Dance, Burger Boy!

I've been working on developing Job Skills Preparation classes in partnering with RootsUp. So far, I have each of the classes' main topic, a summary of what each class will teach, and a variety of information thrown unorganizationally (is that a word) into an MSWord document.

Also, it has changed from being "classes" to being a seminar. It's a learning process, I suppose there will be more changes as it forms.

In December, I finally broke down and purchased a used Blackberry Curve. I love it. I'm a technological nerd. I love being able to say I learned to type at the age of 10 on a commodore 64 (with 128 mode). And I drool over the next newest gadget (Blackberry Playbook, anyone?)

I also decided to purchase friends for my fish, Ryuk. I have a snail. This is the second snail, actually. The first one was our friend. Husband liked snail, Ryuk liked snail, I liked snail and I believe Cheyenne liked snail. She was a good snail. Then she spent a day not moving and it wasn't long before we determined she was dying. It took a whole week (apparently they die as slow as they move), it was sad. So we bought a new one, and while I was there I decided to buy a ghost shrimp. It looked evil at first, but now he's just cool. He's see-through, and it's really gross to watch him eat, since you can see the food in his body. They have names, now, too. I had one name picked out, but I didn't know which one to apply the name to, and I didn't want to name one without the other, so I held onto it. Until two weekends ago. Knitter-in-law was visiting and when I told her the name issue, she said that I should name the Ghost Shrimp "Lou". Hence, I have a Ghost Shrimp named Lou. The snail is now named Menchi. Menchi was a dog from an anime series. In the show, a poor girl finds the dog and takes it home with the intention of eating it. However, on the way, she stumbles upon food. She takes the dog home and decides to keep it as her Emergency Food Supply. She names it Menchi.

Along the lines of filling in holes, an old high school friend is back in the picture. Her daughter contacted me via facebook one night and the rest is history. However, she has decided to make the change from one version of shortening her name to another version. Boy is that hard to get used to. So far, I'm not doing so good with that...

I finally got my hands on a garden gnome, and I'm currently waiting for Husband to use the bathroom... I decided I could get away with the lame gnome-on-the-toilet prank this time since he doesn't even know we have one. I did take a picture of him with a razor taped to his hands that will become the background on his laptop tomorrow morning before I leave for work.

I think that catches us up for now. Now, if I can just keep up with it!

I'm back

Yes. I am back. With a goal of posting at least once a month, a plan to redesign the page, and no reason as to why.

Coming soon:

Tailored To Hire Partnering With RootsUp.

Old friend / New Name.

Why my Ghost Shrimp is named Lou.

and more!

So don't miss out on this exciting(?) reinstatement!

Yay me!

Cheyenne says Hi.

I finally get settled in with my notes and laptop; ready to type away and the cat takes over.  Settled half on my keyboard and half on my arms, this will be quite a challenge. But I have procrastinated long enough, so here it is:

January 20th
Wednesday
I stopped at the local store this morning to pick up soft lotion kleenexes thanks to my lovely cold and noticed that the lane which is usually open is now closed.  In fact, they are all closed.  My only option is the self checkout lane, which I avoid like the plague.  Jobs are hard enough to come by these days, why not find other ways to get rid of low paying jobs and help others join the unemployed crowd.

January 21st
Thursday
Sometimes during lunch I like to go relax on one of the two couches in our building.  I have a favorite, due to the fact that the room is usually hovering around 80 or so (I so love warmth) The office right next to the room this particular couch is in is used by the Baptist Association and today he was searching the web listening to several politicians and the Baptist view of them. Interesting.

January 22nd
Friday
We have renters in our building at work.  One of these is a process server and another is another attorney.  The secretary for the attorney and the process server apparently used to date way back in the day.  She’s married now and happy.  Today, I saw them kiss. Sort of.  It was a friendly sort of thing but definitely shocking to someone who didn’t know and wasn’t expecting that sort of thing.

January 23rd
Saturday
Heath used my label-maker.  It made me giddy with organizational joy.

January 24th
Sunday
I went to pick up some clothes that was donated to <a href=”http:\\tailoredtohire.com”>Tailored To Hire</a> and as I was returning home some handicap driver pulled out in front of me.  Then almost ran into a parked car.

January 25th
Monday
I have been trying to train Ryuk (my fish) to eat out of my hand. I stick of piece of his “treats” on my finger and dangle it in the water.  Today, he took it from me!

January 26th
Tuesday
Today I got to see a lady just barely make it outside of a public building before throwing up. All over the sidewalk.

