tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28745557081468708972024-03-13T11:48:25.800-07:00Sak's ScrapsA collection of personal ramblings.Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.comBlogger872125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-13313078371087703222013-07-18T23:30:00.000-07:002013-07-19T01:56:09.096-07:00When'll It End?I just processed the fact that my updates will be getting slightly further (farther? Crud, I'm too tired to figure out which one is correct.) behind because I will not be recounting what's currently happening. Either way, my posting schedule will not be back to normal until I'm caught up.<br />
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Oh well, it's all documented either in my Travel Journal or with quick notes in my planner. It all exists for future reference somewhere. It's just nicer to have it all in one spot for when I do get back to scrapbooking about this current year.<br />
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Yep, I finally and honestly gave myself permission not to feel incredibly guilty about not keeping up with scrapping about the current year since I finished 2012 so quickly in one fell swoop. No, I haven't made progress in 2011 since I talked about it several weeks ago, but I now have a new Florida Family Vacation album to assemble.<br />
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Thank goodness it will not be as epic of a text as the last one but I'm still intimidated but determined to get it done! *cough* Haven't started assembling any pages yet. >_<<br />
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Back to the catch-up recaps!<br />
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<u>Monday (07.01)</u>: Our cousin took the day off of work to frolic around Universal Studios with us. We got to skip a whole lot of lines, it still rained quite a bit but not as much as the day before, and we still ended up back at Islands of Adventure for a few more rides we had missed.<br />
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We ended up having dinner at IKEA with her and her boyfriend. We ate like beasts, as usual for vacation boot camp. While we were on the way out, my brother's friend disappeared from our group and I suddenly realized that he had started a game of "Sardines."<br />
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I never thought a game of hide and seek would be so much fun (I was terrible at the regular game as a kid), but in this version only one person hides and as each person finds the original hider, they must do their best to hide with them. So... 5 people can end up crammed in a closet together. We ended up playing this game about a dozen times that week.<br />
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It was an epic game that lasted over an hour. A random shopper found him before the bulk of us did. It was hilarious and we were pressured into wrapping up the game by the store closing.<br />
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<u>Tuesday (07.02)</u>: We had to check out of the townhouse and while my folks went their own way, we cousins had lunch with another cousin. He was several years younger than us and I remember him when he was a hyperactive two year old. Gah!<br />
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We convinced this shy pre-teen that Sardines would be fun to play at their new house. Played half a dozen and I finally got to be the main hider by accident. I found my little cousin under the bathroom sink and went to hide in the adjacent room in the back corner of a closet that shared the same walls. When everyone had found him, they realized I was still hiding despite finding him early in the game.<br />
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Simple and goofy. Perfect. We headed back down south afterwards, unpacked our gear, and relaxed.<br />
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<u>Wednesday (07.03)</u>: Had lunch with my mom, dad was hellbent on building a new fish trough for his latest project of breeding and raising baby koi, and then we took the cousins to our favorite comic book stores. Played more tabletop deck card games, did some shopping, and added <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_bunnies" target="_blank">Killer Bunnies</a> to our ever-growing collection of games. <br />
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Slight dark sense of humor that requires a competitive spirit early on in the game, the exact opposite of how I like to cruise through group games, lol.<br />
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<u>Thursday (07.04)</u>: My dad and I took the cousins to the Everglades for an airboat ride and some fishing. We had half a dozen sightings of wild alligator and it was great. Did a little bit of shopping with mom and then we had a BBQ in the backyard.<br />
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Fireworks were being shot nearly all around us, so that was fun to watch until a rainstorm hit us. Had to rush to grab the food and utensils to haul it under cover before it blew away. After, my dad went on a crazy mission to re-capture a koi they had released into the lake a few years ago and dragged me along. In between setting traps for the fish, I played more tabletop games with my brother and cousins.<br />
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<u>Friday (07.05)</u>: Dim Sum with mom for brunch before taking her to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. Beautiful place to walk around, but it was soggy because-you guessed it- more rain.<br />
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When we got home, did a bit more shopping with mom before my friends joined us for more tabletop games and planning our Saturday activities.<br />
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<u>Saturday (07.06)</u>: A group of us met up throughout the day to attend Florida Super Con. My first convention and it was everything that I expected. Well, my FB status the next day was:<br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><i>"Survived
SuperCon. The entire sweaty, smelly, squishy, "so 'spensive"
experience. My first time and with great friends and family! Got my
nerdy souvenirs and to see George Takei. Bucket list task checked off <3 i=""><!--3--></3></i></span><br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">The venue was too small for it's own good with how much the event has grown in recent years. Spotted the new friend I had helped with the cosplay and ended up the day with amazing Lemon Italian Ice and homemade spaghetti dinner.</span><br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u>Sunday (07.07)</u>: My brother took us to an arcade by his university that was good fun. It was a pretty laid back day overall while we all<i> </i>recovered. Some of us went back to the Everglades for more fishing and we wrapped up the night by having a catch-up with tv shows and movie night.<i> </i> </span><br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-70805446012334225252013-07-15T23:30:00.000-07:002013-07-16T01:35:12.059-07:00Catch-Up Like WhoaHoly cow have I gotten far behind with my blog posts!<br />
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Not that I needed to tell you, but am letting you know that I'm well aware of this issue. We're going to jam in the updates by week until I catch-up.<br />
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<u>Monday (06.24)</u>: Had a bit of a scare when we thought my brother hadn't made it to pick up our dad from an appointment at a hospital that was only a 15 minute drive away. Turns out that waiting rooms without cell phone service are the worst and they really should just page the beeper they give to family members and not just wheel their patients down to the lobby area and give up. Not the best way to wake up.<br />
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Spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out with a dear friend and ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe and Hooters for dinner.<br />
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<u>Tuesday (06.25)</u>: My brother is determined to catch me up on this past season of Adventure Time, we indulged in frozen yogurt, and my dear friend and I went a ways away to help her friend work on his costume for an upcoming convention. I have always wanted to work/ do cosplay for a con and this was a mini-dream come true. I dyed the poor guy's hair from dirty blonde to black and he cooked us dinner. Not a bad trade, right?<br />
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He went as Guts from Berserk.</div>
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<u>Wednesday (06.26)</u>: FMIL headed to visit her family and that left the SO to watch the house full of critters and plants. What a trooper! Spent the morning shopping with my mom before she ditched me at lunch. My brother and I met up with my dear friend at Barnes & Noble and I was surprised to see how many tabletop games they sell now. Playing our new games took up the rest of the day.<br />
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<u>Thursday (06.27</u>): My brother and I spent most of the morning replacing doorknobs around the house. It was just a frustrating turned silly time for us.<br />
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We met up with some friends at our new favorite comic-hobby store and had a blast picking out sets of polyhedral die. We've come to the conclusion that we'd like to try to learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons together online via webcam. It'll be quite the adventure figuring that out and it's up to me to organize.<br />
