Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

Today will be busy. MisterMoonbeam was up at the asscrack of dawn to take a couch to the landfill with my son, while DarkKnight and I finally got some artwork hung in the basement. We did a lot of cleaning last night in preparation of our Virginia friends coming to see us over the weekend, and it made me even more set that I did the right thing by firing our cleaning person. The last few times I just felt like I could do a way better job, and that’s saying a lot because I hate cleaning!

Anyway, DarkKnight is leaving soon for his play practice, and I am about to clean up a litter box that is fouling up the whole basement, apparently! Then I need to shower and do some rearranging in the overflow space. I have a local consignment sale giving me all of their leftovers today after 4 pm, and last year this sale had a truck, a van and 3 cars full of items to haul. They picked me this year to receive the bounty and I am super excited to start sorting through it all - it’s all baby stuff. The question is whether my room will hold everything! I tried to post some photos but they are all uploading sideways? Any idea on how to fix that from a phone, or why they would even be doing that?
 
I received less items from the consignment sale than anticipated - but that’s a good thing! It means they made a lot of cash, but also that I could fit everything into my space. My car was full of standup toys, and MisterMoonbeam’s van was full of boxes of both toys and clothes. I have volunteers coming tomorrow to get it all sorted and under control. I hope to head to MisterMoonbeam’s storage unit this morning to snag some folding tables to help showcase stuff so it will move out of here quickly!

My car, again, sideways for some reason:
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Once I am done with baby stuff, I really want to get my home decorated for Halloween. MisterMoonbeam says that he has more decorations in storage, so we are going to search for those today as well.

My whole polycule had a blast last night with our 2 friends from Virginia. Honestly, I am loving this couple so much! I wish they lived closer - we would hang out all of the time! We played the first scenario in standard Zombicide, as neither them or MisterMoonbeam had ever played it. It was fun, and we won. The plan is to play Zombicide: Black Plague today.

Overall, yesterday was a good day for me. I was SUPER into DarkKnight, and I was really tempted to bang the hell out of him after our friends left, but I had a sleepover scheduled with MisterMoonbeam, so I did that instead. My period is over so I am down for poundtown! Lol MisterMoonbeam was exhausted though, so he fell asleep pretty quickly - as did I.

We did have some conversation before bed though. I told him I was feeling very upbeat and positive about my life and our relationship lately. I haven’t felt that happy since before I discovered BugGirl was an addict. Prior to that, I knew PunkRock was relapsing with his sobriety, but I didn’t know the extent of it, and I didn’t have any fears around my daughter ODing, because, well, for both of those, ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Last night allowed me a boost - I am extroverted and I recharge my energy by being around people, so I was feeling very, very good. Everything seemed right in the world. MisterMoonbeam said he was really glad. I told him the only issues I had was the unknown future - I am a planner - but that I was accepting of however things played out with us. He said he wasn’t going anywhere, which, duh, I mean, neither of us planning a breakup at the moment!

I wish there wasn’t a pandemic. I want to travel; I want to go on trips and see the world and the countryside with my loves. I want MisterMoonbeam to be able to date and feel both freedom and stillness of heart. I want the same for me, and even DarkKnight, though I know he isn’t interested in seeing anyone, though. I want to visit all of the National Parks; I want to go to the tropics. I want to put my feet in every ocean.

Instead, for now, I am going to focus on finishing the year with my Blessing Box, and plan a seaside trip for the Christmas holiday. I am going to knock out the rest of the housing projects that are already in the works, and I am going to walk in nature every week. My guys and I are going to finish Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and we may even find time to play the dozen other games we’ve bought this year!
 
