OMG a oh oh oh oh I hate this Usher Song...

I didn't realize I was so funny until I went back and read some of my first blog entries. I am ridiculous. I've been trying to avoid snorting in my cube just now. No wonder my husband wants me to put it into a little book.

On other accounts, everyone who comments on my blog uses foreign characters and I can't read them. I appreciate the gesture, but do other bloggers get this? Is my blog hacked or just especially popular in Asian countries?

PS. The nightstands I planned to paint over two weeks ago are still stacked in my garage, un-painted, un-sanded, and just barely wiped of insects & dust. I feel at this point, if they ever get completed, they will signify my largest accomplishment of the year. I am making BIG plans- Way to reach for the stars!

These pretzels are making me sleepy

I know that's not the right line, but I am sleepy. This continued need to nap is making me delirious! Again, not really, but it could be at that level. I'm just stopping in because I have been feeling the pull to impart my random words of "wisdom" upon the interwebz and all of you lovely readers.

Last weekend our massive back yard tree was uprooted in the 50-60 mph winds that attacked just before the driving rainstorm. We're waiting on estimates from tree removal services and thank goodness insurance is covering it. I'm sad now though, because we will be lacking shade and cover, which won't lend kindly to our currently low utility bills. The best part of the episode I suspect is the fact that we can now start the yard from scratch and do exactly what we want with it. We need to rip out all of the insect-attracting plant-weeds from around the house and then I think we'll actually be okay, yard-wise.

In books, I'm nearly done with the ever-popular (?) The Bell Jar, and am hating most of it. I just don't get Esther's whole deal. Not thrilled and moving on. What IS thrilling, is the ending of The Shining! I've been listening to it on my commute for weeks and it's been very good. It's not my favorite book, but the more Stephen King I read, the more I enjoy his work. It's odd because the book is pretty different than the movie, and I'm having difficulty picturing anyone but Jack Nicholson and (the ever creeeeepy) Shelly Duvall. I also spent the entire book waiting for the twin girls to show up and freak Danny out but (SPOILER) that part never comes! Dissapointing, and even more-so disapointing that for me as a supposed adult that the lack of the little ghost girls is the major downer for me. Tony, in the book is less scary than in the movie, and led me to a sort of less-threatening version of Jodi, from The Amityville Horror (which I totes recommend).

I'm pleased that the Husband is on a reading kick, and has mentioned that he wants me to get another library book for him. I may have already discussed it here, World War Z? He just finished The Boy Who Climbed Everest by Bear Grylls and seemed to like it. We agreed that it's kind of a "boy" book but definitely packed with info about climbing.

Outside of this arena, I am teaching myself how to play the cello and getting it all wrong. My fingers are too short to get the notes right, and I may call the rental shop to see if I should switch to a 3/4 size, even though I'm an adult. :-/ Trying to not be too hot as July rolls in slowly.

About that cello playing...

I'm really awful. Granted, I know it was officially only my second day playing around, but I'm terrible. Perhaps it's the way I'm sitting, or the height of the instrument, or a misplaced pinky on my bow hand. I feel more though that my weakling arms and super-short fingers (I'm so incapable as a "pianist" are really what's hindering my ability to play for more than 10 minutes. That being said, it does take a few sessions to feel more comfortable with playing. I know when I picked up my violin again it took a few practices before I wasn't physically exhausted and feeling like I needed to ice my biceps and fingertips. To this, I say, play on, Mr. Tambourine Man. Play a song for me, since it will be at least a few weeks before I can make somethin' happen. ;)

So what'dya know?

