Category: Life

Changes on the homefront

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I’ve seen very little of my husband this week compared to usual. Monday morning he left for a work trip to Michigan, returning Thursday afternoon. Today he’s working and then taking his son out to dinner, so I won’t be seeing him until later this evening. Then tomorrow morning he’s doing a work thing and I’m attending a conference, but we’ll be meeting up later to see my family for my brother’s birthday.

I didn’t do much while Joe was on his trip, and his sister was kind enough to stay over those days since he worries about me being alone while he’s so far away. His sister technically moved out last weekend after getting her own apartment. Bella is staying with me this week but will be going to her new home on Saturday so I’m going to be awfully lonely come Monday when Joe’s at work and I’m all by myself with no one to talk to except a fish, snail and hamster.

Bella Post Petsmart Trip

We’ve been contemplating getting a dog of our own but without me working I think that added expense isn’t wise. Besides, I’m not sure we’d be lucky enough to find a dog as awesome as Bella – she’s playful here and there but also content to lounge around the house and never get into any trouble. She doesn’t even need to go out that often! We’d be hard pressed to find a dog like her.

I’ll be pestering Joe to fix the door on the spare bedroom this weekend so I can start fostering kittens again. It will give me something to do during the day. Working out, cleaning, keeping things organized, and cooking only take up so many hours of each day.

Easter

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Wow, that ham I mentioned in my last post came out better than I expected. Instead of getting the Archer Farms spiral ham like we usually do we got a shank ham from Meijer. I made a glaze from a recipe I found on Pinterest and the ham came out moist and delicious! I will never buy a precut ham again because they always come out dry.

Easter Ham

Yesterday morning I gave E his Easter basket (which he liked, especially the baseball cards and Darth Vader candy holder) and found that Joe had made me one too. I was so excited because holidays make me feel wistful – I want to be a kid again and get excited about the little things. Case in point – we colored eggs on Saturday which was pretty fun. This year we used Neon food coloring which I liked better than the egg coloring kits.

Easter Basket

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I kept checking Cute Overload throughout the morning as I had submitted a portrait of Nougat last week. I was happy to see he was featured on their 11:11 post. I’ve submitted a few photos to the site over the years but this is the first one that actually made it on the site.

Nougat-EasterPortrait

All in all it was a nice holiday.

What’s going on

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Right now I’ve got chili in the crockpot and I still haven’t showered for the day because I’ve been pretty busy. In addition to throwing that together this morning, I also worked out on the elliptical machine, descaled the coffee maker, did two loads of laundry, put away the St. Patrick’s Day decorations and replaced them with Easter decor, re-organized my glass beads, went through the mail, dusted and decluttered the house a bit, and created a cute Easter basket for my stepson.

I stopped making baskets for the kids on a consistent basis because they never seemed to care, and perhaps they still don’t, but I really like doing it so I made one anyway. Nothing big, but I like how it came out.

E's Easter Basket

I noticed that I really don’t spend a lot of time watching tv during the day, yet it still flies by. Sure, I’m on the internet a lot, although last week I watched a few movies thanks to the local library. I’ve been getting through my list of movies I’d like to see with all this time on my hands. I like that I can rent 5 movies at a time for “free” (I put that in quotes since my property taxes pay for the library’s services). My local library has even started getting new releases in on Bluray. You can only rent them for one night but I still think it’s great. The library is less than five minutes away and not much further than the local Redbox. I just have to be flexible in what I want to watch.

Yesterday my brother came over since he didn’t have to work. We hit the library to borrow a few video games and went to lunch at Buona Beef since I’m restricting myself to eating at places where I have a gift card. The card I have for them is so old I was surprised it worked! I also forgot how good their cheeseburgers are and not a bad price at $5 either. I still have almost $10 left on my gift card too.

I’ve been put in charge of updating Adopt-A-Pet and Petfinder with the rescue organization at which I’m volunteering but that doesn’t take up much of my time – probably a few hours a week, give or take. A lot of that time is due to waiting for the Petfinder site to respond; it has to be the slowest website I’ve ever dealt with! I can post five cats on Adopt-A-Pet in the time it takes to post one on Petfinder. In any case, it’s been busier lately because of all the cat shows in the area which causes the adoption rates to rise. I don’t mind, though, because I like keeping busy.

