The LONG Weekly Breakdown

It’s been quite a week, if I had the energy I probably would have updated sooner but when daily life gets in the way – a blog really isn’t a priority. I’ll break it down into categories so you can skip the areas you probably won’t care about. I also had to throw a break in it because I’m certain it’s going to be a 2500 word entry. Sue me, it’s been a week.

Health & Wellness – Back Problems SUCK!
I threw out my back last weekend, it took me a few days to nurse myself back to health but me being the stubborn person that I am – I still insisted on cleaning whenever I could and getting some shopping done. I had trouble lifting the heavier items (soda, and even a gallon of milk for that matter) but we needed it and I know that Sean has been really busy working on a few different sites. He’s chugging along getting the social networking site up for one client, Jackie and her father have taken him under their wings with some programming work and he was approved to write plug-ins and hacks for Social Engine, the only out-of-the-box social networking site on the market right now. So it’s safe to say that while I’m not feeling well, he’s still very busy with other things. He did really help me out though, as far as the heavy lifting and laundry is concerned. I had to spend Sunday in bed, which is something I absolutely hated, because I don’t like being unproductive but when you can’t stand up it’s very difficult to accomplish just about anything.

Cleaning Spree – Dollar Stores RULE!
When my back was feeling a bit better I went on a cleaning spree, and thank god for Dollar Tree because I was able to pick up all of the supplies that I needed to accomplish that. I know a lot of people look down on dollar stores but when it comes to house-hold cleaning supplies it’s really the best place to go. Not only can you load up on carpet fresh but bleach and regular detergents are only $1 and they get the job done just as well as the $5 and $6 cleaners. I’ve always lived on a budget but with how tight things have been lately, it’s really beginning to sink in on how much easier life can be when discount stores are around.

New Positions & Job Interviews – Will work for money!
This past week I was approved to work at a new web design company based in New Jersey, I’m outsourcing for them and based on what I’ve done so far I think I’m going to be with them for a while. I really like the woman I’m working under and my organizational skills can really shine here, thanks to the dollar store – of course! When it comes to contract based jobs from the same employer I tend to pick up a three-ring binder, throw in some dividers to break up each project and then sticky note and highlight my heart out. I picked all of that stuff up from Dollar Tree as well. I may be a cheap bastard but even someone making $50k a year is broke with how horrible the economy is these days.

I still haven’t heard back from that interview. I’m calling them in the morning to get in touch with the human resources manager (the one I interviewed with) in hopes to have my name bumped to the top of the list. According to their website they’re still looking to fill the position but I also know they’ve been looking for quite some time now. I really could use the job, it would be nice to have a solid income coming in, and based on the rate-of-pay I set down it would be a very easy $32,000 a year. So hopefully I can get that accomplished and then set this outsource company as Moonlighting and go from there. It’s nothing against them, I just don’t know if I’m going to bring in the minimum of $2500 a month I’m going to need in order to pay the bills. It’s a matter of priorities, honestly.

Spin Outs – I hate cops!
The other day, during one of my good-back days, I decided to head down to the supermarket and get some minor grocery shopping done. I was waiting at the light and noticed the cop come up behind me and by default I get a little nervous because of the fact that I grew up in NY and all cops are assholes when it comes to Long Island, especially Nassau County – if you’ve ever had a run-in with them you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Anyway, so I was at the front of the line and I knew that Sean’s tires really needed to be replaced but when you can’t afford to have all four tires at once replaced, you deal with what you’ve got and try not to drive around unless you absolutely have to. Now, they’re doing road work all up and down Route-1 and since I happen to live right off of Route-1 and all of the stores are located on Route-1, the half mile drive to the market really shouldn’t be such a bad idea. The one thing I didn’t realize until it was too late was the fact that tires with no tread have trouble on rocky roads. I knew this in the back of my mind, but being as I was so set on getting back to the house to finish some things, it just completely slipped my mind.

So I’m at the light, it changes to green and even though I was barely touching the gas my back tires spun out shooting all kinds of rock and debris in the cops direction (remember, he’s right behind me). The tires finally stopped spinning and the car then caught up with the tires and the second I crossed onto the road (left turn from Route-1 to side street) I heard the infamous “Whoop Whoop” and lights were going. I attempted to bring the car into the parking lot because I don’t like to hold up traffic and he got on his little bull horn and said “Pull over right now”. He got out, put on his little stupid state troopers hat that only made him look like even more of a prick (considering his uniform was too big for him to begin with – the gun could probably make his pants fall down if it weren’t for his belt-buckle being so tight). He did the whole general “license and registration” shit and then asked me why I slammed down on the gas while he was sitting behind me. I explained that I wasn’t touching much of anything, the tires got stuck on the gravel and he said that it’s probably because my tires were so worn down.

I played dumb, easy to do when you’re wearing a low-cut shirt and you’ve just blown out your back and really don’t want to deal with anyone. I explained that it was my boyfriends car and I had no idea the tires were that bad and then he said “I just wanna see how bad they are”. Pulled out a quarter and went around to each one of them. He explained that there isn’t enough tread to be on any kind of road, rocky or smooth, and if I even attempt to go out in the rain I’m just asking for an accident. He let me go with a warning and I had to promise him that I’d have the tires replaced as soon as possible. He said even if I just replace the front two it’s an improvement. It was just an annoying situation and thank god I was able to talk my way out of it.

