Our Weekend In Ridgecrest

Its rare, I know, but we actually stayed in Ridgecrest all weekend this week. So, I already wrote about our Friday over at Marya and Jim's house. Saturday we kicked back and played games on the computer and watched HGTV until around 3:30 or so when our new friends, Jim and Marya, came over for some delicious pot roast that Matthew started at 8am that morning. We played some games and just hung out talking until Matthew said, "Jim, lets give you a tattoo." Lol, Jim was all sorts of stoked about it, so they went through some pictures and found the perfect tat for Jim's personality. He chose a Jester (joker). Matt and I had plans to drive out to the middle of nowhere so we could watch the meteor shower, so Matthew started his tattoo today (Sunday). He has the outline and part of the coloring done and it looks bad ass. I got acquainted with Jim's daughters Jordan and Maxine. They are great girls. Marya was interested in my blogspot so we put one together for her. I got it started for her, and she worked on it today and made it look great. She is a quick learner with some help from her 17yr old step daughter. :) I'm so happy to find such great friends in this crummy town.

After leaving their house we came home so I could start dinner for my family. I wasn't able to do anything for Father's Day, so I told Willy and my mom that they needed to come over so I could make him a belated Father's Day dinner. I made my newly famous spaghetti, we had salad with it, and garlic bread. It was a great visit. Anyways, without going into too much detail, that was our much needed relaxing weekend in Ridgecrest. Nice to stay in town for a change. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Poker Night #2

Well, we went to Jimbo and Maria's house for another poker night so they would have an opportunity to win back the money I won last Friday...we swam in the pool which was so much fun, then when the other couple we invited showed up, we got the show on the road. We started the game at about 6:30pm. Matt B. and his fiance had to work in the morning so they went all in and lost their combined $10.00 by around 9:30pm.

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The game continued with me, Matthew, Dave, Jim, and Maria...and didn't end till 1:15am! Oh my god, I cant even remember the last time we stayed up this late. In order to make it I had to drink an energy drink, which by the way I decided to do at about 11:30 or so...so now its 2am and I'm wide awake...blogging away. I couldn't just walk away and give my chips to Matthew...I was in the lead, I had to finish the game. So, I finished with first place for the second week in a row YAY ME! Vegas here I come haha. My winnings...$42.00 no big deal. Maria won one of her $5 bucks back. I feel so bad though. They are so hospitable by letting us come over and play a friendly game of poker, they cater to us with burgers and a pool...and we take their money. What the hell! LOL. We don't even play enough to be card sharks, but for some reason...LOL. I really hope none of this sounds cocky, cause its not meant to. They are awesome people, and win or lose, I truly enjoy hanging out with them. Its so nice to have down to earth couples to hang out with. We have great friends...couldn't ask for better. Well, next Friday, we are doing it at our house, I'm going to make them bomb spaghetti, and hopefully they can win some of their money back...its only fair. Its all in fun, and we all joke around with each other...its great. Tonight kicked ass though. It was so much fun. I'm looking forward to hanging out again next weekend. They are a great couple. I think after the next poker game, we should play some Cranium...no gambling, just for fun. *WINK*

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Tonight, yes tonight because my dumb ass is still awake, we are going to head up to Walkers Pass to watch the meteor shower around 11pm...I'm so excited. I was just telling Matthew probably a week ago how I want to watch one with him...and TaDa, its scheduled for this weekend...SWEETNESS!

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Sunday, we are having a belated Father's Day dinner at our place for Willy. They were in Susanville for Father's Day so I told him that I would make him dinner and celebrate it this weekend. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my family. Its been awhile with everyone being so busy lately.

Happy Birthday Mommy In Law!

♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DE-EB-I♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!♪♫♪

I baked her a cake even though she wasnt able to come down this weekend, it will be here for her next weekend.

Facebook

So, I was one of those people who said, "Im never doing the Myspace thing, its stupid," then I got a Myspace, then people were talking about Facebook...I said "I already have a Myspace, why do I need Facebook, its pretty much the same thing except you cant decorate it like Myspace," well....TaDa, got a Facebook. My mom has had one for a while and kept bugging me about not getting one. Honestly, I didnt think I would like it, but then when I played around with it a bit, I found a lot of family members that I lost contact with. So, now Im a true computer nerd, I have Myspace, Blogspot, and Facebook. Geez, if anyone wants to know everything about me, there are plenty of options out there to find me LOL, just kidding. I dont know how safe it is to have so many internet profiles, but its nice to keep in touch with everyone. Most of my friends and family dont live in town (cause they are smarter then I am hehe) so its nice to still be able to talk to them and see how they are doing and let them know whats going on over here as well.

