The Potential of You and Me

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Sooo, I couldn't help notice that this one song has been popping up almost everywhere I go lately.  On the radio, in restaurants, in stores, etc... and it's ironic, because it's a song that has an intense sentimental meaning behind it, for me and my relationship.  First off, the song is "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie.  And I know, I know, some will say it's simply a stalker song.  But I don't see it that way.  To me, it's a song about someone who refuses to give up on a person that they love, yet the relationship hasn't been able to move past that level of friendship, for whatever reason.  In my case, it was my tendency to be guarded and close people off from getting too close, in an attempt to avoid being hurt.  Back when the hubby and I first started talking about moving to the next level into an actual relationship, this was the song that reminded him of me.  And he was the one who was so adamant and determined that it could work for us, while I was the one hesitant to move forward.  But he eventually broke through the wall I had up, and possessed my heart as the song says.  And look where we are, almost 9 years later. 😍

Hospital Horrors

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Today has been difficult.  I did get to sleep in this morning until around 8am, which is 3 hours more sleep than I usually get on a weekday.  That was because the hubby stayed home today, because his brother had a stroke last night and was admitted into the hospital, so we took the day off to go visit him.  He's doing okay-ish right now, for the few minutes that he's able to actually stay awake and alert.  His sarcasm is still intact though, and the hubby did get two fist-bumps, so that's a good sign.  He's had a rough time health-wise, so that makes this whole ordeal even scarier.  The hubby says what really worries him is that he also has pneumonia, but he just started the antibiotics so hopefully those start working quickly.

Being up there at the hospital only reminded me of my stint in the ER back at the beginning of September last year, and how terrified I am of the place in general.  And also got me thinking of how if the hubby hadn't gotten home from work when he did, I could be dead right now, what with the 106.1 fever that I was suffering from that night.  I hadn't really realized that until he said something about it recently, after we'd seen a random commercial that reminded him of the incident.  I was so scared and nervous, they thought I was having a heart attack because my heart rate was through the roof.

Anyway... that's about all I have for today.  Still got the same damn headache that will not go away.  And I've noticed that it's making my heart rate jump up higher than normal, via checking it on my Fitbit.  I'll have to keep an eye on that. 😶

Motivation Granted

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So... sometime during the last quarter of 2017, we were on a slight 'fitness' kick, spontaneously purchasing the Bowflex Max Trainer M5 that boasts about a 14-minute workout, and the hubby went off and bought a book with a meal plan & training exercises for losing weight quickly, called The 30-Second Body by Adam Rosante.  We were planning to utilize the advice and training in the book after using the Bowflex workout machine for a while... well, as you can probably guess, that plan didn't work out so much, however much I wanted it to.  First off, the machine is extremely difficult to use, if you're not in the utmost shape... which, let's face it, we are not. 😶 I think the highest amount of time I could spend on it was around 4 minutes, without my legs turning to complete jelly.

Anyway, skip ahead several months to now... I get a call this morning from him, saying that he wants to start using the book NOW, because he's tired of the way he looks.  I've been trying to make this happen for a long time, because losing weight is so much easier (and more fun) when you have someone else there on the same journey to motivate you.  So we're about to head out to dinner and look through this book and start planning.  I'm so excited to get started on this!

Though I really wish my consistent headache that I've had for the past couple days is going to start to dissipate soon, because working out in this condition is going to majorly suck. 😒  I've taken meds for it, and it works for a little bit, but then it always comes back.  Sleeping has been the only guarantee to help so far. 

Enough of the negativity though, wish me (us) luck as we start this new journey!!

Lazy Days of ... Winter?!

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Ever have one of those days where you just want to be completely lazy and not do anything at all?!  That has been my feeling for today.  Of course, I was not able to act on it though.  The hubby wanted to put together the framing for the shelving of his reloading bench, although he's still waiting on some mounting hardware to be delivered (tomorrow), plus buying the pegboard to go behind it, so the finished product will have to wait until then.  (and the picture that I will get)  So after almost getting pelted with a flying piece of wood, that we think might have hit my car instead (no damage, thank goodness!) and handing him screws when he needed them, now I've returned to SWTOR to work on gearing up my lower level characters.

