Another Valentine's Day Escapade...

When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had been standing for hours or walking for days, or climbing hills in flip flops for miles.

All day, my legs hurt, at the top where they join my hips. As the day went on, it got worse and worse. I couldn't figure out why.

It wasn't until my son and I were getting ready to go shopping that I remembered a reason why I might be in such pain.

Yesterday, while getting out of the car at HyVee, I realized I had parked in a 2 inch deep puddle. While trying to avoid stepping into the freezing cold mess, I kept my right foot in the car, and gingerly extended my left foot to higher ground.

And promptly slipped, plunging my left foot into the water, and overextending my legs.

I managed to keep myself from falling into the puddle, and breaking something, but in the process, must have pulled some muscles. But, the important thing is, I didn't fall further, and break my hip. Because then I would feel really old, and really stupid, instead of merely in pain that will eventually get better.

By the time we got to Walmart tonight to buy a new DVD player, I was regretting leaving home. Walking is not fun at all. To make matters worse, I forgot to buy more Tylenol...

I just hope I can manage to get my housework done tomorrow...

Fabulous Day...

(no, really, I mean it...)

Here was my reward for working so hard today:

1. Upset stomach,
2. Way too much to do before tomorrow morning (cleaning),
3. and a broken DVD player.

Yep, my DVD player decided to quit working. It just doesn't power on at all anymore, no matter where it is plugged in. This really sucks. Now I have to go buy a new one.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Someone shut off the jackhammer in my head...

I have been fighting a terrible headache since noon. Nice wrap-around headache. Nothing is touching it.

Wha huh wa?

Yes, we all know it's Fashion week, and that the Project Runway Season 4 is kind of off in its airing schedule, either by purpose or screw up.

Being bored this afternoon, I decided to go to the PR site and read some blogs, commentary, etc.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a link to the Project Runway Season 4 Fashion Week collections!!!!!!!! ?????????

Of course, I clicked through, and it shows collections for the remaining 5 designers, Chris, Sweet Pea, Jillian, Christian, and Rami. So, yes, I know this doesn't tell who wins, and that all we know is that all five showed a collection of some sort (and so did Victorya). And the teaser for next week's episode has Tim saying 2 designers will be out.

I'm slightly disappointed to have seen the final set of clothes, but I am ga-ga over Chris' collection. Just perfect. I love the use of color and prints.

Chris' Collection

Costuming work - Gold Forepart and Sleeves

I finally am nearly finished with a project I've been working on since mid-January. Here are a couple of pics of a new forepart and sleeve set for my black gown:





The gold is a piece of fabric I got on sale at JoAnn fabrics, for $10/yard. It was originally $40/yard, so it was a great deal. I barely had enough at 2 yards. I am using the paned sleeve and the forepart patterns from the Margo Anderson Ladies patterns. The forepart is backed in cotton drill, and has about 200 4mm and 8 mm pearls sewn to it. The red and gold trim has a pattern of stylized flowers. This was a Hobby Lobby clearance find at about $1/yard.

The sleeves are lined with two layers of quilter's cotton, and embellished with 4 mm, 8mm, and 10mm glass pearls and gold cord. I still need to finish the top edges of the one sleeve, and sew the panes together for the other.

The gold cord was in the Christmas ribbon section at Hobby Lobby, for $2.50 for a roll of 10 yards. I had two rolls, and used about 12.5 yards on these two projects. I really wish I had bought more, as there is another project I'd like to use it for. Now I'll have to wait until they put the holiday stuff out again in June or July, and hope I have enough time to add it to the new dress.

This has been a fun project, as I am not rushing through it to get ready for faire. I have months to go before our first booked faire at the end of May, and even if we work at the Amana faire again for the court, I have plenty of time. I can't wait to wear this!!!

Disoriented.

I hate falling asleep on the couch, especially on Friday night.

As best I can figure out, I dropped off around 8 and woke up at around 10. Now I feel like I am forgetting something extremely important, and I can't quite figure out what it is exactly. So, I can't go back to sleep, as I am feeling anxious. Nothing scheduled for tomorrow. Laundry is mostly caught up. House needs an hour to get back into shape. No real reason for anxiety. Bummer.

So, it's time to fall back on the old standby - channel surfing.

I managed to find Bridget Jones' Diary on Bravo, although it loses something in the editing for TV. Such a sweet story, really. Too bad it's nearly over.

I doubt I'll find anything else on at this time of night. And no, out of general principal, I do not watch the Lifetime Movie Network, because seriously, every movie they show has one of four topics: 1. abused wife/girlfriend flees psycho spouse/boyfriend/stalker, 2. daughter/single/divorced mom beats incredible odds while dealing with personal tragedy, 3. woman/girl with eating disorder, 4. woman/mother with cancer or other terrible disease.

In other words, the same four movies. Only the names of the characters, and sometimes the actors that play them, change.

Boring night...

Everything all at once, or nothing at all.

I stayed home from work today, because I had a terrible sore throat still this morning, and had spent most of last night with the chills. By 3, I was feeling almost human, despite the fact that I knew my son had a band concert at 5, and needed to be at the school by 4:30.

As we were getting ready for the concert, he dropped another bombshell on me.

High School orientation at 7:00 pm tonight.

So not ready to have a freshman in high school.

Be careful what you wish for...

feel even worse this morning, and I now have a fever. :(

The only thing that could have made me feel better tonight just happened.

Ricky finally, finally, finally got voted off of Project Runway!!!!!!!! And Chris won the challenge!!!!!!!

Okay, now I can go to sleep... Out of tylenol pm, so I may not be able to accomplish that, but I am going to try.

How can I fell this crappy and not have a fever???

I either have strep throat or the real flu. And my thermometer has to be broken, because I'm reading really low (78.9°F). My bones ache and my throat feels horrid...

Sad news...

A couple of years ago, this person I didn't know left a comment on one of my posts regarding a time my son was sick.

I started reading his blog, which documented his struggles with ALS, and his decline.

Well, Saturday, Brainhell lost his battle with ALS.


:(

Further cementing the whole geek thing.

On the way home, while talking over our Super Bowl party plans for tonight, my son and I realized that we had no desire to actually watch the game. We would basically be watching for the commercials and half-time show.

So, we broke with tradition, and had an Enterprise/Next Gen marathon.

We did catch the last bit of the game, so we saw the upset.

And that was enough for us.

Next year, all out Battlestar Galactica marathon...

Are you there, God? It's me, geekgirl...

I don't mean to complain or anything, but can you cut me a little slack? I mean, I know it's nice to be busy and all, but just a little time to stop and catch my breath at work would be great. Oh, and that master list I have? If you would please let me actually mark things off as finished, I'd really appreciate it. And I guess I should add that I'd like to not have to add five things to it for every one thing I do get to mark off. Because that has sucked so far.

Also, could you help me out by not making me so grouchy at work? I'm trying to keep the wrinkles from settling permanently into my forehead. You know, that whole aging thing? Really not your best work....

And while we're on the subject of aging... I'm going to be 36 in a few months. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, but you were the one who gave me a biological clock in the first place. It's ticking pretty loudly right about now. Tick, tick. Between that and the raging PMS, it's no wonder my eyes can cut through metal.

I really wasn't going to say anything about the weather. You've probably heard it all by now, but seriously, can you make spring come a little earlier this year? I'm so ready to not have to wear a stocking cap and mittens to bed.

I will have to thank you, though, for giving me such a wonderful family. And for letting me get to spend so much time with them the next two to three weekends. My nieces and nephews make all problems just disappear. As for the teenager, thanks for making him a sci-fi nut, and for making him a kid who will be very unlikely to make me a grandmother in the next six years. I'll be adding that line to my evening prayers, btw.

And while I may have wished more than once to be an only child while growing up, I wouldn't change a thing. That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? I have my sisters to thank for making me as strong as I am today. Please watch over them, especially as they have children of their own.

Okay, I think that about wraps it up for now. It was nice talking to you, God. I hope things are going well with you. Keep up the good work!

Love,
Geekgirl

You know, this is kind of getting old.

Wind chill = -27°F.

Seriously longing for summer right now.

Back

Finally got my cable modem working again. Not a lot to chat about tonight, just digging the faster speeds... Turns out, the guys who replaced my cable modem way back last fall forgot to register the new one to my account. Therefor, the new one was hampered speed-wise, by mediacom.

Anyway, all is fixed now...

You're kidding me...

I woke up early today, because I had a bunch of errands to run (work, Panera to pick up bagels). I was checking my email when my son came into my room.

"Mom, I've got funny bumps on my arms..."

He has the hives!

The only thing I can think of is that we ate the red M&Ms from a bag of valentine's M&Ms (we needed just the pink and white ones for the shower). It may have been just enough of Red 40 Lake that it prompted an allergic reaction. He rarely eats M&Ms, and never that amount of red ones before.

So, I called First Nurse, and they said to just give him some benadryl to help with the itching, and to get him to the doctor if his face swells and he has trouble breating.

Poor kid is miserable...

Updates and such

About the sign thing - no worries there. Yes, there were six signs that were not very nice, but they were not terribly threatening. Pretty immature stuff, complaining that the lab was closed on Monday. Because, you know, they didn't get the whole "University Offices closed" thing.

This week has been very busy, and this afternoon was doubly so. I am enjoying a quiet evening, watching old episodes of Star Trek, Next Generation Season 1. The last two, in fact. My only question is, where the heck is Wesley? Now we have to wait for NetFlix to deliver the season 2 disc 1...

