Showing Off My Crazy

I've been to the library three times this week. That's 33 miles total by bike, for those of you not keeping track. In conclusion: I give up, for now.

Because the divorce petition states that I want my name changed back, it is now a gigantic pain in my ass to change it to something else. It would have just been a minor pain in the ass if I had kept it as Jones, and then filed the name change to something else. The thing is, I have to get the Petition for Change of Name notarized, and this requires a current/valid photo ID with the old name on it. I do not have this, at all.

Changing my name for the divorce means getting new a driver's license, SS card, school ID, debit card, checkbook, and my Inactive Reserve ID card. Also, I have to update my name with the GI Bill, VA Life Insurance, and everything else I can't think of right now. *head asplodes*

When/If I change my name, I will have to do all those things again. Plus, I have to pay $217 to file the petition, and $34 to have a fingerprint card made. At least if I wait until January, when my IRR time is up, I will have one less ID to change. I will, however, confuse the shit out of everyone I know, by changing my name twice in 6 months. Piss.

So, how is my crazy showing? I worked off my frustration by switching my living room and bedroom. Yes, I got my sofa through the door, by sheer determination alone. I suffer from an extreme form of the hereditary disorder known as Rearrangus Furnituritis, just ask my mom.

Well, that settles it!

-12 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Randomness

I ordered many new things for Rigel online a few weeks ago, and I e-mailed them to say WTF DUDES?!!?(nicely) Turns out, the order fell behind someone's desk and they just found it. I get a 10% off (or was it $10?) coupon, and it will be here by Friday. I just say, the Clicker Training stuff and fun toys cannot get here soon enough! squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack Poor birdie is sooo bored!

Oh yay! I just realized today is Tuesday, not Wednesday, and I have one more day to clean my house for the bug spray people. I love those people.

I'm tired, despite doing nothing at all yesterday and getting 8 hours of sleep.

Yes, I am really selling my car. Please buy it. Please.

To Do Update

I've been at this "summer" thing for 20 days now. How is it going? Oh, its going allright...

1. Clean my house.
I keep cleaning the kitchen, only to turn around and cook dinner. I've tackled the living room, but that's about it.

2. Mega-Organizing.
Which means, of course, this is not even started. I guess the yard sale sort of counts, but not really.

3. Bird Training
videos and toys still have not arrived. Reducing the lighting from 7 hours to 5 hours has helped with the attitude and biting ALOT! Thank you internet people.

4. SCRAPBOOKING!!!!!!!
is daunting. I finally did two pages yesterday, but my printer is out of ink and all the extra stuff i bought is expired and dried out. Frick! Also, 3 billion cute pictures of my baby brother, where to start?!?!?

5. I plan to read this summer. Books. Novels. Space-Operas. The kind you read for fun, with no homework-related guilt. Lots of books.
nope.

6. I'll leave for the Great State of Misery probably on the 26th of June, or maybe the 20th...or something. I haven't really nailed it down yet. I'll be scrapbooking with my mom on the 29th and 30th at least, though.

Bla Bla Bla....

Still no word on my final grade in Physics 2. Suck.

I had to replace my driver's side seatbelt, which was going to cost an arm and three legs. Luckily, I go to the same place all the time and they are super-nice and I saved $40 off my bill. While waiting for them to diagnose the problem on Monday, I discovered the new River Valley Coffee and Cafe downtown. I was so hungry for breakfast that I would have eaten cardboard, but luckily this was much better AND YOU MUST GO THERE AND EAT! Yesterday while waiting for them to finish my car, I stopped by D'Vine Wine for the first time. I was unaware that they made their own wine on site. I had a Wine Rita....a frickin' wine smooooothhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee.....it was very good. Then I had to walk back to the coffee shop for some lunch.

For today's activities, I started with a yard sale "organized" by the apartment management. By "organized" I mean they told us what day to do it, and maybe put up signs. Participation was low, and I didn't get out there until 9:30 so I missed some sales opportunities. I made $35, which will go to buying grass mat or bamboo window treatments for my living and dining rooms. I'm off to goodwill now, to drop off some unsold items, and then to Tuesday Morning to find those window treatments, and then to the grocery store for some sour cream for tacos. Mmmm tacos.....I'm so hungry....

