Feeling Better

Today I feel much better than I have in the past couple of days. The only downside was yesterday when I had to push my truck up a speedbump and a small incline because it decided to die on me. Fortunately it was payday, so I was able to afford the new battery I needed. Since I didn't have a vehicle at all, I had to walk to the nearest auto supply store (it's only about a block and a half away) and walk back with the battery. For the record, those things are really heavy! I installed the battery myself (with the help of a maintenance guy who almost had the right tool. I needed a socket wrench, but the pair of vice-grips he had in his toolbox did the trick). I started up my truck and took it for a ride around the block to get everything moving again.

Himself and I actually have two days off next week, but Tuesday I'm starting my project (that reminds me, I need to get some more film), and Thursday he has his meat-cutting class. I would postpone my photography, but I only have two weeks in the darkroom. The photo instructor told me that was as long as he could give me without getting into trouble. I still plan on spending as much time with Himself as possible next week (although he has his vacation in about two weeks, so that will be nice).

Right now there is an irritating small child humming loudly (and very off key) on the other side of the table I'm working on. I tried the shushing noise, but I think she's wearing headphones. It's the same song, over and over again. Thank god she left. It actually wasn't a small child like I thought, but a woman in her twenties or thirties.

I still don't feel 100% better (which may account for my slightly grumpy mood), so I think I'll wrap it up here and shop for my manager's baby shower gift.

M

Sick and Tired

Yesterday my immune system decided to take a vacation. I'm not sure where I got the cold, but right now I feel like I've been hit by a train, then pissed on by a dog for good measure.

I don't like being sick.

Yesterday started out fine, but by the middle of the day, I started noticing that my sinuses were really getting the better of me. I was sneezing constantly (The Cousin and I went to a favorite store last night, and he kept trying to bless me every time I sneezed. I told him to give up), and this morning I woke up with the urge to go back to sleep. I think I even fell asleep in my math class for a minute or so. I'm hoping that I start feeling a little better by the time I have to go to work, so I think I'm going to take a nap and some kind of cold syrup.

I always feel bad for Himself when I'm sick, because I tend to get a little grumpy. I growled at him when he turned on the light in the bedroom (I was trying to get some sleep), I think I snarled at him when he tried to take some of the blankets (when I'm sick, I get really warm, then really cold pretty quickly), but I'm not sure. I get really listless when I don't feel well, so he is wonderful enough to take care of me. The cats think it's great that Mommy is sick. I don't move very much when I'm sick and sleeping, so Miss Thang has a warm place to sleep (usually if not right on top of me, then right by my legs). Little Princess gets a little frustrated because I'm not awake enough to let her under the covers where she likes to sleep, so she watches over me on my pillow. It's nice to fall asleep to her rumble-purr.

Well, that's about it right now. I think I'll go to sleep until I have to go to work.

M

Cell Phones and Smokers

College is an interesting place. Most instructors don't allow cell phones in class. I did have one instructor (my Norse God math instructor) who didn't care if you brought your phone to class, and encouraged the rest of the class to listen in on the conversation. I think this was more of a deterrent than anything else. Students either turn off their phones or switch them to silent mode for class, but the second they're away from the building, the phones come out and the cigarettes are lit. People are so attached to their phones it's kind of sad. I have my cell phone, but I really don't use it that much. I use it to call long distance, and to call someone to let them know where I am (if I'm meeting them somewhere). There are people out there who use their phones as life-lines, desperately trying to stay connected to something.

Unfortunately people don't have the same courtesy in the libraries around here. At school, you can count on having at least five separate cell phones go off at any given time. The public libraries have a new policy that prohibits the use of cell phones while in the building, but people look past the rather large sign and answer their cell phone anyway. If people bring their attention to the sign, they hang up the phone and say something like 'whoops, wasn't supposed to do that, was I?'. I have one word for those people: Duh.

Washington State has passed a new(ish) law that states that people can't smoke within 25 feet of doorways in public places. My college has marked these spots (or posted signs telling people that they can smoke next to the garbage cans, rain or shine), and as soon as people get into these areas, they light up, talking and smoking at the same time. I'm surprised that some of the people I go to school with can accomplish this. Some of them will just stand in the middle of the walkway, smoking, talking, and drinking their coffee (that has got to be a funky taste), but most of them will go with the flow or move off to the sides. I have nothing against smokers (if they choose a premature death, then so be it) even though I think it's a disgusting habit (although I can think of far worse habits to have), and I even have no problems with cell phone users (but they are getting out of hand). It's the people attached to the cigarette and cell phone I have the problem with. We get parents coming in at work, yakking away on their phone, trying to give us information and talk to their friend about their crazy, drunken weekend at the same time. They're talking to their friend at the top of their voice because we play music in the lobby and it gets pretty loud in there when there are a lot of people. There have been times when my co-workers and I will ignore a customer on their phone and help the next person. If someone raised a stink about it, we just smile and tell them that we didn't want to interrupt their conversation.

The look on their faces is priceless.

