Been A While

It's been a while since I've blogged. My life has changed some for the better. Last I posted I lost my job. It was a blessing in diguise. I am now working back in my parents business, which I LOVE! I worked with them from 1994-2003 but the business has changed some in the past 6 years so I'm relearning some. Right now I'm mainly working on sales and marketing. And I'm utilizing my graphic design skills that I went to school for! Yippeee!!! I am in process of redoing the company's website. Right now it's VERY basic and not informative for our customer whatsoever but it's a start. See: Designs In Rugs. I'm sure in a few days it will change but I know this will be a few week project if not longer. I'm also working on marketing material (postcards, emails, flyers) and I even designed my own business cards. I'm not too fond of sales but I'm working the business. I'm trying to rekindle business relationships with customers we haven't worked with in a while and I'm really getting good responses so it makes me more comfortable.

My other half is still unemployed. I won't go into details but I'll just say BLAH!!!

My house that I was renting out the tenants moved out. So I'm looking for new tenants. I'm a little worried how I will pay my mortgage next month if I don't have new tenants. (This is where my BLAH with Joe will turn ugly.)

Sara started high school!! She's adjusted very well and is taking her grades more seriously. Like she actually does her homework without me constantly reminding her. The high school transistion was MUCH better than the middle school transistion.

So that's my update in a nutshell. I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging but I'll try to keep it updated.

PS-67 days till New Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unemployment

Hello my fellow bloggers! Boy have I got crushing news: Friday at 5pm my boss let me go. I was in total shock. I so did not see this one coming. It sucks. It really, really sucks. Even more so since Joe's been out of work since April! (He did get a side job this weekend so that will help out big time.) About a month ago boss hired this advisor to check out the company and suggest how to run it more smooth. Well I guess one of the suggestions was letting me go. Why? Well the excuse I was given: "The changes I'm making to the company are going in a different direction. Therefore your services are no longer needed." WTF? I was the accounting department. No one else did anything in accounting but me. I handled 3 companies' books plus the dad boss' personal stuff and his company. I think the advisor told him that he could find someone else to do the job and pay them less than what he was paying me. Oh well. Their loss. I figure now I can really enjoy Valentine's day and Mother's day with the added work stress. (It was the floral industry and those were the biggest holidays each year. Let me say CRAZINESS!) I was quite upset and emotional about this. I went into shock. Couldn't sleep that night or anything. So yesterday and today I took out my fustrations in my yard. I've mowed, I've weedwhacked and I've picked up crap to throw away. Once again my yard looks like a liveable place not a jungle. And I'm feeling it too! My arms hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts, I have blisters on my hands. But I sure do have a nice yard to look at now. =) Maybe I even threw away those few lbs I was trying to rid of?!

So I figure this is my "push" I needed to jump start my graphic design career. I've been in touch with my career counslor from school and I plan on talking to her tomorrow to tell her my change of plans and I'm ready to dive in. I am going to take this week "off" though. Sara and I are going to Ocala to my parents get away place and enjoy some much needed mommy-daughter time. It will just be me and her. We will go kayaking and we are definately planning a float on a tube down Rainbow River. SO looking forward to that!!

Until next time...

HSTB Telethon Update

The humane society's telethon was a success! Last I heard we adopted 44 animals and raised over $160,000! WOOHOOIE! It was a lot of fun participating too. Sara, Jenn and I arrived at about 11:30am. We got the quick run-down of how things were going to go and the schedule of what times we'd be on-air. In between our on-air times, we just helped out in the shelter where ever needed and we also watched some of the telethon on tv. I did a few pet visits and played with some of the cats. We had to get to know some of the cats that we were showcasing so we can properly introduce them to the viewers and have them say "adopt me!" Jenn and I were on tv and Sara helped out with adoptions. We were there till about 5:30pm. A long day but well worth it. A friend of mine DVR-d the whole 5 hours of the telethon and is going to try to put it on DVD for me. Then I will try to see if I can put my clips in a short video for you to see. =) I had several people tell me I looked like a natural. Maybe I found my true calling?!

Pet-a-thon

This Saturday is The Humane Society of Tampa Bay's annual telethon. We will be on channel WFLA 8 from 1pm-6pm EST. My sister, Jenn, Sara and I will be at the shelter helping out too! Sara will be helping with visits getting our furry friends adopted. Jenn and I will be on-air showcasing the cats available for adoption. Click here for more information. I hope you will tune in to see us and the animals. You can even make donations! It all goes to the welfare of our furry friends. If you're in the Tampa area, come by the shelter and see us!!

