Loopholes of Insanity

I promise a real post is coming. Really, it is. A really long one that I'll have to do a lj cut for. Really. Cross my heart.

Anyway, this little story just kinda reminded me of the episode of Cowboy Bebop where Spike accidently forgets about the Mars Rock Lobster he bought and hide so no one else would eat it. The lobster mutated and started attacking the crew as this squishy purple toxic goober. It's just a really great episode that has nothing to do with the main story line and gives me some interesting memories of cleaning out the fridge that Amanda had abandoned lots of leftovers in. But somehow I think this company needing to call Hazmat in thanks to a fridge wins the prize.

7 hospitalized after office fridge cleanup 

My dad sent this to me, and I just cracked up. How I love thee Robin Williams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMz1Q3E000&eurl=http://politicalirony.com/2008/11/30/robin-williams-on-obamas-election/&feature=player_embedded

 Christmas is upon us again. It's so hard to get excited for it. I haven't been excited for Christmas in awhile.

When you don't have the money to really take care of the people you want to, I just get all blah. I want to spend money on people and just can't do much. especially with Cal's family. His mom's side gives a lot and I always feel bad being a present sponge. Even worse with the vacation coming up in January.

Mid -January I'll be bumming around on a private boat hitting Mexico and the Bahamas. The private cruise comes with a full service staff including chef. Sandy and Rich bought it at a charity auction a little better than a year ago. Sandy and Rich decided to take Cal and Perry along with them and Chloe as a graduation present for both of them. So, why am I going on this family extravaganza? Well, it turns out Perry couldn't go because he's moving and starting work in Houston the same week. So I got invited. I'm ridiculously grateful, but I feel like such a mooch. They are literally going to be paying for everything. I have no way to pay them back for anything this massive. Plus Christmas stuff... I'm just flabbergasted. What can I do to repay them? Any ideas? I know I shouldn't feel bad about their generosity, but I just don't feel deserving of that level of thing. Or maybe I'm just not comfortable with that level of wealth being tossed around, especially my way. I dunno, but I'll think of something, I hope.

Anyway, in other news- Papa Bill is turning 90 in January. Mom and her sisters have been planning a big bash like we did with Grandma a year and a half ago. Gail, Zim, Kayla, and Levi are all coming back from New Zealand for the holidays and Papa's birthday. It'll be really nice to see them again. i haven't talked to Kayla as much as I planned to since they moved, it'll be really nice to see what's she's been up to.

On the other side of the grandparental spectrum, Grandma's still fighting with her ankle to a large degree. The bones are healed, but she's still be having pain and swelling. When it started acting like it might be infected, we took her into the doctor again. Well, the doc had her go into wound care first to get rid of any lingering dead skin and check the bits that are still healing. Then we went to see the surgeon again to see what she had to say. from everything the surgeon was finding, they're thinking more along the lines of either an allergy to nickel (AKA, the metal used for the plate and screw in the ankle) or the skin is acting up with something resembling shingles. But right now, money is on the allergy. We're seeing a dermatologist Monday to test it. If that's the problem, she'll have to have surgery again to remove the metal. which means more recovery time. Her memory recovered a bit once she was able to get the brace off and start moving again, but she's not as on top of things as she used to be. I worried more about the possible surgery and recovery making her memory worse. It's not alzheimer's level yet, but its definitely creeping that way. And... it's just depressing and upsetting. Otherwise, she's pretty good. 

Calvin finished his last college class the other day. He's taking his final finals. He still won't graduate officially for awhile because as a music major he needs to see a bunch of concerts that he fell behind on. It's a 0 credit course and I don't think he even needs to technically enroll, it's just a matter of taking the time to get it done.

As for me- I'm here I guess. Working a bunch. We're trying to get all our vendors more or less caught up for the end of the year. For the realtor that's about $80,000 in the hole, its more difficult. I had to spend a bunch of time re-sending stuff they said they never got. Debating whether I'm going to continue bothering sending them monthly statements since they ignored them until it hit to $75 grand in debt. Suddenly they were getting the statements then. But i've got to get that stuff worked out so I can start putting together tax stuff for a neighbor's business. Whoo. Still debating what I want to go to school for once I get back in. Theater is just hard to get anything going with and I'm sure how helpful school would be for it. Maybe as a minor it would be better. Social work- I keep getting drug into situations where it would make sense and I know I'd be good at it and like it. But it is one of those professions where the burn out rate is really high. Office manager/accountant- ok, so I don't really want a desk job, but its something else I seem to have a knack for. I have the attitude to be nice most the time, but can turn evil when it gets necessary. It's stressful at times, but I kinda like it sometimes. Though there's times I'd rather punt people and the computer than anything else. I don't know. It'll come together I think eventually.

I think that's all I got right now. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc. etc. to all.

Get your own Family Sticker Maker & MySpace Layouts.

Another birthday under my belt. Hooray.

