shopping uh fun?

TJ Maxx is a wonderful place. I just went in search of clothes. I decided to look at purses and wallets too. Spring is a wonderful time for a new spring purse. I wasn't impressed by their selection until I saw the cutest little bag at the end of the row. I went and grabbed it because it was so cute that I was afraid someone else would get there before me. Of course I liked it. It was $172. That's just stupid. The whole point of shopping at TJ Maxx is getting a good deal. Of course $172 was a good deal but I decided I didn't want to pay that much for a cute spring purse. Especially since I don't have a job. Then I looked at wallets. My wallet is falling apart but I haven't found the right one to replace it. I can't just buy any wallet. So I found the right one. But it was $79. It was perfect. So cute. So Coach. But I practiced some self restraint and didn't buy it. Did I mention I don't have a job? The old (but really young) me would have gotten out the credit card and come home with a pretty perfect new wallet. The new (really old) me is at home without a pretty perfect new wallet considering driving back to TJ Maxx to buy the damn wallet.

I did get a really good deal on running shorts. I used to run in my underwear until I found out the person I live with likes that idea. Now I wear shorts.

arbor day

This morning my Hello Kitty calendar reminded me that today is Arbor Day. Go forth and plant trees.

phone glam

bedazzled

Jesse and I now have matching cell phones so I decided to add some gems to mine. I just spent a half hour gluing crystals to my phone. I made a huge mess with the glue and my fingers are all glue-y and gross. But it looks rather lovely and now we won't get our phones mixed up. I'll have to take a photo and show you. But right now I'm watching Survivor.

waste

Yesterday was a complete waste of a day. I sat around and watched movies and didn't do anything. I think I better kick it into high gear today or my sugar daddy is gonna be pissed!

Oh!! I got my new phone yesterday. So for those of you who have been dying to call me but didn't because you knew my phone wasn't working, its okay to call now. Now. No really. Now.

I decided that being a stay at home person would be easier if I came up with projects to work on. Yesterday I ran to Michael's and purchased a few cheap photo albums. I have two boxes of photos that aren't in any particular order and I thought it would be a good idea to organize them and put them in photo albums. Holy shit what a pain in the ass! I started with family photos and actually completed that part today. Unfortunately I have always enjoyed taking photos. Especially when I'm drunk. So I still have a box and a half of drunken photos to sort through and put in albums. But at least I have something to do this week.

We did get some wedding planning stuff done. We decided on a chapel and some invitations. Of course I am supposed to call the chapel but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I have to go to a "Mandatory Registration Meeting" tonight for school. It is from 5:30pm to 7pm. Um. Don't they know this is prime dinner eating time? Do they not respect the stay at home person that must have dinner prepared for her sugar daddy when he comes home from a hard day at the office? Okay so I realize that I could be cooking right now and leave dinner here for him but that is just not going to happen. If I am going to slave over a hot stove then I will eat a hot meal. Not something heated up. Besides, I like to be here to watch him try not to puke after taking a bite of my latest concoction. Since I'm not a very good cook I need lots of praise. It's really rather pathetic. If Jesse doesn't tell me at least 3 times how good the meal is I go up to my room and cry. If he forgets to tell me its okay because I always ask at least 10 times if he likes it. Aren't you glad I don't cook for you?

birthday

Just when I thought I wasn't old, I found out that I am. We bought a new vacuum cleaner today and it rocks. I knew our house was dirty but oh my GOD the shit that vacuum cleaner picked up was disgusting. Our old one must not have done anything. So sad. Anyway, I understand that only old people get excited about new vacuum cleaners.

Speaking of getting old...my birthday is coming up. I will start my birthday list...

1. Barbaro Garbey jersey
2. XBOX 360

Okay that's all I can think of right now. I'll add more later.

We moved to Detroit a year and a half ago. I am embarrassed to say that last Saturday was the first time we went to Eastern Market. I am happy to report that we love it there and went back this morning. It is really fun to look at all the beautiful flowers that I would never be able to grow and to buy really farm fresh produce for ridiculously low prices. It is really crowded and last weekend I thought I might kill someone but this morning I took Ritalin before we went and I had no problems with the crowd.

