Back after a month

There hasn't been too much going on in my life the last month or so. Just more of the same. Boyfriend Jon and i have been steadily working to unpack the remainder of our apartment. There's less and less of the "oh crap, what box is that in?" and "I think I unpacked it, but i have no idea where i put it".

With the installation of floating shelves for all of our books (all the friends are raving about it as a brilliant idea...we just did it because we had a vent in the way that we couldn't put a bookshelf in front of), our house instantly looked more homey and less apartment-y. We're working on projects pretty much non stop for the improvement of the apartment. Everything from painting to sewing, building, organizing, to cleaning, decorating and arranging.

The media stand is finally finished, in all it's resplendent glory. From a drawing to a creation. i'm very proud of this one, despite learning a some different techniques than i had originally planned due to some mistakes.

Also, i decided to take my multi canvas painting and paint over it in greens and silvers. Next i'll paint branches in a variety of browns, then affix flowers made from printed paper to the canvas. This project will eventually adorn the wall above our bed.

So basically in the apartment department, we're down to decorating and learning how to not throttle each other. Some days its harder than others, but for the most part I love having Boyfriend Jon around even if he does tease me about my newfound Pinterest addiction.

One such Pinterest teasing moment came from finding a post about a DIY Popcorn Station. Where guests can create a popcorn concoction to their personal liking with a variety of shakers like ranch, cheddar, and cinnamon sugar. So my thought process went: ooo! cool pinterest post, must do this, i need to have a party where i can do this! throw a party where i can do this. Overall my friends thought it was great. Needs a little bit of refinement and it will be perfect.

Other bits of news.

Celebrated another Friday the 13th with the wonderful Boyfriend Jon. Since we got together on a Friday the 13th, it's been a special day for us ever since.

How it was supposed to go

At least until I got involved in a hit and run on the way to our special romantic dinner. There was minimal damage and no injuries thankfully. But it did lead to a harrowing race after the jerk, and catching up to him twice. Boyfriend Jon got out of the car and the guy took off again so i followed him leaving Boyfriend Jon standing in the middle of an intersection. He led me on a chase through an apartment complex and somehow i managed to get his licence plate number to the dispatcher. Eventually the police caught up with the guy and raked him over the coals for leaving the scene of an accident but apparently i'm terrifying when I'm angry and he was scared of me. 
When the police finally got me in touch with him, I told both him and the officers that HAD he stopped and done the right thing, there was so little damage that i probably would have told the guy no problem, here let me fix your licence plate for you. In the end he apologized and i told him "no offense, but we never bump into each other again." and that was that.

The day after the accident, I got into it with another major jerk. I did some voluenteer work for the city television crew during a parade. I was doing my job when i realized that someone was touching me. I stepped back from my view finder to realize that a guy with a camera was practically on top of me very much in my personal bubble. I asked him to move nicely, stating that i needed to be able to move in my zone. He told me screw you. Oh no no no. I'm no meek little thing that will tolerate being spoken to in such a way. So i got in his way, and told him firmly to back up, this area had been reserved and i pointed out the construction cones that were in place for just such a reason. He didn't move. So i got even closer...just about drill sargent close and yelled for him to back up. I then stepped into him and used my body to back him up. People from the crowd behind him were trying to pull him back and he was not having anything of it even if he didn't seem too inclined to take me on. My boss managed to catch what was happening and asked his superior to go and step in. Eventually the guy was reloated and i was able to get back to my job. I think if my boss hadn't been tied up in wires, the man would have gotten decked.

So it's nice to get back to work where while people here may be annoying, at least they're not that big of jerks.

Crash Course in Fixing a Lava Lamp

At work, I have a co-worker that's a garage-sale-aholic. She had this lava lamp on her desk that she rescued after being shaken, but it had started turning itself off and she had to bang it to get it to work again. Finally it turned off all together. We were talking, because she had another and I told her I should really get one for my cube, she pointed to the broken one and said "if you can fix it, you can have it." 

So I accepted the challenge. I took the lava lamp back to my desk and on my lunch hour I started messing with it. I found that if i pressed on the bottom, the light would turn back on. So i pulled off the felt and found a bolt, which i then tightened and voila! the lava lamp worked again. The fix took about two minutes total. 

I went over to her and told her i fixed it. This was met with a chorus of NUH UH!s from the group that had been contemplating the broken lava lamp for months. But even though i offered the lava lamp back (It's very pretty, yellow wax with purple water, makes the wax red when it gets towards the top oddly enough), she said i should keep it since we had a bargin. So i had a lava lamp at my desk, much to my enjoyment.

After about a week, I started noticing that the lava lamp would periodically turn off and back on after about a minute. Pretty soon, I was tapping the base, just like she had described. So i took the felt off again and tried to tighten the bolt again, only this time, the whole thing turned off completely and wouldn't turn back on. Whoops. 

Since i wasn't about to give up on this lava lamp, I tried to get inside. When you took out the bulb, there was a golf ball sized hole where you could see the porcelain socket. But the bottom had a steel plate with a hole the size of an eraser head with the bolt coming through and that was it. The base was not designed to come apart. Probably smart on the part of the manufacturer, but very annoying for me. So armed with a needle nose pliers, a small screw driver, a flat staple remover, an unbent paper clip, and a surgical style clamp (like they use in surgery) I began the very tricky task of fixing the lava lamp base.

Once i unscrewed the bolt in the bottom, the socket fell loose and rolled around inside. It was then that i could see that one of the wires had popped completely off the socket. So that was the problem. Ok, I knew how to re-wire a lamp. Somehow, through this golf ball sized hole, i would have to manipulate the socket, screw, and wire all back into their proper places.

It was far from easy. Took me a full lunch hour and a break, significant muttering under my breath, and getting VERY creative with some angles and my tools. The wire wouldn't slide into the base any further, so i had to work inside the tiny cone. Finally,  the wire was looped back around the screw and re-tightened. I put the socket back into place, tightened the bolt, and put the bulb back in. 

The moment of truth, i spun the switch and....nothing. I couldn't understand it. It was still broken! The configuration wasn't that complex, two screws, two wires, and a bolt. After more fiddling after work, the stupid thing still wouldn't work. So i went home for the night. 

It bothered me, as i laid in bed. I thought about how to fix the lava lamp. I knew that the lamps were only about 20$ and this really wasn't worth the effort. But now it was personal. I was going to fix it. 

So as i went about my morning routine and the routine at work, it continued to infest my mind. If i had been smart, i would have put it out of sight, but i had left it in my line of vision where it normally stood. So on my first break, i started fiddling with it again. Checked the bolt, checked the switch, checked the wires, checked that the bulb wasn't burnt out. 

