I made coffee this morning, and last night, mom and i made brownies and cookies and some chicken and sloppy joes. For those of you who haven't been following the (very) posts that i actually post on this thing, you may realize the significance of such small actions...that being...
We have our own place now!
Finally! Joe and I have moved out of his grandmothers basement and into our own apt. Its fairly big, about 680 sq feet, which is about half of my parents house ( odd to think about). All of our stuff is in the apt but most is still in boxes (hey, we got here less than 24 hours ago) and I have been enjoying my kitchen. Its funny how such a small thing such as making coffee in the morning or making tea or doing my dishes has taken on such a refreshing meaning. I never thought I would feel so free just being able to make coffee, or heat water.
Our living room setup (designed by Joe) is pretty sweet so far. We have the tv in one corner of the room with the futon couch and loveseat forming a little cozy tv watching area. Then behind the love-seat is my desk, and Joe's desk is in the corner adjacent to my desk. Then in the 3rd corner of the living room we have the dining room table and my sewing stuff (sewing figure, table, machine, etc). All of this and you think it would be pretty cramped in here, but there is still so much space its amazing.
Then theres the balcony, Demon and I are so happy and in love with our new balcony. Its 15' long by about 6' wide, so theres plenty of space for plants as well as Joe's new 7' tall easel (for painting). The fresh air is amazing and I can't believe how much light comes in the apt (especially after living in a dark musty basement for 10 months). Over the next week we have a lot to do with unpacking, finding more carpets, a bigger tv stand, and everything else involved with moving into a new place.
So cheers to change, new places, and reconnecting with friends who can come over and hang out!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Lizards and hamsters and fish, oh my!
I know, such an original title isn't it?
Right now I'm working a full time gig at a pe store. Now my official title is "pet care specialist" and my job is to sell the pets in our store along with helping our customers learn how to better care for pets and show them which products will prolong/better their pets lives.
While generally it is a pretty interesting/basic job, there are some very strange moments.
One such moment occured about a month after I had started working. Our store sells cockatiels, beautiful little birds with quite a personality. Well, sometimes the store gets in baby cockatiels, or what are called "hand-feds" which basically means, well, we feed them. They aren't old enough to eat the food which is given to older birds, and instead we make this..well..kinda oatmealy food which is very similar to baby formula which we feed to the bird using a really big syringe. It is a very strange sensation to have a small bird completely dependent on you, as well as having a bird who will climb onto your shoulder and nuzzle your check once feeding is over. One of our fun moments was when my boss Shannon and another coworker (Marcela) and I were playing with the bird, and he just kept hopping shoulder to shoulder.
Another strange moment was when a shipment of reptiles came in the day after we had the worst ice storm Virginia has had since I was about 10. Due to whatever reason, the animals showed up half frozen, and I spent most of the morning with little geckos and tree frogs in my hands slowly warming up and eventually recovering. Lizards are pretty amazing, let me tell you. I must say though, I never expected to have a job where I would be nursing cold lizards back to a warm health.
Right now I'm working a full time gig at a pe store. Now my official title is "pet care specialist" and my job is to sell the pets in our store along with helping our customers learn how to better care for pets and show them which products will prolong/better their pets lives.
While generally it is a pretty interesting/basic job, there are some very strange moments.
One such moment occured about a month after I had started working. Our store sells cockatiels, beautiful little birds with quite a personality. Well, sometimes the store gets in baby cockatiels, or what are called "hand-feds" which basically means, well, we feed them. They aren't old enough to eat the food which is given to older birds, and instead we make this..well..kinda oatmealy food which is very similar to baby formula which we feed to the bird using a really big syringe. It is a very strange sensation to have a small bird completely dependent on you, as well as having a bird who will climb onto your shoulder and nuzzle your check once feeding is over. One of our fun moments was when my boss Shannon and another coworker (Marcela) and I were playing with the bird, and he just kept hopping shoulder to shoulder.
Another strange moment was when a shipment of reptiles came in the day after we had the worst ice storm Virginia has had since I was about 10. Due to whatever reason, the animals showed up half frozen, and I spent most of the morning with little geckos and tree frogs in my hands slowly warming up and eventually recovering. Lizards are pretty amazing, let me tell you. I must say though, I never expected to have a job where I would be nursing cold lizards back to a warm health.
Dad's pens
There are times in a person's life where their very foundation is shaken, and that happened to me several months ago. I received a phone call one night from my mother, who (I could tell) was trying to hold back tears. It turned out that my father had had an accident with his table saw, and was taken to the hand specialty ward of the hospital in Baltimore. Upon first examination of his hand the news did not look good. The saw had severed most of his pinky, along with ripping all the skin from his thumb and slicing through the rest of his fingers. The doctor went into surgery after informing dad that he may have to amputate 2 1/2 fingers (his pinky, his thumb, and part of his middle finger). Dad came out of surgery with a slightly shorter middle finger (missing about half the top knuckle part) and with his hand heavily wrapped in bandages. News was touch and go for a while, the doctor was never fully sure how fully the hand would heal, or what the range of motion in the hand would be in the end.
The end result was incredibly lucky and amazing. While dad did lose part of his middle finger and the ability to bend his pinky (the 2 knuckles not attached to his hand were completely crushed) all of his other fingers were able to be meticulously and painstakingly mended. About 3 months later he was fully discharged from the hospital (he had been going in on weekends for check ups) and after another 2 months the doctor told him that his recovery was unheard of and he didn't need to come back again. Apparently between my dad's stubborness and my mothers brain gym (holistic healing type thing) and massage skills he managed to recover (in about 6 months) what the doctor had planned for over a year.
