Most Likely to go on an Adventure.

I have become a total lameface in terms of posting. My most sincere apologies! I honestly don't have terribly much to write about, though, so for this post I will tell you about my adventure last Friday.

At my job, claims processors have two monitors. It's just the way it is. But when you're a temp you generally don't get two monitors (although the other two temps on my team had two...) so I still have one. And it's an ancient dino of a computer and monitor that I affectionately named Norman. On Thursday last week, someone from the Network Services Group (NSG) appeared looking for me to give me my new monitor! I was so stoked! They showed up just as my work day was ending so I made sure it was okay and then left.

Fast forward to Friday morning. I arrive to find... one monitor. A new, pretty flat screen monitor, but still only one. My dino was gone. So I go tell my coordinator, who tells the boss, who tells my coordinator to have me call my boss at a certain number. I do, and then my boss tells me to hike down to NSG and find some guy named Jason who is bald and supposed to give my monitor back. He gives me directions and off I go.

NSG is located on the far west side of the building on the third floor. I'm on the fourth floor on the eastern side of the middle section of the building... if that makes sense. So I hike down there with knees that are protesting loudly with each step and eventually find myself in a really sketch part of the building. It was dark down there, with no drop ceiling so you could see all the pipes and beams like you would in a warehouse. The walls of the cubicles are all taller than me and I have no idea if I'm even in the right place because we don't exactly label our departments.

So I'm standing there looking lost and confused and this girl is a few feet away from me holding a clipboard. She sees me and says, "Can I help you?" Not in a nice way, either, but rather with the look on her face that said "Who the heck are you?" I told her I was looking for Jason.

"Is he expecting you?"

Like he's the president or something. Seriously.

I tell her yes, because it's true, and she walks towards me and points down the aisle I'm standing partially in front of to a bald guy down the way. As I start walking down this dark aisle toward the four men sitting at the other end I take in my surroundings: there are computers and wires and techie stuff everywhere. Literally. But as I start walking down the guy called Jason looks over, points and says "You!" I'm startled, but just keep walking. "You're the monitor!" he says.

Why yes, Jason. Yes I am.

He gestures to the desk area to his left once I reach him. "There's your monitor." I look down to see a slightly older flat screen. My Norman was NOT a flat screen.

"Well, that's not my monitor," I stammer out. "I had an ancient big monitor, like from 1998. But I'll gladly take a flat screen."

He just sits and stares at the monitor for a moment, then asks "That's not your monitor? Was yours a flat screen?" I answer his questions and then he stands up, says something like "Hold on", and then walks away holding the monitor, leaving me alone in this big creepy aisle feeling awkward and trying to figure out if he wanted me to follow. A moment later he reappeared and motioned for me to follow.

So I follow him over toward the window where there is a huge cube of ancient monitors like Norman stacked on top of each other next to a stack of older flat screens, which is where he sets "my" monitor. Turning back toward me, he holds up one finger in the "one second" motion before disappearing into a room behind me.

Once again, me standing awkwardly where I clearly hear him having a perfectly normal and pleasant conversation with whoever was in that room. Seconds later he reappears holding a monitor identical to the one he had just tried to give me and says "Do you know how to hook it up?"

I stared at him stupidly. "I can't hook it up because I need a dual video card - "
"Yeah, but once you have that can you hook this up?"
"I think so - "
"Well if you need help just call down here and I'll come help."

And he walks away. Well, kind of. He takes a few steps and is then joined by the girl who was apparently an executive assistant in another life and they proceed to have some kind of conversation as they walk. stop. walk. stop. in front of me the whole way out of Mars - uh, I mean, NSG.

Then I made my escape before it became necessary to make like ET and phone home.

When I made it back to the comfort of claims-land, I went to talk to my coordinator.

Me: so, I went to NSG.
Her: What happened. (she said this very knowingly and somewhat cautiously...)

So I tell her the whole story and we laugh about how in NSG they apparently don't need to actually be able to talk. It was like being on a whole other planet.

And after all of this excitement I came to work on Tuesday and had to call NSG because for some ridiculous reason I couldn't log into my computer. It made me lose an hour of work as I sat on hold for almost a half hour playing games on my phone to pass the time. Thankfully the phone etiquette down in NSGland is significantly better than their in-person people skills.

I guess the moral to the story is, if you're getting your computer monitor back and they offer your a newer one, just take it and don't ask questions. Simple and classic.

So anyway, that was my adventure. Here's hoping sometime soon I get that dual video card so I can finally have two monitors! It'll make my day SO much easier.

Happy Belated 4th of July, folks!

Update: by the way, in reference to an earlier blog, Johnny's house now has water, thanks to Johnny and all of his hard labor. :)

A Whole Lotta Random

Guess who has two thumbs and, starting July 11th, will be working "summer hours" at her job which means working four 10hr days and getting Friday off?? This girl! I had no idea that this option was open to us, but it absolutely is and it means my life gets that much easier!

My job is boring. This is the downside of the above excitement.

