Warning: Mushiness Ahead, Proceed at Your Own Risk

I missed updating yesterday. Oops. So now, even though it's May, and my obligation to update every day is over (not that I made it, but the double posting days make up for the days I didn't post at all, right? Sure they do), I'm posting today. This is fair warning, though - I'm feeling mushy, about the one person in my life I get mushy over, so if that kind of stuff nauseates you, don't read this (Sarah :P).

So. I was having a rough afternoon yesterday. I was hormonal, I think, because I felt the need to eat everything that wasn't nailed down, and I felt very uncomfortable in my own skin as a result. I'm also completely broke right now. I only got $14 in gas the other day, because it was just enough to get me through until payday, and I needed to get cat food (and I only had $21). My cats weren't going to make it until the weekend on what they had.

Well, yesterday after work, J and I went out to dinner at Denny's (did I get something light, to make up for earlier? No, I got chicken tenders and fries - I make no sense even to myself). After dinner was over, we stopped at Walmart so that J could get a wire (cable, whatever) to plug his mp3 player into a boom box. After he found his cord (wire, cable, whatever), we walked over to the cat food aisle. I was debating between the small bag and the medium bag. I was going to pick up the medium bag, because it was $7.12, and I had $7 and change in my wallet. It would leave me sans cash until, well, probably until June or so, since I'll still be broke in May (due to car repairs this time) but whatever. At least the cats would eat. J pointed out the 20 pound bag, and I told him I couldn't afford that - I only had $7. And he picked one up and walked away, and paid for it at the register.

And that seems like a small thing, but you know what? I haven't had anyone to help me like that in years. No, not to help me, but to take care of me, because that's what it felt like. And I almost started to cry (again, hormonal). And it's not really about the cat food - it's about all of it. He loves me, honest to god LOVES me, like no one has loved me since my Mom (only in a different way, duh). I was 37 before I met him. I thought I would be alone forever. I'm 38 now (almost 39), and not only am I not alone, but I've found the person I've been looking for my whole life - the one who loves me no matter what, the one who wants to take care of me and protect me. The one who would do anything for me. And the best part is, I feel the same way about him. And maybe I only appreciate that feeling so much because I lived for so long without it, I don't know. But I do appreciate it, very much. I appreciate HIM very much.

I love him very much.

Okay, mushy post over. I'll go back to normal next time I write, okay? Okay.

Monday Night

First I'll just get the obligatory Gracie mention out of the way - she did fine last night. :) She seemed a little lost without the routine of sleeping in her crate, but after sleeping in there for three months, I guess that's to be expected. She eventually settled in and slept on the futon all night, so that was good. As for me, I'm still watching her, just not as closely as I was. When I see her jumping from something, I hold my breath until she is safely on the floor, but I do let her make the jump on her own. That's progress, believe me. Also, this whole experience has made me really glad I'm never having kids. If I worry this much over a cat, how would I be with a kid? It's a scary thought.

Anyway. Life is settling back to normal, now that she's out of the crate. Spring is here, so J is doing stuff in his rooms upstairs again (it's awful cold up there in the winter). We decided that he should take over the spare room for his music, so it's his studio now - and still a spare room for when we have overnight guests again someday. I'm glad he has someplace to practice his bass with plenty of room now.

So he was moving stuff around last night, and I helped him a bit. And then he made us some yummy fish for dinner (and let me tell you, I can't believe I'm actually eating fish - he has performed a miracle here), and some cheesy mashed potatoes. I love having real food for dinner. It's hard to believe I only really used to eat cereal and microwaveable stuff. I also got some Simming done. It was a quiet night. And now it's almost time to go home, so bye!

Great News

Great news! I called the vet and left a message, asking how I would know when it's okay for Gracie to be out of the crate full-time, and when the vet tech called back, she said to go ahead and let her free. Woo! So Gracie will be officially released from her crate as of this afternoon. And I'm sure I'll stop watching her like a hawk and worrying about her leg soon, right?

So that's the good news, but then of course the fact that my vet had one of the techs call me back instead of taking two minutes to call me herself, and that they said to go ahead and let her loose without even asking how she was doing on the leg - well, it's just one more sign that it's time to change vets. When I take Bernie for his annual shots this year, he'll be going somewhere new. I need to find someone I like and trust as much as I used to like and trust these people.

Anyway, so Gracie will be happy to get her freedom back, I'll be happy to stop worrying about her (I'm sure it'll happen someday soon), and J will get to bring his weights up from the basement and put them in the mudroom, where the crate Gracie has been living in is currently sitting. So overall, it's good news.

And unless she hurts herself again, this blog will stop being all Gracie, all the time. :)

And before I sign off, I just want to say - J is off today, and he's going to cook me dinner tonight. How cool is that? He is pretty much the best, I think. :)

Excellent Sunday

Today was a really good spring Sunday. J and I watched a movie this morning, then we went out and did yard work for the first time this year. The lawn is mowed, weed eated and looks so pretty. By June I'll be sick of mowing the lawn, but for now it's fun. And then we went to a local diner for dinner, and had some great burgers, fries and ice cream sundaes for dessert. Yum!

And Gracie continues to do great! She is limping, but her bad leg hits the floor every time, which is great, and she's getting stronger. Pretty soon I'll get brave enough to let her jump without stopping her, and she'll be free of the crate for good. It'll happen soon.

Boring entry over. :) Happy Sunday evening!

Encouraged

Gracie is starting to put her foot down when she walks - at least when she walks slowly. She's not putting her full weight on it yet, and she's still hopping on three legs when she moves more quickly, but when she's just walking along at a slow pace, she's putting it down. I am SO happy. I feel like maybe her leg really will heal, and maybe she'll be back to having the run of the house all the time in the next couple of weeks, even when I'm not here to watch her.

Her leg and foot had been rather swollen, too, and that seems to be going down. Her foot looks like a more normal size today. Woo! I needed these good signs. Now I can stop worrying about her so much.

So today is going to be a quiet, boring kind of day, I think. I'll be watching a Netflix movie this morning so that I can send it back. If I get it in the mail today, I should get The Golden Compass on Tuesday, and I really want to see that, now that I've read the books. And other than watching that movie, I have a Sims story to write and maybe some Sims to play, I have a book that I'm close to finishing (Duma Key, by Stephen King) and I have two weeks worth of ellens and three weeks or more of General Hospitals on the DVR to watch. I might not stick with the GHs, though. I'm getting kind of sick of it, after five years of watching it every day.

And now I'm going to start my movie and hold my kitty, who is healing so well. I hope you all have great Saturdays.

Suck It, Bologna

Screw the bologna sandwich today - I'm having cheese sticks for lunch. Yum. :)

Exhausted

I tell you what, having a cat who is recovering from a broken leg and has to be watched like a hawk is exhausting! I've had her out of the crate for most of the time that I've been home from work - about an hour and a half - and I'm tired already!

I also called the vet back, because she is getting around great - but she's doing it on three legs. She isn't putting her formerly broken leg down at all. It's also a little swollen. So I called them to find out what they should have told me yesterday - what to expect while she's recuperating. And apparently, it's normal for her to not want to use her leg right now, and in fact it could be a couple of weeks before she does start using it. And I also found out that what I'm doing is exactly right - she should stay confined in her crate while I'm at work or sleeping, and only be out when I'm there to supervise her and stop her from jumping off anything.

It would have been nice if they had told me that yesterday, though.

Anyway, in the time I had her loose before I made myself dinner, which was about an hour, total, she about gave me a heart attack twice. First she tried to jump on the counter when I was putting my mini pizzas in the toaster oven. She almost made it, but not quite, so I had to grab her really quick before she fell. And then she was sitting on my lap, and Bernie (my dog) came over and got into her face (because he was wanting loving from me, not because he wanted anything to do with her), and she jumped off my lap. But luckily she didn't hurt herself.

So I think for a while she is going to be out for about an hour at a time, or so, longer if I hold her on my lap too. Recuperation is going to be a long, slow process. Sigh.

Cows, Horses, Hay Mazes and Signs

It is such a beautiful day outside today. I had to go to one of the dining places on campus today, to coordinate the installation of a new sign for it, and found out on the way over that it's Ag Day here on campus - Agriculture Day, that is. There were horses, one with a foal, cows and calves penned up in the middle of campus, there was a hay bale maze for kids set out, plus some shiny farm equipment. Kids had been bussed in from the surrounding schools to see the animals and there were a bunch of them running through the maze, honking the horn on one of the tractors and looking at the animals. It was fun to watch, while I was standing there waiting for what turned out to be three people make the decision on where to put the sign, and two more to say that it was okay, because there shouldn't be any wiring in that spot.

Work done by committee is always fun, isn't it? What's more fun is that when we got it all decided and okayed, I left the installation guy to do his thing, and I went to lunch. When I came back, I saw that he had angled it wrong. Sigh. But it's already in the concrete, so I don't imagine there's much that can be done. Oh well. At least the sign is there, right?

Cast Free Gracie

Gracie is home, her cast gone. She's limping on the leg a little, and I don't trust it enough to just let her loose in the house. She was loose in the mudroom for a while, and I tried to bring her out to the living room, but she just ran limping back to the mudroom - for now, I guess that's where she feels like she needs to be. I'm sure she'll get over that eventually. And I'm sure I'll get over thinking her leg is made of glass, ready to break again the first time she jumps down on it. It may take me a while, though.