At least for another half hour or so, until I have to stop to get ready for when we have to run a couple errands, before our dinner date at Chili's with Reno and my mother-in-law.  I'm looking forward to that, simply for their chicken enchilada soup that I love so much, and cannot resist ordering every time I'm there.  Aaand now I just made myself hungry. 😋

Funny thing happened earlier also... I recently joined Discord, which is a program similar to Skype, with a focus on gaming, like Steam, where you can add other people that you play with and be able to communicate easier through voice chat and stuff.  I joined mainly because Amanda wanted to use it for communication with the [future] members & staff of the Harry Potter forum that we've been working on.  I got a random friend request the other day from someone and after some messaging back and forth, I realized that it was actually someone I knew.  I'd forgotten that I randomly connected the program to my Facebook account and added a couple people who came up.  I don't know why I connected it to Facebook though, since the photo I use on there (Alexandra Daddario, whom I've decided to use, since she's amazing) is tied to my character on the roleplay forum and will probably end up causing some slight confusion... haha.  Oh well.

Headaches Not Welcome

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So I almost just decided to skip today's post, because I've had a severe headache that has gotten progressively worse all day, to the point where I think it's bordering on a migraine now.  But I figured, I better try to get an entry in while I can still see the screen.  I get these headaches entirely too often, and I hate it.  I remember when I was a kid, I'd get them too, and my eye doctor once told me that I was concentrating too hard while reading.  Figures that something I love would be the cause of my pain, huh?

Happy, But a Little Lost...

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I started out my day with The Scorch Trials playing in the background while I worked, in preparation for tonight's "date night" in going to see the final movie of the Maze Runner trilogy that comes out today, The Death Cure.  We saw the first movie back when it came out in 2014, without having read the books, or even hearing of the series.  And I was hooked, because it's an intriguing storyline that kept me interested enough to want to see what the maze was all about and why they were stuck there.  I plan to read the books also, maybe making it part of my reading challenge, once I've gotten through the Odd Thomas series.

One of my current favorite songs came on the radio earlier when I had to run a small errand.  It was Sir Sly's &Run.  It's one of those songs where the instant I hear it, I can't help but move, in an attempt at dancing, although I know I probably look ridiculous because I can't dance, but when that song's on, I just don't care! 😝 The only other songs that really get me feeling like that have been Finger Eleven's Paralyzer and Walk the Moon's Shut Up and Dance.  There's a more sentimental reason behind Paralyzer, but I won't go into that now.  Back to &Run... I love the lyrics.  Specifically: "Happy, but a little lost..." because that is sometimes exactly how I feel about my life.  Word for word.  And "sometimes the world feels loud."  Which needs no explanation, really... I like the world quiet, and I can't quite deal with it being too loud.

Spontaneous Movie Night

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Soooo, today was another boring-ish day in my world.  So I'm just going to skip the summary of what I did during the day and go straight to right now.

Since nothing new in the way of TV shows is on until 10pm (Chicago Fire), the hubby put on a movie, Suburbicon.  And it starts out pretty intense, with a brutal home invasion in what seems like a perfectly safe neighborhood during the late 1950s.  After the first half hour though, it seems to fizzle out.  I'm intrigued to see what happens, but it feels slightly forced.  And weird.  Definitely weird.

I am not a fan of the way Julianne Moore is playing her character of Margaret though.  The way she talks, with a sickeningly sweet voice, like she's trying way too hard to sound like that perfect little 1950s housewife, who has it all together but you know it's all an act.  I haven't seen the whole movie yet, so maybe she's just hiding a complete psycho underneath, but it's rubbing me the wrong way right now.  It reminds me of when we were in Oklahoma last year, and my aunt was talking in the same manner, and it annoyed the crap out of me.  Not that I'm saying she's a psycho or anything, just to make that clear.  I'm only referring to the style of speaking.

Anyway... I'm leaving today's post at that. 😊 

First [Almost] Forgotten Entry

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[Struggled with the title on this one, if it's not obvious...]

