Exciting times at Presbyterian….

So my grandma has been at Presbyterian Hospital since Monday. However, that is not what this blog is about. She is doing better and I will write one about her at a later time.

I was a little nervous to go visit her yesterday because I knew there would be a good chance I could run into my lovely cousins. My cousins and I are not currently getting along. We have never been very close. We grew up across the country from each other and I was the only grandkid that grew up in the same town as my grandparents. There has always been some jealousy there because I guess I have been favored by the grandparents for quite sometime. We have always been pretty civil to each other, until about April when I got a nasty gram from one cousin and then a nasty phone call from her sister blaming me for all kinds of crap that I did not do. It ended with them telling me I needed to apologize to them for something I didn’t do. I have yet to apologize and I will not because I did nothing wrong. But, I haven’t seen nor spoke with them since and even missed one of their weddings (granted it was the same day as Ryan’s graduation.)

Any way, we were at the hospital yesterday and sure enough my aunt shows up with one of my cousins. Yuck. Luckily mom was leaving so I just kinda headed out with her. They didn’t say hi to me and I didn’t say hi to them. As she was leaving she told my Aunt, who was standing behind me, to say hi to all of her family. My cousin thought she was talking to me and looked at me and says, “Well hello Jackie so good to see you…” in her fake little voice. I forced a smile and said hello and then that I had to head home. Barf. I hate forcing fakeness.

As I was headed out I called my favorite Uncle to see where he was because we had been waiting for him to show up. He answered and we had just missed each other on the elevators. He told me my aunt had just left and to take the stairs and I would miss them. Fearing that by the time I got to the stairs they would be coming out the elevator… I hid on the other side of Presbyterian downstairs and was peaking around the corner… I waited over 5 minutes and then just said screw it. They had to have left by now… I thought. I head to the elevators and NOPE, there they were. Just my luck. They looked at me and said, Oh I thought you had to rush home. I came up with some excuse and then quickly jumped onto the elevator to escape them. I knew they were waiting for my other cousin to come… one that likes me even less and I did NOT want to run into her.

I arrived in the Progressive Heart center of the hospital greeted my favorite uncle. I then told him (he is also a police officer) that he had to escort me back out of the hospital for fear that I would run into them again. We decided to take the stairs. Lol. 7 flights later, we take the elevator to the bottom floor on the other side of the hospital…. The first level bottom doesn’t work… so we end up below the first level, but there is no exit so we have to take the stairs up to the first level and as soon as we walk out… we ran into them. Lol. We if we would have just taken the elevator we wouldn’t have run into them! I thought it was pretty funny, but at least I had backup. We actually just waved and rushed right past them. It was pretty comical and I thought I would share.

I know it is sad that I don’t speak to my own family… but I hold grudges for a long time. And if they were truly my dearest family they would never had accused me of things I didn’t do AND they would have apologized to me, instead of demanding me to apologize. I have family that I trust and value and I also have friends that I value just as my family so I don’t need them if they aren’t going to be there for me. End story.

So no favors.... but

The more I've thought about it since I posted my last blog, I have decided that I will not have wedding favors. Instead, I am going to use that money to buy disposable cameras for each reception table. That way my guests can be a part of the big day and help us take some pictures of things we may not be able to see since we will be soo busy at the reception! Yay.

Wedding favors?? Or not?

Question, do you have to give wedding favors at your wedding?? My mom has been getting frustrated with me because I don’t know what to do for wedding favors. She finally said last week, do you even really need to have favors? And I was like, do I? I don’t know. Is it THAT important to have something cute for your guests or should I just save my money?

There is something about going home…

It totally relaxes me to go back home and it kinda puts me in a comfort zone. I stayed at my parent’s house, which I haven’t done in over a year and a half. It is amazing going back to the house that you grew up… you remember everything. I needed some Advil and a I knew exactly where it sat in a closet . I love my family and believe it or not, I love that small town. We hung out with my family and Ryan’s family and it was a great weekend.