The vet's office disappointed me again, too. I know they were doing me a favor by not charging me to take off her cast, and I appreciate that, I really do. But I went in there today with Gracie, and the receptionist took her to the back and they took her cast off, and she just brought her back out in her crate. I never talked to a vet at all. After she's spent three months in a cast, and even though they're taking it off, they're not sure how good her elbow is healed, shouldn't they talk to me and give me some instructions on what she should and shouldn't do? Should she just be loose in the house right away, or should she just be in one room or in the crate still? No one told me anything. Shoot, I didn't even get to see her out of the crate until I got her home. So I think I'll be finding a new vet. And that makes me sad, because I've gone to these people for years, and always trusted them, but now for two visits in a row, I've been treated in ways that I don't like.

Stupid vets.

So, since I didn't get any instruction from the vets, I'm just going to keep her in the crate for a couple of days when I'm not home and at night, just to make sure she doesn't try to do too much too soon. And then I'll just watch her when I'm at home, to make sure she doesn't re-break her leg.

In the meantime, her leg needed a lot of grooming. It was full of dead hair, which I pulled out as much as I could - she groomed it herself the rest of the way, but I didn't want her swallowing anymore of that dead hair than necessary. It looks good now, just with way less hair than normal, and a bit of a bald spot on one side, where the cast must have rubbed it. But I'm sure it'll look normal again soon.

8 Years

Double updating today, because I need to mention - it has been 8 years today (well, at about 11:55 tonight it'll be 8 years exactly) since my Mom died.

I love you, Mom. I miss you every day of my life.

In the first two years after she died, I thought I might never get over it. By the third year, I had finally accepted that she was gone, and started to move on, without being plagued by grief and depression every day. Now, eight years later, I think of her every day, and I still wish she were here, but it's not a constant pain like it used to be. I still miss her like crazy, though. She was opinionated, she was fun, she loved ribald humor, and she was my mother.


High School Mom


1987 Mom in Hawaii

She was beautiful. And can't you just see the love of life shining in her eyes? I can.

Gracie and the Cast

I just talked to Gracie's vet. The radiologist didn't see any real difference between this x-ray and the one from 3 1/2 weeks before, so they're just going to take the cast off and see how she does. I'm hoping for good things. We'll see. If it breaks again from her just doing her usual stuff, then the leg will have to come off, so cross your fingers for me that she is really healed, okay?

Also, I said something to the vet about her office making me pay the whole amount of the visit from last time. She said she would have okayed me paying just my regular $50 payment, if she had been there. Which doesn't help me be any less broke this month, but at least I had the satisfaction of talking to her about it. Which doesn't really do anything, but oh well. She also said she wouldn't charge me for taking off Gracie's cast, so that's a good thing. I really don't want this bill to climb any higher than it has to. (Another good reason to hope she is healed for good.)

I'll update tomorrow afternoon with how she's doing, sans cast.

People are Nasty

I was just in the restroom at work. Someone came into the stall next to me, peed, wiped, and then just walked out of the stall. No flush. Then she went to the sink and did something - fluffed her hair with her pee-germ covered hands, presumably, and then left, without washing her hands. I tried to see who it was, to make sure it wasn't someone I work with, and I don't think it was - I think it was a student.

Still. What the heck, people? When you go to the bathroom, you FLUSH THE TOILET. And when you've done that, you go to the sink and WASH YOUR HANDS. It's not hard. Your Mama should have taught you to do that when you were just a wee little tyke learning not to fill your pants. Just do it. You're making you Mama sad, and you're grossing the rest of us right the fuck out.

Yuck.

Gorgeous Spring Day

Wow, today it is just absolutely gorgeous outside. It's extremely windy, but the sun is out and warm, and it's just great. The farmers have been spreading manure in the fields across the street, so it's been rather stinky, but they tilled the fields today, and suddenly the smell is bearable. We've been outside, scooping dog poop and getting the lawn mower started for the first time after a long winter. There hasn't been any mowing done yet, because J is going to change the oil in it first, but it's at least been started. And now J is outside working in the garage - picking up more of the crap I had back there (I really had filled the garage with crap, which most men would find to be a horrible offense, I think). Little by little, he's reclaiming the garage as usuable space.

So, it's just a very nice day. I love weekends - I just wish they lasted longer. Going back to work tomorrow is just going to suck. At least once Tuesday is over, my schedule at work should go back to a more normal state, meaning a less frantic pace of work. Which is good. I've enjoyed the fast pace, but I'm ready for a break.

J and I have done some doggy maintenance today, too. J cleaned out the dogs' ears, because they just get so incredibly dirty. And when we were sitting outside, enjoying the nice day, I got the dog brush out and brushed Bernie, and J brushed Duff and Rosebud. Shedding season is here, you know. Bernie has started dropping large amounts of hair every time he shakes himself - or stands up or sits down or lays down or just breathes - and the more hair I can brush out of him outside, the less hair ends up in the house. Which is good.

And now I'm going to go back to enjoying the day. I hope you are doing the same!

Vet

Sorry I forgot to post last night. I'm not doing very good at this posting every day in April thing, huh.

Anyway. I took Gracie to the vet yesterday, so very hopeful that she would get her cast off. She didn't, but she's really close. The vet wanted the radiologist to look at the new x-ray and see if she thought it was there, or if Gracie needed more time just to make sure. So she's wearing it at least until Tuesday, because the radiologist is only in on Monday afternoons (apparently there aren't many animal radiologists around, because this one travels from one vet clinic to another, only spending part of one day per week in mine).

So I was disappointed to take her home with her cast still on, but I can live with waiting until next week, I guess. And I got to see the x-rays - this one and the one from her last visit - so I got to see the new bone filling in around the break. And there is one dark line in the middle that seems to be a weak spot to me, so if the radiologist says we should wait a few more weeks, as sad as it'll make me to keep her in the crate that much longer, I'll accept it. I don't want her leg to just break again the first time she jumps down onto it.

Anyway, so the visit went pretty well, and Gracie was really good - she loved getting attention from the vet and me, and just made friends with everyone there. But then the visit was over, and I walked out to the lobby.

Now, when I first had to take Gracie in for this, I arranged to pay them over time, because I just didn't have the money to afford paying the whole bill in one shot. J was kind enough to offer to lend it to me if they wouldn't do a payment plan, but they did, so it was okay. I could get Gracie taken care of, and not have to worry. And I'd have them paid off by July, latest, anyway. And that's been working great so far. I go in with her, I pay my $50 payment, and they have me fill out new payment agreements for the new total of my bill. It worked great, that is, until yesterday.

For some reason, yesterday they decided that the payment arrangement was only for the last visit, and they needed me to pay the total amount for yesterday's visit. It was only $100, which may not seem like a lot to some people, but for me, that means there is a bill that isn't going to get paid this month. I don't have extra room in my budget right now to pay extra to anyone. So I was very upset about that. And not only that, but when I got my receipt for the first visit, it said on the bottom that rechecks were free. The first time I took her back in, that was true. They charged me $75 for the x-ray, but nothing for the recheck. And then last time, they added $25 to the bill for a recheck. I asked about that last night, and suddenly they know nothing about free rechecks, either. So they're adding that little bit extra to the bill every time I bring her in (and of course I was stupid and threw that first receipt away, so I have no proof of the free recheck thing).

So, obviously I wasn't very happy when I left there yesterday. I'm going to write them a complaint letter today. I've always had good experiences there. The vets are caring people who I don't have any hesitation trusting with the care of my animals. The one vet endeared herself to me forever when Bo had to be put down - she called me in on a Sunday to put him down, because she was afraid he wouldn't make it to Monday, and she didn't want him to die alone in a cage. She even let me take him outside, and she put him down out there. So this experience yesterday has just left a very bad taste in my mouth. I need to tell them about it.

And I guess this is where I'll end that story. I'll update next week with the decision from the radiologist.

Fading Fast

The concert last night was SO fun. So fun that the band didn't want to stop playing, apparently, because they were on stage for about two hours. Woo! And then two of the members of the band came out to sign autographs, which was amazing - I've never seen a band do that for the general public before, only for VIPs. So we stayed to meet them and get J's stuff signed. Then a quick trip to Wendy's, so that we could get overcharged for dinner (thanks, drive-up dude), and we were home. I crawled into bed at Midnight. Did I mention that I'm a wuss who is usually in bed no later than 10:00? Yup. I am. It was worth it, because we had a great time, but - oh man, I'm so tired now. I drank a soda this morning, and was doing pretty well, but now, after lunch, I'm fading fast. Zzzzzzzzzz.

So, the band wasn't the only show being put on last night, though. People watching can be so much fun at events like these! I spent a large majority of the show watching a few people.

First, and foremost - the woman I couldn't take my eyes off of. She had short blond hair, which was tossed around with abandon. A red halter top, to show off her large chest. Tight blue jean capri length pants, with white stitching on her ass. She was obviously very drunk (and this venue doesn't serve alcohol, so she accomplished at least most of that state before the show). Her boyfriend was this doofy looking dude who had this stupid grin on his face all night, like he was saying, "Can you believe I get to nail this every night? Every night! Woo!"

