DREAM # 2: In Too Deep

Last night I dreamed that I was at some campground for a high school reunion. It was a little unusual though. It was a first come first serve policy where the lodging was concerned. Luckily, I arrived first so I got to walk around the camp and pick out which cabin I wanted to stay in. So I began walking around this beautiful wooded area with all these magnificent cabins in the hills with spectacular views. I was pretty excited. So I continued exploring on my own and slowly started noticing more and more people arriving. A certain part of the camp had the cabins built on water. They had bridges that you had to walk over to get to them. So I thought it was something neat and different and even though I have a slight fear of water & drowning, I still decided to venture over to check out these cabins. I reached the other side of the bridge and turned around to look back and noticed that slowly the water started to rise. I started to panic. I knew that that was my way over to dry land and as frightened as I was I continued to walk around and check out the cabins. I walked inside one and found Misty and Michelle. They had hammers & wood. I asked them what they were doing and they explained that they had to make their own beds. I thought it was starting to get ridiculous. I mean, here we are supposedly on a vacation and our shelter is flooding and we have to MAKE our own beds……what sort of place was this. So I ran back to the door and was ready to get out of there even if I had to swim. Then I realized the door was jammed and the water in the cabin was now at least ankle deep. I broke a window and escaped. I was now back on the flooded bridge and the current was picking up. I just froze in that spot. I didn’t know what to do. I saw people passing me in canoes. The rain kept pouring and the more it rained the more frightened I was. In real life I LOVE rain & thunderstorms. I just kept thinking to myself that I should have just picked one of the first cabins that I had saw…but I thought that I could find something better so I kept looking. Then I awoke…happy that it was only a dream.

Now, if anyone has any insight into my wacky dreams….please comment! I don’t know what the heck they mean.

ONLY IN MY DREAMS

OK. I am always having some crazy, scary, or unfortunate dreams. I am one of those people who is happy to wake up from probably about 90% of the dreams I have. I usually always share my dreams with my husband when I wake up in the morning. He said that some of them are so crazy that I should document them some how. So I thought…hmmm…I could do that on Xanga…I only have a few close friends on here…so you won’t think I’m any crazier than you already do. So here goes, my first documented dream…this is a funny one. Keep in mind that I am an administrative assistant in an office which explains the setting of this dream.

I went to work one morning and sat at my desk as I do in real life. We had just hired a new girl and it was her first day of work. She walks into the office and introduces herself…I don’t remember her name in the dream so we’ll just call her Jane. So Jane walks in and she is wearing a bunny suit…yes with white leotards, a pink bodysuit, the furry bunny ears, a poofy tail…the works. I said “Jane, why are you wearing that”. I thought she was nuts for dressing this way on her first day of work. Jane replies “Doesn’t everyone dress up for Easter”. I look at her with a blank stare and just smile and say “Not really here”. She laughs and literally hops to her cubicle with her 2 feet together and hands arched below her chest like a real bunny. Then I hear her hopping to the restroom. I was nosy so I went over to look inside her cubicle and she has of course decorated. She had put the artificial green grass on the floor and place easter eggs all around her desk. This girl was just out of her mind! After she got out of the restroom, I then had to go myself. So I walk in…sorry this part is gross. I look in the toilet and yell out loud “Ooh, that’s disgusting Jane”. And I hear her laughing from her cubicle. She yells out “They’re just like real rabbit pellets, aren’t they”. I just couldn’t believe this girl. And the strange thing about it was that nobody thought she was weird but me.

So there you go, that was my dumb dream #1. Stay tuned for further installments of “Only in My Dreams”.

2006 – Forecast – sunny and clear skies

At least that is what I’m predicting for my life in the year of 2006.

