Money, Money, Mon-ey

So, I've big plans. I'm going to start selling some of the crafty stuff I do on the website, www.Etsy.com. I'm going to make the things up in my lazy evenings at home and then because I don't actually like or have the capacity to do the internet stuff, I'll send them to Mom and she'll sell them for me. So far I've got some rugs and other weavings, some purses, necklaces, hackey sacks, hats - etc. I laugh because I used to do this all the time with farmers markets, neighbors, friends - I just love to make this stuff- might as well make it work for me. I need to have something to keep my hands busy but don't care to have so many things lying around my house. Anyway - stay tuned and when I've got it all online I'll post the link too...

Time Flies

My goodness but time does fly. Here it is almost December and I haven't had any updates at ALL! Bad Maija! No biscuit! Oh well. So, lets see... I've moved again. The mother-in-law apartment was actually a garage and I stayed all of about 2 1/2 months. I couldn't handle the mice and the ants and the landlady who thought we still lived in Utah and needed an honor code and was just a generally crazy lady and so I moved out and into a regular apartment. The rent is about double but the peace of mind makes up for it. I've got it decorated very nicely now and it's very homey and I just love it. Just a little 700 square foot, one bedroom place, but I don't really need anything more. And it has a porch that looks out over a field with a tree in the middle and that suits me just fine. Other big changes - I traded in the Plymouth Voyager van for a Saturn that gets about 3x better gas mileage and makes me feel more like myself and not so much a soccer mom. I picked up a second job - sorry, J.- and am working part time at a Cafe. I can now make the best crepes, panini and drinks! but am getting anxious to quit. The boss is the worst bully I've ever met! Blech. I love the girls I work with but just dread having any interaction with the owners. Not a fun work environment. J-Dawg is still the love of my life and doing his best to take good care of me. He cleans my house and comes over and makes me dinner and I often find the sweetest little cards left in places and we really are having so much fun. I'm glad for him. Winter's on its way here and I'm getting anxious to either go snowboarding or go to Bermuda. I know- such different environments but don't they both sound so much fun!! Or, I'll just be content to spend some lazy days at home enjoying the wet and wild weather and snuggling with a good book and some hot chocolate. Either way really. Anyway, I guess I'm feeling the need to post a little better. I read my sisters and friends blogs and they really are so enjoyable. Once I got over my jelousy (they're such better writers and so much more entertaining!!) I decided to just post my rambling thoughts anyway. So, here you go... Love!

Crazy Changes

So, I don’t have internet anymore. Nor, really, a job that supports the use of one even furtively so my chances for updating are a bit slimmer. But still I vow to my faithful readers (Hi Mom!!) to plough onward, ever upwards in my attempt to keep you all up to date on my exploits. I have in fact had a few recently. First of all is my new big job. I applied; interviewed and got the job (They liked me! They really liked me!). I got to spend a week in Salem doing Bank Teller Training. I got to stay in a hotel with a Swimming Pool!! YAY!! It was a dream to get to put my bathing suit back on after almost a 8 month hiatus! I’m really having fun and loving this new job - such a nice thing to be able to say after my last drudgery. Next on my big news agenda is I’ve moved back into my own place. I’m renting a studio/mother-in-law apartment just a mile and a half from this new job and it’s a beautiful thing to walk around in my underwear again. With J. just a mile and a half away in the other direction and the bank a mile and a half the other way, my life has come nice and full circle again. I like having my little world contained. So life is going a long swimmingly with its usual ups and down and good days and hard days but that’s just the way I like it I guess. -Keeps things interesting. It seems like there are a hundred more little adventures and wild moments that I wish I could take time to document but… not today.

And we're up again

So about 2 weeks is as long as I cared to live irresponsibly. It was a lot of fun though. Mostly it consisted of hedonistic, wild pleasures like goldfish crackers and sleeping in. I'm feeling much more productive now - I have a job interview for a position as a bank teller tonight... we'll see how that goes. I'm cautiously optimistic about it. Also, I move into a new little 2 bedroom apartment on the first of the month. It will be nice to have a place of my own again because I'm tired of having to keep my pants on when I come home from work. I'm ready to walk around in my underwear again and eat goldfish for dinner. Er, so, I guess - I still want to live a *little* hedonistic-ly.

