Of Course I Hear Voices: I Own Parrots

It has been a crazy weekend. Friday was moving day. It went really well despite 2 issues: 1) My phone decided to NOT send a few very important messages...to people who were supposed to help us. Or if messages were sent, it was well after the fact. I will be getting a new phone this week. 2) During our inspection, the leasing manager noticed that our lock was tight. She put in a work order to have it looked at. While we were at my old apartment loading the truck, they totally replaced the lock. This made our keys useless. When we returned there was a note on the door saying we could get our keys at the office. The Problem: The Leasing Manager wasn't there. Mark waited over an hour for her to return.  Meanwhile I was sitting outside our apartment *with the birds in a carrier.*  I am not sure where she went for over an hour, or why she didn't do anything when she knew we would be returning and would need keys.  If she was going to "step out" she should have at l...

Pay attention to WHERE the item is listed as located in the ad If it says buyer must pick up, don't ask them to meet you. Don't be outraged when the seller doesn't want to drive clear across town for a $10 sale. If they buyer gives you their availability for pick up, don't suggest different times. If the seller says they are at work, do not blow up their phone. Text messages sent at 5:00 a.m. may not get responded to before work. Sorry.  If you say you will be in touch, actually do the follow up. Don't suggest payment by check when the ad says cash only. Don't be insulted when the person does allow you to pay by check, but won't arrange for pick up until it clears. Don't insist the seller text you or give you an address before they are ready. 

The post move projects are becoming actual priorities....yikes! I guess I will be adding Upcycler blogger to my list of blogging expertise.  Yeah I am not sure where this is coming from. My thought is we have tons of stuff, we might as well make the best of it. So far my projects include: 1) Making my sewing parlor cabinet into a curio (supplies already purchased) 2) Making a folding sewing table into a desk for the girls. It think it also needs to be refinished (most of the original finish is long gone, but I will see if I can salvage it without having to strip and refinish). 3) Recovering my dining room chairs, and deciding if I want to go with vinyl or have fun with fabric paint. 3) Recovering a vanity bench 4) Repainting a vanity and converting it into a desk. 5) Cutting the vanity mirrors into squares and then stenciling them with frosting paint 6) Possibly restaining the headboard, again with a little extra work this weekend it may be fine. 7) Refinishing the c...

Moving Day is Friday. I am beyond excited. I am ready to start this new phase in our lives. I am ready to build our future. After the past 2 years, it is amazing to see how things have turned around. I have finally found where I belong, and I am looking forward to seeing what is next. I am positive and optimistic about this. For the first time in my life everything feels right. I hate to be rainbows and butterflies on you for a second, but this feeling is what I have been waiting for my whole life.  I never expected things to work out this way, but what started with me judging him and taking pictures for a karaoke contest (not bad judging him...I was a contest judge) has become  the kind of relationship I thought I would never deserve. Will there be struggles and challenges? You bet. Will it always be pretty? I can promise you it won't. There will be fights, disappointments, petty disagreements, and other bad things that come along. Things will suck from ti...

I know my choice to move in with my boyfriend has offended some of my friends. I understand why you do not approve of my choice. It is not my intention to offend anyone. I am only doing what I feel is best for this situation. Even before I moved here almost 11 years ago, I was looking for a place I belonged. It was something I just was not finding back home. I had hoped that some of the very people who are judging my choice now would be part of that solution. Instead many (not all) of you chose to not be an active part of my life. It happens. Still it left me alone and still searching for that next step in my life. When my parents died, most of those pieces were falling into place, but something was still missing. My life changed, but it was just a temporary detour. Now I have all the pieces. It isn't just my boyfriend. It is my friends, my job, and finally feeling that I belong.  I am ready to move forward and start a new chapter in my life. For the first time in my lif...

I was looking through craigslist today, and I noticed a reoccurring theme. 1) Outrageous "rehoming fees" and  2) lame reasons for said fee. I am not here to argue  about irresponsible pet owners, or judge anyone who has to rehome a pet. My annoyance is in some of the reasons for the crazy fees. Okay folks: Rehoming fees are supposed to be affordable fees to ensure the pet gets a good new home. Rehoming fees ARE NOT supposed to help you recoup expenses. I saw an ad today where a woman was rehoming 3 parakeets and a cage. One of the parakeets has only been part of the flock for a month, so as of a month ago they still wanted birds. I get that things change. However, you chose to buy the birds. You chose to buy the cage. I really don't care if it was pricey. Leave that out of your ad and don't make it part of your rehoming fee.  That tells me you are more about the money than the well being of the pet. If you want to SELL your pet and supplies, th...

