Unplanned and Unexpected

I AM NOT PREGNANT!

It was not until I reread my title that I figure that it could totally be misconstrued and I wanted to make it clear...I am far from being in a place in my life where I can settle down let alone think about having children...not that the thought is ever too far off to be honest.

This post is completely unplanned and unexpected.  I just spent the last hour or so catching up on Brittany's blog.  I was a few weeks behind so I really needed to play catch up.  Most of the time when I read her blog, I am at work.  Work computer does not have speakers...therefore...no sound...and she posts some hilarious freaking videos...seriously...check her out...to use one of Giuliana Rancic's favorite words...

BRITTANY GIBBONS IS "AMAZEBALLS"!!!

I had zero intentions of writing tonight...and I am not sure when I last wrote but I know it was not long before the start of April which was supposed to start my second 30 Day Blog Challenge which I did not know I had to sign up for AGAIN...I am kind of over it.  I think I am going to ask to be removed from their email lists and delete all their emails.  I will find my own way to keep myself motivated enough to write.  I can be cleaver sometimes damn it...

In all seriousness, I really need to give my blog a "face lift".  I have read several articles that blogs that tailor to a specific theme/topic tend to get the most traffic...apparently writing about the stupid craziness that is my life will not generate the traffic that I am looking for.  I am just looking for ANYONE to read...that keeps me motivated to continue to share my life experiences with the world.

Let me give you a "For Instance"...

My netbook sucks.  I mean seriously sucks!  I have not been able to access the Internet from it for weeks because it says I need to reset the modem...yet no one else in the house seems to be having any problems with accessing the Internet from their laptops.  Well, I just recently got to upgrade my cell phone from that stupid P.O.S. Droid 2 to an iPhone 5.  Before you start calling me "money bags" it seriously cost me just over $300 including the insurance package and the case...and I got to split the payments up...so I only paid $150 and pay the other $150 in May...but I might just take care of it with this paycheck since it is way bigger than I was expecting!

So anyway, because my Netbook has very little space, I do not have iTunes loaded...plus I am apparently at the maximum capacity of allowable computers...which I find odd since I have only had my desktop and my laptop (that the desktop replaced when it died a tragic death).  How those two add up to five is beyond me. iTunes is only on my desktop and I needed to back it up and all that jazz.  Well when we moved in September, I had to get rid of my desk because there is not any room for it...which I was originally told there would be.

No desk means no desktop computer.

But I am starting classes...I need my computer in order to do my work!

Oh you can use my laptop...that is fine.

And I will be allowed to take it with me to work and be on it constantly?

No...I have to use it for work but you can use it when I am not.

I ended up dropping the class mainly because I could not understand the reading but needless to say it felt like it was going to be an inconvenience for me to try to finish my degree.  So my HP Desktop was unplugged, all cables wound up and put into a grocery bag with my mouse, web cam and NetGear wireless card thing that allows me to pick up a wifi signal so the modem does not have to be plugged directly into my computer.  I made a nice little home for my tower, 15" monitor, keyboard and grocery bag of cables in the back corner of my closet.

In order to back up my phone, I needed to dust off the trusty desktop and turn it on for the first time in over seven months.  Let me tell you what...there were like almost 100 updates that it had to do...but I allowed it to do its thing and I waited kinda patiently.  I did finally get it backed up and got a little bit of music on it as well.  Like the essential Zumba Playlist!

Where on earth did I set up my computer if I have no desk and there is no room for it?

Now what you see here is my tower set up just to the side of my dresser (not pictured) with my monitor on top of it.  My keyboard is resting either on my lap (like in the picture) or on the floor, which is where it is now.  To the right you see a box with a pink stripe half of my mouse...I lost my mouse pad...or boxed it up with something else...or threw it out...I honestly could not even tell you what the damn thing looked like now.  So I have to improvise.  I find that magazines do not work as a good mouse pad...cursor flies all over the damn screen...this box is definitely coming in handy...I also found that one of my CD carriers worked really well too.

**END OF "FOR INSTANCE"**

I mean really...who does not want to read about the fact that my computer is on the floor...you know that you chuckled when you looked at the picture...do not pretend like you did not...because I know I did.

