My Head Keeps Spinnin'. I Go to Sleep and Keep Grinnin'.

Here is a fallen tree. Pretty.

So, if you can't tell by the minimal postings on my blog, things have been crazy, busy here. We started working on the floors in Coadster's old room, but got sidetracked by practicing cyclocross and raking leaves and living our lives and everything else.

Tonight The Guy will be at his mom's house and Stinky will be at work until 10. I considered working on the floors while I'm home by myself, but then started thinking about how crazy busy we'll be tomorrow and the weekend and, and, and...I decided I needed a night to relax. So, my version of relaxing is to go running after work, bake some pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting and then sit on my ass and watch some episodes of the new season of Dexter I have recorded. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body, when it tells you to sit on your ass, right?

I'm Happy. Hope You're Happy Too

Here is a path to a bridge.

I don't have much to write about today. The weather is warming up finally and that makes me happy. I had a good swim this morning, and that made me happy. Other than a little self-imposed stress, (I know. I'm always my own worst enemy) my world is lovely. I hope yours is too.

Wiped Out. No Concentration.

Here is a rolling hill.

Well, kids. I don't have much to write about today. Things are good, good, good. Last night I gave plasma while the guy rode his bike. Then we met at home and cooked and ate and drank wine. Then we had a great talk until it was time to pick up Stinky. Sure, it sounds rather mundane, but I like that. I also like that The Guy is as open and honest as he is and we can pretty much talk about anything. It's so refreshing.

Tonight The Guy is going to his mom's house and Stinky will be at her youth group. I will have the house to myself. I plan on running my 6 mile route and then doing a couple of quick cleaning projects. Then I have the option of working on the painting/drawing I want to start, reading my book or watching a movie. I love being presented with those kinds of options.

Her Lucky Stars Give her Just Enough to Get Home

Here is Chicago.

Soooo, last night was nice. We made black bean chili and cornbread and guacamole and The Guy made me a lovely cocktail of vodka, cranberry juice, lime and a splash of tonic water. Stinky stopped by on her way from one thing to another. She said she was starved. I told her to help herself to what we were eating. In the past, she's always claimed (without ever trying it) that she didn't like black bean chili. Last night, though, she actually tried some with some cheese and cornbread. She loved it. Of course. Silly girl.

This morning, The Guy and I got up early and swam before work. I'm planning on running after work and then I might try to get some relaxing in. I'll let you know how that goes...

Apparently, I don't have a lot to write about today, so I'll quit while I'm behind.

It's Gettin', It's Gettin', It's Gettin' Kinda Hectic

I'm in denial of the snow storm happening outside and the next blast of bitterly cold temperatures in its wake. This photo is how I'd rather think of Iowa.

Oh, kids. It's been kind of a trying day. My car started, but just barely, so I decided to go into work late and take my car in. The mechanic guy couldn't see me until two, so I had to come into work late and leave early. Anyway, when he finally could get to it, he said the battery seemed fine. He said when the dome light was on, it probably heated the battery and all the water steamed out and that's why it didn't hold the charge very well. He also said it was just THAT cold and the battery probably wasn't charged completely. Anyway, I guess we'll see.

I'm pretty much drained like my car battery right now. I had an appointment on the outskirts of one of the neighboring towns and the snow started right as I was driving there. I got lost on the way back and drove around on unplowed country roads in the snow and wind. Then when I got home, my computer was being all wonky and Coadster had to do some homework using a disc, so I messed with the computer for a few hours. It's working fine now, but I'm done for the night. You know how that is? Where you spend the day putting out fires, until you just can't do it anymore? Well, that's me right now.

These last few days of dealing with car problems and frozen pipe problems and computer problems, have left me almost no time to deal with the regular cleaning duties. So, my house is a pit. I'm not a clean freak by any means, but it does make me all out of sorts when things get too bad. Since most of my Dublin friends are leaving for a 9 day vacation in Belize tomorrow, I'll at least have plenty of time to get things done...Well, at least if no one else talks me into going out to play, that is.

Because Time Won't Give Me Time

Here is a photo of a guy putting up fliers that I took last Fall. Now I'm that girl putting up fliers.

I know I've yacked on here about what a small town this is, and how everyone pretty much knows everyone else's business in whatever circles they're in. It doesn't bother me, because I'm an open person and try not to do anything that I'd be ashamed for people to know. Plus, my life is so damn mundane that if people talked too much about it, they'd all pass-out and go into boredom comas. So, now that I'm trying to get someone to rent my apartment, I thought I'd let this whole small town yacking work in my favor. I started telling everyone I knew that I needed a subletter and hoped that it would spread like wildfire. I suppose that it would work better if I could make it more salacious. In keeping with the whole "trying to buy a house is like trying to find a relationship" analogy; it does kind of feel like I'm trying to move onto a better domestic situation and my apartment just won't get over me and let me go. If only my apartment could meet a new tenant that it liked even better than me, we could both get some kind of closure. There. That had a little more drama to it. Now it might be more fun for people to tell their friends about, who tell their friends and so on and so on and so on...

