1) Two days ago, I decided to start working out again. My legs are jellofied again. I am not approved to work out chest yet, but I can work out my lower body. So I did 3 minutes (about 50) squats and 4 minutes of knee tucks on the floor. My legs have not forgiven me yet. They be hurting. Sitting down, getting up. They be hurting. My ass hurts too.
2) Boobie Party is next weekend! It snuck on up on me. Do I have to get rid of all the weeds around the pool now? Ugh. I’m not sure if I’m gonna do it after work one evening or just say fuck it.
3) I finally bought some clothes that fit my new boobs! I got a shirt from Lane Bryant that’s their “Fit and Flare” — holy shit. It looks so good, I ordered two more (different styles, same cut). I also got a dress I can wear braless. Never could have worn that before! Now if Torrid would just ship those capris I ordered last week…
My sister posted a video on Facebook of these little guys bobbing around her pool. She has eight – her own little flock. I immediately wanted some for my own pool so she told me she got them on Amazon. I looked them up and saw that they’re lights too! I couldn’t hit the “buy now” button fast enough!
First of all, they’re adorable. Their blank stare just seems to follow you. They bob around like they’re dancing together. Any breeze sees them turn their heads and race in a new direction. Sometimes they seem to follow you around the pool. And then when it’s too dark to swim, they light up and the fun continues.
They take on an anthropomorphic personality. We had a party and they were a huge hit. Everyone loved them. We found ourselves wondering who they liked the best. Which one is the fastest? And is the loner always the same flamingo or does it change? My friends even added accessories to them so we could see if the loner was always the same flamingo – maybe that one’s heavier or defective. The one we put the sunglasses on was the ladies man. The one with the dress ribbon around its neck seemed to be the most solitary. By the end of the party it was decided that they must all have names and the girls needed eyelashes.
This isn’t exclusive to us. My sisters want to give theirs identifiers so they can bet on which one will win the race across the pool. These little guys just take on personalities.
My first idea was different colored ribbons making bowties around their necks. However, it occurred to me that I have a box full of leis for parties so I got those out. I made mini leis for the guys and used some of the extra petals to make flower corsages for the girls. And yes, they got eyelashes thanks to a sharpie.
They’re freaking adorable. You absolutely need a flock of your own for your own pool. I cant walk past a window without checking on them day or night.
Our air conditioner was down most of this past week. It was 86 degrees (fahrenheit) upstairs. Eighty-six degrees, yall. It was crazy hot in here. It started Friday.
Friday, our neighbor texted me that our air conditioner was freaky loud. Well, what am I supposed to do about that? I agree, it’s louder than normal but I don’t know what to do about it. So I ignore it. Then Saturday, we realize both the upstairs and the downstairs are about 5 degrees warmer than they should be. Well, fuck. So I haul my fat ass up into the ceiling to check on the attic unit. Do we know the weight restrictions on those flimsy pull down stairs? No, we do not. Do we like heights? No, we do not. Do we have any desire to ascend into the insanely hot upper reaches of the house? No, we do not. Will Mr C go up there instead? No, he will not. Mr C is not remotely handy.
So into the attic we climb. The unit is frozen. Fuck. So we shut both floors off completely. We spent that first night in the Master. After that, I moved to moms room with the windows open and a box fan set in the window blowing on the bed. At least we’re not so far into summer that the nights are hot too. From then on, we just lived with all the back and side windows open. We don’t have window screens on the front of the house, so we couldn’t open those (according the Mr C). That sucks because the Master and Mr C’s office are on the front of the house. On night two, Mr C joined me in the cooler room.
So the weekend of AC breakdown was a holiday weekend. I called our home builder and asked for a repair man referral. He sent me the info of the guy who installed our system. I called him up on Sunday. He lives about an hour and 20 minutes away. He says he’d be happy to come out and look, but he’d have to charge his holiday rate of $175 an hour as opposed to the normal $150 an hour. He’d also have to start charging when he leaves his shop and stop when he gets back. So he encourages us to find someone more local to save money. Nice guy.
