Family insanity

My grandmother and two cousins, Austin and Katy are in town! Life is never boring when they are around. They got in yesterday and we just hung around the house and played games but today Katy and I had fun!

Austin woke me up, which I wasn't totally thrilled about but whatever. I watched a little bit of TV and then Katy and I went over to Ryan's apartment to let Jixer out. Thank god I went there because he hadn't done the dishes. So while I did the dishes Katy wrote on Ryan's mirror in dry-erase marker and hid a champagne glass in his bed. Yes, I know that's weird, and yes, that's the point. Maegan, my sister, had called earlier and asked if we would come play with AJ while she cleaned, we, of course, accepted.

Before we headed over to Maegan's house, Katy and I decided to stop and get something to eat. We were going over to Subway by Ryan's apartment and drove by Chicago's Gourmet Pizza. YUMMM! We quickly decided that eating fresh was over rated and that pizza was a MUCH better plan. Sorry Jared. This place was AMAZING! We basically got a supreme pizza but instead of mushrooms we got pineapple. It was the best pizza we have EVER had! Definitely going back! We ate a 6 slice pizza with only one left over! (It was my piece that was left over, I'm sad to say).

HUGEEE Dr Pepper!

YUM!

On our way to Maegan's house Katy saw an interesting car. We spent at least 5 minutes trying to get a picture of the sign on the side of the drivers door! It was so random and funny that I was passing cars trying to keep up with him. Several minutes and about 6 pictures and a video later we got our shot! I know you can't read it but it says "Paranormal Society Investigators". We thought it was really random and were determined to get a picture lol. I don't think the guy noticed lol.

So we eventually made it to Maegan's house and helped her clean because AJ was napping. We got a lot done! Maegan had seen these new nail thingys somewhere and wanted us to try them so she and Katy went to CVS to find them while I stayed with AJ. The nail things are SOOO COOL! I recommend all you ladies try them. They're little sheets of nail polish that you stick on your nail. They're supposed to last for a while and they look really cool! I was going to post a picture of it but for some reason my phone won't let me email it to myself so I will have to post it another time :(. Anywho these things are really cool!

Apparently today was a day for weird car experiences or something. We were on our way home from Ryan's apartment (we went back over there after being at Maegan's) when we saw this nice Toyota SUV or something like that change lanes. They turned on their blinker, which most people don't bother doing, and they changed lanes. Wellll the crappy Civic behind them changed lanes at the EXACT same time they did. At first I thought it was a coincidence but then it happened 3 more times. It was kinda creepy but at the same time rather funny, what in the world was this person doing? They weren't tailgating the Toyota or anything like that, just changing lanes exactly when the Toyota did. Obviously the Toyota got freaked out and acted like he was going to turn onto a different road, but didn't end up turning. I was going to do it to the Civic but he turned into a neighborhood before I had the chance :(. It was SOOO COOL! I wish that we had videoed it!

OK, well that's my Southern Soapbox for the day. Have a good night y'all!

Getting Creative...

... while making supper last night. Ryan had made a special request for enchiladas. Lucky for him, my mom has a YUMMY, easy, cheap recipe. Not so lucky for me... the can opener didn't work. Well that's not true, it opened one can. I needed 4 more opened.... but it decided to die. So I had to be creative a resourceful. At first I started stabbing the can with a kitchen knife but that was barely DENTING the can! So I called Ryan and asked if his knife was there. He said yes and that I could use it. Sooooo... I did.

If you look closely you can see a small hole within the part of the lid that I cut into lol. It worked though and we ended up with a pretty good meal :). 

George has decided that he LOVES sitting on the printer and pretty much always ends up pushing a button. I had to take the paper out because he kept printing the little "align cartridge" button lol!

George printed a test page.

Me and Rebel

BTW, I am REALLY tired of drama. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. One would think that grow adults would be able to grasp such a SIMPLE elementary concept. Seriously, I am tired of bending over backwards for people and then getting slapped in the face regardless. The only person you are really hurting is yourself. If you continue to live this way, no  one will want to be around you and you will end up alone. It's already happening.

