Life Happens!

Denver Trip

Day 3

8-20-08

I love vacations, even when I have to wake up at 6:30 in the very, very AM. Today I have my doctors’ appointment at the Women’s Center for an annual exam I’ve put off for a couple of years. The doctors’ office is close to mom’s work, so she is going to take me on her hour lunch break. Which of course means I had to come to work with her. I could not find a internet connection so I grabbed disk 3 of the second season of Gilmore Girls and am having a small marathon in a corner empty desk. I’ve had 1.5 cups of coffee so far and a single bite of Slim-Fast Optima Chewy Granola Chocolate Chip Bar. I’ve only had one bite because my stomach immediately rejected that single bite and there’s not much chance of me eating anymore unless I become starved. (Which might happen cause, I don’t think mom planned food in this day, lol!) I might have her drop me off at the mall after the doctors’ appt. Yummm, over priced food court pizza…every mall has that right??? One can hope.

The visit was the best one I have had, ever. From now on I have to come to CO once a year for this exam. We ate burgers down in the hospital cafeteria, my Turkey, Bacon Cheeseburger and fries were delicious. Mom dropped me off at the mall where I found the pizza area and grabbed what looked to be a supremely delicious pepperoni/olive pizza, looks can be deceiving. I hate to say it, but this mall was boring. There was not a single place that sold DVD’s or CD’s, and the only electronic store was Radio Shack, I won’t even go into that store as everything is twice the cost it should be. So I found a place to get a 20 minute massage for $20, it felt great! I decided to go for a walk and ended up walking crossing four six lane roads (at the stop lights) and taking a bridge over a highway before finding myself at Mom’s place of work. I may have taken one wrong turn at some point too. But I made it, in thirty minutes no less.

As a person, Mom’s boss is very nice. I may have jumped on him for turning off the air conditioning a little after I arrived because I was still hot from my walk. The sun IS a mile closer after all, and even though I pretty much walk everywhere I can walk to, I still get hot. We had great conversations about school and getting through it and what to do after ward. He told me that I needed to come live in Colorado. A woman mom does not like came in and accused me of being my mom’s replacement. I rolled my eyes. Then it was time to go.

The trip back did not seem to take nearly as long as it did yesterday. Of course I was not feeling sick either. We stopped at King Soopers for a few provisions before making our way the few blocks back to the house. I made a pizza and we lay in bed eating it while watching Eureka, then mom went to bed and I went on to watch Dead Zone, Ghost Hunters International and something else that was so unimpressive apparently, that’s I’ve forgotten what it was!

 

Denver Trip

Day 2

8-19-08

Mother say’s hello!

My day began at 9:45am, when Joy called me to let me know they were up and getting ready… or trying to anyways. So I rolled over reluctantly and grabbed my clothes for the day then left to take a shower. That’s when I realized that the bathroom was built for dwarfs. Needless to say it fit’s mom perfectly, but I’m a little to tall. Didn’t think I would ever say that.

We ate at a little restaurant called Dozens. A cozy, small locally owned restaurant with delicious breakfast/ lunch foods. The place closes at 2PM! I want to get off at two!!

We stopped very quickly at Target for some wiring supplies so that Kyle could fix mom’s TV, and I could grab some Allergy medication. Then headed home where Joy, Landen and I walked to King Soopers to refill mom’s Twizzler supplies and grab some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yummmm.

Joy re packed there bags and soon we were on the road heading for mom’s work. I sadly said goodbye and we parted as they had a plane  to catch, there vacation was over, they were going home.

I went home feeling car sick, though I think I was a little altitude sick. Now I am going to eat leftovers and lay in bed.

Denver Trip

8-18-08

Day 1  

Day one of vacation and I woke up early…darn it! I spent all last night after working until 11:30pm, making sure I could sleep in, but yet excitement can be torture and there I was, wide awake at 8:30am. Gilmore girls was on the TV screen and my laptop open. MP3 player charging and a good story was up on my computer, I spent my extra time relaxing, time flew. Suddenly it was 10:45am, 15 minutes before I was to leave for the airport. Jumping into my clothes and getting the last minute things packed, (computer, charger, MP3, toothbrush and brush…etc) I zipped up the bags and was out of my apartment by 11:03. A breakfast of Grilled Ranch, Bacon Burger from McDonalds and a large Unsweet Ice Tea gave me something to do and settled my stomach on the way to the airport.