January 27th
Wednesday
For Christmas I got the attorney’s in my office something they were passionate about.  They each got a picture of something that they hollered and yelled about all year long.  In one case, it was a picture of someone who had no business in our building parked in our parking lot.  Today, the attorney finally had enough and went outside to tell her she couldn’t park there anymore. Just as the bus pulled up dropping off her child.

January 28th
Thursday
My cat threw up everywhere today.  By the time I got home, my husband had it all cleaned up, but there were paper towels warning of wet spots scattered throughout the house. Yuck.

January 29th
Friday
I really don’t have much for today other than watching people try to be lazy and cut across the work parking lot only to realize they can’t get through because of the snow and they have to turn around. Exciting, I know.

January 30th
Saturday
My Knitter-in-law’s birthday celebration.  We went to a yummy restaurant where I ate food I had never eaten before. We hung out and had a good time. Keen.

January 31st – February 5th
I appear to be missing my notes from January 31st through February 5th and since I am writing this on March 9th there is no way I am going to remember this.  To be posted later????

February 6th
Saturday
My day was spent with my new laptop! It’s pink and shiny and perfect!

February 7th
Sunday
Today was spent with my laptop still. Setting it up and fun stuff. My husband is keen.

February 8th
Monday
We have very fat squirrels at work. But they’re cute, especially when they drink out of puddles.

February 9th
Tuesday
Our neighbor (from down the street) snow-blowed our driveway today. Thanks, Tyler! Our snow-blower has gone to … wherever snow-blowers go to when they are no more.

February 10th
Wednesday
Our receptionist had to shovel today.  She hurts herself walking from one room to another, she doesn’t go a week without dropping and/or spilling a can of soda, she is over 50 and has very bad knees, but she was asked to shovel.

February 11th
Thursday
I received a call today from our of counsel attorney’s husband.  I told him she was not there and his response was:

“Oh. Well I’ll tell you what I needed, I was just wondering what size mitten I should get.”

I told him I was sorry, but I really didn’t know.  And that was our conversation.

February 12th
Friday
My brother-in-law and his wife came up and we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  It was fun and horrible all at the same time.

February 13th
Saturday
We played Wii Bowling with my brother-in-law and his wife. Finally, something I can beat them at.

February 14th
Sunday
Today I watched more Olympic fun.

February 15th
Monday
Food Pantry!  Tonight I worked on cleaning off shelves in a storage closet and hid from some people.  It was nice.

And I will leave you with that. Still almost a month behind, but better than it was!

I have not forgotten you!

Seriously, I haven’t.  I have a list of all my daily viewings, it’s just not with me.  I also have lasagna noodles, which were to be made into lasagna for my mom for a Christmas present.  Lucky for me, she’s pretty understanding about the fact that I haven’t gotten it to her yet. 

The real post is forthcoming. I promise!

P365 1.15.10 - 1.19.10

January 15th
Pizza. We have a nice weekly ritual of ordering pizza on Friday nights and hanging out watching sitcoms. It's a great way to begin the weekend and the site of Sam's Pepperoni, Double Cheese and Green Olive Pizza was particularly amazing after the week I'd had.

January 16th
I has a problem. Whenever I go into a store with animals, I can't stay away from them. I was viewing the Betta fish at our too-close-to-home mega-store. They are so pretty. The first one was gold/flesh colored with a brilliant red-gold tail. I really wanted him While holding the cup in my hand, I caught a glimpse of the fish behind it. A pale purple betta. OMG the fish was PURPLE! I wanted him too. Then, I saw it.
Have you ever seen something and immediately thought of the person it should belong to? Today I saw Heath's fish. Heath doesn't want a fish, but this was his fish. We have a slightly-broken ceramic green and red dragon in our closet. This "Japanese Fighting Fish" is the exact same colors. Shimmery green-green body with a fiery red tail. I wanted this fish for Heath.
I have since resolved to never go near the Betta fish section again unless I am picking up supplies for my fish. Why do I have to like a fish that cannot be put in a tank with others of its kind?

January 17th
I sit behind my sister-in-law, S, and her three kids in church. My sister-in-law has a beautiful voice (I think its a requirement of living in her hometown in Arkansas). Today, the youngest was sitting on S's (heh) lap during song service and S would sing at her and they would smile at each other. The little girl gave her mom the biggest most sincere smile that showed complete joy and happyness. Very sweet.

