Last night, while I was tutoring, Zora was acting really weird. She was out on the deck because it was really nice out and she was pacing the deck and then coming in and staring at us with her ears all the way up and her tail wagging. We finally went out to see what she was all hyper about and we saw this.

Yes, it is a have a heart trap hanging from the roof with a squirrel trapped inside. The people whose deck is in the picture came out and we started talking. Apparently the squirrels have been living in their walls and finally started chewing through their walls. It took having a squirrel head poking through a wall to have the complex to do something about it. We told them about the wood missing 2 years ago. I can not wait to move out of this place.

Speaking of moving, we are starting to meet with realtors this week. We have a meeting tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday morning. By Saturday night we should have a realtor and start the house hunting process. I am excited. I have always loved that show Househunters on HGTV. It is going to be fun to actually do it myself.

Long Weekend Update

I love long weekends. Actually I love time that I am not at work. This weekend was great. Relaxing, yet somewhat productive.

Thursday we didn't really sleep late because we had to go to Mass. I love holiday Masses. They just make the day seem better. Father John loves Thanksgiving so it was even better. He sang Mass which I love. Pete and I then went home and I started cooking. I made a pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and two kinds of green beans. By the time it was all on the table, I think I made a little much for two people. We had a lot of leftovers.

Zora enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with us. In the end I think that she ate more than I did.

But she was still looking for more.

Though she refuse to even touch or look at the raw green beans.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching James Bond. That is another good thing about Holiday weekends. There is always a James Bond marathon on Spike. Some good things to come from men's TV.

Friday Zora made a new friend. Since the weather was so nice, we had the deck door open so that she could spend her day laying outside. We didn't see her for awhile, which is odd, so we went out only to find her like the picture below.

Multi angles.

I thought this one was cute.

And what was she staring at, you ask? Her new friend.

Who was living in the roof next to our deck.

She and this squirrel stared at each other for 3 days. Whenever we would go out there to look he would run away and Zora would get all mad that he was gone. She would grab something and jump around. Crazy mutt!


Saturday night, we went out to dinner with K & RA who were down from VA visiting family. We hadn't seen them in awhile so it was good to catch up. When we got home from dinner, Pete decided to decorate for Christmas. It was cold enough to start the holiday mood. I decorated the tree and he put up lights.

Zora helped too.


Until it became too boring and she went to sleep sprawled on the couch.



Apparently, Christmas lights aren't too interesting since they don't smell like anything.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing. I did not want to have to come back to work. Monday came too fast.

Monday did fly by at work though. It was amazing. I got to work and the next thing I knew it was 5. I love days like that.

I have been so tired this week. I can not wait to sleep in tomorrow morning.

Wednesday night was ok. Traffic was crazy getting out to Raleigh. Why anyone would plan an event in Raleigh at rush hour time I have yet to figure out. We finally got there. The muesuem looked really nice. Our flower arrangement look good on the tables. I introduced Pete to some of the people I work with and then we went to explore the muesuem. I had just been there in August, so alot of the exhibits were the same, but there was a cool one where they had made scultpures out of canned goods. It was pretty impressive what they could do. When the exhibit is over, they are going to donate all the canned goods to the Food Bank. The exhibit that I really wanted to see Terror in America was over in the IMAX building so we couldnt see it. The buffet was impressive. There was a ton of food and a huge variety of it. They kept speeches short, so it wasnt that bad. We were home by 930. Thank goodness, cuz we were both exhausted. Zora could have cared less that we were home. She was having a good time downstairs. I had to practically drag her upstairs. Though she was very excited when she saw the steak we brought her home from the buffet.

Thursday was boring. After a while I got so sick of staring at the computer screen. 5 could not come fast enough. That night I went to the gym. I didnt end up getting home til 7, but Pete had cooked dinner. It was nice not to have to cook, though I had to do the dishes. TV was good last night. Til Death is getting funnier. The Office was a good one. Jim came back, but poor Pam. He doesnt like her anymore. Grey's was good, though a little slow.

I got up so late this morning. I have been pushing the clock all week, but I didnt get out of bed til 723 this morning. We are suppose to leave at 730. I made it out the door by 750 with breakfast. I thought that was pretty good.

