Blanket Officianado

I think I've mentioned that Tess loves the green blanket my mom got me for Christmas. She LOVES it and frequently will sleep curled up by my feet on the blanket. To try to get my blanket back from her, I bought Tess a little pink cat blanket from the pet store. I swear it feels just like the green blanket. She doesn't like it. She still goes for the green... and worse... she's taken to climbing up onto the sofa and sleeping under it so when I go to sit down I sit on her. Poor girl. She's been sat on twice in the last week.

Hee. I started this post yesterday and this morning couldn't figure out where it went. Apparently I fell asleep before posting it. So silly.

Random bits and bobs

I went and saw Fly Me To The Moon last night with Ben, who is 5. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. He was entranced. He may have played it cool when he talked to his dad (Stephen) later, but he spent the whole movie with his eyes glued to the screen. It is in 3-d but doesn't rely too heavily on those stupid 3-d tricks. There are definitely some effects but it is not as much as it could have been. The story was good and I really enjoyed it. There's a Russian substory where the Russians are trying to sabotage the reentry of the Apollo 11 shuttle, which I thought was unnecessary, but I think the creators thought it necessary because otherwise I just paid $9.00 for a kid to watch a movie that was only an hour long. (With the Russian story it was an hour and 25 minutes.) I really enjoyed the animation of the moon and the earth and what it would be like to travel in space. (Although I think with space being a vacuum and all, the flies wouldn't have been able to use their wings to move about the way they could because there'd be no air resistance, although I could be wrong about that.)

I spent yesterday evening wondering about how birds and reptiles procreate. I read this article on Yahoo about a turtle who could now mate because she had been attached to a skateboard after her back end was paralyzed and then I was obsessed with figuring out how birds and reptiles reproduced.... I know I know they lay eggs but how do the eggs get fertalized? I then became curious about chicken pen1ses only to discover that's not what they do at all. They and reptiles reproduce through the cloaca. I had no idea. I feel so much smarter now. :) (Also how did I miss this in biology or science or whatever I took??!!) (Ok rereading the article, some birds do have a pen1s. How weird is that?! Also, clearly I'm a 12 year old boy because now I'm laughing about swan pen1ses.)

Priorities

Michelle & I were going to discuss priorities when I came down, but clearly due to my airline that didn't happen. :(

So I've been thinking about them and here they are:

1 - Obtain a job that will both pay me enough and give me some flexibility so that I can adopt children. I work in kind of a specialized field. AND ultimately I work in a field where I have to find an employer who is large enough to need a benefits manager, but for my own sanity isn't so large I'm lost there. For example, I wouldn't want to work at the evil empire. This also requires me to live in a moderately sized community or larger.

2 - Adopt said children. I originally said I want to do this in 2 years. Honestly 2 years was an arbitrary deadline I set for myself because I know me. I can procrastinate until hell freezes over. I don't want to be 55 and look back and say whoops, I should've when I had the chance and when in the hell did I turn 55? (Because honestly, periodically, I think to myself how in the hell am I 34 already?!) And, when I said 2 years I really meant start the process in 2 years. I know it can take up to a year or more. Plus while adopting said children I have to do the other stuff to get there - bigger place to live, larger support network, etc.

Everything else isn't really a priority just something I want to do. I want to take a real vacation sometime before I adopt children. Once I adopt, if I remain a single parent the money won't be there for me to do it again for a long long time - if ever.

Transformers

I've watched parts of Transformers several times this weekend. I really do enjoy the movie. I LOVE that the chick is a badass. But, the one thing that drives me crazy about this movie, I cannot believe for a minute that the military tacticians would think it is a good idea to bring the Allspark into a town. It drives me nuts. But I totally will see the 2nd movie. :)

Also, I went and saw Pineapple Express this weekend. Fucking hysterical. I laughed so hard through the whole movie. I was a little worried because the reviews were so positive that I would hate it, but no. It was great.

Disappointment

I was supposed to go see Michelle and Kenna and Bryan this weekend. Alas, the flight had other plans for me. I got to the airport at 1:20 and was hanging out waiting for my 2:40 flight. The 2:40 flight became a 3:15 flight. The 3:15 flight became a cancelled flight. It took them HOURS to rebook all of us and I was booked onto the last flight out of Seattle that would get me to LAX at 1:00 AM. In between I had tried calling my sister about 15 million times. I finally got ahold of her at 7:30, about 30 minutes before my flight was due to leave. She did a bunch of checking and discovered that although my flight was only 1 overbooked like the CSR told me... there were 11 people ahead of me on the stand by list. There was no way I was making that flight and leaving this morning would've meant getting there after the party so I'm home this weekend. :(

I will say this, I totally went on TSA's website to figure out the best way to take my liquid cough medicine because it is in a 4 oz bottle. They said to declare it at security and give it to an agent to examine. I tried that. The guy looked at me like I was crazy and made me put it through the x-ray without even looking at it. I feel oh so much safer now TSA.

