Been A While

I didn't realize that the last time I posted was on the 22nd.

I had a pretty good Christmas. Though I was sick, so I missed out on all the Christmas Eve festivities. Here's what we got:

From: Derek's mom.
Me: Footie Pajamas, really nice messenger bag for my bike
Derek: 1TB External Hard Drive
Us: VIP Movie vouchers

From: Derek's dad.
Me: Authentic Celtic Cross necklace from Ireland
Derek: "Ireland" shirt from Ireland
Us: $200.00

From: Quinton (Derek's little Brother)
Us: 600 Thread Count Egyptian Cotton sheet set.

From: Sarah and Preston (Brother and SIL)
Me: $30 Michaels Gift Card
Derek: Simpson's Season 10 DVD pack

From: My mom.
Us: $100.00 and a $30 Walmart Gift Card (Which I already lost)

From: My dad and Lisa.
Us: $100.00 and a Personalized 2008 ornament

From: Kevin (my stepdad).
Me: Bike seat and bike lights
Us: $100.00

From my grandma:
Us: $20.00

And we bought ourselves a nice DVD player with an upconverter.


All in all it was a good Christmas and we are very greatful for what we got. We weren't expecting all of this.

I worked the last 2 days, and will be in a bit. But it was nice, because when the kids saw me they ran up to me and hugged me. It was just nice to feel important like that.

I've been working on a "Realistic Bio", sort of like a Budget Bride Breakdown. I've set the budget at $5000 and trying to see what I can fit in that. It's been fun so far!!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and has an awesome New Years tonight!

Sick

Well, what's new for this time of year? I'm sick...just like every Christmas and New Years. Sore throat, upset stomach, the whole she-banga-bang.

Yesterday Derek and I had lunch with his dad, and it was really nice. He goes back to Ireland on the 27th. And we would love to go visit him up there. My fingers are crossed. He brought us back some gifts. For me he got a mood celtic cross necklace. I really like it. And he got Derek an "Ireland" shirt. Which, apparently is extremely hard to find in a 2XL over there. Damn all those svelte Europeans. LOL!

Christmas is on Thursday, and I can't help but feel a little sad that my dad and sister, and his fiance are in South Dakota seeing all my relatives and we wont be having our traditional "Christmas at Dad's" this year. I remember...when I was little...right after my mom and dad got divorced, we went to my dad's house. And he had strung a banner across the living room that said "Merry Carissa-Mas!" He still calls me every Christmas and says it.

You know it's odd. There's not a single present under our tree....makes me wonder why I even bothered getting the thing. No one will be coming over to see us this Christmas....we will be the ones going out. I am thankful that I do have Derek's family who cares about me so much. They have all treated me like a daughter for a couple years now. And I gotta admit that I got giddy when Derek's dad gave us a Christmas card that said "To my son and daughter in law" and he wrote (almost) underneath daughter in law.

For the first time it seems, Derek and I actually discussed marriage seriously. Well...we talked about getting married at the justice of the peace, having a reception at home for everyone, and then taking a honeymoon cruise. He was all excited talking about a cruise. Heh.

Well that's enough for now. Derek is sick and I need to take care of him before I head to work in a few hours.

I am sleepy

Today was my second day at work. I worked from 1:45pm-5:45pm. I worked with the 2-3 year olds again. My roster is...
Semaje
Allisin (yes with an i not an o)
Alexandra
Jerimiah
Treyvon
Sophie
Kael
Tiara
Tiana
Logan
Eathan
Sihara

I work tomorrow...but man my ass is so sore since my bike seat is broken. Tomorrow I plan on going to the mall and getting a new seat, helmet and some jeans. That's all for now...it is bedtime for me!

::yawns::

Phew, it's not even that early, but I am still really tired. I was feeling under the weather yesterday, so I took some NyQuil. To be honest, I'm not feeling great now either. We still haven't turned on the heater in our house, so when I looked at the thermostat this morning....58 degrees! Brrrrr.

So today is my first day to work at Kids Incorporated. I start at 10am. Hopefully it wont be raining.

Some knot ladies made me realize that I don't have a helmet...so I'll have to get one pronto. I haven't ridden a bike in several years...so it may take some getting used to. Hopefully it doesn't hurt my crotch like all other bikes used to.

Some of the Fun stuff

Last night Derek and I went to his family Christmas Party. Everyone loved my cookies I hear and it was a nice ego boost for me. It's sad though, because of the 50+ people that showed up to the Christmas party, we only like about 10 of them. The rest we pretty much can't stand...and I always seem to have an issue with one of his overly Mormon judgmental relatives.

