If you feel like voting for me as well, that'd be neato, but I'm not begging for votes or anything. I just think the whole concept is pretty cool and the thought that little ol' me might get a vote or two (other than my own) would be flippin' swell.
Click on this little button if you wanna vote: Thanks to anyone who might vote for me. I really do appreciate this type of thing. It makes me feel all loved and supported.
Today is Sarah's birthday! As most people know, Sarah & I have had some ups and some downs, but we have always worked everything out and are better friends now than we've ever been. At least I think so.
I can't speak highly enough of my Cupcake, Sarah. She's simply the best. I love her to death & I look forward to the day when we will get to hang out in person!
Sarah, I hope you have an amazing day. I know that you share your birthday with the twins, but please make sure to take some time to enjoy your own birthday! I love you and am truly blessed to have you for a friend. xoxo
Yes, that's right. I'm writing this blog entry to let you know that I've written a Top Secret Blog Entry! If you're not on my friend list, you can't see it...so there.
That'll teach you to not have me on your list!
EDIT: I just added a video to the stealthy blog entry!
The reason Jameson went grocery shopping with Lonnie instead of me going is very simple. Grocery shopping is in no way good for Lonnie's and my relationship! It never fails - we end up arguing every.single.time. For the past few months, I make a list and Lonnie goes and gets the stuff. It's worked magnificently well! No more arguing...he gets to deal with the public, and I get to put all the stuff away.
There are SO many squirrels around here. I looked down to the ground from my balcony the other day and saw four squirrels within about 40 feet of each other! People on the bottom level have a squirrel feeder thing, so it really keeps 'em coming back for more. It makes me wish I lived down there...but I'm definitely thankful for where I do live. Besides, I don't have to hear anyone above me walking around!
Sunny & I are going to do our Spa Day tomorrow. Every Sunday, we set aside a couple hours to devote to pampering ourselves. We do our nails, moisturize our bods, facial masks...the whole niner. Tomorrow we have special plans. We're going to incorporate the sauna, hot tub, and tanning bed into our usual routine! It'll take a while longer, but we figure that if we're going to do it, we need to do it right! It'll be a lot of fun. We both enjoy our Spa Days so much.
I took the camera with me when Lonnie & I took a walk the other day. I'm going to write another blog entry where I'll post the pics. It was a really relaxing walk. Ever since I screwed my knee up, we haven't been able to take the long walks like we were accustomed to. Now our walks are only 20-30 minutes long. The pain just gets to be too much for me, and we end up having to head home. I hate that so much. I really miss being able to be as active as I want to be without worrying about pain. I'm so sick of it!
I did my eye make-up different today. I went with the 'Smokey Eye' look. I'm not used to wearing this dark of junk on my eyes, but everyone says it looks really pretty, so I might have to do it more frequently. It's always nice to play around and find new looks like that.
I've been changing a lot of people's personalized emoticons next to your names lately. If you have any special requests or don't like the one I've chosen for you, please let me know. I don't want you to have something next to your name that you're not fond of. No hard feelings - I swear.
I got a big surprise in the mail a couple days ago! My good friends, Lenora & Rick, sent me a hilarious birthday card...and inside the card was a $15 gift card for Starbucks!!! Can you believe that?! That's just so awesome. I'm the luckiest girl in the whole world to have the awesome friends I have. No, not because I get gifts...but because my friends genuinely care about me. It feels SO good to have such wonderful people watching my back. Thank you again, Lenora & Rickster!
I just put some Cookie Dough flavored Lip Smackers on. I got a three-pack of Lip Smackers for 50 cents at WalMart about two months ago. Can you believe that?! Only 50 cents! They had a bunch of crap on clearance, so I got lucky. The other two flavors in the pack are Cotton Candy and Bubble Gum. I like them all, but Bubble Gum is my least favorite. It smells & tastes nothing like bubble gum.
I forgot to call my brother AGAIN. He probably thinks I really hate him or something. I just keep forgetting 'til it's too late in the day. I have no idea what time he hits the hay. Do you ever space out calling someone like that? I'm going on about a week of me realizing I'd forgotten to call him AGAIN until it's too late. I'm such a crappy sister.
