Hell is Minnesota*…

…and it has frozen over.

See that? The AMBIENT TEMPERATURE is -20.

Negative. Twenty.

Not even including windchill (see: feels like -47). I’m pretty sure even the polar bears at the zoo are miserable.

We got hit with snow on Monday, not a ton of snow, but enough so that the roads were pretty crappy in the morning (my car got stuck twice on the way into work**). Since then the temperature has been steadily plummeting and schools are closing because it literally too dangerous for kids to wait outside for the bus. I had to get gas on my way home from work today and my fingers were painfully cold because I had to take my glove off for a minute to run my credit card and use the touch-screen.

Wesley’s daycare is closed tomorrow (and probably Thursday too) because they have huge windows everywhere and don’t think they can keep everything at the required minimum temperature.  We were already planning on keeping him home tomorrow because it is so viciously cold just going to and from the car.  Unfortunately my job is considered “essential services” so I am expected to go into work (Matt’s staying home tomorrow and thankfully my boss is very understanding of issues that come up for parents)

The St Paul Winter Carnival is also going on right now… unfortunately it’s too cold for any sane person to leave their house.  Good news: it’s supposed to warm up this weekend.  Bad news: it’s supposed to get above freezing so we may have another year of very deconstructivist ice sculptures.

Aaand since I’m just rambling at the moment….we went out to a local brewery on Sunday. At 1:00 in the afternoon.  For Tot Time.  Seriously.  I also witnessed a 1st Birthday party and Baby Shower being hosted there. It was a little surreal, but kind of a cool idea. They have a bunch of toys for the kids and a kid-friendly band.*** It gives the adults a way to get out of the house and still feel reasonably adult (because it gives hard to feel adult when you’re constantly reading books that consist entirely of 1-syllable words and trying to figure out if your child is poopy or just farty).

 

*Actually, all of the upper Midwest.

**Both times in intersections where the plow had created a pile of snow at the cross street.

***This week was a friend of mine college and her husband. So that was cool.

Slice of Life: Apathy Division

Setting the scene: Matt’s upstairs working on putting the latch back on our bedroom door and I’m downstairs with a friend of mine playing along with Only Connect.*

Me: Did you just hear Matt?

E: I don’t think so? …Maybe he was calling for help because he broke his hand.

Me: But if he had a broken hand he could still come downstairs for help.

E: Maybe he broke his leg…. But then he could still at least crawl closer to the stairs and yell louder.

Both of us continue watching Only Connect.

…..

A while later Matt comes down and joins us.

Matt: It turns out this lock has a “feature.” If you push this bit in… Demonstrates and shows that part of bolt will pop out, even if the knob was in the “unlocked” position. Well, I didn’t know this and I closed the door.

Me: And you locked yourself in the bedroom?

Matt: And I locked myself in the bedroom.

Me: Ah… were you yelling for me earlier?

Matt: Yes, I was hoping you’d be able to help me get out.

Me: I thought I heard something. We figured if you really needed something you’d keep yelling.

 

To be fair, I was snuggling a sleeping baby and didn’t want to disturb him and I didn’t think Matt was up to anything inherently dangerous.  I also didn’t realize that locking yourself into a room when the lock doesn’t even require a key was even an option. It was, however, our specific choice of lock that led to the problem in the first place.

The door originally had a deadbolt installed on it and it was just chunky and ugly.  “Low-profile” deadbolts apparently don’t exist (except some super-mod and silver varieties), but I did find a pocket-door lock in oil rubbed bronze that would fit the existing hole and blend into the new finish. Instead of a key you can unlock it from the other side with a screwdriver (high security was not a concern of ours for an interior door lock).  Because it’s designed for a pocket door however, part of it pops out so you can pull the door out of the pocket in the wall…. but if that bit’s extended it will act like a lock on a swinging door.

Ooops.

 

 

*Holy crap the puzzles are hard.  It’s even harder because there are a number British and European references that I’m not really exposed to in the US.

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Slice of Life: Chekov Division

Matt’s starting calling Wesley “Wessels” so I came to obvious (seeming) conclusion that he was having a nerd moment.

Me: Nuclear wessels!

Matt: Nuclear…?

Me: Wessels!

Matt: *blank look*

Me: Nuclear wessels! … you do know the reference, right?

Matt: No…

Me: The Voyage Home! Star Trek!! THE ONE WITH THE WHALES!!!

