A New and Wonderful Year!

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and for the first time, I'm really really looking forward to it! Josh and I have a suite booked at the Hampton Inn in Helen and I'm not going to lie, I'm really hoping that maybe..... just maybe.... he might ask me to marry him. Its not that I'm in a hurry, I know that one day it will happen, but New Year's day will make 10 months for us and we'll be in a romantic little setting, and I just want to be his wife so bad! Call me impatient, but I just love that man more than anything in the whole entire world!!

I suppose that it is about that time of the year to start setting goals for next year (I set goals, not make resolutions). So for this year, I am going to really and truely put forth more effort to get into the gym at least 3 days a week to try and get in shape, I want to be the best shape of my life before Josh and I have kids and hopefully there will be a wedding to plan soon so I need to "tighten up" for that, haha. I am also going to drink more water and less sodas throughout the day, and try to worry and over-think less.... I need to bring my stress level down. I want to save some money and go on mini-vacations with the man of my dreams. I also want to get at least one credit card paid off.... then canceled.

I found a link to a website today for wedding packages in PCB and they are actually pretty affordable, which is the most exciting thing ever! That would be my absolute DREAM wedding, on the coast of somewhere beautiful.... I can't wait to really get to plan that!!!

Its, almost 5... then only a half day tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer that I get a new piece of jewlery soon ;-)

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So....

sadly, I did not win the lottery.... but the winning ticket was sold in Ohio so hopefully there will be good news from Cousin Dale soon......

ah well....I still want a baby, btw.

We got Pam moved up yesterday and she was so happy to hear that she could stay as long as she wanted! It was a very happy night. Although, I am afraid that I will lose Brody and Belle to her.... she seems to have some type of magical power that attracts animals to her.... saddness fills my heart that I might not be Brody's favorite person anymore...

Now the stress begins at figuring out how to juggle Christmas at everyone's house.... I'm afraid this might not be pretty.... we'll see.

Btw, this is my all time very favorite picture, its so cute!

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i want a baby.

That's right. I said it, I want one... really really bad.

I know that I have plenty of time and that Josh and I aren't even married (and yes, I want to wait until we are) but I just want to be a mother more than anything in the world! I see babies, and people with babies and I know that I could be a good mother! I just can't wait!

Ok, now that is out... 2 and a half hours left to work. I can make it through 2 and a half hours... right?! Hopefully we'll win the lottery tonight and then i just won't come back to work period. Keep your fingers crossed.

My phone contract is up next month and I would like to get either a blackberry Curve or an iphone... i can't decide. the iphone is awesome with all of its applications and stuff, but it also has a flat touch screen which means that my texting skills would majorly suffer... i don't know... but the applications are so awesome and I could put my music on there and use it like my ipod! if you have any opinions, let me know....

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Ricky-Bobby....sorta

Create your own FACEinHOLE

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13 more days!

So its only 13 more days until Christmas and I couldn't be anymore excited! We have been busting our ass's to get Pam's new mother-in-law suit finished at the house, we're going to pick her up on Sunday and she doesn't know yet. She just thinks that she's staying with us through the holidays in our extra bed room, so me, mamma, Josh, and Ricky have been working so hard to get the room over the garage finished and get the pool table moved from the basement to the upstairs (not so much fun) but the end result is going to be awesome! I'm so excited to get Pam moved up with us, I think its going to be so great for everyone!

I finally finished with finals and surprisingly made an A in the class I thought I was doing the worst in, go figure. Now, I don't know what to do with my time at night since I don't have to study or do homework anymore. Not that I'm complaining about that. I started working full time through Christmas break now I'm bored for most of the hours of the day, but at least I have a job so I'm thankful for that.

Guess, I will go do some work today..... check back later, I'm sure I'll write often.

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cutest smile in the world...

if this doesn't make you smile, you are just a big grinch....

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Darn Fool Space Program....

I heard on the news this morning that they are spending billions of dollars to send some people up to fix the water system on some space station.... I don't think I have to revoice how this disgusts me...

But just in case that you didn't read the post about how I hate the space program, I do... I think its a giant drain on the economy and waste of money. Why should my tax dollars be spent to fix toilets in space? Riddle me this, why the heck can't they give these so called astronauts who are supposed to be like the smartest people ever a crash course in basic plumbing? WHY?!?! That way, they could fix their own *puppy* toilets and water systems!

