Shiny Happy People

I have a question for everyone. How many real friends do you have and what do you consider a real friend? I remember telling a friend before she got married that marriage isn't this idea you have in your head that you got from various tv shows and movies. Well, I kind of feel that way about friends too. The funny thing is that I bet some of the people reading this will think that I'm talking about them and some of them would be wrong.

December is Over?

Wow, December is practically over! And I have only posted once! Well, after my parents left we were busy getting back into the routine of things. Of course, the holiday season is crazy and we only attended one of three holiday parties. I started class again (9 more after this one!). Then we had a somewhat unplanned visit from John's parents for a few days. They came with a purpose of finding a house to buy and they found one, made an offer, and it was accepted a few days later! We didn't do a whole lot more when they were here, but played lots of cards, dice, and dominos!

Christmas was a quiet and uneventful day. I guess that is what we get. One of the few times a year I hate living here. We have no family and no kids so really no reason to "celebrate". Don't take that wrong, I know the reason for the season, but really, why deck the house out or anything. We did go over to Stephanie and Barts and had breakfast for dinner. We had great intentions to play the Wii, but we ended up eating and going for our bike ride and that was about it! We had decorated our bikes with lights and then rode around to look at the houses with lights. It was a great night and we had a lot of fun. We definitely garnered a lot of attention!!

This is the fantastically watered down version of everything, so I hope you enjoy and I'll try and get some pictures soon.

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings in a long time! We had prime rib, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole, beans, salad, oh and some turkey. But that's not what made it so good, it was that if was small. My parents were here and my friends Stephanie and Bart and John and I. We just hung out and ate and watched football.

My mom and dad got here Wednesday afternoon and we went to San Tan Flats that night. It was cold, but the food was good and we got a spot right by the firepits.

My mom convinced me to get up somewhat early and go shopping on Friday morning. It was actually a productive day. Got all but a few people shopped for. We only hit a few stores but that took most of the day. Then we went to LoLo's that night! Chicken and Waffles! Yum!! Don't forget the awesome mac-n-cheese and the red kool-aid and the eggs!

Saturday we didn't do much. My mom made me put up my Christmas tree. That's the first time in three years. Then Saturday night we went to Oregano's; another fantastic restaurant. After dinner we went to Burlesque, which I quite enjoyed.

Sunday another lazy day but then we went to TransSiberian Orchestra. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. And it was a LONG concert. Loud with fire and lasers. I swear all I needed was some weed and it would have been Laser Floyd.

Monday we ran errands. We went to Lucille's BBQ before heading to the Monday Night Football game. The game was boring!! But it's always fun to go and watch people. We had the best seats for the fight of the night in the stands. Tuesday my mom and dad got up early and headed home. I'm sure it was a long drive for them but I'm super glad they came down and we had a good time.

It's been busy

It's been a busy couple of weeks. This is what always happens when I take a break from school, I get super busy and then wonder what I did with my break. My friend Cheryl came out to see us from South Carolina. We had a good time, although I'm sure she could have gone shopping in South Carolina as that is about all we did. This week my parents are coming for Thanksgiving. I'm very excited as since moving to Arizona I have really come to hate the holidays. Arizona just needs snow one day a year.....and my family of course.

Now John's parents are talking about coming down for a week or something in the next two weeks I think. But whatever, I am good with whomever wants to come and visit.

I was on my way to an appointment yesterday and got pulled over. I knew it was either for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign or registration. It was the registration. Apparently when you move 2 times in 6 months, they don't get the renewal notice to you and who really pays attention to their tags. No big deal right? I came home and renewed it BUT she gave me a citation that is $158!! That's ridiculous. So not only was the registation for the car $200 and the truck $320 but $158 for a fine?! So now I have to try and see when the court house is open this next week and go down and ask for leniency. Some days I hate my life.

I guess it's not going to work

I was trying to post my grade from my class. But it won't copy onto here. I got 100%.

YAY!

Not again

I have been going through all our financial paperwork tonight and I am missing two more of John's paystubs from his last job. NOT AGAIN!!! I have to deal with that prick AGAIN??!!  Well the good news is since the last time I got a response from the Department of Labor so I do have some legal backing to throw at him.

