Thursday, Aug 23, 2007

YAY for Thursday! I'm very much looking forward to FRIDAY.

This week has been very boring at work. Not good.

Some good news:

• Jason's brother and sister in law had another baby girl about a month ago and are having a baptism service on Sunday. They've asked Jason to be the godfather! He's very excited and I think it was very cool of them to ask him to do that. :) (so now he's the Safety Guy, Inspector, Godfather...this boy has too many nicknames)


• I called about the scholarship I've been using for school (was awarded it in HS and had 6 years to use it) because I realized the 6 years was supposed to end spring quarter of this year. And they just paid for my summer quarter. And I don't want them to stop paying. :) Well the lady was SUPER nice and said that since my quarters remaining would just have expired, she would extend them to the end of 2007!!! So I get one more quarter for free! I'm seriously debating taking 2 classes online this quarter to really get as much as I can from this, but I haven't decided yet. You will know (I always share)


• I might make Christmas cards this year. Woot woot!


• I went swimming 2x already this week and plan to go tonight. And tomorrow if I don't house-sit. (That would be trying another pool again) I'm getting a little better, and can go a lot farther than last week, but that whole "it doesn't wear you out" bit? I lied. I was friggin dying!


• The Puyallup Fair starts in 15 days!!!!!! Wahoo!!

• The Evergreen State Fair , however, is going on NOW!

We are going to see Josh Gracin and Joe Nichols at the Evergreen State Fair on Monday. I love fairs. And Evergreen State is my 2nd favorite out of the 4 I go to (usually) each year (Puyallup Spring, King County, Evergreen State, Puyallup). Should be good times! :)

Ummm...I think that's all for now. Until next time!

Becky's Life: Day 9010 (that's right!)

Contrary to popular belief: Mercer Island does not have the best of everything.

Yesterday I ventured out to try morning swimming at the Mercer Island pool thinking:

1. This is the closest pool on my way to work with lap swimming in the morning.
2. It's Mercer Island - it will probably be the nicest pool ever - Afterall, it's $1.50 more than ANY OTHER POOL in the county.
3. I should try this whole "morning workout" idea.

Well...let me tell you. This pool is not very nice.

1. It only has about 5 or 6 lanes, which isn't bad, but the pool by my house (which is over 30 years old) has 8 (I think) so more people are in the pool comfortably at one time.
2. Something is VERY off with the cholorine. I'm not sure what it is, but the water is VERY green, tastes weird (I know, you're not supposed to taste it but it happens), and smells weird too.
3. The locker room is gross. You know how old, run-down buildings have rust lines in the sink? Yeah, they have that.
4. Cattle showers. Hate them. I understand most swimmers going here are little kids, but I would expect Mercer Island to be a little nicer.

So I'm thinking to get what I want for an AM lap swim (a normal pool, clean facility, private shower) I would need to go to a gym with a pool. Since I'm a member at 24 hour fitness, I looked there first and found their Bel-Red location has a pool. I'm not sure what to expect there (there aren't many classes, so is it open lap swim all the time?) so I might just have to stop by to check it out one day, but we'll see.

I also realized I don't really like getting ready away from home. My hair takes ridiculously long to do (30 minutes to blow dry, longer if I want any sort of style) and especially at a pool (but also true if you shower) it's difficult to keep things dry. And it's just not as cozy. I really wish the pool by my house had AM lap swim. That would make things lots easier. Or that the 24 hour fitness by me would open a pool. One can always dream. :) (I just sent them a comment card)

In other news, I got a wisdom tooth pulled last weekend. The dentist office I went to is incredibly disorganized and sketchy, but the dentist himself has a lot of awards (I researched) so I let him do what he recommended and now I'm out of there! The extraction itself wasn't that bad. It hurt on Saturday but was gone on Sunday and it feels okay now. I guess I'm lucky (fingers crossed nothing bad happens all of a sudden)

We tried going out on the boat again last weekend, too.

This time Jason got to try the body board and the water skis:

(Have I mentioned I LOVE my camera?)

