More of the same

 I haven't heard any new hurricane forecasted so things at work are pretty calm, other than the normal year end review stuff.  That will get worse as the people waiting until the last minute to start their yearly detail input and finding out they don't have access.  I'm that lucky person who gatekeeps the access.  We were supposed to start a new reporting system that would have came down to the wire for it's release.  Luckily we found out the day before they opened the input period that we were going to stick with what we currently use and move to the new system next year.  It would have been a nightmare.

My mom got a call from her internet provider that they wanted to upgrade the wiring in her house on Saturday.  She doesn't like to be alone with strange people in her house like that so I offered to come over and sit.  I told her if she wanted to run him off I would bring my little 45 pound menace to bite him.  She said no Bailey was necessary.  It took him 4 hours.  We went to lunch at the bbq place by my office and she liked it 🤯even though she complained that the fries were cold...20 minutes after we had been served.  I got a smoked chicken potato and it was so good.  They have lunch specials during the week and the potato is the Thursday special which is good information to have.  I seldom leave the office for lunch because it's a nightmare, but that might be worth the occasional exit.

Sunday was odd.  I stayed up late watching Master Pancake Theater (Sound of Music and the Nun).  Dennis doesn't like MPT but he had never seen Sound of Music and it was so much better with the commentary from the comedians, but I digress.  I ended up sleeping until 1 Sunday afternoon, which is unheard of.  I felt like I wasted the day and was just off the rest of the day.  I ordered a pizza for dinner.

Not sure where the week has gone.  My plan was to go in on Wed. and Thurs., I even bought a cake to take in for our end of year weekly lunch.  When I woke up on Wed though it was storming and I really wanted to destroy my alarm.  So, rolled over and went back to sleep.  I will have to go in tomorrow but AP will be out so it won't be too bad.  I have a shit ton of work that needs to get done but have been busy with other stuff.  Brooke is off the next two days so I won't have her to distract me with our usual teams banter.  

Look at that sweet little tongue 💖

I did make it to the office on Thursday, it was oddly quiet given the time of year I am not complaining at all.  I had a hard time getting my ass out of bed though and might have been a little late 🙈.  I also left early to pick up a plaque the office ordered.  

Finally remembered to let DVIS know I was back in town for awhile and got put on the call out schedule.  I volunteered for the weekday shifts because it is probably a lot easier for me to leave work than it is for a lot of people.  I have my work cell phone for calls and teams messages but the SA crises room is in an old bomb/tornado shelter area of the hospital so service is spotty.  We are eventually going to move across the street but like most things, who knows when that will be.  They are trying to get volunteers comfortable enough to respond alone as lots of the employees are starting to take off for holiday and end of year activities.  

The tattoo artist I have been fangirling over is finally taking appointments starting today for returning clients 😟 and tomorrow for new clients 🙋.  He was supposed to open them a few weeks ago but had to have emergency surgery on his neck because he was losing feeling in the arm he draws with.  It must have gone well.  I have been on this guys list for about a year and it's still not a guarantee that he will take you.  His FB and insta are under Artist Kyle Chaney if you want to see why I'm obsessed.  He does a lot of really big pieces and I don't want anything bigger than my hand.  I still want to do the UP theme, only requirement is Dug has to be in it in some way.  I showed Dennis a few ideas and he asked me how much it costs.  This guy is obviously not cheap and I don't really want to think about how much it is going to be.  Dennis told me to wait.  So I'm waiting until Friday to reach out, lol.  I have been waiting!!  This midlife crisis has a limited time offer with this guy.  Anyway, I will send him my idea and the size I want and he is good/.busy/popular enough to pick and choose.  I have doubts he will want to do something the size I want but it is worth the try.  He is out of OKC which is only an hour and a half away and he comes to Tulsa to work the expo that my artist hosts, hopefully the planets align.

Not much else is going on.  I hope to make it by a new little gourmet store tomorrow with my mom to pick up some premade meals.  They look like they have some really good options.  I hate going with my mom because I can hear her now about prices.  I have looked it up and they aren't bad but like a lot of older people she seems to think bread should still cost a nickel.  I bought some frozen protein waffles and pancakes and maybe I can eat that a little later in the morning and be able to eat a premade dinner.  I am never hungry for breakfast and end up eating lunch late and not hungry for dinner.  I have to do better.  

