Back to "normal"

I never thought the day would come where I could say that the remodel is done. I still can't say that it is done but it is pretty dang close. We are still waiting on a few replacement fixture pieces and such but other than that we are done! We had our grand opening celebration Friday 7/25 through Sunday 7/27. We are now the current record holder for the number of credit applications processed on a grand opening weekend - we beat the last record holder by 3! I am not sure if we beat any other records but I know we were close on % increase vs. LY numbers.

We had a great time at grand opening. We had characters, a radio station, cake, giveaways... it was so much fun. Lots of work, but lots of fun. Here are a few pictures!

This is the view of the "finished product" complete with balloons.

The BRU DM and district team sent us a cookie basket!
The customary picture with Geoffrey (Pat from BRU did a good job).
It looks so pretty now! I love this dusk photo.
Having a drink with the BRU promo support team!

So that was the biggest event of the past few weeks. Other than that I also finished my class. I got an A for a final grade, of course. I loved that class and felt that I learned so much. We didn't use a book, we used current articles. It proved to be very effective! I only have two more classes to go to get my certificate. I think I have decided to go ahead with taking a class this next term even though it will be during season. I need to get this done and I will just have to deal with the stress and lack of sleep to reach my goal.

Today was my first day off in around two weeks and I had the best day off! My friend Dottie and I went to the lake to do some kayaking. Well... we ended up going around the entire lake! It was a nice work out, we got to see parts of the lake that I have never seen before, and Dottie saw a live loon for the first time! The weather was perfect! While kayaking I was shocked to learn and see that the tornado that was in the state actually hit a few hundred feet from my parents' house. Trees on top of houses, windows blown out... not good.

My zucchini plants have produced 3 good sized zucchini so far, with a few more growing. I am not sure if they are going to produce a lot more zucchini but the ones that are now in my kitchen look full and healthy.

Katie's bachelorette party was this weekend as well. I had a great time and I think Katie did as well. Pictures to follow!

In the home stretch...

... I can see the finish line!

The remodel is over! Soft opening is Monday morning - 10am. Grand opening is just a few days away - Friday 7/25. The ribbon cutting is at 9:30am. The mayor and his two kids will be there and we are hoping for the Governor and former Governor Shaheen. It is going to be awesome! The best part of all of this is that we can return to a "normal life" as much as we can while working retail. This week will consist of me living at work minus time at school and a few hours to sleep.

My class is also over this week. I just finished my exam and my group project is just about finished. I loved this class and hope that I can have my prof. again for another class. My newest dilemma is if I should take a class next term. It starts at the end of August and goes to December. My concern, obviously, is time for school with my work schedule during the Christmas season. Just because I work on the BRU side does not mean I get it easy during the Christmas season. One of the courses that I want to take is available online so I might take that one to still get a class in and have less pressure about missing a class due to work. After I finish my current class I will only have two more classes to be done my certificate. The sooner I finish that the better!

I am growing a garden in the back yard using 5 gallon buckets. We have 2 tomato plants, 1 green pepper plant and 3 zucchini plants. I checked the plants about 3 days ago... had a few buds on the zucchini plants. Now I have full blown zucchini growing!

The "garden" growing strong!

My lone bell pepper. There are a few more buds on the top now, but the rest were knocked off by the big wind and rain storm we had earlier in the week.
Beautiful zucchini plant in bloom. I love that color!
The first zucchini of the year!

Megan and Jason sent me a picture message of "the bug" - which is what we are now calling their little baby in the works. It was cute! I can't wait to be an auntie again!

I also got my hair chopped off. I like the cut, but the color didn't come out quite as planned. Once it is how I want it I will post pictures. For now, people need to stop calling me carrot head!
More to follow once this week is over!

And on the 7th day...

... Sarah rested. Well, for the most part. I had a great day at the lake!

