Mellie~ Hope you have better luck tomorrow with fishing and trying for the promotion.

omg appointment today... I hope it all goes well. but its making it so I can't sleep. that's probably a good thing since I have so much work due by thursday. I always hate finals week... >.<

Let us know how the appointment went <3

Oh a promotion... I don't imagine that asking for one day off is going to make them not consider you for a promotion, especially if you are a good employee <3

well I am pregnant but have horribly high blood pressure :( so I'm now on med for that that are safe for baby. we'll see how this goes but for now I'm scared and worried.. :( shaun came over today and I was really emotional overall. he left me his jacket so I have him with me. and him doing that made me cry

Congrats, try not to worry, all of your emotions effect your pregnancy. I know that sounds unconventional but I really believe being over stressed or angry/ upset can cause problems <3 Think positively as best as possible <3

thanks jaz :) definitely trying not to be worried and stressed. If my blood pressure doesn't come down I'm definitely going to take a break from the sports center job.

Take care of yourself <3 Stay calm and call The Doctor ><; don't ask I am a Doctor Who Crazy >.>;

everyone tells me I should watch Dr. Who and that it's the sort of show I would really like but I just haven't had any time :( I always see it there on netflix. hopefully this summer.

My checklist for this summer:

Finish reading all the books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series
Paint my room and bathroom
Watch: Season 3 of drop dead diva, Dr. Who, Castle and the latest season of dexter
Play some Diablo 3.
Learn how to make an apple pie that's actually good (mine sucks...)

at least for me. Baby adds this whole new checklist that sort of changes mine. I probably won't be painting my room or the bathroom.

I read somewhere that it is ok to paint while you are pregnant as long as you are well ventilated. I painted Elizabeth's room (almost completely on my own) while I was pregnant with her. :P

I <3 Doctor Who I'm a bit of a freak about the show :P

Hrmmm Speaking of checklists I should do one for summer...

#1 Try to set up home schooling (area, curriculum etc) and test out how the boys respond and how I can manage with Mrs. Naughty cakes...
#2 Fix the outdoor spiggot and get a swamp cooler set up so these 100 degree days don't kill Dillon and I so bad! AND GRASS AND... A PLACE TO COOL DOWN!!!!
#3 Re-listen to the Golden Compass Audio Book. And listen to the other two audio books :P
I'm sure I have more... Just can't think of it ><;;

Hmmm I thought paint would be bad but I guess I can see. If its a day with a nice breeze I'm sure my room would be fine. the bathroom probably wouldn't be though. its really closed in aside from the door.

one of my friends got a swamp cooler. most of the year they love it but they actually hate it in summer. they say it makes their house more humid. But idk. I've visited them on hot days and I didn't feel it humid or anything.

Congrats Cassie! I'm so happy for you! :D Hopefully your blood pressure goes down no problem. Stay unstressed and eeeeeeeeeeee! Congratulations! *happy dance*

We went fishing at the trout pond on base and caught 20+ fish the day after the Salmon fishing trip that ended with nothing. It was awesome! We didn't keep them, as we didn't have anywhere to put them and most weren't really keeper size anyway, but it was still a lot of fun. Went back two days after, and they were hardly biting at all! Came home with two keepers that day though. So we're slowly getting out freezer stock of noms set up. :3
A friend of mine from work went out on his boat yesterday and came back with an amazing haul of Salmon, he gave me 3 fish worth. I can't wait to eat them! :D
I took the rope rug class today, it was so awesome! Turns out, I'm pretty darn good at this weaving stuff. ;D Yeah!

I haven't asked about the lead cashier position, because Scott just got word that he has to leave for 10 days? He's going to Nome (you may have heard about the city in northern Alaska that needed fuel and the Russian tanker that came to give it to them when the one from the US decided the trek would be too hard this past winter :/ ) Well he's going there and Barrow (Barrow being the upper most city in Alaska). And of course, this wonderful trip for him is leaving on... Fathers day. :/ Full of fucking fail.

So we took lifes lemons and decided today would be just as good a Sunday as any to celebrate Fathers day, and had a wonderful breakfast, complete with donuts and coffee.

I can't think of any real plans I have for this summer.
-see a bear
-catch salmon (preferrably this won't be the instance in which I see said bear!)
-lead cashier position
-go camping.


