(no subject)
So much has happened in the last 7 months I'm not certain where to start... The last month and change are the clearest, and contain the biggest news, so I guess I'll start with the events of late April....
The biggest change since the last post is the fact I am now engaged. Dave asked my father's permission just before he went to Vegas for the yearly GAMA trade show. He and Jeremy (his brother and business partner) flew up on Sunday for the show while I watched the store, and then Jer and I played tag as I flew up just after for a two day mini-vacation while Jer watched the store.
Dave popped the question in front of the Bellagio's fountains. We haven't set a date yet, but it will be late fall or early spring by the calender, as his mother lives in northern Scotland and can't take the "beastly" heat that late April brings (all of 80 degrees), Especially since the entire store is invited as well as both of our extended friendship circles, so an outdoor wedding is what the budget calls for....
Which leads to the next big event... His mother flew out to pay us and her parents a surprise visit... The same week we were in Las Vegas.... She came in Tuesday and called me from the airport to find out when Dave and I would be at her parents for lunch so she could surprise us all... the one time the entire year that Dave isn't home. I picked her up from the airport and helped her surprise her parents. She made me promise that I would get Dave to breakfast on Sunday (as we would be back far too late Saturday to go anywhere but home) and that I wouldn't tell him she was there.
So sunday comes... Dave stared at his mom a bit before he could squeak out a "what are you doing here, mom?" then a couple minutes later after many hugs, I made her nearly faint by showing her the ring.... It turns out that it was /her/ wedding ring... When after 25 years Dave's dad left her for a girl half her age, his family said she could keep the ring and she gave it to Dave.... That part of the ring's history I knew from Dave... But what he /didn't/ know was it turns out that the ring was also his great-grandmother's wedding ring on his father's side. It was over a hundred years old when Dee got it at 18 and she's now 46. It's a lost wax cast thin gold filigree band with two 2mm opals framed by two 2mm sapphires. I'm a little nervy about the opals since they dry out and crack so easily out here in the desert (Dee had to replace one of the opals after just such a thing, but to the best of her knowledge the other 3 stones are original to the ring.)
Things calmed down for a while after that, but the next big thing is Satharn and I are no longer roommates. She's living closer to the college in a place that has transportation as part of the rent, and I'm currently in the process of jumping across the complex we have been living in to a 2 bedroom from the 3 bedroom Satharn and I shared.
Apologies to most as I switch to mild rant mode: As some of the people involved with her move might actually read here I won't mention any names, but I do wish they had been a little more considerate as they destroyed one of her three bookcases in attempting to move it and left the wreckage behind for me to throw away and damaged some of my furniture as well as left the door they took down off the hinges for me to try to rehang... I don't blame Satharn, as she /couldn't/ physically do anything to correct what the boys were doing, but it was very disappointing to see how little respect they had for both my and her belongings... I don't think I would have expected that little respect from bargain basement min-wage paid movers, let alone folk that call Marina friend that I was at least socially acquainted with.
Okay... rant over...
My moving crew (consisting of several of the regulars from the shop) showed up yesterday and were AWESOME in getting all my furniture (a full living room set with two sleeper couches, a full bedroom set and 10 bookcases with all those books and comics!!!) over all in a single day with no dolly (sorry guys!!!!), up a flight of stairs, with no truck (I was moving across and half way down the parking lot). They were incredibly patient in dealing with me, especially as one of my baby cats decided he needed to add some drama to the beginning of moving day....
Keenan, my 10 year old scaredy cat, was already very skittish as more than half of his pride left with Satharn last week, including his twin brother.... I put some food down to distract him and was getting his carrier together when one of my movers showed up early and Keenan ran into the kitchen cabinets. Sigh... so much for minimum stress for the baby... So I went to go get him out of there and into his box and discovered 30 seconds after he did that here was a cat sized hole in the back of the cabinet that led to a tiny space between the cabinet and the wall... Only the hole was three feet back from the door into the cabinet at the second shelf level... And barely big enough for him to squeeze in....
Thankfully the maintenance crew for the complex didn't go on vacation like the owner did, so 45 minutes later the electrician for the complex (the only gentleman skinny enough to fit the the cabinet to rescue poor Keenan) had enlarged the hole enough to be able to scruff Keenan and pull him out of his hidey-hole. Keenan was so scared he didn't even try to scratch Rick, the poor baby (Rick had long sleeved heavy gloves on, so an attempt would not have hurt him). A moment later he was safely boxed and over to the new place, but the near heart failure from that took me a while to get over... I have thoroughly looked over the new cabinet and there is no such hole there... not that Keenan has shown any desire to climb in there since then. He sniffed the new cabinet, peaked his head inside and then moved on.
The boys, after the baby was safe, started a running joke called wall-cat which helped a great deal in calming me down.... After some speculation as to /why/ that hole existed (the current winning theory is that the previous occupants from before they kicked all the druggies out last year hid their stash there), lines like "Wall-cat is in your hidey-hole stealing your stash" and "Wall-cat is behind your drywall eating your cotton-candy" started running around.
The new apartment is starting to look really good... I still need to move the kitchen and odds and ends from the closets, but it's looking like the Hat's Games Annex (Dave is there as is our other employee Nick) is shaping up nicely... What a difference getting the keys early made! Last year I burned two of my 5 days off waiting for the keys. This year all the heavy stuff is already over and my paid leave doesn't start until tomorrow. I'll actually have time to organize the books this time rather than poor Satharn having to throw them up haphazardly while I'm at work. But it's getting late and I've got stuff to haul tomorrow, so hopefully things will calm down enough were I get to write as things happen rather than months later...