Sewing stuff is going well. I really, really love my new sleeves and forepart. I am still working on the sleeves, but I have one sleeve decorated, and ready to be tacked together. I still haven't figured out if I want to use single pearls to catch the sleeve panes together, or if I want to do something slightly more elaborate. I don't have time constraints on this project, so I really can take my time and make them gorgeous.

The next project will be to add the decorations to the black bodice and skirt. I have trim on the black gown already, but it needs more to make it really special. I am, of course, going to try this gown on first. I am making very slow progress in my weight loss goals, and I want to be realistic about my body shape. If the gown fits, then I won't feel quite so bad about the extra 8 pounds. If it doesn't fit, then I have to make a concerted effort to lose this weight. Ideally, though, my goal is to lose 30 pounds by the end of the year. However, whatever size I am in May will be the size I stick with until after the Des Moines Faire. I won't have time to do too many alterations if I keep losing wieght after May.

And if you are wondering - no I did not gain 30 pounds since September. I gained about 10. I just want to be slimmer. And yes, you may not think it to look at me, but there is 30 pounds there to lose. I'm just sick of being chunky in certain areas.

So far, this week I have lost about 2 and a half pounds. I am simply cutting out snacking, and portion sizes. I am not really hungry or anything, so I must be doing okay. We'll see how this goes. I just don't want to be this size any more, even if it is average.

Okay, so I got my internet fix for awhile. I am going back to my sewing. I am going to watch Knight's Tale, which is one of the favorites I pop in when I sew garb. I am still sad about Heath Ledger. I think he was just someone I thought would be around for a really long time. I've honestly watched Knight's Tale more times than I can remember, and was really looking forward to new Batman (just saw the trailer Saturday night, and didn't even realize he was playing Joker - too blown away to even see the credits).

Okay, that's enough for the evening. Geek Girl must sew, so she can relax!

Major mistake

Thought I was feeling better when I woke up at 2:00, ate some soup... not good.

In a daze...

Can't sleep, despite needing to get up for work early tomorrow, to avert a mini-disaster. No, it's nothing I did, nor anything related to the labs. I am not sure how seriously to take any of it. I know, I am being cryptic. Not really sure what to thing right now.

My horoscope for today:

Taurus: Don't overreact to a mini-crisis. Stay calm and you'll get through it just fine.

Prophetic, really.

I'll have a longer post about this tomorrow night, but suffice it to say that I am weirded out. And no, nothing physically happened to me or any of my family, and I am just waiting to see what the next step is.

Basically, there was a small amount of vandalism at work, consisting of signs being posted that were obscene, in the words of a friend and employee who found them (one of my lab monitors... poor girl). Signs posted on my labs, and on my office door. I have no idea what they said or showed. She took them down, as she was appalled and didn't want me to see them. I did ask if she saved them, as this will have to be reported to DPS. She did. I don't know if this was random, or targeted, or if any other place in the college also had signs posted. This is not how I thought I would spend my morning, tomorrow. I'm going to have to see them, as imagination is always worse than the reality. I don't want another sleepless night.

I am just nervous, and a little befuddled. I can't think of any reason why anyone would have done this. Best case scenario is that it was a random, drunken thing that was just done for fun. Worst case is that someone out there has a grudge, and I don't know why or who it is.

I'm hoping it was random.

If not, this may be the end of my public blogging, as I just don't feel comfortable with a real name blog anymore... I'll decide by the end of the week.

Sunday morning rambling

I must say, waking up at 8:30 this morning with a sore throat, and a sore right shoulder really put a downer on day two of my 3-day weekend. That, coupled with the fact that my son is having a friend over at 1 to work on a project, just made my day complete.

I just finished giving the house a run-through, and sorting the laundry. I am about to hop in the tub, in prep for running to JoAnn Fabrics to exchange some things that I need (wrong color), and to the grocery store. It's Really-Fracking-Cold-Out!™ again, so this out to be soooooo much fun.

And it would all be okay except for that stupid sore throat, which means this will be the third time I have been sick in 6 weeks...

Whoa.

End of a long day here...

I'll write a bit more about the Lego challenge tomorrow, once I get my laundry started, and the house somewhat back into shape. My son is having a friend over tomorrow afternoon to work on a social studies project (a Lego™ representation of the Battle of Bunker Hill - yeah, they like Lego™ a lot). So, everything, including my run to JoAnn to exchange some things, and to the grocery store, will have to be done in the morning.

This also means that I will not be able to sleep in tomorrow. And since I've had more caffeine today that I have had since May 18th, 2007, I will probably not be able to sleep tonight. Oh, and my left heel hurts like crazy, my legs and back hurt from standing nearly all day, and since we just got home from seeing I am Legend, that will also probably keep me up tonight.

Break time.

I ran back to my office after the first round of competition, and the Project Presentation. Things went fairly well, except that the robot was having problems. Hopefully they can work that out before their next competition time at 11:37.

The project presentation, however... it was good, but the kids needed to be coached to not say certain things. You do not mention at the end of your presentation, during the Q & A, that some people didn't do as much as others.

Nor do you mention your idea of burning dead bodies for fuel.

Can't wait to see how the teamwork interview goes...

How cold?

It is -7°F right now, with a wind chill of -24°F. Very cold.

And yet, I saw some kid in a t-shirt and shorts, helping carry stuff from a van to Howe Halls. One of the kids competing in the Lego™ competition. I really couldn't believe that any adult in that group would have allowed that. It was even colder at that time (7:45). And there was a wind chill advisory out, too.

Just shaking my head at that...

Downsides of apartment living in a college town.

The neighbors at the end of the hall are having a party.

With a karaoke machine.

What time do we have to get up again?

Big Lego™ League Competition tomorrow, so my son has to be to campus early tomorrow morning. Should be lots of fun. The only part that won't be fun is the fact that the wind chill is supposed to hit -20°F tonight. Hope the wind lets up tomorrow before it's time to scrape the car windows...

In other news, I am still working on the new forepart. I have 64 of the pearls sewn on, with another 84 to go, minimum. I keep finding more details I want to accent. I will be using the same treatment on the sleeves. The fabric is so beautiful that I really want this set of sleeves and forepart to be outstanding. Less than five months until the first faire of the season, and six and a half until the first court booking (1st Dubuque Faire - watch the sidebar for links). I have lots of things I want to do before then.

For now, though, I am going to take a bubble bath, then get some sleep. I'll need it.

Frozen

Very cold right now. My stomach is upset, probably due to eating very fast at dinner time, although it was a bit upset right before lunch, too.

Classes started up again yesterday, and I have been working like crazy. I didn't get home for good until 9:00 tonight, and I had a total of 15 minutes at home for dinner (which I ate too fast, and too much). I am wiped out, and it isn't even Friday yet.

Tomorrow, in addition to the cold, we are getting a winter storm. 5-8 inches of snow. The watch is from tomorrow afternoon to Thursday afternoon.

Fab. U. Lous.

The eighth graders are set to go skiing in Minnesota on Thursday, and were to leave at 5:45 Thursday morning. It will probably be rescheduled.

Okay, gotta go throw up now...

Wow - I actually sewed garb today!

Surprising, isn't it?

I have been trying to get to that gorgeous gold fabric for months now, and just never could find the time. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, which is rare, and I have to say it is going to look even more gorgeous that I had thought.

Here is a progress pic on the forepart:


The trim is just pinned on in this photo. There will also be gold twisted cord following the edges of the trim, and pearls added to the flowers on the fabric of the forepart. This is truly lovely in person, as it is difficult to see the stylized flower design on the trim (flash on metallic thread doesn't show up well). I have enough that I am going to add it to my old forepart as well, to spice it up. In fact, I really want to find more of it, so I can use it in my new red gown that I have planned, but that may be going overboard a bit...

Did I mention there are sleeves to go with this? I am making paned sleeves, with gold cord on the edges, and perhaps a bit of thin satin ribbon right next to the gold cord, in the same color of red as the trim on the forepart. I like the paned sleeves, because they allow AIR to get through to my arms, thus cooling me a bit. I have the gold fabric and the lining cut out, but I didn't want to sew them yet today.

I am thinking that I may need to flat-line the outer fabric, to give it more body. I used cotton drill for the lining of the forepart, but I don't want to use anything that heavy in my sleeves (I'll already be wearing four layers, with my corset and bodice. No sense putting it in my sleeves, too.). I have some more quilters cotton in a light buff color that I suppose I could use. I chose a gold in a shade darker than the outer fabric for the lining, but I don't have enough of that left. Together, that should make the sleeve appear to have more weight, but still be fairly cool.

Anyway, I can't wait to see the final product, as I think the set will be quite lovely. I am excited to be finally getting started on 2008 garb!

The end of the week

Long day today. By 4 o'clock, I could barely keep my eyes open. Still, I finished up the sweeping in the labs, and helped my boss carry the old metal power strips down to the loading dock (4 flights of stairs).

We only got stuck once, in the stairwell from the first floor to the ground floor, because we used the open stairwell as long as we could. Since I was on the tail end of the strips, I had to lift them up nearly over my head (youch!), so my boss could pivot them enough to get around the curve. Finally, after well over 10 years in the open lab, the custom metal power strips are gone! I will not miss them a bit, as they were getting old and unsafe. Considering that the decision to replace them was somewhat spur of the moment, I think we made an excellent decision.

We started our lab network upgrade yesterday morning, and originally thought it would take us maybe a morning or most of a day to do all of this. We were slightly off in our estimation, but it was a project that was well worth the time it took.

