mandaloo

how did it get to be almost june??? this week has been super busy and i've yet to get to bed before midnight all of this week. on tuesday, i was actually successful in finding a swimsuit that looks halfway decent and didn't cost an arm and a leg. a chocolate brown tankini with a thin, pink edge. there were a host of other suits that looked better on me, but for some reason, the trend this year seems to be that every swimsuit must have objects dangling off of it or something. i'd have a cute suit on… but then there were these things hanging from it that would clack and make noise when i moved. i don't need my suit to do morse code for me. period. i was quickly reminded what a bad combination swimsuits and fitting rooms were, so i don't think i'll be going shopping for another suit for another four years (as to continue my tradition). after that, jeromy and i went to hutch and ellen's for dinner and had a blast. hutch made this chicken stuff that was super good. i really need to learn how to cook like that. i warned jeromy that he would be asked a lot of questions, and sure enough, he was. it was all good, though… everyone had a great time. their little baby, maya (born this february), is getting super big and she's really cute and laid back. i don't get all soft over just any baby, so this is a legitimate baby compliment. (more…)

so i think i have milk in my fridge that is about to go bad… and i haven't even opened it.  nothing but a symbol of how i haven't really been at home lately.  but that's not a bad thing – i've been having a blast.  

after a long day at work on friday, i had a great evening with susan, jeff, jeromy, and jeromy's mom.  we went to dinner and then saw "over the hedge."  the movie is super cute and i was tickled.  the only thing is that when i saw a dead racoon on the side of the road this weekend, i instantly thought of the main character from the movie and went, "aw."  heh.  i'm a dork.

on saturday afternoon, my friend, brenda, came over to my apartment and we had lunch together.  we spent four hours talking – but we had a lot to catch up on… i hadn't really seen her in about a year and a lot has changed in both of our lives since then.  her baby boy is due in july and she is super excited.   brenda teaches for an elementary school in the metroplex with a large spanish-speaking student body.  she and i had a lengthy discussion on the illegal immigration issues and especially how it puts a strain on education (bilingual programs, funding, etc.).  i was shocked at some of the stuff that is going on and it just reinforced my views on the whole matter.  on saturday night, neo, susan, jeff, jeromy, and jeromy's mom came over to my apartment (i didn't know it could actually hold that many people) to play games.  it was a blast and we stayed up late playing phase ten dice.  i stink at that game – i pretty much am the lowest score every time.  bacon was all excited to have people to pet her.  she fell in love with neo since he got down on the floor and played a couple of rounds of "head butt" with her.  it was hilarious, to say the least.   (more…)

doctors are good things (despite my initial resistance to go to one).  on wednesday, i went to my appointment and told the doc that i was in extreme pain.  he had me lay on the table and told me that he was going to feel around.  come to find out, all of my muscles in the mid part of my back had decided to lock up – and thus, the pain.  he shifted some stuff around and rubbed for a bit.  finally, he turned me on my side and pushed down on my back and the loudest, longest series of pops and cracks emitted from my body.  he stood back and said, “i think we just found your problem.”  after i got home, i took some pain meds, took a nap, and felt good as new when i woke up.  a miracle.  so what did i do?  clean my apartment.  i felt euphoric by not having stabbing pains going up and down my spine, so i was ripe for getting things accomplished.  i vacuumed, swept, cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the bathroom and picked up the living room.  while i was working on hanging and folding the mountain of laundry that had recently taken up residence on my bedroom floor, i received a call from jeromy.  the poor guy had hit a curb really hard in his truck on the way back from work and knocked something off that was going to make shifting difficult.  it’s an adventure every day with him, i tell ya.  but i think he got it all fixed yesterday morning, so that rocks.  (more…)

so my little back ache yesterday morning turned out to be a big problem by yesterday afternoon.  by the time lunch rolled around, i could not pivot my body and i had large shooting pains going up and down my spine.  i’ve never had back issues before, and now i have a whole new respect for those that suffer with chronic back pain.  i can’t handle it.  i left work early and rested during the afternoon and evening.  i took a hot bath.  i had a heat/cold pack on my back to try to loosen the muscles.  i tried to lay in different positions.  nothing really worked.  last night was not fun and as a result, i’m going to the doctor this afternoon.  i’m hoping he’ll give me some muscle relaxers and then i’ll feel all better tomorrow.

