Crisis Averted

Ok... Phew... I'm going to Arizona for Thanksgiving... (I wonder when I have to go to my doctor to get the necessary xanax to survive the visit) and to see Michelle at Christmas. Or maybe it is as easy as packing the rum in my nalgene bottle just as back up. (At the Great American Family Vacation I had it, but didn't drink any of it.) Crikey that's a lot of airline tickets I'm paying for this year. (Since it is over a holiday flight benefits wouldn't work out. I'd never get out of the airport.)

Conundrum

Subtitled: Damn why didn't I buy the ticket already??

My mom wants me to come to visit them for Thanksgiving. Allegedly the whole family will be there... including my niece who I haven't seen since the Christmas before her mom died... that was 5 years ago. She was 11 or 12 then. Now, for those of you who are semi regular readers, you may or may not remember the Christmas visit debacle of a couple years ago. Seriously, we were the white trashiest family ever... screaming at each other in the front yard. Clearly we've patched things up and maybe now that we are both 2 years older and wiser we can get along, but who knows.

BUT... I usually go to Michelle's for Thanksgiving. We shop the day after. We may be going to get new tattoos... It will definitely be more fun. If I had already bought the LA ticket, this wouldn't even be a question - I'd have an excuse premade, but I haven't. (And I didn't think quickly enough to lie.) The way my mother asked has just filled me with guilt, too. She was trying to be all cas... Fuck. I think I have to go.

Math is Hard

Is it totally pathetic that I had to go to google to find out how to do a ratio? For some reason my mind just could not wrap around how to do it. (even though I KNOW I must've learned sometime in my past.)

Touring bartells

Last night I went to the drug store to get a few random things (although Advil was not one of them now that I think about it, and it totally should have been.). Q-tips, nail polish remover and razor blades were on the list. Tights got thrown on in the last minute (and can I say that these cheapass $4.99 legs my way or whatever brand tights are way better than the 12.00 ones I get at the fat chick store? Seriously.). So I get in line like a normal person and there are two people ahead of me and a line forming behind me and the register guy says "Miss, he can take you down on 5." So I dutifully walk down to 5 who looks at me and says "Um, I'm closed." To which I reply, "But 1 said you could take me." (Yeah, cuz that always works...) And then a woman comes in and she says she can help me at 4. So I go to 4. And then she says, wait I can take you on 2. So I go to 2 (now during this time the line I left is acutally moving but also getting longer.). And then she says oh no wait, 4. So I head back to 4 where she FINALLY checks me out. Seriously that was ridiculous.

Also, I think I don't like the yellow background I put up. I may have to change the color. I think I may change the masthead again, but I have to do that at home. :)

I don't wanna move!

Over the weekend I received that notice that any renting tenant fears... the rent increase. Apparently my rent is going up $200 in December. You read that right... $200/mo the month Christmas falls in. My rent now will be $1,050/mo. Once upon a time I would have flipped out at the thought of paying all that... now I'm thinking, well, it's still cheaper than some of the places in my area and I hate moving so whatever. (Really, a cursory survey of the rents to stay in my general vacinity... that's about average. Now is my older building worth that... hard to say. I'm leaning towards no, but moving costs and I don't have the money or time to do it... ) However this does mean I'm rethinking my original 4 year plan. And I'm rethinking my stubborn obstinance about living where I do. I'm not moving right away, that's true, however once the ferrets die (I know morbid to think about) I think that may be the catalyst to get me to move. I don't want to move while I have pets because of all the pet problems one has when moving, especially when one has an odd or uncommon pet. If I get a cat, that's a bit different. Almost every place takes cats and I won't get a dog while I live in an apartment. I know plenty of people that have them, and I'm not judging, but for me a dog in an apartment isn't right. (And a part of that is definitely the walk multiple times a day/pick up warm poop factor. I'll fully admit that.) But I've totally digressed... I don't want to move. My original thought when moving into this building was that I'll live here until I buy a place or get married, whichever comes first. And now that I've had my 2nd rent increase in a year, clearly I may have to change my views. HOWEVER, I really am going to have to face that even on my relatively modest salary (I think I'm finally middle class, but I suspect middle class has jumped. ;) ) I'm not going to be able to afford to live where I want to. Well, I take that back... I CAN afford the additional 200/mo. I just don't want to. Not on the current place I'm renting. But, there are certain intangibles that are hard to deny that make my apartment relatively appealing. Please check out the map...