And my gigabit ethernet is smokin' fast. Applying my Cinema4DR10.5 transcript to the 20 MacPros in that room took less than 15 minutes, which included me logging into several machines at a time, launching radmind, getting updates, running fsdiff,, and while that was running, logging into a new set of machines, doing the same, then going back to the original machines and applying the transcript. I was giggling the whole time, it was so fast.

After the power strips were tossed, I finished cleaning up the labs, and our output center, and ended up with just a couple of things I need to go back into work to take care of (scheduling, including the temp schedule for next week). Plus, our color printer was being fussy when I tried to print some signs I needed to post before Monday. The drums aren't aligning correctly, so the colors weren't registered correctly. So, I am going to get some colorful paper and run the signs through on the black and white printer, and get a service tech in on Monday morning (I hope).

So, i am tired, and achy, but we got a lot accomplished during break, and we are ready for the new semester. Now, if you are asking me if I am psychologically ready for the new semester... well... that's an entirely different matter...

A Post in Rapid Succession to the Previous Post

I forgot to mention my "Oh Crap" moment from earlier today.

I have been working on a new poster for the laser cutter area. I used to have a hodge podge of posted signs that were put up as needed, instead of unified, and easy to read. I spent most of the morning trying to work out the points that needed to be covered, and the order of presentation on the poster. I used Illustrator to layout the poster, because I didn't need anything enormously complicated. I set the background to "College of Design Red," as I call it, with white text. I set apart the three main areas by adding rectangular borders with a 2 pt. line weight. I was pretty pleased with it, so I decided I was ready to print to our wide-format color printer.

Right before break, we had run out of paper. The order came in before Christmas. For some reason, the boxed rolls came packed inside larger boxes filled with Styrofoam peanuts, instead of just in its normal packaging. This made no sense, as they have never done that before, and the normal packaging is more than sufficient to ship safely. Anyway, the point is, I had to manhandle a heavy 100 foot roll of 36 inch wide paper, by myself, and try to get it out of the stupid box. At one point, I had to lift up my foot, and kick the outer box off. And I hadn't even opened the actual paper box yet.

So, I threw the boxed roll up onto the computer desk, opened it, and started to remove the inner packaging. There are two square end caps that fit on either end of the roll, to keep it from shifting and getting damaged. I was carefully removing the first of these, when I forgot the cardinal rule of moving heavy stuff alone.

Don't let any body parts get between the heavy object and the desk (ground, whatever).

As they say, gravity works, and my ring finger on my right hand did not quite make it out from between the roll and the desk in time. I'm sure I looked quite amusing, having 20-30 pounds of paper suddenly fall 2 inches, and squishing my finger. The only thing I could do was whisper, "Oh FUCK!" and cradle it to my stomach. I didn't even want to look at it, for fear it was crushed, that was how badly it hurt. Luckily, it wasn't flat, and I was eventually able to get the paper unpacked, loaded on the printer, and the printer nozzles cleaned enough to print. I swore under my breath the entire time...

So tonight, I am sitting here, my finger still aching enough that the pain is traveling up my arm, but it is still a normal color, and is not visibly swollen. It hurts like HELL, and I have to be careful when typing to not use it, as that's a nice refresher course in pain when that happens. I'm taking a wait and see approach to this. Tomorrow ought to be fun, as we are going to be recabling the open lab for GIGABIT ETHERNET!!!!! (SWEET heavenly surfing and renderfarming!!!!!)

And the bitch of it is, after all of that, the damn poster turned out a luscious shade of hot pink rather than the bright and spicy Design Red it was supposed to be. I'm keeping it, of course, because it's a great pink, but this means I have to figure out why the color was so far off... Never enough hours in the day....

What?!??!?!?!?!?

Just finished watching Project Runway, and boy am I upset.

The challenge was to create a prom dress for girls from a high school in New Jersey. Some incredibly beautiful work came out of this challenge, with my favorites being Chris and Sweet Pea. Gorgeous work! I was not thrilled by Jillian's work, and I am still not sure why she won over Sweet Pea.

But the shock moment of the evening was yet to come.

Christian, my least favorite designer, managed to once again stay on the show. His dress was Awful, and he blamed his client. The back of the dress was shorter than the front, and it did nothing to flatter the poor girl. Seriously looked like a bad flashback to the 80's, just like most of his work. He never bothered to pad the dressmaker dummy to his clients measurements, so it fit poorly. Try a seriously large gap in the back that he had to fit. He also spent most of the show whining as usual. His youth shows whenever he's expected to do anything outside the normal fashion box.

And yet, he still remains, and they kicked off KEVIN!

KEVIN!

They kicked off Kevin and let Christian and Ricky stay. And Jillian won.

Did they start fixing the competition????

I guess overtly hideous wins over the mildly aging.

Mission Impossible?

While I was sick this weekend, I was still absolutely set on getting my closet completely cleaned out, purged of excess, and organized. On Friday, when I should have been resting at lunch, I went to Wal-mart, and bought a metal shelf to put in my closet (to go with the other two already there). Friday night, when i should have been resting, I spent 90 minutes putting the stupid thing together, at risk of cutting my fingers the entire time (damn edges were SHARP).

Saturday morning, after pulling myself from bed, I hesitated. I was torn between parking myself on the couch to rest and watch DVDs, and a feeling that if I didn't start this closet clean-out, that I would somehow be a loser and a failure at the one task I set myself for the entire weekend.

So, I did what any perfectionist would do. I started pulling things out of the closet, instead of taking a sudafed and going back to bed, like any doctor would have recommended.

After two hours, I had my closet reorganized. Which is to say, I had the shelf in place, the new storage boxes neatly labeled on the shelves, with the fabric, trims, and other sewing items inside. I even finally had room for my noble garb inside the closet instead of hanging over the door on a hook. It was beautiful!

You see, though, there was just one problem. There was the little matter of all of the rest of the stuff that had been in the closet. It was now stacked (neatly, of course), in my bedroom, and my living room, waiting to be gone through, purged, shredded, tossed. I had turned my beautifully clean apartment into a maze of boxes and rubbermaid storage containers.

So, I spent four hours going through a stack of boxes (and not a single one of the seven rubbermaid containers - four large, three half-sized). I pulled out stuff I wanted to keep, and tossed items to shred into a paper box, to join the other two ledger boxes and two smaller boxes of stuff to shred. All of the other boxes of "To Shred" items, were from my Great Closet Clean Out of January 2005.

By this time, I was practically sleepwalking. My son helped me carry out the garbage bags and boxes of trash. I shoved the rubbermaid containers and the non-shred boxes back into my closet, without incorporating them into the organization. This led to crap still being left out in my room, and boxes in my living room.

It was 5:30 pm, and I was a mess, emotionally, and physically. I took a hot bath, ordered pizza for supper, and sat down to eat in my less than clean dining room, and wanted to cry.

The next day, I started off in the same way. I did laundry, seven loads of it, when I should have been sleeping and fighting off my stupid cold. I went through boxes off and on all afternoon, but somehow never felt like I was making any progress. And the boxes were still bugging me to no end. And I was still sick!

Finally, tonight, after spending some quality time with the shredder, I decided that enough was enough. I went to my room, threw on my iPod, and started taking the containers out of my closet. When I had "organized" my closet on Saturday, I had quite a bit of room left on the shelves (three shelves, two of which were nearly half empty). I did a quick check of the cardboard boxes, to see what boxes held items I wanted to keep, consolidated a couple, then found homes for those boxes on the shelves. I rearranged the rubbermaid containers, so that they fit underneath the built-in shelf along the east wall of the closet (BTW, my closet is a pretty big walk-in closet). I stowed my camping gear and extra sheets and towels a bit more efficiently.

In the course of rearranging the big tubs, I made a great discovery. Two of them were full of blankets that I had been meaning to get rid of. Two comforters, and two blankets that were fairly worn. So, I was able to empty those containers, nest them, put a bag of old videotapes inside, put both lids on the top, and stowed them away for a future need.

I also decided to put the remaining boxes of things to sort back into the closet, at the front, so that I can do a little at a time, rather than trying to force myself to keep working at every spare moment. I knew better than to try to be superwoman about this, but I let my pride get in the way of my physical and mental well-being. Little bites.

So now, instead of a stack of boxes in my living room, I have a stack of empty boxes, and a couple of garbage bags in my dining room, ready to go out tomorrow once the garbage guys empty our dumpster. And yes, my Christmas tree may still be up and decorated, but I will get to that this weekend. It was extra beautiful this year, so I am going to enjoy it for a bit longer.

And when I do take it down, it will be a little bit at a time, rather than all in one go. I just need to remember to do that with everything in my life.

LOLZ

On the eve of the beginning of my strict diet, I offer this: (as seen on Dooce)

Hands down, the worst cold I've had in at least two years...

At least, one that remained essentially a cold and didn't develop into a sinus infection.

Still hacking, coughing, and using way too many tissues here in the geek apartment. I think my son is ready to buy some earplugs, as it always gets worse right around the time I need to go to bed. Hence, the fact that I am still up at 11:30 on a work night.

In about five minutes, I think the sudafed will finally do its job and reduce some of my symptoms enough to help me sleep. I am thinking I should have gone to the doctor on this one, and might still, if I don't see drastic improvement by Tuesday (day 9).

And no, I am not a hypochondriac, but I play one on TV.

Time to try to get some sleep. I promise I'll write a non-sick post soon...