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Learned how to play "<a href="http://www.dvgiochi.com/giochi/bang/?id=1" target="_blank">Bang!</a>" the card game. It wracked my brain to figure out how far each player was from me after equipping horses and weapons altered distance, but the deputy was killed two-thirds through the game and the outlaws (my brother and I) ended up winning! Yeah, you can read a bit about it on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang!" target="_blank">the Bang! wiki page</a>.<br />
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<u>Friday (06.28)</u>: Dad's vacation time began today and my brother and I spent a lot of time getting his room in order for our two twenty-something year old cousins that were supposed to arrive at midnight. He would have done stuff sooner except he didn't realize he wasn't going to be kicked out. Silly boy, we're <i>always</i> kicked out of our rooms when any guest come.<br />
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We also started packing for our next trip to Orlando. Some friends came over to play more games. I'm just loving cramming all of this time in to do something that I love so much but hardly get to do anymore since I don't have many friends that are interested in gaming where I live.<br />
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Airport's quiet at this hour. Bunch of people sleeping on the benches.</div>
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<u>Saturday (06.29)</u>: Our cousins' flight was about an hour late after they were delayed in their initial departure due to bad weather. We crawled home around 2am and hung out for a bit getting to know each other as not-quite-kids anymore. It's been 4-8 years since we've seen each other, so it was quite an adjustment. Thank goodness nerdiness and goofiness runs in the family. <br />
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Eventually, we headed to Orlando with my brother's best friend in tow and arrived at the townhouse long before my folks were able to join us (midnight). We played some of the new deck card games before trying to involve my folks in a game of Hide and Seek when they arrived. They never found me hiding in the master bath's bathtub and got quite the surprise when they checked out a linen closet to find my brother and his friend lounging on top of spare bedding inside.<br />
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Master bedroom. So sweet!</div>
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<u>Sunday (06.30)</u>: We did the church thing together before the kids headed out to Islands of Adventure amidst pouring rain. My folks went to visit their friends in Little Saigon in town. We had another cousins who works at the park while her boyfriend works at Universal Studios. We bounced back and forth between the two, got to cut a couple of lines between having those connections and knowing when the rain would shorten lines significantly.<br />
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My folks like to go to the Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine.</div>
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It was not comfortable spending the entire day either wet or soaked, but we had a lot of fun regardless. Finally seeing Harry Potter World was nice and it was interesting visiting these parks with an older group. We were okay with skipping super long lines of very popular rides or only briefly perusing the shops and merchandise.<br />
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A part of me was pretty disenchanted with the entire experience, but being with people who had never been there before did help.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-2030920512457168512013-07-05T20:39:00.000-07:002013-07-05T20:39:07.142-07:00Not YetI haven't been able to find time to quietly sit down and type up one of my summarizing blog posts yet but the note-taking continues in my travel journal.<br />
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Hopefully, we'll have enough footage (despite all the flippin' rain) for me to create a quick scrapbook about this trip. Also, I hope that it will be a relatively painless project.<br />
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We went to a Japanese Garden & Museum today with my mom, went shoe-shopping with her, and had friends over for games with surprise homecooked meal from my amazing mom. It was a great day.<br />
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Tomorrow, we plan on going Florida SuperCon with a bunch of friends and meet a bunch there. I'm super excited about the opportunity.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-51235695582537124212013-07-02T23:50:00.002-07:002013-07-02T23:50:24.360-07:00Here!I swear that I am alive and around. I've missed two of my weekly entries with cousins coming into town during my visit. Notes have been taken so there's some documentation going on lately!<br />
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I have not wanted a smart phone so badly as this past week. With running around theme parks in constant rain, they have proven incredibly useful and convenient in so many ways. From the quick pictures, taking notes, stashing during the scary rides, and entertainment- inspiration. Sigh.<br />
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Tomorrow is our resting day, so I'll do my best to upload what pictures I do have and get some updates going on here. :D<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-54521634986108469532013-06-24T22:00:00.002-07:002013-06-24T22:00:46.974-07:00Note-KeepingGuess my brain assumed that since I have been taking notes in my travel journal, that one method of recording is enough. Despite seeing it in my planner, completely spaced on writing my usual Sunday post. Bah!<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: Dragged my sorry behind out of bed and made sure I had everything set to go. The SO took me to breakfast at McDonalds on the way to the airport because their hashbrowns are one of the few good reasons to be up before 10:30 in my world.<br />
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Flying was fairly uneventful and found myself in a pretty positive mood. That doesn't often happen but maybe there had been just enough stress going on that the chemicals in my brain just snapped and were deliriously giddy.<br />
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Landed in Dallas about twenty minutes ahead of schedule, which was extra awesome because even after I hauled butt across the airport to my next gate, there were a mere ten minutes before my next flight began to board.<br />
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Also, thank goodness for traveling with just my backpack as my carry-on because it meant that I was able to board both flights pretty early on!<br />
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Picked up by my brother and dad at the oh so humid, warm, and damp airport. Opted for a calm and quiet dinner at home of homemade beef stew, continued planning out the weekend road trip, and had six inches of my way-too-long-for-me hair chopped off by my mother. Yep.<br />
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Went to bed super late because of time differences and having a ridiculous lack of self-control.<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: Woke up late and start going shopping with my brother before meeting up with one of my best friends at our local hobby store to pick up two card games: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxx" target="_blank">Fluxx</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Munchkin" target="_blank">Star Munchkin</a>. My friends and I are now obsessed. Have been looking forward to picking up a couple of games for weeks now and it was way too exciting for me to be with nerdy people again.<br />
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Played a few rounds before packing up to head to Orlando (a 3.5 hr drive since we avoided rush hour) and made it to my other best friend's house at 10:30pm. The joys of youth. We played more rounds of both games with her and her sister before heading to bed.<br />
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I am so grateful to have been able to see her while we were both visiting the same state for a limited amount of time. I don't know why the stars keep aligning like that but I am not going to question it ever!<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: We all did our best to get up early and head over to Cape Canaveral (1.5 hours away) to visit a dear friend who was in the same area of the state at the same time. Yeah, there was a lot of planning and re-planning involved the 24 hour prior to all of this. It had been years since we had all been together. Had lunch seaside hoping to see some dolphins.<br />
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Dear friends' parents have the best condo there. It's paradise for sure! We hopped into the inflatable kayak and were surrounded by manatees. Yes, that place again! My brother and I kept being pushed back out by two manatees and I have some great pictures and video clips that I will upload this week. When the other two went out, they saw big jellyfish in the bay waters beneath them.<br />
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Played more of the card games together (told you: obsessed) before heading back to Orlando with my dear friend in tow a few hours earlier than initially planned. That gave us enough time to take my best friend's sister out to dinner and we could all catch up and be goofy.<br />
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We left to make that 3.5 hr drive back down to our hometown while watching the Super Moon and it only rained right when we entered town again. We dropped off my friend at her house, where I promptly left my wristlet containing my camera, phone, and wallet things in her bathroom, and got home just past midnight.<br />
