Spiral Moon

2003-09-13T11:25:00.000-04:00

Movin Again

Have decided to switch to Typepad. New url is:

Spiral Moon

2003-09-13T08:59:00.000-04:00

Cool Games

Final Fanatsy Tactics Advance is out (yay!). I'm going to pick it up this afternoon.

Hi

My trip to Ohio was fun. A group went down to visit our Distribution Centers and we also spent 1/2 a day working the line. It was really interesting. I could never work a line tho, I was bored after 10 minutes, I can't imagine doing the same repetitive thing 8 hours a day. But, we met a lot of nice people and learned much.

2003-09-12T19:34:00.000-04:00

Heh

Your soul is worth £16254. For your peace of mind, 57% of people have a purer soul than you.

2003-09-09T17:34:00.000-04:00

Whew

Insanely busy couple of work days, dealing with a very difficult issue that (thank goddess) wrapped up today. Will be out of town the next couple of days.

We watched The Two Towers last night. yummy, I still like Fellowship much better but, not much compares to the amazing job they did on Gollum (sp?). Can;t wait for Return of the King!!

2003-09-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

My Favorite

I should be dating Prince Julian!

Which Nine Princes of Amber Prince Should You Date?
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2003-09-07T10:13:00.000-04:00

PA Trip

Photos are available here:

Photos

2003-09-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

This is much fun

safe for work

Ping Pong Fun

2003-09-03T19:49:00.000-04:00

Mid Year

I got my mid year review today and it was actually higher than I expected. My boss is definately a tough rater and I expected to be rated lower than I normally am since I'm new in the position this year. But, happily not so. I guess I'm doing better than I thought I was. All in all, I was very pleased about it.

2003-09-02T12:19:00.000-04:00

Home Now

Had a fabulous and very relaxing weekend in PA. Today I have played PSO and gone to the gym. I'm now heading out to go buy the Buffy video game for James since he got hooked on it at the cabin.

Not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow. The hardest part of vacation is going back to the grind.

2003-08-28T15:27:00.000-04:00

Gimme a "V"

woo-hoo, leaving for PA today. Got up early, ran my errands and we're leaving at 6. After last week, this vacation is very much needed!

2003-08-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

Ugh

We spent 5am - 11:30am in the emergency room at the hospital. James woke up this morning with a sharp pain in his stomach. He's fine but, unfortunately more pain is to come as it is a kidney stone. Very, very tired at this point. Heading in to work for a bit to tie up a few things before vacation and then I have several errands I need to do.

We are both very glad that this doesn't interfere with vacation this weekend!!

2003-08-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

A Name

Gillian Black......Art student by day, Vampire Slayer by night

2003-08-26T20:37:00.000-04:00

More Buffy

Season One - You're the beginning of greatness,
witty and scary, but a bit on the shallow side.
Don't worry, though, you make up for it with
"Prophecy Girl," your best episode.

Which Season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Are You?
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2003-08-25T19:19:00.000-04:00

BUFFY!!

Buffy campaign starting soon! Am very excited. The group even knew me well enough to know thta I'd wanna play the (a) slayer!

2003-08-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Bees

We had bees building a nest under our deck. Every time you entered the house, a swarm of bees were there to greet you. Not anymore though, I killed them all. I actually had to goto 3 stores before I found a place that had bee/hornet spray. Everyone was sold out. Apparently, it's an epidemic this summer. Hopefully, we will be bee free now.

2003-08-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

My Favorite Class Even...

	ninja a superb warrior with mad skillz. resourceful; evasive; kick-ass
[Final Fantasy Tactics Job Class]

2003-08-22T10:52:00.000-04:00

Friday Five

from Lintra

1. When was the last time you laughed?

Not since Thursday Morning before the dentist. I did go into work Thursday morning for a meeting and training session. The training session was Meyer-Briggs, which was really cool and we laughed a lot.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?
Husband? Hmmm.. we don't really fight at all, just some little spats once in awhile. Honestly, I can't remember the last time we had an argument.

3. Who was the last person you emailed?

Gianna - the girl from the Phillipines I am emailing about gaming with.

4. When was the last time you bathed?
10 minutes ago. Took a bath to try to help the ill feelings I'm having. Helped immensely for at least a little while. As I just said to James, there is not much in this world that a nice bath can't help with.

5. What was the last thing you ate?

pancakes, nice soft food for the mouth.

2003-08-22T10:26:00.000-04:00

blech

Still not feeling good at all. Mouth and throat don't really hurt much anymore but, I still feel feverish and tired. Maybe I have an infection of some sort.

2003-08-21T20:37:00.000-04:00

Feelin Ok

Wierd thing, my throat is more sore than the 3 empty holes in my mouth. Went through a little rough time after the novacane wore off. Felt really ill and also realized I really needed to eat something. I managed to get down a yogurt smoothy (specially bought for today) and about an hour later I ate a hard boiled egg. For some reason, I've been having heat shivers and my legs & body are really achy like I have the flu or something.

I resisted the urge to take a pain pill and waited it out, dozing off and on. I'm a bit better now, I think getting some food in my stomach helped and I also managed to eat a popsicle.

Yuck...overall, not liking this at all. Hope it's better tomorrow. Right now I feel very warm and I have a headache. Mouth, tongue and throat are very sore but, not exactly painful.

2003-08-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Survived

Well, I'm home and survived the wisdom tooth extraction. I was really freaked out and had to force myself to calm down. I also freaked a bit after the first one was done and almost didn't go thorugh with having all 3 pulled. But, after the second one I went ahead and did it and did calm down a bit.