We hadn’t seen Ryan’s sisters in a really long time and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with those beautiful little girls (my future sister-in-laws).



Here are some excerpts from our evening with Ryan’s sisters to help explain how funny and cute they are:

Katie’s kitten’s name is Bubba. She is a tiny cute girly kitty named Bubba. Katie was talking about changing Bubba’s name : “Maybe I will name my Bubba, Flare.” We all kinda give her a puzzled look like where you did you get that from, she says, “You know, like the jeans! With that flare on the bottom?”

Rebecca is eating dinner and Is a huge animal lover, she has decided that she doesn’t like eating meat because she feels bad for the animals and her mom was trying to make her eat some chicken. “I don’t like eating chicken, unless it is chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs from McDonalds…. Because I don’t feel like I am eating chicken, I feel like I am eating something . that is extinct and it doesn’t bother me that much.”

Katie was calling her new best friend, Meghan’s home phone number to talk to her. Meghan’s mom answered the phone, Katie says, “Ummm, is this Meghan’s mom or something??”Man those little girls crack me up! I miss hanging out with them all the time.

On the way back home my parents were calling us all freaked out because there was a big storm and a tornado warning. We pulled over to put a cover on some stuff we were hauling to Alb. for my Uncle and because we did, we missed the storm. It was moving incredibly fast, but not fast enough for us to catch some crazy pictures. As we were driving through Belen, it suddenly looked like it had snowed. There was soo much hail on the ground and it was a huge foggy patch too because of the steam off the road. What excitement! Lol

Here are some pictures of the storm:

Did I not call this one??

Check out the link below, it is talking about the scandal of the underage Chinese Gymnasts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-flumenbaum/scandal-of-the-ages-docum_b_118842.html

I just think people should follow the rules. I mean, yeah they are young and they are still awesome gymnasts, BUT everyone else has to wait until they are 16, so should they. Their time will come soon enough. coughcheaterscough

I am not saying that the US should have gotten gold over this, but it isn't fair to teams that may not have gotten a medal and did everything legitimately.

Just thought I'd share. :)

Did you guys watch the Olympics last night?

Spoiler Alert, if you didn't!


Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson won Gold and Silver in the all-around Gymnastics Final! It was soo good and down to the very last seconds!



It was very awesome. Big Weekend for Michael Phelps too... hope you guys are watching! Eeeh... I love the Olympics!:)


Anyway, Ryan and I are headed to Socorro this weekend to visit our familia. Our neighbors are watching Bailey... I just hope she doesn't run away again... I am praying she stays put! :S

I will be sure to write a blog about our event filled weekend on Monday. Hanging out with our family this weekend from Socorro to Alb. It will be fun and eventful. Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for reading! :D

Since the Olympics is currently my life....

That is what I am going to write about.

In case you have been in a hole the past couple days, Michael Phelps is now the most decorated Olympic athlete in history. Winning more gold medals than anyone has ever won in history. He is an Amazing Athlete... or a Gold Medal, Wold Record Setting Machine. So far this Olympics, he has won 5 of 5 gold medals, setting a World Record in EVERY race that he has competed in. The crazy thing, he still has 3 more races to compete in and is expected to win them all.

For me the most phenomenal thing (besides that fact at how awesome he is) is that because he is in soo many Olympic competitions, after some races or preliminaries he is in the pool less than an hour later for another. He is extraordinary and I wish him all the luck in the world with accomplishing gold for his next 3 races.

Here was a quote on the US Men's Swim Team's message board : "In business,words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality."

My Favorite US volleyball team: Roger/Dalhausser - these guys are amazing, I highly recommend watching them play! Dalhausser is 6'9 and blocks everything from the other team, they are a great duo.



And my last commentary on the Olympics - Are China's "Women" Gymnasts really old enough to compete... Those girls looked like they were 7 or 8! Even though they were very, very good.




Ok and one more - US Women's Gymnast, 16 year old Shawn Johnson is Adorable!! Keep an Eye out for her!



And I am soo tired from staying up late and watching the Olympics... but it is totally worth it!

