1. Had to go to the ER Monday night for a pretty bad UTI. They prescribed antibiotics that, lo and behold, I was allergic to. I woke up the next morning covered in a rash and had to go to my family doctor for a different prescription. I think the antibiotics are kicking in now and I'm feeling better.

2. I am pretty scared about going to court tomorrow - there's a petitioner who is pretty loud and threatening and very angry with me for (as he sees it) not getting him his money. His attorney seems to think that he's capable of violence. I bought pepper spray and talked to the Judge, who is heightening security. I am probably overreacting, but I'd rather overreact then underreact and have this guy show up with a gun and no one be prepared.

3. After Court is done tomorrow - long weekend! My boyfriend graduates on Friday morning and I am taking off work for the ceremony.

1. My dad called this morning and asked if there was anything he could do for me/give me to celebrate my wedding, since he didn't think he had adequately expressed appreciation for how wonderful it was. (Wow.) Then he asked me if my mother was being better about this one than my first one. Well... (To clarify: they live together, about five miles from me, and we see them two or three times a week.)

2. I am in the middle of hardcore rehearsal time for my choir -- we only rehearse two weeks a year, and only have four days off during those two weeks. Today is one of them, and I am desperately looking forward to going home and snuggling up with a book.

3. oh god seriously I'm not going to have any free days until like October and then OH GOD OH GOD I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT ALL

1. 100 degree heat is forcing me to be a hermit. I don't lack for anything, and the only convenience I would like is milk, so I should be good through the weekend.

2. The kids are gone and I have moved most of the big stuff into its appropriate room. Another day of shifting stuff around and then I can start on all these projects that have been accumulating.

2.a. Sookie is enjoying all the new space. Yesterday she was playing with a ball and even did one of those 'arched back 4-footed pointed-toe sideways leaps' that only cats can do. I swear if humans could replicate it, we would discover interdimensional travel. "Around the corner and up the stairs..."

3. Can a sinus infection last for 14 weeks? Whatever it was apparently has gone (for the most part).

1. I'm forcing myself through Blood Meridian. Last night I let myself read a chapter of utter lightweight trash as a reward to encourage myself to get through another chapter of BM. Cannot wait to get it done so I never have to open it again. (Good book in the sense it is well written but wallowing in violence is NOT my thing.)

2. Work is quite busy, and I'm enjoying it.

3. Starting a Pilates class tonight. It will be the first time I've done Pilates outside our little home exercise room. And I haven't done that for awhile. Kinda psyched to try it out.

1. We are living in temporary housing on a US Air Force Base in the UK. The little duplex is perfectly nice, but kind of generically, benignly horrible at the same time. Two adults, three children from 0-9, and four cats.

2. Come September 1st (or thereabouts), we'll move into the rental house we'll be in for (we hope) the next 3-5 years. We put down the deposit today. (*hop*)

3. Tomorrow, I do not have to go into work, and we're going to take the camera, load the whole clown show into a car, and brave the back roads for an outing to a nearby town. There are worse ways to spend a Thursday.

1. Dog is giving me the stink eye because I just gave the neighbor cats her last can of tuna. I had to, though. Our neighbors are out of town and somehow managed to not leave sufficient food and water for the cats. Since it's hot as fuck-all here right now, I watered down the tuna and put ice in their water bowl. They fell upon it like ravenous beasts.

2. Did I mention it's hot? Gonna be hot tomorrow, and the day after is supposed to be record setting. I normally love the warm weather, but this extreme ohmygod heat is making me wish for snow.

3. Time is running short in Chapel Hill. I feel like I should be spending more time with my friends here to do some quality memory making before I jet. This fucking HEAT is making it hard for me to get behind that plan. At least that is my excuse.

msali: Thank you for thinking of the poor kitties.

1. I really like working in this health care facility. The work is not difficult, I get to read and post comments here and to MetaFilter during the day for the first time since I ever heard of you guys, and everyone is very nice.

