Heat Index: 105 +

Blech... Good thing I'm a hermit and prefer to stay indoors anyway.

Allergic to Heat

Not so Mom... she hates the heat. She's experienced a few heat strokes in her life, and so is very sensitive to it. I had one bad bout when I was much younger... nevertheless, I've loved heat for the longest time. However, my tolerance for it seems to be decreasing as I get older. But I don't feel a great need to spend a lotta time outdoors. Mom... she feels trapped indoors during the Summer. She loves Winter and snow and all that cold stuff. She's seriously considering moving further North. I think South Dakota is the current spot of interest.

Exodus?

Of course, Mom and Pop both have many issues to consider before moving... anywhere. I know they don't plan to stay in their current home. And their property value has skyrocketed lately, so Mom's kinda itchin to sell. But they have to consider Gram and her needs... among other things, but Gram's the biggy.

I'm not sure exactly what I'd do if they moved out of State. I've finally found a spot where I'm content... at home, at work, and in my checkbook. Of course, this sentiment will most assuredly change by time a decision needs to be made (especially if it's around election time), so I'm not gonna worry about it too much for now. I'm just gonna focus on paying off my car and my consolidation loan... hunker down and try to live a li'l sparse-like for 4 or 5 years, so I can enjoy the freedom of my patiently-earned income.

A New Financial Start

This is what I was talkin about when I mentioned a new financial start a few days ago. I was originally planning to try for a consolidation loan anyway after the new year... when I still (naively) had plans to get a newsd car with my small landfall from the VA in October, free and clear with no payments. But when my hand was forced regarding the car, I figured: what the hell... Let's just go for it all right now and get this thing over with. It'll be five years, of course, but it'll be over with.

And in the interim, I can practice SAVING up for the big purchases, rather than charging them. As part of my agreement with Pop to co-sign on my loan, I agreed to close out all but two credit cards and not open any more for the duration of the loan. I can do that. Would rather do that, actually. Did it last time, and it worked out just fine. Only, I started wrackin up the debt again... had to furnish a new apartment... had to lean heavily on the cards while I was out of work for a month or so... and the downward spiral began.

The Travel Payoff

But when I get out from under this time, the major difference will be that I'll be pulling in significantly more income than last time. I'll be able to put decent chunks of money into traveling all over... which I've already done quite a bit, but to visit friends. I want to travel just to see my country... and more of other countries.

I still plan to travel a bit during the next five years. I can make a lot more road trips with the new car... if I can manage the long driving without the friggin migraines. I think I just need to find a balance... give myself enough wiggle room to change plans if I need to. Travel a little more leisurly, rather than pushing myself to get to a destination.

We'll see. I have lots of time to practice. :)

Scientific Progress Goes "Boink"

... to quote Calvin & Hobbes.

Everything's Screwy

Yeah, all kinds of screw-ups last night/this morning. First, the electricity goes out last night... oh, about just before 11 pm. About time to go to bed, anyway, right? Only, power went out while the lights and tv were on. So I figure: wait a li'l while and see if they come back on soon so I can turn everything off so they're not on all night when the power DOES come back on.

Power flickers on and off for a bit. Then nothing. Now... out where I'm at now, just outside of city limits, that leaves the place pretty dark. Oh, if you look out the front window, you could see the glow in the near distance from the lights in town. Plus, I fortunately hung up my bug zapper a few nights ago and just left it on. It goes on batteries when not plugged in, so it stayed on when the rest of the lights bugged out. It was enough to get me to the nearby drawer where I keep the flashlights.

When Darkness Falls

Normally, I have a REALLY bright street light just outside my front door... it's kind of an added sense of security with the dark woods just behind me. The absence of that light was pretty palpable. Amway, after about 5 minutes of darkness and the itty bitty blue glow from the buglight, I called up Mom and Pop on the cell (unfortunately, waking them up, but sometimes these things are called for) to ask if they still had power. They did. So I dunno how far the power outage ranged, but it encompassed my entire block.

So I went to bed. Nothin else to do. The bedroom, with the window open to the woods, was pitch black. I mean, pitch. Haven't experienced that kind of darkness in a while. I kept the flashlight turned on, lighting the ceiling, on the bedside table and tried to keep an ear out for the tv comin back on before fallin asleep.

