Got my hopes up... dang.

I've got a bad habit of getting too excited about something, or expecting something that's not really going to happen. This then leads to me getting my hopes up. Depending on the situation, I'm either upset, annoyed, or just kind of 'whatever' about it. But this time... it was kind of a big deal to me.

My manager was going to be moving up in the ranks, from her current position of just manager to an operations manager, over seeing many other managers and stores and employees. And naturally, I was going to be the one replacing her. Now, this was only going to be temporary, maybe. It was all up in the air. The operations manager she would be filling in for is out on medical leave. And with me "taking her place", I would be, but wouldn't be at the same time. I would have all the responsibilities of her job title and run the department; but, since it's only temporary, they couldn't technically call me a 'manager'. Anyways...

With this "temporary promotion", I was promised a $1.00 raise. Nothing to jump up and down about, but enough to smile about and feel like a tiny weight is lifted off my shoulders. Hey, a $1 more an hour translates into a couple bills getting paid, which means there might be more to put in savings. Every little bit helps, and God knows Justin and I relish every little bit.

Of course I told him right away about this lovely raise. And of course he was almost as excited as myself. We both were already looking ahead in our financial future. After all, him being at this new job is already going to be super for us. But both of us making more money? Jackpot! Maybe we'd actually be able to take a vacation in the next 10 years, maybe 15?

But those dreams are not put on hold. At work today, my manager gets a call... and as I'm standing there listening in (sorta), I can already tell it isn't pretty. I knew before she told me. 'I'm not going to need to fill in for M (the current ops manager). They're postponing her surgery, and she's going to come back to work. They'll let me know what's going on in a week.' Automatically, I was SO bummed. This meant she wasn't leaving. So, I wasn't getting "promoted". No promotion = no raise. Great. JUST GREAT. I guess it happens...

Hopefully M will be okay and fight through her illness and whatever else is going on. Please pray for her, because it involves her brain and is pretty serious.

But aside from that... maybe one day I'll get the opportunity again. Or just find a new, better paying job. Either one.

Oh, and a little side note. Yesterday I got some wonderful news. Nothing related to work. More so related to school. Basically, some professors still have hearts and actually care about their students. I got a lovely, second-chance phone call that made me smile. I'll never be able to thank him enough. SUCH a lifesaver.

So the past two days have been bittersweet. And to top it all off, on the sweet side, Justin hit the 40 hour mark yesterday. So everything he makes today is overtime. To us, this is amazing news. Now THAT makes me smile. (& there's nothing sexier than my honey man walking in the door, all sweaty and dirty, with jeans that have some holes and worn-out boots. He works hard for us, and I LOVE him for it. If he didn't smell and dirt wasn't caked onto him, I'd attack him as soon as he walked in the door ;-))

The shower incident AND Thanksgiving in June.

Last night while I was in the shower, I got the scare of my life. I was finishing up,rinsing my hair out, kind of hurrying so I could check on dinner (see below). All of a sudden, I hear this loud POP sound, almost like a gunshot. It caught me off guard and made me jump so bad that I slipped and had to catch myself (luckily I did) on the side of the bathtub.

I had no idea what the noise was - at first. As I got up off of the bathtub floor, scared out of my mind, I looked around. What did I find? My shaving cream, somewhat exploded. The cap had popped off by itself, hence the noise. So, once my heart beat slowed down and I was able to compose myself, I rinsed off my shaving cream and put the cap back on. I thought nothing else of it. Because I'm an airhead.

Now, in all the years I've kept shaving cream IN the shower, this has never once happened. Never. NO matter how steamy or hot the bathroom or whatever. So, I found it odd that this happened so randomly. Now I've learned my lesson.

After my shower, as I was brushing my hair, I heard the pop again. This time, I knew what it was. The sound made me jump, but I didn't get terrified thinking it was gunshots this time. So I looked over and this is what I saw:

Some serious explosion, right? And you bet I left the mess there to show Justin and tell him about the scary situation I was in ;-).

