I slept pretty well and a little later than normal, but I did make it to church.  From there I stopped and took a few more photos at Richland Cemetery while the thunder rumbled in the distance.

After a little bit of time at home I decided to take a cursory glance at the apartment and carried some cleaning supplies over.  I'll need to inventory things one night this week and partially take apart a couple of kitchen drawers to get at the back side of the pull knobs to tighten them up a bit.  Then I headed to Ollies to find something shelf like to put into the deep closet to offer a little more storage flexibility, so now I have that to put together too.

After dropping my purchases off at the house I was headed to the West End, by myself, which wasn't ideal, but it was still worth going - to Polkafest!  I stuck around long enough to have a funnel cake, a beer, and some haluski while listening to the bands and watching folks dance.  My Dad would have loved it.

I've not done much in the way of cleaning this weekend other than two loads of laundry and running the dishwasher.  Can I count washing my hair as an accomplishment? - oh wait, I didn't do that just yet either.  I might be hitting bed a wee bit early again tonight.  Maybe it's the heat.  I have been taking in a good bit more fluids than normal but I'm not running to the facilities, so perhaps I just need to double up on intake again.

BTW - Samsung - I'm left handed, I want to hold my phone in my left hand and hit the controls when taking video.  That should NOT result in every video being upside down.

I am 100% butt kicked.  I had to get moving this morning, even though I really didn't want to crawl out of bed.  I knew that a nap was out of the question later in the day too.  Straight to Carmen's for the Durango's inspection I went with my coffee in hand.  Now we can add front rotors to the purchases too.  *sigh*  Worse still I sat there for 3 hours.

My computer battery only lasted for one of those, but in that time I quickly realized I'm way in over my head with regard to the church wanting me to help revamp the website.  It's been so long, I need to relearn everything in order to even try.  When on EARTH am I going to do that?  I didn't ask to help, I got volunteered, but yet it still seems impossible to say "I don't think I am going to be able to pull this off for you."  I know what I want to do... if only that could translate.  I'll admit it - I don't want to do it either, that makes a huge difference.  It just isn't how I want to spend my evenings and weekends.

Because that took so long I almost didn't run to the drivers license photo center, but frankly when the heck else am I going to get there?  So I swung past and got lucky - there wasn't even a line.

From there, after a quick stop at home, I was on my way to Altoona.  A few items out to my relatives and then all of the personal photos etc and other miscellanea that needed to go was loaded up to come back home.  I did unload everything and bring it to my dining room, but I am way too tired to even attempt to find places for everything.  I need another three day weekend.

Last night I picked up the Durango from getting detailed and headed to a happy hour for someone leaving the company.  I didn't stay past dark, so that didn't contribute to my tiredness.  Bed at 9? Maybe.

The tenant is out. As per normal this had me well up a wee bit with anxiety. It isn't like I need it rented to be okay, so I don't know why it gives me issue.

The Durango is well on her way to being ready to be transferred. The repairs for the leaf spring and exhaust related items I know were necessary for inspection were completed on Wednesday. Now for the mirror to come in and to Carmen's she will go for that repair and inspection. I'll also need to get the detailing complete, so I guess I have another call to make and more running to do.

I'm trying to find my calm with Saffy. We've gone walking the past two evenings just before dark. While I enjoy it in the moment, and it isn't much of physical challenge I do have a mental challenge just getting myself moving. Last night I watched the documentary-style show "Fed Up". I'm hoping to maintain my level of fear it fed me on the sugar factor. I'd like to really back off my sugar intake. I do wonder how many pounds would end up melting away as a result. I suspect I wouldn't have to work out as hard as I have in the past if I paired it with such cautious consumption.

While my weekend is over, at least this time the week is only 4 days long.  We had a good and busy visit this weekend.  Friday night I picked up the new vehicle!  There are so many options and a lot to get use to.  It's taken the weekend, but I think we are going with Serafina for her name, a nice Italian name, even if they did misspell Sorrento.

After picking up the vehicle I returned home to await my honey's arrival.  After I surprised him that I had made my purchase, we headed to Donegal for a fireworks display at a local dealer.  That was pretty neat.  I can't believe how much they had included in their demo.  Boy was it cold out there though.  I was chilly despite having my winter coat and a blanket with us.

Saturday we headed to an auction and dinner down the mountain.  Sunday was bowling and a couple of movies on Netflix.  Today was chicken cooked out and a mishmash of leftovers and grub to simulate a cookout and then a meal with his parents as he headed out of town.  We really made the most of the long weekend, but there is always still so much more I'd like to get to do - even if it's just sitting around. I'm tired, I'll sleep deeply tonight, but not well at the same time.  There are hours to be covered this week from last week... so it will be a busy 4 days.

On other news, Vixen appears to have another growth popping out at her side, it appears to be fatty tumour-ish, but right now it's hard to tell.  She remains happy and a good eater, so I can't worry too much at this point.  I do wish however that she didn't have to struggle with the size of her stomach as it seems to trip her up from time to time.  Poor girl.

