Today, Barb is: ready for the day to be over.

well.
its been more than years since i have been here last.
lots have happened.
quick recap!

did Brawl of America. Made new friends and fell even more in love with roller derby.
met a new friend from the Windy City Rollers. Hoosier Mamma. One of the few derby players not from the state of minnesota that i have gotten to know and call a good friend.

let see...what else has happened?
the bank i was working for was shut down by the FDIC and then sold to another bank.
i got cancer.
i went to africa.
i was let go from the bank.
they tried to deny me unemployment and the state came back to tell them that they had to give it to me. (haha suck on that bank!)
oh yeah, you saw that whole cancer thing?

yeppers.
Hodgkins Lymphoma.
did chemo. lost my hair. had lots of tests done.
was officially cancer free in December 2010.
was let go from job in November 2010. yeah they timed that real well.
CT scans. PET scans. bone marrow biopsy. heart and lung tests. fine needle aspirations.
more info?

caringbridge.org/visit/barblind

you can go there. it tells a bit more.
let see... what else happened?
i went to africa. Tanzania to be exact. 3 weeks of amazingness.
i loved it and can't wait to go back in a couple years.

oh yea, i joined a rollerderby league.
now before you get all crazy excited, i am not skating. i am part of the officiating staff.
I am an NSO. that means non skating official. i like it. i like it alot. i get to help with derby.
i have made new friends. i get to know more about derby but not enough that it hinders me from being able to sit back and enjoy other teams playing.

i just got a new job that i will be starting in about a week or so.
still living with the parents. not so horrible when i was going through chemo treatments or after getting let go from the job and being on unemployment.

and now.
now i just got back today from another appointment.
i have to go in for another biopsy on friday.
i am starting to REALLY hate the term 'just to be on the safe side'
nothing good has ever come after those words.

my very first doctor appt with my enflamed lymphnodes
just to be on the safe side, let me get a second opinion
just to be on the safe side, lets get an ultrasound
just to be on the safe side, lets get a CT scan
just to be on the safe side, lets have you do a PET scan
just to be on the safe side, lets have a fine needle aspiration
just to be on the safe side, we should do a full biopsy.
and you should know what happened after that
(hint. it was cancer if you didn't know)

so now the
just to be on the safe side, i am going to send you to a ear nose and throat dr.
just to be on the safe side, we are going to do a biopsy on the back of your tounge.

apparently the back on my tounge, tonsils, voice box area has something going on so on friday i have to go in.
is this what my life has turned into?
everytime i go to any dr i am going to be waiting in dread to hear those words.
just going to be waiting and waiting until the other shoe drops.
i don't want to turn into that person.
i can't turn into that person.

i don't know what will happen on friday.
hopefully it will be nothing. i am praying it will be nothing.
so here it goes!

hello hello hello!

Greetings and salutations from your long lost me!
Things in my life are progressing nicely.

The work front is going well. We have undergone some changes in staffing and responsibilites and documents and forms and it is ALL GOOD!
When everything was going on, it was a little weird but there has been enough time for everything to settle back down and things are on track and we are kicking collective bank booty!

So i moved back home.
Yep, that is right. My old apartment was crappy. It was infested with bed bugs. The landlord is a jerk and so i moved myself out of there and back into the parents basement. (yea, i feel like a boomerang) Mad props to the mom, dad, erin, matt, eric, liz, charlie, and nate for helping move and pack stuff. :-)

so since i have moved back home and with the rent reduction, i am saving money for AFRICA!
yep, i am going to Africa! My church has a sister congergation over there in Tanzania and in January/February of 2011, we are sending another group of people over there and I am going with!
the only thing i am nervous about is the lack of western toilets. i have decided that i need to start practising how to squat to take care of business.

so, we have the Brawl of American rolling into town in the next month or so.
The Brawl is the north central regional roller derby tournament. it will be at the Roy Wilkins from September 18-20th. i am doing some volunteering for it so expect to hear more in the coming days.

alright, so i am at work and need to get the nose back to the grindstone.

Today, Barb is: back!

have you missed me?
I know, I have been gone for a very long time, but never fear I have returned!
The world can continue spinning because I have come back to you!

After a very long break (and lets be honeset, I kind of forgot about you) I am back in the saddle.
There have been many things going on while I have been gone.

People have come and gone at work.
I have gotten more responsibilities at work.
Been to see some Rollerderby up in Duluth.
Found my Rollerderby name.
Married my friends Matt and Erin.
Moved back home with the parents.

just a small tidbit of what has gone on so far!

