I want to wish some safety to all of my friends in Alabama and Florida as Ida nears the coast.

I know she's kicking up storms for us in Houston today.

Be careful and take care!

We got some serious rain this morning. It was INSANE. Check out the radar image:



Y'all... we had rain and hail so strong I was afraid it would break the window. It was so strong, it was like being in a hurricane - and I know what a hurricane rain is like (thanks to Ike as seen in my icon). It was a serious storm.

These storms were along a cool front. It's 66 degrees outside at 8am. The high is going to be 81. OMG, that's INSANE.

Look at me! (Well, the dot that represents approximately where I am)

CRAP. Well, I would show you the radar screencap, but since I'm currently at LAME account status, I can't access my scrapbook, and I'm not going to try and fuck with photobucket or flickr or anything while it's raining.

Imagine a radar screencap like my past ones, but with a TON OF RED right around my little dot. It's dark as dusk at the moment, that's how bad it is outside. And Fluffy's so scared of the almost constant rumbles of thunder that she's disappeared under the bed where it can't get her.

Rain just started. Naturally, Sis and I have to leave in an hour to drive to my psychiatry appointment, then to hers (ironically). I'm not thrilled at the prospect of getting soaked. At least I'm the one that's driving. I don't trust her to drive in deluge.

This is from the NWS this morning:

Statement as of 8:30 AM CDT on September 08, 2009

... Funnel clouds will be possible today...

A very moist tropical airmass is in place over southeast Texas
today. This moisture... combined with relatively weak winds aloft
will provide favorable conditions for the development of funnel
clouds near the coast.

These funnel clouds are short-lived and usually will not reach the
ground. If a funnel cloud strengthens and touches the ground minor
damage may occur... and a Tornado Warning will likely be issued.

Please report any funnel clouds to local law enforcement
officials... who will relay your report to the National Weather Service.

I'm going to keep my eye out... I've never seen one, and would like to, if it's safe. Otherwise, I'll just watch the radar like usual.

Also: Check out the National Hurricane Center's coverage of now-Tropical Storm Fred (nhc.noaa.gov). Somehow I just can't be too afraid of a storm named "Fred." It'd be like a Bruce or Barney, too. 

It's raining
it's pouring
at least football isn't boring

Yes, it is now officially college football time (also "Emily yelling at her TV while alone in her room" time)!! I'm watching OK State beat Georgia. However, I'm thrilled that Navy almost beat Ohio State. Ever since all of the nastiness OSU unleashed on UT several seasons ago, I am always thrilled when they get beaten. Or even almost-beaten like this first game. It was NAVY for Pete's sake. I have a feeling that will affect their rank on Monday. Baylor won over Wake Forest. Also interesting, since Baylor is the "Why exactly are they in the Big 12?" team. Baylor is always an easy game.

UT starts playing in under 10 minutes. However, the PPV is $40. So I'm going to be watching Sports Illustrated's live coverage online. Not even vaguely the same, but it's the best I can do. I will not say anything about this game for fear of jinxing it.

It keeps raining here... I'm wondering how much the rain will affect the game in Austin. Hopefully not much.

Also... I have caved to peer pressure and finally joined up on facebook. I'm somewhat ashamed. However, a couple of you popped up on my "add friends?" list, so... beware there are friend requests lurking in your email. Otherwise, I am trying not to get so addicted that I check it every five seconds. That would be bad (and kinda pathetic). You know what finally forced me to sign up? One of my best friends, Bryan, replied to one of Mom's statuses with "make Em join so I can talk to her!" She forwarded this, and I couldn't say no. So... yeah.

Check out the storm headed my way:


I am the dot above Jersey Village. The stuff south of us now near Rosenberg went through earlier. We're now going to get the stuff that's north of me on the map. A big fuckin' storm, man. The purple area is headed directly for us. That part of the storm is the strongest, with a 100% chance of hail and a 40% chance of severe hail, with stones up to 1 inch. Dude. I should get off the computer and shut down. Looks like this might be a doozy.

Also: it seems I am destined to be stuck in traffic. The buses only go into town from my area in the mornings, and only come back in the evenings. I would have to slog through part of rush hour just to get to a place where the buses go all day, and then it would take an hour and a half to get there and 2 hours back. No thank you.

It's raining! I was awakened by thunder and rain against my window a little while ago. So nice. I didn't think we were forecast for rain today (it was perfectly clear this morning), but I'm not complaining. I just hope Mom has her car windows up at work.

