Ads

Well, those ads are gone now. I received an email from Google saying that displaying ads on my blog was financially damaging to their advertisers. LOL! Because my blog is so hardcore or something. What I want to know is, will they at least pay me the $40 or so that I earned with them? Probably not. What a waste of time.

Now I have to figure out another way to make a few extra bucks without actually doing any extra work. I haven't heard back from TWU about my financial aid. I probably won't get that either. I'm way too honest and a question on the application was "How much do you have in all your accounts right now?" I said what I literally had right then. Too bad I was about to pull out several thousand to pay my tuition the next week. So, what I had right then is no longer what I have right now.

I think I have decided that I do not like to battle a budget. This sucks! It seems to be all that I think about lately and it's really stressing me out. Of course work is stressing me out right now as well, but we won't get into that here. Basically, for those that know, it's the same thing, different day. Yet again. Things never change and people never learn and I am stuck in the middle. Let's just say, I'm coming at you from the front desk today.

Let's go ahead and change that subject before I have a classic Amie foot in the mouth disease moment, shall we? This weekend was super busy! I took the afternoon off on Friday to do some school work, but since my car had been yelling at me for 2 weeks to get my oil changed, I had to go do that first. Then I had school on Saturday and a group presentation. Here's my question...how can you be so irresponsible in your late 30s/early 40s that you can severly let your group down? There was this guy in our group who did not have his part done by Saturday. Then, as he was scrambling to finish it, he did it completely wrong...actually, he just wrote down our skit...something that we were presenting and not at all what he was supposed to do. We scrambled on our lunch break to write it for him, all the while he was just blaming his kids! This guy will never be able to be a manager and if he is one already, then I feel sorry for his subordinates. So FRUSTRATING! He lied to us, he lied to the teacher and he blamed his kids. Can we say "loser?"

I never sleep well the night before a presentation, so I ended up falling asleep by 8:30 Saturday night. Sad, I know. Sunday, I drove to Sherman to help my cousin move her couch and bed to her brand new temporary apartment! Well, Jonathan was the one that really helped, I just supervised. On Friday, she learned that the apartment she was supposed to be moving into still needed to have the fire marshall inspect it (they are still building the complex) and so she has to move to a temporary (although bigger!) apartment first. Which totally sucks and she's handling it like a champ. I say, she needs to stay in the temporary apartment as long as possible since they are paying all her bills while she is there. :) But it's me and I'll take anything that's free...even if it means living out of boxes for a while.

After we got back on Sunday, I went over to my mom's for a while to pick up some pants she hemmed and somehow ended up taking her treadmill home. Which is completely awesome! After I get back from New York (leaving this week!), I am going to start going to the gym again on my lunch breaks and lift weights and then when I get home, I can just walk on the treadmill while being at home and watching what I want to watch. I won't have to deal with not wanting to go back out to the gym, the nasty, sweaty, smelly guys that are always there in the evening, fighting for a machine that is probably broken, etc. Hopefully, having a treadmill in my living room will get my butt back in gear to actually work out just a tad more. We'll see about that one!

Retail Therapy!

I am so bored today. Ever since my schedule was changed and I have had to work on Fridays, I haven't had anything to do! It makes my day go by really slowly and miserably. So, I decided to go shopping on my lunch break for a couple of things I needed for New York. Now, the closest mall to work is in the ghetto...because work is in the ghetto...so I have learned not to expect much out of my shopping excursions. But the Forever 21 at this mall was awesome! I know, I know. I'm probaby way too old to be shopping at freaking Forever 21, but I need some cheap clothes and they tend to do ok knock-offs of designer trends. Actually, first I went to Dillard's, but Dillard's in the ghetto doesn't really have a designer collection to speak of (not that I base all my wardrobe on designer fashion, but Dillard's does tend to have great sales on some of my favorite brands). Go figure that Forever 21 would actually be decent. I only got 3 items...skinny jeans, a gauzy button up and a pair of shorts. 3 things I didn't have and 3 things I could definitely use all the time. So, in my eyes, I did pretty well!

I still need something for our last day and I'm not sure if I'm feeling what I have planned for our first night, so there might need to be a little more shopping in the future. I know...what about my big budget crisis? It's all accounted for and planned out. I'm good like that.

