Missing my man

Ok so Ivan is working over in Bremerton right now. Working the night shift. He leaves for work before I get home, and I leave for work before he gets home. Sucky... sucky... sucky...

He's decided just to camp over there since we don't get to see each other anyway. I have to make do with mushy phone calls until Friday.

Work's been good though. Still making stainless steel letters for a sign. They say McMurry Medical Building. Very hard to make those letters out of metal. Turning out cool though. They are 3-D and are going to be welded to a piece of Iron that is curved. I guess they are supposed to look like they are floating or something when they're done.

Some of the office girls have been in taking pictures of me welding. Hopefully I'll get a copy of them so I can post them for all to see.

Another one at the Furry 5K.

Us driving our new roommate to the airport.

Here is me Ivan and Daisy at the Furry 5K.

Relaxation at last

After moving in the new roomate (garrett's girlfriend) and getting her all settled in, it's finally time to relax. Both Garrett and Denae are in Spokane and my man is working nights this week.

Sounds like a wonderful time for a bubble bath and some Tammy time!

Welder Girl Is Back!!!

I know I haven't written for a few days, but lately I've been exhausted when I get home from work.

Yes that's right, I wrote "home from work!"

Monday morning the company I used to work for called me up asking me if I wanted to go back to work for them. Seems they had a special job up their sleeve just for me.

I got a late start on work Monday, seeing as how they called me 40 minutes after work started and it takes me about an hour to get there. But by Tuesday I was all over that sheet metal stuff.

I actually got to do some welding Tuesday. It felt so good to truly be welder girl again. Even better, I got a cool job to do. First it was to build snowboard racks for Zumies. Then I'm welding up some stainless steel letters for this medical company. The letter job is the one they brought me back for. It's not only challenging but fun at the same time. Plus this job is so different from the other jobs my company does, all eyes are on me. It's my time to impress and show off.

I also heard a rumor that they are starting to pick up more work. Possibly meaning they can keep me busy for a while. What a financial blessing.

Censorship in Blogging

As I read other people's blogs, I sometimes get a case of blog-envy. You see, a good deal of family and friends have the address to this blog. Which is ok, don't get me wrong. I gave the address out myself. However, this leads me to censor myself some. There have been times when I spilled out my deepest feelings here only to have them thrown back in my face.

Isn't this a place for me? To write to my hearts content. To spill out anger and frustration. To shout out the love that is bursting from inside me.

Why is it then that I have to hide my feelings? Is this really for me. Or is it to present the best image of myself for others to see?

Am I allowed to have bad days? Should they all be good? If I bitch about my boyfriend does that make him a bad guy? If I'm pissed off at a friend does that mean we aren't friends any more? Or am I just living life the way it is. With all it's ups and downs. With all the triumphs and trials.

Take me for what I am. Don't make me be someone I'm not. Be prepared for a more emotional me. Don't get hurt feelings. Don't get all defensive for me. Just let me be me.

Adult entertainment

A lot of my friends have kids these days. Some of these kids can be monsters. Running around screaming, hitting each other and constantly in our faces. Last night we went over to some friends house. We've never done a dinner with this particular family before and it was simply amazing.

They have 3 kids. The most well behaved little kids I've ever seen in my life. They wanted some attention and were excited about having visitors of course, but they weren't all in your face about it. The kids said please and thank you when it was appropriate. They, for the most part, got along and played well together. The parents treated their children with respect. They said please and thank you to their kids. They worked as a team when one got fussy. Not abandoning the other and leaving their spouse to take care of the dirty work alone. Not screaming at the kids and telling them to go play and leave us alone.

Because of the amazing job these two are doing while raising their kids, we were able to hang out as adults and play a simple board game. Most of my friends kids wouldn't allow us to have that much peace and quiet.

It was an awesome display of teamwork. It was inspiring and will hopefully affect how me and my guy raise our kids.

I know who to go for advice any way.

Girls Rock!