I'm up to 12,472 tweets on Twitter. I have a serious addiction to that thing. I just wish I knew why I feel the need to tweet everything I do. I'm clearly not the only person who enjoys it...but why the heck to we enjoy it so flippin' much? And why is Twitter an either you love it or hate it type of thing? :shrug: These are the questions that'll haunt me forever! (Add me if you want: http://twitter.com/nerdynerak)
I'm on a tiny food kick lately. Not real food...graphics of tiny food. Not a clue what it's all about, but I am positive that the tiny animated food is freakin' adorable! I love it...and I have really been enjoying hunting the graphics down and also making them, myself. I'm not quite sure why I've waited this long to get into creating cute food graphics. I'd thought about it before, but never got around to it. Yay for me - I finally did it!
Speaking of graphics; I still have to finish up the graphics I've been making for my friend, Jason, and get them to him. He's been pretty patient! I feel badly that it's taken me longer than I had intended to finish his stuff up, but I've also been having to do some work for Lonnie as well. Lonnie doesn't see too much humor in me chatting and playing around when I'm supposed to be working. Can't really blame him - I'm a big kid when it comes to working from home. Luckily, I have him here to keep me in line! I've been tanning, but A LOT less now. I have a base tan and everything...I'm not going in order to get dark. I'm going as a way to fight off the winter blues. So far, it seems to be helping. I only go in there for a few minutes 2-3 times per week, but those few minutes really seem to be helping me with my SAD.
I've been sleeping so much better lately. I think it's because I'm back on a regular schedule now that school has started back up. It feels so good to feel rested! I take two Klonopin around 22:00-22:30, and I'm out by around 23:30ish. No more of this tossing and turning. I hate that I have to take medication in order to get to sleep, but hey...if it's what I've got to do, then I'm going to do it. I think sleep deprivation is worse for me than the medication is, anyway!
You know what question I hate pretty much more than any other question? I'll tell ya'! "What's for dinner?" That's it. I detest that question. Every single day of my life I am asked this question...when I hear it, I want to slam my face into the counter or something.
I'm drinkin' coffee...Mmmm. It's so good. When isn't it, though?
I am not going to enjoy taking this eye make-up off when the time comes. That's the only problem with getting dolled up...you eventually have to un-doll yourself.
My driver's license expired on my birthday. I forgot to call the DMV last week to see what their grace period is. In Montana, it was 15 days...I'm hoping they're at least that generous here. I do NOT want to have to take the entire test all over again. That'd totally blow ass.
I haven't been to church since that whole eviction fiasco happened. Honestly, I've lost respect for several members - including the pastor. The way they handled things was really messed up. I'm doing my best to look at them and the situation as objectively and forgiving as possible. My problem is, though, that I don't want to attend a church where I don't fully respect the elders and more importantly, the pastor. I either need to find a new church, or simply decide that I don't need to attend church. I never really liked going too much, anyway. The social aspect of church is enough to give me ginormous panic attacks. I hate it when people are so IN YOUR FACE and asking who you are, what you do...etc. I'm so not outgoing like that.
Lonnie & Jameson have been gone for over an hour now. I hope Jameson's not too pissy when they get back! I love Lonnie to death, but he is the most irritating person to shop with! He just has to stop and look at everything and read every lable...etc. Not only that, but he's a pretty slow moving guy to start with. It takes him 1 hour to do something it'd take an average person 20 minutes to do. He simply moves at a slower speed. I've always known this and I don't love him any less...I simply cannot shop with him! That's why I'm hoping Jameson hasn't freaked out yet!
I guess I should shut up now. I feel super babbly, so this Randomness could go on for quite a while longer if I let it. I'm still amazed at how many people enjoy reading my babble! My son has even asked me, "Who cares what you're doing?" I kinda shrugged and said, "My friends do. I guess that's how you can tell a true friend from a chump, huh?" So anyway...I hope everyone has a terrific remainder of your weekend. If I'm not on tomorrow (Sunday), I will see you Monday!
A little birdy just told me that today is Rick's AKA cwbywz's birthday! I wish I'd have known sooner in the day...perhaps I would have had I logged into Facebook. (I don't like it there anymore. ) Anyway, Happy Birthday, Rick! I think you're a totally awesome guy. Your talent with a camera has boggled my mind since the first time I met you. Not only that, but your sense of humor, your generosity, & the fact that you don't refrain from speaking your mind has caused me to have the utmost respect for you! I'm sure I'm not the only one on here who thinks the world of ya'!
