Connections

Goal (M-Su): 3x Abs, 1x 15 mins Other/Any Exercise
Sitrep: 1x Abs

It really is all about the people you know, sometimes. Shanni is part of a gifted & talented program at her school, and they did an environmental awareness project last year called EARTH Action. They've won the 2007 President's Environmental Youth Award for Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY). (PEYA Program)

So they get to go to Washington D.C. for the ceremony, which is being held in the White House and hosted by Laura Bush. So she gets to meet the First Lady, and possibly even the President, from what we're told. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of the current administration. (Shocker, I'm sure) However, this is an awesome opportunity for a 12 year old. To be recognized at such a high level for hard work, and to meet the First Lady and possibly the President...Once in a lifetime opportunity! They get to do a summary presentation and everything. There's a social, the awards ceremony, and they're going to see some of the sights (Smithsonian, etc.)

Shanni is one of the top 2 students they want to go on the trip. Five students and two teachers are attending. We were told that there would be fundraising, and they didn't even let anyone know which kids were going until last Friday. Well, today Shanni's mom got the call that tickets had to be booked today. Insane. They don't have money for it, nor do they have a credit card. She also didn't know where to start to book the ticket. (They haven't traveled much by plane.)

I offered up use of my credit card, as we can get the money raised prior to the bill coming due, I'm sure. I've got a line out on a scholarship/financial aid through Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the school is partially funding each child. Next I called my recently retired boss, who went back to the family business. Which just happens to be, with their most recent purchase of a local office, the largest travel agency in the state. They were able to get Shanni booked on the appropriate flights for $500.00....and they are willing to trade for my IT services. I'd already agreed to do consulting work on my own time for them, and we have an hourly rate set. We'd also discussed my working for airfare as another option since my family is all out of state. Which appeals to me more than cash, frankly. :) So we are looking good. They had originally told us we'd need $1000. But since we got the ticket about $200 cheaper than budgeted for...Now we need that much less.

I can't wait to hear back from BBBS to see how much we get from them. I love it when a plan comes together!!!!

And the day really just gets better...Obama and Clinton are speaking in Butte on April 5th. General Admission tickets go on sale tomorrow morning for $40 a piece. Only 2400 available. There are 4 of us in the office - so far - that want to go. So we're going to try to get tickets. Keep your fingers crossed!

Lunatic On Loose At K.Mar.t

Sitrep: 3x Abs (Beginner)
Goal: 3x Abs, 1x 15 mins Other/Any Exercise

Is probably what some poor lady today was thinking while doing her shopping during lunch. She sure gave me that look when I kept laughing out loud in the card aisle. I couldn't help it. Sometimes I have just too much fun getting a birthday card for my sister. One that falls under the category of "Hilarious But DO NOT Send" went like this:

[front] Happy Birthday Mom
[Inside] Oops! I meant sister (It's getting harder and harder to tell you two apart.)

Heeheehee. Mom won't see how that's funny, and it's not meant in any way cruelly. It's just funny as all get out to me. Rather too cruel to send to my sister, though. I think. Although she'd laugh, she might wince as well. Not good for a b-day card.

In the Runner-Up category:

[front - praying child angel] Sisters are a gift from God
[inside, big letters] A cruel, vengeful & punishing God

That was laugh out loud funny, definitely. I think I snorted I laughed so hard. That's when I got the look.

It's fun to spend time shopping for cards. Especially when you can find funny ones. Last few years they've been on the scarce side. At least, any that strike my funny bone. Or that I think my sister will find funny. We're a lot alike, my sister & I.

I remember the birthday my first year in college, when my sis came down for the weekend (our bdays are 1 day apart). It was also East.er weekend, so Mom & Dad drove up (since the 2 of us were going to be together, Mom just had to be there too!).

I opened my presents first (I'm the 17th Apr, she's the 18th Apr). Upon reading the card from my sister, I could not stop laughing. See, although we lived miles and miles apart (Tallahassee for me, Atlanta for her), shopped in different malls & stores, we had managed to buy each other the exact same card for our birthdays. :)

Free To Any Home: 1 Set Used Ears

Sitrep: 1x Abs Beginner workout
Goal: Daily abs for the next 5 days. :)

I have a double ear infection. Again. This is just ridiculous. It's been 6 months since the last one. I must be averaging 2 per year. I think I'm getting more ear infections as an adult than I ever did as a child. =8-O

Talking to Shanni on the phone last night (poor kid is still at home w/Flu) and she says to me "What is this, eighteen?" Smart aleck.

This time, though, there is no ear pain and mild clogging. I can feel that there is liquid sloshing around, but it's not totally packed. And I got extremely dizzy and nauseous. Not my usual symptoms. I guess my body decided that since I ignored the sudden extreme pain last time (resulting in that mildly perforated ear drum, yikes!) it was going to give me a different symptom: extreme dizziness and nausea. Not fun. Couldn't get in to see my regular doc. The one I did see was nice, though. Actually listened to my past history, what I had to say about this current bout, and believed me when I said Amoxy.cillin just doesn't cut it anymore. He wrote me out a prescription for Aug.mentin, and said to keep up with the Sud.a.fed. (Not that it was helping much, really.) So. I'm now on antibiotics, am double-dosing the sud.afed (no lectures, please!) and decided to top it all off with some motion-sickness meds - Bonamine. So I'm at least functional at work, and not running to the bathroom every 5 minutes because I feel like I'm gonna hurl.

You should see my kitchen counter. There are 7 medicine bottles lined up. Four on the left, 3 on the right. The left is for the dog, the right is for me (my 2 regular meds, plus the antibiotic). The OTC meds are in my purse; I take as needed. I'm actually having to write on my calendar when I've given the dog her meds & which ones, as apparently I'm not capable of remembering to give her all of hers and take mine. It's one or the other.

I wonder if they put tubes in adults ears?

Define: Ironic

Sitrep: 1x Abs Beginner workout

So I'm watching TV last night, and this commercial comes on with 2 models talking about their new clothing line (or lines) at Target. I think they were models, they said their names like the viewer should recognize them. They described the clothes as inspired by 1930's florals, but more 1970's, and "flirty", "fun", "ironic"...

Did I miss something? Is it those girl-genes I was born without? How can clothing be ironic? I understand flirty. (Sometimes). I understand fun. But ironic?

ironic
adjective
1. humorously sarcastic or mocking; "dry humor"; "an ironic remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely"; "an ironic novel"; "an ironical smile"; "with a wry Scottish wit" [syn: dry]
2. characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is; "madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker"; "it was ironical that the well-planned scheme failed so completely"

Are they saying if I'm wearing the "flirty, fun, ironic" dress, I'm actually not flirty or fun? I'm confused.

I think it's more ironic that that SOB Mark got back on the Biggest Loser last night. Or that Ali (a girl!!!) BEAT HIM to be the Biggest Loser of the night. :) That made my evening. Although there wasn't far to go for it to get better, because it ticked me off when he got back on the show. It's more ironic that every Tuesday this year I stuff my face while watching the Biggest Loser. Now that's ironic. I think. Like I said. I'm confused.

However, I did realize something last night. I've been bemoaning the fact that I can't seem to get myself exercising again. All told, I've spent hours over the last 2 months thinking about why I can't seem to get moving again. Is is the fact that Alden no longer posts? Is is the slow down in Gator Patrols? Is it that it seems no one else is still working out? Well, Alden's posts weren't supposed to go on forever. Really. The man has a buiness, family, a life. And the Gator Patrol? I could start some of those myself, but I don't. No one else working out? Not true. I get glimpses of it now and then, in a post or two on the BB. What it really comes down to is this:

I've got to be able to sustain this myself, in the long run. That is the only way this will become a life-long habit. I've shifted tracks, moved onto a new phase in this journey of self-improvement and better health, mental & physical. I need to do this for me, because of me. Oh, that's not to say that having support from others isn't good. It is. It just can no longer be the only motivator to keep me going. I am the motivator. Me, and only me. Just like I am the only reason I've stopped. I am the only one being disappointed or hurt by my lack of action.

It hasn't just been lack of exercise either. There's been significant backward action in these areas:

1) Daily water consumption (some days are negative!)
2) Morning & afternoon snacks (amazing the difference that made!)
3) Controlling portion sizes
4) Choosing healthier ingredients/foods
5) Lack of journaling/tracking food & activity (on here, on SparkPeople)

All these tools I've thrown away. Well, no more. Isn't it ironic (stop singing, please) that my biggest stay-sitting-down-don't-move addiction, television, has given me such a big eye opener? It was Ali, on The Biggest Loser, that made me sit up and go "oh" last night. She was voted off in week 4, yet came back in week 11, having lost more (% of weight loss) than all the other eliminated females. Frankly, she's lost more than the women that made it through to week 11. She lost more than them, even though she was on her own for the last 6 weeks! 6 weeks in the real world, without Bob or Jillian, without her whole day at the campus focused on exercise and eating right. How ironic is that?

Modern Language Association (MLA):
"ironic." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 12 Mar. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ironic>.

A girl could get paranoid

When her coworkers scurry around with air sanitizers and clor.ox wipes after she walks past them. She could get paranoid...but I won't. ;) I'm just glad I'm up and around. Finally. Been doing nothing but sleep on the sofa since I woke up Friday. Holy moly. I'd been feeling down last week, but thought it was just the regular cold/sinus deal. Although since I've been using the Neil.med Sinus Rinse (THANK YOU CRANKYOTTER, a million times THANK YOU!!!), my sinuses have been so much better I've been off the Clari.tin.

