Monday, February 28, 2011

8 st/in

Hola, chitlin's ~

Missouri is beginning to feel like home. Imagine that. We brought back from Indiana the fridge, washer & dryer, our bed, my sewing machine, some of my favorite rocks and the little buddha. 

Today, I signed up for NetFlix online. This is after I decided not to have cable or satellite teevee here, because most teevee sucks big donkey dicks. I just watched Get Shorty, two episodes of That 70s Show, and the pilot for 30 Rock. For $8 a month. Yeah, I am in love.

The 4 inches of snow that we came home to has melted, and I get to see the yard again. I have yet to see it actually snow whilst in abode, but it is still not Spring, so I may have the chance. We brought the palm tree back with. Love you, Harry!

I have tried to begin a pair of socks from some Bamboo Regia, to my despair. I don't think I like it very much. No sproing and it is splitty. Have put it aside for the nonce, and have begun to cast on another pair from my Deborah Norville sale selection. We'll see.


It's a cold but beautiful day. The sun is shining and the sky is brilliant blue. This is becoming home.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Take daily with food.

Maybe not so surprisingly, I have been depressed these past few cold and cloudy days. I felt great when there were brilliant blue skies and warm weather. I just now tried to clear out a bit of rain gutter only to find that everything in it was frozen and hard.

Princess is going to the vet today for her rabies shot, in order to get her city license. I am hoping to not have to fight with the vet; I hope they won't try to make me get all sorts of tests and pills for her. I mean, really, I can't afford my own medicine for cryin' out loud. I just want a rabies shot, please. 

Sweetie and I plan to go back to Indiana this weekend and leaving today, or maybe tomorrow. I am dreading it. I don't know why. It isn't an onerous drive and we plan to bring back the refrigerator and my sewing machine, which are both good things to have. It must be the depression talking. 

Sweetie has been stressed, too. His 90 day probation ends on Monday, and health care kicks in on Tuesday. His current work environment places a lot of weight on safety, unlike his previous two jobs. We spoke about it last night, and I told him that in the big scheme of things, safety first is good policy. Some of the things he has had to do in the past simply appalled me. 

My gift to him is a completed pair of socks, made from Regia Kaffe Fassett in the colorway Clay. I used size 0 needles, and the afterthought  heel by EZ. These have actually zipped right along, compared to the last pair. I am wondering now what my next project will be.


I am slowly reloading all of my favorite blogs in my reader. Belated Birthday Greetings to the Knitting Linguist, on her big four-oh. I don't know how she knits so much and so well!

Anything else? No, not really. We went window shopping for refrigerators, ranges, dining sets, and vacuum cleaners last week, and didn't buy a damn thing but lunch. Finances are too tight right now and I will have to make do with what we have. I did slightly drool over some Lazy Boy reclining sofas, though. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Do not over tighten.

Three days after we brought the cats here, Millie went missing. At first, I dismissed it, knowing that she had stayed out all night before, but when I walked Princess at 4:30 am and called, "Kitty Kitty Kitty!" and she didn't come running, I began to worry. I went out again a little later, and called, and I thought I could hear a meow meow somewhere. Sweetie was able to trace the sound to our neighbor's car, who doesn't feel the need to lock her car doors. He was able to pop the hood, and there she was, wedged tightly in the engine compartment, not able to move forward nor backward.

I was reminded as to how I had acquired that cat, back in '05. I had gone to the feed store to pick up my usual 300 pounds of bunny chow, and saw a tiny grey kitten in the office. The story was that a worker had been filling bags with corn when the chute became clogged. He reached up his hand in order to feel for the blockage, and pulled out said tiny kitty, just a few minutes before I arrived. It seemed sound, and I had been wanting another feline and so asked if I could take it home. Said and done.

(That is also why she is named Millie, by the way. A friend had found a cat behind some new construction in her house, and so named him Wally. She asked if I had named mine Millie, since I had found her at a feed mill. I hadn't named her yet, but soon did.)

