Killer Kelly’s blog

I think Stephen and I might be buying a house.

Our lease is up in September, and we're trying to find a cheap apartment to move into while we look. My grandfather sent me a ton of links for homes in Austin under $100,000. That's freakin' cheap. I guess because of the current crisis with foreclosures and whatnot, house prices are lower than ever. RENT, however, is RIDICULOUS. Since no one wants to buy a home right now, that means everyone is renting. So rent it super high, like, everywhere. Even in the ghetto. Went to the eastside the other day, on the very same STREET where me and Mandy lived a couple years ago... our little punk rock flophouse was 700 a month. The house next door is now for rent (would LOVE to live there again) but it is THIRTEEN HUNDRED a month. Whatever.

The way I figure it, it never hurts to try. We'll see what we can get approved for in the way of a home loan, and the worst they can do is say no.

Worked out again this morning before work. I figured out I really don't mind getting ready in a room filled with other women. It's like summer camp.

I'm feeling proud of myself today. I feel like I've been productive, and it's only 8:12am.

Last friday Stephen came up to have lunch with me, and afterwords we went to the 24-Hour Fitness over here in Hyde Park (about 5 minutes, if even that, from my work) and transferred my membership. I really hated my club in south Austin, and I never went because it was so far away. This one, though, is right smack on my way to work. So I decided that today would be the day I start going to the gym before work. I got up at 6, which is only about 10 minutes earlier than I usually get up anyway. I stretched and drove to the gym, got in a pretty serious 40-minute workout, showered, did my makeup, went to HEB and got a banana and some nonfat yogurt, and got to work at 7:50am. For breakfast I had oatmeal and my HEB goodies.

So we'll see. I'm hoping that working out in the mornings will help me have more energy throughout my day. I've been having a problem with early afternoon sleepiness.

This weekend was pretty fun... I was still recovering from the wicked UTI I was diagnosed with mid-week last week. (Had fever. Went to doctor. Got antibiotics. Got juice. Missed work.) Friday night Stephen and I went to Red Lobster and sat in Joshie's section. I really hate that place, but I love my bestie, so you know, it's worth it. After dinner I was pretty loopy from my ridiculously strong Bahama Mama, so we decided to go run around Target and buy stuff. It was a blast. I got some cute new workout pants. They're short, like right below the knee, and they're stretchy which is good motivation to keep working out. They're gray. I like gray.

We also got lots of socks and wifebeaters and other fun stuff. Eye makeup remover, and a Hello Kitty notebook, for work. I didn't necessarily want a Hello Kitty notebook, but it was either that or Disney Princesses. Lesser of two evils.

A few days ago, I bought a 60-day supply of ProActiv at a kiosk in the mall. I've been wanting to try it for, like, forever, and I decided why not now. I don't have bad skin, really, but I get these stupid stress breakouts and I get them often. So far I really like it. My face is really soft and my pores look a lot smaller.

I got a cute new denim pencil skirt at Torrid. It comes right past my knees, and I just think it's adorable. I applied for the Torrid model search, too. I thought what the hell, why not. I had to bring an 8x10 headshot, which was creepy. I think it was the first time I ever saw an 8x10 of my face. I should find out this wednesday or thursday if I'm what they're looking for.

Aaaaanyway. Saturday morning me and S went to Central Market for brunch. We went shopping for a bit after, and enjoyed each other's company. We went home and had a delightfully lazy saturday watching movies and making out on the couch.

I guess I should get to work. I wish it was lunchtime. Stephen's coming up at lunchtime to bring me my no-baby-pills and eat lunch with me.

What is the meaning behind your birth name?
Submitted by turtlegod.

Well, "Kelly" means WARRIOR, but the reason I'm called Kelly is because my father had a crush on Jacklyn Smith. Her character in Charlie's Angel's was named Kelly. Wish it was something more profound, but that's it.

The house was ugly! The owner hadn't looked in on it in a year, and expected these guys to keep it in good shape. With 2 dogs and a cat, no less. It stunk, and everything was in pretty bad shape. So I guess we're back to square one. There's a ton of good stuff on craigslist, but it's mostly apartments. I'm so tired of apartments!

Stephen and I have an appointment (hopefully) to see a house on my lunch break today. The current tenants are there until the end of August, which is perfect since our lease is up at the end of September. I don't really care what we have to do, we HAVE to get out of these craphole apartments. They're raising our rent to $990.00 a month. The apartment is maybe worth 600 a month.  We already pay almost 900, and it's just not worth it. The apartment management passed out these flyers about all the new "amenities" we have, to justify the rent going up. One of these "amenities" is a "24-hour Fitness Center". The "fitness center" is a closet with a treadmill and some weights, which is actually fine with me, but the "24-hour" part is a total lie. It is open from 10-6. Period. Office hours only.

