Shmelly

I finally figured out what was stinking up the fridge so horribly. It smelled like a rotting animal, let me tell you. There was a bag of broccoli forgotten and out of sight in the back of the opaque vegetable drawer on the bottom of the fridge. I had to pull the drawer out to make sure nothing had gotten behind it. then wiped the whole fridge down with Clorox wipes. That sure helped, coupled with the bowl of baking soda sitting in there for a day or so. A scented Yankee Candle fixed the residual stink in the kitchen. I noticed the smell was entirely gone this morning as I came back from attempting to deliver a PT shirt to DH. He'd dug out the wrong grey shirt from the laundry basket this morning in the dark, realized it when he got to work, and called me in a tizzy. Someone else had an extra shirt for him to borrow before I got there, though.
It's 0715 and I already feel accomplished today.

Bad Week

This has been a really shitty week. It started with a rage and went downhill from there. DH kept me up last night till midnight, talking. I really didn't want to talk, but he did. So I listened. And cried. It was that kind of conversation. It wasn't fun at all. At this point I'm only looking forward to my reunion this Saturday because it'll get me out of the house. I'm making a whole week out of it. I just feel like a steamroller has flattened me to the ground. I'm hating life.
I can't think of a single time in my life when I was actually happy and not worrying about 100 things at once. I always worry. I can't even pet a cat without worrying about whose cat it is, if it's being taken care of, if it'll scratch me, if it's hungry, if the litter box has been taken care of, etc etc ad nauseam. I think of things that need to be done. I worry about my job, or lack thereof. I worry about the bills. I worry about healthcare. I can never silence those voices. I can never watch a sunset and be happy in what it is, without worrying about tomorrow and what I didn't get accomplished today. I've never been happy. I don't think I ever will be. I won't know what it is if it suddenly hits me tomorrow.

It's not working, Sean. I tried. We're in the same boat now.

Oh Geez

I hope to hell this isn't true, but the site looks legit, even with all the ads everywhere. About halfway down the page, there is this article. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not? If so, this is just going to keep veterans from getting psychological help they need and create more problems.

VETERANS DISARMAMENT ACT TO BAR VETS FROM OWNING GUNS


By Larry Pratt
September 22, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

Hundreds of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted.

How? The Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already passed the House -- would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list.

This is exactly what President Bill Clinton did over seven years ago when his administration illegitimately added some 83,000 veterans into the National Criminal Information System (NICS system) -- prohibiting them from purchasing firearms, simply because of afflictions like PTSD.

The proposed ban is actually broader. Anyone who is diagnosed as being a tiny danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away ... forever. It is section 102(b)(1)(C)(iv) in HR 2640 that provides for dumping raw medical records into the system. Those names -- like the 83,000 records mentioned above -- will then, by law, serve as the basis for gun banning.

No wonder the Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to this legislation.

The House bill, HR 2640, is being sponsored by one of the most flaming anti-Second Amendment Representatives in Congress: Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). Another liberal anti-gunner, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.

Proponents of the bill say that helpful amendments have been made so that any veteran who gets his name on the NICS list can seek an expungement.

But whenever you talk about expunging names from the Brady NICS system, you’re talking about a procedure that has always been a long shot. Right now, there are NO EXPUNGEMENTS of law-abiding Americans’ names that are taking place under federal level. Why? Because the expungement process which already exists has been blocked for over a decade by a "funds cut-off" engineered by another anti-gunner, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

So how will this bill make things even worse? Well, two legal terms are radically redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious attack on veterans’ gun rights.

One term relates to who is classified a "mental defective." Forty years ago that term meant one was adjudicated "not guilty" in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, "mental defective" has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.

The second term is "adjudicate." In the past, one could only lose one's gun rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court -- meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur in a court with all the protections of due process, including the right to face one's accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640 would include a finding by "a court, commission, committee or other authorized person" (namely, a psychiatrist).

