I get regular updates from the ASPCA about things that are going on in the animal world.  And this one is distressing to me, so I wanted to post it here on my blog.  If anyone is in Missouri, and can email, write, or call the governor, I strongly urge you to do so.

 

3. Missouri Legislature Passes Governor-Backed Puppy Mill Compromise

We’ve been updating News Alert readers since last summer about our efforts to pass common-sense, humane reforms for large-scale, commercial dog breeders in Missouri, the Puppy Mill Capital of America. On Election Day 2010, the state’s citizens approved Proposition B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act—and animal lovers around the country rejoiced! Unfortunately, Prop B’s victory was just the beginning of what has become a long, drawn-out saga of might against right. In a startling development last Monday, April 18, the Missouri Department of Agriculture, representatives from the dog breeding industry, and a few agriculture special-interest groups and local animal welfare groups announced a so-called “compromise” agreement on puppy mill reform. Legislators tacked the language onto an unrelated agriculture tax bill as a last-minute amendment, and both chambers passed it on Wednesday, April 27. Governor Nixon, who played a part in arranging the compromise agreement, is expected to sign it into law.
“The ASPCA was not part of the negotiations and does not support the agreement,” says Cori Menkin, ASPCA Senior Director of Legislative Initiatives. “The language crafted by the participating groups is far from an actual compromise—instead, it guts many of the core provisions to protect dogs in commercial breeding facilities passed by voters last November.”
The agreement, which will nullify Prop B, allows the stacking of cages, leaves temperature, exercise and veterinary care requirements unenforceable, allows female dogs to be bred at every heat cycle with no rest between litters, and places no limit on the number of dogs a breeder may keep. Most significantly, it does not set specific standards, but defers to those set by the Missouri Department of Agriculture—which is free to change or lower these standards at will.
The ASPCA is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the will of the voters is honored; to that end, we are poring over new language to determine our next steps. We are far from defeated, and the movement to protect thousands of dogs in Missouri’s puppy mills is not over! You can help by continuing to spread the word—please share this article via Facebook and Twitter.

About my problem

     Never mind, I fixed it.  I figured out that it was a problem with my email program not recognizing links, and not a problem with the emails themselves.  So I went to their website, and figured out how to fix it.  Geez, I feel dumb for not figuring it out right away, lol.

I have a problem

     Okay, I'm having a blogspot problem, and I"m wondering if anyone can help me with it.  I generally subscribe to email updates for each post that I comment on.  It used to be that I could click on the links in that email to link back to the post itself in case I wanted to answer a comment.  Now, all of a sudden, instead of being able to click the link, it's different.  When I try to click a link, I get a little pop up to share on Facebook.  I'm not on Facebook, and I don't want to be.  I don't know what's caused this.  Has anyone else had this problem, and do you know how to fix it?  TIA for any info you can provide!!!

Royal Mail

     Vicki, I know you're shocked, but the Royal Mail was quick this week.  I've already got my kit for Meerkat ~ Mere Cat.  It came in the mail today, and it came with a catalog (of course) of wonderful things that I really want.  Heritage also included another kit, and it's adorable!  It's so cute I had to post a piccy of it here.  It's called Just Charlie (another of Margaret Sherry's creations) and here it is.  Isn't he cute?  I think he's darling, and I need to put him away before I start him too, lol.     I've been working a lot on the landscape panel of DGM.  It's coming along well.  I have the whole sky done already (a lot of my 180 stitches the other day were sky) and I'm working on two other colors now.  One's a DMC grey that represents the mountains in the distance, and the other is Pond Scum which represents the plants in the foreground.  I've been doing emails and blogs when I first get up (interspersed with reading whatever book I'm working on that day) until I'm finished on the computer.  Then I switch back and forth between reading and stitching. 
     When I was up at Julie's house the other day, she introduced me to Pandora.  It's a site where you enter a song, artist, group, or genre and Pandora plays songs by that artist or group or whatever.  Then, after the first song, it looks for similar songs to play.  It's come up with some interesting connections.  I have Rascal Flatts's I Won't Let Go in my head, so I put in Rascal Flatts.  It played several songs I like that are similar.  Then it started getting wonky.  It played an Aerosmith tune, and then Daughtry, and then some Jamaican type song (I can't remember what they call that type of music, darnit).  Regge, that's it!!!  So it was a little weird.  But since my local internet radio station is on the fritz, it's better than nothing!
     I got a fairly good video of Yes Dear playing the other day.  Usually, when she's playing, I point the camera at her and she sits there forever.  She did for a few seconds on this one, but then she hunkered down and started stalking the poor twisty tie again.  If anyone wants to see her being cute, you can look here.
     It's raining here again.  I was supposed to go to Sam's Club with mom today (I don't have my own account there), but I had a bad night last night.  I couldn't sleep, partly because of the bad thunderstorms we had.  Every time I was drifting off, the thunder would crash.  And on one of my groups, Chocohalic Cross Stitchers, I was talking about dad.  So I was laying there, thinking of him.  Not good.  I thought myself into an upset stomach, and had trouble sleeping because of that too.  I finally fell asleep a little bit after eight, and mom called at ten to two to tell me she was done at the doctor's office, and could I meet her at Sam's.  So I begged off.  We're gonna go tomorrow instead.
     I hope the rain stops soon, and everyone who's having weather problems (flooding, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms) has my prayers.  I hope God will watch over you all.  Now I'm off to stitch some more, and I hope you're all sound asleep in your beds!

