Just when I thought this crappy year was looking up

It proves it's crappiness yet again.

Remember back in April when I got that speeding ticket? Well, there was more that I didn't write about that happened afterwards. (Just another way for the universe to kick me in the nether regions.) And, since I was so upset all day, and have already written it all out at least twice, forgive me for cutting and pasting here what I sent to my father for comment...(Read on...)

I am having traffic court hell over here...remember I got that speeding ticket last April? I never received a notice in the mail, so called the court before the appearance date - I just wanted to pay it and get information about traffic school. Since I'd never received the notice, I wasn't able to pay the ticket, because their automated system requires you to enter the amount you owe. So, I called the police station to find out, who referred me back to the traffic division number (automated system - no help whatsoever). I finally pressed 0 for a live person, and they couldn't find the docket number in their system. I asked her what to do, as I was supposed to appear in court on the following Monday, May 22, per the citation. She said it's not in the system, they won't call you up at court, so I didn't need to appear. She also said I didn't need to appear for that type of violation, as I wasn't contesting it. Well, I still never received anything from them.

Last night there was a collection notice for $500 in my mailbox. I called the collection agency this morning and asked how I was supposed to appear in court when I didn't have a court date. She told me my court date was June 19. I told her I was never notified of this, and that I had called the court to pay, but was unable to do so, as my citation had not been logged. The court date on my citation was 5/22/06, and I had been advised not to appear at court as they had no record of my citation. The collector told me I should have kept calling. I argued this (and made myself think of Annamarie), asking if I was supposed to keep calling indefinitely, and why was I being penalized for the court's negligenge? She kept telling me that per the citation, you are supposed to call the court within 30 to 60 days. I had the citation in my hand, and nowhere does it mention 60 days. It says you need to make contact by your appearance date. On my appearance date, the ticket was not logged in. And, I still never received anything from them telling me what was due. It appears that the moron cop wrote my address down wrong off of my license (which still has no bearing on the fact that the ticket wasn't logged until after my appearance date). So again, I'm being penalized for their errors/negligence.

So, I am stopping at the courthouse on the way to work tomorrow morning to get a court date. I was told that would put a hold on the collection until it is either resolved in court or paid. I'm annoyed and it's making me feel ill. What do you think? If I go to court, do I have any chance at all? The court date probably won't be until November, per the 3rd person I spoke to this morning (representative from the collection agency). I don't care if I need to pay the initial $200 that I was never made aware of - I'm not contesting the fact that I was speeding.

They are all idiots.
Could this year possibly suck any more???

Picture Day

I'm still wicked busy at work (yes, I said wicked...I blame my friendship with Cait for that one). And I've spent the last few nights editing photos from the wedding weekend. And right now I'm wicked irritated with the Vallejo Superior Court, which is charging me $500 for a speeding ticket they wouldn't let me pay two months ago, when I tried. More on that later. No time to get into it now.

So, with that in mind...enjoy the view (from below) of my friends' wedding ceremony site. Nice redwood canopy when looking up. It was really nice.
On Friday, before going out to dinner with select family members of the bride and groom, my friend treated the moms, me and the groom's aunt to manicures. This is the 2nd professional manicure I've ever gotten. (Last one was before another friend's wedding, that she treated us to. Sense a theme?) Anyway, I decided to go with a french manicure this time. I generally liked the results (below), but didn't think they really did a great job. It was flaking by Sunday night. I've never had nail polish flake before when I've done it myself. Not even the self-french manicure I did.

Need Sleep...

I'm making this one short, since I was running around all weekend (and Friday) helping my friend with the wedding prep and then the actual wedding, which was yesterday. All in all, everything went well. But, more on that later, when I have more time.

In the meantime, I really can't wait for the new TV season to start...I watch way too much TV, I know. But, don't we all need a little escape from reality now and then? Anyway, in honor of the new season coming up, here's a little quiz - I think I've taken this one before, so...sorry if it's a repeat:

Which Desperate Housewife are you?

Congratulations! You are Bree Van De Kamp, the Martha Stewart on steroids, whose family is about to mutiny.
Take this quiz!

The Final Felting

Well, I finally finished the OneSkein project (and August is almost over! It's been a busy month.) Here is the project before:I ended up just doing a chain for the strap, using the yarn scraps I was able to salvage from my last failed strap attempt. It's okay - I have trimmed those little bits you see hanging off of it. I will not be offended if my pal hacks the strap off and replaces that part. All in all, I'm pleased with the final product - but wish that the lacy bits on the flap showed up more. It's possible (and likely) that I left this felting in the wash too long. (Did it at my mother's house, and she's got a front-loading washer. Can't open the door during the cycle.)

Here's a couple of after shots:
Flap open

Flap closed.

