(not) Allergy Season

So I went to see my new doctor. I was kind of nervous because I have never met with her before. But she is really great. I am so happy that she was picked as my default because when I went through the doctors to try and see if I wanted to pick anyone else none seemed better or worse then her, so I stayed with her. And then I made my appt. I am so glad I didn't switch it around. Anyways, then I went and saw my new allergist, who I really like as well :) And I found out some things about my allergies :) I now carry an Epi-pen in my purse at all times, and I can eat cheese!!! Wahoo. I am taking allergy meds now and am using a nasal spray. It seems like I am getting better since I started on my new meds, but I am still getting really bad headaches still. Today today today... I made some cute Christmas goodies (check out my craft blog for photos!) and I made myself a yummy gourmet lunch! Its potatoes and Chicken with a garlic and mushroom butter :) Delicious!



ttyl!

tired and such

Well hello to whoever still reads this blog. I have really really really been wanting to talk to someone lately. And it seems that I cannot find the words to say, or I say too much, or whoever I get a hold of can't talk long. So I thought I would update my blog. I have been really tired lately from lack of sleeping. And I have been sick a lot lately. So the two of these combined usually doesn't make me want to blog for some reason. I am actually sick right now, a headcold. I saw my new doctor for the first time today, but not for the headcold. I saw her for a normal checkup and to pretty much just meet her. I also explained to her all the health problems I am having lately with not being able to have milk, soy milk, or rice milk. And the issues that I have if I do have any of those. So she referred me to their Allergy Specialist whom I am going to see tomorrow at 3pm! I get to have lots and lots of needles stuck into my lower and upper arms for up to a couple of hours, I am so so excited! But seriously I am excited to finally have the test done and taken care of. Now I can know for sure what I am allergic to. And maybe I can start feeling relatively normal :) That would be mighty nice. All of my Christmas cards are finished and in their envelopes with a photo of Jake and I in each one! All that's left is to personalize each one with who it is going to and address the envelopes. I'm so happy to have those finished and ready for me. I have also finished my best friends Christmas gift, and my cousin's Christmas gift. Next is my mom's... But I haven't even started that one yet. I need to wait until I get paid again so that I can finish buying things for it. Yesterday I completely cleaned our room. Every nook and cranny. It looks the nicest it has looked since we moved in! I have to say I am pretty proud of myself for doing it. Now if only I could get my phone to stop having issues with me! I think its going to crash here pretty soon. And I am NOT looking forward to that. I mean, it will be nice to have a new phone. But this one isn't even that old, just over a year. So I will most likely get the newer version iPhone which will be nice, it is cheaper to purchase, but the monthly plan in more expensive :( So I don't know... I haven't been doing TOO much scrapbooking lately because of the Christmas things, and because of being sick. But I did make two pages for my 8x8 album, that was fun :) Not much else is going on. We had a really great Harvest Dinner at our church. I helped prepare for that. I was at the church getting things ready for four days before hand. But it turned out looking (and tasting) so so great! Want to see some photos of the whole thing? OK! heehee...

the little white pumpkins I carved and put little candles in


the 6 ft tree I drew, colored, and decorated


flower #1


flower #2


flower #3


the "red" table


the "yellow" table


the "praise the Lord" banner I made (those leaves on the end were later taped back up...)


one of the larger orange pumpkin candle holder things with the flowers in it


one of the larger white pumpkin candle holder things with the flowers in it and lit


the dessert table! (sorry its a little blurry)


and lastly a photo of me ready to go to the dinner


So I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving season!

I've got bones in my body

you've got eyes in your head" by The 88. Its from a free song on iTunes this week. Interesting... I have to admit that I haven't listen to the whole song yet. So we'll see how I really feel about it. I have been having some issues lately. It seems that I cannot have rice milk anymore as well. I have had some really bad problems with it the last two times I had it, so I am kind of avoiding it until I see a doctor. I want to see an allergist and find out all the things I am really allergic to. And find out why I am having so many problems with other things. So hopefully I will get to one soon. Jake and I are still not in our own place. But its not that bad. The family we are staying with is actually on vacation for the week so I have set up my computer in their nice and sunny kitchen. Its much less gloomy here. My room gets kind of dark unless I open the really heavy curtains and I don't want to brake them so I am just going to use the kitchen while they are gone. I have been working on making my best friends (hey Heaven!) christmas gift this past week. I am pretty excited for Christmas. My next task is to probably get my moms gift or something. I am still making the cards, but I am almost done. I have bought some treats to give away at Christmas time so I need to make little cards or holders for those as well. Its a good thing I like keeping myself busy because theres not really much else for me to do right now other than the little crafts I think of. I have not scrapbooked at all lately. I have photos and I have lots of new products, but I just haven't done anything about it, lol. Maybe tomorrow I will bring some things out here to the sunnier parts of the house and feel more like making something cute. I get so tired and bored in the room sometimes all alone. So I could come out to the kitchen where it is more open and bright and put on some music and feel more inspired. Plus its a new area for me, so maybe I won't get stuck in a rut. We'll see. For now I am listening to my iTunes and blogging :P Today I am supposed to see one of my good friends Bethanne. Its her birthday and she is coming to San Francisco for it. So she said she will visit me a little bit. I haven't heard from her yet today, so I am pretty much just waiting around. I just got done watching last weeks episode of ANTM and WHOA when Tyra announced the last girl the way that she worded it I thought it was the other girl going home until I saw the photo she was holding. I really wanted Elina to stay anyways, so that made me happy. This year is not very captivating to me. But I still really like looking at the photos. Thats my favorite part. I LOVE PHOTOS. Ohhhh I just starting listen to another free song I got from iTunes this week. I really like this song called Be Ok by Ingrid Michaelson. Its got a cute beat to it. Plus I love her song The Way I Am. I just might check out some more music from her in a few minutes :) Well, to be honest, there is not much that I want to say... I am pretty much doing the same things as before. I walk to the library, rent a good book, read the book and either love it or not. I want to Starbucks. I visit a 92 year old lady from my church three times a week. I craft, and drink tea. I have bought two new pairs of jeans since I last blogged. And I bought a pink hoodie. I trimmed my nails short again. Which inspires me to blog and write messages to friends because I am freshly reminded of how nice it feels to type with short nails. I go on walks to get some sun and fresh air. Sometimes I got on a hike, get a movie, buy some chinese or japanese food, watch tv. Just the norm, you know?

