I am seriously displeased with my bank. The money situation should be resolved, but the bank is a drama queen and I have to stare at my online account until it has stopped its theatrics.

SEE, I was a lame-ass on Saturday and splurged on scented soaps and lotions (gee, no one on my friends list is weak to that). I took most of it back (oh, I couldn't let go of the pomegranate body spray). I also deposited my rebate check from my cell phone purchase. That alone made the difference between being able to pay rent and not. The returned purchases has not become a transaction on my account. This is food money, I suppose, or gas money so I can trek across town to help mother pack again, or something along those lines (because I'm out of gas! wheeeeee). It is possibly being lumped into the purchase transaction (which hasn't cleared) even though it shouldn't be (because I bought on Saturday and returned on Sunday), but whatever. I just want that $42.

Yeah, when I splurge, it can be the meaning to life, the universe and everything.

Also: scary item: My boss hasn't signed off on my timecard yet. Some computer glitch. I'm relatively sure that finance will just push my card through, but the holiday is going to throw EVERYTHING off and I'm lacking confidence.

The weekend can't come fast enough and it's a short week.

My family's moving again. It's the magical time of year when dad takes a job elsewhere to make ends meet, decides this is a better life and then makes mom move to where he is.

It's a rather dim view on things, but that's what I've got right now.

So - Dad's moving the family to Chicago. They decided to do it this week. They are keeping the house they worked so hard to qualify for buying, but are renting it out to people while they are gone. There's a lot of packing to be done. Anyone who has ever helped pack my family knows. Mom's promising to get rid of the junk this time and has already started this process by pawning stuff off on me. I'm going to have to start saying no, but for the most part, I haven't minded it yet. Yet.

Also: this is the first time in 30 years that 'the family' is only mom and dad. Everyone else is free. This is weird.


Also: It's 3:45am and I shouldn't be writing stuff because my brain isn't functioning. @whee.

I'll be packing mom up tomorrow. This will be fun.


OH! And JOY OF ALL JOYS. I can't make rent. Fuuuuuuuck. I'm something like $25 - $30 short. I am such a dumb ass. What the hell.

SO, I was texted multiple times today to be told that John is indeed staying in the Springs to finish school. Good job. I should get him a cookie or something.

Happy Friday!

What to say?

Three weeks til the road trip. Twenty days, specifically, if you don't count today and the day we leave. I never know which days to count, so I have to declare my system up front every time.

( body conscious )

Um. Weekend!

Brother is possibly moving to Chicago. He's scared/nervous/something. He called and kind of asked my permission/thoughts on the matter since he's feeling like he's abandoning the family to live with my parents (buh?). I gave him my blessing and I hope he has fun. I have always half believed the stuff I don't like about him is due to the fact that we live in Colorado where teenagers are pretty much hicks in hicktown. (He at the very least won't be dating the 18 year old anymore.) (I use 'dating' loosely.) I think Chicago will do him good.

Speaking of Chicago: I have to find a way to get some money for plane tickets for Kate's wedding. I have it somewhere. I just have to go through things and figure out where it is. And then I won't be spending money for a while. This summer is getting expensive. What with the road trip and unexpected wedding right after the vacation in the Pacific Northwest, I'm lame in the financial realm. Maybe I should get off my butt and sell some doodles. I don't even know if anyone would buy them anymore since I haven't posted art in such a long time.

Another reason to start RPing less. Rather - to be less lame when RPing. I really can draw between poses. I just need to not be ... Lame. :D

Oh. Mom's kind of going nutsy and getting rid of everything in her house. I'm supposed to be thinking about what I'd want to adopt, but I can't think of a thing. She probably wants me to take the furniture, but the green leather is old and defunct (since the day we bought it) and while it's a matched set (oh, I love that) I'd have to give up my futon for that. That makes me twitchy, since I adore having the ability to have sleeping surfaces for visitors. Now, if I'm storing sister's sleeper sofa, that's a little better (it is a sleep sofa, right?). I could probably do that and the love seat if I abandon my drawing table for a while (unused :( ) and move the desk that matches my dresser into my bedroom (making that TWO desks in my bedroom) and put my bed against the wall to make space and transfer all of my bookshelves into the dining room/living room.

blah. Why do I feel I need to be responsible for this? I should steal back my favorite dresser from the parents' and give my 'matching set' thingy to Good Will. Better to abuse brother's truck while he still has it than to try and take it to Good Will myself later.

