Day 8: Saturday Brunch and the Women's Discussion Group

Slept in a bit, and when I woke up I worked on a few things online. I cooked up a delicious brunch of: sausage patties, scrambled eggs, seasoned potatoes, Eggo waffles, and slices of banana bread. It was a wonderful budget lunch. I got the sausage patties and seasoned potatoes at the dollar store, and only used half of, and a third of each respectively. So 50 cents for sausage, 33 cents for potatoes. Used 4 eggs, so that was 50 cents worth of eggs. 4 waffles, so that was about a dollar there. And about 25 cents for the banana bread. Free coffee to go with it, and it was less than $3 we both had a delicious filling breakfast! :) Hans always tells me that I don't need to think about the costs like that, and that we're not that poor, but there's something satisfying about knowing that for only $3 we had all that food to eat! :)

After brunch we sat around and chatted for a bit, which is always fun. Hans is a very smart, very interesting guy, and I love when we get the chance to talk with each other about ideas and information.

We snuggled for a bit and just relaxed, and then I got up to shower before going to the Women's Discussion Group at Midsummer Fairies.

Had a nice drive over to Lancaster, listening to Tiger Army, as always! :) I'm totally hooked! Nick 13 has an amazing voice, and the songs cover so much emotional ground for me; everything from being depressed and suicidal to feeling nostalgic to being in love. It's truly perfect for capturing so many of the emotions in my life. I'm very much looking forward to his solo work, doing more of the Americana sounding pieces! Can't wait! :)

So, I got to Midsummer Fairies, and looked around the store. Whenever I go there I get a new stone. I've gotten a Labradorite, an Aventurine (I always want to call it an Adventurine, like it's an adventure!) and today I got an oval carved Selenite and a Tree Moss Agate that was especially beautiful because half of it was totally white and the other half was full of the moss coloring. I also got the CoExist bumper sticker that I've seen on cars for years and have never seen for sale! Last time I was there I got a bumper sticker that says "Something Wiccan This Way Comes!" because I couldn't stop laughing at the play on words!

So, I went to the Women's Discussion Group and had a wonderful time. Met a couple new people, saw again a lady that I know, and we had a very uplifting time talking about working through the clutter and chaos in our lives. Very wonderful! We actually ended up going over the hour time and were still talking half an hour after the end time! :)

Had a nice drive back, and it's surprisingly cloudy, cool and foggy here on the mountain. In the high desert where Lancaster is, it was a bit foggy near the mountain edges of the Antelope Valley, but in the valley it was quite sunny and nice.

So, I'm back at home, probably going to have some left over burrito while Hans is over at Scott and Jay's house. Definitely need to get started with packing, because it will be Tuesday before I know it! :)

I'll update more at the end of the day, or tomorrow.

Update: Didn't end up starting to pack, except metering out my pre-natal vitamins and 5-HTP into the pill case I bought at the dollar store. And then I had a dream Saturday morning that I left it behind and had to go buy all new stuff in Madison.

Had left over burritos for dinner, then did a fill-in on my nails, and I'm pretty pleased with them. The left hand always looks fantastic (because I'm right-handed) but the right hand tends to look a bit rougher. I did a nice job on them though, and they're ready to withstand 2 weeks in the Midwest. Unless I'm clawing ice off something, but hopefully the weather will not be that bad. I've painted them a nice spring pink color. Not too flamboyant, not too pastel. I layered this cream color over a shimmer hot pink, and it looks fantastic! I want to pick up a clear top-coat and give it a couple layers of that for an added shine.

Did I really just write an entire paragraph about my nails? Yes, yes I did.

So, while I was poisoning the air with the acrylic, Hans came home. He watched some Family Guy, and fell asleep. I sat and watched some too while my nails dried. I actually had to re-watch an episode because in the credits it said that Connor Trinneer (Trip from Star Trek: Enterprise) had done a voice, and I couldn't place where he was. I did look online, and it gave me a clue where to look; he was "Sharon Stone's unsuspecting victim". I couldn't place where in the episode there was a flashback thing to Sharon Stone, but with that clue, I was able to spot where it was, and see the bit where he did a voice. He was her unsuspecting victim, because like a praying mantis, she ripped his head off and ate it after sex. Nice.

