7 p.m. TONIGHT!

WE'RE SIGNING OUR PAPERS TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST GOT SCHEDULED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sunshine

So, I was having one of those days. You know, one of those days where you're cranky, not feeling well, extra sensitive, frustrated and, excuse my french, just pissy!

Sure there were rays of sunshine. Paula called to see how I was doing. I was able to catch up w/a good friend at lunch. My nephew, Zach, had his first day of Kindergarten and it sounds like he was such a big boy and it went great and he loved it. It was fun hearing about that and made an Uncle's heart proud (he calls me "Uncle Missy! LOL! It's too cute.)

But, still I had the rain cloud hanging over my head; so, you know what I did? I never, ever do this...I bought a Hershey Symphony candy bar! I took a bite of it and all of my troubles melted away along w/the chocolate in my mouth. It was my savior today! It was my little piece of chocolate Heaven! Oh lawsie mercy was it DELICIOUS! Sometimes, 200 calories is just worth it! (Yes, I checked the fat and caloric content... I know, I know!)

So, now a happier, more content Missy is waiting to hear if they could find a mobile notary so she and her husband can sign some loan docs! That + the chocolate = 1 sweet afternoon!

Read at your own risk

My allergies are bugging me (hopefully it's just allergies) so I'm not feeling very witty today! I just wanted to give y'all some quick updates!



Hopefully, we'll sign all of the papers for our new house tonight! Keep your fingers crossed for us, please. We were supposed to sign last Thursday night, then last Friday and that did not happen. We're waiting on paperwork from Citibank...I'm going to be nice and not post my opinions about Citibank!

I'm feeling kind of irritated today. And, I have lots of things I could vent about; but, it wouldn't be pretty and I don't know if it would make for very fun reading!

But, here I go anyway, I can't help it, my fingers won't stop typing, they've taken control!

It irritates me when people make one feel like they are a pest or a nuisance or that they don't have time for one. I hate it when people can only have a relationship with others on their terms. That's pretty selfish. It's hurtful. It tests one's patience. They take for granted what they have. They should be thankful and appreciative if they are lucky enough to have people who care in their life. They should be considerate of the people in their life. Friends and family are all you have. They should not be taken for granted because life with out them would be unimaginable.

I guess it comes down to balance. And, I guess when you're juggling a lot, it's hard to find that balance. But, please, if you're juggling, don't treat all but one ball poorly. Don't just focus on one ball. That ball may not be there forever... And, I guess that's the trick to balancing, learning to juggle. I know it's not easy (I struggle w/balance) but the struggle is not a free ticket to treat others poorly.

Ok, off my soap-box now.

Next post will be chipper.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

My Papa turns 78 today but he's so young at heart you wouldn't know he was a day over 50!

What other 78 year old still goes down water slides? Well, my Papa does!

Sometimes, I'm surprised that my Papa and I are still on speaking terms! Why is that, you ask? Let's see...he taught me to drive and there were certaintly lessons that I would come home from where we wouldn't be speaking! (My wisdom as a 28 year old enables me to aknowledge that it was probably all of my fault; but, whatever! That's in the past, right?!)

We also worked together at the Education Center on Beale AFB for many years and he would get SO MAD at me because I would make a habit of running to his office and begging and pleading for him to take 5 minutes to talk to an airmen who just had one quick question, right as he was packing up to leave for the day. He'd always tell me no, even after I reminded him about how this poor, poor airmen just wanted an education like everyone else, this airmen who would give his life for his country and you won't take just 5 minutes to speak to him?!?! He'd still tell me no, and by now he was flustered, so I would leave his office (most professionally, I might add, I never, ever stomped off) to go tell the airmen that he would have to make an appoitment and come back later and just when I would be about to tell them, Papa would stick his head out of the office and shout to me to "send him on down, Miss!" 45 minutes later, he'd be leaving...w/a smile on his face!

We had a ball at the Ed Center, though. After I started working there, everyone was calling him Papa! After I started working there, people knew more about my family than ever before! *cringes* Ooops! I'm an open book! What can I say?

