• 15 minute posts,  Apartmentlandia,  BIG news,  place holder posts,  Shop Talk,  the dogs,  the sticks

    I survived my first week!

    first-week-at-my-new-job

    I survived my first week at my new job and loved it!  I can’t share what I’m doing because it’s probably top secret, and I signed a bunch of contracts on my first day, etc., but when I can, I will. Also, next week I’m traveling! I’m a traveling graphic designer. That hardly ever happens! I’m so excited. I know it’s fresh and new now, so it seems like a super fun fast-lane sort of life and will probably get old soon but I secretly think it won’t. The travel for this job is to the most beautiful places. I keep pinching myself I can’t believe this is my job. I can’t believe it’s real! I feel scared that something bad will happen because I don’t deserve this great job. But maybe I do deserve it. I’m going to work my butt off to prove that I do.

    cody-at-the-beach

    The sad news is that my working my butt off means long hours away from Bug and home. Bug is doing fine because she’s seventeen and has her own full life. Cody not so much. So we made the difficult decision to let my parents take care of Cody. I miss him like crazy but staying in an apartment all day alone is not a good life for a dog. It’s hard enough that he doesn’t have his buddy Whiskey anymore.

    taking-cody-to-the-sticks

    At first it was hard to leave him. My parents reported to me that after I left he was sad and curled up by the door waiting for me to come back. Thankfully that didn’t last long. A few treats here and there and lots of walks and now Cody and my dad are best buddies.

    not-the-worst-place-to-be

    I mean, it’s not the worst life out there in the sticks for a dog. My dad and I walk every morning at the same time and chat via headphones so now I get daily pictures and reports on how Cody is doing. Sometimes my dad even puts me on speaker phone and Cody will bark at me. It’s cute.

    three-cats

    But because I gave my parents a dog, they were now over their pet limit at their HOA so I got to take home a cat in exchange. I now have three cats. Kady (the one I’ve had the longest), Inky (who Bug has claimed), and now Rosy. They are all actually littermates that my mom rescued nine years ago when their feral mother left them in my mom’s front yard. They’ve been separated over the years but funny enough when we brought them back together, they got along just fine! I’m so relieved. You know I’ve had so much trouble introducing new cats in the past I’m a bit traumatized. These three cats get along great. They don’t love each other. It’s not a lick fest cuddle puddle or anything but nobody really gets upset if they get too close to each other. They all mildly tolerate each other like typical siblings. Maybe someday they’ll learn to cuddle together.

    flooded-park

    And that’s my news! It’s been raining like crazy, and the park is flooded but I’m happy in my cozy apartment and my fun new job.

  • Moody Blues,  place holder posts,  Slow Living,  the dogs

    Hello 2023

    looking-into-2023

    I wanted to say Happy New Year, but I’m in a grumpy mood. Nothing to worry about. Just working my butt off with two jobs, driving around in torrential rain all the time, and feeling the gloom of not seeing the sun for a week, or is it two weeks? I can’t even remember. It feels like forever. We Southern Californians are not made for this sort of weather. I feel like a plant that is wilting from lack of vitamin D.

    christmas-2022

    I survived Christmas. It was expectedly gloomy due to my lack of family but them’s the breaks when you decide to switch up your life as I did. Freedom comes with its costs. Bug and I opened a few gifts at home and then I actually crashed Toby and his girlfriend’s Christmas which was really sweet. It’s kinda sad when your ex and his girlfriend include you in their plans because they feel sorry for you. But I really felt welcome and enjoyed  their company.

    southwest-fiasco-matt-visits

    Then in an unexpected twist, Matt (who was down visiting his family in Palm Springs for Christmas) got stuck in Southern California because of the Southwest Airlines fiasco. His flight home to San Francisco was canceled indefinitely so I went and got him and he stayed with us for a week! It was awesome. We attended a super-spreader New Year’s party, and Bug got a chance to really get to know Matt which made me happy. I was nervous they wouldn’t get on but they did.

    codys-christmas-swim-2022

    Oh yeah, this happened too. I was taking Cody for a walk on Christmas Day (and not paying attention because I was taking pictures of the sunrise) and somehow Cody fell into the lake. Yeah, not really an accident. This dog loves to swim. He doesn’t care that I live in an apartment with a white rug and no real bathtub to bathe him in. I tried my best to wash him off in my shower, but I have a rigid shower head, and no detachable hose so the water spray just sort of hit his back end and didn’t do much. I used a cup to douse him over and over with water, but I couldn’t get the lake smell off of him. And of course, all groomers were closed, and I don’t really have the funds for grooming anyway. So he’s still dirty. Good thing I love him. That pretty much sums up my mood: dirty dog, have no funds for extras.

    Happy New Year!

    I don’t want to end this post like that though. I want to say that the lows are necessary. I’ve had some of my best epiphanies and ideas on days like these. We can’t exist on distractions and happy times alone. It’s good to have lulls so we can pause and reflect and figure out what’s working and what’s not. It’s time to sow the seeds for good times ahead.

    xo