So here it is: My mom has been having health issues, and that really sucks. The job hunting situation has been stressing me out to the point of not sleeping and being a super foul crankypants. Mike is gone to California for 5 days, which means I’m super sad & lonely. There has just been a lot to deal with, and it has taken it’s toll on my sanity.

On the upside, my family & friends are super awesome, and I don’t know what I would do without them. They have consoled, supported, listened, celebrated, commiserated, advised and so much more for the last couple of sucky weeks, and it makes all the difference. Even if I’m still a super foul crankypants.

The party on Saturday turned out great – my sister really enjoyed it which was the main thing. We had a fairly steady stream of folks in & out for most of the afternoon. The kids had a great time too. Sticky Ball was a big hit. Here are some photos! There are so many good pics, I couldn’t choose a few, so you get a slideshow!! And I can’t embed it because Flickr doesn’t want to be friends with Wordpress. But click the link and see all the fun.

On Sunday we got up bright & early and headed to Grand Rapids to visit with Mike’s family for Father’s Day. I played bocce ball with my brother in law and some of the kids and I’m actually pretty good at it. I suck big time at Ladder Ball, though. Anyway, we had a really good time, and it was fun to hang out with everyone. We even managed to get home in time to throw some laundry in and relax for a couple of hours before bed.

So anyway, the bird feeder. We set it up on Friday afternoon and put a suet cake in there that smelled like delicious peanut butter, and also some yummy bird seed in a tube style feeder. We kept watching, but no birds ever checked it out. We were thinking maybe it would just tke some time for them to find it or something. We did finally see a couple of birds eating from the feeder yesterday evening, so we were feeling good about the whole thing. Then I woke up this morning and saw this:

Hmmm, maybe Monkey Tail is scaring the birds away. Also, now the whole thing is leaning over to the side a little. Stupid obese squirrel. I put a squirrel block out back, but apparently, that wsn’t good enough for this piglet.

At this point, I notice a second lady slumped over onto the curb with her feet in the street and resting on top of a 2 liter of Ohana Lemonade. Lady 1 tells me that she was driving down my street, and noticed Lady 2 lying there. She had stopped to check on her and make sure she was ok. She shook her several times and Lady 2 did not respond at all. Lady 1 tells me that she has called 911 and they will be there in 5 minutes. Ok, wow. I take a closer look at Lady 2 and I can see that her chest is rising and falling, so she is definitely breathing. After a few minutes Lady 2 started moving a bit – she scratched at her face, but then went right back to catatonic and wouldn’t respond again. We waited way longer than 5 minutes, but finally, a cop showed up. He did the same things Lady 1 did – shake her, try to talk to her. She opened her eyes for a sec, but still no response. Then the paramedics got there. The siren seemed to rouse her a bit, and the paramedics actually were able to get Lady 2 to sit up. They spoke to her and she spoke back, but she definitely wasn’t coherent. They finally put her on a gurney and took her away. I sure hope that she’s ok, but I don’t know if I’ll ever know. It was a scary situation, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I was late for my first day at the shop! I explained what happened and they were super understanding, though. I had a good time there! I was mostly working the front of the store, but I am also eager to work in the back and actually accept donations and then sort through them. It’s been really fun and a good experience so far.

I’ve been watching Lost, and I am about halfway through Season 2 right now. I am trying to power through it so I can get to True Blood. I am trying to stay caught up on my regular weeklys too. George & I are almost caught up with Vampire Diaries, and I am only a week behind on everything else. Man, I love me some tv.

Oh, and I obviously changed some things around again. I kind of like it for now, but you know I’m sort of indecisive, so we’ll see how long this lasts.

Friday was my super awesome spa day with my mom! First I had a facial while she had a massage, then we got manicures together. After that, she got highlights and her hair styled, and I got a cut, style and deep conditioning treatment. Then we both had our makeup done. It was so so much fun. I wish I was super loaded and we could it all the time. When I got home from the spa, I had 2 packages waiting – one was my new crock pot, and it is so cool, I can’t wait to try it out.  The second was a giant box of St. Patrick’s Day/Birthday cookies from my good friends Brian and Holly in Las Vegas. These are so cute, and trust me, they taste even better than they look! 