Anyway, so she spent most of the show throwing her head back and forth, doing lap dances on her guy's lap and pretty much doing a strip tease dance, only without the stripping. But she had the hip grinding and the chest thrusting and the sexy looks all working for her. There were two guys (and their girls) sitting at the same table as this lovely couple - lucky them. The guys couldn't help but stare at her, so I kind of felt for their girls.

At one point I looked over, and this woman had passed out, draped across her guy's chest. LOL! She woke up when the band hit a high note, and then she was back to dancing. Her guy was either going to get very lucky last night, or else she was going to pass out as soon as she got to the car - one or the other (and I'm betting she passed out).

Then behind me, there was this boy who looked to be about 13 or 14 years old. Old enough to have his hormones going crazy (and yes, he was aware of this chick in red). He was with his mother. Fun, right? Well, actually it was kind of creepy, because she kept rubbing his back, like you would your lover's. She wasn't just rubbing the middle of his back, or his shoulders - she had her hands on the small of his back, too. Inappropriate, much? I see that kid growing up with serious Mommy issues.

Also going on, at our own table, was something I didn't hear at all - J told me after the show. A couple was sitting next to J and apparently they fought throughout the whole show. Fun!

And of course, since this is an older band, the crowd there to see them was mostly middle aged people (which I guess J and I are now, too, sigh). It always seems so weird to see pudgy, gray haired old people with glasses bobbing their heads at a rock concert. Where are the teenagers, dancing in their seats and brandishing their lit up cigarette lighters in approval? I may not have gone to many concerts when I was a teenager (okay, only one), but that will always seem normal to me. I don't know where all these old people came from. :)

Okay, back to sitting here working on stuff and trying not to fall asleep (she says, as her eyes close and her head bobs forward).

Asia

Tonight J and I are going to see Asia. :) That should be fun! I like going to concerts with him - we have a good time at them.

Anyway, so I'm leaving work early to spend some of the day with him, which should also be fun. :) I always enjoy leaving work early.

Speaking of work, it has been so crazy busy! I've never been this busy in this job. It's kind of nice, though, really. The days are going by much faster. And when I start to get overwhelmed, I just stop, write down everything that needs to be done, and prioritize it all. It makes it seem much more manageable. And then I get things done ahead of time, and can plan a little afternoon off! So it works.

So I guess that's all I have for now. (Except - two more days until Gracie's vet appointment, woo! Cast free cat, here I come! I hope. :) I hope you're all having great Tuesdays out there!

Right Now

Watching Bones. Commercials muted. Gracie on my lap. J sleeping in the next room. Bernie on the floor next to me. Willow growling on the couch. Space heater running in the dining room. Belly full of peanuts (and yummy fish).

8:27 p.m., Monday, April 14th, 2008.

(Exciting entry? No, but it's kind of hard to type with a broken legged kitty on my lap.)

There Will Be Milkshakes

J and I watched There Will Be Blood today. The movie was disappointing - long and boring. Daniel Day Lewis was great in it, but the movie itself - blah. There was, however one scene that we both loved. Here is our favorite part (if I can get the code to embed this to work correctly), featuring a line that J will be saying over and over from now on:



"I drink your milkshake!" :D

McDuff's Birthday!

Today is our little McDuff's 10th birthday! Happy Birthday, McDuff!



This little cutie stole my heart shortly after J did. :) He's the sweetest little guy you've ever seen, he loves to kiss and he really likes nothing better than going into the bedroom and sleeping on the bed with me, J, or both of us. He gets along well with my two dogs - okay, he doesn't like Willow much, because of her extreme grouchiness, but he seems to think of Bernie as a cool big brother. He follows him around the yard when they go outside together, and he gets very excited when we first get home from work,and we let Bernie out of his crate. And of course he loves Rosebud to no end. He likes to curl up with her, with his head on her back, and I often see him grooming her, by cleaning her face and even in her ears. He's a good little dog. (And it's insanely cute, seeing him get his little face underneath her huge floppy Basset Hound ears.)

Happy Birthday, little Duff man! I hope you stick around with us for 10 more.

Tired Now

Oh, so tired all of a sudden. Yawn. I think it's going to be an early to bed kind of night.

So, work has been kicking my butt lately! I have a lot of projects going on - well, a lot for me. I'm kind of used to sitting there hunting for things to do. But now they've got me busy almost non-stop. It's exhausting! The week is going by really quickly, though.

And because of work, I had to change Gracie's appointment. I'm going to have to be at a work thing Friday afternoon of next week, so I changed her appointment to Thursday. So, one week from today, I'm hoping she will be cast free! It's exciting.

And now, probably because of the tiredness, I'm out of things to say. So. Happy Thursday night to you! I'm going to go back to playing the Sims 2 until it's time to go to bed.

A Real Entry Today

Sorry for that poor excuse for an entry last night. Work has been getting really busy for me lately - a situation which is very unusual, as I normally have ample time to sit on my ass at work and write in here if I want to. But this week has been non-stop working, which is good because the days go by really fast. It just makes updating here a little harder. And who wants to update from home, when there are fiances to hang out with, Sims 2 to play, TV to watch and books to read? :)

Anyway. So, J got home from his trip at about 1:00 on Sunday, and then he was kind enough to want to hop back into a car to drive me to the mall to try to buy me a spring jacket. Of course, we weren't successful in that quest, because apparently spring jackets are in the stores when it's still winter outside, so there weren't many still around now that it's actually spring. Sigh. If I had wanted a bikini, though, I'd have been all set.

But the trip wasn't wasted, because he was kind enough to buy me a new pair of sneakers, to replace my worn out, stinky ones, and I finally used my Border's gift card to buy a couple of books. And we ate at Johnny Rocket's, which I had never even heard of, much less been to. The food was good, and I kind of wished my Mom were still around, because she would have loved the 50s ambiance and the music they were playing. I miss her all the time, but certain situations make me think of her even more.

Since the week started, nothing really exciting has happened. Gracie is getting ever closer to getting rid of her cast. I'm still loving playing Sims 2. I'm writing the most recent chapter of my Sims 2 legacy story. J and I watched Hell's Kitchen last night, which is always fun.

So, yup - nothing too exciting. :) But at least I got a real entry in for today, woo! And now I have to get back to work. Sigh.

Not Really An Entry

Busy day. Going to bed. Better entry tomorrow. :)

Single Doesn't Work Anymore

Oops. I forgot to post an update last night. Well, so much for putting up an entry every day in April! If I have anything to say later, I'll do two today to make up for it. I don't really have an excuse, either. I was sitting in my living room chair last night, reading my book, and remembered that I needed to post an update. I figured I'd put one up when I finished reading, before I went in to get ready for bed. I forgot. :)

J came home from his trip yesterday afternoon. Here is what his weekend away taught me: I'm very happy to no longer be single and alone. Some time alone is good every now and again - that's certainly true. But here's the thing. I was alone Friday night. Fine. I played the Sims, watched some TV and went to bed. I was alone all day on Saturday. Okay. I played the Sims some more and watched a couple of chick flicks that I wouldn't watch when J is around. I was alone all Saturday night. Okay, except... the only person I had seen or spoken to all day was the grocery store clerk when I went to pick up a TV dinner for lunch (which I never ate, because I also picked up a small loaf of fresh made bread, and I ate that instead - I love bread). So I was getting kind of lonely. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had remembered that when I was single, just about every weekend was like that. I had lots of time to do what I wanted to do, but I hardly ever saw or spoke to anyone from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. It was a very lonely life.

And that whole long paragraph is just meant to say this: J, I love you. I'm glad to have you in my life, and to be sharing a house with you. I'm glad you had fun on your trip, but I'm glad to have you home again.

And that's enough mushiness for one post. Maybe I'll post later, with tales of my Sunday.

Spring Has Come

Spring has finally arrived. I took the down comforter off my bed and put on the warm weather quilt (it might be too early, but I just had to do it). I can't wait until it gets a little bit warmer, so that we can stop running space heaters altogether, and open the windows to let the fresh spring air come in and force the stale winter air out.

I started taking out the ladybugs who have been living in my house all winter. The dogs and I sat outside in the sunshine for 15 minutes or so, just soaking it in. I felt like a flower, lifting its head to the sun.

I missed you, spring. Welcome back.

Friday Rambling

For some reason, I am just exhausted today. I got to sleep a little bit later than normal (but not much) and got up half an hour earlier, but it doesn't seem like that was enough of a difference to make me this tired. Yawn. I just got a Diet Pepsi on the way back from lunch. Hopefully that will wake me up.

So I saw J off on his trip this morning. He and his brother are off to watch hockey. I hope they have fun. I'll miss him while he's gone, but at least I'll have the animals to keep me company. I'm sure I won't have much time while he's gone where I won't be petting someone or letting the dogs out or feeding them or filling water dishes or scooping litter. Or doing the dishes or vacuuming or taking the recycling to the dump. Wait! This getting left home alone thing isn't all that great, huh? LOL. Oh well. I'll survive, and he'll be home on Sunday. And despite all the work of taking care of the animals and doing some housework, I'll still get lots of time to loaf, and that's really all I require out of a weekend.