Gardening – Not just for Mexicans
Yes, consider it a racist moment but I’m really ticked off at the Landscapers who float around our complex once a week. Yesterday I went outside to get the yard cleaned up a bit. It was really looking over-grown and thanks to a gorgeous sunny day I had no choice but to go out there and enjoy it. So I cleaned up all of the garbage that’s accumulated with the past series of storms (I hate when paper goods get stuck in the bushes!) and I pulled some of the larger weeds that the weed wacker couldn’t chop down. I also got a kick out of even handling the weed wacker because the vibration really did make an impact on my back, I’m still trying to figure out if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Sean assisted by finally taking down the Christmas lights off the porch so I can begin getting some plants into the pots we have and hanging those up – giving the porch some much needed visual interest. This is really a gorgeous house but you wouldn’t know it by looking outside, it’s very plain and there’s a lot that I’d like to do with it. (more about that here)

So what’s my gripe with the landscapers? We pay a monthly maintenance fee for the grounds, you want to assume that since you ( and every other home owner in this complex ) is paying for them to be here that they’d make an ounce of effort to do the job properly. Of course, that isn’t the case. They ride around on their little lawn mowers and very quickly go over the grounds. As someone who came from a long line of Landscapers (You had to be in the “family business” to marry any of the women on my mother’s side), I know that while you don’t snail it you don’t play speed racer either! It takes time to cut grass and blowing through doing 20mph on your little gas powered mower is not going to get the job done properly. So when I was done weeding I made it a point to edge around the entire house and set a marker for them to cut by. Pablo (we’ll call him this for the time being) showed up this morning, whizzed by and took off, his blade wasn’t even down.

I jolted out the door, screamed at him in his native tongue to get his attention (those four years of Spanish in high school only seem to pay off when I’m pissed at a landscaper, go figure) and explained that if he didn’t properly cut the lawn that I’d notify his boss and he’d be out of his job. So instead of his six children going hungry he went over the lawn again and now everything is good.

I’m not really a racist person, I’ll be the first to say that. I’m just so ticked off at people half assing jobs because they’re paid under the table. When you’re parked next to an asshole buying diapers in bulk on Welfare and then he jumps into his brand new 2008 Trailblazer, you tend to get a little freaking annoyed (in comparison) with the treatment of those who were actually born in this country and work their asses off for a living! Everything we do “under the table” is illegal but the overpopulated areas where no one speaks English seems to do the best as far as the economic comparison is concerned. It really ticks me off. (So there ends my rant with that)

Puppies -n- Stuff – Both are sick!
I don’t know if it’s the weather, or if it has anything to do with the flea treatments but both dogs aren’t doing too well. Princess broke out in a nasty (and stinky) skin rash after Karen treated the bedroom with Flea Busters (preventative – you have to do it when you live in a wooded area). Princess has been licking and biting the hell out of her back legs and stomach and since she’s a plus-sized pup her stomach tends to drag on the floor. The fact that she’s a dachshund doesn’t help much either, even without a tummy she’d still be very low to the ground with her little stubby legs. She’s also trying to regain her role as the alpha-dog in the house, something Bella has a firm grasp on. So excessive barking if she doesn’t get her way has returned and as far as that goes – she’s basically back to her normal self. She didn’t do well on the Kemo and we took her off of it but I think since it was leaving her body it was just putting her in a mood where she wouldn’t even get up to eat – and if you’ve ever met Princess you know that eating is her number one hobby.

As far as Bella is concerned, she’s been up and down for the past couple of weeks. She hasn’t eaten much in the last few days and trying to get her to drink isn’t working out well either. She refused to eat anything today so now she’s really sleepy and crapping all kinds of nasty liquid that’s had me very busy. She doesn’t tell you that she has to go when she’s sick, she wonders into Karen’s bathroom and goes in there. At least it’s not on carpet, bleach on tile works out very well but it’s still annoying to have to clean – it’s so much easier to pick things up from outside.

Missing Him
It’s been over 2 years since Joe passed but for some reason it’s really bothering me today. It probably has to do with the topic of Fibromyalgia that I came across on Ranee’s site, I don’t know. But I’ve been in a funk all day and I started thinking back to everything we went through and I really just miss him. Not even as a boyfriend, just as an influential person in general. I have Sean now and I’m very happy in my relationship but there’s always going to be one person from your past that you have trouble letting go of. Joe was just ripped from life too soon, and it’s a shame he’s not with us anymore. I know he’s off being content with no more pain and guiding me through important decisions (hell, he’s the reason I passed the stupid driving test down here cause DE wouldn’t take my NY ID!). I always have trouble with Sean’s seatbelt (my boobs get in the way) the seatbelt didn’t move once during that entire test – I know he had something to do with that!

Either way – I’m just missing him a lot right now and hopefully I’ll be able to regain my concentration because I can’t even work on anything for 10 minutes to feel productive. I know this is a very long article but I’ve been writing it for two hours. I think I’m well over 2500 words at this point and that typically would take me about 20 minutes. Now I know I’m in a funk.

Summer Coming Soon!
There have been a few days of consecutive 70+°F (21°C for Bronnie!) and I have to say, I LOVE IT! I really do enjoy the cold but I really love having all the windows open and getting fresh air in the house without someone getting cold. It’s excellent! I hope to spend the next couple of days outside. I just need to figure out how to get rid of the stupid glare on the laptop thanks to the sun – heh. I need to get my base-coat so I don’t burn too much with the UV goes up next month.

In conclusion.
So yea, that’s been my week. A busy one, a painful one, and an all out annoying experience. How’d your week go? What are your weekend plans?