I need to take more pictures

 I don't take pictures much but my dad is always lurking around the corner with his camera. When I do actually pose for pictures, I tend to ham it up. It's just what I do. The first is from my sister's birthday cookout at my parent's house. TheCount and I don't have very many pictures together, we're going to fix that hopefully. The last two are from a birthday party I attended (and ended up working, I'm more comfortable working a party than attending it) in August. 

 

 

 

I have been laughing nonstop

Yesterday turned into a great day. My officemate left early, I had lunch with a coworker, I got 2 packages in the mail, and night one of the women's conference at church was excellent. I'm tired as all get out now, but I can tell today is going to be an even better day. I heard some funny stuff yesterday:

 

7 year old: Daddy can I have a pickle?

Dad: What? A pickle? Pickles are for girls, men don't eat pickles. What's wrong with you boy?

 

********

19 year old: Is there sp.erm in c.um?

SisterTM: Yesss

19yo: Oh well then he's going to have to keep that con.dom on then.

{where did she think it came from? Does she know how babies are made? Dear God, how did she make it to college?}

 

 *********

SisterTM: I had a dream you had a baby

Me: Hahahahaha

SisterTM: Girl it was crazy. You had it right in the kitchen while daddy was cooking dinner. The baby looked just like TheCount. It was the cutest baby I have ever seen. You gotta hurry up and have a baby.

Me: Give me 3 years

SisterTM: I'm getting married in 3 years, you can't be in my wedding pregnant or if you're over a size 10 so you better watch it. Tell your momma she is on notice too.

Me: SisterTM!

SisterTM: I'm playing girl, but if your water breaks during the ceremony, you better stand there. If the baby slips out, you pick it up and hide it behind the flowers and walk out- in the recessional, after I've left. Give the baby to Jonathan, take the pictures and then go to the hospital.

***********

Mom: SisterTM don't talk about Boyfriend like she used to, they alright?

Me: Yeah

Mom: The way she talk's, it seems like a holy relationship.

Me: mmmhhhhmmm

Mom: But since it's SisterTM, I know it's not.

Leave happy comments!

I would like to fast forward life into next week. Monday I was an idiot. Tuesday I was irritated. Today I don't feel like being bothered. Geezy peezy I need some good things to happen so I can snap out of it. Currently I'm listening to somebody talk with a  mouth full of food. I'm plotting how I can throw my stapler at the back of her head and make it seem like an accident. 

 

Let's get happy... I did get a rug that I looovvveee from Kohl's last night for 55% off (Kohl's has become my new hangout spot. I got so mad at Macy's and their coupons that are good toward absolutely nothing of value that I was so happy when Kohl's actually lets their coupons be used on anything). As soon as I get my next set of pillows this Friday I'll be posting pictures.

 

Pserendipity has me dancing in my seat this morning. I am so excited about this blog Christmas that I don't know what to do. I love gift giving! If you want to participate (and you ain't no stranger) comment on her post!

 

I had some banging lobster mac n cheese yesterday. I am now on a quest to find a place to get some today.

 

My boss is pregnant! I love babies, and baby showers, and pregnant women, and bosses that don't come into work because they're too tired and have morning sickness...ummm I don't think I was supposed to type that last part.

 

I went to my coworkers house on Monday. Her house is so beautiful. I love having a vision for the future. She already promised to help me decorate my kids' rooms in a few years. Her house felt like a home- I love that.

 

I have a nice shipment of hand soap and candles coming in from Bath and Body Works this week. Our apartment will feel home-y in to time.

 

The sun is coming out! Oh Jesus, you must have known I needed some extra loving today, let me go read these 519 posts in my google reader so I can find some more things to smile about.

Abort Mission

Well my weekend didn't turn out as expected. This is what I planned:

 

Friday

Go to the grocery store, go home and wash and cornrow my hair.

Saturday

Go to the Walk for Paws Event to look at the adoptable dogs in my area (even though TheCount has made it clear I won't be getting a dog, but I was going to cry so he would feel bad for me and the dog and see what happened). Then we were going to go to a corn maze with another couple.

Sunday

Church, visit my momma that I haven't seen in like 2 weeks, go home and get ready for the week.

 

This is what happened:

Friday

I was on my way home from work and my road was closed. I didn't know any other way so I just followed the cars in front of me. Eventually I had enough common sense to use the google maps on my phone to get me home. I ended up going to the grocery store, Target, Pier 1, Ollie's and the gas station. I got home around 8:30 and fixed TheCount some dinner. I looked up the walk and it had been rescheduled to Sunday because of the rain, so we also shifted our corn maze plans to Sunday. I pre-pooed my hair and went to bed since I had all day Saturday to do my hair.