Mine are like a fun to-do list. I have no real goals. :lol:

I WANT TO GO CAMPING! Need to get a tent first though.... Long-ish story...

I've seen looots of bears :) One while riding a horse :P and it was amusing >_> except that I was on my mom's horse not MY horse who had packed out a bear a few times and was NOT freaking out at it. Crackers however decided the bear was too scary and that he was going to turn tail and book it... Crackers is a sissy lala pansy boy...

Swamp coolers aren't meant for humid areas... They cool by adding cool water to the dry hot air. It works AWESOMENESS in climates like Colorado... Humidity= AC because it pulls some of the humidity to cool :P at least that is how I learned it...

Swamp coolers work well in So Cal as well because it's such a dry heat, but in NC they would have made uncomfortable unbearable because of the added humidity. But AC also works well in So Cal...I thought that AC took moisture from outside and cooled it and sent it inside? I really don't know how those work...just that they do!

We need a tent too, and a lot of other camping supplies. xD I just want to go camping, and AK seems like as good a place as any, possibly more so since ya know, it's the last frontier or something like that.

Swimming lessons for the monsters today, and I am way tired. It's been a very long weekend...

I forgot to mention! I went to a bar! First time ever! (not including bars that are also attached to restaurants because those don't count.) Went out with some friends from work, and their friends sans hubbies since they were either all baby watch bound or sick. So it was a girls night of dancing and silly. It was AWESOME. This was... Saturday night. I need to start taking pictures when I go out, Need to chronicle my outings!

AC's work well anywhere. They are just stupid expensive to run. We are paying off the electric bill STILL for running 2 moderately sized ones and one small one last year during the summer. A swamp cooler is much cheaper to run! It increase electric and water but not the almost $500 a month like last year is cost us. It hiked our $50 a month electric bill to $150 in one month (we are on a budget billing plan) and now it is almost $200 a month and I KNOW we haven't used much electric. Doesn't help that our electric company is a monopoly here so they can charge us for random things they want to build that aren't even in ours STATE, and we can't even do anything about it... Not to mention they have had almost a 90% increase over the last year too... Done in small chunks 5-20% increases each month. We'd drown if we didn't have budget billing.

Dillon was going to buy me a tent for our anniversary (this year was Leather/ Crystal it was REALLY hard for both of us), I didn't act "THRILLED" at the idea so he didn't. I count the leather shoes I had to buy when my flip flops broke earlier last month as my anniversary gift, and Dillon got work boots and dress shoes that are leather for his gift. But that is besides the point. Our old tent was kept in our van cause it took up too much space in our apartment and one of the days that we went to the laundramat the bleach wound up leaking on the tent and eating through it... Hole-y tents are no good :/

I've still never been to a bar. :/ So you've one upped me lol

The only down side with the bar, is that you're allowed to smoke in it, not in the room we were in, but the rooms are connected and so it obviously bleeds over, so it sucked as I'm still semi sick with a cough and it aggrivated my lungs, but it was great to be out with friends for a while. (:

budget billing sounds useful. :3 I don't remember ever having that as an option. For the first couple of years in E-city I just dealt with the heat. Opened all the windows and had the screen doors opened as well to let the breezes in. Didn't always help, but we didn't have the money to buy a new AC unit and swamp coolers are useless there. xD But we also weren't on E-city electric which raped people for their money it seemed. Classmates in my college classes would talk about $400+ electric bills in the summer. Mine was never over $100, until the year I was pregnant, and that's because we ran the AC...a lot. It was unbearably hot that summer and I was pregnant! So our bill went up to about $140 a month, but since I was getting a $200/living allowance it didn't really matter. I told the guys that's what it was going for and they just laughed about it.

I've never owned a tent, or a sleeping bag for that matter. Camping was never really something that interested me enough to go out and buy supplies for. I think I can rent the stuff from the MWR on base, which would help with the cost...because the price to rent is like $10 for everything. I just want to try it out and see how the kids do.

I love camping but haven't gone since Sean was 2-3 months. I had a freak out in the mountains. MASSIVE PANIC ATTACK so we just went home. But I was still at my peak on not having my thyroid under control.