This afternoon we're heading out to run some errands . I love to hang out with Jesse although truthfully, after being home alone for most of the week, I'd love to hang out with anyone! Just kidding. Kind of. I think it's time for me to get a volunteer job or something. This week was the first time that I was bored. We can't have that! Just have to find something to do on my own terms. The best part about volunteering is that I don't think it will be so hard to quit if I hate it. But I will take it seriously because I coordinated a program that depended on volunteers and it was so frustrating when volunteers just didn't show up or just showed up to be there and not to work. Thank God for Phil!! Anyway, this week I'll hopefully find some places to contact.

ah technology.

Jesse and I are too cool to have a landline (translation: don't have enough people calling us to justify getting one). Now both of our cell phones are dying. I ordered a new one last night so hopefully it will be here soon. Until then, if you need to reach us, just yell real loud.

hump day.

Yesterday was a busy day. I went to Ann Arbor in the morning to hang out with a friend who had a mastectomy. She looked really good and seems to be healing well. She is waiting to find out when she starts chemotherapy. That will suck. But since I'm not working I hope to spend more time with her and support her where she needs it.

From Ann Arbor I headed to East Lansing to meet with an old friend. She recently moved back to Michigan from Las Vegas. She has an event planning business and was kind enough to meet with me to give me free advice about wedding stuff. I felt a lot better after meeting her and actually look forward to making plans. Awesome!

After that I went to the mall to see if I could find a wedding dress. Where the hell do people in Lansing go to find a nice dress? All I found were stupid dresses that weren't even very dressy.

I met Janet and Scott for dinner. We went to Clara's and it was awesome. Great food and it was so nice to see them. It had been waaaaaay too long since we last got together. We ended up hanging out and talking until 10:30 which is way past my bedtime. So I got home late and was really tired from such a busy day. It felt good to be out doing stuff. Now I get to stay home and clean and do laundry. Oh what fun!!

i hate grocery shopping

Since we're eating at home on a more regular basis now I'm finding that I'm going to buy groceries at least a couple times each week. This afternoon I went to Meijer and decided that I just don't like to shop for groceries. When I walked in the store I went to the cart area. I had one hand on a cart and was putting away my keys with the other hand. A man took my cart. He pulled it out of my hand and started to walk away with it. It wasn't the last cart. There were several others. Why did he take my cart? He turned and apologized for taking my cart and tried to give it back. I said, "Are you kidding me?" and got another cart. My original plan was to follow him around the store and tail gate him with my cart. But then I realized that my Ben & Jerry's would melt. So I let him go. Then when I was at the check out line I was putting my groceries in the cart and went to swipe my debit card but couldn't because the woman in line behind me had moved up so far that her cart was parked right in front of the little debit card swiping machine. I understand wanting to move quickly through the line. But move your cart so I can pay for my groceries. I just stared at her and waited for her to move it. She finally got the hint and moved back about 2 inches. Clearly she didn't get it so I helped her out and pushed her cart out of my way. I was all loud about it. Does this happen to anyone else? I am sure I'm not the only one that this has happened to. And if it has happened to you, are you more careful to not do it to someone else? Because I'm always careful to leave enough space between me and the person in front of me, even if that means there is empty space on the little grocery conveyor belt. I just don't want to be that close to my fellow shoppers.

Time to go kill some hornets.

Sometimes I question my decision to quit my job and not get another one right away. But as I sit here and enjoy a glass of wine with my lunch I am very sure that I made the best decision in the entire universe.

Yesterday my sister and I went to Kalamazoo to visit my brother's family. My new nephew is so teeny tiny and cute. He slept most of the time we were there so we played with my niece. She is hysterical and so fun!

baseball, rock and roll, bunny cake

Friday night we went to see the Tigers vs. Indians game. We rarely sit in our own seats because they are kind of far away. Last night we found two lovely seats in the lower level. After sitting for a few minutes two older couples sat behind us. One couple seemed to know a lot about Tigers baseball and they noticed that I was scoring the game. They were very friendly and we chatted a little bit. We were sitting there minding our own business like we do when all of a sudden we heard Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six blaring on the speakers. And when we looked up at the big screen there were little factoids about the Electric Six on the screen. We were very excited because we happen to know the colonel. The older couple behind us asked me if we had heard of the band. I told her that a friend of ours is in the band. She one-upped me and told me that their son is in the band. Wha? Huh? She then got on her cell phone to tell Tait Nucleus that she and dad were at Comerica and just heard Danger! High Voltage and the young lady sitting in front of them knows Zach. What a small world! I felt honored and privileged to be sitting so close to a rock star's mom and dad. And then it got even cooler when I heard her telling her friend how to make a bunny cake for Easter.