Saturday

TheCount was supposed to go play football in the morning and then go to a friend's house to play video games. I was going to do my usual Saturday thing: nothing but read magazines and watch a marathon of something on t.v. while braiding my hair. What ended up happening was me waking up at 1:30 p.m. {don't judge me} to find this voicemail: "babe, T and S are going to come up to the apartment after their counseling session at 2. You and S can go out while T and I play video games. I just wanted to give you the heads up in case you wanted to straighten up or anything." First off, he knows better than to make plans for me. I figured he was high of the testosterone from a morning of football and let it slide. I hopped out of bed and jumped in the shower to wash my hair. I couldn't find my beloved deep conditioner so I had to run around the house dripping wet and nekkid {well maybe I didn't have to, but it's what I did} frantically searching for it. As soon as I stepped out the shower TheCount came in the door and reminded me that we needed to go down and sign our lease by 4. I partially dried my hair (just enough so it wasn't soaking wet) and threw on some sweatpants and TheCount looked at his lovely bush baby and asked was I leaving the house like that. We were going .4 miles down the street- of course I was. We got back home and I started to cornrow my hair. By 5 TheCount called T and S to find out where they were. They hadn't even made it to their 2 o'clock session yet. Y'all they are always late. Not even a reasonable amount of time late, it's always something ridiculous like a few hours. TheCount was doing laundry as I braided my hair and lo and behold- our kitchen flooded. We have to hook the washing machine up to the sink. Well there was something blocking the drain so the sink filled with water, and the drawers, and the cabinets, and the dishwasher and the floor. Of course we were washing towels so we had limited resources to clean it up. It was really funny though. Picture it: TM in her rainboots trudging through the soapy water that filled the kitchen spazzing out when TheCount had to use her beloved white face towels to soak up water. I darn near fainted when he put his shoe on my beloved white face cloth to drag it across the floor. Needless to say, I'll be buying a new set of face towels, I can't bear to put them back against my face. He made me promise I wouldn't go out and buy all new towels. In my mind their are body towels and then their are cleaning towels. Once something has been used as a cleaning towel, it can no longer be used on my body. I don't know why I'm weird like that. I finished my hair around 7 and sprayed it with water, put some pomade on my edges and used some foaming wrap lotion, put my scarf on and started painting my nails. When they got to the apartment around 8, TheCount comes up with this bright idea: Let's go out to dinner. Y'all I shot him a look of death so fast!

 

Me: That means I'll have to get up and dry my nails, then blow dry my cornrows, then take them out, and get dressed, but ok, where are we going?

T: No, it's fine. I don't want to do anything to inconvenience you TM. We'll order food. We don't need to go out to eat. Relax, don't take out your hair. All I want is pizza anyway.

 

Have I mentioned that T is terrified of me? He often tells me I scare him. I don't understand why. If I get mad I don't do anything but be quiet. I guess my silence scares him. While T was going out of his way to be the easiest house guest ever, TheCount was looking at me like, "you spoiled rotten party pooper." Since I'm used to that look, and my day had been inconvenienced with their sudden plans and habitual lateness, I really didn't care. We ended up going to Blockbuster (since we had a gift card to use), Walmart (to meet TheCount's demands for juice), and Domino's. We watched Kevin Hart's DVD, "I'm a grown little man" which is hilarious by the way.

Sunday

Church was ridiculously long. We immediately left but we still couldn't make it back home in time to get to the Walk for Paws. We grabbed lunch and waited for T and S who should have been pulling up at the same time we did. An hour later TheCount calls them because I was getting frustrated with the fact they have NEVER been on time for anyting (they almost missed their own engagement because they were so late). Turns out T's tire blew out and they were waiting on roadside assistance. So no corn maze for us. They arrived 4 hours later and S and I cooked dinner and then we all watched Soul Men.

 

We had a good time this weekend y'all.

Doing anything new at home?

Tuesday I wrote that I wanted a rug. I went right over to Pier 1 and got one, lol. Now that I see how home-y it made the living room I want more! I want a warm and inviting living room, and a calm relaxing bedroom. I have a problem with colors though. I take colors that I think are pretty and put them together- even if they don't match. I'm trying out some websites to help me make sure the colors I see in my head actually go together. I'm envisioning a fall living room and a winter bedroom. If I ever finish, I'll post pictures.

 

The other thing I've been thinking about a lot is a dog. I want one now. We've always talked about getting one, but I wasn't ready. Now that I'm ready, TheCount is holding me up. There is an animal shelter right by our house, my job, and my parent's house, like within less than a mile. I'll probably go to the one by my job today at lunch. I want a big brown dog. I think I want a boy because I love the name Maximillian, but if it's a girl she'll be named Dog-E. I have my eye on one in particular, but we'll see how it goes.

