We had a great Christmas this year - nothing too terribly exciting, but very relaxed and enjoyable. We spent most of Christmas day at Jenny's parents' place, and left pretty late in the evening, after stuffing ourselves full of enchiladas, fudge and pie. We also spent a lot of time playing with her sister's new Wii (mostly bowling), which everyone had a lot of fun with.
Jenny's parents got us a new monitor, which we've needed for quite some time, and we also ended up with Patty's (slightly) old VCR/DVD player, since she also got a new TV which had a built in DVD player. We're pretty sure our old VCR just completely died, so it was very welcome. We do also have a combo player we got 4 years ago which works great, but this one that died was Jenny's before we started dating, and was probably her parents' before then. It's had a full life...
Also Sarah, one of Jenny's friends from work, was getting an Xbox 360 for herself, so she gave us her old Xbox for Christmas, along with all the games and accessories she had! Jenny wrapped everything up for me to open on Christmas, and I was shocked when I opened it up and just completely amazed by Sarah's generosity. But Jenny does work with a lot of really cool people. :)
In addition we got all sorts of other awesome gifts, from DVDs to jewelry, clothes to books and art supplies. We got to spend the whole day with family and had an all-around great time. We hope everyone out there had a great holiday weekend, and has a safe and happy New Years!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Saturday, October 10, 2009
What's Happening...
Yesterday was Jenny's father's birthday, and we spent most of the day over in Coeur d'Alene with her parents. We went to see the Surrogates with him - which was a pretty awesome sci-fi flick (based on an equally cool indy comic). Glad we got to see it in the theatre, though I think it could've been a bit longer.
Then after the movie the four of us went out for Thai food at the local Thai Bamboo (which was, of course, delicious), and then caught up on a bunch of recorded TV from the past week. A very fun and relaxing day!
The library is doing sort of an "employee exchange" program, where they're moving some people to different branches so they can see how things might be run differently and meet other co-workers. So now Jenny is working up at the North Spokane branch once a month. Her first day was this last Thursday, and she really enjoyed it, although it does mean a much longer commute (like 45 minutes instead of 15).
Otherwise things are going OK. Jenny had her year review at the library, which went well and got her a raise (yay!). The temperature is dropping, and even dipping to freezing occasionally, but the apartment seems to be holding the heat pretty well. Maybe those new energy-efficient windows they installed actually work.
I've been working on some commissions and tinkering with one of my comic ideas. Doing the 24 Hour Comic Challenge has definitely been an inspiration to get back to work on it - hopefully I'll have more concrete news on that relatively soon...
Jenny's been working on a bunch of cool crocheting projects, which we really need to take some pictures of and post up. It would probably help if we had a decent digital camera, since right now we have 3 old ones that all only work about half the time.
Local Arts & Crafts People: The next Spokane Comicsmiths' Guild is on Sunday the 18th at Merlyns, from 3-6 pm. The next Crafty Club meeting is on Friday the 23rd at the Spokane Valley Library and starts at 7 pm. Feel free to leave a comment if you're interested in more information.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Update
Well, my interview on Monday went as well as possible, I guess. But I still didn't get the job... though they did call me to tell me, instead of sending out the normal library form letter, so I suppose that's a sign they still liked me. I had a lot of experience from very closely related jobs, but apparently it went to another guy who had 2 years of experience in exactly this one. Oh well....
Patty's been doing OK so far, the past couple of days, with no more seizures or anything. But I think they're still waiting to get the results back from the EEG on Wednesday, so we'll see if that says something new.
It's been fairly warm here, although I see that it's actually warmer in Fairbanks right now than in Spokane. Crazy!
And I'll leave you with something from my sketchbook - I've got an idea for a kind of funny animal / superhero comic, and this is a Golden Age vigilante type of character named.... Awesome Possum!
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Christmas Sketch Cards, etc.
I always enjoy Christmas more when I'm actually able to give people presents.This year, due to my serious lack of cash and desire to still give something to my friends, I decided to include original sketch cards with my Christmas cards. Unfortunately I waited too long to get started, and didn't get near as many done as I'd like, but was still able to get a fair amount out (relatively) on time.
Most of these should have reached their recipients by now, so it should be safe to post them. One card needs to get re-sent due to an address error, and one didn't get sent out till after Christmas. Hopefully I'll be a little more organized next year and get more done, and out in the mail earlier.
This was my first time doing more than a couple of sketch cards at a time, and I think it was a good learning experience for me. Some cards definitely came out better than others, but overall I'm pretty happy with them. I also got an opportunity to draw some subjects I probably wouldn't normally draw, and that's always good.
Each card is 2.5" x 3.5", and all art was done with markers, colored pencils and water color.
The apartment is now in it's Christmas Clutter stage - decorations need to come down and be re-boxed and the whole place needs a serious cleaning. So I guess that'll have to be done in the next few days (because if I don't do it now, who knows how long I'll wait...).
We went over to CdA today (Friday) to visit Jenny's folks. Finally watched Wall-E, which was hilarious (of course) and Wanted, which was kinda just "OK" story-wise but had some amazing effects. Will probably watch both of them again, though.
Most of these should have reached their recipients by now, so it should be safe to post them. One card needs to get re-sent due to an address error, and one didn't get sent out till after Christmas. Hopefully I'll be a little more organized next year and get more done, and out in the mail earlier.
This was my first time doing more than a couple of sketch cards at a time, and I think it was a good learning experience for me. Some cards definitely came out better than others, but overall I'm pretty happy with them. I also got an opportunity to draw some subjects I probably wouldn't normally draw, and that's always good.
Each card is 2.5" x 3.5", and all art was done with markers, colored pencils and water color.
The apartment is now in it's Christmas Clutter stage - decorations need to come down and be re-boxed and the whole place needs a serious cleaning. So I guess that'll have to be done in the next few days (because if I don't do it now, who knows how long I'll wait...).
We went over to CdA today (Friday) to visit Jenny's folks. Finally watched Wall-E, which was hilarious (of course) and Wanted, which was kinda just "OK" story-wise but had some amazing effects. Will probably watch both of them again, though.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Giving Thanks
I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and is able to spend the holiday with their family and loved ones. Jenny and I will be heading over to her parents' place tomorrow morning and spend most of the day there. Aunt Joan should be there, as well as her Uncle David, who's driving up from Kennewick. Should be fun, and relaxing, and filled with pie.
Even though sometimes it doesn't seem like we have much, we really do have a lot to be thankful for, especially in the current economic climate. I'm still looking for work (like a large portion of the population), but Jenny does have two very reliable jobs, one of which even provides us with benefits. We don't really have any disposable income right now, and Christmas presents may be in short supply, but atleast we can afford to pay our rent and put food on the table (and even still buy comics once in a while). And we've still got the internet and the library for free entertainment. So, we're doing OK, I guess.
I've been getting sick over the last couple of days. I think it's just your run-of-the-mill cold/flu thing (whatever's currently making the rounds), but it's still knocked me out pretty hard. Hopefully I'll shake it off relatively soon. Funny enough, I had some horrible illness last Thanksgiving as well - I remember spending most of the day passed out in a recliner at her folks' place. Must just be the season....
Even though sometimes it doesn't seem like we have much, we really do have a lot to be thankful for, especially in the current economic climate. I'm still looking for work (like a large portion of the population), but Jenny does have two very reliable jobs, one of which even provides us with benefits. We don't really have any disposable income right now, and Christmas presents may be in short supply, but atleast we can afford to pay our rent and put food on the table (and even still buy comics once in a while). And we've still got the internet and the library for free entertainment. So, we're doing OK, I guess.
I've been getting sick over the last couple of days. I think it's just your run-of-the-mill cold/flu thing (whatever's currently making the rounds), but it's still knocked me out pretty hard. Hopefully I'll shake it off relatively soon. Funny enough, I had some horrible illness last Thanksgiving as well - I remember spending most of the day passed out in a recliner at her folks' place. Must just be the season....
