June 29, 2011 · 9:02 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 06/26/2011

* I’m ever thankful for a husband who notices small details. As a very tiny example (because there are far too many wonderful things that man does, way too many to list), when I buy the “personal-sized” watermelons at Costco, they come in a mesh bag of 2 that I hang on the corner cabinet in the kitchen. One day recently I came home and set groceries down and went back out to my car for more. I came back inside and most everything had been put away, including the watermelons hung just the way I usually do. I stared at them for a second and wondered if I had done that, but I smiled as I realized that I hadn’t, he had. He knew how I liked it. He’s always been that way… and I’m so blessed.

* I very much dislike bad marketing pictures. In fact, I’m making this a new blog category. Walking through Walmart, I saw this guy on a box for a floatie tube thing for the pool. It scared me so bad I took a picture (isn’t that what everyone does)? Then for the next two days until I cleared off my camera’s SD card, if I reviewed pictures I’d shriek and yell, “AHHHH, SCARY TUBE GUY!” And my husband would say, “Huh?” And then laugh at me.

* You may remember when my friend, Grace, had her baby … FIVE YEARS AGO. How does this happen, five years? She had a birthday party this past weekend, and I watched as Mia (her daughter) laughed and played with her friends, smiled and interacted with everyone at her party, and did crafts… and she starts school this year. I’m so baffled. From a tiny baby who stared you down with an “I dare you to make a fool of yourself!” look on her face came forth this happy, skipping child with a beautiful, engaging smile who loves dresses, Awana, Octonauts, Disneyland, princesses and (weirdly) snails. Mind boggling. Where did the time go?

* This very same friend (Grace) bought ME a gift and gave it to me at her daughter’s party. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or not, actually, because it’s a gift of the consumable nature. When she gives me these types of gifts, they’re usually highly addicting. This gift was organic/decaf corn tea. Sounds kind of weird, but it has, in just a few short days, become my new favorite warm drink. Over hot chocolate, even.

* I got a notice in the mail from my mortgage company. Worried, because I don’t like getting anything in the mail which departs from the regular mailing schedule from companies who collect money from me, I ripped it open. Happily, I discovered that they’re notifying me that my ARM is going down and I will be paying a tiny bit less each month to my mortgage company starting September. In times when money is so tight in our household, everywhere really, every little bit helps!

* The perks of having a small car… I can park all cockamamied in my parking spot to maximize tree shade and still be inside the lines of my parking spot. Bonus? No one can figure out how to park next to me without being all crooked, too.

* The pool bunnies are back. Since I’ve been swimming in the community pool again, I’ve been looking for them, waiting for them. I was thrilled (THRILLED!) to see one hop out and start grazing on the grass one evening this week. Pool bunnies are the best!

* S’mores cookies. Do you really need me to say more?

26 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, Blogabilities, I have Friends, I Judge Bad Marketing

June 22, 2011 · 6:35 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 06/19/2011

* Me: I love your version of Rice Krispie treats. They’re so good and not as sweet as the store bought ones. I think everyone else must add extra sugar.
Him: Probably. I’m glad you like them.
Me: They’re mostly healthy, I think, you use less marshmallows than the recipe calls for… although there is a lot of butter in them.
Him: Yeah, but the butter cooks out.
Me: Stares at him with raised eyebrows. He’s totally serious.
Me: No. That’s liquor that cooks out.
Him: Oh. You’re right.

* This here is the primary reason I go to work on Fridays and get there by 8am. Also, you know, the whole “Building the Money Hump” thing. Oh, and to interact with all my charming co-workers. But mostly, this.

Croissant filled with scrambled eggs…

Fresh fruit…

* I know they’re lying to me, when I’m at the bottom of my FB feed and it says, “There are no more posts to show right now.” Liars! Liars!

* Based on traffic patterns this week, it appears that a lot of people have taken this week off from work. Good for them, good for me! Less traffic in my way cuts 10 minutes off of my commute. Such a treat!

* I’m not terribly thrilled that my boss is going on another 2 week travel trip, starting tomorrow. (sigh) I’m really praying that this trip will go more smoothly for him than the last one. The reality of it is that it matters not how much preparation one does in advance, because wacky weather and unattended packages left in airports can throw it all off.