M

New Quarter

My first day of math class was today, and the instructor seems pretty cool. He's not like my last math instructor (the Norse God), but he seems nice enough. When I first saw him, I thought he was one of the students (just a very tall student nearly right out of high school). I think he's either in his late twenties or early thirties, but he looks about my age. No homework, ever, in that class (he doesn't want to spend all his time grading papers), but we are encouraged to do some practice problems in each section. We'll have quizs about twice a week, and he says he makes the quizs harder than the actual test. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the first day of kick boxing, and it's also my first day off this week. I arranged that with my manager at work, since I'm not sure how the kick boxing is going to effect (or is it affect? I can never tell those two apart) me. Every Tuesday and Thursday I'll have off, and I'm not going to work past about 8pm. That will probably change closer to the holidays, but for right now, it's nice.

Himself and I have been talking about children a lot more, and we may actually have a name picked out if we ever have a girl. The boy name was easy. My manager is almost due (if you ask her, she's ready now), but she and her husband have yet to settle on a first name. They have a middle name, but for now he is known as Bean.

Yesterday was a tough night at work. We were booked solid, and people were still trying to get in. We even had one woman gripe about not being able to get her pictures taken right then, even though the coupon she has said 'no appointment necessary'. My other manager (I have about three of them, one main manager and two assistants) had to explain to her that we usually do take walk-ins, but there were two other people on the list ahead of her, and all our apointments were coming in. She kept asking if the other walk-ins were there in the store, and my manager had to explain to her that we call them to let them know that we can take them in the order they come in. I think we had only a couple of no-shows yesterday. I'm not sure why the weekends are so busy now, since there is only one holiday coming up, but it's not for another month. People are also starting to make apointments for November and December. Scary!

I'm hoping to talk to the photo instructor about using the darkroom at school to work on my project. I want to be able to enter something for the Fair next year, and I want to enter into a couple of other contests. That means I have to get some models together to talk about the details.

Well, that's it for now.

M

P.S. I apologize for any possible spelling mistakes, the spell check isn't working on my computer. ::Grrrrr::

Music to listen to

My Jay Atwood cd finally came in, and I have been happily listening to it every time I get into my car. Himself isn't a big fan of the 'new age' music, so I try to keep it away from him as much as possible. Evanesance has a new cd coming out in a couple of weeks (the first single off the cd is pretty good, but not as dark and moody as the first cd), and there are no good concerts at the fair this year. Himself was complaining all the way home a couple of days ago when he found out about the concerts. I told him to go to the fair and have a good time anyway.

The girlfriend of one of my co-workers is listening to the Harry Potter books, and she was griping about how the seventh one isn't out yet. Every time she comes in to visit we talk about the books (this is her first 'listen through', so I have to be careful about what I say) and our theories on how it will end. She already knew that J.K Rowling was thinking about killing Harry off in the last book (I hope she doesn't, since it would totally screw up my theory), but she doesn't know about some of the other things.

Well, I should get going now. I have to change my clothes for work, and I still want to get a smoothie before I start my shift. Mmmmm a Peanut-butter mood smoothie with energy and burner boosts. It's actually better than coffee (which is saying something, since I love my white chocolate mochas).

M

Right around the corner

Fall is coming (as I've mentioned in another post), and with that means shorter days and longer nights. Pretty soon I won't be seeing much daylight (wake up before the sun is up, go to school, go to work, go home and go to bed), so I have been soaking up as much sun as possible. Himself keeps teasing me about being solar powered, but I don't care.

Work has slowed down now that the contest is over. In fact today we only have about five appointments in the book, and only a couple of walk-ins. I've been trying to find a slow day to organize the lab, so that might be what I do tonight.

Himself is planning on going to The Fair on Tuesday (his only day off this week), but since I have to work every day until Thursday, I won't be joining him. That's okay (although I do enjoy going to the fair and riding the roller coaster), but that also means that I probably won't see him when I get off work (depending on the time you leave the fair, traffic sucks big time). Oh well.

Some happy news, Himself has finally decided that we can start trying to have a baby in about a year and a half. That's right around the time his apprenticeship will be over and he'll be a full meat-cutter. He is taking a class right now for meat cutting, and the teacher told everyone that they should buy and cook every cut of meat their store sells. Himself piped up with 'I have a slight problem with that because my wife is almost a vegetarian!' The class shared his woe (there is no doubt that Himself is a meat-eater, and so is the majority of his class), and I guess the teacher just laughed.

The girls are doing fine, they sleep next to each other now, and sometimes I'll catch them bathing each other when they think no one is watching. Miss Thang is getting a little bigger, and Little Princess is finally loosing some weight. We were getting a little worried since she was having a hard time jumping onto the window sill from the bed.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll probably have more tomorrow.

M

Hard day

Monday was a tough day for work. If I recall correctly, last year was tough too. It wasn't because of 9/11 or anything like that (or maybe it was. Maybe it's the whole full moon theory. People act crazy on full moons and 9/11). We were booked solid through the morning, and we still had people coming in, begging to get their pictures taken. We had to tell them that it would be at least a 2 hour waiting period (that was made longer since our machine was deciding to take a day off). Some were okay with that, but most of them were a little angry ("We came all the way down from X city! We have to get these pictures today!"), and they let us know just how angry about the wait they were.

