No kidding, I’m serious.

Granted, I’m not a big believer in ghosts and what not, but I do try to keep an open mind about things.

Why do I think my apartment is haunted?

Well, see, baby Bella, has alerted me to this fact.  Recall she couldn’t hear?  She seems to have recovered either partly or wholly from the noise trauma that affected her hearing when she was a wee kitten.

In fact, she has not only started responding much more acutely to noises versus vibrations, but also meowing much more often, and her meow is sooooo cute and high-pitched and sort of ‘tiny’ it’s freaking adorable… except around 4 or 5 in the morning.

The last few nights, all snuggled in my bed surrounded by my meows, I’ve woken up to multiple wee high-pitched meows.  Granted, the first time, it was because Baby Bella didn’t realize she’s not so tiny anymore and got herself nearly completely stuck trying to squeeze behind the washing machine (oh I can’t tell you how much fun that little rescue exercise was at 3am!), but the other times were much more strange.

Due to the first ‘emergency’, when I hear that cute meow, it plucks me from sleep and puts me on alert and I instantly hop out of bed, without the benefit of my glasses, to go searching blindly for my little Bella (her three curious brothers in tow of course).

Where have I found her?  In various corners of my bedroom and living room, looking up, in the dark, meowing at apparantly - nothing!

Now see, being that I know cats have super night vision we don’t posess, I can easily fall back asleep knowing most likely, she has trained her eye on some random gnat or spider roaming my soon to be vacated apartment.  However, being OCD and at times a bit, um, well, er, crazy - I can also easily NOT fall back asleep wondering if a ghost is reaching out to her…

Like the unfortunate confused ghost of a ten-year-old boy who finds visiting my room at night funny because I fart so much, so loudly, without abandon and at times, when it wakes him up, Leroy (cat) will literally swat my ass multiple times (I watch Ghost Whisperer, it could happen :P).  That, or one of my grandmothers who are rolling over in their graves that I am 33 and STILL a single woman are trying to ‘guide’ me to marriage - I imagine they don’t find the jubilant expulsions of toxic air as satisfying or enjoyable as I do.  I’m also sure that when said expulsions wake me up and make me laugh, they cringe even more.

Anyways, the only other option is that it could be my sweet Mufassa, who’s ashes are contained in a lovely wooden case on my entertainment center (do not judge me ), still hovering around us, watching over his big brother and being that she’s still so young she can see him, teaching Bella the tricks of the trade.

Maybe it’s something altogether less substantial, like trailing auras of stank ass farts that just don’t want to go away and instead lingering in such subtle green tones of toxicity, only wee Bella can see them and she’s hoping her little cries of ‘go away’ will expel them once and for all.

I think for dating purposes, I should try to pretend I believe it’s a ghost… a very foul ghost that likes to leave behind stinky wisps of air to let people know it was there…

Mmmkay.  So yesterday I touched on the loan processor suddenly needing a bunch of shit I didn’t think was needed based on previous conversations and then having to jump through hoops and dance like a trained monkey to get everything to her so I could still close this Friday, right?

Well, I got all that to her only to find, TODAY, that there is even more stuff she needed and now we can’t close this week.  I might have had to put my normal happy and agreeable self away and bust out the ‘Are you freaking kidding me with your incompetence and OH HELL NO you didn’t just try to make everyone think this is my fault’ bitchy pants.

I really hate wearing my bitchy pants.  I’m very laid back and easy going - even when I’m mad or upset, I generally have my say, then get over it and go back to being chill and get annoyed when others can’t do the same.  It generally takes quite a bit to get under my skin enough to piss me off that I will either be rude and pissy with you or even blog about you.  I don’t know if that means anyone should feel special that they’ve ticked me off enough to ever be berated on my blog. :P

So, back to the title - irony.

See, back when I started this whole ‘buying a house’ thingy, I needed to submit a 2008 and 2007 W2.  I’m generally very organized and have all this stuff in the same location, but for whatever reason and after literally tearing my office and files a part, I could not find the effing 2007 W2!

