too long, and the dress comes in about two to three weeks after it is ordered.

A few weeks ago, we met with a photographer, and liked her from the moment we met.  She is an odd-one, oddly similar to Jason, so of course they hit it off right away.  She also seems very meticulous, and anal about her work, which I think is a good… even a great thing.  She also does PhotoShop (Hurrah!)  And uses a Canon (super hurrah!)  You can check out her work at JenniferWeems.com

We ordered our invitations, and letting a very limited number of people see them (2) they were proofed, and perfected, and should be in my little hands on Monday.  Our RSVP date isn’t until August, but I want to send them now, I don’t want to wait for June!  I’m sure we will have to assemble them though, which will put a halt to my over-zealousness.  We are also waiting on a few more addresses from people.

As for the rest of our life:
Jason is back to normal.  Being his annoying (yet loveable) self again.  He has been told to stay off the salt, soda, and red meat for 6 weeks, and then he gets to pee in a bucket for 24 hours, and then they will see where his kidney stones are coming from.  He has been a trooper so far, but I will admit, I am taking pleasure in all the steak and burgers that I get to eat in front of him while he gets stuck with chicken or fish.  He has eaten the greasiest, unhealthy, delicious foods in front of me when I have been on diets, and now, I finally get my bittersweet revenge.  When I asked him if he would change the next time, now that he is on the receiving end of it, he still said, “no.”  Can’t win them all.

Speaking of chicken, Monday I made some chicken wraps, Tuesday (like right when Tuesday hit at midnight) I woke up sick as a dog.  I am pretty sure that I got salmonella (again) which is odd because the other two times I’ve had it have been right around this time of year.  So I ended up staying home Tuesday.  I went back to work Wednesday, and felt miserable most of the day, and was mediocre by Thursday and ok by Friday.  I have been having some trouble with my hearing though, and I have been super sensitive to smells lately (which sucks working at a mortuary.)  I hate being sick so much.  It was really cute though, I got up because I knew something wasn’t right, and was sitting in the computer room so that I didn’t wake Jason up.  Well, Lucy heard me puking into the trashcan and tried to wake Jason up.  When nudging and licking him didn’t work, she actually bit him to wake him up.  She didn’t leave my side the entire day Tuesday, and she was a bit protective on Wednesday.  My puppy loves me. ♥ 

As for school a few weeks ago Jason and I both knocked out a few of our classes with finals, so the schedule got cut in half, which is nice school wise, but life wise, I swear our schedule just got worse.  I am so looking forward to being done before mid-April.  Unfortunately Jason started the majority of his classes after I did, so he ends closer to (and maybe even in) May.  Sometime in April we hope to take a much needed camping trip.  We have tons of new gear from Christmas, and we got some cooking stuff as well as a portable toilet, and some water canisters to take with us so that we can camp in more remote areas shall we ever run into a holiday weekend again.  Jason says that he is pretty sure we got everything on our camping “needs” list, but I am sure we will find something once we are out there.

This weekend we got our doggie doors installed.  We had to get two, one through the laundry room to the garage, and one from the garage to outside, or we’d have to go through a wall.  We figured their new-found freedom to come, go, and bark as they please would be an incentive for the dogs, but they just don’t get it.  Well, Landon kind of does, but Lucy, the wimp is scared of the flaps, and basically has to be shoved out, or have the door opened for her.  I hope they get it soon.  We got these so there would be less work involved… not more.

I hope to keep on top of the updates once again… but you know how it gets you get behind, and then you mean to catch up and then when you try to more stuff gets piled on… but I think I have really caught up to where we are at at this very moment… so hopefully you will be hearing from me soon!  : )

Sunday we drove to Tucson to get the kids, who were less than thrilled to see us.  That took up a big chunk of the day and we got a whopping two loads of laundry done and were completely exhausted.

Monday was back to work, which was just wretched trying to figure out who did what and what went where etc.  After work we went to Sprint to look at new phones because I am sick of constantly exchanging mine, and it not working.  Then we headed to IKEA because Jason bought a desk with the money his dad gave him for Christmas / Birthday and I bought some lamps for my desk because I can’t stand dim light; however, the lights we bought didn’t fit my desk, they only fit one side of desk (they were clamp lights) and so we had to return them.  We get to IKEA, and Jason grabbed the wrong receipt.  We toss the lights back in the car, and go get different lights and head home, crash pretty much as soon as we get there.

