I didn't get lost; I just took the scenic route.

I am not going to call it lost; it was more like exploring my surroundings. This is something good to do when new to an area and I don't know where anything is.

I have just spent the last 2 hours driving around and introducing myself to Missouri. The main road that I live off of apparently has TWO Sonic fast foods located on this verrrrry looooong street. For the past week I have used the Sonic fast food place as my land mark to know when I am near my apartment complex. Today, when I was on my 2 hour scenic drive home, I finally came across "the" Sonic fast food and proceeded to where I thought my apartment would be at. (Only to realize that this was a different Sonic and I was headed in the wrong direction!)

UMMMM? Where is my apartment complex?!

Still not lost, just finding a new route to get home. On my new way home, I drove through a cute, little, touristy part of town. There was a crowd of people hanging outside with a live band playing music, it looked like fun. I opted to keep on driving home, instead of getting sidetracked by the touristy part of town. I'll check it out again on a day I have more time to explore, at the moment of discovery all I really wanted to do was find my apartment complex.

I am now safe at home, sitting here at my desk, writing in my Blog, with not much more to say.

Leave me a comment on what scenic routes you have found going somewhere. :)

Welcome back internet! I missed you!

Internet is hooked up again. I have been technology deprived for a whole week! I was going out of my mind not having internet or my Blog to write on, and to have no email or MySpace to check in on...

I didn't realize how much I used the internet, until I did not have access for a whole weeeeeek!

Tip to moving, call the cable company from the old house and set-up an appointment for hook up on the day you move into the new place. Don't make the mistake to wait to arrive at the new place to call someone out. Because then they will be booked and there may even be a "severe thunder storm" causing a power outage in the whole da*n area of St. Louis, causing a delay in internet connection to the rest of the world!

I thank my wonderful Andrew for helping me connect to the internet. I have my very own computer geek! I do not thank the tech-support people; they were not helpful at all. I called 3 different times wanting my internet connection to work. The tech-support gang had me going in circles doing the same "wrong" things, talking me through it all over the phone and not being helpful at all. Andrew saved the day and knew exactly how to fix it.

We are moving to MO Sunday and I have to run over to the cable place to return our cable box, AND modem. SOOOO that means I will not have internet access until I get over to MO and unpack the computer and set it up with internet again. This will be a final post in Ohio, the next post will be the start of "life in Missouri" as I have already changed the Blogs Title to that.

Bye bye for a few days. I'll find a way to survive with out internet or TV...I know! - unpacking will keep me preoccupied when I get there. FUN! Who needs modern technology when I have boxed up memories to reminiss and unpack. The 6 hour road trip will be fun, I get to do this for the 5th time. The two prior trips out there count for driving 6 hrs there and 6 hours back, 4 + 1 is 5 road trips. Each an adventure in their own.

when I get my internet back I will post some photos, stay tuned.

As Hillary Duffs Character in the Mr. Perfect Movie says, "Same me, just a different zipcode."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moving tip #1 Zip lock bags are the best! How else can I pack up my Zen garden? I just poured the sand into a zip lock along with the tiny rake and it was packed.

I also used a zip lock for my spare change, which was not enough to coin-roll.

Moving tip #2 Set aside a frying pan ~out of the box until the last minute to be able to cook stuff.

Moving tip #3 Eat up all the frozen food first, then the fridge food. To not have to pack it up for a 6 hour drive, the food may either thaw out or spoil.

*DO NOT buy an 18 pack of frozen hamburger patties just 4 days before moving (Andrew!) :)

car update!

All is well; my car will be stinky for about a week and gradually go away. It is caused from the new parts put in my car and is burning off grease or gunk that remains on there which results into stinky car after driving it on the freeway; the humid summer doesn't help either, making it hot and stinky.

There is nothing to worry about with my car. I can go forward as planned and move on Sunday to Missouri, and drive the 6 hour road trip. I am going to bring my cds and snack foods and be sure not to fill up for gas at funky run down Shell stations found on the 50 HWY!


;^)

It all started from bad gas...now there is an oder, when will this end?!