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I was so incredibly close to not leaving behind something at someone's house. Sigh. It's been a problem for me since forever. Go figure that, despite how careful I was this trip, I would screw it up at the finish line. Yup.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: Brother and I headed to church the next morning after finding out that our mom canceled our day together. She's just too cool for us. :P It was the whole reason why we had rushed to get home the night before. Sigh again. Did a little more shopping and grabbed lunch with my dear friend again and hung out at her place since we were in the neighborhood. That and I needed my wallet back. XP<br />
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Helped her clean her pool before grabbing some delicious Italian Ice from a hole-in-the-wall shop down the street. We all went to the hobby store again to hang out. Watched some people play player versus player games (like arcade Street Fighter-style) on a screen behind the counter from the moment we entered and were talked into trying out a new card game by one of the guys who worked there.<br />
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It was called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinels_of_the_Multiverse" target="_blank">Sentinels of the Multiverse</a> (just looked it up) and we each were assigned a superhero and given the coordinating deck of powers and abilities to work together and defeat a villain deck coupled with an environment deck. It was slightly overwhelming and intimidating when we first started out because we were getting out butts whooped by the cards, but we managed to survive and pull off a victory in the end. Surprised us all, including the mastermind of it all.<br />
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Eventually, two more of our friends were able to join us and we window-shopped before heading to my dear friend's house again to play a few rounds of Fluxx, Star Munchkin, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokapon_Kingdom" target="_blank">Dokapon Kingdom</a>. It has felt so good to have friends willing to try and enjoying all these games again. It's one of the best things about coming back to visit.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-58568686828669314592013-06-19T23:30:00.000-07:002013-06-20T00:01:09.311-07:00NervesThe title says it all. Sigh.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: Last minute errands before my trip. I'm talking more and more with my brother and friends as we try to cement initial plans. It seems that the weekends are booked solid while the weekdays are wide open to spontaneity and relaxing. If that's ever a thing when I'm there, lol.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I have been rearranging my garden after chatting with a few people online about their gardens. In a video game stream, what a venue. :P<br />
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I've gathered the miscellaneous bits and bobs that I plan to bring with me. Those are always the bulk and what gets packed first. My silly priorities.<br />
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I'm busy panicking mostly despite not having too much left to do. I got some news today of events that may transpire while I'm away and my heart just dropped into my stomach. I guess it's for good reason that I'm the last to know because of being the raging worrywart, but this was so disheartening that I'm genuinely scared to leave now.<br />
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The trip will go as planned, I'll just have to pray really hard that life here will be uneventful and not as crazy as it has gotten every single other time in the past. Okay, I lied earlier. My heart's either been dropped down into my stomach or it's been in my throat.<br />
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What will I come home to in three weeks? :(<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: Gonna finished up packing, but it's all here. I just have to make it look nice and be able to cushion my makeup. I'm dreading the early hours tomorrow and in subsequent days.<br />
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For reals, I've not been able to fall asleep until about 6am on average but 2am at the earlier. I'm going to need all of the caffeine tomorrow but it might be nice to pass out on the plane to calm my nerves.<br />
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Here's the last garden vlog for a while! I have pictures but those will be saved for the comparison shots when I return. Lol, the epic plant post is pretty much becoming an annual thing!<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-74826905304622935472013-06-16T23:30:00.000-07:002013-06-17T02:55:18.155-07:00Flip FlopI'm rubbing my temples and sinus area as one does when they are exasperated. It's all about how little I've done lately. Worse than before. Not sure what has gotten into me. Maybe I'm procrastinating with cleaning and packing because travel makes me nervous. Wouldn't be the first time.<br />
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Photo-a-day project has been a total flop already. The specific assignments have started to shove in my face how stagnant my life has become. On the other hand, I am taking more photos again and with how much scrapbooking I've done this year, I am being more mindful of the purpose and composition. The plan now is to get all of the ideas taken by the end of the month.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: FMIL and I went to visit a co-worker and her adorable kids. We ended up spending the whole day there. I worked a bit on a scrapbook about the little ones, we picked up and started assembling a grill that she had gotten for her husband as a surprise Father's Day gift, and played video games with her god son. Way too much fun!<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: Watering the garden every other day with these high temps now and discovered this little gem:<br />
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I think we have the beginnings of melons! The first batch of flowers did not have that bulbous growth, lol. Talking to my baby brother a lot lately and we started planning out a visiting-activity schedule for when I arrive. The weekends are intense but I cannot wait to see him.<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: Finally starting to put stuff away and set aside things that I know I want to bring with me. It doesn't help that I've started playing way too many games again on FB and have started up a new online game with the SO called <a href="https://scrolls.com/" target="_blank">Scrolls</a>. It's a deck-building game from the same people who made Minecraft. We wanted a fun way to stay connected while I'm away.<br />
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We also had out first monsoon storm of the season that even started today! Unexpected but relieving.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: Got more cleaning, clearing, and planning done today. Kitty has been a silly mood lately, the heat and my irregular activities has set him off. I have to keep him occupied so I don't accidentally step on him as I'm whirling around while he's bolting in and out of the room.</div>
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Cue the catnip-scented giraffe mouse and some tissue wrapping paper. At least he spazzes out on the bed where I can see him before zonking out.</div>
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<i>"Mine. All mine.</i>" </div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-75731012345234506712013-06-12T23:30:00.000-07:002013-06-13T04:28:28.068-07:00Wrap Up BeginsThis week has been sub-par so far. My sleeping hours are screwed up beyond reason and my mind's checked out for a few days now. It's gotten ridiculous.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: Photo-a-Day project is all jacked up now. There was supposed to be a picture of me but I was an absolute wreck and not feeling well. I'm sure I could have gotten creative the day of, but I think I want to use a picture I took a few weeks ago instead.<br />
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While I cringe at not fulfilling the assignment "properly", it was to help motivate myself into taking pictures again, right? That part has been successful.<br />
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I have done nothing of note, it was a pretty pitiful day.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I was determined to get something done today- anything. That would give me more points than I earned yesterday in a game that no one is playing/ counting. Except me. Sometimes. Does anyone else do that?<br />
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The normal chores of cleaning up the massive mess I've made on the table, laundry, other errands and chores. I'm trying to force myself into a routine again, especially in the mornings because my auto-pilot functions better than the normal guy. Trying to eat better too. Way too much junk in the past two months. Well, year really. More about that next.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: Sheets are washed. Hooray! What a good way to reward myself for getting off of my butt and computer to do stuff. Making more plans for the first weekend of my trip to Florida. It's about a week away now and I'm starting to get anxious. Change of subject- quick!<br />
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Needed desperately to switch the hot-cold weather wardrobe since I use about 1.5 foot wide of space in a closet and three narrow drawers to hold all of my current clothes. I can fit so much more in the summer months when the temperatures make me feel like I'm melting.<br />
