heh

Woohoo!  I have 1005 views on my blog. haha...

The Shiba Shit List

So Atticus and Ebba have been getting along pretty well.  We still keep them separated for the most part, but they get to play just about every day for about 20 minutes.

Since they've gotten easier to walk together, I've been taking both Ebba and Atticus out at the same time.  They do pretty well.  Usually Atticus is pretty quick with taking care of his business.  Ebba on the other hand is very particular.  She has to find the perfect spot, one for peeing and another perfect spot for pooing.

And anyone who knows Ebba, knows she's not a morning dog.  She's totally happen not rolling out of bed until 11 a.m. or even later.  She then goes and finds a spot to curl up in before every thinking about having to go outside.  Maybe around noon, she'll decide to prance around and want to go out.  So this whole getting up with the new kid on the block isn't much fun for her.  She gets pissy when I drag her from her box to go out at 7:30 a.m.  Needless to say, she's not a happy camper that early in the morning.

So this morning I bundle up, head outside with both dogs and begin the routine.  Atticus immediately pees in his pee spot.  We turn the corner and head down to the park.  Before we cross the street to the park, Atticus tries to et the wood chips around the trees.  We cross the street and Atticus decides to "eliminate" immediately.  So we stop, I get my bag ready, and make sure Ebba is close enough that I can stop of the sidewalk and pick up Atticus' deposit.

Ebba was being pretty good this morning.  I bent over to pick up what Atticus had left, and I notice this Shiba Inu, running down the sidewalk.  In the process, I stuck my thumb in Atticus' shit.  I turn around and look where her harness lay on the ground and find no Ebba.  I look back up.  She looks back at me and picks up speed.

So there I am, standing with Atticus and a shit bag with shit on my thumb and Ebba hightailing it down the sidewalk.  And Shibas are known for running and never coming back.  So I started to panic.  I tried to get the shit of my thumb but noticed that by then, I had it on the handle of Ebba's leash.  So I rubbed my thumb in the grass and that got enough off that I wouldn't spread it anymore.  Ebba has really only made it half way down the sidewalk, but I'm not a fast person.

But I took off anyway.  I noticed that every time Ebba looked back and saw me and Atticus running at her, she picked up her pace.  A few steps ahead, the lawn guys had planted a new tree and it had those strong stakes in the ground to hold it.  Thinking that if I didn't have Atticus, maybe she would slow down?  Or even come to me? HA! Lies! But i looped Atticus' leash over the tall stake and ran towards Ebba, dropping Atticus' poop in the poop receptacle as I went.

I was half way to her when I looked back and saw Atticus flailing on the stake.  I panicked again.  What if he gets loose too!!  But he was still on the stake, and had his harness and leash on, unlike Ebba who had sneakily, without me noticing wriggled out of hers.  So I kept going.  Ebba rounded the corner at the park and went a little further before her fluffy ass squatted to pee.  She was just finished peeing as I reached her, and she stood up to run away again.  I yelled at her, which I think scared her and she looked at me, which gave me time to grab her.  She was non too happy, but neither was I, so I didn't care.

I managed to ger her harness back on her and started turning back.  Then I was like, OH SHIT, Atticus!  So I put some pep in my step and rounded the corner to find him calmly waiting by the stake.  He just sat there and looked at me like, "Yeah, you thought I was going to run away too.  Ha, fooled you! I'm the good one!"  As I approached him, he sat up with a look of pure satisfaction on his little puppy face.

So I gathered him up, and we continued on our poop walk. Little Bitch still needed to poop and we usually walk around the little park.  So even though I was shaking and my heart was pounding, we continued around the park.  Although I really just wanted to turn around and stick Little Bitch in the bathroom the rest of the day.  But we walked the park.  Ebba pooped.  Atticus pooped again. And all was right in the Whittington-Burton Doggens Household.

Of course, once we make it back inside, Ebba has no clue that she has done wrong and lies down with her little dainty paws sticking out in front of her.  It's like she's mocking me, "No, mom.  I AM an angel.  That must have all been your imagination."

             

I'm a perfect angel, mom.  I couldn't have done that.  I mean, look at the white light behind me...angel.  That's me!

She is officially on my shit list today.

Alexis vs. failing at the job market

So currently I have  seven job applications out.  Some part time, some full time, all at colleges or universities, all in the fields of study abroad, international student services, or German, all of which I am highly interested in.  now, if I could just get one of said jobs.  Preferably one that is full time.  Or two part time jobs.I just need a job that doesn't make me feel like my life is worthless.  I reuse to work at McDonalds, but If i don't get a real job soon, I'm going to have to start applying to similar places.

I just really need a job...so I can stop hating myself, so I can stop feeling worthless, so we can pay our bills, and most importantly so I can stop going through these phases of being mad at Ed for taking me away from my first real job.  Even though working in Vicksburg was not ideal, it still made me feel like I was making a difference.  Like I had a purpose in life.

