Tis' the season.

For kids to be bratty, adults to rationalize big purchases and a lot of money flowing to only God knows where.


Zach and I went to Best Buy yesterday, of course JUST to look. Right? We ended up leaving with a 32 inch flat screen TV. I hmm'd and haa'd all the way home. My dad tends to over-react when one of his kids makes a big purchase, and demands to know where money came from and how we could afford that. He gets over it eventually, but not quickly enough for me to be thrilled about this TV sitting in the back of our truck.


We brought it home, wrapped it with newspaper and finished it up with a bow and a note that says "To: Mel & Zach From: Santa". Britney Spears is on my big gift and is holding it's own in the trunk of my car. I'll be moving it tonight.


Hey, it's from Santa. I'm in the clear.

Don't ask me why.

This may sound totally ridicules, but I have baby fever. I have the urge to just have a whole mess of kids. I'm pretty sure it has to do with my Epilepsy. My doctor said I couldn't have any 'accidents' and I have to plan for kids.


Well, now that I know that...


I guess I'm wanting kids now because I'm scared when the time comes to plan them, I'll be older than I'd like to be, or they just won't be possible anymore. I'm the girl that dreams about becoming a mommy. It's what I want in my life.


Zach is reassuring but at the same time thinks I'm crazy. Uh.. hello, I think I'm crazy.


Then he made a face and said "Go blog about it." Then he laughed at me. And my blog.


Jeeeerk.

A sad addiction.

I tried these once at work and was intrigued enough to ask my parents to pick up a bag the next time they went to Costco. I'm hording the bag in my room as I type this.


I love them so much I try to force them down anyone's throat to say "Aren't they amazing??"


If you dig pomegranate, dark chocolate or even Costco, I recommend them.


Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum =)

Sunday thoughts..

First, I'd like to say these meds I'm on are helping! Woohoo! I'm sleeping one hundred times better than I have in 3 years, and i took a test drive last night. My driving skills are still impeccable. =)


I spent a majority of yesterday afternoon cleaning the downstairs up. It's been a disaster for God knows how long. Zach and I had invited some friends over and I was not about to have people in a gross house. We ( well, they) had some drinks and we played pool and had a good time. I'm avoiding alcohol at this point. My prescription says it makes you dizzy/drowsy and if you add alcohol, it makes it worse. So far I haven't gotten dizzy or drowsy, but I want to wait awhile before introducing a drink or two back into my life. It was still fun.


Today my little brother is throwing the Christmas lights on the house, and my dad's getting down the fake pre-lit tree for me to set up. David's allergic to real tree's which is why we have 3 fake ones in our garage. We recently got the pre-lit tree because my dad was tired of spending hours putting lights on the tree the way my mom likes it. In and out of EVERY. SINGLE. BRANCH. I do believe Christmas is being held at out house this year. Zach has to work Christmas Eve, but at least he's go Christmas off. He wants to get us a new flat screen TV this year, and last night attempted to purchase it online with his friend Cody supervising. Then they found out the shipping price and flaked. He said he's going to go to Best Buy tomorrow and scope it out and "bring the damn thing home on my own." I just agree these days.


I guess we'll see. I've got some tree putting up to do!

Hopefully, it's a new start.

This morning I went and saw a neurologist. I figured today would be the same as the past visit, and I get a contorted answer with nothing more than "we'll have to run some tests.."


I guess today was just different.


I was diagnosed with Epilepsy today. A diagnoses! Horray!


It's a huge weight off my shoulders and scary at the same time. I'll be on anti-convulsants for the rest of my life, unless I'm a candidate for brain surgery. I have an MRI December 11 to find that out.


After tonight, I'm not allowed to drive for a month or so. I need to let my body become adjusted to the meds I'm taking, and it's just safer that I don't. I'm not happy but whatever. The Doctor said to play it by ear, but he has to tell the DMV about my diagnosis. He also said chances of my license being taken away is slim to none, thank God. I love driving, so this is not going to go well for me.


I guess we'll see how these meds work. I'm praying for a miracle. Hopefully the meds reduce the number of seizures I have, or kicks them completely. I'd much have the latter, but even if it came down to a few seizures a year, that's okay with me.


I'm hoping =]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

In blog land anyways. I took the liberty today of updating my blog & myspace to appear more holiday spirited.


I also tried out this 'header' thing. The little man in the picture with me is my best friends son, Logan =) I'm his auntie Mel, and I love love LOVE that little boy. He just turned one in September. Isn't he just a doll?


My cold is getting better. I still have a stuffed up nose, sore throat and a cough, but it's better than it was. I'm tired of being cough riddin, thats for sure.


I'm going to try to convince my parents to get the Christmas stuff out soon. It could be a battle like it is every year, or I just might do it myself. We'll see. I need motovation. And a shower.


I've been in bed all day. =)

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you have a better day than I will. This cold is getting worse as days pass. I lost my voice last night along with the two things you NEED for Thanksgiving dinner. Smell & taste. Sigh.


