Come Down Now, They'll Say

Cheesy Charlie's Angels pose. This was our guy friend's idea. Of course.

I felt a million times better last night. I got a lot done, and since it was Stinky's first day of school, I helped her with her Spanish homework too.

This weekend is kind of up for grabs. I think I will meet some girls for drinks this evening,b ut get home early. I want to get a ton of stuff done around my house this weekend. My focus all Summer was to have fun and get Coadster off to college. Now, though...It's time to pay the piper and get shit taken care of.

I'm starting out by doing an intense, end of Summer cleaning and some yard work, but then it's back to the house projects in earnest.

The computer is supposed to come today. If it gets delivered before Stinky gets home from school to sign for it, we'll have to wait until tomorrow, but at least we'll have it for most of the weekend.

How about you all? Will you be getting stuff done around the house, or will you be distracted by your fresh connection to the internets?

Don't be Shocked by the Tone of My Voice

Yet another pic of my garden...but look how pretty it is.

I think what I really need, is at least one whole day to myself. My half days on Fridays seem to get eaten up so fast, I don't get anything done. Both my girls have last period free, so by the time I get done running, I have about a half hour before my girls get home and the taxi rides begin. I've complained about this before, but I spend so much time running my girls all over town, I just don't get much else done.

So, you know what that means, don't you? I didn't get my cupboards even started this weekend. I actually got so stressed out at one point, that I decided to sit down and figure out what I could stand not to do. It looks like my kitchen will have unfinished cupboards for the grad party. I also decided to simplify the menu for the open house. I'm no longer making chili or soup. I'm sticking with sandwich fixin's, chips, salads and cake (of course) and calling it good. If people don't like it, they can just go to the 500 other grad parties going on that day and eat pulled pork sandwiches there. How's that for an attitude?

Okay. So Friday night I just stayed home and watched The Lovely Bones. I'm sorry if you liked that movie, but I was bored as hell through most of it...Until I got really annoyed at the end. There's two hours I won't get back...

On Saturday I spent the morning running my girls even more places. Coadster has a ton of grad parties and recitals to go to. She gets rides from friends to some, rides her bike to others, and then I take her to some too. By one o'clock, I got Stinky to work, Coadster to a recital and had the rest of the afternoon to myself. I started a compost pile, mowed my lawn, planted some more flowers and weeded my garden. Later in the afternoon a friend texted me to see if I wanted to come over for steak and margaritas. Of course, that was exactly what I wanted to do. So, I went over and ate and drank some and had a great conversation. At around 8:30, K. called to see if I could give her and my lovely friend, S. a ride downtown. I met them at my house and hauled them to the Dublin.

Erik was there, but so were a million of his other friends, so we only chatted briefly. It was still nice to see him. At some point one of my friends suggested I play some songs on the jukebox as an antidote to whatever 70's crap someone else had played. There was a table full of guys by the jukebox, and as I've said before, it's almost impossible for a girl to play songs on a jukebox, without some guy bugging her about what she's playing. One of the guys at the table gave me shit for playing a Spoon song. Then he continued to criticize every song I played and asked me if I could rid the world of one band or singer, who would that be. I said Michael Bolton. He got so obnoxious that I had to threaten to play the last 10 songs by The Cure, if he didn't shut-up. It didn't last long, but I at least got a couple of minutes to choose my songs in peace.

Today was Coadster's choir picnic. I got some work done around the house, but then I had to make chicken enchiladas to take there. We were there for over two hours, but Coadster won the most valuable singer award, as voted by her classmates, so that was really nice. Now, I better go get some cleaning done and go to bed.

I Did My Best, It Wasn't Much

Here is my salvia plant.

Oh, kids. This has been one insanely busy week. I feel like I could sleep the entire weekend. Of course, I won't. I get off work at noon again tomorrow. I've been so spoiled with that, and I do really appreciate it. This week there's no way around it. I have to finish my cupboards. When E. was here last weekend, he pointed out that my brother bought me the wrong kind of sander. I still haven't taken it out of the box, so I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow to see if they'll let me exchange it for an orbital sander. I doubt I have the receipt anymore, but it's worth a shot, right?

There's a 50% chance of rain tomorrow. So, we'll see if I get a run in or not. The rest of the weekend is supposed to be really warm. As you all know, I love hot weather. I usually get all crazy and full of energy. I hope I get as much done as I need to, since I only have a week until Coadster's grad party. Eek!