He got the water skis on but...didn't go far.

Oh, and I'm a phenominal photographer. Thankyouverymuch.

Then it was Clint's turn. He got the skis on easy: But didn't last very long. :) It was good times.

Oh, and I got a new bathing suit yesterday from JCPenny for $18. Yay! I'm trying to stock up on comfy ones that fit well while everyone still has some, and they are all 60-75% off. :)

The end. For now. I think.

Oh, and the date calculator is from here

Just keep swimming...

I’m so glad it’s Friday. I have no idea what we’re doing this weekend other than:

1) I am cat-sitting at the house I don’t stay at when they are gone (which just means a LOT of driving.)
2) I have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 10am. They are doing one filling and pulling a wisdom tooth. :(
3) At some point, I’m going to Sam’s Club with Jason. (which I need to make a list for…)

So that’s not too bad. Jason and Clint worked on the boat last night and got done what they had wanted to and took it out for a test-run, during which Clint tried water-skiing for the first time. Jenn and I TOTALLY wish we could have been there for that (oh the pictures) – especially since Clint said he never made it to a standing position and was trying to describe the experience, which was best summed up with “water bobbing”. :) Hopefully they’ll get to take the boat out again this weekend and then all of us will go out again, so it should be fun.

I went to Lap Swim for the first time last night! Jenn went with me (which I was VERY glad about) and actually coached me a little bit. It was really hard and I’m still trying to remember everything I’m supposed to be doing, but we went pretty hard for the full hour and while I was really tired afterward, it wasn’t anything like the incapacitating exhaustion of running, so I LOVED that. Jenn gave me a lot of good tips and I really liked it! Depending how I feel after the dentist tomorrow, I might try to go tomorrow or Sunday at a different pool to get a feel for the other Lap Swim options available. :)

***Nevermind!!! Clint and Jason want to take the boat out again today and Jenn asked if I’d lap swim again. OF COURSE! Although I must warn those that live in the area – NO pools (Tahoma, Hazen, Mercer Island, Bellevue, Lindbergh) have lap swim on Friday nights except for…HENRY MOSES AQUATIC CENTER. Evidently they have a whole separate pool for lap swimming so it’s an open session with little kids everywhere, but we’ll have our own pool. Yay. :) I’m friggin addicted.***

In other news, I did NOT get a B in my class. I got an A. 4.0 in college, baby!!! :)

SO….yeah. That’s all for now. Keep the party crackin, y’all.

"Everyone, out of the pool!"

So...I got kicked out of swimming lessons.

Crap.

I had signed up for the adult beginner class and was happy to see there were 2 instructors and 2 students when I got there. Until the rest of the class showed up. Total of 8 people. 3 people needed to learn how to float, 4 people could kick OR stroke OR move with their face in the water (but not more than one of those things) and then there was me.

I would swim about 100 feet and stop, say what I thought I did wrong and then swim back. The instructor barely talked to me. And class is only 1/2 hour so after figuring out what level everyone was, I didn't get that much time in there. :( So since I felt like that class was WAY below where I needed to be, I stuck around and watched the advanced class to see what they were doing. They worked on crawl stroke for about 5 minutes then worked on backstroke and fly.

Afterwards I asked if I could talk to the Advanced instructor and the Beginning one came out to talk too so I told them I was really just wanting to get some practice on the crawl stroke to be able to come to lap swim on a regular basis. The beginning instructor laughed and was like "You can go to lap swim now - you'll do fine. Just stay in one of the slow lanes if you're working on endurance." The advanced instructor agreed, saying there wasn't much they could help me with if I already knew what I was needing to work on, so I would definitely get more out of lap swim.

So they transferred my class fee to the 12 lap swim package (class fee is only 6 classes) and Jenn and I are gonna go on Thursday for my first lap swim! Yay!

