Monthly Archives: July 2009

July 28, 2009 · 9:04 pm

Love & Loathe — 07/28/09

Love:

* A faster booting computer. I followed some dude’s guidelines and it shaved 3-4 minutes off the booting time of my downstairs computer. Of course, I practiced on my work computer just before we moved so that if I screwed anything up, I could just go tell my IT crew that it must’ve been messed up in the move. It’s important to think ahead on these types of things, you know.

* My IT crew. They are seriously so quirky and funny. There are some days when their funniness helps get me through the day.

* Jewel’s new CD, Lullaby.

* Succulent summer deliciousness in the form of fruit — pineapple, watermelon, plums, figs, nectarines, peaches, strawberries *blissful sigh*

* Sunsets that look like pastel paintings done with watercolors.

Loathe:

* Weird sleep. It didn’t really cool off here on Sunday night and the both of us woke in pools of icky sweat. Monday night I came home from work and went upstairs to do a couple things. I woke up 2 hours later thinking I was late for work! I guess I needed sleep more than I needed to swim…

* Missing my mom. However, as Tony pointed out, I now have “Phone Mommy” back.


One Last Thing:
When we went to San Francisco earlier this month, I believe I mentioned we did a whole lotta walking. Uphill, downhill, uneven surfaces, upstairs, downstairs, so forth and so on. My shins hurt by the time I got home.

What I didn’t mention was that the luggage handlers at SFO shattered the plastic piece inside the base of my suitcase, so the wheels kept turning inward. Which essentially meant that I had pigeon-toed luggage the entire time I was in San Francisco. Pulling that thing kind of felt like I was dragging a 25 pound box of sand and, in fact, I spent much of my time carrying it instead of pulling it for that reason.

My last and biggest love of today is directed toward my husband who went and bought a board and is presently out in the garage using that to fix my broken suitcase… and I figure having a board in the bottom of my suitcase should increase my “INSPECTED” tag collection when sending it through airport security!

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Filed under Love/Loathe

July 24, 2009 · 9:03 pm

Hosed.

It all started with the hose. The pretty boingy curly purple hose that I use to water the plants in the back yard that aren’t hooked up to the spot spitter irrigation. I discovered two holes in the purple hose. I finally got around to buying a replacement hose yesterday at lunch and brought it home last night.

It had been a couple weeks since I’d watered the stray plants, so I happily watered them and then turned it off at the 5-way bib splitter. Except the plastic switch busted off and I got a face full of water. Wiping my eyes, I shoved my thumb on it and realized that the way it had busted, the bib splitter now needed replacing.

Except, neither of the stores I visited last night had the kind of splitter I needed for my irrigation timer. I figured I’d make do and bought an upscale bronze 4-splitter. Actually, since I needed more than a coupler, it was my only option. Of course I get home and learn that I need a new gasket or grommet or whateverthehell that rubber thing inside is called. So back to a different home improvement store today at lunch to look for it, except I can’t find it and none of the employees who worked there knew where they were. In the seasonal department? Nope. In the plumbing department? Nope. I gave up and went to Target and there I found a whole bag of them for $.67. What was so tough about that, I wonder?

I also bought a “kink reliever”, since the irrigation line out of my irrigation timer was kinked. Just now I put it all together and would like to tell you that the kink is gone, as in it’s no longer kinky, and it’s all unkinked and working unkinkedly. Just like it should.

Except now I have to solve the problem that is my non-existent radio antenna on my car. I have an auto-antenna that goes up and down when the radio gets turned on or off. The radio’s on button got pushed, I didn’t know it because the sound was down and it snapped on my garage door as I backed out of my garage. I’m thinking I’ll go with a rubber nubbin antenna instead of shelling out the boo-koo dollars for the OEM antenna assembly…

I suppose I should give an honorary mention to the exploding fish tank filter that floated pieces of carbon through the big tank, which required an extra tank change this week. One day after I’d done their weekly tank change, of course.

There were a couple of other things, too, but at this point I’m just amused at the craziness and plus, we’re off to see the new Harry Potter movie….

