Stress free weekend

overall this weekend was pretty good! I had a three day weekend but it really turned into a normal weekend because my work called friday morning with an emergency that involved my project... Environmental Liability. But today is Monday and all the submissions are complete I am just sitting in the waiting period expecting phone calls with problems. Basically, the problem wasnt even my own, my I was the only one that knew how to rectify SOME ONE ELSE"S ERROR! I have a new found DISrespect for my coworkers on days like that. Nonetheless, I made an OK weekend of it.

Friday night started with some pizza (YUM) and drinks with a fellow rower (and fantastic friend), her boyfriend, and my boyfriend. Then we all headed to Gameworks were we drank and paid video games for literally 3 HOURS!! They have these play cards for 25 bucks that will buy you 450 points-- which is ALOT!! Most games are like 3-10 points. Some 15, and one or two that are 30. Wellwe bought 2-25 dollar cards, so for 12.50 each it's a great time!! We play ski ball, darts, bowling (on steroids with a HUGE big screen), then races on these huge Indy-500 race-car vidio games that literally move you in the cars, just tons of fun stuff. It felt like being a kid, we even won a bunch of tickets and we all walked out eating fun dip and putting pirate patches on... haha it was a good night.

The rest of the weekend was spend laying out at Matt's parents pool.... a whole lot of nothing. We went to church, did a little shopping, went to look at rental properties with matt's brothers (which was NOT fun--- but ill save that for another post), and did racklett at Matt's brother and sister-in-law's house. Racklett= a modern day fondue... but with a grill type top and broiling cheese. pretty interesting.... again, ill save for another post.

Since i dont have much to say right now, ill end with the funny end to the weekend:

The scene: sitting at the table eating rackleett last night.
I had brought Odie over because i had planned on being gone all day and Matt's brother was kind enough to let odie come over to his house to hang out. I felt a little uncomfortable letting home roam in thier house (even though he said it was OK) so i put him outside until it looked like it was going to storm. Matt said put him in their garage and crack it a little bit to let air in. Well, all during dinner i could hear him the garage and I was trying as hard as i could to let my Odie Distraction go unnoticed (even though I got up a few times to check on him). ALl of a sudden iw as looking out the window and out of hte corner of my eye i see a dog...a nd i think, wow there is a stray dog out there ....
"Oh my god, ODIE GOT OUT!!"
He apparently crept back ways out of the garage and wondered to the back of the house and was wondering on thier back deck!! I freaked out and got up frantically to catch him so he wouldn't run away. It was so embarrassing.... all i want to do is be normal with a behaving dog!!!

So much for a relaxing evening.

cant wait for next weekend for diamond club seats with my boyfriend and two of my best friends!!!

Happiness

Again, there is never enough time to write. But I wanted to write this before the feeling left and the voice is still fresh in my head.

I have a coworker that usually walks the halls and says hello to everyone and sees how they are doing. Very kind gentleman, and always says nice things to me when he sees me. Well, he just came into my office to say HI and I told him today was my birthday. He said how happy he was and how thankful I am to bring some light into this office. So many nice things that just brought a HUGE smile to my face.

He also started telling me about how happy he hopes I am. because

Happiness is a state of mind.

When he was younger he used happiness as a relational thing, that often when others do things it effects my mood and I cant control their behavior. The reality-- I control my happiness. By finding those things in life that truly make me happy should never be overlooked... as simple as enjoying a chocolate chip cookie.

Being a happy person and exuding true happiness outward can only come back to you positively. People will become over whelmed in the happiness you feel and make you feel it even more.

He spoke about a few other things that really hit me... especially after the tough week i have been having. God is watching, and I am so glad he came into my office today because it really made me.
happy.

Friends

I literally have no time to post. But I figure writing everything I have been feeling down will help, even though i worry writing first thing in the morning is not an accurate representation of my actual feels. I usually takes me a good hour AT LEAST for all parts of my brain to be in full functioning order, and to for all the emotions i have floating in my heard to settle into some sort of cohesive semblance. Right now, my head is ALL over the place, I am not even a close to being through my cup of coffee.... but hey, its before 8!

