Hmm...

Should I feel bad that I just DO NOT care that Michael Jackson died?

Even if I should... I don't. There is not one part of me that cares.

And....... ANOTHER Thing About Me...

A friend at work saw this coaster and thought of me... haha It's so very true though... I keep it on my desk at work.

As I Lay Here...

...relaxing on my couch, I think about random things. Which is to be expected, I think.

My husband just took off to go to a job. Weird hour, I know... Especially seeing as how he is not on-call this week... But it had to be done. Poor guy won't be getting any sleep tonight. And for some reason, whenever that happens to him, I end up staying up way later than I should. It's sympathy or something. Or maybe it's just because it gives me a moment to myself to write on here and watch shows he hates...

I was yelling at my virtual trainer again this morning... Here she is - the killer of my knees today with her stupid squat holds. Do you have any idea how much it sucks to hold a squat for 40 seconds? Try it for a little while - it doesn't take the entire 40 seconds to get the idea.
She's the one with the green shirt in the corner. Horrible evil woman. But I keep coming back for more... Haha... Weird flash on the tv next to me... Looks like I'm farting sunshine... And now I'm cracking up. Well done, me.

I love puppies. I so cannot help myself. I just want to squeeze them until they go "mmmph..." Haha. Only a handful of people get that joke... This past Friday we got the play with three different doggies - only two were puppies, but they are all so stinking sweet.

Cowboy... All tuckered out from running and playing and generally just being a crazy puppy.

Jazmin asking nicely for a treat.

Ryo with new puppy, Zoe. She's only 8 weeks old and the same size as Cowboy. She's a "Boxnard" - a boxer/St. Bernard. And she is TOO cute.

And I got to spend time with my sister-from-another-mister and the kiddos. (Two more of my nieces and nephews - I have a lot of them. ) It was good to see them. I gotta say, it's been a pretty dang good weekend. Now I just have to wind down and drag my sleepy carcass off to bed sometime soon...

And.... another realization about myself...

I really suck at taking self-portraits... haha But I will figure it out eventually...

My hyper two-year-old nephew who didn't want to stand still wasn't making it any easier....

But we both have pretty eyes...

At least I got the little man in the picture... Even if he wasn't smiling at the moment... haha

Another thing about me...

I was just scrolling through the posts on the front page of my blog and something caught my eye. I said that I was not willing to drive the 20 minutes or so to Santa Ana to get Sonic. BUT - I have been more than willing to drive more than 3 times that far to go get Pink's hot dogs or to get donuts at the DK's in Santa Monica!

Josh and I have been known to go on "adventures" simply because we had nothing else going on that day... But I guess Sonic just never merited one... I guess it has gotta be something really special - like waiting in line for an hour for chili dogs at Pink's - to get us goin'... haha

And DK's in Santa Monica has THE BEST donuts EVER. More than worth the drive, because once you've had DK's in Santa Monica - all other donuts SUCK.

Mmmmmmmm........ I want a vanilla buttercream from DK's...... I think it's about time for another adventure...

Something true about me...

"It's not really that I can't take a compliment well... I just don't like to let certain people feel like they've done something nice..."


I don't know why this popped into my head today... I posted this as my facebook status FOREVER ago. And it's as true today as it was then...

I'm not always a very nice person... hahaha

Good week.

It’s Friday. And payday.

As I’ve said before, that makes for a pretty good day. Plus, yesterday we got bonuses. So my week at work went – quiet days because most people were either out in the field or at an event, jeans on Thursday AND Friday, mini-payday Thursday (bonus), and regular payday today! Oh, AND my bosses took me out to lunch for my birthday finally. We went to Auld Dubliner. Little Irish place with AWESOME food. I had the shepherd’s pie and then they twisted my arm and made me order dessert… haha Raspberry Crème Brulee. Yum yum yum. So fantastic. Now I am full, tired, happy, and ready to get out of here to go play with Cowboy again at my friends’ house. Just gotta make it through the next hour and a half of a pretty slow day. (Hence writing this while at work… haha)