I always feel like we could have made Vicksburg work.  We had planned at one point to possibly live there.  I mean, I even did a little house hunting.  Ed was going to move there and get certified to teach history and business.  We would have been two working teachers (probably by now) and maybe on the serious house hunt.  We could have been more serious about house hunting...houses there, really cute ones in decent neighborhoods, were cheap.  We could seriously be trying to have babies.

Sometimes I feel like Ed took this little life plan/dream away from me.  It's days like today that I feel this way.  When job applications are awful and I get pissed that I'm having to fill so many out without any hope of actually getting the job.

At the time, and sometimes we regret moving here, but he thought it was the best option.  I mean, I was going through a lot and told him anything that got me out of Vicksburg would be great.  But those were things I said because I thought that's what he wanted to hear.  I'll never know if I would have truly felt that way because I had so many extenuating circumstances that were affecting how I felt about the whole experience.  For example: 1) I was living away form my husband. 2) Living conditions were never ideal, I was living with a family, that although very accepting, just didn't feel right.  Then I moved in with a fellow teacher and that didn't quite work out as expected, although better because I was no longer commuting. 3) For the first half of the year I was commuting 45 min one way. 4) I didn't have any of MY things with me.  No books, half my clothes, no ironing board, no dishes, nothing that was really my own.  And you don't want to buy things because you actually do have them, just not in the state with you.  Extra frustrating.  5) It was my first real job, and teaching at a Title I school, so having all of the other circumstances in addition just made it super stressful.

So it's hard to say if I would have really hated it at much as I felt like I did at the time.  I'm trying to decide what I hate more, that experience or the experience of not knowing if your bills will get back in a few months and you can't make any progress towards you life goals because you don't have a job even though you have a shit ton of education that at this point in your life is more of a burden than actually doing any good.  I've got the education to do these jobs, the burden of student loans, the pressure of failing my family, and failing life goals.

Please excuse me if you offend easily...

if you do, you might just want to stop reading now.  This is my blog, I have like three readers, and I can say whatever the hell I want.



I wanted the original title of this to be "Go FUCK yourselves!" but thought that a bit harsh.

This is probably not the best time to be writing this, we don't know all the facts, but...

for all of you who can just "whoops I'm pregnant!" or " try and conceive and then complain every day on Facebook and what not about how little Johnny did this or that....go fuck yourselves.  I'm about to start going through my Facebook posts and ever time I see someone who complains about their kid, I'm going to unfriend them.

Not everyone is as lucky as you are and are able to just pop out kids.  Some of us have a monthly reminder that it might be impossible and seeing all the posts about how ungrateful you are because your kid did ____ is just kind of selfish.  So you know what, go fuck yourself.

Then, there are the people who post shit like this:

to you people, I say go fuck yourselves.  Basically you're saying that I may never know love, and that's total bullshit.

And to the others of you who post and say shit like this:

Guess what, you can go fuck yourselves too.

We don't know all the details.  We're still trying to work stuff out.  But just because you have been fortunate, don't be so selfish to believe that others have as well.  Try to be a little more sensitive...or...GO FUCK YOURSELF!

le tired...

I need to post about our new addition....but he keeps me busy...and tired...so tired....and covered in pee... but here he is, Atticus Stark (still trying to figure out a full register-able name).

He's cute. We love him. Ebba might hate him...a little.

two turntables and a microphone?

How about one turntable?

Hookay, so my grandmother has this really cook record player console.  I've always loved it.  Loved the sound coming out of it. Loved the process of using it.  Loved the time spent around it with family.

By the time I was old enough to actually realize how much I appreciated the record player, both my older brother and sister had already laid claim to it.  So being that I have no chance on inheriting it, I've been looking into record players myself.

I started of course with Craig's List.  I soon realized that most record players on Craig's List would need restoration or be waaaaaay out of our price range.  But, I wanted something that looked old/retro/vintage/antique (just pick one).

I then went to trusty Amazon and only found those big clunky wooden looking things that are replicas of something that may have been old.  But to me, they're too gimmicky/fake looking.  Like this one.

Found here. Not my style at all.

I kept googling "record player," "phonograph," and "turntable," but nothing came up that I liked the look of.  I kept thinking, " I've seen a really cool one somewhere, where was that????"  Remembering that it was some kind of store like Anthropologie or something.  Then I remembered, Urban Outfitters.

So quickly I went to the UO website and started looking.  Sure enough.  There it was.  Perfect color and everything.

LOVE!

I love just about everything about this record player.  Color, style, simplicity. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

But then I started wondering about it.  All the reviews are great.  But it doesn't have a am/fm radio.  So it's got my hung up.  Should I go with something like this?

Found here.

