slacking again

Well, I am slacking once again, but don't believe anyone reads this anymore so I'm just going to vent. 
I have this dream job that keeps turning nightmarish right when I think things are going well.  I try my darnedest to do the best job I can, but keep having these obstacles thrown in front of me.  I feel like I am slowly losing steam and creativity to inject into my work.  I know that I have only been there two months, but I held myself at a higher standard and expected to see better results in this program by now. 

I am no longer my own entity; the center allowed me to hire one employee...If you can count a girl only getting 16 hours a week an employee, then I technically have one.  I just can't seem to get all of my work done.  I have 40 hours to stretch in a week and it is physically impossible to get all of my responsibilities completed in that time.  Overtime? I'd gladly do it so that everything is done and done well. But alas, that isn't an option due to the great state of Ohio and their magnificent budget cuts.

Do I still love what I do? Absolutely.  I just wish it would maintain some semblance of structure and order because this chaos shit is driving me batty! Tonight I spent an hour and a half detailing my day and blocking it into 30 minute time windows.  My entire day is blocked now and I feel slightly better.  I do well with plans.  Unfortunately, it isn't in my nature to be a fly by the seat of your pants kind of gal.  I freak out.  So, plans make me sane. 

Anyway, enough about my bad day and work stuff.  I am beginning to get back into the routine of crafting.  My friend Bri and I are crafting every Tuesday and have some wonderful ideas.  If we can actually get some things made, we are going to enter a local craft show and hock our wares.  Trying to make back the money we spend at Hobby Lobby is our ultimate goal.  So far, we are in the red for the amount of supplies we've purchased vs. the products sold.  I will post finished pics in the craft blog soon.

Also, I have remembered my long lost kindle and started reading from it again.  I have to say, having a real job sucks in the aspect that I had to dramatically cut back on my reading time. I miss my escapes from the real world.  I am a nerd, I know!

Okay, so is anyone as excited as I am that it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas??? Sweater weather is approaching fast and I, for one, am stoked!!!  Creme Brulee lattes from Starbucks and warm snugly blankets, along with Christmas lights and music??? YAY!!! There are so many fun things to do during the holidays! My bad day is already getting better by just thinking these happy thoughts!

Look forward to my road trip JAL, I Christmas shop at thrift stores and you are in my favorite city for it! Tell me when I can visit! :)

Well, I guess I'm gonna get back to my exciting Friday evening, filled with research and work..fun times!

Hope everyone out there in the blogging world has a spectacular weekend!

:)

Rally time

I'm glad it's the weekend, finally, but this weekend is tinged with knowing that Monday will be an absolute terror.  Yesterday, my single employee gave notice that she wouldn't be working any longer.  This means that I now have to deal with hiring a new one, one that will be fun and upbeat and...willing to work weekends and evening.  I know, I know, impossible.  There isn't anyone wanting a part time job that is weekends and evenings.  I'm a super nice boss, but somehow I don't think that will be enough to make someone want to work for me.  Oh well, I guess I'll worry about it Monday.  Do you want to know why the lovely lady quit? Well, I will tell you!  She said I talked to her like a child and never helped her! No, what I did do was call her into the office with another supervisor and ask politely that if said supervisor asks her to do something, that she do it or at least let supervisor know that she cannot perform the task requested.  All of that was said in a nice, calm, soothing manner with a smile on my face.  This is the crap I get in return! UGH! I should be a mean and bossy boss that no one likes, maybe I'd get more respect that way. However, I highly doubt anyone will be intimidated by a 5'0" little scrap of a woman with a scowl on her face, resembling the face one makes after sucking on lemons! So, I guess I will have to trudge onward, staying true to who I am...A nice person who just wants an employee with a little respect.  I want a friendly relationship with my employee. It's doable, I know it is.  I have had one with every last one of my previous superiors. 

Anyway, I'm done ranting about that.  Guess what I learned how to do last night!?! Any ideas? You'd never guess it anyway...I learned how to roll cigarettes.  Yep, a new skill to add to my other useless ones piled up in the back of my head.  I am a non-smoker that can effectively roll a cigarette that isn't too loose or too tight.  The perfect smoke! Haha, I could care less how those dang things smoke, if it weren't for ungrateful bitchy (pardon the language, but it is the only one able to suffice) little old crab of a woman that bugs the piss out of me on a daily basis, yelling at me down the hallway and calling me a liar.  She could drive a saint to drink! I only broke 10 tubes and shot tobacco across the room once.  I will be delegating this task as soon as I get a flippin' employee.   :)

This weekend our little neck of the woods has its very own biker rally.  Ironton, OH is home to Rally on the River! It's a fun time and we are having famous bands and radio talk show hosts...moving on up! I wish I had a bike.  That is my goal, I want to own my own bike by next rally and be legally allowed to drive it.  Wish me luck! It will be a challenge to find one where I can actually reach the ground while sitting on it. Oh, but I want an antique one that looks vintage-esk! :) It has to have personality.  I loathe the new bikes that just seem like assembly line products.  Maybe I could take mechanic lessons.  Build one.  Eh, maybe not. A little too ambitious, perhaps.  

