Raise the roof!

A few weeks ago a guy from the Safehaven Roofing company came to our door and asked us if we wanted a free inspection done to see if we had any roof damage from last October's hail storm. As long as it's free, we figured 'what the hey,' and let him go up. Sure enough, he found damage and wrote up a claim sheet and told us to call our homeowners insurance company. We did and USAA sent us a check to cover the expenses to get a new roof! Sweet! The repairs started yesterday morning at 6:15am. Good thing I was not off work and trying to sleep in because they're super loud up there with all the scraping and pounding! They stripped off all the shingles and such yesterday and today they started laying the new stuff. So far it's looking really nice! I can't wait 'till it's all done!

Last night I cooked a yummy dinner. What?! Julie cooks?? Haha, I know, I'm still not sure what came over me. Anyway, would you like to know what I whipped up so expertly? Ok, ok, I'll tell you. It's a little family favorite called Moclasagna. MMMmmm, SO good! Brandon loved it! But what he probably loved even more was just the fact that I made dinner in the first place. Hopefully I can start to make more of a habit of it. But, I don't know... I will miss not having my nacho cheese-covered Mexican Pizzas from Taco Bell... gosh, tough decision. Haha.

Berlin and Josh are laying next to me as I type. And Relik's in his cage, of course, behind me. He hasn't eaten in a while... I suppose I should thaw out a frozen 'Gourmet Rodent' for him. Blech! I can't stand to look at them all frozen over, though... all stiff and rigor-mortised. I feel so bad for them. But it is a step in the right direction from the live mice Brandon used to buy for him. THAT was really hard for me... thus the frozen mice.

We don't have any "big" fish anymore, we sold them and their tank/stand about 2 months ago on Craigslist to a very nice couple who collects large tanks and raises a variety of large fish. Now our only fish is my little beta named Edward. Our zoo is slowly dwindling down, as my bro-in-law, Greg, says. :)

Do you ever get so irritated when you see so many spelling/grammatical errors from different people? Especially at work or on Facebook? I see it ALL the time and I just wonder how people don't know how to write or spell at least decently... I guess that's just my personality. Heck, I know I'm not perfect, either, and there are probably even a few mistakes in my blogs... But the really obvious errors people make just downright bother me! I really want to correct every single one I see but I know I would probably lose a lot of friends that way. Haha. At my work there are 'exceptions' people who work on issues that are unusual and differ from the majority of my department's processes. I wish I could become the "Proofreading" exceptions person that would proofread my co-workers' (even management's!) e-mails, letters, etc. before they're sent out. I'm too nervous to bring the idea up, though, for fear that it would offend people and get me fired. So, for now, I guess I'll just have to do my best to continue swallowing every mistake I see. *Sigh*

Catching up

So, yesterday was Memorial Day. I am very thankful to all the military service men/women who sacrificed their life for my country's freedom. On Saturday we had a BBQ at my house and Brandon's sister's family came as well as Brandon's mom and 2 brothers. We had a great time hanging out and swimming in the diving pool. I originally had set my mind on not swimming seeing as it was only 100 degrees out and still not warm enough for me to swim. However, once I saw how much fun everyone but me was having swimming, I determined to get in, however long it took me. After about half an hour of inching my way in, I decided enough was enough, mustered up my courage, climbed atop the diving board, watched one of my nieces-in-law beckon me a few times, assumed a crouching position, quieted my terrified and screaming thoughts, and dove in! BRRR! Of course, the initial shock was horrible, but after a few seconds it went away and I was good to go! My first swim of 2011! It was really a blast except when one of my toes wouldn't quit cramping downward... ouch!! I drank a bottle of water and ate a banana, upon Andrea's suggestion, and that seemed to help.

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've blogged. A lot has happened since my last post, for real!! In my last post I had mentioned how I went to the Desert Botanical Garden... I was complaining about it a lot and I wish I hadn't. That was the last time I saw Michelle Pagano. She passed away a few months later on Oct. 28, 2011. She was driving home from her aethsetician class to go pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Téa. She was heading east on the 202 and a drunk driver was going the wrong way down the highway and hit her head-on at about 100mph. He survived, of course... It's really such a tragedy and she is dearly missed. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/traffic/wrong-way-driver-kills-36-year-old-woman-10282010

On a lighter note (well, actually, a very happy note), I am excited to announce...drum roll, please... Brandon and I bought our first house last year!! :oD We closed at the end of September, 2010. It is a 4br/2ba home, about 2,100sqf, 2 car garage, RV gate, and a diving pool! We're sooo happy we finally have a home of our own and we're not wasting our money sending in a rent check every month anymore! We've already done a little bit of remodeling and a few months ago Brandon built us a backyard shed from scratch!

Also, last year in May, we adopted another doggie! His name is Josh (he came with that name) and he is a brindle Pit. He is the sweetest, most mellow thing you will ever meet. Brandon's mom and also his sister have already said they want to steal him ;o) He and Berlin are inseparable, as you can imagine. The only sad thing is that Josh ruptured his cruciate ligament in both his knees so he limps :o( The vet said the only option is surgery and each leg will cost $1,500!! Holy smokes!! Suffice to say, we're still saving up to afford it.

And speaking of money, thanks to Dave Ramsey, Brandon and I are paying off a lot of debt! Currently we only have 1 other debt besides the house to pay off and we're really excited about it!! We only wish we had started Dave's Total Money Makeover plan years ago! I recommend everyone look into it! He has a nightly show on KTAR at 7pm.

