meerschwienchen's cage

9:29pm: Alt.Inivte Lives!!
I am Online!!

http://www.altinvite.com/

Check it out!

1:36pm: I may have lost it.
So friday was my last day at anders. Jill mad me a cake. I think i'm the only person to get a laying-off cake. The end had finally come. I'm dispointed i couldn;t find anyhting before hand. The sad thing is i know Rachael will end up inthe same boat soon. They gave her a date of Mid August. I really don;t know how they are going to deal with next years bridal season. And if they really want to go to comercial printing as a majortyy of what they'll do, they'll sink, they can't compete with kinkos. Well theres nothign ore i can do.


Well given the dispointing job hunt, I'l decided to act on an idea i had since i found out i was losing my job. I'm starting my own company. Given what i learned as a CSR, and from the troubles at anders, I'm gonna reach out to the people that aren't being served. So i've being designing and getting ready to get Alt Invite online. I"mg going to desgin wedding, and other invites and such for the more altertive crowd. You want your moms Invites, go to Anders, or Carlson Craft. Want something different, call me. So I've got to get samples, pricing, website, and Craigs list add up and running. I hope i can pull this off. Matts gettign into this and has been a huge help, he;s got me thinking i might be able to make it.

Well just have to see.

8:36pm: Pond Photos!
Behold pond

9:18pm: Job Hunt -6 Kerry -0
Okay score so far:

Medipro- Rejected
Christopher and Banks-Rejected
netFlix - Rejected

then all on the same day, today, the day of epic fail:

Alphagraphics- Rejected, I guess I'm not good enough to do my old job.
Teavanna-Rejected, I can run a print shop, but i'm not good enough to interview for Asst. Manager for a tiny tea shop in the mall
Portland Clinic- Rejected. I'm not good enough to answer phones.


Today was a blow to the ego.


Oh and fan girls are frightening, this should not exist.

topgearslash

10:10am: Finally
As of 9:30 am July 4 2009 We have a pond!

It's only taken since April. But finally the pond is up and running, and tomorrow we can get goldfishies!

2:20pm: I have second interview at AlphaGraphics Portland! =)

7:21am: Job Hunt update:
Interview for assiant manager at Christopher and Banks. Give when I got there, she started reading the wrong resume, and lost mine. I dunno what chance i Have of getting that one. Weds. I had an interview at MediPro, which I didn't get the Job. I had a Phone interview with Netflix yesterday, I'll know in a week or so if I get into a group interview. Then at 7pm i got a phone call. Next week I am interviewing with AlphaGraphics in Portland, for the old Job i had for Alphagraphics in Hillsboro. I'm kinda afriad of this one. What if she calls Janey instead of my current boss? I've come along way in the time i've worked for Anders, and I'd hope Jill would have good things to say about me.

Speaking of the current job. I dunno how i can leave. They called in 4 times on my days off. 3 times in one day. It does not make me feel comfortable about leaving.


Oh we talked to the nieghbors who own mr. Kitty. The black cat that Mr. Kitty always fights with named Mama, well it turns out she is Mr. Kitty's mom. So now they know that their cat hangs out over here, but they don;t seem upset about it atleast.

4:50pm: score!
I have an interview Friday.
Assistant manager at Chirstopher and Banks, in Hillsboro. Only about 25 hours a week, but it'd be a job and a chance to Leave Anders before they need to get rid of me.

Much shorter comute. Wish me Luck.

Oh and the Waterfall fianlly came in. I should have a Koi pound by friday as well.

10:06pm: *sigh*
So come the end of the busy season both me and Rachael will be let go.

Time to look for a new job, maybe just maybe i can find something before I'm let go.


Figures i have a job i love, and for the first time ever I'm actualy good at something. I knew it was too good to last.

10:25am: Wedding photos
I promice a real entry on this later , but here photos!

Wedding Photos

6:21pm: Link!
Here is the Link for all those who want to watch the wedding.

