50. (seeing the energizer bunny in the moon)

perspectives are interesting. mainly because there can be so many variations on something solely based on who you ask about it. im not going to give any examples, but thats only because i dont really have any to give at the moment.

im half way through my 80hrs of hands on training in ann arbor. home for the weekend. we were supposed to go back today, as in, now, but WIC is useless. so i have to go to the WIC office tomorrow morning bright and early, and then head back to ann arbor. that the Lord i dont have to work tomorrow until 3.

i really am enjoying my training though. its really fun and interesting and informative. i guess the program used to be 4wks long, but they decided to cram all that learning into 2wks instead. i wish it was still 4. i would be a lot more confident if it were 4.

im excited though. im certainly learning a lot, and im really excited to start my career. so excited in fact, i want to possibly go to school for animal behaviorism. i have no idea how to go about that, or what schools, if any, offer that major in the area, but hey, at least im confident i know something i could go to school for, and actually do well in.

not a whole lot else going on. lana is army crawling a mile a minute, and has started pulling herself up on things. shes even taking steps when shes held onto/holding onto something else. she is constantly pulling herself up in her crib, making crying herself to sleep impossible. shes finally figured out how to use a sippy cup, but she is still overzealous with finger foods, and usually choking on them. her first word is "duck" and i think shes working on "dog". easy enough of a transition i think.

ok well, i think i might run an errend. peace!

49.

i discovered a beer i like.
i like corona.
a lot!
yum.

i cant believe altoids have been around since 1780. thats a crazy old mint, yo.


im bummed. misty and i were supposed to have a girls night tonight, but she forgot. and then the guy she likes invited her to go gambling tonight with a group of friends. so she told him she was free and could go. and i didnt say anything. but i was bumming. and he picked her up, and then a little later, i texted her and kind of jogged her memory about girls night. and she felt bad for forgetting, but, whatever. she said we can do it tomorrow, but well see how im feeling tomorrow.

so, i finished my beer, and i have to pee.
goodnight.

48.

UPDATE:













Thea was adopted when she was being shown at the petsmart in okemos. good for her! sad for me though, i thought she was adorable. but it looks like tonka and stewie are still up for adoption.


anyway, i had my second interview at petsmart today with the store manager. he said he really liked me and i did a great job on my interview. but he wasnt a dog trainer, so he wants me to come back for an informal meet and greet with one of the trainers so they can get a feel for me and see if they though i would be a good fit. so hopefully ruth likes me!
and hopefully he calls me before close tonight with some days i could do!

so im still super excited. i just hope i know soon (before monday 6/30) so ryan can get his two weeks in. in fact, i think i will call petsmart and see if the store manager has her schedule yet so this can be figured out.

and im going to make some soup, cause that sounds good.

47.

so my interview at petsmart went really well. they brought me in for dog washer, because it was a job offering a career path, but they also touched base on pet trainer, which i said of the two i would prefer. she told me they had a few more days of interviews but that she would take to her store manager about me, and that she thinks i would be a good fit for the company :)

puppies.....! misty is moving in TOMORROW! im excited. nike is the cutest puppy ever. today she called me asking if she could get a second jack russell pup, and 10mos old girl name baby, but i told her i was sorry but no. i said that once im fully trained through petsmart, and nike is fully house broken, crate trained, lease trained and command trained, then we could talk about it.

ryan said we cant have two dogs here. but he also made huge progress making me think one day we might be able to get one when he let me show him a cute puppy on petfinders site. usually he gets furious and yells at me because it breaks his heart seeing the dogs, and he wants a dog super badly, but we cant get one, so its frustrating when i show them to him.
but today he looked, and said "aww shes cute!"

here are the three puppies i want. in order from most wanted to adorable:















Above: This is Thea! She is an 8wk old Beagle Spaniel mix. shes my favorite!!!














Above: This is Tonka! He is a Beagle Coonhound Mix!












Above: This is Stewie! He is purebred beagle!


Thea was/is at the petsmart in okemos today from 11-4 being shown to find a new home. im so sad!! i wish we had the time, money and space to be mature and responsible dog owners right now!!! maybe after im done training academy and ive started working as a professional dog trainer we can get a puppy. maybe. if not me and ryan, then at that point misty will probably be able to get another! either way! i love dogs and i cant wait fr the day when we can actually get one!!!!

until then.. ill just dream i can take home boxes of puppies.
and if you cant tell, i really want a beagle!!!!

46.

i should have figured that the rude kids in the neighborhood who scream and yell outdoors in the middle of the week at 11pm would belong to the rude neighbors who do loud mowing and weed whacking at barely 8am, revv their crotch rockets for 5min in the driveway at midnight on a wednesday/thursday, and go tearing through the neighborhood at ridiculously unsafe speeds on the same crotch rocket. (and in their cars too)

there is a fine line between common curtosy and close knit neighborhood.
you can be a close knit neighborhood where everyone is friendly and knows everyone elses kids, without those kids trampling through yards, screaming and yelling in the middle of the night, and making out on the street.
and where people dont start loud yardwork until 10am.
and the neighbors with the fancy expensive corvettes dont burn out and speed through the neighborhood while there are kids playing on the street.

maybe its the southern polite extreme i was raised in.
but it bugs the crap out of me.
its not controlling
is common freaking curtosy.

45.

ooh gosh.
im pretty sure lana is cutting her top two teeth.
if shes not sleeping.. shes SCREAMING. and i know its cause shes in pain, but seriously, its grating, and it put me in a horrible grumpasaurus rex mood.

i love food network, its the best. it always makes me feel better. especially alton brown. hes great!

i dont feel well. ive been headachey and tummy achey lately. and grumpy and tired. and just sort of exhausted and run down feeling in general.
no, im not pregnant.
i dont know what it is. im glad i have an interview. i hope i get the job because i wouldnt mind a switch with ryan. me work 30+ hrs a week and he stays home with lana.

ok i think im nodding off. and im getting a brand new headache. so imma bounce. see yah!

44.

Screen Actors Guild Strike - June 2008

Predicted strike of 2008

Main article: 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike

The film industry is anticipating a strike by SAG, in addition to the recently resolved writers strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The strike, which could occur after the expiration of SAG's major contracts in June 2008, would stem from the current handling of royalties from the sale of films distributed through new media methods. This includes royalties earned from Internet distribution services such as iTunes, as well as DVD sales, neither of which are currently written into actors', writers', and directors' contracts. The strike date of June 2008 was chosen due to its coinciding with the expiration of several contracts between SAG and AMPTP.