The Sims 3

OK, this is going to be bad. Here comes my inner geek! So, I got The Sims 3 last night. There is WAY too much to control and do in this game! It's amazing. I think I spent at least 3 hours last night just setting up my character and decorating (my favorite part!). I haven't even explored the city yet. That will be tonight. Except I need to quit my job first...in the game that is. Not sure why I got a job before I cheated my way to greatness. :)

I love that you can make the character a lot like you. However, I don't like that there are so many screens that I can't figure it out! It took us the good part of 20 minutes just to figure out how to move to a new house. Hint: you have to use your cell phone. Hint: that's hard to find, too. I guess I should have done the tutorial before I just dove in. I told the game that I never wanted to do the tutorial so now I am effectively screwed. But, in the options part, there are "lessons." Too bad they start in the middle of something. Like the whole moving thing. It didn't start with, "Go to your inventory. Click on your cell phone. Click 'Move.'"

Anyway, so to all my friends and family...sorry if I ignore you in the weeks to come! Blame The Sims!

About those cookies...

...we polished them off last night. Sad. I made over 2 dozen! They are just THAT good.

So, it's summer. Definitely. And, apparently my lily white skin just doesn't respond to sunscreen anymore. On Memorial Day, we went to Jonathan's parents' house to go swimming with his niece and nephew. I had some spray sunscreen, SPF 70...no, I'm not kidding...shut up...at least I won't have wrinkles!...where was I?, from last year that I used. I thought it was still ok to use and it didn't expire until July. I burned. Badly. So, I figured that it just lost it's potency as it worked just fine the year before. When we went to Sam's the next weekend, I bought some new sunscreen. This time it was only SPF 55, but when I was younger, SPF 30 worked just fine! I tested out the new sunscreen this past Sunday when we went swimming...and I burned. Not as badly as last time, but I had more burn coverage this time. Basically, my legs didn't burn. And that was it. So, do you start burning easier the older you get? I didn't think we were swimming for that long...but maybe it was a couple of hours. And I put on the sunscreen before we even left our house, so it wasn't that it washed off immediately.

I guess I'm just doomed to look like an albino the rest of my life. At least I have the freckles that help give me *some* color.

Super Easy Cookie Recipe

This recipe comes from Jonathan...who got it from his sister...who got it from a friend. It's the easiest cookie recipe in the world! It's also a great one for the kids to make with you.

Cake Cookies

1 box of cake mix (any kind you want...although, I don't suggest pound cake)

1 block cream cheese (8oz.)

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

Cream together the cream cheese, butter and egg yolk. Slowly add all the cake mix until well-blended. The batter will be fairly thick and sticky. Using a regular spoon, glob heaping spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Place on cookie rack to cool...unless you can't wait that long. :)

These cookies (obviously) have a very cakey taste and they stay super soft for the longest time! My personal favorites are lemon and strawberry, but Kroger was having a sale today so I got the funfetti kind. Those are good, too. 

Ketchup

So, I ran across this today. Hmph. Hunt's Ketchup? NUMBER ONE? These people are ridiculous! I am a Heinz girl all the freaking way. Third? REALLY? I can't believe this.

Anyone who knows me knows that ketchup is a major part of my life. I love the stuff. I can't get enough. And, ask Jonathan about my love for Heinz. He once dared to try and buy something else. THAT wasn't going to happen! After a far too long lecture on the finer points of ketchup consumption, he had learned his lesson.

Another that kills me about Jonathan and his ketchup habits? 1.) He dumps it ON TOP of his food! What a heathen! You should always dip. Ask my mom about "dippy dippy" and you will know that this right here is a life-long obsession. 2.) He doesn't use nearly enough! There should be a perfect 1:1 ratio of ketchup to ... whatever ... and sometimes HE DOESN'T USE IT AT ALL! Ugh. As if. 3.) Well, there's not really a 3. It just seemed wrong to leave it at 2.

Recipes!

I've got it! I start by sharing recipes! I like to cook...I often come up with my own recipes...and lately I have been slacking in that department so it gives me an excuse to try to cook at home more often!