It is illegal to smoke anywhere inside here. Even in bars as far as I understand.

It's not here, or in NC for that matter. I swear the states they move us to are always to backwards when it comes to health issues. :/ Of course, alcoholism is pretty rampant here anyway, and as that tends to go hand in hand with smoking I really didn't have much hope. And the amount of cigarettes I sell at work. xD Though I do believe that bars are the only place it's allowed. Makes me happy I never pursued the bartender/cashier position that had opened up downtown. Though I wouldn't have minded the bar on base, no smoking allowed there! :D

Alright: On base the gym/pool is right across the street from the comissary (think grocery store) So once the kids finished their swimming lessons I decided to take them over to the commissary so we could get some hamburger buns and pickles for dinner tonight. One of the baggers comes up to me before her shift and she's all "Hey! I was just at the bank and they were talking about you!" (which of course my gut reaction is OMG What did I do? D: ) Apparently one of the cashiers at the bank comes into the exchange a lot, they know me as the blonde that's always smiling and happy. They want me to work at the bank, and then the bagger said that I shouldn't bother with that job, and that I should work at the commissary since they need people there too. xD I'm in demand! Or at least, my bubblyness is.
Which is a bit of a better compliment than this one woman who came up to me while working on Friday and was like "Ok, so this happy bubblyness is great and all, but seriously, are you on something?"

Which leads me to a question: When did being happy often lead people to think that whoever is happy has to be on drugs. Shouldn't it be the other way around? You're always down and depressing, what drugs are YOU taking? :/ I'm high on life baby! Live it up! Carpe Diem!

I get depressed and down a lot. Particularly when I am working. People tend to drag on me but I am USUALLY very happy when I am at home. :) I think people are too into themselves honestly. If they are down and depressed ALL the time, then they feel everyone else should be too! If they hate their job they think you should too...

I don't think that way honestly. It is quite refreshing to have someone chat with you and smile instead of snarl and growl all the time. I also think that employers have the power to make someone happy as well... So kind of a give and take I guess... If your boss was a jerk face never gave you a day off, treated you like poo it'd be harder for you to enjoy your job, or I guess the same goes for customers... Dillon can handle reps calling in and being douche bags but he hates being treated like a slave. :/ So he often calls me upset or grumpy during his lunch.

Your attitude is so admirable Mellie... I just LOVE it <3

lol, one of the girls that worked up stairs got annoyed at me for being happy. She was all "What the hell, be normal for once, I'm so sick of this constantly happy thing" and I was like what the heck, what's wrong with it? Why can't I be happy all the time, I'm just a happy person! And she was all, You can't be happy because I'M NOT HAPPY. I looked over at the girl that I work with most often and she was just like wtf? xD It was hilarious. The girl that works up stairs is one of the newer employees too, so I don't know where she's getting off being unhappy. Especially because I hear when her supervisors ask her to do something she shrugs it off and tells them she doesn't want to. What the heck kind of attitude is that? If my supervisor said Hey can you fold those shirts, when I have some down time, I'm folding those shirts. It's not that hard, it's what I get paid to do!

I think the attitude that you take on has a lot to do with how other people treat you. And while I do get some slack for being happy, for the most part, people leave my register with a smile and in a better mood, and that far outweighs the slack that a few people give.

Not that it will stop me from posting/whining/laughing at the incidents where they bring it up.

See that isn't the case for me... I've and absolute dick head managers (directors of the two daycares I worked at more specifically), that seemed to like to crush my enthusiasm... I LOVE working with kids. Yeah they can be crazy and wear me out but god dang it, I was dang enthusiastic to try things out that I learned in class or saw while observing other rooms/ center. The first daycare I worked at, the director told me, I had no rights to talk to the kids, NONE. And that I needed to stop immediately, I was janitorial staff only. Even though my position was daycare aide which is classified as an assistant to the teachers, so yeah I was expected to help with dishes mat laying and clean up but you wouldn't think I shouldn't talk to the kids at all... The gal I worked with was a peach though. She had complaints just like anyone. But she was so chipper all the time. :) The other daycare I got in trouble for implementing ideas I had learned in school, by darn it they were all so stubborn about everything. Many of the woman were in their late 30s or better and the two of us that had that "fresh spark" were always being shot down. I loved it when Kayla and I started working together we'd bounce ideas off of each other and did some awesome stuff to the Tod room before I was fired.. We had ONE year olds sitting for circle time it was AWESOME... But no...