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Filed under I ♥ My Miata, I feel Amused, I own a Home

July 21, 2009 · 9:05 pm

Love & Loathe – 072109

Love:
* Working in an air conditioned office. It’s crazy how hot it’s been, I feel like a sissy complaining about it since I know you Texans and Okies have it much hotter.
* Visiting my friend at lunch because she’s so close.
* S’mores.
* Playing in the surf at the beach.
* Time with family.
* Having a husband to whom I can tell anything, laugh with and who accepts me, imperfections and all.

Loathe:
* The battery in my watch needs to be replaced. This is going to be an expensive project since I can’t do it myself.
* California’s deficit. Hoping we won’t get reamed, but knowing we will. We got notices in the mail that our homes have, again, gone down in value. Now they want to raise the taxes on our lower valued homes. Nice.
* Everyone in the office has been infected with something. They’re all full of phlegm — feverish, coughing, snorting and clearing their throats. The hell? I leave for a week and the plague hits? I wanna go back on vacation!
* While I was on vacation Someone in Authority moved the plant that’s been my joy at work for over three years out of my area. (sigh) It’s their plant, but still… Tony’s response to that was, “That’s just stupid.” I agree.

One Last Thing:
I love both of my dad’s sisters dearly. It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, there was a period of about 15 years that I didn’t see my Aunt Marjorie and about 25 years that I didn’t see my Aunt Donis. Now, I try to get back to see them when I can and when airfare isn’t prohibitively expensive. They’re getting on in years and I treasure every moment I have with them, in person, or even on the phone, e-mail or letters.

Aunt Donis had surgery a couple years ago to remove lung cancer and she appears to be doing well, but it’s always something the doctors monitor and are concerned about. I’ve been a little more distracted than usual because, I learned last week that my Aunt Marjorie has breast cancer. I don’t even know that I should be sharing that on here, I hope I’m not crossing a boundary by doing so, but … I don’t know, I just think that any prayers or positive thoughts you could send would be helpful and appreciated.

There’s a lot going on in my Real Life these days, so please be understanding if I’m not as present in my Virtual Life.

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Filed under I own a Home, Love/Loathe, Money Hump Building, Women Before Me

July 18, 2009 · 12:50 am

Weekend Already? Really?

It’s been a good week. Idyllic, even. I took some vacation time this week to hang out with my mom and make sure that her needs were met. We’ve been going swimming every morning, it’s been hot during the days but at that time of the morning, the temperature is just perfect for a swim outdoors.

My mom and I hung out at home today, she worked on paperwork and I got through the stack of paperwork that I’ve been ignoring for who knows how long. I’m pleased with myself for that. Between that and the hour long nap I took, the other thing I managed to do was upload pictures from our jaunt in San Francisco, which can be found here: LINK

I made some more of my ACV rinse (apple cider vinegar, aloe vera & a stalk of rosemary) this afternoon and left the bottles sitting on the kitchen counter — they’re really kind of pretty. Tony saw them tonight and commented that there’s a plant growing in my bottles. For some reason that made me laugh.

We had dinner tonight with Grace and her family. When Tony and I got married nearly four years ago, Grace and her husband were a special part of our wedding. Her husband photographed the event and Grace was, for all intents and purposes, informally my Maid of Honor. Or technically Matron of Honor, I suppose. My mom wasn’t able to attend our wedding in person, so she attended via telephone and Grace was the one who held the phone during the ceremony. Tonight was the first time my mom and my friend were finally able to meet each other.

I took my mom over to the train station yesterday so she could go visit my brother. Watching that train leave with her on it made me terribly sad, even though I knew she’d be back in just a few hours. So I went to the grocery store and bought her some fig newtons — I know she loves those things. It made me feel better and they made her happy later that night.

On Wednesday, Tony’s mom took my mom shopping — I think it’s very cool that our mommies get along so well that they can spend a day shopping together. I’m guessing they could probably spend a lot of time together and not even notice that it was passing so quickly. During that time, since I wasn’t needed at home, I went into work for four hours. That night, we met some longtime family friends in Downtown Disney for dinner. It made for a long day for us, an even longer day for them (they drove up from San Diego county to meet up with us), but it was so worth it and we all enjoyed it.

