Good Bye 2008 - Hello 2009

2009 is officially here! It is 2:32 am and I sit here looking at pictures and reflecting on past years. What we did, why and etc... So how did 08 go?

2008 – What can I say! It was a year challenge and a year of great change.

First of all we can’t ignore the fact that the country spiraled into a recession the likes of which I have never seen. A mortgage crisis has hit the nation like a tidal wave with hundreds of thousands losing their jobs and home. And gas prices soared to over $4 a gallon.

On a more personal level Jack and I had a good year in our marriage, but it was a challenging year. One where we fought and made up, where we compromised and learned, one where I believe ultimately we grew as a couple. It was also the year we bought a house with a basement apartment for my mother and moved to Mableton. Having her live with us is something I'm glad we did and I love it - however, it has been an adjustment. One we will continue to make in 2009 I'm sure.

Professional it has been tough. The company I work for was on the verge of bankruptcy and was eventually acquired by another larger company. Staffing has been difficult and management has been worse. It may be time for a change - only time can tell.

2008 - Overall a good year, but challenging to say the least. Here's hoping 2009 is better.

Christmas Eve 2008

Its Christmas Eve 2008. Another year is almost over and its time to begin reflecting. Jack and I have family plans with his family tomorrow and my family and I are on ... well we still speaking to a degree. By family I do not include my mother who I have a great relationship with, but rather my brothers who are... my brothers.

What does that say? That on Christmas I can't set aside the anger and be with family? What does it say that Jack and I decided not to exchange gifts and on Christmas eve we sit here and mess around on computers while not acknowledging that it's a special night and we should be celebrating it.

I don't know what it says but I'm going to reflect and figure it out. In the meantime I wish you and yours a great holiday! Merry Christmas, may God bless you in the upcoming year.

Time Flies

Wow, time flies whether you want it to or not. Just yesterday I feel like I graduated High School and began this roll-a-coaster called 'adult life'. Now my 10 year reunion is coming up and I'm wondering where it all went.

I signed up for Facebook the other day. A cool site I recommend to anyone, but I digress... I signed up and was reminded that I haven't blogged in oh, forever! Do you miss me? Probably not, but that's ok. I miss you... I miss my random thoughts going out into the cyber void to be archived for the world to see. I miss the sharing of my life. So why not blog you ask??? Well, the truth is I have no life. I come home, I go to work, I eat with Mama/Jack, I go dancing, I come home, I have dinner with Hapaw, etc... Nothing exciting, no earth shattering discoveries, no moments of clarity - Just the mundane task that make up my life. Pleasant for me, yes - but entertaining for blogland - probably not.

Thus, I will write occasionally as thoughts pop into my head but for the most part I will exist and try to be happy that I do .

More Pictures to come to www.mylerna.com soon.

Love you - I'll be in touch - Eventually.

Where Have I Been

I changed my reading of blogs and now have "google reader" or my homepage. However, I realize now that by doing that I no longer go to my own blog to see my fav blogs and therefore haven't updated my own. I would think about it occasionally but never did it. Go figure - have you missed me?

Probably not... But that's ok. I still love you.

What is going on here??? Let me see

1. Work
2. Work
3. Work
4. Jack - Love of my Life
5. Ballroom Dancing
6. Still Boxes to be unpacked- they mock me daily... I just turn the other cheek
7. Tons of household projects.
8. Work

Yep that about sums it up. More to follow later... will try to post more and will log on soon to give a more in depth review of Mylerna's world.

Hickory, NC

We are on our way back from Hickory NC. We drove up there with Steve and Leo to purchase some furniture. The word on the street is that the furniture is extremely affordable.

Here is what my thoughts are on the subject:

- We got everything we wanted and just went a little over our budget. The prices were lower than some retailers, but not as low as I thought they would be given the reputation the place has.

- We bought all of our furniture at the Catawba Mall vs. the Furniture Mart. The Furniture Mart was very overpriced! I take that back, we did buy one piece in the clearance store of Boyles, but it has scratches which was the only reason it was affordable.