I just could not get excited about my birthday this year. I wasn't freaking out about it either though. No "Oh god, I'm creeping up on 30" or anything silly like that. I just didn't really care one way or the other. Still, it was nice to get the many birthday calls, texts, and facebook wall posts. Makes me still feel loved though I have been fairly hermit-like the last few months.

( A long update, so for anyone who wants the details of what I've been up to... )
And... well, I've been rambling on so long, I'm not sure what else there is. That's the problem with not updating regularly.

Anyway, hope all are well. Take care.

So, first off, many thanks to Hollow Art! They're one of the featured groups and they're fantastic! Got some great bases, a lot our favorite actors and such, and they give you option to make requests for anyone they're missing that you would particularly like to see. So, that's where this little pic came from. Was thinking about adding stuff to it, but really, it speaks for itself.

In other news, Grandma got a walking cast/boot. It's not really a cast, its got a brace, some padding, and lots of velcro straps. It actually looks kinda bondage-tastic, though its not something I'm going to mention to Grandma, because...well, eww. She's still getting used to it. The bottom is kinda boat shaped to simulate the moment of the foot, so she's trying to remember not to rock backwards, and fall, while getting used to it. But as soon as she's used to it, I can officially leave the house for more than hour during the day. HOORAY!!! For the most part, I'll still have to be here, because she gets lonely while she can't still do all the things she's used to. Still no major cleaning and such for her.

The user pic is appropriate because for the last couple weeks, I've been having to avoid the visiting Eucharistic ministers. Grandma hasn't wanted to go to church while she was in the wheel chair, so at least once a week people were coming by to give her communion. I've known a lot of these people for most of my life. And they'd be excited to bring me back to the church. So, sometimes they bring communion for me, sometimes they don't, but they offer anyway. So far, I've been doing my best find things that "I really need to get to" while they're around. Sometimes this involves me hopping on the comp and pretending to work.

Last week Calvin was a total sweetheart and staying in Lakewood with me after Father's Day. That Monday he cleaned the worst of the gook out of the gutters and washed the outside of the windows. Grandma was sooooo happy. It was a great little thing that made things a lot easier. We then caught dinner with his mom and step-dad for late father's day stuff with them.

There's a lot going on, but with the tv blaring (Grandma's next big purchase WILL be hearing aids) it's hard to just let it flow the way it normally would.

Hope everyone is doing well! Take care.

Grandma finally got released from the rehab home yesterday morning. I also moved in with her yesterday morning. Whee!! Monday night Cal and I cuddled a lot and just tried to be with each other. Yesterday he helped me get all my stuff to the car so I could pick up Grandma. Dad and I levered Grandma in her wheelchair up the steps and viola!

We kinda celebrated her being home last night. Got take-out from Chili's and watched Paper Moon (such a fantastic movie). My room in the basement is... noticably not mine, but ok. It's been a kinda spare room/storage for years. So right now I'm living out of the trash bags I packed in because there's not room/hangers in the closet. Something on the list to tweak. I'm only going to be here 1-3 months, but its still too long to live out of garbage bags. >_<

This is going to be difficult. Grandma is so determined to be as independent as possible. She's supposed to be paging me and such when she needs to go to the bathroom/kitchen/wherever to make sure she doesn't fall. Especially the teeny tiny bathroom of doom that she has to hop on her walker sideways to get into. This morning at 7:30 am I wake up because I hear noises from upstairs. I come up, there she is, hopping into the bathroom by herself. I scolded her and helped her back to bed for a bit and such. We both went back to bed. I ALMOST dozed off, when I realized, she was going to do it to me again. So, I stayed partially awake and sure enough, 8:30, I hear stuff from upstairs. I gave her an earful. She was trying to make herself coffee and didn't want to wake me. I told her that's why the hell I'm here, so DO ET!

We're getting along fine, but she's getting to see Dad pissed off more, since he comes over here freaking out about stuff that needed to be done right that second. He was running around with Grandma. I caught the end of it because I finally got a shot at a shower while Grandma watched Rachael Ray. *groan*

Cal and I talked for a long while last night until I couldn't stay awake anymore. I told him all about how I spent most of the day trying to get Dad's USB internet connection working on his laptop and how everyone LOVED his love note that he left on the laptop when he packed it up for me. AWWWW.

So, i dunno. It's a big change. but we're all working with i I think.

Here's the deal.

Thursday Grandma got taken to the hospital in the morning with a broken ankle. She was doing some high march steps to exercise and dancing a bit to the radio, came down a little hard and a little off, rolled her ankle hard and it just snapped. If I would have rolled it, it still would have been a really nasty sprain, so 90 years old bones... Yeah. She broke it in 3 places- one on each side and once in the back. They set the bones back in place, splinted it up, and got her a room. Friday she had surgery to put in a plate in a back and multiple pins to hold everything in place and make sure it'll heal right and not break again while its still fragile.

