Well...definitely a snow day here! If you're watching the news you'll see Spokane is setting records with 17 inches of snow in 24 hours. I'd guess we're near 20-25 now. My office is closed, actually nearly every place in Spokane is closed. They said on the news today that the highway patrol does not want to see any cars on the highway.
My dad called this morning and said some chains for my car were on hold for me at Les Schwab, his treat. That was very nice as we were just talking about how we'd better buy some since we're planning to trek home to Montana tomorrow. Nathan and I tag-team shoveled the driveway (we only have one shovel) and managed to get out and to Les Schwab. Our street hasn't been plowed for a while so we were pretty lucky to make it out and around without getting stuck. I did learn from last year's winter in Spokane that I must always carry a shovel around with me as Spokane does not do a very good job prevent people from getting stuck. All I can say is thank God for four wheel drive and an SUV. I'd be in big trouble if I drove a little car!
Nathan got a company-wide e-mail today saying that as per the inclement weather policy at Expedia, all employees are advised to work from home today, due to the 2-6 INCHES of snow Seattle is expecting...I just had to laugh. Poor Seattle needs to learn to work through the snow...we have 2 FEET here! I'm thinking when I move to Seattle I may find myself the only one at work on "snow days" as I will be confused as to why no one else is "braving" the roads...Silly Seattlites.
I wish I could take some pictures but I left my camera at my parents house over Thanksgiving.
We're supposed to have our work Christmas party tomorrow afternoon but I'm worrying it may be cancelled. If it is we'll try to get a head start on the drive home...although right now they aren't really letting anyone cross the state lines so who knows. We may have a little adventure ahead of us! We are bringing all of our ski stuff home so we are guaranteed to have a car full of warm clothes!
18 December, 2008
01 December, 2008
the case of the vanishing garbage can
The town we live in gets very windy at random times of the day. Our's is a new development so there are no mature trees, just little ones held up by posts in everyone's front yard. In this town we all buy our own little garbage cans and the garbage man picks them up one by one and dumps them into his truck. Where I come from the can is huge, provided by the county and the truck has prongs on it to hoist it into the back...all without the garbage man ever getting out. But here it's different.
So anyway, I purchased a nice can from WalMart when we moved here and watched the process play itself out. All went well until our empty garbage can started blowing away as the wind picked up. Since the garbage man comes in the morning and we don't get home until evening, the can sits empty on the street for quite a few hours, just waiting for the wind to blow it away. I have spent many Monday nights searching for it and hauling it back home.
About 2 months ago though it blew away and never came back. I drove around looking for our missing can and never found it. So, we began with a new one and looked down the street every garbage day, wondering if someone had found our can and made it their own.
This morning I started hauling our new can out for garbage day. Halfway down the driveway I noticed a can already on the curb, right in our spot. It was our old can! Lid and all! I ran up to it, took off the lid and found it was full. Strange. I looked around to see if maybe the neighbors had maybe gotten the same one and accidently put it in our spot...Nope, definitely our's.
I decided not to put our other can out because I'd end up paying double for 2 cans. It's not a big charge but our other one was barely full so I opted to wait.
But now I'm curious what happened. I think it's someone else's garbage...If our's was in there for 2 months I would have probably fallen over from the smell and this one wasn't too bad. I only remember seeing Arrowhead brand water bottles in the can...I don't buy them but maybe my roommate does. I would have to rifle through it to see if it was actually our garbage. I think it's someone else's but I don't know why they put it on our curb...maybe so they could have free garbage pick up this week? Who knows?
Of course my roommate believes it's our garbage and someone stole it and went through it all. I just can't live my life in that sort of fear so I've completely ruled that out as even a small possiblity...But she seems convinced. If it could be the case, which it's not, at least I shred my mail.
