Frustrated

I am a little frustrated that my plans to go to Disneyland have been foiled. It's not the end of the world, of course. But I was looking forward to seeing the lovely Kate and even possibly my new friend Giddy. The positive is that the reason I am not going is because I am going to practice being a learning coach. On a real live person.

I'm excited yet nervous. I was supposed to start training some one a week ago, but the dude called the day before he was supposed to start and told my boss he wasn't taking the job. So I figure that was my reprieve. Now, it's time for me to start using my "bossy skills." We'll see how it goes...

My mom is coming in a few days, with her boyfriend. He's going to hook up our new (used) hot tub! Holy cow... my poor aching feet and legs can't wait! I'm excited to see my mom but at the same time it means she's not coming for Thanksgiving which makes me kinda sad. However, my brother is coming and so is my father- and sister-in-law, with her boyfriend. So the house should be pleasantly full any way.

I am looking forward to the holidays, especially now that I work retail! It was always really sad and pathetic trying to decorate where I used to work because it was way too large. So there'd be like a tree and a ribbon. And the same 3 Christmas songs on the radio. LAME!

Anyways! Thank God that's over.

What's your Turkey Day looking like this year?

Something to Say

Monday's party went great! Lots of ladies showed up and a good time was had by all. At least that's what they say... I had a good time, at least. Those ladies love each other so much and seem to have decided that I am one of them, FINALLY!

Jennie was up and she was a blast. I felt like I barely had any time to hang out with her before it was time for her to get on the road. We had the party on Monday and went shopping on Tuesday in downtown SLO then later did the hot springs in Paso. We watched a movie (Dawn of the Dead 2004) on Wednesday night. Then it was time for her to go. Oh well, she'll be back. Soon!




My cousin is due to arrive in a few days with her precious baby daughter, who was Tinker Bell for Halloween. LOOK:

That's pretty darn cute. I would totally rock those tights if they came in my size!

Monday I start training a new barista and I'm excited but nervous. I was hoping to get some time off on Monday or Tuesday but I pretty much can't since I'm going to be working with some one. So my cousin will have to fend for herself for the mornings she is here. I'll make up for it in the afternoon, Kim. I promise.

Not that I want to get in any way political in this forum (or any other! Like you give a shit what I think about politics) but I will say I'm excited for the change of president to come already! I can't imagine becoming president-elect and then having to wait 3 or 4 months to start. It's like getting told you're going to get the best Christmas present ever while being eaten by a monster... but first you have to wait. How glorious and terrifying.

Have I told you I LOVE the library system up here? I figured out that I have saved a bazillion dollars on new books, using the Black Gold Library System's free transfer of books between libraries. The whole SLO and SB counties are in on it, and I can rent a book from any library in those 2 counties and they will deliver it to my library down the street. A BAZILLION DOLLARS! I swear.

So that's my something to say. I felt like I had a lot going on and wanted you to know about it. Now you do and I can finally walk away from my computer without that uneasy blogless feeling.

Pumpkins and SuperSam

I carved a pumpkin and her name was Tinker Bell. Don't act like you're surprised.My husband also carved a pumpkin:

Sam came by with his 11 month old dressed as Superman. The child's name is Sam Jr. So I called him SuperSam. He didn't care much what I called him as he's not into the whole talking thing yet. We watched What Lies Beneath for spooky fun. All in all a good night. We had exactly one trick or treater. That's what happens when you live on a street with out sidewalks.

Did you carve a pumpkin?

Happy Halloween

It's rainy and gloomy and perfect! Above are my "costume socks" that I wore to work and below, my Halloween face I am wearing right now, thinking about how much I love my socks. I also put on a lot of mascara and black eyeliner to celebrate the season. Not that you can tell in this picture though. The camera adds 10 pounds on your body and erases 80% of your make-up. Hardly fair.

Hopefully I will have jack o lantern pictures for you later. Yes I am lame and haven't carved my pumpkins yet. I know it's Halloween already. Boo!

