The Freedom Song of the Jigsaw Girl

My sister and nephew came up yesterday afternoon and helped me go pick up my new-to-me furniture and move it into my apartment. I then treated them to dinner because if someone helps you move stuff then you ought to at least feed them. :) Plus dinner gave me more time to visit, which is always fun. Lots of lively discussion happened, and I managed to make plans to go see the new Avengers movie on Sunday with nephew and maybe sister and brother-in-law (nephew is 16 and a lot of fun to hang out with).

I will note that it's been a long time since I've driven anything larger than a small SUV, so driving the U-haul cargo van was both terrifying and fun.

Anyway, I promised some photos when I got the chance. I haven't decorated much yet, so the walls are a bit bare. Both couch and chair will be getting slip covers. A dark red cover for the chair to make it look a little less retro, and a dark tan cover for the sofa to try to protect the pretty cream sofa from inevitable stains. I also got three small wooden bar stools as they make the best portable coffee tables/laptop stands (and are the perfect height for most chairs and couches).

( pictures below the cut )

For those who haven't read Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye series, you just need to know that in it Clint Barton generally has shitty luck and makes some really awful decisions but all in all is just trying to make do. He also has this adorable habit that I tend to share, which is talking to the world around me including inanimate objects. In one scene he goes to pour his coffee and spills it, and then says "Aw, coffee, now" as if the coffee had betrayed him or something. It's always made me smile because it is just the sort of thing I would do.

So today I had gotten my grocery shopping done and put away, grabbed a shower and put on my pjs, made a couple of different types of iced tea for the next few days, done some dishes, and warmed up leftovers for dinner. Was all set to sit down with my dinner and watch this weeks episode of Agents of SHIELD. Go to scoot my chair closer to the table and there is the god awful crack, I feel the chair start to give and I'm up and moving away from the falling chair. The back left leg of the chair has come off and since it was a solid long piece holding part of the back in place the rest of the back rest has come apart too. I look from the chair to the table where my nice warm plate of food is sitting and sigh, muttering some equivalent of "aw, chair, no." I pick up the pieces of the chair. Look again from the chair to my dinner. Sigh over the fact that I have not gotten any other chairs yet. Test the stability of the chair resting on the three remaining legs, note that it is remarkably stable and should remain upright if I turn it backwards so that the empty spot is not bearing any weight and sit on it very, very carefully without leaning at all. I finish my dinner, carefully get up from the broken chair, and then move the remains of the chair out of the way to await a determination on whether the chair is fixable (it came apart in pretty solid pieces).

So I sigh again, go put back on clothes that are not pajamas, and head to first goodwill to see if they have any stray kitchen chairs (they don't), and then to Wal-Mart to purchase a folding chair for temporary seating. I have not yet bought couch or any other furniture so the options would be "eat on bed" or "eat on floor" neither of which were agreeable to me. So I got a folding chair and a camping chair for sitting outside and enjoying the weather now that it's warming up. By this point I'm fairly achy and did not want to go anywhere else, which is why I ended up settling on the folding chair solution. Turns out the camping chair with enough pillows piled on it is a more comfortable solution so that was a happy find. If I have the spoons I will go out in search of additional furniture tomorrow.

My heart-sister in Virginia was amazingly sweet (though she will deny it to her dying breath) and loaded my car for me Saturday morning. It is packed to the brim, but we were able to fit almost everything in it. Three small boxes of clothes and shoes will need to be mailed. After the car was stuffed with things I pointed it north and started driving. Stopped overnight in Binghamton, NY at a decent hotel that even had a Japanese restaurant in house. So that was happy making. Had dinner, showered, and crashed early. Then got up, grabbed coffee and breakfast and got on the road. Had a lovely drive and am safely ensconced at my heart-sister's in Vermont. I am exhausted but happy. Tuesday evening I will go up and meet with the landlords to do a walk-through and get the keys. Wednesday I will move in. Internet is scheduled to be installed on Thursday. There is still loads to be done, but it is nice to be back in Vermont.

I will probably only be online in brief surges this week. Much love to everyone!

My trip to Vermont went well and I have made some big decisions. I have safely returned to Virginia despite the lingering winter and wanted to post a brief update before I crashed.

The biggest announcement is that I have decided to move back to Vermont. Being closer to my Lyme doctor will make continuing treatment so much easier and much less frustrating, and while I love my heart-sister, niece, and numerous friends in the DC area, I long to be back in Vermont. I wasn't even thrown by the brutally cold temps and tremendous amount of snow, but rather glad to have my little dragon car and delighted that it handled the weather superbly despite having only all-weather tires rather than snow tires. The universe apparently approves of this decision, because not only did I find a good apartment in the Burlington area but I also secured the lease for said apartment. The only drawback is that I will be moving in a month, which is both sad and happy making.

