Piggy is Back!

I haven't gotten any details from the neighbor, but yesterday Piggy was back in our neighbors yard barking her head off like usual. Crazy dog. :)

Our Fence

We came home on Sunday and found some slats missing on our fence and one of our 8 foot fence sections was hanging disconnected on one side. We spent over an hour outside fixing the fence with screws and nails trying to piece it back together.

Later, our neighbor told us that the previous night she had heard some noise and looked outside to see what the commotion was. She saw some guy who had stopped in a truck in front of our house. He was crazy/mad, was yelling and ripping our fence apart. She said he saw her because she had the light on in her house so she turned the light off quickly so that he couldn't see her. She was scared that he would come over to their house since he looked like he had completely lost it. Instead, he got back in his truck and left. I'm glad that he didn't torment the neighbor. I'm also glad that he left when he saw her, because the fence was pretty torn apart.

Poor Jake... he spent a lot of time making the fence. He seemed mad and disappointed about the whole thing. :(

I'm including a picture of the fence so that you can more easily visualize the destruction.

Interesting

We parked next to this vehicle at home depot and I had to post a picture. I'm not sure what the deal is... If it's about using the carpool lane, that's real dedication to the cause. Any other ideas as to the reason for the life-like dummy? Well, maybe I shouldn't ask. I took a picture of the vehicle to see if it could give further clues.

Very interesting.

The Neighbor's Chihuahua

Wendy commented in her post on my site that I should tell this story...

When we first moved to Pasadena, I had met the neighbors only a few times and was in the back yard when I heard the neighbor calling "Piggy, Piggy!" I thought that they had heard Jake calling me piggy and were trying to get my attention until I saw their pet chihuahua answering their call. It turns out that her name is Piggy. I told our neighbor, Chuck, that I thought they were calling me since that's my nickname and we got a bit of a laugh out of it.

Sadly, last week, Piggy got out of the house without her collar on since they had just put flea formula on her neck. I haven't seen her since and I think that she is gone. How sad. :(

California Disney

On Friday we went to California Disney and ate at Lisa's Bar. She usually has to work while we visit, but this time she was off at 6:30pm and was able to join us. Below is a picture of Jake and Lisa.


This is a picture of Emilio, who gave me the piggy art in the previous post.


Andy and Matt...



JR and Kim... They just moved into an apartment of their own about two weeks ago.


When we were done eating we went on The Tower of Terror and California Soarin'. We couldn't go to Disneyland because it was a black out day, even for sign ins, which is how we were all able to get into California Disney.

Piggy Art

One of my friends (Emilio) is attending art school, specifically for Industrial Design. In one of his classes, they spent time drawing the objects that were on display. One of these was a piggy. When I saw the picture he'd drawn, I liked it a lot so he gave it to me. I'm amazed at the talent of some people. He was using materials that he's not really used to, and drew this in just a few minutes. Some people are so talented! I love how everyone can be different and have various strength. It makes the world an interesting place.

Jake's nickname for me is Piggy. I didn't like it at first, which, for those of you who know Jake, means that he was more likely to keep using the nickname. So at this point I have embraced the name and have actually come to like it. Hence, we now have piggy art.

Stress.... But Also A Good Thing?

I've been a bit stressed out lately and haven't had the time or energy to actually write anything down. I've been helping my dad to sell his second house and to buy a new property. This is the first time that I'm using my broker's license.

If it was for Jake and myself it wouldn't be so bad, but I didn't realize that I would feel so much responsibility when I'm helping someone from my family. I have faith in my abilities, but I get nervous because if I do something wrong, Dad would be in trouble and I would feel terrible. So it's been a great experience, but I've also been a bit stressed out. Today we finally signed the last papers and we're going into escrow on both properties. Wish me luck.

At least I know that I'm looking out for my dad's best interests. The guy that was helping him look for a property at first didn't seem to be doing a good job. The properties the Realtor chose would have had a hard time breaking even on income vs. payments, and just happened to be giving the highest commission that Realtors receive when representing buyers. He did a lot of things that had me worried that he was more concerned with his own interests than with my fathers.

So I'll probably continue to be stressed out over the next month as we try to close escrow on both properties. Buy hey, I'm really doing real estate broker activities. Very cool!