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In doing so, the SO and I rearranged furniture and I cleared a piece of luggage that I typically store clothes in but also often travel with. The rest will go in a bag and back into the garage until I return.<br />
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Still in the midst of purging and using up my stuff, so there's a lot of things that are not put away (aka strewn everywhere). Hesitating to just shove it away somewhere because I'm afraid of more "out of sight-out of mind" shenanigans happening. I either have to move+think fast or deal with that fear because either way, it all needs to be not around while I'm gone. As per tradition.<br />
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Okay, enough of that! Here's an update from the garden:<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-34369375455188288642013-06-09T23:30:00.000-07:002013-06-10T01:37:50.879-07:00Burnt OutIt's hot, there are bugs everywhere, and kitty and I are not having it.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: I wrote briefly about it during my last post and not much more happened after that. I hung out/ chatted with a few friends and passed out in bed early again. Maybe it's the heat.<br />
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Oh! I did find a free pattern to crochet this mug cozy. Super cute, quick, and handy. No pun intended. :P<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: FMIL, two of our friends, and I went to visit a former student in the children's hospital a week after the poor thing had major surgery. That's another downside to working in special education, they seem to run a higher risk of having these scary things happening to them.<br />
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Fortunately, we were all pleasantly surprised to see the patient up and walking around and drinking for the first time in about a week of being in the ICU. Almost home!<br />
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Did some business downtown, helped beta test a chat moderating bot, worked briefly in the garden, and kept playing with polymer clay.<br />
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Holy sprouts, Batman! Right?</div>
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<u>Saturday</u>: Laid-back day with the SO. A lot of the same stuff.<br />
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Seriously? What am I supposed to do with you guys?</div>
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Monk characters from Diablo 3 game. I burnt the male and am not satisfied with the female at all.</div>
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The SO found this juvenile wolf spider on the back patio. Wicked looking pattern!</div>
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<u>Sunday</u>: Started to clean up the aftermath/ supplies of all the "brilliant" ideas that I've had pop into my head for the past two months. The table that I've commandeered is a huge mess and I need to start getting things rearranged and ready for when I leave for Florida in a few weeks. By a few I mean about one and a half weeks. Bah!<br />
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Woke up late, worked a little bit more on the scoodie, spilled a mug of soda on my lap, watched <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxG_ahmF1uM&feature=share&list=PL4F80C7D2DC8D9B6C" target="_blank">Tabletop with Wil Wheaton on Youtube</a>, and have this garden vlog. :D<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-26383478528423930292013-06-06T14:52:00.002-07:002013-06-06T14:52:45.659-07:00Early To BedI've cut back on my caffeine or when I have it so while I have been enthusiastic about staying up late, the reality has been falling asleep watching shows in an office chair. It's been a few times that I've laid down and joked around about just resting and instead waking up five hours later still in my regular clothes. Yup. Getting older, lol.<br />
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That's why this post is a day late. Kitty has taken to waking me up so I can turn on the cooler. That clever little boy. :P<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: This day was a blur. I've been working diligently on Project Life 2011, staying up to date with all of the vlogs I watch, and working on a fox scoodie. I'm working on doing a Photo a Day challenge from <a href="http://fatmumslim.com.au/category/photo-a-day-2/" target="_blank">Fat Mum Slim for June 2013</a>.<br />
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It was kind of hard for me to find a list even though I see a bunch of people participating it in the scrapbooking blogs that I follow. Kind of bizarre. Maybe it's because it's seems to mostly be a Flickr group activity-community.<br />
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I'm being very lenient on myself on when the photos are taken. I try to do my best to take at least one photo a day and it has already been helping my motivation to keep documenting everyday life again since it has become suffocatingly stagnant. It helps me remember that, "It'll be okay. There's still time to fix everything and make life better."<br />
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Here are some that I've taken so far. I won't be sharing the challenge here because Picasa's been a jerk with Google integrating it into its network completely and it would go against my personal policy of not having people's faces on my blog.<br />
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"1. B is for Bandit". I laid out an outfit to go out, left the room to eat breakfast, and came back to this little boy refusing to let me have my clothes back. He had even made a little nest out of it which is all stuff he has not done before. Silly boy.</div>
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I was debating using this for "2. A moment" because the SO and I had banded together to make this ramen. We rinsed off the original waxy water, tweaked the broth to our own taste, I tried a new way to make hard boiled eggs (I never liked them growing up so was super rusty), and we used up some leftover shredded pork. It was just a nice experience in a couple-home sorta way.</div>
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Ended up using a sweet picture of the SO and his kitty instead.</div>
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I was up pretty darn early for a babysitting job that was canceled 30 minutes later. It was way too hot for me to go back to bed (It reached somewhere between 103-107 degrees. Bluck!) Again, I worked hard on Project Life and I'm almost halfway through 2011.</div>
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There was not a whole lot of documentation or pictures but I'm making myself okay with that. Heard a quote in one of my scrapbooking videos that I've been using for motivation: "What you get done is more than you had before."</div>
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While I love gathering the photos and kind of making the notes (maybe that's from my love of lists), I really love having a finished project. "It doesn't have to be perfect." Which is great to remember because I am never satisfied with my creative work so its going to get there anyways.</div>
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In other news, since I was up so early and had a few "extra" hours to burn, I was checking on the greenery and found this:</div>
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It's hot. We're all wilting.</div>
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You can barely see it, but in the bottom third of the picture towards the middle are the tiniest of green sprouts. These are the seeds that I planted last Thursday.</div>
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<u>Wednesday</u>: I had plenty of chats with so many people today. I had conversations with my mother, my brother, and three of my dearest friends. All unplanned and I think that's what made them that much more appreciated and special. Miss them all.</div>
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There was a lot of rearranging in my Project Life June 2011 pages and it just reaffirms my choice of going purely digital with my scrapbooking. I so desperately love the embellishments of washi tape, enamel dots, wood veneer, and flair buttons that are so big right now, but that's just way out of price point for me.</div>
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I'm not giving up on traditional scrapbooking but it's going to be put way back on the burner for now.</div>
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Yes, I could always get digitized versions of these bits and bobs, but I miss the feeling of playing with the actual goodies. Plus, my biggest weakness is embellishing to make my pages feel complete. Bah! Silly realistic expectations.</div>
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I'll just save that dampered obsession for the next time I make a mini-album. Project Life with its photos, texts, templates, and cards are working very well for me to get these stories done.</div>
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Oh yeah! Look at what I found a day after:</div>
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Those squash seedlings in the upper right are reaching the top of the box lid. Oof. </div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-2832895019550342032013-06-02T20:43:00.001-07:002013-06-02T20:43:20.254-07:00FilledWhat I should have done was posted a bonus blog on Friday because I had enough material to do so. Instead, today's going to be chockful of media.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: I was a bit frustrated today, so instead of my usual internet shenanigans, bunked down to tackle a couple of budgeting issues now that it's summer time. There were also bits and pieces of important grown-up paperwork to take care of and I had been putting it off long enough. Not the most fun way to start off my day.<br />