Back in the boot

Sigh. I went to physical therapy today. She wants me back in a boot for 3 weeks. Until I can be pain free while walking. And then I wean off the boot instead of just stopping. I'm fine wearing the boot. It does help a lot, but it is so damn hot. (Although it does mean I get fun special treatment at the airport. ;) )

Mixed bag

Yesterday I was cracking up in my grocery store because there was this little voice on the other side of the aisle saying "Pease... pease...pease...pease." I know I shouldn't laugh and I know her mom was probably getting peeved but the little girl's pleading for whatever it was the mom had that she wanted totally was funny. She was also a cute little girl. (They were in line behind me while the little girl continued her "Pease...pease...pease... I think she wanted some goldfish but her mom wanted to pay before giving the kid the snack.)

The other day at dinner there was a little boy who was so cute and well behaved I think an ovary exploded. I had to tell the couple that he was adorable and very well mannered. I've become one of THOSE people...

As much as I dislike Paris Hilton, I loved LOVED her ad in response to the John McCain ad. I do appreciate that she seems to have some sense of self-awareness and a sense of humour about herself.

One other celebrity thing that I kind of hate... Morgan Freeman and Shia LeBouf were both in car wrecks while having another person in the car with them. I hate all this weird speculation about why those people were in the car with them. People give rides to coworkers or friends all the time, it doesn't mean someone's cheating.

Also, I should feel ashamed (but I don't) I bought the People Magazine spread with the Jolie-Pitt babies. All things considered, they do have a very attractive brood. I do wonder if the adopted ones will have some of the issues that all my adopted kids books indicate are inevitable. Maybe they've already got the troop of therapists on retainer.

Scared myself

I just looked at the old blog post from when I took Tess & Rig home and there I quoted their ages as being 2.5 years which would make them only 5 now. So then I looked at the ferret shelter site and there they were listed as 3 or 4 (and I remember distinctly on their cage they were listed as 4). I'm not saying I want them to die because I do love having pets, but if they had 3 more years to live that would change some of my plans because I will not even attempt to adopt children while owning ferrets. (Also that would mean another 3 years of Tess's shots which mysteriously keep changing price on me.)

Because I like to whine...

My right eyelid is twitching mercilessly. And it is driving me nuts.

I did sleep like the dead last night thanks to my good friend cough medicine with codeine. That was nice. I didn't wake up until 6:15 this morning. I have the feeling Rigby tried all her usual tricks to get me out of bed because when I woke up I discovered her sleeping curled up by my knees. She only does that after she has walked around my body and stuck her nose to my nose and done all her other things to get me out of bed. She then gives up and just hangs out until I get out of bed. This was the first morning in a long long time that I slept through that entire process. I might love cough medicine with codeine.

PM's current place of employ has a cat opening for what I do. Upon emailing with her she pointed out the illogicallity of attempting to acquire that cat based on the commute with family factor and the if I lived closer to that cat the family far from PM which defeats that purpose. I'm in an interesting conundrum. I kind of have to wait for the ferrets to die (which, given their life spans, should be any time now although they certainly don't act like they are decrepit) if I want to move back to CA. They are illegal there and although I don't have an issue with breaking that stupid ass law, Tess needs a shot every month and although there are vets who treat ferrets there I would rather not have to deal with that monthly.

Sleeeeeeeppppyyyyy

Also, guiafffaasseeen (how do you spell that?) (Cough medicine with codeine) is really really tired making. I took it about 40 minutes ago and suddenly I'm getting very sleepy. My eyes are getting heavier and heavier. Pretty soon I will be asleeeee.........

Why do I even bother?

I went to the doctor today for death cough. (Death cough is the cough I get once the cold has left me and I spend the next week coughing my ass off and having pain in my ribs and back because of it.) And as usual, there's nothing that can be done for me. She gave me some cold medicine with codeine and I went on my merry way. Sigh. Next time I'm not going to bother going. Also apparently I don't have pertussis. Big schocker, my parents actually believe in immunizations so I was immunized against it years and years ago.