By all reasoning, the lamp should have worked! Maybe the wire was bad, so i followed it, all the way down to the power strip where it was plugged in. 

Inspecting this led to a revelation. The on light on the power strip wasn't on. It couldn't be that easy could it? A short? I flipped it off and back on. No change. I switched the plug to the other one in the pair; still nothing. Finally i moved it over to the other plug i KNEW worked. The power strip lit up, and as i peeked over the edge of my desk and was blinded by the base since it was facing me with the bulb in it. 

Shortly there after, i had re-assembled my pretty lava lamp and the whole thing worked fabulously. My lava lamp is fixed. And with any luck...will stay that way for a change. 

I'm thinking about changing its name from Trippy the Lava Lamp to something a little less polite.

 

The Saga of the Purple Couch

A few years ago, while i was dealing with the Roommate Katherine, a co-worker asked me if i would like to take her twin size hide a bed love-seat off her hands. I went over and checked it out and it was indeed a beautiful couch. A nice dusty plum color with ample cushioning and no large stains or tears. Unfortunately, i didn't have that much room so i declined to take it.

Now that my furniture space has changed and i'm able to fit something like that, i started thinking about how nice it would be when guests stay over/or there's someone snoring in my bedroom, to have a secondary bed area that's easily available even during the half awake stumble that occurs in the middle of the night.

So i went back to the co-worker and asked if she still had the couch. Unfortunately she didn't, but she had given it to another co-worker of ours, (we'll call her Cindy). As it turned out, Cindy was looking to get rid of the very same couch well within the time frame that i was looking at and she would be very happy if i could take it off her hands. She assured me that it was still in good condition, and that she'd get her husband to clean it before they gave it to me. I thought i had just won the jackpot.

An exaggerated example
of the "children" stains i'm referring to.

I borrowed my dad's van and pulled up to their house to take the couch. Looking back now, i should have gone to look at the couch before hand. But i trusted Cindy because she's a wonderful lady and i had no reason to believe anything less than the best from her. I could see a couple smudges from little children fingers, but overall the couch looked in good shape. So the couch got loaded up and i started to drive off.

Then i started to notice a very strong odor. My first thought was that i had gone through a skunk plume. Then i realized the smell was not skunk, but dog and it was coming from the couch behind me. I ended up driving down the highway with the windows down several inches and the rear wing windows open in the pouring rain because the stench was overwhelming. At this point, i didn't feel that i could go back, but i seriously thought about letting it accidentally fall out the back of the van. I think it might just be one of those cases where someone who lives with the smell, no longer notices it after a while. Cindy is too sweet a person to intentionally mislead someone.

Still it was a couch that was complementary in color to my Red Couch Of Awesomeness. It was originally an 800$ couch and it had a fold out bed, and i was getting it free of charge. Surely i could salvage this couch. Surely even if i had to spend a little bit of money, this couch would be worth it in the end.

So despite Boyfriend Jon's dubious looks and tactful silences when i explained my plan to him, i set the plan in motion. I borrowed my mothers industrial rinse and vac machine, created solutions of hot water, a mild citrus scented soap, and a little Fabreeze and went to work cleaning this couch.

The stuffing from the back cushion went straight into the garbage because it smelled like dog piss. I figure that i can find replacement stuffing for less than 20$ so that's no big loss. And then i sprayed my cleaning solution and used a scrub brush on every single inch of fabric on that entire couch, inside and out. The rinse and vac has a clear cover where you can see what you're sucking up. I can't clearly convey the gross factor of what i saw, but needless to say, i went over certain areas several times until the water was coming out clear.

For five hours i worked on cleaning this couch. I know because i watched the entire extended edition original DUNE movie plus over two episodes of Battlestar Galatica. I worked hard the entire time, soaking, scrubbing, suctioning, and fabreezing the entire couch, top to bottom, inside and out. I even cleaned all the hardware inside for the hide a bed.

By the end, my back was screaming, my sense of smell was completely GONE, i had a massive headache, and my knuckles were scraped raw. I had hauled gallons of water for rinsing my scrub brush, filled my water spray bottle dozens of times and gone through over half a bottle of fabreeze.

BUT!!!!

This is not my couch, but an example
of the difference before and after

This couch looks GOOD now. All of the children and pet dander stains came out after the scrubbing, and i'm positive that i managed to get almost all the body oils and other stains out of the fabric. I'm going to have to trash the mattress and replace it with a foam pad, but overall, i think this couch is saved.

I might just be optimistic, but it's going to depend on getting my mother's amazing nose in there to tell if it still smells cause i still can't smell a thing. If it still smells after that, i'll probably get rid of it. But i'm hopeful that all that work will pay off and i'll have a new couch. Fingers crossed because this couch looks good, it's just all dependent on the lack of odor.

Discovering Hawaiian Music

With the exception of the most famous modern Hawaiian song "What a wonderful world" (which really isn't a Hawaiian song) by Hawaii's greatest musician (Israel IZ Kamakawiwo'ole) I had never given Hawaiian music a second thought.  I heard it at the end of 50 First Dates and really loved the new take on the Judy Garland Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I couldn't even pronounce the artist's name. But i knew it when i heard it and stopped to listen. But that was the grand extent of my knowledge of music from the islands.


Enter Boyfriend Jon, who has Hawaiian heritage, to introduce me to the big man from the big island, and a handful of other Ukulele players and very talented guitarists. We made a trip to EMP and he taught me how the instruments developed in Hawaii. Next thing i know i'm a sucker for most Hawaiian music. 


Now normally at work, i'm not supposed to wear headphones because apparently i'm not supposed to tune the world out when i'm there for the sole purpose to assist people. But i got put on to a project which required me to concentrate and i got my boss's blessing to put ear-buds in to drown out nearby conversations.

Quickly i found that my normal stations on Pandora; rock, country were not good choices because i couldn't concentrate through the lyrics. It's a problem when you're supposed to be re-typing a technical document and a sentence comes out: "this part list will be superceeded by document she's a bad mamma jamma from down in Alabama"
Needless to say, i had to find something new.

I'm not sure how i remembered, but I started a station with Israel's What a wonderful world/Somewhere over the rainbow and the song after that was a beautiful Ukulele solo with a peppy beat. My Hawaiian station was born. I could concentrate and still listen to beautiful music.

In a few hours i started to notice a change in my mood about having to re-type a 35 page document because some genius had lost the digital copy and of course no one thought i had anything better to do. Instead, my brain started thinking about how this really was great practice to get my fingers in shape for writing for Nano. I started doing my own word sprints just to see if i could get my typing skills back up to my Nano levels.

I finished the document two days ahead of schedule feeling not only relieved that it was over, but triumphant.