So, a few years ago, for Christmas, I gave my Grandpa some John Wayne DVDs. The following year, on his B-day, I noticed that they were still in the wrapper on his dressesr! So, I re-wrapped them and re-gifted them to him! This is him opening them for the 2nd time! Since then, the John Wayne DVDs have been lost and he blames each and every one of us in the family for taking them! Last year for his B-day, I gave him this picture! He still has the picture; but, no John Wayne DVDs.

My Papa is a great man. Wonderful. Loving. Supportive. Kind. Funny. I hope he has a fantastic B-day! I love you, Papa!

Papa loves USC! (Really, he's an Ohio State fan and he gives us USC fans so much crap that I had to post this picture of him happily wearing a USC hat!)

Papa is also notorious for taking naps on benches in public. Here, he fell asleep next to my step-dad on Pier 39 in San Fran!

And here, he passed out while sipping an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista in San Francisco!

Just kidding! He didn't really pass out! He graciously posed for me as a joke!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

House-Broke Here We Come!

Isn't she lovely?!?!!!!! That's our new home! Tomorrow night or some time Friday we are signing all of the papers and we should get the keys next week (after the paper-work is filed, or something like that, I don't really remember because so much information has been thrown at us and it's all been in a foreign language!).

Here's a pic of the kitchen. Remember, I am going to cook A LOT more in this kitchen...should lead to some interesting reading for you! Lol

You know what I don't understand about buying a house? Why things change ALL of the time. During a meeting with our mortgage guy to fill out the complete loan application he explained something in great detail. This "something" was explained after one and a half hours of listening to other "somethings" explained, in great detail; so, my attention was dwindling a little bit!

I've learned that I'm great at paying attention for the first hour and after that, I'm pretty much useless, which, drives Dave crazy! He'll bump my leg or tap my arm and tell me that I need to pay attention, that this is important. *Sigh* That's why he's there, too, right? So, I can "check out". What's funny, though, is that Dave supposedly pays attention for the WHOLE 7 million hour meeting...yet, retains NONE OF IT! Cracks me up! Good thing I'm the one in charge! Hahaha

Ok, got off track. Anyway, so, mortgage man explained all of this stuff to me that I interpreted to mean that when we finally do close, we will not need any more money and that in fact we will GET money! So, I say to him (to confirm that I've understood correctly cause this stuff is important), "So, basically what I'm hearing you say is (by the way, I've used that phrase a lot over the past few months) that we're good, right," to which he chuckled and reiterated, "Yes, we're good."

Fast forward time. We receive some info in the mail which indicated that we'll need a ton of money at closing. WHAT??? Try going to bed after reading something like that, I dare ya! I call the mortgage lady (she handles the paper-work) the next day and find out that this is worst case scenario, that she forgot to include some other figures, and the amount needed at closing dropped tremendously. PHEW. But, in the back of my mind, I kept wondering why we were going to need money, when I specifically remember my previous conversation with mortgage man.

Last week, when everything came back from the under-writer, mortgage lady told me we'd need $600 at closing. So, thinking that I needed to be informed, I asked her why we were going to need more money (after all, mortgage guy said we were good!). After a 10 minute answer we hung up and I still had no idea why we were going to need money at closing! Grrr! In the back of my head, it's been bugging me, though. But, we had the money, so I decided that I just wasn't going to worry about it.

Now, today when I'm talking to her she tells me that we're going to need $4,000, yes that's right, FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS, at closing...which is tomorrow! I told her to BACK THE TRUCK UP!

Lol, no! I didn't really say that! I couldn't say anything because I was choking...I was choking on my own air and my own saliva! Luckily, mortgage man overheard her and corrected her and she had FORGOTTEN about our 3.5% down payment! Turns out, original conversation with mortgage man is still accurate and we will need no more money to close. Turns out, we find all of this out after Missy has a mini heart attack and has been stressing for weeks! Turns out, we've been good all along just like he told me in the first place!