Enjoy your dinner a tad bit more today, for my sake =)

Hi, I'm ill... again.

My annoying cough has turned into a hard core cold. Aches, pains, cough, runny nose, stuffed up, sinus headache. I have so much gunk in my lungs it hurts.


I hardly get sick. And when I do, it takes me down HARD.


I hope I'm better by tomorrow. Please, please, please....

Cough.

Well, I guess I'm not totally sick, but I feel gross. I have the worst cough on the planet and I can't seem to keep my head straight today. Hopefully this thing goes away before Wednesday. I will not have my pre-Thanksgiving shopping day ruined by a nagging cough.


I noticed a little while ago that I have had a ton of foreign visitors lately to my blog. Weird huh? Italy, Romania, Spain, Germany, Indonesia and another one. I think Venezuela. It's kinda cool when you think about it, but I'm wondering why all of a sudden I've got people looking at my blog overseas.


On Sunday night I got to talk to my cousin in Kuwait. He caught me on facebook on his break. I miss him a ton, and so does the rest of our family. But he told me it's for the best and it's really not that bad. He's guarding an oil rig in the Persian Gulf. Hopefully he'll come home in Janurary of Feburary on leave. We'll see.


Zach and I's three year anniversary is on Friday. He'll be at work that night and I'll be with the girls shopping, so that's that. Last year it was on Thanksgiving, so no real celebration there either. Jeez! Oh well. Maybe four years we'll get to do something special. Hah.

I'm lagging.

I have had nothing to blog about. At all. I mean, unless you want to hear about wiping 3 year old bottoms and time outs.


The California weather is driving me banana's. Were in the period of it being absolutely gorgeous outside, and you think it's going to be a perfect weather day. But then you walk out your front door and realize your front window was lying to you. It'd colder than heck outside! I made the mistake this morning of walking outside with wet hair. I'm still freezing.


I'm really excited for Thanksgiving, as usual. No idea where it will be held for my family this year or who will be attending, but never the less.. I love a day about yummy food.


After the holidays, preferably January first of 2010, I'm going to do a raw food diet for twenty days. Try to clear out my body and start over with eating habits. Basically, I'll be eating fruits, veggies, nuts, oats.. anything organic and natural. Then after the twenty days I'll introduce white meats and keep red meat for special occasions only. I really could care less for red meat anyway. I never eat it unless its hamburger, but I'm kissing that goodbye for ground chicken and turkey.


I'm not sure what I want to do on the dairy front. I don't drink that much milk and I prefer soy milk anyways. I don't know. I guess we'll see when the time comes. I know I need to lose a fair amount of weight, and I think completely retraining myself on what I should and shouldn't be eating will help me loads. I've tried just watching what I eat and smaller portions, but I always ended up eating too much of something of just not caring.


Wow. For someone who has had nothing to blog about, I got a decent amount out today! Haha. I thing the real reason is I'm at work and I really don't want to watch 'Go Diego, Go!' Trent is sucked into it as we speak. He's answering the questions and repeating words in Spanish. Its fun =)


Anyways, I better get to getttin'. Long day ahead. Happy Monday!

November already..

Time flies when you're having fun.


Nothing new going on around here. Halloween was great! Had a lot of fun. Daylight savings helped out too. The night wouldn't have been as fun if Daylight Savings didn't fall on it.


Zach started a new job tonight. He works from 5pm till 1am. I hate sitting by myself at night. Hopefully he likes it. It pays more than his last job, thank goodness. Bonus- he gets paid weekly! Woohoo!


I'm looking forward to colder days, holidays, all that good stuff coming up.


I think I'm gonna go jump in a hot bath & read or something. I'm so bored, it's starting to physically hurt.

I decked a girl and I liked it.

As much as I like the blog title, that hasn't happened.


Well, at least not yet.


This weekend, a girl tried to kiss my boyfriend.


Yeah. Take time to soak that up. I'll wait.






So, this girl hasn't sat well with me since the day I met her about 3 months ago. I noticed there was too much friendliness coming from her towards Zach. I told him she was coming off a little too strong for me and I'd appreciate her kicking it back. He said nothing would happen, its her personality.


Blogger friends, let us fast forward to this past Friday. I was at work before showing up to a party down the street at my house. The minute I got there, Zach pulled me aside and said he had taken this girl to a few gas stations around town looking for a particular drink. They were gone awhile and he said in that time, a rumor had been brewed that they were off doing who knows what together. I laughed it off, Zach said nothing happened and I believed him.


Later that night, this girl needed a ride home. For some reason, the same people who had started this rumor volunteered Zach to drive her home! She lives in the next town over which is 10 miles round trip. We live six houses away from where we were. I told Zach it was stupid for him to go 10 MILES out of his way and someone else who is going that way should do it. We ended up getting into a big old fight about it, and I went home.


I heard him drive by our house about an hour or so later and he was gone awhile before he came back. I slept and forgot about the whole thing, it was whatever. I found out last night that this girl had tried to kiss Zach before she got out of his truck.


