We're turning into crazy cat people!

We have a new kitten. :) His name is Nibbler, and he's adorable. See?


We must be insane, but we don't care much. :D

We were at Petsmart about a month ago, and this little cutey was part of the local adoption center's weekly showcase. They have kitties there all the time, but on the weekends they bring in more. We played with him for awhile; he crawled all over us, nommed our fingers, let us give him scritches. We talked about it, but though "we can't have a fourth cat! That's nuts!" So we left Nibbler, thinking someone would adopt him soon. He was too cute to not be adopted!

Imagine our surprise when we came back two weeks later to find him still there! We played with him some more, and one of the volunteers was heavily hinting that Nibbler wanted us to take him home. On a whim I filled out an application (they screen potential adopted which I think is great), while Nibbler watched to make sure I filled it out right, had chillas sign it, and for the next week anxiously waited to hear from them.

Finally we got the call that we were going to be able to take him home. We met his foster mom at a Barnes & Noble and brought him home with us.

We brought him into the house, and Max and Sprite sniffed around the carrier but there was no growling or hissing, so we let Nibbler out after awhile. Smokey, of course, watched from afar, all haughty and whatnot.

Nibbler wandered around the apartment, sniffing and checking things out, with Sprite and Max right behind him. By the end of the evening all three of them were playing. :)

He has been a perfect editition to our family. Nicholas is totally in love with him.

Nibbler has a very weird attraction to water. Not only does he drink it out of their regular bowl, but he'll lick it off of the side of a glass, out of the faucet, and even off of faces and toes! Very strange. The last time Nicholas was with us, Nibbler sat on the edge of the tub while he was taking a bath, and had about a quarter of his tail in the bath water. He didn't even seem to care!

He likes to sleep by nesting in my hair at night, which causing some conflicts since Smokey likes to sleep by my head. But often he'll move around and sleep on Joe's chest, neck, belly, or by his knees. Sometimes he just sits and purrs. His favorite toys are my little elastic pony tail holders and my hair if I hang it in his face.

He's silly and we love him. :) Yay kitties!

Letters I wish I could send...or at least know they'd get read

Bipolar disorder,

I hate you. Why have you suddenly stopped responding to the meds? I'm in a major mixed mood state right now and I hate it. Especially since I'm a rapid cycler! One minute I'm agitated and restless as hell and have to get up and move. The next I'm in a slump and want to do nothing except hide under the covers and sleep and sleep and sleep. I don't want to eat in either state, and goodness knows that's not a good idea.

I don't see the "doctor" until the 11th, and I already know she's going to be useless as usual. I'm really tired of her not giving me a month's worth of drugs, but two weeks at a time. BS! What if I can't get there on the right day to pick up the next week's worth? We both know darn well what happens if you miss even a day. And the way it is right now, it would be even worse.

Stop, please. I don't need this right now. I just can't handle another major shift.

Me

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crappy insurance company...

See that letter above? You see how crappy my treatment is? It's your fault. You know why? Because you don't believe mental illness is a "real" disease. You'll hand out medications and treatment for everything as long as it's physical and can be seen and tested. Me and thousands, hell, millions like me are left out in the cold to go to publicly funded, over worked, understaffed clinics.

Mental illness is just as real as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and every other disease you cover.

We deserve the proper treatment, damn it. Get with the program and help instead of hinder.

No love,
Me

The joys of the willfully ignorant

So I receive this random email from a "friend" the other day:

A friend of mine sent this to me. It is definitely food for thought.


According to The Book of Revelations the anti-christ is:
The anti-christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything. Is it OBAMA??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to repost this as many times as you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet...do it!

I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.

My reply:

Do yourself a favor. You're supposed to be a teacher, right? Try educating yourself.

Barack Obama is *NOT* a Muslim. Yes, his father was, but he is NOT. He is a Christian.

He did not "come out of nowhere". He served in the as Illinois state senator for several years, and is now the state Representative.

Of course he has appeal...he's smart, charismatic, and actually gives a damn about fixing this country from the crap mess that Bush has put us in in the last 8 years.

The fact that you are willing to pass on this tripe without even bothering to research is disgusts me.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/415/

Her oh so mature response?:
Whatever!!

