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Email: Many thanks to cyberdelia for all her design help!
You rock! *trueblood header image courtesy of HBO* *Teeny DRD courtesy of snurcher.com* |
zoey is almost the newest addition to my family. i say ‘almost’ because she’s not here yet. she is still with her dog parents, but in about a month her home will be with me. she’s half pekingese and half min pin – i have no idea what she will end up looking like! i get to meet her either tomorrow or tuesday after work. i am taking my camera so i can get a few shots of her now that her eyes are open. call me crazy if you like, but i started a blog to post her adventures. you can find it here or in the link on my sidebar. welcome to the world, zoey! just checking out some news and noticed that the peak time for the geminid meteor shower is midnight (EST) tonight.
of course, the weather has been really warm and humid here the past few days. if i get to go outside to check out the sky, i am more likely to be slathering on the mosquito repellent and sipping a cold diet coke! after a really stressful and aggravating end to my work week, the weekend was not only a welcome relief, but it was also pretty productive. i am now settling in to watch some TV and do more work on my resume. i’ve never had to have a resume, not even when i got the job i have now. i am not going to elaborate on that too much, except that i am anticipating more changes once the new year comes and i need to be prepared. i started out this afternoon just cleaning my room and putting away a basket-load of clean clothes. i ended up cleaning out my dresser and closet and got two 30-gallon sized trash bags full of clothes to donate. some stuff just had to be thrown away, not sure why i was saving some things in the first place since they weren’t even fit to give to the thrift store. i have a bit of room in my walk-in closet now and my dresser is completely organized again. i am sure there are still some things that should go but i don’t think i am going to purge again before the spring. in other news, i need a new phone. some of the buttons on my newest phone (which is a little over a year old) have stopped working, not to mention that the phone has annoyed me almost since i got it. i have been using my spare (previous) phone but that one is so old that it’s not working properly either. i am waiting until august to get a new one through tmobile, that’s when my current contract is up and when i can get the best deal on a phone. i may stop by the tmobile store on my way home from work tomorrow but if i can’t get a good deal on one (i.e. seriously cheap), or can’t get one through their new ‘pay a little each month’ for a new phone, i have my eye on a refurbished phone on ebay. it’s just like the one i am using now, just all fixed up, so i can use my same charger and will then have 2 spare batteries. i am really tight on cash for now, so i am thinking the one on ebay is the way to go. either way, i hope to have a new phone before the week is out. it’s a balmy 50 degrees here in my part of sunny florida this morning. it’s supposed to warm up another 15 degrees or so making it still feel like the holidays are upon us. call me crazy, but i think there is nothing worse than warm weather this time of year. thanksgiving dinner was delicious. didn’t need the ‘backup gravy’ either! i also got my first card of this holiday season. from the trash guys. it was actually signed “leo and your trashmen”. i’m now on a first name basis with at least one of them. nice. in a bit, i am headed up into the attic to get all the holiday decorating bins, put up the tree and then see how many strings of lights i need for it. i had a few bad sets last year but i am not sure how many. i may end up getting all new lights and have *gasp* colored lights on the tree. i don’t ever remember having anything but white lights on my tree. i am alaso scheduled to put the lights up outside later on this evening. i am giving my white icicle lights to a friend and using the colored lights out there too. living on the edge! i am headed outside now to see if i can see the space shuttle atlantis going over. it’s scheduled to land in 15 min! *waits for double sonic boom* **guess i should have checked space.com. seems like it came over quite a bit south of here. i think i may have barely heard the sonic booms though. oh well, missed it again. glad it touched down safely! i want to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. there is going to be a feast here at casa de antisocialite tomorrow. the cooking has already begun. pie is made, sweet potatoes are in the oven (for a casserole roomie is making) and i made homemade cranberry sauce. it smells wonderful and is now chilling in the fridge until dinnertime tomorrow. i got the recipe here here are a few pics while it was cooking:  cranberries, honey, orange and cranberry juices  boiling down. the cranberries were popping while i stirred!  