I confronted Zach and asked why he didn't tell me. He told me it was because he had already told her off and squashed it on his own. He didn't want any extra drama, enough was enough already.


I don't know whether I want to smack her or what. My intuition about her was on the DOT. She crossed a major big line and I want to make sure she knows it. Zach thinks it will just cause more problems and I should be big enough to let it go.


I'm not sure I am. I would like to be, but I'm livid at her. It's not like she didn't know he had a girlfriend. She had spent the whole previous week being buddy-buddy with me. And to top it all of, she tried to add me as her friend on Facebook. I could scream, laugh or beat her up at this point. I mean, what balls she has.


We'll see how this turns out. I'll try my best to be adult about it. But if she's wise at all, she won't be crossing my path anytime soon.

Ahh, the sweet smell of stupidity.

"Obama is totally racist against fat people".


Seriously?


The smell is heavy, folks.

One word responces.

I have literally nothing interesting to blog about. So I figured I'd share some things about myself, but in one word increments only =)


1. Where is your cell phone? Couch.
2. Your hair? Down.
3. Your mother? Jackson.
4. Your father? Jackson.
5. Your favorite food? Pasta.
6. Your dream last night? Weird.
7. Your favorite drink? Tahoe.
8. Your dream/goal? Living.
9. What room are you in? Family.
10. Your hobby? Writing.
11. Your fear? Spiders.
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy.
13. Where were you last night? Shelby's.
14. Something you aren’t? Constructive.
15. Muffins? Banana-nut.
16. Wish list item? Laptop.
17. Where did you grow up? California.
18. Last thing you did? Cough.
19. What are you wearing? Tank.
20. Your TV? On.
21. Your pets? Sleeping.
22. Your friends? Amazing.
23. Your life? Turbulent.
24. Your mood? Tired.
25. Missing someone? Yes.
26. Vehicle? Ford.
27. Something you’re not wearing? Socks.
28. Your favorite store? Bed Bath & Beyond.
29. Your favorite color? Crimson.
30. When was the last time you laughed? Earlier.
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday.
32. Your best friend? Amazing.
33. One place that I go over and over? Target.
34. One person who emails me regularly? Nobody.
35. Favorite place to eat? Anywhere.


I might have work tonight, and I suppose that's while I'm sitting at home while everyone is out having fun. Well, that and I have no money. Sad.

While the boys nap..

I'm at work. I only have the boys tonight so I took them to the park for a while & when we got back, set them up with a snack and a movie. Have you ever seen Coraline? Weird movie..


Anyway, the park and the walk from the house and back must have worn them out. Both are crashed on the couch. The two oldest are going to see Disney Princess's on Ice in Oakland.


It's been a long weekend. Zach and I have gone out the past couple nights, mostly just down the street to a friends house. She lives about 6 houses down across the street and all of our friends meet up there. It's always a good time and I'm so thankful its on our street. We don't have to drive anywhere, saves gas and my butt gets some exercise. Well, a minute and a half's worth anyway.. =)


It stormed around here all week. There was a monsoon or something that got carried across the pacific from Japan. We got almost a foot of rain and the wind was ridiculous. On this same windy rainy day, my boyfriend and his friend decide it's perfect weather to go mudding. So they call everyone they know who has a truck and half an hour later, we have 7 or 8 trucks barreling down the back roads to find a good spot. Little did these boys know it had rained too much in too short a time span, so the rain sat on top of the ground. Mudding was a horrible idea. Zach got a little cocky when we were leaving and decided to try it anyways. He was doing okay, but we ended up getting stuck and needing to get pulled out. I laughed the whole time at him because I told him we would. Then his friend tried it and did okay. But it was pouring so after that we just left.


I also decided this week to not take the job at InShape. I had a bad feeling about it so it's for the best. Plus I've been told of a ton of job offers closer to me with better pay =)


Happy Sunday!

Happy 1 year to my blog =)

Well, its a couple days late. Or early? The point is, sometime this month last year, I started blogging. And to my own shock and satisfaction, I've actually kept up with it.


Happy one year blog! Thanks for letting me whine on you, cry on you, bore you & just flat out use you. You've been a sport.


I swear I'll have something interesting to tell you.... Tomorrow =)

T-t-t-tuesday.

I'm having a bit of a bad Tuesday. Or a bad week. Perhaps October just isn't my month this year.


My mom works at a gym called InShape. She heard about another Inshape hiring, and basically scored me a job. I turned in my application yesterday, had an interview today & they just called so I could drop off my two forms of I.D. and fill out paperwork. There's just one problem:


I don't want the job.


I like what I do now. I think my mom did this pretty much because she thinks what I do isn't good enough. My dad seems to think the same thing. Because my paycheck doesn't come from a company or something makes what I do irrelevant.


This gym is half an hour away with traffic. The pay is minimum wage. The hours are terrible. I should have just lied and told my mother I turned in the application and just threw it out instead. I could tell them I don't want it, thanks anyways.


But I don't want to make my mom look bad. Or myself. Plus I have a hard time saying no when it comes to work. I guess I'll just see how it goes and if I like it, I'll stay. If I don't, I won't.


