Darcey's baby shower was today (the twin girlies are due at the beginning of March). So I attended a party where I was one of only two people with no children. I was also one of the youngest people there. In a nutshell, I was awkward. But that's alright. At least now I've been to my boss's house.

I looked at my calendar yesterday, and the next month is psycho busy for me. Dentist appointment, doctor's appointment, bell ringing, class final, work meeting, holiday... ::grumble:: At least I'm only scheduled three times at 5 am. I'm not a big fan of getting up at a time when I think I should be just going to bed.

One last thing to say tonight. Winter sucks ass. I. Do. Not. Like. Cold.

location: Home mood: cold music: House

Wow. How long has it been since I've posted? Forever? Yeah. Close.

I finally bought a new laptop today, so I'm going to make an effort to post here more often.

Suppose I should update folks on what I've been up to... I'm working at a plasma donation center drawing blood and doing testing an such. I enjoy it. The people I work with are fun, and most of the donors don't mind when I stab them.

There's not really a whole lot more going on right now, and I have to be at work at 5:30 am tomorrow morning so I should head to bed. Well, I'll head to bed after I watch the new episode of Psych.

location: home mood: chipper

I was woken up this morning by my neighbor Ricky squealing outside my bedroom window. Ricky's around nine years old and is autistic. It was the best way that I can ever remember waking up. He was just having a blast in the snow and waiting for his school bus. That kid always makes me smile.

I jumped out of bed and found my mom in the hallway. She immediately said, "Did you hear Ricky?"

I told her that I originally thought the noise was the winter wind, and she said she originally thought it was Dahlia (my puppy) whining.

We both laughed and just listened to him having fun.

I adore that child. The only thing he says to me is, "Caesar bark me!" when he points at my parents' barking dog (named "Caesar Augustus, Emperor of All the Dogs").

Ricky is such a joy. His parents are also a joy (they're sweet enough that even I'm not shy talking to them). I'm not hesitating to file them in the "Best Neighbors Ever" folder.

mood: nervous

You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy – it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.

mood: grateful

And, of course, two days after the accident I'm looking even worse.



I'm afraid my left eye's going to close up on me as well eventually. Fucking accident. I'm just worried about when I can go back to work.

I am so hot right now. And please ignore the hair. I'd just taken off a pressure wrap.

mood: annoyed

The puppy's going to be here at about 4 or five in the morning tomorrow. I am just about dying of excitement. I bought her some toys, chews, and potty pads tonight. Dan gave me a call from the breeders', and I could hear Andy laughing at the puppy's antics in the background. She was apparently dancing around and play growling. I can't wait to meet her!!!!

She's coming in to work with me. Steve said on Thursday that she had to at least be potty trained before I brought her in, but I begged him today. He just laughed and said, "Did you hear her, Kathy? She starting already. Yeah, you can bring her in. I'm not even going to keep her crated the entire time. Steve won't be there, so f-it.

In the clock-in room at work, Steve has put up a note to everyone about things that need to be worked on in the store. Then it says, "Amy has decided to stay at our store instead of moving to the South Side. We're very excited about this. So lets sell some classes for her." I don't know if he's so intent on keeping me because he just doesn't want to train another trainer, or if he actually likes me there. ::shrug:: I know that there's a shortage of trainers in the area.

PUPPY! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?

So, our heat is out a-freaking-gain. And they upped our rent for our next lease. I mean, are they fucking serious?!?!? We have to call them multiple times a week to fix our fucking heat, instead of them just getting us a new damn heater! It's fucking ridiculous.

I have a new puppy coming, and I don't want to leave her alone in an apartment that could lose heat at any moment! I had a psych med evaluation this morning, and I asked if I could bring her next week. They said they didn't allow dogs, but I might get a puppy purse and bring her anyway. If she's not very vocal, then they probably wouldn't even notice. I'd rather risk getting turned away from my appointment on Monday, than leave her someplace that might get to below freezing while I'm gone. Baby Westies don't have an undercoat yet, so her fur is going to be thin, and I don't want to leave her in a sweater in the crate for safety reasons.

Hot Damn! I called them 2 freaking hours ago!!!! Where's my heat?!?!?!?

mood: pissed off

So, here are some pics of the new baby who's going to be entering our household:


You'd at least better click this one. She a cutie.


"I don't understand how to walk yet..."


"Dude, stop flashing that fucking camera at me."

And I had one more that made her really look like a Westie, but it won't upload. She's cute. I'm in love with her already. I can't wait to meet her!

Too bad she's getting a mommy who won't take no shit. I just have to fight the fact that she's so cute...

mood: anxious

I just ran across a story about Jimmy Carter and the Swamp Rabbit.

I'd never even heard of a freaking swamp rabbit before. They apparently swim, and, in order to hide from predators, they completely submerge themself in water except for their nostrils.

Have any of the others of you heard of this animal before? I thought it was a joke until I started reading up on it tonight.

I mean, I can get my bunny to tolerate a bath (she really does fairly well), but I had never pictured a rabbit that actually liked the water. The world is a crazy place.

So, yeah... The heat is out in our apartment yet again. We almost made it a full week with heat...

I'm geting really freaking sick of this. Hopefully our apartment won't catch on fire this time when they finally decide to fix it.

mood: pissed off

Now he won't even answer his phone when I call him.

Bitter, much?!?!? Poor baby.

