Odd?

Last night someone called my place twice around 12:45am, but it was dead air both times. This kind of freaked me out because I started thinking thoughts like 'what if they're just checking to see if I'm home or not.' I looked through the peep hole of my front door hoping to find comfort in a brightly lit porch only to discover that last night, of all nights, my light was out. Out of the 4 of us doors, I only saw one light on. It did not help that I spent all day in bed with a fever yesterday although it seems to have snapped today.

Winslow did something weird to my laptop. It's happened once before, something with the Fn key. I managed to look up a 'fix-it' solution online last time. Somewhere around the F11/12 keys. So I started pressing the keys again this time and fixed the problem, again, but in the process it changed my internet explorer format. The top bar is different (but at least I have it again because originally it disappeared). My taskbar also refuses to stay on top of internet explorer. I have to minimize the window first. It has no problem acting normal with other programs though. I tried finding a solution online, but so far - no good. Also, programs like Bearshare & Stamps.com won't connect. Tough life. Any computer geeks out there know what I'm talking about?

Waldo & Winslow spent the other night practicing their synchronized sleeping. Both were on a blanket in the closet and every time I walked by, they were in different identical positions. Miss Kitty - my dainty girl - I just discovered now also drinks from the toilet. Until now it's just been a male thing, but I caught her just a few minutes ago with her butt hanging over the rim. She seemed embarrassed at getting caught.

Belated

A Belated Happy Birthday to Viv! I'm sorry I'm late. Her birthday was last Friday (or so my records show). So hopefully she was able to do some celebrating.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The treadmill experience

Well, it turns out that I must've picked up a cold - which is why my cough has been 5x worse than normal. I spent yesterday in bed, which is probably a good thing as I am constantly coughing and when I do - things tend to get a little fuzzy. Okay, a lot fuzzy and a lot of times I'm literally sitting there making my brain tell my hand what the steps are to picking up a kleenex to blow my nose. Or I'll feel my body begin to shake as it tries to stay concious. Good thing I'm not standing or I'd probably end up on the floor again.

Today is better though and tonight I set myself up for a treadmill session. There's a show on tv showing funny superbowl commercials, so while that is recording - I watch it on mute as I listen to my peppy music and walk on my treadmill. I did two 10 minute sessions with a long break in between. All 3 cats came up to join me during the break, but by the time I was ready to start session #2, only Winslow remained. He sat at the top of the stairs and stared at me with horrified eyes as I began my walk. When I started to sing along with the music, he suddenly disappeared. Maybe I should rethink the whole 'open doors during the spring' philosophy...


the view from my back door.


one of the storage units on the balcony.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!

It's another birthday shout out! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!! Hopefully he's out celebrating with his wife & daughter. Although don't go to the TGIF by Hillsdale - I hear the night manager was found murdered.

My treadmill is up and running and I love it! I have been through sooo many workout dvds & other crap and I always get bored, extremely bored. The one thing I truly enjoyed was that one summer when I walked everywhere 'church, store, work, bank, etc.' I would put on my headphones with my music and walk and think. Well, I've got the complete set up upstairs. My old laptop is up there full of music, I have the guest cot right next to the treadmill for a quick escape/relaxing reward, the tv is downstairs within view. I did 15 minutes tonight and it was fun!

The two guys that came to set it up were extremely nice. Miss Kitty was her usual flirty self. I've noticed that she really goes for the male species. The two boys hid in my bed the whole time. Bummer because Winslow (with his adorable face and weird paws) is definitely a fun cat to show off. The guys were cat people though and they chatted with Miss Kitty and even let her rub against their faces as they crawled around on their hands & knees. Anyway, I am extremely happy with how things went. Adam & Aaron (their parents went with an A theme- I thought that was fun as my parents went with an M them. Shelly & I were the M&M sisters - Marika Mary, Michelle Marie) kept up lively conversation, were well dressed, tested everything out for me and even stuck around to explain some maintainance issues (I swear I think I give off the clueless 'help me' vibe), and they also took out the trash when they left. Oh, and to address Krystal's main important concern - yes, I think they were good looking.

I am now set to start a regular walking routine which I desparately hope will help my cough (it's gotten really bad the past few days). As the days grow warmer I can even open up my back doors and let some fresh air in and while it may get hot up there in the loft I have a) air conditioning or b) a ceiling fan right smack there for when the downstairs doors are open.