- The people in the stores appear to be paid an hourly salary vs. commission. Which is normally a good thing because you don't get high pressure salesmen. However, in this instance we found that we got mediocre service... There were some exceptions, and we bought our furniture from those exceptions, but I didn't get the feeling that the malls really wanted or needed our business. Let me give you some examples:

• The Catawba Mall is owned all by one company, except for Ashley Furniture. Steve and Leo purchased a bedroom suite from one lady at Flexsteel, and she was very sweet. She told them that if they bought any other piece in the mall they could just add it to the account they had set up. The went to the Kathy Ireland Store, owned by the same company, and wanted a mirror. The store manager called the lady at Flexsteel (I was sitting at Flexsteel making a purchase) and had a fit because the mirror wasn't enough money and she was mad because she had to write up a ticket on it. The mirror cost over $250... I mean come on, it's 1/2 a sheet of paper.
  
• I had a problem with the same lady at Kathy Ireland. Yesterday she was super sweet because I was looking at several pieces. However, I found some more I liked better. Thus, today when I went to make the purchase I only purchased the entertainment center and the dining room set. A purchase of over $2,000. The minute she found out I wasn't buying all the pieces she showed me, which only included 2 additional items, she got pissy. Then when I informed her we would let Ashley Furniture's 3rd party handle the shipping she really go bitchy. Keep in mind that this is a 3rd party shipper, they all use 3rd party shippers, and nothing off her bottom line. Instead of saying thank you for your business I was almost upset I gave her my money.
• Yesterday we went to Ashley Furniture and Jack was taking a picture of a chair. We took pictures in all the stores because we were seeing so much that it is hard to remember from one to the next. Some little shitty salesman came over and got on to him and we left. We came very close to not coming back. The only reason we did is because they were open earlier than the other stores today and because we reasoned that it was just him. Granted today we got excellent service in that store... better than the other stores combined. I made sure to tell the manager about my service yesterday and to tell her what a good job the lady did today. But it's just one more issue that we had...
• We went to the Furniture Mart yesterday and walked thru the entire thing. I went upstairs and was looking at a trundle bed and asked the price. At these malls you can haggle a bit and get the pricing down. I told her that JC Penny had a bed very similar that was less and asked her if she could meet the price. JC Penny did have a bed we really liked - she got bitchy with me for telling her that her pricing wasn't low enough. COME ON its your job. WTF!

Overall though we are very happy with our purchases and the cost. I got most of my stuff at the Ashley Store and I believe we are going to love it. Glad we went back in.

We stayed at The Jamison hotel and the price was reasonable and it was clean. However, we booked it thru Expedia. When we first got there the stupid woman, who was apparently the assistant manager, and she couldn't figure out why we only had two reservations vs. three. It was extremely annoying. Glad Leo handled it vs. me = Super Bitch would have emerged.

Then this morning, check out was at 11. We get a call at 10:15 wanting to know if we had checked out yet. It was almost like we wer getting chased out of the room... I felt it to be very rude and I won't go back. So if you go to Hickory don't go to the Jamison

Just wanted to give you guys a review in case you want to go get some furniture. Have a good night guy!

Boxes Boxes Everywhere

Well we are in and love the new house. The boxes are everywhere and moving around is difficult but we will get it done - little bit at a time.

Just wanted to give you an update when I have more time.

New Home Owner

Closings complete - Moving Begins Woot!!!

**thanks to those who commented and continue to read. love you***

Still Rolling

Well, I'm still rolling here. We had a couple minor glitches but everything is back on track. Mama is out of her house and living with us. I don't think I could even fit a piece of paper in the storage building holding her stuff.... Our house is set to close next Thursday and we will be moving into our new home. I can't wait.... I can't wait for the stress of real estate deals to be gone, I can't wait to wake up in my big new spacious house, I can't wait to only drive 10 miles to work, I can't wait to get to decorate a new house :) I just can't wait....

Other than that things around here are trucking along. Working, Working, and working...

Sorry I don't have more to share. Hope you are all doing well!.

Hey, btw does anyone ever read this thing anymore? If so give me a shout out so I know I'm not talking into the void.

