Saturday, October 29, 2011
Pumpkins!
With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd post pictures of the pumpkins Sean & I made this year. Yay!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Feeling Down...
I've been feeling down these last few days.
I'm really missing home. And with the holidays coming, I'm going to REALLY be missing home. We won't be making it to Missouri/Kansas for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This will be the first time that's ever happened. I'm happy and thanksful to have Sean. He and Tank will make the holidays great, but I still miss my family and friends.
We're broke. We've had some financial difficulties as of late. We sat down with our budget the other day and we're in the red each month. :-\ And I know that we aren't alone in this. But it's been the first time in my adult life where it's been this bad. And it's to the point of living on a ramen noodle budget. And that's not really an exaggeration. I was talking to my mom about this the other day and she thought I was kidding.
My schoolwork is piling up and I have zero motivation to do any of it. *sigh* I'll get it done, of course. School is very important to me. Just need a little emotional boost.
I'm really missing home. And with the holidays coming, I'm going to REALLY be missing home. We won't be making it to Missouri/Kansas for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This will be the first time that's ever happened. I'm happy and thanksful to have Sean. He and Tank will make the holidays great, but I still miss my family and friends.
We're broke. We've had some financial difficulties as of late. We sat down with our budget the other day and we're in the red each month. :-\ And I know that we aren't alone in this. But it's been the first time in my adult life where it's been this bad. And it's to the point of living on a ramen noodle budget. And that's not really an exaggeration. I was talking to my mom about this the other day and she thought I was kidding.
My schoolwork is piling up and I have zero motivation to do any of it. *sigh* I'll get it done, of course. School is very important to me. Just need a little emotional boost.
Monday, October 24, 2011
I won't complain ALL of the time...
Since I started blogging again...I feel like every post, except for the first one back, have been negative. That I complain a lot. I just have a lot to say...
I really am thankful for all of the positives in my life. I have a wonderful and supportive husband, great friends (who I miss dearly), great family, a roof over my head, food in my stomach, a car to drive, and a wondeful dog, who I love to spoil.
In high school, I was very negative. I had low self esteem. I never thought I'd get married. I was convinced I would end up an old spinster. I was also negative about pretty much everything else.
Here's the thing about me: I tend to pay attention to detail. This is one of my many strengths that, I think, is going to make me a great social worker. You may see it as complaining...I see it as pulling out details that need to be changed. Mostly. Sometimes it's just my opinion on something. :)
At my last two jobs, I complained...almost on a daily basis. And of course, everyone complains about their job, but I felt the level I was doing it at was excessive. And the reason I did this was because my voice was not heard. I could see how the policies or whatever they weren't effective and needed to be changed. But at the level I was at, no one cared what I had to say. It's frustarting...knowing that your input could help make something better, but the people who need to hear you could give two shits about what you are saying. It's even worse when the people go on and on about how they WANT to hear what you have to say. But they hardly ever mean it.
Anyway, that's me. Take me or leave me :)
I really am thankful for all of the positives in my life. I have a wonderful and supportive husband, great friends (who I miss dearly), great family, a roof over my head, food in my stomach, a car to drive, and a wondeful dog, who I love to spoil.
In high school, I was very negative. I had low self esteem. I never thought I'd get married. I was convinced I would end up an old spinster. I was also negative about pretty much everything else.
Here's the thing about me: I tend to pay attention to detail. This is one of my many strengths that, I think, is going to make me a great social worker. You may see it as complaining...I see it as pulling out details that need to be changed. Mostly. Sometimes it's just my opinion on something. :)
At my last two jobs, I complained...almost on a daily basis. And of course, everyone complains about their job, but I felt the level I was doing it at was excessive. And the reason I did this was because my voice was not heard. I could see how the policies or whatever they weren't effective and needed to be changed. But at the level I was at, no one cared what I had to say. It's frustarting...knowing that your input could help make something better, but the people who need to hear you could give two shits about what you are saying. It's even worse when the people go on and on about how they WANT to hear what you have to say. But they hardly ever mean it.
Anyway, that's me. Take me or leave me :)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The Garden State is full of Inconsiderate Assholes
When Sean and I moved from the midwest to the east coast, we knew things would be different. To sound completely cliche, we were expecting the "Guess we aren't in Kansas anymore" shock. We have experienced this shock, and more.