My apartment is the star.

My employer is the big blue rectangle. That's less than 1/2 mile away.

My doctor's office is the yellow dot.

The green one is my grocery store and my current favorite taco place.

The periwinkle one is my old favorite taco place and the purple one is the bar I used to hang out in. How do you argue with that kind of convenience??

Full fun Saturday

I had started this post yesterday and never finished it...

Saturday was a very busy day for me and most of it was spent on the bus. I took a bus out to Lynwood for my next CEBS test. I thought the test appointment was for 1:30, it wasn't. Whoops. It was for 1:00. If my bus hadn't been late, I actually would've made it almost on time (maybe 5 min late tops) but my bus was 15 min late so I walked in at like 1:25. Sigh. Luckily they hadn't "no showed" me so I got to take my test. I think in past tests I have declined to answer the survey or something because when I finished this test the survey started up. My first thought was "oh shit I failed." Then I started having a panic attack about failing the test and with each answer of the survey I was beating myself up about how much I had studied and how could I have failed it? And then I get to the end of the survey and I see the result and at first I didn't realize what it said, I just looked for the parts I did bad on. And then I realized I actually passed it. Phew. My legs were actually shaking as I stood up to get my results.

I then caught the bus home which is another over an hour and while I was talking to Stephen I realized that the times I told him for my volunteering shift that night didn't sound right. Usually they are 4 hour shifts not 5 hours. So I stopped at the library (as I had planned) and checked my email and I was wrong again about times and my shift started at 7 not 6. Crikey I had been planning on just finishing up at the library and jumping on another bus to Fremont. Luckily I didn't.

BUT I did go to Fremont at my assigned time and volunteered for the Fremont Oktoberfest. It was so much fun! I love pouring beer at these events. I got to chat with people and there was a lot of fun to be had. It also goes by quickly which is good too. :) Although when I was done I ached. Oh how I ached. AND luckily I caught the last bus out of Fremont, however there was no #2 coming so once I was downtown, I had to walk the rest of the way home. It isn't a big deal except I was exhausted and kept thinking, I could just sit and take a nap here right? :)

Sunday I was supposed to volunteer at the Oktoberfest again. I even blew off a previously arranged event with Stephen to do it. I was supposed to work in the kids area. I got up Sunday morning and was reading in bed for a little while and the little lights were there in front of my eyes. Crap, I thought, a migraine. I got up and did laundry and ate something and took some advil and drank a bottle of water and hoped for the best. I felt better. I caught the bus to Fremont and had Baja Fresh for lunch and some ice cream from Coldstone and then went to my shift feeling pretty good. About an hour into it, I felt less good. And then I felt even less good and had to run to a portapotty. Do you know how awful it is to have to run to a porta potty?! That's way more than 10 times worse than having to run to your regular bathroom. I struggled through and more and more volunteers showed up for the kids's station so I bailed. I felt kind of bad for backing out, but I honestly felt awful. The headache was back too. So I caught the bus and luckily made it home where I crashed for the rest of the afternoon. When I finally woke up I was feeling better but it was like 6 in the evening...

Tattoo toooo

Since Michelle wanted to go to LA Ink to get her next tattoo and we discovered that in order to get one from one of the LA Ink artists, you have to apply to be on the show, the odds are good I'm not getting one over Thanksgiving. But I am still considering a 2nd one. I've had a new thought about a possible design... I like Michelle's idea of that little triangle between the boobies (Although it does present certain challenges for actually getting the tattoo. :) Not really, a button down shirt should work actually). I've had a new thought about the design. I'm thinking of a horseshoe. Similar to this one, although for the size and space I have in mind, it might have to be smaller which means you lose out on detail. It would also have to be right side up (the curve down and the 2 ends up) so that all the luck doesn't run out. :)

DVD!

