Well, it's still only in the low 90s for the next week. Not typical August weather in Kansas. And it was lovely and cool this morning at market.

So today's happy is that I was able not only to get raspberries for the white chocolate chip raspberry bread I'm making for church next week but also the first blackberries I've seen. I freeze berries from market to use in bread throughout the year. I have a couple things of both red and black raspberries and blueberries but no blackberries till now.

Sometimes it's the little things. :)

Frankly I don't know what the difference is between blackberries and raspberries. I'm not a berry eater--most are kind of sour and I like sweet stuff (which is why I also bought my last cinnamon roll and a little tub of mocha fudge from the fudge lady--last week's peanut butter chocolate bacon was OMG good).

Also got some peaches for myself. It's been a good year for peaches around here apparently--and they're really big, like apple size.

I figured we'd be swept by the As at Oakland but we won 1-0 nothing last night on Ibanez' solo homer and Guthrie got himself out of several jams to blank them and then the ever reliable bullpen took over. Even with Hosmer, one of our best hitters, out with a fractured hand, we still got some hits against one of their star pitchers.

I'm still getting headaches but I'm thinking they're allergies not stress as they're very much sinus headaches. So I decided to mow tomorrow before church instead of today because I have allergy attacks about six hours after mowing. I have to convene tomorrow at church so I need to be able to speak without croaking.

Oh, and yesterday wasn't that bad. Boss was actually in a pretty good mood and I was busy. Stress levels went way down.

Today I'm putting away all the clothes (winter and stuff that doesn't fit yet) I'm keeping in the guestroom since I emptied out the dresser and desk of stuff I'm giving away. I have five big trashbags of clothes to lug to Goodwill or somewhere (and that's just room one and I haven't even reached the closet yet). Also planning to write. I have a couple fics for exchanges due in two weeks I need to get on.

Just bagged the blackberries and I have enough for two loaves of bread! Two cups of locally grown berries for $4.00 is pretty damn good.

So far my energy level is still doing good. This is the last day on 20mg of the steroids; I drop down to 10mg tomorrow for two weeks. We'll see how the energy levels go. I have noticed I'm not quite as hungry but then I also haven't been dieting this past week. Need to get back on that, too.

We have a transgendered woman giving our service tomorrow. :)

Out idiot Secretary of State made some stupid comment about how no "legitimate" churches oppose his law to make us show ID to vote. One, what the hell is a legitimate church? and two, yeah, no. Mine does, and not just our minister as an individual as he tried to say was what he really meant (several African American ministers have spoken against it but he's saying that's just their view as individuals and not their whole church's even when they've said they represent their congregation and it's their view, too). He's such an ass.

Oh, I signed up for a Wordpress blog (ladyoneill--yeah very original) but not sure what I'll do with it if anything. Mostly I want to be able to comment on my cousin's brilliant posts there. Regardless, I won't be leaving here.

Okay, off to write something.

So the weather's done another complete 180. Yesterday for chalice circle late afternoon I wore a cardigan in the 56 degree sunny weather. Around 6:00 gale force winds hit and the temperature plummeted. It's now 13 degrees, though the wind has died down. Really, a couple times last night I was afraid the roof was going to blow off. I ended up watching old Fear Factors while reading fanfic just to have noise to drown out the wind. Elektra kept waking up and jerking her head up at the noise.

Wind terrifies me due to stupid trees too near my house.

The snowblower box that was sitting next to my garbage can is long gone. lolol No clue where it blew to.

Speaking of my garbage can, I came home Friday night to find they'd replaced my 60 gallon can with a 95 gallon one which costs $4 a month. Over Christmas I put out extra bags two weeks in a row and got a little warning note but I've been really good since so had no clue why they did this. I left a testy voicemail and got a call back today saying they'd be switching me back. No reason given why they did it in the first place. I don't think I've gone over the weight limit. If I can lift bags into it, surely their stupid automated truck can lift the whole thing. Heck some weeks I don't even put it out and last week I had one small bag and a couple empty diet coke boxes in it.

Church went well yesterday, a service on 'how to listen to our kids' in our own families and the church community. The speaker has a teenage daughter and has just split from her husband so there's been some trying times. Still, she injected a lot of humor and the service went over well. Chalice Circle was nice as well, couple new members. I was sick last time so hadn't met them.

Still behind on tv. Probably should have watched some shows instead of Fear Factor. I did watch The Originals, that was a shocker. It and SPN are on tomorrow night so obviously the CW doesn't care about the State of the Union address. I'd love to watch the OU v. OSU game tonight but I'd have to do it in the dining room as there's so much recording tonight. Teen Wolf, yay!

I need to write anyway. Didn't get anything written over the weekend.

Well, should go get lunch...

As I patiently (hah) wait for Big Bang Theory to finish recording so I can switch on the NFL game for a half hour and then have to wait till the SMG show stops recording to go back. They make dvrs that record like six shows at once--why can't my cable company get one that even does four???

At least it is an HD dvr so I'm set once the tv arrives.

Been a couple days of not really doing much but not being here either. I lost all my open tabs on Firefox last night and it's a bitch to reconstruct. *sigh* This happens about every two months. I should just switch completely to Chrome where if one tab freezes, the whole program doesn't stop working (supposedly). Inevitably I lose fics I might some day want to read. I also went through all my subscriptions at AO3 and dumped all the ones that were 1) done or 2) hadn't updated in at least three or four months with no recent comments saying the author was still writing it. Went from like 400something to around 120. Sadly about 75% of the ones I dumped were for reason #2.

So, naturally, one I just dumped for that reason the person just posted another chapter.

And, yes, I'm a big hypocrite because I haven't written anything on my WIP in like five months.

I have sparkly red toenails to contrast my sparkly silver fingernails. :)

Yesterday I read all of Simply Pray for my class at church last night. We only meet three times, same time as choir, but I've missed taking classes and this interested me on my ever-continuing quest for spiritual growth. Not having grown up Christian and only having any kind of UU spirituality for the last eleven years, I've never really prayed. Oh sure, the rote prayers at the table and bedtime at my grandparents' and the Lords Prayer at their church and in Ireland, but those meant nothing to me. The class leader didn't really give any instruction about preparing for the first class, so we didn't actually discuss the book last night, just talked about our experiences with prayer, why we were interested in the book etc. So, hey, I'm ahead of the game by having read the whole book which we'll begin talking about next class.

It was very interesting. I read it all at work on Wednesday and really focused on what I was reading--got irritated when the phone rang. The first part is an examination of four different types of prayer that the author drew on various religions to develop; the second is on the use of beads in prayer and making your own prayer beads--which I'm seriously thinking about doing along with finally building an altar, and trying to pray every day; and the last part broke down several prayers, from different traditions including a calling of the directions by Starhawk, and showed you how to use the format of each prayer to write your own.