I even found a song that never fails to make me smile though i normally would think it to be silly and childish. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobbie McFerrin gets me laughing no matter how bad my day is or how much my co-workers are being pills.

Now i'm sneaking one bud in my ear so i can still hear people calling for my help and enjoy the music.

Genes I wasn't born with

Summer is undoubtedly wedding season. In the northwest, i'm convinced that while you almost never have a perfect chance of full on sunshine...your odds of less or no rain are greatly increased between June and September. So every relation i know of seems to think this is a great time to get married. I don't think i was born with the "lets get married right away" gene. I'm much more of a fan of "eh, we'll get there eventually" and "why can't this just be a simple thing?"

As a fellow 20 something...with many friends in the 20 something range, weddings are around every corner.

I have people whom i barely talk to the rest of the year asking what i think about these paint chips for their wedding colors. Especially those who respond to my polite "its your wedding you should be happy" with "NO!!! What do YOU think???!!!!"

I've been invited to multiple bridal showers, bachelorette parties, wedding favor making parties, putting stamps on envelopes parties and thankfully only one wedding that i plan on attending.

There's a distinct influx of "So when are you and Boyfriend Jon getting married?", (most of this comes from our mothers).

I even got a wedding cataloged that was misdirected to me instead of my neighbor. Seriously...are those prices REAL? put half of the basics together and that'd pay off my car!

I hear about the games that were played at the bridal showers and think "WHY? who wants to be trussed up in a toilet paper wedding dress?" I don't see the point. Why do i need to know this inside joke between the bride and groom? And, call me a prude all you want. I'm uncomfortable buying sexy lingerie for another woman!

I'm very happy for the couples i know that have made this huge decision and i genuinely hope they have a happily ever after ending. But it's all this extra stuff that i recoil from. I can't help it. Too much of it in a short amount of time and i start searching around for something very anti-wedding. A motorcycle ride, a marathon of blow-em-up blood and guts games...anything to get it out of my mind.

The only wedding decision i have come to is that i want to set up a pay pal account instead of a registry. Tradition be damned. I'd rather have a solid start of a nest egg than a gravy boat or candelabra....whatever that is.

Recounting the invasion of Canada

There's been a lot going on lately, most of it is more personal than i'd like to post. But several months ago, i was invited to join a huge camping trip on a ranch in Merritt, British Columbia, Canada. By the time last week drew to a close, i was more than ready for an escape.

We set off north for what we thought would be just over a 5 hour drive. Shortly after Lynnwood however traffic slowed to a crawl in all lanes for construction. This went on clear past Everett tacking on additional hours to our drive. Crossing the border was a cinch and we chugged along for an additional couple of hours, stopping every now and then to stretch.

By the time we were rolling into Merritt however, the sun was sinking rapidly and it quickly became evident that both the directions and my memory of the trip four years ago was quite insufficient.

Finally we found a sign that looked promising. Well, it wasn't. And then we decided to pull out the phones and get our GPS going even though we were roaming. We rolled in as twilight was gripping the valley and set up our tent as quickly as possible.

The next day, i was immensely thankful that i had insisted on setting up in the trees next to the river. The temperature rose to 88 degrees and the river was invitingly cool. After a trip into town, where we got a double tube, we went down the river. Or rather, we made a mad, paddling dash for the left fork in the river and then mad paddling dashes to avoid log jams, and rocks and cliff walls. But in the parts that we just drifting with the current, it was pure bliss.

However at some point between getting into the river and getting out, my right foot became VERY unhappy with me. Turns out that i broke my second smallest toe. We did some quick first aide and then i put my foot in the river to save some of the ice from the cooler.

But that misfortune didn't stop us. I played Bocce Ball for the first time in my life and won 11 to 5. I chatted with the people in the group, played with the dogs, caught up with the people that invited me, read by the river, and got an awesome tan.

Finally it was time to go and we made for the border. While we were waiting in line, another diver alerted us that we had a flat. A nice big nail decided it really liked my tire. And of course this was after 6pm on a SUNDAY which means that every single tire place within a 10 mile radius was closed. Finally we got out the trusty smart phone and found a Sears that was open. In getting there, we found a Walmart with a tire center and pulled in.

After 40 minutes, $11 and many heartfelt thank yous to the tech who stayed late to help us, we were back on the road home.

I think we rolled in around 10pm and made a Beeline for a hot shower which was the most glorious of all the adventures of the weekend.

Next comes the adventure of unpacking while nursing a broken toe. This should be interesting.

Animals gone nuts!

Boyfriend Jon, heretoafter referred to as Typhoid Jon in this post, got me sick. I know i should have seen it coming but i still didn't avoid the plague boy as i should have. Nope, my instincts kicked in and i took care of him.

Starting Tuesday, my throat decided to be uncomfortably raw, then my nose revolted by blocking airflow. Next thing i know, I'm laying in bed with no covers cause i'm boiling hot. Then i'm freezing to the point where i have a sheet, a comforter and a down comforter and i'm still shivering. By morning, i was calling in sick and stayed home  sleeping until 11am. At some point, i decided that i needed to go look in my outdoor patio closet for something.

I unlocked the door and pulled it open and was scared half to death by a dark brown rat jumping from one box to another. After doing the normal thing by screaming and looking around for a chair to stand on and calling Typhoid Jon to...well i have no idea why i called him other than to have someone sympathize with me...I finally got a hold of myself.

I'm not scared of rats. Granted, they are disease filled scavenger varmints, but i played with the pet versions and exterminated the non pet versions. We had a large nest of grain rats in our woodpile for a couple of years and dad put me in charge of trapping them. And when in the unfortunate circumstances the trap didn't actually kill them instantly, i tried to make it clean and quick. It was definitively my least favorite of all the oddball chores i was assigned, but I got the job done.

I think the scream (if you can call it that through my hoarse voicebox) was more out of surprise than any actual fear. Finally, i grabbed the stick i wedge my door shut with and started cleaning out my closet. The rat managed to escape with its life, but the nest i think it was starting to build in my christmas decorations did not survive the purge. I found rat poop and pee all over my stuff which thankfully was in plastic containers. The only cloth item, my suitcase, seems to have managed to remain unscathed.

Since i was sick, it took me over an hour to get everything out of my closet, which normally would have taken me ten minutes. Given that i was home and it was a relatively nice day, i left everything out on my patio while i washed off the rat poop and pee. Then i got interrupted by a phone call from my backup at work, asking a few questions. I sat down on my couch to talk. That's when i noticed my Kitchen Aid box tilt alarmingly to the left and return to its normal position. As i watched, it did it again!

