Review: Amazon Rashguard #1

As you know, I’m currently working on a tattoo sleeve that needs sun protection. I spend a decent amount of time in the sun in the summer. I like to float around in my pool with my friends for a long time. If we go to the beach, I’m going to spend a few hours sitting in a chair with the waves washing over my feet. I tan easily. I’m also not great about reapplying my sunscreen. I make sure to get a solid coat on before I go out, but I’m not great at reapplying. Combine that with my olive skin and I get pretty tan.

However, now that I’m investing a lot of money in a full color tattoo sleeve, I gotta protect it. It’s not even finished, so I can’t risk fading half of it before the rest even gets done. So I’m ordering a bunch of rashguards to try out. I’ve got three on order to see what I like. TomboyX has two on clearance so I ordered one of theirs. It looks great online, but I’m afraid it’s just going to be too cropped. So I picked up two from Amazon to see if I’m going to want to keep it (and maybe order the other color). This review is for our first contestant:

This is the “Hanna Nikole Women’s Plus Size Rashguard 3 Pieces Athletic Bathing Suit Zipper UPF 50+ Surfing Swimwear” Size 20 in “wave pattern.”

I’m keeping it. The value is insane. It’s three pieces for $37.99 so that works out to just over $12 per piece. Around my pool, I probably won’t wear the tank under it, but for a party or the beach, I will. I also don’t find it very comfortable zipped all the way up. I do, however, like it at a 3/4 zip. The material is light and loose enough that I don’t think I’ll despise it in the hot sun. I think the style is reasonably flattering as well. Let’s break down the pieces:

THE SHORTS
The shorts aren’t great. I wouldn’t expect to get heavy use out of them, but they’re fine for a weekend trip. I don’t like that they aren’t lined and the material feels cheap. The coverage and look is good though. They are high waisted, coming up to my belly button. Size is spot on for the shorts. I wear a 18 or 20 in pants (depending on the cut. I have a narrow waist but huge thighs) and these are a good not tight fit. If I was going to be doing something active like surfing or paddle boarding, I’d want them to be tighter because, as I said, they aren’t lined. I’m going to sub these out for some lined high-quality bikini bottoms. However, I’m keeping the shorts for a backup if I need to change into a dry bottom. I’ll use them, just not much. For the price though, come on. The bikini bottoms I’m going to sub them for cost more than this entire three piece. So for the price: They’re good.

THE TANK
The tank is not for someone with big breasts. I wear a 42DDD bra. Again, I ordered this set in a 20. The tank is small. It’s workable, especially just as an underpiece. But I would not be comfortable wearing it alone. The size does not fit with the shorts and shirt at all — unless you have no chest. It’s far too small. That said, the coverage is good. No cleavage showing. I love that it has a built in wireless bra with sewn in cups. No body likes removable cups. However, I’d say this is made for someone closer to a B cup. I’d like it a lot if it was the right size. I do think I will wear it under the rashguard to the beach or when more people are visiting the pool. The rashguard doesn’t have any support or padding to hide pointy nipples, if you know what I mean.

THE RASHGUARD:
So this is what I consider myself paying for. The other two pieces were just freebies, as far as I’m concerned. The material is thin. Not see-through, but thinner than a normal swimsuit. I usually wear a 2x in shirts. Again, this is a size 20. It’s pretty loose. I could definitely size down if I wanted something more fitted. I was worried the sleeves would be too tight, as I have very fat arms. They’re good though! I don’t like how tight it feels on my neck when fully zipped. I think it’s pretty cute partially unzipped though. The thin material will require you to wear something under it for support and coverage of nipples. The full length zipper also has a little fabric fold over the bottom so you won’t be snagging it on things.

CONCLUSION:
Worth the price. But also, you get what you pay for. I’m a heavy user of swim clothes, so I do not anticipate this lasting more than a season. I plan to rotate it out with others during the season as well. The quality isn’t great, but better than I’d expect for this price. It also looks really good. Like if you need this for a weekend or a cruise or the three times you plan to swim this summer, it’ll be fine. You’ll look great.

As far as size goes, I could certainly go down a size on the shirt and shorts if I wanted a more fitted look/feel. (Well, maybe not the thigh hole in the shorts. I have huge thighs). The tank is just really out of proportion with the other two pieces. I’d need at least a size up in it, maybe two.

