Monthly Archives: October 2010

Loathe:

* Fish drama. I know, for such “quiet” pets, there’s always something going on in those tanks. This past Monday, I arrived home from work to discover one of the large rock ornaments in the big tank (the tank that freaks me right out if something goes awry in it) had been knocked over. Presumably by the murdering male. One of the female’s eyes was injured… now I’m doing extra water changes to hopefully keep an infection from setting in. I swear, if it’s not one thing, it’s another with those fish. (sigh)
Her eye is supposed to be black…

* Orly nail polish. I bought this nail polish and was all excited because I loved the color. So, I put it on and it dried super fast, I thought that was pretty cool, and I still loved the color. Then I woke up the next morning, and the polish had fallen off! Weirdest polish I’ve ever used. Total waste of money. But… a pretty color.

Love:

My cubicle at work is coming right along. This is what it looked like this morning. I added some more stuff before I left tonight, but I was in such a hurry to get out the door that I didn’t take a picture of the changes. My competition is pretty fierce, so I’m pulling out the stops tomorrow — we’re bringing Boney Barney in. On a leash, of course, California has a leash law.

* York Peppermint Pretzel Sandwiches. Yum.

* Gettin’ sh*t done kind of days. Today was one of those, and there ain’t nothing like feeling as if you’re checking stuff off your to-do list.

* Finding stuff I thought I lost.

* My community has continued heating the pool I swim in to 82°F until November 1st. They said they were going to stop heating them on October 1st, but I guess they extended the time to November 1st instead. I’m so thankful for that. I love swimming outside, with my pool bunnies, beautiful trees, scents of plant life, etc., so very much.

One Last Thing:

Every chance I get, I remind myself to do an “in the moment” check — basically reminding myself that tomorrow will take care of itself, and to use the grace alloted to me for the day for the day I’m presently living. It doesn’t always work, but it helps.

Today I was grateful to have a half hour at lunch where I didn’t have errands to run or things to do, so I sat in my car with my devotional book and just relaxed. Sometimes I close my eyes and mentally digest what I’m reading, other times I watch the clouds puff by on the wind. Today I glanced at the side mirror on my car and was struck by how beautifully the mirror framed the scenery.

It was a nice moment.

Loathe:

* Antibiotics, or rather, what antibiotics do to me. I had a procedure done this week where I had to pre-treat with an antibiotic. I think I dreaded the pre-treatment more than I did the procedure.

* Our gym is switching over to the fingerprint identification system. Not sure if or when they’ll make it mandatory, but I’m being a rebel and declining to change over. For some reason the whole fingerprint identification system really creeps me out. Maybe it’s because I associate it with “criminal” identification? Creepy. Big brotherish creepy.

Love:

* The statement on prescription advisory sheets, after listing all the possible side effects, like — oh, say heart attacks, or kidney malfunction — that reads, “This medication has been prescribed for you because your doctor believes the benefits outweigh the risks.”

* I use a calling card when I call my mom overseas, and I finally took the time to figure out how to insert a pause in the auto-dial feature of my cell phone. This is important because I have to dial an access number and then the overseas number, totaling 21 numbers. Now I press two buttons, listen to 21 beeps, and then I’m patiently waiting for my mom to pick up the phone.

* Swimming in the rain — it’s just glorious. Also, I usually have the pool all to myself (except for the kid who wanted to try his remote control boat, but that didn’t work too well for him since my swimming made the water all choppy)!

* Down time and/or sleeping. Also, naps. Naps are wonderful.

* This cat, feetie jammies and the green chair.

* Being greeted by this when I get home from work

One Last Thing:

My company is having a Halloween decorating contest. Needless to say, I pulled out all my “work decorations” and went to town on my cubicle. Spider webs, spiders, fun-scary things.

Yesterday I was refreshing my makeup in my powder compact and in that tiny little compact mirror I noticed that my hair appeared to be standing on end. In that split second I thought to myself, “What the hell is going on with my hair? It’s been raining, I shouldn’t have static electricity!”

I looked again and realized it was an optical illusion.

Talk about scaring myself silly!

Loathe:

* That poor little fishy. That’s what we called him. All our goldfish died over the last couple of days. We just weren’t able to eradicate the parasite that infected them. We tried and tried and tried. Sadly, one of them suffered longer than he should have. We kept thinking he’d get better, but he didn’t. It was really sad and we kept calling him That Poor Little Fishy.

* People who are just plain mean and somehow ended up in a supervisory role. The thing about the specific person of whom I’m thinking is, he’s usually right, but he goes about his “rightness” with an attitude of ballistic anger and calling people stupid, which isn’t conducive to inspiring loyalty in those who report to him. It’s truly chilling to watch.

Love:

* Glide dental floss. I ran out a couple months ago, so was using my back-up dental floss, Oral B’s version, I think. Have to say, Glide has no comparisons.

* Green salads. I love me a great big plate of lettuce, arugula, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, red cabbage, radishes, and any other veggie that strikes my fancy that I can pile on top. A dab of zesty Italian dressing and I’m in salad heaven!

* Persimmon and pomegranate season has arrived. Yum!

* The Angel Trumpet trees in my back yard are finally blooming. Oh! They are so beautiful!

* I am excused from jury duty. Again. Until next time.