Saturday she got moved to a rehab and physical therapy facility near home. She's recovering well so far. So well that they're talking about letting her go home within about a week.

Whenever she goes home, Mom and Dad have asked me to move in with her for awhile. I'm used to my privacy and being with Calvin, so it's going to be a really difficult adjustment. I guess for now we're all just going to take it one day at a time and see how it goes. With lots of hope and patience, I'm sure it'll all work out. I hope.

Please keep Grandma in you thoughts. She's going nuts being so dependent and stationary too.

Thanks everyone and stay safe.

I just got back from South Fork. Thank whatever deity you prefer.

I got to go to this lovely area thanks to one of Cal's cousin's wedding, which they decided to have in South Fork because the bride's family is from Alamosa and her grandparents live and South Fork, so they were hoping the older crowd could make it. They couldn't anyway, but it was a nice gesture.

Cal and I rode with his brother Perry on the way down leading their mom and sister in another car. Trying to find the condo we were staying in basically involved driving around the golf course and surrounding area about 4 times until a cousin saw us and led us in. We dumped stuff and then went to eat. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. There's 3 or 4 restaurants in South Fork. One bar and grill type that closed before 9 on a Friday, The Horseman far away from the condo, a Blimpie, and The Shaft. Guess which one we went to? Needless to say, about an hour after my Shaft sandwich, my stomach was not happy with life.

While the moms and kids in the second condo got ready for bed, the drinking in the over 21 and child-less condo started drinking. I was the only female with Calvin, Perry, and about 5-7 other male cousins including the groom. First off, i should explain about these cousins. Most of them want to join the military. And think anyone in the Air Force is a pussy because they're not in the middle of fighting. And are aggressive drunks. And have in the past, while drunk, said "Let's go out and find some Liberals to beat up." And they really like to drink. One cousin, BJ, needs surgery on his hand because while he was drunk a couple months ago, started a fight, started punching a guy in his face and broke his own knuckle. And didn't notice til the next morning. If you're a guy and aren't 'manly' enough, you might as well just sit down and let them make fun of you all night. Cal always tries to be just a little bit more rough around them and usually pushes himself too hard. I decided to stay sober.

They all started out playing Texas Hold 'Em. Lot's of drinking was involved of course. Once about half the guys were out, they started a separate game of King's Cup and I took over dealer duties at the poker table. By the time someone actually won, they had played about 4 games of King's Cup and Cal admitted he needed to stop drinking or he was going to puke before the end of the night. So, i kept him steady while we took a walk around the immediate area, then decided to borrow the portable dvd player and watch an episode of Angel in our room. The guys were on their way out to try to find a bear to beat up and/or talk the groom into dropping a deuce in one of the golf holes. Classy.

So Cal and i hung out and were quiet for awhile. The guys came back and picked up drinking again downstairs. I went to the bathroom. Cal went to other one on that floor. I checked to make sure he was feeling ok after about 5 minutes. He said he was fine. I went back the room. About 10-15 minutes later, I went to check on him again since he hadn't come back. He wasn't in the bathroom anymore. This was just before 3 am. There were 4 rooms on the top floor. One had his brother asleep, one was ours, one was empty right then, and one had his cousin Mac asleep in it. His cousin Matt and I ended up running around trying to find him for an hour. We checked all the rooms, and after the point, figured he couldn't have left the condo, because the guys downstairs would have noticed, so he must be passed out in Mac or Perry's room some place where we couldn't obviously see him and couldn't get to without waking up the other sleepers. Of course, I was waking up every hour to every little noise wondering if he had finally woken up. Around 7:30, Mac walked into my room. "Why is Calvin sleeping in my bed?"

I went and woke him up. It went something like this: "Calvin, honey, wake up. You're in the wrong bed, please come to the right one." 'Huh?' "You're in the wrong bed." 'You're kidding me.'

Mac's door had been open, so Cal wandered into the wrong room, flattened out on his side of the bed, on top of the covers and went to sleep. Mac then came upstairs, was not particularly sober in any sense of the word, and just crawled into bed and went to sleep. Mac is significantly bulkier than Calvin, so we couldn't see him on the other side of Mac. And Mac and I happen to sleep on the same side of the bed, so he didn't fall over on Calvin or anything. By 9:30 that morning, everyone in both condos had heard the story and was giving Cal shit for it. Word travels faster in that family than in high school. It was scary.

Most people went golfing or to the gator farm before the wedding. We hung out and watched The Thomas Crown Affair, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, and part of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on TV. Cal was hung over, it was windier than hell, so outside sounded dumb. The wedding was at the country club in the area. It was a really nice wedding with a few tweaks. The piano player couldn't play. The photographer kept glaring at us because we were sitting where he wanted to be able to take photos from. (Wedding and reception were in the same room, so we were all seated where we'd be getting food, and so there was only a very small aisle for anyone, including the bride, to get through.) Little things like that. The other problem we ran into was that this country club had never served 200 people in one day probably, much less at the same time. With the wedding at 6, we didn't get salads until 8 and main dishes until 9:15. Cake finally got served and toasts happened around 10:30-11. We were all tired, so we left as soon as we all finished our cake around 11:30.