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Family Reunions and Job Prospects
My Uncle Jim and Aunt Susie came through town on their big vacation trip, and we got to see them this last Thursday. They had us over to their RV for dinner (which was delicious, by the way) and we spent a long while talking and getting caught up, which was a lot of fun. It's been years since I've seen them, and this was Jenny's first time meeting them. We even remembered to get a picture of all four of us before we left.
Another job opened up at the library which Jenny is going to try for - it'll mean an increase in both hours and pay, and it would be split between two closer libraries, so much less of a commute. So, that sounds promising....
I'm still job hunting (of course), and am getting afraid that I'm going to have to lower my standards, just so I can find something for the time being and get some more money coming in. I haven't had any luck so far with the few jobs I've found to apply for, but I'm not giving up hope quite yet.
In the meantime, I've been trying to work on some art projects, with the goal of getting my portfolio updated and looking for commission work. I've also got some ideas for projects of my own - a couple of different web-comic possibilities and a series of illustrations I'm starting to do research for. Got to keep working!
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Happy Labor Day!
I hope everybody had a great (possibly 3 day) weekend. Jenny did have the day off from work, so we headed over to her folks' place to hang out all day and catch up on all the cable TV shows they tape for us. Not terribly exciting, but we're both still kinda sick, so we just wanted to take it easy.
Speaking of TV, new shows are starting this week, with the season premieres of House tonight and Bones on Wednesday. We hadn't really been watching House this last season, but we caught the last couple of episodes and some in re-run, and I think it's back on our list for now. The premiere of Prisonbreak was on last night and I went ahead and taped it, even though we missed most of it's last season as well. I'm sure there'll be a "what you missed" style re-cap first thing, so we might as well see if we still like it...
My parents were in town last week, and we were able to go out to dinner and hang out with them for a while and get caught up. They were up in Alaska for my nephew Kevin's wedding and are now making their way back home to North Carolina, seeing family along the way.
My Aunt and Uncle should be in town this week, if their planned schedule holds up, and we'll hopefully be seeing them this Thursday. I actually haven't heard from them for a while, so I'm not entirely certain that's still correct, but I guess we'll see what happens... :)
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Day One In Fairbanks
Here we are at the family BBQ at Chris and Sarah's house. We ate some good food, then attempted to watch West Side Story, but after watching a little of it, it was voted down and we watched Cry Baby instead, which was very silly. Then we headed back to the bachelor pad. 
Peter and I drove around for a while in Sue's car, which she so nicely let us borrow while we were there. We stopped by Good Karma, but they were already closed, and we drove by where Revolution had been. It was empty again, but the little strip mall it was in was otherwise filled up. The bright colored slat wall that Peter and Chris had put up was still there, which I thought was funny. We drove down the Johansen and saw all the new stuff that's sprung up there. Would've been nice if all those stores had been there when I grew up on that side of town, but whatever. ;) Then we dropped by West Freddies but surprisingly didn't see anyone we know. Then back to the bachelor pad to sleep.
Peter and I drove around for a while in Sue's car, which she so nicely let us borrow while we were there. We stopped by Good Karma, but they were already closed, and we drove by where Revolution had been. It was empty again, but the little strip mall it was in was otherwise filled up. The bright colored slat wall that Peter and Chris had put up was still there, which I thought was funny. We drove down the Johansen and saw all the new stuff that's sprung up there. Would've been nice if all those stores had been there when I grew up on that side of town, but whatever. ;) Then we dropped by West Freddies but surprisingly didn't see anyone we know. Then back to the bachelor pad to sleep.Friday, July 13, 2007
Friday The 13th!
Dishes! My maid of honor, Jenni, met me at the mall yesterday because she had to go there anyways for some errands and she was feeling feisty and wanted to go to Sears with me to talk to a manager about the dishes fiasco. She'd been stewing on the information ever since I told her, and she thought that Peter and I had been treated very unfairly and wanted to make it right. So, we walked up to a small group of employees and Jenni unceremoniously said that she had a complaint. The first guy said that we needed to talk to a manager, and that there was one sitting at one of the computer kiosks. Once he was in our sights, you wouldn't believe how fast the others left to find other things to do, far away from us. The guy was very helpful, and now there's 2 replacement boxes of dishes on the way to Jenni's house. Hopefully they'll survive the shipping, but the guy said that we could of course bring them in if they come in broken as the first ones did. He also said he was pretty sure he knew who the girl was who had been so unhelpful, and that she was going to get a talking to. Whatever, she's young and doesn't care, she'll either improve her attitude while with a customer, or she'll quit and get some other crappy job. But, the important thing is that I have new dishes coming! Hooray!
Lets see... We've been slowly picking up the last little things we need for the wedding and putting in the orders for the food and cupcakes. For some reason, carrot cake wasn't an option for cupcakes at Safeway, so I just went with half vanilla/ half chocolate. The tops will be sprayed with blue food coloring, and little red rose buds with little green leaves will be over the color. I really wanted blue jewelery for the wedding, but I just couldn't find what I wanted, so I went with silver and clear, sparkly glass or zirconium gems. So, I have my bling. ;)
Peter and I almost didn't get the wedding licence in time. We got it on the last day possible, because of the 3 day waiting period here. Nr. But we have it, no problem. But we're not the only last minuters. Our officiant and his wife told us that they also waited till the last minute to get theirs. And the couple who were also at the auditors office to get a marriage license when we were, they were very disappointed that they couldn't get married that same day.
I still need more coolers for the drinks. And some other stuff... Hmmm, looks like my brain just stalled. Overload. Been happening a lot recently.
Peter's parents and his oldest sister got in last night, and his brother and other sister and her husband (and all his camera equipment!) should be getting in from Seattle in a few hours. Once Peter gets off work, we'll head to some restaurant for dinner, then Peter and I will go over to the mall to get him a haircut. We had originally thought to do a dinner after the rehearsal, but that would have been around 20 people, and we weren't sure where to have dinner, so the Foglesongs suggested we do a dinner tonight with just Peter's side of the family.
I've talked to my Dad a couple times today, trying to coordinate where we're going to meet tomorrow to do the setup and to go together with Tigger to get the tables and chairs. He also wanted to know about the dinner Saturday night. He reminded me that my relatives from Portland were on their way now, but didn't know when the relatives from Montana would be getting here. So, I mentioned the dinner tonight, and I didn't know if we should have a double family thing, or just the Foglesongs, so I told him, maybe my side could do breakfast tomorrow, since the wedding party was hoping to head out after the rehearsal for dinner and drinks (except Jenni of course). But, I'll run everything past Peter, since he and his folks are the ones planning dinner, and my brain is fried.
Since we've got all sorts of relatives in town, we've been noticing that we haven't really been cleaning for the past, uh, month. So, I cleaned the bathroom this morning. Ugh, soap scum. I just need the towels to finish drying, then I'll hang them up and the bathroom will be beautiful again. I should probably vacuum too. Well, that's all for now, Peter can add stuff if he wants later.
Lets see... We've been slowly picking up the last little things we need for the wedding and putting in the orders for the food and cupcakes. For some reason, carrot cake wasn't an option for cupcakes at Safeway, so I just went with half vanilla/ half chocolate. The tops will be sprayed with blue food coloring, and little red rose buds with little green leaves will be over the color. I really wanted blue jewelery for the wedding, but I just couldn't find what I wanted, so I went with silver and clear, sparkly glass or zirconium gems. So, I have my bling. ;)
Peter and I almost didn't get the wedding licence in time. We got it on the last day possible, because of the 3 day waiting period here. Nr. But we have it, no problem. But we're not the only last minuters. Our officiant and his wife told us that they also waited till the last minute to get theirs. And the couple who were also at the auditors office to get a marriage license when we were, they were very disappointed that they couldn't get married that same day.
