Holiday Season= Less Blogging

  Greetings, fellow citizens of the blog world. I have come to you to kindly share a message of progression revolving around the Pollock family. If the above sentence does not make sense to you, I shall slap thy face.

Yeah, so pretty much we've been busy. Due to the Christmas season, work has been nuts (as you can imagine). I have a long shift ahead of me rather soon. Oh the joys!

Speaking of joys, why does the holiday season always seem to fly by so quickly? We got all of our Christmas shopping done and most of the gifts have been wrapped. Gary not only received his Christmas bonus, but a third paycheck. We were able to put a nice chunk of money into our savings account we have been building for months now and were thrilled to do so. Ah, savings.

Besides that, we have been spending our time drinking hot chocolate, watching movies, and spending time together (when I'm not studying). Oh, and let's not forget snuggles. My favorite part of the evening is sipping hot chocolate with Gary, wrapped in a warm blanket and having two kitties curled up with us. It's an incredibly peaceful moment and these moments I will never forget. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for everything and everyone surrounding my life. I have been truly blessed.

We were hoping to bust out random holiday shopping trips, tours and sightseeing before Christmas, but due to work schedules, it's been rather hard. But, like mentioned about, just relaxing at home is just as wonderful (and free!).

I could so use a nap right now, but must continue to get ready for work. Tomorrow, my shift begins at 5am. Lucky me, eh?

I will post you more updates and photos another time. As for now, I have a job to do! Farewell.

PS- I totally forgot to blog about our anniversary. I shall do so later as well. 4 years married!

We Are Busy!

 We have been one busy family lately (thus the reason I haven't been blogging). Over the weekend, we had the opportunity to visit my family in Bakersfield. We had a surprise graduation party for my older brother Devonn (congrats to him!) and got to see my super gorgeous niece receive her baby blessing Sunday morning. It was nice visiting family and seeing everyone. I wanted to hold little Lexi, but I've been too nervous about getting her sick (since I wasn't feeling 100%).

 Since then, we both have been working a lot. These past couple of weeks, Gary has been going to long meetings like crazy for his job. They needed a programmer from the department to show them how they'd work out some of their projects/whatever and they chose Gary out of all the others. People outside of the department were requesting him and when he went to his meetings today, somebody introduced him as "the best programmer in the world". I'm proud of my man! He works incredibly hard.  As for me, I've been working long shifts myself (yesterday I worked over 9 hours). A couple of months ago, Gary bought me new shoes that fit so well with my high-arched feet. I started wearing those to work, but was informed they weren't "brown" enough. Bummed, I started wearing my black leather boots. Bad idea! I knew they'd be uncomfortable, but my goodness. After my long shift yesterday (and the day before), I was practically dead when I got home. Luckily Gary rubbed my feet before bed. I wanted to cry. Today, I stuck those same shoes back on and worked another long shift. However, my feet hurt so badly I wanted to puke and I was dizzy. When I finally managed to make it home, I grabbed my expensive arch support shoes that weren't "brown" enough, grabbed a black permanent marker, and colored them in. There, now I can wear them (dark brown or black is the policy). My feet are NOT happy with me. They are so painfully sore (not to mention the plantar fasciitis I suffer from as well) I swear I feel a jolt in my central nervous system when I take a step. Nice job, Emilee.

 Besides work, I've been scheduling in school as well. I received my transcription foot pedal so I could practice. It's harder than I expected! Sometimes it's really difficult to understand what these doctors are saying! Especially the ESL ones. Some of them mumble into the recording, some speak so quickly their sentences are run-on...man! I almost gave up just from practice. But I must not quit! I pulled through and received 100% on the following exam revolving around dermatology, otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose & throat) and ophthalmology (eyes). It was tough. I learned and studied everything from terminology of those subjects listed above to the disease processes and pharmacology associated with them. At least now I know I suffer from irritant contact dermatitis every time I touch the Buckeye disinfectant at work as opposed to allergic contact dermatitis (the range of symptoms appear at much different times). What I love is the CD that came with my text book. Now I can just shortcut my way onto the program from the desktop and read everything from the computer instead of directly from the text book. I can search for words as well as play learning activities and practice transcribing. Way more easy and convenient. It also shows lots of pictures of the different diseases and such (even catch Gary every now and then reading along, then proceed to ask me questions about it). I just received my new section a couple of days ago: pulmonary medicine, cardiology and hematology, gastroenterology, and endocrinology...one of my faves. Well, mostly because I have hormone problems so I know a lot about them. Time to schedule in study sessions! I'm really starting to grow a bigger love for medicine and the human body. I've always had an interest, but I really enjoy this. I'm tempted to take my studies further in the medical field. I know I mentioned engineering, so it's not actually tossed aside. Biomedical engineering or being a health physicist is always an option. If I do turn completely to medicine, I was thinking along the lines of an occupational therapist, or something similar. My goal now, of course, is to finish this transcription program.