So I almost forgot to write this post today.  But I suddenly remembered that I hadn't written an entry, while watching The X-Files.  Don't ask what triggered this realization, as I'm sure it was nothing within the show.  But since I'm not really into the show all that much (never have been), I took advantage of this time to write. 😊

As for something to talk about... I don't necessarily have anything.  Haha.  Nothing much happened today, other than having to get up at 4am to make coffee, since the hubby had to leave for work about an hour earlier than he usually does.  I actually woke up at around 3:30am, and was in and out of sleep until I finally got out of my bed.  So I'm reasonably tired right now, and I may fall asleep shortly, in the recliner I'm currently relaxing in at the moment.  It also probably doesn't help that I'm drinking a glass of egg nog (with brandy, rum and whisky), which tends to make me sleepy.   Mmmm. 😍

Random update on dinner last night, it was delicious, and we will definitely be making that dish again (the tilapia).  I've gotten way more into fish over the past several years, ever since I discovered how amazing grilled salmon is.  It just leaves me feeling healthier after eating it.  If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be eating so much FISH now, I would have informed you that you were crazy!  I remember that the only thing I used to like about seafood were the hush puppies, and would only like going to seafood restaurants for that reason. (I still love them btw, although the restaurants out here don't really offer hush puppies with seafood; maybe it's a location thing.)

Yep, that's about it for today.  Boring, I know.  Have a wonderful night, if you've managed to read this far!

Lesson Learned... the Hard Way

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So last October, I fell into a "timeshare trap" on one of our visits to Bass Pro Shop.  See, after we got married in March, we never had a proper honeymoon, other than a weekend out in San Francisco... where we stayed in a house in San Bruno with my family.  Let's face it, that's NOT anywhere close to a honeymoon!  Fast-forward seven months later—I was easily drawn in by the sweet words of this salesguy who was boasting about these wonderful vacation spots, for a fraction of the cost that it would normally be to stay in a hotel, for 5 nights.  My first thought was "This could be our belated honeymoon of sorts!" and I let myself get swindled into saying yes.  And now, after some further investigation into the company (done by my husband), it has become a $150 lesson that I had to learn the hard way.  Ugh.  I'm trying to look on the bright side of it all, seeing as we did get a $100 gift card to Bass Pro out of the whole ordeal.  From now on, I'll just keep on walking.

Obsessed with Quotes

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   Between birth and burial, we find ourselves in a comedy of mysteries.
   If you don’t think life is mysterious, if you believe you have it all mapped out, you aren’t paying attention or you’ve anesthetized yourself with booze or drugs, or with a comforting ideology.
   And if you don’t think life’s a comedy—well, friend, you might as well hurry along to that burial.  The rest of us need people with whom we can laugh.

—pg 35, Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

I love that quote.  There's a reason that they say laughter is the best medicine. 😁  And if you don't have any of that in your life... well, I'm truly sorry to hear that. 😞 I've been lucky enough to always have had at least one person in my life that makes me laugh, and for that I am remarkably grateful, even if they ended up hurting me in the end.

A Day at the Outlets... & a Scary Surprise

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So today could have been a really bad day for us.  See... we spent the day out at the outlet mall about 45 minutes southwest of where we live.  We left at around 10:30am.  We did not get home until around 5:00pm.  What do we find out when we pull into our driveway?  We left the damn garage door wide open for the past 6½ hours!!  And the door into our house from the garage was unlocked.  I am so thankful that we live in a nice neighborhood, because everything was still exactly as we'd left it.  We would have known if anyone had come inside the house though, because the alarm was on and we would have been alerted via text message and a phone call if it hadn't been disarmed in time.  But still, that is a scary surprise to come home to... I am just so relieved that nothing happened.

Saturday's Randomness

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So I have the Dictionary.com widget on my phone, that displays a word of the day, and today when I looked at it, I couldn't help but laugh... and then favorite the word.  It is:  "doodlesack," which means 'a bagpipe.'  It's just one of those words that I find amusing, especially when said out loud, but it probably wasn't intended to be humorous.

This morning was filled with errands, after a late-ish outing for breakfast.  We got the money situated in its new home in the Money Market savings account, which is predicted to make more in interest by this time next year, than it ever made in the last 15 years of being in a CD.  That definitely deserves a 'facepalm' and I'm kicking myself for not getting it done sooner.  After that, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up a 4x4 to use as new legs, for the hubby's re-purposed work bench.  We already took care of that, reducing the size of the bench, in order to have his big rolling toolbox fit in between that and the reloading bench we built last weekend.  So our garage 'remodel' is almost fully complete now, apart from cleaning off surfaces and sorting through some other things.  I will get photos once all that stuff is done. 👌  It's getting to the point where any amount of time spent in the garage is now just instantly draining my energy.