~Vanessa

I think I've got you figured out

Hola, I have been so lazy with this blog. I am so sorry to all of my readers! I have been not feeling well off and on for a while now. But I think I am getting better now. I have stopped trying to figure out ways to still have some dairy. Now that I have been off it for a while it just becomes more and more apparent that I cannot have it without getting sick. So goodbye dairy, hello good health! Mmmmm I have recently been guzzling down green tea. So very yummy in the morning! It just makes my morning 'bounce'. LOL, I know that seems silly. But first of all I am a MORNING person. I LOVE walking out into the fresh air bright and early and get going at my day. But then I relax in the evenings. This morning I woke up, got dressed, ironed Jakes work shirt (didn't make him a lunch because we planned on eating with his coworkers today), made myself some iced green tea at home, and then went out into the fresh air and felt so energized! I think everyone should drink Zen green tea in the morning, lol! But seriously, if you like Starbucks tea, you should just buy a box of tea from them and make it at home because its WAY WAY cheaper that way! I can make myself more than 20 cups of tea at home for the cost of 2-3 cups from Starbucks! WHOAAAAA. So yeah I finally got my butt in (sounds likt button, lol) gear and bought the Zen tea and Classic syrup and now I just make it at home. And guess what? It tastes just the same, and better yet, if its too strong or weak or not sweet enough, I can just fix it myself now. So yeah I am happy about that. I also sometimes make vanilla iced coffees at home too. I have been on such a rollercoaster lately. Its not even funny. Happy, tired, anxious, restless, lethargic, worried, annoyed, upset, silly, hyper, creative, stuck.... blah. I finally found a great scrapbooking store here in this area! Well... not really. I have to go to work with Jake if I want to shop there, because its in Berkeley. But its a really cool one. Its called Scrapbook Territory. And they have the store all organized and sorted by colors and themes. Its pretty neat. Plus they have SALE bins, 5 sheets of paper for $1!!! You bet I made out with a stack of sheets! And they are CUTE ones, not some lame ones like most of the ones on sale at Michaels that I usually go to. Now that I know where a scrapbook store is I will probably venture there more instead of Michaels. I really want a watermelon Jolly Rancher right now! Garrrrr. Oh well. I don't really want to buy a whole bag just to get that ONE WATERMELON jolly rancher. But if anyone had an extra one, I would take it, for sure! My scrapbook is coming along nicely. I need to buy some more page protectors. And I want to scrapbook some more photos of me when I was a baby and a little kid. But my parents have them boxed up in storage, so I can't yet. I don't really know when I will be able to actually. Because apparently there is a TON of their things in storage and who knows where the photos are... Over the past few days I have been on the search for a pretty scarf like the one that my best friend Heaven wears. Anything like it. I think that style is so cute. But I have never owned any scarves, so I don't want people to think that I look weird. So I have a hard time picking one out. Plus I don't want to spend that much on it either! I found one today that I LOVED but it was $40, umm I'm pretty sure Jake wouldn't like it if I spent $40 on a scarf! OHHH and by the way, incase you don't know, I GOT BANGS! Here is a photo of what I look like now...



So what do you think? They will stay for a little while, haven't decided if I am going to keep them any longer than it takes for them to grow out. I guess we'll just wait and see. Jake really likes them, so I might keep them at least for a year or so. I really really really want to visit with some of my friends and go to a flea market or thrift store shopping! I have never done either and I think it would be so much fun :) oh my goodness, I wanted to laugh so hard (oh wait, I did) a few minutes ago. When I was parking my car I looked over at the guy in a car three cars over and he was just sitting in his car drinking a gallon of Sunny D. It was so funny looking. Of course it reminded me of Juno. I love that movie :) Speaking of movies, I have really really been wanting to rent some movies and watch them. But it seems like something comes up every single night! Like last night, we had to leave the house with Jakes little sisters because the cops came over to talk to Jakes dad and his other two sons. WONDERFUL. Yeah, I really want to go into how that was and how it made me feel, but the thing is, I don't want to gossip about them on my blog. So we will just say that I was really mad and it just made me very aggravated. Especially because we had to do a "favor" for Jakes dad and that meant that we had to leave for a while, well the whole time the cops were there, and that was annoying to me. Ach, ok I will not talk about it anymore. But lets just say that there have been several things that have been stressing me out lately. AND I NEED TO BUY STAMPS, but they are so expensive now days! The child that Jake and I had been sponsoring for over 2 years moved so we got a new child to sponsor! His name is Si Thuat Ho. He is 5. Here is a photo of him



His mom and dad are farmers. He has 1 brother and 2 sisters. He lives in Vietnam, 149 miles from Hanoi. And I guess he is not even in school yet. So it says that he likes to play hide and seek and he likes to help out around the house. I am happy that he is so young because the probably means that we will get to sponsor him for several years. It made me so sad when I lost Suresh. So hopefully we will get to keep Si for a little longer. I am going to email him a letter today (World Vision prints out a copy of the letter and mails it to his village). Ohhh and the other day I painted my nails like a french manicure but with sparkles..



How do you like it? I really like the way it looks, but it feels kind of thick. So I think I will put some glitter in the polish instead of pouring it onto the polish after its on my nails.

Ok well, I have made this entry pretty long, so I'll sign out for today. I will try to write again sometime soon! Maybe tomorrow, but no promises, I still don't know what I'm doing tomorrow :)

~KISS KISS~ Vanessa

yawn

I cannot believe how long its been since I made my last post! Sorry to anyone who actually reads my blog. I know, I know, I kind of fell of the world for a little while. So what have I been up to lately... Well Jake got his first paycheck! Wahoooooo MONEY. Jake and I went to Antioch to spend some time with our cousins. We were only going to go for Tuesday night through Wednesday evening. But we stayed from Tuesday night until Monday evening!!! Wednesday Heather, Keri, (two of my cousins) and I did a whole day of scrapbooking! It was so much fun. I have never really done a scrapbook like this before and it was so much fun. I will share photos of it on my craft blog in a while. I can only do so much in one evening :) Then on Sunday and Monday we went to Jackson Rancheria Casino!!!!! We had a lot of fun and came out with more money than we went in with, and thats what I call a good trip to the casino! We both had so much fun with our cousins Heather and Robert (married), that we both want to go back and visit again soon! Other than that, I have had some DRAMA... but I cannot blog about it, blah. And I have not really made many cards lately. I've been spending more time reading which is probably why I haven't been bloging as much lately. Oh, and I have FINALLY figured out an ice coffee that I make at home that I like just as much as going to starbucks! That is a HUGE money saver for Jake and I. Because I {LOVE} my iced coffee. And more than I love that, I love VANILLA iced coffee. So today I went down to starbucks and bought a bottle of vanilla :) Now my homemade iced coffees are perfect. I have been thinking about getting my hair cut and maybe getting bangs. We'll see I guess. And I want to go get a manicure done sometime, that'd be so nice. I recently got a lot of new clothes and lost 9lbs! Thats been ther biggest change around here I would say. I got some new shirts and skirts and a dress, and a jean jacket, and some new shoes, and some new jeans! What fun fun fun. Last night Jake took me out for dinner. We went to Red Lobster and we both had the endless shrimp special. Yum yum yum. Then we bought Hero's Season 1. We bought Hero's season 2 a few days ago :) Well I should get going because we are going to have dinner and then go to Bible study :)

