Goodbye, Baby Simon

Simon became even more weak and ill today. I brought him back in to see if they could do anything for him, but they couldn't.  So, I had to make the decision to put him down.  He wasn't in any pain at that point--just so, so tired from his body trying so hard to fight off the disease. But the vet said he was dehydrated & would soon start to be in pain. I didn't want that for him. He was just very sleepy & worn-out right now but still happy and purring and snuggly. If he had to go, I wanted him to be happy when it was time. And the vet said that it was really the best choice for him. 

I'll miss my little baby, even though I only had him for a few months.  He was a sweet, loving little guy and he just stole my heart.  He used to run to the door to greet me when I came home and wanted me to hold him. He was a little lovebug and I am going to miss him like crazy. 

Hubert

It's been awhile since I have talked about the cats. I can't be a crazy cat lady if I don't talk about them, right? So cat post today. You're welcome.

I recently found out that Hubert has asthma. I didn't even know that was a thing for cats, but apparently it is. I discovered this bc about 3 weeks ago, Hubert started making this choking, gagging noise. At first I thought it might be a hairball but nothing came up & he kept doing it. I thought he might have eaten something he shouldn't & that it was stuck so I took him to the vet.

I did my very first 5k today!

I did the Run For Your Lives 5k zombie obstacle course today w/ CB & it was such a blast! Exhausting as hell but super fun!

It thunderstormed all morning, so by the time we did our wave, the course had turned into this super sloppy, wet, muddy nightmare. I slipped & fell on the mud so many times I lost count. It made some of the parts of the course almost impossible to get through, but CB & I powered through.

Everyone got these belts w/ 3 flags on them & there were zombies throughout the course trying to grab your flags. I was able to hang onto @ least 1 of my flags through 6 crowds of zombies (I lasted longer than CB!) and then I lost all my flags about halfway through. By that time, I was pretty tired & didn't mind not having to run away from the zombies. The obstacles were pretty difficult! There was a maze, monkey bars, wires to climb under, water to wade through, shock wires, a balance beam...not to mention super steep hills that had been turned into a mudslide by the rain.

Ugh.

Everyone is all abuzz on the interwebs about the Boston bombing suspect and Quarles, a case which I'm sure no one other than nerds and lawyers and nerdy lawyers knew about before this week, and Miranda warnings.  I could add more to the debate, but I think it's easier to just tell you to go read this blog posting about it, because it's very well-written and explains everything very nicely. 

This is my last day to be a 20-something.  I feel like I have to start being a grown-up or something tomorrow and who wants to do that?  Blech. Pass. 

In make-my-Monday-even-worse-news, YKW texted me this morning to apologize for forgetting to tell me happy birthday yesterday.  Problem is that my birthday isn't till tomorrow. Really?? Really?? Six years together and he's already forgotten my birthday?  Thanks, pal.  Glad to see how memorable our effing marriage was to him.  It shouldn't bother me.  I should just ignore it and not let it be a concern at all.  But it does bother me.  I spent 6 years with that guy.  I was freaking married to him.  And then he forgets when my birthday is.  Ugh.  Whatevs.  I guess it's just one more reason to think that perhaps I dodged a bullet by him divorcing me--otherwise I'd be stuck w/ him for the rest of my life. 

All right, that's enough complaining from me for now.  Off to go look at adorable kittens to help cheer me up.

Eye make-up tutorial

(For any readers not interested in knowing techniques for doing eye make-up, you can just totally disregard this post.)

I frequently get told that people like how I do my eye make-up and/or asked if I can do other people's eye make-up for them. Since people seem interested, and my eye make-up tricks/techniques aren't really particularly complicated, I figured I'd share how I do it and then anyone who wants to try it out can.  In order to see the details more, I did this with Microsoft Paint, so the steps would be more obvious to see.  I also took photos of the actual steps, so you can see what they look like as they look in real life.

Sewing master

I made pants! My first pair I've ever made on my own. I am pretty excited about it.

And I don't normally stick my butt out like that. CB told me to so it would be a funny picture. She is clearly a bad influence.

Still looking and feeling good

Been a week and a half and my nails are still in good shape! Normally they would look like a hot mess by now.

I am also still feeling pretty good on a daily basis. Some days I still feel pretty down but they are happening less and less. It is a nice change of pace from feeling horrible every single day of my life.

Seriously.

Every freaking morning!!

Product review

It's been awhile since I've talked about a product that I like enough to talk about it. But, recently I have become a fan of Sally Hansen gel manicure kit. A coworker and I (Carpool Buddy, aka CB) split the cost of it. It's not terribly spendy but it was more than either of us wanted to pay if it didn't work. There are two versions. One has a mini-LED light and uses nail polish strips. That is about  $30. We got that one. The other one uses actual polish, not strips, and a bigger LED light. That one was like $120. Too much for my budget.
However, they sell replacement items for both the big and little kit. So, we bought a shade of the gel nail polish. CB used the strips and I used the polish. Since I didn't use the strips I'll just talk about the polish.
I freaking love it! I can never seem to wait long enough for my nail polish to dry and I always screw it up. This dries right after you stick your nail under the light, which lasts about 30 seconds! Amazing!
And normally I manage to somehow chip my polish in a day or two, at most. If I put my hands in water for any length of time, it's over. But this has stayed looking nice since I did it on Saturday. AND the picture I'm including in this post is what they look like after I spent an hour with my hands in water while I cleaned the bathroom. They look pristine!
So, I give this two well-manicured thumbs up. I would suggest getting the small kit and if you want to use regular polish, not the strips, buy the individual colors as you need them. Unless the bigger light is really important to you, you can get all the pieces from the big kit (minus the light) as replacement items for cheaper than buying the big kit. So, go with the little one and buy the other pieces separately.

