How did that happen?

Apparently I am going camping a minimum of 4 times this year. (And by camping I mean going some place else and unrolling a sleeping bag usually near a car and frequently in a state or national park.)

This weekend is the first trip. I am going with a bunch of Girl Scouts for a training weekend for them. I will do not too much more than make sure the girls follow the rules and escort them from activity to activity. This isn't my camping trip I'm just along for the ride. :) I am excited though because I love camping! :)

The next is June 2ndish. I'm taking my girls to Cape Disappointment. (Do you know how fun it is for me to say that? People always look at me like I'm nuts.)

I am also going June 23rdish. That is the encampment for my service unit. My girls are not going, but I am since again encampment director I'll be there.

And then we have the 3rd annual girls camping trip in July. We'll be headed down to the Oregon Coast. I'm looking forward to it and I hope it will be fun. :)

Lyday wants to go and I told her I have the accoutrements (tent, propane stove, lantern) so she should let me know when she wants to go.

Anyone else want to get in on my camping calendar?

Here's a sign...

I was recently speaking to my friend lyday and she surprised me by telling me that she doesn't believe things are coincidences. She believes that coincidences are really fate telling you to do something or not do something. I don't buy that. As an athiest believing in "fate" telling me to do something is as odd as me believing in underwear gnomes who hide my panties. (Oh well... maybe??) So with that thought fresh in my head I was logged into eharmony this morning (I haven't paid yet. I'm waiting to see if anyone wants to communicate with me first. :) ) when what should come on TV? A commercial for eharmony. Huh. If I were to by lyday's theory then I should subscribe, right? Except that I didn't. I had a lot of other stuff to do so tonight when I got home from hanging out with Stephen, I thought oh, if I'm going to resubscribe, I have to do it by midnight to get the special rate. I kind of wanted to log in and see if one of the guys that looked interesting maybe thought I did. I only thought he looked interesting because he talked about volunteering. Y'all know that's part of my dream man, right? Someone I can volunteer with. Anyway, at about 5 til midnight, I log onto the internet. I go to my yahoo to get the link so that I get the special deal. Time is ticking ticking ticking... finally at 12:01 AM I manage to get the email and the window open to sign up for the special deal. Of course it was gone. I suppose that's as good a sign as any. :)

Busy busy day!

Yesterday morning I got up early. I had to go to the post office to send a certified letter. I had to pick up a bottle of booze forthe evening. I had to buy sodapop or else I would die. That sort of thing. So I am up and out by 9:30 and end up on Broadway a few minutes before 10. The post office goes quickly and I head to the liquor store. I miss living in a place where you can just buy liquor in like the grocery store. I forget CA's liquor law, but I do remember Alaska had laws but the liquor stores were within the grocery store so it wasn't a whole other field trip. I don't remember Arizona's either. Apparently my memory of this crap is 100% related to whether or not I ever actually purchased the hard stuff there. :) Anyway I've digressed to say that the hours posted on the liquor store were 10:00 - 9:00. At 2 minutes until 10 it was closed, I figured okay not open yet. I'll run across to the grocery store and then come back. I come back at about quarter after and still closed. :( Which then forced me to field trip down to the liquor store on 12th . I was still done with plenty of time so I grabbed lunch and headed home.

I had to get ready to volunteer for the Moore theater in the afternoon. Cirque Dreams was performing. It was actually very cool, except the singer was singing about Jungle Dreams and I swear I kept hearing "chocolate" dreams. It was all acrobatics and singing and dancing. The rope jumpers were really cool and since the girls and I had just done jump rope towards a badge, it was neat to watch. There were also 2 guys who did a bunch of ariel tricks with two ropes suspended from the ceiling and they were so so strong. It was very cool.

I came home after that at about 4:30 and relaxed for a little while. I repainted my nails since I didn't like the color I had painted them. (They were originally coral and I repainted them a metallic bronze that matched my shoes and a color on my skirt. My toes were dark red.) I applied NEW make up. (I needed new mascara and right next to it was eye shadow on sale and eye liner on sale.) I got dressed and I wore the green blouse instead of the gold one. Once I got it on and looked I felt like the green one was more dressier. I also wore an "antique" (not really I got it at Disneyland I think) dragonfly pendant necklace. I got so many compliments! It was awesome. And I wasn't too over dressed or too underdressed. (which was also awesome and a source of high anxiety before I left). I drank a lot of Pimms which I have since discovered is made from gin so not poisonous to me. :) (I probably should've checked that before I drank it but whatever.) It was just so yummy! You would take the Pimms and mix it with 1 part Pimms and 3 parts lemonade and a bunch of fruit in a cup and it was fruity and refreshing. There were a lot of folks from work there and it was nice to see them in a different setting. I headed home at 11:30 and was about to get on the bus when 2 of the priests that were there picked me up and took me home which was especially nice since my feet were getting painful. All in all it was a lot of fun! I'm glad I went. I talked to 2 single guys (I wasn't really interested in either of them... one started out with potential, but the more he talked the more his potential dropped) without dying. That was good. :)

Today I've been up for hours and so far I've done 4 loads of laundry, taken the sheets and hugeass mound of crap off the bed and unfurled the memory foam bed topper I got from overstock.com. It is supposed to de-squishify for 24 - 72 hours but honestly... like I have enough space in my apartment to let a queen sized bed topper take up that space?? So it'll rest for about 12 hours. :) I did lie on it for a minute today and it seems to be very comfy. It also came with 2 of those funny shaped pillows. I really like them! I find that I usually do that thing with them naturally so it is awesome they are pre-made. (funny shaped in that they aren't regular, they have kind of a lump to support the neck more and then the head goes in a valley.)

