Stormy Wednesday...

Actually...it's been storming since yesterday. We've had two days of tornado watches, heavy rain, winds, and craziness. So far, we've been good, but other areas nearby have not.

The day job is insane. I'm back to being behind. Everything is on fire and what's not on fire, is soaking wet. I still don't know what I'm going to do.

The kittens are crazy! They are so cute and playful, but pretty much into everything. A water cup is a direct invitation for mayhem. So is a box. They are running up and down the stairs. This time last week, they were kind of fearful. Freddie has a new nickname. Tank. He is twice is big as the others and is asserting himself with Max. It's pretty funny to watch.

Elsa is doing okay post bite. It looks pretty good and she's acting normally. We're still keeping a close eye on it.

I'm working through my edits. Down to the hard stuff now. I know what I'm doing with some of it. The other stuff is a constant thinking process. It's not terribly hard stuff - just stuff that requires thought.

I'm exhausted though. My hips are killing me from sleeping on the hard camper mattress last weekend. At least I think that's why. I was in bed by 9pm last night and slept until 6 this morning. I think I'm not far from bed currently. But I feel pretty good that I made a major dent in edits and got some other stuff done, too, so I guess I'm doing okay despite it all.

So that's all for now...

Behave!

Back From the Wilds....

Sorry for the radio silence... Last week was crazy busy with the Day Job and getting ready for camp!

Wednesday we went up to camp and weed wacked and got rid of wasp nests and came home and crashed. It was just That Man and I and despite the work, it was a good time.

Thursday was crazy trying to get everything ready to go. I seriously thought about calling off work. I went in anyway and did my job. Did a crapton of laundry when I got home and organized some stuff. That Man had a migraine and went to be at a ridiculously early time. Talked to the adopted sister for a while and then it stormed like crazy! We weren't sure we'd be able to camp at that point...

Friday dawned bright and sunny... Not so worried about camp. Pretty much ready to go. Did the day job thing. Got myself all caught up - well, for the most part. But when I left on Friday I was at inbox zero and was caught up enough to feel good about it!

We had no plans to go up Friday night. We have kittens and I needed to pay bills and do other stuff. That Man had done the shopping, so that was good. We were in bed early and up early Saturday.

Cut the grass. Watered the plants. Packed up and went to The Wilds.

It was fantastic. Good friends. Good camp fires.

The picnic was good. A little stressful with my sister and brother-in-law in charge and trying to make everything perfect. We helped get stuff ready to go and stressed with them on how it went. Didn't get to help as much as we wanted because we'd kept Mr. B Saturday night and he "needed" to get into the creek and he needed to fish. (that boy is a natural fisherman. He caught like 7 fish Saurday night and they were big!) We had a blast with him! But the whole day really went off without a hitch. We had a momentary hold up due to impending rain and then it was really good.

Except.... Elsa got bit by her own sister... Her sister is not well socialized and was not handling the stress of the picnic well. She got Elsa on her side. It's ugly and gross looking, but Elsa is doing okay. She's acting normal and eating and everything, but she's got a big tooth hole in her side. Ugh! It's just one of those things. We're not angry at Gretchen's owner or at Gretchen, because she's a good dog. It was seriously situational. There was a lot going on when it happened. We're watching it and her and will take appropriate measures if necessary. They were getting along the night before, so no one saw this coming... But... :(

The baby cousins were together which was super, super cute. Baby A is freaking the adorable-est. Baby B was so freaking happy to see her. He screamed loudly! It was so very cut and awesome. We also got to see our other adopted daughter and her son. Her little boy is so freaking cute and so smart! The big kids all grew up together and they are still close, which is so awesome!

We got home this afternoon. I took at nap. Hit my edits. Did some laundry and now we are dressing Floofy's wounds and going to bed. Tomorrow starts the work week. Ugh.

Behave!

And It's Tuesday Already...

Yeah, I know. It's not Sunday... But...

We had an amazing weekend! Got to the hotel early Friday. Not quite check in time so we took off in search of a beach. Found a rocky, horseshoe crab infested beach with the crabs doing the nasty - like orgy crabs (they make weird noises - freaky). It was bay side, but still awesome to see the open water. We then went to another bay beach, which was nice, but no way to even get to the water without going through private property.

Went back to the hotel and got our room. Went up and it hadn't been cleaned yet. Hauled our stuff back to the Jeep and went across the parking lot for some food. Hung out in the sun on the deck for a few hours until we got too hot. Back to the hotel and into our room. Finally. Took a nap and then got up and went to the venue to help set up.