Forget the fact that people with PTSD have the same violent crime rate as the rest of us. Vietnam vets with PTSD have had careers and obtained permits to carry firearms concealed. It will now be enough for a psychiatric diagnosis (a "determination" in the language of the bill) to get a veteran barred for life ­ from owning guns.



Think of what this bill would do to veterans. If a robber grabs your wallet and takes everything in it, but gives you back $5 to take the bus home, would you call that a financial enhancement? If not, then we should not let HR 2640 supporters call the permission to seek an expungement an enhancement, when prior to this bill, veterans could not legitimately be denied their gun rights after being diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement. They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process) of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion (called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist.



If members of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired) in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans Disarmament Act -- misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the NICS Improvement Amendments Act -- will send this message to veterans: "No good deed goes unpunished."

© 2007 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved

Useless

To cheer myself up, I decided to make a list of all I got accomplished today.
-two loads of laundry
-one load of dishes
-got prescription refills on post
-tried out a new crochet pattern (hard on the hands!)
-........

Well, I guess that's it. Shorter than I thought. Sigh. I've sighed a lot today.

Things to do tomorrow:
-apply at more places for jobs
-laundry/dishes (they never stop)
-make more of those new potholders and list them on Etsy
-work on the new blanket some more (and post pictures)

I feel so useless.

Damn

I went into another rage on Sunday. I haven't had one for nearly six weeks. I was doing so much better, and it snapped.

Sigh

Neither of the interviews panned out; in fact, neither one called me back, answered the phone when I called, or returned my messages. Big hint, huh?
DH and I will be waiting in line starting at 9 tonight for Halo 3. At first I thought it was ridiculous, but then I remembered my high school days spent waiting in line for Star Wars.
Lots of things have been going on, but I just don't feel like blogging about them just yet. If you do the prayer thing, I sure need some.

Nothing To Say

AWTM hit it on the head this morning. I have found myself with nothing to say. We'll see if it passes.

100

The day is looking up. I had a good second interview with one of the places I applied to, and hopefully I'll get a phone call soon. The other place probably won't pan out, as they were supposed to call me yesterday for a second interview and didn't answer when I called them. Oh well, this other place is more money and no weekends. I am competing with two other people, though. Sigh.
The weather is sooooo gorgeous. I love fall. The air smells like Virginia, minus the horses. I tend to equate Tennessee with warm horses and Virginia with cool horses. I couldn't tell you why. Connecticut smells like crisp leaves and the promise of frost. It smelled like that here a few nights ago. Georgia smells like hot loam most of the time. In a week or so my parents will probably share the weather we're having here.
I went to tell the people at the office that my front bedroom is starting to smell like urine because the maintenance guy keeps saying he'll patch up the hole under the roof that's letting in the squirrels. The hole isn't patched yet, and the squirrels have been living in the attic for a few weeks now. The lady in the office remembered me, my unit number, and my problem, and after I told her about the smell, she looked pee-issed that things hadn't been taken care of yet. Not ten minutes later, she showed up with the maintenance guy who was supposed to have today off. The guy who was to work today called in sick. He determined what was needed to patch the hole in the ceiling inside, and the hole under the roof outside, and will go buy some chicken wire and patch it tomorrow when the sick guy brings back the large ladder. The office lady assured me she'll ride their asses until I'm satisfied. Thank goodness!
As to the post title, this is, incidentally, my 100th post. Thought I'd make it happier than past posts today. I'm going to keep a running tally of the pink Yoplait tops I've sent out. So far it's four, but I just bought 7 more yogurt cups today at the store, so more will be going out soon. Send in those tops!

UPDATE: Speak of the devil, the maintenance guy is back with the big ladder, patching the hole outside!

For Sale

I put up two scarves for sale on Etsy.com. The first one is a green and white striped acrylic and cotton blend:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7124034

The second one is my super-long blue acrylic scarf with funky orange undertones that actually work:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7107325

It's nearly 9 feet long! I used every last ball I had of this particular color. I didn't want to have just enough left over that I couldn't stand to toss it, but couldn't make anything of it either, so I used it all.

Buy something!

