An Engaging Subject

I got a very special, early Christmas present on Christmas Eve. My boyfriend asked me to marry him and I said yes. The news has spread pretty fast but I figured an official blog on the subject couldn't hurt. We haven't set a date yet, but we're kicking around the idea of something in the summer. We're thinking about a private, destination wedding with just the two of us, then having some sort of party when we get back home. A pretty low key, and hopefully low stress, event. I've very excited and overwhelmed at the same time with all there is to think about after you get engaged. But right now, housework is calling so I must abide.

Weekend Roundup

I mostly shopped this weekend. We set out about 3pm each day and hit a few stores. The time leading up to departure each day was spent clipping coupons, doing laundry, reading the Sunday paper, and other household chores. We ate dinner at CiCi's on Saturday night. Good food, cheap price. On Sunday night, I cooked and blew up the oven. I was baking barbecue chicken and it had about a half hour to go when I heard this noise as I was peeling potatoes over the sink. A growling, churning sound. I turned around and it sounded like firecrackers were going off in the oven. I opened it up a little bit and sparks were flying so I shut the door and screamed. The heating element burned a hole in itself so I had to finish dinner on the range. During Sunday Night Football, I caught up on some Parade articles that I'd been neglecting over the past few weeks and flipped through a few catalogs while keeping tabs on the game. I'm not that big of a football fan, but I don't mind watching the last game of the week. It ties a nice little bow on my weekend.

I'm really not looking forward to today or tomorrow. We've got sleet and ice coming over the next 24 hours or so and it doesn't make for a very fun day in the news. Snow would be much easier to deal with but we're talking about black ice here. An abundance of accidents. Yay. I'm going to try to get some present wrapping in before I hit the shower and hit the road.

No Rest For The Weary

This has been the week of bad dreams.

My first bad dream is a cliffhanger. I'm riding in a Jeep along the oceanside in Hawaii or California. You know, one of those scenes you see in car commercials where the shoulder of the road is a huge drop off into the water below. I take a corner too fast and Bug, my dog, goes flying out of the Jeep and over the cliff. I scream and stop the Jeep but I'm helpless because I can't go tumbling down the cliff after him.

My second bad dream involves Jack, my other dog. Someone steps on him and crushes his ribs. And they won't move off of him. I scream, "YOU'RE CRUSHING MY DOG!"

My third bad dream vividly details my teeth falling out of my mouth. This is a recurring dream that started when my dental work began a few years ago. First, my recent crown, which is an entire tooth, tumbles out of my mouth into my hand and then the rest just kind of follow like dominoes. I'm bawling looking at the bloody teeth in my hand and no one else around me seems to care.

My fourth bad dream is a house fire. I'm walking outside of my mom and dad's house when I see space junk fall out of the sky and into the woods. Apparently, after I go inside the house, the woods catch on fire and the blaze spreads to the house. Mom and Dad try to get me out of the house, but, of course, the dogs are inside and I need to save them.

I'm not sure what any of that means. Except I've researched the teeth dream, since I've had it so many times, and it means I'm afraid of losing control. But other than that, I'm a little worried about my dogs being in peril all of the time. I hope next week's scenes of slumber are better.

Lucky

I didn't get up until almost 10am today. This is not the norm. Usually I can crawl out of bed by 9am. Point being, I really have no reason I have to get up. And this is why I'm lucky.

I've worked an evening schedule for practically 5 years. Before that, I worked the graveyard shift for a little more than a year. At my first job, my schedule changed a lot. Sometimes I opened, sometimes I closed. And in college, I purposely scheduled my classes so I didn't have to get up too early. Some days I didn't wake up until noon or 1pm and totally missed lunch in the sorority house. That sucked because I like to eat as much as I like to sleep.

I have no kids. I have dogs but they're very patient with me and usually don't wake me up with whines to go outside. So the only thing that gets me up in the morning is my ambition. And apparantly it was sleeping this morning, too. I don't get much of time after work before I go to bed so the morning is sort of like my evening. The earlier I get up, the more time I have to do housework and errands, cook dinner, walk the dogs, or just lay back in the recliner before it's time to get ready for work again.

It seems like I always have something on my to-do list but this time of year it gets especially crammed with Christmas cards, holiday shopping, and present wrapping. I can't imagine what it would be like if I also did other traditional activities like bake cookies or make fudge. So what am I doing with my free time this morning? I'm blogging, checking out Facebook, and deleting emails. Pretty much avoiding all of those things I said I need to be doing.