I was looking at the pool schedule and they only have lap swim at noon or 8pm during the week. That sucks. I was thinking I might like to try swimming in the morning before work, but they don't open that early so I started looking at other pools in the area, since I also wanted to try water aerobics sometime and the pool I was going to doesn't offer that (at least in the summer, and it's a school district pool so I doubt they will anytime). So far I'm having a hard time finding a place that does both, but the Mercer Island pool opens at 5:30 am M/W/F for lap swim so we'll see if I like it enough to make it a habit. :)

Today has been fairly uneventful. That's okay. :)

Past, Present, Future

I stole this from Lindsey Teague - one of my most favorite bloggers/scrappers/html gurus/general people that I've never met. :) She's very cool. Anyway.

20 years ago I . . .
1. Was in Pre-School at Renton Christian. Had just had play dates with Brett and Jordan - two guys I'm still friends with
2. Getting ready to go to Disneyland with my family (even though I don't remember it so I don't think it should count)
3. Was sharing a room with BOTH my brother and sister. This would continue until I was 9 or 10.

10 years ago I . . .
1. Was in eighth grade at Renton Christian - best friends were Laura, Eliza, and Angie
2. Was crushing on my first "special friend" Jeremy. We never "dated" since we weren't allowed to date at such a young age, but we passed notes and -gasp!- held hands during chruch!
3. Had my first steady baby-sitting job for a very strange family. (They had been married, then got divorced, then re-married, then got divorced again but they still lived together. And the oldest kid was older than me but I was in charge of him too.)

5 years ago I . . .
1. Had just finished my first year at WWU and was wondering what on earth I wanted to be "when I grow up"
2. Lived in a house with 7 other girls - it was like the Real World, only worse. It was crazy, but some fun memories (like being addicted to American Idol the first year it was on)
3. Was working at Treasury of Memories and Blockbuster in Bellingham.

3 years ago I . . .
1. Was still trying to decide if I should go back to Mercy Seat after I had been there for awhile.
2. Was working at ITL (the "phone company" as my friends know it), meeting some different people than I had ever expected to know.
3. Bought my first car (the Focus!)

1 year ago I . . .
1. Was looking at taking the course to obtain my Real Estate Licence (working at CBBain's Relocation office)
2. Had been dating Jason for almost a year.
3. Went to a fair with a boy (Jason) for the first time - what had always been my "dream date" - where he won me prizes, we walked around holding hands and did pictures in the photo booth. <3

So far this year I . . .
1. Changed jobs (again)
2. Learned all about transmissions and drag racing and continued going to school - 3 quarters so far this year!
3. Was told "I love you" for the first time. :)

Yesterday I . . .
1. Took pictures of myself since I noticed I have no pics of me in over a month.
2. Found out I may have gotten my first B. :( (I will find out later today)
3. Won a bet with Jason about who would win "Hell's Kitchen" - he now has to either watch "Newsies" with me or go see "Hairspray". (bwah ha ha)

Today I . . .
1. Was very late compared to when I wanted to be at work, although that meant that I don't have to sit in on a meeting I didn't want to sit in on anyway.
2. Have my very first swimming lesson!!!!!
3. Will be getting Madden 08 for Jason. :) He has no idea and will LOVE it.

Tomorrow I. . .
1. Will probably end up sitting in the continuation of the meeting I didn't want to sit in on today.
2. Will be touring a local company as a work event. Weird.
3. Will be EXSTATIC that it will already be Wednesday.

In the next year I shall . . .
1. Continue my schooling to try to knock out my AA. Possibly bump things up to 2 classes a quarter? (so only 1.25 more years instead of 2.5...that seems so long!)
2. Hit the 2 year mark with Jason (and more?)
3. Move out by myself. (yikes!)

Layouts and Lakes

**Warning. The next 3 days I might be posting a lot. MIGHT.** :)

So I finally took a picture of the layout I made last week (the scan did not do it justice) and then finished the ridiculously simple layout about J and my hands. Drumroll please...

So...they are super plain and I don't like that, but I like that I got it done. We'll see what happense with my whole scrap-crap thing.

On Sunday, Jason and Clint wanted to take Jenn and I out on Jason's boat that they have been working on (first to get it up and running again, then to make it "cool"...whatever). I was totally stoked!