This morning we packed up and were off around 9:30. We had brunch in Alamosa for Mother's Day, then I took Cal's mom's car (Volvo SUV) with Cal and their little sister Chloe while Perry and the mom were in another car. Perry is moving to Houston for the summer (it's eventually going to be permanent because its what his gf wants...ewww) and they decided to drive from the wedding.

Drove all the way to about Castle Rock when Rich (Chloe's dad, Cal's step-dad) called. He had been at a golf tournament this weekend and was flying in. Or was supposed to. All the flights were running way late, so he asked if Cal and I could stay at the house with Chloe. Sure! Wait... Cal had to let the cleaning people in to Perry's apartment and turn in his keys.

So, Cal's in Boulder so he can do all that stuff at 8 am tomorrow and I'm at his mom's house with the 13 year old that's almost 6 inches taller than me. Sweet.

But before we went on this little adventure, Cal settled part of his accident stuff! I got $575 for driving him around, and he got money for his scooter and a few other things. They haven't settled his loss of work hours or the final injury stuff. But since Wednesday was OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY we decided to get ourselves a little present. We got a camera since from our first year, there's about 8 pictures of us. We got a nice little Nikon Coolpix, so I will be able to upload photos from the windy corner of the boonies and all that craziness! SQUEE!!!

Our anniversary was pretty quiet otherwise. Tried a new restaurant in the area called Cantina Laredo. It was really good and really nice. Too expensive to go to very often, but it was a nice treat.

And now, I'm ready to sleep pretty much. I'll up load photos as soon as I can (AKA, when I have the cord and figure out how to do it, but this camera has so far been really good about not making things super difficult).

 You know how sometimes, when you get a phone call for a wrong number, the person who's calling just goes straight into talking about something? Or when they realize you're not who they wanted to talk to, but won't believe that person's not there and this isn't their phone? Does anyone else ever wonder about that person you mistakenly got to talk to? What's going on, why they were calling this other person, who that person is to them...That sort of thing?

Well, the other night I got to be involved in someone else's life because of a wrong number.

I may have seen the number before, but if I had, it'd always been texts of "Hey what's up?" type of thing and I ignored it since I didn't know the number.

Sunday night though, I got a text that said "I tried to kill myself." WHOA. Something told we weren't talking about a couple weeks ago and doing better now. So I'm flipping out trying to figure out if I know this person and trying to get him to tell me who and where he is. I got that he was bleeding and after awhile I got a first name. Then he stopped responding to the texts.  So I called the cops.

First off, trying to explain to a 911 operator that someone started texting you stuff about suicide gives them pause. Seriously, texting? Yes, texting. Second, then trying to explain that, no, you really have no idea who this person is as far as you can tell, they just started sending you this stuff... Well, it sounds weird. "So, you have no idea who this person is at all? Never spoken to him before face to face or online?" Seriously, no. I got his first name out of him, but that's it. I have no idea what's going on, but given the situation, thought I shold probably call someone with the resources to maybe figure it out. "What about Myspace?" I dunno, there's so many freaking people on that thing and I really don't pay any attention to it anymore, but it's mildly conceivable he's a myspace friend that I didn't know his name or anything about until 10 minutes ago. I appreciate you trying to jog my memory, but I really don't think there's a memory there to jog out. 

So, they tell me they'll sent a cop to my place. While the cop is on his way, the guy calls me. "Hey girl, what'sup?" UHHH...hi? I just called the cops because you gave the impression you needed help. "You aren't Leah. Where's Leah?" Congrats, the person that didn't know your name or where you lived, like she told you via text, isn't the person you know. 'There is no Leah here. Could you mean Lena?' Oh, maybe I DO know him from somewhere...crap, I'm a bad person... "Leah's my ex girlfriend, just put her on the phone." Nope, my memory is still intact. 'This is my phone, I'm Lena, there is no Leah. I'm not Leah, Leah is not my roomie, I don't know a Leah.' "Seriously?"  'Hey, dude, I called the cops cause you stopped responding to the texts, so you may have vistiors in a bit...'

After we established I'm not Leah, it came down to he didn't want cops at his house, thanks anyway, sorry for bothering me. Cause after I've called 911 I have a say where the police go... Anyway, an officer shows up at my door a few minutes after that. I tell him I just had a phone call from the guy and as it turns out, he thought he was telling this stuff to his ex-gf instead of a complete stranger. Oops. 

The officer uses my phone to call the guy and figure out what was going on. Finally got his address out of him too. Turns out he had done some stuff earlier and was still bleeding a bit since he cut himself across the stomach, but was currently hanging out with his roommates feeling depressed and suicidal, but not as much as before. They still sent someone over to his place, obviously. The officer told me they'd probably end up taking him in, getting him medical treatment (like stitches) if he needed it, and most likely hold him for 72 hours for observation and a psych eval since, from his description, it will probably be considered a serious attempt.