Why yes, I did get progressively more hysterical as I tried to explain.  I’m pretty sure The One With the Whales is the official alternate title for The Voyage Home. I’m also sure I’m not the only one who would immediately think of this scene after hearing the word “wessels.”

And for the non-nerds out there, if you’re wondering why this is such a well known part of the movie, keep in mind that it came out in 1986.

During the cold war.

And there’s a Russian guy wandering around then-present-day San Francisco.*

Asking for nukes.

 

*Yes Star Trek is based in the future, they time-traveled because they needed whales, ok?

 

 

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Slice of Life: Memorial Day Division

We had a bunch of family in town for my baby shower on Saturday and Matt’s mom was staying with us.  Sunday morning they decided to head to church together before the rest of the family came over for brunch.

Matt: You’re a veteran, maybe they’ll do something special for you for Memorial Day.

MIL: Matt, I’m not dead yet.

Matt: Oh….

I may not agree with our government’s choices, but anyone who signs up to fight for their country and anyone who has lost their life in the process, they are truly strong and courageous, and worthy of our respect and admiration.

We didn’t do anything for Memorial Day, but did have a fabulous weekend and got to see a bunch of family we don’t get to see much of.  All the parents trekked over from WI and both my sisters were able to make it (from KS and CA) which was absolutely amazing.  I had a fabulous shower hosted by (one of) my BFFs and I’m just feeling so special and loved and thrilled that this baby is going to have a truly awesome community of family and friends around him.  #PregnancySappiness

I’ve also hit Pregnancy Level: Hobbit Feet and had some seriously impressive swelling over the weekend.  My mom freaked out a bit and demanded my sister give her professional opinion.  Sister asked me if I was up to date on my rabies vaccine because she’s a veterinarian and not an MD. I picked up some sexy compression socks took it easy for the weekend and now my feet have shrunk to slightly puffy.

I still have this weird feeling of guilt when I take up the comfiest spot, don’t get up much when guests are over, and ask Matt to do simple things like get me some water because I just don’t feel like being on my feet anymore.  Matt, on the other hand, has been scolding me to take it easy since forever.  I’ve just been stubbornly resisting because I am not a fragile little flower… only now it kind of hurts to move and I’m tired so I’m giving in.  Stubbornness and pregnancy do not mix terrible well.

I’ve got a prenatal appointment on Friday and an onsite Nurse at work if anything seems concerning before that, but I was under the impression that crazy feet swelling was a fairly typical pregnancy symptom. Plus I’m still a bit scarred from the Doctor who insisted my Asthma flair up might be a pulmonary embolism and told me to get to an ER like, NOW.  Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t and the ER docs thought I was a little crazy.

Happy Mother’s Day

First off, I want to wish a very happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, moms-to-be, step-moms, and foster moms out there.  You’re all amazing!

It may be my first first sort-of Mother’s Day, but we didn’t do anything special–more work on the nursery and lots of naps for me. Matt did surprise me with the Eames elephant I’ve been lusting after though!  He had planned to surprise me with it for the baby shower, but the color he knew I wanted was no longer available.  He broke down on our anniversary and asked me if another color would be ok and it just arrived a couple days ago… so it’s sort a combo anniversary/mother’s day/baby shower gift.

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I think I will name him Alonso. (Allons-y!)

As for, I’m officially in my Third Trimester now–home stretch baby! I’ve been steadily hitting the pregnancy milestones too.  Yay?

Having Issues Getting out of Bed

Not because I’m huge (I definitely look pregnant–although not in the above photo oddly enough–and am seeing numbers on the scale that are distressing-yet-normal, but I’m not hugely pregnant), everything just hurts.  My pelvis especially hurts when I’ve been laying down for a while and try and get upright again.  It’s similar in feeling to having done waaay too many crunches so your abs start to burn and rebel, only lower down.  The last midwife I saw sent me a video of some stretches to do, so hopefully they help.

Stairs are Hard

I finally had to give up and recruit Matt to carry my laundry down to the basement.  I can handle our main stairs fine, but our basement stairs are narrow and I’m a little unbalanced at the moment so I need to hang on to the hand rail.  Suddenly there’s not a whole lot of space for the basket unless I balance it against my belly which is its own level of awkward.

