Ramble on, sing my song

woweee, time flies!!!

cecilb25 — Wed, 23 May 2007 22:47:03 GMT

So my life has been crazy. I didn't realize it's been since last August that I posted anything. We moved from San Jose, CA to Vancouver, WA. I work in Portland now. I am 7 months pregnant now. Baby James Bond is due in mid-July. That's right, cah-razy life!!! We moved here in September, bought a house in October & found out we were expecting a baby in November. Talk about panic! I move far away from my very best friends & almost all of my family & now I'm having a baby. So far everything is good, my doctor tells me I'm "boring". The baby & I are both growing at a healthy rate & we have no health problems to speak of, I knock on wood every day hoping it continues this way. My brother & his wife are due with their first baby in early June. Also a boy. I can't wait, I'll become both an auntie & a mommy within 6 weeks time. My life is still pretty boring except that now I can't even spice it up with a good weekend bender once in a while! I take the light rail into Portland every day & crochet while I'm riding to work. I've made probably 7 baby blankets since I started working here in October. My crazy cat is pretty well adjusted to live in WA, but she does miss being able to go outside. We have no fence & there are deer, coyotes & raccoons that frequent our neighborhood, so visits to the outside world are not going to happen for the poor kitty, even supervised we could never catch her if she decided to make a break for it. She is hanging out in the windows all the time & really whines about it when wildlife gets into the backyard. What else? hmmmm, nothing much really. new state, new house, new job, new baby. Same old me, same old hubby, same old cat. I hope to have more time to update once I go on maternity leave, but I hear that I will probably be even more tired once the baby comes...great, just what I needed. Hugs to you all. Sorry I've been away so long!

So long....

cecilb25 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:21:07 GMT

...since i wrote anything here. We're still waiting for the Post Office to send us the money they owe us for running over our fence and pouring gasoline on our lawn. ...old house. We are in the process of selling our first home. It should fetch us a pretty penny since we spent all of June & half of July fixing it up nicer than it ever was the whole 6 years that we have lived here. Now that it's so pretty I wish I could stay there. ...to my job. 5 years at this company & they sold us out. Lay-offs have been ongoing since mid-July as they reconfigure & move the company HQ to Houston. So long & good riddance. I'm out on Aug 31. So much for loyalty. ...California life. We are moving to Washington state/Portland Metro area. My hubby is already there in our new apartment with our cat & working at his new job. I've lived here all of my life, but we have decided to see what else is out there in this big country. All our family & friends here seem to be opposed except for the choice few who realize that we would never get ahead living here. It's a new adventure. I'm totally excited & freaked out at the same time. No more safety net, time to have faith that we can catch ourselves. Hoping to buy our new house before the end of this year. Hope everyone else is trying new things & succeeding at them!

LOL! Yoda got a haircut...