It was an interesting group--all women, not a surprise really--and from different religions. One Pentecostal hurt by her former religion, three Methodists (one whose father is a minister), one Christian Scientist, and one unnamed but obviously fundamentalist. Throw in my UU into the mix and we're all coming from different places which makes for interesting discussions.

Then I went to choir for the last twenty minutes where we have a new bass. We also got the holiday music which I haven't even looked at outside of titles. This Sunday we sing the theme song from The Vicar of Dibley (seriously, it's the 23rd Psalm, which, ironically was one of the prayers broken down in the book).

The back of my neck itches. My elbows have been itching, too. I think I'm at the age where maybe I need to start putting on lotion. I hate lotion. No matter how "non-greasy" it is, it's greasy.

Today I spent some time putting all the KU football, basketball and Chiefs games on my google calendar. Amazing how the two Saturday women's groups in December and February meet right in the middle of KU bball games and at least two of the three or so late Sunday afternoon Chiefs' games are during my Chalice Circle meetings. *sigh*

So far the game is dull. I guess I'm rooting for Arizona just because they're the underdog.

Boss is in only in the morning tomorrow and other attorney is heading to St. Lousi because he has tickets to the Cardinals game so I'll be taking a dvd and hopefully writing. I keep writing on my darn polyamory fic and NOT on the IWRY fic which is due Monday. After tomorrow, only one more week and then boss is gone for eleven work days. :) He's all freaked out for some reason, because he's gone over the first of the month. I can sign my own paycheck and I always sign the rent check and pay bills without his input. Yeah, rent checks come in but there is a manager who can pick them up and deposit them since the guy we manage properties for (and collect rent for ones we don't manage because the manager has never switched the drop off spot over) is going with my boss. This isn't a big deal

I was supposed to mow tonight but I think I'm getting a sinus something as I'm all drippy and kind of dizzy. Whatevs. Also tired because I stayed up past 2:00 rebuilding fanfic tabs.

Oh look, Seattle just scored.

So, my local paper now sucks because hardly anyone comments due to the Facebook requirement. Our local Obamacare Navigator apparently had a bench warrant on her for, get this, medical debt when she was uninsured, and our idiot state government has started a bill to do background checks on these people. She cleared it up as soon as she found out about it and, big whoop. Do you know how many people get into debt and get sued and get bench warrants issued and don't know about it??? I do! In this state you can serve someone by posting on the door and mailing through regular mail. If no one returns either to the court, it's assumed that the person living in the place is the correct person and got served. It's a flaw in our civil process, but there are people who get judgments against them who don't know they've been sued. We do our due diligence to find people and follow the Fair Debt Credit Act by starting with a thirty day letter, but if it doesn't bounce back, we assume the person we're going after lives there.

You do have to be served personally and ignore Citation in Contempt order to get a bench warrant, but there's no one to tell you that's the next step unless it's happened to you or you smartly contact an attorney. Some jurisdictions actively search out people with bench warrants and arrest them (we always have a spate of arrests when there are new police hires, like it's a part of training or something). Others wait until someone gets a traffic ticket. We have outstanding warrants on a couple people over three years old. And we were granted one three years ago but we need personal info on the person (SS#, DOZB) in order to have them arrested and I just got that info and the judge allowed us to issue the warrant. That file has been closed for those three years--bet that defendant will be shocked when the debt bites her in the ass.

I really didn't mean to go on a rant about this but after nineteen years in debt collection I have very little sympathy. I bounced bad checks back when I was young and stupid and poor; I never let it get past the initial letter from the credit bureau. I guess I wouldn't be able to be a Navigator because I once had bad credit. Like twenty five years ago. People in debt, don't bury your heads in the sand! If you get a letter from a credit bureau or attorney, CONTACT THEM! Make a payment plan and keep to it. Don't get sued and ruin your credit. And, yes, if you let it go on too long and too far into the court process, you can get arrested, not for debt, because despite a KC tv station trying to incite the public against debtor's prisons we don't have them and that's not the reason you go to jail, but for ignoring judge's orders. They don't like that.

I so wanted to comment on the stupid comments from Tea Partiers on the newspaper because there is so much misinformation about this. People calling it criminal, calling it bail. It's neither. You get bench warrants for contempt of court and you bond out, not bail out. Also there were comments about how bouncing checks was a crime and why wasn't she in jail.

It's a crime ONLY if the DA will pursue it which ours won't. Maybe if it was like $20,000 or something, but we collect on bounced checks all the time through the civil system. It can be a civil matter as well.

So, shut the fuck up Tea Party idiots who don't understand the legal system and, damn, I SO want to comment! Stupid newspaper.

In happier news, KU basketball is pre-season #6. Kentucky, despite not even making the tournie last year, is #1. I hope they crash and burn like they did last year. I can't stand Calipari.

On the tv front, I'm pretty caught up--still have American Horror Story and Walking Dead from this week plus tonight's shows. Oh and Revolution from last night which I'll probably watch at work. No one seems to be uploading anything I need but luckily they're on networks whose websites put the shows up the next day.

Enjoyed SPN a lot. Heh Crowley. Kevin's looking mighty sexy these days, too. Also enjoying The Originals a lot, and CSI continues to give us wonderful twists and interesting stories. Best revitalization of a show ever. Oh, and SHIELD rocks, too. Peeing. *heeeeeeee* It is sad that they can't talk about mutants, stupid division in Marveldom. Maybe once Avengers 2 comes out with mutants they'll relax that idiocy.

I'm wearing pjs. It's that cold. Heat actually ran last night and the house is a constant 65 degrees. It was nearly 70 outside today but it's going to be in the low 50s tomorrow and rainy. I refuse to dig out my coat yet but I am wearing blazers. My purple corduroy one is too big on top of course. Oh, but the pj pants I'm wearing which were snug last year, aren't. :) I'm not ready to dig out the flannels yet or put the heavy blanket on the bed. Socks are on all night, though.

I hate the cold.

I found some holiday cards in a catalog I want to order which sent me to find my card selection to determine that, yes, I'm almost out. I always buy several different kinds--mom always sends the same card to everyone; I find that boring. (Oh, wait, did I buy some on sale at Target after Christmas last year and, if so, where are they--I've done this before, along with wrapping paper etc.)

Speaking of my mother, she can't wear fingernail polish because it causes her nails to peel (but not her toenails; our pedicurist's mother has the same problem) but they now make polish without whatever does that, so mom's going to try it out. She gets a manicure every two weeks and can only wear bonder. How boring. Now that I have my acrylic nails I may never NOT have them or polish on them. (boss finally noticed my silver nails and said he liked them.) I really hope, along with the lactose and gluten and kidney issues, that I don't develop this weirdass nail peeling. When mom was my age, she wore fingernail polish all the time, but then she could also digest gluten and dairy.