i really need to clean my apartment good tonight b/c my home teachers from church are coming over on thursday night.  the one that called last night sounded nice and i’m looking forward to their visit.

i’m getting together with my friend, brenda, this weekend.  she is pregnant with her first child (although she is a stepmom to two) and will be due soon.  she’s a sweetheart of a girl that i’ve known since high school.  we’ve stayed in touch through the years and it just so happened that we both ended up in the metroplex (and we’re not that far apart location wise).  so we’re going to have lunch together on saturday and i’ll get to see her big tummy.

yesterday was susan’s birthday.  i did manage to go with her, jeff, jeromy, and jeromy’s mom to get some dinner at logan’s.  it was really good and all of the yummy food temporarily distracted me from my throbbing pains (for the most part).  everyone headed back to my place after dinner b/c they all had to watch american idol (and since i have a dvr, my place was the venue).  i have not really kept up with any season of american idol (including this one), but susan quickly caught me up on the three remaining contestants.  i still don’t think that i’m ever going to get hooked on the show, but then again, i’m not really hooked onto any program at the moment.  just give me my simpsons on sunday nights and i’m a happy camper… 

last night, i met jeromy at his house after work and we both pulled up into the driveway at the same time.  when we opened the door, our faces wrinkled in unison as we smelled…poop.  poor jack had been sick and apparently made quite the mess in his crate.  jeromy’s mom got to the house shortly after our arrival and while she took care of jack, jeromy and i made a quick trip to the car wash to clean out jack’s box.  quite the adventure, i assure you.  stuff like that doesn’t bother me too bad (i’ve got an iron tummy when it comes to gross stuff usually), and i was surprised to see that jeromy’s stomach was stronger than what he had let on in previous conversations.  i managed to get laundry done last night and jeromy made this really good chicken stir fry stuff for dinner.  it rocked my tummy. 

i totally pulled my back muscles last night – i guess i slept funny or something.  and it didn’t seem too bad this morning, but now that i’m at my desk, i’m not digging the throbbing sensation traveling up my spinal column.  i can rotate maybe a half of an inch before my back gets angry with me.  as long as nobody expects me to move around today, we’ll be just fine.  i’ve been falling apart this week… hives, back problems… what’s next?  *sigh*  i got to work early today (aka – before 8:30), which was great.  i think jeromy got a late start on his, though, as he called me when i was sitting at my desk and he said he was just leaving his place. 

i picked up jeromy’s guitar last night and messed around a bit on it.  it’s something that i miss more than i thought i would and i really regret my decision to leave my guitar at the house with my ex.  at the time, i knew that there would be resistance if i tried to take it, and i didn’t feel like another fight when all i wanted was just to get out and get everything over with.  also, i didn’t really think that i would want to play music anytime soon, but it seems as though that is not the case.  there was a point that i didn’t even know if i enjoyed music as much as i thought i did due to the fact that my ex was all about it (we even had a recording studio) and i didn’t know if i was into it for him or for myself – or both.  but now that i’ve been on my own, i’ve been listening to new bands (thanks to the help of pandora.com) and have felt the urge to even play again – even if it’s simple, unoriginal stuff.  i totally need to save up and get a guitar in the near future (another thing to add to my “need to buy” list… heh). 