I also feeling mildly bad for the slow, plodding way I ascend stairs when I’m out in public.  Then I figure, the stairs are wide enough, if you have a problem with my speed just go around.  I did have to come to a full stop on a landing at work because two ladies were walking up side-by-side and chatting.  That’s fine and all, but if you’re taking up the full width of the stairs and someone’s trying to head the opposite way switch to single file for like 2 steps. This is even just general politeness and not purely because I’m a cranky pregnant lady.

The Cat is Pissed

Schmutz was napping on my belly the other day when the little dude starting kicking.  He’s now big enough that you can feel (and often see) the kicks on the outside.  Schmutz turned and glared at me since she’s not used to be kicked by her current bed (and it was clearly my fault).  Mort’s started obsessively kneading my belly and then deciding to sleep next to me instead.  I don’t know if he thinks I’m too lumpy or what.

So Many Kicks!

The first movements I really felt were just from the kiddo shifting around (I think).  I would just get pressure changes in a specific area as he wedged himself into a new position.  The last few weeks I’ve been getting more and more definite kicks and they’re getting increasingly more visible on the outside of my belly.  They started off feeling like weird little muscle spasm-y things, but he’s gotten some good shots to my ribs lately and thrown a couple punches that have made me wince a little bit.  I am really not looking forward to the day he discovers my bladder…

OMG Heartburn!

One of my very first pregnancy symptoms was some mild heartburn (but we were also eating our way through a large batch of chili so I thought I was just getting old and decrepit at the time).  Now I’m getting legit heartburn and popping Tums like candy.  I get heartburn by so much as thinking about food.

Unsolicited Advice

This actually hasn’t been bad at all!  Most people keep pretty quiet or share the “this worked well for me, but it’s honestly a crapshoot” kind of stories (which are actually useful).  The only person who rubbed my the wrong way was, oddly enough, the midwife at one of my prenatal appointments.  I was talking about how I was considering a water birth because I am deathly afraid of needles* and don’t handle pain well.**  Her response was that I clearly just needed to educate myself further because it didn’t seem to her like a good reason to try a water birth.  I sort of wanted to shoot back “look lady, the reason I’m already freaking out about this is BECAUSE I was reading about it and looking at my options.”  Then she seemed a little miffed that I didn’t have any questions.  Maybe it’s because I’m actually reading about what to expect and I hadn’t encountered anything out of the ordinary at the moment?  Most of the midwives I’ve seen at my appointments have been awesome, but this one was just not a good match for me.

My mom (of course!) also hopped on the unsolicited advice train after looking at our baby registry.  She means well, but she started questioning some of the bigger items (Were we sure we wanted this car seat instead of that car seat because so-and-so really liked that one).  While she definitely brought up some good points, it just stressed me out that all the previous research I did was wrong so I re-researched everything…aaaand ended up with the exact same products I picked out the first time.  Moral of the story: everyone is going find different products that fit their individual needs.

Trippy Dreams

These have been happening for a while. I don’t tend to remember my dreams but I definitely have while pregnant!  The last notable one was a nightmare about how I was never ever going to get the ceiling fan I wanted for the nursery.  I was shipped a broken one, then someone tried to convince me it was perfectly fine and I couldn’t exchange it anyway because it was the very last one ever.  The next day I called Lowes to check on the status of my order because the dream may have freaked me out a bit….

Bye Bye Wedding Ring

My fingers have started to swell enough that it’s getting really hard to get my rings off.  I had to resort to some windex the other day, so going forward I’m probably safer just leaving them off before they get solidly stuck. My ankles are starting to swell a bit too, but thankfully they haven’t morphed into full-on cankles yet.

Pregnancy Brain

More notable moments have been going to work with my skirt inside-out (thankfully it was stripey pattern and really not noticeable!) and getting halfway to my car before realizing I was still in my slippers. I also nearly forgot Matt’s birthday.  Ooops.  In general I’m just spacey as heck and very easily losing my train of thought.

Glucose Challenge Test–PASSED!

The internet really builds this up as being awful, but it wasn’t that bad.  The drink they give you is sort of a like a half-flat soda, so not exactly tasty, but not completely vile either (I went with the orange, but everyone I know recommended a different flavor).  I chose to have mine done first thing in the morning and grab breakfast after since I’ve heard any sugar consumption (not just sweets, but things like fruit too) beforehand can mess up your results.  How true this is, I don’t really know, but I really didn’t want to get stuck doing the 3 hour test so I figured it couldn’t hurt.