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Rewarded myself with some work in the garden. Here's a shaky vlog (sorry in advanced) from that day and the promised pictures.<br />
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FMIL had some extra seeds from her classroom so I planted some of them with some extras of my own.</div>
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Here is the order that I planted them above. They are living in a box where the original garden corner used to be.</div>
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Lucky Bamboo is doing well. The onions are doing really well seeing as how they did not reach the top of the jar originally.</div>
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The strawberry plant on the patio rotated, watered, fed, and surrounded by yet another batch of pea seeds.</div>
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<u>Friday</u>: I've finally caught up with two weeks worth of YT subscriptions and started <a href="http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L20630.html?noImages=" target="_blank">crocheting a fox scoodie</a>. Finally! Really though, click that link. I'm trying to make it the proper size for me and once I figure this out, just watch out for the silly creatures I'll make! </div>
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I started tackling Project Life again and it took me the evening to figure out where I had left off and get back on track. I spent the night hanging out with the SO and going through his old CD collection. Lots of reminiscing on his behalf while we jammed out.</div>
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It's times like these that I really wish we had our own place so we could blast music without worrying about waking up anyone else (given that the neighbors are far enough away too) and that we really notice our age difference.</div>
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It's funny when he tries to figure out why I didn't know a particular popular hard rock song and then we realize that I was in elementary school. It just wasn't my scene back then. </div>
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<u>Saturday</u>: I finally slept in Worked a bit on PL 2011 before getting ready to head to a surprise retirement party for one of our (now former) coworkers. It was throw by her family and I'm glad to have been a part of it.<br />
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She taught and helped me so much these past few years. I cannot imagine school without her there and it hit me as FMIL and I put the final touches on her present. We both teared up. She's a great friend.<br />
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Time to reveal the pet project that FMIL and I have been working on this past week: a fairy garden kit! We are officially obsessed and are dying to make our own when we come back from traveling this summer. One (well two) less thing for the SO to take care of while the womenfolk are gone.<br />
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Our friend and her husband have a extensive succulent garden and it gave me the idea that we could give them the accessories to build one with her new little granddaughters. Here is what we came up with, keeping in mind that we have to save them some of the fun of finding their own treasures to add. <br />
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We packed tiny pieces in little mesh pouches and everything in a wide bowl-shaped pot. We included a sheet of fairy garden photos for inspiration and I made a miniature coloring book to go with the gift. She and her granddaughter opened it together and the white bottle was instantly broken, but that's okay.</div>
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Today we got text messages from her saying that we've created a monster because they are all very excited to get started and knee-deep in researching beautiful ideas on Pinterest. </div>
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<u>Sunday</u>: It got really hot outside today and I ended up doing another garden vlog for comparison in the future.</div>
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I think my brain was melting a little by the end. I promptly went inside and had a drink and lunch.</div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-78208729911529222242013-05-29T23:30:00.000-07:002013-05-30T00:48:14.808-07:00NumbingI realize that my blog has gotten extra boring this past year with the format I've chosen to use. I apologize that the day-to-day updates are not insanely entertaining, but it's more of a record for me to use later on with my scrapbooking. That and to keep myself accountable towards the goals I set for myself. I'll be able to look back and see what I valued and spent my time on, etc.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: It's Memorial Day and we spend it low-keyed and quiet. It was a nice change. I've had much more exciting things in the past but looking back on the past years (mostly thanks to this blog), I can see how things have changed for me in terms of family dynamics.<br />
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I can see that I've gone from hopeful and open, to angry and resentful, and now I think I'm drained and numb. That's definitely going to change because it needs to.<br />
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To lighten things up a bit, I did use this tutorial to do this to my nails! I'm so glad I tried it out.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I volunteered to go back to work to help FMIL pack up her classroom as I have done for the past few years. It's a mind-boggling time for both of us. I'm still in denial about all of the changes that are going to happen next school year.<br />
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Afterward, she and I brainstormed a gift package for one of our friends that we'll see this weekend. The window-shopping has begun in earnest!<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: My work schedule gave kitty a strict timeline in terms of feedings and his stomach does not want me to sleep any later than 7am. You are lucky that I love you to death, my furry little boy. it works out for me to get up, grab him some food, and turn on the evap cooler at the same time. I'm trying to go with my body's timer and stay awake when I get up early.<br />
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I'm getting bored with all of the things I've used to kill time lately, so I'm trying to channel that energy into productive things like catching up on purging, cleaning, organizing or picking up practicing cooking again. Heck, I haven't worked on Project Life in... a month. Holy cow.<br />
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I haven't been taking many pictures either so I'm trying to make up for that too. It goes with my current mental state of being jaded and numb. Unacceptable. That has got to change for me and those I care about. It's probably best if I don't sit down to make a plan how to get out of this funk because then it'll just be over-analyzed and worried over. Let's just do stuff. Will definitely keep you posted on that! : )<br />
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Oh! Again, before I forget any longer, this is a picture of the bats that FMIL and I saw coming out from under a bridge at sunset last Thursday. So cool. <br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-65062605787637229932013-05-26T23:30:00.000-07:002013-05-27T03:34:20.693-07:00Summer VacationI've already started losing track of the days. Sigh. That and there's a to-do list that has been staring at me for the past two weeks and it is not pleased.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: Rough and long day at work. It was the last day for the students and there was a lot to clean up. I thought I would be more upset and saddened by the year coming to the end, but guess I was too worn out or preoccupied with getting through the day to let it hit me. <br />
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<u>Friday</u>: Grading day except the grades have already gone home. Nearly half of the staff are moving on next year, so there was a whole lot of packing up going on. Lots of changes are going on next year and I'm having a difficult time processing it all. It's hard to imagine that place without the people who I have come to deeply respect and taught me so much.<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: I was reluctant to wake up early for a brunch-luncheon with a few ladies, only to find that the SO was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for some breakfast burritos. It was a long day, but I'm glad I got to hang out with so many cool people. I don't think it's really sunk in that it's summer vacation even though I've nearly shouted it from the rooftops.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: I finally slept in sort of late and it feels good. Kitty didn't super appreciate his breakfast being a little late. A friend of mine boosted one of my characters and I have really enjoyed playing Diablo 3 again on my own toon. It's been a pretty relaxing day for kitty and I while we try to stave off the heat. I'll have pictures next time, my camera battery is charging right now.<br />
