Photos from the newbie

We went through 2 rolls of film before we figured out how to load it. Sucks because I went crazy on the first 2 rolls and then I lost the "creativity" when I found out we had to redo it. Chris took most of these. I'm not use to having to take them to the photo lab and wait a hour to even see what we took. I like it though. Its like a big surprise everytime. I just took another roll today so Chris dropped it off on his way home so I can pick it up on my way home. I'm going to start getting them on CDs from now on because scanning all the pictures is a pain in the butt and I think it takes away from the quality.

My favorite

Sneak Preview Of my Minolta X-700

Garage Sale Find!

Chris bought this baby including lenses, flash, films and the bag for only $25



We took some photos at the dogpark Sunday.

I have to scan them in so I will post one teaser now.

Roommate Trouble Solved

If you have been following along with my whole roommate fiasco(you can read about it here and here) then you're probably thinking I'm dead now because I haven't posted another blog about it in forever. Thankfully I'm alive and well.

The Wednesday after the latest fight Thomas and Ian came home late all upset thinking someone had threw a glass of pee(long story...) peed on Thomas's mattress( I know random-tehee). Thomas then went on to yell that when he moved out he was going to come back and ruin all of the stuff in the house(which is all ours). I had been worried about the dogs for some time(I always keep them at work with me and had even started keeping the dog food and water in my room incase they put anything in it) but now I knew that he was making a threat not drunk and I couldn't take a chance like that. I called the cops as soon as they stormed out(going who knows where) to report that he had threatened my things incase I came home one day and everything was either ruined or stolen. The cop was really nice (I felt so bad wasting his time). He gave me some information on filing a restraining order so Tommy couldn't come over to the house. By then I was sick of everything. Of Ian standing behind Tommy and most likely continuing to make my life difficult so we decided to move everything from the house(literally...everything..) into our nice sized bedroom and move out the next day. I would have loved to see their face when they came home a couple hours later and saw that literally the entire house was empty. I only took what belonged to us. I took pictures off of the wall, dishes, furniture, everything. The house looked vacant. Garrett slept in our room that night on the couch because his room was on the same hallway theres are on and didn't want him near them. I stayed home for a while Thursday to make sure they didn't come in my room and mess with anything (I know..not the smartest move..but Garrett & Chris had to work and when you have a family business you can't have all your employees cutting out because they have personal issues). Then my friend Mike came over with his friend to watch the dogs and my stuff while I arranged last minute move out details and picked up the UHAUL. I received a text from Ian mid day saying that we were being immature and he wanted his cooking pot back. I never responded. Thankfully they had both left for work when I showed up with the UHAUL and Mike, Vinny and Erica helped me move things into my dads warehouse until Chris and Garrett got off work. It really sucked because like a dummy I was avoiding reality and never really started saving just incase the time came and I needed to move out so I didn't know what to do. Especially since we had just paid 3/5 of the rent and it was only the 11th of June. So...we ended up staying the night at my parents house. They were cool about having the dogs and Simba stay over too. Then on Friday I turned off the electricity at our house and we ended up staying at the office for the night(we moved our mattresses into the offices like a sleepover..it was fun.) I then spent the entire weekend attempting to find a house to rent. With really little money and the thought that I would still owe on the back utilites that Thomas and Ian were very unlikely going to help pay...I was bit of a wreck. I was extremely depressed leaving my house that I love and of that fact that I was 21 years old and homeless. Homeless not because I was lazy but because I put myself into a dangerous, dumb, white trash kind of situation. I hated the idea that they were at the house that WE pretty much paid for that month while we were homeless. My dad was really sweet and offered to let us stay at the office(since it has 2 bathrooms, 2 pretty much empty rooms, and a fridge) until we found a place. His idea was for a couple of months until we could get some money saved up to pay all the back utilites and get a new place to rent. I knew there was no way I was going to stay for a couple months. Just the idea of my dad constantly dropping by the office, not having any real privacy, not having a shower unless I went to my rents..and doing laundry over there when I was so use to my independence make me start hyperventalating.