My summer shows are starting to come back, and I am happy to have something other than re-runs. Weeds came back this past Monday. Such a funny show – I just wish it were longer than 30 minutes. It seems like it is over SO quickly. Second season of True Blood starts on Sunday! That’s why we watched the entire first season in one weekend – had to get it done before the new one started… Can’t wait! So glad that we have the Eastern feed for HBO and Showtime. That way, instead of 9 and 10 pm, we get the shows at 6 and 7 pm. So much nicer. I’m still enjoying Mental – one of the characters irritates me, but he’s supposed to, so I guess I just have to deal with it…

I recently started watching Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel. It’s pretty stinking entertaining. This guy travels around the country trying different eating challenges. One was in Texas – it was a 72 ounce steak, shrimp cocktail, salad, a baked potato, and a roll. All in under an hour. Another was this gigantic burger – all together, toppings and everything, it weighed about 7 or 8 pounds. Insane. The last episode we watched he was doing the Meterbratwurst Challenge. It’s a bratwurst that is a meter long (duh) and two sides (he had cabbage and some potato thing). He made it through the steak challenge like it was nothing – insane! He couldn’t get through the burger – made it three quarters of the way through before he had to either give up or throw up. And he made it through the bratwurst, but was struggling a little bit. He’s crazy. The episodes are interesting – as it leads up to the challenge, he visits local restaurants to try whatever the town is known for… We have seen some insane food – although some of it looks pretty stinking good. But deadly – like the kind of stuff where you would feel your heart slowing with every bite... It’s a pretty funny show.

I’m currently reading Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. It’s been really good so far. (It’s the one that is the sequel to her other book Good In Bed that I talked about before.) It’s kinda cool how it keeps switching back and forth between the mother and the daughter’s point-of-view. Next up, I was loaned the first book in the series that True Blood is based on. I’m really looking forward to reading it. It’s weird for me to go in reverse – I normally read things before I see them… Oh well – not like I won’t enjoy it… After I’m done, I’m sure I’ll have to go run out and pick up the rest of the series… I’m so impatient; I won’t be able to wait for her to bring them in.

I am so glad that the weekend is almost here. I think I may try to talk Josh into going up to the $2 movie theater here in Irvine this weekend because I Love You, Man is playing there and we wanted to see it, but never got a chance to get to the “real” theater while it was there. Sunshine Cleaning is playing there too… I think we may have to spend an afternoon at the movies… :-) We also need to go see some new movies at the “real” movie theater soon – my office gave us all free movie tickets… And I have had a couple people give me theirs, so I am set! Yay movies! I just need to finish out the day and I will be on my way! :-)

I love weekends!

Unplanned Venting

I had such an unproductive weekend this past weekend… It was lovely. Friday we went to our friends’s to hang out, go in the hot tub, and play with their puppy, Cowboy. Saturday, we ran a couple errands and then completely zoned and watched the first half of the first season of True Blood. Then we went to our other friends’s to hang out and play board games and meet his mom and step-dad. Sunday, I worked out with my virtual trainer, did my thing, and then Josh and I resumed zoning on the couch and watched the second half of the first season of True Blood while doing laundry. I love vampire stuff so I don’t know how I didn’t get into the show sooner – it was bizarre, but I enjoyed it. Now we are ready for when Season 2 starts soon! (Warning – there is some bizarre nudity, so this show is not for the easily bothered…. haha)

There is something in the works for J coming up that we are both very excited about. I can’t really give any details at the moment, but the next couple months should be very good for us. I will update as I have more info…

Our Sonic opened last week! I was SO excited. I’ve been dying for there to be one closer. (The closest one to us before this was in Santa Ana and I’m not driving up there just for limeade!) It had been about 5 years or so since I had had Sonic and it was yummy. :-) On my mom’s recommendation, I tried the Cherry Limeaid (I normally go for Strawberry or plain) and it was fantastic. Such a dangerous place to have right down the street… haha