Me again:

Nice and mature response. So being ignorant and immature is preferable to finding out the facts? Whatever indeed.

Here again:

Ofcourse you would choose to believe what the media says when in fact you should research his past. Try the minister he new for 20 years.... You call him a good christian????????? Look in the pictures of his office, do you see an American flag?????? I don't... You need to get your head out of the sand and your ass and do the math your self.... And don't E-mail me anymore.... :(

Ah yes, teh debil...the liberal media. Uh huh.

Me: I don't believe the "media", I believe the FACTS. So he doesn't have an American flag hanging in his office? And? Do you have one plastered all over your work place and home? One planted waving freely in your yard? Wear one every day? That doesn't make you a patriot, it makes you a zealot.

You're basing a man on a pastor he knew? One he has denounced?

He's a better Christian than you. I've never heard him say someone should be strung up and left to die because he or she said something negative about a "soldier".

Grow up, Cris, seriously.

I will gladly never email you again. Your kind of ignorant bigotry is something I do not need in my life.

I feel sorry for your children and the ones you teach. Oh the lies you are putting into their little heads.

And then I blocked her. Mind you, this is the same woman who, in my "Why Don't I Learn" blog, was the one who thought that I should be "strung up and left to die" after the little ex-husband lie machine got going on the LHS page. She "apologized" to me online after that, and tried to send out an olive branch, but it's obvious she hasn't gotten past her high school days. I see that maturity level matches.

Ah, the willfully ignorant. They're dangerous, but at least they're good for a laugh from time to time.

Oh, and two days later, using her husband's account she emails me again with something along the lines of: "I don't have time to debate this with you." Debate? Huh? That's like debating water is wet. Puhleeze. Oh, and of course snopes has a page on it now. ;) http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/antichrist.asp

A most beautiful wedding

April 12th, 2008. Finally, the day I was able to marry my best friend, my chillas.

It was such a beautiful day. We were supposed to have it outside, but it was freezing cold, so we moved it to the reception site. But who cares?! All of our family and friends were there, and it was amazing. Lots of our "imaginary" friends from snopes were there, as well as our family members, and other various people we cared about.

My dad and Nicholas walked me down the asile to Joe. I was shaking so bad, I could barely walk! Dad handed me over to Joe and said "take her before she has a nervous breakdown." Our minister, Kris, did a beautiful job. Joe and I wrote our own vows. I was almost crying through the whole thing, and I know I had several of our friends in tears.

The whole thing was done in about 10 minutes, but it was so fabulous to finally be married to each other! I am still over the moon about it, and I'm sure I will be for a long time to come.



My SIL, Kristie, made the world's most beautiful, and delicious cake:

There's more pictures here if you'd like to see them. And there's more to come!

Lady's and gentlemen: Mr and Mrs Vasquez.

Monday, January 14, 2008 ~ Why don't I learn?

Some of you may remember the blog I posted regaurding my ex-husband's wife contacting me through here in '06. After that little incident, I figured I was done with them. Oh no! He contacted me through here this time. This time through the LHSflagpole myspace page. A place where all of us friends from HS could get together and relive the glory days of our youth. Blech.
This is what he messaged to me:

I know I did some mean and nasty stuff to you and all tho I want to appologize, It seems that you aren't willing to hear me out. For what it's worth part of me wisshes we could have worked it out...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I'm sorry

..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Dave

P.S. I'm being deployed soon would like to talk on phone if your willing will give you my later.

Here's what I said back: (Warning, not nice)

*SOME* mean and nasty stuff? You're joking, right? Our entire relationship, from start to finish, was a huge mess. Screaming, yelling, threatening...not to mention you cheating on me. Yeah, I'd say you did "some" stuff.

The time to apologize was years ago. After you actually did those things. Not years later, especially when you're married with two kids.

You're right; I'm not overly willing to hear you out. Why should I? You caused pain and humiliation. You caused me to lose jobs and respect. Your wife contacting me last year gave me fits. Here I am, hoping your corpse is rotting in some landfill somewhere, and out of the blue you pop back into my life. And not only that, I read her blog, and "someone" is calling me a pathological lier. Who do you think that could have been? You perhaps? And now you want to make peace?