Fake Out

It did... about an hour later. Woke me up out of my semi-sleep, along with the buzz of the fridge comin back on, too. I listened, and it stayed on long enough that I figured it was safe to rouse myself to turn off the tv in the living room. Course, soon as I got in there and picked up the remote, everything went back out again. Pffft...

I woke up again around 2 or 3 am, and everything was back on again. I dunno how long it had been back, but it was there to stay as I turned off the living room lights and tv, then crashed again. I'd set a li'l travel alarm by my bed, but my latest alarm clock/radio is one of those types that sets itself once plugged in, and batteries keep all the alarm settings... though they don't keep the clock on when there's no power. I hadn't opened my fridge or freezer during the outage, and my food seemed to be okay this morning, so I don't think there were any problems in that department.

And The Screwy Goes On...

Amway, I'm not sure I could really use the night's disturbance as an excuse for being late this morning... but it's the best I've got, so there it is. So I got in to work about 9 am this mornin... and just as I got here, all the computers went down. Well... we could get into our Workstation Only setting, but weren't connected to any of the servers or the net or anything. Of course, we keep all of our files only on our personal server drives, we couldn't access our e-mail, couldn't access squat. Amazing how we don't realize how much of our work requires computers until we don't have access to them.

This lasted pretty much all morning. The computer gurus downstairs had no idea what the problem was, and were workin like bees tryin to get it fixed. The impression we got was that the problem was campus wide. Eep!

Everything was back up again by time Mom and I got back from lunch, but half the day was already shot. Since the Office Manager is out today, the Boss usually turns to me in her absence for all the weird li'l stuff he needs done... so I had that to keep me busy and feel like SOMETHING got accomplished today.

Summer Has Entered the Building!

I've been waiting for "Summer" to arrive. And here, "Summer" means everything slows down between the end of the Winter Semester and the beginning of the fall Semester... a time where we can take a deep breath and catch up on projects that have been shoved to the back burner all semester. Well... Summer finally arrived late last week. Obviously, as you can see, since I had a shitload to blog about yesterday.

I have no idea if I'll have more to blog about in future weeks, but I know I'll have more time for it. :)

As long as my computer works, anyway. *snort*

Are U Stupid?

Picked this up from a co-hort in blogdom... and couldn't resist sharin. *grin*





Your Score Summary
Overall, you scored as follows:

94% scored higher (more stupid)
2% scored the same
and 4% scored lower (less stupid).

What does this mean? You are 4% stupid. This means...You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

Stupidity Score Requirements

Status Needed Score
??? 0 - 9
Pretty Smart 10 - 24
Fairly Smart 25 - 39
Smart, but Stupid 40 - 59
A Little Stupid 60 - 79
Stupid 80 - 89
??? 90 - 94
??? 95 - 100

Rest in Peace, Paulie

Good Bye to an Old Friend

So I said good-bye to my first ever car, Paulie, last week. So named cuz she was Short and Red, just like Red and Shorty. And one of their names has something to do with Paul.

Amway, it was kinda hard. I mean, silly as it sounds, I felt all kinds of guilty about it. Like I was putting a dog down cuz I didn't wanna put the money up for an operation. As mentioned before, she blew a head gasket, and it would have cost over $1000 to replace.

Financial Options

So, for better or for worse, I decided a new car would be the better financial decision. I mentioned in a previous post my first attempt for a loan with my Credit Union. Well, not too unsurprising, it was denied. My debt to credit ratio was just too high. I wasn't going to get ANY kind of loan on my own, without a co-signer.

So Pop helped me out once again. He co-signed on my first car loan (cuz I wasn’t making enough money at the time) and he co-signed on my first consolidation loan (cuz, well, pretty much the same situation I’m in now, plus I wasn’t making enough money). For this time around, we decided it would be best to split the applications into two loans: one for the car, and one for the consolidation.

We knew how much money I’d have available to make payments, knew the interest rates, and figured that I could manage a 4-year $10,000 loan for a car, and a 5-year $20,000 loan for the consolidation. So we applied for them and, since Pop is a creditor’s dream come true, they were approved the next day.

Time to Hit the Streets Again

However, the checks didn’t arrive in the mail until the following Monday, so we couldn’t do our car shopping that weekend. And we couldn’t do it the next weekend, cuz Pop was due to work so it would be another couple of weeks before we could do this thing.

So we hit the streets on Tuesday night to re-scope our used-car options, only to discover that 95% of the car dealerships in Columbia close at 6:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I REALLY wished I’d have known that earlier cuz I’d taken time off early from work for car hunting. I ended up taking off early three days last week, but I managed to make it up elsewhere.