Today, Barb is: cold and slightly mad at the snow.





i thought the snow was done.


nope.


it came back.


came back like a bad ex who is intent on runing you happiness.


the whole 6 inches (give or take) in a matter of 4 hours!





the bright and shining part of this? MY NEW PHONE!


yeah, i have a new phone. it rules.


i have never had a new new phone before, it has always been the free phone with the plan but i decided that i was going to splurge and get a good one. i got eh Samsung Instinct.





two words -


touch screen!

i love my new phone and my number is wicked!

Today, Barb is: tired. very very tired.

so, we are one less employee today.
it is not a bad thing. at least i don't think it is.
it is one of those situations that it is really probably the best for everyone involved that said person is no longer an employee. that is not to say that it is a little wierd. because it is.

and actually we have the replacement already.
so far so good.
it has been overcast and dreary and cloudy for the past few days.
i am very excited for one of two things to happen.
one - i am leaving on thursday to go and visit my cousins out in Cali, San Diego to be exact.
two - for the spring to get here soon!

call me horrible if you want, but i am done hearing about the baby Caylee that was murdered.
now here me out, i have been listening to the funeral and songs and video and picts of her the WHOLE day. i think it is a VERY VERY slow news day out there if they can spend this much time on her. we get it, she was killed by her mom. move on.

Today, Barb is: tired at work on a saturday and that totally sucks because she doesn't feel 100% and so all she wants to do is go home and rest but has to be at work which isn't horrible because there are almost no customers.

so hi.
i am back.
it is saturday and i am rounding out the month of january.
it has been a good month.
i had my birthday, i was in charge of the youth lock-in, i went to work, i got days off, i went and saw Spring Awakening.

oh Spring Awakening, how i love thee. it is my new favorite musical. i want to travel around with the cast. i feel kind of bad for the cast. they are mostly young adults and i just want to know if they actually get to do anything other than preform! like, i want to take them to the MOA and the falls and get them out of the theatre. i would think that it is sleep in late from the late preformance, wake up, eat, warm up, show, eat, bed. if they do have time to run around, they are in a city they aren't familiar with so they probalby don't do a whole lot. i feel bad for them.

so yeah. not a whole lot new going on.
OH OH OOh, i get to go and visit my cousins out in Cali in 2 weeks! yeah cousin christie!

have i told you that i have decided i am going to be going to Africa in 2 years?
yeah, i decided that.

Today, Barb is: glad to be back!
so a new year is upon us!

now this is normally the time that i go through the 'new years lose weight resolution'.
not this year. i never do it and so i am not going to set myself up for failure already.

what am i going to do? well i am going to try and be healthier for the rest of my life.
eating right, more excersice than normal, get out and do stuff.

so the life is going well on my end.
the apartment is going OK. it was really really bad for a while. i found out that my apartment was invested with bed bugs. not cool. not cool at all. the only shining light is my friend erin. she works with a big bug killing place and she came out and being the certified applicatior that she is, she sprayed and did stuff to make them go away. she came back on wednesday and did a check and they are GONE! so that is good. it was really gross knowing that i had lots of little friends wanting me and living with me for a while but i learned all sorts of things about bed bugs. you have bed bug questions? call me your resident expert now!

1 - they are nocturnal
2 - they like beds and couches (places where people spend time in the dark at)
3 - they are small and find all sorts of exciting places to hide (they like where seams come together and if you have a pillow top, they really like to hide in corners and creavases)
4 - they suck your blood
5 - they don't carry any disease
6 - you can buy mattress and box spring covers to trap them and kill them
7 - if you can trap them, they can live up to 8-12 months without food (ie blood)
8 - 20% of the human population is allergice to the bed bug bite (i am part of that percent)
9 - sustained extreme cold or sustained extreme heat can kill them
10 - it doesn't matter where you live or what lifestyle you live, you can get them in penthouse apartments or crappy hole in the wall condos (i have a run of the mill crappy apartment)
11 - bed bugs don't care what your skin color is, what religion you are, what your political leanings are, if you have warm running blood; you are their friend.

so christmas was really good.
i got some awesome cooking/baking stuff. i got a bunch of sweet pyrex baking dishes, new airbake cookie sheets (which people tell me are AMAZING) and stackable cookie cooling sheets. i also got some book ends, a clothing steamer, a sewing kit, new towels.. just a bunch of great stuff! oh, and my gift to myself? a GPS. nothing fancy, just one of those day after thanksgiving sale ones. but i had a 10% off card and so it was only 90 bucks! not to bad i say, not to bad.

so there you have it.
make it a great year!
-b

(oh, i should be coming back more often now, so check back!)