One Last Thing:

This past Saturday, I flew back and visited my aunt and uncle, who graciously allowed me to spend 3 nights with them, or as I’ve affectionately termed their home, “Sleep Boot Camp.” See, when I’m home, my sleep schedule gets all messed up. But they maintain a very strict schedule. So it’s kind of like pressing the reset button to my sleep schedule.

Some of the highlights included attending their church — it’s truly a beautiful church, it’s even listed on the historical buildings list, and I love going with them. And brunch afterward is always delicious.

We walked across the recently completed “walking bridge” that hovers over the Missouri river, bridging Iowa and Nebraska. It made for a nice morning walk, and a visit to a year-round holiday store in Old Town Omaha, and then lunch after.

Also, the trees. I mean, you know about my obsession affection for trees. Trees that look like they’re on fire because they’re all covered with red and orange and yellow leaves — be still my heart! I’m pretty sure that I came back with, like, 500 pictures of trees and 5 pictures of people!

We visited my dad’s grave, as well as my grandmother’s, and I always treasure hearing the stories of my dad, his parents and all the other relatives that I never really had a chance to know. Although, I always leave feeling as if there’s one story that’s been left untold.

Plus, there’s always someone’s headstone in the cemetery that begs a good-natured joke — even an unintentional one.

We were leaving the cemetery, and I noticed an enormous monument. I read the name, pointed and said, “There’s the Bone family over there…” Then noticed all the smaller headstones surrounding the monument and revised my statement, “Ummm, wow, there’s a whole lot of Bones over there…” Then realized what I’d said and we started laughing together.

Loathe:

* Driving in the rain. First rains of the seasons fell this week and all the yahoos in the world were on the freeway at the same time I was. Ugh. Also nice to think that I was someone else’s yahoo, right? It was one of those weeks when I remembered with fondness those mornings of unemployment, listening to rain fall on the roof and having nothing on the agenda but to curl up with my cat and read a book with a soft blanket around my shoulders and give thanks that I wasn’t on the freeways.

* When our field sales people come in the office. They sit in the cubicles next to me, and they clearly are not used to living in cubicleville. They play music loudly on their computers, use their speakerphones when making calls, yell (truly, they yell) across at each other and are just generally oblivious to everyone outside of their happy, boisterous sales bubble. But hey, at least I don’t have to try and focus on writing the company newsletter while listening to all their noise. Yay for small miracles.

* When my bosses travel which, truth be told, they do quite often. My life is so much more hectic when they’re out of the office, which is the opposite of the way most people think it would be.

Love:

* Number nerd alert — 10/10/10 is coming up — I love synchronized dates like that.

* Search engine hits. The “search hits” area telling me what people searched for to land on my blog is on the front page of my admin area, so I can’t help but see it. Tonight I opened my admin area to respond to comments and saw that someone had searched for “swim cap blow job.” That just set me off to giggling and I couldn’t seem to stop. Whew. So if that was you, thank you, I needed that.

* My signature scents. During the summer, depending on my mood and the weather, I switch around on my shower gel and lotion scents — I love doing that. But during the fall and winter seasons, I generally find that I revert back to my “signature” scents of Night Blooming Jasmine and Camille. If only for a moment when I use them, or get a whiff of them, they make me feel safe and content. I’ll take whatever moments like those that I can get!

* My plumeria plant in my back yard. It has yielded so many beautiful bouquets of flowers this summer, and it just keeps blooming. Even now, it’s blooming.

* Each of you. Thank you for being supportive and true friends through the rough spots — life is not easy, but there are times when friendships and love can act as a balm to chafed emotions. You guys are the best emotional Chapstick EVER!

One Last Thing:

Earlier this year, my sister-in-law declared that she was going to do a Summer of No Pants. You can read about it here: LINK I was inspired! Summer of No Pants — how creative!

So I quietly made my own declaration. I would have a Summer of No Top! I decided I wasn’t going to put the top up on my car all summer long — hey, it’s California and convertibles should have their top down!

I mean, I did have my top down when I drove places, but … well, let me explain.

See, when I bought my Miata in March of 2002, I installed a 4-point roll bar and had the boot (the leather cover that goes over the folded down top and window) modified so it would fit around the roll bar. Yet, after the money I spent on that, I had only used the boot a couple of times over those 8 years of ownership. Putting the boot on is a commitment of snaps and straps, stretching here and tucking there. It looks nice and protects the folded down top when driving somewhere, but it’s time consuming to take the boot off and put it on every single time I raise and lower the top. So, I had taken to just lowering the top when I drove somewhere and raising the top every time I parked. Which causes lots of wear and tear and sun damage to my top.

Part of my strategy of the Summer of No Top was to order what is called a “cockpit cover.” It’s like a mini car cover that covers the windshield, seating area and deck, secured by four straps that reach into the wheel wells. My goal was to use it as a temporary top when parked, and then the boot cover would protect my top when driving. My other option was a tonneau cover, but that was a lot more expensive.

I was a bit concerned about the security of my belongings, so I made sure to lock the glove box and center box, and take anything of value inside with me. The exceptions to the Summer of No Top was if it were raining (not misting, but truly raining), or if I parked in an unsafe area.

I’m here to report, I successfully completed the Summer of No Top — the top only went up 2 times over the last three months due to rain — and I absolutely loved every second of it.

Summer of No Top — Epic Success!