The Art & Wine Walk - Bismarck

Was actually freaking cool and totally unexpected from what I've seen happening in the area. Gave me a great new perspective.

21 vendors, each with a different wine and challenged to pair it up with something delicious. Which they did! My favorites were McManis Petit Sirah with CHOCOLATE, anything chocolate. TOTALLY made the wine amazing! A close second was the Tosti Proseco with Cheesecake Gelato… fucking amazeballs.

So the following vendors were involved:

Baga with 14 Hands Chardonnay

Blarney Stone with Goosebump Red Blend

JLG Architects with McManis Petit Sirah

Peacock Alley with Tosti Prosecco

Laughing Sun with their local microbrews (not wine – which I appreciated)

Lillian’s with Ste. Chapelle Soft Red

Soul Interiors with Dona Paula Los Cardos Sauvignon Blanc

MickArt Studio with Main Street Winery Cabernet

Magic Photo Art with Once Upon A Vine Pinot Noir

Life Expressions Family Chiropractic with Cupcake Moscato

Kittson with Girl Go Lightly Rose (and an awesome deal on a purse)

Woodmansee’s (www.woodmansees.com) with Boxhead Winemakers Cabernet Sauvignon and an AMAZING lay out of food

Impact Gallery & Gifts  with Dona Paula Los Cardos Malbec

Lot 2029 with Seven Daughters Pinot Grigio

CC’s Feminine Fitness with Ritzman Riesling

Right on Broadway with Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier

Annex 208 with Sledgehammer Forged Red

Hey Ocean with Tosti Pink Moscato

Accelerate Health Chiropractic with 14 Hands Hot to Trot White Blend

The Scarlet Gypsy with Red Heads Studio Yard Dog Red and AWESOME meatballs with a Tomato Basil coating.

Rhythm Records with Boxhead Winemakers Shiraz

Overall an AMAZING evening with tons of snacks, foods, and deserts paired with amazing alcohol.

I was highly pleased and really hoping to win that trip to vegas since I entered the drawing by going to each vendor and getting a stamp. It was a great way to get to know some of the shops that we drive past every day and don’t ever take the time to stop into. I definitely will now! That is fo’sure!

So this is my little list in case I ever lose my little passport that is full of stamps :-)

Jesus Shoes

It’s a good thing I don’t need/want an abortion in this state. Thanks to old white men that make the laws so that women have no rights to make a choice.

It’s a good thing I’m not homosexual in this state. Thanks to old white men pushing the “moral code” in this state.

It’s a good thing I have a state job with excellent benefits, not thanks to old white men in this state. Since part of my coverage is for “reproductive medicine” and I shit you not, “God forbid you have to use it to get pregnant”. The rolling theme out here is, “if you’re meant to have a child you will, if not, you won’t”. For the old white men in this state “trying” means having sex in the only approved position of missionary and only when necessary to procreate. To have my PCOS covered, I have to fight with the insurance, usually weekly, saying it’s treatment for PCOS not fertility drugs. Even though, technically, they ARE fertility drugs, they are being used for me, to treat PCOS.

And even with all of this political crap going on telling people here how to live their lives and what is and isn't “okay”, the final straw for me, was the old white man in the elevator.

This is going to sound dumb. With all the major issues listed above… but for me… it was IT! The crazy part was, it wasn't even ME.

Coworker, walks into elevator, with an old white man with cowboy boots on (approved wear out here), along with two secretaries.

Old White Man: I didn’t know it was okay to wear Jesus shoes to work at the capital.

Co-worker: excuse me?

Old White Man: Your shoes! I was unaware that it was acceptable to wear those types of shoes at the capital when you work here.

Co-worker: Well, they match.

Old White Man: You know, I thought if you worked here it was understood that you should dress professionally. Where do you work that it’s okay for you to dress this way?

Co-worker: The ***** department…

Old White Man: Well then, I’ll have to talk to ***** Commissioner about that…very unacceptable, I’m sure he is unaware.

Co-worker: okay… (jumps off elevator)

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?

My immediate response was, “well, if they’re good enough for Jesus then who are you to criticize” and “who the fuck do you think you are”

But this all shows my total lack of professionalism and i-couldn't-give-a-fuck attitude. It’s been plaguing me all morning. I want to find this old man and find out who the fuck he thinks he is to tell an older woman wearing very cute, professional-ish sandals to work (which is part of the APPROVED DRESS CODE OF 

THE ENTIRE FUCKING CAPITAL, NOT JUST OUR DEPARTMENT) what she should and shouldn't be wearing.

You want more professional looking employees.

PAY THEM MORE THAN THEY CAN MAKE WORKING AT MC DONALDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m on the lookout for this ass clown, can’t WAIT to give him a piece of my mind. My co-worker may cower to men like him but I find “men” like him disgusting.

Rant over, for now. 

A week without Pecker

I wait in complete anticipation for weeks like this week.

Pecker is out of the office and on the road. It only happens every six weeks so next week the next count down will begin. It’s not that I hate him, feel like he’s a horrid human being (though I have heard from others that he is indeed a horrid human being), or anything like that. It’s just that he’s beyond fucking annoying.

The way he answers the phone, the way he’s constantly spelling out his name (which is one of the easiest names of our department to understand he does not NEED to do it), and how fucking LOUD he is. HIS VOICE BOOMS across the entire department. If anyone around his area is on the phone he gets event LOUDER, as if he has to talk over them too! He already talks over the people he is on the phone to… it’s just an everyday aggravation. And now that we have all shifted cubicles thanks to a layout change… I’m even CLOSER to the source of the annoying noise that is his voice.

I’m just overall irritated by him.

But when he’s gone…. And the office is silent…. I hear other shit going on that pissed me the fuck off. Now, I’m not MODEL employee. But I get my work done, I don’t keep others from getting theirs done, and I’m nice to everyone. And yet, these women bug the living SHIT out of me. They come in at 7 am so they can leave early at 4. Phones are on from 8-5. So while the rest of us are here during that time and a little longer they get to be off the phones for a total of two hours every. Damn. Day. The rest of us work 730-5 or even 7-5 so that ONE day a week we can come in late or leave early…. These women, who are the RECEPTIONISTS, IE THE PEOPLE YOU SEE WHEN YOU WALK INTO OUR SECTION… are GONE for the last hour of the day. When they are here in the morning… they are sitting the aisle between their desk CHATTING. No work being done. I came in a few times at 7 to get work done before Pecker got in so I could work in the silence… but no, those two are chatting it up for up to an hour some days!!!! None of the bosses are here til almost 830 and they do knock it off once an authority figure gets here. But how fucking rude. You see that I’m back here WORKING and you’re seriously going to sit there and chat about someone’s wedding. You take fucking break together, which they should not since someone needs to man the front desk, talk about it then! ON TOP of them talking I have a ditz on the other side of my cubicle wall who will chat with Pecker and call her sister to talk and then her son to give him the weather report. I don’t think she even does WORK until 9 am… but she’ll be here at 7 so she can leave at 4… more time off the phones.