Two weeks from today Gracie gets her cast off! I'm very excited. Oh wait, I should say two weeks from today, she goes back and gets an x-ray to MAYBE get her cast off. I don't want to jinx myself here. Still, I have good reason to believe that she will be cast free in two weeks, and then she'll be free to run around the house again. Woo! I just hope she's happy about that. Last night I was holding her, and I hadn't turned the space heater on yet, so I got up and did that, and I put her on the floor in front of me and held on to her. Well, I had to wait for the wick in the heater to light, and she ran off. It lit, I ran after her, and she just went into the mudroom and stood in front of her crate. So I opened the door and let her in. Silly cat. She could have been free (well, on my lap, anyway) for at least a little while longer. Oh well. Like I said, two more weeks.

Okay, I seem to be out of things to say. My exhausted brain hasn't been charged up by the caffeine in my soda yet. So I'll sign off here. Talk at you again tomorrow!

Another List for You

The theme for the Nablopomo posting every day thing last month was lists. This month it's letters. I seem to be doing last month's theme, without even meaning to. Hee.

Here, because I couldn't think of anything good to write today, is a list of things I'd rather be doing right now (instead of sitting at work doing my job and watching the clock, waiting for 4:30):

1. Watching a movie with J.

2. Petting one of the dogs, and/or holding a cat on my lap, maybe while a second cat hangs out on my shoulder (which Sable likes to do).

3. Reading my book (still Duma Key by Stephen King).

4. Playing the Sims 2.

5. Talking to J on the phone.

6. Sitting on a rocky coast in Maine, watching the waves come in and go out.

7. Riding the Loch Ness Monster (roller coaster) at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. It's the first one I ever rode, and will therefore always be my sentimental favorite.

8. Sitting outside with the dogs, reading my book, while the birds chirp and sing and spring starts showing its colors to the world.

9. Watching Buffy. (Oh, and did you know Giles was in Sweeney Todd for about 30 seconds? Because he totally was. And I was zoning out when he came on screen, so I didn't notice him, and J thought I didn't recognize him, and teased me about it. But really, I just wasn't paying attention. Once I tuned back in, I knew who he was immediately!)

10. Watching Firefly again. I miss that show.

11. Taking a day trip with J somewhere.

12. Mowing the lawn. The lawn hasn't started growing again yet, but I kind of miss doing it. By the time I've had to do it for a few weeks in a row, though, I'll be sick and tired of it. But right now, it sounds fun, to ride along and look at the pretty scenery around my house and watch for moles in the grass and birds flying around me.

13. Sitting quietly on the futon watching a good show on TV while I work on the baby blanket I'm making.

14. Petting a puppy or a kitten. J got to pet a baby Westie yesterday (a baby McDuff). I'm kind of jealous.

15. Spending my Borders gift card, finally.

Reading over that list, I seem to be starved for nature and good weather (not exactly a surprise, at this time of year, after a long, cold winter). And I love to watch TV, read, play the Sims 2 and hang out with J. The former, I didn't realize. The latter is always true. :)

Looking Forward

Things I'm looking forward to...

4:30, when I get to leave work and go home.

The weekend, even though J will be away at a hockey game with his brother (I'll enjoy being alone until about 7:00 on Friday night, is my prediction, then I'll be lonely).

Gracie getting her cast off, hopefully in two weeks and two days.

Paying off a few bills, so that I won't be so strapped every month.

Paying off my credit cards.

Someday paying off my two small student loans (the big one may be there until I die).

My vacation in July, which J is taking off too.

My birthday!

J's birthday!

The extra paycheck I'll get in May (oh, to catch up and actually have some cash, if my car repairs don't take it all).

July 4th. It's my favorite holiday.

Maybe buying a new spring coat and some PJ pants this weekend or next week (thanks to J).

New episodes of all of my favorite TV shows starting back up soon!

Hugging my cats and dogs.

Seeing J when he gets home from work tonight.

Lunch! In just half an hour.

Spring. Which is basically here now. But I want the daffodils and the green grass and the sunshine to go with the Robins who are flying around outside, and the flies which are buzzing around my windows and light bulbs inside (I hate flies).

Having my car paid off in November or December. Woo!

Holding Gracie on my lap when I get home, and hearing her purr as I pet her.

Going to see Asia with J in a couple of weeks.

Quiet time to read my book (Duma Key, by Stephen King) or play The Sims 2 or watch TV or just sit and pet a critter. Or some combination of the above.

And lots of other stuff I can't think of right now, but which will come to mind as soon as I post this. :)

On Dreams

For some reason I was just thinking about dreams. Not the kind that come to you at night while you're sleeping, but the kind you have for yourself and your future. I've had so many dreams since I was a kid. I've wanted to be a writer. That's the only one that has pretty much stayed around my whole life. I seem to have given up on it, but the thought is still there as a pleasant day dream in the back of my mind.

I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger, but I didn't think I could handle having to put the animals to sleep when they were sick. Now I think I could handle that fine (I cremated animals for nine months in a part-time job - I've gotten over my issue with that), but I don't think I could handle the anatomy classes to get the degree, and if I somehow got it, I don't think I could deal with the people who don't take care of their animals properly, or who abuse them or who abandon them. My heart aches for animals in a way that I just can't really describe, but that other animal lovers will understand immediately.

As an off-shoot of that dream, when I was older I started wanting to be a vet tech. I'd still have the same issue with the anatomy classes, though.

My friend Sally and I have shared a dream of someday running a boarding facility for dogs and cats. It would be different than most, though. It would have music for them to listen to, and couches for them to lay on, and animal beds, and they'd get walked at least twice a day (the dogs, anyway - the cats would get played with). It would be great, because I'd be getting paid to pay attention to and take care of animals all day - something I do for free right now when I'm at home.

And suddenly I'm realizing that of my first four dreams, three of them have to do with caring for animals. So how did I end up in marketing? Hmmm.

Career dreams aside, I've also always dreamt of finding the man that I would love with all of my heart, who would love me with all of his. We would fit together perfectly. He would come up behind me when I was doing the dishes, and he'd hug me to him or kiss my neck. I'd walk up behind him when he was on the couch or in a chair, and kiss his head and rub his back. This dream actually came true. :)

Since I became a very broke person some years ago (a situation which I am working to change, but it's a slow process), I've dreamed about winning the lottery. We all dream that, though, don't we? What we'd do with the money if we won. J says he would buy a private island somewhere and hide out there from the world and all the people who want to take his money. I just figured I would pay off all my bills, fix up my house, buy myself a new car, give some money to my friends and relatives, and then start helping with animal charities. Oh, and I'd never have a regular 9-5 type job again. Unless I got bored, and then I'd just work somewhere fun part-time, and donate the salary to someone who needed it. Or to the humane society.

Sometimes I dream of having an animal free day - no Willow growling at Rosebud, nobody getting into trash, nobody knocking anything over. No litter to scoop, no dogs to let out, nobody to feed. But then I think about how quiet my house would be, and after I had enjoyed that for a little while - say a day or two - it would be TOO quiet, you know? So I don't really dream of that often. Although I do dream about Willow suddenly deciding to like Rosebud, or at least to not feel the need to growl at her all the time. That would be nice.

I guess now, I mostly just dream about a day when I won't have to worry about money so much. When I'll have some money in the bank, and the worst of my debt will be gone, and I won't have to panic if my car suddenly needs repairs or something. And I dream of being happy on the days when I'm down. And I dream of peace and harmony for all people and animals everywhere. And I appreciate being happy when I am. And I appreciate the smiling face of J, and chatting with Sarah, and seeing Jamie and Jen at lunch, and e-mailing Sally to find out what's going on with her. And I appreciate my sister and her family. And I appreciate my dogs and my cats - every single four legged furry creature in my house (and yes, when I say my dogs, I'm including J's dogs - they all four belong to both of us now. But the cats only belong to me).

And I appreciate the dreams that I have, and I wonder where the older dreams went, and I'm happy for the ones that have actually come true.

Embarrassing Half Hour

I left the office for lunch at 11:30, a few minutes later than I usually would, but not too bad. My coworker who usually goes with me was on the phone, so I was on my own, walking down to the other end of campus to meet my friend Jamie for lunch. No problem. It's overcast and kind of gray out, but it's semi-warm (40 degrees), so it's a nice day for a walk. Except for one problem - I have to go to the bathroom. Not number one - number two. Okay, I can hold it back until I get back from lunch, it's okay.

I walk down through campus, seeing that there are a LOT of students out today. For some reason, 11:30 on Wednesdays is a busy student time at lunch, and they were all out and streaming towards the dining locations.

Oh yeah, I do have to go to the bathroom. Commence butt clenching. I'll still be fine.

I get to the lunch place where I meet Jamie, and I join him at the table, taking out my sandwich and my yogurt container. Oh, the abdominal cramps are bad, now. I'm eating and clenching, kind of sort of in pain. But then the urgency passes, and all is well.

We finish our lunch, and walk out. He turns left to stand outside of the building where he works, smoking his cigaratte until he goes back in, and I go to the right to walk up the stairs and back to my end of campus. There are still a lot of students streaming across campus, and since only one set of stairs is open right now (they close two sets for winter, and haven't opened them back up yet), I have to find my way through the crowd to go up. I'm on the left side of the staircase, so I go past one guy and rush over to the right side to avoid most of the students coming down.