Happy Easter again!

     We had a pretty good Easter day today.  Mom was doing dinner.  So I set my alarm to get up at two and called her to ask if I could help her and what time she wanted me to come over.  She said nothing I could do and between six and six thirty.  I got there about six twenty and was the first one there (I was surprised my brother didn't beat me there).  Cathy and Jim got there about half an hour later, and David fifteen minutes after them.  Mom made ham (salty ham, none of that sweet stuff, ick!), au gratin potatoes, asparagus, green beens, potato cake (basically, potato chunks with bacon cooked in a cake pan and turned upside down onto a plate), and fresh bread.  It was delicious.  For desert we had apple dumplings with your choice of vanilla bean ice cream or vanilla sauce or strawberry ruhbarb puree (??? she tried to make pie filling, but it wouldn't gel enough to be pie filling, and looked like she pureed it) over ice cream.  I had both.  Everything was delicious.  And David's girlfriend, Shannon, sent flowers for Cathy, Mom, I, and my cousin Beth.  They're Gerber Daisies.  (Cathy was thrilled with the red one, mom and Beth got yellow, and I got white.  Thank God Shannon remembered I hate yellow, lol.)  It is gorgeous.  I came home with some leftover ham and bread, and the pasta salad we got from Bridgetown Finer Meats.  Mom didn't like it nearly as much as I did.  I also had a few chocolates as mom had a whole assortment.  I tried to resist, but I couldn't help myself.  So I ate lots of green things for dinner.  I think that cancels the extra calories out, lol.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful day!!!

I've been busy today, and Happy Easter

Apr 23, '11 12:54 AM for everyone

     I've been doing blogs today.  I think I must have signed up for a hundred new ones on my blogspot account, lol.  I was checking out the blogs that Nancy M follows, and I'm now following the stitchy ones, which is most of them.  Thanks Nancy, for the help, lol.  After doing blogs for several hours, I decided to talk to Tora.  I said hi, and her first words to me were, "Did you get your ring?"  I was like, hmmm...  I haven't checked the mail in a couple of days, let me go check.  So out into the hallway I went to find that there was a very ripped up package for me.  I came back inside hoping my ring was in it.  It was, and I love it.  It's so gorgeous.  It's called Garden Party ring, and it's the first one that's called to me in a while.  Here's the pics.  And the other piccy is a plaque that my cousin got me.  She knows how I am.  My mom keeps saying she's gonna come over and clean up  my house to her satisfaction, and I keep telling her no, because I'll never find anything again, lol.  It's an ongoing argument between us.  She came over on Friday and almost all we did was argue.  She wants me to throw mementos away, and I refuse to do it.  So then she gets all huffy at me... 
     We had a fun afternoon today though.  Well, sort of (except for the rain).  We went to get dinner at a local place.  It's called Bridgetown Finer Meats, and it's actually an old fashioned deli.  My dad found out, years ago, that they have the best fish sandwiches on Fridays during lent.  So he encouraged mom and I to go, and last year, mom picked up sandwiches for us and we all ate at dad's house.  It was fun, but weird.  (It always felt strange to have my parents together after the divorce.)  So mom and I went alone this year.  When I left home, it was nice, but about three minutes from mom's house, it started to pour down rain.  She ran out to the car.  "Can you see in this???"  I was like, of course.  So off we went.  It's about a fifteen to twenty minute drive and it took over half an hour.  Wind, rain, it was terrible.  We got back to mom's house and ate.  Delicious!!!  We also had pasta salad, mac and cheese, and asparagus.  We finished up the dishes, and then I got out her (very slow) laptop to show her the new HAED I just bought.  (Of course, I didn't tell her I'd already bought it.  Just that I wanted it.  She has a problem with me buying new charts as I'm so SABLE.)  Then she had me get into her email and read them to her while she scrubbed potatoes.  (She apparently feels the need to scrub the skin right off.)  After that, I left.  I took my stitching bag, but didn't even open it.  I wanted to get home in time to get some lilacs from the very large bush next door.  They're sitting on my PC and they smell soooooo good.  I love lilacs.  Then I spent the rest of the evening looking at more blogs.  I'm almost done now, yay!!  I hope you're all tucked up nice in your bed, dreaming of Spring Spheres, lol.  (If you haven't heard, a school in Seattle renamed Easter Eggs Spring Spheres.  IDK why, as they're not spherical at all.  Silly people!!)  Anyways, happy Easter, all.  HAGN!!

