You Could Do a Lot When You Got Such a Happy Little Tune to Hum

I am so stressed. Today is the day we are supposed to be out of the old apartment. I've gone over to clean before and after work for the last two days, but there just enough time! I've painted, vacuumed, scrubbed and polished, but I still need to clean the walls, the bathroom and clean the carpets. I work today (I was over there cleaning before work) and when I get off I'll go clean for two hours before I go to the hospital to see my dad (you can't visit between five and seven). I know cleaning the carpets is going to take more than two hours. Sigh.

Yesterday I got off of work an hour later so I only cleaned for an hour before going and seeing my dad. I didn't get back home to Draper until nine pm, I had a leftover enchiladas for dinner, glanced over and delighted in my new washer and dryer and then went to bed. My new house isn't unpacked at all. Life is killing me right now.

Lost and Insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me

Last night Drek and I went up to our new Townhouse and started unpacking. I unpacked the dishes that have been in storage for...four years now? Every little piece I unwrapped was like a Christmas present. After all they've been through, only one bowl was broken. I lamented that loss in full. It was very therapeutic. I ran them through the dishwasher and that was nice too.

Drek and I went grocery shopping and we held hands the whole time. I decided I was going to cook dinner so we got all the fixings for enchiladas. I made it when we got home and set up our table and then we had dinner at our table. We just pretended that everything was ok and things were normal. It helped a lot with my stress levels. It was a nice night.

Acouchi is adjusting well. We moved her up on Wednesday. She was really freaked out on the car ride up, even though I told her a million times that we were moving, we were all moving together and that she would love the new house. In the car she hid under my leg and we just snuggled.
We left her alone for the first night and when we got to the house she seemed to have adjusted quite well.

I started potty training her and so far so good!! Hopefully she'll be full trained in a few weeks!!

We decided Acouchi couldn't sleep with us anymore, so we have been keeping our bedroom door closed in hopes that she won't know that room exists. Last night was out first night at the townhouse and Acouchi figured out where we were. She cried at the door all night. ALL NIGHT.
That better stop. I think I'm going to tie a balloon to the door. She is terrified of balloons.

I really like our new place. I think it will work out great. Our new Washer and Dryer are being delivered today, I'm super excited about that. We should have Internet by next week and hopefully our landlord will approve the garage door opener. It will be nice to have Jasmine in the garage, in her own little room.

I go to working part-time in March. That will be a switch. I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to really get my infant massage business going. When the Temple is finished I want to volunteer there once a week. That would be really nice.

Things not good...no sleep...dad in hospital.

Don't ask.

Higitus Figitus Migitus Mum, Prestidigitonium!

We're moving tomorrow! So excited! Our new house has a dishwasher and three bathrooms and a backyard and smells like pickles! I'm so happy.

My dad starts chemo-therapy tomorrow. He is so much braver than I ever could be. I hope he knows how brave he is, and how much we are praying for him.

Please Won't You Be My Neighbor

In our really old four-plex that likes to sing, we have three neighbors: Smoker lady, living diagonal from us, single lady, living next door to us, and crazy lady, living under us. I could write novels about crazy lady. She is crazy. She is also number three on our list of "why we are moving."

A surprising plot twist happened today. This story is not about crazy lady, it is about smoker lady. I know; weird.

This morning Drek came out of the house to find smoker lady outside, smoking. She does this a lot. Thus, her name.
This time her hand was splinted and bandaged to an ice pack. "Hey! How are you?" Drek politely asks. Then he noticed her car. It looked like this:

The pictures make it hard to see, but every window on this car is shattered. This included the windshield. The tires are also slashed.

"What happened to your car?" Drek asked.

"Frustration." Smoker lady answered.

...Ok...reason number two on our list of "why we are moving."

I'll Really, REALLY Be Using Amazon From Now On

Toby's present came!! I'm in shock! I ordered it, it came! And it came in perfect condition, just like it said it would. Amazon, Belle's Books, you make my heart happy.

Sweetheart Saboteur...

...was amazing! It was so great! Best game play yet! If I can talk my husband into it, I will give a full recount on the website. Until then, here are some of my favorite pictures:





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http://saboteur.stormhorse.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My husband is the best husband in the world!! For Valentine's Day he bought be these:




Aren't they beautiful!? He is so great.

I got him a new digital camera. That is what I took these pictures with. Hooray for new cameras!!

I'll Really Be Using Amazon From Now On

Continuation:

Last e-bay mess resolved, except I still don't have Toby's present. So I ordered it again, from another seller. I ashamed to say it was off of e-bay. It was "buy it now" deal, so I bought it then. I pay, and get an email the next day saying the item is back ordered, and they won't be mailing it to me anytime soon. In the end, they wrote another email saying the product wasn't coming in, please pick another item from our selection. Grrrrrrr.

Never fear! I then ordered the product on Amazon! I am so hopeful! I am full of hope! Hopefully Toby will get his birthday present before Christmas.

