A Heart's a Heavy Burden

This morning when I woke up, I was pleased that I woke up naturally, even if I still felt quite tired. I expected to it be kind of late for how much of the "waking up and going back to sleep" cycling I did before I finally decided to stay awake. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was only 9:15; plenty of time to get ready and get brunch at Ward 6.

Steve and I got ready and headed out after locating a couple of our reuseable bags. When reuseable shopping bags first came out, I didnt really have an interest in them. When my mom got into selling ThirtyOne bags, she gave me one of hers to use, and it was so nice! But I would ALWAYS forget it in the car and have to use disposable bags anyway. Now it's gotten to the point that if I forget my reuseable bags, I either try to carry it all in my arms (often) or, if I have too many food items, I buy another reuseable bag (less often). I know that we own at least 5, more like probably 7 or 8, reuseable bags. So why is it that we can only find 2?

After we got to Ward 6 we did a little Pokemon Go. Today I wore a new dress I got on sale at Express, which meant I was wearing "nicer" shoes, my wedges. These shoes are of good quality, but even so, they still wear at my feet after awhile. Today was really good though. I had no probems walking around, but I did definitely need to consume food, as the Hangry Monster was roiling on up. Got my usual Belgian Waffle. It was very good today. If they put the toppings on my waffle, I get the tiniest drops of fruit compote and whipped cream. If they put the toppings on the side, I get an actual serving of both. The fruit is always delicious - Ward 6 sources locally and organically as much as possible. Yum.

At some point Steve and I got on a bad train of thought, and things quickly spiraled. He made a comment that he thought was kind of a sharp joke, but was actually just sharp and mean, and suddenly I was crying. He seemed caught off-guard, but I had been sensing some anger underneath his presentation all morning. We tried to talk about it but we both just escalated until he tossed his card at me to pay and stormed out to cool down. When we left we talked some more, somewhat calmer, as we went and took a couple gyms and did a raid at Metro State. Eventually we reached a place where we were okay moving on with our day and talked a little bit more as we drove to the store. Once we got to the Wedge I think we were recovered. It had been a little while since we'd had a slip like that, and that's okay. It just serves as a reminder that Steve is still struggling (as am I), and we need to be mindful and open. It's obvious that I'm continuing to be more open; I was as surprised as he was that one comment, in public no less, made me cry on the spot.

Shopping was good, we got most of the necessary foods for meal prep. Every store we went to was packed though, ugh. We agreed we need a new plague. We were pleasantly surprised when our bill somehow totaled only $77. Sweet. Steve got an americano from the cafe and I bought some Honest T. When I was drinking it I was thinking the drink could used a touch more honey, not a lot more, but I could barely taste it. At some point I read the label: Unsweetened. Hm, makes more sense now.

There were still a few items we needed when we left the Wedge, so we went back to Woodbury and went to Whole Foods. That trip was short and sweet, and finally we needed to stop at PetsMart for oooone more thing. Oh, and Cub... and the Dollar Store... and Menards. I don't know how we did all that and still managed to make it home at a decent time. Steve got the groceries away and then we took a sex break (amazing) before heading outside to read Ben's book. Steve read a few chapters while I sunned myself, and then we traded and I read a few more. It was awesome.

When the sun started to get too low we came back inside and Steve heated up some food and we took another sex break and that was awesome. Steve has a final interview/meet and greet tomorrow to see if he'll get this job he really wants at the U of MN. I'm 99% sure he will get it, because it sounds like he's not even really against anyone, just that the director wants to meet him before the offer is formally extended. So I ironed his suit for him so he'll look extra sharp tomorrow, while he started some ITG. He had a really good set, improving a bunch of scores. It was really fun watching and supporting him, and I enjoyed seeing him feeling good about his play. While he did that I worked on my Mother's day gift and got a good chunk of the colorwork done. There are going to be a LOT of ends to weave in, but hey, at least it's knitting up quick!

So... ended up having to stay late to assist a client who's not even mine (I was on day coverage, where you assist when another case manager is unavailable), and now it's too late for me to go home without feeling like it was a waste of gas, since I need to be going the opposite direction in like an hour to pick up a package from Minneapolis.

Backing up!

This weekend was mine and Steve's second anniversary. Saturday night Steve had to work, so I tried to stay up late working on an adorable present for him (HE DOESN'T USUALLY READ MY JOURNAL BUT IF HE HAPPENS TO BE READING HE BETTER STOP OR SPOILERS) for his birthday, a cross-stitched 3D weighted companion cube. XD His birthday's on the 14th of June. When he got home we had sexy debauchery, and then gift exchange. I was only able to give him one of my two presents because UPS is a cunt and kept NOT delivering the package.