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Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Please stay safe and remember to thank all that have served for their sacrifices. <3 br=""></3><br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-55891634070490185472013-05-22T22:49:00.002-07:002013-05-22T22:49:43.434-07:00One More DayDoing my best to deny the fact that we're nearly halfway through this year. Yup.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: I keep making new friends online and it just feels nice. I feel a bit more normal being my goofy self with people who have similar interests. I know for some this is how socializing has always been, but this is relatively new to me. We're all planning how the rest of the week is going to pan out. Keeping our fingers crossed.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: Haven't been sleeping well, so after coming home late, I didn't do a whole lot before heading to bed. Felt lightheaded, made myself some pasta the moment I got home, and took over an hour to eat a single serving. I really hope I don't get sick for school to end.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: I wanted to be more productive at home today and got home from work three hours late. Yeah... There goes baking and such. Oh! I did say that I had a vlog to share. One more day with kids!<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-84625193772727172622013-05-19T23:39:00.000-07:002013-05-19T23:39:00.899-07:00Bits & Moments<u>Friday</u>: I was so relieved for it to be the weekend, but it was a long day. Lots of stuff to try to tie up at work because next week is the last week of school. I'm pretty darn sure that the adults are much more ready for this vacation than the kids are. :P<br />
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It was also the night of our office party and that is always fun! I love the house that it's been hosted at, I've gushed about it plenty of times. This will be the last time though. We had so many people retiring and/or relocating. My gut is wrenching at the thought of how the dynamic is going to change next year. So far, I do plan on coming back, we're just not sure what my title will be.<br />
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I am all about the passive sentences. Apparently.<br />
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Oh! I've taken pictures that are decent enough to share! Remember when that was a regular thing? This is a peek at my outfit for the party. A friend wanted to see my boots, so I took these to show her online. I really love these. They are so comfortable!<br />
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The contorting and brain power it took to take these... Oof.</div>
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<u>Saturday</u>: I crammed in some last minute house cleaning for last minute company. Ended up being volunteered to cook dinner as well. We had Beef and Broccoli using leftover BBQ tri-tip. I was proud of my efforts, it's the second time we've tried this recipe and it's still a keeper.<br />
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Served over steamed white rice. The SO added Sriracha to his.</div>
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I bought my tickets to visit my folks and friends in Florida (finally). It's costing us more than ever but we really wanted to have this time together with my dad having had his health scare these past few months. Money well spent.</div>
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<u>Sunday</u>: I've been stressing out about trying to make myself relax. It sounds dumb, I know, but it's the kind of stuff you deal with when dealing with a nervous person. I recorded a garden update vlog but it's not ready yet.</div>
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Through the weekend, I've been helping out with my friend's social media project. It's just going to get worse when summer hits. I need to learn to reign myself in.</div>
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Wow, do I enjoy the night time's peaceful quiet. Just a few more days... Got to keep focusing on the good and happy moments to get myself out of this mental funk. </div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-61140022044015500092013-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:002013-05-16T23:34:12.587-07:00Not Caught UpOh yeah, I said that I'd make a real post today. Oof.<br />
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<u>Monday- Thursday</u>: I'm just trying to get through these last few days of the school. The kids have a severe cases of senioritis and it's taking all of my brainpower to figure out how to keep them on task and learning.<br />
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By the time I get home, my brain has been mush and I haven't gotten much else done around the house. Whatever energy I have left has been put into helping my friends in their live stream which has had a few special events that have gotten out of hand in terms of publicity. Maybe this will be a good thing?<br />
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Something's gotta give and change by this weekend. Let's hope that it's for the better.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-64847530105231318542013-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:002013-05-16T06:44:23.391-07:00Twenties & SevensWill post a real post tomorrow. Friends are hosting a marathon event online and it's gotten out of hand in publicity. Going to be here for a couple of hours.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-28505785707892940992013-05-12T16:28:00.002-07:002013-05-12T16:28:28.967-07:00Slow SundayTo steal from my FB: <span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> </span><br />
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<i><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Happy
Mother's Day to anyone who has stepped it up to wipe the noses, hug the
tears away, share proud moments, and love unconditionally without being
asked.</span></i><br />
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<i><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Not posting a picture from the 80's/90's of my mom because she's
not on FB and would just as quickly take me out of this world as
she brought me into it. </span></i><br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">I know plenty women who either don't have children of their own or are mothers to children that are not theirs, then there are the dads who have stepped up to the plate and learned to braid a little girl's hair or sing bedtime stories to their kids on their own. They need to be recognized for being the nurturing parent everyone needs.</span><br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u>Thursday</u>: I've had a lazy-mentally stressed out week </span><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">the moment that I get home from work, so I don't remember doing much this week. Plus, I was feeling well the day before so my to-do list fell by the wayside. I did, however, manage to shoot a garden update!</span><br />
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Things are hanging in there! Right after I took the footage, I went through and snipped off those infected leaves and flower buds. </span></div>
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u>Friday</u>: Super not much done besides rest. We ran the usual errands and I am hoping to cook a few things in the next couple of days. I've talked to my brother a lot this past week because he's in between classes right now. He and my dad went on his first cruise this weekend. </span></div>
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">More social media management work, it's been a rough week for them. I did get to Skype for a long time with my best friend! It's been a while and she's about to do some traveling and it may be super hard for us to see each other during that time, so we're cramming it in now. </span></div>
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u>Saturday</u>: This was pretty much the same besides the fact that I actually managed to sleep in. I'm really lacking the motivation-energy to scrapbook or even catch-up with my YT subscriptions. I wonder what's going on with my head/body. I did get to spend a lot of R&R time with the SO and kitty. It was nice to have all of the cuddles.</span></div>
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u>Sunday</u>: It's been a quiet and laid back day. I was on Skype dates again and getting ready to go out later. I have a bit more energy today and am tidying/organizing odds and ends. </span></div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-11879923690404785712013-05-08T21:03:00.001-07:002013-05-08T21:03:15.003-07:00Step BehindI was hoping to have another garden vlog update today, but I'm feeling pretty nauseous or dehydrated right now. Gonna keep this short today.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: It's Teacher Appreciation Week, so there have been snacks and goodies all around hidden in the work room, office, or lounge for us to find. Finally got a hold of my cousins and it looks like we're on for at least a week in July to reunited after a bunch of years. Ticket prices are the highest I've seen them in years but my folks are helping me out.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I was pretty out of it all day and game home to work a few extra hours on social media management again. That's typically only on the weekends but there was new content added and a bug that was exploited, and it's been a virtual disaster. My job mostly consisted of answer the same 3-5 questions every single time they were asked. With an average of 700 people watching the live stream, that's pretty darn often. Aspirin was desperately needed after a few hours.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: After a yummy lunch of homemade tacos for Teacher Appreciation Week, I made a spur of the moment decision to walk home. Kind of a mistake. I haven't been feeling well and was wearing a dark long sleeved shirt. Ingenious. I trudged home and haven't felt well since. Should just head to bed early.<br />