First of all, the drivers. MY GOD, THE DRIVERS! The drivers are probably the #1 worst thing about New Jersey. Everything is in a goddman hurry all day, every day. I've never literally almost gotten into wrecks as often as I do here. It's an almost daily occurance. It never happened this frequently in Kansas City. No wonder New Jersey has the highest car insurance rate in the whole damn country. People are very aggressive with the driving. And the honking when traffic is at a standstill? Yeah, that's totally helps. Also, ya know when you are driving down a road and you see a sign that says "Right lane ends, merge left" (or vice versa). New Jersey drivers translate that as "I'll just keep driving in this lane and cut people off, because I'm an asshole." This is one piece of evidence to prove my point of New Jersey being full of inconsiderate people.
Something happened today that kind of inspired this blog post. And it may sound silly. But it involves laundry. Yes, laundry. So, we live in an apartment complex. The apartments do not have washer/dryer hook-ups so there are laundry facilities for our use. Basically, there is a laundry facility for our part of the complex and then another facility for the other part of the complex about 1/2 block down the road. Each facility has 8 washers, 8 dryers. Nothing fancy, but it's sufficient for weekly laundry use. Until today, we have never had any issues doing our laundry or having to wait or anything like that. But here's what happened today...
We went down there around 2:30 and there were only 2 washers free. We were washing our sheets and blankets today so we had about 5 loads of laundry (a little more than usual). So, we decided to come back a little later. Around 3:15, all of the washers/dryers were full. So, we figured around 4 we will come back. We did go back at 4 and there were 4 washers available, so we started our laundry. We still needed one more, but we noticed that the other washers were done, so we waited for the people to come down and put their laundry in the dryers so we could start our last load.
First of all, we waited for 20 minutes until the people FINALLY decided to come get their laundry. I think that is one of the rudest things you can do. Just let your laundry sit there like you're some kind of asshole. Like you are better and other people don't need to do their laundry. I mean a Sunday afternoon is peak laundry time. So anyway, they came down with MORE laundry. What they did was fill 4 washers, put their baskets on top of the washers to "save" them. When they came back they had 4 more loads of laundry. And at this point took all of the washers and the rest of the dryers. At this point, my blood starts to boil. If you have 8+ loads of laundry, GO TO THE LAUDROMAT. I think it is the most inconsiderate thing I've seen. The point of a laundromat is that they have tons of washers and dryers for people just like yourselves to use. And not only did they have all of this laundry, THEY LET IT SIT!!
So by this time, the 4 loads of laundry we had started were done and there were zero dryers to use. Then, this other bitch that lives in our complex comes to get her clothes out of the dryer. It was perfect timing. She already had her baskets out. I figured she'd see that we were waiting, get her clothes and go. No. This bitch decides that she needs to fold her clothes IN the room. Not only that...but SHE FOLDED THEM ONE ARTICLE AT A TIME. I'm not even kidding. She would take one article of clothing out of the dryer, walk it to the table, fold it and go back. We do not live in a huge complex. She could have easily put her shit in a basket, gone to her apartment and took 5 hours to fold her laundry as far as I could have cared. So, at this point, I'm super fucking pissed. And I start complaining. Maybe they heard me, maybe they didn't.
So, Sean and I go to the other facility to finish our laundry. We finally did get our clothes washed and dry. The other facility was empty. As of 8pm, the assholes that had 20 loads of laundry were STILL doing laundry. Seriously. 6 hours worth of laundry? You assholes go to the laundromat. Why would you take up all of the machines, on a peak day at peak time, when clearly other people needed to use them. It's seriously probably top 5 of most inconsiderate things I've ever seen. And then the lady was giving me drity looks back to the dirty looks I gave her. REALLY?? You can't understand why I was glaring at you and blatantly talking about you while you were in the room? And furthermore, if they do their laundry once every 6 months, what the fuck does their apartment look like?? Gross.
So what did Sean and I learn? That our complex is full of assholes and that we will now be using a laundromat.
