Ahhhhh, a nice four-day weekend! Finally! We had a very nice Christmas weekend. Our friends Jay and Anne invited us and a few others over to their house for dinner with their family. There were lots of goodies to munch on before dinner, lasagna, mashed potatoes, salad, and garlic bread for dinner, and random goodies for dessert.
Anne had me bring over some scraps of paper for my save the date cards to test and see if her paper cutter would work on it - it worked great, and then she gave me a present - a brand new paper cutter just like hers! It was great! We were able to get all the paper cut up just right, printed, and put together. We mailed off a good chunk of the cards, to everyone we had addresses for. Still need to get a few addresses, and people keep getting added to the list, so we might need to buy some more paper and envelope for the cards.
The day after Christmas, Aaron and I headed out for some good sales! Well, only just slightly I wanted to stop by Bath and Bodyworks because they ALWAYS have stuff on sale, and we were getting low on hand soap. We also picked up a felt tip pen from an art supply store, for addressing the envelopes. Picked out some cute heart stamps at the Post Office, and mailed off Mom's scarf that I made her for Christmas.
On Saturday, Aaron and I ran into IKEA to grab Ashley a birthday gift - she'd been wanting a nice down-alternative comforter for winter, and a duvet to go along with it, as white is boring. Aaron and I had recently got a new comforter/duvet set from IKEA, and really like it, so I think Ashley will like hers, too. I just have to get it shipped off in the mail this week. It's going to be an early present, as her birthday is not until February, but it will make up for her late Christmas present, which isn't due to arrive until January 2nd.
I've been working some more on Aaron's scarf. It's not really a Christmas present, but winter is a good season for knitting. I'm almost finished with it, and he'll be able to wear it to work this week.
I've been plowing through the "Twilight" series of books this weekend - I'd finished the first one a while ago, but never got around to buying the others, because I have friends who own them, and thought it would be most cost effective to borrow them. Our friend Vandi stopped by last Tuesday to drop of some yummy home-baked cookies, as well as the three remaining books in the series.
We moved on to the next step in toilet training Odin with the CitiKitty - it involves cutting a small hole, smaller than a fist, in the center of the training pan, that rests on the rim, over the bowl of the toilet. This is to get the cat used to less litter, a hole which he will eventually start using instead of litter, and balancing on the seat, instead of in the litter. Odin does not like it one bit. He cried for half an hour last night before finally pooping on the rug next to the toilet. No punishment for him, though, don't want to scare him off from being in the bathroom. We'll see how it goes today.
Aaron's making Chex Mix right now - I can smell it coming from the oven. Mmm, mmm, mmm!
I think that's about it for our weekend. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post. Another short, three-day work week ahead for me, then Thursday and Friday off again for New Years. Aaron gets Thursday off, but may take Friday off, too, if he can. If he can't, that's okay, we've been hanging out together WAY too much this weekend! Only kidding, but it is nice to have some alone time, and just veg out in front of the TV with some silly shows or movies.
Until next time!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
so warm...
So our heater has been broken for the last two weeks. It's only really bad when it gets below -10 outside - that's when we start to feel it in the apartment. We kind of ignored it at first, which was probably not the best thing to do, since the apartment is heated with hot water, and last winter, it got so cold outside, the pipes froze, and the apartments on the first floor flooded.
It was negative 12 today, and the apartment was REALLY feeling cold, so we finally bucked up and called the rental office maintenance emergency line. A guy came over about an hour later, wasn't familiar with our apartment building, or our type of heater. He ended up getting in touch with our usual maintenance person, who just started a few weeks ago. They wandered up to the apartment above us, because it is vacant, to see if it was having the same problem. Nope. Came back down, fiddled around, banged on some stuff, then went to get a defroster thinger.
They came back, plugged it in, started defrosting our frozen pipes, and then the fuse in it blew. They ran off to the car parts place to get another one, came back, started it up again, and tripped the breaker twice. We had to turn off all the lights and unplug the big appliances while it was running.
They left the building, said that it needed to run for half an hour, came back an hour later. It was starting to smell, so we turned it off after about 40 minutes.
Now it's nice and toasty warm in the apartment. Almost TOO toasty warm, if you ask me. Guess we don't have to worry about freezing to death in the middle of the night!
We braved the horrible roads and snow yesterday to do some shopping. Looking for a Wii Fit, couldn't find one. Got paper to make our Save the Date cards, as we finally have our wedding venue and date booked. Wandered around a bit until we finally retreated home to safety.
Today, I did laundry, cleaned the apartment, sat around for hours while our heater got fixed, watched Supernatural, and Aaron and I baked cookies. A good winter day, if you ask me!