I told my backup that i needed to go, and rushed out onto my patio thinking that i had missed something or the rat was back. Nope, this is what i saw:

It was HUGE, probably one of the largest coons I've seen in a while standing not even five feet from me with only my stuff between us. It looked up at me like "Oh what? is this your stuff? Well do you have any food?" and didn't budge. I screamed at it, waved my hands, and banged on one of the tubs with my stick. Then i grabbed my broom and poked towards it. The look it gave me clearly said "oh please, you don't think i'm gonna give up that easily do you? What about over here? any food here?" as it reached for the kitchen aid box again.

I picked up a bottle of windex i had nearby and hucked it at his head. It hit him, but he started playing with the bottle instead of taking it as a threatening gesture. Finally, i got fed up. I quickly found my blow gun and loaded a non lethal plastic stun dart in it. The last thing i wanted to do that day was clean up a coon carcass. The coon retreated a few steps when the first dart hit him, but it took NINE direct hits with the stun darts for him to finally give up and sauntered into the woods.

By this point, i had a headache, my sinuses were killing me, i was coughing up a storm and sweating profusely.  Still i managed to rushingly shove everything back in the closet and wedge a box in the back of where the door would close hopefully deterring the rat somewhat. I called my dad and asked for his help putting shelves in my closet to get my stuff up off the floor.

Mercifully after that, i sank into my couch and quickly gave into oblivion for a while.

Hang on...nope...i'm not done yet. The menagerie continues if you can believe that.

The next day a robin decided it didn't like my freshly cleaned windows and began attacking them leaving poop, feathers and smudge marks all over them.

And as evening fell, the rat returned though i managed to see it before it got into my closet and threw a block of wood at it to scare it off.

Why won't the animals just let me be sick in peace?

Co-workers

This week has been filled with troubles with co-workers. We all work long hours, we're around each other for 10 hours a day. Obviously, Friday is too slow in coming to give us a break. As an admin who has to help everyone...especially if it includes the cursed printer...i make a point of being nice to everyone until they give me a reason not to be. And even then i'll be cold, but still professional. But this week, I'm tired and fed up with some of the ridiculous antics.

You could have fooled me that i work with adults who are capable of courtesy, respect and honesty. Because if i didn't know better, i'd say i worked with 13 year olds complete with cliques, nasty comments, superiority complexes, and backstabbing for no apparent reason.

Point in case, my cubicle neighbor. She monitors my comings and goings and makes a point of looking at her watch when i'm a couple minutes late. (I should note that our company is not a "TO THE MINUTE" company. We're expected to come in and leave around the set times and work 40 hours. If we're going to be really late, we need to let our boss know) If i'm early she comes to my desk and asks in a super surprised voice "What are you doing here so early?" She has taken everything I've gotten (like rotating my desk so she can't look at my screen all the time) as a personal affront that i'm getting special treatment. The truth is, i ask for something, give solid, business related reasons why, and my boss usually agrees to it. What a novel idea. I've talked to my boss and she's been reprimanded twice for this behavior. Most of the time, I can ignore her and give her non-committal answers to her snarkyness or kill her with kindness. But today, i'm so fed up that my mind is plotting exceedingly evil things.

Second point in case: I am not a servant who doesn't deserve Please or Thank You. Sending me an email which states: "The printer needs a new cartridge" will NEVER in a million years get the same response as someone walking up to me and saying "Can you please help me and change the cartridge, i'm not sure how." One of those responses will get me up and out of my chair that very second with a smile and a "no problem". The other will get a much slower response. Oh i'll do it, but it might take me 10 minutes. I made a point of letting the second person know their kindness was appreciated.

And last but not not least. I may be one of the youngest people in the entire building but that does not mean i'll tolerate being treated like you're my mother. Unless your job description has changed recently, you are not my monitor, my snitch, and certainly not allowed to PATRONIZE ME. Don't say "you did such a good job last time, i think you should be responsible for this HUGE task that we both worked on last time while i wash my hands of it." You don't delegate to me. That is not a privilege you have either earned or deserve.

Friday can't come fast enough this week. I'm so done with dealing with certain co-workers.

Other co-workers on the other hand have been great at making me laugh and get through some of this nonsense with a sense of humor.

Good Planning, aka Luck

Its hard for me to believe it, but i started building my coffee table and end tables just after Valentines day (aka single awareness day)

This project has by no means been the most complicated of my projects, but yet it has taken the longest. My father is certainly feeling his age, and I've confronted my uncomfortable emotions and frustrating setbacks. He has readily admitted that he can't work like he used to and i've been too timid to work without his help.

Last night, dad agreed to get to work on my drawers, the final bit of building that needed to be accomplished. But when i showed up, he was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was helping one of his friends with something complicated and wouldn't be home for hours and he was very sorry but I would have to wait.

I was ticked. Nailing him down to a time and place has been difficult to say the least because he's been very busy helping my sister. I tried not to impose but, with her project also several months over-schedule....it made life harder on everyone. And now, with her project finally down to a few punch list items, i thought i finally would have time to whip through the remainder of the building steps which i need dad's extra set of hands for. Yet when it came down to it...i was alone...

In dad's shop...

With all the tools i could possibly need....

With the knowledge of how to do the drawers...

I was just ticked off enough to be in my "Well, i'll show him" mood. Defiance and rebellion as my ally, i seized a hold of the plank of maple which had been plained down to 1/2 inch and quickly measured the gap that the drawer would need to fit into. I cut boards an inch over the right measurement  and then ran them through the jointer to make the edges smooth and even. Then i ripped them to the right width and cut them to the right size since i could now be sure of a good 90 degree cut.

In two hours, i had the frame of the drawer. So i started casting about for paneling for the bottom of the drawer. I didn't want to use the one dad had pointed out because it had a laminated side that i wouldn't be able to stain it. it would have to be painted or horribly mismatched. I went out into the wood shed and looked through would that had been put in there when i was still a teenager, Most of it was un-usable for my project.

It wasn't until i started looking through the scrap bin that i came across a piece of paneling that i instantly recognized. It was the exact same material i had used as the backing for the DVD stand and the TV stand. It looked rather small, but i pulled it out to see if i could get at least one bottom for the drawers.

As I set up the frame, i began to realize, hoping against hope, that i might have just enough for both drawers. When everything was set up, i had literally 2 inches to spare width wise without ever trimming the paneling.

I cut groves for the paneling to slide into and it's perfect. The groves were not as deep as i would have preferred, but with some wood glue, they'll hold up just fine. Besides, these are going to be holding relatively light things and serve as a general junk drawer for scissors, glue, stamps, ect.

When dad finally showed up, my mood had dissolved out of sheer disbelief at the perfection of the size of the LAST piece of the same paneling i had used for the other pieces in my living room. So i showed him what i had accomplished. We both had a good laugh as he analyzed my handiwork and gave me a stiff nod...adding that he hoped i didn't make any mistakes without him there. I confidently replied that i doubted i had, but if i did, it wouldn't be anything that couldn't be fixed.

