Bored

I hate all of this waiting around to move. With Troy & Rhi's help, we got everything packed up really fast & have pretty much been sitting around in a house full of boxes since Tuesday. There isn't much to do, but sit here & think about cleaning. I guess I could just get up and start on that, honestly, but I'm too cold. I swear my house is frigid right & I'm wondering if my furnace has gone out or something.

I think what I'm going to do is fix myself some lunch and another cup of coffee, check the furnace & maybe watch TV for a little while. Then I'll start working on the kitchen, or at least on the parts I can clean right now. The table still needs to be taken apart & the tablecloth needs to be washed, along with the kitchen towels, so I can do that, too.

At least I'm not so bored that I'm looking up online term life insurance quotes yet, although, I have been there in the past. That's when I know it's time to leave the house & do something, before I go crazy. Right now, I'm just moderately bored & freezing, I can handle that.

Argh!

I've had just about all the stress I can honestly handle in the past 6 months, I swear. It started with Rhi getting scammed, which cost us over $2000, which was immediately followed by me getting garnished for something else (it was "only" $380, but it was everything we had in our bank account). Since then, there has been one financial crisis after another and now we find out, through an ad we got in our mail yesterday from a lawyer wanting to represent us, that Troy's being sued. How much more can we honestly handle?

We're in the process of filing for a Chapter 13, but in the meantime, we're sitting ducks. As soon as we're able to file our petition, they all have to leave us alone, so the waiting on that is making us both a little crazy, plus we can never seem to get our lawyer to call us back & we really need answers right now. We can't go through another garnishment, we'll end up homeless for sure. I just want to get this over with, so I don't have to be afraid that every time I go to get in my car it won't start & I'll be wishing I had mechanical breakdown insurance, because we have no money for repairs & no credit, either. I'm tired of being stressed & worried & freaked out over money all the time!

I Think I Hate Winter

Why is it that more people get sick in the winter than any other time? Is it just because people are inside more, or what? Because, quite frankly? I'm sick of it already. After we all got whatever that bug was a couple of weeks ago, I still have never felt my best & now I have something else. The last thing we need right now is to get sick, you know? We're trying to get the house packed up so we can move on the first & it's really hard when all you want to do is sleep & whine about not feeling well.

Then there's the every day stuff that still has to be done, like faire meetings, work (at least for me - Troy's on vacation), helping family out (my mom wanted me to read a few strivectin sd reviews & tell her what I thought), birthday parties and the normal day-to-day of running household. I'm exhausted, sick and excited all at once. I wonder how fast I'll crash & burn this time?

Well, I need to go switch my laundry & start another load, and the kitchen isn't going to pack itself, I imagine, so I'd better get started on that, too.

Yes.

We are moving. The place we want will let us keep Tiny & Kaji, so we put the application in. We hope to hear back from them tomorrow, and are really hoping they'll let us have it. We do have a lead on a couple more places that will probably let us have the pets, so if the other one falls through, we'll go look at those. I'm not looking forward to the work of moving, but I am looking forward to getting out of here.

They had a cleaning crew at the (hopefully) new house this weekend, and they removed all of the detritus of the former renters. They left things like furniture, bath gel, fda approved diet pills, food and tools. I hope they leave the couch & loveseat that were there, because they were nicer than ours are. I'm hoping the cleaning crew means the house is ours, since they were told they had to be finished by Monday & the property managers know we're kind of in a time crunch. Well, we're keeping our fingers crossed. I'm not going to say a lot about the place until we know it's ours, then I'll take pictures and everything. I don't want to get too excited about it, in case we can't move in.

Maybe Moving

We may be moving. Soon. Like in a couple of weeks, hopefully. We went & looked at a cute little house yesterday and we'll be calling & trying to learn more about it today. We have to find out if they'll let us have Tiny & Kaji before we can even think about doing anything else, because if not, we aren't interested. Even if we don't get this place, I'll be keeping my eyes open for another one, we can't stay here much longer.