So I find a referral for a handy man on Next Door. He can come look at it on Monday for a $100. Great. He ghosts us. I message him and call him and get nothing. Then, at Six in the evening I get a message that he can come look. Hell, I’m desperate so, awesome. Come on. He climbs into the attic and the unit is still frozen as fuck. It’s a damn iceberg in hell. He can’t do anything until it thaws out so he says he’ll come back Wednesday. He’s a handy man so I had him put the screen back on the bird window (another source of cool evening air!) and fix a door in the entry way. So it wasn’t for nothing.
Wednesday rolls around and he returns. Thankfully, the units have thawed. He goes to the outside unit and puts in a pound of freon. Then he starts it back up. It still sounds like shit but it’s blowing cool air. He informs us that we need a new compressor. It’s not supposed to sound like that. He chats for a while. Compressors are expensive as fuck. They’re the most expensive part of the unit. He informs us it might be cheaper to get a whole new unit. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. He recommends running they system because “there’s not much more damage we can do.” He says he’ll just take $350 instead of the quoted $500 since he didn’t fix it completely. That’s nice of him.
Well, I tell him to get us prices and Mr C and I decide we need a second opinion. If we’re gonna drop thousands of dollars on this repair, we can afford to have the installer come out and give it a look over.
So the next day I grab the warranty papers. Oh great it has a five year warranty! But it’s six god damned years old. God dammit. So I call our insurance agent to see if any of this is covered. Nope, we didn’t buy an extended home warranty. Fuck. So I call the original installer back and he’s happy to come out. In fact, he’s working two jobs on this side of town that morning (by now it’s Thursday) so he wants to stop by ASAP. But I’m back at work full time and Mr C is working in the office because it’s hot as balls at our place. So I explain to my new boss (I started the new job last week) that my AC is broken and it’s 90 degrees. I need to meet the repair guy at home. After he gets done, I’ll be sweaty as fuck so can I pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssse work the afternoon from home? They let me do that. AWESOME.
OK so first, give me a break here, I don’t know much about HVAC systems. So I explain the situation to the installer. He says none of what I’m saying makes any kind of sense. He thinks the guy was talking about the coils and not the compressor. But I’m sure he was talking about the compressor, I have Mr C to back me up on that. We researched prices. He asks which units are freezing up. I tell him the attic and the outside. He says which unit in the attic. I say there’s only one. He insists there’s two because we have two systems. The attic aint that big, so I know there’s only one. Everyone — us, the builder, and the installer — realize we need the installer to come see what the fuck is up.
So the installer comes out. He looks things over. I need to know things. First, I wanna know why the downstairs and the attic unit are connected on the same system. He explains that they are the same system. I’m lost, we have a downstairs system and an upstairs system. He says yes. The owner on the phone thought we had two SPLIT systems, hence two units downstairs and two in the attic. We actually have one split system and one all-in-one unit. The unit the handyman said was the downstairs system is just the hot air condenser for the upstairs unit in the attic. One system. Ok, that makes a lot of sense now on why they’re both frozen. But you said we have TWO systems. Where’s the other? It’s that giant ass other box outside. I had just assumed that was the heater. He informs me that both systems are heat and cooling combined. The one upstairs is a split system. That’s the unit the guy put freon in. Then there’s a whole other system over here in this box that is the downstairs. Handy man never did ANYTHING to that box/system. He just ignored it.
Handyman didn’t know Jack shit and took my $450 bucks! God dammit! Most expensive door fix ever.
So Installer has nifty looking gauges and tools and starts to work. First, Mr C and I have always been terrible about replacing our air filters. Which is doubly bad because I buy the good ones that filter more shit out. Thats great, but means they should be changed even more often. We don’t do that. I fess this up to the installer so he has the full picture. Also, our coils have never been cleaned. So they were filthy. We didn’t know that AC units needed to be cleaned so OK. Now we know. Apparently people usually do it every spring. They have the guy come out and check the freon and clean the coils. He said they say every year but we could get away with every two. Awesome, now we know. So dirty filters and dirty coils. Thats it? Well no, both systems need another pound of freon each.