I hope you have/had a wonderful & special day. I'm sure that Lenora did her best to make it a good one for you. Soul mates tend to do things like that.
The reason I'm posting this is so that I can help a friend out. In order to help this friend out, though, I need your help as well! No, you don't have to buy anything or sign up for spam or anything else that's annoying like that. Here's the dealio....
A very good friend of mine whom I love to death knows a girl who wants to be a model SO badly. Well, there is a Model of The Runway Casting Challenge that she's really, really trying for a chance at. She was late with getting into the competition, so she's falling behind on votes. About this girl...she goes by "Revans" on the website. I don't personally know her, but from what I've heard of her, she's a total sweetheart with a dream. Here's what my friend said about her:
She is THE sweetest kid! She's a freshman at Texas Tech this year majoring in broadcast journalism. She was always an honor student, and never been in ANY trouble. Danielle REALLY wants to be a model and is in a contest, but she entered late and isn't moving up fast enough.
So, my friends...this is where we can help! If you would be so kind as to take the time to go vote for her, not only would my friend be appreciative, but I would as well. I would love to see a genuinely sweet & nice girl win this thing. There are way too many girls who are pretty on the outside, yet ugly on the inside. Danielle is one of the few who possesses both types of beauty, so I'm behind her 100%! I would love for her dream to come true...and if any of us can help her, I think we should! When you click the "VOTE" button on the website, it takes you HERE. Apparently you've got to sign up in order to vote. I realize this is a pain in the ass to many, but really...it only takes a few moments & then you're all set. You can vote ONCE PER DAY, so if you're going to be one of the people to do this, please make sure to remember to go back daily!
Thanks so much in advance to all of you who are going to help!
Hey again, everyone! Sorry it's been so long. I know that some of you were worried, and for that, I apologize. I figured that by posting what was happening in my status, that'd save some worrying. I thought wrong! I DO genuinely appreciate the concern. I'm totally fine, though!
I pour my creamer into my coffee at the same time I pour the coffee. Ugh...that sentence is so effed up. What I mean is that as I'm pouring my coffee into my tumbler thingy, I pour my creamer in simultaneously. Why? :shrug: Less stirring!
Sunny started school last Wednesday. The poor kid had to switch schools AGAIN. Third year in a row that she's had to do that. I feel so horribly guilty, but the really amazing thing is that she says she doesn't even care. She says she's not there for socializing...she's there to make good grades so she can get a scholarship to a good college. Needless to say, I'm amazingly proud of her. I mean, how the hell did she get so wise by the age of 11? We've always spoken with both of the kids as though college is a given, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I guess it just didn't stick with Jameson. He's in the process of acquiring his GED. I'm equally proud of him. Justin Timberlake was on SNL this weekend. Man, that guy's not bad lookin' at all, is he? Whew...I found myself swooning uncontrollably! This doesn't happen very often. As a matter of fact, the last time was with Tom Araya (Slayer's vox/bass)...and I've been swoonin' over him for YEARS. Literally since I was about 13! When I hold a flame, I hole a freakin' flame!
I finally have Opera 10 now that it's no longer beta! Of course, I love it. How could I not? It's Opera, for cryin' out loud! I especially like how I can maximize my tabs to suit me. That makes me happy.
Speaking of Opera, who knows of a good Opera widget for Twitter? I have one, but it updates every five minutes. Anyone who knows my Twittering habits knows that's not nearly a fast enough refresh rate. Sooooo....who has one that they can recommend?
I need to call my Dad some time today. I keep spacing it out 'til it's too late in the day to call him. He's two hours ahead of me. One wouldn't think that a two hour difference would be a big issue, but it screws with me. I always fail to remember that he's two hours ahead, so I call him at 10AM, and he's like, "Uh, I'm in a restaurant eating lunch. Can I call ya' back?" And I'm like, "".... So yeah...gotta make sure I call him after noon...his time.
Lonnie & I totally beat the hell out of Army of Two this weekend. We completed the entire game in no time! Oh man...I was blowin' the heads off of anything that moved. I think my PTSD is getting much better! I'm stoked that I'm able to laugh about it now. ....But anyway, that's a badass game. Perhaps not quite as badass as Gears of War, but still...a shitload of fun! If you enjoy shoot 'em up games, I recommend it.