Having located Millie, Sweetie passed her off to me, as he had to get to work. I called the neighbor, Tina, and told her not to be alarmed if she heard noises from her car port. I drove to a mechanic's shop, and was advised to put food on the ground, and if that didn't work, to honk the horn and beat on the bumpers and hood. He said NOT to use a water hose, as that only makes cats wet and even more angry. It didn't work. She was stuck.

Sweetie must have called me 5 or 6 times that day for a progress report. 

Tina even called in her neighbors on her other side, Bob and Tom, so see if they could help. That just cracked me up. (Bob and Tom. I fucking hate that radio show. I have never heard anything remotely funny from them.) However, they were of no help, and so it was up to Sweetie to do something. 

Which he did. He removed the alternator in Tina's Corsica, fortunately recently replaced so there were no seized-up bolts. Also? He heroically did this with not enough of the proper tools, because really, we have only just moved here and more than half of his stuff is still in Indiana. It took over and hour to take out the alternator, which gave Millie enough room to hoist her plump cat ass out and into my arms. 

She has always been an aloof kitty, but this time? She was loving being held in my arms as I took her to her food, water, and litter, after 24 hours of confinement. 

Putting the alternator back in was more problematic. Sigh. Such is car maintenance. It took awhile to get  the belt back in place, but in the process, a part was knocked into the dark void. Not a precious part, but a worrisome part nonetheless. It was found the next day, after Tina had driven to work and back. No harm, no foul. 

I am just so glad that Tina didn't have to go anywhere that day. 

Millie is fine. She's allowed outdoors again, but stays close by and is more affectionate than she's ever been. 





Sunday, February 20, 2011

Lost in the Ozone Again

I wrote this early last week and then forgot all about it. 

And so really, how am I feeling about the move? (Does it matter how I feel?)  I have to be here, unless I wish to totally upset my life. Anymore, I am not so ready to chuck everything to go live in an ashram. Medical benefits are not to be sneezed at, at my age. 

I am liking the new house a lot. It is a "round house," in that one can walk from the kitchen to the living room in two directions, unlike a ranch-style house. The house in Indiana was similarly round. This house has two bath rooms, not one, and a dishwasher. Do you all recall my joy at washing dishes every week or two? This house is also warmer and better insulated. There is twice weekly trash pick up, and monthly pick up of recycling, yard waste, and brush. The letter carrier comes to my front door.

I am finding myself happy here. I am happy to have Sweetie with me more, even though his pay is less. But you all know that money isn't everything. He worked his skinny-ass off all those years in Indiana, but I missed him! I missed us having a life together. I have missed staying up late and looking up at the stars. Life is too short to work all the time. I want to have summer nights with him, looking at lightening bugs and full moons. I want to have him with me, without him exhausted from a 60 hour week. 

It has been stressful, as the rashes on my arms testify. (The medical bennies begin March 1.) I have been having the Stress Filled Opera Dreams. Similar to "the school bus is coming and I can't find my shoes" stress dreams. The Opera Dreams appear when I am under extraordinary stress. Generally, the opera is opening within the next day or two, and there are seventeen costumes still to construct. For whatever reason, I am not freaked out by this. Sometimes, I am trying to get sewing machines to work, other times, I can't find bobbins or needles, or my car gets stuck in snow. While in the dream, though, I am remarkably unbothered.

I had my first cognitive dream the other night. That's when one knows one is dreaming and becomes the director instead of the passive observer. Usually when I realize I am dreaming, I wake up, but this time, I knew I was dreaming and I said, Hey, Let's fly! And I did! It was amazing! I swooped and soared and the feeling of freedom was intense. 

That must be part of me dealing with the mov. Maybe. I don't know. 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Children Playing

Okay. It's Thursday. Already.