cecilb25 — Wed, 24 May 2006 00:53:04 GMT

Took Yoda to the groomer today. We've been meaning to get her shaved before hygiene became an issue, but it always seems to happen anyway. Being a long haired girl with a healthy diet, she has trouble cleaning the back end so well. I called the groomer over the weekend to find out hours, etc. The lady who does cats is only there on Fridays & couldn't see us until June 2, so I left my name & tel# in case they could get us in sooner because my Yoda was phee-euw, stinky! She called today & said she could see us if we could get there by noon. Stop the presses! I cancelled lunch plans & hopped in my car to go get the beast. Just as I pull in the parking lot, Yoda actually starts trying to reason with me. "mew, mew, mew" I take this to mean "take me home mommy, I promise not to sit my stinky-butt on your pillow!" and I smile & say "everything's ok kitty-girl". We go in & I drop her off for the "lion cut", that humiliating shave leaving just a fluffy face, tail & boots. (don't judge, it's getting warm & the cat is miserable in the heat...not to mention the poo-butt issues!) The groomer, nice lady named Jennifer, tells me that she will probably be done around 3pm as she has 2 or 3 other cats to groom who got there before us. I get back to work, eat my lunch & it's all of 1pm when I get a phone call. Jennifer has to stop because Yoda is FREAKING OUT. Apparently she got about halfway done & Yoda began actively attacking, flipping around the table & biting at her. I say "yes, she is an agressive cat" and she says "Aggressive I can handle, I have to stop because I'm afraid your cat will hurt herself the way she's flipping around the place". I call hubby to go pick her up since he's just getting off work. Jennifer told us that she could try again if one of us was there, sometimes they do better with an owner there. Not this girl. So he picked her up, paid $30 for a nearly shaved cat, then took her across the street to the vet for the rest of the "sanitary shave" since Jennifer was unable to keep her calm enough to shave the stinky part. When I have a dirty job to do, I always start with the hardest part, but Jennifer apparently did the easiest part first. The vet charged $5 & did what they could to clean the hind-quarters, without further traumatizing my girl. I have photos of my cat's hair-cut in my album, put the side view here for easy viewing. I couldn't keep it to myself!!! Poor kid, she is not happy with me for leaving her there. Jennifer told us to start grooming her & making her sit for it or else Yoda will flip out every time she goes for grooming no matter where we take her. The vet suggested they see her for a check-up & then they can maybe sedate her to finish the grooming. Poor kitty. I'm definitely going to try some of the Tribe suggestions I've seen about how to brush a reluctant kitty.

I'm sooooo tired, this week has been and will be FULL

cecilb25 — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 23:37:30 GMT

Tuesday, Sharks game! They are in the play-offs, we were given tickets by my husband's boss. I had the BEST TIME. We got our faces painted at the street fair/rally before the game. We got to sit in the suite. The crowd was INTO the game like nobody's business. We got to meet SCOTT PARKER. He is my favorite Shark, and he signed my jersey...my first signature! I could barely speak coherently because I was soooo excited! I am a typical goofy fan. I'll have to post some pics soon of us with painted faces & signed jerseys. Today, 10-year wedding anniversary. I love this man soooo much! We've been married through good times (lots & lots) & bad (not too many, thank goodness!) for 10 whole years (together for almost 12 total). Here's to 10, 20, 30 more! He quit smoking 7 weeks ago, so that should help us make a longer life together. Today, round 2, found out my company is being acquired. I am always the last to know anything because I just don't believe the rumors. We've been rumored to be acquired at least once every 3 months for the almost 5 years I've been working here. Today it's true! I believe they will close this location before the end of the year. Here's to new opportunities! Today, round 3, Sharks game tonight. Will be watching the game at home with my honey, eating cheap frozen pizzas in honor of the way we celebrated our engagement over 10 years ago. We got engaged at home, just the two of us there (shared the house with my mom & uncle then, but nobody was home to tell that night!) & then bought frozen pizza at the grocery store & came home to eat dinner in our sweats while watching tv in my room. Romantic we are not! Saturday, my little brother's (surprise) 30th birthday party. His real birthday is in May but his wife figured it would make for a better surprise to do it 2 weeks early. I would have preferred to not have it on my anniversary weekend, but no big deal. It's not like we have the money to go away or do anything huge for our anniversary, especially with the job thing how it is. We are in charge of drinks & will be drinking ourselves under the table in celebration of EVERYTHING that has happened this week. I'm tired already and there are 2 more days to go for me. I think I'll have the other half of that bottle of wine that I opened earlier this week. I need something to celebrate/relax with. Weekend is almost here... just... one... more... day!

