Ice, ick, and furniture.

I took Amanda to work this morning at 5 am. She volunteered for overtime and while that is fantastic and I am glad she could get some, we just had a big ice storm move in on top of all the ice and snow that has yet to melt. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about cold and lovely winter weather, on the contrary, I love it. I don't even mind driving in it, what bothers me are the other people driving it in. 4 wheel drive doesn't mean 4 wheel stop. Spokane is shit at plowing their roads, especially if they are residential, and this morning, I had to pull over because a Semi-truck was far to close for me to be comfortable and it was spraying a wave of dirty slush-ice at me. Then, as I tried to get back on the road, some jack ass coming up from behind didn't want to slow down and flashed me with his high beams. Really? No, seriously, because I can't tell that it's taking me extra time to get back on the road because my car is caught on a little patch of ice and you might actually have to be inconvenienced for all of 30 seconds by having to slow down. You never should have been driving that fast on icy roads to begin with, moron!

Now that that rant is out of my system... I am sick again. This time it feels like a head cold that's trying become a sinus infection or it's just a straight up sinus infection. Not totally sure, just know I'm not sleeping very well, my face and head feel awful, coughing, snot ick and drainage, and my teeth hurt a bit... so yeah, probably sinus infection. I've been self medicating with lemon ginger tea, a ginger tincture a friend made, a homemade chicken enchilada soup, coco, and water.

Behold! I finally got a hutch!

Okay, ignore the mess on my kitchen table  and bag of bags. A hutch has been on my semi-secret wish list for many years. As someone who has grown up with a hutch in my parents house for a time, and two in my Grandmother's house, hutches have always been nostalgic and make, for me anyway, a house feel more like a home. 

This one popped up on Craig'slist last Thursday for 50 dollars. It came with a matching table and 4 chairs. We don't really need another table or 4 chairs, but we agreed to both because the seller needed money to fix their broken car and they had an infant in the house. It looked like they were selling pretty much everything to get the car fixed. We decided to give the table and chairs to a friend and her boyfriend for their soon-to-be-new- apartment. This hutch came at the best time for us. I had  reached my limit with our apartment and its lack of storage. Sure we have been sick and the holidays did us in as well, but it just seemed like we couldn't make anything fit without it being messy or me getting overwhelmed.  So, below are the bigger appliances that don't really fit in the cabinets, dish towels and tea towels are in the drawers, my tea and a couple of my tea pots are in the display cabinet along with a bag of kitty treats. On the shelves we have most of our coffee cups, my tea making supplies and some herbs, and the bottom shelf is a nice little altar because I wanted something pretty. 

Just having this has made so much of a difference in my kitchen cabinets and made my kitchen feel more like home to me. I am not sure I like having so much white and had thought to paint the cabinet a light blue or green, but my Dad thought that might make it look more Swedish or Swiss (?) can't remember. Which of course is nice, but not really what I am going for in the kitchen. I thought about redoing everything Gothic fantasy like the living to tie the two rooms together, but you know what, I really like my greens and blues and I can still have the gothic fantasy charm in the kitchen without changing too much. So for now, anyway, the hutch will remain white. I also cut out some of the mermaid coloring pictures I've done and might put them on the backs of the shelves to break up some of the white... maybe, we will see. 

Lastly, I was holding Thorin an hour or so ago and my phone rang. He reached for it as my friend Fiona, who is up for a visit, handed it to me. Amanda was on the line to tell me she is staying a couple of house late for more overtime, but before she could tell me that Thorin pressed his paw to the my phone screen and hung up on her. I had Amanda on speaker and when I tried to call her back he tried to hang up again. I had to move the phone out of his reach and thankfully, the little shit was too lazy to move to chase after my hands for once.

And now for a post that makes sense, Bat Fit 2017, mouse fails.

We have a bit more snow than this...quite a bit more. In fact, I was taking a friend to her doctor's appointment today and Amanda's Kia Optima got temporarily in the snow, going up a hill. It was exciting- apart from the old man yelling at me. A note on that, it is more effective to calmly give me instructions than to scream them at me.

Okay, because I am unsure how much I got into my last post about Narcisa and all my attempts to read said post have been unsuccessful, I'm going to update her situation now. Amanda and I took our furry princess to the vet because her voice sounded awful and we had suspicions that she was sick. There was also a fear that she was really sick due to her penchant for eating whole pawfuls of fireplace ash. Seriously, we were fighting her to stop, moving the ash bucket, covering the ash bucket. As it turns out the Vet thinks Narcisa is a freak for eating the ash, has never had a cat who has done that, and considering her love of eating random things, she has pica. Further, he thinks that she may have caught the little cold that Throin brought home with him when we adopted him and it was wearing off. But because she growled and hissed so much on top of eating ash, her throat is basically just aggravated and if she doesn't get better in a week or so, we are to take her back in. She is getting better though.