Dennis and I are going to Costco when I get off work and I will peruse the aisles.  I am out of my air fryer pizzas and he needs to go get his card.  I am thinking about changing the dogs food to the kirkland brand too since they opened the store closer to me.  I'm still not sure I want to start feeding them food that I have to get from one specific place with limited hours.  I feed them Wellness now, which you can get at any pet food store so that makes it so easy.  Plus, Costco is going to get crazy in the next few weeks and I don't know that I want to deal with holiday shopping crowds.  Yes, I put way too much time and effort into researching dog food.  

* I wrote the above post on Friday and never posted it.  Instead of deleted it all I am just going to add to it here*

The Costco run was a success in that Dennis paid for groceries, lol.

I went to my mom's on Saturday.  I think she was aggravated at me because I didn't rush over there.  I wasn't in the mood to rush anywhere.  I got there before noon and took my sweet time with the fur babies and getting ready.  It makes for a much more tolerable visit.  Wednesday I watch the new episode of Reservation Dogs and recognized the area of town they were in.  Ironically it was the area I needed to go.  They were in a diner that I had been to and really liked, but is strictly a breakfast and lunch place that closes at 2 so I always forget it is there.  Again, my mom didn't have anything negative to say!  They let me or order a kids meal, which earns them another point.  My mom said her stomach was feeling gross so she ordered a cup of stew and cornbread.  We got out of there for around $10 and had a little leftover for my mom to take to her spoiled ass dog.  When I was paying I asked them how it felt to me famous.  They dug out a picture of Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo sitting at a booth playing a guitar.  They said everyone was super nice and I continue to kick myself for passing on the extra gig.  

After lunch we stopped at the market I have been wanting to try.  It is a small storefront with fresh bread and premade meals.  One of the restaurant groups opened this up so I have high hopes.  The bread is amazing!  I got 2 meals, a homemade hamburger helper and an alfredo dish.  Hamburger helper is one of my comfort foods.  I never make it because it is so unhealthy and I will literally eat the entire box and make myself sick.  We are going to make it for dinner tonight so we will see how it measures up to the heavily processed real thing. 

My friend Linda came into town on Sunday from TX.  Her SIL's sentencing hearing was Monday and she wanted to be there.  The entire situation is a nightmare.  To recap, her husband's sister was arrested for stealing well over $100K dollars from the mom.  She had a stroke and needed a caregiver and SIL, her boyfriend and the son took a large portion of her savings and left her to live in a house that was falling down around her.  The in-laws hate my friend Linda so when they came to town they stayed at a hotel and they met up at a restaurant so they had no idea how bad it had gotten.  The nephew got 1 year probation and 100 hours of community service, the boyfriend got 1 year probation and $5,000 in restitution, both in plea deals.  The sister refused to take the deal because she was going to have to repay $70,000.  The judge held that up and gave her 7 years probation.  Linda said it was deferred which means it won't show up on her record as a felony until she screws up and violates her probation.  I have no doubt that will happen sooner rather than later because she isn't going to pay that back.  It would require her to get and keep a job.  All of that to say we met up for a late lunch/early dinner on Sunday.  We went to the restaurant we used to visit all the time when she lived in Tulsa.  She lived on that street and she couldn't believe how much it had changed.  It was always the trendy part of town but it is getting increasingly bougie.  Our restaurant hasn't changed.

The tattoo is a no go.  The guy said he "doesn't do small tattoos"  I wanted something about the size of the one I got of Olive/Ninja.  I could tell pretty early on that he wasn't interested.  I am really disappointed but I half expected it.  I put a few pictures in the group message that anyone that reads this is a part of.  He is already booked up for 2024.  I sent a message to the girl who has done the other tattoos to see if she wants to do it.  It will probably be close to my birthday before I would have time to get it done.  For now I will have to settle for the piercing appointment I have at Maria Tash in NYC.  

I have started to try and burn through some leave for work.  I have about 4 weeks I need to take before the end of the year or I will lose it.  I took off early yesterday and got my nails done.  They are amazing.  

I told her I would order stickers or stencils and she told me nope, she will hand paint them.  It took 5 hours and she way undercharged me.  Her boyfriend came in towards the end and told me she had been practicing.  I am trying to talk her into hand painting press ons and selling them online.  She is just do freaking good.  

