Footprints with a New Year

Well another year has come and gone...I can't believe I say good bye to my 10th year reunion year. Pretty crazy. Funny how one reflects at the end of a year. Did I accomplish my Resolutions from this year passed? Well I'd say I was about 50%, maybe 75%. I will work harder this year. I think I say that every year too.

Well it's raining a lot and will be raining a lot for the next couple of days. I think it's the Universes' way of cleansing us for a brand new year. Washing out the old and such.

This evening I will see my parents, I will see an old friend and I will play games with new friends. I'm glad I had another year with my parents and I'm happy I have my friends always.

As I have walked through this year, some new footprints have walked beside me, some old footprints have moved away, some have just stopped and others continue on by my side. For my new friends, I'm glad we have met and I hope my passion for all things is conveyed on to you. For my old friends who have moved on, I wish you well on your new path even if it must be without me. For those of you that have stopped, I hope you start again, if you need to go backwards, do it with caution for looking back is bad luck. For those of you by my side, I look forward to our newest year together and all the adventures set forth for us.

Be careful all and Have a Happy New Year!

Living on The Beaches, Lot#84

Well kiddies, it finally happened. We got our lender situation all under control and have picked our lot. With a bigger surprise, it will be done in April. We thought it wouldn't be done till maybe June-ish.

Last night we picked our lot, roof elevation, carpet, padding, ceiling fans, kitchen and bathroom flooring and got down to 4 counter top choices, we will make the final decision next Saturday. It's all very nail bitting, trust me. We'll also pick our stucco and roof tile then too.

Our cute little address: 1**0 Las Playas St., Lot#84

I can't think of a better way to start a New Year.

Railroad Tycoon back in the day...

"Light" ranting

Where you see bright,
I see dark.

Your bright skies and rainbows make you happy,
My dark skies and clouds keep me at ease.

The sun beckons you to play outside and thrive from its rays,
My moon calls me from sleep to dance in its pale light.

Your sun makes me sad,
My night allows me to thrive.

For your ways are not everyone’s right ways.
Embrace life when it is dark as you shove your light down my throat.

If your light is so great, why do people die when they head toward it?

Reading over my dog cookbook.

There were some helpful tips to keep your dogs healthy, this struck me really funny:

"Don't let your dogs eat cat food, it's high in crude fats and protein. Also, it has pictures of cats on it."

My bubble of happiness.

So Christmas is really over. I got some pretty neat gifts. I have enough iTunes to give me 1/2 a days music easy. I got so many kitchen gadets and pans, I can't wait to cook/bake! I even got a dog cookie cookbook! Yes, I need more ways to spoil our dogs.

It was fun to watch everyone open gifts and hug. I love family and friends. I finally felt the warmth inside I was looking for. It wasn't the gifts so much as being surrounded by love and happiness, it was like I was in a bubble all day long. I'm still a little drunk on it.

Hope everyone found their own "Bubble of Happiness."

Carb loading for my day.

Eating, shopping, a garage door is installed and wrapping! Full day but more important, fufilling. We went to Molly J's for breakfast, mmmm. I ordered chicken fried steak and eggs, toast and pancakes. I didn't finish it all, shopping with bricks in your stomach, not a good idea. I headed out at about 10:00am and finished up and arrived home around 2:30pm.

I went to 9 stores. I think 4ish hours is good. I even got my car washed, Atomic Betty is clean! Poor car has been through the ringer. I then got the call as I was almost home... we need nuts and plumbers tape, can you go to Lowe's.... ewww. Nothing like getting lost in a warehouse, you all know the commercials, you know what I'm talking about. Luck was on my side. I walked in and the isle in front of me was nuts and bolts. Easy enough, now to find a sales associate to find plumbers tape. Hopefully, I won't find someone who started 2 days ago and works with wood. I ran into 2 people who were helping a couple with paint. The girl asked what I was looking for and walked right down the isle we were next to and picked up tape and asked "10ft or 25ft." Good thing for cell phones. With a one quick ring, I was on my way out the door. Yay for Lowes. My dad and uncle were installing a garage door for us. YAY for not having to open the garage door in the rain anymore! It is a Merry Christmas indeed.

Now, I had to wrap. Erin was going to do a family thing, my dad took the dogs with him so I had no excuses. I made some tamales for dinner and had a ginger ale... mmm. Yummy Christmas Eve dinner for me all by myself. I ate a couple Christmas chocolates and got going. I watched Elf till the 24 hours of a Christmas Story started at 8:00pm. Erin got home at 10:00pm and ruined my mojo by turning off a Christmas Story and playing a video game. Wrapping wasn't as much fun listening to people dying in the background. Who knew I'd be wrapping till 11:30pm and dropping gifts off at friends' homes after that. I'm going to bed and falling a sleep to Ralphie writing a theme about his longing for a gun and beating up Flick, it's 1:30am. I love this goofy movie.

