a little bit of everything

We didn't look at houses today. I was so happy to actually be home on my day off from work. I didn't do everything that I had planned to do but I did manage to do a little cleaning, a little de-cluttering, a little reading and a little watching of the tele. The new season of Primeval started tonight, did you see it? Darn, if you watch the show don't click on the link. That is the one thing about BBC shows. They air so late in the US (England is already on episode 7) that every site has spoilers and I just happened to see one. That is why I never go to any Torchwood or Dr. Who sites. Speaking of which, those should be starting up again real soon.

Yesterday evening we went to look at a house just down the street. The location is perfect but the house was not. I don't think we will be able to find both a good house and one in the neighborhood we want. So I guess we may have to just find the perfect house that is in the not so good neighborhood. That is if we can find a house. Hopefully we will find one before the car dies on us from overheating.

This house hunting has gotten me even further behind in basically everything. There is so much that needs to be done. I finally got my photos from February uploaded. This project is just not as much fun when I upload the photos this late.

So the search begins, again.

I have spent most of my time this evening looking for available properties. I came across one that looks nice on the inside and is of newer construction. It is a 2-story (been there, done that) but I am willing to at least go and look at the place.

When a place looks promising I like to look at the Google satellite pictures to check out the surrounding neighborhood. Well, now I am not too sure of this place as it is right next to a huge business lot. One that has large bay doors like for semi-trucks or maybe auto repair. The back of the house overlooks this business lot. I still think I want to look at it though. I sent the listing to my Dad to see what he thought of the place. This is his response:

I had received an email on this listing,but I personally don't like it because.............
it's 2 story, frame stucco(harder to maintain if it has a lot of wood exposed)
and because it is ugly. (MY opinion)

Dad

Of course reason #3 is always the most important when it comes to selecting the right house. I really want a house that has character on the outside. I thought the house that we were going to buy did not really have any outside character. But I was willing to forgo that for the character the house had on the inside. Now this house that I am going to look at tomorrow. It does have character. Ugly character. But still that is better than nothing.

Back to square one

I haven't been around recently as I have been busy with the purchase of our first home. Sadly, the deal on the purchase fell thru.

It was a total surprise as the financing was complete and the offer (in writing) had been accepted. This week my Dad (who has been helping us) was scheduled to meet with the Inspector to check out the house. The hubs and I had already walked thru and made note of everything that we had noticed so that the Inspector could look into it. The inspection kept getting postponed. We found out today that the seller had sold the place out from under us. It was all a scam. He had never planned to sell to us in the first place. What really upsets me is that we did everything the Seller requested of us which was to get everything (financing etc) pushed thru by a specific date and time. My poor Dad has been doing so much and to find that this guy was just pulling a fast one really makes me feel sad. On the plus side...we already have our loan secured. Now we just have to find another house in our price range and at this time there is really nothing available except the same properties we have already seen.

So the day did not get off to a good start. Once at work I got my monthly "you suck" call from The State Department. The one where they tell me that I am behind (I know) and they want to know how many cases I have left to complete (too many) and if I can finish over a year's work of cases in a month (yeah right). They do this every month after I submit my report. But you would think that they would at least write down the info I give them or even check my submission report before calling me. Nope. Then they tell me how they realize that this is not my fault (darn right) and that this mess happened years before I was hired (over two-yrs) and that I am working alone (and training myself I might add). Sigh.

Then, lucky me. I got a second call from The State. They called to tell me that they are speaking with the CEO to get a contractor on the job. They think it will be to help me but I know that when I was hired it was either me or a contractor and of course the cheaper option (Me) was chosen. There is no way they will keep the both of us. So I am afraid that if a contractor comes in, I am out. Double sigh.

I am exhausted. What I am still doing up?

I like to call myself a scrapbooker but...

So today was National Scrapbook day.

Did you scrap? Did I?

Of course not, silly. I just collect the stuff. I couldn't even tell you the last time I scrapped. Well let me rephrase that. I have tons of stuff on the table and a couple of pages sitting there but I have not finished a page (or even got halfway) for I am sad to say probably a year (or more). Sigh.