The house search sucked. No one really wants to rent to kids or people with animals so it was tough finding a place who would just accept them or a place that wouldn't charge $500 non-refundable deposit for each animal. It was extremely hard since we had just got Zoey and due to the fact that she MIGHT be pit mix. I tried to tell them she was a labmix because I'm positive about the lab but I knew as soon as they saw how big her head was they would know. Really sucks for her because she is the sweetest, goofiest dog I've ever met. Also it doesn't help that everyone here wants first and last months rent and then a deposit or first months rent and the deposit is the same as the rent. Due to the loss of 2 people to divide rent with we also had to look for a smaller amount of rent per month and I still really wanted a house so the dogs would have a back yard. I was on Craigslist every second of the day seeing if anyone posted a awesome house.

We ended up staying at the office until the end of June. It wasn't as bad as I thought because Mike and Erica came over every night and we hung out. Nothing really felt like it changed just a new adventure. Weekends were still adventures and we still went out during the week. It was nice being able to roll out of bed and be at the office. It ended up being a pretty sweet adventure. Who can say they lived where they worked for a little bit.

Thankfully I had swallowed my pride the Friday before all the drama went down in the beginning of June and had told the landlord everything before it escalated so he was familiar with what was going on. He really liked us and kept trying to get us to sign another lease for the house. He even lowered the rent. At first I was like "Hell NO..the whole point of us moving out was to get away from them not make ourselves a target." I hadn't heard anything from them since the text so I was pretty sure that I had scared them both with the idea of getting a restraining order. The more and more I thought about it and talked to Chris about it the more I liked the idea of moving back into our house. I really do love the house. It is extremely unique and has so much potential. I finally decided that it would be the cheapest and smartest move for us to move back. We would just change the locks, put up a fence, and maybe get a security system.

We moved back in July 4th. The house was awful though. It took a whole day of cleaning to even make it livable. The guys had left food in the fridge and freezer so there were maggots in there(thankfully my brother was brave and cleaned it out for me) and there were piles of dishes in the sink full of maggots. They had also left a lot of stuff in their bedrooms, hadn't taken out the trash since we moved out, the lawn was super super high and they left us a nice full cat box in the bathroom. Thankfully there was no damage to the house but a lot of cleaning.

The only thing that really irks me about the whole thing is that Tommy never paid rent for June. The landlord had let them think that we had not paid his portion of the rent and that he was still owed for it. He was then going to give us our money back when he got it from Tommy. Tommy just left. Ian even had the nerve to ask for his security deposit back and the landlord gave him a $100 bucks to just go away. I don't understand that. How is it that yet again people that use and manipulate people can get away with things without any punishment? Nothing. They literally stuck us in a crappy situation and left.

We are just getting back on our feet since we had to pay off 2 months of utilites averaging over $800.00 before they could turn the power back on plus the $75.00 reconnect fees and then the larger rent portion. Even though I'm broke right now...I'm really really happy to be away from the drama. I love it just being the three of us.

The best part is that once we decided we were moving back I started a journal where I put all my ideas for the house. I'll have to do before and after photos once I start really decorating. The house isn't going to look the same at all. My goal is for it to be a retreat from the real world. Just to give you a little teaser were going to have a movie room, chill room and art studio. Plus I'm going to experiment with some new colors of paint that I would never have been daring enough to try before. I'm really happy to have a place to call home. Its insane what you take for granted.

Happy 25th Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

Today marks my parents 25th Anniversary!

We aren't doing much today but my parents are going to combine their anniversary party with my grandparents 50th anniversary party in November.

