Broken glass

I am normally a very light sleeper, but last night I must have been sleeping like a pile of bricks, because the kitties successfully broke a wine glass and I did not wake up. G and I found the glass shards all over the kitchen this morning and the poor neighbors had to hear our vacuum at 5:30 am this morning so we could clean it up before walking barefoot into the kitchen. Both kitties paws seemed fine, so the noise of the break my have scared them both out of the kitchen. I have no clue when they found time to snoop around the kitchen, because both cats were sleeping in the same place when I fell asleep and woke up. I was not too upset about the broken glass because it was an art & wine souvenir glass, which does not bother me. If they had broken one of my pretty Mikasa glasses, I would have come unglued. The funny thing is that I had placed the glass in a spot on the counter where I thought it would be safe from kitty harm. Next time, I just need to wash my glass immediately to avoid the wrath of Bear and Mickey!

Christmas

I feel bad that I have totally neglected my blog for the the past few weeks, so here is a post to update my life. I somehow managed to get all of my Christmas shopping finished within two weeks, because I put it off until finals were over. Next year, I hope to start in November, before I need to study for finals, but who knows if that will really happen. Some years I am good about shopping early, and some I am hurrying at the last minute. It doesn't help that I had 4 birthday presents to buy in December as well!

Even though it felt like a whirlwind, Christmas was really good this year, with a few exceptions. Work let us out at 1:00 pm on Christmas eve, which was totally awesome because I didn't feel like working at all that day. I played KOIT online, which was all Christmas songs, and managed to get some work done. Later that day, G and I picked up my mom and brother and drove to my aunt's house across town. Christmas eve was full of too much food, but was nice overall, except for the end of the night when my brother was belligerently drunk.

Christmas day was good. We started our day at G's dad's house and celebrated with my father-in-law, his girlfriend, and G's aunt. We all spoke with G's sister over the phone, then sat down to a yummy breakfast. After breakfast, we opened presents and relaxed until the afternoon. We left for mom's house to celebrate with her and bro, opened presents, and had an awesome prime rib dinner. After chatting with mom for a while, G and I went home and opened our gifts to each other.

G spoiled me this Christmas, but his excuse was that he was making up for not really getting me any birthday gifts this year (things were a little hectic with the wedding!). He gave me a pair of tall black Uggs, some Yankee candles, a cute kitty desk calendar, a Dooney & Burke purse and matching wallet, a beautiful palm tree necklace pendant encrusted with emeralds and a diamond, and gorgeous ruby earrings with a diamond on each. G went way overboard, which explains why he has been working so much over time lately! I gave G the new AC/DC and Metallica cds, 4 dvds, two shirts, a set of screwdrivers and a set of drill bits. I felt like I didn't get him enough after all he got me, but he said he received plenty of gifts. The kitties enjoyed their gifts of new toys. We saved their presents for last, because it is always fun to watch them with their new toys!

One down, one to go

Hurray, I have one final finished!!! It feels so good to not have to worry about studying for that class anymore. However, tomorrow's final is the one that really scares me. Hopefully I will do well, but I really need to cram tonight.

On my way to class last night, I was walking along Market Street in my usual fog, when I saw a person that made me do a double take. It was Phil Bronstein, editor in chief of the SF Chronicle! I am so excited that I finally saw a famous person after three years of working in San Francisco. Seeing him kind of perked me up for the final I was about to take. He was a little taller than I expected too, and he was walking just fine, so I guess the kimodo dragon didn't do too much damage to his foot!

I can't wait for tomorrow to be over so I can finally attempt to get into the holiday spirit. Maybe I will see another famous person as I walk to class, but that is just wishful thinking!

Yucky finals!

I can't wait for next weekend when I don't have to worry about finals and studying anymore! This weekend was pretty boring for the most part, plus it sucked to have to get up at 6:30 am on Saturday to go to the review class for Introduction to Law. At least the review was a little helpful to help me remember what was learned earlier on in the course, but I still prefer my sleep in Saturdays.

