It's a mad, mad world...

OK, so it's been 15 days since my last post. Not exactly consistent, but definitely better than a whole year between posts, no? I'll blame my job (as usual), and my neurotic animal kingdom. I seriously curse the gene that causes me to have the compulsion to rescue and take care of every single needy animal that crosses my path. Thanks to said gene, a huge chunk of my time is now dedicated to caring for Charlie (the unwed teen mom kitty) and her 4 (absolutely adorable) 2 week old kittens. Besides the time, we are also dedicating a considerable amount of money to this little family. N. is not happy about this.

On top of this little newly adopted feline family, we also still have our permanent animal family: The blind-don't-talk-to-me-or-I'll-take-your-leg-off-and-still-look-cute-doing-it dog:

The I-will-eat-anything-and-everything dog:

The I-will-sit-on-anything-and-purr-24-hours-a-day cat:

and last but not least, the try-to-climb-these-stairs-and-I-will-cut-you cat:

To add insult to injury, they all hate each other. The majority of the time, it feels like a mad house. They also all seem to develop these weird, bad habits...at different times. So, just when you think you've solved one behavior... another one begins. I could probably write an entire blog just about their odd behavior, but I won't.  So, I-will-eat-anything-and-everything dog has decided that from now on, she's going to eat the windows and doors. This includes anything around the windows and doors, such as, but not limited to: curtains, blinds, doorjambs, doorknobs, etc. Not only does she have separation anxiety and chews on doors in an attempt to get to us, but she also flips out if she sees other dogs outside. Hence, causing her tear up the windows. We tried to solve this problem by putting decorative window film up. Let's the light in but keeps her from seeing outside. This worked for a while. Until she figured out how to peel it off. It's as if, upon her discovery, she decided to throw herself a celebratory party and proceeded to tornado her way around the living room and dining room. Everyday. For the past two weeks. 

just a little sample of some of her work...

This is her "guilty" pose. She does this when she knows you're mad... I don't understand.

N. usually gets home before I do. I have the pleasure of not only coming home to a mess, but also to a very pissed off girlfriend. I guess as I'm writing this, I'm starting to understand that look she gives me when I try to convince her to let me raise chickens in the backyard. Note to self: Don't mention the chickens for a little while.

So yea... getting home past 6 everyday, then spending about an hour or two cleaning broken crap, dinner, etc. hasn't left much time for blogging. There's the weekend, but we kinda filled these past two up with apple/pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, visiting Occupy Boston, and visits to the free animal clinic with Charlie and her kitties. I think we should shorten the work week to four days a week. I'm going to make a sign and hold it up at the next Occupy Boston march. I'm just sayin'.

On another note, I actually got out of bed at 8AM this morning.. on a Sunday. For no reason. So I did some yoga. It's been a long time, and it felt awesome. I keep telling myself I'm going to get up earlier and do it every morning. But, that alarm goes off at 5AM and I can't get up! I'm really going to try though. I'm starting to feel very high strung and anxious. I need to....chill. I think I'm going to give myself a spa day. A ghetto spa day of course, because I'm broke. I'm thinking, yummy light food, tea, yoga, incense, DIY mani/pedi, bubble bath, no computer/phone/etc. Sigh... 

Namaste bitches.

The black hole that is Target....and the solution for world peace.

OK, so has anyone been to Target since their new produce/supermarket unveiling? Now, I love me some fresh affordable produce... but Target has always been my kryptonite. I have never in my life been able to walk into Target and buy exactly what I went in there to buy. This is how it usually goes:

Me: Babe, I need to go to Target.
N.: For what?!
(She already knows what this means, so her left eye has just begun to twitch.)

Me: I need a bra.
N.: But, you have like 20 bras.
Me: I know, but none of them fit right and they're all worn out and yucky.
N.: Then why don't you throw them out?
Me: .... Why are you being so mean? Do you want me to walk around being cranky and angry because my bra doesn't fit and is creating craters in my shoulders??? When I'm all doubled over and looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame, it's going to be all your fault. Do you want me to spend the rest of my life resenting you?!

(This is where she hangs her head in defeat, and also realizes that Target may be having a sale on grills, because it's like January O_o)

N.: Now, listen to me. You promised. You get your bra, try it on and then we are done. 20 minutes. That's it!
Me: K...

So, we walk in and I usually spend about 20 minutes in the dollar section, filling my basket with things that would be just PERFECT for my preschool classroom. Finally, N. yells loud enough to convince me that 2 baskets is more than enough crap. Then we have to pass the Women's section on the way to the Intimates section. Usually, N. can manage to physically shove me past it while repetitively chanting, "You're broke. You don't have money." I then spend about an hour picking out the "right" bra, and another half an hour trying on the 20 bras i picked out. I usually walk out empty handed, because of course none of them fit right. This is where I usually notice  that N. has wandered off. (smiles)

I dump my bras and make a beeline to the home decor section. I run through the aisles grabbing things off the shelf, dragging two carts behind me. I ignore the annoying sound of my cell phone going off in my pocket! Nothing is going to get in the way of me and that Zen Buddha fountain!!!! Bwahahaha!

I turn and there she is. Arms crossed, a little stream of smoke coming out of her ears. I wait as she takes in the damage. I try to make my case for every item in my cart.

Me: Look at this waffle maker. It's on sale! It's only 24.99!
N.: No.
Me: OK, but what about this bed in a bag? It's an entire bed set for 40 bucks and it comes in a BAG!
N.: No.
Me: we're out of dishwasher soap. This one was on sale.
N.: Fine.
Me: We need this. We're almost out of laundry detergent and this one is Eco-friendly.
N.: FINE!!!!!