Ok so one day my truck starts spewing oil all over the place. As I was driving down the road it was literally spraying down the whole drivers side of my truck. I would have to stop every now and then and add some more oil just to make it home safely.

Then I park it in the driveway and that's where it sat for quite some time. I had been bugging boyfriend and my guy friends for quite some time about getting it fixed. I don't believe in paying someone $90 an hour to do what my friends can do out of the goodness of their own hearts.

Well every time someone made plans to work on my truck for me, they bailed on me. My beautiful truck was sitting there, wasting away while weeds grew around it.

Well enough was enough. I knew which hose it was that was gushing oil out. So, feeling very empowered, I arm myself with a set of tools and got to work. I took apart pieces of my truck to make room for me to get to the broken hose. Took the broken hose off with only one small mishap. I forgot that there would be oil coming out of the hose when I took it off. Got the stuff every where.

After cleaning up a little, I took the broken hose, marched into NAPA and said "I need one of these."

Got my new part. Took it home. Put it in. Put the pieces I took apart back together. Added oil. Done!

I can't believe I fixed my truck while not knowing what the heck was going on. The only thing I had was faith in myself.

It was awesome watching the guys check out my handy work when they got home. They kept looking for oil leaks or loose bolts. Checked my oil level to make sure I got it right. I just stood there with a smug look on my face. I was secretly glad they double checked me, I don't want to be stranded any where or anything, but it felt so good when I got told I did a good job.

YAY!

Ivan's dad Buzz and his mom Lynn.

This is Ivan's Mom and Dad.

Happy is the guy on the left. Aren't me and Ivan cute?

Our "Gang"

This is me and Ivan on our bike trip to Montana!

Furry 5K

Sunday was the Furry 5K.

It's this walk/run that's held at Steward Park in Seattle that benefits the animal shelters. There are booths set up to give dogs doggie treats, and people people treats. When you register, you get a t-shirt for participating and your dog gets this cute green bandana and these doggie treats that are shaped like gingerbread men.

Let me tell you people, this is one of the most awesome events I have ever been to. There were dogs every where. There had to be hundreds of them. All shapes and sizes. All of them super cute. They were all friendly dogs and all super sweet. I fell in love with half of them. Half of the walkers fell in love with my yellow lab, Daisy. I don't know who was more excited me or the dog.

We just walked the 3 miles. Very easy to do with all the excitement and energy in the air. I'll be posting pictures as soon as they're out.

Cooking while rollerblading

I have discovered that cooking while rollerblading (yes in the house) is fun. So is doing the laundry. So is doing the dishes. In fact, I'm blogging with rollerblades on!

Today I saw a wiener

Today was the big day for Ivan. His first triathlon in four years. It was about two hours south of where we live. We got lost on the way and almost didn't make it to the registration thingy on time.

So we finally get there, with four minutes to spare, and I have to pee sooooooo bad. The line for the port-o-potties was probably half a mile long since the race was about to start. I decide to go on a little "nature walk" so that I might find a hidden place to relieve myself. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had the same bright idea. I came across several others on the trail. Understanding what that they needed to pee too, I averted my eyes, they (being men) turned away from me so I wouldn't see.... well.... them.

I decided that since I'm a girl, I would have to go a little further or I was going to get caught too, only I couldn't hide myself as easily. So I walk further and further into the woods looking for the perfect spot to pee. I think I found one when something catches my eye up ahead in the trail.

I saw a wiener.

It was some guy who was peeing, only he didn't turn and hide himself from me. He just stood there facing me with it hanging out. He didn't move, hell he wasn't even holding onto it. It was just sort of hanging there.

Now come on people. I was wearing a bright red raincoat. I know he saw me. When I realize this, I get kind of spooked. I am all alone in the woods, far away from all the activity and there is a guy with his weenie hanging out. This is when I run back toward the line for the port-o-potties. Breathing a sigh of relief when Ivan finds me.

