A Day In My Life

Today I am guest posting over at Knock on Wood - Amanda Nicole's blog. She was the first person that I really got to know when I got back into blogging and we became really close really fast. She also happen to get married a week or so before I did!! 

So I've done more than enough of A Day In My Life posts. However the other option was to talk about music and I am not a music person and I would have nothing to say. 

I didn't take pictures at every hours, mostly because I completely forgot. However I'll go ahead and do a recap of my Sunday because it was full of activity. 

My husband is away for work for a total of 15 days and I'm totally missing him, so I'm trying to keep busy. Also I'm spending time with my family. 

On Saturday my mom helped me clear up our office so that when on Sunday we went to IKEA I would have space to put a new bookcase. 

Sunday morning my mom, Nikki, and I went to the cemetery to leave some flowers for my sister. 

My sisters' niche is the second from the left on the top row. This is the view from across the parking lot (and that's my new car). 

A close up of the niche with the pretty flowers we bought for the week. 

After putting the flowers there we walked around for a while looking at the other graves. My brother had gone to pick up a tree across town and we had to wait for him to get back. 

My mom and I dropped off my niece and picked up my brother. I had bought a Boogie Board for my niece at JoAnn's on Saturday but it had a scratch on it so I had to stop by and make an exchange. Since we were there we checked out their sales and my brother and mom picked up about $200-$300 worth of crafts and activities for about $70. 

We then headed off to IKEA. We got there nearing lunch time, so we went straight to the restaurant. Have you had the food at IKEA? It is surprisingly good! 

I'm on a mommy and me selfie kick!

After lunch we did our walk through IKEA and at first we stopped while my brother looked at some furniture and took another selfie.

The very long boxes for our new bookcase fit wonderfully inside my new car! Love it! We headed home some time around 1pm. 

When we got home my dad came over to help me put together the bookcase.

It went smoothly and I thought "wow! I've never built anything with such ease before!" I should've known it was going to backfired on me. When I was ready to add the bottom shelf I noticed I had put in two of the panels in the other's place. Which meant I had to either do a quick fix or undo what I did and re-do it again. 

I tried the latter, but it just became a mess. While I did get everything put together, it's not looking too good. I'm also missing a piece which I e-mailed IKEA about on Sunday night. 

My night also included gluing my fingers together, getting glue into one of our cereal bowls and then proceeding to glue a washer to the bottom of said bowl. It's very frustrating. 

Then I got a call from Nikki saying that the Boogie Board she got was missing the pen. Great! A third trip to JoAnn's will happen after work today.

With my husband gone and all of these things going down on Sunday afternoon - the weekend did not end on an up note. 

But today is a new day. I'm going to make the best of it and cross another day off from my wait to have my hubby back. 

I'm Passionate About....

I am passionate about… 

Today’s topic was a bit more difficult for me. I see people around me being very passionate about different topics. My sister is super passionate about keeping her hometown secure, honest, friendly, etc. She and her husband are known by everyone where they live.  She has always found something to be passionate about – especially human rights. She is even a Human Rights Attorney.

I don’t feel like I have passion about anything in that manner. I see the people around me that really do feel passionate about things that make them get out and take action, and I feel sort of left out because I haven’t found that thing that makes me want to get up and shout from the rooftops.

The definition of passionate is: showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief. 

I suppose that I have many strong feelings. My husband would say that I like to argue and always be right. I guess he is right. What do I argue about though? I argue when others or I are mistreated by big corporations; when corporations try to get things by consumers just because they can. When employees try to go on power trips I get passionate about getting what I should get.  (Which may or may not sound self-centered to you, but that’s the way it is)

My husband thinks this is wrong and we often argue about it. I’ve had to bite my tongue and sit back in some situations so that we don’t get into a discussion about it. 

I guess I am also passionate about family. I try to spend the most time possible with my husband, parents, nieces and nephews. I also cannot wait to be a mom myself, even though I feel like my nieces and nephews are my own.  I will usually opt to spend time with them (and my husbands’ family) over going out with friends. 

