Hello, my name is Mike

Well really it's Chris, but some in the church apparently think I look like a Mike.  At least 2 different people have called me Mike.  I didn't feel bad the first time it happened because the individual calling me Mike is mentally unstable so I just went with it.  I can't use that excuse for the second one...  So I may just change my name to Mike. Or Patrick.  I've been called Patrick as well. I definitely know I don't look like a Patrick.

Bob, aka unstable mental guy, called me Mike for over a month. (of course Bob isn't his actual name and on the several occasions that I couldn't dodge him I didn't want to call him by his actual name either)  I'm not sure where he got Mike from. If you ask him I told him and every once in awhile he has to call me out and basically call me a liar.  Which I'm not.  Why would I tell him a fictional name when I know I'll see him again in public?  He even came to my place of employment and kept repeating my made up name.  He was badgering a manager and teasing me with her.  I think he said something about making Mike work harder.  She had this look on her face and pointed at me stating, 'You mean Chris over there?'.  Everyone else around me was so confused and once he left I had to explain myself to them.  Yeah, I laughed about that for the next hour.

So once he found out my real name wasn't Mike he proceeded to tell on me to the pastor of the church.  He even asked my aunt, with me standing there, what she called me.  Once he left I had to explain the whole thing to her as well.  I suppose there are worse names I could be called so I won't complain too much.

Winterizing

I was putting my socks on today and just happened to look at my feet.  I mean really look at them and I realized they are some ugly suckers.  I've winterized my feet.  By nature I'm not a sock/shoe person.  I mean I use to be, but the last few years I've started to prefer naked feet instead of covered.  Unfortunately I can't get away with that in the winter.  I don't have carpet, because I hate it.  It's dirty and hard to clean if a mess is made on it and the dog thinks it's grass.  So, as a rule, I hate carpet.  Wood floors are nice, but drafty. Which is nice in the summer, but not so much in the winter.  Once it hits mid-October the socks come on. I wear them 24/7.  Well, except in the shower (that would just be dumb), but everywhere else I do.  And since my feet are always clad in cotton I start to neglect them.  Badly. 

I will refrain from going into graphic details, but they are ugly talons of death.  I can't wait till spring arrives then I can put away my socks, except on Sunday, and wear flip-flops.  (Whoever invented flip-flops is a genius. For realz.)  And since I'm weird about people judging me for my feet the need to take care of them intensifies.  I get out the hedge clippers, the floor buffers and razors and go to town.  I inherited my good looks mostly from my dad and, unfortunately, his feet.

The only time I've regretted wearing flip-flops was the first night I went camping with my extended family.  Every year we have a week set aside and we go to Current River to just relax and have fun.  I've never been a camper, still not 100% a camper, but I look forward to this vacation time.  Anyway the first night I ever went I wore flip-flops.  Not sure what I was thinking, but let me assure you I will not wear flip-flops again whilst camping.  Uncle Mike decided to give us a tour of the river at night and as we (Uncle Mike, me, Heather and her friend) were walking I stepped over a snake.  I didn't know it was a snake till I stepped over it and once I pointed it out I was told it was a Copperhead.  I freaked.  So between us kids squealing and Uncle Mike trying to bash it's head in the snake took off into the woods.  I learned my lesson.

Sleeping habits

I woke up at 5am the other morning... like, wide awake and after only being asleep for a few hours prior.  It took another hour and a half for me to fall back asleep.  The reason for the early wake up call?  No idear.  It happens, thankfully not often.  Once I was awake I started thinking about weird things. Number 1 on that list was how I would decorate/redesign my sister's house if I moved into it.  That birthed into adding a second story and possible third and how I would decorate and arrange those floors as well.  The rest of my thoughts focused on my current life stresses, which are many and seem to never end. 