Bat Fit 2017 Link

Bat fit is something that I have been interested in for the last couple of years. Some of my blogger friends have participated in that time and it just seemed like something kind of out of my reach, per se.  Well this year, I am going to take a stab at it with a sharp stick and see what happens. So to revisit my list from a previous blog addressing something similar to this, I'm going to go into more detail about what those things mean and a little of my action plans on how to work on them. These are not really resolutions, they aren't even really goals, they are just things I want to work on so as not to set myself up for failure. The idea is to have positive experiences, not stress myself out and tear myself down trying to achieve things outside my limits. 

1. Health

While my overall health appears to be good- at least according to my blood work, minus anemia, I am over weight. In fact, if I were to use the clinical term "Morbidly obese". I have been struggling with my weight for over the last decade, clear back to the end of high school. From depression to fucked up period patterns and horrible heavy bleeding, and medication, none of this has been easy. Thrown in fibromyaliga and a herniated disk plus an affinity for sedentary activities (reading, writing, movie watching, sewing, and other various crafts), I've been fighting an up hill battle. Actually, I fight it even when I've gone to the gym and swam every day or done an mile on the elliptical every day.  Do I want to lose weight? Yes, of course, there are far too many lovely Goth fashions I want to wear. Plus making and buying clothes would be cheaper too. But I am not going to make myself miserable trying to lose weight. I could run myself ragged and never get anywhere.  

Instead, Amanda and I are going to start the weightloss hypnotherapy disks left over from a few years ago. It had been working a little bit but then we lost control of what food we ate when we lost our food stamps and her mother was buying and cooking our meals. I kind of just said fuck it and threw in the towel. So, back to that and eating smaller portions. We don't typically eat too terribly anyway. I try to maintain a high protein diet with veggies and fruit. We are also going to start a yoga regimen with a friend of ours. I will do that until I have my hysterectomy, take some time off for that, and then once healed, go back to doing it. 

2. Writing

Writing is hard for me. I've had really negative thoughts about it. The joy of it has been sucked clean from it and it became more of a chore than anything else. There are several reasons why, most of which stem from crippling lack of self esteem, self loathing, self doubt, and outside factors beyond my control. When that went, one of the foundations for my personal "joy" was snuffed out. I've been trying for the last year to get it back and that in and of itself has been an internal fight. I've thought many times that maybe I'm just not supposed to be a writer anymore, that that ship had sailed, and that I am desperately holding onto something that was never meant to be. Those thoughts hurt me in ways I can't describe. So, maybe there is hope yet. 

I would like to begin a writing group. I'm also going to write at least 6 hours a week as prescribed by Brandon Sanderson (author of the Mistborn series) from his college writing course. It is on Youtube and the link is here  . 

3. Wedding

We don't have a lot of money for this venture in our lives, but we we want to make it as nice as possible. I'm going to start a Gofundme page to help get my parents up for the wedding just as soon as I get over my hang up of begging other people for money to make something good happen in my life. Because that is what this feels like.  Secondly, I want it to be as easy and smooth as possible. We've enlisted one friend to help with some projects and will probably be enlisting a couple of others.  As for one of our big stumbling blocks, dresses, If I can't find what I like on Torrid come prom season, I have patterns to make what I want and have informed Amanda as such. She said okay. 

4. Crafts

In general, I'm going to work on various craft projects in various mediums, as the year progresses. From sewing, paper crafts, painting, and crochet, I want to get a couple of big projects finished by next Yule. 

5. Heathen and Witch Study and practices

There are books I have been meaning to read that I feel I am ready for. There is a lot I wish to learn and I do have some ideas of what I want to explore where I feel drawn to go spiritually. Frankly there are also somethings that I have always wanted to do- like learn to read Tarot and Runes and so forth. I also want to explore Seidr. 

6. Reading my usual 20 books a year and hopefully more

Ever since high school I have had a goal to read 20 books a year. I don't always achieve that goal, some years I only get 5 read and some years I manage 42. Reading expands knowledge and helps to hone writing and vocab, shows style and so on. Plus it is really fun. 