Life is sucking lately...

cecilb25 — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:02:15 GMT

I think I'm going to cry! One of my most FAVORITE people in the world that I met through Tribe seems to have unsubscribed. I can't find his email address that he sent me long ago via Tribe messages & I feel I have lost him forever! I miss you Patrick, I think it's only been about an hour or two since you unsubbed, but waaaaaaaaaaah!!! There is great weeping & wailing & gnashing of teeth! For those of you who don't know, which is ALL of my Tribe friends except for Bad Kitty (love you girlie, thanks again for just being you), my father-in-law passed away on March 15. It was completely unforeseen & unexpected by all who knew him. He was only 58 years old. He was 15 mins late to work & his co-workers knew that in 12 years he has never been late, called in sick or taken a vacation so they called family right away. He was a quiet man but we never realized how many lives he touched, there were probably almost 100 people at the funeral & I didn't even know he talked to people who weren't family! (he had a speech impediment & was also a very private man) My husband & I have been consumed with funeral details & now have to start dealing with all the probate stuff. Just amazing how hard it is to navigate death. My advice to all is to make our your will and/or make your wishes known ASAP to your loved ones. We had no direction & his family has not been at all helpful in that everyone has been telling us what to do with his one possession (his car) but not trying to help us pay for the funeral or even help my husband & I deal with it, we've had to be "strong" for everyone else. For a young couple who are trying to get OUT of debt, paying $8k or more for a funeral, lawyer, etc is not the best way to help. I can only be grateful that my hubby's family gave us the space in their mom's gravesite for us to use for my father-in-law. That would have been another $10k that we would have had to pull out of our arses. My immediate family & friends have been sooooo wonderful & kind. People at work sent flowers the day we found out, friends who had never my my father-in-law came to the funeral to be support for me & my hubby. I am rich with family & friends in a way I will never be rich in life. You really only find out who is there for you when tragedy strikes. And as a result of all the funeral planning, I have been absent from Tribe as of late & this week is hell at work as it is quarter-end. I was starting to feel that I was neglecting my Tribe friends & then I just had to write something when I found that Patrick seems to have disappeared from our various Tribes. I want to let all my Tribe friends know that I love you all as much as I can love a group of people I've never met & please be grateful for EVERY day that you have. Love your family & friends every minute of every day because you never know when they will be taken from you. (I'm not religious, I'm just missing people & realizing that we don't have forever) Don't miss an opportunity to tell someone how much they mean to you because you might not get another one. oh, now I'm all verklempt! Love, hugs & kisses to you all. It may be a few days before I log back in just because of work being sooooo hectic, but I promise I'll be back!

Oops!

cecilb25 — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:46:31 GMT

Have I been signing myself as Lushy around here? Lushy is my myspace name, I'm such a total goober I can't even keep track of my nicknames. Call me whatever you want. I answer to any of the following: Cecillie, Sexily, Lushy, hey you, Leslie, Celeste, Cecilia, Drunk Girl, and anything else you want to call me that is not a bad word... Hope I haven't confused anybody too much.

Mother TRUCKER!

cecilb25 — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:35:02 GMT

Does inactivity mean not doing anything at all? or viewing & not writing? I need a definition. I've been all over Tribe for at @ an hour, I think I've posted some comments. Suddenly I'm in the middle of posting & I hit submit & get a message that I've been kicked out for inactivity within the last 60 minutes. I'm ticked!!!

Living Will

cecilb25 — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:39:08 GMT

This was emailed to me today. I had to fill it out, so y'all know what to do if I slip into a coma. Not to be confused with an alcoholic stupor though... I, Cecillie Bond (aka Sexily), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it or lawyers/doctors interested in simply running up the bills. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to ask for at least one of the following: ______a Bloody Mary ______a Margarita ______a Scotch and soda ______a Martini ______a Vodka and Tonic ______a Steak ______Lobster or crab legs ______The remote control ______ Chocolate ______Sex it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

Read this, or ELSE!

cecilb25 — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:23:54 GMT

I know I need to write more, just haven't had time. But there are some new pics in my profile now. To quote Bart Simpson "if somebody doesn't look at me soon i'm just gonna die!". Speaking of Simpsons (i know, we weren't, but i needed a segueway), check out my Halloween costume in my pics. I won a Nano with that baby. Don't try breaking into my house to steal it, I keep that sucker with me at all times. It's name is Sophie. I know I'm wierd, whatever! YOU decided to read this, I didn't force you. Oh, wait, I guess I did kind of try to threaten you, never mind. Don't cross your eyes like that, what if they freeze that way? Guess I don't really need segueways so much...