First up, I will share with you a very easy, very nutritious vegan meal that I came up with the other night. Normally, I don't like to use so many packaged ingredients, but I was cooking with what we had at home...and the cupboard is bare, folks!

Quinoa with Okra:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 package of Kroger frozen okra (can't remember how much it was)
1 can diced tomatoes (14oz)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare quinoa by placing 1 cup of quinoa into 2 cups of boiling water. Reduce to simmer. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Top off with olive oil...as much as desired...and mix in. I always have a hard time not burning the bottom layer so I make a little more to account for this. While the quinoa is cooking, bring one can of diced tomatoes with half a can of water to a boil. Add the entire bag of frozen okra and boil for 8 to 10 minutes until okra is tender. Add pepper to taste.

Scoop about 1/2 cup quinoa into bowl and top with as much okra and tomatoes as desired and enjoy!

See? Super easy! For those of you who don't know, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAAH) is a super healthy and protein-packed seed...type thing...grain? It looks like little beige poppy seeds. It doesn't have a ton of flavor on it's own, but use it in place of rice and pasta for a very healthy alternative. You can also add stuff to it, much like rice, pasta and couscous, to make it more flavorful.

Enjoy!

Those ads...

...are hilarious! Obviously I have talked about allergies enough that it's all the ads on my blog. I find that hilarious.

Anyway, let's see how this experiment with ads goes. AdSense said it wouldn't post any porn-type ads so this should be a sort of family-friendly blog. Until my mouth gets the better of me. I'm trying to find topics to talk about to make myself seem more interesting, but I feel so uninspired lately. All I do really is go to work and school. How much fun is that? Last night, Jonthan, Babs and I had to stay at my parents' house. That was fun. You don't think so? It was different...how's that? We at least got free food that was really good and Babs was worn out smelling around a new house that she has never been to. Oh yeah...why did we spend the night at my parents' house? Because our electricity was out for almost 24 hours because of those lovely storms yesterday. Poor Beast had to stay all by himself in a hot house last night. Oh well. I'm sure he didn't mind too much.

So, I was reading through some of my old posts...I don't stick to anything, do I? What happened to all those diets? And my workouts? Where did they go?!?!? I don't think I've kept a single thing going since I started this thing...except school. That's always one thing I am motivated to complete since there is an end in sight. I guess I do better with a deadline. I might procrastinate a tad (as in, I have a presentation to give tomorrow and haven't started on it yet!). But, I will stick to it if I have a definite end. I have a definite end in mind to lose weight...by the time we go to New York...but I know me. That won't happen! Maybe I am comfortable at the weight I'm at? Weird! I'm now laughing at myself for THAT revelation!

Well, that's it for now. No, I didn't have anything important to say...just being random.

Wondering how to follow the last...

It seems like posting about anything after my last post is just trivial. But, this is a pretty trivial blog, so I guess life must go on! I need to figure out how to make more money without taking on more responsibility. I make a decent salary at my current job, but sometimes I just spend stupidly. I buy stuff I don't really need while ignoring the things I do. And then everything comes to a head at the same time. Take right now for instance...we just paid for our trip to New York, but Belle's vet bills were an unexpected bill, I need new tires, I have tuition to pay, etc. So, right now I am about broke! I took some time today to fill out all sorts of profiles to get paid for taking surveys. Time well spent, in my opinion. :) I know I won't make a ton of money off of it, but if I can make enough to have cash on hand to go to lunch every once in a while, that's a good thing, right? Also, there are a couple that pay you in gift cards. If I can get Target and Amazon gift cards for free every once in a while, that helps with those two enormous money takers. Yes, I'm addicted to both. I love to read, plus I get a lot of my school books on Amazon, and Target is...well...it's Target! What can I NOT find there? Now if I could just get some Petsmart gift cards thrown in, my shopping expenses are about covered.

Also, there is an option to "Monetize" this blog. But, I don't think that many people read it. I don't even know if my friends read it! If I do monetize this, you guys HAVE to click on those ads, ok? This is my education we are talking about! I guess I have to figure out how to become more interesting and/or funny. I'm funny in person...sort of...it just doesn't come out in my writing. Hmm...that's something I will have to figure out...how to be more interesting. Does playing The Sims count? We are probably going to get Sims 3 this weekend, so should I start writing about all the different characters I am making and spending hours upon useless hours doing that? Maybe start taking suggestions for characters and posting how I screwed them up somehow? Anyone? No? I'll keep thinking.

