The Cellar (Dun dun dun...)

The house we're currently living in is really, really tiny, and it's really, really old. It's been fixed up, of course, but whoever did the fixing up really cheaped out on a lot of things, so this house causes us a lot of problems. And as we're just renting, it's not like we're going to throw away more money and fix these things, because honestly, our rent is really high for such a crappy place as it is.
Anyhow, yesterday it was pretty cold out, around -34 C in the morning, and our water pipes froze once again this winter. It has been as cold as -45 C this winter, but we realized the temperature and were smart enough to turn on the water and leave it running before anything bad happened. Well, yesterday we totally forgot. It was probably due to the fact that I woke up with a splitting headache, and spent the majority of yesterday curled up in bed napping, and that once my mom got off work, she herself ended up having a nap too. So around supper, when we're both finally up and moving around a bit, we notice we have no cold water. At all. Not even a drop.
This is normally where Gary (my moms boyfriend) comes in. Normally we've had to pull out the washing machine, go down into the cellar and stick a heater down there for hours before we've got running water again. But, Gary was off working yesterday and was going to be gone overnight, which meant mom and I had to do it ourselves. This means we would have to take the crappy door off, pull out the washer, climb over said washer, pry open a tiny door, climb down, and have someone lift the heater up and over the washer, and down into the cellar (since apparently the cellar is only made for really tall people, it's kinda missing top steps). Then, you need to try to plug the heater into the electrical socket...which is FACING THE WALL?!?! Why? I have no idea, I do not make crappy old houses that make no sense.

So, here is our laundry room. Awesome, isn't it? Please notice the insane amounts of sarcasm dripping off the word awesome, don't step in it, you might slip! Honestly, it is the most annoying laundry room, it doesn't have a proper door of any sort, and its right in the middle of the house so you can always hear it clunking and clanking away no matter which part of the house you're on. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you can only run either the washer or dryer at once, or you'll blow the breaker. You have no idea how long it takes to do laundry after every has returned from a trip.
Anyhow, in this picture, we've already taken off the door and pulled out the washer, which is a beast of a thing I might add. It's one of those smaller ones, why is it so heavy? I could barely move it an inch at a time.

So once we had the washer pulled out, my mom hopped (okay I lie, my mom does not hop. At least not over washers. She kinda, slowly crawled) over the washer and opened up the cellar door and made her way down to the cellar. Which I'm really glad for, knowing my allergies and the dust I saw down there, I would have sneezed myself silly (or stupid, perhaps). We then hoisted the heater over the washer, and down into the cellar. I was actually a bit scared at this point, because the heater is pretty heavy if you have to hold it over your head, and on those pathetic steps, it would have been easy to slip and have it land on top of you. Ouch.

I've come to the conclusion that our cellar is a dust bunny breeding ground. But why did they steal a Bounce sheet?

And then, once we finally have the heater down there, my mom shouts up that the outlet is facing the wall. Whaaaat? Who does that? Does that make any sense? I think it took her longer to plug in the heater than it took us to move the washer, which felt like it took a lot of time.

Eventually we did have our water running again ( around 4am, booyah!), but seeing as we've had to do this I think 4 times already this winter, it's starting to get really frustrating. It wouldn't be so bad if the door to the cellar wasn't in the most horrible spot, or maybe if it had an extra step on the way down or something. But oh well, what can you do with an old house like this. All in all, it was a very interesting adventure, though not one that I'd like to go on again, especially if I'm the one crawling down into the cellar next time.

Cleaning/Organizing: Part II

I'm finally all done! Well, I was hours and hours ago, but I'm just finding time to post about it now before I head to sleep for the night. You can't really tell a huge difference from this picture, but it is more organized than it's ever been! I really am bad for leaving things in random places, but I hope I can keep everything organized from now on. It feels so much better in here, and a lot easier to concentrate on things when everything is in it's own area.
Of course, the majority of the real change is from the closet. It was jam packed full of boxes, mostly random house stuff from when I lived in Grande Prairie, and now it's looking pretty empty...and kinda sad. But on the plus side, a lot less things to move next time I move! Boo-yah!

