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.