Whee!

Dave used up the last of his vacation days this past week, by taking off half way through Wednesday, and being a lazy bum the rest of the week.

I think he's gotten used to working such short weeks! Back to reality tomorrow, though--but then he earns his new block of vacation, etc on 3/1, so it's not so bad.

He gets TONS of time off from his job (the full complement of TEN paid holidays, paid sick time, paid personal days, and 5 weeks vacation), so he always ends up having time off without me, since I get so very little.

I only earn a grand total of 24 days off a year, and that includes which holidays we do get (6), and any time I take off if I get sick, or if I have appointments, or if the office is closed for bad weather, or if I take vacation time.

Thankfully, we haven't had any bad weather this winter, so I will have enough hours saved up to take that vacation we're talking about. A week. But after that, I won't have any hours left, and will have to start accruing again. Hopefully, nothing will happen while I have zero in my bank!

Finally got the the massage therapist license on Thursday. Sheesh.

And then, a miracle happened.

We went to change the address on my driver license (yes, they call them driver licenses here, not driver's licenses).

Remember how it took 8 trips, and two different places we had to go, to get me changed over from Illinois plates to an Oklahoma tag, and to get my driver's license changed to a driver license for this state?

This took about 15 minutes. In one place. During one single trip.

I was stunned.

Everything else has taken so many trips, and so much red tape, that I fully expected that, to update my address on my license, I would have to go fill out papers, and then at least go back one more time to get the new picture/license made.

But no.... it was not like that. A. Maze. Ing.

In other news, it looks like my dear friend, Jessie, who moved away from me in Illinois to go live in Michigan several years ago, is going to come here to visit!!!

We met at my job back home in 2004. I trained her on some stuff, and we clicked like we'd always known each other.

She's a lot younger than me, but we got along great and became best friends. But then the husband she was separated from at the time got a job in Michigan, and she had to move because of the kids. We were heart broken.

I got to go up to Ann Arbor to visit her a few times, and she came down to visit me and her family and Illinois friends a few times....so it wasn't so bad.

She had never even been out if Illinois at the time that they moved (she has since added Ohio and Kentucky, I think), but she has more than adapted to her new life, and loves it in Ann Arbor.

She has long since divorced her husband, and he has moved out of state again, but she didn't follow this time, because the kids are a lot older now. She has custody of the kids, and once in a while, they go visit their dad.

She has discovered who she really is in this time, and is completely in love with her fiance, Carla. But, despite all of the changes in our lives, we have remained dear friends over the distance and the years....and then I moved even further away a couple of years ago.

We obviously haven't been able to see each other since she came to see me off on my great adventure to move down here.

So--neither of us can wait!! And, this trip will add more states to her "states visited" list, too.

Her mom is coming along, because it's such a long drive. They'll be here for 3 or 4 days, and I will only have to use 2 days of my time.

Wheee!

Grrrr

So Dave has some vacation time to burn and took a 4 day weekend. I took off an hour early on Friday so he could take me to get the final step of my license renewal done.

We didn't make it.

This was the 2nd trip to the city office, and then we were supposed to go over to the police department office that issues id's (2 blocks from the city office).

It took so long at the city office, and there is so much construction down town, that we could not get from the city building to the police office where they take pictures and issue id's before they closed.

We got there 4 minutes late.

So now, I have to take YET MORE time off from work to go get the stupid picture taken.

This year's process has become more stupid than last year...this year is requiring three trips, involving three places, the city office twice, and now the police department twice... instead of two trips.

So, this coming week, I will take off early YET AGAIN, on one of Dave's vacation days, and we will try to get there before 4.

It takes so long to get anywhere in this town. Things are either all spread out, or there is so much traffic, or, in the case of down town, all of the roads are closed....it's a royal pain.

Grrr

But it didn't start there...Oh no....Friday was a fustercluck of a day anyway.

It started when I left home 20 minutes early in order to be able to leave work at a certain time, so that I could be assured of only having to use ONE HOUR of my precious paid time off.

There was an ambulance coming from the other direction, which turned right 3 or 4 blocks ahead, but everyone pulled over to the right anyway....EXCEPT me, and this guy who was doing 20 in a 40. I couldn't get over into the right lane, and I couldn't use the turn lane to pass him....it's frowned upon.

I got stuck behind the guy doing 20, and had no way to get around him, because all of the morons who pulled to the right were now packed like sardines in the right lane.

Then, I hit every possible red light.

It took me 20 minutes to take my usual 10 minute commute, and I got to work 1 minute later than usual...so I had to sit there at work, and wait to clock out.... and take more than an hour of paid time. Grrrr...

Then, the work day itself was so full of stupidity that I can't even describe it. I was drowning in stupidity!!

Oh my god!!! You'd be amazed and stunned, like I was, if I went into detail...but I choose not to.

