Cremes

Nothing much has changed lately on the Melgares homefront. Still waiting for Grandma’s situation to change. Still working at the bookseller. Still spending the bulk of my time a) studying or b) procrastinating from studying. I submitted my degree plan yesterday so at least now I know which courses I’m taking next semester.

My birthday was pretty uneventful this year. Mike and I exchanged presents early “just in case” we ended up in Michigan during the actual days. So far that hasn’t happened, but I got a nifty wacom tablet (like a drawing peripheral) and I’ve been using that almost exclusively instead of a mouse. I’m getting pretty good at it, actually. I spent most of Monday studying or doing school-related things. I interviewed a librarian for an assignment due this Monday (eep!) and then I went to Panera Bread and studied for about 3 hours. That evening we went out for pizza at a restaurant called Tilli’s. The food was pretty good, but the place was completely dead. I think we were the only paying customers there - the other dude sitting at a table was the owner, I’m pretty certain. I don’t think they’ll last, which is too bad because the food was decent.

I’m working tonight but I have tomorrow off. I’ll probably spend it studying and cleaning, since the apartment is a little messy and we have a crapload of laundry to do. It’s also nice to spend the morning at home doing homey things. I get my schedule tonight for next week, so until then I have no idea what next week will be like, and of course who knows what’s going to happen with Grandma. I hate everything being so up in the air like this, but it’s a good lesson in learning to “go with the flow”. Anyways, I should get some reading done for school, so I’m off for now.

It’s unbelievable the craziness that has been happening since the hurricane, that never seems to end. I’m at Starbucks, using my father-in-law’s internet account (Starbucks seriously needs to get on board with the free wi-fi) to do my school work. Luckily I was able to get pretty much everything done that needed getting done until about Tuesday. I have a quiz that rolls out tomorrow so I need to come back sometimes before Tuesday regardless. You may be wondering, why not just use the internet at home? Because we don’t currently have internet, and it may be awhile coming. I guess the “fence guys” that put up our new fence (yay for a fence!) cut our cable so that means no TV, no internet, and, since we have Vonage, no phone. I’m suffering.

In less crappy news, I got a job! You’re looking at the blog of the newest bookseller for a national chain bookstore. I’m not specifying just in case I have bad things to say later on. I’m actually a little conflicted about the whole deal anyways. I just finished reading “Buy, Buy Baby” by Susan Gregory Thomas and I’m thinking that the world is out to turn little kids into materialistic consumers, with the whole “cradle to grave” marketing. It’s definitely changed how I feel about cartoon characters and kids’ programming. I recommend anyone with small children or planning to have children to read it. Anyways, the section on reading and children’s books was shocking. I can’t believe how many kids’ books are pretty much 10 page commercials.

There’s a possibility that I may be in Michigan for a few days next week. It all depends on things here, and how Grandma is. She’s not doing so well, and it seems like it will be just a matter of time. Anyways, my battery life is getting low and my computer is being a pain in the butt anyways, so I’m going to sign off and head home.

My goodness. Ever since Wednesday things have been in total chaos. I’m sure if anyone has been watching the news at all or not completely under a rock (that means you, Sarah) you probably have figured out that I’m either in hiding or I’ve been Hurricane’d. Today is my first day of unfettered internet access although I seem to have lost any semblance of cellular reception in the process. I’ve spent most of the past week either crying, panicking, or travelling somewhere to get away from the hurricane. We stayed Thursday through Monday at our friends’ place in Troup, TX (about 2.5 hours southwest from Dallas) and although we had no power Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, it was a pretty good time. We got to visit with them and relax. I actually felt pretty good about things until we got closer to Houston. The damage is really scary to see. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be here when that storm hit.

I spent most of today trying to get my schoolwork under control but it’s difficult considering I can’t hook my own laptop up to the internet and have to use someone else’s computer. So my notes are on mine and I have to look things up on this one - very inefficient. I’d go somewhere to hook up to the internet but at this point I just don’t know where to go. I don’t even know if I have an appointment tomorrow with a doctor since I have no way to get ahold of anyone. Very frustrating.