I am so tired of dealing with the poor business practices and complete lack of integrity at this property. The house we're looking at today is a little north of where I would ideally like to be, but it's 20 minutes closer to work than where we are now, and it sounds pretty great... 2 Bed, 2 Bath, really big fenced in back yard, garage. And from what I can tell on google maps, it looks like a corner lot. That would be cool. AND, me and S have a thing about the numbers 7 and 13. They just pop up all the time. Plus his birthday is on March 7th, and mine is on the 13th. The address of the house is 1307 Dominique Drive. Too cool.

I really hope we like it, and that it works out.

Guess I should get back to work...

Yay for Fridays!

Today I finish my second week working for Hoover's online. I just love love love my new job. I simply can't say enough good things about it. My manager, Wendy, is amazing. She likes to play pranks on me, cuz I'm the newbie, and she's a master of the poker-face, so my gullible ass always falls for it. For instance, at the end of my very first day, she came to my desk and asked me if Leah had spoken to me about working Chat the next morning. (Customer's on the info site can opt to chat with a Hoover's "expert") Leah played along, and I said I'd be happy to try, even though inside I knew I was only a day old and still completely inept. So I enthusiastically agreed to jump in the next morning, and all the girls had a good laugh at my expense. I think the fact that I was willing made me look good, at least. Then the next morning I came to work in a cute new mexican-style top I got at Torrid the weekend before. It's kind of low-cut in the back, and shows off the better part of my huge back tattoo. Well, Wendy came up and whispered in my ear "Um, Kelly, I'm sorry, but we don't allow exposed tattoos in the workplace". I was mortified. It was only my second day, and here I was, already in trouble. Then I noticed her tattoos. Another laugh for the girls.

Annie, Leah, Jenn, Michelle... everyone is just incredible. They are all so freakin' SMART, which is such a welcome shift from my last job working for Medicaid. Annie has her MBA, and Jenn is currently working on her Masters in education. After my first couple of days, Stephen took me out to dinner at Fish City Grill, and I told him that my confidence was teetering because I'm not used to feeling like the dumb one... things have gotten much better, though... many of the girls have expressed their delight at having another intelligent woman on the team. The work is VERY challenging, but fun. There are about 10 of us in my dept, and we sort of do a little bit of everything. We help the editorial dept with the research for their articles, we help the accounting dept figure out the financials for some of our accounts, and our primary job is attending to customers through email correspondence, Chat, and the occasional phone call. I was a little aprehensive about accepting ANOTHER customer service job, but it's turned out to be nothing like anything I've ever done. First, the customers are all big wigs and head honchos, all over the world. So far I've talked to people in Jamaica (there was a steel drum band playing outside her office), the UK (daily), Germany, and Bermuda. I learned something new about myself... I really enjoy making international phone calls!

The actual location is really awesome... it used to be a giant bakehouse, so all the floors are stained concrete and everything is really open and airy. There's free foozball in the giant cafeteria, and free bagels from Einstein's every friday morning. There's a very "keep austin weird" vibe to the place, which means absolutely no dress code and tons of room for individual expression. There is the famed "beer cart" which goes around to all the different departments and passes out bruskis any time we close a major account or something big happens. I love coming to work in flip flops!

All this, AND it pays more than I've ever made ANYWHERE.

Sometimes I worry that it's too good to be true, and I'm bound to screw it up, but I really hope not.  Weeeeee!

I'm still working through a temp agency as of now, but hopefully that will change. Everyone here started out working for Apple One, and they all got hired on, so my odds are pretty good.

My sweet hubby is taking me on a date this evening, and I can't wait. We're going to try out this place called Tokyo, it's a Japanese steakhouse. He's been so freakin' great. I feel really bad for him, since he's looking so diligently for a job and hasn't really had any substantial leads. He's trying his hardest to battle the depression this is causing, but he still has his days. I know he's really happy for me, though.

Our dog and cat are both doing well... Roxy turned NINE earlier this month, and Bellatrix turned a year old in May.

I still haven't started on those paintings for the middle school... I really need to get on top of that! I made some preliminary scetches, but I have yet to put brush to canvas.

I've been keeping up with my workout routine, all except this last week, cuz I already wake up at 6, and I'd have to wake up at 5am in order to fit it in before work. I'm going to try to transfer my membership to the 24 hour fitness close to work, so I can just get ready there in the mornings.