Smoking needle

     I decided to watch a movie and stitch today, and boy did I get a lot done.  It was a movie I had never seen before, so I didn't think I would.  I watched Stealth, which I thought was quite good.  And, get this, I got over a hundred and twenty stitches into DGM.  I was so impressed.  This is smoking needles for me.  I usually get in a hundred stitches a day, and it's only five thirty here.  Whoo hoo!!!!

I'm so bad

     And so good, lol.  I bought two more charts during the HAED fifty percent off sale (this is the bad).  I know, I know, but I just couldn't resist.  I got one by Nene Thomas called Frost Moon.  You can see it here.  And the other is by a new artist named Kayomi Harai.  The chart is Rocky Adventure, and you can see it here.  I'm not even close to ready to start either of them.  But you know how it goes.  How often does HAED have fifty percent off?!?
     And tonight I've been writing up a court document (and this is the good).  A friend is involved in an eviction case against a tenant.  Said tenant wrote up a long complaint about her and her hubby.  So she gave me the info about each charge, and I meticulously went through and rebutted them.  It was kinda fun.  My OCD loved it.  I just sent the document off to her so she can print it up before court in the morning.  I didn't know she had court today when I started it.  But Rosa happened to be available today, and I wanted her input.  Together, we are lethal!!!!  So now I'm off to get my bath.  I need a good night's sleep.  Last night the tornado sirens kept going off.  It was quite nerve wracking.  So hopefully a relaxing soak and a good book will get me all ready for bed.  Hope y'all are having a good sleep, and will wake rested and ready to go tomorrow!!!

A strange dream

     I remember, when we were kids, David and I (and then Cathy) had lots of puzzles.  I like jigsaw puzzles, but I haven't done one in years.  (YD also likes jigsaw puzzles, but she likes to take the pieces away and eat them, so I don't even try with her around.)  Anyways, we had those hard puzzles.  I don't know what they were made of, but it was like thin drywall.  The pieces were stiff and unbending (yes, I know you're not supposed to bend the pieces.  Again, YD likes to play with them) and painted to match each other so you could put them together.  IDK what they're made out of.  I don't think they were wood, at least not all of them.  Anyways, we had lots of them.  I only remember one (awake) and it was cute.  The scene was a forest scene on top, but when you took the pieces out, there were animals hiding in the forest.  Bunnies, chipmunks, birds, squirrels, even a fox kit.  I had a dream about that and other puzzles, but I can't remember anything about any of the others.  I remembered them in my dream though.  So here's the dream.
     I was ill at first.  As you all know, I'm weird.  I have this thing that I do when I'm overtired and can't sleep.  It's an audio hallucination.  I know it's a hallucination, but it still keeps me up.  I'm laying there, trying to sleep, and there's this sound in the background.  It's barely there, just the sound of a gentle breeze through the trees.  Then, in about half a second, it jumps in volume to the sound of a chainsaw being used.  It's horribly loud.  Wakes me right up.  And it happens over and over.  So I'm sleeping tonight, but I'm dreaming that I can't sleep and I'm having this horrible auditory hallucination.  And it keeps waking me up, over and over, in my dream.  Finally, it goes away, and suddenly, I'm an adult, trying to put the puzzles together.  And every time I go to put a piece in, my mom tries to take it away from me and do it herself.  It was so frustrating, it woke me up.  Weird...  So now I'm up and can't go back to sleep.  I think I'll stitch for a bit.  Hope everyone else is sacked out in dreamland!!!!