I can't believe it's November already. My parents will be here soon and Cheryl will be here sooner! Very excited for both of those visits.

Otherwise, I finished another class, so one step closer to that masters. Work has been busy but good. I can't believe how much happier I am since I moved over to this job and company.

We had a successful family game night on Halloween Eve with no games. We carved pumpkins and that was just as fun. Good times, good friends!

hmm, song of the week.... Sexyback by Justin Timberlake, since John apparently just got introduced to this song.

That was interesting...

Today I got to do something that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. My work gave us the chance to go to a town hall meeting with Senator John McCain. Best part it was paid! So we got bused down to the Sheraton this afternoon and he spoke for about 30 minutes and then answered questions. I don't remember everything that was said, but I was impressed with his answers and pretty much agreed with him. I liked that he called out someone who made an ignorant remark; and he was pretty funny.

I will say that it can inspire you to want to be better educated about the issues and make sure to exercise your right to vote. If you don't, you don't have a right to complain!

Best song of the week: Brand New Key by Melanie
If you don't listen to these songs, you really have to check this one out. It will make you want to ride a bike!

More Pictures!

My Pimped out bike! Love it!

My new bell

John's bike

Oww!

Today was the day of the big bike ride. We got to the park about 730 and got registered and our t-shirts. It was really cool, they had all these businesses giving out free food and goods. Then we hung out with Stephanie and Bart, Monica and Lance, Beth and Brian, Teri, Trudy, and Daphne. So we had a fun little group. The ride didn't seem like 12 miles, but my butt sure hurts tonight!

After the ride we went for breakfast at Crackers, probably the best breakfast place around! Then we ran to the bike shop and pimped out the bikes a bit. I'll have to load pictures, but it's not going to happen tonight. I got a new bike bell, new pedals, and a new waterbottle holder. John got pedals, a seat, and a bottle holder.

Then we decided to do dinner with Stephanie and Bart while we watched Favre lose the game for Minnesota. Very good day overall.

Friday was Beauty and the Beast. I loved it. It actually stays pretty close to the movie and the music is great. Chip was making his broadway debut and he was 7 years old and SO cute. I almost cried at the end.

That's the most exciting parts of our weekend. I think I'm off to take an ibuprofen and go to bed!

Song of the week: Beauty and the Beast by Angela Lansbury! of course :-)

The circle of life

It's finally Friday Eve! Super excited about that. Tomorrow should be pretty relaxed at work since I pretty much finished all my work Wednesday.

Tonight we get to go find our bike helmets for Tour de Tempe, which reminded me I needed to print the registration forms, which leads me to say, I love wireless printing! It's so nice to sit here and print something and be able to grab it when I want.

Which leads me to, I have been asked for a second round interview for a new position at work. I'm pretty excited about it. It's a telecommuting position which would give me back two hours of my day and it should be a pay raise! So I'm not going to hold my breath but I am excited.

Which leads me back to Friday Eve! And that is the circle of life.

Life Won't Wait by Ozzy Osbourne

That's my song of the week.

I haven't posted in a while as it's been not the best few weeks and been pretty busy. John has been working alot with their Rocktoberfest. Sales have been slow and that's not good. But nothing we can do about it I guess.

I am just about done with this class and I've decided that the instructor is absolutely not reading a damn bit of my work. Which may be why I'm enjoying the class so much. After this class 10 more!!

We have a busy week coming up. We have tickets to Beauty and the Beast Friday night, that I'm really excited about. I haven't seen it since American Heritage tour in .....9th grade? 8th grade? 7th grade? Mom, help here?

Then we're doing the Tempe bike thingy. All I know is it's 12 miles and we haven't rode in awhile. After it we're going to go to the State fair and gorge ourselves on all the fried food.

On another note, I need John's paystubs, which have been held hostage since he left Tri-City. So since Dave was all "buddy buddy" I figured, I could act back and just tell him I was coming to pick them up. He told me that we can't have them until John pays his "bill". There is no bill to pay, he's such a jackass and so full of crap. So, I emailed the labor board and here is their response:

• The only reference in the Arizona State wage payment statute that pertains to paystubs is found in ARS 23-351(D) attached for your reference where it states, “When an employee’s wages are paid by deposit in a financial institution he shall be furnished with a statement of his earnings and withholdings.”  There is no other requirement in the statute to provide such statement if the wages are not paid by deposit in a financial institution.

