Good Morning, February, How Are Ya? Don't Ya Know Me?

The 24-year-old me would be very disappointed. Not only do I rarely blog, but I've long-since given up on posting inspired by music from The Smiths. Still, I am here. Shall I vent today?
I'm not gonna lie-- I've been a little surly. Here are a few reasons:

1) My calligraphy class was canceled. I was very much looking forward to it, not only because I'd get to spend an extra two hours a week at my favorite local store (Papers!) but also because I thought it would afford me the opportunity to meet some new people. But apparently there was only one other person in the Albuquerque Metro area who was interested, so that was that. So much for having a good excuse to skip FHE.

2) Speaking of FHE and the Uni Branch in general, I'm having a hard time being there these days. There are some nice people there, of course, but I hate to monopolize them, so I spend a lot of time by myself. Yes, a lot of this is self-imposed, but the people there are SO YOUNG and we have very little in common. Then, there are many mean girls. You know the kind-- they like to pretend to be nice, but they get a big thrill out of irking you. I recognize the signs, because I went through a brief stage of mean-girl myself, which I entirely regret. But one girl in particular makes going to church a rather miserable experience (and that is unacceptable).

3) I've had to cut a few toxic people out of my life as well. One of my best friends, Amber, laughs every time I announce, "I was so mad, I took him/her out of my phone!" She thinks it's funny that such a simple act could be so empowering, like it's the world's greatest revenge. It's more like it's the world's greatest protection, because then if I'm tempted to call or text, I can't. And when I get texts from numbers I don't recognize, but I can figure out who they're from based on the content, I just delete them without replying. The other day, a former friend who consistently backs out of our plans sent one telling me he couldn't do something. Fortunately for me, I'd given up on counting on him a while back and had made other plans. He offered to send me money. I didn't dignify that insult with a response. I wanted to say, "Listen, chump. I don't want your money. I want you to respect my time!" But that would be a waste of instant communication.

4) This very annoying chap keeps asking me out. He called me at home and at work one day. I told him I was unavailable. Then he called me at work the next day and asked again, for the same time. I said, "Didn't we have this conversation yesterday?" I tried very hard to be nice, and accidentally said, "Maybe another time" when he tried to invite himself along/over to my house. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the ax to fall again. Boo.

5) Speaking of people calling me at work, I got a really rude message from a woman I don't know this morning. I'd been in another part of the office, tending to something work-related (imagine that). I heard my mom say, "Rach, your cell is ringing." I rushed to get it, and it was someone wanting me to recruit someone else to babysit her kids. She was very rude on the voicemail, saying she'd called me on Sunday (I think I was actually AT church when she phoned). I'm not sure how this is supposed to be MY responsibility, because I don't know her from Adam, but sure enough, I got her a babysitter. Ugh.

6) Finally, I got a really disturbing message on my home phone. I'm hoping it was meant for someone else or just a random prank, but the person said, "How would you like to be killed in a basement?" or something along those lines. If he'd left his number, I would have mentioned that it wasn't on my list of things to do. Many thanks to the girls who gave me a baseball bat a few years ago.

Whew! That felt good.

But y'all know me. I don't want to give you a case of the saddies. There are a lot of good things happening as well. Valentines Day was a blast-- there's a lot of love in my life, even if it's principally from my nieces. Ashley and I took Zoey to the circus the other day, and Z & I got an elephant ride in. No calligraphy class = time for a Monday-night-workout (did I mention that I'm 12 lbs lighter than the first of the year?). I'm slowly getting back into lingerie design, and planning on launching an etsy shop in the next few weeks. I'm learning to sew, and working on an awesome bead spread. I'm editing more family-history books to give the fam this year for Christmas (I'm shooting for a three-volume gift this year) as well as helping my mom with a cookbook. I'm planning on doing more landscaping this spring, and possibly fixing up a roulotte, though where I'd put it, I have no idea. So I'm busy, and I'm happy. Thank you, February. I'm feeling better already.