Tears were running down my face the whole time but, I got through it. It wasn't painful, I just really hate being in the dentist chair and it's just really awkward and uncomfortable feeling the tooth pulled out of your mouth. I do, however love my dentist. He's really great and was very supportive and soothing. Have decided that even if we move to Ypsi, I'll drive to Canton for dentist appointments.

Am actually feeling hungry since I didn't have any lunch. My stomach was in too big of knots to actually eat anything before the appointment. My lip and tongue feel like they are 3 times normal size, and my whole mouth is swelled and numb. It also looks like I may have some bruising around my lips. Don't know what it will feel like when the numbness wears off....

I have a prescription for penicillan and vicadin. He wasn't going to give me the pain meds, he said just call him if I needed it and he'd call it in. But, I think I gave him such a fearful and pathetic look that he changed his mind immediately. He looked at me and said "you'd feel better if I just wrote the prescription (for pain) right now, wouldn't you?" "uh-huh" I pathetically nodded. I won't take it if I don't need it since I actually do abhor taking any kind of pills but, it makes me feel better to have it readily available.

OK, off to lie down now.

2003-08-20T10:01:00.000-04:00

Catch Up

Been a very busy week. Work is crazy busy and for the next 3 weeks, I'm only in the office 3 days each week and I have quite a few positions opening up so, I'm a bit harried at the moment. Today however, I am virtually meetingless which will help quite a bit.

Monday was TCBY with a former co-worker, lats night was Passport Dining, which was very fun. I really liked the place we went. My dinner took an exceptionally long time to come but, it was worth the wait and actually my favorite dinner I've had so far this year at the Passport dining places. The waitress also gave everyone free desserts as a result of the wait, which is exceptional customer service.

I haven't been able to work out since last Saturday so, I am definately going tonight. Work outs have been sporadic over the past month as I have had a lot going on. Must re-focus as I have no intention of gaining the weight I lost back.

Speaking of weight, I have been platued at the same level for 3 months now. But, I'm totally fine with that because essentially I feel great. I'm happy with my new size and I feel good. Yes, I could lose more but, I don't really feel like I have to. My focus now is to keep on working out to stay healthy and to keep an eye on my weight so I don't gain anything back. I am maintenance girl now and I think that's a good place to be in.

ugh

Tomorrow is wisdom tooth extraction date. ick. dreading it. I work until noon and my appointment is at 1:00. I hope it's smooth and as pain free as possible.

2003-08-15T18:33:00.000-04:00

hmm

Feeling bored. Trying to stamp. not feeling creative. Played video games. bored of that now. Sweating and hot. Wish James were home. Could get together with friends but, feeling extremely paranoid and bothered my this whole power outage thing that I don't really want to leave the house. Car is on E, wouldn't get very far anyway although gas stations are much better now as P told me.

Not sure why this has me freaked out. Well, I yes I do, it's the damn government and media's fault. All day it's been live coverage of the "black out of 2003" I swear, the media is trying to make out like this is the next worse thing then the terrorist attacks. Bush has everyone on so much alert that the first time anything happens, we all think "shit...terrorism" and then the media trys to play it up like it's this big, huge deal.

Don't get me wrong, it's a deal and I'm the paranoid person sitting at home right now beacuse of it. It's a pain in the ass and we all know how dependant our society is on electricity. But, they're talking on the media like we're all going to starve and there are "tips for surviving the black out". It just irritates me because, people go with out power, it happens every year. Areas went for a week last year after the big snow storm. Most of it will be restored by Sunday, a lot of areas have it back now. It's a deal but, not the end of the world.

ranting done now.

2003-08-15T17:29:00.000-04:00

Wow

Really glad I'm not closer to Detroit and where the flooding of basements is a real scare. How awful. We got pretty lucky with how early our power came back. Last night was no biggie as we just got out the coleman lantern for camping which provided plenty of light to play Magic by then went to bed. Plus, candles are not a problem in this house. I've got the air off and am only running what I need (only briefly on the computer to check something then it goes off again). From what I can tell, the boiling water thing isn't hitting Wayne county and we have plenty of water pressure here so, I think we're ok on the water front too.

Lost everything that was in the freezer and luckily the fridge was pretty empty. I almost went grocery shopping in Wednesday but, was too tired, thank goodness. Still, a lot of money will need to be spent to replace the freezer food. The news is saying it could be covered under home insurance but since nothing else went, it seems a bit of a hassle to claim some groceries.

2003-08-15T11:36:00.000-04:00

Snow Day!

No work today and our power came back on at 8:30! yipiee!! James, however, just got the call that he does have to go in : (

sad for him.

2003-08-13T14:27:00.000-04:00

Yum

Kristen and I went to an Olive Oil & Vinegar tasting at Zingermans last night. Much fun was had and much good food was eaten. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not buy an expensive bottle of olive oil afterwards especially considering it would have been 20% off since we attended the tasting.

2003-08-13T14:25:00.000-04:00

Ack

Have a headache which just hit me and I'm waiting for the Advil to kick in.

2003-08-12T12:19:00.000-04:00

Birthday Meme

via MacGeek

Of rare beauty
knows how to adapt
likes luxury
of good health not in the least shy
tends to look down on others
self-confident
determined
impatient
wants to impress others
many talents
industrious
healthy optimism
waiting for the one true love
able to make quick decisions.

2003-08-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Stop Please

So, this month has been the month of surprise bills. ack...I'm feeling like I'm drowning in them. I'll think everything is ok and then another bill will pop up. We spent money on dinner and Borders just this weekend that I know now we shouldn't have since 2 more surprise bills popped up this week. Sigh....am going to just be extra careful and try not to have any extras for the remainder of the month!