Another Ye Olde Cross Stitchery Update

     When this all first came down, I also sent an email to Heritage to let them know what was going on.  They sent an email back and told me to let them know the outcome of the situation and the complaint with the BBB.  So I sent them a message after the complaint was closed and asked them to use their influence to make YOCS do the right thing and send me my materials.  Instead, they offered to send them to me themselves.  I was surprised to say the least, but grateful and a little upset.  I feel bad that Heritage has to make right something that was not their fault.  And I told them that.  It's not their responsibility, IMHO.  But as I can't afford to kit it up right now myself, I accepted their offer.  I have been quite impressed with them.  They have been interested and helpful all the way through.  I may never buy from YOCS again, but Heritage definitely gets a thumbs up from me!!!
     In other news, I talked to Julie M last night, and she already has in 850 + stitches on Story Keeper.  I am all ready to start DGM part seven, but yesterday I kept reading during breaks as I haven't set up the DVD player yet.  And breaks are short and movies are long, so I didn't want to start and then have to keep stopping after fifteen or twenty minutes.  So I've not started part seven.  I will do it today, as I've gotten most of the stuff put away where it belongs.  I have very little left to do, thank God!!!!
      Not much else going on here.  I'm almost done unpacking and putting away, and I keep that thought in the front of my mind.  I'm all caught up on emails from my trip and the move, and I'm also all through my back log on Incredimail.  So I'm downloading emails again, which I like.  I totally like the functionality of IM versus roadrunner webmail.  Lots of things that I don't have to do on IM that I do have to do on RRWM.  For example, I can't choose how my mails display on RRWM.  In IM, I can.  In RRWM, I have to always delete the cc to the person who sent in the mail so they don't get one copy from the group and one from me directly.  And, weirdly, when I click reply in RRWM, the cursor goes to the search box, not to the reply area.  It's weird.  Anyways, I hope you're all having a great day.  Now I'm off to do some more emails!!

Stitcher's Helper

     I got to sit and watch TV and stitch tonight.  I still haven't found my DVD player's AV cord, so I had to watch on the VCR.  LOL, I didn't realize till I tried to turn it on that the TV wasn't plugged in.  And I moved in on the second, lol.  Geez.  So I got it all plugged up and put in my Jason X.  It's funny and engaging, and I watch it several times a year.  I just sat and stitched for an hour and a half almost (I had to take some of that time to take piccys!!!  So yes, I have pics.  I finished up part six of DGM tonight, with YD sitting right there to help me.  Here she is in all her cuteness: 

     Piccys, for those who want to see them, are here (Scorpion panel) and here (full project).  I will be starting part seven tomorrow, if mom will let me.  She's coming over to help me with the last few boxes and getting the stuff tossed hither and yon organized.  Wish her luck!!
     I forgot, I have another piccy to show.  While I was shopping with Julie in Columbus, I found the cutest little pen.  I picked it up for only a dollar.  Yes Dear thinks she has appropriated it for herself, but it's mine, all MINE!!!  Here's a pic:  Isn't it just the cutest thing?  Thanks Jules, for taking me shopping!!

Ye Olde Cross Stitchery Update

I got a message from the BBB, and I'm just outraged by it.  This is what they sent me:

Dear Julie Nemitz :

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 3/18/2011 12:00:00 AM against Ye Olde Cross Stitchery.  Your complaint was assigned ID 8537475.

The BBB, in reviewing the complaint that you submitted to us about Ye Olde Cross Stitchery, has closed the case.  The outcome of this complaint will be included in the business's Reliability Report for 3 years. 

If you wish to further pursue the issue, you might contact a legal advisor or the Attorney General's office.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us - we are happy to assist you. 

Regards,

Kelly Nolan
The Better Business Bureau

     There was a little sidebar that said the company made a good faith effort to resolve the claim.  By what means did they do this?!?  They did nothing but say they have a no returns policy.  I have clear false advertising, and I even sent in a picture of what the stupid kit said.  I've emailed the BBB for clarification, but I'm so disappointed.  I would never have bought it if I thought it was just the chart.  To make matters worse, I looked up Ye Olde Cross Stitchery to see what their review said about the complaint, and it's not even listed!!!  Fat lot of good they did me.

A trip to Columbus, whoo hoo!!!!