I'll update soon.  Have a great weekend, blogging friends!

So many ch-ch-ch-changes...

Well, I am going to start off by saying, I've missed my blogging friends and I have been terribly negligent in not updating you on all of the big changes in my life. So, for that, I'm sorry.  I'll recap all of the good events and happenings and all of the bad ones...well, I've forgotten them anyway.  That is the great part about being so forgetful, on reflection everything always seems better than it was.

Okay, for starters:  I FOUND MY DREAM JOB!!! You are reading the daily musings of a bone-a-fied Director of Activities for a nursing facility.  I am officially a boss with one employee.  I hold the power. <= HAHA just kidding.  My employee secretly hates my guts for being so much younger and more creative...well it's probably because I got the Director position.  Anyway, I love my job.  It's a lot of stress and paperwork, but it's all worth it when I get to create activities and crafts and have a bunch of people saying how they are excited about something. 

I feel like this whole seek and find for enjoyable employment was an impossible mission, until I would be able to find a career where I was helping others and utilizing my talents.  I have found that I obtain the ability to soothe ruffled feathers and diffuse tempers faster than that of an average person.  My one and only bad experience was over flippin' lottery tickets and my lack of knowledge on the subject.  I jacked up a resident's powerball ticket (not me, the cashier--but I didn't know how they were supposed to look) and he went 10 kinds of crazy on my ass...Now I send my employee :)

Tips for being good at my job:
Keep oatmeal pies in my desk for the lady who thinks I steal hers (so I can give them back)
Keep candy in my pockets to stay in good graces with the 90 year old resident flirt
Always wear pants that don't drag the ground (Urine and bleach can ruin the bottoms)
Don't hold the same hand that they wipe with..or let them hold your wrist..(Don't even imagine this one UGH)
Never turn your back on a wily man in a wheelchair...your rear is at their eye level and is entirely irresistible
Never interfere with smoke times, this is A BIG DEAL... The world will end if they cant smoke two cigarettes every other  hour
...and heads will roll if I dare to schedule Bingo during one of those smoke times

Other news:
Went to a beautiful wedding in Gatlinburg the weekend before last and had a ball.  I didn't lose when we played glow in the dark putt-putt which is a huge accomplishment for me.  I suck royally at anything golf.  I am still awaiting my debut when I can try disc-golf (cough, cough JAL) I might be amazing at it, who knows!?

I had so much fun this weekend in Columbus thrift store shopping! I found a fresh supply of great books and also the most beautiful dress in the world, not to mention some Christmas flowers they gave me for free!  Is it wrong to start thinking of how I'm going to decorate my house? I'm thinking about all old antique Christmasy look... Any thoughts?

I think I'll fire up the old crafting blog before too long because I have finally found an old friend that is as excited about crafting as I am, and we are going to try to sell the stuff at fairs.  Yay!

Well, I am off to relax at a community cookout (my idea and I am tickled to death that it is going to happen!) I'll report back with how it turns out!

Oh, one more thing, today was Julia Child's birthday, go eat a piece of cake in her memory...My residents and I made aprons, cookies and watched the movie! Great times!!!











 

 

Decisions, Decisons...

I feel like I need plans...When I was younger I had really bad anxiety issues but felt trapped in myself.  I was shy and insecure and couldn't talk to anyone about what was going on with me.  My mom forced me into counseling, thinking that would help but I found it difficult to open up to a stranger.  I then went to the doctor and they put me on medicine to help with my anxiety.  For close to three months I just stopped caring about things.  Important things.  It kind of felt like someone zapped me and I miraculously wasn't anxious any longer but that I was a shell for a human.  My family picked up on this and told me that they didn't think that the medicine I was on was helping me out in a good way.  So, I weaned myself off of the medicine and never touched it again.  Since then, I have found natural ways to cope with my anxiety.  Sometimes it works and other times, not so much. 

I make plans when I am unsure about what the future holds.  Even if the plans don't work out, I feel better knowing there is a platform for which to strive.  Plans don't work and then you create new ones.  Right now I have no plan.  My life is one giant cluster f&^*.  I recently found a position on Craigslist that was for an autism teacher in a new center they were opening in the area.  The requirements were a bachelor's degree and preferably in Edu or Psy.  I had quite a few courses in each so I applied, divulging that my degree wasn't in those categories but that my course load had been heavily weighted with those two influences.  I applied.  I honestly didn't think that I would get an interview or that anything would even come of it.  I have been applying at the local library for six years now and have never even received an interview.  But, low and behold, last Wednesday they call and ask me to come in to interview.  I finally felt like maybe this was the direction I needed to take.  I could teach, which is something I would be good at, and feel good about helping make someones life better.  