Production companies are bracing for the strike by accelerating production of films and television episodes, in an effort to stockpile enough material to continue regular film releases and TV schedules during the strike period. A list of 300 high-priority film projects is reportedly circulating around talent agencies in accordance with this effort.

"hey, we all make millions of dollars for everything we do, but we want more money anyway."

greedy bastards.

43.

So my food stamps are officially a week late. So i called my caseworker today to leave her another voicemail, and her away message stated she would be out of the office until june 16th. i was FURIOUS. so i said'

"(all my information so she knew who it was) Im calling in regards to my food stamps. I have yet to receive any notification of a change, continuation or cancellation of my food stamps. They are now a week overdue, we have no food in the house, our paycheck was barely enough to pay our bills, let alone to buy food, and my parents had to buy us groceries the other day. I would like to know if you got this finished yet, it is very important. (left my return number)"

absolutely ridiculous. this women is useless and i am very tempted to complain to some sort of superior. its not the first time she has completely sucked at her job. there has been more than one occassion she flat out never called me back. she was supposed to set lana up on medicaid after she was born, called her with all lanas info, never happened. i had to refill all the medicaid paperwork and send it in nearly 2 months after lana was born. now this!!! food is important!! very important!!! she sucks at her job.

if our foodstamps dont reload on or before the 19th, im sending in a formal complaint about my caseworker.

ok im going to snack and maybe smoke, drink some water and go to bed.

42.

i want to live by a coast so i can have really good really fresh, and really inexpensive seafood whenever i want. its so iffy and overpriced in mid michigan.

if i could do anything in the culinary field, it would be asian cuisine. specifically, japanese food. i love japanese food.

but i doubt i will ever enter into the culinary arts.
so instead, i want to be a professional dog trainer. i love dogs, and i want to see dogs trained properly and living healthy happy lives.
since misty is a professional dog groomer, we tossed around the idea of opening our own grooming & training operation.


everything is better. missie and brian brought over some extra food, which helped alot! and then my step mom bought us groceries today. we get paid tomorrow, but it will be just enough to pay the bills. so its good paige took me grocery shopping today, because my food stamps are officially a week overdue, and i have no idea when i will get them.
lana will get her WIC refill friday.

ryan had a really bad allergy attack today about an hour or so after he got our of work. so hes been up stairs in and out of sleep with a horrible sinus pressure headache, and swollen itchy eyes, and itchy sneezey nose. i feel like i havent seen him at all today. ive tried to get him up twice, but hes not budging.

now i have a headache. excedrin, cigarettes and beer, here i come!

41.

you dont know what poor is until you have $30 to make it to a paycheck that will barely pay your bills. when youre relying on lazy state employees to enter your information so you can buy food. when until that bridge card is reloaded, you dont even have enough of your own money to buy groceries for one meal. when there is barely enough extra money to buy a tank of gas to make it to and from your job that doesnt pay you a decent wage, but takes up so much of your time you dont have enough time to look for a new job, much less have an interview. when you cant afford to buy a bag of flour to bake bread. when you have nothing left to eat in your house. when your 7 month old hasnt had any fruits or veggies in over a week, and is eating nothing but cereal and formula for every meal. to have too much debt you cant pay on your credit cards to use them to buy food.
take poverty level, and subtract $10,000/yr.

im so hungry i feel like im going to throw up.

but i know God has a plan and a reason for our suffering.
i still have faith.

40.

so i had my annual dhs food stamps interview on may 13th. my food stamps for the past year have reloaded on the 5th of every month. the 5th of june came along, and they didnt refill. when they didnt refill the next day on the 6th, i called my case worker to find out why. I hadn't received any notification of a loss, change, or continuation of benefits. unfortunately it takes at least 48hrs for a caseworker to call you back. so i didnt hear from her until this morning.

she called me, i was asleep, and she left a voice mail. i listened to it when i got up.
she told me that my case is one of the cases she didnt finish in a timely manner. she was planning on entering it into the system this morning when she got to work. (27 days after the interview, 4 days after i was supposed to get more stamps) but because of the recent storms, the systems were all down, and she didnt know when she would be able to complete my case update.

which means i dont know when we will get our foodstamps.

this is bad, we have no food in our house. we are down to condiments and random ingredients. nothing to make a full meal, and nothing to really snack on either. why dont we just use our own money to eat out or buy groceries?

because we have $45 to last us until thursday. and since ive already taken nearly $300 out of our savings account to get by with bills and what not, we really technically have -$255 to get us by until thursday. $45 isnt even a full tank of gas.

not to mention we have about $250 in bills due this week that we dont have the money to pay, so we will end up being charged overdue fees.

i REALLY hope i get a call from petsmart. ryan is either flat out leaving or putting in his two weeks on july 14th. hes going to look for a pt job so he can go back to school in the fall. but one pt job isnt going to even come close to paying the bills. especially since our new roommate will be paying $100 less then our current one, and wont owe us rent till august 15th. so we will have about a month of bills with essentially no way to pay for them.

ok im done complaining. or stressing, whichever it is.
gotta figure out something to fill me up.
since i havent eaten yet today.
cause my case worker is stupid and lazy.

39. (storms!!)

wow! it has been crazy here. we were in the basement last night until 2am. we were watching the storm on the weather channel website's dopplar and ryan was convinced it was going to miss us. so i texted matt sumner! he called me back and said our area was going to get hit HARD. not 30sec. into the conversation the wind kicked up like you wouldnt believe, there was a sudden down poor, and thunder was booming. the wind was so loud we couldnt tell if we heard the tornado siren, so we checked the weather channel station, and sure enough, there was a severe tornado warning for our area, so i ran upstairs, and woke poor lana up, and we headed to the basement.

then today, we miscalculated the arrival of the storm, so lana and i were napping, and ryan was watching rambo. then the storm hit and the wind woke me up. i got up, looked outside, freaked out, put pants on and as soon as i was in the hall ryan yelled at me to get lana and go to the basement.
ryan watched the tornado form and start to touch down on mt.hope behind our neighborhood. the siren didnt even go on until it was pretty much completely calmed down! but while ryan was watching rambo, the wind knocked over one of the trees in our front yard. it BARELY (miracle from God) hit the house. and when i say barely, i mean it hit the very corner of the gutter and bent it slightly. thats IT. if it had fallen 4ft over, ryan would be in the hospital. he didnt even hear it fall.