Ok, so that's that for Friday.

Day 6: Dishes and Hair Cuts

Up early with Hans before he left. Online for a bit to check email, etc. Expecting Hans' friend Scott in about an hour to give him a haircut. My first paying gig as an unemployed person! :) Hope the $20 I'll make doesn't mess up my unemployment! ;)

My printer jammed the other night when I was printing out the itinerary for my flight to Wisconsin. It printed fine, then for no reason it sucked the paper back inside and ripped it in half! Half of the sheet I was able to pull out, but the other half is still crumpled inside of it! My work desk is a disaster because I had to pull the printer away from the wall and move everything that was sitting on and around the printer into the middle of the table.

So, today I hope to:

-clean the bathroom (Done, and you don't really realize how far gone it was until you see it clean!)

-get the rest of the dishes done (Again, did just one rack-full. Eventually I'll get them all done.)

-cook dinner: I'm thinking pasta with sauce and chicken nuggets (kind of a white-trash chicken parmigiana), steamed asparagus, garlic bread and romaine salad. (Done, and it was really yummy, even though I had to relight the oven like 3 times over the course of baking the chicken nuggets and garlic bread)

-wash that last load of laundry (Done! I even folded and put away the other two clean loads!)

-get the library books organized so Hans can take them back (the library is down where I used to work, which is near his work, so it makes more sense for him to bring them back than for me to make a 100 mile round trip to bring them back!) (Done, but I forgot to give them to Hans on Friday morning.)

-bring the trash bin back in once the trash is picked up (Done)

-scoop the litterboxes (Done)

-give Scott a haircut (Done)

-start organizing what scrapbooking stuff I'll be bringing with me when I go to Wisconsin. My brother Joel wants me to make a scrapbook outlining who he is as a car-dealer and family man, as well as outline the benefits of owning a Hyundai. (Not done, gotta work on this Friday for sure!)

So, nothing's getting done while I sit here! I'll update at the end of the day!

Update:
In the afternoon I applied for a job at The Painted Turtle, a summer camp for children facing various illnesses. I think it would be an amazingly rewarding job, and I'd love to get it. It's only 11 weeks in the summer, but it would be a lot of fun!

Also, I remembered that I have my online mentoring at http://www.icouldbe.org/ to check on! Since I'm not getting the updates because I can't access my work email anymore, I hadn't checked it since last Thursday. I caught up on the work that my mentee Cate had done in the last week, and emailed her as well.

I also updated the Michiana Monologues website: http://www.michianamonologues.org/ and realized that I could be in town to see the Community Monologues! I'm very excited about this possibility! I'm definitely planning on getting a copy of the book and DVD of this year's production!

The whole time I was working online, our biggest cat Panda was sitting on the table next to the keyboard sleeping. He kept stretching out more and more and eventually I was typing at an angle on the very edge of the table! It was cute to have him up on the table so close though!

While cooking dinner, I saw and overheard a loud, profane arguement going on across the street behind our house. I tried to ignore it as best as I could while it was just talk, but when the guy picked up a pipe or piece of wood and started chasing the woman trying to hit her, I went out on the back porch and yelled that he'd better stop because I was calling the cops! That was a bluff though, because my cell phone doesn't work here, and we don't have a house phone! He yelled that I should fuck off and mind my own business, and I said that as long as I can see and hear what he's doing, it is my business. The woman yelled that he was on drugs and didn't know what he was doing, almost like she was apologizing for him.

I emailed Hans, just in case the guy decided to come over and give me trouble. I wanted Hans to know what had happened. I figured when he got my message he'd call Jay and Scott (who live a few miles away) and they'd be over to cover things until Hans got home, because he worries about me being out here alone. They didn't come over though, and I finished cooking dinner, and relaxed until Hans got home.

He said he had tried to call Jay and Scott, but he owed on his Verizon bill, so they wouldn't let him make calls out from his cell phone! He said it was the longest ride home wondering if I was ok or if this "tweeker" (he thinks everyone up here is tweeked out on meth) had come over and tried to start shit with me too.