Well, my lunch break is over, and my little fingers are exhausted. It feels good to have good news. I am just one of those people who tends to let the little stuff get to me, and I allow it to make me feel like I have nothing good to report sometimes. I'm glad it's different for now.

This is my cousin, Bradley.

Bradley

Speaking of the 4th of July...

We had just about the best time ever! S was super sick, so he had to stay back in Austin (poor guy) while Josh, Joe and I hit the road for Dale, TX. That place was pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Population 210 or something like that. The have ONE store, called the Dale Store, which is basically just a quickie mart with free popcorn (which Renee was all too happy to take advantage of). The city consists of one sort-of-paved street, where it seemed like everyone lived. That's where Renee lives, anyway. Once the fireworks started, things got crazy. Every person in that damn city had to have had about 200 bucks worth of fireworks. We had about 50 bucks work between us, and they were gone super fast. The city had it's own fireworks show, which I swear could rival Town Lake's show. The coolest thing was that while the city was setting off their giant spectacle, everywhere you looked there were brilliant colors and little whistling sounds because EVERYONE was setting them off. It was delightful.

We got pretty drunk, and decided to go exploring through this creepy old dilapidated house next door to Renee's property. The house is SERIOUSLY scary. Renee used to take care of the old lady who lived there, but she went out of town about 20 years ago and Ms. Thompson died inside. No one found her for 3 days, I think. Renee and her husband bought the house once it went up for auction, so that, in the words of her husband, "a bunch of mexicans don't move in next door". They've been working on cleaning the house, on and off over 20 years. ALL the old lady's stuff is still there. Prescription bottles that expired in 1989, TWO old, out-of-tune pianos that barely play...the keys are all yellowed and popped out of their original positions. Renee's husband says he's pretty sure those old pianos are now home to a couple of snake's nests. Her old rat-eaten moo-moo's are all over the place, some of the curtains still hang in the front windows. The house is so old (over a hundred years) that the floor throughout the house is buckled and you could just fall right through if you're not careful. So ANYWAY, Josh and I decided to go exploring. At like 3am. Loaded. So Renee gets us a flashlight, and off we go. We looked through the old refrigerator, still full of food that expired 20 years ago and has for the most part disentigrated. The insides of the doors, however, are still coated and crusted with about a million maggot corpses, turned over time to look like little pieces of old brown rice. She had some old mayo, that over the years had turned bright orange and solid. The only thing I was actually brave (or stupid) enough to open and investigate (by smelling, not drinking) was an old bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. Still smelled the same. CREEPY. We looked through some old medicine bottles, you know the old kind your grandmother had, glass bottles with cork stoppers for everything from asprin to milk of magnesia. I swiped a cobalt-blue glass milk of magnesia bottle. It's really cool. There was still an old calendar hanging. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.

I passed out soon after our little exploring adventure, I was exhausted. I love the country, though, and I really hope we get to go back there sooner than later.

Sorry I took your medicine bottle, Loretta.

Smart Start

I just typed this uber-long blog about my life and how everything's been going lately, and when I hit the "preview and post" button, POOF! it was gone. Bummer.

I have been bitten by the Smart Start cereal bug. I seriously love it. Especially with a handful of deceptively delicious dried fruit up on top. Yummm. I just had a bowl a while ago and I can feel it improving my mood already.

I'm supposed to be working on a couple of paintings for the Dawson Elementary project. S and I (along with a bunch of folks from Soma Austin) are volunteering there, and the room we're making over is the counseling room. I was asked to produce the artwork for the walls. I'm super stoked about it, I just need to get off my ass. I was brainstorming the other night, and I'll be damned if the cleverest idea I ever did have didn't just pop itself into my head. I came up with a plan for a series of anywhere between 6 and 10 paintings involving dreary, black and gray backgrounds, emaciated snobby beauty-queen types, and some of the biggest, baddest, shiniest, most beautiful looking food you ever did see. I would try to describe it more, but I don't think I could really get the idea across sounding as exciting as it really is. I can't wait to get started. But first, I have to do the school paintings... probably kids of different races holding hands and bright animals. You know, kid stuff.

I got a job. Then I got told I didn't have a job. Then I got offered another job at the same company as a Research Editor, then they took back the offer cuz of cutbacks. Then I got a call from the original interviewer, and she really really wants me on her team and it pays more than the research editor job. So I start Wednesday. I'm afraid to be excited about it, considering the shit I've been through with these people over the last 3 weeks. I'll believe it when I see it.