On a happier note, it is basically a month before CHristmas and I am SO excited! I absolutely cannot wait to decorate. I'm having to force myself to wait until Thursday night. We are going to have the best looking tree ever, I bought our "Our First Christmas" ornament Saturday, we're going to get a picture of the four of us to go in it, so cute! And I think my future mother-in-law might be staying with us for a few days at Christmas, and I am beyond happy! YAY CHRISTMAS!!!!

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Healthy Puppy!!!

Belle went to the vet today for her last booster shot, now she's good for a year! YAY, it seemed like every time I turned around it was time to go back to the vet, thankfully we're done for  a while!! She is a perfectly healthy wildly rambunctious heathen who is absolutely precious.... when she's asleep.... She weighs almost 30 pounds and this is what she and Brody do all day until someone new gets home for them to show off for: 

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Magic In the Air

I just felt like writing a new blog so that I can post some pictures of the most precious and wonderful dinosaur in the whole world! 

In other news, I'm almost done with school this semester, YAY!! Only a few more weeks, and since in college you don't go to the same classes everyday it makes it seem even faster so there... then, its time for Christmas! And I am so excited for Christmas!! I have an amazing man to share everything with this year and it all just seems even better, I'm looking forward to decorating so much! I get excited driving through the square now because they've started hanging the lights in the trees and it just seems so magical! I love it. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! YAY!

Here are the pictures you've been promised:

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Bank of America=THE DEVIL

so essentially, if you didn't figure out from tht title, I absolutely without a doubt, HATE bank of America. I believe that they are the root of all evil and should be put out of business. I would like to recommend to anyone who may read this to NEVER EVER unless maybe and only maybe if you have a gun to your head open an account with Bank of America. They will charge you for everything, their rates are high, they're customer service is probably worse than that of Nissan (see previous post), and to top it all off for a bank of AMERICA no one can speak ENGLISH!!!! See, here's my delimma (I don't think that is spelled right):

Before the ex and I went splitsville we got a credit card together. Meaning I got a new credit card because I have impeccable credit and his sucked (I mean, dude filed bankruptcy sucks) and his name was added as an authorized user on MY credit card. I will admit, I made the majority of purchases, no problem... got a sweet camera and an ipod touch. YAY me. Well, his plane tickets as well as mine (which I never used) were also put on this card. So when I met the man of my dreams and left his punk ass I also figured that since he is spiteful and had the card numbers I should probably pay it off and cancel it so that I didn't wind up paying for his hookers or whatever he likes to buy. So I did. Which in turn maxed out my credit card with Bank of America... which I didn't know at the time, but its pretty much like signing a contract with the devil and should never be done. (Bank of AMerica being the devil in this case). Anyway....
I have since then been trying desperately to pay off this devil contract buy giving them as much as I can possibly afford from every paycheck to try and get the balance down. And every time I get under that limit, they hit me with a *puppy* finance charge which brings the total right back up to the max or usually a little over. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!
So today I make what was a very forced curtious phone call and had a chat with Juan. (again, I must mention how they dont' really do that whole english language thing) And Juan trys his best to explain to me how my finance charge was higher this month than last month despite the fact that my total balance was lower this month. So I, what I consider as polite as possible, informed him when he asked me if I understood what he was saying that Yes, I understood that bank of america was basically telling me that for a full time college student barely getting 40 hours on a paycheck at 8 an hour was essentially *puppied* for doing business with bank of america. I also informed him of my complete and utter dissatisfaction with bank of america from the first moment i opened the account. He asked if I would like to speak with someone else who could set me up on a payment plan. I informed him I would have to call back because I was very frustrated and did not want to be unnecessarily rude to someone.

I HATE BANK OF AMERICA. I beg you please NEVER EVER open an account with them. Even if they offer to give you a toaster. DON:T DO IT!

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A vent about Nissan

I hate Nissan. Their customer service level is so far below anything that could be considered good its is ridiculous. 

Before Josh and I moved I sent our change of address to them not once, but TWICE! When we received the statement again after I sent the change the first time I did it again. We also filled out a forwarding request through the postal service. However our nissan payments have not been being forwarded. We only get them once they now have become late statements. We just received a statement that said it was due on OCTOBER 14. It is now NOVEMBER 4. How does this mishap keep happening?! How can they not send us a statement until it is already late. THAT IS NOT FAIR!!!!! 