Again, two months ago - my mortgage broker assured me that was fine and they could order a transcript of it and I even signed off on a form to do so when I filled out the big scary intense loan paperwork.

As a backup, I contacted my old company and the bitchy-unhelpful-C U next tuesday- payroll lady to see if I could get a copy.  Knowing her bitchiness I even had a former co-worker I still talk to follow up with her.  Twice I was told she was sending it - twice I didn’t get it.

However, it took a little longer to find a home I wanted to make an offer on and there was that whole ‘transcript form’ so it was all A-OK!

Until yesterday.

The loan lady called me and said she needed a copy of said 2007 W2 even though they had requested transcripts (*couch* BULLSHIT - if you requested them properly you would have it - thankyouverymuch) as we can’t close without it.

I talk to mortgage broker who ‘does’ remember that conversation but ‘I guess we need it after all!’

I imagine stabbing people in my head, and I’m not a violent person.

I call former crappy company yet again and basically chew out disgruntled payroll lady’s new assistant as DGP lady is out.  She says the best she can do is get it to me the next morning.

Fearing that yet again, I will get nothing, I find an online service that can get said transcript and pay double to have it expedited overnight to my email.

This morning?  I get the copy from former company and expedited copy from service only to find that ADDITIONAL shit is needed to close and being Tuesday - no way to close by Friday - so rush, rush, rush all for not.

I am pissy the rest of the day.  Chocolate helps.

I come home, and being that I had the cleaning lady come and being that I said I am moving soon so ‘de-clutter’ all you can, I am EXTREMELY pleased at how sparkling and clean my apartment is!  Empty shoe boxes and crap in the fridge and other crap are GONE!  YAY! 

I sit down to check my email and notice two envelopes next to my keyboard.  Am assuming cleaning lady found them while decluttering my desk area.

What do I find when I open the 2nd one?  The missing EFFING 2007 W2!!!!!!!  I couldn’t help it, I burst out in that crazy LOUDER than it should be laugh.  What are the freaking odds?  I searched everywhere and the cleaning lady apparantly found it behind a box she moved.  All after I not only paid for another copy, but bitched someone out for yet another copy and now that it’s not needed, here it is, all happy and shiny and ready to be of use.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. :P  hahahaha

First, thank you all for your kind sentiments about Kurt. :)  I have to say though, his funeral was by far the strangest I’ve been to.  Why?  Well let’s start with the minister first reading the obit. word for word to start, then not being able to pronounce Kurt’s sisters name, and spelling it out - A-n-a-lise?  Then after a few words, calling him Kent.  Sigh.  It was more a very strange sermon about dust and dummies and the poor minister’s wife who passed away 11 years ago and figthing the church board and being prompted to say ‘Amen’ a lot and laugh and lots of wonderings of where Kurt is now, at which point a former co-worker of mine who is from another country leaned over and said, ‘He’s right behind him.’ - I’m not sure if he was being funny or truly lost and confused.  The minister even made a point to tell us when he was wrapping things up because ‘this is only the 30 minute service’ Really? Sigh.  Poor Kurt, it figures he would have such an impersonal and odd funeral.  I joked with a co-worker that I could totally see him laughing and giving his characteristic smirk while saying, ‘Whaaaaaaaa?  That’s just crazy!’ as he often did when we got to yapping. 

In other news, even though I’ve been telling you all daily via text, facebook or IM - Today is DAY SEVENTEEN with no smoking.  Honestly?  I miss it.  It was such a little comforting friend there for me at the end of the day while sitting in traffic, the perfect companion whilst drinking beer…  however I don’t miss hacking up stuff and coughing myself silly and always getting winded way too early when doing cardio.  I think I’m sleeping better too, go figure.

Things for the house are coming along and if the mortgage broker and the processor would stop effing around with me, I should close this Friday.  They’re all nice people, but I guess everyone was off last week for Spring Break, and the last I had heard before that was ‘everything’s been submitted and ready to go’ so I figured that meant, ‘Everything’s READY to go!’  Right?

