Your Next Disaster

If you haven’t seen the season 6 premiere of LOST then beware, there be spoilers here (well kind of, I don’t really KNOW what happened :P).

***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS***

So… yea, WTF? Time has apparently diverged into two and made an alternate dimension… interesting. I would just like to point out that I had NO CLUE this is where this show was going when I first started watching it back in 2004… I thought hey, Dominic is pretty so I’ll check it out. Now, 6 years later - here we are and I’m more confused than ever.. but I don’t really regret a thing.

So… Nemesis has inhabited Locke and is the Smoke Monster (we call him Smocke from now on) … WTF??!!?ls4278dhjdhfws!! Awesome and Woah and WHAT!? Jacob is dead and the water is dark and Sayid is now possessed by Jacob and Smocke is trying to hurt my baby, Richard! Too much going on! It was exciting though, to say the least..

I guess the shocking moment was the Smoke Monster reveal - at least that was the most shocking part to me, unusual for LOST to reveal it in the middle of the show instead of the end. Didn’t really care about Alternate universe Kate or Sayid coming back to life, meh…

Anyways, theories are swarming through my head every night and I am once again EXCITED and INVOLVED in television and I love it.. going to miss this when it’s gone :( There is no other show that I can put this much attention into.. it’s just impossible. I’m excited it’s back and can’t wait for the next 16 episodes and when May 23 rolls around - ANSWERS! I’m probably gonna cry but I will be satisfied (I hope..) finally! After six years, I deserve this.

So as I’ve mentioned Joe and I are trying to buy the house we’re living in… it’s a really good time to buy and we love the place. Neighbors are great, neighborhood is great, location is great and even though my mom thinks it’s too small - i think it’s a perfect little starter home. We’ve got a lot of hurdles to jump through to make it happen and things just keep popping up.. it’s a very frustrating process but I’m HOPING it’ll work out for the best in the end and we’ll be first time home buyers! How exciting!

So we’re running errands every week in relation to that.. this is one of those situations where it would be really helpful if I could drive. SO much to get done that we can only work on two days a week around Dr’s appointments and other things that HAVE to be done - not to mention while planning a wedding. it’s a very stress filled time for us.. but I feel like I can handle it and that we’re heading in the right direction. We have so many plans for if it becomes ours - new fridge, new microwave, Dolan Designs lighting, plant some flowers, etc. Things that real home owners do!

In other non-grown up problems related news - LOST TOMORROW! I am so excited! I saw a preview today finally and it just made me scratch my head and go “WTF…??” as LOST always does except this season THERE. WILL. BE. ANSWERS. I’ve been waiting six years and I am ready! I doubt we’ll get any tomorrow.. or the first few weeks but I think I can go through this feeling a little better knowing that answers are forth coming, right? right??

I’ll be back probably on Wednesday with my thoughts and rants about how I love / hate this show, same ol’ same ol’ - LOST is my constant :)

I want to use lyrics from The Script as my title whether it’s relevant or not :P You guys will just have to handle it.. for a few more days at least. So in love with this music! Listening to the album also totally helped me beat a level of Mario yesterday so… productive?

Anyways, hello! I am working on various things… the home loan, the tuxes for my men of the wedding, the RSVP’s, the bouquets, lot’s to do! But I’ll admit, I love it ;) Amusing little anecdote from yesterday (that apparently only amuses me) - got an RSVP that said “A Bear would be glad to attend” … hehe! That’s their last name but it totally cracked me up for some reason, easily amused sometimes I guess.

Still need new computers around our house.. and then Eric suggested a KVM switch so we can control all the computers in the house from one place - I don’t know what one would use that for but it sounds AWESOME! I suppose I could control my music from my main speakers with the laptop? That’d be pretty sweet… Anyways, time for me to go do some more laundry - yay?

Feeling better after nap - woo! James brought us dinner over after work and we watched District 9.. interesting movie. Not quite what I expected but I guess it was okay. I was most amused by the alien being so excited to play hide and seek, heh! Best part for sure. Also watched the Screen Actors Guild Awards - yay for Michael C. Hall and GLEE again! This award is one much better suited for GLEE - best ensemble. Meaning they all get recognized and get a trophy - which they definitely should so I’m happy!