I wish Matt could come with me.

We made it to the Frontier Airlines drop off area at 11:55am and I hugged and kissed my fiancé, before grabbing my bags and taking off. No one stood in front of me as I cheerfully checked in and grabbed my boarding pass. I watched as families greeted love ones beyond the security area, and then the soldiers began to come in. You may never see people so excited and happy as you would seeing families greeting a loved one coming home from War. Pictures, banners and camouflage merged together in a tight hug of laughing and crying. I paused for a moment to watch before heading for security.

This was the easiest security check in I have had by far. Show your ticket and ID, grab a tray, pull out computer and put it in tray along with shoes, engagement ring and anything in my pockets. Set bag behind tray and push it through the machine while I walk through another machine. Get a nod from security and grab my things. Five minutes top. None of that: selected for full throttle screening in another direction then everyone else is going in.

I found my gate quickly. A30, the very last gate in this area but it wasn’t that far away. I’ve been on flights where the gate had to have been a mile though a maze of corridors and down two or three rolling side walks in the past. Grabbing some Southwest eggrolls and a drink from Chilies I’m looking forward to starting the next leg of my journey, which should begin boarding in about 30 minutes! In the meantime I’m going to sit back, relax and watch planes taxi by and really dark clouds coming in…uh oh…

We got on the plane quickly, with the storm coming in fast they herded the passengers before us off the plane and herded us on in a hurry. It worked; we took off earlier then out departure time in the beginning of the storm. The seatbelt sign remained on for a lot longer then in normally would have for good reason, turbulence.  The pilot went up quick going above all the clouds and we ended up landing in Denver 30 minutes early. I called my mom while we were taxing down the runway to our gate A27 I think, and she took off from work happy as can be.

Mom got a new job just before I got here! Go mom, so she turned in her two week notice before leaving to pick me up. I’m so happy for her. She picked me up in passenger pick up just after I got there myself, and we took off for home. I love her little house. I’ll try and get pictures of it before I leave. We sat around for awhile, and then took a nice walk. I took random pictures like I love to do and then my sister Joy, her husband Kyle and there 9 year old son (my nephew) Landan came back from there adventure in the mountains and it felt SO good seeing them again. We talked for awhile, catching up, I showed off my engagement ring and made Matt talk to everyone via the phone.

Stomachs growling we headed off to Willi G’s. I learned that Joy does NOT like seafood either, we both love blackberries and Kyle is allergic to chocolate! I almost disowned him right there, but alas, it’s not like he does not like it, he does, he just cant eat it in fear of dying. So I’ll let him stay in the family. Did you know that I’m the second tallest in this house right now? Kyle is slightly taller then me. I’m the tallest women here!

Do you ever wonder why the most random things will begin huge changes in the way you see things? I believe that everything happens for a reason, everything from what I watch on TV to what happened at work. It all has lessons built within. Ready to teach me whatever I am meant to learn for the day. As my life progresses the lesson meanings change to fit what is happening now, and new lessons emerge.

Today I began to look at my life with God and my life in general. We walk through life praying that by some miracle your house will clean itself up. That the pounds would just drop off in your sleep one night, no dieting or exercising required. That the knowledge you need would magically appear in your brain like some scene from The Matrix. Your cat would stop scattering your things around the house in boredom. Your bills won’t be too high. Please let me win the lottery! I meant the big one…

In reality perhaps he IS answering our prayers, by not answering them at all… If God cleans your house up for you how will you learn to clean it yourself? He’s not going to do it every time, maybe you have a maid, but that maid won’t always be there.

So the pounds just drop off in your sleep. You did nothing to get there! How do you keep something off if you didn’t fight to get there in the first place? Maintaining…I’m told, can be just as hard as loosing.

Okay so the whole knowledge thing would be really cool too. I often find myself begging for a photographic memory. I can do the reading, I just want to remember it. Shoot I would love to even remember some of it. My memory is so Swiss cheesed I can write my own book and be unable to tell you anything about it a week later. So your given the ability to look at the cover of a book and have it all downloaded into your brain. Where was the work in that? The satisfaction of learning? Still wish I had it though…

Your animal is destroying your home out of boredom…like that’s ever going to stop…give it up! Stopping it would require messing with your animals’ personality! Let’s face it, the only reason you still have your animal is because you love them and there personality.