I interviewed yesterday...The gentleman interviewing me held the bridge of his nose the entire time I answered his questions.  It made me feel like he really just wanted to be finished with the whole process.  He asked if I had been in charge of a classroom before...Ummmm, no.  I clearly stated that I had only ever been a pre school teacher.  I felt inadequate.  Not good enough. 

I graduated cosmetology school in May and have been working at a salon on a work permit since March.  Business is slow on my front.  They say the first year is the hardest, that would be the biggest understatement ever.  Except, that over here in KY where my sister got her license, business is booming.  She is making a killing and going on vacations every month.  Yet another epic fail in the choice department for me.  I make some crappy decisions due to the fact that I am so indecisive.  I'm easily swayed and that isn't a fun life, let me tell ya!

I should have stuck with my plan.  The first one.  The one where I became an elementary teacher and went back to graduate school for library science...
I know those expressions "Life is short" and "you are only young once" make me want to run off and explore and see new places and meet new people but words like "mortgage" and "ruining your credit" have a higher pull over me.  I need a job that would allow me to travel, see new places, meet new friends, and pay my mortgage.  Anyone know what that dream job is titled? I don't either. 

Being poor, I entertain myself quite well without a lot of money.  I have been crafting in excessive amounts.  I read a ton of books, I watch netflix, I have a garden.  All of these things fill the void inside of me.  What should be in that void? I have no idea.  Maybe a sense of purpose. 

I'm gonna get out of the dumpy mood I'm in and go hang out with my Gran.  She always makes me feel better.  I am so blessed to have an amazing family that supports all of the crazy a$% decisions I make and loves me unconditionally.  That is my good fortune. 

Weekend fun

Who loves summer? I do! I do! I woke up this morning with a spring in my step and change in my pockets..well not right when I woke up, but very soon after!  I sprang out of bed, brushed my teeth and hit the road...why did I do this? Because in today's local paper there were 80 yard sales advertised!!! My twin and I hit about 20 of them before 10 this morning and found some amazing treasures.  I found *two crocheted white throw pillows *one antique mirror *one antique oil lantern * an iron hanging basket * a glass sweet tea pitcher * and some cute little white flats... all for under $10!!! Since I am acquiring new things, I must down size to make room.  Tomorrow I will be having my yard sale and it can't come soon enough.  I've priced everything, boxed everything, folded everything and now it is junking up my living room and I keep having little tendencies of getting things off the walls and sticking price stickers on it.  When I finally haul it all out of here I am afraid I won't have anything left.  Well, anything left that I can carry by myself.  


I did want to redecorate though and now would be as good a time as any to say out with the old and in with the new.  At one of the yard sales today I talked up my sale and the lady followed me home to look in it before tomorrow.  Needless to say, I am already $21 richer!!!  My new style is going to be vintage, quirky, old, country style that i am going to create by blending all of my tastes and not conforming to what is stylishly acceptable.  

Switching subjects now, I am saddened to say that the city officials have lost their flippin' minds!  I live in a small residential area that is secluded by trees and nature and this is one of the reasons that I bought the place.  I wanted a house that could be made to feel like a cottage.  A place that has the illusion of woods and seclusion.  Now, three years into my dream house living, big log trucks come in and massacre the secret garden style ambiance,  they destroy my neighbor's yard with their industrial log trucks that are not made for our little dead end street road, and they make a gravel road to the trees right in front of my house.I shouldn't complain but it's sad to see super old trees destroyed in the name of progress.  

Anyway, not gonna let that get me down and ruin my weekend.   Sunday, I will be fishing my first bass tournament since I became a boat owner and I'm pretty excited!  Suntan, fishing, and great friends, how could it not be a fun time?! I just got a new battery for my camera and I'll photo document the excursion and post it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Here at last!

The month of May has come and is almost gone and I only posted once this month. I have been reading all of your blogs, my friends, but have yet to find anything of substance to write about in my own.

May's recap for y'all...
And just so it isn't boring I've got it in pictures :)
Went to visit lil sis because I left my keys in her car and she drove all the way back to school, unaware that they were hiding in the backseat like a stow away in the night.
Sooo, what did I do? I went to get them of course! My friend Jen drove me all the way up there :) she is one of a kind, folks. Best person ever!





Then lil sis took us around the block at least three times to find this wonderful little restaurant that had raspberry beer. (pretty tasty)



Now behold....lil sis!!! (and one of her many camera faces)




Okay, now my life gets hectic. Prom hair after prom hair... I'll only post my favorite though, because I'm sure this is more interesting to me than you all.



Next, I rushed off from the hair do...literally...to meet Erica, long lost love...Nah, just kidding. I do love her but she's the bff from college.
Here are some pics of us acting a fool on mother's day in Morgantown,WV.