I haven't felt truly safe here for a couple of years & it drives me crazy that neither of the kids can hold onto a house key to save their lives, so I have to leave the front door unlocked until they get home at night, which leaves my sleeping self vulnerable. I don't sleep well when Troy isn't home because of that. I just want to live in a real house, with a yard that's bigger than a postage stamp. And where I don't have to listen to everyone in the neighborhood rev their engines, and argue and talk. It's like having people in the house, nonstop. They stand in front of my house to talk & I can hear every word, so I know they can hear us, too. I juts want security & privacy. I'm so ready for a change, even though I dread the thought of moving.

Snowy Day

It was cloudy & cold all day yesterday, later on it started to rain & the snow & we woke up with a light dusting on the ground today. It's been snowing & raining off & on ever since. I don't mind, it is winter, after all & this is what happens in the winter. I'm not a fan of the snow & cold, but it's a fact of life where I live, so I just look forward to the rest of the year. I tend to do a lot more relaxing & staying at home during the cold months, they seem to make me sleepy & want to feel cozy & comfortable. There isn't much I'd rather do in the winter besides curling up with a cup of something warm to drink and a good book or a good show on TV.

Today, I think I'm going to research some recipes for low-fat comfort food for the next two weeks, since I've really been enjoying making new things lately. I need to get my menu & grocery list planned before we go grocery shopping tomorrow, and I also need to get my fridge cleaned out. I'm thankful that I won't have to buy very much produce or bread, thanks to the coop we belong to & it's fantastic foods. As you all probably know, I'm not a great believer in quick weight loss products, but I am into quality, unprocessed foods, so that helps us out a huge amount.

When Erin drags his ass off of the couch today, I'm going to have him clean up his stuff & get it squared away, I can't stand the look of my living room these days, because someone is living in it & it's obvious. So ready to have an empty nest, lemme tell ya!

Gloomy

Sunday we did go over to Dawn's. Jason was gone, but Troy, Dawn, Justin & I had a blast. We had dinner (Morningstar Farms Riblet sandwiches & salad) and then went down & played Medieval Games on their Wii for hours! It was so fun & we all laughed so hard, Troy & I didn't get home until almost 2am. Dawn is convinced that she needs to buy the game now, too, and I agree, it was certainly worth the money we spent on it.

Erin got sick on Sunday, but he wasn't home at the time, so it's definitely out of the house finally. Rhi is still throwing up pretty much everyday, so we don't know what's up with her, whether she's pregnant or just sick with something else or what.

Erin is still here, but plans to hit the road again as soon as he can get a ride out of Utah & to Nevada, where he stands a better chance of getting a ride to where ever he's headed next. He said he may go back to California, since he has a friend that lives there, so, we'll see. He doesn't seem all that keen on leaving right now, at any rate.

I haven't found an anti-wrinkle cream I'm satisfied with, yet, but I've been using a serum that seems to be working out okay for me. I'm not allergic to it, at any rate. I'll use it until it's gone & then I'll decide if I want to keep buying it.

Lazy

We never did do anything yesterday, we pretty much lazed around the house until 8:30 or 9, at which point, I brought out the Wii Fit Plus, got it set up & we used that for awhile, then we bowled a game on Wii Sports & went to bed. It was a pretty long & busy day for both of us, after all & we were really tired. I did make a nice Bosc pear tart, just kind of spontaneously, which turned out quite nicely & we had a bit of company, so we weren't total hermits or anything.

This afternoon we'll go over to Dawn & Jason's & hang out, maybe play Wii or something else, but we will spend time, be sociable and have fun, we do love & miss our friends, after all. I want to spend a little time planning my birthday party with Dawn, too, since I'm really looking forward to it & just want everyone to have a great time together. I think I'll make my Thai Chicken Wings, since I've been promising them to Ryan forever and have finally found my recipe again. I just wish that everyone that I want to be there could, but I now they won't be, it's on a Saturday night & they aren't going to give up Tuatha or anything for a birthday party, after all.

At least when you're Pagan you never get First communion invitations and then have to try to figure what to wear & what to give as a gift, you know? I did end up going to church on Christmas Eve with my parents, because it was important to my mom. It was a nice evening & it made mom happy, so it was worth it.

Ahhhhhh Saturday...