I met my parents at their house for 7am and off to the lake we went. My mom made lots of yummy breakfast food for the crowd to enjoy. After breakfast it was time to head out on the kayaks! It was extremely windy today (normal July day up at the lake) so the wake was a bit high for only my second time out in the kayaks. I decided to get out of the kayak at the spot where one of the springs comes into the lake. I walked up the spring a bit and decided that it might be a great spot for a new geocache! I then went swimming and enjoyed some great conversation with my future sister-in-law Katie and her BFF Debby. It doesn't sound like a very exciting day but it was what I needed!

Here are a few highlights from the day:

Oh my gosh! My mom made everyone's day by providing us with Potato Sticks! Everyone but Katie seemed to be overly excited.

The group of people that was at the lake for the weekend.
My Dad put together the new toy today! Yay for outdoor fun!
Dutch was tired on the car ride home. Poor baby!

How many toppings...

... can you put on ice cream before it is too much to handle? In my book... up to 3 flavors of sauce and all the topping you can pile on. I tend to like as many toppings as I can fit in the bowl.

I am so thrilled that most of my close friends could come by tonight. Jason still came even though Megan was at home feeling icky due to the bundle of love in her oven. Yep, the Blodgetts are expecting their first child. That means I will be an auntie again! Yay!

Back to the ice cream party... so we had a good time. Mike's 6 year old daughter was here this weekend so she played outside with us. I got a badminton/volleyball set and we enjoyed it for about an hour. It was fun to get outside and play on the freshly mowed lawn, complete with trimmed edges. Emma had a great time and gave us all hugs before she went to bed. Jason gave her the best hug of all of us - he is going to be a great daddy!

So much has happened since my last blog. The store is almost complete - the deadline for "100%" is getting really close and there are so many loose ends to fix. I will be at work at least 6 days a week for the next 2 weeks probably. We are all fed up with the remodel and each other and we all can't wait until it is over so we can get back to normal! School is going really well. I love my new class and I hope that I get to have my prof again for another class. She is great! Pretty soon I will have my master's certificate in HR and that will hopefully open new doors of opportunity for me.

I am looking into working on the front yard tomorrow. I would like to redo the mulch/garden area that is next to my drive way. I yanked out the old trim today and am thinking of putting up a small wall but am not sure yet. I have a few bricks to experiment with tomorrow and will save the project for next weekend. My goal is to not have a junky looking front yard by next summer. The big project that I need to save for is the repaving of the drive way and new steps... and a new water heating system and new fridge... ahh, the joys of home ownership!

Mike and I have decided to grow some crops this year. We have a few 5 gal buckets in the back yard housing green bell peppers, two varieties of tomatoes and zucchini! So far we have one green bell pepper forming. The zucchini plants have doubled in size over the past two weeks so I am hopeful that we will have quite the zucchini harvest!

I will try to be better at updating my blog, but with so much going on right now it is hard to spend time writing! Grand opening is the weekend of July 25th. After that life should be back to "normal"!

It's working!

So I have been on antibiotics for my acne problem for about 3 weeks now. I was warned that my skin would get worse before it got better and not to expect to see any results any time before 6 weeks. I am happy to report that my skin is looking significantly better already. I just went through a time where I normally experience an increase in acne and I didn't get one new blemish! So, I think I will be looking much better for my brother's wedding. I have even started wearing mineral make up because I feel pretty and want my skin to look great. Hopefully this will keep my skin clear and I will never have to deal with this again!

gov't happenings... neat site!

I was doing some online research for my new class starting today and came across a particular bill that was introduced which would give private sector employees the option to receive comp time instead of overtime pay for any time worked over 40 hours per week. The current law is from 1938 and the time constraints of that era are very different from today's society. Today people not only have to worry about themselves and kids, but also about their parents... along with employer expectations. Granted, back in 1938 the work week was higher than 40 hours, but many times only one parent worked. Anyway, this bill seems quite interesting and will change the way many of us live if it passes... It will allow employees to basically pick between a paycheck or time off. I think I like it.