Whirlwind

Well, my life has turned into a whirlwind. A tornado of excitement and blessings.

• Mama's house is closing on Monday and at this point only a stick of dynamite could stop it. The people purchasing her house are extremely excited about it... We are truly blessed.
• My house is set to close 4/9. There have been some glitches along the way - Appraisal, Her Loan, My sanity, but its all coming together. We dropped the price slightly and I'm keeping my appliances. Everyone is happy... Next hurdle is the inspection, pray its not too bad. I don't think it could be given our home, but I've heard nightmare stories.
  
• We have found the PERFECT house. I would link it but since it's under contract they have taken the pictures off the web. It is absolutely perfect - I can't think of one thing we are compromising on it. The basement is finished, with the perfect spot for a kitchen. So that will be easy to add, the upstairs is spacious and beautiful. Rooms galore and the Master is well - to die for. My closet is big enough for a small bedroom. I LOVE IT! It is also set to close on 4/9.
• We have a great set of friends - Steve and Leo. Leo used to design kitchens and has agreed to design Mama's! WOOT! Jack and I would have spent a great amount of time, figuring it out. To have someone volunteer their expertise is just amazing - Hopefully we can repay him someday.
• Mark, a friend of Jacks, knows how to lay flooring. Thus, replacing the basement carpet with something mopable - per my mother's request, will be easy! Just one more blessing! If you are wondering why we are doing that - she has a small dog that well gets excited and oops bladder... He's cute though!
• Rusty, Jack's uncle, is a plumber and has agreed to run the plumbing for us to the new Kitchen. Between him and Leo we have all the expertise we need - Jack and I just get to play manual laborers. Hey I can do grunt work when I need to!
• And Steve said he would help Jack run the network cable thru the house!
  

Moving is going to be fun. Rolls Eyes. We are moving Mama next weekend. All of her stuff will go into storage and she will stay with us. I am out of town attending a conference so I will get out of most the heavy lifting. I feel bad about that, but this thing has been on my calender and paid for since late January. Steve, Leo, my nephew Aaron and Jack will be handling that move. There will be others there helping, but those 4 are the big strong men there to do the heavy lifting!

We are moving the following weekend. If everything goes as planned we will be moving directly into the new house. WOOT. Nate, Melanie, Jack, Billy and hopefully Brian and Tripp will be here for that day. We are trying to move boxes out and into the storage building as we go to hopefully minimize the move. We have a lot more furniture than Mama who has been purging like there is no tomorrow.

All I can say is that we are super super blessed to be haven given such great friends and family! Without them this process would be much more expensive and therefore much more daunting!

Given the fact that all these deals have flowed together so flawlessly all I can say is that God had it in his master plan. Thus, I have faith they are going to work out. Faith is the only thing keeping my sanity otherwise I would be even more worried than I am and you all would be calling the men in white coats to come pick me up.

Welp, I'm off to home depot to get minor house repair items. Trying to fix anything the inspector may think of finding before he gets here. Hey, its a game - anyone want to play? Yea, me neither but hey we do what we have to.

Have a great Saturday!

Looking At Houses

We shopped for houses from 1 pm today to 8 pm! Let me just say I'm exhausted, but we saw alot. Only problem is most of them have the basements unfinished; which means we can add $50K to the price of the house because we are going to have to finish it...

Here are the top 4 so far - please share your thoughts:

Huntcrest
Brookmere
Vinings Lake
Wandering Lane

Off to bed now. Will go see more Saturday

Lisa

Pray

God is good! We got an offer on both properties. I've accepted the one on the Dahlonega property and am still bargaining on this one. Both should be under contract by tomorrow! Can you believe it? Pray these go thru!

OMG I'm so excited. Also stressed - closings are on very short notice.

Welp, wish us luck.

Wii

I found a Wii WOOT

Today

Today is a day like any other day, its not great but its not bad. However, I find my self sitting her needing to lash out, to scream for no reason other than to scream. Why you ask? Answer: I have no friggin clue!