By the time I get up and get moving, even if it's relatively early for me, most of my friends are well into their day and probably have a number of tasks finished. Partly because they're an hour ahead of me. Partly because they have busy live with work or kids or both. And yet here I am at 11am, sitting in the kitchen in my pajamas, eating pop tarts and drinking milk, on the computer and listening to music. That's what I call multi-tasking.

Weekend Review

Saturday, we stayed in most of the day. It was very cold outside and we had our company Christmas party to attend later that evening so we decided to make that our only venture out. Our attempts at a holiday picture at home with the dogs was somewhat successful, though I got mad at one of the dogs by the end of it because he growled and me and wouldn't cooperate. I just wanted one more shot! I also bought tickets online for the Toby Keith concert in January. I got a little frustrated then, too, because I was anxious to get better seats than Sugarland, which were actually pretty good. I think I did okay but maybe next time I'll try to buy them one at a time and see if I can get closer. But then I run the risk of not sitting with the person I came with. Oh, well. Saturday night, we went to the Christmas party and hung out with all of our co-workers. The food was great and the entertainment was, well, entertaining. There were two gaming systems set up in different rooms so people were golfing, bowling, playing tennis, and rocking Guitar Hero. We were the first ones to arrive at 7pm and after a few beers and a lot of food I got pretty sleepy so we called it a night by 11pm.

Sunday, we decided to do a little Christmas shopping after perusing through all the ads in the newspaper. The Sunday paper is our guilty pleasure. It takes me hours to get through the whole thing and we always find something in the ads we think we have to have. Today's bargain purchase was a wireless computer mouse at Staples for only $9.99. We also hit PetSmart, Target, Walgreen's, and the Dollar tree, which is probably my favorite store ever because I'm cheap or frugal or thrifty or whatever you want to call it. So we scooped up some holiday gifts here and there and things we needed then came home. I cooked dinner and then he caught up with some family on the phone while I began the Christmas card process. I enjoy that very much. I don't spend too much time on them but I write some notes and send out as many pictures as I can. It can get expensive though so I watch it and try not get too carried away.

That's it. The Sunday night football game is over so that means my weekend is pretty much over. Though I'm lucky because my work day doesn't start until 2pm tomorrow.

More Than a Feeling

When I stepped out of the shower yesterday, I was freezing. For a moment I flashed back to my childhood. Every time I came out of that soothing, warm water, a blast of cold air would hit me and give me chills. Mom would even hang my clothes on the screen in front of the fireplace so they'd be nice and warm before I went to school. Then and there, I vowed that my house would be nice and warm and I'd never step out into the cold.

Now I realize the reason behind the frigid house. It's expensive to heat a home. You either live with the chill or live with the bill. Besides, it's only a temporary feeling. After you get out of the towel, you get dressed so it's really not a big deal. I still hate it, and I'm about to go experience it again. Shutting the door helps but then the mirror fogs up. I guess that's a small price to pay for a few more degrees of bliss on a modest budget.

Anti-Text Attitude

I don't have a Blackberry. I don't have an iPhone. I don't have an iPod. But I still consider myself fairly tech savvy, meaning I would know how to use those gadgets if I had them. I have a plain 'ol cell phone that is my only phone. And I keep up on the internet with my email and Facebook. But I don't text. In fact, I refuse to text.

It started out as a financial issue. I didn't want to pay extra for it. I was on a very lean budget. Plus, I could just as easily call the person and tell them what I wanted instead of forking out an extra ten cents a message or buy a text package when I already had wasted minutes I was paying for. I'm not saying I've never texted because I did at one point. And I'll admit, every once in awhile, I wish I could text someone a quick note that I don't think deems a full on conversation. But my biggest reason for not texting is it's annoying to me.

People have become slaves to their cell phones. They check them every few seconds to see if so and so replied back to them. Or maybe a whole bunch of so and so's. I'm extremely irritated by people who text while they're with other people. It's fine if you're saying, "Hey, we're at the bar, meet us here." Something short and sweet. It's the ongoing conversation that someone has with their fingers that lingers for several minutes while you're sitting face to face with the person trying to talk to them. Enough already, put the thing down. Look at me!

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone but I felt an explanation for my anti-text attitude was needed. I don't care if you do it. Go at it. Just don't expect me to reply to any messages because I don't have the capability. Besides, after this blog, you probably don't want to send me any messsages anyway!

Clean Slate

I'm breaking ties with MySpace and starting a new blog. I just don't enjoy it anymore and find I talk more with people on Facebook anyway. So I'm wiping the slate clean. I hope to keep up with this blog better than I did the MySpace one and allow my friends in far away places to keep up better with me. Right now, I'm thinking about fixing lunch and preparing for my last day of the work week. Otherwise known as TGIF!