If you live in LA go see this movie!

The movie I worked on about 2 (?) years ago, Inlaws & Outlaws, is playing in LA! It will be playing for 2 weeks at the Sunset 5 Theaters in West Hollywood. There will be a Premiere on May 3rd and then it will be playing through May 17th. Tickets for the premier are just $10 and tickets for the premier plus the after party are only $30. (C'mon what else can you do in LA for that cheap?)

Silly ferrets!

The other night I was lying in bed and I heard the girls wrassling. They typically don't do this and it sounded pretty heated. I could hear one of them hissing at the other and it wasn't the "Let's Play" hiss it was more the "Don't fuck with me" hiss. And there was squeaking as one apparently throttled the other. So finally I get up to see what the hell is going on and I see Tess scurrying along with a treat in her mouth. What I suspect happened is that Tess got wise to Rigby's thieving ways and stole back her treat. Tess really likes these chicken jerkey treats and will hide them around the apartment to eat later. Rigby really likes the fruit treats and eats hers all at one time and then goes and steals Tess's jerkey treats when nothing else is left. Technically all the treats belong to both of them, but Tess does the work to hide the jerkey treats after they both have eaten their fill of the fruit treats. Rigby will just leave the jerkey treats because she likes them less.

Visual DNA

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Don't fuck with me...

Apparently I give off a "don't fuck with me vibe." I've heard it from multiple sources, so I am not as dismissive of this fact as I would be if it was just one person saying it. Honestly, rather frequently I'll be sitting on the bus and people will glance at me to sit down and then proceed down the aisle to avoid me. Hard to know if that's the reason, but usually the only ones who will risk it are the crazy or the stoned. (Which also explains the last 2 times I got hit on in a bar... both were the stoned.) The thing is, I don't necessarily always know I'm doing it and I don't know how to fix it. How do you fix something that is so innately in you you aren't even really aware it is a problem?

Yellow Card of Shame

I tried to donate blood again today. Today was worse than any time so far in the past. Only 33%. Sad. My blood droplet in the blue water didn't even sink a tiny bit. It was like throwing an inflatable boat into a pool. Not a millimeter. Back on the multivitamin for me.

I was thinking of rejoining eharmony. They're constantly inundating me with deals emails. Why not, right? What's 60 bucks amongst friends? So tonight I logged back in and set up to get new matches emailed to me. First I have to say that it took 3 tries for me to log in. Lydy believed that was a sign. (She's a big believer in signs and fate which surprised me. As you know, being an athiest, I do not believe in signs and fate and all that.) Secondly, it wouldn't let me upload new pictures. It kept claiming that my pics were either not jpgs (which they were) or more than 5MB (which they weren't.) So finally, the system could find 6 people that matched my personality profile. That's 10 bucks a person (ok there might be more out there matching later on.). I don't know if it is worth THAT.

This does require some thought, though. Online dating isn't working. I only know gay men (who only seem to know gay men) or Stephen. Volunteering isn't panning out in this department. Where else does one go? (Please don't say bars because let's be mostly honest here... (and I mean this not as a slam about me) fat chicks don't do well in bars. Too much competition from the size 0 hankie wearing chicks. Also, the less I drink, the less likely I am to want to hang out with people who drink.)

Experimental cooking

Today was vegetarian day for me. I had a baked potato for lunch which was yummy and for dinner I knew I was having pizza. I stopped into QFC to pick up pizza sauce and a few other things and these red peppers were speaking to me. So I picked one up and then realized I had to figure out how to deal with it. I wanted it on my pizza but since I don't usually do that, I had no idea do I cook it first, put it on there raw and let the pepper cook with the pizza. I had to place a call to my trusty vegetarian Stephen. Apparently I had 2 choices. I could've roasted it and then put it on the pizza or put them on raw. He said raw version would have more flavor and the roasted might be better. I actually like red peppers so it isn't a concern to me. So I chopped some up and put them on the pizza. It wasn't bad at all, but I think I put too many on the pizza. Next time fewer is better. Maybe I'll try roasting it first too.

Unrelated (well sort of related) I'm doing this whole sustainability challenge and we just got the results of the first 2 weeks. I'm in the top 10. Woop woop. (Although there are still 3 weeks left and this past week was a bad week for me. Well bad being relative... :) I still have more points than anyone else in my office )

A different kind of Sunday adventure

Originally I had no plans for today. I did want to go downtown to go shoe shopping and to Godiva because I had a coupon for a free box of caramel and nut candies. (Sadly they all seem to be caramel or like mashed nuts... I thought there would be a few peanut clusteresque things in it.)

I got a call from littlehands this morning and she mentioned she was going to dim sum with some friends of ours. Usually I don't like to go to dim sum, but this time I decided to go anyway. I was looking for some real Chinese food (not the rice and meat I make). After lunch, we all went up to dilletante for a cake, but Big R had a really bad allergic reaction so he went up to Urgent Care and I used his car to drop the girls back at their cars and then I went and hung out with him until the doctor let him go. Then I was downtown. I tried a lot of different stores. Well I should clarify I tried a lot of cheap stores looking for shoes. Ultimately I ended up with the shoes below from Shoe Pavilion. I think I like the way they look. The big straps counter my fat little duckfeet as opposed to the thin strappy kind I was looking at. PM, do you approve? :)

I also got my mother her Mother's Day present. I got her a dream journal and a bookmark and some bath salts and I'll get her a cool pen from the bookstore tomorrow. I'm rather impressed with myself. Usually I get her chocolates. Darn her for winning that Godiva contest and getting a year's worth of chocolate.

