Kaite's blog

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Sometimes I pull the silence into me like a bear hug for my soul.  Sometimes it's better than the fuzziest of blankets.

New home, same crazy

We are in the process of moving.  We started slow and are building up to a crescendo that I fear is going to leave me breathless and surrounded by a ton of boxes.  As it stands, enough has been moved for us to start living in the new house.  It's an old Victorian with plenty of nooks and crannies to fill with my furniture and crew.  Already, the dog has chosen her room and so have the cats.  They are adjusting amazingly fast to the space.  The puma spent his first hour out of the cat room going from room to room and finding the exact middle of the floor to flop over and stretch out as long as he could stretch.  Finding no obstructions or objections, he would quickly get up and move to the next room to repeat the process.  It was amusing to watch.  The little ones took a little longer, hiding on the stairs at first and running along with me until they felt comfortable enough to explore on their own.  Hobbit quickly found the coat closet and has dubbed that "Hobbit's Crook".  The shoes don't mind too much.  Harvey is... Harvey.

Last night was our fourth night camping out in the new living room.  We were settling down and getting sleepy when we saw headlights reflected on our wall.  Not a big surprise as one of the first things I noticed is that our driveway seems to be a magnet for turnarounds on our street (no more cul-de-sac for us, I'm afraid!) and use as our neighbor's parking guide.  Not a huge problem in the scheme of life in a new house.  Could be worse, right? Uhm...  a few minute's later we hear talking and shouting from the front of the house.  Frank looks out the window and there is a van parked in our driveway, with it's owner having an animated conversation with someone(s) out in the street.  The woman by the van asks for Frank's help in moving the van out of our driveway as she "has no reverse".  Frank puts on his shoes and a coat but by the time he gets out there, (and I look out the door) the cops have arrived.  Grabbing my coat and slippers, I join Frank on the porch as we are entertained by the cops dealing with the woman and the men who were following her.  Apparently she knew a criminal element we'll just refer to as D-man and the cops suspected her of being in cahoots with him.  The cops didn't believe her when she said she was being stalked by the men in the other car and she didn't know where D-man was.  They let the other car go and proceeded to confiscate the alcohol in her van and administer a sobriety test.  She passed with flying colors and because they knew her, despite having no license, she was let go.  One of the cops and Frank pushed her out of our driveway.  As Frank and I start to head back in, one of the cops calls out from their patrol car, "Welcome to the neighborhood" and laughs a bit maniacally.  I don't think he meant to laugh like that, but it can't be a good sign.  As we go to shut our front door, we notice that the other car had circled back and the cops pulled it over again (the woman in the van was still sitting down our street).  At that point it had ceased to be funny and we were just tired.  We went inside, shut the door and tried to relax once again.

I don't know yet if I'd prefer our old crazy over this new oddity.  Dealing with "an outside cat" and the occasional firecracker is not that bad compared to what we witnessed last night.  On the other hand, that crazy was a daily/weekly occurrence.  If this new crazy only rears it's head once in a while, I can deal with it.

This is an update. Read it. Or not. Your choice. I would.

I have walked the dog in the snow.  Twice.  It looks as though I may tomorrow as well.  I probably shouldn't wear sandals this time.  Then again, when have I ever taken the path most traveled?  I take your conformity and break it into pieces to dip in chocolate.

Mmmm.  Chocolate.

Spike died.  This has hit me pretty hard considering all that he represented.  He was old.  It was going to happen.  I knew this.  But it doesn't make it any easier.  At least I can get another bearded dragon (although it will never replace him, I hope the personality is close....) and the dream has not died.  That's something.

Family happens.  All you can do is hold hands, give big hugs and the occasional shoulder to cry on, as needed.  You can chose to be unhappy with them, or embrace them for who they are and know that they will always have your blood running through them.  And theirs through you.

Tomorrow is the big OSU game... good luck Wolverines.

Everything else is... well, normal.  I guess.

Except... I'm scared.  I'm scared and I don't want to admit it.  If it were the first time and I knew what I know now, it wouldn't be this bad.  But it's not the first time.  It's still probably not as bad as what's in my head... but when half your cervix is gone already from horrid butchers of doctors... what else can I do but sit here and wonder what next?  I may be scared, but I am strong and I will get through this just like I have before, no matter what.  No. Matter.  What.

Consider yourself updated.

One thing I'll miss about MI

Walking in the woods with sandals on, just to feel the wet dead leaves on my toes.

Ze pain

How to tell if your headache is really a migraine...

Stand up.

If you can take your pulse by touching your teeth, congratulations!  You have a migraine!

Tea Tirade

Thanks to little miss thang over here, I have fallen head over heels for this tea.  Now, for years I've been called the tea geek and more than one person has commented on my tea OCD.  For the record, I fully admit to it all.  I admit to loving tea so much that I have not one way to brew loose tea, but five.  I admit that I cannot handle having just one tea to choose from, so I carry as little as two (and usually more) kinds with me in my travels (except for the camping trip.  How was I supposed to know someone would be bring a coffeemaker for hot water??).  I also admit to trying to convert everyone I know into the folds of tea geekdom along with me.