I'm actually writing an entry! Thing is, things have been great. They've been busy and crazy, and so wonderful. Of course the dogs do goofy stuff, and I forget things all over the place, and the husband is busying himself with his own self-improvements. Work's busy and I have been relishing every spare minute of life at home away from a computer. There are more things out there to do than I can count! For example, I have got an awesome selection of books from the library and at home that I am never going to be able to push through before they're due. I'm really sorry that it seems I'll miss out on or change my mind about reading a few. Take a look at the stellar lineup:
1. The Bell Jar - for June book club reading.
2. The Shining - I'm listening to this and it's pretty good so far.
3. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene. I loved The Quiet American, hated The End of the Affair. I've always had an interest in this one, so we'll see where it goes.
4. The Monk - Matthew Gregory Lewis - Orginal gothic-era, fiction pulp of the 18th-19th century.
5. The Prince of Mist - Carlos Ruiz Zafon published his 1st YA novel in English this May. Yes Please.
6. Rebel Angels - Libba Bray - this was a impulse grab. I've been hearing about the rest of the Great and Terrible Beauty series and figured light summer reading.
7. Les Liasions dangereuses - The original Cruel Intentions. :)
8. The Castle of Otranto - A follow-up gothic piece by Horace Walpole, which oddly enough, was just referenced by The Shining. Further proof that I should be reading "classics" referenced in modern day lit.
9. Red November - A Goodreads win that I am planning to begin this week. It's supposed to be reviewed after I'm done, and then I get more books!
10. Getting the Picture - Sarah Salway. This is another Goodreads win that I am sorely behind on. It's short, so I'm trying to push through.
11. I completely forgot also, that I have to pick up Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I had the book checked out for nearly two months and didn't get to it but it's been calling!

As you can see, I am under some serious library pressure. Renewals, yes, but by that time, who knows what I'll be into next!

As far as other areas of life, I spent an hour this weekend renting a cello. I've played violin, recently began practicing again, and have had a long-time desire to play the bigger instrument. Mostly, I just love hearing cello music. I think the tones are gorgeous and now I want to be able to be responsible for those sounds. I figured out how to play an in-tune scale on it and then taught husband how to play. Yay for teaching something I know too-little about!

This week's rave: Daily chore cards. I broke out some index cards, wrote out regular cleaning chores for each day of the week/room of the house, and tossed them up on the fridge. Granted, things aren't all done yet (horrible papers/mail junk everywhere!) but everything seems so much cleaner and more manageable. I didn't even have to clean the kitchen or bathrooms this weekend because they were kept up in little bits during the week. How cool is it that I didn't have to do three loads of dishes in a row because we had filled and emptied twice last week?!

We ended up needing all the chores done during last week because this weekend turned into a, "let's do whatever we want with our time and not clean weekend". It was mostly accidental really. Saturday was filled with morning activities, like eating breakfast, renting the instrument, jamba juice stop, and the library. A quick nap, and then off to meet friends for INCREDIBLE tapas-style Mexican. Really really great despite the packed restaurant. I have never seen a restaurant in the suburbs that packs people in that tightly. We snagged some stools and had to eat at the bar because the people eating at 7:00 had been in line around 3:30-4 pm when the doors opened at 5. That evening turned into games and drinks at their house, and then feeding the puppies a few hours late. Sorry buddies!

Sunday was a day of indecision really. I began ambitiously trying to clean up the nightstands I need to paint, but left them in the garage and opted for a 3 hour nap. We had no food in the house, so we went out to eat and then to grocery store, followed by an evening excursion to see the much plugged (by my husband) A-Team movie. It was decent and fun.

That is all for now. (loooonnng entry.) Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. I'll try to keep things more exciting next time.

Sleeping is for Women. Wait...

This week I can.not. wake up on time. I've either turned off my alarm or hit the snooze for almost an hour. It doesn't help that my body is fighting me. It's saying, "please let me stay awake until after midnight! The other bodies do! They're going to think I'm so lame!" and my mind sort of agrees and says, "I'm sleepy but I'm going to find other things to think about, so body doesn't feel lonely." My concious thought is irritated and ready to strangle mind and body, but that would wind me up and negate the issue at hand. Even now as I write this, I'm finding myself slightly crazy. I haven't been that sleep-deprived. I have found though that my wheelhouse is about 7.5-8 hours of sleep. Going 6 or less for more than a week is stressing me out. I woke up with a cough today, but it could be on account of the continued rain.

