Christmas FAIL

I admit it. I broke down. I broke a lifelong tradition.

I blame it on the unpredictable Colorado Springs weather and Pandora internet radio.

This morning, I woke up to a very cold, hazy mountain view. I threw on my pea coat and headed in to work. As I'm driving down the main street, I can see little snow flakes falling down in front of me! The morning continues, of course, and the sky gets foggier, and the flakes get bigger and come more frequently. It even starts sticking to the ground!

I don't have windows in my office, but we have a Webcam on our roof, and I was able to keep an eye on the "storm". And then I broke down.

I played Christmas music.

I couldn't help it!! I get streaming Christmas music on my phone and it was snowing!! I didn't go and help myself to hot apple cider, so it wasn't quite the Trifecta. But I feel that I let myself down because I always, ALWAYS wait until the day after Thanksgiving before playing Christmas music. And I can never take this back!

Oh well...there are worse things. But still - I can't believe I broke down!

*On a side note, my neighbor's music has reached an all time high volume. To the point where I now have a headache from their bass. I have sent in an informal complaint to my apartment complex office asking what I can do and what actions they can take. I would like to remain anonymous, because I still have to live above them and I don't want to feel uncomfortable in my own home. If they can keep my complaint anonymous, and if they impose fines, then I will go through with a formal complaint. It's getting to be rediculous. I can't even hear my own tv that's 5 feet away from me when they're playing their music.

Verdict is in...

I'm not sick! After my second "bout" of whatever it was that was bothering me last night, today was totally opposite! It must have been just a 24 hour bug or something.

On another note, my sister and her family come into town on Saturday for a week surrounding Thanksgiving!

And on an upside - I think tonight is the first night in probably a month (I haven't kept an official count) that I CAN'T hear my downstairs neighbor's music and/or tv through the floor!!! Justin and I did spend 2 hours of the evening eating dinner and playing Uno Dominoes (confusing game, by the way!!), so I can't account for the hours between 6 and 8 pm, but it's 9, and *knock on wood* I haven't heard anything! However, when he and I left, for some reason the neighbor's child, who is probably 3-ish, was screaming and banging/kicking their front door. I couldn't tell if it was happy screaming or a temper tantrum, but either way - COME ON!!! Who lets their kid just scream and kick doors???!?!!!? If you have a house, I guess let the kid work it out. But they're in an APARTMENT!! So I guess even though this started off as a positive thing, it became a negative. I should stop doing that!


Since it's finally quiet for one night, I think I'll crack open my non-fiction book that I promised myself I would read and get through one more chapter!!

Weekend Update

Didn't I just do one of these? I guess last week just flew by. It feels weird doing a weekend update, since I've posted twice already this weekend. As you can already see, I spent yesterday at the Air Force vs. Army game. It would have only been better if it was a little warmer.

Today was spent, sadly, mostly on the couch. But Bailey is still limping on and off, and I wanted him to stay off of his feet as much as possible. I still don't know what's wrong with him, and other than the limping, nothing is wrong. He's eating normally, still wants to play and wants to follow me around everywhere. So I still don't know what to do.

I was able to spend some time really cleaning the kitchen/dining area and I feel really good about how it looks. Now I have to tackle the living room and the bedroom. But uggh...I think I reached my cleaning quota for the day. I also caught up on my books a little more, so another update on those should be coming soon!

And, to top it all off, my downstairs neighbor still likes playing his/her music at max volume, with no regard to the level of bass. I still can't tell if they're in a band, and they practice everyday, or if they watch their tv while it's hooked up to a stereo. Sometimes it's music, sometimes I can tell it's people talking. I understand this is how apartment living is, but I don't look forward to another 6 months of this. Oh well, I wouldn't be the first person to be frustrated with neighbors!

Hope you have a great week!

Dear Neighbors (from you know where...)

Rude Neighbor #1: Please remember that you live in an apartment complex and there are other residents in the apartments around you. Some of these residents actually attempt to occasionally sleep in past 6:30 am during the week. When you turn on your motorcycle to idle while you go inside for 10-15 minutes, you disturb your neighbors and ruin their day. You are also quite possibly tempting someone to steal your motorcycle right out from in front of you. You would probably not like for your neighbors to be loud and disturb you when you are trying to rest or relax. So please, in the future, keep that in mind when you are considering leaving your bike running for long periods of time early in the morning. Thank you.


Rude Neighbor #2: Please remember that you live in an apartment complex and there are numbered parking spaces designated to residents upon signing a lease, including you. You were given a parking space directly in front of your building, not two spaces. Please also remember that there are un-numbered spaces scattered around the complex for the specific reason of allowing residents and guests who can not park in their space to still be able to park in the vicinity of their own apartment, where they pay rent. These spaces are not meant for people to “save” just because it is in front of their own building. You should be parking your motorcycle in the spot specifically reserved for your apartment, where you normally park your vehicle, which is what the numbered space is intended for. There may be multiple vehicles for you and the other residents of your apartment, but that does not entitle you to “save” a space for your car while you are not at home. While this is a smart idea, wouldn’t it be nice if all of us with more than one vehicle could “save” a space in front of our own building? If that were the case, then there would be absolutely no empty spaces whatsoever, and there would be no purpose in having un-numbered spaces. Please remember this the next time you want to leave your bike parked in an un-numbered space for weeks on end.

Also, I fail to see why you need to watch your tv at maximum volume with your bass on from 6 pm to 11 pm daily. Please be aware that you are not the only people living in this apartment building. Next time you consider turning on your tv, consider the fact that I could just as easily have my 120 pound dog play fetch in my apartment directly above yours during that time frame, but out of consideration for your living space, I do not do so.

Thank you both.

And the moral of the story? If you have a motorcycle, don't move to my apartment complex! And if you already live here, DON'T GET A MOTORCYLE!

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers:

- Bailey has made it almost a full week not being locked up in his cage and he's doing great!
- It snowed yesterday and it's supposed to snow again on Wednesday!
- I'm really getting into both of my books, and that really excites me!
- Family is coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I have the day before off to help cook, the day of Thanksgiving to enjoy food, and the day after to watch the UT/atm game!

Jeers:

- For layoffs at work (not me; not yet, anyway)
- Neighbors playing their bass really loud every night for 2-3 hours.
- I don't think I'll be able to go to Texas for Christmas.
- I think I've bruised myself in approximately 3 places in the last 24 hours.

Blog to catch up on (boast about?) current reading progress coming soon!