My parents and sister, Emily, came out to AZ to visit about 2 weeks ago. It was a really fun time. Emily stayed at my house so we had a lot of good quality time together. She made me a very cute stuffed panda bear (my favorite animal!) and a beautiful green beanie (my favorite color!). We watched Pride & Prejudice together while eating Taco Bell one night... two of my favorite things in life! Haha... It was fun hanging out with the rest of the fam, too. We playing games like Pass The Pig and video games on the Wii/N64. I am disappointed, however, that I forgot to ask my dad to play a round of Pente with me. :o( Oh, well, they should be back in August anyway because...

...Katie's pregnant with baby girl # 2! She's scheduled to deliver via C-section Aug. 20, 2011!! We're all really excited!!

Well, I best get going before I write a novel!

Have a slice of Pi

So, as most of you know, over the past few years I've been memorizing pi a little at a time. It all started in the car on a roadtrip when my dad informed me that he had 30-some digits of pi memorized. Being the competitive person that I am, I was rather intrigued. I made up my mind that I would also have to memorize pi. So, my memorization journey began. With my dad's help I memorized as many digits as he had fairly quickly. I kept on, occasionally adding 3 or 4 more digits at a time. Not before long I had memorized 68 digits of pi. While impressive, I find myself stuck. I try to add on 3 more digits, but they just don't stick! Maybe it's because I'm not as passionate about it as I used to be. I figure, hey, if I can get shock-value with 68 digits, that's good enough for me! I know you're probably waiting for the dramatic end to this story, the exciting punch line, but that was really all I had to say. Just wanted to get it out of my system!

Brandon just finished mowing the front lawn. It's so hot out, poor guy! He's definitely a trooper. He's like a mailman that doesn't let any type of weather stop him. I suppose he has to be that way, though, in his line of work. He crawls through sweltering 140-degree attics! I would be passed out within 2 minutes! I guess that's a Happ thing, though. We overheat pretty easily. Like this past weekend when I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens with Katie, it was all outdoors (to my dismay) and it was blazing hot! I immediately started sweating and was inwardly loathing every minute of it. It wasn't as bad when we went in the Butterfly Emporium. It was a big netted tent with misters that came on every few minutes. It was fun to see all the butterflies but they didn't keep my attention off the heat for long. I was not appropriately dressed for the occasion, which didn't help matters at all. I wore a black shirt, dark jeans, and dark tennis shoes. This was because I was under the impression that everything (or, mostly everything) was going to be indoors. It wasn't so!! And to top it all off, it was $18 to get in! WAY overpriced, in my opinion! Just outside pathways with cacti and sporadic lizards/birds and the like. Oh, and the cafe there charges $5 for a hotdog! Really?? My goodness, it's robbery, I tell you! Thankfully we didn't stay long, but at the same time I almost wanted to stay longer so I could get my $18-worth (that's the stingy masochist in me, I guess!). Well, you live and learn.

My tummy is a rumblin' so I better go eat a Swiss Cake Roll. Cheers!

No Clue

So this is my very first blog ever in my life. Woo hoo! I'm pretty stoked, but I'll be honest, I am really nervous that my blogging career is going to be an epic fail. I really don't know what to blog about. I wish I had kids so I could have something interesting and worthwhile to write about. But I don't, so I'm afraid my entries are going to turn out to be a bunch of random thoughts/facts/questions/ponderings. Hopefully you don't mind. I guess you don't because you're still reading! Haha. So as I sit here at the computer I hear the soft patter of mice feet (or paws, I guess they're called?) in the small cage beside me. They are the food for Brandon's Banana California King snake named Relik. Fear not, he is friendly, or, at least he has been so far. He doesn't have teeth and he's not poisonous and I get a kick out of letting him slither through my hands sometimes!

I still remember the first time Brandon brought a live mouse home with the intention of feeding it to Relik. I cried for the poor little soul. I vowed I would save him and yet he still ended up in the snake's belly. Well, I'm probably creeping you out right now, so I'll quit with all the snake talk. My dog, Berlin, is sleeping on the floor behind my chair. She finally gave up all the whining and begging to be released from this room I have her locked in with me. I haven't found her to be trustworthy to roam the rest of the house unsupervised yet. The last time I did that (2 days ago) I found her as happy as can be tearing my bathing suit apart. Ah, well, I needed a new one anyway.

I'm sure you're probably wondering what kind of a canine she is, breed-wise. She's a mix of Boxer and Pit bull. Now, now. Please don't think that just because she's part Pit that she's going to turn on us and maul us to the point of becoming unrecognizable. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners, if you can even call some that. Like Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer) says, "I deal with a lot of red zone cases, and I often hear people incorrectly blaming the breed. Any breed can cause trouble. The difference between an aggressive Chihuahua and an aggressive Pit Bull is that the bigger breeds can cause proportionately bigger damage." Berlin is a very sweet and energetic dog. We love her to bits. She knows her basic commands and we have even trained her to ring a bell that hangs on the backdoor when she wants to go outside. Brandon taught her to "roll over" in about 10 minutes a few days ago. She's very smart!

Well, I think I've written enough for my first blog. I guess it didn't turn out to be as crappy as I thought it was going to! Haha. Stay tuned for the next entry but don't hold your breath!