* Because I’ve been swimming laps outside in our community pool, I’ve not been going to the gym to swim or attending my weekly aquatic aerobic class. My instructor for the class emailed me a couple nights ago to tell me how much she missed me. Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever?

* Outside the kitchen/break room window at work there are several jacaranda trees where a group of crows like to hang out. I love watching them hop around in the tree, fly from tree to tree, or when they sit up there and groom themselves. On an occasion last week, the gardeners were testing the sprinklers and there was one crow who flew down and hopped through the sprinklers like a 5 year old kid on a hot summer day. He hopped and flew through several of them, even found some puddles to splash through, and then went so far as to stick his face in the sprinkler itself. That bird was so wet and so very happy with himself. It made me happy to watch him being happy.

Crow in a jacaranda tree…

Kind of difficult to see him since he’s in the shade of the tree…

20 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, Blogabilities, Money Hump Building

June 19, 2011 · 9:58 pm

Oh my Goodness!

A lady came into the doctor’s office, trailed by her two tow-headed daughters. The oldest, about 5, the younger one about 3 1/2. The lady checked-in and her two girls squiggled up and shared a chair in the waiting room. Their eyes promptly turned toward the TV in the corner that perpetually plays “health” videos. On it, a video of a man getting oral surgery was playing, his head tilted back at an awkward angle (as if there’s a non-awkward angle in the dentist chair), blood on the protective paper surrounding his face. The oldest girl said, in a concerned voice, “Oh my gosh, oh my goodness… look…” She nudged her sister, and then in tandem, they both started repeating to each other and the room in general, “Oh my goodness, oh my gosh, oh my goodness…” Their mom sat down next to them. The video changed to show a line of kids about their age brushing their teeth, and the oldest summarized what she had seen to her mom, “That poor man didn’t brush his teeth and look what happened to him…” Everyone in the waiting room, and the receptionist, was wearing a smirk for the next 5 minutes.

We attended the U2 concert in Anaheim this past Friday night. It was a good show — of course it was. They are one of the few bands one can expect to deliver a good show, and they always meet the expectations. We’ve had the tickets for this concert for over two years (it was supposed to be last year, but Bono had emergency back surgery instead). We saw them back in 2009 at the Rose Bowl, and this venue was much more convenient for us. Plus, we attended with two of our favorite people.

People watching at concerts is always something to behold and this event was no exception. We had the Butt Crack Massager guy in front of us, whose hand kept creeping up and down his woman’s butt crack. Then we had the guy behind us who brought his kid, who fell asleep mid-concert. And the Worshiper, who was sooooo into the concert that he had his hands raised to the sky the entire time, even when there was no music. And, finally, we had the two young women who were sitting in front of us who we dubbed the “Hair Swishers.” The one was such a passionate hair swisher (she swished her hair every 30 seconds, minimum) that she banged the back of her head on my knee during one attempted swish. Oh my gosh, oh my goodness was the litany going through my head. Tony didn’t realize how swishy she was until they switched seats after a beer run and the swisher sat in front of him. Even he started to get annoyed, and his patience level is MUCH higher than mine is. Now THAT was funny to watch.

The Butt Crack Massager guy

Kid sleeping

Dude with hands in the air, always

Hair swishers. Ugh.

Yesterday we had another Duck Park Date. I found a loaf of bread for $.35 at Ralphs this past week and I immediately put “Duck Park Date” on our calendar. We were relieved to arrive at the park and find that we were practically the only people there! No fights, hooray! So we’re sitting there eating our frozen yogurt, and all of a sudden there’s a HUGE ruckus. Two geese started fighting across the pond. One of them grabbed the other’s neck and pushed him into the water. Feathers were flying, heads were being dunked, wings were flapping, and the honking! Oh my goodness, the noise! This was serious. I looked at Tony and said, “Whoa. Those girls that were fighting a couple weeks ago could take lessons from these birds!” And then we went over to try and break up the goose fight. Turns out, the dominant bird was a Papa protecting the Mama and their nest of 6 little babies. Have to say, that is something worth fighting about.