I have this weird desire to start going through my eBay room and start using some of the stuff, like vintage linens. I want a new dining room set--I'm hoping that I can find an antique black set like I saw last year in North Lawrence--where I can use vintage linens, for the oh three meals or so that we eat in there.

KU actually plays basketball at 2:30 on Thanksgiving Day. We eat then! So, the plan is to eat a bit earlier and have pie during the game (while mom, bored, reads or something).

If I start using vintage linens, I may have to actually iron...

Might need to rethink this. *g*

I'm also going to dismantle and get rid of my old round dining room table which has been holding my unused desktop computer for years and taking up space in my bedroom right where I want to put my altar. If I put up an altar. Which will use vintage linens.

I have no idea where I'm getting this urge to, well, not clean, but do stuff like that. Amazingly enough, outside of not putting away clean clothes, I've managed to keep my bedroom clean for two months! And my bed made since I bought the new mattress set.

I seem to be rambling all over the place in this very long post, so have a meme that's been sitting on my harddrive for over a week...

Meme.
1. Comment on this post with "This is Halloween!".
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ/DW.

iria4285 gave me M:

( this is kind of long, actually the whole post is, sorryCollapse )

So, if you want to play just follow the instructions above.

And, finally...so after sixteen days or whatever, the recalictrant congress gave the President what he wanted in the first place? Were they just being petulant? What happened to the 'we must bring down Obamacare at all costs, no budget for you' platform? I don't get it. They sure didn't stick to their guns for long (for which I'm glad, of course).

Did you know that there have been polls asking people if they support Obamacare and if they say no, the next question is do they support the Affordable Healthcare Act and they often say yes?

*shakes head at stupid people*

Heh, really just so many ideas in the world. I mentioned the other day that I thought Dean should be the righteous person to lose a bone and someone wrote a really good fic about it--ear bones, he's deaf. *g*

Our state decided on a budget with basically three days to go before the next court furlough, so no court furloughs. Somehow I managed to spell furlough both times there without the 'r'.

Boss is doing something new--handling other attorney's criminal case as he's on vacay. Boss hasn't done criminal in about 25 years. *g* I think it's just a 'please let me out of jail on bond' hearing. Since the guy has skipped town the last three times he's been let out on bond, I'm guessing that he'll be going back to jail.

The Royals stomped on the Yankees. Always a pleasure. :) It's weird how we're playing so much better on the road.

I went to Best Buy to buy a new mouse for my laptop because online they showed that in the stores were small laptop, nonwireless mice, and of course they didn't have them, so I bought a slightly bigger one--still smaller than a desktop mouse.

Naturally, the grocery store had small laptop mice at about half the price. *sigh* Well, hopefully this one will last longer than the four or so months the really cheap ones do. I was just going to go to Amazon and order like four of them but I was too impatient. I'd hooked up my desktop mouse and then remembered the scroll wheel didn't work. It's amazing how attached we get to certain things. Remember when mice didn't have scroll wheels?

Allergies are still kicking my ass--at least it's not going to rain for basically ever and get hot so the grass will stop growing. I probably still need to mow this weekend but it's a three day so if I'm bedridden I'll have time to recover. Really want to go see Battleship on Sunday, though.

Came to work and found the middle office (file room/supply room/break room) door open and my chair missing. Boss had my chair in his office. I spent about five minutes doing other stuff--unpacking lunch, turning on lights, getting coffee--before I even noticed chair was missing. *g*

Okay, boss could be back anytime from dealing with alleged criminal so should get to work...

Stupid weather. It's already warmer today (at 9:30) than it was all of yesterday. Yesterday it was COLD--I don't think it got above 56. And it rained so the dandelions continue to grow high in my weeds grass. As I watched the radar yesterday I realized I needed to get to court since it's not open today (stupid legislature) before the next batch of rain hit and I left in only a long sleeved tshirt. Brrrrr

A couple of weeks ago it was almost 90 and I was sleeping under a quilt with a fan on. Now I'm back to heavy blankets, the heat, and downstairs using the heating pad on the couch.

Big, big pictorial spoilers for the finale of SPN. Makes me happy, though.

As it is not on tonight, I'll be off to the parents' to work.

Opening day at the K! Unless it's rained out. Again, the Royals pitching (mostly relievers) is spotty at best. *sigh*

The service for church is finally coming together. Remind me never again to organize a play reading, especially one with kids. I finally got one. She's six but an amazing reader.

I'm playing the other kid.

I'm 46.

*head desk*

But I got the order of service in to be printed, got two readers, found readings and a children's story, got people playing the themes from 2001 and Star Trek (the play's about aliens visiting UU churches) and just need to draft the service script tomorrow and send a few more staging directions out to the players.

At least I don't have to write a sermon because I have got to write this fic. 10000 words are due on Tuesday. I've written like 150.

Nothing's blown me away on tv this week (although I haven't watched everything as I keep watching old SGA episodes). Will came out to Sonny on DOOL which was sweet. Matt Bomer was excellent on Glee--didn't know he could sing! Go Girl Power on Survivor. Fringe and Grimm tonight, yay. Boo to no SPN until next week.

I was so bored at work yesterday I hole punched and organized all the open files, which meant I found a lot of work to do in files that had missed being brought up for review. *sigh* So now I have a lot of work to do, despite the court being closed (stupid legislature).

In happier news, I had my taxes done last Friday and, thanks to electronic filing, I got my state return yesterday!

Well, the state legislature got in little hissy/pissy fights a couple weeks ago and went on vacation without setting the budget, disregarding the warning of the Supreme Court that said it would have to shut down courts if they didn't get any money.

So, the courts are shutting down for five Fridays. It was announced today and the first day is NEXT Friday. My boss has a half day trial then and hearings on four of the five Fridays. Cancelled.

Great.

Also, answer dates, when defendants are to appear, are Fridays in my county. When Fridays are holidays, answer dates are the day before, but they know this way in advance. Petitions filed a couple weeks ago may very well have next Friday answer dates. Not a problem for attorneys but defendants who are told to show up at 8:30 next Friday and come to the court to find it locked...shit out of luck?

What a colossal fuck up.

Also, you haven't been able to get a drivers license for the last two days in the entire state because of some computer screw up.

Hell in a handbasket here we come...

In happier news one of our choir members, quite the singer/musician, wrote an Oratorio of Wizard of Oz music--15-20 minutes long. It's wonderful. He's so talented. We're looking to perform it in early June at church.

Day three of the diet is going well. I was really hungry the first couple days and got headaches at night but I'm fine tonight. I discovered that Goldfish makes sandwich thins in white bread (shaped like fish!) that have the same points as the whole wheat ones from other companies. They're also more oval than round, so I used one for two buns for 97% fat free hot dogs. A total of five WW points. I'm not a fan of bread but I really only like white bread. I know, bad me.