I've already announced this a few times before, but apparently some of my friends haven't seen the announcement that weekends for me are now Family Days. I won't be on the Net on Saturday or Sunday unless there are extenuating circumstances. We've been doing this ever since we moved into the new place, and it's really brought our family closer together. The kids seem much happier, and enjoy their time with us...even if all we do is watch movies or go hot tubbin'....they just like the quality time. As do we. I love my kids so much...they grow up SO fast. I just want to enjoy as much time with them now as I can.
I have a bunch of pictures that I need to post, but I keep having to put it off. I know that I'll get around to it, but I'm not sure when. My plate is pretty full right now.
Either my son or my mother drank all of my creamer. Now I'm pissy. The nerve! I gotta have my creamer! Now instead of my Hazelnutty goodness, I'm drinking some chocolate/caramel crapola. Ugh...way too sweet. WHY?! Why did they have to drink what wasn't theirs?!
I'm suddenly reminded of why I never did well with roommates. They always eat your food, mess up the place & don't clean up after themselves....the list is a long one. I've only had a roommate one time in my life prior to my Mom living with us. Her name was Jessica & we were inseparable prior to our cohabitation. It seemed like as soon as we lived together, we wanted each other dead! At the end, I had apparently pissed her off one way or another, so she called Child Protective Services on me. Jameson was about 2 years old at the time. They came out to the house, looked Jameson over and decided that the complaints were "Unfounded". NO SHIT! I would NEVER EVER abuse my kids. How could someone ever stoop that low? I will never be able to fathom that...and the day I can is a day I never want to see.
Conor - You were Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo right! Timberlake might have a fine ass (No, you didn't say that...I did. ), but his music is hideous! WTF?! How can people jive to this shizzle on a regular basis? Then again, I can totally see where someone would say the same about my beloved Death Metal, so I will refrain from carrying on about it more than I already have. (The next time I don't listen to you, Conor, I give you permission to cyber bitch-slap me!)
I think Tyra Banks has finally gone off the deep end. Just a quick observation.
We no longer have cable TV because we're living on bare minimum in order to get a decent savings account going....anyway, there's this show on regular TV called Shark Tank that I've been diggin' on when I have free time & it's on. It's a rip-off of BBC's Dragon's Den...but still enjoyable. Anyone else watch it?
I'm still rockin' the Rocket Dock & lovin' it. I especially love how it's so easy to move. I generally keep it on top, but sometimes I need to move it to the right or left of my monitor. Right now it's on the left. It doesn't interfere with anything over there.
Matthew showed me a video of this dude named Peter Chao the other day. Well, since then he has become my main target for impersonations! I hadn't heard of him prior to Matthew showing me Peter's video. Now it's your turn. You HAVE to watch this! Thank you again, Matthew! :b-press:
Okay...now that I've carried on about a bit of everything, it's time to catch up on some alerts. At last glance, I had like 239487239874 of them. I feel a "Mark All As Read" moment coming on.
Have a terrific day, everyone! You never know if it'll be your last one.
I want to update all of you as to what's going on with my living situation...etc....
My Dad finally ended up wiring me the money to pay the move-in costs for the apartment we'd been approved for. Lonnie went to the complex yesterday morning and gave them the money in order to ensure that nobody else got the place before we could. It's officially our apartment, but we can't move in until tomorrow. They're having it professionally cleaned and whatnot. I love clean places, so that's awesome with me!
Remember how the church had told us they were going to help us, but then retracted what they offered? Well, they finally came through as well! After Lonnie got home from securing the apartment yesterday morning, he got a phone call from one of the church members. They decided to help us pay for the utility deposits and whatnot! Needless to say, Lonnie and I are/were both stunned that they came through for us. We really thought they'd forgotten us and weren't going to help at all. That's one more lesson learned - I need to refrain from assuming people are uncaring jerks and give people more of a chance to redeem themselves.