Anyway, this website WashingtonWatch.com shows all sorts of neat stuff going on in our government. What really is going on in Congress and the House and what bills are being looked at. You can even vote on if you think the bill is a good idea or not and add commentary. Membership is free and only takes a few seconds to join. Check it out!

My vacation week in review

Today is Sunday, the supposed last day of my vacation... but yet due to my new school schedule I am off from work until Tuesday afternoon! So, another day and a half to go. I feel like this vacation was very unproductive. It was super scorching hot for the first half of the week. I had a big list of outdoor stuff that I wanted to get done this week and got 3 of those things done. The lawn got mowed, my hanging baskets got planted, and the carpet got put on the deck. I didn't scrape and paint the trim, didn't replace the trim around the side door on the garage, and my weed trimmer ran out of the wire stuff half way through (thank you to those who borrowed it and didn't replace the stuff that you used). I did get some stuff done in the house though. My room is super clean. I finally got all of my papers sorted, shredded, thrown out. I went through all of my drawers and cleared out so much stuff. I was so happy to sleep in my clean room the other night. Dutch even seemed to know that I was happy in my clean bed and took it upon himself to sleep in his own bed for once! I had cleaned the kitchen (I even stripped the floor late last week), bathroom, and basement. I cleaned the kitty room. I did laundry and ironed. I did all the stuff that I have to find time to do during a regular week.

Fritz spent most of the hot part of the week sprawled out under the table.

Zee thought it would be appropriate to sprawl out on top of the table (she is not allowed on the table or counters).

I also had my last day of my first class on Wednesday. Monday night I had my group come over for dinner and to work on the project. It was so nice to hang out with the gals and get some work done while talking about our daily lives. I really miss those times with my friends (male and female) in VA and the friends that I don't see much of up here. This made me think of how much I put into my friendships and how little I feel that I get back. I understand that people change, they are at different parts of their lives than I am (spouses and kids), and we don't all live close together anymore. However, I don't think that is an excuse to ignore the people that you were close to. I tend to be the one that reaches out to all of my friends. Once in a while someone will call me or IM me to see how things are going, but the effort really isn't there. I mentioned this to one of my friends and that I planned on laying low because I was done putting the effort in when others don't. He basically said that I was being lame and to get over it and was questioning if I was "testing" my friends. I just feel that I bug people if I am always the one to say hi. But, as my sister put it, some people sign on to an IM service and don't use it. It is just up. So, at this point I am in the middle. I am not going to go out of my way to contact people but if I feel like saying hi I will do so. I don't believe in the "I am busy" excuse that most of my friends give me when I finally hear from them. We are all busy. I am going to school, taking care of my house and pets, and remodeling my store... I know busy. But, I still do my best to make time to keep up with my friends.

This brings me to Thursday morning. I was still feeling kind of depressed over this lack of contact with my friends. So, I came very close to getting in the car and driving to VA. I miss my best friend and my godson and they always make me feel better. I was just in the mood to drive. I actually packed a bag. But, before I got in the car I checked my bank account and a trip to VA for 4 days was out of the question. So, I stayed home and did some more stuff around the house. My best friend randomly sent me an IM about 30 minutes after I decided that I wasn't going, which was a nice surprise. She didn't even know I was going to come down to see her.

I was so desperate for a pick me up that I drove to the airport to see if my flight instructor was there. Nothing makes me smile like a good flight so I thought it would be a good thing to go for a few s-turns and stop and gos. Unfortunately for my spirits and fortunately for my bank account, she was not there and I didn't get to go for my flight. Friday I paid my tuition for class that starts on Monday and traded in my books for my new ones. Then, off to the lake.

A few days at the lake was what I needed to do to regroup. I was there by 2pm on Friday and got home today around that same time. I did some pleasure reading, which made me do some serious thinking about how I live some of the parts of my life, did some walking with Dutch, some baking, a bit of geocaching (and picking ticks off of everything), and tried kayaking for the first time. It was also dockfest '08 - we put the dock in.

