59/365

Rattlesnake season appears to have come sooner than expected. This is number three in two days.

58/365

We've had this sitting on our counter for well over a year. I've never used it. RM#1 has never used it. RM#2 has used it a handful of times (but just one hand).

Tonight, while waiting for the NASCAR race to resume (rolling eyes), I tried it.

I do not know what all the hype is. If its because you can make small amounts, big deal. What's different than a single coffee pot they've been making for years? Maybe it's something else. Please. Someone explain it.

I have a box of 18, so I'll likely be using it 17 more times. Maybe my opinion will change. :-/

57/365

56/365

For four years, my driver window switch has been broken. I have refused to be THAT person who has to open their door in the drive-thru.

Today, it was finally replaced. My window now rolls down!!

Look out drive-thru's. I'm coming back.

55/365

On this warm February day, the cows and horses were relaxed. :-)

54/365

My iThingy's lock screen is showing its support for Kyle already.

The Blues

It's been three weeks since I've seen my therapist. That isn't good. Know how I know? Cause I'm a wreck!

Couldn't sleep last night. Too many incomplete thoughts running around in my head. I have questions I don't have answers to and I have problems I can't solve. After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, I got up, went into the bathroom, and cried my eyes out like a little baby. And nobody else in the house knew. It was a painful moment, but I eventually picked myself up off the bathroom floor and went back to bed. At 3:30am.

Trying to take a shower this morning proved harder than I thought. What the heck is going on? It's a simple shower. A SHOWER! Running water, soap, a razor if needed, shampoo, conditioner, and more water. What is the freakin' problem with that? I'm not completely sure. But what I am sure of is that when I got in, all I wanted to do was stand there and cry. As I wiped the tears away, more came. My face was more wet from crying than it was from the shower. The consoling attempt by another didn't help as it usually does. All it made me do was cry more because it created MORE unanswered questions.

I feel lost.

53/365

After being gone for 19 days, I came back to the office today to find a VERY full board.

JK and I made this board user friendly a few years ago. Today was the first time I've seen it this full. Looks like I chose the perfect time to be gone.

And I'm actually very happy to be back. :-) My job rocks!

52/365

This guy and his sister are here for three weeks while RM#1 trains them for some upcoming shows.

Hint? Think vampires. ;-)

48/365

Homemade pizza...

47/365

This casino wasn't particularly friendly to me. It welcomed me with open arms, but TOOK MY MONEY! Unfriendly bastards. :-)

46/365

An app on my iThingy tells me how much longer till NASCAR season gets fired up.

45/365

My V-Day cupcake.
Sis made the cupcake. I decorated.

Happy Valentine’s Day

My routine every morning, is to check email and such before I jump ever so joyfully crawl out of bed. As soon as my eyes open, I grab my iThingy. Today is V-Day. By the way…

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers.

Anyway, as I was saying, today is V-Day, and with that, comes Facebook post after Facebook post (I have 83 friends) of flower photos, and candy photos, new laptop or kindle photos, new phones, new cars, new earrings, and new love photos. And for the first time, I'm genuinely happy for these people. I wasn't bitter. Or jealous. Or annoyed. I was actually happy to see the smiles on the faces of those who shared.

It's a strange feeling when you all of a sudden realize you've stopped hating the world. I wonder how long ago this happened? What made this moment the moment I would realize it? Maybe it's another step towards maturity. Maybe it's me, finally coming to terms with myself and the loneliness I've created. Maybe it’s something completely different.

Either way, it don't matter. It's nice to finally see the happiness. I love being enlightened.

44/365

This is Mom’s dog. I dislike this dog very much. He’s not trained. I’m used to being around trained dogs, so any dog that isn’t, is just beyond annoying to me. I’m not an animal lover, remember?

This dog barks at me when I walk in the front door. And he continues to bark at me even though Mom is yelling at him to stop. It’s very obnoxious. When he finally stops barking, I can only assume it’s because he’s figured out I’m not a threat. And I figured this out because he jumps on my lap despite my repeated pushing him off. Ew.

Meet, Chico…

Today, the part of Val will be played by Paul Bunyan.

While taking care of a person recovering from heart surgery, cooking, cleaning, lifting heavy things, vacuuming, driving, and grocery shopping isn’t where my duties stop.

A few weeks ago, a strong wind blew down one of the trees in the backyard. Cracked the thing right in half. Unfortunately, it landed on the house. No damage was done, other than a few broken roof tiles and a missing gutter elbow, so I consider it a good day.

Since StepDad can’t obviously go out and cut/move the tree himself, I enlisted the help of a alternate personality close personal friend.

Me.

Here’s the proof…

 

 

Here’s the missing gutter elbow. I never did find it among the branches. Weird. Could it have blown away? Are those things that light?

Things I know for sure

Oh, and how true that image is. I wish my love life was something to brag about, but it’s not. I haven’t had an actual “boyfriend” since JK and I broke up last January. And I suppose it’s better that way, cause I’ll still be here taking care of StepDad. No chance to celebrate for Valentine’s Day this year. Maybe Sis and I will sneak out for dinner that night and we can be each other’s Valentine. Hmm. We’ll have to see. I’m not sure about that. In the meantime, here are a few things I AM sure about…

I have to sleep with a blanket on no matter how hot it is.