As I'm walking up and sideways, my right shoe slips off, I trip, and I fall on the stairs. You know how you fall going up stairs - my left leg was laying across two lower stairs, and my right hand was on one a little higher up. A nice girl asked me if I was all right, and I said I was, thanks, mumbling something about my shoe falling off. I didn't look at her - I was all about getting away from the scene of the accident.

And then an obnoxious student behind me begins guffawing loudly to his friends. I use the word guffawing to get across to you just how loud he was laughing. I walked a little faster, embarrassed as hell and hoping he would just shut up. He didn't. I walked halfway across campus with him laughing behind me before I got away from him (all the while thinking about how my orange and blue jacket makes me stick out, turning me into even more of a target).

On the way back, I was going to stop at the convenience store and spend the lunch money work gives us, but I couldn't do it with him laughing behind me, so I kept walking back towards my office building. I finally lost him, and I walked on, shame faced and hoping to just make it back to my office so that I could hide.

Remember the first problem I had, when I went to lunch? About having to go to the bathroom so bad? Yeah, well, it chose this time to come back in full force. I had to run into the bathroom as soon as I got to the building, and I barely made it in time.

My Wednesday afternoon is going fine so far, how about yours? Sigh.

Gracie Update Part 2

Sigh. I called the vet this morning, but she was out of the office, so I left a message. She just called me back.

The good news: the radiologist agreed with her that Gracie's elbow is healing well. Woo!

The bad news: she is being more conservative than my vet, and wants to make sure the bones are healed fully before the cast comes off, since it was in kind of an awkward place. She wants the cast to stay on for 3-4 more weeks. Sigh.

We're still close to having it off and Gracie being free to run around the house, though. I guess. I was just really hoping it would come off next week.

Gracie update

I took Gracie to the vet this morning for another check of her broken leg. I was OVERJOYED to find out that her leg is healing very well, and she could be out of the cast as early as next week! Woo! Go Gracie! The vet was going to have the radiologist look at the x-ray this afternoon, and I have to call tomorrow to find out what she said, and when I need to bring her back in to have her leg freed from the cast.

I'll update tomorrow to let you all know.

Easter Surprise

Happy Easter!

I've had a pretty good Easter so far. The Easter Bunny (J) got me a basket full of goodies, including a solid chocolate Dove bunny. Yum. J had to work this morning,(by which I mean from 12:30 at night until about Noon), so he's sleeping right now. I'm playing the Sims and watching some Friday Night Lights, season one, on Netflix (you can watch online as part of the membership fee). It's fun. And we have boiled dinner (ham, cabbage, potatoes and carrots) in the crock pot, and the house is filling up with that great scent. Boiled dinner is my favorite. Even though it seems weird to J to use ham instead of corned beef. :)

So, I just let Rosebud and Bernie outside a few minutes ago. They were wandering around, so I went out to see what they were doing, and saw that they had found a surprise in our front yard.


For those who might not be familiar, this is an opossum. They're generally nocturnal, so why it's in the yard in the middle of the day, I have no idea (and now that I think about it, that's weird behavior, so I'm glad the dogs left it alone as soon as I called their names).

Anyway, I came back inside and was sitting here holding Gracie, and decided I wanted to take a picture and post it to my long-neglected blog, so here it is. :)

Speaking of this blog being neglected, I think I'm going to sign up to blog every day in April, so there will be a post every day that month (if I don't change my mind). Exciting!

Also, speaking of Gracie, she has a vet appointment tomorrow to get her leg checked, so cross your fingers for me that she's healed, or at least almost. I would REALLY like to get her out of that crate for good soon.

Okay, I'm going to go get Gracie back out (since I put her back in to get the opossum picture). I hope you all are having great Easter Sundays.

Cats and Nightmares (but not nightmares about cats)

Gracie and I are both so ready for her to get out of the crate! She is yowling a lot because she wants out, and whenever I go in there to scoop her litter or check her dishes, she tries to escape on me. This morning when I was scooping her litter, she got out and went wandering around the mudroom. She somehow jumped to the top of the shoe dresser/organizer that J made for me. Then she jumped down and went running out to the dining room and hid under the table. I don't know if her elbow is healed or not - her next vet appointment is on the 24th - but she is sure acting like she's ready to be free.

She's not the only one who's ready.

Anyway, we'll see what the vet says when I take her in, but I'm definitely hoping that the x-ray shows a healed elbow bone. Too many more weeks of this and we're both going to lose our minds.

So. I had a nightmare about my brother this morning. I won't bore you with details, I'll only say that I hate that I have a brother who has scarred me enough emotionally that I have nightmares about him from time to time. Although I did hear something about him that may explain a lot - last night J and I had dinner at my sister's house. My sister is 10 years older than me, so she knows a lot of stuff about our family that I don't know. Anyway, she said that when our parents were building the house that we lived in when we were all kids, our brother, who was probably less than a year old, was in a walker. Someone left the door to the basement open, and there weren't any stairs going down to it yet. He walked his walker over to the open doorway, and fell down onto the concrete basement floor on his HEAD. That explains so much for me. :D Just kidding.

Anyway. I'm tired this morning, and I want it to be 4:30 so that I can go home. But it's only 10:12 in the morning. Sigh. I really need to start playing the lottery, so that I can win and J and I can both retire early. Like, right after I win. :)

And that's all I have for now. Later!

Weekend Talk

Why do the weekends go so fast? We need to work on finding a way to slow down time from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, to make them last longer.

So, I had a good weekend. J had to go into work on Friday night because of a storm that was forecasted to come through. He spent the night there, and then he had to work his shift on Saturday, which ended up going long, so he left Friday at about 10:30 at night, and didn't get home until about Midnight on Saturday night. I missed him a lot. It's amazing how used I've gotten to having him there, it really is. A hole is left in the house when he's gone. Stupid work.

Anyway, while he was gone, I did some laundry and I played some Sims and I watched some General Hospital and some back episodes of Medium. I also found out the hard way that you can't wash a shower curtain in the washing machine - at least not in one that you can't remove the agitator from, and not on the regular cycle. It came out looking much cleaner on the inside, but it was also shredded. Oops! So I had to take an unscheduled trip into town to buy a new shower curtain at Family Dollar. Hee. Lesson learned - next time I'll just throw the thing away and buy new without trying to clean it first.

I also started working on the new baby blanket. I like it. The colors aren't typical baby colors, but they go well together, and it's very soft and best of all, it's going to work up much quicker than the last one I made! (That's the difference between a pattern that calls for mostly double crochet, instead of all single crochet like the last one.) I hope you like it when it's done, Michelle. :) I found a mauve colored yarn at Walmart that was what you had originally asked for, so I bought that, and a soft pink and a light tan and a darker tan. It sounds weird, but they're all colors that were in what you picked out online, or that you had asked for, and they really do work well together.

Anyway. Yesterday J was actually home, yay! So we hung out and watched TV and went to Jrecks Subs for lunch and ate too many peanuts (that last one was just me) and watched the NASCAR race (that was mostly him) and played the Sims (that was all me). And bemoaned the fact that our weekend was one hour shorter, because of the time change. It makes Sunday feel so short! Sigh. And getting up this morning was horribly hard. One hour makes a huge difference, it really does. Oh well. At least now we have sunshine until after 7:00 - when the sun deigns to come out, that is.

And now I'm done rambling. So, bye!

Griping first, music stuff second

Gah! People are such idiots. I just went to the convenience store on campus, and I really should just know better than to go there for anything. First, they're ridiculously overpriced - $1 for a regular sized candy bar, $1.35 for a pack of Orbit gum - is it just me, or is that way overpriced? I mean, I know anything sold on campus is going to be marked up, but still. There's marking up, and there's gouging. And then they have students working the registers, and either they don't train them properly or they're just brain dead and don't care, because they always screw things up. I have $2.25 left on my employee meal allowance for the day. Instead of running the $2.25 through on that and asking for $.75 cash, WHICH I HAD TO GIVE HER, she ran the whole $3 through on my faculty/staff charge. Which is like a credit card account we have through work, and which I do NOT want to charge anything to. It's not a huge deal - I can straighten it out in the office when the stream of students going through the office ends. Still. It's just annoying. And I needed to vent, so thanks for listening. :)

And now, so that this whole entry won't be just me complaining about stupid crap, here is an entry copy and pasted from my Sims 2 livejournal. I got tagged there for a music meme, and thought you guys who don't care about the Sims 2 stuff might like to see what I was listening to yesterday when I wrote this. Enjoy!

Here is the explanation: "List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your Live Journal (and blogger!) along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to."

I got tagged for this last week, but hadn't done it yet, because while I love music, and listen to it in the car and at work all day, I didn't really have any songs that I was listening to on repeat. Well, today I started a new station on Pandora, and the artist I put in to start the station with was Bonnie Raitt. The station is giving me some really great, bluesy sounding stuff, mostly by women, and I'm really loving the sound of it. So I'm going to keep this window open as I listen, and mark down the ones that I particularly love.

First, two that have already played:
"Whatever Gets You Through the Night," by Etta James.
"My Favorite Mistake (live)," by Sheryl Crow.

One that was on while I was typing that:
"There Must be a Better World Somewhere," by B.B. King.

And look at that, the very next song is another good one:
"Dr. Feelgood (Love is a Serious Business)," by Aretha Franklin.