Twilight Stuff

As I'm going thru my Google Reader on blogs I follow, I come to Twitarded. A blog about this adult woman and her adventures with her mini-Edward and her love for Twilight's Rob Pattinson. I literaly laugh until tears are pouring out my eyes and today I almost peed in my pants reading her posts. This blog is now my #1 all-time favorite blog. Even if you aren't a Twilight obsessor, it's one blog you gotta read!

Monday Sara super cleaned her room. Meaning she moved furniture and found stuff that hasn't seen daylight in years. When it was all said and done, she took out 9 bags of trash. I complimented her how great her room looks and she said it's because it's empty. lol. She is the bestest daughter. She puts up with my Twilight obsession. While cleaning her room she found Twilight stuff she had. Her obsession isn't nothing compared to mine. (She will tell you she's not obsessed at all but I know its deep down in there somewhere.) She gave me a Cullen crest keychain, 4 button pins, a magazine that had a Twilight article in it and she gave me possession of all 4 books! They are mine! All mine! I told you she's the best!

I saw on another twilight blog about this dance from that show So You Think You Can Dance. I've never watched the show and really have no desire to. One of the couples did a dance to Fire and Ice, which is a song on the Twilight soundtrack. Eh, the dance was ok. So I email it to my sister to get her opinion. My opinion is the only reason I watched it is because of the song. So then I go on to tell her how I almost had 2 heart attacks yesterday because of my Twilight stuff. Yesterday I wake up to mega rain storm outside. When it rains super hard for a long time, the water builds up outside and comes in the house from underneath which makes my bedroom carpet wet. I step on the floor to get out of bed to wet carpet. Ew! I look down and all 4 Twilight books are on the floor. Eeek! I pick them up and inspect. Thank god no water damage. They now stay up off the floor. What in the hell was I thinking of even putting them on the floor in the first place? So then my next near-miss heart attack happens on my way home from work. I felt like listening to my Twilight soundtrack and I cannot find it. I keep it in the car since that is where I usually listen to CDs at. At each red light I went thru each CD I have in my visor CD holder and there is no Twilight CD. Joe was the last one messing with my CDs so I'm all prepared to give him a can of whoop-ass. I get home and confront him thinking him and Sara are playing a trick on me. (Playing around with Twilight is NO laughing matter!) Joe denies doing anything with my CD. He goes thru my CDs and voila! There it is! Where in the world did it come from? I think he secretely planted it but I'm glad to have it back. Really it wouldn't have been the end of the world is my Twilight CD disappeared since I have it on my itunes so I can burn another CD. But this particular CD was made for Sara (which she gave me long time ago) and the label on the CD has a picture of Edward and Bella. Like I said, don't mess with my Twlight stuff!

Ok, I got that Twilight stuff off my chest. I'm ok. Really.

Rain, Twilight and More

So I'll start with my favorite topic: Twilight!
If you happen to be in France on November 18, 2009, you'll be able to see New Moon 2 days before us folks in the US! L-U-C-K-Y! I love the french language. I took 2 years of it in high school but unfortunately forgot it. But watching this trailer makes it just that much better!


New subject: Rain.
It's been raining hard most the day. I'm not complaining as we need it. I can hear my grass "oooo"ing and "aaaaa"ing yet it desparately needs mowing. Hopefully I can get to that this weekend. Joe, Sara and I went out to dinner tonight to our fav buffet place. They have the absolute BEST mashed potatoes in the whole world. Wait. I take that back. The second BEST in the world. Nana makes the 1st BESTEST mashed potatoes in the world. So anyways, when we got to the restaurant the rain had paused. During our eatings it came down. Hard. So we took our time, chilled, watched MJ news on the tvs. It finally let up some so we decided we'd leave. Well we were not warned about the parking lot lake we had to go thru to get to the car. Joe acted like he was going to melt if he got wet. Sara was being silly and I don't think she minded getting wet. I didn't mind either. Hell, it's just water. It's Friday and I haven't a care on my mind at this moment. So when I stepped thru the parking lot I did try to lift my jeans up but it was no use. This parking lot lake went almost to my knees! See:

I almost lost my flip flops too so I stopped in the middle of the parking lot lake and took them off. As silly as this sounds, it was the most fun I had in that minute of crossing the parking lot lake and getting soaked and not caring that I've had in a long time. Pathetic I know. It almost made me want to go in my backyard to play in the rain. But I didn't. Because there was some thunder and when there's thunder there is lightning. No need to play outside with lightning.