Today me and Derek went to Texas Roadhouse to meet with my dad, Lisa (his fiance), and Lacy (my sister. My dad and Lacy leave on the 18th for South Dakota. And Lisa will follow about a week later. I really wish I was going, it's supposed to be a huge family gathering for everyone to see my grandparents for "the last time". It's only speculation but some people think my grandpa and grandma wont be around for too much longer, and likely not another Christmas.

Anywho..I gave them their scarves and they loved them!!






They gave us $100 and a really nice "2008" Christmas ornament with one of their favorite engagement pictures in it. We both love it. As a new couple we don't really have many collected ornaments...a few glass globe ornaments that I got for like $3.00 like 3 years ago.



Here's some of the pictures of the decorations of my house. I'll be doing the lights either tomorrow or another day.

Feel free to envy me

...because my house smells like pine tree and cookies! Dear God I'm drooling over here.

Today I bought a Christmas tree (Noble Fir, originally $49.99 for 6ft...but it was cut unevenly so I told them and they sold it to me for $9.99 as a defective tree!) Horray it's against the wall anyways. All pretty and decorated!

Also I have been making cookies, Derek's family Christmas party is tomorrow night, and I guess somewhere in there I got volunteered to make the cookie/brownie platter. So I've made peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and yummy chocolate brownies.

I'm so glad that it's getting close to Christmas...and it seems like things are finally starting to fall back into place for me.

Oh....My final is tomorrow morning...wish me luck!

For those that care...

Today, Kevin (my former step-dad) and I went to the City of Mesa auction house, and he bought me a really nice bike. It was only $30. It has a brand new cushy seat, new chain...good breaks. About the only thing that needs fixing is lowering the seat for my shortness and getting an inner tube for the front tire.

Oh, and the best part. While I was buying the bike, I received a call. Saying they'd like for me to come in for an interview at 11:30am. So of course I finish buying the bike...Kevin let me borrow his truck, I got dressed in my interview clothes and headed down there 25 minutes early. They started the interview as soon as I got there...and they offered me a position by 11:15am. Of course it's somewhat conditional. Needed to get my fingerprint card, food handlers card, TB test, and my first aid/cpr cards.

Today I got my food handlers card, I ordered my first aid and cpr cards that I already have on file. I'll be getting my TB and fingerprints taken care of tomorrow. And I should be all set. I'll have all the necessary paperwork and everything by middle of next week and then we'll talk figures. But a job's a job, and money is money.

I'm so excited!!!

More Details...

Well, as I've said earlier...I've been relatively
crafty...more so than usual lately. I made 45 Christmas Cards this year and sent them out to all the relatives. Here they are:

The card is made out of 3 pieces of cardstock cut into 5" diameter circles (I traced around a cd) The first page is a shimmery blue cardstock with handwritten "Happy Holidays" and snowflakes, second is a plain white with a picture from our Engagement photo shoot. And 3rd is silver and white cardstock with the message to each person written on it. I sent them in 6"x6" square envelopes. They are held together with a white eyelet and a piece of black yarn to look like an ornament. I think they turned out really nice.

I also knit/crocheted 2 scarves so far. The banded one at the top is a tight knit for my step-mom, and the striped one is a double crochet for my sister, Lacy. I'm pretty proud of myself that I finally finished a yarn project. You should see my collection of unfinished swatches. There's probably enough to make a quilt. LOL.

That's all about my projects for now.

Some updates

So, I've gotten lazy and really haven't been online all that much. Some people do read my blog though to my surprise...so I figure I owe it to some of you.

I am quite well.

I've been crafting...knitting, sewing, crocheting, and calligraphying my fingers to the bone. LOL. To reiterate my former post, Derek blocked websites that I asked him to. I wasted my time far too much, and things are much better now.

I've lost 20 pounds from walking so much...

I am so happy.

Finals are next week....
Can't wait for Christmas...I love Christmas....

Hopefully soon I find a good job, lots of money...heh, what I'm sure several people dream of.

Oh well, that's enough for now.

Can't think of a title

Yesterday I was somewhat productive. I walked 4 1/2 miles to Derek's grandma's house to drop off her bi-weekly allowance of $40. I only walked because my car is being stupid again and doesn't want to start. I don't know what to do about it as of right now.

Found out that all the vacant houses around us are now officially repossessions and up for sale. I'll be excited to have some neighbors at last.

