~*~ Bibliophile ~*~

So, as I'm sure pretty much all of you have seen by now - 2016 is going to be a VERY intense year in Ashleyland! Let's recap for posterity, in reverse chronological order:

* Wedding Bells!
( Ding dong, the bells are gonna chime!Collapse )


* Baby Gianninotti!
( You're so precious to me, sweet as can be, baby of mineCollapse )


* Holiday Across The Pond!
( Over the river and 'cross the pond, to English-land we go!Collapse )


* Kitchen / Bathroom Remodel!
( You'll always find Me in the kitchen at partiesCollapse )

Okay, so that is a LOT of updating. WALL OF TEXT, yo.

I'm going to take a break from posting about sad, tension-filled thoughts in my head, and totally dork out for a few minutes. Enjoy!

Some of you might know that I'm a HUGE fan of the DIY-home-design blog, Young House Love. And I read it religiously. Every. Day. I think the whole family is totally squee-dorable, and I'm SO BUMMED that I missed their visit to Tacoma last week (I had to work - I could have taken the day off without pay, but it was already a short week for me with non-paid-time-off on MLK Day). But they are charming, lovely people from my interactions with them, and I'm actually making them some little pressies as a thank-you for general awesomesauce.

So they issued this hilarious, unofficial, scavenger-hunt challenge based on Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" rap song. And coincidentally, I had been putting off a trip to Goodwill to drop off some donations, AND I actually had cash on hand (seriously, so tight these days this never happens), so this was perfectly timed for me to take part. Woohoo! I'm a dork. :D

Challenge Accepted!

So the challenge has three parts (if you didn't click over to the link): Limit yourself to $20, buy what you want with that $20, and take a picture involving something from the song lyrics. I haven't posted pictures in AAAAAGES, so I've got to remember how to do all this, haha.

Part the First: Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket” and take a picture.
I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I’m, I’m, I’m hunting, looking for a come up, this is fucking awesome

why helloooooo there, Mister Jackson. Don't see enough of you around these parts!



Part the Second: Spend that $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.
I bought some shit from the thrift shop
Ice on the fringe is so damn frosty
The people like “Damn, that’s a cold ass honky”

clockwise from left to right.
$3.99 ceramic planter to re-pot my jade plant (which is thriving, but could use some extra room to grow and has been in the original ugly plastic container for several years).
$3.99 burgundy poppy art print for the bedroom (if I don't get some stuff on those walls soon, I'mma cut. a. bitch.).
$1.99 black napkin holder (that I am trying out as a coaster-holder for my DIY'd ceramic-tile-&-scrapbook-paper coasters I recently made, as seen here).
$1.99 Belleek vase (a future Mother's Day or birthday gift for my mama, who collects the Irish china Belleek pieces in the Shamrock pattern - based on similar items, this would retail at full price for about $35-40, and it is authentic! SCORE!!!).
$1.99 scrapbooky-style Travel photo frame (to hold a pic I snapped of David & I on the plane en route to Iceland/England).
$3.99 set of glass coasters with holder (for a future DIY scrapbook coaster project).
Total spent (before WA State Sales Tax) = $17.94, yo! That's some cold-ass honky right there.


Part the Third: Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

Hello, hello, my ace man, my mellow
John Wayne ain’t got nothing on my fringe game, hell no
The Duke and I are old friends. McCLINTOCK! Remember the Alamo!


Although I wasn't quite sure if a John Wayne mention in the song would be worthy of a John Wayne photo (he's not exactly an item to buy...), I got this one, too.
Buy it, coppin' it, washin' it, ‘bout to go and get some compliments
Passing up on those moccasins someone else has been walking in
Not gonna lie, folks - I totally wanted to wash my hands after these.



I'm not sure if I'll keep the black napkin-holder-turned-coaster-holder (it's not fitting what I need it to particularly well). I am SO STOKED about the Belleek vase, it's a freakin' steal. Right up there with getting a Louis Vuitton purse for $15 (normally $565) a few years ago.


And then just for my own fun, I took pictures of the three worst things I found while I was browsing for all of that other stuff, but didn't apply to the challenge. Seriously, there is just no accounting for taste! I tried to get three different types of items - a decor, a knick-knack, and a clothing item.

This is a painting of I-don't-even-know-what-the-hell-here, people. Robots? Aliens? Both?


Please tell me this was somebody's cake topper circa 1984. GHASTLY!


Hi, we are the store's ugliest effing shoes!


So I'll be posting this over on the "results" page for the challenge here. Next up, I'm going to try to post pictures from January - I'm attempting the Project 365 again, to document my 30th year, so you might see them here and on FaceBook (I'll put them behind a cut here, promise). Enjoy, and have a good weekend, my darlings! I think David and I will be hanging out at home, doing domestic stuff.

I wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible
I’m in this big ass coat from that thrift shop down the road...

Good freaking lord. I have things to say, and this place to do it, and I just don't as often for some reason. I blame time constraints and the internet (easily distracted...damn you, cracked.com!). How IS it that as I've gotten older there are seemingly less hours in the day? Although I guess when you factor in an 8-hour workday, plus a 1-hour lunch (9 total), plus 2 hours in commute - 1 each way (11 total), an hour to get ready (12 total), roughly 7 hours of sleep (19 total) that only leaves 5 hours left to keep the house clean, feed myself and possibly the boyfriend, run errands, craft/knit anything, and actually relax... well, there you go. Once upon a time I had a couple of hours of class in the day and that was pretty much it. Minimal cleaning, few obligations to anyone else, almost no time commuting, hardly even cooking. Oh, college. Sometimes I miss thee!

Anyway, part of ^that ramble is that this past Saturday was my 10-year LJ-versary! I will probably go back and post-date a reflection over the past 10 years. I know my LJ has changed a lot in terms of content. My early days were mostly consisting of quiz results ("Which Alternative Care Bear Are You?") and vague ramblings about college. I started to focus more when I was actually documenting stuff like funny out-of-context professor quotes, and tracking my actual thoughts and life more. A lot of private posts in regards to heartbreak(s), and random bits of life after college as a fledgling adult. I still find writing in LJ very therapeutic, especially as a retrospective on certain events and eras in my life. I definitely can tell I've evolved as a person, and hopefully for the better. The very dear friends I've made on here (Nicole Hammond being on of my first LJ-friends, but not actually meeting any of you until I started dating [meeting via FB, ironically] her coworker Mike Parker) have been life-changing. Mike Fleming and Mardi, Jess and Georgia, Christina and Zach & Co., Lori and Kyle, Jason and Chris Nelson and Mellzah - I tell you what, I look forward to every post by you guys, because we don't get to see each other that often and I think this helps fill in those gaps. I always feel like, when I do see all y'all, it's almost like no time has passed because we know what's going on in our lives and we can just keep the convo rolling IRL instead of URL.

Okay, that wasn't meant to be so long. I mean, that's about a quarter of what I wanted to say in my 10-year Retrospective Post! Guess I'll save the rest of it for that post :P

Things I DO want to post about rather soon-ish:
Relationships - Happiness at Last; Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Brit :D
Politics - Vote for Gays & Vaginas!; Or, Why I Fucking Hate Ultra-Conservative White Republican Males
Car Accidents - Yay for Volkswagon Engineering; Or, Why Do Civilians Need To Drive A Military-Grade Tank On Our City Streets and Ram It Up My Ass?
House - Coming Home to the Pretty; Or, Why Does It Take Over A Year To Make And Hang Curtains?
Pictures - Pictures from Ashleyland; Or, I Have Too Much Fun With My Cameraphone And Am Obsessed With My Dog
Life - General Shenanigans; Or, I Ramble About Things Of Interest To Nobody, Really, But Me

Any requests for what I write about first? The order above is not necessarily the order of things these days. Except for maybe the first one. That's pretty much my main priority these days.

As things are settling down around the house (with the roommate) and my finances (especially after next weeks' homeowner's insurance payment), I can finally start to relax and really get back to the things I enjoy. And Christmas is just around the freaking corner! Since I've got oodles of time in my day, and I finally got Pinterest working for me again, I have been going through my boards with about 1,700 pins, clearing out duplicates (there's more than a few) and trying to categorize things a bit more. I even made a board for "Upcoming Projects," which I can easily do either with the funds or supplies I have on hand, and start gettin' shit done. There's something about the sense of accomplishment that comes with crafting that is so satisfying, and I miss it horribly.