OK, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day. Good night all :)

Getting Settled

Ryan is moved in!

I was supposed to pick up the key Tuesday night but had to work so ended up doing it Wednesday afternoon before work. It was a bit of a pain because for some reason I didn't think about having his first months rent when I went to get the keys so I had to go the thirty extra minutes to get his check then drive back the the apartment THEN go home, let the dogs out and rush off to work! It was crazy BUT worth it because I got to walk the apartment before he started moving in! Not going to lie, I was TERRIFIED that he wouldn't like it but later that evening he leaned over to his friend Brett and gave me the validation I had been looking for! I was OVER THE MOON! Lol.

We were able to get all of his stuff moved in Wednesday night, which just means that Ryan has very little furniture lol. We were going to do more work Thursday but ended up going to Arlington with our friends Meagan and Brett to find them an apartment. We found them a REALLY nice place that I think they are excited about but I am a bit sad that they will be so far away from us. :( I hope we don't all get too busy and loose touch.

Friday I got to Ryan's at noon to start washing all of his dishes and everything. My work was brought to a SCREAMING.. ok, not really a scream but definitely a yelp, halt when I moved a plate and a roach creeped out from under it! I quickly left and made a trip to Home Depot, which thankfully is literally right next door! I sprayed around the kitchen and put in a call to the office for the pest control to come around. That may be over kill but roaches are disgusting destructive horrible creatures that should be eliminated! Anywho, I ended up being able to recover enough to finish the dishes. I was a bit paranoid and very jumpy but I got the job done. I made a run to Kroger and made Ryan's very first meal in his apartment, three cheese tortellini! It took a while to figure out that the big eye on the stove wasn't working so I had to use one that was too small but I was determined :D. 

I know he isn't excited about paying more money for rent but I can tell that he is starting to see the benefits to living on his own. Hopefully after the first few months when there aren't as many things to get for the apartment money will start to free up and he will be a bit less stressed. I can't wait for that day lol! I know no one ever has "enough" money but you know what I mean.

Well, that's my soapbox for the day! Good night!

First apartment!

Thank God! The search for Ryan's apartment has ended! I know we only looked for two days but that is  A LOT to do in 2 days! I had to research them, go visit all the properties, somehow manage not to get shot, and then after ALL that work... we found something!

So I found out that he needed to move on Monday but didn't know how quickly so that night I stayed up late looking for different places. I found about 6 or so in his price range. Most all of them were in the 635/75 area in Dallas, and area I apparently knew NOTHING about. Well pretty much all the places over there were pretty sad and not even close to what we were looking for. THEEENNN we found the diamond in the ruff! I mean this place was AMAZING! I was ready to sign the lease right there! Thank God I didn't! My sister called me in a panic yelling DON'T YOU DARE GO BACK THERE! Apparently that apartment REALLY was in the ruff! Little did I know, it was a very popular drug spot and you could frequently hear gunshots. Well that was the only thing we found that was decent and now it was a no go to. So we went home feeling VERY tired and VERY deflated after being out looking from 10am-5pm! I went home and started looking for some more.

I had 5 on my list for the day. We quit after number two.... because I signed the lease. After talking to the ladies in the office I felt VERY safe and I knew that neighborhood. I drive around there all the time and my mom's favorite cross stitch store used to be across the street! It is right between my parent's house and Ryan's work too! I called Ryan from the office and told him I refused to look anywhere else, this was the place. He gave me the green light and the ladies put a rush in to have his apartment finished by tuesday night! So he will be moving in on Tuesday! I am so proud of myself and relieved to know that Ryan has a place to stay and it isn't in the middle of Hell! I won't be getting shot at here! He is still pretty stressed out but he always is. The idea of being under a lease and having to pay more rent is a bit nerve racking but I think once he gets settled and starts to take advantage of his new freedom life will be MUCH better!

Well, that's my soapbox for the day! I'm sooo tired! Good night!

Insanity... quick post

So it's 2am and I am about to go to bed. I just thought I would give a fast update.