Saturday March 21
6pm PST



Watch Kerry and Matt get married

7:20am: head go 'slpodey
So the wedding is rapidly approching. 13 days and counting. There's so much to do. Little tiny details to deal with. I'm trying to get that all taken care of. So i've got all that to do. THe rehersal dinner got dumped on me to plan now ( matt and is family have enough to deal with) . So there 900 things to do with this.

Work is explodinging on me. i have 3 projects that need assembly, plus we have customers, and Mondays i'm also production.

Then there is the whole thing with Matt's mom. They fianlly convinced her to go and get tested. the Doctors found a large tumor. it was so large they wouldn't let her lave the hospiatl with out having it removed. So she had surgry, the tumor was removed. They ran test. of 14 samples taken, 10 came back clear, 4 had cancer.
She;s going to need chemo. With Chemo she's given a 60% surivial rate. 40% with out. So naturally Matt's not doing the best.

So yeah thats my life at the moment, so many things, so little time, and no one really to talk to.

7:27pm: Stolen from Eve

1. Can you cook?
2. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. Are you Dirty or Clean?
8. Any tattoos and/or piercings?
9. Worst habit?
HERE COMES THE FUN ...
1. How did we meet?
2. What's your philosophy on life?
3. Negative or Optimistic?
4. What was your dream growing up?
5. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
6. What was your first impression of me?
7. Tell me one weird fact about you:
8. What’s your favorite memory of us?
9 is missing. Make up something if you want.
10. Have you ever kept anything from me?
11. What do you think of me as a person?
12. Do you think I'm sane or insane?
13. Would you cry for me if I died?
14. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
15. If you could change anything about me, would you?
16. How do you fall asleep?
17. Ever gotten angry with me?
18. Would you go on a blind date if I set you up?
19. If you had one day to live, what would you do?
20. A million bucks… what would you do with it?
21. What is your worst fear?
22. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
23. Can you sing or dance?
24. In one word, how would you describe me? Be honest....
25. Will you repost this so I can fill it out?

6:46pm: Wedding Stuff
So the wedding is getting close, and i'm Panicing.

The invites are in the mail, If you didn't get one and want one, Lemme know, I might just be missing an address.

I got my dress today. I still need to get it tailored and get eh train taken off, but it's pretty and it here.

So I'm asking Ya'll for advise, which i'll probely doing alot inteh coming weeks, so please help me out.

1) I need a Song to dance with dad to So i'm trying to find somehting. I don;t want to go Ultra Cheesey. and I refuse to do Butterfly Kisses (it reminds my mom of my Aunt's Death) or that damn song with the Line about "a postcard of a goldren retriver" I don;t remember the name of it, but my cousin played it at her wedding, and they Played it at Meier and Frank, so I heard it 8 times a day for 2 years. ( ohh just figured it out , Father and Daughter by Paul Simon, I hate that song)

So Thanks to The Off Beat Bride here are a few ideas

A What a wounderful World By Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo`ole

B RainBow Concetion Covered by Jason Mraz,Or Maybe By Kermit the Frog

C & D Or Vitimin String Quartete's Cover of Either Daughters or All you need is Love


well this is all for today Please help me out on this. Dancing with dad is gonna be bad. It's the Rythm-less leading the Klutzy and self contous.

6:57pm: Promiced Phtos
So i've been asked for Photos of the house, so the house, Pets, and Snowmeggedon

Behold Photos

7:29pm: so much to do.
Okay, wedding post, so skip if you want.


oaky so done:
Location
Offiacent
Flowers
DJ
Photographer
Bridesmaid dresses are in
Wedding dress Ordered
Footware bought, working on breaking them in.
2 groommen sighned on
regestered
Hotel blocks set up.


things to do:
find:2 more grooms men, 1 bridesmaid
pick out food
pick out music
pick out cermony
order chair covers
find decotrions
find hair/make up
Tuxes

Issues: Matt just wants this to be over. His Siblings may not come. Yet his mom spent all year guilt triping him into letting them be in the wedding. He was never big on doing a big wedding. He would have rather gone to the courthouse. Seeing him this upset makes me thinki should have done what i always do and nto made a big deal out of the wedding. I always try to never make a bother, just do what easy and what won't cause a fuss. Maybe i just should have done that this time.