And I forgot to mention what a bitch I've been to my husband tonight. He's been a huge Bears fan for years, and my brother's a huge Colts fan. I keep calling him to say, "Who's winning? I haven't seen the score in a while..." ... and then he hangs up on me.

Over and over again. Hehehehehehehehe. It's soooo much fun because I couldn't really care less who wins.

I had to kick another dog out of class today (the second one in three weeks). I felt horrible because this time there were four other dogs and 10 other people in the ring when I did it. :( I would have waited, except I was starting to shy away from the dog and was getting afraid of getting a bad skin-tearing bite/maul. This dog let out one of the worst snarl/growls I've ever heard and launched itself at another dog. It also launched at me one (since I was sitting right next to him). And there were four young kids in the ring that I was worried about.

I once again felt horrible, but the owner was gracious and completely understood (this time there were no tears except mine). Poor puppy. Before she rescued him, someone had beat him a lot and pulled off his tail. Literally pulled it off. People are fucking sick. Why would you even go near a dog if you were going to treat it like that? I mean, one moment the dog was sniffing my hand and leg looking for pets... and five minutes later I would move in a way it didn't like and it would try to kill me. How can a person ever ever ever beat a dog to that point?!?!?

Good thing from today:

A woman in my Tuesday night class just got a new Papillon (I love this breed), but it came from a puppy-mill as a breeder-dog and thus hasn't been out of it's tiny cage for the past two years. The Papi isn't the dog in my class, but she brought it in last weekend right after she got it to introduce me. Anyway, she called today to talk to me again about how agressive the dog is towards her husband. She wasn't even looking for advice... she was just looking for me to back her up on the common sense things she'd already been telling her husband.

Anyway, the good thing (which wasn't that the Papi's been abused) was that she started ranting over the phone about how much she respected me. She just kept saying, "I respect you so much. You do such a good job. I just wanted to hear what you had to say before we changed anything. I respect you so much for what you've done for us."

I'm not used to being "respected," so there was much stuttering from me before I responded.

I know that I've posted a number of positive responses to my classes, but I'm still completely floored when people actually think I'm doing a good job.

Sometimes I want to scream, "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!!!!" But my doggie-common-sense seems to belie the fact.

It was just really hard for me to hear, "I respect you." "I wanted to consult you first." "I really respect everything you do/say." over and over today. I don't understand why people haven't figured out yet that I'm a complete idiot.

So, Bad thing from today:

Note to the public: I'm a complete fucking moron.

mood: confused

Just reminding myself that all the Psych-Outs are on youtube.

One of my favs.

For those of you who read my journal but don't watch Psych on USA, I highly suggest watching it. It reminds me a bit of Joss' Buffy and Angel, but.. it's even a little sillier and a little less world-hanging-in-the-balance-ish.

It's not intelligent, and you've got to give some slack to the plots, but... The writing is wonderful and the actors are beyond fun. They only did a half-season last year, and my husband has been teasing me since last season ended, because he knew how angry I was about that. Jerk.

So, yeah, give it a shot if you haven't already.

mood: cold

I really can't wait to move out of this fucking apartment. We've been without water for most of this week (it's still not working in the bathroom sink), and we've had to have them light our pilot light three times in the past week.

Dano had to call the managers again today when he got home from work to have them light it again. The heat came on, and five minutes later smoke started billowing into the apartment through the vents. He turned off the heat, called them, and found out that the gauge that controls our heat was on fire. I don't know what the hell else could go wrong.

At least Dano didn't go out to supper right away after they lit the pilot light. The whole building could have burned down with my Chibi bunny in it. Screw the other tenants, my bunny would have died.

mood: angry

Ah, Scrubs, could you be any more wonderful? Oh, wait! Yes you can! Just add Skittles...

Skittles + Scrubs = Nirvana

mood: happy

OKAY! Just got a call back from the apartment people.

"We've been working on the water for half the day and had to turn it off. Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow."

?!?!?!?!??!?

So... they just shut off the water without giving any notice to residents? And it will maybe be fixed by tomorrow? SHIT! Hot Damn, but I need to use my fucking toilet and take a shower! And, you know, maybe stay hydrated by drinking some water.

I am so absolutely fucking pissed right now. How freaking stupid are these people?!?!?!?!? If they'd warned us ahead of time, then we could have prepared, but, as it is, we're screwed unless they get everything fixed by tomorrow.

These jack-asses need to get on the ball and learn how to run a business. I'm sick of our rent changing every month. I sick of our pilot light going out. I'm sick of them not updating their paperwork. And, I'm certainly sick of having no freaking water.

mood: pissed off

Alright. I'm about to throw a huge bitch-fit. We now have no running water in our apartment. Including the toilet. Yeah.

And our apartment building managers aren't answering the phone.

Fun!

First they try to overcharge us, then our pilot light goes out, then we have no water. I FUCKING HATE THIS PLACE!!!!!!

mood: pissed off

Oh my gods! I finally got a call back! I've been calling for a month, and I finally got a call back! It probably helped that my husband called and left a message as well (because I was getting so frustrated and he didn't believe me that I kept getting an answering machine). But Febuary 12th, I'm going in for a therapy appointment! I'm excited that I'm going to be getting some help. Hopefully, things will start looking up.

mood: okay

Gah! I still have not gotten ahold of that fucking woman! She does not answer her phone, and she has not answered any of my three messages from this morning. So annoying and just... AGH!

mood: pissed off