I want one...

So I have the itch, it is that time of year... kitten season.

I want one. Badly.

Rigby is not my baby anymore, he is a little man. He jumps onto our dining room chairs (which are barstool height) all by himself, he wakes up for meals and doesn't sleep with me anymore.
I still have Abbey. She sits with me alot. But she kinda likes to do her own thing, keep her schedule. Most of the time I can insert myself into her schedule and retrieve some cuddles.



Poor David. He is a cuddler. (sorry. the whole world knows now) I am so not a cuddler. I get all hot and claustrophobic. In my defense he is big, and a hug from David is claustrophobic, I can't help it. I know. I am a horrible wife. I now know both sides of the story. I can understand Rigby not wanting to cuddle, but I can also understand poor David when I don't want another hug. If my little Buttons would just sleep with me more, I wouldn't want a kitten.


But seriously. I must stay away from PetsMart and Highland Village, with their stinkin' cute little kittens. They look at me. They say to me, "love me!! you have love to give..." :( It is so hard to say no.

the assualt...

Things at MichMansion have slowed to a stop. My headaches are back and by back I mean haven't left but were worse.

I really don't think they were tension headaches, because I have been fairly relaxed. I have been just living with this headache; it never fully went away from a month ago.

But it has been unbearable since Sunday. This week I have been to the doctor, poked, squeezed, put into a tube, and taken 800 different medications. It is Thursday, and I sit typing without relief.

To top it off... I am normal. Every test they have for me is normal. Its all in my head.

What a week.

the bathroom bomb...

I knew it was coming. The bathroom at little MichMansion was something we didn't talk about much cause I knew it was bad.

We found out last night, after my birthday dinner, that all the copious amounts of epoxy, silicon and other strange adhesives are impossible to get off. Yes, impossible. Basically here is the run down:

:: the walls, with their horrible, horrible 'paneling' if you can call it that, can be fixed fairly easily... we hope.

:: the surround in the tub area was hiding the poor retro tile covered in epoxy, and has to come out, yes I said all the tile.

:: the pretty little 50's style tub had a not so pretty sliding shower door, which left?? you guessed it epoxy on my porcelain tub. (here I had delusions of just reglazing everything, but even with sanding it will always be there, clumps and stripes of adhesive)

Once these things get taken care of you start the trickle affect. All the walls have tile and there is no good place to stop ripping it out. So it will probably just have to come out, all of it. The floor was already destroyed from the foundation work.

Before... I guess there should be an 'after foundation work before de-icky' Cause it doesn't look horrible here.

At this point there is no plan. Just an icky feeling of knowing we are going to be spending a bunch of money. Maybe some people would be excited. And we have some money to get some work done, but I dislike it. I would rather have a less than perfect bathroom and money in the bank.

But little MichMansion's bathroom is below what I consider livable. Those that know me know I have lived in some icky places in Abilene, "The Shack" was funky, and Cimarron, yes I am calling you out, was pretty gross AND had a giant hole my kitten got lost in!


Anyway. Now I am just complaining. I like my house. When I pretend the bathroom just doesn't exist I like it a lot. MichMansion will one day be a cutie.... and maybe I will learn how to spend money.

Physical Therapy- Day 1...

MichMansion had major surgery the last few weeks. She has a new roof, new foundation, new paint, new water heater... on and on.

Now it is time to fix some cosmetics... quickly so we can get in the house.

:: We spent Saturday looking for new floors, I think we found a winner! Because of her foundation work we couldn't save some of the floors. Now we have an opportunity to get something we like.
ps- there are lots of choices out there, lots and lots of choices.
:: Sunday, after breakfast... oh I guess I should say Saturday morning my mom was saying how she wanted a big big rain. Saturday evening... she got it. (it did nothing for my goal of headache free) It rained so hard, people were stopped on the freeway, and it knocked out our power to the apt so we couldn't get in the gate. We hung out at my rents for a while and went back, the gates were manually opened, but the power still off. David decided we couldn't sleep without a/c, wimp, so we crashed at my parents.
Anyway, Sunday, after breakfast we all went over there. My mom and I were cleaning/sweeping while the boys went to the hardware store. Basically the MichMansion was a mess. It had been vacant for a year and the dust from the foundation work was everywhere, partly because there are giant piles dotting our house.
My dad patched cracks (again, foundation work. more cracks now than there were before. lovely) while the rest of us primed. Primed our little tails off. Wow. What a difference that made. It is so much less dusty and dingy.