Anyway. I better go be productive.

I go and try and organize a baby shower for bluedano and then utterly fail on the follow-up - so much so that I completely forgot to order my own gift. YES! I SUCK!

Oh well. Nothing to do about it. Kind of fell off the internet all together. April, go ahead and open your gifts as you get them - like you've been doing. I don't think that whatever happens will be a group party - but more like individual parties between the giver and the recipient. I'm going to touch base with some people, but since I'm kind of feeling 'anti-nag' I may or may not motivate anything useful.

Um. I'll have a better update later.

( My Eyes! )
This is what has been killing my will to be online lately.

I've been trying non-dairy 'milks' lately - partially for character research and partially for the fact that my mother's supposed lactose intolerance has caused me to reevaluate my constant heartburn. Here's what I discovered. (It won't be long, I promise, so I'm not going to cut it):

Soy Milk:
Brand:: Silk available at Wal-mart and pretty much any other grocery store imaginable.
- Regular: It tastes vaguely like a protein drink, but the good kind that doesn't overwhelm you with the chalkiness of reconstituted powder. It was also the closest to 'milk' that I've encountered. This is the non-dairy gateway drug.
- Vanilla: It was okay. I guess I'm not used to my 'milk' tasting like vanilla. I have noticed that this is the most popular and if you ask for soy in a coffee shop, probably what you're going to get. I might have to try it again.
- Chocolate: YUM. SO TASTY.

Almond Milk:
Brand:: Almond Breeze available at Safeway. They are so the mini-Whole Foods anyway.
- Chocolate, Unsweetened: It starts out with the familiar taste of almonds and goes down hill from there. You know that bitter taste in the back of your mouth after you've finished eating almonds? It's that, only amplified since it's not an after taste, it IS the taste - second note on.
I've been assured that sweetened Almond milk is better - so I will try that before giving up on almonds all together.

Rice Milk:
Brand:: Rice Dream available at Wal-mart and pretty much any other grocery store imaginable.
Chocolate: Yum. Not quite as rich and thick as Silk, but I liked it. I will have to try unflavored rice milk now.

Oat Milk:
Brand:: (will look up later) available at Safeway.
Regular: After the horrible reaction to Almond milk I had, I was afraid to try it. It's sweet and reminiscent of raisins and oatmeal. There's a sharp, bitter aftertaste, but as soon as you try to put your thumb on it, it's gone. It is weird in tea too. Just thought I'd say. :)

It's also quite possible that my taste buds are just not used to grains and the aftertastes of grains. Perhaps I am just not meant for nuts. Perhaps it will adapt. Perhaps I will stay with soy. Maybe I'll cave in and keep a little cow milk in my fridge for weak moments in the night - but tracking whether or not that gives me heartburn.

...tuh-nah-nah tuh-nah-nah-nah she put diamonds on the soles of her shoes...

Ok. Now for a real post of all the things I haven't mentioned in a while.

I am not sleeping well. Up at 5am for no reason.

My cousin almost cut off her foot before Memorial day. Boating accident. It's been reattached, but some of the tendons are dying and they're having trouble staving off infection from the lake water. Her grandfather, not mine, died that same weekend in Ecuador.

Father's living in Chicago. Mother will join him after the 4th of July weekend. They kind of want me to move back in again to house sit for them. They wouldn't pay me - in fact, they'd probably charge me. I will not even attempt to get out of my lease for them.

I have a headache.

Oh, yeah, going vegetarian now. After a weekend of eating vegan, meat has no appeal anymore. I did make something with soyrizo yesterday and that was the most delightful thing in the world. I combined it with spaghetti sauce and it was a delightful, yet spicy, meat sauce for my penne.

Gotta figure out how to get back to Chicago on and around August 16th for Kate's wedding.

I hate clothing. If I try to dress in close fitting clothes, I end up feeling fat. If I wear clothes that are a little more comfortable, they make me look like I'm fat. Now, don't get me wrong, I am fat. I just - don't like to look it. I will be walking dog more when I have more energy. I have none now. I don't know why. I think I'm fighting something off. stupid colds.

umm. Yeah. dream sequence later.

