Quite a bit has been going on since my last blog.  Here is the bathroom version:

1.  I got a job.  I actually am, once again, a waitress.  On St. Patrick's Day, Dave, Gertie, and I were already downtown participating in all things Irish, when we stumbled upon Calhoun Street.  While eating a delicious lunch, I decided to ask the very bubbly and kind waitress if they were hiring.  Welp, I filled out an application, and a week later the owner called me.  I have been training for two weeks.  The restaurant has a simple, tasteful, and clean menu.  Great sandwiches, great soups, and great beer.  I am clearly not cool enough to work there, as I have noticed it being a Hipster hang out.  Google the term "Hipster" if you aren't familiar. 


2.  My second job entails cleaning houses.  I have walking through my second client's house tomorrow.  It is nice to have this cash in my pocket because it is easy, mindless money.  I am proud of my cleaning, although my house doesn't reflect it.  HOWEVER, my bathrooms are always clean.  They may be messy, but they are always clean.  Also, the sheets on every bed are CLEAN.  Bleachy, and delicious.

3.  It has been raining.  A lot.  I'm over it. 

4.  Biscuit is still naughty and has escaped the confines of our fence twice.  Naughty.

5.  The Boston Marathon:  Sad.  So sad.  Terrorists are cowards.  They need to find a new hobby and a new "religion" to practice.  My religion involves loving small soft animals and smelling clean laundry.

6.  I found a weekly babysitter for Gertie.  Daycare searching blows the big one and I don't recommend it.  I have come to realize day care centers are filthy and the employees are rude, and getting rich off the working woman's dime.  Not okay.  Thankfully, Ms. Alicia, Gertie's new sitter, is nice and delightful.  Her son Cristian, is so stinking cute.  AND, her husband, Brad, played sports with Kyle.  A win-win.

7.  In honor of spring's arrival, while Greta and I were in the D last weekend, we took the time to visit the school farm.  All I'm going to say is Baby. Goats.  Yep, LOTS of baby goats and baby lambs and a few peacocks.  Who needs Xanax?!  Oh my.  Lots of softies.  I'm sure I contracted some crazy strain of gona-syphill-herpe-aids, but I'm a better woman for it.

8.  I will begin preparing for our May 1-2 garage sale.  I'm hoping to make $300, selling some furniture that is no longer needed, and other home treasures.  I'm hoping to make enough money to buy a SMALLER television for the family room and a large console table for it to sit upon.  Again, a win-win.

9.  Tiger baseball is in full swing.  To mark the occassion, I hit up the Salvation Army in the D. and found a bounty of Detroit sport teeshirts for Gertie.  For me?  A hot pink J Crew teeshirt for work. 

10.  I started to tackle our landcaping, er, lack there of.  I have moved one bush.  Four more to go.  I'd like to win a $10,000 landscape makeover to solve our "no tree" problem. 

Happy Friday!

Finding childcare sucks.  I have NO idea how moms (especially working moms or prego moms) do this.  AND, the worrying about whether Greta will nap at the hand of someone else is causing MAJOR stress.  I feel like I should be paid a salary of $50,000 or more for one child.  With each additional offspring, my pay should increase at least $15K. 

Garage sale season is upon us.  I found my first sign today.  In celebration of this event, I went antiquing and found a vintage lard tin and watering can.  Score. 

Now if I can find some large wall art for cheap.....

Today, Dave and I dusted off the ol' Huffy and took Greta on her first bikeflag (bike ride) of the season.  With an extra 30 pounds in tow (Greta in her seat), we took to the mean streets of Aboite and enjoyed the glorious spring weather.  While on our journey, we saw a crayfish, one large dog, several fancy-schmancy nuevo riche homes, and several trees needing pruning.  It was pretty windy, which made the hills EXTRA fun for me (and my large fanny).  An hour and a half later, my legs are sore and Greta is napping.  We made two pit stops so Greta could enjoy a slide or two.  Thankfully, we are within bike riding distance to some great play areas at the local elementary schools.  Greta's elementary school, Deer Ridge, is less than a mile away.  It has a GREAT play area AND a recycling bin!  (You know what that means:  Coupons.)

On a side note, I started my waitressing job at Calhoun Street. I love the people that work there, I love the food, and the building is historic.  The owner, Ms. Donna, is fabulous and is NOT an alcoholic pscyho, like the last restaurant owner I worked for (at Longhorn in Bloomington).  Clearly, I'm not cool enough to work here, due to the major amount of tattoos, cool hair dos, piercings, and affinity for Hipster music.  I'm working on it.  I have decided to ONLY wear my Detroit shirts while working there.  If I can display my ties to the D., I will always represent.  And most importantly, I was trained by the owner's niece, Amy.  She happened to graduate from Dwenger with Dave's brother, Kyle, and remembers him as a nice person.  Not only is Amy super nice, but she knows the restaurant very well.  Sadly, some folks there take advantage of her outstanding work ethic and don't pull their weight.  This pisses me off, and I'm always one to say something.  Because, you are a representation of your employer.  I know how much work and sacrifice goes into running a restaurant.  If people knew the sacrifice, they'd work 100 times harder.  I like Ms. Donna, and I like what she is doing for downtown.  Therefore, I'm loyal and will work my ass off for her.  I would never want anyone to ever say I'm lazy, or have a questionable work ethic.  Doug and Pepe would be very disappointed.

