Mmmm, Carpet Cleaning

I cannot wait until Jesse moves out and we can finally end his snotty, entitled Reign of Annoyance. He is actually not moving out until Aug. 8 or 9, so I am charging him $24 a day to live in my house, which I am deducting from his deposit, which he will get back most of. Why $24 a day? Because the room he will be inhabiting for 9 days is now worth $750 a month, and he will be paying rent at the new price because that's simply how much the room costs now. He is aware of this, I am not a total bitch, but he will probably be unhappy with how much deposit he's getting back. I really don't care what he thinks. The new chick, Erica, is super cool and she's coming to us on the 11th, but she's dropping off her deposit money on the 1st. We've worked it out in that I've deducted her time not in the house from her deposit, because she should not have to pay for days she does not live with us.
Anyway, the title of the post. I cannot wait to clean these carpets. When you live with boys who constantly have buddies over, the carpets will look really bad, really fast. Yes, they were half-assed cleaned right before I moved in, but because Jesse's stupid little dog pisses and shits all over the carpet and his friends are always spilling things, they started looking really horrible almost immediately. So yay for that. That is also coming out of his deposit. I seriously love being a "landlord." Officially, I'm not a landlord because I don't own anything (property wise), but I handled everything when it came to finding the new person, all of the interviews, working out the deposit and all that jazz. The new person is sub-leasing from me. We have a contract. It's fancy. It was really time-consuming, but now I'm drunk on power and happiness. AP and I have big plans for the new living situation. New decor, new rules, new room, everything starting fresh and pretty. Thanks, in large part, to AP's ability to find new things at Goodwill from Target. Hence our new towel rack, new shower rack, bath mat and some other stuff. Still in the packages from Target! I am very excited. She only spent $13 and got tons of new stuff. Happy Mer!

New Roomies!

There has been a lot happening (isn't there always?) First of all, the most pressing thing and title of this post. Jesse is moving out Aug. 1!!! This is awesome for several reasons 1) He never cleans anything or washes his dishes. I truly believe he thinks the dish faeries just come along and clean up his shit. In reality, AP and I do everything. He has never lifted one of his snotty, entitled fingers to do anything since the beginning of time and both AP and I are thrilled for this to happen. 2) This is a perfect opportunity for AP and I to re-do the structure of this house and make some needed personal and decorative improvements. What does that mean? We're moving to Jesse's room (it has a bigger closet and more area) and we are going to fill the other room with 1 or 2 lesbians! YAY!! 3) I have heard from a reliable source that Stupid Rose will also be moving out (October). This means all of AP's and my plans (and dreams) are coming true and we will get to re-structure the house with OUR rules and roomies of OUR choosing. I have already posted an ad on the glory that is Craig's List and since Saturday afternoon, we ahve gotten 20 good responses! It's only been 2 days! We'll probably have an open house this week to get an idea of who's interested and then do personal "callback" interviews for the best ones. I am really excited. There are already some that we really like. But we have to be fair to everyone (within reason). Since Stupid Rose has not told me officially that she is leaving, I have to play along and "ask" her how involved she wants to be in this process. I'll be happy if she want's no involvement at all since she's not staying. I don't think she should get a choice. But I have to be fair. I just want to lock this thing down ASAP. I don't want any break in time because I'll be damned if I'm paying any more than I have to.