Onto a new subject. On Friday, Gary gave me great news and told me he received a Christmas bonus. Not only was this exciting news, but I was able to finally plan out and shop for Christmas gifts for everyone! Yay. Because I have been working a lot as well, we decided to splurge a little. I came home from work about a week ago and saw Gary had bought me a cute purse (I had been needing one since my old one was starting to fall apart). I was thrilled! I felt so bad when he told me he spent 3 hours going to different stores to find one for me. I'm not that picky! But it was very sweet of him. Tonight we did a little more shopping, and finally bought something he had been talking about for some time now- an eReader! It's the NookColor by Barnes & Noble.

 

 I'm personally an old-fashioned reader who likes books with paper and a cover, but Gary really wanted one of these, so I'll give it a shot. Besides, it should be nice to just download a book at home and read it without going out to find the book. Not to mention I love magazines, so I'll be able to subscribe to and read magazines from there. It's touch-screen, has internet (so you can go online and download) and a few other cool features. I especially like the part where you can tap on a word, then define, and it will give you an automatic definition. I also just told Gary I haven't touched the thing since we got home (he's been going nuts with it).  Tomorrow's finally a day off, so I'll have all day to have fun with it.

 Anyway, after our shopping trip, we went out to eat at TGIFridays, and now we're here-relaxing at home. Time to steal the eReader away from Gary and have my turn. Bye!

Thanksgiving

 I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Gary and I sure did. We were originally planning on heading out to Taft Wednesday night, but after a few things decided to take their time (my prescription wasn't ready, the laundry wasn't finished yet since work kept me late, etc.), AND we were kindly asked to wait due to the weather, we headed out Thursday morning.

 We arrived in Taft and were warmly welcomed by Gary's mother and the two happy dogs. I helped a little setting up but she did an AMAZING job with everything. We were very grateful for all the hard work put into it and especially grateful for the deliciousness of it. After we enjoyed our feast, we watched some television, chatted, and spent the rest of the evening quietly in the home.

 Early Saturday morning (not the crazy Black Friday early, but early enough) we awoke, got ready, and headed out to Southwest Bakersfield. We had a great time shopping for clothes, boots, electronics, video games, and other items. Best Buy was nuts! At one point while we were leaving, a young man stopped me and said, "Hey, long time no see." I glanced up at him, did a polite smile while wondering who this was until it finally hit me. "Oh! I hardly recognized you!" It was Keith Mayberry. I hadn't seen that kid in ages (last time I saw him he really WAS a kid). He was working there, saying he arrived at 4am and there was a huge line wrapped around the building. Crazy if you ask me! After a crazy/busy day of shopping, we eventually became worn and headed back to Taft. That's when the headache from you know where decided to hit me. I've been getting these migraines for the past few days and this one hit me smack dab in the car on the way home. When we arrived, I took some meds and rested on the couch. An hour later, it was still horrible. I took a few more pills and tried to rest again. Still, an hour later, nothing. Finally I crawled into the bedroom we had been staying in, turned out the lights, and went to sleep for a nap. An hour later, it was still there, but I was feeling better than before. However, Gary and I made a run for the store to buy Excedrin Migraine. That kicked its butt.

We headed back to Santa Clarita this morning and arrived home a little after noon. We cleaned the stinky cat box, washed some clothes, then decided we wanted to do more shopping (crazy us!). Since the weather was cool/nice, we walked over to our mall. We took a detour through the Montecito apartments across the street from us and I was amazed and how beautiful it was. While Gary and I were browsing apartments before we grabbed this one, the Montecito apartments were calling us trying to set up an appointment. Unfortunately they were slightly out of our price range at the time, but I realized it's because it's in a gated community and near the Valencia Country Club where there's a gorgeous lake and golf course.

Anyway, we arrived at the mall and we just loved how Christmas-y it was! We became especially impressed at The Patios-the newly constructed outside section of the mall. It was filled with new shops, sections for kids, everything (even an "archeology" dig store for children-if they found something they kept it). It was just beautiful. I had to take pictures. Definitely love what they're doing to Valencia! Even Gary's face lit up on all the new construction. We both had the Christmas spirit beaming in us with the lovely Christmas songs in the background.

Beautiful Christmas tree and the surrounding ponds

Gary warming himself by the fire

Fun little fountain area with "jumping water"

They had a few of these. So pretty!

Train area for kids

The train itself. Super cute!

 It was very much alive and super fun! Gary even spoiled me a bit since I didn't get any gifts for myself on Black Friday. What a sweetie!

New dress!

New skirt!

  Now some pics of our shopping center all Christmas-y.