Then, trying to get home as quickly as possible to get over to the city office, having had to leave work later than I had intended....there was construction on TWO of the streets that I take, and I had to sit...again, for a total of about 20 minutes...

What. The. Fuck.

Then I get home, Dave is there, but the door is locked.

I dig out my keys, try to unlock the door, DROP the effing keys, bend down to get them, drop my purse and tote bag...

god FUCKING DAMMIT!!!

Then, to NOT MAKE IT in time to get the stupid license...

It was a really annoying, aggravating day.

But...we went out for sushi, and that made it all go away! That first bite of smoked salmon sashimi...oh my goodness.

Chilled me right out.

But it's still overwhelmingly annoying that I have to do that all over again....

our little louie love

this past week...

Dave's birthday this past week was nice for him...he got to take the day off from work, and I made him one of his favorite dishes for dinner, AND, I actually baked him a cake.

I haven't baked a cake in I can't remember how long!

We had a sub in dance class, and actually spent the entire 90 minutes dancing, and dancing pretty hard, so that I tore open the bottom of my left pinky toe.

This happens to me when I have not been dancing for a while, and then start up again...when I am working really hard, and acutally DANCING, it will pop open at the seam where the toe meets the foot.

Yeah, it's annoying, and it hurts for a few days, but it's evidence for me that I am really a dancer, and that I am working hard. It's a good thing, in some ways!

Then, on Friday, we both left work at 2 so that I could go to the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation to prove, once again, that I am a MASSAGE THERAPIST, not a hooker.

Then, had to take that paperwork over to the city offices. Dropped it off with my license renewal paperwork.

After the city cops decide also that I am still not a hooker, and that I was still born in the U.S.A. (I have to submit an ANNUAL affidavit of citizenship), then I can get my license renewed.

I've ranted plenty about how silly the process is here. It's so much easier in a state that has statewide licensure....one stop, every 2 years, and you're golden.

Here, it's three places, two trips, and it's EVERY YEAR to prove that you're not a crook. Stupid.

ANYway...

Our hopes for a trip up to Chicagoland in late May/early June are starting to come together a bit. We'd like to incorporate Memorial Day at one end or the other of our week, so that people can hopefully be available for me to see.

Maybe a party at a central location, so that I don't have to worry about trying to drive here and there during the week so that I don't miss anyone.

We'll see.

I've gotten over the nasty upper respiratory infection that I had, and now the weather has FINALLY turned really cold for a few days. It's been in the teens at night, and today, it never even got above 30. I LOVE that!!

The daffodils are already 6 inches tall because of the mild winter we've had, but hopefully, this won't hurt them too much. We're even supposed to get "wintry mix" precipitation tomorrow night into Monday!

Wheee!

We got a new programmable thermostat for the house last weekend. Hopefully, being able to have the heat automagically turned down while we're at work will help with our exorbitant heating bills.

It's been a mild winter, but we've been paying hundreds every month. OUCH! So..this has to help.

We also have it set to go lower at night, and I'm FINALLY not waking up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night! This is a good thing!

Hopefully, by next winter, we will have invested the close to $500 it's going to take to get insulation put up in our attic.

Apparently, there's some up there, but it's all broken down, and probably 50 or 60 years old. It's worthless.

Dave will be doing that project on his own, since his son has backed out on his previous offer to help.

Oh, and one final note: Dave turned to me this evening, and said "I know you're not quite there yet, but you are going to be a SPECTACULAR 50."

Heh...just moments after I was looking at the noticeable changes in my facial skin in the bathroom mirror.... LOL!

Krist is Alive

I remember him saying he was going to kill himself.

This was what I got as thanks for supporting him, and letting him stay with me, for three months, sleeping on my couch, all that summer.

He had come to Chicagoland Memorial weekend of '06, in search of a new life.

He said Dayton was dying. He would never get work, nor have hope, if he stayed there.

I said that I would pick him up at the bus stop, but... I promised him nothing beyond that.

I said very clearly, up front and repeatedly, that I could not rescue him, nor support him...

Yet....when he was ejected from the homeless shelter (in which i had placed him), and had no where to go...what did I do?

I supported him, and housed him, for three months.

He drank all of my liquor.

He ate my food.

He went with me to my sister's 50th birthday party, and presented himself as my "boyfriend."

I had told him all along that I needed him to get his own place, and that MAYBE we could try dating at that point.

But only once he got his feet under him.

He worked nights, I worked days, and I hardly ever saw him...but I gave him a roof, and he gave me nothing... except maybe once in a while, he would pull out his "food assistance" card at the grocery store, and help me pay for part of the groceries.

When he had a good job, and had been at it for a while, I suggested he start to talk to some of his co workers about maybe getting an apartment together.

So that we could try that dating thing...living in separate places...and living real lives....you know, like I had said all along....

