Getting It Right

Last Week’s Sitrep: Tues – 30 treadmill, 10 minutes crunches, 20 minutes bicycle Thurs – 45 minutes Life Fitness Circuit (setup w/1 set on 16 machines - weights, computerized system) Sat – 40 minutes swimming (making games up so my little & I were moving) This week: Goal - 3x workout at gym Completed 1x on Sun – 35 minutes weights (legs, arms, abs); 15 minutes Treadmill

Yet another attempt at adapting “Wuthering Heights” for film aired last night on PBS. It was okay, but disappointing so far. One and a half hours, when normally they go an hour and forty to forty five minutes. Yes, that’s only 15 minutes or so. You’d be surprised how that makes a difference. There was beautiful scenery. But the skips in the story drive me mad. An absolute lack of chemistry between the actors playing Heathcliff and Cathy was jarring to me. And the way they cut lines from some of the most important scenes, or re-worked them. Example: the scene Heathcliff runs away. He overhears the conversation between Cathy and Nelly up to the point she says it would degrade her to marry him. Then he runs off. After making her dramatic declaration “Nelly, I am Heathcliff”, in the book she soon learns he overheard, and she ends up getting sick in the rain trying to find him/waiting for him to return. Thus she ends up at Thrushcross Grange to convalesce. They trashed that whole conversation. This is one of the best scenes of the book, and lays much of the groundwork for Heathcliff’s determined destruction of them all. And then the way they kept switching the order of scenes around. The whole sketchy, jumping around, no explanations with Linton & Catherine (the daughter) at the beginning was so unnecessary. Confusing, detracts from Cathy/Heathcliff…I can only imagine what someone new to the story would be thinking. They have this problem with a lot of the film adaptations of WH. Either they don’t care to dedicate the time needed to fully adapt this book to film, or the person adapting hasn’t read the book, or read it enough. I just don’t understand, especially PBS. Maybe it’s because they’re trying to modernize Masterpiece Theater. I noticed some glaring shortening/editing of the Jane Austen films last year that left them disappointing. Why do they do this when I know they can do it right? Just look at that marvelous adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice” with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Of course, I’m probably a bit biased as my first introduction to “Wuthering Heights” was the movie adaptation with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. Granted, it’s an adaptation that only covered the first half of the book, including the end of the book with Heathcliff’s death. But the acting, the passion between the two leads, the fact that they didn’t re-work the order of the book, or alter/omit lines in the important conversations…now that is what makes the difference, I think. Ah, well. I’ll tune in next week no doubt, to see how they butcher the conclusion.

Look, it's an Elk!!!!

No, it's a Llama! "Hunter Shoots Wild Llama Thinking it's an Elk"

And I thought I had bad days. I think this might top any bad day I've ever had. Can you imagine how stupid this guy must feel? On an international level, no less!

Especially since he even wasted his tag on it. For Pete's Sake.

This is an elk. This is a Llama. Any Questions?

And this is a Moose....Grizzly Bears...Black Bears. Just in case.

Why do we let these people into my state? Oh, that's right. Money.

PS - Blogger is giving me fits lately on my work computer...so I hope this all shows up. Half the time I can't see what I've posted.

Do You Ever?

Understand this: you are the ONLY ONE who can change and cast off these shackles of limitation and turn your life into what you want it to be…until you do step forward, you will be a prisoner within yourself, a shipwrecked spirit without rudder or compass, subject to the winds of your own self-imposed limitations…or even worse, the limitations of others. ~ Alden Mills on Charlie Mike http://perfectpushup.blogspot.com/2009/01/perfect-promise-part-ii-team-perfect.html

Sometimes, when I listen to music, read a passage in a book, when the air and light are just so I feel like my inside self is doing pirouettes across the grass. As if I’m leaping through the air, like dolphins on a sunny day. Sometimes I truly understand what the Grinch felt when his heart grew two sizes. Sometimes, when I’m too tired, too stressed, too something, I feel like pulling in as much breath as my lungs can hold and just letting it out in the longest, loudest scream I can manage. Sometimes, when the sky is gray, the clouds play peek-a-book with the mountains, and it’s just plain cold out, I feel my heart squeeze tight with happiness, and can't help but sing. Sometimes, walking down a hallway at work, dealing with the minutia of life, I hear a carnival theme echo in my head. Sometimes, I don't. Do you, ever?

One Day In California

Sitrep: 60 min Weight Class (arms, legs, abs)

And I'm all done in. Not because of the class, either. My 5 year old niece is amazing, adorable, beautiful; full of sunshine and laughter. Not to mention energy. OMG. I'm not sure I can make it 2 weeks. But it would be a good way to go! Apparently she's quite taken with me. I haven't seen her since she was about 2 years old, so...From stories my sister has told, I knew she's a girly-girl. So I made sure I packed the makeup - including nail polish - I bought from my sister-in-law (who's an Avon rep now...in case anyone's interested: http://tomararogers.avonrepresentative.com/. This evening, after playing with her yesterday afternoon, most of the morning, all afternoon (including watching the little fish take a swimming lesson) I was keeping her busy while my sister and BIL cooked dinner...How?, you may ask? Why, by painting her toe nails & finger nails, of course. With my new Mulberry shade by Avon (reminder: gotta stock up, love this color!) And then we used her glitter coating polish on her toes. They called us for dinner, and we ran out into the kitchen. Okay, she danced, pulling me along. (FYI, she doesn't walk, she dances.) After she showed off her nails, she grabbed my hands and we did this spinning around thing. She ended up laying down on the floor "pretending" to fall down from being dizzy. I started to pull her up and she looked up at me and said "You're Great." A compliment, I'm told by her parents, she does not hand out lightly. [g]

Wood Pigeons

How strange that an article on wood pigeons would so recall the past, and make me falter as I read aloud.

Last night, trying to ignore the fact that my heart had decided to move into my head, I put on my headphones and listened to the audio book version of "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier. In spite of the throbbing heart beat bouncing between my ears, the pressure, the noise of said heart beat, the ice pack over my eyes and the heating pad on the back of my head/neck, my mind latched onto this section early on in the book; this sentence in particular, coming as it did after an article in a magazine catapulted the heroine into her past. It made me remember a split second when I was in Paraguay, doing something as inconsequential as hanging my laundry on the line to dry, when my happy-as-a-lark mood was overtaken by a pang of homesickness so sharp I had to stop for a minute. To this day I'm not sure what caused it. I really was in a good mood...I can still see that moment, the clear blue sky, the sunlight, the green of the trees and grasses and colors of the flowers. I can still feel that moment; how happy I was, how nice the sunlight on my face felt, how lighthearted the breeze brushing past me seemed. The sudden sharpness of the homesickness. It might have been the peace of the moment, the sound of a child's laugh or a call from one person to another across the yard that made me remember lazy summer afternoons and weekends as a pre-teen/teen, when I could lay on my bed in my parents house and hear the distant sound of lawn mowers and kids playing outside...Sunlight and air and people, all wrapped up into one big package of home and safety. Just one of those weird overlapping of moments, I suppose. But laying there in tears, (have I ever mentioned I'm pathetic when I don't feel good?) and waiting for something to make my heartbeat get out of my ears, that paragraph and sentence, that little remembered moment, did the trick. That's the last bit of the book and the last thought I remember before falling asleep. Strange, that.

I Want to Believe

Sitrep: ~15 minutes shoveling snow It’s funny how something as simple as a movie can make you rehash your life. (Or maybe I’m the only one that this happens too?) After a tough night Friday night (I have not had a nightmare so full of death of family members since high school…) I received my two latest Netflix rentals. One was this obscure movie with Hedy Lamarr- and obscure doesn’t begin to cover it. It’s from 1933, and made in Europe; Austria or Germany to be a bit more precise. It’s barely a talkie. Seriously. Mostly music accompanying the scenes, what speech there was was confined to single sentences. It was interesting, but no phenomenal. Shocking In that for a movie from 1933, there was definite nudity. Today, it would be rated “R”. Not what I was expecting from that era. Then again, it is a European movie…they’re a lot more relaxed about nudity than us Americans. The other movie, the one that caused the retrospective, was the latest X-Files entry: “I Want to Believe”. Not your typical X-Files, really. Much more into the emotional aspect, of Scully & Mulder (yes, this is where my dog’s name came from.), of Scully’s doubts, of Mulder’s need to believe. It was actually pretty good. The final scene between the two almost made me cry. (It could have been the lack of sleep...) Although sad to say I can’t even remember how the series ended. I didn’t think they were together at the end. Were they? I feel sometimes like I’m losing my mind, the things I can’t remember. But that last season, well, when Mulder left the show and Scully was having the baby and they started in with the whole male baby as some type of savior…I tuned out. Oh, I had the show on every week, I just read or did other stuff (like talk on the phone!). It was more habit, and hope it’d return to the quality of the previous years. That’s a far cry from the days where I refused any and all phone calls during an X-Files episode. I mean, I was a fan. I even talked my mom into taping it every week for the two years I was in the Peace Corps. What a Mom, huh? (This was in the days before you could get every season of every show imaginable on DVD almost as soon as they aired. And man, were those packages TREASURED. I got a few other PCVs hooked on the show. ) When was the last time a show captivated me that much? The answer is simple: there hasn’t been. I can’t think of a single show that has hooked me like that one did. Why is that? Is it the networks/lack of shows? It seems they are all Law & Order/CSI type shows or family dramas like the Sopranos or Brothers and Sisters, or reality shows. I barely watch the Biggest Loser anymore. None of the shows capture me, transport me, make me want to tune in for an hour that’s sure to capture my mind & attention. Or is it simply that I’ve changed? I’m just not sure. There’s a certain nostalgia when I look back on the days of my enthrallment with the X-Files. I’m not sure why. It’s just weird to me, that’s all. I’ve never had any troubles obsessing over shows or books. When did that stop? Why did that stop? I kind of miss it, to tell the truth. There’s something exciting about waiting for that next episode; the enjoyment of it. Oh, I got tired of the mythology story line, but when they did the other stuff, the creepy/eerie only-the-X-Files-does-this…What a ride it was! Now it seems it’s all angst and drama on TV. Everything is so soap opera-y. Not that that’s bad, it’s just too much angst for me. [g] I want entertainment, not angst. I want substance with my entertainment, too. I want more than a 30 minute sitcom. I want something different. I want a show that's story-line driven, not character-angst driven. I want something like the early days of the X-Files, or Star Trek: TNG. Where you have character stuff, but it's the indivdual episode stories that are great. Where you can miss a week and not feel lost in the next week's episode...