So, I've spent much of my breaks and lunches and after work time, putting up fliers around town. The drag is that it hasn't yielded even one phone call so far. The upside is that I've been running into people I haven't seen in forever. I guess there's always good and bad in everything.

Anyway, I guess I'll just keep putting up fliers everyday in hopes that my apartment and I can resolve our differences, get over each other, find ourselves in better situations and move on.

Everybody All Around Me. Shakin' Hands and Sayin' Howdy

Here are some people at the beach. A place where I'd like to be right now.

So, you know how I'm kind of socially retarded, right? Well, today it seemed like everyone else was even weirder than me. I was in an alternate universe, where I was the normal person...Okay, I won't go that far, but there were people walking around the planet who made me look almost normal.

The minute I stepped on campus, I realized the Gideon bible guys were out in full force. They are generally nice, polite, older gentleman in suits. I've worked at this particular institute of higher learning for many, many years, so I know the drill. I take the first little green book offered me, and wave it at all the other guys trying to give me the same thing.

When I got up to my building, I noticed a guy standing in front, looking toward the sky. At first I thought he might be looking for the hawk that used to fly around the museum across the street, but he was looking past it. I approached two other women who work in my building and asked, "So, is that guy just trying to see how many people he can make look up this morning?"

"No. Margaret said she asked him what he was doing and he told her he was looking for the moon so he could see Jupiter. If he wanted to see all that, you'd think he would have started a little earlier...Like before sunrise," one of my co-workers replied

* * *

I think I've told you that after lunch I walk across the street with a little red shopping basket to pick-up all of our afternoon computer print-outs. Well, today I noticed a car politely waiting for me to cross the street. I didn't pay much attention to it, until the driver yelled out the window, "City High cross country! Wooooo!" I looked up and realized the guy was my friend and co-worker T-Rip's boyfriend and he was referring to my Facebook status update. Then I remembered that I saw a Facebook reminder for him too.

"Hey! Happy birthday, M!" I said. As I walked into the other building, I wondered if we would have said anything to each other besides hi, if Facebook didn't exist.

* * *

Finally. Today when I was running, two. Count 'em, two different guys I didn't know held up their hands so we could high-five each other as we passed. What the hell is that? I'm all for waving and saying hi, to fellow runners, but I have no desire whatsoever to slap their sweaty palms against mine. You know? I'd like to issue a no contact order between me and passing runners I don't know from here on out.

Soooo, how was your day?

I Want to Know What I've Lost Today

Here are some flowers in different phases of existence.

Soooo, today I ran my 8 mile route and then got my massage. The massage was great and well needed and all...But then when I was done, I felt all weird and fragile and kind of down. Is that normal? I have heard of people crying after a massage, and that makes some sense. It's a release of sorts. I wondered if it was all those toxins getting worked-out. it also made me extremely tired, so maybe it's all tied together somehow.

Okay. Since I'm still overwhelmed and sleepy, I think I'll stop writing. It's bad enough when I'm well rested. Who knows what kind of stupid shit I'll write when I'm like this.

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?

We're here and we're random - every single one of my personalities.

1.) Okay, remember how I said it was Homecoming weekend here in town? Well, there's usually all kinds of fun drunken incidents that occur on that weekend. I'm going to take some quotes off of the KCRG website so you can learn about my favorite one from this year. 'Kay? Here it is:

An Iowa City man who thought a police officer just "needed a hug" faces several charges including assault on a peace officer and public intoxication...

...According to police records, Schreder ran up to the officer and stuck out his arms. The officer told him to "get away," but Schreder didn't take the hint and embraced the officer.

How great is that? In and of itself, it's wonderful, but this being Iowa City, there's bound to be a protest - of sorts anyway. Today on my lunch break there were some college kids standing around on the Pentacrest giving out free hugs. You bet your ass, I made sure I got one. I asked the boys to hug each other so I could take a picture, (with my camera phone, since I left my real camera at home) and they said they would, if I would let them take a picture of them hugging me. What is all this conditional photographing about? I suppose it's better than in San Francisco, when they wanted a dollar. At least a photo is free. Anwyway, below is where I was in the picture, but I cheated by hiding behind the "free hug" sign. Sue me, I was wearing braids and I looked like crap.