Ceremony and HoneyCamping

Needless to say, readers, many things have happened since the last blog. I got "committed" to my AF, now AP (Amazing Partner), and we went camping to celebrate. Last Friday, we went to City Hall in our fair city and filled out our forms, spoke with the judge, took pictures before, during, and after the ceremony, put Mom on speaker phone for the during part and took many, many pictures of the whole thing. Then I fell down. This was after everything was all done and Molly and I were heading to the car. My right shoe slipped out from under me and I totally ate shit in the middle of the street. I really scraped up my knee (it was bleeding A LOT). And yes, we still went camping and YES, it still really hurts.
Anyway, I arrived back to my work to get cleaned up and get the car to go go back home to start getting all our stuff together for camping. AP had already made the list and was gathering things when I got home. So we did all the packing stuff, loaded up the car and went to Safeway to get the last minute items we needed for the trip. Then we decided that since we sort of got a late start, we decided that we didn't want to eat in the dark, so we went to Carl's Junior. THEN...We were finally on our way!
An hour and 10 minutes later we were at the campsite, only to discover that I had accidentally booked the handicapped campsite. We almost got in trouble with the rangers but it was decided that it was just a legitimate mistake and they let us stay (also there were no other sites to move us to.) Also, I don't know if you know this, but alcohol is strictly prohibited at the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. We had brought some champagne (we just got married), and had just opened it when the ranger drives up to talk to us about being in the handicapped space. She told us that the penalty for alcohol in the park is usually ejection from the park with no refund. She made me pour it out. :( I told her that we wouldn't have brought it in, but we just got married in San Francisco about 7 hours ago and we were celebrating. Then I showed her my ring and she said she was sorry for ruining our special night. Thank god she was a lesbian too! So she hugged me and said she'd let it slide and reminded us that, "there are OTHER things do do on a wedding night besides have champagne." That's a direct quote! Again, thank god for lezzie park rangers!
So that was Friday. On Saturday, we let nature wake us up and then we got ready to go to brunch in Downtown Santa Cruz. Specifically to Zachary's, a great restaurant that is special to us as a couple. So we ate, then we went to a couple of little shops and then we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It's an amusement park on the shore (the last of it's kind in California) that has rides and an arcade and shops and restaurants. It's really big and just as fun. It's free to get in, but if you want to ride rides, you have to buy tickets. We didn't ride anything, but we played arcade games. AP is awesome and she hit the jackpot on the of the games and 250 TICKETS START FLYING OUT OF THE MACHINE!! It's was so cool!! We bought shot glasses with the tickets, did the 4-in-1 photo booth (really cute pictures), and got some saltwater taffy. After a little while longer, we decided to go back to the campsite and have sandwiches and relax before dinner. We ended up napping until 7:45 p.m. Then we built a fire and made S'Mores (my favorite quintessential camping food). Then we watched a movie and went to bed again.
Now Sunday. We wanted to get an early start back to the city so we could unpack and get things put away so we could wind down from all the weekend excitement, so we got up at 7. We took down everything, reloaded the car and headed to the Ugly Mug, a lesbian coffee shop in downtown Santa Cruz. The we went to New Brighton State Beach. It was only about 9 am by this time so we took some pictures of ourselves and hung out on a big log on the beach and talked. It was a really beautiful morning. The we were on our way back to the city. We got home, unpacked and put everything away and showered, and went to wash and vacuum out Beth's car. When you camp, leaves and crap get in the trunk and the floor boards. So we went the wash it yourself place and cleaned it and vacuumed and made it look really nice. And then we rented PS2 games. Then we went home and played them.
I know what you're thinking: Wasn't it Gay Pride Weekend? Yes it was, and no we did nothing Pride-related, except get married. We did other gay things too (camping is pretty gay, right?) Kidding, straight chicks camp too. We didn't do anything for pride because in San Francisco, by the time you do all the events and parades and the booths and deal with the million + people that are there, downtown, celebrating their pride also a couple of times, you realize that you want to make your own plans. All that stuff is really great for the community and all, but it can get tiresome. San Francisco is a really lively city and we do gay stuff all year, not just this one specific weekend, so that's that. So, that was our weekend! I look forward to your comments.

More Bad Stuff (But It's OK Now)