All's Well that Ends Well

This was some week. Wednesday's insanity at work was followed shortly after 7am on Thursday with a call from my good friend W that her dog, Crazy Horse, had died. He was 10, old for a Great Dane, and she knew his health was fading. But when she got up, he seemed fine, wanted outisde to pee. She let him out and a few minutes later heard him whining. She went to check on him and he was facing the house, lying on the ground. She went to him, he coughed twice, and died. Anyway. Thursday was a very rough day. I made it from my house to hers in 17 minutes, half the normal time... Saturday night I had a slumber party at my house. Shanni's step-dad was at his annual "hunting weekend" (puh-leeze, these men haven't hunted in decades! One walks at a shuffle, another has a colostomy bag..."hunting" is the last thing they were doing.) So the "girls" got together at my house. Shanni, her sister KT, Michelle & Josie. We tried this new pizza place in EH (very good) and got plenty of junk food. Came home and just had fun...facials, finger & toe nail painting...wine, naturally, for the adults. I gave the vino a pass as I've not slept well in over a month and that would just make it worse. But Michelle & Josie...well, light weights doesn't cover it. LOL. I have not laughed that much in I don't know how long. To the point I spewed egg nogg all over the coffee table...Apparently I wasn't done laughing yet. Who knew? My sides hurt I laughed so hard. It was the pictures that did it...And of course, I just have to share them. But on the QT, as my Grandpa would have said. My friends don't know I'm posting these. Oh, and for what it's worth...these were taken at the beginning of the night, just as the wine was poured...

PS - Don't ever tell Josie she's a scrapper. You've been warned. ;)

One of those days

Where it probably would have been better to not leave the house. Or the bed, for that matter. Sigh. I know better, when I get this tired. I just have no tolerance. Suffice it to say, very bad day at work. Had a run in with Attila over something so stupid...I saved us $2500 on something and she could see no good in it, totally was hostile and angry and I just couldn't handle it. When I get that mad and frustrated it can only come out...you guessed it...in tears. Lur-ve-ly. Mad myself scarce when that started. Ackkk. It got better, the boss backed me BIG time, and made Attila apologize to me. Heh. Anyway. Just wanted to check in. Gotta go...at class at the library. I'm such a geek in my spare time I'm taking a free class on L.i.nux at the library. 3 nights running. Sheesh.

Sixty One Trees

Sitrep: Back-sliding, Big Time. BUT on the road last week I only had french fries 1x; and that was after two frustrating days of working on our server & workstations remotely to fix a virus someone downloaded. And my computer crashed. Ughh.

Listening to NPR on the way to work this morning, I heard an interesting fact. Some scientist (I forget from where) used data from NASA to calculate how many trees there are on the planet. Using population figures from end of the year 2005, she calculated that there are 61 trees per person on the planet. She thought it sounded like a lot; being a big tree lover, I thought it sounded kinda puny. Especially when you factor in the number of books I've read over the years. Which got me to thinking; how many trees go into making a book, anyway? So I did what I usually do, I googled it. Here's the first site I looked at, which boggled this mere mortal's mind. (Dad, you'll probably like the math more than I did.) It doesn't seem there's definite answer on that. But being a tree lover, at least the world supports 61 trees per person, and trees are replantable. So now I think I need to look at how many trees I want to add to the world yearly to make up for what I use. Well, what I think I use, which is probably way less than I really do...I just have to take one real look around my office to know I'm way underestimating. But hey. Every tree counts, right? And when I consider that I've half-jokingly said for years that I must have been a Druid or a Dryad in a former life-time, why haven't I made a serious effort at planting trees before? And speaking of Druids; this past week I was in the "Big City" for work, and went to Bo.rders. Ahhh, what a lovely place to be. I love their bookshelves that look like library stacks...just for the sheer pleasure of being in a large book store that actually focuses on selling books, I wandered aimlessly through the store, scanning shelves as I went. Guess what I found? A book on Druidry. One that examines the Druids of Antiquity (what we know, anyway) to the revival today. And everything in between. I was sooo tempted to buy it...but, alas, that darn book budget of mine. I alloted $70 from my bonus to extra book buying. And believe you me, it went fast. The one on Druids just didn't make it high enough in the pile before the money ran out. [g] Is it a sign that I found that book that got me to thinking about trees and then heard the report on NPR today? Especially since I haven't listened to the radio on my morning drive for months...I much prefer audio books. Now if the Kin.dle would just drop in price, I might forgo paper books more. Maybe.

WHO robbed the woods, The trusting woods? The unsuspecting trees Brought out their burrs and mosses His fantasy to please. He scanned their trinkets, curious, He grasped, he bore away. What will the solemn hemlock, What will the fir-tree say? ~Emily Dickinson

My Soul Is Singing

And oh what a change from yesterday morning! I woke up around 1am yesterday (November 4th) and found myself praying to God, Jehovah, Allah, the Goddess, the Force, the Universe, to please please let O.ba.ma win. Wow. I'm not quite sure what I was dreaming (I didn't feel like I'd been dreaming, and usually I can tell). But I sure wanted him to win. I didn't realize how very much until that moment. All day I felt inside like I was yelling "Please". I even did that on the drive from H to B, about 4 hours, 3 of which I managed to listen to election coverage on NPR. I couldn't believe it when they announced it. I kept saying to Michelle (they called me on my cell) that I'd believe it when McC conceded and I heard O's acceptance speech. Then I'd believe it. I'm still stunned at how much he won by...and that he won the electoral and the popular. The first time in 30 years, I heard. He flipped Fla. Stunning. And came darn close to flipping Mont. For awhile there it looked good. It was within 3%. :) And what a wonderful speech. I was smiling, crying, happy. I've never been this invested in the results of our elections before. Some Mont. issues/initiatives did/didn't get passed as I wanted. My State Rep got re-elected, YAY! The idiot county commissioner screwing up zoning for the county got booted (another yay!), and it goes on. Only two bummers (minor ones) for me: Insurance Commissioner wasn't the one I wanted, and our single representative to the House (Federal level) got re-elected. Darnit. As happy as I am; as hopeful as I am; some real depressing stuff going on out there. Prop 8 in CA got passed. AR passed a law prohibiting unmarried people (gay OR straight) in a relationship from adopting OR being foster parents? WTF? Depressing. But then you have stuff like WA allowing physician assisted suicide... The spectrum is amazing. And overall, my soul is still singing. I actually have some hope. I'm excited about the future.