***
Eh. I forgot the box of stuff for Goodwill, and there were no good window coverings at Tuesday Morning

But the tacos were totally good, and now I'm full.

To Do List: Summer

This past week, I joined my classmates in ritualistic self-torture. We shoved the knowledge of 4 months into our poor brains, and then yesterday we sat down and turned our heads, so that the knowledge would oooozzzeee out of our ears and onto the Sacred Final. Some of it ended up on the floor.

And then I slept for 14 hours.

The results are partially in, and I have a B in Calculus 3. Physics is still pending, but I woke up this morning with my right hand representing magnetic field, current, and force, and then I realized that I mentally had the field going out of the page on the final. Fucks.

I have plans, and half a summer to get around to them.

1. Clean my house.
For real, people, this place is a general pigsty, and I have no clean socks.

2. Mega-Organizing.
Now that the cleaning is done, I'm all into giving shit away and discovering stuff I've been looking for (like socks) and re-discovering sentimental items (like underwear). That box of cables and that pile of cables and that device over there, they need to find each other. The closets aren't exactly overflowing, but its not like I can find anything in there.

3. Bird Training
Since I'm out of school for a few months, it is time to give a certain unrestrained parrot a few lessons. He's got "be adorable" and "bite me" down already. I think we'll start with "stop shitting on me" and move up to "do not chew on the laptop power cord." We'll see.

4. SCRAPBOOKING!!!!!!!
I am very excited. This will be a scrapbook for my mom, sort of a Mother's Day/Birthday gift that she has to help me with. I got this pretty paisley paper (btw I HATE paisley and this stuff is gorgeous, so there you go) and punch-out set. I still need to find a book, but I'll place the pictures and leave room for Mom to do the journaling. FUN!!

5. Speaking of books.
I plan to read this summer. Books. Novels. Space-Operas. The kind you read for fun, with no homework-related guilt. Lots of books.

6. HOoooommmmeee Home on The Range...
I'll leave for the Great State of Misery probably on the 26th of June, and return to Big Texass on the 6th or 7th of July. Becky wants to go bowling in KC for her birthday, and after that the whole trip is up in the air. Mostly there will be food, coffee, alcohol, and blowing shit up. Probably in that order.

There goes half the summer....bye-bye fun...

7. Back to School
I registered for Technical Writing in the second summer term, and then it is back to school full-time in the Fall. Four courses, two with labs....no time for sleep.

Tired

Rodney McKay is a worthless stupid character. Fucknut.

Anyway.

So I had a Physics test on Monday, and Calculus this morning. I feel good about how I did on the Physics test, but it hasn't been graded yet. Calculus test...I swear I studied for it...

The weather has been up and down all week. 85 on Monday, 30 on Wednesday, 77 today. Meanwhile the apartment complex is renovating the exterior, starting with the wood trim. Three days of pounding outside the window, nowhere to take the bird that didn't freak him out, and now there are gouges in all my window screens and the front window frame is cracked and loose. Really, a bang-up job, guys.

Earlier this week I also cleaned the kitchen and loaded/ran the dishwasher twice, cleaned the birdcage, ran my laundry including all the bath and kitchen towels, bought new pillowcases, baked a blueberry and strawberry dessert, made lunch once, and dinner at least twice.

I spent this afternoon massively cleaning the apartment, the bed is made, the windows are washed, the dishes are done, the floor is vacuumed, belongings have been removed from the balcony in preparation for painting, and the kitchen is clean. Hell, the kitchen floor is mopped, I shit you not. I also made baked chicken and vegetable for dinner. Not that anyone appreciates that I was on the kitchen floor scrubbing before baking a kick-ass dinner and after pouring my brains into a Calculus 3 exam, because there isn't enough juice or nookie. Cause/Effect.

More Port.

