New Year, new . . . debacles?

So the bottom line is, I love the word debacle. I will use it whenever I can, even when the matter at hand is more of a situation, conundrum, crisis, or even just a non-event. If I can work in the word debacle, believe me, I will.

So just a few updates. I actually don't even think anyone is reading my blog, so at this point I'm talking to myself, which is a bit of a debacle in and of itself, no?

The New Year has brought some frustrations and I'm still waiting for all the promises that a New Year is supposed to bring.

Starting with Rogue. A little over a month ago, this adorable kitty cat showed up, living under Kelsey's and my front porch. She's perfect. Precious. Soft. Sweet. You get the idea. We take her to the vet, get her shots, get a clean bill of health and check for a microchip. We're good to go. We fall in love with her. We're not allowed to have pets in the house, but at some point it just got too cold and we had to bring her in. Considering we were going on vacation soon and buying a house shortly thereafter, it didn't seem like that much of a crisis.

Until our landlord saw the cat and completely freaked out. I knew at some point the kitty would have to go into foster care, I just wasn't ready for it. Yesterday we took our little Roguer to live with his temporary mommy. I cried. Twice. We can see her as often as we like, I know the woman she's staying with and she's fantastic, I am just so sad. I don't want her to think we're giving her away or that we don't love her etc. It's kind of ridiculous to be as sad as I am. I know I'll be okay without her for a bit, I'm really just concerned that she'll think we don't love her anymore, and we so do.

Hives. I've got 'em. Don't know why. I was out painting till about 10pm on Saturday night. Came home and my right forearm started itching. Followed my the rest of my arm. Followed by my other arm. Followed by my belly. Followed by my shins. You get the idea. And no, I haven't changed detergents, deodorants, lotions, soaps, perfumes or anything else. They come and go. Right now they're coming. It's incredible. They're not very visible, so I guess I shouldn't call them hives as I don't know for sure, but I sort of assume. they are fine pink or white raised itchy areas that come and go and drive me crazy! But, what I read online (and god knows if you read it online, it must be true) is that hives can be caused by stress. And nothing causes stress more than debacles.

The house. Last Monday the bank called me and told me that my mortgage had been approved. Sweet. Pick a closing date and get it done! Saturday I actually got the commitment letter. Not that sweet. The loan will only be approved contingent upon my getting the porch fixed. I'm not even getting into it here, but here's the bottom line. The porch needs to be fixed. It's in bad shape, but it's not essential to the house, it's an add-on and therefore not affecting the house. The homeowners have made it clear that they are selling the house as is (ie. not fixing the porch). I currently have no idea what the f I'm going to do.

On a better note; Florida. I leave for Florida on Thursday night. This, essentially, is a good thing. Kels and I go at the same time every year to do a 12 mile hike and spend some time with my parents. It will be fabulous. I am just terrified of flying and have not gotten into my doctor to get any happy flying drugs. And the weather is not looking good. :( But I can't wait to see my parents, do some kayakking and enjoy weather that doesn't induce frostbite.

On another positive note, my friend Wendy makes incredible jewelry. Almost all of the jewelry that I wear is Eclectic Wendy Designs. I have a few pieces from another friend Pam Rainer, and a few pieces that I have made, but for the most part, my ears, wrists, fingers and neck are largely adorned by EWD. Well right now Wendy is running a special that you can enter for a chance to win a personalized piece of jewelry. This is fabulous for a few reasons. One; who doesn't love jewelry? Two; Wendy makes really nice stuff. Three; personalized jewelry is the sort of thing you wish your significant other would get for you, but for some reason they just never do. So it's a win-win. If you would like to see some of this amazing jewelry, or enter in to win a free piece, check out her blog at: http://eclectic-ramble.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-years-giveaway.html . She's also on FB and etsy. Seriously, I love her work and give her jewelry to people whenever I can.

Finally, one last thought. Bathrooms. My new job has three stalls in the bathroom. It seems like every time I go in there, someone is in the middle stall. Why would you do this? At least if you're on the end and someone else comes in, they can choose the other end, and at least for the time being, the two of you have a modicum of privacy. If you're in the middle, neither one of you has that option. Why do people do this? Are you one of those people? Can you explain this to me?

I think it's a bit of a debacle. . .