Esprit de l'escalier

I miss my LJ. So I’ve decided to come back. Will you take me back? Can I be accepted back into the club of lj-users? I sure hope so. I’m no good at club crashing.

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don’t speak often) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want – good or bad – BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you’re finished, post this little paragraph on your LJ and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON’T ACTUALLY remember about you.

Tuesday I finally kept up my part of the bargain and went to see a chiropractor. (I’d promised Kyle that if he went to see a dentist I would see a chiropractor…he saw his dentist about a week ago) Anyway, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a back doctor and I’d let things go. I went to Queen Ann Chiropractic… a really laid back, family run facility with receptionists who wear jeans with their blouses and know everyone by their first name. Scheduling was a synch because the doctors kind of come when they’re needed. The place is run by Dr. Gibson, his son and daughter, Dr. Gibson and Dr. Gibson. I met with Dr. Sarah Gibson (the daughter). She was awesome and 5 years older than me at the most. She adjusted me pretty well and explained everything before she did it. Apparently my C-7 vertebrae as well as two vertebrae in my neck are out of place throwing everything else off. And get this…I really don’t have one leg longer than the other! (Which I always thought was the case.) Its just that my right hip is twisted up in such a way that it pulls my leg up giving the illusion that I’m crooked. Pretty cool! (I mean, cool that I know that now.) So she manually adjusted me…which means I got to hear everything pop back into place. Next time I think I’ll have Kyle come with me (he hates that bone popping sound…but I still think he’d be interested to see what she does.) After she was done she told me I might need to put ice on my neck for a while…and boy did I! I was pretty sore. The best part of all of this…the part I was most nervous about…. was the price. Thank the Lord I only had to pay $15. They’re checking to see if my insurance covers the appointments. So awesome!

I’m especially thankful that this place is flexible with scheduling…because my job right now is not. I’m getting ready to sign up with a temp agency because I desperately need my weekends. How can I plan a wedding without them! It’s impossible. But at the same time I need money to pay rent and pay for flights down to CA. Stupid money…it ruins everything.

Another fun thing we did this week is give Izabelle a middle name. It’s tradition in my family to use a relative’s name. So Izabelle is now officially Izabella Darlene…after my grandmother. So now I need to call my grandma and let her know that we’ve named her grand-cat after her. I know she will be proud. 🙂

How is it that my cat evaded ringworm and I managed to get spots everywhere despite my religious use of antibacterial lotion and rigorous vacuum practices. This sucks.

Another thing that sucks is I found out my second lease was dropped. I was so excited about having that family live in this complex. *sigh* So it goes. I know my day will come. I still love this job.

Now all I have to do is work out the details and get some consistency going with my business. Work work work. It’s never ending.

It was dry and light outside when we got there, but when Kyle and I walked out of the vet last night it was gray and raining. I knew then that God was crying with me. He knew how much I loved Jack and how much I would miss him.
[…]

I just got home from the vet. I took Jackie in to get checked out because of his lack of eating. He had a minor temp and they took some blood for a corona virus panel. In other words, it’s not good. I broke down in the office, but maintained composure enough to write the check and leave.

LORD, please don’t let this happen again. I’m not sure my heart can take anymore.

God is so good. That’s a given. I just pray that where ever He takes me next I’ll be able to show that goodness to my co-workers.