It will feel less overwhelming to start breaking things down into smaller bites. So I'm not searching through 200 items on my "Crafty Creations" board, for example. That's where this "Upcoming" one will come in handy, and everything on there is a duplicate pin of something else in my account. So I can delete the duplicate once it's done, for that sense of acheivement, yet still have my original pin for reference should I want to do it again. My OCD kicked into overdrive yesterday, and I spent about 5 hours refining my pinboards. That was fun for me :D

So, here's some of the things I'm planning on making in the next few months, in addition to catching up on ~5 years of scrapbooking, and knitting baby blankets/Christmas presents/birthday gifts:

I need new coasters - the ones I bought in 2005 for my first apartment are looking a little shabby. Plus, I've never liked the way the lightweight cork can glom onto the bottom of a sweating glass and come up with it (and then suddenly drop). So, since I have plenty of scrapbook paper, and ceramic tiles aren't expensive, I'll make some new ones like these, these, or these. Those are all pretty much the same process :P
Estimated cost for supplies: $10-15.
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours

The art on the walls of my living room is a little half-assed right now. There's 3 frames of London-y Things, 1 frame of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and a not-even-framed poster of the statue of David that I nabbed from a Tube station in London (it was part of an advertising campaign for wine, and David's says "Just Stone?" where the wine one says "Just Chardonnay?"). I have the frames, which are not of exactly-equal size, offset a little bit in the concept of making a more interesting wall-of-stuff that is not perfectly-lined-up like little soldier-pictures marching in a row. I want continuity in color (muted tones) and content (London/Europe), not size and shape. So, David is either going to get framed or "canvasized" (I don't know what the process is called, but Gretchen had it done to a poster of hers and I love how it turned out). I've a couple of small pictures needing frames. And then I'm going to DIY some of these other things: a string map of the London Tube system; assembling a collage of found/old items to create a shape (I'm planning on a treble clef), most of which I've got already; a cute button clock with muslin/linen fabric and an embroidery hoop, for which I've already got the buttons in shell, bronze/gold and brown, and for which I'll basically have to figure out on my own as my pin links to the blog in general not the specific project; doing a dog silhouette in mixed media (fabric/paper) or just scrapbook paper, of Sir Fluffy von Barkingshire, to go either in the bedroom or over my key/mail holder by the front door. I'm going to relocate my current necklace holder, which is a European-landmark-themed fabric memory board to the living room, and I will replace it with fancy shopping bags, that I bet I can get for free just walking around downtown and asking for one of their bags; I will rehang my necklaces on a board with funky doorknobs instead. And don't even get me started on the rest of the decor the bedroom needs... more DIY art, shelves, curtains, chandelier...
Estimated breakdown by project:
String Map of London Tube: $15-20 (small nails [?], embroidery floss, board, paint[?], frame [?])
Estimated time to make: A day? Depending on distractions and complexity.

Collage of Items: $5-$10 (have items, need backing of some sort [corkboard? fabric-covered foam board?], frame [?])
Estimated time to make: 2 hours

Button Clock: $10-$10 (I have the buttons, need fabric, watch parts, embroidery hoop)
Estimated time to make: 4 to 5 hours with all sewing and assembly of clock bits

Dog Silhouette: $5-10 (pretty much just a frame or any fabric - I've got the paper!)
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours

Fancy Shopping Bags: Dependant on cost/amount/size of frames, which will be determined on number/size of bags I pick up.
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours. Putting in frames is easy. Putting walls takes more time :)

Doorknob Necklace Holder: $20-30 (multiple doorknobs [possibly used?], wood or whatever to back it, plus any paint
Estimated time to make: 3 to 4 hours for drilling all those knobs in and then hanging.


And then there's all the RECIPES. Oh goodness.
If you're interested, you can see all of my boards/follow me if you're not already, right here. Now that I'm in a totally lax job, I can spend a fair amount of time pinning ALL THE THINGS.

The Brit has said he doesn't mind if I do some crafting/scrapbooking/knitting and so on, especially if we can be watching a movie together while I'm doing it. The basement craft room is in the process of being set up, and so he'll be able to chill on the bed while I sit and scrapbook. I knit while we cuddle on the couch already. The rest I'll be doing in my evening downtimes during the week, I'd imagine. So this could work out nicely :D

I've been meaning to post for weeks. But then, I always say that, don't I? However, I think I'll be able to keep up with slightly more regular posting thanks to my easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy job at BlackRock.

Technically, it's a temp-to-hire - but since most of the "Corporate Services" staff (basically the reception/facilities management people like me) are Contingent Workers, and the guy ahead of me still has that title and has been here well over a year/year-and-a-half? Unless I move up, I don't see that status changing anytime soon. And this is high finance - an international company with offices in 28 countries, managing $3+ trillion in funds, which is not a field I'm well-versed in, nor super-interested - so I don't see myself suddenly being all high-powered career woman babbling about investments and stocks and mutual funds. But then, I never thought I'd babble about HVAC equipment and chillers and boilers either...so anything is possible, I guess! As one of my friends (who has a LOT of temp experience) put it, it's just a way for them to avoid having to pay out benefits. I can get medical insurance through my staffing agency, though. That's about it - no paid holidays, no paid time off, nada. Just the bare bones. Can I do without that for a year or two (the expected length of my term here)? Quite possibly. But I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket. At the very least, it's a good start to broadening my professional experiences and hireability in an industry that I *do* like. I'm leaning more and more towards Event Coordination or Hospitality for the long term.

There are things I really like about this job so far. Like my other receptionist temp job (right after I left McK, at Sabey Corporation), it's a relatively quiet job. The phones ring less at the front desk than they did in dispatch at McK - maybe 10 times all day. BLISS. And when they do, I transfer it to someone else to deal with, instead of being the end-point for all the nonsense that can come through. There are some specific processes that I've learned the basics of VERY quickly (my teammate, Andrew, has been training me and is very pleased and impressed), and now I'm just learning the nuances of it all. The people here have all been incredibly nice, and they all seem happy to be coming into work. I'll admit, I also like that this is a little more high-standards here - people dress nicely, even in business casual, far more than the sweatshirt & jeans crowd at McK. But again, this is high finance, not construction, so it's entirely different. Apples to oranges, you know. And of course, there's THE VIEW. Which I'll post here, in case you haven't seen it on my Facebook. It's stunning. BlackRock takes up the top 3 floors of the 3rd tallest building in Seattle! To go from the industrial district to the business district feels much more "me," and aspects of that make me happy.

There are some flip sides to it. I am commuting by bus, and that's... an adventure. I don't want to drive and find/pay for parking downtown - on a $15/hour salary, there's no way I can swing those costs! So, $5/day for round-trip bus fare it is! It does make me miss my nice 3-mile commute to McK, I tell ya! And I have to get up an hour earlier too, to catch the 7am bus to be here by 8am. But the commute itself is easy, because I'm not driving anywhere - I can nap, read a book, use my phone, etc. The bus people in the morning are nice people coming into town for work. Going home, I'm on 3rd Ave, which is basically an open-air drug market for all the crazies, drunks/druggies, and assorted homeless weirdos. And, my most hated part, the bus is ALWAYS late in the afternoon. The morning bus is on time, within a couple of minutes. Coming home, there is a bus every half an hour. When Bus A is 20-25 minutes late, then that's really just a whole new route at that point, one that I cannot plan for accordingly (like trying an alternate option). What's happening is that I'm not getting home until close to 6:30, and that's a 12-hour day for poor Teddy Bear, and his tiny bladder. So I've hired one of the neighborhood girls to come walk him once a day for $5/day, or $25/week. It's not much, and it makes me feel like a more responsible dog-mother. The commute is really the only thing I don't like so far, although I suspect I could get bored here soon, but there's opportunities to learn new things and advance, so we'll see!

[Sidenote: my dad has decided to express his opinion that it's "really spendy" to pay someone to walk the dog every day. I don't see my dad holding HIS pee for 12 hours! I just think it's inhumane, and not fair to Teddy Bear. An emergency trip to the vet for a bladder infection would be more spendy, no? Especially considering that I'd need to take unpaid time off work...]

I'm just glad to have a paycheck coming in for the foreseeable future. I ended up having to make a decision about what bills to pay - my only remaining student loan is in deferment through the end of the year, so that helps, but even though I've cut way down (and I don't spend a lot to begin with), I still couldn't afford my gas bill. So, I let it lapse, since it's in the middle of summer and I don't really need the heat. Unfortunately, my gas range/oven and my hot water tank are ALSO gas, so it's been a lot of microwaving and cold showers for me in the last week. But perhaps, it's a necessary lesson for me to learn. Which makes me sound like I'm embacing matyrdom, but I'm not. I just didn't want to ask for money from anyone else, and learn to deal with the problem like a mutherfuckin' adult. So I've since called the gas company now that I've gotten a paycheck, and I've made payment arrangements, and it was turned on yesterday.