 

This is the color scheme I have planned for the living room. While I was typing this post I realized that I saw my color scheme all through the Pier 1 circular so I went to their website and found these beauties:

 

 

 

I can't handle all that color in a bedroom, but I do like these wall decorations for our room:

 

They'll really fit because I already have wall art that reads "Love is spoken here" wait, let me see if I can find it. Well I can't find it, but take my word for it. It'll be pretty.

Look at the city

The view from our hotel room in Atlantic City. We could see the people surfing which was a lot of fun. I have a picture of the see through shower wall, but ummmmm the shower was in use. I'll check TheCount's camera for more rated G pictures.

Work Appropriate?

Internal Dialogue:
You know TM, you really suck at putting pictures on your blog. I know right! I always plan to do it and never get around to it. Yeah, but you post pictures to twitter all the time. Well duh, that's cuz I just snap it on my phone and post it up. If I could do something like that for the blog, I'd be set. TM, don't you email your blog posts? Yeah. Doesn't your phone have email. Yeah. Please stop being dumb, just email pictures to the blog when you take them. Hmmm that sounds like a plan.

What am I talking about?

I emailed myself a picture so I could show you guys the boots I got last month, and my cool tights, and the bottom of the purple dress I'm wearing today, but it's taking forever, so just check back later to see the bottom half of my outfit. "Work Appropriate" means nothing to me, so I'm sure my look today isn't. Yesterday I looked awful! I ran out of my Pantene Relaxed & Natural deep conditioner (the one in the brown tub) so my hair turned out horribly! It was dry, and tangled, and then it got really hard. I still cornrowed it for my braidout but when i took it out it was huge- and not in a cute way. I also had on ill fitting clothes yesterday. My shirt was too big in the shoulders and my pants were too short. Me oh my, what a dreadful sight! Today I decided that I would go the complete opposite and look like a streetwalker (ok, not really, but I don't look like 10am). I went hunting around town for my deep conditioner and couldn't find it anywhere except the beauty supply store by my house, for $8.59. This is frigging Pantene, I know I didn't pay more than $5 last time I got it, but I can't remember which Wal-Mart I was at. You better believe the next time I find this stuff I'm buying everything on the shelf (a la PJD style. My hair rebels against me when I don't have it. Since I had to pick my hubby up at the airport last night, I couldn't wash my hair until 9pm. I rinsed, put the conditioner on and went to fix dinner ;)

 

TheCount: Dag, I should have stopped and got food. I'm hungry

Me: Oh baby, I fixed dinner

TheCount: realllyyy excited You did?!

Me: Yeah, come on

He followed me in the kitchen and I opened the fridge...and pulled out a gallon of milk. Then I reached up and handed him a box of Frosted Flakes. The look on his face was priceless!

Me: Here you go baby, eat up!

 

Y'all know I think I'm funny right? I figure I'll resume cooking next week, but I kind of like that this week's groceries only cost $5.69 (Walgreen's has Kellogg's cereal and milk on sale FYI).

 

Anyway, I also made an herbal rinse to pour over my hair after I finished washing. Since I was pressed for time and sleepy, I used the blow dryer on low for a few minutes because I can not braid my hair while it's wet. I took 2 hours to put in 7 cornrows and hopped in the bed. I have completely forgotten what this post is about, so I need to wrap it up. We're taking my bestie out to dinner because her birthday was on Saturday. I have on my hooker eye make up to go with my knee boots and fancy tights. I'm trying to take a picture of my face, but I keep forgetting my office mate is here today and I look crazy holding my phone all up in the air while trying not to make my head took big.  While I'm on this pattern of this non focused post I want a rug for the living room- I think I'm going to go look at lunch today.

He Loves Me

This morning I had to take TheCount to the airport. He's flying down to Tampa for the day to work, but he'll be back tonight, so I don't even have the chance to miss him. We only live 15 minutes away from the airport, and since he wasn't checking any bags, he only needed to be there about 45 minutes ahead of time for his scheduled flight. Our alarms went off in unison at 6 a.m., and for the first time in a really long time, I was up before the sun. I sat in bed for a few minutes to let my body adjust to being awake and to prepare it for the shock of getting out of my warm bed with my thick comforter and heated mattress pad into the icicle that was our apartment. TheCount was worried I would fall back asleep so he came over and gently tapped me to let me know I needed to get up. I snapped at him and told him to go away, as I often do when he talks to me before I've had my morning shower. I finally got up and went through my  morning routine and was ready to go by 6:40. We braced ourselves against the cold and made our way to my car, checked to make sure both of my headlights were working (sometimes you have to hit the passenger light to get it to come on), and made our way to the airport. We talked and sang along to the radio during our short journey. As I pulled onto the Baltimore-Washington Parkway I remembered this time 2 years ago we would drive this particular stretch of road on our way to school. Since we graduated in December, we both decided to live at home for our last semester of college. He would come pick me up every Tuesday and Thursday and we would make the drive up to school. I would take a nap in my car while I waited for him to finish his last class so we could go back to my parent's house and do our homework.

