almost tgif

Wow. Almost a whole week since I blogged. Where does the time go? Oh ya, it goes to work. So here are a few things that have happened to me within the past week:

Last Saturday I had a little game night thingamajigger at my place. It was so much fun, but MY GOD people were here until almost 1am. That either really shows my age or my dedication to my choral job Sunday mornings. At about 12:30am I mentioned how late it was. Everyone seemed shocked that it was so late. That, my dears, is the sign of a good party.

Then there was Sunday. After church and lunch with a long lost friend, there was no rest for the weary. Half of Winny had a birthday (happy 35th!) so we all met at their place for Super Bowl/birthday festivities. During the half time, we flipped over to Guitar Hero (my 1st time to play--not too bad for a first time--84% correct) and had birthday pie. Yes, pie. As soon as the game was over--and what a fantastic 4th quarter it was!--I booked it home to watch House. Yes, I'm addicted to Hugh Laurie. Anyone who can act on a medical drama and Black Adder has my vote any day.

The work week was that. A week of work. Funny thing was that I've been "off" all week. Wednesday I thought it was Thursday. Today I thought it was Friday. I'm gonna be pissed tomorrow when I wake up and have to go to work. Doesn't help that "management" is going through a phase. I cannot wait for Saturday to arrive. I did have one unexpected happy moment this morning though. Someone brought all their leftover Christmas chocolates to work and left them on the break table. Normally that wouldn't really thrill me. HOWEVER, there were Andes mints in the mix. Hell ya! Those were the best 10 minutes of my day. *remembers the minty goodness and smiles wistfully*

So, now it's Lent. Time for fasting, reflection, contemplation, and other lenty things. I hope you all take this time to focus on what is really important in your lives. You are all my dear friends, and I love you all! Thank you for being a part of my life. =)

tgif

Not a whole lot to report, but I just thought I'd let y'all know what little is going on in my little world.

P. Whitey is not gonna make it. Beside the fact that he's not a paperwhite (okay, so I never claimed to be botanist) but an amaryllis, he didn't like being outside in 50mph winds. I'd insert a picture here, but it'd just be too sad. Poor leaves just dangled across the flower bed. *insert sobbing here*

I made yet another horsey friend today. You tell one person how to work with parasites and they invite you out to ride with them. Brilliant!

If you have a weak stomach, stop reading here. Most of you know that I just got over a kick ass case of bronchitis. Well, I really thought something was coming back. I'd been getting all sinusy the past couple of days, and my right maxillary sinus was in total pain. Then I started getting the green goo outta my nose. Finally today while I was at work, it got worse. Damn. I finally snorked up a golfball sized snot globber. Being in the lab, I took advantage of what was at my disposal. I made a smear, stained it, and looked at it under the microscope. Tons of neutrophils but no eosinophils. Some sort of infection but not an allergy problem. Luckily, there was no bacteria seen. Funny. I felt incredibly better after that, and the sinus pain is all but gone. Go fig.

27 hideous dresses

Why do I let myself go to chick flicks??? They are either uber stupid or cause me great grief when I get home. I will admit, 27 Dresses was much better than I anticipated. I even debated ditching the friends since I was sleepy after my first day back at work. But they are my friends. I suffer for them. Pity me. ;-) Anyway, where was I? Oh ya, the girly movie. There were the couple of places I really wanted to bust out weeping but didn't. There were places I had to wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes. Then I leave, get in my car, and I just about lose it. WTF? I'm such a girl sometimes!!! Is it hormones? Is it age? Some sort of strange combination? I used to never cry at movies. Ask my mother; she'll tell you all about how while growing up I could watch Miracle on 34th Street with a totally straight face. Not anymore. I've even found myself getting teary while watching Hallmark or long distance commercials. And don't even mention the coffee commercial where the son comes home to surprise his family. That kills me!

So now I'm home trying to undo all the estrogen damage while watching the Stars kick some Canuck bootie. Wish me luck.

Monday Night Fun!

What do you do for fun on a Monday night? After I got home from my growth group meeting, I was kicking back with my fave Law and Order on TNT and brewing a pot of tea. All of a sudden I heard this *CRASH!* from the kitchen. WTP? Both of the cats are in the TV room with me. So I go into the kitchen and saw that my paperwhite had tried to commit suicide again. This poor plant has gotten waaaaay too big for the bitty pot it came with, and it jumped (for the 3rd time now) off of the window sill. Fine! I'll replant you outside. I've been trying to wait for it to get warmer, but I don't think P. Whitey wants to wait. Poor guy's gotten two feet tall while in the kitchen window. I only hope it can survive the crap ass move it got tonight. Keep in mind, I can't find my spade, it's too late to borrow Mother's, it's dark, and all I can find is a stick. Here's the result:



Note the stick helping to hold up the poor weak leaves. I hope that maybe I can get him a little deeper into the soil tomorrow when there is light. Poor P. Whitey! I wonder if he'll ever bloom?

the pains of battle

So really it is more like the pains of cleaning. At some point yesterday I tweaked something in my back. It was sore when I went to sleep, but at 3:38am my back was screaming at me. WAKE UP WAKE UP!!! FIX ME!!! Does this mean I'm getting old? Since it was/is muscular, I say no to the old. I'm thinking it's just me being my usual graceful self. Nevertheless, I took 2 Aleve and slept the rest of the night on my heating pad--no worries, it turns itself off after a certain allotted time so I don't burn myself too badly. Stupid back.

Then there are the pains of relationships. Why, oh why, do I over analyze every blasted little thing? The poor XY works 6 days a week and is taking a class 2 days a week. God forbid that he ever be too tired to see me. Seeing him was supposed to be the one good thing about me not getting to leave town this weekend! Arrgh! Once again I have to thank the Hbomb for shrinking my head earlier tonight and telling me what I already knew: I'm over analyzing again. Gah! I guess it has something to do with the fact that I've become cabin fever girl being stuck in the house for the past week recuperating. I need to see people now that I'm (basically) well. I miss people (especially him). Oh well, I'll be back at work soon enough. That'll cure me!

So in closing, happy beginning of the week to you all. And ouch. Maybe I should use an ice pack now. =)

Thank You!

A HUMONGOUS thank you to the Hbomb! She waded into the clutter that was my house, and now it is clean!!! Well, I told her not to bother with the kitchen (not bad) or the bedroom (too many clean clothes to put away and not enough time). Now I feel like I should have people over for a party. Hmmmm, that's actually a good idea. Anyway, one more time:

THANK YOU!!!

yep, still sick

You think after a week of this farking crap, I'd be better. Nope. I am on the mend though. The official curse, um, I mean diagnosis, is bronchitis. Really Dr. Sherlock? You get that with the raspy rales in my chest. Gosh, you're smart. Okay, I'm not mad at him, I'm just cranky in general. Because of this illness, I didn't get to take my intended vacation. I was supposed to head down to Fredburg and San Antonio today. Since I'm still hacking up my lungs, I decided it would be best to try to heal. The worst part was hearing how upset my god daughter is about not being able to see me. Talk about serious sad face. I will make it down there eventually though. I'm hoping for sometime within the next month. I just want to get out of this town for awhile. And no, Denton doesn't cut it. The only good thing about skipping the trip is getting to see the XY this weekend. That makes up for a little of it.

Okay, the third period is about to start. Gotta go root on the Stars!

what else should I be doing at 1:53am?

Yep. I'm awake. Go fig? I've had enough cough syrup to knock out an elephant, but I'm still awake. Prolly has something to do with still coughing. I've decided I want a lung transplant. Heck, better yet, make it a full immune system transplant. Give the Hbomb one, too, while we're at it.

I am soooooooooooooooo sick of coughing. The last 3 days, I've even coughed so hard as to cause myself to hurl. While driving. Wow, that's fun. I don't think I'm getting better. Thank goodness for nothing to do tomorrow except watch the Packers whoop up on the Giants.

Ya know that thin piece of wax-like paper stuff in a kazoo that makes it buzz? I feel like I have that just beneath my larynx. When I lie down to sleep, I sound like I've got a recorder in my chest. A really cheap recorder, too. The kind they used to pass out in grade school that never kept good pitch because it'd been dropped so many times. All buzzy in the chest. I guess it's better than having a fuzzy chest.

Okay, that's it for now. Take care people. And wash your hands!

Welcome to my world

So far, 2008 has not been my best friend. Things are, however, looking up!

This evil throat thing I've had going on since before Christmas has finally been solved. Yes, I did have a sinus infection at the end of 2007, but the sore throat and hoarseness never resolved. I kept calling my (normally excellent) GP, and his response was keep sucking on lozenges and drinking lots of liquid. Great. Thanks. In addition, I decided to "sweat it out" by eating everything spicy I could get my hands on--habanero salsa, spicy Vietnamese food, wasabi, etc. Nothing was working, and it was actually getting more sore and more raspy. So I finally made my appointment for today with the fancy schmancy vocal doctor. I mean, I do get paid for this voice when it's not so raspy. Would you believe that everything I was doing was exacerbating the problem? Ya, it's not even close to a throat infection. Gerd. No, really, I mean GERD. Stupid freaking acid reflux. It hasn't bothered me in at least a year. Well, it decided to rear it acidic ugly head and make my vocal cords all inflamed and swollen. Stupid GERD! Now I am on official vocal rest for 3 weeks. Yes, you read me right--THREE WEEKS!!! Gosh, don't these people know me? Luckily, I can talk reasonably often--just no screaming at Stars games or Cowboys playoff games. Oh wait, there won't be any of those. Okay, no screaming at Brett Favre viewings. =) Simply put, I'll be taking a crap load of Prilosec, Gaviscon, anti-caffeinated beverages, and non-spicy food for the next while. Joy.