cooked down and thickened. almost done!  ready for chilling! with the pie and cranberry sauce done and out of the way, the real cooking can begin. can’t wait to make all the stuffing and get the bird in the oven! hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with great food and family/friends! i just won an ebay auction for the covered sugar bowl, creamer, gravy boat and a cranberry bowl (i have several of those cranberry bowls) in the china pattern that i have been collecting over the past few years. these particular pieces are really hard to find, even in poor condition. i won’t be able to tell until i get them, but the listing said there were no cracks or chips *crosses fingers*. the whole deal, including shipping, was $25!! they are shipping from within FL so they should get here quickly and safely. i am really excited to find these. i would like to get a few more of the serving pieces including a covered bowl, butter dish, salt & pepper shakers and maybe a smaller serving platter. the big platter is the only piece my mom kept from her set that she sold before we moved from NJ. i am glad she kept the platter because that’s how i found out the name of the pattern. thanks mom! i am off to make some top secret cupcakes and homemade buttercream frosting. i know the person whose birthday i am making the cupcakes for won’t be reading this, so i can tell everyone else! of course i’m not bringing all 24 cupcakes to work tomorrow oh, did i mention that after tomorrow i will be off for 4 days? wooooo!! i can’t believe how long and dragged out today was at work. i started at 7:30 and never even got to take a break until 1:30 when i finally got time to take lunch. we are trying to get a huge job (and a few small ones) finished by wednesday afternoon so that we don’t have to work on friday. we are starting at 7-ish tomorrow and hope to get a bunch of work done. i stopped by the grocery for my last trip there before thanksgiving. i vow to not return until after the holiday. i don’t usually go to the grocery at 8PM but i might have to start, since there are a lot of strange people milling about. i saw an older guy with the biggest mullet i’ve seen since 1987 and another guy…dreads, baggy shorts that were too long for shorts and too short for pants, had ‘the walk’ down and was quietly singing a pretty hardcore sounding rap song as he went through the aisles. i saw him again on my way out, this time the rapping was considerably louder and he was just too cool in his own mind…and he was carrying two big packages of huggies diapers…hardcore, alright. i actually chuckled out loud all the way to my car have to take out the trash now. yay. i don’t usually make new years resolutions, but if i had to make one for 2010, it would be to get more organized. in the last few years i have become a bit unorganized with things i want to keep, but are not so important that they can just be stored in boxes and put away. i have a tendency to put things in a ’safe place’ and then sometimes forget where i put them. as for the iPod, the reason i needed to remove my car’s stereo was to get to the back and plug in the iPod adapter wire that i bought. i managed to get the front of the upper console off and get the thing plugged in. i ran the wire under the side of the console and now i can just plug in the iPod, listen to music and charge it all at the same time. i’ve been doing laundry all day and everything i hung outside managed to dry before the rain. it hasn’t started yet but i am sure it will soon, since i am off in a bit to make the last grocery run until after thanksgiving. i need only a few things for the week and a couple of things for t-giving that i was waiting for sales on. also, one question: i am planning on staying up a bit late tonight to sit outside and hopefully see some meteors. the leonid meteor shower lasts from 11PM est to 4am est. hope you get to see some if you’re looking! i’ve been busy doing a lot of things, none of which include updating this blog. i’ve toyed with the idea of closing it down. i don’t like paying for things that i don’t use. in the coming months i am going to choose whether to keep it or not. that said, i am going to do a little housecleaning and change a few things – i think. meanwhile…
work is going good, i am settling in quite nicely and getting more hours. even the toughest jobs are getting much easier and i am still learning lots of stuff. the weekend of oct 9th found me in orlando for screamfest. lots of cool horror-type stuff, bands – joey belladonna, of the band anthrax fame, did a show and his voice is still great! also got to see the zombie dragstrip hookers (great band!).