  Gary and I really do love Valencia/Santa Clarita. The security is great, the schools are fantastic and there's so much nearby like the beach, temple, downtown shopping, anything. We just wish it didn't cost SO much. We even agreed it may even beat the fact this is California. We hate California, but would be willing to put up with it to live here. I may adjust living like this. Oh, we'll just see where life takes us.

 Since we just got home today, Christmas decorations aren't up just yet. But soon! I am most definitely looking forward to the holidays.

 Anyway, we grabbed some pizza at Pavilions and finally made our way home. I love being able to go everywhere on foot. We then watched a really lame but funny action movie.

 My goodness it is raining madness out there (as you can see from the photos above). Time to snuggle up with hubby and kitties with some hot chocolate and enjoy the rest of our night!

PS- Speaking of hubby, we recently discovered he is a polymath. Polymath- A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge. I mean, in 7th grade his IQ was 146. Yeah, he's my genius! I also call him my Wikipedia.

A Beautiful Sunday Indeed

 My goodness it's just beautiful outside. A bit cold, but beautiful nonetheless. This spoiled cat has been going outside too. Often times we end up saying, "that's enough already" and bring him inside so we can close the door. We keep a nice warm blanket by the couch so we can always snuggle up when watching a movie or television (although I currently have it wrapped around me while I'm on here).

The mountains are so blue and crisp. Ooh, I'm totally tempted to go on a photo-walk. You know, a beautiful scenic walk through our area and snap photos of how gorgeous it is. Hmm...perfect Sunday to do so.  My favorite thing about Santa Clarita- the mountains and canyons being right there. I even enjoy my drive to work when I work early mornings. Silly me.

Speaking of blankets and such, we "redecorated" our bed. Our old red comforter was torn and just ready to go. Gary and I had been looking around for something new, just hadn't come across anything until a recent trip to Target. They had over-sized king quilts on sale. Since Gary and I prefer quilts over comforters, we bought it. We also added in another layer of a warm blanket we found at Big Lots. Definitely cozy in the cold weather. Since we don't run our heater, it's always nice. We have a small heater we bought for ourselves last year, so it does the trick. Dexter wants outside early mornings, but it doesn't happen anymore. Sorry, cat, 40 degrees is just too cold.

Pretty girl resting on our favorite, warmest blanket of all. Man I love that blanket.

 He stuck his head out when he heard the camera.

Anyway, we love our new bedding.

In other news, I'm looking forward to the holidays. I'm glad work has given me time off to visit family, which we're looking forward to. My job has been understanding when I mentioned we don't have family in this city. Gary took the whole week after Christmas off. I'm looking forward to that as well! I didn't request that many days off because they've been so nice. Just Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Last week we had the opportunity to attend a dinner party with some friends (other couples in the ward). We've been doing this every month for a few months now, although I missed last month's because work kept me late. Hopefully we'll be able to make it this month. We had a blast, too. It's always nice being able to socialize with other people our age. One of these months Gary and I will have the opportunity to host it. Maybe January or February. We were thinking about throwing the party in the clubhouse, though. So we'll see.

So, yesterday, Gary and I decided to head to Costco to do some shopping. Okay, so we kinda had to since we needed his allergy pills, milk, and a few other things. Anyway, we stopped by the kitchen appliance and storage area and saw a few things we liked. First of all, we liked the rice steamer. We put it on our Christmas list for each other. We then came across the Rubbermaid Premier food storage. We looked at each other and probably had the same thought bubble: opening up our cabinet and watching all the current food storage containers falling out. So, we grabbed it and bought it.

Much, much better. It's actually a set of 5, but we double-stacked the ones on the top row since they all fit within each other and the lids on the bottom fit all of them. What's also neat is the fact they're airtight when you close them. Mucho nice. We love them and the new space.

Anyway, since Gary mumbled something about cookies and hot chocolate before stealing my blanket and dozing off on the couch, I'm going to make cookies and hot chocolate to balance out this cold and cloudy weather. Well, actually I might make a real meal first. Something nice and warm. Maybe some sort of beef casserole?

Bye!

PS- Church was excellent! We learned about the many gifts we receive in our lives. Last week we also sustained our new bishop- Bishop Nathan Aina. Bishop Williams was wonderful, but we're excited to have our new bishop too!

Dentist Again

My dentist appointment was scheduled at 10:45am. Gary's was right next to mine. Around 10am, we get a phone call from the dental office asking where Gary is. Okay, so his appointment was supposed to be at 10. So, we head on down there. Luckily they are a few blocks away.

Gary went in for his appointment. At 11:30, I finally went in for my appointment (after sitting in the waiting room for about an hour). The hygienist violated my mouth with the cleaning. Serious ouch. She explain that my gums were a little swollen and tender, then asked if I was on any medication. I told her I was only taking my thyroid meds, and she asked which kind. I then found out she used to take the same medication for thyroid issues. She then explained that the medication and the illness have an impact on my gums and mouth. Remember how I received my first cavity 6 months ago? Yeah, blame the meds. Luckily I came back with a clean bill of health this time around. She told me to start rinsing with warm salt water and switch to a softer toothbrush. Besides that, I'm fine.