Somehow, Husband woke up at the same time today and helped me out so I could leave within 15 minutes of me waking up. After he let the dogs in, he sorrowfully announced that our little veggie plants were not strong enough to withhold torrents of rain yet and all got washed out of the pots and planters they were in. I couldn't bear to look. Honestly, by the time I left, I'd forgotten about them already. We do have some green beans planted in the mini-garden but I'm pretty sure I'm not cut out to be outside ever, including to do things like taking care of plants without killing them. I actually put them outside figuring they'd been indoors for a good two months and it really was time for them to sink or swim. Unfortunately, they did both, literally.

I keep promising a book review entry, and that will make me happy, but I type really loud at work and I better tone it down now. Much more work-typing to do yet today. Perhaps the best way to avoid this said work will be to fall asleep on my keyboard.

Embracing the Awesome

There's so much to catch up on and talk about and very little time to do it this week. For one, I've started to finally love and accept both of my dogs. It was rough-going with Charlie for a couple of months and finally, after four months and 1 and 1/2 sessions of obedience class, I feel like he's my dog and I'm beginning to understand him. He, it seems, is also growing up and has started to trust and accept us. Always good for a creature who lives in your house. Isn't that weird? That we allow these little furry creatures who can't speak, to share our dwellings? As much as he irritates me by grunting in my ear every 4 seconds after I've first hit the snooze button, I'm alright with him sticking around.

He failed as an alarm clock this morning and I woke up 15 minutes before I intend everyday to walk out the door to work. Traffic has sucked by my house for inexplicable reasons all week, and I have to drive a circuitous route to get back on track (my head automatically cues Chris Farley doing this Matt Foley-style). I remarkably didn't leave any later than usual (which still makes me about 5-10 minutes late) and chugged my first caffineated diet soda of the day. I had not the time, or desire to drink any coffee, so D.Pepsi it was at 7:30 am. Gross.

Work has been okay, but busy putting together an award application which we probably have no real chance at receiving. It's good to try though, and I can use what we did at a later time for other projects. Nothing like being told 4 days ahead of the deadline for application that you need to coordinate a project that has been released since February 1st. Aside from that, everything has been going fine.

Hopefully, the week of awesome will continue today. I've skipped the gym for three days now, in favor of other stuff thatmakes me happy. Allow me to illustrate by making lists:

Monday: Ditched the gym and instead went to a music store looking for violin accessory pieces that have worn out. That mission was a failure, but I ended up with a new scales book and music from Phantom of the Opera. Score. Ventured to the library where I picked up an intro to fiddling, my held copy of Nightlight, hilarious-looking parody of Twilight, and the gigantic doorstop of a book, Under the Dome. (I've been "reading" it on audio but I like to supplement.) I'm actually really liking it and can't wait to get back to it. I THEN went home, and found Charlie's bed dry! (He pees when I come home because he's so psyched) I took the dogs for a walk to make them smiley (they really do smile!), then I played my new music as the dogs joyfully barked at and jumped all over each other. I tossed some dinner together and happily drank the last glass of wine and danced around my kitchen to super cool itunes I just added. That genius playlist is my new favorite thing. I literally told my husband when he came home that my day was awesome. Watched the hockey playoff; our team won in a nail-biter. Cool.

Tuesday: I went rollerblade shopping and ended up buying two pairs. I found the second pair much cheaper, so I'm taking the other back. Went home to the puppies, who were again pee-free (yay!), played some more violin, and plopped down for some Glee while dinner baked in the oven. Sadly, husband came home right at the end and mocked the rendition of Turn Around being performed in a ballet studio. It's singing while doing ballet! How could I not like this?!

We caught up on other tv shows we'd missed during the week. Fab. I also managed to do laundry as we did this. An example of my awesome ability to multi-task! I also called my California friend and stupidly decided to talk waaaay past my bedtime- still a fun bonding experience.