I had an interview today at an apartment complex in Bellevue. A nice little high-end place. Newly remodeled and in desperate need of staff. They were so desperate that when I called to see if they had received my resume, they booked me for an interview that afternoon. I was calling on my way out the door to visit MEOW cat rescue to look at some prospects for Jack’s romping buddy. I turned around, walked back into my apartment and got ready for the interview. Then they called back about a half hour later to ask if they could reschedule for later. I agreed, got out of my nice dress suit, threw on some jeans and rushed to the shelter.
Kyle and I had looked at some orange tabbys online and we had our eyes set on one little 4 month old girl named Butterscotch. Unfortunately she wasn’t a resident of MEOW, but her foster mom works with them occassionally. I called the foster mom earlier today to let her know that Kyle and I were interested and to see if she was still available. She called me back when I was in the romper room at MEOW playing with another orange tabby named Spice. It was kind of funny listening to Leslie (the foster mom) talk about how rare female orange tabbys were when I was sitting and petting one of two orange tabby sisters in the shelter. I didn’t say anything.
Spice was a sweet girl and her sister Sugar was a doll too. But I didn’t want to make any hasty decisions until Kyle had a chance to meet them. I want to be sure the next kitten we get is as fond of Kyle as I am. (He and Jack are still getting used to each other.) So we have an appointment to visit with Butterscotch at her foster home tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers. We really want to bring home a happy, HEALTHY kitten for Jack to play with and love.
As far as Jack’s health goes, he’s recovered completely from the ringworm, but now he’s decided that he doesn’t like to eat. I’ve been baiting him with just about everything including some cold cut turkey today. I’ve set out two bowls of fresh kibble (one in his normal eating place and one right next to his favorite fleece bed.) I’m praying he gets over this soon. He’s done it before and it freaks me out. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

Back with the leasing agent interview. It went really well. The management was nice and they seemed very fond of me. But after visiting the place and seeing how overwhelmed they are…I’m afraid of getting sucked into a job where I’m extremely overworked and outrageously under paid. I dunno. We’ll see what God has in store. They said they’d make their decision by Thursday or Friday. I’ve applied to several other complexes too and perhaps I’ll be a better fit somewhere else…say…Mercer Island? 🙂
In the meantime, I’m still working on the works of my current client. I’m just waiting on my lawyer…still…for the final draft of my assignment contracts. Hopefully I’ll have those by tomorrow.

Final note…I had an awesome day yesterday hanging out with Miranda. We walked around Fremont and Wallingford, cruising the shops and looking for ideas for center pieces for the wedding reception. So much fun. Then we made dinner and watched movies late into the night…just like old times. It was fantastic. I’ve missed living with that girl!

My roommate left for Spain yesterday. *sigh* Lucky bum. So now I am all alone again. It’s weird because before I was with Michelle, I lived alone and was able to take care of myself (feeding, entertaining myself, etc.) with no problem. But now I’m kind of tripping out. Jack and I were up early this morning so we sun-bathed for a while. But when the sunshine moved to walls and we didn’t feel like standing to catch the rays, we sat, looking at each other wondering what else there could possibly be to do now. No sun! No fun! No warmth! Life is over! We lay, belly up on the floor for a while, completely destraught and too lazy to get up.

This weekend was good though. Kyle and I spent Saturday relaxing, watching movies we’d been meaning to watch forever. Kyle worked on our Save the Date cards and I worked on my latest painting. It was fantastic. I also helped Michelle pack for Spain when she needed it. Sunday morning we left with the intention of gathering the rest of the things we needed for our save the date photos. But the store that had the items was closed. So we wandered around Macy’s downtown comparing their merchandise with the stuff we’d started putting on our registery. (Can I just say, by the way, that the casual dinnerware selection out there stinks! There’s nothing! I hope they come out with nice patterns by the time we are finishing our list.)

Work has been stale lately. My clients have been increasingly busy with their own work and haven’t been able to follow through on their end. I’m still learning how far I’m allowed to push and where I’m supposed to back off and let them call the shots. I’m pretty sure however that I’m going to be tweeking my invoice and payment options. I started out charging a retainer amount that I used as I needed it, instead of a bi-weekly payment. But I’m thinking this isn’t going to work unless they follow up on their end. Because I might end up going for two weeks without any material to work with and that just doesn’t feel right. I dunno, I have to adjust the contracts a bit more.