Then some idiot let his dog off the leash and the dog promptly went tromping into the flowers where the bird’s nest was. Mama Goose had a lot to say about that… I’ve seen dogs move pretty fast, but that dog? With Mama Goose on his tail? Oh, he moved… and it took her about 10 minutes before she was settled down enough to entrust Papa Goose with guard duty again and go back to her nest tending duties.

Do you see Mama Goose settling back down in the flowers?

Oh my gosh, oh my goodness!

14 Comments

Filed under Entertainment can be Cheap, Entertainment can be Expensive

June 15, 2011 · 9:10 pm

Wordless Wednesday.

Trying to do too much and half of it makes no sense.

Click to enlarge

8 Comments

Filed under Wordless (mostly) Post

June 8, 2011 · 8:44 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 06/05/2011

* My right ear has been weirdly blocked for last couple of days. I mean, I can hear from it, I don’t have any pain, but when I chew anything — apples, gum, nuts — it sounds like I’m living in a drum. Even scratching my head makes it all echo-like in there. I’d say it’s like having water in my ear, but it’s not. *grunt* Very hard to describe and very weird. Hoping it goes away soon. I’m thinking it may be related to allergies, since my eyes have been really irritated lately, too.

* My boss is back in the office. The one who has the strange stuff happen to him when he travels. But not without a last hurrah of weirdness. So his travel day went well, his flights were even early. His flight landed and he was informed that the airport shut down minutes after his flight was on the ground, as well as all the freeways surrounding the airport (where my boss’ ride was), due to a suspicious unclaimed package. So, he sat on the tarmac for an hour, then they moved him and his fellow passengers, and everyone in the airport, into a quarantine area. For FIVE hours. The bomb squad finally blasted the package with high-powered water and then the package was deemed “harmless.” Apparently, some dude had forgotten to claim his harmless package and offered apologies. No arrests were made.

* My husband followed me home in his car from an outing this past weekend and told me that one of my brake lights was out. So he took that part of my car apart (and cleaned any remaining cat barf from the inside of my brake lens) and we headed off to Walmart to buy the appropriate replacement light. That little outing then turned into a spontaneous journey of getting paperwork from his doctor, then picking up a late lunch, eating that lunch at the local duck park, going to the grocery store to buy a cheap loaf of bread to feed the ducks at the duck park, and then back home again to fix my brake light. It was a beautiful day for spontaneous time spent with my husband… and ducks.

* While we were at the duck park we witnessed an inter-family fight. There was this whole family of people there, and two of the women and one of the men got into a physical fight. It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. It consisted of a lot of hair pulling (so cliche) and jewelry pulling and clothing pulling with a couple of attempted slap swipes, a pathetic attempted choke hold by one of the women, and then everyone marched to the car, crying, got in together and the main woman who seemed to have started the fight was the driver, and she drove away all wild and swervily with all those people in her SUV. Maybe it’s because we’d just seen the new X-men movie, or because one of our neighbors is a recently retired UFC fighter whose fights I’ve watched (ouch!), but I kept saying to Tony, “Should I call the police? Is that really a fight?” Word of advice: It’s always best to talk things through like adults, but — really — if you feel the need to make a spectacle of yourself at the local family duck park, at least learn how to properly fight. Because you NEVER know. Someone like me could be sitting there eating my lunch and totally judging your fighting abilities. And then blogging about it later.

* One of my favorite performers, Shania Twain, is coming back to the stage in December 2012. I’m so excited! I’ve been watching her show, “Why not?” on OWN, and while much of it is frustrating and seemingly repetitive, I also know that’s the best way to work through the heavy emotional stuff. Especially if the heavy emotional stuff has never been worked through before.

* My new printer arrived a week or so ago. I finally took the time to install the software this past weekend and I’m building a relationship with it. So far, it’s meeting and exceeding my expectations, although there are still a few functions I need to test out. It’s definitely not a trial sized printer and it LOOKS like it means business. There were stickers on the side of its box pronouncing it to be a “team lift” project. Hopefully the UPS guy had a helper to lift it. ha

* When we go to the movies, sometimes I like to get a soft pretzel but I really dislike salt on it. I’m a mustard girl. After the movie, I was surprised to note that they had given me the salt packet separately. I know I’ve always been curious what’s in my pretzel salt, so I thought you might be, too. Let the mystery now be solved…