This is one of those faces only a mother could love ;)

After the long trekk home, I was worn out, I trudged on though....
Haha..not really. I did some school work and tortured my momma. Below you will see ear candling. We laughed our asses off and proceeded to fill the entire house with smoke. No fire detectors were harmed during this procedure.



Now for the main event...drum roll please ...(if only I had JAL here)...Poppa Gerald, (I don't call him that in real life but I might one day) bought me the coolest hat ever for cutting his hair.
Behold, myself acting a fool in front of my library mirror.









Th-th-th-that's all folks!
Check back next week for another round of "How we entertain ourselves in eastern Appalachia".

P.s. I finally got my test date for boards. July 13th!! Woo hoo!!! (doin' a happy dance)

another week goes by

I'm a terrible blogger, I know. I try to stay focussed and blog consistently but never manage to succeed for any long period of time. Oh well. Here's to trying again, I reckon.

I've done some pretty cool things this week and I'm going to post pics to prove it. My nephew and I had a ball painting birdhouse gourds that our gran and grandad grew. This was so much fun and the nephew had an absolute blast. I had a hard time putting my brush down too for that matter.






My work

This one wanted to be a duck so I had to oblige.

Mom did this one with a little creative push from me. Anyone know who this is?
***the mayor from Nightmare Before Christmas***

This week was quite busy, as it is prom season upon us. I had some really sweet girls for clients though. They were pleased with my creations, which is always a nice feeling.



Sunday, we were supposed to go canoeing, but it has rained for what feels like forever and apparently the group we were going with didn't feel like getting wet. Sooooo, we went mushroom hunting instead. I didn't find mushrooms but I did make a cool friend.




And found a four-leaf clover for the first time in my whole life! :)

Maybe I'll have a lucky week. Who knows?!
Hope everyone has a lucky week too. :)

Happy Easter to all...

I've had one absolutely perfect day besides the inconsistent weather that we are going through right now.  I woke up and quickly got ready for church with just enough time to spare to dart across town and have my first iced vanilla latte since I gave them up for Lent over a month ago.  Man! It was truly the best thing I've drank in a long while.  I think I had the world's fastest record in slurping it down.

This was the start of my amazing day...

So then I meander into the church and hang out with the grandparents until church starts and my Gran and I go down to the nursery since our nursery time just happened to fall this week.  (Our church has no little ones to play with so it's really like our names are just in a bulletin for the rare chance that babies are there)
Today was one of those days!  I got to play with the cutest lil girl ever!  She was the epitome of a cute baby. 
She was hesitant to leave her momma but I sweet talked her and got her playin'...
After church we all went back to my Gran's house for the most amazing dinner ever! We had the best ham!  It was so juicy and just melted in your mouth....my mouth is watering just thinking about it, and I am seriously wishing I had made a plate of leftovers. 

After that dinner, I went to another family dinner and had some dirt cake and played with some more little kids.  I'm odd but I guess I fit in better with the children.  Sometimes I have anxiety issues talking with adults but put me in a room full of toddlers and preschoolers and I am golden.  I played ball all afternoon with this lil boy who is absolutely precious.  I did some serious sweet talkin' so that he wouldn't jump in this big ol' mud puddle.  Yeah, I'm the kid whisperer.  They listen to me most of the time. :)   He showed me how to dance...Too cute.  I'll teach you all now.  Stand up... now hold up the number one on both hands.....now move said hands up and down and spin in circles... yep, he taught me the dance moves to get all of the ladies.  He's gonna be a heart breaker when he grows up. 

Okay, so I have recently delved into the coupon clipping world.  I have been reading different articles and blogs that mention coupon clipping and I was curious.  This weekend I actually talked with a lady that was an avid clipper and she told me amazing stories of getting things for free or for pennies.  So I ask my Gran for last week's paper and start to dive in after lunch today.  I was on a quest for the ultimate deals.  I clip everything in sight that could be useful and make a trip to the store in between dinners.  I was determined to see if I could get something for almost nothing.  I had clipped a body wash coupon that was a SAVE 3.00 one and found that they only had the aforementioned body wash priced for 3.00...needless to say, I got it for free!!! I am still in awe! It's made me a complete believer.  I will now be an avid coupon clipper and save hundreds of dollars a month on things I would have paid full price for.  Yay for bargains!

This was my free body wash~

Anyway, I guess that's it for today.  I'm beat.  I hope all of you have had a wonderful Easter. I will show you my pretty Easter tulips that my Gran and Granddad got me in the next blog.  It'll motivate me to get them planted in the ground.  I might even take a pic of my actual garden for your viewing pleasure.  A real treat, I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation! ;)

Woah, woah, woah!