I’m just a little pissy today. Cause it seems like everyone is getting away with shit and my manager who I love dearly does not seem to want to lay down the law and enforce that this shit needs to stop. Get to fucking WORK. I realize we’re all state employees and work is not synonymous with that… but c’mon. There are three more of us here that answer the phones, work, get our shit done, and still have to make up for your lack of work… and it’s bullshit. I don’t get paid enough for this crap.

Thinking of switching over to the DOT since they’re actually honest about the little amount of work they do. 

Camping in the rain

Memorial Day weekend was great, even with the rain and wind and sickness and … ok so it wasn’t THAT great. But here’s what I remember

S’MORES

BBQ dinners

S’MORES

Eggs in a cast iron skillet

Hershey’s chocolate

Random walking and following turkey vultures

Touring Custer’s House

S’MORES

Running around and climbing in the “blockhouses” on top of the hill

Marshmallows both “raw” and “BURNED”

Touring a Mandan village and mocking Lone Man

Driving ten minutes home to shower in MY SHOWER!!!

Playing cards in the tent

Making a video about our last memories while under a tornado watch

And more S’mores

Basically we went camping at Fort Lincoln which is like ten minutes from my house and 11 minutes from a liquor store. So we had a good time. We figured it was easier to pack if showers were just done at home, cause then we could dress there too. It was MUCH easier. Wasn’t REALLY camping but compared to the other people there, we were roughing it.

We learned that “camping” in ND involves at LEAST one RV if not an RV AND a Trailer.

We were the only ones in the “primitive” camping area… ie… just tents no serious hook ups. It was madness.

We saw a bunch of stuff while were there and it was fun, all the way through the rain. We were touring the Mandan Village and someone working there said “whatever you’re going to do, do it now, we’re under a Tornado watch until midnight”. So we rushed to Custer’s House. We did the tour, bought some gifts, mailed out some postcards and heading back to the camp site.

Since A’s tent was the biggest and shaped more like a circle than the others we just piled into that tent. All EIGHT OF US. It was cramped to say the least. But we passed around s’more fixin’s and a lighter and had a blast anyways. Though one of the girls got sick and wasn’t doing too well. She toughed it out like a champ and hung in there while we played spoons with the marshmallows.

And then the winds came.

You could actually HEAR the wind coming down the valley before it actually hit the tents. It was strong wind to say the least. But nothing bad happened.

Until Chris’ tent broke.

We all dispersed to our tents around midnight, once the rangers came by to let us know that the tornado watch was over. But around 2 am Chris in his one man tent was SOAKED. His rain flap BROKE under the pressure of the wind I guess and just soaked EVERYTHING in the tent, including him. He ended up going to the boys tent and asking for keys to ANY car and went home for the night. He came back in the morning to pick up and drain out his tent. We thought it was hysterical.

We were there for two nights and the total cost per person was like $12 for the entire time, that’s even counting the cars coming through.

Not a bad time and we’re going to do it again soon, this time without the rain hopefully.

A and I came home to clean up and set out the tents to dry and FINALLY met our neighbors.

At least we finally met our neighbors to the east. Nice older couple, bunch of kids that are out of the house with almost as many cats as us. J We’re getting there, my goal is to know all the neighbors by the end of summer. 

Come prepared to ND

When we came out here A was offered a job with a minimum contract of 5 years. He did not accept the job until we had his apartment lined up and his hotels for the month until his apt was ready lined up.

Ducks in a row

It’s how I operate. Then I started looking for a job. And was QUICK to realize, and be told flat out, “unless you’re here, don’t bother applying, we need people RIGHT NOW”. I offered to hop on a flight but refused until I had SOMETHING lined up.

Well, after four months of that bullshiznizzle, I finally came out just to come out. We had saved enough and the apt was cheap enough that we could afford for me to not “work”. I did MK gift baskets and made my bills that way.

We got married and I applied only for jobs that I actually wanted and in less than a week had my offer.

So here I sit at my job listening to some people talking about the hiring process (since it’s growing) and how they don’t understand people who “get off the bus and expect a job” and how they LOOK for people who are preplanning. OH REALLY!??!!?

So I jump in.

Since it was my experience that those who preplan will get a phone interview at MOST and even then it’s just a formality. I got three phone interviews because they didn’t have time to get everyone in the office so I don’t even think they realized that I wasn’t IN STATE when they were talking to me. EVERY. SINGLE. INTERVIEW. I was asked to come in for a  follow-up, if not offered the job just over the phone. The MOMENT I ‘hesitated’ and said the earliest I can be there is x/y/zz when they asked (which was stupid because it was on my application) … and never more than a week out (once A left I was packed and ready the next week)… silence. They would put me on hold or say they would call back while they talk to HR or whoever…

AND THEN NOTHING

I would have to call them and the response was the same, we need someone who is already here to start tomorrow, or next Monday, or whatever.

And yet. Here I am in the conversation about how they want people who are here and ready BUT are keeping their eye out for “fresh talent” who has their ducks in a row.

I could not make this shit up if I tried and I have a VERY active imagination.

I ran into the HR lady just after this conversation and asked, ‘hey, if I wasn’t IN ND when you called me (cause the application had to be submitted IN person) would you have done the phone interview and follow up”

THIS IS THE HR RESPONSE

“well, there is a sour note on most native ND’s tongue about people who come here EXPECTING a position the day they show up, EXPECTING to find housing that isn’t ‘spendy’ and what have you. But we do keep an eye out for someone that is worth waiting a few extra days for, but frankly if they don’t like it they can leave, we don’t need any of those welfare rats coming out here and complaining all the time.”

To avoid the argument I nodded and she smiled and said, “we’re glad to have you here and that you like our weather right!”

Again I nodded and walked away

I don’t even know what to make of it.

It’s a total catch 22, if you come out here “EXPECTING a job” cause, you know, people just come out here for fun, shits and giggles type crap…. You’ll be judged.

If you try to plan accordingly and get a position before making a move presumably across the country, you’re judged.

The guy that was at the center of this conversation, moved here in less than three days after his interview because he was from Michigan. Wasn’t a hard move, wasn’t a long move and he had spent some time planning out what he was doing. I respect that. But I also know that he didn’t exactly share the same interview experience that the IT dude is talking about.