Work is the only other thing that I can think of. Well, not exactly working but being able to help people live a little easier is something I love being able to do. I always try to go the extra mile to get people what they need. I recently had a situation at work where my supervisor wasn’t around and I had to find one that would authorize something for me, I could’ve just let it be, but I searched until I found someone who would help me out. Others might not do that (I know many who definitely wouldn’t). 

So I guess I am passionate about some things… just not in the ways I see others and so I just don’t see it in myself. 

Celebrity Crushes from The Good Years

Thursday, Sept. 4: Who were your celebrity crushes from your childhood?

So I’m going to be zig-zagging between the two September link ups depending on which prompt inspires me for each day. 

For today I loved the prompt about childhood celebrity crushes. 

From what I’ve gathered many of the bloggers I read and who read this here blog are in their late 20’s to early 30’s. Which means we probably have similar childhood crushes.

My first love with JTT. Yes, him. For those of you not in the know, JTT stands for Jonathan Taylor Thomas. (Hmm, my husband’s name is Thomas and my nephew’s name is Jonathan… no Taylor- maybe I’ll name my son/daughter that!). If the name doesn’t ring a bell, I’m sure you’ll recognize him from Home Improvement with Tim Allen. 

He was the guy when I was in middle school. I had his posters on my wall and I didn’t miss an episode of the show. I even had the chance to go see one of the last tapings of the show back in 1998. I didn’t meet him (although I did meet Tim Allen, not a good celebrity encounter though) but it was fun to see the show being taped and to be in the same room with my crush (I was in 8th or 9th grade at the time). It was disappointing that he didn’t get to be a huge star. 

My second crush, I think, was Leonardo. No last name needed. You all know who I speak of. I was the perfect age when Titanic came out and if I remember correctly I saw it in the theaters 4 times (not including the time I went to see it in 3D a year or 2 ago). I had many Bop and Tiger Beat posters of him on my bedroom walls. And you know what? He continues to be hot and continues to make great movies. Yay for that!

Mixed into these crushes were BSB. I know I’ve seen them mentioned in other blogs, but for those who might not know – Backstreet Boys. I went to a movie with a friend who was infinitely more pop culturally aware than I was and head a song before the movie which she identified as one (I can’t remember which one it was, I think it was What’s Going On) by BSB and that was it. I was hooked. I made my dad take me to 2 or 3 stores to find their CD (this was in August 1998). A week later I went to spend a couple of weeks with my sister and my brother-in-law. By coincidence BSB had a concert in a nearby town (Concord, CA) and my brother in law was kind enough to take me. We only had lawn seats but it was amazing.

I’ve gone to over a dozen of their show’s since then – including 4th row seats that cost me $114 (not too bad compared to what some shows cost). Last summer I went to their kick off concert in Los Angeles with my niece and husband (boyfriend at the time) and I took my niece to see their concern in Irvine a month later. 

My gift to my sister and brother-in-law for taking me to that first concert was introducing their music to their elder daughter, Mika – who is now also obsessed with BSB and went to her first concert last spring. 

Specifically my obsession was with AJ. I shared the obsession with my best friend from high school who adored Brian. I love that 21+ years later they are still around and we will continue to enjoy their music. 

Who were your obsessions? Did you love BSB like me? Will you come with me to their next concert?

Blog-Tember: When I Grow Up I Want To Be….

When I was little I wanted to be a kidney doctor. When I was born my sister was on dialysis and she received her transplant just after I turned 3 – so all I knew growing up was kidney this and kidney that, so naturally that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up. 

I’m not exactly sure when that changed, but eventually I had no idea what I wanted to do. I think I did go through a stage of wanting to be a teacher, but once in college I didn’t really consider it for a few years. Even in college I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated. I sort of just settled for Journalism because people said I was a good writer. I never really wanted to be a journalist. I don’t like time constraints. Or at least not the ones that journalism requires. 