A Timely Recommendation

Amway, as I was discussing my frustrations with the Office Manager on Wednesday, she highly recommended a dealership in Jeff City that she’s bought from several times. (Reagan Honda, by the way… I also highly recommend them, if you happen to live anywhere near Jefferson City) So we figured we’d check it out. We called the place that afternoon, and it turns out that they had JUST gotten an ’02 Mitsubishi Galant in for trade just a few hours before. They hadn’t even had a chance to finish all of the inspections and certifications on it. And they thought they could offer it in my price range.

So we headed down to Jeff City Wednesday evening, and long story short: it was a match! I was rather relieved. I HATE car shopping. I’d mentioned to Mom earlier that it was a good thing they were there, cuz I was liable to take the first car offered. It was a joke, but when she relayed that sentiment on to Pop, I don’t think he took it very well. I suppose Pop and I have a typical relationship. When he’s in a good mood, we’re like each other’s sibling we never had. When he’s in a bad mood, he’s the disapproving father. However, to give Pop credit, he’d been rather stressed during this whole process as well. But when he responded that we would take weeks… even months, if necessary to find the right car, it was all I could do not to beat on something in frustration.

An Excellent Deal

But it’s all good. He highly approved of the Galant… it’s actually a VERY good deal. It’s got a WHOLE bunch of bennies: cruise control, keyless entry, power everything, tilting steering wheel, sunroof (which I’m not the most thrilled with, but it’s got a li’l cover I can slide closed, so I’m happy) and some other stuff I can’t think of off the top of my head. She’s an ’02 with only about 37,000 miles on her… a kind of cream color exterior with beige interior. I wasn’t so sure about the color, but she seems to fit me… both of us being so damned pale and all. And Pop managed to work the price down so that my pre-approved check from the credit union would cover both the car and the taxes. So it really worked out very well.

Amway, she wasn’t ready to go right then and there on Wednesday night. They had to finish up her inspections and such, and they would be closed early on Thursday. So we did all the paperwork that night, and agreed to come back Friday night to get the car. In order for the insurance to transfer smoothly (and I could keep all of my good-driver discounts) I needed to make sure I was no longer in possession of the old car by time I needed to be insured for the new one.

The Dirty Deed

With the mechanic’s stop-gap, Paulie hadn’t been overheating badly again until that Wednesday. We decided she just wasn’t gonna make the trip to Jeff City to trade her for the new car, so I was just gonna have to “dispose” of her locally. I called around to some local junk yards, and only one offered any money for her. The rest kindly offered to have her towed at no charge. *snort*

Now, don’t get me wrong… it’s not like I was in dire need of the $35… but somehow, it just didn’t feel right that she wasn’t worth anything at all. So Friday at noon, Pop came by work and followed me to the junk yard so I could drop her off, then took Mom and me to lunch. It was hard to just leave her there, among the piles of parts and rotted out cars. Mom and Pop just rolled their eyes at me. Lol Which I understand… I mean, it was silly. But I still felt bad.

Is That Really My Car?

So I was officially car-less for about 6 hours. But everything went smoothly, and I brought the new car home Friday night (utilizing my handy-dandy new cruise control). I’m still getting used to her. I don’t know when I’ll stop feeling like I’m driving a rental. I’ve already experienced that confusion of coming out of the grocery store and looking for a little red car. And then trying to remember what the new car looks like. Thankfully, mine was the only one with no tags but the temporary in the window.

I’m thinking, as soon I get the tags, I’ll put her bumper sticker on her. It’s been waiting for a few years now. I found it and decided it was going to be the first sticker on “the new car”… whenever that happened. Well, it’s happened now. Pop doesn’t really approve of bumper stickers on cars, and I think he’s harboring feelings that he has say-so over what I do with my car because he helped so much with it. I can understand that to a certain extent. So I’ll respect it for a short while… until I get my tags, anyway.

Oh, and the bumper sticker: “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup” I mean, how can you resist a bumper sticker like that?

Ivy

Amway, after thinking on it for a while, I’ve decided to name her Ivy… short for Ivelyn. A name I’ve always loved but never figured I’d find the right person/thing to fit it to. But it fits her. I’m even thinking of a custom vanity tag… with Ivy in the name. But it’s still just a thought… gotta see how much it’ll cost.

