books

current top 5 list...

* undomestic goddess...sophie kinsella

* the devil wears prada...lauren weisberger

* twelve sharp...janet evanovich

* swapping lives...jane green

* pink slip party...cara lockwood

i love being done with graduate school!!!!

house

i am sooooo sick of all the house stuff! i just want it to be over. neither hubby bubby or i will be happy until we're all moved in. he's more upset about it all than i am. he's worried about financing and all that. i am too, no doubt, but there's only so much worrying i can do. as far as we know we're good to go. met with our agent tonight to go over the inspection report. all looks good. we're going to ask for the seller to fix a few things, but they're not deal breakers. it's all stuff we could do ourselves. would definitely rather that the seller do it though. we've got a buyer for our current house. hubby bubby wants to sell to our electric guy who is willing to pay the same amount as another buyer. actually, hubby bubby told our electric guy that he'd cut $1000 off the other buyer's price. i'm not thrilled with that. i'd rather sell to the other guy. but it's not worth the argument. as long as we get out of this house!!!!

things at work are going well. just getting used to all the flexibility this job offers. my supervisor told me yesterday that if i have an appointment scheduled for 930 or 10 am, something like that, i don't need to come in to the office first. and, if i have something scheduled for 2 or 3, to just call it a day after that. i've never had a job like this. never had a job where i didn't have to start and end my day at the office. my office is essentially my car. which is kinda nice. plus, i can write progress notes and other docs at home. makes it easy.

so tired. even though it's early, think i need to get to bed. by the end of the day i'm just wiped out. i was only able to work 2 rows of the baby blanket, i was so exhausted. it's like the needles weighed 10 pounds each. so sad :(

bubbles

found this among some old docs...

BUBBLES        (10/1/00)

Blowing bubbles at dusk
The crescent moon glows
Airplanes flash their lights overhead
The sound of speed from the highway
Fireflies flicker
Crickets sing the day to sleep
Gentle breezes hit my cheek
Headlights decide which way to turn
Trees dance slowly
The sky cascades in blues and oranges
City noises fill the air
The sweet scent of bubble potion remains on my hands
Porch lights go on
Night has risen

withdrawl

what a week! i didn't get to play with my yarn at all. bought some pattern mags the other night, but that's the closest i've come. just feeling crazed. i've got my crochet group tomorrow afternoon. i'm supposed to teach the group how to do hairpin lace. trying to remember how to do that myself! i was working on some new things - a knit afghan (using caron simply soft in a pastel palette), a crocheted baby blanket for my expecting friend (in a velour and worsted combo - pink pink pink), and a knit lace shawl (really yummy variegated green lace/sock yarn). it's been fun playing with all the different textures of yarn, and knowing that i can switch it up when i'm bored with one project. i know i have problems finishing things, which always sucks. my w*i*p-s hath runneth over. it's not that i like one project better than another. it's just that i get bored easily. i like to try new patterns, then once i get a hang of them i'm ready to move on. i just found in a bag on the couch with a diamond patterned knit afghan that i started a few months ago. also bcs i liked the pattern. wish i could just finish stuff up. i know that hubby bubby wishes the same thing. the ratio of projects started to completed is something silly like 20:1. hee hee.

i've thought about my yarn and patterns a million times over the week. but given all the craziness... by the time i would finally sit down in the evening, i was wiped out. making my brain and hands function properly was just not in the cards. i was able to drool over a mary maxim catalog with no problem. but have been so focused on other stuff that my brain was refusing to concentrate. having enough trouble typing, let alone operating heavy machinery!!!

i'm babysitting tonight and am planning on bringing a yarn project with me. something that will help me relax. something without heavy instructions that i can just go at.

tomorrow's gonna be nuts, so i know i need to relax a little so it'll all just happen. we have the housing inspection on the new house at 10, then a late brunch with the parents. crochet group at 2. babysitting at 415. yikes!!! had another guy come look at our (current) house today to buy. he's made the highest offer yet. this house needs *a lot* of love, so i know we can't ask for too much. but we'd still like to get something out of it. we think we have one more guy coming to look, then we'll make a decision by tuesday. no reason not to go with the high end guy. we're selling "as is" so we don't have too many options.