So, if you boil whole wheat rotini and mix in melted butter, minced garlic, peas, salt and pepper you get basically the most amazing dinner ever. I would post a picture of it but it's really tasty and kind of gone...

Is there anyone else here who is stressed? Anyone? What's weird is that I feel stressed but I'm not entirely sure why... probably because my wedding to Johnny is in just over two months and there's still so much to be done. Yeah. That's why.

Now I get to spend my evening (before I do a hardcore workout) organizing and compiling addresses for my shower/wedding guests. Get excited... :-)

At the End of the Day...

This past weekend was an adventure. Let's just put it that way. It began normally enough, with me driving for what feels like forever through ridiculous weekend traffic heading straight for Byesville, OH, to attend the Friday night service at Shalom Baptist, the church of one of my best friends. This friend also happens to be a photographer as well as one of my bridesmaids. On Memorial Day weekend she took Johnny's and my engagement photos and, as this past Saturday was my family reunion, I was hoping to pick up the photos when I visited church. She promised to have them ready. And now Facebook has an entire album of nothing but pictures of me and my boy and I love it!

Anyway, I decided to stay for service (well, actually, I kind of had to since I was a little late and my friend was helping with children's church, but I also really enjoy listening to her dad's lessons because they're always super interesting) and it went a lot longer than I had thought and I had to bail in the middle in order to get to Canton in decent time.

Saturday begins as normal. We're both up by 9 since he had to be at work by 11 and I had the reunion at noon (he couldn't come because of work. More on that later) and he showers first. Then, when I'm in the shower and my hair is all lathered up and I'm soaping up the rest of me the water pressure suddenly begins to dwindle until, before long, there's nothing. At all. And I'm standing there freezing with my hair full of suds. So I'm given a gallon jug of water (COLD water) with which I rinse myself off, get dry, get presentable, and then Johnny gets to come and dump the cold water over my head repeatedly until all the suds are gone. Then we repeat, as I also needed to condition. I must say I was very thankful that Saturday was a fairly chilly day and required jeans since I didn't have a chance to shave... However, the upside is that this was a small glimpse into married life and depending on one another. It also reminded me strongly of being a little kid and my mom washing my hair in the bathtub and rinsing it by pouring a cup of water over my head. It always got soap in my eyes, and Saturday was no exception.

This little problem turned out to be the water pump. Johnny's house runs on well water and the pump decided to fail. Johnny and his dad (jokingly) blamed it all on me because I was in the shower when it happened. But then I (also jokingly) blamed it on Johnny, who turned on water somewhere else in the house while I was in the shower. Nothing was ever decided on this front.

Anywho, this meant that immediately following church on Sunday Johnny and I took a little trip to Sears to buy a new pump, which then Johnny spent the entire rest of the day installing. There was problem after problem. Something was leaking, and when he tightened it to stop the leakage the thing broke and we had to take a trip to Lowe's and Home Depot to buy a new one and then something else stripped the screw on some tube that lets air into the pump and so they just plugged the hole for now. So they still don't have water and Johnny gets to work on it again tomorrow before he goes to work. It's all so ridiculous, and I ended up spending quality time with Johnny's dad, whose bad back kept him from being able to help as much as he would have liked. My only job was to read my book when I wasn't running up and down the basement stairs to unplug and plug in the pump. Quite the adventure, and definitely one I don't want to relive. I think I can safely speak for Johnny and say he feels the same.

So that was my adventure. And the reunion was great fun and the engagement pictures turned out beautifully and now I just have to put in all the info to the various newspapers to announce it! And then in just over two months we'll be married. So insane!! Everything is going so fast!

Hope everyone's weekend was a little less eventful than mine!

UPDATE: I realized I never came back to Johnny not coming to the reunion! He DID come! When I arrived, after going to Walmart to print off all of the pictures so I came a little late, I parked the car and saw Johnny walking toward me! Apparently his boss at work gave him a very extended lunch break during which he was able to come eat with us. :D That's all!

I Have A List in My Head.

Who else (in Ohio...) is thrilled about this lovely, 70-some degree weather? It's seriously making my world, especially since it means I don't need to use my air conditioner, which saves my electric bill.

My dad called in and rented the tables, chairs, and tent for our reception. EEeeee! We decided on a tent because we wanted an outdoor reception and it would be really complicated to try having a secondary location just in case without having to pay another fee. So with the tent we can have our reception outside whether it's rain or shine! Johnny and I finally pared down the guest list with the help of his Aunt Nancy, who is very straightforward. "That person wouldn't come, don't bother". It was amusing and helped SO much, so, thank you Nancy!

We also watched a video that accompanies the book we're working through for counseling. It's called "Saving You Marriage Before It Starts", and it's a wonderful book and a slightly cheesy video... It was recorded in the early 90s (you can tell by the fashion, lol) and the couple who lead it are very aware that they're in front of a camera... but that really doesn't change the effectiveness. I'd recommend this book/video/workbook to any engaged, newly wed or even married for awhile couple. It's pretty phenom.