Wrong!  See, over the weekend I got my electricity and gas ready to be hooked up and planned to grab a quick lunch* and then eat at my desk so I could call to set up the trash and water service and find out about getting my cable/phone/internet hooked up when my phone rings.  It was the processor lady who suddenly needed extra tax documents that I had discussed with the mortgage broker over a month ago because I didn’t have them and was ASSURED they would order transcripts and I even signed a form for them to do so.  Apparantly, NOT, as my loan was in jeopardy of not being approved lest I make the missing W2 magically appear.  That and some documents I was going to get from my parents that I thought I didn’t need until the actual closing on Friday were needed RIGHT THAT SECOND and if I can’t pull all of this out of my ass closing is going to have to be moved to a later date! 

So, there went my previous plan as I had to make a bunch of phone calls and help my parents track down a fax machine on the Port A island - which really shouldn’t be a big deal, but if you know Port A - you know the lack of technology in general. :P  After a few emails pointing out that someone had dropped the ball on that end and to get off my back already, and after failing yet again to get ahold of someone with a brain at my former company to send a copy of the effing W2 (I did make a great effort to request it twice already to no avail ‘just in case’) I finally paid an online service to get it expedited from the IRS in 24 hours.  PAID being the key word as in something I wouldn’t have had to do, if I had been told I would have to get it on my own in the first place.

Granted, while all this is going on and my parents and the broker and the processor keep calling me back, I’m still trying to do my actual work.  Then my real estate agent calls me in a panic that she’s been told we can’t close on Friday because I didn’t get the right stuff together.  By this point my patience was gone, and being that she was just as out of the loop of the mess as I had been, I explained to her that up until 2 hours ago, I had been told everything was fine and that everything I needed was there already and as far as I’m concerned we are still closing on Friday and I’m ticked off that I’m at work and they’re making me jump through hoops.  Being the great realtor she is, she said she’d get in touch with everyone and straighten things out. :) 

By the end of the day, everyone had what they needed, or at least I think they do, and I reminded myself that considering the way things are right now for most people - I’m DAMN lucky that my biggest source of stress is tracking down a few documents to close on a new home. 

* about lunch.  As usual when in a rush, I headed out to get a sammich from the nearby Subway.  I refer to this location as the ‘busiest Subway in the world’ because the line is always at least 10 deep.  However, the ’sandwich artists’ (that’s what the job description calls them - look it up if you don’t believe me) are fast.  I’m of the mind that they are all in some kind of work-rehabilitation program for gang members who got out of jail, what with all the under eye tats implying so, but they’re a great group of hard workers. 

Today, my sandwich artist kept staring at me after I ordered my sammich, which always makes me self-conscious (I mean, you never know when you have the rogue booger hanging out!).  Then, he announced, ‘You have the most hypnotizing eyes!  I can’t stop staring at them!’.  Flattered, but embarassed, I’m now full on blushing and utter a meek ‘thank you - hahahaha’.  However, he kept commenting about them and that made the people around me start turning to stare at me, which resulted in me being all giggly, red faced and embarassed, stupidly trying to say ‘pickles’ and getting out ‘puckuhs’ instead.  SIGH.  Also, for some reason, when flustered or nervous, I lose coordination and all but threw the chips I selected onto the counter and knocked over my drink cup while trying to pay.  :P  Siiiiiiiigh. 

 - In memory of Kurt Wagner, may you rest in peace. -

Today I got news from a friend and former co-worker of mine that I never wanted to get.

Two jobs back for me (4 years since I quit), at the most horrible place I’ve ever worked, I met her and my other co-worker, Kurt, whom we both loved and adored. 

While the company sucked and they worked us to the bone and after a year, I gladly quit to pursue other options as did my friend Rosanne, who called me today, we both left behind Kurt.  Granted, both of us told him incessantly that he was so smart he could find a better job and should - he deserved to enjoy life, but I don’t think he really believed us for whatever reason.

The company was family owned and promoted family values almost, (as in NOT) as much as it promoted family members, while shitting on everyone else.  Sweet Kurt’s father had worked for them for years and Kurt had run into some trouble when he was younger, so he sort of felt ‘obligated’ to work there for crappy pay and endure the hideous hours they required of him.  Trust me, it was HORRIBLE to work there and I hated every minute of it in the year I worked there until I was able to quit and move on.  It broke my heart to leave Kurt behind, but he seemed happy with his path in life and his situation.