As for the face lift that I am going to work on...I guess I will try some themes...here are a few I have been tinkering with:

MONDAY MADNESS

I mean Monday's just suck in general...

TUESDAY MEMORIES

Take short walks down memory lane...

WTF WEDNESDAY

That random thought or something that just makes you want to scream the actual words out...

THROWBACK THURSDAY

I know...not original but instead of just pictures like on Twitter and Instagram I will throw in some nostalgia...

FITNESS FRIDAY

Maybe throw out some tips...attach some great fitness articles that I find...

SASSY SATURDAY

Something to do with fashion...trust me...I will not be giving any advice...I promise...

SUCCULENT SUNDAY

Some of my favorite recipes...some healthy and some not so much...

None of these are set in stone...especially not the titles of the days...I want to throw in something about healthy living...not that I follow that like I should and I am really going to try but I am human.  I have learned a lot on my journey of weight loss and maintaining and not regaining...I want to share what I have learned...I also love to read on my Nook Color and I want to try and fit in book reviews and just reviews in general.  The amount of hits I got from my review of "Vs. Reality" by Blake Northcott and for my favorite radio station 100.7 The Wolf was seriously the greatest ever!  I want to review books, music, movies...see if I am any good at it...maybe start reading some professional reviews so that way I can learn what to say and what to leave out so I can get a reader interested but not give anything away...I will keep working on these and maybe sometime soon, a new and improved Until Next Time will be revealed!

Until next time y'all!

Mind Blowing Revelations Happenin' Here

Let me start with today and work back to the mind blowing part.

 

I ran some errands today.  I stopped at Verizon to find out WHY my upgrade suddenly changed from the beginning of January to the end of March.  If you did not catch my post about the issues of my cell phone then here is the skinny: 

• Phone does not ring or vibrate most of the time when a call is coming in.
• Phone does not notify me half the time that I have a missed call, voice mail, text message, etc.
• Phone has to be turned off for a couple of minutes and turned back on after every other call because no sound transmits out or in.
• Phone shuts down, turns off and back on all by itself and for no reason...even in the middle of a call.

That is just a few of my problems.  It is something that I was willing to live and deal with thinking that I only had a couple more months but almost five and a half months...no way!

Turns out that when I originally got my phone in January 2010, it was under my ex-husband's upgrade that he did not use and passed on to me.  Unfortunately his piece of crap phone finally died and he upgraded in July 2011 which was apparently my upgrade due date.  Since he used mine (we did not split the accounts until January of this year), I am not eligible until March 26, 2013.  Needless to say I have a replacement phone coming to me either tomorrow or Monday.  Hopefully this one will not cause me NEARLY as many problems as the one I currently have in my possession.

I stopped by my gym and had them freeze my account for another three months since I still have no answers about my knee.  Called the clinic and had them fax over my doctor's note saying that I cannot workout and then actually got to talk to my doctor about my knee.  There obviously is not anything he can do about getting my orthopedics appointment any sooner BUT he put in another order for an MRI with contrast.  That was the original order but the imaging department at the VA Hospital decided that it was not necessary.  He said that if I do not get a phone call on Monday to get an MRI with contrast scheduled, to call him immediately.  I will be giving it until 4pm on Monday and if nothing, then I will be calling him!

That was a huge relief!

Here is the GINORMOUS MIND BLOWING REVELATION that I had Tuesday.  I was curled up on the couch, watching some of my shows on the DVR, cuddling with my mom's new puppy, Cooper (the stinky pooper...as I call him).  It made me miss my puppies terribly!  Then it got me thinking about wishing I could be cuddled up in a certain someone's arms.  I get this tingling fuzzy feeling in my stomach typing this.  While I say a certain someone's arms, there is not a SPECIFIC person just yet.

Anyway, it was a foggy day.  It was the kind of day that leaves you wanting to be cuddled up with someone special, in front of a fire, with a GIANT cup of hot cocoa, watching movies all day.

