i'm so excited. i'm so excited. i'm so... so... so scared.

So I have to take this test today. And I am scared. It will be THE LONGEST 3 hours of my life, thus far. If it was a practical test, I know I would kick butt. However, I'm not so lucky. It's a computer test and the one good thing is that I find out if i pass right there when I'm done. I'll keep you posted on how I do.

Well, they said you had a big appetite, but BOTH feet in your mouth at ONCE?

Some people. I am trying to get my license to practice my field in the state of Florida. It has been a headache. But I am glad to say that now I have all my requirements done and I am just sitting and waiting. New Mr. Tia and I were talking about me going back to school. I mentioned that I'd like to go back and get trained in another field... you know, add to my repertoire. Well, after going to take a couple classes that were required for my license I realized I wasn't ready to go back to school. Ever go to a trade like school? Where you have class Monday through Friday? 5 to 6 hours a day? With... the... same... people. Every. Day. Some people are great. And then other people you cannot stand and you focus all your energy trying to get away from them. Being in this class I watched alot of the students and related alot of them to my classmates that I graduated with just a year ago this weekend. I had the fortune of sitting next to a nice lady with a warm smile. She was older, had graying hair and a fanny pack. During these classes, frequently we get breaks. Being in these classes can be very monotonous and trying on someone's patience. During break, nice lady and I had a conversation like this: Lady: This is effing ridiculous. I feel like I'm in effing detention. Tomorrow is going to be an effing cluster-eff... (turning to face me and seeing fear on my face...) Sorry, I had a bad night at work last night and I'm just effing frustrated. (She mentioned her bad night at work about 5 times.) Tia: Hey it's cool. You know, everyone has their days. Bad night at work? Are you a trucker? (I understand her feeling like she's in detention. A lot of time is a wasted.) Lady: So why are you here? Tia: I have to take care of a class before I get licensed. I went to school up north and they say I have to do a few more things before I can practice. That's amazing that you said the eff word as many times as you did in that short amount of time. Lady: How many hours have you trained? Tia: By the time all is said and done, I'll have over 1400 hours. (side note: That's alot of hours. the average amount required by a state is about 600) This is where it gets good. Lady: Wow. That's alot. There's a thing over there.... (her voice drifts off as she walks me over to a chart of sorts that had every state listed with the hours they require)... North Carolina... so and so many hours... California... Holy Eff! That's a lot of hours!... ... UTAH... Utah... (turns to look at me) WHO. THE. EFF. WANTS. TO. GO. TO. UTAH. ANYWAY? You think those Effing Mormons really want massages anyway? Who would want to massage those effing Mormons? *This is where I start to get annoyed. I had to think quickly. Do I tell her I'm Mormon just not active? No. That's none of her business. However. She made me uncomfortable this whole time by being in my face, having offensive breath and saying the eff word on a consistent basis. AND she is one of those people that asks you a question but they don't really care to hear the answer because they are so concerned about hearing their own voice to boot. So, there was no place else to sit in the classroom, and now it was my turn to make her a little uncomfortable. Tia: Actually, we LOVE massages. And when I GO to UTAH to visit my brother and sister, I like to rub their shoulders. And when my brother from Utah came to visit me up north, I gave him a massage and also, his wife. The one he married in a Mormon temple. And my mom... my Mormon mom. She loves massage. She was always hounding me for one while I was in school. My sister... in Utah... works at a spa where they offer massage. There's actually Massage Schools IN UTAH. And the guys that wrote the review book for that National Board you have to take to get your license? Yeah. Guess what? Mormon. The whole time I'm talking to lady like this I am right in her face. Making sure she can't cut me off or walk away. Looking her right in the eye. There were a few hours left in the class and she had to sit next to me knowing that she had upset me. Tee hee. Lady: Well, they're ok I guess. That's all she had. They're ok I guess. Good come back lady. Nice fanny pack.