But Shanni came down sick on Friday as well, so we commiserated (ie, whined) over the phone to each other. Except Saturday morning her mom calls me and says "So, I'm on my way to Urgent Care with Shanni. Do we need to pick you up on the way?" [g] Not quite. But it's nice to know they care. Several hours later the diagnosis for Shanni is: Influenza A. Nice, huh? Poor kid. She was pretty miserable. The doctor prescribed Tam.iflu for the entire family. Guess how much that costs per person, after insurance? $80.00. So times 5 people, that's $400. And they have insurance. Needless to say, only Shanni and Steve got the meds. The rest are taking their chances. As of this morning, Michelle is also feeling ill.

I feel like hanging some garlic around my neck. lol.

Anyway. Scully was not doing well, either. Her breathing was getting progressively worse over the weekend, so I dragged my sorry butt out of bed yesterday (ok, off the sofa) and took her to the vet. $180.00 later, she's on 2 antibiotics and a bronchodilator, plus pred.nisone. I guess it's just that time of year for bronchitis and asthma, etc. Sigh. She was pretty funny on the pred. Made her look all droopy; like a bloodhound. Hehehe. I'm not sure who collapsed on the sofa first, her or me.

But I'm back at work now. Tired, not contagious (I don't think) and wishing I was sacked out on the couch listening to "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie" as I doze. Much nicer than being at work and wading through voicemail and email. People sure are impatient if you don't answer an email within 24 hours. Sheesh.

The Kindness of Strangers....Ungrateful Little Miscreant

Sitrep: working on it

My just-retired boss Roger has decided - finally - to find a new home for the Lhasa Apso he inherited on his wife's death last July. Truly, he is not a small dog or indoor dog type of person, and with his new job he'll be traveling more. This little dog, Gizmo, is a sweet yet mean little thing. I know; how can he be both? It's not so much that he's mean, he's just very wary of strangers, men in particular. Doesn't help that he's 8 yrs old, not neutered, and Laura let him rule the roost for too many years. Until she married Roger. Gizmo likes Roger; he just thinks he's Roger's equal & in charge. He also 'talks' or 'purrs' (sounds like a mild growl) when you pet him or talk to him. Roger backs off when Gizmo does this.

Last Monday I located a breed rescue group in MT, not too far from me. Spoke with the lady that night. She is wonderfully nice, and totally understands the situation. She was actually very surprised that Roger has tried for 7 months. I guess Lhasa Apsos are, uh, more temperamental? They bond to women easier and are stubborn - smart - talkative. High maintenance in personality and care (daily brushing, etc, unless you buzz cut them!)

She is confident she can find Gizmo a home, and is go-go-go. She'll actually be in town on Monday, and is a) bringing a better brand of dog food (!) for Gizmo, and b) will pay to have him Micro chipped. She microchips all 'her' dogs. As soon as she gets more info (shot records, etc.) and pictures she'll post him on her website and start looking for a home for him. Yippee! I'm a bit surprised at how eager and helpful she is. Not sure why. It's not like she's the only such person I've run into. I guess I just let my cynical nature be in control too much. A "expect the worst so you won't be disappointed" kind of thing.

As for that little miscreant Gizmo...I dog-sat him the past 2.5 days while Roger was out of town. Gizmo behaves very well. He even let me groom him. He loves to be groomed. As long as you don't make him sit there and let him wander off and then come back. He does come back as soon as you call his name & pat the floor in front of you. I got most of the matts out of his fur the last few days. But he won't let me brush his belly, where there are quite a few matts, and he absolutely will not tolerate my trimming his feet. I think he must have gotten a nail cut to the quick once, and remembers. I was fine with him until this point, because that's when the ungrateful little miscreant bit me! Stupid dog. I know, I know, it's his only way of protecting himself, etc. But it pisses me off all the same.

Scully didn't like it either. She didn't attack him, but was getting upset. I could tell from her body posture, and how she came over and kept trying to get between me and Gizmo. Which didn't help me much...Because then I was worried they'd attack each other. I made sure that after he bit me (it wasn't much of a bite - didn't break the skin, etc.) that I handled each leg (without the scissors or brushes anywhere near us) just to let him know I can darn well touch him wherever I want because I am in charge.

I was exhausted after that. Got ready for bed, made sure to block the hallway so Gizmo would stay in the living room, and went to bed. Scully was funny. She usually goes to sleep on her bed right next to mine. Then around 2am she climbs into bed with me. Not last night. She got right up on the bed, laying on the foot of the bed (faces the door). A few minutes after I climbed into bed, she laid her head down, but still where she could keep an eye on the door, and laying in a position where she could leap up at a seconds notice to defend me...

Bad Day at the Library

Heh. Not words you think I'd say/write very often. And it's not for lack of books, either. I really didn't stay there long enough for it to become an issue. Apparently Sunday afternoons at the library are Not A Good Idea.

I will admit, it wasn't totally the library visit itself that ruined the day. I was already on edge due to the event I took Shanni to first. MT is the sister-state to Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan. They have a center in town, on the Walking Mall near the library. Yesterday was Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) in Japan, and they had a little celebration for the public. I thought it would be fun to take Shanni. When we walked in there weren't too many people there and the hosts (there is a Japanese family that lives here to manage the center, along with a local American coutnerpart) seemed as ill at ease as us...I have a feeling not too many people they don't already know attend the celebrations, even when they are open to the public. Anyway.

This cute little girl in a Yukata (she was a bit offended when I complimented her on her Kimono - she quickly corrected me!) handed Shanni and I each a bowl of what appeared to be rice and veggies. Me being me, I didn't think too much about it, although I should have. And trying to instill some manners in Shanni, I thanked them and took a bite. Uh, yeah. Have I mentioned I'm a picky eater? It had enough of a taste to let me know that there was more than rice and veggies in there. I looked closer, and by George, there was a little shrimp hiding in there. I'm not sure if I ate one; I don't think so...By the look on Shanni's face, she wasn't too thrilled with it either. So I quickly distracted her by dragging her over to the wall displays, and we made our way into another room. I noticed that she took a second bite. She told me later it would be too rude to only eat one bite, so she made herself take another. I guess she's instilling manners in me. :) When no one was looking, I put both our bowls in the trash. (Told mom this last night and she laughed and said "you are your father's daughter!". I consider that a compliment anyways, so...) As you've probably figured out, it was some type of rice bowl sushi. I knew I should have called Mom before going. But I doubt she'd've warned me. This is the same woman that used ground turkey in Hamburger Helper once and thought I wouldn't notice. And I was an adult at the time! Hah! She's a joker sometimes, my mom is!

We learned how to make an origami Hina doll, and an origami crane. Then they had a tea ceremony. That was cool. Shanni didn't want to stay, but I thought it an important part of Japanese culture, so we stayed. It would have been more enjoyable if the parents had taken control of their kids. Really. There were at least 8 kids there, 3 yrs old to 10 or so, and they crowded around the raised tatami mats. The hostess had to stop in the middle of the ceremony to warn them back, as they were leaning forward and a couple of them were just inches from the hot tea kettle with boiling water in it. Parents just stood back, did nothing. Not even when one of the kids knocked into the Hina Doll display stand, knocking several pieces onto the floor. (Thank goodness the breakable ones just tipped over).

Shortly after the ceremony ended, we left. Irritated, because those kids blocked most of what the hostess was doing, so Shanni didn't really get to see much.

Then we walked down to the library. I'd noticed when we parked that it seemed awfully busy for the library, but didn't realize why until we went inside. There were kids everywhere! It was horrible. The library was buzzing with noise. So not right. Cell phone talkers, kids running and yelling. No parents in sight...What is wrong with people? Kids were walking out with library books that hadn't been checked out, setting off that stupid alarm. It was insane. Turns out the library has a program on Sundays called PAWS for reading. Kids get to practice reading out loud to specially trained dogs. At the same time they were also celebrating Dr. Seuss. At least that's only the one time thing. The PAWS program is another few weeks or so.

Shanni was a little startled we left so quickly. I got one book by S.L. Viehl (Eternity Row - the only book by her they had. I'd normally try inter-library loan to start with the first book, but it being so insanely busy and noisy...). Couldn't use the self-checkout because I had 2 books in that I'd reserved, and one was the next in a series Shanni was reading so we had to pick it up. Darn it. We got those and were out of there. She asked what was wrong & I told her I couldn't handle the noise and crush of people, especially the kids running amok. It was giving me a nervous break down.

So. Note to self: NO LIBRARY VISITS ON SUNDAYS. At least, not without checking their calendar first.

First Meeting of the Wine & Chocolate Club

Sitrep: 1x 15 min walk, 1 set Perfect Pushups (10 Reg, 10 Wide, 10 Close), 5x stairs (Up & Down, 26 steps).

What I want to know is when did I get so old that 3 glasses of wine make me feel so crappy? Okay, the champagne at work (boss' last day), plus eating chocolate chip cookies & carrots all day probablly didn't help. But Seriously. Now I'm a lightweight that gets hung over. This is so not fair.

I'm just now feeling human again, and it's 10pm...

After the boss' send off at work yesterday, it was home to get the dog, and off to my little sister's for dinner and a girl's night of painting finger and toenails. Green, natch. It is March. ;)

I admit I'm the one that brought the wine. But really. Strawberry White Zin should be safe enough...Even after a glass of champagne. I got there and the chocolate cake was cooking...the frosting was coconut pecan. OMG. I have a new favorite cake, seriously. And I was responsible for the ice cream, too. Had over a gallon left over from the party at my boss' last weekend. Josie was there too, which we haven't managed for a few months...since New Year's, actually. Which is probably why we had so much fun. And it was fun. For us, anyway. Steve, the poor man, hid in the bedroom with a set of earplugs. He came out at one point for his pain meds, but didn't stay long.

Someone made the mistake of asking my opinion on something to do with politics...because of the last discussion on the BB (which I just had to start!!!), I was already worked up, and with the wine...I had a lovely case of verbal diarrhea. Michelle was surprised at "this side" of me. Shannon's seen it before. Josie just laughed, and asked "how do you know all this..." I just sat there fish-faced for a few before going "I read? Google, maybe?" Michelle's not so sure anymore my going to D.C. with Shannon is a good idea.