Welcome to the Family!

At 8:30 this morning someone knocked at my door. It was the postman. He brought me a box with a new friend in it! :)
Icy is an iPenguin, similar to the iDog that my niece has. I can plug him into Pica (the iPod) and he dances and the lights on his belly light and he is a speaker. It is all very cute. I have been collecting penguins since I was a kid, and my mom sent him to me. Sometimes she comes through with a good package. Who knew? :)

How can you tell I'm feeling better?

I can wipe my own ass! Yay! (Or for something less vulgar, I can put on my own socks.) There's still some soreness and some stiffness but between the Aleve and the chiropractor by this afternoon I was moving much better. I'm hoping by Monday to be mostly pain free. (Well a gal can hope right?)

I'm finally watching The Da Vinci Code. It seems to be a pretty good movie, but it was quite some time ago that I read the book so I don't remember too much about it. It is kind of long and a tiny bit boring at times. I do like Ian McClellan, but he kind of will always be Magneto to me. I do like the story though. I like the idea. I know it isn't true, but it is such an interesting idea. I kind of also like the idea of that tomb that they think is the family of Jesus or Joseph (I can't remember which.)

I'm not sure how well netflix is working for me. I'm only doing the 1 movie at a time version (relatively cheap) but even that, I tend to sit on a movie for almost a month before I get around to watching it. I don't know why that is. I think I need to rearrange my queue.

I have to shoe shop this weekend. Michelle says that my black shoes won't go with my outift on Saturday so I have to come up with gold, or bronze or green or maroon or at the very least brown. I think she said gold was the #1 color. I loathe shoe shopping. I think that's going to be this Sunday's adventure.

Cancellations

Thanks to this stupid back pain, I have had to cancel some things. I cancelled tonight's girl scout meeting. I have to cancel my volunteering this weekend because it is physical labor and I just don't think I'll be able to do it. I ended up not going into work today at all. I was feeling better but I was still kind of crooked. I stepped outside and realized I did not want to walk to work. I did not want to walk up the damn giant hill. So I came back inside and changed into jeans and spent the day resting on the sofa and taking naps.

In the late afternoon I went to the chiropractor. She hit that spot again where my feet shot up because it was like a jolt of pain. It really feels like it isn't helping when I'm there and just leave, but then in the evening I feel better so I don't get it.

Apparently my treat for myself when I go to the chiropractor is McDonald's. I totally wanted it after my appointment and it was really yummy. :) I've eaten mcDonald's more times in the past week than I think I have in the past year.

I can no longer scoff at the word chiropractor

Yesterday I did that thing... that thing I sometimes do without knowing it is about to happen and I caused a twinge in my back that built itself into full fledged OHMYGODIAMGOINGTODIE back pain. So yesterday I went to the chiropractor after work. She did some things and did a popping thing that caused me to yelp in pain and my feet to (what's the word... when something does it of its own volition) well I guess it was my knees to bend and my feet went flying up because damn that hurt. And getting off the table it didn't feel any better and I went home. (And I ate a McDonald's Big & Tasty burger with no bun even though McDonalds is the antithesis of the Sustainability Challenge and damn it was good). As I was home I realized I actually felt better. There was a little pain but I could move. Yay!

Fast forward to this morning when I woke up. I was lying in bed and I felt no pain. Yay. Silly me. I got out of bed and discover I can't stand up straight. I can barely stand up at all without support. I wall surf (for those who have had small children it was similar to the furniture surfing your toddlers do when learning to walk) to the bathroom. Where I discover (and much to my own embarrassment I'm going to share it with you all) that I can't wipe my own ass because I can't bend right to do it. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? So I hop in the shower and manage to take a shower but drop both the soap and my toothbrush. I can't bend to pick up the soap but luckily I have shower gel on the edge of the tub that I can use. (I had finished brushing my teeth so I just left it in the tub.) I get dressed very slowly and painfully and am completely unable to bend to put on socks, so I'm wearing my Danskos without them. I then head out the door to walk to work. I had to use the walls to stand up so I go back into my apartment where I cried for a good 5 minutes - full blown sobbing. I then stop and pick myself up by my boot straps and head out the door where I slowly and painfully begin the walk to work, the whole time reciting "There's Aleve in your desk in the office. You can have it when you get there." to myself to keep me motivated. Forty minutes later I get to work. (It is a 1/2 mile to my office. Usually I can do it in 20 minutes.) As I had been moving, I was feeling a tiny bit less painful and stiff, but it was still seriously bad. The moving thing was the whole reason I went to work to begin with. I had orientation this morning but I also know (from past experience) that a big part of the stiffness and pain is due to inactivity so if I were just to lay around at home all day it would be infinitely worse than if I forced myself to move.

So at 1:30 I catch a bus to the chiropractor where she does some things that seem like they don't do anything at all. I mean honestly... a little pushing here a little pushing there. What is she doing?! And then she does a side adjustment on both sides (where that I knew what she was doing. I do it myself to pop my back periodically). And although I'm not great, I can move. It is all very exciting. Although now I'm afraid to go to bed. :) Also I'm ordering a memory foam matress topper because several coworkers say they are awesome.