27 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, Blogabilities, Entertainment can be Cheap, He Fixes Things, Weird is Fun

June 2, 2011 · 8:24 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 05/29/2011

* Someone hacked into one of my Yahoo e-mail accounts and sent a bunch of spam e-mails to my contacts… some of whom I’ve not been in contact with for years and years. Beyond the fact that I’m a little confused at how they managed to hack in, since I don’t ever use unsecured connections, always log out, change my password often, and run anti-virus software, I find myself just a teensy bit amused, because the spam they sent out was about quitting smoking. Considering ALL the types of spam out there, I have to say that’s not the worst option to have been sent on my behalf. I only hope the people who received it weren’t dumb enough to click on the link.

* Tony has been having severe back pain since last Monday. He took himself to our General Practitioner on Friday night, who prescribed some pain medication and sent him home. But the persistent pain continued and worsened over the long holiday weekend — of course. Isn’t that always the way of it? On Tuesday, he again presented to our GP who referred him to a specialist… who couldn’t see him until June 10th. He called back for another referral, and went in Tuesday afternoon at 4pm. At 4:45pm he called me to say he was being admitted to the hospital for surgery and would be staying overnight for recovery and observation. Because I really want to gross you out (because I was kind of grossed out and I have a pretty high tolerance for grossness), I’ll tell you that he had an abscess at the base of his tail bone that the specialist cut into and drained out 1/2 cup of pus. He was released Wednesday afternoon, and is home recovering in much less pain.

* A couple weeks ago, I e-mailed the city in which I work about a traffic signal. They had reprogrammed it, not sure why, but it was allowing only 4 cars per green through which, during rush hour, or any hour, really, since the light exits traffic for the airport, caused a mile long back-up on the freeway. In California, people react to this by slowing and cutting in the exit lane at the last second, which causes slowing (and near-miss rear-end accidents) in the lane they’re changing from… and at the light, people squeak through on a red light. This morning I received TWO emails from the city, attaching the trail of emails since I emailed them, showing that they’ve been internally pushing this through to the appropriate jurisdiction and following up with them. I am so impressed.

* Last night for my evening swim, I went to the “upper pool” in our community. I may have to do that again, as that pool is surrounded by star jasmine shrubs. We’ve established in previous posts that the jasmine plants are blooming profusely this year, and I’m thrilled to report that the gardeners haven’t yet trimmed those shrubs back. The scent, combined with my favorite activity, was simply heavenly. The only problem I had with that was that it evoked a desire in me to go to some remote tropical place, like Kauai (for example), and swim there.

* Pool safety is one of my biggest concerns and also a pet peeve. So many parents bring their kids over, let them “swim” around in the pool, while they bury their nose in a book, get on their cell phone or take a nap, and call that supervision. It’s not. Or those parents who think it’s OK to send their younglings over to the pool all by themselves. It’s not. A couple years ago, my former boss related a story after his weekend, how he attended a pool party with 15 adults supervising their collective cache of children and yet his young daughter, who knew how to swim, almost drowned in the midst of all that supervision. He noticed, fortunately, and dove in, fully clothed to save his little girl. How can that possibly happen, you ask? See here: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning. Also, you guys, if your kids are in those wading pools or above ground pools, it’s just as important that kids be supervised. Link

* Looking forward to the weekend already. A three day weekend followed by a four day work week really rocks!

22 Comments

Filed under Blogabilities, I Judge Bad Parents, Mermaid Envy

May 26, 2011 · 7:44 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 05/22/2011

* It’s been a bit of a rough week for me at work. I know I’ve mentioned how glad I am when both of my bosses are in the office. A main reason for that is, I have one boss who seems to have the worst travel luck I’ve ever seen. Delays, cancellations and other bizarre happenings always, without fail, seem to happen to him. He started traveling this past Monday for a two week journey. This week he happened to be right in the middle of all the tornadoes, hail storms, heavy rains and winds… (sigh) You can pretty much guess what happened. Not looking forward to next week, either.

