I have decided to try something different in my life. I've been feeling a little restless lately for some reason, and I haven't known why. I was thinking I needed a new job (we won't discuss that on here!), but it was kinda more than that. I don't really do anything other than work and come home, work and come home. Mike and I would love to travel, but you kinda need some money (and time off) to do that. I have some really cute outfits that I don't get to wear much, if at all, because I have no place to where them. So, I have decided to do a couple things about this.
First thing...I've always wanted to get a booth at the Taste of the Mountains Street Festival on Main Street in Madison. I've been told that I draw very well and was even told I should become an artist (I didn't exactly agree with that point...I'm not that great and I wouldn't make much money). So I was going to send an application this year. Unfortunately, I'm late for the entry as April 15 was the last day. However, that gives me a year to get some pieces done so I can get a booth next year. I figure I'll do pencil drawings, pastel chalks, and possibly some charcoal as well. The last two mediums are especially fun to work with! I'm not very good with painting, but I think I may do some quotes with pictures like I did for my brothers' wedding gifts. I don't know if I'll make any money doing this or not. All-in-all, I just want to see how I'll do...and I'll have fun along the way.
The second thing I'm hoping to do is become a jeweler for Premier Designs. It's a Christian-based company that encourages people to have at-home parties, or even catalog parties, selling high fashion jewelry. I've been to two parties and have hosted one. I figure I can do it on the side on weekends and still keep my grooming job at the animal hospital. And that way, when Mike and I have children, I'll have something I can fall back on if need be and I could work from home. Well, we'll see about that last part. I'm meeting with the woman tonight who was the jeweler at all the parties I went to. This will kill two birds with one stone (poor birds), as it will help me get out of the house (especially when Mike has to work and I'd be home alone anyway), it'll allow me to wear the cute outfits I never can, and it'll also bring in some more income (okay, that's three birds, but I didn't want to think about killing birds...). Many people become very successful at this and end up quitting their original jobs to just sell jewelry. I don't know if that'll happen with me or not, but we'll see if I can even get this baby off the ground first.
So...wish me luck!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
LaFoue, I'm Afraid I've Been Thinking...
A dangerous past time...I know!
I really like the show "The Tudors" that comes on Showtime. I have the first three seasons and am anxiously awaiting the final season to come out on DVD (it's still on air, so I'm not sure when that'll be...and since I missed the first couple episodes, I don't want to watch it until I can see them). Obviously, the show is about the Tudor family...mainly Henry VIII of England back in the Middle Ages. You know, the time when people's idea of entertainment was to take the family to watch public executions and torture or go to bear baiting and cock fighting rings.
The thinking part came to me gradually while I work. See, I am a groomer and have my own room at work, so unless someone needs something of me or until I am done with grooming, I don't get much interaction with my coworkers. But that's all beside the point. I realized that we call those times the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, medieval times. The acts were so barbaric and the people so unknowledgeable. At the thought of seeing public executions, much less taking the ENTIRE family to see them and the gruesome tortures we cringe and say that we're glad we live in better times.
But with all of our technology and forward thinking, are we really out of those times? I mean, all of the popular-rated shows on television are criminal investigative shows, normally where someone is brutally murdered. Isn't that a public execution? No, you may not be able to see all of the blood and guts and gore, but directors and producers and props managers put enough on there that there is little left to the imagination. And then there are the movies like "Hostel" and "Touristas" that are pure gore and show the public torture. No, it's not real, obviously, but that's not the point! We love it because it's gory! Or even if you are one that doesn't like the gore, you still watch to make sure the bad guy gets what he deserves in the end. It's the same thing!
So, you see...we really haven't evolved past our neanderthal ancestors. We still have cock fighting rings and dog fighting facilities...they aren't always well-known or easy to find, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. And yes, our weaponry might be more advanced, but all the better to kill people with.