2008. Bring it on. I'm ready for ya.

search for the holy grail (of recipes)

So, my favorite chef called me tonight to ask my assistance. She wanted my dolma recipe. Well, it's not mine per se. So while we are on the phone and she is filling me in on the saga of her father's run in with a brown recluse (pray that all goes well and he is released from the hospital soon!), I start rummaging through all my random recipes. It's not in the "collection" of stuff I've got in my personal cookbook. Then I start looking through all the loose leaf pages stuffed in between cookbooks on the shelf. Then I look between pages of the most commonly used cookbooks. Nothing. Arrgh!!! How can I have lost the holy grail of dolmades recipes?!?!? Next it's time to call Mother. I got the recipe from one of her books. That was insane! Here is how it went:

It's in a green book, not pea green or grass green, but something in between. It doesn't have a dust cover on it. I think the lettering on the binding is gold. Look in the index. It has a recipe for dolmades? Does the book open right up to it? *she reads ingredients aloud* I think that's it! Houston, there is no problem!!!

So, there you go. That's my uber exciting Thursday night. If anyone needs the recipe, it will officially be in possession tomorrow.

yargh

It's Tuesday. It's been quite a week already. After being in a funky mood all day Sunday, I was at work by 7:30am Monday. I was the first person to leave at 6pm; the only reason I got to leave so early was because I had hockey tickets. (Go Stars!) Simply put, the day shift had to finish on Monday what the night shift couldn't do Saturday night (not their fault--instrument problem). It was insane! I was all freaky because I was swamped with my work, but I was expected to finish up and help with everything else. Luckily the boy jumped in to help me so I was able to get a crap load done as quickly as possible. Yay boy!

So that was work. I'm still all sickly, and that really pisses me off. I called the doctor yesterday and all he had to say (via the nurse who's super sweet) was rest, plenty of liquids, vocal rest for the rest of the week (hahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!), and basically just take care of myself. Ya, um, I've been doing that since before Christmas. Look where that's gotten me. Granted there is no more green snot (nice visual, I know), but I sound like a dying frog. Not good for someone who gets paid to sing. Today, instead of going to movie night, I was going to come home and "rest." On the way home, I decided to go to yoga class. That's something I can do while ill. It's good for me either way. I went; it was hard; it was wonderful! Finally I feel like I've done something positive this year.

As to the situation with the XY, things seem fine. We've talked; he acted like there was nothing wrong or different. I blame hormones. Those pesky things are the same reason I was ready to personally cut out my left ovary this morning. Stupid "being a woman" business. I'm just gonna chalk it all up to this being January. Nothing good ever comes of January.

and now...I'm home

Glad to be home after leaving 17 hours ago. What a long day. I started off by going to work (imagine that) for my Saturday duty. It was such great fun having the boy there to help me for the first time. I was actually finished in just over 8 hours. It's been eons since that happened! Then it was up to Willow Bend for a new top to wear for the evening--since the one I'd planned on wearing after work was at home on the couch. Sometimes my brilliance astounds me. Thank goodness for mega after Christmas sales. Then it was up to Denton for dinner with the XY and friends. For the most part, it was a lovely evening. The XY liked my friends, and they liked him. Now I just gotta figure out how he feels about me. I think he likes me, but he won't let me see where he lives. He gives me the "it's not you, it's me" thing about it. He says he's ashamed of the tiny, messy place. I say, so what! He's seen my hovel. I told him that I wasn't dating him because of his clothes or money or where he lives. That didn't phase him. Maybe it is him. I should try not to worry. Of course we all know that's like trying to get a leopard to change its spots. *rolls eyes at self* So, think happy thought for the spotted mouse. At least I'm home with my boys and my new down comforter!!!!! That, dear ones, makes up for just about everything. =)

happy flippin' new year

Not that I'm not thrilled it's finally 2008, but could I have at least had a chance to ring in the new year healthy? For the first time in years, I had a date (nay, a boyfriend) on New Year's Eve, and I was sick as the proverbial dog. I felt so sorry for him! I tried to be upbeat and interesting and exciting, but really all I could do was sit and watch people have fun and try to entertain him. I'm sooooo glad that he found stuff in common with some of mine and Winny's friends. Otherwise, I would have felt like the worst girlfriend in ages.

Yep, I'm still sick. Why did I pay good money to the doctor to still be sick??? Arrgh!!! Oh well, I did get some good health news today. I don't have to go back to the rheumatologist until I start to be "symptomatic" again--and that could be years! That's a serious WOO-HOO! At least my back is starting to feel better. Yep, there was a NYE injury to be had. The XY and I were joking around playing "who's stronger" (forgetting that I am a woman who hasn't been doing my strength training exercises). I lost. I accidentally tripped (?) over his foot, fell backward, and landed back first on the back of Winny's couch. We heard my back crack--the Hbomb thought it was the couch breaking. That hurt like a sonofabitch! Actually brought tears to my eyes. Poor XY. He still feels a little bad about it.

Anyway, that's my new year in a nutshell. Sinus infection, laryngitis (some people are happy about that one), and a sore back. At least I don't have cramps! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

yuck

I just figured it out. Augmentin leaves the absolute nastiest taste ever in your mouth. Ugh!

Thank you for letting me vent.

TGIF (almost)

Only one more day in the lab before I get another 4 days off. Good Lord, it can't come fast enough! I mean, I only worked 10 hours today. I'm not sure how much overtime I have this week, but last week I had ~6.5 hours extra. Let's see, 6.5 x time and a half regular pay plus the shift diff I get on Saturdays = the ability to pay some crap off (like the new starter). Woo hoo!!!

In the rest of my life (the little bitty bit of it that is not taken up by work), things are good. I'll finally mention in the blog that things are going swimmingly with the new beau. I'm actually going to spend NYE with him. That means he'll be meeting an ass-load of my friends that night. Wish him luck...! For once, I'm not worried about people meeting "someone new." There's nothing not to like. Well except for his ability to interrupt and not stop talking when I have something to interject. Of course, I do exactly the same thing, so I can't complain at all!

The car is running beautifully since the new addition of the starter. Now I just have to find time to get him inspected. I did take a little pride today and give him a bath. Now the rest of North Texas can thank me for the rain we have gotten this evening. Dammit.

Christmas was nice. I did the paternal thing on Sunday and spent the actual day with Mother. She and I prepared a fan-freaking-tastic meal!!! It's hard to not eat all the leftovers in one sitting. I hope everyone was able to spend time with family and loved ones like I was able to do. I am so thankful for my family and friends. You are all awesome and I wouldn't trade any of you for anything!

Thanks for being here with me this year. I look forward to spending time with everyone in 2008!

for Heather

She wants me to blog--here it is.

Lesson for the week: Be nice and courteous to people. You never know when they can really help you out.

I've been having this little problem with my car the past couple of weeks. Seems he really didn't feel like starting all the time. Seeing as that he did eventually start after a couple of cranks, I never gave it a lot of thought. Until Sunday. After the cookie party over at Winny's, I sat in my car for a good 5 minutes trying to start him. Crank, nothing, sit. Crank, nothing, sit. You get the idea. I decided the next morning (my last day of vacation) to take it up to the place where I got a new battery like 2 months ago. When I awoke the next morning, I popped the hood and noticed that the terminals were all corroded. Um, new battery? What the...? So I got those cleaned off, got him started, and tootled up to the car place. I had to get it inspected and have the oil changed anyway. Or so I thought. Did you know that you can't pass inspection with a brand new battery (which they had to give me)? Does something to the computer parts and won't pass. Whatever. Why couldn't they have inspected the car and then changed the battery. But what do I know? I'm only a girl. Oh, and they didn't charge for the battery since it was under warranty. YAY warranty! They finally got everything "fixed" and told me that my starter was going out. It could die that day, the next, next week...no idea how long it would last.

Seems it made it until after lunch and that was it. I sat in the parking lot after lunch with mi madre and tried for what felt like ages to get him going. While I was trying all this, I called my regular mechanic, and asked how much it would be for a new starter. The oil change place had said upwards of $500. My guy said $350. Guess where I went. When I finally got there, the main mechanic laughed at the $500 estimate and said they were prolly trying to rope me into something. A brand spanking new starter would cost the garage ~$750, plus a markup, plus labor, plus whatever else they might want to charge. I got a rebuilt starter with labor and everything for the promised $350. AND, to make things even more unbelievable, they told me I could wait until Friday to pay them (since I get paid on Friday and went a little nuts on Christmas stuff for the fam).

For those who want to know, my mechanic of choice is Kiger Tire which is owned by Dennis and whose head mechanic is Dale. I never use real names here, but this is for everyone's benefit. They may not always have the best prices, but they are always honest and reliable. I cannot possibly praise them enough in this small space.

culinary oh-ohs

This has not been the best week for cooking. I love to cook! It's what I do for people to make them happy. Unfortunately, I think I'm slipping.