I mostly just wish that Mike and I had our own place to go to since we’re staying with his grandmother and I just feel weird about the whole thing. It would be nice to have our own private space to be in. Of course this storm has probably made our house even farther from its completion date. We’ll be lucky to be in there by Christmas. I know I sound discouraged and mopey and I kind of am, although I do feel relieved and happy that the damage wasn’t worse and everyone I know made it through safely. Some more breathing room would be nice though.

We got some good news on Thursday afternoon - the permit for our lot is in so they are going to start building our house before the end of the month. I still can’t believe this is all happening. It’s very exciting! We’re going to have a meeting with the builder before they start and we’ll hammer our all the fine details then. So it should be this coming Thursday or Friday and then pretty quickly they’ll start the house! We’re hoping it will be completed in November so we can move in before Thanksgiving and get the holidays going. We’re still waiting for some of the paperwork to be finalized but it’s pretty much just a formality at this point. Yay! I’m hoping to have pictures up on Flickr sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that on the sidebar.

So if you haven’t heard the news yet, we’re having a house built in Pearland! We’re really excited about it, been picking out the brick and tile and carpet and all of that stuff. We still have more decisions to make, but we’re hoping we’ll have it all sorted out by next week. This is our floor plan. We’ll be going to the Design Center on Tuesday evening to make our final decisions on all the interior things (and a few exteriors), and we need to pick out our stone type by Sunday evening. The community is in a really great place, and it’s sort of a small one, so it’s good. No getting lost in it, like Shadow Creek Ranch. That’s actually how we found Southern Trails. We got lost leaving Shadow Creek Ranch. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing. The neighborhood is really new and hopefully there will be lots of good neighbors around. We should be moving in sometimes around October! I’ll definitely be having a housewarming sometimes in November (as long as we get into our home in time).

The big issue that we’re dealing with right now is our apartment situation. We found out that unless we renew for 7 months, the rent is going to be a little bit higher (ok, a lotta bit) than we’re willing to pay. So unless we can get them to bend to our will, it looks like we’ll be living in Friendswood with Mike’s parents for a couple months. Which isn’t all bad, I mean, they have a lot more room. We’ll have to put our things in storage until the house is built, which doesn’t thrill me, but it’s better than overpaying for an apartment. We haven’t completely made the decision yet, but it would definitely save us some money if we could do that.

Other than that, there’s not too much news. Getting a house is pretty huge news though! It hardly counts as news, but Mike bought me a DS for our anniversary. It’s a DS lite, and it’s pink! I’ve been playing Super Princess Peach for days now, it’s such a fun, cute game. The reviews I read were that it was “too easy” and “too girlie” but I think it’s just fine. Really, sometimes I can’t finish games because I think they are too hard. This game, I think, is very enjoyable because it’s not too hard but still interesting. I’m not sure what my next DS game will be but I’m considering a crossword game, My French Coach, or one of the Mario platform games. Also Professor Layton & the Curious Village is a contender. I’m trying to do them one at a time, because otherwise I’ll have a ton of half finished games, like with my Advance.

I’m hoping to put up some pictures of our lot and stuff in the next couple of days. They are currently building the two houses on either side of us, and I can’t wait until they can start on ours! Huzzah! it will probably be another month or so, but all we can do is wait and see. Hopefully I’ll have an update on our living situation soon.

So I went to my specialist this morning, and after two very uncomfortable procedures, there’s nothing wrong with me. Which doesn’t explain why I keep getting very long-lasting, painful infections. I cried almost the whole way back to work (Mike was driving). It’s sort of ironic that I would be crying after getting the news that I’m in perfect health, but the frustrating bit is that it doesn’t explain these maladies. I’m just not sure what to do with myself.

One thing that I did do was end this ridiculous bladder diet, since it didn’t appear to be doing jack squat anyways. So now I’m happily back to caffeine, tomatoes, and chocolate. As far as things stand now, I’m just waiting and seeing what happens next with my crazy body. Regardless, I’m feeling a little cheated out of the whole specialist thing, even though I really liked her. I’d like to get a second opinion, but I dread going through those tests again.