Needless to say, I slept there last night...Got up around 7 am (gotta love the dogs, NOT!) and made Shanni find me some aspirin. I think I faked being awake through a couple hours of conversation with her, because I have a vague impression of her talking and me going "uh-huh" a lot, until suddenly it was 9 am. I hope I didn't agree to anything too painful. [g] It took cake & ice cream and a couple cups of coffee to get me out the door around noon.

The dog still hasn't recovered from the night out...she looks worse now than I felt this morning...

Powerful Books

Sitrep: 1x 15 minute walk

A topic I've been thinking on for awhile is what gets people started reading, and what keeps them reading? Why do we keep coming back for more? For me, I seem to get some kind of emotional connection or satisfaction when I read. Maybe it has to do with my earliest memories of books, all of them wrapped up in family, if you think about it:

- Dad holding and reading to me
- My 6th or 7th birthday where Mom & Dad got me the first 5 books in the Bobbsey Twin series
- Dad coming home from work with another book for me
- Mom reading to us kids
- Mom getting us our bilingual (English/Spanish) Fairy Tale books (the Ugly Duckling was my favorite!)
- Family trips to the library
- Endless summer days bicycling to the library with a sibling or friend or by myself when I was older
- My sister and I reading late into the night, with our secret code of knocking on the walls to indicate “meet in the hallway” (to share a good/funny part) or “going to bed” or “finished book”
- Sneaking books into church to tuck into the Missalette so I could read during Mass (until my brother tried this and got caught…that was the end of sitting in the balcony on our own!)

We joke, my sister and I, that the best presents for us growing up were books. Mom despaired, I think, of her two daughters that wanted books over clothes or makeup. When we unwrapped the book, we’d squeal, caress the cover, open it to the inside flap and read the blurb, no matter how many times we’d already read it before, finish the back inside flap, then gently close the book, caress the back, and regretfully, softly, place it on the floor next to us to continue with the Christmas festivities. [g]

But as much as these memories make me smile, I got a reminder yesterday of other ways that books have affected my life. Stronger, and not as “nice” ways depending on your point of view. Ways that have made me uncomfortable about who I am, what I believe, my perceptions of the world around me.

A friend asked me to look up a Saint for her, Saint Dymphna. I thought it was made up, but was wrong. Dymphna is the patron saint for the mentally disabled. Appropriate, because that’s the field my friend works in. She wanted to know the reason/backstory for this Saint. So I got to rooting around online, and going through a list of Saints and the Beatified and those on track to become Saints in the Catholic Church, I came upon the three children of Fatima. I’ve always been fascinated by that story, from an early age. Maybe because we lived in the Terceira Islands, maybe because Mom’s from Spain, who knows. But it’s always fascinated me.

I distinctly remember reading a book about the Miracle of Fatima, a sort of biography of what happened and the three children. I was drawn to the second girl, the youngest of the three at 10, Jacinta. She died quite young, in the hospital. One of her greatest wishes was to receive the sacrament of the Holy Communion. Yet the priests denied her because she was too young. Even on her death bed, when she begged, they denied her that and the Sacrament of the Last Rites. And she died that night.

Being near /the same age as her, I was horrified, terrified. Here was this pious little girl, trying to the best of her ability (and from what I read now succeeding at) being good and following the dictates of the church, and they wouldn’t let her have First Communion. I think that was the beginning of my disillusionment with the Catholic Church, and perhaps organized religion in general. Even in my “religious” years in high school/beginning of college, there was that seed of doubt. Maybe that’s why I was (still am) curious about other faiths, religions, ways of believing. Who knows. I think it was also the beginning of my sense of injustice in the world, that things don't always have a nice tidy ending, things don't always work out. It probably didn't help that within a few years I'd read the Diary of Anne Frank.

Anyway. It just reminded me that as much as I focus on the fun of reading, I don't think too much about the ways books have helped me to grow, have challenged me, and have stretched my horizons.

Just because you're paranoid...

Sitrep: Same old, same old...

So I've been puzzling over my unsettled feelings on our current president and congress, and the laws being passed, etc. I've come to the "conclusion" that while I might be a little paranoid, there is some basis in our past history to back my uneasiness.

Being a history buff, I seemed to remember reading/learning somewhere that our government has restricted our freedoms of speech, etc., with at least one Sedition Act, so I did some digging around. The one I was thinking of was in 1918, during WWI. Yet there are two very big instances in our country's history that curtailed some of our basic constitutionally guaranteed rights:

1. Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798: read this and this
   
2. U.S. Sedition Act of 1918: read this and this

The first one, from what I read up on today, was politically motivated to restrict one party from being able to accomplish anything in an election year. (Gee, things haven't changed that much have they???). The second one seems to me to be more fear and hysteria driven. (Sound familiar???), and lead me eventually to the Smith Act of 1940, which has more to do with groups that advocate for the violent overthrow of government, and which I'll have to read up on. Eventually I ended up at a page that has what I can only call a Motherlode of Links on the First Amendment. (This is gonna take up my weekend, and how!)

I guess I just need to keep reminding myself that yes, the Constitution is the basis for our country and law. But it's implemented and enforced by people who have their own political, religious, moral, and/or personal drivers. And that the system of checks and balances deliberately built-in to our form of government is very important.

In these cases above, eventually, that system seems to have worked. It makes me wonder if it will work now to stop the growth of federal power; the Executive Branch in particular.

Here are a couple of other links that I found interesting: Sedition (definition, of sorts) Freedom of Speech (brief history of)

Whirlwind Weekend

Sitrep: Nothing.
Goal (2/25-3/2): Fifteen minutes of some type of activity daily.

I'm amazed my post from last Friday is as clear as it is. I wrote it in a frenzy of thinking and while in the grip of some type of funky sinus/stress/migraine? headache...Coffee made it worse...migraine meds had no effect...ibuprofen and sudafed helped mildly...

Then I went and had my taxes done. That was fun. But at least it's done and filed, and I'm getting enough money back to pay a few bills and pre-pay for a year's worth of lawn maintenance (fertilizer & weed control) along with a core aeration, and leave me some money left over to sock away in savings. Whoo-hooo! Hopefully this year, with my witholding change in effect for a whole year instead of just half a year, I won't get as much money back. Sounds bizarre, I know, but why lend the government my money interest free? I'd rather put it in a money market account. I think I'm disciplined enough to do that now.

This weekend was crazy busy. I need a day off to recover. Saturday our soon to be retired boss had a party at his house for the staff. It was a lot of fun. I went over a few hours early to a) bathe his late wife's dog (that's a post for another day) and b) to get his new printer/scanner set up for him. Only accomplished the first before everyone else showed up. The party started around 2:30pm, and ended around 8:30 pm. It was a lot of fun, and definitely the most relaxed I've ever seen my current boss. Okay, he was pretty lit. It was hilarious. My new boss makes a pretty mean margarita. I had to stop after two. My head was starting to spin. Yes, I'm a light weight...But everyone else even said they were strong. And, okay, I was drinking out of a large plastic cup instead of a margarita or wine glass, so I suspect I was getting more than I planned...

Our office now has a strong contingent with ties to Butte. Which explains the Margaritas. Around here, Butte is known as the party town. If there's a celebration going on, it's gonna be in Butte, and it's gonna be a week long, minimum. :) You know it's gonna be a long day when an hour into the party the (new) boss says "Call J (our accountant/HR person) and tell her since she's last to arrive, she has to stop at the liquor store on the way here and get 2 more bottles of margarita mix. And tequila." And his wife hollers from the living room, "You might want to make that 4!"

Let's just say a fun time was had by all. I was in bed by 9pm. Didn't get up until 10am.

Yesterday my little's mom & stepdad came back from Great Falls. He seems pretty chipper since the back surgery. Of course, the pain meds might have something to do with that. Although he and Michelle can definitely use the space from each other. lol. That week in one hospital room was tough, apparently. Especially the last 2 days. They had a huge blow up yesterday at their house; over a t-shirt from what I gathered. It was hard not to a) over hear, and b) laugh out loud, because it was the silliest argument I've heard in a long time. Stressed the girls a bit though, so I had them go into one of their bedrooms on the other side of the house. I'd brought some groceries with me, and made a chicken pot pie for dinner for them...it was edible, even if I do say so myself. ;) Thank you to my SIL who reminded me of this recipe when I visited them last December. I gave her the recipe originally, and then forgot about it myself...How sad. Then my little sister made chewy chocolate cookies with Reese's peanut butter chips...I "helped", mostly by eating the dough when her back was turned. Heh. Then I went home, talked to my folks, and crawled into bed.

I'm a pathetic sad sack. I have got to get exercising again. I feel better, eat better, and am just all around better when I do. My goal this week is to do fifteen minutes of activity each day. I don't care what as long I get moving.

Meee-owww

Sitrep: Sluggish beyond belief. Lack of motivation.

So. There's still a brouhaha going on the bulletin board, and today it really descended into cattiness. Sigh. Why do we have to do this to each other? I've noticed it really seems to happen with just a few posters, and I have done my fair share of wallowing in the mud with certain other posters.

It's just so hard to refrain, you know? As I said to one of my BB friends, when she called me and told me not to respond to one post (this was weeks ago, and has nothing to do with the current squabble), I really felt like replying with this:

Bad of me, I know. What can I say?

Good part of the day is that I got to have a nice little side conversation with Cranky Otter about the government's use of "In God We Trust" on official documentation. Okay, really, it was CO talking with someone else, I just got the benefit of "listening" in. It was great. Just the kind of stuff I love to talk about, but can seldom find anyone else who wants to.