i will be adding more pics to the gallery later on. last weekend, roomie and i went to bourbon street to see vains of jenna play and lucked out because all 4 bands were great. we knew that the zombie dragstrip hookers were going to be there but the other two bands were also great. the first band holes and hearts were fronted by a 14 year old and his 12 year old brother was the guitarist. if you didn’t see them, you’d have no idea of their age. next up was the zdh and then vains of jenna, followed by another 80s/90s style band called dirty penny. had a great time and got a pic taken with lizzy devine, vocalist for vains of jenna:
my car was in the shop last week. on monday morning i started the car and heard the pop of the serpentine belt breaking again. they think a small oil leak caused the belt to slip and then subsequently break. i had the same repair done last year and i think it was under warranty because they also did an oil change and fixed the leak and the actual cost ended up being less than the estimate. i also only missed a few hours of work instead of the whole day, which was nice. my company’s owners live fairly close to me so one of them came to the garage to pick me up and take me to work. i’m getting ready for thanksgiving, which has come up so fast this year for some reason. i have most of what i need and it’s down to just having to get the turkey. today is filled with laundry, house cleaning, and car cleaning and i better get on it if any of these things are to get done! i’ve been doing just that all weekend. i’ve been avoiding doing everything on my to-do list and basically just wasting time. today’s jobs include mowing the lawn and starting the halloween decorating. i have posted the few pics i took at dragon*con in my gallery. i might add more taken by others as i find them. i hope to have a new camera by the time i go to megacon in march – the old one is just not working well these days. it randomly freezes while taking pics and sometimes the batteries have to be removed to turn it off when that happens. plus, i want a thinner, lighter one that is rechargable instead of worrying with batteries. i will definitely keep this one as a backup. the new job is going OK. even had a bit of OT last month and might be looking at more this week. it’s been a challenge in some respects since i am learning a bunch of new stuff. the person i didn’t like much is no longer there and i’m now working with one of my good friends from my old job. that makes the days a lot more pleasant. i’ve been on vacation/dog sitting since friday and after a very stressful month, i really needed the break! i’ve been sleeping in every morning…but not this morning. i woke at about 6:15 to furious barking from upstairs. when it finally registered that i should go see what was wrong, i headed upstairs to find a nearly-dead palmetto bug next to one of the min-pin’s crates, and the dog was flipping out! once i took care of the bug, it was pointless to go back to bed. i decided to take a pic of the sunrise since i was all awake and stuff. of course all the dogs are napping now since they all got up way too early!  i don't get to see too many of these when on vacation! i’ve had lots of beach time and took some pics early monday evening.  this little fiddler crab was 'guarding' the path to the beach. after i snapped his pic, i had to chase him to get him to stop coming at me!  sea turtle nests line the shore this time of year. most of the street lights have been shielded or turned off so the baby turtles head towards the water and not the land. i brought some costume stuff with me in case i get insipred to finish any of it. one thing i’ve finished so far is one of the weapons for my steampunk costume.  this is the "before" pic. nothing but black primer.  and the "after" every night next week will be “costume finishing night” since dragon*con is a mere 15 days away! tomorrow finds me visiting the ponce de leon lighthouse at ponce inlet. this is the tallest lighthouse in FL at 175 feet. it was opened in 1887 and over time, has been restored and preserved. i can’t wait to climb it! i did massive costume shopping yesterday and got almost all of the supplies and costume parts i needed. the mad max road warrior costume has officially been scrapped until the new year. i just couldn’t find all the pieces in time. guess i should have started looking sooner. i really need to start having all my stuff ready way before comventions. for next year, i still have lofty ideas to get the armor for a halo ‘master chief’ costume. that one’s gonna be expensive and time consuming because it will be white when i get it and will have to be painted. i made it through my first week at my new job. i didn’t get in as many hours as i’d hoped because of my car breaking, but it still seemed like a long week. the car was pretty cheap, about $100 to fix, (just a relay and not the fuel pump like i suspected). i definitely have to try my best to get in a full week this week. on friday, i leave for 9 days of dog sitting (no work involved there) and vacation in ormond beach. my plans for the week include laying on the beach, laying on the beach and oh, did i mention laying on the beach? i promise not to get too wiped out from all that excitement! i am actually planning on visiting the lighthouse at st. augustine