I just wanna say...

I am really freaking happy :) I'm a size 8 in jeans now :) SCORE!!

I weighed in at 206 this morning, a nice downward trend. Finally. Another 21 lbs to go :)

Feeling the love

LOL, my coworkers are hilarious :) Found "Bob" (I called it Audrey 2) in my cube on Monday.

It was growing out the concrete in an open air area. Gotta love nature!

Just a thought

You know how you can read something, whether it's about you or someone you love, get either upset/annoyed/saddened by it?

I think that no matter what, screw that. I love my life, I love my kid, I love my man. It really, seriously, does not matter what others issues are.

Sometimes people can get so caught up in their own stupidity, that they forget the basics and get lost. It's really kinda sad.

So - I much rather laugh the stupidity off, move on and just be happy :)

Happy is freaking awesome.

And I am very lucky to be so incredibly happy :D

Some Vacation Pics

Universal Studios - Orlando

Cape Canaveral Space Station

Updated Mutant Garden

 Basically, here is a 360 view of my little patch of garden. As you can see, the pumpkin part is attempting to take over my yard!

 Yes, the tomatoes are also attempting to take over the whole plot :)

 PUMPKIN!!! Hopefully I didn't accidentally kill it trying to move it!

2nd pumpkin!

Other things growing

 Morning glories it seems

 Lots of sunflowers again

 Knock out roses

Mutant Gardening 101

It started off as a patch of grass, that my boyfriend dug out. We add some compost/manure/stuff to. And some itty bitty plants. Sweet potatoes and 1 other plant, that I had *thought* was zucchini. Ahem.

Now, it's this

That tall stuff? 2 tomato plants that have had to be roped up. Twice. Because they are freaking huge. I hope the fruit actually is edible.

Green beans. I've harvested twice so far, and they are seriously yummy. I am going to harvest again today if it's not raining.

 Crazy mutant tomatoes overshadowing my purple dragon carrots.

You can see some onions and the carrots here

The small vining leaves are sweet potatoes

 And this is the surprise. It seems I planted PUMPKINS and not zucchini. Who knew!! LOL

Another one growing.

 Cucumber that is almost ready to be picked. I've picked 2 so far, ate one and have another I am going to give to this sweet 78 year old lady I work with.

A closer look at the purple dragon carrots.

Minor updates!!

Just, ummm. Yeah! Hi, my name is Alison and I've been absent a bit!!

So, in a nutshell - I am super freaking busy :) Work is busy (always good), home life is busy (yay) and school life is busy :) Taking 2 classes, Accounting Principals and Music Appreciation. Just finished Macro Economics and Business Ethics (A's in both of them). If I stay on schedule, so far so good, I will be done with my. A.S. Spring 2016 :)

This is my cat, Daisy, at her vet appointment last week. She wasn't too interested in spending quality time there.

 

I have a small garden growing in my backyard this year :) Thanks to my awesome boyfriend who was able to dig out an area for me to grow things in :) 2 tomato plants, string beans, sweet potatoes (they were touch and go but I think they've adjusted to the soil, here's hoping), purple dragon carrots, onions and an itty bitty bell pepper. Oh and some lemongrass (for tea!) and flavoring.

I put in 3 rose bushes in the back, all are doing awesome :) we've planted some other flowers as well and also put some out front. My front yard is not as full as the back yet! Little by little though, right!!

I had to get a new lawn mower, and opted for an electric one (instead of manual) since my kid was always whining and people looked at me funny (not that I care about that) AND honestly, I just wanted my yard done faster. It's been awesome :)

The Kid starts high school in the fall. I really *really* hope he does better/likes it better than middle school. Because, yeah, happy that shit is over!

We have a vacation coming up, so excited! Universal Studies in Orlando! SCORE!!

Next year, I REALLY want to see my family in CA. 

This year, I REALLY want to pay off the vast majority of my credit cards, LMAO.

There is a TON more to write, but work is kicking my butt, school is keeping me busy, house/home/love keep me busy :) I will attempt to write more often again though!

Snow. In March.

This is a stray cat I feed. I keep trying to get him to come inside, if only for a night or to warm up. So far, no luck.