It's interesting the views people have. I remember one discussion I had on the BB with someone who did not feel that there was any religious discrimination in the U.S., or that anyone not a Christian in this country is ever made to feel inferior or opressed. Really? I have. She came back with a "No You Haven't" post. Which really made my blood boil. [g] It might not seem like much, but when I get a work email from someone in an organization we do business with, and it is signed "God Bless You" and I get in trouble for having as part of my email signature "Blessed Be" or "May the Goddess Bless You". How is the one acceptable and the other not? That is a form of opression, a way of making someone feel inferior.

And I had another, brief, go round with someone on the BB this week who doesn't believe there is any opression in the U.S. (I'm thinking it's the same person as before, but am not totally sure.) I want to respond to her post, and ask her what her definition of opression is. From what I read, it seemed to me that as long as a person is free to leave the country, then they aren't opressed. I'm probably interpreting the posts wrong, but that's what I got from it. Which really - scares - me in some respects. Because if one person seriously believes this, then there are probably many more that do.

For one thing, I don't believe leaving the country is all that easy any more. At least, not legally...(her responding post seemed to me to suggest people leave illegally. Which is funny, if you think about it, because so many in this country are up in arms over those coming here illegally.) For another, there really is opression going on in this country. Just look at the struggle for gays/lesbians to have equal protections and rights under the law. To not be treated as second class citizens. Look at the prejudices and discriminations that African Americans still face. Yes, it's come a long way since the 60's. But it's still there. And until I moved West, I didn't realize the types of discrimination and prejudice faced by Native Americans. I could go on and on...

I guess I just have this sensation that's been building since 9/11 that we are on the precipiece of some really scary restrictions when it comes to our freedoms to live our lives like we have been.

I used to believe our government wouldn't harm us. That we needed more federal government than state government. Now it frightens me that the individual states' rights are more and more getting swallowed up or over-ridden by the feds.

I really don't like this uneasy, queasy feeling. I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid...like my friend who's stockpiling supplies for when the government collapses...

Define: Angst

Sitrep: Can you guess?

A kind of fear or anxiety; Angst is German for “fear.” It is usually applied to a deep and essentially philosophical anxiety about the world in general or personal freedom. *

Basically, that's been my kind of day today. Filled with Angst.

It started with Steve (little's stepdad) going in for his back operation this morning. Started at 8:30am, out at 1:30pm. He's now out of recovery and doing well, from the text I got from Michelle.

And continued with the BB. Ah, the joys of the BB. Sometimes I don't understand myself. Why do I read the posts when I know they're going to upset me? Why do I read the posts in potentially upsetting threads by people whose posts I know are going to upset me. It's like being in the room and watching mother and daughter have an emotional, verbal knock-down-drag-out battle. Emotionally draining. I just get so frustrated when I witness stuff like this. Someone being "attacked" because they posted a differing viewpoint. I'm sure I've done it before; I try not to as a general rule. But I'm not perfect. I just hate what I see as the typical knee-jerk reaction of isolationist Americans. (In my viewpoint, anyway). It's the type of angry reaction that's rhetoric filled, builds a wall, fosters hate.

This has been the kind of day that drives me to eat poorly...and since I happen to have several boxes of Girl Scout cookies on my desk - this is not a good thing. So in my effort to not eat a box of Thin Mints in the course of one 8 hour work day, I've devoured my finger nails. Sigh. And they were looking so pretty, too. I haven't chewed them since January 1st. That's almost 2 whole months.

Okay. So I've vented plenty on bad stuff. Now I'm going to vent on good stuff. :)

1) Got to see my little sister this morning because I drove her to school. Sshe's staying at her dad's a few blocks from my house, and her school is right by my work so she's catching a ride in to town with me.

2) I get to see my little sister every morning the rest of this week because I'm driving her to school.

3) I got to see a litter of newborn labrador puppies at lunch and got to bottle feed one of the pups. :) There's something about the smell and feel of newborn and weeks old puppies that's so relaxing. One of our vendors takes their dog to work, and she had her litter overnight. So I stopped by during lunch. There was a steady stream of people stopping by to see them. :) The Mama Dog is doing great. She had 10 puppies; her first litter! Six boys, four girls. And they are all healthy looking and very noisy. But oh, so sweet. I held a couple of them. Got to bottle feed one, as they are rotating them on/off the mother. I guess she can only feed so many at a time, so they're supplementing with formula.

4) My new boss' daughter just stopped by with their two new puppies. Chocolate brown Cocker Spaniels, 2.5 months old.

Ahhh. Now that's the way to end a day. I'm all smiley and happy feeling now. I just have to keep thinking about those puppies, that's all.

And hope to heaven that my dog doesn't get too bent out of shape when I get home tonight. ;) I've cheated on her with 13 other dogs today! Soon to be 14, as my coworkers Great Dane is outside in her car, waiting to go out to O'Toole's tonight. ;)

*"angst." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 20 Feb. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/angst.

Too Close to the Edge

Sitrep: Back to Zero. Just got my Girl Scout Cookie order. Why did I order so many? What was I thinking?????

So this weekend I spent quite a bit of time with my little sister's family. Her stepdad has had back problems for years. Several weeks back he "tweaked" it somehow, and it just hasn't been getting better. He has to have four vertebrae fused, which is happening tomorrow. Unfortunately, this puts him out of work for at least 3 months. And, naturally, his employer doesn't provide disability insurance, so he won't be getting any pay. In addition, he can't go back to his job (one he's been doing for pretty much the same employer for 30 years) because of the heavy lifting involved.

So he's basically been laid off for medical reasons. And starting March 1st, they are switching him to his wife's medical insurance plan (they work for the same company) so he will still have insurance. Only she has to pay the premium for him, which is an additional $360 per month. It sucks, big time.

My little's mom was freaking out. Which I can totally understand. They're losing half their monthly income. They were barely keeping their heads above water as it was. They weren't exactly the best with their finances, but they weren't that bad either. Most of their existing debt is medically related. It's amazing how fast medical bills add up even when you have insurance.

But there's just no way they can pay anything on any of their debt with just her income (and she's already working 2 jobs; one full, one part-time). It's barely going to cover basic necessities as it is. And just forget about any of the new medical bills because of the back surgery and rehab. I highly doubt insurance will cover it all. It really sucks. They've pretty much decided they'll have to declare bankruptcy once those bills come in. Because it's a minimum of 3 months until he's supposed to be back on his feet, and then he'll have to be retrained, etc, and find another job. Doesn't look like he can get unemployment because he isn't able to work (one of the exclusions listed) and it takes 6 months (per the SSA) to get SS disability. Which he qualifies for, from what we researched, but we've all heard that you get turned down the first time, no matter what.

It just makes me wonder how many of us are that close to the edge. I'd always realized intellectually how most people (myself included) are one or two paychecks away from disaster. I guess I didn't realize exactly what that meant. The reality of it. Now granted, they could have managed their money much better than they have. But they haven't been doing that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's pretty scary when you think about it.

Romantic Couples

Sitrep: 1x PPU, 15 min Snow Shoveling

Happy Valentine's Day!

I dedicat today to my love of chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

Has there ever been a better love/hate relationship? :)

The first forty-four days of this year I've been in a reading slump, of sorts. After spending quite a bit of time delving in the world of the romantic classics with Masterpiece Theater's "Jane Austen" series, and the 2005 version of "Jane Eyre", I decided to go back and re-read some of my old favorites in the classics section of my personal library.

The last few days it's been "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. It's one of my favorites, but not for the usual reasons. The volume I have is worn, you can tell it's been read alot. And seemingly, I always start it from the same point: the scene where Isabella flees Heathcliff and makes her dramatic appearance at the Grange, shortly after Catherine died. I start there and read to the end. The tale of what happens after, the relationship/romance between Cathy (the daughter) and Hareton (Catherine's nephew) is so little written about in the book, yet seems sweeter to me and more wonderful than that between Catherine & Heathcliff.

Frankly, I do wonder at why people love the romance between those two so much. Why they are such a celebrated pair of star-crossed lovers. I found them to be two very unlikeable characters. Their love was obsessive, selfish, destructive. Very much like the fiber of who they were. I felt no pity for them; they brought their destruction upon themselves. I just couldn't and can't picture Heathcliff as a hero. He was mean, vindictive, possessive...no redeeming qualities about him, from my viewpoint. He and Catherine were wild and mad in a bad sort of way. Not sure how else to describe it. Like the worst lightning/thunderstorm I've ever been through.

Catherine was spoiled and selfish...willful, tempermental. She wanted to marry the rich man so she could be "lady of the manor", but still tie Heathcliff to her side. She was selfish to the end; not seeing how she brought about her own destruction, and that of her husband and sister-in-law. Heathcliff let his bitterness focus his life; the whole revenge on those that "did him wrong" was his sole reason for living, even before Catherine died.

I just find it hard to understand why people characterize this as romantic or a romance. I suppose they might seem romantic, if you only ever watch the old Merle Oberon/Laurence Olivier version, which leapfrogs from Catherine's death (which occurs only 160 +/- pages into the book!!!) to Heathcliff's death. It totally omits what happens after, which is by far the bulk of the book. And it paints them in a much nicer light, really, than the book. I can't explain why, but they are much darker figures in the book.

The book itself is a masterful piece of writing, I think. It protrays quite a section of people and life and says quite a bit about human nature and revenge and selfishness and love and the nature of love. And it's destructive power. It's a wonderful trip into madness and despair and destruction, that actually ends on a whiff of lightness and air...

Maybe that's why I like it so much.

'A Rose By Any Other Name'

Sitrep: 1x PPU (10 regular, 10 wide, 10 close)

Would definitely smell as sweet...and probably be just as darn prickly.

We had an interesting staff meeting today. Got to discuss the potential first name of our accountants pending grandchild: Atley. She is sooo not thrilled with that. Still insists no grandchild of hers will be called Atley.