So then I went back to teaching, and stuck with that for about 8 years before I had to give it up. There were no jobs available (this was 2008 when many teachers were being laid off, not hired) so in 2012 I got a job as a receptionist. Not my ideal job, and it caused me a lot of emotional drama, but luckily I change jobs soon thereafter. 

As I mentioned in a previous post – I LOVE my job now. And when I grow up… I want to keep doing something in this field of Social Work! I love that I get to help people, even if in the smallest of ways. I hope I can promote, but still work in Social Services. 

I guess I might not be a doctor, but I’m still helping others!

Blog-Tember: What Makes Me Happy

Sept 2nd: Write about what makes you happy, from the little joys to the huge game-changers.

This is a great prompt for today. We are coming off a long holiday weekend in which I spent most of the time with my husband. he leaves tomorrow for a couple of weeks so it was really nice to spend some quality time together. 

One of the things that we have in common (and there aren't too many of them) is that we enjoy playing board/dice/card games. In fact, some of our first dates involved going to a Meet Up to play games. The meet up we went to was at a guys house whom we became casual friends with. While he used to have game meet ups almost every weekend he hasn't had one in a while, so I asked if I could use his subscription so that Thomas and I could have our own. 

This past Saturday we had our 2nd, and it was a success. We had 6 strangers (okay, one of them was the original Meet Up guy, so not a stranger) come and play games with us. It started at about 6pm and lasted until about 1am. 

On Monday Thomas and I spent the entire day watching Netflix (a SciFy show called Alphas), playing board games (Quarriors and Kingsburg), and taking a nap. On Sunday we bought a grill and so last night we spent an hour or so putting it together and then grilled up some rib eye steaks (that I got for $6.99/lb compared to the normal price of $10.99/lb!). 

Which brings me to something else that makes me happy! Finding good deals! On Saturday morning I went to JC Penney with my mom and she got 2 dresses that were originally $50 each and only paid $2.50 each. My mom and I are bargain shoppers to the max and it makes me happy to see the savings on the receipts. 

My job also brings me a lot of joy. It is rare that I'm in a bad mood at work. I enjoy my co-workers and I love that I spend all the down time chatting with my friends, including my supervisor. I also love that I get to help people who are in need - even in the limited ability that I do. 

Of course there are many other things make me happy, but these are the ones that are really popping out at the moment. I'm glad that so many happy thoughts came to mind - even though our air conditioning conked out on us on Sunday morning. It's been in the mid 90's and the thermostat showed 89* inside on Monday. We have fans blowing, but it doesn't help too much when the air that is being blown is hot. We have a home warranty, so I'm hopeful that they will either fix it or replace it (the unit is 33 years old!). 

Blog-tember: A Reintroduction

I found this month-long link up today (the 1st!) and I thought it was perfect for me. I've been having a hard time getting motivated to blog lately in addition to not having much time to sit down and do it. 

The first prompt is to reintroduce yourself - which is great because I think I have gained many followers in the past few months who might not know my story. 

If you don't know... my name is Katherine but mostly go by Kathy. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles (The Valley to be specific). Okay, I mistyped - I actually was born in UCLA, but was quickly taken to my family's home in Tarzana (a town named after Tarzan). I have (had) 3 older siblings -who are (were) 12, 14, and 15 years older than me. Which made for an interesting childhood. My two eldest siblings had left the home by the time I was 3 and the youngest of the 3 became my playmate. 

I feel like I have to mention that my sister who was playdate passed away about 3 months ago after nearly 42 years of health problems. She contracted e-coli when she was an infant and had to have 3 kidney transplants throughout her life. The long-use of medication weakened her organs and she died from intestinal hernias/sepsis. I mention it because the reason my family is in the United States is because they moved her to get her a kidney transplant. Although I was not part of that story since I was born after their move, it is sort of the reason that I exist. I also mention it because her illness controlled most of our/my life. 