Your bills are too high, you can effect the outcome to this one yourself. Use less electricity, buy energy saving products, if they raise the rate, switch companies! Renting movies throwing you off balance financially, rent less, or stop until you can figure out what else you can cut. Go down a package on your cable channels etc…

All easier said then done.

I think that we have to power to grant a lot of our own prayers, think about it. And what we can’t make happen ourselves? Then that’s where God steps in.  

…are unanswered prayers.

These days my schedule seems to become more and more booked. As I go through my normal stage of working on loosing weight and all that entails I have also found that if I don't get at least 8 hours of sleeps I am more hungry the next day and I go off my diet more easily.

So I will start my day with 8 hours of sleep, which takes a whole hunk of time out.
The next giant hunk of time will go to 8 hours of work. 16 hours gone right there. (That's if I don't have to stay beyond my shift.) (And staying beyond happens a lot.)
30 minutes of running/walking
30 minutes to get to my next area.
30 minutes of swimming or biking (training for a Triathlon.)
30 minutes to get home...opps there goes 2 more hours! 18 hours gone.
Now I need to take time out for looking for a house and wedding planning. The time taken out for this will differ on whether or not I go physically look at a house or wedding item or just look at the pictures and talk to the real estate company on the phone. But whatever happens let's go ahead and take out 2 hours here. 20 hours gone with the wind.
Give me an hour to do what I WANT on the computer or I will have a nervous break down, which leaves only three hours left of my day.
The last three hours are normally taken up with entertaining. Not MY entertainment...no. Entertaining the guests in my apt or spending time with Matt and his family.  And before you know it, it's time to start all over again.

Could you imagine if I was trying to go to school too? I don't know what I'm going to do when I start spending an hour on each exercise. I'm going to have to start packing soon. (Shudder) But honestly looking around...wow...packing might be quick this time.

Oh, but what ever happened to me waking up, going to work then doing whatever I wanted for the rest of the day?!? LOL!  

So here I go again. I got a good year to settle down without any major changes and now here I go again.

- I'm getting married March 14th, 2009 - So there is ALOT of planning going on.

- As of October, I'm moving again...and I have NO IDEA as to where. Hello doors, need to open, please?

- Oh God I have to start packing!!!

- Possibly transferring jobs again or maybe a new job?

- There is a whole lot more but I don't have time to type them. LOL!!!

When my family moved into our older home built in the 70’s for parties, I can honestly say I did not believe in ghosts. Ten years later and I was convinced that the house was Grand Central Station for them. It did not take me long to believe, and although my dad was convinced they were all demons, I new not all of them were. Some were quite helpful, others just stared one loved music, and others were just creepy and definitely not good.

The house we moved into had been empty for a long time before we bought it at a highly discounted price. The people who had the house before us were devil worshipers and had painted the walls black with upside down crosses around. I would find out much later that my parents had knocked out the wall in my room and replaced it as my room was one of the worst. I was young, I want to say about 12 or 13 and the unusual activities began rather slowly. Sitting in the study you always felt as if someone or thing was watching you. It was eerie and annoying at first, your hairs would always stick up on your arms and legs. But after so long, it just became a part of that room.

Things would move around in the house, you would set a glass on the table, run to the restroom, come back and the glass would be on the bench across the room. This of course would happen when you knew you were alone in the house. Then things got a little bigger. On a particularly hot day I was on my computer in my room, I had a small fan blowing nice cool air on me when I dropped my pen. Bending down to pick it up I noticed that the outlet in the wall was empty of plugs. Curious as to where I had plugged in my fan, I grabbed the cord to follow it only to find the end in my hand, and the fan still blowing wonderfully cool air at me.

Another time I was practicing a dance in our very large living room, with the couch pushed back about twenty feet behind me. There was no carpet on the floors just a hard rock tile. As I did a little kick, my foot slipped and I knew I was going to fall backwards only I didn’t. I remember a strange weightless feeling and looking down to see the floor moving beneath me, then I was on the couch, just sitting there in shock.