So anyway, I purchased a nice can from WalMart when we moved here and watched the process play itself out. All went well until our empty garbage can started blowing away as the wind picked up. Since the garbage man comes in the morning and we don't get home until evening, the can sits empty on the street for quite a few hours, just waiting for the wind to blow it away. I have spent many Monday nights searching for it and hauling it back home.
About 2 months ago though it blew away and never came back. I drove around looking for our missing can and never found it. So, we began with a new one and looked down the street every garbage day, wondering if someone had found our can and made it their own.
This morning I started hauling our new can out for garbage day. Halfway down the driveway I noticed a can already on the curb, right in our spot. It was our old can! Lid and all! I ran up to it, took off the lid and found it was full. Strange. I looked around to see if maybe the neighbors had maybe gotten the same one and accidently put it in our spot...Nope, definitely our's.
I decided not to put our other can out because I'd end up paying double for 2 cans. It's not a big charge but our other one was barely full so I opted to wait.
But now I'm curious what happened. I think it's someone else's garbage...If our's was in there for 2 months I would have probably fallen over from the smell and this one wasn't too bad. I only remember seeing Arrowhead brand water bottles in the can...I don't buy them but maybe my roommate does. I would have to rifle through it to see if it was actually our garbage. I think it's someone else's but I don't know why they put it on our curb...maybe so they could have free garbage pick up this week? Who knows?
Of course my roommate believes it's our garbage and someone stole it and went through it all. I just can't live my life in that sort of fear so I've completely ruled that out as even a small possiblity...But she seems convinced. If it could be the case, which it's not, at least I shred my mail.
19 November, 2008
decision made
This morning I scraped my windows in barefeet. It was an interesting sensation running back inside and being unable to feel anything below my ankles. I'm not sure I could complete this task in Montana but I was proud of myself for stupidly doing it in Washington.
Yesterday it seems to have been nearly officially decided that I will be moving to the west side of Washington after graduation. Right now it's a lot safer for us to be somewhere with a little more security than up and moving to a state where we know no one (California), don't have jobs, don't have a ton saved up...So it'll be Washington. I know Nathan really wanted to live in San Diego and he had me pretty sold on the idea. But he is the one who said he thought Washington would be better and I am proud of him for making a very hard but responsible decision.
I could have gone either way so I was waiting for him to wear the pants in this decision.
And now...I am thinking extremely seriously about buying a home after graduation instead of throwing away an estimated $1500 on rent each month. I'm hoping because we're exploring this idea now it could be fairly feasible for the near future. We shall see.
In an attempt to save money I am getting my hair cut and highlighted at the beauty school today. I will sign my life away to new students who may or may not leave me with a purple pixie cut.
Yesterday it seems to have been nearly officially decided that I will be moving to the west side of Washington after graduation. Right now it's a lot safer for us to be somewhere with a little more security than up and moving to a state where we know no one (California), don't have jobs, don't have a ton saved up...So it'll be Washington. I know Nathan really wanted to live in San Diego and he had me pretty sold on the idea. But he is the one who said he thought Washington would be better and I am proud of him for making a very hard but responsible decision.
I could have gone either way so I was waiting for him to wear the pants in this decision.
And now...I am thinking extremely seriously about buying a home after graduation instead of throwing away an estimated $1500 on rent each month. I'm hoping because we're exploring this idea now it could be fairly feasible for the near future. We shall see.
In an attempt to save money I am getting my hair cut and highlighted at the beauty school today. I will sign my life away to new students who may or may not leave me with a purple pixie cut.
17 November, 2008
frozen
Recently I came to the realization that nothing in the freezer belongs to me. Well, except one container of ice cream and one frozen pizza. Other than that it is all my roommate's. This bothers me for two reasons: 1) There is no room for my stuff even if I wanted anything...which is an issue I'm sure could be worked out if said space was actually needed. 2) I have no food on days like today when it's already late and I just want something easy. Or even hard, whatever, just some FOOD. I am craving corn right now...and have none. Stir fry...not going happen. Chicken or some other sort of MEAT? Nothing. How did I let this happen? I'll tell you: graduate school. I don't have time for food. I have time for sandwiches or soups that can be quickly tossed into my backpack for later. I have time for a bowl of ice cream simply because I'm exhausted at the end of the day and it's all I'm craving. Oy.
