New (seemingly better) Year!

Well seems like Christmas was really the magic turning point.  Got some paperwork things that I was waiting on cleared through.  Got to a different waiting point on the whole accident wrap up.  Finally was able to expect not to be in pain everyday.  The school thing was lined up to go.  Substitute teaching positions opened up and was able to get that process going.  Things are going just swell between Chris and I, we are just so happy to be back together.

Sammie (black and white) Duski (brindle and white)

So now into February I have had 1 (half day) as a substitute, made a new friend, finished over half of my first class at University of Phoenix and ...  we got a (fantastic) puppy today!!  Which makes me realize I haven't gone into my menagerie at all.

The newest addition to our home is Duski she is a 6 month old brindle and white pitbull mix.  She is a shelter rescue from the Orange County (FL) Animal Shelter.  When she first saw Chris she practically leaped into his arms and started kissing him, so giant softies that we are, we figured out how to take her home.  This picture is taken not even an hour after she came home and first met her 'big sister' Sammie.  After a bit of rousing chase they were on the couch together and even kissing on each other.  Sammie is so excited to have a friend who is not a cat and appreciates wanting to run around, lick, chew and chase each other a good bit.  Duski appears thrilled with the house and its toys, bones, and pillows for napping, not to mention a new friend and some people who love petting.

Older pic but she is still and looking at me.

This is Sammie.  She is a mutt we have no idea what, but terrier and lab seem to be predominate.  She came to live with us in November of 2010.  She also is a shelter rescue from the Jackson Ms Animal Shelter.  She was just barely 3 months old when we adopted her and the shelter told us she was part cocker spaniel and poodle, which was obviously not quite right.  She is full of energy, has tons of tickle spots and is super entertaining.  After seeing her try to interact with other dogs that we would meet we really began thinking that she really needed a friend.  And she is quite glad that that happened.    The cats never warmed up to her over enthusiastic bounding form of hello and responded with horribly frightening noises which she had to yell at them to stop.

Spark being adorable.

Now to complete the menagerie there are the cats.

First there is Spark.  He will be seven years old next month, and is one of those animals that makes you go 'oh bless his heart' he is sweet and snuggly but doesn't have an ounce of sense.  He will complainingly 'mreak' at you if you walk in and don't bother to say hello first thing off.  He will also never and I mean never get tired of you petting him.  But I love my special child.  He also was a shelter rescue from West Valley Los Angeles Animal Shelter.

Peck, my little primadonna 

The first of my babies to come home were Blaze and Peck.  I wanted a cat when I had moved out on my own and was able to do these things.  But I worked a billion hours a week and figured that one bored kitty would completely destroy everything I owned.  So I had the brilliant idea to get two kitties instead.  They are now nearly 9 years old and have bared with all the drama that has come over the years.  They were also shelter rescues from West Valley Animal Shelter in LA.  Peck is a girly girl and extremely shy she's not fond of most strangers but occasionally will taking a liking to a person, when she loves you though she does it all out.  She can't stand Sammie's exuberance but loves to look at her when she is quiet.  She has only recently started accepting Sammie.

Blaze in his traditional grace.

Last but certainly not least is Blaze, my (not so) baby boy.  From the moment I saw his picture taped to the cage I knew that the tiny, big headed, kitty who tried to eat the camera had to be mine.  He grew into his big head, and has become a full sized (16lb- but not fat) cat.  He is very vocal and says 'hello' and 'mom' convincingly enough to jump start parents of toddlers out of their seats every night.  He can also be a total grump, but I love him.

Anyways, the menagerie is now full and until we start making little peoples this family is complete.

Well obviously the motivation of writing on here fell completely apart, but considering that the last post was labeled 'crazy times' and I had just barely started the most ridiculous year ever I guess it makes sense.