While I was getting my cleaning done, Gary was having a discussion with our dentist about insurance and other coverages. See, I want to get my that one front tooth fixed since part of the bonding fell off. The best option was to go with porcelain veneers for both front teeth. The cost for something like that is $1000/tooth, and since it's cosmetic, it's not exactly covered. Gary also needed a couple of fillings done for his mouth (from older cavities back in the day) and a veneer for another tooth. Years ago when he had a few cavities, they were done with cheaper material, therefore they eventually fell apart. The cost of fixing all of those would have been around $1400. To add to that, I grind my teeth at night and often wake up in pain. The recommendation was a mouth guard- around $400. Total cost of everything? Around $3800. Possibly more because of negotiated rates.

So, our dentist and others in the office decided to talk to the insurance company to see what they could do and if we were covered for anything. They finally got off the phone and said, "Well, if you want to do all of those procedures combined, the insurance will cover most and we'll give you a discount."  New total cost of everything?  $500. Good part of my day!

Let's just say Gary and I have been very pleased with our new dental company. It was even better hearing many thank-yous from patients as they were leaving the building, praising the dentist for the good work. It was amazing they were working with us to help us afford so much. The dentist himself, Dr. David Abri, is very very kind and considerate as well.

I haven't gotten my veneers yet, but will get it soon. Hopefully an appointment within the week. I'm glad we switched over. Hygienist needs to calm down a bit with the cleaning, but everything else is great.

Anyway, I need to stop wasting away my only day off on this darn computer. Time to go out and do something. Bye!

School Stuff

 I know I haven't posted in awhile. There's really not too much to update, but I'll probably just ramble anyway (mostly about school).

 I got a raise and have been working a lot. I also just found out I had 11 hours of vacation time saved up, so I decided to cash it in on my next check. Definitely looking forward to next Thursday's check.

School is going fine. I took one of the toughest tests thus-far. The unit was based on the fundamentals of medical transcription. I was sent a text book of everything from English studies and practices to diseases processes, anatomy, medico-legal ethics, pharmacology, etc. Just for my last unit I had to study around 100 pages from the text book. Not my style at all, but I survived and wound up only missing one question on the test. An EASY question for that matter. But Emilee, as her usual dur self, misread the question. But one question wrong wasn't bad. I did spend a good amount of time on that darn test though. Luckily it all worked out.

I also loved how the unit described MTs as medical language specialists...most people think typist, medical secretary, word processor, clerk, or whatever else, and I can see why now. Medical terminology is mostly what my studies have been revolved around. That, and diseases, anatomy, procedures, etc. It's also extremely important we learn pharmacology as well as laboratory tests and results. The only thing that makes an MT different from any other health care professional is the lack of hands-on with patients. It's interesting now- often times I find myself chuckle at these medical dramas when they use terminology or disease processes in a serious matter and I understand what they're saying-and laugh how serious they make it. Like on House, someone mentioned a pituitary tumor, and a doctor asked, "shouldn't we check for cancer?"- and I chuckled and said aloud, "silly, they are benign tumors", whereas another doctor corrected him and informed him of this. Don't get me wrong, though. I still love House, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. Gotta admit, I feel pretty cool knowing this stuff. Even my brilliant husband overhears something and asks aloud, "what does that mean?" I feel smart informing him. Mostly because I'm the one always asking him questions since he's my human Wikipedia and dictionary. Sometimes I shock myself when I realize I know something he doesn't, haha.  I'm still a work in progress, though (flashcards are amazing with this stuff). But I am looking forward to finishing this. When Gary and I discussed adoption, Gary asked, "You do know you'll probably have to quit your job, right?" I agreed with him, but added, "That's why I'm doing this medical transcription program." My backup plan for staying home would be this career. I am still planning to do the engineering program once I'm done with this though. You know, extra backup.

There's also a program called the American Association for Medical Transcription. When you join the program, whether as a student or a professional, you have the opportunity to meet up in person others who are pursuing the field/in the field. It's been recommended everywhere to join the association because it's an excellent way to get your foot in the door. My professor is also urging me to start finding jobs right now in the health care industry. So, I've been looking around. I applied for a job at our local hospital (Henry Mayo) as a medical clerk. I'm still looking and hopefully will find some luck. It's $55 to join the AAMT, so we'll see.

Okay, I think that's all regarding school for now. Told ya I'd ramble :)

Everything else is going rather well. Gary's job is still amazing and I love seeing him so happy. I just love that boy.