My mom even got to meet my Fish Whisperer — in a surprise visit, he stopped by to drop off some spirulina (fish food) and pick up some tank dividers that I’m no longer using. She’s heard so much about him and he saved her grandfish, it seemed pretty cool that she got to meet him.

Our little birdy loves having someone here all day. She chirps and chatters away to express her happiness. Snug has been creeping out and actually let my mom pet him today, I think, which is really sweet. We had a hummingbird sitting on our string of lights in the back yard for six or seven hours today. At one point, I even opened the slider door to get a better picture and the hummingbird just looked at me and didn’t even care. My mom worried that maybe the hummingbird is sick, do hummingbirds normally perch somewhere for that long? I hope so, because I don’t want to find a dead hummer in one of my plants back there.

We have family time tomorrow, Sunday I take my mom to the airport and then more family time Sunday afternoon. For once, I wish this week could be replayed, or at the very least I wish I could just press the pause button on time for a few more days.

I wish you all a Happy Weekend!

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Filed under Brother rates his own category, I did something Special, I have Family, I have Friends, Kid Substitutes

July 15, 2009 · 9:52 am

San Francisco – Overview.

This time when we went to San Francisco, we did a couple things differently than we usually do when we travel.

The first and biggest thing we did differently was, we met my mom in San Francisco and she joined us on our adventures. Meeting her there was a special blessing and really made it feel like a real summer vacation for me. I think that feeling had to do with relating her presence to childhood summer vacations of which she was usually a part.

Anyway, the second thing we did differently was, we chose to use public transportation instead of renting a car. Let me just say this about that… after the first bus ride, my nickname for the bus routes became “the 28 butt” or “the 30 butt” instead of “bus”, because it was often standing room only, and all we could see were a bunch of butts, instead of the Golden Gate Bridge or the park. The other thing about that was, public transportation adds a lot of waiting time to the commute. 5 minutes here, 7 minutes there and “bus arriving” but it’s still another minute or two before the bus gets there and pretty soon a 10 minute drive is a 30-40 minute adventure. On the upside, if you have the time to waste, public transportation is fairly cheap.

That being said, here’s what we managed to do while up there. On Friday we met my mom and then bused over to and walked the Golden Gate Bridge (3.4 mile walk, roundtrip), walked through Fort Mason, visited Ghiradelli Square, and had dinner at a restaurant named Scoma’s — a pretty special restaurant and we enjoy it on the rare occasions we go there.

Saturday we went to Coit Tower, walked up the crooked part of Lombard Street, visited the outside of the Spreckel’s mansion, which is owned by author Danielle Steel, had an hour and half of free time (which I used to check us in online for our flights the following day and reserve a hostel for my mom when she goes back next week) and then went to Pier 39, followed by a walk to Pier 33 to depart to Alcatraz for their night tour — we’ve been wanting to do that for a couple years now.

Sunday found us heading back to Alcatraz for their early morning garden tour, which is only offered Friday and Sunday mornings. I’ve long loved the restoration that they’ve been doing in the gardens of Alcatraz and was excited to be able to walk in areas that normally are corded off from the public. In addition to that, the volunteer docents offered a lot of information about the island that isn’t offered elsewhere. It was fascinating and absolutely beautiful.

And then we took public transportation back to the airport. Which meant we still haven’t ridden on the cable car!

Here’s a couple funny experiences we had:

Friday — An elderly lady boarded the bus, paid and turned to look for a seat. The bus lurched forward and she toppled, thankfully landing on the homeless guy’s lap a seat over from me (instead of landing on the floor). I reached for her arm, somehow wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided her to the seat next to mine. As her bottom settled into the seat, the pre-recorded message broadcasted over the speakers of the bus, an impersonal lady’s voice said, “Please hold on!” The elderly lady muttered, “Yeah, I got that… now.”

