Well, that happened, the paint is crying, and sick

Amanda and I. 

Well, it happened. We are married! Finally! The day of was pretty intense. Amanda was freaking out and I was trying to take it easy. Of course part was that as because I twisted both ankles and fell at Scarrywood the night before and the other part was because I wanted to be as calm as possible. Everyone else was freaking out and I'm not going to go into it, its done and over. 

The ceremony was beautiful, what I remember of it. It seemed to happen fast and a lot from that day is a blur and I was in a lot of pain. Thankfully, people recorded it. We never got to dance, never even got to listen to the music that wasn't in the ceremony itself. We basically got to eat dinner and a little cake and then the pavilion lights went out and it was time to clean up. Only, I didn't. I was cold and hurting, and went to warm up in the car. 

We had a small after party at a friend's house. I was planning to get drunk only I hung in long enough to sit by the fire for a few minutes, drink non-alcoholic hot cocoa, and then fell asleep on my friend's sofa. Another friend scared me awake to give me a hug goodbye. Amanda and another friend, both drunk, woke me up to go join the coven they were making in the back yard, but I was too sleepy. I do remember my friend nuzzling my boobs and pulling on my arm, but that was it. Apparently they made me drink some alcohol too. I missed all the vomiting excitement too, for which I am thankful.

The next morning when we walked to our car, parked around the corner from my friend's house, we found this gem:

Since Our car was parked facing away from the road and the damage as done on the passenger side, I can only assume that someone walking by threw something or hit the windshield as they were passing by. That's at least a 300 dollar fix and it will just have to wait until after we get back from the honeymoon. We have far too much shit to do at the moment. 

Speaking of which. I am sick and Amanda is feeling the first of it. I think it is a combination of stress, us being out in the cold rain the night before our wedding, and the mildew- mold smell permeating our apartment.

Two weeks or so ago we had what looked like a lactating tit dripping water down into our shower. I called maintenance about it. They came and slashed it and told us that they needed to let it dry out and that they weren't going to fix it until after we moved out since we are moving out on the 30th of this month. Lovely, how kind of them to leave us with this over our heads while we shower and while our out of town wedding guests shower. Fuckers.

Thursday night, after SScarrywood, we came home to a small puddle in the bathroom and our bathroom wall looking like this:

The next morning, our wedding day, it looked like this:

I went down to talk to the office about it. The apartment managers were gone so I cornered one of the Walker Construction guys and told him. I told him it was my wedding day, we were going to have people in and out of my apartment all day, but that I would be home Saturday. Well they don't work on Saturday, which he neglected to tell me, but he did say he would talk to someone about it. 

I waited all day Saturday and by Sunday morning I had had enough. Especially when I stepped in a wet spot in the hall way. I'm not sure how the water migrated there, I checked the water heater closet and nothing was wet in there and everyone swore they didn't spill anything. So I called Emergency Maintenance. They came out looked, mopped up the floor with some towels and did something with the water upstairs, which was where it was coming from. Our house smells awful. I'v had the dining room window open the last couple of days to try and help air it out. I've also kept the house kind of cold to discourage mold from growing. I don't know if that's doing any good or not. 

Since I have been sick the last few days, I've been resting, sleeping, and downing cold care tea, mucinex, and cough drops. Neither  Amanda no I want to be sick on our honeymoon next week, so I am doing my best to rest and get over whatever crap it is that I have. No, I am not smoking anymore. I quit that the day before I got sick. This doesn't help our efforts to pack up our house to move. In fact, Amanda has been doing most of it. Two of our friends are going to come over while we are on our honeymoon to finish it up for us, that way, when we get back, we can get a truck, and load it all into storage. Man this month fucking sucks! 

On the house hunting front, we have viewed two houses. They weren't us, not really. So we are still looking. 

For today, I am going to take the car back to emissions, finally, and hope it passes. Then I am going to go get car tags, finally. At some point the car needs an oil change and we need to pack for our hoeymoon and pick up our order from Torrid. But, at this very moment, I have a very spoiled and needy orange cat curled up on the table and on my arms wanting more attention, so everything else can wait a damned minute.

All she wants for Christmas/ Yule, a friend's tonics, surprise awakenings

Just a pic I found, not my actual kitty...

