Sunday Morning Over Easy

There is something about Sunday mornings that I have always loved. At my mom and dad's house Sunday morning is a time for relaxation. You can sleep late if you want to, or you can wake up and read a few pages of whatever book you're in the middle of, or maybe a magazine or a newspaper. There's always coffee, and my mom makes breakfast. BLTs are a popular menu item, or the traditional eggs-bacon-toast-hash browns meal, with OJ and milk, of course. You'll hear 94.7 FM on the radio, with their "Sunday Morning Over Easy" show that ends at noon every week with the mandatory playing of "Angelo's Restaurant." My dad will putter around in the garage or play cards online, Jesse will sleep til 2 PM, and mom will cook and read.

This Sunday morning Shaun and I went to look at a little studio apartment in Royal Oak that I/we are thinking of renting for awhile. Then we went to get coffee at Caribou and shared the paper. I was thinking it could be a start to a new Sunday morning tradition of our own. Coffee and the paper at Caribou. Sounds like a plan to me....

Happy Birthday Jesse!

Happy 21st Birthday to my not-so-little-anymore Little Bro. Lord help us all, he's 21!

Raining Cats and Dogs

So I've learned that I pretty much hate dogs. All except for mine, of course, but even she gets on my nerves sometimes. This discovery came about around 4:30 this morning when I was asleep at Kira's house (I am house/dog/cat sitting for her and Jeff while they are in L.A. for her cousin's wedding) and woke up to the sound of one of her dogs, Blanca, whimpering and whining because she wanted to come into the bedroom and get into bed with me and Shaun. (Obnoxious Dog Feature #1, hereafter abbreviated as ODF #'s 2-whatever, dogs always have to be on top of you! When you're on the couch, when you're in your bed, wherever.)

We had a kid's safety gate at the doorway so they couldn't come in, and since they are used to sleeping in there, Blanca was upset. I got up and let her outside, but that didn't seem to be the problem, because the whining and whimpering and occasional barking and scratching at the baby gate continued with renewed vigor. (ODF #2, you have to get out of bed in the middle of the night in Michigan in the winter so that they don't shit and piss all over your house. We don't even do that with human children, they wear diapers.)

After another 30 minutes of moaning and whining and running back and forth between the front door and the bedroom door I thought, "well, maybe she still has to go," so I let her out again. She squatted 3 times before coming to the door, so I figured, "three times ought to just about cover it." On the way back to the bedroom I made sure she had water and that her bed and her cuddly guys were all there, and I showed her where we'd moved it to (out in the front room, with the other dog, who was becoming more and more awake every time I got up), just in case she'd failed to notice it there the 3,795 times she'd already walked by it. But she looked at me as if to say, "What? Are you retarded? That's not my bed. You're in my bed."

I went back and crawled back into bed with Shaun, but I was wide awake at that point. He was snoring, which I was glad to hear, because it meant that at least one of us (and the one of us that had to work today at that) was going to get more than 60 seconds of sleep. At 7:15, after getting up FIVE more times in efforts to get the dog to just SHUT THE F*CK UP already, I'd finally managed to fall back to sleep. The alarm went off at 7:30, we hit the snooze about 3 times, and at 8:00 when we were deciding to leave around 8:15 we realized that the clock in their bedroom is set 20 minutes fast. So we left anyway and went to get breakfast in a diner far, far away from any and all dogs.

As for that epic battle between cats and dogs, it is now abundantly clear to me that cats win, hands down, no contest. Cats are aloof, self sufficient, they make you earn their love, and they are fickle with it once it's been granted. A cat would never wake you up to make you let it outside in the middle of the night, it would just pad on over to its litter box, do its business, and then come cuddle with you again. When they make noise, it's quiet. Have you ever heard a neighbor complain about how your cat's purring is just keeping them all awake at night?? Um, no.

