Stress relief

These last few weeks I've been feeling pretty stressed and haven't really been able to sleep.  Work has been a little stressful, but short weeks are always a little extra hectic.  Don't know why that it is, it just is.  On top of everything else that has to do with the house and getting it ready for renting.  Friday when I left work my anxiety had kicked in and there was no sign of it going away.  Normally I take a hot bath and do my best to forget about.  But since we are in a severe drought, my hot bath nights are limited.   So I have find other ways to get rid of it.  Went to the movies with Roxie, Mike and Tamara to go see The Lego Movie and it did me good to laugh and spend time with the family. 

Craig came up this weekend to help me out with some of the cause of my stress.  Mike and Roxane are so awesome to help out as well.  Mike took down one of the ceiling fans that has been giving me issues and is going to see if he can get it to work properly.  Craig brought his truck up and we took out the old dishwasher and loaded it in his truck.  He also took the old BBQ and the rest of a pool liner that was sitting in my side yard.  So now I am on the hunt for a new dishwasher and am also going to be replacing the shower/tub in the master bath.  That project will be blogged when it is started.  I'm a little nervous as to what will be found once we pull it out.

The tree that Mike had cut down last year is now in stump removal stage.  Doug brought over a pick ax and a sawsall to help cut the thick roots.  I had started digging it out..well kind of.  Then Craig got a hold of the pick ax and the sawsall and now it's game on.  I figure I will work on little bits of it when I get home from work. It will be great stress relief.  And it will be less work for Mike when he comes up to remove the rest of it.  Now I just need to be able to sleep through the night.

No plumbers crack.  So proud of him.

Just need to clean it up and get it ready for the new appliance

Working on it.  This will be fun!

Dimple Care Kit

Also known as the EAP kit, the Happiness kit or the Insanity kit

All You Need is Love is a Beatles Song
Love Rocks because I love Rock

April and I went to Staples on our lunch break and did our usual browse around and buy stuff that we don’t really need but can’t live without.  While browsing we saw the bag that screamed “I’m perfect for Dimple Records” so I had to get one.  Then as we were browsing through Staples we saw these nice journals and started the oh that would be perfect to keep the music wish list in, write down artists to check out, songs heard that were liked, lyrics of songs heard, moods of when certain songs were heard and all kinds of other stuff that comes along with keeping a music journal.  I never ask for a bag when I leave Dimple, I just take my handful of goods and leave.  But now I have my very own dedicated bag and can cross them off in my new found journals.

Two quickies

New life

I admit I am a little freaked out about getting married.  I have been on my own for so long that I am accustomed to doing a majority of life by myself.  It’s hard for me to let go of certain things and let somebody help me.   That is going to be really hard for me to do.  I have never lived with a boyfriend before, only roommates I have ever had have been my sisters.  But I just have to keep telling myself that everything will be fine and to stop over thinking it.  It’s not the big scary thing that I am making it out to be.  I’m excited for the change and change it good.  Change is needed to keep us on our toes right?   The thought of bringing somebody into my mad little world or combining my mad little world with theirs is enough to rattle anybody. But after you get used to each other its smooth sailing.  Right?

New habits

They say it takes 3 weeks for form a new habit.  That is 3 weeks of dedication to this new habit.  Whatever you do, don’t stray from the new habit.  Easier said than done.  I’m trying to get back into the gym habit and am eating better than I did.  I finally kicked my Doritos habit but do resort back to once in a great while.  I know I feel so much better after I leave the gym and it helps me sleep better.  But it’s so easy to make excuses after work and not go.  But then I kick myself in the ass when I don’t go.  I have no excuse really.  I don’t have kids of my own, I have no real commitments after work except for when I make plans or have errands to do.  It’s not like I have to rush home and cook dinner for anybody (yet).  So why don’t I do it?  Because I got lazy.  That’s the only reason..lazy.  So I will be joining the New Year Resolutioners and get my ass back in shape.  I have attempted to do my aerobic stuff at home and get so disgusted with myself that I let me go this far.  But I have not resorted to the Doritos that I love so much. Will save that for when I’m really depressed…it’s my go to comfort food.  I can’t help it J

Refrigerator House

My house is fantastic in the summer.  It holds at a nice 85 in the summer, which for some is still too hot, but when its 100 degrees outside it’s wonderful in the house.  The winter time is a different story.  It gets really freaking cold.  The HVAC system wasn’t the greatest when I moved in, but it worked.  I scheduled the tune ups and only ran it when needed.  The house can get down to 54 degrees in the morning and sometimes when I got home from work it would warm up to 59. The flooring is hardwood except for the bedrooms.  So it’s a bit colder than in my sister’s house that has carpet in most of the house.  Doesn’t help that I have a concrete slab foundation either.  So I have just bundled up and wore slippers.  Craig says that you can hang meat in the house it’s so cold.  I do have to say that my wine collection likes this environment though.