Why did it have to be spiders

This morning I had a rather involved dream that involved spiders and children and a party. We (being the partygoers) were all in this huge old school style farmhouse. I went into one room/area and there were these 2 rather large beautifully colored (although naturally colored they weren't any weird ass spiders) spiders spinning the most giant and beautiful web I had ever seen. It was more of a funnel type web rather than the standard flat spider web. (I am a big fan of the spider webs, much to my girl scout's chagrin. We stop frequently when walking to observe them.) So the party was a party for a set of twin boys who were about toddler age. Beginning talking but they were walking and all that. So I'm in this room and one of the twins comes over to talk to me and I'm just overwhelmed by sadness at that point. In my dream I don't know what triggers it (although let's be honest I can probably figure it out in my waking hours.). So I start to cry and crumple into a little crying heap and the little boy pats my arm. And then I wake up because Rigby has decided it is time to be awake.

Spiders: To see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or that you may want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power. Alternatively, a spider may refer to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider, it symbolizes misfortune and general bad luck.
To see a spider spinning a web in your dream, signifies that you will be rewarded for your hard work. You will soon find yourself promoted in your job or recognized for your achievement in a difficult task. Spiders are a symbol of creativity due to the intricate webs they spin. On a negative note, spiders may indicate a feeling of being entangled or trapped in a sticky or clingy relationship. It represents some ensnaring and controlling force. You may feel that someone or some situation is sucking the life right out of you.
To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream, denotes that your desires will be soon be realized. (I really hope the spider spinning a web is a positive note and not the negative one, but I really suspect it is the negative one based on both the rest of the dream and certain factors of my waking life.)

Children: To see children in your dream, signifies your own childlike qualities or a retreat back to a childlike state. It is an extension of your inner child during a time of innocence, purity, simplicity, and a carefree attitude. You may be longing for the past and the chance to satisfy repressed desires and unfulfilled hopes. Take some time off and cater to the inner child within.

Crying: To dream that you are crying, signifies a release of negative emotions that is more likely caused by some waking situation rather than the events of the dream itself. Your dream is a way to regain some emotional balance and a way to safely let out your fears and frustrations. In our daily lives, we tend to ignore, deny, or repress our feelings. But in our dream state, our defense mechanisms are no longer on guard and thus allow for the release of such emotions.

Compliments

So because I'm neurotic and weird sometimes I get worried when complimenting people. I guess I should specify I mean more acquaintances. I can compliment friends with no problem. Like I wonder if they'll take it the wrong way or they'll think I've got hidden meaning behind something I say. For example, a male student worker (not ours but one I'm friendly with) has a nice smile and I thought of telling him so. But then my next thought would be, but would that be weird? The other day someone from Financial Aid wore an outfit that looked great on her. I wanted to tell her I thought so but then worried it would be odd. The only one I've managed to squeak out recently is to someone who has lost a lot of weight (through hard work and almost a year on Weight Watchers not due to terrible illness or anything scary). I did manage to tell her she looks smashing, because she does. But even then I second guessed it before I said it. Hmmm... I am going to have to work on that because I'd like to be the kind of person who can give a compliment and mean it and not sound smarmy or stupid.

Rest in Pieces

Years and years ago, Michelle gave me a pair of flannel duckie pajama bottoms. I LOVE them. I have no idea where she got them from (probably Target) but they are awesome. Or I should say they WERE awesome. There was already a worn spot and a hole starting and last night that worn spot became a complete unravelling all the way down the seam to below the knee. Not that the seam came out mind you. The fabric right next to the seam tore. So sad. My new pajama bottoms from Old Navy are okay but too long. I'm actually going to have to hem pajama bottoms?? (Actually I'll probably create a fake cuff and just roll them up and then stitch 2 or 3 little stitches to hold them in place.)

Vote!

Ok here are your choices. Guide me well because well, I don't know the first thing about fashioni. So I'll be going to an elegant dinner for a friend's 40th birthday. (crap does that make me old??)

I bought this green blouse specifically to go with this wine colored skirt. The green matches some of the detailing in the skirt.

Same skirt (I LOVE this skirt) but with a goldish top. (Please try not to stare at how badly this pose makes me look. It was extremely difficult for me to take pictures of my self whilst wearing clothes.)

This is the bottom of the skirt. It is kind of a gauzy material with this embroidered design on it. Have I mentioned I love this skirt??

Same gold top from above. Simple black skirt that is knee length and has good body.

Navy blue dress with blue flowers. It is sleeveless and I was thinking of adding a shawl or something to it. It hits pretty high on my neck and is fairly long. (Almost ankle length I believe. PM, you will know this dress as I wore it to your wedding. :) )

Your final option is to send me to the store to try to find a dress of some sort. Although I'll accept links of suggestions of what might work (keeping in mind I'm a fat chick). THANKS!!

Blood Sub!

Saturday I went to my first rugby game. V's team was playing against the team from Bremerton. It was fun in a weird sort of way. V didn't end up playing which would've made it more fun. But I did like cheering and watching the game. Partway through the game, the captain called out for a blood sub. There's just something awesome about that phrase, although the reality was that a player was walking off the field with a bloody nose. The game is rough. Rougher than hockey I think. At least in hockey when people are getting checked against the boards, they've got padding on. These guys wear no padding. And when they get tackled, or go down they automatically protect their head. It was kind of funny.

We had the weirdest weather. The sun would come out and I'd get warm in my jacket then the clouds would build up and I'd have to zip up. It was COLD out at Marymoor Park. Luckily we got inside before the rain started pouring.
Marymoor Park. (I keep wanting to spell it Marry which is wrong.)

They seem to just keep going, even when the ball falls. They really fight hard over it.

So they will pile on each other until the ball kind of pops out of the group.

Apparently they'll grab anything to get a take down. It can be seriously brutal. The team I was cheering on was in the yellow. Oddly, though, the Bremerton team had a game after this game. They didn't have enough people so they ended up borrowing a few guys from V's team to round out the 2 teams in the 2nd game. Apparently rugby isn't like football where you have strategies or have to practice the same plays over and over.

