Opinions are like... you know!

When I went home last night from work, I was thinking about yesterdays blog.. wondering if I said everything I had to say. Of course I didnt because I have a lot to say! :)

First, I forgot to mention Basia's beer bust last Saturday. As I mentioned in a previous blog, my friend Basia is walking the 3-day walk for Breast Cancer here in Minneapolis at the end of September. She needs to raise $2200 in order to walk and was $900 shy of that goal at the start of her beer bust. The beer bust went pretty well. I dont think it attracted the amount of people that she would have liked to see. One of the downfalls was that it started at 12noon. That's very early for some people.. even me. It was $10 for all you can drink beer from 12-2pm.. or until the keg was gone. Well, it ended up being until the keg was gone. At one point I remember about 5 pitchers sitting on our table.. all full of course. It was a long day there. And no I didnt drive home. However, I believe Basia raised approx half of her $900. Im hoping that she's able to raise the remainder of the balance at some point before the walk! Click here to learn more about Basia and the 3-day walk in the Twin Cities.

Ive gotten a few comments on my "financial" situation here. It's hard. I have never lived on a budget before.. so this is all new to me. I figured it would be frustrating at points but I guess mentally I wasnt prepared to deal with it. Im used to just paying my bills (not the ones that are behind though) and spending the rest of it on what ever I want. I would throw a little into the savings account.. and when I ran low in the checking, there was always the savings! DUH! The funny thing is, is that im NOT a shopper. I havent been to a store (other than Target to get my reg stuff.. shampoo, etc...) in I dont know how long. My money was spent going out. I really need to stew over this for a while and think about how im going to make this work and still feel like I get to live life.. and most importantly.. not feel bad or guilty about it.

So, let's talk about going out. To protect the innocent (or guilty) im not going to mention any real names in my blog.. not today anyway. The people will know who they are when they read it. Let's start by saying this... Im 36 (37 on Sept 14th), single, no kids, no boyfriends/no husbands, no major responsibilities... other than taking care of PAULA. As we all know, I pay my bills (or have a plan in place to pay them) and I work 40 hours a week and a job that Ive had for 2 1/2 years. I am responsible and dependable when I have to be and I spend a lot of time with my family and friends. I also try to enjoy my life and live a good life. So, im having a discussion with my friend "Betty" about last weekend and she told me that "shes worried about me". She's worried about me because I like to go out and "party".. or whatever it is that I do. Sometimes I just go and have a couple beers somewhere with a friend and go home. Sometimes like last Saturday, I "partied" with some friends at the bar for the beer bust.. and went home.. didnt drive. I DONT go out every night... as a matter a fact, my friend offered to pay for me to go and have a couple beers with her last night and I said NO. I said no for 2 reasons: 1). because I had NO money and im NOT going to let her pay for me... and 2). I had things to do at home that took priority over drinking beer with a friend. I asked my friend if we could get together later this week.. which was fine.

My friend Betty, thinks I drink too much maybe? I dont know. Im thinking that she believes that's all I do is go out and drink all the time. Im single.. I can go out with my friends and have a couple beers anytime I want to. I dont have to check with my husband/boyfriend, I dont have to get a babysitter, I dont have a million projects to do around the house (because I dont own a house)... I have this freedom to go and do what I want. I dont miss work because of drinking (although I have called in sick due to hang overs before... just as BETTY has too).. but I dont miss work on a regular basis and I dont drink every night of the week. I dont drink at home... jesus, now im starting to make myself sound like a freakin drunk. OK.. im NOT a drunk.. I like beer. Sorry, but non-alcoholic beer just doesnt taste the same as regular beer... I love beer.. It's a total social thing for me. I dont go to the bars alone either. So, as my friend, Betty is talking to me, saying that she's worried about me, I ask her if I can share my opinion with her? She, of course says NO. Now she has to suffer the wrath of being blogged about!! hahaha... I have an opinion about my life. Im a good person, I live a good life, Im good to my friends and family and im NOT a drunk! Betty and I live different lives, that's all. OR.. maybe she's JEALOUS? lol.. Let's see what the def of being an alcoholic means.... you be the judge.

(yummy.. this looks delicious!!)
OK.. so this brings me to another point. About dating.. Ive met a few dudes at the bars before. Nothing special.. nothing Im interested in, that's for sure. I met one dude, we will call him MK and to make a long story short, we went out last week to the horse track and it ended up being quite the story. He got drunk as hell.. I stayed sober, thank you.. he gambled until 130am knowing that I had to get up at 6am the next morning to go to work, he got cut off from drinking.. lol... etc... Well, I was telling Betty this story and her FIRST comment was "Well, where did you meet him?" Yes, I met him at the bar. We had a conversation sitting at the bar one night.. etc.. exchanged phone numbers.. harmless. Here's the deal... ALL of my friends are either married or have significant others.. and have kids. Im pretty much the only single person I can think of. And apparently none of these friends of mine know single people to set me up with. I have tried the on-line dating shit.. it sucks. OH yeah.. ive tried sitting back and waiting for Mr. Right to come along.. that's not working either. There is nothing wrong with meeting someone at the bar, is there??? Am I missing something? Because if I met MK at church one day before he went to the bar.. is he a different person at church than the bar? I dont know? We had a harmless conversations about sports.. nothing else.

(a view from my deck)

Well, I took some pics last night at my house. I live on a lake in the northern suburbs.. approx 15 mins north of downtown Mpls.. and the evenings have been absolutely gorgeous lately.. and last night was no exception. I wanted to include some pics here of the lake and of course, my new BFF, Gus. He's the dog of the house that I live in. I have adopted him as MINE though. I always call him my dog. There are a couple cool things about Gus:

(this is Gus.. and his chewie)
1). He loves me! He cries everytime I walk in the door from work.. he gets so excited to see me. I must say.. Im happy to see him too because I love him a lot too!!!

2). He's very well trained. I dont have to put him on a leash when we walk (although I bring one with and only when it's just the 2 of us walking)

3). You can let him out in the morning and he stays in the yard.. just walks around, does his business and waits for me to let him in.

4). He sleeps at the foot of my bed most nights.. on the floor of course.

5). He lets me take his chewies away from him and doesnt bite me! lol... the reason I can do that? See #1.

I have a cat too, Socks.. shes my cat.. I brought her with me when I moved. She HATES Gus.. she hisses at him everytime he looks at her wrong.. which is all the time. Its hilarious. But I think Gus has a secret love for her. He wants to know her but she will have nothing to do with it. I guess it's fair to say that Im a total animal lover!!

In closing.. Im going to try to attach a video from the opening of our market today! It was a good opening.. and this is just a sample!! More about my job later! Enjoy the video.. it's only 1 minute.

~Peace