It was negative 12 today, and the apartment was REALLY feeling cold, so we finally bucked up and called the rental office maintenance emergency line. A guy came over about an hour later, wasn't familiar with our apartment building, or our type of heater. He ended up getting in touch with our usual maintenance person, who just started a few weeks ago. They wandered up to the apartment above us, because it is vacant, to see if it was having the same problem. Nope. Came back down, fiddled around, banged on some stuff, then went to get a defroster thinger.
They came back, plugged it in, started defrosting our frozen pipes, and then the fuse in it blew. They ran off to the car parts place to get another one, came back, started it up again, and tripped the breaker twice. We had to turn off all the lights and unplug the big appliances while it was running.
They left the building, said that it needed to run for half an hour, came back an hour later. It was starting to smell, so we turned it off after about 40 minutes.
Now it's nice and toasty warm in the apartment. Almost TOO toasty warm, if you ask me. Guess we don't have to worry about freezing to death in the middle of the night!
We braved the horrible roads and snow yesterday to do some shopping. Looking for a Wii Fit, couldn't find one. Got paper to make our Save the Date cards, as we finally have our wedding venue and date booked. Wandered around a bit until we finally retreated home to safety.
Today, I did laundry, cleaned the apartment, sat around for hours while our heater got fixed, watched Supernatural, and Aaron and I baked cookies. A good winter day, if you ask me!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
We've finally done it!
Well, we finally booked our wedding venue this week! Which also means we finally have a wedding date! We have booked October 3, 2009 for the ceremony and reception at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, MN. *sigh* What a relief! Now I can start working on things again! I want to start making Save the Date cards as soon as possible, so now is the mad hunt for finding addresses!
On an un-wedding related note, we are still toilet training the cat. His trainer is up ON the toilet now, where it should be, instead of on the floor. We'd gone over a week with it on the floor with no accidents, so this weekend, it has been moved to its proper toilet training place. Hopefully Odin doesn't have too much of a hissy fit about it.
We're set to get quite a bit of snow this weekend. It started snowing early this morning, and is still lightly coming down. The roads aren't completely covered, but aren't completely clear, either. I'd like to get out of the apartment and do some stuff today.
Thursday night, Lori, one of my co-workers, and I went to the Holidazzle, which is like a parade of lights, in downtown Minneapolis. We did a happy hour before that at a pub called The Local, which is really cool, and then walked down to the Hot Seats (bleachers set up under a tent with a clear front) and got hot cocoa. Mmm, mmm, good! The parade was really cute, and fun. We couldn't hear most of the music because of being in the tent, but that's okay. All the floats and people on the floats were covered in colored lights, very festive.
Aaron and I have just a tiny bit of Christmas shopping left to do, and then we're done! Thank goodness. I don't think we've even stepped foot inside a store to do any of our shopping, which is always nice, because I hate crowded malls filled with people milling about, in my way. Ugh. Drives me crazy.
We have two short weeks in a row at work, for Christmas and New Years, so that will be nice, because it means two 4-day weekends in a row! Aaron and I don't have any plans, but we've been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas, which will be nice if we go. Nice to get out of the place, because I know otherwise, we would just sit in the apartment all four days, staring at each other blankly, slowly going insane. Two weekends in a row. *shudder*
Only kidding!
Well, I am off to figure out what we are going to do for the day. Adios!
On an un-wedding related note, we are still toilet training the cat. His trainer is up ON the toilet now, where it should be, instead of on the floor. We'd gone over a week with it on the floor with no accidents, so this weekend, it has been moved to its proper toilet training place. Hopefully Odin doesn't have too much of a hissy fit about it.
We're set to get quite a bit of snow this weekend. It started snowing early this morning, and is still lightly coming down. The roads aren't completely covered, but aren't completely clear, either. I'd like to get out of the apartment and do some stuff today.
Thursday night, Lori, one of my co-workers, and I went to the Holidazzle, which is like a parade of lights, in downtown Minneapolis. We did a happy hour before that at a pub called The Local, which is really cool, and then walked down to the Hot Seats (bleachers set up under a tent with a clear front) and got hot cocoa. Mmm, mmm, good! The parade was really cute, and fun. We couldn't hear most of the music because of being in the tent, but that's okay. All the floats and people on the floats were covered in colored lights, very festive.
Aaron and I have just a tiny bit of Christmas shopping left to do, and then we're done! Thank goodness. I don't think we've even stepped foot inside a store to do any of our shopping, which is always nice, because I hate crowded malls filled with people milling about, in my way. Ugh. Drives me crazy.