3rd subject: More.
hhmmm....can't remember what else I was going to blog about so this is it for this post.

Graduation Party

I did it! I'm officially a college graduate because I received my degree Friday. I was honored this weekend by my mom who threw me a graduation party at her house. Surprised me with several guests, one of them being my BFF since I was 11yo and her family who I don't get to see very often! All the kids and a few adults enjoyed the pool.

And the best part was Sara getting into a cake fight with Eric (my bro-in-law) and can you tell by the picture who won?All in all it was the perfect party with perfect weather (well a little hot) enjoyed with great family and friends! Here are some more pictures:

A New Adventure

I've been following my favorite arthur, Eloisa James, on a blog tour. I now have an even more passion for reading and respect for the arthors that write the books I love. What I love even more is the personal response I received from Eloisa on her blog tour. It was sooooo cool! A personal response from the comments I left. Reading all the different sorts of things from her personal life to how she writes the books to everything and anything else, she has inspired me to try a new adventure: writing a novel. Now I am no literature major nor close to it but it would be neat to try. I'm not too sure what time I will use to do this adventure but I know if I want to do it bad enough I'll find it. (Here I'm finished with school I'd figured I'd have tons of time on my hands! Where does it all go?) Last night I was thinking of a subject I can write my novel about. I need something that I have knowledge on so it won't come out stupid-sounding. Sooooo...with my Twilight obsession I thought of writing about a girl who loves to read and falls in love with one of the characters from a book she reads. Of course there will be much more to the story once I think about it more and actually start writing it. I know that this adventure will be a long term adventure but wouldn't it be cool to do?

I'm not a big TV watcher as Joe needs the TV on at all times even if he's not paying attention to it which drives me insane! So I guess between my reading, graphic design work, day job work and family time, I will squeeze in becoming an arthur. No high hopes of making it big like Stephenie Meyer but just another little accomplishment I can do in life for myself. What are your thoughts on this?

Books, Books & More Books

Thanks to one of my best friends, Missy, I have found a website I absolutely love. (Not quite as much as Edward but close to it.) It's a book swap with millions of books to request. I posted books there that I no longer want and have already mailed out a book to a fellow PBS (PaperBookSwap) member. I've put in my first request to receive a book and am patiently waiting for it to arrive in my mailbox. I'll tell you what: it sure saves on buying books. Swapping is fun! Especially now that reading is one of my favorite past times. Of course you'll NEVER see me posting my Twilight books up for grabs. #1: NO WAY! #2: they are worth reading over and over; #3: technically they are Sara's books.

It's a great site and worth checking out! Especially if you love books. They have all kinds of books: children books, textbooks, fiction, non-fiction, instructional books, etc. Just click on the image above to go to the site. Enjoy!

Walgreens Soda

Sara and I found these sodas at Walgreens long time ago. They are sooooooooo yummy! I like the black cherry and Sara likes the orange cream. It's manufactured for Walgreens and granted it's not diet soda (I try to limit my liquid calories) it's sooooo worth it! I stopped at Walgreens today to get a birthday card for my big boss (it's his big 6-0!!) and figured I'd buy me a soda too. Haven't had one of these in a long time. Mmmmmm!

Girl Scouts

Yesterday was our annual GS leaders banquet. It was at one of our SU ('service unit' meaning neighborhood) home. She has a very lovely home with an extensive coca-cola collection. It's almost like a museum and you don't want to touch anything. We were set up on the back patio by the pool and landscaping. It's like a picture from a dream home magazine. But anyways, my post isn't mainly about this home but more of the banquet. At this annual banquet we are recongized with awards and such. I made sure my new-this-year co-leader was recongized and my cookie mom. And what a surprise but I was recongized as an outstanding leader! I got this cool pin: I also got a little certificate with why I was nominated a recipient (I'm an awesome leader--duh!). This award is neat because my SUM (service unit manager) had to get approval from council before they could honor me with it. I know it's something little but I think it's pretty neat-o. All of us at the banquet received a magnet for our cars that says "I heart being a GS leader." I'm wondering how long mine will last on my car before Sara steals it. Not because she wants it but because she's in that stage of being embarressed about being a girl scout. When these magnets first came out a few years ago she refused to let me buy it for myself and told me she would destroy it if I did. So I didn't. I pick and choose my embarressing moments for her and this one wasn't worth it.lol. Hopefully this embaressment phase will go away sooner rather than later. Some of the girls who are in high school and have graduated as GS say that this stage does pass. I figure being a GS is good learning experiences plus helps the community. With these opportunites and Sara's involvement with the Humane Society, maybe she'll score some scholarships!?!