I just had a thought about something that happened earlier today that has been bugging me… Why are people always so stinking cranky and put-out by having to do their JOB? It’s crazy. At my office, we used to have someone who – as part of their job – had to cover all of our receptionist’s breaks. When she retired, they opted not to fill the position and redistributed the work. Since then, it has come down to all of us that are in the office every day to take turns covering the board. There are about 15 people and we alternate through the list of one week every so often having to watch either her lunch break or morning/afternoon breaks. Our poor receptionist is pretty much strapped to her desk and cannot even leave to go to the restroom until the person’s whose turn it is gets there. (She’s been told by one of the top guys here that if she has to go, to put it on the night bell and just go, but she’s wary of doing that because her manager seems to not like her and she just doesn’t want to have to deal with being snapped at and have to try to explain herself.) She runs into problems all the time with her coverage – most often it is the fact that people are terrible about getting down there on time. She’ll be dancing behind her desk, dying to run to the restroom, and some of these people waltz over there – already late – and then tell her that they will be there in “just a second” because they need to go to the restroom or get something to drink. It’s not right. I don’t understand why people are so inconsiderate! And then they have the nerve to get mad at her and complain about her when she pages them when they are late! So stupid… I will fully admit, there have been times where I was working on a project and lost track of time, but I am always very apologetic and don’t expect her to wait even LONGER just because I need to go to the rest room! The reason it popped into my head is because one of the repeat offenders has the morning and afternoon breaks this week, and as she walked past my desk this afternoon to go down there, she sighed like it was a huge imposition. Get over yourself. This is the same person who is supposed to bring up all the packages that are delivered during the day, but instead of actually DOING IT, just tells people that there is something downstairs for them and expects them to go get it themselves. I don’t play that game – I smile politely when she tells me that there is something down there for me or one of my bosses and then see how long it takes for her to finally give in and bring it up like she is supposed to. Because that’s the way life works. It’s not like I could get away with not pulling the reports and things that I do every month for my bosses and just walk in there and tell them that they’ve updated and they can go onto the different programs and print them themselves any time they are ready… That wouldn’t really fly. The way I see it, it’s your job. It’s what you are paid to do. If you don’t like it – find a way to change what you do. Don’t just sit there and complain and refuse to do things that you are asked to do, while not taking any steps to get into something that you DO enjoy! Come on, people! No one is entitled to just being handed anything! No one is going to take you by the hand and pat you on the head and give you a damn cookie! No one is irreplaceable. If you refuse to do it, they will find someone willing and most likely be able to pay them less than they pay you. And do you think that that sounds like a bad deal to ANYONE in this economy?? UGH! Sorry for the tangent, but it makes me CRAZY! I may not have liked every position that I have held in this company over the past ten years, I may not have liked every task... But I have DONE THEM. And I have done them well, without complaint. And have been rewarded accordingly. I have been praised by my bosses for trying to lead by example, having a positive attitude, and ALWAYS being willing to help. I really wish that some people would just pay more attention and actually FOLLOW the example!

And now that I’ve opened the flood gates… I am also REALLY sick of people that feel the need to make up lies about other people in an effort to get attention directed away from them. There is a group here in our office that does this to a friend of mine in the office all the time. They have broken the lock on her desk drawers when she was out on vacation a couple times and removed files to make it look like she wasn’t doing her job in order to turn their boss’s focus from them playing on the internet and goofing off constantly. They have opened her mail from our HR department that was marked VERY clearly PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. I have heard them badmouthing her, I have seen it happen. And I have said something to a manager (either one of theirs or one of mine) every time I have actually seen or heard something going on because it is disgusting, harmful behavior. And nothing ever happens! I wish that these people would just leave. Just go away and never come back. No one would ever miss them. They are poisonous. They make me sick and I am really glad that they got moved to a distant part of the office after our remodel because now I don’t have to deal with them very often anymore…

Okay. I have taken a deep breath and stepped down off of my soap box. Like I named this blog – Mental Garbage... Sometimes it just needs to come out… That was sufficient venting for the evening.

On a lighter note – here is Cowboy, trying to get my camera from me. :-) So cute.