Now, the goal is to get this in the mail before the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Any comments? My brother looked at it and asked if that was how it was supposed to look. I gave him one of my looks, and he laughed. (I am hoping he only said it to annoy me.)

Work Rant

Ever have one of those days where it feels like the more you get done, the further behind you end up? I had one today. It was stressful and not fun at all! I am rarely as stressed out as I felt today. I was sitting at my desk, lips pursed, jaw clenched, shoulders tight and hunched, and trying not to kill anyone. Not that my current workload is anyone's fault. Everyone in my department is completely swamped, and completely overworked and stressed out.

But seriously, today I really felt like I was drowning. I really do enjoy my job, when I actually get to do it. But lately, and for the last few months, it feels like a ton of busywork (right Christyn?). Everything we (the underwriters in my department) do only results in more reports and clerical work, which keeps us from being able to continue on with our actual duties. Which reminds me right now, that I forgot to update one of the many spreadsheets that I needed to plug some info into today. Crap. There is no escape!! There's just too much work for too few people to handle. And my department seems to end up responsible for duties that really should be covered by other departments that don't pull their own weight or can't be trusted to do things correctly.

I do not like this level of stress. I feel it in my whole body, and it makes me want to cry. I was fighting back tears today at work for the first time (okay, the first time that it was due to work issues). I guess it was that at that moment, while attempting to field the numerous e-mailed requests and questions I had just received, I felt like I couldn't do it. In the 5+ years I've been there, I've never really felt that way at work before. Not to that extent anyway. I've felt like I didn't know enough yet or that it was challenging, but never that I couldn't actually do it. Weak moment on my part, I guess.

I suppose it didn't help that one of my co-workers asked if I felt okay, and said that I didn't look like I felt well. (That on top of one of my co-workers mentioning yesterday that I looked tired...) And part of it may be that PMS is evil and vengeful (reasons for vengeance unknown), and I'm afraid it may have me in it's claws right now. (And I HATE to admit that PMS might be to blame for any behavior changes, but hormones will kick your butt, given the chance.)

Anyway, I finished up one task and hightailed it out of there for a lunch break. An hour sitting outside with a good book and a nonfat chai latte can do wonders for someone! It didn't banish all of the stress, but it sure did help a lot. And when I came back to work and got back into the groove, it didn't seem quite as hopeless as it had earlier. And after talking to a couple of co-workers here and there, it sounded like a lot of us were having the same stress overload issue today. (Sad how it really does help to know you are not alone in your misery!)

Here's to hoping that I have a much more positive work experience tomorrow! Actually, I'm hoping all of my co-workers have a better day tomorrow!

Weekend Recap

I headed out to Sacramento on Saturday morning (late...Saturday morning), and made my merry way to my friend Kerri's house. She and her mother commented on how long my hair has gotten, and I proceeded to complain about my lack of a hairdresser for the past year. (As you know, I'm paranoid to try someone new!) So Kerri asked if I wanted her to make an appointment with her hairdresser. Well, all I need is a little push I guess - I let her do it. I ended up with an appointment with another woman at her salon, recommended by Kerri's hairdresser. So, off we went to the chopping block.

There ended up being a change of stylists, and the girl that came out to cut my hair was an aging rocker...major mullet action! She was very nice though, and didn't attempt to do anything drastic or weird with my hair (I never try drastic changes with a new stylist...let alone my regular one!). So, now it's layered around the face with long layers in the back.

She straightened it - and I've never seen my hair that straight! (Okay, not since I was young and it hadn't gone frizzy/wavy/curly on me yet.) It took her at least a half hour to do it, with much styling product and a flat-iron. I know that I will probably never take the time to even attempt to get it that straight myself...even if I did, it would still not be straight. And, since I've washed it, it looks a little different and closer to my head/face than I'm used to (it's been pretty wild for a while), so I'm still getting used to it.

Enough about my hair. On to shopping! Kerri got a new job at a high school and was looking for stuff to decorate her office with, so we headed over to the Wal-Mart across from the salon. Even out in the middle of nowhere, Wal-Mart is always crowded with crazies...(it's the same everywhere, isn't it?) We found some posters and little decorative things, and....Kerri thought it might be fun to make Makit&Bakit suncatchers for her window (she found a tropical keychain kit). I like crafts, so I was all for it. You know, we felt it would be like going back to our childhoods...

After Wal-Mart, it was off to the mall. Kerri needed new work clothes (any excuse to shop!) and NY&Co was having a sale...buy any pair of pants at regular price, get a second pair for $15. Well...let me tell you, Kerri and I could keep NY&Co in business by ourselves. We spent way too much money there! (Though I'm sure they were more than happy to take it!) Of course, it tends to be totally hit or miss for us in that store. Either we each find a ton of possibilities, or we walk in and nothing strikes us... We were lucky this time, or rather, they were.

Anyway, after that we hit The Cheesecake Factory for a dinner of appetizers and cheesecake. I highly recommend the Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes - they are awesome! And we ordered too many appetizers and got a piece of Banana Cream Cheesecake to go (and to split).

Back at Kerri's house, at 11:30ish pm, we were both full of appetizers and getting really tired. So what do we do? We turn on SNL and crack open the suncatcher kit with much ambition, and no tweezers. And then it all comes rushing back to Kerri...the reason she hated doing these things when she was a kid. And I'm sitting there wondering why we used to think these were so much fun...though truth be told, I would have enjoyed this more if I had been actually awake. But, I did wonder how much of these projects we left unfinished for our mothers to work on and stick in the oven.

Anyway, here's a shot of the project at the start, when we were wondering what the hell we were thinking...

A shot of them in the oven, midway through the baking process, while we were both waiting for them to finish so we could go to bed. At this stage, they are kind of funky looking, with the plastic bits not liquified yet. All bumpy but smooth. (Quite the oxymoron, I know!)


And here they are finished. After all that hassle, they'd better look good on that school office window! (Did you put them up yet Kerri?) Sorry everyone, if that was a little anti-climactic.

Sunday I headed over to my mother's house for the little lunch party she was throwing him. When I went to Target with Christyn on Friday night, I had agonized at the card racks to get him the perfect card, and also purchased a $25 gift card for him. Well, naturally, when I left on Saturday, the card and gift remained in the Target bag sitting in my living room. So, I felt kind of bad to be there empty-handed. But I can mail it to him. At least I showed up!

And finally got to meet "the girlfriend." She's actually really nice. Seemed to fit in pretty well. I felt bad for her though, since she had a splitting headache about an hour after lunch - very likely caffiene deprivation (we were talking about that too). Mom made up an ice pack for her, hoping it would help. I'm trying not to focus on the age thing, because I know it doesn't change one's personality. It's just weird to see my little bitty brother (who's not that little bitty anymore) with someone that much older than he is, even though she seems cool, and I really did like her. I know I'll get used to it eventually, and then I probably won't even think about the age thing. I also wonder if part of it is my protective older sister thing - I haven't seen Tony with a girlfriend since he was in high school. But, at least I know she's not after him for his money - you know, since he doesn't have any! I just hope he is happy, and he really does seem to be.

(He's wearing a promise ring...doesn't that seem quick? It's been maybe 3 months...)

TGIF!!

I hung out with Christyn today after work to help her shop for a baby shower gift. Well, the mom-to-be was registered at Target, so you know I couldn't walk out empty-handed. We were in there at least 2 hours...I picked up The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. I so didn't need to buy a new book, but it sounded good, and it was there....and I am weak! I should have written down the author and title and searched for it at the library...(well, obviously, that didn't happen!)

I found a couple of cute little cat toys for Gracie. (Isn't the shrimp just the cutest freakin' thing you've ever seen?) So far she has not so much as given a second glance to the other new toys, which I placed directly in her path across the kitchen to her food. She passed them 3 times without even flinching... Oh well, another time, hopefully.

But, she has been enjoying the little shrimp.

Anyway, I was out at Target so long that I didn't get home until almost 10:30. Then I brushed Gracie with the little rubber brushie thingie that picks up a ton of hair (though I still ended up with a good amount on my clothes - I could crochet a blanket with the amount of hair this cat sheds! Well, if I could spin it into some weird kind of kitty yarn...) Then I played with her for a while (yes, I did put that shrimp on her head. It didn't really seem to annoy her either. And that only encouraged me to keep doing it. Silly cat.)
Tomorrow I am heading to Sacramento to go on a shopping extravaganza with my friend Kerri. She needs to get work clothes for her new job. (Congratulations Kerri! We will shop up a storm!) Aside from the mall, we'll also be hitting Target...I will try to control myself this time... I will maybe have less control at the mall...but I can justify that with the fact that I need more clothes that fit me correctly, right? (Just say yes...)

Sunday I head over to my mother's house. She's throwing a belated birthday party for my younger brother who just turned 25. His new girlfriend will be there, so we're all meeting her for the first time. Sounds like she's nervous about meeting my mother (or all of us, I don't know...). I guess she asked my brother what she should wear. I hope she's cool. Tony (the brother) said he thinks I'll like her. I hope so!

I'm not positive, but I think my mom is a little apprehensive, because Tony's girlfriend is 40, and Tony is 25. She is afraid he will get hurt. (I pointed out to her that he could get hurt in any relationship, regardless of the girl's age). Mom seems to think there's a greater chance of her hurting Tony because of the age difference. My Dad was cool about the age difference, as he should be, since my stepmother is 17 years younger than he is!

Anyway, I am rambling, and overly tired now....so really, should be getting to bed. Hasta la vista todos.