Friday — just after we’d finished walking the Golden Gate Bridge, we were waiting with a group of people for the bus to arrive. A guy dressed in jogging paraphernalia pulled out his cell phone and called someone while jogging in place. According to his conversation, he had recently moved to San Francisco. He told his friend how much he loved it in San Francisco, that he was so glad he’d moved here, he can jog the bridge whenever he wants and then finished with, “I love this bridge so much, I think I love it more than I love you!” A bicyclist pedaled by just in time to hear that last line and said, in perfect sync, “That’s cold, dude.” Everyone waiting for the bus totally cracked up, even the guy on the phone.

I have pictures… of course I do. Some very lovely. But they’re on the hard drive upstairs and I’m on the computer downstairs.

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Filed under Entertainment can be Expensive, I did something Special, I have Family

July 9, 2009 · 10:46 pm

June’s Searches.

Last month there were some search terms that truly made me laugh out loud. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to see what people actually search for or how impressed I am with Google’s search engine — a search engine that will correct spelling by asking you, “Did you mean to search for…” Love it, an endless source of amusement.

Here we have the search requests for the month of June, by category:

boy rarely see father || the little boy space travel sad story || story about a little boy who can’t hear
Those do seem sad to me. I guess if you send a little boy into space, he would rarely see his father and might become deaf? Just trying to link ’em all together in my head, that’s all.

where can i get dermaswim || dermaswim at longs || is it safe to use dermaswim pro lotion?
I bought mine off their website. As far as I know, it’s safe, safer than all those steroidal creams the dermatologists are so fond of prescribing. Have to say, though, I didn’t see it at Longs.

where is pomona || where is pamona?
You had it right the first time, it’s spelled POMONA and it’s a bit of a drive to there from here, especially if you throw in the unpredictability of traffic. Friday night traffic in particular. Why IS Friday night traffic worse than the rest of the week, anyway? Anyone?

cornhusker city
Driving there from here would be an even longer drive than to Pomona.


dentman 09@gmail/com || dentman ga
The dentless ding removal company who took care of my car came to me. I don’t think he came from Georgia, though.

chinese needle torture || needle torture || needletorture
Acupuncture is a Chinese thing, while it may look like torture, if you have a good acupuncturist, it’s very relaxing. .

put an end to endo — Yes, I would like to.

faith goes up the stairs love has built, is this a love quote? I don’t know, it was in my book of quotes that I use for my Weekly Quote section over there —–>

buscar py love chat — there is no love chatting going on here. No love chatting.

gross crystal gayle hair — do you really think her hair is gross? I think it’s marvelous. Although the question has crossed my mind of how does she keep it out of her butt crack when she goes to the bathroom. That thought is a little gross, I guess.
movie scenes unpinning hair — would you like me to dim the lights and turn on some Barry White music?
sea salt and conditioner — I wouldn’t do that to my hair.
acv rinse black people’s hair — This is not something I’ve had to research, but you might find your answer somewhere in this website: KISS
scalpicin dried my scalp — not mine. It kept my scalp from having allergic reactions to products.
why club soda to rinse after swimming — because it removes chlorine
i wash my hair with club soda — I did, too, for awhile.
baking soda and acv for strength of hair — you have to play with the mixture for your particular needs.
suspicious moles on my scalp — get thee to your dermatologist!
suspicious mole scalp — again, get thee to your dermatologist!
hair caught in power drill — did you take a picture? You are not a dedicated blogger unless you took a picture.
lemon juice snopes hair — I thought snopes was a website, I didn’t know it had hair!
jammi tree stopping hair growth — what the hell is a jammi tree? Because I’m Jammie J. and my hair is growing just fine.
no poo asian hair — I’m sure there’s a way.
letting my hair go gray — let me know how that works out for you.
tea tree oil made my hair fall out! — Thanks for the warning!
missing chunk of hair— I’m sorry. I hope you find it!

long rogue hairs — I have one of those. It gives my husband nightmares because I refuse to pluck it.

biggest poop ever — Please come back and DO TELL, I love poop stories!

There you have it, what people were searching for in the month of June.

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Filed under We're all searching for something

July 8, 2009 · 11:47 pm

Her Troubles.

