Ahh...family

I've been meaning to post about my good ole fam but, frankly, hadn't gotten around to collecting pictures from Facebook and such.. Welp, my job just got a lot easier because on Monday we had an impromptu sushi dinner! So I used my brother's phone camera (he's got an iPhone 4 which is waaaaay better than my lame iPhone 3) to take pictures of my various loved ones! So here they are, along with descriptions!

Here is my mom and me. She's basically the best mom anybody could ask for. She's back in school to become a high school biology teacher, specifically in "urban education".

 

....and my dad, he wasn't at dinner. But he's pretty awesome!

 Here are my two baby sisters..... well not really baby anymore. On the left is Lizzie, 15, and on the right, Caroline, 17. Caroline is leaving today to go to France for three weeks....JEALOUS

 

And here is Caroline with her boyfriend, James. I approve.

This is my big brother, Tyler, and his lovely wife Katie. Yes, there are two Katy(ie)'s in my family now...It gets entertaining!

...and their dog, Layla...my niece.

and finally, my "adopted" brother, Adam! He's not really adopted, we love him so much that he's part of the family! 

 

That is all for now! Hope you enjoyed it!

A stick a day while you're away...

Dear Dad,
I sure do miss you. You went away one time and haven't come back yet. Mom tried to explain where you went, but I couldn't understand her. All I could do was listen and turn my head.  When will you come back? I miss you. Mom plays with me a lot, but its not the same rough play you do with me. She tries to wrestle with me, but she just doesn't have the manly wrestle that I'm used to. We go for lots of walks, and we go play fetch, but she doesn't let me loose very often. She's afraid I'll get into poison ivy and get it on her....but you let me loose, you don't care. I spend a lot of my energy guarding Mom, since I know she's uneasy about you not being here. I listen for any strange noises, inside or outside. I lay at the bathroom door while she's taking shower, so she feels safe.  I even sleep in the bed with her, and pant a lot so the whole bed shakes and she gets rocked to sleep.

For you, I started collecting sticks when Mom and I go out. Here, I got her to take a picture...

They're all for you, Dad. We can play with them when you come home. Until then, I guess I'll keep wagging my tail and protecting Mom. I hope you come home soon.

Love,
Klaus

Miracles DO happen

Hallelujah! I finally got my sedan-style version of the Fur Bus car washed today! Completely scrubbed and vacuumed out....and let me tell you, he definitely needed it. (Btw, I refer to my car as "he" because his name is Theodore) Those poor guys at the car wash, I made sure to give them a BIG tip...they did an awesome job getting all that long fuzzy Klaus hair out. I ordered Klaus one of these 

in an effort to control the fur distribution in my car. Hopefully it'll help, it's got good reviews. 

Speaking of Klaus, B needed something to smile about yesterday, so I sent him this:

 What a giant fuzzy goofball! How could that not make you smile?? He made friends with a 6 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback named Samson yesterday. Finally! A dog to play with that is not scared of him! They were so cute, and since they're both puppies, they just wallowed in their puppy ways.

Anyways, that's all that's really going on around here. Doing the work/school/gym/sleep thing for the rest of the week. I'm going to try to watch the Blind Side tonight - gotta catch up on my chick flicks while I can!

Catch ya later, alligator!

Count your blessings

When B left a few days ago, I was really sad. But I quickly reminded myself that he's only going to Kentucky, not the Middle East, he's only gone for a month, not a year, and I know that he'll be safe, at least as safe as he would be here. I can't imagine having to say goodbye for a whole year (though I suspect one day I'll learn how to). Or forever.

When I got in to work today, we were notified that one of the men in the office lost his wife this weekend. A tree fell on her car during some pretty intense storms on Saturday. She was only 55. Alex is a nice man, he doesn't deserve this, and neither do their kids. I heard about a woman getting killed this weekend, and it hit close to home because the road that she was driving on was the road that I used to live on. But when I found out that I had a connection to her, it hits you that much harder. 

So remember to tell your loved ones that you love them. And count your blessings every day.

Hmmm....

Not only has Klaus developed a keen sense of time that allows him to be my own personal doggie-alarm, this morning he developed the ability to turn on my light literally 2 minutes before my non-doggie-alarm was set to go off. Granted, its one of those crazy touch lamps with three levels of brightness (I actually dislike it, but its attached to the wall and we rent, so what can ya do). But he's a DOG...i.e. no hands, no skin to touch the lamp. Perhaps I should perform my own little experiment and see if fur covered appendages are good enough for the lamp.