Well the time came replace it as it was too dangerous to turn on per Gilmore Heating.  So I started to get estimates and choked at the cost, cried and stressed about having to replace the system.  I had 4 estimates done and finally decided on Bell Brothers.  They came in middle of the road and could not beat the financing.  I still have anxiety over it, but it will be much warmer anxiety instead of cold anxiety.

Pieces of the old unit

 

New Unit

Old unit being lifted out for recycle.  Goodbye old faithful
That was so cool to watch

New Unit being lifted into position

 



Home Projects

So with Craig and I both moving, we have decided to make my house into a rental.  UGH!!  The thought of a complete stranger moving into my home that I worked so hard for really stressed me out.  I don’t want to the renter’s mentality of “it’s not mine why do I care” and trash my home.  So on top of the HVAC anxiety, I have rental anxiety.  But it kicks me in the ass to finally get done the things that have needed to be done.  Like replace the grout behind the kitchen sink, replace the older mortar on the bricks in the front yard, get a new dishwasher and replace the master shower/tub.  Once this is all done, life will be good and it’s nice to know that I have people who are willing to help me or teach me how to do these things. I keep telling myself to take it one project at a time.  Which is easy in reality, in my head not so much.

Engaged

Holy crap it finally happened.  I met the man I am going to marry.  April and I used to joke around about finding a halfass decent guy sober, get him drunk then go up to Tahoe and get married.  Well, both of us didn’t want to settle.  So she married her Prince Charming back in 2007, I still hung out and did my own thing.  Come that fateful day in August 2012 and I met Craig.  You know when they say “you just know”.  Even  though he scared me at first, I just knew he was different and I that I had finally found my nice guy that had almost everything I require in a guy.  He can fix cars, do handyman stuff, cook (we make a great pair in the kitchen), hold open doors, is great with kids (important for the nieces), has manners and is totally laid back.  He has a great sense of humor too.  I just love him.  He’s not perfect, but he’s perfect for me.

Since we were going to his sisters for Christmas Day, we decided to exchange presents on Christmas Eve.  When it came to me opening mine I had laughed at the whimsical garden birds that he had picked out.  They are so cute.  I wasn’t paying attention to the yellow one, just the green one.  He had told me to take a look at the yellow one and there was a ring taped to it.  I gasped and quick looked at him, he took the ring off, held it up and all he said was “Well what do you think future Mrs. Brownfield” I hugged him so tight and of course said yes.  His family is so excited to have me as the newest addition.  My family is too and the girls are excited to have another uncle.  We are not going to make any wedding plans yet.  Still have logistics to work out as I’m not moving to where he is and he’s not moving where I’m at.  We both have decided on a happy middle so now it’s going to be finding a house.  So this year is going to be a new year of change for both of us and I cannot wait for the next chapter in life.

I am waiting to put these outside until Craig and I have our house.

 

Ah the wonders of Facebook

I find myself in a weird place at this moment in my life.  I guess you can say it started the other night when I was curious about a classmate from elementary/junior high.  So I looked her up on Facebook and found her.  Then went poking around on her friends list and found more of my classmates (a.k.a torturers) and also found a woman who helped looked after my sisters and I when our family was in upheaval.  I was excited when I found her and did send her a message.  Am still waiting for a response, but if she doesn’t then at least I was able to thank her after all these years for doing what her and her husband did for us. 

My weird place comes from the classmates (torturers) and part of me wanting to know how they are doing and the other part not so much.  As I flipped through a few different friends lists I came across one of my classmates (friend at that time) that had it the same if not in some worse than we did as far as the torture went and she was friends with some of those people who gave her hell.  I thought to myself “Wow, she’s a much bigger person than I as she’s able to forgive them for what they did. After all, we were kids.”  Then the non forgiving part of me pops up and says “Forget them, they are assholes.  Once an asshole always an asshole.”  So now I’m in that weird spot of do I reach out to them or do I just leave it alone and get on with my life.  I do want to know how the one friend at that time is doing, so I will reach out to her.  But the others, I am torn.  Some things I just can’t let go and when people have been the biggest jerks to me or my sisters, I have a hard time with that.  But then again, we were just kids and what did we know?  I need to think about this some more.  I will just give it time and more than likely this feeling will pass.