I spent our much-needed break from the garage, playing SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic, for those who don't recognize the acronym) and catching up on some flashpoints, trying to get one of my main characters closer to the max tier of the last levels of the game.  Afterward, we went back to Home Depot to pick up some wood polyurethane to put on the surface of the work bench, and after applying the first coat, we're now relaxing in the family room, watching TV with Dozer laying against the couch at our feet. 😊

Lots of Tofu & "Puppy" Love!

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Well, today started out like any other typical day.  Until around 2:00pm when I received a random text message from my hubby, saying that my dad told him to take me out to dinner tonight... and eat lots of tofu!  I looked down at my phone with what was probably a perplexed expression.  Turned out my dad was included in the message as well and he says his reason was because it's "Good Friday" (which it's not, lol).  My dad can be a bit kooky sometimes, but in an amusing way. 😜  So now I'm waiting on the hubby to get home, then we're going to drive out about 45 minutes south, to get some Mongolian BBQ at our favorite restaurant!  Thanks for getting me out of cooking once more this week, Dad! 😌

Anyway, so after I took an impromptu shower and finished getting ready, I decided it'd been too long since Dozer & I took a selfie together, so I thought I'd share the best one, over there on the right.  He ditched me at first, but I was able to take advantage of him thinking someone was at the front door, which is why he looks so attentive.  Haha.  And that's a little behind-the-scenes tidbit of how I get him to pose so well, sometimes.  Then I just hope that I look halfway decent as well. 😂  Google reminded me earlier that it was 5 years ago today (2013) that we brought Dozer home, at just 11 weeks old and around 30lbs!  Along with photos that I'd taken that day also... it's hard to believe he was ever that small!  Like children, they grow up entirely too fast.  I wasn't sure our house could handle a dog of his size at first, but I wouldn't give him up for anything. 💙 Even if he does wreck our house a bit (it's funny, because it's totally true; we have the chewed wood molding and dented corner walls to prove it). 

Full-view recommended on that picture, btw! (just click it) I edited it with the Prisma app, to slightly resemble a painting, spicing up the photo a bit.  It's definitely my favorite photo app, especially if you have a not-so-great quality photo, it breathes so much life into the picture.

And that's all for today.  I'm off to relax and hopefully finish off the book I started last weekend at the gun show.

A Sense of Closure

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So I finally hit the bank this morning, to close those accounts that I mentioned in a previous post.  And I found out that I was able to close out a CD (certificate of deposit) that I've had in there for at least the past 10 years as well, which had gained a total interest of about $34.  Haha.  The money was actually a gift that my grandmother had given me back when I graduated high school, so it's been in the bank even longer than a decade... and only made that much.  When I mentioned the CD and the fact that I knew it matured on February 7th, the lady helping me looked it up and said that if I closed it today, I'd lose 8 cents of interest, after accumulating 14 cents already.  What a loss, huh?!  I just laughed and confirmed that I would like to close that account as well.  So I killed two birds with one stone today.  I hightailed it back to my car, because I felt paranoid that there was some kind of target on me, letting everyone know that I was carrying a large sum of cash in my purse.  We're planning to open a Money Market savings account with it at our credit union, where it will earn a MUCH higher interest rate.

Anyway... I've spent the rest of my day finally starting to sift through my Photobucket accounts, making sure that I have copies of whatever I have uploaded there throughout the past decade and a half.  I'm being reminded of crap that I don't want to remember, so I'm going to stop for today.  I came across a photo of a guy that I really liked back in October 2005, with a little stuffed monkey on his shoulder, that he'd won for me at the state fair on our first "date."  And for some reason I kept that monkey (I rediscovered it this past weekend in an old bin in the garage), even though the guy was a complete and utter jerk.  I guess it was a way to remind myself not to fall for someone so quickly, as I did with him.  He dropped off the face of the Earth once he found something better and to this day, I have still never gotten confirmation as to what I did to drive him away.  Ugh.  And now I've contradicted the title of this post, since I never actually got that closure I needed.  Haha.

That's all I have for today.  Until tomorrow! 😊

I'm Born To Indecision...

