Stripes

On Sunday I went outside to clip the dogs' toenails.  While I was out the hubby joined me and decided we should clean the grill.  30 minutes later and:

Yeah.  I even SAID, I'm going to burn, I should go put on sunscreen.  But did I?  Noooo.  Because I am a dork like that.  The hubby, who isn't as pigmentationally challenged as I am keeps saying, "but you were only out for 30 minutes!  How is it possible to burn that fast?"  Oh, it's possible.  Welcome to the land of Pasty-ville, hubby!

Tonight's shoes are red and white striped in honor of my silliness.

I'll take a pair of each, please and thank you.

Now, let's talk about my less than stellar landlord, OK?  In February we had a storm that blew down part of the fence in the backyard, so we called the landlord.  He told us we needed to go talk to the neighbors so they could share the cost.  It turns out that they were in India for 2 weeks, but we spoke with their 20ish year old son who said he would pass the message on to his parents when he talked to them.  The landlord then started (all in phone calls and emails to us) demanding updates, complaining that they should be able to authorize repairs from India, berating their parenting skills that they didn't raise their kid better, and finally telling us we had to call India and get their authorization.  Um sure, I'll just pick up the phone and call and entire country to find one couple who are just trying to visit their family.  Eventually they came home and we got things sorted out.

In April when the World Traveler was here she said the toilet in the guest bathroom was running.  We turned off the water and called the landlord. The handyman he uses came out and fixed it, so no drama, really, except that now every time we talk to the landlord he reminds us that the toiled cost him $100 to fix.

Last week when it was super hot our ac went on the fritz.  It kind of works, but if it gets over 95 it basically stops and we have to turn it off for several hours and then it will kind of work again.  So we called the landlord.  He told us to call 3 ac people to get quotes.  We got a guy to come out who said that basically it's an old unit and it's also too small for the size of the house.  His recommendation was to replace it.  The landlord informed us that no other tenant has complained about the ac in 20 years and he isn't going to spend the money to replace it.  He told us to buy fans and "go to the mall when it gets really hot."

On Sunday this past weekend our water heater died.  Monday we called the landlord.  He told us to call a plumber (noticing a theme here?) and then proceeded to tell the hubby that he really doesn't have time for this, that we are becoming a nuisance to him and we are giving him a headache.  We had PG&E come out on Tuesday to see if they could light the pilot light, but they couldn't and the guy said he thought it was the thermal coupler.  So we called the handyman again, who came out yesterday to replace the part.  Turns out that wasn't it, that he needed to get parts.  He let us know today that he had to order the parts and the won't be in until Monday or later.  He's also worried because he can't get in touch with the landlord who is currently in Canada and has turned his phone off.  

Really, the man is a peach, don't you think?

On the plus side, when it gets really hot at least I can take a cold shower...

Smurfy

Here's a thought.  Let's not talk about me tonight, mmmkay?  After the last 2 nights I think it's time for a break from my blah blah blah.  The Holidays Calendar tells me that today is Global Smurfs Day!  Why?  I don't know!  But the link says it's always celebrated on the Saturday closest to June 25th.  Any of you Smurf aficionados out there know if there is significance to that date?  I haven't seen any of the new Smurf movies, but I used to watch The Smurfs on Saturday morning cartoons (in black and white for part of my childhood, thank you very much).  I had Smurf books and at least one little smurf figurine.  Which one?  I don't remember.  It was a boy.  That's all I can tell you.  But not Papa Smurf.  Let's look at shoes!

I think I could do with out Gargamel on the tongue but I appreciate the thoroughness of this shoe.

Is this Smurf running away?  Why is he so happy about it?  Maybe he's just going for a picnic?

I know there are women out there who love this style of shoe, but I am just not one of them.  I like the material, though.  Papa Smurf looks so happy!

Ooh, I love the red!

I love Mary Janes, you know this.  So I love the shape of this shoe, but the Smurfs + the pink + the polka dots + the black straps, heels, and soles are just too much.