Free Bird

I’ve decided that I want to live my life irresponsibly. I don’t want to save for the future. I don’t really care about retirement. I’m no longer concerned about the earth or the children or the third world countries. I’m actually not really concerned about anything. I think it sounds like fun to live in a double wide trailer on someone else’s lot – or even better – maybe just in a van. Or, maybe I’ll marry someone who’s no good for me in lots of different ways and let him support me. Or, if he can’t then I’ll work too and be content to live paycheck to paycheck at temp jobs I’m overqualified for. I’m not going to concern myself with trying to be healthy either. Way to much work. And you never know how long your going to live anyway, so I might as well – relax. Besides, goldfish crackers taste way to good and I don’t want the guilt.

Post Number 100

So, this is the 1ooth post for this little blog of mine. And to think it's only taken me, what? Three years or so to do it? Oh, well - good for me. So work here as of late has been pretty boring to say the least. I mean, it's always been pretty bad but lately with the company going down and all it seems I have to try and make three hours of work stretch into eight and it's getting harder and harder. I tend to read headlines on my serious downtime but feel justified because when I look around all the other girls are playing solitaire.
So, different note real quick... I seem to have pretty good luck when it comes to finding great stuff in the lost and found bins or picking stuff up off the street. All my favorite watches and jewelry has come that way. J. teases me about it mercelessly but last night he was so excited to give me a sweet gift. It was a little gold ring with a jewel that he found in the street when he was long boarding the other night. He passed it three times glittering there before he stopped to investigate. Can I just say, I've never been so proud, nor so pleased with any gift as much as I am with my beautiful gutter ring. And just as proud and pleased with my little sticky fingered protoge. Love!

March Madness

So, I've been reading a lot of my friends blogs lately who all do so good at updating and am feeling quite like the slacker I am. Also noted, is how much more creative my friends are in the upkeep of their blogs - I mean, pictures posted and colored text and music links and counters and maps and such! Sheesh. My blog is very boring. Oh well - I hardly write enough on it anyway. 'Course - maybe if I took more time to make it a bit more interesting I might feel more motivated to write... hmm... I'll have to think about that.
So, I have come to the realization of why I don't perhaps blog so much and this is it. I often have two or three big, funny, momentous or just perfectly bloggable moments that happen all with in the span of a day or two of each other. The reason though that I don't write about them is that I feel like if I were to write about both or all of them on the same day then that would take away from the greatness of them. I like to have my events separated out by a title. If you have two or three things going on it one post - I just feel that for me personally it's no good and so I don't write about it at all.
So, instead of trying to write about my experience at the DMV that actually happened on the 8th of this month, and try and post it on the end of this entry almost as if it were a last minute thought, I'm going to wait until tomorrow and give it the recognition it deserves - it's very own day.

Jobs

As some of you... er... all of you... know, the company I'm working for now has filed bankruptcy. It's in the final throws with a very small percent chance of recovery. The word on the street is that we can expect to work about 4-6 more months and then it's all up in the air. I'm okay with that... I haven't put out any resumes or anything because, well, I hate doing that. But I did have something fall in my lap. A girl I worked for for three weeks before she left for another job sent an application my way last week for a nice position at her new company along with a recommendation she sent to her HR people. It just kind of fell in my lap and so I figured it would be cake. I went in for an interview last week and sat there answereing questions for 40 minutes between two girls. The job was for an Administrative Assistant position for a VERY hippy company - they consult with other companies on how to lessen there environmental impact. It was my dream job. Anyway, I found out today that I didn't get it. Huh. Weird. It seems odd because they sought me out. I'm a little at odds with it - but mostly I suppose because nobody likes rejection. I emailed the girls and asked for specifics on why I didn't get it and I'm interested in hearing back from them. I know I have a hard time with interviews. I'm not very good at selling myself in person. Oh well... At least I still have this job for another couple of months. And a boyfriend who rocks and doesn't love me for my money.

Pistachio!

So, J.-Dawg, bought me a fish. A pretty little beta that’s white with a purple-maroonie colored tail. I named her Pistachio and I LOVE her. She has a pretty little round bowl with lime green rocks on the bottom and some purple flower plants and a little purple lily pad. The colors all work so well together with this pretty little fish. I just love her. J. is teaching me how to be a good beta momma and how I have to feed her twice a day and clean her bowl and make sure she’s warm enough. I never knew I was such a sucker for such a little thing but I rush home at night now to make sure she’s still swimming around and that she looks happy and content. And I’ve changed my wake up routine in the morning so I don’t startle her so bad by turning on such a bright lamp right above her. I really want this pretty little fish to stick around for a while. She means the world to me because she’s from J. and he means the world to me. He has a beta too – a beautiful deep red one named The Human Torch, but we just call him Big Red.