Bought some chamomille tea today. Hoping that will help relax me to sleep at night. Last night I was so jittery I got up around 2am and drank some hot milk because I remembered my mom giving that to me as a kid. Hot milk with a capful of vanilla extract on nights that I couldn't sleep. I didn't have vanilla (which I also bought today), but the hot milk worked like a charm. I could literally feel my body relaxing as it went down and I fell asleep as soon as I crawled back in bed.

sleepless in thornton

last night was horrible. It started with all 3 cats trying to sleep on top of me. This suffocated me and eventually I had to get up. Now having these cats is like having a baby. You get so excited to have them all asleep that you dread getting up for that bathroom run that you know is going to wake one of them up. Yep. First it was Winslow. He's typically the lightest sleeper and as soon as I began to move out of bed, he was up and wanting to play. He did finally settle down, but as he did - Waldo & Miss Kitty got up for a romp. Then Miss Kitty and Winslow switched places and Miss Kitty joined me on the bed while Winslow joined Waldo in a game of tag. By 5am they had had way too many warning and I was drugged beyond belief. I went upstairs into the storage areas where their carriers are stored. Winslow was smart and took off running. Waldo and Miss Kitty I stuffed in their carriers before grumpily marching down the stairs yelling threats at Winslow. I got online and logged into my kitty blog to write a post as I waited for the latest dose in sleep medication to take effect. Apparently it did take effect because while I remember starting the post, I don't remember ending it. By this time I had taken 2 ambien tablets, 3 swigs of nyquil, 4 sleep aid tablets, 2 tylonal pms & a vocodin. I won't even bother write what the normal doses are supposed to be for those. I logged in and read my post this morning. I had ended it with something about Heath Ledger having the right idea and then demanding that someone go make me some eggs so that I could stab them and push them around my plate. What the heck? If someone's going to make me eggs, I'm going to eat them! Anyway, I slept in till 2pm today and I'm desparately hoping to avoid a repeat tonight.

In other news, it's been getting down to like 0 degrees lately. The cans of diet soda in my car exploded. I have two people coming tomorrow to haul my new treadmill upstairs and assemble it for me. I posted a 'gig' offer on craigslist for the job and got so many responses! I chose two nice sounding brothers who are teachers (it sounds like) to come tomorrow afternoon. I did e-mail Krys their contact info just to be on the safe side.

Well, the cats have been sleeping for while. Hopefully this doesn't mean they're saving up for tonight. Miss Kitty did keep me company as I cleaned the kitchen - popping in and out of cupboards as I went.

Oh, I got a very cheesey Dominos Pizza yesterday. It was yummy.

random

My knee was extremely painful two nights in a row and then yesterday - boom, just out of the blue- it's better. Exactly the same thing that happened with my wrist. It was hurting a little this morning when I woke up, guess I slept on it wrong. Other than being stiff though, I don't expect that it'll act up again any time soon.

Of course I still didn't sleep last night as Winslow was on extremely bad behavior. He wouldn't leave Miss Kitty alone and I finally got up and locked him in the bathroom. Miss Kitty took pity though and ten minutes later she let him out. He seemed to have calmed down by then though, so he was allowed to stay out although it was 3:30am and I wasn't in the best of moods. By morning everything was normal. The two boys were squishing me on the bed and as soon as I stirred Winslow began the usual routine of bathing Waldo.

I bought some Root Beer Float ice cream out of curiousity back when Krys was visiting. So I pulled it out tonight. Yummy. Even better with some diet root beer. This is my reward as I've been really good with my low sodium diet for the past week.

It's been cold here. No new snow, but it only reached 20 today.


Here is a picture of the stairs leading to my loft. Note the picture frame... without pictures still because once again, while both my sisters go picture crazy, that's just not my thing. At least the frame is up.


Here is a picture of the loft if you're standing by the couch in the living room looking up.

Today is a Special Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY!!! Today is Whitney's birthday and I feel horrible that her card/gift will be late :(

I downloaded some 'Sounds of Nature' songs on Bearshare to help me sleep at night. I'm trying my best not to take Ambien unless it's absolutely necessary. Anyway, I absolutely love it. I have an air purifier/deoderizer that I turn on every night and I put in a lavendar scent. The I turn on my sounds of nature and put on some eye shades and viola! even in late morning my mind gets confused and thinks it's still night. Of course the vicoden I've taken the last two nights for my knee probably helps. Hopefully that won't last long.

Every winter I deal with achey joints. It travels through my body so it's never the same. This year it's been between my right wrist and my left knee. Some times it's both at the same time, but otherwise it switches. A few weeks ago it was my wrist that was driving me crazy. I finally went out and bought a brace only to have it switch to my knee. The pain/stiffness starts off small and gradually gets bigger until I can't stand it. Then it switches over to the next joint.

I ordered a treadmill as a part of that new year resolution to 'get in shape.' I ordered it first through Walmart as it was a cheaper model. Then I got a call to schedule the delivery and found out that they only do curbside - so they wouldn't bring it up to my third floor apartment (can't blame them). I had to refuse it and it's now being sent back. I ordered another one from amazon - they'll bring it up.. They brought mybig tv up. I would love to put it upstairs in the loft when it comes, but I guess that all depends on me. I'm hoping that if I bring the parts up before attempting to assemble it, it'll be light enough for me to do on my own. Otherwise maybe I'll put it in the bedroom. Assembling it will require brilliance on my part. I couldn't even manage a simple nightstand, so expect a lengthy humorous write-up to be posted when I do finally attempt to put this thing together. I'm running out of family members to come out and help me.