Merry Christmas Eve... well I guess I can just say Merry Christmas now.

Out with all the crazies looking for spirit... or the perfect gifts.

So with the schedule which is my life, I have had no time to really shop for hours and hours except the day after Thanksgiving. With 2 days left till "the big one" I have quite a few gifts and stocking stuffers to get. Since I was shopping with one of the people I need to finish with, I was destined to be out on Christmas Eve. Sounds fun, we shall see.

Okay, so I get that people are trying to figure out that special gift that will make the receivers' eyes all a glow, I get that they are the only ones who are in a hurry but where I lose my patient hat and want to do nothing else but strangle them with it, is when people swirve or stop in front of me. I have little patience for stupid drivers. I will end this rant here.

My biggest gifting problem you ask? Every year my bank sponsers an orphange with a giving tree. I try to pick 2 or 3 cards because no matter how much I think I'm struggling, I really am not. Well this year they chose older kids and with older kids come more expensive price tags. So I chose a girl who wanted a game (wow what a shocker). So little 9 year old Karen wanted a Scavenger Hunt board game. I went to Target, I found nothing. I went to Wal-Mart, again nothing. I went to Toys R Us.... oh yes, nothing. I went to K-B's, Walgreens, Longs, Rite-Aid... nothing, nothing and more nothing. WHAT'S ON EARTH WAS THIS MYSTERY GAME? So I went to the tell all know all of games... Board game geek, it showed me a game from 1982. Damn. So I tried Ebay, same 1982 board game. Now 3 weeks have gone by and it's 2 days before Christmas and the gift is due TODAY. So I got to thinking... Scavenger Hunt, finding things, figuring out, solving clues... CLUE. There is a new version that is called Clue Mysteries. I've seen that everywhere and it's about $20ish, I thought that would be nice. I went to Target and they had one copy. I figured that was a sign. Looking over the box I'd wish they'd had 2 so I could have bought a copy for myself. Happy with my purchase, I walked in the bank smiling and I think a hint of Christmas spirit found itself inside me.

Another debacle... the big dog store. My mom saw this sweatshirt she really liked on this lady at the beach last weekend. I wanted to buy it for her. So I went to the mall 2 days before Christmas.... oye. Parking was pretty simple, amazing. We walked into the big dog store and looked around, I wasn't seeing it. Finally, as I was turning to leave, I saw it in the furthest back corner. I marched on over and started looking at sizes... 5x, 5x, 5x, 4x, 4x, 3x, 2x, 1x.... crap. Since when are there only huge sizes left... saddened, I walked out of the store. The mall was a bust but Karen still got her game, I hope she likes it.

6 hours past and many a bag was loaded into the back of my car. Lists were checked off, smiles all around. Only a few gifts left for tomorrow. Sweet.

Happy Hollowdays... I think people have forgotten what they are about... the hollowness saddens me.

I was the skinny girl?

So I got a call that said, I was not chosen for the big loser contest. Apparently, the girls chosen were quite "bigger" than myself. I was one of the "smaller" girls. Tell me I didn't laugh for about 10 minutes when I got off the phone. That's a bright side I would have never thought of to not being picked.

Plan B shall now take effect. Personal challenge is just as rewarding... never question my ability to adapt a plan on any given moment. I'll fight every blistering, bloody, sore muscle, fatigued step of the way. My stubbornness is empowering.

13 1/2 months to go...

"Look mommie, I can use the pen all by myself."

Like a tray of water in the freezer... I froze.

So I went in for my interview and any thoughts I wanted to convey that I was the girl that would compete the hardest just flew right out of my head. Maybe I'll get a sympathy vote because I was just that sad. They decide today.

I love kisses

Well yes those too but I'm speaking of the New Hershey Candy Coated Kisses. They are pretty yummy and cute. A licorice bite snuck in the picture it was jealous because I was eating those yesterday. They taste just like another candy, I just can't figure out what... so please visit your neighborhood store and eat some so you can tell me the candy. Thanks.

JoeCon '05

So this past weekend an old friend of a friend came into town from the Bay area for 4 days of gaming bliss. With this being so close to the holidays and spending time with family being high on the list... I was only able to game 2 nights.

However, Joe, of JoeCon, is a very nice guy and we wish he lived closer so he could be a regular. In my time on the table I played El Grande, RoboRally (well 1/2 a game, interrupted by a migraine) and Age of Steam (did not know how I felt about this game the 1st time I played it). Being the unusally fair minded person, I have made a point in life to try things 2-3 times to give a fair opinion of "hell no, that sucks."