My life is good at the moment. Here's some of what is going on:

1) House is on the market and we have had it show several times, which is impressive in this market! I'm anxious for an offer, but I know it will be a while in today's real estate realm. If you know anyone interested in the Stone Mountain, GA area send them my way. Pics of house are here: Amy Orr With Re/Max

Its the one with the red porch and stucco walls.

2) Mama's house is also for sale and its shown several times! I'm praying something comes thru soon. Again if you know of anyone wanting roughly 4.5 acres in North GA (Dahlonega) send them my way. Details can be found here: Joy Walker With Re/Max

3) Work is good. Having trouble being focused lately - Gotta get my head back in the game. Just got a pretty good bonus though; especially given our office didn't meet our numbers. Will know more about raises next month - keep your fingers crossed.

4) For those of you who don't know I was in a car accident in 2002. Allegedly I ran a red light - honestly I don't know if I did or not. I went out into lala land. Anyway, the lady that I hit had a passenger who was injured. Part of her injuries may stem from the accident, but many of them were pre-existing conditions. The lawsuit is set to be heard in June and expected award is somewhere between $250K and $500K - Yea SCARY! Insurance company will be on hook for it according to my attorney due to a bad faith situation but still SCARY! The case went to mediation yesterday and they are so close to settling and I'd be free and clear. One item holding it up and I should know something soon. Pray, Cross your fingers, toes, legs, cross whatever you have that this settles and goes away! I need this to go away!

5) Jack and I are good. He's conservative, I'm not. He's a saver, I'm a semi-saver. He wants this, I want that. We are opposites and always have been. Its a good thing cause we can normally compromise on the big stuff. I love him with everything I have. Have to be careful though - his will can run over me sometimes, must stand up for somethings, which is hard when he refuses to argue or "discuss". He just stops talking or makes finate 'this is what we are doing statements'. Well, he is not God Almighty and his word is Not always Law. Sometimes you need a good argument to clear the air - then you can "make up"...... I'm not backing down on this issue though; he's just going to have to deal. Not going into details and it's not important other than to know I love him, will always love him and stand by him but I'm not giving in on this.

6) My kitties are cute and cuddly. Sox has taken to laying w/ me on the couch while I watch tv. He gets in crook of my arm, turns upside down and meows for me to rub his belly. Patches on the other hand gets between Jack and I when we go to bed and sleeps there all night. Sometimes he's on my chest, other times on my pillow. Too cute. I have to move him in the mornings to make bed, if it was up to him I'd make it up w/ him in it. (Yep making bed everyday now that house is showing. I could get used to it, kinda nice to get in a made up bed and it doesn't take too much time in the mornings).

7) I started playing EQII again for a few weeks but then I stopped. Guess I should 're cancel' my subscription. I may login in here in a few and see if it's fun; no sense keeping it if I don't have a good time playing.

8) I want a WII! I want a WII now :) but no one has them. If you know me personally and see one pick it up and I'll pay you for it (no more than $300). If you don't know me personally... i.e you don't have my cell number then ignore said request.

9) Finally was given a few of my own accounts at work. I had to fight for them but I got them by golly. Never going to get a promotion without them!

Well, I guess that about does it. Not exciting but I needed to release, to vent, to spew or whatever this is. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to go in it with gusto. I'm going to enjoy it, I'm going to be happy, because I have no reason not to be!

G'Night Blogland

Protect Women's Rights

Lotusknits pointed out the following article to me regarding Women's Rights to Abortion & Use of Contraception.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-page/what-the-huck_b_82630.html
http://www.personhood.net/

If you live in GA please email/call your representatives today and protect women's rights. The government should not tell us what to do with our bodies. I don't want children and I take EVERY precaution not to have them.

Now, if I got pregnant tomorrow I'm not sure that I'd go get an abortion but I want the right to:

a) protect myself against getting pregnant
b) get an abortion if pregnancy occurs and we decide to go that route.

Government needs to stay OUT OF MY BODY! Contact your representative today

2008

2008 is approaching fast. I'm not sure I'm happy with the speed time seems to be taking. I mean just last week it was July and now it's almost New Years. In 2008 I'll be out of High School 9 years. In 2008 my nephew will be 16. It just seems to early for me to feel this old... This week I've been in a very reflective mood; almost a self destructive one. I've been seeing all the things wrong with me and my life. Not a great attitude to have, so as 2008 rolls around its time look at what I want to change, but before I do lets look at the goals for 2007 and see how I did.