I love the weekends that Troy has Saturday off, it feels like he has an almost normal schedule then. For those who are new here, he works a rotating schedule, switching between days & nights. One week he works 12 hour shifts from Wednesday-Saturday & the next it'll be Wednesday-Friday. Some weeks he works extra days, sometimes he doesn't, but it rarely feels "normal," at least as far as having Saturday & Sunday as his weekend. Having a full weekend when the rest of our friends do is always a bonus.

I'm not sure we'll even do anything with our friends tonight, it depends on how energetic we're feeling. We've both been pretty tired after being sick earlier in the week & I haven't been sleeping all that great. I think we probably will, considering that Ryan just came by & we're having a pretty great time visiting with him & Troy seems to be more energetic now that he's had a nap.

I want to go to Walmart & look at blouses, since I really don't have anything nice to wear when I need to. I'm not after anything that looks like a tuxedo shirt or anything, just something kind of dressy & nicer than a t-shirt. I'm not a fussy type person, I just want to look right in whatever situation I'm in.

It Didn't Get Better

After I posted last, things didn't really get a lot better. The next day, Troy was able to get out of the house, so we got our car payments made & grabbed some containers we needed at the store. We ran into Jason there, with his friend Nate. They were getting a new Linksys router, because his old one was dying. I was pretty optimistic, at the time, that we were done with "the sick" at our house, at least while we were talking to Jason.

We came home, sat around awhile & I eventually cooked dinner. I made English muffin pizza & we watched TV until bed time. By the time we went to bed I knew I was sick, so I did the best I could to get prepared for a long & miserable night. I was right & woke up at around 1am. I actually passed out a few times, falling and ending up on the bathroom floor. I didn't get hurt too badly, although I have a skinned & bruised knee, at least this time I didn't land on my face or hit my head on the toilet, which was Troy's fear.

By about 7am, I was exhausted and thankfully, done throwing up. I slept most of the day & was in bed last night by 9pm. I did manage to eat a little bit, I had some Cream of Wheat, some crackers & a banana throughout the day & tried some coffee this morning, but it isn't sitting well, so I don't think I'll finish it, even though it really tastes good. It's very possible that part of my problem is hunger, so I think I'll fix some toast or something & see if that helps.

It looks like we're in for a snow storm today, hopefully it won't be as bad as the one they got in Colorado last night!

A Question

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel so bad you start questioning everything? Troy woke up at around 4am today, throwing up, which went on for awhile, so I didn't get much sleep after that, either. I was finally snuggled in & sleeping pretty well at around 9:30, and we had a 4.1 earthquake that woke us both up, thinking something had blown up or that our main water line had broken or something. We heard a big bang & everything in the house shook for a few seconds, then it was over.

Troy went out to check on things, didn't find anything wrong & so when he came back I said, "Probably an earthquake." and we tried to get some more sleep. Dawn started texting me shortly after that to see if we felt it too & to tell me what they had found out about it, so by that time, I just decided to get up.

Now, I'm so tired & have a cold on top of that, so I'm feeling a little bit like death warmed over & wondering if I ought to start getting term life insurance quotes or something. What a day! I swear, when it rains, it pours around here.

New Year, New Hope?

I'm really hoping that 2010 will bring a stronger, more secure economy. Rhi really needs a job so she can start to get back on her feet again. I'm just about ready for it to just be Troy & I at the house again, and in order for that to happen she has to get a job, keep it long enough to feel stable & start saving up to move out. I don't really see that happening any time soon, but it's a good goal to reach for as a family, I think. It's not like she's on an admin job search, she'd be happy with a dishwashing job or at a fast food place, honestly. She isn't picky, she just wants work & even though I'm not sure she's trying as hard as she could be, she has been trying. It's very frustrating, but we do understand.

So, here's hoping that by next Christmas we'll be alone in our house again & just be able to enjoy their visits. I know that probably sounds fairly selfish, but I really enjoyed the few months that we had & I'm really missing it. After all, I've spent 23 years living for my kids, I'm ready to be done & start living for me, you know?

Excited!

Lately, I've been on a quest to try to find a good moisturizer (that I'm not allergic to), a night cream and the best eye cream. That hasn't been s easy as it might sound, although I'm closing in on some that I really like. I've been using a botanical moisturizer for a couple of weeks & I have had a reaction to it yet, so I'll be getting the rest of the collection next, so I'm hoping this is the one.