so it passed, and we went upstairs, and the WHOLE neighborhood was surveying the damage. we got the worst damage in the neighborhood, but the a lot of trees on mt.hope are completely uprooted, and there is one house behind the neighborhood that had 2 or 3 trees fall on it. the westbound stretch of mt.hope past canal was completely closed off due to severe carnage, downed power lines shooting fire, and someone who died when their RV was flipped on top of them. there was a police chopper surveying the area for about an hour afterwards too.

so the other tree in our front yard is leaning towards the house. you can see at the bottom where the roots loosened in the ground, and the crown of the tree is severely cracked and super leaning towards the house. dan parked on the street in case the wind comes in north to south. im on storm watch duty because were supposed to get another huge storm tonight with random pockets of severe stormage. jim is having the insurance guy come out tomorrow to look at the (currently) standing tree because it will cost the insurance company a lot less to have it taken down than if it falls on the house.

i have to stay up pretty late to make sure nothing too crazy happens. after i watch iron chef america, im going to pack ryans lunch, and then i think im going to move some basic supplies to the basement, just in case. i might get super ambitious and rearrange some things in the basement then move lanas play pen down there and what not. i dunno.

38.

not only is emril annoying because he has absolutely no camera presence, but he cooks in ways an average home cook cant.

i cant afford truffle oil!

37.

my mom will be pulling into my driveway any minute.
the house is clean (enough)
and i haven't eaten yet because i dont want to have to clean more dishes.
lana is in a decent mood, laying in her playpen on the path to a nap.

i am paranoid as hell. i havent seen this woman who gave birth to me, told me i was never good enough, and then sent me away the first opportunity she had, in three years. three years. i didnt speak to her for almost a full year after the last time i saw her over a Christmas break, when every trace of my existance had been completely erased from the house i once called home in chesapeake, va. i was supposed to stay the night there, but i ended up begging my dad to come get me and never make me go back there again.

i have hated her for so long, i never wanted her back in my life. then i got married, and she just couldnt take the time off to come up for thr wedding. then i got pregnant, and she never bothered to pick up the phone to congratulate me. i was beyond furious.

now she has the sudden interest in meeting ryan and his parents, and having a part in lana's life.

i could be like her. hate her so much i rob my daughter of a relationship she may possibly be interested in one day with her grandmother. tell her just because this old pathetic woman begging to stay with us in an alcoholism downspiral may be my mother, but is in no way her grandmother and to simply call her anne... she didnt care when i told her i wanted to know her.

i could be like that, i could rob my daughter of that opportunity. but i wont.
no matter how much i hate my mother
i will never let that effect lana. because i am more mature than that.

although the day lana tells me she cant stand her grandma dana, i will be ecstatic.

36.

so im seriously procrastinating going to bed. i really need to because otherwise im going to be exhausted all day tomorrow and not have the energy to start my extreme clean of the house endeavor. but i just really enjoy my alone time watching family guy and other various whacky late night tv shows.

i had some cheap sushi from kroger for dinner. not bad since i havent had omi in a long time.

ok i have to go to bed after this episode i HAVE to.

misty is coming over thursday around one to watch lana while i do some uninterupted cleaning. then shes staying over so we can chill and have a few drinks. then lana has a dr appt friday morning, and ryan may or may not be working.

and im so not excited for next week. my mom gets into town monday night, were going to sleepy hollow ntl. park where shes camping out for steaks tuesday night, im hosting dinner for my mom and ryans parents so they can meet wednesday, and i will probably be having a light dinner with just my mom thursday night. then shes leaving friday morning.

i applied at macys, but they sent me an email essentially saying i wasnt qualified for any available positions. so today i applied to babies r us. so who knows where ill apply when they turn me down! ryans looking at stuff too. hopefully we'll figure something out! i would love for us to one day have a second car.

and now it looks like our roommate wont be leaving until mid-july, as opposed to the mid-june he had said before.

ok, so i will leave on this note:
GO RED WINGS!! game 3 tomorrow

35.

i hate enviromentalists. I don't feel global warming in a threat because i have faith in God, and God wouldn't let us destroy his planet. Therefore, we cannot stop global warming, and global warming wont destroy us. I'm not saying it doesnt exist, i just don't think its relevant, and we shouldnt be putting so much worry into it.

ryan got me a new texting package for my phone, 250 texts/mo for like $5, and im pretty sure im going to use all of them almost completely on misty. we text like crazy texters.

ok well time to go to bed and what not. i start my extreme cleaning tomorrow. woo hoo not so much.

34.

i see myself slippng into a state of cutting myself off from the world again. i dont know why. i guess when i feel let down or really stressed, like im not living up to expectations, it makes me want to stop being around anyone who would have expectations. it makes me want to drop everything and everyone to bury myself in taking care of ryan and lana.

im at that place where physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion are melding into one tired existence. maybe ryan is right, maybe im not ocd about things, but i am a control freak. because it seems more and more like when things dont follow the strategic plan i had layed out, i just lose it.
i feel like im not good enough to do the things i thought i could do. i feel like im not me anymore, yet i cant get away from the person i was. im in a limbo of sorts. im not depressed, but im not overjoyed either. but i wouldnt say i was mellow or melancholy. im not angry. im just floating in an emotionless apathetic dream world.

i started smoking again. never around lana, and never when im not drinking. but i have started having a drink when i normally wouldnt almost as an excuse to smoke.

wedding in traverse on saturday. so were spending the weekend up north. hopefully it will relax me and help me get out of this funk.

33.

flakey
flakey
pot pie crust.

man there are some big people in the core.

so im thinking tomorrow isnt going to be fun times.
hectic for me, im going to be toting lana and a bunch of her stuff all around holt
and i dont even know where im going!

so im stressin.
and our room mate if out of town, bad weekend.
so im trying to destress

jagerbombs & smirnoff ice
meets
smokey the bear

i love my new phone
and we might take out a loan for a new car. we need one, and its hard to pass up $2.99/gal for 12,000mi/yr for 3 years plus a lifetime powertrain warrenty.
(dodge journey)
i know im obsessing over the nissan rogue.
but seriously, thats a hard deal to ignore.

okie. im going to do a bomb, crack a girl beer and steal a smoke from ry.