Fucking handyman didn’t even put in enough freon. FUCKER.
Ok, so filters, coils, freon… The fans busted. Thats why it’s so loud. We need a new fan and motor. He needs to get the parts but that will take a few hours. So he tops off the downstairs unit and it’s running great. Sweet! I can work downstairs in the AC!
So he leaves for lunch and returns a few hours later with parts for the other system. Which I now know is a two part system. He informs us the motor had some busted ball bearings. Not a good reason why — we’re just lucky like that. Handy man had found some “goop” in the fan and thought that might have been why. I show him the goop and ask about that. He says no, that’s just the material that was covering part of the compressor and it’s pretty common to see that fall off. Fucking handy man making me look like a giant dumbass. We’re just unlucky on a bad part that’s out of warranty. Nice.
So we had filthy filters that hadn’t been changed for a lot of months, filthy coils that hadn’t been cleaned in 6 years, low freon, and a busted fan. No wonder both systems went down. But they’re fixed now and we’ve learned some lessons:
Change your air filters on time.
Yearly or every other year, you should have the AC people come clean your unit and top off the freon.
Always use the people the builder refers me to. Even if those people tell you you should find someone more local. Always trust the builder. Builder is good people and only works with good people.
If someone is honest enough to tell you that they’re too expensive and you could find someone cheaper — HIRE THE HONEST PERSON. Good people are hard to find. Someone who’s honest about being too expensive is honest enough to fix your shit cause they know what the fuck they’re doing.
Outgoing text message reads: “Aw man! I got scammed again. The Oofos shoes never shipped so I contacted customer service and it’s undeliverable. Go to the website and it’s not there. Fuck me! I disputed it with my credit card and got my money back but this is just embarrassing. I’m like 88 over here.
1) Solar light inflatable flamingos for the pool. I saw my sisters in a video and they were adorable how they bob around in a little flock with the wind. They’re also big enough to not go in the skimmers. So I was like “I want those!” When I looked them up I saw they were actually also SOLAR LIGHTS. Fuck me, I bought them right then. Hell yeah. Got a set of 4. My sister has, like, 10 but we aint rich over here.
2) A cat harness. Does Jack have a cat harness? Yes. Yes, he does. However, his cat harness has some issues. First, it’s a bit tight in the neck. It’s a bit tight in general, really. He wasn’t with me when I bought it. Second, it’s a pain in the ass to put on. Thankfully Jack is a good boy, but every time you put it on him, you have to weave the chest buckle through the loop in the harness. And it has to go over his head. Yeah cats love having shit shoved over their heads. Third, it’s one of those multi-pet harnesses. So a dog harness, really. This one I ordered is just for cats. It’s also been advertised to me like 3 times and I’m a sucker. But, to be honest, I really do like the way it has a big neck hole and that there’s no straps around the cat — just fabric. And its a step in, not over the head. Plus, while it does buckle, it velcros before you buckle it. I mean it does look like a damn good cat harness. Jacks harness is shitty. So… I bought. He got the blue lined in orange.
3) I did NOT buy more Pair Frame toppers for my glasses. A while back I ordered some “blanks” that were 3D printed on Etsy. I got 5 for like $20. I bought them to try to salvage the “fuck” tops by gluing them to plastic so they wouldn’t be floppy. This failed. I did, however, paint two pair! First, I popped on one of the just white blanks. And I actually loved the way the white frames popped. But they were matte finish and if you looked close you could see they weren’t smooth. So I got some white nail polish and now they’re so shiny! While shopping for nail polish I went for something more fun too — one of those ones that changes color depending on the angle you look at it. I went with green because green is my favorite color. Check it. With all 5 blanks and both nail polishes, these were actually cheaper than buying Pair brand toppers:
So I just realized I never updated. I did, in fact, go to the surgeon last week to have my seroma aspirated. So I do have a seroma (AKA a collection of fluid under the surface of your skin). I waited over an hour in a hot room wearing paper and sweating through it to see the surgeon. He poked around with his fingers and said yeah there was fluid, but there wasn’t a good place for him to aspirate or put the syringe. He said my swelling is coming down and it should absorb eventually with time.