 

 

I dropped him off at the airport, gave him 3 kisses goodbye and made my way to work. Our Alma Mater is right down the street from the airport and I smiled remembering all the experiences I had on that campus- good and bad. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon and I looked around at the lush trees transitioning into winter. The bright greens of spring have turned into dark green, yellow, orange, and red. I started getting teary eyed just so grateful to God. Not for any reason in particular- but for everything. For how he shows us his beauty in nature every single day. For how he kept me and brought me through school, especially for how he brought me through the depression that was my first semester there. I barely left my room, and made no friends that semester. I'm thankful that He blessed us with jobs, and that we're working toward our dreams. In college, TheCount always talked about having a job where he would get to travel, his ultimate goal is to work for fe/ma- he's well on his way. I was especially thankful to God for my husband. Neither of us are perfect but each day we make a commitment to each other to be the best we can be and to honor God with our lives. I'm thankful, grateful,and humbled that God loves me.

Crazy Love

NikkiBee pointed out that I messed up the link for the broiled buffalo wings. Well here is the correct one. I'll try and remember to correct the one in the post from yesterday- but I'll probably forget in about 5 minutes.

 

************

Yesterday my attitude was so funky! This week has been a rough one thanks to my good friend pms. I think I'm terminating our friendship though, she's no fun at all.

 

*************

Once again, as I do every single weekend wash day, I have an overwhelming desire to chop my hair off. I just want to go on vacation for a week, and come back with it all cut off.

 

**************

I'm currently listening to Michael Buble's new CD. What music are you playing right now?

 

**************

I am friends with all of my ex-boyfriends on Facebook (hmmm except one now that I think about it, my sister might be though, I'm going to check). Every time I look at one of their albums or their page I thank GOD He got me out of there. Babies and partying and why the heck do they all work at clubs? Can somebody please tell me how I've never even been to a club but all of those suckers are party promoters/bartenders/musicians?

 

************

I've been trying to figure out why my music was playing so softly today and why I had to turn my computer all the way up, and then I realized I had my headphones plugged in. I'm an idiot. Now I'm really jamming with Michael B. I'm waiting for somebody to walk by my door and ask me why my music is so loud.

 

*************

I'm not going to say anything bad about anybody for the next week. I've been feeling horribly convicted about the words that come out of my mouth lately. I will do better.

 

*************

TheCount is on to my dinner plan. I still may go ahead and just serve cereal next week for dinner just to further drive home my point, but I miss cooking. I doubt I'll last past next week.

 

*************

Me likey Michael Buble mucho. I feel calm and mellow listening to this- now it's time to get to work! She gives me love, love, love, love, craaaaaaaaaaazy love

Recipes!

There is an impostor in my office today who keeps deciding it's ok to sit at my desk. He also thinks he is teaching me something when I've long since mastered the art of copy/paste. I also keep having to review Common Sense 101 with him and I'm feeling frustrated. So let's go to the drafts for one of my favorite topics.

 

How can you not love my meals? Since I suck at actually posting my pictures of recipes, I'll provide you guys with the links to some of the most tasty recipe's I've tried lately. I've made a lot more things, but I only link to foods that I really enjoyed and didn't have to make any modifications to. Click on the links- these bloggers not only come up with good recipes, they take excellent pictures. 

 

Pizza on a Stick

I didn't use a stick because I'm lazy, but they were still good.

 

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

I don't remember this one too much, it was a while ago- but I'm 99% sure I liked it.

 

Baked Bean Dip

I made this for a party and TheCount kept eating it days later so it's safe to say it was really good.

 

Broiled Buffalo Wings

These were soooooooooooooo good. If you like uber saucy food then just double the sauce recipe. I only made 15 wings so I had plenty of sauce. I may make these again the next time TheCount goes out of town.

 

Loaded Potato Skins

Do you really need an explanation?

 

Pretzels

Well you can't make these in order to satisfy an instant craving but they were a good midnight snack.

 

Taco Stuffed Shells

I think I've posted on this here before. 

 

Honey Pecan Pork Chops

This is my all time favorite thing to make. It is super easy and delicious. I'm pretty sure this is my third time posting on this particular recipe.

 

Tricks and Treats

Yesterday afternoon as I was getting up to leave for the day I get a call:

 

Receptionist: "You have a package at the front desk my dear."