The organizer had posted that anyone in the area could stop and help do stuff Friday night. We put up cones and helped with various things. We were just about ready to leave when the guy from my work who was joining us called to say he was ten minutes away. So we waited. While we waited, a bunch of chaos erupted and suddenly we were going to the track. That Man asked if we could go along and they were like "hell yeah", so we went... On the race track. At Dover.

Called my work buddy and told him what was going on as we followed the truck in front of us to the gate to get onto the track. That Man and I were pretty much stunned. And then we were on the track. Going pretty damned fast. It was amazing! Work buddy joined the fun on our second lap. OMG! It was an absolute blast! We were going almost 100mph and hanging those walls tight! We had a pace truck, and it was awesome!

What a rush! And so worth the fifty-five thousand miles we walked putting out cones for the event!

Left the track still on a major high! Back to the hotel, waited for work buddy and wife to get checked in and then went to the pub for dinner. There was a bar fight, some people puking, and a super giant bouncer. We got out of there before things got too crazy. Back to the hotel and to bed.

Up really early to get ready for the event. Met up with a Jeep group in the grocery store parking lot behind the hotel. Talked to a bunch of people while we waited for the work guy. He was running late, so we went for good coffee (hotel coffee was abysmal). Finally hit the road and got to the event just in time to get the first time slot for driving on the track for the day.

Since That Man had done it the night before, I was in the driver's seat for Saturday. I was confident and ready. And then we got out there! It was terrifying! And awesome! It felt like I was going to tip as I tried to hug the lower level of the track. We just weren't going fast enough for me to feel confident. At one point I told That Man that I was going to pee my pants! Another ten miles an hour and I would have been golden! But it was amazing and I would totally do it again!

The rest of the day was a blast - food trucks, ceremonies, bands, vendor tents. A beautiful sunny day. We took off back to the hotel and work buddy took off to the beach. Decided against going out or going back to the pub (Saturday night - no thanks. Friday night was bad enough. Oh and Saturday morning there were shopping carts tipped over all across the pub parking lot. Oy!) Walked to the grocery store for food for dinner. Hung out in the hotel room with bad tv and our grub. We were exhausted (we must have walked 55 thousand miles)(and we were sunburned). Feel asleep at a ridiculously early time.

Sunday... We woke to realize it had rained at some point. We left the top down overnight. It wasn't bad. Moved the Jeep to the sun. Talked to another Jeep guy who stayed at the same hotel. He offered us towels and helped us get situated. Nice folks and we'll probably see them next year. Checked out and stopped for real coffee before hitting the road to see my aunt.

Had a very nice visit with her. Actually just got a text from my cousin that said how much his mom enjoyed our visit. I haven't seen her since my mom's funeral. But Mom and I were there not long before that in an effort to try to get the farm stuff situated. We had a really great time.

Left and got stuck in beach traffic on the Bay bridge. We were sunburnt. We're more sunburnt now. We were sunscreened, but that blazing sun.. .lol.

Got home about twenty minutes before a major thunderstorm. My sis and E came to pick up their new babies. It's weird to be two kittens down. They are in good hands, but it's weird to go from five to three. They didn't stay long so they could get their new babies settled in. Ordered subs for dinner. Went to bed super early.

Monday - back to the day job. Awful day.

Today - More day job madness. Things are super rough. Like so rough that I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I love my job and I love what I do, but I don't know how much longer I can continue at the pace I've been working at since January. I'm frazzled and exhausted and feeling super unsupported. I have a lot of thinking to do...

And that's where I'm at.

I've been hand writing. In fact, today is the first time I've been on my computer since Thursday. And I can honestly say I didn't have one freak attack about not having my computer with me this weekend. I think it's because I hyped myself all up about it, but that's besides the point.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. We're supposed to camp in The Wilds this weekend. I hope we can - just waiting on the "too wet" report. We'll have Mr. B with us one night if we do. That will be fun. So far, everything looks good. We're debating on trying to put the camper up. We'll see...

That is all!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday on Thursday!

You probably won't hear from me again until Sunday!

I'm not taking my computer this weekend. I know! It's like heresy! I feel the same way, but... We're leaving pretty early tomorrow and there will be much time away from the easily-broken-into Jeep before we check into our hotel. I don't care if someone steals my undies, but I do care of my computer goes away, or if it gets wet!

It will be okay. (I tell myself that over and over and it does stress me out.) I will do my words by hand. The critique is done, so I don't have to stress about that. Bills are paid. Everything is printed. And we'll be back Sunday, so...

Today was super freaking stressful at the day job. I swear everything was on fire and then some. My head still hurts from clenching my jaw. It was that bad and then some. I kid you not. I did leave early, but not without a bunch of work guilt and regret that I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. And it's taken me until about now to release a lot of that stress, which is unusual for me.