Photo Tag

I have been tagged by The Land of Foo to share the 6th photo in my 6th file. I am at work but I do have quite a collection of pictures on my work computer (sssshhhhhh) here it is:
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh...what a lovely picture. Those of you who know me well know that I absolutely LOVE Kenny Chesney. =)

Now I am supposed to tag 6 more people so here you are:
Jenn
Tara
Angela
Caroline
Amber
Lisa

Have fun!

The Twilight Saga & More

One of my favorite websites these days is Twilighters Anonymous. I visit it on a daily basis and it helps me stay sane with my Twilight obsession--but only so far. =) They usually hold a weekly contest and last week's was a scavenger hunt. Of course I participated and guess what! I WON!! Unfortunately I didn't win Twilight stuff but I did win this book "Swoon" by Nina Malkin.

I am excited to broaden my horizon with new reading material. This weekend I found a Borders gift card I forgot I had so I bought Eloisa James' "This Duchess of Mine." I will have enough to keep me occupied for a few months. And I can always fall back on the Twilight Saga.

Last night was the premier of the New Moon trailer. For those of you who haven't seen it, here it is:
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

Isn't it just SO exciting??! I can't wait till 11/20/09. My sister and I will be there along with her husband and Sara, who is refusing to stand or sit near us. And why my brother-in-law is going is beyond me since he thinks all this Twilight stuff is gay but in reality we think he's just jealous that we can express ourselves better than him. We all know he's got a secret crush on Alice.

David Cook

This morning I had control of the TV remote. That RARELY happens. I decided to see what music videos were on and skipped from VH1 to CMT. I caught David Cook's newest song "Come Back to Me." The video was pretty cool. And just so happens he was a guest on VH1 countdown and he said that in this video he actually had to sing the song backwards! It took him 2 weeks to learn it. I think it came out awesome! It's a great song. Check it out here. (They disabled the code to put the video directly in any post.) Enjoy!

Vampire Baseball

It's been 10 days since my last post about Twilight. So for our viewing pleasure, one of the best scenes from Twilight the movie:


175 days till New Moon comes out!!

Books

I really enjoying reading books. It's my escape from reality. And boy these current days do I NEED that escape! Between a lazy spouse and teenager attitude I can get away mentally. Of course you know I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the Twilight Saga and currently rereading them since I haven't anything else to read yet. My favorite arthur, Eloisa James' newest book, This Duchess of Mine, came out yesterday. I so want it! I've read every single one of her books and never have been disappointed. The only problem is I read them so fast before her next book is published so I need to find other books to keep me occupied until then. So please share with me your favorite readings.

Cats

Meet Blanca. She is 11 months old and a temporary resident at my Humane Society. Sara is in love with her and wants to bring her home. Unfortunately there is 1 thing getting in the way of that: Joe. He's "allergic." She is so sweet and beautiful and loving. Then I snap back to reality and I must side with Joe. Not for his reasons but for my own. Having another pet is an added expense. As much as I would LOVE to gain some more fur babies, it's an added responsibility I'm not ready for. So in the meantime we will visit the animals weekly and try our hardest to help find their forever homes.

At my Humane Society we have a "real life" room where cats are open to roam and play in the room. You just got to be careful of the escape artists when entering and exiting. Fox13 has teamed up with the Humane Society and there is now a live camera in the room! You can watch the cats play, eat and sleep. And on Wednesdays between 5pm-7pm you might even be able to see me and Sara in there! Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm proud to say that I volunteer here! I'm even more proud to say my daughter volunteers here and we love it!