We have two short weeks in a row at work, for Christmas and New Years, so that will be nice, because it means two 4-day weekends in a row! Aaron and I don't have any plans, but we've been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas, which will be nice if we go. Nice to get out of the place, because I know otherwise, we would just sit in the apartment all four days, staring at each other blankly, slowly going insane. Two weekends in a row. *shudder*
Only kidding!
Well, I am off to figure out what we are going to do for the day. Adios!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Here we go again
Alright, another request to update my blog. Such needy readers!
Let's see. The toilet training is going slowly. We started with it up on the toilet, like it's supposed to be, but Odin sure had a hard time getting used to that. So, after a mistake, we had to put it down on the floor, where his old litter box used to be. We'll just give him time to get comfortable with it there, then move it again. I think it's just much smaller than what he's used to, for starters. We'll get there! I have faith in him!
My wedding dress came in! I wasn't expecting it until February, but it got here over Thanksgiving. I went and tried it on this Friday. It's great, and I love the burnt orange color! I think we are finally going to reserve the wedding venue for next fall.
Some other exciting wedding news: my college roommate, Jill got engaged! I'm so happy for her, and now I have someone to talk to about wedding stuff! And we won't get tired of listening to each other! Hahaha. Once we get the place booked, then I can start making wedding invitations, and I'll start needing to get addresses. That'll be a chore.
Work's been busy. Not as bad as it was in September, when I was up to my eyeballs in claims, but I am finally at a comfortable level, and getting caught up with past-due tasks! Year-end will be looking good for me.
I put up Christmas lights last night, and they blink. Odin went bonkers! He's adjusted to them now, but last night was pretty darn funny. They're up high enough that I don't have to worry about him knocking them down and chewing on them. Although he would get a nice little ZAP if he chewed on them. Hehehehe.
Well, we got rain all weekend, it was in the 30's - highest it's been in a long time. And now the high for tomorrow is going to be -6. The ride into work is going to be AWESOMELY SLOW. It's like people around here have never driven in this crap before. Hopefully the salt trucks are out in full force tonight.
Well, that's it for me now. Adios!
Let's see. The toilet training is going slowly. We started with it up on the toilet, like it's supposed to be, but Odin sure had a hard time getting used to that. So, after a mistake, we had to put it down on the floor, where his old litter box used to be. We'll just give him time to get comfortable with it there, then move it again. I think it's just much smaller than what he's used to, for starters. We'll get there! I have faith in him!
My wedding dress came in! I wasn't expecting it until February, but it got here over Thanksgiving. I went and tried it on this Friday. It's great, and I love the burnt orange color! I think we are finally going to reserve the wedding venue for next fall.
Some other exciting wedding news: my college roommate, Jill got engaged! I'm so happy for her, and now I have someone to talk to about wedding stuff! And we won't get tired of listening to each other! Hahaha. Once we get the place booked, then I can start making wedding invitations, and I'll start needing to get addresses. That'll be a chore.
Work's been busy. Not as bad as it was in September, when I was up to my eyeballs in claims, but I am finally at a comfortable level, and getting caught up with past-due tasks! Year-end will be looking good for me.
I put up Christmas lights last night, and they blink. Odin went bonkers! He's adjusted to them now, but last night was pretty darn funny. They're up high enough that I don't have to worry about him knocking them down and chewing on them. Although he would get a nice little ZAP if he chewed on them. Hehehehe.
Well, we got rain all weekend, it was in the 30's - highest it's been in a long time. And now the high for tomorrow is going to be -6. The ride into work is going to be AWESOMELY SLOW. It's like people around here have never driven in this crap before. Hopefully the salt trucks are out in full force tonight.
Well, that's it for me now. Adios!
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Good weekend so far
So this weekend, one of our friends had his birthday party, and it wasn't scheduled until late, so a few of us went out for dinner beforehand. Our friends Bret and Jess have been going to this bar for a few years, which also has a sushi bar. They started eating there, and have become good friends with the head sushi chef. And this is where we went for dinner last night. I've always wanted to try sushi before, but I wanted it to be at a very good place, not something that'd been sitting in the grocery store deli for a while.
And let me tell you, it was GREAT! The chef knew it was my first time trying sushi, so the first roll, he went easy on us. Yum. He made up a plate with all kinds of raw fish, tuna, mackerel, and some octopus limbs, thinly slice. The octopus was surprisingly delicious. I can't even count how many different rolls he made up for us. We didn't order off the menu, the sushi chef just started making rolls as we were eating. Everything was great. There were a few rolls with roe on top - orange eggs were "regular" and the green ones were wasabi flavored. I had tried a bit of wasabi paste earlier, and decided I didn't much care for it, so we tried to scrape most of the green ones off, but it was still pretty spicy. But the regular eggs were fun. Not a lot of flavor, but they POP! every time you bite down on one. Like a little party in your mouth. Mmm. He even made us a dessert roll, with sliced up strawberries, rice, sweet soft shell crab, and it was deep fried. Nice and sweet and good. All in all, a great experience for my first time (and hopefully not last) eating sushi. I will definitely have it again.