Sigh...

Nothing new really going on around this joint. My weekend was very uneventful, and it looks like this week will be the same.


By the way, thanks Donna & Bernadette for those comments on my last blog! I try my best to just put her not so nice words and actions in the past, and its good to know there are other people out there who have the same mother-in-law problem. Ha =)


On that quick note, Zach still hasn't called his mom. Sigh. I asked my friend Dorry if she really could send the police to my house, and she said since its his mother, it could definitely happen. That could make for an interesting blog post, no?


I'm putting off laundry to write a blog filled with nothing really interesting to say. I've been finding all kinds of excuses to avoid separating, washing, drying... folding. The thought is not at all pleasant today. Maybe its because of how it looks outside. Patchy but almost all cloud cover. It's the first day that might actually look like fall around here. The temperature has been so high its been hard to believe the season changed.


Hopefully Zach and I are going out tonight. He has the next two days off. I have work tomorrow but I should be okay. He's been working his butt of this last week and deserves a night out. With that said, I need to do laundry for that to happen. lol. I guess that's a good motivator!

I forgot to mention..

On the same day as the all the chaos on the last post, Zach's mother called me.


We apparently cannot see eye to eye on anything and I suppose she thinks my only goal in life is to keep Zach from talking or seeing her ever again.


Zach's mom lives in Florida, and I've only met her and spent time with her once. When Zach's parents divorced, she moved to Florida to be close to her family while Zach remained in California with his Dad, who had won custody. Zach spent his teen years without her physical presence & has cruised into adulthood the same way. Shes absent.


We flew out to visit at the end of February and it didn't go how we thought it would. If I said black, she said white. Her main focus was Zach, and she catered to him as if he were a small child. I understand the circumstances, and it had been 3 years since she had seen him last. But honestly, what do you expect when you move 3000 miles away from your kid?


She instigated a fight with me two days before we left and accused me of a thousand things, including trying to keep Zach away from her. Zach defused the situation and we left Florida on what I thought were okay terms.


Guess not.


I was at work when she called me and since we went and visited, I've replaced my cell phone and I lost a couple numbers. It was a strange area code and I figured it was a sales call or whatever so I answered it. The first thing she said was "Where are you keeping my son?"


Did I mention it was really tempting to tell her I dug a huge pit in my backyard and tossed his ass in it? It was.


I told her I didn't know at the moment where he was, but if she called him I'm sure he'd answer. She said she had been trying to call him for 3 months and hadn't been able to reach him. She wanted to know what I'd been doing to him, why I had gone to Sprint and diverted her calls to a different voicemail, hiding his phone from him and so on.


I was stunned she was doing this all over again. She threatened to investigate me, and send the police to our house and yada yada yada. I told her I am not Zach's keeper and he's completely capable of answering her phone calls. I don't run his life and in the past three years of our relationship, have never tried to. He's just my boyfriend. The end.


After she finally let me hang up, I called him. He told me he had been ignoring her calls since we left Florida. That was news to me. He explained to me he had too much to do and didn't have time to listen to her talk. I was really angry, but at the same time I laughed. I told him just to call her and make sure she never calls and comes at me like that again.


Anyone want to take a guess if he's called her yet?


Nope. And he doesn't want to.


I have a feeling the cops will be arresting me soon for abducting a willing 21 year old man =)

Man oh man.

I can say right now, its been a week of weeks.


I knowingly walked into a situation prepared to share some words, accusations and possibly prevent my best friend from beating up... my old best friend.


None of that happened. Everyone played nice, polite conversation. She even came up to me after a little while and told me she wasn't mad at me. That's cool. Doesn't make what happened right nor was it an apology. I guess at this point I won't be bothered running into her as much as I used to, but that's about it.


No more than ten minutes later, my Dorry gets into a blow out with her brother and we leave. Didn't see that coming. I was disappointed. I thought it was going a different way, and I'm a little confused about the situation now.


I want Dorry to be okay with her brother, regardless of what happened a year ago. It happened, it sucked that it happened and there is no going back to what we all used to be. But for the sake of their family, their father, just for the sake that they're twins even..


We all know who is wrong. We all know an apology along with an explanation is owed. But nobody is ready to back down. The stakes are being held too high. The wrong compromises are being attempted and its flat out not doing anybody any good.


If I knew this was going to happen, I would have warned someone back then. The aftermath is beyond belief.

Thursday... morning.

For some wacky reason, my brain has me fooled into thinking it's Friday. I don't know if its because the kids around here are off Friday or what, but this week has been long.


Jury duty went well. Thank God I was early & one of the first people to check in. I was called along with the other first 11 people to check in, and we were put on a Coroners Jury. The lawyer guy rushed us because the hearing or whatever was to start at 9am, and told us we'd be done by... noon =)


We had to meet in another building a couple blocks away and before we left he told us how lucky we were. Since the weekend before had included Labor Day, all the stuff that had to be done Monday was pushed to Tuesday. They had plenty of stuff to go around, all groups had to show up, and the people that weren't one of the twelve in my group would have to report for the next THREE days.