So I just found out that my basement is the happy home to a spider that is larger than my hand with my fingers spread all apart! If anything freaks me more, I don't know what it is.  This creature could be a pet; it was so big, my uncle and my mother wouldn't go near it except to photograph it's enormous size and then run away quickly.  So now I have a big ass LIVE spider chilling down there and I have since closed off all of my vents and tucked all of my covers into my mattress and futon... Google wolf spider.. I don't want a picture of that creepy thing in my blog. Ugh! If only I had a nice neighbor I could call on at moments like these...Anyone want to live in a nice town with little to no attractions but live beside a super cool chick who will have fresh produce this summer? I can tempt with fresh strawberries and garlic!  Hmmmm, also potatoes, raspberries, herbs, and tomatoes!  All you have to do is kill big hairy spiders and lend an occasional cup of sugar from time to time. 
I'm currently sitting Indian style on my futon with all the necessities up here...(laptop, phone, charger, pillow, blanket...) My bedroom is right above that portion of the basement and that is the only vent that doesn't have one of those nifty little shut off valves.  Camping in the library tonight? I think, yes! Excellent idea.

At the salon today I had a really fun conversation with one of the older ladies that works there too.  She caught me up on all of the happenings on "Days of our Lives" from the past ten years.  I got comic enjoyment out of this immensely.  I used to be a huge fan of this show and my best friend and I would tape it during school and then alternate which house we watched it at each day.  I wore out so many VHS tapes by taping over every episode once that thing was full. I was an unusual 12 year old.  This friend and I also played counselor to all of the kids in the class at recess.  Even had them lay down on our make believe couch.  We were odd children but everyone loved coming to us with their problems.

Some leading ladies of Days of Our Lives for your viewing pleasure...
 
Another big show back then was "Passions"...another one of our favorites



I guess this will be a short post for the evening, can't seem to focus on anything and stay on the 8-legged watch.... Hope you all have a better night than I'll have!

yay! it's friday...

This week has been a long one for sure! Lots of good things were created this week by moi and I'm pretty proud of them! Not tooting my own horn or anything, well I kind of am. Oh well.
First creation was a homemade veggie pizza with fresh mushrooms, onions, peppers, and garlic!!! Man, I love cooking on grocery day. It was a toss up as to what sounded better with so many options to choose from.




A special thanks to my sous chef, Jen, for diligently chopping up the veggies :) hehe

Last night I had a hair emergency call and found myself working major magic in my kitchen for three hours. Results turned out really pretty but you're just gonna have to take my word on it, as I don't have photo documentation of that one. But let me tell you this, some hairdressers have no clue as to the logic behind why things happen and better yet, how to fix them. If you have orange hair then there isn't a dagon thing you can put on it to make it blond besides more bleach. Purple shampoo is only going to make the blond hair turn purple and they'll be a Lakers fan with orange and purple streaks!!!

Anyway, today has been a good day. I did some prom hair and it pays really well. The girl I did was such a sweetheart too. Some of the others were drama to the max.
Here is my work :)




Welp, I guess I'm gonna go for now but it's been such a good day, hope you all are having a good one too! :)

I've officially had a Monday

My day was like this:
*Wake up at 3:30 a.m. :
   sweating because it was so hot in my house and I don't have air conditioning
*Relocate to library where the fan is at
*Wake up at 5:45 a.m. from a dream where the library was super clean.  Quickly found out that it was a dream and definitely not reality. Promptly willed myself back to sleep
*Woke up finally at 8:30 and lazed about until 9:30 and deemed it an acceptable time to get up

I find my motivation to work out and about in my yard whilst eating my half baked ice cream. If you haven't tried it out, I strongly encourage you to do so.  This stuff is amazing. The only stuff I'm willing to suffer through the pain of lactose intolerance for anyway.

 

After a few quick bites of gooey goodness I am ready to start my day.
I cut my front and back yard (which is quite a feat, as I have a good deal of back yard)
and from doing this I am filled with such a sense of accomplishment.  Let me tell you, I feel empowered.  I can do anything! Anything within reason, that is...
After lawn mowing I decide to weed my flower beds and make them useful as herb gardens instead of the litter box that they have become.  Not a pretty task digging in cat shit all morning, but my mom came down to help me and the task went by quickly.  She also let me go plant shopping in her garden and gave me tons of pretty things.

 I have primrose that was from my great grandmother's garden

 Oregano as my very first herbs in my herb garden bed
 Garlic-It will be amazing to have fresh garlic to cook with this summer, I'm so excited!
 Fresh strawberries for breakfast! Oh yeah! Oh, or spinach salads!

Candy tuft

Sedum

 and last but not least Chives

After the gardening I quickly showered off and rushed off to do paper work for the completion of my program only to lock my keys in my car!  I have never ever locked my keys in my car and now I have joined the masses.  What a bitch! I had to call my mom to have her call AAA and then drive out to me so that they would come let me back in my vehicle.

But all is good again in my world, as I sit in my rocking chair on my front porch and blog while watching the rain water all of my hard work. I am filled with such peace knowing that I have made my home a better place today.