Last weekend was my mother's birthday. She wanted me to come over and cook her dinner. Great! I love that! I asked what she wanted (within reason, of course). As a side, she mentioned that broccoli would be nice. I asked if she would like it steamed or roasted. Simply steamed was the way to go. Well, how hard is it to steam broccoli really? Obviously quite difficult. I set it on fire. How the hell can I set fire to a vegetable being steamed? Well, some of it was touching the lid of the pan in which it was being steamed. I figure that is the worst cooking disaster I would deal with this year (I mean, there are only a couple of weeks left).

Not so. Tonight, I burned couscous. WTF??? This is a dish in which you boil water, add the pasta, and turn off the fire. Nope, I burned it. I'm starting to doubt my culinary skills.

ow ow ow ow ow ow...

Wow, ow. So I finally decided that since I'm "vacationing" for the next 5 days, I should take this time to get back into the gym routine. Ow. I printed out the list of classes for the week and decided to go to pilates this morning. I've done it before, and I know how to modify things so I don't kill myself. I'm at the gym by 9:05am, and the class is due to start at 9:15. I get my mat and my towel and I'm ready to go. Well, more people start coming in and getting mats, blankets, towels, and other sundry crap. Dude, it's pilates? Why do you need all that stuff? Hahahahahaaaaaa! Jokes on me! Ow. It was not a pilates class--it was power yoga. Emphasis on the power. Well, really, how hard can that be? I did a yoga class (granted ~5 years ago) and I found it to be rather boring. Again I say HA! By the end of the class (before the cool down) I was all sweaty and huffy and exhausted. Ow. Damn, that was a great workout. The only bad thing is that now my wrists are killing me. Stupid microscope. I guess I need to work on my downward dog a little more to strengthen the wrists. Ooh, but I did have one sweet little old lady (who totally whooped my ass in the yoga-ing) compliment me on my limberness. My mother is gonna get the biggest kick out of that!

Ow.

serious blog--beware

For those of you who come to this blog for humor, you're not gonna get it tonight. I've been having these weird thoughts since last Friday, and I think if I hash them out in "print" they will make more sense.

And no, I'm not depressed, sad, melancholy, or having a pity party. I've just been spending too much time with people who are way more philosophical than me.

I think I've decided that romantic love doesn't exist. I think what people think of as love begins as lust. You get so into a person that you can't think of anything else. You want to be with them, you spend all day thinking of them, and you daydream of the two of you in numerous situations. Lust. If you spend enough time together, you think that you are falling in love. What I think is really happening is that you are merely strengthening the bond by connecting in a deep friendship. The more time you spend together, your friendship is tested by daily trials and more serious dilemmas. If you can make it through all this as a couple, what you have is a fantastic friendship that has been fortified with a new found respect. Friendship and respect together seem to equal romantic love, but I don't think it is love. If it were, people wouldn't fall out of it. So many couples split these days. How often does a marriage really succeed? Only about 50% of the time. That's not love. But how often do you hear of a parent "falling out of love" with their children? I think the only true love is what parents feel for a child and what God feels for us--His children. That is the true love that is never ending.

Don't get me wrong! I am still looking for Mr. Right. This crazy idea won't stop me thinking that people should meet and fall in lust-friendship-respect. I just don't believe in romantic love. I think it is a figment of the media and all those crazy poets and artists throughout the ages. It has nothing to do with Hallmark cards, flowers, and chocolates.

Whoa. No more 12 hour days for me. Too much time to think. :-)

weather

Wow. Texas weather is amazing. Yesterday it was close to 80 so I had to turn on my a/c in the house. Today it hasn't gotten above 51 (what the thermostat read when I woke up). Ergo, the heat is now on. Go figure. I wonder how many people in the north Texas area are going to end up sick because of this. All I can tell you is that I have hauled out the flannel pjs and my nose is cold.

Who wants to keep me warm??? Ah, I see Mr. Underfoot has volunteered.
(Mr. Underfoot is the new nickname for the Cornman.)

what a week

This week has officially sucked a big hairy man's arse. It was topped off today by me working almost 10.5 hours. Nothing but tons and tons of poop followed by buckets of urine and blood. Woo-hoo! Sounds like fun, huh? I am glad to be at home (and clean again) finally.

It's like this: there were 3 people on vacation this week. Then one girl, who just got back from vacation, worked 2 days and had to leave because her father-in-law (who lives with her) died. I can't imagine how horrible that must have been. *quietly says prayer of thanksgiving for all my family and friends* Ergo, we were 4 people short. THEN, the girl who is my major cohort had a vacation day today. ARRGH! It was insane.

I am now officially brain dead. Oh, ya, and I have to be back in the morning. Yippee. Please don't be offended if I accidentally forget to call or return emails for a few days. I just have to make it to Wednesday....

eerie day

Today has been so weird that I have to blog about it. The first thing was the keys left in the door overnight which I already mentioned. After that blogging, I checked my email. Because of Rico Suave, I got roped into Facebook. Come to find out that I got "poked" by my high school/college ex. I really didn't know what to make of it. Call me discombobulated. So after lunch with my mother and running a couple of errands, I had to come home to cook something for the growth group Christmas dinner tonight. While I was cooking and chatting with a friend online, I got the email "boop." I clicked into the email, and it was some new guy from the stupid internet dating site wanting to meet me. I said thanks but I'm seeing someone else to which he replied "so am I, but I'm not into her." He wanted to see me anyway. While this was a great shot to the ego, I felt immediately guilty since the new guy and I just had our DTR talk the other night. I actually considered meeting the new guy. How awful am I? I eventually ended up sending him an email saying thanks but no thanks. This is at least the 2nd guy who's been pretty "bold" in wanting to take me out even after I've said I'm seeing someone else. What is this world coming to? Are there no boundaries anymore? And then there's the thought that what if I just got rid of someone great? Arrgh! I hate doubts and insecurities and second thoughts!

oh my gawd

Thank goodness my neighborhood is relatively safe.

Being Monday, it's trash day. I get my spare key, stick it in my pocket (because invariably when taking out the trash, I'll lock myself out), and proceed to take the trash and recycling to the alley. I think I might as well just go in through the front door since I have a key in my pocket--that way I can get the paper from the street. I get out there, grab the paper, and walk to my front porch. When I open my screen door, what is that dangling from my front door but my keys. Car keys and house keys all in plain sight. Well not really because of the screen door (THANK THE GODS FOR THE SCREEN DOOR!!!) Damn. There are times I really think I'm a blonde underneath it all. All I drank at the C&B last night was club soda!!! I blame the smokers.

I deserved to be whipped with a wet noodle.

Sunday night blogging

There are times I question my sanity. Right now is one of those times. For the first time in about a month, I returned to my Bible study group. Gosh, I really like these people. Unfortunately, when we hit the pub for the refreshments afterward, I inevitably get smoked out. Tonight, the two guys sitting across from me were rolling their own cigarettes. Ugh! I'm always downwind of smoke and leave smelling like a freaking ashtray. I may have to take a shower before bed just to get rid of the smell. What's worse? Even though I don't smoke, I can taste it in my mouth. Gack!!!

So, other things....
I'm totally enjoying my 3 days in a row off of work. I sooooooo needed them. I think I was getting a little burned out on poop. And my house looks a little better from the free time spent tidying. Things are progressing well with the new man--still not taking any leaps yet. Taking my time with this one. And no, no details here. Oh, except that I can tell that Thomas does not approve. Spending ~3 hours at the mall yesterday (to support my lovely friends in their musical exploits) was seriously not good for my back and shoulders. I sat on a brick wall with no back support for just shy of and hour and a half. Much pain today. I'm glad I can be there for my friends kids when they don't want to turn to their parents just yet with problems. However, cut me some slack and don't hit me with a possible life altering text message when I'm at work. It can be very distracting. Glad things worked out with that one!

That's all I got for now. More when it happens!

time for a new purse

Wow, has it really been over a week since I last put up a post? I'm a total slacker. My apologies.


I can't remember if I blogged about how I got iced tea in my purse a couple of weeks ago. Well, yesterday morning, it was worse. I stopped at the local Starbucks for a gingerbread latte (nonfat, of course), and proceeded to dump half of it into my purse. Hmmm, how is this possible, you wonder? My purse was on the floorboard next to the gear shift and my arm knocked the aforementioned beverage. Knocked it right into the purse. Damn. Looks like someone will have to hit the Target to buy yet another inexpensive handbag. And thank goodness for the $12 purse. Granted, my mother and best friend will hate it--it's the beautifulness that is army green! Looks like something a high schooler might carry. Then again, considering how rough I am with them, I need something I don't mind replacing! Since this one is fabric, I may be able to throw it in the washer if necessary. Wait, no--when necessary.

Let's see--what other goings on are there? Funny how many times during the day while I'm driving or otherwise engaged I think to myself "dang, I gotta blog about that." Then I finally get the chance and ... what was it all about? Damn getting older and getting forgetful. What was I talking about again?

But one thing I do remember:
Happy Birthday JCC!!! Enjoy your youth and your mindfulness while you can!!!

when it rains...