I thanked my lucky stars and myself for being prompt and on time, regardless of how bad I didn't want to be there. I was rewarded =)


By the way, silly me for thinking you had to dress a little nicer and business like to go to Jury Duty. My slacks & top were indeed adorable, but everyone I saw had jeans, shorts or something a little less business like on. I almost felt ridiculous.


I suppose I wouldn't mind doing it again, although it would be fun to go at the same time as a friend. Have someone to chat with and all that. Maybe next year!


I have the day off today, which is why I'm still up. I can't sleep for the life of me tonight. Even with a long day at work under my belt, I just can't shake being awake. Ugh.


On that note, I'm going to go attempt to bore myself to sleep. Good night!

It'll always be different.

On this day every year, I'm always quieter. The sun never shines like it usually does. Everything just drags on. I always remember that day vividly, without any problem.


I've never met anybody who had a family member or a friend in the towers. I did. I had two, in fact. I remember all day my family trying to call over and over and not getting anywhere. Family around here called each other all day to see if anyone had heard. It was terrifying. It was unreal.


The next day was when we got the email from my dad's cousin Dave. He worked in the North tower and his wife Marie, worked in the South tower. The subject read "We're okay". The best two words ever read.


Our family was so VERY lucky. Dave had worked at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the North tower, but had moved to another office building a few days before. Marie had gotten out despite being told to go back to her office on the 26th floor of the South Tower after the North tower was hit.


I still can't believe I was in New York only two weeks before. I still cringe when I watch the footage they play ever year. I don't want to, but I can't keep myself from not watching.


My family was very blessed that day. We didn't lose them.


But I always think about the ones who did.

Jury Duty.

I changed up my blog to look more 'Fall' appropriate. A little muted, but very cute. I also changed my music too. 3 country songs and a remix song by Katy Perry with this guy/s called LMFAO. Its a pretty awesome remix. Zach actually made me listen to it. Hah. I guess he likes it because the guy basically slams Katy Perry for slamming guys.


I have jury duty on the 8th. I'm not excited. I do not want to go. I hope and pray to God when I call on Monday night they say "We do not need group 1." As you might have guessed, I am group one. I see absolutely no thrill in sitting all day in a crowded room with other people as we all waste our time together missing work, school or other fun activities with nothing to do. At the end of the day they are going to send us all off anyway saying "thanks, but we don't have anything for you!"


Civil duty? I suppose. Torture? Yes. Necessary? NO.


I think the least the justice system can do is know they need all these folks before making them miss work, miss school, even miss out on NOTHING before forcing us to drive out of our way to perform our civil duty.


If you have any thoughts, let me know. I'd love to hear your yay's or nay's on Jury Duty!

Sick?

I've been feeling sick the past couple days. I've had headaches, stomachaches, nausea, and I'm exhausted. I've spent a few days sleeping in way too long. Saturday was the worst. I slept all day until 5:30. I've never done that before. I really hope I'm not catching anything.


Nothing new is going on around here. I actually wish I had something to blog about. But, I have the worlds most boring life.


Although, here is something interesting. The Douggers from TLC's 18 Kids & Counting are expecting baby #19. Crazy huh?

Friday =)

This week has been a fun filled week. Many events here and there. I learned a lot this week.


Lets do a fun facts, shall we?




1.) This week, I totally stooped down to a 5 year olds level. I just couldn't help myself. He announced he didn't have to listen to me, so two minutes later when he needed to talk to me, I told him the exact same thing. It didn't accomplish much. Really, it just prompted him to talk to me more about why I wouldn't talk to him. I love my job =)


2.) I wandered into Victoria's Secret earlier this week with a friend of mine and when the saleswoman caught me looking at bra's, asked if I needed to be fitted. I said no thanks, but she insisted, just to make sure I knew my 'proper' size. I reluctantly let her but stood my ground. Come on! I know my size! I've been dealing with my girls a long time now.


"You said you were in a 38C?" saleswoman asked.
"Yeah! I knew I was," I responded, a little proud a proved her wrong.
"Oh, honey you've been wearing the wrong size."


Turns out, I was wrong. And trying on the bra she recommended only made me realize what I was missing in my life. But when recommended bra was $49.95, I bailed. I hear Target calling my name this morning.


3.) I mentioned before Zach started a new job. Awesome! What's not awesome is he has become a chatty-kathy in the middle of the night. Every so often (which give or take is 20 minutes) he stirs, and just starts talking! Half the time I can't understand him. What he's saying is mumbled or jumbled around. Other times, he laughs. And twice he's grabbed me and told me to watch out for stuff. Mostly he chats about boats. It's weird.


Today is Friday, and I'm exhausted. I got no sleep last night. I mean, I've been up almost twenty-four hours. Lately, me sleeping is a miracle. It's just not happening for me. Today I'm sure will be uneventful. I have no plans. Just a ton of laundry. Hope you all have a good weekend!!