7. Quiet time for myself as well as Amanda and I, together.

I need self care time that I don't beat myself up about. I am terrible with that. In fact, I often feel guilt for taking time to myself when I should be doing this or that. It only keeps the self hatred cycle going. So, I am going to try and do some things for myself whether coloring a picture, taking time to do crafts or read, watch a show or movie, or just sit and listen to music. I also want to get back to doing things that make me feel pretty, like putting on make up and doing my hair every day. Painting my finger nails, plucking my eyebrows and so on. 

I also want to have time just for Amanda and I. We need time to watch movies together, to talk, to go out and do things even if it is just to go for a drive. So much of our lives is surrounded by other people and while we love our friends, sometimes, we just need time to be together. 

Anyway, those are things I'm working on for Bat Fit 2017. If they all happen or they all go anywhere good, I will be pleased, but I'm not going to beat myself up about not getting everything done. 

Lastly, I bought a new gaming mouse so I could play Eveonline a little easier. It seems that this mouse and I are not getting along very well at the moment. I am going to do some trouble shooting and if it doesn't work like it is supposed to, I can hopefully send it back.

For now, I need to work on making fruit sushi and chicken teriyaki sushi for dinner. Amanda was supposed to do it but she's fallen asleep... again. 

New family addition, Yule, compliments are scary, and snow.

Meet Thorin Oakenshield. He is a 4 month old orange tabby we adopted from Partners For Pets and it seems he was runt of the litter. We don't mind, he's wonderful. He is also very soft, sweet, and cuddly and I love his coloring.  Our friend Chris, who volunteers at the rescue, helped us with his adoption fee as part of our Yule/Christmas present. It is always a little difficult going into the shelter because there are so many great kitties there that I just want to wrap up in a blanket and bring home. However, I do love that this place is a true no kill shelter. In fact they have a cat or two that they've taken off the adoption roster for whatever reason, and those kitties will live out the rest of their lives at the shelter. 

Excuse my sans-makeup appearance. Thorin is quite the little boob man/ shoulder kitty. He loves to curl up in your face. However, he is afraid of my sewing machine. Poor thing trembles when its going. He will get used to it, or I will put him in a safe place with his blanket and toys when I need to use it again. 

It is snowing here again today and I love it. 

We had a really awesome Yule. Amanda and I went to our friends J and L's house where it was packed full of new and familiar faces. It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen in awhile and make new friends. But it was so crowded in the house that I spent most of my time outside by the fire pits. There were two under the pavilion/ tent J had erected. Our friend Dani did the welcoming the baby sun ritual she'd done the year before. I love that ritual! Technology crapped out on her a little bit, but it was still great. Later we had Sumble and honored the Gods, Ancestors, and Folk. That was amazing! J's altar for the Gods was simply beautiful! I will talk a little more about me experience there over on my pagan blog. Anyway, there was delicious home brewed beer and mead, plenty of food, and such pleasant and fun fellowship. But it was fucking cold! Like I said, we spent most of the night outside and despite having a little bit of shelter and two fires, and me wearing two hoodies and a reindeer hide, I was still freezing. But, we made it the whole night, watched the sun rise, and made it home safely. It did take me over an hour to warm up, but it was worth it!

Compliments are really hard for me. They always have been and I'm awkward in receiving them, but also, while I know they are genuine from others, they feel not... right somehow. I expressed as much to Amanda, asking her to deliver some Yule gifts to J, L, Dani, and her husband. She apparently told Dani's husband that I have a hard time accepting compliments and that she is trying to help me with that, so of course I got a little confronted, hugged, and told how great my presents were. I haven't finished everyone who is on my list's gift, but I will share the four I had finished that night. Each one had some homemade soap I'd made earlier in the year. All of the bags are hand embroidered and sewn by me. By the by, knot work is a pain in the ass to do. 

Umbreon for L, because she had a kick ass sexy cosplay as Umbreon and likes anime and Pokemon Go.

Vegvisir for J because he travels a lot and is a leader of his and Dani's husbands Kindred. 

Hugin and Munin for Dani's husband because I know he has some deep conversations and he does a lot on Heathen forums. 

An owl for Dani because I know she likes them, I heard about an experience from a festival she went to, and I think I remembered someone saying that it is her spirit animal. None of the bags are the same size because I haven't decided on a size that I like and some came out smaller than I wanted. It was an experiment and I am learning from it, so that's a bonus for me. Anyway, I have several more to make and am running out of time. Some gifts may have to be sent out or delivered late this year. I miscalculated on how long things would take despite starting at Thanksgiving. 