TWO YEARS...

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY, MATTHEW AND I STARTED DATING...AFTER ALL THE TIME THINKING WE WOULD NEVER HOOK UP, WE FINALLY DID, AND LOOKING BACK, IM AMAZED AT ALL WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, AND WHAT WE GET TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN OUR FUTURE TOGETHER...

☆Where it all began...

☆First home together (after the car of couse)...

☆Our 1 year anniversary in Pismo...

☆Engagement 08/08/08...

☆Holidays and special events together...

☆Our Wedding...

☆Our Honeymoon...

☆Today...

Happy Father's Day

I love you daddy, wish that I could be there for Father's Day. I hope that it is relaxing for you. DON'T WORK! Stay home, kick back, and eat well *wink*. Enjoy your day and know that you are a wonderful father. I miss you!

Love Always,

Your Babydoll

Poker Face

Okay, so last night was pretty much awesome. We went over to Maria and Jimbo's house for Poker Night, alot of people were busy so it ended up just being a 4 person game, but it was so much fun. We all pitched in $5, but about an hour into the game Jimbo added to the pot...our pot ended up at about 35 bucks...I was on a winning streak and it always seemed to be last minute luck. The last card that would flip would be the one I needed for a bad ass hand. LOL. Even if I lost, it was the best Poker game ever. Matthew took 2nd place, I took 1st place and then it was a friendly game of Poker with Maria's daughter. She wanted to play but because we were playing for real money, her mom kept saying no. Her daughter came out with a hand made $5 bill...it was the cutest thing ever! haha. She is 12 years old, she miss spelled Abraham Lincoln, but I was impressed that she knew he was on the $5 bill. So, we played with Smarties. They had some candy left over from Halloween that was Smarties Money Rolls...it was perfect. Then when we were done with that, at about 10 o'clock at night (about 2 hours passed my bed time ;) ) we played Rock Band. This is the first time I ever played this game and it was way fun...I'm not very good at it, but it was great. Poor Jimbo cant carry a tune LOL, but Maria's daughter sure can, that girl needs to be in choir cause she can sing, and I guess she plays the violin. Its like looking at myself...11 years ago...OH MY GOD...I shouldn't have done the math....Anyway, that was our amazing poker night, here are some pictures from my phone.

Ran out of room for my winnings, had to take up the beer holder...lol...

Yes, alcohol was involved...haha

Our High Country Excursion

Its been a while since Matthew and I have been to Upper Peppermint, but its just as beautiful as I remember. We took Matt's parents with us and made a day out of it. It was so much fun. Debi and I explored and took pictures of random things while Matt and Don did some fishing. At first they weren't catching anything, but once we moved down by the campgrounds they started catching some trout. I found lots of Ladybugs...I'm posting my favorite picture of them. I love ladybugs. Then we went to McNally's for lunch/dinner and then headed back to Isabella.

We played Nasty Neighbors with Don and Debi (couples vs. couples) it was sooo much fun. My mother in law had me laughing so hard I was crying. Loved it. We came home(without our pride because we lost the card game not once, but twice LOL) around 11pm pretty much exhausted and slept in till 9 this morning for the first time in probably a year if not longer. I love getting out of Ridgecrest, even if its only 2 hours away...but its always nice to come home too. Today, we are being lazy and playing games on the laptop and watching movies.

Got a new lap top...

I know I know...saving up for a house, shouldn't be spending money foolishly, and we really didn't "need" it...BUT...we got one anyway. With Matthew's photography we really needed something that could hold all the software that comes with fixing up pictures for people. This desk top computer was barely hacking it. Its slow and running out of memory and when we checked into upgrading the memory we found that it was going to cost us about $400. Not worth it. This computer is old and we were talking about getting a lap top anyway, so we figured we can keep the desk top for non-photo related things and use the lap top for photography and on the go. Basically it only set us back 1/2 month towards our house savings. Not too bad...nothing we cant shake off. Lol. So, YAY, we got a new computer...another toy to play with. The way I look at it, is at least we have the new camera and new computer before we have a mortgage payment to be responsible for. We will still be saving even with a mortgage, but not as much as we are able to now, so this is a better time to be splurging then after we get a house. Haha, next is Matthews 42" flat screen TV...probably not before the house though. We are also discussing purchasing a new bed room set, but that will happen after we get settled into our new house as well.