Did the bank thing. Easy, but it takes a while. They need special stamps and everything is all locked up. Then the other stamp, which they also keep locked up. The lady was super sweet though and we talked for a while. Everything is ready to go into the mail and the estate folder is updated with receipts and copies of everything. A relief, but as has been the history, waiting for another shoe to drop. Waiting for three things now...

Grocery store and then home to start prepping for our weekend. Laundry is (still) going, only because the sweatshirt I want came out with stains and we can't have that. I swear it didn't have any when I first washed it! Our bag is mostly packed. The Jeep is ready and just waiting for the clothing bag. We're heading out light, so the only things we already have in there are tools, oil, etc.

And that's all I have! I'm so looking forward to this weekend! From the one-on-one time with That Man, to the hotel, to the meeting up with friends, to the actual experience! I will let you know how it goes!

Behave!

It's My Thursday!

And tomorrow is a short day for me!

I know it's not your Thursday! Well, at least if you aren't off work on Friday! But it is mine!

I'm leaving early tomorrow to head back to the bank to take care of stupid estate stuff. I sent the one place everything and apparently it wasn't good enough. I have to start over. Ugh! But I believe it's the last one, though stuff and issues are popping up everytime I turn around. Oh hey, fill this out. Oh hey, your mom owns this because your dad is dead and we just can't fathom why she didn't take care of it. Suck it, jerks. Why didn't you call me to hear the story instead of sending me a rude letter?

Anyway. I'll be leaving work a few hours early to take care of that crap. And then, I am off on Friday!

We're heading out early Friday morning to head south for a Jeep event. It's a pretty cool thing and we get to drive on the racetrack! It's an event that supports fallen police officers. A guy from my work and his wife are going down, too. Our hotel is booked. The Jeep has been checked over by our mechanic, the house, kittens, cats, and dog are securely about to be sat on, but I still have so much to do!

I did do my words and pages on the critique I'm working on, so that's something.

In kitten news, they are at the 6 week mark. They are so cute and so obnoxious. Their claws are like razors. Both That Man and I are tore up. They are getting so big and so curious. We're going to be sad when the ones going away actually go!

I need to make a list now!

Behave!

A Little Behind...

I know it's been almost a week since I've posted!

Friday was Friday. It was good to get out of the day job! We didn't do anything Friday night. Well... sat on the backporch for a little. Saturday was a bit of sleeping in, then errands. It was a beautiful day. We got some Jeep work done, yard work, made awesome food, and did laundry.

Sunday... This year has been a rough Mother's Day. I think a lot of it has to do with this being the nearly exact time we lost Mom. The memories are so fresh-feeling this year. I stayed off social media nearly all day because I couldn't bear to see people posting pictures of their day with their mom.

I stayed in my jammies all day and pretty much hunkered down on the couch with the kittens. That Man made me breakfast. I took a nap. Talked to my kids. That Man made dinner and cleaned up. It poured all day long, which matched my mood.

Today was back to the grind. Though K3 and A stopped to bring me some flowers at work today. That was nice. A wasn't feeling well yesterday, so they didn't come over like they'd originally planned.

K4 put a turkey breast into the oven for me earlier, and even though it was in there for five hours, it wasn't cooked the whole way through. We ended up with chinese food for dinner.

And... I did my writing and critiquing and now I'm seriously thinking about going up to crawl into my nice warm bed. It's cold!

And now you see you missed nothing! ha!

Behave!

Thursday... Oy Vey!

Today is Friday Eve!

That's my new thing. I was talking to a client this morning and she said that - totally changed my day! I shared it with the office and it did make a difference in our attitudes. It's been a super, super rough week.

The new hire lasted 2 1/2 days. The IT guy was let go, too. Not sure what happened there, but think it had to do with sleeping on the job. I had high hopes for the new guy. And I'm going to miss the IT guy. He was weirdly different but a good part of our team. So... morale is kind of low at the moment.

The kittens are trying to climb across my computer. They are crazy busy, though some are sleeping.  Well. Not anymore. Now everyone is up and yelling.

I did my words. I'm mentoring a young writer, so I checked out her latest stuff. I also did some critiquing. Not much of any, but enough to help me feel like I'm at least working at a balance.

My eyes are weary and my head is achey. I've been in front of a computer screen for nearly fourteen hours now. I am done for the night.

The weekend is coming. Our plans include Jeep work, yard work, and good food. Sunday is Mother's Day and I don't want to get into that yet...

That is all!

Behave!

Monday...Woah...

My three day weekend went super fast!

