Boring night ahead

DH's boss is having a barbeque at his house tonight. We have to attend. It's gonna be dull for me. A bunch of people sitting around talking about business insurance. Yuck. I'll suffer through though cause DH does the same thing for me.

Tomorrow, I'm attending a book signing at Northlake mall. Diana Palmer is gonna be there signing books starting at 2pm. I started reading her romance books when I was in my early teens and I have remained a fan. My mom is a rabid fan of hers as well so I'm gonna get my mom a signed copy of her new book as well.

The rest of the weekend should be spend stitching. My life is mostly boring but I like it anyway.

We're approved

I got a call from the mortgage broker today and we are approved for a loan. Now I just have to find a house. I'm excited! Most of the houses in our price range and area we were looking at were way up in Cumming or Gainesville though. There were a few in the Norcross and Duluth area though and those are reasonable.

When we move, I know I'm gonna hire a couple of people to move the actual boxes but I'll do the packing. I'll have an unpacking/new home party too so that everyone can see the new house. I'm looking forward to owning a home.

Catch Up

Gosh. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to blog in a couple of days.

Saturday was spent stitching most of the day. I also worried. I actually worried all last week that I might be pregnant cause of a late period. I went to start laundry and found that the laundry detergent had leaked out all over the pantry and I spent a good 2 hours cleaning up that mess and washing off the can goods.

Sunday morning, I finally gave in and did a pregnancy test. The test was negative so that eased my mind a bit and I went back to my stitching. Sunday evening my period hit with the vengence of a tornado but I knew for sure then that I wasn't pregnant.

Monday, I had a very busy day at work and then I went in to meet with the manager of my apartment complex. Friday when we got home there was a note on our door that they had inspected the apartment and found 2 broken blinds and that we would be fined $100 if we didn't resolve the issue within 24 hours. I looked all over and didn't find any new broken blinds. We did have 1 broken one but it was broken when we moved in. While meeting with the manager I read her the riot act. The blind they were trying to fine us for breaking had been broken when we moved in and she could look in the records and see that. My fridge was still leaking and had been for months so now the kitchen floor was starting to bow. My bathroom light was still shocking me every time I turned it on and off even though they had attempted to fix it 3 times. My oven knob still didn't work right after 2 years. My air conditioner runs all the time but the temp in my house never goes below 80 despite multiple attempts to fix it. I was sick of reporting problems over and over and over and nothing gets fixed. She walked down to the apartment with me and I complained the whole way. She went through the apartment with me and made notes as we went through it and as she left, she promised to get everything fixed right away. I had my doubts. I didn't really stitch monday cause I was too aggravated.

Tuesday was another busy day at work. I thought of going to the doctor after work cause my sinuses are completely full again. I ended up not going though and we headed home. We had locked the cats up in the bedroom on the off chance that maintenance really would show up. When we got home, I noted that the blinds in the living room were down so I new someone had been in the apartment cause we always leave the blinds up so the cats won't hurt them. After inspecting the apartment I discovered that they had fixed the blinds and the bathroom light switch. They had looked at the air conditioner and refrigerator. They put a new light in the fridge and left my salad sitting out on the stove instead of putting it back in the fridge but at least I knew that they had been there. I called the manager and asked her what the status was and she said they were able to fix everything but the fridge and air conditioner but they had ordered the parts to fix those and would come back out as soon as they got those parts. Maybe my tirade finally got some action from the apartments.

I've also started looking into getting a house. I've applied for pre-qualification through a lender and I'm waiting to hear from them. I've got a realtor looking at places for me too but he told me that I really shouldn't try to go out and look at actual houses until October so that I'll be able to put a bid on whatever I want since most people want to close within 30-60 days of accepting a bid. We will definately be moving in January. I just can't stand that apartment complex anymore. I think both DH and I have given up on the idea of moving out of Georgia. The jobs and money are here for us and we've slowly built up a base of friends here. We miss the friends in PA too but money is kind of the ruling factor in our lives.