Our new Exec just got not one, but two, new puppies. Chocolate brown cocker spaniels. Brothers from the same litter. The puppy was a Valentine's Day present to his wife. (They lost their dog last year, and she has been wanting another one. ) Unfortunately for him (fortunately for the 2nd puppy) he took his daughter with him to pick up the dog. That's how they ended up with the second one. Do men never learn? Really. I don't care if she is in her first year in college. How could he not know she'd insist on getting the other puppy? It was the last one left....

So our weekly staff meeting ended with trying to name a) the grandchild and b) the two puppies.

For the grandkid, we came up with Dean Atley. The reverse of what the parents want, but hey, it's a compromise. And at least the poor kid wouldn't go through school being called Atley! Grandma is still on the "no" bandwagon to using Atley at all. I rather like "Seth" myself.

The dogs, I think, are going to end up Marco & Polo. And now you all can have those dratted names echoing in your heads, like they have been in mine: Maaaarcooooo..............Pooollloooo!

There Are Signs Everywhere

And if you follow them, you won't get lost. Maybe. If they're in your own language.

There were plenty this morning. I woke up at 3 am and couldn't sleep. It'd been 6 hours since I took the capsule form of Ny.quil (no hallucinations, yay!), but didn't want to take the daytime version for fear it would prevent me from eventually falling asleep again. So I listened to an interesting program on the history channel about the "underground" used by the "enemy" during the Viet Nam war. This really huge cave that was a military base, for all intents and purposes. And in comparison to their South Vietnamese couterparts who lived on bases with AC and swimming pools. Huh. No wonder they won. Much more motivated... (Yes I know that's an oversimplification.)

My alarm went off at 6:45 am, later than I normally get up, and my legs were so heavy and achy when I got out of bed. That was sign number two. But hey, it's just the meds, this is really just a head cold, so I sucked it up and came to work.

Signs number three, four, five and six occured when I walked into the office, took off my hat, coat, gloves, boots, etc, and walked back to where my coworkers were gathered. Night utilities didn't run so we had to run it this morning (40 minutes of downtime), no one had made coffee yet, the "slacker" called in sick becuase of her "cold" (puh-lease, she sneezed maybe 2x yesterday!!!!) , and my coworkers started laughing at their first sight of me...

That is really just too much. I thought I had mascara on my cheeks, or my shirt on backwards/inside out, my zipper undone, something. But no. They just said I looked like I felt like "crap" and that my hair was...weird. Not how I usually wear it. I still can't tell what they're talking about. But really. When your coworkers laugh at your appearance upon arrival at work...

I think that sign is saying GO HOME

Is it Saturday Yet?

I'm on my second dose of liquid Dayq.uil since 8am. (I usually stay away from the stuff. Nyq.uil makes me hallucinate. The day stuff is just a step behind that.)

Ran out of Klee.nex by 10am, reducing me to using toilet paper. (Had to steal a roll of TP from the bathroom. Shhhh. No one turn me in, please.)

Santa can use me to lead his sleigh, my nose is so raw it's glowing red.

Every lotion I have makes my nose burn, even the stuff supposedly for this very thing.

Oh, and I did Abs Essentials Intermediate last night.

Tonight I'm going home and curling up on the sofa and watching Jane Eyre again. Too bad I no longer have a VCR. It would be a pefect evening for Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

Note to self: Add P&P to your wish list on Amazon...

And every time I scan this post, my eyes substitute "Satan" for "Santa". Repeat after me: step away from the Dayq.uil...

The "Alpine Glow"

Sitrep: 3x Thought about Reving, 2x Thought About doing PPU

Driving into work this morning was beautiful. It's starting to get light out now just around the time I get up. By the time I head for work, it's that lovely gray turning white light.

I go West to get to town; the foothills this morning had a coating of white still from all the snow, with the lovely golden brown of the grass peeking through. Like donuts lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. Behind them loomed the mountains of the Continental Divide. A darker gray with snow, several long, strung-out layers of puffy clouds hovering above. The light from the rising sun coated the clouds and tips of the Continental Divide a glorious pink that faded down into the snow-covered sides of the mountains. They look just like someone has poured freshly melted pink syrup over the peaks and let it dribble down. Streaks of pink looked like they'd been painted across the white-blue sky. I've been told this is called the "Alpine Glow."

Whatever it's called, it's absolutely beautiful to see when it occurs. The light, the colors, the textures, the depth of the sky...Almost made me glad I was up early enough to see it. Almost!

A PRECIOUS, mouldering pleasure ’t is

To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,

His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.

His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The literature of old;

What interested scholars most,
What competitions ran
When Plato was a certainty,
And Sophocles a man;

When Sappho was a living girl,
And Beatrice wore
The gown that Dante deified.
Facts, centuries before,

He traverses familiar,
As one should come to town
And tell you all your dreams were true:
He lived where dreams were born.

His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads
And tantalize, just so.

~ Emily Dickinson

The Things I do...

...for my dog

Like leaving a nice, cozy, warm office to go buy meat for her home-cooked meals. I could have used meat I have in the fridge for myself, but noooooo. I know that makes her asthma/bronchitis worse, so I went out in this lovely 7*F weather to go grocery shopping for the dog.

....out of my own stupidity

So I've been trying to track down this missing Debit card transaction for about a month now. My bank says it hasn't cleared, and isn't even showing up at Vis.a. It's only for $11.37 (according to what I wrote in my checkbook ledger, no receipt in sight until this past weekend.) They usually clear the same day. My bank gave me some bizarre story about the grocery store having 30 days to report (?) the transaction...Ummm....hello? Isn't a Debit charge immediate? I thought that was the whole point of electronic transactions?

Well, in my belated spring cleaning this past weekend, I actually found the receipt. (In the bin where I keep the potatoes, but that's beside the point.) Took it to the grocery store today since they couldn't research it earlier without the receipt. Met with the bookkeeper, who looks at my receipt for a few minutes, then looks at me and says "Honey, this is for a cash transaction. You didn't use your debit card for this." DUH.

Apparently I'm so paranoid about forgetting to deduct debit transactions from my check book balance, I'm now subtracting cash payments.

It's the blond highlights. Really. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

Snow and Girl Scout Cookies

Can this day get any better?

We've gotten several more inches of the white stuff overnight. Temps got up to the mid-40's F yesterday. So I was outside knocking the ice out of the one rain gutter on the house...not so much to "save" the rain gutter itself, but to keep the ice from backing up onto the roof and doing damage. I'm planning (hopefully) to put new rain gutters on the house this spring. It was 41*F when I went to bed at 10pm...woke up to -6*F. Yes, that's a negative sign in front of the six. [g] I'm so twisted I'm loving this. :) Although the white-out conditions on the way to work weren't so fun...at least it was only between EH and H, where it's wide-open fields, etc.

And then someone from the office next door finally came over with the Girl Scout Cookie order form. I went over there 2 weeks ago asking if anyone came in selling those cookies, to send them our way. That kid hit the jackpot in our office. I never had such a hard time finding a Girl Scout to buy cookies from until I moved here. Anyway. My order is in.

Had fun this weekend at the Big Brothers Big Sisters annual "Bowl for Kids' Sake" fundraiser. Michelle (my little's mom) bowled for her part-time job Macy's. I helped her fund raise and between the two of us we raised $383.00. Even better, Macy's is going to match it! So that comes to $766 just from the two of us!!! The shift Michelle bowled on (each shift is 1.5 hours) raised $6700.00. How cool is that? And that was just one shift on Saturday! There were 8 shifts over 2 days.

Saturday afternoon, before the bowling, I did the library thing with my little sister and her older sister. We go at least twice a month now. It's fun, although getting Shanni to browse for books is hard. Afterward we went to my house. On the way, we picked up my mail. I was all excited because I got the first disc of the 2006 "Jane Eyre" adaptation from Netflix. Which prompted the following conversation...

Me: (waving red envelope in the air) Yay! Jane Eyre disc one is here!
S: What's the movie?
Me: Jane Eyre (handing mail to KT in front seat next to me)
KT: Cool. What movie did you get?
Me: JANE EYRE!

After a few seconds of silence we all started laughing. It was funny, but probably one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. Neither of them had heard of Jane Eyre (oh, the horror!). Well, I fixed that! They actually wanted to watch it. So I put it in. There was about 20 minutes left on the first disc when we had to leave. Shanni did not want to leave. She really wanted to finish the movie. And boy, was she bummed when I told here there was another 2 hours to go! She kept pestering me to tell her how the story turns out. "What does the gypsy tell Jane", "Who's up in the tower?", "What happens next?" [g] Next Saturday we're finishing the movie.

It's great to have another convert. :)

Snow and Girl Scout Cookies

Can this day get any better? We've gotten several more inches of the white stuff overnight. Temps got up to the mid-40's F yesterday. So I was outside knocking the ice out of the one rain gutter on the house...not so much to "save" the rain gutter itself, but to keep the ice from backing up onto the roof and doing damage. I'm planning (hopefully) to put new rain gutters on the house this spring. It was 41*F when I went to bed at 10pm...woke up to -6*F. Yes, that's a negative sign in front of the six. [g] I'm so twisted I'm loving this. :) Although the white-out conditions on the way to work weren't so fun...at least it was only between EH and H, where it's wide-open fields, etc. And then someone from the office next door finally came over with the Girl Scout Cookie order form. I went over there 2 weeks ago asking if anyone came in selling those cookies, to send them our way. That kid hit the jackpot in our office. I never had such a hard time finding a Girl Scout to buy cookies from until I moved here. Anyway. My order is in. Had fun this weekend at the Big Brothers Big Sisters annual "Bowl for Kids' Sake" fundraiser. Michelle (my little's mom) bowled for her part-time job Macy's. I helped her fund raise and between the two of us we raised $383.00. Even better, Macy's is going to match it! So that comes to $766 just from the two of us!!! The shift Michelle bowled on (each shift is 1.5 hours) raised $6700.00. How cool is that? And that was just one shift on Saturday! There were 8 shifts over 2 days. Saturday afternoon, before the bowling, I did the library thing with my little sister and her older sister. We go at least twice a month now. It's fun, although getting Shanni to browse for books is hard. Afterward we went to my house. On the way, we picked up my mail. I was all excited because I got the first disc of the 2006 "Jane Eyre" adaptation from Netflix. Which prompted the following conversation... Me: (waving red envelope in the air) Yay! Jane Eyre disc one is here! S: What's the movie? Me: Jane Eyre (handing mail to KT in front seat next to me) KT: Cool. What movie did you get? Me: JANE EYRE! After a few seconds of silence we all started laughing. It was funny, but probably one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. Neither of them had heard of Jane Eyre (oh, the horror!). Well, I fixed that! They actually wanted to watch it. So I put it in. There was about 20 minutes left on the first disc when we had to leave. Shanni did not want to leave. She really wanted to finish the movie. And boy, was she bummed when I told here there was another 2 hours to go! She kept pestering me to tell her how the story turns out. "What does the gypsy tell Jane", "Who's up in the tower?", "What happens next?" [g] Next Saturday we're finishing the movie. It's great to have another convert. :)

Presents to Myself

Last night, after sorting through the "joy" that was my mail (see post below), and after eating dinner, I decided to brave the upstairs to unearth some of my old books.