First of all, the drivers. MY GOD, THE DRIVERS! The drivers are probably the #1 worst thing about New Jersey. Everything is in a goddman hurry all day, every day. I've never literally almost gotten into wrecks as often as I do here. It's an almost daily occurance. It never happened this frequently in Kansas City. No wonder New Jersey has the highest car insurance rate in the whole damn country. People are very aggressive with the driving. And the honking when traffic is at a standstill? Yeah, that's totally helps. Also, ya know when you are driving down a road and you see a sign that says "Right lane ends, merge left" (or vice versa). New Jersey drivers translate that as "I'll just keep driving in this lane and cut people off, because I'm an asshole." This is one piece of evidence to prove my point of New Jersey being full of inconsiderate people.
Something happened today that kind of inspired this blog post. And it may sound silly. But it involves laundry. Yes, laundry. So, we live in an apartment complex. The apartments do not have washer/dryer hook-ups so there are laundry facilities for our use. Basically, there is a laundry facility for our part of the complex and then another facility for the other part of the complex about 1/2 block down the road. Each facility has 8 washers, 8 dryers. Nothing fancy, but it's sufficient for weekly laundry use. Until today, we have never had any issues doing our laundry or having to wait or anything like that. But here's what happened today...
We went down there around 2:30 and there were only 2 washers free. We were washing our sheets and blankets today so we had about 5 loads of laundry (a little more than usual). So, we decided to come back a little later. Around 3:15, all of the washers/dryers were full. So, we figured around 4 we will come back. We did go back at 4 and there were 4 washers available, so we started our laundry. We still needed one more, but we noticed that the other washers were done, so we waited for the people to come down and put their laundry in the dryers so we could start our last load.
First of all, we waited for 20 minutes until the people FINALLY decided to come get their laundry. I think that is one of the rudest things you can do. Just let your laundry sit there like you're some kind of asshole. Like you are better and other people don't need to do their laundry. I mean a Sunday afternoon is peak laundry time. So anyway, they came down with MORE laundry. What they did was fill 4 washers, put their baskets on top of the washers to "save" them. When they came back they had 4 more loads of laundry. And at this point took all of the washers and the rest of the dryers. At this point, my blood starts to boil. If you have 8+ loads of laundry, GO TO THE LAUDROMAT. I think it is the most inconsiderate thing I've seen. The point of a laundromat is that they have tons of washers and dryers for people just like yourselves to use. And not only did they have all of this laundry, THEY LET IT SIT!!
So by this time, the 4 loads of laundry we had started were done and there were zero dryers to use. Then, this other bitch that lives in our complex comes to get her clothes out of the dryer. It was perfect timing. She already had her baskets out. I figured she'd see that we were waiting, get her clothes and go. No. This bitch decides that she needs to fold her clothes IN the room. Not only that...but SHE FOLDED THEM ONE ARTICLE AT A TIME. I'm not even kidding. She would take one article of clothing out of the dryer, walk it to the table, fold it and go back. We do not live in a huge complex. She could have easily put her shit in a basket, gone to her apartment and took 5 hours to fold her laundry as far as I could have cared. So, at this point, I'm super fucking pissed. And I start complaining. Maybe they heard me, maybe they didn't.
So, Sean and I go to the other facility to finish our laundry. We finally did get our clothes washed and dry. The other facility was empty. As of 8pm, the assholes that had 20 loads of laundry were STILL doing laundry. Seriously. 6 hours worth of laundry? You assholes go to the laundromat. Why would you take up all of the machines, on a peak day at peak time, when clearly other people needed to use them. It's seriously probably top 5 of most inconsiderate things I've ever seen. And then the lady was giving me drity looks back to the dirty looks I gave her. REALLY?? You can't understand why I was glaring at you and blatantly talking about you while you were in the room? And furthermore, if they do their laundry once every 6 months, what the fuck does their apartment look like?? Gross.
So what did Sean and I learn? That our complex is full of assholes and that we will now be using a laundromat.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A mini-rant on celebrities
I don't know why, but I'm feeling very opinioned these last few days.
Anyway, I"ll be the first to admit I keep on the celebrity gossip. I have several blogs that I read every day. It's one of my guilty pleasures.
Anyway, this morning I was reading an artilce that the Kardashians were "surprised" that President Obama didn't want his young daughters watching their garbage TV show. In fact, the Kardashians think that the first daughters could LEARN something from their show. "Because it features girls in real-life situations facing real-life problems...health, relationships, the whole gamut."