good news: the claims adjuster called yesterday to tell me that they're finding the offending driver 100% at fault. hooray! apparently, the offending driver (i've softened just a little) lied to the adjuster. but realistically, according to the adjuster, there was no question about who's fault it was. ob-la-di ob-la-da....

crash bang

everyone says that's what you hear when you're in a car accident, but really, it's not.

you hear your heart start pounding an incredible bass line. almost makes you want to dance, but not quite. you hear your blood start boiling with anger at the idiot who wasn't paying attention. you hear the sound of your hard-earned money *cha-ching* falling out of your bank account and hitting the floor of the insurance company. you hear the tilting laugh of the insurance company as they raise your insurance rates. you hear yourself thinking - well, there goes everything else i had planned for this afternoon. you hear the cars honking around you, telling you - as if you didn't already know - that you're blocking traffic. you hear people driving by, tsk-tsk-ing at the accident site, wondering what happened.

so you pull over and try to assess the damage to both car and body. body - everything's in tact. vision's a little fuzzy. oh wait - where are my glasses? there they are - on the passenger-side floorboard. headache's beginning to form from the impact. neck's moving. remember to breathe. get out. check the car. try to not cry when the hood is dented and tented. the front license plate looks like a "v" and the bumper does too. the bumper is barely hanging on by a thread, and you can see the inside of the bumper - the metal part - and that looks like it's gonna fall off too. did you know that there was something that looks like styrofoam core inside the bumper? and uhm, why didn't the airbag deploy?

try not to scream when you see that the offending car barely has a scratch on it. smirk just a little bit when you notice that the driver's side light has fallen out. watch the offending driver get out of her car, shaking her head at your - like it's your fault that she plowed almost head-first into you. didn't you know that? it's also your fault that the city created two-way turn lanes.

so you call the cops. call your husband. call the insurance agent. exchange information with the offending driver, who will now be affectionately known as "the bitch who smashed my car." thank the officer for his help. figure out - between your husband (who has left work without being asked to come make sure you're alright) and insurance agent - what the best course of action is. find out that your car is drivable, and plan to meet your husband back at the house so that he can then take you to the rental car place.

your car's fine moving out of the parking lot and into traffic. call your very understanding and empathetic boss to let her know what happened since you're technically still on company time (realize how much you love your new job and boss). get about 100 feet and then the bumper of your car falls off, and you've inadvertantly rolled over it. pull to the center lane, put on the hazards. call the police dept - again. have them send a tow truck who will lift your car up, remove the bumper from underneath it, then set it down again - all while you're in the car. pay the nice tow truck man $45 for his quick services. go home. go to car rental company. get rental car. go home.

have a fun afternoon?

all good things...

*1* we got the house

*2* first day at new job was good
*3* new job includes a blackberry ☺

*4* we have several potential buyers lined up for our current house

*5* hubby bubby took me to california pizza kitchen to celebrate new job/new house
*6* new job includes a blackberry ☺

pure evil

so where to begin on this one? last week sucked. no way around it. no double-talkin it. it sucked. big time. guess i better start at the beginning...

back around xmas time i decided to make peace with pop's girlfriend (hereafter known as "the witch"). thought that maybe she wasn't as bad as we thought she was. she was making pop happy, and for the sake of family, etc. i wanted to create a more family-like atmosphere, where hubby bubby and pop could develop a better relationship. so there were my motives. i made several overtures at friendship towards her. fought with hubby bubby and his brother to let the past go. i was successful. moving forward...

a month or so ago hubby bubby and i were having dinner at pop's house, and we were talking about looking for a new house. we've been working on and off (depending on how serious we've been) with our realtor (the nice one). there were a few houses we saw during open house drive-arounds that we wanted to see, but our realtor wasn't available. so the witch, who has a realtor's license, offered to show me some of the homes. i took her up on it. and on two separate occasions we went looking. the second occasion, which was about 3 weeks ago, was when all hell broke loose.