So I had this one date Saturday night. Now all of a sudden, I'm uber attractive or something. During the date, some other guy hit on me with the Joeyism of "how you doin?" Tonight I stopped by the Starbucks to get a tea refill, and another guy was all "Do you live around here? Do you come here often?" I swear to Buddha he said that! Funny thing, these have not been unattractive men--in fact the Starbucks guy was hot! It's a mad mad world.

tritones and triplets

I have to learn this Vivaldi duet for Christmas Eve. I'm working on it over at a friend's house (who happens to have a kick arse new piano), and I hit this section where there is an interval I cannot hit correctly to save my life. I even tried playing both parts to see if it made more sense. Considering I can't play the piano to save my life either (sorry, Mom--lessons never stuck), that in itself was interesting. I still couldn't hit the c# after the g. That's when it hit me--tritone! I don't care if you want to call it a diminished fifth or an augmented fourth. I call it evil. Hardest freaking interval for a singer to sing, and it's even harder if you passed your only semester of theory because of a lot of praying to the Lord Almighty. And I thought I was having problems with the triplets. Man, they are CAKE in comparison.

And yes, Heather, I went on a date this weekend. It was nice. He is nice. I'm not wobbly in the knees, but I enjoyed talking with him. Nice to finally meet someone intelligent for a change. I'll blog more when I've decided if he's worthy of further encounters with me. Until then, peace out.

the blackness of it all

What in the world did people do at night with no electricity?


So I finally pulled in my driveway last night about 6:30 or so and noticed that my front porch light was out. Hmmm, I guess it burned out again. I carefully unlock the door in semi-darkness and get in the house. I flip a few switches--nothing. Okay, now I'm starting to worry. I light a few candles, get the step ladder and find the fuse box. When I flip the main breaker--nothing. Damn! I notice my cool as ice neighbor is home so I go over there to look up the number to call for power outages. Well, when I call, this computer voice tells me my power has been disconnected. WTF?!?!?!?!? I call the service desk (thanks be to God they were still there) and they say I've been disconnected because of non-payment. Excuse the *bleep* outta me??? Hell no! After I get all that biz-nass resolved, I tell them I want the priority reconnection. Chickadee in the service center tells me that will cost between $89-189. I said to sign me up, but I flat out refused to pay the fee. She was all discombobulated, but I don't care. At this point it was about 7, so I decided to go ahead and go to choir rehearsal early.

When I got out of rehearsal, I took the plunge and called my mother. I asked if I could use her place to get ready for work in the morning, and to my delight (and answering my hope), she told me to come over and stay the night. YAY! Light and warmth! A good time was had by all sitting on the couch in front of her TV watching Law and Order. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep all too well. It wasn't my bed and my pillows even if it was my old room. Such is life! I'm just glad I was warm.

I left her place this morning about 6:30 so I could run by my house, feed the cats, and get my crock pot back from my next door neighbor (it was churning away when the power was cut, so she let me finish it over there). When I drove up, lo and behold, there was light emanating from my living room. Guess that was one of the lights I didn't get turned off in my flipping frenzy the night before. Now I have the power!!! All is well in my world now. Thanks again to the rawking dog awesomeness that is my mother!

OOGIENESS!!!

OMG, I am sooooooooo grossed out right now. You know that your cat loves you when he brings you presents. Cornelius just came up to me with something in his mouth. Usually it is Duckie (his favorite toy) or a ball of Thomas's fur after a fight. Not tonight! No, instead he decided to bring me a bug. A large, legs still wiggling and squirming, waterbug. There are days I can't wait to move away from the water! Now he is dropping the thing, batting at it, making it run for its life, and grabbing it with his mouth again. Then he just moves to another room and starts the whole procedure over again. Part of me wants to put the danged bug out of its misery, but the rest of me is too grossed out to do anything about it. I can tell you one thing: I won't sleep until I see that thing dead!

UGH! *uncontrollable shaking and oogie feelings abound*

oh dear Lord, please...

today's horoscope:

The good luck pendulum is swinging back toward the business and financial areas of your life today! Look for either a big expenditure to suddenly disappear, a new source of income to show signs of growth, or a new opportunity for upward mobility to arrive on the scene. Whatever the reason for this sunnier weather in your financial universe, it will put your life on the pathway toward a bigger lifestyle full of complicated -- but welcome -- changes.

guillotine, anyone?

At this point, I'm so ready to cut off my head. I've taken 2 days worth of Claritin so far today, and I'm still sneezing my head off. I also could really go for some nose tampons. Where can I find some? I keep having to tilt my head backward so my nose won't drip down my face. What the poo, man? I thought allergies were supposed to let up in the autumn. Of course, it's now November 9th, and it's over 80 degrees outside. Global warming, my left butt cheek--it's just living in Texas.

more quirky things in my world

Why is it that there is nothing express about Central Expressway at 7pm?

Why is it that when I'm taking a short cut through a neighborhood, I get behind a convertible with "Turbo" scrawled all over its car hiney, and it's only going 25 mph?

Why did the Hbomb get a craving for cheddar peppers/poppers (whatever) from Sonic? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Why do the Stars always play on the West coast when I have an early week at work?

Arrgh! I need a good night's sleep. Bring on the Benedryl (so I can quit sneezing long enough to actually get that sleep).

*splat*

First off, the good news. The tinting on my sad little car windows is getting so bad I can't see out of the back window well at all. I finally called the dealership where the car was purchased by my mother 11 years ago. Turns out, since it was done there for the purchase, the window tinting has a lifetime warranty. They will replace it for FREE!!! Woooooo-hoooooo!!! That's gonna save me about $300. Sweet!

Second off, the hilariously disgusting news. Luckily I was on the phone with the Hbomb so I have an "ear witness." I was over at a friend's house feeding her 2000 cats. When I was leaving, I felt the urge to sneeze. I held the phone away from my face as to not deafen my friend, sneezed, and heard a "splat" on the tile floor. Yes friends, I sneezed something icky outta my mouth onto the floor. Trouble was, then I had to find said splat to clean it up. It was hard to find through all the laughing I was doing. Sometimes I love the disgusting ickiness of the human body.

to kill the mockingbird, I mean time...

So, I dyed my hair last night. Now it's dead. Bwahahaha!

Okay, sorry for that. I'm really not happy with the way it turned out. I made the mistake of trying a different brand. Here are my observations:
#1--it didn't smell nearly as good as the old stuff (Garnier)
#2--it is supposed to be "dark auburn" but to me it looks orange. NOT COOL!
#3--it was a faster dye job, but I should've taken the time for something I actually like
#4--never pick a brand or color based on what some "beauty consultant" from an average company tells you; believe in yourself!

One good thing: it TOTALLY colored the grey really well. Now if it were only a color that didn't look totally fake on me....

blargh

Holy crap am I tired. Iwoke up this morning with the drippy sneeziness of allergies. So what did I do when I got to work??? Ya, I took a Benedryl. Sometimes I'm not as smart as other times. The following are random comments for your enjoyment and/or perusal:

I saw my first Christmas commercial on TV last night. Well, at least they waited until November 1st.

The Hi-5 was supposed to alleviate traffic. WTF? Worthless piece of concrete.

Why do things always go wrong at work at the end of a Friday when you have things to do and places to be? I'm sitting here waiting for slides to dry so I can stain them. This is only slightly more interesting that waiting for paint to dry.

I noticed a nick in Thomas's ear. This means that the spats between the cats (hee hee, it rhymes) is getting fierce. Go Corn! Tom finally looks like an honest to goodness Tom cat.

I love my H-bomb, but bless her heart, I still hate cleaning my house. I could seriously hire her if I were wealthy.

Why does PMS have to suck sooooooooooooooooooooo much?!?!?!?!?!? I could eat an entire bloody cow right now.

Yay for Blue October tonight!!!

Ya, that's all I've got right now. There was a ton more, but lucky for you, I can't remember it right now.

ahh, blogs

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs. I share it with you along with the blog address. I think I am one of the "only" to which they are referring....

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

pity me

Okay kids, I'm an idiot. For those of you who may have already been of this opinion, this will solidify it for you.

So as I'm finishing up for the night, I've got one more task to do: FIBs. All that involves is spinning some blood in the hematocrit centrifuge, heating it up, spinning it some more...blah blah blah. A trained monkey could do this, right? Well, maybe a trained monkey, but not me. I get to my last spin step, put all 8 tubes in the centrifuge, close the lid and hit go. As soon as I do, I hear glass smashing and breaking and gears grinding. WTF??? I turn off the power, wait for it to stop, and then realize I never put on the screw-on protective lid thingy. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!! All 8 tubes shattered beyond all recognition. I had to take the entire rotor off the thing to get all the little bitty glass pieces out of that thing. Arrgh!!! Good side: the centrifuge looks like new.

Now I'm sitting waiting on the last spin again. Wish me luck guys! I hope you enjoyed my miserable last 30 minutes at work.

can I trade in this model?

I've decided my body is a dud. Not necessarily because I'm overweight or not as pretty as Hollywood and the media would like me to be. I think I was given a dud. As a child I had too many concussions (partially my own fault). My allergies have always been haywire. I've got a bum knee that soccer and cross country didn't help. But now? Now it's all gone to hell in a handbasket. And where in the world did that phrase originate anyway? Since August 20th, I've had too many things go wrong. The stupid hospital visit, painful ears, bronchial nastiness picked up on the plane back from Paris. Now! I already talked about the human pin cushion in a prior post. That danged pneumonia shot...! The arm I got it in is swollen, red, and hot. I've run a general fever since Friday (it's been much better today), and I can hardly move my danged arm without wincing in pain. Thank the good Lord for Tylenol 3 and the left over prescription from the hospital stay. When will it end???

kismet?

