Update - August 2011

Before begining this post, I hesitated for a few minutes - pondering how much longer I could put this off. lol. Yep, that's the procrastinator in me speaking! Shameful, yes, I know.

• 3 weeks ago today, Danny and I celebrated 1 year of living in our apartment together. I kicked myself for not having before pictures of our place when we first moved in. And then for not having cleaned the apartment to take pictures of what it looks like today. I definitely have had my moments of disliking the apartment, mostly because the kitchen is so darn small and cramped. But I've come to like this place, it's homey :D I will miss it when it comes time to leave.
• August 5th ended up being my last day of work at my super, cool, awesome and interesting job. Our company is closing down and they'd begun to make preperations to shut down. The office staff was one of the first casulties. It'd been up for sale for some time and when there weren't any big bites, the owner decided to close it down.  Right now, they have a limited amount of guys out in the yard-mostly for clean-up since the yard and everything on it is going up for auction on September 15.
• I  put off finishing my resume and sending out applications during that first week of being unemployed, mostly because I had high hopes of being called back for whatever reason. Or even that a buyer was in the process of making negotiations and wanted to keep the place running. Sadly, nothing to that effect happened. And I didn't really enjoy that week off. I felt annoyed, and I was a little mad that I was in this situation. Again. Looking back, I'm in the same place I was last year. Unemployed.
• I got to see Bella at my dad's house last week, after almost [or maybe even longer than] a month. It seemed like forever. Before that, I'd tried FaceTiming with her, and boy oh boy did she let me know she was mad at me! :( I felt so sad. Thanks to Audrey for kidnapping me that weekend because I got to spend some quality time with Bella and made sure to let her know she was my pooch! Love that punk!



Last week (08/14-08/20) I started helping my dad out at his job. They're couriers [kinda like the UPS] guys, out and about delivering stuff. They'd just landed a great contract with Staples so there was gonna be some extra work. I'd helped out several years before when my mom used to work there too and she went on vacation or whatever reason she couldn't work. It's not hard, it's just work. lol. Does that make sense?? Well, luckily for me I had Danny to help me get into it for a few days. And the true test came on Friday when he couldn't go with me. The biggest obstacle for me is going to be the cases of paper because they're so darn heavy! Just being in the warehouse loading up for deliveries is a work out so you know I'm getting my exercise on! lol. You sweat so much you need an extra shirt or two to get through the day. So for temporary work, I'll be ok. But I still miss my old job and being in the nice, comfy air conditioning.

Just today, [08/21] I filled out 2 applications, and sent out 4 more resumes. OOh and I baked a cake! How awesome am I?? ;) I kid, I kid. Seriously though, one of the applications is for a job that I really, really want. And I really did bake that cake ...  So say a little prayer for me while I go through this awful process of "job hunting" again. Please and thank you!

Smokey has been a lot more cuddly! :) Thank goodness, it's comforting and makes me smile.

Worless Wednesday :)

Apparently, Smokey likes having company over :)

My sister Audrey visisted us over the weekend and she brought her little pooch with her.

Smokey and Kalie sitting in a tree ...

This is Kalie

Kalie belongs to our wonderful neighbors and is Smokey's girlfriend.

She likes to sunbathe in the nude like Smokey does....

And sleep all day just like he does....

He was so nice to let Kalie have the couch, he napped on the floor ;-)

Danny and I got to kitty-sit her for a week while our neighbors went out on vacation. She was so loving, she litterally would hug on you when you picked her up. Both arms would be open around your neck and she'd nuzzle her sweet little head on your cheek :) aww I miss her already. Smokey might occasionally let you pick him up and carry him, maybe for a whole minute if you're lucky. He was an outside cat until this past October when he moved in with us so he isn't super affectionate like other cats.

Here they are sniffing eachother out .. lol

They finally got around to actually liking each other on her last night with us!

Catching up

I can't belive I haven't posted anything in a week! It'd be understandable if I was busy, busy, busy ... but I really wasn't :(

I did read everybody's blogs though; however, I wasn't able to post any comments on anybody's blog. That made me kind of frustrated. On almost all comments I tried to post it'd ask for my google id, take me to a sign in page - then I would sign in and it would take me back to the comment post page only to preview it as an anonymous comment o.O

It seems to be a common problem among other bloggers, I just hope it gets resolved soon.

This is gonna be one of those "dump posts".

Nothing excited happened last week, except our brisket BBQ at work which turned out really well! I contributed dessert, which I was really excited to do. I made 4 rum cakes just to make sure that there was plenty for all of our 43+ employees. They turned out fabulous and everybody loved them. One guy even asked if he could buy one from me later this week :) He caught me off guard, so I told him I'd sell him one for $10.00

I took some picutres while I baked:

^^ My baby in action! lol.

^^ 2 down, 2 to go!

^^ Danny was out gigging with the band one night, and I needed to make sure he or anybody else wouldn't eat the 2 that were ready by Thursday! - You know, to ensure their survival for Friday's BBQ

^^ The Smokester, mommy's little helper ;)

Well, no not really but he did keep me company.

The weekend was pretty chill - we didn't do much of anything. We did a BBQ on Sunday with the band, that was pretty fun. But I fail, as I did not take any pictures :( Not a single one.