This happens literally every morning

I made this

I made myself a bag for carrying my files to court. I have always had the problem where the straps break off due to carrying many files. So I made a bag with straps that go all the way under the bottom. Then my co worker asked me to make her one. So I did! Hers is a bit more fancy since it has a detachable inside purse/pocket. I'm happy with the way this came out!

My paperback is here!

So cool to see it in print.

This is weird

This is a real picture I took as I was walking back from the courthouse to my office.  I don't even understand what this is.  I've named it "Flamingo Graveyard" because apparently it's where plastic lawn flamingos go to die.  It's also the side of a church, so a graveyard seems fitting. 

Seriously.  What is going on?

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I'm being transferred at work to a different county than the one I've been in for the last 2 years. I'm actually pretty sad about the move.  I like the county that I work in and I'm sad that I will have to change. Plus, I hate change with a passion. I hate having to meet new people and I hate having to be in new situations where I don't know what's expected... Every court has its own idiosyncrasies and I hate not knowing what those are when I am in court.  After you've been in court for awhile in a certain area, you get used to what to expect and what the judges are like and how things operate...but, I'm going to be tossed into a new environment and have to learn this new court's processes.  Sigh... Plus, I have to say goodbye to all the awesome people at my current county!  That makes me sad, too.  A couple of the court clerks have asked me if it is true I'm moving and said that they hoped I'd be back soon because they liked having me there.  That was really nice to hear.  And I'll miss the prosecutors, too, since I genuinely like and get along w/ all of them.  I'd consider them all friends, so I am sad to have to leave.

Awwww, yeah!!!

And now, here's this stuff

I got the "corrected" divorce paperwork today.  Guess what?  Still not correct.  Including--once again--my name.  Even after notifying YKW's attorney that there were errors, there are still errors.  This is never going to be over...ugggghhhhh...  Again, this just continues to drag on and on and on and on...can it just be over?!?!  I just want this to be over... 

Look what I can do!

I can sew stuff.  Like this dress: 

You can tell it's homemade if you look at the part that I totally messed up when I was doing the lining right by the zipper in the back.  Good thing it's just the lining and it's not visible from the outside at all. 

I was pretty pumped that this turned out!  I wanted it to look like it wasn't handmade because I always think that's the litmus test to determine if something is well-made.  If no one can tell it's homemade, then I did a good job on it. 

So far, I've made 2 dresses that are done decently enough so that I don't think they are obviously handmade.  I'm moving on to a suit jacket next.  We'll see if I can make that turn out...that seems much harder.  Because it has sleeves...

A ridiculous number of cat photos

For whatever reason, the Blogger app on my phone no longer lets me upload photos when I want to write a post.  It always says, "Publish failed" and then I can't post pictures.  I find this insanely frustrating.  In part because I haven't been able to put up any photos of Hubert since I first got him!  And he's adorable so there definitely needs to be more pictures of him on my blog. Be prepared for your face to explode with cuteness overload.

Hello, Hubert!

This is Hubert, the newest member of the family. He is one month old and polydactyl, meaning he has 6 toes on his front paws.
Ward has been super lonely since we lost Oscar. He cries and cries and clings to me like crazy. So, I figured it was probably a good idea to get him a new friend to help him not feel so lonely.  Everything I read said to get a kitten (not an older cat) to be a companion for a cat that has recently lost another cat.  Apparently an older cat can be seen as a threat/the reason the other cat is now gone, causing the remaining cat to fight with the older, new cat. So, although I never get kittens and always adopt older cats, the humane society had a few kittens so I went there to get one.
And so, we have Hubert now. Ward seems to be fascinated by him. He likes to lick him a lot and wants to follow him around. Hubert seems more interested in exploring the apt at the moment, although they did snuggle for a minute.
Hubert is so cute.  He's never gonna replace my big kitty Oscar, but at least he is cute and now Ward won't be so sad and lonely.

I swear, I'm not an episode of "Hoarders..."

It just really looks that way at the moment bc I have to figure out where things are going to go in the new place.
But I'm still not feeling well at all, so I was barely able to do anything more than locate where a fresh set of sheet were in this mess, put them on the bed, and collapse.  I'm so exhausted from being sick and stressed and sad and grieving and having to pack and to move stuff that I can barely think straight anymore.
And poor Ward! I thought he was going to have an aneurysm or something. This poor cat was already freaking out bc Oscar is gone. He kept wanting me to hold and cuddle him ever since Thursday. Then today, when a whole ton of Mormon guys showed up to move all my stuff, Ward was totally tweaking. I had to put him in the cat carrier until the move was over and he was not happy one bit about that. And then when the move was over, he kept running around and crying the most pathetic, sad, confused meows ever. He was so miserable.  Poor stressed out kitty lost his best bud and his home all at the same time.
Once I got the bed set up, he seemed to do a bit better.  It was somewhere familiar for him and I laid down with him for a few minutes after it was set up so he could see that I was still there, too. Bed and me, his two favorite things. Well, I might actually come after food, so two of his three favorite things...
And now, more feeling horrible and ill and wishing my things would just put themselves in place so I won't have to do it whenever I feel better/have time. But at least I've got the bed set up so I have a place to lay down while I am sick.