infections and condos and workouts, oh my!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

After the newness of the tattoo had worn off (and it had gone into scabbing over and drying out phase - the icky part of the process no one really tells you about) I began to focus on two things: 1)Getting out of this crowded house and 2)putting my all-over health plan into effect.

I looked at a couple apartments in the neighborhood of my job and quickly found out that it would be impossible for me to get an apartment of my own. The rents here are from $600 to $800 for a one-bedroom and $900 plus for a two bedroom. The one bedroom is out. I can't afford it. The two bedroom would work with a roommate, but I'm nervous about having someone new live with me. Then, I found out that I couldn't get a two bedroom in my name anyway, because they want you to make some ungodly amount more than the rent. Soooo.....I researched more options. Either move in to an already established household with a room for rent (thus opening up the whole fear of roommates thing again) or buy something.

Now, I am the last person who I know who I would think could buy and own a home. I make very little, have a lot of debt, and have little savings for a down payment. Low and behold, the magic of low income, community programs for people like me. At Station Casinos we have a program that works with HFN (Housing for Nevada) where they help you with the financial obligations (down payment, appliances, etc.) and counsel you with the rest of what goes on with purchasing and owning a home successfully. I got the application and did some more research. For my purposes, this would be my last resort, because it MUST be owner occupied and then when you decide to sell, HFN gets first dibs on buying it back and making it available for other program participants. That's fine but it is unclear if any profit is made when you sell and that scares me, defeating the purpose of investing in property to begin with!

My boyfriend's best friend (who's a realtor) gave me the name of his mortgage guy and I met with him. He told me my debt to income was too high and that he couldn't help me. I wasn't really discouraged because he was honest, but luckily I know there is another option. NACA, Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America, is similar to HFN, but even more involved and, according to a lender friend of mine, one of the best deals around right now. NACA helps you with the down payment, gives you a low fixed mortgage rate, is more "character based" when it comes to your credit score, and has more lenient restrictions when it comes to debt to income ratios. They counsel you throughout the entire time you own your home and encourage you to participate in their program to help other low income people purchase homes. They require you attend a workshop and then one-on-one appointment. I'm kinda excited. If this ends up working out, I could own a condo here in Vegas and have a $400 dollar mortgage payment. Doesn't make a lot of sense to rent, when a mortgage is less expensive and works more to your advantage in your financial future, does it? My workshop is on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes.

As far as the health plan, I cut out certain foods, bulk up on the healthier foods, eat more often, and have smaller portions. Also, I started working out with weights and doing 25 minutes of cardio a day. Two days of the week I do 45 minutes of cardio. Let me tell you. I was sore, but I found I was sleeping better and wasn't tired throughout the day like I used to be. I had energy and looked forward to coming home from work, working out and taking a hot shower. I'm happy with my results so far.

The last of my news is unfortunate. Friday my tattoo is mega itchy and bright red. I don't think much of it because it's at the tail end of the healing phase. At work, I show it to my boss and she says it doesn't look right and to ask. I ask a woman who has tattoos and she says it doesn't look right, that its infected, and to put ointment on it. I call my tattoo place and they tell me I won't die and it will go away. I'm okay with that until I get home and pull out my trusty laptop. I look up people with infected tattoos and my symptoms are similar. Bright red, the skin is hot to the touch, itchy, and swelling. My ankle below the tat is swelling up too. Online they have mixed pieces of advice. Some say it will go away on its own, others say go to doctor immediately to get antibiotics. I call my insurances 24 hour hotline and the nurse says go to the doctor, even though they are more worried that the tattoo artist wasn't reputable and they gave me Hepatitis or Tetanus. But I watched the artist go through her motions and everything was either brand spanking new out of the bag or heavily sterilized. I was worried that something on my hands or under my nails got into my wound and infected my blood in a bad way. I needed to see a doctor for piece of mind.

I did not want to go to Urgent Care. I didn't want to spend my Friday night waiting around for hours for a doctor to look at it and hand over antibiotics. Urgent Care is for emergencies, not infected tattoos. So even though my insurance didn't cover it, I headed over to the nearest Walgreens Take Care Clinic. I had never been but thought I'd try it, even without them taking my insurance. I'm glad I did. With no one in line, I checked in within 2 minutes on the computer and the nurse took me right in. She asked me some questions, looked at it, and knew exactly what it was, Cellulitis, and how to treat it. She told me what to expect, how to deal and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. My prescription was free and on Wednesday she said to stop by and she'd let me know if I needed to keep taking the antibiotics. $60 was worth the hours I would have waited at Urgent Care. It's getting better, but still looks wicked and I want to scratch it right off sometimes! I love the design sooo much though. Even the doctor commented how cool it was! :-)

Other than that, I lugged my book out to work on the edits. I haven't been doing much on it, but I've been reading. I thought I'd expand my horizons and read a mystery. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone Series, A is for Alibi. So far I'm enjoying it. Very succinct writing, but amazing descriptions. Millhone is a straight-laced, tough-talking detective, yet she knows people so well.
Here's one of her best....