For dinner yesterday, I made a turkey. A 10lb turkey to be exact. Just for the two of us. Reason? Well, we've had it in our freezer for about 6 months. We received it free around the holidays. Now that Justin isn't trucking anymore, we decided a few days ago to take it out to thaw and that we'd eat it in a few days (yesterday).

Obviously, it's not Thanksgiving. Something weird about me, though - I crave turkey dinners all the time. No joke. More times than not, when I go to a restaurant that serves some sort of turkey/Thanksgiving style dinner, I order it. I'm not even too sure why; I just enjoy the foods, and it kind of makes me think of the holidays? Comforting, I guess. So anyways, since the turkey I prepared was the very first turkey I've ever made by myself, I was very careful. I used the turkey sized oven bags, seasoned it deliciously, and was extremely careful with each step.

To go with it, to complete to "holiday" feeling I felt, I decided to go all out, kind of. Homemade mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, green beans, and stuffing. Keep in mind it was just the two of us. Smart me, though, made small portions of each. Nothing went to waste thank goodness.

And let me tell you... everything came out wonderful! Surely I gave myself a few pats on the back. The turkey- perfect! My first one, a success. Only bummer about the dinner? We didn't get to enjoy it until pretty late. Justin got off work late, then had to sit in traffic for over an hour to get home. But it was worth it when he made it here.

(Again, I forgot to take a picture. I'll catch on someday and remember to take pictures of everything).

Mr.Sun, where are you?

The weather here in Southern California the last couple weeks has been gloomy, to say the least. It's almost depressing. Hmph. Mr.Sun has only managed to peek out from behind the overcast sky all but a few times. And I'm the type of person that whether I want it to or not, the weather slightly effects my mood. Not negatively, like depression, per say; it just makes me... blah. You get the idea. I don't even like the heat. No, I HATE it. Yet, at the same time, I still need sunshine in my life!

Funny thing is, I only remember one day the it actually rained, and it was only a tiny bit for a tiny bit of time. Doesn't count. It's just plain old GLOOMY. So what's the purpose of the clouds? Can someone explain? Oh, and, odd -- it's June. Here. And it's been almost 20 degrees below average. Not too happy about that!

(Call me slow, but I heard the weather man call it 'June Gloom'. Didn't know they had a name for it? This happens every year? Where have I been?)

Kinda puts a damper on summer. Stupid sun, you big chicken. Okay. I'm done whining about the weather. Promise.

Justin has officially been back "living" at home everyday for a week now. Of course he always lived here. But when someone is gone for 2-3 weeks, comes home for a couple days, then leaves again, it feels more like they're visiting. And that they don't live there. But anyways, it's been a week. Today was his first official day at his new job. So excited for him (and us!).

A little weirdness, though - it's taking a little longer than I thought to adjust to him being back home every night. I miss my Sancho. He was pretty bummed to find out Justin wasn't going to be on the road anymore. Oh well.

KIDDING, of course!! Jeez. But no, really. Little things like making dinner every night again, for TWO people instead of just myself (Because even when he would come home for a couple days, we'd usually eat out. Shame on us, right?). Or doing laundry other than just my own. Even getting a goodnight kiss each night again. Don't get me wrong, I love doing all of the above listed (especially that last one ;-)), and they're things I've done from the beginning of our relationship... but it's still sorta kinda weird.

Nevertheless, I'm the happiest girl alive. Well, the happiest alive girl that I'm familiar with. So sue me. SO blessed to have him back home with me. He was only trucking for a few months (I know, I can be a drama queen. I make it seem like he was gone for years), but it felt like FOREVER and ever. I honestly have so much respect and compassion for the women who's husbands and boyfriends leave them for months at a time. I couldn't do it, I don't think..

The other night, Justin's Mom and sisters spent the night. They slept in the spare bedroom. But they made one big mistake before going to bed. Something I had previously warned them about.

They left their shoes/sandals in the living room. At night. When our puppy Hustler does any dirty work he has planned. He probably saw those shoes before everyone went to bed and thought, YUM. Snack time! I so wish I had a picture to show you. For some reason I forgot to take one.