At this moment I’m whitening my teeth and looking for blackhead extractor - if I don’t do it myself my sister finds it fun to squeeze them off my face… and as fun as that sounds I’d rather do it myself, ya know? I think she finds pleasure in hurting me - isn’t that what sisters are for? :P

Tomorrow I’m just staying home and watching a weeks worth of “trong Medicine episodes, the Pregnancy Pact, Greys Anatomy, Private Practice, etc - that’s my idea of happiness right there. And then in ONE WEEK - LOST premiere - ahh!!! So excited! It shall be a day of celebration in my house and probably inevitable let down in the lack of answers but I know their coming soon (I hope) so that should make it a little easier right? Jade, are you ready to watch it for the first time with the rest of us?!

So, the first fitting is under our belt.. it went fine (except for the price of it, bleh). Decided I’m going to wear ballet slippers ’cause.. I like them and all the other shoes hurt my feet :P No ones going to see my feet anyways. We came up with a really cute idea for the bridemaid’s bouquets - My mom wasn’t very fond of the idea but my sister liked it and so did Jade and Katie (and anyone else I have asked about it). hopefully it works as well in execution as it does in my head - we’ll see very soon!

Other than that didn’t feel too great today so I came home watched “Ugly Betty” and took a nap. Katrina has decided now that she’s looking for a house to purchase now as well - so we did a little researching on that. Looked up some homes in the area, checked out home insurance quotes online and tried to figure out her credit score. I think all the hoopla has left Mama with a bit of … empty nest syndrome? Even though we’ve been gone for a while now (Trina even longer) I guess she feels like she’s officially losing us when we buy houses and get married (but Trina will NEVER get married so she doesn’t have to worry about that one!).

Ah, my dress fitting is tomorrow and I MAY be freaking out a little… I gained a bit of weight a few months ago - some kind of weird dialysis growth spurt or something so I’m a bit worried :/ I have been steady for a few months now but I haven’t LOST much so I’m just hoping the dress will fit perfectly… it was a little big to begin with so hopefully that turns out to be a blessing. I wish I could wear a corset type thing or some kind of.. something, but the exit site for the catheter is in that area so I can’t put pressure on it - argh!

Mama is coming to pick me up tomorrow and me, her and Trina are going to lunch (lettuce for me!) and then to the fitting - eek! Hopefully I’m not a failure at beauty in front of too many people :( Definitely going to hydrolyze after the wedding ’cause you can bet there will be dark circles under my eyes weeks before the wedding due to all this stress! I can’t wait for it to actually be here and then go on my lovely honeymoon - ah, soon!

The wedding is becoming more of a reality every day - sometimes a little faster than I can wrap my head around! I’m trying to take all the nessacary steps so I can be a beautiful bride… ’cause no ones wants to look “eh” on their wedding day. I’m using the crest white strips to get the teeth pretty and shiny like my dress (anything to avoid the dentist!), exercising so I can attempt to look “tone”, checking out www.weightlosspills.net ’cause I could definitely use a little more help and growing out my fingernails so I can wear pretty polish :P

This is what I desire to look like:

That’s my favorite picture of me.. I loved the color of my hair and I’m going to attempt to recreate it. Not going to get that length though because I want to have my hair up for the wedding. I need to figure out the optimal time to dye my hair so it’s still perfect when April 3rd rolls around. I hate the natural color of my hair… it’s like black, but I can deal with it but I’d rather FEEL like I look good on my wedding day, ya know? Even if everyone tells me I’m pretty - i won’t believe it.. but hopefully just this once I can feel beautiful, that makes sense right?

Tons of grown up errands to run today… we are trying to buy this house we are living with so we’re dealing with mortgage firms, credit card companies, past landlords, insurance online forms, etc. etc. It’s a long, hard process it seems but hopefully it will be worth it when it’s all said and done. It’s the perfect time to buy a house with that first time home buyers tax credit on the table so we’re attempting to get it done before than deadline hits… cause if we miss it, I don’t think buying a house will be possible anytime soon.

So we’re trying to get a couple of loans taken out that will hopefully also help up with the wedding and medical expenses coming up. Sometimes I just stop and think… man, I’m an adult with adult problems! And it’s exciting ’cause I never thought I’d get here and then I remember, adult problems suck and I’d rather be a kid again!