I had so much fun on my trip to Columbus!!!!  Julie and I had a blast.  I got there about six thirty or seven (it took me a long time to get there) and dropped off my stuff.  Then we went out to dinner to catch up (we talked for an hour right before I left, but we still had to catch up).  We had Penn Station, mmmmmm...  It was delicious, as always.  Then we had a couple of quick errands to run.  Then we went home and started working on Story Keeper in earnest.  She had her birthday on April seventh, and for her birthday, I got her all the supplies needed for SK.  I had the fabby delivered right to her, so that was good.  And I had the floss with me.  I didn't have it separated from mine though, so we had to do that.  I gave her all the flosses she needed except for one.  I missed one, lol.  So we got down to the nitty gritty.  She's doing her SK one over one on twenty five count.  I'm doing mine two over one in half stitches on twenty two count.  We had our fabby all ready to go (well, mine isn't all the way gridded, but I didn't need it all gridded to start it).  She HAD to wind up the bobbins first, so we wound bobbins together for a while.  (This is the first time I've ever started a SAL in the presence of the other person, so I wanted to start together.)  We started at the same time, and were off to the races.  The frog races, that is.  She had to frog hers cause halfway through the first ten by ten square, she switched her hold on her Q snap.  Yep, you guessed it, she turned it a quarter turn.  So half of her stitches crossed one way, and half the other.  Then we both got tired, and went to bed (at three am) after watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  In the morning, I got up at nine (UGH!!!!) and she got up at eleven.  Right before she noticed her second mistake, I decided I wanted to do it in half stitches cause full crosses were just too much.  So I frogged everything out and restarted it in half stitches.  She found out she had accidentally switched two colors, and so she was frogging with me.  (We did not in any way get off to an auspicious beginning.)  Finally we got ourselves back on track (half stitches and right color) and stitched for a while.  Then we HAD to go out to Michael's and get the one floss she was missing.  So we hit Michael's where she got her flosses and I picked up a couple of things for an exchange.  Then we hit JoAnn's (Very Fine Braid, cause there's a bunch in this chart) and CVS (stickers) cause Julie was looking for stickers that say Thank You on them.  She had some, but ran out.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find them anywhere.  So if anyone sees reasonably priced Thank You stickers, snap them up for her and she or I will reimburse you.  Or, if you're not comfy with that, I'd be happy to Paypal the money ahead of time.  Hopefully someone will find some!!  I also bought a candle for my mom for her birthday.  (She loves cucumber melon, so I found her a good candle.)  Then we went back to Julie's house.  We hung out there till Ansel, Julie's boyfriend, said chocolate.  He wanted ice cream, to which I say Yes, Yes, YES!!!!  So we went up to Friendly's and picked up Sundaes.  Yummy!!  Then I had to pack up and head home.  Here are a few pics I took of our time together.  This is my SK after the first two hundred stitches are in.  I know, it's not much, but it will grow, especially when I have the time to devote to it.  Since I'm doing it in half stitches, it's working up really fast.

  



This is Julie, my best friend.  Isn't she beautiful?!?  Love ya, Jules!!!










This is me an Julie together at the beginning of the SAL.  Thanks Ansel, for taking the piccy for us.  We're still in the preparations stages here, but we're gearing up, lol.







This is a great piccy of Julie and her boyfriend, Ansel.  They just looked darling together.  Ansel even smiled!!!  He's a great guy, and I'm so glad she has him!






And this is Julie's SK.  I can't say how many stitches she has in at this point, as she's not working strictly in ten by ten blocks like I am.  But I would estimate she has a hundred and fifty to two hundred stitches in on hers too.  I'll keep y'all updated on how we're doing as we progress.
     I've got DGM back on the Q, and finished up most of the backstitching on the scorpion panel tonight.  I have a few more bits to do, but not many, and then I'll have a piccy for you.  And, speaking of DGM, I forgot to tell y'all about my printer.  LOL, you should have seen me sitting here on Tuesday night.  I was surrounded by cords and components, lol.  I looked like a mad scientist with a project underway.  I was hooking up my PC and my phone to the modem, so that when the cable guy came Wed, he could make sure the PC and phone were working.  So I got everything hooked up and turned the PC on.  As many of you know, I've been having problems with my printer for a long time.  I couldn't print part seven.  So I packed it up and resolved to mess with it when I got it unpacked.  I unpacked it and hooked it up.  Now, the problem I was having before was this:  there was a phantom printer in my system, and I couldn't make the real printer the default printer.  I couldn't erase the phantom printer either.  So finally, I unhooked the printer, deleted both of them, and then when I rehooked it up, it installed one printer, the real one.  It kept printing to file at first, but that's an easy fix.  I fixed it, and the printer worked.  I was so happy.  So I printed out part seven, and I'm ready to go on that tomorrow.  Now all I have to do is find the AV cords for my DVD player so I can watch movies and stitch!!!  For now, I'm off to bed.  Night all!!!