I would go to the grocery store right now and stock up simply because I don't want to find myself empty-handed the next time I reach into the freezer...But I'm not going to. Class got cancelled tonight and for once I just want to enjoy this thing called "free time" at home.
I want to make a bunch of good stuff and freeze it. Then it can be easily accessed for a 30 minute or less meal. I like those meals. I can't even tell you how badly I want the next 6 months 3 weeks and 6 days to pass so my life can finally fit into the semi-normal category.
My dog smells like dirt but there is something completely endearing to me about this smell. It makes him seem ten times cuter all of a sudden. I don't know why. Lately I've found myself loving him more than I thought possible. We might have to board him for a few days around New Year's and I actually got a little verklempt when I started thinking about leaving my baby there...when did I become this type of pet owner? I didn't love him like this when I went to clean up my car yesterday and could not even begin to get all of his stupid white hair out of there...And his nose smudges all over the window and his slobber on the dashboard. Why do I love him so much?
I would go to the grocery store right now and stock up simply because I don't want to find myself empty-handed the next time I reach into the freezer...But I'm not going to. Class got cancelled tonight and for once I just want to enjoy this thing called "free time" at home.
I want to make a bunch of good stuff and freeze it. Then it can be easily accessed for a 30 minute or less meal. I like those meals. I can't even tell you how badly I want the next 6 months 3 weeks and 6 days to pass so my life can finally fit into the semi-normal category.
My dog smells like dirt but there is something completely endearing to me about this smell. It makes him seem ten times cuter all of a sudden. I don't know why. Lately I've found myself loving him more than I thought possible. We might have to board him for a few days around New Year's and I actually got a little verklempt when I started thinking about leaving my baby there...when did I become this type of pet owner? I didn't love him like this when I went to clean up my car yesterday and could not even begin to get all of his stupid white hair out of there...And his nose smudges all over the window and his slobber on the dashboard. Why do I love him so much?
20 October, 2008
towed
Damn my car. I stayed late at work and decided to just go straight to class instead of head home in between. I was on the phone with my brother as I walked out the door and closed the locked door behind me before realizing I didn't have my keys with me. Our office is locked three doors deep so there was no way back in and we were closed...So the one person I think was there was definitely uninterested in answering my pounds on the door. Luckily I have a spare key stuck under my car so I got it out and decided I'd just get the rest of my keys in the morning. But as I turned the key, my car refused to start. Ughhhh. It was turning over but not starting completely. The lights and radio would all come on but no car.
I called AAA and they sent someone to jump me but clearly it wasn't a battery problem. So he suggested I call AAA back for a tow truck. Ughhh. I waited two hours for all of these people to come and go. Luckily my roommate came to get me and kept me warm in her working car. I had it towed a few blocks to the Toyota service department which I'll call in the morning to find out how many more dollars I can shell out for this thing. I JUST got it back Sunday after having the brakes fixed for at least $450. This is killing me. My dad said the engine looked like a 90 year old engine too so my grandpa cleaned it for me. What the helllllll. I just want a brand new car that works exactly as planned. It's not even like my car is old. It's a 2001. Our 1993 van never had any problems even close to this when I was driving it. Crap.
Our office does emergency car repair loans for our clients. I may be applying for one myself. Kill me now.
I called AAA and they sent someone to jump me but clearly it wasn't a battery problem. So he suggested I call AAA back for a tow truck. Ughhh. I waited two hours for all of these people to come and go. Luckily my roommate came to get me and kept me warm in her working car. I had it towed a few blocks to the Toyota service department which I'll call in the morning to find out how many more dollars I can shell out for this thing. I JUST got it back Sunday after having the brakes fixed for at least $450. This is killing me. My dad said the engine looked like a 90 year old engine too so my grandpa cleaned it for me. What the helllllll. I just want a brand new car that works exactly as planned. It's not even like my car is old. It's a 2001. Our 1993 van never had any problems even close to this when I was driving it. Crap.