Amanda wants a kitty for Christmas/ Yule. Both of us have been wanting another baby in the house for awhile now and have been perusing adoption sites off and on. Well, last night, Amanda really started kitty shopping. She showed me so many beautiful cats and I really want them all. It looks like, at the moment at least, we might be getting a little orange Manx boy or girl. Amanda called the breeder today to talk her about the kittens and so far we like what we have heard from the woman and how she is taking care of the cats. Now typically we would never go to a breeder, preferring animal shelters, and we are still looking at the shelters in case we don't mesh with the Manx kitties. I don't know if Amanda is dead set on one of them yet, but we will see. 

My friend Aine saved my butt last night. She brought over a care package consisting of two syrups and a tincture because I am sick. I felt bad because I wanted to pay her for them, I know this stuff isn't necessarily cheap to make, but she didn't care. I'm already feeling a little bit better and one of the syrups she made is relaxing and breaking up all the ick in my chest. I actually coughed up a bit in the middle of the night last night. It was so nice to get that crud out of me. I so have to make her dinner or something. 

Now, since I awoke in the middle of the night to cough stuff up, I'd decided it might be best to go sit up on the sofa. Well, that's all fine and dandy until the maintenance men knock on your door and come into your apartment. Now, I'd still been asleep, was dressed only in tank top and my underwear with a throw blanket over my lap. Because I've so much drainage and what not, I haven't been able to talk very well, add just having been woken up, and yeah, I wasn't going to say anything. I just pulled my blanket up higher and sat really still. Thankfully there is a wall between my kitchen and living room so they couldn't see me unless they came further into the house. However, Amanda was asleep in the bedroom and I was kind of hoping that she would snore. For all her loud snores, the one time we needed her to snore, she didn't, lol. She had kind of woken up too but was hiding as well. 

Anyway, while the guys were changing out the lock, one of them told the other one to keep an eye out because we have a cat. I am thankful and so pleased that he remembered that and was mindful. They also didn't think we were home despite the car being parked outside. But then they were talking about management being so hot to trot on getting the locks changed, especially in my building because "he" -I will explain who I think "he" is in a moment- still has master keys to some apartments and things have been going missing from people in this building. Now, there was a maintenance man who lived in the building beside ours and he was a nice guy but he and his kids suddenly disappeared one day. Given that I don't generally converse with my neighbors, except in passing, I figured he just moved to another complex under the housing authority people along with a manager who left about the same time. But who else would have master keys to apartments other than management and maintenance? No one, unless they stole the keys. Now, this is just my conjecture, it may not be that maintenance man, but my gut leans that direction. 

Well, we have new a new lock now, so any keys we made for friends and family are now useless. If we want any extra keys to our apartment made, we can't get the made ourselves. We have to put in a work order with the office and it will cost us 8 dollars a key. Which, I kind of think is bull shit and a way for them to make some money off of us. However, I am going to have to get at least one spare made for when we go out of town, so someone can come check on Narcisa and the very possible new kitty.

In other apartment news, our lease is up this month and when I asked about it, the manager said that we would be going to a month-to-month type of lease. Which basically means they can raise the rent when ever they want and we will no longer be locked into one set price. That makes me just a tad bit nervous. So, I am kind of looking for back up places in case we need or have to move. And we might have to if my Dad gets a job up here. *fingers crossed*

Speaking of my parents, I learned that my mother's neurologist did drop her as a patient, but not because he didn't want to deal with her, it was because she doesn't have medical insurance and because he is pretty sure she has some kind of movement disorder. Of course the nearest specialist is in Kansas City. My parents can't afford to go there, they can't afford the wear and tear on their truck either. So he called my mom's primary physician and explained to her what is going on. He doesn't see the reason for my parents to shell out money they don't have for him to see my mom, when Mom's primary doctor can give her the medicine. So there is that, at least. However, at the moment, my mom has pneumonia and my Dad hasn't been feeling so great lately either. 