We Did It!

Here's Mom ready to give platelets. She doesn't have her needle in yet. There were two different kinds of machines. She got one that only had one needle go into one arm. She said there was an alternation between pulling the blood out and pushing it back in. Weird. I had the other machine which required two needles, one in each arm. I had blood coming out of one arm and going back into the other.

The experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And the needle didn't hurt too much either. I might actually go back to do it again. Here we are at the end snacking on their cookies. We also got a free meal at Wahoos and since Mom won't use hers in Big Bear she gave me her meal so that Jake and I can go out for free one night. How cool is that?


One last thing to mention, we got to watch a movie which really makes you forget about the needles and keeps you entertained. I made a mistake though. I didn't know I had to pick out a movie so I was already being prepared when they realized I didn't have one. What can I say, I'm new. So I told the lady I liked comedies and she brought back five comedies and one suspense for me to choose from. I saw Jennifer Aniston on the cover of Derailed (the suspense) and decided to watch it. BAD CHOICE. I do not like movies where bad things happen and it seemed like the bad things never stopped happening. A quick overview: guy has sick daughter and loses big account at work, meets married woman and they go to hotel to sleep together, guy breaks in with gun, beats guy up and rapes girl (don't go to police because married and can't let spouses know), guy gets blackmailed for $20,000 (all of savings to help pay for sick daughter), guy get blackmailed again and won't pay so the bad guy pretends to be his friend and goes to his house and meets wife and daughter.

Obviously not my kind of movie. At this point I wanted to stop watching the movie but I had needles in both of my arms, so I wiggled out of my ear phones so that I didn't have to listen and got the attention of a nurse to turn the movie off. I think she thought I was crazy when I asked to stop the horrible movie, but I didn't care, I couldn't take it anymore. I've now learned my lesson. Next time I'll definitely get a comedy.

:)

Praying Mantis

I saw a praying mantis. It was sitting on top of a trashcan. I wish it was easier to see how small it was. It's a little baby and was maybe an inch long. Very cute.

Giving Platelets

I've made an appointment on Monday to give Platelets. It's funny how I've changed in the way I feel about experiences involving a needle. I used to be completely freaked out about shots and giving blood, but right now I'm just curious about the upcoming experience. I wonder if I'll get nervous when the time gets nearer. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Tiling the Fire Place

I didn't get a picture of the fireplace before we started, but there was very old, cracked and broken cement where we are now laying down tiles. Jake got these tiles at a place that sells house stuff for super cheap when people have extra or old stuff that they don't want any more. Jake picked up these tiles for about $20 when we decided to fix the fireplace. We tried a few different patterns and took pictures so we could decide which was the best. This design won.

This picture was taken before we used morter to lay down the tiles. I'm supposed to pick up grout on the way home from work today so we can finish. I'll try to show a finished picture later.


Jake cut the tile while I watched and kept him company. Actually, I was responsible for rinsing and drying the tiles after they were cut.


And while we laid tiles Alex was busy playing video games. :)

It's Back

My blog was gone yesterday, but I have since found the blog and it is ready for viewing once again.

Gambling

And here's me at one of the slot machines. I lost $10! :(

Vegas, Baby!

On Saturday, we left for Las Vegas. Diane's parents and sister have an enormous house there where we can hang out by the pool, sipping drinks all day. We're supposed to be leaving to go home sometime today. It's such a relaxing vacation spot.

We carpooled with Alan. Below is a picture of him fixing their computer. He just got a great new job and is thinking about going back to school in the Fall to get his Computer Science degree.


Jake was helping Alan fix their computer. This was done during the times that we weren't out playing disc golf.


Diane and Abby (Diane's niece) were hanging out in the pool catching some rays.


Emilio was looking very brown by the end of the weekend. And look at the drink Donna had. Hello!



Lisa also hung out. It was her birthday weekend and later we had brownies with candles for her to blow out.


Diane planned visiting the Shark Encounter at Mandalay Bay to help celebrate Lisa's birthday. It's an exhibit devoted to water predators. They say it's the only one is Northern America. I wonder if that's true. I guess I somehow missed getting a picture of any fish. :)


Good times!