Ryan and Meagan have officially been kicked out of their rooms. They were told that they have to have all of their things out by the end of the week or else Becky, their "landlord", will throw it all out. I found this out last night and immediately began looking at apartments for Ryan. I found a good amount of options and was able to show them to him. I have picked out 5 to go look at tomorrow with my mom and will narrow it down to, hopefully, 2 options for him to see. I am having to do the weeding out process because he doesn't get off work until 4:15pm and all the apartment offices close at 6pm so he wouldn't have time to look at them himself. I'm pretty nervous about the whole looking and asking questions process of tomorrow. At this point, I am responsible for finding Ryan a place to live, otherwise, he won't have one. That's kind of a lot of pressure lol! Also, I've never actually gone apartment hunting so I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. Hopefully the landlords won't notice and take advantage. I am also hoping that having my mom there will make me feel a bit more secure but at the same time I tend to use her as a cruch sometimes. I feel like I'm playing wife trying to find an apartment for Ryan because I am not going to send him somewhere I wouldn't live because chances are... I will end up living there or at least spending a lot of time there.

I have done as much research as anyone can do in like... a day... and have tried to get it as organized as possible. I typed up all the questions I want to ask the landlords and printed them out. One for each complex, and have written the name of the complex on each paper so I can write down the answers. I also wrote down the name, address, how many beds/baths I am looking at and how much the rent is estimated to be. I hope I find something for him, I don't want to disappoint him :/. It is nice to know that he trusts me enough to find him a place to live though :).

Well that's my soapbox(or at least all that I have time for) for the day. Good night and wish me luck! I will let you know what happens!

So big!

AJ is growing up so fast! He is crawling EVERYWHERE Maegan can't keep up! Not only is he crawling 3 months earlier than usual but he is also pulling himself up! It's insane! He is getting so big, I'm not sure I like it lol. I went over there today and played with him for a few hours.  He has some teeth coming in on the bottom! He had a lot of fun crawling all over me.

Anywho, I'm hoping to get this house somewhat clean. I started with the kitchen today and got frustrated. I'm really tired of cleaning this house over and over and over again. I got most of the kitchen clean but didn't get the floors as clean as I wanted to. I did manage to get my room clean and all my laundry done. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive. We need to get this house put together so AJ can crawl around safely.

Well, that's my soapbox for the day. Just wanted to get a post in before I got too distracted :).

Back home...

I moved back home today.. well tonight actually. I went and babysat Corbin, Davis, Anne Mae, and Jack this evening and since it's only 15 minutes from home I just went ahead and moved back here. Mom will be coming home tomorrow morning. Anywho, I really missed those kids! I haven't babysat them in forever! Davis, Anne Mae and I all played Candy Land. Corbin and Davis also played the Wii while Anne Mae and Jack hung out with me. They were great and seemed really excited to have me there. Anne Mae and Jack took turns sitting in my lap. And all the boys got to experience the webcam! Lol. They thought it was AWESOME. Jack would see the person I was talking to and wake and yell "hiiii" lol it was cute.

My appetite is back! I've hungry most of the evening lol. We don't have much food here at the house though so my options are limited. I'm hoping to go see a movie with Ryan tomorrow and I have a lot of cleaning I need to catch up on too. But until then, I'm going to find something to watch on TV.

That's my soapbox for the day. Night!

New name! New Look!

If you didn't notice well then shame on you! I finally decided what I actually wanted to call my blog... and its only taken me 7 months lol! Since I end pretty much every post in "that's my soapbox for the day" I decided to stick that in my name. Also, I'm southern so there ya go we have a Southern Soapbox :)... MY Southern Soapbox :D I also decided to change the picture since it is no longer winter... then got bored and changed the whole thing! lol

So I FINALLY went to sleep some where around 5am this morning... well yesterday morning. I woke up and helped Mom get the dogs back to the house. We're leaving the house we've been house sitting tomorrow/Saturday morning. It's a bitter sweet thing. On one hand we have an awesome pool here and I'm really close to Ryan.. on the other hand... it's not home and I miss my bed. Anywho, my mood has apparently stabilized for the time being. I was pretty much in a good mood all day. YAY. I'm sure everyone has appreciated it. Although I have noticed that my appetite is GONE. Let's see Wednesday I ate Chick-fil-a and 1:30pm.... ate a bagal at midnight-ish. Not because I was actually hungry, just because I knew I had to eat. Then I didn't eat again until about 3:30pm on Thursday. Again.. not hungry just knew I needed to eat. Is that normal? Or is it something else? Who knows....