Kurt passed away over the weekend and was found on Sunday.  They think it was a heart attack.  Kurt couldn’t be more than 40 years old at the oldest.  I know it’s not rational, but I’m sad that he had to pass during the horrid cold rainy weather and couldn’t at least get to the sunny weather we had on Monday.  As my parents said, ‘There’s never a good day to die.’, but it still bugs me that he died in the midst of such depressing sad weather while being alone.

It bugs me even more, and Rosanne, that upon learning of his passing, both of us instantly thought, ‘They did work him to death.’  I have the tendency to brag that I’m usually always right about things, but this is one time, I’m very sad that I was.  I hate to admit that while not unexpected to hear he passed so young, it is still very, very sad and I truly hope he is in a better place and finally at peace.

It really upsets me that both Rosanne and I were right in that that place would kill him eventually with the stress it put on him.   I am so very sad that he is gone.  My heart is broken that he did work himself to death and especially that he died alone.  I guess it’s natural that I find myself thinking that if maybe I’d been more dilligent about keeping in touch after I left, in trying to persuade him to find a better job, he would still be here.  Maybe I just want to find blame in myself for something that I had no control over.

Whatever the reasons and whatever my feelings, I am very sad that Kurt is no longer with us.  He had the sweetest soul and the kindest laugh and was the most genuine person who would do anything for anyone and never worried about putting himself or his needs first.  No matter how stressed or tired he was - he could always manage a joke or a laugh and a smile.  I will miss him terribly.  Rest in peace my dear, you’ve earned it.

I’m sorry, I’m still mad and I still want to vent.  (see below post if you’re lost).

I don’t give a right shit who you are or what you think, but if you DARE decide to not only contact friends or family members of the person who dumped you after you have been dumped, but will also stoop to such low levels as to try to convince them their friend/daughter is a sinner or in need of help that only you can provide?  I will unleash hell on you, as only a trully irate Irish woman can.  Back the fuck off!

Again - that is NOT love - that is classical STALKING.  Oh sure, you may have a silver tongue that can charm and weave lies that put you in a good light - but HELLO - that is what all controlling people do and exactly how and why so many women end up in abusive subserviant relationships.  You break them down to see that they can’t live without you and guilt them into feeling sorry for you when they choose to leave you.  You put little suggestions into the minds of the people who know and love them best while trying to showcase yourself as the caring ‘hero’ who only wants what’s best for them.

Oh, you may fool everyone else, but you will not fool me.  I see right through you and it sickens me and pisses me off.  Normally, I choose not to be confrontational and to let people handle their own issues, with advice given if asked for, or if, as a REAL FRIEND, who only has the best interests of the person at heart, my thoughts, whether they listen or don’t about certain situations.

Yes, if I am concerned about a friend, I will not only tell said friend my concerns and try to talk to them about it, but contact other friends I know are also equally close and concerned about said friend’s best interest if the situation requires it.  Unless I seriously felt that said friend was in imminent danger of harming themself, would I then go to, oh say, family I don’t know all that well with my concerns just because I think they might somehow be able to regain my favor with said friend.  Or even if I did know them and for whatever reason, my friend and I weren’t on good terms, AGAIN, I would not disrespect my friend and our confidance and go to their parents over a silly thing like ‘We just aren’t friends anymore’ because no matter HOW you say it or try to play it, that’s just juvenile and BULLSHIT.

Bok - Bok - Bok.  I guess the chicken crossed the road in hopes of getting reinforcement when it was obvious the hen was not interested.

I would not however, if said friend and I were done, go to their parent and through flattery and bullshit try to twist my motive to turn them to my side, agreeing all the way that maybe, only I can lead them to God and help them save themself.  ESPECIALLY if I am not all that Godly in my own ways or past, but am just desperatley looking for any branch to grasp that will keep me in their life.

For fuck’s sake, we are ADULTS!!!!  Some of us have children of our own who we are trying to raise to be confident and able bodied adults who can handle what life brings us.