We move in a week. I cannot wait. Everything is falling into place, and soon it will be time to pick up the moving truck and relocate to Noblesville. There are so many things to look forward to: No more only getting to see each other for 36 hours on the weekends. No more text message good nights. The 45 minute drive to and from Atlanta every weekend. The washer and dryer are included in the apartment: NO MORE LAUNDROMAT I won't have to clean up the mess made by the birds while I was gone every Sunday night. The prospect of having a social life again. We will not have to drive far for all the concerts we are going to this summer. There will no longer be a loud guy living upstairs. The birds will have company on the weekends and every other week during the day. I will no longer be cooking (or grocery shopping) for just one person.  I love our new neighborhood. Everything I need is nearby. My new kitchen is actually big enough for 2 people. My new bathroom is bigger ...

The Bad In the past 2 days at least 3 of my friends have been colossally screwed over. I do not take kindly to that. I have been made aware of things that I can't understand. These are things that make zero sense and actually hurt the people they are supposed to be protecting. I officially hate selling on craigslist. Apparently, living on the North side AND having a 8-6 work day makes pick up impossible. Unprepared students: Really getting to me today. This is college. Of course you need your student ID number to do business.  My head still is killing me. I need some rest. Soon. The Good I had taken June 4 and 5 off. First to burn some hours of vacation time (because I will be maxing out soon...if I am not already). And because those days are the 2 year anniversary of the massive stroke and the tornado (aka the 2 days that changed my life pretty much forever). Tuesday I received an meeting invite for  our annual Assessment Coordinator's meeting. This will be a huge ...

Sometimes life is unfair. Bad things happen to good people. The people with the biggest hearts get stomped on. Rules, laws and policies have zero logic and are painfully in favor of one party. Things are sometimes so messed up we just can't wrap out minds around it. Sometimes you have to give up trying to understand and focus on how you are going to deal with it.

I came home from work the other night to discover my freezer making odd noises. The fridge was fine. The freezer was still cold, but the fan was making funny noises. Some of the back vent for the fan was frozen over. Maybe that was the issue? I broke off the nice. The fan was still loud, but not quite as much...and it appeared there was *warm* air coming out of the vent. Not a lot of it, but still enough to raise a concern. I made dinner, and started preparing for my laundry run. Just before I left I checked the freezer again. The fan: still making noise. Still cold: yes. However: I was almost 100% certain the hot air was not my imagination. The remaining ice on the back vent was starting to melt. I had a two choices: Completely flip out. Go. Do my laundry. Check on it when I returned. Hope for the best. Of course the impulse to  to flip out was there. My  moving date is less than 2 weeks away. My freezer is actually full of pretty much literally every single meal I ...

Next week will mark the last trip I will ever make to Kwik-Kleen Laundromat. I am ecstatic. Why may you ask? No more hauling a weeks worth of laundry from the apartment to the car, to the laundromat, to the car and back to the apartment. Addendum to #1: Parking in my current apartment complex sucks, so that last leg was usually at least from 2 buildings away. Crazy Evangelists: This is not a slam on Christians. I am just very put off by how this mother -daughter duo share their faith. These people are actually pretty creepy. Now if a ten year old came up to me with a drawing she made, and it had a Bible verse on it, I would be cool with it. When it is drawn by a twenty something and laminated: creepy. Washer/dryer/basket hoarders. These guys do not do laundry for a month, and then monopolize one whole area of the laundromat. These are also the same people that hog up counters and rolling baskets.  People who move my stuff. Generally, I run an errand while m...

Last weekend we put a huge dent in packing my apartment. As a result, I am essentially living out of totes and boxes. It is exciting that we are so close to the move. I still have some things to pack (like the linens I washed Wednesday night...that are still in the laundry basket). Not only is most everything packed, most of my furniture has been relocated. It is great to be on target (e Still, there are some awkward moments Looking for a pair of shoes for work...and then finally realizing they are packed My "place I put my keys" is no longer in place. Finding my keys can be a challenge. I am selling stuff on Craigslist, but it isn't moving. One of those items is an extra dining room table. We needed dining room chairs. I only had 2. We needed 4. We found the table and chairs for $50, but we had to take both. Now I have an extra table. I had a buyer that flaked out, so now I repost and wait. I am sort of in a holding pattern on packing until the table is gone ...