Continue Reading?

Discoveries & Memories

I would be lying if I said right now I wasn't totally pissed off. I love blogger, it's so much easier and faster than many other places I've tried. But when I lose 2 long posts within 24 hours, it does make me a bit angry. You see, I was scrolling down an entry in compose mode, just about to finish it up, and suddenly the page reloads to a picture that I had in the post. Damnit! I quickly press the back button on my browser, hoping that everything will still be there...and no, it's only got the first paragraph. Damnit! I know it's my own fault, I must have clicked it without really noticing or something like that. But still, I'm really pissed off about it. Typing something over again isn't as great as it is the first time, I always leave something out and it just feels...incomplete. Anyhow, onto what I meant to post about!

I mentioned yesterday that I'd found some interesting things while I've been cleaning/organizing my bedroom and tossing out junk that I'll never really use/need. Maybe this is why I have so much stuff in my room, but anything that has even the slightest bit of sentimental value, I just can't bring myself to throw out (Hell, or anything cute, or anything that just might come in handy somewhere down the road). Such as a movie ticket from the first Harry Potter movie (I was SO excited, you have no clue. I still get that way each time I line up to see each of the new movies), a penguin notepad, old school binders...

Continue Reading?

Looking Back

No thoughtful post today like I'd intended. I've spent the last 3 hours adding older entries to blogger from my old diary at Diaryland. It is a lot of work, but I'm also not adding every entry either. There are some that aren't really worth the effort, like something with no title, and all the entry says is "Idk anymore." And of course, I've added so many posts today that now I have to do the word verification, and that starts to get hard when you're getting really tired. Things start to look different if you look at them too much.

As for the rest of today, I'm disappointed in myself to be honest. I'd meant to head over to H&R Block and get some papers for income taxes for the last few years I haven't filed. I even put a post-it note on my monitor, a bright pink one! However, I just noticed before I started this post that it fell off my monitor and is lying face down on my desk. Greaaat. I did however find some neat things in my closet, which I'll post about tomorrow when I'm wide awake and my eyelids aren't being dragged down by anvils...

Cleaning/Organizing: Part I

So, today was a short day at work, and since I still had a lot of energy left once work was done I decided to tackle my bedroom. I know I have a lot of stuff, and a lot of things I don't use, or will never use. I just never get around to throwing things out, or taking them to the salvation army and such. Each time I've tidied my room for the last few years, I've made piles of stuff to take to the salvation army...but we never end up going and I forget and the stuff eventually gets added back to my other normal stuff.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! So anyhow, I'm going through boxes, my closet, my old clothes, old books, old everything and getting rid of things. The above picture is from after I started pulling stuff out of my closet...yikes. This really does feel like an impossible task. I find it really hard to throw things away, especially something that might be useful later. I'm not as bad as the people they show on tv, who throw out nothing at all, but I always feel like my room is a big unorganized mess, even after I clean it.

So far, I've got one bag full of garbage, and a bag full of things to take the salvation army, and a lot of things that I'm not really sure if I should toss or not. An old telephone, lots of cords for computers/video games, lots of little things like notepads/notebooks/post-its, and leftover decorations from my sisters bridal shower that never ended up being used. They're just dollar store stuff, but they haven't even been opened. So I'm not sure if I should hold onto them or what. Blah...

Inspired

Lately I don't feel as creative, or inspired as I used to. Maybe it's just the silly winter depression thing bogging me down, but I haven't felt like doing anything, from writing to origami, scrapbooking, web design...it all feels very meh. So lately I've been doing a whole lot of nothing. I've played so much RollerCoaster Tycoon II this last month that it isn't funny. What's worse is that I usually ending up failing the objectives, so I'm not even really winning (can you really win at RollerCoaster Tycoon? Lol.).