Olympics

I am super obsessed with the Olympics... and I have always been. I remember as a kid watching the Olympics, cheering on the US... picking my favorite athletes. I even had posters and books on my favorites. When the last Olympics happened I was a sophomore in college. I remember my roommate and I watching them and trying to think of where we would be when the next Olympics would happen.

Well here I am. :) I never would have thought.

Anyway I am soo mad that I won't be able to watch it while I am at work today... That was all I did yesterday, on my day off. They should really like broadcast the Olympics in every business.. that way I don't miss anything.

Ryan does not share my obsession. So I'm pretty much driving him nuts. Is it just me? Or are the Olympics just fantastic? And it isn't the same when you see the replays on the news... You have to see it live. Like did you see the Michael Phelps' second gold with his relay team... how they came back from behind and won! Aww... it makes me sad to think I will be missing all of this while I am at work.

Crazies in the Woods...

Saturday was a very exciting day of work… I was supposed to be learning from the lady who does the interpretive program as we went out on a guided hike, but nobody showed up for the hike. So we went driving around… or patrolling instead. We were on a dirt road when we saw a bunch of trash. We got out of the vehicle to pick it all up and saw bear tracks around the trash and some digging marks, where the bear tried to dig out some food from a container… pretty neat.


We continued down to another road where we saw a vehicle parked on the side of the road and we saw tire tracks up this hill. The area is part of a national conservation area so there are no vehicles allowed off of the dirt road, if caught they could get fined. We figured it was just some old tracks so we got out of the truck and hiked up the hill to see how far out the vehicle had driven.

We hike up around the hill, turn the corner and there was the vehicle that made the tracks right in front of us…. WITH 5 people all dressed in black robes. I immediately stopped, but the lady I was with kept going so I followed behind her. As soon as they saw us, the men immediately came forward and blocked their campsite from our view. The lady I was with was very cool about it told them they weren’t supposed to have their vehicle off the road. They apologized and said they new the rules. They said they had been camping out there for 4 days already.

Let me just say, they were VERY creepy! They were acting VERY shady, they went out of their way to block their campsite from our view. They were all in black robes, there were 3 guys and 2 girls. I didn’t notice, but the lady I was with said that they girls had really crazy makeup all over their faces. As soon as I saw them I got this really bad feeling about what they were doing. We couldn't get their license plate number because their vehicle was facing opposite from where we came in and they blocked us from walking any further into their camp.

We called our law enforcement officer after we left. He told us that he had already dealt with who he thought was the same exact people 2 months ago. They were there camped out and told him they were doing religious things, but said they were a very civil religious group. We also heard that the park service had talked to them a week or two previous from us seeing them. They said that they were sending someone in their group on the 9 mile hike across the lava beds as initiation to their group.

Creepy, right? I spotted a necklace that one was wearing and tried to Google the symbol and I also tried to find information about people wearing black robes or all black clothing camping out. I haven’t been able to find a damn thing.

I guess it is a mystery, BUT they seem to like the area and our law enforcement officer is going to be around now that he knows they still are. Granted, the only thing that they’ve done is drove their car off the main road, but I guess you can still get fined a pretty penny… especially if they’ve been caught a couple times already.

That was my crazy Saturday at work and I thought I would share. I am soo glad I didn’t stumble upon those people alone!

Monday's Motivation

While I have the day off... I realize many, er All of you probably have to work. :) So, here is some Monday motivation. Enjoy.







I will be writing some blogs later today so stay tuned!

My Countdowns:

6 days until my Mom’s birthday

7 days until we go back to Socorro for a visit ( the first time since we left… )

12 days until Ryan’s birthday

14 days until Ryan’s dad, his future step mom and his sisters come spend the weekend with us

21 days until we go to New York! :D

3 months, 4 weeks and a day until our wedding!

Impressive

I put a counter on my page Tuesday evening. It is Friday morning and I have just hit 100 hits! Wow. I am pretty impressed! :) Thank you so much for reading my thoughts!!