On the other hand, we had black Japonica rice last night for dinner that was fantastic. It had this flavor that was out of this world. So wild and some kind of brown rice there.

I don't mind whole wheat pasta either.

Since I just started dieting again and mom has food issues (lactose intolerant, some gluten problem, definitely can't eat anything with the sweetener sorbital and maybe can't eat soy either) were not doing Easter dinner or going out for a brunch. I keep telling her she needs to test the soy. It's quite possible that when she was eating soy products and having problems, she was eating dairy, too and she's definitely lactose intolerant--did you know there's no test for that?! Beans and vegs like broccoli in quantity bloat her as well, so there's not much she can eat. If she can eat soy at least she can eat vegan cheese and soy milk. Right now she's using lactaid dairy products and she likes them okay. She made her famous chocolate cake with it and you could not taste that it wasn't real buttermilk, and Yoplait makes lactaid yogurt that, unlike the other fat free yoplaits, doesn't have high fructose corn syrup.

Anyway, she's down to 190 pounds, losing about 20 of it the wrong way, but she's back to counting points, too on WW. I have a long way to go to catch up with her. She wants to be 160 for their wedding vow renewal in September. I don't think shes been under 200 since the early 1980s!

But, then, neither have I. I'd like to lose about 50 pounds by then--I can do it if I start exercising a lot more. I need to start using the wii fit and walking on the treadmill daily. That would put me about what I was when I was at my lowest after Nutrisystem and I have so many cute clothes!

I did buy new shoes today, flats (but not ballet flats which hurt my legs, I need some heel) because I mostly have high heels and wedges for Summer. One pair of navy/grey canvass tie shoes and a pair of cream canvass with a flower flats. They had so many cute platform wedges at Famous Footwear but I have like six pair already.

Saturday I have to write my big bang fic that has a rough draft of 10K words (but doesn't have to be finished) in less than two weeks. *sigh*

And I probably should clean my very messy house.

Okay, tv watching time...

Oh, and it rained and even though the mailman put my Amazon box up against my door, it got wet and naturally the hardback I bought is fine but the top edge of Hunger Games is wet. *sigh* Oh well, it'll dry and it's only buckling a bit.

My state just keeps getting stupider and stupider.

Now they want to test people on welfare for drugs AND make them pay for the test (which will be refunded if they test negative). So, let's make people living on the edge already, barely scraping by, pay upfront for a drug test. These are people who live off of pay day loans and get tax refund "loans" because they need the money now.

Also, it's probably a violation of the Fourth Amendment and, in Florida where they did this, all of 2% of welfare recipients tested positive. The state spent 178 million on testing and saved around sixty thousand on the 2% they kicked out of the welfare program.

Yeah, that's worth doing...

So, it finally snowed Sunday night into yesterday morning. About 2 1/2 inches that is melting since it's in the low 40s and sunny right now. Pointless! And we're due for 50s by the end of the week.

I'm hoping the sun and overnight rain will take care of my sidewalks as I won't be home until ten tonight and I'm not shoveling then!

I got a lot of compliments on my solo at church. The service was great. Lots of wonderful music interspersed with complimentary readings. We had a trio sing "A Heart Full Of Love" (or whatever it's called) from Les Mis which was the highlight.

Our Spiritual Celebration meeting went very well. I don't have to give any services through July except coordinate some play for March and the Flower Communion in June which I'll just plagiarize myself from previous ones I've done. I'm helping on a couple others, including one on "unfriending". *g*

Didn't get out in time to go see Woman in Black. :( But I did go to the grocery so I didn't have to go yesterday in what was originally predicted to be up to five inches of snow falling all Monday. The flurries ended around 10:00 a.m.

Still, it's not fun pushing a cart through a slushy parking lot and it was cold.

So I have enough food at least until Thursday.

Yesterday I got prepped for my stupid court appearance tomorrow. My boss is driving us both up there in what may be heavy rain and thunderstorms. I've never been to the county just north of us county seat (actually I've barely been across the county line). It's thirty miles away from where I've lived my entire life. *snort*

KU squeaked by at KSU last night after leading most of the first half by ten or twelve. Luckily either our defense was really on or KSU couldn't hit the side of a barn. We gave them several opportunities to catch up--and they actually went ahead by two in the second half--but we held on to a six point win.

I watched the second half in the kitchen due to to many things recording on the main tv. This confused Elektra greatly.

I've finally written more on my fic that I need to finish by tomorrow to get to my beta so I can post it this Sunday. Word count is no problem--my nowhere near half finished rough draft was over the minimum. Getting it finished is the issue now. I still have at least three main scenes to write (several pages long each, probably). I've written over a thousand words today and hope to get a few more scenes written by tonight, but I also want to at least watch Glee and The River.

I also need to work on "Rolling In The Deep" before tomorrow night's choir practice.

So, Matthew Bohmer's gay. Never would have guessed it. Also, I just don't care because, for me, it's his characters I love. I don't care what he does in his real life or who he is etc. etc. But apparently several people on the tvguide forum will no longer be watching White Collar in their bigoted disgust. Although some think it's wrong to watch him kiss women on the show because he's gay in real life which they feel is not bigotry or homophobia. *rolls eyes* They don't seem to understand the definition of acting.

Also, apparently it's fine and dandy for a straight person to thank their husband/wife when they get an award but not a gay person.

Sometimes I just want to line up all the assholes and mow them down with a machine gun.

I continue to load TEAOW&S on AO3. I'm nearly up to the second big plotty fic, "Last Dance". The one where I had Spike bite Willow and she climaxed from the bite. When this became a big deal in later fics and, y'know, the whole bond and die without being bitten thing that ran as a major plot point through the remainder of the series, you'd have thought I'd carefully planned it all out.

*snort*

Nope, I fell into that one by complete luck!

What I'm enjoying is going back to the original files from fourteen years ago and reading the author's notes and things. I finally found the original name for the series, long forgotten. I knew who gave it the name TEAOW&S but not that it was about twelve fics into the series. Also, I continually whined about how emotions kept creeping into what were supposed to be just smut fics.

Yeah, look at me now. The emotion and angst queen who can barely write porn.

lol

Well, should get back to working and then writing.

Happy Valentine's Day! It means little to me either way. I'm happy alone. I do get meatloaf and mashed potatoes out of it, since that's dad's favorite meal (and one of mine) and I'm out at the parents' tonight.

I don't usually do this, but since Kansas will be next in line I'm sure....

Originally posted by gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

The movers we use are called Starving Artists. My boss just made an appointment with them and put Starving Art on the calendar via his iPhone. This is darkly amusing.