So I was having feelings of emailing my former choir director and asking (basically begging) for my old singing job back. I miss the good music, my church, and my friends in the choir. That and I really need the money. I gots bills to pays! (yes, bad grammar on purpose) So I talked with a mutual friend (known him longer, likes me better) about how to approach it and if it was even a good idea. We chatted about it, she said she thought it was a good idea, and I have no problem eating a little crow even if it's not deserved. I just miss singing!

Anyway, as soon as I hung up the phone with the friend, put the phone in my pocket, and had time to think about looking in the microscope, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I answered it anyway. Turns out it was another choir director asking if I was available for All Saints' Day and Christmas services. WOO-HOO!!! Of course I said I was. Then I asked when I needed to show up for rehearsal. I'm so bloody excited I can hardly stand it. She said she can't offer me a full time singing gig now, but she hopes to be able to soon.

Now I've got to go to bed. Stupid pneumonia shot made me sick and gave me a fever. No, it didn't give me pneumonia, I'm just "susceptible" to maladies from immunizations.

human pin cushion

OMG! Two posts in one day! Will the madness ever end?

So check this out: yesterday I got my flu shot. Today I got a pneumonia shot, blood drawn, and an IV for a contrast MRI. I feel like a human pin cushion! One shot in each arm, and both needles to take stuff out or put it in in one arm. At least I didn't have to pay for the MRI. Ah, the joys of being a guinea pig for research. ;-)

And yes, I am STILL doing laundry. Tee hee!

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

I FINALLY hooked up the washer and dryer! Today, my one day off this week, will be full-o-laundry. My Lord, I'm happy. Now I just gotta get the scaredy cat used to some of the noises the washer makes. When it does the spin to rinse thing, it sounds like a UFO taking off. Okay, granted I have not a clue what a UFO sounds like, but if I did, I'm sure it would make this noise.

I had to get up early because the electrician was supposed to be here between 8 and 10am. I rolled outta bed at 7:54am, threw on jeans and a sweat shirt and called it a good day. (Now the jeans are in the washer!) He was here by 8:30 and gone by 9:30. He switched out the outlet in the utility room from a three prong to a four prong. I asked if he had a dolly in his truck which he didn't. Then he pulled the macho thing and said he'd move my washer for me (it was still stuck in the roomie's old room--long story). When he tried to pick it up, I just stood aside with a smirk. This thing's an Asko, meaning it has its own built in water heater. There was NO WAY he was gonna move it on his own. He finally let me help him after I told him the situation. He smiled and said he was trying to be macho. What a sweet guy! We got it moved to the other end of the house and hooked it up. When we turned on the water at the source, it spewed all over the wall. Eek! We switched out the hose to the spare, but it did the same thing. At this point I was ready to crawl back in bed. Instead, I paid the nice man and went to Home Depot. I had to return the plug I'd bought a couple of weeks ago trying to hook the dryer up on my own. So I returned it and bought a new washer hose. Would you believe I had $0.01 left from the trade? Crazy. When I got back home I screwed on the hose, turned on the water again, and --lo and behold--there was no leakage! I started yelling "it works! it works!" as I ran through the house. Poor cats. Scared the crap out of poor Corn.

And now, if you need me, I'll be doing laundry. :-)

why oh why

Why am I having this major craving for a man in my life? I think it has something to do with the shortening of the days, the slight chill in the air in the mornings, the fact that I'm totally over the ex. Took long enough. He really threw me for a loop. At least I can admit it freely now. Anywho, I went out tonight with a "friend" who I would love to be more than a friend. He has, unfortunately made it absolutely clear that it will never happen. I'm not pretty enough for him. He didn't have to say it out loud for me to know. Typical for me. Why do I fall for the egocentric guys? I don't mean to; it just happens. Maybe it's because I know there is no chance. Ergo, I can't get my hopes up and then have them dashed to pieces.

No more Harp on an empty stomach for the naughty mouse. That and Aqualung make me all

misty.

during research...

I am trying to figure out what kind of beetle invaded my house last night on the internet. Do you know how many varieties of beetles are in Texas??? A gabillion! Anywho, I've got it narrowed down to a few--luckily there aren't that many freakin' humongous ones around. Just in my house.

Anywho, I found this picture on one of the sites. I will post it for your amusement.

now I've seen it all

Last night as I left the abode to venture to Home Depot, there was this super ugly big black beetle on my screen door. I tried not to disturb it, but it fell to the porch as I closed to door. Lo and behold, it was waiting for me when I got home. Furthermore, it ran inside when I opened my front door. Ugh! Icky bug in the house! That's okay. I have cats that love to chase bugs and play them to death, right? Ya, let's make that no. I called the cats to come and do their thing. Thomas, poor stupid cat, comes running over and sees the bug. As he's thinking about making his move, bug rattles its little wings and moves toward him. Thomas runs away like a baby! Damn cat was scared of a little bug. *rolling eyes*

to make the day even better...

Ya, so I keep having to blow my nose. Mucinex causes that. It's supposed to be good. Once today when I honking the nasal horn, the boss started laughing at me. I looked at him questioningly. He said it sounded like I was blowing my brains out of my noise. Thanks boss.

And now Thomas is trying to show his dominance. Damn toothy cat.

Tuesday schmuesday

So here we are at working twiddling our thumbs waiting for the couriers to arrive. This has been one of the crappiest weeks in record. Maybe it's the fact that Paris was so awesome that I'm just in "back to the real world" mode. Maybe it's because I can't get rid of all the icky gooey crap in my sinuses. Could be the dreary weather or the "date" last Friday night that never materialized. Whatever it is, I'm ready for it to stop. Either that or I wanna got back to Paris. The real world stinks. Really, I mean I do work with poop--it's stinky!

btw--If anyone is game, I've got to get my washer and dryer hooked up, and I'll need help moving it. I've got loads of laundry to do!

final day in Paris

Okay, I'm a little late in getting this posted. My apologies.

Sunday in Paris! What a beautiful day. Mother and I slept until almost 11am! I guess all that walking around the previous few days really did us in. Luckily we decided to sleep in on Sunday when most of Paris is also sleeping late or closed. After we finally hauled ourselves out of the hotel, it actually was difficult to find a place for lunch. We saw a Mexican restaurant which we hastily dismissed (just wouldn't be the same...), and we eventually happened upon a lovely little bistro. We each got a salad (Mother--Nicoise, me--Dauphinoise) to try to keep things light. After that we just wandered around the 6th arrondissement taking in the sights. I nice lazy day. After a lot of wandering we went to Sainte Chappelle, the "chapel" built by Louis IX in the 1240s to hold the relics he acquired from the Holy Land. These supposedly included the crown of thorns and a piece of the true cross. If all this were true (and even if it weren't), Sainte Chappelle was the perfectly built place to house them. My God, it was GORGEOUS!!! The entire main floor (the second) is lined with huge windows, and when the sunlight pours through them, it's like being in heaven. So what if Louis took liberties with his chronology of the Bible notated in the windows! Anyway, I tried to upload a couple of my pictures, but they were too big (and you'd have to turn your monitor sideways to see them). So if you wanna see it, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle.

After all that beautifulness, we wandered though a french nursery on the Ile de la Cite looking for bean seeds. Long story--don't ask. It was sooooooooo crowded and fruitless (no pun intended), and we gave up quickly. We wandered back to the hotel slowly to get ready for dinner. On the way, we passed the entrance to the Orsay. Holy crap! The French take their free entrance to museums on the first Sunday of the month seriously. The line was so totally long! I'm glad we went the day before. Too many people make me nervous.

And finally, our last meal in Paris. We went to a restuarant called Au Petit Tonneau strictly on the word of a book my mother read. I had the girolle fricasse (girolles=chanterelles) with garlic and butter (what's not fantastic with lots of garlic?), sole muniere, and the prune (actually plum) clafoutis. Mother started with the rosette de lyon (fancy name for salami platter) followed by veal with mustard sauce. We kinda shared the dessert. To top it all off, we had a lovely bottle of something red. As we walked back to the hotel, the Eiffel tower did its sparkly thing again. Ah, Paris!

day three

Wow, did Mother and I ever sleep late today. I think she called me close to 11am. Some people may think we slept our vacation away; I say it's vacation--do what you want! If we both hadn't been to Paris before, it may be different, but we've already seen all the typical tourist sites. Anywho, we finally ventured out of the hotel about 11:30am for our day of wandering.

Just as we stepped out the door of Hotel Bourgogne et Montana (http://www.bourgogne-montana.com/), we both immediately noticed how sore we were from walking the 3762 miles from the day before with Michael. It became "take it easy day" which we did. Let's see, this was Saturday so we started by going to the Rodin museum. We saw tons of his castings in bronze, some sculpture in marble and plaster, and some of his personal art collection (which included Van Gogh and Monet). His house alone was quite spectacularly huge. It was unusual for an artist to be popular in his own time, but Rodin obviously was. I didn't know that his "friend" (read lover) was an artist in his own right until I saw some of his stuff displayed in the house as well. The gardens were dotted with bronzes including, of course, The Thinker. It was nice, but I don't think it was his best work. That I believe was The Gates of Hell--uber creepy!

After that it was time (or past time in Mother's opinion) for lunch. We found was a quaint little Italian place. We each had the sliced salami appetizer (some sorta "misto" something); Mother followed with pasta and meatballs while I had penne with wild mushrooms. Man was it tasty!