We went to the birthday party right after, which was a lot of fun. I didn't know most of the people there, but a good time was had by all. I gave one of our friends, Anna, my camera, because she said she likes to take pictures when she's been drinking, so that was good, because I got a bunch of pictures of people I don't even know, but some of people I do know, always a plus.
Odin's CitiKitty toilet training kit came in the mail today! I'm glad it came on the weekend so I can be home for it for a few days. It's got a shallow pan that fits over the rim of the toilet, and you put your seat down over that to hold it in place. Then you pour some litter in, and train the cat to get used to using the litter box up on the toilet seat. Then, as he successfully uses the litter box for one week, you start removing from the center rings, which allow some litter to fall in the toilet, and as you remove more, the cat gets used to supporting himself on the seat. Eventually, you take away the whole contraption, once all the rings have been removed, and ta-dah! A toilet trained cat! No more litter again!! Hopefully it will only take a couple of months to train him, because we only have the one bathroom, so we have to take the kit off every time Aaron or I want to use the toilet.
That's about it for now!
And let me tell you, it was GREAT! The chef knew it was my first time trying sushi, so the first roll, he went easy on us. Yum. He made up a plate with all kinds of raw fish, tuna, mackerel, and some octopus limbs, thinly slice. The octopus was surprisingly delicious. I can't even count how many different rolls he made up for us. We didn't order off the menu, the sushi chef just started making rolls as we were eating. Everything was great. There were a few rolls with roe on top - orange eggs were "regular" and the green ones were wasabi flavored. I had tried a bit of wasabi paste earlier, and decided I didn't much care for it, so we tried to scrape most of the green ones off, but it was still pretty spicy. But the regular eggs were fun. Not a lot of flavor, but they POP! every time you bite down on one. Like a little party in your mouth. Mmm. He even made us a dessert roll, with sliced up strawberries, rice, sweet soft shell crab, and it was deep fried. Nice and sweet and good. All in all, a great experience for my first time (and hopefully not last) eating sushi. I will definitely have it again.
We went to the birthday party right after, which was a lot of fun. I didn't know most of the people there, but a good time was had by all. I gave one of our friends, Anna, my camera, because she said she likes to take pictures when she's been drinking, so that was good, because I got a bunch of pictures of people I don't even know, but some of people I do know, always a plus.
Odin's CitiKitty toilet training kit came in the mail today! I'm glad it came on the weekend so I can be home for it for a few days. It's got a shallow pan that fits over the rim of the toilet, and you put your seat down over that to hold it in place. Then you pour some litter in, and train the cat to get used to using the litter box up on the toilet seat. Then, as he successfully uses the litter box for one week, you start removing from the center rings, which allow some litter to fall in the toilet, and as you remove more, the cat gets used to supporting himself on the seat. Eventually, you take away the whole contraption, once all the rings have been removed, and ta-dah! A toilet trained cat! No more litter again!! Hopefully it will only take a couple of months to train him, because we only have the one bathroom, so we have to take the kit off every time Aaron or I want to use the toilet.
That's about it for now!
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Thursday, December 04, 2008
It's about damn time!
So I have had a few complaints from my readers that I have not updated my blog since Halloween, or something crazy like that. Well, that's not completely true - I did update a couple of weeks into November, but it was ABOUT Halloween.
So, since we last were here, what's been going on in my life? Oh, not too much. We've been spending time with some friends, playing with their babies, working, and staying fairly busy. Work is less hectic now that the new guy has started working on claims The end of the year is approaching shortly, and I can tell it's going to be a little chaotic. I have done 11 month-ends at work, but not year-end. I wonder if it's any different?
Speaking of 2008 ending soon, WOW! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! In January I got a new job and we got Odin, in April, Aaron and I got engaged, Aaron's parents visited us, we went to our first baseball games, Saw Mason Jennings in concert, two of our friends had children and their families have grown And now it's almost 2009. Which also means that Winter is officially almost over (only a few more weeks!!), and I can stop driving to and from work in the dark within a month. I hope.
On to more recent news. For Thanksgiving, all of our friends were either working or leaving town to spend time with family, so Aaron and I had four days off together, to just sit around and do nothing. And that's exactly what we did. No Black Friday shopping crap, just hanging out, not working. It was really nice and relaxing. Aaron and I had fajitas for Thanksgiving dinner. Mmm, mmm, good!