And you still wish, after nearly 10 years, that we could have worked out. Maybe you should have thought of that 10 years ago, before we got divorced.

Your mother hated, your father tried to sleep with me, you were mean and nasty to my cats, tried to keep me away from my friends, and tried to get me knocked up when I didn't want kids. But you still wish it could have worked out. Better hope you're wife doesn't hear you say that.

As for being deployed, please tell me someone didn't actually let you rejoin the military. God help the country.

I hope you step on a land mine.

Was the land mine comment over the top? Probably. Did I mean it? Not 100%.
Imagine my surprise when I see these comments on the LHSflagpole myspace page:
i received this email from Dave and was asked to pass it on to all of you. i still hold to a neutral status with everyone and refuse to get into the middle of things.


Dear Gang,

I received a very disturbing Email from one of our bunch yesterday. While I'm not wanting to do this, it's been made clear that my contact with eveyone is "UNWELCOME" I wont insult any of you with the details, but to put it nicely I"m an intruder who "has got some nerve speaking to any of " their "friends" . You've all known me for a long time, I just hope that I will be spoken of in a kind way from time to time. I miss you all and shall continue to do so.


ADIOS AMIGOS,
Your friend under the radar

DAVE

P.S. I'm Sorry I've Been a Burden

As you can see from my response, I never said anything that he said I did. Nice to see his lying skills are still running at 100%
Here's another one, responding to that one:
This is in response to Dave's letter. I think that the person who sent a crule letter to him saying such mean things should be strung up and left to die. But Morgan wants me to raise above and forgive so I will. I know who did it and I forgive you for your moment of rash thinking and that you are not really an uncaring person who would knowingly tell a militay man going to IRAQ that you want them to step on a mine and die. THis page is for all of us to reunite and forget old grudges so I just ask that you do that. If you do not like him do not talk to him, but do not tell him that we can not. lots of love cris
She forgives me. How sweet. He didn't ruin my favorite pair of jeans! He hurt me, physically and emotionally. And I can't believe they let him back into the military. He got dishonorably discharged from the Navy. Who the hell lets someone like that back in?!

Here's another one:

Dave, I didn't know you that well, but what I did get to see was that you are a wonderful, supportive, loyal friend. I hope that you will continue to hang with us here, and walk down the memory lanes with us We are all adults here, even if just pretending cause we have to.... everyone needs to grow up, or at least pretend, so that we can have this little "play date" K.
Here was my response to all of them:

To hell with you all. Aparently it was okay for him to hit me, rape me, cause me to loose jobs and play parts, cheat on me, and make my life a living hell. Here I thought I could reconnect with some friends from HS. Best four years of my life my ass.
Nice of my "friends" to check with me and see if anything he said was true before blasting me all over that page.
So, as I said...to hell with you. I knew that page was a bad idea. Guess I was right.

Thursday, December 27, 2007 ~ The best holiday in years

ust a few days after Christmas, 1999, my grandfather passed away from congestive heart failure. Since then, none of the last Holidays have felt right. From Easter to Thanksgiving, and, of course, Christmas. I moved away from my parents that next year after marrying my (now) ex-h, Although I was married to him, I never felt like a "part" of his family. Even after having BeanSprout, I could never fully recapture that family holiday feeling.

Last year was chillas' and mine's first Christmas together. Even though we had BeanSprout, and spent it with his family, I still felt like an outsider. I wasn't sure where BeanSprout and I fit into the dynamic yet. We had just gotten engaged at Thanksgiving. It's not that we didn't like each other, or didn't get along or anything. I just didn't feel quite, well, a "part" of them yet. And of course I was worried about where the BeanSprout fit into all of this.

Then, this year, something magical happened...

chillas and I sent out Christmas cards to everyone this year, and we included a pic of the BeanSprout. Some people got one with him from this year's snopes meet. Others got that and a school picture. chillas' parents were in the second group. We went over to their place on Saturday to help put up the tree. While we were hanging out on the couch, waiting for his folks, chillas pointed to their entertainment center. His mom has a lot of her collection of Precious Moments figures up there. Up among the figures, for everyone to see, were BeanSprout's pictures. And his school pic was propped up on one called "There's Always Room for One More".