Now sated, we wandered around for a bit then headed to the Musee d'Orsay. It was our quest to find the painting we call "homosexual Jesus." (No, I don't think Jesus was gay, nor do I think that Dan Brown had it right with him ending up in the South of France married to Mary Magdalene with a kid.) What it is is a painting of some guy (named Jean Delville--which is very similar to "devil" if you think about it...) that looks like every other painting you've ever seen of Jesus surrounded by twelve naked dudes. It's technically called L'Ecole de Platon (or The School of Plato), but c'mon! Decide for yourselves.

After wandering the 3 floors of the Orsay looking for that hideously magnificent painting, our legs and backs and feet told us to call it quits. He headed back to the hotel and stopped at a street side bistro around the corner from the hotel. While Mother had some wine, I had an Orangina (you can't not have it while in France! http://www.supdorangina.com/). We were under the awning, but the sun was right on my back. It felt so good--I felt like a cat in a sun spot. That is until I realized my neck got burned. Stupid French sun!

For dinner that night, we went to Le P'tit Troquet--a family favorite. I started with the mushroom risotto (OMG, soooooo good), had the guinea hen for my main course, and finished off with a lemon tarte. Mom had a chevre tart appetizer, some yummy lamb dish as the main course, and the creme brulee for dessert. She practically drooled over the creme brulee, and she's super picky about that particular dessert. As we walked home, we could look over our shoulders at the Eiffel Tower which was sparkling the night away (like mini strobe lights were placed all over it). Perfect end to a lovely day!

more Parisian posting

Day two:

We woke up about 8:30ish and went across the street to a tea house and patisserie. We each had a marvelous pot of tea, and I had the flakiest, butteriest, yummiest croissant ever. We then met our tour guide for the day (a man named Michael Osmond--I only u his real name because he was the BEST DAMNED TOUR GUIDE EVER!!!). He showed us around the Louvre, the Mairie de Paris, and many places in between. He was so knowledgeable about random little facts and showed Mother and me places we would have never seen on our own (the holocaust museum, original city wall, and even the gay area of town...). He even took us to a great The Salon ("the" being the french word for tea), Mariage Frere. Yes, I bought tea there, and I'm drinking it now. Not only was he super knowledgeable, he was hilariously funny and witty as well. I wish he lived here so I could see him again. During this day of walking, I swear we walked at least 6 miles but probably more. I wasn't too tired by the end of the day (at 4:45pm I thought it was closer to 2:00), but my legs, feet, and back were killing me the next day. I think it had to be the most walking Mother had done at one time in years. Bless her heart!

Now for the important stuff: food that day! Lunch was at a little sidewalk bistro on the Seine that Michael knew. I had a croque monsieur with frites and a green salad. Mother had the same. For dessert, I had a molten chocolate cake. Numnumnumnum!!! Mother had the tarte tatin (apple tart) with a local vanilla ice cream (which was AMAZING). Dinner was at a little place called La Fontaine de Mars (129, rue St-Dominique--a straight walk from our hotel down one street). Mom had something she loved, I think the duck confit. I had the typical green salad (I can't pass up a good salad) followed by steak frites with a fantastic shallot and red wine reduction sauce. There was even a "chunk" of bone marrow on top of my steak. Honestly, I had no clue what it was; I had to ask the waiter. It creeped me out, but, like my daring nature, I tried it. Ya, I don't have to do that again. Yes, I know it's a gastronomique delight, but to me it was the equivalent of eating Crisco. Greasy, not a lot of taste, and kinda icky. Because of that, I don't remember my dessert. Whatever it was, it was good as was the wine.

So that's day two. More to follow. Now I gotta get some sleep. Stupid recycled plane air made me sick with a stupid sinus infection. Do you now how hard it is to sleep when you can't breathe? That and I think I've produced more snot today than is humanly possible. I should call Guinness.

stupid jet lag

Okay, I've been awake since ~4am. I gave up and got up at 5 figuring I can use the extra time to catch up on the Parisian blogging. I'll start at the beginning.

The plane ride: Good Lord, I hate to fly. It's not like I'm afraid of it or anything, it's just so boring. I consider it a necessary evil. Ten hours of uncomfortable recycled air in order to enjoy one's self in a beautiful foreign land. It would be better if I didn't suffer from the affliction of "Unabletosleeponaplaneopathy." My mother got her ticket waaaaaay earlier than mine, so she was lucky enough to use miles to upgrade to business class. I was in steerage in a seat that didn't recline. Oh, and I was right next to the lavatory--occasionally stinky. And my headphones broke rendering my iPod useless. Arrgh! At least I had a super sweet girl sitting next to me. After hours of chatting (she can't sleep on planes either) about her singing and songwriting career, I found out she is one of the daughters of Hank Williams, Jr. True! My brush with fame in an uncomfortable airplane seat.

Then we land. Remember, we left DFW at 5:15pm and arrived at CDG at 9:30am. Where did the night go? We flew through it. This is the worst possible of days--trying to stay awake. Mother and I got our ride to the hotel, freshened up a bit, and head out for lunch. We walked and walked and walked and...well, you get it...until we found the place she had picked out for lunch. It was a place she's been to before and is known for its souffles. She had a fan-freaking-tastic Gorgonzola souffle whereas (in my sleep deprived state) I thought it would be wise to try something different. I ordered the haddock and spinach souffle. It could've been good, but it wasn't. Way too much fish. I decided it would've been better if they'd added a good hard cheese like parmesan or asiago, but they didn't. I couldn't even finish it because it nauseated me. That's when we decided that I was in no state to purchase anything--who knows what I would've bought in that state of mind! We spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the 7th arrondisement trying to stay awake. When we found ourselves back at the hotel, we look a nap and then got up for dinner.

Ah, dinner on the first night. It was so unbelievably magnificent I wanted to marry all 3 courses I ate and have their children. The restaurant is called Le Florimond ("19 Ave de la Matte-Picquet, 75007, Paris Traditional Cuisine, served with passion"). Here's what I had: (A) lobster ravioli in some sorta fantastic sauce, (MC) a leg of lamb stew with fresh basil, carrots, potatoes, and golden raisins, and (D) chocolate profiteroles filled with dark chocolate cream and surrounded with a passion fruit sauce and sorbet. *angels singing heavenly tunes*

Now I'm hungry. My Yunnan tea that I bought at the Mariage Freres tea shop just isn't cutting the hunger. It is, however, making my scorchingly raw and painful throat feel much better. Damn recycled airplane air. I knew I should've gotten that Airborn stuff. At least I have to see Dr. B today for something completely different. I'll make him fix me. ;-)

also sprach zarathustra

I've joined the 21st century. I have successfully connected myself to the internet! Yay for not having to pay the $150 for someone to come do it for me. I realize I've got some serious Parisian posting to do, but I've spent the past couple hours dealing with the hooking up of internetness and checking email. I promise to get to that soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of the City of Lights.

I don't like Mondays

To quote The Boomtown Rats....

There was much difficulty rousing myself this morning. I've been having a devil of a time sleeping lately, so I specifically did not take a nap yesterday afternoon even though I really wanted to. I thought that would help the night time sleepiness (or lack thereof). Nope. At 10:30 I was w-i-d-e awake and watching Jurassic Park for the umpteenth time. I gave up and took a couple benedryl and a couple aleve (pain in the neck) and begged for sleep. While I eventually did fall sound asleep, I had my recurring problem of hitting snooze a lot (1 hour and 20 minutes this morning). Luckily, I had a premonition and set the alarm like 45 minutes early. I still made it to work on time, but I look like someone ran over me with a steamroller. I'm glad the poop can't comment on my looks. The other coworkers, that's another story.

Stanley--my true love

Yes, I've named my ipod. I love my ipod. Where else can I easily switch from Radiohead to Ella Fitzgerald to Portishead to Sarah Harmer? Hmmm, why do two of those groups have "head" in their name? Odd. Anyway, good sleep last night follwed by a freaking huge peppermint mocha and good music at work has placed the naughty mouse in a much better mood today. Even the disturbing dreams of last night are but a faint memory. Even the Mayboy is better today. When he's persnickety, everyone suffers. Maybe Wednesday was just a bad day astrologically. Ya, like I believe that hooey. :-)

Six more days!!!!!

fark

Ya, I said that. Fark on today. And this week. Arrgh!!!

Okay, that being said...I feel better now. Something about this week is just sucking arse. The insomniac girl in me has returned. Little sleep makes me cranky. Adding little sleep to the already present crankiness is not a good thing. Add that to feeling blah, seeing a good (yet somewhat depressing) movie, and reading a supposed humorous book about why it's better to admit that you are a loser than a winner...whoa. Not good for the soul.

Oh, I can't wait for next week. In 7 days and 6 hours, I'll be on a flight to Paris. Good Lord, let it come quickly!!! The wine, the cool rainy weather, the time away from poop, and the time spent with my marvelous mother. Good times are ahead!

tgif?

Wow. I am super cranky. I can't decide if it's due to work, hormones, or the fact that I'm still taking the pred. I hate that I've been jumping down the May boy's throat for no reason for the past couple of days. Oh well, taper started yesterday to my lowest dosage. Only 2 more weeks of prednisone. Thank goodness!

On a happier note, I made an appointment to get a henna tattoo tomorrow after work. FINALLY!!! Since il doctore told me not to get a real one (to my mother's delectation), I figured this was a good thing. The henna lady also thinks the doctor was smart to tell me such. All the danged healthy people in the world....

I had some seriously farky dreams last night. Lots of anguish, dementia, and tornadoes. At least this time I didn't have to save anyone's life. Those dreams are sure tiring. I blame watching too much Law and Order in the past couple of days.