2. Having said that, because the facility is being/has been sold in the wake of the St. Vincent's bankruptcy, there's a very tiny chance that when the new owners take over, I will be out of a temp job. If my assignment ends at the end of September, should I start sending out resumes again now, or at the beginning of September?

3. My "Avatar: The Last Airbender" marathon continues and I'm a few episodes into Book 3. I hope to be able to finish this series before the boyfriend gets back on Sunday; I don't think this is going to be a problem.

1. Taking the truck in for a tire rebalancing / vibration check has led to an unappreciated twist - $800 driveshaft replacement! I guess my truck model is the only one that can't have the busted bearing replaced separately. So, now I'm renting a car for:

2. Hitting the road tomorrow for Carrboro, NC (yay!) It's a visit and not a move, but I'm looking forward to it. I should get into town on Friday afternoon/evening.

3. Hoping to get the house back on the market with a new realtor either tomorrow morning or when I get back home.

1. Had most of the day off, so I went to see Horrible Bosses. I do so like that nice young Jason Bateman.

2. About to go for a 6 mile run. The weather is cooler today, yay!

3. husband wants me to call around about insurance for our new place. He's getting a bit mad because I have the time to do so, but he doesn't have phone phobia, so he doesn't understand. Sigh.

1. My god am i bad with the math, so very slow at it or careless. Ever so slowly bits are seeping in, but at this rate it's barely any good.

2. Two days til Friday. Crap.

3. Why is it only sexual deviants and rednecks contact me on Ok cupid? I really got to fix my profile.

1. I am dragging myself through Instructional Methods and it really shows. I suppose I should feel bad about it, but I did find out that I only have to display work from 3 of my elective classes on my portfolio, so this obviously isn't going to be one of them. I just have to get through this, one more term, and submission of my portfolio and then I'm done *knock on wood*.

2. I've decided to start trying to eat in smaller chunks and adding more protein to my foodstuffs (since I hate using the word diet). I had a string of 9! okay days (and yesterday went into the shitter for no good reason) and I think part of that might have been due to the fact that I was eating tons (6 a day in 2 batches of 3) of hardboiled eggs. So I brought some cashews and chocolate chips in one of those wee tupperware containers (the 4 oz one that my mother says are worthless) and have been having little nibbles all day. I'm not more motivated, but I didn't get a headache this morning and I've been able to force myself to work on my school crap.

3. I'm still ridiculously nervous about things. I've had 2 grown up conversations with pops in as many weeks! School stuff since I'm near the end! The divination share on Friday! Seeing the pdoc! Going to therapy! Thinking that my blood pressure has gone up! The fact that I'm getting super cold whenever I go into the stacks! My brain going into the crapper for no reason! Exclamation point!

amro, glad to hear you're on the mend! Gah, UTIs can be miserable, and the antibiotics make me a whole other kind of miserable.

1. It's lovely moderate summer weather here, after a miserable week last week. I cannot express what a joy and relief it is!

2. My brother, his lovely wife, and their two kids are wrapping up a month-long stay this week, so I expect I'll be heading out there to spend an evening, or maybe to babysit while they take our mother out to dinner. Love those kids!

3. Last night, I whammed my toe into a free weight that The Fella had left on the floor. I iced it quick and fast and thought it was fine, but now it's stiff and swollen and I'm wondering if I fractured it. I suppose it doesn't matter since the treatment for a fractured toe is about the same for a plain-ole-stubbed toe: rest, ice, and Advil. Oh, this doesn't combine well with babysitting two dynamos.

this doesn't combine well with babysitting two dynamos - Hopefully they are not yet advanced enough to capitalize on your situation.

1. I'm on stay-cation this week. Yesterday I went to a lake for swimming, apparantly the fish think my ankle bracelet was something to nibble on.

2. Today is a local county fair ...opens at 5pm, so my boys and I will be heading out shortly. I love the fair!

3. Friday there's a tattoo convention not too far, so I'll attend that. Saturday I'm heading to one of my best friends houses, to hop a train to Philly, and attend a pub crawl for the day. Whoo Hoo!

Hopefully they are not yet advanced enough to capitalize on your situation.