TGIF

I suffered through the movie "man-thing" last night. It was the straight to video movied about a marvel character. This movie was aweful. Dh told me when we started watching the movie that Man-thing was like swamp thing and was really dumb but could sense feelings so he killed people that were angry or in fear but left others alone. As we were watching the movie it became clear that the man-thing was just killing everyone that he came into contact with and it was really more of a horror movie than anything. Normally I enjoy a good horror movie as long as it isn't right before bed.

I got a little more stitching done last night but not much. I'm just to tired to stitch which is not a good state for me.

I'm hoping the day goes fast today. I've already been at work for an hour so hopefully the rest of the day will go this fast too so that I can go home and collapse.

Tired Now

I've been up till midnight every night this week. I'm usually in bed by 10PM and loosing that 2 hours of sleep every night is about to kill me.

DH made me suffer through the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 last night. I didn't like the orginal so I didn't want to watch the remake but DH insisted this one would be better. I still didn't like it. It's just not my kind of movie. He's got some strange movie to watch tonight too that is a straight to video movie about a comic character but I can't remember the name of it.

I've managed to get around 800 stitches done on Cat's Eye which sounds impressive until you realize that there are 9600 stitches on the whole thing. I'm stitching it twice as I go. I'm doing one over 2 on 28ct and the other is over 1 on 28ct. It's looking rather boring now but I'll get a progress pic of it eventually. I hope to make lots of progress this weekend.

Good night

My model stitching supplies came in the mail yesterday. I of course made working copies right after work last night and started highlighting my first color on each project. Tonight I'll do my grid lines since these 2 are large enough that I'll need the grid.

After that, we went to see Fantastic Four. I truly enjoyed this movie. DH was disappointed that they changed the characters quite a bit from the comics but I didn't read the comic so I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was very action packed with quite a few funny moments. It also hit home the point that it's okay to be different and different can be better than being like everyone else if you are willing to accept yourself the way you are without hoping to be like everyone else. It was nice to see that.

After that, it was late and I fell into bed but I had a good night. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Good Weekend

The weekend started with movies. We watched Navigator. It was about Howard Hughes. I didn't realize that he did so much. It was an interesting movie. I have to admit that Dicaprio played an incredible part. I really didn't like him as an actor when he first started but after watching Man in an Iron Mask, I had to admit that he did have some acting chops and the Navigator shows his acting ability again.

Saturday, we went to the library and got the new Harry Potter. The rest of day was spent with me reading Harry and DH watching horror movies. I know he watched White Noise but I don't remember anything from it cause I was engrossed in Harry. I absolutely loved this book. I had heard the rumors that an important person died but I was very upset about who died and how it happened. It made me want to throw things but it was an incredible story.

Sunday started with the comic convention. We were there for several hours. Then off to Picadilly for lunch and home to relax and do laundry. I stitched as much as I could Sunday afternoon on Enchanted Mermaid because I know that it will be put on the back burner again after I recieve the models for Norwood's. I need to take a picture of my progress before I put it away though. Dh started Harry as well but he reads slow so I have to wait quite a while before I can discuss it with him.

Life is back into full swing.

We got approved to take off August 15-19th so it looks like we'll be heading to PA on August 13th. We'll spend all day driving and probably spend Sunday with my Grandmother so that we can see the rest of my family too. I also have to spend at least one day with Justin's parents but that leaves the rest of the week free. We'll probably start driving toward Nashville Friday (the 19th) in the afternoon so that I can get there at a decent hour on Saturday to go through the shopping mart and I can make the lunch and/or dinner for the TWBB members. I'm so excited about the trip!

I also found out that both Jennifer from Dragon Dreams and Teresa Wentzler are attending Dragoncon this year. They are actually attending as people intead of vendors cause the con gave them a hard time about their samples being cross stitch and not artwork. I found this out by calling Susan at Norwood's. I called her to order two more patterns and to see if she had anything she wanted me to stich for her since there were a lot of new patterns out this month. She's going to send me the stuff to do Crabapple Dragon from Generations Cross Stitch and Cat's Eye from Mystic Stitch so she can have those as model pieces and I've got the new Kat's by Kelly's designs for me.

I'm gonna be an aunt

I just got off the phone with little brother. New wife is already pregnant. There will be a little one in around 7-8 months. Somehow I always knew he'd end up with a kid before me!