She’s very comfortable to drive… I think I’ll finally be able to take cross-country trips in my own car, rather than taking rentals cuz I’m afraid I’ll break down somewhere in Iowa. So I’m pretty happy with her. Everybody I’ve talked to has had nothing but good things to say about the Galant. Consumer Reports recommends it. When the Office Manager went out for lunch today, she had to call me from her cell phone to tell me that she really liked it… that it was very cute and doesn’t look like an old lady car at all. Lol I guess the name “Galant” evokes images of old ladies.

Okay, I’m not sure if I’ve gotten out everything about the car, but this is getting long, so I’ll have to catch up anything I missed later. Besides, I’m off to a dentist appointment in about half an hour. Laters!

Home Sweet Home & Touchy Rotator Cuffs

Still Happy

So on to news on the home front. I'm still ecstatic with my new place. Aside from the tick I pulled off my ankle, and the occasional centipede, spider, HUMONGOID ant or termite or whatever the hell they were, traipsing across my living room from the forest out back, everything is still great. The place gets just a li'l more decorated each week. The two majorly unfinished rooms are still the library and game room. I'm still playing with ideas of furniture switches. But I won't be doing any moving or lifting, though, until my shoulder's better.

Enforced Stay of Activity

Oh yeah... I don't think I've mentioned anything about my shoulder. Well, seems I've somehow enflamed my right rotator cuff. Not sure how. I don't remember any specific action or event after which I said "that hurt my shoulder". It could very well have been a cumulative thing: after all the moving, lugging of boxes, and installing of shelves.

It started a couple of Fridays ago, when it hurt my shoulder to push my arm out to the side to use my mouse. So I rearranged my computer setup so that my mouse is now just below and in front of the keyboard. Which is better, but my shoulder just kept getting worse. Over that weekend, I thought it was a pinched nerve. I went to the chiropractor, but he didn't help things much. So I next tried Urgent Care on Tuesday or Wednesday. This is when I found out about the rotator cuff thing.

Limited Options

Evidently, there's not much that can be done for it. He gave me mega doses of anti-inflamatories (Ibuprofen) and suggested I use a sling. Okay, now, I can't get squat accomplished with my right arm in a sling. And even still, no matter what position I held my arm, it hurt. Whether it was a sharp pain, or one of those nasty deep aches, or just plain sore... it all radiated down my arm to my elbow. It was incredibly and frustratingly distracting. I'm sure my coworkers got REAL sick and tired of hearing about it. At night, I could take my migraine meds so I could sleep.

Somewhat Restful Weekend

I vowed to completely rest my arm all of this past weekend... and had mixed results. I actually spent a good portion of Saturday morning in a make-shift sling. But then I had to get ready for dinner. I'd promised Mom she'd get a weekend to herself to do anything she pleased, which meant I'd cook. We'd ORIGINALLY intended to do it the week before (which I cooked for, anyway, for Father's Day) but then the car thing came up, so her having a free weekend went out the window.

But it was an easy dinner (Pop wanted Mac & Cheese with hot dogs... can't get much easier than that), so it wasn't too bad. We've temporarily switched Sunday Family Dinner to Saturday Family Dinner. During the Summer, when our shows on USA on Sunday nights (The 4400 and Dead Zone) are new.

Then I was getting all the stuff I'd taken OUT of Paulie (my faithful old Toyota) and thrown in the library, put INTO Ivy (my new Mitsubishi). I'll get into Paulie and Ivy in another post. But the point is, with all the in and out and gettin stuff situated, I wrenched the shoulder again a bit.

Sunday, I didn't do much but go see Episode III with Mom (I drove :D), and then watched one of her netflix movies at her place: Cellular. (I liked both) So I think I made up for whatever damage I caused on Saturday. Lots of lying about and living with ice on my shoulder.

Positive Results?

I think it's payed off... to a certain degree. It seems to be a LI'L better now. The pain still radiates, but it's more of a sore kinda pain... and not that rediculously distracting ache. I haven't bitched about it once today. :) The doc has said that if it still doesn't show much improvement in another week or so, we can try a steroid shot. And the chiropractor has suggested ultrasound therapy.

So we'll see. Hopefully, it's making progress, though.

More on Being Searchable

Wierdness

Okay, so before I go into breaking news, I can't help but comment on some of the hits I'm getting from internet searches, per my li'l site meter/counter.