10 years, 15 years, picture time... haha

So, the other day, while thinking about the insanity of the fact that I have worked for this company for 10 years I realized that as of this month, I also will have lived in South Orange County for 15 years! I moved pretty much every couple years growing up – 5 years being the longest I had EVER lived anywhere before… Wow. It makes me itchy. These are the times that I try my hardest to talk my husband into moving somewhere else… But he’s lived here his entire life and I don’t think I have any chance of ever actually getting him out of here. I’ve been SO close to convincing him several times, but never seal the deal. Oh well. I guess I just have to learn to deal with actually being stable and having roots in one place… haha

For my 10th Anniversary, Toyota found it in their hearts to bestow on me a gift of my choosing (from a catalog of their choosing) and, as I said in a previous post, I decided on the digital camera. I have been playing with it – figuring it out. I already bought it a super cute case. I love it.

To commemorate my 10th year at Toyota and to get some use out of my new toy – please enjoy what my view is every day…

My computer - complete with red gel wrist rests... Red's my favorite color...

My partially hidden "entertaining stuff" wall... Pictures that make me laugh, pins I've gotten at work, a really cool piece about optimism that I printed off my company website, my lucky bamboo that one of my bosses got me for my birthday, my Sudoku daily calendar, and pictures... Oh... and some stuff that I'm working on... haha

I had to include this one... it cracks me up. But Trashcat is definitely not amused... haha

I love my little camera. My blog had better enjoy being a lot more picture-filled from here on out… On that note... enjoy one more.

This is my bonsai plum tree that I bought myself for my anniversary. :-) I initially got it to have on my desk at work, but the manager that sits in front of me NEVER opens his blinds, so it was not doing well... Everyday I would keep hearing leaves fall off of it... Now that it's home, I haven't lost a single leaf. AND the plum on the right is almost ripe. I'm sooo curious if it will taste good. The one on the left - the big one hanging down, seems to be taking its sweet time ripening... Oh well... It will eventually. I'm planning on re-potting it and letting it get bigger... That way, Ill get more plums. Love it. :-)

Wii and TV

After seeing several ads and then reading several reviews for the new EA Active for the Wii, I decided to buy it the other day. I started the 30-day Challenge on Monday… In order to not feel like I was being a wuss, I chose moderate difficulty. After only two days of working out with my virtual personal trainer….. I think maybe I should have picked easy! HAHA! It’s actually a workout. Where Wii Fit was always more of a game – with the yoga and the strength exercises being the only really useful things on there - Active really kicks your butt! After day one, I was sore, but still feeling pretty ready for day two. After day two, I am SO glad that today is the rest day! After about 8 sets of different kinds of lunges and several different running drills, I was yelling at my poor virtual trainer that I hated her and that if she were real, I would punch her. Yes, I am crazy enough to yell at my tv, actually. But, at the same time, I am really excited to see how the workouts keep progressing and what kind of results I get after the 30-day Challenge is over. And then to do it again. And again. Until it gets easy. Then I’ll change it to the harder difficulty and do that until it’s easy. Then I can create my own workouts from the things that I really enjoy or really push me. I am determined to – at the very least – finish this 30-day Challenge perfectly, getting every workout completed. So far, I’m way above the mark of predicted calorie burn, so that’s good. Hopefully I can keep that up… We’ll see!

So, I was very bummed recently to find out that one of my favorite shows, Reaper, was not going to be picked up again… It is SUCH a funny show with some really great characters and stories. To make things worse, they ended this season with a total cliffhanger and so many questions unanswered… Sigh. At least most of my other favorites are coming back next season… For some reason Scrubs got picked up again. Even though Zack Braff said he wasn’t going to be on the show. And even though they totally wrapped everything up in the finale. Weird. I’ll probably check out a couple episodes to see what they do with it.

For now, I have to deal with a ton of re-runs. At least it gives us a chance to catch up on our poor over-loaded DVR. And there is one new show that I am enjoying so far – Mental. It’s about a psych ward doctor and the crazy cases that they get. Last night had a woman and her husband – the husband had gone crazy after they lost their first child and proceeded to become increasingly delusional to the point that he convinced her that she was pregnant and her mind tricked her body into thinking it was pregnant. She looked pregnant, had ALL the symptoms, just no baby. Weirdness.

Oh – and Key Lime Cupcakes from Sprinkles are delicious, but they could never come close to taking the place of Red Velvet as my favorite…