Me:hmmm, I'm not expecting a package, it might be a bomb, I'm not going to open it "ok, I'm coming"

 

I get to the front desk and see that I have a flower delivery :) I have never gotten flowers delivered to me before so I was really happy and assumed they were from TheCount. I called him and thanked him for the flowers and he said they weren't from him. We went back and forth for a few minutes and he kept insisting. So I get off the phone and panic. The only other people that know where I work are the people at work and if one of these dudes sent me flowers I was gonna be pissed. I went over to my work pals and told them what happened. They laughed and suggested that I get YoungBlackDude to walk me out in case the only person crazy enough to send me flowers was out there.

 

Sidenote: YoungBlackDude's parents have failed with him. He is sooooo not a gentleman. In fact, when it was suggested that I ask him, I told the girl, "he is not a gentleman, he isn't going to want to do it. I had to darn near beg him to get him to help me carry a box to my car once. I even took the heavier box so he would stop whining." True to form, when she asked YoungBlackDude to escort me to my car this negro said, "If I walk out the door, I'm not coming back. You need to wait 15 minutes until I'm off." He is so lame. He also needs to stop playing and find a wife- he's 27 and his hairline is receding, he better hurry because I don't think he'd be cute bald.

 

Anyway, by the time I got home, I'd composed a full list of coworkers that would think sending me flowers was ok. I get in the house and find TheCount cracking up. He sent the flowers and he wanted to scare me. He knew I would think somebody was out to get me.

 

******************************* 

I'm glad he got a kick out of that because he took away all the guilt I had yesterday about what I have planned for him. On our anniversary from hell, we were talking about different things and the subject of dinner came up. I love cooking, I love trying new recipes and being creative in the kitchen. Well TheCount pointed out he didn't need all of that. All the time I spend in the kitchen he would rather spend with me. It was a nice thought- in theory- but I really think he just wants to get out of having to clean the kitchen. It takes me an hour at the most to fix dinner and he normally isn't even home for half of it. So yesterday I implemented a plan. We will be having the same thing for dinner every day of the week. This week it's sandwiches. Just a plain ol' sandwich. Bread, meat, cheese, pickles, tomato. I made it yesterday and it took me all of 5 minutes and the only dish was a knife- so I could go spend time with my baby. My baby that played video games from before I got home until after I went to bed. Hmmm, I'm beginning to think that my suspicions were correct- he just doesn't want to clean the kitchen. Next week's meal will be white rice and baked chicken- the only dishes will be a pot, pan, 2 plates and 2 forks. How's that for simple? There will be nothing to soak because I won't use sauce or anything ;) The week after that will probably be cereal week. With all the money I'm saving on groceries, I will be going out to lunch- because I need more variety. We play too much, huh? LOL

I've been married for a year!

If you aren't on twitter, then you won't know of the events from our actual anniversary on Sunday. It's not worth repeating, but it's summed up like this: we both looked at each other and said "well, we know every other anniversary has to be better than this."

 

Our trip to Atlantic City was fun though, and I didn't have to drive :) I'll do the price break downs as I recap the day.

 

We paid about $15 in tolls on the way up to New Jersey. It was getting quite ridiculous and the traffic leading up to the tolls took up so much time. Of course we went to the Waffle House, as we do on every single road trip. So our dinner Friday night cost $17.  While at dinner we realized that TheCount left some necessary things at home so we made a little $15 trip to Rite Aid. When we got to Atlantic City it was midnight so we just checked into the hotel. Our room was nice, it was on the 28th floor so we had a good view of the boardwalk and the ocean. The bathtub/shower wall was a window right next to the bed- I don't know if I'm describing it correctly, but if you were sitting on the bed you could look directly into the shower because of the big glass window. It had a curtain, but you could definitely still see through it.

 

Saturday morning we got up early and went to ride bikes for an hour ($16). Neither of us had ridden in about 12 years, so we were happy to discover that it's true, you don't forget how to ride a bike. For lunch we went to Megan's Grill and Pub, the food was delicious! I had some macaroni and cheese with lobster, blue crab, and shrimp, and TheCount had barbecue chicken, coleslaw, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. It ended up being $50 with tip included- so not cheap, but it was tasty enough to be worth it. Our dinner that night came courtesy of the boardwalk: 2 slices of pizza, a cheesesteak, french fries, and a hot tea (18.50). Sunday morning my parents came up and took us out to breakfast.

 

I think we did really well, $130 for a weekend trip isn't bad at all. There were some outlets a few blocks away, but we didn't go. I don't window shop. If I see it and I want it and I know I can afford it, I will buy it. I always find sales, I always get good prices and knowing that about myself I stayed away. They had a BCBG, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and Bath and Body Works. Those 4 stores alone would have led to me buying my winter wardrobe that I don't need- but I want. TheCount just couldn't understand why I wouldn't go to the store. He can look and not buy. I can't and if you try and stop me it won't end well for you. I know my limitations.

 

I have some pictures that I'll post later this week :)

 

 

See ya next week!