New nickname...

cecilb25 — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:24:17 GMT

I can't just tell you about it, I have to preface because otherwise it wouldn't be a story by me. ;-) So, nobody can ever say my name right the first time they read it or hear it. Ok, I shouldn't say nobody. Apparently the spelling is what does it for them. It's pronounced exactly the same as my amazing tribe friend Cecily. But my mom had to be different. Whatever, I like it & it fits me. But here's a list of the mis-pronunciations... Cecile, Celeste, Celery, Cecilia (most common!), Leslie (I think I have a slight lisp when I say it on the phone), and now, I have a new one, I think it's the best yet, here's the story. At work last week my friend & co-worker comes over with a questions & she says "hey, Sexily..." stops & looks shocked at herself & then we just dissolve into giggles. She totally misspoke, but of course I pounced on it. "THAT is what I will be called from now on! I LOVE it!". So please, feel free to call me Sexily from now on. It's my new favorite.

Just cause they call me Lushy...

cecilb25 — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 23:21:50 GMT

Looking back at my posts I'm not an alcoholic, seriously. It's just that the main part of my life is not very interesting...i work, i come home, i crochet, i play with my cat, i watch tv with my husband. The times when I'm drinking though, VERY amusing. ;-)

Gone Crawlin, don't be callin (part B, bars 5-8 + drive-thru)

cecilb25 — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 23:18:47 GMT

Ok, so when we last saw everyone, we were just leaving the 4th bar, Don Jose's Mexican restaurant. On to Spanky's, the bar with a stripper pole! No strippers, but drunken patrons can certainly take their turn. As with every year I'm the first one to decide that pole needs to be put to use. Unfortunately, as with every year, it's karaoke night. So I pole dance to my friend's date singing "Love is a Battlefield". Hooray for amatuers! After she's done singing, she comes to join me in the pole dancing. Remember by this time I have consumed the following beverages: kamikaze, one pint of pear cider, one cosmo from a plastic cup, one blue margarita & one raspberry vodka. In my brain I am THE hottest pole dancer since the world began. So then another random chick comes over to join us. Then my friends date & the random chick start kissing, so I get the heck out of the way. Guys are cheering, my husband took a picture of it. In fact, I think that about 30 guys with cameras & camera phones took pictures. It happens every year. Thank goodness it's never me...I can't imagine having a pic like that floating around in the world. Trust me, there are plenty of more embarrassing pix of me out there anyway. No need to fan the flames like that! But I digress. After the kissing, my friend's date goes to step off the stage & mis-steps somehow & lands flat on her back on the floor. ouch! Luckily my friend is an EMT & takes her off to get some air & empty her stomach into the gutter. My hubby & the rest of our posse decide to head off to the next bar. yay! On the way I find a $1 bill that has migrated from the waistband of my pants down to my thigh, I made $2 dancing on the stripper pole, score! We enter Doucets & there is already a crowd, how come we weren't first this time? Oh well, I join a friend of a friend at the bar & give him $5 to order me a pint of pear cider. Off to sit & drink my drink. At this bar we just hang out & talk. Once the drinks are done we decide to just head to the next bar. The Waiting Room. I go in & visit their restroom (did I mention I used the restroom in every bar again this year? it's a little drinking game I play all by myself). The I come out & we all decide that we're not in need of any beverages at this bar. It's small & there's too many people at the bar & we decide to go on to the last bar instead of trying to get a drink. Besides, we are waaaaay drunk, so skipping one won't kill the buzz. On the way to the next bar we stop at the Quik Stop. We walk in all yelling "no wheezing the juice" & wander around aimlessly. The reason we stop is because my new best friend, Rain, needs batteries for her camera. While we are there, Rock & James (not my hubby) pose for a pic with the life-size Coors Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleader poster. As we walk out Rain hands us all reeses peanut butter cups & kitkats that she bought or maybe just took, we think she bought them because nobody chased us, but she's not really sure where she got them. And she puts the new batteries in her camera. We walk into the last bar, the Valley Inn. And we all decide that once again, alcoholic beverages are not necessary. At some point James (my husband) buys me a small bag of beef jerky, it's a tradition at that bar for us. And he also brought me a glass of water, which is when I realize that I did not drink water all night...no wonder I'm drunk! We decide that it's time to go, our friend Ryan left after the 5th bar to take his date home, so we are on our own for a cab. The bartender calls one & we go outside to wait. Then we come back in to ask when they are coming because it's been 10 minutes & Castro Valley is not that big. I buy an energy drink & we head back out. Rain & James decide to walk to their hotel, a kind CastroVallitarian showed them the way. Another 10 mins & someone walks up to me & asks if I'm Cecillie. A guy I don't know. I say yes, & then ask how he knows me. He's from Tribe. I am thrilled that someone took my advise & joined us. My husband was acting jealous so I did not get to talk to him for long. But thank you to Bison for showing up & helping to make this the biggest crawl ever! I hope you don't think we're rude. Men can be SO territorial you see. So after another 10 mins...half hour waiting in all my husband calls Ryan to come & get us. Ryan shows up & allows my husband to talk him into driving thru at Jack in the Box. Apparently everyone had this idea, I think there were at least 10 cars in front of us. The car in front of us had 2 guys in it but their order took forever. When we drove up my husband was all "what the heck was that all about!?" and the guy says "don't even start with me, those two ordered 25 tacos!" We get our food & drive back to Ryan's house where we all chow down. Then it's time for us to turn in & sleep it off. Didn't get home until noon the next day. All in all, a very good crawl!