They are young but wily. I fear for us all... not least for my toe. Be brave, toe! Together we will see each other through this!

1. I'm going to punch the next person who says I don't need a man to be happy. There's a reason why much of the planet has lots of sex lots of the time, you know.

2. I'm going to punch the next person who says I don't need to have money to be happy. We no longer can live like the Ingalls family and just chop down a few trees to build a house, sorry.

3. I'm going to punch the next person who says I'm eating (some, not a whole lot of) junk food to fill the void in my life. Of course I am, you idiot, voids need to be filled somehow!! One just can't go around all day being completely miserable, all the time, day after day after day.

(Sorry, not in a good mood these days...)

1. Just got through Major Upgrade 1, and start Minor upgrade on a totally different system tomorrow.

2. Found out it's going to be cheaper to fix the car than rent one for my trip, so yay?

3. GOING TO DISNEYLAND IN A WEEK. The kids are kind of excited. Mother is worried to death "STAY AWAY FROM XXXX - THE MURDER RATE IS SO HIGH". Now I'm getting emails on all the places to visit on the way that arent city XXXX.

Oh, I love the 4oz lil containers! Just right for a snack.

Melismata. . .*hug*. . .I hope that #1 is not far away, at the very least for getting laid.

1. It is mid-summer, and a very mild summer so far. I am in pretty good shape with my summer workload. There is no one standing over me ordering me to keep on track but at the end of summer, if all this various shit is not done, I have 'splainin' to do.

2. Republicans have taken over my country, even though titularly, the White House and the Senate are controlled by Democrats. It is very hard for me to not hate, right now. I am reminded of the joke about the scorpion acting, in the end, like a scorpion, and I am afraid that the current Republican party, most of them at least, are a huge ball of scorpions.

3. Just got a call about wasps in payroll. . .must go deal with them. If it was in HR, I would not act so fast but we like the people who write our checks.

LOL thank you danf! :)

1. I'm starving. I was nervous all day and couldn't eat, and now I'm famished. And my boss wanted an hour before he has to "go out and deal with fucking clients again." I'm going to give that sentence a generous interpretation. Should find something to eat, though, or I'll go from cogent to drunk in about two sips.

2. I was nervous because I had to give a presentation to a big, potentially hostile group. It went splendidly, though, and I am relieved. My job for the rest of the conference is to look attentive.

3. I've been traveling for work for a while and I'm really impressed with how well I've held up. I usually collapse after two days, but I'm a week in and still feeling pretty good-humored and alert. Therapy and meds must have finally made a difference. Just need to keep it up through Monday (I'm going home Friday, but packing up my apartment on Saturday and moving into my new apartment on Monday.) (But I'm not worrying about that now.)

Yesterday I went to a lake for swimming, apparantly the fish think my ankle bracelet was something to nibble on.

Oh my, that would give me the willies. I'd probably leap vertically out of the water.

Anyway:

1. I'm now three days into Extreme Boot Camp, a military-style, six-week outdoor workout that rotates between three parks in Santa Monica. The workout was so intense the first day that I actually threw up. I've adapted in the last two days, but only by going to bed at 9PM and getting up at 5:30 in order to have a proper something to eat before class.

2. I'm subjecting myself to all this to get in shape for Burning Man - my first time back since 2008. I decided to go at the last minute because I desperately needed a vacation where I couldn't be reached to put in overtime behind a desk, and where I'd be surrounded by hundreds of current and former friends from all over the country. I'm not as big of a hardcore Burner as I used to be, but I'm approaching it like an all-night family reunion that just happens to go on for a week.

3. My boyfriend leaves for Europe on Friday for two weeks. I'll miss him to death, but I'm looking forward to seeing him off while I concentrate on torturing my body for #1 and preparing costumes, theme camp stuff, and other necessities for #2. There's always tons to do in the weeks leading up to the Burn, so it's actually nice that I don't have to worry about ignoring him.

Meh. That is all.

