Li'l Momma's Rant-O-Rama

it's crazy though -- i'm looking at these photos compared to my icon (taken 2 weeks ago), and i can see how much older he looks already. kemidra mentioned it, but i didn't really see it until now.

playing with his bee



no readingks! pay attention to me!


i'm comingks to climb up your leg!

we're waiting for tests to come back to see if the Duckling has ringworm. it looks like he probably does, he's been exposed to it and he has some funky patches of fur on his belly and one paw... but we won't know until early next week. so duck continues to be behind closed doors, quarantined in a room that's easily bleach-able every few days. i'm taking as many precautions as i can to make sure i don't get it, while still giving him the love and exercise and stimulation he needs... basically i get up early every morning, feed him and give him playtime and snorgle time for an hour, then when i leave the room i throw my clothes in the washing machine immediately and take a hot shower. every evening i do it again when i come home from work. i'm not sure if it's overkill, but i've been doing my research on ringworm and every website is putting the fear of god in me -- "the spores will live on the walls up to 2 years if you don't repaint the room!" "burn all of the cat's bedding and toys!" well if nothing else, i'm incredibly clean. :)

work-wise, the end of this week will be a huge weight off my shoulders. three of my projects will have passed major milestones, especially my six sigma green belt (moved from yesterday to friday morning). i've been studying when i can, and feel much better about it that i did at the beginning of the week. just adding those few days to the timeline was a huge help.

okay, off to round up some breakfast. i have to be in the office super early today.

* the Duckling is an adorable teeny bundle of awesome. snorgly, playful, purry like whoa... and when those big gray eyes look directly into mine, i go all mushy. he's such a love. :)

* my big green belt certification today has been moved to friday... which gives me more time to study. thank god.

* one of my big projects is finally starting to come along. next week is a pivotal week for it, and if i can pull all the pieces together for next week it will teh awesome.

* a couple of orders have come in this week, for the exact hoop designs and sizes i made and couldn't sell at world cafe live. whew!

the arts and crafts fair at world cafe live was a b-u-s-t BUST. it was worth a try, and we really thought it was exactly the kind of crowd that would love our hoops... but the problem was that there was no crowd there. no lie, there were maybe a few dozen attendees total during the entire 4 hours they were open. i'm not sure if it was the gorgeous weather that kept people outside, or the $3 cover charge to get in, or the fact that it really wasn't advertised... but there were tumbleweeds blowing through the place. most of the sales that took place were between vendors. i did give out some business cards, so hopefully there'll be a future sale from someone... and i got to meet one of my customers, a woman who ordered a hoop online and decided to have me bring it to WCL rather than ship it, who was a total doll. but all those hours of making hoops yesterday were for naught. sigh.

( there were some good things that came out of the afternoon:  )

i just found out i won't be able to refinance my mortgage.

why?

because despite all of the improvements i've made to the house... about $20,000 worth in 3 years... my house was just appraised for $45,000 LESS than when i bought it.

****ing economy. ****ing down real estate market. ****ing slob who sold their mess of a house down the street from me 3 months ago for next to nothing, because it was falling down.

sigh. what next, universe? throw it at me.

just got finished with my home inspection this morning. i need everyone's good vibes, because what this guy estimates as the value of my house will determine whether my mortgage refi goes through or not. if it doesn't get appraised for more than i paid for it, the bank won't let me refinance. so i'm crossing my fingers and toes.

not sure how i feel about the appraiser... he never got on the roof, never tested outlets like the appraiser did when i bought the place. maybe for a refi they don't need to get that detailed. i did give the guy a list of all the improvements i've made in 3 years (rebuilt bathroom, rebuilt roof, professional landscaping, remove 3 old trees) so we'll see if that helps my case... eek!

* my dad joined facebook today. GAH!!!! WORLDS COLLIDING!!!! no, he hasn't sent me a friend request yet.

* today was a perfect work-from-home day. i got in some kitty snorgling, i spent the day smelling the beautiful cool breeze coming in my windows instead of being sealed up in my office, and i got a TON of items checked off of my to-do list, including a couple of project pieces that i'd been putting off for a long time.