Movies

I find myself watching a lot more movies these days. Between the rent as many as you want for $15 at Hollywood, Dh's desire to see several new movies in theatre, and the very nice girl at hollywood that keeps giving us passes to movie screenings.

Last night was a screening for Wedding Crashers. It wasn't really one that I thought I would like but it was a free movie so we went. I found myself laughing in the "I can't believe they did that" kind of way. There were a lot of people at this screening. I guess cause they recruited on college campuses for it and most college students love a free movie. There were a lot of "cover important part OH's" in the theatre even though there were no private parts injured unless you include rear ends in private parts.

It's amazing how many movies that I'm watching and enjoying now despite the fact that I didn't think I would like them. I used to be very picky about what kind of movies I would or wouldn't watch. I'm now finding myself watching everything.

today is much better

Sorry about the spaz yesterday.

I'm fine. The car has about $100 damage on it so it isn't bad at all. The car I hit is somewhere around $300 to 500 in damage so it was a small accident even if it did frustrate me.

My sister in law called last night to invite me to the wedding. My brother didn't even want to talk to me but I made him. I let him know that I already had plans but could cancel if he really wanted me to and he told me not to worry about it. Now I just have to convince Mom that it's really okay for me to go to Nashville CATS instead of to my brother's wedding ceremony.

In the frustration of yesterday, I forgot to say what a wonderful weekend that I had. I was wonderful to visit with friends and take time for just me. Valerie got some good pics of Kirstin's new kitten trying to help me stitch. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with friends and relaxing all weekend. I think I've finally got the stitching but back for good now too.

I'm also excited about the new car I'm getting. It's a 98 Honda Civic with a sunroof. Dad is fixing it right now. He bought it wrecked and is repairing it. It will be good to have a Honda back again. I love Honda's. I wanted a honda when we bought the Nissan but just couldn't afford it. It will also be nice to have 2 cars again so we can stop carpooling. carpooling is good in theory but when you have stuff to do by a certain time and can't make it cause your picking up a spouse, it's a real pain in the rump!

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. I'm doing much better today and I'm much calmer.

Today Sucks!

I have had a horrible morning.

My mother called and woke me up this morning. She was calling to let me know that my brother had set his wedding ceremony for August 20th and wanted to know if I wanted to ride up with them. I told her that I had plans to be in Nashville on August 20th and I already had hotel reservations for the needlework show. She did her best guilt trip to try to get me to cancel my plans and attend my brother's wedding. I feel bad about this. I do have time to cancel my hotel reservations without penalty but I've been planning this for months. Little brother is already married and has been since January. They are only doing a ceremony now so that family can attend. He still hasn't called me to invite me. I only know about the ceremony cause he called mom. I haven't heard from him in 2 months. I'm torn on what to do. Am I being selfish by not wanting to go to a ceremony that means nothing so that I can to a needlework show and spend time with my friends? Should I just give up my plans without any notice or even an actual call to me? Is it too much to ask to want him to call me to invite me instead me hearing about it second hand from my parents?

After dropping DH off at work, I continued on to work myself. I saw a flashing yellow light ahead so I slowed down. The guy 4 cars in front of me slammed on his brakes cause he saw a flashing light and it caused the rest of us to have to stop suddenly. I didn't get stopped quite in time and ended up hitting the girl in front of me. While exchanging info I got soaked thanks to the pouring rain and the lack of an umbrella.

After that I proceeded the rest of the way to work even though I wanted to go home. I got soaked the rest of the way while walking from the parking lot to the office.

I'm now sitting here dripping on my desk in the air conditioning and I'm very cold. I have to sit here feeling disgusting and disgusted with myself for the rest of the day. I feel gross cause I'm soaked in rain water and slowly drying. I feel disgusted because I of all people know how important it is to slow down in the rain and despite the fact that I did so, I still had an accident. I just hit my 6 year accident free mark in January and now I'm going to lose that 15% discount because of a stupid rain storm.

ARGH!!!

