Leave the drama for your momma

Last I mentioned about the house was that the inspection was coming up, so let's just fast forward and say it passed. It actually passed with pretty flying colors which is a major plus. The problem now is that moving day has come up super fast and we will be fully in the house tomorrow afternoon. Am I ready? Of course not. Packing is kicking my butt and all the stress that goes along with it.

A lot of the things I have in my apartment are from my great grandmother's house. She passed away a few years ago and to this day it's still hard. She was like a 2nd mother to me, and I lived with her until she died. So when I moved out I took a lot of stuff with me because I had such an emotional attachment to everything. Things that I didn't even particularly love, things that I found to be ugly, whatever. They all stayed with me because I couldn't part with them. But I am determined to get rid of a good chunk of them...the Goodwill will appreciate them and they'll go to a good home. At least that's what I thought when I started. Last night after every glass I wrapped up I found myself sobbing. Grief hits you in the strangest of ways, no matter how long it's been since you lost someone.

It doesn't help either that I've been under significant stress. Moving stresses me enough, but my family is bringing the drama as well. It's all well intentioned, but my mother & grandmother are freaking out because M and I are moving in together and I don't have a ring on my finger. I know it's old fashioned and I know they are just being momma bears protecting their most precious cub of the family...but it's driving me crazy. I know he has plans and engagement will happen when we're ready for it but in the meantime I don't appreciate feeling like I'm openly defying their wishes. I swear, best intentions drama is the worst kind.

But you know what almost makes this all worth while? This pantry.
I'm so excited to organize this thing, OCD tendencies FTW!

I can't remember the last time I rallied like this...

I've been planning this Party Lite show for about two weeks. My mom sells the stuff and I love it dearly, best quality candle I've ever come across...but on Friday I woke up feeling like absolute crap. I mean, the only reason I made it into work was because we were having our holiday party at a restaurant and I was the holder of all the gift cards. So I sucked it up, I felt miserable but made it through the day...and even most of the night. But by 7pm I thought I was gonna die.

What makes this so hard is that I'm a total hypochondriac. If I have a cold I'll convince myself that death is imminant. And that's for an ailment that I've had before, add in something I've never felt and Dr. Google is my new BFF. That is, a new BFF who is an asshole who loves to freak me out and tell me I have some serious cancer going on. I was also reminded of this fact when I started having a constant pain in my right ovary area. I went through all kinds of diagonosis...appendicitis, ovarian cancer, lupus, death, bowel obstruction...the list went on. And you know what? Dr. Google stepped up and cheered saying "oh yeah? I can find something worse that you'll die of!" What a butthead.
But the simplest idea here is to call my doctor, and that's what I'm going to do on Monday. I can deal with the head cold, the fever and even the stomach ache. These are all well known symptoms to me over the years. Add in the ovary of doom and my life will implode on itself.

The real point of this story though is how I rallied. After waking up this morning and still feeling like crap I wanted to cancel my Party Lite show. Ok, I didn't *want* to, but I had completely hit the level of if this was a work day I would have called out in a heartbeat. But being something I enjoy...and having people over to my house I had to make it work. And you know what? I think that made the difference because after enjoying the company of others I felt a little better. Or it could have been the Benadryl I took.

The moral of this story is this:

Dr. Google is mean.
&
My heart belongs in socializing, makes me feel better even when my insides are running a muck.
or
If you need some candles hit me up, they ship all over.

Do You Have Road Rage?

I don’t know about you, but I have a serious case of road rage. Nothing insane, I don’t follow people home, get out of the car or anything, but from the very first time I drove by myself the profanities have spewed from my mouth in record numbers. I jokingly blame this on my mother who has the same habit (she’s now trying to do better due to my little brother being in the car), but I had no clue I had this problem until I drove solo.

I think this is mostly due to the fact that most people cannot drive to save their lives. Or I should say, each of them has their own set of rules they follow and they don’t always match with everyone else’s set. So I provide to you below my own…

Information Not Always Found in the Normal Drivers Manual

Putting your turn signal on does not entitle you to a spot in the lane next to you.
Just because you did not prepare properly by getting into the appropriate lane it does not mean I have to let you in.

If you realize you’re about to miss your exit, it does not mean that you should do a hard turn of the wheel to make said exit.
I know it’s a crazy idea, but the next exit is perfectly acceptable to get off of and to turn around.

It is never acceptable to go less than 60 mph in the left lane.
This is the passing lane or the “I’m going faster than everyone else” lane.

For those of us lucky enough to have a designated time for a carpool lane (5am-7pm), if you are using this lane outside of these hours this is NOW THE LEFT LANE.
See previous explanation.

If I decide to pass you, the appropriate response is NOT to speed up when I attempt to pass you.
This makes you an asshole and you deserve coal in your stocking.

If you see a cop who has pulled someone over, you do NOT need to slam on your breaks.
Unless you’re going waaaay over the speed limit the cop is far too busy with the guy they just pulled over. Letting your foot off the gas slightly is good enough.

Similarly, if you pass a cop waiting to pull people over, hitting your breaks is a red flag that you have been speeding.
Seriously, it’s OBVIOUS you’ve been speeding.

Checking the lanes next to you before you merge is a good idea.
Some of us have small cars and are sometimes hard to see (despite being bright red). I don’t want you to drive over me.

The horn on your car is really only there to let other people know the light has turned green.
Do you have road rage? That’s why you yell – you feel better and no one outside of the car can hear you.

What would you add to this list? Or do you think mine are crazy?

"Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet"

Although the whole point of a blog is to post, I'll admit that the fact this blog had 23 posts before this one had me not wanting to post ever again. Crazy? Probably. But 23 is one of my favorite numbers (the only one beating it out is 9 for reasons that will make you think I actually AM crazy) and I was a little superstitious.

But let's just go with it, shall we? Thanks to all of you who commented on the office supplies post, I had no clue that there were so many of you who feel the same way about them. :-) I think we all need crocodile staple removers in our possession.

Last weekend wasn't nearly as exciting as some of yours out there. I mostly did laundry and made to-do lists for packing...throwing in a little Mother's Day celebration at my mom's place. BTW - she is awesome, even though she stresses out like crazy (hmm, that might be where I get it from!) but she puts on a great spread. We had a brunch fit for champions - strada, homemade hashbrowns, blueberry muffins (from scratch), bacon, sausage, fruit x3, mimosas etc. I ate entirely too much and suffered for it the rest of the night.


But here I am today at work, finishing up the last of everything I can before I head to vacation in Puerto Vallerta! I'm stressed out over the packing and the excitement of it all. Anyone else do that? The first time I was to see Phantom of the Opera I made myself so sick from the stress I couldn't go. My mom didn't tell me we were heading to Disneyland until the night before for that very reason. But here I am trying to pack early so I don't freak out and it's having the opposite effect on me.

I'm still surprised work is letting me go on said trip. I've only been with them about 2 months but they're letting it happen since I mentioned it when I was interviewing. We've had this vacation on the books for about 9 months and I'm going to make it the best ever. A week with sunshine, great friends, a wedding and all kinds of food & drink. I don't think it could be better than that. Well, unless I stopped stressing out. But I have my books for the trip/plane ride (Jen Lancaster's "Pretty In Plaid" and Dooce's "It Sucked and Then I Cried") and an awesome boyfriend to calm me down.

I doubt I'll be posting in the meantime so everyone have a fantastic week!