I really like the show "The Tudors" that comes on Showtime. I have the first three seasons and am anxiously awaiting the final season to come out on DVD (it's still on air, so I'm not sure when that'll be...and since I missed the first couple episodes, I don't want to watch it until I can see them). Obviously, the show is about the Tudor family...mainly Henry VIII of England back in the Middle Ages. You know, the time when people's idea of entertainment was to take the family to watch public executions and torture or go to bear baiting and cock fighting rings.
The thinking part came to me gradually while I work. See, I am a groomer and have my own room at work, so unless someone needs something of me or until I am done with grooming, I don't get much interaction with my coworkers. But that's all beside the point. I realized that we call those times the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, medieval times. The acts were so barbaric and the people so unknowledgeable. At the thought of seeing public executions, much less taking the ENTIRE family to see them and the gruesome tortures we cringe and say that we're glad we live in better times.
But with all of our technology and forward thinking, are we really out of those times? I mean, all of the popular-rated shows on television are criminal investigative shows, normally where someone is brutally murdered. Isn't that a public execution? No, you may not be able to see all of the blood and guts and gore, but directors and producers and props managers put enough on there that there is little left to the imagination. And then there are the movies like "Hostel" and "Touristas" that are pure gore and show the public torture. No, it's not real, obviously, but that's not the point! We love it because it's gory! Or even if you are one that doesn't like the gore, you still watch to make sure the bad guy gets what he deserves in the end. It's the same thing!
So, you see...we really haven't evolved past our neanderthal ancestors. We still have cock fighting rings and dog fighting facilities...they aren't always well-known or easy to find, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. And yes, our weaponry might be more advanced, but all the better to kill people with.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Kamicatze
So, Mike and I are getting all settled into our new home. Our animals, on the other hand...they're crazy!
To start out, we've got Lady, our just about one-and-a-half-year-old, non-graceful German Shepherd mix. She's always picking on Sprite, our two-year-old Cocker Spaniel. She likes to grab Sprite by the neck. Well, their crates are located upstairs in the guest bedroom, so they have to go down the steps, through the kitchen, and out to the backyard. Lady likes to run out in front of Sprite and get down the steps to the first landing, turn around, and wait for Sprite to come down so she can grab her, then run down the second set of steps to the first floor, turn around, and wait for her (there's a lot of commas there, I know!). One particular evening after I got home and got my shower, I let them out and Lady went down to do her little routine. Unfortunately, when she got to the landing and turned, she was too close to the second set of steps and lost her footing, sliding the entire rest of the way down and injuring her leg in the process. Then there was another time when I called them in from the backyard and Lady got there first. Well, I wait until both are there to let them in. Lady didn't wait and ran into the screen door. (*shaking head*)
Then there are the cats. Jasper's new favorite spot is in the papasan chair up in the hallway. I'll be in bed and the next thing I know, there's this big commotion out in the hall. At first I thought the cats were fighting, because there was a lot of hissing and spitting going on. Come to find out, it's Jasper there alone, chasing his tail in the papasan, growling and hissing at it! Calypso seems to be a little bit on the ditzy side, as well. Her biggest event so far happened the other week. Mike gets home after midnight, and then stays up an hour or so watching TV before coming to bed. I happened to wake up a little, hearing a cat run into our room and under the bed. Soon after, Mike comes into the room and asks me where Cali is. Half-asleep, I told him I didn't know, but I thought I'd heard a cat scurry under the bed. Mike then proceeds to tell me that she had jumped/fallen from the second floor to the first! There's a small gap between the upstairs hallway and the stairs railings. I've noticed that Cali and Jasper like to get on the upstairs railing and just walk along it. Apparently, Cali was up there and either jumped or fell, first hitting the ceiling fan (not on) on her way down and ending up in a pile of shoes. She wasn't harmed, but I think she really scared herself!
Our pets are apparently very uncoordinated, or just plain crazy!