Tuesday night we head out to IKEA again, because light set number two also didn’t work because my desk is very thick, and the clamps opened up about 1/4 inch too little, so now we have 4 lights to return.  Go us.  We head upstairs, measure the desk that I have, and went on a mission to find lights that could clamp on.  No luck.  Ended up setting on a swing arm lamp with a 12 lb base to it.  :P  The light is amazing with such a tiny bulb.  It’s literally about half of my thumb and lights up my desk perfectly.  Once again IKEA, you impress me.  Our house is slowly becoming IKEAized… one day all of our furniture will probably be from there.

Wednesday we had an appointment with the stationer.  Sad to say we will not have the invitations we want, and will probably end up doing them ourselves.  Wow, it is crazy how expensive things are.  CRAZY.  Unfortunately, it took us 50 minutes to get to the stationer, 15 minute appointment, and 50 minutes back.  Again, there was not much time left to do anything once we got home, and we pretty much went straight to bed.

Thursday morning, both doing our own thing at work and Jason gets a call to remind us of our appointment tonight, and if we can change places where we were going to meet.  Uh, appointment?  What appointment?  Heh.  It was with one of the DJs that we met at the bridal show, and let me say that I am so glad he called to change, because we were really impressed with this guy and the services that he offers / provides–but we totally forgot we even made an appointment.  (Hell, we haven’t even had a chance to look at briday show information yet.)  Once we get paid next week, we will be placing the down payment with him.  We really need to buckle down and get back to the wedding business though because we still haven’t purchased my dress (which I have been told can take 4-6 MONTHS to get in) and we still haven’t picked a photographer.

I created a gallery, since I don’t have a paid Flickr account anymore, and therefore am limited, and I have uploaded all the pictures from our trip to  Oklahoma.  Still working on some of the descriptions, so bear with me a bit.  But you can check it out here: fendiandemo.com/gallery

Alsoooooooo, a co-worker of mine has planted a little seed that is slowly growing.  She told me that I should seriously think about opening up my own business selling dog treats since her dog goes nutso over them.  If everyone else hasn’t been lying to me, than I know that other dogs besides mine also love them, and sometimes even prefer them over their regular treats, and I have been talking about it with Jason.  I think the inittial start up would be kind of rocky, but I think it would be a fun and beneficial hobby.  I’ve brainstormed a ton of ideas with Jason and he’s being very supportive of the entire idea, and even offered to help, but I am wondering about other opinions out there… anyone?  Anyone!?

In other news, we sent out the first batch of save the date cards.  Most of the people on my side that we’re inviting got them (or should have) but a lot of Jason’s side, we either don’t have the address for, or we sent it, and have the wrong address.  :P  Be sure to update us if anything is wrong as well.  We did the list with one person reading information, and one person typing it out… we’ve had two mistakes so far, one on a person’s name, and one on a street name, so feel free to tell us, so we don’t feel like a jack-ass later on.  :P  Also, welcome to the site, and thanks for taking a peek into our little journey!

As for a little update:

Tuesday was our lucky day, not only did we win $21 on scratcher tickets (that we shouldn’t have purchased but it looks like that was a $5 well spent) but Jason got his job back at Desert Schools.  This is good and bad, because he hates this job, but he’s making almost twice the money (which means he got a raise), and he will have twice the hours, and he’s really not digging the mortuary scene.  I think one of my friends has totally destroyed his dreams from Friday on.  We’re pretty twisted there, but you kind of have to be.  :P

This coming Monday we have a meeting with our potential Pastor.  He is actually my runner (for work) and used to be in radio, and has been a pastor for years.  He does church services every Sunday (threw that in there to make the parents happy ;) haha) and does funeral services as well.  He is so calm and gentle, I just love him!  He said he’s done 2-3 hundred wedding ceremonies and they have all been different, so we are having coffee to discuss all of our options Monday after work.

Today, Jason and I fought moron after moron at the Bridal Fashion Debut but we got a ton of information.  We spent 5 hours there, but got there 2 hours after it started and were basically kicked out at 3 when it ended, and we definitely could have used it.  :(  Anyway, we got toooooon of flyers and cards for photographers, and DJ’s a few for floral and a few for cakes, pretty much the only things that we need now.  We also picked up some invitation stuff, as we haven’t yet decided whether we want to do our own or not.  We got a few free samples, but man there are some crazy people out there.  Jason literally got hit 3 times by the same dumb girl with the stroller she was pushing, and every time he glared at her, yet she never even apologized.  I swear.  I realize it is a crowded place, but if you injure someone then at least have the courtesy to say sorry.  And I know it’s a bridal fair, and you should bring someone with you, but omg, you do not need to bring your whole family and children along with you.  There were so many wretched misbehaving children around, and some people brought like mothers for both sides, and their entire bridal party plus some more friends, which totally blocked some exhibits, which was super annoying.  I even saw someone with a stroller that said ‘Please DO NOT touch the baby.”  Well lady, if you don’t want strange people touching your baby, don’t take it to a place with over 4,000 people crammed into it, hello common sense, obviously that was checked at the door.  Sadly, we missed the 3 bridal fashion shows, didn’t win any of the gown give-aways, and the huge sale on bridal gowns (seriously 20-80% off!) because we found it as we were being shoved out the door.  They seriously need to make that thing longer as half of the 5 hours we spent there was waiting for large masses to pass by or shoving people out of the way.  Oh well.