Today, Barb is: feeling tired.

so i know that i have been MIA for a very long time here.
i am sorry for that.

i personally come back and check my own blog to see if anything has changed and when i do, i don't change anything. weird huh? i expect things to change but i don't do anything!

so i love my new apartment.
i do. i really really do. and i am pretty sure that the kitties like it also. i know they do because they have there crazy moments where they chase each other around like their lives depend on it.

so last night i went to a concert with my churchs youth group. i guess you could say that i took them since i am sort of in charge...kinda. i share power with 3 other people. so yeah. but it was the Habitat for Humanity Music Builds with Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. it was AWESOME. we got a discount on the tickets because we got a group rate. then the youth fund decided to kick in half the cost so it was only 10 bucks.
freakin' awesome.
4 hours of live music.
4 AMAZING bands.
10 bucks.

my new favorite band is Robert Randolph. i would recommened him to anyone.
they are funk and soul and just awesome. the live show was wicked.
there is only like 4 main band members and then Roberts sister was there half the time for singing. and at the end robert, who plays the steel guitar, switched with his drummer. so the drummer played the steel guitar and robert played the drums. and then robert switched with the bass player so he played the bass and the bass player moved to the drums. they rocked it!

and Switchfoot was just great. jars of clay got the party started and third day closed out the show. we were there from 6pm until 10:30.

ok, well i am at work so i have to get back to it.
i just needed to wax poetic about Robert... ahhhh
i am going to go and buy his cd after work here today.
yea me!

Today, Barb is: having a good day.
it is Wednesday which doesnt really mean anything but it is hump day and so that is a good thing.
but the exciting thing is this.
I AM GETTING MY OWN PLACE!!!!
i move in one week from today.
well that is when i get to sign the lease and get the keys so i can start moving in at least.
i plan on taking some pictures of the place before barb invades it so you guys can see the before and after pictures.

ok now here is the thing, and i have Crystal and Erin to blame for this predominatly.
i am fastly becoming obsessed with the Twilight books.
Crystal told me about them and Erin told me about them and so i finally gave in and read the first book. i read it in like 36 hours and then i went right into the second book in the series, New Moon. that one was knocked out in 36 hours as well. and then right back into the third book, Eclipse, another 36 hours later and i was finished.

now here is the sad part,
I have to wait until the begining of August for the 4th and final book to come out!
BOOO!
If any of you out there plan on reading these books, be prepared.
I was up until 2am sunday, monday, tuesday and wednesday night reading them becuase they suck you in! surprisingly enough, Barb on 4.5 hours of sleep is just the same as Barb with 8 hours of sleep. i wasn't overly tired, in fact i am pretty sure that i didn't yawn as much in those days as when i get a normal nights amount of sleep.
maybe i should do a study on that. figure out what is barb's optimal sleep usage.
anybody got a hypothesis out there?

ok so to wrap up,
barb is moving in a week to her new place.
barb is in love with Edward and Bella (the main characters in Twilight) and Stephanie Meyer (author of Twilight).
barb on 4.5 hours of sleep is still a cool barb.

work is still work.
still here kicking and screaming my way through the days but it is getting better.
getting more responsibilites little by little.

did you know that i am the Teller Supervisor, Operations Assistant and HR Assistant?
well i am! so put that in your pipe and smoke it!
ok bye.

Today, Barb is: tired and cold and slightly put out.
we have auditors here. that why.

so i get an EXTREME amounts of joy when i can go slow and people behind me get mad.
there was a few days ago where there was a car that had been waiting (for a couple of blocks) to get in to the proper lane. he wanted to turn. there was only my car and a few behind me that were coming towards him that made the turn not possible. so being the Minnesota Nice driver that i am, i slower down and motioned for him to go in front of me.

there was a guy driving behind me in a little red car, he couldn't have been much past like 20ish or so. he saw what i was doing and threw his arms up and did a little tandrum right there in his car. i saw him doing all of this in my rear view mirror. from there on out, i purposely drove as slow as i could to make him angrier.

i love it. :-)

Memories and pictures of Virgina, surronding areas and my cousins plus some.