Later, one of my coworkers told me it would've been funny if I had pulled out a fake badge and pretended to be an undercover cop and started to arrest them.

2.) Now, onto my next random topic. So, on Monday I went to my friend's house to watch The Steelers on Monday Night Football. The whole time I was there, the team just kept sucking harder and harder. Finally, I told the people I was watching the game with, that I figured I should leave, because if stopped watching, they might start winning. Then my friend James told me to fake call them, because that worked so well last year. I got out my phone, made my imaginary phone call, stopped watching the game and went home. Guess what? That's right. The Steelers won. Maybe that really is my super power.

3.) The girls said there was a guy who showed up to the Homecoming dance in a gorilla suit. I don't think I need to add anything else to this. The awesomness of it, stands on its own.

4.) Sunday night I told you about the guy who stopped me to tell me that he sees me walking every morning and in his head has always thought of me as his pretend "going to work" friend. Well, I've actually seen him the last two days on my way to work. He honks and waves and I wave back. So, now I suppose he's my pretend "going to work" friend too.

You Love This Town, Even if That Doesn't Ring True

Thanks for everyone's kind words and I'm doing much better today. Sometimes I just have to spew shit on the page in order to figure it out and try to fix it. You'll be happy to know that all my lightbulbs have been changed (which, unfortunately is NOT a euphemism for anything fun) and my shoes are picked up.

So, today I had the dorkiest idea ever. Me? Shocking, I know. But it was beautiful outside and I happened to bring my camera, so I thought you might want to go for my lunchtime walk with me and see some stuff that I passed on my way around town. When it's nice out, I cruise the same little route everyday. We're going to start with this first photo. It's the door stop to the building where I do all of my extremely important pushing of papers.

I didn't take photos of the beginning of my walk, because I had to get my guts up. It's kind of weird to go around and snap photos of mundane shit. You never know how people are going to react. I just had to warm up to it.

The picture above is of a guy people call Sexual Robbie because of the name of a band he was in in the nineties. He seems to be playing guitar by himself these days.

This is a forgotten dinosaur on a bench between the playground and the library in beautiful downtown Iowa City.

Here are some chairs and behind them, some tables all lined up in front of that one restaurant across from the library. Sorry, but the name escapes me now.

We've turned the corner now and we're cruising along Linn Street. The building to your left is the library. Our public library is pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself.

Here's a guy putting up flyers for some band that's going to play in some bar at some point. I'm sure it will be covered by another flyer by the end of the day.

We're on our way back to work now. I only get a half hour for lunch, so I can't take you any further. We'll just follow the girl with "Iowa" written across her ass. I still don't quite get the point of having something written across one's butt. Is it really just so that everyone will take a closer look? Because if that's it, it totally works. Even when I don't want to, I have to read whatever is in front of me.

We're crossing the street and heading to the Pentacrest, which is the main campus. As you can see, we still have twelve seconds, so it's not like we have to run before the light changes or anything.

This sidewalk leads to McBride Hall. I never had any classes there, but I used to take my girls to the free natural history museum when they were younger.

Also, I really like those boots that the girl walking ahead of me is wearing.

We're getting very close to my office now. There's always someone reading on these steps when the weather's nice.

As you've probably noticed, our school colors are black and gold. These buses that you see are free to anyone. My girls used to love to ride around on them when they were little. That's one thing about this town, it's pretty easy to be poor in. Believe me, I'm an expert.

This is the walkway that was named after the woman who was shot by Gang Lu in 1991.

This sign is mounted on a rock in front of the building where I work.

And finally, we're inside. Sadly, lunch is over and I have to go answer phones and vent about the callers after I hang-up and ask the guy who sits behind me how his favorite planet is and hear him answer, "My anus is just fine, Churlita. Thanks for asking"

Now, run along and quit following me. I've got shit to do. Oh, and don't forget to have a great weekend too.

Did My Words Not Come Out Right?

Here is a picture of a building in Davenport. I just liked the look of it.

Today was nice and warm and mellow. The girls were supposed to go to their dad's house, but they stayed with me until a little after nine. It was fine. I got to catch up on all the teen drama and tried to keep straight which friends they were on the ins and the outs with and then my head exploded.

This weekend was also on the mellow side. I caught up on sleep and got some cleaning done finally. I went out for a few hours both nights. On Friday we went to the Foxhead because our friend Brad was tending bar. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people there who I loved and I had a great time. It's just that there always tend to be certain uptight pretentious grad students who are WAY too cool for school, who make me want to be even more obnoxious than usual. Mostly though, I had a great time and spent all my energy on my friends in the bar and some drunk texting to people outside of the bar and it was great.