 Anyhow, I watched the movie that I got for Christmas, Julie & Julia, and I was oddly inspired by it. It almost made me want to cook or bake, and to be honest, I really can't stand cooking or baking most of the time. But instead of cooking, I decided that I should do something else to help me through this annoying winter depression. I'd start a blog, and write one entry each day for a year. But about what...? Games? Anime? Music? Penguins...?
It took me a while to come up with an idea, but I decided that I'd write a post each day about something that I love, no matter what it is. Tv shows, a favourite movie, a good anime, anything that really makes me happy, laugh, or excited.

Continue Reading?

My Favourite Things

"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. I'm sure everyone has at least heard of the musical, if not the song itself. Well, being a bit bored I decided to see if I could make my own version, just adding in my own favourite things. It took a bit of doing, but here it is in all it's glory!


My Version of "My Favourite Things"
Penguins with top hats and ice cream with sprinkles
Wrath of the Lich King and clothes without wrinkles
Asian dramas from MySoju dot com
These are a few of my favourite things.

Cute cuddly puppies and candy cane donuts
Wrapping nice presents and cookies with no nuts
Making up jokes about Dragon Ball Z
These are a few of my favourite things.

Continue Reading?

Happy New Years!

2010跨年101煙火秀
Originally uploaded by zeropro

Well, 10 minutes to go until it is officially the year 2010 (can you belive it? It feels like it was just 2000 yesterday! ...I'm starting to feel so old now!) in Dawson Creek, BC! Soon everyone will be switching to their new calendars for 2010 (once they wake up from their hangovers!) and continuing on with their lives after this great holiday season. Hopefully everyone has got all their relaxing done, because there aren't any good holidays coming up for a while now! Well, at least not the kind where you get more than a day off of work!

To be honest, I'm very happy to see the end of 2009. This year seems as though it's more downs than ups, and the downs this year have been a lot worse than they've ever been before. So here's hoping that the year 2010 will be a much calmer and happier year, not only for myself, but for my friends and family as well!

HAPPY NEW YEARS everyone and I hope you all have an amazing year!

Quick Resolutions for 2010:

1. Get my GED!
2. Finish getting ID and healthcare!
3. See Nate! <3  

Continue Reading?

Christmas at Dads

This Christmas, I spent a week at my dads and his girlfriends house out in Slave Lake, AB. I have been there a few times before, but only spent a day or so each time, and didn't get a chance to really get to know my dads girlfriend or her kids. I'm a shy person, so it takes me a while to really feel comfortable around new people, but I actually had a good time visiting there, even with people I didn't really know. Maybe it was because I had a few days to get used to the household before the majority of the kids showed up, or the fact that my younger brother was there too, but I felt pretty at ease most of the time.

I was really worried about going. I didn't want to feel left out, or like I was intruding on my dads other family's holiday. To be honest, the first few days before Christmas was the most fun. It was very relaxing, and despite being away from my computer and games, and all my stuff, I was rarely very bored. My dad and I watched some old Christmas videos that we used to watch when I was young, we went out with my brother and had a nice time shopping and just talking and catching up. And I actually had a fun time watchinga busy little 2 year old.

At my moms place we rarely eat meals together, and when we do, it doesn't quite feel the same as a big family meal all around a table. Of course, that could be due to the fact that we all work different hours, and that we don't have a kitchen table since our house is too small, so we use wooden dinner trays and sit at the couch. But it was nice to sit around a table with everyone talking, and laughing, and then all sitting around for a few minutes afterwards and just relaxing before cleaning up.

Continue Reading?

Christmas (and random) Adoptables 2009!

Okay, so maybe I'm slightly addicted to these things, but they're cute! I can't help it. I love little cute graphics.


Click here to feed me a Rare Candy!
Get your own at PokePlushies!


Click here to feed me a Treat!
Get your own at PokePlushies!


Click here to feed me a Treat!
Get your own at PokePlushies!

Continue Reading?

Origami...

...is hard!

The other day I found a little Origami kit in Coles for $12 and since I've always wanted to try origami, I bought it. It came with some paper, and a book with diagrams and instructions on how to make a bunch of animals and flowers. It has the figures grouped together with others that start out with the same steps, and starts out with some easy figures. But to be honest, it's a bit hard to figure out how certain things are supposed to fold to become a certain shape.