On the way to work today I was thinking about the one mortgage guy telling me that I wouldn't need any more money and the other mortgage person telling me I would need more money and I was thinking in my head how I wish that I could have a job where I could be wrong and still get paid and where I could change the information given half way through the day and still get paid and how people should know their jobs and know that we take what they say as truth and don't plan on it changing and that they should know that and that when the info does change it causes stress, that it affects our lives and...I was having this whole big rant in my head that I was going to blog about! But instead, you got a whole other story to read about...and...I don't know which is worse! :)

Seasons of Change

My dear, sweet, wonderful BFF is moving! I'm sad. She and I talk every day. I can tell her every embarrassing, silly, profound, and petty thought that I have and she's always 100% supportive and 100% honest. Do you have anyone in your life like that? Sometimes, it feels like we can read each other's mind! Trippy, huh? But, I speak no lie.

One time, we were eating chips at her house. This was many, many moons ago when we ate delicious, deep fried, high cholesterol food with out gaining 6 million pounds! Now, we just smell the stuff and weight comes on...ahhh, the joys of aging! And, I hear, it just keeps getting better! Anyway, we were eating chips at her house, shooting the breeze, when all of a sudden I pushed the bag in her direction, to which she questioned, "Why'd you just do that," I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I don't know, it was a reflex." To which she responded, "I was just thinking that I wish you would push the bag towards me so I could get more chips!" Profound. Earth-shattering, ground-breakingly profound, huh? To us it was! We are telepathically connected, we surmised...yet we have more mis-understandings than an old, hard-of-hearing married couple, lol!

Seriously, though. I'm going to miss Paula a lot and I hope that she finds more happiness and fulfillment where she's moving than ever before!

There have been more changes in 2009 than almost any other year. (And, if ya know me, ya know how well I handle change!) Another one of my BFF's moved to Korea! Yes, Korea! Something about being a military wife, wanting to stay a familial unit, patriotic American, might get to go to Italy, see the world...yadda, yadda, yadda! Another BFF got married! Thanks to her wedding, I finally have 2 pictures that contain everybody who knows too much about me! *wink, wink* And, Dave and I are buying a house. I remember when Dave and I used to drive around and look at houses that we liked; we would walk through model homes and fantasize about living in a bigger, nicer place and now, we're BUYING ONE! WOW.

So, I'm going to leave you with 2 pics of some people who know too much about me...who make my heart so very, very happy.

Here's a Missyism for ya!

Have you heard people referred to as being an old soul? I have people in my life who I think fit that description. They are wise. They are spiritually wise, emotionally wise, worldly wise. They know a lot about everything and they know how to do a lot.

Lots of times, I feel like a brand new soul! A brand new, novice soul. That's gotta be why goofy stuff happens to me, right? That gotta be why I'm a klutz in the kitchen, right?

I want to feel comfortable in the kitchen...not chaotic. But, chaos seems to follow me in the kitchen! I've accidentally pre-heated the oven with a deep frier in it...with hardened grease in the deep frier. That was fun...8 firetrucks later! No, I didn't burn down the house. It would have been especially bad if I had because I was getting married in 2 days and there was lots of wedding stuff in that house. Oh, and to make it even better, I had my 8 year old sister and 10 year old brother with me! *SIGH* OMG!

I've set the smoke alarm off while cooking instant mashed potatoes. Yes, that's right, I said instant mashed potatoes! Another time, I accidentally set beans or rice on fire underneath the burner. I don't remember which, for all I know it could be both! That was a small fire, though, that only lasted a second or two and the smoke alarm didn't even go off!

I've set the smoke alarm off while cooking almond roca, like 5 times while cooking 1 batch! OMG, someone please help me! I was home alone, too. And, while you're cooking almond roca you have to constantly stir the mixture or it will stick to the pan. So, I'm constantly stirring my mixture, feeling like a hot shot because I am making almond roca, when some of the mixture overflows. Darnit! The mixture hits the burner and starts to smoke. Apparently, when that happens a few times, or 10, it causes smoke to permeate throughout the house and trigger the smoke alarm! So, I turn the overhead stove fan on and open the kitchen window. The beeping stops for now. Yay! I feel smarter than the smoke alarm. I solved the problem! But, a few minutes later I hear, "beep, beep, beep..." SHOOT!

By now, I have a dog cowering between my legs because apparently "beep, beep, beep," scares him to death! Could be because the last time that happened he got hustled out of the house and a ton of big, loud, bright red fire trucks showed up with men in big, bright yellow uniforms running all over the neighborhood, into the house...you get the idea. Intimidating for a little dog.