On the one hand, it's kinda cool... on the other, it's kinda wierd. I mean, I'm putting it all out there, so I can hardly complain. And only a handful of peeps really know who I am, so it's all good. I guess I still haven't quite gotten used to it... after 10 months of keeping a blog.

Long Hair and Decorative Pieces

So the big one is a search engine hit for the Majestic Hair Flower... something I blogged about back in September. Somebody from this community for peeps with long hair Long Hair Community (which, ironically, I could quite easily fit into) was lookin for pics of the Hair Flower... a rather cool hair piece that Mom and I had our hair done in when we went to the Ren Fair in KC last Fall. They found the pic of Mom, and my blog has become a link at their message board.

This was last Thursday... I think I've received about 80 or so hits since then. I'll have to tell Mom she's become so popular... *grin* I'm sure she'll just be ECSTATIC.

Etc-et-er-a, Etc-et-e-ra, Etc-e-te-ra (a-la Yul Brynner in "The King and I")

As for other search engine hits... well, my humble li'l blog has been discovered under searches for any kind of questions about troubles with squirrels, for information on totem animals (turtles to be persact), for the Little John "roll" quote from Robin Hood, Men in Tights, and most recently (and possibly most disturbingly) for the words "ripped her".

????????

Go Figure

Amway, I just find it all kinda funny. And a li'l wierd, but I guess that's just because I don't really think about Joe and Jill Schmoe reading my ramblings. But I guess that's what blogs are all about, no?

I'm gonna have to start talkin about voo-doo, vampires, yeti, aliens... mebbe throw in a few fettishes, and see what kind of search-hits I get then. *grin*

Out with the Old, In With... Oh, you get the idea

The Cycle of Life

So this is a year of new beginnings all around me. 2 deaths (our Senior Accountant, and my Great Grandmother) and a birth (the Retiree got to enjoy a new grandson just a few days before she retired).

Change of Face

The Retiree officially retired last week... and we have a new member of our office group. She actually started a few weeks ago, so there was a little bit of an overlap, but the poor woman was left "homeless" for a while... hopping from one vacated computer to another in order to feel useful at all. I like her, though... I think we made the perfect choice. She's very easy to get along with, and she's great at reminding us that we need to show her how to do stuff.

I tend to get wrapped up in what I'm doing... and to think that everything handed to me is my responsibility. That's always the way it's been in the past. But the way my position has evolved, I've become the "point" person for tasks... all of the PM's hand me the work they need done, and I'm supposed to funnel it out to the others as the workload demands. When somebody hands me something to do, and I've already got 15 other items on my plate, my first thought is: "Okay, I need to figure out how to fit this on my plate." I need to get used to first thinking: "Who can fit this on their plate today?" Or at least thinking to ask them.

Amway, the new girl is very good at being pro-active and reminding me that I'm not Superwoman and that she needs to learn how to do this stuff, too. lol Actually, I shouldn't say girl... she already has grown children. I need to come up with something to call her here... I'll figure something out. She can't be "the new girl" forever.

And On a Higher Level...

Also at work, we're getting a new Director of Campus Facilities in the next few months. One has already been chosen... coming in from out of state. But I don't think he's starting for a few months yet.

Old News But Still New

At home... well, I've already discussed my changes at home at length. A new home... a new car... a new financial start. Hmm... well, mebbe I haven't quite elaborated on the new car and financial start yet. Last I posted, I was going buggy with impatience. But I think I'll go ahead and make a new post out of that stuff.

Distraction

So the human brain is an amazing creature, don't you think? Capable of complex analyzation, communication, information processing, creativity and oodles of other stuff.

And equally capable of being completely railroaded... overloaded... fried.

At the moment, I can't focus on a damned thing. Too many things whirling through my brain... options and directions that have been taken out of my control for (hopefully) only a few short days. And even when I DO try to examine options and exert control over my life, I'm quickly reminded that I don't know squat about some things.

Yeah, okay... I'll stop talking in generalities. The gist of my current mental upheaval is the imminent death of my car. I found out Friday that she burst a head gasket... and that it'll cost at least a grand to fix. The car's not worth a grand, let alone a friggin head gasket. She still runs... and will hopefully continue to do so for a little bit longer. At least as long as it takes to get my finances straightened out for a new one.