I've also got a tentative roommate lined up (3rd times the charm, right???). She's coming up from California at the end of the month, and we sound pretty compatible. Fortunately, the room has been completely cleaned out, cleaned up, and is ready to go for a roommate to move right on in. She's planning on a year committment, so assuming all goes well with her, the job, etc. - I might be able to say things are going to be okay.

But you'll notice, I said "okay," not "great," not "perfect." I've had the rug yanked out from under so many times in the last ~5-6 months that it's getting very hard to trust the future. And I'm somebody who REALLY likes stability - in my home, in my relationships, in my job, etc. To have not known what's happening from week to week has been very character-building, I'm sure, but I fucking hated it. It stressed me out so badly, I've broken out in stress hives a couple of times. So I've got a job, yay - it's a temp job, though, with no guarantees. I've got a prospective roommate, yay - assuming she doesn't flake like the previous ones and I'm back to square one. It's just too hard to get overly emotionally invested in those things anymore because it's too hard when it fails.

And then there's the family thing...[to be continued, DUH DUH DUUUUUUH!]

Hello, long-overdue-post ahead. But it's a Friday night, the first I've had to myself in a while, and I'm typing this on a laptop from my couch (a first for me) and drinking a fuckton of "Jammy" wine (not necessarily a first for me). So, LAZY! But taking a break from hyper-organization and/or knitting.

Updates on ALL THE THINGS!

*JOB. I still don't have one. I am taking on cat-sitting jobs to help make the mortgage, and I'm allergic to cats. I've sent out (by my estimation) between 150 and 200 applications, of which I've gotten only a handful of interviews on my own, and another handful of interviews from any one of the staffing agencies I've signed up with (I got on with my fifth one today. There may be more coming, too). I've revamped the roommate search, and met with an awesome person (seriously, she's just like me, only with a pug, all of which is fuck-awesome).
I was told today by my newest recruiter that I'm over qualified for the jobs I'm applying for, which is NOT HELPFUL. I know I'm overqualified to a certain extent, but I NEED A DAMN PAYCHECK. So yes, I will apply to $13/hr receptionist jobs to make ends meet (with a roommate, I can swing it financially). An administrative assistant position is a better fit for me (more responsibility, more room for growth, more pay), but they are looking for people with either specialized skills or specific industry knowledge. Since I am trying desperately to break OUT of the HVAC industry (the only one I really have any knowledge in), that kind of sucks for me. The deck is stacked against me, as it were. And I'm about to lose my shirt the house.
It has been suggested that I should "dumb down" my resume. I'm starting to think that might not be a bad idea. At least in the interim, to get a job lined up. A reception/admin job would ideally only be a for a year or two, and then I can transfer THOSE skills to an industry more to my taste, if it wasn't already. And then add my degree/skill set back into the resume at that time.
I'm saddened by this prospect, though. I worked hard for my bachelor's degree, and I was always told that it would help me to earn a higher paying wage. Now I'm tempted to leave it off my resume to earn something only slightly above minimum wage.
Sigh. Might as well wear skin-tight pencil skirts and low-cut tops, too, when I'm interviewing with a man. My brains can be in my bra for all they care in those positions, right?

*HOUSE. The house, however, has gotten a LOT of my attention with being home for the last 9 weeks. Some of it is subtle (I organized the freezer! the cleaning supplies! the magazine stacks! OMG I AM OCD...), and some of it is more obvious (I have actual plants growing and making it look more landscaped! holy schnikes!). I'm going to have to start moving things down from the loft into the basement/elsewhere though, once a roommate is firmed up.
Still, with the inside as good as it's going to get until more $$$ comes in, I've done some work on the outside. Mostly with my parents showing me how to start, and mostly in the front yard. The holly/rose bush area was cleaned out and planted with some groundcover (lilies of the valley, hostas, etc). The walkway was edged on one side with pansies, snapdragons, primroses, and one calla lily (looking a little lopsided until I do the other side in a week or two). Mums from me mum's yard and two kinds of lavender plants were put in alongside the front steps to welcome you. The overgrown laurel bush was cut back, and the jungle on the north side (ferns, vines, a choked-out bush of something or other, a pane of broken glass) got cleaned out. An herb/veggie garden was started in the back yard. The scraggly apple tree is coming down to make room for 2 dogwoods from my parent's side yard. And there's still so much more to do! But this might be it for this year, in terms of what I can still get in the ground, what I can physically do, and what I can afford. It's exhausting, but looking back at the end of a day and saying "oh wow - it already looks better!" makes it pretty darn cool. I've also got 16 potted plants thriving INSIDE the house as well, so I think I'm getting a decently verdant thumb going on here.

*TEDDY. As of Wednesday, I've officially had Captain Fluffypants for a full year. I love my little guy so much, and he loves me. He loves nothing more than to be near me for treats and snuggles. He's had his yearly check-up and shots, and he's all good, except for gaining 3 pounds. When you only weigh 7 to begin with, a 30% increase in a year is kind of a lot. So I'm cutting back on his food (and those treats) to help bring him back down.
He's such a funny little guy. My phone's photo bank is FULL of pictures of him, of which I only publish about 10% on Facebook. Maybe I'll post more here... perhaps a year's worth of "Dog of the Day" or something of that nature.
Also? He was a fucking bad-ass ninja-dog the other day and KILLED A FLY out of the air. So proud! Also, kind of grossed out, since he did it on the bed. He got a VERY thorough brushing-out today - I had to clean out the brush 5 times before we were done. But he's SO much nicer to snuggle with now! :)

*DATING. I actually seem to have found myself in a relationship - with a British guy, no less! After one rather eventful weekend of sleeping around/dating multiple people within a 72-hour period (OMG I AM A WHORE), I started talking to a whole new guy not previously in the running and things... settled into place very quickly. I'm trying not to jinx it (I'm coming up on 6 weeks with him, and if you're not aware, I have a 6-Week Curse: guys inevitably break up with me around that point. See also: Dan, Kaleb (twice), Chuck, Mike, Tobie, and so on, ad nauseum). However, this coming week, we're getting a hotel for a couple of days while he's on an intense work schedule in the north end (double, even triple shifts), and we're even bringing Teddy Bear, whom he enjoys immensely! So, I don't think we're ending things, heh. Especially since I got $30 knocked off our hotel with my AAA discount, and therefore feeling like I contributed instead of made things harder.
He's a really great guy - British, as I said, works in the tech industry, lives on a sailboat. Wants children (and HE was the one to bring that up before we'd even met - not me!), and it sounds like sooner rather than later. Smart, funny, generous. Divorced (3 years - was married for about 3 years), and therefore a little gun-shy about crazy women, but less so than say, Shawn. Loves intimacy, and not just the bedroom games (although that's part of it), but things like snuggling up behind me while I'm making dinner or something.
We talk/Skype/see each other in some combination almost every night. He sends me texts almost every day to say good morning. He's pretty great so far! I'm excited for some of you to meet him tomorrow night, bowling for entropic_system's birthday.

*LIFE. In general, it's not too bad. I've still got the roof over my house, although paying the mortgage + bills is starting to become worrisome. I suspect I'll be calling on my parents to take them up on their offer of loans in order to pay my bills (to be repaid, of course) before things get resolved any time soon. It sucks, but once I get a roommmate in that will be half the load off. If I can supplement the rest by whatever means necessary, I'll be able to stay independent. And at almost 30 years old, I REALLY want to stay independent and show them that I CAN DO THIS ADULT THING.
One thing I'm glad they're there for me though, is an issue with the utility company - apparently the previous owner's W/S/G bill (about $550) was NOT settled prior to foreclosure, OR going into escrow, OR my closing date last August. Nobody seems to have known this bill was in arrears, and since it's a charge against the property, they are holding me responsible for it. Apparently the utility company was never notified this became a bank-owned property (at which point I PRESUME they would have said "Oh, BTW, there's an outstanding charge that needs to be paid"). Now, while I agree 100% they should be paid, like hell I am paying for charges incurred before I bought the house. And I know it's BEFORE because the utility people checked and said "oh yes, this is 2011 charges prior to you taking over the account on August 6." You know, the time when I called them to set up the account in my name and a totally missed opportunity for them to say "oh, BTW, there's an outstanding charge to be paid." Why this has come up 10 months after I closed on the house boggles my mind. Fortunately, the utility people are being understanding and giving me a couple of weeks to track down listing agents, title companies and escrow to find out who will be paying this damn bill before my water gets shut off. My dad (and his lawyer, and his friends at utility districts) are helping me with this legwork, thankfully, but it's still stressful.
But overall, things could be worse (aside from the job front). I've been very blessed to have such good health by not getting sick in almost 2 years (ankle injuries notwithstanding). I have a great house with room for someone to come help with the rent. I have an adorable, loving dog to keep me company. I've got an exciting new relationship that seems to be headed towards longevity, not short-timing. I've got good friends and family who have offered tremendous support during the job schtuff. I've got summer plans to make and look forward to doing (at home/with friends/with family). I'm having a second short story published - and this one wasn't a local publisher via someone that I knew, so it was all resting on the story's merits. So many blessings to count, and I do, believe me. There's just a couple of pieces I'm waiting to fall into place, and then I'll truly have a charmed life.