While the officer was telling me all this and thanking me for making the emergency call even without knowing anything that was actually going on, the guy called me back. I let the officer answer the phone. The guy had him pass on a message to me. He said thanks for watching out and taking care of him.

So, after a very, very weird hour and half, and now over 24 hours to let what happened sink into my brain, I wish him well and a speedy recovery from all his ails. I will probably never speak to him again (and in fact, have been warmed against it by several parties for various reasons) but  he's someone, every once in awhile, I'll end up wondering how he's doing.

Just found this to be an interesting article. It brings up a great point. What is funny vs offensive. Often times, it seems like the lines overlap in strange ways. I was telling Cal the other day about a conversation I had with Jamie when she was at American about how dumb 'PC' can be. The convo had to do with "trans-gendered" children. Anyway...good article about race relations and what's supposed to be funny vs offensive.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7955740/Am-I-supposed-to-be-mad-about-LeBron?MSNHPHCP>1=39002

Thought all of us geek-types would enjoy this. The 'Buffy' cast got back together recently and talked about the series. At the end they're going through what they've been up too. Spike is Picollo in a Dragonball movie? Sweeeeeeeet.

Paley Fest - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

 Without Quickbooks, I would probably kill myself. And that's a sad thought.

The woman across the street I've been putting her company and personal tax stuff together for keeps adding things! I got all the initial binder of stuff put together and either on Quickbooks or an Xcel spreadsheet so it was organized and I could put it in quickly. Went over to ask a few questions (Who is this and why did the company pay them stuff?) Oh yeah, she FORGOT she had a merchant account, and therefore, a bunch of credit card receipts to add to the income pile, plus the merchant account's fees and such. None of the paperwork she could find right then and still hasn't gotten to me. But she did find another credit card with business expenses on it. And shouldn't we put together her personal income from rents and giving massages? ARGH!

I appreciate what our accountant goes through so much more, but she's getting nice rewards for it. We saw her and gave her the entire family's personal tax stuff on Sunday. We went to her new house just outside of Keystone because she's 7 months preggers and is shorter than me, so she's got the full on bubble getting close to popping thing happening. Their house is so gorgeous. I'm jealous of the master bathroom. 3 side open fire place next to the jetted 2 person tub. Corner shower with 2 shower heads, glass to the ceiling to keep all the wonderful steam in. One of the shower heads can slide on a bar, cause as I said, she's shorter than I am and her hubby is 6'2". But Jacob is due in June so they're finishing setting up the nursery, which she wisely set up wtih a view. Most of the windows look out over the lake, the mountains, or both. *DROOL* God, talking about good housing lay-outs makes me feel like a real adult. *shudder*

Grandma's still having trouble with her eye. She's been back at the doctor regularly so he can make sure it's still healing the way its supposed to, just looks like its taking longer than the last one she had.

Andy and Erica are still feuding. Andy randomly decided to get a puppy. I fear for that critter. I hope its ok and he knows what he's doing. But Andy realized he's missing a bunch of his tax stuff and things Erica has it. He remembers them combining all their tax stuff into one box that was in a side room that Erica frequently used, so he's sure she took the box. Erica has no idea. I'm really having trouble caring as a whole. Plus, from what I helped Erica pack, there's wasn't a lot of paperwork type stuff. So, we'll see.

The cough is almost gone....for the 3 time. It keeps almost going away, then one night I start trying to hack up a lung. I have managed to re-pull a rib muscle from my exertions, which reminded me of biology class. Your rib muscles attach to a lot of things.

I'm so tired of snow. Those days when it was, like, 70 degrees were heaven. All the signs of spring abounded. Robins, jays, people with their windows rolled down, and motorcycle cops. 

And right now I'm thinking of wasting a little more time before I get back to work by making more/new user pics. Cuase I can. Or something like that.

Things have been interesting lately to say the least.

So I caught the crud that everyone seems to have or had. Had it a few weeks ago. Finally got over it except for the annoying lingering cough, slight runny nose, that sort of thing. Then I managed to stress my system out a bit too much, so the cough is completely back with a vengeance. And I have an ear infection. And the nose is still running far, far away from me. I got antibiotics from the doctor for my ear and otherwise, he told me to just keep up the fluids, Mucinex, and Tylenol/Advil and actually try to sleep and take it easy again.

I've spent the last couple weeks working my butt off. Even while I was sick. I've been at Dad's, of course, and the woman across the street. Setting up her 3 companies for all last year, which she wants in time for taxes. HAHAHA...oh god.. the pain. Not sure it's going to get done. Then this last week I've been helping out at Cal's mom's office. One of the women has a HUGE project that she had to put together in a hurry. So I spent many many hours putting together 5 DVD sets and stuffing 3 ring binders with a million sheets of paper in its specified groups. I got to work with the team at calling the printer 'fuck-face' every 10 minutes for being slow and dumb with the printing job making it very hard for us to put the binders together considering he didn't get the final bits to us until 2 hours before the first chunk was supposed to go out, and we had to cancel some stuff and sent it to kinko's so it'd get done in time. Wheee!