May The Odds Ever Be In Your Favor

I read the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's a YA book, easy read, and intensely gripping. It's one of those books that sucks you in and you just can't put down. That is, if you can get passed the fact that the idea of the Hunger Games is ludicrous and after 74 years no one has even attempted to manipulate them? Ever? Really?

I would classify it as science fiction, I don't think it actually is though. I think it's classified as action. It's about the future of our world, in the ruins of North America, there are 12 districts and one capitol city. Every year, the capitol makes each district offer two teenagers to play in Hunger Games, which are televised and quite popular. The teenager basically fight to the death, last one standing wins.

It's basically an out-of-control reality show. While I was reading the book I could really see how easy it would be for our culture to become so desensitized to what's on TV that we enjoy watching children kill each other.

I really, really enjoyed the book. I highly recommend it. It's not to graphic or anything and is actually quite deep. It does have a cliffhanger, the next book is called Catching Fire and is released September 1.

Looking Forward To That Dishwasher

We got both the barracks and the townhouse. After much deliberation, we went with the townhouse. One less bedroom, but one more bathroom. It's not our own building, but we do get our own garage. The rent is more, but the utilities the townhouse is much less. We signed the contract on Saturday and Drek and I went to PF Changs to celebrate.

The townhouse is ours starting Feb 15th, we have to be out out of our apartment by March 1. We can make that work.

Why Pie Is Not The Answer

We saw the townhouse. I love it! It's very bright and well put-together. We like both the townhouse and the bunker, we applied for both and we'll be happy with either.

I finished reading the book I was reading: Such A Pretty Fat by Jan Lancaster. It was hilarious. I was dying with laughter. The book is a memoir about this women trying to lose weight. It's a book not about being crazy skinny so you'll be accepted into society, nor is the book about hating yourself, the book is about loving yourself no mater what and that includes loving yourself enough to make you healthy. Not skinny, healthy. I liked it. I can't recommend it though, Jen has a dirty mouth.

Really Bad Jet Lag Doesn't Make You Hemorrhage

I'm not really sore, proving the accident wasn't bad at all. I don't have any residual effects (besides Jasmine being banged up, but we'll fix that) that I know of. Well, I did have a nose bleed last night, and this morning, and then again this morning, and then one at lunch, but I think that might be because of the dry air and the fact I'm finally over my cold. Either that or I'm time traveling.

Speaking of which, LOST last night was fantastic. I don't want to give any spoilers, so let me just say that when a room burst into chants, cheers and then applause, it's a great episode.

My husband happens to be the best husband in the world. Yesterday for breakfast me, Drek, Kara and Jim went to the Bakery and then to Macey's for juice. My wonderful husband bought me three different containers of juice. They are delicious.

Most of yesterday was spent looking at a new apartment. We found a house we liked (it used to be an Army Bunker) and we'll see if that turns out. We have an appointment to see a Townhouse on Friday that I'm really hopeful about. We'll see.

Just Wait Until After Lunch

I was so productive this morning. Before 10am I had already gotten dressed, fed and out the door, clocked in to work, wrote and mailed four "thank you for your referral" cards, found a doctor's office I have spent three months trying to find, met the staff of the doctor's office and dropped of literature to them and catalogs to the office, visited another doctor, scheduled an in service, called 911, filed a auto insurance claim, persuaded a cop not to give a women a ticket, and sold an office chair.

Busy morning.

I'll Be Using Amazon From Now On

The first week in January I decided we had better order Toby's birthday present. This was a hassle because I don't have an ebay account (actually I can't have an ebay account, I shared once with the devil and after we broke up he ran the account into the ground a a few months after I open up any ebay account ebay contacts me and informs me that they know it's me, and I am on their "bad" list, and am not welcome on ebay ever.)

Drek will not give me access to his account, so buying things on ebay contains finding an item, IMing Drek, justifying the purchase with him (this warrants a fifteen page report on the subject complete with financial reports, graphs of account activity and the worth of the person I am purchasing for) and waiting two days because Drek cannot remember his PayPal password. Finally, we have purchased Toby's present. We bought from oddbanana, a power seller with a 99.2% positive rating out of almost 100,000 ratings and I am sure it will get here on time since we ordered it January 5th, and his birthday is not until Jan 27th.

Wrong.
On the night of Toby's birthday, we check the mail and it has still not arrived. I had to show up to the party with a card that matches an empty bag and promise that it is coming. While I don't think Toby minded (he turned one) I know it bothers Krisling since her present was also late. Late, as in, I haven't given it to her yet and her birthday was in November. I bought her a gift certificate to a yarn store than Drek threw away the before I could give it to her and I am currently in negotiation with the owner for a replacement.

So Drek emailed the seller and two days later we had no present, and no email. A few days and emails later Drek opened a PayPal dispute for "non-receipt of item". It took a couple days, but oddbanana refunded the money through PayPal with no comment or message or email.

One minute later they opened an eBay "Unpaid Item case" for the same item.

Sigh.

And now it is February and I have to start the whole ordering process over again. By the time Toby gets his birthday present he just might be turning two.