Well, one of the girls up here at work just told me I can go home for the day. If only she were the boss...! ;-)

the walking dead

So I finally gave up on trying to get rid of the tension headache/shoulder ache/pain in the neck I'd had since last Saturday. Last night I succumbed to the pain and took a flexeril (yes, they have been prescribed to me for the stupid tmj thing). I took it at 9pm. I was surprised that I didn't pass out halfway through Top Chef. When I did finally get to sleep about 10:30, I slept like a baby. So much so that when my alarm went off at 6:30am this morning, I heard it and didn't care. It's like it just didn't register. My brain was like "oh, that's the alarm, pay it no mind" and kept sleeping. I finally got out of bed at 8:15--I'm supposed to be at work (which is a 30 minute drive on a good traffic day) at 8:30. Needless to say, I was a tad late. All day long, I've been in a comatose-like state of "walking deadness." My brain is functioning only minimally, and I've made some silly mistakes. The best part though, was slamming my face into the eye pieces on the microscope when I kinda nodded off between slides. Ah, good times! I'm looking forward to going back to bed soon.

just for fun

like we didn't already know this...

weekends rule!

I had one of the best weekends in a looooooooong time. And ya know, I really didn't do much of anything.

Friday night was just a lazy night. I don't think I did anything in particular--I don't remember! Saturday rocked my boat because I went over to the Hbomb's and we watched the first 3 discs of Heroes season 1. A mini-marathon if you will. She is hooked! While there, I ate a ton of cheese, and we finished the night with yummy cow from Outback.

Sunday, I slept in, hit the gym (after all that cheese, I needed it!), and went to lunch and shopping with Mother. Amazingly, the shoes I had in my mind's eye were actually real and in the store ready to be purchased by me! Soooo, I have a new pair of Clark's to wear around Paris in a couple of weeks (much to my mother's chagrin). Then we stopped in Teavana--bad naughty mouse!!! Like I really needed that new teapot and book and tea mugs. Okay, the teapot was kinda in order, but the rest was superfluous. What's really funny about it all was that in my 2 stops, I spent as much as Mother did in one stop buying 2 new blouses. I think that shows that I am a much better shopper than my mother. ;-)

But best of all about Sunday was the Musegasm of the night. MUSE was playing out at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie (really, what is "grand" about it?). Oh...my...goodness...! It was a super stupendous sensory overload of lights and sounds and smokey machine goodness! Yes, they still totally rock my world all over the place. Best of all, they played my fave song (Butterflies and Hurricanes) with the killer classical piano interlude in the middle. Sooooo wonderful!!! And I have learned that the best seat possible are on the Southwest Flight Deck. One row on the front of the mezzanine/balcony. No one in front, no one behind. Sometimes I think I'm too old to scream my head off like that, but it was AWESOME!!!!!

Monday was still weekend for me, but it was uber boring. Since I didn't get to sleep until about 2am, I slept late. Met the Hbomb and Mother for lunch, took the Hbomb to Luke's Locker for shoes, then hit the CD stores to sell some stuff back. I got a whopping $11.50. Ya, that's gonna pay a lot of hospital bills. Then I futzed around the rest of the day putting more CDs on my computer and then ipod. I tried to go to sleep at 10:30pm. I was still wide awake at 1:30am. Insomniac Girl rides again!!!

Now I'm tired, and you are caught up on the intricacies of my life. Aren't you thrilled.

miracles abound!

WTF??? I'm so bloody excited!

For the 1% of the world that doesn't know, I'm on killer amounts of prednisone for the next three weeks (being weened slowly). That and I went to the Dairyette for dinner last night. Yet when I got on the scale this morning, I noticed that I'VE LOST 10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!!

I don't think I can begin to describe my happiness. I'm all about the Spark People now! Things are definitely looking up in my world.

gross nastiness

Okay, Mother. Do not read this one (or at least skip the 1st paragraph).

So I FINALLY got the bloody waxy plug of gunk outta my right ear. It was disgusting, but I can hear well, and my ear doesn't feel all icky anymore. Now I just have to deal with the rest of the healing. My ear canals are sooooooooooo itchy!!!!! All I wanna do is cram q-tips down there and scratch. Yes, I know it's wrong, but it feels so good. Kinda like most good things in the world are somehow wrong. =)

Things are better in the world of the naughty mouse today. And not just the ear. I started off the day by baking cookies and bringing them to work. Let me tell you, everyone up here is happier today! There's not much better than oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to brighten the mood. That and the work load is much less today. I think I may actually make it to the gym tonight before all the classes are finished! And I'm supposed to have dinner with a friend I haven't seen in forever tonight. And there's the Heroes 1/2 marathon on Saturday.

Things are looking up!

annoyed

I think there's something evil in the air.

Everyone I know seems to be cranky, in a bad mood, or in some sort of foul temper the past few days. The May Boy at work has even been (I dare say) PMSy. I can ALWAYS count on him to be chipper! What's up? Is it the change in weather? School back in session? Shorter days? I feel bad for everyone who's unhappy, and it tends to bring me down with them. Of course, I've been uber cranky since Sunday for no apparent reason. Go fig. Granted I do have one friend who is cranky for a very good reason, and I'm not complaining about her (you know who you are--more power to ya!). Even the Thomas has been extra bitey. Now that's really not a good thing!

So for everyone out there in bloggerland...hakuna matata!

long time, no post

In a nutshell, not much is going on with me, and I'm fine with that!

I've gotten a clean bill of health from the doctors. Now I just have to wait and see when/if this happens again. I have faith in my physicians and God, so I'm not too worried.

I leave in 24 days for gay Paris! I'm so excited I could spit!

KMD tried to eat the flip flops again--I've just left the old one out for him. It's sooooo his now. It's amazing the damage he can do with those little needle teeth.

I still love my new vacuum cleaner. It's sucks hard!!! ;-) It does an amazing job on cat hair. Thank you Consumer Reports for your advice!

Stars season is coming up soon...I can't wait! I am a little miffed that I'm going to miss the opening game (which I have tickets for unless my Stars fairy can switch them out for me), but it's okay since I'll be in the aforementioned gay Paris.

That's it. Sorry I've not got more to report. If you want any details about the "illness," just ask. I'm not going to post about it. It's not a big deal, so I don't want to waste time and space on it.

kmd strikes again

That damned cat. The KMD (kitten of mass destruction--Corn) ate a pair of flip flops. Not only did he chew on them so as they cannot be worn at all, he picked the new pair of Tevas I got up in Maine. Arrgh!!!

Other than that, things are going well. Health is improving. I'm working a full day today (needed a microscope break right now). I just wonder if my hearing will ever improve to the way it used to be. I'm sick of my ears feeling "full of cotton." At least I'm not waking up with little bloody spots on my pillow anymore. Ewwwwwwwwwwww!

Later gators!

mousey health

Let me start at the beginning. Last Tuesday I woke up with a stuffy ear. I went to work, didn't worry about it, and then went to Mercury Grill with mother (prior post). As the night progressed, it hurt a little more. When I woke up Wednesday, I thought I had an ear infection. Since I'm a weenie about my ears and was having trouble hearing, I decided to go to the doctor. It's never a good thing when he looks at your "affected area" and can say nothing other than "Oh...hmmm." He thought it might be something called polychondritis, but it was most likely cellulitis. How the poo does someone get cellulitis in their ear? Whatever. He gave me a super duper dose of Augmentin XR, and then he told me if it wasn't markedly better by Friday morning to call him back so we could do IV antibiotics. I went back to work.

By Thursday morning, I was in the hospital. As Wednesday night progressed, the pain became unbearable. Within a few hours of being admitted, I was on IV antibiotics, IV morphine, and some sorta otic drops. As Thurday progressed, I saw my Internist, an ENT, and a Rheumatologist. The ENT caused the most pain EVER when he decided he had to suction some edemic crap out of my ear canal. My father said he was being super gentle, but I felt like he was using a jackhammer and an acetylene torch. He ended up putting a wick in my ear so it would be easier to get the drops down in the canal.

The next few days kinda run together because I was in and out of sleep, pain, and pseudoconsciousness. Simply put, they all together (doctors that is) believe it is not cellulitis. They are going to check the latest blood draws and the MRI from today (in conjunction with a possible biopsy tomorrow) and confer. I'm not the happiest person because if it is what they think it is, I'm in for a long haul. It's nowhere near a death sentence so quit freaking out (you know who you are), but it will be a lifetime of treatment and maintenance. But if there is one thing I have learned in the past 4 days, I HAVE AMAZING FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

Thank you all. I love you all! I'll post an update when I know anything new.

mercury grill 8/21/07

Ah the last official night of restaurant week for me! Luckily the immense pain hadn't hit by dinner time on Tuesday. I'll get to that in the next posting.

So mother picked me up and we went to the Mercury Grill. I've listened to her talk about this place for, oh, a couple years now. It always sounded good, so I let her take me there. It definitely lived up to the hype. It was no Craft, but it's a totally different kinda place. For my first course I had the wild mushroom risotto. If it had been a man, I would've married it and had its children! Damn it was good risotto! My main course was a dynamite filet (a perfectly cooked beef filet topped with crab, shrimp, and portobellas in a super spicy aioli). Yummmmm! Mother and I had the same dessert of a chocolate souffle with an amaretto sauce. She topped off her meal with a lot of cream in a little coffee and some port. I had the straight coffee with a bit of kahlua on the side. Such a good meal.