UGH! MY CAR IS DRIVING MY INSANE! (No pun intended) I was driving back from Missouri to Ohio on Sunday, got lost a bit and pulled into a gas station for directions and a 1/2 tank of gas. The gas was strange from the get go, I should have known better. But oh well, my car had bad gas and started falling apart ever since. The Shell gas station somewhere on the 50 HWY heading to Chicago, IL (wrong direction) had plastic bags on the pumps for regular gas, and a second pump labeled with a piece of paper taped to it hand written, "Regular" ~ OK so I guess I'll use this pump for my gas!! (Bad idea) About ten miles down the road we are driving and the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON! NOT NOW! In the middle of a small town, with a Wal-Mart and AutoZone to choose from. We went to AutoZone and they did a diagnostic on my car, guessing it was BAD GAS.

So the result from bad gas is it can affect the catalytic converter, and would need to be looked at.
Tuesday I drop the car off at the dealership service center. They said I needed a new Catalytic converter, (tongue twister ~ I keep on wanting to say Cadillac converter) covered by warranty and my front breaks needed replacing (which I had a feeling that was coming up soon in the 60,000 mile mark) so instead I told them to replace them now while they have my car in the shop.

So the car is done and I am driving home after stopping by Kohl’s Dept. store. I parked my car and smelled a faul oder coming from the hood of my car. LIKE BURNING RUBBER OR GREASE?

First off, I knew not to open the hood in case there was a small fire or something, so I call AAA club, and was on hold for a bit, dropped the call, had to call back, and the operator said she would send out a tow truck, I was telling her it is too late tonight to have it towed anywhere and really just need a fire man to come out and look at it instead, but thought to call AAA first because it didn't seem as important as calling for a fire truck crew to come out because I didn't think it was on fire. I asked for a small car to come out instead with a fire man to check on it. A few minutes later (10:25 PM!) I hear sirens’ going off from a near by fire truck and police car. These flashing lights and loud sirens were headed down the street and into my apartment complex (embarrassing!) disturbing the neighbors, causing curiosity, all arriving for little old me and my stinky car. When I saw an ambulance drive up afterwards I was trying to tell them all to go, it is not this serious, I just wanted "a-one-discreet" fireman to come out and check under my hood, and not a whole, dramatized, rescue crew! (I didn't say it in those words exactly, but thought it)


I was so embarrassed! It was after 10 o'clock at night and there is all of the craziness with lights flashing, fire men, a police man, the damn tow truck guy, and curious neighbors standing around. SORRY! I didn't want this to get the way it turned out. The fire man told me to take my car back to the dealership in the morning to have it looked over and he wasn't able to see anything wrong, plus the stinky oder had dissipated by the time they got there to really see what I was talking about (an hour or so later).

In the end the bad gas was the root to all of this, and the odor may be from the newness of the front breaks or from the Cadillac converter. ,^) I will find out more tomorrow when I go back to the service center! UGH!

All this is happening in my final days here in Ohio, right before I move on Sunday to Missouri! I hope to get this squared away before Sunday.

* On a side note, I rented a Chevy Malibu 2007, and was only the 2nd driver of the rental. I had a fun time driving it to work for the day, while my car was getting fixed.

Vegas photos

Vegas June 2006

CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL TO ACCESS THE PHOTO ALBUM! :)
click on the bottom corners to turn the pages of the album!

We went to Vegas with some friends of ours, a few weekends ago. We had a blast!
Andrew and I arrived at the Mirage where we were staying at, earlier than the rest of our group. We decided to play some roulett in the casino while we waited. The game was fun and we were up $10 so we cashed out. Waiting to cash out, Andrew pointed out to the guy infront of us that he had dropped a yellow chip. The man looked down and instantly thanked us, by handing Andrew money! "oh, no sir, we couldn't" -andrew said. "oh, yes, here, I insist, you take this as a thank you." - the high roller man said. Andrew took the money, not really sure how much was given, put it in his shirt pocket. We walked up to the register booth, to cash out our $10 winnings and I asked the cashier how much was a yellow chip worth? and the cashier showed us a yellow chip, reading $1,000 on it! Andrew reached into his shirt pocket to see how much he was given and it was $300! The man gave Andrew three 100 dollar bills! So we started out our Vegas weekend up $310. It was exciting the whole time we were there.