 

*  Really, it’s bad.  My regular doctor tried giving me valium before a shot once and it didn’t do a thing.  Nitrous Oxide at the dentist doesn’t have any effect until after the shots are done (ie I calm down again).  I currently have my own stash of prescription lidocaine to use before blood work, but I still get super anxious until it’s over  Yeah, I’m kind of mess.

** I am so screwed.

My Sunday So Far

We’ve been hard at work this weekend and I have more detailed posts to come, but I am officially out of commission today.  My dad and I custom routed door and window casings and I was stupid and didn’t put a mask on until I realized how much sawdust was ending up in my nose (we were about 1/2 way done).  Consequently, I woke up on Saturday with an obnoxious asthma flair up which decided to linger.

Sunday wasn’t any better.

4am: Cats keep fighting with each other and Matt decides to separate them.  He grabs Schmutz and closes her in the bedroom with us.

5 am: Mort has been crying outside the door incessantly because he wants snuggles.

7 am: I give up trying to sleep (partly because I can’t really breathe) and get up.  Notice Schmutz has crapped over Matt’s side of the bed.  She would have crapped directly on Matt, but the blanket was in the way.  Thank god for duvet covers.

10 am: We start mudding the ceiling.  Due to limited ladders and my on-going asthma attack I’m mostly acting as a gopher and watching my dad’s mudding technique.

11 am: Despite doing next to nothing, I’m exhausted and go and lie down… except I can’t exactly lie down because of my chest congestion so I go an prop myself up on pillows and wallow in guilt for not being more useful. I am amazing at wallowing in guilt, even if things weren’t really under my control.

12 pm: I officially sound like a Muppet.

1 pm: Pass out on the couch, because I’m still exhausted.

4 pm: Trip to Urgent Care for a nebulizer treatment.  Officially my first DIY-Induced trip to urgent care.  The doctor treating me tells me that because I’m pregnant I should go to the ER to check for a pulmonary embolism because pregnancy=higher risk factor.

6:30 pm: Grab some take-out and double check with the emergency midwife line.  Midwife agrees that even though it seems unnecessary, I should go to the ER just to rule it out.  Ok, fine.

7:30 pm: Get to the ER where the doctors look mildly perplexed and inform me that the only way they can test for for a pulmonary embolism is to do a CT scan, ie expose the baby to radiation.  Awesome.  They also tell me I have no actually symptoms of a pulmonary embolism except for trouble breathing.. which was clearly brought on by a specific event and responded to asthma treatment.  I opt out of the CT scan and am given another nebulizer treatment and a dose of prednisone.  They also gave me a prescription for a few more days of predisone and a new inhaler since mine was nearly out.

9:00 pm: Drop off prescriptions and am told it will be a 15-20 minute wait.

9:45 pm: Prescriptions finally ready.

10:00 pm: Swing by grocery store to pick up breakfast for tomorrow.

10:30 pm: Make it home.

Hopefully nothing else goes wrong in the next hour….

 

 

Goodbye

About 8 and a half years ago I went out shopping for work pants.  In one shopping area I passed a PetSmart that was advertising Cat Adoptions that day.  I had moved to MN only a few months prior, was still bummed that I had had to give up my dog who didn’t handle apartment life well, and was still really missing being around cats (I had grown up around cats and am definitely a cat person).  I figured I’d wander in, get some kitty snuggles, and be on my way.

Only I ended up leaving with a cat.

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He was so chill despite being in a strange place surrounded by strange people.  The lady from the rescue group saw me petting him through the cage and told me to go ahead and open the door.  As soon as I did, he stretched up and gave me a hug.  I melted.

I brought him home and named him Spencer.  He immediately waltzed out of his carrier and investigated the apartment then picked a chair and took a nap.  He was friendly right off the bat but it wasn’t until a few weeks later that he started snuggling.  One night I woke up to find that my arm was completely asleep–he was curled up next to me with his front paws wrapped around my arm and completely blissed out.