The movie I worked on, Inlaws & Outlaws, will be released on DVD. That's so awesome. I'm going to order a copy and I think the rest of you readers should too. :) It is a great movie and I pretty much promise you'll cry. (I do when I even think about certain scenes)

Addictions

I'm sitting here enjoying a lovely Gluten Free cupcake from Sunny Valley Wheat Free and enjoying every morsel of it and dreaming of my next trip down to freakin' Maple Valley to get more. (I say that like Maple Valley is THAT far away. It is 26 miles away. ConsideringI used to work in Auburn, Maple Valley is down the block) Anyway, starting in January my coworker, Red, goes back to Agility Training for her dog. Do you know where this training is held?? Maple Valley. How awesome is that?! She said she eats at the Taco Time which is right next to my bakery every time she goes. She is willing to pick up GF goodies for me. She said she never mentioned it to me because she figured I'd never want to drive all the way out there.... Oh little does she know. :) So now I only have to flexcar it out there until Jan. Awesome...

My other latest addiction... Peggle on MSN. I know it is the evil empire's site and all that but the game is so addicting! I love it! It combines two things I think are very fun... Plinko and pinball. (I don't believe I've ever really discussed my unholy love of pinball, but if you, dear reader, and I were ever to go to an arcade... that's where all my quarters would go.) Is it really a bad sign that given how nice it is outside, I choose to spend my lunch hour playing the online version in my office? (Yes, Stephen, I know it is. :) )

Can I start the day over?

Seriously? It has already sucked and it is only 8:55 in the morning.

An app I sent to the health insurance providers didn't get processed. Now they say the guy has to wait until open enrollment (not an option) or the app has to go to retro committee (not an option).

I got two dunning emails about an employee's member ID. Dude, it has been less than 5 days since she turned in the form. Two of those days were a weekend and one of those days I was out of the office the whole day. Sometimes things take time to process. Get the fuck over it.

When I got breakfast I spilled first on the stairs and lost some fruit. Then as I was walking out the door, I started to choke on watermelon juice and the door hit my elbow knocking more fruit and worse the bacon off my plate. Also thanks to this I now have spots on my shirt.

If one more thing goes wrong, I am going home!

Alarming realization

Today I was sitting with ski, the gal who we hired to take my job, and I had a kind of alarming thought. She is older than I am by a pretty good amount... ok maybe 4 - 5 years. She isn't married. Coworker, red, the recruiter is not married and she's in her 40's. Newnotboss (higher on the food chain, but not the one who adopted the Guatemalan baby - she left) isn't married - she's younger than me by a couple of years. I've always kind of lived with this belief that someday I would get married. I've been buying into any of the wide variety of ideas about when you stop looking you'll find the one or when things are meant to be they work out... I even rather unsuccessfully took the bull by the horns a couple of times with the fellow online dating goons and nothing. So I was looking at ski and thinking she's really pretty. She's pretty in that tall willowy blond way that reinforces any troll like appearance I have. And I started thinking that if my coworkers haven't found Mr. Right, what chance do I have? Am I going to be them... in 5 to 10 years with just me and maybe a pet? And I know I have my plan... start adopting kids whether or not I have a partner, but the reality is it would be much easier with one. I don't know...

Obviously I should know better...

But taking a 3 hour nap from 4 - 7 is not the best thing one can do in an afternoon if one wants to sleep that night.

Montessori VMA's

PM teases me about how I'm incapable of helping her pick a new Peever because I want us all to get along and it can't be the Montessori Peevery. Anyway, after reading Kanye West's comments post not winning an award for the 2nd year, I kind of feel bad for him. MTV should just give him one. I mean c'mon. Even though I don't like him, he seems to be very popular. Even that stupidass Umbrella song won two! Also Gym Class Heroes who sang remade that awful song. Also I found it funny that Justin Timberlake commented on the fact that MTV never plays videos and I really really do like Linkin Park. I may like to see them live someday.

News from the homefront

This weekend I should have done all this stuff. I didn't do any of them. Ok well all I really had to do was study. I didn't study. I'll be spending every day after work doing that. Sigh. I did finish the next Thursday Next book First Among Sequels. As with all Jasper Fford's novels, it was clever and really well written. I loved it and am now dying for the next one.