I don’t even know where to begin answering that question. I’ve had the best intentions, but it seems that every time I get on track with something, an illness of some sort hits me full force. I’m still dealing with a UTI from several weeks back, and between specialists appointments, my demanding reading schedule, work, and the rest of life, it’s been near impossible to sit down and research a blog post. I have more ideas than time to write them all in. Of course, I could have taken the time I used to play Mario Kart Wii to whip up some prose, but we all need a break once in awhile. I’ve been dying to quit the full-time employment scene but it feels like I’m continually being met with resistance. I’ve even fantasized about being fired, although I can’t think of any grounds for that. Maybe all my absences, but unfortunately most doctors’ offices aren’t open after 5pm on Friday. Anyways, I hope to have something for you all in a few weeks, and maybe write several posts to be waiting in the wings so there aren’t too many more long absences from this blog!

So I guess I shouldn’t have bragged about how long it had been since I was “traditionally” sick. A year ago I had that mysterious illness that kept me in bed for like two weeks, then I was sick a couple days in September because of allergies, then a couple of bladder infections and bouts of insomnia, but other than those random things, I’ve been the picture of health. Sure hasn’t seemed like it, but the last time I was sick with a cold was February in 2007. Of course, I hate missing all this work (even though I don’t really like work, but I’d rather choose to stay home and actually do fun things rather than lay in bed barely able to breathe) and I know they are getting frustrated with me. I’m currently using up my vacation time, so if I want to do any weddings this summer I’m going to have to work some comp time. Anyways, I’ve got some blog posts I’m working on but since I’ve been sick and stuff I haven’t done much besides watch Dr Phil and blow my nose. On the plus side, Suzi is delighted that I’m home because she gets to snuggle with me.

My horrible sickness of about two months ago has returned, although thankfully, nowhere near as bad. I’ve been able to eat for the most part, and the one sleepless night was spent in the ER so I didn’t have to toss and turn all night because of feeling horrible (which I would have, had I been home). I basically started feeling bad at around 10pm on Wednesday night, got to the ER by 1am when I realized it was going to be a long night anyways, and saw a doctor and started my antibiotics by 5am. I was so exhausted and dizzy from the medication and the no sleep, that I didn’t make it to the office again until Friday noon. (more…)

You may have noticed some changes lately. What you see now is very likely not the final product, as I am going to get the new Wordpress software installed this weekend (I hope) and I’ll be messing with tags and all kinds of things. I have two complete posts (I hope no one has ADD because they are sort of lengthy) ready to be posted, with more ideas juicing out of me. All of my old posts are being condensed into 1 category - named Old Cremes, with the exception of a few others. I hope to have fresh, new, interesting material for everyone really soon. Not only am I planning to do more intellectual and thought-driven blogs, but I’m also not completing throwing away the “Dear Diary” types. I’ve got a special category just for those, so if I have any life updates that merit sharing, I will do so. My (2) readers have spoken, and I aim to please. For every day goings-on, I urge you to follow me on Twitter, whether or not you intend to update yourself. I’ve been updating it regularly when I am at work and really, the minutiae of my life is on that service, not on this blog. I’m planning to revamp my main page too, so I will have feeds from my Google Reader that I find interesting and other “badges” from social networking sites I enjoy.

I’ve been unhappy about my writing life for awhile, so I feel like this is the perfect solution for my current schedule, and I’m really excited about it.  I don’t have the time or the energy to work on my novel right now, although it definitely is still on the backburner of my mind. Someday I hope to churn that baby out. Until then, there are things I want to think about, talk about, about start conversations about that I hope anyone coming across this blog will find amusing and interesting. I don’t think you’ll find any serialized fiction or poetry here, but what I hope you will find are some (relatively) short essays on numerous topics that are interesting and engaging. Oh, and I hope you all like pink.