Thursday night Andy locked Erica out of the house. Unclear if accidental or on purpose. Apparently a fight was had earlier that day where she refused to take responsibility for him being unproductive the last several weeks. Considering his unproductive-ness had nothing to do with her, it was totally understandable, but that's the type of person Andy is. So, I got a call at 3:30 am asking if she could crash on the couch.

Next day, she went back to the house and Andy still had her locked out. Well, after he wasn't responding to calls, texts, etc for awhile, she broke down and was like "What do you want me to do? Break a window to get in?" Andy took this even more poorly. So around 2 pm, he told her she had til midnight to get all her shit and get out. So, Friday night, in about 8 hours, Erica, her friend Robin, and I moved Erica in her entirety. Rented a truck from Lowe's for the bed, desk, and that sort of thing. Everything else fit into 1 Toyota Matrix and 1 Toyota Corolla. We moved stuff around in my grandma's garage so we didn't have to try and rent storage, especially at 8-9 at night.

After that, things got even messier. Andy claims Erica took his meat (LOL, but seriously, what he says is $150 in steaks) and dish towels. She left some blockbuster movies. And the war began. I was supposed to pick up the movies, and originally he didn't have a problem with that, but eventually things got nasty, so he's holding them in exchange for the dish towels. Apparently the dish towels have sentimental value cause they're the only house-warming gift he received. Needless to say, I wasn't shy about telling Andy he pretty much did most of this to himself by being a hot-headed asshole in the first place, along with not taking a lot of shit when he went into martyr-mode, so he and I aren't really talking anymore. I tried to call Erica the other day when there started to be a problem with the movie pick up and she still hasn't called me back, but according to facebook, she did get the job she interviewed for the other day, which is great because she'll probably only have to couch hop for a month or less.

The whole thing is pretty ridiculous. But I think working 8-9 hours, then moving Erica in 8 hours probably is what pushed the cough and relapse over the edge. It was a long day.

With the newly revived and intensified cough, I've also discovered I'm allergic to Tussin (the cheap version of Robitussin) cough and cold syrup. That was also pleasant to discover. (Sarcasm sarcasm sarcasm)

Saturday night Cal's mom came up to Boulder and took all of us (Cal, Cal's brother Perry, Perry's girlfriend Dawn, Cal's sister Chloe and I) out to the Chophouse in Boulder. Dear god, so good. So expensive. Glad she took us cause I can't see Cal and I forking over that kind of cash anytime soon, even for steak topped with crab.

What else?... Grandma had cataract surgery about 2 weeks ago. The doctors say she's healing well, but she keeps having to go back to the office because the pressure in her eye keeps fluctuating, giving her headaches and leaving her vision blurrier than it should be at this point. They gave her some stuff that should fix it today, only the pharmacy was out, so I get to go back tomorrow and get it.

Sorry to anyone who had to read this whole thing...or skip by it. I'm using Cal's Mac again and LJ wants me to remember how to HTML and that just isn't happening at this point. Anyway, hopefully the Mucinex DM has kicked in by now and I can actually sleep a little.

Love to all.

Happy New Year everyone!

Seems the calendar has restarted again. I'm excited. 2007 was SOOOOOO much better than '06 and I'm hoping 2008 is better than '07. Things seem to be heading the right direction, just need some fine tuning and general tweaking.... and $$$$. Christmas was good for that though. I managed to pay all my remaining medical bills before the year clocked out (which are all going as deductions on my taxes) and put $1000 on my credit card bill.

Cal has another couple weeks in his rocket boot, but the end is looming near. Thing now is, I'm just used to being in Boulder. I'll have to start being at home sometimes though. I'm also thinking 2nd job, at least temporarily to get the funds up enough to go to school again. Can't decide if I should try for the annoyance yet extreme money possibilities of a cocktail waitress or the like, or go for boring regular less but steady money of practically anything else. Other issue is that the holidays are getting over, so everyone's getting rid of their extra people instead of hiring. Any votes on what I should take up as 2nd source of income?

Last night was fun. Hit a couple places, not as many as we could have though. Managed to miss dinner both places we hit up though, so when Cal had a couple drinks... suddenly he was a lot more drunk than he anticipated. Originally, he offered to be the designated driver, but last night I was all ready to pick up a bottle of wine or something and just... wasn't in the mood to drink, so I let him at it. May have been a mistake, LOL. No, he was ill, but otherwise a good boy and it wasn't too bad.