Anyway, back to the roca. What do I do? I decide that I have to turn the fan on that's in the dining room. That will help. That will make the smoke alarm stop. Ok, so, I have to stop stirring for a second and run to the fan, pull the cord, then run back to the roca and pick up stirring. I can do that fast. Shouldn't hurt a thing, I think to myself. Ok, so, I stir then, I stop stirring and rest the spoon against the pan. I run under the fan as fast as I can, grab the cord to turn the fan on, pull the cord and... the lights turn off! SHOOT! I pulled the wrong cord! But, I pulled and ran! So, now I'm back in the kitchen, stirring my almond roca, the dining room light is off, no fan is circulating, the beep, beep, beeping is still occurring, my dog is shaking between my legs and I sigh and think, "oh my gosh!"

I have to try it again, I've got to get the fan turned on so the smoke alarm stops! I stop stirring and rest the spoon against the pan. I run the short distance as fast as I can under the fan and light. I turn on the light and turn on the fan! I pull, pull, pull those cords! The light is on and the fan is moving and I've run back to the roca and picked up the stirring! Phew! But, wait a minute, the fan is barely moving...I accidentally turned the fan on low instead of medium. I wish I was making this stuff up. In my nervousness, I pulled the fan cord one too many times. SO! I run back one more time to get the fan on medium and...voila! The beeping stops! The stirring continues, the dog goes and lays down. All is peaceful. Sigh of relief.

So, if you ever need entertainment just come to my house while I'm doing something in the kitchen. It's almost always exciting.

Martha Stewart I am not. But, my almond roca turned out GREAT, if I do say so myself and the fact that I can make almond roca...no matter how it went down, makes me feel pretty darned accomplished!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!

Michelle, one of my oldest and dearest friends, has finally caught up w/the rest of us and turned 25! It's about time! Unfortunately, anyone who knows me knows I'm not 25; but, it's a nice thought and either way, Michelle has caught up!

Michelle ditched me and moved to Korea to be w/her husband. Humph! Whatever! Lol! I wish her a happy, happy birthday! Her B-day is actually Aug 20; but, in Korea, it's already Aug 20; so, that's why it's getting posted 1 day early state-side. Got it?!

Happy B-day Michelle! I hope you celebrate and live it up, sister!

A Few Updates

We won’t be closing on the house on August 26. The underwriter that the mortgage broker uses takes 7-8 business days; so, that’s pushed us back. We’re a little bummed because Dave had made all of the arrangements to move on Saturday August 29; but, now we won’t be moving until after that. It just stinks because he’s not going to be able to take any time off of work (except his regularly scheduled days off). He had to beg, borrow and steal in order to get the 29th off and after all of the hassle of getting it off, he can’t ask to not work on the next Saturday, which is Labor Day weekend. So, moving is going to be different. I guess he’ll do stuff on his days off, we’ll do stuff after work (hopefully, with help) and I’m assuming (even though you know what they say about people who assume!) that I’ll be doing some moving over Labor Day weekend w/out Dave…but, hopefully w/other help! We just don’t know dates and time-frames or when we’ll get the keys! Stressful! We don’t have to be out of our duplex until September 10; so, that’s good!

Everything has fallen into place almost perfectly with buying this house. I’ve commented many times that I don’t remember any other situation in my life that has fallen into place so perfectly! Keeping all of that in mind, it really does feel like buying a house is a big roller coaster ride! It’s crazy! Thank God there are people who get paid to finesse and explain everything, to do all of the paperwork and make all of the phone calls! Crazy!

Here's a pic of Duke. We're gonna stick him on anyone else who holds up this whole buying a house process! A few minutes of him drooling on them and they'll be beggin for mercy!

One last thing, the “thing’s” been fixed so you don’t have to register to leave a comment. I apparently had control of the “thing” and did not know it until last night! Lol
Thanks for checking in and I’ll post more about the move when I know!

It was Ladies Night and Oh What a Night!

I had a little reunion on Saturday night and it left me feeling so happy and giddy! Four of my former co-workers and I met for dinner. We sat at the restaurant gabbing and laughing for THREE HOURS! It was the type of three hours that only felt like one hour. We reminisced, made confessions, caught up and promised to do it again real soon! These "co-workers" you see, became quite good friends during my tenure at the Education Center. They are lovely, wise and fun women who I was so blessed to have in my life on a weekly basis for 5 years at the Education Center. I love these women very much and we have so many fun memories together!