When A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Sitrep:

Positivity

Sitrep: 1x Rock Wall Climbing (or "Bouldering" as climbing without harness is called) I was going to post about Shanni & I at the gym last night, and the things I do simply because I don't want to let her down. And about how I have some kind of freaky high going on today (aka, "I'm in a good mood because I exercised yesterday which let me sleep well"). But I read Cranky Otter's blog post from yesterday, and I really just have to share it. I'm going to copy & paste it, (until CO makes me take it down. [g]) just because I don't want anyone to miss it because they'd have to follow a link: the following was written by Cranky Otter, Thursday, October 23, 2008 Tilting at Windmills This week when I drove to the farmers market after work, the proportion of "YES" to "NO" on 8 signs at a big intersection I pass through was way off in favor of yes. I bought my fruits and veggies and squash and my blood continued to boil. Instead of raging silently I decided to go talk to them. The staff at the arts council let me use a marker and a piece of paper to make a "NO H8" sign and tape it to my back. Then I hied off, parked at the mall, and walked over to the corner and started confronting the haters. For some reason that happened to be really effective, I just walked right up to the kids in a block of maybe 10 people and asked why they were holding signs. "To say Yes to 8". "Why?" "To Protect Marriage." "From What?" Adults interceded. So I asked why they thought it was ok to take kids to a streetcorner to help them profess their hate. To a one they denied having any hate for gays. Uh huh. They just want to protect society from going to hell in a handbasket of perversion. Well, what they call perversion, I call progress. If people weren't using the exact same arguments against gay marriage that they used against black people marrying white people, they might have a valid point. But as it is, they feel self righteous in denying other people rights they themselves are allowed. Intolerable. So I didn't change any of their minds, but I hope I planted the seed of doubt with the kids. And I was able to discuss with them, without screaming, but generally making enough of a pill of myself that I drove them off the corner. When they asked if prostitution should be legalized too I said yes. "Well obviously you're too far to the left for us to talk to." Uh, sure. And you're too far to the hate for me to like. They were particularly annoyed when I pointed out that laws that discriminate against differences in identity lead directly to things like the 15 year old cross dresser being shot to death in school two towns over a couple months ago, for being a little strange. Granted, when they left the majority of traffic had gone down, but I definitely think I hastened their departure. Which left a very small handful of "No on H8" people left over. But hey, we were there. One of the more lucid H8ers came back to chat, sans sign. His primary argument, despite having a gay brother whose long term relationship he "tolerates" but does not "celebrate", was that if gay marriage is allowed, suddenly sons and fathers will be marrying. Well, Sons can't currently marry mothers, so why the fear? He also thinks that gay sex is risky for health. ALL sex is risky for health. And straight people can have oral and anal sex too. Oh, and the "it's unnatural" argument? There are twice as many gay people as redheads. Even if there were only one though, by virtue of existing, gays are as natural as any other person. One person tried to ask me "if a six year old would prefer to live with his natural mom and dad or two dads". Then wouldn't listen if I asked if the natural mom and dad wanted to raise the child, were abusive, etc... saying I wouldn't answer his question as if his question was reasonable. He left when I insisted that there were more answers than just his two. What I should have said is, "If you asked a six year old if he wanted Cheetos for dinner, would he say yes? Should we then legislate that all kids should only have Cheetos for dinner?" I can't say it helped anyone but me for me to go do that. But I was heartened that a kid coming by on a skateboard stopped to ask the calm h8ter how he thought kids of this generation would judge their parents for promoting intolerance. And another young woman with a rainbow flag came by. I think that unless something is so dangerous that it causes immediate and lasting or fatal harm to the unwary, we should choose education over legislation for matters of personal choice - alcohol, cigarettes, other low toxicity drugs, and sexual choices. Things that need to be illegal (or extremely hard to get) are those things that cause immediate and lasting harm to the unwary, and behaviors that endanger or take advantage of people who have not or cannot give consent. Anything related to core identity, like sexual orientation or race, should be protected by law because we have shown time and again if differences are not legally protected, people who are different will be marginalized legally and socially. When people are protected legally, they become accepted socially. And I can't see any downside to tolerating other people choosing what is best for their family, as long as they don't mandate what is best for me and mine Thank you CO for being you and taking a stand! We should all be so inspired and brave!

Things I Learned...

Sitrep: Okay, I didn't get anything else done last week. Sigh. Lovely little stomach bug took me out of the equation. Goal: 2x Abs, 2x Gym visit

I guess I've been a single gal living alone for too long, because the last 6 weeks of having my little and her family live with me has, shall we say, broadened?, my self-knowledge. Considering I'm very self-aware as a general rule, it was a bit surprising to me. There were the usual things that got under my skin, like asking every other sentence "what did he say" or "what did he mean" or "what's so funny" (from the other room); Shanni's inability to understand my need to read quietly without explaining my book or carrying on a conversation with her at the same time. New Things That Irritate Me: 1) People not emptying the garbage can even when it's overflowing 2) Squashing over-full bag down so you can force more items in it and still not emptying it 3) Emptying the garbage and not putting a fresh bag in 4) Throwing trash in a garbage can that doesn't have a garbage bag in it 5) Putting a garbage bag in the trash can without removing items from #4 6) Leaving the butter out on the counter New Things That Make me a Teensy-Eeensy Bit Crazy: 1) Putting the little spoons in with the big spoons 2) Putting the little forks in with the big forks (c'mon people, how hard is this?) 3) Using every pan & pot in the world to make dinner and then not cleaning up 4) Using the very, very last of the toilet paper and not telling anyone until the mad "get ready for bed" dash begins at 10pm 5) Eating the last 2 slices of bread, leaving me nothing for breakfast...especially when you've been specifically warned I must say, items 1,2 and 5 on the second list were danger zones for me. Who knew having the silverware in the wrong spot would freak me out so? KT came upon me re-sorting the silverware and muttering "Big fork - little fork - big spoon - little spoon..." She gave me a weird look then wisely started loading the dishwasher. LOL. They moved out last Thursday, and while I do miss some of the chaos, just a little, I am relieved to have my home and solitude returned to me. The dog is thrilled...she slept like the dead the first 2 days. [g] Things are slowly returning to normal, the house is getting straightened up bit by bit...although they did a good job cleaning before leaving. KT is stopping by after school to clean the garage - animal crates, last few boxes, etc. And I even got some Halloween decorations out yesterday. Whoo-hoo.

I'm here...and it's First Snowfall of the Season

This week's goal: 1 hour exercise this week, any combo of any exercise; 2x BodyRev Abs Sitrep: 20 mins snow shoveling 15 mins Rock Wall Climbing 20 minutes shooting hoops 15 minutes pool time (no laps, just lazy swimming)

No search parties needed. On either account. [g] They're monitoring internet at work now and I've not been in the mood or able to rescue my computer in the evenings to get online. KT or Shanni are either on the computer when I get home or they squabble when it comes out so for the sake of my sanity I don't get it out. The cold weather they've been threatening us with finally rolled in last Thursday/Friday, and the snow came overnight Saturday and all day Sunday. There's about a foot of the stuff...or was, it's melting now the sun's out. We're supposed to get into the 40's... I finally got a new battery for the car...$118.00, Dad, so you didn't really get jipped on yours. Labor to get it changed was only $18.00. (The mechanic doesn't start with a minimum hour charge, who knew?) Anyway. Car starts like a dream now. And apparently they don't make a block heater for my engine. Huh. The 6 cylinder gas engine, yes. The 4 cylinder gas, no. Why, I have no idea. Oh well. The parents are back from their Spain vacation...yay! I like being able to call and talk again. Not that I did this weekend. But yesterday was all about snow shoveling, several hours at the gym, laundry/helping little sis and her family pack stuff up, and general recovery... The gym was interesting. We spent about 15 minutes in the rock wall climbing room; without ropes you can free climb up to the Red Line, which is about 10 feet up I think. Felt more like 20, personally...It's harder than I'd thought though I never would have made it up at all without the increased arm strength from REVing. I know this for a fact because I tried a rock climbing wall once before starting on the BodyRev and went nowhere, fast. At the 15 minute mark my arms started screaming, so we went to shoot some hoops instead. 20 minutes of that and I was begging Shanni to go to the swimming pool. Now, remember how I said it was snowing all day? Well, the pools are all outdoors. Yep. Heated, but outdoors. Nice enough view, but really. Windchill in the 20's (actually temp in teh 30's) and snowing does not make for a pleasant enough swimming experience even if the water is hot. After 20 minutes I told Shanni I'd meet her in the hot tub. LOL. She wasn't far behind me. Anyway. That was all my fun. Except for taking pics of the dogs. Got a funny one of Scully - she'd been out in the snow and I call this the punk rocker look:

The Reason I Cringe

"the proposal is big and the reason it's big is because it's a big problem". G.W.Bush That's the best our president can do? That's the best he can say? God. No wonder confidence is crumbling. If all the people surrounding him can't come up with something better than that to explain the madness of our government's actions this week, we are in dire straits indeed. It's the reason I cringe when I turn on the news now. Where the heck are the economic and business advisers? The REAL ones, not the ones that got us into this mess. Why isn't anyone standing up in front of the people and saying "This sucks. We know it sucks. But we have to do this without a guarantee of getting all the money back. Even then, the economy will get worse before it gets better. The taxpayers are going to take the burden. CEO salaries and golden parachutes ARE NOT THE PROBLEM THEY ARE A DISTRACTION. Right now we HAVE TO FOCUS ON STABILIZING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR. After that we can deal with the salary cap issue. After that we can deal with the wrong-doers, the speculators. But WE HAVE TO STOP THE CHAOS FIRST." We need to be told in blunt terms the average person can understand that this is not a bailout of the CEO's. This is a bailout of the economy. Which affects all of us. Yeah, no ones paying my mortgage. But financial stability is necessary for economic growth. We may not reach the levels of the Great Depression, but things aren't going to be great for a few years. Unemployment will rise from historic lows, interest rates will go up from historic lows, home buying/values will still decrease from historic highs...But these are all things that need to happen. The economy cannot sustain a high forever. Corrections are needed. We can't hold them off. And the longer we hold them off, the harsher the correction is going to be in my opinion. I'd apologize for yelling, but I need to vent in a BIG WAY about the stupidity of Congress finally listening to "what the voters want" when most of the voters (myself included, even if I do have an Economics degree!) don't have the slightest clue how the economy works, how everything is inter-related, how the banking & finance system works, or the short and long-term effects of bailout vs no bailout. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LISTEN TO JOHN Q PUBLIC. Once again, politics trumps doing what's better for the people/country as a whole.

