House Project Check-In

Get Toilet fixed...check

Get Toilet fixed again...check

Get Toilet fixed AGAIN...check

Put in hardwood floors....uh, yeah, about that. See, I had to go to New York for a week for work, then the toilet leaked and then we went to Florida on vacation and when we got back it leaked again....

Remember I said not to make any Christmas plans with us.....

I told you...that friggin' toilet is E-V-I-L!! Finally, we think the "stinkin' summbitch" is fixed for good. We're just waiting...and watching...

IPod...Coolest thing EVER!

I recently received an IP*d N*no from my dear sweet husband. This is the coolest thing EVER. I don't know how, as a race, we ever survived without it. I spent almost 6 hours on the computer loading songs and I could have done more. (For the record, I HATE being on the computer at home since I'm on it for 8+ hours every day at work.)

I just listed to "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jone$ and now I'm listening to "Because the Night" by 10,000 Maniac$. Who knows what's next, it's on "shuffle". Could be something from "Wicked", could be "Tainted Love" by $oft Cell, could be "Life in a Nut$hell" by BNL. Who knows! It's like Christmas in a tiny, little, flat, credit card-sized box thing. I love it. Oh, wait, it's "Last Beautiful Girl" by matchbox twenty. So cool!

Earphones could be a little smaller, though. Lefty hurts after a bit. Guess righty is bigger than lefty. That seems to be the way it is with my body. hmmmmmmmmm.

It's the end of the season...as we know it...

... and I'm not fine.

They killed Denny. WHAT....EVER! Honestly, it was almost worse than Edgar. If you didn't cry, you don't have a soul. Hopefully, Izzie will be okay. They should bring in a identical twin brother. Then I would smile again. Okay, okay, I know they aren't really real people, but (heavy sigh) that's what makes a good show. Characters you "care" about. I'll call them "caractors". Hmm? No? Too cheesy. Okay. Never mind.

Tonight. Lost.

(heavy sigh...Poor Hurley.)

Fake Henry Gale is SOOOO the bossman. You mark my words. (insert evil laughter)

LOST...(spoilers...if you didn't see May 3rd)

Oh
My
God!

Totally didn't see that coming. Michael...bad. Ana Lucia...Gone. Libby...Gone (maybe). DAAAAAMMN!

What an excellent episode and a freakin' fabulous Keyser Soze moment with Fake Henry. I'm conviced he's the head guy, "the man in charge".

Awesome show. What an amazing hour. Hell, what an amazing final 2 minutes.

Work in a word...

Sucks.

It didn't always, but now it does.

If I had a dollar for every second I've thought about cashing everything in and moving to the beach to be a bum, I would be (ironically) a millionaire. Hey, at least I could get the really, really thick cardboard to sleep in.

Sadly, I really like most of the people with whom I work and the work I do is alright. Nothing to where I'll change the world, but something to do to put food on the table. I met two of my dearest friends here. I'm just bummed a lot b/c the atmosphere has changed so drastically over the last three years or so. Managers coming and going, rules changing, perceptions changing. I get it. I mean, it's life. Things change. BUT this is not good. I don't love it.

Plus, part of me really wants to be a stay-at-home mom. However, another part of me screams that I would go nuts at home with kids. What to do? What to do? I think I'll just surf the net. That's always productive at work...

Children...

My son did the unthinkable last night. He ran away. Okay, granted he's 2 and a half and he "ran away" in a shopping center sidewalk with me hot on his heels, but my two year old can book!

The part that scared me what that 6 feet to his right was a parking lot and people tear through it. I was mortified! To him, he was just running. I was envisioning his tiny head meeting a car bumper. I was yelling "stop" and by the time I caught up to him he was a good 25 yards from where we started. At one point I had to stop and kick my shoes off for fear of breaking my ankle. I finally caught him and did the whole, "You didn't listen to Mommy! That was bad! You stop running when Mommy tells you to stop..." yadda yadda yadda. My husband finally got to us and calmly said, "You're getting your first spanking" (gave him a swat on the butt through his diaper) and with a wagging finger said, "You listen to your mother when she tells you to stop." My son then realized he was in trouble and looked at me with his big blue eyes as if to say, "I thought we were having fun!" and began to wail. The whole thing was very heartbreaking for all of us.

