Turtle!

Hawaii

Like I said in the previous post, MS and I had a great time on our trip. We both needed a break away from home and work and we took advantage of this.

This is my favorite pic of me at China-man's Hat (I'm sure it has an official name, but this is what it's known as).



Seriously, how can you not like this place?

I'm back!

Ah, the last two weeks have been wonderful and in some ways I'm sad I'm back but I guess normalcy has its benefits, too.

So I had a work trip, which is why I was gone, and MS came along with me. Normally he wouldn't but the location was just a bit too nice to not join me. My work took me to Hawaii for the last two weeks and I must say it was a nice warm welcome from this frigid winter we've been having.


Luckily, MS used to live in Hawaii, eons ago, so he was my tour guide (and a very good one at that). We hit all the highlights: Pearl Harbor, the beaches, a luau, etc. We played a lot of cribbage (as is our custom) and relaxed. I worked when I was required, but didn't work extra (as I normally would have if I had been on my own), and I was actually okay with that.

I discovered that I really am an ocean girl instead of a lake girl. I like the ocean and the sandy beaches. We taunted the local wildlife* (below) and just had a nice vacay.



I'm excited to go back someday. We found a lot of places we want to go to again, and some places we missed. Hopefully soon we can.

For now, I'm back, I'm cold, and that's normal with the world. And it helps that I'm re-energized for my job again. I discovered that I do know more than I thought I did, and that I can get things accomplished. I have a task list of about 24 things for Monday alone and I'm actually excited to get started on them. I'd go in today if I didn't think MS would kill me. :) I can wait a couple days.

*That's a crab in case you couldn't see it...he's on the left as you look at the photo. :)

HIatis

I'm going to take a little break here for a couple weeks. I promise I'll have fun posts when I return, but I'm going to take a little trip and avoid the Internet if I can. It'll be a test of wills, but since I'm not taking the computer along I think I'll make it.

I'll have pictures and stories galore when I return. See you late January or early February. :)

Long weekend

And not in a good way.

Last week was insanely long. It was work after work after work. If I wasn't at work, working late, then I was at home getting ready for bed because I was so tired. Most nights I was in bed by 9, a couple nights 8:30 and one night 8.

Saturday night after my shift, I ran to Walgreens for my drugs and then, realizing it was only 6pm, decided that I didn't want to go home, because if I were to go home I would go straight to bed. Not good. So I went to Target.

I didn't realize how long it had been since I had been there. I walked around in a daze...I'm sure people were wondering what was wrong with me. I bought pistachios adn kleenex. A stellar trip for certain.

I'm still tired this week, most of which is poor diet driven. MS and I are going to start back up on SB in February after our trip and so I'm trying to get rid of things in the house now, and then not buy anything new. Then when we get back we can start from scratch.

I am excited about starting SB again and doing it with someone else. It was tough the first time around. I know I went through a LOT of emails and blog posts with K&E for guidance and support. It'll be tough because MS and I are both sugaraholics and chipaholics. But I think we can do it. MS's big whine, right now, is the lack of fruit for two weeks. We'll be okay though.

So that's what's new. I'm tired though, surprise surprise, so I'm going to shower and hit the hay.

3 yr Anniversary

So Boss1 walks in this afternoon and says, "You've been here three years today." I said, "what? Oh yeah!"

It's very cool because I got two raises today. The yearly one, and then another for my step up on my job scale.

I'm really excited about this because I want to start saving more this year. I'm not sure if I'll need a new car soon, or if I'll have vacations I need to go on, or if I'll just need extra cash for various events or something, but I want to be ready.

I don't like dealing with money, which is why I hired AES to take care of most of my retirement stuff, but my current cash flow is something I need to get a better handle on.

It's a good resolution for the year, right? Isn't that one of the top 5 people do each year?

Anyway, happy anniversary to me. :)

Painting

So last Christmas (we're talking 2008, here), my sister and I gave my mother a gift of painting her kitchen. We had a date set in March 2009 that worked for both of us and the plan was to paint that day (and part of the day before). ALL Mom had to do was pick out the color.

It didn't happen.

In November, MS, Mom and I were driving to my niece's b-day party and I asked her what she wanted for Christmas this year. She said, "Well, I never got my gift from last year." So after reminding her that she never picked out a color, MS convinced her to pick it out and we'd get it done.

Shockingly (not really) she picked out a color that next week so MS and I bought supplies and made a plan. The other siblings were going to help but they ended up being busy so it was a winter project for MS and me.

Well, I have photos, but I'll post those later. It ended up looking better than we thought it would last night (it looked really peach instead of the sort of light tan we had picked out). And the project is done.

Here's my conundrum. My sister gave me her half of the costs plus half of my half since I was doing the painting. My OOB gave me over a third of the cost and a few "supplies" since he couldn't be here. My YOB wants to contribute but hasn't yet and I'm not really pressing the issue.

This is all well and good, except when we dropped off Mom's paper to her today, she gave me a check for about $15 more than the cost of the paint and supplies (she didn't know the cost). So now I have over twice as much than what it all cost and I don't feel right about the money from mom. She said she didn't think it was fair that MS and I were doing all the work and the other kids weren't doing anything. Even after I explained that they had given me money she told me to take it anyway and use it on our trip.

This doesn't feel right. It, the painting, was her Christmas present! She shouldn't be paying for it! I don't know. I took the check but I may just let it ride. We'll see.

Palindrome!

Today is 01-02-2010. How fun is that?

Happy New Year!

So it's 2010 and we're finally going to have Christmas from 2009. Yep..."On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Christmas with my fa-mily." (You have to sing it.)

In looking back to "last year" (ugh) I have to chuckle at myself. I kept getting annoyed with people yesterday and the lame joke, "See ya next year!" like there was this magical timewarp and it would all be different.

But maybe it will be. Last year my life changed. I went on a bunch of crappy dates until I finally met MS and found someone I could actually connect with. I started going through all those things-that-shall-not-be-named and decluttering. I still have a lot of work left on that but I'm confident I will get through it all and slim down my belongings. I finished a marathon in what has been my best time ever (dropping 38 minutes off my previous time!)

So now what are my goals/hopes/resolutions for this year?

The standards come to play: get in shape, lose weight, eat better. They seem a little superficial since everyone says this, but if I attach a better goal to it and reason, maybe I can follow through. So....

- Drop some pounds and get stronger for my running with the possibility of running a 50 miler this year, but at least running a couple half's and maybe 2 marathons.
- Eat better so I'm not only eating crap food by planning out meals with MS so we can shop better (economical) and eat healthy.
- Save my money - set up another account and have my money automatically go there. I've already upped my insurance for dental and vision so my paycheck will be smaller anyway, but if I take it out right away I should be okay.
- Learn to focus at my job better. I get really distracted and my projects take a backseat. I need to get better organized and get things accomplished. I have a lot that has to be done next week, so I'll get started right away with that.

Well, this is a start. I'm sure there are more. (It's early...I'm not quite awake yet.) So Christmas is today. MS's mom is coming over tomorrow, so Sunday we'll get started and get on track with my life to make 2010 great.