The Slice

Hello, we have returned. We got back from Iceland at midnight Wednesday actually, but since there's a seven-hour time difference (and Mike's been sick on top of it with a cold he got in the last days we were there), we've both been struggling to get back to some kind of normal in the past four days. I always tend to forget just how disorienting and weird jet-lag is until I experience it again. It was especially jarring waking up that first night and seeing Icelandic mountains in my bedroom instead of knowing where I was, but it gets better day by day. Soon we won't notice it at all.

It has been somewhat bittersweet being back. While there were definitely some fiascos, really the trip as a whole was very nice and different from anything we've experienced so far. I plan on going into details about the trip soon, but for now I'm mostly trying not to be bummed out about having to go back to work. I'm pretty sure this is the longest time in the five and a half years I've worked for the state that I've been away (not counting surgeries, but even then, maybe not), and it feels very surreal. Usually I'm more than ready to get back and buckle down into work, but this has been more of a break, I suppose.

I think part of it is the very real prospect of session starting again in February, and I have no more set time off between now and then. Well, that and needing to get some house repairs done before session comes (and hopefully succeeding in that because winter's coming up fairly quickly and I feel like we're running out of time again). I'm also not sure what's going to happen in the next year (or really what I even want to happen in the next year), so that's kind of terrifying. So it goes, the never-ending song of the sort-of adult I am, I guess. I'd much rather be in Iceland, where our only care at night was planning the next day's driving and wondering if the shower was going to be quite as bad as the previous place we stayed at, but I digress. It's okay. If not, it's going to be okay.

Anyway, Iceland posts coming soon.

I see the Writer's Block involves vaccination. I rolled my eyes and didn't read the whole thing. My brother and Mike's nephew Alex are both on the autism scale, with my brother leaning more toward what was called Asperger's and Alex leaning more toward very high-functioning autism. I entirely doubt this has anything to do with the fact they were vaccinated, especially given the science that has discredited the initial study that suggested vaccination causes autism. I'm also very glad they both were vaccinated because they are some of the best people I know. They are who they are, autism spectrum or not, and they're also still alive. Autism isn't the enemy, and people shouldn't be scared of it. When it comes to diseases that have been already cured for many years, I'm always going to argue for the cure. I've tried to see the other side's point of view, and I just can't. I think it is dangerous and misinformed at best. If this makes me hypocritical about this particular issue, I don't care.

Last weekend was Valentine's day and our three-year anniversary of the day we met. (It seems both longer and shorter than that somehow.) Mike made dinner on Valentine's day, and we had lunch with my parents on our anniversary so we could spend the evening together as well. It was nice that we had the whole weekend off, even if I had to use some of it to do general maintenance, which is what happens when you don't have too many days off in a row-- stuff like get haircuts and clean house and try to recharge while also spend time with people you don't get to see otherwise. It's a bit hard to manage to be honest, but it works, I guess.

More on Valentine's day: Mike got me this dude (Steggy) because I'm weird and obsessed with dinosaurs lately. Also, heh, something sexy. I got him AIDS and a Jesse, also because I'm weird. (AIDS is forever!) Mike made Oysters Rockefeller and tried and failed to make pizza (frozen and thawed pizza dough is the devil), and I made raspberry claufoutis which turned out pretty tasty (even though Mike still cooks way more than I do).

More on the 15th: Mom is doing pretty well. Her grip is coming back, and since she doesn't have a cast and doesn't have to wear a sling, it's not readily apparent she broke her arm. We had a very nice lunch at Tahoe Ridge Winery (a local winery in Minden that is opening a branch very close to our house soon), and afterward, it was fun to do a little infused olive oil tasting (they have a lot of different olive and balsamic oils). Mike ended up getting basil oil and cinnamon pear balsamic for other cooking adventures. After running more errands, we had dinner and watched Punch Drunk Love because our TV was still broken.