Work is slow today. Most of the staff is at a meeting til 2. My supervisors are there. So I am working slow.

Definately couting down til 5 though.

My Flower Arrangement

Apparentely the traffic jam we hit last night was my fault since I was driving. Bah! We didnt get home til 6. Zora was very very hyper. We ate dinner and walked Zora and then I headed out to Walmart and the gym. Yes I actually went to the gym. Very reluctantly though. I watched part of the UNC basketball game while I was there. Pete was jealous because he couldnt watch. We dont get ESPN U. HAHA! College Basketball is the only thing he takes the TV over for. I should be grateful.

Captain came to play and was surprisingly very well behaved. When his owner came home and got him, I took Zora out for a walk with them. Thank goodness too. Captain pulled his owner over a tree stump and flat on her face. She was ok, but still mad at him. Zora ate something off the ground, so I got mad at her and made her lay down and stay. She hates laying down outside, but she did it. She knew she was in trouble. Captain's owner wanted to see how good he was at staying. He did really well, but when she called him to come he took off like a bat out of hell. It was pretty funny. He kept running in circles and would not let anyone catch him. He almost took her out again. He ran full speed into her legs and she almost went down again. He was in alot of trouble. I just laughed. I hung out downstairs and before I knew it was 11 pm. Time has been flying by lately. I ran upstairs and finished watching Gilmore Girls and went to bed.


Work today has been ok. Kinda slow. I had to pack up the flower arrangement for transport. Thats about it of any bulk. I finally heard back from Greene Resources and they are going to look into my stay here at RTI. Hopefully they will get back to me soon.

I saw the new move schedule and I am not going to a central cubicle. I dont know if I explained this earlier. Ok. So IDG is growing by leaps and bounds. They are running out space, so there is a big move happenening soon. IDG is taking over the ground floor of our building. So we will have the 3rd floor, half the 2nd and the ground floor. With the new space, everyone is getting shifted. I was suppose to stay put, but that didnt stay like that. I was going to be moved a cubicle right off the elevators that everyone would pass. It would have sucked, plus my computer would have faced out and people could see that I write in blog sometimes instead of working. Not good. Anyways, I just saw the latest move map and I am moving into an office in the Iraq hallway. Hopefully it will stay that way, because if I stay, then the office is huge and right now I am in it by myself. Score! Not that I will be by myself for long, but it is still a big office.

Ok, off to do some work. The party is tonight, so I will be exhausted tomorrow. Hopefully I will blog.

Field Trip

Wow, it is nice out. I just got back from my field trip to the airport. My computer print out picture actually worked out because I found the person I was picking up. It was a nice trip out of the office.

Back to work though. Only 49 minutes left.

I have a new life skill!

Thanks to my wonderful employer I now know how to make flower arrangements. We are having our group's annual end of fiscal year party tommorrow night at Exploris and instead of buying centerpieces, people in our group made them. One of the woman who works for GH was a florist in her former life and showed about 18 of us how to do them. It was really fun and they came out looking great. We get to take ours home after the party tomorrow, so I will try and post a picture of it.

I spent my entire morning help set up for the workshop and have just gotten back to my desk and in less than an hour I get to go to the airport to pick someone up. I dont know who they are and it should be interesting trying to find them, but it is a field trip all the same.

Last night I was exhausted and used that as an excuse not to go to the gym. I instead played with my virtual dogs all night, while my real dog laid on my lap. I unlocked the Pug puppies in the kennel. I have alot more stuff to unlock and as Pete says I am addicted.

This morning we were running late. Big surprise. We run late most mornings. Anyways, even though we were late, I still managed to straighten up and make breakfast. If you count English muffins wrapped in paper towels running out the door. Anyways the point to the story, at the entrance to our complex, there was one of the ladies handing out bagged breakfasts as a thank you from them. It was kinda nice esp since I forgot something to drink and there were juice boxes and granola bars and a banana. It was a nice surprise.

I need to actually get some work done today.

Weekend update...

This weekend was OK.

Friday night Pete and I went out to eat at P.F. Changs. I love that restaurant. Thier food is so yummy. We then went to the mall and got some Yankee Candles cuz we were almost out of them. Christmas cookie makes me crave cupcakes.

