It's finally over...

So, this has been one of the longest weeks of my life...

And my weekend will not be as restful as I had hoped. We are going house hunting again.

My ideal home would be big, with several extra rooms that I could use for various things. Like, we'd have a theater room for movies, a sewing/crafting room, a computer room, a library, a quiet room, extra bedrooms, the living room, dining room, at least 4 bathrooms, and a garage. It would probably be somewhere around 6000 sq ft, with a big open yard.

Unfortunately, this is Las Vegas and that is just not going to happen. Ever.

Hopefully we can get something where there is an extra room that I can cram full of things that I don't want anyone else to touch. I'm not sure if it's just the hoarding instinct that I grew up with or if I'm just incredibly selfish, but I like to have a stockpile of things handy just in case something happens. Unfortunately, I think it's insane to tell look someone straight in the eye and say "don't drink the water, I'm saving it" when we live in the desert.

I've already been told that I was insane for telling My Husband and The Roommate that they could not use the kitchen if they were unable to keep it clean. Somehow, I don't find this unreasonable..... but now I know that I should. (apparently...)

Whatever, the mood has passed-- I'm done being crazy about cleaning. I realized that if I want it cleaned the way I like it, I'm just going to have to do it all myself and then I will hate everyone and resent them for depositing their filth everywhere.

So... That Guy and My Husband got into a big of a spat a few days ago. My Husband can be kind of insensitive sometimes, and That Guy has issues with expressing his emotions verbally... this led to a rather nasty email that was sent in the wee hours of the morning, just before we went to bed. We read it, and looked at each other... I told My Husband to tell O that That Guy was not allowed in our house until we could sort this out. I was so mad that I didn't know if I even cared to talk about it, but ultimately decided that our friendship was more important. (Rather, That Guy and My Husband talked about it while I was at work, so I really couldn't say anything.)

omg the cat just dug his claw into my back and i'm bleeding...


OW!

I can't wait until this little bastard... err... lovely kitten doesn't have any more claws.

Oh yeah! I promised pet pictures.


Meet Professor Chaos Alastory Moody: Eater of Crepes.
Cute, isn't he?

Imma go bandage myself now. Until next time...

Uh oh, I made a mess... time to be cute so they don't eat me!

So... I mentioned that we have a kitten now, right?

Did I mention that our apartment complex is unaware since there is a $500 pet deposit?

The complex left a note on our door saying that they would be coming in to do some preventative maintenance...

We decided to go with the "cat sitting" excuse, but also to try and hide all traces of the cat as well as possible.

To fully understand the story, we must travel back in time-- about 2 years ago.

My Husband decided to join the Air Force and I moved in with my parents while he was in Basic Training. Part of this decision involved saving money, and part of it was because I didn't want to live by myself in our neighborhood (especially after my car got broken into, twice, while we were sitting in the living room, right next to our parking spot).

We ran out of time and space during the moving process and ended up filling 3 dumpsters full of crap that we couldn't/didn't want to take. Since we had been sleeping on a waterbed, we threw away our regular mattress. Then I remembered that a) waterbed sometimes leak, b) it's a pain to fill and drain a queen sized waterbed, c) we usually have a bedroom on the second floor.

I decided that we needed a regular mattress since it would be much easier to move, so I went on a quest to find the perfect sleep time friend. I talked to several sales people, each with a different idea of what the perfect mattress should be, and found myself going back to the same one over and over, bringing different friends and family members to get their opinion.

I got an amazing deal.

A $3,000 king size designer mattress ended up being a little over $700 for the mattress, foundation, and bed frame.

She is named after her designer, Vera.

Rather than being able to sleep on her immediately, she was shoved into storage where she would wait to be transported to our new home.

My Mom is one of the most amazing people in the world, and she helped us get moved into our new place. Since My Husband was going to be at work, Mom came to help me get everything cleaned up and situated so that we could get off to a good start. We had a hotel room on base, since the apartment wasn't going to be ready right away. Once the place was ready for us to move, Mom decided to stay there so that My Husband and I could... get reacquainted after the months he had been away.

Since she was staying in the apartment, my mom was the first to sleep on Vera. She immediately told me of the horrible, crippling pain she had after sleeping on our new friend. I was mortified-- Had I made a critical error in choosing design, squishyness, and price over stability and support?