32.

looks like i did something right! i got one person open to the idea of going to riverview, and now someone else is maybe coming with me on sunday.

man i hate allergies. my nose is stuffy, i have a sinus headache, my throat hurts, my mouth is dry and my nose is all sore and raw from blowing it into an entire box of tissues over the course of the day.

and lana starting cutting her right bottom tooth yesterday, still in the process today, the tooth is just starting to surface. but today, she started cutting her bottom left tooth. so shes got two teeth coming in, about a day apart. so im thinking im going to have to deal with yelling and screaming until friday or saturday.

ugh butt load of moms day cards to send out tomorrow.
better finish addressing and sealing and stamping those now, and then.. to BED!

31.

oh man so i need to have a cook out. ive never liked BBQ before, and suddenly, post partum, im in love with pulled pork. more obsessed than love though. i crave it all the time, so i have a pork butt on my shopping list so i can make some homemade pulled pork. however, i cannot justify making an entire pork butt for 2 maybe 3 people.

i wish my house was more child friendly sometimes. unless i declare a babysitter night for a small group, i cant really host one here. we have like, two toys since lana is so little. and we havent baby proofed yet since she isnt mobile and ryans parents want to do all of it because they dont want to screw anything into the cabinets.

so ryan took me shopping today as an early part of my moms day gift. i guess he was planning on giving me $200 in gift cards so i could go shopping sometime with friends, but today lana set me off cause she was yelling all day (cutting he first tooth!) so when i had to get ready to go out, i flipped because i still dont really have a lot of clothes that fit right now. so he took me to the mall and told me we werent leaving until i had picked out 2 new outfits at the least. so i got two pairs of shirts and two tank tops. then at wal-mart when we were grocery shopping i got 3 more tanks and one more pair of shorts.

saturday im having moms day lunch with my step mom, and sunday ryan made reservations at ukai and is taking me to a movie too i guess. hes so sweet! i have to go get some moms day cards and gifts probably tomorrow. i hope ryan and dan carpool!! cause i forgot to do it today.

so yes, lana is finally cutting her first tooth. she had a little while line on her gum where a tooth would be, and a teeny hole on one side of that line. when the oragel calmed her down almost completely, i figured she really is. there will probably be a little tooth there tomorrow morning when i get her up!

man i hate allergy season! my throat hurts and im stuffy!! blah!!
i have to finish my grocery shopping anyway. gotta go to kroger for some meat and veggies.

thursday is going to suck. not only does ryan work, and smallville is at 8, the season finale of scrubs is 8:30, and CSI is at 9, BUT game one the the conference final red wings vs stars starts at 7:30. so i have no idea what were doing.

ok im going to go watch DDD. my antihistamines arent non-drowsy and are starting to kick in, so im going to hit the sack after this episode.

30.

so im all set up and ready for the small group saturday i think.

and i really love being completely ditched two days in a row. awesome.
top notch.
really great job.

sometimes i wonder why i bother with that anymore anyway.

anywho. i want sushi.
and i got my dress and shoes for my cousins wedding. lana needs shoes, and i want to get ryan a tie that matches either my dress, lanas dress, or somehow both.

speaking of which, 27 dresses is a great movie. very funny.

29.

so im sitting here thinking, wow. there is NO one online, especially since its barely 11pm on a sunday night.
then i remembered, everyone is in finals.
so everyone is sleep cramming.

went to a cook out at the baldwins last night, rocked. and went to rivlink today at church. interesting. missie and i had talked about starting a stroller group for walking with small children, and the whole thing i think might have gotten twisted by a very go to kinda kid. oh well. after i started reading the booklet, i realized we really wont have time for stroller walking until it becomes more of a community group instead of the prototype small group. we shall see! the first meeting is next week. pot luck at the baldwins. should be interesting!

so now i am planning something ridiculously secretive. so much so i should even mention it here so ryan doesnt catch word of it. because he will just tell me it will never happen. he was bugging me all night about what i was doing online. but i aced all nonchalant like i was just surfing. even if this thing does happen, it wouldnt go down until 2010 anyway.

i think i need a hobby. SCRATCH that i definitely need a hobby. damn my add. no matter what i started, i would never ever ever ever ever in a million years finish it. i get bored and distracted way too easily. what i really need is a job and a car.

ok, gotta wrap up my super duper secret project and make ryans lunch.

28.

so since the average cost of a wedding is $33,339 in the township where i live, and the average cost of college is $25,508 for 4 years, my parents saved about $56,847 by my only going to one semester of school, and by only paying a few hundred for my wedding. ($1500 for school, and $500 for my wedding)

i hope they have a nice CD in the bank for lana for when she turns 18/21. whichever. a CD that will amount to $56,847 by the time she turns 18/21. to pay for school or to cushion her when shes looking for a job after school. or to pay for her wedding. whatever.

holy moly its windy as crap.
and its 75 in the house. we only have 3 fans in the entire house. for some reason it was a good idea to not put a fan light on the ceiling in the guest room/office thing. freaks.
now we need to go spend copious aounts of money on box/floor fans for the house, because were poor and cant afford the luxury of AC all summer long.

time to feed the scream machine.

27.

man i miss high school. everything was so much easier then! you always had saturdays & sundays off, two weeks at christmas, a week in the spring, 3 and 4 day weekends scattered here and there. snow days. and 3 mos off in the summer! you were only there 6hrs or so during the day, and once you hit sophomore year, you could start vocational schools, or lcc, or work release. best of all, you were still dependent on your parents! you didnt have to pay for your own food, or for rent/mortage. no gas or electric bills. no water or sewage dues. for a lot of kids no car insurance or car payments, or any mechanical fixes. you didnt have to worry about getting sick, or getting hurt, because you were covered by health insurance of some type.
and its not like the work was hard anyway. if i could go back, i could probably make straight a's. and join fun clubs, and do (more) sports.

i mean, yeah, the HS drama was stupid. he likes her but she doesnt like him, she likes that guy. so and so said that about such and such. rumors and what not all sucked. but i know people who managed to avoid all of that nonsense. i could avoid it too if i went back.

well, everything but math.

26.

oooooooh man. today has been a day. lana was at her whiniest. whine whine whine. and her whining, is just eeeeeeaaahh. its EEEEEEAAAHHHHHHHH. horrible. shes getting worse, i swear.

other than her whining, not a whole lot got accomplished today. went for a walk, thats pretty much it.

yesterday was fun! missie took me to lowes and horrocks. and i apparently got a tick while i was (im assuming) at horrocks. ryan had fun wiping it from existance. he smothered it in gun powder and let it burrrrrrn.

i got some cool new bath products. almost everything from the dove go fresh line in cucumber & green tea except the lotion and the bar soap. which i might get both of. because i LOOOVE it.

okie dokie, ryan is back from the bar, so i am going to finish this up bye saying
my house smells like a pool.
because my next door neighbor has been power washing, and weve had our windows open.

it makes me want toSWIM!