Hmm, what else happened this week? Right, a technician came out and fixed the TV. From what Mike said, the screen and motherboard had to be replaced entirely, and when I came home on Tuesday, the screen stayed on for more than five minutes! Just subtract from that the fact that the colors still get inverted from time to time. Ugh. We're pretty sure that the HD cables are to blame now, but if we replace those and are still having problems, we're going to have a serious talk with Directv, mostly because this has been going on for far too long and we have a bit of a background noise addiction that has been highlighted in recent weeks.

However, we encountered a new problem Wednesday that needed a more immediate fix this weekend. I had noticed that our queen-sized bed, which I've had since I was about 14, has been very squeaky lately. The baseboard has been separating from the sideboard, and I've been pushing them back together in the hopes that they won't break.

You know where I'm going with this.

Mike hopped on the bed Wednesday night, and I noticed that the joint was separated more than usual. I made him get off the bed to check out the situation and see if I could strengthen it somehow, but Mike hopped on it again, and the screws gave and tore right out of the wood, banging that corner of the bed onto the floor. I panicked and called my mom, thinking she might have an idea on how to fix it but to no avail. It's done. We dismantled it, put the pieces in the guest room, and have been sleeping on the mattress on the floor since. We're going to try to find a way to donate the headboard and baseboard somewhere, but we have no way to make it work for us again.

That did give us a chance to upgrade to a king bed with a new mattress yesterday, though. ;) The actual buying of the bed and mattress process wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, but trying to find a comforter set proved to be much more complicated than I thought, maybe because I thought Mike wouldn't care at all but surprised me by giving me lots of input and searching several stores then the internet with me until we found what would work.

What's funny about that is he actually just ordered the set we're going to use as I was typing this, so that's a bit of a ridiculous two-day process over what's basically a blanket and pillows. It's pretty though.

Poor Mike. Sorry you've been stuck in domestic hell lately. We ought to be set up by next Saturday hopefully.

Other than that, Mike's in Livermore for the monthly sales meeting. I worked two hours today. This is mostly babbling without a point. The cat is snoring behind me, and my feet are freezing. So it goes.

I've been very bad at keeping up with this thing. Oh well. A little at a time, I guess. I've been in overdrive lately, besides still being exhausted and feeling like I still haven't quite caught up from special session two weeks ago.

What was nice about the week after session ended is I already had Tuesday and Wednesday off because I scheduled it months ago so I could get x-rays one day and see my foot doctor the next. That appointment went very well. He said that I was pretty much healed (besides my osteopenia, which should keep going away) and that I should continue to get better and better. Because my mom has been to all of these appointments, she was there to ask if physical therapy was necessary anymore. The doctor said if I felt I wasn't making progress, I could quit; so I called them later that day and cancelled the rest of my appointments. I've been pretty frustrated with it for a while, so even though I still have work to do, this is a good thing. I've been trying to keep up with the exercises I was doing there and walking a ton because of fitbit and the walking challenge, so I think I'll get there eventually even if my foot still hurts most of the time.

We also got some new furniture delivered, which I think has helped us out in terms of organizing our house, but that's definitely an ongoing project considering we're experiencing some storage issues recently. Oh well. I will figure that one out soon I hope.

This week, work has been fairly slow, which has been very strange. It feels weird to go from deadlines and craziness to little to nothing being important. It's a bit of whiplash, really. Still, I know it won't be long before we're in ridiculous mode again, so I'm okay with this for now. I need a little bit of time to prepare for the new hires (not sure when they'll come, but I get to train them, so goody), and there's plenty still to do that doesn't involve session. I just hope we get it all done before it gets crazy again. Yikes.

On Thursday, Mike's parents came into town. They started a road trip that will take them from their home in New Mexico through Vegas and Carson City, up through the Boise and Pocatello area, down to Salt Lake and then back home, all in a few weeks. On this leg, they stopped here for the weekend to stay with us, and I think it went pretty well. Mike made New Mexican lasagne for dinner on Thursday and showed them around Reno and Tahoe Friday because I had to work. Yesterday, my parents came up to have brunch with all of us at Adele's (which I'm happy to report they liked, since that's apparently very hard to do), and we found a jacket for Mike's dad because he forgot to pack one. Other than that, we kind of hung around, had El Pollo Loco for dinner, then played Trivial Pursuit. They left early this morning, and I believe I heard they've already made it to Idaho. Phew! Sounds a bit grueling, but they're making good time.