So let's talk about other things shall we. Today I did 3 loads of laundry. I watched the cat run head on into the recliner. I then got to see said cat stuck under the laundry basket after she knocked it off the bed and it landed right on top of her. I heard a crash in the bedroom and figured that the basket had been knocked over. It about 5 minutes later when I heard the meowing. I thought she was in the closet meowing at the wall. Again. I went into the room to find the basket upside down on the floor and her caught inside. Poor kitty sure has had a full day. At least she is never boring. I mean...last week she took a head dive straight into the garbage can. Head inside can. Feet outside of can.

In even other news...

We may be buying a house. Papers have been signed but not the "real" papers so it is not yet a done deal.

And so another weekend comes to an end

How can it be Sunday night already? I have not even had a chance to do anything this weekend.

On Saturday the husband and I went out to look at houses. Lets just say there are some scary houses out there. Then there are some awesome looking houses but either they are out of our price range, already under contract or a short sale. Pretty much all the available houses for sale in our price range are short sales. It is really frustrating.

We looked at 6 houses yesterday (with the Broker). I think there were only 6. I know we stopped at others that we noticed along the way that happened to have a key box. One house looked amazing online but when we went to look at it we just drove right on past it because the neighborhood was terrible. The Broker did not even want to stop. Think really old run down neighborhood with just one newly built house sticking out like a sore thumb.

There was one house we looked at that was in a nice neighborhood but the house was in bad bad shape (on the inside). The Realtor (owner) stated that no info would be given as to what was wrong with the house. We are thinking water/electrical damage as it needs a permit in order to get the electrical turned on (it was not on when we stopped by) The husband loved it. It just gave me the creeps. There was just something about it that really freaked me out.

After a full day we went home and got online to look some more. We found a new posting in our neighborhood and so we drove over to check out the outside. It was a cute house. It needs work but the neighborhood was nice and it would fix up really nice. So that would make 7 houses and a super full day.

Then today after the husband got off of work we met with the Broker and got to see the inside of the cute house. It is definitely a fixer-upper but we loved it. Only problem is that it is a short sale. Frustrating!

We then drove thru a few neighborhoods that we knew had houses for sale and then back home to look (yet again) online. We left again and took a drive a bit further out and found a house that looks promising. I really don't want to live in the neighborhood but the house is nice and the price is right. Plus it is NOT a short sale. When we drove up to the house there was already a young couple there looking at it. I think the gal got a bit anxious that we were also looking at the house. She kept stating how she REALLY wanted it and there was room for all FOUR of their vehicles. So it looks like there may be some competition there. I meet with the Broker tomorrow after work to check out the inside. Keep your fingers crossed!

So...This has been me the last few days. Just imagine me without the smile and when I am not the one at the laptop, the husband is.




And to think that my original plan this weekend was to scrap.

Taxes Smaxes

So did you get your taxes done?

I think this may be the first year since I have been married that I have completed (and filed) my taxes BEFORE the due date. It was so nice not to have to stress about getting them done in time for me to drive to the main post office at midnight. It had become a bit of a tradition with me. Nothing says getting your taxes done than driving to the only post office in town that is open and handing your sealed envelopes to the clerk on the street. This year, the 15th felt like any other day. Of course it is easier to feel that way now, especially since I no longer work for the company that makes the most popular tax software.

The other day I finally finished uploading my Project 365 photos for the month of January. Now that I can actually download photos from my camera onto my new computer maybe I can get even more caught up. I still have not scrapped any of them. I started to gather supplies for the first page but I soon got overwhelmed. I think I am thinking too much about making it perfect instead of just scrapping.

A house hunting we will go

What is up with all the porno comments lately? Argh! I guess I better start thinking of some better content. LOL!

I have been trying to post for the last few days but so many issues have kept me away. My new laptop is making me a bit unhappy at the moment in that it has not been letting me access the Internets in the way I would like. Of course it could be the darn cable company that is causing my frustration. I have not yet decided which one to blame.

Today the hubs and I did something that we have never done. We have always planned to eventually buy a house (in the far off future) but with the first time home buyers credit expiring in December, my Dad has put the buzz in our ear. So today we went and looked at a little property that is for sale nearby. It is an older home and will need some work. Lots of pluses but also some minuses. The place is huge but the kitchen is so tiny you cannot even fit a fridge in it (it is in an adjoining room). It has been on the market for over 6 months but that may be because it sits just behind both a strip club and adult bookstore (now that should make for some interesting web searches), hence no street parking allowed at night. Well I think that is the reason. I would prefer a more move-in ready home and preferably one not so close to an adult entertainment establishment but we really want a place that is close to work. I did take my camera with me but since I cannot use my Canon on Vista 64 (stupid) I cannot share them. So here are some from the web.