2005 was sort of rough on me, mostly financially and it was hectic with the whole wedding thing. I honestly did not enjoy the whole “wedding” thing because it was entirely too much work and I am still distressed about the whole photographer thing. I bought my first house in Milford in December of 2004. So I have been there for about a year now. I have been dealing with the headaches of home ownership as well. But the house is slowly coming along. I still have a few things halfway painted…simply because I HATE painting. I love organizing though. I have really gotten into that lately. I have tons of tubs with labels on them for each “category” for household products (office supplies / batteries / tools / etc…). I feel much better when things are organized. I like to CLEAN I hate to COOK. I gained about 30 pounds in 2005. I will spend 2006 trying to get it off. I didn’t go to church regularly on Sundays and that didn’t make things any better. My husband working life was a mess. He started a job with the union making terrible money (promised overtime that he never got) leaving me to be the main source financial support. All of his money went towards child support and his incredibly high car payment (on a car that has been sitting in our driveway for over 6 months because it doesn’t work). Then he was laid off from his job a week before Christmas. I dealt with living with a “significant other” opposed to a family member or friend. That was a whole new world for me. That caused for a lot of fights in 2005. And then there were the never ending car problems. My Chevy Malibu is currently sitting at a Car Mechanic’s house in Bethel waiting on $3,000 worth of repairs because the transmission went out and the radiator is bad. I’ve been fortunate enough that my mother has lent me her car until I am able to afford the repairs or a new car. I must say I was pretty bitter with the year 2005 and the way things had turned out. It seemed as just when we were getting ahead, something else would come along to push us back.

I was very stressed out in 2005…probably not my usual self. I was angry a lot; however, I tried not to let it show. Feeling sorry for yourself will get you absolutely nowhere. I know many people go through way worse than probably much of what I experienced last year; therefore I cannot complain all that much. I write this not to get sympathy from anyone who reads it, but simply to make a note to myself of where I have been so I can appreciate where I am going.

So here is what 2006 is looking like. Dion finally got a job (I sent his resume out to over 50 places) at a place called Lute Supply as a delivery driver in Sharonville (3 minutes from where I work). He started yesterday and we have the same hours (unless he works overtime) so we can ride together and have lunch together sometimes. He also got a job as a Personal Trainer at Bally’s Fitness Club in Montgomery. That also means that we have a FREE gym membership as long as he works there. I definitely need that. So my goal is to take this whole health & fitness thing a little more seriously this year. I have even gone as far as making a chart of foods I commonly eat with their nutritional information on it. Opt for the chocolate pudding over the chocolate candy bar if you must have CHOCOLATE…and I must! Since my husband is a personal trainer, I need to look a little more like a personal trainer’s wife. He has been working with me on “weight training”. I’ve tried to exercise regularly all my life but have only done cardio. So now I am incorporating both. I would LOVE to get some friends as workout partners. I will be working out in the evenings if anyone wants to set up a regular time to join me. And if you can’t afford a gym membership, I do have a treadmill, weight bench, jump rope, and recumbent bike in my home. I will be working out in my home occasionally. Another positive thing is that Dion and I are learning to communicate better and work more together as a “team” in our relationship. We are reading the bible together as a family about once a week (we are aiming for more) and praying together more often. We are trying to make God the focal point of our family. We are trying to teach our son more than just his ABC’s. He is currently learning to tie his shoe. As far as the car thing goes: The Chrysler that doesn’t work was paid off (with a loan…but still paid off), the Honda is running after we got a few minor repairs on it, and I will be paying off the rest of my loan for my Chevy Malibu and hopefully be getting a new car within the next few months. I am pretty excited about that. And one of the things I am most excited about for 2006 is the potential to get my “photography business” off the ground. Hopefully by spring time I will have my website up and running. I am mainly trying to get experience but hopefully make a few extra dollars on the side. I’ll keep everyone posted on that. So with all of that said, I am really looking forward to this New Year. With a little prayer and a lot of hard work, I think I can make some really positive changes in my life this year.

GOD BLESS ALL AND I PRAY THAT YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL 2006!!!

Well Good Morning to all. OK - most of you will probably not be reading this in the morning. It is now 7:29 a.m. and I am at work even though I work from 8 - 5. "What a dedicated employee Faith is" you think to yourself. Nope......that's not it. I should be stuck in the ridiculous morning traffic right now driving to work. But oh the joys of automobiles. If my friends and family were as reliable as any car I'd ever had, I would be a recluse who never left my house to spend time with anyone. Between my husband and me, we have 3 vehicles. The transmission and the engine on the 2000 Chrysler are bad; recently my transmission has been slipping on my 98’ Malibu and it died the other day due to radiator problems. That leaves us with the 97’ Honda Accord to drive the both of us to and from work and wherever else we need to go. Fun stuff. Yes!!! So our family gets up at 5:20 in the morning and leave the house by 5:55, take Trenton to the Jelly Bean Junction and then I drop Dion off at work at U.C. Then I get to work by 7:00 a.m. When he gets off work, he will have a co-worker drop him off at my job and wait until I get off work and we go get Trenton. At least we have a good little system going. Anytime we have problems like this, I just have to think to myself “It could be worse”. Yes, it definitely could be. There are positive outcomes of this situation.