Needless to say we didn't get ice cream and he went straight to bed after we got home. I cried the whole drive home (5 miles) and my son didn't say a word. At that point I wondered if I'd really gotten through to him or just made him mad. Then, I realized I didn't care if he was mad. I wanted him to be scared of the consequences of running away from us. Then, I thought about how many times I'd heard from my own parents, "We got mad because we just didn't want you to get hurt. We didn't do it to be mean." DAMN! Why did they always have to make sense, but I didn't listen or believe. I get it now. I totally get it.

Spring Cleaning

We have yet another house project! We found a small leak in our downstairs bathroom. Apparently, the toilet is actually possessed by the devil and hates us. We found the leak when we, innocently, walked into the dining room and squished through the puddle that had appeared. My dear husband (D-man) had been home for two days with a bad back and I thought, "d$@*, you could have at least thrown down a paper towel and stood on it to soak up the wet!" See, I thought he'd been a "man" and ignored something he spilled. He thought I had been in a hurry that morning heading to work and forgot I'd spilled something. HA-HA joke's on us! As you can see, the toilet is pitting us against each other!

Come to find out, the toilet (with which D-man has been fighting since we moved into the house) was leaking from the refill pipe (yes, I'm very technical) and the bathroom was semi-flooded at the back wall (there's a slight incline in there. Apparently, the potty is trying to escape back to it's home in hell) and ran into the dining room. Fortunately, it didn't make it to the china cabinet and warp the wood. However, it did try. It was headed there.

Luckily, we caught it in time and decided that if we were going to take the carpet up in the dining room (and who puts carpet in a dining room anyway???) that we should go ahead and do the foyer...if we're doing the foyer we might as well do the hallway... and since we're doing the hallway, we should probably do the living room, too. Then we went and priced it and decided to do it in two sections. Part 1: Dining room & hallway/foyer. Part 2: Living Room, but not until Fall or Winter.

We're going to be putting in either hardwoods or the Pergo wood/laminate flooring. So, we'll see. It most likely won't be completed this weekend. Knowing us, you should probably not make any Christmas plans with us either.... Wish us luck!

TV...Whaaaa?

Things recently on TV that bugged me:

1) The O$car$. I actually sat through and ENTIRE show. I hate awards show. I really do. This one is the worst. Although, I do have to say I thought Jon $tewart did a fantastic job. He didn't try too hard and he looked nervous, but it worked for him. He was funny, but not in cruel way. They had some good writers, but that "pimp" song was the worst! Sorry all, it was just bad. Perhaps I need to see the movie, but really. I just don't think you can put the word "pimp" in a song and it sound good...ever.

2) They killed of Edgar on 24. That was just wrong!

3) LO$T is my favorite show (ties with 24) but did no one in that hatch read The Wizard of Oz? Just curious. How scared were you that Mr. Eko was going to off himself?? I jumped.

4) Arrested Development. No need to say more. Sad. Fox, you are bad. Ratings be damned, that was a good and intellegent show.

5) How long does this week seem to $opranos fans? C'mon Sunday!! I just want to see Carmela's hair this year.

That's about it.

Ring in the New Year

So, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been really busy. Went to Burrrrrrrlington, Vermont for work. I'm talking FREAKING cold. It was minus 1 on the Monday I was there. Crazy cold for a girl from the South.

I've had foot surgery. Minor, but annoying. Bone spur in the big toe. Fun! They even had to take off (gulp!) my toenail. That was the part that grossed me out the most. So, I thought I would share.

Mostly, it's been a good year. So far. It's only February 1 and I'm already planning into March. I love being a grown-up. What happened to fly by the seat of your pants...don't plan it 'til it gets here...gal? That was me. Guess we all have to grow up sometime.

Dang! (ya'll)

Happy Thanksgivmas!

Happy Turkey Day! I'm not so happy that it's Thanksgiving as much as I'm excited about Christmas. Yes, I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I'm one of the masses. I'm out there, in your way at the mall mulling over what to get my child, husband, mother, father, the two people we drew names for, teachers, c0-workers, friend's pets.... Yep, that's me.

I get sucked into every Christmas commercial, song and ditty out there. When I was younger I would listen to Christmas music on my parent's record player for months! I totally get into the radio stations that play days and days of Christmas music. I love decorating my house and my office, but I draw the line at my car. (I mean, really, that's just not safe for anyone.) I love the so-called Christmas spirit. I love just sitting in front of the Christmas tree staring at the white lights and decorations. We have candles and spiced cider and presents. Oh, yeah. Did I mention presents?