Yesterday was an up and down emotional day. It started out wonderfully - both of my guys were positive and agreed to go on a picnic in city park with me for lunch. Our visiting friends joined us, and we had a nice, short walk around the lake. Right before arriving though, I finally heard back from the shelter - my kittens aren't getting fixed this week. This made me livid. Mostly because I had to send two emails this week, and they were never answered. I had to send a text to the emergency phone and ask if my babies were on the schedule. This has never happened - emails are never ignored. This program is going down hard, I think. Anyway, over the messages, I was basically told to just wait. Only, I don't have time to wait - the two kittens who were supposed to be fixed have now been hanging out for 3 weeks, and they have homes waiting to adopt them right now. I need these kittens to leave super soon - I need the room so I can start using it for coats and the Christmas giveaway that I host each year.

So that was frustrating! However, the rest of the day was good! I had a free hour at Tilt, the arcade in the mall, for my birthday. So after the park, DarkKnight stayed at home, but MisterMoonbeam and I, along with our friends, went to the arcade and had a good time! MisterMoonbeam won me a stuffed Flash - like the superhero? Lol I had fun on the pinball machines and playing Joust, and the last of the time there, he and I played this machine together, shooting monsters. It was fun. :) When we left the arcade, we went to get ice cream, and I brought some home to DarkKnight, who had taken a nap. Then he and I headed out to pick up more baby items from the sale in Myersville. So that was another positive - I got one and one time with each of my guys, as well as togetherness as a whole polycule, and I'm excited to have so much stuff to giveaway this morning.

Last night we all played Zombicide: Black Plague, winning the first scenario, losing the second. I'm truly going to miss our friends - I think on both sides of the table, we all wished we lived closer.

Today I am up early. I made signs for all of my clothing boxes, and I've been planning how exactly I am going to lay out everything on the lawn. This isn't going to be a Blessing Box porch display, but it's going to be more of a free yard sale. I have my 3 volunteers arriving at 10 am, thank goodness, so we will have about an hour to sort stuff and get things set up. I figure I will post publicly about this giveaway once it starts. I think we will be putting stuff out all day long!
 
The baby giveaway was a HUGE success.6B322F9B-E154-4107-BD0A-714E43D01B73.jpeg

Almost every single thing was gone at 4 pm when we closed up. I had a small tote of clothing, a bunch of shoes, a few toys and 3 car seat bases left. I am 100% certain that if we had advertised this event beforehand, we would have been picked clean in an hour or so! As it was, everyone that came was gracious and only took a few items. Lots of families were helped, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the kids and the pregnant moms, many of who were excited to tell me about how things were progressing!

My 3 Musketeers were there to help me out all day, and one of the showed with 3 bumblebee headbands for them to wear, and she had a tiara for me, the queen bee! It was funny and nice and I loved that they all wanted to wear them and be involved.

Today was more low key, as it was cold and rainy. Still, my overflow room filled back up after being decent overnight. I am closed tomorrow, so Thursday my volunteers will be back in the afternoon, thank goodness.

I spent most of the day lounging on the couch and watching season 38 of Survivor on Amazon Prime, in between text conversations and doorbell rings. I was messaging with my friend at the shelter about how unhappy I am with the program this year, and I love her so much! She took my complaints up the food chain, and boom - my kittens are getting fixed in the morning. This was a huge source of stress - trying time figure out how to juggle having them in the room while taking in so many coats and Christmas decorations that need that space desperately! So I am really grateful to her. Now all 4 may be adopted and gone by Saturday.

I will have Fresh Food Friday this week, and my chicken dinner giveaway is fully funded. I will post about that as a go tomorrow on the Facebook page, and signups will be Thursday. It’ll be a large pack of chicken, a can of Pillsbury dinner rolls, a jar of gravy, a can of green beans, a can of corn and a box of stuffing to hand out. I will probably give that out Sunday morning - I will be open anyway for our first of four Halloween giveaways before the holiday.

Yeah, the things are busy!