Driving the dock across the lake. Meghan is at the wheel and my Dad and Bryan Mc are on the dock.
Dutch is in love with the boat so the minute the dock was attached to the shore he needed to be on the boat watching people swim. It was about 7 am at this point.
Meghan and Bryan Mc enjoying a very early morning swim after getting the dock into place.

I am really not a fan of boating and water. I must have drowned in a past life or was permanently scarred from the knee boarding incident when I was 11. Either way, I never thought I would actually enjoy the kayak nor would I ever see myself crossing the lake in one. At first I started out a bit nervous. I stayed very close to shore. I was shocked to see how much more comfortable I felt in the kayak than I do in a canoe or rowboat. I think it is because I was low to the water. I discovered parts of the lake that I didn't even know existed. I crossed the middle of the lake in the kayak without having a panic attack or shedding a tear! All said and done, I covered half the lake on the kayak and gained lots of confidence.

Feeling out the kayak.Getting ready to go around the lake.

I returned home today to find my house with a foul odor or two... my roomie didn't take care of his rotting food scraps in the sink nor the knife he used 3 days prior. He didn't flush the toilet before he left for his week of training (we don't always flush if it is just pee to save water), and he didn't scoop the litter box before he left. I am a bit confused as to when he actually left because it appears that the cats were not fed on Saturday night either as they tore into their bag of food. So coming home was not exactly a pleasant experience. I don't understand how a grown man can have so much disregard for someone else's property.

At this point I am looking forward to going back to work.

I need a good...

... vacation! I am on my second day of vacation and I am planning on getting tons of stuff done around the house this week. Some landscaping, deck repair (more like covering the problem with outdoor carpet), scraping and painting trim, cleaning the garage and laundry room/storage room, perhaps painting the guest bedroom. I also have to finish one more group project for school and get my books for my next class which starts next week. No down time in grad school I guess. After this 8 week course I will only have 1 more class to go to earn my master's certificate in HR management. Then, I will be taking a few additional courses for my MBA with concentration in Organizational Leadership. I am finally going to finish this up once and for all! I am going to try to take a day trip somewhere to get some geocaching in as well. Perhaps something up north in the beautiful mountains or at the beach. If I play my cards right I will go fishing this week too!

So much has happened since my last post. My aunt Claire turned 50 and she had a kick butt party! I never expected this party to be so much fun! I am not a dancer, more of a wall flower. But, I was on that dance floor all night! And no, I was not drunk. Well, at least not for the first 3/4 of the party. My aunt loves Elvis. As a surprise for her, my uncle dressed up as Elvis and put on a show. Holy damn. I hope that I have a husband who will not be afraid to embarrass himself for me someday! It was so funny to see him up there doing that, but it was so sweet that he did!

I volunteered to get the party started with a game of get the ball into the basket. This is a pic of me getting strapped up. The video is of me trying to cheat to win.

This is me and my mom learning the Cotton Eyed Joe dance... which I really like. I have mastered the lasso part... one step ahead of my mom.

My aunt Lisa and I on drink number 4. I look like I am on drink number 4.

Elvis and Memere dancing.
Bryan and Katie... if you think this party was wild wait until their wedding!
Chicken dance Memere.
Emily showing Marc and Debbie what she is capable of.
No party is complete with out inflatable guitars...
Lisa is really into inflatable guitar playing. Rock on Lisa, rock on!
So, that party was the start to my very long and draining week. I was supposed to stay up that night after the party but due to the amount of dancing I did (4 hours or so) as well as the alcohol consumption and lack of friends coming over to keep me awake... I fell asleep just about as soon as I got home. Not good. I had to start night crew the next night! Sunday night started night crew. The fixtures were up and we had to merchandise it all in 3 days since we were a test store. I love being a last minute test store. Nothing goes to plan because they made the decision too late. But, after all was said and done we opened my half of the store for public eyes on Thursday morning! It was a lot of blood, sweat (5 trucks), and me cooking food for the crew but it got done and it looks amazing! Of course I forgot my camera on Thursday so all I have is pictures of a half finished store. Considering I got about 3-4 hours of sleep a night at the most, I am in some serious need of catch up sleep! I slept until 11:30 am today!