Gone Crawlin, don't be callin! (part 1, bars 1-4)

cecilb25 — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 05:59:00 GMT

So the pub crawl I've been talking about for a year happened last Saturday night. I had 10-15 people confirmed going with me...finally a good showing from my group of friends! Then the numbers started dwindling, and dwindling some more. Where are your priorities people??? I plan for the pub crawl all year long! This was my 4th year? 5th year? Not quite sure, I've been drunk every time! No really, I think it was my 5th one. Ah, who counts anyway. We end up with one good friend (Rock) driving up with us and my other friend & her hubby promising to meet us there. So we show up at the first bar at 7:50...by 8:00 there are @ 12 people, "not too shabby" I think. Then @ 8:10 the bus must have shown up. Probably 50 people stream into Dino's Lounge in 5-10 minutes time. You can't even get near the bar. Lucky we got our drinks right away when we got there. So it's now 8:30 and I'm starting to sober up, this isn't how it's sposed to go! My hubby & I start lobbying to move to the next bar NOW. So me, my hubby, our good friend Rock, & our 2 new friends (James & Rain) decide to walk ahead to the second bar. My friend Ryan (one of the organizers) warns that we'll miss the photo op, but we decide getting a drink before the crowd beats being in the pic. Off we go! Second bar...Krayons! We get drinks & chat with the manager, Gina. I decide to go see if the crawl is on it's way, we've been there 10 whole minutes. I go outside & look...there's a WAVE of people heading toward us. Fabulous!!! But again, I'm out of alcohol and there is no way I can get to the bar now. Time to go! Again our troupe of 5 heads out ahead of the crowd. To the Bowling Alley Bar! aka the brass boar. We go in, hit the restroom & order our drinks. We also warn the barmaid that she will need help, there are @ 100 people on their way over. She panics & calls for back up. In swarms the rest of the crawl. 10 minutes into this portion of the evening my previously mentioned gf calls to tell me that she & hubby are going to be a no-show after all. No problem, I'm drunk! Nothing gets me down when I'm drunk. Hey look, the glass is empty, time to head to the 4th bar! This is the Mexican Restaurant bar, Don Jose's. We walk in and I ask the bartender to make me a blue margarita on the rocks no salt (traditional drink I have with my friend Ryan every year in the Mexican restaurant bar). He looks at me like my head's on backwards & holds up the blue curacao. I nod...yes, that IS what makes it blue you see. He begins to make the drink...in a BLENDER! "stop, I want that on the rocks!" "oh, sorry" and he proceeds to pour it into TWO glasses rimmed with salt! "No! no salt" i say, "oh sorry, you want two right?" "um, no, I ordered one, oh yes, fine give me two" I say, thinking I'll give one to Ryan so he doesn't have to try & explain the blue margarita again. He pours one into a plain glass & the other has salt. Ryan gets the one with salt. At least chip boy was awesome, kept bringing chips & salsa to the table! They opened up the bar patio for all of us and we demolished our drinks & many many baskets of chips. Hurray for Don Jose with the free chips & salsa!!! We also met a guy who joined our table with his dog. A Weimeraner named Knotty, or Noddy? We're not sure but it was NOT Naughty. Nice guy, he was just there for dinner. btw, so far there have been NO group pictures taken. In every year past, the whole crew stops for a photo outside of each bar before moving on, but this year is a much bigger crowd & it's a little harder to corral 100 people for a photo when most of us are there to drink & walk. I have to stop now. It's late & I'm getting tired, but stay tuned for part 2, bars 5-8. Here's a little taste...pole dancing, karaoke, girls falling down and a special appearance by a Tribe member!

