Since I've Been Gone....

I really suck for not keeping up with my blog more. But life has become busy and frustrating lately.

Unfortunately I am still unemployed. I have had a few job interviews, but when over 200 people apply for one part-time postion, it is hard to get a job. Also my former employer has been badmouthing me to potential employers so I am trying to deal with that. I have not given up hope at all of finding a job. I need one desperately so that I can finish school and I know there is one out there for me somewhere. (PS if you know where let me know, lol)

Everyone is in good health. Mom had a scare a few weeks ago with some muscle weakness in her hips and was having trouble walking. They determined it was a fibromyalgia flare up and readjusted her medicine accordingly. I have been doing pretty well too. With the abnormally warmer weather we have been having this winter, I have not gotten as sick as I have in winters past.

I have begun to coupon more in hopes to save us some more money. In the span of two months I have saved $400 in coupons and have a full bathroom closet. We have enough body wash, shaving cream, razors, pain medication, cold medicine, etc to last for quite a while which will help bring our monthly costs down. I may have gone a bit crazy at the beggining but I have slowly come down to Earth and am now only buying what we truly need. I am however not allowed to bring home anymore hair color because I have enough to last for 1 year, lol.

I hope to write on here more. It is cheaper than therapy and helps get out my frustrations.

26 things about me....

1. I am obsessed with lip gloss/lip balm. I have tubes of it everywhere in our house and my car. I can not leave home without it.

2. I can go days without ever using my cellphone. As a young person I feel like I should be attatched to it 24/7 but I am not.

3. I am a homebody. I do love getting together with friends but I would rather have a low key night rather than go out to the clubs.

4. I love politics. I watch CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, and C-Span 2 pretty regularly. My dream job is wanting to be a political journalist.

5. I love to write. I write short stories, children's books, and poems all the time. I have a compostition notebook full of ideas and I just keep adding to them.

6. I love all things Disney. They are some of my absolute favorite movies and I can watch them over and over again without getting bored.

7. I love watching old black and white films. I love anything by the Marx Brothers and put Casablanca and His Girl Friday at the top of my favorite movies list.

8. I can not play video games to save my life. I am okay at the few Nintendo DS games I have but anything else I suck at.

9. I am a music hoarder. I love music, almost all kinds (no rap or heavy metal). I have shelves full of cds and records.

10. I am the same way with books. They have completely taken over all the empty spaces in my room. I love anything from the classics to contemporary authors.

11. I am weird and love doing laundry and handwashing dishes. I have no clue why but I love these two chores.

12. I buy a t-shirt everytime I go someplace new. I find them to be the perfect souvenier and wear them a lot to school and around town. I have accumulated quite a few. My favorite is one from Paula Deen's restuarant The Lady and Sons, that has a chicken on the back with the phrase "tastes like butter".

13. My cousin, Melinda, is one of my best friends in the entire world and I do not tell her that often enough.

14. I have come to a realization that I will never be a size two but that I want to be as healthy as I can be. I have lost 40lbs since January and gone down 3 pant sizes. This is the only body I get so I want it to look good and last awhile.

15. I miss my dance class days. Those girls were the best friends a gal could ask for and never judged me for being pudgier.

16. I am still very angry about the people who fired me from my last job. There was something weird going on at that company and the reason they got rid of me was ridiculous. But I am grateful for the friends I made there and the job skills I learned.

17. My first real rock concert was in 2005 when I was 20 years old. I went to Bon Jovi's Have a Nice Day Tour, and even though they looked like tiny ants on the stage it was the best experience of my life.

18. I have never truly been in love. I have loved people, but have never been IN love with them.

19. I can not draw to save my life. It always sucked growing up because my mom is an amazing artists, although I can do math in my head quicker than she can.

20. I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. It was really bad during my high school years and for the most part has subsided recently. It will still creep up on my if I am super stressed out.

21. I have very curly, very frizzy hair that only recently have I learned to control. I grew up hating my hating my hair and always wanted to change it. Now that I have learned to control it I would not change it for the world.