   

Lastly, I talked to my friend Felicia this morning. I am passed all those initial, negative feelings about her eldest daughter. I think I just needed to feel them that night acknowledge them, and let them go. Now, I am just really sad and back to wishing there was something I could do to help, to make things easier for their family. But my feelings aside, I listened to Felicia's misgivings about their coming move back to Arizona. It sounds like she doesn't really want to go, that she is worried about a lot. Also, her husband and his sister are taking care of everything and not letting her know what's going on. It is driving her nuts. Which raises a lot of red flags for me. Communication is a big thing for me when in a relationship and with their family, having 4 kids, having a daughter with special needs and perhaps other mental issues, who has proven herself to be violent and vindictive and threatening, you have to be on the same page period. My biggest fear for them is that they will get down there and everything will blow up in their faces. I know these are not my battles, but they Felicia is like a sister to me, I love her kids, and yeah, her husband can be a dick sometimes, but he's family too. I want what is best for them, and yes, even if it means that they have to move away.

A little bout of insomnia, Xmas/Yule update, Homework, and my apartment smells weird.

I have been having trouble sleeping the last couple of days. Tonight, well it's now morning, I haven't slept a wink. I tried. I tried a couple of tricks that usually work for me to no avail. So I decided that laying in bed was useless and got up to get something accomplished. Said accomplishments were looking up some recipes, making a meal plan for the next two weeks, and compiling a grocery list. We're going to have lots of veggies and protein. I need to bring some more fruit into the mix. At the moment we have Kiwi and a couple of oranges that need to be eaten. 

Yule went very well. I went to a Yule party at a friend's house and gave myself a beer bath twice. Our friends are Heathen and brew their own Mead and Beer. I got to try three different types of their beer and at least one type of their Mead. The reason I gave myself a beer bath was because we all drank out of a very large drinking horn while standing around a fire chatting and toasting the Gods and Wights. It was wonderful and we've been invited back for next year. 

Christmas went well too. I made a big dinner, like my Grandma makes. Amanda's parent's came and it was a nice, quiet day. My first turkey fell off the bone. We shredded and froze what was left and I have been using a little bit here and there for sandwiches and turkey enchilada casserole. 

I got a week off from school, which I really needed. Amanda and I have been going non-stop for so long that I can't remember a time when we weren't very busy. Between school, IEPG obligations, being exhausted, and moving/unpacking, we've hardly had time to ourselves. I sat down to do my homework this weekend, basically telling everyone who comes to visit us that we were unavailable for a few days. My cultural anthropology class is going very well but formal logic has my head spinning with the various abbreviations and symbols. I feel a bit lost with it and need to see if there is a tutor available. Part of me just wants to say fuck it, the stress and time wasted on it isn't worth it, plan to fail the class, and take something else to make up the credits later. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. 

I am happy to be in my own home, the happiest I have been in a long time. However, Amanda and I are a bit frustrated. We have so many books, a library so to speak and while we are going through some books and getting rid of some, we are keeping a lot. We have four five shelf bookcases in the spare room and think we need four more. We also have a 9 cube bookcase in the living room with all of our pagan related books. Amanda has a lot of things from her childhood that she is going through, and will be going through and getting rid of some things as well. We just don't need everything we have and have out grown a lot.

I would post pictures of the apartment but it is a mess. Felicia, our old neighbor, brought the rest of our stuff from Amanda;s parents house and we have yet to find places for all of it. With Amanda working full time and me in school, it's going to be a little longer before we get it all put away and gone through. It is a bit depressing. It feels like home and yet it doesn't because it is not settled... if that makes sense. We still have some furniture to buy too.

Good news! We found a set of kitchen chairs. Four of them for 30 dollars and even a chair for 10 dollars that Amanda is using as her writing chair. 

Bad news, I am overly exhausted and just want a day to sleep, or in the very least, lay on the sofa and read or watch movies or something.

Happy news, I found some interesting tea at a local grocery chain. It's tea with saffron in it. There is a variety, which is nice and while I haven't tried them yet, I am excited for when I do. I did pick up a goji berry tea as well. 

My apartment smells weird. I have a scented wax burner that I use pretty much every moment that I am awake, but it doesn't seem to do what I want. That and the bathroom oil diffuser air freshener kind of overpowers everything. I need something milder in that room. 

Well that's all for now. I need to get Amanda up and moving for work. 

Happy New Year to everyone!!!