2012 New Year's Tag

I had done this New Year's Tag on YouTube that I had taken from Jess at theeasydiy, and I made a video response to hers, to kick-start my new YouTube channel. It ended up being about a 30 minute video. I didn't mean for it to be, because I know some people don't like lengthy videos, but that's just the way it went... so if you're interested, here it is. Here's what the description of my video said:

Happy New Year! This is a re-upload, since I am now able to upload files bigger than 15 minutes, so I put all three parts of my video into one big one. I'm answering 11 questions of 2011, and the three parts were:
1. 11 Highlights of 2011
2. 12 Resolutions for 2012
3. and 11 questions about 2011
I know I talk a lot, but that was basically 32 questions I answered in total... I'll try not to make future videos so long! lol Hope you enjoy.

(THIS VIDEO IS CURRENTLY MISSING)

Where have I been?

It's been a while! But I'd never forget about you  ;-) My first priority today is to catch you all up and let you know where I've been, what I've been doing, and what's been going on. Most recently? I've been sick. We all have. I got it first, gave it to my daughter, and then to my husband. Of course being the first one sick, I got the worst of it, and theirs was less severe down the line... We're all getting better now though, so yay!

During this busy time, we had also sold our female ferret that we had gotten, whom just couldn't replace the role of our previous beloved family pet Phantom, so hopefully she's with a family who can better appreciate her. She just couldn't take his place, and therefore I couldn't stand having her... She bit me and Tricity all the time, and Adam didn't want to play with her, so we sold her and her cage to another family. I didn't think that neglecting her was a better option, obviously. Also, we'll be moving soon (hopefully) and didn't want to worry about the "no pets" rule that most places have. A ferret is pretty much in between a dog and a cat, so it was better this way...

We also got two new pets. These are smaller, and they stay in cages, so it doesn't really matter for them when it comes to the pet rule. We got a little finch. Adam wanted to name it Valkyrie, but I told him the finch is male (hence the orange cheeks), so we named him Horus instead. We DID have a teddy bear hamster that we named Fuzzbutt, but he only lived for a week and then died :-( He was probably already pretty old when we got him... I was sad... He was so soft and cuddly! Tricity was sad too, of course... What made me mad, though, was that we paid $16 for him! Maybe next time we'll just stick to the CHEAP hamsters again... lol At least our little dwarf hamsters lived a long time... (Do we have bad luck with pets, or what?)  O_o

We also got our income tax, which of course meant spending. We got Tricity a new PC since her laptop went all screwy, and we got a new desk for Adam, and he's giving his desk to Tric, but we're not putting it together until we move, whenever that'll be... I got a new vaccum cleaner, a new floor cleaner, and tons of Monster High clothes and accessories for Tricity! We paid our truck off, and got it a tune-up, so it should be good for a while (I hope). I splurged and got some satin sheets, some nail stuff I've been wanting to get, a sprouter to make healthy greens, and other little things here and there... It's been fun shopping! lol

Oh! We also got a Nintendo 3DS that is supposed to be for the whole family, but apparently I have taken over... I know- bad me, when I should be writing here or making videos for YouTube instead! But I can't help it... I'm so addicted to it's 3D magic, and playing Zelda's Ocerina of Time! It's so much fun and so magical, like peeking into a whole new world through this tiny little box... lol Tricity got a Monster High game to play on it, and Adam and Tric both have about 4 Scooby-Doo games to play. Let's just hope I get though my game soon, so they can finally have their turn with it? :-D Yes, I put that in the form of a question, because let's see if I ever get done... lol

I've also been busy going to school with my daughter every week. One day a week (when I'm not sick like this week, that is), I go to school and I'm a volunteer. It's been so much fun. I know all the kids in her class, and they call me Mrs. Craft, and I get to color things for the teacher to use in her lessons, and it's just been such a blast. I wish I had started going sooner, but I don't know... I guess I didn't have the nerve before? Now it would be weird if I didn't show up on my days :-D I LOVE it! It's totally what I was meant to do!