I didn't think I was buying a fixer-uper. I thought I was getting a cute little starter home that just needed a coat of paint and a less icky bathroom. Oh well. I have seen this little house inside and out and I still love it. The neighborhood is perfect, couldn't put us closer to the side of town we wanted to live on. Like literally, it would be impossible (financially).

And MichMansion, it is all I wanted. And I have roots. I am planted somewhere, this Who is not floating aimlessly on the wind anymore.

MichMansion...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

David and I have purchased our first home. Mostly we are in disbelief and the finish line of a battle. There are not words to say how happy we are, colors and music can describe the overwhelming sense of joy, imagine a Disney movie but instead of animated birdies and stars flying around our heads there are fireworks and squiggles in a rainbow of colors.

This little house was a big challenge for us. We started looking in January and found MichMansion right off. Our first offer was in April, 2nd in May (with another offer on another house thrown in the middle, not to mention 2 other realtors...) and after bad bad inspections and the horrors of appraisals we got the call today at 1:30pm saying we were set to close at 3pm.

And there she is. My little MichMansion. I have so many plans for you, for your porch and your floors and your walls.

I have been a horrible mess for the past 3 months. I can not credit myself at all for getting this house bought. So I need to officially thank some peoples.

1. Our realtor. She basically got this deal done single handedly. Took care of us, literally every step of the way, answers hundreds of emails and calls and kept working her tail off to keep this deal alive. Seriously, if you need a realtor in Houston, she is THE best.

2. My parents.

Dad- the voice of reason and wisdom keeping us focused on the bottom line. Helping us find MichMansion's neighborhood, driving us to dozens of open houses, my very own real estate expert.

Mom- who rode the emotional roller coaster with me, my emotional rock, sympathising, keeping me excited, 'relaxed' (as I could get), peaceful (as I could be), who listened to every detail that changed daily sometimes hourly.

3. Melissa- listening to my house woes, always keeping me laughing

So listen. There is so much to tell. I can't even hardly gather my thoughts. Much much more to come.

'weekends'...

I think 'weekend' needs a new name, something festive. (like the British call vacations holidays! gosh I love that) Weekend is boring and kind of depressing, just reminding me of the cyclical nature of our calendar.

Wouldn't you like to come into work on Monday, ugh Mondays, and hear someone say "How was your mini-holiday?"
Or
"What did you do this renewal-days?"

Ok. Maybe it needs some tweaking. I was looking back at my linguistics class notes, my favorite class in college, I have a list of the steps to introduce a new word into the English language. We can work on it.

Anyway, I digress. This 'weekend' was much like others this summer.

:: Friday my dad was out of town so we did something different for Mexi-Friday... Mexi-Sunday. Friday my mom, David and I ate at Amazon Grill. That place is ridiculous. I love you.

:: Saturday... well Saturday was a lousy excuse for a summer day. Um, (a) have you noticed it is a billion degrees outside? ack! (b) evil demon headache was back. grrr! Literally we stopped by my mom's house for a minute and didn't leave till 11pm. Ha! sorry to intrude mommy.

:: Sunday- Mexi-Sunday at Spanish Flowers. Dear Houston, thank you so much for Spanish Flowers. I love it. Even in 10 billion degree weather I will venture out in jeans (got to shave my legs) and eat your deliciousness.

Also our lease is up at the end of the month so we were packing a bit, I use the term packing loosely. Being a gypsy, I have moved every 18 months or less since 2001. So this aint no thing. We also saved all of our packing materials from our military moves, so no box hunting.

I was complaining on Sat. that October needs to hurry up because I have finished all my Easter candy, and am completely ready for Halloween candy supplies to be savored... slowly. BUT! I found some Valentine's candy when we were packing!! Score!!! :)


I just meant to have a quick little blog and got carried away. Even with my uneventful weekend. See, there is a story in everyone's life.

ps- I am slightly ashamed I am telling the blog world (a) I really need to shave my legs and (b) I will eat candy from February. But it is the truth.

none for me thank you...

A quick conversation from work....