My Husband had to live in the dorm rooms on base for a little while, so I stayed in the apartment with Mom.

The first night on Vera was hell. Every muscle in my body, including those that had been forgotten long ago, was screaming at me. I felt terrible because not only were we outside the return time frame, but we were in a completely different state. As most members of the military, we did not have the money to spend on another new mattress. I just knew that I was going to have to sell her and buy something different

Before we went to bed, Mom told me that the second night wasn't as bad... I didn't believe her.

I woke up, and all of the pain was gone. It was like I had been sleeping on soft, fluffy marshmallows. My dreams were filled with unicorns and upbeat guitar melodies; butterflies danced across fields full of rainbows... It was that awesome.

Since then, Vera and I have been the best of friends.

She lays there, all soft and squishy, calling me to her when she feels lonely. Every night I lay on her and think about how wonderful she is. Even now, I can hear her whispering softly.

If anything were to happen to her, I'm not quite sure what I would do.

Fast forward to last night.

The kitten has not been allowed in our bedroom for many reasons, but mostly because I didn't want anything to happen to Vera.

I know how kittens like to claw things, and I didn't think it would be right to ask my friend to put up with that. She may be a mattress, but she has feelings.

So... we decided to keep the kitten in our room so that we wouldn't have to explain it's existence when the people came to work on the HVAC.

The kitten was a little hyper from being exposed to a new area and started pinging around the room. After about an hour, we grabbed the cat and started petting him so that he would calm down and go to sleep.

He bounced around the bed for a few moments before settling on the comforter between My Husband's legs. He sat there, watching X Files. I reached over to pet him, and My Husband let out a terrible cross between a scream and a groan.

"Paper towels. Now."

He flung the cat from the bed so that he could move away from the giant wet spot. I tossed him a roll of paper towels and turned on the light... I don't know how much the cat had to drink, but I really think he had been saving it up for just the right moment.

I threw the comforter into the washing machine and pulled the sheet off the bed. There, on the glorious white surface of my beloved Vera, was a lake of cat urine.

We grabbed the cleaning spray.

After 30 heartbreaking minutes, I finally got everything cleaned up. After everything had been washed and dried, we dressed her up and tried to let her know that everything was going to be alright; that we still loved her.

Even though the spot is gone, the memory will last forever. I let her down... and she will never be the same.

I hope, in time, she will forgive me.

Confessions that have nothing to do with new skills.

I want to be a Super Hero.

Not the typical spandex wearing, bullet deflecting, masked hero with a tragic past or the Average Joe Hero that saves 5 billion orphans from a burning building, stopping only long enough to help an old woman cross the street... I want to be more a clumsy, dorky, "good villian" sort.

There aren't many causes I really want to fight for, and I don't really want "crime fighting" to be my thing... I think I mostly want to save people from themselves.

I want to help others realize the truths that have been glazed over in favor of a bright colored package loaded with buzzwords. Rather than showing people how good the world can be, I want them to see how bad it could become if we don't open our eyes and use our voices to stop shiny, charismatic people from doing horrible things.

--Warning: Personal Views Ahead. If you hate the earth and want to see it die in a fiery ball of doom, stop reading right now. Pretend that the post is over, and go on with your day. You have three seconds....--

The other day, a co-worker forwarded an email titled "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less". I read the petition that she had signed and wanted to grab her by the neck with my kung fu grip and punch her in the face until the words on the screen really made sense.

Drilling for oil in protected areas to decrease our dependence on foreign oil is not solving any problems, but instead is creating a whole host of new ones while ignoring the fact that we will eventually run out of oil and must find an alternative fuel source.

Yes, most people are mad about gas prices, and I was one of them. Then I realized that my commute became so much less stressful when people stopped driving as much. Drivers were less aggressive and more likely to go the posted speed limit, which helped me become more calm behind the wheel.

Of course I wish that gas was more affordable right now, but completely tapping the earth to save a few buck doesn't seem right.

Rather than responding will a witty, well thought out reply... I deleted the email.

This is why I am not, and never will be, a Super Hero.

It's picture time!

The other night, The Roommate and I were very bored and had a bit of time on our hands. Rather than doing something useful, we dressed up and had a mini photo shoot in the living room!

I didn't take a lot of pictures that I was proud of, but I got a few good ones of The Roommate!