The front of the house. Well you really cannot see it but look at all those trees!! How cool is that garbage can?

The kitchen. What you see is what you get. Yep. That's all of it. See...no room for a fridge. No room really for anything at all.

Oh wait...I got the camera to work. Found a hack online. I guess I really didn't take all that many photos. So here are a few unedited ones.

The house has tons of trees. I love them. Bry hates them. Lots of rose bushes and flowers. There are HUGE grapevines in the backyard and tons of mature trees. Then there is the scary attic opening in the garage. Creepy.



See....CREEPY!

Time

All that really belongs to us is time
Originally uploaded by DreamsOfNyssa

I have been thinking about Time a lot this past week. I have wanted to post about so many things but time got away from me in that I thought about it too much and never got around to doing it.

Earlier this week, I got a call from the State Department. Basically they called to tell me that I am still behind in submitting my cases. Considering that the work was over 2-years behind BEFORE I was hired and as I slowly teach myself, the cases continue to pile up. They keep saying they understand, they know that the situation we are in has nothing to do with me and that I have no help, but yet they keep on calling and telling me to work faster. And here I was feeling proud of myself for the progress I had made. Although I don't think I will have the time I need to reach the goal I made last year BEFORE I even knew what I was doing.

Shortly after my phone call the manager of the records side comes over to tell me they have no time to pull my charts and if I could wait a week. Umm no. I told her that if she wanted to write an email to my manager and explain why I had nothing to work on this week then I was fine with it. Funny how whenever I mention my manager's name people freak out.

Tomorrow I will see people that I have not seen in over 20-years. I am excited but yet a bit apprehensive. It's a group of people that I went to school with although they are not any that I spent time with. Well not in high school anyways. It should be interesting.

Next week is the anniversary of my Uncle's passing. I cannot believe that it has been 2-years. Oh how I miss him.

So as you can see....Time has been on my mind lately.

Too short

The weekend is just not long enough. It will be over after tomorrow and I am not ready for it to end.

We did not end up going anywhere today. We stayed home and watched a couple of movies and I even attempted to get my scrap on but a lovely migrane headache had to intrude on any attempts at craftiness. So not much of anything really got done today.

I have gotten even more behind in uploading my daily photos. I have such a hard time deciding which photo to use. Even photographs of the weeds in our backyard are not exempt.



I will probably go with the middle one. But then again.....I am not sure.


The other day I started reading Midnight Sun. Have you read it? I have only read the first chapter but I have to say that I do like it so far. A different view point is always nice at fleshing out a character. I hope that one day Stephenie Meyer will change her mind and publish it.

printed

Well I did it. I went ahead and ordered some prints of my Project 365 photos. I am one step closer to scrapping them. Well...I say that now but being known as the slowest scrapbooker in the world and one that rarely seems to actually complete a page, it may still be a dream and not a reality. I also did not take the photos with the intention of scrapping them so they are kind of a mish-mash of stuff that may be hard to scrap.

I ordered my prints from Snapfish. They have always been my favorite for the quality of their prints. But is has been quite awhile since I have ordered from them and now I am not too sure they still hold that status. I am surprised at the thin, flimsy quality of the paper and the colors are NOT very pleasing. The photos look a hundred times better on Flickr. I was thinking of getting some reprinted elsewhere to compare but now I don't know if I want to go thru with the hassle.

I had hoped to maybe start scrapping this weekend but it looks like I may be doing a bit more organizing and tossing of stuff. Although the husband did say something about going to a movie on Saturday.

That which is Twilight

Yesterday, I did what most people did. I went out and bought Twilight, the movie. I did not see it in the theatre and was waiting to watch it on Blu-Ray. When I got home from the store the husband had a friend visiting. I did not want to watch the movie with 2 men putting in their comments so I had to wait. As soon as the friend left though that movie was put in the player and strict instructions given to the husband that no comments were allowed. As expected the husband fell asleep soon after the movie started so I did get to enjoy it on my own. I have to say that I really did like it. This is definitely one that I will be able to watch over and over.