I still need more coolers for the drinks. And some other stuff... Hmmm, looks like my brain just stalled. Overload. Been happening a lot recently.
Peter's parents and his oldest sister got in last night, and his brother and other sister and her husband (and all his camera equipment!) should be getting in from Seattle in a few hours. Once Peter gets off work, we'll head to some restaurant for dinner, then Peter and I will go over to the mall to get him a haircut. We had originally thought to do a dinner after the rehearsal, but that would have been around 20 people, and we weren't sure where to have dinner, so the Foglesongs suggested we do a dinner tonight with just Peter's side of the family.
I've talked to my Dad a couple times today, trying to coordinate where we're going to meet tomorrow to do the setup and to go together with Tigger to get the tables and chairs. He also wanted to know about the dinner Saturday night. He reminded me that my relatives from Portland were on their way now, but didn't know when the relatives from Montana would be getting here. So, I mentioned the dinner tonight, and I didn't know if we should have a double family thing, or just the Foglesongs, so I told him, maybe my side could do breakfast tomorrow, since the wedding party was hoping to head out after the rehearsal for dinner and drinks (except Jenni of course). But, I'll run everything past Peter, since he and his folks are the ones planning dinner, and my brain is fried.
Since we've got all sorts of relatives in town, we've been noticing that we haven't really been cleaning for the past, uh, month. So, I cleaned the bathroom this morning. Ugh, soap scum. I just need the towels to finish drying, then I'll hang them up and the bathroom will be beautiful again. I should probably vacuum too. Well, that's all for now, Peter can add stuff if he wants later.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Dishes?
So, went over to CDA on the 4th. I got into my dress and I thought I'd have to stand there for quite some time while Mom put pins in, but she only needed to measure how much she was going to hem it, then helped me out of the dress.
Sears over there was open, but it didn't do us any good, since it was a tiny store compared to the 2 over here, so they didn't carry dishes at all. Also, we wandered around that store looking at kitchen stuff and then at clothes, and not one of the many employees there asked us if we were looking for anything or needed help. Coupled with the apathy from the 2 girls in both Washington stores, it was not a good week for customer service. So, I got a pair of jean shorts, and then we left the Silver Lake Mall, since about 1/2 it's stores were closing, and none of the other stores were of interest to us. So, looks like we'll need to order the dishes ourselves from online, and hope they get here unbroken. Peter and I also dropped by Borders, as usual, and said hi to our friends there and checked out their shiny new cafe (SBC).
Dropped back by the folk's place and helped Dad move his new rocksaw and move a couple related things, and also checked out their new garage doors, very nice. Then Dad had Peter and I pick out our flight times and plane seats and payed for our tickets/used some of his miles. So, now we need to finish the last details of the wedding, get married, change my name, possibly go for a weekend camping trip with a couple friends of ours, then pack and head up to Alaska for a week. Whoo! Busy, busy, busy.
Sears over there was open, but it didn't do us any good, since it was a tiny store compared to the 2 over here, so they didn't carry dishes at all. Also, we wandered around that store looking at kitchen stuff and then at clothes, and not one of the many employees there asked us if we were looking for anything or needed help. Coupled with the apathy from the 2 girls in both Washington stores, it was not a good week for customer service. So, I got a pair of jean shorts, and then we left the Silver Lake Mall, since about 1/2 it's stores were closing, and none of the other stores were of interest to us. So, looks like we'll need to order the dishes ourselves from online, and hope they get here unbroken. Peter and I also dropped by Borders, as usual, and said hi to our friends there and checked out their shiny new cafe (SBC).
Dropped back by the folk's place and helped Dad move his new rocksaw and move a couple related things, and also checked out their new garage doors, very nice. Then Dad had Peter and I pick out our flight times and plane seats and payed for our tickets/used some of his miles. So, now we need to finish the last details of the wedding, get married, change my name, possibly go for a weekend camping trip with a couple friends of ours, then pack and head up to Alaska for a week. Whoo! Busy, busy, busy.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Birthday Girl, etc.
I forgot to post anything last week, and totally missed mentioning Jenny's birthday on Thursday. So, here's a happy belated birthday post for her - Happy 28th! We didn't do anything extraordinarily exciting for her birthday, unfortunately, although we did go over to CdA and her parents took us out to Outback for dinner and her mom made her an angelfood cake.
I did take some time to set up a MySpace account for her, which she's been meaning to do for a while, but I spend waaay more time online than she does and I enjoy doing that sort of thing more than she. But now that she has one, she can connect with some of her old friends from high school and our friends back in Fbx. I also started setting up her own deviantArt account, which she can potentially use to sell prints of her artwork! Both pages need some customization, but they're added into our revised links list over on the right.
Other random stuff:
I did take some time to set up a MySpace account for her, which she's been meaning to do for a while, but I spend waaay more time online than she does and I enjoy doing that sort of thing more than she. But now that she has one, she can connect with some of her old friends from high school and our friends back in Fbx. I also started setting up her own deviantArt account, which she can potentially use to sell prints of her artwork! Both pages need some customization, but they're added into our revised links list over on the right.
Other random stuff:
Pizza Hut has brought back the P'Zone, which we ate a whole lot of back in Fbx when they were first on the menu. Probably not healthy at all, but we're still happy they're back. Now we just need to eat them in moderation. :)
Also, normal Vanilla Coke is back, which makes me happy. For a while all I could find was the Cherry-Vanilla variety, but I guess they decided to swap them out again. Yay!
But I'm really trying to cut down on my soda intake - drinking more juice and water, and ideally cutting down to a soda a day (which hasn't really happened yet, but I'm getting closer). I drink waaay too much soda, as it stands....
Similarly, we're trying to get back in the habit of going for walks and ease back into moderate exercise. We both need to lose weight and get in better shape, and we need to start somewhere. We'd also still like to start rollerblading (been saying that since we got down here 3 years ago...).
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Quick Update
Not a whole lot going on, really - mainly just work-work-working with a little bit of wedding stuff on the side. We did go over to Tigger's place yesterday and hung out for a while and helped her with some of her landscaping projects. Also got to meet her new puppy, Geo, who's absolutely adorable. Held off on going into CdA this weekend, as Jenny's folks are out of town, visiting her Aunt's family in Portland. Jenny did finally get her dress in, and had her fitting today, so they can do the needed alterations.
Otherwise, just catching up on DVDs, and we got out to see Shrek 3 on Friday. I think it was actually funnier than the last one, which was kinda surprising. Fantastic Four 2 also came out this week, which we'll get around to seeing soon, even though all the reviewers seem to hate it (judging by the various article headlines I see online - but I haven't read the articles...). There's far too many summer blockbusters coming out this year to keep up with, so I fear we're going to be a couple of week's behind for quite a while.
In work news, the "new girl" has already left - Friday was her last day. And now Brian has 2 weeks remaining before he's gone as well, which will drop the main staff down to just Derek and myself. Originally, the boss had toyed with the idea of not hiring a new 3rd person, but luckily he changed his mind and put an ad in the paper. Hopefully we'll have a better pool of applicants this time around....
Oh yeah, and we finally got our garage. Only took them, what... 8 months? :)
Otherwise, just catching up on DVDs, and we got out to see Shrek 3 on Friday. I think it was actually funnier than the last one, which was kinda surprising. Fantastic Four 2 also came out this week, which we'll get around to seeing soon, even though all the reviewers seem to hate it (judging by the various article headlines I see online - but I haven't read the articles...). There's far too many summer blockbusters coming out this year to keep up with, so I fear we're going to be a couple of week's behind for quite a while.
In work news, the "new girl" has already left - Friday was her last day. And now Brian has 2 weeks remaining before he's gone as well, which will drop the main staff down to just Derek and myself. Originally, the boss had toyed with the idea of not hiring a new 3rd person, but luckily he changed his mind and put an ad in the paper. Hopefully we'll have a better pool of applicants this time around....