One particularly scary night, I woke up suddenly from a deep sleep. Opening my eyes I looked around for what woke me, only to find a pair of green…evil eyes staring back at me from my closet. I froze in horror, I needed to get out of there but the only exit was right next to the closet. The sudden need for light struck me and I pulled the light cord on my running ceiling fan, nothing. Desperate I ran to the TV and hit the power button, nothing. I turned on my clock radio, nothing. I ran back to my bed and hid under the covers for a moment trying to formulate a plan. I was 16 by then and felt like a five year old as I grabbed my pillow and held it against my chest, then covered myself in my blanket and ran for the exit. The next day my parents blessed my room and closet, the green eyed thing never came back that I know of. I had and still have to this day a small fear of dark closets.

On one occasion I was by myself in the house doing dishes when I saw a black woman figure walk by towards the living room.  For some reason my brain clicked that it was mom and I quickly shut off the water and ran towards the living room all the while talking to her. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized I was alone. A few months later while in the van with mom she glanced at me and told me that a few weeks before she and I were alone at home, I was outside doing laundry and she was washing dishes. She turned and saw the same figure I had seen before and thought it was me. She shut off the water and headed to the living room while talking to me,  that is before she realized that I was still outside.

We were all eating dinner once when an old glass jar flew across the room hit the wall and then the rock floor without even cracking. Whatever we had been talking about was quickly changed to a new topic. Another time while eating the garage door opened, my brother got up and shut it again. As soon as he sat down, up it went again. Frowning, we put it back down. A few minutes later it was re-opening. By then my mom had had it and she yelled towards the door as if she were yelling at one of us. ‘Shut that door and leave it alone!’ The door shut and did not open itself again.

By the end of my time living with my parents the number of ghosts has diminished to just a few. One of them found a liking to the song I’m a Survivor by Destinies Child. Anytime that CD was put in, the player would skip tracks until it got to that song. If the song was on the radio then the radio would turn on. Often scared the crap out of us because the music system was hooked to a surround sound system which blasted out the whole house. It was really bad when the song would play in the middle of the night. Now days my family still lives there and as far as I know there are no ghost remaining.

My ghost stories don’t stop there, once you live with them for as long as I did, you know what to look for. I’ve worked summer camps where we would have to keep dormitories for older kids so as not to terrorize the really young kids with giant fans that turned on and off by themselves without being plugged in. Or bouncy balls that would suddenly fly across the room, stop half way then turn around to go after you. Doors slamming in your face, knocking on doors from rooms that are locked.  Water facets turning on by themselves. White mists floating by, leaving you feeling cold and slightly damp.  This did not always shield them however as an older couple of ghost one in a wedding gown and one in a tux would walk around the young kids dorm over and over at night. We would get many questions about them in the morning.

One week we HAD to put the six year olds in that dorm and as we were leaving for dinner all of the porch lights would not turn on. We grabbed our flashlights and headed off. When it was time to come back none of our flashlights would work. I was alone with 40 children, walking through the woods, in almost pitch blackness towards out dorm. I had the kids form a sort of train holding each others shirt tails. Since I could make my way back to the dorm in my sleep I slowly led the way. When we got to the dorm it was blacker then the night. I carefully stepped in and put my hand out to begin turning on all of the many, many switches. I had not quite gotten my hand there however when every single light in the dorm including closets and bathrooms came on of there own accord. The children looked at me wide eyed and asked me how I did it. I told them it was magic and moved them forward, telling them to get ready for showers and bed.

On another occasion I was walking back to my dorm by myself when something physically slapped be across the face leaving a sharp sting behind. I ran the rest of the way.

I began to help friends out when they came telling me about there haunted houses and soon found myself helping start HAPS. I loved those hunts, and could tell quite a bit more stories. I have since had to leave the group as it was interfering with my job, but every once in awhile I will get a call from a friend…

I finally have an engagement ring! 

Is this me?
It's as if I am living someone else's life.
I sit thinking about how much has changed,
And everything that is about to.
I'm still me,
Wondering through someone else's life,
Because surly my life could not have changed this much!
I'm still me.
My thoughts are the same,
I feel the same,
Yes, I'm still me.
I'm still me.