Joshua's Birthday

My brother's 16th birthday is Monday. I can't believe it's been 16 years since he came into the world. I feel like it was yesterday. I remember when he was very little and he peed all over the floor from his changing table. I remember when he pulled the gallon of seafoam green paint off of the changing table and onto himself and ruined all of the clothes that were in the drawers. I remember him stealing nailpolish and spilling it all over the dining room table and then him keeping quiet when I was grounded for making a mess of the table. I also remember my mom finding the nailpolish under his bed only to have him admit that he had done it. Of course, this was all after I was done with my punishment so I had still been grounded for it.

Joshua,
I can't believe you're going to be 16. You're in high school and you have a girlfriend and you're growing up too fast. We've had our ups and downs and we've fought like no one else I know, but you are my little brother and I love you always.

Love,
Big sister.

Work

So eventhough I've only been working about 20 hours a week, I can't shake this tired feeling. I feel like I'm living at work. I come home, shower, sleep and go back. I don't think it's the amount of hours (at least I hope it's not, because I'd really like a 40 hr/week job), but rather when the hours are. I wake up when Welder Guy leaves for work (about 545am). He just wakes me up to kiss me goodbye, but I have a heck of a time getting back to sleep. So, I get up and work on a load of laundry or the kitchen and then I sit on the couch and catch up with the DVR. I'm up doing things all thruout the day, and then at around 2, I get up and get ready for work. I work from 3-8 (sometimes more, sometimes less), and I get home at 830. Norman and I eat dinner and go to bed. Rinse, repeat. I do this five days a week, and then I work one weekend day about two weeks a month. I would love to have a job where I can work from 8-5, come home, have dinner at a reasonable time, go to bed, spend every weekend with my husband, etc. I don't make very good money at this job. I would if I could get 30-40 hours a week. I only work 15-20. I make $9.72 an hour. Let's make the math easier and say I make $10.00 an hour and 20 hours a week. That's $200 a week, minus taxes, which makes it just over $300 a paycheck (every two weeks). I made $8000 last year. Not even enough to cover our mortgage payment if I didn't spend one penny on anything else. That kills me! My cousin, who has a "learning disability" (I'll explain the quotes in a minute), makes like $1500 a month on Social Security. She doesn't work... at all. She's not even looking for a job.

Now to explain the quotes. It's not that I don't think she's being honest about having a learning disability. I know that she has issues that make it harder for her to learn. She doesn't read well or write well, but she also does not have down syndrome or something more serious. If she wanted to, she could take a job at a grocery store, or answering phones, or something. But why? Why should she take a job where she's not going to make more money than she does on social security? It just frustrates me. /Rant.

It's been a while

It's been over a month since I updated, and honestly, we've just been super busy. I've been working nights and Welder Guy is back on days and so I see him long enough to kiss him goodbye at 530am when he leaves for work and then when I get home at around 830 for thirty minutes before it's bedtime. And during that thirty minutes we're eating dinner. So not much time to "connect." I'm finally getting some hours at work, not a ton, but enough to put some money away, and it's nice to see our savings slowly creeping back up. As soon as our savings is up to a certain point we are going to remodel the kitchen and the living room... then the bedroom is next (and the master bath) and then I'm hoping to get the hell out of this house. Welder Guy and I have started talking about a family (not starting one right now, but just a general timeline). And we've decided for sure that we don't want to start one in this house... so the next step is to remodel and either sell or rent it out so we can buy another.

Christmas came and went. I felt like it took forever to get here, but was done in the blink of an eye. Welder Guy bought me a peacoat and some stuff for my car (new seat covers and mats). I bought Welder Guy a heater for his new shop, a car horn for the rail or jimmy (his choice) and new towing mirrors for the truck. We ended up buying MIL and FIL a new over the range microwave... they were quite shocked. MIL even said "Are you shitting me?" when she saw it. (Best reaction ever!)

We acquired a new guinea pig in the beginning of December. His name is Mac (no "k" at the end). He looks identical to Cashew except the hair is longer. He's a real sweatheart. He loves to be held and fed carrots. He and Cashew aren't the best of friends, but I guess that's what happens when Cashew has been a lone bachelor for so long.

Our roommate went from 3 dogs to 2 dogs and 6 puppies. Right before Christmas, someone decided it would be cool to shoot off their cannon and it spooked one of his dogs and it got out and is no where to be found. A few weeks ago I heard this horrible screaming noise coming from his room, so I stuck my face to the window and discovered puppies. He said there were seven but that one of them died right after birth. As of today, there are three puppies left. (The other three have found new homes). They are 1/4 pit bull and 3/4 border collie. Being puppies, I fell in love with them, but really fell hard over one of them. She had a white face and one blue eye and one brown eye. She was the biggest sweetheart and when they were out in the backyard earlier in the week she wanted me to pick her up and as soon as I did her tail started wagging and she snuggled into my neck. My heart melted. But of course she was the first puppy to sell. Not that Welder Guy would let me have her or anything... lol

Well, I'm about to go jump in the shower (yeah, it's quarter to two, so what?) and get ready for work. I'm thinking frozen yogurt sounds amazing again! I had it yesterday and am in love!