strike midnight

So Jake has a job now! I am so happy. We might be able to get our own place by Nov. Plus Jake was able to do some temp work a few weeks ago, so that will help with our bills for this month. He is probably starting work on Monday, one week from now. Once he starts work I am not really sure what I am going to do all day. I am putting off finding a part time job until we get our own place. Because I want to see where we are going to live, and look around there for a job. Since we are in the city, I am really hoping to get a job somewhere that I can walk to. Gas is so expensive! I have been really really tired lately. And I have been irritable, and impatient... bad Vanessa. So I have kind of been in a stinker mood for the past week or two. Still happy sometimes, but kind of just down and not wanting to do much with Jakes family. But I am better now, see :D Anyways, Jake and I have been so blessed, not only recently, but our entire marriage. Right when we are in a spot that we don't know what we are going to do, God blesses us with everything we need and more! There have been times when we didn't know how we were going to make rent, at all, and all the sudden a student loan that we were supposed to get some months before (that we didn't even realize we were missing from back then) shows up as being deposited in our bank account! And then just a few weeks ago we had some bills that we needed to pay and we had no money since Jake was out of a job and I hadn't found one yet either, and one of our elders gave us some money that a family from Michigan sent over to our church for anyone who needed some help! God is so amazing. After Jake got the official offer from his new employers we got a gift of money for work clothes for Jake! So we were able to go out and get him the work clothes that he'll need to start out. Then we can get him some more after he gets paid. Anyways, I am just so thankful for all the gifts that we have been given, and for Gods provision! I have not been crafting too much lately. I think mostly because I have not had a table to do it on. When Jakes family went on a one week vacation I took over their dining room table and made cards all week with the two girls that are staying upstairs with the family Jake and I are staying with. We made so many cards that we ended up going out to the local craft store to get some more cardstock for us! They made such wonderful cards too! I made my first mini craft book with some book marks, mini cards and tags inside. I really like how it turned out. I might make some more as gifts for some other friends. I gave that one to a wonderful woman in our church as a thank you gift for all the hard work she does. I also made some little felt purses/bags for the two little girls to put all their cards in, because they are traveling back to Holland soon and I wanted their cards to stay nice! I will post photos of all my recent creations on my crafting blog :) Well Jake and I are taking the day off from his family. Because I realized that I need a break every once and a while, and I need Jake to take the break with me, otherwise I feel really lonely and lame. So today we are resting together. We have both skipped breakfast in order to have a really nice lunch out together :) And my tummy is GROWLING! So I think its about time to go get that yummy food! TFR! (thanks for reading)
~Vanessa

here's your change

ok so I have more news to tell than I can remember...
Well... Jake is still looking for a job. I have started looking for a part time job as well. The family reunion was so much fun! I met Madeline and Elisabeth my twin 3 year old cousins! At one point in the camping trip all the parents went out for a nice expensive dinner and Tiana (my older sister) and I took out all 17 other kids!!! It was not nearly as bad as it might sound. The only problem we had was the older kids getting a little too loud while we were waiting for the check to come after we finished eatting. But all the little ones were so well behaved! I was so proud of them. And I was SO happy that the parents let us borrow their kids for a nice time out. Many of you who know me know that I LOVE doing things like that. Spending time taking care of kids. Its my thing.
Anyways, I am going dairy free for about five weeks!!! "WHY?!?" you may wonder, well I am trying to find out if the reason I have been feeling sick has been because I am lactose intolerant. I found out that it might run in our family (my grandmother is lactose intolerant). And I have all of the symptoms of it. So we will see. It has been only five days so far, I am going to try to go 3-5 weeks without dairy. And let me tell you its been a little bit of a challenge! I have since realized that I LOVE LOVE LOVE so many things with dairy in them. I never really realized how many things use dairy. I had a hard time finding a loaf of BREAD without milk in it! But most of all I have missed cheese. My husband and I have grown to love lots of cheese... and now I cannot have it. However I have noticed a change in my body. My stomach has felt better, I've lost some weight (!), and my runny nose is not so runny. Perhaps by the full 3-5 weeks most of my health issues will have gone away :) I will let you all know how it goes.
Speaking of all this dairy free stuff... I have since started drinking SOY MILK. To replace the milk in my diet. It seemed to be going well. I didn't mind the taste of it, in fact in some recipes I liked it better with soy milk anyways! I did miss my milk, but it was alright with soy milk. But then last night... I had one of the most firghtening experiences of my life. I had what I believe was an anaphylaxis shock reaction. It was so scary. I'm not trying to just be dramatic, or get attention from my friends. But I really feared for my life for a moment. I couldn't force any air in my throat for a little bit, I just couldn't breath. Finally after I threw up for a minute or two I was able to stand up and gasp in a small amount of air just in time to start throwing up some more. Once I was done throwing up I was still having a very hard time gasping for air. But I was able to breath. Last night when it happened I didn't know what caused it. But the only thing that Jake and I could think of was the half a banana I had had that night, or the soy milk. I assumed it was the banana since I used to be allergic to them. But then today when I had a little more soy (I had just a little to try it again because I was worried) it bothered my thoat again. So I think that I am allergic to soy milk... Tomorrow I will run off to the store to get some rice milk to try. Hopefully my body will react well to it, and that I like the taste of it :)
Ok well I am really tired... and I know there are many more things to talk about.. I'll save them for later! Sorry, I must get some more sleep :)
Goodnight!