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So now is the time when this blog challenge gets down to the nitty-gritty, as the saying goes.  At least for me, because my weekdays tend to be pretty boring and tedious.  I do pretty much the same thing every day, in the same order with the same routine.  But I'm really going to try to pull something out that's at least semi-interesting.  I apologize in advance if it ends up just putting you to sleep instead! 😏

Lately, I have been feeling kind of off.  It's difficult to fully explain what I mean by that.  For example, yesterday afternoon, I kind of had a slight meltdown of indecision and insecurity while getting ready for dinner.  I changed my outfit about three times before settling on just a simple long-sleeved, v-neck black sweater (with jeans), then I proceeded to pick out a scarf to dress it up a little.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to wear my favorite infinity-style scarf, or a classic one with tassels on the ends, and after feeling like I'd apparently forgotten how to even wear a scarf, I decided to go without one altogether.  Then, minutes later, I went back to the tassels, deciding to give it another chance.  Now, you may say this is typically what happens to a girl when she's getting ready, but in that sense, I am not at all typical because it never happens to me.  Yes, I can be incredibly indecisive at times, but never to that extreme, and usually my indecisiveness does not involve clothing.

Of course, I was fine by the time I actually arrived at the restaurant, and nobody was around to witness my small stretch of insecurity beforehand, but I just hate that I let it get to me like that.

Anyway... I'm dreading next week's episode of This Is Us.  The last few minutes of last night's episode were difficult to watch, because it directly leads up to exactly what happened to Jack, when you see that shot of the batteries hanging out of the smoke alarm.  And while I do want to know how it played out, at the same time I don't, because it's so horribly tragic for the kids and Rebecca. 😟 Maybe I'm biased because I love Milo and how he portrays the patriarch of the Pearson family, though I know it's not the end for his character, seeing as how they flash in and out of different periods of the family's lives so much.  But it's still sad.

Credit for the title of this post: thanks to one of my absolute favorite Shinedown songs, Burning Bright. 💙

Lifting a Heavy-ish Burden... for One Night

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Today was a wonderful day!  It was my husband's first day back to work, after all that training he did last week, from home, so I had the house to myself again, to get some work done as well.  I also did not have to cook tonight, which is another reason today was great!  I hate cooking.  Seriously, I just get no enjoyment out of it, especially when I feel like whatever I do in the kitchen is somehow wrong (the joys of living with an 'amateur' chef).  It's a relief on my day when I know I don't have to cook beforehand. 

Anyway, the reason I didn't have to cook was because today was another special birthday for a long-time family friend, and we took him out to dinner to his (and our) favorite sushi restaurant, called Okawa.  I'm not a fan of sushi, but they have an amazing tonkatsu and salmon teriyaki dinner that I usually get.  (Not together, separate meals)  We hadn't been there in quite a while, and it was just as good as it always is.  My mother-in-law was also there with us and we all just sat and talked and ate.  Although once they started talking politics, I kinda tuned out, because that crap goes in one ear and right out the other for me.  Specifically because it usually ends up in an argument or some kind of disagreement.
  

The Art of Being Productive

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Well, yesterday's exhaustion was catching up with me again today.  Even though I did get a decent amount of sleep, it did not take long for me to start feeling completely drained shortly after we got started on the work in the garage this morning.  We did end up getting more of it cleaned up and out of the way though, specifically where the reloading work bench is going to go.  We got the bench built, but it's still a work in progress at this point, as the hubby wants to add a pegboard and a shelf combo behind it, to hang various gun tools and whatnot.  Here's the completed result from today's work:

I'm happy with how it turned out, looks very industrial, I think.  It's pretty cool to look at something like that and think "I made that!"  Or in my case, helped.  Haha.  I pretty much held the boards in place while he drilled the screws in.  I'm not getting near the saw, I'm happy to leave that part to him. 

I think the cold air is giving me a consistent headache that I cannot seem to get rid of.  The pain is directly above my left eye and it's really annoying.  Though I think the naproxen pills I took earlier are finally starting to work now, because the pain has reduced to only a slight throbbing every now and then.

Anyway... I'm stopping this entry here because I'm just still so tired and I feel like I'd just be babbling on about nothing if I continue.  So I am going to enjoy my glass of Old-Fashioned Egg Nog (with brandy, rum, & whisky) and wish you all a good evening! 😊  

Focusing on Organization

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So today was a completely exhausting, yet productive, day.  We spent ALL day installing the ceiling-mounted shelf that you see in the photo above.  We still have lots more to do before the garage is completely finished, but it does feel good to have this part done.  Cleaning out and disassembling the existing shelves that used to be against the wall was the most time-consuming task.  Although I did reach my step goal for the first time in about a month, without even trying!  That part feels great, but my feet are definitely telling a different tale.