* A couple nights ago, we were all comfy, watching a movie. Tug was curled up on my lap, happily soaking up some human time. All of a sudden, we heard a HUGE yowling noise. One of our other cats (Ripper) had jumped the little black cat (Snug, also known as Tug’s cat) in an attempt to play. The huge noise was Snug making a scene since he didn’t want to play. Tug leaped out of my lap and bounded to Snug’s defense and we immediately had to act as referees (anything with Tug involves refereeing). An hour later, I got up to go to bed and saw blood spots all over the entryway (where the huge fight happened). There was a trail of blood out to the cat run, another one out to the garage, trails of blood everywhere. So much blood. It was unbelievable, really.
A small sample of all the blood…

We spent the next 20 minutes herding cats so we could inspect them and, of course, the last one to be inspected (Tug) was the culprit. And it was just a torn ear. Look at all that blood splattered inside his ear, too. Stupid head wounds.

* Next month, auto insurance and home insurance come due. That’s always a huge chunk of money that pains me greatly when I have to write the check. I have to say that the bill paying, money spending part of being a grown-up is a big incentive to want to stay a kid forever.

* There are two tree shrubs over by our community pool that bloom the most gorgeous, scented pink flowers every year. Last year, I took a picture of them a day before the gardeners heavily pruned them back, making them look like immodest sticks. This year, I missed the initial blooming, but tonight I noticed there were two renegade stalks of flowers. I picked one of them and brought it home, justified by the suspicion that I just know the gardeners are waiting, watching, and will snip them off and discard them tomorrow.

* Lap swimming. God, how I love lap swimming. It makes me feel good all over. I swear, I should have been born a mermaid.

* I’ve always loved lemonade, and when at restaurants can be found inquiring, “Do you have lemonade from a mix or squeezed from lemons?” If it’s fresh squeezed, I’m all over it. (Side note: Chick-Fil-A makes their own real lemonade, in case you were wondering. So does Lucille’s BBQ, but theirs is really sweet.) I found a recipe online that uses fresh lemons and Splenda. I customized it a bit, and now I just make my own lemonade.

* I called the lady who cuts my hair this week to see how she’s doing. I’ve been praying for her, because she had surgery to eradicate a cancerous tumor from her intestines back in March. She’s doing chemotherapy and sounds somewhat upbeat, if a bit confused at how quickly it all happened. In the course of our conversation, she suggested that I go see “Dalia, the lady who worked at the station next to me” for my hair trimming needs. Today I worked up the nerve to do so and am so happy with my freshly trimmed hair. Swishy, swishy. Loving it!

* Facing a three day weekend. Also, tomorrow is a “work 6 hours, get paid for 8” day at work. Seems fair to me, so that’s what I’ll be doing!

18 Comments

Filed under Blogabilities, Kid Substitutes, Mermaid Envy, Money Hump Building

May 19, 2011 · 8:36 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 05/15/2011

* Remember the cat barf on my car I mentioned a couple weeks ago? i wasn’t sure how the barfer could top getting barf down in my gas filler area, but I am now able to tell you. For Friday the 13th last week, the Barfer barfed on the side mirror… and my hood, but the side mirror is the one that mystifies me. Trying to figure that one out… like, if it were bird crap, I could totally understand how it happened, but a cat? Mystifying.

* Also, on Friday the 13th, the coffee maker at work went out. Our Facilities Manager created this sign for the occasion and vehemently denied it being a Friday the 13th gag. I finally believed him when I saw the coffee machine fixing man out on Monday working on it.

* Did you know there are people whose job it is to go around to companies and restock their first aid kits with band-aids and Tylenols? I sure didn’t, at least not until I saw some dude in a uniform restocking ours at work. I’m still pondering what the guy puts on his resume as his official title. Also, what his qualifications have to be and how would one go about landing that kind of gig?

* Given my love for watermelon, and all melons in general, I have to say this story made me really, really sad.

* The owner of a company who partners with my company told someone pretty high up at my company that I am one of the nicest, most helpful people he’s ever worked with. He phrased the compliment in such a way that it sounded like he’s worked with me for years, although he hasn’t. Just goes to show that things do go through the grapevine, both good and bad. I’m glad this one was good.

* LivingSocial.com offered a deal with Fandango, 2 movie tickets for $9. Of course, I was all over that! We’re presently scheduled to see the new Pirates movie on Saturday morning and I can’t wait! Per Tony’s Movie Rules of Conduct, if the movie we’re going to see is a series, we have to watch all previous movies prior to seeing the new one… so, we’ve been watching all the previous Pirate movies this week. It’s a good thing I’ve been in a movie mood lately.