My current state of chaos

-I have NO carpet in my room anymore. Some one, I don't know who,(DAD) came and cut it out of my room. Did I mention he just cut around my furniture? There are four blocks of carpet left where my dresser, desk, bed and shelf unit sit. I have the glorious task of choosing a day to move this stuff and take the rest out. Sigh.


-Last night, I didn't sleep. I tried sitting in the dark, watching whatever was on TV, (which is nothing, but we'll soon hit that note), movie.. nothing worked. I got back online around 4am to watch YouTube videos and did that till 7. I had a three hour nap this afternoon, but I'm running on brain farts right now.


-Cable TV means nothing to me anymore. We have always had basic cable. Now, if that's what you have, you have NOTHING! We have channels 2-34. It used to be 2-82. There are no more than 5 watchable channels now, and my dad has no intention of getting the boxes to bring them back. Cry for me.


-Zach and I have fallen into a funk. You know, the ones that hit every relationship every now and then? Nothing dramatic, no real fighting. We've been picking at each other. He works a million hours a week, and we haven't seen each other lately. It's just one of those times. Yuck.


-I hate California this week.The weather was cooling off and then, BAM. Today it was hazy, muggy, scorching hot and overall, unpleasant. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open outside. It was awful. Bring on Fall!!!!!


-As hot as it was outside, double the temperature inside. My mom ran the air all day, but it magically kicked off when my Dad got home. The house immediately heated right back up. My room sits right below the attic and above the garage. You might as well plunk my bedroom in the middle of Palm Springs in the dead of summer. My room cannot stay cool on its own like the rest of the house. Even now at 11pm, there is no trace of a breeze outside.


-The worst part of all these complaints? It's only Monday. I wonder how much worse this week could get?

August already?

July was so filled with events, it kind of flew by. I've been away from my computer too much to even put in a significant blog about anything. Work, tons of family events.. I barely found time to sleep.


So far, August is looking bleak. I really am looking forward to it. Besides working, I have nothing to fill my calender with. That's a relief in itself.


Right now I'm sitting and waiting for laundry to dry. Exciting right? We just got home Sunday night from Santa Barbra. My cousin got married and it was a fun weekend. I'm going to leave you with some fun pictures we took there. They had a photo booth! The whole idea was you got in, took a couple strips of pictures and then made a page for the married couple make into a scrap book. The station was filled with black & white paper, sharpies and a bunch of stickers. Fabulous idea, no?


We decided to do two family pages for her. One with Aunts & uncles, the other with all the cousins. So I only had to give up one picture =)

Everything looks beautiful in black and white.

Eh, you know.

It's the end of a rough week, and I'm glad to see it go.


Zach got a new job! He's started Wednesday and has been working 12 hour days. I haven't seen him much, but I'm just thankful he's working. God knows we need the money.


I caught up with my lifelong friend Jessica yesterday, and that was a blast. We went out shopping and had a yummy dinner filled with gossip and catching up. We have been friends since kindergarten and have never lost touch. It's wonderful to have friends like that.


Today is Sunday, and I'm totally still wearing my PJ's. =] Since Zach is working all day today, I'm just going to kick it old school at home. Pick up some stuff, clean some stuff and then sit on the Internet all day. lol. Sounds like a plan.

In memory

It's not the best picture, but it's one of the only ones I have. That's my uncle. That was taken maybe two years ago. You couldn't tell he was sick. Thats how I love to think of him =]

Being there when he died wasn't easy, but it definitly brought some closure. We all knew it was for the best, it was what he wanted and everything would be okay. So far, so good. Nothing but sweet memories and good times with the family.

I'm definitley a changed person.

My uncle was one of the most loving people I knew. I miss him, but I treasure all the time we had with him. We're really lucky.

His memorial service is on Tuesday, and after that we're going swimming, having some drinks and BBQing. It's a celebration of his life. His curagious battle with ALS. We knew how hard he faught, how hard it was for him.

I know he's kicken' it up there. Drinking a Bud Light and playing 18 holes =]

I love you Uncle Jerry. I miss you.

Honest to blog

I'm scared.


The family dynamic is about to change, and I'm not sure if I'm ready. I'm not sure if anyone is ready.


This week is going to be a roller coaster with no brakes. Days pass slow, but after Tuesday, it will have seemed too fast. How do you pre-pair to say goodbye to someone? I don't know.


The ride begins..

What. A. Day.

Sometimes I truly wonder if I really do have 'Maid" tattooed on my forehead. Perhaps it's invisible ink and only the male species can see it.


I have a mountain of laundry to do today. Literally. I could put on my boots and hike up this thing. It's atrocious. So I did what every woman has done. Asked a guy to help.


I could probably convince Zac to pull his own teeth un-medicated before helping me with laundry.


There's a bunch of stuff that needs to be done around here today. Vacuuming, dusting, moping.. you name it, it needs to get done.


I'm in mood. Can you tell?

iGoogle

is AMAZING.