Belle Brooks: February 11, 2003 - June 5, 2009

Belle didn't make it. This morning things took a turn for the worse. When I put her up on the bed this morning as usual, she had a weird look to her and then just collapsed. I should have listened to my instincts, but I didn't. I went to work. As I pulled into the parking lot, Jonathan texted me saying she was collapsing while she was going potty and had tunnel vision. I called the vet and they said to bring her in ASAP. We had the option of giving her a transfusion, but the chance of it working was very small. So, we chose the only option there was. We didn't think it would be very fair to her to keep trying when the chance of survival was low and the chance of it coming back was so high.

These two pictures were taken of her last night...our last with her.

She was the best dog. I loved her dearly and she will be missed. She was my protection when I was alone. She was always by side. She was a little neurotic and had many obsessions. That was the Border Collie in her! She was an absolute joy and there will never be another like her. (By the way, she hated having her picture taken...so most of my pics are of her looking away.)

Belle Update - Updated

She seemed to have a little more energy last night. Jonathan and I already had plans to go to a free premiere of The Hangover. So, I went to the Angelika right after work last night. Feeling guilty the entire time. The movie was hilarious and I highly recommend it, though.

Anyway, when we got home, she seemed in good spirits to see us, wanted lots of petting and love and wolfed down an entire packet of food. That's still not anywhere near what she should have eaten (if she must eat the packets, she needs about 6 or 7 per day...still no luck on the dry food), but she ate it and that's what counts. She took all 4 of her pills in cheese very well. But of course, they were in cheese! Why wouldn't she eat them? She has always been pretty good at taking medicine and before she stopped eating, all we had to do was throw the pills in with her meal and she would gobble them right up. She also seemed to be less stiff in the joints when she was walking. I mistook the stiffness for waddling because of her *few* extra pounds, but her joints are really stiff. But, she seemed to be better in that department a little.

Of course, I could be reading way too much into all of this since I am hoping beyond all hope that this does turn out to be something from a tick and we will have many more years together. After all, if it is a tick, she should be back to normal by this weekend. And I really, really want that. She's my baby.

I allowed her to sleep in the bed last night, but I think she was too hot and jumped down after about an hour. Which is a side effect of the prednisone. I mean, steroids make people sweat so I would assume it makes dogs very hot as well.

So far, the expenses are adding up just in general. The vet bill from yesterday was a couple hundred higher than a normal visit with shots, but it was nowhere near the thousand dollar mark, so that's good? I guess? But, I also start my allergy shots today and before my insurance kicks in with 80%, I have to meet my deductible. I still have just under $600 to go, so there's a big payment today. Plus, I am in dire need of new tires. Not sure when I can fit that in seeing as how I have to work on Fridays now (no hope of that changing any time soon) and I have school on Saturdays. Plus, New York...which is already paid for so we kind of have to go now. And then add tuition for school and books on top of that and I am just all around broke!

But, as long as Belle gets healthy again, I am a very happy girl. And that's all that matters to me right now.

Update: The vet just called. All the tick diseases came back negative. He said that if it's within a month or so, they can be negative when they are really there. But, in hindsight the past couple of days, I started noticing some of these symptoms here and there several months ago. So, the prognosis is not good at all at this point. He is hoping she gets better this week with the meds she is on. I don't think he convinced me that it would happen, though, by the tone of his voice.

