12.29.2006

Under the weather.

It's gorgeous outside. It's bright and sunny and somewhere around 50 degrees. It's been like this forever. How does one possibly get sick in this weather? I'm pretty sure I've overdosed on Vitamin C twice already today, but I can't seem to kick whatever is kicking me in the arse. I have a scratchy throat and just an overall feeling of blah, bleh, bleck, blooey.

On a brighter note, I spent my morning at work re-vamping my myspace profile. I've been all about Moose lately. I really need to get into Dreamweaver and make something a little nicer, but I figured I'd give my basic knowledge of HTML a little workout.

I hope this little bug leaves my system in time for New Years Eve. Fingers are crossed.

12.28.2006

Time to set goals.

My goals for 2007, in no particular order:

  • Save $4,000.00
  • Knit one thing every month
  • Create one painting a month
  • Make and mail cards for birthdays
  • Write to Jimmy at least once a month
  • Read one book a month
  • Go on one road trip for at least 4 days
  • Visit both Grandma's at least twice per month
  • Get an Empire pass and go to the beach every weekend over the summer
  • Eat less dairy
  • Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day
  • Cook dinner at least 4 times a week
  • Visit the Met, the MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum and PS1 at least 2 times
  • Knit myself something
  • Go to an Opera or the Ballet
  • Write on this blog at least 5 times a week

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list. I'm going to head over to 43 things and update my list there too.

12.22.2006

No time to Blog.

Must Knit.

Brodie's gift didn't come today. Argh.

I hope I get to go home early.

I might have to brave the mall tonight.

It's cold today.

I wish it would snow already.

I had a Peanut Chew for breakfast.

My mind is only working in one sentence per thought mode.

Back to knitting.

12.21.2006

Crunch Time.

It's time for the Christmas stress to begin. It stems from many different things including:

- Not receiving all of Brodie's gifts yet. I ordered from Amazon on the 12th. They said no later than the 22nd. Something tells me that it isn't going to be here by tomorrow. (When I say "something", I mean "tracking".) I mailed them all to my work address, so I won't be here on Saturday. Doh! I have a solution, but I'd rather not have to resort to it.

- I haven't finished all of my knitting. I still have my Godparent's, Brodie's Mom, and both my Grandma's to do. It's not like any of them read this blog, but I'm not telling you what they are until after Christmas. It's still doable...

- Splitting Christmas Eve between my family and Brodie's family. All I have to say is thank goodness the two houses are within 3 miles of each other. There might be a lot of back and fourth. Ugh.

- The dog. What are we going to do with the dog?

- Wrapping. I've wrapped all of Brodie's gifts except the one that hasn't arrived. I just have to do everyone else's.

- I still have to get something for Jen. Hi Jen. I know you're reading this. What do you want?

- I haven't done laundry in three weeks. Really. I'm running low...

- This belly ache. Errr.

On a brighter note. My boss gave me a $100.00 gift card to Nordstrom. Never in my life have I shopped there. I'm excited to go after the holiday's! I'm thinking...Shoes...

12.20.2006

This is just hilarious.

Words Women Use:

1.) FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2.) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five Minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3.) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine".

4.) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5.) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6.) That's Okay: T his is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7.) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.

8.) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying F@!K YOU!

9.) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "what's wrong", for the woman's response refer to # 3.

Good thing Brodie is catching on to woman language. He's cracking the code.

12.19.2006

Out of it.

I'm not sure if it's the lack of sleep, the belly ache that still hasn't subsided (over 2 weeks now), or worrying about my sick dog that has me completely turned around today, but I drove to work in a daze and now that I'm here I can't quite manage to form a sentence without re-reading it 12 times.

Let's tackle the "lack of sleep" issue first. Dylan is sick and he wakes up in the middle of the night coughing. It will happen repeatedly and it breaks my heart. It wakes me up every single time because I'm so worried that he's spitting something up. Poor thing. It must be so painful for him to jerk his 2.6 lb body around like that. He's been on antibiotics for almost a week now and I've seen little improvement. It's so frustrating not to know what's wrong with him.

Then there is my lovely boyfriend who, unfortunately, sometimes has to wake up at ungodly hours to go to work. For example, last night he set his alarm for 5:16am. It went off once, twice, three times, 4, 5, 6...Yep, every 5 minutes for quite a while, which means that I woke up every 5 minutes for quite a while. It's just plain rude to press snooze so many times when your significant other doesn't have to be awake for another 2 hours. I mean, I do sympathize that he has to be awake so early, I do, but that also means he gets to go home early. Nap it off, babe. Elongating my day is not the way to my heart. I'm sure this has been a battle of the sexes since the invention of the snooze bar, but really, have some courtesy. Love you.

