Ack

I am feeling a little out of sorts today. For some reason I have had a headache for about five days that will not go away unless I take Ibuprofen and it is annoying me. I was alone in the bar today and it got really stressful. A group of ten came and sat down. They got beer, but they also all ate, then wanted the check split eight ways. I am new on the computer there so I really messed it up. It all got fixed but it was super stressful.

I also am just irritable for no reason. I feel really tense and annoyed at everything. I am wondering if the diet has anything to do with it. I am not sure. I am down four pounds though so that is good.

I went through all of our disks and found all the pictures we have taken in the last few years. I am sad that I have always had the "hate getting my picture taken" attitude because there are so few of me. I wish I would have been better about it. I found one of me from about four or five years ago and I looked so young and thin, but it was far away so you could hardly see me anyway. Plus I had a weird look on my face, I think I'll post it above so you can see what I mean. I cropped it because Gina is there next to me and it is just an awful picture of her, so I am being nice.

Anyway, all is well here actually. Not sure why I am having a bad attitude but lucky Lilly and JJ have me to take it out on them for no reason. Ha!

Night bar shifts are hard

Hello! Last night I had a night bartending shift for the first time. The other girl was fairly new at it too. We figured it was fine because it was a Sunday night, no biggie.

Then it got busy. Wow, we were stressed. Everything was in chaos. Open wine everywhere. Dirty pint glasses stacked for miles. We were both covered in beer and sweat. But we managed and made good money. We had a lull in the busyness at one point and hugged and started laughing really hard, but yeah, then it got busy again. What a night!

Today I have the day off and I am going to attempt to get the computer room clean. It will be a job. It is stacked with old papers and books and just stuff. Something must be done.

I forgot a title and it was bothering me

Hello all. Lilly got up early this morning (rotten kid) so she has been playing on the Nintendo and I thought I'd write a blog, even though I really don't have much to write about. Again the picture is totally random and has nothing to do with the blog, I just think it is funny.

I have a call-in bar shift today so I will find out at 10:30 whether I work at 11:30. It is weird being scheduled during the day. Also it just seems wrong somehow to serve beer at noon. But some people just have lunch because either they like the bar or don't want to wait for a table. I half want to work, because it is a bar shift plus money is good, and half just want the day off for laziness reasons.

I started the "spark people" diet yesterday. It is that website that you record your calories on. Last time it yielded fast results, so we'll see how I do. Last night the kitchen had some extra food as they sometimes do and they put out a huge bowl of cajun fries and ranch, and some steak skewers are are really tasty, but I ignored them both. Well, I didn't ignore them, I more looked at them sadly and drank some water. I told someone at work that the problem with water is that there isn't enough sugar in it and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Yesterday I put a deposit down for table and chair rentals for the wedding. I also reserved table cloths (decided on ivory because white is kind of stark) and red napkins, so the tables will have some contrast. Now we have to deal with centerpieces. JJ is becoming more involved with planning so that has been nice. But really, thank God for Mom, because I really don't know what I am doing.

I have officially been at Sierra Nevada over a year now, so tomorrow I will get my first "beer buck." A beer buck (we get one every two weeks) is good for a free case of beer at the gift shop. Or three beer bucks is good for a keg. So that is how the wedding will have free beer. We can also choose to trade them in for "juice bucks," which is a free case of Knusten juice. After the wedding I may do that because I like juice more than beer, but don't tell JJ or Mandy because they might cry.

That's about all. I am going to go get Lilly ready for school and prepare myself for the possibility of having to work.

Success!

So I went to Napa yesterday and had a good day. Mom, Richard and I had a nice lunch, then Mom and I had the second fitting for the wedding dress. The seamstress shop also had veils and headpieces for sale, so Mom quickly found the perfect ones. Really, it took her less than five minutes and I couldn't be happier. They were also literally a fraction of the cost David's Bridal was trying to sell the stuff at and nicer. Much nicer.

I also now have beautiful jewelery to wear for the wedding because I got my graduation present of a gorgeous pearl necklace and matching earrings. So I am done with wedding wear! Ah!

We also got shoes from an angry bridal shop lady. Mom and I were scared for our lives, I tried to run out the door before we even got the receipt. I cannot adequately describe that experience in writing. But sufficed to say that shop has been there for seven years and by God we should have looked in the yellow pages, because Brunilda spends a lot of money for that ad and clearly we should have known that shop existed. Shame on us. Shame. It is also apparently bewildering, and downright infuriating that we do not know the brand of dress I got. I.... I'm sorry angry woman.... please don't hurt us. We just.... want shoes. Oh.... oh help.