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Spencer was the most mellow cat I’ve met.  He liked strangers.  He liked dogs. He did well with small children.  He even tolerated the vacuum cleaner (he’d put his ears back because of noise, but rarely moved).  Every night he’d cuddle up to me in bed to sleep.  He loved bread and he loved curry (I once tried sprinkling cayenne pepper on my plants to stop him chewing on them…. he thought they were even tastier).  He loved having his belly rubbed… and wouldn’t spontaneously change his mind in the middle.

spencer2

About 5 years ago I met Matt, we started dating, and eventually moved in together.  Matt already had a cat when we met and we had to blend households.  Schmutz was super social with people, but Matt was told when he adopted her that she didn’t really like other cats.  Spencer won her heart anyway.  The two of them would snuggle and play together, and Schmutz would groom the heck out of Spencer whenever she had the chance (and put him in a headlock if he tried to move away).  Anyone who’s had cats know that blending cat families is hard and pretty much a crap shoot.  Most people hope for an ignore-and-tolerate situation, but these two were buddies.

spencer1

Then a couple weeks before Christmas our super-sweet, snuggly, floofy boy-cat started just picking at his food.  We brought him in to the vet, they ran some labs and started him on an anti-nausea medication because their best guess was Inflammatory Bowel. A few days of the meds didn’t change anything but the lab work didn’t show anything abnormal so they had us start him on Prednisolone.  We were hoping to see an improvement before we left for Christmas to visit family, but nothing really changed.  He’s a super difficult cat to pill so our cat-sitter couldn’t really continue his meds while we were gone but we made sure he would always have plenty of food available to him.

When we got back home he was super skinny and really wasn’t eating so we hauled him back to the vet.  They gave him another shot of anti-nausea drugs and some IV fluids plus an appetite stimulant and he seemed to be doing a little better that day…but then immediately went back to not eating.  We started syringe feeding him a prescription, high-calorie diet but still couldn’t get a lot into him.

spencer6

We took him back to the vet Saturday since he still wasn’t showing improvement.  They re-checked his red blood cell count and it had tanked, so he was clearly severely anemic, but the blood work didn’t show any clear causes of the anemia, which the vet thought meant there was a strong chance he had cancer which was attacking his bone marrow and bringing his RBC count down.  We had the option to do more tests and a blood transfusion…but the likelihood that anything would change the outcome was very slim  and we just didn’t want to put him through additional stress.

We brought him back home.  Snuggled.  Cried.  Matt cooked him some super-buttery tialapia which he even picked at a little bit.  We later made an appointment with MN Pets who will come to your home.  We didn’t want to stress him out anymore by bringing him back to the clinic.

Dr Heather came out today and was very supportive and patient.  We went over everything we had done so far and what his labs showed and she agreed that it also sounded like cancer, but even it wasn’t he was too severely anemic for there to be a good prognosis (especially since he was already on steroids and they weren’t helping).  There’s no way to feel good about this decision, but I’m pretty confident it wasn’t a bad decision…. even if it was an incredibly painful one to make.

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I got to hold in my arms in the end and I hope he was aware of how much he was loved.  I already miss him like crazy but I couldn’t bear to drag this out and watch him get even weaker. He was one of the best companions anyone could have ever hoped for and it breaks my heart that I had to lose him so early. I feel so lucky that he was able to be a part of my life.

 

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Democalypse 2016 Aftermath

Warning: Politics Ahead

I know this is a design blog, but it’s also a personal outlet for me.  If politics aren’t your jam, go ahead skip over it.  If you read it and don’t agree with me, fine, these are my opinions, not law.  Right now I just have a lot of complicated thoughts and I think (or at least hope) I’m not alone.  Also, I consider myself a liberal-moderate and this post is very reflective of that.  You have been warned.

11/11/16 ETA:  tl;dr Yeah it sucks, but don’t be a Trump about it

Why yes, that bottle does have my name all over it.
Why yes, that bottle does have my name all over it.

First I want to say that I am disappointed in a America.  I did not want this at all.  It also literally frightens me that so many people could support a xenophobic, misogynist, bully with no experience to be a world leader.  That doesn’t mean that his supporters are all racists or women-haters themselves, it just means they were ok with it.  They didn’t care.

I get that career politicians seem to suck but to go from that to someone with zero legal experience and a history of shady businesses tied to him? That makes no sense to me.