To start out, we've got Lady, our just about one-and-a-half-year-old, non-graceful German Shepherd mix. She's always picking on Sprite, our two-year-old Cocker Spaniel. She likes to grab Sprite by the neck. Well, their crates are located upstairs in the guest bedroom, so they have to go down the steps, through the kitchen, and out to the backyard. Lady likes to run out in front of Sprite and get down the steps to the first landing, turn around, and wait for Sprite to come down so she can grab her, then run down the second set of steps to the first floor, turn around, and wait for her (there's a lot of commas there, I know!). One particular evening after I got home and got my shower, I let them out and Lady went down to do her little routine. Unfortunately, when she got to the landing and turned, she was too close to the second set of steps and lost her footing, sliding the entire rest of the way down and injuring her leg in the process. Then there was another time when I called them in from the backyard and Lady got there first. Well, I wait until both are there to let them in. Lady didn't wait and ran into the screen door. (*shaking head*)
Then there are the cats. Jasper's new favorite spot is in the papasan chair up in the hallway. I'll be in bed and the next thing I know, there's this big commotion out in the hall. At first I thought the cats were fighting, because there was a lot of hissing and spitting going on. Come to find out, it's Jasper there alone, chasing his tail in the papasan, growling and hissing at it! Calypso seems to be a little bit on the ditzy side, as well. Her biggest event so far happened the other week. Mike gets home after midnight, and then stays up an hour or so watching TV before coming to bed. I happened to wake up a little, hearing a cat run into our room and under the bed. Soon after, Mike comes into the room and asks me where Cali is. Half-asleep, I told him I didn't know, but I thought I'd heard a cat scurry under the bed. Mike then proceeds to tell me that she had jumped/fallen from the second floor to the first! There's a small gap between the upstairs hallway and the stairs railings. I've noticed that Cali and Jasper like to get on the upstairs railing and just walk along it. Apparently, Cali was up there and either jumped or fell, first hitting the ceiling fan (not on) on her way down and ending up in a pile of shoes. She wasn't harmed, but I think she really scared herself!
Our pets are apparently very uncoordinated, or just plain crazy!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
First Things First
Sorry I've been a little AWOL. Mike and I don't have internet yet, so I'm a little slow getting stuff on here. We're supposed to be getting it set up this Tuesday.
That being said, a lot of stuff has happened lately. Well, maybe not a LOT of stuff, but MAJOR stuff. First, WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!! Oh...my...gosh!!!! It only took...FOREVER!!!!! We put a bid on this house back in October. It was a short sale, which is a major misnomer, because nine times out of ten, the sale is not short. But we've been patient...barely. We finally got the call that it was time to close. We closed at the end of March. We were given the keys and told that the paperwork would be reported by Monday, but we could go ahead and start making it ours. We got a call Tuesday and were told that the house wasn't ours! The seller's agent was extremely unprofessional and screwed the whole thing up, so now we had to go back to closing! Mike and I were ready to lawyer up, Remax was ready to lawyer up, Bank of America was ready to lawyer up...there was going to be a fight! Thankfully, however, we closed two weeks after and everything worked out well (and outside of court!). So we are now proud owners of a cute little house in the town of Culpeper! YAY!
Another first for me was going to an Orioles game. My brother Jimmy got tickets, and so he, Katie, and I went to Baltimore last weekend. We went to the aquarium first (I hadn't been since eighth grade) and just looked around. We went to the game that night. It was great...the Os lost, but the game was great! Afterward, we decided we wanted to go out to a bar or two. The only problem was we couldn't find any! All we found were clubs, which (as Jimmy informed me) we were too "old" to go into. So we went for a late meal/snacks at Hard Rock Cafe and then walked back to our hotel. Katie and I were tired, so Jimmy went down to the bar in the hotel until 2am. The next day, we headed into DC to the Smithsonian. Apparently it's a crime to have not seen the Air and Space Museum (also information from Jimmy), so we went there first. Afterward, we walked around the statue garden (I can't remember its real name), then popped our heads into the Museum of Natural History before heading back to Virginia so I could get home in time for Mike and I to go grocery shopping and get settled into our house.