Extra bills this month:

Car repairs $800.00
Vet bill for doggie shots $120.00
pending pet bill for more doggie shots $60.00

Added on is that our house insurance is due (4 monthly payments for the next 4 months) and that I wasn't able to pay our car insurance in lump sum this last re-newal so we're whittling it down and Labor Day vacation and phew...we haven't had money this tight in a long time.

Hate that, especially when your not used to it!

2003-08-11T18:14:00.000-04:00

One More Listing

Current house is now listed on another website. One that does financing too.

2003-08-11T15:00:00.000-04:00

Sleepy

It's my blog and I can whine if I want to.

Ugh.....5:45am and I just do not go together. It's like mixing oil and water. Energy is quickly waning this afternoon. Add on the fact that I didn't really sleep at all last night and I am a tired girl today. Ugh....am leaving at 4:30, debating on the gym tonight and will go home and hopefully get more sleep tonight.

Geez, what a way to start the week.

2003-08-10T08:39:00.000-04:00

Catchin Up

Went to Cody & Jen's last night, which was fun. We had dinner, caught up and then watched Signs. Good movie. I expected it to creep me out but, it didn't.

2003-08-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

House Viewings

Looked at a couple houses yesterday. The one I had called about had already sold and Amby took me to look at a couple of fixer-uppers. I didn't like one of them at all and it had a creepy basement but, the second one could be a possibility.

It's definately a fixer upper, located near depot town. It's in a cul-de-sac and the houses around it are nicely kept up. The real draw point is that it's only 129,900. It definately needs work, like a whole new bathroom and eventually a new kitchen, new carpet and painting. Also, the back yard has a couple large slabs of concrete and a big ugly shed type thing that would have to go. That said, the price is good and the house has potential. Also, the people living there were complete slobs with lots of animals. They didn't even clean the place up for the showing and thier 2 dogs were just out running around. The basement was so full of stuff, you can barely see it and crap was just crammed everywhere. I, however, do have a good eye for stripping away clutter and seeing potential so I was able to see beyond the grime and mess. Howeve, if that's the best they can make the house look for showings, it could be sitting there for awhile.

2003-08-09T10:30:00.000-04:00

My Favorite

You are Eliza Bennett from Pride and
Prejudice! Yay, you! Perhaps the
brightest and best character in all of English
literature, you are intelligent, lively,
lovely-- in short, you are the best of company.
Your only foibles are that you stick with your
first impressions... and your family is quite
intolerable.

Which Jane Austen Character Are You?
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2003-08-08T12:07:00.000-04:00

Dangerous Territory

Am going to look at 3 houses today, always a bad thing for me to do. Hopefully, I'll hate them all : )

Then, it's out to dinner to Thai Bistro with work friends. Saturday we have house cleaning type stuff to do and then off to see Cody & Jen who we haven't seen in almost a year (at least not me, James has seen them a bit more). Sunday is do nothing day since I have to be at work at 6:45 am (blech).

Right now, our house is a mess. We're cleaning stuff out, getting some boxes ready to take to Jarrod & Patrick's and we re-did the craft room. So, my dining area is packed with stuff. I called Salvation Army for a pick up and that is on the 25th. I have a twin bed, an exercise bike, an old computer printer & a couple of bags of clothes that need to go. All of which are cluttering the place right now along with the 15 or so boxes. Although I want to sell this place, this month would actually be a bad time for anyone to come look at it!

2003-08-07T21:29:00.000-04:00

Sample of last Weekend

So, here's a sample of what I did last weekend and some of the fun new stamps I got at the stamp show.

2003-08-06T16:21:00.000-04:00

What a Day

I have truly been the evil HR lady today and I am emotionally drained because of it.

2003-08-05T16:27:00.000-04:00

Cool

A girl from the Phillipines (I probably spelled that wrong) emailed me after stumbling across my web page dedicated to my role playing characters. I don't really expect that anyone looks at that page since I pretty much just built it for myself but, she was searching for Vampire The Masquerade stuff and apparently my page came up.

Anyway, she emailed me because she was impressed with Calixta and the concept and would like to exchange gaming thoughts and ideas. We're about the same age and I think it will be fun to talk with someone from a different country. I emailed her back and we'll see where it goes from there.

Of course, it's always flattering when someone compliments a character concept you developed : )

2003-08-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

Done

The car is finished, thank goodness and came in at $800.00. At least it's better than a grand.

2003-08-03T17:03:00.000-04:00

Pretty Art

Goddess of Wind, calm and cool and under control.
You don't like getting personal with too many
people.

What element would you rein over? (For Girls)
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2003-08-03T10:05:00.000-04:00

Car Woes

James' car broke down on Friday. My car was in the shop too so we were at work without a car. Luckily, someone who lives in Canton drove us home. The results are close to $1000.00. sigh.

My car is fine, it was nothing. So, we have 1 car until the beginning of next week and we will be on a tight budget to pay for the car. Today we have to go out and put a new battery in his car and do some running around (they wanted to charge us $120.00 to replace the battery...whatever). Then tomorrow it's an all new brake system and something else with the tire that is actually a result of last year's accident. We're goign to try to get insurance to pay for the second issue but, who knows if they will or not.

Sigh....I hate stupid cars.

On a Brigther Note

The stamp convention was absolutely fabulous and I got a lot of great stamps. I only bought un-mounted and I've been busily mounting and stamping this weekend. Bought a set of watercolors and am trying that out. I only spent 2 hours at the convention, by that time I was hot, sweaty and out of money. Plus, there was sooo many people I was feeling claustrophobic and wanted to get out of there. Heh, lucky for me I spent that money before they found the second issue on the car and the bill went up another $400.00....

