Nipped Out

i never cease to amaze myself... i think, man, i'm on vacation, i have all this time to blog, and never do!! oh well, what can you do... anyways, Christmas was good although i am always glad when it's over...
an interesting note, Murphy has figured out how to open doors... i always thought he was kinda a slow kitty, now i know better... he just acts slow... but yes, he can open doors!!! and bless his heart, he's been on weight control food (and i've been feeding him the amount to lose weight) and he's still gaining... poor guy!!! i have decided i'm going to get him a leash and harness and take him out back for walks... i bought him a harness but it doesn't fit... he's a happy cat though!!!
the kitties got a catnip bouquet from Dirt... Dirt is my brother and his wife's cat... (he is so cute, he looks cross-eyed)... here are some pics of the kitties and their bouquet... (more like nipped out of their minds!!)
from our furry family to yours, Mazzy, Murphy, R, and I wish everyone a Happy New Years!!!

Merry Christmas

Santa Paws

Dirty

when r and i bought our house we discovered that the ice maker wasn't working... r read thru the manual to see what the problem was... the fridge won't let the ice maker work if the water filter is clogged... long story short, we decided to order a new filter... i was looking online (at work of course so the manual was at home) and was kinda having a hard time figuring out which one to buy... there wasn't a black one... there was a white one that looked like the black one but it was white... so this was the dilemma i found myself in... so i chanced it and bought two!! they arrived in the mail today and guess what!!! it is the right one AND i think at some time ours was white too!!! but here's my thought... the fridge is less than one year old, so it's only had tap water running thru it for less than one year... i have been drinking tap water my whole life... up until the last year or two... this is just dirty!!! (i apologize for the crappy photos... i'm blaming it on the camera until we get a new camera!)

Kitty Condo

i'm always talking about getting a kitty condo for the kitties... while our house was on the market and we were packing, we always had a ton of boxes at the house... (well, we still do, just at another house now).... one night R built a kitty condo for Mazzy and Murphy... it was a ghetto kitty condo but still a condo at least... the good thing is that it could be easily expanded, remodeled, or changed in just a minute...

(this is the scaled down version of the kitty condo, it didn't even occur to me to take a picture of it before!)... it was so cute though, the kitties loved it!!!

Puzzled

I am puzzled… and have been for several days now… especially after a conversation that R and I had last night… yesterday T, my boss, asked if he gave me a raise if I would still get the mail in the morning on the way to work… I was going to get it until I heard otherwise but I said sure, no problem!! The move has decreased R’s driving time and his stress significantly… my drive time and stress has increased though… I’m pretty sure that the stress increase is just from the move, still not having everything unpacked & in it’s place, and lastly from being so unorganized!!! I am so ocd, obsessive compulsive, and anal that it’s not even funny… having the house in such a crazy state is taking its toll on me… yesterday I left for work without my purse… and didn’t even realize it until I went to get some chapstick and my purse wasn’t there… so I had to turn around (almost halfway back to town) to go get my purse… it might not have been so much of a problem had my wallet, drivers license, and the post office box key not been in there… anyways, needless to say, my mind has been very distracted lately… back to my confusion though… when R and I were first talking about moving I knew that my commute (I use the term loosely because it only takes me about 20 minutes to get to town) would get longer… no biggie… I’m not sure if this even crossed R’s mind or not… now that we’ve moved I have the privilege of getting up earlier and leaving the house earlier so that I can get the mail and still be at work by 8:30… not a problem… back to the beginning of the story, last night I told R that T gave me a raise and he was like, excellent, that’s great!! I agreed… then he said, so, do you get to be at work at 9:00 now since we’ve moved? I said, no… it’s still 8:30… his reply was, well, you still have to stop and get the mail… um, yeah, I do… but he gave me a raise to supplement the extra driving I do… I don’t/didn’t expect T to tell me that just because R and I chose to move I could come into work later… going into the move I knew this would be a “sacrifice” on my part… it’s not a big deal though… now R is all, I’m sorry that you’re having to drive more and get up earlier… my reply was, I knew that was going to happen… so now he keeps apologizing for me having to get up earlier and drive more… it’s really no big deal… I had been wanting to move for several years… now was a logical time (for the most part) because of the restaurant… if he’s less stressed because he’s closer to the restaurant then that works for me… my work stress is pretty much just at work stress… sometimes I’ll bring my stress home with me (usually always due to a co-worker, think rrll, not because of my job) but it’s not like I own WMP… I don’t have “that” stress of owning the business…
So the reason I think I’m so puzzled is because R and I are business owners… my perspective on a lot of things has changed since we opened the restaurant… and for him to not really understand why I still have to be at work at the same time even though we moved is beyond me…