This guy has some pretty decent ratings and all the bells and whistles, while still being affordable.  But it's missing the style.

Sigh, what to do, what to do?

mini breakdown?

So I'm having a little breakdown here.  I'll be 30 soon (end of October, that's soon enough) and I don't have a job.  But I don't want a damn job, I want a fucking career.  Sure, I'm certified to teach three and a half subjects, but I'm just not sure it's for me.  God knows the money isn't great (although any money would be great right now) and the hours are meh and the stress is AWFUL!  But I'd rather be doing that and gaining experience rather than job hunting and only finding things  like DSW Sales Associate, Whole Foods Cashier, or whatever office assistant job that comes up.  I hate the idea of all of this.  I want a career.  One that I don't' hate. One that pays decently so I can get Sallie Whoreface Mae of my back.

I thought that this was the whole point of going to school and taking out all those stupid loans, to have a successful career and not have to struggle like so many people who don't even go to any form of higher education.

Guess I was wrong.

Yay!

So when we were making the drive from natchez, MS to Broomfield, CO, I started feeling this tickle in my throat.  You know, the one you get right before your lungs betray you and you get bronchitis?   Yeah, that was what was happening.  Directly on arrive I had full blown bronchitis.  The hacking, coughing, snotting, choking, and even a little barfing as a result of all the hacking.  It was not fun.  On top of that, was the adjusting to the altitude.  Also, not fun.

I'll flat out say it, I'm fat.  So straight off, I already have things against me while adjusting to the altitude.  In Mississippi, I had been walking just about every day with a fellow teacher.  We walked about 4 miles a day.  Not bad in the sweltering Mississippi heat.  But then the walking slowed down as the busyness of the end of the school year picked up.  

The last couple of weeks, hell even month, I may have walked once...or twice, since I'm trying to be positive.  Then there was a buffer time in Natchez while I was packing up everything there and reorganizing things to be loading onto the moving-trailer.  Then of course the drive here, which now, looking back on it, wasn't sooooo bad.  I mean, there were miles and mies of nothing at some points of the drive, not something I want to do again any time soon.

Upon arrive and a week or so after, we were still trying to figure our apartment out.  Get all the necessities out of the way, get over bronchitis, and do the general I-just-moved-to-a-new-state-what-the-fuck-? stuff.  Now, almost five weeks since our arrive in on fire sunny Colorado, we're pretty much settled in.  We did the Craig's List/Furniture Search (you can read about that in the last post) and feel pretty good about the way the apartment is looking.

So now for the big Yay! that is the title of this post.  Finally, FINALLY, after settling in and getting over bronchitis, I almost feel like me again.  So much so, that I begged Ed to go for a walk with me after he got off work....and it felt GOOD.  

We didn't walk for long and we took Ebba with us, which meant a couple stops to potty.  But I had fun and want to make it a routine.  The biggest YAY of this whole post, I CAN BREATHE AND WALK AT THE SMAE TIME!  Not a big yay for many people and some people may even roll their eyes.  But it was a small accomplishment for me.  So Yay!

p.s. These posts always end up longer than I imagine when I start writing them.  I imagined this one to be like, four lines...

DOGGENS!!!!!!!

Ok, so Ed and I have been toying with the idea of getting a puppy for MONTHS.  We have some concerns of course.  Our main concern is Ebba.  She's seven years old and kind of a bitch (not in the dog way).  We never really socialized Ebba with other dogs and she's not a fan of children.  We kinda feel bad for Ebba.  She lived with us in Illinois for the first two years we had her and then the poor little doggens had a pretty unstable life, back and forth between Florida for a year and Mississippi.  I think it was a little better for her when I lived in Vicksburg and could visit her every weekend.

Nooooowwwwww, we've moved her to Colorado.  She seems to be extremely happy to have her little family back together, although she does seem a little bored.  She LOVES sitting on the balcony and watching all the other dogs in the apartment neighborhood go by, like she's ruling over her domain.

We're just super worried that she won't like a new doggens running around, disrupting her peace and quiet, and turning her new little word upside down.

Even with all of the concerns, we've decided to move ahead.  We debated breeds for a couple months, lab, golden, husky, lab, husky, malamute, lab, husky.  Searching for breeders with pups at the right timing and somewhat fitting our budget helped decide what kind of doggens we were going to add to our home.

We were seriously considering a lab, but it didn't look like it was going to work out, so we started researching Huskies a little more.  That's when I found Elizabeth with Progressive K9 Training and Kennels.  I started emailing her, trying to ask all the right questions (like are there any available???) to see if it was even possible for us to get a puppy.

After emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, and after Ed talked with her on the phone, we decided to pull the trigger. We picked out a puppy!  and sent in the deposit.  There were so many little puppies to choose from.  Of course, we were looking for male and it turns out the options were wide open.  We narrowed it down to three.