* Update on the washing machine fix… Tony determined that the broken part was actually a $30 part that we could buy at Sears. Once it was in, tested, and proven to be working, I called the company from whom I had ordered the $100 Brain/timer and asked to return it. In the course of the conversation, they learned that the part had actually been delivered slightly damaged. I told her it wouldn’t affect the operation at all, it’s just one of the four clips that hold it in place, the other three are just fine. She said not to worry, just go ahead and discard the part (umm, right, that will be happening) since they can’t sell it damaged and she would process the refund to my credit card.

* Last week, Tony’s parents went up to the family cabin in the mountains. For breakfast, they went to our favorite restaurant, pointed at our picture on the wall, and said they wanted one of “those messes for her” (“her” being me). The waitress knew exactly what order to put in for that (the Mess, no cheese, extra jalapenos), and then that night, my in-laws delivered said Mess to me at home. To say I was astounded and touched at their thoughtfulness would be an understatement. Then, when I opened the bag and saw these messages from the crew at the restaurant, I nearly cried. You guys, sometimes (a lot of the time), I either forget or don’t believe it, but I am so very loved.

Also, in case you were wondering, the breakfast is delicious. I separated it up into tortillas and rolled them up into “breakfast burritos” and froze them. There was enough for six of them. First time doing that, and it won’t be the last.

17 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, Blogabilities, Entertainment can be Cheap, I have Family, Kid Substitutes, Money Hump Building

May 11, 2011 · 5:59 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 05-08-2011

* On Saturday, I put a load of laundry in the washer and figured it’d be done in an hour and I’d then put it in the dryer and then I would have freshly clean laundry. That’s what usually happens in my happy little world. That is not, however, what happened. No. Apparently the timer/brain control part stopped working and it refuses to go into the rinse or spin cycle. So, instead, it fills, agitates and then soaks and never drains. Which means if I had any stains at all on my clothes, they have now been suitably pre-treated. God bless my in-laws who allowed us to rinse and spin my load of laundry in their washer. And my wonderful husband who transported it from here to there and back again for the drying. Now, I’ve just gotta cough up the spare $100 I always have lying around (ha ha) to buy the washer a new brain.

* While I was researching washer parts at 10pm on Saturday night, I went to print out a couple of “finds” on my “wonderful” HP C7250 printer that I bought a couple years ago. It refused to print and gave me a printer cartridge error instead. So, I changed out the printer cartridge it indicated and reset it… but the error didn’t clear. Despite re-inserting the cartridge, and all manner of acrobatics, the error refuses to clear and so the printer won’t print. I have had problem after problem with this printer and am at about my wits end with it. While searching for a resolution online I came across hundreds of bad reviews for this thing that weren’t out there when I bought it (guess it was too new?). The best one of all was something along the lines of, “This piece of crap isn’t even worthy of being a boat anchor.” I laughed because that about sums up how I feel I about it, too.

* This was my hamburger on Monday, and just before I took my next bite I saw the frowny face made out of seeds (if only it were the face of Jesus, I could have sold it on eBay for a fortune!) which pretty much shows what my face was like after the washer part breaking and my printer having an unresolvable error.

* Say hello to WATERMELON! I held off buying them, even though they were there, because last year I bought some at this time of the year and was soooo disappointed. The rind was over an inch thick and the fruit was like eating pithy, tasteless water. I guessed it was too early in the season. I finally gave in this year, because I could hear them taunting me, “Jammie — come buy and try us….” And, lo, they are very good. I am waiting impatiently until blueberries drop in price and then I shall have my mostest favoritist seasonal snack ever … watermelon and blueberries, together. I live for this time of year!

* It was so hot last week, I was searching out anything and everything that was cold… have to say, these Dreyer fruit bars are pretty good. Even on a cold day (like we’ve had this week).

* When we were over at Fish Whisperer’s house a couple weekends ago, I noticed that in his cichlid tank he had some big, plastic pipes that he’d bought at Home Depot for a couple bucks. The cichlids LOVED them, and used them as tunnels, even going out of their way to swim through them. A light bulb went off in my head, and Tony went and bought a couple of them, which I added to my cichlid’s tank. At first they were scared, but after a day or so, they were swimming through them and it is so fun to watch them do that!