I feel like the underlying theme of my move to Fort Wayne is INTEGRITY.  Since we've taken up shop here, I've notice a MAJOR lack in integrity in the people who are involved in the housing/trade industry.  NOT ALL, but many are lazy, unreliable, overpriced, arrogant about their ability/skill set, and untrustworthy.  I would categorize these things are "Characteristics that Deem One Lacking Integrity."  Something to think about.

I would say the phrase integrity runs though my head at least 10 times a day, usually after meeting some jack ass employer/person who is full of shit and sucks at their job.  I always walk away shaking my head.

Happy Sunday.

Oh yes, I'm a waitress.  Again.  I'd like to thank the handy and hard work of our insurance company for dishing out muchos bills our way, making it almost impossible to enjoy random trips to Goodwill and Friday Thai food takeout.  I'd also like to thank our student loans for giving us a "second mortgage" to take on.  Without all these concerned entities, I'm sure our lives would be filled with Ethan Allen furniture, spring trips to Florida, and random surprises for our parents.  Piss.  Off.

However, I am thankful for beautiful weather, tulips popping out of the ground, loving grandparents, baby spikes, and soft stools in Gertie's diaper. 

I was suppose to head down to Btown to "watch" my girlfriend Irene while her husband is out of town---Irene's baby girl is due in a few weeks and Irene is super prego.  I hope Irene goes into labor on Sunday night (when Eric comes home), and and her labor lasts 2 hours (long enough for an epidural), and baby Schmidbauer is a small 7 pounder.  That is my Christmas wish for Irene.  ALSO--added bonus***, Irene and Eric make adorbs babies. 

Sam, Irene's son, in the plaid.  PERFECT nose and talks like a 12 year old.  And he likes apricots.

Sorry Adrienne Keeble Petersen, I did pick up a pair of U of M gardening boots at Walmart, on clearance, for the low, low, LOW price of $13.  Also, apologize to the DON because I didn't buy them at KFarts. 

And another thing....don't think I haven't started ripping out dead/overgrown shrubs at the house.  I have also identified two of the bushes in the front...Viburnum.  The ugly kind.  Yuck. 

And to celebrate the onset of spring like weather, I enjoyed (on DVR) the newest installment of RHOOC.  Yes, trash television.  They are all trashy with their fake hair and I LERVS it. 

And finally, I am wearing my Lahser #24 Knights sweatpants, compliments of Molly Danner, to celebrate a Tiger victory on Opening Day.  Verlander, bitches.

And lastly, if you drive me erratically, attempting to run me off the road, with my child on board, I will call 911 and report you as a drunk driver.  Don't mess with me.  I've done this probably 20 times and I'm not trying to quit anytime soon.  Boom.

Please, no more replays of that awful leg injury from the Louisville basketball player.  Gross.  Poor kid.

AND baseball has arrived.  I can now focus on something positive....Verlander committing his life to the D.  Oh yes.  Greta will hopefully experience her first ball game this summer.  I am riding on high hopes that Los Tigres delivery the D. a World Series run.  Mostly because the Wings sucked real bad yesterday (not a Happy Easter), and it is worse that they lost to the Blackhawks.

The weather is warming up and I have grand plans for the yard.  While the yard is mighty spacious, I have to jump on my friend wagon and hit up some people for free plants.  While I don't have any specific plans, I do know that I will be planting four trees in the front yard/side yard, and several in the back.  We have almost a full acre, and there are only 3 trees on the property.  (The "willow" trees are worth a mention.)  Again, if any of my readers have access to free perennials, trees, and shrubs, please let me know. 

Biscuit killed and began to eat her 7th rabbit since we've moved in.  Fabulous.

I am still actively looking for a full time job.  Now that the hoopla of Greta's last test has died down, I'm back to the grind of looking at a bazillion job sites and Linkedin on a regular basis.  Yuck.  But then again, medical bills and monthly bills don't pay themselves.

I am very much looking forward to a garage sale this spring...Dave and I are parting with several items that are no longer needed--
media armoire
wicker furniture
Greta's old room rug
circular side tables
large table (stolen from our old meth head neighbors)
shoes
clothes
plastic plant pots

Hopefully with the sale of these items, we can purchase a smaller television for the TV room (and move the big one in the basement),and find a reasonable used couch/loveseat for additional seating.

Score of the week:  Kohl's sale plus an additional 30% off---I got me a second pair of my fav Nikes for 39 bucks!  Oh snap.

AND FINALLY,
I am thankful for the $5 carpet cleaner machine that my wondrous mother in law purchased for me at a garage sale last year.  I use it weekly to clean up Biscuit's puke after she attempts to eat dead vermin parts.  That is all.  Go Tigers.