I've been allowing the girls to sleep in the room with me once or twice a week.  Last night as we headed to bed I asked Saffy if I needed to buy her a bed for in the room (since she does remain banished from the bed unless it is the night before I change it).  The one I tuck under the bed is Danika's as it was originally purchased for her.  Imagine my surprise this morning when I woke up to find them, for the first time ever, sharing that bed.  It is a pretty good size, so this is ideal, but I've never seen them do anything like that before.  It melted my heart.  They're so friggin adorable.

Speaking of adorable siberians... still asking for prayers (and donations if you're so inclined) for Trooper.  I stay current with my rescue friends down in NC and this is their latest heart tugger.  Thank God for the persistence of the young man who heard Trooper's cries for help and his grandfather.

I'm really tired of one purchase/action resulting in getting adding to a ton of unrelated mailing lists. My new vehicle came with a couple months of Sirius XM. I didn't ask for it, I couldn't opt out, but they added me to their mailing list. Now I'm getting the "oh no, your trial is going to end" mailers. So I write to be removed from the mailing list. Here is their response:


We have updated your account with your request not to mail you with solicitations. Please be aware that you will still receive important service messages. While we will make every effort to remove your address from our lists as soon as possible, it can take up to 30 days to completely update all of our systems. During that time it is possible that you may receive a few more pieces of mail due to campaigns still in process. Also, your Do Not Mail preference setting will expire 3 years from the date of your request.

As a reminder, you can opt in and out of SiriusXM communications by logging into care.siriusxm.com, clicking the My Account Info tab and then the Communication Preferences tab.


Why does this piss me off?

1. I don't have an account. I'm not going to sign up for one on your website in order to tell you we've not done business and I want off of your mailings.
2. "important service messages" probably = nagging me to subscribe - the exact issue I wrote because of in the first place.
3. My preference expires in 3 years? F you. Seriously if I asked you respect my privacy do it, don't tell me you're going to humor me and then ignore me down the road.

Stop. Now. Permanently.
I want a remove me from all mailing lists function. I want the world to be opt-in based rather than opt-out.

The nice weather has continued - thank the Lord - as so did the road miles.  I headed back out on Monday towards Dayton OH to attend a working group for work.  Since I was headed that direction and the timing worked in both directions I was able to have lunch w/ my favorite Egg on the way there and dinner with him on the way back. Three nights logged in a hotel directly behind a Tim Horton's yay!  I also got to stop in and visit with my brother for a little while and was able to take some photos and whatnot to him.

I'm back home and had enough time that I was able to bail from work shortly before noon today and I needed it.  I spent that extra time napping away in my beloved bed.  I did get the laundry caught up so I don't feel like that extra time was a total loss.  I also went and plucked another plastic baggy of blueberries from my favorite Egg's bush at his house here.  (We got two bags full last weekend that went home with him - these are all mine!)

It has been a busy few days with quite a few road miles behind me since my last post.  On Thursday after work "we" had a happy hour.  I say we because it was organized for the program but no one really showed.  It was nice to just to sit and chat w/ Rex.  I headed home in time for my Favorite Egg's arrival.  We had a long weekend planned, so we needed to get up and moving Friday morning.

Our first stop was Grice's Gun Shop - the largest Gun Shop in PA!  Shockingly, we left having spent less than $50 between the two of us.  I was a bit disappointed, as I felt like other places have had much more variety.  They didn't carry the flash bang holster for me to check out ... and their women's shirts (other than typical hick type shirts) were non existent other than a "got Sig?" shirt.  From there we stopped a few miles down the road at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub.  The burger was okay, not stellar, but I guess they're known for their challenge burgers, not the quality of their burgers.

Many more miles down the road, and after a quick stop at a grocery store, we landed at our rental - Sylvan Glen - where I reserved an A-frame cabin that was just adorable.  It was super clean and perfect for our needs - a nice place in between some of the stops on our list.  No oven, but there was a stovetop and a coffee pot, so I was able to toss together a bit of breakfast (the first day at least - by the second day the eggs had frozen over - my own fault, as I turned up the fridge when it seemed a bit too warm on Friday night).

It was fairly overcast, so I made the call and decided to wait until Saturday night to make our run at Cherry Springs - a natural dark sky park.  Turns out it was a good bet as the folks we overheard on Saturday said they barely saw stars on Friday.  We were able to take in Venus and Saturn and the Milky Way made a rough appearance before the haze and overcast set in.  It was pretty amazing and it wasn't even a super clear night.

Earlier on Saturday we ventured out to try and find a couple of places that were recommended in the area, but ended up a bit disappointed in their beers.  We did a little shopping.  We did a little relaxing.  We did a little eating.

On Sunday we were up and headed to the PA Grand Canyon!  It was worth the stop since we were in the area.  I'd say the Western side, which was our first stop, had a better view than the main viewing area.  We didn't go hiking the trail as the weather has finally gotten to that uber warm phase for the year, but that's okay.  It was time to get back on the road so we would have a few minutes at home before my Egg needed to head back out.  On the way we stopped off in State College to have some ice cream at the creamery.