Who would have thought it...

Okay, I'm still around. It's been insanely busy at work and at home. I must admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed with 4 people, 4 birds and 3 dogs staying with me. None of us expected it to take this long. Stupid movers. But their new home is in place and leveled and hooked up to the pressure pump (for the well) and hooked up to the sewer line and today the water is being hooked up. Michelle is painting today (see how I missed out on that with my business trip). Bummer. Hah. I haven't had much to say lately as my brain is just running a mile a second. Too much stuff going on; presidential politics, the economy, the "financial crisis"...I keep reading more and more and the BB isn't an escape anymore like it used to be. But I can't find any other topics to focus on either. It seems to be all my brain can think about, especially the economic stuff. And then it turned out Shanni really was sick, and I got sick...pushed myself last week to get everything ready for this seminar this week, and was able to take Friday off to recover. Shanni thought that would be great, except all I did was sleep. lol. It's definitely not like playing hooky from school! We've developed quite the routine. Steve cooks dinner most nights since he's home, the girls get home and do homework, then I get home around the same time as Michelle. I've got 3 TVs hooked up to cable now so there's no arguing over what to watch. Although we seem to congregate in the living room. It's the mornings that are the best, though. KT leaves at 5:30 for dance/drill team practice; I get up at 6 to shower (only one bathroom) and then Shanni gets up. Well, M & S are big coffee drinkers. (They brought their coffee pot with them. [g]) I've gotten in the habit of prepping it the night before & turning it on as I stumble past on the way to my shower; or fixing it when I get out of the shower. I'm dressed right away (a minor miracle!), and then Shanni gets up. A few minutes after I leave the bathroom (or as soon as the coffee is done brewing, lol) Michelle stumbles out. It's pretty much weather report, news, & then "The Waltons" or "It's Me or the Dog" until Shanni & I leave for the day. I drop her off at school, and head to work. I love the time we spend on the way to school; it's great to just chit-chat about the day before we start it. Especially since we're in the middle of a SlugBug (VW Beetle) contest. If it can be called that. It's more like a crusade. ;) I almost yelled out "Silver Slug Bug, no Slug Bug Back!" on the way to dinner with the instructors last night. Oops. Thank goodness I managed to restrain myself. [g] I must admit, I'm going to miss this part of their stay. It's kind of fun. And has me missing my parents for some reason. I think I've become a bit too much of a homebody since buying the house. And having the other dogs around is a delight. The birds have faded into the background; I'm so used to their singing now. But the dogs are great. Scully is very cranky still. Especially with Aria, the standard poodle that's just a year old. She (Scully) has taken to hiding out upstairs in the second bedroom, where I've been sleeping. Even when I'm home, she stays up there. After coming down to say hello and get dinner, that is. ;) Poor thing. Her home has been invaded. She's an old dog at 13, you know. I was looking at a picture of her today from June 2006 and realized how much grayer she's gotten since then...and she's losing her eyesight. It's very noticeable now and depresses me. So I'm going to stop going there in this post. Night before last I brushed Radar (the golden) and he just puddled on the floor. I've never seen a dog melt like that before. When I was brushing the front of his neck, he stretched his head up toward me and I've never been given such an adoring look before...It was so funny. Scully ran and hid when she saw the brush, Izzy (the Westie) dared me with her eyes to try and groom her (safely ensconced on the sofa with KT), and Aria (the poodle) gave me a puzzled look, came over and licked Radar's ear, and then went and laid down. Kooky dogs. But it's great when I pull up next to the garage at the end of the day and the three of them are standing at the gate waiting for me. My own welcoming committee. And it's not because they're about to be fed. How lovely. :)

I found a Gem & Wasn't Looking

Sitrep: 1x Swimming, 1x Pilates Class (60 mins), 2x Walk (30 min ea, w/dogs)

Also known as A Trip to the Library. :) I took Shanni & KT to the library Saturday, mostly for their sakes as I have umpteen million books I'm currently reading, and that's not including my TBR pile. Having caught whatever bug Shanni (and everyone else in town) had last week, I could not concentrate on books or TV to save my life. In spite of myself, I found a book while casually browing the new book shelf: My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young. from B&N website blurb:

Cyrla's neighbors have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and Lebensborn babies are only ever released to their father's custody— or taken away.

A note is left under the mat. Someone knows that Cyrla, sent from Poland years before for safekeeping with her Dutch relatives, is Jewish. The Nazis are imposing more and more restrictions; she won't be safe there for long.

And then in the space of an afternoon, life falls apart. Cyrla must choose between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn—Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? Can she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?

It sounded intriguing - you don't see stuff about the Nazi Lebensborn program all that much. Actually, I can only ever remember one other fiction novel that this is talked about and part of the storyline. Although that's not a good example statistically speaking; I read but I don't read that much! After reading a few pages there, it seemed an okay read so I checked it out. I finished In the Bleak Midwinter that night (also a good read), and Sunday morning picked up My Enemy's Cradle. And finished it by dinner time. Aside from a few plot twists I found a bit harder to suspend reality for, it was a really good book. It's her first adult fiction novel; she's written quite a few children's books under the name Sara Pennypacker. I wish there had been a bit more from the eventual romantic interest's viewpoint prior to seeing him in the latter part of the book. Would have made his "revelation" a bit more believable. But it is very much first person POV; you don't get into anyone else's head but Cyrla's. And some threads are left hanging at the end, just a few minor ones. But I think it is fitting for the time period where people often "disappeared" and no one ever knew what became of them. Anyway, for a good read, with lots of emotion (at least there was for me; I even dreamt about it last night), I recommend finding this book. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for her next adult fiction novel. And might just look for her children's stuff at the library to see if any of it would be good for my youngest niece. :)

Pilates...Or Not?

Goals: 1x Swimming, 1x Pilates Class, 1x BodyRev Bootcamp, 1x Rock Wall Climbing Sitrep: 1x Swimming, 1x Pilates Class (60 mins)

Last night was my first ever Pilates class. It was a beginner's class. I was, uh, a bit disappointed. It's basically the floor exercises from an aerobics class. Is that typical Pilates? If so, I think next week I'll check out the water aerobics class. Last night was murder on my hips. Especially the right one. Darn arthritis. It burns like mad today, and now the rest of the leg is tingly. (sigh) Amazingly, I find myself getting re-motivated now that Fall "is here". Maybe it's that "going back to school" mentality. [g] Or maybe I'm just like Scully...cold air makes me frisky. LOL. Now there's an image. I'm so not feeling frisky today. Distracted & tired. Cranky. Those are words that come to mind. Although overall mentally I'm feeling better. The exercise last night, no doubt. But this morning. Sheesh. My Little Sister is "sick" today. It started last night, when they got home from running errands (that started directly after school) at 10pm. Insane. She'd been doing her homework in the car between stores. I'm sure that didn't work real well. [rolling eyes]. She was fine when she got home until she was told she'd have to finish her homework then or get up at 5 am to finish. She chose 5am, but not 10 minutes after crawling into bed she started complaining of being sick. Did the same thing this morning. So her mom let her stay home. I blame her mom in this instance. What was she thinking, keeping the kid out so late? Why didn't she drop her off at home to do homework while Mom went shopping? And she blew off a meet with her middle daughter, the almost 18 year old (we're kept informed of the count daily), to get her homecoming dress. At least she called her (KT was at work) to let her know. But late; KT had been waiting for her for hours. (She works at M.acy's, also where she's getting the dress). Poor kid was crushed. Found her in my bedroom at 10pm bawling her eyes out. (sigh) Oh, and when they did get home they had Shanni's stepdad's 7 yr old grandson with them. I knew they were picking him up for the afternoon since it was C's b-day. But I didn't realize that meant keeping him overnight. Since I'm short on bedrooms, beds and sofas, C slept on the floor with Shanni...in my room. Guess who needs the light left on all night??? I'm starting (!) to sound cranky, aren't I? This morning Shanni was curled up on the sofa acting anything but sick, Izzie is continuing her stare-down challenge with Scully, Michelle let the big dogs in the house (they are too rambunctious that early in the morning), her work kept calling, she kept trying to get Steve to listen to her instructions about the pet groomer coming to pick up Aria for grooming, and he kept playing with the 7 year old grandson. Who got a new toy for his birthday: a remote controlled car. Joy. Not. Man, I'm turning into a cranky old woman. I had to leave the house ASAP or I'd've cracked that car in two. And tossed Shanni into the shower with a "I don't care if your homework's not done you're going to school." As it was, I managed to restrain myself to "Don't drive that into the living room furniture....Don't hit the furniture it's new...don't bang the furniture, it cost a lot of money...don't bang into that, it's from Japan...don't hurt the furniture...not the furniture from Japan...don't bang into ANY OF THE FURNITURE!" At that point I left before doing bodily harm. ;)

So...This was my weekend

Sitrep: 1x swimming (30 mins, no laps though), Yard Work - see below. [g]

So. It was a jam-packed weekend. Lots of stuff to do, with sinus pressure/headache added. I had no idea how much of a mess 4 extra people could make. Holy Cow. I am so not cut out for this "mother" thing. Michelle tried hard the first week to keep things in order, but she got sick last week (sinus issues, just like the rest of us) and when you combine that with 4 females PMSing during the same week, well...'Nuff said. All I managed to get done on Saturday was grocery shopping. And some pictures. Definitely took some pictures. Here's one of them: Is this not the happiest looking dog ever? This is Radar, one of Shanni's dogs. Actually, he's really her mom's dog. The Westie is Shanni's, the poodle is Steve's (whether he wants her or not, she is in love with him. [g]). KT has a cat. Anyway. Radar is just so happy in this picture you can't help but smile, can you?