Oh yeah, and we finally got our garage. Only took them, what... 8 months? :)
Thursday, June 07, 2007
On the Road Again....
Well, it's been a week since our last post... So, what's been going on?
The big news, of course, is that we replaced the recently deceased truck with a brand new, shiny blue F-J Cruiser! Jenny's mom had offered to "help us out" with a new car as a wedding present, using money she'd received as part of the inheritance when her father (Jenny's Grandfather) passed away. What we didn't know was that meant she was going to buy it for us outright - completely paying it off! That's right - our wedding (and birthdays and next few Christmas) present was a Brand New Car! You can say that last bit in a game show announcer voice to make it sound right. :)
We'd told her parents that we really didn't need any sort of bells and whistles, that the basic package would be more than enough. However, the local Toyota dealer didn't have any basic Cruisers, so we ended up with a whole bunch of extras that we really don't need (but are all supercool and we really are happy to have). Right now it's still in Jenny's mom's name - we'll be able to switch it over to us in the next couple of months.
Sooo.... we've been deleriously happy with our new car. :D Such simple luxuries as air conditioning and a working radio were previously unknown to us, so this just about blew us away. Now we've just got to keep it upkept so it'll last another 20 years like the truck.
We had hoped to sign our new lease and get on the list for a garage (assuming such a list exists) on Friday, but the trainee was at the office instead of the normal secretary. She told us to come back on Saturday and the regular girl could take care of it no problem, but we showed up on Saturday only to find that we needed to set up an appointment first, which of course the trainee failed to mention.... So we've got an appointment this Saturday at noon to sign our new lease - hopefully we'll make some progress towards a garage as well. We're both even more paranoid at night now that we've got our beautiful new vehicle to protect (might as well just paint a target on it...).
On the wedding front, we finally got our invitations/announcements out in the mail, atleast to the people we have addresses for. There are still a few people we don't have mailing addresses for, for whatever reason, and if you're one of those people and are reading this you know who you are and you know how to get a hold of me. :)
Also picked up my ring this week. Went with a super simple white gold band - since Jenny's is such a unique heirloom, we didn't want to try to find a suitable match at this time, just something I would like to wear that wasn't flashy. Figure that a ways down the road we can always have something custom made to match Jenny's and replace mine.
Work is still work. We hired a new girl, who put in her 2 week notice less than a week after starting. So we can't really expend much energy training her, since she'll be leaving soon, but we still have to find busy work for her to do in the meantime. I'm really surprised they didn't just let her go when she put in her notice. Eh, atleast she can clean and make copies - there's always more copies to make. Brian's leaving at the end of this month, leaving myself and Derek (who is very competent, but has still only been there for 3 or 4 months at this point), and now the boss is thinking of just not hiring a new person for the time being and see how things go. I'm not loving my job in the first place, so this is certainly not going to help the situation....
Oh, and June 1st was my (31st) birthday, so Happy Birthday to me! :)
The big news, of course, is that we replaced the recently deceased truck with a brand new, shiny blue F-J Cruiser! Jenny's mom had offered to "help us out" with a new car as a wedding present, using money she'd received as part of the inheritance when her father (Jenny's Grandfather) passed away. What we didn't know was that meant she was going to buy it for us outright - completely paying it off! That's right - our wedding (and birthdays and next few Christmas) present was a Brand New Car! You can say that last bit in a game show announcer voice to make it sound right. :)
We'd told her parents that we really didn't need any sort of bells and whistles, that the basic package would be more than enough. However, the local Toyota dealer didn't have any basic Cruisers, so we ended up with a whole bunch of extras that we really don't need (but are all supercool and we really are happy to have). Right now it's still in Jenny's mom's name - we'll be able to switch it over to us in the next couple of months.
Sooo.... we've been deleriously happy with our new car. :D Such simple luxuries as air conditioning and a working radio were previously unknown to us, so this just about blew us away. Now we've just got to keep it upkept so it'll last another 20 years like the truck.
We had hoped to sign our new lease and get on the list for a garage (assuming such a list exists) on Friday, but the trainee was at the office instead of the normal secretary. She told us to come back on Saturday and the regular girl could take care of it no problem, but we showed up on Saturday only to find that we needed to set up an appointment first, which of course the trainee failed to mention.... So we've got an appointment this Saturday at noon to sign our new lease - hopefully we'll make some progress towards a garage as well. We're both even more paranoid at night now that we've got our beautiful new vehicle to protect (might as well just paint a target on it...).
On the wedding front, we finally got our invitations/announcements out in the mail, atleast to the people we have addresses for. There are still a few people we don't have mailing addresses for, for whatever reason, and if you're one of those people and are reading this you know who you are and you know how to get a hold of me. :)
Also picked up my ring this week. Went with a super simple white gold band - since Jenny's is such a unique heirloom, we didn't want to try to find a suitable match at this time, just something I would like to wear that wasn't flashy. Figure that a ways down the road we can always have something custom made to match Jenny's and replace mine.
Work is still work. We hired a new girl, who put in her 2 week notice less than a week after starting. So we can't really expend much energy training her, since she'll be leaving soon, but we still have to find busy work for her to do in the meantime. I'm really surprised they didn't just let her go when she put in her notice. Eh, atleast she can clean and make copies - there's always more copies to make. Brian's leaving at the end of this month, leaving myself and Derek (who is very competent, but has still only been there for 3 or 4 months at this point), and now the boss is thinking of just not hiring a new person for the time being and see how things go. I'm not loving my job in the first place, so this is certainly not going to help the situation....
Oh, and June 1st was my (31st) birthday, so Happy Birthday to me! :)
Sunday, May 27, 2007
What Else Could...?
Well... So far it's been an interesting weekend. Before the weekend, on Thursday, my allergies decided to become a real cold so I didn't get pretty much anything done then, and slept in on Friday. I got my haircut Friday afternoon with Jenni and kiddos. Another exciting time ending with her son in another headlock with me holding his arms. I don't know what the kid has against haircuts. That evening, Tigger came over and we went to Denny's to have dinner, then came back here to talk for a while. We knew we'd be up later then we normally are, but Peter ended up going to bed at around 3AM and Tigger and I watched the sun come up while talking and she left about quarter to 6AM. I got to sleep soon after. So Peter and I ended up sleeping in.
We were eating lunch and Peter remembered the office for the apartment complex closes at 2 on Saturdays for some asinine reason. The clock said it was 1:50, and we were still in our pj's. So we decided to get to the office some other day. We need to renew our lease soon and they've finally put notices on the garages that the owners need to come forward or move their stuff out or it will be tossed out on June 1st. Yay! So we want to make sure the office firmly knows that we want a garage, and one of the 2 in front of our apartment would be great. (Not that they don't know with Peter and I asking frequently over the past several months.)
Then, Peter and I ended up moving the futon/couch into the former office, now den, and then moving the miniature painting desk too. So then the den was almost complete, just a few more things need to be moved and set up. Once we finally got showered and dressed, it was nearly 4 and we still wanted to head to CDA to visit my parents and do some shopping too. So, then we had to blow off going to the comic con at Gonzaga and were out the door at 4:30. The antique store I had been to with my folks earlier in the week was already closed when we got there, but otherwise our shopping was sucessful and we visited for a while with our Border's friends. After spending some time at my parent's house, we headed out around 10 or something, maybe earlier, I can't remember.
Everything was going fine till we passed the last exit to Post Falls. Suddenly the truck started making horrible noises and losing power. Luckily, there was an exit to the state line coming up, so I started pulling off and the truck died. I still had momentum so I got it to restart and put on my hazard lights as the person behind me looked like they were going to drive up my tailpipe. I wanted to continue on to the rest stop, but the truck died again, and I could only pull off to the side of the off ramp. I tried a few times to restart the truck, but it wouldn't start, so Peter and I got out and lifted up the hood. Right then a bunch of cars drove by and someone in one of them laughed at us like Nelson from the Simpsons ("Ha Ha!"). So I swore back at them. I don't know if they heard me, but who laughs at someone with car troubles on the side of the road?
