here i come!

well ok, the presents are loaded up in the car, i am packed (except for the things i'll use in the morning) - and all i have left to do tonight is finish the enchalada sauce, clean the kitchen, write a few more christmas cards, take out all the trash, and possibly make some candy... but i doubt it on the candy. perhaps i'll save that for when mom is up here.
i just paid my visa bill, which is now $5000. yeesh. but i take comfort in the fact that the payment wasnt actually due until january 11th, and i get paid again before that. so if i can make $400 of the $600 in my checking account right now last until january 18th, then on the 11th i can pay $1000 on my card. and by then, charles will be chipping in too. and february is 3 paychecks month!!! so i'm sure i can squeeze another $1000 then too, if not more! i'm liking where that's headed. plus, in theory, i'll have my tax return back by then and all of that will go that direction too. maybe if we play our cards right, we can have the furniture AND my visa paid off by the time he leaves - thus allowing us to save an ASS LOAD of money while he's gone. ooooh that'd be nice.
so that's what's on my mind now. i was totally stressed out today at work thinking of all the things still to be done. but now i'm sort of embracing the headache, literally. this time tomorrow i'll be playing with mom's new puppy and probably eating some sort of fried meat... not too much though - i packed my skinny jeans. :o)

dane cook....

is really funny!!!!!!! charles and i got to see him a couple sundays ago on a whim at the new sprint center arena downtown KC, along with about blablabitty thounsand of our new closest friends. horay!!! i had wanted to go to his show since the day i heard he was coming, but as charles' schedule is completely impossible to predict, i found myself spending $134 on tickets the night before the show since he happened to be off that night. the army is not condusive to "dates" or otherwise "planned activities", but that's generally ok with me. it reminds me to enjoy our spontaneous romantic dinners at chipolte and comedy shows, or randomly wandering around the mall and going to the almighty Dave & Busters on a monday night to play skee ball and coin games.

as you can see, we had really pretty good seats. the chute that he came out of was about 25 feet in front of us. he's not a bad looking guy for a doof ball! SU FI!

ps - i just figured out how to place a picture on the blog and move it around so it doesnt throw off the groove of my text. i'm so damn smart!

1st snow of winter

aaaaand while wichita got freezing rain, northern KC got 3-5 inches of snow! woo hoo!!! i even got out early from work for the occasion, a whole hour! here's the plan from work: anyone who lives outside of the leavenworth/lansing area left at 2:30, anyone living inside of leavenworth left at 3, and then there was me - the cheese stands alone - leaving at 3:30... although it was more like 3:45 because my LEAST favorite resident, mrs. willis, the bitch, came in and wanted to fight with someone about the utilities issue which was supposed to be discussed at the resident's meeting tonight (which was cancelled). why do i always end up being the one who has to deal with this crazy woman?! she's just nuts, and TOTALLY rude. once she finished glaring at me and being a big pest, she showed herself upstairs (something unheard of and even more rude and obtrusive) and tried to find someone from the army side of housing who might be above the housing company who she could bitch to some more. never mind the fact that there's 5 inches of snow on post and everyone has left early to try and get home safely, YOU FREAK. aagggh! she just kills me. if i hadnt been leaving an hour early, that would have totally killed my whole day right there.
but as it is, i'm good. i was home and in my pj's by 4:10, drinking hot chocolate.
in other news, i stepped on the scale this morning before i took a shower: empty stomach, no clothes. 178.8. that is WAY too close to 180. still less than my heaviest, 185, but this is the highest it will be until i am packing a mini-me. so my smoothie and i had a wonderful time this morning, and a lovely salad will bathe in my intestinal juices tonight. (i had pizza hut for lunch but only because i was too scared to drive home just for food when i had leftover pizza at work already.) but alas, here i sit. moo.

bye bye Daisy

i'm not going to dramatize the loss of daisy by doing some R.I.P. business, but all the same, i'm really going to miss her. when we brought her home on my 14th birthday, she could fit in the palm of your hand almost. she had the cutest little round fat belly and a tiny skinny tail that fluttered around when she was happy. her whole body was so soft, and then as she got bigger, just her ears. i always loved petting her ears because they were softer than anything i'd ever felt.

i'm glad i didnt have to see her in failing health and that i wasn't there to watch her quit eating and drinking and not be able to stand up or move. but at the same time, i hate it that i wasnt there to help take care of her. every one of our dogs that we've had to put down, at least i was there to say goodbye and cry on the couch with mom. there is a daisy sized hole in our family, crouching in the back somewhere, too afraid to be out and about.

the silver lining is there though - within a month, there will be at least one new puppy at mom and dad's house. i just wish daisy would be there too.