2003-08-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

Weekend

Yay! The UnConventional Rubber Stamp Show is at the Novi Expo Center this week. This is where I get the majority of my stamps each year since I can buy lots and lots of un-mounted stamps at cheap prices. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow morning and into the afternoon. I imagine the rest of the weekend will be mounting stamps and then using them. I rarely buy new stamps anymore since I have so many and I use this annual event to make the majority of my stamp purchases.

Am also feeling a trip to Hollo's needs to come up soon. Ready Girls?? Mabe the end of September or beginning of October. I'll have to send an email out soon to see who is interested.

2003-08-01T09:44:00.000-04:00

Zoom

This week has just flown by. I can hardly believe it is Friday. Am feeling tired today since I had to get up at 6:15am (ugh) in order to take my car to the dealer and drive in with James who was scheduled at 7:45am.

Last week, a check something or other light came on in my car. It's not a big deal but I wanted to get it checked right away and I'm sure it will be covered under warranty. This is where it works out quite nicely that James and I work in the same building.

2003-07-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

Festival

I am excited for festival this year although I am itching for a new outfit. We've only been able to go once the past couple of years and I'd really like to go at least twice this year. August 23-24th is Highland weekend and I'd like to make that one and then sometime in September. We'll see how it plays out and of course will have to see how James work schedule is.

Once more

Made my month in sales yet again at the Craft booth. yippieee!!

2003-07-29T09:18:00.000-04:00

Good Weekend

Had a wonderful 3 day weekend. Much time was spent getting stuff done and seeing friends. Kristen & Jack's move was smooth as silk. I was very surprised at how quick it went! I dread our move, we have sooo much stuff it's always a killer. I'd love to be able to hire movers at least for the big stuff but we'll see.

Work is busy, lots of stuff going on right now. I'm really looking forward to Labor Day weekend, it will be lovely. I was figuring out my vacation time this morning and am now at the point where I have too much time to squeeze in at the end of the year. I knwo it's a enviable position to be in but, it's a little frustrating because I make a big effort to insure I use all of my vacation and personal time and I hate the thought of losing any of it (we are a "use or lose" company - no carry over except in extenuating circumstances). Since we're not going to ACNW, I now have an extra week.

I was hoping the move would happen this year and I could use my extra week at that time but, that is not looking likely. Ah well, I'll figure it out.

2003-07-26T21:28:00.000-04:00

Fitting

STAR
"self-confident, self-esteem"
You have a feeling and sense of self-worth. You
gain fame for demonstration of your abilities
in two very different areas. You are gifted
when it comes to intuition, perception, and
precognition. The head of the figure on the
card looks to the inner star for guidance and
support-- you tend to be fairly introspective.

which major arcana of the thoth tarot deck are you? short, with pictures and detailed results
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2003-07-26T10:18:00.000-04:00

Moving

Of course, all the friends moving has me being contemplative at this time. I am beginning to accept the fact that we are not moving any time soon. We're stuck here for a bit until a buyer comes along and I believe at this point that it's going to be quite a while longer perhaps another year or two. This is OK though, I can live with it. Disapppointing?...yes...the end of the world?...no.

The facts: I do like where we live and I like my home. It's not a house but, it's close. In a lot of ways, it's actually nicer than a lot of the houses I've looked at. Plus, it's decorated fabulously : ). Naturally, I'd love to be out of a trailer park and into a house but it's not really that important. The longer we wait, the more money we'll have which is always a good thing. I can be patient....it's hard and not in my nature....but, I can do it.

Finally, as I have strongly believed my whole life and which has continually proven true. When it's meant to happen, it will happen. Trust in the universe and everything always works out in the end.

Recent Cases in point:

1) When we moved from Indiana to Michigan, we were short on cash. (James did give it a little nudge at the time) and within a 3 week time period we received an $800 refund check from our mortgage company completely out of the blue. It was exactly what we needed. Our house sold "just in time" to avoid double mortgage payments.

2) I was miserable in my job a year ago. I did the right thing and stuck it out through that damn project. Once I made a decision that the right thing to do, no matter how hard, was to leave the job so that I could have better balance in my life...the exact job I wanted opened up. I'm in a much better place now.

Call it what you will but, I could go on and on with examples of how things always work out in the end if you put some trust in it and let it happen.

Recent Events that give me hope our time may be coming:

1) the stock market is back on an upswing. My Dad is committed to an amount right now for our down payment, he has continually said that if we wait longer until the stock market comes back up he can help us out more. I know in the end, he would like to give us enough for a 20% down payment and if he can, he will. The chances of that happening are slim but, he'll still be giving us a decent amount and if the market recovers, it's the right time for him.

2) Again aligned with the stock market is that my Company stock is up and I was just able to exercise some stock options to get $900.00 more for the house fund. Some of that money is going elsewhere but, another nice chunk of savings.

2003-07-26T10:11:00.000-04:00

MTG

We went to The Underworld last night to play some Magic. Lots of kids and would have preferred to play with older people. However, I got some good trades and the first couple of multi player games were fun. I do wonder though, how old the kids thought we were. I don't think I look 31 but, maybe I do to someone who's 14 : )

We had a couple good games and then we got into a huge multi player game and when your playing with youngsters, they just get really loud and annoying. Plus, they think things that completely slam down the game are fun. So much for the spirit of playing for challenges. We just folded on both games and came home. Turned in to a late night since we didn't get home until midnight. Overall, I enjoyed myself and it was a Friday night well spent.

2003-07-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

Yes, in fact I do..

2003-07-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

Dang It

They've upped our lot rent by $18.00 for the year. Ok, I know it's not a lot but, it gets raised every single year which just annoys me.