Wow...

I can't believe the progress that happened on one night of fixturing!

Here is the before picture:
Now, that was before the massive clean out on Tuesday morning. 1/3 of the store was completely empty and it looked like a roller rink! Here is what it looks like one shift into the fixturing week. Yes, this was all done in a mere 8 hours... that includes unloading the fixture trucks!
The crew managed to get up just about every piece of gondola we need! They just have to finish up the back of the perimeter wall, level, and skate everything into place. I was completely shocked to see this much progress in one night. The guy from BRU who was running the fixture crew was completely amazed at how hard the crew worked and said it was one of the best crews he has ever seen. Kudos to my team! So, at this rate we are about 2 days ahead!
I decided to go to work today, on my vacation day, to just check things out and post a few layouts. I ended up posting just about all the layouts I had since the gondolas were up. It is starting to feel real now!

Feelin' hot hot hot...

I was at Old Navy yesterday. I figured I would stop by and see what was left from their weekend sale. Well, I found quite a bit of stuff that I liked including two bathing suits. I know that I blogged about my Wii's honesty about my weight yesterday, but I am not super fat and I don't look super fat. So, I tried on the two bathing suits. Not bad... actually I was shocked to see that it really wasn't that bad... especially since I am determined to lose some of this weight by the July 4th weekend. I couldn't decide which one to get so I got both. Please let me know which suit you like better. I like different aspects of both of them. I also got a short white beach skirt to go along with them. So, please let me know which suit you think I should keep!

My Wii called me...

... overweight! I knew I was, but it's different when your Wii basically laughs at you. The good news is that I thought I needed to lose about 30 pounds, but If I lose more than 22 pounds I will be unhealthy and underweight. My BMI will be too low. So, that is a good thing!
Today was my first day back in Newington. I was up about 2 hours early so I decided to finish watching my movie, "August Rush". It started off cute but clearly became predictable. I guess that is the issue with chick flicks... they are great at tugging your heart strings but you can tell how the movie will end about 15 minutes into it. No sooner did I get out of the shower was my phone ringing. One of the managers at Newington had got my number from someone at a different store and was requesting that I "swing by" Concord to get 12 Wiis. So, my morning commute turned into about 2 hours. 30 mins to Concord, 20 mins of chat time and another hour on Route 4 through all sorts of quaint towns in NH. I enjoyed the ride. I built some furniture today... two changing tables. I love building things so this was a good day!
When I got home I decided to hop on my Wii Fit board to combat the overweight comment. It was pretty fun. According to my tests and exercises tonight I have horrible balance. In real life I do not think I have horrible balance. I had issues heading the soccer balls that the Wii kicked at me and apparently I am a pathetic skier too. I must say that it did get my heart pumping and that it was fun to work out tonight!

What an adventure...

So today I let loose. Yes, I actually had a fairly relaxing day. I spent my morning resting, doing some cleaning, making apple and pear chips... I laid out in the sun reading my homework. I actually ended up with a sunburn, which I discovered about an hour ago in the shower. Ouch!
I invited some people over for dinner tonight. I have not seen these friends in quite some time. I was so glad to see them! They just got a motorcycle and I asked Jason to take me out for a ride. I have never really been on a motorcycle before so this was very exciting for me! We went for about a 10 minute ride. I was only scared when we were going around some bends. I think if I ever had a commute that was more than 20 mins I would like to get a motorcycle. I guess I am a much more relaxed rider than his wifey!

For dinner we had grilled chicken marinated in different types of marinades... they were all yummy. I have plenty of left overs for the rest of the week! When I was at the grocery store I saw these things called "fiddle heads". I have never heard of fiddle heads. Apparently they are the shoot of a fern as it comes up in the spring. They are all curled up like little fiddle heads. I put them in a pan with olive oil, a bit of butter, salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice. They were kind of tasty!
So that was my day in a nutshell. Tomorrow I am back to commuting to Newington for training!