Something is happening right now that's making all of that seem silly & unimportant, though. Erin is back on this side of the country & should be heading towards Las Vegas right now! I'm so excited to see him, it may have only been 5 months or so, but that's the longest any of us have gone without seeing him. Every time I hear a car outside, I catch myself looking out, hoping it's him. One of these times, it will be. Now I jut need to figure out somewhere for his dog to stay while he's home. I can't wait though. That's all I really wanted for Christmas, was for him to be here & it looks like he will, after all!

Getting Cold!

It's just been frigid here for the past few days, you can definitely tell that it's December & nearly winter. Usually it gets too warm in our bedroom at night and that's even after we turn the furnace down to 60 degrees, last night it was pretty much perfect in there. I knew i must have been extremely cold, because I never woke up roasting. I don't know what he temperature was, just that I was comfortable, so either it was cold or I was exhausted. Maybe a little of both.

I've been thinking about getting a ceiling fan for our bedroom, since we use a fan in there all year long anyway, that way I could switch the direction when it was cold and draw the warm air down. I don't know, though, the ceiling may be too low. Our light fixture is right over the bed, so that probably wouldn't even matter anyway, right?

We're supposed to get a bunch of snow today & tonight, but nothing has really fallen as of right now. We seem to miss a lot of the stuff that gets forecast for our area, we call it the Cedar Vortex!

Cleaning & Fixing

I've spent the past couple of days washing windows & curtains and then hanging Christmas lights in all of the windows at the front of the house. Our new little tree is up on the table with it's Befana topper and the wreath is on the door. I just need to give the house a good cleaning to really feel like it's ready for the season ahead.

I've decided that I want to make the craft room more storage friendly and plan to put up some shelf mounts in there & just buy wood to fit the size I need and line the east wall in shelves, that way I can keep fabric up there and my other supplies & not have to worry about it. I need to borrow my dad's stud finder and see where to put the mounts first, I don't want my shelves falling off the wall in the middle of the night or anything.

I've been using that room a lot lately, since I've been sewing again. I will be using it even more as soon as I find the fabric I have in mind for my booth's walls & start to make those and the topper for it. I need to get caught up on our storage bill before I lose my booth first, though. I have no idea how I got so far behind on it, but I did & am playing catch up right now. I wish I knew why it seems like I'm always behind on one bill or three this time of year.

Busy Day!

I truly do love the holidays, I actually have a pretty great family, for the most part & love to spend time with them, so that's never a hassle. We've all learned over the years that the holidays aren't the time to bring up our various issues with each other, although we had to learn the hard way. I do get tired when there's so much to do before, though. I feel like I've been running all day. I got up at 6:30 with Troy, was at the gym by 7:30, back here before 9 and I spent a little time playing on Facebook and eating before I grabbed a shower, did dishes and started making pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and pumpkin mousse.

I'm just thankful that this year, we won't be participating in Black Friday & trying to get a great deal on mp3 players, Michael Kors gloves or small appliances, because I'm already tired and just want to relax. Our niece, Jaycie, spent the night last night & will be with us again tonight, then she'll ride with Rhi & I to my folks' house for the holiday. It's just easier for her most of the time to stay away from home when her parents are both home. She doesn't have to deal with the drinking and the craziness this way and we like spending time with her anyway.

Anyway, while it will be an odd holiday for me (Troy works & Erin won't be here), I'm looking forward to spending time with my family & hope all of you have a great day, too!

Why is It?

Why does everything seem to go wrong when you're the busiest & the store is the most crowded? The stores here have been jam-packed for almost a week now, and I can't seem to focus any time I'm actually inside a store, so I guess it's a good thing I'm a chronic list-maker, except when we run in for something we suddenly realized we needed & I forget about it halfway through the store & end up with a cart full of things we didn't need, but decided we couldn't live without. It's always those times when the lines are the longest and the checker is the slowest. It always seems like we're in line for 30 minutes and then right before our turn the receipt printer jams, the checker freaks and tries to fix it herself and can't and then we're all waiting for it to be unjammed or we get switched to another line & start the waiting again.