22. I am not very good at arts and crafts, expect scrapbooking.

23. I can recite every single line from the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies

24. I have a huge crush on Russell Brand and am not afraid to admit it.

25. Growing up my nickname was "Snow White" since I had very dark hair, rosy cheeks, and bright red lips.

26. I do not regret anything from my life as each moment, both good and bad, have helped shape who I am today.

"Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me"

When I was a little girl I not only dreamed of being a princess or a ballerina, but I also dreamed that I wouls one day be a pirate. I had an obsession with Captain Hook from Peter Pan. He was my hero even though he was the bad guy. What can I say I always loved the bad boys.

As I grew up Pirates slipped into the back of mind until one faithful day in 2003 when my best friend Julie called me up to see if I wanted to see a movie. It was a tradition of ours on Tuesdays to go see a movie as our local theater offered half price admissions and free popcorn. We had seen pratically everything that was out except for the new Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Neither of us were thrilled about the movie but figured it had Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom so we would have eye candy. We were both pleasantly surprised at how much we loved it. It was action packed, suspenseful, and funny. Plus Captain Jack Sparrow was one of the best characters I had seen in awhile. We left the movie full of spirit and my love of Pirates was reborn.

I have been to the Midnight showings for the next three installments of the film, and have been that crazy fan girl at Walmart, at midnight, when they released the DVD's. When the new one comes out I will be there as well. My family indulges my Pirates love with many pirates themed merchandise for holidays. I have also gotten very into reading about pirates from all over the world and across different time spans.

So next time I have not updated for awhile you might want to check the Black Pearl to see if I have joined Captain Jack for one of his adventures.

"I Remember"

I remember the day we first met over 21 years ago. I was four and you were five, and we were in your backyard playing on the swingset. I had come over with Julie to meet your sister and you happened to be outside. We played for awhile before you found out that I had a brand new swing set with a glider and a see saw, and proclaimed me to be your new best friend. We played for hours until our parents called us in for dinner.

I remember all the fun times we had in the summers. Swimming at the community pool, where if I recall you always pushed me off the diving board or off the side. We would play baseball, capture the flag, and ghost in the graveyard until we were too tired to move. You always picked me on your team, since that was the only way I would ever play.

I remember all the fun times we used to have in the cold winter months as well. Sitting in your basement playing games of "life", "clue", and "monopoly". I remember the night you taught me how to cheat at poker, and the night you mooned me for beating you at "clue".

I remember all the times you would hang out with me when your sister would bail out on our plans. We watched a lot of movies together that way.

I remember being in elementary school and having the huge sleepovers at your house. We would sleep near each other to talk during the night, but I always felt safe with you by my side.

I remember the bad times as well. Like the time you were hit by a motorcycle, I was scared to death that you were going to die. Imagine my relief when you turned out to be just fine.

I remember the day I realized that I liked you as more than just a friend. It was right after my dad had passed away and you wrote the simplest note in a beautiful card. It brought so much comfort to me, and I pull it out on occassion when I need a little lift me up.

I remember when I heard you were moving away, I should, it was just the other day. I wish you the best of luck on whatever it is you feel you need to go out and find. But in my deepest heart I have hope that years from now I will have newer "I remembers" to add to this list.

"When Life Gives You Lemons......

........... squeeze them into a glass of vodka"

This is a quote my friend e-mailed me after a particularly rough day. I had been called on my first job interview in weeks and I was filled with so much promise. It was one of the worst interviews I had ever been on in my life. She frowned when I told her I was unemployed and got defensive toward me when I told her that I was working on finishing my degree. I can understand that school would create some scheduling conflicts but I have never been on an interview for a part-time job where it was that big of a problem. She never asked me about any previous job experience, expect "have you ever worked before" and she had me out of her office in less than five minutes.

I felt like a piece of garbage tossed to the curb. Like she had no interest in me at all. I am starting to realize that it might be a blessing that I did not get that job since she seemed like a difficult person to work with.

It just frustrates me because I have been working so hard to get back to work. I put in tons of applications either to be led on only to be told that they filled the position from within or I never hear back from the company. I realize that it is tough out there for jobs but something has to give.

Thanks for letting me vent.

100 Books in 6 Months, A Challange to Myself.

Tonight I was thinking about how much I used to read. I could go through a book a day when I was in my hay day. Then I started working full time and going to school full time and I had no time to do any pleasure reading. My list of books I want to read has gotten very long so I decided to issue myself a challange. I am going to try and read 100 books between May 6, 2011 and November 6, 2011, six months. I am a little daunted by the number of books since that means I have to read at least 16 books a month, something that I have not done in a while.