I posted more about April's virtual baby shower, but it's friends locked! Log in so you can see it!

Also, if you're interested in our low budget, multi-regional, virtual baby shower for bluedano please leave a comment and I'll get you added to the pertinent information.

Calling all friends of April (bluedano)

I'm kind of trying to get together an online baby shower for our friend, in lieu of an RL one, since we're so spread out over the country/continent. The idea is to peruse the online gift registries, purchase items and ship them directly to April. She will then have a little party with her and Pete while opening presents - taking pictures or web cam or whatever we can do to join in.

Please leave a comment to say you're participating!

I'll put up a post later that's flocked with the baby registry information (since it generally contains personal information).

I figured I should type something, since I'm getting bad at LJ again.

I think I still need to finish the weekend review from Memorial day - but I have to check to see where I left off, so that will be a separate entry. This weekend, I did nothing - no laundry, no shopping, nothing. I will have to do that today. Laundry will probably wait because I am lazy, but I have to go shopping since I put the last of Tobe's food in his bowl today. Mother would chide me, saying I should have food for the overlap, but dog food is huge and it takes up so much space. Also, it's warm again, therefore I don't think I should be hoarding dog food when I'm already finding ants and centipedes in my apartment.

(shudder. centipedes. right up there with earwigs.)

Ok. totally zoned out and never finished this. So. It's done. :D

Headache this morning. Dazed otherwise. Wish I could go back to sleep. Weekend tomorrow, so will be able to tomorrow. I'll probably yank myself off this vacation schedule then too.

Kate's engaged. Sent me a picture of her ring. Nice that I got to hang out with her once more before the crazy of 'bridezilla' set in. Good that I got to meet him. I suppose everything worked out well in that regard. I guess there's an end in sight for 'roommate' issues. :)

Now, I need to crawl back underneath a rock.

Yesterday, I was walking through the building on the way to the elevator when a woman came up behind me and basically congratulated me on having wet hair, since I was sticking it to the man. I paraphrase. She basically started telling me about how her mother always gave her such a hard time whenever her hair was wet and how I was being a rebel. Yes. Rebel. That's not paraphrased.

... Yep.

There were no tornados on the way back. I am home now - well, actually at work. We're supposed to have a fun day with picnic and barbecue for the Air Force graduation/Thunderbird Flyover, but it's foggy, rainy and gray. Not only is the sky full of plane blocking clouds, but there's very little visibility over the entire front range valley item. (Incidentally, I have no idea what to call the valley. I'm sure there's a term, but I suck. I know there are 'foot hills' and the front range, but what lies between throws me. Maybe there is no term. Hmm.)

UUuuummm. Called in sick yesterday. Don't know if I'm a disappointment because I'm not making it up and I don't know if I care. Blah. So there. Maybe I'll see how my projects go and work from there.

Also: don't know what I am going to eat at the picnic, considering hamburgers and hotdogs sound gross.

UM. More on the trip later.

further updates
Coworker G is sick again. Heart problems once more. I sort of suggested it might be a food allergy - since no one can figure out why her heart just starts racing periodically - and I guess they're looking into it later. Huh. She has had the time to give me enough work to make my eyes cross, so I guess everything's fine on that front.

Also: Chocolate milk in the morning makes work an OK place to go to.

The end.

Great - Tornados north of Denver.
They've already delayed Jacqui.
Let's hope they don't delay me.

Well.
Everything's packed and in motion. House is clean enough - didn't get around to the garbage. Let's hope I don't regret that - it is only four or five days though!

Car's at the shop. I literally said 'I need an oil change, tires rotated, blah, blah blah.' Carl responded 'Blah, blah, blah, eh?' I said 'Yep! and there's a nail in the driver's front tire.' I don't know if this makes me a 'silly girl' in the automotive maintenance world or a seasoned hand. Doesn't matter. They know better than to mess with me there. -coughs-

Because of mom, I got to work at 7:45. This means I start my adventure around 2:15. This is good. Even if it takes me an extra half hour to pick up the car at lunch, I can still get to Joy around 3:15 and on our way to Denver soon after. I'll probably grab my cash at the machine at UMB for the sake of avoiding fees.