Lyrics

This song came on the radio as I was on my way home from the store today. It really spoke to me somehow. I got home, looked it up on YouTube, and have been playing it back to back since. Here are the lyrics:

I woke up early this morning around 4am
With the moon shining bright as headlights on the interstate
I pulled the covers over my head and tried to catch some sleep
But thoughts of us kept keeping me awake
Ever since you found yourself in someone else's arms
I've been tryin' my best to get along
But that's OK
There's nothing left to say, but

Take your records, take your freedom
Take your memories I don't need'em
Take your space and take your reasons
But you'll think of me
And take your cat and leave my sweater
'Cause we have nothing left to weather
In fact I'll feel a whole lot better
But you'll think of me, you'll think of me

I went out driving trying to clear my head
I tried to sweep out all the ruins that my emotions left
I guess I'm feeling just a little tired of this
And all the baggage that seems to still exist
It seems the only blessing I have left to my name
Is not knowing what we could have been
What we should have been
So

Take your records, take your freedom
Take your memories I don't need'em
Take your space and take your reasons
But you'll think of me
And take your cat and leave my sweater
'Cause we have nothing left to weather
In fact I'll feel a whole lot better
But you'll think of me

Someday I'm gonna run across your mind
Don't worry, I'll be fine
I'm gonna be alright
While you're sleeping with your pride
Wishing I could hold you tight
I'll be over you
And on with my life

So take your records, take your freedom
Take your memories I don't need'em
And take your cat and leave my sweater
'Cause we have nothing left to weather
In fact I'll feel a whole lot better
But you'll think of me

So take your records, take your freedom
Take your memories I don't need'em
Take your space and all your reasons
But you'll think of me
And take your cat and leave my sweater
'Cause we got nothing left to weather
In fact I'll feel a whole lot better
But you'll think of me, you'll think of me, yeah

And you're gonna think of me
Oh someday baby, someday

Unraveling

I had to do some emergency tie-ups on my granny square blanket today. One of the rounds just started unraveling! I was pissed! All I did, though, was loop through a short scrap piece of the yarn color (thankfully I had some left over) and tie it back together. You can't really tell, it just looks a little funky.
Hopefully this doesn't happen any more.

October

So I'm a little early for October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but having had a mother, several aunts, and several friends go through breast cancer, I say the more the merrier. Go here daily and help give free mammograms to women who can't afford them, and save your pink Yoplait yogurt tops for donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Help me find the cure... so I don't have to fight breast cancer, too.

Argh!

I want ice cream so bad.

Dinner Debriefed

My first on-the-fly, all-fresh stir fry was a belly-warming success. I managed to make a 200-or-so calorie meal with fresh onion, green bell pepper, broccoli, a lot of asparagus, and marinated chicken, with bottled teriyaki sauce. I didn't drizzle the remaining sauce over the plates, so hopefully that cut down on the sodium. I think the sauce was the highest calorie item, certainly the highest sodium. No point in cutting down calories and portions when you're going to get bloated on salt!
DH inhaled his plate. I was afraid I'd have to go down his throat to get the fork back. No better dinner compliment than a Hoover.

Dieting, Part I

DH and I are on a diet. It's especially hard for him, as he loves food even more than I love cooking it. Tonight will be teriyaki chicken and stir fry. The past few days DH has been subsisting on a half sandwich for breakfast and lunch, and a salad for dinner. It was painful to watch. Every other ad on TV is for food; pizza, fast food, sit-down restaurants, or grocery stores. Torture. He has willpower beyond belief, but he won't hesitate to groan at the TV. I tried keeping up with him when he first started, but I simply needed more food to keep from shaking like a leaf. My portions are much smaller, though. My mom is sending me the South Beach Diet book in the mail. I should get it on Monday. We'll see how this works out in the next few weeks.

The Wall, Defaced

Go watch this. Now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaIMJuD44qY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmichellemalkin%2Ecom%2F2007%2F09%2F12%2Fvandalism%2Ddesecration%2Dcowardice%2Dcoddling%2Denough%2Dis%2Denough%2F

What kind of asshole would do this? Why isn't this all over the news? Why have I just heard of it through AWTM (thanks, btw) and Shakey Pete?
Why doesn't anyone care?