When the ball goes out of bounds, one guy throws the ball out and then for some reason, each team would throw a guy up in the air to try to catch the ball. It was almost like a cheerleader toss.

So sometimes when the ball didn't pop out of the giant pile of guys, the refs would blow the whistle and then the guys would get into this scrum. Where they'd use their feet to try to kick the ball out to their own side. Almost like when the puck drops in hockey. Most interesting thing about the scrum is where one layer of hands are. The 2nd layer of guys put their arm through the first layer's legs and holding on to the front of the pants.

V screwed up his back and wasn't able to play. He watched the game and was responsible for the tee.

Screwin with my schedule

Yet again the elevator is broken. It was broken when I got home last night at around 10:30. This morning I find that it is still not fixed (like the elevator elves would've fixed it overnight?). I get up to go down and do laundry but the elevator is not fixed. So I wait a few hours. After the last elevator mishap I wasn't about to try to take the laundry down by stairs. Finally I gave up and went down by stairs, but I'm totally annoyed and hoping that by the time the dryers are done the elevator will be fixed. (They weren't.) Christ I'm out of shape. 3 loads of laundry up 5 flights of stairs is a lot. Plus I use 2 staircases since the one next to my apartment is the one I fell down and it is REALLY steep so I go up 1 flight of those and the shallower other flight for the rest. I'm beat. Also, one of the stupid washing machines is broken so I only had 2 to work with today. I'm so glad that my rent went up this month! I can really tell that extra money is going to be put to good use.

Toptally unrelated but can anyone explain to me why Bounty suddenly is used for everything in the home. Because it is so thick blah blah blah I'm half expecting a commercial for bounty to come out stating that we can use it to make clothes and you know upholster furniture. Really all my paper towels need to do is wipe up spills, not wash dishes or hold potatoes or whatever else the commercial shows them doing.

More news from the ranch

I was downstairs last night with Rigby playing in the basement hallway when I ran into the apartment manager. He told me that the trashnazi was gone. (I probably have posted about her before. She's like 800 years old and would leave notes around the building if you didn't do your trash right. She was also perpetually going through the trash but more on that later.) I figured it was due to the rent increases. Apparently not. The trashnazi was a bit of a loon and he had her evicted. She was not only going through the trash (which I thought she was then moving shit to the recycling bins although she was frequently screwing around in the recycle bin too), and was taking it back up to her apartment. He took out 70 bags full of trash in the past 2 days and said there were a good 40 bags still up in her place. Who knew?

I think I want to go to the movies today. There are a ton I want to see. On the list: The Invisible (which starts 4/27), Premonition, Blades of Glory, Bridge to Terabithia, Meet The Robinsons and Reign Over Me. What I do not want to see... Grindhouse. It does not look good to me and I kind of resent the implication from the producer (I think it was the producer) who seemed to think that the reason Grindhouse didn't do well over the Easter weekend because the public didn't get it. Wrong dumbass, y'all made a bloody pair of action films and then released them on a big family holiday weekend. Who can take their kids and grandkids and nieces and nephews to something like that?

Ooh I just confirmed I'm going to watch Rugby today. A game not just a practice. This ought to be fun.

Curry Debacle

*Subtitled "Michelle and littlehands can say HA!"

Yesterday evening I was supposed to meet Stephen for dinner at 5:30 at a local Indian restaurant that I was excited to go to. You'll recall that the day before yesterday (Wednesday) I had called V and was waiting for a call from him so I had taken my cell phone out of my jacket pocket (where it lives so I don't forget it) and set it on the sofa in case he called. So when I left for work yesterday morning I was about 1/2 way there when I realized that my cell phone was still sitting on the sofa. No worries, I thought. Stephen and I have been out about 12 - 15 times in the past 8 months what could happen? HA!

I get to the restaurant at 5:30 and sit and wait. And wait. And wait. At about 5:50 I eat one of the little crisp cracker chickpea things on the table. And I wait and I wait. At about 6:15 I eat the other one that was technically Stephen's. And I wait and I wait. The whole time I'm cursing myself for leaving the cell phone at home. For not knowing how to check my voicemail remotely using a different phone. For just being a ditz. At 6:30 I give up. I figure if he is running late, he'll be here soon. I know that he isn't flakey so I wasn't too worried. (Although I was a tiny bit worried something bad had happened to him.) When I was done eating I gave up. It was 7 and just too late. So I catch the bus home. I walked in the door about 7:30 and check my cell phone VM. While I'm listening to a message from Stephen explaining he's going to be late, he rings through. (Wow I don't think I remembered that my cell still has call waiting which I hate). Being the incredibly patient guy he is he tried to call both my cell and my home phone. We end up going out and hanging out after all, but I felt really bad about not calling him back much sooner.

I will say that I did enjoy Chutney's Grill on the Hill although I know now that 3 stars isn't enough stars for me. I'll try 4 the next time. :)

I sometimes loathe Fridays.

I'm on a committee at work. I hate it. It is a soul crushing committee. I dislike about 60% of the people on the committee. I do like about 33% of the committee a great deal which leaves 7% in my who are they again? view. We meet every other Friday and I am hoping beyond hope that some day it will end. But I don't think it will.

Psychic!