I was trying to put up a picture and then I got stuck on Google looking at funny Motivational posters. Maybe I will post my favorite motivational or anti motivational posters for the next couple days! Enjoy! Oh and did you know you can make your own? I think I may start... for now here are some borrowed ones.

My own Reality TV show... er work

Has anybody seen that stupid VH1 reality TV show I Love of Money?



Unfortunately I have… and another unfortunately that I have not been able to stop. I even record it on our DVR. Anyway, the last episode was all about alliances. One person thinks that the other person is on their side when she really has another alliance or even a couple of alliances and has no loyalty at all to the other person who thinks she is in their alliance, but in reality she is just using that person.

Well, today I decided that my work is just like that show. This lady that all the other ladies hate came in today to meet me and she was very nice to me. I decided that I am on her side/team/alliance. This alliance consists of that lady that none of the other ladies like and her friend Manny, who is definitely my advocate in the office, this alliance has kind of adopted me. I thought I was on the other team/alliance until today, then I realized that I am in this alliance too and that I don’t trust any of them in the other alliance.. I am just using them to learn about my job. lol

So pretty much I am the one on I Love Money who is on everyone’s alliance, but is really looking out for myself the whole time and is trying to figure out which alliance will be the most beneficial to me. :)

Just my bored thoughts that I wrote while at work yesterday.

Likeness

I don’t know what it is about me, but I really like being liked. Sounds weird I know. But let me elaborate: I enjoy getting along with pretty much everyone. It drives me absolutely nuts when somebody doesn’t like me, especially when they have no reason not to like me.

I know a lot of people have a I don’t care attitude. ‘If they don’t like me, then screw them… they don’t know what they are missing out on.’ But I just can’t seem to grasp that. It really kinda makes me angry when people don’t like, or just stop liking me for some reason… especially when I don’t do anything. This seems to happen to happen to me quite frequently.

I’ve had many of close friends just decide that I did something or they didn’t like something I did and would just turn on me. I’ve had 3 close friends do that to me in the past 5 years. One didn’t like the boy I was dating so she cut me off (little did she know I’d end up marrying him), another didn’t like that my boyfriend was moving to the same time as us and was jealous that I’d be spending more time with him, so she moved out and I haven’t talked to her since and the most recent was a girl who thought I rigged an election so she wouldn’t win as President of a club and she hasn’t talked to me since. These were all very rough on me because these girls were my closest friends at the time when they decided not to like me anymore. Stupid girls.

Now it has happened again, but it is different this time.
The first couple weeks of my new job this one lady showed me the ropes and how everything worked. I pretty much spent 3 straight weeks with her. After a rough start I ended up really liking her. We got along well, worked well together and even had quite a bit in common. Until Friday, she showed up to work and wouldn’t speak to me. I am the only one in the building so, it was pretty obvious. I thought maybe she was just in a bad mood. Then yesterday she was at the other building I am working at. I walked in and immediately knew she was still not going to speak to me.
Angry at her because I had no idea why she wasn’t speaking to me, I played the overly nice card… just to piss her off. I went out of my way to say hello to her and ask her what she was doing. I didn’t really get a response. When she left a while later I told her goodbye and again she ignored me. Hmmm…. I am pretty baffled. Not really sure what I did to her, but it is bugging me. I know I should just let it go, but it really drives me nuts. I think this is going to be another one of those cases that I see oh too often where someone has decided that for some particular reason they do not like me. Which is definitely tough because we are colleagues and there are only 5 of us that work together. Oh well. Not really sure what to do about it… but I am guessing not very much. I will just deal with it. Maybe play the overly nice card for a little while longer.

Flower Girl Dresses

How freaking adorable is this dress??






This is the dress that Ryan's sisters will be wearing to the wedding as our flower girls! :)

Ok now I really need to get ready for work! Have a fantastic day everyone!

Rings

Ok So, I have been tryin to find rings online that look like my engagement band and looks similiar to the wedding band I picked out.