It sucks with my car broken....go figure I was on my way out to hand out my filled out applications. But I'm not exactly ideally employable without my own transportation right now. And stupid East Valley doesn't have buses that run out this far. ::sighs::

I'm going stir crazy here at home. Not to mention Derek has blocked all of my time wasting sites, theknot.com, facebook.com, myspace.com. Etc. So I've been walking and filling out applications online. Hopefully I can find a job nearby that I can walk to. Then I can sell my car, pay off my car loan, and look for another cheapy.

Thats all for now.

Right Now....

Well, my mom picked up Mocha...so Tiger is back to her old self. She's being all lovey and rubbing up against me.

Yesterday Derek surprised me with the "Kung Fu Panda" dvd. He came home from work, and sat on the couch and watched it with me. I honestly think right now it's my favorite movie. It was a really nice change, getting to spend some time with him like that. Usually Derek just goes straight upstairs and hops on his computer...to do homework, play games, etc. Which is fine, it was just nice to spend some quality time with him.

I got all the photos from my Engagement shoot on Friday. They are still unedited until Jackalyn gets Photoshop CS4. But I'm fine editing my own honestly, as is I'm slightly annoyed that she took half of the pictures at an angle. So editing any of them to being straight crops out ALOT of the picture. Oh well, I'll deal with it.

Well it's night night time for me. I'll post tomorrow probably.

Well...

I'm not even going to talk about my feelings on the election, it's over and I'm happy about that at least.

Tomorrow is my step-dads birthday, so Derek and I took him out for dinner and bought him a steak.

My mom is dropping off her dog, Mocha in the morning for me to watch her for 3 days. She's going to pay me for it. It'll be interesting to see how Mocha and Tiger get along.

...all of the sudden I am very sad. Being unemployed is really doing a number on me. I find myself feeling like this more and more now. Just random bouts of sadness with no precise reason or trigger....nothing but having a clear mind.

Photo Shoot

Well, Derek and I just got back from our formal engagement shoot....and boy was it fun. I even broke my shoe in the process! LOL.

My hair was a mess, there was dirt all over us....and we were sweating...but I still think they will look amazing.

Last night we only got like 10 trick'or'treaters, and 3 were repeats of these stupid 14 year old boys that weren't even in costume....so I told them to go home. I got so many compliments on the decorations, so that makes me happy.

Well I'm going to clean up...

Happy Halloween

Lots on the agenda today:

I'm in the process of some serious cleaning of my house...Pretty soon I need to head out to GoodWill to look for a tux jacket for Derek. Pick up the flowers for the pictures. Practice styling my hair for tomorrow. Then I need to touch up the Halloween decorations....the spider webs are all messed up from the wind. Then I'll finish cleaning, get ready for school in the morning. Make last minute preparations with Jackalyn (my photographer) and get some good rest. Somewhere in there I have to make time to eat and shower...etc. Well I'll figure something out.

::sighs::

There's so much shit going on in my life that makes me disappointed right now.

It all stems from being unemployed. I feel awful that Derek has had to pay all my bills these last 2 1/2 months. And he's starting to get really upset. Not to mention that we are currently in the process of being sued by one of the contractors that built our house. Our builder declared bankruptcy, and our title was clean (no lien on it) when our contract was finalized. But none of the contractors got paid...and they are now coming at us like we owe them the money. And I'm sorry, but we bought this house fair and square, have never missed a payment or ever been late on one...hopefully this whole thing gets tossed out of court.

Today I went to the mall to see my friend Cami, and pick up applications from just about every single store. Right about now everyone is hiring for seasonal...so I'm crossing my fingers for at least something.

We can't find Derek's jacket for the pictures :-( So tomorrow I'm going to goodwill to see if I can find anything remotely similar...or remotely the right size. I can always alter it if it's too long or whatever. Speaking of GoodWill. I was looking around for a cafe table from family members, but no one had one. So I went to good will....found a rusty cool base, and a round glass top. Voila! Cafe table!!! $2.99 for reals!!! And it'll make a good out door side table too methinks.

We were going to go to California for Derek's birthday, but that's probably not happening now. I am supposed to pay my $1k tuition by December 1st, and they wont let me set up my usual payment plan on that so looks like I may have to re register. And I probably wont be going to Minnesota for Christmas to see my grandparents (dads side) before they die more than likely.

Man, this is shitty.

First post

Well, here's my first post. I'm not going to lie, when it comes to things like this I usually get really flaky and stop posting after a few entries.

Anywho...so I stepped on the scale about 10 minutes ago, and I'm down 10lbs! Woot! I haven't looked at a scale in like 3 weeks. So I'm pretty happy.

I'm really excited because my formal engagement pictures are this weekend, and I hope they end up phenomenal.

That's all for now!

-Carissa