I've learned SO many lessons through all of this. Once you've looked homelessness in the face for over a week, you are bound to learn some lessons. I most certainly have. The little things mean so much more to me now than they ever have...and I know that they will continue to mean a lot to me. This was a complete slap in the face from God, I think. He really gave us a big wake-up call. We were living way too far beyond our means for too long, and we really ended up paying for it. Lesson learned for sure! We're going to be trading in our vehicle for a much less expensive one that gets better gas mileage ASAP. We've got to earn the right to have an awesome vehicle. Until then, I'm totally cool with driving a clunker that gets me from point A to point B.
Thank you to ALL of you who've been praying for us and/or sending us good vibes! I wish I could thank all of you enough, but I doubt that I'll ever be able to. Please just know that having your support has meant the world to me. All of you are my little angels who've been here for me and looked out for my family. I love my family here on My.Opera more than I could ever express. Just knowing that you guys were pulling for us meant SO MUCH to all of us. If there is ever anything I can do to repay any of you, I will certainly do my best!
Anyway, tomorrow is our big move in day! Lonnie just got off the phone with a couple guys who've volunteered to help us out. Thank God! Our apartment is on the top (3rd) floor, so that'd be sheer Hell for Lonnie and me to do by ourselves. We've always moved ourselves in the past, but now that our backs are even more messed up and I blew out my right knee a couple weeks ago, we'd be a pretty pathetic moving team. Of course, we will do whatever lifting we can do and not rely on these volunteers more than we absolutely have to, but they'll definitely have to help us get the big stuff up all of those stairs.
I'm DYING to get settled in and be able to relax! The complex has a pool, hot tub, sauna, fitness room, and even a free tanning bed! I can't believe that we get all of those amenities and our rent is still so freakin' reasonable! We should've moved into an apartment MUCH sooner! Yet another lesson learned! Once we get settled in, I'll take pictures so everyone can see the new place - like I've done every other time I've moved. Hopefully I won't be moving again for a VERY long time!
That pretty much sums everything up. Thank you again to all of you who have been so amazing through all of this! You're all angels to me.
For those of you who aren't religious in any way or don't want to hear me speak about my own religion, then go ahead and skip this one. I won't be upset...I promise. To each their own! At least I was nice enough to warn you.
Okay, now to those of you who want to hear what I have to say on the topic...
As pretty much all of you know, we have been going through some INTENSE financial struggles for a while now. Lately, it's gotten worse than it EVER has been. I know that we are only one family out of the 3498732894723894792387 other American families who are dealing with this. The economy is shot - therefore leading to the demise of everyone's bank accounts and whatnot.
Well, in rough times like this, I'm more apt to pray. I know it shouldn't be that way. I should pray in good times and in bad times. I think it's pretty 'normal', though, for people to call out to God more when they're in the midst of some sort of catastrophe or whatever. I cannot help but think that's why God gives us these issues in our life. So we will reach out to him. After all, that's what he wants! The Holy Bible clearly states such.
I'm sure that some people do the opposite and blame God for all the crap they're dealing with and ask, "Why is he allowing me to go through this?!" That's the wrong way to look at it, though. Whether we understand his plan or not, the bottom line is that he DOES have one. It's up to us to either shun it or accept it into our hearts.
Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is for two reasons. 1. To give hope to those of you who are in the same predicament that we are in. 2. To hopefully make some people think about God, life, and that sort of thing.
Like I said - we're hurting financially like never before - as are so many other families out there. We're busting our butts to bring in money, but when people don't pay their bills to us, we aren't able to pay our bills to others...the freakin' trickle down effect.
Anyway, Lonnie called our church a few minutes ago. We belong to an absolutely amazing church. They're so understanding, friendly, helpful...you name it. It's just a really great church family to have. The Pastor, whom we refer to as Pastor Toby is an absolutely amazing speaker. The way he "preaches" doesn't leave you feeling like you've been preached at AT ALL. He's clearly doing what he's been called to do.
So back to this phone call....Lonnie spoke with Pastor Toby and explained our situation. Our situation is that we're expecting an eviction notice from our landlord today. Our church has helped us in the past - if you remember back to when we were all having to live out of a motel. I didn't know some of you then, so you have not a clue what I'm referring to. Anyway, they donated some money to us which allowed us to move into the house we're now in. Things were going GREAT when we first moved in, too. Business was going smoothly, our health was good other than our injuries, and the kids have awesome schools here.