The 49ers beat Brett Favre's ass this weekend and it was totally awesome! Of course, the sports channels are not really giving the 49ers much credit because the Jets "are supposed to be the better team", but the 9ers beat them fair and square. I guess people just are not used to the 49ers doing well yet.

It has been cold lately and even though we keep the thermostat at 68 degrees, even G admitted the apartment felt cold last night. We had no burn nights all weekend too, so no cozy fires to keep us warm. My sweatshirt and fleece throw blanket helped when we watched Finding Neverland last night.

I can't wait until next weekend when I finally get to have some fun!

Random Friday post

I cannot wait for Sunday when I finally get to sleep in as late as I want to. I have been so tired this week due to going to bed too late almost every night (yeah, it's my fault), plus worrying about my Powerpoint presentation. Tomorrow I have to be up too early for a Saturday to go to a study review for my introduction to law course. I also get to study all weekend, which really sucks at this time of the year when everyone is talking about decorating and shopping. At least finals will be over in a week, then I can finally enjoy the holiday season.

Tonight I am also celebrating the 75th anniversary of the 21st amendment, which ended the Prohibition Era. I need a glass of wine or two to relax, especially since next week will be a bit stressful with my exams. Hurray for alcohol!

AC/DC still rocks!

Last night was totally awesome! AC/DC performed a great concert and played almost all of the songs that I really wanted to hear. Angus can still jam on the guitar as well as he did in his younger days and he really got the crowd going. The concert almost seemed too short because I enjoyed all of the songs so much. One of the funniest moments is when a humongous blow up woman was brought out during "A Whole Lotta Rosie" because she had bigger tits than Beth, Dog the Bounty Hunter's wife. I wish I had a picture. The opening act, The Answer, was okay, but I was so happy when they finally finished their set because it had been eight long years since I first saw AC/DC in concert. It was so cool, because AC/DC is the first concert that G and I saw together, so it brought back good memories. I am very happy that I did not have mono this time either, because last time I was super weak by the end of the concert and poor G practically had to carry me out. We did have some rude concertgoers sitting in front of us, especially the woman in front of me because I thought she was going to puke on me when she was kneeling in her chair with her head over the back. I have no idea why she was so wasted when the tickets were $100 each and the show was so awesome. Also, the girl next to me was screaming so loud my right ear was totally deaf compared to my left after the concert. Oh well, just a part of the experience.

We boarded BART with no problem on the way home, but when we had to transfer to our line in Oakland, the train was only four cars. We were pretty much cramped like cattle until Walnut Creek and my feet were super painful. Bed felt so nice when we finally got home around 12:30 am. Hurray for less than five hours of sleep before work!

Fresno and home

Well, it's back to the grind after the long weekend. Unfortunately, I was super restless last night and tossed and turned for an hour before I finally fell asleep. Now I am a zombie on the busiest day of the month at work.

Thanksgiving day went well for the most part. There was lots of food, partially due to the smaller crowd at G's aunt's house this year (20 people is a smaller crowd, lol). It was good to catch up with everyone, and even when the election came up, everyone was pretty much civilized in their conversations (totally not that way with my family get togethers). G was really happy to see his grandpa the following day and the visit actually was really good. An old man hit on me in the dining room at the retirement home, so I guess I am fresh meat to old men.

It was nice to drive home on Saturday and have dinner at mom's house because I love her stuffing and the deep-fried turkey. It was super yummy and we got to eat leftovers last night. It was also nice to come home to the kitties, because I missed them so much! It looked like all they did was fight the whole time because there was Bear fur everywhere, but they seemed happy and healthy.

Yesterday was awesome because the 49ers finally won another game! It was a somewhat boring game considering the final score was 10-3, but any win is a win in the record books. Now I get to look forward to seeing AC/DC tomorrow night. I can't wait!