 Again, I do agree - it’s HARD when a relationship ends and the hole in your heart feels like all hell, but until you are man enough to take a step back and look at the part you played in the relationship that caused it fail and LEARN from it, you cannot grow.  Perhaps, you have worked this way your entire life, just being in a relationship and when it got ‘hard’ you bailed or found other ways of ‘dealing’ with it. 

Guess what?  ALL relationships are hard- and the ones that are really worth it - are usually the hardest.  You have to work at it and acknowledge your own faults and shortcomings as does the other participant and you have to find a common ground and be willing to work out the things that you don’t want to give up ground on.  Otherwise, you are just an asshole and will once again, end up alone.

I may not always agree with the choices my friends make, but as their FRIEND (and that word means a lot to me), I will always support them and see them through - whether it ends in good or bad, because I love them and know that none of us are unfalliable and all of us make mistakes.  I choose to be a true FRIEND and to give them my support, along with my thoughts and no matter what they decide, to support them unconditionally.  I feel no need to try to ’sabotage’ them by going to people in their lives I don’t know, under false pretenses, and try to persuade them to get on my side.

 I have tried to remain impartial and to understand, but after a while the line gets crossed and I feel I have to let my feelings be known.  This is MY blog, and I can say whatever the damn hell I think and I would like to say that even though all my friends tend to be nice and polite, not a one of us is fooled or on your side and I would greatly appreciate it if you would find your man panties and either act like an adult and move on, or seek professional help, because if this keeps going on the way it has been and my FRIEND keeps having to deal with the bullshit you bring into her life because of it, I will not sit here in Houston on my happy ass, I will come meet you in person and tell you how it is.

Yes, it sucks for you.  I’m sorry - but GUESS WHAT?  We’ve all been there, and I’m sure that you have put someone else in the same agonizing situation before - so it’s really just karma coming back to kick you in the ass like it has to all of us.

People can pick on me and make my life miserable day in and day out, but if you cross my family or my friends - I will make your life as miserable as you make theirs - and that’s a promise.

Seriously.

I am so over the people who are ‘adults’ but have never grown up.  People even older than me acting like immature high school kids dealing with their first relationship breakup.

So, let me give you a few tips.

it’s called a breakup because it’s broken.

If someone no longer has feelings for you, you cannot force them to.

Glomming onto their friends and family and trying to make it a point to be noticeable to where they can’t go a day without some kind of communication from you is not ‘proving your love’, it’s ’stalking’ and damn annoying.

Lord knows I KNOW how hard it is to go through a breakup and feel like you’ll never be able to breathe again or love again.  I KNOW how easy it is to convince yourself if you just run into the person or maybe if you say something clever or funny to their friend that it will get back to them and they’ll suddenly remember they love you.  Sorry, doesn’t work.

Really, the reason the saying, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ is so popular, is because it’s true.  Someone is more likely to miss you after a period of absence from you where they start to forget all the things that were driving them crazy, versus you bombarding them with reminders and further pissing them off.

When I left my last BF, I had warned him from the start that if I ever made the declaration that things had deteriorated to the point I felt splitting up was the best option, I would mean it, because I hate that shit being thrown around as a way to win a stupid argument.  He didn’t believe me.  Then I said it, he thought I was bluffing and then I was GONE.  That’s when the phone calls started, the randomly stopping by when he was drunk.  Oh, and my favorite???  Suddenly the guy who had bitched and moaned for 4 years about how much my family annoyed him and how much he hated how much time I spent with them, wanted to be their best friend. 

I told my sister plainly, ‘If you continue to be friends with him, you are validating the way he treated me which is what resulted in my leaving.  That is disrespectful to me.’  She listened and he was out, because seriously, if you as an adult decide to end a relationship that is no longer healthy or viable for you for whatever reason, including, ‘I just don’t love him anymore’, to have family keeping in contact with the ex and trying to convince you to come around is disrespectful to you and frankly, if they like them so much - then they should date them and let you be.  No one really knows what goes on in a relationship but the two people in it.  There’s a lot people see on the outside, but they can’t truly know the inside things.

