Whew, bet I got ‘cha there.  Didn’t expect a post from me, did you?

Yes, I’m back – although in truth I have been diligently stalking you all, I just got out of the posting habit. Not that my life has been extremely exciting, but since it’s been months, I should be able to fill up a couple of paragraphs with news.  

Work – still puttering along. I mostly spend my days cursing at not one, but two computers: my main one and the one I use to run hydrologic models.  In truth, I’m thankful to be back to modeling as most of the winter seemed to be dealing with crisis after crisis. (Get info for the town officials! Get info for the lawyers! We need to put projects on the list for Obama money! What do you mean you're not an engineer?!) When it finally settled down it took me awhile to figure out what it is I normally do.

I am not so naïve to believe that there is not another crisis waiting around the corner (I know of at least two that are waiting to pounce), but I’ve got a couple weeks down time while a model simulation is running and the boss man is on vacation, so we are focusing on personal development and straightening up.

Of course the budget discussion and potential layoffs have got us jumpy. At this point I my position is probably not going to be cut, but I’m a young ‘un and could easily be bumped by a more senior employee if they get into much cutting. Fingers crossed and trying to think about it too much other than being prudent with my money and making sure my resume is up to date.

I have two weddings to attend this summer (you know who you are) and two pregnant friends due late summer/early fall. Me thinks it is going to be a busy summer.

In the midst of this I have been practicing for my dance recital in May.  Dance recital, you say? I may have mentioned that I take a Zumba class, which is a Latin dance based aerobics workout.  I take Zumba at One Studio Dance and Yoga, which in addition to adult workout classes, offers a variety of dance classes for children. All the children’s classes perform in a recital in May. A few months ago, Taryn, our teacher broached the subject of having a few of us regulars do a little something for said recital, as a way of representing the adult classes.  We agreed when she said it would be something simple, mostly stuff we did in class.  She lied. We’re doing a medley of five styles, the salsa section is definitely way more intricate than anything we have done in class and we’re learning the waltz to boot.  But if I’m honest, we’re having fun and we’re sure to entertain even if we fall flat on our faces.

As spring is still making its reluctant appearance I’ve been dreaming about my community garden plot. I’ve even got two mini flats of seeds started on my window sill. So far I’ve got tomatoes, peppers, basil, cucumbers (which I always have trouble with) delicata squash, and, uh, broccoli? I’ve got seeds for more herbs, green (or rather purple) beans, pattypan squash, peas, carrots, soybeans, sunflowers, lettuce, spinach, and probably some other things I’m forgetting.

I’ve also had the sewing bug recently.  I’ve finished my apron and am working on a quilt in browns, green, and teal. I’ve got a few baby related projects in the queue and I want to make some funky colorful totes. I went on the Quilt Shop Hop (14 fabric stores over two weekends) so my stash is doing pretty good at the moment.

So, you will remember the story of the futon I ordered.  I checked my credit card to make sure that I had, indeed, been refunded the amount of the frame.  Yes, good.  

Well, the second box showed up today. 

That's right, I got a free futon frame, worth $300. 

Needless to say, I win.  

Project time! 

Update: Um, so the bits don't fit together.  One bit's like an inch shorter than the other bit it's supposed to attach to and the holes for the screws don't match up. Didn't I say I wasn't going to buy furniture that I had to assemble like ever again? Whatever, I'm tired and everthing is just funny now, especially the little stickers that say "Quality control by worker 101" on every one of the pieces.  Plan A, get in contact with manufacturer and see if they can do replacement parts.  Even if I have to pay something, this futon still pretty cheap.  Plan B find a way to fix it. 

Not too much happened on the apartment front yesterday.  Morning I did a little shopping, mostly to get a new computer desk.  The one that I have has suffered since I got it in the fifth grade.  Structurally, it is still sound, but cosmetically it is looking worse for wear, and it was never all that attractive to begin with.  Fake wood laminate over particle board, but so is the new one.  Difference is how fake the wood laminate looks and that it is peeling off in some places.  Plenty of paint on it too.  The real issue is that it is ENORMOUS, weighs a ton, and there isn’t really any way to take it apart into sections for moving.

Not that the new one isn’t plenty heavy.  I went over in the afternoon to bring it over with my brother to help me. At this point, the thing was completely disassembled and in a flat box. We couldn’t lift it, so we ended up rolling it. Yes, a box.  It was the only way we could do it.  Ten minutes and ten feet later, we were inside the apartment and decided just to open the box and carry it up in pieces.  After that we were exhausted and decided to call it quits for the day.

I went over at lunch today to have a look at the instructions to make sure I could handle putting it together myself.  Should be ok.  I got halfway through assembling the printer cart (or nightstand, whatever) during my lunch break, but spent most of the time getting acquainted with Newt. We’re totally B.F.F.’s already.  After a moment’s hesitation she was rubbing against me and licking me on the nose.  Very bad, did not want to come back to work. But I did. *Sigh*. Now I have to decide if I want to spend the evening at home sorting through stuff, or at the apartment assembling the desk, which is currently spread out on the floor in twenty odd pieces. 