Saturday morning Zora let us sleep late. Bless her. We walked her over to Brueggers and had breakfast. I then had my free personal trainer session at my new gym. It was alot different than the old one. At the old one, the trainer walked around and pointed out machines and tried to get you to sign up for more sessions. I was expecting that at the new gym. Boy was I sorely mistaken. The trainer, Matt, was really nice. We sat and talked for a bit and then he told me to go warm up. I was like "Huh?" He then informed me that we were going to workout. I wasnt very awake at this point and a little grumpy, but who am I to argue with big muscular men. He put me threw a shoulder/chest and abs workout. It didn't last long, but I definately felt it. It also woke me up, which was nice cuz when I got home I made Pete go shopping. It was just to PetSmart and Sam's but all the same we were out of the house on a gorgeous day. When we got back, I cleaned up all my piles and threw out a bunch of old stuff including all the planning material for the wedding, which took up alot of space. Church was good that night. They had baptisms and that always makes me happy. There was one baby who just screamed through the whole things. There was the part where the priest said that he was going to perform an exorcism prayer or something like that and the entire church burst out laughing. Poor kid.

Sunday was nice. We walked to Harris Teeter with the dog to get the rest of what we needed grocery wise. It was much better that way. Buy only what you want to carry back. When we got home, Pete got into a cleaning spree. There is no stopping him when he starts. So we dusted everything, packed away somethings, moved furniture to vacumn. The dog got a bath with bath wipes and all her bed got cleaned.

Zora's wiggle, favorite stuffed toy, had surgery yesterday. No worries, it came through with flying colors. Sadly it has no more arms, legs, or ears, its tail is a little off and it is significantly shorter, but it is feeling no pain. It even had an after surgery bath in the washing machine.

I gotta run. Pete is going to be downstairs in a sec. Til tomorrow.

Ok so I got over a week without posting and here is my fourth today.

It is 2:45 and I just got outside. It was the first time since I got here that I had seen sunlight and DAMN! It is nice out. Accuweather says 70 and sunny. It is perfect out. Gotta love the south.

Ok back to work.

I totally stole this from Kat. It's a good one...so I think.

Let me know if you played!!


1] What is your middle name? Jeanne

2] What color is your mailbox? Silver.

3] Are you available? Nope, happily married.

4] Have you ever hit a deer? Never

5] Do you have to drive over a bridge to get home? Depends which way I go home. At least 1 though.

6] Do you get the paper delivered to your house in the morning? No

7] Who checks the mail in your house? I do, cuz I have the key on my keyring

8] Do you have a small driveway? Don't have one. I live in an apartment.

9] Do you know anyone with the same ringtone as you? No.

10] What do you do first in the morning? Talk to the dog.

11] What brand is your printer? HP at work and Brother at home.

12] Do you enjoy fighting with people? Depends on my mood

13] Is your hair naturally straight or curly? slight wave if let dry by its self, which noone sees.

14] Who was your kindergarten teacher? Mrs. Dunn

15] Are you taller than your mother? Yes

16] Do you have a favorite word? sphincter

17] Are you God? Far from it.

18] What do you do to get over a broken heart? Cry

19] Do you have a deep dark secret? Yes. Doesn't every one.

20] Do you enjoy writing in colored pens? Never

21] Does anything hurt on your body right now? Yes, my shoulders

22] Do you often cry during a movie? All the time.

23] Do you hate your life? In no way whats so ever.

24] Do you get mad easily? I am Irish, Of course I do.

25] What is your biggest pet peeve? Dumb drivers

26] What is your away message? I never put one up.

27] Do any of your friends have kids? Yes

28] Who should pay on the first date? Whoever asked.

29] How many years older than you are you willing to date? 15 depending

30] Do you have any friends? Last time I checked

31] Do you have any mean friends? Dunno

32] What is the ugliest color in your opinion? Puke green

33] Have you ever liked someone who all your friends couldn't stand? Yes

34] Have you ever felt like driving off a cliff? No.

35] Do you itch your ears? If they itch

36] What brand are the pant/jeans you are wearing right now? Old Navy

37] How tall are you? 5'9"

38] What is the closest green object? My green highlighter

39] What is on your feet? black flats

40] Do you like watermelon? Only on hot summer days

41] Do you want to have kids? Yes, and soon please!