That and again, if you don’t have feelings for someone anymore, you can’t be forced to.

I would think being that we are all adults now, these things would be distant memories of the past when we were young and dumb.  Now I know that when a relationship ends, to surround myself with friends and family and to find things to occupy my time - like volunteering at the HSPCA and joining the singles group Events and Adventures to meet new people.  It’s not healthy to just sit around wallowing in what was and what could have been. 

GET OVER IT!  PUT YOUR BIG GIRL/BOY PANTIES ON AND MOVE ON!

Kat - who just had to get that out.

Yay!

So, I think I mentioned that aside from being addicted to Facebook and Mobwars, thus neglecting my blog, I have been trying to get into a house!  I made an offer, went back and forth with the seller (seriously, it figures I would find the perfect house and get the CRAZY homeowner!) and finally agreed on things and entered a contract on Friday.

This morning, I met the inspector at the house and went over everything in detail and nothing major needs to be done, so while of course I’m going to ask her to fix a few things - honestly, after dealing with her, I can almost predict her answer will be ‘No fixing, No allowances!’ - thankfully, all the things the inspector found are minor and ‘Nickel and Dime stuff’. 

Seriously - the seller is just out there.  Nice, but she just isn’t playing like she should!  First, it was weird that she had to BE THERE when I viewed the house, and then again when my parents went to check it out and again today while the inspector was there and when I came over and he walked me through everything.  Who does that?  Today, her college-aged son was also there, although I never actually saw him, but while the inspector was taking me around, he managed to shower, get yelled at in Spanish LOUDLY by his mom, and then was holed up in his room getting ‘ready for the day’. :P  So.Weird!

As we were leaving, the seller inquired of me, nicely at least, if I would need to see the home again before closing, and if so, could it be in the afternoon as that works better for her schedule. :P  That and she inquired how quickly it would be for her to get the updated contract with all the inspection stuff and do I really want to close at the end of March as she hasn’t even started packing.  I just smiled and told her I don’t know anything and will have to talk to my agent, who will talk to her agent. :P 

Really, do you want to sell the house or not???? :P   At least her dog and kitty are nice. :) 

Anyways, other than that, I made it out the Rodeo Cookoff on Saturday, and while it was effing COLD and WINDY - had a BLAST!!!!!  Many thanks to Sheri who was able to not only get me and my friend Jen, my sister and BIL in, but MANY other friends!!!  We had a GREAT time!!!!  Sadly, in between my partying and freezing while I had my camera, I never thought to use it.  :P  Oh well! 

On Friday night, Jen and I watched Bill Maher’s documentary, ‘Religulous’ (think a cross of Religious and Ridiculous).  VERY funny and very insightful.  I highly reccomend it!  Sort of like ‘Maxed Out’ did for the topic of the credit industry and debt in the nation, this documentary is not only entertaining, but opens up a lot of dialogue between people.  My co-worker, who is a devout Catholic, also rented it on Friday and we both had lots to discuss about it today. :) 

So, that’s all I’ve got to blabber about for now.  Positively stimulating, no? hahahaha

So, I’m running a little late, but it’s still 2/20, so it’s not too late to wish one of my favorite people a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Even though you make fun of my crazy cross-eyed baby, I still love you! :) 

Kamster, I’m so glad our paths crossed in this crazy world and that I am lucky enough to be able to call you my friend!  You are such an amazing person, loyal to your friends, funny, kind, generous, able to handle yourself with grace in even the worst of times, intelligent and never one to back down from your convictions and beliefs even when challenged, wherein you eloquently, but passionatley, defend them and put people in their place.  That, and you put up with Tammy and my, um, er, hmm, how to say this… ‘unpleasant indescretions’ when we hang out. :)  You let me bring a wee tiny foster kitty into your home the first time I came to visit you and didn’t even complain when she fumigated the entire house!  You are always there for anyone who needs you, no matter the time of day or the situation.  You have one of the kindest souls I’ve ever seen and I wish you nothing but true happiness in life!  If anyone deserves it, you do! :) 

I hope this birthday finds you happy and content and that this coming year brings you all the joy and happiness you deserve!!!!  Love you girl!  Mean it! :)  Wish I could be there with you to celebrate properly!  Oh, and sorry about that whole ‘plumbing incident’… :)  *whislting*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAMI!!!!!