I wonder if we’ll get any kids for Halloween. Best have candy on hand, just in case. *wink*

Well, we signed the lease this morning and got the keys this morning.  Our landlord is fine with letting us move in a few days before the first of the month, so I went over with a carful of stuff, the sum total of what I had managed to sort through so far.  Mostly kitchen stuff and the bed linens I had bought.  Cait had a trunkful of stuff as well - she'll be moving in fully this weekend, as will Newt, the cat, but most of it will happen tomorrow when she has a friend with a van helping her.  I am getting the larger bedroom, but I offered to pay a little more rent for it, so I think we are all fair and above board with that situation.  There is still some finishing work to be done in the basement.  Normally the basements in these units are completely unfinished, but whoever was in here last decided to put up some drywall to close off the laundry and furnace area from the rest of the space, so it is drywall on three of the four walls. I can't believe that they were planning on moving out when they did, as they only got to one layer of spackle on the joints and it hasn't been sanded.  With a little direction from my dad, we can finish that up and then paint it, so we will essentially have a second living area down there. It helped that they left the spackle knifes and paint rollers for us. The ceiling won't be finished, but we can live with that.  Maybe then we can get a futon or something to go down there and it can serve as a guest room if we ever need one.

After I unloaded and poked around it was home to lunch, then off to the furniture. My parent's tagged along, and I think they fell in love with a coffee table, oh well.   I bought my mattress and a cute red microfiber loveseat for the upstairs living room.  I ordered my a bedframe and a chest of drawers for my bedroom.  Such cuteness there will be!  The mattress and the the loveseat (it was a floor model and on sale) are being delivered on Wednesday, around the same time as the televisaphonernetting people are coming, so I won't be living there before then.  I can deal with the lack of most furniture for now, but I can't sleep out of a box.  This way I can load up the car before I go to work and unpack either during lunch or after work. After the furniture store, we went back to the aparment, as they hadn't seen it yet, and I could get Dad's consult on what we can do in the basement.  

Tonight, I am exhausted. I was too excited to sleep in this morning and it is hitting me now.  I may sort through some more stuff, or I may just be a lump.  I'm leaning towards lump. 

I have so much stuff to buy (!) and I have lists out the wazoo.  Groceries lists, furniture lists, people to call lists, change of addresses to do etc.  But I am happy to be busy.  At some point it will sink in that I will be living there and it’s not just something to decorate, because, let’s face it, that’s really what I am focusing on right now.  Sheets! I need sheets!  *Adds to list*. 

Emily looks like loon dung (oddly enough, this refers to Tropical Storm Emily)

Emily looks like Carrie Underwood

Emily looks like Uma Thurman

Emily looks like a dog show.

Emily looks like an attractive woman I have never heard of.

Emily looks like the girl Napolean Dynamite took to the dance.

Emily looks like a serious bitch

Emily looks like she is getting ready to push Keillor off the dock

Emily looks like she is breaking down Pythaegorems theory

Emily looks like she is getting ready to go skydiving

Emily looks like she is having a seizure

Em looks like she is about to have a "heart attack ack ack ack ack"

Em looks like a freakin troll

Em looks like another threat to world peace

Emmy looks like she’s trying to hold a fart while smiling.

Emmy looks like a fucking muppet

To Whom it May Concern;

Please stop falling on my head.  Seriously.  It's one thing when I am taking a walk in the woods, ducking under tree branches, and I shake some of you loose.  It's the woods. There's bugs. I can accept that.  The perpertrator might get a shriek and a short flight, but with your little exoskeletons I doubt that I will do you much damage.  

What I take offense to you is falling on my head while I am in doors.  Twice when I worked in the drug store did I pick spiders out of my hair. What if I had been a customer?  What if I had been with a customer when I did my little dance, plucked you from my hair, then threw you outside.  In college, your comrades the houseflies would inhabit my room for weeks undernourished from the lack of food then finally fall off the ceiling, dead, onto my head.  Really, I have been told that I have a large head, but this is ridiculous.  Why does a dying fly's last deed need to be positioning himself directly over my scalp? Concentrating on orgo is hard enough without such distractions.

This morning was the last straw. When that hairy little arthropod decided to make my head his landing spot and a springboard onto my keyboard, I was not so merciful.  Be advised that any similar occurrances will result in the execution of the perpertrator.  

Sincerely,
Emily

I forgot to take my allergy medicine the night before last: hello, post-nasal drip and a sore throat.  

Last night I took a full pill instead of a half of one.

Now I have post-nasal drip, a sore throat, and a hazy head.  

That was a brilliant plan.  

Now we have a public meeting tonight in South Burlington, so I got dressed up all cute so I would be  a good representative of the Agency.  Too bad I am a zombie.