So, then I thought maybe the truck needed more oil or something, so put in the 2 bottles I had. It still wouldn't start, so we grabbed some flashlights and headed for the rest stop to call my Dad. There was a towtruck driver and another guy already there getting ready to tow a different vehicle, and after discovering no payphone at the rest stop, I asked the guys if I could borrow a cell phone, or if they would be willing to jump the truck, even though they were busy. I described the problem and that we had seen that the battery was all corroded again. The tow-truck driver suggested that it sounded like the alternator (which had just been fixed a couple months ago), and that even if he jumped it, that the headlights would drain the battery long before we got home.
So I called Dad and he came out to help us. After taking the leads off the battery, we discovered that the one leading to the starter was so corroded, that it was nearly gone. Dad tried to put it back together and jump my truck, but it still refused to start. Since Dad's truck was now facing the wrong way on the side of a busy off ramp, a cop came by and wanted to know what was going on. While Dad was on his cell with the Chevron emergency roadside assistance people, we explained what was going on. The cop still decided to run our IDs, and it seemed to take a really long time. Although, with all the crap that's happened since we moved down here, this was the 4th or 5th time I've had to talk to a cop in the almost 3 years since we've been down here, so all that probably came up when he ran my license. But once he gave our IDs back (never asking for Dad's) he told us to turn Dad's truck around and get my truck out of there ASAP. (As though we weren't trying to!) So then we stood around waiting for the towtruck and Dad turned his truck around (and called Mom to tell her what was going on).
The towtruck was one of those flatbed ones, and I had never seen exactly how those work, so watching that was interesting. Dad told the guy we wanted it dropped off at Parker Toyota in CDA who work on all the family cars, and the guy told us we could just go then, he knew where that was and didn't need our help unloading the truck. So, Dad drove us back to his house, where we ended up borrowing Mom's car and leaving my parent's house (again) at Midnight. Also, since it's Memorial Day weekend, there's no way the truck will even be worked on till Tuesday at the earliest. But at least it's not on the side of the road!
We had been planning on stopping to get something to eat on the way home right before the truck died, so we were pretty hungry. But I just wanted to get home. Which we did make it home safe and sound.
Now, we had bought some soda in CDA since Tigger had drank the last of our Mt. Dew, and before we went to bed Peter put in away in the 'fridge. So, this morning, well... Noon, I was in the 'fridge trying to find some food when I noticed some liquid on the glass shelf above the bottom drawer. Yep, you guessed it. One of the Pepsi's (the one at the very back on the bottom) had decided to leak. I, er..., had to spend some extended time in the bathroom at that moment, so Peter ended up cleaning it up by himself. Apparently, since it was the soda in the back, everytime he moved a soda out of the box, a small wave of soda would accompany it, spilling onto the floor. So, there was a lot of sticky everywhere. And to top it all off, both Peter and I have splitting headaches.
Some good things though, we have our wedding invitations and they look beautiful. And, we picked up at Borders one of the Kaiser Chiefs' CDs. We hear them on Triple J all the time, so we knew we would like the rest of their album. While Tigger was here I got some good pictures of her because she was complaining that she didn't have any new (and good) pictures of herself, and I happened to have my digital camera handy. AND! And, now we are much more motivated to get our own car insurance and to get that new vehicle that Mom said she's going to help us get. So that's good.
So, now I'm going to interrupt Peter from rearranging the living room (now studio!) so he can look over what I've written and see if there's anything he'd like to add... -Jenny
We were eating lunch and Peter remembered the office for the apartment complex closes at 2 on Saturdays for some asinine reason. The clock said it was 1:50, and we were still in our pj's. So we decided to get to the office some other day. We need to renew our lease soon and they've finally put notices on the garages that the owners need to come forward or move their stuff out or it will be tossed out on June 1st. Yay! So we want to make sure the office firmly knows that we want a garage, and one of the 2 in front of our apartment would be great. (Not that they don't know with Peter and I asking frequently over the past several months.)
Then, Peter and I ended up moving the futon/couch into the former office, now den, and then moving the miniature painting desk too. So then the den was almost complete, just a few more things need to be moved and set up. Once we finally got showered and dressed, it was nearly 4 and we still wanted to head to CDA to visit my parents and do some shopping too. So, then we had to blow off going to the comic con at Gonzaga and were out the door at 4:30. The antique store I had been to with my folks earlier in the week was already closed when we got there, but otherwise our shopping was sucessful and we visited for a while with our Border's friends. After spending some time at my parent's house, we headed out around 10 or something, maybe earlier, I can't remember.
Everything was going fine till we passed the last exit to Post Falls. Suddenly the truck started making horrible noises and losing power. Luckily, there was an exit to the state line coming up, so I started pulling off and the truck died. I still had momentum so I got it to restart and put on my hazard lights as the person behind me looked like they were going to drive up my tailpipe. I wanted to continue on to the rest stop, but the truck died again, and I could only pull off to the side of the off ramp. I tried a few times to restart the truck, but it wouldn't start, so Peter and I got out and lifted up the hood. Right then a bunch of cars drove by and someone in one of them laughed at us like Nelson from the Simpsons ("Ha Ha!"). So I swore back at them. I don't know if they heard me, but who laughs at someone with car troubles on the side of the road?
So, then I thought maybe the truck needed more oil or something, so put in the 2 bottles I had. It still wouldn't start, so we grabbed some flashlights and headed for the rest stop to call my Dad. There was a towtruck driver and another guy already there getting ready to tow a different vehicle, and after discovering no payphone at the rest stop, I asked the guys if I could borrow a cell phone, or if they would be willing to jump the truck, even though they were busy. I described the problem and that we had seen that the battery was all corroded again. The tow-truck driver suggested that it sounded like the alternator (which had just been fixed a couple months ago), and that even if he jumped it, that the headlights would drain the battery long before we got home.
So I called Dad and he came out to help us. After taking the leads off the battery, we discovered that the one leading to the starter was so corroded, that it was nearly gone. Dad tried to put it back together and jump my truck, but it still refused to start. Since Dad's truck was now facing the wrong way on the side of a busy off ramp, a cop came by and wanted to know what was going on. While Dad was on his cell with the Chevron emergency roadside assistance people, we explained what was going on. The cop still decided to run our IDs, and it seemed to take a really long time. Although, with all the crap that's happened since we moved down here, this was the 4th or 5th time I've had to talk to a cop in the almost 3 years since we've been down here, so all that probably came up when he ran my license. But once he gave our IDs back (never asking for Dad's) he told us to turn Dad's truck around and get my truck out of there ASAP. (As though we weren't trying to!) So then we stood around waiting for the towtruck and Dad turned his truck around (and called Mom to tell her what was going on).
The towtruck was one of those flatbed ones, and I had never seen exactly how those work, so watching that was interesting. Dad told the guy we wanted it dropped off at Parker Toyota in CDA who work on all the family cars, and the guy told us we could just go then, he knew where that was and didn't need our help unloading the truck. So, Dad drove us back to his house, where we ended up borrowing Mom's car and leaving my parent's house (again) at Midnight. Also, since it's Memorial Day weekend, there's no way the truck will even be worked on till Tuesday at the earliest. But at least it's not on the side of the road!
We had been planning on stopping to get something to eat on the way home right before the truck died, so we were pretty hungry. But I just wanted to get home. Which we did make it home safe and sound.