Helpful Hint #4876

If you have a bad cold, coughing, sneezing, sinus pressure, and body aches, do not decide that it is the perfect time to put together that new metal shelf that you bought that uses bolts in the construction.

90 minutes later, I want to fall over.

Excuse me while I go rid myself of the contents of my lungs...

All together now...

Please don't let this turn into a sinus infection.

Lather, rinse, repeat...

To exhausted to caucus

This cold/sinus thingy has really worn me out. I went back to work this morning, despite not being able to sleep until around 3 am, and even then, sleeping only fitfully. I was okay until around 1:30 pm, when things started catching up on me. I finished up a project I was working on that pretty much required me to be on my feet (thanks to all of the boxes marked "fragile" that were piled up in front of the computer I needed to update. I could reach the keyboard, but not sit in the chair, and I had to stand at an awkward angle, oh for most of two hours, off an on).

I bummed a sudafed off another cold sufferer in our main office, and that, and some caffeine helped me get through until about 4:45, when I got up to leave for the day. Immediate dizziness. very fun, you have to try it some time.

The plan had been to go to Walmart to get this certain type of shelf that apparently, you can only get there. Instead, we went to the grocery store, and then home, were I ate a large bowl of chicken tortilla soup, and felt much, much less light-headed.

However, now that the sudafed has worn off, a good four hours before bed time, I am in no condition to go lock myself in a crowded room for three hours to caucus.

I know, I am a terrible person for not doing my civic duty at this time, but I am comforting myself with the thought that at least I will not be exposing them to whatever it is that is making me sick.

So, my hats off to all of you Dems in the caucus places tonight: pick good candidates, please. I'd be there if I weren't sick.

P.S. Tomorrow, i am going to bask in the glow of NO MORE POLITICAL PHONE CALLS. Must they call every 30 minutes (been going on for the last week, with a minimum of three calls every night for the last month and a half)?

I really could not be more miserable.

Seriously. My throat is raw, my bones ache, and I am starting to get a sinus cold. I hope it doesn't turn into a sinus infection, but knowing my luck it will. I only have a slight fever, but I have been having chills off and on again today.

I think I am going to turn that leftover chicken into more chicken tortilla soup tomorrow... I doubt I will make it into work. I'll probably get the joy of going to the doctor again tomorrow... I definitely have swollen glands under my jaw, too.

Yep, I should have ordered a pizza...

Maybe it is just because I can't really taste anything, due to my cold. I should have stopped at the ruined pumpkin pie. The cornish hens did not turn out as good as I had remembered. I doubt I will make them again, and I doubt that I will eat any of the leftovers. My son enjoyed it, but I just didn't care for it.

Luckily, there was plenty of other food. The rice was good, and the green bean casserole was excellent, and the buns were great. Dessert will also be good, as I bought a chocolate marble cheesecake. I am in no danger of starving.

What I am in danger of is this stupid cold ruining the rest of my last day of vacation. I am miserable. I really do not want to miss work tomorrow, as I need to get back into the swing of things ASAP, in order to not be stressed out about the beginning of the semester on the 14th. We have an extra week to get ready, or I would really be stressed right now. I am going to go to bed early with some cold medicine, and hope that this sore throat goes away overnight.

What a way to start out the new year...

I have a sore throat, a cold sore, and felt like I wanted to sleep all day. Our plans for a late lunch turned into plans for dinner, due to a pumpkin pie disaster, and somehow forgetting to put out the rolls to rise, and the cornish hen to thaw earlier. Now, then hens are in the oven, along with the green bean casserole, the rolls are baked, and the rice is ready. I still feel like I want to sleep, but I need to stay awake, because I have to go back to work tomorrow. At least I am cooking enough food that we'll have leftovers for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, I probably would have been happier ordering pizza.

Maybe I really do have mono...

Projects

Like every vacation I take, I had a list of projects that I wanted to complete before heading back to work. I was successful at getting most of the projects checked off on my list, like the cleaning, the maintenance stuff, and moving a dresser into my son's room. Still, I have three garb projects that I wanted to take care of, and didn't get to yet.

I decided an hour ago that while I may not be able to finish them before heading back to work, they definitely weren't going to get done if I didn't start. I plan to make a set of sleeves and a forepart out of the beautiful gold embroidered fabric I found months ago at 75% off. I pulled it out and hand washed it. The fabric description said it could be washed, and while I didn't want to send it through the washer, I felt comfortable enough to hand wash it. I am still trying to decide which way to cut it, to make the pattern look the best. I am also going to have to flat line it for the forepart, so as to avoid the terrible problem of the hoops of the farthingale showing (my personal preference is to totally disguise the hoops). The fabric should be dry by tomorrow morning. I am going shopping with my Christmas money, so I should be able to start on the sleeves and forepart tomorrow afternoon.

I also need a new underskirt. I have been using a pale green taffeta underskirt that I made ages ago as a test piece. It works, but it can be seen when I dance. This isn't a huge problem, but it would be nice to have two, in case something happens to one. This summer, during one of my trips to Hobby Lobby, I found a bolt of silver gray shot taffeta, on sale for $2/yard (normally $5.99/yard). I bought all nine yards on the bolt. I should have well more than enough, as I am going to cartridge pleat it to a waistband, rather than making a gored skirt, and gathering it (yuck- my least favorite thing to do).

So, these three projects should occupy my time quite nicely. I am going to cut out the skirt panels tonight yet, and maybe even start sewing. I'm getting excited now!

And this, my friends, highlights everything that is wrong with certain parents these days.

Girl's false essay wins Hannah Montana tickets

GARLAND, Texas (AP) -- An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq."


A false essay won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a sold-out Hannah Montana concert.

While gripping, it wasn't true -- and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie.

The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.

The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, New York, and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on January 9.

The mother had told company officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.

"We did the essay and that's what we did to win," Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. "We did whatever we could do to win."

Emphasis is mine.

Way to teach your daughter, there. Lying is okay as long as you win in the end. Right. And they are surprised that the tickets might be taken away? What a despicable thing to do, lying to get a six year old tickets to a concert. And the pity of it is, the girl is probably too young to really get the benefit of the very harsh lesson she is about to get on the consequences of lying.

Just shaking my head that the mother thought she'd get away with this...

Why so silent?

I just realized that my last post had been Dec. 24. I have no idea why, whilst on vacation, and having nothing more to do than to decide just how late to sleep in, and what cleaning I want to do each day, that I have not blogged about this cornucopia of free time.

Except, it really wasn't free time, as I found plenty enough to do. Here's a list of high points:

Dec. 25: Woke up, helped start food for lunch, brushed hair, put on makeup, resolutely stayed in pajamas until lunch. Opened presents, took lots of pictures, skipped breakfast, then ate way too much lunch to compensate for eating very little in Sunday and Monday. Was dozing on the couch by 8:30.

Dec. 26: Dad fixed windshield wipers. Lounged around the house until around noon, tidied away our Christmas goodies, and packed up to go home. Left town by around 5, stopped off for McDonald's, was back in Ames by 6:30. At 7, went shopping the Christmas clearance stuff, and to scope out if they had any Nintendo DS Lites, in onyx, for my son to use all of his Christmas gift cards and money on. Both Target and Walmart were out.

Dec. 27: Slept in again. Hit snooze from 8:00 to 9:00, then woke up, took a long bubble bath, made up the menus, and grocery lists. Cleaned the bathroom, and kitchen, then did the grocery shopping and spent $70 for two people for a week. Made frozen pizza for lunch, then cleaned up, and called the maintenance people to fix various problems. All but two were cleared up right away. Made chicken tortilla soup for supper. Used stir fry cut chicken, fried in olive oil, and low sodium chicken broth. I had to add salt to it, for flavor, but it still ended up with much less sodium than it would have had. Nummy!

Dec. 28: Up fairly early, took bubble bath, put on makeup, fixed hair. Sorted laundry, started laundry, emailed Mom to ask what time she was coming for dinner. Had leftover soup for lunch. Took my son to Target to buy his DS Lite. TG they had one in the color he wanted. He spent the rest of the day alternating between playing it, and polishing it. :) He much prefers buying a big item with his gift cards and money, than buying a bunch of little things. He still has $35 left, to spend later. He's a saver. Mom came over for dinner, and I made garlic lime chicken, wild rice with water chestnuts and green onion, and cauliflower (my son's choice for veggies). Every bit was eaten, it was so good.

Today: Got woken up by the appliance store calling to see if it would be a good time to come over and fix the ice maker. This was after I had turned off the alarm at 8, because I thought that they wouldn't be coming on a Saturday (I couldn't sleep last night, for some reason). They were here 40 minutes later, and stayed an hour, but my ice maker works perfectly now, without flooding the kitchen. After they left, I was bored, so started to reorganize my son's room, in preparation for moving a dresser. Then, a friend called and asked if he could come over, so that was a welcome break! And my house was clean, so I didn't even have to hesitate before saying yes, which made my day! Of course, I looked like crap, since I had just scraped my hair into a ponytail that morning, due to having to rush because of the appliance people. Oh well! Later, I took a nap, as we had a LAN party to go to tonight. We got home 30 minutes ago, and it took 30 minutes for my hands and toes to warm up. I ate way too much pizza, and got my a$$ handed to me in Starcraft but it was fairly fun. My back hurts from shivering, though. Way too cold in the scout room.

Anyway, now that I have finished with this boring post, I will promise to bore you more often in little chunks, rather than dumping all of this into one post. Call it a New Year's Resolution, if you want.