A couple of songs later, the second song I've gotten on this station by this artist. I like her a lot, so far:
"Wait for Me," by Susan Tedeschi. I hope they play more of her stuff - I'm kind of thinking I want to buy it.

Another couple songs later:
"And it Stoned Me," by Van Morrison.

And okay, I was going to wait for a song that really knocked me over to finish this list, but my Pandora just broke, because my work computer is old and slow, so I'll end it with this:
"Fast Car," by Tracy Chapman.

All good songs that got me through a chunk of my boring work afternoon. I have four stations created on Pandora right now, and I think this one is my favorite by far.

Oh, also - I'm not tagging anyone, but if you haven't done it already, I'd love to see what songs you pick if you decide to do it. :)

Good sleep equals energy - who knew?

I got a good 8 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, and I feel GREAT this morning. It's amazing what a decent amount of sleep will do for you, you know?

I think I had written about the headaches I had been having - you'll be happy to know that they've gone away, finally. Woo! I think I was fighting off some sort of illness - most likely a sinus infection or the flu that was being passed around my office - and now I've fought it off and feel great. Here's to a good immune system!

I'm also still loving my yogurt. Yum. I have one every day now, and would seriously almost consider eating it in place of chocolate. Almost. :)

I found out what colors Michelle wants for her baby's blanket (she's growing my great-niece, you know), so I picked out a pattern yesterday. Now all I have to do is buy the yarn, and I can get it started! I'm kind of eager to get it going. I'm running out of time.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in here much lately. Once I gave up on the blog 365 thing, I kind of fell apart, didn't I? Sigh. I'll sign up to write every day for a month soon - maybe in April, and if not, then in May. Part of the reason I haven't updated here is because I've been completely obsessed with my Sims again. I try not to write about that here (I save it for my livejournal), hence the silence. Oops. :)

So. I spent my whole life sleeping alone on a nightly basis, until J moved in with me last year. And now, in a space of just six or seven months of having him there, I've completely lost the ability to sleep when he's not home. It's sad, isn't it? The other night he was working a little late. I went to bed at 9:30, because I was so tired, and then I lay there. And lay there. Awake the whole while. At first I was too cold to be comfortable (I love the kerosene heater, because it keeps the living room area nice and warm, but it doesn't do anything for the bedroom, so it gets kind of cold in there), and then when I got warm, I still couldn't sleep. Until J got home just after 11:00. Once he climbed into bed, I was out like a light. What the heck? Sigh. I don't mind - I'm glad that he's become so important to me that I can't sleep if he's not home. It just amazes me. :) Also it kind of frightens me, because he has a work trip coming up. If I can't sleep without him, those four days alone are going to be ROUGH.

Okay, well. I've rambled enough, I guess. I'll try not to go a whole week between updates next time, okay? ;-)

Yogurt and Other Fun Stuff

You may or may not know that I am lactose intolerant. This doesn't mean I can't eat any dairy at all, in my case - it just means I have to stay away from certain things. I can eat ice cream and cheese, but I can't drink regular milk. I have to get the lactose free kind. And I have to use that kind in anything I make with milk, such as mashed potatoes. It's been about seven years since lactose has been bothering me, and once I figured out that was my problem, I've also avoided something I love - yogurt. Well, I recently tried it again, just to see if it would bother me, and it didn't! So I am now enjoying some Yoplait strawberries 'n bananas yogurt. Yum. Eating it makes me happy.

I do not, however, like chunks of fruit in my yogurt. I need to make sure the next kind I buy doesn't have those.

***

So, last night J got called back into work when he had only been home for an hour or so. Sigh. Poor J. While he was gone, I sat and held Gracie, my broken legged kitty, and watched The Jane Austen Bookclub. And it was so good! I really enjoyed it. I'm going to add it to my Amazon wishlist. It made me want to read Jane Austen again, too. :) I have four of her books, so I may be re-reading some of them when I'm done with my current book.

***

Speaking of Amazon (which I mentioned up there), I preordered my Freetime Sims 2 expansion pack a couple of months ago, and it came out yesterday. Have they shipped it to me yet? No. Sigh. I'm very sad now.

***

I've been getting headaches almost every day for the last couple of weeks. I've been getting lots of sleep, so it's not that. I'm eating, so it's not a lack of food. The headaches are mostly in my forehead, which makes me think it's sinuses. Stupid sinuses.

***

And now my computer needs to be updated more. Sigh. So, bye!

Finally Finished

Yesterday, after months of working on it, I finally finished the baby blanket I was making for my great-niece Emma, who was born like three months ago. I'm sure speedy, aren't I? :) Now would be a great time to show you a picture of the blanket, but - I didn't think to take one. So. Yup. But I'm happy that it's done, anyway.

Now I have to go buy some more baby yarn for Michelle's baby girl, due in May. I'll have like two and a half months or something (I'm not sure what her due date is) to get it done before my newest great-niece is born. Will I have it done? I'll shoot for yes, but I'm not even holding my own breath on that one. I know myself too well. There is a new expansion pack coming out for the Sims today, which I'll have tomorrow or the day after, so you know where my free time is going for a while.

Well, that is, the free time that I don't share with J, of course. Spending time with him is still my favorite way to spend my free time, even over the Sims! :)

Also, in case you didn't notice, the 365 blog link that used to be on this page is gone. I thought I'd be able to make at least 5 or 6 updates a week, between this page and my Sims 2 livejournal, but I just wasn't making it, and I'm not going to force myself to try anymore. However, Nanoblogmo or whatever it's official name is can now be done in any month, instead of just November, so maybe I'll sign up for that every two or three months. Maybe. If the mood hits me.

President's Day

It's President's Day (Presidents' Day?) here in the U.S. - a government holiday. And yet I'm at work. What's wrong with this picture? Sigh. I'd much rather be home with J, who has today off. Oh well. Memorial Day is only three months away, right? Groan!

Great Weekend

I had the best weekend. J had to work for about half of it - from 7-3:30 on Saturday, and then from 6:30-11:00 last night - but the amount of time we had together was just perfect. We watched DVDs while laying in bed with puppies (one of my very favorite things to do), we went to a diner for dinner on Saturday, and we just enjoyed each other, you know? If you're lucky enough to be in love with your best friend, you do know what I mean. I consider myself a very lucky woman. And then today was Monday, and I had to get up to go to work, but J had the day off, and he's going to make me some truly yummy sounding pork chops for dinner. How can I not be in love with this man? :)

And the time I had alone wasn't bad, either. Not as fun, obviously, but I played my Sims and had a blast doing it. If I could play instead of working, I would be a truly happy camper. And I let Gracie out of her crate for small amounts of time, holding her and listening to her purr until she started wiggling around trying to get down, and then she'd go back in her crate. Her leg will heal, if I can make it so. Despite her desire to run around and damage it even more.

I also fixed the vacuum cleaner, making me feel all womanly and strong. Hee. It didn't have any suction, despite having a brand new bag, so I removed the hose and tried sticking a broom handle down it - it got stuck just past the handle, and I couldn't shove the blockage very far, so I had to cut the hose, only to pull out an animal toy. Oh the fun of small stuffed toys laying on the floor, for unsuspecting vacuum cleaners to suck up. I taped the hose back up with electrical tape, put it back on the vacuum, and voila! It works again. Excellent.

So, fantastic weekend. A good time by myself when J was at work, and a fabulous time when we were together. Other than him being home the whole time and one of us winning the lottery, I can't imagine anything better.

Cadbury-yum

Easter is coming. I was just reminded of that when I was in the little convenience store at work, and saw these on the bottom of the candy shelf:



YUM! I didn't have any cash with me, and I didn't have enough lunch money left (we get $6 a day for lunch courtesy of work), so I couldn't buy any. I'm going to tomorrow, though. Easter rocks! (Also, I might have to check for these at the grocery store, in bigger bags. Yum!)

I am Twilight

Copied from Cathy.

This actually describes me pretty well!

Bowl Sunday

Yesterday was bowl Sunday - and not just Super Bowl Sunday, either - it was also Puppy Bowl Sunday! If you have Animal Planet, I hope you watched, because it was super cute. Our favorites were Jackson, who was just the cutest, most hyper little West Highland White Terrier ever, and of course Colt, who was a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. He didn't do as much as Jackson, but he was adorable, and I wanted him to be mine. Only not really, because four dogs is enough. But you know what I mean.

But we didn't only watch the Puppy Bowl, of course - we watched the Super Bowl, too. Would it shock you to know that it was the first Super Bowl I've ever in my life watched? Because it was. I've never watched football before I met J. It was fun to watch, though. As for the ads that everyone is always eager to see - eh. Alice Cooper was in one for Bridgestone tires, which we had to watch for because J is a huge fan of his, but he wasn't in it long. Otherwise, the only one I really loved was the Coke commercial with the Stewie Griffin and Underdog balloons fighting over the Coke balloon, only to lose it to Charlie Brown. Excellent! Charlie deserves to win something for a change. Kudos to the people who came up with that one.

My other favorite part of Bowl Sunday? The snacks! Extra sharp cheddar cheese and crackers (and pepperoni and mustard, if you're J), Tostitos, Diet Pepsi - good stuff.