New toys...

So, as most of you know the two cats - Fritz and Zee - both have the nickname Houdini. Fritz has actually chewed a hole in my screen patio door big enough for Zee to get out and announce her accomplishment to us. Meow!! What a shock... So, to curb Fritz's appetite for escape Nick, Fritz's dad, and I split the cost of a "cat veranda". Basically it is a cage that hangs out of the window like an air conditioner. Both of the cats love it and they have backed down on the destruction of screens! Here are a few pictures that I took of Fritz exploring his new toy. All that is left for me to do is put the hard wire mesh screen up on the patio door to prevent Zee from getting out again!

Dutch also got a treat this week. One toy, six squeakers, 5 minutes of fun, 10 minutes of clean up. Dutch has a thing for killing anything that squeaks and is filled with fluff. Once it is dead I get to clean it up! Good thing I just cleaned the day before!

Dutch often gets fluff lodged in his squishy lips.

Zippity do da...

What a week it has been! I have been blessed with two days off in a row this week and what a joy it was. So, here we go...
Sunday is usually my day off. Poor Liz was in the hospital so I had to close on Sunday and stay until 9pm. It was the last day of our abatement, which required us to have a security guard as the doors have to remain open for their vents. The security guard showed up almost 3 hours late. I was so upset because I thought I would be stuck there all night. Thanks to my DLPM for saving the day!
Monday was ok. I rode my bike to work and I felt so sluggish. Good thing I left early as it took me an extra few minutes to make it to the store. Upon my arrival my day got very interesting. Turns out one of the guys from another store who is helping us with the night crew has a thing for me. He had the other guy tell me. Yes, I am flattered and no, I will not be going out with said person who likes me. My DM showed up and spent the day with me. Joy. I like her but sometimes I just wish she would pick better days to come. I left work 3 hours late! I finally got home and finished my paper... well, most of it.
Tuesday was the best day of the week so far! I finished my paper and presentation and was able to spend some time mowing the lawn and cleaning. I also had the chance to talk to my crush some of the day and ended up hanging out with him that night. The crush had been fading but now I just don't know. I guess time will tell

My lawnmower was broken for a while... this is what my lawn looked like before I mowed it!
Today was pretty laid back. I went to a dermatology appointment in Nashua only to realize that I was a week early! They took me anyway as it was better for them. I ended up getting a Rx for oral antibiotics and Retin A. I am not thrilled about the antibiotics as they just make the bacteria stronger. But, maybe this will help and I will look as beautiful on the outside as I feel on the inside. My presentation was ok. Nothing special. Paper is turned in.

Kind of a boring week except for Tuesday. Sorry this blog was so blah. Next time it will be better... I promise!

Case of the Mondays...

... well, Sunday through Tuesdays. Its been quite the odd week thus far and it's only Tuesday. I have been in some sort of funk. I think it is because it is nice out side and I just want to go hiking and fishing and all sorts of outside activities, but the reality sets in that I have homework to do and a paper to finish and associate evaluations to write (only 13 to do this year)... the list goes on and on. I am now losing six hours of my week due to my commute to Newington for training. I was unaware that it is about 100 miles round trip! I definately will not be forgetting to put in my expense report on this one!