On a completely different note though, the kitties were looking outside this morning and they spotted a fluffy black and white kitty walking across the street… I think they thought we had moved them into a kitty-free town!! They went buck wild!!! They are so adorable!! I’m so happy that they are adjusting well!!!

The Move

It seems like it’s been about forever since I really had a chance to do anything besides pack, move, and unpack… and of course, all of the oh-so-fun stuff that comes with moving… the move wasn’t actually all that bad… we closed on both houses on Thursday… that went smooth… the movers got all our stuff moved with no problems… the only “odd” thing was when we got to the new house they were asking me where I wanted everything… um… I had no idea… so we just started randomly putting stuff in various rooms… the double garage was packed full to the brim… so anyways, the movers get all our stuff moved in (now the house looks like a tornado hit) and R and I are kinda like, where do we start… I decided that I was going to wash the sheets that came off the bed (they were in the dirty clothes basket) so that we could make the bed… I started the washer and the next thing I know I hear momma holler SH!T!!! and if you know momma you know that she never cusses (unless something pretty “major” is happening)… she had good reason to holler though… water was flooding the dining room floor and the garage was in the process of flooding… (and like I mentioned earlier, the garage was packed full- mostly of cardboard boxes)… we stopped the washer and realized that the washer drain pipe was clogged up… good thing km just lives around the corner… she saved me!!! she came by, picked up my totally water soaked sheets along with a new set of sheets, took them home, and washed and dried them for me… Friday I discovered that the garbage disposal and the light above the sink didn’t work… and Saturday I discovered that the ice maker wasn’t working… but, never fear, the plumber came on Saturday and fixed the washer drain… R figured out that the water filter in the fridge was all clogged up and that was what was wrong with the ice maker… here’s what’s been on my mind since then though… the ice maker automatically shuts itself off when the filter gets so dirty… the water line running to the fridge is just regular ‘ol tap water… R went to try to clean the filter and it was black… when he was holding it under the faucet to try to clean it out the water running out of it was black… it was so disgusting… that’s what we drink?!?!?! The filter needs to be replaced every six to nine months and I’m not sure how long that one had been in there but yuck!!! if the water is doing that to the filter is it really safe to drink? Up until a year or two ago, I’d always drank tap water but then I started buying bottled water…
The poor kitties… I felt so bad for them when we started moving… they’ve known that something’s been going on for a while now since we rearranged the furniture and had been packing… strange people coming in and out all the time when we were showing the house… then the movers came and they got crazy!!! Luckily we put them out on the screened in back porch while the movers were there… momma said Mazzy kept trying to open the door… she kept butting her head against it trying inside and finally gave up and hid under the steps… R took them to Iowa Park and when he got to the new house we put them in one of the spare bedrooms… Mazzy & Murphy both hid in the closet until I finally picked Mazzy up later that night and started carrying her around… she was purring but she had her claws imbedded in my shoulder… she proceeded to hide under the bed for the most part of Friday… she started coming out a bit on Saturday, until the Dish guy got there… then it was back under the bed… Murphy is a bit more social and not quite such a scaredy-cat… they are settling in and getting more comfortable with the new house though… (even though we had the house and carpets cleaned you can still kinda smell dog in there and I think that might have been part of the problem too…) poor kids!!
Anyways, we are working on getting everything put back together and trying to find a place for everything else… it’s starting to look more and more like a home… it’s coming along nice though… only nine more working days and then I’ll be on vacation so hopefully I can get a lot done then…
Things have been really crazy at home and at work… at home because of the move and all… and at work because like I said, we only have 9 days left until vacation!! I’m ready for things to slow down a bit… soon enough though, soon enough! Bonus- I just looked at my calendar and I have a massage on Friday night!!! YAY!!! An hour of me time to relax and de-stress!!!!