Good Planning or Pure Luck? Who cares...the drawers just need to be glued and nailed and the end tables are ready to put the finish on.

Back from camping

I'm pleased to report that i survived camping in the pacific northwest this weekend. By that i mean...it started raining Saturday at about 5pm and didn't stop....ever.

Jon on Friday before we got the tarps up and
during one of the few brief moments of sunlight

Between the crows pillaging our campsite twice, the showers eating the tokens without giving hot water, the absurd prices of firewood (3 bundles for 17$), and the tarp AND TENT leaking.....we should have had a miserable time. Yet, i can't think of any single point that i was unhappy. Even picking up after the crows...wasn't a big deal. We learned a couple lessons but for the most part, our advance planning saved a lot of frustration. There's just a bit more planning needed. There was bound to be some trial and error period.

The first problem we noticed was the grill that i had brought was HORRIBLE for cooking on. The eggs we made took forever to cook, and water took at least a half hour to get to coffee temperature. It's a great grill, i'm sure, but it's a horrible camp stove. But it was free so i didn't worry too much. The Boyscout in Boyfriend Jon came out and he started talking about all the gear he wanted to buy for himself. Perhaps for this entry i should refer to him as Boyscout Jon. He decided that now was a good time to purchase a Coleman camp stove and we were saved. After that, we had no more meal related problems.

But the rain wasn't going to let us off the hook. We got our tarps up Saturday Morning after some creative roping and using a few of the telescoping poles i had borrowed from my dad. I even managed to remember a few of the knots i had learned several years ago, when i taught a knot tying class. But when it came to a spot were we had different sized ropes, my brain went blank. I could see the image in my head, but how to do it or what it was called was completely eluding me. Boyscout Jon came to the rescue with a sheet bend.

Sometimes it got a little too cold to sit next to the campfire with our e-readers. So we retreated into the tent. There, we quickly bundled up into our sleeping bags and kept reading with just our eyes and a couple fingers poking out of the bags. Every now and then we would look over at each other and start laughing over some line in the story we were reading or the fact that we were bundled up like Eskimos. But the important thing was that we were throughly enjoying ourselves. I'm sure our neighbors got a little tired of us starting to laugh hysterically for no apparent reason to anyone outside our little world.

We probably should have noticed the warning signs earlier...spots of water at the bottom of our sleeping bags, or the small puddle forming at the tent opening. But it wasn't until the middle of the night that we started realizing we were slowly being soaked. The pads we were sleeping on were foam and quickly absorbed the water and it started creeping toward us. Our clothes and gear in the tent, had to be moved to higher ground and we had to pull our pillows away from the walls.

My only real gripe was the mats we decided to try for sleeping on were very uncomfortable. I'm still an air mattress girl. But given that Jon had trouble waking me up one night, i still slept soundly. Oh yeah, and i managed to not be a controlling, freaked out, nut job. Go me!

Things we'll do differently:

1. waterproof the tent BEFORE leaving. 
2. buy a new tarp and new ropes
3. buy camp cups...the one thing we both totally forgot. 
4. figure out new sleeping pads/cots/air mattresses. 

But in the end, every problem that arose we had a solution for. Every issue got dealt with. And we left the camp soaking wet, freezing cold, tired as hell, and holding hands.

The Mario Box

I'm definitely a crafty person. By that i mean i like working with my hands..in case you couldn't already tell that from the carpentry I've been posting lately.When i'm feeling stressed out and need to collect myself, I do origami. I've done sketches for tattoos for friends and co-workers. But pretty much anything crafty...i'm a useful person to know.

This is probably why my friend Kenny came to me with a project. He does some minor cosplay and wanted to go as Mario this year. He got the costume together and looked like a great ...blonde... Mario. But he wanted a Mario brick to go with his costume. "Easy" I told him....and began making plans. I'm not sure who came up with the idea, but eventually it got revised into a portable carry-all for the cons. It even got touched by FELICIA DAY and AMY OKUDA of The Guild!

Awesome except for the glare from the flash. This picture makes me SO HAPPY!

I recycled the interior of old broken binders for their cardboard, and made a cube. I then attached hinges so that the top would open and close. Then i made it so the lid was magnetized closed. With some free foam on the inside, the cube took life. Three sides became Question Mark sides, complete with gold glitter borders, and three sides got Brick. The effect was that when taken with a picture...you wouldn't be able to see the other sides. But the best part, according to Mario/Kenny is that he can stash his camera, glasses and any other loot from the con...inside and walk around with just the box.

He says the box gets a lot of attention at Cons. He has been pulled out of hallways to go participate in photo shoots, and many many people want pictures with the box. It is a One of a kind for sure. No other Mario's have ever been seen with a box like mine. :D

Never mind the scantily clad Yoshi...look at the pretty box! (that's Mario/Kenny btw)

Anyway, the year of Con's is over for Mario/Kenny, and he brought me the Mario Box in need of some minor repair. We started discussing some of the differences he would rather have, and features that would be really cool if we could pull off.

Next thing i know..i'm designing a new pair of boxes. One to fit inside of the other. The outer box will be the Question Box. It will feature fishing lines that are able to be pulled out to suspend the box. Stored in the bottom of this box will be tent poles that unfold and form a rod which the box can be suspended from for photos. The other box will be a duplicate of the original box (in the pictures above) but covered only in brick. Or if i can talk him into it, the rainbow colored question mark from Mario Kart. This will also have a lid, and foam padding for storage of Con Loot.

It's another of the projects to add to my ever growing and rarely shrinking list.

At least the dryer isn't eating socks anymore

It's this one but in silver

I'm going to gush a little bit:

For our one year anniversary Boyfriend Jon did GOOD. Aside from being perfectly charming, romantic, and sweet, he bought me the most beautiful necklace I've ever owned. It is only rivaled by the black hills gold my father got me when i was ten.

This necklace is beautiful and just my taste. I love wearing it, and only rarely take it off. We even got a special chain for it so it would hang in the perfect spot on my chest.

I can't say it enough...I LOVE THIS NECKLACE! So when it went missing a couple days ago, i was really upset! I though i searched everywhere at my apartment thinking it was the last place i had seen it. I had just about convinced myself that i had left it at Boyfriend Jon's place (which has happened in the past) when i heard a soft clunk as i was pulling laundry out of the washer.

It was one of the pair or earrings i had been wearing when i had lost the necklace. With dread slowly rising in my stomach, i pulled out every single piece and shook it vigorously. I found the matching earring...and two dollar bills (honestly, i thought i checked all the pockets!)...but there was no sign of the necklace. As i scooped out the last of the socks on the bottom...i heard the sound of metal on metal. I dove into the half size washer, somehow cramming myself in until i could reach the bottom in the back and felt around.