Well, I was going to tell you about painting at my sister-in-law’s on Sunday; but, I need to vent for a second. I kind of hate that you have to cook in order to eat dinner! I also hate that eating out is 1) more expensive than grocery shopping and cooking and 2) is unhealthy. I just feel like going home and cooking dinner is so… so…. so boring! But, going out is fun, something to do and not monotonous! It breaks the evening up and you get to go do something. I think I’m too social.


Do you know how many times I’ve said, “At the new house I’m going to cook more because I’ll have a bigger kitchen,”? I’ve said it a lot. If Dave had a nickel for every time I said that he’d be a rich, rich man instead of a house broke man! Hahaha, I just crack myself up! But, I really am going to cook more. I’m going to make some kind of roast in a crock pot w/carrots and potatoes and Lipton’s French onion soup mix (a co-worker had it for lunch and it looked so, so good!). I guess I just need to plan out my dinners at home more so there’s more variety and less boring! *sigh* Can you feel the excitement?

I was pretty productive this weekend. Usually I’m quite socially productive on the weekends; but, this weekend I was also quite domestically productive. In honor of that, I’m sharing a picture that Dave took of me dusting once. He thought it’d be sooooo funny to capture that moment since he says it doesn’t happen that often…I told him that nobody likes a smart a##!

Dog Gone Interesting

I had a wonderfully fabulous weekend...and I'm exhausted! So, I will tell you about my wonderfully fabulous weekend tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a little tale about an...Angel


My dog, Angel, lets me hug her and squeeze her and stick my face in her face and give her kisses (you have to be a dog lover to understand). She’s the only one out of the three dogs we have that let’s me do that. So, I think it’s interesting that, not 1 minute after I’ve said good morning to her (face-to-face, mind you) she snarls and growls at Duke when he sticks his face in hers! You’d think he had just woken her up from a deep slumber. You’d think she didn’t want to be disturbed and maybe that’s the case; but, she doesn’t react that way to me at all.
Hmmm…

Maybe it’s because I’m the ALPHA female! I like that idea! I’m the ALPHA female and she knows I’m the leader and she has so much respect for me that I can do whatever I want!

Angel is also the only dog who will stand staring at me and ignore me for minutes on end after I’ve given her the command to sit or lie down. Or, she’ll look straight ahead, seriously, for minutes on end totally ignoring my command. I get so mad!














Maybe she’s just a human attention-hog and maybe someday I actually will be the ALPHA!

My first blog! I have fun on Facebook; but, it was not fulfilling my need to share my earth shattering, ground breaking thoughts! Plus, I thought a blog was a great way to share my life with friends and relatives who live far away!

My sister-in-law, Joann (or Jo), has a blog and I sit on pins and needles waiting for each new posting. I love her blog….and her friends’ blogs…and thepioneerwoman.com’s blog and...you get the idea. I wanted in on the action!

So, here's some news:
Jo coined it best when she declared on her blog, “A New Mortgage is Born!” That’s mine and Dave’s big news of 2009, we’re buying a house! We’re buying a house so that someday we may have a baby! HAHA, I’m just kidding about the having a baby part. That’s a ways away. 3 dogs, 2 cats and a 50 gallon fish tank don’t fit in a 2 bedroom duplex anymore. Plus, we have to buy a house while we can afford it; so, when houses cost 600 million dollars again, we’ll have equity…or something like that… :) (My intelligence is knocking your socks off, isn’t it?!?! Lol)

I named the blog, “Missyisms,” because sometimes I find myself in unique situations and in my brain I have catalogued those situations into “Missyisms.” Some day I’m going to write a book of “Missyisms,” and it’s going to make me rich! For example, I almost burnt my house down 2 days before my wedding = Missyism. I burnt my eyes the first time I cooked Almond Roca all by myself = Missyism. You see? By the way, there are good Missyism's too, just to let you know!

Here's a sneak peak at the new house! My new, great big bath-tub! I can't wait to soak in the tub!

So, please check back real soon! And, feel free to leave me a comment!