I love the yellow shoelaces!  You know, when I was a kid Smurfette was the only girl Smurf.  Which was weird.  And a little creepy.  Oh wait, let me try that again:  In MY day we didn't have all of these high falutin girl Smurfs!  We had one!  Her name was Smurfette, and she was just Smurfy, thank you very much!  Heehee..I feel better now.

I'm off to bed with a book, I think.  TTYL!

PS - I THOUGHT I'd already done a Smurfs post!  At least I have a tiny bit of memory left.  And I only duplicated 2 of the pictures.

Happy

After last night's wallowing session I promised to do a happier post tonight, so here it is.  Today was actually a really good day.  A dear friend/angel called me this morning to ask about the storage unit and see if she could help.  I'm dreadfully tired of asking people for help, but she was so sweet and somewhat insistent.  We went to the storage unit place and found out that they screwed up with their advertising and aren't having an auction in June, so we actually had another month.  Notice they didn't let us know that particular bit of information.  But the good news remains that the storage unit is safe.  We are going to get our stuff out of there and close out our contract.  They have raised the rates 4 times in the last 2 years and our monthly fee has doubled, so we need to just to find room at home for everything.

Anyhoo, I was going to write tonight about my awesome friends anyway, this awesome friend just gave me one more reason.  I've been thinking that for all of it's crazy stressfullness, 2017 had been lovely in terms of catching up with friends.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Camp/Author Friend being here for a visit and how wonderful it was to see her. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years.  In fact, we tend to hang out in June:  The last time she visited was in June, and the only time I have been to her house was in June.

A few weeks before that a friend from seminary was here for an overnight visit.  (Oh dear, she needs a nickname, and I've already used Seminary Friend...)  This particular friend is possibly one of the coolest people I know.  She's hilarious, smart, engaged, passionate, and since I've known her has lived in:  California, Washington, Ohio, New Mexico, England, Boston, Washington DC (twice), Niger, and is soon to move to Belgium.  Oh!  I will call her the World Traveler!  On a side note, I am from Montana and married a man from Ohio.  The World Traveler is from Ohio and married a man from Montana!  Really, it's just another reason to love her. I actually wrote a post about her visit, which I just now remembered.

In March (I think?  Hooray for Swiss Cheese Brain!) The Texas Friend was in the Bay Area with her significant other who was on a business trip.  I hadn't seen her in almost 7 years, since I went to Dallas for a visit in 2010.  She was the happiest I had ever seen her, which was really really great, and was a balm to my own heart.

Last week, I had a lovely Skype chat with The Coffee Friend who very sweetly agreed to be on my Bible Study Podcast.  I haven't seen her in person since 2006 when I was driving home from internship and spent the night with her and her husband in Wisconsin.  I'm so glad I got to chat with her and catch up.  It was the Sunday after that her beloved Labradoodle died, and I'm glad I got to talk to her before that.

I've said before that I have amazing friends, and 2017 has simply been more proof of that.  I am grateful to all of you who have loved and supported me even when I'm grumpy, depressed, freaking out, wallowing, whatever. 

Now, on to shoes!  I went to my handy-dandy ideas folder tonight and just chose a bunch that made me happy:

Today was Bring Your Dog to Work Day, so I had to include these.  They're Mary Janes!  Also, it's much easier to bring my dogs to work when I'm working from the home office...

I want a skirt in this fabric.  How could you not smile wearing this?

Dragonflies!!!

Those are mermaids, how funny and cute are these?

Overall these shoes are kind of scary, but I love the colors and the stripes.

I will also take a skirt out of this material, please.

Look!  A garden for your feet!

Thank you, my friends, for helping contribute to my happiness.  I hope I can do the same for you.