I’m keeping it. The price is crazy good. It looks cute. Even if I only wear the rash guard a few times, I’m going to get my moneys worth. I really like the print too.

Coming up soon we have the TomboyX rashguard which has a built in bra AND thumb holes. Yeah, thumb holes! But it doesn’t zip and it’s cropped. So depending on how short that crop is, I’m afraid it might be a no go. We also have Amazon #2. It’s partial zip and should have breast pads in it and cinched sides.

Cows and Boobs. But not Cow Boobs, those would be udders.

So the installation where I work is like a little city. A little city with a lot of land. I guess they bought up a shit ton of land for future growth. I’m sure a lot of it is sound barrier as well. They leave a lot of it forested, but there’s also a lot of pasture. They lease this pasture out to farmers for their cows to graze. The installation gets free land upkeep (and actually, a very small income); farmers get affordable grazing pasture. Win win. But here’s the thing: where are the barns?

I’ve never seen any barns. Just cows. As the installation closed early on Friday due to tornado threats, I worried about the cows. Where do the cows go? Shouldn’t they have somewhere to go to protect them from the elements? What if they get cold? We all saw Twister and the flying cows. So seriously, are these cows OK? There’s no farm infrastructure — just a bunch of cows in a pasture. Maybe the occasional guard Donkey. Do they have enough food? I’m worried about these cows just being abandoned to fend for themselves until butcher time.

I don’t have an answer. I did email the people who lease the land to the farmers to inquire though. ‘Cause inquiring minds want to know, OK? Cows aren’t wild — they’re like Buffalo, right? Do they just stay outside all the time? Where do they sleep? How do they stay safe in storms?

Also. Boobs. Not related to cows. Next subject. Now that I actually have boobs, I have big boob problems. Not that I mind at all, I find it funny. Like the fact that when I take off my bra, I find shit in there. Like peanut skins and shit. It just falls in there. And I’m fat — so like finding that chocolate has melted into your bra is not cool.

Anyway, new big boob problem: I can’t see my belt buckle. It’s only a problem with one of my belts that has a fiddly buckle, but like I can’t see it. When we did bungee fitness, I couldn’t get myself out of the harness because I couldn’t see it to undo it. My boobs were in the way. So that’s a thing. Still love them, though!

Being Responsible

Man, I hate when you have to do expensive responsible shit. Like you just dropped all this money and don’t even have anything to show for it. Especially the preventative shit. I was about to compare this to gutter cleaning (something we’re about to have done) — but at least you can SEE that they cleaned the gutters. You can see that the gutters aren’t overflowing anymore. Car shit though? You get nothing.

So after driving to Nashville this weekend, I realized I needed an oil change. I don’t know how this escaped me, but I over shot it. I usually get my oil changed when it’s reading like 20ish percent. They always tell me it’s too early, but whatever. This time it got to zero. Yeah. And the oil change light didn’t even come on. I just clicked over to check and “oh shit, it’s at zero!” Welp, now I know why my default screen wasn’t showing like it usually does. I thought the wrench was referring to the bad tire pressure sensor — nope. Must have been the oil thing.

Well, as luck — or whatever the opposite of luck would have it be, I had today off. Yay long weekend! Screw your day off, you have errands now. So I’m gonna go get my oil changed. It’s a pain in the ass because I use the dealership and not one of those fast places. I do this because the dealership price-matches, and they’ve done everything on my car. I bought it there and they do everything on it. Except when I got new tires. NTB had a better deal on the exact same tires. Dealership couldn’t price match because it wasn’t a discount — it was “buy three get one free.” So yeah, other than the tires, they’ve done everything. And they’re honest. I’ve asked them to do things to the car and been told I don’t need it. They seem decent.

I also know for a fact that some places (cough cough Walmart) purposefully cut the lamest corners to save time on an oil change. As long as you keep taking it there, you don’t notice — but take it somewhere decent and now you need a new oil pan. Why? Well to save time, Walmart doesn’t screw the oil cap into the pan. They just stick some glue on it and jam it in there. Cause god forbid it cost you like ONE MINUTE to screw it on. So yeah. The Sonic is the only new car I’ve ever had so I take care of it. It gets everything done at the dealership.