Sometimes, the things we can’t change, end up changing us.

People think that I’m quiet because I’m shy, but really I’ve been silently judging them from afar and determining that they’re all fucking retards.

I probably wouldn’t kill so many houseplants if they could scream for food and water the way pets and children do.

Some people can’t sleep because they have insomnia; I can’t sleep because I have internet connection.

My mirror and my camera have two completely different ideas of what I look like.

I accidentally clicked iTunes and had to wait two minutes for it to open before I could close it again.

If you tickle me, I’m not responsible for your injuries.

When I’m home alone, every sound is a serial killer.

43/365

I watched the first Iron Man movie the other day, and loved it. Today, I watched Iron Man 2. Loved it too. :-)

Here's a screen shot. I hope you can see it.

Do you believe in ghosts?

ghost [noun]

the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons.  -dictionary.com

With ghost shows like Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters,  and Fear, it seems that a great part of the country seems to accept ghosts as apart of every day life.

I, do not.

In fact, I straight up DO.NOT.BELIEVE. in ghosts. Sis, does. And when I sit and watch these shows with her, I can’t help but laugh. And that makes her mad. Cause she believes.

Do you get to choose the ghost that haunts you? Cause if so, I’d like to put in a request for James Dean to make a visit to me. Or maybe my most favorite grandpa could tell me just one more bedtime story.

I hope to one day meet a ghost. That would make me happy. And then YOU’LL hear all about it.

Do YOU believe in ghosts?

 

42/365

My view during dinner tonight.

Mini Vacation

Going about my normal routine last week, an unexpected phone call from Mom comes through my cell phone. StepDad was airlifted to Eugene for emergency heart surgery.

Suddenly, the uneasiness I was feeling over my relationship with Mom, didn’t matter. I fought back all the negative things I wanted to say, because it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t even about her.

Being over 800 miles away, I knew I couldn’t do anything. Once I was able to speak with him after the surgery, I felt a little more like I knew what was going on. And when the doctors said someone had to stay with him for four to six weeks, Sis and I knew it was our turn to take care of him.

We gave notice to our jobs, and into the car we got. After 15 hours on the road, we had finally reached our destination. The heart ward of Sacred Heart Hospital. Where I have nothing but admiration for the entire staff that had to put up with take care of StepDad. He was no easy patient, I can assure you.

For two whole weeks, Sis and I are here helping in his day-to-day activities. Cooking, cleaning up, vacuuming, grocery shopping, walking to the mailbox, and driving.

His life isn’t very active. He watches television to pass the time since he doesn’t really have much energy to go anywhere. That’s okay with me, but I can only watch so many episodes of Pawn Stars or Matlock. I mean, come on. Is it realistic to believe that Matlock can practice law in ALL 50 states?

It’s been raining here. It’s not a heavy rain, mostly just a constant mist that comes down. Today though, it’s actual rain…

I was able to get out to the post office today. Amid the rain and splashy puddles, I ventured out to get two very important things mailed.

Valentine cards for my RJ and JK.

 

 

Happy Friday, y’all!

41/365

I won.
I beat her fair and square.

40/365

I ate them all.

They were good.

Ah hell. Who am I kidding? They were freakin' great!

39/365

It rained here today...

One of my favorite apps

I remember the first time I found out about Instagram. It was completely different than any other program I was using. And I loved it.

The first picture I ever posted was this one… (oh how I miss him…)

It’s been almost a year since I started playing with it. And I still love it.

Do you love this app as much as I do?

38/365

The heavy wind that recently swept through this part of Oregon, knocked this guy over. When I arrived at the house, he was laying ever so carefully on his back. Today, I picked him up and filled his buckets with something I figured he would be carrying. Since there are several pinecones and pine needles around, I figured he could haul a few away for me.

An old bridge

In July of 2007, I happened upon this bridge…

I am a big fan of bridges, especially covered bridges. I live in Los Angeles. I do not see any covered bridges during my commute to work. For me, this is unfortunate. So every time I see one, I must find a way to drive over it. Even if it sends me going in the wrong direction.

While driving through it, I glanced to my left and saw this…

Haha.

It’s February of 2012. This is what it looks like…

And this time, Sis is here with me so she was able to pose for it.

37/365

Mt. Shasta - passed this on our drive up north.

Super Bowl commercial winner

Yes. Yes we did.

Everyone remember this post from a few weeks ago…

It was a picture taken during the prep for our Super Bowl commercial.

It was, in my opinion, the best commercial this round. But, I work with this dog so my opinion doesn’t count.

What did YOU think? What was YOUR favorite commercial?

Be Right Back

There has been a family emergency, so I'm sorry for being absent. I will try to get a post up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a photo (best one I could get) of some cows that wandered up to The Ranch. They walked 2.5 miles up a windy road to get to us. And the dogs wouldn't stop barking. It was sooooo annoying, but kinda cool cause it's not every day you see ten cows come wandering up to your front door.

xoxo
Val