Wallowing

Let me start this post out on a positive note:  we had a bright moment of hope in our day today that I absolutely needed, and for which I am super grateful.  Before that happened I spent my morning pondering the question, "when is it acceptable to give up?"  And yes, I know that the answer to that is "it's not.  Keep going."  Also, I want to be clear that I don't mean giving up in any sort of permanent sense.  It's more that I just want to crawl into my blanket fort for 1-3 months.  I could nap, eat chocolate, and read, and when I emerged, rather than having transformed into a butterfly the world around me will have transformed.  The hubby will be healthy, our finances will be in hand, we won't be struggling to keep our heads above water all the damn time.  Sigh, that's called denial.  I understand this.  But the daydream is nice sometimes.  We do keep having bright spots, and those are the things that are keeping me going right now, but the things that are dragging me down are numerous:

• We're still in limbo about the hubby's health
• This is the week for me that the migraine hits.  Tuesday was the worst, but the darn thing has been lingering ever since
• My blood sugar has been up, which freaks out the hubby and makes him worry that I'm going to get diabetes and die (yes, this is a bit of a trigger for him)
• I HATE the job search process.  I'm qualified!  I'm educated!  I show up on time, I'm professional, and I'm nice, dammit.  Someone should want to hire me.
• It is 9 billion degrees this week
• We are about to lose our storage unit.  There have been several times in the past week or so when we though things would work out so we'd be able to pay our past-due balance, but they've all fallen through.  All of our stuff goes up for auction on Saturday.  90% of it really is just stuff that I'm mostly OK with being without.  The other 10% has me heartbroken, though, as it's irreplaceable.  I should have found time before it reached this point to go get that stuff out, but I didn't.  Because I suck.  And now I feel stupid.
• I have numerous friends who are hurting right now for various reasons and I can't do a thing to help any of them.  This makes me feel like a horrible person.  I love them, I should be able to help them in some tangible way.
• There are a bunch of other things that combine to make me feel like a giant, stupid, loser-failure.

OK, I'm done.  I just needed to wallow for a bit.  Tomorrow I will try to do a post about happy, positive things in my life, because they do exist.

Since this post is about wallowing, what's more appropriate than piggy shoes?

Oh my goodness.  It's a pig in a tutu and teeny tiny high tops!  This is ridiculous.  Or maybe it's repigulous!  And adorable.

I actually knew a kid who had these shoes.  The piggy bum cracks me up.

They are soooo happy!

I would like this better if the shoe wasn't pink so the piggies would pop a little better.

I think I need green boots for wallowing days.  And a teeny tiny boot wearing pig to accompany me.  Now, will someone PLEASE make me a magical blanket fort to to which I can escape?

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, father-in-law, brother, and brother-in-law!  Happy birthday to dads of all kinds: biological dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, single dads, father figures, uncles, godfathers, etc!  And for those of you for whom this day is hard, whether it's because you have lost your father or your father was not in your life but in it and not a good father, or you are a father who has lost a child, know that you are not alone and you are in thoughts and prayers today.

What can I say about my dad that I haven't already?  He and my mom nurtured my love of reading.  He took me hiking and camping and fishing.  He tried to teach me to parallel park, but I was way too angst-y and hormonal and adolescent-y to be a good student.  Because of him my taste in music tends to run to decades way before my time.  He tells awesomely bad dad jokes.  For instance:

• The first line of the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is "they asked me how I knew our true love was true."  Because of my father I sing, "they asked me how I knew turtle soup was blue."
• He used to sing to the dump to the dump to the dump dump dump to the tune of the Lone Ranger.
• I have no idea why, but he used to say, "see that man over there with the stripe down his pants?  Looks like water, but it's snot."  (this one is better said out loud)
• If you say, "you're back!" to my dad, he will reply, "and my front, too!"
• When we leave he is fond of saying, "and we're off! Like a terd of hurtles!"

There are a million more, but for some reason I've been drawing a blank today trying to think of them. I even called my brother and he couldn't remember them, either.  Suffice it to say, he's a hoot, my dad.

 

Here are some shoes in honor of his awesomeness:

 

I might wear these in my size if I could find them.

The PB would definitely have these.

Wow, are these specific.

 

Or maybe I would them in this color combination.  OK, you know I'd have the blue pair.

 

Happy Father's Day, everyone!  Especially my dad, I love you!