My New Shirt

It finally came today! Something I've been waiting for over a week! My Twilight shirt! I had it custom made and it's absolutely so cool! (At least I think it is.) Check it out:
The front:

The back:

I had it shipped to my office so I'd get it sooner verses having to wait the drive home. The mailman was late today and got to my office just as I was leaving. I grabbed it, stuck the rest of the mail on my desk, waved a big good-bye to my boss and co-workers and left. I opened my package in the car on my way to pick up Sara from school. I was jumping up and down in my car with excitement (as much as you can wearing a seatbelt.) I got to Sara's school. I did think about putting it on to walk inside to get her cuz I know it would embarress her but I didn't. When we got in the car I showed her the shirt. She rolled her eyes and covered her face. Then her face lit up and asked if she could run back inside to show her friend. So I was like sure. I really think she's jealous that I have a Twilight shirt and she doesn't. She'll never admit it though. So anyways, we finally get home and I show Joe. He smiled and I asked him if he knew what this shirt was. He replied no. I informed him "it's MY Twilight shirt." He just laughed and carried on with what he was doing. I try not to show too much excitement of my Twilight obsession around him (don't want to get him jealous or anything ;-). But I think he knows just how bad I've got it.

It's going to be a great week!

Edward as Rob

Hi, I'm Sam. I'm addicted to Twilight. My daughter is embarressed by this fact (even though she likes Twilight, too). I am in love with Edward. Edward Cullen. Yes I know he is a fictional character but so what. We all can dream and have fantasies right? It's healthy for our minds. I'm not all gooey over Rob Pattinson. He's cute but only to a point. Although I do like his music. (It's on the Twilight soundtrack, which I listen to daily.) His music is soft and soothing. But put him in Edward-character: H-E-L-L-O!! I was catching up on reading other blogs and a new favorite blog of mine, Our Twilight Chronicles, posted this:
Um...WOW! Words just can't explain this. Ok, I need to go wipe the drool from my face and get back to work.

Doodle 4 Google

Google held a contest for school-age children to create a Google design based upon what they wish for the world. Sara is taking an art class at school so I passed along the information to her teacher. She got all her classes involved and submitted some work but unfortunately none from her school made the finals. But she said the kids enjoyed making them and there were some very interesting designs. Google has now posted the finalists and its up to us to vote. So check them out here and cast your vote. Some of the work is quite impressive and the reason for them is just great. Maybe there is hope for our future!

Socks

It's been a while since I've shared my socks with you. It's because it's flip-flop season! Last night I had my Girl Scout meeting and we decided to do something fun. We tie-dyed socks! We did this with permanent markers and alcohol. The girls had a blast and the socks came out sooooooo cool looking. See here are mine:

I love my crazy socks but I only wear them a few months of the year. I prefer my flip-flops. But I think these are the coolest socks I own now. All because I made them.

Graphic Design

I've updated my graphic design blog. Check it out!

Mother's Day Weekend

Happy Mother's Day!

My mother's day weekend started off great! Joe took me to dinner. Just me and him since Sara went to a friend's house for the night. Then Saturday I spent the day with my mom--just me and her, which doesn't happen enough. We went to the Blueberry Festival. We picked blueberries fresh off the bush for an hour and half. Between us both we had over 9 lbs of berries! We also participated in the wine tasting. I'm not big on wine but I'm always willing to try. They were actually pretty good! My favorites were the strawberry and tangerine. We also tasted key lime, blueberry, wild berry and raspberry. There were many vendor tents set up and a live band! We got hamburgers from the fire dept that were there and sat and ate enjoying the live band. It was great!!

Once my afternoon was over with my mommy, I had to pick Sara up from her friend's house and we had to go dress shopping. Yes, I will repeat, DRESS shopping. For Sara. The girl who is anti-pink and anti-dress. Her 8th grade banquet is Monday and it is semi-formal wear. She's been shopping the past few weekends with her friend but has yet to find anything. Now, any type of clothes shopping with Sara is usually hell. I usually make Joe come to keep us behaved. But he didn't want to go and just wished me luck and told me to behave. Well, 2 and half hours, $55 spent and NO arguring, Sara got a dress, shoes and a sweater to go over the dress since it reveals her back. I can't believe my baby is wearing a dress! Look how gorgous she is:

Of course she'll probably kill me I posted this but isn't part of being a parent about embarressing, I mean, bragging about your child?!

This morning I woke up to breakfast: cheese omlet and blueberry pancakes! YUM! YUM! I foresee lots of blueberries in my food this week. hehe. I've had a lazy day so far but I think I will suggest going to the park with the dogs later for a walk. Oh yeah, the card Sara made for me was very heartfelt. I balled my eyes out. Literally. I cannot remember sobbing so much from something so sweet no less from my one and only child. I can't even put this into words. But if you are a mother, I'm sure you understand.

Until next time, enjoy your day! Especially if you're a mother!