06/21 My car was robbed

Nothing wakes you up in the morning like having your car robbed in the middle of the night.

After going through everything, they got: A sun-cooked GPS and cord (doesn't work), earbuds with no backing on them anymore (could see the wires), a bunch of useless keys from the center console, and *the only important thing* Shane's ACU backpack containing his $50 textbook and his notebook.

They missed: $30 I forgot to take out of the sunglass holder (for tolls yesterday), $200 in an envelope in the glovebox (Granma's been hiding money apparently), keys/transponder to mom-in-law's house which I had only JUST put in the upper sunglass holder. They tore everything out of the glovebox, pulled apart the owner's manual, pulled everything out of the center console, weird little cigarette holder thing.

We got in at 1130p, brought everything we could carry in, and must have forgot to lock it because nothing was broken. They smoked in my car while they rifled, assholes. Sheriff says two other cars in the neighborhood got the same treatment last night.

The sheriff took prints, and DNA from the trunk latch (had to pop the trunk to get Shane's backpack.) I didn't know they did that. They hope to match it to stuff they pull from the other two cars.

We did have a mini-panic attack when we realized a set of the keys they took were for the two fireboxes we have in the house (1 of two sets). Somehow we were smart enough to put one key for each firebox on each ring, so we have a key for each still. Just medical records and harddrive data backups, but such a pain in the butt when you lose the keys. Need to get copies made now.

Could have been so much worse; I'm relieved for so many reasons.

After class I canvased our neighborhood, then walked the alley behind our house on foot. I hoped they'd rifle the backpack while walking, see it didn't contain anything valuable, and dump the text and note books. Those are the things that really suck most. The backpack stinks (good-for-anything ACU backpack) but those notes are everything Shane's done in class this semester. :(

The worst part for me is that I think I heard it happening. It took me a while to fall asleep, and Temper was crying. I meowed for her but she wouldn't stop. She's been strange since we moved, stress and new sounds. I got up to bring her to bed once, but she left, and began crying again. There was a thump; Rook and I both raised our heads to listen. Another thump. Temper likes to knock stuff off counters to watch them fall. I also do not know the sounds of the neighborhood at night. I though of waking Husband, but didn't: it was probably nothing.

I think I heard them going through my car :(. Shane says, and is probably right, that if I had made him check it out he could have been hurt. Since they 'didn't get anything important' (backpack, notes, textbook, my comfort,) that it's better this way.

:(

Work work whine whine.

Of all the places to stupidly dispose of your diabetic hypodermics, the WORK TRASH CAN is not one of them. Glad I looked in before retrieving my spoon. I despise that guy more and more every day. When I got here I sat in my car, as I do, and I could hear him hollering (or really, complaing loudly) for me to come in. I finally did at 5til and he was gone 30seconds later, grumbling about sick this and smoke that. I don't smell any woodsmoke. Wanna take bets on whether he relieves me those 5mins early?

Holy crap dude, at least know the first name of the person you're coming to see. I need something! Oh! That giant bag of weed in the seat explains the stupidity. How much is it when it's say, half a cup? Maybe three quarters? Loose, not packed. His name even autopopulated his vehicle info, meaning he's been here before, and yet...

Omgoodness... the library has Laurell K Hamilton's _Hit List_ on hold for me, but I can't get it til Monday, and this weekend would be perfect to tear through it! OH THE MANATEES! I didn't expect to get it this fast, the hold line was long. They did order something like a bajillion copies though. So many books and so little time! I just picked up Jillian Anderson's _Unlimited_ and have been looking forward to that. Just started Richard Dawkin's _The God Delusion_ on audio (my 'patrol/elliptical book) and just mentioning I started it cause a comment war in my Facebook. I adore my friends: they are varied, intelligent, and speak their mind!

Oh! I got Darla to shut up!

No really. Nothing in your life has ever been as bad as Darla's. Exhausted? She's been more tired. She's worked longer hours, more shifts, while sick, hungry, broke. She's sicker than you, but tough since she never goes to the hospital, though "she really should". So frustrated and tired and gnat-bitten that you wanna cry, sissy boy? Well Darla's been there, with hang-nails on all ten toes while marching uphill in too-tight Army boots in the blazing hot sun while it hailed. You got nothing on her misery, not that any of it is self-induced, but boy will she tell you about it.