There was something small there, and after several minutes of trying to get the tips of my fingers on it, i pulled the pendant back out. But there was no chain. I set the pendant aside after kissing it for happiness, and felt around again. I quickly fond something that felt like a chain, but when i pulled it up, the chain was only two inches long anymore. Feeling around some more only yielded a few more chain links. I'm not too upset: I have the pendant, and chains are cheap.

I guess my washer has developed more expensive tastes than socks. I'll have to be more thorough in my pocket searches.

A year without Cable

A year ago today, I walked into the local Comcast store to set up my account for my new apartment. After living with roommates for two years, i was going to be paying for all the utility bills by myself for a change. I was doing some math trying to figure out how on earth i could afford to keep paying over $100 for internet, cable and a phone i never used. Since both of my roommates were TV hogs, i never spent much time watching TV anyway. There were only a couple shows that i enjoyed watching and everything else was put on for background noise.

So, when i got to the front counter, i made what seemed like a really bold decision at the time. "Just Internet please. Your most basic package. No, i don't want to spend more to save money by coupling phone and cable. yes i understand that means i won't even be able to get 1-13 anymore." I had signed up for Netflix a few months before and Boyfriend Jon showed me how i could view the streaming through my Xbox.

Here's the math a year later.

Old Comcast bill:         $120                          Over the course of a year: $1,440
Current Comcast bill:  $  35                          Over the course of a year: $   420
Plus Netflix:                  $  10                          Over the course of a year: $   120
                                                                             Difference:                $   900

NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I couldn't believe it when i looked over my finances last night. I knew i was saving money, but it's a different matter when you actually see that large of a number. I couldn't believe what i was paying to keep my roommates happy. And to pay for a phone that was LITERALLY never used.

As for missing prime time television...most days i honestly don't even notice it's gone. Occasionally someone will ask me "Did you see what happened on American Idol last night??" When i tell them i don't have cable, most people are amazed that I'd done away. To put this in a weird perspective: One of the group that gossips non stop about American Idol went Vegan around the same time. No animal products at all. The group was more amazed that i was without cable than they were about her going without meat. I've even been called "Brave" more than once. But i honestly don't feel like i'm missing anything.

Netflix has plenty of streaming TV shows without commercials to keep me busy. I've already gotten through all seasons of Star Trek Voyager, That 70's show, Xena, Firefly, Cake Boss, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and now i'm starting in on the Sarah Connor Chronicles and America's Funniest Animals. They run in the background while I work on projects, or avoid folding clothes.

As for the shows i'm missing out on: I already own the three seasons of Big Bang Theory and they didn't dissapoint. I eagerly await season four. Two and a half men has lost it's appeal thanks to Sheen's arrogance, not to mention I preferred Jon Cryer anyway. And everything else...eh. I really haven't missed anything else, except maybe a couple of cooking shows for some inspiration. Oh, and COPS so that i can give out my own set of Darwin awards for idiocy.

It's amazing what we think we need, but can live without quite comfortably.

Warm season hair removal - Results Take 1

In my previous post, I promised that i would try out a form of hair removal called Body Sugaring and test it out then report the results back for you. I did this test on my leg only. I have no data for underarm, lip, chin, arm or bikini areas.

Here's my results:

Not impressed

Ease of making at home batch:

• Recipe said about a half hour, It took me over 45 mins.
• Mixture became the consistency of  thick honey when cooled to room temperature (this, i found out later was not thick enough)
• It became the "right" consistency when put in the fridge for an hour. 
• Most likely, the problems with this area were due to errors in the cooking time because of ME, not because this technique is flawed. 

Ease of application/removal technique:

Mixed feelings

• Corn starch was helpful
• Initially, it just smeared and didn't remove anything
• After cooled, it did apply properly but warmed up in my hand absurdly quickly. I got a couple "good" flicks before it was useless
• Running my leg under cold water and using gloves did not increase pliability time and it became a sticky gooey mess after just a couple minutes
• Trim nails down before, I bent a couple backwards trying to get the stuff out of the bowl. Ow!
• Flicking worked, sort of. It's a technique that definitely needs practice. 
• I was only able to do a part of my right leg, not the whole leg before I gave up. This became horribly time consuming. 

Pain level equivalence:

It's Pretty Good

• Inner and outer calf - like pulling off a strong band-aid
• Shin and ankle area - like pulling off duct tape (i know cause i tried it to get a pain control point)
• I said "Ahhh!" and "Ooooh!" rather than "OMG OW OW OW"s
• It's not unbearable, but i'm not sure i would want to do this as a regular thing.

It's Pretty Good

Percentage of hair removed in area where applied:

• First time:
• Approximatively 85%
• Second time
• Approximatively 95%

"Wrap Around" method for (single or stubborn hairs):

• Verdict: Effective 95% of time

Awesome!

Residual Cleanup/ After Care:

• I loved that it was able to be cleaned up with a shower
• I put Aloe Vera on my leg afterward as recommended.
• The rest of the afternoon, my leg felt warm like i had a mild sunburn on it. The next day, i didn't feel any discomfort. 
• No irritated hair follicles, no bloody follicles, no scabs on the skin, no tenderness, no red bumps.
• One amusing effect: my leg became SHINY. I was able to see the light from the TV reflecting off my shin and i could tell where i had sugared and where i hadn't. 

OVERALL:

Would I recommend Body Sugaring?

• Yes, I would. However:
• Probably not as an at home method initially. I am planning on visiting a salon that specializes in this technique in May to see how they do it, and how they cope with some of the problems i ran into. 
• I will also re-try to make a DIY batch and cook it more and see if that makes a difference. But that's gonna have to wait for a couple weeks, cause i couldn't stand my legs being that hairy anymore and shaved the un-sugared areas. 

Will I be giving up my razor?

• Unless i can get the DIY method to work as it shows in the videos, i will NOT be giving up my razor for general maintenance. 
• But i'm not giving up on this technique. I was impressed at the amount of hairs that disappeared (when the mixture was working as it should have) and i liked the after results. Also, the pain was not unbearable. 
• I'll keep you informed of how well it grows back in and how soon.
• This is a very viable option for short term upkeep. 
• like just for summer when leg showing off is at its peak
• or vacations to warm places so i don't have to carry a razor or other maintenance items. 

All in all, this was an interesting experiment. The ladies at work are all abuzz about this new method and several of them are going to try it in a spa and see if that works better. Also, i'd like to see if underarms works well too. 