This afternoon I got to go see Dwight to get my hair highlighted and cut. I told him that Jesse and I are engaged. He was happy for me but then said he had even bigger news. Huh? Wha? His news was that he went on a blind date two months ago and now they live together. He cracks me up. I can not judge him for moving quickly in a relationship because Jesse moved in after 3 months of dating. Or was it 4? Don't really remember. Anyway, I have been going to Dwight for two years and this is the second person he has lived with in a romantic relationship! I really wanted to ask him how that was bigger news than me getting engaged but I just went with it. He cracks me up.

Bigger news than me getting engaged is my brother and sister-in-law having a baby boy this morning! He doesn't have a name yet though. I'm excited to be an aunt again!!

mixed messages...

I just went outside to get the mail. I don't get very much mail. Today I got two things. A thing from St. John Health about losing weight. And coupons from Ben & Jerry's.

today is good.

Friday was the last time I took Strattera. The withdrawal has kind of sucked. I get really dizzy and just feel icky. This morning I felt gross but by the afternoon I felt better. I went to Costco and spent a ton of money stocking up on stuff we'll need at some point in our lives. Why does shopping at Costco have to be so much fun?

This afternoon I got an email from Wayne State University. I got in to their MSW program!! I am so happy. Waiting to hear from them has been awful. I was so worried that I wouldn't get in!! So in the fall I will be a full time student again. Now that I know I will be busy in the fall I will be making the most of my time off. If you live out of town, or in town for that matter, and would like a visitor before the end of August, please let me know and I'm there. I'm feeling so much better about not working now that I know I will be going to school soon.

Yipppeeeeeeee!!!

national holiday

Opening day at the ball park really should be a national holiday. This morning I had to go to the post office and on my way there I thought, "Oh damn. It isn't going to be open today. It's opening day." I almost turned my car around when I realized that other people's lives don't come to a screeching halt when baseball returns. So I bought my stamps and mailed my letters. Then I went to fill a couple prescriptions. I was very happy to find out that for some strange reason my health insurance still covered them. That shit never happens. I'm still waiting for someone from the insurance company to show up at my house to tell me it was a mistake and demand two dollars. Twoooooo dolllllllllllars.

So. Opening day. Fabulous. Sunshine. Not too hot. Not too cold. Baseball. Some asshole sitting behind me tried really really hard to ruin my day by just being an asshole but he didn't succeed. He really did try hard. He "watched" baseball by yelling mean things to his friends. And every once in a while he'd yell at someone "WATCH THE FUCKING GAME!" which really didn't make sense because I know he spent most of the day scoping out his next victim. Mostly he verbally assaulted his friend who was wearing a pink shirt. He would yell really smart and funny things as "Hey homo! Nice pink shirt!" and "Hey faggot in the pink shirt! Tigers colors are blue and orange!" And then he made fun of his other friend for buying a small beer instead of a large beer. And then later I heard him say he couldn't finish his own beer. I heard all of this because he didn't have an inside voice in his repertoire of volume. His voice was all loud, all the time. But really now, it wasn't that bad. It couldn't have been that bad because this guy sitting next to me fell asleep.

I didn't think he would mind if I took a picture. He had a long day.

Tigers played the White Sox and lost, 5 - 3. The baseball wasn't great but it was so nice to be back at Comerica. Here's the teams all lined up.


When we got home I decided to do some yard work. What a pain in the ass. I have heard people say that working in the garden is therapeutic. I need to find those people to tell them that they were misdiagnosed and they need to get off the crack pipe. Now. Because there is nothing fun about pulling weeds and trimming rose bushes and bugs and worms. Nothing. There is more to do tomorrow. We'll see if I can even move. At least I felt better about not getting on the treadmill today.

Opening day. Can't wait until next year!

just call me martha.

On Friday I made manicotti for dinner and key lime bars for dessert. I'm not even kidding. And right now I'm making vegetable stew with herb dumplings. But it's super easy so I don't think it counts toward my Martha-ness. Last night I decided I should get a Martha Stewart cookbook. But there are probably lots of meat recipes in it and I don't cook very much meat.

