Tag: meisaj

Its about me.

Cats and Christmas

meisajDaily Life
Helping me wrap (badly) Sam’s presents.

Our cats love Christmas.

Not because they get lots of Christmas presents, although my mother got them their own stocking for this year. They also got several more springs for them to play with, the only toy they seem to play with lately.

They like anything new, and our Christmas tree is new to them. Never mind that both of them were around for Christmas last year. It’s new, and screams interest to them. Just look where their interest lay in this picture.

The tree is way more interesting than we are.
(yes. Sam is pregnant.)

I think it is because year after year I insist on a real tree, even if it a small one.

This one is our first tree in many years that isn’t a potted tree, rather a small cut one that has a water reservoir instead of soil.

The water reservoir, more than the ornaments, the felt objects or bouncy branches, is what our cats love and visit several times a day.

Better than their water dish or water fountain in the basement.

They both take turns drinking out of the tree water. To the point that I have to refill the water often. Clue, or Little Bit, the cat drinking in the picture above, will drink and splash in the water reservoir.

It make me really want the tree to stay longer, although I know it should go out around this time. They by far want to drink that water over their water fountain in the basement or water dish upstairs.

I’m pretty sure when I take the tree out I’m going to ruin their lives more than our soon to be child will.

Brad nails are not meant for hands

meisajDaily Life

I learned an important lesson over the weekend.

Don’t shoot brad nails into your hands.

We (Sam and myself) were painting what will become the baby room and had taken down the framing around the window in the room.  To hand it again we needed a staple/nail gun.

Since the framing material was fragile we needed smaller nails than just finishing nails.  I thought, lets buy the fancier staple gun with the forward facing handle, those are supposed to be easier to hold and shoot.

We put on the lower frame and were just about to start with the right side frame.  Sam was holding the frame on, I got it attached to the lower one and proceeded to place the nail gun on the frame.  I used my left to hold it, and my right hand to steady it from the bottom.  The frame, being a window frame, is slanted it was hard to get the nail gun flush on it with some pressure.

I shot a nail, and immediately said, “Oh,” and dropped the nail gun.  Sam looked down at me as I was pulling out the brad nail from the center of my palm.  Sam immediately went to get paper towels as blood started pooling in my hand.  She gave me paper towels and we moved into the bathroom.  For the next five minutes I walked in circles with paper towels pressed to hand and laughed at myself.  This apparently is my adrenaline defensive mechanism to me getting minor injuries.  I laugh a lot and don’t stop moving.

After it stopped bleeding we cleaned it and I thought it was fine, but Sam, being the wise person she is, decided we should get it looked at just incase.  The express care place down the street agreed that I needed at least a tetanus shot since I hadn’t had one in seven years – not since a kid bite me at work and broke the skin.  They were at first hesitant to see me without an x-ray, which they couldn’t do there, but found a way to send me for out patient x-rays. 

Apparently I’m pretty skilled at minorly injuring myself.  I missed all the bones in my hand, and it stopped bleeding quickly.  When someone at worked asked me how bad it was I said “well it didn’t come out the other side so that’s good.”

Sam has written on the staple / nail gun in the hopes of preventing this from ever happening again.

In the plus side I had a great story to tell everyone at work on Monday.  And show them the fantastic bruise on my hand.

Pictures below: Wrong way to hold it.  Right way to hold.  Sam’s fix.

 

It must be winter.

meisajDaily Life

Must finally be winter in Cleveland, I got my first where the hell is your coat comment from a stranger.

Typically I thrown back a comment like I’m from Buffalo, or something like that. I didn’t even bother to try and explain it today.

It’s only 30 degrees outside and it’s not like I’m walking around outside for 20-30 minutes at a time. I really don’t see the need for a jacket when I walk from my car to a building it from a building back to my car.

I put that s*** on everything

meisajDaily Life

I feel like people find a hot sauce they like and they put that on everything.

Me, I’m a Frank’s Hot Sauce kind of person.  I put it on eggs, pizza, tacos, pasta, chicken…. pretty much everything.

The other day I put Franks on something new.

I was making a giant wrap as I was super hungry after a long day at work.

I got to work cooking up some chicken on the stove and cutting it into pieces.  I decided to toss the chicken in Frank’s before adding it to my giant wrap on top of lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese.  I grabbed my giant bottle of Frank’s and unscrewed the cap to pour it into a bowl.  The cap slipped out of my hands and hit the ground.

Being the super responsive person I am I tracked it all teh way down with my eyes in time for the Franks to splash out of the cap and all the way up into my eyes. Both eyes.  And it stung.  A lot.

Thankfully Sam wasn’t home to hear me squeal.  Or run to the bathroom to wash out my eyes.

Story Moral.  Go ahead and put Franks on just about everything.  But not your eyes.

 

A politics free summer

meisajDaily Life

Well not summer, but July.

As a progressive, as someone who kind of despises the current political direction of our government, someone who can’t stand the inane, confusing, misleading, factually incorrect and outright lies made by our president on a daily basis, someone who leaves messages for my senators and representatives Congress (which – despite asking for letters and other communication about their votes, thinking on topics I care about, and other issues – I have received none communication back – I’m looking at you Senator Porter – thanks for writing me off as a constituent), and someone who reads a ton of news each day, its been a frustrating couple of months.

So what do I do?  Well July is my month off from work.  I’m also taking a month off from politics.  I’ll still read headlines, and read local news, but I’m taking July off from engaging in political news or discussion.  At least as much as I can.

Think of it as a mental health break.  I’ll spend July reading books, maybe (hopefully) hiring a few teachers – which is ironic since it is my month off of work, fixing things around our house (bathroom sink – fixed!), maybe drawing again, and exercising.  And take a cue from my cats and just relax.

I’ll re-engage in August.

I will say this political climate of the last two years has made me re-think how I get my news.  I’ve gone from only consuming free news (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Politico, etc) to paying for my chief news sources.  From reading websites, to reading actual newspapers and dailies.

I subscribe to the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Skeptical Inquirer and PBS.  I also listen to NPR and the BBC.  I know the Washington Post definitely has a left leaning slant, but is factually accurate.  The Christian Science Monitor is centrist, and has a global view.  Same with BBC. Skeptical Inquirer and PBS are not necessarily news (at least in how I consume them), but rather for science discussions and documentaries.

Surprisingly not jumping to immediate reactions, and reading articles written at a later time, with thought, is way easier to digest than ’emerging stories’.   These newspaper sources, non-biased sources like the BBC, and dailies like the Christian Science Monitor, are also way more factually accurate than quick reporting stations and sites like CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.

Also, as an interesting end-note, my hometown newspaper, The Post Star, is apparently one of the least biased newspapers in the country.  Yeah… That’s an odd statement.