Randomness

The picture has nothing to do with anything, I just thought it was funny.

Hello all. Well, tonight I had a call in at work and surprisingly did not get called in. It is nice because JJ has a show tonight so we did not have to get a babysitter. So Lilly and I are hanging out. She is eating ice cream and watching Sponge Bob so I thought I'd blog. I don't really have much to blog about, but oh well.

The lawn is looking nice since I worked on it. It is greener and new grass is growing where I seeded it. JJ cut down the bushes in the front and put in new bark, so it looking good. I'd go take a picture but I am feeling lazy.

A girl at work got a pedometer and discovered that on average we bussers walk 14 miles a shift. So it is undoubtedly my food choices and not lack of activity that has been causing my weight gain. I am frustrated because I hate dieting and I loathe the idea of a "lifestyle" change to healthy eating. I don't like healthy food, period. It doesn't taste good. But when I get in the right state of mind I don't mind doing it. Last time I got to the weight I am now I dieted for a little over two months and lost 23 pounds. It took almost two years to put it all back on. So all I have to do is eat better for a couple of months, then try and avoid eating the junk I do now, and I should be back to where I should be. It is almost summer though, and I am coming to the terrible conclusion that I cannot hide behind hoodies and jackets anymore. My "heavy time" jeans are getting tight and even my baggy t-shirts aren't fitting the way I want them to. Sigh. Well, I wasn't planning on writing a novel on weight, so sorry.

On a brighter subject, the wedding plans are going well. We are going to have the rehearsal dinner at an Italian place, it will most likely be a pasta bar. I got the invitations, and they are really nice, I am happy with them. On Monday I go for my second fitting for my dress, so that should be fun.

Well, my buddy Sean just showed up, we are going to beat Lilly up, I mean not beat Lilly up. Yeah.... :)

x = Fail!

Well, I passed the vocabulary part of the GRE, but the math is a different story. First of all, the test was done on a computer and I was not allowed to skip questions and go back to them. Since the test was timed it freaked me out to spend too much time on one problem.

Also, before the whole test they have you do a tutorial on HOW TO USE THE MOUSE. It taught you how to hold the mouse, how the little arrow moves with the mouse, and how the buttons work.

Seriously. They expect me to know geometry but not how to use a mouse. Something is really flawed here. They should have made it computer literacy instead of math and I would have been fine.

The good thing is the lady at the graduate department had already told me the GRE wasn't a big deal. She said they look a lot more at your GPA in the last 6o units you took, and teacher recommendations. I look good in both of those and my writing samples were good as well.

So, it should be fine anyway. The communications department really doesn't care how good at math I am. And I can always retake the stupid test, but I don't see the point since I already tried. I'll find out in about a month if I got in the program, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for me.

The GRE

Sorry I haven't been blogging the last few days, but I have been studying for the GRE. That is the exam everyone has to take to get into the Masters program. I take it tomorrow evening. The problem has been that there is math on it. There is algebra, which I haven't taken in 10 years, and wasn't good at it to begin with, and geometry, which I have never taken. Luckily they do provide study guides, so I have been learning and re-learning math. I also have a friend who is helping me out with her wide math knowledge.

The verbal part also looks hard because the vocabulary is a bit rough. But that is nothing compared to the math.

Stupid math. Anyway, writing this blog is what I am doing to take a break because my head hurts, but I can't keep taking breaks, so off I go to the world of geometry again.

Addresses

I need addresses for invitations! Please e-mail them to me:

valerine1234@yahoo.com

I have yours, mom, of course. But you also have ones I need, but I'll talk to you about that later.

Thanks!

Overhauling the yard over here too

JJ and I have decided to completely overhaul our yard. Funny that Sarah is as well, I guess it is the season. Our neighbors, Allen and Jodi, are the yard people. Their perfectly manicured lawn and bushes are the envy of the neighborhood. Everyone knows it. JJ and I have simply maintained the lawn, and cut some bushes when they got ridiculous. So, it was never terrible, but thanks to the Yard Kings next door, it always looked like it was in comparison.