Every single time we have a road trip, TheCount stays up really late the night before, forcing me to drive the entire way because I don't want him to fall asleep and kill us on the road. Last night he went to bed at 4am and had to get up at 7 for work. I'm beginning to think he does it on purpose cuz dude never stays awake that late. Our first road trip was a 13 hour trip to South Carolina- this fool did not go to bed the night before. I had to drive the entire trip (well I didn't have to, but stubbornness kicked in halfway there and I refused to give up the wheel). I just don't understand why he waits until the night before to pack, do laundry, get a haircut, go to his friend's house to pick up some clothes, clean the fish tank, open his perfect push up package and try it out, play with his toes for no good reason, sit and watch new tv shows, clean the bathroom (something he hasn't done in our year of marriage, lol), and cuddle up behind me so close I fell off the bed at 4 in the frikking morning. Yep, all of those things occurred at the apartment last night. I just kept looking at him like he was crazy and then got in the bed. He doesn't even remember me elbowing him in the face as I got back in the bed from falling. I was so mad at him, but my sleep was so good, I fell right back out. Humidifier + Heated Mattress Pad= Heaven

 

********************

 

Now that I finished putting TheCount on blast, let me put myself on blast. I have lost my everloving mind. I don't know where my self control went, but I will be happy when it returns. I have a new pair of jeans, 3 new shirts, a necklace, a bracelet,a pair of earrings, and 2 new purses that I bought because I hadddddddd to have it. I got a dang snug.gie because "ohhhh pink! And I have a coupon, it's only $10 now." What is wrong with me? I've been sneaking bags into the house and hiding them in the closet- if that doesn't scream issues and horrible wife, what does? Ughhhh. I think I got it out of my system though. No more buying things- even if the deal is really good. Unless it's $2.99, cuz that's my magic price, I'll buy anything for $2.99.

 

********************

 

So, TheCount has a new position at work, that he's really excited about. He's been at it a week so far going through training and such. Next week he has to fly out twice to go somewhere and do some work. Then on October 19 he has to go to Tampa for a project. I'm excited too- cooking and cleaning for one is a breeze. We don't know about the pay yet. His company tends to give raises after the training is completed because they want to make sure you pass all your tests and get certified. I think he should get 2 raises. One for switching departments, and another when training is complete. We'll see what happens.

 

 

Get outta town!

What do you do to get ready to go out of town? This weekend we're going to Atlantic City. We don't gamble, but it's always fun to go to another place just to see what it's like. Growing up we always travelled places but I don't remember ever planning the trip in advance. When we used to go to New York for our back to school shopping trip we just drove up there, waited until we saw something we liked, then got out and walked around. It was fun to do that with my family, but TheCount and I can't function like that. He needs a plan, and my indecisiveness frustrates him. I, in turn, get very frustrated when I ask him what he wants to do or eat and he says it's up to me. When I ask for your opinion, give it! The trip turns into a not so fun misadventure with both of us silent and me normally crying at a restaurant because, "I just wanted us to have fun, and now we're frustrated, and it's not fun, so what's the point." Seriously, we've been together for 6 years, and we're just getting better at this. Earlier this week, chic.seven posted some things she always takes with her on trips, check it out, simple yet effective. I have every single one of those things in my pile to pack right now. Here are some of the things I've been doing so we can make the most of our very short trip:

 

1. Go to the hotel's website, look at the pictures, what amenities they have, and the hours of operation for their various facilities. TheCount wants to go bike riding. I'm glad I looked it up, because it's only allowed on the boardwalk between 6:30-10 am.  We would have missed that because I don't get up before 10 on vacation.

2. Go to the website for the city. Look at their events calendar to see what major things are occurring. This helps because you'll often find free events, things that will cause major traffic that out of towners wouldn't know about, and local attractions. I found out this weekend Whoopi, Sinbad, and Kelly Clarkson are all performing. I won't be attending any of that- but it was nice to know.

3. Go to FoodNetwork.com and check out where Guy Fieri went on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives to see if any of those places are nearby. He went on a New Jersey Diner Tour...I hope some of those are close by! I'll spend a few minutes on mapquest checking it out and printing the directions. I'll get my parent's to go to some because they're going to Atlantic City next week too.

4. Another website I use is Restaurant.com. On there you can print out discounted coupons for non-chain restaurants. I had a discount code and I got four $25 gift certificates and one $10 gift certificate for $5.40. You can't really beat that deal with a stick! We've gone to 2 already by our house since I've started using the website. We haven't had any issues, and both restaurants were really good, we'd go again in a heartbeat. Just be careful and DON'T enroll in the little program thingy they have at the end that offers additional discounts. It cost's $10.