25.

today was rather productive. i went to meijer, and delivered a letter and an article and a packet to the inlaws, went to the bank, moved stuff in the garage, found and began installing a screen for the french doors, went for a nice walk, dropped off & picked up ryan from work, designed a cook landscape for the backyard we will never do, picked out some perennials to plant next year online. i should have gone to video to go, but oh well. i can do that tomorrow or saturday when ryan and his dad are putting screens in the windows.. finally!

ok well i need to make ryans lunch, and go to bed. because i have been exhausted, and i need more sleep.

24.

so ryan has no idea what to do for mothers day. so i had to make him a list. here is my list:
(listed in no particular order)
1. Rollerblades
2. AE giftcard/new jeans
3. Sushi/UKAI dinner & movie date
4. Lugnuts tickets
5. No diaper changes*
6. No baby feedings*
7. Sleep in*
8. Family Portriats
9. Paid maid for 1 day
10. Target giftcard/ t-shirts
11. YMCA membership
12. New car
13. Grill
14. Redwings (Chelios 24) Jersey
15. Home pedicure kit
16. 30 minute massage*

(*FREE and expected for the day.)

so really i only want like, one thing from that list, no including things with a star. ryan thinks i should see if paige wants to go to get pedicures, since i still have that gift card, but i think i want to wait to get that until before we go to the cottage so they look nice that week.

ryan applied to two places today, both of which he knows people in the higher ups. so hopefully he gets an interview/ job offer from one of them. preferably the one in eaton rapids, because he could actually do some artistic work in it.

man i gotta clean the house and i gotta plant some bulbs, soon. people perennials are alreay grown and blooming with flowers. if i dont get a move on, im not gonna see any flowers this season. which isnt a big deal i guess. i can get some perennials to plant at the end of summer or something, and have pretty flowers next year.

and all the seeds i planted in doors are shooting up like crazy, and are going to need to be transplanted soon. which means we need to get the rototiller out, and weed and make a fence and what not.

ok im goin to go to the red wings website and pretend im going to get to go to a game again before december. and PRAY they win this game. 3-1 at the beginning of the 3rd. grr.

23.

so ryan and i were talking he other day, and he said "baby smiles are the best! dont you think?" and i agreed.
but then yesterday, bug was sitting in her bouncy seat, playing with a toy, or the remote of something, and she just ripped a huge fart. and didnt even seem to notice.

so thats when i decided that, although baby smiles are fantastic, baby farts are truly the best.

i got an email back from spacebags telling me if i wanted, i could send them the space bag logo from the bag, and a reason why it was defective, and they would replace it. but thats not what i want. i want my money back! not more defective products. but ryan said everyone he has talked to are really surprised we are having problems with them. so i dont know. ill decide tomorrow.

i made of list of things i would like for mothers day. of everything, it looks like ryan is shooting for the new (used) car. he found a 2001 aztek in lansing with 90,000mi, in mint condition for $5,500. we would have to get a loan like, this week though.

i think it would be fun to like, go get some coffee, or even go crazy and go get a pedicure with someone on or around mothers day, ya know? take some time off from the family and just chill with someone! that would be cool.

ok well, i need to find some food or something.

22.

my name is earl is a fantastic show.
"do snakes have hair?"
"they do when they're ferrets."

i dont have a whole lot to blog about. i got my WIC problem resolved today. i guess they updated codes, but then didnt change what it was supposed to be. so not only does lana have her formula, but she is also learning how to use a sippy cup! which is cool, because that means she can feed herself, while i do things.

and im totally signing up to be a nursery worker, and a drama volunteer at my church! woot woot. i think it will be fun!

ok well, im going to check some stuff and then finish this episode, and then go to bed.

21.

oh man lana bug is 5 mos old today! its crazy. i seriously cant believe it. i also cant believe how many ridiculous times star wars has been on spike. bleh. i used to really like star wars, but its been pretty much the only thing playing on the TV beside gta.

stupid WIC. never go on WIC. ever. it is the biggest hassel EVER. there are so many stupid particulars. and to top it off, they screwed up my reload today. i was set up to receive nine 12.9oz cans of enfamil a.r. plus lipil. so i go to meijer to get it today, and it wouldnt work. so i come home and i go online, and i set up my online account, to figure out why it wouldnt work, and stupid WIC people set me up to receive 113oz JFK formula. (which is formula for ages 1-5yrs.) so i call customer service, and they tell me i have to go into the WIC office. but lana needs more formula pretty much tomorrow. and i have no transportation to the office before 5 until thursday.

so like i said, stupid WIC.

and ive been super cold lately and i dont know why. i want it to be back in the 60's tomorrow, and i want the screens to magically appear in the windows so i can open all the windows and enjoy the wonderful weather, and the massive drop in heating/cooling bills.

one good thing that came from watching star wars is that i think lana would make an adorable ewok for halloween.

90% of all statistics can be made to say anything 50% of the time.
man im bored and tired. i think i should go to bed early tonight. i have to switch out ryans laundry, make his lunch, and pray lana doesnt wake up. then i can go to bed.

20.

stupid freaking space bags.
so i go online to order some space bags.
im checking out, and they're like, hey, buy some more for $5.
so i do. and then i get raped up the but with extra charges.
and i cant figure out how to cancel my order.

so they come today, and ryan was all excited cause he thought they were cool things.
and i use one of the hanging bags to compress my wedding dress and ryans suit & dress clothes.
cool.
so i take a large size bag to fill with lana's 0-3 mo clothes shes grown out of.
im zipping the thing shut,
and it FREAKING rips.
useless. so it wont vacuum seal with a hole.
pissy me.

then ryan goes to get wendys for dinner. and we always have issues with that location. but this time the fries were so UNDER cooked, they werent even hot all the way through. so i was SUPER mad, because the whole reason i wanted wendy's was because i wanted lots of fries.

so i was so annoyed i wanted to take the bag of fries back there and throw them and explode on the staff about how ridiculously useless everyone there is, and how it isnt that hard to drop fries, set the timer, and take the fries out when the timer goes off. especially since ryan said they were busy at all.

and ryan and i have been at each others throats for a few days now. im pmsing, and theres a bit of tension between us, of the husband and wifey kind.

and the DVR didnt freaking record scrubs. ive been dying for a new episode, and i go to find it on the dvr, and its not there. its set to record, but it didnt happen. SO MAD. there isnt a repeat of it on that i can find in the next few days either.

im just counting down to the week at the cottage in july. thats pretty much the greatest week of the year. and lana bug will be about 8mos old, so it will be even more fun. we wont be there for the coast guard festival, but if ryan can make warehouse on the 4th, we might be able to make it up there in time for fireworks that night.

oh well. i need to try and go to bed or something. nothing on tv, lana's asleep, ryans in bed. it wouldnt hurt to get a good long nights sleep for once.

