Princess turned 17y on Nov 6th... and again, it hit me; she's only a year away from being a legal adult. We started the week with a shopping trip (she wanted some clothes, shoes, and misc school & bedroom stuff) and lunch at Panera on the 5th. She had a show the afternoon of her birthday (not sure if I mentioned that, along with her SM duties with the school play, she also was running the back and doing tech for a show put on by one of our local theatre groups). While she was gone, though, another stray dog showed up in our backyard. I found the fence down; that must have been how he got in.
He is a lab, fully intact, so I was concerned that he & Elvis would have a scuffle, but no; they just sniffed at each other for a bit, then got some water, and I sent my dogs inside while I calmly coaxed him into the leash I was holding. I went to the Hopkins' home first, but I was pretty sure their lab is black; this one was dark brown. Chatted with them for a bit while their great-granddaughters gave the dog a bunch of treats, then took him to the renters across from me. He does belong to them, so they thanked me, and I left. When Princess got home, we went to Juan Colorado for dinner. When we got home, we had cake (she asked for, and got, chocolate zucchini cake... her favorite right now) and opened gifts (tee from Papa, money/checks, candy, gift cards, a new set of towels, and a few other things).
A few days after her birthday, she got in more volunteer hours for her Yearbook class by helping to run the table during conferences. I've stopped going to those, as she is a great student (solid 3.75 GPA every year, so far), and I feel conferences are for those children/parents who are younger &/or having a hard time. I feel it is a waste of my, and the teachers', time to just have them tell me how awesome she is (I know; we're very lucky). The following day, she, KP, and KVC spent a few hours together at KVC's house. It had been a few months since they'd seen each other, so this was nice. They made cookies, had dinner, giggled, and just hung out. Oh, and Princess finally gave KVC her birthday gift (only seven months late... LMAO!). She bought it before her birthday; just kept forgetting to give it to her!
Anyway, other things going on -- Ace got denied Life Insurance due to his "chronic pain & migraines" (what a load of shit, btw... those are no reason to deny someone!), so we decided to just put a little money each month into an interest-earning account, and when he's employed again, hopefully there will be a company plan he can get (that's what he had at Intel; too bad we couldn't continue that one when he left). He also, due to my impending surgery & recovery, he has decided to delay his job search until after the beginning of the year... unless he decides to go back to school for a couple terms. He's thinking of updating his CAD knowledge by taking some classes at PCC Winter & Spring terms. From a purely financial standpoint, we're fine; he hasn't even touched his unemployment yet and I'm currently bringing in roughly what he was making when we first met.
Speaking of my surgery, for those who weren't aware, I have been diagnosed with Adenomyosis. Because of that, insurance had zero issues covering a hysterectomy for me. This has been a long time coming, and I'm very excited about it. The biggest downside is the three weeks I have to take off work (although, Dr. R said I could go back at two weeks if I feel I'm ready, but to take it slow & easy). After the first few days of pain, discomfort, extreme tiredness, I will probably be bored out of my skull. I am bummed I have to miss Friday Feast at my mother's this year, but (A) T will pick up & bring back Princess, so she doesn't have to miss out, and (B) they promised to bring me leftovers. I promised to make a small batch of fudge (which I'll probably do tomorrow evening) and my famous green bean casserole (not hard to throw together, but if I'm not up to it Thursday night, Princess can make it), as well. I also have some shows saved up on my DVR, a few things on Netflix I want to see, and a list of movies we can rent. I can either download books onto my reader or go to the library (if I'm up for it), as well.
Last but certainly not least, I have a couple of updates on the Wildebeest, et al (oh, I've decide to nickname MG "Gaston"... from Beauty & The Beast, Gaston always struck me as outwardly confident & charismatic/charming, but inwardly lacking confidence about who he really is. I don't know much about KC, yet, though, to give her a nickname, so we'll stick with KC for now). About a month & a half ago, Gaston & KC got engaged. Last week, I found out he FINALLY filed for divorce from Wildebeest. I'm assuming she has yet to be served because she hasn't gone more completely off the deep end of reality than she already was (her birthday post to Gaston was the most pathetic one, yet... but nothing unexpected). The best news, though? Gaston & KC moved into the SAME APARTMENT COMPLEX that he & Wildebeest lived in (twice, with a year in Colorado in-between) many years ago (the house they were renting in Aloha just sold again, too, which is interesting). They've been remodeled, and there is a new bunch of homes in the area, but I find that absolutely hilarious... Looking forward to another update after Thanksgiving.