<br />
With <a href="http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2013/05/08/universal-officially-announces-details-for-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-expansion-opening-in-2014/" target="_blank">Universal Studios confirming the expansion to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando</a>, here's a Draw My Life video.<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-19769127618857110762013-05-05T23:44:00.002-07:002013-05-05T23:44:58.342-07:00All The SleepI was all pumped about staying up late and doing all of the things that I wanted to do for me (stuff I find fun) and all that I've managed to do is sleep or want to sleep.<br />
<br />
Cannot even begin to explain how that works. Maybe I'm still vaguely sick. I don't necessarily feel like it, but the body temperature has been slightly elevated for more than two weeks now. Don't you just love how I said I couldn't start to understand what has been going on and then trying to justify it? Yep. That just happened.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: It was FMIL's birthday, so we tried to cater to her. When we finally got home, I tackled the dishes (it sucks that the dishwasher has been broken for months now), and then set off to make a taco pie recipe she had found online. That was interesting and the first time we used ground turkey.<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: My class performed at a school assembly today and our schedule's been out of whack this week because of all of the special events. Next week isn't going to get much better, lol. Oye.<br />
<br />
Came home, ran some errands, and then went to Happy Hour to celebrate FMIL's birthday with a few friends. After, I wound down with some video game livestreams.<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: I woke up disgustingly late. More catching up on online media. It was International Scrapbooking Day and I had planned to bunker down and tackle a bunch of my PL 2011 album. Yeah, I barely made it through the first two pages. The body was overtired for 90% of the day. I did spend some relaxing time with the SO.<br />
<br />
He teased me about how gung ho I was about the weekend on Thursday night, wanting to do all of the things and by "all" I had meant "sleep". :P Have been a tired pup I guess. <br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: Today, I got up pretty early for a weekend day. I have been hanging out with friends online trying to have a laid back day. Worked on the scrapbook pages just a little bit. It's a bit mind-boggling to be able to more or less remember what I was doing on a particular date/ week for three years.<br />
<br />
Side note, my hair has gotten really long. It's nearly at my elbows and that's pretty rare for me. If it's not cut before my visit back to Florida, my mom and I will probably hack a good 6 inches off of it. She's right. I don't know what to do with this much hair!<br />
<br />
Here's a video about rants because we all have those kinds of days. :)<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-58244982199454373352013-05-01T22:49:00.001-07:002013-05-01T22:49:20.043-07:00CoolerThe weeks are getting longer as I'm looking forward to summer vacation despite the severe financial strain it'll put me under. We'll figure something out. Sigh.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: I hadn't written any goals until a few days later. Must have been that tired. There was an incident at work and I got injured. Nothing too serious, but because it broke the skin and the nature of my work, I had to go to urgent care to get a tetanus shot.<br />
<br />
That took a couple of hours and I'm super grateful that the SO was able to come pick me up because I (again) began to hyperventilate while getting a shot. I hate shots. He also took me to get some yummy food after.<br />
<br />
Only it took hours to be able to eat it because phone calls to file work incident reports had to be made and then my mom wanted to hear more about what had happened. I didn't sit down to start my winding down routine until 8pm. I really love/need that time to reset my brain.<br />
<br />
Because it had been pushed back so long, I completely lost track of time while virtually hanging out with friends and the SO let me know how late it had gotten when he realized I must have had no idea.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: Was pretty tired (duh), but it was a better day. My injuries are pretty minor, the dozen or so bandages had been taken off, and the arm isn't too sore. Ate tons of soggy leftovers and my brain was mush by the time we got home from work.<br />
<br />
All I remember is trying to stay awake while catching up on reading blogs and watching videos before I gave up and went to bed around 9pm. Still waking up a few times in the middle of the night for undetermined reasons. The SO has not been sleeping well/ much either. We're a cranky pair.<br />
<br />
<u>Wednesday</u>: It's the beginning of May. Holy cow. I was still tired, it has been uncomfortably warm in the house, and still have a cough and drippy nose. What the heck?<br />
<br />
Had a follow-up appointment right after school and the SO made time to take me. We also shopped around for a present for FMIL. Her birthday's tomorrow and we should be going out to dinner with a few friends this weekend to celebrate.<br />
<br />
After more errands, we came home took a deep breathe, and got up on the roof to condition and prep the evap cooler for use again. It's been in the mid to high 90's lately and my room by far the warmest in the house with the two walls being shared with the garage (including the laundry machines), and then the backyard.<br />
<br />
Didn't do much this time around, just sat on the roof hanging out as the SO worked on it. He was too tired and short of the extra patience it takes to explain how to do these steps. Well, explain it to me and my slow processing skills (which only worsens when tired). No one fell/ was pushed off of the roof, so we're good. :P<br />
<br />
So, right now, there's a clean ceiling fan rotating above me, the cooler's pump churning behind me, and a working floor lamp beside me again. Summer is pretty much here. Besides the whole waking up at the crack of dawn part.<br />
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Here's a song that I wasn't very fond of at all until I began to listen to covers of it: Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack"<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-27904818292985514892013-04-29T13:30:00.000-07:002013-04-29T13:30:02.567-07:00Spring CleaningThis is to expand upon my thoughts from yesterday. : ) <br />
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I've been trying really hard to par down on
collecting junk with keeping a future move in mind. Been helping others
organize and sort through their decades worth of stuff and I don't want
to get to that point. I'll never be as simplistic with my stuff as the
SO or my folks are, but I'd like to find a happy medium. I've done
pretty well with using up the supplies that I have, but I kind of need
help.<br />
<br />
Using it up with others is motivating in a fun
way and it draws my loves of sharing and teaching into the mix. One of
these days, I'll have more friends who are actively interested in such
things. I have a bunch that have expressed interest but crafting just
isn't a priority for them as it is for me. Totally understandable and I
love them all the same. It just makes crafting a bit lonely.<br />
<br />
Got
rid of about half a dozen boxes, recycled a bunch of papers, and sorted
the keep pile items into where I'd want them to end up.<br />
<br />
However,
those spots don't quite exist yet. The nice big boxes that I want to
use are holding more junk still. It's hard to figure out what to do with
decor items when you don't have your own place to decorate and what to
do with those random kitschy items you get as gifts.<br />
<br />
I
don't want to throw them away because they were pretty recent gifts, but
at the same time, I know some of them were given to us just for the
sake of giving a present ("Oh, we about to see them. Should bring them
something. Uh... what about this random thing? Yeah, we're just going to
go with that.").<br />
<br />
If we're moving out of state,
that'll be a good enough reason to part with them. Take pictures to
remember the moment and let it go. For now, those will just end up in
their own box. <br />
<br />
Another group of things that are taking
up a lot of room are memorabilia type of items. I'd love to scrap parts
of them to honor them, but for those types of items, I'd need a bit
more money to spare. not happening anytime soon. Started writing the
year I receive greeting cards (I keep them all because I don't get that
many, let alone handwritten stuff from my loved ones) on the back to
remember. Wish I had done so sooner. My memory is so bad.<br />
<br />
Put a date on everything.<br />
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Unless you are one of those people that are really good at remembering where things came from using context clues. I can barely do that on a test.<br />
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My cleaning looks so much worse than when I just have a mess. I need/ use up all of the available surrounding space when I'm re-organizing. Just oye.<br />
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It will be nice to have everything sorted and contained. Then, I can really tackle parring down my stuff in one way or another. I'm thinking a bunch of giveaways to friends, donations to school or whatnot, re-gifting seems out of the question, and tossing out the rest after documentation. <br />
