Spinning

Where in the world did my days off go? I certainly don’t know.

The first one was spent moving into my apartment - made two trips to WL and one trip to IC to pick up items.  My gas tank is on empty - something that hasn’t happened in quite awhile as I’ve been keeping it up around half a tank.

When I arrived at the unit there was no refrigerator but that came later while I was picking up the TV from my son.  It is nice and new - can’t ask for much more then that.  I almost bought ice cube trays but when I found out I was getting a brand new refrigerator, I decided not to as a new refrigerator almost always comes with ice cube trays.  Well, wrong.  Yes, my new refrigerator in FL did come with two ice cube trays but this one had nada so I will have to grab some sometime.  Not a big deal, mind you, just a little irritated when I got home as I didn’t have anything cold to drink then but such is life.

Got the TV and DVD player hooked up so have been putting on my movies when I need background noise.  I almost got speakers for my computer, having left mine in FL, but I couldn’t remember if my computer had a built in speaker or not.  It doesn’t.  Just means I can’t listen to my music until I get computer speakers which I will do on the 1st.

The maintenance man came over on Wednesday because the toilet water hose was leaking.  He thought he had it fixed but it still leaks a little every time I flush.  I put a rag under it so that takes care of that problem.

Baxter and I have gone for walks twice a day since being there.  He loves going and I love that it gets me out exercising.  We haven’t gone far - though today we did go farther then previously.  Part of it is not knowing my way around town that well but the biggest reason has been the heat.  We didn’t get a walk in tonight before work due to the rainstorm.

Yesterday my nephew and I moved the loveseat and entertainment center my sister gave me.  It is so great to have some furniture in the apartment! The loveseat is almost comfortable enough to sleep on - something I might have to do because my air mattress keeps losing air.  Another sister has a bed in her basement that I might see about using if they can bring it to NL for me as I don’t have a way to transport it.  I’m not in any rush, I can sleep on the floor if I need to for awhile.

Several of the ceramic and glass pieces I sent up from FL were broken.  I was disappointed because I packed them in bubble wrap and everything.  A couple of other pieces were chipped or broken but not so badly that I can’t glue them back together.  Ah the joys of shipping things.

My beautiful skirt that I was looking forward to wearing to my nephew’s wedding next month was left down in FL too.  I was upset to find that out.  But I left a bag in my closet there that I meant to grab - it had all my favorite clothes in it so I should have guess the skirt would be in it too.  Oh well, I will have to find something else to wear.  I’m going to plead with my neighbor down there to send me the bag - she can take the whole bag to the UPS store and they will do all the boxing and shipping. She hates to be put out but I’m hoping she will take pity on me and do it.

I have been asked by work to switch my hours this coming Monday and Tuesday from 7pm-3am to 3pm-11pm because the trainer on that shift needs a hand with the trainee.  I agreed to do so though it means getting off at 7am on Monday morning and having to be back at 3pm the same day.  I will also have to do it the following week.  On Wednesday they are putting out OT requests for the other days as well, I may sign up but changing shifts like that makes sleeping so much harder again.

It continues to rain outside which is good, it means we won’t be doing many traffic stops and, hopefully, the guards will be staying longer at each building.  I really could use a quiet night.

Last Post for a Few Days

Just wanted to let you all know that I am at my new apartment now.  It is a lot smaller then what I remembered but oh well.  One disconcerting note when I got there was there is no refrigerator.  I left a message with the landlord so hopefully they will take care of it.  There is also no hardware for curtains or blinds so I will have to do something about that.  I don’t have the money to buy either right now so will probably buy some cheap white sheets and tack them up until I can get blinds and curtains.  Yes, this is a time when a charge card would come in handy, huh? 