Now, we had bought some soda in CDA since Tigger had drank the last of our Mt. Dew, and before we went to bed Peter put in away in the 'fridge. So, this morning, well... Noon, I was in the 'fridge trying to find some food when I noticed some liquid on the glass shelf above the bottom drawer. Yep, you guessed it. One of the Pepsi's (the one at the very back on the bottom) had decided to leak. I, er..., had to spend some extended time in the bathroom at that moment, so Peter ended up cleaning it up by himself. Apparently, since it was the soda in the back, everytime he moved a soda out of the box, a small wave of soda would accompany it, spilling onto the floor. So, there was a lot of sticky everywhere. And to top it all off, both Peter and I have splitting headaches.
Some good things though, we have our wedding invitations and they look beautiful. And, we picked up at Borders one of the Kaiser Chiefs' CDs. We hear them on Triple J all the time, so we knew we would like the rest of their album. While Tigger was here I got some good pictures of her because she was complaining that she didn't have any new (and good) pictures of herself, and I happened to have my digital camera handy. AND! And, now we are much more motivated to get our own car insurance and to get that new vehicle that Mom said she's going to help us get. So that's good.
So, now I'm going to interrupt Peter from rearranging the living room (now studio!) so he can look over what I've written and see if there's anything he'd like to add... -Jenny
Monday, May 14, 2007
Happy Monday!
And another week commences....
Jenny got a call today from the framing shop she'd applied at back before she quit Michaels, and has an interview set up for this Thursday. This was the job she was the most interested in, really, as it was a non-corporate framing position and she wouldn't have to deal with all the other unrelated retail mess that she had to put up with at Michaels.
My work continues to be OK. I've come to terms with the fact that I need to stick with this job atleast for the forseeable future (the next couple of months or so), as I've atleast got to stick it out until after the wedding, our vacation, and Jenny's back to being gainfully employed. It will be easy to take any time off that I'll need, and I'm certainly liking the paychecks....
Sunday was Mother's Day, and Jenny headed over to CdA to spend time with her mom and give her the present she bought - a cute apple tea pot. When they first moved into their house, her mom was torn between decorating the kitchen with apples or in a rooster motif. She ended up going with the apple scheme, but it proved a lot harder to find apple themed things then roosters. We see kitchen accessories and decorations with roosters on them everywhere now and very few apples, so her mom was (not surprisingly) quite pleased with her gift.
On the wedding front, while we did get our invitations in last week, they weren't exacty what we'd expected them to be and after some deliberating decided to reorder them from a different supplier. So, on the con side, we'll have to wait another week to send them out. But on the pro side, they'll be a little more interesting, hopefully look like what we wanted, and it'll give us some time to finish up our gift registries and we can include that information with the announcements. Jenny's going to get together with Jenni on Wednesday to work on registry stuff, among other things.
We did some looking around for a ring for me this weekend. The original plan was to find something inexpensive at an online store, but when we realized the cost wouldn't be too much different, we decided it would be better to buy something locally so I could try it on and get exactly what I want. Jenny ordered her shoes for the wedding, and they should be here about the same time as the new invitations.
Since we're going to be sticking around this apartment for a while longer (probably atleast a year), the plan now is to do some serious rearranging of the furniture to make things more comfortable. The TV, couch, gaming stuff, and all the bookcases are going into what is now the office, to make a sort of den/cozy entertainment room. We'll end up with a much more open atmosphere to the living room (which will turn into our studio space), and we'll be able to expand our kitchen/dining room space a bit. A lot of this process will mean purchasing some more/new furniture, but that's something we've needed to do for a while - like a pantry for the kitchen, and some more shelves for all of our ever growing library.
I've been using a very cool room planner tool I found online that's part of a furniture store's website. It lets you customize the rooms and furniture, save and print your designs, and sure beats constantly redrawing the same room over and over on paper. You can find it here: Jordan's Furniture Room Planner
We did get out to see Spiderman 3 last week - I think the 2nd one was the better over all, but this one was definately a fun movie. I believe (as apparently many others do) that they tried to cram too much into it, and there was easily enough material to make two good movies from what they had. I'd say the bad guys, specifically Harry, were the real stars of this one. It's got a fair share of corny bits, and would probably be easier to watch on DVD (being excessively long), but is still well worth the price of admission just for the special effects and action sequences.
The TV season is winding down over the next week or two, so I suppose that'll free up some of our time when most of our shows go into reruns for a while. I'm thinking I'll do a finale wrap up post - maybe do a little mini-review of all the stuff we're currently watching.... as soon as I find the time. :)
I was planning on burning through all of the Harry Potter novels, so I'd be all caught up when the last one came out, but I kinda got slowed down and stalled out in the middle of the 4th book. I'm trying to get back into it and get finished so I can move on. From what Jenny says, of the series, it's the one to get stuck on - Rowling really tried to put too much in and it goes on forever. But once I get through it, the next two books are supposed to be back to being entertaining. Jenny just finished the 4th book, as well as the 4th book in the David Farland fantasy series ("The Runelords") she's simultaneously reading.
Jenny got a call today from the framing shop she'd applied at back before she quit Michaels, and has an interview set up for this Thursday. This was the job she was the most interested in, really, as it was a non-corporate framing position and she wouldn't have to deal with all the other unrelated retail mess that she had to put up with at Michaels.
My work continues to be OK. I've come to terms with the fact that I need to stick with this job atleast for the forseeable future (the next couple of months or so), as I've atleast got to stick it out until after the wedding, our vacation, and Jenny's back to being gainfully employed. It will be easy to take any time off that I'll need, and I'm certainly liking the paychecks....
Sunday was Mother's Day, and Jenny headed over to CdA to spend time with her mom and give her the present she bought - a cute apple tea pot. When they first moved into their house, her mom was torn between decorating the kitchen with apples or in a rooster motif. She ended up going with the apple scheme, but it proved a lot harder to find apple themed things then roosters. We see kitchen accessories and decorations with roosters on them everywhere now and very few apples, so her mom was (not surprisingly) quite pleased with her gift.
On the wedding front, while we did get our invitations in last week, they weren't exacty what we'd expected them to be and after some deliberating decided to reorder them from a different supplier. So, on the con side, we'll have to wait another week to send them out. But on the pro side, they'll be a little more interesting, hopefully look like what we wanted, and it'll give us some time to finish up our gift registries and we can include that information with the announcements. Jenny's going to get together with Jenni on Wednesday to work on registry stuff, among other things.
We did some looking around for a ring for me this weekend. The original plan was to find something inexpensive at an online store, but when we realized the cost wouldn't be too much different, we decided it would be better to buy something locally so I could try it on and get exactly what I want. Jenny ordered her shoes for the wedding, and they should be here about the same time as the new invitations.
Since we're going to be sticking around this apartment for a while longer (probably atleast a year), the plan now is to do some serious rearranging of the furniture to make things more comfortable. The TV, couch, gaming stuff, and all the bookcases are going into what is now the office, to make a sort of den/cozy entertainment room. We'll end up with a much more open atmosphere to the living room (which will turn into our studio space), and we'll be able to expand our kitchen/dining room space a bit. A lot of this process will mean purchasing some more/new furniture, but that's something we've needed to do for a while - like a pantry for the kitchen, and some more shelves for all of our ever growing library.
I've been using a very cool room planner tool I found online that's part of a furniture store's website. It lets you customize the rooms and furniture, save and print your designs, and sure beats constantly redrawing the same room over and over on paper. You can find it here: Jordan's Furniture Room Planner
We did get out to see Spiderman 3 last week - I think the 2nd one was the better over all, but this one was definately a fun movie. I believe (as apparently many others do) that they tried to cram too much into it, and there was easily enough material to make two good movies from what they had. I'd say the bad guys, specifically Harry, were the real stars of this one. It's got a fair share of corny bits, and would probably be easier to watch on DVD (being excessively long), but is still well worth the price of admission just for the special effects and action sequences.