Other than all of this, I've been trying to pack and clean, and get things ready to move. We haven't found a house yet, but we're looking for a house with a basement, and preferably a place that will let me grow a small garden, maybe a flower bed, let us have a pool out back... Some place that wouldn't be too strict, but not too expensive, either. And not some place that is for sale, looking to bring customers by your house when your lease is up. One place would have been perfect, if it wasn't for that... We had to turn it down. I don't want strangers coming in and gawking at my things! Hopefully we'll find a place soon, though, so maybe I can start planting things for the garden? I just want to get out of this trailer! It was good for our first home, but it's time to take a step up on the ladder.

Well that pretty much sums it up. I've also been trying to get a YouTube career going, but we'll have to see how that turns out...

Same List, Different Year

I just thought this was too funny. How many of you guys have resolution lists like this year after year?

X-D

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!!!

Happy 2012 to anyone out there who might actually be following this blog! We love you! lol ♥

This is supposed to be the "big year", and I'm excited. Do I think there's going to be doom and gloom at the end of the year? Nope. I'm not worried about it, and personally, if something WAS supposed to happen this year, I'd like to think of it as something good, you know? Best to be positive about it than to be so negative... There's enough negative things in my life, and I don't need to fret myself with that... Especially when I enjoy every day as if it were my last anyway. Once you've come close to death, it's kind of hard to take any day for granted...

What is my resolution? This year, I'd like to ENJOY life and make the best of what I've got. I usually do that anyway, but it's more important now than ever. I'd make a typical resolution like losing weight, but though I DO want to lose weight, it's not my whole focus for the year. My focus is my friends, my family, and being HAPPY. Smoking and drinking? Never been a problem. Learning something new? When have I ever needed to make a yearly resolution for that? That's a life-long resolution! :-) Yes, I'd like to be even MORE Earth Friendly like last year's resolution, but family and love really do matter more. Saving money? Yeah, I'd like to, but sometimes things happen beyond our control. Thinking positive would help me through that, though, and as far as money and my daughter go - you don't need money to play at the park. You don't need money to cuddle up and share a story. You don't need money to build great memories that she'll always keep in her heart.

Anyway, with all that being said, I hope you and yours have a fantabulous new year, and that you get all you hope for. May this new year bring you many great moments, and even greater memories!

Helicopter Searching for UFO Parts?

Honestly, it really freaks me out when a helicopter is flying so low and circling the house. What the heck are they doing up there? Why do they have to fly so low to our home? It doesn't help calm any of my conspiracy theories that I'm already being watched. Now I feel like they're trying to use scare tactics to keep me from doing any more research on stuff, as if they're saying - If you keep reading into these secrets, we're going to have to do something about it to shut you up. I know it sounds crazy, but that's literally how I feel right now. I can literally hear the chopping of the blades because it's THAT low in the sky!

As I write this, now I can hear ANOTHER plate in the sky on the opposite side of the chopper! Of course with my paranoia, I'm thinking about that loud BOOM I heard yesterday, and wondering - what? Did a UFO crash and now they're looking for pieces or something? Jeeze...

Healthy Eating is for the Rich - Rant

A little rant today, because I read an article that made me roll my eyes because it was soooooo obvious... Healthy eating is for the rich? They just NOW figured this out, or what? It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

I don't know about the prices in other parts to the country, let alone other parts of the world, but fresh foods aren't so cheap around here. People who can afford $1.00 per orange CAN eat a pure whole fruit packed with all sorts of healthy goodness. People who have money CAN afford to buy all fresh foods, they can afford to make frequent trips to the supermarket (because let's face it, good food like that goes bad fast, and needs to be replaced weekly). Whereas poor people like me can only afford to buy processed foods that last longer, packed with all kinds of additives, preservatives, and cardboard - foods with all kinds of extra stuff that's not necessary, and usually not very healthy either. Okay, maybe not cardboard, that's a little extreme, but it sure seems that way, because all we're eating is junk. That's all we can AFFORD to eat!

What's that? A garden you say? Well if you're like me, some of us can't have a garden. We don't own homes. We rent. And with renting a home comes rules. At the moment, we live in a trailer park. That means I can't have a garden in what little yard I have. I DO have a container garden that I tend for a hobby, but it's not nearly enough to sustain my family. Families who are wealthy can usually afford to buy a home and plant a huge garden. Poor folk like me can only afford to pay the rent of a mobile home, and therefore don't have that privilege.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I've got to say about that. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to eat healthy but for now, I've got to make due with what I got, and those who CAN afford to eat healthy, I'm sure you already count yourselves lucky, so I don't believe I have to tell you to do so...