I'm starting to lose my focus, so I will end here for today. Suffice it to say we have been busy, Amanda's set the kitchen on fire as true to the nick name my Dad gave her, "sparky". We still find the stray piece of glass from the dish that exploded- she forgot to turn off a burner and set a dish of Baklava on it- now and then, despite being really careful to get it all cleaned up. My endless period is also very bad today and I am having trouble staying awake.  Tsuki is also here, so I need to get off my computer. 

Hope everyone had a fantastic Yule and if I don't post again before Christmas, have a happy one! 

So much work, Xmas/ Yule, Sick, Snow, Happy Kitty

I couldn't tell you...

Much to my great annoyance, I am sick again. Last night I spent a good deal of time shivering in front of the space heater waiting for Ibuprofen to kick in, and kill the fever. That really sucked and it was worse when it did finally break because then I was drenched with sweat. I did manage to get to sleep for a little while, but woke up with a runny nose and said screw it, got up, and went to sleep sitting up on the sofa. Of course I awoke freezing again. But for a little while, last night, I got to watch it snow. It was beautiful! I know a lot of people around me don't care much for snow, I know it rainy and snowy weather makes them ache and hurt more. Well, it does the same to me, but I am happiest when it's overcast, rainy, or snowy. Even when I am sick.

I have a lot of work to do between now and Yule and then Christmas. I haven't been working on presents the last couple of days, but today, I am going to get my butt in gear as much as I am able. Unfortunately, some of friends read my blog and so I can't disclose what I am doing. I will take pictures of finished goods and share them after people have received their gifts. And unfortunately, this year's Yule and Christmas are going to be a little sparse. Amanda and I are making things because we can't afford much. 

Last night, instead of cleaning the house like we said we were going to do, Amanda and I packed away all of the Halloween stuffs, and pulled out the Christmas/ Yule decor. We made a couple of bags of "to go" because there are some things that we don't want or need anymore, much less have the room for. That and I really like the more "natural" look or as some people might call it, "Rustic". Our tree, for the moment is a 4 foot fiber optic leaning thing that is driving Amanda nuts. She was so frustrated with it last night that I told her we would get the other tree from her parents, take the ornaments off the fiber optic tree, put them on the soon to be acquired tree, and move the fiber optic one to the kitchen table- which is now in front of the kitchen window. This way we have more pretty lights and Amanda will be happier. When we get everything in place, I will take pictures.  

I don't know why Amanda likes some of my wild ideas sometimes. I said, in more of a passing thought than anything, that it might be cool to move the bed out into the living room so we could enjoy the Christmas lights and fireplace. *facepalm* She took me seriously. She wants to move the sofa, and all the living room furniture around to make this happen because no one will be coming to visit us really this winter so why not?! I don't think its a good idea. I like going to the other room to go to bed. Except sometimes, like when I am sick and need to sleep sitting up on the sofa and want her company, but she will only sleep in the bed- because she is lame like that. 

We have a very happy kitty. Amanda moved Narcisa's bed from in front of one of the windows in the living room and put it between the side table holding our Christmas tree and the fire place. Our friend Tsuki gave me a small, round heating pad for when my cramps are really bad, but I have this terrible habit of falling asleep with the heating pad on, thus I haven't been using it much. Well, Amanda gave it a slightly new purpose, tucking it under the frist layer of blankets on Narcisa's kitty bed. She loves it! She melts into a black, furry, puddle. Amanda also set up a couple of Narcisa's stuffed animal toys along the wall like pillows. Not only does my cat have a better bed than I do, but its cuter too.

Death Parade, Pissed off Grandma a little bit, a world of anger, frustration, and hurt, can't stop crying.

I really want snow, even more than I did the last time I posted. 

Amanda and I have begun watching Death Parade. It;s an interesting anime about beings who judge where people go when they die. 

In other news I pissed off my Grandma by saying that my friend Felicia's eldest sister insisting that she take her Autistic and probably psychopathic daughter to church will basically be a cure all wasn't going to help anything or be worth it. I said that church can't and won't fix her. My reasoning is that the person going to church has to want to go, has to have a desire for it help. The child in question doesn't care about anything or anyone but herself. Its not her fault, mentally she just doesn't operate that way. What is important is getting her into extensive therapy so she doesn't end up hurting herself or those around her in the mean time and in the long term, doesn't end up dead or in jail.