Later that evening, Mike & I decided to rent some movies, so we watched Quantum of Solace. It was an OK movie, but Casino Royale was far better. It was a good day. Actually, a GREAT day. I even got  call about a job and it sounds like I’ll have an interview in a couple of weeks.

This morning I got up and met up with my mom & sister. We were so excited to go check out the brand new Goodwill down the street from my house. They were having a big grand opening deal. Anyway, we got there and it was a ZOO. There was hardly anywhere to park, and once we got inside, you could barely get around the store it was so crowded! I went to furniture right away because I have been looking for a small chair for my office. I found the perfect one! I couldn’t find a price tag on it, so I went off to find and employee to help me. Five minutes later, I drag a guy over there, and suddenly, it has a SOLD tag on it. Uggh. I was so frustrated! I’ve been looking for a couple of months and I thought this one was perfect!! Oh well, apparently it wasn’t. I did manage to find a couple of other bargains though – my very own juicer for $6.99, and 3 balls of Plymouth Galway Highland Heather yarn for $1 each. Those are regularly about $6-ish each, so this was a steal!

I got home and took my new juicer apart, and thoroughly washed all the pieces. Once they were dry, I plugged it in to see how it works. It was GREAT. Not as good as the one I borrowed from my sister in law, but amazingly good for $7. For example, Missy’s juicer will do a carrot like it ain’t no thing, and this one will kind of slow down a little and you can tell it is having to work a little harder to juice the carrot, but it still does just fine. Overall, I was really impressed and happy with it. After I drank my delicious carrot-tomato with a splash of cucumber and green pepper juice, I took the juicer apart again and washed all the pieces again. It is easier to clean than the borrowed juicer, so I definitely like that.

After I cleaned it, I decided to look online and see if I could find the manual for this model. I found out lots of interesting things. This juicer was sold between 1990 and 1995. Oh, and in 2001 all of these models were recalled due to a defect that can cause the lid to break and the slicer blade to come flying out of the machine. Hmmm, that’s an interesting tidbit. The recall even states that you should unplug the juicer and never use it again. There is a contact number, but I’m really not sure how to proceed. Should I call and try to get a new juicer? I feel sort of skeevy about that since I wasn’t the original owner. I am thinking that the defect is probably one in a million so maybe I’ll just continue using it. Of course, I would definitely be the one in a million that ends up with my throat slit from a runaway juicer. I’m still not sure what I should do. I need to think about it.

Last night we met up with Mike’s boss and a friend of his at Gallagher’s. I converted another person to the Beer Society, so now there are even more people for me to have beers with!We had a nice time, and I got to try some more beers too. I got Mike’s boss to try #9, and of course, he loved it. Woot! One of the beers I had last night was Orange Blossom Ale. It’s brewed in Florida, and it was very tasty. Check the link on the right sidebar to see what I had and how I rated it. I am up to 19! Only 106 beers to go!! It’s still early in the game, so I am taking suggestions – what beers should I try? Comment or email me.

I got up this morning, made some coffee and a yummy brekkie of Trish McMuffins, and relaxed while Mikey slept in. After that I decided to get started on dinner which was a crock pot feast called Beef & Potato Casserole. I browned the meat, washed potatoes and peeled the carrots, then diced them up along with an onion. The recipe calls for tomato juice, so I even made fresh tomato juice with the juicer. I put everything in the crock and started it up. About 30 minutes later I heard a loud POP that sounded like a gunshot. I went into the kitchen and found this:

I have no idea how this happened, but my crock pot is ruined, along with my super fab dinner! How sad and disappointing. I am going to look online and see if I can find a replacement lid, because I’m pretty sure the crock itself is fine. Anyway, this is very frustrating. I guess we will be ordering sammiches or pizza or something for dinner.

I’ve been rocking the Wii Fit Plus for about a week now, and I am feeling the burn in my abs and thighs. I did these lunges a few times and everytime I tried to sit down I cried out a little. Not cool, but very cool at the same time. I am also trying to make friends with my elliptical machine. We were close for a while, but then we drifted apart. I am rocking the rebounder too. I am trying to vary it up to keep things interesting - so far, so good.

WRONG. George tried to shower last night in the main floor shower, and there is no hot water getting to it and we can’t figure out why. Sooo, that leaves us with zero usable showers. I feel like a hobo right now. I am thinking I will wash my hair in the sink today and then just sort of wash up whore’s bath style. Should be awesome. We have a dude coming to look at our problems tomorrow night. Hopefully after that we will have at least one working shower, maybe 2. It’s getting pretty ripe around here.