Shopping and baking

This weekend was pretty fun, for once, except for the 49ers losing yesterday. On Saturday, my mom and I went to Union Square to go shopping for ourselves, since most of our upcoming shopping will be for others. Surprisingly, we did not buy much. We both bought two bras at Victoria's Secret, which was a necessity, because neither of us have purchased bras for quite a while. My old bras are starting to fall apart and show their age, so I am glad to have some new ones to "perk" me up again. I also bought three shirts at Old Navy, but I think I am going to return one because it does not really look good on me after all. Mom had fun seeing the city, even though she said it looks a lot filthier than the last time she shopped there. I guess the street vendors and homeless people reminded her too much of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

Sunday was pretty much a stay at home and get some stuff done day, as usual, except that G actually stayed home all day as well. I baked a whole bunch of cookies for the Thanksgiving potluck at work tomorrow, plus some for us and mom and my brother. They are a triple chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal and they turned out pretty good. The baking also helped warm up the apartment a little, although G ended up building a fire in the evening. We had mom over for a barbecue dinner, watched some television, and called it a night.

I guess I should have enjoyed the fire G built last night even more than I did, because tonight is a spare the air night and we are not allowed to burn anything. I guess I will just have to turn up the thermostat when I get home from work so we do not freeze tonight. Thank goodness our comforter is so warm!

6:30 am is sleeping in for me

It was so nice to be able to sleep in an extra hour today. I had an early morning doctor appointment, but since it was only two miles from the apartment, I did not have to get up at 5:15 am like normal. I actually found parking at the Walnut Creek BART station afterward as well, which is quite a feat for 9:30 am. I guess I better schedule all of my morning doctor appointments on Fridays from now on so I can find parking! I also got to test out using my EZ-Rider card for parking, and it is so easy and awesome! No more memorizing my parking stall number, which I always forget by the time I have have to enter it in the system. I do not have to have money on me anymore either. I do not carry cash on me very often, so I would always have to scrounge up change to pay for parking or beg G for a dollar.

I think the kitties were a little confused with me staying home a later than normal, but they slept on the bed as they normally do while I was getting ready. There are some days that I wish I could crawl back into bed with them, but then I would not be able to afford their food and litter if I did not go to work. Mickey was super cute rolled into a ball on the bed this morning. I really need to get a picture of him when he sleeps like that, but the lighting in our room is terrible and the pictures I take in there never turn out very well.

Well, TGIF! Thank goodness next week is only a three day work week! All I have to worry about is surviving Fresno for Thanksgiving.

They finally won!

Woo hoo! The 49ers finally won a game! Even though they played a really crappy team, the Niners finally won! After sitting on the couch most of the weekend with a bruised/tweaked ankle, a victory was great. I am a little bit scared about next week's game against the Cowboys, but the Niners definitely showed a lot of improvement yesterday.

Yeah, my ankle was not happy this weekend. I think the shoes that I wore Friday made my foot upset, because I did not notice any pain or swelling until Friday night when I was wearing my harmless slippers. G thinks it is sympathy pain for his swollen and painful knee, which was the result of smacking the trailer hitch on his truck really hard. The only good thing is that I survived today with minimal pain and I was able to walk to BART this morning.

I did make some really yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this weekend, and G has really been enjoying them. He still complains about his knee pain, but that's how men are. He tells me to suck it up and walk to BART this morning because I have been "babying" my ankle, yet he still bitches about his knee. Men!

The hurt husband and kitty olympics

This morning, after my alarm went off, G asked if today was Friday. I totally wish it was but it is only Thursday, which also happens to be the longest day of the week for me. At least we are almost done with the work week. I feel bad for G because he hurt his knee Tuesday night by accidentally smacking it on the trailer hitch on his truck, and yesterday it was painful and swollen. Luckily the swelling went down overnight, but I am afraid that it will just come back today because he is on his feet all day at work doing physical activity. Also, he does not have medical coverage right now, so I hope it is not something that becomes really serious.

This morning, Mickey was super hyper. I wish I could bottle some of that energy for myself, especially because tonight is a school night. I do not know what got into Mickey, but he was sprinting all over the apartment with his claws out. I think I better buy some nail clippers for him during my next Petco excursion so the furniture and carpeting do not get ruined during his morning craziness. I felt sorry for Bear this morning because Mickey kept pouncing on him and biting him while he was trying to sleep. I think Bear wishes that he was the only cat in the apartment when Mickey is playing rough with him. Thank god Mickey calms down as the day goes on. The best is at night when they cuddle together and fall asleep. It is so adorable to see their heads buried into each other's shoulders.