And now it's time to get some sleep...

Whirlwind

We ended up leaving for Manson a day earlier than planned, due to a shift in when the forecast snowstorm was expected to arrive.

It was supposed to snow Friday night into Saturday morning, so we had planned to leave Sunday morning, early. Instead, when I woke up on Saturday morning, no fresh snow had fallen, and the winter storm watch had been upgraded to a storm warning, with blizzard conditions, due to start Saturday noon, and end early Sunday morning.

One of my sisters called from my parents' house, and told me that Mom wanted us to leave immediately, for fear we wouldn't be able to get home safely. My windshield wipes had broken, so there was no way I could drive safely except in the lightest of snow.

So, in less than an hour and a half, I somehow managed to get everything packed, got showered and threw on makeup, loaded up the car, got gas in the car, and got out of town. Oh, and I got the teenager to do the same.

After the flurry of getting ready, when we were finally in the car, after loading everything, and having to go into the house once more for something I had forgotten, my son turns to me and asks, "You remembered my ...?" I could see that he was concerned, but didn't really want to be rude enough to ask if I had remembered his S. A. N. T. A. presents...

"Yes. They're in my suitcase." I laughed, and could understand his concern. I would have been very upset if I had forgotten them.

Anyway, everything went well, we got to Manson safely, and were able to spend time with my parents, grandparents, and my sisters and nephews. We had a turkey dinner that night, and had a great time. Movie Star and I had a nice long talk, for about 2 and a half hours, after everyone else was asleep. It was just a great night.

Until I went to bed.

And discovered that something I had eaten did not agree with me.

I missed church, and our Christmas dinner at my Aunt Sharon's house. After the dinner, my sister Kim called and asked if I was feeling well enough to come out for presents. Since I hadn't thrown up again, and had kept down the toast I ate, I said I felt better. My dad came back to town to get me, and I was able to see everyone, and participate in our grab bag game. I ate some leftovers at about 4:30, and then we all sat around and sorted through the pictures my Granny had brought. Boy, did we find some blackmail opportunities...

Anyway, so I almost missed out on the reason I had to leave early on Saturday. I fell a lot better now, and I am looking forward to seeing more family tonight after mass.

And sometime today, I have GOT to get my son's presents wrapped. :)

Delightful.

Starting Friday night, I began having problems with my asthma again. I used my inhaler, things got better.

Yesterday afternoon, I started having problems again. I didn't think to use my inhaler, though, because I was busy. Things calmed down by the time I went to bed, so I didn't think anything of it.

Today, it's been bad pretty much all day. I went into work late, because I had to mail a package, and ended up using my inhaler around 11:30. Things have been icky all day.

Tonight, just awhile ago, I was watching the news, and they had a pollution warning type thing, and recommended that people with asthma or heart conditions stay indoors, due to higher than recommended levels of pollutants in the atmosphere. It should clear up by tomorrow evening. I really hope that this isn't going to be a regular occurrence.

I think I am just more sensitive to this stuff lately due to the bad cold I am still trying to get over. I may end up going to the doctor tomorrow, but I am not sure what more she could do, especially if things are supposed to get better tomorrow night.

I hate this. I really do.

Just one more step until the holiday relaxation can commence...

The second dress is done, all of the boxes are wrapped, and the shipping box is packed. Postage has been calculated, and the box is just about ready to be shipped out first thing in the morning.

The only "Oh Shit!" moment for today came after the boxes were wrapped and carefully fitted into the shipping box. You see, I took pictures of the dress, so that I could show my mom. It wasn't until after I had downloaded the photos that I realized that I totally, utterly, screwed up the zipper in this one. It works, don't get me wrong, or I would have noticed when I sewed it into place, removed the basting threads, and fixed another small area.

There were just two minor mistakes: 1. I forgot to use white bobbin thread when I sewed the white zipper into the blue dress (they had no blue zippers left), and 2. one side at the top is higher than the other, at the zipper top.

Good one. I spent about 15 hours or more on this dress, and I fraked up the zipper.

I hope my niece isn't too scarred by this...

Anyway, as soon as the box is in the post, I will be able to finally, finally feel like I have accomplished something this holiday season. Yes, my house is a disaster, I am still trying to fight off some respiratory thing, and I am exhausted. But, I feel great right now, because I just know my niece is going to love her new costumes, and as soon as I see a photo of her all dressed up, I am going to want to start all over again with new ones.

:)

Step away from the sewing machine...

I am soooo close to being finished with my niece's second costume. I am attaching the skirt right now, and because I was not satisfied with the original look of the costume, I added my own parts to it, drafted from scratch, to look more "Cinderella" like. It is a really pretty dress, and I was stuck last night on a problem, was so happy to come up with a solution that added just the right detail...

And I just about ruined it twice in the last 20 minutes.

Costume satin does not like seams to be picked apart. The needle holes are sometimes still visible unless you very, very carefully use your fingernail to close the little holes, without further snagging the fabric. Usually, there isn't too much of a problem, though, because most mistakes happen in the seam line, or near it, which is pretty easy to fix or cover up.

It is a real pain, however, when you are carefully sewing a fairly bulky gathered seam to a tiny bodice, and don't realize until nearly too late, that you have managed to catch in a fairly sizable amount of BODICE into your seam. The first "Oh Shit!" moment of the evening.

And then, after patting myself on the back for fixing the problem, I go over the same seam, just inside the original seam, in order to reinforce it, and the SAME DAMN THING HAPPENS!

And this is only the first half of the skirt. The other half is waiting to be gathered (a trick in itself, because it's so much fabric for such a little waist), pinned to the bodice, then basted, and sewn very carefully (and it's not like I was being careless the first time!).

I really wanted to get this into the mail tomorrow... I know the 20th is the deadline, but I wanted to just wanted to get this done.

I think I am going to take a quick break, and then get to the point where I can just sew the skirt on tomorrow over lunch hour. Then, I can finish the zipper and hem tomorrow night, wrap the package, and get everything ready to go to the post office first thing Thursday morning.

I just have to give myself a little more time, or I am going to ruin this dress. :(

It can't possibly be this close to Christmas!!!!

I am working like crazy to get everything done for Christmas. I have my niece's second dress nearly finished (skirt attached, zipper, and hemmed by Wednesday?), and I have nearly all of the presents for everyone on my list. I have two more presents to buy for my son, and then he's done. And one more present for a friend, who gave me something I really enjoyed last year, and so is even more tough to buy for this year. ;)

Right now, though, I am soooo ready to go to sleep. I worked on sewing while waiting for the spinach to thaw for my spinach dip. Then, finally at around 10:15, I was able to get the beer bread put together (I was also waiting for the beer to get warmer), and into the over. My apartment smells like a frat party, minus the smoke and vomit ambiance. I am having major back and leg pain right now, and I am so sleepy that I am literally having waking dreams of being snuggled in my bed right now.

But, I must stay awake to get the bread out of the oven, cooled, and wrapped up for tomorrow. Another 40 minutes, minimum...

I should have just bought the dinner rolls instead...

Finally, someone says everything I have been thinking since at least 2001

Holier Than They

...There has been a lot of interesting discussion of Mormonism and Evangelical Protestantism, about Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee outdoing themselves to appeal to Christian conservatives, and about John McCain’s belief in a “Christian nation.” There has been dismay about a political moment in which it seems a candidate must pass a religious litmus test to gain national viability. There have been comparisons to John F. Kennedy, talk of the Founding Fathers, of the separation of church and state, and of how the Puritans’ rather intolerant vision of religious freedom continues to trickle down to our day.

But one line of questioning, it seems to me, is missing. One point of view is inexpressible, taboo. I am not referring to atheism – the one belief system that clearly had no place in the vision of America Romney painted in his much-anticipated speech on faith last week. Rather, I’m thinking of the now entirely muted issue of whether the basic ethical foundations of Romney, Huckabee et al’s political views truly are “Christian” – in the good-neighborly sense of the word.

The emphasis is mine.

I will not get into a long, drawn out post right now, but the author of this opinion piece really seems to have hit on everything that has been bothering me about the way this country is headed.

I really recommend reading this article. Please keep an open mind, and really, really think about what she has to say as we head into this holiday season.

This is starting to get a little ridiculous...

I managed to get to work yesterday, despite the ice problems. I worked all day, then spent a lovely time with my nephews in the evening. I came home, puttered around the house, wrote a blog post, and went to bed.

This morning, I woke up, and while I was getting ready, I started feeling really icky.

Gross stuff ahead!












I ended up throwing up. I had a bit of a temp again, and I obviously stayed home. In fact, I crawled back into bed, wet hair and all, after waking up my son to tell him to get ready for school. I slept nearly all day, trying really hard to not move around a lot. I just threw up the one time, luckily, but I didn't start to feel better until around 6 or so. My stomach still feels pretty funky, and I'm a little achy from being in bed all day.

This just is not like me to be so damn sick for so many damn days, and with different symptoms. Maybe I picked up something else at work yesterday. Anyway, just two more days until the end of the semester.

And less than two weeks until Christmas, and for someone who started out early in the planning and shopping, the last two weeks have set me back time-wise considerably. Not a single present is wrapped, although most of them have been purchased already. I haven't had a chance to get my lab monitors anything yet, as I was sick all weekend, and was busy last night. I may leave early for work tomorrow, and get some candy from the grocery store. I think I already have treat bags. But the worst is that I still have well more than half of the shopping left to do for my son.