There was a lot of hate happening in this campaign on BOTH sides during the campaign. Trump was spewing hate, and the Dems were inciting violence at his rallies.  Neither side was perfect, in fact they were both far from it.  I’ve seen a number of Facebooks posts since the election that were essentially “If you voted for Trump I’m unfriending you because you are a worthless piece of scum.”  While I am pissed as hell right now, I can’t support this attitude.  I cannot encourage further division.  I cannot tell people their political attitudes matter more to me than family or years of friendship.*  Also, if someone really offends you, have a private conversation that’s not plastered all over the internet. Then if you still really feel like everything’s been ruined, unfriend them without making a giant stink about it.  I.e, act like a goddamn adult.**

Right now I’m mostly pissed with the Electoral College.  Hillary had over 300,000 more votes (and counting!) than Trump and still lost.  This is why people feel their votes don’t matter because for three hundred thousand people, they didn’t.

11/11/16 ETA: I’m pissed with the DNC for giving us a lackluster candidate.  Would I have preferred her to Trump? Definitely. Did I vote for her?  No.  Do I want to see a woman as president?  Yes, but if anyone assumes that I will vote for someone just because she’s a woman, well I find that a little sexist.  I actually vote with my brain and conscience instead of with my vagina.  My personal complaint with Hillary was that she only seemed issues that were “safe.”  That will never bring change.  She also still supports issues that I am personally against.  She just strikes me as pandering… and one of those groups she pandered to is women which irks me.  While I care very much about woman’s rights (and minority rights, and LGBTQ rights) they are not the only issues out there and should not be focused on to the exclusion of everything else.

I’m also pissed with the media.  We’ve been steadily building a culture of non-news news.  It’s why I watch the Daily Show–because I know it’s actually supposed to be comedy.  If I want to read a news site, I go to the BBC.  That’s right, for me to read reasonably un-biased news I have to go to a different country.

But here’s the deal people.  We actually having no effing clue what Trump’s going to do.  This is actually a potentially good thing (I know, I know, bear with me).  With politicians they have a clear voting record behind them.  Would Hillary have kept on bombing countries we don’t really have any business in?  Probably.  Would Trump?  No idea!  Plus, remember that this guy was a registered Democrat at one point in his  life.  It’s entirely possibly that he talked big as essentially a marketing ploy (because day-um did it get him air time).  I’m not saying that doesn’t still make him a giant asshole, but in terms of actual policy, that word is not law and would not be able to be made law at the snap of ones fingers. It’s sort of like parenting a teenager: you may not trust them and want to strangle them, but they’re probably not actually going to burn your house down.

It’s still hard for me to accept.  I still have fear (lots and lots of fear).  But if I don’t cling to some sort of optimism it’s going to be worse.  I can’t believe the US is going to implode until I actually see policies that would lead to that legitimately trying to get put into play.

So this is what I propose.  Let’s all try to calm the hell down about things that are now out of our control.  Let’s try not to continue encouraging hate.  Let’s also try to not go overboard with the bitching and moaning over the next 4 years.  I’m not saying you can’t complain.  Complaining is the true American past time (screw baseball).  I’m just saying, remember the last 4 years of the opposing view point howling that Obama wasn’t a citizen and that the country was imploding when there was no actual evidence of it?  It seemed insane!  And obnoxious!  Let’s not do that.  Support change where you can like reaching out to your local or state governments regarding their future decisions. Remember to vote in your local elections (I admit, I kind of suck at that). You have a voice, use it well.  Screaming insults at someone rarely makes people care about your views.

I’m not saying he’s going to be a good president and I’m not saying you ever have to like him (in all honesty I doubt I ever will).  All I’m asking is to not be a dick about it. Also, don’t let jerks run you out of your own damn country.*** Canada’s cold and Mexico has Zika mosquitoes.

And remember, when they go low, we go high…. or at least make an effort.  I mean, c’mon people.

 

11/11/16 ETA: Made a few edits because I realized I missed things.  I fit them in where they should logically go (and marked them as edits).  There’s also a new footnote.  I have lots of Thoughts.

 

* Also, I’m reasonably sure that I wouldn’t have seen any of these statuses if Hillary had won.  But guess what?  The people these statuses are so pissed off at, their attitudes would still be exactly the same and the friendships would continue.  Are people’s opposing views only ok when you can feel superior too them?  Also, if you’re that for an issue, like say LGBTQ rights, than there’s a good chance most of your friends already either agree with you or are actually good people regardless.  And family members… well we can’t change them, but you’ve accepted them for this long.  So who exactly are these statuses speaking to?

**I pondered long and hard about whether I was being hypocritical by posting my complaints instead taking someone aside and talking with them…. but here’s the thing, I’m not personally offended by these posts.  I get that people are pissed and want to vent… I just think this is a silly way to do it but it speaks more to the general temperature of attitudes at the moment than any one individual.