Until then, there's always more wine.

[sidenote: you may (or may not...) have noticed that I've changed the subject lines of my posts. I've decided to give the song-lyrics a rest, and have started essentially narrating the "chapters" of my life, as it were. So, there's that :P]

Work:
My last day at McK was March 30, and I'm so glad for it to be over.
( Stick a fork in me!Collapse )

Family:
Went over to Wenatchee for a quick 48-hour visit over the Easter weekend, since my sister and her family (husband Brian, sons Dylan and Gabe) were up from Portland and my brother Bill from Columbus and family (wife Jamie, daughters Alexis and Cameryn, son Michael) were all visiting for a mini-family reunion. It was mostly a good trip although some parts of it were less savory than others (really, mom? cleaning the bathroom on my trip? WTH? oh well...). Some parts were great, like when Bill & Jamie announced they were expecting their 4th baby at the end of September - YAYAYAYAY! And one incident where I decided I'd finally had enough of certain things.

( I put on my big girl panties!Collapse )

That's probably the biggest things going on right now. Other things, like continuing the job search, and still considering housemate options, are still going as before. But I'm able to be less stressed about everything in general, which is good. I'll be covered on my mortgage through the end of June, so I'm able to relax into the interview process and get a good job at good pay in a good environment in a good location. Tall order, no? I'm so demanding :) But ya gotta have faith! [insert song here]

OH! One other thing, in case you've missed it on my Facebook. The Super-Secret Olympic Project that I have been working on for the last couple of months is getting ready to launch in a couple of weeks. It's actually launching on April 21, which is the MardiParty, so I'll be going to the launch first for a little bit, getting my own Torch line to start around the world, and then off to Mardi's. Jason helped with the testing of the app, so he'll be going to the launch and getting a Torch line, too.

So here's the YouTube video of what it looks like - COOLNESS.


Pretty neat, eh? We're now in the promotional side of things - contating dignitaries, famous personalities, politicians, bloggers, etc. to launch their own Torches and get the word out. Very exciting!

Okay, done for now.

As most of you know, if you've heard me ramble on about inspirational people at any point in the last year, I'm a really devoted reader of the Young House Love blog. Week before last, they took a much-deserved break and jaunted off to Hawaii for 6 days.

I don't know if there are words enough to express how much their post makes me want to go there. I've got something of a windfall coming (tax return in the year of buying a house + severance package from McK), but it will really need to be stocked away pending a rather uncertain employment future. It's what is smart, practical, prudent. And yet. I totally want to say - fuck all that and just go.

It feels like the last time I took a vacation (an ACTUAL vacation, with hotels, and restaurants, and tourist attractions, for a significant amount of time) that wasn't instigated by the death of a family member or a business-style convention was 2004. Almost 8 years ago. My parents and my paternal aunt & uncle went to London & Spain two weeks before my study abroad started. In the interim, I've spent 2.5 days in Las Vegas (2007, with Allison) and a couple of road trips with Shawn to Orcas Island and the Olympic Peninsula (2008). I've been to Arlington and Chicago for the afore-mentioned burial and convention, respectively. I go to Wenatchee several times a year, and maybe Portland if my sister and I are on speaking terms. I suppose it's totally a first-world problem that I've totally been places even if it is almost all with family and the ensuing stress. But all of that combined time (about 7 days total) averages out to less than one day per year of "ACTUAL" vacation. Ugh.

But ever since I saw those pix of Hawaii, I keep finding myself dreaming of warm, balmy weather, white sandy beaches, and peaceful surroundings. It's not the first time - I will sometimes look up those amazing little places to rent in Fiji or wherever, with the 'rustic' (is it really rustic if it's prohibitively expensive???) little huts and the glass-bottem floors. I took a break from job-application blitzing yesterday to research airfare. I contemplated that, once I got the dog boarded/cared for, I could just throw a few clothes, hairbrush, toothbrush and a swimsuit (god, I need a new one - haven't had a new one since 2005!) in a bag with a couple of books, some knitting and just GO. Obviously, it would totally take more than that, and sleeping arrangements and all. I wouldn't necessarily want/need to spend money on 'the sights,' as I'm feeling pretty sure that right now all I want to do is lay on a beach and read until all the stress is melted out of my body. I'll see the sights if I ever go there with a significant other. What if I rented out my house, sold my car, put stuff in storage, and moved me and the dog to Hawaii to "live aloha" for a while? I've heard the pace of life over there moves like warm honey...

It's a pipe dream, for sure. I mean, put everything in storage? I just moved everything in there! And my piano? The new bed? Jeeez. That's just crazy. Plus, I'd probably miss my friends. But the idea of a vacation, just me, just sun and sand and books and beach... I think I need this, really really need it. Someday, I guess. Maybe I will knit things for money or something. Or my soul! Faustian deals are still happenin', right? No? Maybe I've just been watching too much Buffy lately. Hmmm.

Or maybe I'll see about going to Spain. All I need there is airfare - I've got family to stay with, and they are ALSO right on the beach, and wouldn't have to spend a ton of money on food. Plus I'd know people (my sister-in-law and her family).

Sigh. Anyway. Rambling now. I'm just really ready for a change of pace, I guess, especially since the big job one is pending in T-minus 3 weeks...

Update! Update!

* Things are progessing well (so far) with leaving McK in >4 weeks (17 days from now, actually). I met with an HR rep last week to determine my severance package draft, which looks to be very generous.
Does anyone have any experience with things like COBRA v. private insurance? Any advice for job transition? Some of this might all depend on what my next job is as well.
I had a phone interview with a company structured very much like McK, and that could include benefit timelines. McK's benefits kick in the first day of the month after you're hired, no 3-month wait. So it's not impossible that would happen at this other place (assuming it's a good fit for them and me). I also had my first in-person interview (they have like a 4-part interview process. JEEZ. They should just hire me on the basis of AWESOME).
The dispatch team was informed right away, and the department was notified a few days later of my plan to leave. I've talked to all of my techs in person, and have gotten almost universal sadness and "NO DON'T GOOOO!"
Which is very sweet and flattering, and I'm going to miss 95% of the techs tremendously. A couple of them and I will not miss each other at all. Even Shawn (my ex) was a bit sad, but also knew that I'd been wanting this for a long time. His reaction was "well, their loss!" Another tech asked if I'd stay for more money.
Had to explain that it is SO NOT about the money at this point. It's the job. And it's time for me to grow, learn, be challenged, put new and interesting things on Ye Olde Resume.
The Boss J's have been very supportive, and have promised to give me good recommendations. Not burning any bridges her, I hope!
Tomorrow I am hitting up a job fair in Renton for a few hours.

* I've gotten some small nibbles on the housemate hunt (most of you got my email - if not, want it?). IF this other job goes through, depending on pay I might not NEED a roommate. It's all so very up-in-the-air. So many paths are branched out in front of me right now, and a decision on one will both eliminate certain options and free up others.
I am somebody who so totally values stability and "knowing" that I have stayed a bit too long in a job and a bit too long in a relationship, even when I *KNOW* they aren't going to work out. Taking these kinds of chances - you know, off a goddamn cliff - are so not me.
So, there's that. Scary, yet Empowering. What a fucking heady mixture.

* My Super-Secret Olympic Project (it's an internship - possibly paid, possible trip to London) is continuing on as well. If nothing else, it will be something good to add to the resume - more professional than my work with the Cabiri, and hopefully with a bigger payout on a number of levels (exposure, contacts, references, experiences...).
This, bee-tee-dubs, will be henceforth referred to as the SSOP.
One of you actually knows what it is, as of Monday night. Ssssssecretss...
But I think you'll all want in on it eventually!