Belly ache. I've been nauseous for 2 over two weeks. It started after I ate at Spoon cafe in Lindenhurst on a Friday night. I've eaten there before with no problem, so I just thought I got a bad piece of cheese this time. I was sick that whole weekend, and that's when the Taco Bell Ecoli scare started up and needless to say, I eat at Taco Bell at least twice a week. It's the ONLY fast food I eat. Seven layer burritos are so ridiculously yummy. So I finally went to the Dr. on Tuesday. I told him about my nausea and that I was having pains in my stomach, kind of like I worked out my abs, but we all know I didn't work out. He sent me for blood work, a pregnancy test, and an abdominal sonogram. After another week of feeling ill, I finally got through to someone at my Dr.'s office (I got the voicemail and the run around for 2 days), and the Dr. called me back to tell me that my blood work came back fine, I wasn't pregnant, and my abdominal sonogram was completely normal. I told him I was still feeling sick and he really had nothing to say (yes, the search for a new primary care physician is in the works). I spoke to him this past Thursday and Friday I was sick to my stomach all day. Then, Saturday came and I was feeling better. Sunday too. Back to work Monday and it started again. What is the deal? Is it something at work? Is it Christmas time stress? Is it worrying about the pup? I never, ever get sick in my stomach. Never get nauseous. NEVER. This is all so strange and 3 Liters of Ginger ale later really starting to affect my diet and energy and general happiness.

In other news, I had a pleasant weekend. Friday night was ruined by my belly hating me, so Brodie, Jen and I just hung out in the living room. We knit and watched TV and it was a nice mellow night. Saturday Brodie and I drove in to Sunnyside Queens to attend a party for his friend Kevin from Kentucky who just finished his dissertation in English Literature. Him and Marie have a great one bedroom apartment and it made me want to move into the city so bad. I had a blast talking to complete strangers about arts and culture that I don't get to talk about very much out here. I felt like I completely belonged there. We drove home and went back to his place for a Birthday poker game with Pat, Stevie, Brucia, CJ, Joey, Dave, Mike and KT. I didn't win, but Brodie came in second. It was a fun night with fun people and the puppy and Meathead. Sunday we went out to dinner with my family for my parents anniversary at Mama's in Copiague. Their portions are gigantic and we all had plenty of leftovers. It was a good time with lots of good laughs. We went back to Brodie's that night to watch Superman Returns while I filled out the 50 Christmas cards that I made. All in all a slightly productive, very fun weekend.

I must be getting back to my knitting...

12.14.2006

Woopsies.

Missed a day.

Yesterday had it's ups and downs. I received my Christmas bonus and it was much much more than I thought it would be. That was fun. I took it directly to the bank, then transferred it directly into my savings. I feel really good about that. My goal is to save $4000.00 a year for the next 3 years which will give me roughly $20,000.00 in savings which will hopefully be sufficient enough for a down payment on a house. This is the plan:

-Save $38.50 a week which equals $2,000.00 a year.
-I get paid hourly, not salary, so there are 4 "extra" weeks in the year. Those paychecks will go directly into savings because if I can make due on the normal 4 paychecks a month all of those other months, why should I need that extra money? (sure, it would be fun to splurge those months, but I have a GOAL) That should be around another $2,000.00 a year.

-Now, I know that there is always the possibility that I will need to dip into my saving for say car repair, or if the dog gets hurt and needs medical attention. This past year I have dipped into my savings to buy a new bed - $700.00, and to buy the puppy - $700.00. Oh, there was also my sister's wedding. I withdrew around $500.00 for things like my dress, the shower, a gift, etc. Wow, now that I look back, that was a lot of money to spend out of savings, but if I look ahead I don't see any major purchases. Aside from all that withdrawing I'm starting the new year off with $2,000.00 more than I started with last year.

- Then there are also other little perks such as bonus's and stuff. My boss is very good to me, so if next year I receive even a fraction of what I got in bonus's this year, I'll definitely come out way past my goal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

- There's always the the idea of picking up a second job, but with the dog's needs I don't feel like that is a viable option at this point.