Is it sad that I am just figuring it out? Am I behind? I don't know. I decided to mess around on the computer a few minutes before I take off to work, and I discovered....iGoogle.


Now my 1 week off is over. Gotta get my work grove back on.

Marriage

Today my family hung out at my aunts house. We BBQ'd, drank and were marry. My cousin Joe was home for the weekend from San Diego. He was supposed to be in Kuwait by now, but as always with the military, things change. What was interesting about today was the topic of marriage.




Joe recently gave his girlfriend a diamond promise ring. I've had mine since Valentines Day, but mines crystal. Not that it matters, but the discussion of these rings went on to wedding details. My dream wedding I guess didn't fit the bill. Lets see what you think!




I have another cousin on my dad's side getting married on August first. Her invitation was really intense. 3 meal choices, no children are invited, cocktail hour and so forth. Elaborate. Expensive.




I decided on a simple ceremony, perhaps near the ocean or something nice like that. The reception will be simple. No 3 meal choices, no buffet. I want my reception to be catered by:

No joke =) Choose what kind of burger you want, have them cook it and put your own toppings on it! With fries, salad and your choice of beverage. Done deal. Zach and I ate there last weekend and we decided on it. Burgers and beer. It's all you need!

My cake idea also threw some family members off. I don't want a normal cake with fondant or fancy flowers or roping. I want this:

Its a wedding cupcake tower. Haha. My aunt wasn't to amused with this. I love the idea! Every wedding I've been to always had a big beautiful cake. So obviously, you expect to get a nice piece of it. Nooope. Tiny little slivers are given out. The whole cake is never used up and it just sits there. I want to just have cupcakes. A nice serving and I can have all different flavors if I wanted to. Plus, it's much more laid back like we are. =)

I want my wedding to be relaxed. I don't want it to be an elaborate affair. Too much money goes into weddings these days. My mom loves all the ideas I've come up with. Fortunately, Zach does too. lol.

Marriage is not in our immediate future. But planning the dream is fun. I guess I just want my wedding to be a little out of the ordinary. I'm not the kind of girl who needs all the extras. Just a good party!

July

If you asked me to my face what I've got going on in up coming weeks, off the top of my head I'd tell you "I don't have anything special to do AT ALL. My life is lame."


Really, if I stopped and think about it, I've got a lot going on. I had this whole week off so I've been feeling a little weird. When get a vacation week and don't do anything with it, I'd say you'd get this way.


What's going on in July:


1.) The fourth, obviously. We'll be going to my aunts I think.


2.) The Corn Fest is next weekend! The Corn Fest is a festival held in my town every July to celebrate.. well, corn. We grow it, it's the main crop coming out of here, thus we need to party about it. The townies usually attend Friday evening because theres no crowds and it's not hot. Saturday is when all the surrounding areas come out and your chances of getting in by 3 are impossible. I don't go on this day due to the face its HOT, there are way too many people and you run our of things to do in 3 to 4 hours. The festival also holds a fire works show that night. Sunday is not as fun, everything is tired and its just ready to be over. Usually people are also getting annoyed that downtown is closed and they have walk everywhere.


3.) Zach and I were invited to Clear Lake for four days near the end of the month. Boating, wake boarding, cabin, fishing, you name it. Sounds like a good time. We'd leave after I get off work on a Thursday and come back Sunday night. I'm excited =)


4.) My work schedule is going to flair up after the kids and my boss get back from Arizona. She'll be starting school for nursing soon and she also got a job. It's exciting.


Looking at all that, I'm surprised I forget about it all the time. Haha. Hope you all have an exciting Fourth of July!!

Karma.

Have you ever been wronged and you had to wait for it to be made right through karma?


Needless to say, karma came through to me this week. =]




It took nearly a year for the whole issue to come full circle. A whole year for someone to get a clue. My and my bff Dot have been gabbing about it for months and months. What we wanted to do, what we wanted to say, what could possibly take place in a dark parking lot. But we always came back to the fact that in time, what happened to us would come back to bite them. Nothing bad happened, at least it's not bad to Dot and I. It was exactly what needed to happen.


Patience is a virtue, right?

Longest Day of my whole life...

Today has been the days of ALL days. Really.


Farrah Fawcett... sad.


Michael Jackson.... I never saw that coming.


My very first car accident. Ever.


Ugggggggghhhhh. And I wasn't even driving my car.


My boss Pam and I have been trading cars the past couple days. Plain and simple, hers has more seats than mine. Today I was driving the kids to swim lessons and somebody hit me.


My town is big for growing cherries, peaches & corn. Around now is when they harvest the corn so the past few days, there have been tons of semi's going up and down the same back roads I take to work.


I was stopped at a stop sign behind another person when a semi was turning onto this back road. Problem: he cut his turn to short and was coming into our lane. The semi wasn't stopping and was getting closer to the truck in front of me. I saw the truck in front of me reverse lights come on so I stepped on my brake to put the SUV I was driving into reverse to give him room. I the guy in front of me was panicked that the semi might hit him so he stepped on the gas. He floored it without looking and reamed into the front end of the SUV. I had no time to react at all.