Speaking of said child, I admit to hating her last night. I allowed myself to hate her for a few hours, let myself feel that emotion, and told myself that I could be irrational and selfish but that tomorrow- which is now today- I needed to let that go. So far so good. The reason for my hostile feelings spring from the fact that Felicia and her husband told us last night that they are moving back to Arizona. It all boils down to their eldest daughter. Felicia is the first person since I left Kansas that I could feel completely relaxed around, let my guard down around, and she didn't judge me for just being me. She's my soul sister and I got attached her and her family, and now they are leaving. So, I can't stop crying. I cried the whole way home from their house, I cried a couple of times last night, and I've cried off and on all morning. Felicia admitted to me last night that she is worried about me. Yeah, well, so is my therapist to be honest. 

I've seen some upsetting things on the internet- mostly facebook- the last couple of days. Someone shared a video of speech by some guy of a group called Alt-Right. I saw hitler salutes in the vid, I heard disturbing things said, and I was left a little scared and disgusted. I can't believe in this day and age, when this fucking planet has so much going for it, there is still so much racism. I've seen a story abut a little black boy getting attacked too. Hate crimes are on the rise, there was even a guy in South Africa who was kidnapped and two white men tried to stuff him in a coffin. Who does that to a person?! On top of it, there's all the crap happening in South Dakota with the stupid pipeline. Plice are spraying Native Americans with water cannons, shooting them with rubber bullets, and mace and just because they want to protect water. I am tried of racism, politics, stupid people, and I just want snow. 

On a more positive note, I now have a gynocologist. Amanda took the day off to go with me because I don't want to go alone. Still working on a new doctor. I have to wait until the office is open again and go fill out a medical records release form, have my doctor fax my records to the new doctor where he will look them over and let me know if he wants to take me on or not. 

Other than that, I did do a little black friday shopping today. I went to Joann's fabic and craft store and spent 35 dollars and apparently saved 106 dollars. I basically just got some supplies for xmas/yule presents, found a couple of Halloween clearance items, found 5 sewing patterns (they had a 5 for 5 dollars sale), and got the heck out of there.   

Season's chill, adjustments, and doing things I dread.

Found this one on desktop nexus. Gonna look for the artist, love it this work!

Today I am trying a new schedule per se. I haven't typed it up and Amanda told me not to make it so rigid as my last one, but to allow for some flexibility. The purpose of this is for me to allow myself time and give myself permission to do all the things I want and need to do. A large part of my problem, I've discovered, is that I have been unconsciously waiting for someone to give me permission to do things. But why? I still don't really know the answer to that, unless it has to do with a lost of independence and self stability, self esteem, and confidence. Probably just hit the nail on the head right there. Any way, I am trying out 2 hour increments with wiggle room in case I go over on a few things. Frankly, as hard as it is going to be, I need to stop beating myself up about stupid shit.

This morning there was a nice chill in the air. I cracked the bedroom window last night and had the fan on the highest it would go. Because Amanda is a veritable furnace, I am still sleeping with just a sheet and summer quilt. She fuses that it's cold meanwhile I am loving it! Besides, the best part is getting to snuggle down in the covers or being able to curl up on the sofa in the living room with a cozy blanket, coffee, and the space heater for a little bit before having to take her to work. 

We have a winter bucket list of sorts. One of those things is to play in the snow when it comes. I want snow to come so bad. I'm the kind of person that finds the above picture so terribly inviting. I keep checking the weather radar looking for snow and complaining about all the other places around us that are getting it while we aren't. Some of my friends might think I  am sick, but damn it, part of the draw for me to move up here, was the promise of more snow. More snow means making more snow dragons, sofas, and igloos! 

Of course with all my hoping for snow and lots of it, this means that the tug of winter and the Yuletide season is strong. Amanda and I both have felt the pull to put away the Halloween decor and bring Yule back. We brought home an Xmas tree from her parents house and will be working on setting it up and other things over the next week or so. 

Lastly, today I am going to do things I dread. Because I am done with my current doctor and her bullshit- she claims that she didn't refill my depression medication because the pharmacy sent her a note saying that I am not taking it properly, which is total crap, and I still haven't received a referral for a GYN specialist like she said she was going to get me- I am on the hunt for a new doctor and I'm going to find my own GYN. Of course this means I will be on the phone with strangers, which after working in two call centers and having a breakdown from it, I pretty much stare at my phone with trepidation when it rings. If I know the person, I will answer, if I don't, forget it. And sometimes, I can't being myself to answer if I do know the person. I hate calling people too, unless, again it is someone I know, and generally speaking I don't like to have long drawn out conversations. But, unfortunately today I have to deal with my necessary evil and just get it done and over with. I'm promising myself a nap with it's done. 

