I Just Had to Trust Imagination

As promised - my catnip PSA. Here is Archie climbing all over the guy to get to the dangling things on the ceiling fan.

Here are Archie and Heidi completely straight and sober.

Here is Heidi eating catnip.

Here is Heidi huffing catnip.

Here is Heidi feeling the effects.

Here are our cats on catnip. Any questions?

Senses Working Overtime

Our friend Bry turning the laser on himself. When cat toys go bad...

Last night was nice and mellow. I tried to give plasma but my iron levels were too low. Damn.

I went to get stuff to make soup for dinner tonight and then got home and reheated and dressed-up leftovers while The Guy messed around with his car and cleaned things up around the house.

After dinner we decided to provide ourselves with entertainment by giving the cats some catnip. Archie had never had it before and holy hell! He loved it. He ate it and rolled around in it and went plumb loco for it. We laughed our asses off watching the two cats half-heartedly fighting each other over the catnip by swiping at each other with their paws, but while still lying down. I did take some pics, but forgot to bring the camera to work to upload them. Hopefully, I'll get them up tomorrow.

Tonight our friend G. is coming over for dinner. She won't get here until a little after 7, so I'll get a run in first. I'm making potato leek soup, salad and bread. Stinky loves this meal, so she even agreed to grace us with her presence. Nice.

Feet On the Ground, Head in the Sky

So, have I ever told you guys how awesome Iowa can be when it finally warms up and actually stops raining for a day? Well, It's really great. We all try to stay outside as much as possible and take advantage of the weather, because we all know how fast it can change back.

Today was one of those wonderful Iowa Spring days where everyone was that much happier from the feel of sun on skin and the freedom of slipping on a pair of flip flops and being able to comfortably go for a walk outside. I, of course, ran my eight mile route and it was heavenly.

When I went to the store this afternoon, I ran into my friend Eggo and she started talking about Morrell mushroom hunting. She and her husband had been out hiking and saw the May apples, and everyone in Iowa knows that means we have about a week before we can start looking for Morrells. She was kicking around the idea of having a camping party out in the country one weekend night here soon, where we all go mushroom hunting and then spend the night so we can drink and not have to drive home and wake up and make Morrell omelettes the next morning. I literally raised my hand and told her to be sure and pick me to be a part of that.

Then later this evening, I went to a kid friendly cook-out at my friend K's most wonderfully amazing boyfriend A.'s place. The food was oh, so good and I met some new people who I really loved. So much so, in fact, that I had to gush all over them and tell them how great I thought they were before I left. Stinky came along and thought all of A.'s friends were really cool too...And that's coming from a teenager, so you know it had to be true.

Anyway, it's been one of those days where I want to stop my life, so I can wallow in how lucky I am. Do you ever have those days where you look around and think, "Damn! I really have it pretty good"? Yeah, well I do a lot and I don't always take the time out to appreciate it. But today? Today, I'm stopping to smell the warm loamy Iowa Spring air and recognize just how good I have it. I hope you all are in a place to do that too.

Honey If I Get Restless

Here is a leaf in the grass.

I wouldn't call this weekend awesome. it wasn't horrible, it was just really busy and social and I am a girl who needs her downtime.

On Saturday we went to Ottumwa and it was fine. We celebrated Stinky's birthday...Again. The best part was checking out my sister's new house. It was so 70's, in that good kitschy way. Everything about it was totally mod. If I could have played with Mod Hair Ken and my Malibu Skipper in the Barbie Dreamhouse and listened to Elton John and Kiki Dee, I would have felt like I had been transported back to 1975.

By the time we got back home, it was close to six. Some of my friends were drinking wine, and my friend M., from NY was on her way back from drinking with her family at a bar in Tiffin. Basically, it was an evening of me being EXTREMELY sober and hanging out with people who had been drinking for hours. Since I've been getting a cold, the smartest thing I could have done, was stay home, order a pizza, lie in bed and watch a movie, but I appreciate the hell out of my friends, and I hadn't had a chance to really sit down and talk with M. for many years.

I met them at George's and I got to hear about their lives and the story of how they met. Then they asked about my relationship status. Man, I hate that question. Usually when someone asks me how my love life is, I just respond by saying, "Imaginary." I explained my latest ridiculous situations, and M. nodded, knowingly. Her husband said, that he would like me to start punching guys in the throat when it seemed that they were going to jerk me around. I told him that wasn't really my style, and he told me that I needed to think about adopting a new style. I'm sure he's right.

At ten, I still hadn't eaten, so I grabbed some Chinese take-out from around the corner and went home to chill-out by myself and eat.

Today was supposed to be a day where I didn't do much, but it wasn't to be. It was rainy when I woke-up at ten to my sister's phone call. She told me she had been waiting since 6 to call me, and she couldn't imagine waking up at ten. I told her to think back to the forty years of her life, before she had children.

I ran Stinky to the mall, then went to the Co-op for the things I get there and to Hy-Vee for the things I get there. When I finally made it home, the sky had cleared, so I ran my eight mile route through Coralville. My run was fairly uneventful, except at the end when I ran past a guy who is running for city council, who I used to call Peter Frampton when he frequented one of the coffee shops I worked at for many years. He said, "Way to go, Churlita, " and put his hand up for me to give him a high five.

My friend S. came over for dinner, and I was totally drained by then. I felt bad because I knew I was babbling and not making any sense. Finally, at nine, I had to excuse myself in an effort to try to keep the weird and lame in me from infecting her. Believe me, it was for her own good.

Now, I will attempt to sleep in hopes that I will be more socially functional tomorrow. Thank god I don't have to work a visit day this week.

Oh, Uh-Oh Make it Magnificent ,Tonight

Sorry about last night's post. It was the migraine talking. I wasn't expecting it and stupidly let my meds run out except for half a pill. It helped me through the evening, but by the time I went to sleep, it came back in all it's hellish fury. I kept waking up because of the headache and I had this weird pain-high. It's hard to describe if you've never had it, but it gave me really vivid dreams and made me even more internal than I normally am.

Today I ordered my meds during lunch and took them as soon as I could leave work and drive to the pharmacy at the North Dodge Hy-Vee. I'm not sure if it was from lack of sleep or the residual migraine damage or the meds or a combination of all three, but I still felt super high tonight. I went to Mr. Dateman's and we watched part of a documentary called, Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie in high def. All the footage of bombs blowing-up was kind of horrifyingly beautiful in my altered state. Then when I was driving home, I turned the corner and the moon was coming up all blood red and looked almost exactly like this:

Except it wasn't completely full. (I didn't have a camera on me, so I had to steal this photo off of the inter webs) It startled me because it looked so much like the images in the movie. I was tempted to call Mr. Dateman and tell him to look out his window, but it was late and he had to get up early and I figured he'd probably appreciate it more if I didn't wake him up and he could just view it on my blog later on at his leisure .