I can hardly believe it - an evening without rain (for whatever reason I totally almost typed snow. I hope that isn't a a premonition).  Fortunately, it was just in time for Shakespeare in the Park!  This year's show, The Tempest, was what they performed in 1999 - talk about throw back.  Chances are I was there that year.

While there is so much around here I should be getting done, I'll admit, I was glad to be able to make the time to attend w/ the Wild One and Rex. I do feel bad that the girls spent an evening home all alone though.  Here's hoping the weather stays decent for the weekend.  I really could use it.

You think you're funny don't you printer? Well you're not. I hereby rename you the Mangler and flipped your main power. Na-na-na-na-boo-boo the printer repair guy is coming for you.

We will label my day as a death wish.  I had a bit of an allergic hissy fit during church, but I still felt the need to pull some weeds this afternoon (I was driven to this as I was contacted by someone interested in the apartment).  I kept wedding after my lawnmower guy was here, but only a short while as my head started freaking out.

Instead, I came in and went to the basement, where moving the shelves around and cleaning behind them was on my list.  Some of these have been in place for years, so you can imagine the size of the extra dog I swept out from behind and under them.  You cannot however imagine the snot factory that my head became during the time I was working down there.  Yay fur and dust!

My nose is mostly raw at this point, but hosing off in the shower helped tame the reaction a little.  I should take an allergy pill, but my blood pressure is still up from the last round of me taking them.  I guess refraining is one aspect of my day that goes against that whole death wish theme.

Regarding the would-be tenant.  I do love Google and the information you can find with just a few quick searches.  But I do wish I didn't always find things that made stories not add up 100%.  I watched a show recently that tried to say that we, as humans, inherently trust other people.  I must really be abnormal, because I sure don't.

It's one of those nights where it would just be nice to be able to lean in and get held.

Signs I am old and jaded...

Helping a friend move:
When I was 21 - "free pizza and beer? sure!"
Today my first thought is "I can recommend a moving company."

Someone posts that they are looking to buy something:
My first thought is "ok, do you not have stores in your area?" (Specifically when it's not an overly expensive item brand new.)

Friends post something about their required purchase list for school.
My first thought is "oh hell no. I'll buy what I buy the kid and that is what he/she will write with/on. Matter of fact, if I was _going_ to buy what you specified I might just pick something else out of spite. And don't even get me started on the lists that expect parents to supply paper towels and the like. I've paid school taxes for 16 years in this district now. That buys a lot of paper towels."

Jeb Bush thinks I should work longer hours. Know what I think Jeb Bush? I think I work plenty... after all, it's been enough to not only take care of my household, but to also fund quite a few others who have chosen to mooch off of society. How about this - the people not working should get their asses in gear. Your campaign tried to say that is what you meant, but I doubt it - otherwise you would have said "some" hours vs "longer".

I truly hate politicians. All of them, regardless of their party label, they're all the same.

My gut feels a lot better at this point, but now the headaches have taken over vying for my attention. I've been fighting one for a couple of days now. Seems like taking anything allergy related rockets my blood pressure up to 140. I know that's not super high, but it's high for me and I don't like it. Plus, doesn't high blood pressure tend to create a headache?

I did just recently pick up my new glasses, which are weaker than the previous pair because my eyes supposedly are doing better. This of course has me suspicious. Needless to say, today I am wearing the old pair of glasses. If the new ones are aiding the onset of headaches they will quickly go back to the dr's office.

Six months.  Time truly flies.  It seems like yesterday and it seems like an eternity ago all at the same time. The auction is on Friday (for more information go here).  It felt like it was so far away when we pushed the date back to the 10th, but here it is.

The general sense of anxiety for everything going on and regular moodiness are compounding resulting in me being way too sleepy and distracted.  I at least got the girls bathed last night, so I felt like I accomplished something.

I neglected to mention the kind hand written card I received from the vet's office, well - Dr. Sanderson that is. The writing fills the first page and the back of the card. "Why do you go to Richland? They're more expensive" some people say. This is one big reason why. He cares about my girls. He cares about my feelings for my girls. Nevermind how close it is, which in an emergency having a quality vet close at hand is all that matters to me.

Today is a week for Vixen. It's gone so fast. The house remains creepy quiet, particularly in the morning, even now that the girls are no longer sleeping in my room. They were pretty wiped out yesterday after a few days at camp while I visited w/ my favorite Egg. We had a pretty quiet weekend. I'll admit I wasn't feeling great for a chunk of it, so I wasn't feeling very ambitious.

To celebrate the 4th, we did see some fireworks from the surrounding houses and made use of the new burning barrel to have a couple of smores. Like I said, pretty low key.

This is going to be a long week. The auction at Mom's is on Friday. Looks like someone has a desire to attend, which gets me sucked into things I don't want sucked into. There is a little bit of drama attempting to swirl up around some of this that I simply will not accept into my life, so I am hoping it squelches out quickly. We just want it all done. Would you pray with us that the right bidder will come on Friday that we might be closing on the house in the near term too? I hate to see it go at any point, but to linger things on and have more confusion and internal debate isn't helping.