I got a cold this last week. It started out pretty innocent, and I actually thought it was going to go away fairly quickly. Boy, was I wrong. Now, it's not the most horrible cold I have had, and thank goodness it's not the horrible crap that some co-workers and Jill got last week where they spent most of their Thanksgiving weekend hovering in the bathroom around a toilet, just your regular head cold.
I started looking for a second job this week at the mall across from where I work currently - nights and weekends, part time. I walked into the Bath and Body Works, and as I was picking up the application, the manager of the store approached me, asked me what I was doing at 6, and let me know they were having a group interview at that time, and I should come. She's hoping to have some people hired by this Saturday. It's Thursday, and I haven't heard from her, but who knows. I think I am also going to start donating plasma, there is a place near us that compensates for the donation. I figure all the extra money will go towards saving for the wedding.
A couple days ago, I ordered the CitiKitty, a toilet training kit for cats. I am so sick and tired of the litter box, in our one bedroom apartment, being in the bathroom, with bits of litter everywhere. It's driving me nuts. If we had a basement or extra bedroom, it wouldn't be so bad, but we just don't. Hopefully within a couple of months, we'll have him all trained up, and bye bye litter box! I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly pictures to come.
Our company had their Christmas party this afternoon at a location away from work. It was Hawaiian-themed, and a lot of fun. Games, trivia, prizes, and good pork barbecue. I got second place in the beanbag toss, but didn't manage to get my raffle ticket pulled for any of the other prizes. I never win those things.
So, that's about it, everything that's happened in the last three weeks or so, that I can think of that is worth blogging about! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!
So, since we last were here, what's been going on in my life? Oh, not too much. We've been spending time with some friends, playing with their babies, working, and staying fairly busy. Work is less hectic now that the new guy has started working on claims The end of the year is approaching shortly, and I can tell it's going to be a little chaotic. I have done 11 month-ends at work, but not year-end. I wonder if it's any different?
Speaking of 2008 ending soon, WOW! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! In January I got a new job and we got Odin, in April, Aaron and I got engaged, Aaron's parents visited us, we went to our first baseball games, Saw Mason Jennings in concert, two of our friends had children and their families have grown And now it's almost 2009. Which also means that Winter is officially almost over (only a few more weeks!!), and I can stop driving to and from work in the dark within a month. I hope.
On to more recent news. For Thanksgiving, all of our friends were either working or leaving town to spend time with family, so Aaron and I had four days off together, to just sit around and do nothing. And that's exactly what we did. No Black Friday shopping crap, just hanging out, not working. It was really nice and relaxing. Aaron and I had fajitas for Thanksgiving dinner. Mmm, mmm, good!
I got a cold this last week. It started out pretty innocent, and I actually thought it was going to go away fairly quickly. Boy, was I wrong. Now, it's not the most horrible cold I have had, and thank goodness it's not the horrible crap that some co-workers and Jill got last week where they spent most of their Thanksgiving weekend hovering in the bathroom around a toilet, just your regular head cold.
I started looking for a second job this week at the mall across from where I work currently - nights and weekends, part time. I walked into the Bath and Body Works, and as I was picking up the application, the manager of the store approached me, asked me what I was doing at 6, and let me know they were having a group interview at that time, and I should come. She's hoping to have some people hired by this Saturday. It's Thursday, and I haven't heard from her, but who knows. I think I am also going to start donating plasma, there is a place near us that compensates for the donation. I figure all the extra money will go towards saving for the wedding.
A couple days ago, I ordered the CitiKitty, a toilet training kit for cats. I am so sick and tired of the litter box, in our one bedroom apartment, being in the bathroom, with bits of litter everywhere. It's driving me nuts. If we had a basement or extra bedroom, it wouldn't be so bad, but we just don't. Hopefully within a couple of months, we'll have him all trained up, and bye bye litter box! I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly pictures to come.
Our company had their Christmas party this afternoon at a location away from work. It was Hawaiian-themed, and a lot of fun. Games, trivia, prizes, and good pork barbecue. I got second place in the beanbag toss, but didn't manage to get my raffle ticket pulled for any of the other prizes. I never win those things.
So, that's about it, everything that's happened in the last three weeks or so, that I can think of that is worth blogging about! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Updates
Alrighty. Time for another update, this time, with pictures!
First off are some pictures of Aaron's Halloween costume, as a robot:
My folks came out this weekend for their first visit since they had helped us move out in the Fall of 2007. I had my camera with me everywhere we went, but there never seemed to be any photo opportunities, but I did manage to get a few at home. They were planning on coming out on Friday evening, but due to the blizzard that hit the Black Hills a few days prior, the roads in most of South Dakota were still closed, so they postponed their trip by one day, and stayed an extra day.
