Furby Wranglings

Despite a fairly productive weekend in terms of cleaning, unpacking and rearranging in the house, I am mildly depressed. A dear and longtime friend of both Husband and I was diagnosed this past week as having a degenerative joint disease and a slipped disc in the back. Surgery is most likely imminent and our friend is not coping with it at well....

On the fandom/fanfic front, one of my favorite BBM authors has apparently started deleting her LJ journal, including a delightfully wicked tour de foursome that I wanted to read again, only to discover most of the Journal entries prior to February 2008 were gone! *whimper*

Likewise, one of the incredibly talented BBM fan artists has taken down the galleries of her brilliant RPS graphic novel -- she explained why in her LJ, and I completely understand why, and respect her reasons.... but, again, *whimper*

I thought about working on one of my YGO stories tonight to try to cheer myself up, but I'm tired and smell like a bonfire (we were burning trash this afternoon in the alley) so I think instead I'll take a shower and go to bed.

moar funny pictures

Well, it's been a little while. Firstly, Thank you all for the kind birthday wishes, especially Andrea and Leslie with the LJ prezzies. I had to wait until I went back to work, so I could view them properly with the DSL connection -- THANK YOU!!!! Much Love to everyone!

I had taken a three-day vacation: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.... I took Daughter to the doctor to get a re-fill on her Imitrex and ended up on antibiotic for a sinus infection, slept in, renewed my driver's license, had lunch with Pastor Mary during which we wished each other a 'Happy Birthday' and swapped daydreams of winning the Lottery and touring England, Wales & Scotland; I e-mailed my youngest sister and wished HER a Happy B-Day, e-mailed my mom, talked to the Splendid Vet again about Bel's ligaments and made an advance payment for the surgery (Big Sis: the reference is from the book 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' by Dodie Smith! amazing what stick in the memory sometimes....), watched anime (Kyo Kara Maoh, Mushishi, Shonen no Myoshi, Eight Clouds Rising, Princess/Princess), ate cake and generally lazed recuperating while I could.... and it was a good thing, too.

Lunchtime, Friday September 28th -- I got into my car intending to run some errands and maybe pick up some accessories for Daughter's hair to go with her positively GORGEOUS homecoming dress (Homecoming Dance on Saturday) and drove approx. 1/quarter of a mile when the roaring sound that both Husband and I believed to be my exhaust system going bad suddenly got horrendously worse, and my car wouldn't go any faster than 25 mph. I managed to turn around and limped the car back to the church parking lot. So much for lunch. Luckily I keep emergency supplies in the office cupboard. Eventually, we (husband and I working together via cellphones)had my poor Buick towed to a transmission repair shop; unfortunately they couldn't get to it Friday afternoon....

Daughter was STUNNING Saturday night -- She said she had to use her harisen (japanese paper fan) to fend off the guys!



Alas, Monday Daughter was running a fever, coughing, voiceless, earache, headache, etc..... I kept her home from school, but went to work planning to ask one of the Elders (who used to be our next door neighbor) if he'd be willing to give us a ride to the doctor's sometime during the day. Also, nagging the Transmission shop.....Bad news. My transmission was TOAST. It could be replaced/rebuilt, minimum $1,150 - Maximum $2,000+.
Thank GHOD for teh Shiny....(pets teh Shiny).... Good News: Pastor Joyce offered the loan of her car as long as she got it back before 4 pm. Semi-Bad News: Daughter has a Sinus Infection (proabably caught it from me the week before), needs antibiotics (of course -- she can't possibly just use what's left of mine), medicated nasal spray, etc. More Bad News when I got back to work: Transmission is BURNT TOAST at $1,875, and I won't get it back until Thursday (October 4th) which is also Daughter's birthday. Daughter is bummed, I'm bummed, Husband (who is exhausted from 65 hr work weeks!) is bummed. Also coming up is the end of the school quarter and Daughter has projects due AND a Choir Concert Wednesday!

Fortunately, the projects are mostly finished and Daughter can work on them at home in between bouts of fever and coughing. I spent a lot of Tuesday e-mailing the appropriate teachers and explaining the situation, all of whom are understanding including the Choir Director who agrees that if Daughter has no voice, she can submit a report on Mozart in lieu of participating in the Concert. Daughter e-mails Project docs to the Teachers Wednesday afternoon, and that's pretty much taken care of.
Thursday.... I get my car back (and there is much rejoicing)!!!!!!