Hump day

It's hump day, but the week is creeping by so slowly I don't think Friday will ever get here! I don't feel like I have been sleeping enough lately, which is partially G's fault because he seems to be able to stay up late and still function the next day, although he is a morning person and I am far from a morning person. G also falls asleep after dinner for a hour or two, so he automatically gets more sleep than I do. He tends to take his shower right before bed, and since I am such a light sleeper, I hear everything and can't fall asleep. I guess my light sleep pattern will be useful someday when we have kids, but it really sucks when all I want to do is get a good amount of sleep before taking on the next day.

The kitties were acting a little odder than normal this morning. Mickey was being a little snot when he is typically affectionate, but he might still be upset with me for yelling at him when he was on the kitchen counter last night. Bear was friendly this morning, so maybe Bear finally had the upper hand in one of their daily fights. I swear that the kitties have worse mood swings than I do when I am pmsing, but I guess that is why cats are so stubborn and independent. I love my boys no matter what kind of snit they are in, especially when they greet me at the door when I get home from work :)

Uneventful weekend

Once again, I had a nice relaxing do mostly nothing weekend because G left me alone to go work on his friend's truck both days. I felt guilty on Saturday that I had not cleaned the apartment at all, so I baked him some cookies which helped. Saturday night, we finally watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I have been wanting to see for a while. We were unable to see the movie when it first was released because it was right before the wedding and our weekends were pretty much consumed with pre-wedding activities. It was a pretty good movie, especially with the male full-frontal nudity which is a rarity in movies. G liked it for the most part as well.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day, but I did manage to clean both bathrooms since they were bothering me too much not clean them. We had dinner at Mom's house, which was the first time she had really cooked since Easter. It was nice to hang out in the house I lived in for 25 years, because I miss the old place sometimes. Nothing has really changed, except for my brother adding another girl into his rotation of fuck buddies, although I think last night's girl is more of a drug buddy. She is also the step-sister of my brother's main squeeze, so I will be glad that I don't live there anymore when the shit hits the fan.

I am so happy that the 49ers are playing tonight, because I have been going through withdrawals now for the past two weeks. I hope that they got some shit together during the bye week and hopefully the coach will not be dropping trou in the locker room tonight. I will miss kickoff because the game starts at 5:30 pm, which is when I am riding BART home, but I will hopefully get to see the majority of the game with a glass of wine in my hand. Here's hoping the 9ers kick Cardinal ass!

Very happy, yet sad as well

Yesterday is a day I will remember forever. It is a day I will tell my future children about. Barack Obama, a brilliant African American senator from Illinois, was elected President of the United States. I am still in disbelief that the candidate I voted for won the election and that so many other voters helped Obama win his bid for the White House. This country really needs change after eight years of embarrassment from our executive branch and Obama is the man to help lead us to that change. I can't wait to see how the next four years go and to see Obama's plans in action.

On the flip side, proposition 8 banning same sex marriage passed, diminishing much of my joy from the results of this election. The passing of this proposition really saddens me because it proves that religion plays too large of a role in our society. Even though there is a separation of church and state, many voters relied on their religious beliefs when choosing yes on prop 8. I could never use religion or any other reason as a rationale for preventing two people who love each other from a civil marriage. G and I were married in a civil ceremony, so does that mean that our marriage is also something to be looked down upon? I just think that it is really selffish for people to vote to prevent something that does not affect their lives. Obviously homosexuality is not going away with the passing of this prop, so why worry so much about preventing this group of people from the pleasure of claiming a spouse? Some proponents claimed that gay marriage will be taught in school if the prop had failed, which is one of the biggest bullshit excuses I have heard of for bigotry. I was never taught about marriage in school, whether it be straight or gay, and sex ed only taught us about making babies, which is not a requirement of marriage. Of course, children will learn about homosexuality at some point in their lives, but what is the harm in that? I hope that one day people will realize how much their bigotry or religious convictions really harm others' desires to legally marry the person they love.

