Movin’ on Up…to the East Side!

Spent quite a bit of time recently moving from the lovely wasteland that is California City, CA to Palmdale, CA.  To most folks, this wouldn’t seem like much of an improvement, but if you look at the amount of time I spend driving to L.A. and O.C. then you would realize it puts me an hour closer to most everywhere I go.  Yes, Palmdale is NOT the San Fernando Valley, my ultimate desired destination, but it’s a step in the right direction.  I *am* living on the East Side of Palmdale, aka the wrong side of the tracks, but I’ve spent most of my life that way either figuratively or literally, so it’s not that big a change.

It’s quite a bit of a downgrade in space, I must admit – from a four bedroom with two car garage to a two bedroom condo is a bit of a change.  I had to jettison quite a bit of “stuff” and get a storage unit for the things that didn’t fit – like my couch and my daughter’s bedroom furniture.

After several weeks of boxes traveling over by the car load, and then the moving truck for big things, I’ve finally gotten everything I now own out of my old place.  I dropped my keys off for the Realtor and we both are hoping for a swift sale on this place.

I had a garage sale, during which I showed the house to three separate families, two were brought over by the RE Agent who’s been such a….well, I can’t print here what she’s been, but I will say she’s the one who told me to set the whole short sale up myself and then call her when I was ready.  That put be behind the curve by at least nine months as I was struggling with my mortgage company.  Additionally I’ve heard her badmouth the layout of the house and outright lie to her clients.

The third family was an unsuspecting shopper at my garage sale.  I yanked her off the street to give her a tour of the house.  She said she liked it but it was out of her price range, I told her that the worst she could be told is “no” so go ahead and have RE Agent call my RE Agent.  I really liked this gal and wondered why it is I couldn’t have made friends BEFORE I left town. :-/

Anyway, garage sale was enough to pay for itself plus my moving truck (if you want to view it that way.)  What I didn’t sell was picked up by a local charity and left me devoid of excess stuff.  Between that and my three dumpster loads of miscellaneous household trash I was able to clean out the house.

Now that I’m done moving, though, I’m not sure what my exercise regime will be – hauling boxes upstairs daily has firmed up my butt….guess I’m just going to have to have a set of dumbbells I cart up and down the stairs a dozen times daily…that should keep that saggy old thing off the ground!

Trip to Pt. Mugu

Right after I got back from Kentucky, I hurriedly got my act together to go to a camping trip to Pt. Mugu.  Work has had me stressed out and I really needed a vacation that was full of nothing but relaxing.

Left for the beach on Friday morning, returned Monday and in between did little but walk the beach, listen to the surf, eat, drink and sleep in as late as I wanted.  Nice.

I read a little, crocheted a little and watched some T.V. – yeah, this wasn’t “camping” this was RV-ing. 

I did come back relaxed, happier, people at work noticed I wasn’t such a raging bitch.  Awesome. 

KY….The State, Not the Jelly

I had a great time on my trip to Louisville!  I haven’t seen my friend Heather in years and this was a chance to catch up, visiting and having a good time.  Usually these entries are really long, but I decided I’d just give you a list of highlights…bet you WANT to know the details when I’m done.

·         Made all of my flights, with all of my baggage, with plenty of time to spare *whew*

·         Watched a “drunk black woman sing songs written by high white men”

·         Toured a bourbon distillery – tasting followed

·         Unsuccessfully hung shelves well

·         Successfully hung shelves mediocrely!

·         Wrestled potato soup from a very determined cat

·         Stayed up late to eat pie and drink beer

·         Got a blacksmith demo at a working, modern forge

·         Spent time in a museum entirely devoted to whiskey history

·         Watched a restaurant manager get schooled on the rules for assistance animals

·         Bought more shoes than Imelda Marcos 

·         Watched a heavy snow fall, it was cold enough to freeze the fountain at the complex

·         Went to Indiana for a minute

·         Best of all: Spent time with a good friend that I’ve not seen in far too long

For the record, everyone was very polite and helpful and the state was beautiful

While this year has started with an epic plague on my face to include two cold sores in immediate succession, it is balanced by my two planned trips, one to Louisville, KY to visit a good friend of mine and a camping trip to Pt. Magu.

I won’t be able to visit CreepyKid for two weeks, but I am moving closer to her…February 1^st is my official move-in date.

It’s starting out as a year of balance, maybe I’ll even be able to tip the scales in my favor.

Year End Recap

I grew yet another year older….and while marching toward the inevitable infinite I managed to:

·         Take CreepyKid to college, LMU in Los Angeles

·         Help Cousin H take care of her business

·         Go on some interesting dates

·         Finish up with another year of Faire

·         Miss out on haunting the ToyKeeper’s Lair

·         Spent time with family and friends

So, a pretty good year all the way ‘round, don’t you think?

How Have I Hurt Myself….Recently

So, I have an innate ability to injure myself; never anything major, just irritations, but discomfort none the less.