The biggest change since the last post is the fact I am now engaged. Dave asked my father's permission just before he went to Vegas for the yearly GAMA trade show. He and Jeremy (his brother and business partner) flew up on Sunday for the show while I watched the store, and then Jer and I played tag as I flew up just after for a two day mini-vacation while Jer watched the store.
Dave popped the question in front of the Bellagio's fountains. We haven't set a date yet, but it will be late fall or early spring by the calender, as his mother lives in northern Scotland and can't take the "beastly" heat that late April brings (all of 80 degrees), Especially since the entire store is invited as well as both of our extended friendship circles, so an outdoor wedding is what the budget calls for....
Which leads to the next big event... His mother flew out to pay us and her parents a surprise visit... The same week we were in Las Vegas.... She came in Tuesday and called me from the airport to find out when Dave and I would be at her parents for lunch so she could surprise us all... the one time the entire year that Dave isn't home. I picked her up from the airport and helped her surprise her parents. She made me promise that I would get Dave to breakfast on Sunday (as we would be back far too late Saturday to go anywhere but home) and that I wouldn't tell him she was there.
So sunday comes... Dave stared at his mom a bit before he could squeak out a "what are you doing here, mom?" then a couple minutes later after many hugs, I made her nearly faint by showing her the ring.... It turns out that it was /her/ wedding ring... When after 25 years Dave's dad left her for a girl half her age, his family said she could keep the ring and she gave it to Dave.... That part of the ring's history I knew from Dave... But what he /didn't/ know was it turns out that the ring was also his great-grandmother's wedding ring on his father's side. It was over a hundred years old when Dee got it at 18 and she's now 46. It's a lost wax cast thin gold filigree band with two 2mm opals framed by two 2mm sapphires. I'm a little nervy about the opals since they dry out and crack so easily out here in the desert (Dee had to replace one of the opals after just such a thing, but to the best of her knowledge the other 3 stones are original to the ring.)
Things calmed down for a while after that, but the next big thing is Satharn and I are no longer roommates. She's living closer to the college in a place that has transportation as part of the rent, and I'm currently in the process of jumping across the complex we have been living in to a 2 bedroom from the 3 bedroom Satharn and I shared.
Apologies to most as I switch to mild rant mode: As some of the people involved with her move might actually read here I won't mention any names, but I do wish they had been a little more considerate as they destroyed one of her three bookcases in attempting to move it and left the wreckage behind for me to throw away and damaged some of my furniture as well as left the door they took down off the hinges for me to try to rehang... I don't blame Satharn, as she /couldn't/ physically do anything to correct what the boys were doing, but it was very disappointing to see how little respect they had for both my and her belongings... I don't think I would have expected that little respect from bargain basement min-wage paid movers, let alone folk that call Marina friend that I was at least socially acquainted with.
Okay... rant over...
My moving crew (consisting of several of the regulars from the shop) showed up yesterday and were AWESOME in getting all my furniture (a full living room set with two sleeper couches, a full bedroom set and 10 bookcases with all those books and comics!!!) over all in a single day with no dolly (sorry guys!!!!), up a flight of stairs, with no truck (I was moving across and half way down the parking lot). They were incredibly patient in dealing with me, especially as one of my baby cats decided he needed to add some drama to the beginning of moving day....
Keenan, my 10 year old scaredy cat, was already very skittish as more than half of his pride left with Satharn last week, including his twin brother.... I put some food down to distract him and was getting his carrier together when one of my movers showed up early and Keenan ran into the kitchen cabinets. Sigh... so much for minimum stress for the baby... So I went to go get him out of there and into his box and discovered 30 seconds after he did that here was a cat sized hole in the back of the cabinet that led to a tiny space between the cabinet and the wall... Only the hole was three feet back from the door into the cabinet at the second shelf level... And barely big enough for him to squeeze in....
Thankfully the maintenance crew for the complex didn't go on vacation like the owner did, so 45 minutes later the electrician for the complex (the only gentleman skinny enough to fit the the cabinet to rescue poor Keenan) had enlarged the hole enough to be able to scruff Keenan and pull him out of his hidey-hole. Keenan was so scared he didn't even try to scratch Rick, the poor baby (Rick had long sleeved heavy gloves on, so an attempt would not have hurt him). A moment later he was safely boxed and over to the new place, but the near heart failure from that took me a while to get over... I have thoroughly looked over the new cabinet and there is no such hole there... not that Keenan has shown any desire to climb in there since then. He sniffed the new cabinet, peaked his head inside and then moved on.
The boys, after the baby was safe, started a running joke called wall-cat which helped a great deal in calming me down.... After some speculation as to /why/ that hole existed (the current winning theory is that the previous occupants from before they kicked all the druggies out last year hid their stash there), lines like "Wall-cat is in your hidey-hole stealing your stash" and "Wall-cat is behind your drywall eating your cotton-candy" started running around.
The new apartment is starting to look really good... I still need to move the kitchen and odds and ends from the closets, but it's looking like the Hat's Games Annex (Dave is there as is our other employee Nick) is shaping up nicely... What a difference getting the keys early made! Last year I burned two of my 5 days off waiting for the keys. This year all the heavy stuff is already over and my paid leave doesn't start until tomorrow. I'll actually have time to organize the books this time rather than poor Satharn having to throw them up haphazardly while I'm at work. But it's getting late and I've got stuff to haul tomorrow, so hopefully things will calm down enough were I get to write as things happen rather than months later...