Let me try this again

Hi Everyone! Most of you have probably given up on me because I haven't been up on my blogging. There are a few reasons. a) I got married and that was a busy time. b) I can't think of things to blog about and when I do think of things, I always get nervous that people will be offended. c) When I do think of things to blog about, I can never word the blogs correctly so you may enjoy them. As I have mentioned before, I am ~j's little sister (I'd have a link to her blog here but I don't know how to do that and those of you that are visiting my blog, most likely got here from being on her blog). Anyway, I am ~j's little sister and she has an awesome blog. She is creative and always has great topics to write about and when I read her posts, it's as if I can actually hear her telling a story. Me? Not so much. Sometimes I don't feel as though I am blog material. Believe it or not, I have written a lot more posts, but I always delete them. What is this? Blog fright? Fear? Am I still 7 years old wanting to be like my big sister? Anyway, I will try to be more dillegent about blogging because quite frequently things happen that I would love to share with people. Like this: Last night, I dragged the New Mr. Tia to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy trivets. We thought we would just pick up a few things for the house. Well, sometimes a husband can be like a child. Case in point: I mention I want a spice rack. (Not right now, but maybe for Christmas or perhaps when we buy a new house) He starts laughing hysterically at the display pointing at the jar marked "Dill Weed".

Then we looked for an ice cube bucket for the freezer. We couldn't find one anywhere. That store can be sensory overload sometimes. I looked high and I looked low. And then as I looked, I walked toward my husband. I lightly stroked his arm and said, "Looks like they don't sell them here... Oh, you're not my husband."

And that's my story.

And here's a question for discussion: The color Aqua- is it predominately blue or green? I mean, I know it's blue-green but would you say it's more blue or more green?

are we there yet?

Folks, I'm getting married in 39 days. That's right. 39. All the hard work I've been putting in over the last 9 months is finally all coming together. I'm not nervous. I'm not scared. I don't have anxiety. I'm excited. I can't wait. I. Can't. Wait. I also can't sleep. This is killing me. I have been having the hardest time sleeping. I'll exhaust myself during the day to try to get to sleep at night and I usually crash between 11-11:30. But it doesn't last long. I'm awakened by nightmares of the wedding. I guess I shouldn't say nightmares. More or less they're dreams of possible things that could go wrong. Last night's dream was that I was walking around telling everyone I was getting married tomorrow when inactuality, it was still a week away. So everyone was getting ready for my wedding that I was a week early for. I've had dreams that I didn't get alterations done on my dress on time, so I was wearing a mini skirt and a jean jacket for Sean at the altar. Because, you know, a mini skirt and jean jacket closely resemble a Michaelangelo wedding gown. Then there was the one where nobody showed up because I forgot to send the invitations. These are all things that I have done. Things that won't happen. My gown is being altered right now. The invitations were sent and the reponses are coming in. And I'm well aware of my wedding date. But these dreams won't stop. And the sleeplessness won't either. It doesn't help when I hardly get any sleep, and I do things all day... (because that's the other thing that keeps me up... planning on what planning to get done the next day). I also have a job, people. And I am exhausted by the time I get there. I'm hoping that I am able to get sleep the night before this wedding. I'm also hoping that this will get better after everything is said and done. Although the driving thought that will keep me up then will be... "you need to send out thank yous NOW." Anybody feel me?

needing inspiration

I don't know if any of you suffer from the same thing I do... enlighten me.

I have to clean my house. I have clutter to get rid of. I have mounds of paper to shred. Dirty floors to be swept and mopped and vaccuumed... (dirty in MY eyes. Not so much in S's) Countertops that need to be 409'd... (not because they're sticky or messy, but because I'm slightly OCD about that). Laundry that needs to be washed. You get the jist.

But I don't want to. I don't get the bug to start doing such chores until about an hour before leaving for work and then EVERYDAY on my drive to work I chant in my head, "Tomorrow I will get up, and pick up the clutter. I will sort through the papers I don't need and organize my bills. I will do all the laundry so I'm not waiting til the last minute to have that clean cute outfit."

Instead, I get up, read the paper online, have my coffee, check my email... I procrastinate. I have 2 days off now and want to want to want to so bad get these things done. But it's not fun.

Please don't get me wrong, we are not slobs. I, for one, like my beeg seester, am a recovering pack rat. It's a disease that haunts many. Do I really need my pay stubs from my first job in 1996? Probably not. And what about those pants that just might make a comeback next season? I should just probably get a new pair when they do.

There are so many things I want to get done. But I'd rather, oh, I don't know, check my email numerous times a day just to verify how unpopular I am. Check my myspace for the same reasons.

I'm going to try to get started. Just blogging about it has motivated me a little.


...but I have to check my email first.

Enter-what?

Many moons ago, I had a man friend. He traveled 6 months out of the year for work. It just so happened that his birthday fell into those 6 months. So, I decide I want to go surprise him. I found a cheap ticket, I got his business partners involved on the surprise and I even had a corporate discount for a rental car company. I was set.