"Borrowing"

This post at Just Dot Christina made me think a bit... At first, I thought, "If MY mom ever pulled that crap on ME, I'd lock up my stuff and give her a piece of my mind!"
Then I remembered--the last time I borrowed a piece of Mom's jewelry, before the wedding--I'd forgotten to ask permission. We were driving into town when she offhandedly commented, "Be careful you don't lose one of those studs--the backs are a little loose." I realized, belatedly, that my choice of earrings to borrow were the garnets my father gave her for their 35th anniversary.
Ooops.
Maybe I'll keep my mouth shut about that piece of my mind...

Six Years

There is so much to say about today, and so many ways for me to screw it up or not get it right... I've decided to leave it to the better bloggers today. I do remember where I was when I heard the news -- economics class, senior year of high school, third period. The principal announced it on the PA and ended the school day at noon. I spent my lunch hour in the library, watching the news with other students. Many were waiting in line at the office, the library, the teachers' lounge, anywhere there was a phone, to try to call family members who may have been affected. There were several who died.
This month I go to my 5 year class reunion. Before we begin drinking (it was a Catholic school, after all), I imagine we will have a moment of prayer and sharing of stories. We spent that day together. We will remember it together.

Murderer

I killed DH's cat.

That's how it feels to me, anyway. What with everything else, I was overwhelmed and tried to cut things into smaller, easier-to-handle pieces. I needed to simplify. I insisted that she go to a new home, and DH bargained with my mom to have her take the cat. I wasn't too happy with it, as Mom already had 2 male cats and I didn't want to impose, but a 7-hour drive and a weekend later, we were cat-free.

She stopped eating.
Mom found her body by the dryer yesterday.

A Wrinkle Has Died

Another sad day for me. One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, has died. Her books were the most imaginative I had ever read when I discovered A Wrinkle In Time in second grade.

Scrapbooking!

If you can't read it, that's Charlie Flight at the top, with Uniform Prep being performed on the post dog, Georgia Wing Civil Air Patrol Encampment 2004 Camp Merrill in the middle, Blackhawk Rides below that, and The Wall (rappelling) beside it. I had fun today!

Seasons

The days are getting shorter. It's noticeable now, when DH is coming home just an hour and a half before dusk. Sometimes, when the breeze is up, I can smell Fall. I like Jack o'Lantern, but I'm not looking forward to Jack Frost. It doesn't snow here, but it gets bone chilling cold. I hate useless cold, the kind that's just there, doesn't produce snow, doesn't frost things all nice and pretty but simply freezes windshield wipers down and condenses that tiny bit of air in the gas tank because it was half full and you didn't have any cash last night to fill it up. I love fall, with the crunchy leaves and harvest smell, slight nibble to the wind and whispering trees. I don't like Southern winter.
I think I'll go crochet some sweaters.

Sad Day For Music

Luciano Pavarotti, the owner of that magnificent rich tenor voice that captivated me as a child, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71. I only liked operas that he sang, and unfortunately never got to see him live. I did get to see a rerun of his performance at the opening ceremony of the Winter Games last year. My father used to love the Three Tenors when they sang together. He'd have the stereo so loud, I listened in my room without letting on that I actually liked it... the one live heavy opera I did see was Don Giovanni at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, and it was heavy for a high schooler. The voices were great, but not like Pavarotti's.
My very first live opera was the light opera The Pirates of Penzance when I was 11 or 12. The storyline reminds me a little of the newer Pirates of the Carribbean trilogy. I especially remember the part where the pirate captain was reading the young man's contract to him, and decared he was to be of service until his 19th "yadhtrib".... and turned the paper rightside-up... "birthday."

Airborne!