January 18th
I took my cat to the vet today. On the way home he sat calmly in my lap and buried his head in the crook of my arm. At one point while I was scratching his head at a stop sign, he looked up at me in a way that I can only explain was a thank you for getting him out of there, meowed, touched his nose to my nose, laid back down and buried his head again. This was very touching as I believe he spends most of his time planning my demise.

January 19th
For those of you who see too many parents on cell phones lose track of their childre; this posting is for you:
I watched a young father remove three children ranging from approximately 2 to 5 years old from his mini-van. As he got the first one out, he knelt down and placed one of the child's hands on the car, then reached in for the second, and again knelt down and placed one of her hands on the car next to the first. He repeated this with the third and placed her hand on the car while he made sure he had everything he needed. He then linked everyone's arms together creating a chain and they happily trotted off across the parking lot, chatting and being happy together. Hooray for cool parents!

Project 365

Last year my Knitter-in-Law had a Project 365. To improve upon her photography skills, she resolved to take 1 picture a day. She then posted them on her blog. If you have time, I suggest looking through them as she has some really amazing pictures. She said at the end that she felt it helped not only her photo-taking abilities and knowledge, but also helped her view things in different perspectives. Or maybe she said she improved her viewing skills and knowledged her differences.
It's been a while since I've read the post.

Either way, I'm stealing the title and some generalities of this project for myself. She's keen so I don't think she'll mind.

I wanted to start off the year with the Couch to 5K program, which knitter-in-law (shocker. - I see a pattern forming) informed me of when I mentioned I had begun walking with the intent to start running. I actually managed to start this before the beginning of the year, but on January 3rd I decided to tackle another task. I took myself off my medication, which was prescribed to me for various reasons which I will not go into, but I recently learned just how horrible this medication was. (bored? want some interesting reading that may encourage you to crusade with me? google Effexor XR and Effexor XR withdrawal... and sign the petition to make Wyeth-Ayert stop telling doctors there are no side effects.) Back to my point: While I am still experiencing withdrawal (mostly brain shocks--today is day 17, in case you were wondering)I have decided that I wanted a Project 365.

Earlier last year I had posted random goings-on and enjoyed it. My Project 365 is starting January 15th, because it's my project and that is when I started. (with the exception of one from the 4th; I just can't get the image out of my head.)

I say now as a disclaimer for the entire project: This is non-judgmental. If you feel that by posting that I saw a man in a woman's blouse with a hot pink faux pearl necklace wearing a hot pink bra is somehow judgmental and mean, than you should stop reading for the year. Because I saw it. That was your January 4th P365 posting.

I also would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any lame "I didn't leave the house so here's another post on something my cat/fish/husband did."

Also, I may post pictures if I felt the need to take one, but I in no way intend to completely steal from my knitter-in-law.

That is all.

(Postings of January 15th through the 19th coming soon.)

Dead Fishy

My new fishy died. While he was still new. He only lasted 5 days, which has to be the shortest time frame anyone over the age of 12 has kept a fish alive. So I has a new fishy. Meet Ryuk Ni (ni means 2 in Japanese... I took a lesson from the Simpsons and their cat and then made it Japanese)

As you can see, the cat likes him, too.



Ryuk Ni is far more active than Ryuk (Ichi, I guess). He has also learned things, for instance, he knows where the hole he gets fed through is and if he swims up to it and stares at it, I will feel bad and feed him.

Also, he makes cute fishy faces at me.

So far, he's lived longer than the other one. We'll see how this goes.

I has a fish.

His name is Ryuk (named for a character from the anime series Death Note. Ryuk is a Shinigami, or Angel of Death, who likes apples).

He came right up to me. I was searching through all the little Betta Bowls looking for a blue Crown Tail Betta and all the others would (try to) swim away (not very far.. these were 1 liter bowls) except this little guy (a red Crown Tail Betta). So I picked him up and told him his name. He swished his tail and swam in a happy little circle. I had already picked out the tank, but was unsure of the gravel. I set white gravel on one side of his bowl and black gravel on the other side. He chose black.



He's very happy and really likes freeze dried blood worms. Disgusting! But it is fun to watch him attack them (even though they are dead, he still attacks them.) And it's interesting to see him swim to the top and breathe air. Yes, Bettas breathe air--with their mouth. They can't live off of it, but they like to do it.


(He had just taken a breath. I missed the actual taking of said breath.)

Here fishy fishy fishy...

I have an urge to get another pet. Not the first time I've had the urge, but I really REALLY want another pet.

After a bit of thought, and goofing off on the internet, I decided I want this little guy...