19.

today was a good day, until. but we will get to until later, if at all.

lana let me sleep in again this morning, and practiced sitting up solo. shes getting really good! hung around and ate some soup, did some dishes, planted my seeds to start growing indoors before it gets warm out, finally. and then we took a trip to walmart! and that was fun.

it was a very productive shopping trip.

then we got home, and unpacked, and i fed bug, and ryan got back!
and i had a good convo with misty.
then "until" happened

then i had a good talk with missie.
then we ate pizza, fed the baby.
and ryan and lana fell asleep.

so i put them both to bed.
and now im here. bored.

but im talking to missie again, so im not totally bored!

18.

today was a good day. lana let me sleep in till nearly 11, and then she was in good spirits for a while. then ryan got home at like 1:30i. then i cleaned a bunch. then missie and her kids, and her cousin came over, and we all went for a walk around the neighborhood. then we hung out while eva ate. then they left! and it was a very good time. then ryan started to make dinner, but im possessive about the kitchen, so i took over. then we ate. and now were looking at cars on ebay and watching family guy. and ryans going to bed a half hour ago. i think hes stalling. lana bug is asleep, but not ready for her crib. and im chillin wishing i had brownie mix cause brownies sound damn good. im going to have to get some next time i got grocery shopping. hopefully ryan and dan will carpool tomorrow so i can have car access.

anywho. i dont really think i have an anywho. my cousins wedding is next month in traverse! it should be fun, were going to get a hotel room overlooking the beach and everything.

the neighborhood yard sale is the 25th and 26th if anyone wants to come out and take a looksee. i think we might have a table, but im not sure. ryan and i didnt get a chance to poke around in the basement really. maybe ill look later tonight. i dunno. i think i can think of a few things off the top of my head maybe. we would have to go get price tag stickers and get like $40 into change and stuff. and borrow tables from his parents. ugh. i dunno.

ok im going to change channels until i lose my mind. and then pack ryans lunch. and then try to put the baby down.

17.

ok this one is fo' real.

google your first name (Sydney)
google your last name (Sandy)

#1 Website Sydney is the wikipedia entry for Sydney, Australia
(every website on the first page is about Sydney, Australia)
#1 Image Sydney is the Sydney Harbor Bridge






#2 Image Sydney is the Sydney Opera House







#1 Website Sandy is www.iwantsandy.com, which is an email assistant program i guess.
#2 Website Sandy is www.sandy.utah.gov, Sandy, Utah apparently.

#1 Image Sandy is a chick with a sandy butt at the beach







#2 Image Sandy is pictures of lace underwear, or something. I guess its a piece of artwork?









ok that wasnt nearly as exciting as i thought it would be. i need to work on pictures and copy missie's awesome slideshow. and work on lanas baby book.

16.

this blog is a test to see if missie helped with my timestamp issue.

wooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooo

15.

holy crap. i am so pissed. SO PISSED.
there are these two random bags of trash sitting on our counter. they're usually where our room mate puts his stuff, so i figured they were his. but he never moved them. so this morning, i was annoyed they were still there, so i looked into one of them. and there was a really old bottle of ryans prescription pills from 4 years ago. and curlers i recognized from somewhere.. hmm..


so i called ryan, and asked him, what are these bags of trash on the counter? and he said he thought they were dans. and i said, no there are feminine pads and your pills. and he said;

Oh, well maybe my mom brought it over when we weren't here.

can you see yet why i am pissed? this isnt the fist time they have brought their old junk and trash over here, without telling us they are, or even asking if we want/need it.

i dont know. maybe there is a giant sign over our house invisible only to me that says "Goodwill" or "Salvation Army" or "DUMP YOUR CRAP HERE"

for 1. they dont even give us the opportunity to say no we dont want that because they dont ask, and they do it when were not around. and this isnt the first time either!!!! when we moved in there was this weird useless desk thing but with no where to sit sitting in our den, that i recognized from his parents garage, because it had a yard sale price sticker on it. they gave it to us because they couldnt sell it and didnt want it. but NEITHER DO WE!

for 2. his mom came over to our house, and let herself inside when no one was here.
im just going to stop there with that one.

so not only do they keep buying crap for the house without asking if we like it or want it or need it, and then complaining when we dont use it, but theyre bringing theyre trash over here too, without asking if we need it.

moral of the story:
living within WALKING DISTANCE to your in-laws is a VERY VERY VERY bad idea.
im getting annoyed enough to even go so far as to saying living within DRIVING distance is a bad idea.

ugh.
ok time to eat & start a potroast.

14.

so a week or so ago, i was think, man, iron chef should do an episode with coffee as the secret ingredient. and low and behold, tonights episode has coffee as the secret ingredient. this just adds to my theory that im being stalked. or at least my ideas are. freaking weird. i should get involved in pop culture and start getting paid for the ideas everyone's stealing from me.

omgosh i want the scotch brite cook top cleaner.
and apparently termites drive cool cars.

one of our electronics in the entertainment system is making a horrible high pitch ringing alarm sound. i think it might be the tv. yep, its the tv. i hope theres nothing wrong with it, because im pretty sure ryan didnt pay for the insurance package on it. and we just got that thing not very long ago.

so lana had a blast today at rivbabies! im so proud of her for being such a big girl and not getting upset! and she totally zonked out in the car on the way home, and when she woke up she was still happy and talking and laughing! she was great. i cant wait until she gets used to it and talks and laughs and stuff around other people. being around the other babies will help her be more interested in learning how to get around independently too.

mm hungry. i love steak, which is what we had for dinner, but it never keeps me full! so now i need to go find something to eat. maybe some soup.. yum.

i love the weather because i can turn the heat off all day long, and not run the air yet either. so our gas bill will be LOW. especially since its still 70 in here because it got like, 74 during the day. and since we dont have any screens in any windows, we cant open them yet. i might not have to turn the heat on at all tonight. hopefully this summer we will be able to save a good amount of money by very very very rarely running the AC. we can stick the window unit in lana's room and turn that on if its too hot for her to stand. we need to get a temperature thing for her room to make sure its comfortable in there all summer.

omgosh i want that freaking scotch brite cook top cleaner!!!!!!!!!
our stove top gets amazingly filthy every day. ten minutes after i clean it, it looks exactly the same.

i want a dog :(
and a grill so we can have BBQ's and game & movie nights with people.
and more toys & baby proofing so my house will be child friendly if friends with children visit.

ok, to the soup mobile, batman!