I hope everyone has had a great Monday and has an even better Tuesday! What's on your agenda for the evening? Mine is a good book and a cup of hot tea.  Mmmmm...I promise I'm not 80, I just act like it :)

What a weekend! I'm over it.

Let me first start out by stating I had a blast at mammoth caves and met a bunch of cool people and made new couch surfing friends. It was absolutely wonderful hearing all of these really cool travel stories!



We took the historic cave tour and it was really informative and interesting. So much fun, right up until the two year old walking in front of us had a bowel movement. Then, it wasn't as fun squeezing through these little paths and having to linger for a few minutes until the line got moving again. Luckily for us, there was a bathroom facility at the halfway mark in the cave. Who'd have thought?!?



Anyway, I had so much fun. There were drawbacks to the weekend though that weren't so fun. Ticks are a big problem there. I have freak outs over anything bug related that sucks your blood (FYI mosquitos are also on this freak out list) so I'm not the ideal camper. I act like a complete female over spiders and ticks. I really wanted to sleep in the van. Of course I roughed it and built character, I reckon. ;)

I made a new friend who taught me to forehand the frisbee. She was ultra cool. I gave her one of my trashy romance novels to keep and told her about paperback swap. I love spreading the word about cool things I've found.

My mom and I have been plotting a trip out west. I'm hoping it goes past the talking phase and morphs into an actual vacation. It would be so much fun to see the west and mark some more states off of my list. I think we would even go as far as Washington since there's a sustainability fair mom is really into. Who knows. I'll keep ya posted ;)

I've almost made it home without partaking in any acts of violence towards the lady we shared our vehicle with on this trip. I'm a rather agreeable person and can be very laid back and easy going for the most part. But this lady is like no other. From the start she blames me for getting us lost, even though she is the one who printed out the directions. Then she decides to repeat everything she says until she gets a response. Annoying is an understatement to say the least. She pees all over the van door when she is squatting on the side of the road because she can't hold it. She also pees inside the tent in a coffee can at three in the morning. These are just some drawbacks to camping with a complete stranger. If you need more examples just ask, I now have an arsenal of them ;)

Anyway, I'm over it. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have ten minutes until we make it home and she goes her separate way. Shew!

Time for a long minty bubble soak to erase three days of grime and muscle aches and then an early night to bed. Yes, I'm thinking that will be a fabulous idea.

mini road trip

On the road again... I've heard that statement about 10 times now. Shoot me!
Mom and I are on a journey to mammoth caves to a tent surf event with couchsurfing and we are sharing our ride with this lady who is trying on the nerves. Awkward conversation, weird statements, uncontrollable gas. NOT FUN.

Mom and I don't do constant chatter. It grates on us after a while. So we are up front trying to sing with the indigo girls and now, we will just call her lady L, now lady L has decided at this very moment she is going to pick out the cd. Hmmmmmmm. Is my aggravation showing?!?

Anyway, the weekend should get better I'm hoping. My lil sis is coming to hang out tomorrow and go caving with us. If I survive this five hour drive I will be good to go. I did pack my headphones and books but would hate to isolate my mom to the weirdness.

I'm pretty excited about seeing the caves. I haven't seen them since I was a wee lil girl. I wish it were warmer so that we could do the canoeing caves but that'll just have to wait for another day.

I am hoping you all have a great weekend and pray for my sanity ;)
I'll post updates and possibly some pictures if I have cell service.
Peace.

My blog is getting so big...*tear*

Awesome weekend to say the least! Worked Saturday at the salon and made $55 before noon in tips and this is lil ol' me without any clientele.  Sunday, I found myself at church with the grandparents and then to Sunday dinner.  My contribution this week to the meal was chocolate chip cookies.  Quite a big hit, if I do say so myself!  What I wouldn't give for one of those cookies now!  I'm sooooo hungry and just too lazy to fix anything at the moment.

After Sunday dinner my mom and I took off for Charleston, WV to NPR's Mountain Stage concert.  Stellar musicians were there; Bela Fleck, Dar Williams (woot, woot!!), and my newest favorite musical influence, The David Wax Museum.  Very- VERY- cool music.  Spontaneous dancing may ensue and I can't be held accountable.  You were forewarned!

My very first musical youtube clip, my blog has officially blossomed into an adolescent now. Anyway, I bought their CD!  I haven't purchased one of those since I went out and got another copy of The Chieftains  when I was 12 years old.  (Wore the first one all out by playing it over and over).  Maybe I'll share them with you too! One of my favorite songs of all time!

Okay, little fact about Craftytwin...I recently came out to Nerd Girl that I am a giant nerd and a half... Now here is the proof.  After discovering this band (from my mom's vast musical collection), I listened to it over and over until I learned all of the words to this song.  Then, I begged my mom for tapes to learn Gaelic.  Got them for Christmas and listened to them all of the time.  Alas, the Gaelic is a ridiculously hard language to learn!  So, years later, I still have the tapes and hope to learn it before the language is extinct.  Probably already is, as far as I know.  I want to go to Ireland one of these days and I will!