Oh, and my polycule has picked our Christmas pajama theme this year - Call of Cathulhu! The shirts have all been ordered; just have to wait for them to arrive and buy the pants in person to be sure the greens match. 3B48AE0B-4B8D-49EF-AD15-383834C4DA78.jpegFACBE46C-AB36-4544-BEFE-111B8BD2D5DF.jpeg0A71055A-066E-4AFA-9BF4-7FB4A1CE4CFD.jpeg

My shirt is the first one, DarkKnight will be the kitty with the pentagram, and MisterMoonbeam is the solar system cat. I am really squee over these! We also talked a bit last night about our Christmas by the ocean trip that I am reserving the hotel for this weekend. I am nervous about hinging between my guys - we are all of us sharing a hotel room with 2 queen beds. I want to make sure everyone feels comfortable - especially DarkKnight with his “no dingus” rule.
 
Oh god. I realized this morning is when my Senior Santa program usually starts. Guess how much prep I have done so far? Ahhhhhhh!

That said, I think we will be in good shape to post the start next week, after my first Halloween giveaway. I need to sit down and schedule deadlines and wrapping parties, and start putting out feelers to our donors.

Good news - I sent a message to my friend who used to run the foster program, and I told her how my emails were being ignored. Apparently she went behind the scenes and escalated this, and 3 of my kittens were suddenly allowed to be fixed Wednesday morning. ❤️ The smallest kitten was still too small, and has an undescended testicle as well. Right now the 3 that are done will all be adopted Saturday afternoon - I made all of the appointments already - and Tiddlywinks will be moving to a different foster home, so he won’t be all alone here! The other foster has a batch of babies right now, just his size. So I am doing that handoff Saturday morning, when I go to the shelter to pick up the other paperwork for the ones being adopted.

THEN, my foster room will be empty, on time, and ready to be cleared out for coats and Christmas decorations for the Box.

So things are falling into place. Today I will be doing my chicken dinner sign ups, and ai have volunteers coming this afternoon to sort Halloween costumes and get them hung up and prepped for Sunday.
 
That's great news about the kittens.
 
The last few days have been a time of connection with MisterMoonbeam. One night he was very emotional, talking about his granddaughter’s upcoming birthday (she lives in Arizona) and shared some stories from his childhood that still effect him, even now. He was teary and I gave him lots of hugs and did my best to give some comfort.

The next day he was really short tempered and seemingly aggravated by small things. I gave him lots of space (which was easy since I was swamped with my own work with the Blessing Box) and later he came to me and apologized. He said he was embarrassed at his behavior.

Today we had a very good sexual encounter and then a discussion about how his emotional stuff has been impacting his libido. Prior to this, we hadn’t had any sexual contact whatsoever for about a month. His depression and active mourning for his deceased wife leave him feeling guilty and he just is in a space where he is struggling.

It’s a weird situation I feel I am dealing with. On one hand, the less sex we have, the less connected I feel to him. I still look at him and think, oh god, I seriously want to bang this guy, but it becomes more detached, in that it’s more like that feeling in noticing a strange dude in the street or at an event. Not someone I actually am in a relationship with, if that makes sense.

For most of my adult life, sex has been part of the bridge that I build that leads to intimacy. It doesn’t have to be, of course, but it is a huge part of who I am, and sharing closeness is my love language! Not having it is an issue. However, MisterMoonbeam has been amazing with other connections, and it’s been interesting to see how I react and respond without that piece in play.

I am actually really happy right now. I feel more in love with this man than I did at the beginning of our relationship. I think his emotional struggles have made a space for me to deal with my own, and we are both better partners for it. I feel good about the future.
 
I also wanted to share that I got my next Stitch Fit box in the mail yesterday and I was very happy with it. I still have a $100 credit so I kept a dress and a shirt. Here is the dress that I kept! It’s definitely not something I would choose on my own in a store, so I am happy that my stylist decided I needed to take a look at it!

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okay, I gotta go jump in the shower to take DarkKnight to play practice, and our littlest foster kitten to his new home!
 
Do you like stitch fix? I've been considering trying it but haven't taken the leap yet. Are their prices reasonable?
 
Do you like stitch fix? I've been considering trying it but haven't taken the leap yet. Are their prices reasonable?

I love Stitch Fix - but then again, I’ve only received two boxes so far.