Ok, first of all. Real-life situations?? Seriously? Since when does real-life include cameras following you around and they just happen to be there when they do certain things or are going through certain things. Seems awfully convenient. It's a real-life problem to live in a humungous house and you own a chain of stores? I'm sorry, Kardashians, but I would not call your show "real life." It may be YOUR real life, but it's not general society's real life. And the girls could learn about health and relationships? What?? Having your ass x-rayed counts as health? And I think the girls will learn about healthy relationships from their mother and father, not Kim, who has been married twice and has a sex tape. Not Khole, who got married to some dude after a month and kept the engagement secret. Not whatever that other one's name is who had a baby with a douchebag. Don't pretend your show is something it isn't. Basically, don't piss in my ear and try to tell me it's raining.
Also, Lindsay Lohan. What the fuck? Can we just throw her in jail already? She may actually LEARN something and IMPROVE her life if she was actually thrown in jail and served her sentence. She's been given probation how many times? She's been given community services how many times? She's been in rehab how many times? She's going to continue on this destructive path she is on until she actually has to face REAL consequences. It makes me sick. If *I* shoplifted or drove drunk or did anything else that she's done, you'd bet your ass I would have been in jail. And if she actually faced these consequences, she may be motivated to actually get the help she needs. She's sick, obviously. But none of thi is going to help her until she realizes that she needs help.
</rant>
Anyway, I"ll be the first to admit I keep on the celebrity gossip. I have several blogs that I read every day. It's one of my guilty pleasures.
Anyway, this morning I was reading an artilce that the Kardashians were "surprised" that President Obama didn't want his young daughters watching their garbage TV show. In fact, the Kardashians think that the first daughters could LEARN something from their show. "Because it features girls in real-life situations facing real-life problems...health, relationships, the whole gamut."
Ok, first of all. Real-life situations?? Seriously? Since when does real-life include cameras following you around and they just happen to be there when they do certain things or are going through certain things. Seems awfully convenient. It's a real-life problem to live in a humungous house and you own a chain of stores? I'm sorry, Kardashians, but I would not call your show "real life." It may be YOUR real life, but it's not general society's real life. And the girls could learn about health and relationships? What?? Having your ass x-rayed counts as health? And I think the girls will learn about healthy relationships from their mother and father, not Kim, who has been married twice and has a sex tape. Not Khole, who got married to some dude after a month and kept the engagement secret. Not whatever that other one's name is who had a baby with a douchebag. Don't pretend your show is something it isn't. Basically, don't piss in my ear and try to tell me it's raining.
Also, Lindsay Lohan. What the fuck? Can we just throw her in jail already? She may actually LEARN something and IMPROVE her life if she was actually thrown in jail and served her sentence. She's been given probation how many times? She's been given community services how many times? She's been in rehab how many times? She's going to continue on this destructive path she is on until she actually has to face REAL consequences. It makes me sick. If *I* shoplifted or drove drunk or did anything else that she's done, you'd bet your ass I would have been in jail. And if she actually faced these consequences, she may be motivated to actually get the help she needs. She's sick, obviously. But none of thi is going to help her until she realizes that she needs help.
</rant>
Monday, October 17, 2011
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
Regardless of the fact that I live 1,200 miles from KC, I still read the news there everyday. As I was reading the news today, I came across this little gem: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/16/3211815/gays-are-gaining-a-larger-presence.html
First, I have a problem with the title. "Gays" are gaingina larger presence. What??! Using the term "gays" to refer to the LGBT community, I think, it degreading and insulting. But, maybe I'm just overthinking that part.
Basically, there's a jewelry company in KC who now has a billboard up, featuring two men and two wedding rings. While I think it's great that this company has done this, they also said "it's up to customers to interpret the message." How about you just say "Yes, these are two gay men who bought their wedding rings at our store." You either support gay rights or you don't...you can't be in between.
The artcile goes on to interview some woman who says "What am I going to tell my children." Queue Reverand Lovejoy's wife from the Simpsons saying WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN. I love how that is the first place people's minds go. Just like with the whole Chaz Bono 'controversy' on Dancing with the Stars. People were all concerned that their children were all going to be gay and would be confused.
How about teaching your children about tolerance? About acceptance? How about teaching them that people are different? But it's the differences in people that make us stronger? It makes me so sad that in 2011, homosexuality is still such a taboo in this country. As of today, there are only 12 states that recognize same-sex marriages. I hope that by the time my children are adults, all 50 states recognize same-sex marriage. This is a civil rights issue. Some people still look at gay marriage and homsexuality in general as a moral issue. No. That's not how it works.