So: this morning. I took a nap after my fight with Mom yesterday and slept until about 11. I fell back asleep, but was only asleep until about 1:30. I woke up then and couldn't ever fall back to sleep. I cleaned, I painted, I knitted, I read, but I didn't sleep. I left the house for my early morning group therapy appointment at 6:15. I hit Walgreens and bought a giant Red Bull (whoever at RB came up with this - THANK YOU), an Arizona ginseng tea, a 20 oz of Mountain Dew, and several powerbars. Red Bull and a powerbar is actually a fairly decent breakfast, I have found. You wake up due to the caffeine, and the powerbar keeps you going for hours.

I left so early because I thought I would be sitting in traffic all the way there. I didn't. In fact, once I passed the major clot of people coming from my area toward the outer loop highway, it was pretty smooth (and fast) sailing from there. Which meant, instead of arriving at 8 like I planned, I got there at 7:15. (Tuesday, I'm not leaving until 7... hopefully I will get there on time but without so much time to spare.) So I had to cool my heels in the main waiting room at the Neuropsychiatric Center in the medical center here. It's the county-run psych hospital (I believe also known as HCPC - Harris County Psych Clinic). I have found that there's something about unmedicated and slightly-to-fully manic bipolars that cause them to interrupt whatever you're doing so they can talk to you. I was sitting quietly in a corner studying Spanish. This girl approached me and asked what I was studying. It was basically just an opening so she could tell me in very fast excited speech about her whole schooling and what was happening to her now. It wasn't a big deal, she was nice, but it's always annoying to me that people won't leave me alone when I am obviously concentrating on something else. Anyway... another woman joined our conversation. She was so chatty. Turned out she was in my group. She seems nice, though scattered.

This is a preparatory group to get people ready for the actual Intensive Outpatient Program. The prep group meets Tues/Thurs 8:30-9:20. The actual IOP meets M/W/F 8-12:15. Yeah. Basically 12 hours a week. I'm looking at taking the bus into town instead of driving... less stress and cheaper in the long run, I'm sure. It's going to be all about logistics. At least they comp you most of the fee for parking in the garage. In medical center extortion style, the garage starts at $4 for 30 mins and goes up to $10 for 4+ hours. Yeah. Thankfully, the hospital picks up $7 of the parking fee, so I only had to pay $1. Much better.

The people were really interesting. The psychologist who runs it seems nice, if a little reminiscent of Amy Adams in Enchanted. I'm definitely the smartest person there (not bragging, but accurate). There were 6 in our group including me. A shy woman who seemed willing to work, a girl who had the first-time-in-group-therapy freaked out look, a woman who seems really nice though definitely working with a couple of wheels in the dirt, the woman who was totally in a mid-life crisis, and this guy who seemed like he just wasn't coping, though he put on a good front. My suspicion is that at least a couple of these people also have chemical addictions that they're working on. OH! That's one of those things I'm not thrilled about... the whole program is sober. Like, even if you have no drug addictions, you can't go home and have a glass of wine with dinner. I feel rather mislead by Dr. Shah... he said that I would be dealing with other bipolars, not with people with CD issues or other sometimes scary psych illnesses. However, it might prove useful, so I'm not going to give up on it yet.

I talked to the girl that seemed totally overwhelmed by the group when we left. I asked if it was her first time in a group. She said yeah and that she wasn't sure if it was going to work for her. I told her that I had felt that way for a long time, but that the last group I was in changed my mind. That I found I learned from others and their experiences when I thought it would be useless. And that those people I thought I'd learn the least from actually had some really great insights. I asked her to give it another chance on Tuesday. If she still felt like it wouldn't work for her, then to talk to her individual therapist and try to work that way for a while. She seemed relieved that someone understood and didn't judge. (I was writing in my journal right before I went upstairs and I wrote at the top of a page "GET ME OUT OF HERE, LORD PLEASE STRIKE ME DEAD BEFORE I HAVE TO DO THIS. DO NOT WANT." I told her this and she seemed to feel better that even someone who seemed fairly engaged in the group had misgivings. I have a feeling she was thinking like I was: "I am no where NEAR as sick as these people, what am I doing here?" Hopefully she'll come back on Tuesday. I told her that I hoped to see her, but either way, I hoped she did well.

I'm... going back to sleep. I am so freaking tired OMG.