Besides that, there's not much else to update. I have to work in a little bit. Sucks, but that's life. I'm also glad to see the weather cooling down again. Poor little crazy cat keeps wanting to go outside in the early mornings like we used to. I peeked outside around 7am this morning and noticed the thermometer read 46 degrees. Yeah freaking right. Sorry, cat. But he gets to hangout during the afternoon if I'm home. Then the door closes again in the evening because it gets freezing again. He'll survive. Speaking of cats, I switched their diet. I've been slowly changing them (and fully changed now) to Wellness. They've always been on expensive food, but this is nuts. However, because of their allergies, asthma, and weight, it's recommended by their vet. I'm still feeding them their supplement the vet gave them, too. Anyway, the food is holistic, doesn't contain any corn or by-products (fillers), and is made from deboned chicken and other natural foods. Oh, and it's a weight management formula. I know, they're just cats, but they're my babies and I want them in great health.

Speaking of, I've decided I'm going to switch medications. I don't feel this is working out for me anymore. I bought a book called "Living Well with Autoimmune Disease", and it has a lot of good and information as well as a recommendation to another thyroid treatment (the author suffers from Hashimoto's as well). So, I'm going to try out the new one. A woman mentioned she had been on Levothyroxine (what I take) for a while, but felt it never actually worked. So, she switched to a thyroid medication that helps add T3 and T4 (they work with the thyroid), called Armour, and she said her symptoms disappeared and she lost half the weight she was carrying around. So I'm interested. I do feel my symptoms never go away. My hair still falls out, my skin still dries up, my joints always flare up and hurt, my mind is always fuzzy, and I'm exhausted and fatigued.

Okay, seriously, gotta get ready for work and stop yapping. Sorry for the severely boring blog post today. More family-related stuff another time. Bye!

November!

 I can't believe it's already November! These months are just flying right on by. October was a very speedy month. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas! Exciting :) I do feel like I just put up my Halloween decorations, too. Time for the Thanksgiving ones. Christmas is tempting, but I can't forget the importance of Thanksgiving.  My sentences are very short- Emilee tired.

Gary and I never had the opportunity to carve pumpkins this year, although we bought a couple just in case. Sadly they are still sitting on our island waiting to be carved. Well, I suppose I can use them for other purposes, right? Like pumpkin seeds?

Anyway, we had our ward Halloween party Saturday night, and it was sooo fun! Since Gary and I are no longer on the activities committee, we got to sit and enjoy and socialize with everyone. I baked up some cornbread for the event and it was gone within minutes (since it turned out perfectly and was super delicious). I was really happy about that!

Gary and I did indeed dress up. For Gary's work, the engineers dressed up as the "Sons of Technology" as opposed to The Sons of Anarchy, a television show on FX. We both watch that show and love it, so it was fun hearing his work was going to dress up as such (in a similar manner of course). Here's a character from the show:

That's the front of the vest. Gary's version:

Now the back from the show:

And Gary:

I thought it was too cute.

So, I had to dress up similar:

I love my new leather jacket! Bought it at Macy's for 50% off- big sale going on. I had big earrings, too, but it wasn't in the shot.

So, we headed out to the ward Halloween party after these pictures. We enjoyed chili and cornbread, then got to trunk-or-treat. Well, WE didn't, but we handed out candy. We couldn't figure out how to turn the trunk light off in our car, so without wanting to drain the battery, we just closed the trunk and decorated with spider webs. Anyway, here's pictures of the event:

This is when we first arrived

A lot of people by the end of the night!

 Anyway, we came home, watched some scary (and dumb) movies, and crashed! Time to go do stuff! Later.

My Birthday Fun

 First of all, I'm sorry with all the weirdness blogger has been having lately. My last post pretty much disappeared. No worries though, nothing has changed.

 I'm here to talk about my birthday weekend and how fantastic it was! Gary came home Friday night, and we went a few places, but mostly stayed at home nice and cozy. We had a trip ahead of us!

Saturday was amazing. We awoke around 8-9am (nice) and started getting ready for the day. We packed up our stuff and headed out to the temple! We didn't have a session time planned, it was more "whatever time it's closest to when we get there". We arrived a little after 1 o'clock session and decided we were going to go to the 2 o'clock session. Unfortunately we never got to check out the new Visitor's Center (bummer), but instead bought a few things from the Distribution Center. After we entered the temple and waited for our session, we noticed it was clearly East Stake temple day and I saw many people from Monica ward and a few other East stake wards. Some people I saw I hadn't seen in years. It was great. They were just coming out of a session, so we didn't get to sit with them, but that's okay. A young girl, by herself, walked shyly into the seating area and glanced around, asking, "Is this where we wait for a session?" When someone answered yes, she sat down. I noticed she had been fiddling with an engagement ring and the dress she had been wearing was very bride-like. I felt a little sad she was by herself (minus her husband-to-be on the other side), but happy she chose this path.