Otherwise, today has been pretty lazy. I walked this morning. Mike and I went grocery shopping for our short week here. I am in the midst of laundry. The floors got semi-vacuumed before I ran out of motivation. Mike had to go to Livermore this afternoon for his monthly sales meeting, but he'll be back tomorrow. Also, hey, it's sunny after a few days of rain, so that's pretty pleasant. I think we're mostly looking forward to our trip to Texas later in the week. We leave on Thursday and are staying with Mike's friend Vanessa and her family. We also get to see a lot of his college friends (we're going to a fifth anniversary party of one of his friends because he didn't get to go to the wedding) and do some touristy stuff since I've never been outside the airport in Texas. Should be fun. Hopefully all goes well.

The only thing I'm slightly concerned about is Kiki. Last night I noticed a sore spot on her left front leg where it looks like she has worn away her fur and started gnawing away at her skin. :( This happened once before after she had the abscess drained from her back, which makes me wonder if maybe she's having some health or anxiety problems since there have been more people in the house the last few days, but I don't know. I'm keeping an eye on it and will go to the vet if it gets any worse, but any other suggestions as to why might be helpful.

Anyway, I kind of want to go veg some more, so that's it for now. Hopefully I can keep this up a little better in the coming weeks. Given my track record, I have no idea how long that hope will last. Oh well. It is what it is.

EDIT: Somehow I forgot to mention that my older sister Katie visited last weekend so she could get a new car, and my brother ended up getting a new one too. Sheesh. Way too much is going on recently. Calm would be nice. Maybe in a few more weeks, haha.

So... I believe when I posted last, I mentioned we were going to California for the weekend. That went pretty well. It was nice to see my sister, her partner and my aunts, though we arrived pretty late both nights and I think irritated both of them. Oops. I guess I should have planned that better. Saturday, we got to hang out at the beach then go to Thai food with my aunts, and Sunday, we hung out at a park eating massive sandwiches before heading to the Haight for a little shopping with the Katies. It was hard to leave, knowing I wouldn't see them again until probably after session is over, but that's life.

Mike had to go to Livermore to prepare for his meeting early Monday, so we left Sunday night and stayed in a hotel. I took him to work early, went back to the hotel to sleep, exercise and eat, then left at checkout time at noon. After driving around for a bit because I had no idea how to get around Livermore, I was able to use our GPS to go to some high-end outlet stores and find a suit and purse for work. Pretty sweet. After Mike's meeting was over, we drove to Roseville, had massive cheeseburgers and stayed the night at another hotel because it was already pretty late. We got back home Tuesday, and we've been playing a bit of catch-up since then.

Today was also fairly productive. Mike won a TV through a work promotion (which turned into a $500 gift card somehow), and we were able to look at TVs and set up an appointment for installation for the one we bought. After we got home from the farmer's market (also fun, nice to get some local produce) and grocery store, I enlisted Mike's help in moving around the furniture in the living room, and the arrangement is a lot more useful for us. When I moved in, I had just the chair I sit in constantly and the couch, which seemed to make more sense in the middle of the room since I was the only one who had to deal with it. With Mike adding a chair to the mix, we've had a less efficient use of space for two people. We basically switched the chairs with the couch, and it allows us both to see the TV a little more clearly as well as share an end table. It's nice to change it up, and with the additions of the shelves and rug upstairs, the house feels a lot more functional lately. It's pretty nice.

There's other less pleasant stuff going on right now, but hopefully life will work itself out soon.