I have no words to describe the feeling that came over me at that moment. Other than to say that, besides crying some of the happiest tears ever, I suddenly realised I have a family again. Not just me, chillas and the BeanSprout, but chillas' family. I am not just chillas' fiance anymore. The BeanSprout is not just chillas' "little buddy". We are family. Fully and truly family. For the first time in seven years, I have a family again. Not the semi-forced family that some people get when they get married, but a true family. People that I genuinely love and care for, and know that they love and care for me and my son. I haven't felt this way since my grandparent's passed away. I couldn't imagine a better present for the holidays. Or any time for that matter.

I thank the DOYC above, (below, sideways), for this gift. It is one I will truly treasure forever...

Friday, December 14, 2007 ~ OMG!! I got a job!!

I am beyond excited. I am writing this from work! That's right, I gots me a job! And not just any job. A real, grown up job!

I left the Home Depot back in September, because I was informed that I wasn't "allowed" to take a second weekend off in one month. Now the only reason I ever asked for a weekend off was usually because it was to spend time with the BeanSprout. This time I had requested time off for our usual weekend, plus time to spend with him for his birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They denied all three requests, telling me that I would have to pick the one I wanted more. Sorry, but you don't just tell a mom she can't see her kid. Especially since I see him so rarely as it is! So, I handed in my keys and walked out at the end of my shift.

I took a week or so for time to myself, and then actively started looking for a job. I submitted resume after resume. I filled out application after application. I managed to get a few interviews, late last month, but not a single job offer. Needless to say, I was getting very frustrated.

Fast forward to this Monday. chillas and I got home from a small shopping trip when his phone rang. It was a gal named Suzanne, and she was looking for me. Turns out she's from a job placement agency that I had applied to way back in the beginning of October. She wanted to know if I was still looking for work. I told her I was. She asked if I would be interested in a receptionist job with a company called Quest Software. Of course I was! So she gathered some basic information, and told me she was going to forward my resume to the HR, then call the person and discuss it with her, and she'd call me back.

So we sit around waiting for the phone to ring again. Half an hour later it does. Suzanne says to me the most beautiful words ever: "How would you like to start tomorrow?" Very calmly I said yes, but the second I was off the phone with her, I started jumping around the house, whooping and screaming like a mad woman.

So I wandered into this company Tuesday morning, nervous as all get out, and it turns out that I think I may have landed practically a dream job. I'm still in shock, even three days later. The gal who I replaced actually got promoted, so she spent her time training me for a couple of days. She said she was so impressed that I caught on so quickly. By the time the first day was over, I was already a whiz on the phones, and was mailing packages off to the main office. Yesterday she was so happy with me; she moved all of her stuff out, and into her new cube. Which means the desk/receptionist area is officially mine now! I've been spending my down time organizing things just the way I want them, and cleaning out junk that doesn't belong here anymore. New receptionist, new rules.

I have a work email address, access to here and my personal email, which is nice, and all the free coffee and fruit I could want!

The hours are perfect. Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. Which means I have every weekend off to spend with chillas, and no trouble getting time off to spend with the BeanSprout! I might even be able to see him more often now. The pay is good too. And after I work 520 hours with the temp company, I will have a chance to be hired on as a permanent employee. And with Susan's backup (she's the gal I replaced), I'm sure to get a good recommendation to be kept on. Even the main boss's admin likes me and says I'm doing great. Suzanne told me that on my first day, she got three different emails from people, telling them how great they thought I was. Talk about an ego boost!

This is such a huge weight off my shoulders. I can't even begin to express how happy I am about this. I couldn't have asked for a better job if I tried. And the really cool thing, chillas now works about a mile away from me, so we can car pool and get together for lunch from time to time.

I am over the moon about this!

I wanted to thank everyone who helped me with my resume, and the folks who've been sending me vibes and good wishes. I know in my heart that you guys made a difference. Thank you all so much. I love my "imaginary" friends.

Cookies and margaritas for everyone, on me!!!!111!!!

*jumps around the room, squealing and doing the Snoopy dance*