13.

omgosh i am ridiculous. i cannot NOT talk to ryan if im around him, no matter what the situation. usually i go to bed a few hours after him, and im all tired and exhausted, and hes so deep into dreamland he doesnt even wake up when the baby starts yelling for her pacifier. so i fall asleep.

not tonight though. he bugs me to go to bed at the same time as him, so i do. and at first im tired. but then i think about how missie and her husband are going on a belated honeymoon to do missionary work in mexico. so i bring it up to him. and we talk about it. and i keep talking about it.
so he says "you really dont want me to go to work tomorrow, do you?"
so i say "sorry, ill stop talking."
then another thing i want to ask him about comes up.
but i dont want to keep him up.
then another.
and another.
and things i want to talk to him about just keep piling up in my head, driving me crazy, waking me up more and more.

so finally i get up. and he asks me where im going
so i say "im going downstairs because i cant sleep and i keep thinking of things to talk to you about, and you need to go to sleep."

so to keep my sanity, i came downstairs, turned on the TV, and am back to where i usually am at 12:30am.

anyway. he took the USPS exam today, and he thinks he did pretty well. its for a temp. rural carrier position, and he out that hes interested in delivering to grand ledge, dimondale and potterville. so it would be cool if he didnt get that job.

ok so im going to watch reruns and think about the ridiculous amount of cleaning i have to do tomorrow since our room mates friend is staying on our couch bed tomorrow night. and i dont want to look like a gigantic slob family.

12.

i love shows like law and order because they say all the stories are fictional, but every now and then you see an episode, and youre like WAIT! there was a story very similar to that on the news that i remember! like the one right now, about a toy mogul who was accused of molesting a kid and paying off his family, and has a treasure room with costumes for kids.

what does THAT remind you of?? hah. michael jackson.. crazy television.

anywho. i sent noel an email about a cool program the church could start. it began when ryan joked about starting a small group at riv called "cooking for Christ", and that reminded me of the NEST program my old church used to do where they would provide overnight shelter and breakfast/dinner for the homeless for a week.

granted, riv doesnt have a kitchen, and there aret a lot of homeless in the holt south lansing area, but there are low income families would could probably use Christ in their lives, and im sure there are plenty of people there who would be willing to cook large dishes for 7 nights of dinners to bring in a pot luck style to the church for these low income families.

i dunno. i think i would like to join/start a small group at riv, but i dont really know where to go from there.
we also want to start our own business. but once again, dont really know how to go from there.

any suggestions, on either??

11.

oh man this sucks. i have (i figure) a viral rash. because i remember having it last year, and i think the year before too, around relatively the same time of season. its not contagious because ryan and lana are still rash free, and ive had it for about a week. but its so itchy and its getting worse-ish. its spread, but its not as itchy as it was at first. blahhh.

and ryan is stuck in a pot hole. hes having all kinds of stupid problems with his dumb PSP. its just getting worse and worse, and making him more and more agitated about everything all the time. and pile that nicely on top of his crap low paying hard labor dead end stupid effing job, equals a very strenuous relationship. and he is making so many excuses for not getting a new job! he doesnt want to go backwards, hes not qualified, michigans economy sucks, two part time jobs wouldnt be enough money, he wants to go back to school.

and now he's saying he doesnt know what it is God wants him to learn from this seriously difficult series of misfortunes, but hes about to give up. i told him that maybe hes just looking for jobs/careers in the wrong place. but he doesnt know where else to look.

ohh i dont even know what to do to make him see the bright side anymore! hes always negative and pissed off. his fuse has shrunken to a millimeter in length, and he explodes really quickly all the time. and that makes me nervous with the baby! i dont want her to end up with his horrible temper!

ohh i dont know. theres nothing on tv right now, and hes going to bed soon. i guess ill just surf till im tired.

10.

we need a bed frame with a head board and foot board. we have a memory foam pad on our mattress, and its always sliding off the foot of the bed. and our pillows always somehow manage to fall into the abyss between the mattress and wall.

anywho. i dont really have a whole lot to blog about. all my shows are starting to slowly reair with new episodes. its pretty exciting. which is sort of sad that im excited about tv shows. oh boy.

yeah i dont have anything to talk about!

9.

so today has been, interesting. i spent most of it debating and discussing Christianity on that facebook group. i also played with lana bug, you know, since she was around and stuff. lol.

then ryan came home and we goofed off, and went to staples to get printer paper. now were home and paying rent came, and that always puts me in a really bad mood, so im fighting an appearance by super biotch. i did the dishes, which, as much as i hate it, clams me down for some reason, and ryan is feeding bug.

i dont know. its been one of those days. i randomly got really pissed and started yelling at no one when i was in the kitchen. im just tired and hungry and generally cranky. i need to go to bed much earlier. and eat food during the day, even if bug whines the whole time im in the kitchen.

man im sick of hearing about global warming and pollution and saving the planet crap. God wont let the planet become a wasteland before the second coming, so im not too terribly worried about it.