WE HAD A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 88 YESTERDAY!!! We didn't even hit 90. We might actually be in fall, during fall! Usually, the 80s only hit sometime in late October. It was insane... I was actually COLD all day in my room, because the air conditioning wasn't having to work so hard. I'm shocked and amazed and THRILLED.

People, the heat is GONE. SO HAPPY OMG!!

I'm really impressed... the weather is actually really pleasant! It's 12:30 and still in the 80s. It's sunny, not hot, and with a cool breeze. Such a nice day to drive around with the sunroof open (which is what I did when I ran over to Sonic for breakfast).

As I walked out of the house, a squirrel in the oak tree out front started complaining at me. Every time I moved, he would chitter at me. It was so funny. This fall we have to do some gardening... there was a tiny palm plant in the flowerbed out front last year. Now it's a small palm tree. It needs to be transplanted to the backyard. We need to reseed, weed, and generally clean up both front and back. The backyard right now looks more like a jungle than a tiny tiny plot of yard.

We are also talking about getting the hot tub (that came with the house) tuned up - cleaned, balanced, refiled, etc. - so that we can use it. I have read that soaking in a hot tub is great therapy for fibromyalgia. It'd be nice to actually use the damn thing, instead of just listening to it circulate. It's one of those ones that has the LED lights that make the water turn different colors if you so choose.

Now that it's nice outside, Mom and I can start to work on enclosing the porch (where the hot tub is) so that we can let the cats outside. We just could not do it when every afternoon was in the 100s. Now that we are only reaching the low 90s, it's much more doable. Probably next paycheck, when we don't have to pay rent.

I finally found my Spanish workbook! I can learn the rest of the language finally. That will be so useful. I really need to find someone to talk to on a regular basis that will help me learn how to speak as well as I can listen and comprehend. And I need to learn how to speak in another tense than present. That will only get you so far.

I've also decided to start bringing crayons and paper with me when I go to clinics around the county, so that when I end up hanging out with other people's kids, I have something for them to do. I should also hit somewhere like Barnes & Noble for a book that is in both English and Spanish. That would be good to have. I think it's so funny that I've become this child magnet. I've never been a kid person. I just never know what to say and how to talk to them without being either condescending or too old and using too big words. 

I'm only awake right now because for some crazy reason, I have the worst restless legs. I ate, I drank a bunch of gatorade, and nothing helped. Very strange. So I finally gave up on continuing to sleep and got up. I should really stop messing around on the computer and start studying my Spanish, but it's Sunday, and I'm being lazy.

I really need to clean... maybe later. I don't know why I'm writing two-sentence paragraphs, but, whatever. (My mood penguin is super-awake. I really like him... he's cute. Reminds me a little of Opus, but without the sarcasm or Bill. Ah, Bill, I miss you. ACK!)

What causes these long, strange clouds? No one is sure. A rare type of cloud known as a Morning Glory cloud can stretch 1,000 kilometers long and occur at altitudes up to two kilometers high. Although similar roll clouds have been seen at specific places across the world, the ones over Burketown, Queensland Australia occur predictably every spring. Long, horizontal, circulating tubes of air might form when flowing, moist, cooling air encounters an inversion layer, an atmospheric layer where air temperature atypically increases with height. These tubes and surrounding air could cause dangerous turbulence for airplanes when clear. Morning Glory clouds can reportedly achieve an airspeed of 60 kilometers per hour over a surface with little discernible wind. Pictured above, photographer Mick Petroff photographed some Morning Glory clouds from his airplane near the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.

(from the Astronomy Picture of the Day page from Nasa.gov)

We have our first named tropical storm of the year! Introducing Ana! It is currently projected to head toward Florida, but the 5-day track is subject to major changes, so who knows? I'm just glad that the Atlantic is finally producing... that means that more regular weather is headed our way, instead of the infernal high pressure dome that sat over us all May and June (and part of July) that kept us from getting any rain and kept our temperatures well into the 100s.

Woke up this afternoon to thunder. I had missed the rain while asleep, but the thunder was loud enough that it crept into my dreams and finally woke me up. It doesn't look like we're going to get any more today, but there is a chance for rain for the next couple of days. I love that right now it's in the upper 80s. At 5:30pm. That, currently, is unheard of. I'm actually rather cool upstairs. That, in the late afternoon, hasn't happened in MONTHS.

