Falling out!

My eyeballs, that is. They feel dry, gritty, and altogether yucky after the last 48 hours. Ugh. even after putting eye drops in them last night and again this morning, I feel like they're about ready to pack up and leave - and I doubt that I'd miss them that much for all the trouble they're giving me.

The photo shoot went well. 3 hours of figuring out lighting, positions, clothing, and fighting with the sun, for probably about 100 pics tops. I'm glad they came, though. I saw the photos and they were really nice. I ended up taking a quick 1.5 hour nap before they arrived, and then putting on make-up (I had enough baggage under my eyes for a trip to Havana for a month!). Changed clothing once during the shoot, and didn't do anything special with my hair at all (which turned out to be fine, as it showed how healthy and shiny it was in the photos - for once).

Afterwards, I did 2 loads of laundry, and lounged the rest of the day as I was still exhausted from being up all night for graveyard. I didn't dare go to sleep for anything more than what I already had, however, since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep once nightfall came if I did.

I *did* end up getting another hour nap later, though. I blame it soley on the cat... She decided to curl up on my shoulder and purr at me all afternoon - so, I ended up scootching down into the couch and eventually sleeping with my head propped up on her back. I got a pic just before I fell completely asleep...



This morning I had to finally nip Speeboy's bathing habits in the butt. He spends 15 minutes in the shower, and then another half hour in the bathroom, doing gods knows what (and I don't wanna know, believe me). However, this means that, as he's barricaded himself into the bathroom, Shady can't get to her box. She ended up peeing on Fred's clothing this morning when she couldn't get in... So - that necessitated pointing out to him (yet again) that he simply needs to get in, get clean, and get OUT. I don't think he'll do it again this week, but I'm pretty sure that this will change in a few days, once he's not reminded of it again.

Other than that, nothing new in my life. Plenty new in other people's lives. Lil has gotten a job at my office, so in 2 weeks, we'll be back working together. Bwa ha ha ha! Actually, the job is pretty well tailored for people like her and me - it involves a lot of intuitive thinking and following through from point A to point D, utilizing common sense to get through points B and C rather than simply skipping over them. It also helps people without getting majorly technical, which I like.

I am starting on the cutting of my dress. I'm starting with the under-dress first, and then heading from there to the over-dress. I'm sort of nervous, as the pattern only has enlargement instructions for going up and down, not for expanding around, but I think I have a plan on how to deal with it that will not make it look too terrible.

Next paycheck I should be able to pick up the fabric for the kilts (hoping that I find said fabric somewhere in town), and the paycheck after that will be for the trim for the shirts and the dresses. I'm back behind schedule, but it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to bring myself back up to speed, since next week I'll have 2 days off in a row.

I'm thinking of having a get-together on Memorial Day, as I won't be working, but won't be able to be at the event that weekend, either. I have a pasta maker, and I'm not afraid to use it, darn it! So - if you're interested in having fresh, home-made pasta, and have a hankering for bringing your favorite pasta sauce with you, let me know and we'll plan to have it on that day at my apartment - besides, it'll give me an excuse for cleaning the house. LOL.

~M

So glad it's over...

I only have 3 hours and 15 minutes left of grave, and I'll be rid of it until I'm up for the on-call. I'm glad of it, too. At the risk of oversharing, my gut is *oh-so-not-happy* with me. That's all I will say on the issue, besides ugh.

I have a photographer coming by in the morning to the house to take pictures of me for the BusinessWeek article. I have to remember to bug Ben about when it'll be published, so I can pick up a copy. I'm none-too-pleased with the time, but it's not something I can really change, as the other times he's available, I'm at work. So, it's this morning or nothing. I *might* take a nap after he leaves - not sure. If I do, I'm going to have to remember to only take a 2 hour one, so I can sleep tonight.

Fred is equally glad for me to be off graveyard. He worries about me being downtown at night without weaponry (or him... but I repeat myself. LOL), and neither of us like sleeping alone. As he puts it, he keeps rolling around the bed looking for his speed bump. *chuckle*

I have to remember to do laundry tomorrow as well. Figure, since I'm up, and since I need it, I may as well take advantage of the fact that I'm up, and I need laundry done. Yippee.

My life is so exciting.

~M

On the Night Shift...