This week had been quite the roller coaster of emotions. Even though sometimes when i am really sad or upset about something I rarely look past whatever it is to see all the positive things in my life. So this time some of those positive things include (of course, in no particular order) my family, my job, the warm weather, receiving nice emails, my boyfriend, and my friends. And yes, my friends also a point of disappointment yesterday that seems to be on my mind quite a lot.

It leaves me asking the question how do you know you have friends for life? There is one thing about life that is certain beside death is change. People change, situations change, everything is bound to change. My life has certainly changes quite a bit in the last couple years... i moved to Cincinnati, I got a dog, I have a boyfriend, i made new friends, I am involved in different extra-curriculars, things are different. Yes, my friends have changed too... but why does it have to be so hard?

Last night I heard some very harsh things from one of my good friends. Without going into details, the bottom line was I was totally forgotten about when she went ahead and made plans (with some of my friends) without me... and on my birthday. It hurt Big time, and i told her, and the response that hurt the most was that she didn't care about fixing a relationship that has been on a rock for "quite frankly" about a year now. I almost broke down and cried right there! What do you mean it has been on the rocks for over a year now? I didnt know it was on the rocks! Everyone is is busy now and i have NEVER forgotten about her, EVER!!!

SO how come i feel like I am being punished? How come i feel like I care more about my friends than they care about me? It is such a terrible feeling to have. And dont true friends stay with you no matter what? My best friend from childhood speaks to me maybe once every 3 months (and ya, it TOTALLY sucks), but i know she still loves me and when i see her next we will pick it up right where we left off. I am just really down about it the whole thing that went down, and I keep replaying it over and over again in my head. One of the worst parts was the fact that I just broke down and cried and was so shaken by the whole conversation and it seemed like she had other things to do. She actually even said, 'hope you dont mind if i eat my dinner.'

When did it get so hard? When did the the table turn? Right now I have a lot of different friends, and some of them i know will do anything for me. So, ss is a maturity thing? Is is a time thing? Or is is really a relational thing?

I really hope I am just not seeing the forest through the weeds right now on this. I hope there is a bigger picture that I am failing to see. I worry that as the more time that passes, the bigger that gap will grow as some move to new cities, get married, and in the next 10 years most of them will have kids. Then what? Will I still be told I am a terrible friend when all i have time for is soccer practice and PTA?


I just hope I can get out of this with some perspective because as of right now I couldn't be mor ein the dumps

Love is patient, love is kind..... or at least is should be?

Back to Monday

Well I am back to Monday after a really busy, but pleasant weekend. Aside from the rain we had much of the weekend yesterday shaped up to be quite beautiful. I had a fairly long To-Do list and I think i managed to check most of the items off:
Laundry- Check
BMV-Check
Yard work-Check
Oil Change- Check
Hair cut- check

I dont even know what else I did, but i feel fairly accomplished this morning. Did some some fund things too this weekend, went to the reds game, hung out with some new people (Hilary's friends from work who are all international). That was just fun because of great conversation and LOTS of belly laughing. its good to do something new and different every once and a while. Went to matt;s family cookout, went to matt's friend's cookout, went to Columbus with Matt's parents and my parents to bet on the ponies, laid out in the sun, and ate LOTS of fatty foods this weekend! It felt great!

Right now on this Monday I am just in a daze... too lazy from the weekend to feel motivated but have tons of work on the horizon that need to be complete by the end of the week. Its lke im stuck in rut at the top of a huge hill that I need to be kicked out of to get the wheels turning. And once they start turning im going to be flying down the hill to the weekend. I already have a lot planned for the week. of which include helping matt, rowing, partying for my big 2-5 birthday and going to my old college roommates wedding this weekend. Talk about a rockin weekend..... but right now this week im in survival mode until i can return to some more semblance of self.

So until something interesting comes to mind.....

The 4th of july weekend

Today is my last day of work before my 4-day weekend begins! O the joy... I cannot wait!!! I am looking forward to mostly catching up o sleep, doing laundry, and RELAXING!! Is that a sign that I am getting old when all the things I am looking forward to most are incredibly boring?

