Yay!!!

The funky tree in our yard (once shown in one of my comic strips) is now gone!!! We contacted a tree trimming guy and he was right on the ball. He called with an estimate last night as we were driving home. I asked when they could do the job and he informed me that they had some time then to take care of it. Not only did they remove the tree down to the ground (very impressed with how low they cut it down to), then removed the debris, and even raked the little debris up. I was so impressed that I gave them a tip. The guy was a bit surprised, but I'm just of the mentality that if someone does superb work for me...you deserve a little extra recognition for that.

I also asked him for a quote on our palm trees, which quite frankly was very reasonable, but it'll have to wait until later. But the yard looks tons better now. Funny thing is the roommate was a bit peeved because he had the assumption we were gonna pay him to take it down. Not sure how he got that idea when I remember our last conversation being, "Uh, no...we're hiring a professional because the tree is too close to the house." I guess he was banking on that $$ because he hit his fuel line out in the desert and now has to pay major bucks to get it fixed.

Yesterday was a busy day personally. We go the tree taken down, I lost my ATM card (already called it in), and a fish died. I was a bit shocked only because after I paid the tree guy I walked in and started talking to hubby and the roommate. Then I passed by the tank and there was the poor fish, nose to gravel and tail to the heavens. I yelled out in my most snarky voice, "I guess no one's checked the fish tank, huh?" The guys said they had. That kind of pissed me off. Well, take out the fucking fish then!! WTH?!?!

I swear. I'm trying not to be anti-guy, but why do I always have to tell them what to do?! Okay, granted, the roommate did do the back yard last weekend without prompting, but this is like the fifth fish that I've had to point out. WTF?! Not to mention that our trash has been overflowing because out of three freakin people, not one can ever remember to take it to the curb. I wish we just had one of those trash holes that goes in the ground. Then we wouldn't have to remember to take it out, they would just empty it. I wonder how pissed that make the garbage men?

Anyhoo, hubby's yank session has been postponed. Yes, that's what I've nicknamed his fertility session. He couldn't get off....of work. Bastards! He's always telling me how slow it is there right now and they won't give him a couple of hours of unpaid leave to go yank in a cup so we can determine if we're baby-qualified. Fuck! Is this ever going to happen?

I mean it could all be him. What's if it's both of us? What if it's only one of us? Of course, I've had a few good offers if it's him. lol. Men! But how weird would that be? Would we go to a bank? Find a friend? Still how weird to realize that you're having a baby with your husband and some stranger. Or just another guy altogether.

What if it's me? What if we had to find some woman to carry our child? I hate to sound petty, but I'm sure I would have my moments of jealousy and depression with that.

Or we could adopt altogether, but my fear is that we just wouldn't have the same bond. I know...that's harsh, but it's the truth. It's my fear. What if everytime I looked at our adopted baby, I would just think of the one we never had? Of course, I would love any baby we had, but you would be surprised at all the things that go through your mind when you're dealing with these kinds of potential issues.

Then there's the other side altogether. What if we don't have any issues? What then? What if it's just as simple as stress? What then? How do you combat that? Change jobs? Get massages? Wear a heartrate montior?

*sigh*

You HAVE got to see this!

If you're like me and look through magazine articles wondering what makeup, clothes, perfume, exercise equipment to buy to look a little more like 'her', watch this:

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home_films_evolution_v2.swf

I feel like such a 50s housewife...

So Saturday I purchased a new vacuum cleaner. I deliberated over each of the models, and decided upon a fairly inexpensive one. Brought it home, put it together, and turned it on. It spit junk all over the place!!! I don't care if it IS a cheap model. It should vacuum without creating a mess.

So hubby and I took it back. I'm actually surprised they didn't question me about it because all the crap from the floor was all over the vacuum cleaner. It looked at least a few weeks old. But good ole Wal-Mart took it back without blinking an eye.