I have been losing the toenail from my left big toe.  Of course it started innocently enough, the toenail, being too long and with enough pressure over time broke at the base and was lifting off the toe.  After catching it on a number of things I decided to clip it at a right angle, only removing the nail that was ready to go.  I compared it to a snail having its shell removed, but it’s more like a hermit crab looking for a new shell.

Last Thursday saw me in a meeting that was excruciating…they didn’t want my input, they wouldn’t let me leave and I couldn’t use my computer.  I decided it was a good time to pull off the rest of the toenail.  Yes, it’s “cutting” behavior…I know, I know…I don’t need a lecture.  The toenail wasn’t ready to come off so the skin beneath was raw meat.  It wasn’t even the entire nail and I ended up clipping the last loose bit.

Over the weekend my leftover nail kept poking into the sore flesh…poking….poking…poking.  I decided the remainder of the nail had to go.  After a soak in a bath and a bit of teasing I was able to remove all but the tiniest sliver.  The meat below was even more raw after being pressed into all day long.

I was doing alright though…until I caught poor Mr. Toe on the hood release lever inside my car – I screamed (just like a girl!), it bled and I hobbled into the house.  I soaked it, dressed it and hoped for the best.

On Sunday I went to visit CreepyKid, in an effort to NOT catch my toe again I was careful about my feet but didn’t pay attention to my head.  Oh yeah…you guessed it, I hit my right eat on the doorjamb of my car.  I hit it so hard I knocked the stone from the front of my earring and popped the back from the back.  My ear bled and is still sore.

Yep…I’m just waiting for the insults to go with these injuries.

Weekend Recap - August 27th….part 2

I was up at the crack-of-ever-lovin’-dawn Saturday.  I slathered on a pound of make-up (in an attempt to provide my photo shoot what they wanted – arrive fully done in hair and make-up), was dressed, hair “done,” ate a piece of cheese and hit the road, closely tailing my fearless leaders as I am not at all familiar with Orange County.

We started by unloading the decorating stuff from the car, bolts of fabric, tools and spools of ribbon issued forth from the trunk of the car.  Off to the court yard, time to decorate…time to get it out there…time for a mimosa….alright, that last part didn’t happen, but I have to say it felt wrong to be up that early, with those people and NOT have a drink.  I digress…..

The gazebo was decorated, the chairs were decorated, we added finishing touches (keep adding more until you run out of time), and all the while it was growing steadily hotter…hotter…my face was melting off. :-/

Luckily we moved to the reception area…air-conditioning…(no pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air)…and off to decorate tables and put together a candy bar.  Luckily we grabbed some food, I was shaking really bad by then…and wielding very sharp scissors.  So, mason jars were be-ribboned and waiting to be filled with tea-lights; large jars were cleaned out and filled with candy, an empty bag waiting at each place-setting, the guests could fill with whatever confection was their delight.

I ended up getting down to the wedding just before they started the ceremony, which was good because there was but one door and I walked right out of it past the photographer/videographer and had to think “was the music playing?” and “am I a giant douche?” but luckily the music wasn’t playing…the jury is still out on the other question.

The wedding party was gorgeous, the day was beautiful and the ceremony was sweet and short and within minutes I was looking at the newly proclaimed man and wife…and I *will* have you know that even though my phone did ring…it didn’t go off during the crucial “if anyone has any reason…” part  not sure the laughter that is my ringtone would’ve gone over well.

To finish I helped gather up the wedding gifts (left down by the ceremony) and whisk them to the reception area, help pull down the décor, pick up the leftover programs and then head up for a moment of water and visiting before I had to leave.  Yup…no rest for the wicked…I left from the wedding straight to dance class.

Class was make-up tips for stage work and pictures.  My costume bits that I had were not cooperating (but I was doing the best with what I had…got smack talked for wearing control-top hose (had forgotten to grab some hose before I drove down and they were stop-gap from the store) and the make-up lady said I was crispy - I shouldn’t use such drying make-up.  However there were people there without hair and make-up and some un-costumed…so I didn’t feel like the worst person there – I always hate it when I feel like I’m hands-down the worst.  I got out of there with the snaps taken and I’ve even seen one of them – it looks pretty good, the mark of a skillful photographer.

The following day was a birthday dinner with my other Head of Household, Madam Amy, and others from my guild…I was excited to sit, chat and have a good time with all of them.  We went to a King’s Hawaiian restaurant, the food was good – the company was better.

Now, I had scheduled to take the entire next week off, however, my coworker was going to New York, so I changed my plans to only stay Monday.  I visited with CreepyKid on Monday afternoon, the first day of classes done, how did you sleep, that kind of stuff.  Plus, writing the list of other things she’s missing.  She’s doing well…and will continue that trend.

I did go to Monday Night Tease with Sis, we managed to catch some dinner before hand AND get a seat at a table when we got to the club.  The show was great, the hosts were spot-on and all of the dancers were entertaining – it was a really good time. 

I drove directly to work Monday from Sis’ place, it wasn’t a bad drive; wished I’d had more sleep, but what can you do?  It was to be a short week, Monday behind me, the off-Friday at the end of the week…but the three days in between….document writing…sequestered writing documents as a team.  Hurray?