FYI
12 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
As a Public Serive Announcement I would like to give all my readers a head’s up. I have to use this blog for BOTH of my classes this semester, so not only have my blogs been quite a bit off-topic from what I used to post, I will also randomly have some pretty short “off-the-wall” posts every now and then that are directly from my textbook for class. So things are going to be weird around here for a while, just for your information!
What’s HOT this Halloween
12 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
Vampires…Transformers…Mummies
All are in demand this year and are great to build a theme party around.
Be sure to view the offerings at the Happing Haunting Home Page.
Blogging
10 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
I honestly don’t understand how there are so many people out there who make a living writing a blog. Coming up with enough material to write about is really very difficult. I would imagine that having a central theme would be a huge help, rather than just randomly coming up with topics on your own each week or twice a week as we are doing right now. It would be even easier if you pick a topic that you are passionate about. The previous life of this particular blog was like that. I was writing frequently and about something I was very passionate about. It made the writing easier than it is now. It wasn’t something I had to sit and think about, it was something I wanted, or needed to write about. I just had to get my thoughts down and out there to share with other people.
The only major downside of my blog was that the subject matter was very specific, and although I had a wonderful group of people following me, it was a fairly small group. Not that my current sporadic topics have gained me any followers at this point, but I’m trying to work some ideas around to make this blog actually be about something that people will actually be interested in reading about.
My first instinct is to write a Disney blog as I’ve been pretty obsessed with Walt Disney World vacations ever since I booked our first vacation last January. However, there are already TONS of Disney blogs out there with a wide array of information. However, I’m thinking that since I already have my blog linked to facebook, I would be able to more directly reach my specific friends. I’ve had several of them come to me for Disney vacation advice in the last year or so, so maybe I could use this blog as a tool to help them out. I’m certainly no expert but I love to share what knowledge I do have about this very large vacation planning. There are so many details and things to consider with a Disney vacation that it can very easily become overwhelming, and when I become overwhelmed I tend to go overboard on research. I’ve read tons of books about Disney vacation planning, watched all the videos I could get my hands on, frequent many different blogs and forums and have some real life experience.
So I’ll be running through a few ideas the next week or so and hopefully I’ll find a direction to put this blog in, so stay tuned!
Shooting Stars
09 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
Last night my husband and I were discussing where we would be if we had pursued our dreams a little harder. This came after my finding a video of a woman that I went through school with performing in a band for Donald Trump. I of course, had to pull out old pictures of her as a girl in school being goofy and hanging out with our old group of friends to show to my husband. I also attended school with a man who after high school went into the army and then had a mini-series on HBO based off of him and his platoon. Another woman I went to school with made an appearance on a show on MTV.
This got me thinking. I honestly never had any “big” dreams. I never wanted to be famous; I had no huge career ambitions. My family has always been the most important thing in my life, and all I ever dreamed of was to have a family of my own. My daydreams always had a very 1950’s feel to them, although with much more women’s liberation. Having a husband, and house, a dog, and 2.5 kids that I stayed home to take care of while my husband worked the nine to five has always sounded like heaven to me. However, I always did well in school and my parents expected me to attend college, so I did. Did I really have a direction? No. I didn’t have a clue as to what I would do after college; I was just in school like my parents wanted. I majored in English Language and Literature since I have a passion for reading and figured that was as close as I could get to being able to read my way through college. However by senior year I still didn’t have a clue where I was headed. I quit school and came home my senior year at Grand Valley State University. I still regret not getting my degree, I was only 19 credit hours away and had already completed my capstone class, however I don’t regret coming home. I wasn’t in a good head-space at the time and needed my family around me.
During my time in college I had been given an opportunity that I passed up. I have a relative who works in Washington D.C. for our government and he had offered for me to move out there with him and he would get me a position in his department, if I completed school and if I wanted to go. It was a great opportunity and I really tossed that idea around for quite some time. Had I finished my schooling I believe that I would have gone out there. Who knows where I would be right now.