Our office does emergency car repair loans for our clients. I may be applying for one myself. Kill me now.
19 October, 2008
doggy door
This blog is a terrible representation of the blogging I actually do. I know I keep saying I'm going to cut and paste from my regular (and unaccessible by people I know...because sometimes it's easier that way) blog and put them here. And I really am going to make a point to do that now.
My mom came over this weekend and gave me back my car-brakes fixed. I have no idea how much these new brakes are costing since my dad paid and I will pay him back. I want to just get it all paid for fast so I'm not having debt looming over me...But then again having that extra money in my account is always nice too...
I went to PetSmart this weekend to try and find a doggy door for my son. They were $189 and looked a bit difficult to install myself. Nathan is insisting on buying it himself anyway but I thought I could at least look. I think we'll try for some cheaper alternatives at Home Depot but we need something soon! I know it's bad but I leave the sliding door open just enough for him to get out during the day while I'm gone. Not only is this a bit unsafe but it invites all the varmints in the neighboorhood to enter my nice warm home and eat my face when I'm sleeping. I'm not really looking forward to that part.
My roommate Alisha and I are becoming Girl Scout leaders. I'm stupid for adding another thing to my full plate but I can't help but think this one will be a fun one. And I'm hoping it comes with cookies...
I'm trying to preoccupy myself until noon so I can eat my leftovers from Tomato Street (please eat there if you ever visit Spokane: my most favorite Italian food ever) but I don't know how much longer I can wait. I have a thing about eating lunch at noon instead of earlier. I think if I eat earlier I just keep snacking versus just waiting and eating the meal a little later. I don't know if it works at all but let me believe it does.
This weekend I decided if faced with the option I would take choose school ending tomorrow versus a million dollars. I think we're just over 7 months and 3 weeks away from the end but I am SOO ready to be out of school and into the world. Plus it comes with finally living in the same town as my boyfriend and making a living wage instead of being a poor college student...Those things are worth way more than $1,000,000 to me. Please come quickly.
My mom came over this weekend and gave me back my car-brakes fixed. I have no idea how much these new brakes are costing since my dad paid and I will pay him back. I want to just get it all paid for fast so I'm not having debt looming over me...But then again having that extra money in my account is always nice too...
I went to PetSmart this weekend to try and find a doggy door for my son. They were $189 and looked a bit difficult to install myself. Nathan is insisting on buying it himself anyway but I thought I could at least look. I think we'll try for some cheaper alternatives at Home Depot but we need something soon! I know it's bad but I leave the sliding door open just enough for him to get out during the day while I'm gone. Not only is this a bit unsafe but it invites all the varmints in the neighboorhood to enter my nice warm home and eat my face when I'm sleeping. I'm not really looking forward to that part.
My roommate Alisha and I are becoming Girl Scout leaders. I'm stupid for adding another thing to my full plate but I can't help but think this one will be a fun one. And I'm hoping it comes with cookies...
I'm trying to preoccupy myself until noon so I can eat my leftovers from Tomato Street (please eat there if you ever visit Spokane: my most favorite Italian food ever) but I don't know how much longer I can wait. I have a thing about eating lunch at noon instead of earlier. I think if I eat earlier I just keep snacking versus just waiting and eating the meal a little later. I don't know if it works at all but let me believe it does.
This weekend I decided if faced with the option I would take choose school ending tomorrow versus a million dollars. I think we're just over 7 months and 3 weeks away from the end but I am SOO ready to be out of school and into the world. Plus it comes with finally living in the same town as my boyfriend and making a living wage instead of being a poor college student...Those things are worth way more than $1,000,000 to me. Please come quickly.