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Oh man, we should revisit the boxes of stuff we packed 2-3 years ago when I first moved in here. I think we were pretty good and it was mostly kitchen stuff I had brought from my apartment. My filed papers and books are still hidden away at my folks' home. At this point, that stuff could fit into a car and driven over. I've squirreled away quite a bit in my multiple trips to visit.<br />
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Another visit is being planned for this summer! I'm doing my best to only be excited about that.<br />
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Got to stop rambling in a nervous panic-procrastination. :P <br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-84616323842046466812013-04-28T22:59:00.000-07:002013-04-28T22:59:13.941-07:00Dusting It Off<br />
Guys, I haven't bought anything from Michaels or Joanns in several weeks. I would say months, but I think I needed something for a gift or school project around the holidays. I cannot remember but wouldn't put it past myself.<br />
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Let's get to the week's recap.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u>: It was a very windy day again and I went to help a friend organize and begin the packing process.<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: I found my camera after examining the bed area. That's where I remember seeing it last when I was trying to pass out from exhaustion. It had fallen between it and the wall but is still working fine! Hooray! Ran some errands for the cooler and whatnot.<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: We're trying out Star Trek Online. It's a free MMORPG and we are fans of the franchise. There is so much text to read in the beginning areas, it's borderline ridiculous. I really want to like the game.<br />
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Another big thing I tackled today was going through my 2012 Project Life pages and applying a double mat as the background. It's a pretty effect, simple technique with the free template, but tedious as heck. It's done and I learned some tricks about recoloring and resizing elements in Photoshop Elements.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: Weekends are supposed to be my chance to sleep in/ catch up on sleep
and I've done a terrible job of it. It's namely the early morning heat
that has been waking me up. We definitely need to set up the evaporative
cooler soon.<br />
<br />
I just dusted off the ceiling fan in the
dining room and turned it on. It's the only working fan in use in the
house right now. This is going to be an uncomfortable spring.<br />
<br />
With
the "extra" time I had, I started tackling a task that has been on my
resolutions list but I hadn't worked on yet- sorting through and getting
rid of the clutter from my "Miscellaneous" boxes. They are stashed
around the house, out of the way, and vary in age from two years to two
weeks.<br />
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I'll ramble more in a later post.<br />
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Here's a garden vlog I filmed this weekend once I got my camera back!<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-80806227214869033472013-04-24T21:48:00.002-07:002013-04-24T21:48:58.491-07:00UrghI'm slightly miffed for two reasons tonight.<br />
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1) I've had a head cold going on two weeks now and it keeps my body perpetually tired-sore.<br />
<br />
2) My camera has been misplaced yet again in this haze of being groggy all of the time. As we well know, this aggravates me to no end. What is going on?!<br />
<br />
I didn't even realize that I posted the same cover music video twice last week, but I don't think I'm going to change it. It's been a while since I've posted pictures, don't even know where to begin. Let's just get the mid-week review out of the way.<br />
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<u>Monday</u>: Despite having an elevated body temperature, I finally used my new yoga mat and dug out my hour-long Power Yoga DVD and heaved my way through the entire routine. Oof. I loved the feel of my new yoga mat and will definitely take a picture of it once I find that danged camera.<br />
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I tried to do some work on my PL 2011 and managed to mull my way through creating the title and last pages of the 2009. 2010. and 2011 albums. I was just using the prescribed cards in the exact matter recommended, so it should not have been as hard as it ended up being. Blame it on realizing that last year had the least number of photos out of the past 4 years.<br />
<br />
Why did I ever think it was going to be possible to combine 2010 and 2011 into one book? Something must have possessed me that day. I also realized that I had only scrapped the first two months of 2009 in my first full-length scrapbook (our first year of dating). Meaning that the year I moved across the country would have no more documentation. Derp.<br />
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Had to re-evaluate which Project Life kits I was going to use for which year for simple cohesion. That and giving myself less options and more encouragement to just get it done. This is going to take a long while.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u>: I managed to slap pictures on the first two pages of PL 2011 January. Picked my common "theme" for the album and stuck on a few journaling cards. My cousins in Germany got their physical copy of the infamous Florida scrapbook plus a Perry the Platypus messenger bag for my youngest cousin there.<br />
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I was so wiped in the evening that I just crawled into bed sometime around 9 o'clock. That's a solid three hours earlier than usual. It was so good but I still need to catch up a little more.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u>: Stampin' Up! released their latest retiring products list, so I went through my catalog and marked everything that was being discontinued. Made myself a sandwich that I usually only have when I visit my family, briefly chatted with my mom after a week of phone tag (her phone still died 15 minutes into the car-ride conversation), and caught up on some YouTube subscriptions. <br />
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I may or may not have unburied one of my garlic plants because I could not figure out if they were ready to be harvested. Long story short- no. I have small bulbs of garlic growing though! I snapped a picture with my cellphone and put it back into the dirt. I'm so excited.<br />
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That took longer than I was expecting. So here are some photos from this past month. There's not a lot, let alone much that I'm good with sharing on the blog.<br />
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So there's a few Walmart markets being built and opened up in town and that's the Pharmacy drive-thru. Something's not quite right...</div>
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This little mister has been so lounge-y with the increasingly warmer weather. </div>
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This was at the park where FMIL and I went to an astronomy-teacher party. That's the little river that probably ate all of the papers the dust devil stole from us. </div>
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This was the pile of tree-bush branches I went crazy and hacked away from a wall in the back yard. It'll make nice smelling kindling for the next bonfire. </div>
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I think this is the first time that this Amaryllis has bloomed. I shopping-enabled FMIL to get the bulb from our favorite local nursery last spring. It was at least twice the price we would normally pay but it's definitely different from all of the other ones she has!</div>
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874555708146870897.post-22131995210280364552013-04-21T23:30:00.000-07:002013-04-22T01:19:45.747-07:00More MusicI have been pretty bummed out over personal things this weekend, so I can barely remember much more than that right now.<br />
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<u>Friday</u>: FMIL and I were going to go to Ladies' Happy Hour, but she ended up getting Strep and I'm sick yet again. I guess it's been a few weeks since I could breathe. It could be severe allergies thanks to the gunk being blown in the air. Not sure, a bunch of the kiddos at work at suffering from terrible coughs, extended headaches, and plenty of tummy aches. Can't remember what else I did that day besides crash when I got home.<br />
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<u>Saturday</u>: My head was really stuffy, but I did some yard work before the SO sprayed the house perimeters for bugs. I also worked in the garden and I promise that there will be a photo round-up sometime this week. My friend was ending a 125 hour live streaming marathon with two other hosts and I tuned in to help for the past few days.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u>: I have just had a quiet and overall sad day because it happens. For a number of reasons. Kitty has been very comforting and sweet company. It wasn't until the late evening that my spirits lifted a little again. I'm a little sore in odd ways thanks to the yard work I've done this week on top of being sick. Hope it ends soon.<br />
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Here are some videos/ songs that I've been obsessed with this week:<br />
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Miss Sakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09937534534742068349noreply@blogger.com0