+Walked almost 40 minutes this morning, which is close to the pace I used to have, because my physical therapist suggested I start trying to take longer strides again.
-Got pretty sunburned in the process.
+Ate delicious food at Villa Basque Deli and Cafe, which doesn't have a proper website but has been up and running for 30 years. Pretty good odds for repeat visits, I'd say.
+Got a steam mop for cleaning the hardwood floors, which was a little spendy but totally a delight to work with. I cleaned the floors in about the time it took to wash a load of clothes, which is a vast improvement considering how much I hate mopping. Would do again.
-The cat food we buy in bulk (specifically, their indoor, advanced age and hairball treatment food that they love) was only being sold in a small bag at the pet store. Mike had to find a way to order some online. First world problems.
+Didn't spend too much on groceries because we were full and didn't have a lot on our list. This might backfire later in the week when we don't know what to have for dinner, but it was nice to save a little money.
+/-It rained. (Plus because it's good for our drought. Minus because it's making all my joints scream.)
-I managed to trip on my computer cord and fall pretty hard on my knees and somehow scrape up the toes on my good foot at the same time. That sucked. Hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow.
+Mike made sausage and grits for dinner. He's feeling a little better after his endoscopy procedure on Thursday, and it looks promising that he doesn't have Celiac's Disease, though his stomach is inflamed, the doctor took a polyp from the bottom of his esophagus and he might have ulcers. Still waiting for the results on that, but he seems okay if not sore.
+Mike also got a different C-PAP machine which seems to be working better for him and not waking me up as much. So far, so good.
-The ceiling fan in our master bedroom is semi-broken and only works when it wants to right now, which is unfortunate because we can't simultaneously leave the sliding door open at night (which would help with the heat in the room) and set the alarm (which helps calm my anxiety concerning other people). Boo.
-My sister's dog (who I looked after for two years and was a little over eleven years old) died a few days ago from a heart condition. :(
+The laundry just dinged, so that means I can go to bed soon.

And I still haven't updated about our recent vacation to Cedar City, but hopefully I'll get motivated to do so before too many other things happen and I forget. There are at least some nice pictures up on facebook. Shrug.

I clean for three different reasons these days:

1. I'm getting ready for something;
2. I'm generally maintaining my place; or
3. I'm avoiding thinking about/doing something else.

At least I feel accomplished after finishing with my cleaning if doing so for the first two reasons. You know, "Hey, I set out what I wanted to do, and I did it. Looks nice in here," etc. Unfortunately, I was laboring under the last reason tonight, and that mostly ends up with, "Oh, it's cleaner in here, I guess. Still have my problem, though." Oh well.

It'll be okay. I'll miss you though.

All right, we're done with the angst. One night with my thoughts is quite enough. It doesn't change what happened, but there's no use in worrying about that either. It's probably a good sign that I can laugh about this shit the next morning even when it's not all that funny. Everything will be okay. I'm sure of it.

( Dumb dreams I had about houses, more for my own record because they weren't very interesting )

On an entirely different note, today is probably going to be a pretty lazy day. When I was up in Reno last weekend celebrating my dad's birthday, he mentioned that Young Frankenstein (the play) was going to be in town this weekend. Since he works at the news station, he can sometimes get free tickets to plays and such, but I didn't really get back to him in time. I think subconsciously I didn't want to go anywhere this weekend. Besides, this gives me the opportunity to futz around with the crockpot and make the chili I didn't have the time to make last weekend, which will be cool (I hope!). Maybe I'll throw that together and take a walk or something. Maybe work on my knitting or do some rudimentary cleaning (bleh, maybe not). Other than that, not too much going on. Should be quite excellent.

Anyway, time to go break down some onions and get this chili party started.

EDIT: Chili was delicious, but very mild. Next time, it'll be spicier. SPICIER, I SAY!

All right, I made it back from California yesterday, and I had a nice birthday on top of that. Sweet. Unfortunately, livejournal seems to be experiencing issues, and I probably should get some more stuff done around the house before I devote time to writing an entry on things (though I did get the phone fixed today, which is good since my alarm system relies on it and all, and I'll also mention that I'm proud the cats didn't completely destroy the house while I was gone). Anyway, I just wanted to check in. I'll be back around when livejournal is a bit more stable.