We leave Target, about 3 hours later. The sun has set. I didn't buy a bra. We now owe $120 more on our Target card, and N. is cursing and stomping all the way to the car.

Target is my kryptonite.

But.... now that they've added walls and walls of frozen artery clogging, cheap "crap we shouldn't eat," guess who's yelling at who now?

So, yea... thanks to Target and their new super duper supermarket, this is what we ate for dinner:

We are SO not allowed in Target, ever again.

I guess she felt really guilty the next day, because N. made the most amazing Kale and chorizo stew. OMG. I wish I could insert taste into this post.

::wipes tear:: I am so proud! To think that wen I met her,
the only spices she had in her kitchen were salt, pepper and Adobo...

Now, she's actually out-cooking me. Yea, I said it. I asked her for the recipe, but she's a tornado in the kitchen and can never remember what the heck she puts in a dish. What can I say? She's a culinary artist! :-)

In other news, our adopted stray cat, Charlie, gave birth to four absolutely adorable kittens yesterday morning. They are addictive. We both keep making excuses to go in and just gaze adoringly at them. It's an avalanche of Muppet-paw cuteness. I can't take it.

Just linger here for a minute, and take in the cuteness. I promise, it will brighten your day... and make all well in the world. 

Namaste bitches.

-Dee

Year #2...

So, here I am. Halfway through my second year in Boston. Halfway through my second year of cohabitation with my partner. At the beginning of my second year as a preschool teacher. I'm alive, and things are... good. I won't lie. This past year has been hard. I've gone through my fair share of moments where I've screamed "What am I doing here?!" I don't know what made me think that it was going to be easy. I don't know what made me think that I was going to have the time or even the emotional capacity to write about my first year year! Let me tell you, between being the sole teacher of a classroom full of 10 three to five year olds, maintaining a 3 floored house and yard, managing 4 pets (including a hyperactive plott hound, a blind aggressive dog, a schizophrenic cat and an old sick cat) while attempting to keep a healthy balanced relationship....I'm lucky I've managed to keep my basic needs met.

It has been a roller-coaster ride of a year, but I guess I shouldn't expect any less from Saturn. My relationship has been tested, but we are still here. I'm sure N. has wanted to throw me out on my ass on more than one occasion, and I've thrown my fair share of wine glasses (one of the rooms upstairs has the dent to prove it... come to think of it, there's a dent in the bedroom wall from where I threw one of my paintings. What can I say? I'm a ...thrower.). All in all though, we have come out of this first year alive...bruised and looking like a hot mess, but alive nonetheless. She's my lobster.

 

As for my first year as a preschool teacher.... it sure as hell was an experience. There were days when I was so happy doing what I do that I was a giddy cartwheeling fool. Now, other days? I wanted to quit and toss children from a cliff. Most of the days were of the less violent kind. I learned so much, mostly the hard way. It's been one month of my second year so far. I have 14 kids now, but also gained a co-teacher. I love my job. Honestly, the only downside to my job is that I make peanuts. I work long hours, take my work home with me, work in the evening and sometimes the weekends, and I get paid flippin' peanuts. But, (and I know I'm not supposed to begin a sentence with "but," but wtf is this? English class?) I would much rather be taking home a crappy salary and waking up every morning absolutely loving my job, than making a crap-load of money and being completely miserable. I know, reality is that this situation will have to change soon, especially if we plan on having kids anytime in the near future. I'm working on figuring out a way to make more money without sacrificing my sanity. I'll let you know when I've come up with my master plan. In the meantime, we are clipping coupons, canceling our cable, and walking around with a flashlight (kidding, but we totally should because this electric bill is effin' ridiculous. I'm just sayin'.)

The house is coming along slowly. We've pretty much finished the entire first floor, and made a reasonable improvement to our outdoor space. It feels like there's always something else to do though, because we are crazy and we watch wayyyy too much HGTV. N. is actually going through an "I wanna build stuff out of pallets" phase.  I, however have gotten it in my head that the wall between the kitchen and dining room MUST go. I just need a sledgehammer. N. is not too keen on this idea. She's also not happy about my new obsession with building a chicken coop in our backyard. I should probably add the pregnant stray cat that now resides in our spare room to this list of "shit she's not happy about." Her name is Charlie. She's a calico and shes got extra toes. How can you not love a cat with muppet paws? So yea, she showed up on our porch one day and now she's knocked up. What else was I supposed to do? N. is secretly excited about fostering a bunch of muppet kitties. I've also caught her baby-talking and singing to the cat. O_o

I'm going to end this post here but I can see that I'm trying to catch up and cram all sorts of stuff into one post. N. also just got home from work. I stayed home today so she's being all cave-woman like "Where's my dinner? ROAR!"  I promise promise promise that I'm officially back. Stay tuned.


Before I go, I will leave you all with an amazing drink recipe. My best friend visited a while ago and she's currently obsessed with spicy/cool drink combinations, like cucumber habanero, etc. So, I've created a drink in her honor:

Muddle 4 slices of cucumber with a few mint leaves, 1 tbs of simple syrup and a tiny piece of either habanero or thai chili pepper. Add one tbs of fresh lime juice, 2 tbs of ginger ale or club soda if you don't like ginger flavor. I love it and actually use ginger beer because the flavor is stronger. 1/4 cup of Veev Acai Liquor (look it up, it's amazing) and 1/8 cup vodka (because I'm an alcoholic and 30% alcohol just isn't enough for me). If you don't have any Veev on hand just use vodka. Pour all into a martini shaker. Shake and pour over ice. Garnish with a cucumber slice and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

Namaste bitches!