So: Oil change. Oh but wait, you’re at 57,400 miles! Coming up on 60k there. There are things to be done. Haha, fuck you. You need a transmission flush and the throttle body needs to be cleaned. Ok, how often does that need to be done? 60k for the transmission, every 30k for the throttle. Have you ever done that? I don’t know, look in your records and tell me. That’s the advantage to not doing shit anywhere else. So I’ve never done either and my maintenance book does have those in the checklist for 60k so I know they’re not lying. Fine do it.

Oh but hey! I have a coupon! At my 60k checkup, I get a free rental car! No you don’t. But I have a coupon, see. I bought the car here. We don’t have a rental car anymore. What the fuck? The rental car place shut down with covid. Can I get a discount because my coupon is worthless? Nope, I’m already giving you 10%. I work for the army now, is there a discount or that? Same 10%. Damn.

Oh and they NEVER remind me that there’s a fee for paying with credit. I don’t carry around my debit card or a checkbook. Can you just remind me when I drop the car off about the fee? PLEASE. It bites my ass every time.

So now, $640.00 later and I got nothing. I don’t even have a cute air freshener or a pair of socks or a cookie — NOTHING. Just money out the window. The car looks and drives exactly like it did before. Nothing. So lame.

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OK, let me pause to ponder the old “rich get richer while the poor get poorer” thing. We all know this is a thing. Look up Vimes’ Boot Theory or something. I am so very blessed to be able to afford preventative maintenance on my car. This was not something I could have done even 11 years ago. And as such, my car will run better and last longer. I may have just been smacked in the face with a very large bill I wasn’t expecting, but not only can I afford it — it’s preventing an even bigger massive bill when something fails on the car because I didn’t take care of it. So thank you, sweet baby Jesus, for helping me step up in the world!

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Update. I’ve given Qubie (the car) a new airfreshner scent so I feel like something changed.

Sleeve Tattoo Session #2

Friday, I had my second tattoo session on my sleeve. Poor Jack has only been a head since November. Now he has his body and his precious bowtie!

As you can see by the outline (yeah, that’s tattooed), we bit off more than we could chew. But to her credit, my artist pursued a lot longer than she wanted to to get the pumpkins done. Apparently, after 3 or 4 hours, your skin starts to turn too red and my artist doesn’t like to go longer than that. That sucks because I have to drive to Nashville and I’d happily sit for as long as she’d tattoo for. So I’m a bit disappointed that we won’t be able to work behind his head until Fall. In April, we’re going to finish up what we outlined — a few more leaves and his tail and then break for summer. She doesn’t want to do more than that so he looks like a completed piece over the summer.

It was a bit of an awkward session. There was miscommunication on what I wanted, apparently. I’m not sure how it happened as on my tattoo page that I originally sent (click here to see our communications page), I stated that I wanted a half to 3/4 length sleeve. Maybe that means different things to different people? But she wasn’t aware I wanted it to wrap around my arm and she didn’t know I wanted it past my elbow and up onto my shoulder. I think she thought I was “adding on” to my original request and she wasn’t happy about it because she wants to make one big cohesive piece and not something that just keeps getting added onto.

So I felt bad ’cause she seemed irritated. But I assumed “sleeve” meant it wrapped around? And I said between half and 3/4 so isn’t 3/4 below your elbow? I get the shoulder thing — I guess I never spelled that out, or if I did, it didn’t hit. But I love a raglan sleeve. I also don’t like how shoulder/sleeve tattoos just round off at the shoulder. I’d like it to be more like a raglan sleeve. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE when tattoos have a little peekaboo on the neck line. Like just a few swirls showing under your shirt making people wonder what’s there. I’ve seen this a few times and it’s always been part of the visual in my mind. I’m not getting tattoo greedy, but I don’t think she knew that, I guess?

We figured it out. We’re going to add pumpkin vines with some squash blossoms below the elbow. As far as the wrap around, she says just leaves will look bad. So I need to do something else inside the arm. She suggested his favorite toy, but 1 — this isn’t ALL about Jack. And 2, his favorite toy was a banana. So not on theme there. So, I don’t know what the fuck’s going to happen there. I’m almost playing with maybe it shouldn’t wrap and close inside? I don’t know. I always figured it would but I don’t like the idea of more stuff being inside the tattoo. But we played with the idea of more fall stuff — maybe more pumpkins? But how would that work? Anyway, we can do a shit ton more on the tattoo before we figure that out. We got the lower part and the shoulder part. We can do those first.