*booounce* I need to get out of state. it's so weird working before a flight. I usually leave earlier and take the day off. Such is necessary with Colorado's public transportation system. (and a butt load of money.)

Currently:
I've done laundry - all my clothing and the towels used to wash dog. They are still in the dryer. Seeing as how no one lives here when I am gone, that is where they will stay. I should clean the tub, but I can't bring myself to hang out in the bathroom. (the floor needs work too.) I have done the dishes and am contemplating taking out the trash - even though I'd have to hunt down a dumpster. Gah. Don't feel like that. Not in the morning. Not ever. The apartment - otherwise - is cluttered. This will have to just stay the way it is.

Tomorrow - I get up early. Have to call mom first thing so she can take me from the car shop to work. If I can get there by 8, then I can get off at 2:30 and life will be A-OK by everyone. 8:30 will be acceptable, but 9:00 is right out. I'll... (eyes the time) sleep on the plane. Bah! I say BAH! I should also get cash for the Toll road. Joy, if you read this - get cash for yourself too. You don't want to have to I-225 through Denver during rush hour. That would be... non-fun.

k. maybe i'll sleep now.

Blah!
I made it to work on time this morning. Whew. Seven-Thirty is almost ungodly. That's about all I can say on the subject though. Stomach's displeased with the poor quality of sleep the night before and the limited quantity. I suspect I will have no problem going to bed tonight. Let's hope I get some RP before sleep knocks my legs out from underneath me.

Back hurts for some reason. WTF, body?

I put in for 4 hours of vacation time this week and 4 hours next week. I think I will go in /EVEN EARLIER/ tomorrow morning (6:30) to try and drop off my car at the shop at a decent hour (5pm) and have them contact me in the morning when it's done. Otherwise, there's this weird shifty thing I'll have to do in the morning and that just doesn't seem fun, especially since it will require my mother to pick me up at the shop and take me to work - given that the shuttle service isn't always reliable for getting to work with in a certain time frame. I wish I could put this all on my sister, but I have a feeling this will cost upwards of $100 to get everything I want done, done.

I am lame. I didn't do any cleaning this weekend. I was too tired. I will do it tonight and every other night through to the weekend. You know, while I'm not sleeping. I wanted to do a spring cleaning - who cares if we're being all summery and I can't open the windows because they're powerwashing the building at some point in time this week. I should put 'carpet powder' on my list of items to pick up that I forgot yesterday. @whee.

Chattering happy characters are /so/ much easier to sleep to.

Aside from that - I am tired. So Very Tired. It's lame. I'd like to be more awake, but this is what longer hours does to me. My boss wants to know now if I'm going to be interested in doing this on a consistent basis... Oy.

Worse next week. I'm almost giddy about the tiredness impending. I don't know if this is a good giddy.



And that is my disjointed thought for the day. I'm going to try and get everything ready for the trip this weekend, which includes getting up early tomorrow to take the car to the shop for an oil change/ inspection/ nail removal/tire rotation, and whatever else pops into my mind at the time. The tax return check item is very useful for car maintenance. I will also need to wash dog, vacuum the apartment, flip the mattress, change the sheets, do a ton of laundry and everything else I can think of. I'm half tempted to save 'Prince Caspian' for Chicago to see with Kate, but I don't want /plan/ on it in case we can't find a theater for the hearing impaired for Haze. Don't know if any of them want to see it either. I haven't asked. There's always 'Iron Man' if all the other parties still haven't seen it and if said theaters play it or - hell, I don't know. banana.

There's a million things we could do. Why restrict ourselves by planning?

Yes. Cleaning. I will make a list eventually. Also need to make a shopping list so I can purchase a week's worth of food so there is nothing to go bad in the fridge while I am away.

NOTE! Dog has chewed himself a nice little hole in his fur on his leg. I am displeased with him for doing this. As far as I know, it was a minor scratch to begin with, but his constant attention has turned it into a thumbprint sized wound. Feel free to leave the name of a good ointment to put on this bald patch so that he will leave it alone - making it feel better AND so he will not lick it off. He's a licker.