After dinner he went to Jay and Scott's and got a shotgun! It shoots buckshot, but he showed me how to use it, and has it sitting by the front door with a box of bullets! I told him I don't plan on shooting anyone, but he said that if some tweeker jumps the fence and starts trying to come for the house, I should at least get off a warning shot, and if he doesn't run, to shoot him for real! Ah, the comforts of small-town living!

The picture above is an artist's rendering of me shooting at a tweeker. The tweeker is represented by a dinosaur. As you can see in the picture, he's about to eat our cat Rocky, so I'm shooting him. My cat Remy is climbing the rain gutter, and it looks like Pudd'in has almost made it to the roof. I don't see Panda in this pic, or the dogs, so they much be coming at the tweeker/dinosaur from behind. :)

So, that was my Thursday.

Day 2: Saugus Swap-Meet!

Sunday March 15, 2009

Hans and I woke up early to get ready to go to the swap meet in Saugus! We drove to Jason's house, and because he had errands to run after the swap meet, he drove seperately, following us down the mountain road into Santa Clarita Valley.

We drove to the swap meet, where we met up with Scott. He had left his girl's house early in the morning, and decided to just nap in his car in the parking lot until we got there.

We walked through the swap meet, and got a few things. Hans got a chip-and-dip set, a salt and pepper set, and a set of 4 bowls all with a pool-ball theme. I found a vintage Holly Hobbie doll and another rag doll; Holly Hobbie's Friend Carrie. My sister Holly had the Holly Hobbie doll when she was a child, and I had the Carrie doll! It was a real blast from the past finding them! I'm going to wash them up and send the Holly Hobbie doll to Holly.

I picked up a small bag of kettle corn for us to munch on, and a bag of fresh cherries as well.

We found some houseware stuff we had needed, as well as some birthday presents for Hans' brother-in-law Enrique.

By noon we were out of the money we'd brought, and had seen everything, so we left. We all drove over to Hans' parent's house, where Hans and Jason did a last minute fix on Hans' 55, and then we drove to Tiny's Subs for lunch.

After lunch, Hans and I drove in his 55 around town to visit friends of his. We went to see his friend Kevin, and I spent some time talking with Kevin's wife Chanel. She recommended a product called "Fertility Tracker" where you lick a glass slide everyday, and look at the pattern that your dried saliva forms. If it dries in a "fern" pattern, it means you're going to ovulate in the next 24 hours. I'll probably look into getting it, as Hans and I are hoping to start a family.

Hans had joked the other day that now that I was laid-off, it was a guarantee I'd be pregnant. Then he joked that if he had quit his job in anger the week before, and now I'd gotten laid-off, we'd not only be pregnant, but I'd give birth to quinteplets and a puppy. I don't want to know how the puppy got in there with 5 babies!

Next we visited his friend Travis, Travis' brother Carl, and their girls. We hung out there for a while and had a nice time.

After that, we visited his friend Brian, and hung out there for a bit as well.

On the way back to Hans' parents house, we picked up Cousin's burgers and ate dinner with his folks. We spent a little time there, and then wrapped things up to come home.

I must note; this was a very unusual weekend. Because it was Hans' birthday, and I think too to take my mind off the recent lay-off, we did a lot more stuff and spent more money than we would normally do. Rarely do we have weekends this active. It was a wonderful time, and I couldn't have been happier browsing the swap meet and driving around town in Hans' awesome truck.

Day 1: Hans' 30th Birthday!

Saturday March 14th, 2009

Hans' 30th Birthday!

We slept in late, he opened his present from me, we had some frisky fun. The present and frisky fun were unrelated!

We went over to his friend Jason's house, where the guys fixed their RC cars in the garage, and I applied a set of acrylic nails. It was funny to be working on something in the garage while they were working, but be working on something so different from what they were doing.

The guys raced the cars around the track in the front yard, did more repairs on the cars, and raced some more for a few hours.

Near the end of the evening, we decided that it was too late to grill out, and Scott, Jason and I treated Hans to dinner at Foxy's Steakhouse in Lancaster. We believe it to be the second closest restaurant to our remote house. The first closest being The Rock Inn across the street.

We came back to Jason's, hung out for a bit, and then went home to go to bed early, because Sunday is Saugus Swap-Meet Day!!!