ROAD TRIP!

ok, went to haysville and i DID end up squeezing a fabulous 3 day weekend out of the deal. although i very much wish it had been under better circumstances. however it was really nice to spend so much time with my family. i find myself more confused about why krystal ditched us all than i was in the beginning, and more hurt, and much more angry. but it was cool to have my brother to myself again. but in all honesty, that's not even what it's about anymore. the last time i even thought about "having him to myself" was when he was in high school and they first started dating and i hated her for stealing him away from me - even though he hated me at the time. and so here we are, and as i'm driving to haysville, he calls me to ask if we can hang out saturday and run errands, just the two of us. talk about a breath of fresh air! un-interrupted adult conversation! quite a beautiful thing! (sometimes i feel like i have a strange appreciation for things that other people might take for granted, this is one of those times).
so yes, went to haysville, spent time with the family. saturday was hanging out/shopping/eating chocolate. sunday we had thanksgiving dinner - why not?! we were all actually there! and then monday cameron met with krystal for the first time and returned oscar to her. hellish day for cameron. hellish day for all of us. but he is more of a man, and continues to be more of a husband and a friend than she ever has, will, or did deserve. we're all so proud of him and how well he's handling himself and the whole situation. i dont think anyone could do so well, i know i couldn't.

my house smells

my house smells like dirty diapers. the trash in the kitchen is empty, as well as the bathrooms. it's kinda nasty. although i do need to clean the kitchen and REALLY don't want to. i'm incredibly tired.
still don't know if his dad and stepmom are coming up for the weekend. i'd love for them to come, and i'd also love to spend 4 days with my brother instead of 1.5... but mostly i'd love for them to call and let me know either way so that i know how to plan for my weekend. but i suppose in the long run, my plans won't change too much. it would just be nice to know how rushed and UNrelaxed i'm going to be on my 3 day weekend, especialy since i was incredibly rushed and UNrelaxed last weekend since i had to hurry up and drive all weekend to his grandparents and i'm still not rested up from that and have an ass load of errands to do this week.
too much to do, too little time. anyone want to come clean my kitchen? lizabeth? mom? no? well ok, maybe i'll do it. still waiting for that 2nd wind.

FYI - surgery is scheduled

it is official, i had to hound the nurses to get it done, but my surgery is scheduled for 7:30am on thursday october 18th. bring it on! well, not really, i'm not too excited about spending the morning with my legs propped in the air against my will as i am unconscious. but whatever. it must be done... and hopefully won't have to be done again (unless to remove a child).
not a whole lot else going on at the Casa Buford. this last weekend charles and i went to his grandparents Oneslager to spend time with them and his dad and stepmom. it's always fun to go out there, those are the ones who live out in the middle of no where. it was not until saturday morning that it occured to me how tight charles really is wound up. he was constantly fidgeting and had a REALLY hard time sitting still. he kept trying to get his grandpa to consent to go cut down a tree or something labor-intensive so that he could help. i was glad that his grandpa also saw that there was a serious need for him to just CHILL THE HELL OUT! and he eventually did, but it still bothers me that he spends his life on such a high frequency. i wish we could have more weekends away or take advantage of his 2 days off to do something more relaxing. i dont know how to do that, since his days off hardly ever fall on my days off, but i'd still like to find some way to help him use that time to unwind. open for suggestions:
also, back on the surgery - he will be able to take off work to take me there and tend to me. it was a battle, and hopefully they don't try and re-neg on their promise, at which time he would pretty much chew someone's head off. but as of now, the plan is for him to take care of me. :O) i'm looking forward to it.