Wheels

I need a car. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before or not… it seems like I must have only because it’s been at the top of my list for a while. So, remember how I was so excited to be learning how to drive a clutch again on S.’s little Subaru? Well, I’m proud to say it only took me 4 months to ruin a brand new clutch and only $700 to buy a new one. I think that perhaps this, more then anything has been my great motivator in moving my butt to get my own car. That and the fact that it’s hard at 28 years of age to ask to borrow a car so you can drive to see your boyfriend… Oh well, I’m so lucky that I’ve got such nice family that they’ve let me these past couple of months or so. Anyway… I’m in the market now and looking harder then ever… er… actually, I’m bugging M & D to look harder then ever for me. All I need is a junker/clunker with 4 wheels and an engine that will move my butt 16 miles to J.’s house and back… oh, and the occasional trip to Utah to pick up some of my fun stuff from my storage unit. Now really, is that asking so much?

Wild Fun

This morning was kind of a crazy morning. S. had to go up to Seattle at 5:30 am so he was going to drop me off at the Transit Center so I could catch a bus instead of hitching a ride all the way to P-Town like I normally do. This is fine except I don’t have to be at work till 8am. I ended up arriving down town a lot earlier then 8am because I took an Express bus -which is a lovely thing when you’re a Public Transit Commuter. It snowed last night so I had to find a place down town that I could hang out at that was going to be nice and comfortable and warm. It turns out that Borders café opens up nice and early and has plush, easy chairs you can sit in and – here’s the dangerous part – the café serves hot chocolate! With whipped cream! And sprinkles! I felt so wild ordering a hot chocolate at a book store café and then sitting there and drinking it with people thinking it was coffee and all… I’m a dork I know, but it was wild, delicious, fun. It did suck though having to wake up about 4:30’ish to catch that bus to get that hot chocolate and the only thing that makes THAT okay, was that I had the most relaxing and lovely weekend bumming around with J. I don’t think from Friday to Sunday we were ever out of our PJ’s. We did catch up on a lot of video game playing and movies and snacks though, which was good. Because neither of us have a car, we can’t go anywhere or spend any money but I think – sometimes, that’s just nice.

Wishes

I wish that change came about just by writing down a plan. I’ve discovered about myself that I actually love to write out plans. I love the process of thinking of a problem – something I’d like to change – and then writing out detailed plans on how that change has got to happen. I love to make budgeted plans for paying down debt. I love to make menus for healthy eating, work out schedules and routines. I love to make shopping lists and to do lists for getting my life organized. I love to make plans for saving up for something and plans for paying for something. I love to make lists for weekend get-a-ways and for dream vacations. I love to work and re-work over lists and plans I’ve made before – trying to get them just perfect – perhaps finally coming up with something that actually would work. For all the effort that I put into making up these good life plans for all these good life changes, I wish that was all it took. It sucks that you actually have to DO what you write down. You actually have to STICK to the budget, the grocery list, the packing list. You actually have to EAT the healthy menu and DO the work out routines. Huh, where’s the fun in that?

Fresh Start

I had wanted to start the year out strong by writing more on here… but as it seems is usually the case, I’m lucky to get this one posted in the spare minute I find between ragged breaths from running around crazy. So, quick update – still here in Portland/Vancouver area and still enjoying it. Especially the part where there is no snow on the ground. Hate the part where it doesn’t really matter because I don’t have a car to drive around anyway, but I’m dealing with that. – Should have something soon… I hope… Still working in Portland and still trying to get the motivation to look for another job. I guess when I hate this one bad enough I’ll move on. Or when the Company’s Bankruptcy is finalized and I lose my job anyway. Still dating J. and still loving every minute of it. Dating someone is a lot harder then they make it look in the movies but I’m happy to report it’s also a lot more fun and a lot more fulfilling. He is my dream man – beautiful tender hearted punk who writes me songs and draws me the most beautiful artistic drawings. I don’t really have any big adventures on the horizon right now which makes my life feel a little off balance, but I’m finding that just trying to make it day to day is exciting enough. I do wish I had my snow shoes or my snow board up here with me but I can’t do anything about that today so I won’t worry about it. I should plan a trip down to Utah to pick some of those things up – but the car situation makes that tough. Oh well, like I said, won’t worry about that today…