It’s uncomfortable in that I can feel it there. When I stand super straight it feels tight and like I have a big ol’ ball of something there. But it’s not noticeable to other people. And it’s a million times better than having the drain — because I can get in the POOL!
Yep. I waited until it was good and closed before getting in. I’m also getting in my own private pool which I know is extremely clean water and actually over-chlorinated. Were it a public pool, I’d wait longer. But this weekend we had two pool days!
K2 came over Saturday for a super fun Sorted Food live viewing with pool breaks in between. We love Sorted Food on Youtube. So I got us tickets to watch the live streams of their making 3 videos Saturday. It was, quite honestly, funnier than we even expected. And in between episode recordings, we got to hop in the pool. Sunday K had planned to come over but it’s supposed to storm all week, so we thought it would be a wash.
Even Sunday morning I was a bit discouraged that the pool had dropped 3 degrees. But K came over anyway. It turned out to be absolutely perfect. There was the occasional cloud, but super sunny and perfect water for floating around in an eggplant float or swim ring. So it was shorter than we’d like because of schedules, but it was the perfect pool day. Yay!
Oh, and I don’t notice that the implants float anymore than I floated before. In case you were wondering. I was wondering if they would. My breasts aren’t particularly loose or large, so I guess no improved buoyancy. I did point out my spiffy cleavage to my husband but he wasn’t particularly impressed. Only because I had to pad my bathing suits previously. I had to pad them all. So I usually used TWO cup size pads in my bathing suits which made me look much larger in the chest than I was. I threw all my cup pads away last weekend when I tossed my old bras! Woot!
So I follow some plastic surgery groups. I started just before my surgeries to get the scoop and stay because I’m not healed up 100% and I can offer help to others. But my god, some of these people — they’re just fucking morons. Like unbelievably so. Don’t believe me? Here’s a 100% real post:
So… yesterday: they cut you in half, cut off a big chunk, then sewed the halves back together. 24 hours later and you’re hurting. Is this normal? Oh and they took your abdominal muscles tugged them around all the way up to your breast bone and sewed them together like a cheap voodoo doll. But aw, you hurt?
BOO FUCKING HOO, YOU MOTHER FUCKING IDIOT.
Jesus.
This is why I hate people. They’re just morons and/or selfish jerks. If you have a problem with the fact that I’m declaring the majority of the human race to be dumb fucks, you’re probably one of them. Congratulations.
If you’ve ever heard me say that you or I or we can do this because people dumber than we or I have done it — this is what I’m talking about. If this bitch can get and survive plastic surgery, by god you can too.
I really do believe I have a high pain tolerance, but maybe it’s less that that. Maybe, I’m just not stupid.
The pool is open! And it’s the PERFECT temperature: 82 degrees. But I can’t get in yet! I need to wait at least a week after the drain removal. Damn it.
I can’t even sit and enjoy it because the weeds around the pool stress me out. I can’t weed-eat because I’ve got drainage building up that i might have to have aspirated. So I can’t be “too active.”
BLAH! I still haven’t decided what to do about work.
1) So as you know, my precious cat Jack Jack is deaf. However, for 16 years, he’s “found” me by screaming for me. He wakes up and screams, I call out to him, he comes. So now he wakes up and screams, but gets nothing. So he just walks around screaming and caterwauling. This drives Mr C insane. But he did the sweetest thing.
I was laying down trying to get a nap when Jack started wailing and wailing and wailing. Mr C picked him up (he hardly ever touches the cat) and carried him into the bedroom where I was. Well, Jack didn’t see me immediately so he just screamed at Mr C till he finally walked over to me and Jack saw me waving at him. So Jack runs over for pets and Mr C goes back to his peace and quiet. So sweet of him to help my Jack Jack out.