I paused in my swimming to ask the newcomer to the pool how she was doing. We have swum at the same time many times before and have a loose, friendly, fellow-swimmer relationship. But that night, her face crumpled and she replied, “Not well. Not well at all.”

She’s articulate and has an unnervingly accurate memory, these things I know about her.

I asked her why, and the story spilled out. She’s been at the same job for seventeen years. She loves what she does, is good at what she does. Last year, she took some time off to take care of her mom who was ill, and ultimately ended up passing away. I remember that, she was heartbroken then, too. Last September, after she returned to work, she transferred to another department in her company or they transferred “him” to hers, I’m not real clear on that part, but whatever transfer happened, “he” is not a good boss. He makes it his goal to undermine and devalue the people under him, and picks on someone in particular until that person either quits or transfers out. If that person tries to talk to him to set things right, he yells at them until they leave his office in tears and humiliated, everyone looking on and watching. These are the things I gathered from what she told me. Right now, she’s his target and has been since last September.

I felt so bad for her and mostly just listened, until she said she didn’t know what to do, that she’s making herself sick over it, can’t sleep, and she started to cry. The song and dance I know all too well. And that’s when I offered her some small thoughts I had — people like that, you can’t talk to them, you have to have a third-party come in and mediate. Or leave. She doesn’t want to leave.

The worst part of it for her, I think, is that her mom was her best friend. Her mom was who she could have and would have turned to at 3 AM when she couldn’t sleep. Her mom would have known just the right words to soothe her daughter’s heart. For the daughter, it’s the combination of the perfect words and the mother’s voice that makes you feel as if everything’s going to be OK. Everything will be alright enough to at least set things aside for a few hours while you sleep. It was a year ago that she lost her mom.

We both swam our laps for 30 minutes and then paddled back and forth talking for another 13 minutes. Since it was her conversation, I let her choose when she was done talking… she eventually did and thanked me for listening.

Sometimes that’s all people need… is someone to listen. It was the easiest thing in the world for me to do and all it took was just a little bit of my time. No matter where else I may fall short, I felt like that was something I could do.

I went home feeling at peace for having helped her a little bit. I also felt immensely grateful… I really do have a good boss and job. And I have a wonderful, living mom who arrived safely in the states yesterday and I will get to see on Friday.

For now, this moment in time, I’m good. Things could change tomorrow, but I’m optimistic enough that I’ll take this moment and be happy.

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Filed under I feel Sad, I have Friends, Mermaid Envy

July 7, 2009 · 11:01 pm

Love & Loathe — 07-07-09

Love:

*Wasabi peas.

*Rice snack mix… I knew it was gonna be good when the cashier checked me out and muttered under her breath, “Oh, this is good.” Like my purchase just reminded her exactly how good it was and on her next break she probably bought her own bag.

* Search engine results. I’m gonna have to do another post on it. June’s were hairlairious!

* The views from the new office. Also, that my car is parked in the shade all day, no more sun aging and no more stupid window flyers. (I’m trying, here, folks!)

* I am so, so, sooo glad that I didnt’t have to go to Los Angeles for any reason today.

Loathe:

* The work week before vacation.

* Commuting in traffic on freeways. Why are they called freeways when you’re clearly NOT free to move.

One Last Thing:
I was thinking recently, as I bought a huge 18 pack of toilet paper at Target for cheap, how there used to be various colors of TP available for purchase. Anyone else remember toilet paper in blue or pink? It’s been a few years, I guess, and it just quietly stopped showing up in the stores, so I hardly even noticed. I remember someone saying a few years ago that they never buy dyed toilet paper because of where it’s used…

I suppose, if it were really important to me, I could probably buy it somewhere on the Internet… but, well, why spend extra money for something you’re just going to flush down the drain?

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Filed under Love/Loathe

July 5, 2009 · 3:41 pm

This and That.

Right now, I have the dishwasher running, the laundry going, cleaned out the cat litter boxes, juiced a bunch of lemons for juice freezing, and I just finished making Guava/Passion/Orange homemade popsicles.