sparkle

So as things turned out, Jake ended up going to the A's game! He felt better, and he REALLY wanted to go. I thought he should stay home and rest, but in the end it was up to him. And he wanted to go. So that way I didn't have to take everyone by myself. The game was pretty good, but we lost! Oh well, you can't win them all. Then on Friday all the Rothenbuhler kiddos went to Great America with Monika. Except Micah stayed home sick :( Jake was looking for jobs most the morning and I was making some cards for a friend. Then Jake got a call from a friend of his for an A's players signing in Oakland. So Jake and I took the Muni and the BART (the bus and "subway" type things here) to get over to Oakland and we were there 10 minutes before it was supposed to be over and they were alreay gone! So instead we just went out for lunch with the friends. It was a nice time visiting , but we spent too much money on it all! LOL. We spent $17 on just the Muni and BART in order to get there! Then when we got back Jake did more job searching and I did more card making :) Then today we went to the bbq party for our friend who's baby girl is 1 now! It was fun. I had a yummy burger, some salad, and some potato salad :) Some people played frisbe and football. Even Elisabeth played along! She was so cute trying to throw the frisbe straight! My allergies were really bothering me though! So I pretty much just watched all the action. After the party we had some pizza for dinner and I got Jake to go on a walk with me down to the store to get some Half-Half so I could try out a recipe for 5minute ice cream in a bag! It was SO YUMMY and SO easy! I made two batches, for all the boys that are over playing video games into the wee hours of the night! I took some benadryl tonight, and it didn't work for my allergies. It just made me tired, but restless. Does that make sense? Anyways, tomorrow we have morning service, lunch, a little break, and then evening service! Surprisingly I didn't make anything today in the craft department! Well unless you include the ice cream creations! I don't know if I will tomorrow or not. I have so many cards and letters I want to send to my friends, but I have no stamps!!! Argh... Well its getting really late here for me and I am at the point to where I am not making much sense.. so goodnight and God bless!

coffee grinds

So I think that Elisabeth is the only one that started her morning off the way that she wanted to this morning! She started it off with a cupcake! Of course as soon as Monika saw what she was doing told her that she cannot have that for breakfast. Elisabeth tried to plead her case saying that it was her "after lunch dessert", which Monika simply replied to "but its not after lunch yet, go put it away". I can understand Monika's frustration, the kiddos have been having lots of sweets the past few days. And much of those sweets have been right at breakfast time. Of course it does seem like a great way to start your day ;) Much better then how Jakey started his day! He is sick :( He has thrown up four times so far today! I walked down the street to get him some Gatorade by his request. But he is mostly just falling in and out of sleep sitting up in the living room chair...



Poor guy! And I started my day by waking up alone in the neighbors room. Ok wait, that sounded wrong,... we are staying in the neighbors spare bedroom and since Jake was sick he woke up at 5am and went over to his families house, and I was still sleeping in the neighbors room. So when I woke up I was alone, in the neighbors bed. So yeah. I got up and made the bed and got dressed and went over to the families house. I started getting things taken care of for my community service that I have to do. But after I already made three phone calls and paid $20 to get my papers and community service transfered to San Francisco from Los Angeles I was informed that I would still have to come back to Los Angeles before September 29th (my due date for the amount that I owe) in order to turn in my certificate of completion for the community service. So after I talked to the manager about it some more and found out that I really couldn't just mail the papers there that I had to go in person. So I finished that phone call and got online to find the cheapest plane ticket. And then I was talking to Jake about it and realized that I would also have to rent a car. Then the lady from the Los Angeles community service called me and had my papers transfered to San Francisco (so far I have paid $20 for this) and she told me that at that office they are going to charge me an administrative fee. Which would be at least $30. Ontop of that because I had a snippy judge I had to pay $100 out of my total fine (he didn't want me to be able to pay off the whole thing with community service). So so far we are up to $150. And then to fly there and rent a car it was about $275! So now we are up to $425! And my fine is for $319. And that doesn't even include the gas I will need to get to and from community service and for the rental car in Los Angeles, and for the food that I would need while I was out taking care of all of that. So I called back the courthouse to ask them if once the judge has granted me community service if I can just pay the fine instead. Or if there would be some complications with that. Once I got to the part in the automative message where I could put in that I wanted to talk to on operator I was told that there were 79 other people on hold before me waiting for an operator!!! So I put the phone on speaker phone and make an early Christmas card! What fun that was :) Anyways so I FINALLY got to talk to someone and ask my one little question. And then I had to call back the community service office and ask if they could give me back my $20 since I am not going to go to the San Francisco community office to do the community service anyways. Thankfully the lady there was really nice and refunded me and called me back when it was all done and taken care of to let me know. So we have that all taken care now except for mailing in the check. And I don't know if I can still take traffic school. Because the judge set it up with my paper work so that I would get awarded traffic school if I finished my community service on time. Well now that I am not going to do the community service I don't know if I am going to be awarded the traffic school. ARGH!!! Oh well, I am just not going to worry too much about it. This is life, things like that happen. So we will see if after I send in my check they give me traffic school or not. If not, then oh well. I am pretty much done stressing about it. And while I was taking care of all of this all the ice in my iced mocha that I made this morning had melted and made my drink really watery! So I just dumped that and went outside and took a photo of the cute Christmas card that I made while on the phone so that I could post that on my craft blog over at http://craftsbyvanessarothenbuhler.blogspot.com/ ! Then I went to have some lunch and all the roast beef was gone, and all the chicken was gone! So I had to have a BLT without the tomotoes! But it was alright :) Then I updated my card blog and now this one. It appears that tonight I am taking all the kiddos over to the game since Jake has fallen ill today! So that will be an adventure for SURE!

strawhat shadows

Well we have moved to San Francisco!!! The move was hard, and not too hard at the same time. I got really sore and stiff from all the packing and moving. Then we had to worry about how we were going to move my little aquarium! Because we have to leave on the lights, heater, and filters. So we had to take it in the car with it plugged in. Well thats not too hard, except for the fact that we couldn't take out any of the water or the filters wouldn't work. So we had to get some plummers putty and try to seal the lid on the tank and move it that way. It worked, just barely! towards the end it was leaking water out of a hole in the lid where the cords to the filter and heater go in. Because my husband was driving fast and crazy once we got into San Francisco in order to get to the storage place on time! You see two weeks before the move Jake graduated, but he didn't go to the ceremony. Because...