I very much doubt that I would live in Clare, Michigan; or that I would be married to my husband, own my own house, still have all the friends I do now. I would be hundreds of miles away my mom and rarely get to see her, I wouldn’t have met the people that I know or do the things that I’ve done. I would be living a completely different life. Impressive? Maybe. It wouldn’t be what I have now and I love my life; maybe not all the parts of it, but a vast majority of it, and I wouldn’t trade it if I had to give it all up.
The Rock Star Life
03 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
My husband is in a band. I guess you could say that I’m his groupie or roadie or some other cliché of the music world. I go with him to a majority of his band practices, at his request, and nearly all of his shows, ok well gigs. I feel so completely un-cool using that word. An almost-thirty year old bank teller just doesn’t really fit my idea of some rock-star wife who’s dressed cool and looks cool and acts cool. That’s just not my style anymore. I barely own any clothes that aren’t expressly meant for work in the professional world, and you don’t spend a Friday or Saturday evening, bobbing your head to some darn good rock music wearing dress pants and a sweater set. I’ve only owned one pair of jeans for the last five years and they weren’t going to make anyone’s top ten or even top one hundred list of must-have jeans of the season, but hey at least I owned a pair right. That came to an end after their last show when I discovered a large hole in a rather inconvenient spot and my one and only pair of jeans met their end.
Well that stinks. I already view myself as the rather dumpy, frumpy, chunky, very un-cool wife but I certainly cannot ever show up to one of his shows in dress slacks or long skirt, and NO sweater sets. So there I was, but hey, I had what I thought was at least a month or two to worry about it since they didn’t have anything booked in the future right at that point in time. Well I REALLY should have known oh-so-much better than that. Beginning of the week, I am informed that they are going to be playing this coming weekend in Bay City with several other bands and possibly in front of several record executives.
Definitely NO sweater sets and slacks for that show.
So that leaves me to find time to go shopping. I mean, there might actually be record producers! I need to at least look the part of the oh-so-cool guitar players wife, even if I’m really just the quiet frumpy, bumpy, bank teller inside, right?
Deep Breathing
03 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
Some days, weeks, or even months go by and life is as slow and as dull as you ever imagined it could be. You sit by the phone and it stares back at you defiantly, refusing ring, taunting you. Nobody stops over, and you don’t have anything important or pressing, or well fun to do. All you have is your routine and you’re so comfortable with it that you get everything accomplished quickly and get it out of the way and then you’re left wishing for something, anything to do.
I know how this is. I usually define my life as “Nothing new, same ole same ole, nothing too exciting.”
However, you ever get into this comfortable routine, used to it, expecting it, even actually liking it and then WHAM! Out of the blue, you’ve got too much on your plate, and you don’t know whether or not you’re coming or you’re going.
This is precisely how my week has gone. I honestly can’t believe that it’s Friday, and I definitely have no clue as to where the rest of my week has gone to! I had my nice, boring week going on schedule and all of a sudden Friday is here and I’ve gotten absolutely nothing accomplished like I need and want to. I have been going ninety miles an hour all day and I can’t see the end of my journey.
Its weeks like this one that make me second guess my choice in going back to school. Working full time and taking classes really does take up a lot more of my time than I ever expected and it makes it tough to find any down time to relax and do some of the things I love to do, not to mention all the work I want to be doing on my house. It’s close to impossible to find time for me. What makes it even worse is that I’ve been really sick for around two months now. The doctor thinks it’s just a severe vitamin D deficiency, but it’s really put me down for the count. And it’s really hard to get through an entire day of work, being mostly out of it and then try to get my head into the books. I have a hard time just reading the words in front of me, let alone processing the information. Although it is finally beginning to get better, it’s still a constant struggle to get through the day.
I’m ready for things to settle back into my boring, normal routine.
My Happy Place
26 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Last May, two and a half years after our wedding day, my husband and I finally took the honeymoon we had wanted to take immediately after the big day. We pulled out of Clare Michigan around 5:00pm on May 13 after spending nearly 53 hours on the road; we arrived at our motel late, in the dark, exhausted, but excited. The next morning we woke early, (ok I woke up early and then woke my husband up) got into our car and made a short trip (ok, actually we got lost and it made our trip at least three times as long as it should have been) and entered the property of Walt Disney World!!