* I feel like I've got so much going on that a part of me has shut down, or is paralyzed or something. I go home, and I'm crazy-tired and my head is just fried (not headachy, just... done thinking for the day). I've got bills to pay, research to do for the SSOP, emails to respond or initiate and I'm all... "I'MMA WATCH BUFFY FROM THE THE BEGINNING. AGAIN. ALSO, COOKIES." It's like I'm all set to do "The Grown-Up Thing" and part of me slams on the brakes. Like I've done enough to be happy-perky-supportive employee at my current job (part of my agreement to not be fired before March 30, and getting a good severance package), and so therefore I must not need to do anything more for the rest of the day. I... don't think that's how it works. But I make it happen, so does that mean I'm making it work? No, it's going to come back to bite me in the ass. With late fees. Also, I'm rambling now. SEE? NO FOCUS. 4:30PM, NO MORE THINKY.

* Okay, moving on. Other things in my life I WANT to do, and COULD do if I put forth the effort: Write a short story by March 30 (have beginning, ending is planned, general plot is formed. Need to write, edit, and submit). Knit ALL THE THINGS. Or at least finish the scarf I've been dabbling with for a month, and just went to a Sewing & Stitchery expo and bought books for inspiration. Clean the house. Craft things, since I have AN ENTIRE ROOM for crafting and right now all I do is pile stuff and say 'maybe this week...end." SAI stuff, like the newsletter I just sent out and a meeting next weekend. Cabiri stuff, like do I want to volunteer for their Spring show (TARHUN: LEGEND OF THE LIGHTNING GOD, if anyone wants to go/volunteer with me!) in mid-April. Swing dance classes, which I'm negotiating with my teacher to do administrative work for him (class list data entry, checking people in, etc.) in exchange for free classes. Going back to Wenatchee for an Easter weekend mini-family reunion, which may depend on my job status (was going to take off Thur/Fri/Mon at McK, but I'll be gone, sooo... maybe set a start day at next job for the following Tues?). Read the books I just bought, or at least my pile of "read it or donate it, but DO SOMETHING." Or at least read the books I've already got, including Pat Rothfuss' 1000-page tubthumper of a sequel. The dog needs to be groomed, I'm getting crispy split ends, new glasses and at least one more appointment with my therapist are a necessity before medical benies run out.
AND I KEEP FALLING ASLEEP ON THE COUCH UNTIL 2AM. God. I need a keeper, a clone, an assistant. Something.
Did reading that paragraph make your eyes glaze over? It's ok, mine did too. You see where I'm going just a little bit crazy and stressed? It's really no wonder. It's all good, positive stress (eustress, I believe?), and it's totally a First World Problems thing (OMG, how am I going to find the time to read ALL MY BOOKS? Heavens. Where are my smelling salts?), and all of my own devising. I know this. :)

I am just really glad I took a mid-week spa break last week and went to Banya 5, followed by swing dancing. I just... need more of that. Less of everything else. More money, more time, more knowing. Less stress, less instability, less doing it all myself all the time.

Out of curiosity, since I'm trying to find jobs that will "fit" me, I've taken an online Myers-Briggs test. My results show that I am an ENFP (extroverted, intuitive, feeling, perceptive), which sounds just about right! I knew I'd rank as an extrovert, but good to know on the other stuff. Keirsey classifies this as "The Champion", and his breakdown lines up just about right with how I handle situations.

Some stuff that I've C+P for my own benefit:
Like the other Idealists, Champions are rather rare, say three or four percent of the population, but even more than the others they consider intense emotional experiences as being vital to a full life. Champions have a wide range and variety of emotions, and a great passion for novelty. They see life as an exciting drama, pregnant with possibilities for both good and evil, and they want to experience all the meaningful events and fascinating people in the world. The most outgoing of the Idealists, Champions often can't wait to tell others of their extraordinary experiences. Champions can be tireless in talking with others, like fountains that bubble and splash, spilling over their own words to get it all out. And usually this is not simple storytelling; Champions often speak (or write) in the hope of revealing some truth about human experience, or of motivating others with their powerful convictions. Their strong drive to speak out on issues and events, along with their boundless enthusiasm and natural talent with language, makes them the most vivacious and inspiring of all the types.

Fiercely individualistic, Champions strive toward a kind of personal authenticity, and this intention always to be themselves is usually quite attractive to others. At the same time, Champions have outstanding intuitive powers and can tell what is going on inside of others, reading hidden emotions and giving special significance to words or actions. In fact, Champions are constantly scanning the social environment, and no intriguing character or silent motive is likely to escape their attention. Far more than the other Idealists, Champions are keen and probing observers of the people around them, and are capable of intense concentration on another individual. Their attention is rarely passive or casual. On the contrary, Champions tend to be extra sensitive and alert, always ready for emergencies, always on the lookout for what's possible.

Champions are good with people and usually have a wide range of personal relationships. They are warm and full of energy with their friends. They are likable and at ease with colleagues, and handle their employees or students with great skill. They are good in public and on the telephone, and are so spontaneous and dramatic that others love to be in their company. Champions are positive, exuberant people, and often their confidence in the goodness of life and of human nature makes good things happen.
(from here)

And this is pretty much dead on (bolded areas mine for emphasis):
The Champion is usually a bundle of energy, but they can become exhausted if they are overloaded with work. They also will experience stress if their values and principles are violated and they see others in the company being hurt by policies that kill the human spirit. Then they become hypersensitive to what is going on around them. Facts become exaggerated. They have feelings of paranoia and may withdraw. To regain their equilibrium, meditation will help. Kindness and support by others, but not patronization, will help them get back to normal.
(from here)

Anybody care to chime in with their M-B personality? Do you find it accurate? Do you agree that MINE is accurate?! I do :)

As some of you know, based on a job-hunting email I sent out recently, I am seriously looking for a new job. That has gotten ramped up, and it is now official:

I will be leaving McKinstry on or before March 30.

Yes, that's about 6 weeks away. No, I don't have anything lined up YET.

( It might not be a good time, but it feels like the right time.Collapse )

So, there it is. New life adventure. Scared to bits. Kinda excited. Totally relieved.

I've got some other stuff I want to post on, but for now, I need to take some computer skills tutorials before I take the test for my recruiter at Business Careers! Wish me luck!

As some of you know by now, I had a short story published late in 2011 - fantasy story involving Faustian deals, aerialsts, demons, and a cripple. If there were any more tropes and cliches in there, it wouldn't be bearable :) Plus several bits of various folklore and mythology woven into approximately 3,700 words. I was so pleased with the result and the overall experience of writing/editing/publishing/announcing/promoting, with a lot of really great feedback consisting of almost unanimously, "you should write more," that I've searched around for another anthology looking for submissions.

I have found one, due by the end of March, called "Sins of the Seven," and naturally it's going to be about the Seven Deadly Sins, five stories per sin. Being me, I jumped to "OOOOH, LUST." And then I realized, well, that's just too damn easy. Too popular. And, as one gamer/writer told me, "We're a repressed lot. We're going to write about sexual fantasies A LOT." So, heavy competition, little challenge, and too "me."

So I've decided to write about Envy. The green-eyed monster itself. I've started doing some research, as I did on the Dark Carnival story - as my story was mostly set in the 30's, I research the history and traditions of travelling carnivals back in the day. I researched mythology, like peacock feathers and various devil interpretations (mine is based on a variant from the Dominican Republic, although it's not terribly obvious to anyone but me, really). But I wanted to give the story some heft, something that would make it seem almost plausible.

So. Envy. What some argue as being at the root of the other sins, and definitely among the most malicious of them all. Envy is often defined in terms of it's similarly-verdant sister, Jealousy. But Envy tends to be active, while Jealousy tends to be passive. Envy is more about one's self, whereas Jealousy is about other people. For example, Envy is often about what someone else has that takes away from what one wants, and what one will do to get it. Jealousy wants what the other person has/is/does, but it doesn't necessarily mean the person with the jealousy will act on it. Therefore, Envy tends to be more destructive, outwardly to others and inwardly to oneself. It's more inherently sinful.

Some well-known examples that I've been looking up include the oldest story of Envy, of Cain & Abel in Genesis. There's Shakespeare's masterpiece of Othello, of course, from which we get the term, "beware the green-eyed monster." Some famous movies include the professional rivalries in Amadeus, The Prestige and most recently Black Swan.

One of the things about Envy is that it turns on the "owner," in that the envious person gets hit harder with some sort of karmic punishment for their sin. Nina in Black Swan, for example, {SPOILER ALERT] thinks she kills her rival when she really kills herself. Cain kills his brother, but is cast out by God. There's a moral, righteous, and fitting punishment to these wicked sinners. Envy is, to a degree, a self-punishing sin. Not to say, of course, that other sins are not full of punishment (Lust brings disease, for example). Dante's Inferno, in fact, doesn't have a specific level of hell for Envy, but places those with the most active sins towards the bottem (remember, I said this was an active sin!), including Cain, he who first envied (according to the Bible), which we all know led to murder, an active crime. These start with the City of Dis, which if I remember correctly is from the 6th Circle of Hell down to icy, frozen lake of Cocytus in the 9th (and final) Level of Hell.