Tomorrow night I'd like to stay home and just relax. I hope that works out for me. Stinky babysits for my friend Heidi's friend and on Saturday, Coadster will babysit for my friend Heidi herself and Stinky will have a friend spend the night.

There are rumors that Erik will be in town to visit. I haven't seen him since last November, so if It works out, it will be nice to catch up. If not, I have enough to keep me busy throughout the weekend and then some.

So, how about you all? Will you be energized by the heat or reconnecting with old friends?

Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon

Coadster in a pink tu-tu when she was three'ish.

Oh, man. This week was so much better than last week. I tried to calm everything down and was successful for the most part. I'm going into the weekend with the house fairly clean and I only work a half day tomorrow. The weather is finally supposed to be beautiful too.

Tomorrow, I'll run as soon as I get off work and try to do a few errands. I'll either do yard work or kitchen work and then I'll take the girls out to celebrate Coadster's 18th birthday. Holy shit! 18! My baby girl is all growed-up. I'm saving my sappy mom post for Sunday night. Coadster loves shrimp, so she wants to go for an early dinner at Red Lobster, then I'm sure she'll want to go out with some friends and get a jump-start on celebrating her birthday.

Saturday will be another day of getting crap done. I was supposed to do the duathlon this weekend, but had to bow out due to many constraints. Then some other guys I know are going on a long bike ride/beer drinking extravaganza that I was invited to, but I can't do that either on account of all the shit I have to get done before Coadster's grad party. It's okay. I keep thinking as soon as this month is over, I'll be able to do more fun stuff that comes up.

Since Coadster's actual birthday is Saturday, I'm assuming I won't see her much this weekend. Stinky has to work both days, so I should actually have some time to myself during the days, anyway.

So, what are your plans for the weekend? Will you be bowing out of activities in order to get some work done, or will you be celebrating all weekend long?

We're Going to Dance and Have Some Fun

Here are a bunch of ferns growing on the side of my house.

Okay. Here's how it all went down with the pest guy today...He looked around and had a hard time finding any signs of termites. I had to show him where the swarmers were and he went outside in that area and found some evidence of termites out there. He told me that his company did the original termite clean-up and said because of that, he'd only charge me 10% of the original cost to check it out and spot treat the bad areas. It will have to be done every year, and that will be a drag, but it's way better than letting termites eat my house up and at least I won't have to pay over a thousand dollars to take care of it all.

Soooooo, now lets' talk about something more fun, like the weekend. Tomorrow is my half day. Yea! My house is pretty clean and I mowed my yard tonight after work, so I shouldn't have a lot of cleaning to do. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which might mean I won't be able to run, but it could be good for me to just stay inside and get my cupboards taken care of.

Coadster is babysitting on Friday night. I'm not sure what Stinky's doing, but I'll probably do my usual, hang out by myself at home and relax and be mellow gig.

Saturday I'll try to check out Project Green. I was going to plant more, but there's a chance of frost on Saturday night, so I'll wait until Sunday for that. Hopefully, I'll keep chugging along on my cupboards until it's time to get ready for my friend D.'s birthday party. The girl crush's birthday is Friday (happy birthday, girl crush!) and word on the street is that she'll be here on Saturday. I'm hoping it turns into another ridiculous dance party. The plan is for everyone to go to the bars at 11, and that's when I'll head home.

Sunday will be a yard work day. Stinky has to work most of the morning, so I'll get up early and get going. I would be so, so thrilled if I could get everything finally planted by the end of the weekend.

....And now the question is posed to you all, good bloggers...What are your plans? Will you be suffering from post termitic stress syndrome, or getting ready for a ridiculous dance party?

Just Want to Spend Eternity Right Where I am. On the Sunny Side of the Street

Here is a picture of Colm Toibin.

Hey, kids. I had a wonderful night tonight. I went running right after work and then went to hear Colm Toibin read. I know I've said this a million times before, but I love to go to readings and Toibin was very charming and self-deprecating and made fun of the Irish and everything he said was funny because it was pretty much true. The friend I went with, even talked me into getting my book signed. I've been to hundreds of readings, but never had the guts to do that. Toibin asked me what I wanted him to write in it, but I had no idea, so he just signed his name. While I'm gushing, I'm just going to again suggest that you read his book, Brooklyn...And not just because the writer is so personable either. The story is great and it's very well written.

...And now, onto the weekend. They say it's supposed to rain for most of it. That's okay with me. It will give me an excuse to stay in the house and sand and paint cupboards. Apparently, cupboards take a week to fully dry, so if I got them done this weekend, I'd be able to rehang them next weekend and put on the new, sleek hardware. I'm excited to see how it looks when it's all done.