So far I've only made a Pigeon and Raven, and those are the easiest in the book. I think my real problem is understanding how to fold things certain ways, as the diagrams and instructions are a little bit confusing. I'll have to upload a picture later, as my album isn't letting me upload right now. Ah well!

Wedding Babblings

Oopsies.
I did start writing an entry yesterday, but I got tired and fell asleep, then lost the page. looool.

Anyways, it seems kinda crazy that the wedding is on Caturday. It felt like "Gah, the wedding is so far away!" and suddenly it's like "O SHT TEH WEDDIN' IS IN A F#*$ING WEEK!!!1". Yep. That's it basically.
Mother and I (Kay, I'm kidding, I don't call her mother, I was just trying to amuse myself and sound old-school-y at the same time) have been doing some tidying up the last few days, and today and tomorrow we will be too, and probably a lot of last minute things like finding the pom-pom things for the car since they're still lost in this crazy house. Also wrapping presents, and moving stuff into the shed so there's a bit more room in the house (yet it still looks insanely crowded in here to me). And I'm pretty excited for Wednesday, Wednesday feels like the beginning of the...wedding week, I guess? Because to me, that's when all the stuff that's been planned/worked on for so long is actually starting to come together, also both the Sara/h's and Daphne will be here, so it will be like, constant wedding stuff I think. I just hope everything goes good. And I hope everyone COMMUNICATES (unlike in some BG's on WoW...) and gets everything done on time! Yay.

RP/PVP?

Well, I've been playing a bit on a PVP server, and wow. There is a huge difference between RP and PVP. First, the maturity and IQ level of people on PVP servers seems insanely low. No word of a lie. RP, mostly everyone types in full sentences and has decent grammar and punctuation (not everyone, but a lot more than on PVP). PVP...there are a lot of people that I have to go "...what?" because I honestly can't figure out what they're saying. Also, people on PVP servers SUCK at instances. You would think that they'd be okay at them, since you get a lot of nice twink gear from instances...but no, this doesn't seem to be the case. They don't look at each others health and go "Oh shit, someone hit the priest, I better take aggro off the priest!" nope. They're much too HARDCORE for that. They just let the priest die, then go "WTF HAPPENED?" and blame the poor little priest, who is usually go "help!!". Also, LFG is hell on PVP servers. You finally get into a group, and right as you're typing "Hi", the other person leaves without a word. This has happened to me so many times that I'm beginning to think that I've got some crazy disease or something. But apparently it happens a lot. Basically, people have no manners. Also, when you DO finally get into the instance, it's normal for people to just randomly leave without saying anything. I'm used to hearing "Okay guys, this is just lame and we obviously can't handle this. I'm out.", or some excuse "Oh shit I forgot I have to work today!", whatever. That's fine, as long as they actually tell you why they're suddenly ditching you.


And yeah, I know this doesn't apply to all RP & PVP servers...and not everyone is this bad/good. But, I'm just ranting slightly. I feel dizzy now, so sleepy time.

I'm Broke...

This is probably going to be really ranty...and...complainy. All sorts of things I guess, since this last week has been....very eventful.

So, yeah. Altogether, this week was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I was around for everything. Buuut...I'm fucking BROKE. I've spent probably around $800 in the last two weeks. And yes, I'm fucking serious. I think it was even more than $800, but I'm really scared to add it all up. I mean...I really wanted Daphne to enjoy everything, but...there needs to be a goddamned limit. -_-;; Like, eating out for every meal...yeah, that gets a bit fucking expensive. Especially paying for other people...I mean, I'm all for eating out, but I can't really afford it every damned meal. But if everyone else wants to, I feel like an ass for saying no...and I'm not going to starve like an ass, so blah. And...plans getting out of hand. I mean, sure I wanted Daphne to really like things and have a good time...but I'm not a fucking millionaire. I don't even make $600 a month...how am I supposed to afford all of this? OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. Seriously.