I made a new friend on that couch surfing website I've mentioned.  He is a world traveler for sure.  He's done it all through couch surfing.  I really think we will be good friends; he works in some government job that transferred him here, and he is originally from Cali.  Big city guy.  He told me that my accent was the least hickish he's heard from around here.  Woo hoo! Go me! Least hickish sounding! Now ladies, that is a giant praise from around these here parts, now I'm a-tellin' you! (<--- hehe)  In all actuality, I do have an accent, but I don't say, "ain't." I just draw out my i's... I don't have that E sound on them.  Ice, nice, bye, eye,  etc....Guess it's a southern thingy.  


Anyway,  today held very little appeal to me.  I just got back from Columbus, OH (yeah, I'm apparently a state capitol traveler this week) from touring state board for the whole cosmetology test deal.  My teacher is ri-gosh-darn-diculous! She picks on me for the morning and then has a switch of mood and is nice as peach pie.  EVIL.  I am so ready to be done with school and her crazy mood swings.  Counting down one week! YES!!!

Happy Monday! :) I hope all of you bloggers have had a wonderful day and have a lovely evening as well.

I'm back!

I feel like I haven't blogged in ages! Oh, wait! I haven't. Well I'm back and better than ever. These past weeks I've been MIA have been time well spent. I officially left AT&T and am now interning with all my spare time. I'll have school completed next week! Also, I did my first dermabrasion clients today and they loved it!

I'm running into some animosity and cattiness with some of the older ladies but I think they feel intimidated by my intelligence. This seems like a bitchy thing to say but it's true. She keeps questioning me and trying to catch me doing things wrong, when in all actuality, she is a dirty slob and practices terrible hygiene. Scary! Ugh, my apologies for the rant. I'm done now. Anyway, I continue to kill with kindness and hope that my classiness shows through and makes her feel small, petty, and childish. Not worth my energy to confront her.
Moving on, I am super excited about the three days of warm weather in the 70s but now it's ready to snow again. I feel like summer will never get here! Ohhhh, I've officially decided I'm growing this mane out! This is my inspiration! I look at it daily to remind myself :)




I really think I've made a good choice in salons to work at, the two girls that own it are absolutely the sweetest girls in the world. I'm not exaggerating either. They are wonderful. I think I'll finally get some friends to hang out with :)

Tonight, for the first time in a long time I am not dreading Friday morning and going to work! Going to the salon seems like play time. It's corny but I love to do hair and make transformations in people. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to be the librarian one of these days, just one who does hair on the weekends! ;)

I am sooooooo missing Starbucks right now. I'm missing the smooth taste of the vanilla latte and how it makes me pleasantly warm from the inside out. Oh, I better stop there. Almost seems like I'm addicted hehe. Who knows, after Easter I might just give it up for good. Ha! Probably not, I'm dreaming.

I miss my nephew, he's the funniest lil guy; he makes you happy just being around him. He's quite the wise guy. I'm amazed at his wit. My gran decided to cut his skater bangs and "get them out of his pretty blue eyes". He now resembles one of the kids from the partridge family. Adorable. My sis (who is also a hairdresser) was fit to be tied. Hehe. Still gives me a chuckle to think about it.

Someone please motivate me to work out! I bought a gym membership for the fun workout classes they offer a month ago and I still haven't been! That is something I hate about myself! My procrastination powers astound me! I can make putting anything off sound reasonable in my mind. Tisk, tisk. I know.

So, have you checked out couchsurfing.com yet? Become a member, I'll travel and stay with you! I met the coolest people who surfed my mom's guest bedroom. The woman was an alternative medicine healer and massage therapist. The guy was a radio broadcast exec. Cool peeps! We had a bonfire and had a good ol' time!







It's such a great way to learn about new things and make awesome friends! I strongly recommend it to everyone!

Wow! This blog has been a hodgepodge of stuff. Guess that's what I get for not blogging for so long.
I'll try not to stay away so long next time.
Have a good weekend friends!

No Starbucks, WHAT?!

I'm not feeling very witty today, the only reason I'm only blogging today is so that tomorrow will be easier.  Actually, nothing is easy right now.  I've given up Starbucks and anything resembling it for Lent.  I tried to think of the one thing I would miss for over a month and it was the first thing that popped into my mind.  I'm wishing I would have said Pepsi now. But nooooooo, had to pick the one thing that gets me going.  I am saving money though.  That shit ain't cheap!  