Now the only trick is to get Brodie on a savings plan as well. I mean, I'm not trying to predict the future, but I'm absolutely positive I want him in mine. I can only speak for myself though. We'll see.

I'm so very excited about this challenge. I like a challenge, so that's what I'm going to call it. I challenge myself to save $4,000.00 a year for the next 3 years. (when I lived with my parents for a year I was able to save $7,000.00 in one year, damn, those were the days)

Now if only the vet didn't cost so much. We took Dylan for what they told us the past two previous visits would be his last booster shot last night. Turns out, the woman said he's going to need one more in 3 weeks because they give them up until they're 4 months, and he's only 3 and a half months now. WHAT!!!! Also, they didn't tell us that he needed a "follow up" on the deworming that he got the last visit. Oh, don't forget his monthly heartworm pill. On top of all this, he has been making this weird hairball hacking noise which the vet thinks could be either kennel cough because it's "going around" or an upper respiratory infection even though his chest sounded fine, and gave us liquid anti-biotics to give him twice a day. All in all, what I thought would be a $50.00 vet visit turned into a $111.00 vet visit. Ouch. Ugh. Errr. Brodie paid this time because I paid the last time and for things like wee wee pads, food, treats and toys. I guess you can't avoid it, puppies are expensive. I love my little Dylan to death though, so it's worth it.

12.12.2006

Is it Friday yet?

I moved the living room back to it's original state last night and it made me sad to lose the fun floor space for the pup. He has been incredibly hyper lately and I feel like giving him all that room to play for those few days was such a tease. Then, he peed on my comforter last night. This was after, that same morning, he woke up, jumped off the ridiculously high bed on his own (something he's never done), and pooped on the wee wee pad. I was shocked and completely in love with him for not making me put him down on the floor. He usually let's me know when he needs to go to the bathroom when he's up there. There's finger nibbling, growling, running to the end of the bed. All very clear signs that he needs to go. So I guess the question is, was I just a bad Mommy and oblivious to the fact he had to get down last night? I mean, it was at the edge of the bed where he had his accident. Or was he just getting back at me for taking away his floor space? These are the things I'm pondering today.

12.11.2006

I had a dream.

Last night I dreamt that I was blogging again. I took it as a sign, and well, here I am.

Much has happened in the past 3 months, a lot of it blogworthy, so let me catch you up.

- Got my car fixed after the break in, but had to bring it back to the shop because they damaged things when they were fixing it. Pretty lame, but I'm glad it's all behind me.

- October was a super busy month. Loads of fun though. There was the boat burning in Sayville; Paul Johnson's annual Halloween costume party at the AOH; Brodie took me to see a stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture show; Irish Day in Long Beach; My Brother-in-law threw my sister a surprise 30th birthday bash with this crazy magician; and Brodie was in a run of Jekyll and Hyde at Airport playhouse.

- November was explosive, or at least it felt that way. Brodie and I purchased a dog. His name is Dylan and he's a Yorkshire Terrier. He was 2 lbs when we bought him and he has to be up to at least 3 or 4 now. We'll find out on Wednesday at his next Vet appointment. I love him and he's brought so much joy to my life. A lot went on surrounding this purchase considering Brodie and I don't live together, but I think we've gotten it all worked out, and Dylan seems to be adjusting nicely to his secret living arrangements (I'm not supposed to have pets, shhhh...). Brodie's birthday was on the 16th and as a gift to him we went to see Bob Dylan on the 13th. On his actual birthday I took him to Teller's steak house. Then there was Thanksgiving dinner at his sister's in Commack, and dessert at my aunt's in Oakdale. There was a long weekend with lot's of crafting going on. Knitting/Christmas decorating. Fun times.

- December has started off a bit shaky, particularly because of this. They were all friends of mine. It's quite sad, and I haven't really had a chance to come to terms with it yet. I'm not very good at death. I have a lot of questions, a lot of anger, and a lot of fear. I haven't been able to stop thinking about their families, about everyone who loved them, about them no longer on this earth. It's all very overwhelming. We, unfortunately, had a Holiday party planned on the same nights of the wakes. What was meant to be a happy, joyous time with my friends turned out to be a night of reflection and gratitude for everyone in my life. I really love my life, my family and my friends. I'm so lucky to have them all. I never want that to change, but with life comes death, and I'll eventually have to deal with that fear I have.

Pictures from the past few months can be found on my flickr. Brodie got me the most fabulous camera for my birthday and I've been going crazy with it. Enjoy.