He not only freaked out about that, to the point that I was afraid to go home, (and went to my sister's house instead).... he also, thankfully, eventually, LEFT.

He put his key on the book case by the door, and stormed out.

A friend of mine had called in the nick of time, and I had asked her to come over, which she did...so I had a witness of his insanity, and she was there when he called me names. She was there when he stormed out, and left his key.

He called, but I would not let him back in.

I had the advantage...and he was out. After slinging scathing insults, and telling me that I, personally, had ruined his life.

All because I had suggested that he start to look for his own place, and start his own real life.

Anyway, because of his erratic behavior, I was scared....and he was NOT coming back in.

He had called me an ice hearted bitch, when all I had done was try to help him.

My family helped me pack up his stuff, which was still in my home, and take it to him that night at the motel he was staying in. We unloaded it in the parking lot.

He came out and stood by my car and asked "what am i gon' do?"

I said that was his problem, not mine. I said that I had given all that I could give.

He said that he was in love with me, and that he was going to kill himself.

I felt that he was mentally ill, and that he was trying to manipulate me. I was probably right.

I felt that my only choice was to roll up my window, and drive away. So I did.

Over the next couple of weeks, I saw him going to and from work (I kept an eye on him), and he would text me when he heard coyotes calling in the night near the place where he was staying, or for whatever other reason.

He seemed fine.

But I always remembered him saying he was going to kill himself.

After those first couple of weeks, I have never known what happened to him, beyond the fact that he told me he was going back to Ohio.

I have wondered for years if he ever followed through on his promise to kill himself. Because he was "off line" for a good 4 years. Inaccessible. Un find-able.

His friends in Ohio even lost track of him after he went home.

He was ... just... gone.

But now, I know for sure, he is alive.

He has me blocked on Facebook, so he must know what my married name is, and know that I am married.....but my husband, oddly, can see his page....and my husband has shown me that Krist is definitively alive.

He was posting just the other day. He seems to have a teen aged girlfriend.

But, for whatever it's worth, it means that I can stop wondering.

And stop wasting my energy, and worrying that he offed himself, when he said he would do so, because of me..

When all I ever did was try to help him.

SO---that chapter is blissfully, happily....closed.

Special post for my sister....

Stephen King

11/22/63

See if your library has it. Read it.

New Bugs

Well, some new bugs are making the rounds here.

My immune system is strong, but I finally gave in to the upper respiratory bug that's going around.

Despite my daily vitamins, herbs, and cod liver oil, it got me by the throat, literally and figuratively, a week ago.

I had the fever, the congestion, the scratchy throat, the headache, the cold sores, and the late stage/end-of-bug cough. Lovely.

Luckily, though, it hit me on a Friday, and when I realized that afternoon that I was running a fever, I only had to miss a couple of hours of work.

Others this past week were missing an average of a couple of DAYS of work. I got to be sick all last weekend, instead.

Whee.

But at least I didn't burn any more than a couple of hours of my paid time off. And I didn't get nearly as sick as some of my co workers have.

There's apparently also a stomach bug going around. I choose to say nothing more about THAT, in order to avoid jinxing myself! (knocking wood with toe)

In other news, I'm enjoying my new dance class, and am especially having fun learning from a younger teacher. It's good for me, and challenging in all the right ways.

The studio director, master teacher Soraya Al Musri, contacted me yesterday, and offered me a work exchange.

I decided to accept it...so I will be working at the front desk at the studio one night a week so that I can pay less for classes.

It will help me to get to know the other dancers better, and will surely be a good move politically, since dance in this town is SO totally political that it's almost a joke to an outsider.

Things at work are still just as futile and unsatisfying as usual. I got a 2.5% raise, even though my work load and productivity increased this past year.

Got a 3% raise last year.....so...more work for a smaller raise? Huh? How much sense does that make?

Dunno....and we never got to hear about our raises and scores from our supervisor, either.

She's supposed to discuss this stuff with us annually before the raises take effect, but she didn't do it this year.

Dave thinks that's illegal....but I have no idea.

I can't start looking for another job, which I am considering, until after we take our much needed and longed for vacation later this year. So, I just bide my time, and try to make the best of it.

At least I get along with the people in my cube.

Let's see...what else?

We finally got a little more rain here yesterday. Still in a severe drought, but every little bit helps.

Oh, and Petsmart had their cat "trees" on sale, and we got one for the boys. They love it! Jack has claimed the top level, and Louie the middle, and they've been hanging out in it for hours!

It also has a scratching post and one of those cardboard scratchers, too. Louie has claws, and has been VERY good about only scratching the rug in the laundry room, and the older little carpet covered tower. Now he has some new options!

Waiting for one more document to come in the mail so we can get the taxes done. Hoping the refund will pay off the last of Dave's hospital bills from 2009. THAT would help cash flow tremendously.