And that is it for now.  I need to work on my bridal party invitations…

The one, and generally only thing I like about my birthday being where it is, is that while everyone is worrying about their New Year’s resolutions for the first week of the year, I am sitting back, calm, and cool, because I know I can slack off, and start my «year« 9 days later than everyone because… it’s my birthday! :P The day wasn’t as bad as some I’ve had in the past, but it was pretty stressful. Usually my birthday is overlooked due to the fact of two major holidays back to back, and the hustle and bustle are not gone… Amanda’s birthday? Amanda who? That’s usually how it goes.

This morning didn’t actually start out bad. Jason is such a doll. He let me sleep in a few extra minutes, and when I woke up, he gave me my birthday stash, two new pajama pants (which, may seem like a mediocre gift, however, I loveeeeee pajamas and would live in them and go everywhere in them if I could, so I was beyond thrilled.) I also got a glowing light bulb (which is hard to explain, but it looks cool) along with my Froggie Fudgies, and an I Love My Geek shirt (because I do, and now I can tell the world!) The second we closed the front door to our safe little domain… everything just exploded into a bad day of doom.

My boss was being a (fill in mean word here, because I honestly can’t think of one that wouldn’t offend someone) and had already upset me the day before.  Jason and I gave him the courtesy of calling him to tell him we would be like 10 minutes late, and instead of just letting us be late, he insisted that we go buy donuts for everyone to «make up for it.«  That irritated me because he knows we’re short on money, and then I had room to think about it more, and not only did that make us even more late, both losing 30 minutes a piece, but the donuts, cost more than what we actually make combined for the time that we lost, so it was a bum deal.  When we walked in, of course we got, «the look« which pretty much just put tears in my eyes, and then my mom called to tell me happy birthday, which then set me off, and I had to go sit and cry in the bathroom to regain control, then everyone is asking what’s wrong, and I just wanted to crawl under my desk and go back home.  Then once everyone was thanking us for the donuts, I just got more upset, and wanted to shove them up their noses!  One of my sweet co-workers however, took it upon herself to get me a card that everyone signed, and got me a burrito from Sonic, so that lightened the mood.  I trudged through the morning grudgingly, having to do favors left and right for people I really didn’t want to do favors for, and then my boss announced he was going to take me, Jason, and the office manager out to lunch.

We ended up going to California Pizza Kitchen because one person would suggest something and someone would turn it down, and I didn’t care where we went… and that’s where we ended up.  The rest of the work day just drug on and on; I finally go to do my job at about 2:45 when I was finally allowed to get back to doing my own thing instead of everyone else’s.

Once we got home, we snuggled with the puppies for a bit, which can’t help but make anyone feel better.  We then headed to Walgreen’s to get a prescription filled, where we found 100 white lights for 99¢ so we bought 12 boxes of them because quite frankly, I’ve searched high and low on Craigslist for used items like this for our wedding, and they just don’t have much in that line, or we have to drive super far, so I’d say $12 for 1,200 lights wasn’t too bad, and if we can’t use them, it wasn’t a huge waste of money anyway.  I also figure we probably only need 10 strands, but wanted to get a few extra in case there were issues and we needed more.  We also got 2 bags of 25 bows each for 10¢ and 4 rolls of ribbon (in wedding colors of course) also for 10¢ so we really didn’t do too bad.  I stinkin’ love clearance!