Chili and Things

I made chili yesterday in my slow cooker. I cooked it for 6 hours or so, even though it was mostly canned ingredients. Canned beans, canned corn, jar of salsa. But I did roast jalapenos and red, orange and yellow bell peppers for it. Then my husband barbecued a pork tenderloin and a couple tri-tip steaks for the pot. It tastes really good. There are 4 jalapenos in there too, so it's very spicy. Spicy and GOOD!

*Sigh* I love food. I would take a picture of it for you but I'm afraid it just wouldn't look very appetizing. So just use your mind's eye and imagine a colorful veggie, bean and meat packed stew of yum. Okay, I know it's 5:45am but now I must have some.

Today I'm meeting with my sponsor, Linda. She's the coolest lady. I'm very happy to have fallen in with her. A gal she sponsors is one of my favorite people up here.

I bought a treadmill. It's gigantor. Huge. When we set it up, its gravitational pull attracted a small moon. I kind of over-bought because it was such a great deal. Beware the great deal, people. Although now that I'm more used to it, I do have to say I love it. Even though it has a helm like the Enterprise!

I'm so ready for Halloween. Scary movie, check. Pumpkins to carve, check. Five and a half foot tall motion sensor scarecrow to terrify small children, check! I don't do costumes per se but I do do knee-high black and orange striped socks. I love them!

If I don't talk to you before then, have a very scary Halloween.

Another Hiking Trip

Montana de Oro: Hello gorgeous! Gabe and I went to this new place to hike on Wednesday. It is a little different than the other hikes in that it's very beachy interactive. Obviously there was a starfish:



Things have been looking up for me. I am finding my place among the gals of this town and settling in more and more. They are very sweet women and a few of them are just absolute dolls.
Unlike the economy, I am sensing an upward trend. One of them asked me when I was throwing my next party. I told her we will have a get together when Jennie is here...

We are going to Burbank for my sister-in-law's birthday pretty soon here and I'm hoping to squeeze in some time with my gals, but it's such short notice! Really other than a trip to LA, there's nothing going on until Jennie gets here. She's due to arrive next Monday and we always enjoy her visits! Then my cousin is coming a few days later to hang with her child in a quieter place. I am so looking forward to seeing my little niece, and my cousin too.

We still haven't figured out the holidays so I won't even go into that.

I leave you with the most dramatic of pictures:

All Better!

It hasn't exactly been happy times in my head lately, although everything is exactly the same on the outside. I've been trapped in self-pity and it's so ugly that I couldn't stand to spew my junk on all of you... hence the lack of blogging.

I have been dealing with the reality that what people say isn't always what they do. This is not excluding myself, of course. But I understand when I do it! When you do it, I feel disappointed and hurt. And even more dangerously, I start taking it personally. It took a lot of pep talks from my husband to help me get over myself.

Now that that is over, I feel free and ready to blog again! I bet you're relieved...

In happy news, I got an iPhone!! Yay. I've been coveting Gabe's since he got it a year ago and I was finally able to change phones. So I went for it. Now I have a new toy that takes up a considerable amount of my attention. It's so interactive, and even technotarded me can understand it.

I got an AA sponsor up here finally and I think that's going to help me out with the self-pity and just in general. It's nice to feel connected and to have some one to work with. A gal that I went hiking with once keeps coming into Starbucks for a drink and telling me we should connect. YAY! I'm going to call her in the next couple of days and just try to get coffee with her or something.

Yesterday I took a class to become a Starbucks learning coach, so that I can train new baristas. As we were sitting there in the class I realized I was signing up for something that was going to make me "responsible" which is practically a dirty word. But I realize it's something I do very naturally anyway and so I might as well have some official authority behind my "instruction."

Other than that, nothing really exciting has been going on. The holidays are coming which I usually love. I wonder how it's going to be this year, up here away from the party circuit? I'm interested to see what happens, if there are parties and festivities up here or if I'm going to have to make a party myself. Not that I'd mind that terribly.

I can't believe I've been up here for 10 months. Trip.