I was in the shower the other morning and I had this flash of an image of Michelle playing with a daughter in the backyard of her house. SO I really thought Michelle was pregnant with a girl. And... It turns out I was right! :) Yayayay for her and her hubby Bubba. It is so exciting to think that the alien might be a real person now. :) (Yes yes I know she was a real potential person before but before she was androgyneous.) :)

Now if I were really a psychic (or even ever learned from past experiences, which, really I should...) I would recognize that my worry over being asked to do something by V is unfounded. He always flakes. Today he mentioned a meeting to plan the tournament on the 18th of May that I would help out with and asked me if I wanted to go. I came home and got ready and actually left so that I would be at the apartment building by 7:00. But as I was walking there I realized I hadn't actually confirmed which apartment in the building we would be going to so I called and left a message asking him where to meet him. I sat in the park near my house for about 15 minutes reading the Seattle Weekly before I gave up and headed home. It is now 9:10 and still haven't heard from him. I 'll still volunteer, but I think I'll just mostly follow whatever lead he offers up and not expend a huge deal of energy tracking him down for stuff.

Ooh but back to me being a psychic, I have two other pieces of evidence for you... The first is that the week my friend in Vermont found out she was pregnant with her first kid I knew she was and I called her. The second is the psychic my mother goes to told her I was. But that I didn't believe it and I needed to open myself up to "my gifts." Just call me Dionne, yo. :)

Vegetarian Attempt 2

Tomorrow is my next randomly decided upon vegetarian day. I'm having salad for lunch tomorrow and a half a baked potato. With cheese. I love bacon on my salad and as I was walking home from the groccery store I totally remembered that bacos are frighteningly vegetarian. I wish I had remembered that at the grocery store. For breakfast peanut butter and crackers (one of my favorite breakfasts actually). And for dinner tomorrow is yet again cheese pizza.

Unrelated, it is awesome that Real World/Road Rules is back on MTV. I LOVE this show. I love this show with all my heart and 19 minutes in my favorite drunk dumb bad boy gets booted. Awesome. And he gets booted because he hits somebody not even because of his bad skillz.

I have a dilemma. I've been asked to volunteer for a group that my friend belongs to. On the one hand, it seems like a lot of fun. On the other it would be a lot of work on a fairly regular basis. And a lot of responsibility. And then there's the guilt factor. The person who has asked me to do this is someone I haven't hung out with in a long time but we used to be really close. (Not Matthew) He believes that we don't hang out because of reason A/B. And he kind of might hate me for it. A little bit. The reality is that I was slowly but surely extricating myself from him months before reason A came along. So the question is, do I do it. Do I do it out of our old friendship. Or out of respect for what our friendship was? I don't know. And I hate thinking about it.

Awkwardness avoided

There's a really cute married couple who live down the hall from me. They own a cutish dachshund who they totally realize is spastic and crazy and they do all they can to avoid someone having conflict with the dog. (Dachshunds are notoriously overprotective of their families.) They live next door to the elevator. And they're nice in that "how you doin'" sort of way so I like them just fine. Lately they've been arguing and because our front doors are hollow, when waiting for the elevator you can hear everything. So I stand waiting for the elevator and listen to the poor girl plead for their marriage and he is very calm and I just feel bad that I can even hear it at all. SO... yesterday morning I'm waiting for the elevator. And I can hear them arguing. And I hear him say "I'm leaving" as I pray the elevator comes faster because the last thing I want is for the weirdness that will occur as I have just heard him leave his wife and we make small talk in the elevator. And then I hear her rushing to the front of the door to block him from leaving and I keep hoping the elevator comes quickly. And they argue some more and the elevator comes and while I'm waiting for the outer door to shut I've never been so happy to see the elevator as I've been at that moment.

(It has just dawned on me at this moment that I totally could've avoided the awkwardness by taking the stairs. But you know how it is when you have a regular routine in the morning. You can't seem to think to deviate from it.)

The ante, she has been upped

So y'all remember the party I was so proud of myself for going in that house that is fabulous? I've just been invited to another party there which I'm excited about. BUT, and this is a big BUT... the requested dress asks for elegant. ELEGANT? Luckily he explains because truthfully I wouldn't have a clue. And now that I know what's on the list, I'm still not sure. :) But I think I'll go and I'll wear a dress of some sort because darnit, I'm getting out there and making friends. :)

Just for KTP

This first one isn't my favorite. I thought the picture would look better in it than it did. But it is a fun picture of me, my niece and my hero Mary Poppins. :)

This one I like especially with the sand matching the frame color. The green leaves are tinged with pink.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me actually. And I'm not positive the pic fits the frame but I do like the frame I made here.

This one is my favorite one. I like the way the blue and greens in the picture are really highlighted by the red frame. I dig it.

Artsy Fartsy

Yesterday I went to the movies with LyDy and after the movies we went to Chilis and JoAnn's Fabrics and Half Price Books (where I bought a new pre-owned empty box). At JoAnn's I picked up picture frames that were dinged but they were only $1.00. I also bought some sand paper and some paint, that was only $.25 and brushes that were $.97. (I point this out only because how rockin is it that I managed to get every thing on killer sale?)

So this afternoon, I headed out to the patio (have I ever mentioned that my building has a patio? It is the piece of the building above the garage.) On the patio, I sand down all the paint off the frames to get rid of the dings and scratches. Then I brought them back inside and proceeded to paint them. I did different designs on each one and I think they look cute. :) One I'm particularly pleased with is using a rather cherry red with just a little accent of yellow and dusty green. I put a picture from Hawai'i in it and the picture seems to really pop in the red frame.

Unrelated, I also made an incredibly yummy beef stew for dinner. YUM! (Actually it was really yummy, but I used tapioca flour instead of rice flour to thicken it and tapioca flour gives a really different texture. The gravy is almost syrup like.)