So Sad

So, we might have to put Belle down. Everything is pretty much a crap shoot right now. The vet said she is in very serious condition. Basically, her white blood cells and red blood cells are wiped out, therefore she is severely anemic, running a fever, has an infection, etc. She has been extremely lethargic (doesn't even care about squirrels lately!) and hasn't been eating very much the past couple of weeks. Some days she won't eat a single bite. The vet said it could either be a tick disease or auto-immune. If the tick bacteria shows up in her bloodwork, that's a good thing (from what I can figure out). They gave her heavy doses of prednisone and antibiotics. If it is a tick thing, the antibiotics will kill the bacteria from the tick and the prednisone will build her blood count back up. If she starts perking up and feeling better within a couple of days, that's a good sign that it's working and everything will be ok. If not, they need to do further testing. He said sometimes it can be cancer but the x-rays they did today did not show any tumors. But there was something on her lungs. He called it something, I can't remember, but it sounded like bronchitis. Which makes sense because she has been coughing a lot the past couple of weeks. The other thing it could be, if it's not ticks or cancer, is that her immune system is just attacking her blood cells. He said this happens sometimes and from what I have read online, this happens most often in collies and spaniels. It's called Hemolytic Anemia. Either way, cancer or Hemolytic Anemia, she will probably be put down. I just don't have the money to support the treatment if there's not a guarantee of it working. Also, I don't know if I could handle it. I would be constantly stressed and worried that she is in pain and doesn't feel well. Which would make me feel so guilty.

I'm (obviously) really upset right now. I am mad at myself because I started noticing some of these symptoms a while ago and just chalked it up to her getting older. I should have taken her to the vet then. The symptoms just didn't seem that bad. Up until about two weeks ago, she still went nutso over lizards (her new obsession) and her cough was just every once in a while when she got too exerted. I thought that was just because she was fat. I could just kick myself.

My pretty girl:

And now I want one.

So, my best friend had a baby yesterday! She is so freaking cute and chubby. She was 10 days early and pretty much 8 full pounds. If she had made it to her due date, that baby would have been huge! Not that I am biased or anything towards my best friend's children, but this little girl was perfect. It makes me want one. I'm sure the fact that the baby didn't cry at all while I was there has nothing to do with this. :) Actually, if she did cry, it would have snapped me back into reality really quickly. I know I'm definitely not ready to have kids yet...even if Jonathan and I were married right now, I still know that I'm not ready yet. I'm not in the place I want to be when I have kids so they can just wait! But look at this chubby, wubby face!

So sweet! And she has a head full of dark curly hair. She's going to be a cutie!

Anyway...off that subject and onto another. I had my allergy testing done...it was bad. The government should really consider this as a new form of toture! Imagine having your back covered in fire ant and mosquito bites and not being able to touch them or move your head because your damn hair is too long and they should have told you that before you started so you could tie it all up and move your freaking head at some point during the 20 minute torture session! Not that I was upset by it at all or anything. Basically, it's just easier to say what I'm not allergic to: food (I would have been way upset if this was the case), horses, cattle, hampsters and down feathers. There are some trees in there that I'm not allergic to...surprisingly, I am not allergic to cottonwood! I thought everyone in Texas was at least allergic to that. But, I am allergic to the 3 giant oak trees in my yard. Yay. The worst allergens, though, were grass (all of them), weeds (all of them), dust, dust mites, mold and fungus. Luckily, my dog and cat allergies were pretty minor. The doctor said there wasn't any point in telling me to give them up because years of experience have taught him that it's a fight not worth fighting. Plus, he said they were so minor, it wasn't even worth worrying about, really. But, since I am so allergic to so many things out of my direct control, I am starting allergy shots on Thursday. Let's hope they work!

School is going alright. I am done with my Maymester class...all I know is that I got 96s on 2 of my assignments. Still waiting on my participation and book assignment grades, but I am expecting an A in the class. I had to drop one class from this summer because my professor decided that he didn't want to start class on July 11...he wanted to start it on June 27. Which is the last day of my current class. He also expects us to team up by June 30 (it's 100% online...so the group project thing is strange) and have our topic and overview to him by July 6. Well, I'm going to be in New York from July 2-5 and with our flight times, I am basically out of commission July 1-6. So, I would already be screwing over my team right off the bat. Plus, I just found out that in my current class, we have a book report due on July 6 so there already goes part of my vacation. I just don't get how these professors really expect us to to all this work while still being at work 40+ hours a week. I mean, some professors are very accomodating and understand this so they cut down their normal full-semester into a more manageable one...but then there's some who expect you to do 3 full months worth of work in 4 weeks! But whatever. I chose this so I should just suck it up, huh? :)

That's all for today!

Update: Turns out her hair is not curly. What looked like curl was just from being in all that gunk for 9 months. Her hair is straight as a board! In fact, here's a new pic after her first bath. She didn't like it so she is scowling in it...too cute!