23 Hours

23 hours... that's how long i spent working on the house this weekend... momma, daddy, and i painted the study, kitchen, living room, and hall... we got almost everything finished... we need to paint the molding in the living room and then one small bottom part of a wall... not too bad... r got for the most part everything moved that the movers weren't going to move and then some... now i need to pack the rest of it up... yuck, packing sucks... the carpet cleaners are coming at 9 in the morning... r is going to meet them there too, even better!! i plan on finishing up the molding tuesday night... wednesday afternoon the lady is coming to clean the house... then thursday the movers come and we close on both houses... moving is not one of my most favorite things to do... it'll be over before we know it though...

Another Week

It seems like I’ve been going a million miles an hour and from the way things look I can’t see life slowing down any right now… Saturday after Thanksgiving was a friend’s 30th birthday party… I suppose I should mention they had 3 kegs… it was really fun… I had a great time… it’s times like this when I think, going out isn’t all that bad… (or it could have been the fact that we had all been drinking for about 4 hours… oops!)
This week has been crazy… I’ve been working and packing… and packing… and packing… trying to get all the calls made for the utilities and all that fun stuff… lining up the carpet cleaner and the lady that’s going to clean the house… tomorrow we get the keys and it’s ours… we’re leasing the house until we close on the 6th… that way we can paint and get it cleaned up… R is going to move stuff this weekend that the movers won’t move… I’ll be painting… I think we’ve got a good plan of action though… I hope so because I certainly am stressed… I’m hoping that once R gets “his” stuff moved out I won’t be so overwhelmed with the packing… packing stinks!!!
I finally found someone that offers high speed internet across the highway… I called at&t because they said they offered it but like I said, wrong side of the highway …you can get dsl from at&t if you live on the other side of the highway… on our side, nope… that doesn’t really make sense to me but no biggie… we can still get high speed internet… when the at&t lady told me that she could offer us dial up I was like, no!! not dial up!!! then I started picturing my life at the house with no internet and it really made me sad… and of course thinking about that made all sorts of other kinds of crazy thoughts pop into my head… I feel better now though…
Anyways, I’m clock watching now… waiting on 5:00 so I can tackle my million mile long to-do list… I’ll be back as soon as humanly possible!!

Thankful

it seems that most of the time the holidays are a stressful time for me... seeing family that i only see a few times a year stresses me out... i always felt like i was meeting new people (and tht really stresses me out)...what i finally realized is that they're my family... and seeing them a few times a year shouldn't stress me out... yesterday was such a good day... thanksgiving was amazing!!! i can honestly say it was one of the best thanksgiving's that i've had... we weren't sure if daddy was going to be here but he got home right around noon... YAY!! we had a new addition to the family in july so precious baby bailey was there... she is too cute!!! and she's so good!!! (to be honest bailey had me stressed though i have no idea why)... and it's always so good to see my brother and his wife... i'm so glad they moved back to texas!!
last night we had a few people over and it was fun!!! normally this too would stress me out but it didn't... r's brother was here... as well as a friend that we've both known forever and then another friend of r's he's known forever and his wife... we drank beer and just hung out (well, mike and i drank red draws, i love a good red draw!!!)... it's good to catch up with people you don't see all the time...
r and i were talking and we both agreed this one of the best and least stressful thanksgivings we've had... i have so much to be thankful for and i need to "know" that... and i think i finally do... it's almost like i finally understand... my life is filled with good things and good people... i realize how lucky i am to have such great things in my life... and i need to continue to realize that... not just one day either, every day...