There is a lot to do in the next month, but I will also be making sure I have time to see friends before I go. There are a lot of people I am going to miss like crazy. Thankfully the internet makes staying in touch so much easier. :)

Tonight I'm going to rest, and tomorrow as well. If the roads are good enough I may go to the bank to get a few things done there. Otherwise it will be laundry and resting.

( Discussions of doctors, frustrations with doctors, and having a controversial illness/treatment )

We had an absolute house full over the holidays, and it was very nice to see everyone. We had several games of Cards Against Humanity, which is like a much more twisted version of Apples to Apples. It was wickedly fun. We saw "The Hobbit" on Christmas day, and several of us went to see "Into the Woods" on Saturday. Both were enjoyable, though I was a bit frustrated with the editing/storytelling choices for "Into the Woods." I would like to see "The Hobbit" again as I'm sure I missed a whole bunch of details. I'm not exactly in a critical mood regarding my entertainment right now, so if you want a thoughtful critique of either film I'm probably not the best to ask.

Everyone left for their own homes on Sunday, and so things are slowly returning to routine around here. It is strange to have such a quiet house after so much activity, but nice as well. I used the Amazon gift card I got for Christmas to finally buy the complete Cowboy Bebop series on DVD as well as the movie. I've been eyeballing both for a very long time. I already have most of the soundtrack. :)

So I had a follow-up appointment with the doc at my PCP office that handled the rash of doom, and she is concerned about some things so I get to go get more tests. I'm not really wanting to think about the what ifs, so I'm doing the equivalent of sticking my fingers in my ears. I'm just repeating to myself "It's probably nothing, she's just doing her due diligence as a doctor." I have however talked what-ifs with family, so I'm not ignoring it completely.

On the bright side of things, almost all of my chosen family is here for the holidays. It is wonderful (if occasionally overwhelming as it is a lot of people in one house). But it is very nice to have lots of lovely fun chats and spend time with everyone.

I managed to miraculously grab a Christmas Eve appointment for one of the diagnostic tests my doc ordered, and my heart-sister/roommate is going to take me. After that depending on folks moods (and how long said test takes), a group of us may go see the last of the Hobbit movies. There will be prime rib for dinner, and tomorrow there will be presents, general festivities, and, if we don't go tonight, a trip to the movie theater.

I hope that everyone is enjoying their holiday, whatever they may celebrate, and having as stress free a time as possible.

Wednesday last week was kind of horrid. Things have gotten a little bit better since then. I'm doing my best to hang on and be patient with my body and myself. It is remarkably hard. ( CW: health things and insurance frustrations )

I did treat myself to lunch out after my appointment, which was kind of nice. And I spent a little bit of time wandering around the local mall (middle of the week before school lets out meant it wasn't unbearably crowded). It was kind of nice to do a bit of window-shopping and just be out of the house for a bit.

( CW: medical issues including rash from hell. )

So that is why I haven't been around much.

So the lovely ariestess did a free one-card draw event for Samhain. It's been a while since I did a reading or had a reading done, so I figured why not. I also had enough to tip for once, which was happy making. In the end I was able to get a four-card reading. Now I'm pondering the results of that reading. Because inevitably when you ask for a general message from the universe you get one you were not expecting.

( Results of reading )

( My musings on the reading. )

I have stuff that needs doing, but it can wait til a bit later in the week. Right now I think I'm just going to continue vegging out and resting. Not sure when I last watched so much tv (or the internet equivalent). :) Am all caught up on current seasons of Sleepy Hollow, and Agents of SHIELD. Or at least as caught up as one can be without having a cable provider account. I am still kind of mad about the fact that I have to have a cable provider to access the most recent episode of a broadcast television series. Although once I go back to work I'll end up a week or two behind anyway. So it'll all come out in the wash. :)

Also caught up on Forever a new crime procedural with a supernatural twist (guy who cannot die) which I got hooked on while staying with my Dad. Not sure what I might watch today. Got a ton of things in both my Netflix and Amazon Prime queues, so there is no shortage of things to watch.

Also, Hawkeye: L.A. woman, aka Kate Bishop and Lucky the dog have adventures in L.A., was phenomenal. The only problem was that I finished it and wanted Vol. 4 of the series immediately. I haven't been so tempted to resubscribe to an ongoing monthly comic series in years. I may have to play with reading digital comics on the iPad I inherited, because I will not start collecting paper copies again. They are way to much of a pain to store.

Tomorrow I shall have to think about starting in on my errands, including going over to get blood drawn as it's been a while since I had my thyroid, iron levels, and other metabolic work-ups done. Don't really want to even think about blood draws today, so distractions and rest it is.

In cool news, I will be speaking on a student panel on Asexuality (via video chat) at Vermont Law School for Asexual Awareness Week. That will be at 6:30 tomorrow evening, so hopefully I will have found some spoons by then. :)