I also wasn’t aware of the 4 hour “limit” thing. I get that my skin was discoloring but like I kinda wanted to ask if we could do the tail. But she had already cursed at my tattoo three times in frustration. Combine that with the awkward misunderstanding and I was just like OK, whatever. Plus she said she had to do some drawings for the next day. So it was a frustrating appointment. I’m worried that she’s not enthused about what I want vs what she originally envisioned. Yall know how anxious I get!

All that said, we got some great shit done. Look at those pumpkins! And I love the leaf towards my back with all the different colors. Her work is stunning. There’s a lot of oranges – I really wanna get some more reds in there. There will be plenty of green as this is her current sketch of where we’re going:

NOTE: Art belongs to Devon Greig

So. I’m very anxious because the appointment didn’t go great. However, I’m in love with the tattoo. It over doubled in size and I love it! Its big and impactful and gorgeous. It’s going to show in all my short sleeve tops this summer and I’m just going to have to buy more professional tank tops. It has to happen. I never thought I could have an arm tattoo — much less such gorgeous work! I love him.

I’ve also already jumped the shark and ordered some rash guards for summer. Can’t have it fading before it’s even finished!

Thought

So most people know, that the ultimate sin in my book is cheating. Tonight, I realized, I could be friends with someone who killed somebody if it was justified. I believe in the “he needed killin'” defense. Hell, hide the body, It’s cool.

But I could not be friends with a cheater. Like what the fuck is wrong with you?

I feel like a murderer probably won’t kill anyone again, but a cheaters always gonna be a cheater. You can’t trust them.

So there’s that.

Bungee Fitness

So, my oldest sister has gone HUGE into Bungee Fitness. She’s going multiple times a week and taking like everyone in Birmingham with her. Seriously, a friend from high school mentioned trying bungee fitness on Facebook, and mentioned my sisters. So she’s been tooting the horn of how awesome it is. So I really wanted to try it out!

Our local(ish) Bungee Fitness place only does demos like once a month. And you have to do a demo first, can’t just go to a class. We weren’t able to make any demos work. So a month or two ago, I decided we should just do a private party. Only needed 5 people and it works out to $30 a person — including a free tshirt. That’s only $5 more dollars than the demo and we could make it anytime we wanted. So we scheduled it and today was the day!

It was so much fun! I’ve never had fun doing a workout before! And let me tell you: This was a fucking workout. It was actually really intense and tiring. I’m sore. I’m bruised. My tylanol has worn off so I’m hurting. I twisted my ankle a bit so I’m limping. I’m sitting here in compression hose (so the ankle won’t swell). Like that is a WORKOUT. You could 100% get built doing that. I would have never thought it — even with all the pictures I’ve seen of people doing it — but yeah. Not easy.

I will say this though: fuck that “no pain on your joints” bullshit. I’m fat and 40. My knees felt that.

But oh my god it was so much fun bouncing around! Even just spinning around. Crazy fun. I even did voluntary burpees. And I did them totally! And I did a mother fucking HANDSTAND, bitches!

I’ve never done a handstand! It was awesome! Yes, the instructor helped me get my big fat leg up there to the rope — but then I did it! I could even do handstand pushups! And spin around. Just spinning around in the handstand was super fun. I stayed like this for a long time. I mean there was the fun factor — but also this was relieving the pain of how much that damn harness was digging into the pantylines in the middle of my legs. Felt like my panties were 2 sizes too small. And when I came down in the pushup, my head totally left a little sweat spot cause I was sweating like a fool. Should have worn a sweatband (I usually do when I workout — it’s very unfashionable). But yeah, I hung out like that for so long that the instructor kept asking if I was OK and needed help getting out of it. Nope, just giving my crotch a break!

Also, the harness is padded around it. But not enough for my 44 inch waist! So I had no padding over my stomach. So it’s bruised! Ha! K suffered the same fate. Like I need a paddle bard shoved down my shirt or something. Need padding. The skinny people got padding all the way around!