      

Wal-Mart Creeper, it's deliciously cold, the ick has arrived, and my therapist is amazeballs!

Art by Nene Thomas

Because of my therapist advocating for me by leaving a rather terse and testy message for my soon to be ex-doctor, I finally have my depression medication again. My doctor left a lame excuse on my voice mail saying that the pharmacy had sent her a message stating that I wasn't taking my meds properly-which is utter bullshit- and that's what some of the "mixup" was. 

We had our first snow here this morning. I missed it because it was at 6 am and I was still sleeping. It also melted away before I got up. Still, it was nice and cold today and its wonderfully cold right now. We have a log burning in the fireplace, and the space heater running. Amanda is making me a cup of Gypsy Cold Care tea because I'm coming down with something and haven't been feeling very well the last day or so. 

We went to the store tonight to buy some wood for the fire place and to grab something for dinner because I didn't feel up to cooking. We ended up with more than we went for but at the same time, we were just having fun perusing the store, and we found a few treats. However, while we were taking our time and enjoying ourselves, there was an older man following us. He started in the grocery section and we kept running into him all along the way. We were both polite and didn't really mind talking to him, but there was something about him that kind of set off warning bells in my head. I still remained polite because I also got the sense that most people don't pay this guy any attention least of all women, and that he might be awkward and lonely. 

Amanda and I kind of tried to shake him by going into the women's clothing section, which didn't work because he just walked back and forth in front of the check out looking at stuff. So we said screw it and headed for check out where he, of course, followed us. Well, I had an issue with a card and had to deal with that, so we cancelled our order, moved out of the way, while I dealt with my card. He checked out and while I was on the phone, he asked Amanda if she was single. She said no, that she was taken and when he asked about me, she said the same. Being that we aren't that far from Idaho, she didn't tell him that we are together- to which I told her later, when she was filling me in on this, that was probably for the best so he wouldn't get his feelings hurt thinking it was just some lame excuse. He apparently told her that he wasn't trying to be weird, he just has a thing for big beautiful women, which is really sweet. However, he stopped at McDonald's (yes, our Wal-mart has a McDonald's in it) and while we were getting our groceries out of our cart, he gobbled down his hamburger and began to follow us out. A bit weirded out we too hurried to get to our car, put our groceries in, and then we sat in the car with it on so it just looked like we were defogging the windows enough to drive. He got to his truck and was there a for a few minutes and finally left. But, because Amanda and I were a little unsettled, I went the opposite way and took a longer route to get home, just to be safe. 

I realized today that when ever I begin to feel sick, I want soup- usually vegetable beef with barely- and potato salad. If I didn't have butternut squash to use up within the next day or so, I would make homemade chicken noodle soup in the crock pot.

Lastly, in the spirit of colder temperatures, it is finally time to sit my butt down and make some quilts. Amanda and I are going to take some time and pick out which fabrics from what I have, and which pattern we want to use. She's going to put to work in helping me cut out the block or pieces, and we will go from there. This first one will be a nice spooky one. I also want to get as thick and squishy of batting as I can afford so it is nice and warm. 

What can I say about today? Where the hell is all the snow?!

Dimitri Belikov played by Danila Kozlovsky

1. He's hot!
2. I am really excited for Vampire Academy to come out next month!
3. I really wish some of his other movies were available for viewing here in the United States with English Subtitles.

Where is all the snow I ask you? Huh? Where is it?! It's not outside on the ground. I live in Northern Idaho, a couple of hours away from the Canadian border. It's winter and there isn't any snow. One of the perks and my favorite things about living up here is the snow. But it's not here. No, in fact it's in Kansas, where my family lives. My Dad said earlier (as in it's after midnight and I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still tonight rather than tomorrow, never mind) that it was snowing in Wichita. It snowed there a few days ago too. The north eastern United States just had a big winter storm and got lots of snow. Parts of airports were even closed. But did we get any snow here? Nope. I am not happy. I'd shake my fist at the sky and bitch at it too if I thought I could get snow, but I doubt it will help.

Sigh.

Today I slept far too late because again last night I couldn't sleep. But I got up and tried to go to Spokane and when I got on the highway I promptly got off at the nearest exit. I need to replace the tires on my car but can't do that until Skoora gets back from her residency. I can still drive the car, just not on the highway and I have to keep an eye on it.

