4 Things 10 Thing Challenge: Day 1

So I'm doin' this thing I saw... I've been feelin' guilty for not being able to post (due to an extensive amount of homework because some idiot signed me up for 2 classes this semester.. oh that was my choice.  IDIOT!)... so when I saw DAB do this, I was like, oooooo I could do that too! So I'm gonna, cause I do what I wawnt.

Likes:
1.  Dessert. That should actually be more like, I LOVE DESSERTS, but for the purpose of this, we'll leave it with an underwhelming "like".
2.  When Phil comes up to me for pettins. It's almost like he just needs lub from his mommy.
3.  Seeing Teh Bear's car (aka Lionel Richie) in the driveway.
4.  Watching the photos on my screensaver.

Dislikes:
1. Stupidity/Ignorance
2. When I go to drink out of my cup/water bottle and it's empty.
3. When technology doesn't do what I want it to.
4. When I'm not in control of ALL.THE.THINGS. (but I'm working on this one)

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #30

I am a robot.  I come to you wearing these glasses because someone thought they were cool.

Very interesting side pattern.

Instead of black and white, it's white and clear

Homework break.

I feel like I've not written a real blog post in a mabillion years and it hurts.  I have this guilt that I should post blogs, except that I literally don't have time.  Teh Bear keeps asking me what's wrong based on facial expressions that I seem to consistently have, and I have to admit that I'm stressed about the mountain of homework that I have from taking 2 classes...  which I'll never do again.  8 week courses aren't the same as 16 week courses.  Online school isn't the same as brick and mortar school.  Being a student isn't the same as working full-time and being a student.

I will walk away from this "semester" (it's still hard to call 8 weeks a semester) with some marks, but I will walk away.  My HR class is going splendid, but my Strategic Intel class is kicking my bootay and the instructor is... well, not my cup of tea, which is ironic, because I'm pretty sure he's British.  While I understand he's trying to challenge me, I feel like his minimal interaction with the class as a whole is bringing the class down.  If it were a go-to-class-class, he would be the instructor that stands at the front of the class and talks for the entire time then tells you to go home and read 400 pages and come back next week with your 2 page paper in hand.  Granted, the guy is extremely knowledgable, but I don't feel like he's trying to share that knowledge, so much as show the class he knows the knowledge, which makes him come across as a prick.

See how so far this has only been about school, well, that's how my life feels.  I feel an extreme amount of guilt for sitting down and watching TV with Teh Bear in the evening while eating dinner.  I loathe the feeling that I should be doing homework at all times.  I feel like its school work or my life and that's just not the right balance for me, which is why I've decided that I'm definitely not taking more than 1 class at a time anymore (because I know that if I had just the intel class alone, I'd be able to manage the load a bit better, although I'd still complain about it just as much), and I'm probably taking off the month after these classes end to focus on non-school things (like Christmas and that stupid EAWS pin that the Navy says I should have).

In non-school things, Teh Bear is still in MD and it's still amazing for him to be here.  I've finally gotten over my OCD with the kitchen lights (there's 2 switches and I liked for one switch to always be down), I'm used to reloading the dishwasher to fit more stuff or to make sure the plastic bowls don't flip over, I'm coming to terms with the extra laundry, I'm relieved that I don't have to be Betty Crocker every night and that Teh Bear cooks dinner on days that he's off, I'm slack-jawed at the fact that Teh Bear has used the new (yet-to-be-named) vacuum more than I have, I'm loving the fact that Teh Bear gets self-motivated and cleans and I don't even have to ask him to, and I really just love being able to get hugs whenever I want.  All the crazy stuff in my head from pre-move-in seems silly and I knew that my worries were unfounded then, but it's nice to be proven wrong.

Teh BFF came to MD to visit while she was on vacation.  It was awesome to be able to hang out with her for an extended period of time without having to deal with work schedules (I was able to get Thursday off and Friday was a family day at the hangar).  Teh Bear was cool with hanging out with us or giving us girl-time, which was awesome.  We visited the National Zoo in DC on Thursday (maybe one day when I'm school-free I'll post the pics) and one of the pandas was out!  WIN!  After the Zoo, we tried to go get pics of the White House, but due to trick-or-treating, access was blocked off, so it meant far away photos.  We did also go across the street and check out the Washington and Lincoln Monuments.  Teh BFF's favorite part was driving around DC, I think.  She was glad we didn't make her drive, and I'm not sure why she thought she'd be doing the DC driving, but that's just silly after she'd already driven 8 hours to come visit (in addition to her limited big city driving experience).  Thursday night, we had a handful of trick-or-treaters and the best part was when they would ring the doorbell and Phil would be the first at the door.  Most of the kids were like, Wow, check out that big dog, while some of them, literally, screamed and ran away.  LOLZ.  We had so much candy left over.  Le sigh.