So, tonight and tomorrow night I get to work the night shift at my job. This inof itself wouldn't be so bad, but for the fact that neither Fred nor I are used to sleeping alone. He was a zombie all day today after tossing and turning all night. I ended up moving to the couch through the day because the bed was too big. Urgh.

The good news is that I will be meeting up with Mishu for breakfast in the morning, and then head home for a day's sleep. Then Wednesday I'll have the day off to try and swap everything back around, and then back to swing again on Thursday.

I'm so hoping I never have to do the grave shift... I just don't do well swapping around my sleep schedules like this. My tummy doesn't like it, and neither does my cat. LOL.

~M

TYCTW Day...

It's "Take Your Child To Work" Day on Friday for many of the Public Schools in our area (Not Speedboy's - but then, it's difficult to get them to look outside the window, much less the school grounds).

Anxiety will be joining me on Friday for a "day in the life of", which isn't really, but there you go. I work with a lot of sensitive materials which are covered by law to NOT be exposed to anyone other than those of us in the call center. So - my boss is currently working on a plan for me to do things that are not necessarily work-related from 10:30 until noon, when we head up the hill to the rest of the Hospital area. At that point, we will do a scavenger hunt for things and places up on the hill. Should be interesting, as it's pretty well a town all on its own up there. Then, at 2:30 or 3, we'll come back down, and at 4pm, Anxiety will be whisked away once more by her mum, Lil.

I'm actually looking forward to spending the day with Anxiety. She's a neat kid, and SO smart it scares me at times. I think she's smarter than I am, a lot of the time. LOL. I'm also going to take advantage of the fact that she's here, and I'm going to bring the top half of the dress pattern for her and fit it to her prior to work. Bwa ha ha ha - she won't be able to escape this time!

Anyway, it's about time to think about work.

~M

Pubi- er, I mean, Public Transporation Woes...

One of the great things about my job is getting a RADICALLY reduced all-zone yearly pass. One of the bad things about my bus route is that it only has ONE freakin' bus that runs anywhere NEAR my house.

The local bus system somehow figured it would be a grand idea to run one bus next to my house, once per hour after 9 am on weekdays and Saturdays, and not even START running the bus until 7:30 am on Sundays. Why? We have no clue - neither does the bus system - it just *is*.

In addition, we have the few, the proud, the nincompoops who have, for one reason or another, a phobia about pulling near the curb to allow access to the bus. And I don't mean a foot - I'm talking stopping the bus no less than 5 feet away from the sidewalk, and having you walk across the bike lane (that has been unoccupied through the 10 minutes it's taken for the driver to get there and stop), then get into a bus that has the first step over 1.5 feet up from the ground. Yeah - cuz those of us card-carrying members of the lard-butt clan can really get up there without struggling. And what if someone had a wheelchair, or cane, or crutches? Would they simply have to wait for the next bus? Gah.

The good news is that most days I can avoid the one driver who stops so far from the curb - I get into work a good hour early, but it does allow me to relax, read emails, and do updates in a quiet room here - and not worry about missing my last chance to get to work on time. The bad news is that on Sundays, if I have to be here at 7:30 in the morning, I'd better be prepared to get a cab to my apartment by no later than 6am so I can catch the MAX downtown and make it into work on time. *sigh*

So far, there's only been a small downside for me, which is the Sunday thing and the hourly run thing. I'd love for them to run more of my bus down my road. I don't see the issue most days, as it goes from downtown (a fairly populated place even at night), over to Washington Square (also a fairly populated place, even at night). Why not help out a bit, eh? I hate having to wait practically an hour in the evenings for a bus to get to my stop so I can go home. I'm not scared, just annoyed and, lately, cold.

On the upshot, I'm working, so that means that as we get further into summer, there will be more and more money coming in. This is a Good Thing. So, can't complain too much. Oh, and I like my job, too - which is also a Good Thing.

Thankfully, it's looking like today we actually HAVE people on the phones, which means that we will actually be doing some real training, rather than doing confirmation calls all day. Yay us! Tomorrow we do some sort of scavenger hunt up on the hill - should be interesting. Need to remember to bring my backpack so I can take my lunch with me, as I have a whole whopping $0.39 in the bank.

I'm glad that Friday we get paid.

~M

New schedule - at least for this week.