OK, I need to get back to work.  I promised one of the rangers I would assist them with the aforementioned data base on a module that did get pushed through so I need to go through and make sure I know how to use it. 😬

Feels Good to Be a Gangster

So glad I didn't have to fly to St Paul this week.  That being said, the task we were supposed to do virtually isn't being done.  I am ready to ditch this PDT all together.  The national manager is super smart, like off the charts smart, which turns into more of a hindrance than anything.  He is in the guard and speaks several languages, including farsi and all of those Persian languages so he gets called up on some super secret spy stuff all the time and leaves us hanging.  Last time he was gone for a year, this time it is supposed to be a month.  I am just tired of having a half finished program with no training and a revolving door of field contacts.  I guess that is par for the course when you work for the feds.  

I finally got in to see the new rheumatologist on Monday.  My old one left over a year ago but apparently there is a shortage here?  I have been seeing a PA or NP in the meantime.  I like the assistant I normally see, the jury is still out on the new doctor.  He is older with Einstein hair and a thick german accent and isn't one for long discussions.  My appointment was at 9:40 and I was rescheduled for my quarterly follow up, checked out and in my car by 10:15.  My weight was up a little but I wore my shoes and jacket and was still 98 pounds.  He is taking me off one of my medications and increasing another one to see if that helps with the sudden appetite change and weight loss.  I was in to see the assistant in June and have lost 10 pounds from that visit.  Other than that he looked at my hands, which is what triggered the diagnosis in the first place, asked me a few questions and was on his way.  Not sure what I expected but it seemed the last doctor was just more engaging I guess?  That being said I have had more stiffness in my fingers and still having stomach issues.

My sister sent me a text yesterday saying "27 days" That is just crazy.  When we made the plan to go to NYC it seemed like the date was so far out.  I made a hotel reservation with the plan on making another closer to the date using my points.  I knew I had travel coming up and wanted to make sure I had as many points as possible to cover the stay.  I didn't pay a lot of attention because I knew I was going to cancel the original reservation.  Well when I went in to make the reservation a few days ago I accidentally hit the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the Hilton Times Square and tied up the points at the wrong hotel.  I got that one cancelled but had to wait for the points to process back into my account.  I looked at the reservation I had and the total for the hotel was over $1,500 for 3 nights.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to be bougie but I am not about to spend more than my house payment on a 3 night stay!!  Luckily I got it fixed and had enough points for the stay and 2K left over.  There will be a resort fee but I can live with that!!  I didn't really expect to get enough points to pay for the entire stay but fell so much better that I did.  Especially with Dennis not working.  I almost cancelled the entire trip but he insisted I keep my plans.  He got unemployment and is going to try to get on disability.  We really don't mingle finances much anyway.  

Baby Daddy is becoming a fixture at my house.  Dennis is getting really attached to him.  I teleworked yesterday and he came really close to following me in the house.  He has not been tested for FIV or any of the other diseases 'feral' cats can carry so I really don't want that to happen.  If we decide to try and integrate him, we will get him tested.  We obviously don't know how old he is but he is really starting to settle in and wants to play a lot.

He is also less interested in food and more interested in attention.

He was at the door when I left this morning.  

I finally took Olive in to my vet to get her shots.  Even though we treat the animals for fleas and ticks, fleas have been a serious issue this year.  We have never had this problem but we have never had a stray cat living at my house either.  Poor O has been so itchy at the base of her tail that just touching it will cause her to react.  The vet said that Frontline and Revolution isn't working like it used to and put her on Bravecto.  Since she had never been to my vet we had to get her seen and weighed (12.6 lbs) before they would let me have it as it is prescription.  This is the first time I have taken her out of the house since we brought her home just a little over a year ago.  She is usually so quiet but she let me know she wasn't happy with this plan at all.  She really did well but she was so mad at me when we got home.  She still wanted to be in the same room but as far away from me as possible.  I guess she got lonely because the next day she was even more clingy than usual.  I got cold so I sat in the chair and covered over with a blanket to work and she decided she needed to be in the middle of my work.

My little assistant 

I would have never thought that I could ever love a cat as much as I love that girl.  She didn't even want me drinking my water, she wanted me to have my hand on her.  The vet tech asked me what Bai thought about her and I told her that they are typical siblings, he doesn't want to share and if he is sitting with me he will let her know it is his turn.  Oh to be the pet of any of us.  What a life.  