Honorable mention goes to Boyfriend Jon for his willingness to hold my hand for the first rip, withhold his laughter to a reasonable level, and run back and forth between me and the kitchen to get me things because my hands were sticky.

He also approves the results, but he thinks this is just a little too crazy for him to use personally. 

Creeeeeeepppyyyy

I found something rather unsettling in my car yesterday. It was a styrofoam burger king cup that had spilled out a ton of sunflower seed shells.

Not that weird you say? What if i were to tell you I hardly ever eat SUNFLOWER seeds? Only thing that goes in my car, are pumpkin seeds.

Not weird enough? What if i were to tell you the last time i went to a burger king was in early OCTOBER. And i most certainly did not get a styrofoam cup. Not to mention, my car got cleaned out before Jon's family arrived in mid December.

Still not weird enough? Boyfriend Jon (the only person i know to eat sunflower seeds ever in my car) hasn't eaten them since that October trip, much less put them in a styrofoam cup that somehow managed to elude disposal. Nor has anyone that's been in the back seat of my car since early December prior to the clean out.

And if that wasn't weird enough for you...consider these facts:

1. The only Burger King in the area is at the bottom of the hill that I was parked at when the sunflower seeds were discovered. Its about five to eight miles from my home.
2. When going out to my car to put stuff in it just before i discovered them...i heard the locks click open.
3. My windows were not open
4. The seeds were still wet....but not moldy at all
5. there is a known "problem" house around the corner.

I'm not typically one to point fingers and i will readily give the allowance that maybe i just didn't notice the seeds for a while (though for that length of time i'm going to go with improbable).

If it was someone that i know was in my back seat: Dude that's just gross.

If it was someone i don't know....WTF?

Nothing was taken (not that there was anything to take - the most expensive thing in my car is the 5$ ipod jack from radio shack) and no loose change. But WHY on earth would they break into my car just to leave their gross sunflower seed cup dumped over my back seat???? I just cannot fathom that someone would go to that much trouble to be so disgusting. It just doesn't add up.

I cleaned it all out. Everything. Even though i was supposed to be helping my sister with her remodel, i couldn't stop cleaning. Vacuumed everything, took a cleaning cloth to my dash and center console, re-organized my trunk, threw out what trash i had. I feel extremely violated. I felt like someone had defiled my little Focus and i had to make her mine again.

Boyfriend Jon tried to reason it out but even he couldn't answer some of my questions. I think he was left either wondering if i'm forgetting something that would crack this case open like...well... a sunflower seed, or if someone, somehow, for some bizarre reason, did this. Thankfully, he let me vent out my confusion and frustration until i felt better.

And now i'm making doubly sure that my doors are locked when i exit the car. Even if that means locking the doors before Boyfriend Jon gets his door open....again.

Anti-slip surface doesn't get my stamp of aproval

I opened my blog this morning thinking i wouldn't have anything important to write. Indeed my weekend was relatively uneventful, lots of video games, cleaning and clothes folding.

Little did i know that leaving to go to lunch would turn out so eventful.

On the way down the two flights of stairs, i struck up a conversation with two co-workers who were also leaving to go to lunch. And when we walked out the door, the two men took the stairs and i took the ramp down. It's not a steep incline, only two three steps high and it runs for about twenty feet. I couldn't have been more than six feet from the door, with my hand on the railing, when my foot flew out behind me as i transitioned my weight. My other foot rolled painfully, and I started falling straight down and put my hand out to break my fall. It connected....and then slid to full extension on "anti-skid" textured paint that had been laid down literally a week before.

The effect was a feeling I've described as running my hand along a cheese grater. Very not happy.

Thankfully, the two co-workers saw me go down and rushed to help me. With my wrist screaming in pain, my knee throbbing and blood trickling down my leg, they helped me limp back into the building.

Incident report forms are being filled out while i sit with a gigantic bag of ice and type one handed...a skill I've developed quite well in the last couple of years.

Leave it to me, who's name means graceful...to manage to slip on a non-slip surface.

I will say this: you would think that they would consider wetness a factor in slippage in the Pacific North west and not coat a non-slip surface with a paint that clearly is slick when wet. I would think at least.

Wallet thief!

2010 ended on a slightly sour note when my wallet inexplicably went missing.

Somehow between buying coffee for a work party, and leaving the work part about six hours later, my wallet disappeared. Between juggling coffee for six people and pastries, I distinctly remember attempting to put my wallet back in my purse. It's a fairly small wallet, no bigger than the ones guys put in their back pocket. But i was distracted and i didn't actually remember if it went into the purse.

I worked all day until about five o'clock when taskmaster sister finally said "enough". I quickly went to gather my stuff and did my failsafe "keys, wallet, cell phone" mantra that i say to myself every single time i go to leave somewhere. But upon looking for my wallet, it was gone. I hadn't left the house all day, and it was highly unlikely that anyone from the work party would be desperate enough to look in MY purse for extra money.

My parents and my sister joined the search for the wayward wallet, even taking a flashlight out into the cold where my car had been parked. Meanwhile, i rushed back to the coffee shop and asked if anyone had seen my wallet. The lady looked at me like it was my fault but relented my insistence that she check the back office to see if the morning shift had found it and forgot to leave a note. After that, i rushed to my bank to put a clamp on my accounts and cancel my credit cards. After a frustrating hour, my family wasn't able to find my wallet and i was convinced that someone had picked it up.

The next day, i was forced to endure the Department Of Licensing for THREE HOURS.

Yeah, I arrived there at 1:39pm and spent the next 2 hours and 40 minutes of that just waiting to be called. I cannot believe the insanity that they expect normal working people to endure to get a license. That's pretty much half a day if someone looses a wallet as far as the work-day is concerned. It further solidified my opinion that service stations like the DOL, DMV, and Post Offices should be open later in the days than six.

The day after that, I received my replacement debit card so i was no longer dead in the water. Then i began my search for a new wallet to hold my stuff. My wallet is pretty much perfect for me so i had some trouble finding a replacement. Just when i was about ready to order one off line, i get a phone call from my sister

Sister: Hey...i gotta tell you something but you can't get mad until i finish

me: Don't you dare tell me you found my wallet...

sister: Your wallet is safe, i have it.

me: You're kidding! (facepalm) where was it???

sister: i was going to get my work pants out of my closet and i noticed something white on the floor in there. I was wondering what the heck it was and when i pulled it out, it was a bag of pumpkin seeds.

me: Oh?! (I rememberd that i did have a bag of pumpkin seeds that i hadn't noticed was gone.)

sister: I know that i don't really ever eat pumpkin seeds so i got down on my hands and knees and started clearing out.

(She has a double hanging closet so there's a layer of clothes close, but not down to the ground. her dog Molly likes to go in there and walk back and forth under the clothes, we think cause it feels like she's being pet.)