Although I did discuss my tonsil stones with her (gross white solidish things that I cough up periodically). She said that they were because I have large tonsils and large tonsil crypts. Ew. Oh and there's nothing much to do. Sigh. I didn't ask if I could get them taken out but the thought crossed my mind. I suspect my insurance will not support that as I read on WebMD that physicians don't typically take tonsils out of adults. Although after reading the wikipedia site about tonsil removal, I don't want to do that anyway. Ew scabs. EW EW. But there was a link about tonsil stones which also ew. ew.

Kill me now...

I'm turning into my mother. My mom believes that if one is good 10 must be better. Yesterday when I stopped into QFC to pick up some bacon salt for Michelle, I wasn't sure what kind to get her. I had called and left a message but my cell was at home so I didn't see her text response. Originally in my message I had said I'll just get original but if you want the other two let me know and I'll pick them up to. While at QFC I thought, well I'm here and I'm currently thinking of it, I'll just get all three types and if she doesn't want the other two I can either use them myself or give them to someone else. That is exactly what my mother would do. I'm so ashamed.

I don't know what to do...

Here's the thing... I have all these ideas running around my head and I keep thinking if I want to make plan x (adopt kids in 2 years) and plan y (vacation in Ireland next spring) I have to stay the current course. However, I'm not totally satisfied with the current course. If previous cat wrangler had stayed there'd be no question. But with the new cat wrangler in place and the toolman, well being the toolman, I'm now starting to question staying put. Therein lies the problem... I currently have time on the books which will allow me to take my adoption leave fully paid. That's going to be important for a single parent. A three month fully paid period of adjustment has to be better for the kids than less... although who knows really. Maybe it would be better to settle into a regular routine and begin things as I plan on them continuing. That's a very pondering thought, one I hadn't considered... But I digress. Also if I want to go on vacation I would need to not abandon my current cat in the near future because I won't have enough vacation at the new one (unless I negotiate it, and let's be honest, I'm shit at that). BUT in order to get the time off for the adoption plan, I'd need at least a year with the new cat. I don't know. Otherwise I have to push things back further and I don't know if I want to do that either...

So I have options. I think that in CA, I'd have a better support system for the adoption plan than I do here. (No offense intended, Stephen, but Michelle's got a whole family there who while not my family, would be supportive I think, plus Michelle is my BFF and I do miss hanging out with her.) The downside of CA is that in all honesty, I don't think I want to live there again. Although maybe if I could find a job and a home in Ventura Co, that would not be totally bad. (Oxnard, while scary, is still somewhat cheap.) They don't terminate parental rights, though, until they have families to adopt the kids so I wonder what their disrupted adoption rate is.

Option 2. There's a cat available in Portland. I could move there. It is a cheaper Seattle with fewer ridiculous laws. And the Portland cat is worth a lot more money. However, the downside is that there is even a smaller support system there than there is here. I could create my own but clearly I'm not good at that as I have a support system of 2.5 people here in Seattle. (Ben, who is 4 doesn't really even rate a .5 but I figured I'd offend Stephen. :) )

Option 3. Stay here. Possibly find a new cat. Possibly keep the old one. Work on building a bigger support system (there's a group for singles adopting that meets in Kenmore I think.). Just see where things go. (That tends to be what I usually do by default since I am generally lazy.) Option 3 keeps me with my girls and I do like them. The problem is, I feel like I have to figure this out sooner rather than later, but I honestly just don't know. (If I were married I wouldn't have to figure this out. Someone else would have an opinion that is equally as valid as mine is. I might be sulking about that. ;) )

Foodless

I hate it when I go poking through the fridge to find what I am cooking for dinner and I can't find anything that I want to cook.

Update: I had it in my head I wanted to make chicken salad. I cooked the chicken. Let it cool. Mixed it with some mayo and some other things and had it with crackers. It didn't taste that great so I stopped after only like 3 - 4 bites. Ate PB & Crackers and went to bed. 4:30 this morning... ill. So clearly my chicken salad idea was not a good one.

That's one way to force me to mop the floor...

Last night I got home from dinner with Stephen and went to the bathroom. (Number 1 which is pertinent to the story.) And I flushed the toilet and the water didn't go down. Now because apparently I'm a moron, I flushed it again. (Unlike most of y'all I don't have a toilet with a tank. I have a flushometer type and this is the style you see in like the mall and what not.) This was a very bad thing as it caused all the water to spill over the toilet and flood the teeny tiny bathroom I live in. It was quite a mess. And then, suddenly all the water went down so apparently whatever was blocking it quickly got over itself. It was very weird and very messy. I'm sure in this case it is all me and not my apartment itself that caused this but moving on. So I will say this. #1 Brawny paper towels rock! I used them to reach the areas that I couldn't get with the mop. #2 Mr. Clean Mop (in a box) also rocks. I used that to absorb much of the liquid off the floor.