1. It's not so hot! My back finally stopped hurting! I'm back at the gym! I called ConEdison and fixed the $385 gas bill! Things are looking up!
2. Bought train tickets to a friend's wedding out in the Hudson Valley in September. Stynx can't come, so I'll be on my own! Should be a fun wedding. The venue looks gorgeous and she'll be such a beautiful bride.
3. I get to go to COSTCO on Friday night! In a CAR! Oh, the things I will buy.

1. Have rented my son's old room, aka half my basement, to the 22 year old son of a friend of mine. He's a nice kid, very quiet, college student, has job, but I didn't realize that he needed to move in so soon. As in, like, the day after tomorrow. I thought I had a month but, um, no. So I spent my day off yesterday feverishly cleaning and fixing and cleaning and fixing and, well, you get the idea. It's hot. The house fan broke. I have no AC. This whole thing is going to be an adjustment and did I mention that he's bringing a cat along? My three dogs and one cat are going to freak the fuck out. Prepare for much wailing and gnashing of teeth!

2. My car is very sick. It's been ailing but I thought it would magically fix itself. I was wrong. My car is in a parking lot on the other side of town and tomorrow morning I have to find a mechanic and a tow truck. That means that I'm missing work tomorrow morning.

3. I quit my horrible stupid lousy job without a backup - I am slowly, slowly, working out my notice, here - and then I suddenly got interviewed for another stupid job. It is, one hopes, less horrible and lousy but still retail, although slightly better money and now I have been interviewed twice. So maybe soon I'll have another job. This would be good, since hey the car and hey the fan and hey yesterdays cleaning fix up frenzy revealed some expensive house issues i.e. the downstairs toilet tank leaks and so the whole thing must be replaced. Whee! I love my money pit. I do. I love it. Yes. Repetition is key, here.

1. Mom's surgery went well last week, thank goodness, so I am back at my place where I can relax.
2. Kitties missed me. :)
3. Awful migraine today - one of the worst in a long time. Just slightly nauseated and headachey now.

Tortillathehun, that rent house looks fab!

1- as a visitor to my office said today, it feels like 4 feet from Hell outside. The omg it's so hot feelings have been replaced with the feeling that it will never be cool again.
2- nephew arrived home from Afghanistan. Best hug ever.
3- buying our dream house is dragging on and on. Supposed to close by the end of July but that's not gonna happen.

1. Work is crazy this week.

2. Kids
We got the kids back from their dad on Friday. Then we drove out to the family farm Saturday evening. Came back Sunday evening minus the daughter, who was staying with the inlaws (one set of many set of "the grands") and great-gramma until today. Had only the boy and last night his best pal and figured out stuff for them to do and eat. They are 14 and very hungry. Dad-in-law drove girl back today and picked up the boy. We're still trying to figure out stuff for her to do while we work and a weekend plan that has them home Saturday night so their dad can pick them up at 2pm Sunday. I love my kids and can't wait to get to a regular daily schedule. She's 13 and a lot pickier than I was expecting.

3. MY TIME ($%^&%^%%, in exchange for cursing a blue streak)
I had originally planned on working extra and then taking a week off to paint and vacation. Between the heat and some other stuff (KIDS), I've been making it in just barely. No vacation for lily this summer. Grump. Also, mom-in-law is sucking up a weekend in the future so that we can stay in a timeshare with the kids and/or the inlaws and call it a "vacation." WHAT?

Hey toastedbeagle, please give your nephew several hugs from our family. Also, best wishes on the dream house.

mygothlaundry, sorry for the moneypit woes.

1. Boss is on vacation which is both nice (I am getting in a little later) and stressful (things are breaking and I am responsible)

2. Moving is becoming very real. I've had weird urges to do random things that don't involve packing, like scrubbing the stove and removing all the burners and then putting them back. BF is moving this weekend so we are focusing on him now, and I am moving next weekend. Tomorrow by best friend is coming over to help me sort through my closet (read: make fun of my clothes and make me throw them out)

3. I'm going to rent out my current apt for a little while before my sister comes and takes it over, but she is very vague about her plans and dates so I am in kind of a tough spot, not knowing when to rent it and not wanting to lose a ton of $.