More celebrations

Ok so my six day birthday was over yesterday, but I've decided to extend it for a few more days. Why not? I really love my birthday and I think it is a shame it only comes around once a year. So I've decided that it is a good time to visit a good friend of mine and hang out for a day. He lives down in Olympia, so I'm getting ready for a long drive right now.

Last night I went to my union meeting. Saw some really good friends there. Some I haven't seen in quite a while. Got some leads on some jobs. That means *sigh* I'm going to have to go back to work.

Me and Ivan went out to Olive Garden. Had ourselves an interesting discussion about our future. He has been thinking more and more about having kids. Tell you the truth so have I. It's kind of scary and all, but this is something that we both want.

I know we also both want to be married and have our house before kids comes along. That's going to give us an extra push to get out of this tiny assed house and get things done. That gives me the drive to get a job so I can help with down payment stuff. That is going to give Ivan a kick in the butt to ask me to marry him. For real this time (drunken proposals don't count.)

I can't begin to tell you all how that makes me feel. I love Ivan so much. I keep wondering what it was that I did to deserve such a fantastic, amazing, wonderful, romantic, loving, caring hard working man. Knowing that in the not so far off future I'm going to be not only a wife but a mother makes me feel happy and scared at the same time. But he completes me. We compliment each other like no other.

Ok time for me to stop. I'm getting seriously emotional and teary eyed.

6 Day Birthday

I told Ivan that it was going to be my birthday for 6 days this year. I don't know why I picked six days, but who cares if he took me seriously.

We had a ton of people at the house for the past few days. We went and did all kinds of things for my birthday. Went and had a girls day of drinking. We started at 2:30 and continued on until well past midnight. We went ice skating one day and roller skating the next. There was a day of beauty, where I got my nails done and my eyebrows waxed.

On the day of my birthday it was also my graduation party from Sheet Metal school. We had this barbecue right next to the field. There was all you can drink beer and all you can eat burgers and hot dogs. We also had tickets to the game. The girls that were staying at my house "girlified" me. Did my make up and hair and made sure I was really really cute. It was kind of a shock for the guys I went to school with to see me look like a girl. My buddy Mike kept hitting on me, looking over his shoulder the whole time making sure Ivan didn't hear.

Ivan and our roommate Garrett got me the best birthday present ever. A GREAT BIG TRAMPOLINE!!! I've wanted one of those for ever! They set it up for me last night. I jumped on that thing until it was raining so hard I couldn't stand up on it anymore.

Tonight Ivan gets to make me a birthday cake. I just have to pick out the flavors.

I love birthdays.

I was plenty drunk when the game was over, so there was no going out.

Knowledge is Power

This was my first long trip on a motorcycle. Needless to say I learned some very important things along the way.

• No amount of bug repellent will prevent bugs from smacking you in the face at 70 mph.
• You can never use too much sunscreen.
• My ass does not have enough natural padding to remain comfortable for long periods of sitting on the back of the bike.
• You know all that grime that ends up on your car after a long trip, well on a bike, it ends up all over you.
• Bugs, no matter what their nutritional value, don't taste good.
• I do not have a cool "biker name." I met Ham, Veggie, Happy, Tumble Weed and Rocket Girl. Every one else used regular names.

This weekend was was awesome! Grueling, but awesome. You can see so much more and smell so much more on a bike. You can feel the temperature drop when you ride past a river. You feel it heat back up again when you ride into the sun. You get an incredible adrenalin rush every time you take off and go.

There were 11 bikes with 14 people on our trip. It made me feel all bad ass being part of the group. We got so many looks from people it was crazy. I guess it is better to ride in a group than ride alone. You are more easily seen and less likely to get run over.

There was this girl there who had the coolest red motorcycle. She caught me drooling over it at one of our rest stops and offered to let me sit on it. She thought that bike would be the perfect size for me. Sure enough, I climbed on and it felt good sitting on it. Ivan is all excited about that and wants me to get a bike. I just keep telling him, first things first. We want to buy a house. We can't go buying a motorcycle if we want a house. Otherwise we might as well plan on renting for another year.

But we can still dream.