Tomorrow night, I plan to be as mellow as possible. I'll clean things up when I first get home, but then I'd like to spend some quality time with my couch and a couple of beers and a movie.

I'm thinking I'll probably stay away from the bar this weekend too. Again, I never say never, but that's how it's looking right now. Stinky and I are going to see Coadster's play early on Saturday evening and then I'll probably just come home and relax.

Sunday morning is the River Run here. It might rain, but I'll probably do it anyway. It's just a 5K, so I'm hoping it's fun and I'll get a good feel for what kind of shape I'm in. the friend I went to the reading with told me I should do the Ronald McDonald House run at the beginning of May, so I might check that out and do that in the next week or two as well.

So, how's your weekend looking? Do you have a date with your couch, or will you be going out and checking out some drama?

But I Thought, This Wouldn't Hurt a Lot. Guess Not.

Some lilacs that are just about to open.

Well, kids. I think I FINALLY shook my stupid migraine at about 10:00 today. I thought I was going to cry every time I hit a bump while riding my bike to work this morning. I feel so much better now that I can function. Weird, that.

I was good, though. I did give plasma after work and that went well too. I got one of the good workers and no hematomas this time. I didn't run afterward, even though I really, really wanted to. Actually, I didn't really do much tonight. I just tried to make myself rest.

Here are lots and lots of lilacs that are starting to open up smell amazingly good.

Tomorrow I get to go running again after work. I'm also planning on either doing a little yard work or kitchen cabinet work (No, I haven't finished that project yet) but I promise to just do a little bit of either and not burn myself out. I swear, I'll learn to practice restraint if it kills me.

I'm the Last Kid Standing Up Against the Wall

Hey, look what's starting to bloom now. Was it even 2 months ago that I said I couldn't wait until these bushes were full of lilacs?

The weather this week has been incredible for April. I'm sure that's why I've been running so much. I've lived in Iowa long enough to know that it could snow next week, so I might as well run as much as I can now. I wasn't able to give plasma this week either. The last girl who drew it, gave me a small hematoma, and it's still bruised, so I have to wait until that heals before I can give more.

And now it's the weekend again. Tomorrow I only have to work a half day. My fantasy is to run and then ride my bike to Kalona or somewhere and eat a late lunch and read my book on an outdoor patio with a glass of wine. Of course, I don't have the time for that, so my reality will be a run and then some yard work. Which I'm still really excited about.

I have no idea what I'm doing during the evenings this weekend. Right now, I'm planning on staying home, but I like to be open to opportunities, so who knows what will actually happen....

Saturday will hopefully be more running and more yard work. Then more prom preparation than I really want to think about right now. The girls are excited and it looks like their pre prom picture taking extravaganzas will be at different times, so I should be able to make it to both.

I don't there's anything I have to do with the girls on Sunday for once. Yea! I think I'll finally take a day off running and go for as long a bike ride as I can stand...And then of course, more yard work and house fixer uppering.

Once again, it's your turn. Will you get your fantasy weekend or a comparably nice weekend in reality?

After a Storm, There Must be a Calm

Stinky roasting her marshmallow perfectly...According to her.

So, remember how yesterday I said I was overwhelmed and needed more time and money? Well, there isn't much I can do about the money I don't have, but I did do something about the time issue. That's right. I started asking for my Summer vacation time off of work. I won't be able to take it for a while, but just knowing it's coming helps me.

I'm going to take my last half furlough day off this Friday. Since it's the only time my girls will be going to the same prom...That is unless Coadster comes back from college and starts trolling for high school boys (when I made this funny joke to Coadster, she rolled her eyes so hard she almost had a seizure). Anyway, I figured I'd need an extra half day to calm down while my girls are in school on Friday to make up for whatever it will take to get both my girls to the prom.

I'm also taking 3 half days on the last three Fridays in May. That will be something nice to look forward to. Once I get to June, I should be able to calm down a bit, it's just the next couple of months that have me a little worried. I've been stressing really hard about everything I want to get done before Coadster's graduation party on Memorial Day weekend. I talked to some of my friends about it and they told me to just calm down and chill out. They said my house looks fine the way it is, so I should consider whatever else I get done before the party a bonus and let it go. Nothing like good friends to help put things in perspective. Of course, I'll still try to get as much done as possible, I'll just try to lessen my self-imposed stress and call it "good enough".