he officiated his cousins wedding the same day that he was supposed to be graduating! Of course we chose our cousin over the graduation ceremony! We were out of town for the wedding until June 18th and we hadn't packed a box yet at that point! Then the next Monday (one week before our moving day) Jakes younger brother Micah (14yrs old) flew down to help us move. He didn't really help us pack boxes because he didn't know what to do. But he was a big help when it was time to move all the boxes and furniture! So my last day of work was the Friday before our move out day which was June 30th. So over that weekend we just packed packed packed. And on Sunday we went to our church in Long Beach for the last time, and we went to a Dodgers baseball game! It was a fun afternoon but as soon as we got back we had to clean all the carpets and stuff. Then on Monday morning I had to leave from the apartment EARLY to take Jake to get the U-haul and then I had to go to court for a ticket that I had. And I got out of that late, so I had to rush home and help get the rest of the things into the car to leave. Then we were on our way! We have most of our things in storage. And then a few things are here at the Rothenbuhler house! Its not too bad of a squeeze yet because we are sleeping in their neighbors (who also go to our church here in San Francisco) spare bedroom. But in a week or so we are going to have to sleep on the girls bedroom floor on our matress from storage! Then it will get much more crowded! But its been pretty fun so far! We got here late on Monday night and then on Wednesday morning EARLY we left for a four day backpacking trip out in Mt. Shasta! Boy was that fun and hard at the same time. I have never been backpacking. And the pack was so heavy! So part of the way up it was so so tiring. But once we got there and got everything set up it was so beautiful and nice. I love camping with friends and things like that. The fellowship was very nice :) And tomorrow we are going to an A's baseball game! Wahoo. One downer is that I have impetigo right now, which is pretty much open sores on the inside of my nose that hurt really bad, and it spreads and such. I have a cream for it that helps it go away in just a couple of days, but I cannot find it. So we'll see how long it takes for it to go away this time. And until then I will miss my walks with my friend downstairs from the Rothenbuhlers. I FINALLY got my card blog updated with all of the cards that I have made so far! That made me happy. I took most of my cards outside and took photos of them out there because the lighting in the house was really bad. Well, its getting close to dinner time and I am really tired so I might go lay down until dinner is served in an hour or so! I love not having to work, I just don't like not having any money :P Well have a great day everyone and I'll be around again sometime soon!

spider in the corner

well my last week here in Los Angeles is finally here. I am really excited to move. But at the same time so many things are still up in the air! Jake doesn't have a job yet...!!! And so we are moving in with his parents until we can afford to get an apartment of our own. We still haven't packed ONE box yet! We are so bad. But we are starting tonight. Speaking of tonight... tonight Micah my brother in law is flying into Los Angeles to spend our last week here with us :) We plan on going to Malibu once, taking him out for some good food, and we are going to a Dodgers game as well. And hey, if he wanted we could even show him what the inside of a Los Angeles County Courthouse looks like :P Because I have my second court date the morning we are moving! Monday morning at 8:30am. I hope that goes well. As it goes I am going to plead guilty and ask for traffic school and community service. Because if we wanted to fight it we would have to come back for at least one more court apparence. Plus if you want to fight it you have to pay the full amount of the bail until you are able to win the case, if you can win the case. So way too much hassle, I've learned my lesson. I just want it to be done and over with. So thats that. Anyways, moving on. I got to see my dad in sacramento and my dad (in law) in San Francisco on Fathers Day! It wasn't planned out that way, but it was a nice surprise for the day. I have kind of been in a little bit of a crafting funk. Can't seem to kick it. I think once I get settled into our own new place and I can get some nice stamps and papers from this company that I like I will have more to work with. So we'll see. I almost bought some this weekend, but I didn't. For the past couple of days I have been having and on and off again pain in my stomach! How annoying. And my muscles have been SO sore, for what seems like no reason. Jake thought maybe it would help me feel better in general to get out and get some exercise... so we went down to the park and played tennis :) It was a lot of fun. And in the end we tied 3 games to 3 games. it went ME-HIM-ME-HIM-HIM-ME!!! And the last game, that I won, was so much fun! I was so happy to win it :) At first when we were playing I get tired really fast. But as we kept playing and I worked through that tiredness it went away. So that was nice. We had a great time, but this morning my muscles are even more sore! Blech. Another thing. It seems like I have had a runny/stuffy nose for almost six months now! Its so annoying. I have to make sure that I have one of those pocket sixed tissues in my purse at all times! It got worse when we went to San Francisco because of the park right across the street. And its just all together an area I am not used to. And since then I have had bright green snot, which usually means an infection. But why hasn't it gone away?! Also in the past few days my chest (on the inside) has been itching like crazy. And I have a cough. Its a dry cough though. So last night Jake got me a big glass of water to put next to my bedside so that if I needed it in the middle of the night I wouldn't have to get up, he's a sweetheart :) There are SO many people right now that I want to send a card to, it just seems that I don't have the right time or amount of time to do it. So maybe I will just put it off until after we move. Its not like they will even know that I meant to send it sooner anyways. This way its one less thing for me to worry about this week! Wow, my last week of work with the Cokers. They have really been such treasures to me. I know that I am going to cry when I say goodbye to them. And I am going to miss them so much. Life isn't going to be the same not going out for coffee and breakfast every morning with them! Jack is a really great guy/old man. And I hope that he gets a lot more years out of life! Peggy, well I think its time for me to leave according to her anyways. She is getting frustrated with me being there for some reason. I think it might be because she sees how connected I am with Sarah and Jack and how much I care for them and that upsets her. Because if it wasn't for her strokes she could be in my shoes. But I still love her dearly...(even though in the last two days of work last week she spit, yes I did say spit, at me three times, she hit my sholder, she kicked at my face as I was trying to put her shoes on, and she slapped me square across the face, and a lot of yelling, and refusing to get out of the car!). I am going to miss her too. Anyways, enough sappy stuff! I am reading a neat but weird and kind of creepy book right now. Its called the Thirteenth Book, I think. Anyways, its a very interesting book. ok well I have hit the point that I just want to move on to something else... so see ya later!

~Vanessa

would you like some fries with that shake?