I figure while I look for a job and work on getting things together for school it will be something to keep my mind fresh.

I will keep everyone updates on how things are going and what books I am reading. It actually gives me some good things to blog about as well.

100 Books, 6 months booklist
1. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger


Wish me luck!!!!!

"Ohana means family.....

...and family means no one gets left behind" Stitch in Lilo and Stitch.

I have to say that this is one of my favorite quotes from a recent Disney film. It speaks so highly about my family and how we are. My family is very tight knit. Besides just my mom and my dad, when he was still around, the rest of my immediate family is very close. They are the ones who keep me grounded and encourage me to follow my dreams. They are always there when I need a helping hand or just someone to talk to. So today I am going to introduce you to a few of my family members.

We will start with my mom. She is the best mom a girl could ask for. I would not say we were best friends but as I have gotten older we have formed a type of friendship. We are a little like Lorelai and Rory Gilmore from the Gilmore Girls. At times I feel as if I am the adult in the situation, just like Rory did at times. I can talk to her about almost anything and we share a love of both music and movies. She supports my crazy obsessions, Pirates of the Caribbean and Vampires come to mind.

She has always filled our house with love and warmth. She was a stay at home mom for the first 10 years of my life. She was active in the schools and at my dance studio but never hovered like I saw other parents do. She was not afraid to let me fall and make my own mistakes. Even when she returned to work, as a substitute in the schools, I never felt like I was missing anything by her not being home all day long. She would make special time for me on weekends and we would have a girl's night out once a month.

A few years ago she suddenly became very ill and I was terrified we would lose her. She was constantly tired and fell down a lot. Once they hospitalized her for a week and finally figured out what was wrong. In combination with her fibromyalgia, it was discovered that her body was not absorbing fat soluble vitamins and she had low blood pressure. Today she is back to her normal self and I could not be more grateful.

Today she is retired and keeps up with her hobbies of knitting, sewing, and reading. She is in good health and has done a great job of keeping me sane during some troubling times.

Next we will talk about my dad. He was an amazing father and I miss him every single day. There were times that we did not get along at all, but that is pretty normal for fathers and daughters at times. The amount of door slamming in our house at that time was huge, but even when he was angry with me, I always knew he loved me. My high school years were very trying on him but we came out on the other side closer than ever.

Growing up I felt very lucky because my Dad's job allowed him to attend many events during the day. he worked for an insurance comapny and could make his own hours, chosing when he did his inspections. My friends were always so impressed that he was there.

He occassionaly did have to go out of town for a few days every once in awhile since the company he worked for was located a few hours away. He would always bring me back a small gift, usually a barbie. It was not until years later that he confessed he would just stop off at the drug store at the end of our street and pick one up before coming home. It never made it any less special just typical of my dad.

He retired when I was in the sixth grade and had a few part-time jobs to keep himself from going crazy. He worked at a bank for a short time and a factory that boxed up medical supplies.

When he had his heart surgery back in 2001, I thought for sure we would lose him. It took several weeks of actually seeing him get better for me to realize that he was out of the woods. I remember very clearly about the day he came home after spending seven weeks in the hospital, the excitement to have him home everyday was big. He did eventually return to work part-time and I even worked for him. A good friend of his owned a mailing store and made my dad manager. When I was 18 his boss asked me to work there as well. It was frustrating at first since my dad had to train me and watched over my shoulder every minute but as we went along it got better and better.

We did drift apart for awhile, not doing things together as much. Especially after I got my liscense and went out with friends more and more. Then when he got sick in 2007 and was placed in a rehab care facility, I made sure to spend more time with him. My mom and I went together nearly everyday. I would go on my own Friday nights and we would have pizza for dinner and watch movies I would take with me. We always had the aides and nurses stopping in to join in on the fun.

As a family we did lots of things together. We always went away somewhere on Spring Break, mostly Niagra Falls. We would take road trips to Amish Country and Columbus to visit the zoo. We spent many summer days at Sea World when we had one here in Ohio.