Once June comes along, I'll start taking at least a week off a month through August. Have I mentioned how much I love Summer?

Rattle of Bones, Dreams That Stick Out, a Medical Chart on the Wall

Hey, look what revealed itself. The plant I thought was a peony, was really a bleeding heart. How perfect for me. Ha!

I really went through the wringer today. I had a dermatology appointment in the morning to check out that weird spot on my lip. They asked me if I wanted them to do a full body check for skin cancer, and I figured they probably should since I was there anyway. I am Irish after all and we were not meant to grow up in Arizona, like I did. Of course, when the doctor came in looking like a younger hotter Peter Gallagher, I thought I might take it back. I'm pretty sure I was blushing throughout the whole exam. The good news is that I didn't die from embarrassment AND I don't have any signs of skin cancer. He said the thing on my lip was pretty common in outdoorsy people like myself and he gave me a list of lipbalmy/sunscreeny products.

Then I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. I scheduled the appointment 6 months ago. My last appointment was actually the day I got approved for my home loan. Doesn't that seem more like 6 years ago, than 6 months? Anyway, once I realized I had both appointments on the same day, I figured I should just leave it and get it all over with.

I gave plasma after the dentist, but wisely decided not to run today. Even I know when to take a break...Well, sometimes, anyway.

Another angle.

So, now it's the weekend and I got all my body maintenance issues out of the way. How do I plan to spend it? I'm not sure, exactly. I have so much to do, I'm having some trouble trying to prioritizing it all.

Most of my girly type friends will be in the Quad Cities at the State Pool tournament. Right now, I think I'll run after work, and then I'll probably have a fire in the pit in my backyard. I'm pretty sure I'll open the bottle of Pinot Grigio at some point in the evening too. If anyone stops by great, and if not, that's great too. I'll be happy either way.

Saturday will be my day to try to get stuff done. I want to take care of some yard work, do some kitchen work and do some car cleaning and maintenance. If I don't have any more tempting offers, I might drink some more wine either in front of fire or in front of a movie or both.

I'll try to get as much done as I can on Sunday before Coadster's cathedral concert at St Mary's in the afternoon. And that should be more than enough for one weekend.

How about you all? Will you be drinking wine in front of a fire or doing some much needed maintenance this weekend?

Sooner or Later, Your Legs Give Way, You Hit the Ground

G. giving two big thumbs up for her birthday this weekend.

So, yeah. The president paid us a visit today...Well, he came to town to speak. I didn't get to see him, but those who did really dug what he had to say. It's funny that Coadster went to see him speak on the Ped Mall on Earth Day a few short years ago in front of some of our citizens without a lot of hoopla. This time he was in a limo with Secret Service Agents swarming every orifice of our fair city. During lunch a helicopter hovered over my office building. We were all trying to figure out who was up there. We guessed Obama, secret service, the press and finally my boss said, "It's Joe f'ing Biden!" Hilarious.

Anyway, that's over now and we're moving into the weekend. I wish I had another day off tomorrow. What I really wish, is that I could take a week off of work and do some serious Spring cleaning and house fixer uppering. I won't start using my vacation until my girls are out of school for the Summer, though. With only two days, I have those older windows in my house where you have to change out the storm windows for screens, so I thought I might change those out and wash all the windows while I'm at it. Pray for me.

So, tomorrow night, I might just stay in. Coadster wants to start washing her bedroom walls so we can prepare to paint on Saturday and Sunday. Once her room is painted, I can finally rip out that nasty, old stained carpet and clean up the hardwood floors underneath. Stinky has a 16th birthday party to go to and some of her friends will come over and watch a movie when that's over.

Saturday is G.'s however many 29th birthday. She told me she wanted all of her friends to start on Friday night. She wants everyone to go bar hopping wearing Nirvana t-shirts (her sister is a certain dead lead singer's widow's personal assistant (got that?) and she gets all kinds of swag because of it). I don't think I'll make that. I told her I'd go out for a bit for her actual birthday on Saturday. It's also the 3rd annual 80's punk rock reunion show at The Mill. I may do a drive-by to that for a minute, because a lot of my old friends will be in from out of town. It should be interesting to see how much I can cram into a few short hours on Saturday night.

Mostly what I want to do this weekend is run and bike my ass off, get my windows cleaned and switched-out with screens, do some yard work, keep trudging along on my kitchen and finish my book. You know how rabid I get about a good book and I'm really digging Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. If you're looking for an entertaining, quick, escapist read, I highly recommend it.