2003-07-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

Moving Along

It's just crazy that everyone is moving at the same time! Congrats to everyone who's getting houses. J&P's is beautiful and I'm jealous : ). Haven't seen K&J's yet but I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend. Honestly, I'm amazed at how quickly everything went through for them! Wow, that's some lightning speed mortgage approvals, good for them!

2003-07-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

Ouch

I slept wrong or something last night and pinched a muscle in my shoulder which is causing me some pain today. Every time I stretch or move my neck a certain way, I get a shooting pain from the top of my neck down my shoulder. yuck.

Last week was so busy, I only went to the gym once. I should go tonight however, I'm debating on whether or not I should hold off since my neck is acting funny.

Must re-focus on working out though. I have no desire to gain that 25 lbs back which means I have to stay focused and keep going to my work outs. This hasn't been the most consistant month from a work out standpoint and i've let other things get in the way. That said, it really might be better for me not to strain the muscle tonight. Sigh..the high cost of health.

2003-07-18T17:41:00.000-04:00

IM & TV

Kinda stealing from a thought Djinn had on her journal that made me think about me. I don't IM at all and I watch very little TV. Buffy (before) and well, that's about it. I someitmes have the TV on for noise but I don't really watch it all. Most of the times our TV is stting quietly. I'd say our TV is mainly for video games and DVD. All in all, I don't really watch TV - not for any real reason or anything but, mailnly because I just have other things I'd rather be doing. I really decreased my TV time when I started stamping. I'd much rather be stamping than sitting in front of the TV.

Now, video games..there's where I get sucked in. Can easily get sucked in to losing an entire day playing video games.

IM and chat boards and posting boards and such hold absolutely no interest for me. Blogging is about as close to I get to internet talking. Heck, I don't even really like to use comments on blogs or talk through them. Again, not sure why but it just hasn't ever held any interest for me.

2003-07-18T15:09:00.000-04:00

Busy as a Bee

Crazy work week has left me very happy that it is te weekend. Tomorrow is my niece's graduation party and on Sunday we'll head over to J&P's to help however we can.

Friends from Fort Wayne were here Wednesday & Thursday for Art Fair and they stayed with us Wednesday night. It was really great to see them and I realized that although we've stayed in touch, I hadn't actually seen them since we left Fort Wayne. Went to The Common Grill for dinner which was absolutely fabulous. Yummm...one of my favorite places to eat. Stayed up late talking which led to a very tired girl the past couple of days.

I wish the weekend was less busy but, it will be fun. Also have to figure out what to get my niece. I think I've determined to do a basket of Burt's Bee's products and a gift certificate somewhere like Old Navy or Borders.

2003-07-15T20:32:00.000-04:00

Poor Zam

He went to a new groomer and got a really bad cut. She chopped way too much off and didn't leave any of his pretty fur, I may as well have gotten him shaved. Sigh...he looks pretty silly although I imagine he feels better with less hair.

Next time, i'm going back to the previous groomer. She did a much better job and the only reason I didn't take him back there was because I really needed him to get in and the appointments are very limited at the other place.

lesson learned.

2003-07-14T13:06:00.000-04:00

Harry Potter

Finally finished it yestrday. Sigh...made me feel sad. The scene that actually made me feel sadder than any of it was the scene in Dumbledore's office. I felt angry at him too thinking "why didn't you just tell him" but I think tht maybe it really wuld have been too much for him to handle before. Anyway, I too had forgotten about the mirror. Sigh, if only he had found it earlier.

2003-07-13T22:33:00.000-04:00

Pilates

i really didn't feel like going to Curves on Saturday so I decided to work out at home. I bought a Pilates beginner mat workout several months ago and my Dad had bought me some weights. So, I did the 25 minute Pilate work out and lifted the weights for another 15 minutes or so.

Let me just say....Pilates kicked my ass. It doesn't feel like much while your doing it although I definately had to follow the "easy" version. But, today my butt hurts, my stomach hurts, ouch. I must have worked muscles that never move or something.

Good stuff, gonna have to do it more often : )

2003-07-12T21:39:00.000-04:00

Pirates

Just got back from seeing it with Brenda. I thought it was great fun. Predictable, yes but highly entertaining. I used to think I only like Orlando Bloom as Legolas but, oh was I wrong.

2003-07-12T11:09:00.000-04:00

Inspired

Here is what I made last night after I got home from the stamp shop. The place is so creative, it always inspires me and I did pick up a few of the stamps used below.

2003-07-11T21:24:00.000-04:00

Shopping

Left at 4:30 and went to Milford with a friend from work. There is a great stamp store downtown that I love. We were a bit surprised to get there and find it was sidewalk sales and also that the stamp store was now almost 50% a bead store. Still a great store.

I also found an outfit for Kristen and Jack's wedding and on sale! A lovely shimmery pant set with a velvet top that retailed at $125.00 and was marked down to $58.00. woohoo! The other really great thing is that it's a size 12! yipieee! The pants feel a bit snug although they don't look it at all and I really would only need to wear nylons under them to eliminat the issue but, the goal is maybe another 10 pound loss or so by the wedding which will make the outfit fit perfectly. Other wierd thing is it's a petite size which I found a bit surpriseing that the pants weren't too short. I guess I'm not really that tall anyway.

All in all, a lovely evening with a friend and a lovely bargain.

2003-07-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

In Bono News

Bono is now working on “Keeping America’s Promise”, a national AIDS public education campaign implemented to coincide with President Bush’s trip to Africa. While it pains me to see him supporting Bush in any way, you gotta respect the man because he's out there and he walks the talk. This little excerpt is from an interview with him:

"I don't think my job is politics. I think my job is to break the ground for politicians to allow our activists to sow seeds. Ideas of changes have always come from culture. In a healthy democracy and society there should always be exchange between the art, economics and politics … Great ideas and great melodies have a lot in common [and] this is one of them."