Why you ask?

Because the NEA just denied over a million dollars in arts funding to my stupid state.

Why you ask?

Because the stupid governor fired the Arts Commission staff and cut their budget to zero, leaving a bunch of board members with nothing to do. (The legislature, in one of the few good moves, restored the budget but he fired everyone pretty much the day after and line item vetoed the budget). His "plan" was to replace it with his own Arts Commission funded by private money.

So far, I haven't heard word one that there's been any private money donated. The NEA requires there to be state money ie in the stupid budget to get anything. The governor, aka the idiot, assured us months ago when he did this that the state money didn't have to be in the state budget to get the federal funds.

Uh huh.

Actually, while a great supporter of the arts, I'm cheering the NEA's decision. I'm cheering every time the idiot does something stupid. I cheered the NYTimes editorial about the idiot's turning down 31 million to set up a pilot program for the healthcare plan. His reasoning? Because the federal government has no money.

Oh, but right after that he asked for 6 million of federal funds to support marriage in Kansas.

I thought the federal government had no money, Sammy idiot?

GAH Even our Republican insurance commissioner chastised him for doing that! Of course, that means in the next primary she'll face a handpicked far right winger. She's the only Republican I've consistently voted for because she's moderate and does a good job.

Really, I just want him to cut something that affects the idiot Republicans who voted for him because most are happy we have no arts or healthcare or SRS offices because that's for the poor people who they obviously don't give a damn about and/or the liberals in my hometown who are devil worshipers and homos. Once the farmers, businessmen, oil and gas men start to hurt, then maybe he won't stand a chance come reelection. Or maybe he'll do a Palin and quit to go run for vice president.

Once again, Kansas is an embarrassment. I'm kind of getting used to it...

With free wireless at the hotel I could have posted, but I was being lazy. I did keep up with LJ and email.

I found it kind of funny that the only times the girl working for me called me instead of emailing was on the days we were on the road. When I was sitting around in nursing homes or at my aunt's she emailed me.

Mom and I had a quick drive across country. Amazingly little road construction and no weather. We arrived in New Harmony in record time to find that our cell phones didn't get signals in the ground floor courtyard room. *sigh* We were on roaming the whole time, AT&T. Hopefully when the T-Mobile/At&T thing goes through we'll have service there without having to roam, though I'm not hopeful. Last summer my brother, on AT&T, had trouble getting a signal.

Anyway, went to my aunt's and spent the evening yelling at CNN and the congress. My cousin is incredibly disillusioned with Obama and most of the Democrats. Apparently she's even farther left than I am. I keep hoping he's got some major ace up his sleeve. I'll still vote for him because any Democrat president is better than a Republican, especially the nutcases running, but I'm not happy either.

I got covered in dog hair from petting the one dog I actually like, my cousin's pug, Wilson. I just adore him.

We ate sandwiches as the barbeque place didn't seem to be open. This will be a recurring theme.

The hotel no longer has full breakfast except on weekends but the continental breakfast had lots of stuff including raisin bran and yogurt. Mom and I ate at the restaurant for lunch and then picked up my aunt and headed into the city to see my cousin who had the stroke three years ago. Mom dropped us off to go visit her remaining aunt and uncle. Had a very nice visit with my cousin. I could understand her most of the time. If only they could get government assistance so she could at least get some vocal and physical therapy. If they could get the funds to pay for a daytime caregiver she could go home. Her husband can take care of her at night and she does go home a lot on weekends. She could lose weight because he could fix low fat meals, and she can swim in their pool. It's just so sad the hoops the government makes you jump through! He's a mechanic, for god's sake, not a millionaire!

That night we tried to find something open in the tiny tourist town and ended up at the local tavern which has delicious burgers and the best onion rings in the world because nothing else was open and we didn't want to get gussied up for the hotel restaurant.

By Wednesday we'd pretty much figured out that the town is mostly closed on Mondays and Tuesdays because there was no one in our hotel. It's a wedding place so they do big four day weekend business and have conferences. I figure most tourists come in for long weekends, too, though there were a few kids being dragged around to the various historic sites. The hotel had a day conference on Wednesday and there were more cars in the parking lot. Really, I think there were six to eight rooms in use Monday night! Today it's probably full. It was last August when we went to my second cousin's wedding and there were two weddings that Saturday in town and several of the historic buildings in use.

That morning we crossed over into Illinois to visit mom's second cousin (her mother's cousin) in a different nursing home--apartment actually. 95 with Parkinsons but still with her memory and mind intact, though her eyes are going. Such a lovely lady. Then we went into the city again to go to the used bookstore/comic book store which, while it's moved twice since I was a teenager, is where I started buying back issues of comics (and harlequin romances, but that's another story). The original site is now an expressway overpass. I used to ride my bike from my grandfather's house--all flat--to there and the family owned department store across the street which is now an empty former dollar store. That is really sad. My youth was spent at places that don't exist anymore (here in town too, nother story). While we had lunch at TGFridays in the mall, we then stopped at the icecream place my grandmother always took us to after swimming. Nana always got coffee icecream and she wouldn't let me ever try it (which mom finds hilarious) so I had the cappuchino icecream and mom had sorbet as she's cutting out fatty/dairy foods trying to figure out what's wrong with her stomach. I was careful eating, too, not overeating or eating a lot of red meat.

We went back to my aunt's expecting barbeque because the place was supposed to be open on Wednesday but we tried calling and they never answered. More of the restaurants in town were open finally so we went to a new Italian place and had really good hand tossed pizza.

Thursday mom and I headed back across the country and into slightly cooler weather. It did rain some at home finally and, while it's going to be in the upper 90s the next couple of days, by Wednesday it's supposed to be in the low 80s. God please...

Friday I was deluged with work and found out that the air conditioner wasn't working right--only blowing coolish air--and they can't get it fixed until Monday. Naturally I wore a knit lace skirt and a polyester blouse instead of a cotton skirt and tshirt. *sigh* So by afternoon I didn't have much energy. I finally turned the AC off as it was starting to just blow warmish air on my head. I still have a huge pile of work. The girl filling in did just what I asked her to, which was mostly move files out of the cabinets into boxes, leaving the actual work for me. Hopefully I'll be caught up by next Friday.

It does look like we'll be moving across the street at the end of the month. Boss made a lowball offer before I left and they came back up $200, still well less than what we're paying now. I told him to take it. Really, the other attorney is going to move there and I DO NOT WANT TO LOSE HIM. I stressed this to my boss several times over the last couple of weeks. We share our computer files with him and he works cases for us and I want him to eventually take over and take me with him.