Well that's my soapbox for the day :)

Black Dog Day

As Winston Churchill would say, I'm having a black dog day. Well really I don't know that I would confine it just to one day, maybe the last few days. I don't know that I would say I'm depressed, probably more just moody. One minute I'm happy and fine and the next minute, not so fine. Sometimes I don't want to be touched, even by Ryan(which is odd) and then a few minutes later all I want to do is lay in his arms. It's hard to tell how much of this is just me being a female or if it's actually my fibromyalgia talking. I've gotten pretty good at putting on a happy face, I do it pretty much every day. Pretending I'm not tired or not in pain.

People ask me "how are you?" and usually the first thing I WANT to say, if I were being honest, is "tired." Everytime, no matter what time of the day, my answer will be tired. Of course they say "well get more sleep". If only it were that simple. People don't realize how much energy it takes for us to operate on a daily basis. I don't even realize it until I sit down and think. We are tired starting out our day because we don't actually get a restful sleep. So we are already tired, and now we have to get up, put on a happy face and go about our day lying to everyone, including sometimes ourselves. We tell people that we are doing great and we spend energy making them believe us. We make them believe that we slept wonderfully the night before and that our hands, shoulders, backs, necks, knees, hips, and feet are BEGGING us to sit down just for a few minutes. Do you know how exhausting it is to pretend that you aren't in pain and aren't tired ALL day? Then we have the days where we really want nothing more than to sit at home and feel sorry for ourselves, or at least I do. But we have to go to work or school or just see our family members and pretend that everything is OK. Now people wonder why I feel the need to pretend everything is OK. Would you want to hang around a 19 year old that complains about being tired and hurting all day every day? No, you wouldn't. I sure as heck don't want to listen to myself complain about it all day. It gets old, quickly.

So I am guilty. I have probably lied to every single person that I talk to. I have told you that I am doing great, when really all I want to do is go to sleep and stop hurting. I have told you I am great, when really, I am using all of my energy to keep it together just long enough for me to go home and write on this blog about how much my day sucked and then cry about it afterwards.

I bet you didn't expect me to post two threads in less than 24 hours! Well, that's my soapbox for now. Good night :)

Fourth Of July!

Yes I know it's been a while. I haven't really been all that busy but still haven't found the time to get on here lol. It's hard to write about your life when you don't really have one. Anywho, I have been house sitting for some friends for about a month now. It's really nice because they have a pool and live really close to Ryan(rather than an hour drive to see him it's only 15-20 minutes). Due to the summer I have been in short supply of work which really sucks. I hate not having anything to do.

The 4th of July, in my family is always a big occasion. We grill, ride horses, play games and shoot off our own fireworks. Sadly, we didn't go to Mississippi for this 4th of July because we were house sitting so I planned a little party instead. My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, boyfriend, 2 friends and one of the friends new girlfriend were all going to come over for a cook out, swimming and fireworks. Well my sister, brother-in-law and nephew ended up doing something else and then one of my friends backed out last minute too so the whole party thing was totally bust. We grilled anyways and played a few games. Once dusk hit I began trying to see where the fireworks would come from. Needless to say, I never saw any fireworks. Fourth Of July was pretty disappointing to say the least. Now we have a ton of food leftover because everyone waited until the last minute to cancel.

On a different note, I haven't really had any flare ups lately. I've been really tired though. I slept 13 hours the night before last. My sleep schedule is totally screwed up because I have no reason to wake up in the morning so I just sleep. One of the downsides to summer I suppose.

Well, that's my soapbox for the day. Have a good one!