* in my effort to stop the horrible cycle of nights spent surfing the 'net with the TV on, i turned off the TV after dinner and spent the evening out on the deck. wow, i felt like i was on vacation! i put on some brazilian samba lounge-y music, and spent a couple of hours reading magazines while my laundry was in the dryer. it was lovely. why in the world don't i do that more often???

* because i still have stupid leftover issues from high school, i always have a major case of FOMS (Fear Of Missing Something). i constantly have to remind myself that there are a lot of people in my life, and that they are all allowed to have social goings-on outside of me. am i the only person pushing 40 who still gets a little pang when a friend tells them they did something awesome without them?

* i heart my chiropractor so much. in 2 sessions this week, he's been able to adjust me in such a way that i'm not waking up in the middle of the night with screaming neck and shoulder pain. i've been sleeping like a baby. still having the ongoing traveling to boston/can't find my car somewhere/late for something and can't get there dreams, but at least i'm snoring through them instead of waking up in agony.

started buying kitten supplies for little duckster last night. walking around the cat aisles of petsmart, i'm sure i had that glazed-over look in my eyes that some expectant mothers get when they're in babies r us. so many things to get, so many choices... came home with his water and food dishes, teeny litterbox, food, etc. and a new toy: a catnip duck. hee. i haven't had a kitten in the house since angus was a baby 10 years ago. i'm trying to soak up my last few days of alone time with angus, giving him lots of snorgling... i'm very conscious of how much the animal dynamic is going to change with another cat in the house, especially a teeny little gray bundle of kitten energy. :)

in other "changes in my life" news, i signed my mortgage refi application paperwork last night, all 4,729 pages of it. it was pretty intimidating, but i'm excited and hopeful. there's still a lot ahead, including the appraisal and a ton more paperwork, but in the next couple of months it should be all done. *crossing fingers*

* friday i locked in my mortgage refinance rate. i am so, so excited. i'm changing my current 30-year 80/20 into a 15-year fixed at a muuuch lower rate... the amount of extra money going back into my pocket will be insane. literally, for only $200/month more in payments, i'll get 10x the equity each year. wow.

* went to a lovely wedding yesterday evening. B and A got married at the yuengling mansion (yes, as in the beer)... they had a sweet and simple ceremony out in the yard, and then the reception under a tent. everything was decorated in pink and orange, which was totally summery and preppy and fun. the weather was gorgeous for the whole thing, the music was a fun mix from B's iPod (they had asked everyone to submit a song request with their RSVP), and the food was really good... especially the giant glass vats of summery self-serve drinks. (i had 4 passionfruit mojitos before dinner even started. YUM.)

* i was going to spend a chunk fo today finishing the mulching of my big side flowerbed... unfortunately the colony of bees doing their thing out there had other ideas. so did my back, which asked me as i was wheeling the decond cartload of mulch up a hill, "exactly HOW much does this thing weigh?..." yeah, it hink i'll give it a rest until sundown. plenty of other chores around this filthy house to keep me occupied.

in it, i had to put angus to sleep, i don't know why. i also don't know why it happened at work, but it did. then someone from the vet's office came with a big pickup truck to pick up his body, and couldn't get it in the back of the truck because he had turned into this big giant person-sized cat that was too heavy to lift. the guy finally got angus in the back of the truck, and i looked in to see him with his eyes open, moving slightly. i freaked, screaming at the guy "he's still alive!!! how can he still be alive?!?! do we try to revive him, or try to put him to sleep again??? could we have been wrong and he was actually OK???" the guy brought him into an office to set up the stuff to try another attempt at putting him to rest, and i got called into another room by a co-worker to discuss something quickly... by the time i returned to the office, the guy had taken care of everything and sent angus's body off in the truck. and i had a massive screaming breakdown because i hadn't had the chance to hold him in his final moments.

ugh. i'm guessing that was a combination of all of the michael/farrah news coverage yesterday, and one of my every-so-often guilt dreams about monkey's passing. (for those who didn't know me at the time -- when i had to let her go, the drugs didn't work the first time, the memory of it still makes my blood run cold.) whatever the cause, it suuuucked.

EFFED-UP BRAIN, STOP IT.