Please tell me Dr Kaylee isn't flirting with Mckay. Kill me now please.

Sickness

For the last month or so, I've been almost-sick. Just not quite sick enough to say "I'm sick." Just a low level headache, body aches I could attribute to walking between classes and studying (haha, jk) and went away with a couple Tylanol. There was a little congestion in the morning that would clear up in a hot shower, and some random sneezing. Well today I woke up and the world smelled a little bad, and the congestion was worse.

I remember the last time I smelled this, the same time I was running all over the place trying to PCS from Okinawa. The sinus infection dried out from the Sudafed and got so bad that I was a wreck because I was starving but everything smelled like rotting meat. I spent all my "free time" with a hot wet washcloth pressed against my nose. For two weeks.

So this morning I did some sinus irrigation and then took a hot shower. The smell is still there, but the congestion is reduced. I didn't know about sinus irrigation the last time, so hopefully I can keep this thing down and not be sick during finals and when I go home in a few weeks.

I was going to run a little, but couldn't find my running shoes. The house is still a mess. I was planning to go to the library to study at 1pm, but my clothes aren't dry yet. I like studying there because there are fewer distractions like TV and internet and birds and a dirty house. Well, there's internet but being there reminds me that I can't screw around online.

Where to begin?

First, I ate a TON of food at lunch today. I feel like I swallowed a balloon and then blew it up.

You know that feeling you get on Thanksgiving, where there's so much food packed into your gut that it hurts to breathe?

Then you burp, and think "I've got room for another slice of pumpkin pie!"

I once had an entire pie that way, but not today.

I have been planning to take leave and visit my friend Traci when she has her baby next month. She just moved to the state this fall, and I'm pretty much the nearest person she knows. Now she just found out her hubby might not be home for the birth, that she might be all alone. Can't have that, so I'm going to talk to my boss about extending my leave.

On another note, I'm looking at requesting an educational hardship waiver or something. I can have my date of separation moved up to 90 days sooner, up to 10 days before the start of a college term. The summer term starts 6 July, and I'm going to request a new separation date of 1 July. I'm excited. I've felt like my life is on hold for the last year, and its time to get busy livin' or get busy dyein' Oh I'm such a dork.

Unfortunately, this means I will have to put in paperwork with the college to become a degree-seeking student, and to declare a major before I ever take a class in physics or chemistry (my two choices). I know I can change it if I decide I'm no good at physics(read: math), but I really don't want to do that.

Michael and I narrowed down our list of apartments to apply for. I sent emails to all 4 management companies, and I got a reply from only one. It is the one Michael likes best, and the rent for the 2 bed/1 bath units is reasonable for how nice the complex is.

Unfortunately that unit doesn't have washer/dryer hookups. I'm not selling my washer and dryer, and I am NOT going back to communal laundry. Ever. Never. Ever. The 2 bed/1+ bath unit has connections, but its not very much cheaper than our rent is now. The whole point of moving is to reduce our rent. Also the rent doesn't include any utilities.

So, we would be moving from a 3 bed/2 bath/2 car garage house (too big for us), to a 2 bed/1+ bath/single carport apartment, with very little change in our rent. Not happening.
I guess I will have to call the other places, since the emails didn't go through. Suck. I hate phones, and talking on them, to people.

My house is a mess, I'm gonna go pretend to clean it. Laters.

Busy Morning

Whew. I just sat down after a whirlwind few hours. I woke up a little before 8am to feed little Rigel and wait to be able to call the Vet. Meanwhile I called Mom to get a bit of info and say hi. I finished up with what she needed and then looked up some tomato canning recipes for her. HINT: I would like some Tomato Marmalade for my troubles! :) I got an appointment with the vet for 4pm today.

I made a couple of false starts on cleaning the house before I decided to eat breakfast and shower first. Now the living and dining rooms are rearranged and the birdcage is in the dining room. Its really still the same room, with this open floorplan, and it gives him a bit more peace at night if we watch TV. A portable playstand will be a good idea to bring him in here while we're home and playing. He can still see out a window, and it won't be as hot to keep that window uncovered since it doesn't get direct sunlight. Its also more accessible for cleaning this way. With the birdcage out of the living room, we can go back to a configuration The Hubby is more comfortable with.