Now, it's your turn. Will you be Spring cleaning this weekend or celebrating someone's however many 29th birthday?

Every Game Ain't the Same, Cuz the Game Still Remains

Here are some tomato and basil plants incubating in my room.

Hey, so here's a good thing...I gave plasma tonight and didn't get a hematoma or pass-out or anything. I even felt good enough to run my 4 mile route afterward. I tried a little experiment this time. Since the times I had hematomas before were when they took from my left arm, I asked if they could use my right to see if that helped. I'm not sure why, but it seemed to work...At least this time. I do feel a little weak and drained (quite literally) now, but nothing like the other times. Maybe I'll get used to this yet.

I know I talk about balancing all of my many obsessions on here a lot. So, I thought I'd go through my main ones and see how I'm doing at feeding them all.

1.) My girls. I'd say this is my main obsession and the one that takes most of my time, energy and money. My girls can be mirror images of each other. Whatever the one lacks the other has in excess. I've often said if I could fuse them together, both my life and theirs would be so much better. Coadster is getting everything ready for college and even though she has finished on the last day things were due a couple of times, she seems to be getting it all done correctly. She's also calmed down a little about being in every single school activity possible and isn't quite as bad about singlehandedly trying to save the world (although she did recently lecture Stinky and I about washing out and reusing sandwich bags (whatever)). Stinky is doing her damnedest to get her shit together a little better at school. I instituted a no tolerance policy about turning in late homework assignments this tri. She knows she'll be grounded for a week with each late assignment. She just checked in with me to show me that her homework was all completed.

2.) Running. Unless the weather is THAT horrible, I don't normally have a problem getting this one fed. Now that it's warmer, I'm even more consistent. Last week I ran outside for 5 days and got about 30 miles in for the first time this year. I also rode my bike to work and back every day but one. I'm going to have to start riding one long route on a weekend day, if I want to get in shape for that duathlon in May.

3.) Reading. I've been averaging about a novel a week. In Cold Blood took me two weeks. Just because I had a lot of other things going on. I just started Colm Toibin's Brooklyn today, and so far I love it. I wanted to have it finished by the time he comes here to read in April, but I could easily have it read within the week.

4.) Writing. Any real writing has fallen by the wayside as of late. It's one of those things I seem to need more of a set-up and time and ambiance and shit that I haven't been able to gather together lately. I guess I'll put it on the list of 5 million other things I need to work on.

5.) My house. I've for sure slowed down a little on my house...Or maybe changed gears a little, is more accurate. Now that it's warm out, I've been sharing the food between my inside and my outside and neither one is really getting all that very full. I might take next weekend and only work in the kitchen and then the weekend after, I'll only work outside to see if I can keep a little better focus.

So, how about all you all? What are your addictions and are they well-fed?

April Come She Will

My new battery powered porch lights I got for $12. They were very hard to find around town.

Ahhhhh. I finally get a three day weekend, and not a minute too soon. I'm taking my second to last furlough day tomorrow. Because the girls are still on Spring Break, and I don't have to get up early, I let Stinky have some friends over for a backyard fire. She invited some girls from her school and some boys from the local Catholic school. (one of them used to be our neighbor) Anyway, apparently some of the boys from Stinky's school, decided it would be funny to vandalize our guests' cars. Luckily, mine was in the garage. They didn't use eggs, like you'd think they would. Instead they used syrup. Awesome. All the party guests took their cars to the car wash, but one of them was a jeep with a canvas top and the owner of that vehicle got a little pissed. There were a few heated words exchanged, until I finally told Stinky to invite anyone she wanted to stay into the house to avoid anymore drama. Jaysus! but teenagers can drive a person to drinkin'.

Here's a close-up.

So, I would say that my three day weekend is not only necessary, but deserved at this point. What will I do with it? Um, I'm not exactly sure. I plan on getting a lot of errands run, my kitchen cupboards finally finished and get my place cleaned and organized. Word on the street, is that it's supposed to snow this weekend. I'm not surprised or even all that annoyed. It's Iowa in March. It's bound to happen. Plus, it will keep me inside and on task with my cupboards...Hopefully. I have no idea if I'll go out either night this weekend. I'm just going to go with how I feel or if someone asks me to hang out. We'll see.

How about you all? What are your weekend plans? Will you be recovering from teenage drama or will you be hibernating in the midst of a March snowstorm?