If you're an animal lover - Please consider visiting this page, and signing the petition. These are good folks, some I know from my time down south who are working to get justice for a young Siberian Husky who was slain with a sword by her owner. Vixen, Danika, Safyre, and I want #JusticeForKoda
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Koda/1588393718069648

Shortly before lunch hour I got a call with good news - they found a vehicle for me out in the burgh. Same trim model as the previous in my desired color but it also had the factory installed remote start. Yay one less concession. I headed out for lunch w/ someone interested in Autumn and go figure - she decided to pop a leaf spring while we were out and about. smh

I ended up running straight to Carmen's to see what the deal was and from there to Team Collision, since Carmen's could not do the work on the diagnosis. It could be a lot more expensive than it is, but it still deflated me a little from my earlier excitement. I realized then that I need to just get her through inspection. I know my Mother would have told me not to and to leave that for the next owner, but it's the right thing to do. This way I know anything that has been discovered or would be discovered in two months is DONE. I can sell her feeling good from my end.

The better news there is, the person who was testing her out is still definitely interested. So as soon as I have her healthy again we'll go for another quick drive. Hopefully she will behave.

Today's good news? I get to see my Favorite Egg. :)
Today's bad news? I'm highly likely not to have a full 40 in by the time I leave today, especially if the dealership was able to get my new lady.

Apparently the lighting in Denny's works well for me. I wouldn't call it hit on for this morning's episode, as he wasn't asking me out, but a gentleman was very kind in his words to me regarding my appearance. Now, how to replicate that Denny's lighting around me all the time? Maybe I'm just looking better in there because of the promise of coffee and peanut butter chocolate pancakes?

Monday night I scrubbed the seats in the Durango as well.  It smells nice and fresh now.

Today I headed to the dealership to see what they'd offer knowing full well it wasn't the direction I was going.  They helped me feel more confident on the number I arrived at for a sale to an individual too, so that's good.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the vehicle I was looking at ended up selling last night.  I wasn't all giddy about that vehicle and I would have been making concessions on a few things I really wanted.  Frankly, if you're spending that much, you shouldn't have to make concessions.  They are now searching to find something similar, but better, with more of the optional items I wanted.

This of course then leaves me half in a panic about how long that will take.  I'm torn between just leaping to push to find a buyer for the Durango and waiting until I have a replacement key in hand.  Maybe I shouldn't be buying.  I don't know.  I have some praying to do.

My sister tells me some of the other resolutions we're looking for are being pushed back a bit and there are additional things I was previously unaware of that must be done.  meh.  Can someone please just come make decisions for us/me?  Go ahead and resolve x, y, and z and whatever you do, I'll be fine with it.

Tonight I have proof that my Mother is still with me as I was driven to wash windows.  Yeah, on a Tuesday night.  There is no other explanation.  I've been up since my eyes popped before 6.  It's time to wipe out.

Anxiety. I'm a bundle of it today. Maybe I confuse excitement with anxiety at this point. I have a re-up meeting today, which is nothing to fret over. Been there, done that, no reason to worry, but it is a change from my normal day, so I think that feeds it a bit. Then there is the whole ongoing car thing.

The shopvac and I did our best yesterday to get the spare dog out of the Durango. I wiped down the windows, removing the stickers I had on there, armor all'ed everything, and sprayed it down to remove any dog odor. I probably should take a bucket of sudsy water to the seats to clean them up a bit too.

I think I've over-researched what it's worth at this point. The different sites have me looking at quite the wide range. As such, I think it will go to the dealership just to see what they'd offer. I think it would give me a good starting point. I have one interested party, so I'm hoping they're truly interested as I'd rather not deal with the hassle of the freaks that crawl out of the woodwork when advertising on craigslist or autotrader.

I'm sure too all of the stuff w/ Mom's place is lingering in the back of my head.

Today felt like a full weekend.  This is a good thing.  I lounged around until 9:30 in bed when I received a text from an Aunt.  It got me moving and on the road to Altoona so cousins could check out a few things at Mom's.  I mowed and weeded a little, gathered a few things, and then had a late lunch w/ my Aunt.  It was nice to get to sit and talk.

I had to get back up the mountain so I couldn't stick around, but it was starting to rain as I left, so my outdoor work was over anyhow.  Back in town I attempted my replant of some of the alliums that I pulled from Mom's back yard.  It's not the right time of year to replant them, but I had to try and get some.  These big purple beasts were in the floral arrangement my sister sent when my father died and they've been growing in Mom's back yard ever since.

Then I was off to a Mary Kay party where I spent way too much.  But it's okay.  It's for people I care about that have been supportive of me and make me feel appreciated for who I am.  Money well spent, and maybe I'll look a little better too.

Yesterday morning was quiet - the paper worked... or not. This morning the robin was back at it at a different spot on the window. I added another piece, but hopefully we won't need to cover the whole window. I don't have a ton of windows and don't get a lot of light in the house to begin with. As I've read you need to leave the paper up for a week, so we'll see how this goes. In the mean time my neighbors are going to think I'm cray.