Friday, we took Teh BFF on a tour around base and she got a full show with all the air traffic that was going on.  Even I was impressed, except at the jet flying overhead... NOT impressed by the noise on that sucker.  At. ALL.  After the base tour, where I learned that my favorite tree had lost most of it's leaves before I could get photos, we went on a 5 hour shopping spree, which was awesome and wore us both out.  We were happy being lazy for the rest of the evening.  Sadly, she left on Saturday and Teh Bear had to work, so I did homework (of course) and laundry and took Phil on a walk with Teh Greyhound Neighbor, who purchased Phil's mustache coat (and he was in very dire need of a new coat).

And I returned $20 in stuff that didn't fit properly...
This is how you win at shopping.

Love my Philbo

Can I just say that I have awesome friends?  I mean, not like, YAY presents for me!  But literally, awesome friends who I can just hang out with and talk to and who take care of me and let me attempt to take care of them and there's really no way to repay that.

What other big news have we missed out on?
Hrm.. some big news coming down the pipeline potentially on the "stay in or get out of the Navy" front.  I'm not purposely trying to be vague, but I am, as I don't want to jinx myself or anything and I'd rather not get a huge hype going about this particular item and then it not happen, but I will tell you that it's a big deal and something I've considered since I was a baby in GTMO and it's currently got the Command Master Chief and Skipper involved.  I have no idea what the actual timeline is on this entire ordeal, so feel free to inquire if I fail to mention it, which I probably won't, but just in case.

I volunteered to sing with the praise band at church Sunday since 2 of the 3 singers were away for the weekend.  Many people gave their compliments, which I really appreciated.  I can't really say if it was good or bad, I was there, I had been praying about it for a long time, I just sang.  The lady who leads the praise team gave me a very long hug after it was over.  I'm not sure if it was relief that it was over (since working with me wasn't as easy as working with her normal team, I'm sure (in addition to my lack of choral education)) or that I had done well.  I'm always doubtful of myself in regards to performance, and this isn't me fishing for compliments.  I even had a dream on Saturday night that the leader had decided that we weren't going to perform as we had practiced on the Tuesday prior, I wasn't going to sing with her, and that she was just going to take requests from the audience.  When I told her about it, she laughed and said, I'd never do that!  But that's just how worried I was that I was going to bring down the quality of the service.  Although, since I was on stage, I dressed it up a bit to include heels and dress pants (the ones I wore for my NCSU graduation actually).  I even got a compliment on my shoes, which credit really goes to Teh Worldwide Jesus Lover for picking those torture-devices babies out in 2007.

I finished the last season of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix.  1.  FINALLY.  2.  MORE!  I say more, in a I-wish-I-had-more-time-in-my-life-for-fun-activities-that-aren't-homework-or-homework-guilt type way.  I have a significant amount of photos to edit from the zoo trip and from a walk Teh Bear and I took at one of the local state parks, so maybe one day I'll get to those.

In the meantime, I've started a blog series called 4 Things that I found on Brit's blog forever ago.  Maybe doing that post with the weekly sunglasses will make me feel slightly less guilty about neglecting Teh Blog, but probably not.

And just FYI, it has been an absolutely delightful feeling to be able to sit here and type and ignore the homework-guilt.  I miss blogging so, so much.  Academic writing makes me want to dig my eyes out of their sockets.  Writing in my voice and in my improper, non-formal style is just so much more satisfying than meeting all the rules of a Turabian or APA paper.

Happy Fall/November/impending Christmas season, Gentle Readers!



Linking up with all these ladies:

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #29

Only the most ridiculous duck lips for the most ridiculous glasses.

Big AND with pointy edges!

These take up approximately 1/3 of my face.
Just pointing that out for you.

Today I Learned:

"The bill divided and engendered a long-term change in the demographics of both parties. President Johnson realized that supporting this bill would risk losing the South's overwhelming support of the Democratic Party. Both Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Vice President Johnson had pushed for the introduction of the civil rights legislation. Johnson told Kennedy aide Ted Sorensen that "I know the risks are great and we might lose the South, but those sorts of states may be lost anyway."[31] Senator Richard Russell, Jr. later warned President Johnson that his strong support for the civil rights bill "will not only cost you the South, it will cost you the election".[32] Johnson, however, went on to win the 1964 election by one of the biggest landslides in American history. The South, which had five states swing Republican in 1964, became a stronghold of the Republican party by the 1990s.[33] Political scientists Richard Johnston and Byron Schafer have argued that this development was based more on economics than on race.[34]


Although majorities in both parties voted for the bill, there were notable exceptions. Though he opposed forced segregation,[35] Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona voted against the bill, remarking, "You can't legislate morality." Goldwater had supported previous attempts to pass civil rights legislation in 1957 and 1960 as well as the 24th Amendment outlawing the poll tax. He stated that the reason for his opposition to the 1964 bill was Title II, which in his opinion violated individual liberty and states' rights. Most Democrats from the Southern states opposed the bill and led an unsuccessful 83-day filibuster, including Senators Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) and J. William Fulbright (D-AR), as well as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who personally filibustered for 14 hours straight."