All-in-all, it's been great! Unfortunately, I have no pictures at the moment as I left my camera at home and I'm at my parents' house. But after we get internet, I'll try to get some posted of the game, DC, and our new house!
That being said, a lot of stuff has happened lately. Well, maybe not a LOT of stuff, but MAJOR stuff. First, WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!! Oh...my...gosh!!!! It only took...FOREVER!!!!! We put a bid on this house back in October. It was a short sale, which is a major misnomer, because nine times out of ten, the sale is not short. But we've been patient...barely. We finally got the call that it was time to close. We closed at the end of March. We were given the keys and told that the paperwork would be reported by Monday, but we could go ahead and start making it ours. We got a call Tuesday and were told that the house wasn't ours! The seller's agent was extremely unprofessional and screwed the whole thing up, so now we had to go back to closing! Mike and I were ready to lawyer up, Remax was ready to lawyer up, Bank of America was ready to lawyer up...there was going to be a fight! Thankfully, however, we closed two weeks after and everything worked out well (and outside of court!). So we are now proud owners of a cute little house in the town of Culpeper! YAY!
Another first for me was going to an Orioles game. My brother Jimmy got tickets, and so he, Katie, and I went to Baltimore last weekend. We went to the aquarium first (I hadn't been since eighth grade) and just looked around. We went to the game that night. It was great...the Os lost, but the game was great! Afterward, we decided we wanted to go out to a bar or two. The only problem was we couldn't find any! All we found were clubs, which (as Jimmy informed me) we were too "old" to go into. So we went for a late meal/snacks at Hard Rock Cafe and then walked back to our hotel. Katie and I were tired, so Jimmy went down to the bar in the hotel until 2am. The next day, we headed into DC to the Smithsonian. Apparently it's a crime to have not seen the Air and Space Museum (also information from Jimmy), so we went there first. Afterward, we walked around the statue garden (I can't remember its real name), then popped our heads into the Museum of Natural History before heading back to Virginia so I could get home in time for Mike and I to go grocery shopping and get settled into our house.
All-in-all, it's been great! Unfortunately, I have no pictures at the moment as I left my camera at home and I'm at my parents' house. But after we get internet, I'll try to get some posted of the game, DC, and our new house!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
I Think to Myself...What a Wonderful World
This is a little random, I guess, but looking at previous blogs it's not much moreso than the rest. Normally I sleep with the radio on, listening to a country station. I'm not one of those people that NEEDS to have it on in order to sleep, though it does help for me to have some sort of background noise. The last couple nights, however, I did not have my radio as background noise...I had nature. It's been warm enough that Mike and I have left our bedroom window open all day and night. The cats love it, especially Jasper, because he can now lay his fat butt in the window. He likes lying in an open window. But that's not the point.
I love this time of year when it's finally getting warmer and the tree frogs start they're chirping in the evenings. The last couple nights I've fallen asleep to that. Of course, last night, there was something else as well. Mike had gotten home after midnight and woke me with his moving around the room. He got ready for bed, and as we were lying there and he was giving me a little massage, there was a noise (somewhat LOUD) from outside. "What was that?" Mike asked, sounding a little shaken. It took me a second scream of the creature to realize. "Oh, it's a bobcat," I replied. "They sound like a woman screaming."
"Are you sure?" he asked, not really believing me.
(*scream*) "Yeah. It's really creepy. Foxes are kinda creepy, too. They sound like babies crying."
As we listened to the bobcat crying outside our window, and then the tree frogs again once it was apparently safe to come back out, it got me thinking about all the little things I love about this world and life...