It's been busy at the home front this week. 2 days till B leaves =( SUPER sad face. I'm taking organic chem lab this summer and we have a report due at least once a week, sometimes twice....which equals lots of work. I'm also studying for the Georgia teacher's certification exam for chemistry, which is on Saturday morning....the morning after my first night alone. SUCK FEST.


I don't really have any fun pictures except for this one (not really fun)

Yup. That's my odometer. And yup, I hit 77777 miles on the way home from work yesterday. Not gonna lie, I was counting my lucky 7's while taking the picture....Kids, don't try this at home.

That's all for now - hopefully I'll be doing fun things to keep me busy for the first few days that B is gone.....gonna be hard to get used to. And hopefully fun things = more pictures.

Until then -

Thursday is ladies' day...

...at the gun range! B and I took his new purchase

to the gun range yesterday to practice our skills in preparation for the zombie apocalypse self defense. Since it was ladies' day, I shot for free! In case anyone is wondering, it's a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm. It's pretty awesome. Shamblers beware, you have ME to deal with now!

In other news, one week from today, B will be on his way to a month-long training course. To some, this may not seem like a long time, but its been quite a while since I've had to function on my own without him. It will be a sad day =(.  He informed me that he's excited to go, so I'm a little more at ease now and hoping that he'll have a great time and learn a lot! I just started back to school for the summer, so I expect that I'll have plenty to do to keep my mind busy. 

Don't forget - Father's Day is next weekend! Any ideas what to give a dad that has everything? I guess I'll probably go with  a bottle of wine... 

I guess for now, that's all folks!

Step 1

Admit that you have a problem.




I have an addiction. To what you might ask?

This

Yup. I'm addicted to buying Yankee Candles. My addiction starts to intensify during the fall, exponentially increases through Christmas, and subsides after the new year. I have a hard time even visiting the website because if I do, it takes A LOT of self control not to buy a candle. They're having a good sale right now that includes a lot of my favorite flavors (buy one get one half off for all red, white, and blue candles). I think I'll go stock up on some for the fall....might as well get 'em while the gettin's good, right?

Wanna grab a cold one?

I guess this could be considered a "vent", but it's also meant as an opinion-seeking post. First, a little background.  I went to Georgia Tech for my undergrad, and so did my co-worker (we actually were there at the same time, in the same classes). We're about the same age.  Our boss also attended Georgia Tech for all three of his degrees. Because all three of us went to Tech, our boss seems to think that we all have a special "bond". Oh yeah, he's about 60 yrs old. Not saying that is that old, but with my co-worker and I being in our 20's, that's like a fatherly age.

Anyways, there is a pizza place/bar near Tech where a lot of Techie's used to hang out (it's still popular but has become a lot more ghetto in recent years). Because of our "bond", my boss wants to hang out and "get a cold one" (say it with a nice southern accent).  You may think "Oh, your boss wants to hang out! What a cool guy!" or you may be creeped out. I'm more annoyed than creeped out. The three of us have done this twice before (over a period of 1.5 years), and both times were completely awkward and all my co-worker and I wanted to do was get the hell outa there and go on with our respective Friday nights. Oh yeah - my boss always wants to go on a Friday night. Now for the vent part:

1. I'm 24, I have SO many better things to be doing than hanging out with my boss on a Friday night, even if it does mean just sitting at home with B.
2. He's like 60, and has a daughter, why doesn't he have better things to do on a Friday night??
3. He lives about an hour away from the bar, but still wants to go on one of his "flex days" (where he doesn't have to work, always on a Friday) even though work is closer than his house.
4. He's chronically late. My co-worker and I tried to be sly last time and say ok we'll meet at five, but we both have to leave at 6. Well guess who didn't show up until 6...yup, the boss man. Meaning our plan went bust because we couldn't just get up a leave.
5. Boss man mentions this to me AT LEAST 4 times a week...."Don't forget, we need to go grab a cold one!" or "Hey, you let me know when you can go get a cold one!" or "Hey, one of these Friday's, we're gonna go grab a cold one!"
6. And to top things off - there are 2 more employees in our "Meteorology Group", one of which also went to Georgia Tech, and he NEVER accosts invites them.
7. One last nit-picky fact, he NEVER says "beer".......

So, am I crazy? Am I being overly sensitive by getting annoyed and slightly creeped out by this? Just wondering....

Sorry for the vent. K thx bai!