* I saw it coming a couple weeks ago, and this week it finally happened. The star jasmine that is everywhere alongside the street where I exit the freeway to all around the building where I work, and in the parking lot at work, has just exploded. The scent from that jasmine is like a drug to me, it smells so sweet and good. I’m savoring that scent because I just know the gardeners will come through and cut them all back… probably in a couple more days. They always do that, you know.

* The street I take home from work is lined with magnolia trees. It goes on for several miles, and I tried to count the trees but lost count after 30… I would guess there’s maybe 100 on that street? I don’t really know, but they are all preparing to bloom (again) this season. The huge blossoms are still green and closed, lifted straight up in the air like fancy light bulbs in a candelabra, just waiting for someone to illuminate them for unfolding. It’s quite magnificent, and I am really looking forward to their blossoming. The scent will be amazing.

16 Comments

Filed under Blogabilities, I have Family, Kid Substitutes

May 4, 2011 · 5:43 pm

Blogabilities – Week of 05/01/2011

* Loved discovering that my favorite vitamin, which I thought had been discontinued (the recurring theme of my life, it often seems) because I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE, was actually just re-branded/re-named, not discontinued.

* Love my goofy cat. I took a short nap Sunday afternoon (that’s what Sunday afternoons are for, right?). When I woke up, I went to uncurl myself and found that my cat had wedged himself but good between my bottom and the edge of the chair. Not being a cat, I can’t rightly figure what he was thinking, but to me it didn’t look like the most comfortable of places to wedge…

* It was forecast to be around 90° on Monday (as well as the rest of this week) and when I pulled into the parking lot at work that morning, I lucked out and got a parking spot under a huge tree. I smirked to myself when I pulled my little red car into that spot, because it also happened to be right next to the most enormous vehicle in the lot — a raised 4×4 truck with an extended cab. I took this picture at the end of the day (sadly, the guy lost his parking spot next to me when he left for lunch, but you can kind of get a picture of the actual size difference).

* I’m not too happy with this crazy weather (heat and winds) we’re having out here. I mean, come ON — it’s only MAY! The Summer Savings Program with my electricity company doesn’t start until June, so air conditioning at home is prohibitively expensive and the winds are totally jacking with my sinuses (say hello to sinus headaches)… and apparently, based on the glassy-eyed looks of everyone around me, their sinuses, too. Misery. Although, the optimist in me would like to point out how grateful I am that I don’t have the flu (with a fever) right now.

* Tony found a water pump on clearance a couple weeks ago and bought it. Now, instead of lugging multiple gallons of water from my cycle tanks to my fish tanks every week to do water changes, I simply hook a hose to the pump, drop it into the cycle tank, string the other end of the hose into the fish tank and sit down to watch the water magically transfer itself. It’s not really a beautiful thing to look at, per se, but to me it is. Less work = beauty.

* Over the weekend, we finally, after all these years, made it over to Fish Whisperer’s house to see his collection of fish. I completely fell in love with his pair of breeding Discus — they are such peaceful fish (especially when compared to my Cichlids). Discus babies obtain their nourishment by feeding off their parents’ slime coat (all fish have a protective coating on their scales called slime coat). As the one parent’s slime coat gets eaten off by the babies, the other parent will swim by and take the babies for awhile. It’s really a fascinating thing to watch. While I was at Fish Whisperer’s place, I pulled up a chair and watched the babies feed off their dad. Tony and Fish Whisperer came over to also watch, and in response, the mom swam in front of the dad and attempted to block him (and the babies) from our view, while alternately pushing him backwards… she was being protective! It was just incredible. I found this video (not my friend’s) on YouTube to give you an idea of what these fish look like.

* Loving my newest salad concoction of artichoke hearts, baby spinach and arugula with a bit of Italian dressing. It was inspired by my finding both the spinach and arugula on sale at the grocery store. Plus, ummm, not hot (see above). It’s quite delicious, with just the right amount of zing. Also, simple to make and healthy!

Those things, and just the daily grind of work, pretty much concludes what’s been on my mind this week so far…

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