Food has been hit or miss this week.  For some reason Wednesday I felt really hungry.  I had an onsite meeting that provides lunch and they catered deli boxes.  I ate about half of the sandwich and a few chips.  Later Dennis asked if I wanted to eat and I told him that I was oddly starving.  We went to a Tex-Mex place and I ended up eating a couple of chips with salsa, one corn tortilla, and one chicken enchilada.  I really went in thinking I was going to clean my plate but that is still better than normal.  Since then my stomach is doing it's usual game.  I wasn't hungry at all yesterday.  About time to go to bed I swore the trash smelled.  Dennis said he couldn't smell it but it was to the point that it was making me gag.  There wasn't much in the trash and the only thing that could have smelled was the can of cat food we had fed the cats just a few hours before,  but we got it taken out.  I slept like crap last night and O was pretty upset that I wanted to sleep balled up and not flat on my back so she could sleep on my chest.  I had dreams that I couldn't wake up, that I was at work and couldn't hold my eyes open.  It has made for a brain fog of sorts today.  Stomach wasn't much better this morning as I got the ick brushing my teeth.  It is about 10 am now and I am still not even interested in the thought of food.  All week I was looking forward to going to lunch at a bbq place by my office for lunch today but I'm thinking that isn't going to happen.

We got a message earlier this week looking for volunteers to work remote for Hurricane Lee for one of the New England Districts.  I said I would do it but I don't think anything will come of it, the hurricane mission, I mean.  They ended up getting someone closer to the impacted area.  I probably make almost as much from per diem as I do the OT so my first choice is to do a TDY but I won't turn down 44 hours of OT a week.  It is getting close enough to the trip that deploying would be risky.  They like us to do 30 days and the way our system is set up we don't get true time and a half until we work the 31st day and then it is for the entire period.  I don't pretend to understand it but I do work my ass off so they ask me to extend so I get that fema $$$.  

I broke down and ordered some clothes from Shein.  I am not a big fan but I don't want to spend a lot on clothes that I probably wont be able to wear for long.  I thought about signing up for NUULY, which is one of those closet rental type places but I just can't bring myself to do that.  Besides, if I take any of those clothing items on a checked bag and they lose the bag am I responsible for the replacement cost?  I think I would rather do Threadup and fast fashion.  I went to the mall and got some jeans on sale at least.  I normally buy jeans or Sam's but they don't carry my size and again I don't want to spend a fortune on stuff knowing that the weight I am at is not sustainable long term and as soon as we figure out what is causing the issue I will no longer be able to wear it.  Dennis told me to shop in the kids department because I am short and the stuff is cheaper.  That might not be a bad idea.

That being said, my weight has been holding around 95.

Ok, my computer has decided to not recognize the wireless keyboard so I am going to go office space.... 

Bi-coastal travel hell

The last few weeks have been more than a little hectic.  I have had more than my share of delayed flights and horrible rental car experiences.  I have vowed to drive to just about any location that is 8 hours or less away.  However, for now I am ready to stay in one place for awhile.  

The first hell trip was to Lake Sonoma, about 2 hours north of San Francisco.  I planned my flight for the afternoon so I wouldn't hit SF traffic on the way from the airport.  My first flight was more or less on time but we got delayed in Phoenix.  My flight was supposed to be in at 8:30 but that didn't happen.  
When we finally landed and got to the rental car counter it was a 2 hour wait for a rental car.  Last time this happened I was able to just uber because the meeting was just a few blocks from the hotel, I had no choice but to wait here as I was staying in Santa Rosa 2 hours away and the meeting was another 30-45 minutes north of there.  By the time I got the rental car and made it to the hotel it was almost 2 am.  I sent a message to a girl I know in the group and told her that I would most definitely not be there at 8.  I don't trust the people over this program to not try and throw me under the bus though so I think I was maybe and hour late at most.  I was very cranky.  