It was a huge relief to discover that his hand would be almost completely the same, as working with his hands gives dad his greatest joy. Somehow having a dad who didn't have a huge woodshop in his garage or create his own wooden pens, tables, chairs, beds, etc, just didn't seem like it would be the same. Out of this he has also turned into a bit of an inventor. With some modifications based on necessity, he has created different versions of nail clippers as well as a new design for his wooden pens. Every time an elderly person walks through my line (when I cashier) and struggles with the small pens we provide, I think of his oversize pens and how wonderful those would be for someone without full range of motion in their hands.
The end result was incredibly lucky and amazing. While dad did lose part of his middle finger and the ability to bend his pinky (the 2 knuckles not attached to his hand were completely crushed) all of his other fingers were able to be meticulously and painstakingly mended. About 3 months later he was fully discharged from the hospital (he had been going in on weekends for check ups) and after another 2 months the doctor told him that his recovery was unheard of and he didn't need to come back again. Apparently between my dad's stubborness and my mothers brain gym (holistic healing type thing) and massage skills he managed to recover (in about 6 months) what the doctor had planned for over a year.
It was a huge relief to discover that his hand would be almost completely the same, as working with his hands gives dad his greatest joy. Somehow having a dad who didn't have a huge woodshop in his garage or create his own wooden pens, tables, chairs, beds, etc, just didn't seem like it would be the same. Out of this he has also turned into a bit of an inventor. With some modifications based on necessity, he has created different versions of nail clippers as well as a new design for his wooden pens. Every time an elderly person walks through my line (when I cashier) and struggles with the small pens we provide, I think of his oversize pens and how wonderful those would be for someone without full range of motion in their hands.
A new beginning
So soon I will begin yet another episode in my movie called life. Next week is going to insane/hectic/wonderfully busy.
So Tuesday is going to be my birthday, and I am very excited, yet very...reserved, i guess you would say. I am not entirely sure how I feel about being 23. I feel as if I am caught in a crossroads of my life, where I am expected to be a full fledged adult, and most of the time I feel like one, and yet I'm just not quite there yet. It also feels like a very surreal age. All through college I would look up to the 22 year old seniors, and 23 was an age that was just unheard of, and now that's going to be me!
Never mind that Joe has been 23 for 2 months now, thats beside the point (haha).
I'm not really planning on doing much for my birthday, seeing as how I have to work on Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning, but thats ok with me, because on the weekend, I am getting the best birthday present in the world which is...
A new apartment!!!!
Finally, after a little over 8 months of living with joe's crazy grandmother(frustrations and stories will probably be documented for all time soon) we are getting out of here, and not a moment too soon. Living here was kind of like working at my dining position, I refuse to quit or to admit that I am unhappy or unable to deal with any situation/place, and yet it reaches a point where my denials are no longer options. I have become so snappy towards everything and so depressed/upset here that it has become ridiculous. Even slight things such as my cat meowing at me for dinner when it wasn't dinner time would make me feel like I was being a horrible cat mother for not giving her two dinners, or random things like that.
But all will be well, because soon I will have a shiny new apartment, with a HUGE balcony for all of my plants and for my cat to sit outside and watch the birds. I'm so excited about this, also because for once I found an apartment that doesn't have a rule on nails or hanging up shelves. So Joe and I will be able to decorate however we want and have so much room for storing our myriad of objects.
I will also be trying to get my website up and running. It will basically serve as a place where I can showcase some of my artwork along with the different crotchet/sewing projects that I've been working on for the past couple months. It will also include some of dad's special pens (more on that later), along with my mom's purses, scarves, and wall hangings.
So Tuesday is going to be my birthday, and I am very excited, yet very...reserved, i guess you would say. I am not entirely sure how I feel about being 23. I feel as if I am caught in a crossroads of my life, where I am expected to be a full fledged adult, and most of the time I feel like one, and yet I'm just not quite there yet. It also feels like a very surreal age. All through college I would look up to the 22 year old seniors, and 23 was an age that was just unheard of, and now that's going to be me!
Never mind that Joe has been 23 for 2 months now, thats beside the point (haha).
I'm not really planning on doing much for my birthday, seeing as how I have to work on Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning, but thats ok with me, because on the weekend, I am getting the best birthday present in the world which is...
A new apartment!!!!
Finally, after a little over 8 months of living with joe's crazy grandmother(frustrations and stories will probably be documented for all time soon) we are getting out of here, and not a moment too soon. Living here was kind of like working at my dining position, I refuse to quit or to admit that I am unhappy or unable to deal with any situation/place, and yet it reaches a point where my denials are no longer options. I have become so snappy towards everything and so depressed/upset here that it has become ridiculous. Even slight things such as my cat meowing at me for dinner when it wasn't dinner time would make me feel like I was being a horrible cat mother for not giving her two dinners, or random things like that.
But all will be well, because soon I will have a shiny new apartment, with a HUGE balcony for all of my plants and for my cat to sit outside and watch the birds. I'm so excited about this, also because for once I found an apartment that doesn't have a rule on nails or hanging up shelves. So Joe and I will be able to decorate however we want and have so much room for storing our myriad of objects.
I will also be trying to get my website up and running. It will basically serve as a place where I can showcase some of my artwork along with the different crotchet/sewing projects that I've been working on for the past couple months. It will also include some of dad's special pens (more on that later), along with my mom's purses, scarves, and wall hangings.
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