Happy Thanksgiving

Back to Good

Today things are all back to good… I guess I was just tired or something yesterday… after work I went to jw’s and hung out… I’ve been going over there on Friday’s after work… I like it… so I went over there and then came home… today I went to see Mary… I love her… she is the best massage therapist… I made another appointment to go see her the Friday after Thanksgiving… she does such wonders for my stress knots!! So that was awesome… It’s only Saturday night, not even 7:00, and I’ve got all the laundry done as well as payroll and have paid the restaurant bills… YAY!!! I’ve got the rest of the weekend free!!! Tomorrow is the last race this year… Carl can’t win the Cup Championship but that’s ok, he won the Busch Championship!! Go Carl Go!!!
I think yesterday was just a kinda down day… just feeling a bit under the weather… but today I’m feeling so much better!!!

Blah

I am constantly amazed at how fast my moods can change… this week was a really good week… I hadn’t even thought about having a not-so-good day until today…. last night right before R got home I got really tired… like couldn’t even hold my eyes open tired… I got the daily sheet for the restaurant done and crashed on the couch… I vaguely remember waking up sometime later and stumbling to bed… I slept hard all night long but it wasn’t a good sleep… I was restless and kept having really bad night sweats… when I woke up this morning I realized I even forgot to turn my alarm clock on (that never happens)… when I woke up this morning I was tired… I’m still tired… like dead tired… dragging… I have no energy… and I’m freezing… I’m not in a bad mood, I’m just not in a good mood… I’m just here and blah… I don’t know if I’m trying to catch something or what… I just keep closing my eyes and almost drifting off to sleep… at least it’s Friday though!! and I just keep trying to remind myself that tomorrow I get to go see Mary (massage therapist)… she said she will only do my head, neck, and shoulders… that she’s stopping at my bra line because she doesn’t want to mess anything up regarding my back surgery… I go back to the doctor the Tuesday after Thanksgiving so hopefully he’ll release me for massages… that would be nice… anyways, it will be nice to have her work on my neck, shoulders, and head… I have lots of nice stress knots that I grew just for her to work on… I hate to wish time away but I’m ready for 5:00!!

Very True

Still Smiling

i got off work early today to go meet our realtor and the inspector... i had to stop by the house before i went out to i.p. (my capris had a blow out- i'm blaming it on the washer/dryer; they didn't have a hole in them when i wore them last, at least not that i noticed)... sorry, i'm getting way off topic here... ok, where were we... oh yeah, the blow out... so i came home and changed into some shorts (it was 86 here today, it was 68 this morning when i woke up- we've had the windows open forever it seems like)... ok, so i get home and there's a box on the porch... and it's not just any cardboard box, it's a pretty cardboard box... it has pears and confetti on it... my first thought was, i wonder if ups dropped this off at the wrong house... but no, my name was on it... so now my curiosity is killing me!!! i go inside, acknowledge the kitties but they aren't lavished with attention like normal... so now their curiosity is up... we all go into the kitchen and i finally found the scissors that i so cleverly hid for the open house... inside is the most beautiful gift basket from harry and david!!! it has pears, nuts, cheese, and moose munch (chocolate!!) in it!! Gina and Kim, my blog sisters, thank you so much!!! you two are so incredibly sweet!!! i absolutely love it!!! i've been smiling all afternoon because of it!! this means so much to me!!! sorry about the butchered pictures, they don't do the basket any justice!!

p.s... the kitties can't get enough of it either... the handle is kinda ridgy and it's like their own personal head & ear scratcher... they say thank you too!!!