Contractors

Our house was delayed by 14 weeks from what our builder called a “lack of contractors doubled with a lack of contractors calling back”. Well that’s just flipping great. Anyways, we got into our house so all is well and good on that. Though from looking at the floor plans, blue prints, and electrical design, I've now got a list of companies I will not employ.  Today let’s focus on Electrical.

Ben’s Electric was the company that did the electrical for our house during the building process, I will not being calling them back. 

I actually did call them when I was going down the list of electricians in the area but that was over a week ago, and they never even called me back to say that they GOT my call. So whateve’s on that part. 

Here’s my issue with them. Light switches are not correct. What the electrical layout says the switch should control (and a large part of what logic says it should control) it doesn't  Hall is on left and dining room on right, yet the light switch that is on the wall in the dining room that is adjacent to the hallway the switch to turn on dining room light is on the left and the switch for the hallway is on the right…. It’s like this in THREE other switches where there is more than one switch on a panel.

Then there is the issue of the outlets that are control by switches. Not the right ones. PERIOD. One on an East wall that should be controlled by switch isn't, but the one on the south wall is which is shouldn't be…

It’s just bad.

And now I’m finding out that there is no one in this town that will work on finishing my basement but me. 

Which is FINE cause after the few quotes I was able to get I’d be MUCH better served to do it myself. $6800 for drywall, tape (egh), texture and paint for not even doing the laundry room.  No. thank. You.

Let’s review. I've worked on houses before. The first time it was thanks to my step dad burning down our kitchen. Every room in the house needed work of some sort. It was at that time that we worked on converting the garage to a master suite. It came out pretty good. And because I was not allowed to have a life or take extra classes to get the hell out faster I was recruited for labor. Which was fine, I actually learned a few things. Drywall experience with tape. Never doing THAT again. No thank you. Then when I moved down to my Dad’s place to go to college and LIVE a life I helped him finish one of his garages and his office. 

Lots of practice with insulation, price comparisons, R-value comparisons, drywall, vapor shield, etc etc etc. on top of the fine art of SANDING. I've got to thank my Dad for really EXPLAINING every part of the process to me. Cause it really helped, not to mention the experience with Spackle  That is an apartment dwellers much needed skill… and I am a jedi-frickin-master with it.

We need the electrical done before I can put the insulation in. We also need the HVAC done too. That’s not totally necessary down stairs but if the walls are already exposed, why not! So here’s my problem, NO 

ONE IS COMING OUT TO WORK ON ELECTRICAL. I’m willing to pay for that since, one I have to it has to be done by a professional if I ever want the house to get refinance, but two… I don’t fuck with electricity, that shit will kill you!

So I've had one electrician come out to give me a quote, he came out, measured, talked with us (at length) about everything he’s doing and how good of a job he was going to do, and then, crickets! A’s called him several times and it’s either an excuse of not being home but the quote sheet is at home, or just not answering the phone. We spent all of April trying to get a hold of him to come out to do the work… NOTHING. So he’s off the list.

But at this point, I’d be thrilled if he called back with a quote. I probably wouldn't even care about the price. 

I take that back. My blood won’t allow me to be screwed.

And THIS is where I find myself.

PISSED .

Because no one is calling back.

No one is willing to take on a small side job like our basement.

AND ALL OF MY TIMELINES FOR FINISHING THE BASEMENT ARE BEING DEFERRED.

Which is then screwing with my budget!!! I wanted to get the basement taken care of so we could focus on paying down debt so we could refinance by the end of the year. But I need to know how much I’ll have to work with, so far I only know how much the supplies I will be working with will cost, and I since I've gotten NO quotes I have no idea how much to set aside for the electrician. If there is one thing I've learned from my parents about budgeting it’s always know your costs. If I don’t put enough away for electrician then it will come out of paint money, so then the basement is finished but not totally. And how long until we save the money for the paint?? Or what credit card will we not pay down.

Today my mission is to literally harass every electrician I can get a phone number for and against all that my blood will tell me I’ll probably schedule the person who gets back to me with the first fucking quote. 

THAT’s how desperate I am to get this done.

It’s crap like this that makes me pissy about ND. In Cali, I would've made at most three calls, all would've been there in less than a few days with EXCELLENT customer service. I would've made a decision and had a schedule for this weekend or next week.

Out here, they have so much work that they take people for granted. There is almost NO customer service; it’s not about building a relationship these days. And while I can respect the “get ‘er done” attitude, whatever company does my electrical will be the company I call in the future for any other electrical needs. From the looks of it we’re going to be here a good long while so I’d love to find someone that can be there with us.

End of rant. 

Stupid Co Workers

Yes these people fit the profile of your standard state employee with the following phrases leaving their lips:

*if I don’t know what it is I don’t sign it.

                -you’re thinking I’m a bitch, but here is my response, READ IT THEN! Someone was passing around something that needed signatures for them to RUN FOR A POSITION on a board; all they needed was like 30 signatures to get them in the running. It wasn't to vote for them it was just to say you acknowledge their candidacy… The HR lady came around and ANNOUNCED it saying “she just needs some signatures acknowledging that she works here and is eligible to run, I can tell you that she’s over in XYZ dept and as everyone who is on the board currently, highly overqualified...” and yet, DUMBASSES.

*I know what you’re saying but I want –manager- to say that as well.

                - again, this sounds perfectly logical, except that this was in a response to an email that was SENT BY THE MANAGER to me that I forwarded to the group. Did ANY of the minions get up to go ask the manager or even hit reply to send her something? NOPE! But I got four responses saying the SAME THING… I had to go tell the manager what a bunch of dumbasses there are and she had to resend out the email to which SHE got a response from head dipshit of “can we maybe talk about this at the meeting for more clarification” are you KINDING me!?!?! It’s about a form, telling people to fill out a form instead of just emailing in a request…. *banging head against the wall*

*Oh no thanks, I’ve had enough to eat and I’m on a diet.

                -AGAIN, all in the context. She was being offered cucumbers AS SHE WAS REACHING FOR PIZZA… so I know I’m not the diet guru, but last I checked Cucumbers are a hell of a lot healthier than PIZZA especially when you say you’re DONE eating….

AND these examples are just from the last four hours of being at work. I’m taking my break to type this out cause I need somewhere to vent and can’t hold it in until I get off work to call a friend.

Good GOD!