Low Key Birthday for Daughter....I got her a couple of cosplay items from Hot Topic, Husband got her some PS2 games she wanted, Bel 'gave' her the new 'NightWish' cd.....

And Husband gave us a joint birthday present, since they're only two weeks apart -- we HAVE DSL!!!!!!!

Woot!!!!!!!!

and *whew* Do NOT want another week like THAT!!!!

But teh Shiny is in pain... which means any chance of my sneaking off to the D.C. SlashBash this coming weekend has dropped from highly unlikely to absolutely no way, Jose......

*sniffle*

Wails LOUDLY!!!! --- I wanted to meet 'dontwanttosaygb' and jump in the Ted BED!!!!!! I wanted to talk BBM-Boyz with Jess and Marijke, and Tes, and beth, and EVERYONE!!!!!

*sniffle*

oh fraggitt....

I need a new pair of "Around the House" pants -- which is an oxymoron, because by definition AtH pants are anything BUT new! They're old and comfortable and worn and maybe a bit holey, and you wear them around the house (hence the name) when you're just puttering around, maybe straightening up a bit but mostly lounging with a good book, a good DvD, and cup of coffee or tea, and just barely decent enough to wear on a quick trip to the grocery store or a fastfood drive-through.

I had a couple of pairs last year; but now they're either too small, too holey & indecent, or lost somewhere in the bowels of the back bedroom! grrrrrr.....

I WANT to go to the WashingtonDC BBM Slash Bash so badly! I have vacation time coming, but I can't think of a reasonable excuse to give the Husband -- plus, there's still Bell's ligature surgery to get through.

*whimpers*

ETA: I found the cutest 'Lost Sheep' graphic earlier this week whilst compiling the Sunday Worship bulletin! I'm going to try to turn it into a BBM-ish icon.

"We're s'pposed ta watch the sheep, Jack, not turn 'em inta tacos!"

Her journal is gone; she's gone from my 'friends' list... as long as it was still there I could hope that b73 would come back, with more wonderful stories from her endlessly creative imagination, however loosely set in the BrokeBack Mountain universe.... or her delightful HeathSpam pictures or even just to talk.....

Maybe we'll cross paths again, Maggie; I hope so. I'll miss you.

J-dogg & 'Daddy' -- 4Ever!

For the first time in what must be close to 20 years, I'm going camping! *the overnight at Wapsi River Environmental Center with my daughter's Girl Scout Troop doesn't count, because we slept on cots in the lodge and microwaved tacos for supper* You know, pitching tents-unrolled sleeping bags-cooking over a campfire (well, maybe a Coleman Camp stove!), toasted marsmellows, RAIN & Mosquitos Camping!

On the one hand, I'm thrilled!!! because I'll be spending time with some of my favorite on-line people in the flesh!!!! YaY!!!!! Coffeecat, Mandi, Rachelle, PlanetgalJess! Others I don't know at the moment but will probably recognize right away from their Forum or LJ names !!! WOOT!!!!!

On the other hand, read the first sentance again.... Haven't been honest-to-god camping in 20 years.... back in the day (SCA-Day, that is) we used to think nothing of packing up and driving 5-7 hours to a city we'd never been to before, staying with people whose's names we knew but had never met....

Scary. Exciting (OMFJT!!!), but scary. At least I have RL name and a phone number this time -- mucho embarrassing to walk into a hotel and realize the only names you know are on-line handles, or try to ask at the gas station for directions to 'Munch the Wayward Wheelwrights'son's' house!

MY "C - 22hrs and Counting" Checklist:

Work - 1. finish bulletin & calendar for Sunday
2. Set up Answering Machine for Weekend

Car - 3. Pick up Car from Shop (waterpump & Serpentine belt went out
last night - SPROINNNGGGG!)
4. Proof of Insurance Card
5. Repack Emergency Travel Kit
6. Purchase Gasoline (tomorrow in Iowa-10 cents cheaper)
7. Purchase Minnesota and Iowa Maps (tonight!)
8. Flashlight!!! & 4D batteries for airpump (forgot to get LAST night)

Enough for now -- gotta get Nos. 1 and 2 finished! LATER!!!!!