This is what I've come up with:



However,That isn't exactly it... the round diamonds in the wedding band are a bit too large... The one I picked out has diamonds that are a little bit closer to the size of the round diamonds on the engagement band. AND, the round diamonds on the picture of this engagment ring are too small... mine are a bit bigger.

What do you think? Although my mind is already made! lol

Counter

Just out of pure curiosity I have added a counter to the bottom of my page. I've always wanted to, but couldn't figure out how to do it. The next step is to change my background on my blog, but I spent a good hour trying to figure that one out and with no luck. Maybe some fellow bloggers can help me out with that?!

Anyway, I added a counter yesterday evening and although the first 4 counts were my own (I had to make sure it worked) this morning it is at 13!!! Wow that is pretty intense! I can't wait to see what it is at the end of the day! lol.

Just thought I'd share! Have a fantastic Day!



"The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. it's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for it's existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun."
- Napolean Hill

Update, Kitty Found!!! Thank goodness!

I was soo super upset, I just knew that Eric was gone for good. This morning when Ryan got up at 5:00, I was wide awake… and crying. I was telling Ryan that I was soo upset because Eric has been my friend since college. When I lived alone in my apartment he was the one I came home to everyday. And now that we are in a new town where I don’t know anyone Eric and Bailey are my closest friends…second to Ryan of course.


So this morning I got out of bed at 5:30, and called Eric, there was no response, nothing. I ate breakfast… with alligator tears in my cereal bowl. Then I put on a jacket (it is 50 degrees) and I headed out the front door to look for him. I didn’t have to go far. He was sitting next to a tree under our front windows of our house, just staring at me. I picked him up and then another black and white cat ran away. He then started hissing and growling at the other cat while he held on tight to me. I brought him in and he ate and drank like there was no tomorrow.

I am soo very thankful that he is safe and sound and most importantly HOME.
Now I need to give him a good bath because he is super dirty! I am soo relieved!!

Lost kitty.... :(

In one day, within a few hours both of my furry children ran away. The only difference is that one comes when she is called.

We had a real bad wind storm this afternoon and it blew our back gate open. We often take Bailey for walks back there because it is a big empty field. So I knew when I walked by and saw it was open that she was running around in the field out there. I called Ryan got some shoes on and all I had to do was call her 2 or 3 times and she came running back from wherever she was playing. Ryan fixed the fence so that It wouldn’t open with a gust of wind and all I had to say was thank goodness we were home and thank goodness she knows her commands.

Fast forward a couple hours later. We come home from taking Bailey on a Mt. adventure. I ask Ryan to bring in her 40 pound bag of dog food from the garage so we can fill up her food container. I say hello to Eric Cartman and then go outside to help Ryan. When I return I look for Eric and realize that the door to the garage is open and so is the garage door. Yikes. I immediately look in the garage and I don’t see him. I then think well maybe he is just hiding in the house… Nope we had the door closed so he was trapped in the living room/kitchen area and he was nowhere to be seen. So then both of us go outside and look for him. We called and screamed., it was pitch black so we used flashlights and I even got his food out. Nothing. It is like he disappeared.

Now for most cats this wouldn’t be a big deal. But Eric is very much an indoor cat. He is very overweight and is declawed. He has only spent the night outside once and it was in the backyard of our rent house and he snuck out then too. He did return in the morning very hungry…. But he was confined in the backyard because he is too fat to jump to fence.

Why I am worried now… He is in the front of our house somewhere. On the main street. There are other cats, dog and my worst fear, cars. He is too fat to out run anything and doesn’t have claws to defend himself. I walked the street a half dozen times and I saw nothing. (granted it was pitch black)

Ryan already went to bed and I am too sad to sleep. All I can hope is that my fat little furry boy gets hungry and decides to come back home (if he even knows where home is… we did just move here 2 mos. ago.) and I will see him first thing in the morning. He is on a pretty good schedule and always eats around 6 when I get up… even on the weekends he lets me know that it is his feeding time.


I guess I will post an update tomorrow. Pray that it is a happy one.