I should make it clear that not EVERY employee here is a dumbass, I’d especially like to think that I’m not “one of them”, but there are a few people here with some basic common sense. One of the guys in the department actually pointed out to Ditzy (when she wouldn’t sign the form) that “you’re not voting for her, nothing could happen to you positive OR negative if you sign” she still said no and he shrugged his shoulders and walked away….

On the one about the form, I had Schizo (these are the nicknames given to them) tell me that I called her stupid when she was relaying a call and I said to have them fill out the form, at some point I said, “well that’s just stupid” and she thought I was talking about HER. While I could have, since in that moment she was being incredibly STUPID, I had to reassure her that no, I mean the caller who can write all this out on a piece of paper but can’t fill out the form…

WHATEVER

I don’t get paid enough to put up with this stupidity. I’m demanding a damn raise at my review. Not for my job but for my patience with the dumbasses that make up 70% of my department….

Snow days

It snows too much here.
It's frickin April and there is 15 inches on the ground right now with more falling. On a good note the Mexican food night was a hit and a lot of fun. I got to get to know some of the people we've been hanging out a little better while enjoying some great food. Thankfully, it didn't start snowing until AFTER I left to come home.
I woke up this morning to a text from a friends saying "looks like it snowed after all" just as I was taking a peek outside, and BOY DID IT.

So here I am hoping that tomorrow gets called off. Since I work for the man out here if the state, federal, school, etc buildings call it quits for the day it means that I don't have to shovel myself out of this mess and drive to work WOOT WOOT. 

That's what I'm hoping for since the forecast says it will be snowing until 7am tomorrow. 

But the update I just read says "officially" the public service offices will be closed until noon tomorrow. Maybe because it's tax day and you can't let all those people who waited until the very last second just NOT have a post office to go to or a capital building to drop their paperwork off at. Craziness

Either way it's a new experience. We had our first snow weekend in November, the first weekend I was up here actually, and now A is trapped up north at work thanks to the snow and I'm here chilling at home with the snow. Can't go out and no one to send out lol. 

ALTHOUGH

Since we're finishing the basement the framers came in today and worked their asses off. Hope they made it home safely. They're going to try to come back tomorrow but I will be MORE THAN UNDERSTANDING if they can't cause seriously. Everything is CLOSED and shit just got real! lol

So what did I do while trapped inside today. 

I ate leftover enchiladas's (pretty sure I'll be sick of those by tomorrow), did laundry, put away clothes, played with the cats, took a nap, unpacked THREE boxes in the kitchen (finding room is getting harder and harder), skyped with Mares, Sis & the kiddos, talked to A and basically just chilled. Thinking of making some hot cocoa right about now. Getting kinda bummed that RIGHT in the middle of Game of Thrones the dish decided to stop responding.... not. too. thrilled. about. THAT. 

SO yeah, if you're reading this, your taxes are done, and you're sitting there happily in whatever climate you're currently in, give me a call and try to remind me why I came here....

Stress

STRESS

It makes my stomach go to knots and feel like I can't totally juggle it all. But then I do, I'm not sure how, but I do. I remember going to school full time, working, boyfriend that I had to baby all the time, babysitting, and all the other stuff I had to do daily, and yet somehow I did it. Not sure how, but I did, and I find myself feeling that way again now. Only with different set of challenges. 

First off, I've been added to the organizer side of a Meetup Group. You know, that website you go to when you want to get out and meet people, network, and maybe make some friends based on common interest or something like that. Well, I had joked about making my own for California Crazies, which I could've, but there was already a group put together of people that are from all over and found themselves trapped here in the great white north with NO support system. I fell in love with this group. Everyone (except that one guy thats kinda a douche)  has been super nice and wants to hang out and spend time together. Hell, I even have a group of women to work out with, we're challenging and motivating each other, and just having a great damn time. I LOVE IT. Plus, after being here a few months and only hanging out with A, I kinda want to murder him. I need outlets that I can go grab lunch with, or have a drink with to bitch about things that A wouldn't understand or doesn't care to hear about. So yea, I have that now. It's exciting and terrifying and I love it. My best friends are great with keeping up and skyping and they are totally there for me and I love them for it. But I need people here. Heaves pointed it out tonight, I need to call my new friends cause I don't have my friends that I've known for 20 PLUS years to call to help me move lumber from my driveway into the garage. Anyways, I've been recruited to be one of the organizers for this group to get in there and plan and be at events consistently and honestly, it's A LOT to take on. There's something going on roughly every fourth day with only 5 organizers, one of which is going to be working out of state for the next couple of months. BUT I figured, since the weather is improving A is going out to the field more so I really need to build up some external relationships and have something to do besides mope around at home.

Ah, yes, home. Let's discuss that area of stress. WE FINALLY FUCKING MOVED IN. Yes, unbeliveable, I KNOW. It's crazy, everything is still in boxes. We've unpacked one bathroom and our bedroom. I even set up the extra bed in the second bedroom as well as a partial set up of the guest bathroom. But the cats are in the third bedroom/office. So they are finally home and loving life back in the normal routine of having a home. They are running around the room around already stinking it up. Along with that we are finishing the basement so that they can roam the house freely and we can have people over and actually have the fun place to hang out. With that A is discovering how much "stuff" I have. He's seen my storage but never really thought about how much those boxes translated into. Example, I have over 15 pieces of Corningwear, at least three SETS of glass mixing bowls, and more than enough glasses (especially the orange juice ones) but everytime I tried to tell him he must've just blocked it out. So now he's seeing it all and freaking out, in a good way, but I have to say I'm finding it funny. 

So with the house, we're realizing how much SPACE we have and trying to decide what to do with aforementioned space. Originally, we I first moved him out here and we put the money down for the house we threw words around like "nursery" and "kids room"... after some doctor visits we're using phrases like "office space" "guest room" and "storage".... and I HATE IT. I feel like we just got here and there's stuff everywhere but it's EMPTY. Ya know? I'm hating it. I love being in the house and the new good friends (all of which don't have kids - thus the point of the group) and getting to know the area, at the same time I feel like something is missing. So cliche I KNOW, believe me, I cringed typing that right now. It's been majorly depressing the last few months after finding out that my chances of baby are slim to none. While there is NOTHING I can do about it as of yet, doctor appointment coming soon to see IF there are any options, it's just a bummer sitting around knowing that nothing is going to happen unless we can MAKE it happen and all the mixed emotions there... so of course, I turn to school, thinking maybe if I dive in there I can distract myself for a couple of years until something might happen or until I just give up completely. 

