Word to the Wise

Today I had a pretty good day at work-- the best one all week, in fact, considering the amount of drama that has been going on around there lately. I worked late, just trying to catch up on a few things, since DD was also going to be home late tonight.

As I drove home in this freezing weather, I thought about how warm and cozy I was going to get, curled up on the couch with a blanket and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Little did I know what was waiting for me at home.

I opened the garage door, only to be shocked by the gallons of water spewing from the burst pipe and the flood of water covering the floor. The only thing I could think to do through my panic was to run upstairs, grab a towel, and do my best to stifle the water flow, until I could figure something out. I fumbled around, looking at the pipes, trying not to get completely drenched, and trying to figure out if any of the two valves I had access to would turn it off...no luck. I hated to do it, but I went ahead and called my dad, knowing DD was busy at work and not able to get home anytime soon. Luckily, my dad was at home and was able to come over right away.

When my dad arrived, I was scratching around in the grass and in the dark, trying to find the water meter cover. A few minutes later, we found it, and tried desperately to get the cover off. As it turns out, the damn thing was still locked from when the water in the house was turned off while it was in foreclosure. Finally, my dad gave up and went into the garage to try to figure out where the valve was that would turn it off. And what do you know? He walked over, found the valve, and turned it. Then I said, "Oh." And we both laughed out loud.

Then he said, "One thing you should know about owning a home is that you should turn off the water valve that goes outside to the hose when it gets cold."

Good to know.

I vacuumed up the several inches of water that covered the back half of the garage, picked up the few items that needed to dry off and placed them away from the puddles of water, and made it upstairs just in time to get in my pj's, cuddle up with a blanket and chicken noodle soup, and watch my two favorite shows while I defrosted. It could have been a lot worse, and I can't even begin to say how happy I am that we still have hot water right now.

No More Bean Car

Well, that month went by fast. I think it went by even faster than December. Either that, or I just went through one heck of a time warp. I guess maybe I just needed a little bit of a blog break.

Let's see updates....updates....

• Work=busybusybusybusy. I think I'm getting a little more used to the volume/ pace of work in the clinic setting. Either that, or I've just figured out how to deal with it a little better. Either way, it's still way more ridiculously busy than I ever would have imagined. It's just as stressful as working in an ICU, just in a different way.
• I wonder if I will ever figure out a way to have time to check blogs/ personal email while I'm working... I'll get back to you on that one.
  
• It's been at least a month since I've read anyone's blog and that is a little sad to me. I'll try to do better I promise :( What do I do at night, you ask? Catch up with DD, help make/ eat/ clean up dinner, do laundry, watch the designated TV shows (no DVR=little TV flexibility), fall into bed, repeat the cycle. Damn my life is exciting.
  
• Social life=busybusybusy. Every weekend there is always something fun going on and for that I am extremely glad and happy. It's good to have so many awesome friends.
• In general, content with life. Still have goals to work on...have done a little more research...will get back to you on that when the master plan has been formulated.
• And the latest news is that my poor little bean car is officially dead. I finally took it to the body shop yesterday and I got the call today that it is officially totaled. Time to go car shopping!

That's all I got for now...hopefully more will be coming sooner than later.

2009: So Far So Good

And once again I have managed to survive the usual Christmas mayhem that ensues around this time every year.... it was getting a little dicey there for a minute! I got to visit with all of my immediate family members in one way or another-- as always, it was very busy, but very nice to spend time with everyone. And the best part was, I was very generously given gift certificates for two massages this year-- I can't wait to cash those in!

I have not had much time yet to reflect on what I did or didn't accomplish last year, but I realize that I've lately had a rather pessimistic attitude toward life. It is my goal to leave that behind in 2008. That is one of the greatest things about starting a new year-- the prospect of being able to start over again, the opportunity of a fresh, new beginning.

I don't have any specific resolutions at this point in time, but there are several goals in my mind that I would like to start working towards. One thing I know I need to focus on is to not let my long-term goals get lost and pushed away by doing the small chores that I must do day in and day out. Somehow I need to regain my focus and make a reasonable plan on what I would like to accomplish this year. Otherwise, it will just never get done. So perhaps my resolution should be to make some resolutions?