One Week to Go! (Hurry, please?)

Well I've been counting down the days, and now I have just one week to go of working a full-time job. Part of me feels guilty that I'll be home most of the time while my husband works so hard at his factory job, cutting and stacking wood, and making wine barrels... In this heat? It's nuts! I SHOULD feel guilty! But then another part of me thinks - well he got to sit on his butt for two years, so I DESERVE this! I deserve to be at home, taking care of my family, taking care of the house, finally getting things in order, and finally being able to keep up with stuff. It's been TWO YEARS! Two years since we moved out on our own, since we moved here, and we haven't ever really been able to unpack everything and get it all straightened out.

Our drawers are filled with everything from nail polish, to tools, to socks, to party supplies. The spare bathroom is packed with boxes that need to be repacked and sorted through. The clothes go straight from the dryer and into a box because we're both too busy to hang them up or fold them and put them away. It'll be a BIG stress reliever to organize things, put stuff in the right place, and sort the yardsale stuff from what we want to keep. I also plan on finally organizing Tricity's old baby clothes (the ones I just HAVE to keep) and vacuum seal them so they save on space, too. I can only imagine how much room that'll save! lol

It'll be really swell to finally focus on my crafts, too. I used to do what I could with my spare time at work, but ever since the new owners took over the place a couple of years back, they don't really leave me with free time. My time is spent folding mountains of laundry! Man, I can't wait for THAT to be over! lol Now the only laundry I'll have to fold is ours here at home, which is small stuff compared to all the hotel laundry. Maybe now I can FINALLY get my crafts built up enough to start my online store, or to even have a craft booth at one of the town fairs.


Anyway, I've been counting down. One week to go! It's been a long time coming. lol I CAN'T WAIT!

Full-Time Mommy

At the moment, I work a full-time job. I'm a hotel receptionist, working on the midnight shifts. When school starts next month, I will be cutting down to just two nights a week. I can't see how it's fair to get my daughter out at almost 11:00 at night to take me to work, and getting her up at 5:30 in the mornings to pick me up. And Adam's job is more important than mine right now! Am I nervous that we'll be able to make it? Of course! But am I excited to be (pretty much) a stay-at-home mommy? Of course!

The only bad side of this is that I love money! The GOOD side is that I'll be home to take care of my daughter, and get stuff done around the house. It's been two years since we moved into our home, and in those two years, I never really got to put the house how I wanted it. Now I'll have time to sort through all the boxes, separate yardsale items from storage items, give everything a good scrubbing, and maybe even finally work on some of my crafts! It would totally rock my socks to finally have a booth some time at a craft fair, like I always wanted to do! Maybe get a bundle of stuff made up, and sell them on my online store? That would be cool :-D

I'm most excited about spending more time with my daughter, though. Instead of spending my evenings sleeping for work, I'll be able to be up with her, helping her with her homework, taking her out to play, or giving her a bath for school the next day. I also want to do something really fun every night, like have a game night, or a pretend night, a makeup night, a spa night, a movie night, a date night, whatever I can think of to make sure we get as many great memories in as possible, because these years are just flying by too fast! And a couple of years from now when she starts making more and more friends, she's going to want to have them over instead of doing stuff with me, so I better make the most of my time with her while I can. ♥

First Letter From School

We got a letter in the mail the other day. It's Tricity's first letter from school! (Oh joy... lol) She will be starting kindergarten this year (sniffTEARSsniff!) so the letter was just her new teacher writing to us, introducing herself. She also made sure to include a school supply list and an information letter about the bus schedule, just to tell us that she doesn't really know ANYTHING about the bus schedule... but she included the number to call, so that I can find out the who/what/when/where/why/hows about Tricity riding the bus to and from school.