What else is not fair, well it is, it is more frustrating to me because I'm having to deal with it, is that when I try to call them to talk with a person over the phone and make sure that someone with a name takes down the CHANGE OF ADDRESS they won't talk to me because I am not on the account. Even if I tell them that I am his wife they won't talk to me. They will take my money so I can pay for it, but they won't let me do absolutely anything with his account. Which, I suppose is good so that just anyone won't mess with the account, but then again, why would just anyone have the account number. Some of the things in life do not make sense. 

I have this to say, if you are looking at a Nissan, you will not be disappointed in the quality of the vehicle, I absolutely LOVE our X-Terra but absolutely HATE people who work with Nissan. They are in no way helpful or worth anything. 

And that is that. 

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So.....

So once again, I have been told that I am behind on my blogging. I know, I know I am... its sad really.... I've just been so busy with school and work and sometimes, but blogging has to go on the back burner, and also, sometimes I just don't feel like my life is really quiet interesting enough to blog about... but things have been quiet exciting around here. 

For one, little girl is finally starting to get the hang of the whole going potty outside thing, which is a BIG relief! She's growing so so fast! She has one more appointment in 3 weeks for her last parvo booster and then she's done! YAY!!!! They (Belle and Brody) still seem to be playing really really rough, but I'm not sure if that should concern me because she doesn't really yelp, I know that they have to play to learn the rules and how to interact, I just thing of her as being so delicate all the time. I can't even imagine when I have kids.... 

So, I must confess I've kind of become addicted to Desperate Housewives.... I still don't know everything that is going on, but I started watching it on Lifetime during my break on Tuesdays and Thursdays... I feel like this might could be bad for my horrid little habit of procrastination..... but it will kind of suck you in....

I've also been trying to drink more water, I think I'm getting dehydrated... which, FYI everyone is actually in a state of constant dehydration..... so tip of the day, drink more water! Its yummy. 

Little girl is trying to get up on the bed and I think she smells like pee.... which isn't surprising because she hasn't quiet learned yet not to step in her pee when she's done... she's special...

Oh, and quick request, I added this gadget on my page called adsense. I can earn money based on the number of times an add is clicked on from my page... so if you don't mind, please visit every day or every couple hours of whatever and click away!  And if you have blogger and you put this on yours, I will click too! Thanks mucho mucho!

xoxo, Gretchen

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Plot to steal a baby dinosaurous....

So again, I was commanded to post another blog so this one is about how I want to steal a baby dinosaur. But not just any baby dino... a very specific one! I want to steal a Cooperasarous! (pictured to the right...)

That's right Shannon... I'm hatching a plan...and I thought about going into detail here, but then I realized that you read this and that would be foolish..... but just know, that it will be the greatest plot ever... perhaps while he is under the watchful eye of the cats I will slip through the woods and snatch!!! mwahahaha.......

In other news, I had a test today, I have one tomorrow and one Tuesday... I'm so tired of studying and of tests... they are dumb. Also, Josh and I went to Dialog in the Dark Friday night and I highly recommend it for everyone!!! In short, you basically live the life of a blind person for about an hour... it is so incredible, its hard to even describe it. The best line I suppose would be their little catchphrase thing "your senses will never be the same"

its true.

Also, there is only 71 days until Christmas and I am starting to hit panic mode wondering how on earth I am going to be able to accomplish everything I have to do between now and then! Oh goodness....

and two... Josh and I have the best Halloween costumes ever this year! I will post pictures after the party!

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the most random blog yet.

Ok, so I've had a few ideas for blogs rolling around in my head but I just heard something on Star94 and I couldn't wait any longer to do this.

I am listening to Cindy and Ray (for your ride home) and they were talking about the 700billion dollar bailout plan that everyone has heard about. Apparently some super smart guy at Time magazine sat down and figured out how to put this large sum of money into a concept that we, the normal people, could grasp. AND.... for 700BILLION DOLLARS these are a few of the things that could be done. Every person in the US could be given a little over $2000 or every household could be given a little over $6000, 700 billion would be enough to pay the income taxes for every person who makes $500,000 or less, it could fund a whole bunch of departments (defense, treasury, nasa(don't even get me started), or veteran's affairs) for like a year, it could put gas in every car on the road for 16 months, or we could pay off only 7% of our nation's debt (see post about US being white trash)... well, my question is: WHY DON"T WE DO ONE OF THOSE THINGS!!!!

It seems to me like putting $2000 into everyone's hands or $6000 into every household would do more to boost the economy or the income tax thing.... that would be really helpful... anyway... that's that.