I’ve also been looking into Leasing Consultant positions at some really nice apartment and townhome communities; all in hopes of getting a nice place to live after we’re married at a discount so we can save up for a house. It’d be so perfect. Otherwise I’ve been offered a position at Barns and Noble…which wouldn’t be bad…I’m just afraid of getting stuck in that rut. Last time I worked for B&N I had the nasty habit of putting half my pay check back into the store via books. haha. We’ll see what God has in store.

It happened last Saturday. After a day or so of watching his little gills gasp as he laid at the bottom of the bowl of fresh water, Nessi was delivered to the great beyond. It’s so sad. I prayed, I cheered him on, encouraging him to breath deep and get his energy back. It was just a routine water change, but this time he just didn’t look so good. I suspect it was some kind of gill fungus or simply age that took him. I’d like to this it was anything but my possible neglect. I prayed hard for his rehabilitation. But it didn’t happen. I wonder if this is God’s way of telling me I’m not yet ready to be responsible for another life. I thought I was a good fish-mom. I took really great care of Jimmy and Nessi the first. (I’m not supposed to know that the Nessi that left us Saturday was actually Nessi II, but I pay attention to my fish…I know he was replaced when I was visiting home.)

As sad as this may sound, I’m somewhat relieved that Nessi has moved on. I mean, now I can focus, uninhibited, on Jack (who is recovering quite well…Praise the LORD). More later.

Scott, I got your packages yesterday. Thank you so much for the movies! I have enjoyed them both very much. 🙂

Just a few moments ago Lucy, the woman taking care of Jet, returned my call from this morning. She had bad news.
I had called to check in and see how Jet was doing since I hadn’t heard anything for about a week. I didn’t get a hold of her, so I called the vet and they told me that she brought him in on Sat and was talking with the vet about reworking his medication. The secretary didn’t mention anything except that he was making marginal progress.

When Lucy called me back she started out telling me that Jet was burning up inside with an off and on temperature of 104. He was barely walking and often had to be force fed. She was crying as hard as I was. Even though she didn’t come out and say it right away, I knew. She said that Saturday was a beautiful day; she put him in the fuzzy cat bed that he loved and laid him in the sunshine for a while and took some pictures of him. (It was a beautiful day for me too – I was in California getting measured for my wedding dress.) She and some of the other members of the shelter pet his belly until he was purring. Then she took him in.

She thought the vet was going to call me. When she got my voice mail earlier this morning she wasn’t sure what to say when she called me back. That is why she didn’t pick up her phone until after 10pm. (She was probably hoping that I would already be in bed so she could just leave a voice mail.) I can understand and I’m kind of glad that she waited.

It’s a common fact that God works in mysterious ways, but even so it doesn’t take away from the surprise that startles you every time you look back and see His work in your life. Earlier this evening I was talking with my roommate and she told me that she was thinking about me this weekend while I was in California planning the wedding. She remembered how in Bible study last weekend I’d said that I was nervous about asking God to test my faith because I was afraid of how He’d go about doing it. I mean, “He who giveth can also taketh away”… with that in mind, there is a lot He has given me lately. In many ways my life is so wonderful; I have a new career that is slowly blooming, a wonderful roommate, a loving kitten that is recovering from ringworm by leaps and bounds and a fiance who is amazing beyond words. The point Michelle made to me tonight was that God tests us in more ways than by taking away the things we lean on. She told me she thought He was testing my faith right now with all that’s been happening (Most of which I’d rather not go into detail about). In addition to recent family trials she pointed out many other hard things I was going through that she noticed and among those was Jet. She told me that the reason I probably hadn’t thought of those things as testing my faith was because I’m stronger than I realize and that the Lord wouldn’t throw anything my way that I couldn’t handle.

Michelle was very encouraging and I thank the Lord that she opened up and told me this before I got the call about Jet. I think it was His way of preparing me for the news.

Jet was a wonderful, energetic, beautiful kitten. He had an irresistible personality and an affinity for water that made him the star of many fun stories. He will forever be remembered as a great friend and one of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received. Rest in peace dear Jet.