Dad and Odin spent most of the time tormenting each other. Sometimes I felt bad for Odin, but I stopped feeling bad for him once I realized that he just kept coming back for more, again and again.
We visited a natural history museum on the U of M campus on Sunday. We also went to a beer brewing supply store so Dad could pick up some stuff for his brewing at home. We ate a LOT! Some days, I felt like that was all we did. And drove around a lot, kind of giving my folks the tour of the city. On Monday we visited the Mall of America, my folks had never been there before. That was okay, and took up a lot of the morning and some of the afternoon. We managed to find a nice light jacket for Aaron for 75% off at Eddie Bauer, so that was pretty cool. On Tuesday, Aaron had to work, so we ran some errands, and Mom needed new windshield wipers for her car.
All in all, a good weekend, sad that it had to end, but dealing with the 3 day work week pretty well, haha.
Getting back to work sucked! It was like Monday, with three times the work load, voice messages, and emails. I had 20 new voicemails this morning, and 23 new emails. Holy crap. It took me past lunch time to return all the voicemails! I even explicitly said on my voice greeting that I would be gone on Monday and Tuesday, and back on Wednesday. Some people kept calling and calling and leaving message after message. "I've been trying to get a hold of you! Maybe you're on vacation?" Well, if you would take the time to listen to the message, maybe you would figure that out on your own. Sheesh.
Whew.
First off are some pictures of Aaron's Halloween costume, as a robot:
My folks came out this weekend for their first visit since they had helped us move out in the Fall of 2007. I had my camera with me everywhere we went, but there never seemed to be any photo opportunities, but I did manage to get a few at home. They were planning on coming out on Friday evening, but due to the blizzard that hit the Black Hills a few days prior, the roads in most of South Dakota were still closed, so they postponed their trip by one day, and stayed an extra day.
Dad and Odin spent most of the time tormenting each other. Sometimes I felt bad for Odin, but I stopped feeling bad for him once I realized that he just kept coming back for more, again and again.
We visited a natural history museum on the U of M campus on Sunday. We also went to a beer brewing supply store so Dad could pick up some stuff for his brewing at home. We ate a LOT! Some days, I felt like that was all we did. And drove around a lot, kind of giving my folks the tour of the city. On Monday we visited the Mall of America, my folks had never been there before. That was okay, and took up a lot of the morning and some of the afternoon. We managed to find a nice light jacket for Aaron for 75% off at Eddie Bauer, so that was pretty cool. On Tuesday, Aaron had to work, so we ran some errands, and Mom needed new windshield wipers for her car.
All in all, a good weekend, sad that it had to end, but dealing with the 3 day work week pretty well, haha.
Getting back to work sucked! It was like Monday, with three times the work load, voice messages, and emails. I had 20 new voicemails this morning, and 23 new emails. Holy crap. It took me past lunch time to return all the voicemails! I even explicitly said on my voice greeting that I would be gone on Monday and Tuesday, and back on Wednesday. Some people kept calling and calling and leaving message after message. "I've been trying to get a hold of you! Maybe you're on vacation?" Well, if you would take the time to listen to the message, maybe you would figure that out on your own. Sheesh.
Whew.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Winter's Coming
So back home (in Spearfish, my second home), they got a few feet of snow over the last couple of days, and roads have shut down, no traveling. My folks were supposed to come out today to visit for a long weekend, but ended up having to postpone their trip by one day (hopefully only one day!), so we don't get to see them until tomorrow night. Bummer. But, that gives us extra time to get the apartment cleaned up! Yay!
I'm so glad that we did not get the feet and feet of snow here! To be perfectly honest, I am kind of scared of driving my new car in the snow. I got it in the spring/summer, and I haven't driven a manual transmission in over 5 years. I sometimes squeak the tires just driving on rain-slicked roads, going from a stop to a start. I am just going to have to drive extra super careful right away until I get used to how it handles.
I'm excited for my folks to come out! This will be the first time they've visited us since they initially helped us move all of our stuff out here in the Uhaul and Dad's truck. And it will be the first time I've gotten to see them since we went back home for a week in June. I think we're going to do a tour of a beer brewery, find Dad some beer brewing supplies, go to the infamous Mall of America (on a weekday, NOT the weekend), maybe the Minnesota Zoo.
Work is starting to get better. The new guy started this Monday, but of course is still in training, and will be for an additional two weeks. Once training is over, then he will get his own caseload. My caseload was decreased a teeny bit when some of my groups were given to a co-worker, and it has helped out tremendously. I'm still not caught up to where I want to be, but I feel like I can breathe again when I look at what work I have to do for the day.