I now officially own an actual women's coat. I know, crazy. No more running around in things 8 sizes too big. Ok, I still will, but i now have a nice coat so I don't HAVE to if I want to snazz up. Among other notable gifts, a skirt and top outfit from Italy from Cal's cruise there. Cal also got some clothes he was less enthused about and decided to pick me up some stuff instead. Apparently, it's a crime I didn't own brown shoes. Cal also got an Xbox 360, which we have loaded up with goodies. Of course, he's playing HALO most of the time (sigh) but we also got Rock Band with the drums, mic and guitar, which we've been playing quite a bit, Blue Dragon and Call of Duty 4. We also got the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation series (yes, all 7 seasons, 49 discs, 149 episodes), season 3 of Numb3rs and Planet Earth, so lots of watching material.

And...my brain is numb. Lack of sleep I think. Anyway, hope everyone had a safe and dandy time last night.

Ok, so just a quick hello from crazy-land.

Grandma is done with her CAT scan, but we haven't heard anything back yet, which is either very good, or very bad. I went with her to her eye doctor yesterday and they're looking at cataract surgery, which isn't a big deal, though waited almost an hour at the pharmacy to pick up the damn eye drops for pre-surgery was feeling like a bigger deal just because we both had lots of other places to go.

Calvin's health insurance finally approved the CAT scan for his foot. We went down last Tues and got him his first CAT scan. Thursday, we got word back. Turns out it was a good idea we got the scan... his foot is broken in 3 places, all across the top of the arch of his foot. So, the giant boot he's been wearing to keep pressure off his foot while wanddering around for school and such is going to be staying on for awhile, assuming they don't cast him, which at this point I doubt. They also discovered that he has a congenital birth defect where his ankle and heel bones are fused together. Right now it doesn't make a difference, but in 10 years will really start to cause some issues. So his mom is pushing for him to get the corrective surgery over this winter break. Guess he won't be teaching me to ski or snowboard this year, LOL. He's kinda nervous because he's never really had surgery before. The only thing that's come close for him is his wisdom teeth getting removed, which is surgery.... kinda.

Just the thought that he's never really had surgery, he's never had a CAT scan, is all just so foreign to me. I know I'm technically not the norm and he's closer to what most people go through, but I'm just floored that he's a medical issue virgin. LOL. So, I get to introduce him to something new in life... how to deal with anestetics and getting cut open. Whee.

For Tim's film, we were at a bar last night to film with a band. The band was great. The bar was really dark however, so Lily and I were dancing right at the front of the stage where the only light was. We were going to shoot the rest of the scene, but there wasn't enough light to pick up anything. There was one corner where we thought we could film one short snippet, so we waited to see if the guys sitting there would leave at some point that was vaguely convient for us. At last call around 1:30, we were despairing, but then EVERYONE had to get out of the bar when a fight broke out. Sweet. There were some guys giving the female lead singer some shit, and she punched one of the guys, and it kinda evolved from there. When the door was clear, we high-tailed it out about a minute before the cops and an ambulance showed up.

Right now, Cal is at the CU Holiday concert. It blows. Great for the audience, hell on all choir members. You have to stand there for several hours. Of course, they gave Cal a chair so he could sit, which makes him the envy of the choirs. Apparently, it's also a tradition for many choir members to get drunk as hell before and during the show. People bring flasks, sink a little down, take a swig, then slowly ease back up. Supposedly last year, one kid got so drunk he had to go puke, so he had to ease down, crawl across the floor where you see this little ripple int he choir of people stepping back to let him through, off the stage, did what he needed to do, then came back the same way. Cal promised he would be pretty good though and no drunk-y the clown for him.

And now...I'm done. I'm all blabbed out. Love to all. I'm thinking nap, some laundry, and maybe some uber-geeky Wowscape all while keeping warm despite the large amounts of snow that is falling outside. Rock.

It's official. Mom and I are going to put Cupcake to sleep in about a half an hour.

Once the got her need for the oxygen down a bit and took an Xray, they found an lesion on her lung, which in and of itself is something they can treat fairly easily, but they don't know what caused the lesion, which equates into a lot more tests for things they really can't help her with, and eventually, it'll still get painful. Not to mention that the teeth she was going to have removed are going to get infected again.

It's time. She's ,like, 15, she's had a good run and it's best that we don't keep her in pain. I know that. I just wish doing what's right didn't feel so miserable.

LATER:
Just got back. Without tests they couldn't be sure, but they told us the lesions look like the one's that meant lung cancer, which with her diabetes would be difficult to treat. And she was obviously not feeling well at all.

As soon as they started the injection, she laid her head in the cup of my hand and let go before it was half gone. I know it was the right thing. I know. Still miserable, but I know.

I'm so burned out.