I have loaded the boxes I sent to sister’s - I only have seven and I could swear I sent nine but I don’t know where else they’d be so assume I only sent seven.  I will have to check my ups slip when I find it.  That isn’t to say that I think they are at my sister’s but worry more that they got lost in shipping and I never checked them until now to make sure they were all there.  Stupid of me, I know.  All the boxes were pretty light but I thought for sure I had a couple of heavy ones too that cost me almost $30 to send - I hope they didn’t get sent back to the condo and then stolen.  Ugh.  Always something.

First thing I did when I got to the apartment was throw up - second thing I did was faint.  Don’t know what is wrong with me these days, I feel sick about as often as I feel well.  I took some Advil on an empty stomach so assume that was what caused it - that and getting overheated by carrying boxes inside and also not eating.  I grabbed a cheeseburger from MacDonald’s before coming back to load the shipped boxes and feel much better now.

As a reminder folks, I won’t have internet at all until early next month sometime.  I will do emails from work when I do work - which is Thursday-Tuesday of next week.  That means no more posts until then either but I will write some long hand so when I get to work on Thursday I can type several in.

I couldn’t sleep from 12:30 till after 4 am this morning because I was worried to death about my condo - really the first time I have done so since being up here.  I got to thinking about all the things that could go wrong with it and how I should have the air on in it, etc.  So hopefully in the next couple of months I can get down there to get it ready to be sold.  I really wish I knew someone down there who would take care of it for me but I don’t.  Oh well.

So this is my last post till Thursday night unless I get to the library to get on there, which I highly doubt.  I have unpacking and, as I said, laundry to do.  I know, you are thinking why don’t I just do it at my sister’s before I go? Because my neice is sleeping and I don’t want to disturb her because she has to work today.  The laundromat isn’t all that bad and with only one load should go fairly fast.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and kind thoughts during this whole moving delimma.  Hopefully I can move on mentally now to more positive things.  

 

No Service

I get no bars on my wonderful AT&T cell phone here at work.  It can be frustrating when I am waiting for a call to come in because I have to remember to go outside during break to see if any calls came through.  My phone doesn’t even beep or give me any indication at all that a call was received until I go out.

Well, tonight I went out just to see if I had any messages.  I actually did too.  It was my new landlord telling me I could start moving in on Wednesday - possibly Tuesday.  I am suppose to set up a time tomorrow to go to his office to sign my lease and pay whatever rent I will need to pay for the rest of this month.

Because I didn’t get the call last night at 7:30, when he actually called, I can’t get the electric put in my name until Wednesday now.  Had I been able to do it last night, I might have been able to have it on Tuesday.  But that is OK, Wednesday is fine.  I doubt they’ll let me stay there overnight Tuesday night though if electric isn’t in my name.

I have already put in a change of address as well and changed my address with the University.  I am very excited and hope it is a good thing.  Putting down the deposit was such a rushed thing that I still need a few questions answered like - do they pay water/sewer or do I; where are the mailboxes; where is the laundry room; etc.

I am sure I will find out a lot more tomorrow - including what kind of a deposit I have to put down for electric service, etc.  Still, it is nice to know that I will soon have my own space and can finally unpack.

I still won’t have cable till next month so that is kind of a bummer with the new season of Closer starting tonight but oh well.  Can’t have everything.  Guess I can buy those dishes by the end of the week…or the first of the month anyway. 

It will be so good to get Baxter and I back into a routine.  I miss sleeping with the little bugger but couldn’t sleep during the day with him in there because he likes to bark when he hears Kato bark.  He will have to be broken of that barking habit - he rarely ever barked at all in Florida.  I sure do love the little guy.

Bonkers

This is the set

I must admit I think I’ve gone over the edge mentally. That deep, dark abyss is waiting to lay claim to my mind - it’s only a matter of time before the men in white come with that straight jacket to escort me to a padded cell. I really can’t explain what happened - I think my brain just snapped.

Why do I think so? Because I just spent almost four hours looking at dishes…again. This must be the fifth or sixth time I have spent an extensive amount of time looking at them and I really have no idea why.