The prices aren’t terrible on everything. You can send a message to your stylist and let them know if a price is crazy. Like, she sent me an AMAZING pair of gray booties in the first box, but they were $100. Uh, no. So I told her she picked perfectly, but in no universe would I pay that much! She sent me a $60 pair this time.

Coats and jackets seem to range from $80 to $120, so not too outlandish there. I bought a $44 dress this time (the one pictured). It’s like pre-sale costs from department stores, I guess. However, they offer promotions, so I am actually still using my credits and this stuff was actually free for me!

What I love about it is the excitement of getting surprise clothing in the mail, coupled with it being stuff I definitely would not try in person. It’s been great to realize that some different things work! Lol

I have a $25 credit I can PM to you if you’d like. That way your first $20 styling fee will be applied to the credit and it won’t cost you anything to try! Just let me know. :)

That goes for anyone else wanting to see what it’s like. :)
 
Here are the other items I received this month, including the costs:

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Dress, $44 (I bought the cardigan last month from the box!)

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Jacket, $88 (I sent this back)

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Flannel, $54 (I am not a farmer, so this went back. Also, it had the boobie-button gap going on.)

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Shirt, $34 (I bought this one.)

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Booties, $60 (sent back, they were a half size too big)

I am going to check and see if I can find the pics prices on the first box items I got. I have to say, everything feels very high quality.
 
Ok, this was the first Stitch Fix box. I had a $100 credit to start with, so I think I paid a total of like $17 for the stuff I ended up keeping.

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Booties, $99 (Didn’t keep these, and everyday I regret it. I am actually thinking of requesting them again!)

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Sweater, $58 (I sent this back. It looked okay, but I am not preppy enough to pull it off)

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Maxi dress, $88 (I kept this. The price was absolutely out of line, but I had the $100 credit, so I bought it!)

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T-shirt, $34 (I sent this back.)

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Cardigan, $34 (I bought this.)

You can set a price range for items sent. I am at the $$-$$$ range, I think?
 
Ok, this was the first Stitch Fix box. I had a $100 credit to start with, so I think I paid a total of like $17 for the stuff I ended up keeping.

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Booties, $99 (Didn’t keep these, and everyday I regret it. I am actually thinking of requesting them again!)

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Sweater, $58 (I sent this back. It looked okay, but I am not preppy enough to pull it off)

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Maxi dress, $88 (I kept this. The price was absolutely out of line, but I had the $100 credit, so I bought it!)

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T-shirt, $34 (I sent this back.)

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Cardigan, $34 (I bought this.)

You can set a price range for items sent. I am at the $$-$$$ range, I think?
I got that good vibes t shirt in my first box too. Lol
 
But did you buy it? Lolol

Lol no... I did buy a super soft plain blue tee and a pair of jeans from that box, though! Then I kept EVERYTHING from my second box. A pair of jeans (I didn't have any before these so with 2 pairs, I'm set for a couple of years barring weight changes), 2 lightweight hoodies, a crazy soft chenille sweater, and a 3/4 sleeve floral shirt (pattern very similar to the dress you have on with a cardigan in a previous post). I have $125 in credit sitting in my account so I'm tempted to order another box now. Haha
 
Yeah, MisterMoonbeam invited me, so we both got a $100 credit when I joined, and then I had one friend join so I got another $100. I’m kind of miffed at the people who wanted my sign up and didn’t actually request a box because they wasted those credits! Now I only have $25 ones.
 
Today was pretty good. DarkKnight came home at lunch so I could keep the car. I turned in the adoption fees and contract paperwork for my fosters, so I am officially closed as a resource now until next Spring. I cleared out and sanitized the open closet in the kitten room, and my volunteers filled it with coats. I spent the afternoon sorting hats, scarves, socks and gloves.

I bought someone new tires today too, which was 100% unplanned and unexpected. I wrote about it on my Facebook and on the Blessing Box page in the hopes it would inspire someone else to do the same. I cried a couple of times in the process of doing it. I really felt good afterward - it was the right thing to do.