I just hope I am completely and utterly well by this weekend, or I don't know when I am going to finish.

Why you should always watch where you are going...

After getting to spend a lovely 45 minutes with my sister, her husband, and their two adorable sons (although the 3 year old is driving her nuts), we finished up an errand, and came home. Honestly was the best time I've had in weeks. :) My youngest nephew is sitting up and smiling and gurgling like crazy, and my other nephew is just a scream. It was great. :)

As I was putting the presents we had bought under the tree, and was taking the shrink wrap off of the new Harry Potter movie, I ran into this little bench thing I have by my arm chair. I hit the right side of the front of my right shin. I have the most incredible bruise imaginable. I am damn lucky it didn't break the skin, as there is a nice and neat mark right where it hit, surrounded by blue, and it's swollen. I'm sure it will look even better tomorrow.

Funny thing is, I felt it when I hit it, and was jumping around in the "oh-crap-that-hurts-like-hell" dance for a few minutes, then I sat down to read and kind of forgot about it until I just got into the tub. Then of course, it started to throb like crazy.

This was an appropriate end to my day.

Not fair.

I still have a fever, which means I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, either. Well, except I have to go to the store to get more soup, and more shampoo. And to the doctor, because this is ridiculous. Seriously. I've had a fever since Friday, and yeah, it's not a very high fever, but since I normally run about 97.6°F, 99°F (to 99.3°F) is high for me.

And I am so stinking restless that I can't even get to sleep. And I am starting with another bout of the chills, so I am going to at least crawl into bed, with four blankets, my stocking cap, and a pair of my son's athletic socks, and hope I can warm up. They've been lasting a couple of hours at a time, so maybe I'll get to sleep around 2.

It's a no-brainer that I am not going to work tomorrow.

You gotta love gmail...

Using the word, "spam" in a message or subject line, gives you recipes for using spam the food.

Considering that I ate entirely too much spam during my elementary to high school days, it is a food I avoid at all costs.

So, sorry google, I will not be clicking through to see delightful news ways to prepare spam.

Still hanging on...

So, I woke up this morning, got a bath, got dressed, put makeup on, all in prep to go out to run errands.

Then, I took my temperature, and realized I still had a fever.

So, I got back into my jammies, and tried to occupy myself.

Things I did today:

1. Spent some time on the couch. Urg.
2. Warmed up soup for lunch.
3. Created a new google group for costumers, due to some differences of opinion about overzealous moderation on a forum I post to. Basically, even though I have seen very few posts that were snarky, apparently, even the chance that anyone could possibly misconstrue anything to be snarky is enough to get the post deleted, or the thread locked, or the thread totally deleted. Which obviously makes people hesitant to comment on a thread with advice. So, if someone asks if something is accurate, be careful in how you reply, because someone will take offense. This also makes it hard if you are really looking for an honest opinion. So I decided to offer a place to be able to freely discuss.
4. I am now baking a chocolate cake, because I am dying for chocolate, and I can't go to the store because I have a slight fever.
5. I am also now dividing my time between checking email, and snuggling under the covers watching Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.5. With my stocking cap on again, of course, because I am still cold.

It's funny, but for technically being still sick, I am restless, and cannot sit still for long. I don't drink caffeine, so that's not the problem, and I did not take any more of the cold meds, so that's not the problem either.

Anyway, time to get back under the covers, and try to get well enough to go to work tomorrow, although technically, I should be fever-free for 24 hours before going back...

Oh, and BTW, the group is Historically Influenced Renaissance Garb if you are interested in joining...

Side effect of this stupid cold/flu/respiratory whatever this is...

Last night, I felt like utter crap. My head hurt so bad that tylenol couldn't take the edge off. I took a chest decongestant to try to loosen the crap that's in my lungs, but that didn't help either. All it did was make me unable to focus on anything at all. I couldn't read, I could barely watch TV, and when I attempted to work on my crochet project, I had to stop, because I was messing up. In a word, I was loopy from fever and the medication. My son thought that was highly amusing.

So, today, when I woke up, I thought I was in for a very rough day. But, when you are a mom, and it's this close to Christmas, certain chores have to be done no matter how crappy you feel. I started out slow, and just finished the hem on a dress I am making my niece. Then, I took a break. I sorted the laundry, and then put the zipper into the dress (first one ever!), and when I still felt okay after that, I started the laundry.

Things went downhill from there. By the time the laundry was half done, I felt woozy, and ready for a nap. But, I had to finish the laundry. So I did that, then had a bowl of soup. After the last load was folded and put away, I ran my bath water, anticipating a nice, long soak, followed by a nice, long nap.

I had just gotten out of the tub when I saw that I had an email message from work, that sounded pretty desperate. So, I dried my hair, got dressed, and I went into work.

I will leave out how dreadful this made me feel. I basically just kept everyone away while I fixed the problem, and leaned up against the counter and computer while waiting for the messages on the printer screen to show up to tell me what to do. My hands were shaking by this time, and I was freezing again, but, sometimes you gotta do whachagottado.

Of course, by the time I got home, I was full-on wiped out, freezing, and was barely able to get into fresh jammies. I huddled on the couch with two blankets, my fuzzy slippers, and my stocking cap, and tried to get warm for two hours.

When I finally did warm up, I couldn't sleep! I still can't! And when I cough, the back of my throat tastes funny. It's hard to describe. So, I've been puttering around the house, and since the fever is very slight now, I have been planning what I want to do tomorrow. Because that fever had better be gone.

So, tomorrow, weather and health permitting, I have to make a run for sewing supplies and bubble bath. But if I don't get to sleep soon, I won't be able to do anything tomorrow...

Time to try again...

I knew skipping that flu shot this year would come back and bite me on the ass...

Yep, got the flu. Not happy. Fever, chills, body aches, and terrible cough. The cough part started last night around 6, and got progressively worse. Today, it's awful.

Time for sleepy...

Curing what ails me...

I am feeling a lot better tonight. Less stressed out, more relaxed, not freezing. Our camp out was postponed due to weather. We got about 4-5 inches of snow today, and more is expected this weekend. The place we were going to camp is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, on a gravel road, and is difficult to get in and out of in the snow.

So I am doing a little happy dance about that. Huge relief.

After picking my son up from school, which was overly exciting, due to everyone trying to remember how not to be an idiot on snowy roads (saw two accidents), we went back to work for awhile. I got the popcorn and movie stuff ready to go, and decided to let the lab monitors handle that for the evening. We left work around 5:10, and cleared off the car again (fourth time today), and went to the grocery store with the vague idea of getting something warm and comforting to make for supper.

In the store, we were wandering aimlessly down the produce aisle, when my son spied samples. He got a tiny sample of some soup and he told me I had to try it. I got a sample, as his smelled really good. It was turkey torilla soup (rather than chicken), and after about two bites, I was heading back to the sample table to find out what brand it was. I had never actually tasted this kind of soup before, despite having many opportunities. I didn't think I'd like it. Go figure.

Turns out, they were actually handing out recipes for this soup! So, I grabbed a recipe sheet, and started shopping. We substituted chicken for turkey, mainly due to the lack of turkey broth in the soup aisle.

It took me all of 25 minutes to make this soup, because I used Oscar meyer pre-cooked grilled chicken. We loved it! Well, except for the cilantro. Just couldn't like the cilantro (we both ended up scooping it out). It was a little expensive to make, but I am sure I'll be able to come up with a cheaper way to make it (like using leftover chicken). It was so good! It was a very good idea for HyVee to hand out the recipe. I hope they'll do it for other dishes in the future.

So, I am warm, relaxed, and ready for another hectic day tomorrow, followed by a blissful weekend of getting things done.

Is it just me...

or do any of you read Dear Abby with a feeling of trepidation, half-expecting to recognize yourself in the letters of the desperately questioning writers?

I swear, if anyone writes in about a messed up, relationship-challenged, basketcase, overly-direct, loner geek of a tech person, I'll know I really am a messed up, relationship-challenged, overly-direct, loner geek of a tech person.

Then maybe, I can change, because Dear Abby knows all of the answers.

Freezing

I can't get warm, folks. I feel like the world's biggest wimp, and feel like I must give up my "born-in-Iowa" creds, as it isn't even really as cold as it's going to get this winter, yet.

And no, I am not aneorexic. In fact, if anything, I am going the other way lately. Show me a cupcake, and I'm going to eat it. Or maybe six of them. Trust me, I am not lacking for an insulating layer of subcutaneous fat.

Perhaps the reason I am so sensitive to the cold lately is that I am getting another nasty cold. I have been flirting around with several varieties this fall so far, but this one feels like it has the capacity to be The One. The cold to end all colds, the one that turns into a respiratory infection just in time for Finals week. Because you know, it's not the end of the semester unless I get sick, and have to work through a sinus infection or walking pnuemonia (done both, it sucked, and damaged my lungs).

So here I am, with the thermostat turned up to a decadent 75°F (who had it down to 70°!!??? Damn gremlins!), wrapped in my favorite red blanket. You know, the one that leaves lint everywhere, the one I can't sleep without. My wubby. This blanket goes everywhere with my in cold weather. Except work, because I don't want to get work germs on it. But believe me, I am missing it the entire time I'm at work, due to the cool breezes from the lab and atrium. I have no idea why my office would feel cold when the thermostat says 84°F...

And speaking of cold, and stress, let me tell you the three things that are stressing me out the most right now:

1. Snow forcast for tomorrow,
2. Freezing rain for both Saturday and Sunday,
3. I am expected to camp this weekend, and it is supposed to ice rain this weekend.

