If you don't like crafts, skip this entry. These are things we learned at last night's Close to My Heart party. 

I don't know how...

I am sorry - I don't know how to put several pictures on one post. So, the Christmas photos are individual posts.

Thank GOODNESS it's a new year! I'm ready for it!

CJ

 

 

Grandma and Yuki playing with the cement truck. See the Christmas tree mom made me on the kitty litter bucket? Now THAT'S CLASS. 

Matt and Elizabeth play with one of Yuki's toys while Butch (back of the couch) is just trying to stay out of the way. 

"Yeah? Watch me!"  

This turned out to be Yuki's very favorite toy. Even I thought it was pretty cool. 

But I want to HELP, Grandma! 

Isn't he cute??? This is on Yuki's 1st birthday. I love his hair. 

Butch knows how to keep toasty when it's cold out side. Just lay on someone!!! (In this case, Matt) 

Surgery, moving, and irresponsible daughters...

What a VERY busy month December has turned out to be! Here's how it all went down...

• My 11 year-old cat, Mocha got hit by a vehicle that was moving faster than he was. He had been missing for about 4 days before one of the kids in the neighborhood told me they saw a dead cat in the road. It was Mocha. I was devestated. I cried for hours. Even shopping didn't help much.
• My landlord sent a letter telling me my rent was going up $50 per month, and I had 60 days to advise if I was renewing my lease. My apartment is FULL of mold and mildew, Sarah and I are constantly sick, and he is completely unresponsive to most problems brought to his attention.
• Child support ends this year, and my income is going to plunge by almost 1/3.
• Most of the animals we have belong to Sarah and she doesn't take care of them.
• I'm paying out about $150 a month in pet supplies/meds.

So. while still grieving for Mocha, reeling from the rent news and mad at Sarah for not taking care of her animals, I, in one fell swoop, decided to move and get rid of all animals but my own. We have my boston terrier, Butch, and my skunk Stinker. I still have fire belly toads & Sarah still has her dumpy. We kept one fish tank. Life is so much calmer now. And, the new apartment is $30 cheaper than the old one even before the rent hike. Plus, I'm only 1.5 miles from work.

This brings me to Moving. Oh my gosh I hate moving. Apparently it took me three years to forget how much I hate it because that's how long it's been since the last time I moved. Thanks to Matt (Elizabeth's live-in) we got most of the stuff moved over T-giving weekend. There is still some junk over at the old place, mostly in the garage, that needs to be moved, and a pile of stuff to be thrown away. I spent 2 hours cleaning today. I'm sick of cleaning and unpacking....

December 1st I had surgery to remove a cyst on my right ring finger. Non-cancerous according to the doc. It's already pretty much healed. The worst part was the day after, when I ripped the stitches right out trying to put on my Tennis Shoes. OUCH!

Irresponsible children...Sarah STILL has not finished even ONE application to college. She drove over some rr tracks on the edge with a big drop off and popped 2 tires ($135 thank you very much). She had over 600 (YES - 600!!) text messages on her cell last month, and over 1000 minutes. Elizabeth went way over her minutes, too. ($275 - thank you). I have changed my plan so that won't happen again, but MAN! I gave Sarah certain items to complete before she flew out to see her dad for Christmas...were they done? No. Sigh.

That's all for today. That's ENOUGH for today. Time for sweet sleep where problems are forgotten and life is not overwhelming. Until I start to dream....

The condensed version

I just typed in a post about moving and dodge ball. When I tried to spell check it, it disappeared. Waaaaaa!

Oh well. In a more compact manner. I'm moving. Today is the walk-through and I get the keys. I'm going to start moving a some every day and hope to be in by the end of the week, but by 12/4 at the latest.

Dodge ball - I don't feel like typing it all again, but it has to be one of the dumbest games ever invented to play in the school system. And to base an entire movie on it is even dumber.

