Category Archives: Love/Loathe

Loathe:

* People who, when driving, don’t thoroughly check their blind spots for little cars like me. I blew my horns at a guy the other day for so long (first 30 seconds was for safety, last 30 seconds was because he was a jerk about it!) that I blew the fuse on my horns. Yes, horns. I have air horns in my little car… you thought I had an engine under the hood?

* Things are getting tense at work. My boss wants accountable people who are willing to step up and make a difference. He’s getting a lot of lackadaisical and unwilling responses from his reports. Not this report, nope, not me. I’ve learned you can’t lose the fear. If you lose the fear, you lose your job. I’m not sure where all this is going to end up, but I’m his sounding board, so I hear a whole lotta stuff.

* This hot weather is frying people’s brains. Seriously. Have you ever noticed that people seem to get dumber when the heat index goes up? Has there been a study done on that, I wonder?

* Junk mail. There just has to be a better way than all this paper trash companies send out.

Love:

* The smell of Scotch tape. It makes me think of wrapping Christmas presents for some reason. Also, 4 months until Christmas.

* Tony said “Hey” to Kobe Bryant today, walked past him at an outdoor mall in The OC. Guess Kobe’s not any taller than my Tony, but a whole lot buffer (according to Tony). Tony’s assessment of him makes me laugh. Kobe was heading into a theater with this gaggle of girls, two of the little girls in the picture are his daughters — we think he was taking them to see the new Toy Story movie. Cute, huh?

* I moved the two females who were hospitalized for the last three weeks back into the big tank. I love that they’re back in there, and I think they were ready, but these fish always make me feel helpless and ignorant, so I always question myself.

* Flight trackers online. What did we do before the Internet? Phone calls? How quaint.

* Radishes fresh from the earth.

* We’re “borrowing” a small plot of land from Tony’s parents this year for a tiny garden. We planted seeds for pumpkins, cantaloupe and radishes… and some other stuff that didn’t work out so well. It’s fun to go visit our little garden and see how things are growing!

One Last Thing:
I have no idea what the deal was, but there’s a laminated piece of paper in the women’s restroom at work that reads, “Avoid Contamination. Wash your hands.” It’s usually stuck on the back of the door, so when you exit the restroom, that’s what you see (along with the restroom cleaning log).

Over the last week, that sign was taped in the middle of the mirror between the sinks, over the hand towels, on the front of one of the stall doors, way up high on the back of the bathroom door, and now it’s back to its original resting spot.

I guess someone wasn’t washing her hands?

Loathe:

* Packing for trips. I remember as a teenager it really wasn’t a big deal at all. I was such a well-traveled young thing. Somewhere in my 20’s, trip preparation turned into a huge, overwhelming monster filled with anxiety attacks so bad that I couldn’t even watch Expedia commercials on TV without feeling the start of an attack. In 2006, I finally conquered that anxiety, but trip preparation is still fraught with tension and stress for me — not something I enjoy. (sigh)

Love:

* York Peppermint Patties.

* Driving on the freeway yesterday morning in stop and go traffic, I was overpowered by the smell of fertilizer for about a mile. I love, love, love that there are still agricultural areas in this urban sprawl of Orange County.

* My weekly early day at work — Thursdays. Since I implemented my early day a few months ago, on those days, I’ve not yet encountered traffic in the morning, although I can see where it will start getting sticky. I love no traffic! When I get to work, it’s so quiet that first hour I’m there. I love quiet! Plus, the toilets are all clean and the lids are still up — first butt on the toilet seat for the day? Awesome!

* My new GYN’s office called me yesterday. Freaked me right out, because in all my years, the only time a doctor’s office calls is if something is abnormal. Turns out, they just wanted to ask me if I’d had a chance to schedule my mammogram, because they wanted to put it on their calendar to follow-up on getting a copy of the report. I’m taking this new doctor/patient relationship step-by-step, and I must say that was one mark in their favor.

One Last Thing:

Tomorrow, the 20th, marks our 5th wedding anniversary. In some ways, I can’t believe that we’ve only been married for 5 years. But in other ways, we fit each other so well it seems as if I can’t remember, or don’t want to remember, a time that we weren’t part of each other’s lives.

I joked with a friend the other night that I haven’t taken his last name because I’m a bitter and stingy person. In order to wear his family’s last name, one has to be kind, understanding and generous — so not me! All joking aside, though, Tony’s patience and love for me are healing balms to my emotionally injured self, and his kindness and generosity are inspirations to me. He truly cares about the people in his life and I am incredibly blessed that I am at the top of his list.