-Wikipedia: Civil Rights Act of 1964






Well, I always wondered how that started... I'm sure there's more to the story, but back to work.

Corny

Mom and Dad were able to afford braces for all his siblings....
Sucks to be the youngest.

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #28

Glasses that ARE acceptable for Teh Megan!!!!
You can even see my eyebrows!

Like tinted Harry Potter glasses?

Teh Singing Cat Lady joins me again!

"Oh!  Check out the sides on these!"

Dinner date

The best invitations are ones where the dogs get to join us!  Teh Coast Guardian and Teh Humanitarian invited us over for dinner a few weeks ago (and I failed at sharing the photos because.. life).

They keep a basket of toys for their canine visitors, and Roofadoofs was quick to find the rawhide bone that was in the basket.

Ruthie getting the rawhide nice and gooey.

Phil was more interested in helping in the kitchen to potentially acquire tasty niblets of dinner.
Teh Coast Guardian is one of Phil's biggest suckers.

After he wasn't getting anything, he decided that he needed a turn with the rawhide... and by turn he meant he just wanted to keep it away from Ruthie.

Dinner wasn't the biggest winner, but the company was totally worth it!

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a nice "boring" weekend.

Teh Bear had to work overnight Friday and Saturday night, so it was fend for myself nights.

Friday night I enjoyed a How I Met Your Mother marathon.  After several hours of episodes and not moving from the couch except to let the dogs out, I called it quits and had the magical inspiration needed to complete my research proposal.

Thank you Ruthie for this pile...

This cuteness is what bribed her new forever family to pick her.

I noticed that my window had warning labels and I hated humanity for a little bit.

Saturday morning, I got up and took the dogs on a 2 mile run, knowing that it would help calm Ruthie down and then Phil wouldn't have to go on a walk later.

Obviously, my methods worked.

After the adoptathon, I headed home (all alone) to eat dinner and wait for time to pass until it was time to leave for the Monster Glow Dash 5k.  That time included watching HIMYM in particular, the episode titled, The Final Page (part 2), which made me have some tears leak from my eyes... a lot of them and I felt like things were finally starting to come full circle... FINALLY.

After a nap, it was time to start the process of being Glow ready.  I met the Glow Big or Glow Home team at Summerseat Farm and it was time to get our 5k on.

Glow accessories

Big budget signs.

Oh yeah.

The crowd starting to gather.

We were accidentally, on purpose, in the first wave (of runners).

We stood in the rain waiting for the run to start, and since it was DARK there were no photos after the run actually started.

Race assessment:
I think I'm done with "dark runs" especially if the trail is not paved.
It was DARK, like it was supposed to be.  But since the trail was a large field we just wound around.

Since we were running in a large field, in the dark, the threat of rolled ankles was EXTREMELY high, which was scary for us.  Also, the course wasn't quite 3.1 miles, which seems to be the case with most 5k's that I do.  We were approached by a lady who seemed to be on the planning committee and we strongly encouraged that if this became an annual run, that they definitely needed WAY more ground lighting.  While its cool to run in glow sticks in the middle of nowhere, the fear of hurting myself was extremely stressful and that kind of overrode the fun.

After the run, 2 of the 4 Glow Big or Glow Home team members had to go home, so our team coordinator just agreed that she was going to go home as well, which for me meant no one to go out and celebrate running an ENTIRE 5k in the DARK.  Boo.

My alternative to going home and hanging out by myself was to attend a halloween party hosted by a coworker, which easily won out.  I was already "in costume" as an athlete, complete with sweat and a bad hair do.  Completely authentic!

Mr. Kilt was showing off his sexy-walrus-face.

There was also UK based karaoke, which includes ZERO Journey songs.

By 2230, I was exhausted and I had eaten too many cupcakes and brownies and it was my bedtime.  I got home to a lonely Phil, gave him enough pettins for 2 dogs (since I'm not used to having only one dog again), and promptly passed out in bed.

Sunday morning, Teh Bear woke me up when he arrived home at way-too-early-am.  I tossed and turned until it was time to get up and start the day.  Church was first up, then I came back home and had lunch and waited on Teh Bear to get up.  I actually ended up waking him up and asking him if he was joining me for dog day at the Tiki Bar.  He was hesitant at first, but I didn't pressure him and he came through and ended up joining me.  After we were halfway there I realized that I had left my camera at home (same for the glow run), Megan fail.