One of the many reasons I am getting my MSW is to fight for these social injustices, such as the issue of same-sex marriages. It's not fair to so many.
The article concludes by saying that the company did it with a whisper, not a shout. How about shouting something? We've had way too many people whispering for too long.
First, I have a problem with the title. "Gays" are gaingina larger presence. What??! Using the term "gays" to refer to the LGBT community, I think, it degreading and insulting. But, maybe I'm just overthinking that part.
Basically, there's a jewelry company in KC who now has a billboard up, featuring two men and two wedding rings. While I think it's great that this company has done this, they also said "it's up to customers to interpret the message." How about you just say "Yes, these are two gay men who bought their wedding rings at our store." You either support gay rights or you don't...you can't be in between.
The artcile goes on to interview some woman who says "What am I going to tell my children." Queue Reverand Lovejoy's wife from the Simpsons saying WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN. I love how that is the first place people's minds go. Just like with the whole Chaz Bono 'controversy' on Dancing with the Stars. People were all concerned that their children were all going to be gay and would be confused.
How about teaching your children about tolerance? About acceptance? How about teaching them that people are different? But it's the differences in people that make us stronger? It makes me so sad that in 2011, homosexuality is still such a taboo in this country. As of today, there are only 12 states that recognize same-sex marriages. I hope that by the time my children are adults, all 50 states recognize same-sex marriage. This is a civil rights issue. Some people still look at gay marriage and homsexuality in general as a moral issue. No. That's not how it works.
One of the many reasons I am getting my MSW is to fight for these social injustices, such as the issue of same-sex marriages. It's not fair to so many.
The article concludes by saying that the company did it with a whisper, not a shout. How about shouting something? We've had way too many people whispering for too long.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Oh yeah....so I have this blog...
My original intent of this blog was to write about my life and dedicate entries to comparing the midwest to the East Coast. So, I'm gonna start doing that ;)
We arrived in New Jersey on July 15, 2011. Which means, we've now been living here 3 months. It's been an interesting transition. We both still feel like the new kids in class. We aren't sure how certain things work and I'm almost certain my midwest "twang" comes out every now and again. Oh well.
I'm now in grad school full time. I'm lucky to have a supportive husband who is able to support me financially, emotionally, in every way possible, while I get my master's degree. Financially, things haven't been easy for us, but the struggle we're going through now will eventually end. And my obtaining my master's will benefit future us. :)
In general, I like New Jersey. But, I miss the hell out of Kansas City. Sean and I talked a lot about moving here and decided to do this together. Once we made the decision, we had several conversations where we didn't think we would miss KC. But, I do. And I think it's mainly the people I miss. If I had my friends & family here, I would probably not think twice about KC.
We were married on June 25th. Once I tell people that, they give me a look. And then proceed to tell me we were crazy for taking on all that change at once. But it's been good. Married life is great. I can't imagine being married to anyone else and experiencing this journey with anyone else. <3
(Pictures taken by Lisa Snow. Like her work? Check our her site! http://snowfalldesigns.com/)
We arrived in New Jersey on July 15, 2011. Which means, we've now been living here 3 months. It's been an interesting transition. We both still feel like the new kids in class. We aren't sure how certain things work and I'm almost certain my midwest "twang" comes out every now and again. Oh well.
I'm now in grad school full time. I'm lucky to have a supportive husband who is able to support me financially, emotionally, in every way possible, while I get my master's degree. Financially, things haven't been easy for us, but the struggle we're going through now will eventually end. And my obtaining my master's will benefit future us. :)
In general, I like New Jersey. But, I miss the hell out of Kansas City. Sean and I talked a lot about moving here and decided to do this together. Once we made the decision, we had several conversations where we didn't think we would miss KC. But, I do. And I think it's mainly the people I miss. If I had my friends & family here, I would probably not think twice about KC.
We were married on June 25th. Once I tell people that, they give me a look. And then proceed to tell me we were crazy for taking on all that change at once. But it's been good. Married life is great. I can't imagine being married to anyone else and experiencing this journey with anyone else. <3
(Pictures taken by Lisa Snow. Like her work? Check our her site! http://snowfalldesigns.com/)
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