[Sidenote: I myself am no longer Christian, but I was raised as such, and I find the Sins/Virtues very interesting. Plus, this topic is inherently Christian-based, as today's society views such things. The Greeks had a two different gods of Envy, so of course envy itself pre-dates Christianity, but in terms of the "Seven Deadly Sins," we're talking from a Christian standpoint. Ahem. Moving on.]

Dante does, however, address the Envious directly in the 2nd level of Purgatory (If you're not as familiar with The Divine Comedy, which I've read, the mountain of Purgatory is a direct mirror reflection of Hell - meaning that which was first in Hell will be the last in Purgatory. Which is Lust, incidentally. This set-up indicates that Lust is one of the lesser sins (in Hell) and one of the easiest to work off (in Purgatory). Envy, however, is extremely low down on the mountain which means the sinner has a long, long path to go before earning his way to Paradise. This also corresponds with the reflection in Hell, with the Envious traits being just above betrayal to God). This level of Purgatory ALSO mentions Cain, and the envy that led to the fratricide of Abel.

In more classical mythology, there's the examples of the Greek Erinyes/Roman Furies, although they tend to be a little more "after-the-fact" than the "causing-the-commotion." Then there's also the spirits of Zelos, of "eager rivalry, emulation, envy, jealousy and zeal," Phthonos of the romantic jealousy and Eris, "strife as the driving force of competition." [As noted right here]. This could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

[According to some sources, the Erinyes sprang from the blood of the Titan Uranus, when he was castrated and the testicles thrown into the sea. Their polar opposite, Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Beauty, came from the same source, but she came from the seafoam instead of the blood. Interesting, no? That love and vengeance come from the same source, which also happens to be the most primal place on the body...A story about love versus envy is almost TOO easy, though, unless it was written as an allegory].

So anyway, I'm just kind of talking through this story concept in my head/in my LJ. The Dark Carnival story was, in some ways, much easier. As soon as I heard the parameters (set in Cobalt City, a superhero city, with a once-a-generation demonic carnival in town), the story practically wrote itself in my head. This time, the parameters are different, and in some ways a little more vague - pick a sin. So I have several ways to go on this - write it sympathetic to the envious, or to the envied? Give it a fitting punishment with a moralistic dénouement? A happy ending, or a not-happy (sad, angry, vengeful, ambiguous) ending?

I am interested in what other people think of Envy. I made a quick post over on FB, but can go into more detail here. When you see/read/hear a story of Envy, which do you identify with more, the person who envys or the person being envied? What is it about the story that "gets" you? Is it that you think you could never do that? Or is it that you understand all too well that feeling? Is it secrectly uncomfortable where it hits a nerve? Does it leave you wondering how people could do such terrible things, to themselves or others?

Also, in case you are interested, here is Dark Carnival, which is available for purchase (SUPPORT LOCAL PUBLISHERS!) and here is my author interview.

Okay, that's enough for now. Off to let things percolate...

This list is mostly for my own edification, as a list of things I plan on doing around the house in the coming year. Feel free to skip, but if you're at all interested in what the hell I'm blabbering on about (a lot of these are Pinterest inspirations so the descriptions make little sense to anyone who hasn't seen what I'm talking about!), please feel free to ask!

( ...were calling out to meCollapse )

And thankfully, this weekend I have nowhere to go and only one small 2-hour (meeting) committment, so I'll be whittling down some of these smaller items this weekend - mostly in the loft, I imagine!

A real post coming soon, I promise.

But in the interim, ever have one of those days where you could cheerfully play whack-a-mole with your coworker’s heads, and feel that any jail time would be worth it? If nothing else, for the change of pace and different people to bitch at/with/about?

I’m off every Wednesday in December, and the entire last week as well. I won’t work a full week from mid-November to mid-December, thanks to a stockpile of vacation time I hadn’t used yet (and it’s use-it-or-lose-it). So, being able to plan in advance to be gone, make arrangements for stuff that needs to happen in my absence and STILL doesn’t get done makes things extra-frustrating. What was the point of doing all of the work ahead of time, only to come back and have to do it all over again?! I hate reinventing the wheel as much as the next person, and it makes me really, really want to not take time off in future. If I could cash it out, I totes would, I tell ya.

( Cut for the Whine!Collapse )

I’ve been doing this job for 6 ½ years, and most of the other dispatchers are 3-5 years (with the exception of T., who is the new guy at about 8 months right now, and is referred to as Rain Man, for painfully obvious reasons). You’d think a team that was together this long, and knowing darn well what is expected of us on a daily basis, and is told (JUST IN CASE WE FORGOT) in an email to please do this, that and the other thing, would actually get shit done. Right?

I am soooo over this job. I’ve been sending out applications weekly, but no real nibbles since my interview with Classical KING FM (Assistant Programmer position) this summer. I would have been a shoe-in, had I not just that day gotten my offer accepted on the house, and they were only able to offer me $13/hour (I’m making almost $19/hour). I couldn’t take the major paycut!
I know a new job wouldn’t necessarily cure all the ills of annoying coworkers and shit that pisses one off, because that’s everywhere. I’m also well aware that sometimes (more often than not), the grass is only greener on the other side because there’s more bullshit. But at least it would be different tasting bullshit, right? (Ewwwww…that’s a gross mental image!). But working for what is now the better part of a decade in the same entry-level position with no hope of progressing further in the company – so much for my LEED certification! – has just made me really, really done. Stick-a-fork-in-me done.

My end-of-year self-evaluation and review is coming up, and with it, the question of “what are your goals for next year?”
I am so tempted to just be honest and answer with, “getting a new job” :\

You can totally skip this post if you want, as it's really more of a reminder to myself about Things I Want to Do Around the House!
All of this is going to have to wait until the Halloween show is over, though. Might be posting a reminder about that, too - for you all!

Time frame for most of this stuff to be done is over the winter.

Bedroom:
DIY - Curtain rod/holders over windows, curtain hemming and hanging over bed
DIY - Magazine holder floating shelf, stain and hang
DIY - Faux Roman Shade for closet
DIY - Wall of fancy shopping bags, framed and hung over vanity
To Do - Hang mirror, jewelry holders, any art?
To Do - Touch up paint as needed
To Buy - 2 small wall sconces to hang above bed on either side of window


Living Room:
DIY - Canvas photographs/David poster
DIY - Line white plastic bins
To Do - Pick out and hang curtains
To Do - Touch up paint as needed
To Buy - Stencil for glossy wall art


Music Room:
DIY - Shelf – paint, (wallpaper the back?), organize music
DIY - Decoupage musical lampshade
To Do - Hang musical items/art
To Do - Install curtain rods, hang curtains


Kitchen:
DIY - Doily table runner
DIY - Bookshelves – paint, wallpaper the back?
DIY - Glass Cabinet – paint, wallpaper the back?
DIY - Remove drawer/drawer front, install paper towel rod
To Do - Reoganize spices into better cabinets/drawers arrangement
To Do - Hang art, herb-growing jars next to fridge
To Buy - Area Rug for underneath table/chairs


Loft:
DIY - Recover file cabinets (scrapbook paper, fabric?)
DIY - Side table – add table legs to an old drawer (from kitchen?), paint/decoupage?
To Do - Make up guest bed (foam is coming)
To Do - Set up craft area
To Do - Hang wall art
To Do - Set up small TV, get used DVD player?
To Do - Organize storage area
Build/Restore Built-in Bookshelf, Railing
Paint – Light & Dark Greens, White Trim


Assorted Easy & Cheap Projects to DIY:
Cork Monogram
Cereal Box Star + paint/fabric/paper
Yarn ball wreath
Candlestick + Frame
Twine-wrapped vase lantern(s)
Terrariums
Button Clock
Binding together old cards/notes
Assorted items into Treble Clef shape, spray-paint copper, mount & frame
Air freshener – baking soda & essential oils
Frame/hang corkboard

To Buy - Get 3 window screens (bedroom, music room, loft)

Holy gods, I'm updating!
Things have been sooooo crazy-busy that I've not had a lot of inclination to post, but I have not yet abandoned Ye Olde Livejournal. Most of you are on my Facebook, so y'all have a pretty good idea of what's going on in my life. Things like my house is coming along (slowly, but surely!), my ankle is healing fantastically (physical therapist is delighted with my rate of recovery) and the Halloween show is coming up (I'm going as Hans Christian Anderson's "Snow Queen").

