failed-to-say.net

I’ve been working on a new layout. I just haven’t got around to coding it yet. It’s on my very long to-do list. I have tons of stuff I’m hoping to finish before Saturday, but I have a feeling most of it’s going to have to wait – like redoing my fanlistings. I guess it’s not that big of a deal. They’ve been waiting all summer and another month isn’t going to hurt. If I can get them all done before Christmas, it would be like a present to myself.

I have made a lot of progress with preparing for NaNoWriMo. I finished the outline for Absolution on Sunday. I had most of it figured out, but I kept getting stuck at the end. I talked it through with Nikki, and that really helped a lot just to have someone to bounce the ideas off of. In the end, we kind of went with the thought I was initially having, but I added a bit more to it. I guess just saying what’s going on out loud sort of helps get those creative juices flowing. I’m really happy with things now. I’m really anxious to get started. I have a couple of things I want to do before Saturday, but I should be able to get them out of the way tomorrow if I don’t have to go into work.

I went to my mom’s for dinner tonight. My grandma was cooking ham and beans, which I despise to the highest degree. On top of that my uncle and cousins were coming out for dinner, and I’ve honestly had my fill of them this last week. I love them because they’re my family, but, man, they get on my nerves. As often as they’ve been around lately, I feel like I could join the wine of the month club and lock myself away in my bedroom and drink myself silly. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

It has been a long day. I worked from 10 to 5:30 today. Then on my way home my grandma called to let me know that we were going out for dinner. I also realized that it might do me good to invest in a Bluetooth headset because I’m just really not that coordinated – especially when it comes to driving and trying to do other things at once. Not that anyone should really be trying to do that anyway.

My cousin, Cassie, was here, and she went out for dinner with us. Then after we ate we went by mom’s for a little while. My brother and cousin have been out here for the last couple of days helping my grandpa clean out the garage. Right now our driveway is a mess. We have a pile of junk and a huge trash dumpster sitting there. Today they ripped out the wall at the back of the garage where there used to be a room. In the process my brother stepped on a nail and wound up having to go get a tetnis shot. Lovely.

They’ll be out here again tomorrow. I don’t know how close they are to finishing. Grandma and I are planning to go get groceries at some point tomorrow as well. I just hope it’s not while those boys are still here because they’ll eat us out of house and home, and I don’t like the idea of starving for the next month until we get groceries again.

Oh, and I, obviously, didn’t get around to making that new layout I was talking about. Perhaps tomorrow. Sleep now.

I think it’s about time for a new layout. I’m still stuck on Twilight, so chances are I’ll make another layout from all of the new stills that have popped up recently. I’ve been extremely excited since the full trailer was released. The movie just look like it’s going to be excellent, and the best part is that we’re officially one month away from it’s release. I was beginning to feel like this day would never come.

I think I meant to post it here, but I never did, so I will now.

I’ve been watching Angel. I’m about halfway through Season 2 right now. I always wanted to watch, but I just never had a chance, and after watching the completely series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I definitely needed the Angel fix. I watched a couple of movies on Sunday – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Journey To the Center of the Earth. I think I liked the latter best. Tori popped into my room and wound up watching it with me. I think it might have been a bit too old for her, but she was in here for over and hour watching, so I guess her attention span has broadened.

I’m not sure if I’ll get called into work today or not, but I think in the meantime, I’ll get started on that new layout.

Man, I’m completely pooped. I got up at 8 this morning, showered, ate breakfast, and went to the bank before I went shopping with my mom. I got quite a few items at Kohl’s. I was really happy to find some jeans because I have the hardest time finding ones that fit like they’re supposed to. I also got a couple of shirts and two necklaces there too. We stopped for lunch at Panera Bread before we hit the mall. I found a shirt at Sears. I was sad not find anything I liked at Maurice’s. Usually when I’m broke, they have all kinds of stuff that I like. No luck today. Naturally.

I pretty well spent my check, but I really needed the new clothes. When I got home, I went through my closet and dresser and I got rid of quite a few things. I threw away some stuff that was really old and ratty, and put the rest of the stuff that either didn’t fit or I just knew I wouldn’t wear into a bag to take to a local secondhand store.

My next check is going into savings. Part of me wants to save up get to my own place while the other part of me wants to save up for something like a new car. I like my car. It’s nice enough, but it’s really not my ideal. And I’m not a car person by any means, so it’s not like I want something flashy. I’d just like something a little bigger. A four door car that sits more than half a foot off the ground. The only time I really dislike my car is in the winter time just because it’s terrible to drive in the snow. But at the same time, I’d hate to get a newer car because my car insurance would go up, and it’s so low right now that it would be hard to beat. I wish there was a way to get auto insurance quotes on cars without ending up with the hassle of insurance companies calling to talk to you about it later. But it seems like you can’t inquire about much online without someone calling you. Very annoying.

