Weekend Wrap-Up

Diabla is doing much better, thanks for all the concern. It was touch and go the first night, but she's acting like her old self again. We have to do a nebulizer treatment on her twice a day to strengthen her lungs, and she HATES it, but it's for her own good. Keep your fingers crossed that my insurance claim on her gets approved. If I can get half the $1200 back I'll be happy.

As far as the unwanted mail I've been getting goes, I've been doing the "Return to Sender" thing for years with no results, that's why I'm so frustrated. I finally submitted an irate "contact us" email on the BCBS website, and SOMEONE CALLED ME. All I have to do is fax them the contents of the mail (which I find weird, that they are giving me permission to open someone's mail), and they'll get it resolved. Thank god.

I have been meaning to thank my pal Hollow Squirrel for the award she gave me recently and I rudely never acknowledged. SO THANK YOU for the Rockin' Girl Blogger award! I really appreciate it.

Also, Bradley over at The Egel's Nest very nicely awarded me with the new Egel Nest Award for Blog Excellence! Thank you so much!


Now here's something weird for you. Today, the Rockstar and I were just lounging around and we hear this awful sound come from the kitchen. It sounded like the toaster just exploded, but there was nothing in the toaster. We looked all around the kitchen for signs that something was broken, had fallen, or exploded. Turns out our tempered glass cutting board like this:
had spontaneously exploded in the cabinet. When we opened the door, we saw this:

I'm not lying y'all, it just fell apart. Strangest thing ever. Kind of freaked me out actually.

And one last photo for your Sunday viewing pleasure...I give you the toad that lives in our dead-ish plant:

Diabla aka Blabs (or Blobs)

I was checking my email tonight, when my cat Diabla started making a horrific noise. I ran into the kitchen to find her panting (tongue hanging out), crying and just lying there, totally limp. I rushed her to the emergency vet, where they immediately did x-rays. She has a pneumothorax, or air in her chest cavity. Normally there is some trauma, like a broken rib, that punctures the lung and allows air to fill up the area around the lung, making it hard for the lung to expand. In Diabla's case, there is no trauma. No broken ribs, no blood, no other injuries. She is in an oxygen tank at the emergency vets where they're going to extract air from the cavity every couple of hours. The did the first extraction about an hour ago, and they said it went well. Air didn't rush in to fill up the cavity which is good, and she was able to breathe much easier after that. She's not out of the woods, though, and she only has about a 50/50 chance of making it, so please keep her in your thoughts.

Riddle Me This

So I've been getting mail from a large insurance company addressed to a previous homeowner .

This has been going on since we moved in (we've been here 3 years mind you), so I finally started opening her mail about a year ago because it started to bug me THAT MUCH. I had just assumed that they were trying to collect money or that it was general correspondence, but nooooo....she's going to the doctor A LOT, and I'm getting the current summaries of benefits paid out by BCBS. So I called BCBS and they told me they can't change her address unless SHE changes it which I totally understand, but I'm SICK OF IT.

Seriously, I get one or two letters a week people. And most recently, I got a letter from a hospital thanking her for choosing that location and blah blah blah. Doesn't she care that she's not getting her mail? Apparently not, but being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I choose to believe she's doing something shady. So I emailed BCBS today and told them that I want it changed ASAP because I feel like something no-quite-right is going on, and I don't want my address to be a part of it. For some reason, it bugs the shit out of me that she hasn't changed her information on her insurance. It bugs me a lot. More than it should.

What would you do? Just ignore the mail?

Hell Hath Frozen Over

Most of you who know me IRL know that my dogs aren't what you'd call friendly, per se. My sister is about the only person they love other than me and the Rockstar. They have to be put up when we have company because they are so protective of us and our home (they are rescued and have issues). I don't think they'd actually hurt anyone, but the barking and growling is enough to scare me and my guests, so for everyone's sake, they go in their crates. (They seem so sweet and innocent, no?)


Well people, hell has finally frozen over.

My friend K (my roomie from college and friend from high school with whom I recently reunited) and I went out last night and after we got back to my house, she wanted to meet my dogs. My response to that is, um, why? But she wasn't scared so I brought them out, and this is what happened:

Hey pretty lady, you should come over more often!

I wish you could see her face, it made the picture so much better, but I didn't ask her if she wanted to be put all over the internet, so this is what you get. HE LOVED HER. I mean, IN LOVE. He wouldn't leave her alone. He was trying to get in her lap and lick her face. He didn't even really want much to do with me. I think she thought I was lying about how crazy they normally are. I didn't get pictures of Dulce with her, but she was all over her too. I think I'm going to try bringing them out more often. All I know, was a bunch of anxiety was lifted last night and I feel so hopeful today.

My Feets are Happy

I went to the outlet mall this weekend because I found a Visa giftcard for $100 that was a Christmas present. As in last Christmas. That's what happens when I actually organize. Anyhoo, I found some great clothes (lined, wool pants at Banana Republic for $14.99! Two necklaces and earrings for $30 at WH/BM! Gap capris for $12.99!) But the best steal of the day (which still made me a little sick to my stomach) was the Pottery Barn wool rug I got.

