Dear Cuten Kittens and Pupperkins,

First of all, allow me to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my horrible horrible neglect that I have given you! I won't even begin to make an excuse as to why I haven't written you in a very long time, I will just say that I have been very busy and no matter what I say (or write) will make up for the lost and lonely feelings I'm sure you have been experiencing!

If I were to make an excuse though...I would say...I lost my password...or I forgot your website or my dog ate it. I know, it doesn't make much sense, but in this crazy world, what does anymore?


-End Drama-


Seriously, I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted anything. I just got done reading over some of my postings and realized that I really need to start doing this more, even if it's just for me. Going back and reading what happened in my life even a year ago is kinda cool! I know, big ephiphany huh?


So, the year 2008 has come and gone, although I'm not sure where it went! As much as I would like to slow my life down, it is impossible! But, I take great pride in the ability to still take a deep breath every once in a while, so that's good!


Here's what's been going on...


- Evan and I continue to go to Bucks games. They're playing much better this year, although still have a ways to go...but, they haven't taken themselves out of the playoffs running yet, so that's a plus. His parents come to the games every once in a while too, so it's been fun to celebrate the wins with them.


- Speaking of Evan, he is still doing well. Still working at UMB and continues to prove himself irreplaceable with his technical control troubleshooting skills. What does that mean exactly? I have ABSOLUTELY no idea. I just know that he really likes what he's doing and continues to be praised for that, which in today's working world is hard to come by.



- My job is still going really well! Still as crazy, challenging and sometimes as stressful as ever, but I honestly still really love it! I am still case managing anywhere from 26-30 clients in our two year rent assistance program. This summer, I attended a three day training in Wisconsin Dells to become HQS (Housing Quality Standards) certified. I passed the exam with flying colors and am now certified to do inspections of housing units for our clients prior to them moving in and receiving rent assistance. Never in a million years, did I think legal housing inspections would be a part of my job as a social worker. I continue to advocate for my clients legal housing rights and was finally able to check 'make landlord cry' off of my to-do list. I know, I sound very heartless and cold, but there's something very satisfying about knowing the law and make it work in favor of my clients who are used to being 'shit' on.


- My little brother, Adam finally got his license. He turned 16 in September and got his license on the first try in November. One week later, he got in a car accident! He was ok and it wasn't his fault, but his car was in the 'hospital' as he likes to call it for a couple of weeks. He is also WAY into music right now. The 'screamo' band he's in, Coincide actually just played at The Rave here in Milwaukee at the beginning of December to open for 'Bring Me the Horizon'. While I'm really not a fan of the music, their talent is definitely there and we are all very proud of him!


- My Mom still goes through her days where she is loving being retired and then where she absolutely hates it. I think she's at that point that so many people have found themselves, where work was such a HUGE part of her life, that it's hard to say 'goodbye' then come up with something that is as fulfilling. However, Bubba the Corgi is apparently in his 'teen' years now, so that takes up a large portion of her life, whether she likes it or not! Let's just say, if you wanted to keep your mittens in tact, don't put them anywhere his little snout can reach!


Since it seems like I'm writing a Chrismas letter...oh yeah, tried to get those out this year...didn't work....so, consider this my letter! =P

Anyway...I'm going to end now and just say that I HOPE to keep up with this, but if I don't you have my permission to yell at me. Hopefully next post will actually include some pictures as I have finally moved into the 21st century and bought myself a digital camera!

I sincerely hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all a very happy and healthy 2009!

SURPRISE!!!!

Fooled ya didn't I?! And, here you thought I'd never post again! I bet even Casey gave up on me! =P Sorry all...the holidays seem to have started early...either that, or the thought of trying to play catch up is just too darn overwhelming! =(

Life is just moving too fast. I'm really liking life right now, my job, my family, my boyfriend...everything is good...but, I feel like I barely have time to enjoy any of it. I'm too busy living it, that I can't even remember what I did that was so fun...yesterday! =P I've decided that I will establish a New Year's resolution, starting today, that I am going to try to slow my life down a bit. Focus on the good parts only, put the bad parts in the 'trash' and concentrate on what has made my life so good in the first place.