Now all I have to do is convince him to let me saw the dining table legs down so we can sit Japanese style. I have been completely unable to find extra-tall chairs that match the table for a good price. Sorry, I just won't buy chairs that cost more than the table itself. It's dumb.

I just realized I vacuumed the whole area before changing the cage lining. Doh!

Well that's enough for the morning. The afternoon will be given over to the new Tablet if it gets here, or sifting through the clutter in the office or bedroom. :(

Colorful

Rigel is such a colorful parrot. There's green, blue, red, maroon, grey, and a little tan. Oh, and then there's the orange bottom of his left foot. Apparently he really likes the yellow and red bell pepper pieces in his salad, and he is learning to use his foot to hold things up to his beak.

He's not alone in discoloring himself. I spilled a few drops of a silver reagent on my fingers yesterday, so now it looks like I don't know proper bathroom hygiene, if you know what I mean. I should probably be more careful about that. ;)

I just took an extended break to clean the birdcage and make a couple of toys. It really doesn't matter what I put together, its only the string he wants. *sigh*

I really don't like the sheet we're using as a cage cover, so I'm off to the internet for a real cover. Laters.

Happy Boobies!

Becky asked how studying makes me a manic cleaning crazywoman.

Well, the bug spray people posted a notice were doing the apartments today. I was actually home last time, and they just walk through real quick and spray all the exposed baseboard. Since we tend to have stuff piled/stacked/shoved against the walls, they didn't spray as much as they could have. So I made sure they could get to the baseboards. Also, I get a tad embarrassed about people seeing my home as cluttered as it was, and also things like the film that develops over the bathroom sink and mirror. Whatever, I'm crazy, get over it.

Also, I was pretty stressed about the test because I knew I didn't study well this past week. When that happens I lay awake with my mind racing over everything from the test to my future to mulling over events of the past...its not good for sleeping is what I'm saying. Cleaning in a big sweep like that burns some energy so I can get to sleep before 5am.

Oh, and my boobies! are happy. I decided to pick several bras to try on in the two sizes. Yes, Becky, the calculator worked very well for me. Turns out the old size just does not fit anymore, and I found a couple very comfortable bras on sale for $24 (from $42). I also bought some boring beige panties, because I don't like their patterns, and my normal grey or black in a comfortable cut weren't stocked in my size. Suck. They were 5 for $25, which is more than I would like to pay, but I was there already, and I needed new panties. They had different body spritz scents than the one I really loved, but I found a good one anyway. Go figure that VC is about the only place I can find perfumes that don't make my sinuses dry or congested. They smell good too!

I think I'm going to relax tonight. There are 2 books from the library that are about a month overdue. I'd return them unread, but that would just be wrong!

Exam 1

Well that was fun, in a twisting gut, rising panic sort of way. I feel like I did surprisingly well on my chemistry exam. I only had to guess on one (of 15) multiple choice, and totally winged it on the last problem. The last one is okay, because he told us afterwards that he forgot we hadn't covered that section yet. So he'll grade us leniently based on what we tried to do. Government was straight multiple-choice, and the questions were as annoying and repetitive as the professor's lectures. Unfortunately, it also assumed we read the required chapters, which I sorta kinda didn't do. Oh well, its still multiple choice and I can guess better than most. We'll see.

Its a fairly nice day, mild by Texass standards, so the windows are again wide open. That's such a relief from the closed-in feeling I get when the a/c is on. I did a little de-cluttering around the house, and I really need to do dishes. After lunch. Maybe.

Sick of Sick

I can't stop sneezing, which automatically causes your sinuses to produce more mucus. I've about had it with the cycle of sinus troubles I've been going through for about...forever. I should have done some homework/reading on Thursday afternoon but I just couldn't bring myself to move or focus. I eventually took a very long, very hot bath, wrapped myself in my new terrycloth robe, and fell asleep. I feel feverish and achy even though I'm not running a high temperature. Why is that? I still didn't feel well Friday, even though I was up until 4am reading at bitingbeaver. We went to see a movie when I woke up at noon today. Then we went grocery shopping. Remind me again that I do not go to the grocery store with my husband. Infuriating.