I'm a step closer on the vehicle. I went and test drove a Sorento yesterday. (Don't worry spellchecker, that spelling irks me too, but I assure you, it is 'correct'. Yes, a dumb thing to take issue with, but there should be two rs in Sorrento.) It was a very smooth and quiet ride. I have a number in my hand from them. I am waiting to hear back on some other options I wanted that I think they can install there and then pull the trigger. Hopefully I can get Autumn cleaned up and get some interest in her straight away. The state cashed the checks for the duplicate titles on the 7th, so I am really hoping to see something in the mail today or tomorrow.

I also find it entertaining that after a week I heard not a peep from the dealership to which I sent an email to each and every sales person. But, the second I fill out the finance application to make sure I qualify for their 0.9% I get a call from two of them. When the first one picked up my information did they not mark something indicating that they called and spoke to me? Further, if I submitted a finance application, why didn't the finance manager call me rather than a sales person? He remained silent when my response to his inquiry of what I was looking for was "in the email I sent to all of the sales people last week".

So, the last saved version of that document here isn't boogered up, so what happened? It lost spaces being uploaded as an attachment to yahoo mail? That's not good - that would mean every single one I ever send out would be hosed.

We're back down in the 40s today and the big swing combined with a crazy robin that woke me starting at 5am by banging off of the front window is giving me another good headache. I saw all of the bird poo on the chair cover yesterday when I got home, I guess that explains it. Seriously dude, if you're going to sit there all day smacking off of glass, no need to start at 5am.

I heard them say we might have a frost tonight, so I guess I need to haul all of my plants in off of the front porch. While it will take up most of my walking space in the dining room (especially since the old TV is still sitting in there *sigh*) at least I have the option to do so. The plants are going crazy. I have tomatoes and peppers forming already! This could be a banner year if the blight leaves me alone.

Irony:
QA person not noticing software to remove personal data from resume file also stripped out spaces here and there.

I am where I am for a reason, this much is clear.

I made it through the rest of my week and made some progress on tasks that had me stressing out a bit, at least the ones at work there was progress.  I'm so glad to have gotten to spend time with my Favorite Egg this weekend, but alas, here I sit on Sunday night sad once again.  It really does drain my motivation for a few days in the week after we part.  I miss him, I want to see him more.  There I've said it for the world to hear.

I was contacted by a former coworker and asked about my interest in another position and I sat listening to my internal dialog talking me out of things because my resume is out of date, because I don't have a lot of new skills, because I am already sure I'm not what they're looking for, because there are so many other big things in my world right now that I just can't handle something else like this.  I've got to say that I took this inquiry, and statement of "instantly thought of you", as a huge compliment given this person's intelligence and talent.  I'm incredibly flattered... which is why I need to get things updated and at least try.  I may not get called, but I can say I put myself out there.

Saffy scored the first rabbit of the year.

The chimney guy came yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I paid more than I should have for tar to be applied around three chimneys, but at least it's done, hopefully it will resolve the two issues I was having. I would say I wish I was handier, but that wouldn't solve the problem of my complete and utter fear of heights that would have halted me from being handy on said need.

Last night I was able to run to Mum's w/ Davey T in order to discuss auctioning things off and cleaning things out. Tip: Don't have meetings to discuss selling/disposing of your childhood home around the time you could be a little PMSy. It's disrupted my sleep, it has me weepy and distracted, and it just feels like a heavy weight. I'm with my sister that it feels like forever before this can be done and we just want it all over with. I feel pulled in different directions, I feel like there are demands on us creating internal conflict, but mostly I just feel conflicted and disappointed.

I did get to see where Davey T goes to get "half greased" on the regular, sharing a drink with him, and then got to visit w/ Miss Becky as well while we grubbed some Chinese. Who would have thought Portage would have a good Chinese place?!

I need to get hours in at this point, but I'm distracted, I want to step out for lunch. Maybe a good cry is in order, or a drink. I'm really looking forward to my hug "scheduled" at the end of the week.

This week is going to be more tedious than it normally is... I am already tired of the mother's day themed commercials.  Enough.  Thanks.

After all of the things I've accomplished earlier this week, I decided today I was going to be a lazy, other than taking Saf and Vix to the vet for rabies shots.  How that turned into...

laundry
dishes
buying and potting my "garden" (four tomato plants and two pepper plant)
taking more pictures at Richland Cemetery (I processed all of the ones I had here - finishing about 100 of that set earlier today)
"mowing" the front lawn (I say it this way because, technically I weed ate it - the mowers would never start - but since the back lawn isn't high yet, this buys me another week or so before I need to see if my guy is still in the mowing game this year)

... I'll never know.

I'm ready for a nap, I'll tell you that much.

I was able to leave a bit early today, so I headed to Altoona to gather my stuff out of Mom's attic.  That's three flights of stairs for each box, so they didn't make their way upstairs here, I'm lucky they are in the house.  I tried to get most everything else out of the attic that I could carry myself as well.  I didn't count those flights to the second floor.  While I was there I mowed the lawn too.  All that before catching up w/ the Wild Ones for dinner.  Gee, I wonder why I'm so tired.  9:30?  Yep.  Wash up and out.