I Was Happier Then With No Mindset

Here is a photo of a bird at the garden store we went to this weekend. I took it with my phone and I still can't get the angle right. So, the bird looks like it's on acid, or maybe it looks like I was on acid when I took this.

This will be hopefully very short. I went to my friend's St Pat's/Housewarming party thingy tonight. It's late and I've had a few and I don't trust myself not to write something that won't sound very, very loud through the computer.

Basically, I didn't get anything done after work. I didn't run, I didn't do any cleaning, and I didn't work on my kitchen. What I did do, is hang out with some great friends and have an amazing time drinking, eating and talking shit - the trifecta of fun.

Soooo, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't plan on going out, since I celebrated tonight. Both my girls are babysitting, so I'll go running, probably stop by my friend's Allison and Bob's house (where Stinky's babysitting) and check out their house that has been totally gutted and remodeled. Then I'll have my place to myself to work in the kitchen and read some more of In Cold Blood. Who knows, maybe I'll get all crazy and drink a beer while I read.

I'm Coming Out of My Cage, and I'm Doing Just Fine

Here are some balloons. How festive.

For a while today it was really nice out. I decided to go home for lunch and ride my bike back to work. I'm so glad I did, because I got some fun exercise and then it rained shortly after I got home from work and I wasn't able to run. I did, however, take a quick nap. I've been so exhausted lately, that I finally wore myself down enough that I could sleep. Let's hope that works for me tonight as well.

Okay. So, it's the weekend again. My hope for this weekend is to calm down and slow down, while at the same time, trying to get a ton of stuff done. Yeah. I'm not sure how that will all work, but in my head it sounds great.

Hopefully, I'll be able to run after work tomorrow, then finally get a fire going in our outdoor fire pit if the rain holds off long enough. Either way, I plan to drink a beer and watch a movie at some point too. My girls are practicing Catholics, so they don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent. We're having fish sticks and mac and cheese for dinner. It reminds me so much of being a kid during Easter season, that I keep expecting to wake up and be able watch Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman and Land of the Lost on Saturday morning.

Rumor has it that my counters might get installed this weekend, but I'm not sure which day, if at all. I have a ton of paper work to do as well (my least favorite thing) and I plan to start working on the bottom cupboard boxes and hopefully the doors too. I'm going to try to use my orbital sander for the first time. I don't really know how to use power tools and I'm a little intimidated. Wish me luck with that.

So, how about you all? Will you be spending relaxing nights in front of a fire or trying your hand at power tools?

When People Run in Cirlces, It's a Very, Very Mad World

On my way to my car Saturday night, I saw this Paul Revere's Pizza delivery van parked, with bad music blaring out of it and all these guys dancing. So, if your pizza was a little late and cold, now you know why...

Oh, kids. I had it all planned out. I was going to go for a nice long run in these balmy temperatures, then go to Menard's for a quick little minute to get a paint brush and a filter for my furnace. It had occurred to me to check that this weekend, after figuring the previous owner probably hadn't replaced it since she bought the furnace two years ago. Holy crap! It was a good thing I did. It was a nice charcoal gray color. Then I thought I'd come home, do some cleaning, do some touch-up painting and then give myself at least an hour or so to read.

The reality of tonight? The good news, is that I did get my run in and it felt amazing. I ran so fast and I felt like I could have gone on for hours. Then the minute I got back, Coadster informed me that her dad's van was stuck in mud at his house. I assumed she was going to ask me for a ride over there, but she said her dad asked if she could just stay at my house instead. Of course she could. I'll always take extra time with my girls. So, I changed my plans. Coadster and I went to the big scary maul. There was hardly anyone there, and it was much better than going on the weekend, and we got a few things we needed and then headed over to Lowe's for our house stuff. I wanted to check out the glass tile they had there, but they don't really keep it at the store. The guy showed me the stuff he had in a catalog, but I had seen it on-line and it didn't help me figure out what it would look like in real life.

Anyway, we got home by around 9 and I didn't get any work done, and I probably won't have time to read, but that's okay. In a few short years, both of my girls will be gone and I'll have all the time in the world for that stuff.

Another Working Day Has Ended

Here are me and some of my girly friends. Check out the stalker guy in the background.

Booda Baby asked me once to warn her when reading my post would make her tired. So, here's your warning.