I guess my brain is still a bit mushy from the cheer of last evening. All I know is, I rang in the new year by spending time with the best group of a friends a girl could ever ask for. And for that, I am happy and grateful. So far, this year has gotten off to a great start :)

Haaaalp!

Christmas is upon us. And as usual, I have found myself running around like crazy trying to get things done at the last minute. I guess some things never change. Usually I'm not quite this bad about getting the shopping done. However, this year, the past month has just exploded into our lives and I'm having much trouble keeping up.

I have decided to add the items of crash helmet, suit of armor, and Hummer to my Christmas list. Apparently my car has an invisible target painted on it, because after I got into that wreck on the 10th, eight days later I got rear-ended on the same damn road (but slightly further along my route home). Some idiotic 19-year-old who wasn't paying attention bumped me in stop-and-go traffic. No injuries or major car damage besides a few scratches were incurred, and I thought about letting her get away without calling the police. But then she pulled out the "Is this going to take long, because I have to be somewhere" card. And then to top it off, she handed me the car registration instead of her insurance card, when I was trying to get her information. When I told her that was not the information I needed, she pulled out "well my car is under my mom's name and I don't know what to do cause I'm too young and stupid" card. I simply said "Well if you don't have an insurance card, then I'm going to have to file a police report," and that was that. Soooorry--you picked the wrong person to rear-end that day. And I had somewhere to be too.....biyatch! Why don't you call your mommy or daddy so they can pay this ticket for you too (in addition to your car payment, car insurance, cell phone, etc, etc, etc)!!

I guess I'm still a little annoyed.

And then after all that rain last week, one of our gutters fell off the house. Yeah, one of the brand new gutters that we just had installed when we bought our place last spring.

After all the dust settled this past weekend, we did make some major progress on the Christmas shopping on Sunday, when we had an 8 hour shop-a-thon. It was very stressful, but I guess the more we get done, the less stress and the more Christmas cheer there will be. It will all be over soon. I'm just glad that we don't have any major traveling to do this year (like we always have in the past).

Do I need to say that I'm ready for this year to start over?


Epilogue:
End on a bright note, end on a bright note, I say to myself. OK, Okay.

Things that make it all better: cozy fire, glowy Christmas tree (our first real tree in our first house), snuggly kitty, fuzzy socks, a couple of glasses of wine, people that love me and that I love back, a snuggly bed that I'm about to collapse into. I have all of these things, and there are a lot of people who don't. So thankyou for what I have.

Another Great Day in the ATL

Can someone please tell the witch doctor with the voodoo dolls shaped like DD and myself, to quit poking us with pins in all the wrong places?! I don't know what we did, but we have apparently seriously pissed off the karma police.

Late yesterday afternoon I received a call from my beloved, spoken with more fury than I've ever heard in his voice before. On his way home from work, he had stopped at the CVS on Shallowford Rd. in East Cobb to pick up his prescription for allergy medicine. It was around 5pm, the street was rather busy, it was still daylight, and he parked at the first parking spot outside the front door. He went right up to the counter, gave them his name, the lady gave him his medicine, he swiped his card, and he was out of the store in less than five minutes. He was greeted by the sound of the broken car window glass, still crackling from being freshly shattered. His nice leather Kenneth Cole laptop bag with his shiny, new MacBook Pro had been swiped from the back seat of his car in a matter of seconds.

And today, I have felt like ass all day. My throat is sore, my nose has been stuffed up, my voice a little hoarse at times, and I have a zit right above my lip that hurts like hell. The weather has been horrible all day, and I really wish I would have just stayed in today. I had a stressful and rather busy day at work today, and all I wanted to do was drive home, get in my pj's, and snuggle on the couch. Little did I know, there was a certain red PT Cruiser lurking in the oncoming left hand turn lane, slowly inching into my left hand lane, as she was trying to make a left hand turn. I slammed on the breaks as soon as I saw the car in my lane, but my car skidded on the wet, slippery road through the entire intersection and abruptly crashed into hers. Next thing I know, we are both climbing out of our cars in the pouring rain, in the middle of the intersection, surveying the damage, and calling 911. Luckily, we were both OK, although I'm expecting a nice bruise to form on my right knee, which slammed into the dashboard, and my whole entire body is working on feeling like I've just run a marathon.