Anyways...I'm really...stressed...and...maybe a bit depressed, so I'm not gonna babble about this week yet. It's not coming out right, so blah.

Some GG Babbling

...I really want to play WoW now. I'm a bit annoyed that Nate is playing it again. Sometimes it feels like he purposely gets it right after I uninstall it, or can't afford to play it for a while...but I know that isn't really the case. I'm just being silly (as usual, right?). It also didn't help that Eric mentioned his warlock was almost level 70, and that reminded me of my warlock, and I immediately wanted to play. Bah humbug!
I knew I shouldn't have uninstalled it...I mean, I could have played on crappy private servers.... Eck, no thanks. I only like private servers because I can get the gear that isn't so easily attainable in actual WoW, and see if it's really so good (and it usually is...). I also loved trying out new specs on private servers, since I'm always too broke to waste my money like that on actual WoW...

Yep. In other news...Daphne told me last night that Leah stepped out of the wedding...yeah. I'm a bit irked. The wedding is only a month away, and she just realizes NOW that she can't afford things? Daphne said not to be pissed at her, but I can't help but be a bit annoyed. But oh well, thinking about it more isn't going to change anything I guess. I'm just wondering if Daphne will pick someone else to be a bridesmaid, or if we'll just keep it at two now, and have an extra groomsman. But, I really doubt anyone would fit the dress, without some serious altering, and even then I doubt it would look right.

I think that's about all I really have to say...I need to babble here more often, I don't feel so stressed afterwards. GG.

My New Obsession is NOT Twilight

That's what I'd say if it were backwards day...
Yep, so I'm addicted to Twilight. I mean, it's just amazing. I heard about it a little while after it came out, but at the time I didn't hear that much about it and it easily slipped out of my mind. Then I noticed (via Facebook) that one of my cousins is completely in love with it, so I figured I'd read the book, and wow. It's been a long time since any book has actually kept me interested enough to read the whole thing so quickly (Harry Potter series actually...and I finished those not long after each book came out). Anyways, I finished Twilight so fast...and I needed to know what happened next so bad that I read the second book (New Moon) even quicker than the first one...and then the third one (Eclipse). In total, I think it took me maybe 3 days to read through all three, and this includes working, eating, sleeping...etc. Yeah, I'm a fast reader when something actually interests me. And I'm sooo excited for the fourth book to come out, even though I don't think I'll be able to afford it...gah!

"I have the best girl in the world!"

I'm really conflicted. I feel a bit sad, depressed, lonely...I'm too used to talking to Nate everyday. And when he's busy, or isn't home for me to talk to, the day feels horrible and I feel lost and messed up. It makes me second guess things, and I'm always thinking, "Maybe he doesn't really care that much. He's too busy to even talk to me." but I know somedays I'm busy too and don't get to talk to him. I feel like, a lot of my time is spent sitting here waiting for him to get back from work, the store, playing a game...whatever. I just want to say "We should take a break." but then he says something like "I thought about you all night at work." and it makes me feel like an ass and I can't say it. Or his xfire status will say "I have the best girl in the world!" and...I just can't say it.

It's Odd to Say, But...

I really like my job, which is surprising to me actually. Each time I like a job, something happens that makes me start to hate it. Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that I like it. :(
It doesn't even bug me when people walk over my freshly swept/mopped floor. I know it bugs some people, but it's like, you should go into this job expecting that to happen. It's a hotel, you shouldn't expect guests to take off their shoes and tip-toe around your wet floor. That's just stupid.
The only time it bugs me when people mess up my floor, is if it's other people that I'm working with, especially the housekeepers. Sometimes they bring down coffee cups from the rooms, and somehow manage to spill coffee all over in the elevator right after I mop it, and all the way from the elevator to the breakfast room. Why does this bug me? Because it happens at least twice a day, and even the guests don't spill their coffee around like that. Anyways...those coffee cups that the housekeepers are bringing down should have been emptied in the sinks in the room, so it's not like they're full cups of coffee, how do they manage to spill it everywhere?