Sweetie is in love, or extreme like, with his work schedule of three 12-hour days and then one half-day. He doesn't have to go back until Sunday morning. Also, we are not driving to Indiana this weekend, so he is actually able to enjoy his time off. The company gifted his work group, for having 4 years without accidents, with 25 pounds of steak and 10 pounds of ground beef. We don't have a refrigerator here, but there is snow and so I created a make-shift cooler to keep the meat frozen. We plan to give away the steak to a local church, or meal kitchen, if we can find someone that will take it. I mean, really, I like meat but 25 pounds of anything is one whole hell of a lot and way more than the two of us need. The snow has been melting quickly; today it is 71º but breezy, and so arrangements need to be made pronto.

I don't have a range, either, but I do have a large George Foreman Grill, a toaster, a toaster oven, and a microwave;   so I can do without a stove for quite awhile. A refrigerator, on the other hand, is needed soon, as well as a good vacuum cleaner. (The navy blue carpet in the living room is looking more ombre colored with each passing day.) 

Today we went shopping, and found just the place to get everything we need locally. There's a sale going on and one-year-same-as-cash payment plan. I may even get a new dining room table and chairs. The reclining sofa will have to wait.

It has been great to have the innertubes again! It made living in Lovely Laconia bearable, and although Montgomery City has 2500 more inhabitants, it will make living here more bearable, too. Two cool things about living here is the closeness of the grocery store and library, both of which are within walking distance. I was used to a 25-minute drive to get to either in Indiana. (Well, the Kroger in Brandenburg, KY was only 15 minutes away.) The traffic on our residential street is minimal. It is quiet save for when the freight train comes through town a couple of blocks away, but I find it a more comforting noise than an irritating one. There is an elementary school just to the north of us and a parochial school just to the south, and an enforced 25 mph speed limit.

Some little creatures followed us here.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Happiness

Okey dokey. The innertubes have landed in Montgomery City. I am beyond delighted to have online access at my very own house again!

I plan to be back posting regularly again soon. 

Also, have taken the first photo to be featured on the not-ready-yet blog about Montgomery County. Here it is for you all.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Apply liberally and often.

Hola, chitlin's. I am writing to you from the public library in Montgomery City, Missouri. Time is limited, so it's "just the facts, ma'am."

The closing las Friday went smooth as buttah, in spite of the 18" of snow everywhere except the roads. (I mustl say that this state did a swell job clearing the roadways.) We had brought some bare essentials and moved them into the house on Saturday, after shoving a path. Hired a local with a bobcat front loader to clear the driveway. There are piles of snow 6 feet high in places. I will have pictures.

The gas wasn't on, but the electric was, so we bought a couple of space heaters, taped sheets over the doorways, and camped out in the dining room until Monday morning. Sweetie undercovered the water meter and turned that on first thing after shoveling. Yesterday, I went to City Hall and got the water/sewer/gas/trash service lined up, and some nice men came and turned on the gas and lit the furnace. I just now ordered phone and internet service.

We'll make a trip back to Indiana to pick up a few more things, like, chairs and the computer, and then hang out here until better weather. We have Princess, and will bring back the cats, too.

I am taking all of the stress as well as can be expected. I mean, it has all been pretty easy and I am not a high maintenance person. It is a bit lonely, though, without the internet as my constant companion.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Absorbs Quickly and Easily

Just a quick note. The closing is still scheduled for Friday, and the snow in St. Louis was minor, but in Columbia, where the bank and realtors are, there was 18" of snow. I don't know yet if Sweetie is coming home today or not.

Here in Lovely LAconia, it is 28º with wind gusts of 45 mph and there is debris just all over the yard. I am not going outside to pick up anything - even though someone is supposed to come by around noon today to look at the house! The first nibble! I have sort of straightened up and washed the dishes, but I told her that I am not much of a housekeeper. It's not like we're filthy or anything, but we are white clutter.

Henny is now running free in my friend's yard, after being caged for a couple of days. It was nice to see Fried Chicken and the other hens last week, and to know that they're doing well. Little Rex didn't make it. Guess I did him no favors bringing him inside, but on the other hand, he had a great, albeit short, life.