Jesse is spray painting in the basement and it is really stinky in here. I hope it doesn't mess up my herb dumplings. It isn't even making me high because I already feel all wacky from medication withdrawal. I actually feel all shitty from medication withdrawal. Dizzy and prickly. Oh I hate mental disorders. And spray paint fumes.

oink oink

This morning I got up and decided to make a big breakfast. I made two eggs, four pieces of bacon and two pieces of toast. Yummy!! But after eating half an egg, two pieces of bacon and a piece of toast I was full. Bummer.

I went shopping and got hungry and sleepy so I came back home. I think it's time for some lunch and then a nap. Today isn't really different than half the other days this week. What am I doing? While I was driving around today I was thinking about how this week has kind of felt like I've been on vacation. But all of a sudden it hit me that I don't have to go back. I don't have to catch up on paperwork. I don't have to sit through any more awful "team" meetings. I don't have to deal with any crisis that isn't my own. This is so much better than vacation! Now if only someone would pay me to not work...

fun day at the zoo!

I was really really really really really really sad that Joanna and the kids couldn't visit. But I will be okay because I know they will come another time! Soon!!! Right??

Erica and her kids came and picked me up yesterday morning and we all went to the zoo. It was a really nice day and the zoo wasn't crowded so it was perfect! Here's some photos.

Water tower! I win!!


I thought someone shot the camel dead. It wasn't dead though. Whew.


I don't know what the bears do at your zoo but at my zoo the bears pole dance. Awesome.


The little butterfly conservatory thingy was open. It wasn't as good as the Fred Meijer butterflies in Grand Rapids but I still enjoyed it!


I started to get a migraine when we were at the zoo and by the time I got home I was pretty sure I was going to die. My normal treatment didn't even work for a long time. But finally by last night I was no longer in pain.

This morning I got up and went for a little jog on the treadmill and then went to the store. Two stores. It is super rainy and gross outside. I kind of want to take a nap. But I have some cleaning to do and then maybe if there is time. Jesse is in a comedy competition tonight. It will be fun!

pack rat.

I am cleaning out the guest room because we are having guests. The closet has been a mess so I decided to clean that out too. What a nightmare. I can tell that when we moved I packed in a hurry because there is shit in there I never should have saved. So I'm throwing a bunch of stuff away and consolidating boxes. It's a very spring-like thing to do. I think. I found a bunch of photos from my previous life and they are cracking me up. Apparently I used to be a wild and crazy fun person and I have the pictures to prove it. The pictures I have lately involve thinking the cats are the cutest things in the world so I take a million photos of them. Who thought it would be a good idea for me to have a digital camera and access to an 80 GB server to store photos on? Jesse did! And that's why I'm marrying him.

vacation all i ever wanted. vacation had to get away.

My first day of "vacation" was pretty busy. All of a sudden I had a burst of energy and got work done around the house. Lucky for me the burst of energy came in the form of a little pill called methylphenidate. Yes!

We had dinner at my sister's house last night with her family and our parents. Jesse and I sat down with my parents to talk about wedding stuff. Basically, what they will be shelling out some cash for. Looks like now that we have that settled we have some planning to do. Exciting and stressful. But it will be much more easy than planning a big traditional wedding and reception.

I'm heading out to go shopping for a dress with my mom and my 10-year-old niece. I think we'll hit the mall and maybe get some lunch. Oh what fun!

now what.

This is so strange. It's 9:30 and I'm not at work. I'm sitting here watching tv and eating breakfast. I've already gone for a jog on the treadmill, taken a shower and started a load of laundry. This just feels so weird.

I had a kick ass weekend. On Friday night I was sleeping by 9. Pretty exciting, eh? The last few days at work were pretty high stress so I think I was just beat. Saturday morning I went to Flint for a seminar for church camp. I still can't believe I get to continue to shape the lives of our youth. Very scary. Saturday night we went to dinner at Andiamo's. We saw Sean and I actually considered going to Florida with him this weekend to see Ween concerts. But it wouldn't have worked very well because Joanna and the kids will be visiting on Thursday and Friday. And I'm not sure about vacationing with Jesse's friend. Anyway, the rest of the evening was pretty quiet. I don't really remember what happened though. Sunday morning we both went to church. I was going to do some yard work but I got lazy and took a nap instead. Then we went to Ann Arbor and had dinner at Grizzly Peak. Last time we were there we got engaged. I asked Jesse what he was going to do to top that. He said he's pregnant. Great. After dinner we went to the U of M Pops Orchestra concert. It was a really fun concert and I'm so glad we went.

And now here I am. Time to get some cleaning done.