Heres a little video I made them:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Roommate Trouble-Part 2

Yikes. This weekend was nuts. Rent was due on the 1st but my roommate Tommy said he wouldn't have it until the following Friday(the 5th) so we talked to the landlord and let him know that we were going to be late because we were waiting on Tommy. On Friday Chris asked me to text the guys and see if they deposited rent in his account so he could cut the check and bring it to the landlord(his phone was still messed up) so I did and I end up talking to Ian who says he laid his on my bed and when I asked if Tommy did too he said he didn't know(keep in my mind the two are best friends..they work together, drive together-because Tommy doesn't have a car, act the same, everything) so I text Tommy and get a reply at 3:50PM saying "Hey i won't have rent til next week had 2 pay school first". I was furious. We waited for him and he knew he wasn't going to have it before Friday. It would have been nice to know so I could have saved a little bit of extra money but thankfully Garrett, Chris and I split his part $260.00(I know you can laugh...who only pays $260 for rent..and still can't afford it) but we had enough and went to talk to our landlord to see what we could do. I told him everything. Everything I refrenced here. We told him we wanted off the lease and we were sick of caring a 23 year old loser. He completely understood and since he is a lawyer he also gave us some advice. I kept apologizing because I felt so immature and stupid for allowing someone like him to live with me. I put myself in that situation. He told us that if Tommy didn't pay him by Monday he would serve us with a 3 day eviction notice as if he didn't get all of the rent and then he would take Ian and Thomas off the lease and sign a new lease with the three of us. He would also charge Tommy a late fee so it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be able to pay it since he didn't have the money in the first place. I gave him a check dated for the following Saturday as a pet deposit for Zoey and he asked me about the cat that Ian had talked to him about because he hadn't made any payments or anything. I told him the cat was still there and he was upset that Ian would screw him over like that so he wrote up a 7 day eviction letter for Ian unless he gets rid of the cat. I also got a text from Tommy telling me that his ex-wife and kid were at the house. He could have at least asked if we minded. A kid is a responsibility. You can't have parties when a kid needs to go to sleep early. Ridiculous. Plus on the top of that he didn't even pay rent so I figure why not add insult on injury. I hate feeling so powerless against people who have no right to have so much power. We gave them power by being their friend and they have used it to hurt us and get what they want. Either way they didn't come home Friday night until we were all asleep in bed. Wimps.