Five years with a perfect driving record. Five YEARS. I know that this accident wasn't my fault, but I am totally peeved that this guy could have possibly killed the trust between me and the family I work for. Pam and her husband have total trust in me with their four kids. I'm angry he could have hurt them and me. I'm angry that Pam's car had to get towed because the bumper was crushed into the front tires.


It was scary. I was horrified that it happened. The guy who hit me was really in a hurry so he gave me his insurance card and apologized a lot, but then he left. I have never been in an accident so I didn't want to make him more upset than he looked. I had the kids with me and I wanted to keep them safe. I called the police when another woman I worked for got there to help me, but all the officer did was give me a packet to fill out and mail to them.


It's been the day of all days, that's for sure.

Awesome!

My name is Mel ,and this is the cake I baked for my moms birthday:



Okay, so it may not look as good as that one, but that's the gist of what mine looks like, sans double layers. I'm not THAT crafty yet. So far, the double layer cakes I've attempted crumble faster than a toddler who needs a nap. And trust me, this week I've had enough melt downs at work. I don't need to have my own, especially one brought on by cake.


And as if my cake wasn't awesome enough, it was so hot INSIDE today, the frosting melted right off. The cake was nice and cool, so I frosted the thing. No more than 15 minutes later after writing "Happy Birthday Mom!!", I noticed 'Birthday Mom!!' was running down the bottom of the pan. Sweet right? My dad saw it when he got home and laughed.


I'm going to bake another cake this weekend, same tye-dyeish fashion. Only since its fathers day and junk, I'll only use boy colors. Green, Blue & Yellow. Great, no?


Since I'm so poor, I was only able to afford the cake stuff, a card & a balloon for her. I figured giving birth to me is a gift in of itself. Hahaha. Yeah right =]


Happy 46th Birthday, Momma! You don't act a day older than 21 =]

Not.

One of the biggest pet peeves about my life, is that of my nickname.


Mel.


For the longest time, people knew Mel was the shortened version of Melissa. Don't know why or how, they just knew. Growing into adulthood or whatever, people have started calling me by a name to which I don't belong.


Melanie is the number one assumption.


Melody is guessed frequently.


Melrose was really off base.


Melvin was guessed by a guy.


I've had friends who after knowing me years, ask me what my first name is. "What does Mel stand for again? Melanie, right?"


Wrong.


Sometimes I find it amusing, but more often than not, I get annoyed. Mel[issa].


I think someday I might just change it to save the energy of correcting people.


Do I look like a Melanie? =)

Nothing new.

My blog has been looking a little lonely lately. Truth is, my life has been so not interesting lately. I work a lot, and if I'm not working, I'm out enjoying the very mild summer around here. Life is just chuggin' along. Not too much Internet time around here!


The only thing that's coming up is my moms birthday on the 18th and she, my dad and my two brothers are working a Nascar race at Sonoma. They are doing security there and doing so allows them to attend the race for free. It's Friday, Saturday & Sunday. I opted out. I like nascar, but not a whole weekends worth. The boyfriend and I are going to putts around here and have some peace and quiet. Awe. A weekend alone with my guy =] Oh. And the pets...


Other then that. How have you been lately?

What a week..

This week has been chuck full of everything.


I worked a ton.


I cleaned a ton.


My best friend is home from Colorado for a WEEK!!! I missed her really bad =]


My baby brother officially graduated last night from high school. *sigh*


I graduated three years ago. I can't even believe it. I almost cried at the ceremony at the thought of it. My graduation seemed like it was last week. It's still that fresh. So much has changed between then and now, though. Scary.


Hopefully this week will be full of events with Nichol. She lives and goes to school in Colorado and her parents fly her home every so often, but she never stays longer than like four days. This time she's here a week and it so awesome to not worry if I'll even see her. Her mom, even though I loooove her dearly, gets weird when Nichol is home. She kind of forgets that Nichol has friends here too she'd like to see, and expects her to stay at home. I'm excited that won't be an issue this time.


Hopefully I'll have pictures later of David's graduation. My mom has no more kids in high school!!!


Today is the family grad party, so I better scootaroo. Hope you all have a lovely weekend! It's beautiful outside!

Heeey =]

I finally, finally replaced the cell phone I broke in November. Yaaay!! That's a picture of what I got. The same exact thing I had. The reason I got another one is because they are really user friendly and I used mine for tons of things. It's just a simple smart phone. But I'm oh-so-in-love with it =]


Memorial Day Weekend, Zach and I went camping with my family and had a grand old time. I think the only complaint we had really was that it was so windy. We were staying by two bodies of water, so no big shock there. I got a pretty awesome sun/wind burn while we were there too. I wore some stretchy leggings that came down to my mid calf and got totally burnt from where they stopped, down. It's the most weird tan line ever! My right leg is far worse from my left. I have no explanation on why either. I just look goofy now wearing shorts. =]


I have worked hard all week, so I'm excited for some down time. Hope you all have a great weekend!