It’s been a rough year for us, given our miscarriage, loss of a loved family member, and job situations, and there are times when I wonder why things have to be so hard. But as tough as it has been, and still is, he is the only person in this world I want by my side — whatever we may go through.

We entrusted each other with our hearts 5 years ago. A better decision we could not have made.

We are so very blessed. Happy Anniversary to us.

Loathe:

* The kneading thing that cats do. I don’t care if they do it to a pillow, it’s even kind of cute then. But my stomach or upper thigh? Irritating… and painful. Tug is the biggest violator, and ends up either getting his claws trimmed or heavily smooshed when he tries it.

* That Wrigley discontinued their cinnamon flavored Extra gum. I know. What is my obsession with discontinued things? The thing is, they really did the cinnamon flavor right (strong, with a bit of a kick and the flavor lasted) and, yeah, other companies make cinnamon gum but it’s a pathetic, wimpy cinnamon flavor. Trident, I’m looking at you!

* None of our cats won the calendar contest. Not even as a runner up. Pssshaw! I mean, did you see the picture of all our cats lined up at the door? Who has a picture of 5 cats like that except us? That’s right — no one! The only logical conclusion then is that the contest was obviously rigged! Just like beauty pageants are… not that I’m bitter about that. Not at all. The beauty pageant was 20 years ago. Silly of you to think that I’d be bitter about something from 20 years ago. HA!

Moving on…

Love:

* You may recall that at the U2 concert last year, some dude stepped on my flip-flops and broke one of them. I finally decided it was time to replace them, and I found these at Target. They did require a bit of breaking in, and $15 a pair is a little expensive for my budget (buyer’s guilt), but I do have a job now (yay!) (justification!), and they’re now the most comfortable shoes I own. Sunday night when I took them off after the weekend, I morosely proclaimed, “Bye favorite shoes, I’ll see you next weekend!” Yes, I talk to inanimate objects and I love these flip flops!

* I got my annual GYN appointment out of the way this month. At some point I’ll write a post about why I changed GYN’s yet again this year, and why I had to change my GP, whom I loved, in order to change GYN’s. It’s a very convoluted tale, but I’m hoping (as I have the last two years) that I finally found a GYN I can trust. So, the annual is out of the way and next year, because of my age, I get to look forward to a rectal exam — isn’t that nice?

* The two isolated female fish appear to be getting better every day, nearing their D-Day of going back into the big tank. A couple weeks ago, that was a scary thing, but nowadays, things seem to be much, much calmer in the big tank. I attribute that 100% to the mirrors I attached to the side of the tank. The mirror trick apparently works for Tony, too.

* Garden salads. I simply love them.

One Last Thing:

Ummm, who wants some orange juice with their Oreos?

Loathe:

* Typos, misspellings or grammatical errors in my own posts. Argh! I have a good excuse, which is that I usually write my posts around midnight, when I should be in bed, sleeping.

* The heat. I mean, I love being warm but… yeah, so much for that cool summer I was wishing for a couple weeks ago.

* We lost 3 guppies this past weekend because of the heat. Poor little guppies just got too hot.

Love:

* My life today. Must be all these anniversaries that have been celebrated recently, but I realized to my shock, that if I’d stayed married to my ex-hole, it would have been 21 years yesterday. I cannot even begin to articulate how thankful, grateful and blessed I am for where and who I am today vs. where/who I would be if I hadn’t changed my world 8 years ago. God is so good, and I don’t say that lightly.

* Zucchini. I know, I’m teasing you about the large zucchini I was given and not posting pictures. Just you wait… the anticipation will be worth it.

* Nail files. Can you imagine life without nail files or nail clippers? What would you do about a hang nail?

One Last Thing:

At one of the birthday parties we recently attended, Tony was allowing the kids to beat him up and I was watching. Sometimes it’s best just to watch. And record a video for posterity, of course.
Link

Anyway, so the kids were beating him up, his antics were actually drawing kids away from other parties at the park. I was watching, and the nearest thing to sit on was the wooden fence. So, that’s what I sat on, and then Tony took my picture.

After a bit of time passed, I looked at the picture and realized with some embarrassment that I was all slouched and I could hear my grandma admonishing me in my mind to “sit up straight!” GAH! I admit it. I’m a total sloucher. I hunch over when I’m not thinking about it. Obviously I wasn’t thinking about it. Since I’m confessing, I also, apparently, hear voices in my head.

We’ll just call this series the “Before” and “After” John Robert Powers Modeling school training, shall we?