The TV season is winding down over the next week or two, so I suppose that'll free up some of our time when most of our shows go into reruns for a while. I'm thinking I'll do a finale wrap up post - maybe do a little mini-review of all the stuff we're currently watching.... as soon as I find the time. :)
I was planning on burning through all of the Harry Potter novels, so I'd be all caught up when the last one came out, but I kinda got slowed down and stalled out in the middle of the 4th book. I'm trying to get back into it and get finished so I can move on. From what Jenny says, of the series, it's the one to get stuck on - Rowling really tried to put too much in and it goes on forever. But once I get through it, the next two books are supposed to be back to being entertaining. Jenny just finished the 4th book, as well as the 4th book in the David Farland fantasy series ("The Runelords") she's simultaneously reading.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Busy Week
Last Friday, after another exciting haircut with Jenni and her kids, no really, she had to put her son into a headlock so he wouldn't squirm so much when he was getting his hair cut. It was funny. But anyways, after that, Jenni and I picked up Peter and went to go look at a dress for me for the wedding, and to talk about other wedding stuff. Peter ended up on kid-watch while Jenni helped me into a couple dresses. Turns out I'm a 14 on top, and a 12 on the bottom. Yay... So, that means pretty much any dress is going to need alterations and hemming. Found one good one so far, it's $59, which is very affordable, but to alter and hem it will bring the total price to just under $200. That's doable, but I'd like to look for something that needs less work. Peter's going to buy a simple white gold band for now, and later we'll look into getting a jeweler to make a ring similar to mine. Jenni's blown my mind a little with how much we still have to get ready, but she said not to worry, we'll keep it simple and be ready in time.
I spent Saturday over at my parent's house, and my Aunt who lives nearby came over, since her and Dad's youngest brother and his family were coming over to pick up some old computers Dad revamped and was giving to my Uncle's family. So that was a nice little family gathering, although of my 4 cousins, the youngest REALLY needs Ritalin. He actually has a prescription, but he's got something wrong with his stomach, and sometimes he can't take any pills. Poor kid. I finally got to see the movie Eragon. Not as good as the book, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. Sunday was a day of shopping for various things. We dropped by Michaels and picked up 3 frames for the artwork we picked up at the comic con. Then went to Fred Meyers and picked up some nice shirts for Peter to replace some of his other shirts that had worn out and had to be tossed. Then we went to Safeway to pick up a bunch of food, as we were running out of normal things, milk, bread, soup, the usual.
Monday and Tuesday I spent with Jenni, hanging out and doing more wedding stuff. Made some calls, got some prices on photographers and set up an appointment with a florist. Yesterday, I cleaned the bathroom, because it needed it. I cleaned up the living room somewhat today, and put the art we got into the frames we had bought days previous. Then I went over to the apartment office to write up a work order, since part of the counter decided to not be attached anymore, for no apparent reason last night. I also added that the oven seems to be getting worse at keeping a temperature. Personally, I hope, whatever the problem, that the entire thing will need to be replaced, because it's old and sucks. The counter too. It also sucks. The people before us, decided to paint the countertops. But they didn't do a very good job.
Let's see, what else... I looked up a couple jobs on-line, but haven't written any cover letters yet, so haven't applied to anything yet. Soon. Oh, also, I finished reading Harry Potter 3, and book 2 in the Runelords series. Now I'm several chapters into book 3 of the Runelords series, and in the middle of Chapter 1 of Harry Potter 4. I alternate between the two books. Hmmm, can't think of anything else. But, boy, I've been busy!
I spent Saturday over at my parent's house, and my Aunt who lives nearby came over, since her and Dad's youngest brother and his family were coming over to pick up some old computers Dad revamped and was giving to my Uncle's family. So that was a nice little family gathering, although of my 4 cousins, the youngest REALLY needs Ritalin. He actually has a prescription, but he's got something wrong with his stomach, and sometimes he can't take any pills. Poor kid. I finally got to see the movie Eragon. Not as good as the book, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. Sunday was a day of shopping for various things. We dropped by Michaels and picked up 3 frames for the artwork we picked up at the comic con. Then went to Fred Meyers and picked up some nice shirts for Peter to replace some of his other shirts that had worn out and had to be tossed. Then we went to Safeway to pick up a bunch of food, as we were running out of normal things, milk, bread, soup, the usual.
Monday and Tuesday I spent with Jenni, hanging out and doing more wedding stuff. Made some calls, got some prices on photographers and set up an appointment with a florist. Yesterday, I cleaned the bathroom, because it needed it. I cleaned up the living room somewhat today, and put the art we got into the frames we had bought days previous. Then I went over to the apartment office to write up a work order, since part of the counter decided to not be attached anymore, for no apparent reason last night. I also added that the oven seems to be getting worse at keeping a temperature. Personally, I hope, whatever the problem, that the entire thing will need to be replaced, because it's old and sucks. The counter too. It also sucks. The people before us, decided to paint the countertops. But they didn't do a very good job.
Let's see, what else... I looked up a couple jobs on-line, but haven't written any cover letters yet, so haven't applied to anything yet. Soon. Oh, also, I finished reading Harry Potter 3, and book 2 in the Runelords series. Now I'm several chapters into book 3 of the Runelords series, and in the middle of Chapter 1 of Harry Potter 4. I alternate between the two books. Hmmm, can't think of anything else. But, boy, I've been busy!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Small Update
Well, I guess it's been a while since either of us updated the blog! Nothing too exciting has been going on. I've been sick with a nasty sinus infection for going on 3 weeks now. I've been feeling much better for the past week, but still very sniffly.
My sister turned 26 back on Feb. 21st, and had a good time. My Mom's birthday is coming up on the 21st. I have to close at work, but I might head over during the day to wish her happy birthday. Or, I'll head over with Peter on Thursday after he gets off work if she wants to wait to celebrate then.
Patty called this morning to tell me that my aunt who lives in Post Falls, ID is over her larengitis. In fact I could hear her and Dad laughing over the phone. So that was good. Patty also told me that Mom's sisters were coming up very soon, and was wondering if I was coming over. The memorial for Grandpa is supposed to happen sometime this month, but I don't know when that's happening exactly. Mom's been making quilts for herself and her siblings out of some of Grandpa's shirts and out of other material with scenes that remind her of him. I know she wanted the quilts to be done before the memorial, but I'm not sure how far she is at the moment.
About 2 weeks ago, I house and animal-sat for Jenni while she and family all went down to visit her parents-in-law in Arizona. That was fun. They have a nice house, and funny animals.
On Thursday, it was one of our friend's 29th birthdays. We hadn't spoken in months, but I figured it would still be nice to wish him a happy birthday. It turned out the e-mail address I had for him didn't work anymore, so I spent a couple hours hunting him down with Google, finally finding him through an image search. I got his work e-mail and wished him a happy birthday, and was imediately sent back a message saying that he would be out of the office till Monday. So, I hope he got it today and didn't get in trouble for getting a personal e-mail at work.
Hmm. Peter and I also saw some good movies lately, but I'll let him talk about them. -J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus
My sister turned 26 back on Feb. 21st, and had a good time. My Mom's birthday is coming up on the 21st. I have to close at work, but I might head over during the day to wish her happy birthday. Or, I'll head over with Peter on Thursday after he gets off work if she wants to wait to celebrate then.
Patty called this morning to tell me that my aunt who lives in Post Falls, ID is over her larengitis. In fact I could hear her and Dad laughing over the phone. So that was good. Patty also told me that Mom's sisters were coming up very soon, and was wondering if I was coming over. The memorial for Grandpa is supposed to happen sometime this month, but I don't know when that's happening exactly. Mom's been making quilts for herself and her siblings out of some of Grandpa's shirts and out of other material with scenes that remind her of him. I know she wanted the quilts to be done before the memorial, but I'm not sure how far she is at the moment.