Here's why he's in such a very good mood: Serves me right for buying them a Ko.n.g toy & stuffing it with kibble & peanut butter. [rolling eyes]. Here's Aria, the Standard Poodle that looks like a sheep, and Isabelle (aka; Izzie or Rotteno):

Gym Bound

Sitrep: Joined a Gym ("athletic center")

Well, I've gone and done it now. I signed up - and paid for - a 2 year membership at one of the local fitness centers. It's the "paid for" part that freaks me out. Although how paying for it up front is any worse than over time when you sign a 2-year contract, I don't know... I was able to include Shanni on my membership, and the total cost is only $35/month, and a one-time $20 application fee. Not bad. Considering the membership at this facility would normally be a one-time application fee of $120, and then $55/month for me, plus $12/month for Shanni until she's 14 (one yr) and then it would be $16/month for Shanni. So this is much, much better. :) It includes all the facilities at the club's main location. All 3 locations would have been better for me, as I could do my regular workouts at one located more or less on the way home, instead of the West location. But this isn't too bad all things considered. They have 5 courts for racquetball, handball, wallyball (?) and one for basketball; three Hot Springs pools, the Adventure Zone, full fitness facilities including cardio and strength equipment, Group Fitness Classes, Teen Fitness Program, tanning and indoor rock climbing wall. This might make me sound old (!) but I'm especially interested in the water fitness class. It would be much easier on my hip. Yeah, yeah. I can hear you all laughing. Cut it out. But I'm excited. I still want to use my BodyRev. But I've been wanting something I can do with Shanni to help her with her issues of self-esteem & weight. We can make our first visit this Saturday. :)

Goodbye Garden, Hello Mom

Sitrep: Don't Look Here!

It's amazing the things you learn about yourself when people move in. Me, it's definitely reinforced the fact that I'm used to being alone and am a bit set in my ways. It's also reinforced my decision not to have kids. Ever. (Can you tell Shanni is driving us batty?) The dogs are adapting well. Even Her Royal Dogginess, Scully. Izzy (Shanni's Westie, and half the size of my dog) is tired of being bullied and the two have gotten into a humdinger of a snarl/pinning-fest. No blood drawn. Freaks everyone out, though. Except me. Just makes me mad and they both get banished outside. The big dogs are doing extremely well in the house and love the doggie door. Aria, the standard poodle, destroyed my American Flags that I had in the front flower pots. Well, she chewed up the poles...oh, and the top part of the little water fountain in my front bed. Ooops. (She's only a year old, and teething.) And she keeps taking the river rocks one by one out of the water fountain pot...bizarre. Izzy, however, found something much more entertaining to do. She dug up my veggie garden. Yes, she truly did. The half whiskey barrel with the carrots, lettuce and onions. {sigh} I came home Friday and it was all dug up. I was able to smooth the dirt back in and save the carrots. The next morning it was destroyed again; dirt everywhere. We caught Izzy in the act later that day, sitting there in the container, face and paws covered with dirt, serenely surveying the back yard. :( Shanni has been a barrel of fun. Not. The slightest thing will set her off. I'm trying my darndest to stay out of her & her mother's arguments. Friday morning they had a rip-roaring argument, and I got dragged in...and it all started with two strips of jerky. I kid you not. But yesterday, ahh, yesterday I think I won. One battle, anyway. She'd spent the night and day at her cousins' house. Her mom went to pick her up and I guess they argued on the 5 minute drive back to my house. She came storming in...I'd been waiting for her to cook Josie's b-day dinner (cake was already done) so she stomped into the kitchen to help me. I was rinsing the veggies and didn't hear something she said...I went "what?" and she grumpily said "Nothing." Now, she's not allowed to use that answer any more. She does it on purpose, talking softly so you have to ask her what she said, then refusing to repeat it, and so on until it becomes a fight. So I replied, "You know that's not an answer. Now what'd you say?" She then turned on me (and I do mean turned on me) and snarled "NOTHING...It was mean and I don't want to say it again. Just like what you did last week..." Technically, this is true. I'd made a remark that was very catty, and then apologized. She hadn't been paying attention, until she heard the apology...and then demanded I repeat the remark. To which I said it wasn't a very nice remark, I shouldn't have said it in the first place and didn't want to repeat it. Which she couldn't accept and it descended into an argument...But that was over a week ago. So how did I handle last night??? Well, luckily for me, my Mom bailed me out. No mean feat considering the woman lives over 2500 miles from me. Me (channeling Mom; calm voiced): Stop. Shanni (red faced and yelling): If you can do it so can I! I don't have to repeat it... you didn't have to when you said something mean... Me (Mom speaking calmly through my mouth ): Then you should have said "It was a mean thing to say, and I'm sorry I said it, and don't want to repeat it." I would have been fine with that. But you said "Nothing" in an angry voice trying to start a fight with me. Now go to your room. Shanni (sputtering): B..b..you can't... Me (calmly, firmly, pointing her toward the stairs): Go to your room until I call you.

And I turned away, back to fixing dinner. Totally stunned I'd kept my cool. And that she obeyed me. Stomping every last step, but she obeyed me. Michelle came out of the bed room a few minutes later wanting to know why Shanni was stomping around upstairs. I told her Shanni had gotten angry, tried to pick a fight, and been disrespectful so I sent her to her room. The look on Michelle's face was priceless...A few minutes later she went upstairs. [sigh]. But Shanni didn't come back downstairs with her, because I'd told her not to...Heh heh heh. I think it was more that she thought she was punishing me by her continued absence. Not. I finished getting dinner on the stove and then called upstairs to her to get her clothes and go take her shower. Darned if she didn't listen. And was a perfect angel the rest of the evening. ;) She even helped clean the kitchen after dinner & cake, and wiped down the sink & stove with nary a murmur of protest. Miracles do happen after all.

SNOW!

On Mount H? On September 1st??? Un-freakin'-believable. At least, that's what I said to myself (or something reasonably similar) Monday morning as I headed out to my little sister's house for another day of packing. It rained a good part of the day Sunday, with strong winds, and I knew the temps were to drop into the forties that night. But to wake up to snow on the Elkhorns south of my house, and then to turn West and see Mount H with a dusting of snow about 3/4 of the way down... Not. Good. Especially since Michelle'd already called me to let me know that the items already out of the house and securely (or so we thought) wrapped/stored were wet. Apparently the wind Sunday blew plenty of rain in along with knocking out the power. The girls discovered the problem when they went out to dig out the candles. {sigh} So instead of moving furniture out, we struggled in the alternately pouring and drizzling rain, with the temperature at 38*F (wind chill 33*F), to put up two large family-size tents. And then moved everything in there. Ughh. One of the guys that volunteered to help with the heavy stuff got the bottle flu. So me and one male friend that did show up did the heavy lifting. (We kept having to chase away Steve-with-the-Broken-Back and his friend D-just-got-out-of-the-hospital-with-colostomy-bag.) Can I just say Monday was nightmarish. And that was before Shanni got into a fight with me. I was too tired and cranky and cold to exhibit any patience...Oh, man, was that a stressful day. At one point Michelle told Shanni if she hated me so much they'd call BBBS first thing on Tuesday and withdraw from the program. Hah. That shut her up. I took a bag of trash outside after that, and KT came up to me and gave me a hug and whispered "I'm so sorry she's being mean. Don't go away." [g] As if. Shanni ended up apologizing. Later. Much, much later. Me, I'm hanging my head in shame because I just couldn't let it go. By 1pm yesterday, we had two carloads and a truck load of dogs (ok, 2 dogs w/their travel kennels) at my house. The cat and one little dog were in my car. The cat is now hostage in my garage (allergies, can't have her in my house - Sis, stay out of my garage if you ever visit!). The four birds (I took them over on Monday) are happily chirping away in a far corner of the kitchen. The dogs have free reign in the yard and are in doggie heaven...the Golden Retriever & Standard Poodle even fit through the doggie door. Go figure. Her Royal Dogginess is Not Pleased we have company. It's amusing to watch her give the other dogs the "evil eye". And to watch them give Scully a wide berth. I'm not kidding. They all watch her out of the corners of their eyes and if she moves in one direction, they get up and go in the other. So they are all moved in for the duration...Shanni & I are "camped" upstairs, KT is sleeping on the sofa, and Michelle & Steve are in my room...can't have the man with the broken back sleeping on the floor. Their old home is supposedly being moved today, the new one coming in tomorrow. If all goes according to the latest schedule. Our friend Josie stopped by last night with wine. And ended up cooking dinner. I'm not sure how that happened, the girls were supposed to cook dinner (meat loaf) and I swear they started to...I was upstairs cleaning the spare room, and doing laundry so I don't know why Josie ended up cooking. But it was nice not to have to. Poor Steve was passed out on the sofa within minutes of sitting down. Between the TV, the birds (OMG are they noisy), the girls doing "homework", the dryer, the dogs, & us three girls chatting across the house, it was bedlam. Can I just say I was glad to have to return to work this morning? At least it has warmed up, the sun is shining, and the snow on Mount H didn't last past Monday afternoon.