Well, since we were getting direct deposit, I take that to mean he HAS to give us the paystubs. So I told him that he can't keep them from us and if I have to involve an attorney to get them, I will go after him for the costs involved. He said he'll send them to me tomorrow, so we'll see.  

LOL

So I was texting the name of my blog to my sister-in-law and my phone thought it should be http://www.mischief.blogspot.com/ instead of http://www.rischlife.blogspot.com/. Perhaps that would have been a more appropriate name.......

I wish I were a dog

Here's my boys doing what they do best. Sleeping. They sleep everywhere all the time. I definitely want to be a dog in my next life.

Another week gone by

It has been a pretty uneventful week. We're busy planning our Halloween costumes at work and I need to get busy finding my pumpkin pattern to top last year. Yes, it will be Twilight related.

• We're at 33 days till Cheryl comes to visit. Very excited about that.
• 63 more weeks of school till I'm done with my Masters, very excited about that also.
• My parents have officially decided they are coming for Thanksgiving, very excited.
• I have decided that I WILL make at least one trip home in the next year, very excited about that.

That about sums up all the exciting things we have going on in the near future. It should be an uneventful weekend filled with lots of homework.

Song of the Week: Bulletproof by La Roux

On a more serious note

It has been a weird week, which probably means it's almost that time of the month. Sorry, TMI, but I am beginning to understand the influx of these emotions. We were driving the other day and there was a car broke down in the middle of the road. It was a middle age white guy. Everyone is driving by him, no one stopping. Until! A family on their way to or from church in their Sunday best, stops and the husband and son get out to help while the wife moves over to get their car out of the way. What struck me most about this was that they were black. I know, it's not the 1960s with the whole racial war going on, but they were the ONLY people who stopped! And in their nice clothes too! And I thought, I still believe in humanity. There are good people out there.

Well, fast forward to tonight. Out of nowhere I got an email on an account I don't use very often and I was trying to place the name of who it was from. Then I realized, it was John's EX boss. He had my email from when I donated to his MS bike ride. He was sending out some newsletter something or other. Well I looked for a link to remove myself and it said just to reply to the email; which I did just stating "Please remove me from the mailing list". Well, I quickly received an email back saying "No problem, tell John we said hi". Let the anger begin. I don't want anything from this person, I don't want any acknowledgement let alone a fake goodwill greeting. And the thoughts that filled my head were that he thinks I am so bitter that I can't support MS because of the work issue. NOT TRUE I pick and choose where I donate and how as I see fit. And I don't have to defend that to anyone, but what makes me mad is the fact that THAT was the thought I had. The most mean, awful thought (which may or may not be true) was the first thing I thought HE would think. Hatred is vicious and I hate (pun intended) that I let that person inject that into me tonight.

Finally!

It has finally started to cool down alittle where it is nice to ride the motorcycle. It was still a little warm on the way home today but it was ok. We met Stephanie and Bart for breakfast at our favorite breakfast restaurant Crackers. (Crap Jena, I forgot the camera!!)  Of course breakfast was fun because we ALWAYS have fun with Steph and Bart. I am jealous she's leaving for NY on Tuesday though....

It has been an uneventful weekend pretty much just doing homework and cleaning. I bleached the rest of the kitchen counters. I have pictures I'll post when I get around to downloading all the pictures. We had a pretty cool storm last night with lots of lightning and wind and rain.

I'm sitting here watching Edward's eyes roll into the back of his head as he instantly falls asleep and I kindof wish I could be a dog....

The car is back

Well, my car has decided to resurface. John went and picked it up today. I guess it is driving ok and they were "very apologetic" about losing the car. They never got it to overheat but the door locks are fixed and the seat will remain broken since they said it was $1600 to fix.

Helga

This is Helga. For those of you not familiar she is from Hey Arnold on Nickelodeon. I apparently have been named Helga at work. I don't consider this a compliment.....

I would also like to welcome all the new zits that have moved onto my chin. Not sure why they decided to show up, but I would like them to leave. I guess this is what I get for eating sour patch kids this weekend.

Song of the week: Carrie Underwood's Mama's Song, gotta check out the video on YouTube, it's good!