Other ideas that I've had today are the following:

I will no long complain about how bad things are or apparently are not for me because I watched a news special last night about a family where the dad lost his construction job because the market was so slow, the mom who was a waitress couldn't afford to keep the family afloat so they lost their home and now mom, dad, and 3 small boys are living out of their 13 year old minivan in San Diego. I have no right to complain about not getting to go see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

I saw a news brief this morning about a man who rescued his Terrier from the jaws of a SHARK! and the little puppy lived!

Today is mine and Josh's 7 month anniversary and I am so happy! We have the best little life in the world and I wouldnt' trade it for anything in the whole world!!! We are so blessed, we have a wonderful house to live in, we have the 2 most gorgeous and wonderful dogs in the whole world and things couldn't be anymore wonderful!!! God has been great!

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Can I vent for a minute?

Ok, its obvious, our country is in trouble. We are moving towards what can be compared to the Great Depression back in the 30s.... And frankly, I don't believe that people today can survive like they did back then. We are not a self-sufficient country. We have wasted WAY too much money on very stupid stuff.... or stuff that may not have been stupid when we started on it, but now it is. We need to stop.

I've said it before, but sometimes when I hear about our National Deficit I feel like our country is like the white trash person on medicaid who takes advantage of every credit card offer that comes their way and then maxes everything out and pays only the minimum amount required and just keeps spending!! Eventually planning on leaving all the debt to one of their many kids.... well, with our country, WE are the kid... the US is racking up WAY to much debt....

Our biggest waste of money (at least in my mind) is the damn effing space program... who gives a flying rat's hiney if there is water and or life on Mars? Do you? I didn't think so.... why do we spend BILLIONS of dollars to send people into space to fix stupid stuff like the bathroom on a spacestation... maybe some of the astronauts who are on the spacestation should have thought about taking a basic plumbing course before going up.... I think that it is completely ridiculous that we spend so much money for something so ridiculous, tell me one benefit we are still getting from exploring space.... NOTHING!!!! We need to use that money to bail ourselves out and help the crisis at home. Unless the USA plans on seceding from itself to rebuild on the mother-effin moon, we need to stop going there, it is a GIANT WASTE OF MONEY!!!!

When we're having to wait for 45min to an hour to get $20 worth of gas (which by the way really does nothing) we should ask ourselves, why the crap have we gotten so bad, the United States is supposed to be the most successful country in the world, a beacon of light and hope... but frankly right now, I wouldn't want to move here.... I still say Australia would be better, you never hear anything bad happening in Australia... I think they must be hurricane free, tornado free, obviously blizzard free, why doesn't everyone move there? hmmmm.... food for thought.

So, in sumation... space program= stupid waste of money.

(I would however like to end on a good note so I'm going to include an adorable, precious story about Belle, she is asleep by me on the bed right now and she must be having a little puppy dream because she is kicking her little legs and scrunching her tiny nose... a second ago she was almost like sucking on her tongue... it was adorable... so smile.)

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just a quick update

So I have been informed that I am a little behind in the whole blogging my life thing. Whatever, I'm busy.

But the biggest and best news that has happened lately is that Josh and I got a new puppy, she's an American Bulldog (yes, we are planning on breeding her with Brody) and her name is Belle. She's really the most gorgeous little puppy that you've ever seen and while at the moment she is a little frustrating because she is still learning everything I just absolutely cannot be mad at her (even when she chewed my laptop charger chord into many little pieces)....

You can see by her little picture that she is just a bundle of preciousness and if you could get mad at that then you have some serious issues.... Anyway....I'm trying to be a good student this semester and really focus and pay attention and do my homework, etc (as I type this during class) but its really hard sometimes, I feel like I have so much on my plate.

Somedays I feel like I'm going crazy trying to keep the house clean, cook, keep up with school, and still have fun. I'm so ready to be done, but I know that I just need to hang in there and everything will be so much better. In other news, Josh is getting ready to take his State Licensing Exam for real estate so I'm so excited for him, he can't wait to get started. I feel like things are going to turn around soon. I've started trying to be more organized and budget better so we can start saving some money, hopefully soon I can add wedding planning to my big hectic list of things to do.... =)

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snotty noses.

I think I'm getting sick. I'm all stuffy and congeseted... it really sucks. I'm sure Josh loves going in for a kiss only to be met with a sniffle and a snotty nose. How sexy.... whatever.