One of the good things about my job this week is that I get to sleep in a bit. The bad part is that I won't be home until around 9pm, which means that I won't get a lot of time this week with either of my boys. *sigh*

However, I did do my best yesterday to make sure that they weren't completely left to their own devices, and would have stuffs to eat. I made lasagne bake for tonight, and chicken enchiladas for Wednesday night (possibly Thursday, we're not sure). Either way, it means that Fred only has to worry about cooking once or twice this week, and the rest of the time there will be food a-plenty to go for. I even put instructions on the pan as to how to cook it, so he can just throw it from fridge to oven. Yay me!

Got to spend Saturday with Lil and Lyse this weekend. Fred and I headed over to Lil's place Saturday morning and we then went from there to Fabric Depot to pick up the remaining portion of the fabric needed for the dresses. Didn't find the tartan that Fred needs to make the kilts, so I'll be looking for that and picking it up on my paycheck - either this one or the next one at the beginning of May.

Then we went back to Lil's house, ended up picking up Lyse, and we all trooped over to WinCo and went shopping. Fred purchased beef short ribs for me, and I made braised beef ribs in ragout sauce - delish! Then we all trooped over to our apartment, I got a copy of the ceremony for Lil to look over, and Lil and Lyse went home.

It's about as exciting a weekend as I can handle, at this point. LOL. Though, this upcoming weekend should be equally exciting, as we are taking Speedboy out for his birthday dinner, and then possibly to WunderLand arcade.

Wheee!

~M

Update...

OK - so - update on my life...

The job: It's really cool. I'm sure I will find aspects of it that I won't like, but for now, I honestly can say that it doesn't suck. This is a Good Thing, as I've been through my share of sucktacular jobs in my life, and am tired of working *only* for the bennies.

The Wedding: Sort of on schedule. There are a few things I *really* need to work on RIGHT NO, so will be doing that this weekend. The rest of the fabric is being picked up this weekend, and Fred has graciously agreed to make the kilts for himself and speedboy, which will make things easier for me. We still have a few people we need to get invites to, and quite a number of RSVP's that haven't come back - not sure what's going on, there.

The Money: It's getting better. Between Vlad and Ana, we got groceries in the house and will be able to have breathing room until my first check arrives. Yay!

Other Points: I'm being interviewed by "Business Weekly" for the Sallie Mae issues. I'll be going into that more in-depth at the other blog this weekend.

Other than that, it's about the same. We've gotten the school to test for Autism in Speedboy - they didn't think it was necessary, but then - they don't feel it's necessary to hold him back, either. Bleh.

~M

Quick Update!

Just a *really* quick update at this point. NO time at all to do it this week, or you'd hear of my adventures through the 2nd week of work.

The food situation has resolved itself, with the welcome assistance of Vlad, who paid for a shirt I made for him for the wedding, and Speedboy's mom, who sent us the monthly support check early. Both contributions helped IMMENSELY, and we now have food in the house.

I swear, there is more, I just don't have time.

~M

Hoping...

So, I made a rather stupid mistake, and because of it, we are not going to be able to afford food for 3 weeks... If it were just me, I'd suck it up and deal, sell my books, get enough to pick up top ramen, beans and rice, and that would be that.

But it's not just me. I now have a family, and because I wasn't thinking beyond myself and my selfishness, I have managed to mess them up as well. So, while I am going to be looking through my collection of books for saleable items, I have no doubt that it will not be enough to get enough food to last through the 20th.

So - with that in mind (not to mention with a lot of personal pride being swallowed), I'm asking for any help at all from anyone locally. If you have non-perishables, or a few bucks for perishables, it would be greatly appreciated. My first check from my new job will be on the 20th, and I will be able to get everything back together at that point.

~M

New day, new job...

So, today is the first day of my new job. I get to have a mere 20 minute commute instead of the hour-long hell each morning. I also get to have a different type of contact with the public than I'm used to - like 20 seconds for each call, tops. Brainless? Maybe - but on the other hand, I'm getting them to where they need to go, and/or reminding them of the appointments they have. Both of which are important for their health. So, still doing something to help people.

I spend today in 2 different orientations, then tomorrow through Friday doing outbound reminder calls. Then next week, my training begins. I'm excited.

Wish me luck!

~M