The good news is that since we have to replace the tub & shower in the master bath, we decided to upgrade to a fancy Jacuzzi whirlpool tub!! It is supposed to be installed on Tuesday and I am pretty excited! We spent pretty much all day yesterday trying to figure out what we wanted to replace the current enclosure. We went back and forth a million times, but ended up choosing the whirlpool tub, & shower/tub walls that we both like. We also decided to ditch the shower doors we have and go back to a regular curtain, and while we were at it, change up our fixtures and all the accessories like the toilet paper holder, towel bars, etc. I can’t wait until it’s done @ I can soak in my whirlpool tub!!! Woot!

I have been reading quite a bit lately. I am working on the series of books that The Vampire Diaries TV show on the CW is based on. It’s an interesting story, but the writing is super lame. I have got to get off of these teen books. I am sticking with this one because I really like the show and I am interested in the back story of it, but if not for the show I would have ditched these long ago. Luckily they are a quick read – I am on the 4th of 5 books and have only been reading these about a week.

Next up, I am torn between starting the Percy Jackson books, or the Sookie Stackhouse True Blood books. The new Percy Jackson movie looks sweet, and I definitely want to see it. I’m just not sure if I want to read the book or see the movie first. As for Sookie Stackhouse, I tried to watch True Blood but couldn’t get past the first episode. Maybe I will enjoy the books more. I have a bunch of other stuff I want to read, too, so maybe I’ll go in another direction completely. Hard to say. I have a TON of Star Trek ebooks that I have been itching to read, so maybe I’ll give some of those a spin. Ok, actually I have every Star Trek novel ever written including all of the scripts from every episode of every series and also every movie. Oh, and all of the autobiographies of all of the actors too. So that could keep me busy for quite a long long time.

Sure wish I could take a shower.

It wasn’t because of anything I did, it was just because the company is in such dire financial straits that they can’t afford to pay me anymore. And it wasn’t just me – several people were “laid off” today as well. I think the thing I am most sad about at this moment, to be completely truthful, is that I had to cancel our reservations in Traverse City for this weekend. We just really can’t spend the money on it at the moment, even though it breaks my heart.

I am in the process of filing an unemployment claim, and I have already applied for a couple of jobs, too. I’m scared and I have no idea how to do this.

Just made this yesterday! I like it, the colors and texture are beautiful. It’s aysemmetrical and very unique.

Otherwise, there isn’t too much going on. Mike is off today so we are having a lunch date. Which I really need to go get dressed for. I don’t think my Good Luck Bear PJs will make a very good impression at any lunch establishment. I also have some knitted stuff I really want to get pics of to list on Etsy and show off here, but I need some decent sunlight to get good photos, so clearly that will have to wait. OK, off to get de-Care Beared. More later.

I also had some serious issues with UPS this week. UGGGH, they are such filthy skanks. The short version is that they were trying to bring me a package, but I only got 2 InfoNotices and I am supposed to get 3 attempts, AND the day of the alledged second attemot, I was here all day, never left the nice and the buzzer never rang, yet when Mike came home at 8PM there was a notice. So the guy didn’t even try!!! I talked to several people at UPS today (including one very rude girl) and they basically told me that they have already returned the package to the shipper and can’t reroute it back to me. All I can do is call the shipper and tell them to resend it to me. And he will have to pay again unless he tells them the story and argues his way into having them ship it back for free because they effed up. I am really mad and they are a-holes. I did find out from the very mean rude girl that the alledged 3 attempts were made by 3 different drivers on 3 consecutive days. So I am very sure that my regular guy who knows me and always buzzes must be on vacay. Anyway, I am really really tired of arguing with people this week.

I really haven’t been sleeping well this week and that makes me almost non-functional, so that really hasn’t helped the sitch. I think I need a whole day to just lay around and nap and watch TV or something, but that sure won’t be happening anytime soon. We are booked solid this weekend with Mother’s Day festivities, and next weekend we are on a mini-vacay to KY (the state, not the lube) for houseboating. Which I am super excited about, so that’s what I’m looking forward to. I can’t wait for this stupid faced week to be over.