I love being surprised. To me there's nothing better than the anticipation of what's wrapped under yards and yards of paper and ribbon. I love the feeling and I love sharing that feeling with others. I know many people do not join me in my enthusiasm for the holidays, but I swear once Thanksgiving is over...up go the lights, decorations and tree!

I can't get my cards out by the day after Thanksgiving, but you'll get one. Don't worry.

Happy Holidays!!

Will you hold my hair?

I used to get really excited for Friday. It's a good day. It's a great day. It's the end of the week. We used to go out and have a great time at the bars. Go to a movie. Get our car booted at the Pulix in Buckhead. (only once, pal!) Now, hubby goes to poker once a month, I go out with one set of girlfriends or the other and we get a babysitter (typically my youngest sister). That's only one weekend a month, though. The other 3 weeks we are usually home. Not that that's a bad thing, we're usually so wiped by the end of the week all we want to do is sleep. It's usually the night we go to bed the earliest.

But I digress. This is really about me getting older and not knowing how I feel about it. A couple of months ago we went to a party in B-head at a bar that a couple of my friends from high school run. It was a birthday/charity event and I drank too much. I did the whole drunk girl routine and even puked in the Wawful Hou$e parking lot. Yeah, you pretty much can't take me anywhere. It was sad. I was mad at myself. Hell, I'm 32 years old. (I was just 31 at the time. I didn't know any better....lol) I just don't drink enough to drink the way I drank that night. I repeat, it was sad. I've never been a pretty drunk, but I'm a friendly drunk. ;- ) Just ask the dear hubby. I totally macked on him in the bar. Like I said...I'm a friendly drunk.

I'm just one of those people who can have one or two drinks and be okay, but once I get a third one I tend to binge. Therefore, I tend to not drink at all. I think I had 7 or 8 drinks that night. I know...DUH! Didn't I learn anything in college or the 10 years since?? Yes, but I'm also WAY out of practice.

What a Wonderful This Could Be...

This past weekend, I went with my mother (and son) to my Great Aunt's house. This was my maternal grandmother's sister who, for a good portion of my life, was a surrogate grandmother. Don't get me wrong. I loved my grandmother dearly, but my Aunt R (to protect the innocent)was always such a sweetie and would seemingly drop anything and everything to help us.

She is now at the beginning stages of alzheimers. It's killing my mom. Recently, she was in the hospital for gall stones and ended up having her gall bladder removed. She's 74 and is having problems remembering things. Names mostly. She didn't remember the conversations we'd had 2 minutes after we'd had them. She gets confused so easily. It's hard not to talk to her and burst into tears b/c you know what's coming next.

This disease is so cruel. She is the third person I've known and my second blood relative (that I know of) to have it. It robbs you of your life. The only good thing about it (if I have to try and find a good thing) is that by the middle-end of it you seem to remember only the good times and the bad times just seem funny.

My great-grandmother (Aunt R's mother) had it and I remember being a kid and going to her house and at first you would only have to remind her who you were once. Then, it was every once in a while. Then, it progressed (or regressed) to her not remembering anything but the past. It completely steals away your short-term memory. That part is what's hard.

On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice if we could only remember the good parts in life and forget the bad, but still benefit from the learning experience without having to deal with the pain? What a wonderful world this would be. Although, how can you appreciate the good without the bad...and all that blahhh! I still think sometimes there are bad things that happen that should be allowed to be wiped out. Kind of like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (preferrably without Kirsten Dunst jumping on my bed in her undies...but that's just a personal preference).

Baby Mine.

Last night after book club I came home and watched an episode of Law & Order: SVU. I NEVER watch that show, but I'd heard that it was going to be a good one. I decided WTF and watched. It was really good, but it had to do with a little girl who was being held captive and used for porn. Very disturbing. They find her buried and half-dead at the end, but they find her.

Ever since I had my son I've been uber-sensitive to things having to do with children. For instance, I never understood why all these parents got so upset at Stephen King's "Pet Semetary". It was just another scary book... until I had my own child. Now, stuff like that just makes me think of losing my child and I can't bear to think of things like that. It's too hard. I would lose it.

After the episode I went into my son's room and just held and rocked him. I don't get many moments where he's not constantly on the move. I reflected on how lucky we are to even have him and how I don't know what I would do with myself if I ever lost him or my hubby. It's too scary to think about. Way too scary.

So, I won't. I will just get back to work and think about the upcoming episode of LOST! Whoo Hoo! I love Wednesday!