We set off:

Captain Jason

Oh wait...the boys want to change something. So we go back to the launch, Clint jumps out and starts to go to work. At the launch. Weirdos.

Working away...

Jenn and I were not happy about this "adjustment"

We got it fixed and were off again! We found a "cove" and set out for some tubing. Clint was first.

Hang on!

See...it's not so bad...

Until Captain Jason starts going crazy (love the facial expression!) And then... But he got back on for round two!

Wait...what's that noise?Climb back in and...they are working on it. Again.
So...all in all, it runs fine. The boys are just mechanical boys that want to tweak EVERYTHING. Now they want to work on the interior of the boat, make it pretty again, and sell it. From that and selling Jason's dirt bike he's been fixing up too Jason's hoping to get a newer, nicer, bigger boat.

I'm fine with that. :)

So...yeah. Okay that's all for THAT post. Now I'm working on the next one. :)

Progress!

I actually scrapped last night.

(No, I'm not kidding.)

And then I promptly forgot to scan the layout.

Cause I'm just that cool. :)

I was really frustrated because it took me about 2 hours to do a layout that looks like it took 30 seconds, but I like the end result and I like that I started again. So there. :)

Hint, I used this picture:

But I played with the photo a little before I did the layout. Oh, I bet you're anxious to see.

I started one with this picture:

But the idea I set out to accomplish with it didn't seem to do it justice so I left it to think about a little bit longer. Today will be a lot of 2Peas searching for fun layouts for me to scraplift. HA!

This week has been a little strange at work.

One boss's wife had a baby so he's out all week and the other boss has been very busy. One co-worker is driving me nuts and another is turning out more fun than I expected. Okay, I lied, two co-workers are driving me nuts and the other is cool. Anyway.

Today is my last day of this work week(!!!!!) but it's not for anything super fun or exciting. Tomorrow is the dentist, an oil change and tire rotation, haircut, and eye doctor. Friday is a massage and a chiropractic appointment and if the dentist can get me in for some of the work I know I'm gonna need, then more of that.

And tonight I'm going to cheer Jenn on for her last mini-triathalon of the year. And it's just a matter of getting through today without losing my mind, dying of boredom, or driving myself or anyone else crazy.

Sidenote to scrappers: Today is the opening of registration for the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Seattle (in November). Sign up for a fun class then teach me what you learn. I think I'll just be hitting up the vendor fair again this year.

Until next time...

Learning (the hard way)

This weekend was rough, and as hard as it is to admit, it was mostly my fault. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I have a bad temper. And I tend to yell when I'm annoyed/irritated/etc. So when Jason does something really trivial, it ends up being a huge deal because I start yelling and I lose my cool. This weekend was a great example. I actually almost lost him because of it. :(

We ended up working things out with a few solutions, some seeming random but making sense. He will work harder to participate in things I like to do, I will work on my attitude, temper and volume, we will both start working out, and I will act more like a lady. (that last one was spawned by a suggestion I made a few weeks ago, and brought up again. That's the most random one for us right now.) It was a really hard thing to go through, but we made it. We're both at the point where we are scared to leave things how they've been but we're scared to take them to the next level and we've tried not talking about that and it hasn't worked. So me erupting (bad) resulting in us talking through some things (not easy, but good) and things seem better now. Things are better. We'll make it through.

It's interesting for me to question things because I'm not questioning US I'm questioning myself. I learn a lot about myself but I try to ignore it and point fingers at other people. It's worked (sometimes) in the past, but Jason sees through it and can gently and lovingly show me what I'm doing. Again, it's hard, but it's helping. I don't understand his patience, but I appreciate it like you wouldn't believe.

I ended up taking Thursday and Friday of this week off. Nothing exciting, just getting some appointments and things out of the way. (Exciting things like the dentist, hair dresser, massage, oil change, and eye doctor.) I have been needing to get back into scrapping but feel really overwhelmed lately so have been putting it off but hope that this week/weekend might allow some time for that.