I've been busy

     It's been a really busy week here.  I've been unloading (and loading) boxes and everything else.  As I think I mentioned previously, my movers didn't move everything.  So on Sunday, Julie and mom and I cleaned for about three hours, then mom had an appointment and had to go home.  Julie and I moved the rest of my stuff.  Ugh, it was horrible.  We carried and loaded and unloaded and wore ourselves plum out.  She said she had a cramp in her butt all the way back to Columbus, which is a two hour drive.  I felt so bad about it.  But, on the plus side, I've bailed her out of several predicaments, and made sure she had all the materials to start our SAL.  Thursday was her birthday, and I talked to her on the phone to say happy birthday.  (I love her, so I did NOT sing, lol.)  We have our plans solidified now.  I'm going up tomorrow (at an undetermined time) shortly after I wake up.  I'm winding bobbins tonight for Story Keeper, and I'm sure I won't have them all done by tomorrow.  But some of them will be done, and I'll wind the rest as I go.  She pulled up her chart, and I pulled up my chart and we were looking at things on it (mostly trying to figure out where she used bright orange) and we looked at the last few pages and realized, "Oh, man, we're gonna need several spools of VFB each.  There is a ton of Pearl VFB # 4 at the bottom.  A ton of it.  I mean about 4900 stitches.  Yes, I made an approximate count, lol.  Yes, I'm very OCD.  LOL, so I'm thinking I'll give Julie my partial VFB and keep the two full spools.  Then I'll probably have to buy one spool, and she'll have to buy two.  IDK what else I'll need two or more skeins of cause there's no floss usage chart with the pattern.  So I'll just have to estimate as I go.  I'm so ready to start this project.  I can hardly wait!!!
     In other news, this is the first stitchy type thing I've done since I moved.  I've been so busy unpacking boxes, I haven't stitched in a week.  Well, not since Saturday.  I've been reading and doing emails in between unpacking boxes.  Then today I was all set to sit and stitch and watch a movie when I realized...  I unpacked the DVD player and plugged it in, but I have no idea where the AV cords are to hook it up.  Oh, geez, so now I can't watch a movie.  So I guess I'll have to wait till I come home from Julie's house to find my cords as I'll probably get up, get dressed, and head for Julie's house.  I unpacked my movies, and realized how many I truly have.  I don't know how many, but enough to fill two small bookcases with movies stacked haphazardly on top.  I should make a list, so I know what all I have for when I shop for movies...
     Okay, time for me to finish up winding the bobbins.  Poor YD is in a total frenzy tryinig to play with the floss as I wind it.  She doesn't understand why I keep telling her no when it's right in front of her (she sits on my desk and watches with huge eyes as I wind, lol).  Poor kitty!!!

Especially for Julie M.

April 6, 2011 (addendum)
And a great big HUGE thanks again to Julie M, who was so willing to come down and work like a dog to help me.  When she called me to let me know she was home safe, she told me she had a cramp in her butt all the way home, so you know she really worked hard all day long.  I would never have made it without her, so thanks again Julie.  I love you!!!  Can’t wait to see you Saturday!!