Because these are 5-week summer terms, I'm now severely behind in my notes and reading, and a little behind in my problems. The problems aren't turned in, they're just for practice, and they tests in both my classes are being pushed back a day or two, so that's good for me. I sat around until 6-ish when I had some chicken and rice soup which suddenly made me feel much better. Go figure, right? That, plus some hot tea, really gave me a burst of motivation. I finished my Chemistry problems from Chapter 1, read and took notes on about half of Chapter 2. Government is on the back burner until I can get past Chapter 3 in Chemistry, plus memorize the Periodic Table and some other tables from the text.

In the middle of making another mug of tea, I decided to clean my kitchen and clear the refrigerator of old and/or moldy items. Dear Husband, I left the eggs in the refrigerator but they are old, please put them in the trash when you change bags. Uncluttered the dining table (which still has no chairs), put away the domino set (which opened up in the trunk on the way from MO), and then ever-so-gingerly moved the bibles (no kidding) into a bag and beside the door.

Why do I always try to put a d in the word refrigerator? Probably the same reason things are always so awsome to me.

A Day in the Life, Day 2, Take 2

My first second non-workday. Saturday and Sunday clearly do not count, as I probably worked a grand total of 4 weekend-days in my 5+ years of service.

Why and Why did I forget Monday? I knew I would start forgetting the days, but I didn't expect it to start so soon. Gzeesh.

How have I spent it? Showered, loaded the dishwasher, burnt toast, made a pb&j sandwich (with new toast), some hot cocoa, Colbert Report, some blog reading, some BSG article reading (Moore says the 2-hour fall 'movie' will actually be 2 episodes with main cast backstory, not Pegasus)...

I have a test today at 12:30pm (<--do you see the colon!?) for which I have not studied enough yet. Colbert is almost over. Oop! Its over.

Okay okay I'll study! Get off my ass, people!

lim f(x) =
x->0

"Future" "Housewife" calling.

Michael made the mistake recently of saying I would be a Housewife when I get out next month. Ahem. Nothankyew. I will be a full time student. I will work just as hard, or harder, on a daily basis than you do at work, so that I can have a future in a paying job. Besides, to be a housewife you need to have kids. No matter how much babysitting you need, you are not m'kid. So stuff it. And then I thought about it.

Well really I always get pissed about this, but lets pretend I just thought about it. We have had the exact same job since the day we met, and I've been in longer so I've been paid more than him from day one. Yet who does all the housework? Cook, clean, organize, budget, worry, clean? I'm sorry, I'm being unfair. He does manage to take out the trash or do some other thing, if I've nagged him about it a half dozen times, and if he's reached a good save-point, if there exists such a thing it that game.

So, no, I will not be your Housewife. I will just continue to do everything I already do, so as I will not have to live in a pigsty watching my brand new big screen TV with nothing to eat but Pot-pies, Ramen, and ice cream.


Women Still Chief Household Organizers: U.K. Study

on 12/13/2006

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Three-quarters of British women still do most of the household food shopping and cooking, making them prime targets for better health-promotion policies, researchers say.

Reporting in the British Food Journal, researchers at Newcastle University's Human Nutrition Center surveyed 198 British women and men in their early 30s. Of the women who were married or cohabitating, 79 percent had the chief responsibility for household food shopping, and 72 percent did most of the food preparation and cooking.

About 25 percent of the women said they did the food shopping and cooking because they were more skilled than their husbands/partners in meal planning, budgeting, and preparation and were more in tune with their family's food preferences.
(Nooooo....you're kiddingg.....duhhhh.....)

Other said they did the shopping because they could do it faster than their husband/partner, who was often tempted by "unnecessary treats," the study said.
(You have no idea.)