More Good Things

It was a good weekend… it was so nice not to have anything to do… well, there’s always stuff to do but nothing pressing that we had to get done… so we didn’t do much… Saturday night I went out to eat with jw and some girls I used to work with at cingular (now at&t)… I might not have had a whole weekend away but dinner with the girls was really good… I got to see a couple of friends I haven’t seen in years!
The inspection on our “old” house was Friday and we haven’t heard anything back about anything he wants (or needs) to get fixed… I’m taking that as a good sign… today is the inspection on the house in i.p… I’m leaving work early today to go meet with the inspector at the end of the inspection to see what he says… I’ve got my fingers crossed it’s good news!!! If all goes well I’m going to maybe go to the store tonight on my way home and look at paint chips… I love to paint!! I’ve got my camera with me too so hopefully I can remember to take some pics… there are some on the realtor’s website but I was going to take some more…
The restaurant seems to be doing better and that’s always good…
On a totally different note, I got on the scale this morning and woah… I mean!! I knew I had gained some weight back but I had no idea how much… I have so got to start watching what I eat!!! And walking… to be honest I haven’t been walking at all… I know that would help with my back and with my weight… I’m just not really feeling the desire to do it though…
My back is good… I have some discomfort when I sneeze and cough (and lately that’s been all the time- the weather is crazy here!!) but I think that’s only because it’s so forceful… R told me, don’t sneeze so hard… I have no idea how to do that… if I try to hold back it hurts too… so I would say that I am pain free!!! No more back pain!!! And that is amazing!!! I go back to the dr on the 27th… we’ll see what he has to say… hopefully I’m getting to the end of wearing the back brace!!!
Life is good… I just need to stay positive!!!

The single biggest hurdle that prevents people from trying things that they would really love to try..... is fear of failure. Successful people embrace risk instead of run from it. Successful people also fail many times along the way..... sometimes one time right after another.
"Failing forward" is learning how..... when things don't go your way.... to just take a breath, regroup, and bounce back higher and harder.
With the words "failing forward" imprinted in your mind, when those inevitable failures happen (and they will.... the more and more chances you take), you'll always be reminded that you're not taking a step backwards when you fail... you're taking a step forward, towards your goal.
It's okay to fall down five times...just as long as you get back up at least six times. And every time you get up, you'll be stronger, wiser, and better suited to take on the next challenge.

Good Things

Good news!! R and I are in contract officially as of Tuesday night on our “old” house… the guy from the showing made an offer, we countered, and he accepted… his inspection is tomorrow morning at 8:30 so let’s hope all goes well!! we’re waiting on our guy to sign the new contract on the house in I.P. and then we’ll be in contract and we’ll set up our inspection… technically we were/are in contract on the one in I.P. but since there were so many changes on the old contract they drew up a new one… so, tentatively our closing date on both houses is December 6th!! YEAH!!! if all goes well we could be in our new house by Christmas!!!
Which brings me to my next thought… the holidays… Thanksgiving is two weeks away from today… I can’t believe it!! I talked to my brother today and him and his wife will be here for Thanksgiving! I’m really excited because they weren’t here last year!! It will be so nice to have everyone here together… and then comes Christmas… now I’m back to the age old question what to do for Christmas gifts?!?! Money is tight this year (no surprise there) so I’m really trying to be creative… any ideas?!?! Momma and Daddy loved the mugs that I had made with pics of Mazzy and Murphy on them last year… I must say they are pretty cute!! ideas anyone??
The trip to Port Aransas is not happening… I’m so ok with this though… long story short, km wasn’t going because of a death of a close friend… her sister didn’t really want to go and we all know I sure didn’t want to go… but after we found out Tuesday night that our counter offer on our house was accepted I wouldn’t have gone anyways… simply because I’m going to need some time off work to deal with all the house stuff… if I hadn’t had 7 paid weeks off in August and September I wouldn’t mind asking… but since I had all that time off I feel really bad asking for more… all in all though, I’m glad we’re not going… to be honest, I think it would have been more stressful than fun…
My mood is much better and I just need to remember to stay positive… good things are happening!!! I hope (think) this means that things are taking a turn for the better!!