 

This trip I'm going to do something I never, ever do- keep track of how much money we spent and how much money we saved over this trip. TheCount normally keeps receipts to keep track, but I always throw a few away just so he won't realize what I've managed to convince him to spend. It really is for his own good. Next week I'll have a whole breakdown post, I'll have a lot of extra time on my hands, TheCount's new position at work already has him travelling and I think he flies out on Monday.

 

What are some things you do to get ready for trips? Do you use any websites that are particularly helpful? Fill us in!

I need a new lamp for the bedroom

Today's picture is brought to you courtesy of Dumpster Diver's everywhere. This is the finished product of the tv stand thingy I got from the dumpster. Since we live in a one bedroom apartment, storage is constantly a need. Our front door coat closet houses all of TheCount 2millionand5 coats, our holiday decorations, and luggage. Our linen closet is full with thick fluffy towels, tools, and our candles/detergent/carpet cleaner/febreeze/wood polish?/extra deodorant/bandaids/hand soap. The closet in our bedroom is bursting at the seams with my stuff, and under the bed we have TheCount's shoes and my out of season clothes. With everything having a specific place, we needed some extra room for our bed linens. We decided to put the tv stand thingy at the foot of the bed and put the linens and my nail polish container in there. On top I normally lay out my clothes for the next day (on the right), my purse (in the middle), and pajama's and house socks (on the left). It's a nice fit because our bed is realllyyyy high off the ground, so the tv stand thingy doesn't overwhelm the room or stick out causing bumped toes or knees.

 

And for a random tip of the day: If you were engaged to a guy that admitted he cheated on you and you stayed engaged, fine, that's your right. If he made you take a 4 hour trip and called off your wedding a month before it was going to happen and your parent's then had to drive and pick you up because he wouldn't take you home and you were still praying that God would bring you guys together, you're pushing it, but fine, whatever, it's your life. If you find out he got his jumpoff pregnant and he's telling you she is the love of his life after knowing her for less than a year and he was with you for 4 and you're STILL praying that God will bring you together, the answer is clear: God has stopped listening to you because you ask for dumb stuff. Now, God didn't tell me this personally, but I'm pretty sure in this case, I can speak on his behalf.

Real story, Random picture

I actually have stuff to talk about for once, so i won't waste an entire post today with my unflattering pictures, but I'll attach one to my post and I'll probably do the same again tomorrow.

 

TheCount and I have had an issue for the past week, but I didn't blog about it (I did tweet it) because I knew what you guys would say. You guys all have good common sense and I didn't want to be fussed at, so I figured I'd blog about it when the situation resolved itself, which it has. Last week when TheCount and I came home from dinner we saw a duffel bag in the stairwell. We live on the bottom floor of the apartment building and it's just our door and the woman across the hall. She's been known to place things she can't carry over in the corner, but  I really didn't think the huge army fatigue duffel bag was hers. We went inside and weren't really concerned about it. The next morning when I went out, the bag was zipped up and a book bag was placed neatly on top. When I walked out the building a young black man was sitting on the steps. There aren't very many black people in our complex so I knew I had never seen him before. We both said good morning and I went on my way. TheCount said he didn't see anybody when he left out. Each time we came and went the bags were in a different state: open, closed, messy, neat. I looked out the peephole, but I never actually saw anybody around them. I figured somebody was living in our stairwell, but I didn't know what to do. Call the police? I didn't want them to get in trouble, times are hard. Alert management? I didn't want them to get thrown out, it's cold outside. I know y'all are thinking I was dumb to not say anything, but I just couldn't. One afternoon I walked in and saw the man from the other morning changing his clothes right there. I didn't want to make the situation awkward so I just spoke and went in the apartment. I told TheCount who wanted to call the leasing office, but I know him, he would never get around to doing it, so I wasn't too concerned about it. The next night, TheCount finally saw dude. He decided to go out and talk to him. It turns out he's 17, from New Jersey but he grew up in our town. His mom threw him out when he was 14, because she got a boyfriend that didn't want him to be around. He wants to get his GED, so he can go to audio school so he can be a rapper. TheCount kept asking if he needed anything, but as a young black man abandoned by his mother, he seriously had trust issues. He kept saying, "like what you mean, do I need anything?" TheCount just wanted to know if he needed blankets, or some food, or some help getting somewhere, but dude insisted he was fine. TheCount ended up giving him $20 so he could know we were serious about trying to help him. Dude was like, "what's this for?" TheCount assured him we didn't want anything from him, we just wanted to help him out a bit.TheCount sat out and talked to him for about 20 minutes before coming in.The next day I researched and found some programs in our town that helps underprivileged folks under 21 get their GED (for free) and a shelter that hooks you up with a caseworker and a plan, I fixed some soup and was going to give him some the next time I saw him, so he wouldn't just be living off of junk, but today, he, and all his stuff, were gone.