As my tiny text posts this morning hinted, I was woken up at around 7am by Mom calling me to tell me there was an enormous cat fight outside my door. Once again, I had heard it, but it was background noise in my dreams that I had been wondering at. (The fact that my brain takes in outside sounds and implants them in my dreams is why I have to be VERY CAREFUL about what tv show I fall asleep to, or else I get nightmares.) Somehow, the door to the bathroom where the three little cats are currently held was opened. I have NO IDEA how this happened. I suspect Fluffy used Andrew to do it (that's his one trick... opening doors, even the round-handled ones). She sneaked into the bathroom and proceeded to beat up on the littles - one of her favorite activities. I was able to get her out and down the stairs. She was thoroughly chastised. My one remaining problem was that I couldn't find Abby. She seemed to have completely disappeared. You know how cats do that sometimes? They just pop out of this existence and then pop back in again at a later time? We call it tessercating in our house. I had looked everywhere... the bathroom cabinets, under my bed and in my room, downstairs... nothing. So I left my bedroom door open and sat down on the bed, I figured she would show up at some point. Fluffy came back up stairs and as she walked toward my room, she looked at a bookcase that is in the alcove on the landing. My brain went, "AHA! That's where she is." So I threw Fluffy in my room and closed the door. I then spent the next 15 minutes talking very soothingly to Abby trying to convince her that Fluffy was not around, and that she was safe. She finally came out enough that I could grab her and put her back into the bathroom. Fluffy was then ceremoniously kicked out of my bedroom with an, "Oh I don't THINK so. Bad cat."

I slept from a little after that until about an hour ago. Freaking Celexa. Oh! Speaking of that, I realized why there's a suicide warning label for the drug. It's not because it affects your mood enough to cause you to feel suicidal, it's because you don't want to live anymore once all the side effects kick in - bad meds joke. I'm currently dealing with hypersomnolence, migraine (for which I feel really pissed off about - I JUST FIXED THAT PROBLEM), and serious intestinal woes. I'm also seriously achy. I basically feel like I did when I was in a major depression. Not good. This is an ANTI depressant, supposedly.

However, I have found a solution: the prescription assistance program. I have the application to send to Lexapro's manufacturer to get free meds. I just have to have my old psychiatrist fill out his portion. I'm going to be calling him on Monday to ask him if he'd fill out the forms for me, and also, if he has any Lexapro samples that he can hook me up with. That way I don't have to take this crappy celexa anymore.

Here's the problem between the two:
The celexa molecule


The Lexapro molecule


The lexapro molecule is the left side of the Celexa molecule. That big chain on the right side of the Celexa molecule is where all the side effects come from. Which is why I want my Lexapro back. My body has become so used to the one molecule, that it's freaking out trying to figure out why the medication is similar, yet so very different.

I have been on Lexapro for over 6 years. I really didn't want to mess with it. Now I have proof as to why it's a bad idea to do so. Hopefully, I can get the samples or something to allow me to switch back. I NEED IT.

Once again, thanks for listeningreading my problems.

I am vindicated. As I thought, the law in Texas is that you must have personal liability coverage to legally operate a vehicle. The car itself does not have to be insured, nor does your insurance card need to identify the vehicle you are driving. Because to get insurance that listed every vehicle you might possibly drive is just plain stupid - and expensive.

Here's the breakdown of today:
6:00am - I woke up. Well, I was kinda half-awake anyway since I mostly woke up at 5:45. This was after only falling asleep at 11:30ish - what? I felt compelled to watch the new episode of Torchwood (because I'm lame and watching it every day as it appears on BBCAmerica). Then, naturally, I was anxious and it kept me waking up about every 30 minutes from 3 until 4:30. One of those things where I would wake up, turn over, dream, wake up, look at my watch and realize it's only been 20 minutes, turn over, dream again, etc. Repeat ad nauseum for an hour and a half. I didn't actually rise and go downstairs until 6:30. I am a good procrasinator.

7:45am - left the house after a shower. Hoped I was appropriately dressed. I was wearing a half-sleeve button down shirt (that I look very good in), my knee-length khaki skirt (never worn!), black dress sandals, with my pearl earrings and cross. Hair was up in a twist with my curls hanging in the back.

7:50am - in line at Starbucks.

8:00am - waiting for my drink (venti black eye - drip coffee plus 2 shots of espresso - on ice, with a little half&half and 10 sweet n' low).

8:10am - FINALLY leaving the Starbucks and on the way to the precinct where the traffic hearing is.