With working out, there's a pool about a mile from my house and a friend of mine really wants to start swimming there, but umm...I don't know how. Like I can get from point A to point B, but I don't do it properly, gracefully, or quickly, so it's not all that fun. I would love that type of workout cause I hate hate hate being hot and the people I housesit for have a pool too so that makes things easy, but I need to learn how to swim. They teach adult classes but they start in a week and registration is supposed to be in a week early. I will call tomorrow and see if I can register in person. Maybe I will be a swimmer afterall. :)

I've been watching Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy ...I really want to see Bourne Ultimatum. One of the things Jason and I talked about him participating in is my absolute adoration of movies (especially in the theater). Hopefully the action and rave reviews will convince him to see it with me, but who knows. Today we went to see The Simpsons movie - Jason's family loves that and I love movies in the theater - it was fun. I was SHOCKED at some of the stuff in it - showing like 2 seconds of Bart's "genitaila" and bongs, and stuff like that, but it was funny.

My class is almost done too - it finishes this week!! It's kinda frustrating - I don't "participate" as much as I'd like to in the online discussions because 1/2 the questions people ask are RIDICULOUS. I feel like they are asking questions with obvious answers just to up the number of posts they have overall, but I don't want to trivialize their questions (which comes naturally based on how dumb some of them come across) but I haven't been posting much so I hope my grade is okay. She hasn't graded anything past week 3 (this is week 7) so I have no idea how I'm doing other than the fact that I had full points for the first 3 weeks. We'll see...

That's all..I need to go to bed now. My sleep cycle's been all out of whack and it's driving me nuts!

until next time...

Climbing Back Up

So...the last two weeks (ending this past Saturday) were pretty darn crappy.

I finally got my car back on Friday. Things seem fine and I'm glad that it's over with. After we picked up my car we went to a clinic because I had been having severe pain in my ear and along the left side of my jaw and neck.

I had an ear infection. (What am I, 5?) The doctor completely disregarded the fact that I had been crying just waiting for him to come in (they said not to take anymore Advil/Tylenol so the doctor could "understand the situation" and it just hurt SO bad) and then when he did come to look at it, he pushed a lot harder than necessary along my swollen jaw and neck. Big jerk made me cry again.

So I got drops, antibiotics and pain killers. It's feeling better, but it's not over. :(

Saturday we were driving to Jenn and Clint's house and had dropped Jason off at the grocery store to get some things while I ran home (less than a mile away) to grab something. And I heard a weird noise from my car. No joke. I burst into tears. (I'm telling you, I'm wearing down.) I drove back to pick up Jason and he couldn't figure the sound out in the Safeway parking lot, and since Clint lives really close, we drove there so they could both take a look.

It was a stick. In my hubcap. It's better now. (false alarm)

Then Saturday night we went to the Rat City Rollergirls Semi-Finals. (Roller Derby) A friend of Jenn's has been practicing with one of the teams for about a year and was ready to play in her first bout on Saturday. It was...interesting. We were a little too preppy to blend in very well, but it was fun.

Of course there are pictures:

The rink itself isn't very big.

At the starting line. Jamie, Jenn's friend, is in the baby blue helmet.
Jamie is VERY speedy. (pretty rad picture I took, eh?)
They all have fun "Derby Names" - others were Miss Fortune, Moe YaDown, Pia Mess (read that outloud - ha), X-Khan, and Sara Problem?

Oh, and there was a brawl. Ha. The purple girl totally tripped the green girl and the green girl threw punches. Ha. Hilarious.

And that was that. We went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and then spent Sunday doing some cleaning. We went back to Jenn and Clint's and had some dinner, played H2O Uno in the hot tub, and just hung out. It was nice.

This week has been okay. Compared to last week, this is nothing. ;)

Oh and I managed to lose 6 pounds. Without trying. That's talent. Sad that I didn't notice so the scale had to tell me. I chalk it up to my trying to save money. I went grocery shopping and bought a ton of good, healthy, cheap food. The main portions were all Weight Watchers (they happened to be on sale and had the most appealing look of all the frozen lunches). Oh, and I'm sure the stress had something to do with it. Yay.