Now, it's been really, really cold here lately. As in below zero most of the day, and definitely at night. I have the heat turned off upstairs, and heavy curtains blocking the base of the stairway. They sure keep the heat contained downstairs! It was cold up there.

Debated going back downstairs for gloves, but once I drug out a box and started pulling the books out...I quite forgot my hands were so cold! It was like hitting the lottery or something. Lots of "OH, I forgot I had that one!" and "Oh, I love this book." Squeals of delight, even.

Ended up taking a stack of about ten books downstairs. Then I dove into an autobiography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh I forgot I had. I got it just before I moved into my house in May 2006. I've never unpacked my boxes of books, because the upstairs, where they're going to be stored, isn't "ready" yet. (Carpets pulled, floors sanded/painted. One room is mid-point; carpets are pulled and icky stuff mostly scraped off.) Spent several hours reading, and had to make myself go to bed on time. [g]

Aside: If you've never read any of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's writing, you should. She writes in such a lyrical, almost hypnotic, manner about her travels with Charles Lindbergh. Did you know she was his navigator for many of his flights after they married? Pretty cool. My favorite is Listen! the Wind. Written in the years after her first child was murdered, it is pretty haunting. Especially when you know how much she equated the wind blowing to the night her son was taken & killed. North to the Orient is good too!

I highly recommend packing your favorites away for awhile and forgetting they are there. Then, when you unearth them at a later date, you're in for such fun and excitement! Oh, the joy of presents to myself!

Note to Homeowners

REVIEW YOUR ESCROW ACCOUNT STATEMENT CLOSELY.

I received mine last night, and after reviewing it, here's what I found:

1) For the coming year, my bank increased my mortgage by $4/mo because I dropped below the 'cushion' one month this past year. I expected that as my insurance increased due to the remodels I've done. That's okay. It's not that huge an increase.

2) But then they project that for this coming year I'll be an additional several hundred short by the end of the year. So they increased the payment by another $14/month until March 2009.

Now, match isn't my best subject, but I was sitting there going WTF? The only reason I dipped below the "cushion" was because my insurance went up. They used all the same insurance & tax numbers for next year's projections, with an increased amount going into my escrow account each month. So how in the world, based on my current payments, am I going to be short by the end of the year? Here's how:

When calculating actual payments for this year, they did not include the final 2 months escrow payments. Which totally makes up for their predicted "shortage". So now on Monday I have to waste my lunch at the bank to get this sorted out. It's not like I can't do the extra $18/month for a year. I can. But it's the principle of the thing, you know? Do your damn accounting right from the start, thank you. And you better damn well account for every single dime I give you, 'cause I'm gonna catch it. ;)

Okay. Crankiness gone. :)

Reading slumps, exercise slumps, slump, slump, slump...

Ya know, if you say/write that enough it loses meaning; is awkward to say. Almost like a word you've just made up.

A "we never discuss books/characters" anymore post on the BB got me to wondering why we don't talk books as much. Truly, when I first started haunting the BB in 2001, it was mostly about Suz' books. Is it that the people on the board have changed that much? Or that it's a bunch of new/different people?

Somehow I think it's more because we all have such varied interests, and because the board has evolved from just a place to talk about Suz' books. It's become more of a community of people that love of books brought together. And then again, we've discussed Suz' books to death. Really, we have. I've never met a group of book-a-holics that could analyze an author's writings down to the smallest detail like these ladies can! It's cool, really. But there's nothing new on the horizon to get us all worked up or excited.

Which got me to thinking about how that's true for me in regard to reading, period. "Agnes and the Hitman" is the most enjoyable book I've read in a long time. And even that took me two weeks after checking it out of the library to even start, and a week to actually read. I liked it, it was entertaining, a fun, light read. But now what?

It doesn't seem to matter what type of book I pick up. Nothing captures my interest for long, or sucks me into the story, or sticks with me for days, or wends its way into my dreams. The last books that did that were the ones by Elizabeth Vaughan. It's been a year since the last one in that trilogy came out, and I dreamt about them the other night!

Maybe I need to go back and revisit some of those classic books that fostered my love of reading. I haven't read Wuthering Heights in years and years. Not since I was in Paraguay. I loved that book...used to read it at least once a year. And was actually finding the second half of the book, the part after Cathy & Heathcliff, was better than the first. (Probably because there's a "happy-ever-after" to it!) I've also been wanting to read "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for years. Then there's "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery, and "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte.

Yeah, maybe that's what I need to do. Revisit some of the classics I haven't read in years.

And now I just need a swift kick in the butt to get me exercising again. (P Smith - if you're reading this - I lost your email address! That's why I haven't been emailing you lately. I hope you're doing better than I am at the whole REVing it up thing. )

Bowl for Kids' Sake

My Little Sister's mom is bowling this year in the annual Big Brothers/Big Sisters Bowl for Kids' Sake fundraiser and we're a bit shy of our goal. Use the link to our donation page or click on the widget below:

"Why?" Day for January 2008

Sitrep: Nothing. Unless snow shoveling counts? Did about 5 minutes after work.

- Why do people wash their dishes but leave their dirty forks & knives in the sink?

- Why, when the arctic cold front hits, do people spend the weekend goofing off instead of bringing enough wood into the house to last for several days, especially when it's their ONLY source of heat, and their wood stove will only hold a fire for 4 hours?

- Why do they then take a day off work to haul wood, and expect everyone to feel sorry for them because they have to use a vacation day to do so? [Heloooo. They had Saturday & Sunday to stock up.]

- Why do people that have 4wd vehicles think this means they can cut everyone else off when the roads are icy/snowy? [FYI - Just because you have 4wd, does not mean I have 4wd. Just some food for thought.]

- Why do I like such cold temps when my car doesn't?

- Why do organize myself so well I can't figure out where I stored my ski gloves after last winter?

- Why do I keep adding to my "House Project List" when I haven't gotten anything done since the living room over a year ago?

Negative Numbers

Shouldn't be a good thing. But ya know, sometimes they are. I'm loving the current cold temps we're finally seeing. It was -20*F this morning when I got up to get ready for work. Yes, that's the actual temp, not the windchill. The wind died down a bit, so the windchill equaled the air temp for awhile, anyway.

We got about 9 inches of snow between Friday and Sunday morning. Most of it Saturday evening & overnight. Spent about 40 minutes shoveling snow yesterday morning, and another 30 minutes in the afternoon helping my neighbor dig out her car. The snow plow came down our road and completely blocked all the cars in. Nice of them, no? It was fairly deep in the back where I park in the garage, but I was able to get my car out, up to the main road, and then back again. Much more snow and I won't be able to. I'm seriously thinking my tax refund (if there's enough) should go toward a snowblower. It would make life a little simpler, I think. Or maybe I should hire someone with a snow shovel on the front of their truck to come clear my drive...I'll have to think about that one.

Books...I haven't talked about books much lately. Read a fun one last week "Agnes and the Hitman" by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer. It's their second book together, and I enjoyed it more than the first. It was pretty funny. Quirky & unusual. I'm not sure how I feel about liking a hero that really was a hitman. The heroine and her anger issues was fresh. Normally the heroine is so "perfect". I could totally relate to the anger thing...I've had probs with that in the past. Not to the degree the heroine did. But I found her mental conversations with herself hilarious. Normally I don't like small southern towns with tons of quirky characters, but somehow they pulled this one off. I'd recommend it for a fun, light read.

I'm currently reading "Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker. It's interesting. But he's very wordy. I wish he'd cut a lot out and get to the point more. Feels like every other page is a new acronym of stages/signs, etc. Very good info, just hard for me to read and stay focused on.

Other than that, not much else going on. Oh. The ruling party in Paraguay has actually nominated a female to run for President. Who'd a thunk it? ;)

I'm trying to ignore the US political races going on. I'm tired of the endless debates over nothing, and whether or not I should vote for someone based on their race, sex or religion. At this point, I'd rather vote for a Martian...

A Bird in a Pocket

Sitrep: 1 migraine, 0 workouts

Last night I had a very interesting dream. Very vivid, like usual. I was someplace outside the United States, possibly a Peace Corps type of deal. In my dream I was walking across a very large, bustling city. Very much like those I visited in South America. I was carrying a bird and a dog. Or was it a cat? Something along those lines. The bird was little; I could just hold it in one hand. It was almost like a Bluebird, but somewhat like a parakeet. The dog/cat was little, kitten or puppy size, but awkward to carry. The bird was hard to hold onto, and the dog/cat too heavy to hold with just one arm. I didn't dare put the dog/cat on a leash because of all the people. Or I didn't have a leash. Not sure which. I was desperately searching for something to put them in so I could carry them home more easily.