So here we go, my week in review so far... Sunday was mother's day. I spent my morning working on my paper and cleaning the kitchen. I feel as though I am always cleaning the kitchen. I am not sure if that is because it is the main area of the house that you see when you walk in or if it is because I just don't like a messy kitchen. I also decided that I would tackle some of the junk in my bedroom. Of course now I have more to do in there because I have created the well known "go through this crap" pile. You know, papers that you have accumulated over a very long period of time that you are not sure if you should throw away, keep, or shred. My pile is quite extensive. I also have a big bag of trash that I pulled out of there. My mentality was if I haven't looked at it since I moved in than I probably don't need it. I still have my closet shelf to go though. I have lots of Christmas merchandise that I never put up on Ebay. I guess I will have to figure out what to do with that stuff too! So, I went to my mom's house for dinner. She cooked because she wanted to try something new. It was quite tasty and I am enjoying the leftovers this week. My dad played with my camera and we tried out his new printer. I sure do know where I get my gadget obsession from! I didn't stay much longer after dinner as I wanted to come back and get ready for my Monday.
Back home from my parents house and I have to hop on the computer to see what is going on. Of course I see someone I have been wanting to talk to all day and I open my mouth about something. That was mistake number 1. You can't attempt to open your mouth and have a short conversation. So, not only did I end up staying up later than I had hoped (I was glad to do it) but I had a hard time sleeping as I second guessed the entire conversation. I felt like a complete dork and felt that what I had to say was said in vain. A simple honest reaction would have been nice. I don't do well with vague.
So, Monday morning rolls around and I am having a very hard time getting up due to the fact that I was up late and couldn't sleep. I have not had to get up at 4 am in some time now and I had to do it so I could be in Newington for 6 am. So, here we go... first day of training and I am going to be late. I have not been to that store in 6 months and I only have a vague idea of where I was going.

Just getting out of the drive way I was late. I also had to stop and get gas and find breakfast!

So when I get to Newington I spend time with my trainer and we chat about how things are different, who knows who, the good ol' days at the company and how exciting it is to be part of this new milestone in the company. Time to open and my buddy that I am working with on the floor has to cover pick up and my manager trainer has to deal with drama on the other side of the store... great! I didn't learn too much on Monday so I hope that Wednesday is much better. I am going to help my training buddy reset part of his department so that I can learn where to find everything I need on their systems. Fun.

So, I pass out the minute I get home from picking up Dutch from my mom's. Of course this is not good as it is only 8 pm. So, about 4 hours later I wake up. Not good. I am now wide awake and of course I find myself going online. I decide to say hi to my friend that I talked to on Sunday (this is after I said I wouldn't be the one starting any conversations anymore). But, it was the middle of the night and I felt like talking. This tends to happen to me quite frequently with this person. 4 hours go by and after that I am not so sure what to think of the conversation from Sunday besides there is a 1% chance that I didn't open my mouth in vain.

So, literally after about 2 more hours of sleep Dutch is up for the day therefore I am up for the day. I did some homework, read what I had of my paper and decided that I hate what I have but it is too late to redo it, and had my oil changed. Of course this is me we are talking about so you know that something had to go wrong with the simple oil change and rotation of tires. I get a call about 15 mins after I get to work (walked there to do some homework in the training room) to inform me that I have a screw in my tire and that they can plug it for $15. Great! Just another thing to add to my super awesome 48 hours. They finally called me back to tell me that my car was ready and the bill is way more than they said it was going to be (once again you know something has to happen to me) and that took a while to fix. But, it's all good now. My car is happy and my tire has a plug.

That brings me to about 3:30 this afternoon. Fritz was trying to get outside so bad that he started chewing his way out of my screen slider. I wonder if they make sliders with glass on the bottom and screen on the top like they do for regular doors. Anyway, I gave in and let the two cats outside to enjoy the weather. My lawn mower is having issues starting this year so the cats feel like they are in the jungle and really enjoy hunting for flies and other bugs. Fritz just likes to sit there and sniff the air.

Fritz enjoying the warm air.
Zee hunting bugs.
Zee looking out from the jungle for bugs.

So, tomorrow is Wednesday. I have to be up at 4 am and won't get home until about 10 pm. I am not looking forward to tomorrow at all. Hopefully my trip to Newington will be worth it and maybe school will get out early. And maybe I will stop feeling like a dork and have some honest feedback from that conversation that keeps running through my head.

I hope that you all don't think I am upset or depressed because I am not. I just feel like talking this week and this is one way for me to decompress and get my thoughts out.