I went to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) which is the local school (I attended Cal Stat Long Beach my first semester but transferred to CSUN to be closer to home because my sister had to go back on dialysis when I started college). I majored in Journalism with an emphasis in Magazine. I never used this degree for any practical purposes. Instead I got a teaching credential immediately following my BA. I then attended masters classes and stopped short of actually getting the masters degree in Elementary Education. 

My first job was when I turned 15. I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but only for a short time because I didn't drive and it was a long drive for my dad to take me and bring me back. I was also being paid about $5 an hour, so it wasn't worth it. In college I got a job as a sales associate at Robinson's May. I then got a job as  a teachers' assistant. After I receiving my teaching credential I was lucky to get a job as a substitute teacher for Los Angeles Unified School district. 

I worked as a sub for 4 years with no luck in getting a full time teaching job. This was around 2008 - the worst time to be looking for a job. Eventually I felt like I needed something that would give me health insurance so I got a job as a receptionist. A few months into that job I was able to apply for a job with Los Angeles County, specifically for a position that my dad and brother had also held 2 decades prior. 

I've had this job for the past year and a half (a bit more) and I absolutely love it. It's social work and I love that I get to help people who are less fortunate on a daily basis. 

In 2011 I met my husband. I had dated a lot throughout college and after. I used all the dating websites out there, but it was on Craigslist that I met the love of my life (a post about that to come - possibly as a guest post on a different blog). We got engaged after a bit over 2 years of dating and we got married 5 months later on April 26, 2014. 

We closed escrow on our condo 2 weeks before our wedding and we are still unpacking/cleaning/organizing. 

As far as kids? We're probably about 2 years away from attempting to have kids. We want to have some time together before we add anyone to our family. We had both lived with our parents prior to getting married. But hey, maybe I'll convince my husband to get a puppy in the next year or two! 

Come back tomorrow to see what makes me happy these days! 

Birthday Planning

I've only thrown parties that are mostly disorganized and nothing matches. Then I organized my wedding and it turned out okay. 

This is sort of a brain dump of what has been worrying me. 

But now I'm freaking out! My dad turns 80 on 1 month from today, the same day I turn 30. I think that 80 is a pretty important number so I decided I would throw a party for him. But I don't know what to do or how to really organize it. 

One of things I really hated doing for our wedding was the decorating, that's why it was nice having it in my in-law's back yard where the plants were natural decorations. Then my husband's aunt added decorations to the backyard. 

The party will be in the recreation room in my parents' complex (my dad knows nothing about it and I hope it can be a surprise!) which is an okay looking place, but I definitely need to add decorations to make it look festive. 

I went into Party City this weekend and unfortunately they don't have much in the way of 80th birthday party supplies. The only items that were actually packaged as "80" were some plates and napkins. There are other decorations in which you can add any number you want - which I am thinking will be the way we have to go. 

With that decided I still have to figure out how much I need of which items. Do I need streamers? Should I get balloons that say 80 or just different colored ones? Do I buy a helium tank or should I just get them filled at the store? 

There are SO many things to consider and I hate doing it all. If I just had all the things in front of me I can decorate, but going through the picking and choosing? I hate it. 

If anyone wants to go through Party City's site and tell me what I should get - that'd be awesome! 

The only things that I have accomplished has been getting the invitations made. They were designed by The fabulous Amanda Nicole from Knock on Wood and I had them printed at Wal*Mart's website. I know that the food will come from the same place that catered my wedding and that the cake will come from my high school friend who made my wedding cake. 

I also have the invite list. 

I would like to be able to celebrate my birthday - and I'd love my husband to throw me a party. My husband's cousins' husband threw her an awesome 30th party 2 years ago and I would love something similar... but I know it won't be coming for me.

Okay. I know this was pretty crappy as posts go, but I needed to get my anxieties about this out!