Dishes have never been a big deal with me. If I can eat off them then that is a big plus. However, since renting an apartment, suddenly picking out the “perfect” dishes has become an obsession. Seriously, I can’t seem to stop myself from pouring over the dishes offered by Walmart, Target, Kohls, and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Each time I come back to the same set of dishes - confident that they are the ones I want. So why can’t I just let it go??? I don’t know.

It seems to be very important to me that I have a matching set of creamer, sugar bowl, salt/pepper shaker, serving bowls, serving platters, baking dishes, and glasses. WHY??? What is this obsession and WHY do I have it? I’ve never had this before in my life! It certainly perturbs me.

Even now, I feel this need to start looking at them again. The set I have picked out numerous times does not come with a matching anything. I don’t know why as it is a newly released set from Corelle - you’d think it would come with that stuff. So I have had to surf the net trying to find something that would work with the set - look good and be functional. {sigh}

My wrists hurt from all the typing I’ve done on the keyboard just searching for those perfect matches. I don’t even want to venture a guess at what is wrong with my brain. I know it has something to do with the move and not being settled into my own place yet - but why dishes???

Why not shower curtains, bookcases, bed sheets, towels, pictures for the wall…or a countless other things I have to think about buying?? Like the bedroom I’ve decided to do in butterflies - why aren’t I obsessing about that? The living room I thought I would do in woodland animals so you’d think I’d be looking at things to decorate that way.

But no, I’m stuck on dishes for the kitchen. I have looked at so many different salt/pepper shakers, tea sets, platters, and oh, don’t forget the butter dish!!! It makes me want to just buy the one I want so I can stop thinking about it but I don’t because I don’t want to spend any money until I find out what moving in is going to cost me.

At Work

I have been at work for 2 1/2 hours now.  I have 1 1/2 hours to go before I can go back to my sister’s house.  They did not need me to be here from 3am-7am so I don’t know what the scheduler was thinking.  I know she thought I needed to get an additional 4 hours in somewhere but really…3- 7 am? How crazy is that???

I spent the first hour reading other people’s blogs - something I don’t seem to have time for these days.  I always read my family’s blogs but often don’t get to check out the blogs of those people I have links to on my blogroll.  So tonight I checked out everyone’s and made a few comments.

Then, having read those, I decided to write a note to my friends down in Florida.  Took me pretty much of the next hour to write them a two page letter.  This last half hour I spent reading my junk mail.  Such an exciting time.

I am going to have to be more inventive to come up with something for the remainder of the time.  I did get my uniforms when I came in to work today - they are too long in the legs.  I told her a 32″ length but they must be 34″ as I keep falling over them.  The rest of the stuff fits fine.  It was good to get the jacket because I had forgotten to bring one and it is chilly in here tonight.

It is starting to get light outside - it is my favorite time at work, watching the city awaken.  Hope to be in bed here shortly. 

I did check out fares to Florida earlier.  It would cost $560 or so to fly two people there.  I don’t have the money to buy tickets now so am hoping the price doesn’t skyrocket between now and when I do.  I might just have to go down by myself.

As I was going to St Ives

Yeah, I really didn’t have a title for this blog so rather then keep struggling with it, this riddle popped in my head so I used it.  Strange, I agree.

Today is my last day “off” work for the next six days.  I actually work 3am-7am tomorrow morning - don’t ask me how that came about because I have no idea.  I will go to bed tonight but have to be up at 2 am to get to work on time.  Ugh.  Then I start working 11pm-7am Wednesday thru Friday, then 7pm to 7am on Saturday and Sunday.  My regular schedule that I hopefully will start on the end of July is 7pm-7am Sat & Sun and then 7pm-3am on Mondays and Tuesdays.  I suppose I should get on work’s email system to see if anything has changed in my absence.

Right now I’m getting ready to go into Iowa City to get a present for my nephew’s new baby girl.  I don’t really know what they need so will get them some cute stuff and hope they like it. 