Tomorrow I am going to be restarting my Invisalign saga with the hopes that there is an end in sight. I also have to take my own vehicle in for an oil change and tire rotation. We were supposed to play Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion tonight but I was too stressed and bowed out. The plan is to play tomorrow night instead.

I am anxious about the dental visit tomorrow, but I am determined to do this with no Xanax. I keep using my hypnosis anchor sign that I was taught and it does bring me away from feeling dizzy still. Yay?

Let’s see - oh, DarkKnight and I had a nice serene walk around Greenbriar lake last night. My plan was to do a longer hike but shit happened and we were delayed so we got there an hour before sundown, so the Lake Loop was all we had time for. It was really beautiful though. I loved walking with my love. I’m so lucky to have him in my life! I wasn’t hungry afterward but we stopped at Sonic, so I ordered a pack of French toast sticks. Basically it was an entire piece of bread I had for dinner, and I poured the syrup over the front of me because I’m clumsy. Sigh.
 
MisterMoonbeam had his laptop die so he had to go work in the office yesterday and today. Sucks.

My orthodontist appointment went well but it entailed a lot more than what was planned. I ended up getting new attachments on the top (6) and the bottom (9) - including ones on the backside of my bottom teeth. I did okay without meds. That said, if I had known how much they were going to do, I absolutely would have scheduled someone to drive me!

My treatment plan will be 23 weeks, and I change out every week. The orthodontist told me that at any time I could switch to every two weeks, if I started having PTSD symptoms. God, I hope not! I just want this over with! I did get entire sets of new aligners for the top and the bottom. They charged me $500 total for this.

I mailed out my Stitch Fix returns at the post office yesterday, and I also took the car in for an oil change and tire rotation. The passenger side front window started making a noise earlier this week, and I asked them to look at it. Apparently it needs a new regulator? It’s covered by the warranty since we bought the car new, so I just need to bring it back in next Wednesday.

I went to DarkKnight’s work an hour early yesterday to pick him up, and he decided to run off with me. Lol He’s salary so he can do that from time to time! Since MisterMoonbeam was going to be at work super late, we decided to go on another hike together, since the one we went to at Greenbriar was so short.

We went down to Boonsboro and saw the original Washington Monument, which ended up being even more of a non-hike since it was only a half mile total. Lol Still, it was nice to be together. The weather was gorgeous and there was a series of signs along the path that gave us a history lesson about Washington’s life.

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Afterward we stopped and had a delicious dinner outside of a restaurant in Boonsboro.

Today both of my guys are gone but I will have a busy afternoon with my volunteers, bagging up frozen foods and unpacking the minivan, which is currently full of Halloween decorations and smaller items that we took from MisterMoonbeam’s storage unit.
 
I really like that boho dress. I have to laugh inwardly though, because I only get clothes at Savers. Dresses, shirts, pants, shorts, capris, hoodies, shoes, hats, purses, backpacks, everything I wear except bras and panties. They average about $4-8 per item. My dresser and 2 large (not walk-in) closets are packed and I may never have to shop for clothes again. Pixi, the same. And she has our entire small 3rd bedroom as a closet. lol
 
I really like that boho dress. I have to laugh inwardly though, because I only get clothes at Savers. Dresses, shirts, pants, shorts, capris, hoodies, shoes, hats, purses, backpacks, everything I wear except bras and panties. They average about $4-8 per item. My dresser and 2 large (not walk-in) closets are packed and I may never have to shop for clothes again. Pixi, the same. And she has our entire small 3rd bedroom as a closet. lol
Oh, don’t get me started! I have like 30+ pencil skirts that are the backbone of my wardrobe - part of my daily “uniform” - and most of them were either $5 or free. I won most online from various salespeople. I am definitely down for saving money, but there’s something about having someone else tell me what they think - and I have really enjoyed my two boxes from Stitch Fix!
 
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