I had Memorial Day off, which was ok on Sunday but then I felt kinda bad that I wasn't able to work ... that's like 9 hours I'm gonna miss off next weeks paycheck :( I rested up a lot, more than I needed to I think because I feel really tired right now ... lol. I'm sure it'll even itself out later this week.

Wordless Wednesday - The Smokester

He reminded me of Danny in this picture.

Danny is still in healing from his bells palsey - almost completely recovered, but not fully. His left eye is almost always just slightly closed more than the right ... kinda like Smokey in this picture. lol.

Smokey ...

"Pet me Mom"

"No pictures!"

"Fine. I will just lay here next to you."

He always throws in the towel .... eventually. LOL.

Smokey *TMI - warning!*

This is Smokey:

 

Smokey has problems:

LOL.

Potty Training Smokey

I'm a pet lover, and I'm fairly confident in my potty training skills. Now I know I'm no miracle worker, but I have the patience and it turns out right now I have the time! So after weeks of keeping our pets at my dad's house, I talked Danny into letting me bring Smokey to the apartment :)

Smokey has been an inside/outside cat since we found him. Yes, he was initially a stray. But after I saw him, I thought he was too pretty to stay a stray. So I claimed him and dubbed him "Smokey". Clever huh? lol. That was about 4 years ago, and he was already full grown - so that makes him about 6 years old now.

But like I said, he's been inside/outside for his whole life - until now! I knew going into this we'd have a couple of accidents on the carpet to start because he's not used to the litter box. So after the first night (2 accidents) he hadn't had an accident all day and I was getting worried. So I go over to the litter box and start moving the litter around with the pooper scooper and he gets all curious and jumps right in. He sniffed around for a bit before he used it! I was so proud of him! lol. Am I completely lame?

He used it again this morning. I'm a proud mama! lol. Now he's just chilling on the carpet under our bed. He loves the carpet. I thought he'd be a pain and want to go outside all the time. Lucky for us, no whining and he seems to be liking that he's the only pet in this apartment. So far, so good. I hope he keeps up this good behavior.

Here's Smokey in the car on the way to the apartment

Pet's via Kindred Connection!

I saw this from Natalie's blog and thought it'd be fun to blog about my baby's too!

WARNING! PICTURE OVERLOAD! :-)

Questions:
1. What pets currently reside at your house?
(If you don't have any now, tell us what you grew up with)

Well since we're still at my dad's we've got a ton! Bella and Smokey are ours. Then there's my sisters: Pudge, Chiquita and Erin - plus Erin's 3 kittens! And my dad has Daisy!

Bella

Smokey

Pudge & Chiquita

Erin

(L-R) TJ, EJ, and MJ

Daisy

We're a big 'ol happy family! Did you count? That's 9 in total!


2. What is one really strange thing your pet(s) does?

Bella eats lying down.

Smokey likes to hang out outside on top of one of the AC units. That seems to be his favorite one.

3. Now fess up here: give us your nicknames for your pets (we KNOW you have them- and we KNOW they're good)!

Bella: Poochie ... Bella ... Baby ... My Bella ... Chiflada {spanish for spoiled, because lets face it, she is} Cochina {spanish for icky} ... Pooch ...

Smokey: Smokey ... Smokey-pants ... Smokey Okey ... Cat ... Canijo {curious little punk} --- and Danny and my dad like to call him Smokette, because he's fixed. lol. They're mean, I know!

4. Are your pets spoiled or not (grin)?
Yes. I'm not afraid to admit it. I love them to death and I treat them that way.

Bella on the couch with Danny

Smokey laying with me on the couch

5. Insert pet pics here :-)

Ready? lol.

Bella, the day I adopted her.

See. Spoiled.

Bath time!

I think she's trying to tell me something here! lol. That was Chiquita's bed.

Smokey, always wanting attention when I'm busy with something else.

He sleeps A LOT!

My Spoiled Furbaby!

This is Smokey:

For the most part, Smokey's an outside cat. He goes potty outside, lays out in the sun, climbs trees, etc.

Now I said "for the most part" because for the past month or so he's been sleeping inside. He sleeps all through the night. And if for some reason he wakes up before I do, example-weekday mornings, he kinda just sits up and stays put. He'll let me sleep until my alarm goes off! What a sweetie right?!

The hubby actually lets Smokey sleep with us at night. He's a really low maitenance cat. Or so I thought.

This is my sisters cat Erin:

Erin just had 3 teeny-tiny furbabies! They're so cute! And since she's had them she's let us get near them and keep an eye on them. She trusts us.

She had them outside in one of our storage rooms. We live in South Texas and it gets really hot! That plus it's mosquito/flea season and they're just thriving! Not exactly the best situation for new babies. So we brought them inside. The babies I mean. Erin is like Smokey, mostly outdoors. She wont use the litter box, she doesn't know what it is.

But ever since we brought them inside, Smokey just can't be near them! They usually eat on top of the dryer. Isolated and up high so that our dogs won't bother them. If Erin is there too, hungry - he will whine his mouth off and won't have it! So we let him outside and he doesn't eat.

So me being the mommy that I am, found a way to get Smokey to stay inside and eat.

He will only eat his food sitting on top of our dresser. In our bedroom. Or on our nightstand. He shares water with our dog, Bella, who also eats her dinner in our bedroom. They're one pair of weirdos! lol.

So Smokey stays on the East side of the house, while Erin and her babies have the West side.

We're one big happy family :)

lol.