There has been much drama in the Land of Mer over the past few days, so I'll recap. My Ceremony witness, Beth, went out of town and because one of her very dear friends had a heart attack. She was supposed to be back today so she could partake in both the Pros Graduation and the Ceremony, but she called on Monday saying that they really need her down there (Arizona), and she won't be back until this coming Tuesday. However! All is not lost. There are a lot of people who want to witness this event, so I asked the only other woman over 50 and fabulous that I knew could be available for this. It's Dr. Molly Newlon, my dentist, but she is also my friend. So that fire was put out. AND...as a consolation prize for not being able to witness, Beth is letting us borrow her car for the weekend. I picked it up yesterday. She said I could have it until she comes back on Monday. Yay!!!
This brings me to THIS WEEKEND. AKA: HONEYCAMPING! It is not a Honeymoon. It's Honeycamping. The original plan was to rent a car and go to Santa Cruz and stay over and do brunch and the beach and maybe hike. The problem is that it's Gay Pride Weekend and there are no reasonably priced hotels with available rooms anywhere in the town. So the alternative? We found the LAST POSSIBLE campspot in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park for this Friday and Saturday. Both AF and I like to camp and the site is right outside Santa Cruz and our plan is as follows:
Friday 1:30-2:15 Sign more forms and "GET MARRIED"!
Go back to house and load up car for camping, leave for the Redwoods. We'll probably check in around 4-4:30 or so. Set up camp, build fire, eat dinner (hot dogs, Pasta Roni, and S'Mores), hang out, maybe go for a walk, watch a movie....Etc. I trail off because you can all use your imaginations for the next part.
Saturday Morning: Breakfast at Zach's (this amazing breakfast place in Santa Cruz), beach and hiking, more camping related fun, get a good night's sleep.
Sunday Morning: Breakfast on the way home, get home early enough for the Gay Pride festivities, and collapse in a heap of happiness. Oh yes, and take many pictures. We just bought 2 disposable cameras, so we will be documenting the whole trip.

Longest Week Ever!

Can I just say that this week feels like the slowest week ever! Seriously, it's worse than Christmas. Anyone who knows me knows how I am with Christmas. And my birthday :)

One Week to Go!!

Next Friday is the ceremony and I am super-excited. It's like it's not even really happening!!!!! However, nothing is really changing except now we will wear matching rings and refer to each other as "partner." Yes, that is the term we have chosen. But I think I'll just keep calling her by her name: Baby. Or Honey Dew. I can't stop smiling. :)
I have started ordering decorations for the party in September. Plastic tablecloths in varying colors have been purchased as well as a grass table skirt with hibiscus flower trim for the "Gift Table." Since Betty Lou (my sister) refuses to help guide guests to the party area, I have a new plan. Signs and silk flower petals. The silk flower petals will serve as a pathway to the downstairs and outside area, and therefore will lead guests from the staging area to the party. Problem solved. More to come...

Almost Really Bad, Then Good Again

Just in case I hadn't explained the RING DRAMA, I will discuss it now. I ordered the rings separately because of the cost and when we got AF's, everything was fine, but mine had scratches on it so I sent it back so they could buff it out and send it back to me. So 3 weeks went by and I hadn't gotten it back yet, so I called them. It was my fault after all because I forgot to include a copy of the invoice in the box and they didn't know where to send it back to. Totally my bad. That was fine. So, when I got what I thought was my ring in the mail, I opened it to inspect it's smoothness only to discover that IT WAS NOT MY RING!!! This ring was too big and did not have the engraving inside like MY RING. I was really unhappy, because the ceremony is on Friday, so my plan was to write an angry e-mail and get my money back. I say WAS because I poured my heart out to AF and she called them for me, explained the situation and the lady called me back and explained that she didn't know why the guy mailed this other ring and that she had mine right there and she'd send it back to me today with a return address label so I could mail back the other ring when I received the correct one.
I know you're probably asking yourselves, "Why didn't you just call them yourself?" The answer is simple. I tend to get really emotional when it comes to things like this, especially when dealing with people on the phone, and I tend to go a little crazy with the possibility of getting hysterical. And there was a chance that I would burst into tears and start flipping out. Completely unnecessarily, I might add, because SOMETIMES I run on pure emotion and am unreasonable and don't think before I act or speak. This is why I have AF. She makes things better. She understands that sometimes I can be like this and is there for me so I don't have a meltdown.
All that being said, usually I am pretty good at handling bad stuff, so being able to have her help sometimes is very refreshing. Usually I come from the, "DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF SO NO ONE CAN DISAPPOINT YOU CAMP," but I am slowly learning that delegating small stuff to trusted people is okay some of the time. Ahh, I guess that means I'm growing up. (Wipe away the tears Mom). ;)