2003-07-10T17:04:00.000-04:00

Links

Like others, I've taken liberty on linking newfound bloggers. let me know if you don't want to be linked and I'll remove ya.

moonspiralz@yahoo.com

2003-07-10T16:58:00.000-04:00

Not So Bad

Cleaning went fine, no issues and no pain. The dentist told me I have ideal teeth and the kind of teeth that will last a lifetime as long as I regularly take care of them. I get that quite often from dentist type people so I have a re-newed vow to get my 6month cleaning regularly to insure that I don't have future problems.

I am also getting my wisdom teeth out on July 24th. egads...dreading it. I've had them since I was 19 and they have been fine but every once in awhile I feel them and they annoy me, my mouth just feels like I have too many teeth in it. I have 3 to get pulled and they are all just there so I don't have to goto an oral surgeon or anything. one of them never broke through and is fine where it is so it's staying.

Ughh...Dentist said it will not be bad at all but, I'm still dreading it.

2003-07-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

Mixed Happiness

The great thing about today is that I only worked a 1/2 day. The bad thing about today is that i have a dentist apointment at 3:00.

2003-07-08T21:26:00.000-04:00

Weary Week

Very tired this week for some reason and very cranky. I've been in bed by 10:00 every night, which is highly unusual for me. Trying to get through Harry Potter but, I keep falling asleep too early. I want to finish it before someone blows the ending for me.

I'm taking next Monday off because I just feel like I need to not go into work on a Monday plus, I have a lot of personal and vacation time to start using up this year.

2003-07-08T13:25:00.000-04:00

Good Stuff

The thing that make me feel good about my job, even amidst all of the craziness is that I quite often feel like I am helping someone out by what I do. Yes, sometimes I am making life changing decisions for people that affect thier livelihood but you learn to deal with that by putting the ownership where it belongs and that is on the person. But, it's always re-freshing when, by taking a few minutes just to listen to someone, you know that you've made a difference for that person. So often, that's really all it takes. An ear and a little empathy.

I came very close to going into social work and frankly, it's still something I toy around with. It's the type of work that's hard and challenging but rewarding in the fact that you can make a difference. I do feel like I've got at least part of that in my current job and well, frankly, my current career path is much more lucrative than social work. I minored in Sociology in college and then got very frustrated towards the end when I realized that Sociologists don't actually DO anything about the issues in society, they just study them. I asked my teach once "well, ok if all this is wrong then what do we do about it" his reply, sociology is the study of society - we research and document.

I'm not political, I'm not necessarly an activist. I guess I just feel like we all make little differences every day and today I'm feeling happy that I've made a positive impact on someone and by being who I am and in the position I am in, I was able to help.

2003-07-06T21:05:00.000-04:00

Lake Day

Very nice day gaming at the Lake. Reminded me of home and I forgot how much I like being on a boat and hearing the sounds of the lake in the evening. I grew up "just off" a lake and we always had boats and such. I'm not really much of a swimmer But, I do like boats. I used to fall asleep to the sound of motor boats every summer night. We didn't have air conditioning and so my bedroom windows were always open and people were usually on the lake to the wee hours of the night. Ok, quite often I was with them but, not always. It's very quiet where I grew up and sound carries.

The game was good. Sidda got some additional information and spent some time with her "father" so to speak. She also discovered that what she holds dearest will still be there for her when this is all said and done. She was quite worried that she would have to sacrifice her home in order to save the world she's in. So, it was a big relief to her to discover that it isn't the case. It was a game of converging ideas that also led into futher questions and some additional mis-trust.

It was really lovely to spend the day 'away' and I am glad I was wrong and the sun really did come out after all.

2003-07-02T18:47:00.000-04:00

Coolness

James managed to finagle a deal with the realtors. We're leaving it listed with them, they will continue to have the chance to sell it and it will remain listed and included in the real estate listings. If we find buyers and sell it by owner, we owe no commission. We just need to call them and tell them we sold it. Only contingency is that the sign in the window has to be thiers and we can't put other signs up in the windows. This is the perfect set up. Now, I feel like I can do open houses and advertising without worrying about having to pay them if we find our own buyers.

Excellent..

2003-07-01T21:01:00.000-04:00

Not too bad

$65.00 later and our air is fixed. Apparently, the ball bearings in the motor are goign and it needs to be replaced. However, it is working and I guess he just said it could stop working again. That will cost $250.00. So, we'll take our chances and only do that if it breaks again. It is soooo very nice to have air back. Makes me re-think buying a house without air (i was considering it a nice to have). It's the kind of thing you don't really miss until it's gone.

2003-07-01T17:26:00.000-04:00

By Owner

Home is now up for sale by owner and realtor didn't give us hassle. James said the Manager understood where we were coming from and he keeps blaming it on "homes in your range aren't selling right now". Well, that may be true but we're at least going to try. We'll start having open houses and we'll do advertising and stuff. I figure I'd like to at least try it by owner to save some money and look at re-listing with a realtor if we are getting absolutely nothing.

2003-06-30T20:51:00.000-04:00

Tired

Glad it's a short week, today was too long. Well, sort of too short in a longish kinda way. Egads, too much to do at work. I'll be glad when I get a couple of these crazy items wrapped. The next round of accountability for my troubled children is upon me and it's not going to be pretty.