Our friend, Noushig had the best luck on the dollar slot machines. She kept on playing the Spin&Win machines. One time she ended up winning $900 after she was done playing. Then another time we were all standing around in the casino trying to figure out what to eat for dinner, so Noushig walks over to the Spin&Win close by, hit max bet ($3), and on the second try she won $200! I couldn't believe it, she has the magic touch.

A funny thing our friend Nick told us, "You don't loose money in Vegas, you are just donating the money to the casinos."

Check out the photo album to see the rest of our Vegas trip.
leave a comment about some of your Vegas luck.

WOW so much has happened...where do I begin?

First of all Andrew passed his last of the four CPA tests! Yeah Andrew~MR. CPA!

For the past year we have lived here in Ohio because Andrew got the IRS job here in Cincinnati. We moved to Ohio last year, June of 2005. Well now he has been offered a promotion in St. Louis, Missouri area! This means we are moving once again, in July of 2006 (a year and one month later). This is exciting, but bitter sweet to have to leave Ohio, just as it was growing on us and we came to love it here.

To our friends we made here in Ohio, we will definitely stay in touch, being that we are only 6 hours away! We will have to visit one another here and there making it a weekend visit. As for our West Coast friends and family, with us moving to MO is not really any different from us living out here in Ohio. Living in Missouri, we WILL be THREE states closer to CA! But it is still not quite close enough, and we will have to stick to plane trips to visit. Open invitation, come out to St. Louis, Missouri and visit us! *Come see the giant arch! The St. Louis Arch is 630' tall and wide, and it is the tallest national monument in the USA! It is taller than Morro Rock! :)

On Saturday we drove to MO. and found a two bedroom apartment, signed a 3 month lease. We figured a 3 month lease would be enough time to get to know our surroundings and find a home to buy. If we need extra time, we could just renew a month to month with the apartment. This will be our first house! We are long time renters, tired with renting and ready to buy a home. The only change is the state. Now it is in Missouri and not Ohio or California.

His new job entails a 7 week training period in New York, so while he is in training I will be moving to the new apartment in MO. We drove by Andrew’s future work place at the IRS in Missouri. His work will be 10 minutes away from our apartment and also potential neighborhoods, when we look at homes.

We are content with where life takes us; it always seems to work out and fall into place for us. Andrew and I are blessed to have each other and the life we live. It is an adventure from state to state. Hopefully Missouri will be for a while, long enough to settle down, buy a home, start a family, live life with happiness and friends.

OOOH, I guess I will have to rename my BLOG to "My Random Thoughts & Life in Missouri"

*photo was provided by the internet, searched on MySpace.

Comment back with any tidbits of MO information you know of...

Blinds Plus Part two

Back to the Blinds Plus store, they now have a banner up for Father's Day. FUNNY. In a previouse posting I greeted a Happy Mother's Day brought to us by Blinds Plus. That was when the banner read, "Forget flowers, Mom wants blinds!" (blog post to refer to)... http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16915800&postID=114763024831284280

Now, the banner is set for Father's Day weekend, and reads, "Your Father called...he wants US to hang your new blinds." I busted out laughing when I read the new banner, as I waited for the light to turn green. I then drove past it and turned around to take a photo, thinking ahead about blogging this for your own laughter. (if you are to find this at all humorous as I have?)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD. Since I did not buy mom the blinds, I guess I do not have to hang them!

University of Phoenix Graduation June 4, 2006

Martiel and Shelisa, the graduates! :)

My Hubby, Andrew and I at the graduation.
Two thumbs up to graduating with a BSBM!


refreshing watermellon


Our friends: Carly, April, and William

They came over to our apartment for a graduation after- party.

The Taste of Cincinnati

I am behind on my Blogging...

Last weekend, for Memorial Day, I went to the Taste of Cincinnati, with my friends Janie and Michael. This was the first out door event of the season of summer heat. Wear short sleeves, sunscreen, and drink plenty of frozen lemonade! We had a fun time; there were booths set up of local restaurants serving sample size portions of their delicious foods. One of my favorites was the Strawberry and shortcake chocolate fondue, from the Melting Pot booth. Another favorite was the Meatballs on a stick from the Bella Luna booth. Then to end our hot day there we enjoyed some Greater's Ice cream to cool off.