Hello Hello Hello
So I have not been on much due to work work work! Plus I have picked up a new hobby... making greeting cards. I'm practically obsessed with it :) I have all my stuff "set up" around and on this card table in the corner of our living room. Its a pretty cluttered area, but I love it. If you want to see/read more about it I am going to post a new blog solely for my greeting cards and othe crafts. So... Friday at work was horrible! LOL, I don't even normally work Saturdays. But I was doing it as a "make up" day because I had to take Wednesday off to go to court. So I offered to work Saturday so that the son (of Jack the old man I "watch") that had to skip work on Wednesday could go in to work on Saturday. Little did I know how bad of an idea this was! You see the main thing was that on Sunday it was Sarahs birthday party, the 7 year old granddaughter. So when I got there at 10am she was watching her Hannah Montana show on tv. So I just got to work around the house. But then when it was over I told her it was time to clean her room (which is always an AWFUL mess). She started to throw a fit, and it just got worse from that point on. Her fit went on until at least 1pm. But during all of that, as she was SCREAMING, and throwing things, and hitting walls, and stomping, and saying rude things, Peggy, the gradmother got upset too. So then she came wheeling out of her room (with no pants on mind you, because apparentlty she was out of underpants) yelling too. Then Peggy got even more mad because I was there, and it was Saturday. And I think she was mad because she was frustrated that she didn't know and couldn't understand what was going on. And then she started crying and yelling because of Sarah, and me being there. Meanwhile I am trying to figure out what to do, and the two uncles in the house are not making it any easier. Steven has taken a "parenting" course that has told him to not fight with your child, to just listen and sit there. Because you will never win in a fight with your child because they want to win. (WHAT THE HECK?!?) So he just sat there on the floor in her room seemingly doing NOTHING about everything that was going on. Then John came out of his room because he heard all the commotion. He kept trying to get Peggy to calm down because she has high blood pressure and could have another stroke that would more than likely kill her this time. So then Jack (the grandpa), for some reason, decides now is a good time to tell John that Peggy had a bad visit with the doctor on Fri because her blood pressure was really high and that John needs to be giving her her pills, because apparently he hasn't been. And he hasn't been because she won't swallow them and she won't eat them if you grind them into her food! So John got really upset then too! He started storming around the house using the F*** work every other word, and yelling and banging. And Jack was yelling at him to watch his language and calm down. And oh my goodness I wanted to get out of there so badly! Eventually John left the house with Peggy to get her to calm down (he took her to the beach ALL DAY LONG). And Kathy (Sarahs mom) came to get Sarah and take her out. So then it was just Steven and I to do the work of the house. And there was a lot of work to do. So Steven sits down on the couch with some meatloaf and cheesy potatoes and a newspaper and just SITS THERE. Meanwhile I have COMPLETELY cleaned out the bedroom (changing the sheets on both beds, re-folding their clothes and putting them away, taking out the trash, vaccuuming, and so on), the bathroom(sweeping, and mopping, with mopping detail around all the edges of the floor, cleaning off the counter and scrubbing out the sink, then I had to scrub out the bathtub for more than 30mins, it had like mold and mildew in it!), the kitchen, doing all the dishes, sweeping, mopping, clearing the table, the stove, and the counter) and the living room(the couches, cleaning behind the tv corner, cleaning off the tv entertainment center, clearing all 4 tv trays so that they could be used in the party, and the big shelve structure in the living room, Steven surprisingly vaccuumed the living room while was I was mopping the kitchen floor)!!!! And all that Steven had done so far was water his flowers in the front yard, and vaccuum the living room floor! At this point I was tired, and hungry, and so stressed out. I said I would come into work (for a normal work load) just so that Steven could go into work and catch up on anything that he missed on Wednesday. But Steven decided that I was coming in to work on Sat just to clean the whole house for him for the party, I overheard him telling this to Jack. So at 1:30pm I went out of the house to get something to eat for lunch. Then when I came back I went to clean out Sarahs bed. I took ALL the clothes out of her THREE dressers one by one and started folding and putting them into sorted piles on the bed. When I finished the whole bed was covered about 2-3 feet high! Then I put everything back into the three dressers, just sorted this time around. Then I printed off labels for every drawer and stuck those on. Then I washed her comforter and cleaned off all the toys, beads, papers, books, dvds, and other nicknacks off her floor and off her desk. The end result, an AMAZINGLY cleaned up room. Then I went into the back yard and put away a lot of the things they had just sitting around out there. Then I left for the day around 5:50pm. A few minutes early :) What a rough day! But then I got to come home and craft my worries away ;P First Jake and I went out for dinner because I was way too tired to cook, plus my body was so so sore! Then we came home and walked to the bank to deposit my check and mailed off most of Jakes graduation announcements. And once we got back home I started making some cards. On Sunday we went to church, went to the fish store, stopped off at Sarahs party, went to Costco, and Albertsons, and then we finally arrived back at home! Whew! So now today, Jake has a final, and I have work. But then tomorrow on Tuesday, I have the day off and I plan on sleeping in!

diamonds in the alley

ok so I have not been on in a long time... I have been tired from work. I should start counting down the days until I don't have to work anymore! I have a long weekend :) I get Sat - Sun - Mon - and Tue off!!! I am excited about that. We are not doing anything special, so I think I will do some digging in the garage for some of my crafting things. I have really been into making things lately. Scrapping some photos, I FINALLY put together my wedding album (but its not done because my mom just sent me almost 200 photos that she had at her house!), and making my own greeting cards. I LOVE the ones from costco normally, but this last batch was a little more on the lame side. Plus making my own is way more personal. And its a labor of love :) Now if I could only MAKE everyone that I have written to write me back *grins* I love to write to my friends and send them things, and I get lonely, so you have no idea how much it makes my day/week to get a letter from someone. Well, I think Jake knows ;) Who by the way has been doing GREAT in school, not so great at keeping up with the dishes. Which means that we have eaten out more than I would like to. Eating out prevents me from getting other things, like more craft things, or new shoes, or new pants (I only have one pair of pants, and NO shorts!!!), or going to the movies together, or going ice skating, ok you get the picture. We only have a limited amount of money because of my making only a little more than HALF of what I was making before. Plus I am working about 20 hours less per week. I like working less, but the pay cut is a bummer. When I was working my last job, we really blew our money. We should've saved it! Because now we have all these trips and moving and such that we are not too sure how we are going to swing... We always seem to find a way. My fish tank is doing well. We are not sure how we are going to move back up North with it yet. But we are going to ask around at the fish store how to go about that. And if maybe the best thing to do would be to return Bernie to the fish store for someone else to buy, and just get a new fish once we have moved into our new place. I would rather return Bernie than try and take him on the trip and arrive with a dead fish, that would break my heart. When I go to look into the fish tank and look around, he swims over to where I am. And if I move over to the other side, he follows me. I think its so sweet. So I would like to keep him, I just don't want to kill him. I cannot wait for us to move. I am SO excited. As soon as I can I want to visit my best friend Heaven :) And I want to see all my siblings again. Especially the little ones who call me all the time asking when I am going to visit again. I am excited to be closer to them so that we can see each other more often. I am also looking forward to going back to school. And not working!!! hehehe... One of Jakes brothers, might be coming over from June 15 - the day we move by June 30. I am happy about that because Jake has to work some during that time and I have to work during that time as well. So getting everything packed up and ready to go would be tricky without some help. Plus I just LOVE having someone visiting and staying in my house. Well I need to go get ready for work!