2) Does your internal rage ever just jump immediately to full speed and you’re like “woooooah.” Like you didn’t even realize you were pissy and all the sudden you’re about to snap? That happened to me at Taco Mama. I was meeting up with friends for lunch. I was waiting in line. It’s important to know that at Taco Mama, the table numbers are just sharpied on triangles of wood. So he gets number 99. Now go away. Then he goes “haha, is it 99 or 66?”
Motherfucker, it won’t even stand up like that.
3) This job decision is really stressing me out. A lot more than it should. There’s so many pros and cons on both sides. I thought I had decided for sure — take the new position. But then I keep thinking of all the reasons not to. I’m not at peace about this.
So I’ve been balding for a good — well, over a decade. I think it started with thyroid and just kinda never stopped. Plenty of doctors have mentioned it to me. It’s obvious I’m balding. But, I mean, what can I do about it? It sucks. I choose not to ponder on it. It’s embarrassing. When I was in the car accident and had a huge knot on my forehead, even the ER doctor asked if I had seen anyone about my balding. Seriously? We have other problems here.
When it first started, I did think we could fix the problem. However, my doctor said it look like female pattern baldness. Well, fuck. In men, at least you expect some men go bald — but in women it’s especially embarrassing. So I just ignore it. I stopped dying my hair and getting cute hair cuts. I just wear it back in a clip. It is what it is. However, after so many doctors mentioned it, I was finally like fine! Refer me to the the dermatologist. I’ve never been to one and could use a skin checkout anyway. That came today.
First, because insurance and doctor greed, we couldn’t discuss my balding AND my skin. They have to be separate appointments because lord knows the doctors got to get his money. Can they just be back-to-back appointments? Nope, insurance don’t play that game. Pick one. So I went with the hair since that’s what initially inspired this visit.
His diagnosis, classic female pattern baldness. With PCOS for funnsies. I’ve known I had PCOS so no biggie. I was surprised to hear that he’d suggest I treat it with my regular doctor and metformin. My regular doctor did do a ultrasound a few years ago when I asked, but I didn’t have cysts on my ovaries so he decided I didn’t have it. Well, I knew I did, just didn’t care case I don’t want kids anyway. This doctor was like yeah, you have it. Not everyone has cysts, it’s a cluster of symptoms. So that’s interesting. I will pursue this later.
He decided to prescribe some medications. Propecia and Rogain. But, Mrs C, you can’t take Propecia — that’s only for men! Well, apparently it’s only for men because it causes wicked birth defects. But Mrs C can’t have no babies. When doc found out I already had my tubes removed he was like oh man, a whole new world of options just opened up. He even warned me that the pharmacist would probably give me a lot of shit and not to let it scare me. He warned me about the depression possibilities and confirmed that I see my psychiatrist regularly and am well controlled. No babies, so no birth defects. Can cause lowered sex drive — but I’m already on 3 antidepressants that do that. So Mr C and I have worked out the no sex drive thing pretty well. (Yes, we have plenty of sex, don’t worry).
Then he tossed on Rogain for more hair growth. Unfortunately, this might cause unwanted hair growth in other places — so were gonna try a low dose and see how it goes. I already have to shave my face because of the PCOS, so if it makes that worse, we can stop it. However, the propecia should actually help the facial hair thing so maybe they’ll cancel each other out.
So cool. Apparently, I should not have waited a decade. Treating early is the best results. But he does think I can get some hair growth. Wouldn’t that be cool? I’d love to not have bald spots. I don’t think I’ll get there but it’s nice to think it’s a possibility. I won’t see any results for 3 months and nothing close to full results for at least 6 months. And to keep any results you have to stay on the medication permanently. But I’ll give it a shot. Imagine if I got my hair back. I’d get highlights and a cute moppy haircut.