14 October, 2008
tired
It's 8:00pm and I am so excited for bed. I did the reading for one of my classes so I feel like I've put in enough time on school work and can call it a night. I plan to crawl into my bed with the dog and a magazine and see how long my eyes stay open. I have no idea where the tiredness came from.
I interviewed for my job today and I'll find out tomorrow what they decided. Everyone has already told me I "don't need to worry" so I'm not. But I would still just like it to be confirmed that I'm a regular employee now and not temporary.
My friend Whitney was in town with her husband so we had lunch together. She is part of my group of high school best friends so I was so excited to see her. That group of friends was the best I've ever had so being with her made me miss it all. Her poor husband had to sit and listen to us talk about who's doing what as far as high school classmates go but he was a good sport. Seeing my married friends always makes me want to fast forward life though. Even though I'm working my master's I feel like I'm behind the times and still in school compared to others who are advancing their lives. It's dumb I know but I think I'm just sick of school!
My mom is coming here this weekend to trade cars. When I went home for my great grandpa's funeral I took my car in to have the tires rotated and was told the rear brakes were so bad I needed to have them fixed before I could drive my car. Because I was there for such a short amount of time my dad insisted I leave the car there and take a different one. Thus, I headed home in soccer mom style (mom's van). I have no idea how much all this is going to end up costing me, especially since the realized the front brakes are a mess too. I think the parts are about $450 and then my grandpa put them in. Even so, the last thing I want to do is spend any extra money on this stuff... Ugh. It was charged to my dad's account with the mechanic though and he said there isn't a rush to pay him back, so that helps. I'm thinking half now and half a little later will at least be a little more manageable.
This means no seeing Nathan this weekend and I am missing him like crazy...But I think we can manage. This weekend together was a good one, another reminder of how head over heels I still am. I love that feeling. Nine months this weekend and it's still there, life is good.
Tomorrow when I go to the gym I'm getting signed up for spinning classes and then preparing to sweat my ass off 3 days a week during my lunch time. I will come back to work red-faced and sweaty but I'm going to get a workout and get my money's worth
I interviewed for my job today and I'll find out tomorrow what they decided. Everyone has already told me I "don't need to worry" so I'm not. But I would still just like it to be confirmed that I'm a regular employee now and not temporary.
My friend Whitney was in town with her husband so we had lunch together. She is part of my group of high school best friends so I was so excited to see her. That group of friends was the best I've ever had so being with her made me miss it all. Her poor husband had to sit and listen to us talk about who's doing what as far as high school classmates go but he was a good sport. Seeing my married friends always makes me want to fast forward life though. Even though I'm working my master's I feel like I'm behind the times and still in school compared to others who are advancing their lives. It's dumb I know but I think I'm just sick of school!
My mom is coming here this weekend to trade cars. When I went home for my great grandpa's funeral I took my car in to have the tires rotated and was told the rear brakes were so bad I needed to have them fixed before I could drive my car. Because I was there for such a short amount of time my dad insisted I leave the car there and take a different one. Thus, I headed home in soccer mom style (mom's van). I have no idea how much all this is going to end up costing me, especially since the realized the front brakes are a mess too. I think the parts are about $450 and then my grandpa put them in. Even so, the last thing I want to do is spend any extra money on this stuff... Ugh. It was charged to my dad's account with the mechanic though and he said there isn't a rush to pay him back, so that helps. I'm thinking half now and half a little later will at least be a little more manageable.
This means no seeing Nathan this weekend and I am missing him like crazy...But I think we can manage. This weekend together was a good one, another reminder of how head over heels I still am. I love that feeling. Nine months this weekend and it's still there, life is good.
Tomorrow when I go to the gym I'm getting signed up for spinning classes and then preparing to sweat my ass off 3 days a week during my lunch time. I will come back to work red-faced and sweaty but I'm going to get a workout and get my money's worth
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