2010 off to a bad start...

I've already fallen down my back steps trying to clear a place for Tank to do his outside business. (By outside steps I mean two deck steps and the cement landing at the bottom). I laughed after I fell down so if anyone saw me they probably think I'm crazy. Then last night I managed to back into the neighbor's friend's van in my own parking lot/driveway. Luckily the van had a dimple but the neighbor popped it right back out. Not Wanda though. She will be getting another new bumper and taillight. This will be her second bumper in her life, since I had to get a new bumper last year when I was rear-ended. There is much more damage this time even though I was going maybe 5 miles an hour and when I was rear-ended he was going like 20 miles an hour. I've decided to give Carubba Collision another chance even though they had my car for two weeks last time and ended up not even fixing the taillight correctly so I had to take it back. Not to mention they gave me an F-ING VAN. I will be mentioning this to them and the fact I decided to bring it back.

New Years Eve '09

This year we all splurged and bought tickets to The Ice Ball to celebrate New Years. It was in the Statler Towers downtown, which apparently was Buffalo's first luxury hotel. Now the former owner went bankrupt and the building was foreclosed. It went up for auction a couple months ago but that group still can't come up with the money to purchase the building so now it's going to be another abandoned building downtown, along with about 30 other buildings. Such a sad ending to the building's life, but that's coming from a former architecture major. But we did have a fantastic time at The Ice Ball. It consisted of a live band, dancing, prom pictures, a photo booth, a midnight champagne toast and a 1am buffet.

Christmas 2009

James and I celebrated Christmas on the 21st this year because I was heading home to Utah on the 22nd and wouldn't be back until the 28th. I gave James the choice of what day he wanted to exchange gifts, in case he needed those few extra days to get all of his shopping done. But he chose the 21st, which I was very weary about. In the end he did a very good job, to my surprise. He gave me some tall size yoga pants, a University of Utah watch, a manicure set from Bath and Body Works, some windshield wiper fluid (which he says I use faster than any other person on earth), some new wipers and a new ice scraper.

My awesome new watch.

The watch I bought James

I'm grad-i-ated!!

I officially took my last final EVER at Buffalo State College!! This means I (hopefully) have graduated with my bachelor's degree. It's only taken me FOREVER! I first decided to get my associates degree, then I took some time off before starting my bachelors. Well by then I had gotten a job working full time and could only go to school at night, which meant part time. Then when I moved to Buffalo I took off another semester so that I wasn't too overwhelmed with moving. Now that I am finished with my bachelors I am applying to the MBA program at the University of Buffalo and I first get to take the GMAT's. WaaaHooo. That WaaaHooo was complete sarcasm. I am not at all excited to take this stupid test. Some have asked why I'm going to graduate school (mostly my grandma, who thinks I don't need to go to school anymore because I am wasting her money) and I'm starting to think it's because I want to punish myself.

Christmas present debacle

Tank's good friend Milo the cat gave him some toy mice for Christmas. (Tank plays with Milo's cat toys every time we go over there) It wasn't even 5 minutes after I had opened them for him that he ATE one of the mice toys. That's right, he swallowed it whole. These aren't just small mice, they are good sized. Big enough that cats and small dogs shouldn't be able to swallow them. But since Tank seems to eat everything in site, he figured, why not? As you recall, the little bonehead ate asphalt as a puppy and after an emergency vet visit, 2 x-rays, and $400 later, he was fine. I was pretty much a psycho after he ate it, I was freaking out. I called the vet ER and they told me to give him some Vaseline, which would "help it slide out". Disgusting, but at 1:30am I went to Rite Aid and bought Vaseline. That got me quite a few weird looks. James had to take the day off work on Monday and take him to the vet since he had not passed it. It's Wednesday and it still hadn't came out. But I spoke with the vet this morning and she informed me that stomach acid can break down plastic, so it probably won't come out whole. I guess I learn something new everyday, because I thought it would still come out in the shape of a mouse. Silly me. I've informed Tank that until he passes this mouse toy, Christmas is canceled for him and I have returned his gifts. But I think he knows these are empty threats and still has the mouse inside of him.

This is an old picture, but this is the same kind of mouse toy that he swallowed.

My favorite thing about Christmas time...

is being able to watch my Christmas movies over and over and over again. James hates that I can watch movies more than once but during Christmas I have an excuse. I just tell him it's Christmas and I only have a month to watch each movie at least 3 times. These are my favorite movies to watch during the season:

This one is my favorite!

Pet Peeve

I wouldn't really call this a pet peeve, but more of an annoyance. Every single time I go to get my oil changed, the mechanics come out from the shop, call me back and proceed to tell me that I need all this stuff done to my car. I don't see any of the men in the waiting room being called back so that you can attempt to rip them off. Is it because I'm a girl? Do I look stupid? Do I look naive? I've been going to the dealer where I bought my car and this might be my first mistake. I like going there because if there is any recalls on my car they can fix it right then, or if there are any other problems. I also like going there because of the really nice, clean, sanitary waiting room they have, unlike other places you can get your oil changed. This habit of mine definitely needs to be broken, because if they try to tell me one more time that it is $115 for a filter change, $90 for a tire alignment or $200 for a fuel injector service then I'm going to go postal on them.

Chrismukkah

We ventured downtown last night to see the annual tree lighting and to celebrate the opening of the ice skating rink. The line to rent skates was approximately 800 hours long so we decided to skip the ice skating but we did get to go on a free horse and carriage ride. We enjoyed some hot chocolate as well as some people watching. Events like this always bring out the weirdest people. The evening was topped off with our subway ride home. We were joined by some very interesting people who were very very high on acid/mushrooms/who knows what. The girl couldn't stop what I'm assuming was giggling and this other fellow couldn't stop fake punching his friend. Good thing they were only on the subway for two stops.

I didn't know Fila was ghetto

For James's birthday I bought him a new pair of sweat pants, since the ones he wears now are from Hollister and are about 5 years old. So you can imagine how dirty and raggedy they are. I went to Kohl's because I figured they would have a good selection, not to mention I had $10 in Kohl's cash from Black Friday. They had a couple different brands such as Nike, Adidas and Fila. But Fila was the only one that would be keeping up with the "sweat pant" theme. I was all proud of myself for thinking of such a good present, but when I came home and gave him his present, James informed me Fila is "ghetto". How am I supposed to know this? What makes them ghetto? They are just sweat pants.

We have a "handyman" on our hands, folks

I purchased a new mirror for our downstairs bathroom off Craigslist for $15. It was a steal. I got it home and realized that I couldn't hang it on the current wall holders because it would sit on top of my light fixture. So I asked James to use his "skills" and take out the old wall holders and put them in a new position for the new mirror. It was touch and go but he eventually got it to work. Nice job Handy Jammy.

He did refer to himself as James "The Tool Man" Lewis.