Finally, Election Day is Here!

November 4th, a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time, is finally upon us! Even though I sent in my absentee ballot over a week ago, today is still exciting because there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. We will actually know who the next president is soon, as long as there is no repeat of the 2000 Florida fiasco. It feels so awesome to have participated in one of the biggest elections in history.

G thinks that I cheated because I voted absentee instead of in person at my polling place, but I was afraid of the lines, which have been proven to be long. I also did not want to have to take time off work and I have school tonight, so voting absentee was my best option. I think as long as a person votes, whether in person or by mail, they should be applauded for voicing their opinion. Too many people get lazy or assume a candidate will win, which is why this country has such a low voter turnout. I think it is sad that people don't feel the need to vote, especially women who fought long and hard for the privilege. Hopefully voters will be inspired this election to keep going to the polls in subsequent elections after they see how powerful a vote truly is.

Rain and fire

It was so refreshing to see rain return to the bay area this past weekend, despite all of the traffic snafus. We really need the rain and hopefully there will be many more rainy days this winter, even if they make me a grouch. Luckily, I didn't have to go anywhere on Saturday, so I enjoyed the rainy day inside with Mickey and Bear. It amazes me how much the rain intrigues the cats, but I doubt they would like it if they were outdoor cats.

G and I finally tested out the fireplace in our apartment. It works really well at heating the place up, in fact, a little too well. At least we will be able to save on electricity this winter, except for spare the air nights when we are not allowed to have a fire. The kitties were afraid of the fire at first, because the biggest flame they have ever seen was from a candle. They have been getting used to the fireplace, because we have now had it lit three nights in a row, and they are no longer hiding when we light a fire. We even moved one of their beds near the fireplace and Mickey has been loving sleeping near the warmth. I guess my kitties do appreciate some of the things we do for them.

My vote has been solidified (not that it wasn't before)

Hurray for Halloween and the weekend hanging out around the corner. It has been a long and tiring week, even though I have not done anything out of my normal routine. I need to start going to bed earlier instead of watching the nightly news, because all the news ever reports about are the economy and election. I like to keep informed about what is going on in our country, but lately, the news just sounds like a broken record repeating the same information over and over again. I think next week will be a much more exciting time to watch the news as the election finally takes place and a winner is hopefully announced (no repeat of 2000 and the "hanging chads").

I watched part of Obama's commercial last night, which solidified my decision to vote for him. He is so eloquent and presidential when he speaks, unlike the current president who could benefit from speech classes. I was really impressed that Obama focused on the issues that are pressing in our country and showed examples of families that are barely surviving during our tough economic times. He did not once mention or attack McCain, which really pleased me because I am so sick of the smearing. Only 5 more days!!

Woo hoo! I just mailed my absentee ballot during my lunch break and a huge weight is off my shoulders! Now I will not feel as bad about throwing all of the political mail I have been receiving lately into the recycling bin and ignoring the advertisements on TV. When someone comes up to me preaching their side of an issue, I can now tell them I already voted and keep walking. It may have taken me two days to fill it out because reading about all of the propositions was giving me a headache, but I am so happy that I have voted. I believe that you can only truly complain about politics if you voted, unless citizenship or age factors are preventing you from voting.

Of course, G is cancelling out my vote for president, but as long as he votes, I guess it is okay. At least I was able to influence his decision on prop 8 after many nights of discussion. I always tease G that we are similar to Arnold and Maria, because we share the same anniversary (although they married several years before us) and our political views are the same. Sometimes I wish I had married someone with the same political ideals so we could actually speak with each other more about politics, but I am glad that I married someone who is not going to change their ideals because their partner does not like them. I just hope we do not confuse our future children too much. I am the product of a politically split household and I turned out okay :)

Weekend review

This weekend was kind of slow and lazy, but I needed to relax. I think what I really need is a vacation or even a weekend getaway, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, so my weekends at home are my only saviors right now. I just wish that we were staying in town for the four day Thanksgiving weekend, but our compromise is staying home for Christmas. At least my mom thought a mother-daughter trip to Las Vegas sounds like a great idea because she has not been since the 1970s, so I have that to look forward to in January.