BTW, just so you know. We got a stomach virus this past weekend. It's a doozy, but it's only a 12-hour doozy. Thankfully. My son had it a week ago and we thought we were safe. We weren't. It was bad. Hopefully, it will be the only one we get this year. I haven't had a stomach virus since I was about 14 years old. Now, I've had two in the last 9 months. I love daycare!

My mind is so scattered that I start talking about my sweet baby and end up talking about puke. Go figure!

Everyone have a good one!

Quotes of the Day

1) Imagination is more important than knowledge...

2) Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

--Albert Einstein

Lost

In spite of all evidence to the contrary, the entire universe is composed of only two basic substances: Magic and bullshit. (author unknown...to me)

I love that quote.

My favorite show of all time "Lost" started season two last night and I was quite pleasantly blown away. I love that show and how it keeps you guessing. I think the plane crash was staged and it's a "Vanilla Sky" with a little "Matrix" thrown in for good measure. The flash backs could be implanted memories. Oh, don't get me started. I can't grasp my own thoughts around this.

I love a good mystery. I used to read Nancy Drew as a kid and "Evil Under the Sun" is an old Hercule Poirot classic. I was addicted to "Columbo" for a long time and was addicted by proxy to "The X-Files" (thank you, Sara).

I like things that keep you guessing and make you think. Thinking is like a good thing, right?

Music of the Night

My dear hubby took me to see "Phantom of the Opera" last night. While I still feel the same way about the "musical" part of musicals, this was visually stunning. I would have loved to have been just a little closer to see the details in the set designs. Also, the notes those women (and men) can hit brought chills to my soul!

I guess I'm going to have to read the book.

I've been to a fair share of plays in my time and I have to say some people just don't get it. I saw people in jeans. JEANS for god sake, it's the Fox! I don't think there's ever an appropriate time to wear jeans to the Fox. Even for a movie. AND what's with the people who can't get to their seat on time and come back holding a beer smelling like smoke? (No offense to my friends that smoke, but it's one thing when you're at a bar. The theater is another thing entirely.) That's just tacky. I had my martini (that my wonderful hubby went back to get for me), but I was still seated well before they dimmed the lights. There were people stumbling back to their seats after the second act had started. That's just rude. What happened to the old rule that if you weren't back in time you had to wait? People in this town certainly show their class by wearing jeans and coming in late during a Broadway production.

Of course, hubby and I got Junior Mints...but we were seated on time, by god!

You Say It's Your Birthday...

da na na na na na....it's my birthday, too. Yeah!

Yes, today is my birthday. Whoo! I love my birthday. Some people get upset about growing older...not me. Nope. Not at all. I swear!

My birthday has always been such a fun day...except the time my mom didn't realize I was joking and made me a coconut cake... I cried. She cried. It was bad. I HATE coconut! (did I stress that enough? I mean I HAAAAAATE coconut. blah!) I don't even like coconut rum. Ick! Blech! Yuck! Okay.

So, aside from that one all of my birthdays have been pretty stellar. Just knowing that you made it one more year is something in itself.

One of my favorite quotes is "The purpose of life is to fight maturity"-Dick Werthimer. (Of course, I had to look up the author.) Fortunately, most of my friends feel the same way...in one way or another. First of all, we're mature in an immature way. I mean, who's REALLY mature. There's time to be mature when you're on your deathbed. Although, I think I want that to be fun.

Another quote I like is "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "Woo hoo! What a ride!" I can't find who said that, but I love it.

Have a great day. I know I will. :-)

Monday, Monday...

Mondays stink. I guess I'm in mourning the loss of the weekend. Weekends are good. Weekends are fun. Weekends are way too effing short. Why is that? Who started that? Must we REALLY be productive? Okay, fine, I get it. Powerful country, blah. We're all a bunch of workaholics who can't relax unless we're blowing someone up. (Yikes, stop there...)

No, I'm not into politics. I found out the hard way that it's a quick conversation stopper. I haven't talked about it since and won't start now. Considering my husband has a minor in Poly-Sci, I'm out of my league anyway.

I do, however, love to talk about movies. I saw "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" this weekend. It was okay. It didn't suck, but I wouldn't say it was great, either. There were a couple of things I couldn't watch, but all in all it was pretty good. It wasn't historically accurate according to a couple of articles I read, but hey, it's Hollywood and it's only "based" on true events. So, technically, they don't have to be. If they were, I'm sure they wouldn't be half as interesting, right? Riiiiight??!

Anyway, I guess I'll get back to work. Blah! (LB, please forgive my grammaticalities........)

Begin at the beginning

Just starting this. This is only a test.