They weren't mad, really. With one look at Hustler's face, you simply can't be mad. His Mom's shoes survived the attack and are still wearable. The sisters luckily had spare shoes and went across the street to the shoe store to buy more sandals. ...I had to giggle about it, though. Like I said, I did warn them. We learned from day one - keep shoes in closet when not on feet. No ifs, ands or buts.

Speaking of which, and this is the honest truth, Hustler is actually chewing on a pair of Justin's shoes that he claimed a few weeks ago, as I type this. Justin took them off next to the dresser, went on the computer... and it was too late. I laughed then, too. {I didn't laugh, however, when we had to go to the store and pay an arm and a leg for new shoes because Justin is the pickiest guy I've. Ever. Met. ...Seriously.}

I'm looking forward to this coming weekend. My dad and brother are coming to visit. They'll be staying with my Grandparent's about 30 minutes away from me house. My aunt is planning a nice father's day dinner as well. Something to look forward to! =)

I never cease to surprise myself.

The last week or so have been hectic, to say the least. I'm not able to recall the last time (recently) I was able to relax (using the word loosely). Between researching and writing two essays, studying my butt off for my math final, working, and just doing day-to-day things, life's been crazy. As I'm sure you can tell from the previous blog.

Yet things just got a whole lot better. Seriously. In more ways than one. I just want to jump up and down for joy. There's been a big cheesy smile on my face for, uh, the whole damn day. Nothing's better than smiling after not having much to smile about lately.

Why am I oh-so-happy? A few reasons actually. The one most important to me involves Justin. If you read the last post, you know that he came home this weekend. But it didn't happen the way I thought. Put it this way - he's great at surprises and keeps secrets well. The opposite of me. But anyways, Friday night through Saturday I spoke to him on the phone every few hours or so, like normal. All day Saturday, my Aunt and I were hanging out. We did lunch at Corner Bakery, went to an art/craft/jewlrey show in Irvine, then went to my Grandparents for dinner. All in all, an amazing day. I called Justin on my way home, of course. I was under the impression he was up north somewhere.

Well, when I walked in the door... I knew immediately he'd been there. There was a clean puppy training pad on the floor; the kitchen light was on; the laptop screen was open with the virus scan running. My stomach got butterflies. Not the first time he's pulled something like this. He loves to get me thinking one thing, then surprise me and make me go all girly and happy. I thought maybe he was hiding somewhere. Nope, nowhere to be found. So I called him.

"Me: Hey babe. So I know you were here. You left a trail. Where are you? Did you go to run an errand? I'm so happy you're home! I want to see you NOW! (and yes I said it just like that. I was so happy it sounded like one run-on sentence).

Him: Oh, yeah, shit. Didn't mean to leave that stuff on, I was in a hurry. I'm not there anymore. I was able to stop by real quick on the way to my next stop in San Diego. Sorry babe. Didn't mean to get your hopes up.

Me: Yeah, right. I'm not falling for it, honestly. There's NO way you can go from up north to San Diego that fast. Impossible. And you didnt tell me about any load going to San Diego. I know you're somewhere around here, probably sitting in you truck...

Him: No, I'm really in San Diego babe. I just got here. I won't be home for a couple days."

This went back and forth for about five minutes or so, with him trying to convince me he wasn't in town, and with me telling him I'm not stupid, until finally he told me his Mom was calling and he would call me back. Right then the front door opened. Ahh, it was SO great to hug and kiss him. I love him and his surprises, even if I did figure it out. He told me he was kicking himself in the ass for not remembering to hide the evidence. Silly guys, they never remember the obvious.

Us, right after he got home.

Okay, another (major) thing making me happy... i passed my math class. All my hard work, hours of homework, hours of being tutored, and actually pretending to care about math payed off. The grades were actually posted online last night, but silly me forgot to check and went to bed. So naturally the first thing I did this morning when I woke up? Checked me grade. Problem? The website was down. Crap. So I was forced to wait until I got off work. But when I did check... I saw the big letter C and couldnt help but shriek like a teenage girl. SUCH a wonderful feeling. Now I can move on with life no longer freaking out about math. Until September, at least.