Well, now that the recession has hit like the waterballoon from Hell, our lives have done a 180. I've had to lower myself to create a Fundable account...that was SO hard for me. I'm STILL totally humiliated over it. Although we didn't reach our goal, that's okay. Everything happens for a reason. The people who had pledged some money didn't end up having to actually pay it because we didn't meet our goal. I'm happy for that. I felt overwhelming guilt asking my friends for money.
I keep putting this phone call off, huh?! Okay - what happened was that Lonnie called Pastor Toby and spoke with him. He explained that we're hurting worse than ever, and although they'd helped us in the past, we have no place else to turn. Pastor Toby said that there are funds set aside and they'd be willing to help us, but in return he wants us to write up all of our expenses and whatnot to see if some of them can be cut down. We don't have cable TV anymore, we don't smoke, we don't drink, we get free Internet due to credits on our account because Comcast screwed us around so much, we never go anywhere anymore...except on July 4th, we hardly ever rent movies....so yeah. We already have our debts down to a minimum. I think that once the church sees how much we've cut out, they'll be even more understanding...if that's possible. They're already so understanding as it is.
So now Lonnie is at his desk writing up everything Pastor Toby wanted him to do. He'll email it off when he's finished, and then we will wait to hear from someone at the church. But from the sounds of things, I think they're going to help us pay our rent this month! I cannot even begin to describe how much weight that would take off of our shoulders. Neither one of us has been able to eat or sleep worth a damn. I've lots a hefty chunk of weight, so that's a plus, but other than that, this has been suckin'!
My point in all of this...in sharing personal information with the world is this: Do not EVER give up on God. He will always look out for you even when you don't feel like he is. Like I said, perhaps it's possible that he puts us in tough situations so that we will pray to him. He wants us to be as close to him as possible, so he will do what it takes. The lesson I've been learning over the past month is that I need to pray much more than I do. I also need to read my Bible MUCH more than I do. After all, it's the world of God! What if everyone was so good about praying and doing the right things that God didn't feel the need to put us in crappy situations?
So yeah - the thing I'm bringing away from all of this is that I need to be a better Christian than I've been being. Situations tend to repeat themselves unless you FINALLY understand why the crap keeps happening! I think I now understand, and I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a less stressful existence. I mean, if I'm always talking to God and reading his book, then why would he possibly feel the need to put me in shitty situation just so I will reach out to him. Ya' know?
OH! The reason I have a graphic of a person with a bag over their head is because it's symbolic of how I've been living. I try not to talk about my religion too much because I don't want to weird people out or make anyone uncomfortable. I gotta stop that. It makes me sad that I've been this way...but I'm a n00b with Christianity, so I'm learning on a daily basis.
For those of you out there who are struggling and struggling and don't know what you're going to do...even if it feels weird, maybe you could try asking God for some help? Even if you don't consider yourself religious or anything, but believe in a higher power. What's wrong with talking to that higher power and asking for help? Absolutely nothing as far as I can tell.
Thank you to ALL of my fantastic friends who've been here for me to vent to, cry to, and who are simply the best friends anyone could hope OR pray for!
I think that pretty well sums up what I've got to say for right now. Thanks so much for taking the time to read it.
As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm very flattered. 
As most people know, Sarah & I have had some ups and some downs, but we have always worked everything out and are better friends now than we've ever been. At least I think so. 
That'll teach you to not have me on your list! 
No more arguing...he gets to deal with the public, and I get to put all the stuff away. 
He probably thinks I really hate him or something. 
I just keep forgetting 'til it's too late in the day. I have no idea what time he hits the hay. Do you ever space out calling someone like that? I'm going on about a week of me realizing I'd forgotten to call him AGAIN until it's too late. I'm such a crappy sister. 
(Add me if you want: 
No, you don't have to buy anything or sign up for spam or anything else that's annoying like that. Here's the dealio....
I DO genuinely appreciate the concern. I'm totally fine, though! 
Man, that guy's not bad lookin' at all, is he? Whew...I found myself swooning uncontrollably! 
WHY?! Why did they have to drink what wasn't theirs?! 
I can't believe that we get all of those amenities and our rent is still so freakin' reasonable! We should've moved into an apartment MUCH sooner! Yet another lesson learned! Once we get settled in, I'll take pictures so everyone can see the new place - like I've done every other time I've moved. Hopefully I won't be moving again for a VERY long time!
(29%)
WIDGETIZE