When I got home, I had to babysit cousin Amber while Skoora's parents went to mass. Not a big deal, I let her pick a movie and we chatted a little bit while I started dinner and made my snack cups and some breakfast croissants. no, I haven't learned how to make croissants from scratch yet, I bought some mini ones from the supermarket a couple of days ago and cut up some turkey to put on them along with some cheese and threw the in the oven. Right now, they are in the freezer to be taken out at later dates to be consumed. I also sauteed some onions and mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and butter. When all was said and done, I retreated back into my bedroom and played Guild Wars with my Dad.

I have managed to hurt my back more today, just in leaning back in my chair. My desk chair rocks back a little and I was tired of sitting up straight (well as straight as I could for as long as I was able). I sat back and when I tried to move forward (enter many explicatives and color phrases). And to make matters worse, when I tried to get up, more pain. I kind of stayed locked, unable to really move for a bit until I could breathe and then very very slowly ease into a position that didn't hurt so bad.

Oh and I talked on the phone with my cousin Sheena tonight. She feels kind of bad for trying to help her brother out yesterday. He took the 20 dollars she gave him and spent it on alcohol. His girlfriend called up and said he was missing today and the saddest thing, Sheena checked the recent arrests for the county they live in. Yep, he's in jail and it looks like he might have even gotten violent as well. Personally, I hope he stays in jail for really long time. It's the only time he's ever sober.

Upside, tomorrow my friend is coming for a visit. 

It's December and I've got cat drool in my hair.

First, I would like to point out that today is my Grandma's 86th birthday. She's still going, sharp as a knife, and I love and miss her very much. She lives back home, in Kansas.

I'm not usually up at 7 in the morning. Well, if I am it's typically because I have to be somewhere or I've stayed up writing or have been in too much pain to sleep. That's not really the case for me this time. This time it's because I stayed up late to play monopoly with some visiting friends, and watch a movie and work on a Christmas/ birthday present. I was hurting pretty bad when I went to bed at 4 am so I took some medicine and it should have knocked me on my butt. However, I think the fact that I really need to make sure Skoora get up, moving, and out the door in time to attend a meeting at work and feed the cats (trust me if I am late, they will make me get out of bed) is what is keeping me from sleeping. It's as if my brain says "nope, not going to let you chance oversleeping" and it's done this to me since I can remember, anytime I need to be some place extra early.

It's very very annoying. But at least it's giving me time to really cuddle with Yoda-Chan and catch up on some blog reading. I did lay down for a little bit earlier and Yoda curled up on my pillow. I pet him for awhile and then got up to use the bathroom and found dried cat drool in my hair! Thanks Yoda, thanks. *sigh* I washed it out but it was still gross. A hazard of being a cat owner I suppose.

We have company for the holiday and have been in and out of the house. Thankfully, our Black Friday shopping has been uneventful and we only had issues with people being rude at once store, something a friend noticed but I had long since become mostly immune to. She had her gallbladder removed recent and had to use one of the electric carts in the store. I had to as well that evening and apparently we got some nasty looks. Great Grandma Ireland used to say 'If you don't like the way I look, you've got three other directions to look". I can stand firmly behind that most of the time, but I more than understand why those people upset her.

I wasn't out for anything in particular this Black Friday. I just wanted to get out and move around despite how much it hurt. Plus, two for one happy hour coffee at Hasting's is always nice. The Barista's still make the Autumn Harvest Breve for me even though it's out of season. Skoora had an eggnog late. We got a few things at Wal-Mart, nothing big. I got a Tripod for my camera. One of my medicines makes me a little shaky so my pictures don't always turn out nice. The tripod will certainly help and it was on sale for $10.

We went to Michael's last night. I picked up some much needed embroidery thread, a new paint brush that I've needed for awhile, and a couple of really pretty candle holder. Skoora wanted some special candles that smell wonderful. When we got home, I set them up in the bathroom and when the candle are lit and the lights are out, it's so pretty in there. The candle holders were on sale and we had a coupon for the rest, well the cashier used one from their ad.

Mostly, we weren't after sales or worried about getting anywhere for anything in particular. We just took it easy and went at our own pace. Being in a over crowed wal-mart was difficult for me but I survived without a panic attack. I don't do well with lots of people. I don't like the noise, how close they crowd around me to get items, or how rude some people can be. (I'm an introvert and agoraphobic and claustrophobic) It also probably helped that we went after the flash sales so most of the people were already gone or leaving the store.