Wednesday: I had to attend a meeting for work about ten minutes away from my BFF who just came home from 9 months performing on a cruise ship. Since the meeting was in conjunction with my lunch hour, I called her up and she and her husband came out to eat with me. We went to this great little sandwich place and ate al fresco. Nothing like good friends, conversation, and sunshine to break up your workday. The dude wearing a Mexican flag and shaking a maraca helped the atmosphere. (It was Cinco de Mayo.) I didn't make it back to work on time, because they were re-paving the only road I used to get to the meeting, an hour away. I had to "re-route", meaning me being lost in an area that doesn't label street intersections, and swearing quite a bit at this fact. I really hope they don't record audio or something in the company car. Finally returned to work (on a low low gas tank) and proceeded to finish out the day in semi-relaxed fashion.

Little did I know that my pain-free feeling my body was experiencing was about to go away. I headed home and immediately put on my new blades and wrist guards. I made it about 4 feet down my way-too-sloped driveway and due to this new terrifying feeling, tried frantically to break. The break on my skates was so new, it did nothing, and instead, tripped me so I fell backwards while still sliding. I somehow burned up the inside of my right elbow and feel on one side of my butt. I'd rather have a bruise than a broken tailbone. I managed to get up, embarrasedly chat with my neighbor, then skate up and down the block for another five minutes. It was rather painful scraping pieces of asphalt out of my arm, but I've been bandaged and fixed up pretty well. Showerfresh and ready to hit the town, I took Charlie to obedience school. He was pretty adorable and great at heeling, but also somewhat awful at doing the things he was supposed to. 3rd game in the hockey series was on, watched and then was pretty much passing out by midnight.

Today, I plan to Zumba, and return those expensive blades. I'll be back later with a massive book review entry. Altogether this week, I've been composed and utilizing the odd combo of can-do and laid-back components of my personality. I generally like it but can't see this lasting forever. Let the awesome continue.

April...Fools?

Today has just been weird. Work was okay. Left early for a dermatologist appointment. I am pretty certain that due to my high-risk very light skin, I am prone to hypocondriasm when it comes to my skin. It had been at least a year since my last skin check, and since then, I had found multiple new moles that I assumed would have to be the start of something more serious. Doctor visit was one of the shortest I've ever had, and was out of there in less than 40 minutes. She said that as long as I continue to be smart about sun exposure, I can last a long time before worrying about contracting melanoma and other varieties of skin cancer. I promise it's a lot less gross from here on out, unless you like a good animal poop story. With two dogs now it seems that I accumulate these frequently and still counting.

I came home to drag Izzy to her annual vet visit. Everything there went fine short of some waxy build up in her right ear. She got three-year distemper, rabies, and an annual bordatella and everything seemed dandy. Went back home, and let Charlie out. He didn't even pee in his bed once today! Then he made up for it by standing at the back door and letting the tide roll in as I attempted to put on his leash. I let the dogs play as I attempted to transplant our GIANT green bean plants from the starter tray to bigger pots. This was a project in itself and I did not realize until it was too late that the shots from the vet turned Izzy's stomach and she was going to do a #2 in a not-so-great way. Too late, I realized, as I rushed to grab our poop eater from underneath Izzy's butt, that the deed was done. Too late, was I, to prevent what amounted to baby poop literally covering Charlie's whole head. Too late, was it to grab Izzy and wholely prevent the two dogs from playing and inevitably brushing up on each other. One dog to clean was enough. I got Iz indoors, and let Charlie carouse as I pulled out the hose for the first time this year. He was too smart to stand in the volcanic spray of the hose, so I got to carry a dog with a dripping wet, poop-head into the bathroom from outside. He got his first bath in our already plugged with hair bathtub. He almost fell and from then on, he stood meekly and let me attempt to get the soap I doused him in out of his piles of fur. He hops out, I let him play outdoors until I finish potting those darn plants.