Once 7:00 rolled around, we headed for Buca, where Jason had made reservations for the kitchen table.  When we got there, he begged and pleaded with them to not sing, and they didn’t (thank god, I don’t know if I could handle that on a normal day, much less today.)  This time, was so much more active than any other time we had been there.  We got a glimpse of every meal that left the kitchen, and the head chef that was there was so friendly and nice, and chatted with us for a bit, and had his staff whip up a free plate of fried mozzarella, which was soooo good.  We also tried one of their salads as an appetizer instead of our normal pizza, and that was also so good.  Seriously, Olive Garden has NOTHING on Buca di Beppo.  Nothing.  This place is so good, that if anyone ever comes to visit us, I insist that we go there and eat.  Everything is so darned delicious, and the portion sizes are humongous, I am not even kidding.  For example, we have not had them, but their meatballs are the size of a softball, not a small baseball, but like one of those huge softballs.  We usually have enough for a meal and a snack or two more meals the next day, that’s how much food you get for your buck.  After dinner, (well we were pretty much full by the time we had the salad) I got my free birthday desert of Apple Crustata, (which is like fried apples with almonds, and caramel layered on a flaky crust) which was to die for.  TO DIE FOR.  Jason was going to let me have that while he took the ice cream, but he took one bite and insisted that I share :P  Needless to say, Jason left there after loosening his belt three notches, and he made it clear that his pants were not falling off when we left.  Now we are home and absolutely miserable.

I have soooo much more to update, and it’s really important too, but we have to get up early tomorrow for the bridal fair!

Lucy loves her bone... so much that in 24 hours its already 2/3 gone.

Landon also loves his bone, however, his is still whole, and he likes to carry it around and thump it against things.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!
: )

So last night, I spent the majority of the night experimenting with peppermint bark. I made a double chocolate batch, and cinnamon bark, which came out… just not really as I had planned. We could not find cinnamon candy canes anywhere, so Jason suggested I try cinnamon imperials and break them up by blending them. That worked great until the blending part, which turned them into cinnamon powder, and I went ahead with it anyway. It was an “interesting” batch to say the least, and I don’t think I will be sending any of it out. I think next time I will keep them whole, they are about the size that the candy canes should be when you put them in, but then again, the candy canes, which are easy to break when you don’t want to, I had to end up wrapping in a double Ziploc bag, and then a towel, and smashing them with a hammer. The cooking life is not easy, let me tell you.

This brings me to my next item on the agenda, the cooking site. I’ve already posted a few recipes that I had from way back when, and some of the new things I’ve tried. It’s been very active as of late, but once the holidays are over, it will probably slow down a ton. But you should check some of them out. I think they are pretty tasty. :) (And they all come with a picture that isn’t all fancy-schmancy-cookbook-beautified!)  There is also a list of the most recent posted recipes off to the right.

Tonight, Jason and I went to Souper Salad, because they are cheap, give unlimited food, and provided us with a nice non-distracting environment to do Jason’s midterm (that he finally got the access code to.) We were there for about an hour, and I helped him with notes and picking out the parts he had to include in his project. It brought back bad memories, because I only took that horrible midterm two months ago. Good riddance!

We were also slightly celebrating. Because my boss is so awesome, and we are getting short-handed soon, and super busy (like really busy, like I actually want people to stop dying, we’re getting in 3-6 cases in a DAY, and have 20+ concurrent, which means super busy workload) and he said that he would hire Jason for odd jobs, but basically wanted him in the system so that he is ready to go when we need him. Jason just has to take the drug test tomorrow, and I think he’s set. He will be doing a lot of work for me, because I am currently doing two and a half jobs because no one else has time to do them (and I’m not sure why they think I do) so my paperwork has been so behind. I probably have about 50 files sitting on my desk, and the pile grows larger daily, of files that need to be finalized and filed away. We also had a HUGE project a few weeks ago which included pulling files from a specific insurance policies and a specific casket company to get rebates on caskets, which was a huge profit (well maybe not in their eyes, but it was over twenty-thousand dollars worth, so I’ve heard) so all those files (probably 100+) need to be filed away in various storage locations as well. And then there’s running. I will lose my runner, Fred, at the end of December because he is taking two weeks off, and while the job has already been asked upon someone else, she is probably going to be put on services (as we are losing a Funeral Director for surgery) and then Jason could be my runner. I don’t really know how it’s all going to work out, but at least it will be something for him to do, he’s already going stir crazy at home. Plus, haha I just can’t stop, my boss wants him to be on the payroll for future computer issues that may arise. So hopefully he will be kept busy, and I will have a load off.

Preeeettttty (LG Lotus)

The other day, I met my dream phone on TV. Tonight, before dinner, we went in to the Sprint Store, and looked at it. It is so beautiful, I could cry. It is a purple PDA flip. Since I’ve had my MotoQ for almost a year, I can’t imagine going back to a normal phone. The one thing I don’t like about my phone (well the main thing) is that I have to lock it every time I put it down, or I end up calling Guatemala! Pain in the ass, but that’s where the flippy awesomeness comes in. Santa, if you want to drop one of those beauties in my stocking, I won’t mind. ;) Did I mention it’s purple? Yeah, its purple, metallic purple, even the keys illuminate purple. I love it!