Sorry about no pictures yet of the Halloween costumes. I have a couple of Aaron's robot costume on my camera that I have yet to load onto the computer, as well as one picture of the two of us at my co-worker's party that she took. Just need to get them on the computer so I can link them on here. It's about 6am right now, and I was just quick posting before I had to start getting ready for work!
Have a great weekend!
I'm so glad that we did not get the feet and feet of snow here! To be perfectly honest, I am kind of scared of driving my new car in the snow. I got it in the spring/summer, and I haven't driven a manual transmission in over 5 years. I sometimes squeak the tires just driving on rain-slicked roads, going from a stop to a start. I am just going to have to drive extra super careful right away until I get used to how it handles.
I'm excited for my folks to come out! This will be the first time they've visited us since they initially helped us move all of our stuff out here in the Uhaul and Dad's truck. And it will be the first time I've gotten to see them since we went back home for a week in June. I think we're going to do a tour of a beer brewery, find Dad some beer brewing supplies, go to the infamous Mall of America (on a weekday, NOT the weekend), maybe the Minnesota Zoo.
Work is starting to get better. The new guy started this Monday, but of course is still in training, and will be for an additional two weeks. Once training is over, then he will get his own caseload. My caseload was decreased a teeny bit when some of my groups were given to a co-worker, and it has helped out tremendously. I'm still not caught up to where I want to be, but I feel like I can breathe again when I look at what work I have to do for the day.
Sorry about no pictures yet of the Halloween costumes. I have a couple of Aaron's robot costume on my camera that I have yet to load onto the computer, as well as one picture of the two of us at my co-worker's party that she took. Just need to get them on the computer so I can link them on here. It's about 6am right now, and I was just quick posting before I had to start getting ready for work!
Have a great weekend!
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Sunday, November 02, 2008
Halloween 2008
Whew, what a weekend (and it's not even 6am on Sunday). On Friday, we got to dress up at work (as long as it was appropriate attire), and there was a costume contest, a candy game, and good times over all. I went as a mad scientist, Dr. Horrible, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog by Joss Whedon. It wasn't a perfect likeness, so I mostly was just a mad scientist with a freeze ray gun, and fuzzy, purple hair.
One of my co-workers invited me to her Halloween party that was on Saturday night. We had to find a costume for Aaron, which was proving to be hard, after visiting a few costume stores. I just didn't like any of them, and neither did he. Then on Thursday, he sends me a message while I'm at work that he wants to be a box-robot! How fun! I was still searching for stuff for my costume, so I went to one of our favorite little stores, Ax-Man. It's a surplus store - everything that was ever in a junk drawer at home? This is where it comes from. I got boxes, reflectors, LED lights, mailbox flags with reflectors, and an old-style oven timer. This was going to be so cool!
It took us most of the afternoon on Saturday to complete the costume. A lot of the initial time was spent waiting for glue to dry. It was a very intricate suit - with a speaker in the front for listening to music, two bottles on little shelves in the inside corners of the suit, hooked up to funnels on the outside for drinking - one for beer, one for liquor. Straws attached to those so Aaron could drink without leaving the costume. LED lights diffused by wax paper for eyes, and dryer tubing, that aluminum looking stuff, for his arms. We plastered the whole thing in aluminum, and were set!
Odin had a blast the whole time, ever since I brought the boxes home on Thursday. He would climb up them and in them, loved the LED lights and the noise of the aluminum foil when we were putting it all together. We will definitely have to store the robot in the garage for next year, that way he doesn't destroy it (and I don't know where we'd keep it in the apartment, anyway!)
He was an instant hit at the party. We explained it to a lot of people. Most people wondered how he was going to pee, as we had not created any sort of hatch in the front or back. The costume was like a little oven, so he ended up having to take it off several times throughout the night to cool down. I only knew a couple of people at the party, my co-worker Lori, and her roommate whom I'd met a couple of times before. Everyone else was new to us.
There were tons of people, good music, TONS of good food, tippy cup and beer pong to play down stairs, and just a good party atmosphere. Until Aaron got pushed up the stairs by some drunk guy, and he's not sure exactly what happened, but I think the oven timer fell out of the front of the costume, and then broke. He had to throw it away. Then he came and told me about it, which sucked. I'm sure the guy was probably drunk and did not mean to do so, but c'mon. He's a giant box robot - he can't just hop up those steps real quick. So, we hung around a bit longer, then said goodbye and headed home. It was a lot of fun, up until the end.
Amazingly, we were home right around midnight, which isn't too terribly late. I was, however, up at 6am today because I never sleep well after I've been drinking. Oh well.