While the three of us were enjoying the Taste of Cincinnati, we ran into Mr. Peanut! There were also booths that had instant win wheels, where we spun the wheel to win a prize. One was for Career Builder.com and I won a free T-shirt. Another was pie brand to spin their wheel, Janie and I won a T-shirt and Michael won a sun visor. We also saw people with cameras taking group photos and we had them take our photo, then the photographer would give us a coupon to go to a website and type in the photo code to reveal the photo of us taken at the event. I have two photos which I can not retrieve from these sites. UGH! If and when I do, I will post the photos here. I do have the photos of us with Mr. Peanut (below).

Micheal, Mr. Peanut, and Janie
Martiel and Mr. Peanut (and the best frozen lemonade booth in the background)

This was a fun day overall. When we were done "tasting Cincinnati" it was only 2 o'clock, so we then went to the movies for a matinee of "Over the Hedge." By that time my money flow ran short and I borrowed $2 from Janie, (Thanks Janie).

Friday Night Movie

It is a Friday evening after a long week at work...Yeah I know, I only worked 4 out of the 5 days being I had Monday off. For some reason the week still seemed long.

I am home now at the start of my weekend. :) A great way to start off is with my all time favorite movie, The Princess Bride (1987). I love this movie! The movie is playing on the AMC channel. Each time I watch it I get nervous watching the Fire Swamp part! Those overgrown rats are scary and the close calls! My favorite is when Wesley does his trickery with the "poison drink" switch, very funny. I also like the couple who live in a tree. The lady is played by Carol Kane, who is my mom’s favorite actress. I first saw this movie at the theater, when I was 9 years old, almost 20 years later I am still easily entertained. If you have not seen The Princess Bride before, rent the movie and enjoy a bowl of popcorn curled up on the sofa, with a loved one.

The old couple who live in the tree is played by Carol Kane and Billy Crystal. The late Andre the Giant is also in this movie. See more information on the web. Photos provided by http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/movies/movie.html?id=1800108021&template=pd&photoindx=6

Comment back, how great this movie is!

Happy Memorial Day!

It was so nice to have today off of work, only to spend it doing homework for tonights class! but the weekend overall was fun, aside from the time spend on homework.
I went to the Taste of Cincinnati on Sunday, I will blog on that later when I have more time.

Have you ever had one of those lazy mornings? I woke up this morning with no need for the alarm clock, about 8:40am fell back to sleep for a "few minutes" and all of the sudden it was 10:40am when I woke up. I was so confused waking up, thinking I had slept only a few minutes longer, when it was really 2 hours longer! So I hopped in the shower and spent the rest of my day doing homework, I am off to class tonight. My day is almost done! Tomorrow will then be Tuesday and it is back to work.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday off, what is left of it!

Leave a comment telling me what you did for the memorial weekend.

frog maiting season agian!

The frogs are at it again! Moaning real load, and sound like a vacume cleaner! If I could insert a sound bite to this blog-post recording how noticable this is, I would. The frogs moaning is loader at night when we are trying to go to sleep. They sit on the rocks boardering the pond outside ( see photo above) moaning a load hummm to each other. Did I mention they are load? :)

Andrew and I moved here last year, in June, and noticed the frogs back then, coming to a conclusion that it was probably mating season for the frogs. I can confirm this, now that we are days away from June, and the frog moaning has started once again. The rest of the year the frogs are quiet and go with out notice. I need to get some sleep, "BE QUIET FROGS!"

Photo taken by: Martiel
leave a comment of the night noise you have at your home...

2 hrs too long for American Idol

This is an ongoing drawn out, drag on, guest appearances, marathon of beating around the bush to announcing the next American Idol! I have a half hour more to find out that Taylor is the A.I. He is my vote we will see. But first let's watch the overly done 2 hour A.I. special finale!

I loved the part where they had a nerdy, reject sing a song live on stage and ended up singing with Clay Aikon! It was hilarious. There is a contestant who was let go during the first part of the season was a huge fan of Aikon and sort resembled him in a strange way. The reject guy became hysterical when Aikon walked out on stage.