Don't get me wrong I'm very thankful for what I have, but seriously I'm almost out of time.  Everything keeps piling up an dit's getting to the point where it can't pile up any higher.  I've weighed my options, but most seem just a way to get out of paying my debts and I think/feel that it's a cop-out.  I'm not shucking responsibility.  I made the mess and I should be held accountable for that said mess.  I'm just really finding it hard to see a way out.  A positive side to all this is my walk with God has strengthened.  All I can keep telling myself is to pray, believe and continue looking for a job.

thoughts in the last 30 mins

these animal crackers are delicious

I'm glad I didn't put too much into that relationship, the jerk

this no texting/Internet access on my phone is not as bad as I thought

sugar is the devil

if I had the funds, I'd so buy comic books all the time... also I'd start my own bakery.

wish I had Ian Somerhalder's abs

even better I wish I had Ian Somerhalder

mmmm animal crackers

I want a room-mate, I don't want a room-mate, I want a room-mate, I don't want a room-mate

I'm a mouse killer and I'm okay with that

Yes it's true.  Sad, but true.  I'm a mouse killer.  Believe me, at first I didn't want to kill one mouse let alone 4.  Or maybe it's 5 now.  I've lost count.  It's probably because I've become so numb at killing that I don't think it matters anymore.  Again, sad.  Trust me I don't like what I've become even more than you do, oh judgemental reader.  Look I've lived in my house for 4 years now, seems like longer, but it's only 4.  Unless my math is off which it could be.  Anyway, in those 4 years of residency I've had to deal with mice every winter.  Ants in the summer and mice in the winter.  I actually don't have a problem killing the ants.  I bet if you put a camera on me during my killing spree of the ants I'd look like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of there popular movies.  You know the scene where there's a whole group of bad guys in front of them and they have a massive machine gun hanging from their shoulder with limitless ammo and during the machine guns 10 min massacre they have this pained look of satisfaction on their face.  Course I haven't perfected my tag line to speak after the genocide like Arnie and Sly always seem to have.

But I digress.  Mice.  4 years with those pesky little varmints.  I think it was my first winter there and they were so bad they got in my sofa.  I never saw one personally, but they leave a trail and it was all under my cushions.  Plus they had chewed into an arm of the couch.  So when I left in November for a few days I made sure the dog was with my sister and I turned off the heat.  I think I taught them a lesson because, by golly, they haven't been in my sofa since.  So this year I've actually heard them chewing/scratching in the kitchen.  Have any of my 3 non-declawed cats caught one for me?  NO!  They don't even bother to investigate the sound!  I tried non-killing techniques, but none have worked.  It's bad enough that I've had to clean out several of my kitchen drawers multiple times.  That's a lot of dishes to wash.  No food has been broken into, but that maybe because the ants have put me on the defensive and almost everything that should be is in a sealed container.

I really don't know why the mice are hanging around the house then.  I suppose it's warmer, though the kitchen cabinets aren't very well insulated and can be drafty at times.  Whatever the reason they've been pretty persistent and have caused me to break down and buy traps.  Nice big ones that chomp down on their heads when they go for the appetizing peanut butter.  I caught 2 the first night I put them out. I only bought two because that's all I could afford.  Since then I've caught a couple more, but there are nights in between each trapping.  I'm not a ratologist, if such a thing exists, so I'm uneducated on their behavioral habits, but I hope that these 4 (or 5) were the only ones trespassing on my property.  Because I'm running out of peanut butter...

Introductions

Alright.  Here it goes.  I'm not sure why, but I'm going to start one of these things.  Call me crazy or dumb... just not to my face, please.  I guess it's a good idea or a natural evolution from my constant tweeting and facebook status updates.  Plus I don't have that annoying 140 character limit, blah!  I'm not sure how often or long these posts will actually be.  The problem: lack of Internet access at my place of residence.  I haven't had Internet for 2 years I think, so I don't want to set a standard that I know I'll fail at.  I don't even know what these future blogs will be about.  Maybe ramblings, soap boxes, things I've written, lists... who knows.  I will say that I plan on writing it down first, mostly, on paper with pen and or pencil.  Call me old fashion (and make sure you add the fashion). 

So this is my first entry!  Thrilling, I know.  Well keep with it, please.  On a side note: if you do keep with it, don't take anything at face value.  I'll do my best to not get personal and definitely will not use names, except my own.  I'm sure I'll have friends/family members eventually following this, so don't get mad.  It's nothing personal, believe me if it were I'd tell you to your face.