it has been a busy last few weeks…

jake and i finally got our taxes done last week.  it took over a month to finally get it done.  last month i called two of my old employers because i never received my W2… i realized they had sent it to the old apartment number so i called both companies to get it sent again to the current address.  i then make an appointment with a tax preparer to get our taxes done in two weeks so that i wouldn’t have to worry about it later on.  a week and a half later, i only received one of them.  now i have to reschedule the appointment again.  i figured i’d give the second company another week before i call the company again.  that week comes along and still nothing shows up.  i call a number again and request another copy and they tell me it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.  perfect. more waiting.   it arrives on monday.  i put it together with the rest of my taxes and realize…i called the wrong company!  it was the other company that hadn’t sent me the taxes.  great.  now i have to call the other company and the tax preparer again.  fcuk.  so i call the next day and get everything handled.  the company says it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of the next week.  grr.  so i make my appointment for the wednesday of next week.  monday come, no taxes.  i call on tuesday to see what happened and they tell me they sent it to the old apartment number again.  ridiculous.  i’ve told them numerous times what the new address is and they keep sending it to the old one.  fortunately, this time i was speaking to the right person.  she told me she would have it sent fedex overnight, depending if she got received it that day or the next – meaning i would get it either wednesday or thursday.  i call again on wednesday before i go to work and she tells me they were able to send it last night and it should arrive that day by 3.  thank goodness i made my appointment at 6pm!!  we barely made it!!  the good thing about all this was we got a lot more than what we expected.  heheh.  time to put that money towards debt, savings, and time to go to the doctors and register the doggies.  whew.  that was a complicated story.

another thing that has changed recently is the doggies sleeping arrangement.  out of the blue i suggested that the dogs should sleep in our room by the bed without the cages.  i had to push jake to let us try it.  he was afraid they might pee/poop in the middle of the night.  they actually did great.  it has been about 3-4 nights and they’ve still been really good.  i think they like it.  hehe..

lana’s first bday just passed on the 11th.  she had her bday party on the 10th at a park in irvine.  she was soo cute!  the food was delicious!  the cake was bomb!!  there was a layer of banana cake (my fave) and red velvet…also very yummy.  tara’s friend made the cake for lana.  it was a paul frank themed party so the cake was paul frank.  cute.  tara’s friend also makes the BEST little dessert.  she calls it “the food of the gods.”  it seriously is that good.  i told jake… even though i’m trying to watch what i eat…i want a box of those goodies for my bday.  seriously.  they are soo friggin good….so addicting…so so soo good.  unfortunately she didnt bring any that day.  i only tasted them when tara had a box during christmas.  yummm.   anyway, ana got tons of cool gifts but of course we gave her the coolest one of all.  hahhaha…just kidding.  we got her a hot pink atv.  she could play with that for years!  we’re grooming her to become wild and playful.. =)  i hope she likes it.

times are tough and we need to sacrifice pleasures.  we canceled of cable and dvr privileges.  now we’re stuck with basic cable and…..commercials.  =/  i find myself watching less tv – which is a good thing cuz i have time to do other things like clean and work out and read.  but still…i dont think i’ve ever not had cable.  it’s weird.  also…i’ve been spoiled by dvr.  i can watch what i want whenever i want.  now i have to surf through a few selected channels to find something amusing enough to watch and i have to either sit through commercials or wait til a commercial to get up and do a bathroom or snack break.  what a difficult world we live in.  hhahahah.  the upside to only having basic cable is i watch more news.  i feel more connected to what is going on in the world.  =)  …and maybe a little bit of maury.  hahah.

on the upside, celine, one of my fave cousins, has passed her exam.  she is officially a US RN! heheh.. so happy for her.  she’s been working hard for this and she deserves it.  it also means she gets to live here permanently.  i am soo happy.  more time to spend with her and the rest of the family.  i really wish tisay wasnt so far.  it would be so nice to spend a lot of time with tisay, robin, celine, and myself without worrying about the distance and time and such.  even i live far.  kinda sucks.  but the 4 of us are trying to get together soon to have a cooking session maybe once a month.  it was tisay’s idea which i absolutely love.

she suggested we get together and either teach the others hos to cook a dish or bring a new recipe and we all pitch in and try it.  one, we get to spend time together.  two, we get to gossip.  three, we get to learn how to cook new dishes and i’m sure our men would appreciated the variety and new things we are learning…cuz ahem… best way to a mans heart is through their stomach.  if only i knew how to cook more than two dishes.  this cooking session would help a lot.  it’s just too bad that jake and i have opposite taste buds.  i like alfredo, he likes meat sauce.  i like pasta and mexican food, he likes bbq and seafood.  ay yay yay.  but i’m sure there are some dishes that we can both agree on.  i am excited to learn.

that reminds me, i was hanging out with dino, robin, celine, and jake last friday and i think it was dino that brought this childhood game up : MASH.  do you guys remember that?  ollllldschool!  we went around the table playing it and when it came to the girls we played my longer version which included job positions for both yourself and the significant other, pets, where you live and where you have your honeymoon.  the last two was robin’s suggestion because she didnt want to do another category that dino suggested: sexual position – such a guy thing to suggest. hahaha.  it was fun.  there were other games that we played that you play during junior high.  brought back many memories.  there was also another game that robin remembered but we couldnt remember exactly how to play.  i am thinking of calling yasmin to see if she remembers.  i think i have the notebook of all these games somewhere in the garage of la palma or maybe even in fullerton.  i wonder if i can find it later when we go to la palma.  i need to find some protector sheets anyway for my emergency kit binder – which brings me to..

the emergency kit project.  i finally started on my emergency kit…somewhat.  but hey, it’s better than nothing.  i’ve started making copies of important documents like insurance and medical records and identity.  things like that.  i just need a few more copies of some other paperwork and also need to start packing the necessities for an emergency kit.  that’s another thing i plan to do with some of the tax return money we’re getting.  i’m wondering whether we should keep the bag near our door or in the car.  i’m thinking both but i’m just afraid..”what if our car gets stolen” even though i doubt that’ll ever happen..but still, you never know.  at the same time, what if the disaster happened while i was away from home?  i’m probably going to put it in both but i’ll put less information to lower the risk of someone stealing my identity because right now my whole life info is in that binder.

okay, it’s getting late.  i need to start getting ready.  celine’s mom is going back home tomorrow to the philippines.  we’re having a goodbye dinner at some really good restaurant supposedly.  i’ve never been there but the fambam has been raving about it.  can’t wait to try it.