DH has been playing "Medal of Honor: Airborne" nonstop since he came home with the game today. He had preordered it and was patiently awaiting its arrival to the store for weeks. I really like the music that plays during the game, so it's not all boring for me. I think I'll start calling him Travers, after the character you play in the game. It seems to be hard to stay alive in this game, but I can imagine how hard it was for the real WWII paratroopers to stay alive in Europe.
I've been slow and creaky all day, so of course I'm starting to perk up now, just in time for bed.

More Advil, Please

My day has certainly been interesting. (Caution! Female-type talk follows!) To start, I awoke with the Red Fever, sporting the whole shebang: those horrid double-you-over cramps, headache, backache, the constant feeling of having to pee even when you've just been, irritability out the wazoo, sudden acne, and dry mouth. I have some of the strangest menstrual symptoms I've ever heard of. I was supposed to help Vee move today, and she had to wake me up at 7 with a phone call, or I wouldn't have gotten out of bed at all. I finally oozed into some jeans that fit rather snugly today and met her at the self storage place. Last night, DH and I helped move most of her stuff into a 10x10 unit, only to discover that she needed a bigger space. We unloaded the moving truck with most of her stuff, went back to her house to load up the rest, and left it overnight. So this morning, she upgraded to a bigger unit, I helped unload the large furniture, and went back to the house to sift through the food items. She saved as much as she could, but having to live in a hotel for three nights with no prospects for a place to live after that, we tossed a good number of things. I did come home with some perfectly good perishables though. The exercise has been good for the cramps, but moving isn't nice to backaches. My knees are hurting now too. I'm currently curled up in bed with DH's pillow between my knees, typing away on the laptop, one handed. Sideways. It's fun.
More Advil, please.

Retail Therapy!

I am so proud of myself I could burst. I took my 40% off coupon to Hobby Lobby and managed to get $25 worth of stuff for $12! I found some pink eyelash yarn with fuzzes on it for Leila, The Guardian's girlfriend's daughter, who *loves* pink, for only 99 cents per. She'll get a scarf for Christmas. The only thing that wasn't on sale was the other skein of funky yarn, which was cheap anyway. I'll make another scarf out of it and sell it for $20. I used the coupon on a calligraphy set that was originally $10. Sweet!

Things To Do

Today I have several things on my agenda... First is the post office, to send back to my father the hard drive from my old computer. He cannibalizes dead computers. Next is some retail therapy at Hobby Lobby, thanks to my friend El who told me about their online coupon! Yay free coupons! There are also some scrapbooking things on sale, half off, that I'm going to drool over for a while. After that it should be time for my prescription to be ready at the refill center on post. When I get back home I'll have dishes and vacuuming waiting for me.
The next door neighbor seems to think we're in a stereo contest. His bass is up so loud I can barely eat! It jiggles my guts so that I'm almost sick to my stomach. I can barely hear my own music! He kinda scares me, so I'm afraid to knock on the door and ask him to turn it down. Doubtful he'd even hear the knock. I know, I'm a pussy.
At Hobby Lobby, I'll be looking for some fuzzy *pink* yarn to make a scarf with, ,as I got some fuzzy *blue* yarn last time and found out the intended recipient LOVES pink and doesn't care for blue much. Oops. I still made a scarf from the blue yarn, and gave it to my new friend Vee's daughter instead. She loved it. Nobody has to know it was made for someone else! Speaking of yarn crafts, I'm making another blue-and-grey striped scarf. The first one turned out so well! There's also a hat I'm experimenting with for my mom... hats are hard to get the hang of. I'm on my third attempt, and the other two turned out looking like bowls, or "boobie covers" as DH described them. "I didn't know you could make a bra out of yarn!"
Right, dear.
There's another scarf in the works, using yarn from my mom's old stash. I decided I'd use up all of one blue-green color and make a super long scarf, maybe put stripes of red on the ends. I want to get some more yarn to make another granny square blanket, this time just one big square. I was thinking all different shades of blue on this one, maybe dark in the middle to light on the edges, the other way around, or just potpourri.

YAY!

I finished it! It's done! It's finally done! DH is sleeping under it now! See my first blanket!



Now to complete the three scarves I have in progress...