After confirming all my arrangements, I called the rental car company to make sure they were going to be there to, as they say in their ads "and we'll pick you up".

tia: "I see that your office closes at 9:00pm. My flight gets in at 8:50. I know that's cutting it close. Will I still be able to get my car?"

operator: "Oh yeah. We'll make a note in your file and we'll get you taken care of."

tia: "Great"

So I arrive. And I go to the rental shuttle service. No pick up. I call the office. No answer. I call the 800 number and get "That office is closed. I don't know what else you want me to do. It reopens at 6am."

So I decide to take a shuttle to another company and get the cheapest car I could find. When I initially was going to spend $50 on a rental for 2 days, I ended up spending 250 and some odd dollars.

I called the rental company the next day and they wouldn't do anything. Long story short- I ended up getting my money refunded to me in the end. After all was said and done, bad taste in the mouth of that company.

One week after moving to Lehigh Acres (I call it LA), I was in a car accident. A 4 car accident. Much damage was done to the ol' Focus o' mine. The accident happened on the same day S and I were to leave for vacation to Ocean City, MD. You see, rain in the south, is like ice in the north. There's no irrigation therefore, the rain ain't got nowhere to go. Hydroplaning is a big problem. I learned that the hard way. That, and Florida driver's are much to be desired.

So my insurance company covers rental cars up to $30 a day. Seeing that I needed one, I find out that my insurance company has a deal with the same company as my aforementioned tale. Great.

Here I am. Just in a car accident in a new place, not sure about myself and my move to begin with and then this happens now leaving me with the doubt of myself as a driver. I didn't even want to get into a car let alone drive one.

I drop my car off at the auto body shop and the man was kind enough to call the company because as they state in their ads "they'll pick you up". They did pick me up. So that made me feel better.

I arrive at the office and meet with SB. That's what we'll call him. He's the manager and he seemed very kind... at first. Our convo:

SB: "Would you like to take out the Collision Damage Waiver for $14.99 a day?"

tia: "I have renter's insurance on my policy so that should cover it. No thank you."

SB: "Well, most people in your situation would think so. However, should something happen... something as little as a grocery cart dinging it in the parking lot of a store , that will be another claim on your insurance within 30 days and your insurance will drop you."

Good scare tactic huh? It worked. I was scared.

I didn't think my car was going to be in repair for 16 days bringing my total for the collision damage blah blah blah to $240+.

Oh yeah, did I mention that S didn't know about it and when he found out he flipped his lid? Yeah... so he calls my claims adjuster and tells him what happened and my claims adjuster said that was a buncha crap.

So here we go, back to the rental office to talk to SB. And he says, there's nothing he can do about it. Everything was said and done. After some banter, he says, he'll refund half of the money "so everyone walks away happy." And then he says, "After all, we're all adults here and can make our own decisions." At that point S thought I was going to leap across the counter and use SB's necktie as a lethal weapon.

The end result after making phone calls and such, I got 100% of the collision blah blah fees back.

So last night, I am working and this guy comes to the bar and he looks ragged. Typical case of the Mondays. His buddies showed up and he starts to loosen up a little bit. As I'm clearing dishes from his place at the bar, I see he had torn the cocktail napkins into little pieces all over the bartop. He says, "Sorry. I made a mess." I said, "It's ok. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to your office tomorrow with all the pieces from my paper shredder and sprinkle them all over the place." He says, "Go right on ahead." Then I asked him where he worked......


.... you'll never believe it. Not only the company but the same office. He said SB might be coming into the bar actually. We discussed SB and the other associates involved in my situation. I shared my other story with him too. Then I told him that I was getting married out of town and have lots of friends and family that will be renting cars, but not from his company.

But then after he apologized, he asked if there was anything he could do for me. I mentioned the chance of redemption was in April when I have to go back to Jamestown for my bridal shower and my sister will be flying in too. A rental car sure would help.

He'll be getting back to me later today with a confirmation number.

I'm back baby

Hey Everyone!

Looks like I'm back! I can post again! I don't know how I did it but I am signed into blogger and we'll see how this goes.

Lots has happened since I last posted. The main thing is that my wedding date is creeping up on me like no other. 78 days and I'll be "Mrs. Hags." Hags is Sean's nickname and therefore, I'll be the Mrs.

I am so tired of hearing "the secret to a good marriage is..." The best part is is that the "advice" is coming from mainly people who are in the midst of a seperation or are divorced. Obviously, you know what the secret is because it was so successful for you, right?

That's all I have for now. I'll be back later to blog when I have a good idea for a post. Suggestions are welcome.