2007 Goals

1) Exercise more - I know I said I was going to do this during 2006's visit but now I shall try again. I was doing ok with this; we bought an exercise bike and I was using it till the holidays came around and it had to go in the garage to make room for the tree. But I made progress w/ this goal and have every intention of getting back on the bike soon.
2) GRADUATE with my MBA Done
3) Grow in my relationship with my husband There is always room to grow so this goal will never be truly accomplished but I feel we've become closer this year. We've talked more, shared more, laughed more and if possible loved more.
4) Become more social - Make new friends - Nurture and grow my relationships with old ones. I don't have too many 'old friends' but the couple I can name haven't really been active in my life in 2007. I wish Amanda and I were closer but I know she is there if I need her and I hope she knows that about me. The other friend I have in mind... well some things are better left to fade into sweet memories before the become bitter ones. As far as making new friends I think we have; actually we've made a nice set of couple friends. Nate and Melanie are kin but I consider them dear friends and Steve and Leo are new to our lives but a blessed addition. I could have done better with the 'social' part of this goal, but progress was made.
5) Become more self sufficient - Learn More - Enjoy learning for the sake of learning. Welp, I failed miserably at this one. I've learned some and took a photography class to learn more but I still would prefer someone tell me how it's done rather than figure it out on my own. I'm just lazy like that. This is something I will continue to work on at my husbands behest but well lets just say I'm not optimistic.
6) Complain Less - Appreciate More I love to complain and I hate myself for it. I think I've done a little bit better job with appreciating my life but I'm still a queen complainer. I love to bitch... I wish I wasn't like that. This will be a goal for 08!

Overall I think I did ok with my goals for 2007. Now for 2008 - what shall I do? Whom shall I become? What is important to me right now?

1) Complain Less - Appreciate More
2) Stop Worrying what Others think or What they are saying about me? Learn that people don't talk about you every time your back is turned and if they do don't worry about it. This is going to be a tough one.
3) Femininity
4) Control My Moods better.
5) Stop Nagging or at least slow down
6) Compliment More

Well, hopefully 2008 will be full of love, hope and success. Hopefully it will bring with it a sense of newness and awe. Hopefully, it will help me get out of this emotional turmoil I seem to be in. Hopefully, it will be glorious for both my family and yours.

Good night to all and sweet dreams.

Big Decisions & New Friends

I don't blog much any more but I enjoy having this release for my soul. I enjoy coming to share my ideas, thoughts and fears on the world wide web to be read or ignored by the masses. Odd maybe, but well then so am I.

That being said we've made some new friends; Steve and Leo. Its nice to have some friends close by to go hang out with and it's really funny because we have so much in common. Jack and Steve are both homebodies who would be just as happy at home on the couch watching tv where as Leo and I are the social butterflies. I love it - we met up last night to go to dinner and a movie, but got to talking so much that we ended up skipping the movie and going to dinner and then coffee. We talked from 7 to 9:30 - who knew people could talk that long. It was alot of fun - only downside is we went to Starbucks...Must train them that Waffle House and Dunkin Doughnuts have the best coffee. Yes, Melanie they do :) !!

I'm excited to have friends that are close enough to hang out with. Melanie and Nate are really the only couple friends we've had and well they are over an hour away. We still see them ALOT more than we used to but... it's still quite a ways. Better than 5 hours though!

On another topic Jack and I are faced with some rather large decisions in the near future. Mama has fallen twice and the house she lives in is 125 years old. Pictures are below and yes it looks great, but it has no central heat/air, it has very steep steps to go upstairs and well it's a lot of maintenance.


So we are talking about selling this house, selling the house and property in Dahlonega (4 3/4 acres) and buying a house w/ a basement apartment or cottage house that we can all live in but still have the privacy we all need. In today's market I think we could buy a lot more house for less, but on the other hand we have two properties to sale, which is not favorable in today's market. I don't know - big choices to be made. Anyone had an experience selling/buying - I'm open for any and all advice.