On Friday, I sprinted home after work to tidy up before my co-worker and her husband came by to look at my counters. She had told her husband that I was kind of a hot tamale and she didn't trust him alone with me. She said that made him really interested to come over as soon as possible to help me out. Whatever works, right? I laughed with her about how stupid guys were and she agreed. She said it made it so much easier to manipulate them. Anyway, he's going to check his schedule and probably get my counters put in sometime this week. He's also going to rewire something in my kitchen so that I can trade spaces for my fridge and stove. Right now, my fridge is in this tiny little cubby and it doesn't really fit and makes it so I can barely open one of my very few cupboards. So, that will be another wonderful thing.

This was as close as I could get to the goods.

I did end up going out on Friday night too. I went to the burlesque show and it was okay. It was so poorly planned and that kind of put a little damper on the whole thing. It sold-out by 9:30, so half of my friends couldn't get in. Then they had a bad surf guitar band play what seemed like the same song over and over for at least two hours. I thought I'd get to see the girlies at like 10 and be home by 11:30. The girlies didn't even get started until 11:40 and by that time, I was so tired, I only watched a couple of minutes of it before I had to go home. Plus, it was so packed, I could barely see what was going on. Oh well. It was a fun idea, and I'm always up for seeing good spectacle.

My girls with my their youngest cousin.

I hit the ground running on Saturday. I got the girls to play practice and track practice and I went home to clean. I've been trying to be better about taking my recycling and Goodwill and bottles and cans every week to their respective places, so after Stinky got done with track she went with me to run a veritable shitload of errands. When I got back, I helped Coadster with some more of her college paperwork. She fought with me a little more about how she thought I should just do all of it for her and I told her I was here to help her and she wasn't particularly happy with my response. Thank god I'm not a people pleaser.

After that, I went for a nice long run and it was wonderful. I came home and cleaned gutters that hadn't been cleaned for years and let me just tell you how good that DIDN'T smell. Yeesh! Then I chipped at ice on the shady parts of my driveway and sidewalk. Then I fell down and went into a coma....Just kidding.

I really thought about staying home, because I was exhausted. But G. made a good case for me going out and I went. As usual, I was glad I did. I'm happiest when I go out, if I can just sit with one or two friends and shoot the shit, and that's how it worked out on Saturday. G. and D. were out, as well as this married couple. The husband was buying us all drinks and the wife was cracking us up with stories of her lonely childhood. She said she used to play school by herself, because her siblings were too old and wouldn't play with her. So, she had to be the teacher and the student and she would fill out worksheets and purposely write down exactly two wrong answers, so she could use her red pen to correct them. We laughed so hard at her sad childhood that we were crying. Mostly because we were all such weird kids in our own ways and we could relate.

Coadster singing her solo.

Today was another crazy day. I did a little work in my kitchen and then cleaned before my family came over. They hadn't been to my place since the first weekend I moved in, so they saw the before and finally got to survey the after'ish. Then we met my friends G., D., and K. for Coadster's last show choir extravaganza. She was amazing, as usual and there were jazz hands aplenty.

So, now I'm going to try very hard to plan a mellow, stay at home kind of week and work on projects and read as much as possible and hope upon hope that my counters get installed. Wish me luck.

I Felt Almost Demure

Here is a photo of The Golden Gate Bridge that we took on our road trip two years ago. I would love the promise of a great vacation right now.

Oh, thank god for the weekend. Today was kind of a weird day. The guy who was going to put my counters in, got back to me while I was at work. He apologized for how long it took him and said he was insanely busy and didn't know if he'd get to doing them next week, or next month. He also told me he was worried that I'd be disappointed in him. I told him not to worry. That I had a couple of other options, but I would see if I could get someone else who could do it sooner. Then one of the women I worked with said that her husband might be able to just come over and do it for free. She was going to check with him and get back to me.

After work I went to give plasma and got another hematoma. This time, the blood stopped coming out, so they caught it right away and it was a million times better...That was, until they were starting to put fluids back in me and I was so dehydrated that I almost passed out. They brought the nurse out and she checked my vitals and my pulse was under 40. Hmmm. I drank water at the same time they pumped me full of saline solution and I was much better in 10 minutes, but that was more than enough drama for one evening.

Okay. And now it's the weekend. As usual, there is a ton going on. Originally, I planned to go to this burlesque show tomorrow night. A lot of my friends from all different groups are all going to be there, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see many different people at once. Then the woman who said her husband would put in my counters, said he might come over tomorrow night. I'm not sure if that would be just for a minute, to check things out, or if she meant that he'd actually put them in then. If that's the case, I'm sure I'll just stay home tomorrow night. I guess we'll see.