Betsy 

So moving on from that February post... After returning home I had about a week and a half of returning to semi normal.  That is adjusting to a family of four with 2 toddlers being in my house rather than my fiance and I only.  March first I got the phone call that Grandma had passed moments before I had to do an observation for student teaching.  It was determined after that point that I had missed too much time and there was no real chance of getting in the hours necessary to complete the process.  I desperately wish that I had been informed in advance so that I could have remained in Cali for a while.  So being out of student teaching I went to Orlando to sort out the new plan for life with Chris in the middle of the month.  We decided work like crazy, save enough money to leave MS and resettle in Orlando was the option.  I was back for 1 week when while driving to work a woman ran a red light and T-boned my car on the drivers side.  I can never thank Betsy (my '87 Accord) enough for saving my life and keeping me in all one piece.  I loved that car and I miss her, I am told that I am glad I never saw it after the accident.  I did get to have the experience of being cut out of the car by the firemen, rushed to the hospital in the ambulance, x-rayed, stitched and other 'fun' I had yet to have in life.

I spent the next month at home, being car less, a bit broken and waiting on JPD to send over some paper to the insurance folks.  4 weeks is a completely unreasonable response time, people.  The horrible part of having an '87 is that even when you get a good value back for your car you have virtually no money for another car.  The great part is that while they got 4 weeks to the day to get their ducks in a row, by the time the settlement for the property damage came through I had about a week and a half to find a car for virtually nothing in a place where they have no concept of the value of an old a$$ car.  So I got a '93 Accord that was horribly mistreated and a piece of junk.  (Surprisingly that is not a biased remark)  May seemed to be ok, got back to work, went to Physical Therapy started being able to stand or sit with out crying out in pain,  tried to sort things out.  June was frustrated with typical school incompetence, finally finished up PT mostly better. July looked up, Chris got hired on full time, my sister was coming to visit, I was going to find a place to move in Orlando/visit Chris.

Sad store

 Found out Borders was going to be liquidated, moving was now going to be as soon as the store closed as opposed to in Dec after finishing up student teaching and finally having a degree.  But I was hopeful that at least once we were together and out of MS things would have to get better.  Driving to Orlando my replacement car got a flat in the middle of the night.  Thank you so much FL HWY Patrol for helping me change my tire, since I didn't have a lug wrench.  Pay for new tire get on the way about 30 mi out my car catches FIRE.  I heard an odd noise pulled off the side of the highway noticed a little bit of white smoke figured oil leak, popped the hood and surprise flames inside the car.

So there I am on the side of the road dragging my fortunately packed in only one over sized duffle, with a few spare bags containing the rest of my junk, away from the car, while I call Hwy Patrol again.  (Nice to have the number easy the second time.)  "This isn't going to be much help because I have no idea where I am but my car is on fire" SOB hysterically.  Awesome job phone lady on figuring it out based on the billboards, and my vague idea of where I might be. Also I have to most amazing fiance in the entire world for getting in the truck and taking off with my call of "get on the toll road and drive to 75 I'll call you back just drive".  Waiting for the cops I had to shoo one "helpful" group of people intending to throw a cup of random substance on the fire.  And had an amazing gentleman from Georgia fly across the road back up to the car only to realize that his normal fire extinguishing supplies were at home to make room in his van on his way to the fire extinguishing supplies convention.  He was amazing and offered to drive me and my junk to an off ramp to wait for Chris to get me.  I had 3 cop cars and a fire truck out and shut down 2 lanes of the freeway.  All of the safety people were very nice to the hysterical girl on the side of the road freaking out every time she said fire.  Awesome GA fire supply guy dropped me off at a Waffle House who let me sit outside on my bags while I called Chris, the Ins (comprehensive coverage would have been so nice) and finally my mommy.

After that trauma was over on to the search for a place to live before Chris had a job but no place to stay.  We managed to find a place, we lost some $ in applications to another place first, and the deposit was way more than we had hoped, but nonetheless it was a place.  Put freaking out about the car problem on hold until I had a better answer, my freaking out limit had apparently been overloaded already this year, enjoyed surprising my sis with Orlando vs Jackson, ended up driving the truck home, (thankfully in the long run).  Had the breaks go out after getting home, while waiting for a day when it could be taken care of at home on the cheap.  (Thanks for messing up that paycheck Borders)  Remembered why I never have any savings.  (If I could stop having emergencies I could save for emergencies)  Didn't get the "we'll get you into something new"  worked out from the car guy.  Fortunately he agreed to call it a loss though, it could have been much worse.  (owing on a dead pos car) Realized that committing to closing the store was a lost cause because I would be trapped homeless in Jackson.  Loaded a U-haul, smaller than hoped after financial set back 3, 4, 17 who knows, with a majority of our stuff, fortunately were able to leave the rest with his sister and her family making it bearable to abandon it.  Had a fabulous 13?ish hour car ride in the truck with the dog, the three cats stuck in a too small carrier, plies of stuff crammed in to every last corner.  The bed filled with a tarp tied over it and the U-haul.  Finally made it to our new place.