***Not gonna lie, a few drinks (maybe a bottle) in on election night and Matt and I were discussing his options for transferring to his company’s Canadian office. 

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Slice of Life: Political Hangover Division

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Me: rattling off a grocery list… and we still have tonic so we’re set for election night

Matt: You should probably pick up more

Me: We have 4 cans, that’s 8 [gin+tonics]… how tanked do you plan on getting?

Matt: You better pick up more

 

As you can probably tell, we’re not too excited about the election here.  I think a lot of other people feel the same way.  This is the first election for me where I’m seriously considering voting for a 3rd party candidate.  Not because I think they have any chance of winning the presidency (heck, I’m 99% certain Hillary will win MN), but because I think that if the alternate parties get unusually high support this year (especially if they succeed in taking even a single state) that there will be significant changes coming in the future (because honestly I feel that both parties really need to have a Come-to-Jesus moment).

That’s my logic at least.  I can’t tell you how to vote, but I do encourage all Americans to vote.  Do your research (if you don’t know where to start you can check out I Side With*), don’t buy into every media shit-storm, and as long as you have a rational reason for your choice you can’t really go wrong.

Oh, and if you’re going to comment with political opinions, just play nice, k?  Respectful discussion is great, but referring the candidates  as “Killary” and “America’s Angriest Clementine” is probably best left to rants among like-minded friends.

Dang…. I’m going to have to pick up more limes too….

 

*I think I failed their quiz.  I got Jill Stein as #1 and Gary Johnson as #2… I’m either an anarchist hippie or I need to make my own party…. or I have no idea what’s going on in the world.  Who knows?

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Not Dead Yet Round 2

I haven’t given up on our house, far from it in fact!  October’s been a rough month for the women in the FPV household.  Schmutz (aka Moody Girl Cat) started loosing fur on her back paws and belly and then my energy level completely tanked, and I mean completely.  Like I could barely make it up the stairs and my legs were super shaky every time I stood up.  It was bad enough that I went in to get tested for Mono, but that was negative.

kittysnuggles

The one good thing about my inability to get off the couch was that I got to spend a few days cuddling with the fur balls… although they spent more time cuddling with each other.

“Fatigue” is like the worst symptom ever to bring to a doctor, it’s just so vague and symptomatic of about a billion different things.  After testing negative for strep and mono my doctor did a more extensive blood panel and tested me for possibly everything under the sun.  Then called me back in for MORE blood work.  Have I ever mentioned I hate needles?  Like I get an honest-to-god panic attack when faced with needles.  Last week was not fun.

In turns out my thyroid is an epic over-achiever.  First I though it had gone on strike (hypothyroidism) which seems to be slightly more common, but then I double checked my test results (and went in for doctor visit #2) and it turns out it’s running in overdrive (hyperthyroidism).  I think Thyroid Storm may be my new band name… if I had any musical abilities whatsoever.

My doctor gave me drugs to slow my heart (seriously) to make me more comfortable because I was practically bedridden over the weekend.*  It also turns out that one of the treatments for Hyperthyroidism is radioactive iodine, but I’ll probably have to meet an Endocrinologist first to see if I get put on the path to developing super powers.**  Medicine is weird ya’ll.

And for anyone completely unfamiliar with thyroid issues, they’re not terribly uncommon and quite treatable… everything just seems to suck until you get properly medicated.  I’m already doing quite a bit better, but still easily tired which makes house projects difficult (we have 3 out of 6 hallway doors done now though!  It sounds good, but I thought I would have been done with all of them at least a week ago).

As far as Schmutz (now aka Miss Baldy Paws) is concerned, Matt brought her into the vet yesterday and the vet ruled it over-grooming.  Whether it’s due to an allergy or stress we’re not sure, we’re just supposed to monitor her to see if she ultimately needs meds too.  And anyone who’s ever owned a cat knows just how fun it is to try and get them to take pills….

Meanwhile Matt and Spencer are doing just peachy so apparently the Y chromosome makes you immune to October cruddy-ness in this family.

 

*Really.  My achievement for the weekend was re-potting a houseplant and Matt supervised me the entire time to make sure I didn’t fall over.

**Lacking in any musical ability, maybe I can use Thyroid Storm as my super hero name.  It sounds like a rejected X-Man, but I’m ok with that.