This morning went to market and kept expecting rain. Mom and dad out west did get some. I dunno if we did. Dad went to the interfaith vigil concerning the closing of our SRS office. Mom and I were going to go but neither of us wanted to stand around outside for an hour in either the rain or the high humidity. I will try to go to church tomorrow. I have sketchy attendance in the summers. Then we're going to see Cowboys & Aliens.

I managed mostly to keep up with tv while I was gone. We got USA in the hotel so mom watched several shows she watched while I did the naughty and used headphones to watch several things on my laptop.

Today I'm going to attempt to porn battle. I don't need much of a muse to write smut.

We'll see if that actually works.

Well, my holiday weekend went to hell. Thankfully I didn't shell out a couple hundred bucks on fireworks because Monday found me with terrible stomach cramps/pain again. Stupidly I again tried to throw up, only pulling my stomach and rib muscles so badly that by Tuesday it was hard to tell if I was hungry, cramping, or just in muscle pain.

I barely ate anything on Monday and stayed home Tuesday, eating very lightly. I went to work yesterday and was mostly in pain from the muscles which made my stomach ache which made me not want to eat.

Today I'm finally getting better.

Oh, I was itchy, too. I don't think it's Gas X; I think it's Milk of Magnesia, because both weeks the itching started within 36 hours of taking the latter. And, yes, it can cause itching.

Apparently everything can cause itching.

So, between the itching and the pain caused by rolling over in bed, I slept about an hour on Tuesday night. Last night was better until the stupid storm woke me up.

I think I have diverticulitis. It's more than constipation because (TMI) I'm able to go, and it's more than heartburn because the pain is incredible. Both attacks came after eating nuts, popcorn and/or granola bars. I know I had big bowls of popcorn each time. My boss said that'll set you off (he has it). I didn't have any bleeding, so I'm not going to the doctor yet. I'm cutting out all nuts and popcorn, and going back to daily yogurt and eating apples and salads more. Hopefully I'll be able to add back in nuts in small quantities in things--my nutty raisin bran cereal never caused me problems, nor have cookies with nuts. I think it's the popcorn.

Which is sad because I LOVE popcorn.

*sigh*

Stupid aging body.

So, tomorrow night I'll be celebrating 4th of July at my parents with leftover ribs, potato salad, fresh corn, and peaches, and watching Inception on their big HD tv.

In other news, Le Tour has been exciting so far! Lots of crashes and surprising results. I'm still watching the Royals as well. Sometimes we're really good and sometimes we suck. It would be nice to put together a string of more than two wins at a time.

I'm managing to mostly keep up with summer tv. Looking forward to the Syfy shows returning next week.

Boss is currently across the street looking at office space. It would be so convenient to just trundle everything over there rather than have to hire a moving van. We're definitely moving somewhere. I'd love it to be there since we'd still be across from the courthouse. It's a remodeled church.

My writing is going nowhere. I just have no desire to write anything. I'm going to drop out of the Dean/Cas bb and hopefully just write some long overdue fics and some long halted fics. Probably I'll just lay on the couch and read fanfic instead of writing.

*sigh*

Just got back from looking at office space. It's in the basement of the church, but very nice with a lovely shared conference room, three offices and a reception area plus a private bathroom. And in our price range. There's a shared receptionist upstairs who currently answers phones for the whole building but we could get a break for not having her do that. Part of our rent pays her salary. The only downside is there's no elevator to the basement and we do have some elderly clients, and the parking is first come first serve. It costs 85 cents a day to park on the street so that's not horrible. The reception area has glass topped desks someone may have left behind so I could use those and there's plenty of room for our comfy chairs and magazine table. The offices have daylight basement windows so lots of light.

Oh, and my state made the Urban Dictionary...

Yay.

1. Brownbackistan

a pseudo-Christian fascist state where the arts are not publicly funded, women's reproductive rights are relentlessly attacked, public school funding is drastically cut, voter suppression laws make it nearly impossible for new voters to register to vote, and social services are turned over to evangelical "Christian" groups, all done with the backing of the Koch brothers.
Brownbackistan is a place where civil responsibility takes a back seat to religious intolerance and corporate greed.

You have got to be fucking kidding me! It's supposed to be in the 80s on Wednesday and by Friday there's a chance for snow showers.

NO FUCKING WAY!

Plus I'm taking the day off to spend time with nursedarry and her kids and really don't want to have bundle up for snow!

I had to turn the AC on yesterday and now it'll be back to heat by the end of the week. Can't win. Wanna go home and climb into bed and leave when summer comes.

grrrrr

Also snippy lady, when I said I think he'll be in mid-morning and you call at 10:20 and he's not here and you ask for my definition of mid-morning, go die a horrible death. That was my GUESS! My boss does not sit in his office 8:30-4:30. He comes in when he wants unless there's something on his calendar and there wasn't anything until afternoon. This is not my fault. As he said, "learn patience". You don't need your window unit AC today anyway. It's 60 degrees out.

grrrrr

And why doesn't Office Depot sell drums to go with the toner?! I knew I should have ordered it last week and not waited till this morning to stop and get some. I just know it'll run out before we get it delivered on Wednesday.

Finally extra ounce stamps (goat stamps as I call them even though they're big horn sheep) are going up three cents next week.

:P

Wheeeeeeeee!

Fringe Renewed!

I just love this show. It's gotten better and better each season, and for those who say Anna Torv can't act, well she does a HELL of a Leonard Nimoy!

I was just talking about this the other day. My dad asked if I watched The Event and I said I did and it was enjoyable but if it didn't get renewed, I wouldn't cry about it, but that I would miss Fringe a lot. Nearly on the missing SPN level.

Now if SPN will just get renewed, I'll be happy.

Last night was a good night. A very good night.

Unless you're a Duke fan.

*VBG*

Sports Illustrated did a new bracket for the Sweet 16 matchups and now has KU winning, where last week's original bracket had us losing in the final game. Let it be so. We play Richmond tonight. Big underdog teams can be scary. They have nothing to lose and power conference teams usually don't know much about them. I'll also be rooting for the little team that could, VCU, and, naturally rooting against NC and OU. NC because I hate them and OU just because they're the favorite.

When Roy Williams dumped us like an ugly prom date, I was so unhappy and worried and angry, but the best thing KU ever did was let him go and hire Bill Self. Bill adapts to the changes in the game--the one and done players, forwards shooting threes, the fast pace--and Roy is still coaching the game like it was being played ten, fifteen years ago.

Now for what becomes a wild rant...

There's a petition going around to call for the resignation of the idiot Kansas legislator who suggested we shoot and kill illegal immigrants from helicopters like feral pigs. It won't do anything and some day some idiot WILL shoot someone like a feral pig because the world is full of idiots who just blindly go along with what their elected officials say.

Our illustrious governor is trying to abolish the Board of Regents which governs the state universities and colleges. There was a joke that KU would soon be the Lawrence Bible College.