My dad's best friend and overall family friend died the Friday before Thanksgiving. He'd been fighting cancer for 7 years and had recently been running into a lot of infections that were difficult to treat and even more difficult to find. Another infection with unknown location finally put him in hospice and about 24 hours later he let go. He'd been in so much pain, it's almost good he was finally able to pass, though he will be greatly missed. He's not having a funeral. All that stuff, the family is getting over with, no one's invited and they weren't answering the phone to be talked out of what he wanted. This Saturday they're doing a celebration of his life essentially, now that Thanksgiving is over and most people have had a chance to accept what happened, so they're looking for a happy time.

Grandma's second test came up weird too. She's having a 3rd CAT scan on Friday. I'm really mad at Kaiser (again) not because of another CAT scan or anything like that, but because they told my grandma that there's something that looks really really wrong, but they won't tell her anything else. Way to terrify the 90 year old. Of course, since Gary just died, she was convinced for a bit that it was cancer. We got her out of panic mode, but seriously, why would you tell ANYONE something like that? You know, if you have half an ounce of common sense, you know that they're going to think of the worst possible things and freak themselves out. GRRR. Did you learn anything in medical school?!?!

My guts are more or less back to normal. There's still occasion pain, but nothing like it was, and "Aunt Flo" has been completely on the fritz. If that doesn't regulate, I'll be going back to the doc, don't worry. I have, in fact, gotten it through my head that going early and just getting it over with is usually less expensive that the emergency room. And I think I'm having an allergic reaction to Angel Soft toilet paper. Last night was really unpleasant and Cal and I just got new tp to try that was a little cheaper, and that seems to be the culprit. I'm going to make sure, but in the mean time, I went out and picked up some Charmin and a lot of Benadryl for the time being.

Cupcake, my cat, to some also known as Catzilla, may be put down today. She had an infection last week that we decided was due to some of her teeth that were getting impacted and generally angry with age. So, we got her over that and she was supposed to have the teeth removed today. She hasn't been eating much all week, and has been acting like she still wasn't feeling like much. Today, they gave her the anestetic to put her under for the removal and she immediately started have breathing issues. They gave her oxygen and pulled her out. Also, her lungs decided to start filling with fluid. Just when we decided that we'd let her go this afternoon, the vet called back saying she had fully woken up, moved a bit for water, and went back to sleep, but seems to be sleeping well. So, they're going to run tests to see if there's a big, nasty, underlying problem that the drugs incited to surface, or if she just reacted poorly to the anestetic. We're going to see her later this afternoon and assess the situation.

Some of you know, because I was going to meet up with you after my pick up film shoot last Tuesday and had to cancel, but Cal was on his Vespa and got hit by a car. He's fine though. He did a fantastic job of spraining his foot and ankle and has a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing too bad. I've been in Boulder with him because the bus stop is far enough away that his ankle starts to throb and hurt before he gets to the stop, even with crutches, and then would have to hobble around campus. So, I'm taking him to class to minimize the strain and hopefully help him heal a little faster. I've also been helping his family get all the paperwirk and such together. I picked up the police report yesterday and got to look over it.

Speaking of film shoots. Tim's movie is going well, at least from my end. We're finished with most of my stuff. Lesbian action and major fight scenes are all done. Ended up kinda bruised from the combat hand work. Had to swing through a bit and actually block punches a bit to look vaguely realistic, but I saw some of what we got, and it looks like it was worth it. There's also some hilarity/awesomeness with me catapulting myself over a side table. It was also a good workout...my muscles hurt after for a couple days, LOL.

I'll be doing make-up for Phil's upcoming zombie flick also. I get to learn to make bruises! Like make-up ones, I know how to make them for real, LOL.

Dad also thinks he may have found me a laptop. It's from a trash-out, so I'll probably have to delete pretty much everything from the hard drive, and some re-formatting and upgrading may be in order, not including buying the programs I'll need, but still, without the actual cost of the laptop, all that is a little more manageable. And then I'll be able to work on the bookkeeping and such from Boulder or wherever I actually need to be, which'll help Dad and I out a lot. i'm also probably officially going part time with the companies as of Dec. 1st instead of contract labor and I'll take over pretty much everything Mom does, so that'll be...fun... to figure out.

And now, it's getting close to Cal's pick up time, so we can head back to Denver, I can work and see Cupcake, and take care of some stuff that Cal can help me with and maybe even relax for a few minutes. I love you all, and I promise I'll actually call/write soon.

 Ok, so here's the update for anyone who cares. 

I don't have a cyst. They don't know what I have. They're running one or two more tests, but have basically put me on broad spectrum antibiotics in case its an infection that isn't showing up on blood tests. Call back in a week if I'm not noticably better. 

Grandma's second blood test came back. Her pancreatic enzymes are way high, so she's got a new test coming up. Whee.

In better news- Tomorrow is the Coheed and Cambria concert with Cal. YAY! His friend Alex is coming too. He's nice and all, but...well the tickets were my present for the anniversary, so yeah. But then Wednesday is the actual 6 month mark, so that night its just us and whatever we end up doing. 

And that's it. I'm exhausted again, so I'm thinking sleepy time.