I wound up at some type of store that had tons of used boxes. The shop owner and her son tried to help me find a box, but they were all too shallow for the dog/cat. Then the shop owner's son handed me a plastic case with a zipper opening and holes poked in the sides. "Try this," he said to me. (It was almost like one of those makeup/toiletry bags.) I opened it and laid the bird and the dog/cat in there. Amazingly the dog/cat is now small enough to fit in there. But the little bird does not like it when I go to zip it up, and it's beak pierces through the plastic and hooks into my hand or finger. Almost like a fish hook, deep. I gently pry the bird loose and take them both out of the bag and continue on my way.

I think my brother and sister were mixed in here somewhere, but can't remember too much. Only part I remember is teasing my brother that my sister was artificially inseminated 7 years ago, and that's where my niece came from. I think my SIL smacked me on the head for being mean to my brother at this point.

[Except in real life, my niece is 4 and there is NO doubt my BIL is her father. He & my sis have been together at least 11 years now? And my niece resembles her Dad quite a bit. Red hair, anyone? She definitely gets that from my BIL. But I digress, and really, that was just a blip in the dream as I needed to find something for the bird and dog/cat to travel in.]

Next part I remember, I'm at or approaching my apartment, and run into someone I know. They are sympathetic and suggest I go to a nearby Kmart type store. I've already been there, but agree to go anyway. I put the little bird in my pants pocket, with one hand gently covering the opening to keep it safely stowed, without hurting it. We get to the store and now there's a new row, tucked behind/to the side of the regular pet stuff, and I start to recall having seen those airline approved travel crates there before. Lo and behold, I find one for the dog/cat. The bird is more difficult. There are some cages, one pretty bizarre looking one with a bottom corner bent in. But I can't tell if they're airline approved for travel.

I'm still trying to keep the bird in my pocket, and look through the cages. (The dog/cat is safely stowed in it's crate by now.) My friends and the store workers aren't much help, they start asking me about the papers for the animals. Have I gotten the papers and approval to take them out of the country? I'm still frantically asking them which bird cage is travel-approved by the airlines. Now I realize I haven't gotten the papers and am leaving in two days.

[FYI, it took several weeks for the paperwork to bring my dog back from Paraguay to come through]

Last thing I remember about the dream is being near tears, unable to find a cage for the bird, trying to keep it safe in my pocket, and not knowing if I can bring it home with me.

Then my alarm went off. I am not sure what in the heck this dream means. Very, very, weird. Where the heck did the bird come from? I never dream about birds. I can't even remember dreaming about birds before, except for one dream where I was a hawk/falcon size bird and flying. Actually, I transformed from human to bird to human...That dream was years ago (literally) and I still remember many, many details, more than just that.

Anyway. I can't shake the feeling I had at the end of the dream.

Pictures and Words

Sitrep (last week): 1x Boot Camp, 1x Boot Camp (20 mins), 1x Legs
Weekly goals: 2x Boot Camp (entire workout), 3x Abs

Do you ever do those exercises where you close your eyes and try to picture something? An item, a person, a place? I'm talking about just seeing it. No words, just the image. I used to be decent enough at this, but over the last years I've noticed that it's harder and harder to do. I need words to describe, to build that image. I can't just see it.

I wonder if that's because I've always been a reader? I prefer books to movies, although I partake of my fair share of both. It's rather bizarre because I dream so vividly. And it's all about images and sound. I don't need words to create the dreams. And many of my dreams are "entertaining". It's like I'm creating books/movies in my mind. There are plots and everything. A lot of those types of dreams I enjoy. I've had three of them in the last week and a half, which is why this comes up.

Last night's was great, what little I can remember. Weird, no doubt based on my current reading/watching schedule, but good. Kind of Elizabeth Vaughan (Warprize, Warsworn, & Warlord - my favorite discovery last year) meets Jane Austen. (Watched the latest adaptation of "Persuasion" on Masterpiece Theater last night. It didn't do the book justice. When it ended at 1 1/2 hours, I was surprised. I hope "Northanger Abbey" next week is better!)

So it seems in my unconscious state I'm plenty good at creating images. But in my conscious state words get in the way. (I can see my brother shaking his head at this. He's thinking "Duh.", I'm sure. He always did hate my tendency to be "wordy". Probably because I use them as a shield a lot of the time!) One time, I even remember the credits rolling at the end of the dream. It still makes me laugh to think about it. I actually woke myself up laughing that time!

I wonder if tonight's dreams will be as fun. Medium is on TV tonight. Along with a new Jon & Kate plus 8. Along with my rewatches of Law & Order and History Channel/CourtTV (aka TruTV) fare, I'm surprised I sleep at all.

Here's what I'm reading right now:

1) The Gift of Fear by Gaving de Becker
2) Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
3) The Circle Within by Dianne Sylvan
4) Movable Harvests: Fruits, Vegetables, Berries: The Simplicity of Container Gardens by Chuck & Barbara Crandall
5) Best Garden Plants for Montana by Bob Gough, et al.

Sing or Whine

Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp (all of it! except last cover drill)

Every once in awhile I read something that hits home. Something that makes me stop and think or see more clearly or clarifies something or reminds me of what I already know. Last night was one of those nights, so I thought I'd share the passages here. It's from "The Circle Within" by Dianne Sylvan.

"On the outside we 'do unto others,' but on the inside there's a patchwork quilt of self-abnegation, societal stereotypes, the opinions of others, and every mean thing anyone has ever said to us eating away at our spirits while we smile at the world.

Far more important than the way others see us is how we see ourselves. The gods do not judge us, but we manage to do so quite well on our own, heaping self-loathing on ourselves that we would never direct toward others. Sometimes we are kinder to our enemies. We are taught from an early age, and by example, to be casually cruel to ourselves: 'I'm so fat,' 'I'm such an idiot,' 'I must be the ugliest person on Earth.' When you find yourself cursing the mirror, stop and think: would you walk up to a total stranger and say, 'My god, man, who hit you with the ugly stick?' If you would, put this book down and seek help.

If not, ask yourself why a complete stranger deserves compassion and you don't." (pg 44)

"The important thing isn't so much that s*&% happens, the important thing is what we do with the s*&% afterward. We can choose to remain victims, to act out of vengeance, or to curl up in a ball and hide, or we can choose to stand up and grow. No one can decide how tragedy will affect us but us. Sing or whine, it's our decision." (pgs 45-46)

Things I've Learned in 2008

Sitrep: Zero. Again. Sigh. No excuses. I just didn't work out last night.

So it's the eighth day of 2008 and already I've learned a few "lessons" (or had a few revelations.)

1. If you delete something from the system, people will notice. Eventually. (Learned by observation, not by doing. I'm not stupid enough to delete anything.)

2. A coat of nail polish applied on top of an already existing coat of nail polish will work as nail polish remover. But only once you've left the house.

3. TV shows about hauntings are best avoided when you're me. Especially when they're about dogs being killed. Just saying.

4. Every year I have a "one-night stand" with the doctor. Ever think about that? Your breasts get felt up, something's inserted & swished around in your va-jay-jay (cracks me up to say that.[g])...Only difference is you get no pleasure out of this one-"night" stand. You also don't get dinner first, and you eventually get a bill. What is up with that???

5. I now reach for healthy snacks when moderately stressed: Got stressed at work this morning (I really wish coworkers would leave me alone) and thought "OMG, I really need something sweet." And in response to that thought I got a yogurt out of the fridge.

Well. Better get back to work now. Gotta earn my paycheck somehow. ;)

Mental Tornado

Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp (~45 min), 1x Boot Camp (30 min)

Goals for January 7-13:

1. Monday - Boot Camp (at least 30 min)
2. Tuesday - Abs
3. Wednesday - Boot Camp
4. Thursday - Abs
5. Friday - Boot Camp
6. Saturday - at least 30 minutes of any activity that gets me moving, with my little sister
7. Sunday - at least 30 minutes of any activity that gets me moving

I can't believe I'm scheduling myself to do Boot Camp three times this week. Insane. But I'm enjoying it, so, why stop a good thing? It's making me work harder than I have been.

So I feel like I'm in a mental tornado this morning. A gazillion thoughts zooming around in my head. I had an idea at some point on what I wanted to blog about, but, alas, it is gone. I had a good title and everything. Ya know, sometimes I think I'm getting early alzheimers. [sigh]

Maybe it's just the fumes from cleaning house yesterday. Did one of those semi-annual bathroom cleanings. The kind where you bleach the tub, etc. Got a new shower curtain liner, because, really, the one I had was no longer cleanable. I think if I'd dipped it in bleach one more time it would have disintegrated. Sorry if this is TMI, but it was getting to the point even I didn't want to step into the shower. [Mom, if you're reading this, it's just a nightmare, go back to sleep.]

Getting irritated by my bathroom sink. Used almost a whole 80oz Liquid Drain Gel bottle on it, various times throughout the day, and the darn thing won't stay unclogged. I'm gonna have to take the sink apart, damnit, because the drain plug is "attached" and can't be pulled out. Sometimes I hate my hair. [Sigh]

And then my brain is off on politics, what with the primaries being so prevalent in the news. Am I the only one that thinks we should have a national primary? Everyone votes on the same day, only one vote per person. The candidate for each party (including independents) with the most votes gets to run for president. That way the media can't do what they've done in this election cycle: decide who are the top candidates and focus all media attention on them. Drives me nuts. Because they limit the free coverage to just those people, which in my mind is an unfair advantage! I also don't like the fact that the current primary system lets a handful of states determine who actually runs for president, and the electoral system then lets a handful of states determine who becomes president. And yes, I even felt this way when I lived in FL, a state that plays a big role.