Before:


After (remove the pink cup & backpack):

You, too, can have picture perfect posture and sit uncomfortably on a wooden fence, remembering to suck your gut in and keep your arms away from your rib cage, all while smiling and pretending as if it were the most natural and comfortable thing in the world… if you go to modeling school!

Loathe:

* The engineer/designer who determined it would be a good idea to design a car with a strip of chrome on the rear of a car at seated eyeball level. I would like to take that person and stick him/her behind the car that he/she designed with chrome at eyeball level during rush hour traffic when the sun is setting behind us. Then I would like to point out to him/her the fact that chrome reflects sunlight JUST LIKE A MIRROR.

* When my cat, Tug, goes feral. It’s only happened 2 times in the last 8 years, but I think he was a feral cat before he was rescued by the pound in Texas, which is where I adopted him. He had “words” with a neighborhood cat through our screen door on Tuesday night. Whatever that cat “said” to him wasn’t good because Tug was ready to kill that other cat, and that’s no understatement. He was so upset that he turned on me, and our other cats. Had I not had something with which to restrain and remove him to the garage, my arms would be a bloody mess. It took him over an hour to calm down.

Love:

* I painted my fingernails dark navy blue last Saturday. When I went to pick up our bird the next morning, she was really, really scared of my dark blue fingernails. I worked with her for an hour to remove that fear. What I love about that whole incident is that it tells me how aware she is of things around her. For some reason, I find it really endearing to know that she notices stuff like that.

* Seeing rainbows in the reflective paint of street signs. Have you ever noticed the iridescent paint used in some street signs reflects rainbows when the sun hits them?

* Fireworks. Especially at Disneyland. Do you see Tinkerbell flying in front of the fireworks?

* Random conversations with my husband. Tonight’s went something like this:
Me: Watch the road! You never know when a stray elephant is going to run out in your path on the freeway!
Him: *laughing* Now that would be something to explain to the insurance agent.
Me: You never know. He could have fallen off the trailer going to the county fair!

One Last Thing:

On my way home from work Wednesday evening, I saw a guy driving a Toyota Prius. The freeway on-ramp we were on had one of those traffic control lights (a beef for another day), so I had plenty of time to observe him. Dude was smoking a cigarette with his window down, and when he was done with it, he flicked the cigarette butt out the window — the window of his Prius.

He’s so concerned about the environment and gas mileage that he drives a hybrid, but he pollutes the air and then litters?

I am officially heralding that as The Oxymoron of the Month.

Loathe:

* Gardening gloves and how they make my hands smell and feel. Ick.

* Making coffee and then forgetting to bring it with me to work. It only happened once recently, but I’m thankful that my coffeemaker has an auto-shut off feature.

* Brownie mixes that take 50 minutes to bake! For an 8×8 pan! Ridiculous! Brownies should only take 28-30 minutes to bake. Next time, I’ll check baking time before I buy.

* Am I the only who thinks that cigarette smoking is rising in popularity? I can’t seem to get away from it! On a 3 lane on-ramp to the freeway, I got boxed in by smokers — one in front, one behind, one on each side. It didn’t matter which way the wind blew, I was blanketed on all sides by cigarette smoke.

* The concerns Tony is carrying about his job. Please keep him in your prayers, if you would.

Love:

*Free movies at the park. There are a few places around here that do that, and I love it. Not that I go, because I don’t. But I love that they offer it, because it means “summertime” to me.

* With the exception of the gardening glove thing, I love everything about gardening. The smell of the dirt, the fragility of the plant roots, the beautiful green leaves and blossoms, and how centered it makes me feel inside. I should have been a farmer, I think.

* Dark chocolate brownies. I’d like to plant a big kiss on the cheek of whoever decided to recognize the dark chocolate lovers (me, me!!) out here.

* We’re going to San Francisco for our anniversary next month. I’m so excited, I could spit! *patooie* Bonus: I contacted our favorite hotel and they’re giving us a discount on the room. I love San Francisco and I love discounts.

* This weather. It’s been drizzling in the mornings and 65° to 70° in the afternoon. The pool doesn’t get as warm (sadly), but that just means I get the pool to myself! I’m hoping it’s gonna be a cool summer.

One Last Thing:

A long-time friend of ours asked us to be godparents to their baby daughter. We were honored by that request, and attended her baptism. It was a beautiful, touching ceremony and we were given this picture as a gift commemorating the occasion.

Forgive me, perhaps I’m a biased godmother, but isn’t our goddaughter the most adorable little girl ever? I’ve studied this picture several times since we received it, and I swear our goddaughter bears an uncanny resemblance to the baby doll I had as a child.

I’m definitely biased.