All of the chocolate caramels in the world can't make me feel any better right now, although suddenly being able to not have to camp this weekend would improve my outlook immensely...

Dang, I got a lot done today.

No problems with the power today, TG. It rained quite a bit after it finished ice raining around 3 or so. When it refreezes tonight, the roads are going to be a mess.

I spent most of my waking hours working on a play dress for my niece, Grace, and it's looking so cute! Well, the bodice part is mostly done, and one of the drapy sleeves is sewn, and the rest is cut out and waiting. Costume satin is not the most fun to sew, but it will look so cute when it's finished!

I spent over an hour just getting the pattern pieces traced, mainly because I had to locate everything I needed, and then I couldn't find my scotch tape anywhere, despite having just bought one of those four pack things a couple of weeks ago. I ended up finding just one of the rolls, but I'm sure I'll find the others as soon as I buy more.

My back hurts, but it is a good ache. I had so much fun today! Now, I am going to have some ice cream, then park my behind on the couch with a book and enjoy the glow of the Christmas tree.

Yep, it's a mess already...

I slept in this morning, all warm and comfortable, secure in the knowlege that I had done everything on my list to get ready for the snow and ice we were warned about for today. Groceries were bought, all of the laundry is finished, materials for the costumes I want to make this weekend were purchased, and washed. All is ready.

We are supposed to get between .5 and .9 inches of ice.

Which is soooo fun, let me tell you. Parts of Des Moines are already without power, the they were supposed to be on the low end of things.

So, I am ready. I have a bunch of things to do if the power goes out (although I can't remember the last time that happened), and we have plenty of warm clothes and blankets. The car is already covered in ice, and the little bit of snow we have also has a nice coating.

And this is only the beginning...

I just need to get up off of my A$$ and start doing something...

I'm in a rut, folks.

After the faire was over, I was just so exhausted that all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and read, watch movies, and clean my house. I have barely touched my sewing machine since then. Yes, I helped my mom with a baby blanket for my new niece, Sophie, and I have been working a little on play clothes for Grace (Sophie's big sister). But I haven't done anything garb wise since the faire got over, except buy two costuming books (one of which I love).

I think I was burned out a bit. Rehearsals started in February, and I had been sewing non-stop since March. It felt great to get to veg out, and just be normal for once.

And now I'm bored.

So, I am going to get out the play clothes again, and get them finished up. Then, I am going to finish the gold coif that I was making, and see if I can salvage that. Then, I'm going to be working on trim for the black gown, and hunting desperately for matching red corduroy for the red gown, so I can redo the bodice. And then there's the set of sleeves and forepart that I'd like to make...

Okay, I do just need to get off my duff and get to work. Maybe it'll help save my sanity at this time of year — the end of the semester is always hard, but throw in Christmas prep and it's harder than usual. Maybe my projects will help me relax...

Murphey's Law of Tree Decorating

At least one strand of lights will refuse to work, no matter what you do to try to troubleshoot. And then, when you are resigned to having one less strand on the tree, another strand doesn't work. Two strands, on which only half of the lights will work.

And I had almost successfully avoided having to brave the stores this weekend...

Intense.

BSG Razor was good. Very good. Lots of surprises, twists and turns. Because I have been going through the first and second seasons in order, I picked up on a couple of things that I would have missed otherwise. I'm sure many people are going to be confused.

I'm still ticked off that I have to wait until MARCH for the fourth, and final season. NOT happy about that. March. Arg!

Anyway, Razor will be released on DVD Dec. 4th. Sure would be nice to know when season 3 is going to hit DVD... it only finished back in January you know. Maybe they should get that out before March, bridge the gap, so to speak.

I just wish I was feeling better. Throat still hurts, and I definitely have a cold. No flu though, TG. The next three weeks are going to be very intense at work, and there will be no down time. No time to get sick. Today was a wash as far as getting things done at home. I spent a good deal of time on the couch, with a box of kleenex, and a book. I fully intend to spend a good part of tomorrow doing the same. Rest is important.

Anyway, my head is full of BSG right now, and I am going to have to push it aside so I can sleep. I taped it (I know, SHOCK, VCR still exists in this house!), so I can watch it again later this week. A girl has to relax somehow...

What now?

I am feeling a bit better today, although the back of my throat feels weird, and my headache is still hanging on. Or rather, I was feeling better until my son asked when we were going to put up the Christmas Tree.

Traditionally, we set up the Christmas tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That would be today. I am in a bit of a quandry this year, as I do not know where I am going to put the tree.

You see, we switched internet providers this summer (keep with me here, folks, it's related. Really.). Since the internet is now provided by Mediacom, and I don't want cables running the length of my apartment, the computer is now in the living room.

In the spot where the Christmas Tree usually sits.

Hmm.

So, I suppose I can move the little 4-port hub that is in my son's room, and hang a really long ethernet cable off of it from the living room to my room, which would mean that I would get to watch movies in my room again (which I have missed, especially when my son takes over the living room TV with the Wii). But, it would also mean having an ethernet cable stretched across the entire apartment. Which would suck.

So, I am trying to figure out how annoying it would be to have to live with that for a month.

Pretty damned annoying, really.

It may be my only choice, though. Hmm... I think I need to figure out how long the cable would have to be to make this work... yick.

sigh...

Random Post #872365

This sign always makes us laugh. No idea what they mean by "open Taco". Just another random Manson thing...

After we got home this afternoon, I tried to sleep a bit before heading out to get groceries. I don't remember drifting off, as I was certainly not very comfortable due to my son digging through his huge box of Lego™ trying to find something, but before I knew it, an hour had passed.

My throat was sore when I woke up, and when looking at it in the mirror with a flashlight, I was not very happy to see that it is red, and has white spots. It's gotten progressively worse, and now my ears hurt, and I think that the glands under my jaw are swollen. I also have a slight headache, but no fever, and the beginnings of body aches. Way to spend the last two days off before crunch time at work.

In any case, I don't know if I am getting the flu or not. I would say "definitely" if I had a fever. I've had the flu before, but not for about nine years. I knew I should have gone in and had the flu shot, but the clinic was early this week, and chances are, I was already exposed, if this is what it is.

Oh well. Looks like I'll be staying in and doing nothing this weekend. Good thing I am armed with an Enterprise marathon on SciFi, and the complete second season of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Not to mention the BSG Razor premiere tomorrow night.

Okay, hot chocolate is done. Time to go doctor this sore throat...

We're back!

I actually did it. I actually managed to make thanksgiving dinner with my dad, and no one got food poisoning, nothing got burned, or otherwise messed up. Everything tasted great, and we had a lot of fun.

Now, I am home, exhausted, and am ready for a nap.

"Light snow", my a$$...

Boy, is this going to be an interesting trip...

Just my luck...

Just in time for Thanksgiving - first cold of the season. I am getting more and more miserable by the minute here in the Geek apartment.

So, let's make a short list of the ways in which I have been uncomfortable lately.

1. I can't remember the last time I slept well at night. I get very sleepy, but I can't actually get to deep sleep, just tossing and turning.

2. Upset stomach Saturday night, Last night, and until about 3 today.

3. Growing cold symptoms. Stuffy nose, my sinuses are starting to get icky, and I feel congested. Just great.

I am going to attempt to sleep with my head and chest more elevated tonight, and see if I can get more comfortable. I think if I could sleep, the rest could be dealt with...

Long Day, but good!

My new niece was born at 6:34 am today! Very surprised, as she was supposed to arrive on the 27th, by planned c-section. I guess she got a little impatient, and decided it was time. ;) Everything went well, and both mom and baby are fine! :D

We continued with our plans to go to my Granny's house for Thanksgiving dinner today. We left here around 8:40 am, and got to my parents' house around 10. I made the pasta salad that Mom was going to make (she was already on her way to Wisconsin), and we left for my Granny's around 11:45.

Tons of good food, lots of fun! We even got my Granny's Christmas lights on the trees and bushes. Dang, it was cold out today. My ears are still aching, and I feel a sore throat coming of as well...

And in a move that was pretty sad for me, and I am sure bittersweet for all of the aunts and uncles, all but a small section of my grandpa's garden was lightly tilled, seeded with grass seed, and raked, ready for the winter snows.

Sigh.

Well, life must go on.

And our new little sweetheart is so adorable, it made the whole day, no matter what happened, very special.

P.S. Oh, and I almost hit two deer on the way home. We didn't leave Manson until nearly 5:30, when we should have left at 3:30, to avoid driving home in the dark. We were watching very carefully for deer, and came upon two of them: one standing in the opposite lane of the road, and another just off on that sides shoulder. Very close. Very, very close. I'll admit that we both shouted, "Deer!!!" at the same time as I honked the horn, and tapped the brakes. She decided against entering the road further, and they turned. If she had decided to keep going, we'd have hit her, and maybe the other as well. I aged about 20 years in that moment. My heart was pounding until I got home. I hate driving at night during this time of the year...

My niece is on the way!!!

Nan's water broke this morning at 3am, and my mom is on the way to Wisconsin. No news yet, but she's having a c-section, so she's probably already had the baby.

Cross your fingers, folks!

Well, you know... it's like this...

TG tomorrow if FRIDAY, because my head would explode if this week were any longer.

I really hope I can sleep tonight...

It's this type of thing that just tops off a day...