Photoshop Costs HOW Much??

Okay. Hm.


I was thinking about posting yesterday, but I was too busy doing nothing, so I'll post now (actually, all I accomplished yesterday was downloading yet another program I really don't need, and weeding a part of a flower garden. To me, this qualifies as nothing.)

This weekend was pretty good. Daphne and Dan came out to get some pictures done with their wedding photographer, and they spent the whole weekend here. I feel a bit bad that I didn't hang out with them more, but I've seriously been missing Nate a lot, and the weekend is when he has his days off, so I was torn between him and them. (Also I had insanely bad cramps most of the weekend, and the Midol makes me feel even lazier and not wanting to do anything) Maybe this is bad, I don't know. But Friday night I was really depressed because we've hardly been able to talk, so I really wanted to have more of a chance to talk with him over the weekend.

Anyhow, work was pretty decent this weekend too. I actually managed to get almost 17 hours in, which is really only about 2 hours more than I've been getting the last few weeks, but I don't care, that's basically an extra...$25. It might not seem like much in the long run, but hell, I'm glad with even $5...
And actually, I talked to one of the other girls at work today, which is a huge change for me, seeing as I generally keep to myself and everyone knows this. All the other housekeepers were mad at her, because apparently she was on the schedule for night shift but didn't show up. But, according to her, she didn't even know she was on the schedule for it. Anyhow, the other housekeepers can be rude, even if they don't know the whole story, so they finished their rooms and left, leaving Mandy with a ton of rooms to do still. Now, I don't mind helping with housekeeping if they seriously need it, but I only really like making beds, and Karen knows this. So at lunch, all the other girls were leaving, and Mandy asked me if I was almost done work. I was a bit surprised she was even talking to me, since we'd never talked before, but said yes, I was almost done. She then asked if I could help her with her rooms. I was a bit hesitant, I didn't want to be stuck cleaning some toilet or anything. I asked what she needed done, and Karen who was sitting nearby mentioned that I didn't mind making beds, so Mandy said it would be great if I could help make beds. So I said sure, and was glad that I'd actually get a bit more hours.
So, I finished the rest of my stuff and went to work making more beds (I also helped Sharon make beds in the morning too) for Mandy, while listening to Mythbusters on the tv. To me, this is heaven. But only if I get to make the beds on my own. That way I can take my time and listen to the tv, and time seems to go by faster since I actually have something keeping my mind occupied, instead of thinking to myself all day.
Anyways...Mandy is really actually pretty nice, and I was amazed by how many times she thanked me and praised me on my bedmaking skills (which aren't really that great, but apparently better than hers?). It was really nice to have someone appreciate the work I was doing, and to thank me so much for it. I had always thought Mandy was kind of rude and just...not the type of person I'd see myself talking to, but she wasn't too bad in all honesty.

And, let's see. I downloaded Photoshop...err, I mean. I bought Photoshop completely legally. Yeah right. As if I'm going to pay $1000 for a program, no matter how cool it is. That's beyond retarded. I'm having a blast playing with the brushes though, and layers and overlay. I haven't really done too much more with it, but it is very, very awesome. But I still wouldn't pay $1000 for it. Maybe if I won the lottery, and wanted to buy it just for the sake of spending a shitload of money on something I can get for free...then sure.

Tight Spot

I feel trapped sometimes. Mom somehow has to come up with like $4000 by June 14th or something (for Daphne's dress & some debt), and now that the house isn't going to be sold by then, this puts her in a tight spot. I have $200, which I was HOPING to save for when my bridesmaids dress comes in, and saving the other $60 for any alterations that will have to be done on the said dress. Mom only has $220 to pay for gas, groceries, smokes, and Gary's calling cards for THREE weeks (neither of us get paid for three weeks, due to our stupid boss not paying us every two weeks like a fucking normal boss). I really feel like an ass for not just giving my mom the $200 I have, but at the same time if I give this money to her, that sets me back even more on my saving plans. UGH. WTF WTF WTF. Thinking about money makes me feel so pissed off, I just want to scream.