I might just look forward to watching it again next year. :)

Gracie and Her Cast

Gracie had a vet appointment yesterday, to do a recheck on her leg. The cast looked fine, so the vet didn't change it, but she did do an x-ray to find out that her leg was starting to knit back together, but it was going slowly, so she's going to be in the cast for a while. No problem - she wants out of the crate pretty badly, but she's doing well in there. And then this morning I went in to check her food and water, and noticed that the cast had fallen off. D'oh! Damn it! So I had to head back to the vet with her today to have a new one put on, and I only hope she didn't undo the little bit of healing it had started to do. We'll see.

So she's at the vet's office today, getting re-casted, so to speak, and my bill is going higher and higher. Sigh. The x-ray they took yesterday added $77 to the bill. Will they have to do another x-ray today? I have no idea, but guaranteed the bill will be going up again, because even if they don't do another x-ray, they will need to sedate her to put a new cast on. Sigh. I hate bills.

I just hope that the outcome of all of this will be that she heals perfectly and is back to normal at some point - probably in March or April. We'll see.

Happy Birthday, Mom, and J Spoils Me

Today is my Mom's birthday. She would be 70 years old, if she were still here. I love you, Mom, I miss you and think of you always.

*********

I have been so incredibly spoiled this week. J is on vacation this week, and instead of laying around relaxing and watching TV all week, he has been cleaning like mad - the house looks so great I can't even tell you - AND he has been cooking me dinner every night. Talk about spoiled! We had salmon last night, and we've had stuffed chicken and cheesy pasta and corned beef - it has been so luxurious. I can't remember the last time that I have had someone cook for me this much. No, wait - I can remember, and it was my Mother, before I moved out of her house when I was 19. So there you go.

And we've spent the evenings together, when I've gotten home from work. We've watched TV and watched an episode of Buffy (which I really missed - it's been months since we've done that) and basically we've just enjoyed being together. It's been a really nice week.

I'm lucky to have him.

What I Want

What I want to do today:

1. Go back home and snuggle into bed with J. Who has probably gotten up by now, but it's still what I want to do.

2. Spend the whole day at home with J, just relaxing and hanging out.

3. Not much else.

It sounds so good to me. I miss you, J. I wish I were home with you.

Basketball and Cold and Gracie, Too

Yesterday J and I went to they Syracuse basketball game with his Mom. The team lost, but it was a really fun day, anyway. I like his Mom - it's fun to be with her. We went to the game, and had a soft pretzel and a soda while we watched, and then we went to a local diner where his parents like to go, and ate a late lunch. It was a very fun day - long, but fun.

Today it is freaking cold outside, and it's going to be just as bad tomorrow. Brrr. The good news is that we're doing fine on fuel. Of course, we're keeping the thermostat down to 57, and the kerosene heater can only make up so much to get it warm. It's not too bad in here, though - we just bundle up and use blankets. And the dogs and cats sitting with us helps, too. :)

Gracie is doing well, too. She doesn't like being in the create much, but when I bring her out she doesn't want to sit still, so since I can't let her run around, she isn't out as much as I would like. But I just can't let her walk around like she wants to, for fear of her damaging her leg more, so if she won't sit still for long, she has to go back to her crate. What else can I do? Still, she's eating and drinking, and she's using her litter pan, and she looks good, so she'll be okay. Once her leg is all healed again, she'll be running around just like she used to.

Also, J is on vacation this coming week, and I wish I could have at least taken tomorrow off to be with him. It's a holiday here - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - but I didn't have enough paid time off coming, so I have to work. Sigh. Oh well. I guess I'll just go have fun now. :)

Gracie Update

Behold my Gracie Lou, with her leg in a pretty green bandage, decorated with her name and little red hearts. :) My vet's office did the decorating, and I think it's so cute.

I got off work at 4:00 yesterday, stopped at the store to get some litter for her, and then went to the vet's to pick her up. She is doing fine with the bound up leg. It's a little hard for her to get around with it, but she's going to be confined to the crate until it's off anyway, so that is okay. I have to watch her toes for swelling (so far so good), and I have to watch the bandages to make sure they don't start slipping, because she was very swollen when they put the bandages on, and when that swelling goes down, they could loosen right up. But that's no problem, I can do that. I just hope neither of those things happen on the weekend, when the vet office is closed.

So I bundled her up in her crate, and brought her back home where she belongs. I settled her in with the blankets as bedding, filled up her litter box and a couple of dishes with food and water, and let her get comfortable. She seems a little confused at being in a crate with the door locked, but she'll heal better if she isn't trying to run around on that leg, so that's where she'll be for now. I'll bring her out from time to time to give her a change of scenery, holding her in the living room and letting her socialize with the other cats and see a different room for a while.

I'll tell you one thing, though - I can't wait to have her healthy, bandage free, and running around with Sable again. It makes my heart hurt to see her like this. I hope she heals well.

Gracie

Last night when I went to bed, I read my book for a few minutes before I shut my light off. I was in a good mood, because J and I had spent a nice evening together (he had yesterday off), but for some reason as soon as I shut off my light, I started thinking about Gracie (pictured right there). I realized I had only seen her once that evening after work and before bed, and when I did, she was sitting in front of the mudroom, meowing very low and pitifully. I lay there, getting more and more worried about her, so I finally got up to look for her. I wasn't ever going to get to sleep if I didn't. I searched the house and didn't find her. Zelda and Sable were following me around, meowing, apparently thinking this was a fun new game to play at almost 10:00 at night, but there wasn't any sign of Gracie. Finally I opened the mudroom door and called her name, and I heard her meowing from inside the couch.

Yes, you read that right - from inside the couch. This is an old couch that the cats had clawed on the sides, opening a hole where they can climb in and out. They like to sleep in there sometimes. I called to Gracie, trying to get her to come out, but she wasn't interested at all. I tried pulling her out, and she yelled like I was killing her, so I just went to bed and left her there. I got up at 2:00 or so to use the bathroom, and checked on her again, and she still showed no sign of wanting to come out, so I left her again.

This morning when J got up and got ready for work, he went in and pulled her out of the couch for me. He said she yelled like he was trying to kill her, too, but he put her down on the futon and she ran upstairs, and looked fine. I got up 40 minutes or so after he left, and took care of the dogs and scooped the litter and went to give the kitties their treats. Sable came running, as did Zelda and Lucy, and even Kate came out of her house to get some, but no Gracie. So I called her and called her, and when she didn't come, I took some treats upstairs to the cupboard where we keep some blankets - the cats like to sleep there. And there she was, all snuggled up. I gave her the treats, and petted her head, and she was fine, except that her right front leg looked funny. I moved her leg around, and it felt like it wasn't even attached to her body. It was very weird.

So I got a little freaked, frankly. It was just about 7:00 in the morning. I tried calling my vet's office, but they weren't open yet. So I called J to see if he had noticed anything wrong with her yesterday or when he pulled her out this morning, and he hadn't. He didn't see her much yesterday when he was home, and she ran upstairs fine this morning. So I had no idea what had happened or when. I figured whatever it was it must have happened at some point yesterday, though - that's why she was hiding in the couch.

So I took my shower and got dressed, and then it was finally 7:30, when the vet's office would be open. I got them on the phone, and got an appointment for 9:00. Good. They'll take care of her.

I was pretty much ready to go, but it was only 7:40 or so at this point, and I didn't have to leave until 8:30. So I went online and checked my e-mail, let the dogs out, and went out to the garage to get the cat carrier, then cleaned it up and lined it with a couple of towels for her to lay on. Then I went up and picked her up off the blanket where she was sleeping with Lucy, and put her in the carrier - which was much easier than it could have been, but she still fought, even with one leg out of commission.

We got to the vet, and I filled out the paperwork for her, and asked if I could do a payment plan, and the receptionist told me that they don't normally do those, but she would ask the vet. Which made me sweat a little, because I am B-R-O-K-E broke! Btu luckily I used to work there, and the vets know me and like me, so they said yes to the payment plan. Whew! And the Dr. looked Gracie over and took her back for an x-ray, where she managed to spray her anals all over. Ha! That's my girl. She was a little stinky when they brought her back, but she had shown them, so it was fine. And the vet finally came back in and told me that Gracie's elbow is broken. :( Poor kitty. The type of break that it is usually comes from them either getting their leg caugt in or on something, and it gets broken when they're freeing themselves, or she may have jumped to the floor from somewhere and landed wrong. I'll never know which.

Long story short (is it too late? I think it might be), she is in the vet's office now. They're keeping her until tomorrow. My options were a super expensive surgery or wrapping her leg and hoping it heals well, which it should if she doesn't move around too much. So tonight when we get home, J and I are going to set up Willow's dog crate in the mudroom, and I'll set it up with some bedding for her, a small litter pan and a dish for her food and water. At the vet's suggestion, she is going to be confined to the crate for 4-6 weeks, until her leg is healed. That way she won't be able to move around too much and she won't be able to jump. It's like kitty bed rest. I'll post pictures of her in her crate once she's home and set up, and I'll give updates on her until she's all better.

And as for me? I was more stressed this morning than I have been in a long time. But she's going to be fine. So it's okay. So what if I'll be even more overextended financially? At least my cat will be okay.

Sims and Reading and Other Stuff

I need to take some new pictures to post here. I haven't had any in a while, it feels like.