So, I don’t know if it’s the stress or I’m finally turning into a teenager or what but my face is breaking out like crazy! I never had many pimples or acne growing up and that was nice.. but now they’re all showing up just in time for the wedding. Eff you, life! I guess i’m going to have to look into those quick fix exposed acne treatment programs I see on late night TV.. I’m always scared to put stuff on my face because i HAVE been so lucky in the past - but I guess there’s nothing to lose now!

I’ve been getting replies from everyone saying they got their invitations and are sending the RSVP’s - ahh! Starting to get so excited!! My dress fitting is this weekend and i think Katie is coming down so it’s finally getting close! It’s been such a work in progress, hard to believe it’s almost here but I am SO READY!

I went into this wanting just three things, if the people I wanted to win these three awards won then I would be happy - and I am happy!

Best Supporting Actor: John Lithgow (Trinity) - Now we all know I LOVE NPH to death and really, these two characters shouldn’t even be in a category together.. cause it’s hard to compare drama to comedy. But having said that; John Lithgow deserved this.. if you watch “Dexter” you don’t need an explanation and if you don’t watch “Dexter” you need to. He was the creepiest character on television we have seen in years… And he’s normally a comedian! So, next time NPH, I promise.. I know you deserve one too.

Best Actor in a drama: Michael C. Hall - been wanting this one for a LONG time, but this year he was on his game more than ever… and then we find out he has cancer and filmed this season while undergoing treatment… wow. Unbelievable. He didn’t tell anyone until this week so it was pretty shocking… so he KNOWS he won this on his own merit and I have nothing but love and pride for him and I hope he makes a full recovery and is back to being the serial killer we all love in no time. I hope his wife is pampering him with nothing but high quality allergy bedding, gourmet food, lots of comfy pajamas and some good television marathoning! those are the ingredients to a speedy recovery!

Best Comedy: GLEE! I had a feeling they’d win ;) I would have been okay with Modern Family as well but GLEE was my number one choice, of course! Does it really need to be explained why? Great, great television. Great, great music that I still sing in my shower everyday.. this is the year of GLEE!

Honorable mention: I was also happy for Mo’nique - “Precious” was a great, horrible movie and she was amazing in it.

I HATE to post about American Idol.. but I do like to watch the auditions (when there’s nothing else on tv… which was the case this week - don’t judge me!). As I’m sure everyone and there mom has heard about now - there was an old guy from Atlanta who got to audition.. even though he was WAY over the age limit - ratings ploy I assume. He sang an original song “Pants on the ground” which was AWESOME and so freakin’ catchy! It has been stuck in my head all weekend and is now my ringtone for when Joe calls just for giggles.

Simon predicted it would be a hit ;) I SWEAR I heard it booming out of someones car yesterday! Joe heard it too, we were like “did we just hear that?!” I have a feeling we’ll be seeing this guy pimping every cause known to man in the future - from sunscreen to eczema - he’s the new Tay Zonday and I like it!

Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground, get em up!

INVITATIONS HAVE BEEN SENT!

Thank God! I can finally stop working on them and worrying about them.. it is up to the US postal service now. It was very hard for me to let them go though.. after spending so much time, energy and money on them … to just throw them in a blue box and leave them orphaned was a difficult concept.

invitation station

I worked on them all day Thursday and Friday, had to go to two different stores to find seals for the envelopes. Bought some at Hobby Lobby, but they were defective.. went back and exchanged.. also defective. Well alright, didn’t like them that much anyways.. so I got some elsewhere that I liked much better so it all worked out!

Now onto the other pressing matters… and there are MANY! I’m going to need the best wrinkle cream when this whole wedding is over ;) Jadeline, look into that - it is your job as super secret maid of honor to make sure the bride is taken care of (for the rest of my life muhahaha).

So, it’s no surprise I am on the little guys side in the big Team Conan vs. Team Leno vs. Team NBC debacle. From the beginning we all knew (or at least I did) that Leno 5 nights a week in a PRIMETIME slot was a dumb idea… if I’ve got a choice between an actual scripted show and a talk show… I’m gonna choose scripted. Late night shows are something I watch right as I’m going to bed.. but NBC in their infinite wisdom decided this was a cheaper was to get out of paying for 3-4 new shows - and it backfired, shocker!