First off -

A picture of the three of us! that is Stu, Me and Mike

this is Stu and his doggy! I don't remember what the pups name is right now. Tremor is the pups name!

SHAKERDAWG!!!!

Shaker, just about the cutest dog in the whole entire world!!!!

Washington Monument
we drove around DC. literally we drove in and around the basin and out again.
these shots are from Mikes car.

This is Mike again with Shaker. We were driving to get the hot dogs that were made from half of the deer meat and half something other meat. they were the BEST hot dogs i have ever eaten!
PENNSYLVANIA!!
We went to Pennsylvania! it was a short trip, but that is where the hot dogs were.

This is Mike and Steph playing Guitar Hero.
We played Guitar Hero alot of the weekend. It was awesome!
more Apple blossoms trees. they were in full bloom when we drove through. this is another picture that was taken out the window of Mikes car.
Lincoln Monument through the apple blossom trees
little closer picture of the Washington Monument. this one was taken through the sun roof.

This is what they sent me back to!!!!!! Stupid Snow.

This is a close up of me and Steph the morning I am leaving to come back to the snow.

Today, Barb is: really, Really, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY excited!!!!

i am going to Virginia to see my cousins!

Today, Barb is: feeling like she is constantly being walked on. and not in a good way.

so i found a job in the seattle that i am really tempted to apply for.
it is working for google in the hr department and i really want to apply for it.
if i were closer to having my lease up then i would be more apt to apply, but i still have like 5 months on the lease.

but yea.

Today, Barb is: wondering why she can't be more adventerous with her life.

why can't i just say goodbye to everything and everyone and just leave.
just pick up my life and move somewhere else.
be somewhere else.
be someone else.

ever have one of those days where you just want to make a massive change and see what happens? i am having one of those days. all i want to do is quit my job, pack up my cats and room and start driving away.
but i like my job.
i like having a place called home for my cats.
i don't want to leave, but i feel like if i don't, the world is going to start crushing me.

is that weird?

Today, Barb is: sitting here with a cold nose.

for some reason my nose and hands are the coldest parts of my body for the last few days.
i could be out in the weather with only pants and a tshirt and it is always my hands and nose.

what does that mean?
bad circulation to those 2 areas? (well techincally it would be 3 areas because i have 2 hands and only one nose) what do you think?

OH OH OH OH
so today is presidents day and we are open here in the banking world.
but we are REALLY slow because i don't think people know we are open. so that means it is a catch up day for all of us here.
the Federal Reserve isn't open so we have no wires, no processing, nothing! it is great.
the other really cool thing is that if we work today we get another day off later to have, so it is like i get double pay for working today. we get paid for today and then again for the other day we want off! !!!!

yeah for me!

Today, Barb is: on hold.

no really, i am sitting here on hold to Lane Bryant because I need to pay my bill but i don't want to have to pay 5 bucks to do it, so i am going to try and throw a fit and see if they will waive it for me.



well they didn't.
jerks.
so i just went and paid it online.
lovely thing the internet, makes bill paying SO much easier, and no pesky stamps and paper needed.

so things are progressing nicely for me here.
looking at buying a place when the lease is up.
the boys are moving also. they are just going to be renting again it looks like.
i am torn between renting by myself for a year and then buying, or just buying right now.

it is kind of hard because i know that i don't want a single family home well, because i am not miss fix-it and neither is my dad. so it leaves either a condo or a townhome.
i found a condo that i really like, but i keep getting torn between what i want.

the condo is really nice and i wouldn't have to do a lot of painting because it is totally already me. but i haven't really found any townhomes that i would really like, i found one but it needs "work and carpeting" . I don't know what that means, and i dont think i want to!

but so yea, that is where i am right now.
i am actually getting preapproved for an amount over the weekend, and that will help alot with deciding what and where i will be looking for or if i am just going to be renting for another year.

so there ya go.
that is what is going on in my life.


also!
guess what?
I am going to visit my cousins Stu and Mike at the end of March. I got round trip airfare for 210 but i wish i would have waited, because i could have gotten it today for 194. but a 16 buck difference itsn't that much.

so that is what i am going at the end of march and then at the end of april my friend erin and i are going to go to chicago and see Wicked and spend a long weeked there. it should be pretty fun!

