Rest In Peace Lilly

Sad news. Friday July 25, 2008 I lost a dear friend. Lilly was 15 years old and had been with me since she was a kitten. It all started one New Years Eve, when Michelle, Shannon and I were house sitting for Jeanette. She said "Don't let Natasha get out, she's in heat." Well, she did get out. Several months later 3 kittens were born. A white one, a silver one, and a black one. That little black kitty came home with me and I named her Lilly.
We've had one crazy journey together. She's lived in several places with me. Her sister Zora came to live with us 2 years later. For a brief period of time she had a dog brother named Epi Thatcher, a golden retriever. For the last 4 years she's had a dog sister, Sachi Valdez, the chihuahua.
She was a wonderful cat, she never bit or scratched anyone. She loved to hang out when people were over. She was a daredevil and a climber. She loved to lay on the railing over the stairway, never afraid she was going to miss as she jumped up. She had amazing balance. She loved to always be underfoot and getting into anything and everything. Lilly certainly made sure she was always noticed.
My heart aches and I miss her terribly. The house is certainly a lot less active since she is missing.

Moving Forward

Will was here this weekend and we worked on the house. And we worked on the house and worked on the house. We also made steak on the grill. I cleaned up around the outside of the house and Will worked on repairs inside. Will sanded down the tops and sides of a bunch of doors and then sealed them. I still have 2 more to take care of this week. He also managed to unseal almost all of the windows! After 6 years I can finally open windows in this house! He also helped me by doing the trim for the lawn and shot weed killer along the fence.

I mowed the lawn (I'm getting pretty good at this) then I raked up all the destruction from the shredded vines and grass. I swept up the front porch and sidewalk, the back porch and the walkways around the house. There were a million billion trillion of those helicopter seed pods from the trees. Then I dejunked the back porch.

Will had brought me flowers and Shawn was over and her and I got to throw dirt around an put them in the planters. So far they are still alive. I don't know for how much longer though.

It doesn't sound like all that much, but it took all weekend to do. I am exhausted. I couldn't even force myself to do anything today. So I had tea and read a book on my newly cleaned back porch.

All I've really been doing is working on the house. I clean and clean and work on projects and I still feel like I'm getting nowhere. Gah!

Bad Luck Streak

Dropping in a post now, because I have a few moments where I feel relatively calm right now. These past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of bad luck. The kind where it leaves you wondering what you could have done to deserve this. But, I know myself and I know that I have been through difficult times in the past and I will land on my feet. I always do. Really there is no other option.

A small outline of what turmoil I'm going through is:

I messed up my bank account to the tune of $500. This is the first time in my 32 years of life this has happened. I'm ok with it because I'm human and bound to make a mistake a some point. It's just happened at a very inconvenient time. I've been struggling to get my finances under control and this felt like a huge failure. It was nearly a month ago, and I am still not recovered from it, not even close. This totally wiped out my account and I had about 7 $35 fees tacked on because of bounced checks.

Things with Will are wonderful as always. He has been really helping me work on the house in his visits. I really wish we had more time together. He holds my heart completely. I have so much respect for him and everything he does. It's rare to find such a genuinely good person.

My toilet on the 3rd floor backed up and is backing into the tub, so says M. I had a horrible row with the home warranty company and the plumbing company they were sending out to do the work. I won't go into all the painful details, but by the end I was crying at my desk at work at how they were treating me. The warranty company is not making me pay the $55 service fee for this ordeal and my Realtor was looking for a new plumber to do the work but couldn't find one. I finally found one and it ended up costing me $733, because they broke a pipe in the middle of fixing it. They also left me with a hole bashed in my wall, flooded the bathroom below and that destroyed 2 of the drop ceiling tiles that I now have to replace. Very difficult for me to pay, but I had no choice, as I need to shower on a regular basis.

All the gages on my car have stopped working. It's very hard to drive when you don't know how much gas you have or what speed you are going. This happened about a week and a half ago. I took it into the shop and they said it was a pinched wire and fixed it for $20. Since then, it happened again and again. I dropped it off yesterday morning so they can look into in detail. It will be $800 to fix it.

The computers keep not working at work. I fall further and further behind on a daily basis. It's so stressful to not be able to meet all my deadlines. I know there is not a single thing I can do about this situation, it's completely out of my hands. But with everything else going on, I just don't have any patience in reserve at this point. I worked until 8pm on Friday to try to catch up and it didn't even make a dent. They are out again this morning. This will make 6 days in the last 2 and 1/2 weeks. I want to cry.