I really wish I could get my life into more of a routine.  I know it won’t happen this month but hopefully next month - especially if work lets me stick to my schedule so I could plan out my month.  I’d like to get a second job for awhile - probably working mornings since I work for the University in the evenings.  I just have so many bills that I’m behind on - I hate it.  Before I moved I had every bill paid up on time but now it is more of a struggle.  There I could fill my gas tank up once every three or more weeks - here I’m filling it each week.  Even when I move to NL, I will still be spending a lot more in gas then I did.  Still, I’m not sorry I moved up here but I do miss some of my friends down South and I miss my condo.

According to the doctor’s scale, I’ve lost 18 lbs since moving up here.  I can tell my clothes are a bit baggier but think that 18 lbs is such a drop in the bucket to what I need to lose.  Of course, it is a start and I expect I’ll continue to lose as I go along.  I am not as down as I was in Florida so am not eating as much since a lot of my eating then was due to being down. 

So there you have it.  I guess I best get my butt in gear if I want to run to town quickly.  I don’t want to be gone long because I need to do laundry and want to hang the clothes out if I can find the clothes pins.  I love the smell of clothes that have been hung out versus the dryer. 

Night

My sister tells me I don’t write enough posts so I’m writing several this weekend.  Also, I have the writing bug but don’t have access to my stories to write on so guess I have to satisfy the urge to write by doing posts.

The races are going on at the race track tonight as they do every Saturday night this time of year.  Sound really carries so it sounds like they are in the backyard even though they are probably a mile away.  I’ve never cared for the races or even the demolition derby that they have during the fair.  Speaking of the fair, it starts in a couple of weeks.  I won’t be going - have never cared for fairs either.  My sister’s family buys season tickets so they can go every day and to any event the fair has such as concerts.

I read on the internet that Jeff Goldblum is taking Chris Noth’s part in Criminal Intent.  I am happy about that as I really didn’t like Chris that well anyway.  Hopefully Jeff will bring some levity to the show - hope his character goes well with whatever female they have on the show then.  Eams and Goran work quite well together so we need that seamless quality with whoever does the other shows as well.  I don’t know why they split Criminal Intent into two different teams - I’ve always thought Goran and Eams carried the show very well but I guess the new team gives the others more of a break.

I know, how did I jump from the fair to Criminal Intent? LOL  Well, I’m watching Criminal Intent right now and saw Chris Noth so it triggered my memory about Jeff Goldblum. 

Hate to admit it but I’m tired.  It is only 9:20 pm and makes me wonder how I’m going to switch back over to working nights this week.  Damn, I’m so sick of them screwing with my schedule.  Course, in August I work five day shifts and the rest are nights.  I only did that because I need the money to work on the condo - it is going to be hell getting through it though.

Can’t decide if I want to go to bed now or try to make it later.  Usually my brother-in-law is anxious to go to bed by now but tonight he is out working in the garage.  Once he gets done out there he will want to shower and stuff so I could potentially stay up till about 11pm.  The question is, can I keep my eyes open that long? I took two Tylenol PM’s about twenty minutes ago so those should be kicking in soon on top of already being tired.

Well, anyway, guess I’ll at least close down the computer for the night since it is getting warm on my lap and I hear the garage door shutting which signals that he is about done out there.  Guess he is going to work in the bathroom now - he is putting up a new curtain rod or something.

Apartment Searching

Oh my god - who would have thought it would be this time consuming to find an apartment available that allows dogs? I have been at it for three hours!!!! My phone is getting low on minutes from all the calls I have made!

There is one that might be interesting if they would accept my application and if my sister could put up with me for another month.  It is a one-bedroom in North Liberty that looks like it might be cute and allow pets.  I’m meeting the guy tomorrow at 10 am to look at it and get an application. 