The smell of freshly cut grass
Watching the wind blow in waves across long grass over the fields like the ocean
Big puffy clouds
Thunderstorms (unless they're really close, then they're kinda scary)
Watching the rain traveling across the land
Listening to the rain on a metal roof
Curling up with a good book or a loved one under a blanket
Views from on top of a mountain
Views of mountains
Soft warm breezes
Tree frogs chirping at twilight
There are so many other things that I could list, but it would go on forever. It's simple things that I love. Every now and then you have to slow down and listen to the world around you and just take it in. Maybe that's why God made those things the way they are, so remarkably simple, and yet so wonderful that you just have to take the time.
I love this time of year when it's finally getting warmer and the tree frogs start they're chirping in the evenings. The last couple nights I've fallen asleep to that. Of course, last night, there was something else as well. Mike had gotten home after midnight and woke me with his moving around the room. He got ready for bed, and as we were lying there and he was giving me a little massage, there was a noise (somewhat LOUD) from outside. "What was that?" Mike asked, sounding a little shaken. It took me a second scream of the creature to realize. "Oh, it's a bobcat," I replied. "They sound like a woman screaming."
"Are you sure?" he asked, not really believing me.
(*scream*) "Yeah. It's really creepy. Foxes are kinda creepy, too. They sound like babies crying."
As we listened to the bobcat crying outside our window, and then the tree frogs again once it was apparently safe to come back out, it got me thinking about all the little things I love about this world and life...
The smell of freshly cut grass
Watching the wind blow in waves across long grass over the fields like the ocean
Big puffy clouds
Thunderstorms (unless they're really close, then they're kinda scary)
Watching the rain traveling across the land
Listening to the rain on a metal roof
Curling up with a good book or a loved one under a blanket
Views from on top of a mountain
Views of mountains
Soft warm breezes
Tree frogs chirping at twilight
There are so many other things that I could list, but it would go on forever. It's simple things that I love. Every now and then you have to slow down and listen to the world around you and just take it in. Maybe that's why God made those things the way they are, so remarkably simple, and yet so wonderful that you just have to take the time.
Monday, March 29, 2010
So Close...
So, I haven't written in a bit. I've been waiting until we have this house. We still TECHNICALLY don't have it, as there was a small glitch in the HUD statement. But we're supposed to hear back today. We've gotten the keys, though, so we're going to take the chance and go in there to start painting it and cleaning it and just making it our own. I'm so freakin' excited, I can't stand it! I'll try to take pictures when I go there after the gym today, so I can show all you fine blogger people our new abode. We're supposed to move in this weekend, so we're going to take this week to get it fixed up...as much as money allows, of course.
I just can't wait to have our own place, where the dogs won't bug anyone and Jasper won't hiss at dad and I can cook/bake in my own kitchen. It's a gas stove, however, which I've never used before. It could be interesting. I already have a plan of what I want to make...strawberry muffins with strawberry butter. It sounds absolutely DE-licious!
I just can't wait to have our own place, where the dogs won't bug anyone and Jasper won't hiss at dad and I can cook/bake in my own kitchen. It's a gas stove, however, which I've never used before. It could be interesting. I already have a plan of what I want to make...strawberry muffins with strawberry butter. It sounds absolutely DE-licious!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A Rose by Any Other Name...
It's been a while, and I'm sorry for that. I've been spending a lot of time at my other blog and have also been really sick this week...allergies, I'm thinking. Maybe I'm allergic to weight loss. I always seem to get sick right around the time I want to diet...
ANYWAY...That's not what I came on here about. Something happened yesterday that really caught my attention. As some of you may know, our Madison basketball team are now state champs! Yay! (Not that I really pay much attention to our sports anymore, sadly) At work, we have a sign out front that we change for birthdays, community events, animal-related memos, and all the like. So Tuesday, one of the doctors wanted me to put out on the sign:
"Congrats MCHS Mens BBall
State Champs"
So I put it out there...just like that. Believe it or not, we actually got a call about it! Now, this doesn't always surprise us, because a lot of our clients who drive by and see the sign will call and ask about something it says or make a comment on it or something. This call was...well...ridiculous! The caller made a complaint, saying that it should be "boys" and not "men." Are you serious?!?!?! He went on to explain that "men" is for college. Well, last I checked, once you hit 18 you are considered a "man." Heck, usually once you hit puberty, you are a "man."