This is my first normal week of work since before the holidays. It's weird to think that I could have gone three weeks without working a normal five day week, but I did. Well, actually, I worked all of last week, but I was out of town for work the first two days of the week, so it wasn't exactly a normal week.

Anyway. Last night I went to my sister's house for dinner for the first time since Christmas, and it was so nice to see her and her family again. I missed seeing them. Her son didn't know I had gotten engaged, because he wasn't there when I stopped by on Christmas night with J. So he gave me a high 5, which was cute. She has a great family.

When I left there, I drove through the snow and got home to spend the evening alone - J was at work. So I took care of the dogs and changed into my pjs and hung out at my desk in the living room. I watched some TV off the DVR, and I got the pictures together for my next Sims legacy chapter. And when I was done, I picked up my book and started reading.

I don't think I mentioned in here, but I got an amazon gift card from my friend Sally for Christmas, and I spent it on the next expansion pack for the Sims (which comes out in February) and the Philip Pullman trilogy. I had been wanting to read that for a while, and thanks to the movie coming out recently, they are in print in a boxed set. And I LOVE the first book! I just want to keep picking it up and reading more. If I could get away with reading at work, I would. It's great. I haven't been reading for recreation much lately, and it feels really good to be this into a book again. I missed it.

Not Much

My eyes have been feeling hot and tired all day at work today. Is it because it's hot in here? Or from staring at the computer screen all day? I have no idea, but they felt fine outside and at lunch, so it's definitely the office. Sigh.

I'm so happy to be back to a regular schedule at work again. The long break at the holidays was really nice, but since then I've made up time last week by working long hours, and then I had to go on that trip the first two days of this week, so working just a normal, 8-4:30 shift the rest of this week feels like heaven. Of course, this doesn't mean I wouldn't rather be home playing the Sims and petting the dogs and cats, but you know. :)

And wow, I am really out of things to say now, so. Bye! :)

Home Again, Jiggety Jig

I'm back home after my short work trip, and so happy to be here! I got home, thinking that J wouldn't be home for another half an hour or so, but he was here! He surprised me. :) I was so happy to see him. And I came into the house, and when the dogs saw me, they got all excited - especially Willow. I feel so loved! :)

I had a good trip home. I had a friend from work riding with me, so I had conversation on the way there and back, which was nicer than being all alone. And oh man, it's so warm out today! Jen (the friend from work) said when we stopped for lunch that she felt like she was on a road trip in Virginia, it was so nice out. How often can you walk around without a jacket in Central New York in January? Not very freaking often, I'll tell you that.

And now it's 8:15 at night, and the cats are coming around to welcome me back (they're not as demonstrative of their love as the dogs, but it's nice to know they missed me, too), while I play the Sims and watch Law & Order: SVU. It's nice to be home.

Oh, and also - J doesn't decorate for Valentine's Day, but while I was gone? He bought two strings of heart lights and strung them up in the living room. :) He's the sweetest.

Hotel Entry

I had to go out of town for work, so I'm sitting in a hotel, my laptop on my lap (ironic, huh?), watching an episode of Friends. And of course, wishing I were at home, because I miss my J. :) But the trip has been fine. I got here safely, and the meetings haven't been too horribly boring. I had to go to a cocktail reception earlier, which I was dreading, because I usually suck at those things, but I got to hang out with three other people from work, so it wasn't bad. I got to avoid socializing with anyone else, so it was a successful night. And then there was dinner. Woo, free burger! :)

The funniest part of the whole evening, though, was fitting nine people in a seven passenger van. Ha! I ended up riding back to the hotel with my boss sitting on my knee. Now that is something you don't say every day.

Also, J is a genius! This is something that happened Saturday, after I posted my entry. J and I had moved the TV up on top of my DVD cupboard, and everything was working fine. Until I went in there with the vacuum cleaner to clean up the dog hair that had been revealed where the end table used to be. I was diligently vacuuming, and suddenly pop! No more power in the bedroom. J went down to look for the popped breaker, and there weren't any. We tried them all, and still no lights. We had no idea what was going on. I called our fix-it guy, but he never called me back all weekend, so we didn't have any power in the bedroom for the rest of the weekend. Sigh. But! J went to work this morning and was talking to some people, and got an idea of what it could be, and when he came home, all he did was unplug the TV, which wasn't plugged in all the way, and plug it in the rest of the way, and ta dah! The power came back on. So, yeah - he's a genius. I wish I were there enjoying the power right now. And the lesson I'm taking from this is that I should never vacuum again. :)

And now since I'm in a hotel room by myself, I think I might plug in the Sims and see if I can play without an external mouse. Night, folks!

No More Christmas

I got a great night of sleep last night, thank goodness. I got up at about 8:00 or 7:30 or something like that, and still felt like I could have kept on sleeping. It felt great, though.

Today J's brother came out to our house for the first time. He agreed to help J move a dresser here that was still at J's house. So J went out to his house and met his brother there, and they brought it home. I think his brother liked the house - it's very large, so it's impressive to someone who isn't used to a house this size. And it was just nice to have another member of J's family see the house and come out to visit, even if he didn't stay long.

Of course, since I knew he was coming, I spent the time after J left and before they got back cleaning. :) I dusted the furniture (and it needed it desperately), cleaned the toilet, cleaned the sheet for the futon, rinsed out and bagged up the soda cans and bottles and I was vacuuming when they got here. Oh, and I stripped the bed and made it up with clean sheets. The house looks much cleaner now.

We also are taking down our Christmas decorations today. I took down a lot of the smaller stuff this morning while I was cleaning, and we just finished taking everything off the trees. We have boxes of decorations in the living room that need to be moved upstairs, but before the night is over, Christmas will be gone from our house for another 11 months or so. I love the Christmas season, and I'm happy to see all of the decorations go up, but I'm kind of glad to get the house back to normal when it's all over.

Also, if you see the pretty blue button over there on the bottom, you'll see that I've done something completely foolish. I've signed up for blog 365, which means I have to write a blog every day this year (except for February 29th - we get that off). I don't have to write them all here, though - the posts on my Sims livejournal count. So I shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up with it for a while. I can also post just pictures or a video and it counts, so when I'm at a loss for words, expect to see a picture of a dog or cat. :) I'm not guaranteeing that I'll actually keep this up all year, but I'm going to try. So check here often! I'll be giving you lots to read.

But that's all I'm giving you tonight, because it's almost time to help J carry the decorations upstairs to the storage room. Later!

Sleep? We don't need no freaking sleep!

Gracie likes to be held while I brush my teeth in the morning (she used to like the smell of the mint in the toothpaste, now she just likes being held), so in the time before I start brushing my teeth, she usually sits on the toilet, staring at me like this, until I pick her up. She's a cutie.

So, last night I was so tired that I shut down my computers at 8:50, and had the TV off, the dogs out and in and was in bed by 9:19. But instead of getting comfortable and drifting off to sleep, I lay there wide awake, until about 1:00 this morning. When I first went to bed, I was thinking about my Sims legacy, and about some scenes that I need to get the next time I play, for a plotty bit that is going on right now. And I planned out not just the next couple of scenes, but the whole storyline. And then when I was done, I went over it again. And I tried to shut my brain off to go to sleep, but it wouldn't cooperate at all. Stupid brain. Finally I was laying there kind of whimpering, because I was so tired! And I was supposed to be getting up at 6:00 so that I could be at work at 7:00, and that was never going to happen now. And J woke up and heard me, asked me what was wrong, and I answered him all pathetic, "I've been laying here for 3 1/2 hours, and I've been awake the whole time!" He told me to roll over onto my side, and he started rubbing my back. He is so freaking sweet sometimes that it kills me. He fell asleep a couple of minutes into the rub, and I was still awake, but I still think it did the trick - I had managed to relax enough that I was asleep shortly after. You should all have a J in your life.

And of course I didn't manage to get to work an hour early, like I wanted to, but I did manage the regular time, so that's okay. And all of that planning that I did last night was actually worthwhile, because the plans I made all make sense, even in the bright light of day. Woo! Still, though, tonight? I'm hoping to sleep immediately and for at least eight hours. You hear that, brain?

New Year's Day

It's the last day of holidailies. :( I'm glad to be able to take some time off when I want to, but I'll kind of miss updating every day.

For the second year in a row, J and I stayed up to watch the new year in. This year was much better, though, because I wasn't laying in bed with a sore neck. Woo! I was actually upright at Midnight! J and I watched the ball drop, and we toasted with Diet Pepsi, and of course had our New Year's kiss, and then we went to bed. I never stay up that late! :)

The first day of 2008 was very nice. We relaxed, and I did some crocheting (it's time to get that blanket done - the baby was born days ago!), and J took down the outside Christmas lights and I made us scalloped potatoes and ham for dinner. It was a good day.

And tomorrow I have to go back to work for the first time in 11 days. Sigh. I'm going to work two extra hours a day to make up time (I didn't have enough vacation to cover the whole break), so I'm going from not working at all to working 10 hour days. Double sigh. somehow I'll survive, though. It's only three days after all, and then it's the weekend.

I also need to start my healthier eating soon. Once I run out of the candy from my stocking, that's it - way less snacking. I need to drop my cholesterol and just get healthier again. We'll see how I do with that.

And now this incredibly lame first post of the year is over. Sixty-two days in a row, people - I need a break. Happy New Year!