Off on another tangent (life is so much better when I don't watch the news in the morning): What the heck is up with this new book by Morton on Tom Cruise? I have to ask myself - If we were to substitute Christianity for Scientology, would it be such a big deal? Seems to me that heavy involvement in your church is a good thing. So what if it's Scientology? I don't remember Cruise being on the news lately for drunk driving or drugs or spousal abuse or incest or...Being very involved in your church is always praised as such a good thing for Christians. Drives me nuts.

Get a grip, get a life, move on Nat!!!!

At work this morning they announced who is taking over when the boss retires. Looks like the new CEO will start on Feb 1, with the current CEO staying through the end of February. I'm so bummed. I know the new CEO, we all do, he's a previous president of our board, we've worked with him a lot in the past on various issues/projects. He's very qualified for the position, he's a very nice guy. I'm just not sure what kind of boss he'll be. It's also gonna be sad to see RM go, and then there's that whole "change" thing. I hate that. I deal okay, am pretty flexible, just makes me uneasy.

So I'm gonna focus on the good things. :) Got some good cleaning/organizing done this weekend. Talked quite awhile with my SIL Friday after work. Still miss them a lot. Especially how much we laughed together. It snowed Saturday while I was at Costco with Shanni. 20 minutes in the store and we exit to a whiteout. Sweet. It blew over within 10 minutes leaving little on the ground. But it was snow! :) Did Boot Camp several times last week although last night it was only 30 mins. Got too overheated I think. Because I really pushed myself on those cover drills. Did I ever mention that I hate cover drills?

Oh, which reminds me, is anyone out there the least little bit worried that Alden's teaching me how to kick a door in?

Ah, the joys of being an adult

Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp (~45 min), 1x Abs Essentials #2

When the cat's away, the mice will play.

That's how I feel about some of the "goings on" while I was on vacation. Apparently a local Sand & Gravel company applied for a permit to begin a new gravel pit about a mile or so from my house. Smack dab in the middle of my town, really, on 111.5 acres. EH is probably 95% residential as it's just a sleeper community for H. Nice of them to try to run this through during the holidays, isn't it? I just got wind of it yesterday afternoon.

So last night I ended up at a local community meeting to inform everyone about the issue. Now, I can normally be found on the side of environmental protection, and private property rights, and yes, the two can work together. I'm also practical and understand that these kinds of projects have got to go somewhere. With the proper forethought and protections in place, I could be okay with this particular project. Except for a few things:

1. The Environmental Assessment provided has very little data to backup the "minimal" impact they claim they will have
   
   
2. This will not increase the tax base as they will be closing down their other gravel pit that is pretty much played out
   
   
3. They've used one months worth of data to determine the water level, and want to mine to within 5 feet of that.
   
   
4. We are already a designated Super Fund site with much cleanup of soil and water going on. They've supposedly done two 4-pt tests on 111.5 acres to determine that it is not contaminated. WTF? When the majority of plots around this property have had to have their yards replaced?
   
   
5. There's a loophole they can use to avoid having to apply for a water permit - means no study whatsover of the impact the 24/7 operations will have on our aquifer level and existing wells. An area already having problems. Heck, the whole valley is having water issues.
   
   
6. Their existing operations have had multiple violations for non-compliance with dust control, noise, air quality, etc.
   
   
7. Main access road is already below county standards for existing amount of traffic. The county keeps denying residential subdivisions because of this, even when the developers will pay half the cost of repairs/improvements to the road. The county requires an engineering report and cost estimate. This EA has none of that, and they say the estimated minimum 76 trucks per day (no mention of # of trips per truck) is a "slight" increase.
   
   
8. It's next to several elementary schools, how about air quality of the kids breathing in the dust daily, dust which may well be contaminated with lead, arsenic and cadmium?
   
   
9. Reclamation portion of the EA is sketchy at best.

See, I could go on and on...So I've done my dutiful, voting, property-owner bit and put in my comments to the Dept of Environmental Quality (the comment period ends today!), talked to my local representatives and county commissioners (who were at the meeting last night, too.) I'm not totally against the project, I just think they need to do a proper environmental assessment. I've read the EA myself, there is very little factual/statistical data in it. From what I hear and read in news articles (thank goodness for the internet!) this is not a very good EA done by the DEQ. Even engineers who do these things for the DEQ are saying so. It's like they just checked things off the list, not expecting there'd be opposition.

The sand & gravel company purchased this land in 2001, and have not posted any signs saying they were going to mine it or anything. They have another parcel of land just a bit further north of this one, where they have had a sign posted for fifteen years saying they were going to mine there, and they've already gotten the permits. The housing developments in that area were put in after that.

So why the rush? Because the area is about to be zoned by the county as residential, that's why. If they get at least one of the permits they need prior to that, they will be grandfathered in and able to develop the pit and processing plants in this area.

I have little hopes they'll do another EA or an environmental impact statement, or deny the permit. So it looks like I'll be breathing dust by year's end. Just what my allergies needed. Sigh. And this will most likely not help my property value. Who wants to live that close to a 24/7 mining operation?

Here Come Nat's Nails

Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp (~45 mins)
Due Tonight: Abs

I had a nice evening yesterday. Got home and ate dinner. Postponed boot camp 'cause I was waaaay too hungry. Forgot to take my snacks to work with me. Ooops. Then, since I had to wait a few hours before working out, I decided to paint my finger nails. Yep. You read that right. I painted my finger nails. Turns out the nail polish I got for Xmas appears to be a light pink in the bottle, but on my fingers it's actually a deep, bright pink. They're very, ummm, "here come Nat's nails" today. [g] But I haven't chewed them a single time this morning. That's why I painted them. I'm hopeful that if they are pretty looking, it will help me not chew them down to the nub.

So two of my shows are back on the air - "Wife Swap" and "Super Nanny". Not sure if I should own up to watching the first one. I have no idea why I do. Maybe to reinforce my life choices? To go "See, it really is NOT greener on the other side of the fence." Or maybe it's just because I like to see people argue...it totally caters to my bad side. There were actually two episodes of "Super Nanny". The one I wanted to watch was the second one. Figured it out about 10 minutes into the first one at 8.

So I quickly started Boot Camp. I did 30 minutes of it, up to the third set of push ups, before I started skipping. Of course, by 20 minutes into it I was starting to struggle. Made myself continue on to the first set of floor exercises. Can I just say that I'm actually getting the hang of those kicks? If I keep this up, I might just be able to kick down a door someday. If I needed to. IF it was hollow. And not metal. Anyway. I fast-forwarded the rest of the standing/cardio exercises and just did the remaining abs work and cool-down/stretches. Got done right as the second episode was starting.

Naturally, this is when a friend called to chat. I took the call since we hadn't chatted in awhile, and TV episodes do rerun eventually. :) I was sitting on the floor (hadn't made it to my feet yet) and the nail polish was at eye-level on the coffee table. So I got this wild hair and decided to paint my toe nails to match my finger nails. Yep. You read that right, too. I painted my toe nails.

FYI - it's not easy to paint your nails right after doing Boot Camp. It was a little difficult to control where the polish went because my arms were trembling. LOL. If you're gonna do this, make sure you have lots of nail polish remover. Which I don't. Since it's a "girl" item. Which reminds me. Is there a master shopping list somewhere for "Being A Girl"? Because really. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I need but just don't know about. Yet.

Hello, 2008

Sitrep: 1x Bootcamp.
Weekly Goal: 1x Bootcamp (tonight), 2x Abs #2, 1x Cardio

Who the heck stole the last five days? Yikes. I was going to blog on Friday, just to report in that yes, I was able to get out of bed after doing Bootcamp on Thursday. Surprisingly, I didn't hurt as much as I expected. I guess the previous year's worth of exercise does make a difference.

One thing I did notice was that a different set of muscles was "aching" after Bootcamp. I was wondering if it worked anything different since most of the moves are the same as the Essentials DVD (if you did all 4 workouts back-to-back and amped it up. A Lot.) Well, it does. I enjoyed it and am looking forward (no, I'm not running a fever!) to incorporating it into my routine. So here's what my weekly goal is for this week. I'm not going to bother about Monday & Tuesday as they are long gone...

Wednesday: Bootcamp
Thursday: Abs
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Abs
Sunday: Free Day - 30 mins of any activity of my choosing. [Excluding PS2 & TV]

Alden has a great post on his blog about Resolutions. He limits himself to three. Funnily enough, I started out thinking to limit myself to one resolution only. But broadened it to three before I'd even read his New Year's Day post. It's not quite in the three areas he's talking about, but here they are:

1. Stop Chewing My Nails.

Yes, I'm 34 and chew my nails. Sigh. But having gotten some nail polish for Xmas (well, I did ask for Girl Stuff) I guess I really need to have nails to polish. I've done this before, believe it or not. The final year in Paraguay with the Peace Corps I was so mellow I didn't need to chew my nails. It was fabulous! I am going to do it again. It's a nervous habit that I can break. Heck, if I can get myself exercising like I have been for the last sixteen months, I can do this.

2. Continue with Exercise & Sensible Eating

Weekly exercise goals, swim buddies, healthy food choices, realistic portion sizes and lots of water will play a major part in this. I'm going to try something new this year. Instead of just saying how many times a week I'm going to do a certain exercise, I'm going to assign a specific day. Otherwise it's too easy to decide to do the easy workouts today, with tomorrow (ie, the hard workouts) never arriving. ;)

3. Re-start the FlyLady system at Home & Work

When I was doing this at my last rental, before buying the house a year and a half ago, it was fabulous! Things got done at home, at work...I remembered birthdays and other events, things were on time, not forgotten, less stressful. I could throw a party at my house with 3 hours notice. And most of that 3 hours spent at the store getting snacks & decorations. I am not kidding. Ah, those were the days. http://www.flylady.net/

Anyway. Those are my 3 goals for the year. Very attainable, I think.

Happy 2008 to everyone. May it be a fun year with plenty of happiness and health, and just a pinch of salt to keep the really bad stuff away!