42] What is the brightest color you are wearing? Sadly Khaki.

43] Who is the friend you have that you would never have expected to have gotten to know? dunno

44] What is your mothers middle name? Ann

45] Stupidest movie you ever saw? Super Troopers

46] Do you like your dad? Yes.

47] Do you have any TV shows on DVD? Family Guy, Gilmore Girls, Firefly.

48] Are you wearing makeup? Nope

49]Do you have a tattoo? No

50] Do you know how to draw? no

51] Who is your hero? Dunno

52] Who did you last IM? My husband

53] Do you work a lot of hours? 40 to the dot

54] What do you do when you are stressed out? Eat

55] Who was the last person to call you? Our wedding photographer

56] Is there anything you regret? Yes

57] Do you know where your family name originated from? Italy?

58] Is there an animal that creeps you out? Spiders

59] What was the last thing you did for fun? Is it bad that I can't remember

60] Last time you cried? Last night watching Lost. Sad, I know.

How I am going to die!

Jackie : At age 45 you will fall into a tank at a large aquarium and be eaten by suckerfish.

Predict your own!

Tuesday was depressing. Nothing that happened, but when I walked out of the office it was dark and rainy. It poured all night. It just makes you feel blah. Walking the dog in it especially sucks. I cant wait to have a house when we can just let her out in the yard on rainy days.

Yesterday was busy. People at work have an aversion to throwing things out. They need to be heavily prodded. The librarian finally decided to get going downsizing the library. We filled two huge trash bins with stuff and I am boxing a bunch more. I am getting more and more permanent responsibilities here. I guess since my last day was suppose to be next Friday that I am staying a bit longer. I am now officially in charge of getting FedEx packages when they are delivered and forwarding EFaxes that come in. Hard work.

So far, I have spent today inventorying and packing more boxes to go out to the warehouse. Fun Fun.

I am very upset about Lost. I hate that it is going off the air til February. I want to know what happens. I liked watching the seasons on DVD better. You didn't have to wait.

Zora seems to be better, though the dummy ate poop off the ground this morning before Pete could stop her. Silly dog, Wrong hole!

Nothing big planned for tonight. Dinner, Gym and Pete and I need to finally sit down and look at our benfits. It is open enrollment at IBM and we have to change our coverage.

I finally bit the bullet and paid for a gym membership last night. I need to workout and I wasn't going out to the gym on 54. By the time I get home from work and walk the dog, I don't want to get back in the car and drive out there. Pete and I talked about it and decided that convenience was worth it. So I joined the gym that we can see from our deck. We didn't want to sign into a contract because we are planning on moving in 5 months, so we were going to suck it up and pay the month by month fee. Well of course the people there cant just let you do that. I ended up getting a years membership cheaper than a 6 month one all because Pete worked for IBM. Pete says that I have to go everyday to make it worth it. Hopefully knowing that we are paying so much will motivate me to go.

We visited one of neighbors last night. She is older and used to have a dog, Benji. She had to put him to sleep a couple of months ago, and she really misses him. Zora ran inside her apartment, plopped down on her feet and just sat there to get petted. Both Tina and Zora were happy as could be. We need to start visiting her more often.

Zora is sick again. We cant figure out what is causing it. She was fine yesterday morning and afternoon and then last night she and Captain were running on the tennis courts and she got sick again. In the pine needles, thank goodness. She acts fine, so we cant figure it out. Pete thinks its Captain, but I don't know how that would cause it. We are keeping our fingers crossed that when we got home things still smell the same. We gave her Pepto, so hopefully that will help.

We got up early and voted this morning. We were scared that there was a huge line, but there was no one there. The longest wait was waiting for the older gentleman to find our names. He found mine and I told him to keep the page cuz Pete was right behind me, but he lost the page and started flipping the opposite way to find Pete's. He was excited that there were some many people with the same address as him. Our district is small and is our apartment complex, one other and some houses. Obviously most people are going to have the same address.

Work is boring again, obviously since I posting in the morning. I really hope I get something to do.

Update....

I have become a total slacker. I am on the computer everyday and I still dont update more. I am glad that I didn't take part in that post once a day thing in November.