On Saturday I met my friend K. and her boyfriend A. at the Dublin. It was one of those weird nights there where there weren't very many regulars. It just meant that we had to give Scooter the bartender more of a hard time. I asked him to make me a girly shot and he told me I didn't really want one (which is what I predicted he would say) and then when I assured him I did, he said he would surprise me and K. with one and made us a really good and girly pineapple upside down cake shot. My friend K. said he would be into it and make us something good because he likes to mix drinks, so she got to be right too.

We talked to him about Rock of Love 2, because he's surprisingly really into that show. Then, not more than a half hour later, someone called down and told Scooter that Brett Michaels' tour bus was in front of the bar. I told him I'd go check it out. He asked me if I'd knock on the door of the bus and I said, "Duh. Of course". So, I went outside and knocked on the door of the bus. An old guy who looked like he could be from Keokuk, Iowa opened the door.

"Hi. Um, what's this bus for?" I asked.

"It's a charter bus," he responded, only slightly annoyed. I knew better than to ask straight out if it was Brett Michaels tour bus because it was looking less and less likely to be true and I doubted he had even heard of Poison.

"Okay, but what's it for?"

"It's for a bachelorette party," he said and I thanked him. I knew he wasn't lying to try to get rid of me either, since I didn't see even one bandana or cowboy hat on that bus.

Heard it From a Friend Who, Heard it From a Friend Who

Here is a cute little pony.

Well kids, I'll just warn you that I'm feeling a little random tonight. Who knows where the hell we'll go in this post. This was a total ADD evening and I'm still going with it. I had a little time to kill after work while I charged my iPod, so I played a few quick games of Centipede. Then after I ran, I picked Stinky up at the junior high and we grabbed food and came home. I remembered that I had to get a few things at the store, so I ran there and back. I received a text message in there somewhere from my friend K. saying she and some others were at the Dublin, but they were coming out right as I was getting there. They were headed to someone's house for a bit, but I didn't think I had it in me to hang out and not be fidgety, so I went home and washed some dishes and then messed around downloading and organizing songs on my computer. Yeah, so please pass the Ritalin.

The IT people cleaned up my computer today. While that was going on, I had to sit at the empty desk next to my friend John. He can't hear very well, so if you speak to him and he's not sure what you're saying he makes fun of you, and says, "Ack, ack, ack, ack?" Like it's your problem for not speaking clearly. It reminded me of this guy from Nicaragua I worked with at a restaurant that I not so affectionately called La Caca. One time the Nicaraguan guy was trying to sing an REO Speedwagon song, but he didn't understand the lyrics, so he sang it, "Fummalumma friend who, fummalumma friend who, fummalumma another you been messin' around..." I loved it so much, that whenever anyone says something I can't make out, I say, "Fummalumma?" It made me curious if everyone does this, or if it's just the weirdos I know.

In the afternoon after my computer was all cleaned up and I could move back to my desk, I realized that I kind of missed the sicko ads that had been popping up. After two days of my imaginary friends from the internets flashing me pictures of their nether regions, just sitting at my desk and actually doing my job, felt kind of lonely and boring.

Okay, now I'm going to try this new thing where I get more than five hours of sleep tonight. I thought about taking cold medicine if I couldn't fall asleep again tonight, but then I remembered how stoopid it makes me for much of the next morning. Instead, I thought I'd try to remember what it felt like at about three o'clock at work today and I figure that should put me right on out.

It's My Life, Don't You Forget

Hell, I'm sure it's been a couple of days since I put up one of Stinky's self-portraits. So, here she is, giving the peace sign and looking bored. Wooo-Hooo.

Tonight, I'm just going to post some fascinating conversations I've had lately. I'm sure each one will reveal my impeccable taste and refinement.

The first one happened last night while Coadster was watching me play Burnout Revenge.

Coadster: So, you just laughed out loud, by yourself after you crashed your car into that brick wall. You've already crashed it about a thousand times into everything else on the screen. Is it really that funny every single time?

Me: Uh, yeah.

The second conversation was from a week or so ago when I got a call from an adult male on my cell phone.

Guy: Hi. Is Coadster there?

Me: Can I ask who this is?

Guy: This is T.

Me: ...And how do you know Coadster?

Guy: Oh, I work at 126. A. gave me your number.

Me: Okay. Is this T.W? And are you trying to see if she can babysit for you?

Guy: Yeah, exactly. Sorry.

Me: That's okay...I just have to make sure that when an adult male calls asking for my teenage daughter, he's not some creepy guy.