I almost forgot

I almost forgot, John called to find out the status of the car and they told him that we didn't have a car there. They said the only Infiniti G35 was for a Betty Smith. So John went down there and apparently my car is Betty's. They had no phone number listed and "promised" us that they wouldn't have let just anyone take our car. At this point, I have no confidence in them or their diagnosis. But we finally got a loaner out of it so whatever, they can have it as long as they want.

Some more random photos....

 

My Cailes and me



My baby Edward



Exhausted

It is only Monday night and I feel Thursday night exhausted. I have spent the last 3 hours editing my paper over and over again. I think my theory for this class is to give 100% in the beginning and slack off towards the end.....

The next class I think I'll reverse it.

I just keep telling myself that this is 3 of 13 in the program. I will make it.

So, let's start with the weekend. Friday night we went to Easy A with Stephanie and Bart. I liked the movie, I thought it was cute and a great throwback to some of the best 80s movies. John had to work Saturday and Sunday which is ok because I really just did homework the whole time.

I will say that I am even more interested in this class' material than the last one. It's really getting into a variety of mental disorders that interest me.

Random thoughts for the day are that:

• Apparently the guy's bathroom is more interesting than the girl's at work, people watch TV in there on their phones. I would love to have a shot at those idiots.
• Heard on the radio that the government acknowledged that for at least the last 70 years there has been evidence of extra terrestrial beings, including the lights I saw about this time of year in 2006. Nothing anyone can say will convince me any different and I even got my dad to admit that it's a possibility.
• I found out a few weeks ago that shaved ice with cream is delicious and I am still thinking about it.

The saga continues

So the other night as we were discussing how much it was going to cost to tow my car and get it fixed I got thinking that we had purchased the extended warranty on my car. So I went digging through my paperwork and sure enough, we did! AND the water pump is covered under it, along with towing, rental car, the motor in the passenger seat, etc. AND lucky enough, I have about 2500 more miles before the warranty runs out.

So the car was towed today to the dealer. Well, they say that it's not overheating, the seat is fine, etc. GRRR!! I just know that I'm going to get the car back and in 2600 miles it's going to break! So they still have it and are supposed to be putting it to the stress test. We'll see what happens.

Here we go again

Today is the start of my next Psych class. It is Advanced Abnormal Psychology. I'm pretty interested in what we'll be studying but I really have a hard time not making class my life because the courses are intense and then I resent not having a real life. After this class I'll have 10 more and I'm done with my Master's!

The update on my car isn't good. So it wasn't a hose. Then they thought it was the thermostat. It wasn't the thermostat. So now they think it's the waterpump. What that means is that now I have to get my car towed to the dealership because they can't change it here because of where the water pump is located.....

Anyways, so hopefully we'll get it towed this week and fixed. The bad news is that while it's finally cooling down, it's supposed to rain which doesn't make it easy for John to ride his bike to work; meaning... we have to get a rental? Who knows, this whole thing pretty much sucks.

That's about it for now...

Really?!

So the big news of my day was my stupid car. I was on my way home Target because I believe in supporting the French. Well my car started sputtering and I thought it was going to die. Luckily I was right around the corner from my house and got it home as it started smoking or steaming or whatever. Then there was antifreeze spewing out of it. So we'll see how much this is going to cost! I had just been thinking about 3 days ago that I had a feeling my car was going to start costing me money.

Also, today I dyed my hair. I haven't dyed my hair myself in at least a year but I am trying to grow it out and I get so bored with it I have to change it up, so Chocolate Cherry it is!

We moved into this house almost 2 months ago. Since we moved in I have not been able to find my brown belt. I have no idea where it is and I finally had to buy a new one about a month ago. Well, today the belt reappeared. I think it had moved into a secret hiding place in the bottom drawer of one of the dressers.

Last night we went to a new restaurant called Asian Cafe Express. It's in a questionable neighborhood and is in questionable condition, however, it was really good! Of course it helps when you're there with the owners daughter, among other friends both new and old. We had some fried pork that was awesome, chicken dumplings, and fried milk! That was just the appetizers. I realize that if I'm going to do this blog correctly I will need to start carrying my camera with me, but I'm just not there yet. I think my favorite dish was the Bart Special. (Cue bad jokes now)

Well that is enough randomness for the day. The dogs have another meeting of the BADC (Bad Ass Dog Crew) tomorrow. We're going to try a different park this time. So it's an early morning for us!