So these harnesses hook in two ways. First we did stuff with it hooked in the front. This was a lot of fun. Then we did stuff with it hooked in the back. This hurt. One, lack of padding over my stomach. Two, I’m heavy. 256lbs, thank you (I know, I’ve lost like 15lbs since me and K started at the gym!). So a lot of weight on that not padded strap. Also, I have no abs. I’m still trying to get my abs back from the surgery (you know, where they peeled back my stomach skin and stitched my abs together with kitchen twine). It’s slow going too. If I overdo it — I’m in pain for a week. So I have to carefully count how many reps of ab moves I do. Cause you don’t know you over did it until the next day, and then, you’re fucked. So if I had a decent set of abs, I think it wouldn’t have been as painful on my stomach. That’s where I’m bruised — across the stomach.

That said, I’m totally gonna do this again! A is actually signing up for a month at two classes a week. I wanted to sign up for one class a week, but I’d still have to pay the full price. Fuck that. If I do this twice a week, I won’t ever wanna work out with K and I’d rather do that. But I’m seeing at least two more private parties in my future this summer. Totally worth the cost 100%

Other Things from the day:

1) I wore my “What the Fucculent” Tshirt. I then went to the grocery store. It seems that people have to say it out loud to get it. The girl and the pharmacy LOVED it. She even called the other people over to see it. Then we discussed funny shirts for a good while. Cashier when I checked out started to mouth it and got offended. She was not humored. V liked it though!

2) Holy shit, I am so glad I did the tummy tuck and boobs. Before, I would have looked at these pictures and not been able to enjoy them. But now even when I see my self working out in the mirrors at the gym, I’m like “nice boobs.” Do I have a flat stomach? No. But damn, it has completely changed my shape. It used to go flat and then up. Now it’s a big hump and then flat. My thighs are massive, but that’s OK. I actually think I look good! Like I see pictures and I LIKE them. Even though I want to lose more weight, I’m still happy with the way I look. It’s so amazing because I’ve NEVER had that in my life. Tummy Tuck and Boobs — 100% worth it! Still skeptical about the arms. But tummy and boobs, all the way.

Twitch Twitch

So you’re telling me that reading reddit on my phone for 9 hours a day for the past 4 weeks and freaking out about everything is bad for me?

I’m stressed. I’ve also still not got anything to do at my job. Not for lack of trying. So until I get access to the damn training system, I’m stuck. So I just play with my phone all day and monitor my emails hoping someone has a meeting I can attend. It’s causing eye strain. ‘Cause my phone is tiny.

And I’m already freaking out about our summer plans. Well, really my sisters. I’ve recently concluded that not only do I not actually like my sisters, but I hate who I become when I’m around them. Even Mr C says I get way more snippy around them. He understands — but the point is, it happens.

One sister was abusive as fuck growing up. I mean take your pick. She used to weigh me every day and I remember when I hit 100lbs and she ran to “tattle” on me to mom. And she was bulimic — but for some reason she threw up in 5 gallon buckets in her closet. Who had to help empty those buckets with mom? Yep. It was so gross and smelly. Ugh. And she’d wake me up hitting me and yelling. I liked to sleep with QVC on and I was allowed to. I’d turn it down to the lowest setting but she’d randomly come in my room and wake me up by hitting me and screaming at me because my TV was bothering her (no, our rooms weren’t even next to each other). So yeah, I’m a really fucking light sleeper now. Ask Mr C. And I still have nightmares about her. I’M FORTY. You have nightmares about Lovecraftian creatures? I have nightmares about my sister.

Then there was Smokey. My moms birthday present — a black mutt dog. That dog loved my ass. And he hated my sister for beating me He’d try to defend me. The only thing on the planet that actually gave two shits about me at the time (Mom had 4 jobs, give her a break). I’d sleep with mom a lot and Smokey would always sleep with me. And my sister has always had this weird thing about bugging mom (Seriously. In Florida, she cant go through the living room door to get to the balcony to smoke, she has to go into the master bedroom where mom is to go through THAT door. Same with the house on Golf Road. Couldn’t go outside through the kitchen — had to go through the door in moms bedroom. And when we were little — use the bathroom literally right next to her room? Nope — gotta go use the one in moms room on the other side of the house). So she’d come in moms room at night. And fuck if Smokey was gonna let her near me and mom if he had anything to say about. Even in the middle of the night. He was pretty awesome.