My work will help pay for part of my tuition so I'm looking at going back for a degree in Accounting so I can try and do something from home. Cause, let's pretend that I CAN have kids, I'd like to be able to stay home with them without breaking the bank or A. So for now, college is the place to be and the thing to do. I just need to figure out where I'm going and how I can make it happen IF work doesn't come through and pay for it. 

And then, there is this other thing I'm getting into, called kickball. I know, lame, right. NOT. It's really cool. There is a group that develops teams and does all the "work" really, like getting the t-shirts made, getting teams together, and setting up the schedule. Oh wait, "they" don't, a marketing director does. But wait, it gets better, that market director, GET'S PAID. Seriously?! To organize, arrange and PLAY, ummm yes please. SO it's in the works. I just need to get some more information before I book my flight to hotlanta for training and more education on how it all works. Once that is all ready then yea I'll be organizing, arranging and PLAYING kickball for some extra cash. C'mon, there isn't a whole lot of goings on out here for a large chunk of the year, in the summer this place comes ALIVE. BUT not for adults who don't have kids in sports. So it seems like a great fit to bring something out here for those people, much like myself. 

Anyways

all of this is the stuff that is going on, about to be going on, or (as in case of baby) not at all. I'm just not sure how to process it all or what to do when and the order of operations. 

GAH

life is crazy and I love it and hate it all at the same time.... 

Small rant on wheelchairs and haters

Wheel chairs. Does anyone ever CHOOSE to need one. I mean I guess when you think of scooters you think really fat people, and then you think about them being fat cause they ate too much and were gluttons, or whatever.

North Dakota seems to be behind in A LOT of areas and mostly from ignorance, not their fault, just a lack of exposure.

In California, ADA was KING, you could not have an establishment without it being ADA accesseable. Because the queen of California, LAWSUITS. Thus, another reason the state is broke.

ANYWAYS

In the building I work in they redesigned the layout for the cubicles, which are all HUGE, and this tiny old lady I work with can NOT stop complaining. We ALL lost at least 6 inches on our desk to make way for this layout and the reasoning behind it was that it would allow wheelchair access. I for one, am all for it, I hate the layout just as much as the next person but for different reasons. But she just keeps harping on and on about “oh you can fit TWO wheelchairs through here, how big are the people they want to make room for going to be?” someone said something, and I want to buy her coffee. Her response was “well, if heaven forbid you end up in one you’ll see that even a little frail woman like yourself requires an extensive chair to get around, assuming you can move your chair with your weak arms”. I love her. I don’t know who she is, but I love her. I’ve spoken up before saying that the building needs to be ready for change and whatnot and she just got puffy about “having to change for people who AREN’T ND’ers” WHAT THE FUCK EVER

I stopped trying and just when I did, this woman comes in and hands her a smack down.

She just smiled and said nothing, it was beautiful.

I just wanted to rant about the fact that even with my parents generation (the baby boomers) heading to wheelchairs … that one of that generations elders would still be so ignorant of wheelchairs and what they require. 

Planning a Wedding

Unless you have planned a wedding within the last three years, I don’t think you should be allowed to have vocalized opinions on the cost, the venue, the cost, the dress, the cost, the locations, the cost, attendants, oh and did I mention, the COST. Our wedding was less than six months ago but those bills are a reminder of just how much it cost. WORTH EVERY DIME! But now I’m at work listening to an older co-worker of mine who’s last wedding was her only wedding some fifty years ago going on and on about how much her niece is paying for the wedding… and this is just the parts she privy to.

CW1: “oh she’s doing it in Rochester, that’ll be nice”

Complainer: “Yes … I’m sure it will be nice, but it’s just costing so much money! It’s TWENTY-FOUR HUNDRED JUUUSSSTTT for the hall and them setting out the linens. The food is being catered by someone else and THAT is costing $25/plate! I’m not sure I even want to go if it’s going to put them out that much!”

Ok let me help you out here. The cost of food at my wedding in a city where food is AMPLE was roughly $35/person. Now, I was “smart” about it and did it at a venue that combined A LOT of the elements FOR me (cause even as OCD as I am, I knew for this destination wedding, I needed to let go and relax) making the TOTAL average cost per person roughly $127. Thus, we only had 48 people. NOW, this is what a bride and groom and the family helping pay think that YOU are worth to be there. Therefore, they have made arrangements once you filled out that RSVP card to include you. You not going, is going to result in them LOSING THAT MONEY.

Of course, I pipped in and mentioned that part to her and she just went on and on to ME then about how she can’t believe it costs so much, and why don’t they just go down to the courthouse and have a get together later.

Maybe it was still too fresh for me, since, let’s face it, this has been suggested to anyone getting married cause there is ALWAYS that one person you know that holds their money just a little TOO tight and thinks you should too….

I snapped…

Not like I’m going to cut you snapped…

But snapped nonetheless.

I reminded her that this isn’t HER day. And if she thought that it was going to be THAT difficult to be included she should’ve replied with a gentle no on that rsvp. This is the (hopefully) ONE day that they get to cherish forever and you being there knit picking about every little detail as though YOU were paying for ANY of it… not cool. Be happy they wanted you to join them. Go, enjoy, and keep ANY negative or possibly negative comments to yourself.

And then she opened her mouth and said “well, if they would just have it locally it wouldn’t cost me anything, I wouldn’t have to miss work to travel out there, and I wouldn’t mind it so much, so really IT IS costing me…”

OH

MY

GOD

Told her that I wished her niece luck with having such a selfish aunt and walked away

HOW!?!? How do people think like this!!??!?

Makes me crazy…. 

Things to try

Saw this going around at work, something about this being the way REAL people (ie North Dakooters) do things to get it done, therefore I am making it my checklist for the next few months to try them all... even the ones that make me want to gag just reading them... I'm going to try. 

DID YOU KNOW???
1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any.
6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too
11 Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jello !
16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar !
26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27 Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste
31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also, you can use 2 Effervescent tablets , soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!
36.. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate toothpaste
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola , it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox , or 2 Bayer aspirin , or just use 7-up instead of water.
42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie.
They are:

Monday = Blue,
Tuesday = Green,
Thursday = Red
Friday = White
Saturday = Yellow.

So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Don't forget Gatorade for Migraine Headaches. PowerAide won't work. Pass this information on to friends so they can be informed.

It's colder than a witches....