I don’t know why, because our Christmas shopping is pretty much complete, but I have been looking at home-made gifts a lot, and I’ve found a few that I thought we’re just too good to keep to myself. The first one, is more kid oriented, and is a Pocket Advent Calendar. It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’s so adorable. I wish I had someone to make it for… although it’s a little late now. Another thing I came across was Homemade Gifts in a Jar, things like brownie or muffin mixes prepared in a jar so all you have to do is mix and bake. I’ve always thought these were cute, and very simple ideas, but again, it’s kind of late for me to do it for Christmas, especially this year, but some of them could be year-round type gifts. I am definitely bookmarking these for next year.

And lastly, something I haven’t posted about in a while: The Wedding! This Friday (well, hopefully) we are starting to look at locations. The one I am trying to set up an appointment for is the Waterfront. I found a list of wedding vendors online. The list had everything from reception sites to wedding cakes, and this one was ranked as $ versus the rest of Phoenix which was $$-$$$$ and Jason and I both really liked it. There were a few other places, but I wasn’t so big on their pictures, so we are checking this place out first. Also, I’m kind of bum on the whole wedding deal not only because of the financial situation but because of my “wedding court”. My Maid of Honor, whom I still haven’t asked, has been kind of giving me the brush off and unless I plan on asking her through MySpace, I don’t know when I’d get the “chance” to ask her in real-life time. One of the other people that I was going to ask has decided that she hates me, and until I have my Maid of Honor set, I don’t want to go any further in the asking process anyway. Ugh, I just hate this. This is supposed to be one of the most exciting times in my life, and so far, it’s been nothing but trouble. Even according to The Knot, I am behind. This is their to-do list:

• Begin envisioning your wedding — formal hotel or friend’s loft? Backyard barbecue or exotic beach? (Eh, sort of)
• Decide on a budget and hash out who’s contributing.
• Knot Hint: For a quick and easy way to determine a budget, use The Knot Budgeter.
• Make sure to insure your engagement ring.
• Pick your preferences for a wedding date and time, and finalize after okaying with important guests, location, or officiant.
• Begin interviewing wedding consultants (if you’ll have one) AND / OR start asking family AND friends for local wedding vendor recommendations.
• Brides: It’s never too early to begin thinking about your gown. Start by figuring out what style will look best on you.
• Start interviewing caterers.
• Scout out reception sites. (Starting)
• Start looking for an officiant who suits your style and spirit.
• Book your reception site as soon as you see something you love that’s available on your date.
• If you’re having an engagement party, set a date, draft a guest list, and purchase your invitations.
• Get organized! Start a notebook/file folder to house all your wedding-planning paperwork in one place.
• Begin working on a preliminary wedding guest list and decide on your wedding’s approximate size. Request lists from both sets of parents and create your own wish list.
• Choose your bridesmaids/groomsmen and ask them to be in the wedding party. (Hahahaha right now…)
• Find a ceremony site if one hasn’t been determined by your choice of officiant or reception site.
• Hire a consultant (if you’re having one) and sign a contract.
• Contact newspapers to announce your engagement (you may need to have an engagement photo taken as well).
• Choose a color scheme, if you so desire, taking into account the decor of the rooms/areas you have reserved for your ceremony and reception.
• Decide on a caterer. Hash out a rough price per head and begin working on a menu.
• Brides: Begin looking at pictures of wedding dresses online and in magazines.  (Being doing that since I was old enough to know what a wedding was :P)
• Brides: When you’ve found some gowns you like, head out to the stores to try them on.
• Start investigating any ethnic customs or cultural traditions you might want to incorporate into your ceremony or reception.
• Finalize the guest list.  (Knot hint: When you’re done, make your life easy by entering everything into the Guest List Manager.)
• Sign your caterer contract and send in a deposit.
• Start auditioning reception bands or DJs.
• If you’ve chosen an outdoor ceremony or reception site, look into tent and lighting rentals.
• Set up appointments with various florists to discuss options.
• Decide on and meet with your officiant to discuss ceremony structure and any religious requirements (such as counseling).
• Interview and get price lists from several wedding photographers and videographers.
• Book reception band or DJ, sign the contract, and send a deposit.
• Brides: Narrow down your gown choices and make a final decision.
• If you plan to use frequent flyer miles to travel to your honeymoon destination, book your flight now.  (Honeymoon?  Yeah, I don’t think so… not even close ;/  )

The crossed out, is N/A and the bold is what we have done. Pretty sad. : ( Also, should I actually have bridesmaids, although the outlook is currently grim, this is the dress I liked for them.

Anyway, I think this is quite long enough for now, its bed time.