This morning the husband watched it while I was still asleep. His first comment made after seeing the movie was "I wonder how much product Edward has in his hair." Me thinks someone is jealous of that hair. I sure do like a man with good hair.

I would have to say the movie was a success in this household as it was put away in the main movie drawer (aka movies the husband deems as decent and good) as opposed to all the other movies I own (aka chick flicks) that have been put on some bottom shelf that I cannot even get to at the moment.

I look forward to the sequels. I hope they are just as good if not better. I hear that New Moon should be out either the end of this year or beginning of the next (2009/2010). So it looks like I won't have long to wait.

Please pardon my dust

As you can see I am in the process of making changes. It has been a long time in the making but I have been unsuccessful in the past on finding a blogging template that would work with uploading my photos from Flickr. All the regular Blogger templates cut off part of the photo.

So while fooling around last night I found one that appeared to work. I started working on it with the intent to have it all uploaded first thing today. But then this morning I had to go buy Twilight (of course) and I had to watch a movie with the hubs and his friend ( NOT Twilight). Then while the boys were distracted with Rock Band I finally got back to editing. I didn't get too far as you can see before the hubs needed me to help out with something. So off I go.

Whoooosh!

Can you hear that? That is time just rushing on by. Before I realize it, another weekend has come and gone.

I don't want to say that this month has been busy but I sure have been doing a lot more than the normal for around here.

I got to hang out with some awesome old friends. This is the 2nd time so far this year that we have been able to get together. These are friends from high school so we are talking over 20 years of knowing one another. One, I actually see every week but the other travels. I mean she travels, a lot. She came for a visit back in January and we had a wonderful time catching up. She then came back this past week. It really is hard to tear myself away from it all.

I have been calling 2009 the year of reunions. I was supposed to have my 20th high school reunion last year. It never happened. But no worries. It seems like there will be reunions up the wazoo this year. Not only have I been able to spend time with some lovely ladies (and you too Andy) but in April there is an informal reunion that spans different graduating years. There are quite a few people that will be attending and I am excited to go. Then there is another in December that will be super cool. But between those two parties there are other reunions being planned. I am so happy that I still live in town and won't have to travel to attend any of them.

Work has been pretty steady. I am slowing working on upping my pace. Some days are more productive than others but I think I am finally starting to get my rhythm. It has been a year so it is about time. I still have to teach myself new stuff everyday though and I just hope that I am doing it right. I really need to start taking my classes too. Hopefully this weekend will see me signed up for the first class in the program. I need to finish up the classes in time to sit for my certification test. I had hoped to test this year but it looks like it will be more like 2010.

Sadly, not much going on around here in the creative department. Although I still am taking a photo-a-day. Which reminds me, I have not taken my shot for the day and it is already 10:30. I guess I had better do that so I can get myself to bed.

-- Good night.

...and so ends 2008

I have done it!

I have finally finished uploading my Project 365 photos for the month of December and the year of 2008. Let's just hope that it doesn't take me as long to upload my 2009 photos. I really do hate getting so far behind.

I do credit my getting caught up with finally being able to install Photoshop on the new laptop. This thing is FAST! The only thing that I don't really like is that the pictures don't look as good. They seem to be sort of flat looking. But I guess that is one thing I can put up with if it means I get to actually upload my photos in the same year that they were taken.

My Hero

This was fun to make. Although making these things always drives me a bit crazy. I think I worry too much about looking cool. I can't believe I worry about making the wrong choices over a silly thing like this. How silly is that?

That being said...I wonder if I should have chosen the sword?

Home. Alone.

Tonight the husband had to go to a meeting after work. Poor guy was away from home the entire day from 7am to 10:30pm. So that meant that I would have some alone time. Ideas flowed thru my mind all day as to what I could do with this time, my time. Maybe I could finish that scrapbook page that has been sitting on the table for about 2 weeks now. Maybe I could get caught up on uploading my Project 365 photos to Flickr. Maybe I could clean something. Before I could even make up my mind I picked up a book to read for just a bit before eating dinner. The next thing I knew it was 10:30 and the husband was home. Dinner...totally forgotten. Oops!

Although I did not accomplish anything that I had thought about doing I did find that what I ended up doing was the perfect thing. Total relaxation.

No wonder...