while at one of the homes, she started talking about how she and pop've been living together for two years now. they got engaged about a year or so ago, and i asked if they've set a date yet. she said no, but wished that pop would get on it - he was dragging his feet. i asked if everything was okay. she said yes, they're trying to work through a few things. i asked again if everything was okay. she mentioned something about making sure history didn't repeat itself and that there are no fidelity issues. uhm, okay. there was not much discussion after that. i said something about how those are good issues to work on. i don't remember much verbatim after that. but i did say that i don't know much about his exploits other than what ex-stepmom-in-law and mom-in-law have tried to tell me, and i've told them (at least i've told ex-stepmom), that i will not hear it or get in the middle. the subject was pretty much dropped, and i didn't think much of it after that.

fast forward to last wednesday... hubby bubby comes home from work and tells me that pop went to him earlier in the day and said that the witch was uncomfortable with a conversation she and i had recently, and that he was upset that i was talking about his personal life. she told him that i initiated the conversation and was talking about he had trouble staying faithful. she said that i went into some detail about his exploits. HELLO? WHAT THE HELL? CAN'T GIVE INFO YOU DON'T HAVE. talk about being uncomfortable. i was absolutely livid. after i calmed down, i wrote pop a peaceful, heartfelt email trying to explain what happened and apologizing for my part in the conversation, etc. he writes back this horrid threatening email stating that i created a potentially dangerous situation and i need to find a way to fix it. HUH? can you say SNOWED? i emailed back that i already apologized to him for my part, there was no gossiping, as he suggested, and that, again, i did not initiate the conversation. hubby bubby was angry that his father was threatening his wife. they had it out later that day. pop was refusing to listen, believing that witchy woman was in the right. it was harsh. he basically chose her over his own son. neither of us slept that night. we were looking at the situation from every possible angle. i can only imagine what bullshit she spun for him to react like that. no clue. but we were up talking all night. can't believe what's going on. also trying to figure out why she waited 3 weeks to bring this all to pop. so pop told hubby bubby that they didn't want to discuss it any further.

we finally figured out that she must be so miserable with her life. but he's in so deep with her. no clue. i'm still upset about it. hubby bubby has basically said that he doesn't have a father anymore. really makes me sad. he's choosing her over his own family. unbelievable. i hate it. i hate her. and the fact that pop doesn't even want to discuss things. i hate her. i hate her. i tried to like her. to get along with her. for pop's sake. but she's made it so damn hard. i was just beginning to genuinely like her. then this happened. never again. there's absolutely nothing she could say. pop needs to apologize for threatening me. that'll never happen. he just needs to wake up and see what's going on. also will never happen. so i don't know. i feel badly for my husband. but feel so lucky to have a husband who knows how to behave like a man, who knows the right things to do.

that woman is toxic. she's evil. pure evil.

new toys

so while at the toy store *read: apple store* today, i saw this macjournal program. thought about buying it but didn't know anything about it. so looked it up on line, and voila!, here i am. after a few random tests, i've decided that i like this, it's easy, etc. so go me. after, how long?, i'm back. hurray!

so i got the msw - finally. graduation was may 19th. go me. glad to be done. start a new job tomorrow. looking forward to that. i'll be working with adults who have mental illness (mainly, bipolar and schizophrenia) in a counseling and case management capacity. a little disappointed not to be working with children for right now, but excited about the challenge of working with adults. it's a whole different animal.

now that i've got a *real job* hubby bubby and i've been looking for a new house. and yesterday we wrote a contract on a new house - seriously new house - in webster groves. we got a verbal agreement this afternoon, but then had some *miscommunication* with our realtor about contingencies, so there was a whole big mess up. but i think we're okay now. just waiting for the good word. really wish our real realtor was available, but she's out of town. so we've been working with her supervisor who is a real piece of work. she's unbelievable. my mom's up in arms over how we've been treated thus far. she yelled at my hubby while we were signing the contract bcs he was looking for entry points for bugs and mice. very important, we thought. she didn't agree. then she was yelling at me this afternoon bcs of the miscommunication about the contingency thing. hello - i'm the client. you do not yell at the client. but we met with her again this afternoon, and she was a little less hostile. less confrontational. hee hee.