Enough for one night

An amazing Arizona sunset

I love Rob!

Lacey, Jared Allen, and I at the Kenny Chesney concert

Jaden swimming in the pool at our house in Maricopa

4th of July 20?? 2008?

Brookie and Ashton at my fave Chinese restaurant, Ming's.

Jaden tried to drive the golf cart and then got out without stopping it.

My Beanie on our girl's trip to NY

Buzz Lightyear!

Cheryl and I!!

Oldies but goodies

Downtown Disney, Florida

John and I at Rain Forest Cafe a few years ago in Florida

I found one!

My Nephew Ashton

Random Thoughts

I was thinking alot about this blog today and I think I'm going to have to carry around a pad of paper to write my randomness down on.
1. I love music and think I have a pretty good variety of everything.
2. Movies - we go to a lot of movies and I've gotten into some independent ones that are interesting.
3. I love Hoarders AND Jersey Shore. I'm not afraid to admit it, I do the fist pump.

That's three things that I've been thinking about today.

Now, I've brought out one of my external hard drives to try and find pictures, but I don't know where they are since my hard drive has crashed 3 times in 3 years.

What direction to go

I've been thinking about how I want to direct this blog. I've realized, and all Wallaces will understand this, but I think about food a lot. That's kind of scary.

Some of the things that come up a lot are I do Bountiful Baskets. My mom told me about it and I order it about every other week. I really like having all the fresh fruit and veggies around but it does make me think about what I'm going to do with it!

Well last time I got two heads of cabbage. What was I going to do with cabbage? My mom then reminded me of several recipes she has with cabbage that I have never liked. But the more I thought about it the more I wanted it. I made one of them and it has been so good. It made me think though that I'm getting old! First, I'm making food that I never used to like and second, I'm writing about food!!

On another note I had an exciting day at work. Got a 5 minute voicemail from a student who dropped the F-bomb about 10 times. I'm glad I was in a good mood and just forwarded it to my manager to deal with!

Back to normal

So John and I dropped Nick and Shar off at the airport this morning. They got here Thursday night and we fit quite a bit into that short time. I think most fun was we went up to Sedona yesterday. That has become one of my new favorite places. We tried out a Pink Jeep tour that was gorgeous. I haven't tried to upload pictures yet, but when I do there will be some good ones.

It appears that I am going to have a very busy fall. Between work and school we have Cherly coming from SC in November and now hopefully my parents also. Plus John's big 4-0 birthday and some much anticipated bike cruises.... I'm tired just thinking about it all. I definitely need to find a job that pays more and offers more vacation......

What to do...

My brother and sister in law made it safely to Phoenix last night. They're here until Monday and we are now stuck trying to decide what to do. I hate to say it but I am probably a better restaurant guide than excursion guide for Phoenix......

We have reservations for a fun dinner for tomorrow night. I'm not sure what we'll do until then!

My next challenge for the blog is pictures!

I've been inspired

I'm sure that I'm not going to be consistent with this, but Jena has inspired me to try. I have a ton of pictures and stuff that it would be cool to have an accounting of; more so than Facebook.

Let's start out with the basics. (As if anyone who looks at this doesn't know), John and I have been married forever (8 1/2 years). We live in Gilbert, AZ. We came down here 4 years ago and started out in a rental in Maricopa. Then quickly bought a house in Maricopa and just as quickly decided we hated the commute. Two years later we sold the house and moved into a rental in Gilbert. That worked well for about a year. In February we moved into another rental and then in June we conned people into coming here for my graduation and then made them clean and paint and move us in 112 degree heat.

We have my two little babies, Joey a 5 year old miniature schnauzer, and Edward my 2 year old yorkie terrier. They are super cute and make me laugh everyday.

In April I moved from Bank of America after 8 years and went to University of Phoenix as a finance counselor. I am really enjoying it and am grudgingly taking advantage of the smoking deal on my masters program.

John started working for Chester's Harley Davidson in August. It has been an adjustment but he seems to be getting the hang of it and I think there's some good potential there.

We'll call it good for our first attempt at blogging and see what else we can do to spice this thing up.