8:30am - arrived at the little tiny precint office. Harris County Sheriff's office, judge, jail, all in one! Had to park WAY in the back and walk in the heat and humidity about 250 yards in heels to the front door, which was the absolute farthest one from the place I parked. Passed both jail entrances, and the actual court entrance. The judge was not in his parking spot yet. Court starts at 9am.

9:00am - appeared in front of the court clerk as she is the first step in this particular hierarchy (clerk, district attorney, judge, in this case). By this time I was totally overheated because there were TONS of people in the building and the a/c was not doing an adequate job of cooling. I explained to her that I had personal insurance coverage on the date I was pulled over, and was told by the cop that I needed a card that showed the vehicle I was driving, even after I had explained that it wasn't my car. She told me that she didn't know that particular officer, but that I WAS CORRECT and all he did was waste my time. I mentioned that he attempted to humiliate me at the same time by conducting all of our business over his loudspeaker so that the entire McDonald''s could hear what was happening. She said that was really not appropriate. She then asked about the registration... I told her that he still ticketed me for that even when it wasn't my car, and therefore, not my personal financial responsibility. She agreed with me, but since he wrote it on the ticket, she needed to know if it was fixed. Mom had provided me with the confirmation from getting the sticker updated, so that was all good. The clerk dismissed the "failure to maintain financial responsibility" (in other words, I didn't have insurance) since I DID have insurance. She said that the registration violation would have to be dismissed by the district attorney, and that he wouldn't be in the office until Monday morning, but that all I had to do was call after noon on Monday to check to make sure that part was dismissed, too. YES!!

Also, I was overdressed. Everyone else was at least in flip flops and some guys were wearing shorts (which is NOT allowed in court). I was also the only one not in either cropped pants or jeans. I learned from all of my paralegal classes - about 6 years ago - that it is super disrespectful to the court (and to the judge) to appear in anything less than at least business attire. In my outfit today, I actually felt I was pushing it on the casual side.

9:15am - I walked out of the building and almost ran smack into the judge. He was just getting out of his truck. Since I had been smart in noticing his parking space marker on the way in, I said, "Good morning, Your Honor," and smiled. He looked surprised and said, "Oh! Good morning!" I think he was wondering if I was going to be appearing before him or what, and if not, how I knew who he was. Always good to be on the good side of the presiding judge. I learned that from the judge I took Intro to Law from in Austin.

I was back home before 10. I was very pleased that everything went so smoothly. Whew. Load off my mind.

Now I'm just waiting for the movers with Sis's furniture to arrive. Mom left me a note this morning with the paperwork for the court that said, "The kitchen looks FABULOUS. THANK YOU." Made me feel really good. She told me this morning after I returned that she walked in last night and was completely surprised at how much I had been able to do. I do love getting approval from Mom. Especially since Sis pissed on it last night saying that what I had done wasn't what Mom wanted me to do. HAH.

OH!! ALSO: IT"S RAINING!! Thundering, even. However, I'm hoping this will be past by the time they come to move Sis's furniture, because that would be bad. But, for now, it's GOOD.

I just realized that tomorrow is my court date for that ticket I didn't deserve that Constable Asshole gave me mid-June. Naturally, this falls on the same exact day that we have to move Sis out of her apartment and into Mom's house. Just fucking brilliant.

At least I realized this tonight instead of tomorrow afternoon. That would have been SERIOUSLY bad.

However, in looking up the location of the courthouse, I noticed something on the back of the ticket... it says, "Please see the NOTICE TO VIOLATOR the officer gave you along with your ticket for help deciding how to dismiss the violation." In other words, there was some extra form the asshole was supposed to have given me which would have given me other options than waking up at the crack of dawn and driving 45 minutes to wait God knows how long to see the judge. If the option to go and prove insurance coverage on the car (which I still think is unnecessary, since the individual is required to carry liability coverage, not the car), and whatever else on a different day, I would have SO done that. Or just paid it, if it wasn't too much.

So I'm going to explain all this to the judge in the morning... hopefully, he's a nice guy and will dismiss the ticket. If not, shit. I don't have a credit card... I don't know if they'll accept mom's info over the phone. Okay. Now I'm just borrowing trouble. He WILL dismiss this thing.

For now, I must sign off and go to sleep - I have to wake up at 6 so that I can leave by no later than 8. I would be able to wake up a little later if we weren't in the middle of a pretty bad thunderstorm right now and I'm more in fear of being electrocuted in the shower.