Moving on, my internship papers finally arrived at school and I start work on Tuesday.  I can't wait! I am super excited to start building clientele and finishing up this school once and for all.   Thursday I got certified in microderm abrasion and also chemical peels.  I also got sucked into buying the super nice equipment and product line that was being demonstrated.  I'm not regretting it yet, I just need to start using it as soon as it comes in, so as to make back the large bit of cashola I dropped on it!

I can't wait until warm weather! Our area is insane in the weather department...Flooding is a major issue as of lately... They've started closing some of the flood walls along the city limits. It snowed last night.  I am so ready for summer.  I want a suntan, a fruity blended drink complete with bendy straw, a pool float--hmmm, guess I'd need a pool then too...a good book, sunglasses, the fluffiest towel on the market, really cute bikini to show off the 6-pack I'm going to have if I can drag my rear end to the gym! Oh, and I'll need one of these too...

 So that my fruity drink and book can float!

I just wanted to share, this has been the most rewarding day I've had at work in a long time! Every one of my customers have been sweethearts! I had a man tell me he'd adopt me on the spot if he could :) Another man told me that I was the best sales person he'd ever met and he'd now be coming back to me for all of his phone needs. 

Now it's almost 6 o'clock and I feel happy; the sun is setting and it looks just like a cheerful evening should outside!  I'm looking forward to putting my comfy flannel pjs on and my plaid robe over them and hanging out with my good book and some hot chocolate.  Oh how I wish my fireplace were a working one at times like these. 

Well, I guess I'll leave this sad and tortured blog alone for now, maybe tomorrow I'll have found my bloggish ways back again...

Crazy dreams and awesome ideas

I'm a terrible slacker, I know.  Please forgive this long lapse in posting, I have no excuse for it.  I am currently at work and it is raining, so I thought, "Eh, why not post?" So here I am, with nothing to retell because I can't remember what I did yesterday, let alone what I've done in the ten days I've been absent.

I will tell you this though, I might get an amazing job in the upcoming months...I would say, "Wish me luck..." but I wouldn't want anyone to feel obligated (cough, cough..Nerd Girl) hehe

This job would be working at a college about 45 minutes away and comes with amazing benefits!  I would get to go back to school for my master's and have it completely paid for!!! Woohoo! I could be a professional student and get paid! (Just Another, I have found the ultimate elusive job we were talking about, finally! My real job would be to assist in planning and developing this existing program that integrates high school students with high potential into the college scene.

Moving on, yesterday I purchased a new cellular device and am slowing drifting away from my exclusive relationship I had with my iPhone and falling head over hills for this new one.  I'll show you her picture if you promise not to tell her.  Wouldn't want her thinking she didn't have to try as hard to please me ;)

 

ohhhhh so pretty, blogs like a champ, and allows me to play words with friends!

Anyway, I read a couple of books within the past couple of weeks that I blogged about earlier and I was blown away at how amazing they both were.  If you haven't read these, and actually like to read, I highly recommend them!

                             

You know after a really good book when you feel sad that you have just read the last page and there isn't anything else to read about the character, and the bond that you have built over the last 300 pages is so strong and then all at once is severed by "The End"? Yep, that is how I feel about both of these books.

I had a bad dream that I got a new dream truck.  Background info: A few days ago in the local paper, my sister and I read that someone had stolen a 2002 Toyota Tacoma by test driving it off the lot and not bringing it back. I guess this tid bit somehow lodged into my brain.  I own a 2006 Tacoma a.k.a. Dream Truck.  Dream Truck isn't in my good graces at the moment because I cringe when her payment is due.  When she is paid off, I will love her forever.  Anyway, I dreamt that I had went to the car lot and was talked into test driving a brand new Tacoma.  I ended up driving it around and realized that I didn't want to increase my payments by tacking on another $9,000.  This is where the dream got scary.  I guess in my ADD moments, I hadn't realized that I wasn't driving my truck and that I was, in fact, driving the new truck.  I freaked out because I hadn't driven it back to the lot and it was the next day! Shew! Scary part is I was more freaked when I thought of the $9,000 more I'd owe, than the actual realization that I hadn't returned the new one. Silly brain.

This is Dream Truck...Well it's really her twin, she isn't very photogenic at the moment, as she needs a bath in a BAD way!  I'm a bad mom, I know. Tisk, tisk. 

Okay, so I am bound and determined to get into shape, not lose weight, just to tone my neglected muscles.  I signed up for a Y card.  I hate the thought of working out but my momma and twin decided that we should all take fun classes and exercise too. So, I will be taking Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Spinning, Kickboxing, etc.  You get the idea, I'm sure.  I will be screaming in agony the next couple of weeks for making this healthy choice and also rubbing kryoderm all over my body for my poor muscles. I need a live in massage therapist!  She has to work for free though.  Or maybe we could trade services. I can do hair, manicures, pedicures, facials. Enticing eh? 

 Doesn't that look relaxing???

Well, I'd better get back to work I guess ;)

Have a good weekend, blogging buddies!  I'll post again soon.