Another AWESOME thing happened yesterday as well. This goes along with Justin coming home. I had mentioned in the previous post that the reason he was coming home was a great one, but I didnt want to get my hopes up. Well, turns out I didn't. What was the reason? His brother has been trying to get him a job where he works (construction - good money, great hours, and he'd be home every night with me!). Justin came home to go to the interview for said job... and he got the job!! Go ahead, jump up and down with me! This means not only will he back home with me everyday, but he'll be making a lot more money, which we desperatly need right now. He starts this week. Yes =)

PERFECT. LIFE'S GOOD.

I leave you with a couple of the cutest pictures you've ever seen. I simply love them to death. Here's why:

(King Wasabi)

(Wasabi beating up Hustler. Actually, they play, and it's quite cute!)

This will forever gross me out, yet I still kiss him. I have to, I guess you could say (hehehe ;-))

I wish I could be in two places at once.

"Stressed" doesn't even begin to cover the state of mine I'm in. Nope, not even close. Here's a recap of what I've got going on, just for school:

• a 5 page essay for English based on an evaluation of a documentary. I've not yet started this. It's due in a week. Freak out time? The farthest I've gotten was watching the film. And I need to watch it again. And probably again after that. Just to successfully write the paper.


• an 8 page paper for Business class based on any one company in the New York Stock Exchange (there are hundreds and hundreds!). I have NO idea how to go about choosing one. I'm at a loss. The paper has to be a certain format, must include graphs, charts, stuff like that, and include all the information required by the teacher.


• my math final. Not prepared for this one bit. A friend tutored me this morning. Helped... a little maybe? Let's hope my brain can retain what we went over. You don't understand, I SUCK horribly at math, and that's probably an understatement. How I passed previous math course, I have no idea...

Now, to some of you wiz kids, this is all no big deal. A breeze, even. (Cool, wanna do it for me?). For me, this workload is racking my brain. I'm overwhelmed and don't even know where to start/continue/end, whatever. Hence the reason I'm taking a break, to blog. Writing may be my super strength, but not this time. What to do, what to do...

On a happier note, if there is one, Justin is coming home Monday (the latest Tuesday). There's a reason why he's coming home this time. (Not just to see me because he missed me oh-so-much. Darn.). The reason is a wonderful one, one in which I'm not going to share until we know for sure. Don't want to get my hopes up or jinx it; I'm good at doing that. But here's a hint- it could involve him not staying at his current job. Yay! Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Life is just CRAZY. And that's not an exaggeration, promise. Sitting here complaining will not solve anything. So I'll move on. On to what I miss most (besides Justin, of course). My family. Family meaning, Mom, step dad, Dad, step mom, brother and sister. They're all in Las Vegas, where I'm from. I would give my left arm to be able to take a little road trip (it's only 4.5 hours from here- not bad!) to see them. It would be a nice little escape, even for just a couple days. And plus, last time I was there was two months ago, to be in a friends wedding, so not much time was spent with family. That was a bummer.

My little brother Zach, who's 12, is the one I miss the most. He's always telling me how well he's doing in school and baseball (his team has only lost one game! I'm proud of him!)... and how much he misses me. My face always turns into a little frown after talking to him. Oh, and Dad of course. I'm SUCH a daddy's girl. Well, used to be anyways... but I just have to remind myself that I'm grown up, on my own. No one said things would be easy. I should just be thankful they're 4.5 hours away by car and not a 4.5 hour plane ride!


Living here, in California, I've got friends that will say "we're going to Vegas! Woohoo! Gonna go clubbin' and bar hoppin' and see this show and that show". Yet to me, it's NO BIG DEAL, obviously. I grew up there, lived there almost my entire life. I've seen it all (almost). Actually, when you live there, like I did, going to The Strip is something you only do when you're REALLY bored and there's no house party or just something better happening that night. Other than that, it's strictly a tourist destination. "Your vacation, my home" as some put it. Oh how I miss it. Kind of. Have to admit, when I was there for the wedding, I did go to a couple clubs and partied it up. And it was a blast! I guess it's because now, I'm kind of a tourist as well...