My point is this.  I.  Love.  Tea.

And I. Hate.  Sauerkraut.

Anyways.... I have a tea cabinet (soon to be just shelves for easier access) filled with every tea imaginable.  Black, White, Green, Herbal, Oolong and the new kid on the block, Rooibos.  Did I mention that I'm a tea geek who lives for variety?

The best thing of all is Adagio deals almost exclusively in loose teas.  What's so great about that?  Mixing and matching my friend.  My old tea company dealt almost entirely in bagged teas, so I didn't get much choice other than what they offer.  Loose tea, however, can be made to do the most wonderful things with each other.  Sordid... things... things that make your tastebuds go all goosebuds on you.

I know.

Take for instance this mix, one of my all time favorites and big on the "comfort food list of doom":
Equal parts:
Ginseng Green
Peppermint (Herbal)

Mix in container/tool of your choice (lately I've been leaning heavily on my french press - it makes a quick and easy mason jar (pint size) of iced tea), add hot water.  This is where I go a little off the beaten path.  I put sugar in a mason jar and add a little bit of the hot tea till the sugar is dissolved.  Then I add ice till the jar is full and pour the tea over it.  Mix it all up with a spoon till temperature is regulated throughout the glass and DRINK.

Happiness bursts in your mouth.  Guaranteed.

It's a secret...

Okay, it's technically not a secret at all.  I just found out today, thanks to a web ad space, that Heroes starts up again on September 24th.  I may have found out about this sooner, but as I learned my lesson last year about spoilers, I'm not searching out information on the show.  I prefer the chills and shivers of the unknown and reveal.

The countdown begins.

On an unrelated note, WTF COMCAST???!?!?  I'm a fan, although no fanatic, of U of M football.  But can I watch the first game of the season (although not a big game at all... that's not the point)??? NO!!!!  All thanks to the Big Ten Network, which is only picked up by DirectTV and a smattering of smaller cable stations around the nation.  But Comcast has decided to be a weeweehead (immature dickhead) and not pick up the station.  Thankfully some (hopefully most) games will still be broadcast by ABC or some such network.  So here I sit with my headphones on, listening to an audio stream of the game through my laptop.  I love you Comcast.  I really do.

In yet other news...  Roxie is the newest member of our family.  She's a half boxer, half ridgeback hound.  Beautiful dog with a wonderful personality.  She's been here for nine days, but by the second day, it felt as if she has always been in the family.  Even the cats seemed nonplussed by her, well, all with the exception of little Hobbit who went all scrub brush and didn't calm down for about 24 hours.  The puma, of course, took the same stance he took with Remus, "Don't touch me and we won't have any problems."  Although without the hissing and fighting that went along with Remus.  In fact, he basically just sat on the cat tower and stared at her.  All is well.  We go for walks and she is completely cool with other dogs.  Even when they are aggresive.  She'll just hide behind Mom (me) and tuck her tail in.  As soon as you pet her and tell her she's okay (and the other dog goes away) she is back to Happy Butt.  And boy does she have a happy butt.  Her tails wags so hard that her entire body wags with it.  In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a proud owner of a very cute puppy.

Pictures of Roxie soon.

They're alive!!!!

Okay, so I went camping and came home today (Frank, in a brilliant show of love, brought our puma along for the ride (he had to pick me up from mom's) and when I finally walked through my own front door, I was covered in cat pee and cat vomit - YAY) in a mix of feelings.  Exhaustion, disgust, love, happiness, irritation... you get the idea.

Anyways, the point is, Sunny came over because she had also been on a road trip and she missed us.  Well, we missed her too... I didn't mean to imply that we didn't.  Seriously!!!!

I think I lost my point again.  Let me go sharpen my wit.

We're all sitting here Stumbling, playing games, trying to find a new puppy (we just recently had to give our dog to his old owners - it was hard but best for all), watching tv and generally doing what we usually do on any given day.  Three computers, one wall of tv, three cats running around, and three humans chittering away all added up to a lot of noise.

We almost missed it.

A new commercial pops up on tv and no one was quick enough with the remote, fortunately.  It's some dentistry commercial (toothpaste, mouthwash, whatever) and all of a sudden we hear "your teeth are alive".  Everything comes to a screeching halt.  Puppies and Stumbles are forgotten.  Computer games end in death.  At the same time, all three of us burst out laughing and start ripping out quips.

The best one: "They're biting me!"

Seriously, think about that the next time you chomp down on that piece of steak.  Your teeth just may be vegan.

THE MORE YOU KNOW!!!