Finally - The Pacers disgrace themselves by fighting with fans. Ron Artest is banned from playing the rest of the season. But what will happen to the fans that poured beer on the Pacers, sucker punched the players and threw chairs? Too much testosterone that night!

Yuki and his VERY BAD hair cut sitting in a paper box... - Today, Yuki is 10 monts old. Woo-hoo!! 

Sarah - Halloween 2004 - Harry Potter 

Yuki @ 9 months 

Saturday....

Saturday! I love Saturday! Fun things happen on Saturdays.

Today, after doing the obligatory cleaning and a little bit of packing, I went to Debbie's for a birthday party. It was fun. I was exposed to foods I have not eaten before... We had Squirrel Stew. Yup. Squirrel Stew. It tasted like...turkey soup. (Thought I was gonna say chicken, didn't you?) We had boiled kale. (Isn't that the stuff they put on veggie trays for color?) It was actually pretty good. I think it had something to do with all the bacon in it. We hada cold green bean/lettuce/feta cheese/onion/mint dish. That was pretty good too. Then we had all the normal chips/pop/wine/cheese & crackers etc. And, of course, cake & ice cream. I felt like I was in the deep South there for a couple of hours.

GRRRRRRRR

I am in a very very bad mood. I feel wound up tight inside and angry and frustrated. Depressed. Nasty. Wanting to lash out. Why, you ask? Because I'm tired, I'm behind at work, I don't feel well, AND I've been eating lots of evil sugar. Evil. Evil, evil, evil. It makes the monster come out.

Nothing about today is happy, except the sun just peeked out. Perhaps that will cheer me on.

My rent is going up $50 per month starting in January. That is just a ridiculous price. I'm going to have to move. I don't like to move. I'm trying to sort through stuff and downsize. I'm finding it's going to be very difficult to find a place to take all my pets, which is making me very unhappy. I'm not going to be able to afford to move with all of them. Most places want an extra deposit and extra money per month per pet. Butch MUST go whereever I do, so that's a given. Everyone else belongs to Sarah, and they can all find other homes.

Enough drivel. Back to the grind.

cje

Stuff

Well, I've given up on the pantry deal. Mainly because most of the food is still there and I don't seem to be eating it. I would guess that means we don't really like it and that's why it's still there. It was a thought, though. Who knows what may happen in the future. I may once again decide to empty my shelves.

It's Monday morning at 4:38. AM. That's right. AM. What the heck am I doing awake? You may be asking that, but I can assure you, I'm asking it much louder than you are. I woke up to go to the bathroom, and that was it. I tried lying in bed for a while relaxing, but no go. I tried praying, which usually does the trick and I'm out before I'm done listing my sins. The list was getting rather long, so I gave up. So, I thought I'd balance my checkbook, check my mail, pay a bill or two and plan the day's food intake. I have a lot to do today. Work, of course. That's a given. I need to get an allergy shot, I have a 1:00 diet meeting, and I want to exercise at Curves. I have to do some grocery shopping somewhere in there as well.

Speaking of food, diet, Curves, and exercise, I'm doing all of those. Sort of. I lost 5 pounds the first week on my Curves diet. I may or may not have lost any weight this week because of "water weight" gain. Amazingly, I did not have any chocolate cravings this month like I normally do. I've really been slacking on the exercise portion, which must be adjusted. I had some lab work done at the doctor's office last week, and the results are in. Everything looks good. He didn't put my A1C number on the letter he sent, so I'll have to ask about that. It should be good. A1C is the measure of your blood sugar over the last 3-4 months.

I'm still plugging away on my cardigan and I hope to have it done in the next 3-4 weeks. I want to wear it this winter. I think it's going to be much too big, which is a bummer, but better too big than too small!!!

That's it for me. Life continues on. Even with less sleep than I'd like. I guess I'll go take a shower and go to work. Might as well do something else constructive.

Chao

Long Awaited Photo of Stinker

This is my new pet - Stinker. Isn't she cute? Actually, she is much cuter in person.