Except it wasn't really a joke because, while it won't happen, I'm sure there are plenty of those elected (by idiots remember) officials who'd love for Gay U just to disappear along with Lawrence and any liberals who dare to speak their mind.

Oh, and we'll soon be showing ID to vote and, the most heinous and probably illegal, making people provide a birth certificate to register to vote. I want my free ID and free birth certificate as soon as this stupid bill becomes law otherwise it's a poll tax.

I'm so fed up with government. A part of me really does hope that the Republicans grind us so far down and ruin everything that they get a massive overthrow in two years. Oh, and I love how so many of them are saying that Obama's call on Libya is wrong yet they all rushed eagerly to support Bush's wars. So hypocritical!

GAH

This really wasn't supposed to be a political rant. It was supposed to be a "Yay Fringe" celebration.

*sigh*

I wanna go home. Let's have Friday end now.

*glares at pile of files to be dealt with*

Jesus, KU, give me a heart attack...But yay to Pitt losing! They'll still get a #1 seed, of course, though I'd bet my house that if we'd lost we wouldn't.

In other news, my state proves once again how stupid it is. A legislative committee voted down an appeal to remove the part of law that states that homosexual acts are illegal which was being done to clean up useless laws.

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that state laws criminalizing homosexual sex were not enforceable. But Kansas lawmakers must vote to actually remove the law from statute books."

So, it's just sitting there being useless but glaringly homophobic. Their reason was that the legislature might then overturn the whole criminal code just to fight the removal of this one law.

Yeah, you do that. Let's have fucking anarchy. I'm really about at that point.

*goes back to watch KSU losing to Colorado*

It takes me one minute to write the coupon and have Quickbooks figure the payroll tax check and print it. One fricking minute!

The government is now requiring taxes to be paid online. I, of course, put off doing this but there's a possible 10% fine (of your tax bill) and the banks may no longer accept the coupons so as it's tax paying day I started the process.

First I finished the Kansas process I'd started four months ago and then ignored and continued to mail in the coupons and since they cashed the checks and never said 'stop doing this' I waited until today. That took only a few minutes--log in with PIN, set up the bank routing numbers, pay.

Then I went to enroll with the FEDs only to find out that, oops, it takes two weeks to get you a PIN (the state emailed it me ten minutes after I requested it). But then it told me that if we'd been using coupons for the last two years, we were pre-enrolled and they'd sent us the PIN.

Yeah...

An hour searching later...

They provided a number to call to get the PIN. At first, I kept getting busy signals. Couldn't even get to the press one for this menu. Finally I got through but none of the options were "if you lost your PIN press __* so I tried something else and stupidly hung up.

A half hour later and many more busy signals I got through and pushed zero for operator and then got put on hold while I was being transferred to customer service.

Let me tell you, the hold music is EXTREMELY ANNOYING AND LOUD. Luckily I have a speaker phone and I used that so I could do some actual work while I waited for thirty five minutes.

The one good thing was that the woman who answered was very friendly and helpful and I got the PIN and she told me what to do next which was to call to activate it and luckily that was all automated and I didn't have to get put on hold for another thirty five minutes.

Then I went back online to sign in and I kept having to put in the PIN and I had to get a password and then I had to figure out what payroll form I was using and it was confusing me and then I had to actually breakdown what was taxes, social security and medicare, and finally twenty minutes later I'd paid.

See first line of this post.

I have to do this every month. So happy. :P

Quickbooks will pay the federal one through its system--I'll try that next month--but not the State so I have to "pay" and then unclick the "print checks" to record a payment.

I hate the government.

Although they are giving me Monday off...

My parents both got my point about poll tax yesterday, too.

Today some idiot legislator from ten miles east of here, at the opening breakfast for the state legislature (and since it was next door so not get me started on the illegal parking issues, at least my spot with the big NO PARKING 7-5 sign was free though K's wasn't) said "KU and Lawrence are not very well-respected. Many people across the state see Lawrence as too liberal. That needs to change."

Yeah, see that's the far right's attitude. They want us to go away, stop existing, die. Change? FUCKING change?! Not on your fucking life asshat! They truly believe that if everyone thought the same, the world would be a better place! How do you fight such complete ignorance? A one party system is NOT the way to go. The government needs to have opposition! That's why our government is set up the way it is with checks and balances.

I'm extremely proud of our little liberal bastion here. I love Kansas, but I hate the politics and ignorance which only makes us all look stupid. Remember how stupid we looked when the anti-evolution people took over the state school board? Yeah, I'm sure that'll be rolling back around anytime now.

*head desk*

In better news, I figured out what I'm going to write for the Gabriel BB (15000 words) and it's going to be dark and lovely with egg babies and soulless Sam and bonding and dub con and stuff. Now I just have to write it since the rough draft is due in 25 days.

And then there's the apocafic (10000 words), rough draft due in 30 days, of which I have a paragraph about Dean whining about the cliche of a zombie apocalypse.

I am so screwed.

And it's that time of month which is probably why I sobbed at the end of Dr. Who's Xmas show on Monday night and got all pissy about the parking this morning. Now I just have a headache and cramps. Yay.

Because in the last six years there have been six reported cases of voter fraud out of a million votes in Kansas, our asshat new Attorney General, who spends most of us time persecuting illegal immigrants in the southwest (note, Kansas is not in the southwest) wants use to have to show photo i.d. to vote.

What's wrong with this picture. Come on, tell me, because 95% of the commenters on my local newspaper (on both sides, actually, lib and cons) can't tell you (and the couple that have gotten it right, they ignore and talk over because, of course, their view is much more valid). Either they're for it because 'we gotta show id to buy smokes and booze' or 'you don't even need a driver's license, just state id card so what harm is it because it only costs $20' or just blank idiocy.

So...why is it wrong to make people show a photo id (remember, it costs money)?

If you can answer it, it's not a Republican or Democratic issue. It's not partisan.

I'm against it for many reasons--don't like biometrics, don't like body scans, don't like government regulating every freaking thing I do--but every American should be against this.

Apparently!

We have six divisions (judges) here. 99% of our caseload is limited civil. Five of the judges have always handled limited civil cases. Division 3 never did as she was the juvenile judge. She's retiring so instead of just having her replacement do juvenile, they decided to spread it around.

Okay, fine.

Except they also have changed everything else around, including taking limited civil away from two judges.

Down to three.

And the need for quick (ha) reassignment.

We probably have sixty open cases with those two judges! I've been trying to set hearings in one division all week. She finally got back to me, all apologetic, and explained the situation and said she'd try to push these two cases through for reassignment quickly.

Um...

SHOULDN'T ALL THESE CASES HAVE BEEN REASSIGNED LIKE YESTERDAY! ARE THEY JUST TWIDDLING THEIR THUMBS AND SINGING CHRISTMAS CAROLS OVER THERE?!