I cleaned my place, did laundry, went to the supermarket, and had a nice visit in the afternoon with my landlord, who was sunning himself in the backyard. For a man of eighty-one, Henry Pitts has an amazing set of legs. He also has a wonderful beaky nose, a thin aristocratic face, shocking white hair, and eyes that are periwinkle blue. The overall effect is very sexy, electric, and the photographs I've seen of him in his youth don't even compare. At twenty and thirty and forty, Henry's face seems too full, too unformed. As the decades pass, the pictures begin to reveal a man growing lean and fierce, until now he seems totally concentrated, like a basic stock boiled down to a rich elixir.

This is what makes me want to write.

Quote of the Day: When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence. ~Samuel Butler

got ink?

Saturday I will be able to cross another item off my New Years Resolutions list.

"Get a tattoo."

As I mentioned before, the tat was something I wanted for my 30th birthday. I never got around to it. So when my coworker made an appointment for me (after I went on and on about wanting one) I said, why the hell not? If that's the kick in the pants I needed, than so be it. I found an absolutely awesome design that's not only nice to look at, but really means something to me. You don't think I'd just get something off the cuff. I've been thinking about the design for a while, but when I saw it about a week ago, I knew it was the one.

And so the nervousness begins. I hate pain. See the post concerning my horrid dental experience for proof. I've heard many different things about the pain of getting a tattoo, from it feels like your skin is being ripped off to the irritation of a scratchy sun burn. It all depends on your personal tolerance of pain and where on your body you're getting it. Mine will be on my right calf, down near the ankle, but still in the fleshy part. The more flesh the better, or so I'm told. I'm hoping I'll be able to take it and not look like a wuss. The artist said it would take about an hour. As long as I don't kick anyone I'll be fine. I'll also have my boyfriend, my coworker Angie, and her sister in law (who's also getting her first tattoo) there for support.

Aside from the nervousness, I'm excited! This is a big milestone and I can't wait to show all of you my new tattoo once it's all healed and beautiful.

Pictures to come.... Wish me luck and bravery!

Quote of the Day: Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum. ~Graycie Harmon

dreaming big part II

Now where were we. I left off on Resolution #13...

13) Get a tattoo.
-This was one of my resolutions from 2007 that never came to fruition. I planned on getting a tattoo when I turned 30. I am 31, going on 32 and I NEED one. I have a couple ideas for what I want and where, but the big issue is that I'm a huge chicken when it comes to pain. I've probably mentioned this before. Isn't it ironic that the sexiest places to get a tattoo are also the most sensitive? Anyhoo, I've got a couple recommendations for artists and one day when I'm feeling brave I'll go for it.

14) Get finances in order.
-One problem with finding yourself by going to a variety of expensive schools is the extensive debt you accumulate from loans. These loans, if paid according to their schedule, will haunt me until 2027. I really don't want that. I want to pay off my credit card debt and tackle these loans with a more aggressive payment. To do this, I need to set up a budget and maximize what comes in and where it goes. I also need to start putting aside some money for the move to New England in the spring, which is a goal further down the list.

15) Take more photographs.
-I hate pictures of myself for the most part. But time is a passing, and I always think back to that Baz Luhrmann song, Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, "in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked…" So just in case, I want to take more pictures - of me, of my friends, of my adventures - and if I could scrapbook them, even better.

16) Move to New England in the spring.
-Some of you probably know of my intention to move to Rhode Island. I visited my best friend, Ariana, who lives in Newport, last summer and realized how much I like it there and how much I miss her. I'm sick of Las Vegas and need someplace new to call home, if at least for a while. Newport's beautiful coast and small town feel really made me think how much I'd like to live there. The hard part is saving up some money for the move, and the hardest part will be finding a new job in this recession. I'm currently exploring my options. If I want it bad enough, I can make it happen. :-)

17) Travel
-This probably won't be happening this year with the move and all, but once settled back East, my mission is to get to Europe. Hopefully, I'll come back once I get there.

So those are my resolutions.

As for the updates on my writing: I'm reading two writing books and taking notes, while summarizing my novel chapter by chapter, to analyze my plot for holes and such. Once that's done, I may show the plot to a few people to get their opinion about the flow and intensity level, then I'll dig in to the specific revisions.

Oh and I made an appointment with Shae's dentist! Thank you, Shae, for recommending her. I have my initial exam and x-rays on January 22. Wish me luck! Now, to conquer the doctor.

Quote of the Day: For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain [and] the noise of battle. ~John Cheever