I crack myself up.

I was just sitting on my sofa making this weird throaty growly noise until I totally busted up laughing. It is a good thing I live alone sometimes. :)

Unrelated, although I hate the Olympics (I know how UnAmerican of me I confess) I do kind of like the Visa commercials that are going on right now about memorable Olympic moments like Kerri Strug's vault and Derek Redmond getting helped through his run by his father after tearing a hamstring. (I had to Wikipedia that one). They make me all weepy. (or maybe this cold makes me weepy. Oh who am I kidding, most things make me weepy because I'm a weepy weeper who weeps.)

Pondering

Why doesn't Nyquil have an 8 hour formula? Isn't it illogical that the medication wears off after 4 hours? I need to sleep longer than 4 hours. And when I woke up at 1 this morning totally unable to breathe because one nostril was so full of whatever that I couldn't get enough air I pondered taking more Nyquil but then I thought I didn't want to take too much and be groggy in the AM. So instead I didn't and was groggy in the AM. Hm.... I usually worship at the alter of pseudophedrine but I recently read that it can cause sleeplessness so I don't want to take it at night when I'm already having a terrible time sleeping. However during daylight hours I'm all over the Aleve Cold & Sinus. I love it!

I had another pondering thought but apparently in my cold induced foggyness it has escaped me.

A$$ a redux

So apparently sleeping poorly was a precursor to a cold. Who the heck gets a cold in the middle of summer? Apparently I do. I'm falling asleep at my desk. I would've called in sick today but I have a big important work meeting. I may do so tomorrow. Although I have a PT appointment tomorrow.

A$$

I feel like a$$. I didn't sleep well at all last night. I tossed and turned until at least 4:30. I would've called in sick this morning except my new boss started today. Sigh. Plus my employee is out for the month on a mission trip. So I've sucked up the headache, nauseus, vaguely flu-like feeling I've got right now. Hopefully as the day wears on it will go away.

My notboss is now sitting in the office next to mine. Since my employee is gone for the month, I foolishly offered up her office for the notboss who had been the interimboss. (Like I couldn't... it would be figured out eventually and stupid of me to be all stingy about the spare desk when we need a spare desk.)

Oh but I did see The Dark Knight on Friday night. It was really good. Much better than Batman Begins which I did not like. However, I will probably not watch it again. It is too much mayhem for me. Stephen's never sat near me while I've watched a movie like this. It was a bit of an experience for him I think. I tend to cover my eyes when something I don't want to see is about to happen. I also jump a lot with fight scenes and with gun shots.

I also did PYOP with Lyday at this place in Bellevue. I love PYOP.

This week...

So far has not been the greatest week ever. Last night I went down to do laundry. After I dropped my clothes in the laundry room and started the first load the elevator stopped working. (My coworker who knows how much I pay in rent likes to tease me about that any chance she gets.). Someone got it going again or else I would've been miserable. I could only get one washer all night so laundry took me 3 times as long to do as it usually would. Also, I totally spilled spaghetti sauce on a shirt I liked and even though I got it into the washing machine right away, it is still stained all to crap. AND as I was walking past a curio cabinet I hung on the wall it randomly hurled itself off the wall. I didn't even brush it or anything. One side just fell throwing everything piled on top off and so then I grabbed it to make sure it didn't totally fall and break and took it down. Now I have to get new hooks to rehang it because apparently after 6 years the present hooks have failed me. (And I lost them when they fell out of the wall leaving big holes in their wake.) It dawned on me last night that I might care more about what damage I may have caused to my apartment (holes in the wall, scraped wood floors under my sofa before I discovered I should put little coaster things under them, the tiles that fell out of the bathroom wall that I haven't gotten fixed yet) if it seemed like the managers cared about our building. We have graffitti in the elevator (the elevator that frequently breaks down) and at least 3 burned out bulbs that have been out for 6 months. And just to clarify, these aren't like little lamp bulbs, these are 3 full flourescent lights. They don't vacuum regularly anymore. I'm kind of like obviously they don't care why should I? (I know why I should... deposits, but whatever. The company is notorious for not paying those back anyway. I've googled them before and it is an ongoing complaint about them.)