OOOh! Prince is on to make his big appearance. Tell me who won not Prince it is 9:48! the show is over at 10!

Tonights Fox News report

First of all, I hope the guy is all right, and wish him a full recovery.

The news was on tonight and started with a "mystery". The news-woman reported that a man walking along the train tracks was hit by a train! (gasp!)

My word! He was hit by train?! how?

The way the reporter said this, sounded surprising...a person gets hit by a train while walking along the train tracks. (No way!)

(photo from clipart program)

Farwell to the show Will and Grace, it was a fun 8 years of watching. I will catch the reruns here and there, but it can not be compared to watching a new episode on a weekly basis. I hope to see new shows created in the similar style of sitcom. One that connects like this show and even the Friends or Sex in the City shows also. I love each show that are all in the past now! What will be next for my viewing pleasure? I need something that will last me another 8 years.

Note the website for Will&Grace, for more information and photos posted there.
http://www.nbc.com/Will_&_Grace_Finale/

Leave a comment with what your favorite shows are.

Shabby Chic project

Not To Shabby! Project created by: Janie and Martiel on a Crafty Saturday Afternoon.

Before...What once was an ugly outdated lamp, salvaged for a dollar, hideous in avocado green with gold bands, is now the AFTER...


A lamp of pure elegance looks like $50. Look out Pier One! Cover the base in pewter spray paint, snazz up the shade with some beaded fringe, and Vwallah! Beautiful lamp that once was an ugly duckling...


(before photo, was edited to try to show what it looked like) we didn't think to take a "before photo" untill afterwards...oops!

Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

OK, so according to the sign I saw (photo below) I am suppose to get my mom new blinds and not flowers for Mother's Day. Sorry Mom I got you some flowers, and not the blinds. The sign reads, " Forget the flowers Mom wants blinds!" I drove past this and couldn't resist taking a picture of it, the camption is so funny.

I got both of my moms flowers, and niether are going to get blinds for Mother's Day. LOL. I have two moms now, one being my mother-in-law of course, so both get a lovely boquet of flowers sent from us.

Was this Blinds Plus store really going to thinks they would get alot of mother's day sales??? How many of 'you' out there actually bought blinds for your mother on Mother's Day?

Leave a comment and tell me what you did for your mother/s.

Don't Let Thier Cuteness Con You!

This morning on my way home from the dentist cleaning, I drove up to a "huge garage sale” as the sign says... The garage sale has all baby/toddler stuff for sale. I didn't fall into their target market apparently because I don't have any kids yet. At the foot of the drive way there is a Kool-Aid Stand ~ 25 cents for a cup of grape Kool-Aid. I couldn't pass this up, the brother and sister team were selling their Kool-Aid but I didn't have a quarter on me, so I pull out a dollar. I ask the girl if she had change, she responds back with this blank look on her face like she doesn't know why I would want change, grabs a cup and pours me some grape Kool-Aid, and I ask again, "how about I give you a dollar and you give me 50 cents?" So I was even throwing in an extra quarter for the drink...again she just looked cute and innocent. I gave up, gave her my entire dollar for the cup of Kool-Aid, and walked back to my car.

As I was getting into the car, I heard her run to her mom and say, "Mom look we got a whole dollar!"

She conned me with their cuteness! I paid $1 for a 25 cent cup of grape Kool-Aid. She will be rich by the end of the day!

(Leave a comment)

Parking in Germany

(This is a posting of an email I recieved) This is pretty modern and amazing!

EMAIL:
This is is pretty amazing! Can you imagine how all this operates? How do they lock each car in its cubicle for safety. WHO CARES. NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND COULD GET IN THERE.Talk about German efficiency! The two photos were taken at a new parking garage in Munich. The actual space that the facility occupies is approximately only 20% of a comparable facility with the traditional design that is used primarily in the US. Not only is the German structure less expensive to build, but vehicles are also "retrieved" in less time and without the potential of being damaged by an attendant.

My thoughts:
Hope there is not an earthquake! I vaguely remember this being thought of years ago, and now it is a reality! Wow.This is in Germany, I wonder how long it will take to have one of these in the USA, and which state will build one first?

leave a comment.