The next day hubby and I went to Best Buy and once again I headed towards the vacuum cleaner aisle, just to look. I started ranting to hubby that I didn't want to buy an expensive vacuum cleaner but I couldn't find an inexpensive one to pick up the tumbleweeds of pet fur that roll around in our house.

So hubby...bless his heart...pointed me towards the Dysons. I looked at the tag price and and then looked at him like, "Are you freakin crazy?" (For those of you who don't know, Dysons are the cream of the crop for vacuum cleaners. They range from about $400 to $600.) We talked to the sales rep and he assured us that THIS cleaner was MADE for pet hair. Guaranteed to never lose suction, over the life of the vacuum cleaner, attachments galore.

I kept on looking at hubby, then looking at the vacuum cleaner, reiterating, "I don't know...are you sure?" And hubby just kept saying, "You're gonna use it. We need it. You deserve it."

So we bought it! And Oh...My...God!!! It works amazingly!! By the time I finished vacuuming a small patch in the living room, I had about an extra acre of land in the canister. I was amazed!!

Of course hubby got his thank you. Now I have to replace our exercise ball. Don't ask...well okay go ahead and ask. I believe it's everyone's God-given right to yell from the rooftops when they had incredible sex. If I do get pregnant, it will be a hilarious story to tell the kid. "Well see, your dad got me a really good vacuum cleaner...no, you don't understand...a REALLY good vaccum."

And so the insanity starts...

I went to my, ahem, female appointment today. I decided, well hubby and I decided, to inquire about fertility tests.

She gave me some paperwork and a cup for hubby. For moi? A bunch of blood tests. I guess this is supposed to gear me up for the discomfort of being pregnant and labor because she dug around in my left arm...nothing...then she tried my wrist. Under hand. It was a little painful, but what's worse is it was coming verrryyy slllowwwllyy. I had four other vials to fill. Plus I was getting lightheaded...very...lightheaded.

So she switched to the other wrist. The blood poured out of that one and I didn't even feel the needle. WTH?!

So after all that, I have another appointment with the doctor in a few weeks to discuss results and next steps.

Hopefully when that baby comes, I'll have a very humorous story to tell:

"Oh yeah, well I was crucified just for the ability to know if I could get pregnant with you."

Cross your fingers everyone.

New Personal Favorite

I don't know if anyone will get it, but this one cracks me up everytime I look at it. I think it appropriately sums up what hubby and I experience everyday in regards to the kids situation.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, it's always some little boy too that make me react this way.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of the alarm clock. Squinting out into the darkness, I thought, "Okay, time to exercise! Come'on girl, you can do it...come'on. Move those old bones."

As you can probably guess, that never happened. It's so freakin hard for me to wake up in the morning, much less wake up, jump out of bed, and start exercising. What the hell? Whose idea was this?!?!

So of course, I slept in, woke up, made coffee, weighed myself and realized..."yep, shoulda exercised".

Damn that comfortable bed!

Hair is gettiing long

Just a pic update. My hair is getting long, and a bit frizzy at the bottom, but I tried something new today and I think it worked out well. Trying to avoid getting it cut, because no one seems to do a good job anymore. (sigh)

So busy

Thank you guys, for your words of encouragement! You're the best!!

So, I would have blogged earlier, but I've just been so busy. Been going around to a lot of appointments and while I haven't been able to post a comic a day, I've been trying to post at least every other day.

Hubby and I had our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday. Yay! We went out to go look for a new cross necklace for hubby, but oddly enough in the nation well known for being over-run with 'christians', we couldn't find a decent cross. The weirdest one we came across was at Sam's Club. It was large, gold, and gaudy (you know, just as Jesus would have worn). It had the crucified Jesus on it (which admittadly creeps me the f*** out), but in addition, he was on a cross on an anchor. All merged into one. Odd.

Anyway, afterward we went to FEZ. I had the pistachio ceaser salad and he had an American burger on ciabatta bread. It was very yummy. However...later that night...