2003-06-29T20:38:00.000-04:00

Shopping

Went shopping pretty much all day with Jarrod and Matthew. We went out to Somerset and mainly looked at house type stuff. Lots of fun and I also found some furniture I would like to get when we move. We'll have to buy an entertainment center when we move plus I'd like a new dining room table and if we get a basement we'll also need furniture for that. Ultimately, I'd like to move our oak table to the basement and put something new upstairs. Current couch and stuff would be upstairs and we would need something cushier for the basement. I'm also thinking if we got this Akio line that we would have our curent coffee table set go in the basement. Anyway, I love the Akio line at Cost Plus and I'm hoping James will like it too because I'd like to get the media cabinet, the dining table and chairs, bookcases etc in that style. Here's a link to it, the table is on the previous page:

Cost Plus

2003-06-28T10:14:00.000-04:00

Ad

I put the house in The Tradin Times today. Only $59.00 and we can re-new for free until it sells. Hopefully we will get some calls. Next steps on home sale: Fire agency, put up for sale by owner, take pictures of interior, create flyer, create website, list on several manufactured home websites. Hope.

2003-06-27T11:43:00.000-04:00

ACNW

Looking iffy on if we will be able to go, I'm now thinking we really won't be able to swing the expense. Too many other things going on and debt to get out of. We'll see, and it may also depend on if others go and we can defer the cost of the hotel or something but, it's the plane tickets that are killer and we have no way of getting free ones. Which means, Ambercon North is a possibility although I'm still iffy on the whole SARS thing and Toronto.

2003-06-27T11:40:00.000-04:00

Off Today

Both James and I are off today so we are going out to lunch, then to see a matinee of The Italian Job and also to the comic store for Magic cards and James' comics.

Movies to see this summer:

Matrix Reloaded at IMAX
T3
Pirates (yummy...Orlando and Johnny..)
Legally Blonde 2 (my guilty pleasure..but can wait for DVD)

I think I'd like to see Charlie's Angels too. I wasn't crazy about the first one but, this one looks better and I've heard it's better.

2003-06-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

Lay out

Discovered today that the view on a Mac and the view on a PC for Blogger are highly different. The new PC layout is ok, it's the Mac layout that I don't like.

2003-06-24T20:37:00.000-04:00

Free Stuff

Found a free word processing suite that is basically the same thing as MS Office and even opens all files from MS Office. Very nice, you can download it for both PC or Mac at

Open Office

Will always take any opportunity to not hand a red cent over to Microsoft. Plus, I can get it on the Mac and be able to open Word files, that is extra cool.

2003-06-23T22:21:00.000-04:00

Cool

Cheap-o laptop is here and it's just what I wanted. It's actually in excellent condition and is just fine for my measly laptop needs. Now, I just need to get my hands on MS Word and hopefully Excel too.

2003-06-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

Holy Wow

Sales today = 6 cards, 1 bookmark & 1 card/bookmark set. MTD sales = $62.00!!! Yes!!

2003-06-23T14:07:00.000-04:00

Hulk

We went and saw it Saturday night. I thought it was just OK. At first, I wasn't even sure I wanted to see it as the trailers did absolutely nothing for me and I thought The Hulk looked too fake. But, since I knew everyone would be seeing it and talking about it and James wanted to go, I went. I didn't have high expectations so it didn't disappoint me and yes, it had some amazing filming and special effects. The Hulk also looked much better than I anticipated and not as fake as the previews made him appear. The acting was well done and the casting was good but, it just didn't do much for me. Although, there were some scenes I really liked (the smashing of the tanks was great) I didn't walk out with that "wow" feeling.

2003-06-23T03:20:00.000-04:00

Darn

laptop came yesterday while I was out and I missed it. Now, I have to goto the post office to pick it up. bummer.

2003-06-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

Sharing

I'm pretty proud of this one so, I thought I'd share...

2003-06-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

Nice Day

It's a beautiful day today. I've got all the windows open and am doing some stamping. Our Air Conditioning is broke right now, which is annoying since it's not that old but, luckily we haven't even had to use it yet. Our house doesn't really heat up and open windows has done the trick.

So, I'm enjoying a quiet day of stamping and then I'm off to a party like Partylite or something at a former co-workers. I also must run out to Joann for some supplies which I am going to do right now. I don't need to leave until 4:00 for the party so I have a bit of time. I've been making magnets this afternoon and I've run out of magnet stuff. I'd really like to get what I started done, if not today at least this week.

My copy of Damage arrived and I watched it yesterday. Was (of course) disppointed. The actors were wonderful and it was very well cast but, the director just did not get the same intensity portrayed on film as in the book. It's unfortunate because it could have been done and I have no complaints with the acting, in this case I really feel it was the director. I sort of expected to be disappointed but, it's really a let down when you see the right people cast in the parts and more play on filming could have saved the the film. Voice overs would have helped too. They only used a voice over at the very end of the film and I think it could have gone a long way to setting the tone and stage if a voice over had at least been used in the beginning.

2003-06-22T12:08:00.000-04:00

Hmmm

Having posting issues with the new blogger. It keeps saying the file is transferred but, no post is published even though it's sitting in my "manage posts" tab.

2003-06-21T12:40:00.000-04:00

Challenging

Week at work was difficult. On top of all the turndowns, I also had to deal with an employee's mother. Let me tell you, that is never fun. We normally wouldn't talk to anyone who is not the employee but, in this case we do need to talk to the mother. Blech..protective mothers who don't understand, listen, or give a damn about what your telling them.

Change

Not sure about the new posting lay out. I like that you preview before it posts but, I don't like the lay out. I do like the "Manage Posts" tabs. Are the changes supposed to improve blogger though? I didn't bother to read any of the relaease notes, no time for that. If that's the case then I can deal with the lay out (I know, I have to deal with the lay out regardless but, I'm just saying....)

2003-06-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

Wow

Well, the move at the craft mall is definately paying off. Today I sold 4 cards, 2 bookmarks & 4 magnets! I've already made my rent for the month and the summer months are the slowest months of the year! It's very motivating.