I loved working at Target for my Leader on Duty was always so happy, and my supervisor was the nicest old man ever. I only didn't like 2 of the employees I worked with, and both eventually quit working there (well kind of one would just give me her schedule so I could make more hours she was just obnoxious to work WITH). But man people who came through my lines and would order 15 personal pepperoni pizza and would get PISSSED that they had to wait 7 minutes because we only ever had 1-2 made at a time. They would scream and yell at me and then complain to the LOD that I was offering bad costumer service by not predicting the future for them and having the pizza ready in advance. Christmas was terrible too, cause I would work by myself to close and I'd get liiiiiines and no one would come help when I called for them over the walkies. And then everyone would complain that I was leaving an hour late. Well I had NO help, I had all the work and all I could do all night until close was stand at the register...

I won't get started about 7-11 that was hard all the way around... Especially seeing people who had food stamps and other "free money" that would squander it on booze and cigarettes while I was denied because I "made too much money" or my favorite was to see someone come in who was high as a kite and would buy out the candy and soda sections O_o and my boss was just a dick...

What is bad is I usually start any of my jobs quite positively. But just get worn down with time :/ People take a heavy toll on me. And it doesn't help that I could never leave work at work... It ALWAYS came home with me :(

Yeah, I leave work at work. I do my hair and make up for it and dress differently, so it's all it's own thing. I get home at night, make up comes off, so do work clothes. And other than the friends I've made while there, I try not to contact anyone from work outside of my working hours.
I think everyone is expecting me to be worn down from it already. But I work with good people, I like my supervisors and managers they're all fun people to be around and they're not laiden with problems, and when they are they're able to talk about them with out blaming factors beyond their control and they don't let the crappiness of outside infect them inside. Like I was just at teh exchange talking to another peppy friend that I often work with, her sewage system is backing up or exploded or something and their house currently smells like shit and she's hoping that her boyfriend and roomies are able to take care of some of it at least, but until I'd asked she was happy as a clam, and she was happy once we finished that convo too because we made plans for Monday. xD

I think I just refuse to be worn down by things and it helps other people have the energy to not let it get to them either.


OMG: So excited! Bicycle safety clinic this Saturday from 10 to 2. FREE Helmets for every child that attends! That's saving me $60! lol. Though my kids do already have helmets, new ones would be nice as the princess covering on Melodys is starting to chip. (She left it outside in E-City and so it's also somewhat faded...I'd prefer her to have a new one that way it's not got the sun damage to the plastic.)

My kids don't have helmets /bad mama... I bought Michael helmets until Sean was born then I just didn't have the money to replace them... :/ Sean ALMOST got a bike helmet to go ice skating with, but we couldn't find one that fit his head... The ones that said 4 and under were too tight and the ones that said 8 and older were too big... And there was no in between O_O;; Maybe Sean is just a mutant. He wound up not going ice skating which really made me sad as it was his ONLY field trip this year, but he was dead sick...

I am pretty peppy when others around me are peppy. So I could so see that logic that it helps others.... I know when my mom calls and she talks about all the bad stuff that has been happening I get worn down. And often my mood will turn. So I can see it working in the opposite way as well...

Man, I use to be such a peppy person in high school... At least I thought I was... I could hide even the bad things that were happening at home. I always seemed to have a smile on my face and I was always super goofy/hyper.... what happened to that kid :/

---------- Post added 06-21-2012 at 09:28 PM ----------

Forgot to add that working with good people always helps too... There is a limit to the amount of crap you can take nonstop for 4-8 hours before it gets to you I think

Right? When I work with sucky people it gets harder to keep my pep. There are a couple of people in the mornings that are always downers. ALWAYS.
Also when they decide to play country instead of the normal top 40/pop radio stations. I can't handle country. I can keep my pep, but as soon as the store closes and I'm counting my drawer I've lost all pep. xD

That person went on Vacation when you had kids. >.> It takes a long time to coerce her into coming home.

adorable avi, Mel.
*waves*