again and who knows what else i can get myself into. any costume pieces that aren’t finished being assembled this week are going with me as well. i’m in the market for a new camera. mine is about 5 years old and the quality is just not the same. it seems to have gotten worse since i forgot it was in my pocket and sat on it. only the cover of the LCD screen cracked but i am thinking i may have done something else to it. i might look tomorrow after work because i’d like to get it before i go to the other coast. i am doing anything i can to invoke the garage to call so i can get my car back. i took a shower, hair is still up in a towel and i am in my jammies. i am doing laundry. all of these things usually bring on a phone call. i spoke to my boss this morning and i am definitely not fired this shouldn’t be such a happy post but it really is. on my way home from work yesterday, i made a few stops and noticed that my fuel pump kept running after i turned the car off. yeah, i can her it since it’s located under the wheel well of oneof my back tires and since my car is a fastback, i can hear everything back there. my favorite (ok, my only) garage was already closed when i drove past, so i took off one of the battery cables after i pulled it into my driveway. i didn’t want a dead battery this morning and i certainly didn’t want a fuel pump, doing what it does, pumping fuel, all night! the pump did not come on when i hooked the battery back up this morning. i thought it might have ‘unstuck’ itself. of course, the pump kept going when i turned the car off at the garage, which was a good thing because i had the person at the desk get someone – i wanted them to hear what it was doing. i think the usual two mechanics were both out today, but to my surprise, my old mechanic came walking out! he’s the guy i bought my mustang from. we were both really surprised to see each other! my dad and i took our cars to him for years and in 2003 he sold his shop. i am so happy that 3 of the most honest mechanics i know of are now working together in one place. of course, this means i have to miss my third day at my new job. that disappoints me, but i didn’t really have much to do today anyway. i think the boss was just making work for me to keep me happy because i told them that i had to have a specific number of hours every week. we had a meeting monday morning at work and they told us that the company would be closing. while i was sad about this (i love my friends there), it wasn’t unexpected. things have been going bad for over a year there. two weeks from tomorrow i will be headed back over to the east coast to vacation and dog sit for my friends there. i think by then a nice relaxing week at the beach will be much needed. i really need to take a load off and that is the perfect way to do it. lazing on the beach during the day and hanging out with 4 cool dogs the rest of the time is going to be good therapy! two weeks after my vacation ends is dragon*con! i still have costumes to work on and i think i might bring my supplies and sewing machine on vacation so i can finish up all my partial costumes and have no last minute assembling and sewing to do. i ditched my “mad max road warrior” costume due to lack of time to make it and unavailability of certain pieces, namely, a used, beat-up old pair of shoulder pads. i should have that costume ready by february and will take it to megacon. i can’t wait to see all my con buddies! i’m goin’ in! first, the new minimalist-y blog design is done for now. i’ve upgraded to a pretty cool wrodpress theme called atahualpa. it’s a tweaker’s playground. the basics of the layout are all there and then the design, colors, etc, are up to the blog owner to change as they please. it’s been a bit of a learning curve but for me, changes will be made very easily. more changes at work have caused the switch to only one shift, so i am back on the day shift starting tomorrow. it is going to be rough getting up with the alarm at 5am after not having to do that for the past month. if we go back to 2 shifts, those of us who were on nights will have first crack at going back to that shift. i really hated it at first, but i was finally starting to get used to the hours. that shift did have its perks, most notably the 4-day work week, but i still think i like working during the day better. at least my troubles with a certain person will be a lot less since we are now playing in my backyard so to speak, not theirs… my weekend in ormond beach last week was much needed and much appreciated. i spent 3 beautiful days on the beach and in the pool and my soul was fully recharged. i have been extremely stressed from work and i don’t think i would have been able to get through last week without that down time. i am going back over the weekend after july 4th. the weekend of the 4th will be spent in atlanta with some of my best buds. i did an experiment in making soy candles last night and it turned out to be promising, some bugs to be worked out, namely my choice of wick material. the experimentation will continue until i get it perfect and then the candles will be sold in my etsy shop. now it’st time to head back out to the crafts store and then back home to mow the yard, hopefully before any rain comes. |
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