This past weekend, I attended a funeral of my first supervisor at my first 'real' job. She was fighting cancer of the esophagus for years, ever since I started working at Community Advocates in 2003. It finally caught up to her and she passed away on November 21st. I honestly can't say much for her supervisory skills, as to tell you the truth, I wasn't all that impressed...but, as a person, she was amazing! And, I don't feel bad saying that, because her own honesty is what made her so amazing. She could tell you that you were doing a horrible job in such a way that you actually still liked her after that. She graduated from high school, put herself through technical college, had four sons, became supervisor of Headstart programs in Milwaukee, had 17 grandchildren, headed community partnerships to assist children and families in poverty, had 4 great-grandchildren and worked the rest of her time at Community Advocates. I've never been to a funeral where people were actually clapping, singing and joyful all while mourning the passing of a friend and family member, it was pretty cool! The last time I saw her alive, it was like she was reading my mind...the last thing she said to me was, "Life's to short to hold grudges, forgive and move on". So, that's what I plan on doing. No more grudges, even the little ones, like Evan took the last french fry! =P Isn't it something, that it takes a person who is facing death to actually clarify what is supposed to be so easy to understand in life?

So, here are the things that are going on in my life right now...

My family is getting a puppy. A Pembroke Welsh Corgi to be exact. He was born 4 weeks ago and we finally got a picture of him with his eyes open. How cute is he?! =)

His name has yet to be decided. Adam likes Claudio from the lead singer of Coheed and Cambria (Screamo music, ech!), I like Gizmo, my Dad likes Fred and my Mom and Grandma's ideas are just too weird and goofy to post.

Speaking of weird and goofy...the girls are still doing well. I just decorated for Christmas this weekend and Stella will NOT leave the tree alone, but no matter how naughty they are they're still oh so cute!

Yup, those are my goofy girls! Gotta love 'em! Or, in Evan's case, just gotta love Lucy!

Phew, the CEO and President just walked by...I can start typing again! =P

Alright...so, Thanksgiving was very nice. I took a couple days off so I could spend more time up in the big EC. My aunt who lives in California flew out, it was great to see her...the last time I saw her was 2 years ago. We had a good time. Lots of eating good food, shopping and spending way too much money and a little down time too! My Mom's going to kill me for posting this picture but I had to! =)

Oh yeah, spent a little time organizing Mom's spice cabinet too...

Hmmm, what else can I tell you about? Evan and I have been to a couple Bucks games so far this season...although, they haven't been playing the best lately (yes, they lost to the Knicks) I did get a few pretty cool pictures...

The starting line-up (Mo Williams, Yi Jian-Lian, Andrew Bogut, Desmond Mason and Michael Redd)

Desmond Mason at the free-throw line

Ok...so, I think I'm done blabbing for the night! Hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for a great Christmas and/or other holiday of choice!

Love you all!

LIAR!!!!!!!!!

Alright, so I failed...miserably at the food stamp challenge! =( I just couldn't do it. The idea of Ramen and water for 7 whole days...ugh! Plus, I'm already extremely poor and have a wonderful boyfriend who sprung for all of my meals this past week! So, I guess...technically I was able to eat without spending any money on food at all this past week! =P I know, I know...that's against the rules! =( Bad Erin! Sorry guys...my motivation to commit to this project was non-existent!

Let's see...what else can I tell you about? My Mom is having a garage sale. The last time she did one was probably close to 10 years ago, so I'm sure you can imagine the amount of crap that has been collected...we were quite the busy bees this weekend. I drove up to Eau Claire on Friday to help her organize and price stuff and actually stayed until this morning. UGH! All I have to say, is, when I actually do get a garage, I'm never having a sale in it...it's all going to Goodwill or the trash...what a pain in the butt! Who knew ugly trivets and board games would be so hard to price?! Minimalists sure have the right idea!

Amanda and Jim are coming to visit soon. I'm very excited...haven't seen either one of them since they got married two years ago. Jim, remember to pack some allergy pills...Lucy likes to cuddle!

Amanda, Jim and I at their wedding (duh!)

Lucy 'the goose'

Ok...that's about all for my boring life right now...it is sooooo time to go home now! Goodnight!

$21 a week

I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to try to live off of $21 worth of food for one whole week...3 'square' meals a day, 7 days a week at $1 a meal! Who can do that? A jar of peanut butter and cheap Wonderbread only goes so far and that's not even taking into consideration the lack of nutritional benefits for a growing child or disabled adult.



Well, apparently our federal government believes that that is an adequate amount of money for each individual who receives foodstamps to live off of every week. $84 a month, $21 a week, $3 a day, $1 a meal.



I'm going to do it. Starting this Friday the 14th, for the next 7 days, I'm going to live off of $3 worth of food a day... at least, I'm going to try very hard.



Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee has developed the 'Food Stamp Challenge'. If anyone would like to join me in a week of ramen eating hell, feel free to click on the link below and sign up. I figure if nothing else, it will help me kickstart one of the worst ways to lose weight ever! =P



http://www.hungertaskforce.org/understanding_hunger/food_stamp_challenge/index.php



One of the responsibilities of the challenge is to journal everyday how we feel about the situation. We also have to save our receipts and log how much we spent daily and try to stay away from handouts from friends and family. Sure makes Rachel Ray's Food Network show, '$40 a day' sound like a breeze. I'm already thinking of ways I can save...only water to drink, clip coupons, shop at Aldi and the dollar store, stay away from perimeter shopping as those are usually the most expensive items, eat a lot of ramen...man, this is already becoming stressful! =(



I'll try to keep you updated by posting my daily journal! Wish me luck...and, again feel free to join me! =)

Allow myself to introduce...myself!!!

If anyone is actually checking to see if for some miracle that I've actually updated my blog...it's your lucky day! I'm sitting at work, doing case manager on duty duty. Was that right? Was I supposed to write 'duty' twice? Anyway, I have actually found the time to update this thing. I told you this would be like my 4th grade diary!



Alright, where do I start...this is like a huge full day of cleaning, where it takes you half a day to sit down and figure out where you need to start. =(



I'll just highlight the past months for you...



1) Got back from Bangkok last August, didn't post my pictures yet...not sure I'm going to as everytime I do, it takes me 3 hours and then it goes away and I can't find it. =( So, I guess, if you'd like to see them, let me know and I'll email you the link. I so want to go back and visit again. I would love to share that part of my life with Evan...I do by the stories and memories that my family and I share, but it would be so great to be able to actually show him all of those places that I went to as a little girl!

2) Started my new job at the end of October 2006, you knew that already. I can't believe that it's almost been one year already. Time has flown by so quickly. I absolutely LOVE my job! It's a challenge every single day and it seems that more and more it's no longer just a 9 to 5, but it's been so good. My clients are great! I am working with all PLWA's (person living with AIDS) and over 75% of them have alcohol/drug issues or mental health needs, so needless to say, I'm staying busy. Of course, there are the occasional bumps in the road with some of them, but the few that are doing REALLY well are the ones that keep me motivated to keep doing this kind of work!

http://www.aidswalkwis.org/site/PageServer?pagename=awhomepage



3) Family life is keeping me just as busy as work life has lately. My Mom is starting her journey down a new path this year as she has decided to take early retirement. So, this is the first time in over 24 years that she hasn't started preparing to start a new school year. Although my previous statement was that Mom has 'decided' to take early retirement, I should probably preface it with it was 'decided for her'. I won't go into the details, but I will just share a small amount of my personal opinions about the school district that my Mom worked for, as really what else can you expect from me, other than OPINIONS! My Mom has worked for this district for 13 years as an outstanding teacher and an even more outstanding high school music director. Every single day of her life has been devoted towards her love of music and sharing that love with the students in her 24 years of teaching. As the years have gone by, more of an emphasis has been placed on school athletics and college prep classes. As there are only so many hours in a school day, scheduling has become a huge issue as it has been forcing students to decide if they want college prep courses or band or even God-forbid an extra-curricular sport. Don't get me wrong, college prep is important and there is even a time and a place for sports in school, however due to these scheduling conflicts, it has made my Mother choose to have to place more emphasis on keeping the numbers up then actually teaching music. To my teacher friends, I'm sure you have or will at some point in your life experience this and you can probably agree, it's like turning water into wine. To my knowledge there's only been one 'person' who's been able to do that. I will end this little soapbox session now as I said that it would be short, and it really isn't...basically, mixed emotions are shared on a regular basis.





4) ...on a lighter note, my little brother Adam has graduated from middle school and will also be starting his own journey down the path of high school enlightenment. He is looking forward to high school dances with his new girlfriend of 3 months (oh man, I'm gettin old!), continuing to play guitar in his 'garage' band, getting his braces off this week and getting his license in a little over a year! Holy crap, those years went fast...I don't like it, I tell you!



5) Evan is still at his job...whether he likes it or not depends on the day you ask. But, he's doing well and we're doing well! No, we're not getting married, we're not engaged, blah blah blah. That seems to be the only questions we get lately! We've been trying to enjoy the summer months on the eastside with a picnic or bike ride...but, it seems that the summer has gotten away from us very fast! Visits to Port are still fun though and Goosey knows us pretty much by first and last name! =P

6) The kittens, Stella and Lucy are doing very well...crazy as usual...but, they have become the best of friends! =)

Well, time for me to sign off before I bore everyone to a deep sleep! I hope to try to keep up with this a little better than I have, but if you find that I don't you have my permission to email me and yell at me! =)



Hope all is well with all of you!