Isn't it funny how in class or in the car I think of such clever things that I want to blog about but when I sit down to do it, I can't think of what I thought about earlier.... that's probably not a good sign. Maybe its just because my life isn't that interesting... I just go to school and go to work and come home and love my man and my dog.... its that its uninteresting... its just.... well... not overly interesting.....
I did some budgeting in biology today and if I can somehow come up with $420 a week, I can be out of debt in a year..... wait, my two week paychecks are barely over $200... hmmmm... I think my calculations might be a little off.... oh well, life is a big money pit. But one day we'll be rich and have our house on the beach, and we'll go running and play frisbee and brody will play in the water and our kids will build sand castles... life will be great. Not that life isn't already great. I love my life.... I have everything I could ever imagine needing. I think I'm just a little greedy and I think that comes from being an only child. I dont' think anyone should ever be an only child... everyone deserves someone to play with.

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Credit in the Mail...

So its much earlier than I intended to get up this morning... the plan in my head was to get up at 0530, start coffee for Josh then go back to sleep until about 0645ish. And that was all well and good until my brain switched on at about 0518 and started reminding me of all of the things that I was supposed to do last night but didn't so that forced me to get up at 6 when Josh left for his Charity Golf Tournament (he's the next Tiger Woods, btw). Now I'm sitting here writing a blog still thinking about everything I have to do... how it would be nice to just be waking up right now :(

Whatever. So yesterday I'm checking the mail and I have something in an unmarked envelope... intriguing mostly because I don't know anyone who would want to send me anthrax so its not scary to receive random unmarkd mail. Anyway, I open it and its from Discover but no. No its not just a pre-approved-we love your credit-get one of our credit cards-kind of mail, lo and behold it is actually a credit card, with my name on it and everything. The only step left to do is call the 1-800 number and activate my new card. The problem? I didn't ask for a new card! No, they just decided to send me one.... which scares me because what if I hadn't opened it and I had just thrown it away and then some crazy bum-identity-stealer person went threw my garbage and stole it! So... lesson learned is always check your mail.... you may have a new credit card...

And on that note, I have been informed by my super smart bf that I need to call one of the major credit companies and freeze my credit so that no one could open a card without my permission and other nice benefits so I pass that information on to you. Do it. Do it now.... stop reading and go freeze your credit. 

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I have a feeling that blogging could be another name for procrastination...

So today my all time favorite "Baby Mamma" (my cousin Shannon) inspired me to start blogging. I, however, feel like this could just lead to extended and prolonged procrastination... you see I happen to be a full time college student who in her 4th year decided to change her major and now I'm looking at 4 more years in school. Which is fine, I'm not complaining because I am so excited about the possibilities my new major (athletic training) offers. But, so far its looking to be a lot of work... a lot. Like now for instance, I have a biology test next week that spans 6 chapters, a presentation in health and phys ed and my computer science teacher gives me a headache because his accent is so thick.... but its cool. I'm dealing with it. I think the only class that doesn't stress me out is weight training and that is mostly because I have Josh.... ahhh Josh... I'll tell you more about him in a second. But he helps me in weight training to make sure I know the techniques and my form is good, I love working out with him!!

Ugh... enough about school, I'm going to have to start studying for that soon enough...On to life...its amazing. That is pretty much all I have to describe my life. God has blessed me in so many ways, I can't even begin to count them all. I have the most amazing and supportive (yet sometimes neurotic) family, I have the most amazing boyfriend in the entire world, and the best dog ever! I don't think that I could imagine ever needing more.... 

We're a new family, me and Josh, and Brody (our American Bulldog). I love our time together, with him, I feel like I've found my purpose in life. Everything just falls right into place, we cook together, we do laundry together, basically we do everything together and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

I recently left my "lucrative" job at Starbucks to work for the pediatrics office my mom works at. Basically, its boring. But it pays the  bills and I get to see my Cooper when he comes in for his shots so that makes me happy because I really believe that he may be the cutest most huggable baby on the planet... Shannon should take him to Gerber....I can't wait until Josh and I get married so that we can have a baby, I think he'll be a really amazing daddy. We just went on vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN with my family and it just melted my heart to watch him with Cooper, it was so amazing. 

I don't really know what all the future has in store, and I don't really know what I'm going do when the day comes that I finally get out of school. I don't know if I'll ever be rich or have the house on the beach that I dream about sometimes, but I do know that I am excited about whatever God has in store for me, I am excited to travel down all of life's roads hand in hand with my soul-mate. So.... enjoy reading.... or don't.... sometimes I can be boring and sometimes I'm funny. Somedays things get pretty exciting, and some days nothing at all happens but I guarantee that everyday is filled with Love. 

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