I want to put him on my desk at work and call him Ryuk.

He's a betta fish. They're small, easy to take care of, and you can put a plant (with white roots) on top of the bowl/tank and make it even prettier. But I found the tank I want, too, and it doesn't have a spot for the plant on top. (view this site to find out more about making your own betta fish vase.)

But I can't have this little guy at work. So I want him at home. Or something equally cute. Or fun. Or something.

In God's Timing...

3 1/2 weeks ago, we told our houseguest that she needed to find somewhere else to go within the next 2 weeks since nothing was happening.

The Monday after the weekend she was supposed to be out, she told us she had found a place that was willing to work with her on rent, but she couldn't move in until the following weekend. We extended our deadline.

Since that time she has:

Gotten a full-time stable job

Finished a program to have her drivers license reinstated

Received her son's birth certificate (she has been waiting for this for 8 weeks)

Rented a storage unit for her stuff

Is trying to set herself up to be able to get her own place soon.

Thank you, God, for not being limited by my own selfishness and timeline. And for having everything fall into place when I didn't think I could handle any more.

She has most of her stuff out of the house, and will be staying the night tonight, and leaving keys when she heads out to work tomorrow morning.

The world is run by the cute.

So says Happy Bunny.

I'm behind. I don't even remember everything I have to post, and I wouldn't have time to post it all even if I did remember.

Just wanted to say hi.

Our roommate is NOT gone yet. When she called the other night to say she wouldn't be home she said she couldn't get ahold of the guy who was going to rent her the room so "it will probably be next weekend, if that's ok" to which we replied "We can talk about it."

We told her she has to be out Wednesday. I have no real hope for that as it seems as though Heath doesn't mind giving her more time if she needs it. I, on the other hand, am not. It's only natural that she develop a crush on the guy who is being nice to her and helping her through a tough time, and I'm fine with it, for a little while, but we're going on 10 weeks here and that is just too long to live so close with someone who has a crush on your husband.

Work is still good. Busy.

That's all for now.

TTFN

September?

When did that happen? Where did my summer go?

We still have our house guests, with no sign of them ever leaving. Still not on the waiting list for the apartment with Shelter Care Ministries and now her wages have gone DOWN.
Apparently, the company is being bought and the new owners have decided they don't need to pay hourly wages, people can work for tips only... in a place where they don't get alot of business, so there's not alot of tips, either. When you employ illegal immigrants, you can get away with this because nobody will turn you in. These people are working hard and whether they are illegal or not, everyone there is treated like slave labor. Sad.

On the upside, I got her an interview and a restaraunt on Monday. This one is closer to our house and definitely not the type to TOTALLY screw an employee over. The hiring manager seemed pretty excited to have a prospect. Keep her in your prayers.

I have purchased the domain tailoredtohire.com and planned on having it up and running by now. It's not up and running. But with good reason. I am working on a website for my boss, who is running for Illinois State Representative. Pretty exciting since I know absolutely nothing about politics. Since Heath is now out of the hospital and healing nicely, I have devoted all my spare time to this website. I have learned all sorts of new things and am excited to be able to use a lot of it for my tailoredtohire page. I am currently working on getting his announcement speech on his site (electjimthompson.com) but am having some difficulty. Ok, a lot of difficulty. 7 hours last night (I kept falling asleep for a few minutes, then waking up and trying something new that wouldn't work and then starting over again) I finally gave up and shut it down ... well... I don't know. The last time I really looked at the clock was 1:30. I have been working on it about 3 hours today. I have checked the coding and am positive it is done correctly. Heath finally mentioned that maybe our Host Server doesn't have the option to play video turned on. Wish he would have brought that to my attention oh, say 24 hours ago. I am trying to go through photobucket until we get that resolved. I'm not using my Picassa account because that puts the account information on the video and that's not very professional. Hopefully photobucket doesn't do the same. We'll find out shortly.

So, there you have it. That is where I have disappeared to this week. And probably most of next. I was honored to have him ask me to write it and to be able to support him as I agree with the views I have heard him express in my almost year of employment with him. Also excited to attend all the political shindigs that I never thought I would ever be interested in. Amazing what being involved will do for a person.

Sleeping at work.

ER at 2:15 am Tuesday morning. All day and night in hospital. Was home for 4 minutes to change and forget to brush my teeth and now I'm at work. Yeah. I'm ready for a vacation.

Dena... I have a phone. It works, most of the time. Nifty for ordering Mary Kay. =D

Did that really happen?