For my husband, this was his first ever trip to “The World” and I have to say, it took quite a bit of convincing that he would enjoy himself, it’s really not just about children. For me, this was my fourth trip; albeit the last one had been 10 years previous and the two times before that were just bits and pieces of memories I think I remember, glued together with old pictures I pulled out of a box from my mom’s house; and I was elated to be back!
Hop, skip, and jump past some non-important details, I have to say that I had a hard time not bawling my eyes out once we entered the Magic Kingdom and began our walk down Main Street U.S.A.; also, the mid-day parade that decided to begin going by did NOT help matters out one bit either. We were finally here. Hundreds of miles away from on a vacation that had been years in the making, away from all the stress we had been going through for so long, away from our jobs and from school, we were in the Happiest Place on Earth, and I was happier than I remember being in a long time!
We were in “The World” for 7 days, with plans to spend 6 of them galavanting around all four theme parks, two water parks, and just generally all over Walt Disney World property; this didn’t exactly work out as planned. I managed to come down with a wicked cold halfway through our amazing vacation and spent an entire day in bed; then couldn’t recover enough energy to really accomplish or enjoy nearly as much as I wanted and planned on. The few precious days that we did spend running around with childish abandon was enough, at least, to convince my husband that I wasn’t actually stark raving mad, and that Walt Disney World can be a great place for adults. Therefore, on our long road trip home, the decision was made that we would make another trip back to our childhood as soon as feasibly, and financially, possible.
As soon as we got home, I started the preliminary process of planning. After several months of tossing choices back and forth and talking with our travel agent, we booked our second Walt Disney World vacation in as many years. I’m happy to report that I will be back in my happy place immediately following the end of our semester, one hundred days away from today! Come on winter semester, let’s get this over with! I have a date with Mickey Mouse and I cannot wait!
A Curse and A Blessing
25 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
For those of you who have been following my blogs since it’s inception, and those of you who have read back through some of my older blog posts or have wandered about my blog in general, you might know a bit about my husband and myself. We have been, unsuccessfully, try to start a family of our own for years now. This has been a heartbreaking journey for us, and one they we still walk upon today. It is a part of our story and something we live with every day of our lives. Something so simple and easy as having a family of our own is something we’ve been jumping through hopes for a long time just to have a real chance at trying to have. It’s awful. Plain and simple. I can go on and on about how unfair and painful and just plain wrong it is to ever have to face a challenge like this, and have frequently bemoaned just such thoughts in older blog posts, however if there is one thing I’ve learned from this situation, is that it is also a blessing.
A blessing?!?!?! Are you kidding me? How could this possibly be a blessing? Well I suppose as cliché as it sounds; every cloud has a silver lining.
For us, this means that my husband and I get to spend more time together as a couple. We’ve been together for nearly 6 years now, just the two of us; with no children to draw our attention away from each other and from our relationship. There are not a whole lot of married couples who can say that. We are able to have more time to work on our relationship together; we have more time to get out and do stuff together. If we want to go watch a movie, we don’t have to plan it in advance and find a baby-sitter, or plan our schedules around sports practices or after school activities. If we have an argument, we can yell at the top or our lungs at each other for as long as we want to and not have to table the issue because we have children at home. We work things out at our own pace using whatever actions we feel necessary whenever we want to. It’s total freedom. We’re not tied down to anything but each other. It is truly is amazing. We do have a dog that we need to make arrangements for before we take off for more than a day, but other than that, we answer to nobody but each other.
This is a gift. The ability to truly spend time building and re-working our marriage to make things work is awesome. Even though we want to have children of our own, and wish we had them already; while we wait we have each other. I’m trying to use this time that we have to our advantage. Enjoying each other and time we get to spend together, knowing that we should use this wisely. A good foundation can hold up a building for hundreds of years. If we want to make sure our marriage will be a long and happy one, we should take the time now to cement our relationship and make less work for us later one.