My brother asked me the other day why when he’s not working he is lazier than when he is, and I’m not sure why, but I’m the same way. The more I have to do in a given day the more motivated I feel. The less I have to do the more depressed I feel and the lazier I become. This is why I’ve been doing what I can to keep busy, including entering sweepstakes. I know it sounds a bit silly but whatever. It’s free, keeps me occupied, and I won $15 from VISA so far.

Sucky Wednesday

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Well, it seems the hard drive in my not yet three year old computer is failing, and by that I mean it has pretty much failed and I will be lucky if I can retrieve the data I hadn’t yet backed up from it. Surprisingly, I’m not freaking out too much. It is what it is.

When I turned on my computer yesterday and heard the repeating clacking noise coming from the tower I knew right away things were not good. I logged off, rebooted just to be sure it wasn’t a fluke, then shut down. I went online to hunt for an affordable replacement which I found at NewEgg for $70. The drive should be here on Monday so in the meantime I’m relegated to getting my Internet fix via my iPad and iPhone. It’s not horrible, but it really is easier using an actual computer for everything other than casual web surfing. I can’t edit or post any photos taken with my SLR, track our finances (I use Excel), and some content just can’t be viewed on a mobile device (someone explain to me the reasoning behind certain YouTube videos being blocked on mobile devices – these days that seriously hinders the number of views you’re going to get). Many apps for services aren’t fully functional (I’m looking at you, Facebook, although you are getting better) making an actual computer a necessity instead of an option. In other words we still have a long way to go before we can forgo buying actual computers or laptops altogether. I would like my next computer to actually be a laptop but I can wait a couple of years to make the switch since by then my desktop will be really outdated.

In other sucky news, we received a letter from our mortgage company yesterday letting us know that as of February 15th they will no longer be our mortgage company because they are bankrupt. The letter was dated February 6th and stated all payments made after the 15th need to go to the new company. Since I had a payment pending for the 20th I logged into my account to cancel it. I then went to the URL provided for the new mortgage company only to be presented with a “coming soon” page. Are you kidding me!!?!? You give people less than 10 days’ notice and the new company doesn’t even have a functional website to make a payment? Wow. I feel like we’re in for some real headaches with these clowns. If I wasn’t currently unemployed I’d be shopping for a new mortgage company.

48 Questions

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I got these questions from Kapgar.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

No, but I was nearly named Heather instead of Nicole. And for some reason people sometimes slip up and call me Michelle, even people I’ve known for years.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Yesterday when watching the movie, The Help.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Not anymore now that I don’t write often.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Oven roasted turkey. When I was a kid it was Polish ham.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Two step-kids but none of my own (and that’s fine by me).

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

I think so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Do I?

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

Yeah.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Hell no!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

Honey Nut Cheerios.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

Never.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Emotionally, yes, physically, not so much.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

It used to be chocolate peanut butter but now I’d say Oreo Cookies and Cream.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Whether or not they have any manners.

15. RED OR PINK?

Pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

I don’t want to talk about it.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

My maternal grandparents. We were extremely close and even though they passed away many years ago I think about them often.

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?

Tolerance for stupidity. I have none.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

Currently black if by currently you mean lately since I do not wear shoes in my house.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

BBQ beef brisket. It wasn’t good. :(

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

My husband swear at his video game.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Midnight blue.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Garlic and olive oil, my husband, and this candle called Beach Grass from Bath & Body Works.

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?

I hate politics.

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?

Beach house.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

None, but if i must, baseball.

27. HAIR COLOR?

Auburn.

28. EYE COLOR?

Brown.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Yes.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?

Meijer-brand chicken Kiev over a bed of jasmine rice or egg noodles.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Never been a fan of scary movies, so happy endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

Flight at home, Parker at the movie theater.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

Purple and Gray.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Neither. I like Spring and Fall.

35. FAVORITE DESSERT?

Ice cream.

36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?

Cardio.

37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?

What? I have to choose? Fine, computer.

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Collide by Shelly Crane.

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.

40. FAVORITE SOUND?

A kitty meowing.

41. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?

80’s and electronic.

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

London.

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I used to be a natural at the piano when I was 7.

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Chicago.

45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?

A Chicago suburb known as Glendale Heights.

46. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?

Grayish blue.

47. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR?

Atlantic Blue.

48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS?

Sure, why not? There’s not much else going on at the moment.