Last week was ok. Nothing much happened. Thursday I went out with a former coworker from UNC. It was really good to see her. We caught up and it was good to have a conversation in person with someone other than Pete. No much else happened. I dont think anyways. Last week is kinda fuzzy.

We dog sat this weekend and that is always an adventure.

Saturday sucked. I dont know any other way to put it. The day started at 5:30 when the dog we were watching decided to get up and wake everyone else up. We ignored it for a little while and then the bed started shaking. He woke Zora up and they were playing and moving our bed. We finally got up and walked them at 6 and put him down into his crate and went back to bed. We didnt wake up again until 11. Mind you, we had a ton to do and here the day is already half over. We get going, i.e. showering, making lists and walking the dogs one last time. While trying to do this my mom calls and I am trying to talk to her and get stuff done, but she got mad. We finally get out the door and to the bank and post office when I realize that I dont have new passport pictures to mail in with my application. (I am just changing my name on it, but I need new pictures.) Fine add one more thing to the list. Next stop the library. I am almost to the door and realized I grabbed the wrong book to return. It was one I owned instead of the one I finished the night before. We finally leave our block and head toward Durham. Traffic was horrible. There were some horrible drivers on the road. Add to my mood and there was alot of swearing going on in the car. We decided to take back roads at one point cuz it was so bad and we get to the turn and the back roads are closed. So we have to backtrack and get back into the line of traffic. We get to AAA 30 minutes before they close so I can get new pictures. I run in and there was this guy who just wouldnt leave. You could hear the woman who worked there trying to get him to go cuz there is a line building and he just wouldn't go. I finally get my pictures and they are horrible. Its winter so I am pale and I was wearing a yellow sweatshirt and there was too much flash. Not to mention all the extra weight I have gained since I started working at RTI. Uggg. 10 years of looking at that picture. Next stop, Sam's club. Packed with the slowest walking people ever. We get what we need, quite cheaply too, and check out in a fast line. We were both starved at this time, but the line was really long and not worth the cheap lunch. Next stop Old Navy and Best Buy. Pete got his Gameboy replaced and I got some new clothes. I went in for a pair of jeans and came out with more. We were leaving the shopping center and traffic was horrible. People are just bad drivers. They cut you off and there was one accident that we saw. We finally get home and put stuff away and its time to walk the dogs and go to church.

Usually church is good for me. I leave feeling better and strong enough to get through the week. Not this week. The sermon was on the two most important commandments paraphrased Love thy God and Love thy neighbor. How we should have the love and patience for our neighbors as we have it for our family. This makes me feel great after swearing at people all day. Especially since that mass was the first I was going to be an Eucharistic minister. It went well. I didnt drop anything. A great feat for me. Father John finally talked to me while I was helping washing the eucharistic vessels. Almost 3 years at the parish and he knows Pete's name and not mine.

Sunday was much better. Captain let us sleep til 7 and was behaving. Zora on the other hand was sick. She must have eaten something bad or just had an upset stomach. She looked so miserable. Captain must have sensed it because he left her alone for the most part. We mostly hung around. I did get my passport mailed out and returned my library book. I had to go to PetSmart cuz Zora was out of refuse bags and we can not be out of those. I got her a Christmas present. A Santa wiggle. (We call them wiggles, they are actually those long stuffed dogs you see on the Petsmart commercials.) Pete and I took both dogs for a long walk and while I walked them around the mall, Pete went in and got 2 video games. Nintendogs for me and Metois for him. I feel like an idiot playing Nintendogs but it is still fun. You have to talk to the Gameboy and give the dogs commands.

When Captain's owner got home and took him back, we got down to cleaning. All the laundry got done and put away. I switched my winter and summer clothes and found a brown sweater I have been looking for.

TV was good last night too. Desperate: I was glad that the woman who got killed did. I was sick of her. Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy were really good too. All in all it was a good night.

This morning was cold and I didnt want to get out of bed, so I was running a little late, but got to work on time.

Work. UGG. Today is one of those days that makes me want to quit. I havent done anything of worth. Sorted mail and a few other little things. Uggg. I dont wanna work anymore, though I know I should. Maybe it is just a bad day here. I am ready to go home, but there is still a half hour left and I just got something to do and it is causing problems. Uggg,work!