And that is exactly what I wanted.  Now I am not going to lie...there was someone that I was thinking of specifically.  I do not know him all that well but I want to.  I have hung out with him a few times over the last few weeks and then a couple of times over the last several months.  We had an interesting conversation that really got me thinking.

I have made it well known that I am enjoying being single.  Since getting my divorce in July 2011 I have felt FREE!  I have felt like myself.  Hell I have even had people call me funny which is a total foreign concept to me to be completely honest.  I have said repeatedly that I do not want to get married again.  Been there, done that, do not want to do it again...but what I was thinking about all that I would do differently and what I want and need in return (first and foremost a man who would tell me that he loves me...and not every once in awhile).

It made me tear up thinking about it...married to a wonderful man...having a family...I suppose if I find the right man then I might change my mind.  I guess until then, I will have sweet dreams about the perfect man (and we all know that "perfect" and "man" put together does not exist...sorry guys...had to say it...lol)!

Until next time!

How Techie Are You?

I really am not that technologically stupid.  I swear I am not!  Shortly after getting my Nook Color for my birthday (which I absolutely love and mostly have been using to watch Netflix instead of reading), I went to the local library and got a library card.  I had one when I lived in Oregon so I could check books out from the local community college for my papers I had to write for school.  Before that I had not had a library card since I graduated high school.  I am pretty sure I still have my very first library card ever issued to me (I believe the sticker said 1991 or 1990) from the King County Library System or something like that.

Anyway, I filled out the paperwork and got my card issued to me and asked if the eBooks that they had available could be downloaded to my Nook and she briefly showed me how to do it and said that it would definitely work.

I signed up for English Literature - Beowulf to 18th Century.  My school's website listed the book that would be used and I looked to see if it was available from my library (and it is not) but I did find it available to rent from Barnes & Noble and could get it for the entire duration of my class for about $40 or $50.  I thought that was pretty neat.

My class started Monday.  Since I take classes online, it does not matter that Monday was a holiday.  All classes start on the first Monday of each month regardless of holidays.  I think I have had mid-terms, finals and tests due on holidays before.  This class actually ends two days before Christmas!  Yeah!  Anyway, I enter my virtual classroom and let me tell you something this stuff has CHANGED a lot in the last two years that I have been MIA from online learning.  The classroom set up is different, discussion boards are now called forums.  Email is now called messages.  Lectures and the reading material is now under lessons.  I think I have it kind of figured out and I am sure that I will have it down by the end of this class (which is 16 weeks long).

I am a very slow reader.  I have a few pages that I printed off from a website that is part of my required reading for this week and decided to print out next week's reading so that way I can try and get a little ahead so I do not get behind.  I printed out the first two links which comes to about ten pages of reading (I think) and went to print the third link and discovered that it was going to be like 93 pages so I said PASS and jumped onto my local library website to see if it is available as and eBook...

...and it is!  The website said that there was only one eBook copy so I checked it out before it was too late.  I downloaded it to my computer but could not open it.  I remembered that I had to download the Adobe program in order to access it.  I found the link and tried to download it but it kept popping up with some message that said I had to "retry" and I kept clicking away and it kept saying retry until I finally just threw my arms up (literally) and said (out loud...to no one...alone in my room) I GIVE UP!

I tried calling the library to see if there was someone who could help me figure it out and after pushing who knows how many buttons and then just hitting "0" to finally talk to a person.  This woman heard my problem and then transferred me at which time I was disconnected.  Today I reserved the one and only hard copy that they had available and drove down to pick it up.  I saw a gentleman at the Information desk and told him my problem and he took the time to kind of walk me through what I had already done.  I did everything correct last night but for some reason my desktop just was not having it!

I decided to give it one more shot when I got home and busted out my little tiny Netbook.  Miraculously I was able to download the Adobe program and figured out how to download the eBook to my flash drive and then load it onto my Nook.  Let me tell you what...they do not make it easy to check out a damn eBook from the local library!  It is a good thing that I have it for 13 more days but only need it until next Sunday!

Now that I have shared my horrendous journey to download a eBook check out from the library, I am going to get ready for dinner...I kind of have a date!  Until next time!