My head is swimming from all the places I’ve called and I’m not sure anymore if any of the others I called had places available August 1st or not since I was concentrating on July 1st.  But in looking at the 1 bedroom in North Liberty, I think it would be a nice place.  Each apartment has their own entrance so no common hallways, and there is yard space in front of them for Baxter.  It is on a quiet cul-de-sac so that would be nice, plus it is in my price range. 

Tomorrow I’m suppose to be leaving to see my sister in NW Iowa.  I will go see the apartment on the way to there.  I don’t know if I really want to go but suppose it is good for me to get out of the house for a bit.  Can’t hide in the rabbit hole forever.  {sigh} It is kind of scary facing all the different things coming my way.  I know I want change - but it is still scary.

One Down, Four to Go

Today was a disaster.  I can only hope that it was so crazy because it was a Monday and that tomorrow will be a lot quieter.  Doubtful but one can hope.

I think I feel a migraine coming on.  My eyeballs hurt due to an enormous pressure building behind them.  Light hurts my eyes and I have a headache that doesn’t seem intimidated by Tylenol…spells migraine to me.  I’m hoping it will just go away on it’s own.

I’m trying to keep my head down and just make it through this week because then I have a week off.  Hopefully I will then go to evenings/nights.  I’m still hoping to change jobs in the near future but will have to see.  Need to update my application.

Saturday I start my week of vacation.  Even though Wyoming is canceled, I still plan on taking it so that I can get moved in to an apartment and what not.  I know I’ve said all this before.

I really have nothing more to share right now as it is my bedtime.  Part of keeping my head down is not spending time thinking about anything much - kind of burying my head in the sand that filters through the hourglass of time hoping I’ll poke my head out soon and it will be Saturday.  My sister says the weeks go by so fast but I disagree…today drug by so painfully that pulling all my teeth out seemed more appealing then spending one more moment in dispatch.  I hope tomorrow is better - doubt having a toothless grin would improve my looks any. 

Have I mentioned recently?

Have I mentioned recently that I wish I was rich? That I wish I had the money to do the things I’d like to do…all the time? I mean, not have to live paycheck to paycheck but to always have money in the bank.  If I decided today that I wanted to drive off on an adventure to…I don’t know, maybe Arizona…I could do so without having to worry about where the money was coming from.

Or if I’m writing a story and it takes place in New Zealand and I get the hankering to see the place I’m writing about, I could just call up to book a ticket without worrying about planning it out a year in advance so I could get the time off work and save up the money for the trip.

To me, that is being rich.  I don’t need so many millions in the bank - I just want money to not be a barrier to the things I want to do.  Doesn’t that seem reasonable?

I know, why should I be given this type of life when everyone else wants the same thing? Well, not everyone.  I suppose there are a few people out there who like going to their jobs day after day and never wish to be free of the rut they are in.  They accept that this is their life and go about it without contemplating or dreaming of it being any different.  To me, that is very sad.  To them, it is very sad how I wish my life away.

I say I don’t “wish my life away” because I am still doing what they are doing - going to work everyday, paying bills and so forth.  But they would probably argue that I’m not finding a sense of joy or peace with the everyday hum drum if I keep spending my time wishing things were different.  I suppose they’d have a point.  I keep telling myself to live in the moment because those moments are what turn into years.

I look at my sister’s pictures on the walls of her kids when they were little and I think, ‘man, wasn’t that just yesterday?’ but of course it wasn’t.  The time flies by so fast.  There are only so many grains of sand in each of our hourglasses of life…the older I get, the more I want to slow the amount of sand that keeps sifting through the hourglass and out of my reach.  I want to slow down time but instead it seems to drain away even faster.

Right now I’m sitting on my sister’s couch enjoying the many different birds out there chirping out their little songs of life.  Opps, the sirens just went off so that kind of drowns them out.  It must be the first Monday of the new month and they are testing the emergency sirens - I know they are doing that at work as well right now.