Yeah another post about moving. Sorry. Deal with it. As our move gets closer, my "project list" keeps growing. So far I am: converting a parlor sewing cabinet into a china cabinet (shelving purchased) Converting a sewing table into a desk Recovering a vanity bench Recovering dining room chairs Sanding and refinishing a vanity/desk Possibly refinishing a headboard. I am strangely committed to making our new apartment a home. I have never had a place that wasn't a hodgepodge of free furniture. I have never had  a place to share with someone else. I want to do this right. I have no idea where this burst of nesting is coming from. It certainly isn't something I inherited from my parents. I know some of it is doing the most with what we have. We have limited space, and some great stuff that could just use some TLC and/or repurposing. I am looking forward to the new challenges and having fun getting the apartment in shape.

It is amazing how one little emotion can dig in and stick around. Today Facebook recommended I add my dad's "best friend." I use that term pretty loosely. He didn't come up when my dad had his stroke and my mom died the next day. He didn't come up when Dad died. He was supposed to be there for us, and he selfishly chose to not make the trip. I blame his new wife for being possessive and him for not having the balls to stand up to her. He chose to appease her instead of being there for us in both times we needed him. That is almost unforgivable. I know I *should* forgive him, but it is so hard. He has made the choice to not be a part of my life. I should respect that and let it be. Still seeing his picture brought all that anger back to the surface. Granted the anger has subsided a bit. I am no longer so livid that I want to add him as a friend just so I can be that petty brat that uploads all the cute pictures of him and his ex wife (for the record these are o...

Love this song. It makes me smile.

You just need to float and see where life takes you.   Other times you have to go after exactly what you are itching to do. What is your heart telling you?

We have created a monster. She is going to be crushed when the playoffs are over.

Dear Mother's Day ads (more so those who make them) I get it. You are trying to make money. I really do. However, as one of the people who do not have my mother around to celebrate the day: For the love of all that is sacred, back the hell off. I am past the whole Mother's Day making me cry. I got that out of my system last year. This year it just annoys me.  Your commercials shoving the Hallmark Holiday down my throat, just make me angry. Maybe if I had kids it would be different (the closest I have are the birds and I would be damn impressed if they escaped and got me a card...oh and they are pets not kids). However, I am childless and will remain so. I'm too old to entertain the idea of my own kids, and if I am like my Mom...too old to have any of my own anyway. Step kids could very realistically happen, but that is in the future. For now it just pure torture. For now, I will cringe at every commercial. I will pray for the day to come and go so the commercia...

In less than three weeks, I will be saying good bye to my apartment and to living alone. It will no longer just be my space. It will be shared. It will be time to say good bye to old habits. It will be time to make the transition from a place I live to a home...a real home I can be proud of. It also has meant saying good bye to things I have kept out of guilt and sentimental feelings. These are things that are acceptable for parents to keep of their children, but who keeps them once the parents are gone? Most importantly, it is saying good bye to my old life and saying hello to my future. Almost 2 years ago, my life fell apart. I went from looking at houses and thinking about grad school to wondering how we were going to survive this. Now I am  looking forward to a new happy life. There will be challenges. It won't always be perfect.  However, it is new start. It gives me hope that things are continuing to turn around. 

Have you ever thought back on all the things in your past that never quite worked out. I don't mean look back and dwell, but to look back with some perspective. You can still remember the  tear filled nights and moments where you would put every thing on hold to make another person happy. You were never necessarily looking for payback, or thought they owed you something, but reciprocity would be nice. You remember the fun you gave up, the driving out of your way, and settling you did thinking it would be worth it in the end. You wondered if your patience would ever pay off.  There is a very lonely feeling when you are trying to fill your life with the wrong things. They may not be bad things, they are just not what is going to make you happy. It could people. It could be nights out. It could be anything, but it just isn't working. You keep trying. You keep hoping. It just doesn't seem to get better. Maybe you are facing this right now. There isn't a magic fix, b...