8.

so ignore the time stamps on these blogs, theyre all wrong, everyone. its really 1am. im chillin on the sofa watching food network, eating oreos, and debating Christianity with a complete stranger via facbook group: "IM A CHRISTIAN....AND IM PROUD TO SAY IT!!"

i dont really want to get into the nitty gritty details because i honestly dont enjoy doing it. i remember being the angry atheist looking for a fight, so i dont like going back to that, but in the opposing shoes. mainly because i get super heated, and i really dont want to lose my cool and look like just another hipocrit ass hole close minded uninformed christian. im not great at debating.

so im super interested, and SUPER unqualified for the administrative assistant position at riv. ryan told me i should apply anyway, cause it couldnt hurt, and if for some crazy unbelievable wacky reason i got it, we would figure something out. (we only have one car, and ryan works 40hrs a week. and i dont even know what would go on with care for bug). so i guess once we get some printer paper, ill print out an app. and turn it in whenever we go to church this weekend.

so, anyone want to be friendssss? im finding myself lacking in a serious way, and i could use some i think. misty is coming up from kzoo saturday (allegedly) to pick up her glasses and take me out for the sushi she owes me from when i spotted her a while back. im doing a really crappy job of keeping in touch with my long lost best friend, currently residing in utah because shes mormon. and then i have my husband. and i think we could use a night out away from each other with friends sans baby.

ok well, i guess im going to bounch. i wish noel would post something new on walk the razor, im officially hooked to that and his website. probablu because i have nothing better to do but surf da net!!!

7.

sometimes.. i wish ryan and i could get married all over again, and have a real wedding. looking back, ours was kind of depressing. no professional photographer, crappy catering, i didnt like my dress, we both had trouble planning our parties, non of our extended family came, a lot of friends didnt either. it wasnt even done by a pastor, or in a church. it was poorly planned, and poorly decorated. there were no flowers, and barely even a send off. no music, or dancing. my dad didnt even want to walk me down the aisle. people who werent invited crashed the reception. a ton of people left before we even cut the cake. and the cake was cute, but it wasn't gorgeous. i dont honestly think anyone even had fun. then invitations were sloppy, the wedding night wasnt anything to brag about, and we didnt have a honeymoon. still havent.

my wedding ring doesnt fit me anymore. at all, it will barely go on and off my pinky.

i honestly get kind of sad when i think about it all. thats not how anyone should react when they think about their wedding.

6.

Have you ever noticed how bad commercials have gotten? twix commercials saying their product will help you lie, axe and tag will help you get laid (tag being worse because it markets to high school aged boys), the "morning tongue" for burger king. its ridiculous!

my favorite is the extendz commercial. they go on and on about how its scientifically developed, so all i think is of a bunch of scientists with small penis's trying to find a way to make them bigger! ha! that sure is a good use of that chemistry degree.

tv is just so bad. i mean, even kids cartoons are walking the line. like the channel "The N" for example. dont get me wrong, degrassi is a guilty pleasure.. but if i ever caught lana watching any of the n originals, she would be in so much trouble! i mean, this channel is marketed towards middle schoolers, and half of their originals have SO much inappropriate content. homosexuality, pre-marital sex, drug use, lying, cheating, sneaking around, coed living arrangements. and they sometimes cover serious topics, like violence, STDs, cancer, or rape, but kids dont see that the way they see the other stuff.

i mean, even disney movies. for example, that football movie with the rock in it. essentially it was about him having pre-marital sex with someone he didnt keep in touch with, and got them pregnant. and in enchanted, the guy had an emotional affair with gisel while in a relationship with someone he was planning to marry.

i dont know. i just see so many things in the media that are perceived as "normal" when they shouldnt be. divorce, infidelity, underage drinking, pre-marital sex, lying, homosexuality, using the Lords name in vain, swearing, breaking even the simplest of laws, disobedience, gluttony, vanity. the list goes on. its horrible.

oh well. the most i can do as a individual is keep lana shielded as much as i can i guess.
poor bug has a cold right now. her current nick name is booger-bucket.

5.

who thinks this is rude?
showing up at someones house unannounced and remarking on how they need to sweep their floors.

even if it wasn't supposed to be meant of offensive, seriously. what kind of person in their right mind would do that?
i know i know, turn the other cheek.

but there are SO many things, i was raised one way, and they are so totally opposite of that. how do you deal with these kinds of differences? it is so hard to just accept theyre completely different people and let EVERY single thing (which are a lot of things) just slide by without offending you.

oooo my goodness how do you do it?

4. (3. had a real title)

so if you didnt get my blog link from riverviews website, then you should check out www.walktherazor.com, i mean, you should check it anyway if you havent yet and you do attend riv.

so today was easter. and i say was because its currently 12:30am, so its technically no longer easter. but because im still awake, im still considering it to be easter. happy easter!

east brings out a lot of things. usually, spring. this year it was snow. this was the earliest easter since some time in the very early 1900's. and there wont be another this early for 80 more years.

easter is also a day a lot of people think about Christ. more so i think then Christmas, or at least in a different almost more serious way. even people who dont believe in it still acknowledge that He rose with zombie jokes.

it also brings out all the people who are "christians" when its convienent. they go to church all the MAJOR holidays, if it comes up in conversation, yeah, they believe. when they were little their parents had them baptized, or christened, or both. and the few times they go to church, they think, wow, this really touched my soul. but they dont make it a habit.

are you one of those people? because if you are, you need to rethink your relationship with God, and what easter really means.

silly baby

my 4 month old daughter, in the simplest of terms, is a freak. when she gets hungry she turns into a crazed lunatic. at the beginning of every feeding she turns her meal into a wrestling match. for the first half of her bottle she writhes around on my lap, twisting and turning and whining. she shoves the bottle so hard away from her i usually drop it. i know she hungry because she whines until i bring out the bottle, and when she sees it, she gets this look like i can only imagine a crack addict gets before smoking a rock. the nipple isnt clogged, the formulas not too hot. i honestly thinks she freaks because its not coming out fast enough. she is a piglet baby.

i guess most people experience the infantile wrestling match during diaper time. not with bug. she loves diaper time. she laughs and smiles and talks, its a blast. for her at least, dirty diapers arent exactly my favorite thing in the world. so i guess its a trade off.

ive been pretty lucky with her anyway. she never got colic, and shes been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 months old, and we very recently got her to stop sleeping swaddled.

so in the scheme of things the mealtime wrestling match isnt that big of a deal. as long as she doesnt making eating so difficult when she starts solids.

oh and shes been kicking me this entire time.

2.

13 going on 30 is a great movie. but whining babies are not so great.
my jaw hurts, and im not sure why, oh well.

ok well i totally dont have a whole lot to say, so im outie.

1.

i need a hobby. i toyed with the idea of doing mosaics, but im not sure i have the time. ive also considered buying rosetta stone, and learning a new language. once again though, no time. ryan says the first thing i need to accept about hobbies, is that there are no time restraints. i can do it whenever i feel like it, and stop whenever i need to. any ideas?