I hate crowds and chaos, it's probably a good thing that I don't live in a bigger city anymore, I would never be able to go out and go shopping. I do a fair share of it online, but I'm never really sure anymore what size clothes I wear or how something will look on me, so I can't buy those online. I have foot issues and have to try shoes on before I buy them, because I can bounce between 3 different sizes, just depending on how the shoe is made, so another thing I have to buy in person. I can handle all of that, just as long as I can do it when there are no big gift-giving holidays on the horizon. We really need to finish our shopping in the next couple of weeks, just so we don't have to deal with it, ither than to get groceries until the holidays are over.

Reading Excitement!

I was thrilled to read a post over at Christine's blog the other day. She posted that both Barnes & Noble and Amazon had released free downloads of their eReader software for download. I have been wanting a Kindle or a Nook for a few months, after first being very hesitant to even try one, because I'm pretty sure that I'll miss the smell and feel of the paper. I decided I wanted one so that I can just take it with me when I go places that I'm afraid I might get bored at. It seems like it would just be sturdier for carrying around in my purse than an actual book, you know?

Anyway, Troy & I are getting netbooks for Christmas, and we're both voracious readers, so this will be perfect for us. We buy so many books as it is, that it won't be that big of a deal to also buy some eBooks, you know? I have no intention of giving up my good, old-fashioned books, I'd miss lying down with one before bed and all of that, but for going other places, a book or two on the netbook would be ideal and there are also tons of free ones out there, too, so I'll probably get a chance to read a bunch of things I wouldn't have considered otherwise.

I think I'm just about finished with my shopping for the family, I know we'll get my brother & his wife & my mom and dad as our draws, that's the only way it really works out, otherwise, some of us end up giving gifts to the people we live with & buy for anyway. I know which perfume my sister-in-law likes, and which cologne dad likes, so I added them to my next Avon order, I'm getting a bunch of stuff for my niece, too. I'm trying to find the perfect gift for my mom and brother, but they won't be that hard to shop for, they're both pretty easy-going when it comes to that. I can always get my brother something with a Rockies or a Broncos logo and he'll be happy, of course I could (and likely will) do the same for dad.

We haven't been able to find what we're getting for the grand-daughter anywhere here locally, so we may have to order it from Crayola, but I'm going to check here again and then in St. George first, just to make sure, and yeah, I still haven't bought Erin's, but we'll probably go look today & see what the price range is & maybe grab it now.

Relieved

Erin called me a couple of nights ago and he's in Pueblo, with his big brother, or at least close enough that they can hang out together for awhile. It's nice knowing where he is for a change. I just keep hoping he doesn't run into his donor, that's something I'd like to have him avoid, at least until he's a bit more stable. The clinic he went to in Texas also called and all of his tests came back normal, so none of us have to worry about his health, either. He said he plans to be back here in December, for about 2 weeks, so he'll probably be here for Christmas & a bit after & then head out to parts unknown again. Sometimes it feels like he's in punta cana or something, because it's all the same when you have no idea where your kids are, you know?

I guess we'd better get his Christmas gift purchased and wrapped, since he's verified again that he is coming home. I got Rhi's the other day & just have to get it wrapped (it's a lot bigger than I thought, so that'll be fun.. not) and tagged.

I've ordered a few things for stocking stuffers and such from Avon, too, and keep adding to that as I go along. It should be a pretty fun holiday, at any rate, in spite of Troy's work schedule and my hostility regarding that, I just wish that for once, Dawn and her family could enjoy it.

Excited

I'm starting to get excited for Christmas already. I didn't think I would, because Troy is working that day, but I am. I'm getting a Zune from Troy and I'm really stoked about it. I really wanted to get one for the days when I'm walking by myself, it helps keep my mind off of the pain & repetition, and makes it go a lot faster.

The rest of the family all have MP3 players, so I have been a little jealous of that. I had one for awhile, but my car killed it. I've really missed having one since then. The package I'm getting has the car kit with it, so it'll transmit through the radio & I won't have to worry about the electrical system in my car ruining it.

So, yeah, I know, I'm excited for the holidays for a solely material reason, but at least I'm excited and not dreading them anymore, right?