Eli's been using 'breathe' lately in RP. Today, this song synced up with the idea. Enjoy the background noise.

( MFEO: Part 2 - You Can Breathe )

Stomach's being an evil bastard. I don't know if this is because I need to clean out my fridge, the food at work really is that disgusting - or if the ever loving sinus drainage is just mucking up the system. Maybe it's a little bit of each. I am exceptionally displeased with this, because Chicago is edging up on a week away.

It does not help at all that I'm working 9 hour days the rest of this week and then next week is full of 10 hour days.

What else? Slept like poo because of a late sleep time, an exceptionally acidy stomach and a nagging character. demmit. Why can't they stay happy? I get a good scene and they freak out, desperate for more RP all the time. MORE. NOW. Gah. Dumb character angst. I swear, someday I'm going to quit and then we'll see how they like it.

(cough)

UM. Yeah. Creative juices are flowing. This is good. Ignore my protests.

My grammar calendar is on comma rules now. Yay Oxford comma!

Lease has been signed, no problems there. I swear last week was similar to a vacuum that caused every company I have an account with to lose their minds a little. I was going to use a better analogy, like all of my paperwork to be sucked up or something of that sort, but my brain is tired and refuses to be useful or sensical at this moment.

Work and I are not friends. Again, this is pretty much localized on 'last week.' Boss made me cry. I don't want to talk about it. Well, not right now in this entry anyway.

Sleep's being a pain. I got into the habit of staying up late on Thursday night but managed to completely reset myself to normal last night. Hurray for the ability to go to bed at 9pm! I left the salsa out - but I guess I'll live. (The salsa, I fear, is dead and probably nasty beyond salvation. Poor salsa.)

anything else will have to wait until I'm more awake. Now to get my butt in gear on some of my reading.
(Oh, Yes. This week, I get paid to read things. Ok, maybe just today. Who knows?)

Evie says: "You have to keep your seatbelt on or you're going to be dead."

Lease is up today. Haven't heard from the office about a new one. I've done my part. I've turned in my paperwork indicating that I want another 15 month lease. Of course, the office doesn't give me much confidence. When I turned it in, they said 'Oh, I can't find your paperwork. It should be fine.'

I'll have to put up another long worky item soon. Right now, not so much. Kind of busy.

If you respond, I'll...

Tell you why I friended you

associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc. you know, something degrading.

Tell you something I (dis)like about you.

Tell you a memory I have of you. Or make one up.

Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.

Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.

In return, you must post this in your LJ.

Happy monday.

Random financial flailings have been removed because they have been settled for now.

( New Phone )

Also: dad is firmly out of town and in Chicago. I was a nice daughter and took mom out after he left to get her mind off things. She seemed to fixate on my wallet though. It was - problematic. Here's how it went:( Story time )

Yay! new phone.

Family news: Connecticut has become Chicago and he is leaving today - but good news, mom was overreacting when it came to 'putting the house on the market.' Dad says he just wanted to know the current value.

Blah. Suppose I have to trek on over to the parents' house and be social.

Guess what I'm doing for Memorial day?

Huh?

I'm going to CHICAGO! Wheeee!

Tentative flight information has me arriving late Thursday, May 22nd and leaving far too early on Tuesday, May 27th. We're going to make a meet up of it, I think. XMMish. I'm not going to ignore my beloved HT friends, if they want to see me (or show off the baby -- you know who you are). I've just got some of my primary visits already set up taking up most of the trip. Anyway, leave a comment if you want to hook up!

No, this doesn't fulfill my usual Summerquest parameters, but it does come close and since the July trip belongs to larnilint, I can't claim it as Summerquest - even though it does meet all requisites. Maybe I'll just call this part a, and see if Natters is up for adopting my terminology.

And now, to properly express my spazzy nature, here is a conversation with my sister:
[16:08] fe: You're just going to have to get the car Wednesday night and then pick me up by 3:30pm at work. I'll get in to Denver around 10am on Tuesday.
[16:08] fe: I can hang around no problem till you drop of Jacqui.
[16:10] yojabelle: ok. sounds like a good plan. I was thinking we could grab a late breakfast/early lunch or something so that you two can hang out as well
[16:11] fe: well, we won't have a ton of time, but sure!
[16:11] yojabelle: is there anyway you could forward me your flight info?
[16:11] fe: when I buy'm sure.
[16:11] yojabelle: ok, thanks. I'm not the best when it comes to remembering details.
[16:11] fe: bwahaha
[16:12] yojabelle: yeah, I bet that is exactly why you wanted to hear when talking to the person who is picking you up at the airport...
[16:13] fe: I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.
[16:13] yojabelle: I'm feeling watched all of a sudden
[16:13] fe: Heee.