I'm rather afraid of what tomorrow may bring.

Nothing to Complain About and Much to be Thankful for

Today has been a wonderfully cozy day, spent in my pj's, being safe, warm, and dry in front of a crackling fire, one of my most favorite ways to spend a cold, rainy Saturday. And I think I just spent 8 hours straight in this very same spot on my comfy couch, surfing the internet and shopping online. The person I love most in this world and the cutest, best kitty cat in the world have been my faithful couch-surfing companions throughout the day. And a nice Asian man brought us delicious crab rangoons and warm, coconut chicken soup for dinner. If that isn't the good life, I don't know what is.

Playing Catch Up

Please enjoy the following jumble of random thoughts....

• An interview can only reveal so much about what a job is really like. I'm not quite sure I knew exactly what I was getting into when I accepted this new position. It's not necessarily anything that's really bad, but it's just different than what I had expected. I am trying very hard to be open-minded and continue to adjust, but I am rather stubborn about some things and this is causing me some frustration. I can't wait until I can go back to school.
  
• There are two cats yowling outside of my window right now. I am home alone, and it is a very scary, very unsettling sound. But I find it very funny that my cat is intently listening to it with a bit of a confused look on her face. I wonder if those cats are speaking in a different cat language than she speaks.
  
• I feel like someone has hit the pause button on my life in some ways. I know what I want, but right now I don't have any control over how or when I will get there. Everyone else around me seems to be moving through their lives swimmingly, but I just feel like I have been put on hold.
• Speaking of things being on hold, we need to put some more serious work into our house. The next big project is going to be the office. We went and blew some serious cash on new furniture at IKEA several weeks ago, and I can't wait to actually put it to use. It will be so nice when that room is clean and organized.
  
• *sigh* I can't wait to be "done" with this house. I am proud of what we have accomplished, but I am so over the worrying, the doing, and the stressing. I just want to come into my house and not be bothered by thinking to myself about all the things we still need to do.
  
• I keep saying that I need to start exercising again. I don't know what it's going to take to get motivated to actually do it. I'm really good at coming up with excuses.
• I feel really fortunate that I have so many nice friends. And when I say "nice" I mean these people are good to the core, and I really appreciate that. At this point in my life, I don't see a point in hanging out with people that don't genuinely care about me, or that I don't genuinely care about.
• I had a really great time last weekend hanging out with some friends at their house on Lake Hartwell. We took the long route home on Sunday, and enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather and beautiful scenery as we drove through the mountains. I almost forgot how much I love the fresh air of North Georgia. We stopped in Dahlonega for lunch and ended up finding the cutest little hole in the wall of a restaurant, called The Crimson Moon Cafe. They even had some really good live bluegrass music, which I really enjoyed listening to while we ate.
• I miss going to random live music shows and knowing all about the good local music like I used to.
  
• Leftover hibachi chicken and fried rice with "yum-yum" sauce is freaking delicious.
• I had a blast dancing with friends at the most random redneck bar in Cumming for CD-H's birthday last night. There were a lot of really "special" people there.....Good times!
• We haven't been doing movie night the past couple of weeks, but I am hoping we will have time for one soon.
• I can't wait to snuggle up with a glass of wine next to a roaring fire in our very own fireplace. Hopefully I can get the chimney man to check our chimney out sometime this week to make sure our house is not going to blow up if we light a fire.
• I have been reading the first book of the "Twilight" series, and I gotta say, I am totally hooked so far. This will be the second entire book I have read this year. That's pretty good for me.... Hey I gotta start somewhere right?
• I love lazy Saturdays.