Ya so, glorious horrible news. On friday spouse got the word that he has a slot in the late september training class. The important news we've been waiting for! Green lights, yay! But it wasn't the OFFICIAL rubber stamped email with the official job offer, so we were suspicious, given that we've hit almost every speed bump you can hit in this process. We were told the email was incoming very soon, tues or wed. Still, it was excellent news and we celebrated, but we didn't tell friends/family. Spouse gave the heads up to his current job because of the 2 week quarantine before going to training, and we're only 3 weeks out from the start date. What with the 9/11 anniversary and some red hat protest on 9/18, work is extra busy. (Being all super srs about the red hat terrorists now.) So his bosses need the heads up. I wrote an entry here but hesitated to post it. Something seemed off.

Turns out, we were right to be suspicious, and yesterday spouse got another email saying there has been some snafu in HR and they want a particular waiver that doesn't even apply to spouse. It is pants on head stupid. So spouse is like, fine, how do I get this waiver, who do I need to sign it, I will expedite this shit. And (ha ha, this is great) it is an internal HR thing. He cannot do anything. And HR could have EASILY figured this out months ago and had it ready, but let him get all the way to the final gate before some sharp eyed deep state vogon decided he needed this extra form (when he doesn't). Nope, nope, sorry, why don't you have this piece of paper that you're not allowed to get for yourself and doesn't even apply to you? Even the coordinator handling his application says it's weird.

So maybe he'll be in the sept class? Or maybe it's too late and his slot has already been given away? No idea.

And my whole life everyone's like, why are you so paranoid and suspicious and always planning for the worst? THIS. THIS IS WHY. BECAUSE THINGS NEVER GO SMOOTH. So I'm cackling because this is textbook. I knew this would get fucked up. I knew it. What can you do but laugh?

But still, there is good news here because it means we are only one hoop away from the new job. All the other hoops have been jumped. I hope they can still get him in the sept class because otherwise he'll have to pass another fit test. That's the worst - until he gets to training, some unlucky illness or injury could ruin his shot. I am tired of being anxious about covid. It will be a relief once I know it can't barge in like the Kool Aid Man and obliterate our life plans. OH YEAH.

Spouse's parents and others at the house seem to have gotten past covid with no medical attention needed, but his dad is still having trouble. His dad enjoys writing these email newsletter things and hasn't sent one out since he got sick, which is worrisome, because with his spine injury, writing is what keeps him feeling useful. If he's not well enough to get to the computer, he's not in good shape. Spouse's brother in the midwest caught covid this week, but he's vaccinated and quarantining himself away from the family so things should be okay. Spouse's younger sister's husband's father has died of covid. I guess technically my brother in law's father? I actively dislike this brother in law. He's on my permanent shit list, but I wouldn't want him to lose his dad to covid.

So that's the fresh hell for this week. We were accepted? Until we weren't? And I think we let ourselves get excited about finally escaping this state. We are so ready to move.

We celebrated on friday night and unfortunately I carb bombed myself. I fucked around and found out. Potassium helped so the headache was more disappointing than anything. Being so good with my vitamins. I think my body hates those hard seltzer things. I didn't have a problem when I made the spotchka, but one hard seltzer and kerblooie. I'm a lightweight, sure, but getting a hangover from one hard seltzer is ridiculous. The problem is this backwards state makes it easy to pick up beer or wine, but if you want spirits you have to go out of your way to a specific store with more limited hours. Anyway no more for me, seems like they are just headaches in a can.

Ordered the ProOne water filter yesterday and I am way more excited about it than I should be. I'm like a senior citizen, obsessed with my vitamin regimen and my filtered water and my cats. See, this is stuff I'd never blab about to someone in person because pretty soon you're just talking about bowel movements and what restaurants have the best meal deals. People under 30 don't get excited about boring stuff like vitamins and water.

I made some drink syrups (lemon and lime-mint) and they came out okay. Not amazing, just okay - def some tweaking to do. But pretty good with the carbonated sodastream water, esp with a few frozen berries mixed in. I'm working on some shrubberies and letting them soak a good long while. I have blackberry-mint, raspberry-thyme, lemon-cardamom-anise, fig-tamarind-black pepper, and peach-rosemary. They're still going so no idea if they're any good yet. The air fryer lid for the instant pot has a dehydrating setting, so I dried some of the herbs from my own plants - works fine for little batches. I think I may switch up technique for the next shrubbery round. I've been following the recipe where you soak the fruit and spice in vinegar first, then heat and add sugars, and I may switch it up where I add fruit and spice to sugars, let sit, add vinegar, let sit, then heat and add more vinegar to top off. Experimenting in the small jars gets a thumbs up. I'm also considering trying to make my own apple cider vinegar. I had spouse buy the big jar of pickles so I can have the glass jar after. Supposedly you take organic apple peels and cores, add water, stick it somewhere for 6 weeks or so and presto, apple cider vinegar. The shrubberies take a lot of ACV so I was thinking perhaps I might save money and make my own. The downside to this plan is 1) I have no apple tree, so I have to spend extra on organic apples and 2) it takes time to brew. So I am unsure if this is practical. I found a store brand of ACV with the mother and it's only $4 for a quart, even though I have to go out of the way to the particular store. Braggs ACV is $7-10. But knowing how to make your own ACV can't be a bad thing, so I want to try at least once.

I'm going to try to make a gravy treat for the cats. Cat is getting older and I can tell he's having some stiffness in his hips. Missing a leg puts more stress on the other three. So I want to give him this cat supplement that is mostly glucosamine chondroitin for joints that you sprinkle on their wet food. But the cats are so picky. They will eat it on wet food (success!!), but Cat only laps up the gravy and I don't think he gets enough before Other Cat polishes off the meat bits. I got this "lickable treat" for him that is roughly the texture of pudding, thinking he would love it. Nope, he turns up his nose. Other Cat will eat it but she doesn't seem thrilled. I suspect he doesn't like fish in his food, and these treats are supposedly chicken flavored but have fish as one of the ingredients. Which is weird because he likes tuna juice but whatever, cats. Okay, fine. I just need some kind of gravy chicken product that he will eat. I'm thinking of making some bland bone broth from leftover chicken bones and seasoning it with catnip. I've been cooking whole chickens and some brands have the giblets included. I can at least recognize the liver and I know cats like it. So I'm thinking of cooking up this chicken liver with bland bone broth and making some kind of gravy in the hopes the cats will gobble up their joint supplement. Wish me luck, could be a bunch of work for nothing. These spoiled kitties.