 

And it seems I have a bird...that eats cat food...the tracks are going to the dry food at least.

Decisions about Money

I've been looking at my budget and credit cards and one of my goals this year is to really get my 1 credit card as close to paid off as possible. Don't get me wrong, if there is a decent balance then there is, I am just really hoping to get things into a better spot.

I do know that getting my shower fixed is basically going to whack that hard, but whatever.

So whatever taxes I get back on going to pay off a portion of my credit card.

I really really really want to stop eating out as much as possible (last week was hard, due to burst pipes, so there is always exceptions). I just need to kick myself in the ass a little bit more and get a cracking at cooking and baking. I know that this spring/summer will be harder, but oh well. It can be hard to say no to my Kid with that, I mean, pizza out every once in a while or chinese ordered in? It just adds up :( Plus he's had a friend spend the night a couple times and who knew that boys eat that much! Oh and speaking of that, my freaking grocery bill is going a wee bit whacky. I have a feeling my kid is gonna is another growth spurt because his stomach is not getting bigger and he's eating a lot more it seems.

I was using the excuse of my classes for some of this, just not having as much time. Well, fuck that. If I end up staying up later then so be it. That is life it seems! I like cooking too, so it's not a hard leap here lol. Dishes are a pain, well, especially with the burst pipes and cold weather.

It won't hurt us to get outside and do things, pack a lunch or picnic, ya know? Once it's warmer at least :) And it won't hurt to eat a little bit less either.

And it's not going to be never eating out again. I just want it more limited for a while. It should be a treat, not a habit for us.

Well, it's a start at least :)

Stupid Pipes Part 3.77

Ok, my coworker and friend will be coming back hopefully tomorrow to get the pipes completely fixed.

Since today was, ok IS, so fucking cold, I went to Lowe's last night and got some of this type of stuff - Self Sealing Pipe Insulation. I did NOT seal it yet, since we're still working on the pipes. But anything on them is going to help, so I spent a good portion last night getting that done. I want to do ALL the pipes just to help make sure this doesn't happen again. Which means buying more and spending more time in my cellar.



Because, you know. DAMN. Today's high? 14 degree but it feels like -9. Tonight's low is going to be -3 degrees, and if you had in wind chill? Yikes.

Today I put my (thanks again to the boyfriend) portable heater in the kitchen to help keep it warm. I think I might just get one FOR the kitchen during winter, because those floors are always cold!! It's because there is not enough insulation to the outside wall. It's an OLD house.

One of the interesting things is that this PCVP type of pipes can get brittle. So weird! From what I can gather, it's due to age and extreme cold. So good to know all around!!

Stupid Pipes Part 2.04

So. My coworker and friend was able to get the 2 (yes, 2) pipes fixed - with a couple minor issues

The hot water pipe has a drip because I don't have wrenches and we need one to tighten that. Easy fix and I was able to use my hot water to do ALL the damn dishes that were dirty. Which was a lot.

The cold water pipe would have been perfect, except we forgot to glue 1 of the pipes together. Oppsie. We are gonna get that sucker fixed tomorrow.

The reason for the burst pipes? There is no insulation beneath the flooring of the sink going to the cellar. It's hard to explain, it's about a 3" or so space - I've attempted to draw it as thus:

________________SINK______________
Space below your sink that you store things, like dishwasher soap, etc. - Some Obvious pipes (BURST)
------------Floor below sink---------------------
          ++++more pipes++++
-------------House base flooring-----------------
************stone*********************
Some insulation and some pipes
~~~~~~~~~~~Cellar area~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope that sorta makes sense??

So we ripped out a portion of the floor below the sink to get to the pipes. It was not a straight shot to the cellar for the water pipes, kinda weird but there you go. Lowe's has been my friend these last couple of days. I have some stuff to return and more things to buy. Shocking, NOT. LMFAO :)

Real pictures are below.

I learned quite a bit. I feel much more confident in several things, understanding being the biggest one. My friend made it look easy. I mean, damn.

It was very awesome that my boyfriend put in those pipe shut offs on the pipes last night. It has really helped!

So, no need for a plumber. Clean up, insulation to put in and fix the flooring, but that can be done when it's not 5 degrees outside.