Baby H

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile, but have been putting it off for various reasons.  A month ago yesterday I posted about Baby H, the PF's adorable little muffin.  He is now a month old, and still adorable, but his little life has changed drastically since that last post.  Baby H has been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, which untreated can shorten his life to around 8 months.  There is a new drug that was just approved in December of last year that he has been approved for, and this has a good chance of not only extending his life but improving its quality.  He had his first treatment last week, tolerated it well, and even showed some improvement.  SMA often affects babies' abilities to breathe and feed, so he was put onto a feeding tube right away, and yesterday had more treatments for breathing and they got more equipment to help him at home.  He's such a little fighter, and his mama is the most fierce mama I know.  His daddy, too, but I don't know him as well, and can only speak about the PF really.  She told me the other day that she just does what she has to.  I told her that's enough, and pretty much the definition of a hero in my book.  She jumps in and does whatever it takes to advocate for her boys, and she is amazing.  I know she's tired, and I can't imagine everything she is going through, but she amazes and inspired me on a daily basis.

I tried to figure out what kind of shoes to put with this post.  It seems kind of frivolous to talk about shoes when a baby's health is on the line.  But life continues, and Baby H, like all of us, needs happiness, even if it is in the form of shoes that might make us smile.  In fact, Baby H gave me the inspiration for the shoes.  In a picture the PF posted on Facebook the other day H had his "new wubnub pacifier moose" that he'd gotten in a recent care package.  How often do you ever get to use the phrase wubnub pacifier moose?  Clearly his shoes needed to be moose:

Plus, moose are strong and fierce, just like Baby H and the PF.

If you want to know more about their story, you can go here, the link goes to their GoFundMe page.  Please read his story and support them however you can.  That might be money, that might be prayer, that might just be learning more about SMA and how it affects families.

Sadness

My heart is sad today for 2 friends in particular.  SKD texted me this morning to tell me that their beloved Lucy died this morning.  She was a Chihuaha/something or other, and she had the sweetest, funniest little underbite ever:

They are heartbroken, of course.  She's been with them for 11 years and will be missed.

Yesterday I found out that The Coffee Friend's dog, Marty was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. It's already spread to his lungs, liver, kidney. It began in the right sinus and that tumor is now protruding against his skull. She made the heart-rending decision to have him relieved of his pain.  She will have the weekend with him and say good-bye on Monday.  Marty is the cutest Labradoodle I know:

Neither option is good.  In one you don't have a chance to say good-bye and in the other you get that chance but have to wait for what's coming.  I want to hug both of them.  SKD is closer, but I still can't get to her right now, and The Coffee Friend is in Wisconsin.

I don't want to do puppy shoes because it seems too sad.  Instead I will do rainbow shoes tonight in honor of these beloved pets who are making their last trip over the rainbow bridge.

Hug your fur babies extra close tonight, and please pray for these dear friends.

Yay, Friends

Last night I got to hang out with the Camp/Author Friend and her significant other!  (Partner?  They aren't married, but have been together forever.  English needs a better word for this type of relationship)  Anyhoo, they were in the area and were able to go to dinner and visit for awhile.  Actually, they took us to dinner, which was extremely sweet of them.  They are both awesome and it was so good to see them as it's been a couple of years since we got to hang out.  It reminded me once again that I am blessed with amazing friends.

The C/AF was wearing adorable turquoise-y ballet flats.  I didn't get a picture, but they were cute.  They also might have been more blue than turquoise, but I'm going with turquoise for the shoes in tonight's post.  

Suede!  

Crochet!

Oooh, shiny.

I like the cutouts on this.

I really like the green accent on this one.

My main issue with most of the ballet flats I've tried on is that they have zero arch support.  I may as well be bare foot for the support they have.  These are Keens, though, so I'm assuming they would have arch support.  Apparently I need me some Keens ballet flats!

And what was I wearing for shoes last night you might ask?  I was wearing boring black sandals.  JG would be so proud! 

The hubby and I were very happy to have some social time last night with good friends.  It's been a bit crazy and hectic around here for awhile, so this was a much-needed break.