 

This is the thing, I feel guilty. I always ask God for opportunities to help people. I say I want to make a difference and I did try, but... what if I didn't pass the test? I am blessed to be a blessing, I say that all the time, and I truly am blessed, and I hope that the young man knows that TheCount and I really want to help him. We don't want him to have to be a dope boy (cuz how else would he be making money?) all his life, we want to help him accomplish his goals. I'm pretty sure I'm over thinking the situation and y'all are probably like, TM you are dramatic as heck and next time a stranger is living outside your apartment door, call the police. He was a random stranger, but a random stranger that has the potential to be everything he wants to be in life. I just needed to share how I was feeling today. This situation did lead me to want to be more involved with the local homeless shelter. On their website they had a list of things they needed. I went to the store yesterday and got some of the stuff so I could feel like I was doing something to help out. I'm going to talk to them about coming in and volunteering in the evenings.
 

There is a quote that I heard recently about helping people but I cannot find it. I did find some other good ones, but I must find that dang quote, I love me some quotes!

Hebrews 13:2: Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. This is one of my favorite verses, however, I don't think angels are allowed to curse like sailors, so our stairwell guest probably wasn't an angel.

Barbara DeAngelis: Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference

 

Dalai Lama: Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

 

William Penn: If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

 

John Wesley: Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.

 

John Wooden: You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

Answers to yesterday's picture post comments

This is me. I got my hair done for the first time since January. I wish you could see my new boots, I'll post them to twitter, I hope I remember to post them here. I feel bad for posting the picture of my office mate (not bad enough to take it down though) but I will post unflattering pictures of myself on Monday.

I don't go to my blog from work, but I really wanted to respond to your comments from yesterday's picture post. Excuse any typos, I'm on my phone.
SimplyB- it really looked like I was just checking my phone because she is shorter than me. Perfect angle, I have about 4 more- hmmm let me delete them, I look like a stalker.

MsB- I don't know why she had on flip flops, it was cold as crap. It's probably better that she had on flip flops than real shoes, if I showed you her shoes, Jesus would probably be mad at me.

Lee- I know it was wrong, I'm ashamed!

PJD- we have the water conversation every single day she is here. At least I've gotten her away from McD's every morning.

Kisz4tj- No she ain't no dang little person! I don't know why but your comment really made me laugh. She's about 5 feet tall, so she's short, but nowhere near little person status.

Arts & Crafts

My mom and I made these nifty earring holders. We took some picture frames from Ikea and some window screen and glued them together. It's the easiest way for me to keep track of my earrings. Underneath that, you get a glimpse of my horrible habit. Bath and Body Works body spray. I love that stuff!

Not that this is a craft project, but I finally found a nice way to organize my nail products. It cost me less than $5 from WalMart and I can stack my hair and makeup containers on top. Wonderful :)

I rescued a piece of furniture from the dumpster and made it all pretty. I forgot to get a picture of it before I started painting it. By this point I had already purchased the wood for the back to make it sturdy and primed it. I'll have to get a good picture of the finished product. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. But I spent $2 on paint from Home Depot and I have a new piece of furniture :)

Picture for yesterday's post

This is my officemate. She talks about losing weight every day. She drinks 6 Pepsi's every day and 1 cup of water.

October is here!

I do believe October is my favorite month! Pumpkin patches, apple picking, my wedding anniversary, my best friend's birthday, brisk hikes, leaves changing, fall festivals, I love it! My favorite dates over the years with TheCount have been to the pumpkin patch. Oddly enough, I've never even bought a pumpkin, maybe I will this year.

 

Activities scheduled for this month:

 

Tonight I'm getting my hair done! This is monumental, it's been 9 months since I got my hair done- well overdue. This weekend my parent's neighborhood is having community day, I may go help out with that- if they pay me. If not, I'm going to go see Toy Story in 3D. Y'all don't even know how excited I am about that!

 

Next weekend is my 1  year wedding anniversary! For the first anniversary, it's supposed to be paper or clocks. What a lovely coincidence because I plan on getting him a watch. We also may be going up to Atlantic City. We don't gamble, but my parents have timeshare and they won't be able to go up until Sunday night, which means we would have it Friday-Sunday. We've never been so it will be interesting to just look around. Sunday night (our actual anniversary) our pastors are renewing their vows- 25 years! I think that would be a fun event for us to go to on our anniversary. Gives us hope for our future.

 

The weekend after that is my best friend's birthday. I don't know what we're doing or what I'm getting her, I'll figure it out soon hopefully.

 

One more bit of good news: TheCount got a promotion! He was notified yesterday that he will be moved to the other division of his company effective next week. Then he has his 2 months of training. I know he will do well and excel, he always does. Phase 1 is complete of operation: take over the world.