Surely, the answer is ‘Um, well, not really.’ or ‘No’.  hahaha

I know, I don’t post very often and when I do, lately I’m boring or bitching.  Can’t blame you. :)  My mouth is all better - and thank you for the comments voicing concern - I guess if I ever go through that again, I will say ‘YES!!!!!’ to pain meds!

I’ve discovered Facebook and am spending a lot of my online free time there, giving out silly gifts and playing mobwars. :)  Are you there? If you are tell me and I’ll add you! :)   Who knew it was so much fun!

Aside from that, I have been working to purchase my very own first home!  Yay!

Tomorrow, my parents are meeting my awesome realtor at 6, and I am going to try to get there as soon as possible so they can see the home I want to make an offer on!  It’s PERFECT for me!  I saw it last Friday with my sister and honestly, other than some pesky traffic on the street (recall, it’s just me), it’s PERFECT!

3 bedrooms, 2 baths - ALL wood floors!  (YAY for not having to scrub cat vomit out of the carpet again!). 

Honestly, this was sort of a ‘compulsion’ of mine, that occurred a few weeks back when I got the notice as to what the new cost of my dilapidated apartment would be for another 6 months, and annoyed and frustrated beyond belief after 14 years of living in various apartments, I decided to play with the numbers (seriously, do you know the outrageous cost of apartment living these days?! GAH!) and found that after several years of being very dilligent and paying off bad credit decisions from my youth, I actually qualify for a decent loan! 

Let’s face it - I’m not married and don’t have kids, so the needs of my cats and I for a home are not that great and Houston has such a huge housing market, and being that I’m looking on the outskirts, I have found a couple of places that I can really afford!  YAY!

One of my biggest ‘wants’ is wood or parque flooring as with my allergies and with my cats, I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE carpet and have for a long time - that’s why I ripped up the carpet in my dining room 2 years back and put down tiles. (bye-bye deposit!)

Not to mention, this once ‘great’ apartment has started to wear on my nerves, as apartments tend to do.  I can’t even get in through the gates anymore as after they broke for weeks on end and were fixed, the ‘coding’ changed, and I lost the remote 2 years back, and the code I programmed into my car visor isn’t working, so in order to gain access to my own place, I have to call myself from the front gate call box and wait until I can use my cell phone to let me in.   Yes, I’ve bitched to management several times.

Not to mention, I have been on the wait list for covered parking and a storage unit since I moved in 4 1/2 years ago.  Much to my own annoyance and to my parents when I visit, I regularly get stuck having to park under the damn crake myrtles that the birds LOVE and find my car covered in bird shit and feathers on a regular basis.

That, and I’m tired of being able to hear my neighbors pee, fight, or have wild sex on the weekends when I’m trying to sleep.  I’m so cramped in my small one bedroom and not having storage, have shit stuffed in closets to the bursting point, and overflowing into the rest of the apartment.

Don’t even get me started on my ‘perfectly working’ dishwasher that after running it, floods the kitchen and smells weird, or the ‘perfectly working’ dryer that doesn’t have the exhaust thingy connected right so that there’s a huge pileup of lint behind it and it makes my whole bathroom foggy when I run it… not to mention the crappy air conditioning that barely cools below 80 in the summer without the added blackout curtains and fans I’ve bought, and oh, the vents?  Yeah, they have so much crud on the outside of them, I can only imagine what I am breathing in and why my allergies have gotten progressively worse over the last several years.

So, basically, YES!  I am excited and hopeful this house works out for me and crossing my finger and toes, knees and elbows that everything works out because I’m ready to make a big ‘adult’ move as I see it and to finally be able to live somewhere that I call the shots and not have to worry that I’ll be busted for having 4 cats when management decides to give you less than 12 hours notification that they’ll be coming into your apartment to check random silly things while ignoring all the things you’ve requested to actually have fixed and then having the audacity to tell you that your rent is going up once again.