This describes exactly how I feel about Mondays…
R and I had a good weekend… Saturday we packed, cleaned, and he moved furniture… we worked and worked and worked… the house looks so much different… I just hope something happens soon… the new furniture arrangement in the living room isn’t near as comfortable as the old arrangement was… but now we have a better “flow” thru the living room… the open house was a success… our realtor said we had 4 different groups of people show up and each group had at least 3 or more people in it… so that’s always good!! One guy wanted to make an offer but he hadn’t been pre-approved at the bank yet so our realtor took him a loan app from the bank… I’ve got my fingers crossed… at least R and I know that we have done all we can and we did the best we could… we de-cluttered, moved furniture, and cleaned up… maybe something will happen soon…
Daylight savings time… I love it when we “fall back” an hour… it’s much easier for me to get out of bed when the sun’s up… and I love it getting dark earlier… especially when it’s really cold… but man, when the time first changes it takes me a while to get used to it… the kitties too… now I’m hungry at the “wrong times”… my sleep pattern is all crazy… and the kitties, besides them always being crazy, they’re crazier and now their meal times have changed… which only adds to the craziness!!! But we’ll get it all worked out!!
Yesterday was the race at TMS- Texas Motor Speedway… km, her husband, her sister and her husband, and others all go down and camp out… that has to be awesome!!! But the stands hold right around 200,000 people and that’s a whole lot of people!!! They said yesterday that you could fit 52 Texas Stadiums (where the Cowboys play) inside just the infield of the track!!!! Woah!!! That is huge and that is a lot of people… anyways, Carl sucked it up… bad… he had a problem from almost the beginning of the race and they didn’t get it fixed until it was too late for him to recover… there are only 2 races left and it doesn’t really look good for Carl winning the Cup Championship… although he did clench the Busch series Championship this weekend… very nice!!! Way to go Carl!!!
I’m starting to have second thoughts about going to Port Aransas this weekend… things have been pretty good between R and I lately… we had a really good weekend… and as corny as this sounds, I already miss him and I’m not even gone… the only time we’ve spent nights apart (since we met) was the night of our bachelor/ette parties and then when I was in Plano for my back surgery… plus I’ll miss the kitties like crazy!!! I’m not a big being-away-from-home person… I’m very much a homebody (read: more like a socio-phobe)… anyways, right now I’m really not wanting to go… I know it would be really good for me to go and get away but we’ll see what happens… plus, I feel bad leaving R here by himself… I know, I know… what is wrong with me?!?!
The price increase at the restaurant really seems to have helped, so far anyways… now it seems like our main problem is finding a waitress to work from 11-4… I thought that would be one of the easiest slots to fill… apparently I was wrong… last week we didn’t have an 11-4 waitress and right now we’re not sure if we’re going to have one today or what… it seems like it’s always something…
I suppose we’ll just have to see what happens and what this week brings… (hopefully this week is better than last)…

i love this... it is too cute... this was me in the middle of the week...

i am feeling better today... i'm hoping things are on the upswing now!! i just need to work on staying positive and looking at all the good things in my life...

the yard work is done thanks to momma and daddy... my back "instructions" say no yard work for a couple of months... (on the 6th it will have been 3 months!) but they said they had it, lets not take any chances... i have no idea what i would do without them... they are such good parents... so i was packing some more stuff up (i would say de-cluttering but there's so much junk!!)... in between loads of laundry... i've got plans to clean the house today like it's nobody's business!! there are just a few more things i can pack up before i need r's help... so i think i'm off to eat a turkey sandwich and get back to work... i'm kinda getting excited about the open house... i just hope someone makes an offer!!

Stopping By

i'm still here... things are going, some days better than others... the middle of the week was better than monday and better than friday has been so far... i'm not sure if it's my bipolar-ness acting up or if it's just because i'm letting myself get so stressed... but then i wonder, does everyone feel this way or is it just me? do i just not have good coping skills? (well, i know i do need help in that area)... how do other people stay so calm? or at least come across as being calm?
the open house is sunday... r and i have been packing up some of the clutter at the house... he's been moving some furniture around to make the rooms look bigger... tomorrow i'm cleaning the house like there's no tomorrow... the restaurant seems to be doing better since the price increase... things between r and i seem to be getting better for the most part... we still have our days but at least we're working on it...
my back is still doing great!! no pain!!! it's been 3 months since my surgery and my back couldn't be better!!! it was a total success!! and i have realized that it is worth every penny to be pain free!!!
on a better note though, november 9th thru 12th i'll be in port aransas with the girls... there are 6 of us going total... let's just say that there is the potential for drama there... i'm excited though, it'll be really good to get out of town and get away for a few days... and it will give r and i some time and space... which i think we need... i don't consider me going to plano time away really... so i've got my fingers crossed that the open house will go good and that next week will fly by... keep your fingers crossed too...