I tend to be unwilling to let people know I am completely unsympathetic to their plight, especially when I'm going to have to deal with them often. However, I'm really really tired of Darla. Tonight I made Darla shut up and go away. She opened her mouth about feeling poorly and she thinks its her bad diet (she complains she cannot afford food). I told her if she'd buy less cigarettes she could buy more food. She ignored me. Started talkin about the daughter. She said her daughter's food stamps were taken away pending a drug test that they want her to pay for. 'How's she supposed to pay for it, if she's on welfare?" I replied "Budget for it."

For everything she countered with I replied "Budget for it". No job? Boyfriend does? Budget for it. She tried a new tack with the deadbeat dad thing (baby's father isn't her current boyfriend). "She didn't have to get knocked up." "Everybody gets knocked up." "I'm not knocked up." "Yea well you're married." "So only unmarried women get knocked up?" Silence. "There's birth control, condoms, abortion. She had options. Now she needs to budget". She finished her cigarette in silence, finally said she had to get back patrol.

On a really good note: sweet elderly gentleman-friend of a lady here brought me some pizza. /lurv

Ooh the pretty colors! Chakras?

Root: under-active (-50%)
Sacral: open (12%)
Navel: under-active (-38%)
Heart: under-active (-6%)
Throat: under-active (-6%)
Third Eye: open (12%)
Crown: open (19%)

So, a thought train took me to some page telling me my Yellow Chakra may be weak. Confused I looked up chakras. I had a basic knowledge of what they were but OOH Look a quiz! Eclecticenergies.com seems to think me yellow (or navel) chakra is weak, too. Like, stupid weak. Red/root? What's that? Ok, off to learn more about these chakraaaa.

Ooh, found the descriptions http://www.eclecticenergies.com/chakras/introduction.php

According to this, I am:
Very Nervous, balanced emotionally &  sexually (maybe a tad over emotional), pretty passive & indecisive, balanced in loving, and in expressing myself, I may fantasize a tad too much, and I may over-intellectualize (what, like, overthink things?) This is presuming 0% is balanced, though it does say you should be open. I don't have any stating "over-active" though, so I'm unsure. Wait, how can I be nervous AND balanced emotionally?

Doctor! What does it MEAN??
Apparently balancing my chakras (little batteries poweries my soul) will help alleviate the problems such imbalances cause (see above, Janna's extreme nervousness). How do we do this? It appears one should use elaborate hand gestures and chanting mantras while focusing on the chakra specifically attached to the gestures and mantra. The site says you should start from the root and work your way up. Makes sense, hard to balance your indeciveness if you're anxious.

"Warning: don't use this meditation for the Crown chakra while you don't have a strong Root chakra (you need a strong foundation first)." Hmmm.

Now I do think that meditation is good for a person. I even think if you focus on a part of your body you can gather an awareness there (monks who raise their body temperatures and steam-dry sheets!) I'm not sure how much spot-cleaning you can do on a particular problem, it would have to be an all over work-in-progress. As with muscles, you can work a particular muscle group, but you cannot focus on losing fat from your butt. Maybe, a chakra is a 'muscle group', but I still get the feeling you can't work on just one. I guess it's not a huge jump from focusing on your desires and negative thoughts (to change them, of course) to focusing on your Root chakra while attempting to redirect anxiety into confidence.

Hmmmmmm.

Going to work might be less work!

Busting more buttocks today.

Spent an hour lounging in bed, reading various articles and simply enjoying the rare occurrence.

Started computer format (redoing the drives finally). Started dinner, cleaned catbox, dumped all the water out of the totes I'd set outside yesterday (not knowing it was going to downpour). Checked on fungi (see below) and had to move raspberry pot away from house: no gutters, and the edge of the pot was hammered by a stream of rain off the roof all night. Missed the sprout by inches, or it'd have broken. Placed it under the tree for now.

Put away most of the laundry (ongoing process, it's hung all over the house willy-nilly). Stripped, vacuumed, redressed mattress.

Dinner:
Balsamic honey pork tenderloin, over (Jonagold) apples. Will serve with baby carrots. Probably plain, since I'm not sure what herbs won't make the carrots participate in overwhelming the whole meal with spices.

I found two recipes online I wanted to make, Bavarian Pork Tenderloin and Honey Glazed Tenderloin. I decided to combine and alter the two.

Ingredients:
1.5lb pork tenderloin
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp Worcester sauce.
1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar (or 2tbsp b.sugar)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
1 large (red) apple.

Preheat to 450.
Slice apple about 0.5cm thick, layer in 13x9 lined with foil and sprayed lightly with oil. Cook tenderloin for 15 minutes. Combine other ingredients.
Reduce heat to 350, baste tenderloin with half of honey mixture. Cook 25minutes.
Baste with rest of mixture. Cook 20minutes or until cooked all the way through.
Recommend letting loin rest 5-10 minutes before slicing to allow the glaze to thicken. Serve with some of the glazed apple slices.