Saturday will be a day that I try to get as much done as possible. I have tons of paperwork and bills to pay and a new tax form to fill out to try to get my first time home buyer credit, on top of a bunch of projects.

Sunday is Coadster's very last show choir performance. She is also singing a song for the special acts portion of it. My sister and her family and my aunt, as well as a few of my friends are all going, so it should be a lot of fun.

...And now it's your turn. Will you be recovering from an old-fashioned fainting spell this weekend, or watching some old-fashioned, fun and raunchy burlesque acts?

I Watch It As It Loses Form

I'm out of recent pics and I'm trying to get excited about Spring. Here are some flowers that I'm going to plant in my backyard garden as soon as I can.

Remember how last week I said it was all about calming down and getting some alone time and living in my own little world? Well, actually that's pretty much my goal every week. But in addition to that, I'm trying really hard to get shit done this week. So, that means today I finally got my garage door fixed. ($144 later...) and can actually park my car in there again. How novel.

I also finally had my annual doctor's appointment about 6 months late. Oops. My doctor is pretty awesome. We're about the same age and temperament. So, when I told her I had this place on my lip that keeps chapping in the same spot over and over, she said she needed to set me up with an appointment in the dermatology clinic. "Yeah. That was what I was afraid of. They hate me there because they think I'm too tan for how light my eyes are and they give me brochures telling me that I should only go outside on sunny days wearing all black longsleeves and pants and carrying an umbrella. If I did that, I'd die of heat stroke while I was running long before I could ever think of getting skin cancer from wearing shorts and sports bras when I run in the Summer in Iowa...." And she said, she knew. They were like that with her too.

"We'll just make sure we schedule your appointment before it gets warm out, so you won't be so tan yet." How great is that?

I called the guy who said he'd put my counters in for me, and left a message. He hasn't called me back yet. I'll try again at the end of the week, but if it doesn't work for him to do it, I have a couple of other options. You know me, I'm a girl who always has a back-up plan...

Well, I've Never Been to Spain, but I Kinda Like the Music

The top part of the cupboard boxes are finally painted.

So, kids. This weekend was much better than last, but still pretty crazy. Friday was very, very nice. I thought I'd give myself an evening to relax before I got all crazy for the next two days. I bought a nice bottle of Pinot at the Co-op on my way home, then went running and then Stinky went to the inter-town rivals' basketball game and Coadster and I watched Frost Nixon. It was pretty interesting. I was worried it would just be a reenactment of the interviews, and there was some of that in it, but the back drama was really interesting. It also tied-in nicely with me reading America America which takes place during the '72 election. Cool.

Saturday started out on a messy note. I heard Stinky yelling my name in the other room. Turns out the toilet was overflowing and instead of just plunging it, she called me and by the time I got to it, water had flowed into the hall and into my bedroom and under my new counters still sitting on my floor. Lovely. I cleaned it all up and got Coadster to the high school to pack boxes for the Haiti Earthquake victims and Stinky to track practice. I got a nice long run in and finally finished sanding my cupboards and got them primed for the most part.

By Saturday evening, I was in kind of a weird space. The walls of my house were closing in and I was tired of huffing oil based primer, but I didn't really feel like doing karaoke with my friends. Luckily, I found out some other friends were at the Dublin. It turned out to be a really fun night. One of the female bartenders got a few of us to play a game called "I Never...". If you don't know how it works, everybody takes turns saying something they've never done before and if you've done that thing, then you have to drink. It can be about anything, but of course, we all thought it was way more embarrassing and fun to center most of them around sex. It can also get tricky when you bring in double and triple negatives into it, "...I never, didn't do something, something, something...." And after a while you have no idea if you were supposed to drink if you did or didn't do said thing, so you end up drinking (and when I say you, I really mean me) to everything and get a little saucy. But after huffing oil based paint fumes, I was probably a little saucy to begin with. Hey, what's a few more brains cells, right?

So, today I finally finished painting my upper cupboard boxes. I can't tell you how happy I'll be when my kitchen isn't in a continual state of chaos and messiness. I'm going to see when I can get my counters put in and keep working on the rest of the cupboards. Tomorrow morning, I'm supposed to get my new hot water heater. Not super exciting, but it's so much better than worrying when the hot water heater is going to die in the middle of a cold Winter night (because as we all know, that's when that shit always goes down). Because I'm purchasing it on March 1st, I should be eligible for $100 rebate from the state and a $75 rebate from our energy supplier here. Sweet!

Okay. I think that's about enough out of me.