Other news: I'm working on invites now. After project of Doom is done on tuesday i'm going to order. Who wants an invite?

9:29am: 1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

Was actullay put in charge of other employees.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I tried to be oragiazed.. didn't work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, but my Cousin is in the process of Adopting a baby, and Matt's Best friend's Wife is due any day now.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
One of the Kids my mom used to babysit

5. What countries did you visit?
Does my Shop count as one? It is under the Rule of the Earl

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A grill, we have space and a yard now.

7. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched your memory, and why?

The whole weekend of MA's wedding. Between her getting Married, and My Parents Getting rid of the house, and saying good by to Appleton.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Having my Boss trust me enough to leave me in charge when they where gone.

9. What was your biggest failure?
As mush as i try to be better, I'm still a doormat.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
UTI that landed me in the ER

11. What was the best thing you bought?

well techincaly matt baught it, but eh house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Matt, seeing me stress out over being leader bean, he rushed though a snow storm into my shop to stuff envleopes.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Apallled- The Earl of Awesome, and some of my customers.
Depressed- .....

14. Where did most of your money go?

Paying of Debts, Rent, 2 Trips home.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My Trips home

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?

"I Kissed a Girl" cuase it played al the time, and is contanclty stuck in my head.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. happier or sadder?
About the same

II. thinner or fatter?

Thinner

III. richer or poorer?

Still broke
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Spend more time with the family last time i was home.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Spazing

20. Any new hobbies/interests?

no time for new hobbies

21. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?

Playing PSP all night. Damn you Disegea
22. Did you fall in love in 2008
We Meet Mr. Kitty and Orange Cat, so sure

23. How many one-night stands?

None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Eurkea, Kitchen Nightmares
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Depends on the day.

26. What was the best book you read?

A Year of Living bibically, - Watch a OCD new yorker try to live by every rule in the Bible, the stoning people was awesome.

27. What was/were your greatest musical discoveries?

Vitimin String Quartet, and the Red Jumpsuit Apperatice, Flogging Molly

28. What did you want and get?

A PSP and Crisis Core, for Squareenix owns me

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Wall-e

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

26- Waited waaaay too long at a resturant with my mom and my brother.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having Some money.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Semi-Punk CSR of doom.

34. What kept you sane?

sane? when have i ever been sane?

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Sophie Soong?

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I hid, seeing as i worked close to Obama local office, and live with Matt.

37. Who did you miss?

Everyone?

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Some of my Customers, they make dealing with the Bridezillas all worth it.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:

I can't do everything on my own, i need to ask for help.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"Now I`m aimin' for heaven , But probably wind up down in hell"

10:11am: not really Christmas related at all
So this has been a loooong week and it's its only wednesday. So the Envelope job of doom. Matt gave up a day of his vacation monday and even took Trimet to come in and help stuff envelopes. We managed to get 2,000 done that day. So coming off that victory, Jill called the next day, thinking i can get 1,000 done by my self by 2 pm. Molly was late coming in, So i had to spend an hour doing other work. I could not get it through Jills head that i phyically could not get those cards done. She suggested callign the 80 year old neighbor. Matt called to check on me. I explained what was going on. So after he got off the phone he ended up running to the MAX station, I had no idea until he called me from Downtown, asking where to tranfser to the buss. THanks to matt we ended up getign the envelopes done, 20 minutes before the man form the mailing house came in.

So the job was done. we got it out. Its a huge weight off my shoulders. Matt really saved my ass. I dunno if the bosses will be back on thrusday. Thanks to Snowmageddon '08 flights to and from Portland are back up for like 3 days, so i dunno if they'll be back, but if not we have the worst over with so we wil be okay.


So I've got all the stress from work. The fact the city is snowed in its hard to get anywhere, Trimet is even giving up the ghost. The Max is running, but only about 10 buses, and even those, they don't even guess at how fequent. Then add too all that, a presonal issue thats got me a bit down.

Shannon has been great though. She came home yesterday, and i told her about everythigns. and she spent the night hanging out with me and chher me up. I miss hanging out with the shannon.

It was a hard week, but I have great friends here, and i'm lucky to have 'em.