And that's where I'm stalled. I went out with the folks to look at cars on Saturday. A lot of cars. I didn't know Columbia had so many friggin car dealerships. It was a hot day... thankfully punctuated by thunderstorms later in the afternoon, so it cooled down some. But I got a good idea of how much I'm realistically looking at to purchase a new used car. A good $4 grand than I was expecting to spend. And I'll have significantly less to work with than I was expecting to have in October, as I won't have the next several months worth of VA payments to contribute to a down payment.

So I'm lookin at a good sized loan. Now see... both of my folks are involved in this process. Pop, cuz he knows cars and I don't. In fact, I'm totally lost in the wheelin and dealin of purchasing a car. And the negotiating and the lying to couteract THEIR lying... Blech! I've decided that when Pop finally kicks off (someday in the far, far future), I'm simply going to buy Saturns forever after. Unless somebody else starts their whole "what you see is on the sticker is what you get" policy.

Mom is involved cuz she's the financial wizard of the family. I think I have a handle on my finances, and she quickly proceeds to inform me about everything wrong with that line of action. She's good at looking at the big financial picture. Pop's good at looking at cars. I start trying to think of ideas to solve my own problems, and I'm inevitably shown the error of my ways. This is somewhat frustrating. I mean, I think I'd be just fine if I ended up muddling through this on my own. But both of them know how to do it just a bit better... a bit more efficiently. I love my mother dearly, but she's great at assuming that I think precisely as she does, and that I will automatically agree with every suggestion she makes. Her logic is impeccable, so thinking or suggesting otherwise just comes out sounding completely silly.

*sigh*

So this is one area of my life in which I have to completely give over the reins. At least if I wish to accept their help. I still have a choice. I can muddle through on my own, make my own choices, stay in (questionable) control... and potentially make some severe blunders I'll be paying for for who knows how long... but also learn from my mistakes. Or accept help from folks who know what their doing... swallow my pride and accept the fact that I don't know squat. And, to be completely honest, don't want to know squat. I mean, how many times in my lifetime will I be purchasing a car?

Not very many, if I have anything to say about it. And making the right decisions could ensure that. So my choice is to accept their help. And bite my tongue when I make a suggestion and my mother makes it sound completely rediculous.

So the other thing that's holding at bay my ability to simply buy a new car and get out of this friggin predicament... is my dependency on the bank for a loan. We submitted an application at my credit union for a consolidation loan on Saturday. Was promised 24-48 hours for an answer, and I've still heard nothing yet. It was a pretty big sum... considering I have over $20 K in cc debt, plus a good $10 K for a new car. I have no reason to believe they'll approve it... and no reason to believe that they won't. If the application is rejected, then I'll try for just a regular car loan. But I just don't know, and the wait is driving me buggy.

I just want this over with... I really need to work on my patience.

On Funerals and Family Trees

A Great-Great Grandmother Finds Rest

So my Great Grandmother passed away a few weekends ago. The weekend of my move, actually. But the woman had lived a good 104 years of life, so I guess she was entitled to a rest.

Of course, since I was in the middle of a move, I really couldn't make the trip. I mean, I wasn't about to reschedule the movers. But Pop had agreed a ways back to be a pallbearer (it was his grandmother), so he had to go. And Mom didn't want him making the trip alone, so she went along. The funeral was in Kansas.

Picking up the Family Tree Again

And Mom realized that this was probably the last time that a good chunk of that part of the family would be together in one place, and she'd kick herself later if she didn't take advantage of that situation to gather some priceless geneological information. Even though she'd gotten burnt out on the whole project when she got on the outs with her Mom.

So she took all of her files and huge sheets of family trees. She told me all about it when she got back home two days later. Evidently, you pull out a family tree, and folks start comin outta the woodwork. She hit a goldmine of information about Pop's side of the family. Including some second cousins who had an old, old family bible that was falling apart so badly they'd been reluctant to take it anywhere to get photocopies. But Mom had borrowed my digital camera, so she got several shots of birth, wedding, death announcements, etc.... many of which weren't in public record.

And the Lass Ran Away with the Coachman

She also heard, from several different sources, an old family story about how one of my ancestors came to America... the daughter of an Irish lord, who ran away with the coachman to come to America. One of the ladies Mom talked to told her that she had tried to track down a branch of the family in Dublin to confirm the story. She'd evidently missed the last of the line by a few weeks (they'd passed away), but the Dublin Postmaster actually remembered the story of a Lord's daughter who ran away with the coachman to America.