"Women have made great progress in terms of equal opportunities over the last few decades, so it surprised us to find that many women, even in this relatively young age group, assumed the traditional female role of chief cook and food shopper," lead author and registered dietitian Dr. Amelia Lake said in a prepared statement.

"This work shows how important it is to consider the role of women when developing health intervention policies. Health professionals should also consider this when giving advice on healthy lifestyles and eating," Lake said.

"For instance, there's no point solely advising a diabetic male on how to structure his diet when he isn't doing the food shopping or cooking -- you need to see his wife, too!" Lake said.

Torture

Barely a breeze, 65 degrees, cloudless beautiful sky.

I have spent most of my day inside, cleaning. I got to go outside to walk to the dumpster, and once to sit and clean some large tupperware containers. They were in our garage, icky.

Michael is annoyed by the windows being open, because kid and traffic sounds are disturbing his all-day gaming session, same as the dishwasher and vaccum noises. The door is open too, and his flesh is burning off from exposure to natural light. Do you hear the sympathy oozing from my words? Yeah, thought so.

Sun sets in exactly 2 hours.

Yesterday I finished putting together our new desk. My the skin on my thumb and palm hurt from all the toolwork. So the cleaning was mostly throwing away packing materials and vaccuming little white dots off the carpet.

Miss You

I'm going to spend the next 5 days telling you all the ways it is better when my husband is home.

He takes out the trash, because I make dinner.
He checks the mail, because I forget and the bill people don't think thats a good enough excuse.
AND he locks the door at night, because if I forget then the bad peoples might get me. *squeak*
The other night, I woke him up from his nap...
Warm and cuddly folks, warm and cuddly.
--If I hit the snooze button too many times, he will tell me, and I won't oversleep for an hour.
--Also when snoozing in the morning, he is even more warm and cuddly.

But also, there are things I can do when he's not home...
Like hanging purple curtains in the bedroom.
Or not eating out every meal, because I'm okay with easy deli sandwiches for dinner, or leftovers.
Watching tv at a reasonable volume, or *gasp* not at all!
(thats right people, I've been home since at least 6:30, and the TV has been off the whole time) --Day 2, No TV.
--I made $260 off our junk this weekend. If he was here, we would've sold it all for $50.

Busy Bee, Lonely Me

Tomorrow is the big day for our yard sale. Today was real nice out, about 75 degrees. What will the weather be like tomorrow? Windy with a high of 50. That's gonna suck. I moved as much as I could from the house to my friend's house for the sale. They live on a main street with good visibility and have yardsales all the time. Since the house doesn't have electricity anymore, I had about 45 minutes to get things together. I'll have to wake up at 7am to get the rest moved and put prices on everything before people start showing up.

I never realized how much useless junk I had. I moved a carload tonight, and I still haven't looked at the kitchen or the lawn/garden junk. Michael (The Most Loved One) authorized me to sell his paintball gun and associated gadgetry. Sweet, however everything else we are selling is mine, and I am still horribly unprepared.

Things I want to sell, but don't want to haul the 10 blocks to the yardsale:
Old Old Old recliner.
Desk, put together wrong by the Most Loved One.
Desk, damaged slightly by movers.
Bookshelf, put together wrong by The Me.
Bed, bought at flea market, never used...by anyone I know. (sat in my garage for the last 16 months)

Jesse, I'm selling your bike. I'll send you the money I get from it.

Michael (My Sweet) is on a plane this very minute, flying from Dallas to Nashville to attend a friend's funeral. I miss The Cute One (Michael) already, and I don't wanna go to bed.

And then it was over.

Here's an idea, let's throw a little christmas party 2 days after we start moving into a new apartment. We'll watch christmas movies and play board games. Yeah, that'll be fun. Of course it will.

Well actually, you'll be heating the turkey and gravy and cleaning and all that girly kitchen-stuff while I sit on the couch with my friends and watch Conan the Barbarian. Sure, half our possessions are still at the house across town, why do you ask? Yeah, that'll be fun.

I knew I got married for a reason.

Best Christmas Ever.