Be Wary of the Backseat

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So the majority of my Saturday was somewhat eventful.  I tagged along on a trip out to San Francisco (technically Daly City, but close enough!) for the gun show at what is known as the Cow Palace.  My husband and brother-in-law were wanting to go there mainly to attend a CCW class, which took about 2 hours to complete.  In the meantime, I sat in the food court area and started a new book, while waiting for them.  Then we walked around and the guys bought a few things.  I almost had an EMS (electric muscle stimulation) unit demonstration forced on me, until the guy finally understood that I did not want it and then talked the hubby into it, claiming that he could relay to me what it felt like.  We already have a TENS unit so I had a pretty good idea anyway.  Those pads have to be placed directly on the skin, so I just would have felt awkward having some stranger reach under my shirt, in the middle of the building.  So sue me. 😋

Searching for Excitement within the Mundane

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So... I feel like the momentum of the first week of daily posting is slightly wearing off now.  There was this sense of excitement in finding things to write about every day, but now I feel it slowly tapering off...

Anyway, I seem to be getting involuntarily plowed with a heavy dose of nostalgia lately.  It hit me this morning that this year marks twenty years that I've known my first real online friend, when we were both at the tender age of 15 years old.  We met initially through ICQ, which dates how long ago it was (1998) and we've stayed really good friends throughout all these years.  Nowadays he doesn't do social media at any level, nor really the internet in general, so he will most likely never see this.  But we've still managed to keep in touch, despite that.  It's just crazy how fast time flies by, once you stop and think about it.

Brandy, Remembered

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I will always remember my first pup, Brandy.  I remember my brother and I begging my mom for a puppy, specifically a golden retriever, and one day in March of 1995, there was a co-worker that had found two puppies in the creek by her house.  And there was no way my mom could keep me from seeing them.  I remember she was the rowdier one, her sister was a bit more reserved.  I can still remember what the room looked like also, amazingly.  Unfortunately we could only take one puppy, though I wanted both.  However, I don't remember how my brother and I came up with her name.  She was a mutt and we never did figure out exactly what breeds she had in her.  I want to believe she had at least a little golden retriever in her, although she was probably more of a Labrador.  Either way, she was the sweetest pup ever.  I miss her so much.  We had to make the impossible decision to end her life seven years ago today. (Actually, on further review, it was the 10th, just to be technically correct)  She had been in our family for sixteen years.  I can still remember her face, looking back at me as they took her away.  I couldn't go in with her.  All I could do was cry.

First Week Recap

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Today marks my first full week of daily writing in this blog!  I have to admit, I was skeptical that I would actually be able to find things to write about every day, but once I started, I forgot how quickly the words start flowing.  I remember back in my early 20's, I used to have a blog just like this, where I wrote every day, but I also had LOTS more drama in my daily life, what with figuring out relationships (not to mention myself) and frustrations in my job and everything that comes with all that.   I'm thankful that I at least don't have quite so much of that to deal with anymore.  (And I hope I didn't just jinx myself...)

Today is also another birthday, this time for my long-time forum friend, Amanda, whom I've known for... almost 14 years now?!  Wow, I can't believe it's really been that long.  I remember when I first met her on Menix Designs back in 2004, which was my first graphic design forum I joined on Proboards! 😲 We have come so far since those days!  I wish her the happiest of birthdays today, and I hope her day has been going fantastic! 💜

Rainy Days & a Harsh Reminder

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Well, that rain that I mentioned yesterday?  It hasn't stopped since.  We now have small pools in our backyard, which complicates things for the dogs when doing their business out here.  Dozer gets out there, pees really quick and then immediately rushes back inside.  Neither of them are happy with this constant rainfall.  I think it's supposed to stop just long enough for the ground to dry, then start back up again at the beginning of next week. 😒

So, today is a bit of a harsh reminder for us.  It's a pretty significant birthday (21st) of my husband's daughter.  Next month marks two years since we've heard her voice, or even seen her.  It's just so incredibly sad how a person with such potential voluntarily decided to ruin her life.  My hubby actually just recently tried to help her with an issue, purely out of the goodness of his heart, only to be accused of actions that were entirely her own fault.  And she expects him to fix it.  She loves to blame everyone else for her problems.  Ugh.  After that stressful debacle, he says he is finally done with her.  I'm glad we haven't had to deal with that every day anymore, but I'm sad for the way things worked out.  To be honest, sometimes I even forget that she exists, until I'm reminded of something else she has screwed up for herself.  I know that sounds horrible, but sometimes the truth isn't pretty.