So, I wanted some popcorn after supper. We finally got our microwave kettle corn from scouts, and I was dying for some popcorn.

Damn thing wasn't popping right, as in, not at all. In the last second the microwave was still on, I heard a tremendous POP, and opened the microwave to this:



:(

Yes, that is one of my pretty new plates that I bought a few weeks ago.

No idea how this happened, and the plate is taking a very long time to cool off. Yes, it is supposed to be microwaveable.

This just kind of ticks me off...

Tagged.

Thanks, Troy!

This is a new meme, about books, which is a pretty hawesome thing considering. An internet meme about printed material - sweet!

Anyway, here's how it goes:
Answer 5 questions. Tag 5 booklovers.

The Questions:
1) How many books do you own?
2) What was the last book you read?
3) What was the last book you purchased?
4) What five books are most meaningful to you?
5) What is your most obscure favorite book? Or, favorite most obscure book?

1.) Hmm... Do books in storage count? I have 303 books right now, and an entire rubbermaid container of books in the crawlspace at Mom's house. There has to be more than 100 in that container. Believe it or not, I have pared things down. My entire Tom Clancy collection went to Goodwill about a month ago.

2.) Last book I read... "Light a Penny Candle" by Maeve Binchey. I am currently reading "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams. That should give you an idea of scope...

3.) Purchased from Goodwill: "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", by Susanna Clarke. I'm actually in the process of reading this book, too, but got distracted by DGHDA. It happens.

4.) What five books are most meaningful to me? This is a tough one...

1. "Allan Quatermain", H. Rider Haggard
   
2. "The Talisman", Stephen King and Peter Straub
   
3. (And I'm cheating here for the last three, and listing series rather than individual books) The Wizard of Oz books - Frank Baum
   
4. The Harry Potter Series (for just good storytelling, and making me feel like I did when I first read the Oz books)
   
5. And the Dark Tower series, by Stephen King.
   

5.) most obscure favorite book... I'd say anything by H. Rider Haggard. Most of his stuff is out of print, but the Gutenburg project is amazing in that regard. Every book I read of his becomes a favorite.

And finally, who am I going to tag? Hmm... The Nerd - Mike G., Queen Catherine (a.k.a Lynne), The Duke of Somerset (a.k.a Marty), Raphael and oh heck, I'd say Jeremy, but he's on haitus, so I won't temp him. Still one short... Well, that's the list so far... maybe I'll add to it later. Enjoy!

The most annoying day ever.

I have been in the most awful mood all day today. Not sure why, but everything gets on my nerves.

Part of this probably stems from the fact that I did not sleep well last night, and then when I did finally drop off, the alarm rang. I shut off the alarm, and then slept until 9:30.

I didn't get everything done today that i wanted to accomplish. That's part of what's annoying me. I did manage to get the laundry completely done again (w00t! Two weekends in a row!), and I moved a new bookshelf into the living room. I sorted the DVDs and put them on the new bookshelf. I also managed to get a tiny bit of sewing done for my neice's Christmas present. And I made a big dinner.

But, what i really wanted to do was lounge on the couch all day, watching movies, taking a nap, and reading a book.

I think that not being able to do what I really wanted to do is the source of my crappy mood.

What a way to start out what is going to be an insanely busy week...

One Week Since the Kitchen Flood

And is my refrigerator fixed yet???? Nope.

A full week, and they haven't yet come to replace the valve for the ice maker.

gumble

You have got to be kidding me...

Police To Charge Boy With Terrorism

STORM LAKE, Iowa -- A northwest Iowa boy accused of threatening to kill two teachers and blow up his school is expected to be charged with terrorism.

Robert Stewart, 13, of Aurelia, was arrested at Storm Lake Middle School on Tuesday.


Police were called about the threats. No weapon or explosive device was found.

(emphasis is mine)

Why in the hell is this boy charged with terrorism???? I don't get it. He's a 13 year old boy. An 8th grader.

Kids this age are volatile, yes, due to the changing hormones and changing expectations of the adults around them. Yes, there are problem kids, and the boy does not have the right to make those threats, but TERRORISM??

Why is this even being considered? Isn't there a more appropriate charge that could be made? This kid needs help. He does not need to be lumped into the same category as a car bomber, particularly since they don't appear to have evidence that he meant to follow through.

This, my friends, is a shining example of how fucked up our country is.

Turning into my mother...

One of the best things my mother ever did for me happened when I was in the sixth grade.

I was drowning in depression. Gawky, unpopular, picked on by Jason A. to the point where he pushed me down when I was on crutches, and turned my sprained ankle into a broken ankle. My only friends were others who were as big misfits as I was. I hated school. I would spend study hall drawing complex geometric patterns with my four-color ink pen.

I was miserable.

To complicate matters, I was not well liked by my teacher, for reasons which I will never understand. I didn't do anything to get into trouble, but I was not trusted or liked.

Mrs. N never collected assignments directly. There was no, "Pass your papers to the front of the row," or direct handing in of assignments. Assignments were put in a stack of letter trays. Because of this, my sixth grade teacher regularly "lost" my assignments, or else they were pulled out of the pile by others in my class.

I nearly failed sixth grade.

After the first several assignments were labeled as "late" or missing, I couldn't see the point. I worked my ass off, and got nowhere, so I stopped trying in her classes.

A's and B's in the classes she did not teach, and D's in the ones she did.

One particular assignment that I remember very clearly was a narrative for a contest. We were to write an essay, in narrative form, about something significant that happened in our lives. I wrote an eight page story about what happened to my family in the Manson Tornado, double-spaced, punctuated carefully, words looked up in the dictionary, rewritten to where there were no mistakes at all, no cross-outs. Perfect.

I was told I was a liar. That stuff didn't happen. I was too young to remember, and someone else wrote this paper for me. I was stunned. My paper was not submitted to the contest because of this.

The sheer unfairness of this blind-sided me.

Later, when my report card came out, I was stunned to see that I was in danger of actually failing the sixth grade. My mother was extremely angry at me, understandably. How could I be failing when I spent so much time on my homework? Why wasn't I turning things in? She put the fear into me so badly, that I went back to class, stopped hanging out so much with my misfit friends (or anyone, for that matter), and kissed so much ass that I felt like a phony.

I squeaked by. There was no way in hell I was going to repeat that year of hell. No way.

Starting in seventh grade, I worked my ass off in every class, and got good grades again. I was on the honor roll from then on. I also never had a teacher quite like her again.

I worked hard because I wanted out of my hometown. I wanted to make something of myself. I wanted to make my mom proud, and I never wanted to be on the receiving end of a lecture like the one I had when I was failing sixth grade. You don't want that type of screaming. Trust me. ;)

So tonight, after going to my son's conference. I realized that I was going to have to make that same type of lecture. He's not failing, by any means, but he also is not applying himself, not turning in work, and is not paying attention like he should. He has the capacity to get A's, but is not working up to his potential.

I hated to do it. As his homeroom teacher said, "He's not a bad kid. He never causes trouble." In a way, it would almost be easier if he did cause trouble. He'd get the attention that he needs.

So, I came home, put aside my inner sixth grader, and made his ears ring. I focused on positives, set down rules, and expectations. I grounded him from video games during the school week, and from drawing during school hours (except during lunch - this was one of the problems he was having in classes). I will be inspecting all homework, the planner, and he will start studying for tests three days in advance. I am not letting this slip, or next year will be a fiasco.

I did not let myself feel awful during this. It is completely necessary. Something has to change. It is not enough to be smart. You also have to have the grades in order to make something of yourself. I don't want to let him throw away the opportunities he could have.

My mother must have felt the same way twenty-four years ago...

Update on the Kitchen Flood Situation

The maintenance guy and the appliance guy left at 5:20. They finally found the valve to shut off the water to the ice maker.

I am going to take a shower, then we're going out to Hickory Park. We deserve it after all of the crap we went through this afternoon.

Yum. BBQ.

Minor Disasters

I am exhausted. I am also getting more than a little angry. I had plans for today, that are not getting done, and at this point, it looks like this whole damn afternoon is going to be wasted.

About 2 and a half hours ago, I went down to the laundry room to take things out of the wash, and put more in. When I came back to my apartment, there was a flood of water making its way out from under the refrigerator! I stood there for a second, bewildered, then ran to the bathroom to grab towels. I finally managed to mop up enough water, and bunched the towels around the side of the refrigerator, where the water seemed to be coming from.

I grabbed the phone and the phone book, and called our property management company, and punched in number 9 for emergency maintenance. I explained what was happening, and then opened my freezer to see water coming out of my ice machine, and flooding my freezer, and ice catcher! The guy told me he'd call the appliance people right away, and that the appliance people would call me to let me know when they'd be there. And he did. He called them right away.

They just still haven't called me back!

I called again at 2:00, and told him they hadn't called back. I was very nice about it, and asked him if he could please call them again, as I was having to dump the bucket I had under the leaks every 10 minutes. He promised to call them back again. He sounded very concerned that they hadn't contacted me yet.

And 45 minutes later, they STILL have't called back.

I don't know what to do. I have to set a timer to get up every ten minutes and dump the water. I have cleaned up most of the water mess, emptied my freezer, and been working non-stop to make sure that the flooding part doesn't happen again. If they don't get here today, I won't be able to even sleep tonight, as the water really has to be dumped every ten minutes! I'm calling the property management number every hour until they get someone here. They could at least call and tell me when they are coming, so I can at least know what's going on, and that they aren't going to leave me with this problem all damn weekend.

What a mess...