The breeder had these guys named (in order) Offbeat, Nisbit, and Nero.  It took a lot of consideration and emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, asking her questions about their personalities.  We eventually decided on Nisbit.  Here are the pictures we've gotten of him since we made the decision.

Annnnnnd yes, he is peeing in that last photo.  That's our puppy!

The next order os business is picking out a name.  Ebba's full name is Mighty Miss Ebba Jean Lucille.  Mighty Miss - for the Mississippi River, Ebba - something German, Jean - my best friend's middle name, Lucille - a reference to a Waylon Jenning's song, "Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will," because she's stubborn.

So we're trying to come up with something just as meaningful as Ebba's full name.  So far we have Atticus Stark.  Atticus for the lawyer in one of our favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird. Stark is both a German word meaning big/strong and a literary reference to a series of Ed's favorite books, Game of Thrones.

Even though Atticus Stark seems kind of final, we don't feel like the name is complete, so we're still working on it.  Suggestions?

Can't wait to meet the little guy at the end of the month!

On settling in….

So we are FINALLY getting settled in.  It’s starting to feel a lot more like we actually live here.  This past week Ed’s family came to visit.  So in order to prepare for them, we had to get a lot done.  Also, we were finally able to get some more furniture to help with storage and décor.  All but one piece of our “new” furniture was bought from Craig’s List.  The other piece was bought from a store I found via Craig’s List.

Here’s what we got:

A small dresser for Ed’s closet ($30)

Two accent chairs for the living room ($30, yes! for both!) 

China Cabinet ($50)

And the amazing antique dresser that we splurged on ($150)

Day Bed and brand new mattress ($200)

Even though our guest room and guest closet are acting as a storage unit right now because we still need bookshelves and to unpack a crap ton of boxes, we are definitely feeling more settled in.  So here’s what it looked like before Ed’s family arrived:

The view from the front door.

When you walk through the door, you have the washer/dryer immediately to your right and you can see some of the dining table, all of the kitchen, and into the living room and bedroom.

The Dining "Room"

When Ed's family came, they brought out other two chairs for the table...and you can see the china cabinet in the background of the dining area.  We plan to paint if some cool color and put some kind of design in the back of it.  It also has a light in it...hehe...kind of corny but cool.

The Kitchen

Just the standard apartment kitchen.  We think it's really nice.  But there's not much to do to it.  We did add two chairs to the island.  It's not actually meant to sit at, we don't' think, but we like to sit there.

The Photo Wall

Right between the kitchen and dining area, Ed and I made a photo wall.  Of course we have to change the pictures around and at some art.  We've actually added some cookbooks to the top of it already (one more unpacked box! YAY!)  And that is our awesome antique dresser.  We put the knobs back on it and cleaned it up a bit.  We still don't know yet if we want to paint or stain it, but we LOVE it!

The Living Room

So it's looking a little bare and cramped right now.  That's our new IKEA couch.  and you can see Ebba's bed on the right.  On the left if little big brother's bed (can't wait to get him!).  You can see one of our new chairs.  And even though that coffee table is not our style at all (if you look around, you can tell we don't really have ONE style) IT WAS FREE!.  I was thinking of maybe changing the legs on, painting it, and possibly adding some cool design on top.  I still can't believe that the two chairs were only 30$ for both!  We plan on recovering them in a funky fabric and painting them.

This is the rest of the living area.  We need to acquire/hang art, hang curtains, and just really figure it out a little more.  That sliding glass for leads to the patio.

The Master Bedroom

So the door next to the picture wall obviously heads into the master bedroom.  Not much to see here. Still need to hang some art and decorate a little, but it's pretty much set.

The Master Bath

Off the master bedroom, down a little hallway past the TWO walk in closets, is the master bath.  We added a little extra storage which has been really helpful....and behind that shower curtain is a ginormous tub (soaking tub?) that even Ed can enjoy!

Back through the living room and off the dining are is a little hallway that had a guest bath and a linen closet and leads to the guest bedroom.

So it kinda looks like crap.  We prepared it for Grammy and Karen to sleep in there while they were here.  We also bought a trundle to go under the daybed for extra comfort for guests.  It's not ideal for couples, but for having such a small space, we needed a space saving option, so it works for us.  notice that they also gave us the bedding for the daybed that they had.  We washed it and it's all good.  

Since Ed's family left, he has rearranged the room, moving his bike in with the indoor trainer and his weights.  So it's kind of man-ed up in there.

While Ed's family was here we did add a couple lamps.  They were on sale at Lowe's and since they aren't perfect for what I want (they are a nice style, wrong colors), I plan on spiffying them up a bit too. So if you're reading this post correctly, I have a lot of projects to do!

For those of you not keeping up on Facebook, you'll notice I mentioned little big brother.  I'll post on him later!