Today is Housework Day

Today I'm going to get all the house work done...laundry and all...so that when

Matt gets off work he can just relax and get ready for the weekend. We decided that we are going to Upper Peppermint. I'm so excited. I love it up there. Its so green and beautiful, and its been raining like crazy up there, so it will be even better. So, I guess I better get motivated if I'm going to have everything done by 2 o'clock.

Hmmm...What to do this weekend

So, the weather has been pretty much amazing lately...it would be a shame to stay inside all weekend and waste it.

I was thinking that it would so much fun to go take pictures. There is this way awesome beat up ol' run down truck in the front yard of this house on the 178 around Onyx. We really want to get dressed up in like the moulin rouge dancing girl or Bonnie & Clyde look...I don't know if that gives a very good description for the visual, but its the best way to say it. Basically, we need to find the Can-Can dancer dress with the corset top and fishnet tights, garter, and feathers in the hair...then Matt could wear like slacks with a black top and white suspenders and his crooked pinstriped hat, hold a cigar and I could hold a whiskey flask and do some poses with the truck in that one yard...IT WOULD BE HOT! I have the picture in my head, but don't know how to describe it, which makes it that much harder to find the outfit I want for the picture...and not to mention, where do you look for something like that? Its almost like something you would have to make yourself.

The other thing we were thinking about doing this weekend is going to the wine walk on Saturday here in town...don't know if we will do that though. We were talking about going to Upper Peppermint with Matt's parents Saturday and have a picnic and explore. I think Upper Peppermint is way more exciting than the crowded and sweaty wine walk. While we are up in the mountains hanging out we can go to the trail of 100 giants. Its been a while since we were last there. I'm in a out and about kind of mood and want to take pictures and have fun hanging out with my hunny.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, and stir in remaining flour. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Combine the 4 tablespoons sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are beautifully golden.

Our Motivation...

This adorable puppy would have been ours if we could have pets in our apartment, but since we cant, he went to a friend of ours. He is boxer/pit mix, we would preffer a pure breed boxer, female, and fawn so its okay, but look how cute he is. We have been saving for a few months. We had to take out of our savings a little bit to pay bills after we made a trip up to Susanville, but since then we have put it all back. We bought new tires for the car, so all that we have left to do is keep shoving money into our savings account. We are about $4,000 shy of having the down for a house of approximately $150,000. We should have that in about 4 months. We have figured out that we are able to set aside about $1,000 per month. New home for a new puppy and baby (hopefully by then) here we come!

Still not feeling so well...

At home sick...yet again...I dont know why I cant shake this cold...really cant afford to be missing work.

Be Happy You Dont Live in Pennsylvania

Update on Shannon's sister, Cindy:

She talked to a few doctors and basically they are all giving her the run around. One is telling her that her heart is fine, its anxiety (well duh, no one can get their shit together so she is stressing out...of course a large part of her heart problem is anxiety), another is telling her that her heart is okay but the veins are clogged, and a different doctor is telling her that she needs heart surgery...

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She had the obstruction in her brain checked out and it is a small aneurysm. Its nothing to serious to worry and stress over right this moment, however it is something to monitor. Its in an awkward spot of the brain. The doctors want to check up on it...get this...annually. Are you serious?! What is wrong with these doctors...its basically a tumor and they are only going to monitor it once a year?

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That's not the worst part...Cindy is going to New York to see another doctor about her heart condition...when her regular doctor found out they told her that they couldn't see her anymore because she was basically being a trader (I'm paraphrasing of course) and because she is going to their "competition" they wouldn't be able to help her anymore. WHAT THE HELL! This isn't retail where you are watching your numbers and making sure that you are doing better that your competitors...this is the practice of medicine...your patient comes first...saving lives is priority! Ridiculous...my jaw about dropped to the floor when my dad was telling me all this. These so called "doctors" need to pull their heads out of their asses. Unacceptable. Makes California doctors look like gods. So, basically, there isnt much of an update...the only new thing we know is that the thing in her brain is an aneurysm...everything else is still unknown.

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Makes you feel better about living anywhere but Pennsylvania...

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Still thinking of you Cindy...