Not MY Dog!

Sitrep: 1x Lawn Mowing, 10x THINKING About REVing :(

I'm not one to watch a lot of the reality TV shows. Although in the past I've admitted to watching W.ife Sw.ap and Su.perna.nny. Now I mostly read or play solitaire while those are on in the background. But this summer I've discovered a new reality show. Greatest American Dog. Let me just say up front that my dog would not make it onto this show so I am suitably impressed at those that have. But last night's episode was crazy. Here's a short clip from the episode. This would have sent me running.
Watch CBS Videos Online I wish they had a short clip of the dogs doing the zip line. Yikes. To see that you have to watch the full episode online. You can't fast forward to the end, more's the pity.

Define: Hearing

Sitrep: 1x Lawn Mowed

Sometimes I think my little sister thinks I'm crazy. Sometimes I think I am... Last Friday I was invited to attend Shanni's "family" therapy session. During our regular outing together on Saturday, while enjoying cool treats al fresco at the local D.Q., she relayed her impression of the whole session. Shanni thinks the therapist is critical of her, and says everything she is doing is wrong. Which is so not what I heard. So we talked some about how we interpret what others say to us, and filter the words through our own feelings, experiences, memory process, etc. Of course, while we went about the rest of our afternoon, my mind was ruminating in the background, about thoughts and hearing and how it all works. Ruminations I then shared with her, to her everlasting joy. *snort* I mean, really. Can we hear our own thoughts? It seems like I'm hearing myself. (OK, so I talk to myself in my head. I can't be the only one!) So when I hear that voice in my head, am I really hearing it? I mean, physically. It's not really a sound, is it? Sounds are all about different waves, I think. (It's been awhile since those science classes.) Isn't hearing all about the actual physical actions of sound waves and the ears? Thinking in my head doesn't produce that...yet I could swear I "hear" those words. I can differentiate between my voice, a friend's voice, my mother's voice - don't tell her that!!! ;) But if it doesn't actually involve sound, how can it be hearing? Is it a chemical response combined with memories of sound? exactly is it? It's been driving me crazy all weekend. FYI, this is why I don't do drugs, and rarely drink. If I think about crazy stuff like this totally sober, could you imagine how insane I'd be if I was on drugs? {shudder} It doesn't bear thinking about! Of course, posts like this will probably be used someday as proof I need to be committed. But hey. This is much better than the time I convinced myself that the universe really didn't exist and therefore I didn't exist. Again, totally sober. That was a fun night. Not.

Fay, Fay, Go Away...

Sitrep: 1/2 Lawn Mowed, ~2 mile walk

Talked to the folks - again - this morning. The streets around them are flooded and closed, but so far the cul-de-sac they live on is okay. The sewage system is flooded, though, so that's not much fun. There are water use restrictions from that...limit how much you use, etc. But they have power. My SIL's grandfather is above water as well...at least when she checked on him yesterday. She hadn't called yet this morning when I talked to her. My lunatic sister (yes, lunatic!) went jogging yesterday when the wind/rain let up some. They (sister & bil) were going again this morning. [insert rolling of eyes here] They also went swimming yesterday evening with their 4.5 yr old during a short rain break. Just in case y'all didn't know this, but swimming pools filled with fresh rain water are cold. Just saying. Saw on the weather channel that the Ace Hardware in A1A Plaza put their generators on sale for 30% off yesterday. That's surprising. A nice surprise! Not too much else going on in my world. Crashed big time last night. Two days of running around and socializing until 8pm wears me out. I think I played solitaire for several hours. And did you know that if you shuffle a deck of cards continuously for over an hour you'll see all the Aces pass through the bottom of the deck? Really, you will. Some of them several times over. This morning was Business Plan presentations at work - to the whole office. Fifteen minutes per presentation with a 5 minute Q&A. Glad that's over. Now I get to implement mine, and be "monitored" in my progress. Oh, joy. Not.

Making Dad Laugh

Sitrep: 1/2 Lawn mowed, ~2 mi Walk

So I called my parents this morning to see how they fared with Tropical Storm F.ay, since the eye apparently moved quite s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y over them last night. Dad answered (nice surprise, it's usually Mom & I've talked to her and my sister the last two days.) Considering it was early for me on a work day, Dad should have been surprised it was me. But since I've called 2 days in a row to check on them...not so much. Really it's just an excuse to call! And yesterday I figured was the best chance to catch my sister not in the pool! But when I started with "The weather channel reported 51 tornadoes in [ ] county, are you guys ok?" Dad couldn't help but laugh. A real belly laugh. I think I really tickled his funny bone. Turns out it was one tornado, with 51 homes damaged. And not near them. My poor beleaguered brain apparently condensed the report and scrambled it about a bit. [g] But hey, at least I made my Dad laugh! I think it's quite humorous that they've had no tropical weather this season until the week my sister visits with her family. Lucky them - trapped for 2 days in the house with a 4 and a half year old who lives to swim. [g] While on the phone my BIL in the background hollered "Send snorkels!" LOL. So far all's well at the house. Streets around the neighborhood that flood with regular rainfall are flooded. But nothing beyond that. The last few days have been busy for me. But finally our 2-day annual seminar for a local company is over and the instructor in on his way home. Had to do the hostess thing the last 2 days, and eat out. Bummer. Last night we walked from the downtown hotel he stayed at & up to the walking mall and a local eatery that used to be a brothel. Big Dorothy's. [g] Good steaks and fun atmosphere. It's about a mile from the hotel one way. The weather cooled down considerably, and it sprinkled a bit. But it was a nice walk. On the way back we got ice cream. It's a good thing we walked! Saw the chiropractor again today for a status check. All looks good. A few more adjustments today and that's that unless I'm in pain again. He told me again not to baby my right hip for that arthritis, to keep moving so it stays lubricated. Which I'm doing. Sort of. :) I have got to get back into REVing. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Just a lot of hips and butt. [groan, I know]. Oh, and I'm buying a new (to me) camera. It's a smaller digital camera I've been wanting. Not quite a pocket point and shoot, but smaller by quite a bit than my digital SLR, and with a really good optical zoom. It's going to be my "around-town" camera. One I can carry with me and not worry about leaving in the trunk of the car. Not like my "baby", my D SLR. [g]

Speedy Gonzalez, That's my name!

Sitrep: 1/2 lawn mowed. Last night. At 9pm. Even under a full moon (barely up!) and outdoor lights, I did a lousy job. Note to self: don't mow after sunset.

Well...I have no idea what happened to last week. After Tuesday it's all a blur. Except Friday afternoon. Our boss decided to do a staff outing. Normally cause for the grumbles, but not this time. They took us up the road to "Tons of Fun". An arcade/mini-golf/go-kart place. We had BBQ ribs and chicken for lunch, then a round of truly hilarious mini-golf. Then we got on the go-karts. That was a hoot. I might keep to the speed limit on the real road, but get me on a go-kart and the pedal is to the metal. [g] I was standing on that gas pedal hollering in my head "Faster dammit, faster!" I was fourth to start, right after two of my coworkers and my boss. I could not get past him. He was hugging the curves and going flat out...But I'm smart. ;) I saw that one of my coworkers, P, was not going as fast as us, and after a few laps we were catching up. D and N blew past her, but I could tell my boss B was going to keep on going until the last minute. So I started to pull out and go wide around the curve...Then K (who'd been right behind the whole time) thought she'd scoot between me and B and get past us. Hah. She fell right into my trap. B got too close to P and she panicked, moved left. Too late, I was zooming right in there so she zoomed right, cutting B off. He had to brake, then K had to swerve behind me to miss him. And I just flew right past all of them. [g] I came in third. :) One of the best moments, though, was when W blew past J (who just became a grandma for the first time), screaming "Move over Grandma!!!" Too funny. Then a quick trip to DQ, and we got to go home an hour early. Naturally, it being payday, I stopped at Hast.ings to browse the books. Didn't do much this weekend...read a lot. Lounged around a lot. Sigh. Worked some yesterday, last minute. Ughhh. Argued with Shanni some. That girl has got to learn how to deal with disappointment. Geez. So what if the store doesn't have the locker lock you want...they'll get more in or she'll find it at another store! No cause for pouting, etc. Today I feel like a ping pong ball...one of our annual seminars we do for a local company is today and tomorrow, and the instructor is in town from Florida. So I'm doing the chauffeur thing, and popping back and forth from the hotel to the office and back again to make sure everything's okay, the instructor doesn't need anything, and so on ad infinitum...I went home at lunch to let the fur baby out because I have to do the dinner thing after work today. At least I'll eat nice. But now I have to go home tonight and clean like mad because I didn't this weekend and the sun room is looking more like a junk room and I'm having someone over this week to look at the gas valve I broke (part 1 and part 2) beginning of last winter . They have to be able to get to it to fix it. Sigh. I also want them to quote how much it will cost to move the water hookups for the washer & dryer up to the main floor, so I can seal that darn floor instead of keeping that huge hole for the hoses to run through. They'll kinda need to go down into the basement. So the stuff parked on top of the access door has got to go... Gonna be a fun night. Not. ;)