The whole story was pretty fascinating, actually. Evidently, her father tracked her down in America, and tried to convince her to move back to Ireland with her children. If she didn't, he was going to disinherit her. Well, considering we're all here and not there, she evidently told him where he could shove his inheritance... lol

Guess I just come by this orneriness naturally. *grin*

Finally Results

VA Increase

So after about 6 months of scrambling to gather all the documentation and letters, etc. that I needed for my VA claim... and then waiting, waiting and waiting some more... I finally got their decision. Back in April, actually. Yeah, I've been pretty distracted lately... lol It was some pretty damn big news at the time.

First, I got the letter saying they'd decided to increase my disability compensation for migraines to 30%... combined with my 10% for tinnitus, made a total of 40%. Not a bad amount. I honestly wasn't expecting any more than that, so I was pretty happy.

Plus a Bonus!

Then, I checked my bank account after the next 1st of the month to see if the new amount had kicked in yet... and imagine my heart attack when I discovered about $4,000.00 deposit about a week before. My first thought was that it was a mistake, and that they'd be yankin it back at any time. Then I went back and read the fine print of their letter granting the increase in disability. Turns out, they made the new amount effective the date that my worsened migraines were noted in my VA medical records. Which had been about a year before.

Just When I Needed it...

I ended up takin about half of it out for move expenses... but the rest, including my monthly deposits for the next six months, should be able to pay for a good chunk of a new(er) car in October. I say October, cuz that's when I have to renew the license on my poor li'l car, and I'm not confident at all that she'll pass safety inspection.

So, just as I figured... it all works out as it needs to. I wasn't sure where I'd get the money for a car, but I knew it'd work out somehow. Whatever larger picture there is to life... be it God or Fate or Mother Earth or the Soul Collective... usually makes sure that it does.

Unexpected Gifts

So I keep thinking of all kinds of little important things that happened over the last few months, but were engulfed by the phenomenon of "THE MOVE".

Bad Cats

Such as a few surprise packages I've received in the mail. One of which was an absolutely hilarious li'l book about "Bad Cats"... When Cats Go Bad, or something like that. Fussbudget sent it for my birthday. It has been thoroughly enjoyed by all (ie: Gram, Mom and Pop)... and Fussbudget just told me today that she and her Mom were crackin up over it, too. Today's the first time I've had a chance to talk to her since I received the book. I'm not good with thank-you cards, but I've been assured she's not offended for not receiving one. :)

Amway, the book features 300 some pictures of cats caught in hilarious poses, expressions and predicaments. Accompanied by li'l wisecrack titles. Flipping through it provided a pleasant diversion from the chaos of the move.

Coffeehead

The other couple of packages I've recently received were from an old friend who currently lives in Iowa. I'm not sure if I've come up with a pseudonym for her here... or if I've even mentioned her. I'm sure I have... she's a pretty important friend. She and Halloween Nut and Radish and I were pretty tight back in high school. Her and my relationship has evolved separately from mine and theirs, but we're still very close. I just can't think of whatever name I've come up for her, and don't really wanna dig it up just yet. I'll call her Coffeehead for now... it's her own internet handle, actually. I think it's pretty explanatory, so I won't go into details... lol

Amway, during one of her visits years ago we read her medicine cards to find out who her animal spirit guides are, and she found out about mine. She wrote them down, and a year or so later, I received a surprise gift in the mail. It was a charcoal drawing of one of my animals (the turtle)... one of those hidden-images kind of drawings. It was (is) gorgeous, and I loved it.

Artsy Fartsy

I suppose I should clarify here that Coffeehead is definately the artsy fartsy type. Had some kind of art major in college... loves to create. I mean, down to the creation of yarn from raw wool to create fabric. She's actually going back to school to get into agriculture... she's a lot like me in that she's very socially conscious about a variety of issues... probably even more so than me. She's big on the environment, and I think her focus at the moment is hydroponics. However, she still loves art, and appreciates every possible avenue to creative pursuits.

Since she drew my turtle years ago, she has rendered 4 more of my animals into art form. And I gave her carte blanche to make them any way she pleases. My only request was that each would be created in a different format. My fox was put together with acrylic paints and art paper. My raven was painted in oil paints... in the style of the native american imagery. I believe my opossum was created with all sorts of different materials that have depth and texture, including actual bits of wood. And the most recent, my tiger, was rendered in two alter-images of black and white outlines and chinese emblems, with a bamboo background and ribbons. She says she plans to work on my dragon this summer... into a sort of patchworked banner. I honestly can't wait.