Again

April 6, 2011
I really  need to call the moving company.  I forgot this part yesterday, cause I’m sooooooo forgetful.  I got three movers, and I mentioned that they were moving slowly, and charging me out the wazoo.  But I forgot this part.  I got all my stuff (almost) in the house finally.  Things were stacked high everywhere you looked.  I had things stacked three high or more on my desk, and I had to get it all cleared off so I could set up my computer since Time Warner is coming out today to hook up my computer (today, but this occurred a couple of days ago).  So I got started in the kitchen cause some of the boxes in there actually go in there.  I unpacked what I could, then started getting the boxes organized.  As I cleared the boxes off my cubby, I found something.  (Here I’ll tell you what my cubby is.  I don’t think I ever have.  I inherited a desk from the previous tenant of my previous apartment.  He left it behind.  It’s a simple desk, two sturdy legs and a tabletop.  So I talked to dad, and we made some drawings.  He worked up a series of cubbies that I can store things in.  I have notebooks, papers, and other supplies in them.  I even keep my meds in one.  It was one of the last things he made before he got so sick.)              Anyway, I got my cubbies cleaned off and then I noticed them.  There are f~ing boot prints on my cubbies!!!!  They put it in the truck and someone walked back and forth on it.  Repeatedly!!!!!!!!!  OMG, I’m so ticked off.  What if they had damaged it?  Dad’s not around to fix it, and that makes me so mad I could spit.  As soon as I get my phone hooked up, you can guess who is gonna be one of my first calls.  It’s irreplaceable and they walked on it!!  I could spit nails I’m so mad.  I’m sure dad just cringed when he saw them walking on his craftsmanship.  Luckily, he’s all about building things to be sturdy, so it didn’t break, but still.  So Paul is gonna be one of my first calls today.  Right after mom and right before Julie.  Jerks.  And, until I saw it, I felt sorry enough for them (and they did their best, I thought) that I was gonna send them in a hefty tip.  But this is ridiculous.  Walking on prized furniture is not the way to make friends with me.  I would have recommended them to others if they could get an early appointment, because they did keep going when they obviously wanted to quit.  But this is inexcusable.
     And on to another subject before I get to het up to deal with the cable guy.  On another front, I have good news.  I have my printer working again.  I hooked it up today, and accessed my part seven of DGM.  I hit print and hit a new snag.  It printed to file instead of printing.  But I knew how to fix that.  I went through the printer options till I found the print to file box checked and I unchecked it.  Then I tried again, and voila.  I have part seven printed out.  For some reason, the first page printed normally, then the second two pages printed in a light purple shade.  Go figure.  I know I didn’t run out of ink between one page and another like that.  It’s a more gradual thing than that.  I have gone through enough printer cartridges that I know how it happens.  So, another problem to solve, sighs…  Still, not a major problem, so I’m happy with that.  Now I’ve got to finish unloading the last couple of desk boxes (which will be fun cause the cubbies are already full, lol).
     I’ve been listening to my CD from Les Mis lately.  I picked up my tape of Les Mis a couple of weeks ago and put it in the player, and broke it.  I was so ticked off.  So I ordered the CD from Amazon.com.  I got it right away, and am now learning the new inflections.  I don’t like it as well as my tape, but it’s still good.  I may take another look at my tape and try to replace it because I really liked that particular version.  And there are only ten versions around, lol.  So that’s what I’m up to.  I hope everyone out there is having a good day!!