The area is really pretty.  For some reason I really like that part of California.  I didn't expect to have fun but I did.  I met up with someone that was new to the group and her and I got along really well and split off from the old hags and did our own thing for the most part.  We did go to a group dinner the first night at a place called Stark's.  I got a steak salad and the steak was so tender!!  I am not a leftover person but I took what was left and had it for lunch the next day and it was just as good.  There were enough of us that we had to split up and sit at three different tables.  I don't know how I got so lucky but I sat right across from the old hags aka the toxic twins.  It shows on their menu that they don't split checks and that there is a service charge for back of house.  As far as I'm concerned I was ok with that.  Apparently the hags saw the other tables get separate checks and thought they got better service than us so they weren't going to leave the waiter a tip.  I was furious.  I sat next to my new friend and we made sure he got at least 20% from us.  I don't like tip culture but I hate cheap hags that look for a reason to stiff their waitstaff even more.  I ended up using what little cash I had for that.  On my way to the airport I got 2 alerts that my debit card had been used twice at a Panera in CA somewhere.  I called the bank and they reversed the charges but they also cancelled my debit card, that left me with very little money.  Thankfully I had brought my personal credit card and was able to use that and just pay it from the bank account immediately.  The whole thing was just a nightmare.

 

The area is absolutely gorgeous.  

Wednesday  we got out of the meeting a little early so me and my new friend ran back to the hotel to change clothes and eat at Francis Ford Coppala's winery.  It wad very pretty there too.

The food was pretty good and we had a great time.  

Thursday we wrapped up about noon and most of us were driving back into San Francisco and staying the night there to be closer to the airport.  I dropped off the rental car so I wouldn't have to pay to park it at the hotel.  As I was about to get off the tram I realized I left my work phone in the rental car so I had to get back on the train to see if I could get it.  I bumped into Kat, the new friend from the meeting.  If I hadn't I am not sure if I would have done much but we ended up going to eat and hanging out.  We had some great Peruvian food.  Oh, and on my way to the airport I stopped at the Fluevog store on Haight and bought some shoes 😏

They shipped them back for me so I didn't have to make room in the suitcase.  

I took the 6:30 am flight out and made it without any issues.  

I got to sit at home 3 days before hurricane Idalia interrupted my plans.  Monday I got an email asking if I could be in Florida the next morning for the strike team.  So, I started washing my EMO shirts and digging out my deployment ready bag.  The new team I am on is a lot different than anything I am used to, we set up the orders for people to deploy and manage that whole mess.  Luckily Idalia turned out be be a bust for the most part so I wasn't thrust into the role to figure it out along the way.  I ended up flying back home on Saturday.

Again, the flights were terrible.  My original flight was supposed to take off at 1 but they kept pushing it back.  The third time they delayed it I called the travel agent through work and just rebooked on a different flight.  The first flight was fine but there was a maintenance issue on the second flight (fire extinguisher) and they had to sign off on it to fly with that malfunction.  Once they got that taken care of people were getting up out of their seats so we couldn't take off.  We were more than 2 hours late coming in.  We landed a little after midnight and the guy at the rental car counter pretty much told me I was shit out of luck because the car reservation was for the previous day and he couldn't get it to pull up and he was going home.  I ended up just going to the Hertz counter and getting a car through them.    Again, I get like 3 hours of sleep before I have to be out the door for work.  Luckily the hotel was 3 blocks away from the office.  I did drive that first day though because the hurricane was going to hit that day and we had no idea what to expect.   Idalia ended up being a bust, good for the residents bad for my bank account and I was heading home on Saturday, so I wasn't even there a week.  Since my vacation starts October 12 I think I will be stuck at home again if we do get something significant making landfall.  

I got to leave a little early on Friday and went to Jax Beach.  My flight home was in the early afternoon on Saturday so I found a shopping area that was really neat.  It was going way too smooth, flight was on time from Dallas to Tulsa and it looked like we were ahead of schedule to land.  We were all loaded, doors closed, aaaannnnnndddd mechanical problems that if they could be fixed wouldn't be fixed that night.  I called the travel agent again but as she was looking for alternative flights they came over the intercom and told us they found another plan and we were going to have to move gates/planes. 

I think we were an hour and a half late landing.  Not too bad all things considered.  I was so freaking tired though.  My mom went to my sister's house on Sunday and I took her a watermelon and she made sure to tell me that the dark circles under my eyes were terrible.  Thanks mom.  

I was supposed to go to St. Paul next week to plan out a curriculum for a new training one of the teams I am on is developing.  We decided to do it in person because nothing really gets done on webinars.  The full team isn't on the sub-team and there were only 3 of us that were going to go.  We figured with that few of us we should be able to adapt to virtual.  We are going to give it a go.  The thought of renting another car and being stranded while they clean cars or whatever they were doing is just enough to cause major anxiety.  Our FY starts in October and more than likely we won't be traveling much.