Week 1) We got guests.
I received a call at work a couple of weeks ago from a young woman I know through the church. I wasn't able to answer right away, so she left a voice mail that went something like this:
"I don't remember your brothers number and I was wondering if you could help me. My boyfriend and I got into a fight last night. He's in jail and now I'm homeless."
I immediately made some phone calls and later that day, she moved in, along with her just-turned-3-year-old son.
Turns out, they live with her boyfriends mother. When he went to jail, she realized she lost her drinking buddy and decided to kick out this young woman and her 3 year old son. She was a bit bruised and scratched up when she came to us, but she seems to be doing well.
If you wish to help, my amazing husband called up my amazing pastor-brother and you can send any amount (every dollar helps) to Souls Harbor Church c/o Rocio 2802 11th Street, Rockford IL 61109. She is looking for a full time job as her current job leaves her with less than $60.00 a month for housing and utilities, and Rockford Housing and Shelter Care Ministries both have a very large waiting list. We also accept prayers.

Week 2) We got sick.
A summer cold that knocked us on our... bottoms. I actually ended up taking a little bit of time off of work (I went in for 2 hours, then got sent home).

Week 3) Heath got surgery.
That's right. His first ever. Woke up around 2:00 am in excruciating pain. After researching on the good ole internet I found that it was most likely his gallbladder. I urged him to go to the ER, but of course, he didn't. He actually went in to work the next day (neither of us got any sleep after that) and they sent him to the doctor. Who sent him to the clinic, who sent him to the hospital, who sent him to the clinic, who had him admitted to the hospital right away.
Apparently, he had a 15/16" diameter gallstone and a severe gallbladder infection.
Surgery was tentatively scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, and they got him in at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday.
All is well now. He's home and resting. Funny how God works. He needed some quiet time to relax and heal and our houseguests went out of town this weekend.

Dear God,
I'm tired.
Love, Wanda.

Also, TailoredToHire.com - coming soon!

I jumped out of a plane...

I did it. I want to do it again. Tomorrow sound good to anyone?

I went skydiving. I decided to go about 2 months ago, and have talked myself out of it several times since. I'm glad I kept talking myself back into it. It was not at all like I expected. It was cold, uncomfortable, and I had a blast!

Forget everything you think it would be like (except the windy bit). There's no "I'm afraid of heights; it's too high!" there's no "I'm falling!" No ground rush. The biggest issue I faced was remembering that I could, in fact, breathe despite the bitter cold, 122 mph wind in my face. I could have jumped out the plane myself without being pushed. Heath agreed, and he's afraid of heights. I recommend this past-time. I especially recommend Midwest Sky Dive.



You guys were great!

Here I am with my instructor/parachuteman while he makes final adjustments on his equipment; and being led by him to the plane.





Here is the first plane I've ever been on taking off (with Heath and I in it).

and I didn't even get to land in it.


Here are people falling.



Here is Heath falling.


Really... that's Heath!!!


Here is me falling!

Really... that's Me!!!


So... seriously, when can I go again?

Rockin' the Skies

Skydiving was incredible! Amazing! I would do it again in a heartbeat. Pictures to come!!!

Birthdays and Stuff

Thanks, mom, for the happy birthday magnetic fun. I know you don't live in Janesville, the fridge can be tricky like that.

It was a... nice day... but I'm glad it's over.

I've been busy with work and enjoying the sunny-ness (as my eccentric "farmers tan" shows)... not so much with the posting.

But don't fret you none; I have notes! All those posts I was planning on writing but haven't will probably show in list form in the near future. Please, try to contain your excitement.

Chey's big day.

Last weekend we decided to let the cat venture off the deck. We have been keeping him out of the grass as he likes to eat it then throw up all over our house. However, after reading up on why cats eat something poisonous to them, I discovered they actually do it for health reasons (furballs, upset stomachs, eating disor... no that's models). Anyway, after throwing up a few times, I took him exploring around the yard.


He likes trees
 


and stalking Heath 


and rocks.
 


he really likes rocks.


Really likes rocks.

Hooray Kitty!

Skydiving

Yes. It's true. I'm going skydiving!

Something I have always thought about doing, but never really thought I would do. Now I have the opportunity.

For those of you who are worried, perhaps a little reading to ease your fears. We are going through Midwest Skydive. Their website is skydivemidest.com. I wasn't sure if I really "wanted" to do this, or just wanted to do it until I read up on it more. Now I can't wait!

Sorry, mom and dad.