What I've not posted about (yet) is the new man in my life. SQUEE!!! Although he is a new FB Friend, it's not "Facebook Official" yet that we are dating. But I'd say 7 dates in 2 weeks qualifies, don't you?

His name is Joseph, and he's been in Seattle about 9 months, a recent transplant from Richmond, Virginia. He's a PhD, and is incredibly smart, with an engineer's brain that my dad is going to love. He works in foot'n'ankle research, so he's totally into what I did to my foot, haha. He fences (German longsword), loves movies, books, snuggling, and makes pizza from scratch. He texts me every day, and we usually talk, too. For hooooours. It's kind of amazing!

How did we meet? He'd posted an ad on Craigslist, copying text from his plentyoffish profile. I was originally just kind of bored and flipped through the personals to see just crazy schite people were posting about themselves. I found myself really intrigued by his profile for real, though, and emailed him. We did that for a couple of days, then met up, and haven't stopped since. I'd never thought I'd actually find a truly amazing guy on Craigslist! Jobs, apartments, furniture... a man???

We seem to be very much on the same wavelength. His post specified that he was looking for somebody to get into swing dancing with (HELLO!) and a possible LTR. Okay, so that starts off well, right? Then, on our first date, I broached the C-word - children. I've come to the conclusion (after a lot of mistakes and a year of therapy) that I need to not be so shy about what I want in my life, and the white-picket-fence thing is a big deal for me. I want to create a family, that's no secret, but I struggled a lot with how and when to approach that with a potential relationship. What I've decided works best for me is to be upfront about it, but try to do it in a non-scary way. With Joseph, I prefaced the question by saying that this is something that's important to me, but I'm not so baby-crazy that I've gone out and gotten myself knocked up for it; I'm looking for the right man. When I asked how he felt about kids, he didn't pause for a second, just immediately said, "Absolutely, definitely want them." It was actually a weight off my shoulders, because I didn't have to worry/wonder about it. Surprisingly, knowing that makes me much less anxious about the relationship in general, and I feel like I can focus on just the two of us, here and now, instead of freaking about the future. It's not set by any means - I'm not so dumb as to jump to the Island of Conclusions and assume that WE ARE HAVING TEH BABBIES TOGETHER NAO! - but now that the conversation about whether or not we individually want them is done, we will need to find out if we want them together.

Particularly interesting, especially for those who know me so well, is that we haven't had sex yet - which surprisingly hasn't driven me crazy! But there's so much cuddling and high-school-ish making-out, and we are both really enjoying taking it slow - although I also enjoy pushing his buttons to be really tempting. And he knows it, too. :) There's some very good, slow-burning sexual chemistry there.

Joseph and I have a lot of the same values, upbringing, tastes, with enough differences to keep things interesting. I am so very hopeful and optimistic and happy, and I don't think I've put him on a pedestal (I do that sometimes, you know). We're going to fight and there's going to be things I don't like about him, and I'm going to drive him crazy eventually. But the foundation, thus far, seems to be slowly and solidly built.

So, that's me today. I'm about to get off work, run home and feed Teddy Bear, then back out to the door to tour the Coca-Cola factory in Bellevue with Joseph!

Hello.

How YOU all doin'?

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Happy Friday! I have decided to regale you all with delectable fluffy cuteness. Behold and Rejoice!



( You and me, somehow I knew my Fluffy would always be by my side!Collapse )

Unrelated: Moving Day 2k11 is tentatively set for Saturday, August 27. Mardi & the Boy Army are coming to help, along with my parents, Gretchen, and anyone else who is so inclined. I shamelessly bribe with pizza & beer!

I have almost 200 photos to upload and update for my Project 365. Ooooops.
However, since that's not going to happen while I'm at work, I shall update you on my current status.

The house is officially in escrow, and I'm looking at a closing date of August 12th. OH SHI- THIS IS HAPPENING. Cue happpy dance! Please, come along for a little breakdown how I envision my forthcoming domicile.

( This is not short, as I've been working on it allllll dayCollapse )

This concludes the virtual tour of my yet-to-close house! Thanks for joining, and please do come again and often!

The house-buying process is moving right along!
I found out a bit of the recent history on the house, and how it came on the market. Apparently, the most recent owner (probably the one who started upgrades, like in the kitchen, but then randomly stopped) was renting it out to college students. Trouble was, he wasn’t applying their rent to the mortgage, so it went into foreclosure. College students, they are hard on houses, I should know. So it’s not in the best of shape, just needs a lot of TLC to make it pretty and happy again. Also, previous owners had definitely made some additions and stuff, like the big eating area and the master bedroom.

So, here’s where I’m at right now!

Things that HAVE happened:
- I won the bidding war (DUH. WINNING!).
- I signed my part of the Purchase/Sale Agreement.
- House Inspection and report done! Might write more on that later.

Things that still NEED to happen:
- Get the OTHER half the Purchase/Sale signed. It’s “mine,” but not on paper yet. It got sent in about an hour before the 4th of July holiday weekend, so they are a little behind. But my realtor has the assurance from the asset company that it’s good to go.
- Get the plumbing lines scoped. Since this is bank-owned, apparently there are no records (either at all, or being offered up willingly), so I want to make sure there’s no plumbing problems to anticipate.
- Renegotiate with the bank, based on the house inspection findings (see below). I’m hoping to ask for them to knock $5,000 off the purchase price.
- Close the deal! Probably won’t be until on/after August 1st.

After Closing, but Before Moving:
- Furnace Replacement. The inspection found a lot of little things (a lot of which my dad can fix, and I will be on hand to help/learn), but the most pressing concern is the furnace. It’s from 1985 (nearly as old as me!) and while it “works,” it is in TERRIBLE condition, absolutely filthy, probably never been serviced, no filter, etc. Blech. However, since I work for this snazzy HVAC company, connections: I has them. One of my techs is willing to do side work for me, and will be coming out to check the furnace the same time as I get the plumbing scoped out. 2 birds, one scheduling stone.
- Duct Cleaning and Reattachment. We have a duct cleaning service that we refer out to here at McK, so I’ll be calling them for an estimate. ALL of the ducts need to be cleaned, one needs to be reattached completely, and one needs to be realigned.
- Painting! This is the part I’m most excited about so far. I’ve never painted a wall in my life, and for some reason, that is SUCH a homeownery thing to do – paint your damn walls! I couldn’t (or didn’t want to deal with the hassle of re-painting upon move-out) in my apartments/dorm rooms, so this is exciting for me. And I have IDEAS, y’all. It is going to be GORGEOUS!!! More on that later – probably going to be a separate post, heh.
- Mom will want to bleach everything to high heaven. And really, this place needs it. Actually, I’m considering getting a one-time cleaning service, because it’s just been used SO HARD. Poor house-baby.
- Need to remove certain things in the basement, to monitor some water damage concerns.

Moving Day 2011
- Will probably be late August. I’ve got a sweet arrangement with my landlord worked out, in that my last month’s rent was paid up front, and so I wrote my last rent check for July, and that will give me through the end of August to get the house freshened up before schlepping all of my stuff (all 4 blocks ). My landlord said I was doing a really smart thing by giving myself a month to get the house ready before loading it up with stuff, and saving myself a world of headaches and hassle. Yay! It so worked out.
- Yes, I will be putting out a call for friends to come help me move – I will TOTES provide pizza and beer!
- My parents are helping to coordinate the really big stuff that will require professional movers from Wenatchee. These items include my baby grand piano, the antique hall tree and grandmother clock from Granny (paternal grandmother), and the antique wardrober from Grandma (maternal grandmother), as well as the antique black leather fainting couch (that desperately needs to be restuffed and retufted, eventually), the delightful Laz-E-Boy that my dad has had since the 60’s (needs a slipcover/to be recovered)… and I think that’s it for furniture from there. There are other things, like my prized and priceless gifts from my surrogate grandparents, holiday décor/ornaments, rugs and quilts, etc., that are mine and have been held for me by my parents. But those items will probably come over in my parent’s car, not the movers.
- I am hoping to have a lot of small items moved over before anybody has to deal with them. Things like extra bathroom stuff that is not in use (like bubble bath – I have a standing only shower right now, but the new place is back to a tub!), holiday plates/décor, outdoor patio furniture, all 350 books, kitchen supplies/dishes I don’t use on a regular basis, and so on. Because I’m only 4 blocks away, I can make a lot of short trips with my car packed up each time.