One of my co-workers invited me to her Halloween party that was on Saturday night. We had to find a costume for Aaron, which was proving to be hard, after visiting a few costume stores. I just didn't like any of them, and neither did he. Then on Thursday, he sends me a message while I'm at work that he wants to be a box-robot! How fun! I was still searching for stuff for my costume, so I went to one of our favorite little stores, Ax-Man. It's a surplus store - everything that was ever in a junk drawer at home? This is where it comes from. I got boxes, reflectors, LED lights, mailbox flags with reflectors, and an old-style oven timer. This was going to be so cool!
It took us most of the afternoon on Saturday to complete the costume. A lot of the initial time was spent waiting for glue to dry. It was a very intricate suit - with a speaker in the front for listening to music, two bottles on little shelves in the inside corners of the suit, hooked up to funnels on the outside for drinking - one for beer, one for liquor. Straws attached to those so Aaron could drink without leaving the costume. LED lights diffused by wax paper for eyes, and dryer tubing, that aluminum looking stuff, for his arms. We plastered the whole thing in aluminum, and were set!
Odin had a blast the whole time, ever since I brought the boxes home on Thursday. He would climb up them and in them, loved the LED lights and the noise of the aluminum foil when we were putting it all together. We will definitely have to store the robot in the garage for next year, that way he doesn't destroy it (and I don't know where we'd keep it in the apartment, anyway!)
He was an instant hit at the party. We explained it to a lot of people. Most people wondered how he was going to pee, as we had not created any sort of hatch in the front or back. The costume was like a little oven, so he ended up having to take it off several times throughout the night to cool down. I only knew a couple of people at the party, my co-worker Lori, and her roommate whom I'd met a couple of times before. Everyone else was new to us.
There were tons of people, good music, TONS of good food, tippy cup and beer pong to play down stairs, and just a good party atmosphere. Until Aaron got pushed up the stairs by some drunk guy, and he's not sure exactly what happened, but I think the oven timer fell out of the front of the costume, and then broke. He had to throw it away. Then he came and told me about it, which sucked. I'm sure the guy was probably drunk and did not mean to do so, but c'mon. He's a giant box robot - he can't just hop up those steps real quick. So, we hung around a bit longer, then said goodbye and headed home. It was a lot of fun, up until the end.
Amazingly, we were home right around midnight, which isn't too terribly late. I was, however, up at 6am today because I never sleep well after I've been drinking. Oh well.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Dentist
Just got back from the dentist's office this afternoon. It was my first visit with that dentist (and my first visit in about three years). I have perfectly healthy teeth and gums!! But, I have a pretty severe TMJ problem, just like my sister (only I'm taking care of mine sooner than she did, so hopefully I won't have the same problems and expenses as Ashley).
No cleaning for this appointment, just x-rays and poking around. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to have my teeth cleaned and impressions made for a splint. After the splint is fabricated, we'll see where my jaw WANTS to be, and not where my teeth are making it go. Hopefully it doesn't move too far and I don't end up needing ortho work (again!). Hopefully the splint will just fix everything and I won't even have to be referred to a TMJ specialist!
I had originally made an appointment to see a dentist because my jaw was giving me lots of problems. Couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth without the left side of my jaw hurting, I think I was grinding my jaw during work (high stress right now, as my workload tripled a month ago), and possibly during sleep. Also, I couldn't even bite down all the way - my molars wouldn't touch each other. By the time I made it into the dentist today, that had gone away, but it's still sore, and I'm still getting headaches. Hopefully we can put an end to it soon, and I think my dental insurance will cover most of this!
Not much else to say at this point. Kinda nice to get off work after only five hours AND feel like I accomplished more today than I did yesterday in eight hours of work!
No cleaning for this appointment, just x-rays and poking around. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to have my teeth cleaned and impressions made for a splint. After the splint is fabricated, we'll see where my jaw WANTS to be, and not where my teeth are making it go. Hopefully it doesn't move too far and I don't end up needing ortho work (again!). Hopefully the splint will just fix everything and I won't even have to be referred to a TMJ specialist!
I had originally made an appointment to see a dentist because my jaw was giving me lots of problems. Couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth without the left side of my jaw hurting, I think I was grinding my jaw during work (high stress right now, as my workload tripled a month ago), and possibly during sleep. Also, I couldn't even bite down all the way - my molars wouldn't touch each other. By the time I made it into the dentist today, that had gone away, but it's still sore, and I'm still getting headaches. Hopefully we can put an end to it soon, and I think my dental insurance will cover most of this!
Not much else to say at this point. Kinda nice to get off work after only five hours AND feel like I accomplished more today than I did yesterday in eight hours of work!
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