i got my first utility bill since moving in and i’m delighted that my utilities are nowhere near the price that i thought they would be.  i adjusted my budget spreadsheet, which has a monthly summary of bills and expenses, as well as a projected cumulative forecast of how much money i should have left over each month, and should nothing crazy happen (knock on wood), i can see how i’m going to start finally getting ahead again.  it will be nice to start feeling like i’m not living check to check.  the divorce wiped out any excess money i had and getting things to move out just furthered the problem, so it seemed like i was never going to be on top again, but things are starting to shift.  i still can’t go and live a life of decadence by any means, but there will be some resources to do fun things again while still working on paying off my debt.  i’m even thinking about taking a vacation either late this summer or in early fall.  there are so many things i have not seen or done and i’m excited to start getting some memorable experiences under my belt.  jeromy has vacation time and stuff now, too, so he may be involved in the vacation plans.  so far, i’m thinking of either going to the company cabin in red river, new mexico (which would be cheap), taking a cruise that leaves from texas, or going to port aransas to go deep sea fishing.  nothing too crazy, but i’m just trying to think of easy, affordable things to do.  i need to be better about saving up some vacation time here at work to use for my planned outing.  i get some time saved up and i’m usually like, “great – i should take today off.” and then it all gets eaten up.  my goal is to save up enough time to where i can take a whole week of work off.  i haven’t been off that long from work in years.  everyone here at work is planning vacations and they’ve been asking me when i’m going to take one.  maybe this year, i’ll actually have an answer.

i got back from austin on thursday.  i had a good time overall, but i was kind of missing home.  on tuesday night, my aunt and uncle picked me up from the airport and took me to their house.  they got barbeque and i just had a blast visiting with them.  my cousin, kristina, had a little girl named avery about a year ago, so i got to meet her for the first time.  i was really glad to see everyone doing well. 

i got back on thursday night and was extremely tired.  i think i ate some food and then crashed…or something like that.

on friday, i left work early and jeromy took me up to his office (he has every other friday off) and i got to meet his coworkers.  now when he talks about his day and refers to people at work, i will kinda have a better idea of everything.  after that, jeromy and i went to the shooting range where he used to work and he did a couple of rounds of five stand. he usually shoots really well, but was having an off day.  the little kid (maybe 14 to 16 years old) pulling for him was all trying to tell jeromy what he was doing wrong.  i found it hilarious b/c you could hear jeromy grinding his teeth the whole time.  it wouldn't have been as entertaining if this all was standard operating procedure for jeromy's skill level.  at the end, jeromy told the poor guy that he used to work there and all.  nice kid, though.  i met jeanie, jeromy's old supervisor and she seems like a nice lady.  the rest of friday was a blur and i think i crashed early.

on saturday morning, i went to mom's house.  i think three or four of the puppies have found homes.  even so, it's still chaos over there.  bacon and i hung out for most of saturday at my place until neo and jeromy came over.  the three of us met jeromy’s mom, susan, and jeff at chili’s for dinner.  i ordered my usual turkey sandwich.  during dinner, i started to feel a little dizzy, but didn’t think too much about it.  when we all went to lowe’s, my dizziness persisted and i started to itch like the dickens everywhere.  by the time i got home, i looked in the mirror and my tummy, chest, and back were covered in puffy, dime-sized, red splotches that itched like heck.  i’ve never really broke out in a rash or hives or anything, so i rushed to the nearest cvs store and bought some benedryl.  saturday night was one of the most miserable nights in my life.  i was itchy and dizzy and could not get comfortable whether i was sitting up or laying down.  when i was covered, i was too hot and when i didn’t have a blanket, i was too cold.  it was rather frustrating to be super tired from the medicine but unable to relax.  neo and jeromy stayed at my place (doing “nerd night” stuff) until late and jeromy kept checking on me.  it was super sweet b/c i could tell that jeromy was upset that there was nothing he could really do to help me.  i think i wound up crashing on my couch because it seemed like the most comfortable place at the time.  sometime in the wee hours of morning, i managed to make it back to bed.  finally, after my second or third full dose of benedryl, the spots went away and itching stopped.  i don’t know what caused the reaction.  i didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary.  i haven’t switched detergents and didn’t use any new products that day.  the only thing that was semi-new is that i went tanning that day and used my indoor tanning lotion, but i’ve been using that for the last two weeks and have not had any irritation.  i’ve heard that your skin can sometimes freak out when tanning, but i find it odd that it would have done that when i’ve already gone six times (although, i guess it could occur).  so i don’t know what all happened, but i hope that it doesn’t do it again anytime in the near future.  (more…)

today was good.  i have learned that "conference" and "trade fair" are old chinese words for "come and walk around and schmooze and get lots of free stuff to take back and occassionally go to a class or two."