She started abusing Smokey too. After school, when mom was at her second job, she’d trap him in a blanket and throw him in a closet until right before mom got home. So I mean, Smokey hated her. It was a problem cause Smokey would draw blood. So one day I got home and no Smokey. I asked what happened to him and Dad joked about how he finally tied him up and drug him out in the woods behind the house and shot him.

Yeah, fun memories. Mom swears she gave him away. I never will really know though, will I? She was never able to present Smokey to me or let me visit him. Even when I begged for my wedding present to just let me see Smokey again. But she never changed her story. Anyway, that’s why people think I hate dogs. I won’t have one. Smokey was my dog. And I couldn’t protect him. And even if they did give him away, he didn’t know I had nothing to do with it. He lost his person. He was betrayed, might as well have been me. I hated having her over with Jack. I warned Mr C and mom that I didn’t want her near Jack. Ugh.

Then there was the time she wanted to kill me. I forget the reason, but I ran to my others sisters room to hide and locked the door. She tried to break the door down with a hammer. She beat a hole straight through the door before she gave up. It was like the fucking SHINING.

Then she just became a raging alcoholic. She’d get blackout drunk and pass out and piss herself where ever. Who had to get her into bed and clean it up? Oh that’s me. Unless she passed out on the lawn where at least there was not vomit or pee but “the neighbors might see.” (Like I said, Mom wasn’t perfect. We were best friends when mom died, but there were a lot of years where we were not close after I finally moved away). I was super into Christianity back then – total bubble Christian in high school. I didn’t even curse! And she’d get really blasted drunk and beg me to read the Bible to her. I’d refuse and she taunt me. I’m pretty sure girl has demons. Like I’m serious, yall. I may not be a bubble Christian anymore, but I’m still a Christian. Might as well have been a devil taunting me.

She also used threats of suicide and self harm as emotional abuse against us. She still self harms. Wears it proudly on her arm for all of us to see. Oddly enough she’s carved a cross into her arm. See the difference is, when I self harmed I hid it. Because I’m not an attention seeker — I was just really fucked up. So when I’d rip open my own skin, no one ever saw it. Cause I have standards. Pretty sure she’s still a raging alcoholic too. Last time I was at my sisters house (she lives with my other sister. Short story is Sister never left the nest — mom moved in the sister so other sister did too) So yeah, I sit down in moms bedroom chair thinking of mom. I look into her basket of books to see what she was reading… oh a giant bottle of alcohol. Don’t think that was moms… We used to do alcohol raids but it never did any good. Other sister says she’s letting the drinking slide because she’s afraid she’ll kill herself (They’re both in black holes since mom died).

She also drove drunk all the time which led to lots of accidents. Once she ran into a parked car and got arrested. She was sentenced to live in a halfway house. It was nice while she was gone. She was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Behavioral Disorder. She came back though. Nothing ever changed.

It’s funny. This week a deep seated fear I haven’t had in over a decade resurfaced. I used to breakdown crying to mom that what if I was like her and didn’t know it? She doesn’t know she’s like she is! What if I’m like that? Ruining peoples lives and I don’t know it? What if I’m bat shit crazy and evil too? Really crazy people don’t KNOW they’re crazy, yall! I confessed this to my husband and said I turn into a different person around my sisters. I hate who I become. He admitted I do become really snippy when I’m around them — but he understands. Wait. I already said that.

Any way, other sister used to be cool. Growing up she was cool and loving. She was away at college and worked at TCBY and when she’d come home, she’d bring me a whole cup of the toppings like reeses pieces and shit. I think she’d send me cards sometimes too.

But the past few years she’s been insufferable. She’s ripped me off financially. She’s a bitch. And she absolutely ruined my Christmas. Killed it. I know she has an autoimmune disorder that causes her sever constant pain and fatigue. And she feels like she got stuck with other sister (even though she’s done nothing to kick her out). So she’s bitter as fuck. And it ain’t pleasant to be around.