Other than that, it's a pretty typical day here.  I'm planning to finish washing pots & pans later this morning, before I have to start work in the early afternoon.  We're having meat pies with fries for dinner tonight, so I'm looking forward to that.  This is the last of our stash also, until the local chef who makes them has another event where he makes extra portions... so I'm going to savor every bite! 😋

Temporary Setback

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So I finished my first book of 2018 this morning!  Ironically, it is the self-help style book that has no relevance to my life (haha) but it was an informative & amusing read that left a smile on my face after every reading session.  (More detailed review listed on the 2018 Reading Challenge tab up there at the top)

Anyway, Jacques will be here all this week doing at-home training classes for work, which will give me a small taste of what it would be like if he worked from home.  Definitely a plus in the gas department, as he wouldn't have to drive those 90 miles every day.  Since I'm slightly 'kicked out' of the office until he finishes at 1PM, I was planning to start up my 4-mile-daily-walk again... but of course, I woke up to find that it's raining heavily outside, with no plans for it to stop anytime soon, not to mention my stomach attempting to kill me. (Nothing to worry about, there's a reason.)  Ugh.

An Unexpected Impression

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This morning started with coffee, andouille sausage, scrambled eggs and a random movie from 2002, Orange County.  It was actually a pretty endearing story, once you look past all the dysfunctionality of Shaun Brumder's family life.  There was a moment where he gets to meet the writer he's obsessed with, whose story changed Shaun's motivations from settling for being just another surfer kid with no aspirations in life, to wanting to be a serious writer himself and attend Stanford.  And this writer tells him something that resonated with me the moment I heard it:

Every great writer has a conflicted relationship with the place where he [or she] grew up.

It reminds me of my own hometown because while I love the place, I could never move back there.  Mostly because of certain things that trigger painful memories that I've spent a long time trying to forget.  Having to deal with that every day would constantly drain me emotionally and I can't intentionally do that to myself.  Anyway, I don't know if I'm a great writer, but at least this makes me believe that I'm on the right track! 😏

A Rare Evening to Myself

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So it's 4:10pm and the hubby just left with his brother to go to an all-you-can-eat-crab-feed tonight.  I am not a fan of crab in the slightest, so I voluntarily opted not to go with them, because honestly, it would be a waste of a ticket.  So now I have the night to myself.   We slept in this morning until 8am, which is the latest we ever sleep on a weekend, and after getting some breakfast at Black Bear Diner (if you don't have one of those close to you, you're missing out!), we spent the morning breaking down boxes, in preparation for a cardboard dump run.

Happiness Delivered!

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My package from Amazon finally arrived!

The license plate frame, not the car. 😋  I bought the car around two weeks ago and I hate those gimmicky car dealership frames that it comes with; and I wanted one that wasn't like the generic frame, one that had a bit of uniqueness to it.  So after searching on Amazon, I found this tribal fire design that looked really neat.

Closer view!

I've been waiting all day for this, seeing that it was sitting at the local USPS building since around 2:00am, finally out for delivery at around 9:30am, then receiving it at around 3:15pm.  Every slight sound outside made me jump up and check the porch to see if it had arrived, not to mention the dogs' barking.  Worth the wait though, I'm happy with how it looks on my car. 😁

A Rough Start, Favicon, Lottery & Impatience

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Relationships are hard.  I know that.  I've always known that.  Knowing that does not make it any easier though.  I wish it was all sunshine and happiness all the time, but alas, I suppose you cannot have the good without the bad, right?  I just hate being angry, because it's not in my nature and it ruins my day.  Today started out horrible.  It doesn't matter now about the why, just that it got sorted out pretty quickly, but the memory still lingers and is now making the rest of my day feel tainted in a way.  I don't think I deal with this emotion very well, so I'm just going to stop thinking about it.

Welcome!

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First off, hello to anyone who happens to stumble upon my new blog. 😊

I was inspired (coughPRESSUREDcough 😜) to start this via my longtime forum friend, Amanda, who suggested that I take this challenge with her, of writing a post every day for the year of 2018.  (And maybe later years as well, we'll see how this goes first!)  I was initially hesitant, simply because I don't think my life is interesting enough to write about that much.  Haha.