Nonetheless I have very few actual plans this weekend, however there is much to be done. My birthday is next friday and i know next week is going to be incredible hectic at work preparing our 3rd Q financial statements so that means this week i need to: get my oil changed, go to the BMV for new tags for my car, get a new driver licence, shop for a card for a wedding next weekend, buy my mom a birthday gift, do my laundy, clean my apartment,and hopefully work out ONCE. phew, thinking about that is exhausting.

Matt wants me to help him pull up the dead grass in his front yard, plant ivy, and completely scrub and clean out his basement, and lay carpet downt here. How do I have time for all this? Between juggling my personal priorities, matt's to-do list, and finding time for ME has been a struggle lately. I have to admit I am not feeling too stressed about it, when i write it all down it seems like a lot but I know in the end everything gets done. It helps that this is a long weekend, my birthday is next weekend, and I am seeing my family in a few days!

Speaking of my family, Matt's parents are finally meeting my family on saturday!! It was totally unplanned and accidental that this occasion is actually happening on Saturday. My family and I had made plans to meet up at Scioto Downs in Columbus to see the horse races and have dinner. When i was ate Matt's house last weekend i mentioned i was doing that and in the heat of the moment ACCIDENTALLY said "ya , i am so excited, you should come too"

and.

They are.

I suppose this is bound to happen sooner or later.... it will make for an interesting night (hopefully it will go well)

So just a few more hours of work to get through today..... before this post gets too long ill close with some cincinnati humor-- from a clevelander:
the background-Cincinnati people love to end sentences with unnecessary words. For example; I would say: "Where are you". In cincinnati people say:"where are you at." and so on. SO...
Matt and I are walking out of the post office last night and he notices a sign and covers up part of is and says, "Donna, is this a Cincinnati thing?"
the sign read (with matt's hand over it"
'NO PARKING
All VEHICLES WILL BE
TOWED"
Matt removed his hand uncovering the word AWAY.

It's definitely a cincinnati thing to end sentences with prepositions. 'ALL VEHICLES WILL BE TOWED AWAY." Even thier public/officials signs have adopted this poor grammar. So sad... but i had to chuckle.




towed away

Bad idea = bad Ikea

I am never going to shop at Ikea EVEr again. After this experience, I am pretty sure shopping for cheap/ugly furniture cant get any worse. Well, it all started when Matt and I decided to spend our friday night perusing the gigantic show-room at the new store in West Chester. It's pretty big so it takes a while to look at all the things they have on display-- and on the surface it seemed like a good way to spend a Friday and possibly find something for Matt's house.

Well the first thing he spotted (and later we found out the only thing) was exactly what he wanted to buy! A cheap futon that he can use for RIGHT NOW until he starts acquiring more furniture and getting nicer stuff. He will eventually move that up to the office, and maybe even use it as a spare bed for guests. Since matt didnt have the truck, and assumed it wouldnt fit in the car, we went back up to ikea the following day since he needed to pack stuff up (a recliner, and other large items) and use his parents truck for the afternoon. We proceed to find it again in the massive store showroom, write down the aisle and bin number, and then search for it in the bottom floor warehouse by the checkout. Well, it was all labeled in sweedish- fluffenfargen, flaffargen, biddinge... come on people!!! SO we pick out the isle and find the mattress, mattress cover and frame. It all looked the same so we are just hoping we grabbed the correct stuff.

Well, we didn't.

We get back to his house (30+ miles away) assemble it (about an hour later) and realize it looks funny. So, we drive back to the store, find a helper person, and realize we have the wrong frame!!!! So pissed are we, we don't have the original frame with us, so we have to come back yet again!!

We buy the correct frame, bring it back to his house, assemble the new one, disassemble the wrong one, and realize now we have the wrong mattress!!!! After speaking with customer service, fiddling with this mattress, we attempt to bring it back and hopefully get some sort of discount for our trouble. When we get there, we are speaking with the customer service lady explaining that everything was marked wrong, this our third time here, we have the wrong mattress, we already bought the frame, we dont have the mattress with us, and the incorrect parts equals $270 instead of $249 like it should be on the sale in the entrance. So we are up there stating our case for some sort of deeeep discount and....

we forgot the first reciept. We are screwed/

and.

THEY DONT EVEN HAVE A CUSTOMER SERVICE DESK!!! We had to type our complaint in a little kiosk.!!!! Fuming is where were are.

and will never go back.