illuminated bones

Today... I love Mondays because I just got a two day break and then I get Tuesdays off. So I don’t really get the Mondays blues :) Today work went well. Jack was not home yet. So it was just Peggy and I. I wanted to make us some chicken devan for lunch, but their chicken was bad. So then I went to make us some spaghetti instead. But Steven got home with Sarah and asked me to drive some clothes over to the hospital for Jack because they were going to let him out tonight. Then when I got back I cleaned up from Steven, Sarah, and Peggy’s dinner. And since Steven was not going back to work for the rest of the day I asked if I could go home an hour early. He said sure no problem. So Jake and I went to the fish store again today. We wanted to get a new anemone for Bernie. He keeps swiming over to the rock that our first anemone came on, I think he is looking for Nennie. So at the store we were looking at some corals too. There was this one rock that we really liked. It has three different colors of corals on it. Plus its pretty big. We decided to get it! It was $54... but its really nice, and it will grow and they will spread to the other rocks. I will take a photo tomorrow of ours. As for the anemone... well anemones are not very hardy. So its hard to keep them, even if there is NOTHING wrong with your tank or water. So we decided to go with something more expensive, because sometimes its more money to get something stronger. We ended up getting some ’frogspawn’ (the lights are out right now, I will take some photos tomorrow!). It took me over 45 min to get it arranged in the tank. There is still one part of it not directly in the light, we are hoping that it doesn’t die off... We’ll see. Well its really late for me, I should be getting some sleep!
P.S. we went to costco tonight (grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do) and we got a lot of yummy things *cheese*

chicken feathers on the highway

well I feel like I am on a swing, one minute I am happy and one minute I am so frustrated! Its annoying. Anyways, lets start with the happy. So I went to the concert I have been telling everyone about yesterday!!! It was so much fun. I was sorely disappointed with Metro Stations performance... they just seemed like they just came out of a comercial bought class of "how to be a rad rock star! Step 1. wear rad clothes to concert, like just a vest for a shirt! 2. say F*&% at least 4 times inbetween each song you play! 3. act like you are the best band ever, even if no one really knows who you are!" and so on. They are younger than I am, and it showed. I like the sound of their c.d. but I didn't even want to stay for their whole performance live. MxPx was GREAT. I love listening to their songs. And it was the first time I ever got to see them play live! Plus Jake bought me their new cd, and a sweatshirt :) THEN I got to meet them!!!! *smiles* At first I thought "well I don't really care if I meet them or not today" but getting to meet them was really cool. I have been a fan of their music for 7 years! They were the first band I ever listened to. Up until then I wasn't really interested in listening to c.d.s. So they signed two posters and a c.d. cover for me. After they played we didn't really know any of the others bands. So we walked around and collected free stuff. And then we went to some of the other stages and heard some other bands play. My favorite performance all day had to have been Foxy Shazam . We have never heard of them before. We were sitting down at a table next to an empty stage eating our nachos and then they came on to perform. They were so entertaining and funny. We bought their c.d. and got it signed and some posters too. After that we were going to wait for Goldfinger (I don't remember if I like them or not) and then My Chemical Romance (just for my little sister) But I was really tired and I started to feel sick. So we decided to leave. We spent SO much money yesterday, I was surprised. But it was a fun day all in all. After eating dinner I went to bed because I was so tired. I woke up this morning at 5am though and couldn't get back to sleep, lame! So I am still so tired. Hopefully I will feel better as the day goes on. Thankfully I get Tuesdays off. So I will be able to get some more rest then. Today Jack is supposed to come home from the hospital, unless he came home last night. So I hope he is feeling better. I am going to buy an alarm clock to put in the kitchen to go off every morning reminding him to take his medication. Because I don't want him to have anymore heart attacks on account of that. I am still sorting out the thread for my new cross stitching project! Its going to be so big. I really hope it turns out nice :) Well I have to go wash my hair before work... So I guess we never really got to the "frustrated" mood.... I guess next time!

lemon juice on paper cuts

I've had a pretty busy week... Sarah the little girl I watch after she gets out of school was home Mon and Wed from a cough. So I had to entertain her while getting my work done around the house too. Thursday we went to the fish store to get some new live rock and a test kit for our tank water. And we were going to take back USA, but we forgot him at home in the tank. I rearranged the rock in the tank and I think that Bernie likes it the way it is right now more than before because he swims all around the whole tank, where as before he would just hover in mostly one spot. Plus it looks way cooler the way it is set up right now :) And we went out for some Sushi at a place that Jack (the guy I work for / keep an eye on) suggested that I take Jake to. It was a really good meal. And I put together a cool art project while watching t.v. Then yesterday when I got to work Jack was not feeling well. So he didn't want to go out for coffee like we do every morning. But he asked if I could run to the store to get some cough drops and then get him a cup of coffee. When I got back to the house he was in bed trying to take a nap. So I left him to be and did my work around the house. After I got Sarah from school at 1pm we came home and decided we were going to tackle her room. It was a huge pig sty!!! It took us over three hours to get to a stopping point. Notice that I didn't say to "finish" because its still not quite done. But we made it look a TON better. Then as we were cleaning Steven and John (two of the sons of Jack) came home on breaks and decided to take Jack to the hospital. He was getting worse I guess and couldn't walk. Turns out they had not given him his medication for several days and he had a water build up in his chest which caused his cough and eventually his small heart attack that the doctor discovered he had. Thankfully they said it caused no damage. Jake and I went to go visit him this morning. He said he felt a lot better. He looked better than he did yesterday. But he still looked weak. We brought him some coffee too, because he loves his coffee in the morning. Then we went out for breakfast, and then Jake took me to Michaels the craft store and I got a new cross stitching project. After that we came home and then after an hour took a walk down to the back to deposit my check and get some quarters for laundry. And I got to make a stop at McDonalds for an iced coffee. I always get vanilla, but today after I ordered I tried a sample of the hazelnut, and I think I like it better! I was so surprised because I hate Starbucks hazelnut iced coffee. Then when we got home we decided to do a test on our water. The levels were not good, so we went back to the fish store to get some more live rock, and I wanted to get some new little hermits to replace the ones that USA killed. ALSO, my diamond goby died... I forgot to tell you about it. Well when we were there on Thurs I asked a guy there if I should be worried because he wasn't coming out from under the rock. He said as long as I could see him, to give him a couple of days to warm up to the tank. But that if I wanted to I could lift up the rock and make sure he was still alive. I saw him on Tuesday for sure, but I had not seen him on Wed. So I figured I would lift up the rock to check on him, plus I had to rearrange the live rock in order to fit in the new one. Well when I lifted it and there was about 1/3 of the goby left under there. So that was sad. I JUST bought him! And he was about $25 with tax. Anyways, so at the fish store today I talked to one of the guys about it and he said he will replace it for me. But he said that he doesn't think that the goby will be happy in such a small tank. So decided not to get it. But he said he will still owe us a new fish. But then I was still wanting something to clean our sand and he suggested a Nassarius Sand Snail. They bury themselves completely under the sand and clean it, and sift it so that the sand gets moved around and the debris can get sucked into the filter system. So we got two of those, the four or five hermits (he gave me extras!) and the thing for the water levels to get better all for free since my goby died!! That was pretty sweet. And now we are watching the UCLA game :) I really hope they win, but right now we are down three points. Jake just called me into the room to look at something in the aquarium, and guess what I caught USA doing?!?! He was trying to pull one of the new little hermits our of his shell! He's just a little guy, so USA can't need his shell! USA is just being hostile. I think he wants to be the only crab around. We are going to have to take him back to the store after the game tonight. It makes me sad, but I don't want to keep him around just to kill all the other new ones! Well thats not really all that has happened these past few days, but I am going to watch the game with Jake now!