On Friday night I went to dinner with some friends. We went to Djans in Wallingford
(?) It is Thai food. I actually had a really good time. It was a friend's (Curly top's) birthday and she reserved this upstairs room. There were quite a few folks. Most of whom I've met but didn't know that well. It was a better time than I expected. The only downside is that you sit on the floor. After several hours that gets hard on the body. My legs and hips were killing me from being bent up. The food was really good as well. And I sat across from a hottie all night so that's always fun too. :) (Of course everyone there was probably between 8 - 10 years younger than me and now that I've typed that out, I feel even OLDER. :) )

I'm watching a rerun of Sex & The City. I love how awesome Smith (the actor guy) is to Samantha. I always liked Sam and the actress Kim Cattrell rocked the cancer storyline. (actually, in this episode, I realized how much most of the guys in the women's lives rocked. Harry is pretty awesome too as is Steve).

Ooh! One other thing. My new faculty orientation rocked! It was all day Friday and as exhausting as it is (I was mostly ready to skip out on dinner because seriously I have to be "on" all day and to be "on" all evening is exhausting.) I really am glad I do it. At one point 19 new faculty showed up! (Honestly, if you knew how it was in the beginning. When I first started we would do these 1 hour meetings before their new faculty institute. We would bet how many newbies would show up and the turn out was sad. SAD I say. I think the fewest was 2. Which meant that I had to meet one on one with new faculty for a week. That's just too much!)

ALL or is it Cheer?

I think my new laundry detergent is making me itch. I was just sitting here dying... my shoulders and back and chest were driving me nuts with itchyness. Removal of the bra and t-shirt seems to have alleviated the problem. (That last part may be TMI.)

Burn out

Every fall I start to think that I don't want to be a girl scout leader anymore. I don't want to do all the volunteering for them that I do. I'm just tired. The reality, though, is that if I didn't do it, I would be so much more lazier than I currently am. Plus I would miss my girls and I love them. I just worry that I'm not being a good leader to them, but I would really love to see them the rest of the way through. I think this year I'm not going to do the encampment at all. I'm already committed to being the service unit manager, but I think this may be the last year I do it. I don't know...

this post is sponsored by the letters P and M and S. :)

Pedicure

I think I'm going to go get a pedicure today before I go to Bumbershoot with Stephen. My feet are torn up because of sandal wearing all summer.

Whining about pain

I was lying in bed this morning and thinking I'm kind of sick and tired of hurting. My tendon is still swollen and periodically painful. It varies. But this is going on 2 years now with little to no improvement. I periodically think of going back to the doctor, but then think they've already established there's not much we can do for it. Unless of course it is now so bad it can be surgeried which I don't have time for anyway. My back (perhaps because of my tendon, but it is hard to know) has also been hurting again for quite awhile. Not the parylizing pain that sometimes happens where I can't move, but just general discomfort. I think about going to the chiropractor but then I think why bother, it just comes back. I'm just kind of sick of the whole thing.

Best Doughnuts Ever

I field tripped out to Maple Valley today to try a new (to me) GF bakery, Sun Valley Wheat Free Bakery. She gets it. It is so awesome. She makes exactly what I'm looking for in GF food. Good GF food that is similar to what the regular folks get. I bought a ton of foods. It is appalling how much money I spent, but it was so damn good how could I not? In fact, I bought two doughnuts and then after I tasted one while driving away, I turned around and bought two more. (I would've bought more but she didn't have any more.) I bought raviolis and a scone and cream puffs. And cupcakes. CUPCAKES! Awesome cupcakes. Everything is so yummy I can't believe it. I may have to flexcar out there once a month to treat myself... Why are all the good places so far away? :) Themost fascinating, to me at least, part. She isn't wheat free herself. She got into it for a friend of hers and was selling food at a coop or something and discovered she was always selling out everything there and so she went into her own bakery. Awesome.

Another option

Here's another option for the potential tattoo in November. The Forget-Me-Not. I love this flower. I like the simple lines of it. I do love tulips also. They are my favorite flower, but somehow I don't think tulips will lend themselves easily to the type of tattoo I'm thinking of. Maybe the size of tattoo I'm thinking of. :) And a daisy seems so cliche'.