Happy May day I'm sooo annoyed.	Happy May Day WTF?

One of my coworkers, a guy that is classically trained as an opera singer, stopped by my desk to sing 'I'm Dreaming of a White Summer.' Sadly... fitting.

Dear May,
I know it's your first day and all, but screw you.
Honestly. Snow?
No love,
me

In other news, my throat hurts and my lungs feel cottony. blah!

If I turn off my email, can I pretend my work load doesn't exist? Pretty please?

Sometimes, songs brighten my day.

( Lyrics Time! )

But while I was posting this, I heard some news that - well, it's sad. I was going to say more in this entry, but ... I think that's it for now.

I was going to go out side to bask in the sunlight during my break today, but since it has clouded over and feels cooold, I'm going to stay inside and make a journal entry.

If there is a wonderful thunderstorm, then I will forgive the weather. if it just gets cold again, i'm going to be intensely bitter that it was so warm this morning as a blasted /tease/ as to what the weather was going to be like. Even Weather.com says that's supposed to be 72 outside right now. I'm sitting in the office with a flimsy skirt and a short sleeved shirt wanting light and /warmth/! At least I was wise enough to Colorado's ways that I brought a jacket (albeit a lightweight one) to cover my torso should the inevitable happen.

Sad.

In other news: My feet hurt. I've been trying to remove the layers upon layers of callouses on my heels for years to no avail. Colorado is just not good to my skin! (cough). I have vertical cracks on the base of my feet that can ache from time to time, depending on the dryness of the air. Well! I've been using a file lately. The cracks are still causing problems. Now they're tender. Whee. I was silly and didn't wear socks today, so there's nothing keeping moisture on my skin today. (stupid weather) I hope they are going to be ok.


Kate thinks I should move to Atlanta, because there's supposedly a swinging singles scene there. I went on a 'Colorado Sucks' rant when I called her on Saturday. Somewhere between whining about a lack of culture (because I'm an ass that can talk about that - because I don't find anything to do on any given night aside from hitting up coffee shops and going to movie theaters, which is merely because I don't go downtown because I don't know about anything fun to do down there aside from go to bars (though I could go check out the music scene, if I wasn't such a bum) - I really don't give the city/state a chance because it's not as /easy/ as it was in Minneapolis/St. Paul when I had nothing /but/ disposable income and free time - which is a set of circumstances I really shouldn't guide my life by, but there you go) -and relaying that a lot of people think that it is bad to be single here, she seemed to grasp the idea that I need a boyfriend. (Maybe because I said 'I'm still not dating' and 'I still don't have a boyfriend.') I should say that I don't care about dating and hooking up, but it would be nice to find single people that aren't scary cloistered geeks that are finally getting out of their parents' house or marriage number whatever or JAIL.

Yeah, I'm a bit negative, but there you go.

What else?

I'm still trying to decide if I really want to escape this Memorial Day. It's running about $350 to go to Boston right now and everything I want to do while I am there will likely cost money. Chicago's only $200. Hmmmm. (that's the other problem with Colorado. There is nothing within driving distance.

Bitter. Oh well. shutting up now. I'll post something more positive later.

Happy Friday or some such.

It is a nice day in the fact that I am working about a half day and then I will be free - but at the same time, it's been a weird and wacky week and I'm behind and yet...

No plans for the weekend. I never have plans. I am perhaps one of the lamest and boringest people in this world - just so you know. I'd like to have plans, but my plans generally run internety these days and I'm ok with it.

ok. nada mas.

Excel and I hate each other today. The feud began yesterday. It carries forth today. I hate it. It hates me. Other versions hate it too, thus making me hate it more.

Since I've sufficiently described the problem to someone who understands and sympathizes, I no longer have the urge to spell it out here.