Now its been the game of everything I try to accomplish is thwarted.  Tried to switch insurance plans took 2 and a half months to figure it all out, was without meds for a month or so.  Tried to enroll in University of Phoenix to just finish up a degree and finally have that piece of paper, somehow JSU's financial management made it impossible to get aid until January.  Took care of all the paperwork I needed to get that check sent, apparently them sending it all in Sept never happened despite the documentation and it went through in October instead I am quickly coming up on the well it should be processed within 30 days, with no hope of a conclusion.  Still waiting on some sort of settlement for the medical part of the accident so that I can try replacement car part 2.  Been job hunting for places that I can get to without car, had promising interviews that promised to let me know either way, haven't heard anything.  Can't believe that suddenly it's November. Tired of waiting, hoping that at least with the end of the year things will turn around and be less ... insane.  Last year Pat said that 2011 was going to be my year.  I know she meant it in the looking up way, but it seems that it truly was my year ... my year for the most random, crap ever.

Crazy Times

Things have been ridiculously hard lately, and I wonder why I keep being so tired.

I go home from my dad's tomorrow.  I had to fly home frantically after being told my Grandma requested to have the feeding tube removed on her 94th birthday.  She has been declining since Christmas and rapidly in the last few weeks.  After a day of surprising phone calls on the 5th my step-mom gratefully asked if I wanted to come home, and I was able to at least come to see her.  I wrote a hasty email to school, searched for a flight for less than $500 and packed my stuff.  Drove to Orlando with Chris for him to begin his internship and hopefully a new beginning for us, one that doesn't involve Mississippi or leaving all my stuff, and was on a plane early Monday morning.  After a 12 hour drive, a 7 hour flight (in which I missed the first plane:thank you Orlando security and had to catch 2 stand by flights), 4 trips from SJC to the Valley and back, being 'encouraged' (told) to go to Disney, and the emotional shock of seeing my Grandma, I am exhausted and not looking forward to being thrust back to my daily shuffle.  Also I have extended house guests, 2 under the age of three, while Chris' sister's family gets things worked out.  I'm delighted that they have a place to go, to see the kids, and to have the puppy entertained, but it's going to be a bit of an adjustment to my normal pace of life.

Before that started student teaching, got robbed, got the flu, my fridge broke, got a new job, had crazy finals (surprise that one paper is 4 - 10 pages each!),  had Chaye for a visit, and moved all since November.

Waiting for school money... again.  Maybe I can finally pay all the people that need to be taken care of.  Need to make it to the bookstore to finally get that book.  Need to figure out what to do about the unit that I'm supposed to teach and everything that I am supposed to have totally put together.  Need to discuss everything that up and flying away for a week an a half interrupted, thankfully my contact at the university was understanding and I didn't totally screw up my chances of graduating.  But at least Chris is doing well and something seems to be some what figured out.

wow

That next blog button is certainly interesting and truly not narrowed to one topic, it does seem thought that you go through trends, or else there are just a lot of churchy folks out there blogging,

What's the deal with Praxis II?

Trying to get a Praxis II (these are the best kind) study guide for Chemistry because of the awesome financial incentives for teaching science but it seems most of them are really hard to find.  I need to look up more on this whole thing.

New Books

I love to read and now that I've gotten up to date on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (can't believe that he really died before finishing it), the Horus Heresy, and other Warhammer stuff, and finished Sword of Truth, I can't believe that there isn't a book in the house I haven't read or a series I don't need to finish. 

I picked up one of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books while at my dad's and am liking the series so now I have something new to get into. 

Apparently this totally broke Jersey broad becomes a bounty hunter, the time isn't clear but the tapes, biker shorts, and florescent spray paint make it totally 80's, at least in my mind.

Why not?

I'm not a huge fan of facebook, etc, but sometimes I feel that leaves me out in the cold (or stuck in the middle of nowhere) so I figure why not let's set up a blog.