Sculpture Park a Special Friday Adventure

Since I work for the religious, I got Good Friday off. Big R recently left his job at the evil empire and so he isn't working right now and we met up and went to the Sculpture Park. I had not originally wanted to go there, but it was interesting.

I don't know what the names of these are, but I found them interesting. They were giant kind of eye shaped rusty things.
And here I am in front of one. To give you an idea of their size, I'm 5'7". (Please notice the America's Next Top Modelesque pose.) :)

Here's Big R trying to be fierce. He was originally going for artful in two of my other shots but those mostly looked like, 'I'm bored and why did this bitch drag me here?'

This one is near the giant rusty things. It is highly polished steel. The reflection in the highly polished parts were designed to give positive space in the negative spaces and negative space in the positive spaces. (I'm paraphrasing but, yeah, I didn't get it either.)

I( really liked this one. Big R throught it was rather nautical. I just thought it was interesting and more fitting with the Myrtle Edwards Park which is where the sculpture garden is located. (Or near the park, I don't think it is IN the park, technically.)

This is a sculpture. I didn't believe it at first. I thought it was just a bench in the park. (And clearly so did these people) BUT...

Clearly this plaque indicates something else. (Actually I realize y'all probably can't read it but the title of the piece is something silly like "Bench" and there's a whole explanation about the piece.) (Completely unrelated to this entire post, I just watched a ridiculous Sally Field commercial about once monthly osteoporosis medicine. Her "Aunt has to set aside time to take her osteoporosis medicine once time a week." How hard is it to take a pill? It isn't like you have to take an hour out of your day to put a pill in your mouth and swallow it down with water.)

This was my favorite piece. You can't see the whole thing but it is entitled Love & Loss. The white paint indicates the letters. On the left side (where the people are walking) is a painted L in the bench. The o is the fountain. The V is the tree and the E is cut out on the right. Loss is spelled the opposite way. You can kind of see the L in the other bench and then reused the O. The two Ss are outside of the shot. I just thought it was really clever. The pole in the foreground on the left actually holds a red ampersand as part of the structure.

So I have mixed feelings about this piece. It is a gorgeous fountain and standing in the shade caused by the big water felt really nice and cool. The guy in the sculpture is naked and reaching out to someone. The someone is...

His son hidden by the water. Apparently the fountian shifts and sometimes the son is in the water and sometimes the father is in the water. My only real issue with the piece is how weird it is for the dad to be naked and reaching for his son. I'm sure there's some poignant message there, but I don't get it. My mind keeps going back to the "A naked man and a child." I couldn't find the plaque that related to this one actually. I read it in the map that the small child is the son.

A view from the top

These are the photos from the Big Climb. I managed to remember my camera and get about 4 shots before the damn batteries died.

This is the Bank of America Tower at 6:45 in the morning on the morning of the climb. It was really shrouded in fog all morning long.
A view of the sound. You can see all the fog. I liked being up there in the fog because it made the whole morning seem kind of mysterious and surreal. Plus I think it is kind of neat to be in the clouds. :)

Another shot of the sound. The fog had kept coming and going at this point.

Last but not least, the city. I thought it was cool we were so high up. The cars appeard to be the size of micromachines because of how high up we were. (I added the link because it appears that not everyone is as versed in boy toys from the 90's as I am.) :)

Safety Dance

We can dance if we want to...

The girls and I had such a fun meeting today! We danced out in the grass. We're working on the Dance badge. Tonight we practiced moving with different feelings and then we invented our own dances that told a story. Mostly it was silly, but it was so fun! And then the girls decided to teach me a dance. Now, honestly, the phrase 'overly caucasian' was designed to describe me. I gots no dancing skills whatsoever. (Although I will dance in the privacy of my own home and I MAY dance when I've consumed alcohol, but that's a definite MAY and it is usually a lot of alcohol.) The dance move they tried to show me had a name, but I've already forgotten it. Basically it involved knees bent and bouncing and then you make a face like you've smelled something bad. And then you move your hand in front of your face. They laughed and laughed at my dancing. Well, we all danced. And then they showed me another dance that had me put one arm in front of me bent at the elbow pointing up at an angle and the other arm just out from the shoulder up at the same angle. And you bounce and shift the arms back and forth. It was so fun and funny!

I don't get it.

I just read a little blurb about the great Spears divorce and she is paying baby daddy 25k a month until each kid is 18 in child support. Here's the part I don't understand... They are splitting custody (although he gets them 4 days and she gets 3 days a week which I find 'interesting.'). Why does she have to pay child support? I can understand it if one parent has primary custody and the other parent just does little visitations, but when the custody is split almost 50/50 why should one parent pay the other one anything? Ok and in some respect I can see this in the Spears situation. The kids are going to be used to a certain lifestyle with her blah blah blah, but I know it happens in regular people's lives too and that's where I don't really get it. Aren't both parents responsible for the financial well being of their kids?

Joanne's Critter Farm

Last night I dreamt that I was staying at Joanne's house. I was sleeping on her (non-existent) sleeper sofa. When I woke up in the morning, on the table by the couch was her new pet, which she had purchased earlier while I slept. It was a baby turkey! It was about three to four inches tall and looked exactly like a miniature adult male turkey. It was prancing around and stretching its neck and crowing like a rooster. I got out my cell phone so that I could take a video of it to post on YouTube and send to CuteOverload.com, but my bare leg kept getting in the shot and I was too lazy to sit up. Then I noticed that Joanne's pet tarantula was out of its terrarium and I got a little pissed at her because she said she would keep it in the whole time I was visiting. Also, I was worried that it would kill the ferrets.