Anyway, the session was wonderful as always and Gary and I used the time after to ponder and pray for confirmation about the adoption idea. I hadn't received anything and wanted to cry (I realized later I had been thinking too hard, but Gary had received answers and his words made me feel a ton better, allowing me to relax and feel the spirit myself). We are still going to pursue adoption. When I said "soon", I didn't mean right this week or day, but soon. Few weeks to a few months. Gary was told we need to prepare just a little more and we'll know when it's the right time. I completely trust him. I've actually reached the point where I've accepted the fact I may never get pregnant. It feels good to finally accept that. I know years from now it's still a possibility, but I've let it go. It was a nice free feeling.

We spent the rest of our Saturday in various places, mostly in the Woodland Hills area. We shopped the Topanga Westfield mall and area, then finally headed home and crashed. It was a perfect Saturday.

Sunday was stake conference, so we just enjoyed the day. No big worries, just relaxed and had a fabulous day together.

Then Monday-my birthday! I awoke around 8 o'clock to several, and I mean several, text messages from various people wishing me a happy birthday. I was also tempted to turn off my Facebook notifications on my cell phone, but decided to let it be. Gary awoke shortly after and told me to make plans if I wanted to do anything fun today. I spent awhile (the night before too) trying to figure out where I wanted to go. The original plan was head to Ventura and do some light shopping on the beach. The weather was a bit cold and rainy. As much as Ventura is always a perfect idea, for some reason I was in a bit more of a city mood. I'm not a city girl at all, but I do love visiting big cities occasional for fun; I just can't live there. I noticed a Bass Pro Shop in Rancho Cucamonga, but the drive was rather a long distance (hour away, but 2 hours in traffic). I also thought about Santa Barbara, but too far. Finally I told myself to just pick something.

Gary and I have been in Santa Clarita for over 2 years now, and had yet to visit Hollywood itself (except for a few shopping places in N. Hollywood). It never seemed like a big deal to me, but I decided I wanted to go today. So, we went. We visited the Hollywood and Highland center. To our surprise, it was less than 30 miles away and we didn't have to touch the 405. It took us maybe 20 mins to get there. See how much I know LA? Haha.

I know, this is a crappy view. We were going to head up there after the shopping, but couldn't find our way. So, not wanting to deal with the traffic, we headed out. No biggies.

Not really a fan, but this was the first building upon entering Hollywood Blvd.

We were going to eat lunch there, but changed our minds. Instead, we ate at a fantastic little pizzeria and had calzones. Mmm, it was delicious!

Walk of Fame. Of course, they were all up and down Hollywood Blvd, but still, wanted to get a shot. Partial-Gary in there. 

Kodak Theatre (Academy Awards and other big events are here)

Ripley's Believe it or not Museum. What a fun tour! It was about an hour long (self-guided) with lots of interesting little facts, passages, etc. I loved all the cool light effects, music, games, illusions, etc. We enjoyed it very much.

 There was also the Guinness tour and Wax Museum tour. Sorry I didn't take too many pictures! We were too busy having fun. I realized later we didn't have any pictures of each other. Oh, well. We had a definite blast! Gary even bought me a few nice presents :) I was super spoiled.

After spending the day in Hollywood, we decided to head North and let Gary enjoy his favorite super video game store. We finally headed home after, then shortly went out for ice cream and Chick fil-A. I didn't feel like cooking on my birthday, lol.

It was such a wonderful weekend! Starting with that temple trip was just amazing. Time to enjoy another day off. Things to do!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

North Hollywood Shopping

  Gary and I enjoyed our weekend together. When Gary came home from work Friday evening, we planned out what we were going to do. Since he has been collecting retro video games and systems, he wanted to find a place which sells things like that. Anyway, the search began. We also discussed going out of town as well. Finally, I found a place in N. Hollywood called Game Dude. So, we decided to go and check it out.

 Gary was in heaven! I can't even begin to count how many games we saw. They have everything from the classic Nintendo games (and systems) to games and systems I had never heard of, to today's games and systems. We spent a good amount of time in there while he was able to browse. It was also huge! Not the typical video game store size. It was a warehouse of games and systems, used and new. We were even wondering how they were able to obtain certain games and systems. Finally, we left with a few games and a Sega Dreamcast to add to his collection. He was one happy boy! A kid in a candy store.

We headed out after that, and decided we wanted to head to the city since we were more in the industrial area. I used Google on my phone to see what was next on the list. I came across something called Citywalk (yes, I admit I didn't know what it was), and mentioned it to Gary. Holy cow was it nuts! We drove there to check it out, but didn't want to pay for parking. Husband promises next time though. Plus, it was a Friday night. You can imagine how crowded it was. Of course it was part of Universal City. I knew that :)

 Me+Crowds= Not going to breathe/panic attacks. So, of course, we turned around and headed back home after a bit. He says we'll plan it out next time and go during the day.