Geez, what a weekend. I'm just now starting to feel alive again after waking up with a soul-crushing hangover. It's not that I drank a lot. It was drinking white then red wine, having a small nip of bourbon, and nursing half a beer over the course of having dinner/messing around with my family in Smith. I always forget the terrible effects of mixing alcohol until the morning after. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now. Also, we went swimming then hung out in the hot tub. I crashed around 1:30 while the rest of the crew went to bed at either 3:30 or 4:00 this morning. Oh, and I woke up at 7:00 anyway and gave up on sleeping around 9:00, which gave me time to walk down the road a bit and probably dehydrate myself even more. I'm not used to this at all anymore. My tolerance is really quite pathetic, but I don't really see that as a bad thing.

What spurred all this is my older sister Katie coming to town with her girlfriend (also Katie), which hasn't happened since around Christmas. We were having trouble figuring out when the last time the whole family was in Smith last, considering the Katies live in San Fransisco and it's getting harder and harder to get four siblings to come together at the same time. Kind of odd. My mom tore cartilage in her knee earlier in the week but somehow managed to make a fantastic spaghetti dinner for everyone anyway. We took the family Christmas picture (hopefully). I talked politics with my dad a bit (which is always annoying, especially when he starts talking about how he kind of agrees with the tea party, ugh), but I just left it alone for the most part. There's too much I know about Nevada politics behind the scenes that I can't talk about to be of much use in political conversations anyway. It was nice that no one fought with each other, though, even if it's still strange that my parents live in separate houses. Also, I really need to get more of my junk off their hands soon since I have more of a permanent place to live now. Hmm.

I'm still not sure what's going on with my vacation later this month. I have the week around my birthday blocked off, and I originally wanted to visit San Fransisco (as long as certain people who also live in that area don't find out about it). I'm currently going back and forth about it, but I need to figure it out soon if I'm going. I'm on the fence because the pastry company Katie works for is opening their storefront that week, and my Aunt Moya has to work most of the days I want to go. Plus, I'm not sure how long I can leave my cats alone, since I don't know anyone who would be willing to look in on them who doesn't live 40 minutes away. Last night was the first night I've been away since I moved here, but they seemed to do alright aside from a hairball on the floor. Oh well. I'll figure it out. There's always Lake Tahoe, I suppose.

Anyway, I guess I haven't really been very good about keeping this up to date about things going on in my life lately. A lot of the time, it feels pretty unimportant and routine, though certain stories still pop into my head and are waiting to be told. It remains to be seen if I'll get to those or not. If you're curious about anything in particular, you can always leave a comment and ask. Otherwise, I'll just have to organize myself and hope for the best. Anyway, I hope you're all doing well, as always. <3

I turned on my air conditioning for the first time yesterday because it was hot. About halfway through the day, I realized it wasn't doing very much even though I could feel air falling on me from the vents. I had noticed a week or two ago when I went to pull weeds on my patio that the cover was off the a/c unit but didn't think anything of it. Well, the fact that it's torn in half and the insulation around the wiring to the house is all messed up made a little more sense when my mom told me there's been a string of copper wiring robberies around here lately. I don't know if that's what happened or if it's just busted, but considering the heat worked all winter and the previous owners lived here right until I moved in, the former seems more likely. The first holiday I've gotten off this year is around the first days when it's really starting to get warm, and my air conditioning doesn't work because some assholes had to make a quick buck. Awesome.

Add the third ant infestation I've had this year on top of that and I'm having kind of a frustrating weekend. Oh well.

I did get to go shopping and see family on Saturday, though, so that makes up for it. I also finished my capelette and started a new project last night, so there are still good things going on. Hopefully I can see more of my Reno friends soon too.

Eh, I don't really want to get into anything else right now. I'm going to go mope for a while until I figure out what to do. Happy fourth of July anyway.