I made some zucchini bread yesterday, which turned out okay, but needed more spices than the recipe called for. I will have to attempt making it again in the future. I made the bread because the 49er game was pissing me off too much and I needed to do something constructive. I also have some Halloween cake mix that I would like to bake up this week, but I am too afraid to make the cake because I fear I will eat all of the leftover frosting. :) Plus, I need to steal my mom's cake pans to actually bake the cake.

I'm actually looking forward to Halloween this year, which has not been the case for the past few years. Maybe I am looking forward to Halloween because it falls on a Friday this year, which makes it much more enjoyable because there is no work the next day. Also, I am getting off work early on Friday because I have a doctor appointment, so I will be home early in case we do have any trick-or-treaters come to our door. I am actually dressing up for work in my football jersey with some eye black on my cheeks, simple but better than not getting into the spirit. We are going to have a potluck luncheon on Friday in the office, which should also be fun.

I usually do not like to publicize my feelings about politics very often because I am not into debates and confrontations, but I just had to post this picture I found. I guess this will explain what side of the fence I reside.

My husband the polar bear

I think G needs to live in the Arctic, because then he might experience the cold. When I woke up this morning, the apartment was an unpleasant 65 degrees, which made me not want to get out of our warm, cozy bed. G thought the temperature was wonderful, not cold at all. I am not exactly a morning person, so I got mad, shut the windows he left open, and turned the heater on for twenty minutes to try and warm the place up while I showered. He began complaining that I was going to rack up the PG&E bill, so I told him to go bitch to his dad about it (his dad works for PG&E). I also told him that PG&E recommends keeping the thermostat set at 68 degrees in the winter, which ticked him off a bit. I did not discuss the fact that he likes to leave lights on, which does not help the price on our bill, but I did not want to piss him off.

I ended up apologizing to him for being a bit of a bitch, and I told him that I have to remember to close the windows at night to avoid waking up cold, even though he would rather leave the windows open. I also told him that I cannot tolerate the cold like I can heat, so I will probably be using the heater more than the four times I used the air conditioner this summer. Sometimes I wonder if he has a hyperthyroid problem instead of myself. I just hope that we do not argue much more about the temperature of the apartment, or it will be a long winter.

Finally good 49er news

I know this is terrible to say, but I am so happy that the 49ers finally fired head coach Mike Nolan yesterday. Being a 49er fan during the past few years has been a trying experience, especially with Nolan leading the way. The 49ers need a coach that is willing to take risks in order to win a game, unlike Nolan who was just too conservative with his play calling. I was so pissed on Sunday when the Niners were down by 10 points with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and on fourth down with five yards to go, Nolan had the Niners punt the ball. Um, how will punting the ball away help your attempt to put points on the board? Hopefully interim head coach Mike Singletary will be able to finish out this season better than Nolan could, but taking the reigns mid-season is not going to facilitate a smooth transition. I just wish that this decision would have been made in the off-season, because the 49ers could have had a better record built up by now, instead of a 2-5 record. Here's hoping the next nine games show an improved team. :)

Popping the blog cherry

It seems that everyone these days has a blog, so I figured that I would hop on the bandwagon, even though life lately has not been too enthralling.

I was so happy yesterday to spend a whole day with G, because those days are few and far between. We watched football, attempted a little apartment cleaning, and enjoyed a lazy day with each other. It is very difficult to get G to relax, because he is the type of person who is always on the go and cannot sit still for more than five minutes. I think working ridiculous hours for 12 days straight finally got to him, which is why he stayed home with me yesterday. My wonderful homemade macaroni and cheese, thanks to Emeril, also helped keep him around yesterday!

I was so happy to have G home on Thursday after eight lonely days apart while he was working out of town. I know that he has to take whatever projects come up, especially with the line of work he is in, but it still sucks to come home at night knowing he will not be there. At least I have Mickey and Bear waiting for me by the door when I get home from work or school, but I still need my human companionship as well. Thank goodness G's next few jobs are going to be in the Bay Area, so I will actually be able to see him every night for a few weeks.