Since I'm at the very beginning of my decorative pursuits in my new home, and the arrival of my 4th and 5th animals within the last few months, I've decided to showcase her artwork in my bedroom... saving room for the rest, of course. :) I'll try to take some pictures of them to post here.

P.S.

Oh and, as I'd hoped, all this work and sweat, having NO appetite (let alone time) for munchies, and drinking tons of water has resulted in my 14's falling off of me again, and being able to comfortably get back into my 12's.

Woo-hoo! :)

Oh, My Aching Everything

Moving Sucks

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic in my new place. But I'm not doing this again for a very, very long time. Of course, that's what I said the last time, and I lasted exactly 3 years. Oh well.

This time around, I did most of it on my own. Had help from the folks and IHOP Buddy with their trucks, cartin over a few loads of odds and ends, and I hired movers to take the furniture and heavy boxes, like books. They gave me a small discount, btw, as they appreciated my readiness. Of course, I killed myself for 4 days to get ready for them, but every little savings counts, eh?

The rest was all me. And, considering how much shit I've accumulated over my lifetime, that's a lot. Not that I'm willing to get rid of any of it to make my life any easier... lol. Damned good thing I gave myself two weeks to get it done. And none too soon, evidently. I stayed at the old apartment until about 11 pm last night to finish up cleaning the place, and called the landlady this morning to schedule a walk-through. Turns out, the carpet layers are in there this morning replacing the carpeting. Guess it's a good thing I got the last of my stuff outta there last night, eh?

Leaky Walls

Oh, and it's not my fault about the carpeting. My entertainment center was against a wall shared with the building's washer and dryer. Guess something leaked through, cuz the bottom of the back panel of my entertainment center was rotted out and had ruined the carpet beneath it. This happened to me once before with another piece of furniture I had near the bathroom. The upstairs neighbor's wall was leaking, evidently. Go figure.

Definately an Improvement

I'm just glad I'm outta there. I'm sure to find things to be discontent with in the new place, but right now I'm still basking in the pleasantness of all the horrible things it's not. It's quiet... smells pleasant (no cigarette smoke)... LOTS of space... it's great. I think Ms. Pukesalot is even adjusting well. I was dreading her transition, but she took this move FAR better than she took the last one. She's started to make the place her own, is getting used to the new sets of noises coming from outside (I share the duplex unit with a family of 4 with a couple of young girls and a dog), and has actually only puked once since we've been there in the past two weeks.

All in all, it's all good. The new place is liveable (except I still need to get the computer hooked up... what with being off from work, I've been cut off from the internet entirely too long!), the library and the game room have all the furniture where I want it, but are also packed with boxes. I haven't decorated yet, either... haven't had time. I've been focusing on getting everything moved over, and getting out of the old place.

Holiday Shopping

Then, there was shopping over the Memorial Day weekend. I figured it would be an excellent opporunity to hopefully catch some sales on some major items I need for the duplex. As it turned out, I found some really cute denim drapes (which Mom has volunteered to help conform to my windows) for far less than I budgeted... and my washer and dryer for far more than I budgeted. It didn't quite equal out, but then I didn't find a sofa I was in love with (that I could afford) so the lack of that purchase balanced the whole. I've decided to save up and get a good quality La-Z-Boy set at a later date. Until then, I still have my futon. When I get the couch, the futon will go in the game room/ guest room as a guest bed.

Time to Let Down... Finally

Now that's all done, I think I'm going to relax for a few days. I definately need it. Until something bugs me for not being done, and then I'll probly just putz a bit around the duplex at whatever happens to catch my attention. I'm back to work full time as of today, so I got all of the major work done just in time.

Oh, and I've promised to catch Episode III this weekend with Mom. I think that will be my first day of fun in 3 weeks... and I'm including my birthday. Yup, I worked straight through my b-day on the 22nd. lol But I got a lotta calls that day wishing me Happy Birthday... that was a pleasant surprise. :)

Oh well... the hard part's done, and it's all worth it. As soon as I've rested a bit, I'm sure I'll get inspired to start decorating. That's always the fun part, but I'm just too tired to get into creative mode for it. I will soon, though. I need to have the place presentable by Father's Day, when I've promised to hostess dinner.

We'll see if that actually happens or not. *grin*