so that's what i did.  i was glad that i bought those ugly, flat shoes this weekend b/c i was on my feet most of the day. my pants are too big.  that always happens to me… i go in a dressing room and things seem like they fit but then i take the tags off and put them on and BOOM! – they're huge on me.  so while i'm at my aunt's house tonight, i'm going to wet them and throw them both in the dryer on super high heat and hope those suckers shrink some.

i got a ton of free stuff that i don't need.  but it's fun to go from booth to booth and get coasters and squeezy things and flashing pins and flashlights and cups and stuff.  it feels like you've hit the jack pot when you find the "next cool free thing."  ha!  my company is giving away packs of bluebonnet seeds.  not nearly as fun as the free toys, i know.  there are these drawings, too – you drop your business card into the jar and hope that you get chosen to receive a free ipod or dvd player or something.  and yes… i said "chosen" b/c i was informed today that most of the "drawings" are rigged… companies choose winners from companies/organizations they think they can get work from.  i'm not surprised.   but i put my name into some applicable jars anyways. 

the classes that i attended were all on wastewater, so i am becoming a poop water expert.  ha ha ha.

on the way to lunch today, an evil austin bird pooped on my arm.  *sigh*  i shook my fist at that jerk.  it was gross, but i lived.  at least it wasn't my head or something.  ugh.  

my coworker, kim, and i left for austin today. i couldn't sleep last night b/c i kept thinking about my trip and all. i'm not worried or even overly excited… it was just on my mind. it was super sweet b/c jeromy snuck his beloved blue cap into my luggage (which i found once he was long gone) and bought me a tetris game thing for me to play while i was riding in the car. it was very thoughtful on his part. i'm a tetris adddict. as if that weren't enough, wizard let me take his laptop with me since my room has internet. so… this blog tonight is only due to his generous actions.

anyhoo – in the afternoon, kim and i met up with makenzie from the austin office and got our company booth all set up. it had all of these different parts and i didn't know what the heck to do b/c i had never even seen the thing set up before. it was like putting together a puzzle that didn't have a picture for you to look at. but it got done and off we went. kim and i checked into the hotel and it's super nice. i love my room and the view is nice – i get to see the bustling going-ons of downtown and such. even the bathroom is super roomy and nice. i'm ecstatic. i called my mom and let her know i was safe. it was funny b/c her and my grandma were both worried. i love them so – they fret over the smallest things. my grandma was so cute b/c she said to me, "watch out for perverts." i had to chuckle at that remark. yes… like i'm just going to be cruising the streets for random people to talk to and hang out with.

during the afternoon, i got a call from my new visiting teacher at church.  i think i met her at church a couple of sundays ago, and if she's the girl i'm thinking of, she's seems nice.  i'm sure we'll be getting together sometime next week.  i need to get more involved in church and try to make it to some more of the activities so that i can meet more people in my congregation.  i'm just really bad at that initial period… i do this every time i move.  it takes me forever to get all involved b/c i don't know anybody and i skip activities and stuff.  but then it feeds into itself until i just get tired of not being as involved as i would like and then i break that barrier.  and then i'm fine and the good 'ol social mandy that everyone knows and loves.  i'm about to hit that point again, i think, which is good.  having some of the girls over from church through the visiting teaching program will be a good start to that.  more familiar faces and whatnot. 

kim and i went to dinner at the rio grande – a mexican food restaurant that used to be the "real world" house for the austin season. pretty cool. after that, kim and i just headed back to our rooms. nothing much going on otherwise. tomorrow, i'll be going to classes and talking to different vendors and companies and whatnot. my boss and other coworkers will be here, too, so that will be fun. i'm going to my aunt's tomorrow night for dinner and i'm looking forward to seeing everyone there.

i should probably get some shuteye soon since i need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning.