Unremarkable Me

My world is the focus of all my thoughts and energies.  My world is small, with few people in my life who are truly important to me.  My world has very few branches, very few exciting adventures.  My world is truly unremarkable to everyone...but me.
There are times when I ruminate about my life, my place in the world, my effect on the greater existence and I feel terribly small.  I have a lovely relationship with my mother, but none with my biological father.  I have negative feelings about my two siblings, but I've been lucky enough to have cousins that I love and respect.  I'm not a people person, an extrovert, or a social butterfly, but I care about the ones I love, and I care deeply.
The world is so big.  And so small.  I think about all the people I've met in my life, and all the people I wish I had more time to be with.  I love my dogs but don't want kids.  I like the kids of people I know, but don't care for stranger's children.
I watched a show today about David Suzuki.  He talked about a fellow scientist that spoke about the gas argon--how we inhale it with various other gases that go into our lungs with oxygen, but it, unlike many of the other gases, argon gets exhaled right back out.  And how the air we breathe out is then breathed in by someone, or something, else.  And so the air we breathe makes us part of itself, and what we take in has been taken in by others, so we are a part of everything that takes in this gas.  And there's a high likelihood that what we breathe today was breathed by dinosaurs millions of years ago.  So we're a part of our past, and we're a part of our future, and we're a part of each other.  But we still heedlessly spew toxic chemicals into the air we breathe without thought for anything other than getting from point A to point B or how awesome our status symbols are.
I think too deeply of many things.  I wonder why humans exist.  Honestly, we're on a speck of dust in a giant space the size of the Pacific Ocean.  Earth is just another planet next to a star, like any other star, in a spiral galaxy like any other spiral galaxy...and yet, there's life here.  Humans have existed for a split second in the vast universal time.  Yet my life seems so long, and short.
Many people believe in a god, whether it be Allah or Buddah or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  After reading and learning what I have of Earth, of the smallest amoebas to the duckbill platypus to the blue whale and Himalayan Tiger, I'm boggled by the amazing variety of lifeforms we share this place with.  Mice, mongoose, mossy oak, moths and melons.  But I have an extremely hard time believing that anything other than evolution has gotten us to where we are.  Everything has a niche, it has a place where it belongs, and because of the actions of humans, many lifeforms are dwindling, or already gone.
I wish people really understood how their actions, and the butterfly effect of their actions, causes death & destruction to so many beings that are precious.  I sound like a hippy, and I know I'm rambling.
Life is precious, and short, and unbelievably miraculous.

One year ago....

I was living in a basement apartment.  My upstairs neighbors also owned the house.

I paid half their heating bills for a year because they wouldn't listen when I told them we didn't use heat, just the fireplace.  It was a major reason we decided to move out.

I had to shake out my towels before I used them because I had, more than once, encountered a hobo spider in my towel as I pulled it off the hook.

I couldn't open my refrigerator door all the way.  The short counter ended approximately 1 foot in front of the fridge.  And the fridge was jammed into the corner of the kitchen, right next to the stove.  Needless to say, whoever designed the kitchen--they were a frickin' genius!

The stove had one (of four) usable burners.  It was the large one, the only one that was flat in the front.  I tried to use the other burners a time or two, but stuff spilled out of them too easily.

The cupboards in the kitchen were set too low above the counter.  We couldn't store anything on the counter that was more than a foot tall--no wine bottles fit.  Major bummer!

I no longer have to worry about earwigs in my toothbrush.  Yes, that happened.  Of course, at 6 AM, when I brush my teeth, I'm not exactly awake.  Needless to say, the earwig wasn't discovered until after I opened my eyes--and finished brushing.  blech!

We have a couch!  A real, full-sized sofa!  At the apartment, we couldn't fit a couch in the living room, so we had a loveseat.  

We have a dining area!  The kitchen was so small in the apartment we had no room.

There's places for people to sit now--on the couch, at the table, or even on one of the bar stools. Holy cow, we can have people over!  Crazy.

I have a real guest room.  It has a real bed and TV just waiting to be used.  A year ago we had a "spare room" with a full-size bed and all of my bookshelves.

Speaking of bookshelves....I have a real library!  A beautiful, hand-built (by the Mister--what a guy) bookcase.  All my books fit, plus there's room for more.  If you're a reader like I am, you will understand my joy.

A year ago I parked in a driveway.  One we usually had to fight over with the neighbors (they now park both of their vehicles in the driveway).  Now, Nigel has his very own garage.  And it's big enough I could probably park him sideways.  Not that I would.  Unless I was really bored.  And wanted a funny picture.  I'm like that.

Leaves had to be raked.  Now, we have no grown trees.  I miss it at the same time as I treasure it.

The Mister likes to come home.  A year ago, he hated where we lived.  Now he's happy to come home and unwind.

In the past year, our new home has withstood nasty hail, became a place for Mom to heal from her surgery, witnessed grief when we said goodbye to Gunner, and is now a place of refuge after a long day at work.  As an introvert who greatly values quiet time at home, I truly love having a home of my own.

One year ago, I had no idea how much a house could mean to us.  Now I wonder how we managed to not have our own home for so long.

I Spy From My Eye In The Sky...

I forgot to post the cool pictures I got to take while we were flying back to Bozeman from Dallas in November.  So, enjoy....
I think the view from above, seeing what the land looks like from a different perspective, is so much fun, and very educational.  I geography.

Oh, and the red arrows (seen better by clicking on the picture to view the actual size) are explained at the bottom.

I hiked up to that M a couple of times!  It's harder than the picture implies.

Ah, Bridgers, how I love thee.

Foreground:  Bridgers;  Distant range:  Crazy Mountains.  My 2 favorite ranges!

See, there's still some good land here!

While taking these pictures, I noticed a ball of light on the ground following us, like someone was shining a flashlight from inside the plane.  It followed us all the way home.
Either it was aliens, or there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for it, like the sun reflecting off/through the plane or something.  Very weird in either case.

The love never ends...

Smudge is a cat.  As a cat, she proudly behaves as most cats might.  She eats (a lot), she sleeps (a lot more), and she has a love/hate relationship with Lily.  It reminds me of Garfield and Odie a little bit.  Except Smudge isn't witty, and Lily's tongue isn't hanging out much.

The other night, Smudge found a new spot on the couch--a few inches away from her usual spot.

You know how sometimes you sit on a really cushy couch that just seems to suck you in?

And the act of getting un-sucked is a lot of trouble?

Smudge seemed to find herself in that situation.

Of course, Smudge thinks that just getting up from laying on the back of the couch is too much effort.

She got herself into the space between the cushions on the couch and just laid there for awhile checking things out.

For the first 8 seconds of the video, she's just watching Lily gnaw on Amber.  Then Lily sees Smudge....

And rescues her from the couch that was eating her!

Sorry for the terrible quality of the video--I took it with my phone, and it was so dark I had to lighten it as best I could.

Home Improvements

Since we can because we OWN THE HOUSE, and since I love slate, the guys put in a backsplash in the kitchen for me.  Here are the pics of the process and the end result, which looks TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

You can click on any of the pictures to view them in a larger size.

And many, many, many thanks to the Mister and his husband for doing this!  I loooooove it!

Before

Baseboard removed.
That red was the original color of the kitchen.  blech!

Faceplates removed

Thinset applied

First row applied

First row completed

Adding accent layer

Accent layer complete

Top layer added

Ready for grout

Applying grout

Grout complete

Sealant added

Right end

Corner

All done!  Beautiful kitchen.

Fabulous.
And, it matches the kitchen and paint color perfectly!
Come on over if you want to see how fantastic it looks.  :o)

2010: A Review

The year started like any other year, I suppose.  There was a January, followed by a February.
The only difference was that at the end of this year's February, I got a bee in my bonnet and I declared to the Mister, "We should buy a house!"
We'd been apartment-living for 8 years here, since I'd been going to school for 6 of those.  But now, well, we wanted a place of our own, like real grownups and stuff.
First we wanted to find a lot of our own and build.  We found out, however, that despite housing prices dropping locally with the recession that there were still ridiculously priced lots.  And the time factor was important, too:  we wanted to get the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit.  That meant closing by April 30th.
So we contacted a realtor and she gave us a list of available places to look at--we picked 7 from a list of 43.  Then we fell in love with the second house we saw.  Ok, I fell in love with the kitchen.  Oh, the kitchen.  I like to bake, and I enjoy cooking occasionally.  The apartment we lived in had approximately 2 square feet of counter space, the refrigerator door couldn't be opened all the way because it was jammed into a corner facing said microscopic counter, and the cupboards were so low above the counter that none of my kitchen appliances could be stored there.  It was HELL for me, I tell you!
And the Mister hated the neighbors upstairs, who weren't exactly wonderful.
We started the process of buying the kitchen, I mean house, the first week of March.

A couple weeks later we visited Spokane--Mister had a work thing, and I decided to join them so I could visit my fabulous family there.  The hotel we stayed at, NorthernQuest Resort & Casino was TOTALLY AWESOME.  Best, nicest hotel we've ever been to.  I want to go there again, just to use the shower--it had THREE spouts!!  And it was all glassed in!  I know, I sound like a country bumpkin, but it was so cool!

So January wasn't anything special, February was the beginning, March was fun, and April....well, April was when we finally got our kitchen.  HOUSE.
We closed on April 15th, which will be easy enough to remember, since it's tax day.  Unfortunately, the closing process was terrible thanks to the crappy realtor, who really ruined the day for me.  But anyway....
We moved in, we bought all new furniture, Amber & Gunner finally had a back yard to call their own--kind of.  The landscaping didn't get finished until July.  But still!  They had a mud pit to call their own!
One week after we moved in, my Mom had back surgery and I managed to talk her into staying with us (rather than going back home where she'd have to deal with stairs & little help) for at least a couple weeks of recovery.  She loved the house, and was lucky enough to have Mister available within minutes, since he works a little over a mile away from home.  It was hard to see her in so much pain, but I think she healed quicker here with our help than she would've at home.

Unfortunately, Gunner didn't handle the move well.  He'd already been dealing with declining health for a few months, and the new house seemed to really confuse him.  He kept crawling under the kitchen chairs and then getting stuck--the floors are hardwood and he couldn't get any purchase under those damn chairs.  He was really restless and when anyone tried to pet him he'd try to nip their fingers because he couldn't seem to see them very well.  There were other things going on as well, so we made the difficult decision to say goodbye.  Gunner was 15 years, 2 months, and 4 days old when we gave him his last pat and kiss.  He was a good boy, our boy, and we still miss him.

The timing wasn't very good, but we'd already sent the invitations--to our housewarming party the following day.  The very first party I've ever hosted.  And in my own home!

I think there was about 20 people who came, and it was so much fun.  I was somewhat drained from the day before, but everyone understood and it was nice to have people have such a good time with us.

So May sucked.

June wasn't bad--until the very last day of the month.  A hail storm struck town at about 3:00 PM on June 30th.  Golfball-size hail hit almost every neighborhood in town.  Windows were shattered, cars were dented, and the Mister almost passed out from the delight--he finally got to have his Hail of a Sale at work.

My Nigel sustained about $10,000 in damage.  No windows were broken, but almost every other surface was dented or cracked.

He was in the shop for 6 weeks getting un-dented and re-painted.  I missed the MINIs on the Beartooth rally I helped plan while he was in the shop.  

At the beginning of July, the Mister got a bee in his bonnet and declared to me, "We need a cat!"  He's been allergic to cats since always, but he got an amazing allergy shot this year, and was able to be around cats without sneezing or itching or losing the ability to breathe, so...

Smudge the Strange moved in.  I'm still undecided about her--she's awfully goofy for a cat.

And then at the end of the month, instead of going to the rally, the Mister & I did something even more exciting:  we got Lily!

You're welcome.

The Mister insisted that Amber not be left alone, she'd grown up with Gunner, after all.  She needed a companion.  So we got her one.  I'm pretty sure that by now she wishes we could take Lily back.  Amber's face is starting to go white, and Lily is doing her damnedest to pull on Amber's ears until they're hanging down to the floor.  Poor Amber....

Lily mixes things up sometimes and runs after the cat.  She likes to chew on Smudge's head.  Smudge likes to pretend she cares and swats half-heartedly at Lily.  All in all, our furkids are entertaining.

That brings us to August.  Nothing much happened in August.

Then there was September.  September was a month for surprises.  In September, I surprised my lovely cousin in Spokane by popping over for her half-marathon.  Also in September, I got a bee in my bonnet (I know, the bees around here are a real hassle) and declared to myself, "I should surprise the Mister with a trip to Dallas for a Cowboys football game!"  And so I did.  And in October we went.  On Halloween. That post is vvv down there vvv somewhere, pretty recent.  We had lots of fun, and I finally got to meet my friend Steve.  So the trip wasn't just for the Mister, it was for me, too.  

November was boring, like August.  Lily's baby teeth started falling out and she stopped trying to chew on us all the time.  Now she just tries to chew on us some of the time.

And we got a new dishwasher.  The one that came with the house was very loud, despite being brand new.  Like I said, November was boring.

Now there's December, and it's almost over.  Mom visited last weekend for 3 days, we went home this weekend for 3 days, and this coming week Lily's getting spayed, so I'll be home with her for 3 days.  Whew!  I need a new year to catch up on sleep.

2010 has definitely been a big year for us, lots of changes.  I look forward to seeing what 2011 will bring--I'm guessing it'll start with a January again.  Oh boy!