Easter

Gary and I definitely enjoyed our Easter weekend.

Early Saturday morning, Gary and I headed out to Taft for his mother's wedding. It was wonderful to see so much family and to witness a beautiful wedding. His mother looked beautiful in her red dress and everyone looked so nice. After the wedding, Gary and I continued to hang out with family until the night, where we spent the night in Taft.

Sunday morning, we headed to Bakersfield where we were able to spend time with my family for Easter Sunday. It was nice. We ate too much chocolate and enjoyed a delicious smoked chicken and ribs dinner. It was a nice visit and we headed home in the evening. I didn't get too many pictures because my camera died and I'm having zero luck finding the charger. But here are some pics from others:

Gary and I

 The picture above is my nephew Andrew and I. We had a fun game of hide and seek prior to this picture before it got too crazy, haha.

Anyway, Easter was nice. Gary and I then returned home and have been resting since. Well, kind of. We slept in a bit this morning, then headed out to do some shopping. We went out to lunch at BJ's, where we both bought the tomato bisque soup with ham and cheese and an appetizer of the margherita fresca flat bread.

 After we filled our tummies, we walked around the mall for a bit and stopped in Sears. We decided since we've been saving money and paid off our credit cards and all our debts, we would get something nice for ourselves. So, we bought a new TV!

It's a Samsung 55" LCD with 1080p. It's gorgeous.

Once again, my camera died. so I tried to get a few photos with my cell.

Cell phone pictures are never the best, but they'll do.

Anyway, Gary's been going nuts with his video games on it.

So on that note, we are wanting to do something with our other TV. We bought it in '08 and it's in excellent condition. No scratches or damage, no fixed or dead pixels, or any other problems for that matter. It's a 42" plasma with 720p. We're going to try and sell it for $300 OBO. So if you're interested, let me know.

Okay, time for slushes and some more fun with hubby. Bye!

Due for an Update

The flowers spread all around the outside of our complex

 Good morning, everyone. It is such a beautiful spring morning! The birds are all singing outside and the cat is watching/listening himself. That blasted cat-it's pretty cold since it's so early but I opened the door for him. Okay, and a little for myself because I love listening to nature.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I've updated anything! Our pet care manager left recently as well as another pet care associate, so we've been short-staffed; and as you can probably figure out, I've been working extra hours. However, I have been greatly enjoying this week because I have been opening all these days. Today is the only day this week I close. Besides, my schedule is a Mon-Fri schedule, allowing me the weekend off-which I am thrilled about. I love having the weekend off. I hope I continue to get morning shifts because it's great being able to come home during the day and having the evening off.

So, what's new? Last Monday I had the opportunity to visit Disneyland with my family. Gary was out of town on a business trip, so it was just me and my fam. We had a great time! I definitely had an excellent time myself since I hadn't been to Disneyland in years. Seriously, years. I especially enjoyed being able to hang out with my 2 favorite boys (James and Andrew) and socialize more with adorable little Lexi (nephews and niece). I hadn't seen her since Christmas so it was nice being able to play with her and see her precious grins and giggles. The lines weren't too bad either. We were smart with the fast passes, so we didn't wait longer than half an hour for any ride (or 20 mins for that matter I believe). We got there pretty early, so we were able to grab the favorite rides first (pirates, space and thunder mountain, etc). Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera so I wasn't able to snap any photos with it. But that's okay! I still had a great time.

Gary and I also had the opportunity to visit with our "monthly friends" for a fun Easter lunch. We had salad, super yummy soup, rolls, and delicious cupcakes. The girls sat around and chatted about homes, babies and pretty much everything else while dyeing Easter eggs and the boys broke off into groups, went into different rooms, and played video games through a network. Boys :). But we both had a great time! It's always nice to be able to hang out with friends regularly.

As for school, as soon as my last payment goes through, they'll send me the final exam. My last payment will be next month or the month after (one of those). So no graduation yet, but that's fine. I was able to find a great job network site where I can start work if I need to. But I'll hold off until I'm able to stay home (it's a work from home job). If I were to go into working in the medical field, I want to start by working in a practice or hospital before I start working at home since it guarantees hours and a regular schedule. As for now, I applied to step in as the pet care manager for Petsmart, so we'll see what happens. If I get the job to run pet care, my income will really jump up and the extra money will go straight to savings.

Speaking of money and such (new topic), we decided we're probably going to stay in our same apartment for the next year. Why? Because our rent was raised. We'll be paying an extra $75 each month on this place. It doesn't hurt us, but we don't want to upgrade anymore since the upper bedroom rents jumped up as well. I also don't feel like finding a new place and complex altogether either because I hate moving. That, and the cost of all the new deposits and everything. Gary called our management yesterday to see if he could drop the rent down a little since our carpet is so old and we've reached the 2-year mark on the walls (they repaint walls after 2 years and replace the carpet every 5 years). We confirmed the carpet was old enough so if we did move, we wouldn't be charged. However, the complex was unable to lower our rent (since it wasn't entirely up to them they say, and forms would have to be filled out, etc) but they did offer to upgrade anything in our apartment if we need it. They are willing to install a ceiling fan in our living room, change our carpet, or upgrade anything else we request. I think Gary wants to keep the old carpet because he doesn't want to ruin new carpet and get charged for it when we do eventually move someday. So I guess it's not that bad. I was glad to hear the management was willing to work with us; an improvement indeed.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Time to enjoy my morning!

The blossoming trees just outside our place about a month ago. They're much fuller now.

Springtime

 Ah, the weather is finally warming up. It feels so fantastic! I'm sure it will probably get cold again then warm again, but I'll enjoy this while it lasts!

Since springtime is here, it's time to start talking about spring cleaning. That's going to be exciting (not really). Also, our lease is up next month and I contacted the office about possibly upgrading. They said we'd get a nice special on our rent each month and some of our deposits will be covered. Whatever we get back from our security deposit will help and hopefully we'll get the $500 off rent for one month for staying with them like we did last year which will also help. They want to show Gary and I their higher bedroom apartments so we can choose within the next 4-5 weeks.  I know I mentioned earlier our thoughts of leaving this complex but things have improved thus far. No more nosy neighbors, no more notices, etc. In fact, the new management sent a letter out to every resident telling us all to follow the new rules. I guess they got tired of hearing all the whining from the nosy neighbors. Plus, moving out is expensive.

Anyway, I did do a little bit of spring cleaning. I reorganized the living room and the patio and moved the table back outside. We didn't even use it anyway. Well, we DID, but not for meals and such. It became more of a "let's just put stuff here". So now we have more space again. If we do upgrade, we will have a separate dining room and this time it won't be in the way of everything so we'd have less of a desire to toss stuff on it. So, we'll see. When I turn in rent in a little bit I'll sit down with management and see if I can work something out. I won't confirm anything of course, because I need a husband to help with that. Besides, he's better with the whole asking questions and seeking better arrangements. I don't really have charisma like he does. I'm so glad I married someone with better social skills than myself.

In other news, my stomach has been bothering me lately and I'm starting to believe it's peptic ulcers. Oh, the joys. I wouldn't say gallbladder because sometimes I'll have that pain too (it doesn't happen too frequently) and it's much different. This is more of a gnawing feeling like I'm starving and it wakes me up in the night. I'm leaning more toward ulcer based on the symptoms. I suppose I should get that checked out...

However, it's time for me to finish enjoying my day off before I work my long Saturday shift tomorrow. Things to do!