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Sitrep: 1/2 lawn mowed

the old man is snoooooring. He went to... Oh, wait. That's me. [g] I'm soooo sleepy this mornin' I'm about to pass out at my desk. I must be cranky too as a coworker made a coffee run and treated me to a Mocha. Ahhh, the little joys in life. ;) I dreamt a lot last night. Pretty much all I can remember is a guy changing from a blond-haired cutie into a mocha skinned god with a gold earring. I gave him a purple hat (which he put on straight away) in exchange for some advice and then I walked away. I turned back a second or two later and there was nothing but a purple hat moving along the ground. I cautiously flipped the hat off and it was a turtle making some pretty fast (and determined) progress. Then the perspective changed...I was looking up and toward the turtle, as if through a sheet of glass that was barely thick enough to cover me. And as the turtle crawled over me, I realized it was a tarantula. Jeez oh Pete. Is it any wonder I'm exhausted???? And I can't even begin to put into words the feeling I remember from the dream. First good/excited/proud (???), then totally creeped out. I'm not sure I even want to know what this dream means. And I'm sure there's a meaning there somewhere.

It's probably "Don't eat Spaghetti O's for lunch you idiot".

Grease Monkeys

Weekly Goal: 1x Bootcamp, 1x Qigong, 1x Mow Lawn

Apologies in advance if I sound cranky...I'm very tired; slept poorly. Not inclined to parse my words for mood. [g] Dreamt last night I was on the phone with Shanni and she was sick; started with a cold and got worse. I was irritable because she wouldn't tell me the symptoms and I was feeling sick in my dream. Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something? Like if I don't get off my butt and exercise and eat better I'm going to get sick? Saturday was an uneventful day for the most part. I motivated my sorry self out of the house around noon to go get Shanni. We'd planned to work in my yard, putting in the new flower bed borders and starting on the back "deck". Except it pretty much boiled down to a quick run to the cell phone store (she locked her SIM card therefore blocking all but 911 calls) and then to the store to buy a bulb for the car headlight. We had to get someone to help us as the number bulb I needed wasn't on the shelf...the guy told me to bring my car around and they could change the bulb for me. For $5.00 (plus cost of light bulb). I guess I'm cheap, because I didn't want to pay someone to do something I can d0 - and have - myself. Shanni was quite dubious. Once at my house I looked up the instructions quickly online (to make sure I didn't unplug some necessary wires). I had a little trouble getting the cap off. I didn't want to use force (been there, done that, broken a few things!) so first tried finessing it off. Went with force. ;) To make a long story shorter, we changed the bulb. I had a bit of trouble lining the bulb up with all the grooves. Hard to line things up blindly. But finally got it in. At one point during the process Shanni went "Don't you have any guy neighbors we can call?" Pfffffttttt. I also heard "Ooooo...you're dirty!" (Funny coming from a girl who just a few years ago was happily catching frogs in the irrigation ditch by her house.) I said what I usually say, "I'm washable." She was pretty proud when we finished - and the light worked. [g] I also made a point to show her how to check the oil and washer fluid, and where the anti-freeze (coolant) goes. And the battery. I guess I'm going to have to show her how to change a tire one of these days. The rest of the afternoon she kept calling us "Grease Monkeys." So I didn't exercise last week. Went to the chiropractor for my hip Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. By the evening after the second adjustment I felt great! Wednesday was a final adjustment and also to review the x-rays of my hips. Turns out I have very early signs of arthritis in my right hip. Surprise. Not. It's always bothered me, and I figured eventually I'd have arthritis there. Just not at 35. [g] The doc said I can keep on exercising and walking/hiking is okay. I'm just not to take up running. In one of those "did I say that out loud" moments, I went "Please. I just took up walking. Running's not even an option!" He looked a little startled, but laughed. So. Now I really need to lose that extra 20 pounds. Just more motivation! I was afraid he was going to tell me to stop exercising all together. But from what he told me, and from some research I did at the library, I'm okay to continue. Just need to wear really, really good shoes. He told me where I can get some good orthotics (not custom made) for about $50. I think I'll try those before going the orthopedist route again. So. Onward and upward. And it's nice to know I'm not hallucinating the aches in my hip, or the pain when I sleep on my right side. [g] And yesterday I managed to motivate into the garden. One flower bed out front now has a new border - two years after removing the old one. ;) It's that generic plastic border you bury except for the edge, but it works for me. Got 50 feet of it for $5.00. Gotta love procrastinating until the end of the season. Hah. The veggie garden is not making much progress...tomato plant is all played out. Carrots are finally coming up and I thinned them out. Green onions aren't getting taller and browning on top. Lettuce is struggling. But it's getting much cooler. I actually wore jeans out to dinner Saturday night. The Chives and Basil are hanging in there. At least the lime trees are looking wonderful! Not much else to report, except that Shanni keeps getting herself grounded. So far she's lost going out one afternoon, her cell phone for 2 days (oh, the inhumanity! lol) and now our outing to Ga.tes of the Mo.untains Saturday with BBBS. Heh. Poor kid. NOT! I keep telling her about the time my mom dragged me home from a friends birthday slumber party because I hadn't finished my chores. I was 16 at the time...

I Summited Mount Helena

Last Week Sitrep: 3.4 mile hike
Goal: 1x Bootcamp, 1x Qui Gong

Shanni & I finally made it to the top of Mount Helena. And I have the aching muscles and chiropractor bills to prove it. [g]

Plan of Attack: Prospect Shafts Trail (1.5 mi) to Hogback Switch Trail (.3 mi) leading to Summit; 1906 Trail back to the parking lot (1.6 mi).

Reality Check: We set out at 9:30 am, reaching the top around 11:30 am. Yep. Took us almost two hours to hike the 1.8 miles to the top. I'm thinking that's a pretty abysmal pace, but hey. It's me. This trail is supposedly less step than the 1906 trail we attempted last year. I'd have to agree on that, although others don't. It's longer, and winds around more. Gorgeous sneak peeks of the valley along the way, and plenty of shade, make this a rather nice hike. If you can forget about the fact you're hiking, that is.

About twenty minutes down the trail, we came across a picnic table and Shanni wanted to stop for a snack. I brought sandwiches for our lunch later, along with cheese sticks, carrots and granola bars. Not to mention tons of water. (Two 32oz bottles for each of us.) Let's just say that cheese sticks are not a good option on a hike unless you have a cooler or thermal lined backpack.

Just across the way from the picnic table is what's called the Charcoal Kiln. We took pictures. It looks like the remains of a tower or something made out of rocks. Pretty neat. Then we started back up the path. It was about this point that my right hip started to irritate. Like my sciatic nerve was getting pinched or something. Not too unusual.

About 1.5 miles up the Prospect Shaft's Trail we switched onto Hogback Switch Trail. Now, it was getting rather steep already, and I was hoping we'd already hit Hogback Switch. Nope. I wanted to cry when we saw the sign. Shanni was great, very encouraging. I was struggling by this point; not sure how much farther I could go. I'd forgotten to wear my heart rate monitor, but could tell whenever I got too high out of my target zone. I'd stop in the shade for a few minutes (usually moving around a bit, just not going up.) Anyway. Shanni coaxed me those last .3 miles to the summit (yes, it was .3, at least that's what the map down below said!)

The top was just craggy rocks, but the view was amazing. I took some pictures. Not as many as I'd've normally taken. But exhaustion and no shade make for poor photographer incentives. [g] We wanted to take the 1906 trail down, which I thought connected to the Hogback trail further back. Ooops. That was the first wrong step of the day. So we had to go back up. Oh, joy. At least it was only fifteen feet or so...someone else pointed us the correct way down. Only after a few minutes the trail started to split into 3 directions with no signs/markers. Peachy. Figuring I was being intelligent, I said "Those 2 look like they're going back up, this one is definitely going down. Let's take this one." Heh. Turned out to be not so intelligent after all!