It's the last days of our contest, and Saturday is going to be really busy! Saturday is the last day of the contest, and most of the parents of the 'Little Darlings' waited until the last minute. We're still getting calls for a morning appointment on Friday or Saturday. Sorry, not going to happen.

I'm supposed to have a 'conversation' with Former Big Green Friend (as far as I know he is still big and green, but he is no longer my friend. Himself is still willing to hang out with him, but I'm not. Long story), but we're not sure when. Himself is the only person FBGF will talk to (at least on-line), so I have to wait until he's off work before he can check his e-mail to find out the day and time. We were supposed to talk yesterday, but FBGF said that he didn't know how to get to the meeting place (he's been there several times, but whatever). Ug. I really hate drama.

Miss Thang has taken to sleeping on top of me when I go to bed (she'll actually wait until I go to bed sometimes. Other times she'll sleep on my side of the bed and wait for me), and Little Princess likes the box that Himself used to get an X-Box home. He got the X-Box from a co-worker who got the newest one. He just gave it to Himself (actually there were two consoles, so we gave Cousin one of them), and now the cats have a new place to sleep and play. Miss Thang likes to 'hunt' Little Princess (it's not that hard to hunt something that doens't move much) while she's in the box, and Little Princess likes to sleep in it.

Just the other day one of my co-workers did a sitting with three kids and 10 puppies. They were all so cute! There were a bunch of poses that I thought were fantastic, but the mom only got a couple of pictures (they weren't keeping any of the puppies). Still, we get to use the pictures in our store.

Well, that's about it for today. Payday is coming up, so I get to buy my math book (school starts in about two weeks) and my clothes for Kick-Boxing. Whee.

M

My Scottish/Irish Roots

During one visit to the Manor, Mom and I got into a heritage discussion. I was under the impression that we were mostly Irish (being special, I am also half Norwegian. The Minions are not), but I found out that I'm also Scottish. That made Himself happy, and now he is bound and determined to find my clan's tartan so I can wear it proudly next year at the Scottish Highland Games and Clan Gathering. I actually have two clans, since I am part Irish, so I have to figure out a way to put both tartans on (probably just on a scarf or something to hold my hair back). I always felt a little out of place at the Highland Games, since I didn't think I had a clan (I'm still not sure if I have a clan at the games or not, but it'll be fun to check), but now I know I do!

Miss Thang is finally done with her second heat (this one was a lot shorter than the first one, but I still don't have the money to get her fixed until Himself gets paid), and now she sleeps on top of me at night. This usually isn't so bad, since I don't move around that much, but when I do, she digs her (recently clipped) claws into the blanket to let me know just how unamused she is.

Himself is working almost 50 hours this week (I think I mentioned this before), and he's already feeling it. We both have tomorrow off, so we plan on spending it doing nothing. Actually we're going to swim with the Cousin, but for the most part, we have no major plans.

Well, that's about it. I'll try to post again soon. School starts soon, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Even the Kickboxing class!

M

Whole new look

I recently got contacts again (the last time I wore them was in high school, and they were the hard kind), and have been enjoying life without glasses (although I still wear them to work since I'm still not used to the contacts being in yet. I wear them all day on my days off, and I usually put them in after work). I plan on getting my hair cut probably on Wednesday (my hair goes down to almost my lower back right now, and I plan on cutting it so it skims the tops of my shoulders). I like to change my look every once in a while, and right now just feels right. I've let some personal changes happen (Big Green Friend is no longer apart of my social circle), so now a change in everything feels good.

Speaking of change, then nights are getting longer, and there is a slight bite to the night air. Fall is definitely on the way, and I can't wait! Autumn is one of my favorite seasons (the colors, the crisp leaves on the ground) which is why Himself and I got married in October, the very heart of Fall. My quarter starts up soon (just a couple more weeks of being able to stay up late and sleep in the next morning), and hopefully it won't be as hard as I think it will be.

No photography this quarter (as I've already written, I'm taking a math class and a Kickboxing class), but I'm going to tell the head of the photography department about my project, so hopefully he'll let me use the lab anyway. I might have to pay the lab fee, but that's okay. So far, I have three photos mapped out (technically four, since I already had Death done), and I'm hoping to start shooting them soon. I told Little Sis (my main model, since I have regular access to her) that I want to start with The Magician and The High Priestess before school starts up again so I have something to do on my days off (and so I can show them to the head of the photo dept.)

Not much else has been happening. Miss Thang gets fixed on Wednesday (she went into heat again the day before I was going to take her in last time), Little Princess is still a moody teen, Himself is working almost 50 hours next week (the payday will be good, but he is going to be one tired puppy), and work has been picking up (school starting, the holidays coming up, people wanting to get family portraits before members leave for home, ect). I've been working a steady 30 or so hours a week, with only two days off. We're both pretty tired.

The Fair is coming up next week, but Himself and I will probably go the week after that. We might bring some friends (so I have someone to ride the rides with. Himself will only go on the roller coaster with me a couple of times before he's done for the year), since that's what we do, but we're not sure.

TTFN!

M