Anyway, things are falling into place and it feels like time goes flying by! Yesterday marks one year of dating for us, and it's now less than three months till the wedding.
I actually went to bed at 9:30pm last night. I felt like I was in elementary school because it was still light out! However, I got up today at 5am as usual and felt pretty darn great! Perhaps I should go to bed at 9:30 more often!

I hope you all have a glorious day!

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Diagnosis: Scatterbrain

Once upon a time, roughly two years ago or so, there was this girl named Emily who had everything together. Her bills were paid early, she had a job that gave her more than enough money, she was organized and all was good. 


Then one day she quit her job and began preparations for moving back with her parents 650 miles away and the Sunday before her move she was in a car accident that totaled her father's car and she was stranded. Stressed and in whiplash pain she cried and then presented a stiff upper lip as her family solved the problem by sending her brother in-law, with whom she had never spent time with alone before, in an Enterprise Rent-A-Van to come get her and all of her belongings. 


When she got back to her parent's house she slept on the couch for a month while the tenant living in her old room finished her student teaching, graduated, and moved back to her hometown. Due to this Emily was disorganized. Almost all of her belongings were in the garage and the rest were spread around as her packing job had been hasty. Suddenly she found herself in a state of disarray, attempting to pay off her bills and make phone calls to discontinue services with various cable, electric and so on companies. Finally it was all taken care of, but she was quickly going broke as she had no job. 


Fast forward to the present. Emily's bills are on time at best, she has nearly run out of money more than once, must pay attention to her spending and has found herself to be completely disorganized. 


And it drives. Her. CRAZY.

I can't STAND feeling out of control.

I never thought I was that much of a control freak until I realized how scattered I've become. I can't figure the reason for it, as I live in my own space now, but for some reason things are easily misplaced and forgotten and, to add insult to injury, I have been feeling progressively more stupid with every passing day. Part of me wants to go back to school just to get some semblance of sanity back into my life.

I really wasn't terribly bad until I moved to Cincinnati. Now I have significantly more bills to pay, and they're spread out across the month instead of being all at the same time as they were two years ago. I also don't get paid near as much as I did back then, so I have to pay as the due dates come or I'd be broke. I mean, I only just went grocery shopping the day before yesterday for the first time in probably a month or more because of my paycheck debacle and upcoming bills.

I REALLY need a day planner so I can organize my life.

I also need to read/learn more instead of spending so much time in front of my computer doing absolutely nothing. So to try to remedy this I began reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne last night. And I LOVE it. I'm often a little wary of reading the classics, as they tend to be rather dry and a tad over my head as I have not grown up in the same era as the writer and therefore the jokes make no sense to me. However, I really enjoy this book so far, and have a notebook and dictionary handy for those moments when he uses words I don't already know.

Already, from changing my habit even just for one day, I have felt a slight change. Today, instead of wasting time doing other things, I finally signed up for my medical and dental benefits and have that out of the way. I also hope to do some drawing or writing. It's lovely that I'm not travelling this weekend because I honestly believe that has contributed to my insanity. Having an evening where I don't have a strict bedtime and where I don't have to wake up at 5am the next day is absolutely marvelous. And having a day where I don't have to be anywhere is equally marvelous, as it means I will be giving my apartment a much needed cleaning and purging, and I will be doing some cooking. I bought the stuff to make more of my homemade black bean burgers and will spend tomorrow afternoon working on that, as well as putting together casseroles and soups and possibly even making some cookies so that I have more options during the week. Lately it's been a cheese quesadilla every night. Mostly because that's what sounds good, and it's fast and I have the stuff to make it.

Plus Johnny will be coming to visit tomorrow night and staying through Monday morning. :) Oh, glorious weekend at home!

Wedding Planning = a pain in the...

Okay. So. This whole guest list thing is annoyingly, ridiculously stressful. No matter what someone is going to be offended because we have a list of 266 people and cannot possibly afford to invite them all and stay under budget. With just relatives we have over 150, so this is going to be insane. Assuming they all come, of course.

We've decided to meet at the court house on Monday. Just send your gifts to my apartment.

Just kidding. We'd be shot, stabbed, quartered, buried, and then eventually used as fire starters by all the very upset relatives.

But seriously, once the guest list is taken care of everything else is easy peasy. Dad's ordering a tent, I have two options lined up for photographers, my mind is full of decorating ideas, and everything will hopefully just fall into place. Now, to make the list shorter...

I know that not everyone invited will come... but if they do, we cannot possibly afford that many people. And in the meantime, it is seriously stressing me out. That, and my messy apartment. The lack of money and food was also contributing, but since I got paid and went shopping that ship has sailed and left the Nina and the Santa Maria for me to contend with. The cleaning ship will depart this weekend, since I FINALLY will be staying home for the first time in over a month and will be deep cleaning everything in this place, putting things away, sorting through the mail, etc. And it will help my stress levels immensely. I also hope to invest in some plants for my balcony.

Till then, I'll just continue to throw things across the room. It makes me feel better.