Now that there’s a mess, they want everything to go back to the way it was… sorry, that’s not how life works. Conan earned his spot, and in a perfect world, Leno would do the classy thing and bow out.. he passed the torch to Conan, you can’t go back and say “changed my mind, other gig didn’t work out” - he/they failed, he should be the one who takes the hit for it.. but then again I guess he’s not a classy guy.

Conan, on the other hand, released this statement yesterday that is completely made of WIN:

” People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,
Conan”

Someones been using their testosterone cream! Way to go, Cone Bone! I feel so bad for him.. and I hope he lands where he wants to and everything works out for the even better. He’s always been such a nice guy so it’s crap that they’re doing this to him… just another reason to hate NBC.

The wedding is fast approaching, still much to do! Things are falling into place and I’m finally getting more excited than anxious! Things are coming together and the small things are being bought here and there a long the way. I’m just ready for it to be here and to have a celebration with all my friends and then take a week long honeymoon, yes please! That’s the longest Joe has been off work since we started seriously dating.. it’s gonna be great. We’re going down to Florida to stay in Katie’s dad’s beach house and taking a day trip to Disney World somewhere in there. Also been looking at miami beach hotels because, hey, we’ll be halfway there already! Might as well check out the hometown of our favorite serial killer (Dexter :P).

This week we’re going to check out a tux for Joe and hopefully be sending out the invitations! They are all finished, just have to put them in the envelopes and ship them off to you guys :) Also, if you’re coming to the wedding and plan to stay in a hotel - we have a brand new one that just opened this week that SHOULDN”T be fully booked for that weekend yet, I’ll look into that for everyone and let you know.

Ugh, I’ve been having so much trouble with my computer lately… right now I’m having to literally punch the left-click on the mouse to get anything done. It’s a very daunting process.. especially when I do a lot of copy-pasting and never use any of the quick keys on my keyboard.. it’s very frustrating and hard to adjust. Need a new mouse and on top of that a new computer as well. As I am typing this, firefox has frozen up yet again… I know my computer is old and can’t handle much anymore but I can do the same thing in google chrome and it’d be fine.. I’m just loyal to firefox but I’m going to have to let that go soon (at least until I can get a new desktop).

I have a separate external hard drive that I try to keep up dated with my newest important stuff.. but sometimes I forget to update it often enough and I would HATE to lose everything I’ve gathered over the last 8 years. I’m looking into an online backup program, that way all my stuff would be out there for me to get - no matter if my systems fail… it’s certainly something to think about! Joe’s computer has died already so.. yea, we’re in desperate need of some computers here and the funds to buy them :P

At least my keyboard still works ::knocks on wood::…

Joe and I were recently given a sample of Complete health’s Respiratory Guard. It’s a little difficult to explain the science behind it but it extracts the nutrients that are found Elderberry and made them into a lozenger that has been proven to improve the immune system and a closer step to the elusive flu cure.

We are ALWAYS searching for something boost my immune system.. it’s been low all my life but ever since starting dialysis it’s even worse, I will pretty much catch anything that is going around in the vicinity of me. So, me and Joe gave these a try, now of course I can’t tell you if they increased my immune system or not.. who knows, but I can tell you that it’s an easy step to take as a precaution. I can’t see anything wrong with a little extra help in fighting off flu and colds when they come along. They don’t taste half bad either! It’s a small price to pay for a chance at a flu cure. It’s worth a shot, right? We’ll save the rest of our sample for when we feel a cold coming on.. which will be soon I’m sure since the high this week is 37 degrees… hello, Georgia!

***This review is a result of a feedback campaign by Respiratory Guard. The recipients were asked to give their honest opinion about the product they received. Good reviews were not incentivized and poor reviews will not be censored for their opinion of the product.***

New Years Eve didn’t look like it was going to be a very good time.. but then we went and picked up Kenny in Spartanburg and everything turned around :) Turns out we had a great, extremely fun weekend! I picked up a Wii Karaoke game for us at Best Buy and we cooked some pizza and snacks. We spent NYE night with Kenny, James, Danielle (Joes niece) and Teresa (Joe’s Aunt) doing karaoke and playing Mario Kart. Fun was had by all. After most of the people left, we stayed up ’til FOUR AM playing Mario Brothers.. I haven’t stayed up that late in years!