I was notified on the 24th that they needed an apartment number. I called them. I told them there is NO apartment number, but if it makes them feel better, they can list apartment 1.

On the 25th, they called and said they couldn't deliver without an apartment number. I told them there is no apartment number, but if it makes them feel better, they can list apartment 1. They confirmed I've already told them this because it was in their system.

On the 26th, I received a call saying they could not deliver without an apartment number. I reminded them that there is no apartment number, and they can list apartment 1 if it makes them feel better. They confirmed I've already told them this because it was in their system.

On the 27th, they called to say they were delivering and it should be at my place by 4:30. At 5pm I called them. They said they tried to deliver (THEY DID NOT) but they couldn't because there was no apartment number and confirmed that I GAVE THEM AN UPDATE. The lady said it would be delivered by 8pm. At 9pm I called and asked why the fuck it wasn't delivered. I was told they never got around to it and it would not be delivered until Tuesday the 31st because of the holiday.

Today, I received a call at 8:30am saying they would deliver today. We went through the same schpiel. I asked Steve to stay up and watch for it because I was required to be at the office all day. At 1:30pm, he checked the tracking. At 10:31am it is listed that the package could not be delivered because of no apartment number.

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Steve says he was literally propped in front of the window, running to the door any time he heard a truck noise and even went outside when he thought he heard knocking, even though we can see the door from the window. THEY DID NOT TRY TO DELIVER. My guess is they just kept repeating the same shit and NEVER tried to deliver after seeing the original note.

At this point, I am seeing RED. I called UPS, in near hysterics, and told the nice guy I am VERY upset with them. He listened to my story, confirmed everything I said, and basically said it looked like they did not, in fact, even attempt to deliver today. But the package was on the truck. He was able to change the delivery method to pick up, as the website says it will be returned to sender tomorrow, and I obviously can't trust them to deliver it. I was unable to change it myself because the website put my package on "exception." Whatever.

An hour later I got a call from a woman wanting me to explain the whole situation, and the thing is, I seriously don't get the difference between my apartment and the others. Their doors are set up exactly like mine - just a door. A LOCKED door. There are no calling systems, no buttons, no slots per apartment. It seriously SHOULD NOT matter that I didn't list an apartment, at least for the purpose of GOING TO THE FUCKING DOOR AND KNOCKING before saying it was impossible to deliver. She said that she found it weird because the same guy's been working my route for years. Well, he's a fucktard.

So because of all this, I could not give Steve his ADORABLE second gift. I got him 999 for DS (look it up, it's like Saw/Higurashi), and the package was Nintendo Monopoly, for the purpose of cute fun board games! He loved the idea and totally got why I was crushed at not being able to give it to him the day of.

He got me a super cute children's book of My Neighbor Totoro, an AWESOME necklace modeled after Ryuk's earring (OMGGGG YES), and the first book of Chobits. We are best EVAR.

Most of the rest of the weekend was either spent with nookie, or naps, or Final Fantasy VI/999 (I'm SO CLOSE to beating it, and I'm super OP because I'm trying to complete it). We also got our appointments set up for next weekend for tattoos, which are our MAIN anniversary gifts to each other - the other stuff was just extra cuteness! He's getting a cactuar on his other calf, and I'm starting my Miyazaki sleeve with Soot Sprites! They'll be winding up my forearm, and they'll have the candies! We were quoted much cheaper than expected, and sooner than expected, and the guy didn't poop on our ideas. Yay!!

P.S. Steve and I have now begun calling when I get mad "kicking off my shoes" because of a hilarious part in a Jon & Kate plus 8 episode where Madi is wearing dress-up heels and suddenly gets super pissed and did this hilarious jump-kick thing and her shoes flew so comically and effectively off. That's SO me XD I also asked Steve what percentage of the time he is annoyed with me, and he landed on 2-percent  - that which usually is when I get RAGING mad at a video game or kick off my shoes about dumb shit like the weather. So I got really mad at FFVI yesterday in a cave, and when Steve offered to help me get out of my tough spot, I said, "Do you still love me?" (we do this as a silly thing, not an actual co-dependent thing), and he said, "All but 2-percent of me does!"

Omg. It was so funny. I laughed so hard.