Anyways Saturday is really when the shit hit the fan. We woke up early like I planned and Chris and I picked Erica up for some garage saling. It was really fun and we found some sweet stuff. Not as much as last time but we still scored. We then went to Dicks Wings for lunch and then headed home to play some drinking games we wanted to teach Erica. Fast forward to later that night. Everyone comes home at the same time and Mike and Erica are now over so Garrett, Chris and I all start playing this really cool game I bought recently called "I Never..." a little ways in to the game my friend Lindsay joins us and we all are joking and laughing and having a good time. Well Ian and Thomas invited over Casey(Bris roommate) and her boyfriend and so they were all outside(ex-wife included) playing music and talking under the car port. We would join them every once and while when someone had to do a dare or when the smokers in the group needed a break. It was always really uncomfortable. Ian was in the kitchen at one point and I mentioned to him about what the landlord said since I hadn't seen him last night. He was all like, "Well Tommy is moving out in the next couple of days..and blah blah blah and how it really didn't have anything to do with him or something like that" Then he asked me if we minded keeping it down because the kid was asleep and I responded "I show the same tpe of respect that I get." Erica, Mike and I were listening to music in the dining room when they came in from outside(I guess one of the neighbors called the cops about a noise complaint-I found that out later). Then Lindsay went home around 1AM and we continued to listent to music and clean up. Garrett and Chris were acting really funny and cleaning things up so I was a little uncomfortable. Then Tommy starts slamming the doors and telling us to shut up. The music really wasn't that loud. By this time I think he had been drinking all night so maybe he had grown some balls. Then he yelled something about me being a whore or white trash or something like that. He basically was trying to start a fight and I said "What?" and then he pulled the silverware drawer out and said something about cutting me. By this point I was pissed because who the hell is he and so I said "What are you going to stab me with my own knife?" Erica and Mike are holding me back because I couldn't take it anymore. There comes a line when I can't just ignore whats going on and I have to say something. He kept yelling and Ian came in to hold him back and then got in Chris's face so I called the cops. He had technically threatened my life and then I found out why Chris and Garrett were being so weird-Tommy had gone into the Wii Room-which has a blow up mattress in it for friends to sleep over in and peed all over the mattress and floor(knowing full well that Mike and Erica were going to spend the night). I was livid so we started cleaning up while we waited for the cops and supposedly Tommy went for a walk(he has 2 felonies so the cops aren't his best friends) with Ian. Yesterday I listened to my messages and heard this awful message that he left me when he went for a walk about how I was whore and he hoped I died and how he hated me and all this awful stuff. Our landlord had told me that by law I can't deny him access to the house(even though most everything in it is mine) because he is on the lease so when they came back I had to open the door. Tommy starts saying how he can't believe I called the cops and all this crap and I'm like you are acting crazy. Then he wants to fight Chris and goes outside and takes his shirt off while Ian keeps pushing him back. Chris and I are standing by the door and Chris goes "We really aren't going to miss you Tommy" and then Tommy pushes Ian hard and we all jump out there to protect Ian. Well that just pisses Ian off because here he is attempting to help both situations(he was on Tommys side more) and so he pushes Tommy and he falls and supposedly the next day I found out that he broke his arm or something like that. I shut the door and Tommy ended up walking to the end of our road to wait for the cops. Ian stayed in the kitchen and talked to us but after all his stupid behavior he was still standing up for Tommy. I guess as a best friend you do those things but what does that make us. When does he start standing up for us...we use to be his friends too. Ian went to check on Tommy and then I got a call that the cops were there so Chris and I walked down to the end of the road to talk to the cop. While we were walking to meet the cop Tommy and Ian passed us and Tommy called us a "Piece of shit". I talked to the cop for a little while. He was really nice. I ended up feeling really bad that I was wasting his time when people are out there dying but I knew I needed a police report in order to have proof that it happened. He basically told us there was nothing that we could do because he was tenant(Note to self and any reader-never let someone else be on the lease with you-sublease) and that due to the fact that he didn't want to hurt himself and he was intoxicated we should just let him sleep it off. When I woke up in the morning I noticed there were broken beer bottles all over the backyard(they know I have 2 dogs) and they had smashed a printer all up so there was glass all over the porch outside. They also ruined my small grill and smashed my thermastat out in the road so there was glass every where. I took pictures of everything. I didn't see any of them Sunday and I was hoping they had left but they were there Monday morning. We have just been ignoring them and I called our landlord and told him what happened yesterday. He came over last night and gave Tommy the 3 day evicition notice and supposedly he said he was moving out. The landlord also said that if the kid and wife were going to stay there anymore they had pay $100.00 for each. I honestly don't feel like enough was done. I want him out of the house now. Neither Ian or Tommy have apologized and Ian picked up most of the glass outside yesterday. As soon as he moves out I am going to get a restraining order so he can't come over anymore. Ian can be quite devious and would invite him over to stay after he has moved out so I am going to do all in my power to stay ahead of him. Ian pays rent but isn't worth the stress. I want to live with friends. People that respect me and my belongings and the people I love. I also want to be around people who have morals. That don't steal and cheat or feel like the world owes them something.

Hangover

Awesome Awesome Awesome movie. Personally in my top comedy favorites. If you have any sense of humor and you love being able to quote awesome lines GO SEE THIS MOVIE.
Comes out June 5th.

Zoey Learns Some Tricks

I am proud to say that as of 6/1/09 Zoey has learned the trick handshake and I can take credit for teaching her. I am so excited. I, of course had to film it last night(just like E.V.) but I forgot the camera at home so I will post the video when I get home. I can't believe that I taught a dog a trick. I didn't really teach E.V. any of her tricks I just kept practicing with her when she understood the concept. Zoey also knows sit but I'm not sure I can take credit for that one because its so basic and who knows if someone else taught her before me. I had to post a little blog because I didn't want to forget.

Chris got preview tickets to see Hungover tonight so I am excited about that.

I have so much to do at work today..I need to focus.

I did post alot of blogs today. Ha! Beat that Erica! :)