Are you looking at me?
Originally uploaded by DreamsOfNyssa

I am so tired.

I can never get on this computer until after 10pm and by then I really don't feel like doing anything. This laptop has turned the husband into a computer junkie. He NEVER used to use the computer. When we were at the store looking to buy he even told the sales guy that all he uses it for is his iPod and the occasional viewing of a webpage. Well all that has now changed. He is constantly on it. Of course I have to be honest and say he is using it to fill up his iPod. I cannot wait until that this is full so he no longer needs the computer. Of course he is thinking of starting a Facebook page so I still may not get any computer time.

Oh have I even mentioned the whole iPod thing? I know I mentioned that I got one as a birthday gift. What I didn't mention is that the husband had to buy himself one too. Not AFTER my birthday but at the same time. Why do men to that? Or is it just mine?

In other news, I have lost a bit of weight this past month. 12 pounds down so far. I have NO idea why it is coming off so fast. I know it is bound to slow down very soon. As long as it does not stop I will be happy. The husband wanted steak tonight. I am sure it will be reflected in my weigh-in tomorrow. Well there is always next week, right?

aaaand she's back!

Well I hope I am back.

I am really having a love/hate relationship with this whole computer. We ended up having to take the laptop back to the store. They immediately switched it out for a new one but then told us that the only way it would not happen again was for them to "optimize" it. We were told there was a conflict with the software that Dell has pre-installed and that if we did not want the same thing to happen to the new computer then we needed to pay extra. That there was nothing we could do at home to fix it on our own. I think that's kind of a rip off. I would think that a computer should work correctly right out of the box. So we paid our extra money for them to "optimize" it and we brought it home. So far there is no blue screen but the user they created was corrupted. I took it back yet again today and they only created a new user. If that was all that was needed I could have done it myself but the guy on the phone said that to fix it there was nothing that could be done on my end. I also checked all the stuff they were supposed to do when they "optimize" and it was not done. So who knows what they did.

I am not feeling too confident with the tech support that this company provides. The girl helping us yesterday and today did not even know how to explore windows. She asked me to show her. And yesterday one of the techs yelled out "does anyone know how to change a phone number for a dial up connection? Where do you go to set up the Internet?" Of course it was the old guy of the bunch that knew where to go. Maybe I should have charged them $40 for my service.

So to take my mind off of all this computer stuff I decided it was time to get to scrapping. I really wanted to do the color combo challenge for last week (new one was posted today) but I was finding it really hard to find colors that match the posted colors, but I found some that may work. I am now thinking that maybe I don't understand the directions. I looked at all the pages that were posted and people were using colors that were not the same. Colors like bright orange, bright blue and white instead of the creamy vanilla. Here are the colors that I had to chose from. When I printed them out they weren't very bright and are darker than on screen. If I can use similar colors and not those posted then I think the challenge would be much easier. But then it wouldn't be following the rules would it.

this makes me smile

A friend of mine introduced me to this wonderful gem and I thought I would share the love.





Take a look at her other videos. You won't be disapointed.

Making contact

I have a question for those of you that wear contacts. When you wear contacts are they comfortable? Do they blend into your eye or do you constatnly feel them?

I have worn contacts off and on for many years. Many different kinds from soft to hard. I had stopped wearing them for awhile but a few years ago I decided it was time to wear them again. I bought some soft contacts and they worked okay. My eyes are always dry so I am used to them being even drier when I wear the contacts. But that is something that I have learned to live with. Then one day I had a problem with the contact in my right eye. It hurt. I couldn't see anything wrong with it and it was a fresh pair. I stopped wearing them just in case it was my eye. Well a couple of years passed with me just wearing glasses and forgetting about the contacts.

I have been wanting to wear my contacts again so I decided to start again. I opened up a fresh pair and put them in. The left eye felt just fine but my right eye had that same pain. It feels like the contact is hard or that there is something in my eye. When you look into my eyes you do not even see the left eye contact but the right eye contact looks like it is not fitting snug against my eye. Does that make sense?

My eyes are exhausted but today I am trying them again. I guess I am just a glutton for punishment.

In other news, we are loving the new laptop. We don't like all the errors and weird stuff that is happening with it but everything else is just too cool. The husband never used to use the computer, now I cannot get him to leave it alone. I think we have a problem there. LOL!