Would you let this woman watch your kid?

cecilb25 — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 06:28:45 GMT

So I'm on the light rail yesterday crocheting a scarf & watching this guy with his daughter & her friend. They got on the train & it was a little bit crowded so the girls wanted to stand bcuz there weren't enough seats & they were just playing around, hanging from the straps & stuff. Young kids, being cute how kids will be you know. So then at some point the dad is on the phone & finally tells them to sit & stop jumping around. So then he says, "go talk to the lady & ask her what she's making". So they come over & sit with me & ask me what I'm making & compliment my work. They were nice kids, but sheesh, aren't you supposed to teach your kids not to talk to strangers? I could have been a psychopath. I mean, I'm not, but I could have been! We had a nice conversation, the girls are in 4th grade, they started school in August, one's fav color was purple & the other was green, Michele-the friend-wants to learn to crochet, blah blah blah. The dad was within watching distance, but still...go sit with a stranger & visit??? Am I being weird about this? Overly protective of other people's kids? And when did I become a free babysitter for the general public? I need to start wearing dark glasses & stop combing my hair & start mumbling to myself in public so people will not expect me to mind their children. If I wanted to watch kids, I'd have some of my own.

OK so I'm drunk

cecilb25 — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 06:50:35 GMT

Of course I pick the night that I've had 5 long island iced teas and am blitzed out of my mind to post my first blog. DON'T YOU JUDGE ME! My husband, bff & her husband have just come home from the Neil Diamond concert. DON'T YOU JUDGE ME! It was just about one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I LOVE this man! Sweeeeet Caroline. Seriously, DON'T YOU JUDGE ME! My husband met a girl there & invited her & her friends to join us in the suite, did I mention our seats were in the suite? and there was just four of us in there? FABULOUS!!! So my husband invites people he met in line for beer...they said there was 5 of them. I think @ 12 people showed up. Most of them were nice, but some of them were a little bit loud. No biggie. My bff was a bit annoyed, but I still had a blast! Forever in BLUE JEANS! We LOVE you Neil!!! But seriously what a fabulous concert. We make up a drinking game for every concert. My drinking game this time was if you see a wheelchair, a cane, a walker or an oxygen tank...I'll drink to that! We even drank to a couple of fabulous shiny shirts. Unfortunately my friend was drinking water instead of alcohol, but whatever. As long as I get drunk & have fun, that's what counts. DON'T YOU JUDGE ME! What an amazing time! No pictures because they didn't allow cameras, phones or camera phones during the concert. I don't even care, the memories will last a lifetime. They're coming to AMERICA! TODAY!!! I said, DON'T YOU JUDGE ME! Love you all. I'm taking my drunk ass to bed now. Kisses all around! Did I mention I'm drunk? muwah!