Personally, if I had MY way, she wouldn't even take the bus. Horrible memories come flooding back to me when I remember riding the bus as a kid.... Being punched in the stomach so hard I couldn't breathe, mean seniors acting like they owned the bus, kids with bad attitudes pulling out my hair, getting an accidental black eye, mean bus drivers, the deafening noise... But anyway, if I had my way, I'd just take her to school and pick her up myself. I guess that's what I get, though, for never getting my license, and we wouldn't have an extra vehicle for it, anyway... I'm just so nervous for her, because I want the best for her. Not what I had... I'm not saying my childhood was bad, but I just don't want her to have to deal with the same crap. It's my natural instinct to want the best for her, and want to protect her from this twisted, warped world we live in...

At least I get to be there on her first day of school. I'm going to bawl like a baby! I'm not ready for this! I want my best little buddy at home with ME! I want to home school her so bad, but I also want her to be able to have that social interaction, too, and I know that's the one thing I can't give her... I can teach her everything in the world, but I can't give her that. I want her to have FRIENDS! Not just the kids of OUR friends. I mean real friends. I'm willing to give the school a chance. However, if she's miserable, or if they mistreat her, you can bet your butt I'll be homeschooling her. If you can't already tell, I'm not really a fan of public schools. They already pissed me off enough at registration... Yeah, it has it's ups, but these days? There are mostly downs... My own niece got in big trouble at school for talking in the bathroom. Seriously? Talking in the bathroom? That's what counts as being punishable these days?

Anyway, we've been getting her new school clothes here and there, slowly building up our supply. We even got her a Monster High shirt! She was so excited. And a Monster High backpack! We're talking about one thrilled little girl! lol And of course the basics, like panties and socks... Now we just have to get school supplies. By the looks of this list, we are in for an expensive shopping trip...

To sum it up, I think I can honestly say - this year is going to change everything... Nothing will ever be the same after this. When she starts school, life is really going to get crazy. I want to be there for her every step of the way. Field trips, teacher meetings, sleepovers, sports, clubs and organizations, concerts and shows, school dances, everything... EVERYTHING.

RIP Phantom, July 10, 2011

I have some bad news for our family today...

His name was Phantom, and he had adrenal disease... He didn't lose all of his fur, but most of it from his neck to his stomach had fallen off, and his tail was getting bare... The bulge in his stomach was so huge, and you could tell he didn't feel well at all... He slept almost all the time, except when he got up to eat or go to the bathroom, and even then, he slumped around as if it hurt him to move up and down his cage. There was really nothing that could be done, and we expected him to pass away any day, but it was depressing that it had actually happened...

I walked past his cage and bumped it, and saw that he didn't wake up and give me "that look" that he usually gives when I've disturbed his sleep. Of course that made me stop in my tracks and tap on the cage. No movement. I shook it a little.... Still no movement. I opened it up and reached inside to give him a gentle pet, and he was cold... So cold :-( I was heartbroken. I even tried to think - maybe he's just in a dead sleep, as they call it, when a ferret has a hard time waking up, but then Adam pointed out that if he was, he wouldn't be cold. I was crushed...

Tricity has moments where she cries and says she misses him, and she'll bring up memories, saying "Remember when he was playing in the box and stealing stuff and hiding it?" And then she'll weep (because she doesn't really cry, she weeps) and then the next thing you know, she's running around, laughing, and playing... Her attention is everywhere... I think I'm taking it harder than she is.

Adam always acts so tough, but I could tell he was upset about it. He said "No more, that's it, I'm done!" And I said "What? You mean no more ferrets?" to which he said "I'm not going through this again." Of course that's just what he thinks... We're still going to get one, just not right away. This time, we'll get it from a pet store, and we'll get a young one. Phantom was already a few years old, so he was halfway, if not more than, done with his life anyway, and we had bought him from some woman who had to get rid of him. I think we'll get a female this time, too. I sure did love my little boy, but I want to see what it's like having a female next time.

I sure will miss him :-(

He always licked us, always loved us, and he was just the sweetest pet we EVER had. Better than ANY dog or cat! He was cute and cuddly, and he always made us giggle. We'll be LUCKY to ever find a pet as well tempered as him... May he finally be free of pain, and at rest...

♥ ♥ ♥ BEST FERRET EVER!!! ♥ ♥ ♥