My own home.  My own rules.  No carpet.  More space.  A kitchen I can actually cook in.  The ability to get things fixed right the first time.  Not having to haul all my trash across a long parking lot.  Being able to have my neice and nephew over not just to briefly visit, but to stay the night and my friends as well for a change?  Priceless.

Kat - hopefully.

Owwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!

So, after suffering through the weekend and leaving my dentist a message yesterday, they were able to squeeze me in this moring at 10:15.  I was in so much pain by this morning, that even attempting to eat was no longer in the equation.  I went to work, then headed to the dentist.

Initially they wanted to do Xrays to see if it was a sudden cavity as I’ve had no fillings in my bottom teeth.  While putting the Xray thingy in my mouth for me to bite, once it hit my inner gum, I about jumped out of my seat.  The hygenist then looked at my gums, repositioned the Xray thing and took the Xray just to be sure.

Then the dentist came right in and after confirming my teeth were fine, went to work checking my inner gum and poking around with the sharp dental thingy until I again, nearly flew out of the chair.

He said it looked like I had a bit of an ulcer in my mouth, on the inside of my bottom right gum, most likely caused by popcorn or something having been trapped deep inside, but due to my flossing and gargling saltwater, it was now gone, but the tissue had been torn and was infected. 

He then proceeded, without anesthetic, to scrape out a bunch of dead tissue that seemed to be blocking the initial wound and then to scrape a bit more of the infected tissue out.  Surprisingly, already being in so much pain, I didn’t feel all that much and instead had an instant sense of relief as the main source of pain was now gone.  Right after, he had the hygenist use a syringe with a needle to inject the same antibiotic mouthwash he was sending home with me into the insides of my gums, and I felt all tingly and much better.

Then, again because I’m an idiot, when he said he would give me not only the  antibiotic mouthwash to use twice a day plus a super high dose of antibiotics to take three times a day for ten days to knock out the infection, asked if I wanted pain medication as well.

Siiiiiiigh.  See, I generally have a fairly high tolerance for pain, and don’t like the way most pain medictaions make me feel, and having the instant relief, said, ‘No.’  He then said that if I change my mind to call him and he can give me a prescription and also said I should really feel better by two or three days.

I went and got the prescription filled, took my first dose and then went back to work feeling much better.

About an hour later, things went south.  My lower jaw started to swell up and with the initial tingliness of the medicine wearing off, instead of the localized pain, now I had pain in the entire right side of my jaw.  I guess one can only expect (if you’re smart, as I am not) that having a bunch of dead and infected tissue scraped out, that it’s going to cause a reaction and more pain.  While I was able to get down some lowfat cottage cheese upon returning to work, even when my manager and coworker who were concerned asked if I had thought about lunch, I said I wasn’t feeling it and would instead stay in my office and finish some things I’ve been trying to get to.

Thankfully, my manager is awesome, and inquired again after lunch how I was noting I looked pale and crappy, and when I said I could tough it out, finally around 3 said being a slow day, I should just go home and rest as she could see the new swelling and that there wasn’t any reason for me to tough it out anymore.

I would like to also add, I was IMing with Tammy the whole time who kept responding to my messages of pain by saying, ‘GO HOME!’.  I guess I’m sort of stubborn sometimes.

So, I came home and managed to get down two bowls of oatmeal before passing out for an hour.  I still have a lot of swelling and some bruising - which really just makes my double chin look like three and the bruising makes me look abused.  :P  Thankfully, it’s minimal right now and hopefully won’t get very dark.

Could I have called the dentist back and asked for the pain medication?  YES!  But see, I am one of those stupid people, who is proud in their ability to get through things and refuse to back down.  I figure by tomorrow the worst will have passed and I will be doing much better now that the antibiotics are doing their thing.  Granted, if not, I might eat a big slice of humble pie and call for pain meds.

In the mean time, I’m finding a few beers also help with numbing the pain.  Don’t judge, I work with what I have.

I can guarantee you that the next time I have even the remotest inkling of pain - I will call the doc or dentist ASAP!!!

Kat