We've had a little snow but, of course, it's melted. We'll have more though. It's cold and rainy at the moment. Galen is curled up in my desk chair. Yoda is curled up next to me on the bed. Skoora is snoring the morning away. Everything is quite and peaceful. For once. Time to get up and make breakfast and coffee. 

Heh heh heh, it's snowing! It puts the lotion on it's skin or it gets the whip... I think?

A coat from Elle

I don't know where "It puts the lotion on it's skin or it gets the whip", came from or if I am even quoting my friend right, but I thought it was semi appropriate for the time of year it's becoming. It's snowing again for this morning and at the moment it's not really sticking, but melting. I am, of course, happy to watch it fall although it is getting a bit colder faster than I expected it too. That's not really a problem for me except that I don't have a coat or even a jacket. In fact the only think I have is a tartan I for my Irish SCA garb for my Senior Project and a wrap around shawl-like-thing fro wal-mart. They will get me by, for now.

I've decided that I am going to make myself a coat instead of trying to find one that fits. I am fat and we don't have a lot of money so I am not going to order a coat from a catalog only to have send it back because it doesn't fit. On top of that I inherited my Dad's long arms and quite frankly, I am so tried of sleeves not fitting. Oh and did I mention that I am pear shaped and have a short torso on top of that? Yep, anything I buy has to fit me in the hips and then of course it's too big for my shoulders. Not even my boobs compensate. Yes, I want to make myself a coat that is tailored to fit me properly. I have a pattern but it needs to be expanded and Skoora's mom told me she knows how to do that sort of thing. Yay for me. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that it's going to take holding a figurative gun to her head to make sure she hold up her end of the deal. She knows all she had to so is show me how to do something or explain it to me and I will do it. That's what we did when making my skirts for my Halloween costume.

The coat above is what I am hoping to make, but because of my shape, I'm thinking about making the coat fitted to my waist and then bell it out from there. Not too much mind you. And I might make it have a steampunk flare.

Yesterday was a cooking day and oh boy was it! I think we started around 1 in the afternoon and didn't finish until after 9 or 10 pm. Needless to say we have some food for awhile and I can still make a roast and also chicken enchilada soup. Of course it took us so long to do make everything because most of what we made had to be baked and Kaiser rolls take up to  two hours to make and bake and Bierocks take about the same. I also made breakfast burritos and those about an hour or so. Add in that I have a bad back and had to sit in an office chair in the kitchen to cut cabbage (I ended up getting some on the floor much to my annoyance), and that I had to make dinner during all of this too, and it took awhile. But despite the pain it was fun. Skoora and I pretty much got flour everywhere. We are going to need to mop the kitchen floor to get all of it up.

Of course I am paying for working in the kitchen yesterday, today. I hurt so bad, even with taking medicine and sitting with the heating pad. I'm not going to be doing much of anything today. But I have edited some pictures that were on my camera and managed to get dressed. I have to put away some laundry, the easy stuff that goes in the dresser, and get the dirty stuff that's in the hall into the laundry bucket (when I get the clean stuff out). I'm kind of procrastinating. Yoda is curled up next to me and I just don't feel like moving. I just want to spend the day writing and cuddling my kitties. I doubt that's going to happen though, especially since I need to get up and move.

Well, now I don't know what to write...

I finally get some time to sit down and blog with a clear head and I don't know what to write. Well, I guess I will update everyone.

A friend and her twin sister's apartment blew up this week. Well, technically it was their neighbor's apartments but they ended up having to move out of their apartment in an hour, leaving some things behind. From what I know it had something to do with gas, or so we've been told. Honestly, I think it's a meth thing. For some reason Northern Idaho has a terrible meth problem. But then again I could be wrong. I haven't talked to them since the morning it happened. My GF has, but hasn't really filled me in on anything.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Sacred Star of Milo is actually playing at a theatre near me. I will be going this week! I'm excited for it, I love FMA!

I've been up to some crafty stuff. Not as much as I would like but I'll get some more done in the next week. I've also read some manga, seen a couple of movies. Strawdogs was interesting, pretty heavy. The Help was very good and made me cry a couple of times. I liked the story and the strength of the characters

Other than that, my knees are killing me due to how I've been sitting the last couple of days. My back hasn't been bothering me as much, for which I am thankful.

We finally got some snow! YA!

I had something else I was going to say but I can't remember. Oh well, must not have been too important.