About 2 weeks ago, I house and animal-sat for Jenni while she and family all went down to visit her parents-in-law in Arizona. That was fun. They have a nice house, and funny animals.
On Thursday, it was one of our friend's 29th birthdays. We hadn't spoken in months, but I figured it would still be nice to wish him a happy birthday. It turned out the e-mail address I had for him didn't work anymore, so I spent a couple hours hunting him down with Google, finally finding him through an image search. I got his work e-mail and wished him a happy birthday, and was imediately sent back a message saying that he would be out of the office till Monday.
Hmm. Peter and I also saw some good movies lately, but I'll let him talk about them. -J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus
Friday, December 01, 2006
Quick Sad Note
Much to everyone's surprise, my grandpa Howard passed away early this morning in his sleep. He was 79 years old, a WWII vet, twice widower, handyman, and all around nice guy.
He will be missed.
He will be missed.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Jenny Stuff
Sorry the last picture with the keys is out of focus, I had the camera set on landscapes not close ups, and after I switched it, I didn't want to get the camera or my keys that close to the spider again. :) It's a big thing huh? It's actually a little bigger then the white one I saw in the bedroom some months ago that freaked me out. But not bigger by much. This one is longer, and the white one was much fatter.
Yesterday my Dad turned 56, but I had to close at work, so we're going over to Cda to eat Mexican food at my family's favorite restuarant tonight, then back to their home to eat cake.
Last Thursday was my friend Jenni's birthday, she's now 27 and complaining that she's getting old. Although I think that might have had to do with her kids. ;} I had to close that day too, so we spent the day together on Friday. We had a good time, and so did her son, but her daughter was a little punk as usual. But she's only 3, what can you do? Jenni and I did almost manage to break Jenni's hand, but it was only bruised, thank goodness. I can only say that I DID tell her to close the van's back door before we open the garage door, and she thought it would fit. Well it didn't, and she got her hand stuck when she tried to close the van door WHILE the garage door was trying to go up. But she's fine. I swear. Although Eric probably thinks I'm the devil. Something always seems to happen when she and I are together (not always bad mind you). No matter that I've known her for 21 years... :) Anyway, we had cake before that, while the kids were taking a nap. It was fat free angel food cake, with fat free and probably sugar free chocolate pudding with some sort of candy mixed in. It looked like a soggy mess, but it tasted good. Mmmm.
Peter had to record Heroes for me last night, and I watched it earlier today. Soooo awesome. Really, if you haven't seen it yet, go watch the episodes you've missed on-line at www.nbc.com. GO NOW!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Who Needs A Title?
So, what have we been up to? Hmmm, mostly watching rented movies. In the past few days, we've seen The 40 year old virgin (recomend for a good laugh), Bloodrayne (better then expected, but we had really LOW expectations, so is ok), The Island (highly recomend), Hitchhiker's guide to the gallaxy (very funny), and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (much better then expected, I also recomend seeing it). I've never actually read the Hitchhiker books, so I don't know how they compare with the movie, but I thought it was funny.
Went to CDA yesterday and spent time with the family. Found out my Uncle Bob almost died in a horrible car accident a few days ago. If I can get Mom to send me the link, or the pictures of the accident (not bloody!), I'll post them so you can wonder with the rest of us how no one died. Apparently his boss was driving and started drifting towards the ditch. The co-worker in the middle grabbed the wheel to correct the SUV thing. The boss grabbed the wheel back and according to Bob and his co-worker, hit the gas and yelled "Yeehaw!" Moments later a semi had hit them, spun them around and pinned the vehical between it and the concrete barrier. Then the vehical caught on fire! Somehow they all made it out. I don't really know my Uncle Bob at all, but just looking at a picture of the pinned car on fire, where a blood relative almost died, really freaked me out. But he's OK.
I also had to spend time with one of the dogs (Matty). She's the oldest and wants to be the top dog, but my Aunt's puppy doesn't really get pack mentality yet, so she mostly just runs here there and everywhere without a thought to anything in her path, unless it's too hard to move when she hits it (like a wall). The puppy, Lily, is a 7 month old Akita, so she's HUGE, but she doesn't realize it. If she tries to submit to Matty, she tries to walk under her, instead of rolling over and showing belly and throat. Matty is tall, but so is Lily, and it is freakin' hilarious to watch Lily go under her. Matty isn't sure what to do since technically Lily is submitting, so there is no need to take her down a peg. So whenever I show up, Matty sucks up to me like an insecure child. It's really cute. (Matty likes me so much because I "saved her life" once, when she fell in the river by Alaskaland.)
Also freakin' hilarious is Lily trying to go under the Shih Tzu, Dusty. But he hates her for some reason (maybe that's why), so unless she sneaks up on him, he barks at her, and if her head is low enough, tries to bite her ears. She doesn't feel any of his bites though and thinks he's playing so pushes him until he chases her around. He's nice if we tell him to be nice, but if he's on the couch, he's at her head hight and will still bark at her if she tries to sniff him.
Hmm, what else? Oh yes, I took my first step to being a professional artist. For those who don't bother to check out my art blog, first, that's cool, whatever ;), but my friend Betty had commisioned me to paint an Alaskan landscape for her and her siblings as a wedding present to their mother. I finished it a few days ago, and just mailed it yesterday. It's going to Juneau, so hopefully it gets there ok, if not I think I'll just cry. I also got a huge piece of debarked diamond willow, so I think I'll try to do some carving on it. But we'll see how that goes.
Went to CDA yesterday and spent time with the family. Found out my Uncle Bob almost died in a horrible car accident a few days ago. If I can get Mom to send me the link, or the pictures of the accident (not bloody!), I'll post them so you can wonder with the rest of us how no one died. Apparently his boss was driving and started drifting towards the ditch. The co-worker in the middle grabbed the wheel to correct the SUV thing. The boss grabbed the wheel back and according to Bob and his co-worker, hit the gas and yelled "Yeehaw!" Moments later a semi had hit them, spun them around and pinned the vehical between it and the concrete barrier. Then the vehical caught on fire! Somehow they all made it out. I don't really know my Uncle Bob at all, but just looking at a picture of the pinned car on fire, where a blood relative almost died, really freaked me out. But he's OK.
I also had to spend time with one of the dogs (Matty). She's the oldest and wants to be the top dog, but my Aunt's puppy doesn't really get pack mentality yet, so she mostly just runs here there and everywhere without a thought to anything in her path, unless it's too hard to move when she hits it (like a wall). The puppy, Lily, is a 7 month old Akita, so she's HUGE, but she doesn't realize it. If she tries to submit to Matty, she tries to walk under her, instead of rolling over and showing belly and throat. Matty is tall, but so is Lily, and it is freakin' hilarious to watch Lily go under her. Matty isn't sure what to do since technically Lily is submitting, so there is no need to take her down a peg. So whenever I show up, Matty sucks up to me like an insecure child. It's really cute. (Matty likes me so much because I "saved her life" once, when she fell in the river by Alaskaland.)
Also freakin' hilarious is Lily trying to go under the Shih Tzu, Dusty. But he hates her for some reason (maybe that's why), so unless she sneaks up on him, he barks at her, and if her head is low enough, tries to bite her ears. She doesn't feel any of his bites though and thinks he's playing so pushes him until he chases her around. He's nice if we tell him to be nice, but if he's on the couch, he's at her head hight and will still bark at her if she tries to sniff him.
Hmm, what else? Oh yes, I took my first step to being a professional artist. For those who don't bother to check out my art blog, first, that's cool, whatever ;), but my friend Betty had commisioned me to paint an Alaskan landscape for her and her siblings as a wedding present to their mother. I finished it a few days ago, and just mailed it yesterday. It's going to Juneau, so hopefully it gets there ok, if not I think I'll just cry. I also got a huge piece of debarked diamond willow, so I think I'll try to do some carving on it. But we'll see how that goes.
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