Why are we so obsessed about the "proper" titles and labels we put on things? We all know what we mean, so why does it have to be just the right word? For instance...and please, please, PLEASE do not ever think I am racist or prejudice or any of the like, because I'm not...Back in high school, I had a group project in Government class. Each group had to pick a Supreme Justice and do a report on him or her, which was then read aloud in front of class. My group had Clarence Thomas who, as some of you may know (I say some because believe it or not, many Americans don't know) is the second "African-American" Supreme Justice. When I got to mentioning that point in our essay, I didn't say "African-American," I said "black." I can't begin to tell you my embarrassment as the entire WHITE class shouted at me, "African-American!"
Why should that matter? We ("we" being white folk) don't care if we're called white. No idiot (except those on major tests you take in school) asks us if we're "caucasian." As my father says, "There is no such thing as a hyphenated American." If you're American, no one usually asks about your origin. Otherwise I would be a German-Polish-Irish-English-tiniest bit French-maybe some Scottish-American (I did ancestry.com!). Otherwise, as I like to call it, a European Mutt...and proud of it!
We put so many labels on things...and obviously people. Why not call it what it is? The guys don't care if they're called "men" or "boys," though, I'm sure some of the ones with the bigger egos (aka most of the school populace) would prefer men. We obsess over the little, insignificant things in life. And people wonder why we're under so much stress...
ANYWAY...That's not what I came on here about. Something happened yesterday that really caught my attention. As some of you may know, our Madison basketball team are now state champs! Yay! (Not that I really pay much attention to our sports anymore, sadly) At work, we have a sign out front that we change for birthdays, community events, animal-related memos, and all the like. So Tuesday, one of the doctors wanted me to put out on the sign:
"Congrats MCHS Mens BBall
State Champs"
So I put it out there...just like that. Believe it or not, we actually got a call about it! Now, this doesn't always surprise us, because a lot of our clients who drive by and see the sign will call and ask about something it says or make a comment on it or something. This call was...well...ridiculous! The caller made a complaint, saying that it should be "boys" and not "men." Are you serious?!?!?! He went on to explain that "men" is for college. Well, last I checked, once you hit 18 you are considered a "man." Heck, usually once you hit puberty, you are a "man."
Why are we so obsessed about the "proper" titles and labels we put on things? We all know what we mean, so why does it have to be just the right word? For instance...and please, please, PLEASE do not ever think I am racist or prejudice or any of the like, because I'm not...Back in high school, I had a group project in Government class. Each group had to pick a Supreme Justice and do a report on him or her, which was then read aloud in front of class. My group had Clarence Thomas who, as some of you may know (I say some because believe it or not, many Americans don't know) is the second "African-American" Supreme Justice. When I got to mentioning that point in our essay, I didn't say "African-American," I said "black." I can't begin to tell you my embarrassment as the entire WHITE class shouted at me, "African-American!"
Why should that matter? We ("we" being white folk) don't care if we're called white. No idiot (except those on major tests you take in school) asks us if we're "caucasian." As my father says, "There is no such thing as a hyphenated American." If you're American, no one usually asks about your origin. Otherwise I would be a German-Polish-Irish-English-tiniest bit French-maybe some Scottish-American (I did ancestry.com!). Otherwise, as I like to call it, a European Mutt...and proud of it!
We put so many labels on things...and obviously people. Why not call it what it is? The guys don't care if they're called "men" or "boys," though, I'm sure some of the ones with the bigger egos (aka most of the school populace) would prefer men. We obsess over the little, insignificant things in life. And people wonder why we're under so much stress...
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