OMG I just complained about a thunderstorm! That is a good thing. Seriously. Because I haven't been able to bitch about lightning strikes in MONTHS. 

Okay, really going now. Must sleep.

I was finally able to channel my crazy brain activity into actual movement. I CLEANED MY ROOM. Well, I'm mostly done. I've run out of garbage bags for the moment, and I still have to organize and stuff, but, PROGRESS! DEFINITE PROGRESS! FLOOR SPACE! (Though, naturally, the next trash day is Monday, so these bags have to wait either upstairs or in the garage for the next 3 days.)

Here's the deal: when I get depressed/anxious/moody at all (which means, almost all the time) I don't clean. What I mean by this is that I don't maintain a clean space in my room. I generally try to clean up after myself when in the kitchen. It's just my bedroom that suffers. This time, it's been MONTHS since I cleaned last. I always have good intentions... "I will keep to one tiny bag and empty it every trash day," etc., but it never really works. My trash can starts to overflow and I just give up. A mound of trash and miscellany end up in a pile next to the bed. Most of it is kleenex, but there are a lot of plates and bowls, too. I have about a 5'x7' space between my bed, wall, and door. This was filled with trash about 2 ft high. Really bad, I know. I've used 4 30 gallon black trash bags so far. I'll probably need at least one or two more to complete the job. (I think my hoarding tendency - which is what this is - is part of the reason my ex broke up with me. She was a neatnick, and I'm clearly not. Though, to be fair, she KNEW before I moved in with her that I had this tendency, though I vowed to fight it and did very well for a time.)

I am taking a break for the moment, because I'm tired and out of trash bags. I need to clean just a little bit more, and then I can do stuff like organize my books, bring up my paint supplies, etc. I'm excited that I will have a space to paint in my room instead of having to go downstairs.

Craig is in my icon, waiting for the rains, like I am. My previous posts did end up jinxing the rain, and it fizzled out a few miles north of me. So we still haven't gotten any precipitation, while places east and south are flooding. DAMMIT. I did, however, make sure that Mom's windows were closed when I got home from my Sonic run (I caved and went to get a breakfast burrito and coke). I keep telling her that she needs to wash her car... that ALWAYS does it. Like not having an umbrella.

I'm near that black cross in the center of the frame. Rain is coming!!! Watch, I mention this now, and the whole mess slides east of us and we don't get any rain. But it looks promising! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

It seems that my mind just doesn't want me to sleep right now. I took my pills at about 1am. Woke up at 6. Haven't been back to sleep since. And Fluffy hasn't moved from my lap since I sat up. My right arm, on which she's been leaning for a good while, is partially numb. She's being so affectionate... I'm rather shocked. She even let me clip her front claws. She's been catching on everything - pillows, my comforter, everything.

Uh oh. Cole just came upstairs. Fluffy jumped down and immediately left in a huff. He tends to come up and see me when I'm awake in the mornings. Usually, his goal is to get me to go downstairs and let him into the bedroom to see Sarah. He's become really attached to her. And I think he's being considerate of Mom by not waking her if I'm already awake. However, he doesn't seem to want to leave this morning. Maybe my baby cat actually wants to be around me for a change. I adopted him as a kitten ten years ago. Fluffy was adopted by Sis about 7 years ago. For some reason, though, Cole has decided that Sis is his person - the one he wants to hang out with the most - while Fluffy stays with me and is only affectionate toward me. This is a definite case of cats picking humans and not the other way around.

I've been reading The Eight while goofing around on the web and watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent reruns on USA. I multitask like crazy when my brain runs like this. Not quite a mixed state, but definitely one of mental agitation with no energy to do anything. The good news is, I'm liking the book thus far. I'm 75 pages in and definitely intrigued. The prose is a little strange... kind of halting in the thoughts, almost disorganized, and very spare in description. But the plot overrides the stumbling writing so far. I like the blend of past and present, though they're only barely connected at the moment. I'm excited to see how everything weaves together, though.

I'm trying to decide if I should make a run to Sonic with my $6 in cash to get breakfast. I could really use a giant Route 44 Coke right now. We're out of anything to drink but water and sprite. I'm hoping Mom will throw some money in my account so I can go grocery shopping this afternoon. That would be fabulous. We're down to odds and ends and have very little protein in the house (which is vital for me because of the hypoglycemia - and we don't want me hypoglycemic, because that makes Emery VERY CRANKY).