Hawks, MI

Last weekend Frank and I headed up to the great wilderness of upper lower Michigan to join a part of my family on their property.  Fun was had by all - on the drive up, during our stay and on the way down.  We took the temporary truck (don't ask...) and it's a 81 Chevy LUV diesel.  It goes at a top speed of 70.  If you're going downhill.  Down a steep hill.*

Anyways, we left Friday afternoon and snail trailed our way up to Hawks.  Getting "lost" thanks to faulty directions (there IS no F109 (road signs), just to let you know) but thanks to kindhearted locals, found our way into the wilderness.  I got ice cream.

We arrived before anyone else, so we broke out our hammocks and built a fire.  I promptly fell asleep only to awaken to find my sister leaning over me, staring at me.  It's not a thing you want to wake up to from a deep sleep (I was really really tired after driving almost the entire way and getting a good sunburn to boot) and it didn't help that it was combined with my mother peering over HER shoulder.  It took me a while to calm down my heartbeat.

The next day, instead of relaxing, we headed out to some art fair/carnival monstrosity in a nearby town.  I say monstrosity, but in all fairness (ha, get it?  it's a pun!!  okay, I'm lame.) it was pretty cool.  Better than the local horror of an art fair - pretty much because this had some fun rides.  We strolled around the art fair part, losing bits and pieces of the family as we walked but rejoining in the breaks.  Most of the time was spent riding the rides.

I had a blast.  Screaming on The Loop.  Laughing as my family made crude jokes on the Merry-Go-Round.  Freaking out on the Tilt-O-Whirl because the certain car my mom and I occupied seemed to be possessed and was whirling with the intensity of a thousand jet rockets.  Even her stomach flipped on that one.  Possessed I tell you.

The best part of the day though (at least, in the fair hours) was on the Ferris Wheel when I was paired with my ex-step-father (again, if you have to ask, don't).  There's been a few issues there and it was really nice to "reconnect" over good memories of the past.  If nothing else, the trip was worth that.

But then we all went back to the property and built a huge frakkin' bonfire (in one of those portable firepit/grill things - I never knew they could handle a fire like that - I saw blue flames).  Frank was his normal charming self during dinner and had the table in stitches over the word "fuck".  We topped off the night by toasting s'mores in the dwindling fire and watching the stars pop out in the sky.  We pointed out satellites to each other, commented on the wild ducks in the area (and the fowl stench), argued over who saw the Milky Way first and where (I won) and even saw a few shooting stars.  It was a truly amazing night.

We found out the windshield wipers didn't work.  Thankfully before we hit the road on Sunday and were able to fix them, at least to the point of some usability.  And drove home in the misty rain.  Yay home.

OH!  I almost forgot the absolute best part of the entire trip.  Our truck, we admit, looked a bit like Jeepers Creepers truck (there's a meat hook on the back end...) but it was nothing compared to what we ran across when we got off the main highway.  We're driving along, minding our business when a sign catches our eye.  Mind you, we saw all of this in the space of only a few seconds.  The sign said "The Adult Store" but the building was an old gas station.  The building had a shack to one side with the real Jeepers Creepers truck half in and half out of the shack, with a blue tarp hiding part of it as well.  It was very disturbing and a bit funny at the same time.

It feels good to be home.

*we think.  the speedometer is "broken" because of tires that are a couple of sizes too large for the vehicle.  The speedometer topped off at a paltry 57 - but we were passing a few vehicles.  Maybe three.  And they passed us the next time we went up a hill.

Customer Service

Been there.  Done that.

So why was it today that I was shocked, almost beyond words, when the following happened?

Sunny and I went to BR for sundaes (it's Tuesday, dontcha know?) today and as we're walking out, starting to stuff our faces with chocolate, ice cream, peanut butter and whipped cream... I find that my ice cream is not the vanilla Oreo ice cream that I was expecting, but a horrid jamoca Oreo flavor.  We went back in and I explained very politely to the girl (same girl who had served us) behind the counter that I had not realized the flavor of the ice cream would be coffee and I don't like coffee.  Could I please have the normal Oreo flavor, please and thank you??  She makes up a new sundae neat and tidy and proceeds to set it on the counter.  Then she looks at me and says, "That'll be $5.71"

I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. 

"No."

After this reaction (from both Sunny and I), the poor girl looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a sadistic hunter.  She explains to me (still looking like a barn owl) that the contents of the sundae are listed on the board behind her.

Unfortunately for her, the only place it's listed is on the poster behind her head, in a font that a sharpshooter couldn't read from the counter and in a space about the size of a business card.  Sunny points this out to her.

She then looks to her coworker for help in dealing with the disturbed customers and proceeds to tell him that I'm refusing to pay for the sundae.

He then proceeds to look at her in a very "OMG WTF you NOOB" and tells her that of course we don't have to pay.

DUH.

Anyways... that was the amusement of the day.

As Sunny would say, "Ready GO!"