When Saturday rolled around, we were lazy. Well, mostly because I had to work that evening. But Gary and I went to a few places and shopped around. Nothing big, though.

Sunday was great! I always love fast and testimony meeting and hearing the testimonies of others. The lessons in class and RS were about repentance and forgiveness. Thank goodness for the atonement and having that blessing. Makes all the difference in the world. Gary also had the opportunity to speak to the bishop about a lot of things, giving him updates on our life, etc. It was nice. We came home and enjoyed the rest of the day together.

I am NOT looking forward to working today. I work from like 1-9:30. Ugh. I'll make it through, though. Anyway, time for laundry and other things. Bye!

October!

 I loooove October! It's one of my favorite months! Not only because the 25th is the best day ever, but the obvious changes in season (I just realized the 25th will be my "lucky" birthday since I'll be turning 25). Halloween decorations are already up! And I know, I change my layout a lot. What can I say? I have no life :)

Gary and I didn't watch the Saturday session until later, because we had plans Saturday. We got up early Saturday morning and went to yard sales. Bought a few nice things, but nothing too big. We also went to the Swap Meet at the Saugus Speedway and browsed a lot of items. We came home with a $30 disc doctor (which we bought for a buck), and an old Tetris game. Remember how I mentioned Gary bought that Retron? Yesterday his Sega Genesis came. He was able to find the Model 1. In fact, he ordered the Model II Genesis, but the guy accidentally sent him the original...which is way better! Gary contacted the guy, and he said, "Whoops, my bad. Eh, oh well. Just keep it." Lol. He also shipped us a collection of games which were kept in almost perfect condition. Gary was extremely impressed the way this guy kept his collectibles almost untouched. So now Gary's adding to his 200+ video game collection using older games and systems. Fun! We've played NBA Jam, Mortal Combat, Sonic, Taz, and a couple of others. I remember when we weren't allowed to play Mortal Combat because of the "blood". Lol! Wow things have sure changed.

So, our Saturday was nice. I was called in to work that evening, however, so I spent the rest of the evening at work. It's all good though.

Sunday morning, we woke up, crawled into our PJ's and blankets, and turned on Conference. Wow, it was amazing! So spiritually uplifting and marvelous, hearing all the words of the prophet and other church leaders. We very much enjoyed it. Definitely gives the week ahead a bit of a boost. During the break between conferences, I decided I wanted to start putting up Halloween decorations. Our front hallway closet is where my seasonal decorations are. So, I opened up the closet and shook my head. There was no way. It was so stuffed with junk and unorganized. I eventually pulled everything out, placed all the Halloween decorations aside, threw away boxes and other things, folded all the blankets and stacked all the games. I then reorganized that closet- took me about an hour. It looks wonderful, but I realized instantly why we're told to rest on the sabbath. I was stressed and a bit irritable from all of that. I even started getting snappy with Gary when I couldn't find the nails. I eventually went to the bedroom to vent to the kitties who just meowed and purred at me. Finally I sat on the bed and thought about conference and how I just completely distracted myself by cleaning, pushing away the spirit. So, I got down and prayed. Boy did that feel better! I came out and apologized to my poor husband, and he just smiled and told some nerdy joke to lighten the mood. We then together put up the decorations, then went our way to finish the other section of Conference. A perfect Sunday!

So, today was apparently supposed to be sunny, according to the weather channel. Yeah, right! It's been raining like mad. But I love it. We had a super awesome thunder and lightning storm the other night (Friday night, early Saturday morning). When we were driving around town Friday night, we saw the lightning flashing every few minutes. Pretty sweet. That night, I awoke around 3am to really loud booming sounds. I sat up quickly, not sure what the noise was at first. Dexter was hiding under the bed, Lila was on the floor staring up at me. I heard the rain in the background, and assumed it was thunder. I peeked out the window just in time to see a bolt of lightning, followed by another booming sound. So, I sighed of relief and went back to bed. It kept me up for about another hour, but finally I passed out and was able to go back to sleep. You should have come sooner, storm! At least I would have been able to stay up and watch it.

As for our apartment and management, we still haven't heard anything. I noticed yesterday, however, other neighbors had also taken down their wind chimes and hummingbird feeders. Management= jerks. Gary came home again from work on Friday, telling me about a house in Lancaster his boss showed him. 6 bedrooms, over 3000 square feet, huge lot and yard, etc. I asked Gary what in the world we would do with that much space, but he didn't seem to care. Lol.  I guess his boss really IS trying to get him to stay. Haha. Lancaster is very affordable. Gary says bigger the better. We'll see.

October: My birthday, baby Lexi is born, Jazzy's 16th birthday (she should be grounded for...8 years since she's not allowed to be that old), Halloween, Halloween parties, etc. Good stuff! We have a big party to attend near the end of the month. Excited!!