I'm definitely making up for all the good meals in the last couple of weeks with the *fantastic* hospital food now. Thank goodness for contraband!

proof I need a boyfriend 8/17/07

You know it's bad when your excitement for a Friday night is going to three separate stores to buy a vacuum cleaner, getting it home, putting it together, and vacuuming your house. The only thing that made it worse was that I called my mother to brag about my new purchase.

Wow. Someone needs a life!

craft 8/16/07

And then there was Craft. I was a little hesitant to go there at all. It's located in the W Hotel in the Victory Park area of Dallas--totally bougie! I didn't think I could even pretend to look rich enough to darken their door. Luckily Mother let me borrow her car (mine was too filthy for a valet to even deign to park).

I arrived to find Tim had beaten me to the punch. He had already been seated, but he chose to let me have the seat that had a view of the entire restaurant. It can also be said that the boy cleans up well; he looked quite nice in his slate grey shirt and black trousers. I did the simple little black dress with red shoes and red bag. All in all, I think we cleaned up quite well.

Craft had the best restaurant week idea. Most places have a restricted menu from which you choose your 3 courses (one app, one entree, one dessert). While Craft had a restricted menu, all we had to choose was the entree. They then proceeded to bring out small samples of 3 appetizers (romaine with gorgonzola vinaigrette and roasted figs, little shrimps in a lemon aioli, and an heirloom tomato salad with a soy reduction). I think we died a little and saw a glimpse of heaven. After that course, we received our entrees (me: filet of salmon in lemongrass herb broth, Tim: braised beef short rib with shallots and something else) and our selection of sides (braised fingerling potatoes with herb butter, roasted summer vegetables, and an assortment of awesome sauteed mushrooms). As if that wasn't enough to stuff us, they then brought dessert. We had an assortment of fresh ice creams and sorbets (vanilla, pine nut, red currant, and apricot), pannacotta with fresh berries, and a chocolate tort with coffee, brown butter, and white chocolate drizzle...! At that point, we did die and see heaven in that tort.

A fantastic evening of amazing food, good friends, and great conversation.

Kirby's

Last night was the local steak house Kirby's. My parents used to take me there when I was a kid. Mostly, I remember being able to pick a goodie from the goodie basket at the end of the meal (some cheesy little toy that made me behave myself during dinner). Last night, it was all goodies to be had!

The gang and I (for the most part) did well at not choosing all the same meals. There were only 2 choices for the apps so two of us got each. H-Bomb and I had the Lobster Cargot while Lemster and M had the wild boar sausage. Both were quite yummy. For the main course, M and I chose the Australian rack of lamb, H-bomb got the Filet Oscar, and Lemster got the Pepper Steak (my usual if I go now). Once again, yum city! For the last course, M and I once again chose the same thing: the cheesecake drizzled with chocolate ganache. That made for a great little breakfast this morning. H and L got the chocolate spice cake with walnuts and crunchy goodness on top. Damn that was a good meal. However, the best part of it all was the time spent with friends. I think we should all make more time for that in our busy little lives.

Tonight is Craft-Dallas. I'm so excited I could spit.

Hibiscus

Before I talk about the fan-freaking-tastic dinner Mother and I had, I must divulge my afternoon doings.

I started to feel really guilty about NOT exercising in a while. When I finished with all the bloodiness of the afternoon at work, I noticed that the poop pile was very small. I asked my boss if I could leave those samples until morning and leave early (since I'd worked 1.5 hours overtime the day before). He said okay, so I booked it home and did 35 minutes of pilates. Dear Lord, my quads and butt are sore today.

And then there was dinner.

1st course--Dungeoness crab dip with oven roasted crackers
2nd course--
Mother: tenderloin and tomato with Point Reyes blue cheese
me: candied pecan encrusted mahi mahi with pureed sweet potatoes
both: garlic spinach
3rd course: big as your head slice of chocolate goodness cake with ganache, fudgy icing, white chocolate accents and cherry drizzle of some sort (I think I died and went to heaven)

motivation

I lack motivation. I'm only 3 weeks into this new diet/way of life change, and I'm pooped. I haven't "officially" worked out in 6 days (I say officially because I did 2 days of housework during which I built up a sweat). I tried to go this morning, but the alarm clock wasn't far enough away from my "swinging hand of snooze." I'll set it again for the same time tomorrow morning and put it in the next room. Grrr! Why is this so hard? Why is it so easy for other people? At least the blood pressure is still under control. It wouldn't freak me out so much except that this week is restaurant week, and we all know what that means for the naughty mouse. Yummy fattening fantabulous foods from place I could not normally afford to go. Lord, please give me the strength to NOT clean my plate but, rather, to ask for a take away box.

Peace out.

AHA!

Well, I slept like a baby last night. No deconamine before bed must be the trick. Doesn't make sense since all it contains is antihistamine and decongestant. Oh well. Who cares as long as it works when I take it and lets me sleep well when I don't!

As a side note, I did not make it to the gym yesterday (naughty mouse!). However, I did move a crap load of bulky trash out to the curb. I look like I just moved in and pruned the trees--boxes, limbs, and branches all over the edge of my yard. And of course they are all carefully placed as to not block access to the fire hydrant. I think that was a good bit of exercise in its own right. =)

mother of all that is good and holy...!

Yes, yes. Two blogs in one day. But check out this biz-nassss.

Someone here at work was looking at the posted schedules and noticed something interesting about the current night crew schedule. They now have two people doing half of my old job. I had to work 2 benches alone, and now they have two people working one of those benches. Why is it that I was deemed a whiner and troublemaker when I couldn't get everything done as quickly as they wanted? Mind you, there are now 2 people doing in 8 hours what I had to do in as little as 6 hours. Does this mean that I am worth two average people? I'm twice as good?

I'll take that.

hormones, heat, or deconamine?

Long time no blog. Sorry.

I have been uber cranky the past few days. I haven't been sleeping well, so I've been sleepier than normal. Finally Wednesday night/Thursday morning when I woke up at 3:30am, I went out to the thermostat to check it (oh ya, I'd been really hot). Lo and behold, it was all jacked up. I'm guessing that the most recent time the power flickered (or died altogether), the program forgot what the true setting was. My house was 79 degrees in the coolest part. Ugh, no wonder I was hot and cranky. Thanks be to God it wasn't a hot flash. Then comes last night. Again, I awaken at 3am-ish hot and uncomfortable. Did I not reset the thermostat properly? Nope, it was a balmy 72 in the house. WTF??? So now I'm wondering if the deconamine the doc gave me Monday for my plugged up ears could have anything to do with it. I'm not taking that stuff before bed tonight and see if that makes a difference.

Other than that, things are boring and normal here. Still working, still working out, still getting bitten by the evil spawn of Satan cat. Later gators.

what a night!

Wow. I can't belive how much fun the H-bomb and I had shopping last night! At first I was worried because, like I mentioned in a previous post, I am fashion illiterate. I do, however, seem to know what looks good on other people. The best part of the shopping experience was when I told her how her current braziere situation needed to be remedied. After that silly sexual assault kit stint, I always tell people to change out their underthings at least once a year if not more often. And for goodness sakes, if something has a hole in it, throw it away!!! All this led up to a trip to Vickie's (aka: Victoria's Secret). Let me just tell you that their new fancy schmancy "uplift" bra is fan-FREAKIN-tastic! Once you hit the age when things aren't where God intended anymore, this is a must. In the dressing room, it was like "Dang! Look at that! They're back where they belong!" Okay, enough about boobies.


We then hit the local PF Chang's and gorged on dumplings and mu shu and garlic spinach. Unfortunately, we had the worst waiter in the entire universe. Well, maybe he wasn't that bad, but when he refilled my water glass and spilled water all over that corner of the table, the smirked and walked away. I had to ask another waitstaffer to bring me some napkins. Ugh!

On my way to work this morning, I got behind an 18 wheeler with the weirdest thing on it. On the back was painted "Haulin' Liquid Chicken." WTF?!?!?!? I sped up so I could see the side of the truck, but there were no other distinguishing characteristics. If anyone knows what this means, please let me know.

Anywho, my free lab lunch has arrived, and I gotta go chow!

ugh!

Well, I missed my first workout today. I figure in the name of health it may have been necessary though. I fell asleep last night about 10:30pm and woke up today at 9am. And that was only because I set my alarm just in case! I feel tons better than yesterday, but I still can't hear much from my left side. My left ear is all sorts of plugged up and icky. What do you do for that?

Anyway, it's time to go meet the H-bomb for shopping. For some reason, she thinks I can help her pick out clothes. Has she not noticed that I am (almost) completely fashion illiterate? Heck, she's told me as much! :-) Ah well, I use it as an excuse to see a friend.

And back to the gym in the morning!!!

people suck

What is it with people who no matter how sick they are think they should still come into work hacking and coughing and sneezing all over everyone??? Thanks to a super conscientious coworker, three of us at the lab came in this morning feeling like death warmed over. I still can't hear through my right ear--it's all plugged up. Grrrrr! Guess I'll just go home after work and hit the couch. Lucky for me, this is a "non-work-out" day (or as the gym guy called it, a "day of rest"). I hope I feel better in the morning because I'll hit the eliptical trainer no matter what. I can't fall off the wagon this early in the game.

Have a great humpday everyone!