Needless to say, Age of Steam was much more well received (Joe said he wouldn't let me leave till I liked it, so I really didn't have much choice). Secretly still, 2 rounds in I was trying to really understand the game. It made sense much faster. Foresight is an enemy of mine so this was my disability I figured out. With no taksies backsies, I took 3rd of 6. I guess that's alright. So I won't mind so much if this game hits the table more.

RoboRally was the only game that supported 8 so that came out Saturday night... it got long and drawn out. I tagged out with Erin when she arrived so I could attempt to detour my migraine. An hour and half later they were still playing and people were quitting. Too many robots with no room or the right cards to move.

El Grande is just fun. I like to hear the cubes when they drop in the Caballero. Watching people get paranoid about their home turf is funny too.

JoeCon was fun, there were even T-shirts designed I wish I could have ordered one in time to wear. I can't wait till next year when he comes back.

My Crusade to Become the Biggest Loser

I want to be a loser. I want people to walk down the street and see me and say, "hey that girl is one of the losers." And at the end of 16 weeks, I want to hear, "wow look at her, she WAS the biggest loser.

For those of you who think I'm nuts, well, that's besides the point. In my city, one of the radio stations is having a "Biggest Loser 2" contest. To see who can lose the most weight in 16 weeks. We'll work out with a trainer (and maybe a nutritionist?) 4-6 days a week. I want this more than anyone could imagine. I'm so worried about my health and the medical history in my family. Coming on 30 has really got me thinking. My ulitimate goal is to be back down to my high school weight by my 30th birthday. I have 14 months. I believe it is very do-able and I want/need this challenge. I miss a lot of things that were so easy in my early 20's, funny how it just slipped away from me.

I got a call! I have an interview Tuesday at 2:30pm... please everyone cross your fingers for me.

So this is my Christmas wish... to be a big loser in the New Year.

Santa Plays 20 questions with Melissa the 5 year old.

Erin did me a huge favor by playing Santa at Petsmart for "Santa Paws" photos. Well every once in awhile, Santa Erin had to take pics with children and not animals. There was a particular family of 4 and the youngest, Melissa, had many a question for Santa Erin.

M: Where are your reindeer?
S: Out back behind the store.

M: Can I see them?
S: Well I don't know, they are way out back and resting.

M: Why?
S: They had a long flight and need to rest.

M: What are their names?
S: There's Comet and Blitzen and Donner and...uh... you know the most famous one, what's his name?
M: Oh yeah, Rudolph!
S: Now you tell me the rest of them.
M: Uh...

M: Do you have a mom?
S: Yes.

M: What is her name?
S: Mrs. Klaus, no wait that's my wife, mama Klaus. (looks at me in panic, I'm trying not to pee and/or laugh)

M: Do you have dogs?
S: Yes.

M: What are their names?
S: Zoey and Piper.

M: Okay, bye Santa.

Imagine that being a really fast conversation, which I'm sure for Erin, seemed like an eternity. It was hilarious!

Anyway, Happy Holidays all!

Literally

I have a lot of friends who are teachers. Who also have friends that are teachers. So I can get some really funny emails about students from various schools. This turned up in my inbox yesterday. It's finals week and a girl put this as her answer. No joke. A high school student.

Erin and her quest to finish... attempt #2.

The Shadows of Today

Is my day gray or is the worlds' day gray?

Am I moving slow or is the world moving too fast?

Is the wind sweeping across my face or is the wind blowing me around?

Are my feet carrying me forward or is the universe drawing me forward?

most days I make my decisions... today I'll let the universe do it for me, I need a break.

It's amazing how good a sandwich from the trash is.

Poor girl, multi-tasking was not her strong point. I went to subway for lunch for 2 reasons: healthier food and to get subway gift certificates for my dad for Christmas. Sweet girl but not a whole lot upstairs.

So I ordered a sandy-wich, it was made and then I asked for the gift certificates. Well asking the girl who bent over and her hat fell off for the gift certificates should have been my first clue. Anyway, apparently she couldn't hold my sandwich and take money for the gift certificates, so she dropped it in the trash. However, I didn't see that part. Then when I stood there waiting for it, after she handed me my gift certificates she looked at me like "why are you still standing there?" I asked where my sandwich was, so we looked around and she found it in the trash so she had to make me a whole new one. This didn't seem to surprise her other 4 co-workers.

Spending invisible money.

Step 1: Deposit money & bonus.
Step 2: Sign for it.
Step 3: Leave to shop.
Step 4: Put miles on Debit Card.
Step 5: Go to view damage online.
Step 6: Realize ALL money is gone.
Step 7: Upon further review, realizing it was never deposited.
Step 8: Looking at receipt, then noticing Christopher Gr*** has all your money.
Step 9: Go bowling with the heads of people at your bank.
Step 10: Have your money back in said account within 10 minutes.

Fuck me....