I've been feeling awfully creative lately, but with a serious lack of motivation or inspiration. I got myself a little workout routine, three days a week for the last 6 weeks. I've actually stuck with it all but last week, 4th of July made me lazy. I've been doing 20-30 minutes on the elyptical or treadmill, then I do some strength training (most days) and lots of stretching. I feel really good when I'm done, but even though it's been 6 weeks, I still have to FORCE myself to do it. I hate working out. I want to get Wii fit, but we'll see. The plan I'm following said to weigh myslef once, at the beginning, which I did. Then it said not to go near the scale for 4 weeks. I was so excited at 4 weeks... I took a shower, got out with a big smile on my face, and weighed myself. ONE FREAKIN' POUND lighter. I was so disappointed. But then I weighed myself again a week later, and I've lost exactly TEN pounds since day 1. Not a lot, but I figure if I keep setting 10 lb. goals, they'll be easier to reach. Anyway.

Stephen's been depressed cuz he still hasn't found a job... he feels like a loser but I try to tell him all the time that he's just about the best hubby any girl could ask for. I sure do love that goober.

My ass just fell asleep.

If this one deletes, I aint typing another.

So. Don't really feel like typing, I'm in a wicked bad mood but figured maybe this would help. We'll see.

My husband is totally and completely sucked into GTA IV, which is understandable. I want to play it, but I probably won't get to for a while. We've been diggin' hard on the Wii for the last couple weeks, so I suppose it's a good thing that the XBox is getting some love. I broke TWO wine glasses in one swing while playing a round of drunken Wii bowling the other night- it was horrifying. Glass SHATTERED and went everywhere. Then, like the next night I guess, S and I were having a snuggle session on the couch, and it was storming and wonderful outside, so we had the patio door open. Then a fucking BAT flew into our living room, and proceeded to taunt us and flap around, land on random things, antagonize my dog, and finally landed.....behind the motherfucking television. I'm sure the scene looked hilarious to anyone watching, but we were FREAKED. Mind you, I was watching most of the action from the safety of my bedroom, through a door cracked just barely enough for my peepers to catch everything. My brawny manly-man of a husband eventually caught the damn thing in a towel and let it go outside. Creeeeeepy.

I got unhealthily addicted to Cooking Mama, and forgot that it was rented and we didn't get it from game stop. So I came home one day and S had returned it to the video store. I nearly cried. Alright, I cried. I hear there is a cooking mama TWO, but it is rather elusive and no one seems to stock it. Does it exist? I certainly hope so, because my days just aren't quite complete lately without hearing "Wonderful! Better than MAMA!" a couple thousand times a day. I rocked that shit, yo. I never really mastered the "Spaghetti in squid ink", mostly I think just cuz the idea is disgusting. I've eaten my share (and probably yours, too) of exotic foods, and actually liked most of them... but come on, now.

Stephen just yelled that the guy in GTA is snorting cocaine. Ah, the things they can get away with in video games these days. It's brilliant.

I went to Dallas for the weekend for ms. Barbara's wedding. It was beautiful. It was at the Japanese gardens in Ft. Worth, and everything was so perfect. It was kind of chilly, but other than that it was great. Stephen and I had a great time throwing handfulls of fish food into the coi (coy?) fish ponds and watching the feeding frenzy ensue. The party at Ann's house later that night was a BLAST. I drank way too much, naturally, and had a mother of a hangover the next day, but it was totally worth it. And I learned my new favorite term. Prison Wallet.

I learned yesterday that someone I used to be very close to died over a year ago. How did a year go by without me knowing? I can't figure it out...can't get it out of my head. We were swing dancing partners back in the days of the Sand Castle on northwest hwy in dallas. I'm talking YEARS ago. We tried dating once or twice, but it never really worked out. I remember he shared my bed a lot in my first apartment, and he slept in the strangest positions of anyone I've ever slept with. Anyway. My head was all foggy yesterday after I found out, but I feel ok now... I went through a bunch of old stuff and found a few things he gave me... a sketch book, a few random other things, and a picture of him and Deanna Carter from when he was like 16. It was nice having some time to just... I don't know... remember.

I got turned down for my Sallie Mae load for cosmetology school... I have to reapply with a cosigner. My family has agreed to cosign for me if I am willing to work for a few months first to prove that my back is stronger. So hopefully that goes well.

There is a really well-known conference coming through Austin this coming weekend, all about marriage and sex and secrets to both being really good. A man I have never met, who knows my grandfather through church, is paying BOTH 200 dollar admission fees so that we can go. And *BONUS* he's paying for us to stay at the Renaissance hotel in the Arboretum for the weekend so we don't have to keep driving back and forth from south to north austin. We're both really stoked. I know it kind of sounds lame, but I think it will be really fun and informative.

I think I actually ran out of things to say. Huh.