I miss my favorite cat of all time, Rosco. Dad brought him home from up north. He went hunting with Tony and they stopped at an Amish farm on the way back. Tony took one kitten, which Carrie and Nick named Ace, and we got one of his brothers, who turned out to be Rosco. He was sooooo cool! Unfortunately, he died when I was 14, and we haven't had another cat since, but I can't wait for Shaun and I to get a kitten when we get a place together. I put some pictures up of him, sleeping in an empty box under the Christmas tree, trying to eat my goldfish out of the bowl in my room, and then generally just looking cool. The last two are double exposed pics so they might look a little funny, but he was a funny cat.

Show Me the Money

OK seriously. The payroll department at work has f*cked up 3 of the last 4 of my paychecks, and now I am officially pissed off about it. The first time (4 checks ago) they shorted me four hours and some OT, totaling about $60. Since it was the first time it ever happened, and I wasn't pressed for the $60, I figured, "Hey, no biggie." They fixed it on my next check. Which had a new error of its own. That new error was really small, and came out to being about $5 short. Not really a big deal at all. The next check was OK, but the one I got today has pushed me over the edge. This time it's a full day short, which is more than $100.

One of the managers at work suggested that I try to, "make a case," to the payroll girl to try to convince them to issue it to me immediately in a seperate check -- as opposed to having to wait for it to appear on my next check in two weeks. I thought about that for a little while and then a realization hit me: SCREW THAT. I really, really, really need that $100. If I don't get it, I may be eating bread and water and hitchhiking to work because I won't be able to guy gas or food. But that is NOBODY'S business. There is no way in hell that I should have to go explain in detail to my manager and members of our HR and payroll departments how desperate my financial situation is right now. I need that money because I don't go to work each day for fun, I go because I get a paycheck every two weeks. I shouldn't have to 'make a case' for why I'd like to be paid money that they owe me for time that I worked.

Wish me luck when I go talk to them tomorrow. Flippin a-holes.

Go Ahead With Your Bad Self

Congrats on your acceptance to American University homie! I knew you could do it, now go kick some Republican ASS! XOXO

So, as you may have guessed from the celebratory collage of photos and corresponding caption, Nikki was just recently accepted at American University in Washington D.C., where she will begin work on her Master's in Public Policy degree later on this month. Way to go Nik! What a great way to start out 2006. I see big things for the year ahead, BIG THINGS!

It seems as if everyone is taking a moment to reflect on what happened in 2005 and what they want to happen in 2006, so I will do the same. What can I say about 2005? It was a steady year, no major life disasters, just a good, solid beginning to a lot of thigns. To a happier me. To a debt free future (thanks to Mom and Dad who let me live at their crib for free, and to the two jobs I've been working for a year now). I am thisclose to having all my credit card debt that I racked up while in college and South America paid off, I bought my very own car, and I *almost* pay all my bills on time every single month! AMAZING!

What else was great about '05? I got to see my friends do things they've been wanting to do forever -- Kira got married, Nik moved to D.C., Amy got a job at the Shedd, Aubs moved to Chicago and got a job she actually likes, Jetta made it home from Uzbekistan safe and sound and got a job she really loves, Brian and Steph are doing awesome in the Pacific Northwest. The list goes on and on.

But the best thing about 2005 was definitely meeting Shaun. I complain about my job an awful lot, but I know I shouldn't, because if I had never worked there then I never would have met him, and he's the best thing to happen to me in a long, long time. Maybe ever. He always knows how to make me laugh, he doesn't put up with me being a brat, he's romantic and mature and smart and fun and loves to dance with me, and loves his family, and his friends, and has a good heart and is just basically a great man. I have come so far from where I was last year at this time, and I so happy that I met him along the way, and that I get to keep moving forward with him in my life.

So, to Mom and Dad and Jesse, all my homies, and especially to Shaun, thanks for making 2005 a great year for me, and here's hopin' 2006 can be even better.

NYE 2005

Scenes from the fiesta