Rescue Kitties

Over the last couple of years. I have taken several kitties into my care temporarily. Up till now, it has been me that initiated the catching of the cat and DH gave in and let me get it.

Little Black may be the exception to this. I don't know the cats name. He is a pure black cat that has been running around our apartment complex. Over the last 6 months, we have been feeding him when we see him and our cat Smokey actually looks for him so they can play.

Last night, DH went to return a movie and Little Black was sitting outside our door. We gave him some food and petted him while he ate. He stayed for a long time and he tried to get in a couple of times. Smokey was also trying to get out. I felt bad leaving him out in the storm but I'm pretty sure that he belongs to someone in the apartment complex. He is undernourished but he is slim. He always eats what we give him but he's not wolfing it down so I guess he isn't starving but just taking advantage of the free food. He was also staying in our breezeway so he wasn't getting wet anymore.

Dh was very upset though. The cat is always outside. I think the people that own him are the ones that keep a litterbox and food on their patio (they are on 1st floor). I don't think they ever let him in. The area we are in is very high traffic so I would worry constantly about our cats being outside. DH was upset that they leave the poor cat out in all weather and don't really seem that interested in him. He is very lovable and if you sit down, he just crawls in your laps to get petted and falls asleep while you are petting him.

I've been resisting letting him in the house cause I really think these people own him. He doesn't have any collars or tags but our cats don't wear any either.

Hopefully he has found someplace warm to curl up in while it continues to drizzle today.

What do you guys think? I'm inclined to just keep up as we are and feed him and love on him when we see him. Do you think I'm right or do you think I should try to find him a new home?

Storm

We had a whopper of a storm last night. There are trees down all over. I had several moments of anxiety coming home from a friend's house last night. The color of the sky reminded me very much of the Tornado we got caught in when I was a child and I really didn't want DH to drive on 285 or 85 but that was the route he took cause he thought he would be able to see the road easier. I was so glad to get home!

Today has been busy so far as people call in to file claims about downed trees on their houses and cars and accidents that occured because they didn't have the smarts to slow down.

I'm just glad there wasn't actually a tornado and that the color of the sky was only do to the atlanta lights reflecting through the storm instead of a tornado bearing down on us.

Hope everyone is safe and free of falling trees.

trips

Please forgive me for not elaborating.

This weekend, I'm going to a sort of stitching retreat in SC at a friends house who is invited several of us mad stitchers into her home for the weekend. I'm looking forward to a weekend of girl talk and stitching.

DH is trying to get either August 15-19 or 22-26 off so that we can make a trip to PA. There is a stitching show in Nashville on the 19-21. I'm hoping to get the 15-19 off so that we can drive up to PA on the 13th. I already have reservations to be at the stitching show on the 20-21th and I'd like to have a weekend day in PA since all my friends that I want to see work. We haven't told anyone about the trip yet cause we don't know what week we'll be up there but we are definately coming in August. I just have to get DH's boss to let us know which week. My boss has already told me that either week is fine though.

Edited to correct a date blunder (thanks val).

Kirabug, We should be up while you are there. I hope.

anticipation

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I made up a lot of beef jerky to help me with traveling. I'm gonna make up some cookies too.

I went to the hairdresser and got a new hairdo over the 4th.

I found a hole in my tooth on the 4th too. I went to the dentist yesterday but he told me that he couldn't do anything with it right now cause I have a bad sinus infection. This is news to me. I don't feel stuffy. He says the pain that I'm feeling is from the sinus infection and not from the tooth. I'm not sure why a sinus infection stops him from drilling and filling my tooth. I was very confused.

Dh is gonna clean out the car tonight so that we can have the inside detailed tomorrow night so that we don't get cat hair all over us on the ride. I know we all have cats but we don't need that much cat hair while trying to eat road munchies :) Dh has already found 2 comic stores to visit so I know that he's happy about those.

In all the excitement of the trip, I almost forgot my mom's b'day which is on the 9th. I went and picked her up a cappichino (I'm an aweful speller) maker last night cause I know she likes that stuff. I'll have to drop that by sometime this week.

I even picked up a needle last night and started working on enchanted mermaid last night. It's the first time I've stitched in over a month.