Welp, we're off to buy Christmas presents... fun fun. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Mylerna.com Up and Running

www.mylerna.com is up and running with Pictures! Moere are added daily; check it out and give me your thoughts :)

My Life in Pictures

I love pictures. I love taking them, looking at them and playing with them. I'm currently taking a photography class and absolutely loving it! I so wish I could take a year off and drive around photographing the nation, but I will never make that much money. Oh dare to dream. That being said if any of you are interested in photography there a couple links you may find interesting:

Karen Russell
The Pioneer Woman

I've just started reading The Pioneer Woman and haven't read her photo tips yet but she takes some great pictures. Karen Russell on the other hand I've been reading for over a year and I just love her photography, her outlook on life and she gives some pretty good tips.

I'm taking classes thru The ShowCase school in Atlanta and I'm really enjoying it. I'm learning about the manual features of my camera and how/when to use them! I love it.

Once I finish getting my pictures sorted and finish learning how to upload them using Lightroom I'll get them on my website. Check it out if you have time www.mylerna.com; it's not much right now but it will be one day :)

Chat w/ you later - have a great night!

Time Flies

Wow! Halloween 2007 - Already! Where has the year gone? I was looking at our weekend schedule from now until Christmas and I only have 3 weekends free in which to do all my Christmas shopping - how did that happen? Not that I mind the busy schedule, just lots of shopping to do! I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year though. I'm having a celebration w/ friends on 12/1 that I'm hosting and then I'm hosting another get together for my side of the family on the 15th! Going to be loads of fun, after I get done stressing. I really do love to cook these big meals, until the day I'm cooking them at which time I stress and cry before I can enjoy the day - crazy I know!

Anyway just wanted to check in and say Hi! Everything is good here just. We are just trucking about our daily lives. Oh, Melanie you are going to be so proud. We bought an exercise bike and have put it in the living room where we will actually use it (I'll move it for co. of course). I've worked out twice this week! 3o minutes at a time; it's not so hard w/ the big screen to watch tv on while I'm working out. Plus Jack is in here w/ me so I don't feel alone.... Keep your fingers crossed I keep with it. 5 Miles ridden today...

Plus I'm down to one coffee and soft drinks at meals. Other than that it's water! That's not a hard and fast rule, but generally I'm sticking with it. Funny though the more water I drink the thirstier I am ... odd... ! anyway since you are my health conscience I thought I would give you the update.

Have a good night all! Sleep well!

Movies

Have I told you that I love movies? They are a slight obsession of mine! The funny thing is that I'm not a 'hollywood' addict. I don't know but a few actors/actresses name, I don't know directors and I don't give a shit about what happens in their personal lives but I love the movies. I normally will equate actors to their roles. Such as ... saying hey do you remember that guy that played in 'Sweet Home Alabama' or that girl that played in 'Save the Last Dance'.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I'm not really sure except to tell you that I had some retail therapy today. Hollywood Video is going out of business which means all DVD's are on SALE! We got 22 movies for $139!!! I bought 4 or 5 movies at Best Buy the other day for almost that amount. Yes, we buy a lot of movies. We tried to rent, but ended up paying more in late fees than the movies and well I like to own them. It's about the only thing I collect. We have approximately 1000 movies (very rough estimate) and some of them or are on VHS. MUST REPLACE! And I love to decide hey I need a happy mood, or I need to kick some ass, or I need some adventure and be able to go into my movie collection and pull out a custom ordered mood. I can put the movie in and slip away for a couple hours into a world, into a life, into a town that is not mine. For those 2 hours I am a reporter, a superstar, a fighter, a dancer or what ever/who ever's world I decide to slip into. You can not ask for more, you really can't.

Tonight we watched "Holiday" a movie where two women trade houses/cars and lives for 2 weeks. GREAT FUN MOVIE. Full of laughs, drama and a general feel good movie. I loved it and it was exactly what I need. Jack even liked it. Now we have slipped into the world of sex, violence and drugs in Miami Vice. Life is good; Seize the Moment!