For the last several years this county has averaged around 3000 limited civil cases spread over five judges. So, just for one year that's 1200 cases for those two judges. Now some will have settled or been dismissed, but say half of those are active...and that's just for one year! We have open cases sometimes for four, five years! And we still set hearings in them on a routine basis or file garnishments etc. They all need new judges. Every single open case. Now one of the divisions just came into existence a couple years ago but I'm still guessing around 5000 cases will need reassignment.

This is a freaking nightmare.

And I have cases here I can't do anything with.

The huge collection firm here in town (99% of collection cases are limited civil) must be going insane.

Happy Holidays my ass.

Busy weekend--but then they're always busy this time of year.

It's also bitterly cold with howling winds, though not quite as howling as yesterday and overnight.

Yesterday Mom and I headed off at 8:00 to do the shopping for the adopted family. We hit Target, Kohls, Pennys, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Sears and were done in 90 minutes. Almost everything we bought was on sale and we got everything on the list with only needing to add in about $4! Yay generous choir!

Today I detag everything and get it ready for the wrapping party on Wednesday night.

Mom and I also went to the holiday farmers market which moved to the Holidome this year. I think half the town was there. It was a zoo. I don't know if it was due to the move or that we used to go when it opened and we were about an hour past opening when we got there. Did discover that a local chocolatier has decided to mix chocolate sauce with wine. That's the perfect combo for most of my friends. *g*

I then napped the afternoon away instead of wrapping gifts, waking just in time for the KU game. It was an ugly game but we won and bigger than several other ranked teams that barely squeaked by (or Pitt that lost).

I was actually hot overnight, having gone to bed in socks and a sweater. I think it was due to my furnace kicking on about every 15 minutes just to keep it at 63 degrees. It was 14 when I drove to church this morning so I'm sure it sub zero wind chill all night. Gorgeous sunny day today but bitterly cold and it's supposed to drop to two tonight.

But, then it's supposed to climb back into the forties by mid-week with lows around 18-20. We did get some light snow but the wind blew most of it off my sidewalk so the city and its stupid 48 hour ordinance can kiss my ass. I still have a cold, I'm not going out there to breathe in sub zero wind to shovel a half inch of snow. Luckily my parents live in the county (and don't have sidewalks) because they're both sick with the cold and dad has diminished lung capacity anyway. Breathing in this air could kill him!

In happier news, church was interesting today. Our male tenor showed up after all so mom and I weren't stuck with the accapella part of Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella by ourselves, thank god because it's hard and we never did get every note down. The service was on the power of positive thinking (think The Secret) and that it's actually not a good thing all the time. Our minister made a powerful case against. Heather made a good case for in some cases--she visualized getting a job and she got it, for example. We sang a wonderful song, words by William Blake. Since the choir was singing at the program (Jeannette Isabella) I stayed for that as well. Our annual holiday program which is basically a few Christmas songs and assaulting the tree with mittens and scarves/hats to be given to the needy.

Now I'm home. Oh, and my microwave blew up on me this morning. I was heating coffee and it sparked and started stinking. It's at least ten years old and came with the house so I'm off to Target tomorrow for a new one. I guess I'll heat lunch in a pan the old fashioned way! lolol

Today is wrapping day, maybe making cookies if I can find the sugar cookie recipe, and packaging up other stuff for Holiday Wishes while watching the Chiefs lose since our QB is out.

I can't believe how fast the weekends go. I have written nothing, again. *sigh* I did do research by watching Lexmas. I miss Lex. Hell, I miss most of the cast. From that season five ep only two people in the cast run at the beginning are still on the show. Though, OMG, loved the preview of things to come in the new year!!!

I didn't comment on SPN. I was surprised that what happened happened so quickly but, then, there's always a catch, isn't there. And where the hell was Cas?! He better be in the majority of the eps in the new year.

Okay, gotta go find a pan and stir my leftovers on the stove.

In an effort to save on trees (ie paper) the State of Kansas changed the laws on garnishments on wages. While the garnishee (the employer) no longer needs to send an Answer of Garnishment to the Plaintiff every month--which saves on paper--there are now four more documents that need to be prepared and triple copied, up from four, making eight total, every time you garnish someone's wages.

These were actually drafted by an attorney who is a member of the state collection attorney's group my boss belongs to. I firmly believe he made so many new forms as a 'screw you stupid legislature' kind of thing.

Also, they aren't downloadable in Word. They ARE downloadable (or open-up-able) in Word Perfect, because, once upon a time all attorneys used Word Perfect.

Because it is just that much better.

*g*

I believe this is also a 'screw you, we're going to make this as difficult as possible because you suck' kind of thing.

Kind of passive/aggressive, but it works for me.

At least I don't have to deal with crap Word code or retype them all myself.

Spring is here, heading for a quick bit of summer and then back to what would be "normal" March, ie cool and rainy. That would mean that it's going to be in the 80s tomorrow which is just way too soon. Someday I'll find a place that has an actual Spring with balmy 72 degrees and light winds (and not the blow me over kind of yesterday) and puffy white clouds.

Yeah, Utopia exists, too.

I didn't wear a sweater or jacket today, though.

Yesterday was tax day. After nearly being attacked by a bird in the building, leaving a message for Maintenance to come deal with it, and skedaddling out early, I had to wait nearly an hour for my appointment. Apparently the IRS has done something to make it so that most appointments need an extra fifteen minutes and since my accountant sets the appointments when you leave the office the year before, he's way behind. He hasn't eaten lunch in two months.

Anyway, getting a nice healthy chunk back from both State and Feds though our state is in such a mess I'll be lucky to get it by Christmas (which led to a discussion of the letter we get saying our return is on the way which led to a laugh over the amount of census letters and postcards we've all received). Something's changed in the State taxes because before last year I was lucky to get back $12.00 and now I'm getting back in the hundreds. While I give money to charity, it's the house ownership that gets me the returns. Best thing I ever did.

Then I discovered that I hadn't paid my car tags.

Four months ago.

*face palm*

So I sat outside the office for a half hour this morning so I could be first in line when they opened at 8:00. I did this once before, failed to pay on time, but was only a couple days late, not four months, so I was sure I'd have like a hundred dollar fine.

Nope. $7.01.

You know how to solve the State budget crisis?!!!!

I used a credit card and she pointed out there was a small fee and I said, "I expected to pay a hundred dollar fine, I can handle the $4.95 fee." lolol

I've gone over the half way mark on my comicsbigbang fic. That's due tomorrow night.

*sigh*

Need to get to that today as I have to go to church this evening to work and then there are several Criminal Minds eps on as well as Lost.

Need to get to large pile of work, too.