christylee

Marriage license has been acquired! It was a very quick and easy in-and-out at the Clerk's office, now we just need to wait until next week (technically 72 hours, but by that time M will be in Chicago) for an officiant to sign the bottom and we'll be officially hitched. I spoke to the county Chaplain, and he's more than happy to be our officiant, now it's just a matter of finding some time next week to do it.

Since we only have the one car right now, I had to pick up M at lunch, then he had to drive home, work some, and then pick me back up after work. He always complains that I take too long to get home in the afternoons, but after picking me up today and seeing just how stupid the drivers are downtown and how bad traffic is, he has said he now gets it. XP 

Dinner for the adults was cheap burgers from McDonald's, Katie had some potstickers. We played together a bit, and she picked up the word "blue". She's added a few phrases to her vocabulary, namely "I don't know", "I did it", and "I'M NAKED!" which she now proudly declares whenever she takes off her clothes.

Speech therapy today during my lunch break, then the rest of the day should be quiet. M has taken tomorrow off even though his flight isn't until the late evening, so I might get a reprieve from running back and forth to the house, which would be nice because damn my hips hurt all the time now. He has a friend taking him to the airport since it's so late that Kate would definitely need to be in bed. 

Looking forward to the long weekend. Have the vague idea of working on some sewing project during that time, but we'll see how things shake out. If nothing else, I'd like to prep a coif that I can embroider during my hospital stay. It was very dull just lying in bed last time and not being able to do anything.

The kitchen at work has partially implemented a new menu, and yesterday's lunch was Frito pie. It's hard to mess up a pack of Fritos and canned chili, so it was a pretty good, nostalgic lunch. But apparently it's not something people eat anymore? I overheard a coworker in the dining room educating a bunch of Gen Zers about how to construct a Frito pie, apparently they were just eating the chili on its own and had no clue that it all went together.

It was a mostly quiet day, with a frustrating drive home because the traffic lights were out and everyone suddenly forgets how to drive when that happens. -_- 

Kate took a late nap again last night, from 6-7:30, and woke up again in a sad mood. We had many couch cuddles and I turned on her favorite songs, and she was soon better. She went back to bed around 9pm, then M got us a cheap McDonald's dinner and we finished the rest of The Shining before turning in for bed.

Today has already started out busy, and the rest of the day is poised to follow suit. Kate was up at 6:30 because the kitten managed to somehow open the bedroom door and was chasing a hair tie across the room. We brushed our teeth, she ate breakfast, watched a little bit of Ms. Rachel, and then it was back to bed before I had to leave for work. M has a very important, though blessedly short, meeting at 11, and once that is over he's going to drive with me back to work, we're going to do the whole marriage license thing, and then he'll head back home and me back to work. Since he'll have the car, he'll have to pick me up in the afternoon, too. 

The next two weeks are going to be stuffed full of appointments and travel. Next week Katie has a speech therapy appointment, then it's M's Chicago trip, then the week after he has his Dallas trip on the same day as another speech therapy appointment (so it'll just be me and Kate that day), an OB appointment/sonogram on Thursday, and Katie's 2-year checkup on Friday. Yeesh! 

Tomorrow is Katie's 2nd birthday! We've managed to keep her alive for 2 years, so good job, us. We're planning to take her to a pumpkin patch or petting zoo, then out for dinner at La Madeleine where they have the cheesy pasta she likes. Should be a good day.

47 spiders today!

Kate's speech therapy session yesterday went very well. She was chatty and happy, and showed off her new vocabulary, and greatly impressed the therapist with her progress. At age 2 they're supposed to have 50+ words, and Kate is currently at around 30-35, so we're closing that gap.

Kate was in A MOOD when I got home from work, though, just generally fussy and upset. M left to go take a nap because "she'd been running him ragged." I made her dinner, and her mood improved greatly. I, too, become fussy and grumpy when I'm hangry.

The rest of the evening went smoothly, except for a massive allergy attack just before bed. I showered, and that helped enough that I could get to sleep without my face melting off.

Things got off to a rough start this morning. Kate was up just after my alarm went off. M had zero patience, and stomped around like an elephant while he tried to get her back to sleep, which just upset her more. I shooed him away and took over, and did all the things that usually work - some cuddles, check on all the kitties, then a gentle song, and bam, back to sleep in under 20. 

M was grumpy after that and kept complaining that he had 5 hours of meetings today and just needed another 30 minutes of sleep. Maybe don't come to bed at 3AM? Just a suggestion. 

Got halfway to work before I realized that I'd forgotten my badge. Doh. 

Hopefully the rest of the day is a bit less rocky.

Friday morning, got a text from the apartment complex that they were about to start repainting the lines in the parking lots, and we needed to move our cars or we'd be towed away. So, M moved the Toyota, and when I went home for lunch, I had to park on the street, on the other side of the planet from our unit because of course. Took me three years to walk to the house from the car. 

Kate's speech therapist ended up calling us and saying she was sick, so we rescheduled for next week. It was a bit of a welcomed break, because THIS WEEK Y'ALL. 

M said that after driving the Toyota, he sees what I was talking about with the steering locking up. He told me to keep driving the Jeep, and he's going to check a few things, but if this is too big of a problem then this is it for the Toyota. I am okay with getting rid of it, it's become more of a pain than it's worth, seems there's a new problem every week with that car.

Been researching what all M and I need to get officially married (we've been "informally married" according to the State for 11 years now) so I can get on M's new insurance. Yeesh, what a hassle. Waiting periods and couples counseling (to avoid fees, thankfully it's not a requirement) and other nonsense. I'm ordained through the Universal Life Church, can I just do my own ceremony and be done with it? Guess not.

The rest of the weekend was basically low-key. We didn't manage to get the kitten to the vet for her vaccinations in time since M overslept, but it's not pressing so we'll try again later. I attempted to get chores done on Saturday, but while I felt energetic and motivated, my body was not cooperating at all, so nothing actually got done. -_- Had a little emotional breakdown over my inability to do literally anything right now, so that was fun.

Tried a newly opened Cajun place in town, which we'd been excited about because they claimed to have Natchitoches style meat pies (sort of a Cajun cousin to the empanada), which we both love. Unfortunately, we found the food a bit underwhelming and bland. There were good elements - the pie crust was very good (even though the filling was super bland), the po-boy was good (except it cost nearly $20!), etc. Expensive and underwhelming means it's not a repeat.

Sunday was even quieter than Saturday. Baby and I both slept in until 9:30, the morning was pretty quiet, then she napped for 3 entire hours, which was fantastic because I was exhausted from staying up far too late falling into a TikTok hole. Decided to make a strudel for our Sunday treat, which was delicious and cleared up a little space in the freezer. M took Kate out for her walk after she was up from her nap, then we all ate strudel, M went back to playing games and missed the pickup window for our grocery order, oops. The evening was pleasant, Kate was very happy and silly, the kitten was snuggly, and all was well. Took a bit of effort to get Katie to go to bed since she was so happy playing and she kept taking off her clothes in protest whenever I tried to put her to bed. 

Made a late-night run to McDonald's for some cheap dinner, and M was asleep by the time I got home, so I had a bit of alone time, which was very welcome. Went to bed a bit too late again, but am feeling pretty alright this morning. 

No big plans for the week, so hopefully that means we get a break from how hectic things were last week. 

Inflatable spider population exploded over the weekend, and we are up to 34 spiders!