Anyway it’s Florida year. I still like going to the beach. And I love my brother and his family and want to spend time with my nephews and keep moms favorite thing alive. Our yearly trips to Florida. But damn, I don’t think I wanna stay in the timeshare with my sisters this year. So I’m like should me and Mr C get our own place? Go in with my bro wherever they stay? It’s too early for my bro to commit if he’s going. But like I don’t wanna wait too late and not have anywhere to stay booked. So yeah, that’s brought all this shit up.

Whatever. It’s past my bedtime. I still gotta lay out medicine for the week! And get my twitchy eyed ass to bed! Lack of sleep is on the twitchy eye causes too! And see, that’s another difference between me and sister — I have a psychiatrist and take my medication and try to not let my personal crazy destroy everyone else’s lives.

Also I’m married. And we’re like in a healthy relationship. Surely husband would have left me by now if I was like her?

I need a valium. Don’t worry, I take 3 a day.

Oh and I want to look for a cat but it stresses me out SO MUCH. Friends, please find me a very needy cat that just wants cuddles and constant attention. I was thinking maybe contact fosters and see if any of them have a needy as fuck cat? Like I need fuzzy snuggles.

Update Time!

I’m writing this from work.  Unfortunately, I don’t really have anything to do yet.  A lot of time spent on my phone.  I had to up our plan to unlimited data.  I finally got a computer, but I do not have access to the training sites yet.  I’ve tried to go and get access myself to the point where my boss told me to stand down and be patient and that I was emailing the wrong people.  That made me feel a bit bad, but at least I was trying to be proactive.  With her permission, I tried again today and got shut down again by the same people she’s been dealing with.  Ah government speed. 

Soon I’ll even have a cellphone so the can get in touch with me whenever they want!  YAY!  Well, I’ve managed to avoid a work phone this long.  It was bound to happen eventually.  Tis the cost of my job.  I plan to charge it downstairs in the kitchen so I don’t find myself checking email at odd hours.  The bigger concern with the cellphone is… how to carry two cell phones? 

Women’s pants pockets are already a joke and now I have TWO?  I got out of carrying a purse and wallet by getting a sweet phone case that holds my license and credit card.  So for well over a year, I’ve only had to take my phone places.  Now I don’t know.  Do I go back to carrying an annoying purse everywhere?  I honestly haven’t figured this out yet.  Suggestions welcome.

I’m still glad I went government even if I don’t have anything to do yet.  The people I will be working with seem lovely.  The benefits seem to be awesome.  (Though my thyroid pills just became crazy expensive for freaking generic thyroid medication.)  I’m on site everyday even though I have NOTHING to do.  Maybe that’s a reason for being on site.  Like we’re paying you – at least be here.  So OK, that’s fair. 

One of my engineering certifications expires next month.  I got permission to work on the renewal at work.  Which is awesome, because it’s going to be at least 10 hours.  However, my boss recommended I wait until I can access the training system.  Her reason is that if I pay for it, they will not reimburse me.  But if I request it through the system, they might pay for it themselves.  That’s a couple of hundred dollars so worth waiting to see.  It will also count towards my continuing education in the system if I wait. 

On another note, everyone keeps trying to give me cats.  Stop it.  They’re not trying to do it FOR me, they’re just trying to get rid of cats.  Even my sister asked me to adopt her two cats.  Yesterday a coworker tried to get me to take his cat since my friend that he’s marrying doesn’t like cats.  There have also been at least two other earnest people begging me to take their cats.

I get it.  I’m a great cat owner and I am lacking a cat.  I admit that I am a cat lady.  I will get another cat, I assure you.  However, I do not want just any cat.  I don’t want a cute corner decoration.  I want a snuggly cat.  I am a needy person who wants a very needy cat.  Jack was my fuzzy soulmate.  He never let me leave his sight.  I want a cat that likes attention.  I want to play with the cat and love on the cat and cuddle it all night.  I figure my best bet is to reach out to foster organizations to see if anyone has a cat like that needing a home.  A lot of people wouldn’t want a needy cat.  But I’m also just not sure I’m ready.  Not having the chores is nice – but also, I just miss Jack so much.  I haven’t got to where I want “a cat” – I want Jack.  Just Jack.  I want my Jack back.  And no cat can come close to competing with him.

Oh and next week we’re gonna work on my tattoo sleeve some more!  He’s getting a body and his bowtie next Friday!