The above pictures are of the walkways leading up to our front doors. The top one is Allen and Jodie's. Note the carefully wound hose and pretty white rocks. Their bushes are small, but healthy and quite nice. Now look at ours. There appears to be two hoses haphazardly sprawled on the ground. And.... what is that? Oh! A tire! I have no idea why that tire is there. I don't even know what car it goes to.

So this week JJ and I have done a lot of work. I raked, seeded, weeded and fertilized the lawn. JJ pruned the bushes in the front and put in new bark. I wish I had thought to take more "before pictures", but I didn't. Within the next couple weeks, expect a blog showing the beauty of our front and backyard! It shall be done!

I actually had a longer, more descriptive blog planned about my toiling in the yard this week, but I did not get off of work until after 11 tonight because we were busy, and I am beat! So, I will update about this, not that anyone is really that interested, but it is what is going on.

My Life: The Sitcom

I had a strange realization today. In sitcoms, movies and books families are often portrayed in a very stereotypical way. The dad is goofy yet lovable, always trying to fix things around the house, never calling a professional, and it always ends in disaster. The men never get freaked out over details, like wedding plans, the woman is always dealing with details, like cleaning. The men are sloppy. The women are always overstressed and overly concerned with communication. You know the stereotype I mean. There are lots of examples.

Today I realized that there is a reason for these silly stereotypes.

They are true.

I went to take a shower and did the typical 5 minute set-up and it occurred to me right then. What set-up you ask? Well, about a year ago our shower dripped. It drove me insane. I hated the dripping. The interval was so perfect. I just know exactly when each drip would happen and lying awake listening to it was enough to drive a person (if that person is me anyway) right over the edge.

So my dear JJ decided to fix the shower. The husband of a woman he worked with was a plumber and offered his assistance, but JJ in his great wisdom informed them that "plumbing was easy" and he didn't need any help.

Surely you can see where this story is going. When JJ finished the first "fixing" the shower not only dripped far worse than it had before, but had no water pressure. I took to taking showers in Lilly's bathtub, which looked like a Barbie snuff film.

A week and $150 later, JJ again "fixed" the shower. Another week of disembodied Barbie heads staring at me.

The next weekend he tried again. This time he admitted that plumbing indeed was not easy, but would in no way admit it to his plumber friend (I understand that). This time the results were great.... for a few months.

Now the shower takes a special set-up. It has two knobs, one to turn it on, and the other to adjust temperature.... in theory. Ours actually has two knobs that do both. In order to turn it on you use the proper turn-on knob. Then you spin the temperature knob around until it gets lukewarm (the direction depends on the day). After that you turn the on/off knob toward "off" and it gets hot. But if you turn it too far you lose your water pressure. Now when you are done taking a shower, you turn both handles, but the temperature one is the one you have to pull over to stop the water completely, so it is pretty much ass-backward.

It is a minor inconvenience, one that I have become accustomed to, and it works. But today it happened right after I was trying to deal with getting wedding invitations done. JJ has been acting like the "typical" male about wedding plans lately. So when I called him at work (he wasn't busy, I asked first), I just wanted to confirm the time of the wedding, and make sure he didn't care what invitations I picked. He didn't. "I don't care what you do for the wedding, just as long as you're there," he says.

So you see, my life is a sitcom now. I am not sure what to think of that. I pick-up JJ's dirty socks, over-stress about wedding plans (I hate acting like a girl) and roll my eyes when I have to jiggle the handle to make sure the toilet stops running (he fixed that too).

But all in all, the moral of all of this is that JJ tries to be handy around the house (the shower doesn't drip anymore), he wants me to show up for the wedding and you know, there have been a lot less socks laying on the floor lately. At least it is a happy sitcom.

Movies

I really like a good movie. But for some reason I just can't make myself sit down and watch one. Once I am watching it it's fine, but I never want to make the 2 hour commitment (scary that I am getting married).

Some movies I can watch over and over again like Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Princess Bride, Snatch, Back to the Future, 40 Year Old Virgin....

But to watch a new movie is a pain. I even get impatient having to hear a song I don't know. I think I just hate change. What movies are the most re-watchable for you guys?

What my name means

Monica put up a neat link to a site where you put in your name and it tells you what it means. Some of mine is right on, some isn't, and some of it is identical to Mary's, which is funny since we're sisters (yes Charise).

What Valerie Means

You are very hyper. You never slow down, even when it's killing you. You're the type of person who can be a workaholic during the day... and still have the energy to party all night. Your energy is definitely a magnet for those around you. People are addicted to your vibe. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?