I finished my whole list on Friday! Got answers! Made phone calls. Took a nap. Made an awesome dinner. It was a beautiful thing!

Saturday - I was supposed to go to a mini writing retreat, but between K3's car breaking down, unexpected errands, and generally feeling like crap, I didn't get there. It sucks, but it was what it was. I did get to sleep for a while and when I woke, I felt way better. We had K5 Saturday night, which was a blast. She loved the kittens and she was a huge help with them. The kid is super smart and so interested in space. We had a blast with her.

Sunday - Mr. B came to visit too. We had an awesome breakfast with them. Then off to Lowe's to get flower pots for them to make mother's day presents. Two crazy kids in Lowe's. In the rain. We had a blast. Back home to paint flower pots, then lunch, then planting flowers, playing in the mud, then off to take the kiddos home. It was a good, fun day. We were exhausted.

Monday's always suck. But the new hire started today. I helped interview him and I liked him, so the hope is that he'll work out. He's got the right attitude and I think he's a good fit, so we'll see...

The kittens are weaned from the bottle and doing a wet/dry food mix. They've been running around downstairs all night. They are so stinking cute. Two or so weeks until they go to their new homes. And in the meantime, they will eat us out of house and home. LOL.

I'm keeping up with my writing group challenge, so that's awesome all by its self...

That's all I've got...

Behave!

Whoot! Three Day Weekend Commencing!

It's my Friday! It's my Friday! Three day weekend! Whoot!

It was a Hell day at the Day Job. Everything was on fire. Like from 7:45 when I clocked in and it didn't get any better all day. Everyone wanted everything immediately and the phone would not stop ringing. I was trying to get myself in a good place to be off, but that did not happen. My reps know who to go to if they need something asap. It is what it is.

As I left the day job, I got a message that a good friend from my writing group lost her husband last night. That threw me big time. He had a brain tumor and they had given him a timeframe, but it just came as a shock. She's a young mom with two kids under six and my heart is breaking for her. That totally rocked my world. I've been struggling with it all night.

So...

Tomorrow is a day off. I have a pretty big list of things to do. I will be back and forth at the house, but I am hoping to get everything done before lunch. We will see. I kind of doubt that will happen though, given the size of my list. And I keep adding things to it, so...

I don't think I will be sleeping in at all. The babies will need to be fed in the morning and since I'm the one who doesn't have to run out of the door, I will be in charge. We're doing the weaning slow. Their formula is mixed with chicken baby food and they eat like monsters. Tomorrow night we will let them try out eating out of a dish again and then they will get much-needed baths. They are stinky. For reals. And they will be super messy after checking out real food in the manner we plan to introduce it. Essentially, by this time next week, they should be mostly weaned from the bottle. We introduced water tonight. So far no one is going for it, but it's a matter of time. We found a "chick feeder" water fountain because we know how much of a mess they will make when they discover it! They'll be five weeks tomorrow, or so we think. Two weeks since we rescued them. Three or so weeks until they're ready to go to their new homes. Weird.

And that is all... I'm sure you'll hear from me tomorrow! Probably while I'm on hold during one of the ten-thousand calls I have to make tomorrow.

Behave!

Mid-Week Kittens...

Yeah, I know these kitten posts are getting old... We're just a few weeks away from them being ready to go to their new homes - like maybe 3 or 4.

They are starting to wean from the bottle and are constantly on the move. I feel like the Pied Piper because they follow and follow and follow. But they're so cute. Max is becoming very interested in them. Just tonight he sniffed them and hung out while they tried out "big little kitty" food. They've changed a lot in just the few days since Sunday.

In other news...

Monday night was Writer's Chat with me as the host. There were seven of us at a chain restaurant and we had a blast. It was good to connect and talk shop. The food was okay. The service was good. Even though I was the host, I bailed a bit early to get home and get to the edits.

Tuesday - I finished the edits at almost 11pm and sent them back to my editor. Yay!

Today - Writing time. Laundry. You know...

The day job is the same. Brain Draining. There is a new hire coming Monday and a coworker and I sat in on the interview and liked him, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that he can keep the pace with us. He has a fantastic attitude, so there's that. I was caught up for about two days, but now I'm not.

Tomorrow is my Friday though. I have no choice but to take Friday off to take care of Estate stuff and some household administration duties. Yeah. Some of the estate stuff came through without a hitch and others... well... I'm banging my head against the wall because I don't know what they want or what I did wrong. So I have to figure that out with phone calls and get it moving to completion.  And go to the bank. I also need to get my drivers license picture taken. Meh. So it will be a weird discombobulated day of running in nine different directions. I'll get the license taken care of first thing, and then figure out the rest.

That's all I have!

Behave!