TITTY!!!
Although, I must admit, I do not personally know how cold a witches titty is, therefore I can't totally know for sure if the current weather condition that I'm experiencing, is, indeed, colder than that.
What I CAN be sure of is that on Friday afternoon it was a brisk average of 40 degrees....
and then the very next day... it got to -30 degrees.
Help me out here, is there anywhere else that God forgot when he created the world where it can change 70 degrees in less than 48 hours. Especially, when it involves going negative....
It just blows
and I actually mean that literally... the wind is insanely cold. It just burns and hurts your face it's so cold.
So what do I do on such a cold effin weekend... I find stuff to do outside.
Hey, I'm trying to force my body to adapt. And by force I mean torture.
And then, I got a migraine.
So I came inside and pretended that my house was actually finished and started making plans for it.
You may ask how I did this when I'm not standing in my house, but rather lounging in the apartment, and if you are asking, you obviously haven't heard of pinterest. Which I love. I think it would love me back if it could, cause I give it a lot of attention and I "like" just about everything it does... I'm supportive that way.
So spent the afternoon looking through ways to do a DIY backyard with the following aspects:
fire pit
amphitheater seating
square foot gardening
matched with terraced gardening
LOTS of veggies
Lots of plants that keep bugs away
ways to keep water without wasting

in a word
PRETTY
or...
PRODUCTIVE....

either way... awesome

So yeah, we went through that today
yesterday was the gun show, shopping, and other randomness....

Oh yeah we grew up yesterday
we went and bought our very own washer and dryer
wahoo
and we're broke....
it was hella expensive
thank God he didn't go for the front loaders or we would REALLY be broke right now,...
We got a good deal, not what we went in for, we we're going for the old fashioned whatever for about 1200 with service warranties .. we walked out spending TWICE that. Thankfully, we had the cash to do it. Savings from his parents that are earmarked for the following: Washer, dryer, refrigerator, gun safe, bedroom set, and living room set. Well, thanks to my awesome saving of stuff over the years, we have the living room set (we can wait and save for a new couch), I already have a fridge, and the bedroom set is being gathered as we go. So yeah. we had the cash to "blow" as it were on one aspect of our purchase.
Still, I have a hard time spending so much. We did some research on the set and found that the price we got was 30% less than normal pricing elsewhere, with a quicker delivery date.
Plus if we decide we don't like it and want to go with something else we can change it back within thirty days and only pay the $79 set up and installation. so there is that going for us.

Other than that, not much else going on besides freezing...

xoxo
L

road kill... it's fresh

the discussion today was over roadkill and being what A called "city-fied"
If I told you, that today, we picked up a pheasant from the side of the road, brought it home, cleaned it and ate it... what would you think???

we didn't.

for the obvious reason that I gag just on touching said Pheasant... it was beautiful. I just wanted to pluck out those beautiful feathers.

Here's how it happened.

We drove out to the kennels to see our furry children. I miss them, like a lot, so I like to go visit when I can to hang out and pet them and have A play with Cookie via laser light....

Nothing on the road... that is covered in snow....

On the way back their was a pheasant on the side of the road... back tail feather straight up in the air... it was  a beautiful bird when it was alive. So I say, I can do this, I want those feathers, it died without me killing it... I can get those feathers. A turned the car around and I jumped out into two feet of snow and trekked about 15 feet down a slope to the bird. The bird was shot! It was dead, obviously, and it took me about a minute to figure out that it was shot (pellet gun style) while flying past a house out onto the road... keep in mind, it's not pheasant season anymore and we were out in the boonies (which isn't hard to get to out here) so someone was going to come get it. Regardless, I went to pull the feathers out, and they were soooo soft and so warm.. which was really trippy cause it was FREEZING outside. but what was REALLY scary was that it wasn't hard yet, no rigor mortise had set it and those feathers weren't budging.... I flipped and could hear A laughing in the truck... and I ran back to the truck and squirted hand sanitizer all over my hands.

thus began the conversation, if we had done that would it be road kill or would it be freshly killed game??

I know I don't want to eat such a beautiful creature to begin with, but beyond that, I'm too "cityfied" to eat anything off the side of the road...

A is conflicted cause he would excuse it as freshly killed game....

windshield wipers UP, UP and awwwwaaaayyyy

Ok that's a little lame but something I just learned.

Well not -just- just learned but I learned on Friday when our "blizzard" was on it's lovely way in...

btw- nothing really happened, almost no snow actually stuck so it was whatever... but it looked pretty bad during the morning hours which is when I learned this little trick

So I'm at my desk tinkering around with normal work stuff when one of the Pam's (there are like 4 Pam's on my floor) says that she saw someone with Minnesota plates with their wipers up. small talk later she's on the phone with a friend in MN asking why they do that... and then informs the group.

APPARENTLY

If it's going to be witch titty cold outside WHILE snowing... they do that so the wipers don't freeze ONTO the windshield.

This is a problem. Because when you try to use the wipers all you get is smeared ice and it's bad... especially when visibility is already low...

SO
there's a tip when you're in COLD weather with a need to drive...
thought that was a good thing to document here.
even though it wasn't unnecessary since we were lied to about this "blizzard"... was supposed to snow between 8-10 inches but no.... we got nothing.

We went and bought a bunch of groceries and stressed out making a menu for next week on a thursday night, so we planned from Friday to next weekend... for what... for nothing....  cause we could've just gone out to do shopping on sunday like we have been... but no.... the weather LIED to us... we got nothing except ice and cold... and then we did the whole throw hot water in the air and watch it turn into instant fog... it was crazy....
more later

Canadians

Keep in mind this is just my basic knowledge so far and AS ALWAYS my opinion, none of this is encouragement for the use of this social program or anything that is going to make my job suck....

And I'm not talking about the people, well yes I am but I'll get to that in a minute.

North Dakota has an "incentive" if you will for Canadians to come on down out of the frozen north to shop and spend their money in the United States, specifically, North Dakota. 

Here's how it works (and believe me, I'll be the first one to say "suck it, go home and spend too much money there")

A Canadian resident with a Social Insurance Number comes to North Dakota for shopping and goes home with their goods. When they get home they have up to three years to basically get back the tax they spent while in ND. This doesn't apply to everything, like food, gas, hotel. But it applies to shopping goods. If they buy groceries it's good on that too. 

The rules are:

Has to be submitted within three years of purchase date

Total purchase amount has to be in excess of $25/receipt

The total tax paid to ND in the year must be greater than $15

It has to be for individual use (ie - dont buy stuff for your salon and try and get reimbursed for it)

Actually, there are a lot of rules, but for the most part it's pretty straight forward.