2003-06-19T19:25:00.000-04:00

Interesting

moonspiralz
Magic Number	8
Job	Leader of the Free World
Personality	Slacker
Temperament	Best Not To Ask
Sexual	Straight
Likely To Win	The Respect Of My Colleagues
Me - In A Word	Compassionate
Colour
Brought to you by MemeJack

2003-06-19T08:16:00.000-04:00

HP

Speaking of Harry Potter, I can't wait to read it. I pre-ordered it on Amazon awhile back to avoid the craziness and lines at stores. I also just found out that Amazon is guaranteed all books first to fill thier pre-orders since they had so many. All the actual stores get what is left over. Many people are going to have to wait for run 2 since they only printed 1.5 million copies for this run and from what I can tell, if you didn't pre-order at least a month ago, getting a copy could get difficult. I love that so many people are excited about a book, that happens rarely these days.

In addition, Hilary Clinton's book has taken the ranks of the number 1 seller of all time for non-fiction. I am planning on picking it up, I actually really admire her and if we are ever going to have a female president, I think she'll be it someday.

2003-06-19T08:12:00.000-04:00

Killing Time

I'm up earlier than I needed to be. I'm going to a job fair this morning so I was able to sleep in a bit since I don't need to be there until 9:15 and it's only 15 minutes from my house. I like doing job fairs, it's fun and you usually get at least a coupple prospective candidates. After that it's the day of turndowns at work (blech), not my favorite thing in the world. Tomorrow will be more of the same as I have a lot of people to talk to. I also have a ton of admnistrative type data entry tasks to do which I'm hoping to get done tomorrow.

James has gaming tonight and he works late tomorrow and he's working some overtime really early on Saturday for the Harry Potter release. It looks like I'll have several nights to myself, which may be sort of nice, especially if the laptop comes and I can play some of my old games.

2003-06-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

Better Now

Things seem to always take on a new perspective when it's a fresh new day. I hope my laptop comes tomorrow, I can't wait.

2003-06-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

FUCK

Sorry for my vulgarity but, this has been a DAY.......ughh.......going crazy.

2003-06-16T22:10:00.000-04:00

Cheap-O Laptop

I've got one coming. It's just a Toshiba Pentium PC running Windows 98 that I picked up for a few hundred on ebay but, it's all I really need for a laptop and what I want it for. Yay! Can't wait until it gets here.

2003-06-16T20:13:00.000-04:00

Busy week

This is going to be a stressful week. I have a million and one things to do and several difficult conversations to have.

2003-06-16T20:12:00.000-04:00

Damn

Wasn't able to leave work today until 6:45 which means I couldn't get to the gym. One of our consultants from the project last year is here this week so we're going out tomorrow night which means no gym. Plus, I was only able to go 1.5 times last week. Sigh....I must make a point of going 3 times this week even if it means I go multiple days in a row. I was even thinking about going in the morning tomorrow but I would actually have to get up at 5:00am to do so and I highly, highly doubt that is going to happen. bad thing about Curves is wierd hours. Tomorrow they are open 5-6 and then 8- whatever. If only they were open for the 7:00 hour, I would try going in the morning. I could then get up at 6:00, go work out and be back in time to get ready and goto work.

2003-06-15T22:15:00.000-04:00

Interesting

moonspiralz
n. a person with more than one girl.
"Sally, where's my moonspiralz?"

2003-06-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

Stamp trade

A friend from work hosted a stamp swap today. There was about 10 people and we all set up a little part of a table with used stamps, accessories, etc that we were selling. Lots of good deals and I got several stamps and was even able to sell some of the stuff I don't really use. After that I went to Home Depot to buy my Dad a plant and gift card for Father's Day, I still have to make him a card and also picked up some more cedar chips for the front of the house.

Before I went to the stamp sale, I went to look at a house on Burns that just went up. It was OK but needed quite a bit of work. No garage and a dreary basement along with not a lot of room to even add a garage made it a no. Found out the Midvale house went for 146,000 which is basically what we offered for it before. I figured the guy would get more reasonable as more time wore on. No bites on our place still, I am going to place it in The Trading Times in hopes we'll draw some interest.

Man, is it a warm day today. Our air conditioning isn't working and we don't know why. very frustrating considering it's only 3 years old....

2003-06-14T15:17:00.000-04:00

Successful

Successfully styled new, cute cut this morning with very little effort.

2003-06-13T18:20:00.000-04:00

Arrival

Buffy has arrived! yipieee! and Angel Season 2 comes out in September. lovely.

2003-06-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

Maintaining

I haven't been the best about watching what I eat lately and have eaten out way more than I should. I am exercising though which definately helps. I've not gainind weight but I don't think I am really losing either. I seem to have platued a bit (at least that's what my scale keeps telling me). That's OK though as I am happy I dropped the weight I did and I am OK with my current size, I figure if I drop another it's icing ont he cake. I can shop at regular clothes stores again and I feel healthier so all in all it's good. I wanted to have my monthly weigh in at Curves this morning but they were too busy so I couldn't. Was slightly annoyed and in a bad mood anyway but, I'll just do it next week.

2003-06-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

Much Better

ahhhh...now have cute little razor cut, flippy hairstyle that is much more summery. Excellent...just hope I can style it tomorrow..

2003-06-13T12:17:00.000-04:00

Damage

The book by Josephine Hart was very good. the minute I finished it I thought to myself "Self...this would make a great movie." I soon found out that they did make it into a movie staring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche (not sure of spelling - the chick in chocolat). Mmmmm, I can't wait to see it. I plan to order it from Amazon promptly.