OH!! Not to jinx it, but there may be drought-reducing activity coming our way. I really really hope so. It'd be a nice change from super hot and super dry.

The Pizza Hut we usually order from is closed at 9:30pm. What the FUCK people. Not happy at all...

I have so many bruises, most of which I have no idea when/how I got them.

My fibromyalgia has come back with a vengeance. Mainly in my hips, but also in my shoulders. I can't seem to find a comfortable position to sleep in because everything's so tender.

My wrist, while seeming to have healed from the sprain - in other words, it doesn't hurt when I move it that certain way that caused it to hurt before - hurts in other weird places. It seems that using a hammer to jam a flathead screwdriver under nailed down wood is a BAD IDEA if you want to not hurt. Mind you, I did this for the entire room... 44 feet of tack strip, with a nail approximately every 6 inches. You do the math on how much I hammered. It was a lot. Then, there was all the edge painting...

I used a LOT of paint to do the touch ups. There were significant gaps between some of the plywood boards - like 1/2 an inch in places. Whoever built this house, and specifically this room, did a really really shitty job. I ended up having to pour paint into those cracks and then brush them ever so gently - they were filled with sawdust that we couldn't get out with the vacuum. NIGHTMARE.

However, today the room looks really good. The paint color is nice. I just wish the floor looked better. We were expecting that the plywood would be in a lot better shape. There are places where someone used a circular saw to cut other pieces DIRECTLY ON THE PLYWOOD subfloor. IDIOTS.

Hopefully, once we work up enough energy to get the carpet down, it'll look much better and cover most of the crappy wood.

Naturally, though, the threshold thingies that mom bought to seal the transition from carpet to floor are FUCKING HARD TO INSTALL. The first one sat there fine, but it was hell trying to nail it in - the nails kept bending on me. I was able to get three in, which I figured was enough for a threshold to the closet. You are then supposed to snag the carpet on the hooks and use a rubber mallet to flatten the cover part and hold the carpet in place. This did not work at all. The mallet didn't make the thing move even a smidge. And the one for the door to the hallway was cut about 1/8" too long, meaning Mom will have to spend more time using our little keyhole saw to shave the end off. Why is all this so complicated???

I really want to take my right arm off for a while. It's just one big mess of pain from fingers to shoulder. There are muscles that are constantly yelling at me: "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING??? WE DON'T DO THAT KIND OF WORK ANYMORE!!!"

One last one: The website I ordered my books from say they have shipped, but since they go through the regular mail, there's no way to track them... I have no idea when they'll arrive, but I'm hoping that it'll be in the next week... I'll finish the one I'm on by then.

In happy news, though: WE GOT RAIN!!!! REALLY REAL RAIN!! It woke me up this morning, and I thought, "what is that noise?" It took me about 2 minutes to figure out that I was hearing rain. How sad is that? Anyway, I knew Mom's been leaving her sunroof and windows cracked because of the heat, so I dashed downstairs and out the front door to make sure her car was closed. Thankfully, it was and all was well. We got about 1/3"!! YAY! Maybe the roaches will stay outside now.

Another happy story: Now that the little cats are ensconced in my bathroom upstairs, everytime I go to the bathroom, I get attention and love from three cats. Abby, in particular, gets really lovey - which is weird for her, since she's usually bitching. Hopefully, once I recover from this last DIY project, Mom and I can get the materials for the porch and we can put that together fast so the littles can move out there. Until then, I have them next door to me, which freaks me out sometimes, as they like to open the cabinets and make them close with a bang. They also play in the tub which is on the other side of the wall.

OMG, I just tried to add the "/" in my post subject heading, but my pinky went to the upper left side of the keyboard where it is on my phone's keyboard, instead of the lower right on my computer keyboard which I'm typing on. I must be tired or something.

So, here's the deal: Our a/c compressor is basically shot to shit and not coming back. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the last ARS guy came to fix the problem, which turned out to be a short in the power going to the compressor - someone had stripped/damaged the wires. At that time, he recharged the system with freon since the level was low and our system wasn't cooling as efficiently as it should have. Today, we had a guy come out - he was supposed to be here at 10, but showed up at 8:30, causing Mom to scramble - and he gave our system a bad prognosis. All of the freon has leaked out since the last recharge two weeks ago (sorry Earth/atmosphere! We didn't know!). This means that either we can have someone come out once every couple of weeks or so and recharge the freon at $300 a time, or replace the compressor. This decision is handled by Richard, our landlord, however. The ARS guy let Richard know this, and Richard told him and us that he needed time to decide. I hope he finally realizes that it would be cheaper in the long run to replace the compressor now for $1500 or whatever, instead of going to the hassle of getting someone out here and paying $300 per visit. Because 5 visits would make up what he would pay for a new compressor. I think he just doesn't want to pay that much for a rental property. However, this is still his and we're still renting, so he needs to do this. And we certainly need it. Day before yesterday, the air conditioner was only able to bring down the inside temperature to 80 when the outside was 100. Not good at all. So we're waiting to either hear back from Richard or have the ARS guy just show up again.