Settling In – Future To-Do’s
- Knock out a partial (non-load-bearing wall) just inside the front door, that leads to the front bedroom, in order to put in French doors and make it more a part of the living/front room. Possibly run more bamboo flooring for a more seamless effect. This will be the music room, and the French doors will allow it to be more open and inclusive, while still keeping it with “bedroom” status (for house value).
- Replace all the carpeting in master bedroom, loft and basement.
- Yardwork. All of the vines encroaching up the side need to go. Grass/lawn needs to be de-dandelioned. Start an herb garden. Want lavender and rosebushes in immediately, and then go from there. Also: Chickens.
- Back “patio.” There was an old shed there once upon a time, and the shed is gone (there is electrical run out to it, though), and there’s a solid cement foundation. It’s ugly now, but I have PLANS to lay down nice paving stones, a barbeque, and a cute firepit (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a “cute firepit,” and I have one already on my wishlist :D). Also, possibly an awning, pretty twinkly lights and maybe a fancy doghouse for Teddy Bear.
- Basement has a LOT of potential. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of concerns, like water damage in one corner, and mold along an interior wall. There’s 3 areas to the basement, and I’d like to make them specific areas: laundry room, storage room, and movie room. The movie room would be big comfy squishy things to sit on, get a projector for the big open wall, and there’s an odd little platform area (we think it was the old coal chute/storage) with maybe a small fridge for snacks and drinkies, and so on. Possibly, depending on the huge effing hassle it would be, also put a bathroom downstairs. It would be a pain in the patoot I bet, but it would also make it a 3 bed/2 bath house, and would add expontentially to the value of the place. Basement also needs new ceiling – or rather A ceiling, as it’s currently just cloth tacked to the rafters, and enclose the hot water heater/furnace areas properly to be tucked out of sight, out of mind.

I’m sure more will get added to the list as I go. I mean, I still have crafty projects to do that have NOTHING to do with a house! And books to read! And things to knit! People to see and dog to walk and boys to love!

I’m so excited! * cue Jessie Spano * I’m also overwhelmed, nervous, terrified, thrilled, and accomplished.

I have lots to talk about. Try not to get lost in the epic ramblings of a not-posting-enough-in-smaller-doses Ashley.

In order of increasing importance:

* My SIFF movie of choice to see this year was Burke & Hare, which has Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Andy Serkis (LotR's Gollum) as grave robbers in 1830's England.

* I have a couch/sleeper sofa for sale! Here is the Craigslist ad, I'm asking $50 OBO, and that includes the chocolate-brown strechy-suede slipcover, that's been modified for the sleeper bed part (not visible when it's in couch-mode). Needs to go by next weekend, 17 June! If no one takes it, I'll call Salvation Army or something.

* I have officially started the search for my first house! Some opportunities in West Seattle have arisen, and with my car being paid off last month (YESSSSS!) and 2 loans finishing payments this summer (about $800 total), all that remains is my last student loan. So I'm in a good position, with good credit/credit scores, to buy. As a first time buyer, I get a bunch of help, and additionally, Clay is holding my hand through all of this process (he's a realtor). It's a tremendously exciting, yet slightly overwhelming experience, but I'm so jazzed to find my OWN place, and stop paying rent, and getting to paint and fix up, and it will all just be so awesome. I've got my pre-approval letter (not just pre-qual, I've been through the underwriter and everything, I could have a house within a matter of weeks!), and I've got a budget. With the housing market where it's at right now, I'm looking at a 140,000 to 180,000 price range. At the upper end is something like this charming house with the picket fence and everything. At the lower end, and the house that really kick-started this process, is this little one, which is a block away from me, and in decent condition. It's bigger than the first house, by about 300sq ft! Lots of potential, a few cosmetic things. It was also originally priced at 153,000 (it's bank-owned) and has dropped to 139,900 in the last week.
I have an appointment with my realtor to see 4 houses this evening, and some more with my parents on Saturday when they are in town (delivering the new couch).

* And of course, the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL (so far - this has actually happened, while a house is still TBD), is that I got me a dog! It's been something I've talked about, wanted, daydreamed, etc. for a long, long time - basically ever since I graduated from college. I luuuuuuurve dogs, and one of my favorite things about family gatherings is that I get some doggy lovin's. Schnauzers, boxers, mastiffs, etc. It has always made coming home to an empty place a little bit lonelier every time. But, I always felt like the financial obligation of owning a pet would hamstring me (I've had some months that were beyond tight), and I didn't want to be one of those jackhole owners who get a pet and then can't afford to take proper care of it. Plus, I was always so busy, and landlord restrictions, and yadda yadda yadda.

But then, some things changed recently.

( Who let the dogs out? WOOF!Collapse )

So, now that you all have the background on my new little fluffernut, fuzzykins, squirrely monkey, Prince Charming, good boy, bad dog, Sir Licks-a-Lot, here are some pix!

With his spearmint rope toy




With his tiny tennis ball


Studly Dog is Studly.


Embarassed to be photographed with Momma?


On my bed with his Heffalump


And you can be sure, there are many more to come :D

FINALLY, A FUNNY.
I have been laughing at this all. damn. day. It is SO what work feels like, especially in customer service, or any job where you deal with idiots all day! Like people who book calls with not enough information in them, and then I get lambasted for not knowing this invisible, magic information. Set up to fail, I tell ya.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Fan of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? Enjoy food? Then this looks like the most amazing conglomeration of the two - Inn at the Crossroads!

Insert segue here. :P

Updating a bit, as I'm behind on photoblogging my year thus far. Here we are, up until last Sunday.

Project 365 post
( Starting with the 2nd half of FebruaryCollapse )

( MarchCollapse )

( AprilCollapse )

This weekend is going to be an intense one.
Saturday, I have the public library's semi-annual book sale + crafty day with Gretchen. My goal is to not buy more than 10 books - WE SHALL SEE HOW THAT GOES.
Sunday and Monday, though, are going to be the really big ones. Clay and I will be taking our farewell road trip up to Deception Pass on Sunday, spending the night (probably in my car, with the backseat folded down and lots of sleeping bags, blanket and pillows), and coming back on Monday. We'll get to Seattle late-morning/mid-day, and spend several relaxing hours at Banya5 (getting in on their early-bird happy-hour half-off price). And then he will go to work that evening (his new business venture of pedicabs, working the Mariner's game). And I will go home. And we will be officially broken up.

I have some very mixed feelings about this trip. I'm looking forward to this time, just the two of us, but I'm incredibly saddened by what it represents. I know that the break-up is the right thing to do, in order to have the kind of future that I want, but I love him fiercely and a part of me does not want to let this relationship go. I'll be taking some time for myself, but I also know that I'll be lonely quite often. So it's a mixed bag of very strong, and some conflicting, emotions.
I dislike being conflicted. I like to be what I consider my usual self: happy, optimistic, laughing, enjoying what I'm doing. To be feeling things like sadness, loneliness, fear, etc., is NOT a bad thing. On the contrary, it's good to feel and acknowledge one's full range of emotions and not deny their right to exist. But it's hard for me to enjoy (if that's the right word?) feeling those things, and being okay with it. My emotions swing so high and so low, so intensely that I don't really function at 100% when I'm in the lows.

So, with this busy Sat/Sun/Mon schedule (plus being out tonight), I'm taking Tuesday off for a mental health day. My supervisorlady knows the bare bones of what is going on, and she is very supportive of me taking the time that I need. I am hopeful that with having some time to myself, and just taking each day as it comes, and each emotion as it rises, I will be okay. Maybe even better than okay.


So I'm just going to prattle on here about some things I want for the future. This particular topic will be a House of Dreams theme.

( When I think of home, I think of a place where there's love overflowingCollapse )

Alrighty, that's enough rambling and day-dreaming for today. Tune in next time for more!

Bosslady is still out on maternity leave, and Supervisorlady is having a mental health day, so I am continuing to dork around on the internet. And post more pictures!

From the Flower & Garden Show that I attended with mamma and auntie again this year!


( Lilies and iris, safe from the chill. Safe in my garden, snowdrops so still.Collapse )

What are your plans for the weekend, friendsies?

Finally catching up on some old photoblogging from last year. Edited for content, of course, although there's not much - I honestly didn't take that many pictures last year. But I still like to post them for posterity :)



( Fall FestivitiesCollapse )
And to close, and to reflect the gorgeous colors of the flower at the top, here's a sunset, becuase I'm me and that's what I do, ya'll.



Best part of today - getting to hold my bosslady's brand-new son (13 months old) that she just adopted from Korea. What a cute little monkey!!! 'Scuse me, I need to go now, my uterus is knocking... anybody else hear that beeping?
How's your day, peeps?