Well, I started my new job yesterday. I think things went well. There’s a lot of information to take in, but I think it’s mostly just a matter of remembering things. Hopefully, it shouldn’t be too hard. I like to think I’m a quick learner. We use CorelDraw there, and it doesn’t seem to be too difficult. I think it mostly has the same features as Adobe Illustrator. They just seem to be named differently, so I think it will just be a matter of getting the hang of the program. Overall, I think I’ll like it. :)

Today I watched more of HGTV than I have in months. Now I think I remember why I don’t watch it often. I watched a couple of shows where they redesigned rooms, and this one room was just ridiculous. The woman said she wanted something sophisticated and girly. Well, they decided to paint the walls two different shades of pink, but on camera it looked like pink and orange and nothing in the room seemed to go together. It makes me wonder what some of these designers are thinking.

It’s also kind of depressing to watch super rich people spend insane amounts of money on decorating just one room. The other day I was doing a little research for one of my stories, and I needed a house to sort of reference for the look I had in mind. I spent a lot of time just looking, and it was kind of amazing how many houses I looked at had home theaters. And I’m not talking just a big screen TV, but the actual theater seating, home theater lighting and the whole shebang. It was really kind of amazing. What I wouldn’t give to live like that.

I feel so icky today. Well, I have for the last couple of days. My throat and eyes are all itchy. I’m not sure what brought this on. I think maybe it’s because it got really hot in here the other night while I was sleeping. I woke up with the dry throat, and when I tried to speak before drinking anything, I basically made a croaking noise. Very attractive, I’m sure.

I’m starting a new job this week. Well, technically, I’ve already started, but I’ve just done some stuff from home. I’m going in either today or tomorrow to look at the programs they use in the office, so that will be interesting. I’m charging up my iPod now just in case. I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed to listen to it there or not, but I want to be prepared just in case. I don’t work that well in silence. I either like to listen to music or an audio book while I’m working. I think it keeps my brain from going numb from staring at the computer screen for so long.

I’m off to take something for the headache I feel coming on, and then I need some eyedrops for my itchy eyes.

Today was my grandma’s birthday, and we had a dinner for her. My mom made potato soup, and it was really good – and that’s really saying something since I typically don’t care for it. And we also had chips and lunch meat for sandwiches. My mom made a caramel apple cake. Cakes seem to be her specialty. She likes to experiment with them. Most of the time they turn out pretty good, but there have been a few botched efforts, such as the Kool Aid cake.

After we ate and the presents were opened, my mom, Allyson and I went to Goodwill, TJ Maxx and Kohls. I found a cute shirt at TJ Maxx, and a couple of pairs of shoes at Kohls. I also went shopping yesterday and got a shirt at Maurice’s before I stopped by Sears to pick up a gift card for my grandma’s birthday.

I really need to buy some new make-up. I’ve been trying to take care of my skin, washing it at night – especially when I’ve been wearing make-up, and then moisturizing with some facial lotion. I almost bought a blackhead remover while I was at Target yesterday. I know that Clean and Clear has a product for that, but sometimes that brand dries out my skin, so I was kind of reluctant to get it. I might go to Wal-Mart tomorrow and see if I can find some other brand for the same thing, and see about buying some new foundation while I’m at it. I’ve almost spent all of my birthday money, which is just kind of depressing.

On a completely random note, I burnt my tongue eating the potato soup today and it hurts.

I had the absolute worst case of heart burn in my entire life earlier. I guess it would right to say yesterday, technically, but who’s counting? It really bad. I just wanted to cry. It just felt like my entire chest was burning, and I got all hot and sweaty. I even went outside for a few minutes just to try to cool down. Finally, I came back inside and sprawled out on my bed in the dark, and after maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, it went away.

I have no doubt it was a direct result from the chili I had for dinner. I thought it was kind of spicy, and even as I was eating, I was afraid this might happen. Usually I’m not too bothered by spicy food, but I had a bout with heart burn a few weeks ago. This time definitely overshadowed the last, but it was scary and uncomfortable. I was half afraid I was having a heart attack or something, which is just ridiculous.

I hope I’m not getting acid reflux like my mom has. She can’t eat any kind of peppers, which wouldn’t be a problem for me since I avoid them anyway, but even so, it’s just not something I want to deal with.

But it has got me thinking about my health, and I’m thinking about going back on Weight Watchers and possible going on alli as well. I read before that the Weight Watchers diet is compatible with alli. I think since alli helps speed along the weight loss it might help out a lot because my biggest problem with dieting or trying to eat healthier is that I tend to get frustrated when I don’t see any results. Then the fatty foods that I usually crave start to win over again and I give up.

I guess I’ll just have to see. It’s really all a matter of money, but that’s the story of my life.