The library cops

I cut my finger on the way to my office the other morning. I took a small bit of skin off and it bled a little. It bled onto the cover of the library book I was reading as I was walking to work. Now the library cops have my dna. They'll know where to find me. I'm "In the System"!

Also, I found a spot on the back of my had. I'm pretty sure it is where "they" injected a mind control drug. But they cleverly disguised it to look like an ingrown hair.

Not cut out to be a veggie...

So y'all know how yesterday was vegetarian day for Joanne. Here's what I've learned. I can't be a vegetarian. I spent most of yesterday STARVING. I know that there are other sources of protein besides meat and I truthfully wasn't consuming them. My goal was mostly 'not eat meat' not 'not eat meat and replace the missing meat with something more substantial.' For breakfast I had 2 pieces of GF orange poppyseed loaf. It was delish but by 10:30 I was STARVING. I ate my lunch at 12 which was GF pasta with spaghetti sauce. I also had some pop corn. By 4:30 when I left work what was I?... STARVING. So I went home and had dinner of cheese pizza and a GF cupcake. This morning when I woke up... STARVING. :) So I just ate bacon and sausage and hashbrowns and I'm feeling decidedly better. I know if I had incorporated beans or peanut butter or cheese into my regime I would've done better. I can't have many of the meat free "meat" products because they tend to use wheat gluten as a binder to hold whatever it is made from together. I am unwilling to eat beans because in a past volunteering gig I spent 20 + minutes on my hands and knees on the floor of a gym scraping smashed beans off the floor. Even the smell makes me want to gag. Peanut butter I can do. :) So 5 more veggie days in the next 5 and a half weeks. I'll try to better next time. :)

V is for Vegetarian

We are doing a sustainability challenge at my work. This is similar to the annual fitness challenge except it is all about doing rock and twig hippie things like turning off lights and stopping the water while you are soaping up. (I did that this morning. My bathroom is freaking COLD and that was kind of miserable.) One of the possible activities is to do a vegetarian day once a week. I have decided today will be that day. It may be defeating the purpose, though, because my answer to vegetarian day today was to take the spaghetti I made last night, and set aside a portion of the sauce before I added the meat so it is vegetarian. :) I shall be dining on home made cheese pizza for dinner. I am fairly bound and determined to win, or at least do well. I'll never finish in a top spot on the fitness challenge, but by golly I can do a tour of the compost plant and turn off the water while showering!

Recall!

Gr... Thanks to Peeved Michelle, I know that 8 in 1 is recalling one of the babies' favorite treats. Dingo Chick'n Jerkey. This is especially irksome since I just ordered and received 5 packets worth. Unfortunately, I have also let them have about a package and a half worth of them. I called the number to find out how to get my money back. I wonder if I'll get shipping back too since I ordered them online. (I better.) I'm also slightly peeved at Amazon (who I ordered them from) for not alerting me to the recall. I'm in their system as having ordered them. It isn't like I paid cash at Petco or something. The girls don't seem to be suffering from illness due to salmonella (the reason for the recall). Thank goodness. I'll dump the packets and wait to hear from 8 in 1 on how to get my $$ back.

Add Gordon Biersch to the list

I have a mental list of restaurants that I can't eat at because so far in the recent months (years?) any time I eat there I end up ill. Gordon Biersch has just joined the list. It was the LONGEST walk home I've ever experienced. When I got to the convention center I was totally going to use their bathroom to discover it was closed. I was even willing to use the scary one in the park where a woman was murdered several years ago (before I moved here barely). That one too was locked. I had never been so happy to get to my apartment before.

In case you care, also on the list is Red Robin and The Elysian. There are other places, but I can't remember which other ones have done me in. I'm not sure what it is about those places, or what it is I eat there that effects me. Sometimes I think it is too much red meat, but I can eat red meat at home with no problem and I didn't have red meat tonight. I don't know, but it is kind of frustrating. (As well as a tiny bit embarrassing.) (Ok more than a tiny bit.)

April Fool's Denied

I have put off posting because I was going to post this long April Fools Joke post, but then when I thought about it, I felt bad because I didn't want to trick anyone. But it would've been very clever. :)

I was going to post that I got fired from my job because of a post on the Peevery. Actually the original plan was to post that I got fired for sexual harrassment because I hit on the former WC in a more obvious way. :) But then little hands believed that y'all wouldn't believe that one so I hit upon fired for my blog.

Last night I went to a coworker's for a party. He's a new prof from England. He's really sweet and he has this AMAZING house he and his husband just bought. I have some serious house envy. That modern clean lines crap has nothing on interesting rooms and unique shapes. Apparently the house was used for apartments because there are 4 (yes 4) kitchenettes in the house. And yet somehow there are only 3 bathrooms. Very odd that. It has amazing views of the water and is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3800 square feet. I'm considering asking them if they want to adopt me. :D I'd kill to live in the attic room. It has a very unique shape and all these built in drawers and closets and such. Apparently it was once the maid's quarters. Even the ugly rose wall paper is cool and interesting. I drank 4 glasses of white wine which made me discover that white wine does not agree with me. (Or it could've been the little smokies, but either way, I had an upset stomach all night last night). I am very proud of myself for even going. Y'all know how I am about stuff like that. I talked to a number of faculty members that I knew. All in all a good time.

The week was fairly uneventful. I spent a lot of time on the sofa. :) Ooh yeah, I bought a buttload of GF food yesterday. I had a nice ham & turkey & cheddar on foccacia for lunch. Very nice that was. :)