Fungi!
Some cool fungi popped up in the yard last night. I didn't notice it was fungi at first, as it looked like a small cluster of yellow, oblong, 1"long fruits, possibly fallen from the small palm frond they lay under. I meant to go peak at them, wish I had. Four to five hours later they were a cluster (about 5" by 6") of cream colored orbs, topped with tan dots at their apex, and looking as if they were fusing together. I photo'd them, quarter for scale.

The next morning (it rained all night) I checked on them: the base of their heads are flaring out, looking a little jagged as if the gills are too long. Two-to-three hours later they appear the same but are yellowing significantly, probably from the heat.

I posted it to the Project Noah.
Habitat: Sod grass, next to black garden mulch, under young palm?frond tree. Often sprinklers, no rain for over a week.

Settling the house.

Busted my butt today; so why am I so agitated?

Went to school, got my exam back, nasty, but the curve gives me an 85.

Went to get oil changed and tires rotated, and ended up with those, two recall refittings, filters changed, power steering flushed, and waiting two hours. Shane ran the other errands while I was in class (Vitamin Shoppe for his Jackd, Petco for foods, Best Buy for DSL modem). He set the modem up, though we couldn't get service through it.

I came home, he went to school. I called the bank about a declined charge, straightened that out in 30min. Called ATT about DSL. Called ATT back about the setup, spent an hour, made appointment for the tech to come out and make sure the damned retrofitted phone jack actually works. Changed the catbox. Unpacked and stowed the blanket tote. Righted the skewed vanity. Unpacked partials of boxes (bathroom, bookcase). Sorted laundry. Forgot to go get prescription.

Rook decided to go swimming without permission. Shane came out, he feels it's ok, but we have to be out with her until she learns to wait. Somehow I felt he was saying I was negligent, which he couldn't be since he's put her out alone more oft than I. I started sorting computer files for a c-drive-redo. In the middle.... I put the dishes away, as asked, while he washed and put his dinner in the oven. Later, I took it out again. I took the 35lb bag of dogfood and stowed it in the trunk (yay gas mileage!) since it doesn't fit in her food box. Went back to prep another disk.

Had to take Rook to potty, can't be alone now you see, and Shane was reading. Temper cries at the door now, since she can't see through it. It really pushes Shane's buttons; he's been commenting as to maybe having to get rid of her. I'll be devastated. Everyone's stressed.

This is going to be hard to adjust to. I think I made the wrong decision. I wish I hadn't been scared of the thug neighbor and the very dirty, unsafe feeling, neighborhood. Too late.

16hrs + headache * liter of coffee =

No really, I went to bed last night on 500mg tylenol and a glass of wine to try to zonk out with a throbbing in my forebrain. It worked, but when I woke up it was still there and angry. I forgot my belt, my chapstick, couldn't find my sunglasses, tried to fall down twice (poor balance and a cat NAMED Shmoosh), and a few minutes late. Hubby was kind, scratch, awesome enough to come from his overnight to bring me the mini coffee maker. He even braved Walmart (which he hates) to pick up cream, sugar, and a bonus prize (Choco Tacoooooo!) I am way spoiled.

1000mg Tylenol and 1.5cups of coffee later, it's still there but only throbs when blood is forced into my skull (bend over, sneeze, etc). I think I'll make it.

Had a woman call to complain that we gave her nurse a 'hard time' at the gate. Our job is to screen people, derp, but since I didn't do the giving I passed it to the other gate, whooo happens to be the Captain of the site. Cpt calls me back to give me the low-down: A nurse came to the gate with no idea where she was going. She didn't know the resident's name, address, nothing. It took Cpt a couple minutes to dig through the nurse's paperwork to find a clue where she was going, and get her in. She complained to the resident. When I relayed it to Cpt, Cpt called her, resident promptly claimed she 'never said we gave her a hard time'. Two, two people trying to cover their bums because they are unable to own up to something. I thought we were grown ups here?

Worried today: Cousin-in-law Mary told me Granma & Granpa had to be evac'd due to a fire in Nutrioso! Fb digging revealed they'd started to pack up importants. Email from Mom says they're fine, with some of their importance. Status of cabin unknown. :( Praying and worrying.

Had a guy tell me that if I got my pants fitted and hiked em up a little I might get more tips. (Blink blink). I miss my 9mm.