I've wanted a rug since we got rid of the carpet, but our sick kitty (RIP) peed on everything, so a nice rug was always out of the question. I feel so terrible, but now that she's no longer with us it's okay, and when I found this gem, I couldn't pass it up. The "Buy it Now" option on Ebay was $200 more than what I paid for it. (Dulce totally approves. She can't stop rubbing her head on it.) It's sooooo nice on the feet, and just in time for "fall" and "winter".

Also, the door company is coming out to survey the incorrect door so that it can be fixed. Toot sweet people (did any of you ever watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? I loved that movie, especially that Toot Sweets song). I'm itching to paint that thing. The light pine wood does NOT GO with anything I have and it's driving me bonkers. Please tell me you can see what's wrong with that panel on the right.


For the love of god.

Generations

I think I've posted this before, but I came across it again and I just love it. Four generations in one photo. From left to right: My Super Sassy Grandma (I love that dress and I'm 100% sure she made it), my Great-Great Grandmother and my Great-Grandmother holding my Dad. I'll tell you one thing, there's no question where I got my hips, that's for damn sure.

First Quiz and it Feels so Good

Yeah, I was totally singing Reunited when I typed that title. I had my first quiz this evening at school. I was a good student and read all the chapters, did my homework and studied. I got to class and our professor handed back our in-class assignment back from last week. We all got 100s because "we seemed to understand the concepts even if we missed a few questions." SERIOUSLY? I love this guy. And GET THIS. The quizzes are online AND multiple choice AND if you royally screw up you can see which answers you missed and RETAKE IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE. (See, even Doc can't contain his excitement.)


Well hot damn.

Had I known that I wouldn't have wasted a perfectly good Saturday night reading about Palettes and Measurement Tools and Layouts and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I keep forgetting this is Community College where they WANT you to succeed and not UT Business School where they really, truly, madly, deeply want you to fail. (See it gives the ILLUSION of serenity and caring, with the God-rays streaming through the trees, but it's really an evil place, ready to see you fail and cry.)


I like knowing that I'm going to do okay. And for once, I actually like what I'm learning about. Novel concept, huh?

Slobby McSlobkins

Carrie has inspired me to clean my closet. For the love of jeesus:


Yeah, that's how I roll.

WTF iTunes?

I'm severely annoyed right now. I was watching Rock of Love (which is bad ass, btw, and how could Bret get rid of Sam and leave crazy ole Lacey?) when I realized I HAD ZERO POISON ON MY iPOD?!!???!! What the hell? So I'm happily downloading "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Nothin' But a Good Time" (why so pouty, boys?),


then I moved on to "Is This Love" and "Here I Go Again" from the lovely and talented Whitesnake (again, why didn't I already have these? There's no excuse for this blasphemy. NONE!),

and I then realized AIR SUPPLY! So I'm buying "All Out of Love",
and it hits me.

I don't own "Pour Some Sugar on Me".

Nooooooooo, that will never do. So I'm searching for my elusive Sugar, and ummm, well, any of you ever try this? You get 10 versions of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by random artists, my favorite is the version by Pickin' on Def Leppard: A Bluegrass Tribute.

I wish I was making this shit up, I really do, but I assure you I'm not. And I listened to it. And it's bad. Really bad. Amazon tells me there's a Hip Hop tribute as well. I'm not even going to go there.

Okay, so I decide to search for "Def Leppard". There has to be tons of their shit on iTunes right? I run the search and there are 13 total songs. Blink. Hmmmm, not sure what to think here. All 13 songs are from an album called Slang which came out in 1996. No Sugar people. So do I just have to shell out for the cd? What give iTunes? Why are you hatin' on me? I give you my money even though I know you're in cahoots with Starbucks and Wal-Mart to take over the world??? What's a bitch have to do to get some Leppard in the house?

My Back Door, Now With Less Symmetry

Thank you sweet baby jesus! There really is a Santa Claus! I think an angel just got her wings!! The hideous metal monstrosity of a sliding glass door is gone, never, ever to be seen again. Let's take a look back down memory lane. Ick. It doesn't look so bad right here, but trust me, it's bad.


Look at the size of that metal handle!!! You could seriously take an eye out with that thing.

It was installed backwards, so the spot where you would put a bar or broom handle to add extra security was on the outside. Effectively, someone could have locked us IN. Can you see it?


Not to mention the lack of sliding ability causing a horrid metal-on-metal screetching sound everytime the dogs have to go outside. Anyhoodle, the door came out really easily, and we had a big hole in the wall for about an hour. It made me feel funny. Thank god it wasn't 5 billion degrees outside:

Then the lovely new door went in without a hitch. Well, there's one little problem which I didn't notice until about an hour after the door had been installed. The two little side doors (called sidelites) are supposed to be mirror images of each other. The vertical piece of wood running the length of the window is supposed to be toward the outside of the sidelite. If you look closely, the sidelite on the right, is the exact same as the one on the left.

Correct Side Incorrect Side

Do you see it? Well I do, and my OCD won't let me NOT think about it and how it is wrong, wrong, wrong. Not to mention the door cost $1000s of dollars and we should get the correct thing because we paid so much for it. I called Home D and they're going to have the door manufacturer send a correct sidelite since it was their fuck up. Once that happens, we're going to paint it white to match all the other trim and doors, and it will be DONE. Can't wait for fall (ha!) so I can open up those sidelites. They have screens so you can let the air flow without having the actual door open.

And just for fun....she looks semi-awake, but I GUARANTEE as I type this, she's snoring as loud as a grown man.