paper creases

Jake got to a break in his work on his computer right as I started to write out what I wanted to talk to him about. And he wanted to take me to the mall and buy us our new converse shoes. As we were walking out the door, and the issue that I wanted to talk to him about later that night was still heavy on my mind and heart, he leaned over and asked me if I was ok. So I told him "yeah, there's just something I want to talk to you about tonight". And of course as soon as I have said that I realize that I'll need to sit down and talk to him about it right then and there, otherwise the rest of the day will be like a raining black cloud following us. So we went back into the house and sat down on the bed to talk. What I had to say is something that I have held in for about 2 years, so it was important to me. And I was scared how he was going to react. He amazes me all the time. He took it MUCH better than I thought and we had a great talk about it. I don't feel like saying what it was. But I just wanted to let you all know that it went well and we both feel better about it now! So then we went to the mall like we wanted to and got our new matching Converse shoes!!! I am so happy, I have wanted some new ones for a while. Then we went to dinner and got some dessert :) Now we are back home and he is back at work on his computer and I am sitting up posting new photos and writing more blogs... as if that is necessary! Here is a photo of me that I took yesterday...

Kiss Kiss :)

a window in the ocean

I have Tuesdays off from work. I normally go to school with Jake, so that we can spend more time together. However... today I ended up spending more time alone! I had to drop him off for his first class and park WAY far away. Then when I finally got to his classroom (for his first class) there were NO seats :( So I just went to the coffee shop and finished writing some letters to my friends that I am working on while listening to my iPod. Then Jake had a one hour break after that two hour class and we spent that time together going for a walk and buying his new books for this quarter. Then he had another class, but he didn't think I should sit in on this one. So I went back to the coffee shop for another hour. Plus he was supposed to meet with the guy that he does research for, so that took more time. But I was with him for part of that time. We went to Chipotle for lunch, I am still full! Once we came home I took a nap because I was falling asleep in the car on the way home. Turns out I slept like a baby for over two hours! I just woke up. I love naps, but I usually cannot fall asleep. If Jake finishes his work soon we are going to go to the mall and buy some new converse for the both of us. I am so excited :) Only four more days until the day of a million concerts!!! Well not really a million... more like 55+ bands! I am so so excited. I didn't take USA back to the store today because we have to go back there on Thursday anyways, so Jake wants me to return him then. He better not kill Hercules before then! Jake doesn't know it, but there is something that I want to talk to him about. I think I will bring it up tonight... I am nervous about that... I am trying to decide if I should just tell him, forget about it, or write him a letter and then talk about it... we'll see I guess...

bruised rose petals

So it seems that there is an ongoing number of issues in my life. Not that I mind it, sometimes its just so wonderful to give advice and help my friends and loved ones. But at other times it really makes me sad. There is so much that I want to change, and to help. But there are times that I feel that I just have to bow out and let them take their own course. There a serveral friends in my life right now that are going through relationship issues or "growing" moments. And I want to make it all better, but I realize its all in God's hands not mine or theirs. Anyways, sorry that was such a downer moment...I had a malted vanilla milkshake last night and tonight. Ohhhh goodness! I love those. I don't really ever crave sweets, which is good because if I did I would weigh 50lbs more than I do now! But those malt shakes get me everytime. I completely finish them everytime I get them. The other thing that I have a sweet tooth for is vanilla iced coffee. I can go without them, but why would I??? The only thing that I don't like is that I can't get them decaf! Argh! So if I get them often I get addicted to the caffine, and that is so annoying because it affects my sleep schedule.Well if you are a frequent reader of my other blogs you know by now that I have a salt water aquarium, that I am completely in love with. You would also know that I have three remaining hermit crabs, or I should say... I HAD. I was so upset tonight getting home to find that USA had killed Dare Devil! I cried... I am taking him back to the store tomorrow! I am going to get a new scarlet hermit crab to replace the two that USA killed. My silly tank is so dramatic! However, my silly goby is still just hiding under the rock! Poor Bernie has been freaking out a lot more since the anemone died :( It makes me sad. I think he feels less protected since Nennie left him...I had so much thatI wanted to blog about... but then Jake gave me a beer... and I haven't had one in a LONG time... so it hit me more than usual... and blogging is harder after a beer... now I'm just tired! So I have to go to bed now :(

fly away hairs

So you would think that on Saturdays you would sleep in and catch up on missed sleep from the week before. Especially if you had been on a whirl wind trip! But no, we woke up at 7am this morning. It was actually quite nice! We have accomplished so much so far today. And all in all its been a very relaxing fun day filled with laughter. Thats all I could ask for on my days off from work! We went out for breakfast at a cute family owned place that I have been wanting to take my husband to. And then we went to Target to get a thank you card for the couple that let us stay in their guest room during our visit with my husbands family. Then we went to our local fish store to get some more information on why my recent addition, anemone, died! Our Nitrate levels are too high. And that is caused because of over feeding, not changing the water enough, and things related to that. So we changed the water, and I fed Bernie, our clownfish, half a cube today, instead of the whole cube. And we bought a "sand skimmer". His official name is a Diamond Watchman Goby. Here is a photo of him.

I think he is really cute. However since we have added him to our little tank he has just hidden in a cave under one of the rocks. I am hoping that he will warm up to the surroundings of his new habitat and come out into the open more. He is supposed to clean the sand for us. If you look up "diamond goby" on YouTube you can watch a video of a diamond goby cleaning the sand. It really intrigues me how they do it! Plus he is a little cutie :) Anyways, after we left the fish store we went to Costco to get lunch and Jake bought me a set of cards there to send to all my friends. Then we came home and watched Becoming Jane. That movie ended up being more sad than I thought it would be! And we were planning on watching a game on t.v. but we had a little extra time on our hands so we went on a walk. And then we got some coffee. Then we watched the UCLA basketball game, and WE WON!!! Go BRUINS!! Then Jake took me to Michaels the craft store to get some yarn to make a blanket :) After that we went to Chipotle and are now watching two movies. Its way past my "bedtime", so I am TIRED. I go to bed every night at 10pm and get up at 7am. So when it gets past those times on the weekends I get really tired. So I am going to get going for tonight.

Go out and celebrate something tomorrow...
even something small,...
like how much you love the kisses from your loved one...
or how great the last bite of a cookie tastes...
or ice cold water after working out...
anything!