Apparently, that's where Molly has been hiding her toys and some food wrappers also. She pulled out my bag of pumpkin seeds, my wallet and a flash drive that had been taken fifteen feet from the bed where my purse had been and into Molly's closet hideout along with a couple other things.

I wanted so hard to be mad at someone, but I just couldn't do it, i started laughing. Well, now i have a new license and new cards.

Rawrggg!

Meeting the Cake Boss

Today is the day in which all prior buffer is lost due to the fact that I GOT TO MEET THE CAKE BOSS!!! Somehow I'm totally not sad about losing my lead.

Yup, met Buddy Valastro boss of TLC's Cake Boss series as a relatively recent fan, and more recently an obsession with baking cakes. He is the sole reason I took the Wilton's Cake Decorating course, and made Josh and Christabelle's wedding cake. I was so floored by what he was able to do that I knew that would become my next hobby.

I waited in line for about twenty five minutes to meet this guy. The last thing I waited in line that long for was to go into the Kube93 haunted house three years ago and I was steadily becoming more drunk the entire time, also a rare occurrence for me. I was with a group of friends then and it made the time go a lot faster. At least until we got to the front of the line and then realized that no one had bought tickets. Woops.

While i waited, i put my super speed reading skills to work and read through about forty-ish pages of his book. Two things jumped out at me right away.
The first being when he was introducing how his father and mother met. As it would just happen to turn out, Buddy's Mother came from the same city in Italy that my family hails from. Small world right?
The second was the story about how he came to start working in the Bakery when he was young. He described a scene that could have come straight out of my own childhood. Starting a fire in the cul-de-sac and what happens when your very Italian father finds out. They put you to work because then you're too busy to think up crazy stunts like that.

I bought the book, and though it was a little on the expensive side at 26$, After reading a bit more i find it was worth the money. Mostly because of the Carlos Bakery recipes in the back.

My initial impression of Buddy was somewhere along the lines of traditional squealing fangirl noises in my head. I do not do that often and usually it's only around puppies. Thankfully, i managed to hold onto my poise long enough to untangle my tongue.

"Hey there, how you doin?" Buddy asked me smiling warmly. He didn't sound at all like he felt he had to be there. The impression i got from him was rather the opposite. If i had to guess, i would say i was left with the impression that he genuinely enjoyed being there and meeting the fans.
"Not too bad, and yourself?" i heard myself ask as though we were casually meeting on the street. I thought to myself what the heck Anne? Tell him how much you love his show! my subconscious screamed at me. Thinking he probably heard that all the time, as we posed for the camera, I thought up a question I had always wondered.
"I got one question for you." i said as i held out my hand to shake his. He took it and firmly grasped it with his charming smile.
"wha da ya got?" he says in his Jersey accent.
"Do you actually like the taste of Fondant?" i asked as i reached to retrieve my camera from the lady.
"well when i roll it out, i roll it really thin so that it doesn't mess with the flavor." he says but he's got his look on his face like when he's caught off guard.
"oh ok." i said as the woman ushered me along. But he kept talking.
"But you aint gonna find me eating it straight out of the bucket. So no way." he said as he smirked and used his hands to pantomime the action of eating something. A common thing that i see in my own family.

In the brief seconds that i got to meet The Cake Boss, i instantly liked him. It's nice to meet celebrities who are first and foremost nice people and don't behave as though they're a gift from god. Seeing as how I've met two that are like this...i was glad to find my most recent idol was friendly and charming and seemed like a real down to earth guy. I'm excited to read the rest of his story and try out some of his famous recipes.

Nano 2010 day 9

Word count: 13,774
Quota for the day: 15,003

So i figured out what was up with this NaNo gimmick. Or widget as they call it:

Last year, this thing was pretty simple. If you crossed word quota for the day, the day turned green. This year, suddenly I started seeing yellow pop up. This is the description they give you for what the widget does:
My Month is a simple display showing overall progress and how you did on any given day. Light green and red show where you were above or below the goal for the day, bold green and red are reserved for days where you did exceptionally well or monumentally badly.

Am I going crazy or is there actually NO mention of the color yellow ANYWHERE in there? I start going crazy and can't figure out why some of my days are showing up Yellow when i have indeed posted the recommended word count for the night. So last night around 10:30 (being a work night this is already late for me, and thus prone to bad decisions)...i decided to figure it out.

I posted one word under the daily quota for the day. Still red.
I posted the exact daily quota for the day. Yellow
I posted one over the daily quota for the day. Yellow -_-
With the "exceptionally well" in mind, i posted 100 words over the daily quota. Yellow.
200 words over daily quota. STILL Yellow (by this point I'm cursing)
Finally i went and looked at my stats. It says i still need 183 words to reach 1667.
What?
So here's what i figured out.
If you write below quota for the day: you get red
If you write above quota for the day: you get yellow
If you write a cumulative 1667 words on top of whatever you had the day previous...you get green.

Way to go NaNo site. You've managed to get 400 odd extra words out of me. You've gotten sneaky in your terrible threes.

is there a worse time for this?

So, in my building with roughly 200 people in it. There are three admins. Just three. For the most part, we handled our own business occasionally soliciting some help from the others. We were all pretty busy from what i could tell.

But as it's summer, it was time for Diana's trip to Scottland. The last time she went, her and her husband were in a horrible car accident. By sheer luck, both of them made it back alive. Back then i had been horrified at the thought of being without her as my counterpart. I have said before, and i'll say it again. The day Diana leaves, i'll be on her heels. More than a year and a half has gone by since the last time Diana took a serious trip. And in that time i have learned, i have grown and i've developed the ability to adapt and delegate.

Or....so I thought. This time, instead of begging Diana not to go and leave me at the whims of her boss (my boss's boss), i simply insisted that she comes back on time. Sure i can handle this for three weeks. Difficult, but not utterly impossible.

Again. So i thought. I had gotten through both of our's morning chores with some head scratching, fuming but with my hair mostly still attached. Only to learn quite suddenly that the only other admin in the building had been laid off effective immediately. A quite, little older lady who had been dying her hair auburn for far too long and pretty whimsical glasses would be arriving at work no more. Her pragmatic disposition and patient indulgence of even the most ridiculous requests would no longer be a comfort to me on bad days. And what was worse. I could no longer turn to her for help.

By no means was i more concerned for myself than her, but now that she's gone and all that's left of her are T pins where her family pictures had once been and stacks of paper....i can't help but feel a small amount of hysteria over the apparently insurmountable task I'm faced with. 200 people versus little ole me.

I know the ole mantra "Do your best and no less" but really. That just isn't very comforting right now.

I guess this just gets piled on my stress layers. How long till it teeters over?