My swims this weekend have been peaceful and at 45 minutes each, feel like accomplishments. In addition, the pool is now being heated to 85 degrees. I know this because when I swim in the early morning hours, the pool thermostat reads 84 and the heat is kicking on. I was told the pools in our community would only be heated to 75 this summer. I’m sure not going to ask about it, I’m just going to count it as a blessing.

Particularly since we invited the Steve/Marigold/Huck/Milo Show over for the 4th of July, with enticements of a swim in the pool, since it’s so warm — 1st time for Milo. Oh my, it was good to see them and I enjoyed observing Milo’s analytical approach to the whole pool thing — he stared it down, not even splashing until he’d been in there for at least 15 minutes. At that point, he started making noises and pointing at pool toys — like, “Hey you, bring me that so I can drop it to the bottom again!” And THEN, finally, the smiles, the hard earned smiles came forth from Milo when his brother’s silliness became too irresistible. This is really their mom’s story to tell, I suppose, but it was just so good to see them! You can’t be focused on serious grown-up stuff when the littles are around.

When they went home (the kiddies were tired), we went down the street to see the fireworks over the lake. Every year they do this show, but this was the first time we’ve attended. It was kind of a spontaneous thing, staying home, because normally we head over to a city where we can legally set off our personal fireworks (I think the plan is to save what we bought on Thursday and didn’t use for New Year’s). The fireworks show here at home was a fun experience and quite a production for such a small town event. I climbed a low slung tree for seating and viewing comfort as lots of people turned out for it, even double parking along the street!

I hate that my husband has had to work this weekend, particularly in this heat. It’s been hot, nearing 100 in the shade. Exactly the type of weather one would expect for the 4th of July weekend. But he works outside on the weekend, on asphalt and dirt — doubly hot. Please keep my man in your prayers and/or thoughts. I don’t know how he manages to keep going sometimes…

Click here for update on work situation. (Password Required)

Hair Update — Week 7, no shampoo.

I think I pretty much have this thing figured out. I only use the Baking Soda Rinse (BSR) every 2 to 3 days now. I use the Apple Cider Vinegar rinse (ACV) every day.

I adjusted my ACV recipe a bit this past week. It’s now as follows:

1/4 c ACV (reduced from 1/3 c from last week)
1/2 c aloe vera (increased from 1/3 c from last week)
10″ sprig of rosemary (no adjustment)
In 1 QT bottle with tap water (no adjustment)

I’m just playing with the mixture to maximize moisture. Chlorine is very drying, ACV acts as a clarifier — which removes chlorine, but also moisture… at least that’s what it seems to be doing to my hair. Thus the increase in aloe vera and decrease in ACV. I used Scalpicin once this week, due to my scalp feeling inflamed. My hormones have been a bit more dramatic in their changing this cycle, and the inflammation coincided with that, so I think that was probably the problem.

Ohhh, I keep meaning to mention that I’m now only using baking soda to cleanse my face. I keep a container of dry baking soda by my sink. When I wash my face, I rinse my face, then pull some baking soda out and make a paste of it. It’s very effective at removing makeup and is gritty enough to exfoliate dry skin and cleanse pores. I’m on week 3 of that, so things may change as hormones change… we’ll see.

Taken today, natural lighting (no flash).

This week is work, of course, but it’s another 4-day work week for me since we’re taking Friday off to go to San Francisco next week. My mom will meet us there and we’ll go to Alcatraz at Night, and then Alcatraz Morning Garden Tour. Probably some other stuff, too.

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Filed under Hair Can Be a Topic of Conversation, I did something Special, I have Family, Mermaid Envy

July 4, 2009 · 2:48 pm

Happy 4th!

It’s been a quiet weekend so far for me, perfect weather in these parts, spending time with the pets and doing chores. The only thing not perfect has been the absence of Tony, since he’s been working at his second job. Even on a holiday, yes. I’ll see him when he comes home today, hopefully around 3:30.

I’m thinking some iced tea would be good right about now…

Just wanted to hop on and wish all my American readers a Happy Independence Day.

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Filed under Entertainment can be Cheap