8:45pm: Merry Xmas

8:44pm: Merry Xmas

8:53am: welcome to Portland, the new siberia
this has been a strange week, between the weather and the lack of crazy old people.
Welcome to my week.

1-Frozen wasteland. You ya'll in Rochester and Wisconsin are gonna laugh. So Portland usually gets the weather from the coast, so it rainy, but it's almost never below freezing. If we get 2 inches of snow in the whole winter its a lot. So last sunday it started snowing. it snowed all day. Out by my house we got like 3 inches. All the schools in the metro area closed. It snows off and on all week, but nothing huge, until yesterday. It snowed all day. we got about 3 inched down where i work, and 20 miles away, a freaking foot. Now the portland metro area shuts down for 3 inches, and Hillsboro is covered in a foot of snow. Most people wont drive. Matt sure as hell wont. ( He's got the special hybrid tires. Good for gas, bad for snow) I'm lucky trimet is still going, its slow, but it's the only thing keeping me form being trapt in my house.

For some odd reason, the weather isn;t keeping people from coming into my shop. All week it's been the "OMG i forgot about Xmas! I need this project now!!"

Which brings me to point #2

2-Leader Beans. So The bosses are down in Florida. They left me in charge. But there still crazy. So we have a ton of little projects that need to be out ASAP. Then there is the job of doom. 3800 xmas cards. Okay, printing the cards and envelopes. fine do-able. Scoreing all cards, possible. Stuff all 3800 envelopes. nightmare. Oh and Jill wants it finahsed tomorrow. yes, tomorrow. by the way. it took an either day to print the cards. a second day to print the envelopes. and Molly is still scoring, but friday i was able to start stuffing. between customers. Jill doesn't remales just because we can phyically do something, we should. yes, we have pople who can stuff envelepoes. and She's convinced we have no customers. even though every time she calls ( she's called so many times since they left wednesday) I've told her the weather sucks, but customers keep coming in.

So Our new desiger has work to do, and Jill doesn;t relaize she is not Day, Day was very fast, and knew the wedding stuff. Jen is new and doens;t know weddings, so it take her longer to do things.

Jill told he to have Jen help me stuff. I said she can't we have customer needing proofs, becuase we have people coming in.

We have a Bunch of rush jobs. I can;t pull Molly away form that.

So me alone stuffing envelopes. Lets do the math. 3800 envlopes at 20 seconds each = 21 hours, strait. Jill wants tses out monday, not becuase we can do it, but becuase of an arbiarty date.

*sigh* it tough being the leader, when i still work form crazy people.

5:06pm: and a partirage in a pear tree

9:41pm:
Which Office Moron Are You?
Rum and Monkey: jamming your photocopier one tray at a time.


Yeah... un huh.. I'm the low man on the totem pole at work, i have no power.

9:28pm: mmmm....cake...
Okay, So check one thing off the wedding list. Cake
Portland Style cheese cake will be providing cake. Cheesecake cup cakes for all. theres a big cupcake, and we'll get to pick 4 flavors. Marrion berry will probely be one since that is a oregon only thing. We'll also get a small cake so me and matt can get he cutting the cake photo.

Cupcakes are fine right? Moms acautly cool with that. Cuase they did it ont he today show.

Speaking of the realtives and the wedding. I have to invite my dad's aunt and uncle i met once. Grandma invited them and hey'cve already made plans..

Mom is trying to lose 2 dresses sizes by march. Mom and dad are also takign dance lessons. Lets hope thy don;t have dreams of dancing liek they do on dancing with teh stars.

1:15pm: Wedding dresses
Okay, I was gonna get a custom made dress from Dark Garden, but given buying a house, The fact Airline tickets went up $150, the fact my hours have been cut and my manager is spazing, I've decided i can;t cost matt that much money. So i decided to get a dress some where local, atlest to cut out the air fare price. So i found 3 dresses i love from Sophia tolli, So ya'll help me pick.

Dress #1

Front
Close up
Back





Dress #2
Front
Close up
Back


Dress #3
Front
CloseUP
Back
so ya'll lemme know!