Long Time...No Post

Okay...at the urging of Mr. Matt...whose quiet voice was heard across the internet, I suppose I can take a few minutes out of my evening and put up an entry here...lol

Life is, as they say, good. I have forever left behind my cute little apartment and now live in a beautiful house with my sweet boyfriend and our two dogs. Big steps and a little adjustment was necessary...so this month has been filled to the brim with adventures...

I just can't think of any to tell you about right now. But, I'm alive, I'm well and I'm just out of things to say...

I probably won't be around much anymore...at least not on here. I'll still be around on the old e-mail and such...but I wouldn't count on this space for updates any time soon...(as most of you have probably stopped checking anyway).

Love to all of you...

Seacrest out...

Hard month

Hello all.

It's been a weird and somewhat difficult month around the lair. I've been gearing up for my move this month, and that's involved a lot of tough discussions and decisions about what of each of our things stays or goes. It can lead to some tense moments, let me tell you.

All of this lead up to me giving my 30 day notice to my landlord yesterday. So, I've been added onto the other lease for 04/01/06 and there's really no turning back at this point.

In the midst of all of this, my 93 year old grandmother become seriously ill again and then passed away last Thursday.

My mother and father and I were with her when she passed away. And what a weird feeling that was, to actually be in the room with a person when they pass from life. There was literally a moment that I just simply knew that she was gone.

In a lot of ways, her death is a relief. She'd been very ill, suffering from late stage Alzheimer's and was not herself to begin with. It was still sad to say goodbye. But I think it's a good thing in the end. After all, she was married to my grandfather for 40 years and hasn't seen him since he passed in 1985...so they were due for some time together.

So, I've spent more than a few days off of work and am still trying to get myself back into the routine around here.

But, life goes on...I'll start the packing process this next week...and by April 1st, I'll be residing with my boyfriend.

Exciting, really.

See you around...

Still sick, but getting better

Hello to all.

I've been a bit under the weather with the flu for the past few weeks. It started out slowly and has gone through a number of different phases. I'm currently working to shake the final round (cold and sinus infection).

To top things off, for two of the last three weeks my dear Joe has been out of town on business. So, it's just been me and the dog laying on the couch.

I'm very excited to see him tonight. I pick Joe up from the airport at about 9:00...and I can hardly wait. I've missed him terribly this week. Terribly.

Things are now in place for me to move in April. I'll be sad to give up the sweetest apartment I've ever lived in, but I'll be giving it up to live in a real house with a yard and with the sweetest man in the world.

Family stuff has blown up a bit as well the last few weeks. My grandmother became very ill and spent more than a week in the hospital, but still did not die. I swear to god, I hope I have that much strength of will in my life.

My father went through a very difficult time with his employers, but has emerged unscathed. Unfortunately, I think he's fed up enough at this point that he'll probably retire at the end of the year, and then the Edmond Public school district will lose the best Special Ed teacher they've ever had.

Anyway...life just goes on. I'm back at work today for my only full day this week...and am struggling to function on sinus medication...but I'll hack it.

Surviving the Wildfires...

If you turned on CNN or Fox News this weekend, you certainly saw the footage of the fires burning out of control all over the state of Oklahoma.

Just wanted to let you all know that we all survived the fires here.

The news stations didn't do a very good job of reporting the actual state of affairs on Sunday night. In fact, Fox news made it seem that downtown OKC was in immediate danger of burning to the ground...it wasn't.

I mean, yes, the wind could have shifted and blown the fires directly to the downtown area and my neighborhood...but not very likely.

Most of the fires around the OKC metro area were far out on the eastern outskirts of town....where the houses that burned were about the only things out there.

Still, it was frightening and more than a little wierd to see my city the focus of national attention for most of the weekend. Twice in the last 10 years OKC has been the focus of national news. There was the May 3rd, 1999 tornado and there was also the bombing back in 1995. So, seeing the word Oklahoma City on the TV screen was mildly disconcerting. Brings back wired memories.

New Years was a blast...and there will be more to write soon, but I must get started on some work. I was already late to work today because I overslept by about 4 hours...so I should get cracking...

I'm still living...

I really didn't intend for this blog to become a once a week thing, but as I told Matt via e-mail yesterday, I've just been going like crazy these past few weeks (months) and when I actually find myself at home, there is generally a dog running through the dining room and a boyfriend sitting on the couch...so it's tough to sit down and write like I want to.

I do find time every once in a while at the office, and I'll open up the new post page and then stare blankly at the screen until my phone rings, interrupts me and causes me to forget I'm even logged in here.

The last two weeks have been very social...more social than I've had to be in a long time. There have been several X-mas parties, a few drink get-togethers, and more dinners out to celebrate various things.

I did survive Joe's latest trip out of town...only to find out he has to go back again the first week of January and the second week of February. But I think at the end of his trip in February I might fly out and meet him halfway in Phoenix and visit with some friends of his for the weekend...we'll see if my money will hold out for that though...lol.

Navigating the relationship waters these last few months have been interesting. It's not effortless this time, but it's a lot easier than it's ever been in the past. I feel good about this.

I'm still actively job searching...but not going to work with the headhunter I met with. They wanted a truly ridiculous amount of money...even knowing how little I make right now. I literally laughed at the recruiter when she told me what their fee would be. I think she was a little offended.

In other news:

Christmas promises to be interesting. My sisters are (I guess) not speaking right now. So the family will apparently not be celebrating as one big group this year. I guess that on Friday night the family that will be in and around OKC will get together to visit and exchange gifts. Then my parents will go on Saturday to my older sister's house and do Christmas with her family.

I could go, but I'm not going to. Although my older sister most certainly thinks this is because I'm angry with her about the fight she's having with the other sister, the truth of the matter is, I simply don't want to spend 6 hours of my Christmas day in my car alone driving to and from her home in BFE.

Instead, Joe and I plan to spend a quiet Christmas eve and morning together and then attend a party a friend of his is giving on Sunday night. I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaking of which, I need to pick up a few more things for his gifts. I have one of the items I wanted to get, but am still lacking the rest. I should really get off my ass today and get out of the office early and take care of it...but I am managing to be a bit lazy about it.

Well, anyway...that's my for now. Hopefully something more interesting will happen or I'll make more time to write and actually remember things I want to post on here.

Peace out!

Song lyric of the day...

From Belle and Sebastian's "Get me away from here I'm dying":

Oh, I’ll settle down with some old story
About a boy who’s just like me
Thought there was love in everything and everyone
You’re so naive!
They always reach a sorry ending
They always get it in the end
Still it was worth it as I turned the pages solemnly, and then
With a winning smile, the poor boy
With naivety succeeds
At the final moment, I cried
I always cry at endings

Been listening to their 1996 album "If you're feeling sinister" this afternoon at work and I just love this particular verse...makes me smile.

The weather outside is frightful...

...but the wall furnace is so delightful.

Yes, winter has come at long last to Oklahoma. Thirty minutes were spent yesterday morning scraping a half inch of frost off of my cars windows.

This morning the temperatures were well below freezing (like 15 degrees...and that's freakin' cold here)with a wind chill below zero.

A few minutes ago I walked over to Target to get a can of soup (seems like a soup for lunch day) and the first snowflakes started falling.

So, I'm going to leave the office at 4:30 and go pick up Joe's dog and then head home and make a big pot of tortilla soup. Then I'm going to curl up on the couch with the dog and watch a movie and keep warm.

I love this time of year.

(FYI: When I ran spell check it suggested that I replace the word "freakin'" with "foreskin". That would have given that sentance a really wierd twist, don't you think?)