Infertility is a curse and a blessing; we’re trying to use it to our advantage. Good things come to those who wait, right? We’ll try the hard work and patience approach.
A car! A car! My Kingdom for a car!
16 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
In my last post, I had mentioned my lack of vehicle for the last year. In January of 2011 I sold my very first vehicle which I have had since high school. I had a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee which had some major transmission issues, needed new tires, the lift gate wouldn’t open anymore, and a myriad of other small issues. I was ready for a new vehicle. Well a ‘new’ used vehicle anyway. I live close enough to work that I can easily walk, and so I did. I put that money away with the intention of purchasing a new car within a few months. For those of you who have been reading, you know that instead of purchasing a new car last spring, my husband and I went on our honeymoon 2 1/2 years late to Walt Disney World. It was completely worth it! Walking a couple blocks for a few months for a trip to Disney World? Yeah, I’d do it again. However a vehicle was still needed.
This last October we finally had set aside what we thought would be an appropriate amount to purchase a decent vehicle. So I spent a few weeks searching for a vehicle. I went back and forth on what I actually wanted, contacting several dealerships and generally having bad experiences, if I was even to find something I was interested in the first place. So on a whim, I checked craigslist since I’ve sold tons of stuff successfully on there, and did actually hit on something that sounded just about perfect for me!
So my husband and I made a trip up to Traverse City to a private residence to take a look at their 2003 Ford Explorer they were selling. It was in great condition and at a great price, so we came home with my ‘new’ SUV.
For about two weeks, I was ecstatic. I finally had my own vehicle again! No more walking to work, no more arranging rides for doctor’s appointments or shopping trips, I could take off whenever I wanted to. I had no idea how much I actually missed this! Then Friday night band practice for my husband’s band rolled around and wanted to drive my truck out there to show everybody. We got about three-quarters of the way there when my truck made a weird noise, the cruise control kicked off and my o/d off light came flickers. The truck didn’t like shifting anymore and was generally acting weird.
We got through band practice that night and made it home and then next day frantically called my best friend who is a mechanic. We spent a month and a half and about $900 just to figure out that I need a news transmission! Boy, I got rid of my last vehicle due to transmission issues, and now here I sit with a new vehicle that has transmission issues!
So as soon as I get the money, I will be replacing a transmission. I guess I was just destined to pay for a new transmission one way or another!
Work, School, and a Social Life?
11 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Life in the past year has been busy to say the least. I am currently just starting my third semester back to school. Thanks to my work schedule and the fact that I didn’t have a vehicle for the last couple of semesters, I’ve been taking all online classes. When I was originally in college, I couldn’t honestly tell you that I would have done well with online classes. It took all that I had to actually get up and physically GO to classes in the first place, let alone put aside time when I wasn’t actually in class just to do homework. Not that I did horrible in school the first time around, but I, and I think a lot of college students, was much more interested in the social aspect in school than the learning.
Now, I’m thriving. I can log on whenever I have a chance and work on things an hour here and few minutes there and still go to work, get housework done, etc. I can work my class load around my social life. HA! These days my social life revolves mostly around tagging along with my husband to his band practice and hang out either with the guys in the garage or heading into the drummers house to spend the evening talking with his wife. Every now and then we find a good time to spend a few hours with our friends who have kids because it’s too hard for them to find time or a sitter. Which, really, between work and school, and my husband’s band, there aren’t a whole lot of hours left over for socializing. We tend to spend that time sleeping and trying to keep up with the house!
I’m not complaining though, busy is good, and my husband and I try to spend as much time together as possible. Which is a big part of the reason I schlep myself out to band practice with him nearly every time.
Work on the other hand, well yeah. This last six months or so have been extremely stressful and disappointing for me. There has been a lot of personal conflicts bleeding over into the work environment and it has completely changed relationships and work ethics. I have been up for a number if different positions that would move me into a better position and environment, but I have lost each of those opportunities. It has put a great strain on me, more so than I was already dealing with. I’m ready to find even ground in the work department as quickly as possible!
So that’s a very general overview over life in the last year. Now we can start getting down to some of the nitty-gritty of it all.