After about 10 minutes of pretty steep and rocky progress down (I'm pretty sure this is where I really started to screw up my hip), we began to wonder if we'd passed the Devil's Kitchen (large cave in the limestone face), and how'd we mange to do that? Thankfully we came across a mother-daughter pair hiking up. They kindly told us we were on the Powerline Trail, not the 1906. Shanni was disappointed and wanted to go back; I wanted to know if this trail ended in the parking lot. They laughed, said yes, but then told us they (veteran hikers) wouldn't go down this trail. Apparently the Powerline Trail is a pretty ugly downward climb. (My chiropractor confirmed this.) So we had to go back up. {whimper}

Shanni ran ahead with them; I kept having to stop. Although I pushed myself harder than I previously had. That whole ego thing. Didn't want to look bad. Like being red-faced and breathing like a bellows while the top of your head explodes doesn't look bad, and tears stream down your face, doesn't look bad! By this point I kept telling myself "The only easy day was yesterday"...not sure why my brain picked that quote. I certainly didn't help! "You gotta want it bad enough" and "Body obeys the brain" would have been better motivators, I think. But we made it back up (nearly to the top, where the trail split in 3 directions) and they showed us the 1906 trail. You actually have to walk down that path a bit to see a) it goes up slightly then down dramatically and b) the signpost. Sigh. So really. I summited several times. ;) That whole side-trip added thirty minutes to the day.

Going down was lovely. Much easier. The first few minutes the world spun crazily in my peripheral vision - Vertigo - but that evened out. The Devil's Kitchen is neat; it's basically an extremly large and wonderfully cool shallow opening in the limestone cliff face. We stopped there about twenty minutes or so and ate lunch. I didn't even eat half my sandwich; my body started giving me the "going to be sick" signals. But we'd snacked several times on the way up, with my choice being carrots. (love the moisture in them.) I stuck to sipping water the rest of the way down. At this point I was 1/3 of the way through my second bottle of water.

The 1906 trail down is rather steep, mostly shaded, and also provides great views of the valley. My hip really burned by this point, and I could feel every step in my lower back. But we did it. We made it. :) At 1:05 pm we were in the car.

FWIW (for what it's worth): The 2 ladies that we met on the Powerline Trail caught up with us on their way down. The Powerline Trail is not on the map at the parking lot.

The Aftermath: I woke up Sunday with the expected pain. Legs so stiff, calve muscles in agony. Didn't do much throughout the day other than walk around the house and stretch my muscles, etc. Was going to mow the lawn as a method of loosening up my legs, but it rained. Soaked at least 40 minutes in hot water. Felt much better, except for my hip. Oh, my hip! It was late afternoon when I realized that every time I stood up, when I put my rut foot down and walked in a straight line, my right foot was pointed right (not forward!). Uh-oh. My feet turn outward normally, but not that much.

So yesterday I missed work and ended up at the chiropractor for the first time in my life. I felt silly as I wasn't in any pain. Just discomfort, but when I stood to show him how I was standing, he goes "oh yeah, that's not right." LOL. A quick, little adjustment later and my foot was pointing straight. My right hip was too far forward or something. He had me come back today for an x-ray to take a look at the hip joint (I told him I had to wear splints/casts on my leg as an infant) just to be sure since I've always had issues with it. (No side leg lifts - agonizing burning pain!). His wife took the pics today, and per her the hip looks normal...radiographer needs to give the "official" word. I got another adjustment and feel much better. I no longer feel lopsided. [g] One more adjustment tomorrow, and then a follow-up on Monday to make sure I'm still in alignment.

Funny thing, after about 10 minutes or so of walking after the first adjustment, the calve muscles in my right leg no longer hurt as much. They were much much more sore than the left leg. Guess it was the additional strain of how I was walking. [g]

So. That's the grand adventure on Mount Helena last weekend. The Hike That Lasted Three Days. :) But we made it!!!!

I Am...

...really weird sometimes, ya know? What else can you say about someone who hangs out in their yard and meows at the neighbor's cat two yards down? We're talking 10+ minutes, here. My little sister rolls her eyes at me...I know the names of my neighbors' pets, but not my neighbors. Heh.


...also finished with ITF. Got it from the library on lunch yesterday and finished it at 1:45 am. So the rest of this post is ALL ABOUT ITF.

THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL SPOILER ALERT!

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So. Obviously it was written well enough I stayed up late to finish it. Mostly because I want to be as enthralled by her books as I once was.

But parts of this book felt like I was slogging through mud. A few times I found myself thinking "oh, come on. This is taking for-ev-er!" I've felt that a few times lately while reading books I otherwise put in the "enjoyed" and "good book" category when done. Bizarre.

ITF was well written, as usual, yet I was still left frustrated at the end of the book. It reads more like several books competing to be top dog in one. Some of the story arcs are moving toward closure. Maybe. Although I don't think that Dave & Sophia will end up together. She's with him because she wanted to be with someone who loved her, not because she loved him. Totally understandable from my viewpoint. Decker...I still don't like him. Or not like him. I'm pretty "whatever" on the whole thing with him. Murphy & Hannah...the supposed main characters...liked them. Liked Hannah. Liked Murphy. Although at times I got confused by the similarity of sense of humor...like trying to figure out the nickname Hannah gave him "Bwee"...What the heck? I had to get the answer to that from the BB...which someone got from Suz...I kept thinking it was a "So.uth P.ark" thing...then kept having to go "no, that's Izzy, not Murphy." Sigh. And the sarcastic humor they all seem to have.

I enjoyed Izzy & Eden's story line the most, until the ctastrophic ending. [Arggh. I'd this vain hope while reading Suz was going to surprise me & tie that all up nicely.] Although how quickly Izzy "fell in love" with this kid wasn't so believable to me. He's confusing lust & white night syndrome with love, if you ask me. So I won't be surprised if in his next, what, 4?, appearances he's not with her and not with Tracy. So far Suz has had him hook up with 2 women needing to be "saved". At least, in their minds & his. Suz has already said his arc is over 6 books. 2 down, 4 to go. Yippee. NOT. And that's just Izzy/Eden/Tracy.

And there were some things I was kinda "huh" about. I'm not an expert, but I'd thought the amount of Roh.yp.nol it would take to give Eden such total blackout/amnesia would be a fairly large dose, and would last from 2-12 hours. Reading I've done would indicate the 12 hours being on the extreme far end of the time-line. Effects starting to wear off around 4 hours. From what I've read. Would there have been enough time to do all that filming/staging? Maybe. I guess I'm getting hung up on details. And why the heck would this guy go to all the bother. Yeah, I can get the whole I-want-her-I'm-gonna-have-her vibe. But the elaborateness of Richie's plan, the videos, etc, all to get Jerry back? I mean, geez, hadn't they just met??? Is this guy in love with Jerry or something? Made NO sense to me. One tape would have been enough..."dude, your girl's been screwing around on you...and it wasn't the first time."

Then there's the whole Sophia/Decker/Dave triangle. The Tess/Nash/"Whatever" triangle. And that one leaves me feeling betrayed. Because Tess & Nash had their book. They got their happy-ever-after. Which means riding off into the freaking sunset in my world - when it comes to romance novels, that is. [g] It does not mean being primary characters, overcoming the storyline obstacle to become a couple in love and together at the end of the book only to appear fleetingly in subsequent books with major issues, and then finally as a major not-quite-secondary-not-quite-primary plot line. Which wasn't resolved by the end of the book either. Hoo. Yah. If I wanted this kind of anxiety/heartburn, I'd watch F.ox news 24/7. [sorry Dad & other Fo.x N.ew.s fans. If it helps, I can't think of any other news programs that don't follow close on FN's heels.]

Reading fulfills a need I have to escape. Escape being the operative word. Closure, happiness, order, balance, harmony, light...That's what I need at the end of the book. Not a bunch of characters with gaping wounds. And there are so very, very, very many characters...and we just got 2 new ones. Eden & Jo (the psychiatrist.) It's too tiring; I can't keep them straight. I shouldn't need a freaking chart to keep track of info while reading for pleasure.

This is why I'm not enjoying her books as much anymore. Why I want to cry when I finish; because I'm so let down. The older I get, the less I find myself "equipped" to deal with such angst. Funny, really, considering I used to watch THREE soap operas daily. Taped & watched them daily, I really did. (This was pre-DVR days.) Maybe I just burned myself out. LOL.

Mostly I think it's because I'm just tired of it. I'm much more pragmatic now than I was during those years. Growing up had something to do with it. Mostly those 2 years in Paraguay, I think. I'm so "For Pete's Sake. Get over it already." Which is why I'm not the best support for my friend fighting alcoholism. Not that I think that about the alcoholism. But the way she blows everything else up into a huge f-ing deal. Sometimes I just want to scream "GET A F-ING GRIP!" Heh. Wonder what response that would get! [g]

Anyway. I'm kinda wandering all over the place today. See what lack of sleep and no coffee yet have done to me?

So here's what I have to say to myself: "Get a F-ing Grip!" and "Get over it already." [g] Facts are facts. Suz' books are not romances. Not any more. They are what I consider fiction/suspense with relationships. It's a series of ongoing characters, not stand-alone books loosely connected to each other. So. Facts being facts, and life being what it is, I'll probably keep reading her books. But I'll be doing the library thing, like this time, and only reading them when I'm in the mood for that type of book. :) It's a testament to how good of a writer she is that her books engender these kinds of reactions, no?