***Warning! Female related rant. Male readers beware of 'that time of the month' talk***

My 'visitor' came a knocking early yesterday, however I was feeling fine up until about bedtime. I started to get a little crampy, but nothing major. At about 2 a.m. this morning, it hit me FULL FORCE. I think I would have preferred giving birth to the nightmare that was this a.m. Such horrendous pain. I woke up and rushed towards the ibprofen and the heating pad. To no avail, I grabbed my handy vibrator (don't laugh, it works). Still to no avail, the pain was so bad, I ended up throwing up. It was that kind of feeling were you feel like you're going to throw up, but you don't, but if you don't you won't ever get to feel better because you feel lik eyou're going to constantly throw up. So...I threw up. Right after, I felt better. I'd say about 15 minutes after that I was able to get asleep.

Poor hubby, bless his heart. He had no idea, other than I have been experiencing pain. However, this morning, he woke me up nicely, made me coffee, and was sweet as could be trying to get me into the shower. Usually he bugs me about being late, but not today. What a sweetie.

***End of female rant***

So now I'm at work. Don't want to be, but feeling better. I can't wait til this day is over. Bleh!

Huh?

I've been wanting to update, but just really wasn't sure what to say. Life has been chaotic, but nothing I can't deal with...psychotically.

I listen to my inner thoughts, and man...are they mean. But life in general has been a bit frusrating for the past few months, so I can't really blame myself.

Through out all the stress at home, I was also reflecting on why it's been so difficult and why I've been holding people at arms length. I believe part of my negative attitude towards people in general stems from the loss of some very close friends in the past few years. First it was my friend Hippo. I didn't realize, but she was a great friend to vent with. In addition to being a good listener and an empathetic friend, she was also great at discussing taboo subjects, our personal favorite topics were always sex, philosophy, and why the hell men can't (fill in the blank).

After she left, I had two good friends remaining. one lived out in the boondocks and we would have general fun. The only issue was that she wasn't very good with deep discussions. But that was okay, because I had one very close friend remaining...Sean.

Sean was someone I could discuss anything with. This is the kind of person you could relay some of your craziest notions, and he would say, "Me too!!" We spent many an hour just talking or playing Scrabble. Then he left...another state. I think I've received a total of three emails from him since he left. The last one quite a few months ago. (sigh)

So top that with some stressful events in life and you have a very stressed and lonely Onyx.

I'm managing. Like I said, I still have some good friends, but they're busy with their own lives, and I can't quite blame them if they don't want to get involved in the insanity that is my house lately. I'm not quite sure what to do with this revelation, I guess if nothing else it just validates my feelings.

Happy Birthday Hippo!!!

Howdy All!

I am exhausted. Been getting a lot done around the house...although my ceiling fans are not installed yet. You ask a man...(sigh).

Anyway, got my new bed. Put on the fresh linens. It looks better however it's in major need of some paint and some rugs. I think if I just got those two done, it would looks scads better. But I must admit I'm procrastinating. It's such a pain to move all the furniture again just to paint. Ugh!

Other than that got NO work done done this weekend. Not by choice. It seems that every single thing I tried to accomplish this weekend was Fubared by a co-worker. He drives me nuts. Freakin...fuckin..nuts.

I was able to get a comic strip done though. I felt better about that. I was finally able to work a friend into the strip. Been meaning to do it for awhile. There are others, but I'm not going to introduce everyone at once.

By the way, I picked up the lastest Pearls Before Swine collection. If you're a fan of PBS or just comics in general, this would be a good book to get. Part of what I love about the author is he'll makes comments about the strips themselves. Oddly enough, it's comforting to know he goes through pretty much the same process I do to get my strips done. Some things we have in common:

- Reworking a strip over and over and over... until we feel it's finally good. As Stephen says, this could take half and hour to several.
- Using people we know as characters in the strip. He doesn't do it as much as me, but hey, if you were in his strip you could bet money you'd meet your demise by panel three.
- He started on the web. He's had to rework a few to be acceptable in the paper.

Anyway, you can find it here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740761552/ref=nosim/unitedmedia