Domestic Geek

As I haven't been much of a Potter follower since my disappointment with book 7 (except to watch Order of the Phoenix), I haven't been making my daily visits to J.K. Rowling's site. Thankfully Fond of Snape made mention that today is Severus Snape's birthday, or I would've totally missed it this year. Happy Birthday, Severus!


* He's a Capricorn (as is Marcus) — the perfect match for a Virgo such as I.

Hey everybody! Hope you're having a wonderful 2008 so far and getting back into the swing of things post holidays.

I've been in a really crappy mood, so I haven't been going anywhere near this blog. I've been sick since two days before Christmas (Marcus was also sick a few days before I and he's still not totally well). It's finally starting to clear out, but the cough is lingering. I coughed so bad the other day I popped a blood vessel in my eye ball and it's all red and yucky looking. Fortunately, it doesn't hurt and isn't affecting my vision, it just looks nasty as all get out.

Our POS landlords gave us a wonderful holiday gift - they raised our lot rent by $45. As if we weren't being shafted enough to live in this dump, we now get the privilege of paying even more. Marcus and I have vowed that by this time next year, we will not be living here. I'm sick of throwing money down the drain to these people every freaking month. I also want a dog and I promised myself that I would wait until we're out of here before I got another one. Having no dog to give gifts to on Christmas morning sucked in a major way.

Work has slowed down in the new year (as expected). I'll be lucky to get my 40 hours a week the next few weeks. There is a chance I can get some extra hours working in the bindery, if I can ever get well. The bindery is a dirty, hot place and I'm not subjecting my ill body to those conditions, y'know? I was contemplating going back to pizza, but I'd have to get a beater car because I swore I would never deliver pizzas in my Baja. I really don't want to deal with having another car, though. I'm going to have to start doing some design work on the side, probably, even though I hate working with clients. I will get my embroidery business going this year, thanks to the gift of a Brother PE-700 embroidery machine that the awesome Marcus got me for Christmas. A coworker is letting me have her old PE-Design software and card writer to help me get going. I'm so excited!

I got some really neat gifts this year. In addition to the embroidery machine, I got a USB turntable to convert my old vinyl albums to digital, the 2nd season of The Muppet Show, A Muppet Christmas Carol, a couple of iTunes gift cards, the CD and DVD of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's Greatest hits CD, A Night at the Museum DVD, some cool cannisters for my counter and a Harry Potter Hallmark ornament. Our workplace gave us all fleece jackets and an LED flashlight, too.

I've only set one resolution for this new year: get healthy. I was not pleased with what I saw in holiday photos this year, plus my weight went back up over the 300lb mark last week. The 4th was the 11 year anniversary of my mother's death and I was thinking about how she was only 51 (I think) when she passed. I'm only 10 years from that age and I don't want to die that early. I'm also tired of being tired all the time. I'm fed up with not sleeping well.

I need to take a look at my 101 in 1001 list and see what goals I had set and get busy.

Stupid Google mail started blocking emails originating from my IP, so I had no idea I was getting comments here for over a month. I just had to clear out a ton of spam comments that made their way into my posts. Grrrrrr! If I blew off a comment you made, I'm sorry. I'm trying to figure out where I have to change the email address for comment notifications to be directed elsewhere.

So there, that's what I've been up to while I've been away from the blog. I'm sure as soon as I get better, posting will become more frequent here. I've also made the decision that I will no longer do any paid blogging here (not that there is anything available to do anymore, anyway). I'm hoping to have this blog moved to its own domain by the end of the month with a new design and everything. We'll see how that goes.

Hey all! Hope you all had a nice holiday. I'm celebrating by finally getting a new theme up so you all don't have to look at Pink October for a whole year. There is still some wonkiness that I need to iron out tomorrow, but all in all I'm happy with it.

Just to sum up what's been going on in the last month:

• I've been super busy at work.
• I'm sick.
• Holiday season stress.

There. That's about it.

I'll post later in the week about my holiday haul, but I just wanted to check in.

A Big Yahoo: All trials at Adams County courthouse are canceled tomorrow, so jury duty summons is null and void and I'm excused. I still have to drive to work in snow (yuck), but at least I don't have to make my way up North to that stupid courthouse out in the middle of nowhere.

I hate how items or colors go in and out of style. I hate how someone somewhere decided that this year's color scheme for Christmas is earth tones. I want bright green and red things, dang it, not avocado greens or pale reds. The papers at the scrapbooking stores are absolutely hideous. Yucky.

I also hate that last year I saw cool covered vegetable/dip trays or Christmas patterned storage containers everywhere and this year I have the money to purchase some and can't find them anywhere. Even just this summer I saw a neat vegetable tray at King Soopers that had liquid inside that you froze so that the vegetables would stay cool and even that is no longer available.

I hate having to go to work. Granted, having a job is better than having no job, but I really hate working for other people during set times. I want to be able to have a flexible work schedule. I wish I could figure out what my passion is.

I'm really starting to hate this one girl at work. I'm trying my darnedest to ignore her and concentrate on my job, but it is soooo difficult. Universe, give me strength.

I hate having really bad dreams that leave you terrified and afraid to wake up. I had one of those last night. I was trapped in a house with a malicious spirit of some sort. *shiver*

I hate how I avoid unpleasant things I must deal with or how I procrastinate. It's definitely my worst trait. I haven't yet figured out how to change yet, though.

That's enough hating for now. I just had to get that out.

I felt out of sorts all day and even though I could've stayed at work, I opted to go home at my regularly scheduled time. By the time I got home, I was wiped. As I sat trying to read emails and catch up on forums, I suddenly got very cold and had to go curl up in bed. After three hours of sleep, I feel a little better. I hope it is just exhaustion or fatigue and not me trying to break down in sickness. Isn't it odd that one can be exhausted from a desk type job? Except for the girl at work that I wish I could ball gag, it's not overly stressful or physically demanding. I'd be doing the same danged thing if I was at home (typing on a keyboard), so it's weird that I get so darned tired.

On a sad note, there is no more of my yummy cheesecake left. The last piece went into Marcus' belly. No more until Christmas. Hey, at least it was enjoyed by all that partook. LOL

I was just pondering how much better I'm feeling about this holiday season than the last two years. For once in a loooong time I am not underemployed. I don't have to worry about whether a jerkwad pizza owner is going to not give bonuses and therefor not have present money. I don't have to worry about the slack in sales as people buy holiday stuff or them being cheapskate tippers because they've overspent their budgets. It's a bizarre and wonderful feeling to know that I can buy gifts because I'm actually making extra money due to OT.