1. I don’t have to deal with traffic.
2. I get to spend more time with my husband
3. Three would be good – but I’m still trying to think of a third.

It just seems when one thing goes wrong in our lives then there’s a whole lot more misfortune to follow. Dion is looking for a new job. Again!!! He hates going to school, his boss is mean, he doesn’t make enough money, and he doesn’t get any overtime as he was promised. Everything is going pretty well in my life. I love my job, I have a great boss and great co – workers, I got approved for a loan to pay off some of my high – interest debt, Trenton LOVES his preschool, and I recently had a blast spending time with my WONDERFUL friends on our “Girl’s Only Game Margarita Night”. But anyone who is married (or probably even been in a serious relationship) knows that when your partner is not happy or going through struggles that it definitely brings you down as well even if they try not to bring you down with them. Fortunately, Dion shares my perspective that we are more blessed than a lot of people. We have a house to live in, jobs to pay our bills, healthy children, supportive friends and family and a strong Faith in God. That should be enough to get anyone through the rough spots.

We are both expecting 2006 to be a very promising year. When you are at the bottom, the only way to go is up and I strongly feel we are on our way. Dion has an interview with a company in West Chester today. Yes, he would work 5 minutes from me with practically the same hours plus overtime if he wants it.

I have the SWEETEST mother that anyone could ever ask for. She has been so supportive of me. She always calls to check up on me because she knows we have been in a financial bind since the wedding and have been having car problems. When I told her we couldn’t get approved for a debt consolidation loan without a co – signer she didn’t hesitate to call up the loan officer and tell them she would be co – signing. When I told her it would cost $1,500 to fix my car she offered to let me drive her car since my parents have 3 cars. I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a fantastic mother. She is the GREATEST mamaw to Trenton. He absolutely adores her. I know not everyone is so lucky.  

And this is the reason why God allows us to go through Trials and Tribulations. If we all had perfect lives we would never know who really cared about us. And I never had any real struggles until my wedding came along and I found out I was going to have to pay for it on my own.

What did God teach me here?

He taught me that I have not just 1 or 2 really good friends who care about me. Nope. I have more than 8 of them. And I have a mom who is willing to support me in any way possible.

The gift of friendship and family is truly a blessing. It overshadows discouragement and wipes away bitterness. There are a lot of things I don’t understand in this world. There are many things I fear in this world. But I am truly blessed with people to aid me in overcoming these things.

And just a side note to all the girls who attended game night at Misty’s house. My chin is now ok – I survived the dive!

God bless and have a MAGNIFICENT WEEKEND!!!!!!

Wow!!! Is it October already? This is my absolute FAVORITE MONTH of the year. I am more motivated to work out in the Fall because the weather is just my temperature and it is INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL outside. I usually run on a track, but not just any track. I run at the track that circulates through the exquisite Miami Meadows Park that is only a 10 minute walk (or 7 minute for people with longer legs than me) from my little old house in the suburbs of Milford, OH. I was running the other day and I was smart enough to bring the camera phone with me so I got a few below average photos.

At first I thought they were really dumb inventions (ok - I still sort of do...feel free to add your comments on that). Weren't those invented so perverted guys could snap shots of beautiful women in bars and then save it as their screensavers only to tell everyone they know that it is their new girlfriend? That was the intent of this creation, right? Or maybe that is just the first use I saw of this new craze. At any rate, I did capture a few shots. But with the megapixels being so low...it is almost like...what is the point. The sunset was phenomenel; there was no way I was going to capture all those indescribable array of colors splattered across the early evening sky on a 2mp camera. I may LOVE photography; but you won't catch me on my jog lugging around my huge 5mp 10X zoom Kodak camera (it's my most beloved material possesion). Nope, you won't see that!

You will see me with one of my 2 necessities in life. I alwyas run with a bottle of water and the other one of them you will NEVER find me without. I keep it in my sports bra when I run; I keep it on my night stand when I sleep at night. I have one in my car's ashtray for emergencies; at any given time, I probably own 4 to 5 of them; I use this about 12 - 14 times on an average day. I'll give you a hint...it is NOT a spare key to my house...although it should be as many times as I have lost keys. I can't call Triple A when I lose this...they would think I was nuts. This might be classified in the addiction category...or it might just be an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder I have. Go ahead...guess away, if you are one of my close friends, chances are you like GUESSING GAMES...if you were at my house last Saturday then you played one.