Yes, that is The Roommate with a pillow tied to his head. The night began with silly pictures, and then moved on to Faux Artsy pictures!



We snatched various things to use as props and ended up with some pretty funny pictures (that I will not display because, well, they aren't the most flattering). From Faux Artsy, There was a brief costume change, and we slammed straight into emo.


I was pretty happy with most of the pictures that I took. A lot of them ended up too blurry to ever use (low lighting at whatnot), but I think they look great.

We took turns playing model/photographer, and The Roommate took some of the best pictures that have ever been taken of me! (yes, the middle two are supposed to look like that. Just go with it.)






When I pulled the pictures off of the camera, I realized that many of them were way too dark-- you couldn't even tell what they were supposed to be!

I had a crash course in photo editing with some of the worst software I have ever used. ( Yay, Vista! You crash every time I try to use Adobe!) I think I managed to save most of them and I'm sure I can eventually figure out how to make the "effect" middle two look like it was done on purpose.

So, in lieu of an actual post documenting the real skills I picked up, you got pictures! Yay, pictures!

My work schedule has changed, so I'm going to have to figure out how to blog around it... anyway... See ya soon!

H. R. Stuff'nstuff.

I've been crazy busy, and just plain crazy, all month. We are all moving teams at work and I'm stressing out trying to get my Lead to take care of some things that he's kind of slacked off on. Basically, either he isn't doing his part, or everyone else isn't doing theirs. I'm not sure which, but either way it's a bit frustrating (I really don't think it's his fault.).

The following are a few things I've harassed him about lately: I need a QA so that I can move to another department, two pay raises that are owed to me, the $25 gift card from my Birthday, having someone on a specialty team do normal emails for 2 hours so that I can finish her review, checking my points because I think I had perfect attendance last month (we get an award... I don't have one.), and approving me to come in for an hour on a day off so that we can get at least one medal in the Workolympics.

I hate to hound him daily, but I want it done.

Just like with the Roommate. I hate to keep asking for rent, but he keeps saying he's going to give it to us... If we didn't need it, I wouldn't be asking for it. True, I did make some interesting financial choices, but I thought we would have the check Friday since... that's what we agreed.

Anyway, I've learned a lot this month and I really hope that I get to tell you all about it. Maybe include pictures and directions, but I may not get around to that. Just know that it's been a blast.

Have an awesome day!

Uh oh...

So I've been missing for a bit... I'll try and post soon with an actual reason, but for now I'm calling it "Madame Bunbun's Special Time."

The blog isn't dead, I am still learning new skills, and life has a way finding a way around your plans.



p.s. the kitten is driving me crazy.

wooosah

The other night I wrote my very first angry letter. I don't actually expect it to do any good, but it really made me feel better. I think I am going to start writing them, even if they don't get sent.

Tonight, we added a new family member. We don't have a name for him yet, but he is an adorable kitty that we picked up from some total strangers. They were really cool, but their daughter was afraid of us.

As soon as we got home, we cleaned up a little bit so that the kitty wouldn't choke on anything (and to make it more apparent if there was a litter box mistake).

We aren't technically supposed to have a cat unless we pay the pet deposit, but we are moving soon anyway so I think we can play it off as "cat sitting" (after the crap this complex has pulled the last few months... I think we're just about even.)

At least the cat wont howl all night like our dog in Little Rock did... It was really hard to keep up the charade that we watched Animal Planet at high volumes when we didn't even have cable.

On the way to pick up the kitty, I ripped the seat out of my jeans. I expect this from older pairs that are a bit worn, but this one still had good, sturdy stitching! I think I'm going to take two damaged pairs and combine them to form Frankenjean. If it works, I will post pictures!

Soooo... I've started slacking on the updates, which is not a good sign. This means that by the time I sit down to write it all out, I've already forgotten what skills I gained!

It's probably more important that I actually gain the skills, rather than post them... but this helps me keep track and motivate me to keep going. I know over the last few days I was trained to train others on our email writing process, and then I was trained to do email reviews.

Those are separate skills on separate days, and they're really difficult. I just keep thinking that I may be the reason someone fails a QA... but hopefully I will teach them enough positive things that they will be able to avoid the mistakes I've made (and boy howdy have I made a lot of them...).

Anyway, it's time to go play with the kitty again. I hope you have a wonderful day!