The move

April 5, 2011
I’m back from the move, and let me tell you, it was a pita!!!  I hate moving under any circumstances, but this was worse.  (Please forgive any errors as I’ve apparently also forgotten how to type properly.)  Okay, I’m scheduled to move with the movers from four to six pm on Saturday, April 2, 2011.  (I told them I had twenty five boxes and a full one bedroom of furniture when I talked to them on the phone.  Cool, right???)  Paul, who owns Big Paul’s Moving, said he would send me a three man crew for the price of a two man crew.  They get there and look like they’ve been bonked on the head.  “Wow, you have a lot of boxes…”  (And yes, I did have more than the advertised twenty five.  By seven  boxes.  Seven boxes don’t take that long to move.  They’re moving slower and slower as this is their fourth job of the day, and here at one point, I’m carrying stuff out to load in my car, so I’m doing some of their work.  Screw that!!!  Two more guys show up just as they’re finishing up.  The guy (higher on hierarchy than my movers were) says take this and we’ll call it a load.  I was like, “what about the rest of it?”  They guy says to me, “You’ll have to make other arrangements for that ma’am.”  So I am ticked, because they charged me through the roof cause they were going so slowly.
     At the same time, I feel badly for them as they still have a fifth job scheduled after mine.  So these two other guys follow us over to the new place with their car and start firing off instructions on where to put things.  I’m like, “Um, hello, my place.  Shouldn’t they be asking me what goes where?”  So I’ve been moving furniture today, which hurts me badly.  I have to admit though, yesterday was even worse.  And better in a way, and I’ll tell you why.  Julie and I and my mom made arrangements to go to the old house and do the cleaning together.  For me alone it would have taken a week.  My mom put in about three hours (and treated Julie and I to lunch first at Penn Station).  Then she had to go home for a customer and to rest.  She came back again today and helped me finish up the last bits.  Cleaning out the fridge, and the stove and the oven.  Got the last bits out today.  Julie and I made two trips yesterday with the Jeep and were able to get most of it.  My car is still overflowing with stuff, but eventually, it’ll all have a place to be.
     Julie was a joy.   She took on the cleaning and just pitched in everywhere.  She wanted to leave for home around six.  She finally got on her way a few minutes past seven thirty.  I did buy her some gas and dinner, so she didn’t have to pay for either meal, lol.  I got a Penn Station Steak and Cheese, Julie got an Artichoke Hearts sub, and mom got a chicken club.  They were all delicious.  It was nice to have some down time before the horrendous job.  Jules worked like a dog.  I felt so bad for her.  I bought her dinner, and she was following me (we had just gassed up our cars) and I pulled over and motioned her up beside me.  Being the dork that she is (sorry, Jules, I love you.  But you ARE a dork!!!), she pulls up in front of my to the side.  So I pull up next to her and roll down the window.  Tell her where she is and how she can get home much more easily from there.  (I did it on purpose.  I went down Montana, where she needed to be, instead of going down Queen City and up Ferguson.  Otherwise, if she had followed me back home, she would have had to go from Ferguson RD back to Werk, back to Epworth, back to Harrison, back to Montana.)  So Julie headed off.  She told her bf, Ansel, that she planned on being home around eight thirty or a little earlier.  So I called him up and said horrible things, lol.  I told him she was on her way back to him, and he groaned, “Why did you wanna go and do that?  Why didn’t ya just keep ‘er???”  I laughed and said, “Be nice to her tonight.  She’s been used hard!!”  He gave that one a second.  He really tried hard, I freely admit it.  Then he goes, “You know that just sounds bad, right???”  I answered, “Yep!”  And then he went on a short rant about my intelligence.  “OMG, mumble, mumble just as bad as….  Mumble, mumble helmet missing…  Mumble mumble, mumble, gasp crazy!!!!”  Julie and I just giggle our way through his rants.  You generally get every third or fourth word, but it’s enough to give you a ballpark, lol.  My fave saying so far, is, “(about Julie M.)  Five foot two and five foot of her is mouth!!!”  That’s my own personal fave, but I’m so sure there are others.  We ganged up on him the other night and he told us, “You two go share a brain somewhere else!!!”  He says we share a brain.  We say we amplify each other’s great intelligence.  W E   A R E     J U L I E    SQUARED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now I’m off to bed.  Will hopefully be able to post more tomorrow about the move and about the new place.  Very soon (read:  As soon as I find the camera) there will be pics of the new place.  I’ve already gained concessions from Chris, the new landlord.  And I took him at his word.  He said he didn’t care if I planted a few plants out front.  So I planted some Morning Glories today as well as a long trellis, for them to grow up to the porch and hopefully on it.  We shall see.  And that’s enough info for today.  Cable will be here in about thirteen hours, give or take a few, and I’m ready for ‘em.  I’m hoping I can get mom over here to morrow to help me hook up the printer.  It involves laying flat on the floor and tossing the power cable up through the hole in the back of the cubby.  Hopefully, we can get it done lickety split.  Anyways, now that I’m back online, hopefully, I’ll be catching up on emails.  I’m sure you’ll all see a lot of me over the next couple days!!

OMG, what is wrong with me???

     Did I say this morning that I was all organized for the move?  I lied.  I'm so not ready for this.  I've got lots of things to pack still.  I'm so not ready for this.  I'm gonna have the movers move all the boxes cause I've got three guys for a two guy job.  There's a two hour minimum, so I may as well use them for the time I have.  I've got a big box marked last minute.  It's not closed yet cause I still have to put my toothbrush and stuff in it. 

Moving Day

     Yes, I got really lucky.  I got a call from my new landlord yesterday (shortly after I called my old landlord to tell him I wasn't gonna be able to get out by the first because he was sooooooo late in sending the paperwork into Excel, which he was).  He said that Excel's inspector, Andre (he's a total sweetheart) had a no call, no show on an inspection yesterday.  Chris just happened to be at the new apartment, and showed him around for the inspection.  He cleared it except he has to replace a railing outside, which he already knew he had to do.  So he's gonna do it this weekend, and Andre will do a drive by (check, not shooting, lol) to make sure it's done.  So I called the moving company, and got the move set for tomorrow night.  I can't believe it is happening so fast.  So I called Julie, and she didn't call me back before I crashed out.  (No sleep at all night before last, so I hit the hay around four yesterday and slept till four AM.  Oh my, was I tired!!!  So I don't know when we're doing boxes, or even if we are.  If it takes them forty minutes to load up my furniture, I'll have them do the boxes too, as there is a two hour minimum.  So we'll see how it goes.  I'm not looking forward to it and I am at the same time.  Then I have to clean the old place as well as I can...  Yuck, and ouch.  I don't look forward to it.  Sweeping and mopping usually takes me days.  Maybe Julie and Ansel can help me with that too, if I don't need them for boxes...  Anyways, that's what is up with me.  Going to go get some stitching done before I start looking around again to see what I can pack up.   Hope you're all sleeping like babies!!