Guy: Well, I did meet her at the bus stop...

Me: I figured either that or a chat room.

The last conversation occurred at my friend T.'s place, when I called Stinky at home.

Me: Hey, I'm just calling to see if we have reception here. Everybody else here has Qwest and they can't get any reception in T's apartment. So, can you hear me okay?

Stinky: Loud and clear.

Me: Then it must just be the carrier for some reason. Verizon seems to work just fine.

Stinky: Yup.

Me: (Belching into the phone because I think it's important to expose my daughters to their proud White trash heritage) How about that? Can you hear me now?

Stinky: Yes, mother. Now I wish we had Qwest. It would be great not to have reception right now.

Me: You're grounded.

Stinky: What? I can't hear you. You're breaking up. (hangs up)

Well, That's Like Hypnotizing Chickens

Here is a picture of a cowboy throwing a rubber chicken. I can't imagine that there is anyone out there who wouldn't want to see that.

I'm kind of one of those people. I tend to be on the friendly side and strangers seem to find me accessible for some reason. I used to date a guy who told me I was too nice and that men took it the wrong way, but I'm nice to women too and so it's not like I'm trying to be all flirty or anything. Just last week, one of the homeless panhandler girls stopped me in the Ped Mall and said, "Hey, you're the nice lady who always says hi to me." I am?

The thing I've learned to be careful of is the god people. There was a woman at the farmers market who sold us cookies and chatted with us, until one day she got overly aggressive about trying to get us to go to some church group or other. No thanks. And then there were the Moonies who stopped me when I was eating lunch downtown when I lived in San Francisco and tried to get me to attend one of their events. None for me, thanks.

Last Fall, I met a woman who works at the bank where I take the work deposit. She stopped me outside to introduce herself. She told me she saw me running and she thought I looked really cool and wanted to meet me. So, we talked for a bit. She has a daughter who is a little younger than mine and so we had that conversation. Throughout the year, I'd see her around and one time she was having lunch with another friend of mine, who I think is wonderful.

Today at the bank, she asked me if I played ultimate frisbee. I never have before, and I'm not sure exactly what it is even. She said that she and some friends met on Saturday afternoons at the Reservoir and that I should join them sometime. Honestly, I'm not all that good at team sports because you have to pay attention, and I don't think I have to explain to you all again that I'm not very good at that, do I? But she does seem really nice and I've been thinking I should maybe be better at expanding my horizons. If I do, I promise not to drink any Kool-Aid or shave my head or carve a swastika into my flesh. So, what do you think?

Get Out of That State, Get Out of That State You're In

Here are some red snapdragons and lavender from the front of my house.

In the interest of pulling my head out of my ass, I thought I'd get a project going. You know, something to take my mind off certain dwelling and self-indulgent behaviors? It's not that I'm trying to be all in denial and pretend that everything's fine, it's more that I have to go to work and be a mom and function and get shit done. It's not like when I was twenty and I could afford the time to lie around smoking too much cheeb and eating ice cream and listening to The Cure and feeling so put upon and misunderstood or whatever the hell I did when I was younger and my relationships failed. The girls will spend most of the weekend in the Quad Cities eating mole and sopa and tamales at their dad's family reunion, so there will be plenty of time for self-destructive behavior then. Then I have the next week off and after that, the girls go back to school. Holy shit! What the hell happened to the Summer?

My project involves a couple of things I was gonna do and either half-did, or didn't quite get to. So, in the next week, I'm going to work on cleaning out all of my old crap in my house and get my brand spankin' new own room/woman space all in order. I took the first step toward that today. No, I wasn't up for doing anything that required physical or emotional energy, so there was no cleaning or organizing and only a little bit of deciding that I did. After we got done with Coadster's high school registration and went somewhere and had appetizers for lunch, we then went bed shopping. Lebeda was having a HUGE sale and even though I spent a little more than I wanted, I got a super, duper, kick-ass, queen size bed. Hooray. They're even going to deliver it to my house next Thursday. I'm sure I'll feel like cleaning and reorganizing our bedrooms before then, right?

Oh yeah. The other thing I was going to say, was how great it is to have kids sometimes. Like when you go running in the late afternoon and it's really too hot for it and so when you get home, all you want to do is take a shower and put your jammies on at 5:30 in the evening. Then too late, you realize that you still have to get a few things at the store, but all you have to do is give your kid a couple of bucks and she'll be happy to run in and get all your crap for you, so you don't have to do anything too crazy like change into normal clothes or anything...Not that I would know from personal experience, but I've heard from some lame-ass somewhere that it's pretty great when your kids will do that for you.