I'm sure there is more that I am leaving out, but those are the big ones. I've been head achy, sleepless, back pained and high strung. It's a terrible feeling like everywhere I turn, everything is crashing in on me. I thank Shawn for trying to deal with the mess I've become. You are truly a good friend.

But I always land on my feet. Because I have to, there is no other option.
Melanie

November 11, 2007 Lancaster, PA

This post is a thank you to my Will and all my friends. For the first time in years I had a happy birthday. Thank you all so much for the gifts and the fun. And thank you for all getting Lauren out from LA to visit. That was a most wonderful surprise.

Will got here Friday and showered me with love and gifts. We dressed up pretty and went out to Taj Mahal for dinner. I regret not having the thought to take a picture of us in fancy clothes. Will looks dapper in a suit. Will had never had Indian food before, so it was nice to show him something new. Indian is one of my favorite things to eat ever, because of that I have a hard time deciding what to order. I ended up with veggie choice appetizer, samosas, naan, mint chutney, and navarattan korma. Will had the tandoori chicken. I tried it and it is really good. I usually just stick to vegetarian dishes, but I might order that sometime.

After dinner there was rushing around to head out to glow bowling. Will, Lauren, Shawn, Michelle, and Shane made for some silly times. I just wish it could have lasted longer. I don't know how the time flew by so fast! We fit in 2 games and plenty of drinks. The music for the most part was awful, but that added to the fun in a way. Surprisingly it was really empty for a Friday night. I think I liked it better that way. Less battle for a lane and we were able to spread out. There were cupcakes that we never ended up eating, and balloons I would not let leave the trunk of the car. Shawn put together super cute Hello Kitty everything including goody bags for everyone. Goody bags should be mandatory for parties, I think. I lost the first game, but came in second in the second game. The key to bowling is alcohol. Or at least it seems to be for me. I bowled 2 strikes in a row! Even though I'm a terrible bowler, I love going to play.

Here are some pictures of the silliness:

October 18, 2007 Lancaster, PA

Just a quick morning post before work.

Last night I went to Lyndon Diner with Shawn. I've learned that salad there is a bad choice. $2.75 for a small bowl of lettuce, 1 tomato, and 1 slice of cucumber. The ranch dressing was so runny it would not even stay on the lettuce. I couldn't even eat it. It was gross.

But, going there was good because I finally decided what I want to do with my birthday this year. I've never really had this issue in the past 6 or so years. I just ignored the birthday as best I could and part of that was because Ryan, besides dinner, wasn't really into doing anything for it. Will, however, thinks I should have some fun for my birthday and so the task of figuring out what to do has come about.

What I have decided is that Will and I will go to dinner since he will be here for the whole weekend. Where, I don't know yet. Afterwards I am getting my closest friends together to go bowling. Yes, bowling. I love bowling. I am so bad at it and that is what makes it so fun. I also want cupcakes. I'm currently trying to find the bowling alley that lets you bring your own alcohol. I want this to be a very silly night out.

Lauren, I know you hate bowling, but I wish you were here so you could go and be silly too.

October 15, 2007 Lancaster, PA

Otters holding hands! Watch the whole clip.

I always feel all sappy after a Will visit. We went to a surprise party for Michelle on Saturday. I don't know how I managed to not let it slip, but she was surprised. It was great to see everyone for a happy occasion.

Things were pretty low key this weekend other than the party. We made our usual stops for diner and mexican foods. But other than that we had some alone time and some Gilmore Girls watching time. I wish that weekends were longer with him. Someday, I will move. It HAS to happen.

October 12, 2007 Lancaster, PA

Work. Yep, I swear it's the most difficult part of the day. If things would work right then I would not be so unhappy. It's a great job, but there is too much technical malfunction. Raises the blood pressure on someone that thrives on efficiency.
Will arrives tonight. JOY! I am so very happy. The world feels so much better when he is close.
It's super cold out and windy. It truly is fall. And I have not moved. I need to unpack the winter clothes and repack the summer wardrobe. Tanks and flops must go to make way for sweaters and boots. Speaking of, I got a new pair of boots last night. I own a million pairs of shoes, but then start to just wear 2 pairs until they die. My ballet flats and my sneakers with the satin bows are dead. In the trash. I don't know why I get fixated on a just a certain pair and wear them every day. I buy special shoes that only work with a few things and then just forget them and never wear them. I need to just stick to black shoes.
It's time to get back to work. Or, more appropriately here, trying to work.
Oh, and I need more stripped socks.