Anyway, I believe that's all for now. Bye!

See Ya, Heat Wave

   Well, soon anyway. This heat wave has been RIDIC! It was what, 108 the other day? Insane! It's about 90 degrees right now, so it's calming down. We'll be getting back in the 70's as the week continues. Thank goodness! I like the heat, but not like this! Okay, no, I don't like the heat. 60's and 70's is my kind of weather. The cold is nice too. For awhile that is.

  Anyway, Gary and I have been thinking a lot about our apartment, and whether or not we want to stay another year when our lease is up. So we're not even halfway through our lease yet (almost) and we're already talking about moving. You see, everything was wonderful with this place to begin with. Then it started to go downhill a couple of months ago.

 New neighbors moved into our building. It's fine when new people move in; but these just aren't new neighbors. They're your favorite busy-bodies. Here's how it started:

 A couple of months ago, Gary and I received a phone call from the office. Our management told us that there were complaints about too much noise coming from our apartment. Okay, I admit, Gary and I are party animals. We have parties on a weekly basis with drunks, loud music, and electric guitars. Not. We have always been very courteous in respecting the rules of the lease. We turned down the base to our computer anyway, just in case. By the way, nobody lives below us (because it's a garage), and we don't share a wall with anybody. There are people above us, but we never hear them (except from the bathroom which is strange). The walls here are thick. We are quiet neighbors.

 Gary called them back to ask for more information. What sounds? Where are the sounds coming from? We just needed to know where to pinpoint the problem. They refused to share with us anymore information. Okay, fine. We just turned everything down and tried even harder to be quiet neighbors.

 A couple of weeks later, we received a written warning about the noise. According to the dates of the complaints, we were out of town. Clearly it wasn't us. We called management to explain this, and they really didn't want to hear it. Nice of them, huh? No apologies, nothing. We were gone those days! Unless the cats have some secret agenda, I really don't know how else to explain this.

 Okay, so we moved on with life, turning down the base even more to our computers and television. We hadn't heard anything for awhile. Until almost a week ago.

 Gary, who is in the Elder's Quorum, got up early one Saturday morning to help a family in our ward move. He was gone for a few hours, and I was working that morning. When I came home from work, he was already home. I noticed another slip in our doorway, and handed it to Gary upon walking in. He opened it up and frowned. More complaints. The complaint this time? For not keeping our patio "orderly". What? We glanced outside. The freshly swept patio looked pretty neat to me. We didn't have crap everywhere. In fact, we have our grill and a desk out there. That's all. Oh, and a kitty condo in the corner. PLENTY of space and no issues. We looked back over the letter, and it said, "Problem: wind chimes drilled into stucco." Seriously? First off, we didn't drill into the stucco. The hole and hanger were there when we moved in. Looks like the last occupants had wind chimes too. We simply hung them up: when we moved in over a year ago! Management even knew we had them there because we were complimented on how pretty they are. We rolled our eyes and took them down anyway. Glancing around, we noticed other neighbors had hanging wind chimes, humming bird feeders, and even lights for their outdoor tables. Interesting. Upset we didn't get a verbal warning before this written warning, Gary sent them a very professional letter, explaining we aren't very happy about these written warnings. We've heard nothing since.

A neighbor of ours down the hall has a habit of leaving his trash on his front porch. It's policy here to not do that. I didn't complain about it though, because it's not my business. However, a letter slipped into our door again this afternoon, and I asked aloud, "now what?" Luckily it wasn't another written warning; just a letter sent to all complex occupants. It described the policy of "leaving your trash out". The new policy says that if anyone is caught leaving their trash on the front porch, or not throwing it properly in the dumpster, we will be fined. A little silly, but whatever. We've been following that.

What's interesting however, happened Monday morning. I was taking the trash out to the dumpster before heading off to work. As I was leaving the apartment with the trash in my hand, a woman who seemed to be in her 30's, was walking down the stairs from the third floor. I continued on my way, and over to the dumpster. I followed the rules of throwing it properly in the dumpster, and as I turned to leave the dumpster area, that same woman was in her SUV, get this, watching me. When I made eye contact with her, she quickly turned her head and drove off. I think I found our busy-body. Mind your business, woman!

Anyway, we're very tempted to move out when our lease is up. And yes, we're looking at homes again. We do this occasionally. We found a few nice homes in the Acton area with some acreage, but something that really caught my eye are the new homes in Palmdale. One of my managers at work mentioned new homes were just built recently, with no previous owners. Completely new. Here are a few Gary and I checked out:

 Aren't they gorgeous? Here's the link: American Home Guides . They are insanely affordable, too! So we'll see.

 Anyway, dinner time! Pizza, pasta, and ice cream! Bye!