First stop was the Pets on Wheels booth for a little under an hour (since we were kinda late so Teh Bear could shower).  Teh Bear and Phil stood guard while I handed out sticky-pads to passersby and another Greyhound lady talked to people walking by.

After we were relieved, we headed over to the Greyt Expectations tent to hang out.  After Phil marked all the possible things to mark in the xpen, I was exhausted and it was time to go.

Janey felt that Phil was a great headrest, Phil wasn't of the same mindset.

We were beside the "wildlife" critters guy.  As the day got warmer, the snakes, like this boa, got pretty active.
Maybe we should ask to borrow this guy to get rid of the mice at VX-1?

Philbo taking a snooze with a bit of sand on his nose.  /swoon.

I'd call this Phil's version of pole dancing.

Philbo begging for food.  It's kinda his thing now.

After arriving home, we rested for a little bit before deciding to go back out and get our Shop Kick kicks since Best Buy was 100 points.  After some scanning drama, we headed home and watched TV.  It was a good afternoon to wrap up a busy weekend.  I even finished the laundry this weekend!  It's crazy what havin solo time helps me get accomplished!



Linking up with all these ladies:

Dolla Dolla Bill Yall

Yeah, you've just been Limp Bizkit-ed, you're welcome for that blast from the past.

These eyes just need some tears welling up.

Today we're going to talk about money, one of my favorite, yet most loathed subjects in my life.  This chat is not due to the government shut down or the lack of the VA getting back to me on my GI Bill (which would be nice).  Really its about my poor life choices and the pendulum that is my life.

You see, last year, I purchased a budget program for my computer called You Need a Budget (YNAB).  I was totally into this program.  I mean, I would open the program every night and manually add all my expenses, I had figured out how to make it show my taxes (even though the program isn't really good at that, prob helps that my pay is the same each month), I was "budgeting" (we'll call it that since I was at least mentally setting funds aside as different categories (Phil got $$ each month, car maintenance got $$ each month, savings got $$ each month, etc even though I wasn't necessarily putting these dollas into different accounts, I knew they were there), it was a good time.

Except then, the dollas weren't really there anymore after a while, they had slipped away for something else (moving).
By the way, Christmas sucks.  Last year I said I was going to do simple things for people for Christmas and that was definitely NOT what happened...  per the YNAB program.

I was very critical of all the dollas while I was using YNAB, which is the purpose of budgeting, to be aware of where the money is going.  Then my life got stressful, and when life gets stressful, the dollas are like water, they just keep running (out).  I stopped tracking all my purchases in YNAB.  I couldn't tell you exactly how much I paid for a tank of gas (and I still can't).  I walk away from purchases and have to ask myself, how much did I just spend?  It's almost like looking at the time on your watch or cell phone.  You look and then you forget a second later and have to look again (maybe that's a mental problem I have, which is for another post).  I was internet shopping "for Phil" like a fiend.

It was is bad.

My stress levels have significantly went down since Teh Bear arrived, since most of my stress was related to the distance, yet the spending problem has now become a spending habit and its a very gloomy outlook from here and I know that things have to change.

There are things I know I need to take care of financially, like transfer my TSP to a Roth TSP, actually set up accounts for all the different avenues my money needs to go towards, starting tracking my purchases again, but the task is meticulous and painful for me.  I hate all things regarding organizing money, I just want someone else to do it!  I just don't want to have to pay someone else an arm and a leg (or a Phil's dental fee) to do it for me.  I'm really good at following directions, I just need someone else to tell me what to do, and maybe start the process for me.

I know there are other programs besides YNAB and I'm not even sure why I went with that program, knowing there are other FREE programs out there.  /shrug.  Even USAA has a money manager program that I know of, but don't use.

Part of the problem is that the bills keeps coming, and I've even started adding to them (hellllllloooo AMU master's program), and the money has to come from somewhere, and the money is there, it just comes from places I'd prefer it didn't.. like my savings acct when I feel like my credit card bill (from paying AMU) is getting too high.

Granted, there are smart decisions I do make and I don't mess with those.  There is money going to my retirement account each month, it doesn't get changed, ever.  Yurtle has her own account for her payment and insurance and some maintenance, that doesn't get messed with until her bills are due.  I have a savings account that money goes to every month, but it does get messed with and I feel guilty after I take money from it for whatever stupid shit needs to be paid that isn't me going on vacation.

Really, this Catholic guilt thing I could do without.  Thanks Teh Parents.

Anyone wanna be my financial planner/advisor/strategizer?  Dollas suck.  Why can't everything just be free?

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #27

Oh they come in pink OR silver.
You get to pick your fate.

Photobomb Patty is like, these girls are cray cray.
(please judge me for saying that).

Maroon or black.. oh the choices....