Analee: everyone i know is going on a cruise... are you?
Melissa: no no i am not
Melissa: we have no monies
Melissa: who else is going on a cruise?
Analee: all these blog peoples, my cousins, one of my friends from high school, and 2 people i know are on europe trips.. for like 2 and 3 wks
Analee: melissa can i stay here?! can i?! can i?!
Analee: i would hate to have a vacation
Analee: yucky
Melissa: i know! dont they sound awful?
Analee: miserable
Melissa: all that sun and louging and relaxing, no stress... whats the fun in that?
Analee: psh. i like dragging my butt to work everyday
Melissa: its far more enjoyable to grow arthritis in your typing fingers, shove heavy boxes, ruin your eye sight from computer screens, eat cardboard boxed meals
Melissa: thats the life
Analee: ahhhh!


Take that you stinkin' vacation!

Missing somethings...

So I am still not feeling well...

Things I missed
:: The Twins, Leah and Michael- always. Should have known when they were coming that I would get sick.
:: My anniversary. Yup. Four years on the 3rd. And I felt bad the whole day. Plus we are poor and couldn't afford anything spectacular. It was a normal MexiFriday with my parents. Although we had a champagne toast at Escalantes.
:: The Fourth. Came out of my hole for a little while to have dinner with my parents and listen to records.

I think I am going crazy now. Too many days with this headache. After hours of research on WebMD I think I have tension headaches, which sounds so stupid and insignificant. Things have been pretty stressful in my life recently. But I have never had horrible headaches like this before, where nothing can make them go away.

Really really ready for a vacation. I used up all my PTO again... all two days of it. So I am in the hole again. That vacation is getting further and further away. It is a dot.

toot sweets sound like what they are...

...So do lollies in a lollipops jar. Gingerbread men have a gingerbread sound...

And your name, Dr. Pepper Icee, does the same for you.

You are truly scrumptious!!

I honestly can not remember how many I have had this week. (probably a bad sign)They tend to help my headache, maybe because of the cold. Holy cow are they goooooooood!

Maybe it is just me or maybe it is Houstonians, but I am not crazy about Sonic. I mean I like a cherry limeade but I not a Sonic nut.

As a child my mom might get us and Icee at Target when we were little. (did you know you can get $1 popcorn and a coke at Target? It has been my dinner many a time...) And me and Jeni started the tradition of Burger King Coke Icees. I loved Coke Icees. That was until the gloriousness of the Dr. Pepper Icee.

::ps- yes i love to sing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang songs. it is a small obsession.

::pps-did you know that Icees do not have ice in them? They are just a frozen solution. A fanstatical frozen treat.

sleep in peace...

For many years now I have been praying for our involvement with Iraq/Afghanistan to be over.

I can relive the first day of the war. I was cutting through the student center and people were crowding around the tvs. It seemed odd but I kept walking and outside heard jets from near by Dyess. My heart literally dropped. I knew right then we were at war. I ran, like seriously, to my dorm. (This was back when David was still a newbie in the Navy and I worried about him being safe. You kinda get over that after the first cruise.)

I was overwhelmed and devastated.

David and I had planned to be lifers. I was in it for the long haul. We thought that is what we wanted. But the increase in troops 'required' (he would be voluntold) David to do a ground tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. That was just out of the question. So we planned our exit out of the military life.

It has been a huge adjustment, a huge leap of faith. We gave up a lot of money, like a lot by any one's standards. We did a total 180 on our life plans. And it is taking patience, and perseverance to find our new place; how we fit into the civilian world.

How do you go from 2 fifteen minute calls in 8 months to seeing each other everyday? What is home and family when normal is 2 weeks together, 2 months apart? I am not married to an email address anymore. There is this living, breathing, (quite large) human being here all the time.

All that to say, seeing the reports that troops have pulled out of Iraq yesterday really made me think. Basically I couldn't watch it. I, for a second... ok the whole day, regretted getting out. Our whole reason for getting out was to save David from having to go over there like that. We have had to redefine our entire relationship. The Navy was hard. I never saw David. That is what I kept telling myself as I was thinking... "you could have stayed." Silly me. David would have gone, would have come back different, would have been in danger, would have been gone for another year of our lives.

Some part of me wishes we could have stayed the course we set out on.

Needless to say David and I are living a far from normal life. We have done and been and seen and are not on the road everyone else is. Maybe I just long to have a life like the people I know, the blogs I read.

Although, each path in this life is different. And I am guessing it is not a winding road, and definitely not straight. It is full of sharp turns, unexpected rises and steep declines.

I am overwhelmingly happy that this "war" is finally over. And can not imagine the joy of the military families as they can sleep in peace.