Today, Barb is: tired.

so how is everyone out in the world?
things are trucking along for me here in the real one.

there have been ups, downs and all arounds going on over here for me.

the biggest news in my world is the fact that I was promoted at work.
so moving up to teller supervisor and operations assisstant.
taking me from being right on the main floor with all the customers and moving be back a bit to be able to focus on the operations stuff. it is really exciting and good things are happening over here, not only for me but for the whole place as well!

i am starting to read the book, South Beach Diet. a co-worker and I are going to read the book and try to get our blood healthy. that is what the book is about, not about weight loss or anything be making ourselved healthier in general. so we are going to read the book and then try out best to figure things out. we aren't getting the pills or food or whatever they have out there for it, it is just going to be us doing it together.

lets see...
Thanksgiving was good.
Christmas is coming up fast.
After Christmas is New Years.
Then we have my birthday!
So this time of the year is always busy for me.

Hope you are all doing well, I will be back. Probalby sooner rather than later so you will just have to hold tight!

-b

Today, Barb is: so hyped up on candy it isn't even funny!!!!!!!


Have you all missed me? Well, you should have darnnit!

So there is this website called Woot. go check it out if you don't know about it woot.com
I have been looking to get a portable mp3 music player. i was looking at an ipod but then woot had a brown zune for 79 bucks and then 5 bucks for shipping. it was cheap. thirty gigs. and brown. so i decided to buy it! then i got the email from woot saying that they had negative 1400 brown zunes and so i was going to get a black zune and an extra package with chargers, plugs, earphones, travel case... it was sold for a hundred bucks. so i basically got 200 bucks worth of stuff for 85 bucks! wheeeeee to woot!

But, i got my Zune last night. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! it was really fun to play with and now i have a sweet mp3 player to use on my flight down to orlando. rock me!
so, like my momma said, i must live right... and i do. i do.


have a happy halloween everybody!
i am going over to the 'rent place and help my momma hand out candy so that should be fun!
stay safe and have a good night!

Today, Barb is:

Thirteen Things that are happening around the life of BARB 1…. I have become an AUNT!!! His name is Anson Jonas Lind. See the post previous to this for his picture. He is a cute little guy! 2.... I am going to Orlando, Flordia in the second weekend of November. The Mom and Dad will be down there with timeshare time and so I am using some of by vaca time to head down for a long weekend! 3.... Stephen Colbert has announced he will run for the Presidential Office of the USA. How does this relate to me? I would totally vote for him. 4.... I am thinking of buying a iPod. It is a black refurb 8 gig iPod and if I am going to be flying around, I am going to need something to listen to. 5.... The work has its annual shareholder meeting tonight, so I have to go and look pretty and talk to people about what I do. It is appetizers and free drinks. It will be interesting to see who ends up 'loosening up' the most. Stories will be forthcoming (I hope) 6.... I bought 4 pairs of bottoms for my Flordia trip and for the possible January/Feburary California trip. 7.... Halloween is around the corner and some friends and I are going to go to this corn maze next weekend. It should be insanely fun as I have never been to one. I am going to have to restrain myself from doing the whole put-your-hand-on-the-right-side-and-don't-let-go-and-you-will-get-out thing. 8.... I think I have decided what I am going to be for Halloween. 9.... My friend Erin is coming over tomorrow (friday) for a girls night at my place. My boys and the dog will be gone, so it will just be us and the cats hangin' out! 10.... My cats are annoying me. Snuffy to be exact. The past 4 days he has awoken me right around 4 am with his pawing at the bedroom door. I left the door open last night and i was awoken to the 4am pawing of the roommates door!!!!!!!! Not cool Snuffy, not cool. So any thoughts? I have tried covering the door with stuff; a garbage basket, toilet paper still in the plastic (becaseu it is like 4 high) and my random plastic garbage bag. Doesn't matter, still gets through that stuff to paw at the door. 11.... Seely has left the building!!! I try to go to her blog and it is gone. This saddens me. :-( Come back! I miss you. 12.... The middle boss is gone for 3 days starting tomorrow. The upper boss is gone starting monday for a whole week. That means for 2 whole days, Barb is in CHARGE. Scary thought huh? 13.... It is rainy and kinda dark so no one is here and it is like an early Friday! No bosses (see number 5 for the reason why, the board meeting, then shareholder meeting then shareholder party, i only have to be there for the party!) are here and no customers are here and so i am kinda bored but in a good way! Make sense? Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Today, Barb is: still high on life from becoming an auntie!

EDIT: Meet Anson Jonas Lind (middle name decided!)



and here ya go.

baby!