But, as always, there are those trying to break the rules, or worse, the ones who don't understand and get mad when they think they should get the moon. It's been my experience (elsewhere) that those with entitlement issues are usually the ones who don't work or have any goals beyond what other why they can get something for nothing. So there are going to be those that try to mess something up, change a date, use someone else receipt, etc etc etc... 

they obviously don't know that I'm working there... [insert evil laugh here]

cause I LOVE to deny those people when they try to break the rules. those following the rules, I shall do my job and work quickly (as is my nature) to get your stuff processed

The information is submitted online through the ND website, then they print out the confirmation page and mail it in with their stack of receipts. I swear, it's like I'm working for the tax dept or something with all those receipts. 

Anyways, what DOES get approved, get's sent a check for the tax that they spent in ND....

and all is well for the Canadians

Not only did they get to enjoy America for a holiday or whatnot, they get to go home and essentially have shopped "duty free"

Jerks.

So yeah, apparently there have been people that tried to get rid of it since ND is the only state in America that offers this to our northern neighbors.... but everyone here seems to think it will hurt the economy by losing all that purchasing... From what I've heard it's not going to hurt anything, they shop at big box stores that are ALSO in Canada, so it's not like getting rid of it would hurt the small business owners aka mom & pop shops.

anyways.... it's been interesting learning all this stuff... further proving my need to get this job,... 

good night all have some things lined up to tell you about tomorrow. 

xoxo

L

my new job

I'm taking this analysis of the great white north very seriously... to the point of only looking for jobs that had to do with as much public knowledge as possible... not stalker type information. But to be in a position where I could soak up as much information about this place, the people, and the culture of living in the great white north.
So of course I look for a public servant type position to take full advantage of the fact that we're living in the state capitol. Los Angeles was a pivotal place to be but I wasn't in Sacramento, and Sacramento wasn't surrounded by miles of nothing.
Out here, everyone drives from hours away to be here, even if I don't want to be here, I need to embrace it. Even when I don't want to, even when I don't agree, even when I think I might die if I have to strain to understand one more person, or have to slow down my speech so they can understand me... cause I know I can talk fast (especially when nervous) but to the people out here I sound like I'm running at a mile a minute.
Anyways... I get this job, thanks in great part to an amazing recommendation from my previous manager who is an absolutely amazing person totally cheering me on during all of this. It was made for me. At my last job I was "processing returned mail" among my many crazy clean up and status tasks... in other words this is what would happen:

The company sends out a piece of mail



You've moved, rejected it, or perhaps the mailman/woman hates you....

It goes back to the post office and gets a little yellow sticker

It comes back to the company with one form of excuse or another printed on said yellow sticker

I get it

I look at

I think

I ponder

I contemplate my belly button

I stalk you online - to see if you moved, changed address in some way, or if there was just some other sort of error. In my last job the issue was usually the third party vendors that couldn't pull and address list to save their life... I'm looking at you CIA.... dumbasses

I do one of two things, I blame the vendor or I update your account in our system.

I deal with the leftovers as I see fit, generally sending it back to the department that mailed it out telling them what happened.

My job here is done

NOW
This job is almost identical only that I'll be allowed to use my brain for the greater part of the day to actually resend the letters out myself, without having to deal with the other departments. Should be good. Finished my first week today. Going to wait until after I get through this probation period before I blurt out where I'm at, besides the fact that's it's actually pretty interesting. Since I'm still training I've only handled a few pieces of mail instead I'm doing something called "Canadians" which I will have to get into later.

So yeah, that's my new job. Just started. It was pretty cool, I put in application (even took a tour while I was there), a week later I got a call, went in for an interview, thanks to awesome friend/supporter putting up a great call for me when they checked references, I got a call almost exactly 24 hours later to offer me the position. Granted it doesn't pay well, but it doesn't pay bad. Really liking the benefits, medical is FREE to me and A as well so wahoo there.... dental isnt bad, vision is always cheap, so yea... yay for that.

I think I'll tell you about Canadian's next.

xoxo
L

coming home and getting sick

aka my rant on health care and lack thereof

so as I mentioned earlier I came back to Bismarck SICK. thanks to Mares recent diagnosis of walking pneumonia I can't blame her lol
It really did feel like knives in my ears with the pressure from the flight, that didn't stop until Saturday morning. I was on some of A's kick ass painkillers.
Saturday morning was full of pain. Since we got married we figured we'll bill the dr visit retroactively. with that in mind we went to the urgent care here in town and of course, I have "flu like symptoms" combined with upper respiratory infection... I call it... the L-infection... it's a mix of crap. So I get an antibiotic. We go to the pharmacy linked to hospital and since I'm not on A's insurance yet (we'd only been married a week at that point) I figure cash and start making estimations on price based on how long the pill name is... A, having never gone without insurance is mad when I laugh/hack up lung at him when he says, "probably like 40 bucks at most".... I was close, I said 73, it was $70.50, don't ask me where they got the fifty fricking cents... that one still boggles my mind. And then we began our lovely conversation on WHY I haven't had health insurance for like the last three years. Mostly, since I've been taking care of my grandma, her house, and all that was involved in that and then doing a temp job where I could get a "discount" on healthcare but it would've cost more than my arm and leg were worth. Thus, the conversation was A going off about how I needed to care more about myself blah blah blah (can you tell I stopped listening at some point)...but when I put it out there he finally figured out why... I can pay upwards of $300/MO with huge co-pays and no dental or vision... OORRR
I can SAVE that money... use groupon for my once yearly eye exam, use zunnivision for my glasses (one for the computer, one for day to day, one set of sunglasses, AND one designer pair for LESS than $80 I LOVE that site), take care of my teeth, pay cash for dental exam and cleaning (get this, if you KNOW the dentist, having been there before, and you pay cash, they cut you a deal), and planned parenthood for my girly exams to make sure all is on the up and up. sooo yeah... I DID take care of myself. In fact I took such good care of myself that I didn't spend upwards of $3600 on healthcare... I spent less than $300... the year before I had two trips to Urgent Care (thanks to A being overly cautious) and with everything I spent it was less than $300 for those... oh and since I've been up here it's been two trips to UC's, thanks to the AWESOME weather * blatant sarcasm*

It was then that he realized why I'm so against Universal Healthcare. Not sure if YOU'RE aware of this, but  they have that in other countries and there are a great number of people saying "oh it works there it can work here", to those people I think they need to look up the word WORK... because most of those people DON'T work, and for their information, it doesn't work in those other countries. Canada treats America the way some southern american's treat Mexico, in that's where you go for cheap medical care. Since they are on "lists" for months to years at a time to get the basic care they need. And they do pay for it, in their taxes and higher costs of living. Thus they make trips to America to go shopping. so yeah, that was our waiting for prescription conversation.