Here are a couple of more pictures of my place.



This is a picture of my entry way.



Here is the living room. The blue couch is the one that arrived in boxes via UPS and Shelly & Patrick assembled it for me.

Future Plans

I've been searching Craigslist the past couple of days- looking for jobs. In doing so, I realized something. I can't handle a new job at the moment. I can't apply to work with kids due to the chronic coughing fits that I have. No parent wants that. Physically I'm not stable enough to handle jobs that require standing on my feet or a lot of activity. There is a job that I would love to apply for - it has benefits and everything, but medically I can't pass in my current condition. So here is my plan. I will continue to keep an eye on craigslist for odds & ends type jobs. I will focus on my health right now though. Physically getting in shape as well as getting this whole doctor & medication treatment mess under control. At the end of April/May some time - I've been offered by my old job to let me work for about 10 days or so. I don't know what my job situation will be like then, but hey - I'm thinking perfect because I could go home for a visit and it would cover some of the trip expenses. I'm using that as a timeline/deadline to be in top condition so that when I get back - I can apply for job with benefits without worrying about being held back. This way I can get settled in a good, solid, worth-while job. I just hate that it'll make me look like a bum until I can get myself together. In the meantime, I'm going to start researching online writing classes.

Krys flew home today. It started snowing as I left the parking garage at the airport after dropping her off. Go figure. She had really been hoping for snow while she was here.

I don't think I've posted the pics that Shelly took of my place on here. So I'll do that a couple at a time each time I blog.



Taken from the front door. If you look straight back through the kitchen you see the bathroom.


Turning slightly to the left, you can see my messy counter/eating area (counter stools on other side) and a bit of the living room. You can also see the bedroom door and the stairs leading up to the loft. Note: on the wall I have the old "The Cats' Inn" sign hanging on the wall. This was given to me during the change in ownership at my job (they got new signs) and it's been hanging in my kitchen ever since.

taking it slow

Krys and I have been taking it slow. Our plan to go see P.S. I LOVE YOU has been pushed back time and time again. We had planned to see it yesterday (Sunday), but instead I found myself passed out face down on the bathroom floor early in the morning. I spent the day recovering with Krys keeping watch as there were several close calls of passing out again. It was low potassium and I spent the day popping potassium pills. I'm glad they stayed down because if I had vomitted them, it would've required a trip to emergency for an infusion. Yuck.

This morning I noticed that I'm covered in bruises- big and small ones. I must beat myself in my sleep or something.

Yesterday evening I switched beds. We drove to a motel 6 to a) get some space from the cats b) have cable tv and c) indoor swimming pool. We spent our time watching tv and took a relaxing swim this morning. Now we're back at my place with plans to roast hot dogs in the fireplace tonight and make pizookies. Oh, and it's about time we get some work done and put those night tables together!

I will post some kitty pictures on the kitty blog for those interested. Krys took a ton of them. Also, here's a pic of my dad with his finger glued to the remote:

Activities with Krys

Krystal is here. She flew in yesterday and spent about an hour trying to find the baggage claim. We then headed to the Spaghetti Factory - the only one in Colorado - only to discover that they no longer open for lunch, but they open for dinner at 5pm. 2 freezing long hours away. So we walked and slushed our way over to Starbucks and sat there until it was time. Once back at the Old Spaghetti Factory, we proceeded to order our confusing 'extra large, extra cheese' dishes. The waiter was nice and we later rolled our now bloated bellies out the door. We were amazingly tired and so we called it a night.

Today I had to head over to the hospital to get my port flushed. After that we hit Walmart for a few items (and tons of junk food). Tomorrow we plan to take a tour of the Titanic museum and then stop by BJs Brewhouse.

Did I ever tell you all about my dad's Christmas? I got him a remote control car - something I had ordered last summer as a fundraiser thing. Well, I wrapped it and left it at the house for him when I moved. He got excited to unwrap it, but discovered that the remote was broken :( So he tried his nifty new glue on it and ended up with his finger glued to it for 3 hours. I'll have to see if I can get a hold of a picture. I laughed so hard when I heard. The good news is that he did finally fix the remote once his sore finger was removed.

New Day, New Year

Happy New Year! I actually stayed up and saw the ball drop last night. I could hear fireworks and even see them in the distance from my balcony. That's good to know for the 4th of July.

Krys comes tomorrow. I plan to take her on a huge trip to Walmart before we even come back to my place. I put off my shopping so that we can just do it all at once. Today I guess I'll clean the place... boring.

It's my mom's birthday today.