I'm so happy I'm not the only one. I mean, I don't regret my Bernie primary vote, but I will more than okay with voting for Hilary in November. Partly because of the increasing lack of impression from the Bernie side.

Samesies

I forgot to add this one:

The time I slept in a truck with windows up in the Rockies to get away from the mosquitoes.

Its corollary is "The times I slept out under the stars in the Rockies because stars." So obviously I had some great sleeping locations too, lol.

I'm reading the comments on the AAM hotel bedsharing link (horrifying enough), and now all I want to do is share some of my more memorable AmeriCorps bed/tent/housing stories...

The time in the warehouse/garage with the wasps with all 35 corps members.
The time in the cabin attic with the snoring floormate.
The time in the metal hunting shack during an ice storm (not me, thank you lord jesus. I was in a heated cabin that night).
The time in a converted garage with the ticks.
The time in the basement movie theatre on a concrete floor with probably ~150+ people.

I know I'm missing some, but those are the more colorful situations. I did disaster response, conservation, and wildland firefighting, so it definitely lead to interesting accommodations.

The nice thing is that our program is part of a larger agency... It's just funded by grants from outside that agency. So heck yes on moving towards more stability with the program! The contract (actually a memo of understanding/MOU) isn't for money, but it will definitely help us show that we can hit or exceed our target numbers with stable partnerships, so we can continue getting funding OR get better funding in the future.

Budget worries going away, for at least a while, is huge. I'm glad you got your contract!

Late post thanks to work busyness in the AM, but I wanted to share this somewhere.

I do healthy relationship & sexuality education for folks with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Our program has felt... tenuous in a lot ways for a lot of reasons since I started this job nearly 2 years ago. And we've had almost non-stop transitions in that time too (me coming on only a few months after my supervisor was switched into the program, learning curves, department reorgs, co-worker leaving, new co-worker hired & learning curve, adding responsibilities, office changes, clients in and out... it's been a lot). And on top of all that, grant funding issues.

Anyway, some funding was cut on one grant, but it's managed to turn into a opportunity for growth for our program and the direction we want to go (thanks to our new-ish, kickass director). Before that cut, we'd been essentially piloting a version of our program in one of the city's public schools. It went well, despite some hiccups that we're ironing out for the future. And now, magically/thank you hard work, we're thisclose to a contract with the public school system! And I'm so excited! We had a meeting with a coordinator from the schools yesterday and discussed how the contract/MOU will get approved, how we'd like to structure our groups and time with the schools once the new school year hits, trainings we can offer...

I just, this is the most hopeful I've felt about our program continuing on since I started. I've been struggling with my desire to stay in this position, and now I feel like I have something to stay for. I get to do my groups, teach much needed topics, and can finally see a year where we reach our numbers/stats. This is huge. So huge. I feel like I want to cry half the time and beam sunshine out of my ass the other half.

Anyway, that was more than I planned on writing. But I'm so much more optimistic about my job than I was before and I'm so happy about that.

That face is perfection.

Because I was going to post +1 million pictures of my kittens, I decided to make a collage instead. Here's a summary of Janie and Pye, two very cute 1 year old cats. Their gotcha day is in a couple weeks and I can't believe I've had them nearly a year!



I moved in April to a new place with a new roommate, and I swear, their personalities have blossomed so much more since then. They don't hide when new people come around, enjoy company, and practically demand pets and belleh loving from my roommate. AND they get to enjoy super exciting cat TV now that we live on the first floor of a house with a much better view.

Happy birthday!

Psst, this is the cake I just put in the oven: http://commonsensehome.com/rhubarb-pudding-cake/

I really love rhubarb cake, and this is a different version than I've made before.