But yeah, we went to wally world and stopped by to see my furry children at the kennel. I miss them. I miss Pebbles a LOT too... finally broke down and texted the couple watching her, she's doing well so that gave me a little comfort.
we come home and A makes me soup... he actually does make a decent chicken noddle, wait, that was me... he was trying to make ramen.... whatever. I had soup and pills and I was happy.
then comes Sunday... where I make him a glorious breakfast, made for champions, just one day on meds and trying to take care of him... cause now....
A is sick... so I have to force him to go to urgent care (he has no excuse he has healthcare) and guess what, he has something similar
and
I got to learn something new about this man I married....
he, can not, for the life of him... hock a loogie
I told him to watch Titanic for the brief tutorial in that cinematic adventure. Since just talking about it makes me sick to my stomach... but when I'm sick, you can bet your sweet ass I can get some reach on mine....

We go to fill the prescription, same place, and guess what, they don't take his insurance... and this is where I learn that he has never made his own phone calls ... ever... when he was a child his parents had Kaiser... so when he got older he just went wherever he was told to go by his insurance... which was... get this... Kaiser

The weekend sucked...
and then I went to work at my new job....
at the State Capitol building....
more to come on that....

Viva Las Vegas Bitches aka OUR wedding

This is going to be a fun one. I think... cause if I don't laugh about some of the shit my family and "new" family does I think I might murder someone. Lord knows (and most of you) that I do have the tools necessary to kill someone.
SO where oh where to begin... well, we didn't really celebrate Christmas cause, well, we just didn't ... no one persons fault. Just A's.... or rather his mother and her veiled threats....
....
we'll save that one for when I get a little more pissed at her
...
anyways
we got packed and ready to go to Las Vegas. Called the Taxi place, the ONLY taxi place in Bismarck, which happens to be a pretty decent one... anyways... it got us to the airport on time. Ahh yes the airport. Where the taxi and the people are on time... but the planes aren't. Neither one of us have flown out of Bismarck airport in an ON TIME flight. but I digress...
We get to Las Vegas only to rent a car and drive to Los Angeles. Oh LA how I miss thee...
we got in late so we weren't able to do Korean BBQ with friends but we made up for it later. Stayed with A's brother and fiance for the night. I got up early to go see a friend at my old J-O-B.... it was good to catch up and have coffee thrust at me (that was actually funny and a lesson in being too excited when talking using hands). Ran a million errands and surprised the kids for being in town. and then, with the help of some of A's friends we got out by 4pm... back to Las Vegas.
Honestly, from there its just a blur. I remember bits and pieces, and a lot of things that pissed me off... but for the most part I remember these highlights:

my best friend hanging out and helping out
getting my hair done with the kids
telling mares & laura to order WHATEVER they wanted....
taking some of the best pictures I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of
trying to track Mara and her insane flight pattern out
zits
counselling sessions
a scarf (and no barf) session on wedding day
Anh & Mares saving the day
getting to see my friends look FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC and having fun
making people cry without trying
trying to spend time with everyone as much as possible
getting to hang out with my aunt, cousin and my dad.... who outlasted my friends that night
staying at the Rio
the AMAZING room at MGM (seriously check out their "wellness rooms" those are awesome)
getting to know A's friends a little better, a lot better....

Seriously. It's mostly a blur. There are parts that I can close my eyes and relive (and from the looks of Bismarck, I'm going to have to for the next six months or so) and it's totally clear to me. But to put it all on paper (or in this case pixels) it's hard to put it out there.

Thankfully I don't remember too much of A's parents. His Dad was very gracious and made it clear how great he thought the wedding looked/went. In fact, he didn't talk to me about anything other than how well the wedding went. That was better than his mother. Who gave A a pretty nice cashiers check and when he thanked them in front of me her response was "well I guess you told her about it"... nah, he got a check that said wedding gift and made sure to keep it a secret from me....

twat

or when she said that the wedding was beautiful, and what a hard time she was having trying to figure out where I cut costs to keep it so cheap, oh wait I know, it must have been... and she kept talking.... she had a list of ten aspect she thought I must've cheaped out on when I finally just got up and went for a desert tray at the buffet.... I can't believe that woman sometimes.
It would take a separate blog to express what she did before Christmas and I'm not up for sharing that just yet... she was awful though... absolutely awful....

My parents on the other hand
were fucking AWESOME

Kath stepped up and helped at whatever spot she could think of (ie- money bag bought and brought to me, and then forcing me to participate in said money dance - thank you to the extra cash!!!) they handed us spending money, they worked around OUR schedule to spend time and get together with us. Especially around A's stomach issues from drinking too much. The best one was getting together with a couple of my friends and all of his friends to try a Korean BBQ in Las Vegas' Chinatown ... which they had never done before (so we may have ruined them for KBBQ).... My Dad held it together whenever he was in my eye line  so I didn't totally lose it during the wedding.
And, they are holding our extra stuff that we couldn't take back. Not to mention our wedding topper.

So yeah, we celebrated New Years in Las Vegas
A & I ate at Serendipity with my friends, then hung out inside Cesaers until 11 before heading outside and trying to get on TV.
New Years in Las Vegas... if you're staying on the strip, is awesome
if you're not...
not so much
It was beautiful to see and watch all the crazies but the escape route was insane... at least for me.
Our escape route involved getting squashed in a sea full of people, jumping a k-rail, helping others over the k-rail, walking close to a mile to the Rio (where my parents were and where we parked the car). I drove a group of us back to the timeshare and then came back for A, his bro, and Anh to drive them back.
It was a good thing that I stopped drinking early... otherwise we would've been screwed

SO ... it went well.
Small hiccups here and there and I would've loved to have spent more time with my friends
but it all worked out.
I'm so glad everyone came!
It was amazing...
and then we woke up early on a friday morning... and flew back to Bismarck... where as A coined it
We literally went from one place with everything to do to a place with NOTHING to do.....
Friday was incredibly depressing.
and I was getting sick
so sick that when I cried on the plane it wasn't because we were going back to Bismarck, but because it felt like someone was shoving knives into my ears... but more on that in another entry...
have a good night all
xoxo

oh me oh my ... I love apple pie

It was brought to my attention today that I haven't posted for anyone's amusement in "over a month" and "like a month"... I would like to correct these lovely ladies... it's been three weeks....
get a calendar

ha
Ok, I've got to break some of this up in order of occurrence otherwise you'll be reading for an hour and I have to give you a potty break....
so here it goes.

they shall be
Viva Las Vegas Bitches aka OUR wedding
coming home and getting sick aka my rant on health care and lack thereof
and lastly
looky looky mommy makes cookies... i'm just on a rhyming rampage... it's about my new job... so yeah... enjoy bitches