That causes problems because Mom and Sis have errands they have to do today. Mom needs to get new registration stickers for her and Sis (the reason I got a ticket a couple of weeks ago was because of the expired registration). Then they're going to look at carpet, because Sis says she won't move into her room unless there's new carpet and padding installed. I can kind of understand, since the three little cats have been living in there for a year, and Abby pees on the carpet at the baseboards all the time. She can't really help it too much because the poor thing only has one kidney, but it's also just a big fuck you to us. Mom and I are going to fence in the back patio at some point, which will allow the littles to live our there and Abby can pee to her hearts content. However, that project is probably not going to happen before Sis moves in in late July. We just have too many big expenses before then to deal with - the new carpet and movers for her stuff. Mom seemed to think that carpet replacement could be done room by room. Sis's room is only 120 sq ft. I tried to explain to her that most places either charge per sq ft for installation, or have a minimum number of sq ft to do before they'll throw in installation for free. OMG I JUST HAD A GREAT IDEA. We can maybe do the replacement ourselves. Not of regular carpet - we'd have to rent too many gadgets (stretchers, gluers, etc) - but carpet tiles. We can buy a new pad and then lay down carpet tiles instead. That shouldn't be too hard for us to do. And it'd work out to the same price of doing one room, and this way Mom wouldn't have to shell out $400, but maybe only half that. Must do research.

Back to the weather and a/c: I'm really thankful that today won't get as hot because we have decent cloud cover and a 20% chance of rain. It's only getting into the mid-90s unlike the mid-100s all last week. I'm praying for rain. If I knew how to do a rain dance, I would. I told mom she should go wash her car, because that always triggers the rain.

Two good things happened today, after all the deaths (that I won't go into because... well, just because):

1) My new mp3 player arrived from Walmart.com. You know how I was nervous that the thing would end up the size of a kindle? Turns out that the size was of the package, and not the actual player... it's more like 2x1x0.25 inches. Very nice. I'm charging it up now so I can add music to it tomorrow. 

1.5) BTW, if anyone has any mp3s they want to email me (and charge me for which they would then send on to the record companies - or something), or could recommend any illigal cheap sites to download music, that would be cool.

2) Mom and I were able to venture into the world at a decent time (6:30pm) because there was cloud cover for most of the day - and all of the surrounding area got rain, while our house was left to bake some more. However, we went by Spec's (a local liquor store), where I found out they stock belgian beer... There's been a particular one I've been trying to find for a long time that was a peach flavored dessert beer. Then we went to Hobby Lobby so I could get some more paper to paint on. We stopped at the Dollar Tree next door for shits and giggles and ended up somehow buying 4 items for $3.22. Sweet. Then we proceeded to the grocery store where I stocked up on healthy food and portion-controlled stuff so I can maybe lose some of this extra insulation that's making these really hot days completely miserable for me. Tons of fruit - apples, bananas, cantaloupe, and a mango [Da MANGO!] - and veggies - cucumber, cauliflower, celery, carrots, mushrooms. Some good dipping ranch. 100 calorie packs of cheese balls (made by Cheetos and are called asteroids).. SO YUMMY. Chocolate soy milk to mix with my chocolate slim fast. Yogurt and string cheese, too! Lots of good stuff. 

2.5) I was able to tamp down the urge to stuff myself silly after our shopping expedition and only ate a couple of baked chicken drumsticks and some fruit. Then I had some more fruit and sugar-free lemonade as night snack (I have to have something on my stomach to take my night pills). Hopefully I can keep it up. Now to figure out how/where to work out. My thinking is to go to the YMCA nearby... they do regular aerobics, water aerobics, and have pools for lap swimming. So I could go there every day and do something without dying of heat stroke trying to walk around my neighborhood.

Like how I turned just 2 things into 4? At least the extra two were related to the previous item (sorta).