The next day Kenny and I started marathoning volume 1 of “GLEE” and then at night when Joe would get home we’d play Mario Brothers ’til the wii hours of the morning (heh, play on words!) We made it to world 8 by the time it was time for Kenny to leave last night - I deem our efforts a success! So, I am thankful Kenny was here to make ringing in the New year a good time for us :) We’ll have to do it again sometime!

Now that the holidays are over we’ve got to get back to the normal worries that were there before… wedding planning (it’s in 90 days!), money, honeymoons, diet.. fun stuff. BOTH of our computers have decided to commit suicide, Joe’s succeeded, mine is still barely hanging on. So, we are hoping for a good tax return so we can get some new desktops - since Joe doesn’t have vision issues I don’t see why we couldn’t get him a nice Acer Aspire with a separate keyboard and mouse to make it easier. Sounds like a good plan to me, what do you guys think?

Ew, crappy weekend. Started a new medicine and it did not agree with me. Got sick about an hour after taking it and still haven’t fully recovered from it… going to take it one more time tonight to make sure that’s what it was (sucky experiment, I know) and if it is.. then gonna call my Dr. and try to get in touch with him while he’s on vacation to get a different one. It shall be difficult because it took me 2 months to get medicare to approve this one.. they turned down the Dr’s first option. I’m so glad that insurance can tell my incensed Dr. what he can prescribe. God bless America.

Anyways… other than that not much going on. Watched movies in bed most of the weekend. Joe got me a DVD player for the bedroom as an early Christmas present. So that was nice :) We watched “Funny People” (meh) and “The Goods” with Jeremy Piven which was actually quite funny! Had three office people in it - I’ve been having an office people weekend, they keep showing up in every movie I watch.

Speaking of movies, RIP Brittney Murphy. “Clueless” was my absolutely favorite movie as a kid and “rollin with the homies” was one of my biggest references (and I still use it occasionally), very sad. They say they found a bunch of prescription medications in her home but also that she was a diabetic and had an eating disorder… not a good combination right there. I hope it comes out that it isn’t drugs.. I don’t know why, I just do.

I leave you with this eerie picture, Brittney and Jonathan Brandis (another hollywood star who died way too young) at prom together…

I was not a big flosser before I met Joe.. never liked doing it. It always hurt my gums and made them bleed - some of my teeth are really close together so it was difficult for me to get the dental floss in the creases without FORCING it and inevitable hitting gum in a very rough way. We recently had the opportunity to try a new custom comfort complete clean floss from Dentek. It’s made for those with teeth that are close together and have a sensitivity to the “normal” kind of dental floss.

When I tried the floss for the first time, I noticed I didn’t get the usual feeling of pain when I reached my gums. I attribute this to the double floss style that it uses. It is double woven with two pieces of floss to make it more effective and not so “sharp” on the gums is the only way I can think to describe it. If you have sensitive teeth and gums I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Here’s a little video I shot of Joe trying out the floss and of course our flare for the dramatics is present as always, enjoy!

Ahh, it’s so cold! I know I always WISH for it to be cold for Christmas because that’s “normal” but I only want it cold on the outside of my house, not in! I can’t seem to get it warm enough in here… be careful what you wish for I guess. It was supposed to sleet last night, but of course it didn’t because I live in a place where all magical weather dies :( AKA, the hell mouth of the USA. I’m okay with it I guess, sleet isn’t THAT fun - I much prefer snow or a blizzard even!

So today other than being wrapped in my snuggie and my hoodie I’m not doing much… just ate breakfast and I must let you know that Sunbeams fruit and grain cereal bars are the BEST I have ever had! I usually hate fruit bars / cereal bars but these are awesome! I think Jadeline will like them, I’ll have to point her in the right direction towards them so she can try. I’m also catching up on my TiVo of course, doing some cleaning (it’s never done), picking up Katrina’s dress from David’s Bridal and going to find some nice looking Hudson jeans to wear to Jasmine’s Christmas play at church tonight. Busy day!

Joe and I went grocery shopping yesterday and we only bought healthy food! So proud of us for making good choices :) Now we just have to resolve to eating it and not going out and exercising and I think we’ll be on the right track!