Moving forward to the 21st Century

I just signed up for Netflix.  I know.  It's old news.  Seems everyone has been "doing" Netflix forever.  I never really got into it because I didn't think I was that much of a movie person.  And then last Saturday I changed my mind.

There's a big difference between "not being a movie person" and "not watching a lot of movies".  I thought I was in the former group.  After this weekend I realized I'm really in the latter.   I like watching movies.  Usually.  It's just that the hubby and I don't watch many.  Or rather, we don't watch many "together". 

Typical Friday/ Saturday night at our house:

me:  whatcha want to do tonight??  ('cuz we all know getting dolled up to go dancing or bar hopping is not in the cards for this duo....)

hubby:  uh, I don't know.  (which is his standard response.  It kills me. and I usually respond with:)

me: oh, for the love of Pete!! get an opinion!!!

... and then we digress into an argument.  Oh wait.  That doesn't happen every time.  I got sidetracked.  Backtrack and let's try this again.

me: whatcha want to do tonight??


hubby: uh, I don't know.

me:  how about we rent a movie?

hubby:  ok.

I tune to iControl and we start scrolling through the movies.  I start naming the ones I wouldn't mind watching.  He stays silent, which I can only conclude means he's not interested in what I'm suggesting.  Finally, after no response, I ask him to please name some he's interested in so we can come to some agreement and get on with the actual movie-watching.  He may mention a few that I really have absolutely NO interest in seeing.  Or he may respond with "I'm really not in the mood to watch a movie".

Fine.  Whatever. 

As you can imagine, the evening proceeds with no movie purchased and watched.

But don't get me wrong.  There are LOTS that I'd like to see.  I do try and watch one on occasion when he's not home.  But since he's usually traveling during the week I don't watch many.  You know, kind of an unspoken rule for myself that I can't stay up late and watch movies on a "school night".  Or there are so many I want to watch I don't have enough time.  And at $5 a pop I don't want to accidentally run up a $50 extra on our cable bill for the month. (which, given the chance, I'm sure I could do, no problem.)

So I'm trying Netflix.  I chose the queue.  If he wants to watch them with me then GREAT!  If not I guess I'm having date night by myself.  Which could be construed into many things but I won't go there....

Update

No one drowned.  There were some tears when the youngest felt she was getting picked on by her older sisters. (but she seems to break down into tears easily and often so I'm guessing this is a tactic she learned to use on her sibs a long time ago....)

All in all it went fine.  My fears were all for naught.

WHEW!!

If I don't post anymore...

it's because I had the stupid idea of having my LS and her two sisters over to the pool tonight to swim*.

*Swimming, though, apparently not like you and I define the term.  I think they believe they can swim because they get in the water.  Not the actual ability to paddle around, feet not touching the ground, head above water, of their own power.

I may not make it through this evening alive.  That or one of them will accidentally drown and I'll be thrown in jail for involuntary manslaughter or some such thing.

I actually thought this would be a good idea to get all three girls out of the house.  The closer we get to "swim time" the more I'm starting to realize what a terrible idea this may have been....

Beaten with a bat

Not really.  But I feel like it.  And that makes me feel old.  The food CSA (community supported agriculture) we belong to does a work share option.  If you choose this one you pay a little less in exchange for working on the farm for 5 - 4 hours sessions during the growing season. 

Honestly I don't care about the little bit-o-money we'd save for working the farm but I thought it would be good for two reasons. 1) I could take my lil' sis out to the farm to show her what it's all about and where our food comes from and 2) it's always good to remind yourself how your food gets to your table so as not to take it for granted. 

I went and picked up my LS and headed to the farm.  I had been explaining to her what it was all about but taht I hadn't been here before either so it was going to be new for both of us.  I explained that I had to work from 8 -12.  That was our shift.  I talked about realizing where food really came from - not the grocery store.  Etc....

We get there and thankfully it had been a rainy morning and the temperature was tolerable.  (even though you could swim in the humidity....)  Our job that morning was (the two of us along with Mike and Zoe - two other workshare peeps) to weed and harvest kale.  Which I found ironic.  Or rather just funny since I NEVER know what to do with kale.  Great stress was made on the importance of speed to get as much food with the smallest amount of effort adn time.  Because we all know time is money!

It wasn't too bad.  Or so I thought.  It was better than lifting heavy crates all morning.  I was fine all bent over pulling weeds and picking kale leaves... until I stood up.  And that's when I was certain my body was going to break in half right at my hips.  I was ok for the first two hours but by the last two hours I had to stop and lean back and stretch every so often.  Of course I was working mostly with Zoe - a spry little 22 year old with no body problems in the world.  Yeah - I was feeling old.

Where was my LS during all of this??  Good question.  She's doesn't like to weed.  She got bored picking leaves.  She wandered over to the chicken and turkey for a while.  When she came back whe made it clear that she was bored and wanted to go.  I had to pull her aside and have a blunt conversation that I thought she was old enough  and mature enough to handle this type of activity.  Call it a kind, loving come-to-Jesus talk.  I didn't expect her to work as hard as the rest of us.  I just wanted her to see what was going on and try and keep herself occupied.  I'm sure she never spends any time in the country.  (as evidenced by her comment as we were leaving:  "How come there's no po-lice out here??  I don't see no po-lice??")

She did admit on the way home that it was her fault she didn't have a good time.  She said she "didn't do anything." and that prompted me to explain to her that sometimes in life you just have to buckle down and do things you don't like sometimes just to get it done. 

I'm sure that all you parents out there are probably laughing at me - or at least smiling really big - about my expereiences as a big sis.   And this might explain to some of you why I do not think that real parenting is for me.  you guys are sooo much more cut out for it!  Even just a few hours a week is really testing me.  I am a bit disappointed in that it seems more like a chore when I schedule time with her.  I'm really not enjoying it.  But on the other hand I would never quit before my year committment is up because I do understand that my LS really needs this.

skinny bitch

Last night I ran 4.5 miles at the lake.  Granted - it was probably an 11 or 12 min/ mi pace....  I usually would know except three minutes into running my beam-me-up-Scottie-fancy-GPS-watch ran out of battery... and I don't wear a "backup watch" to time my run.  Although it occurred to me when I was done I probably have a chronograph on my iPod or something...

I walked a bit to warm up (these joints need a little warmth before I can start into my trot these days) and then hit it with my bouncy- walk (aka my 12 min/ mi. pace).  My calves started tightening up immediately.  Not cramping - not bad enough for me to actually stop - but it was painful.  A few times I did "pull over" into the grass to stretch them out.  (I didn't want to get run over by rollerbladers or out-of-control-tykes on bikes!)  I'd start out jogging again and they would start to burn instantly.  I persevered.  It took me to mile marker 1.75 before the burn was out!!  WTF??  I'm convinced it was because I wore high wedge sandals to work.  (Close your gaping mouth.  Yes, I do own a pair of high wedge sandals and yes they are mine, not borrowed...)

As I was clopping along at my Clydsdale pace I was going over where this extra 35 (ok, maybe 40) extra pounds has come from since college.  (In all fairness I do not aspire to get back to my "college weight".  Honestly it was too low.  A good 10 - 15 pounds heavier than college is a healthy weight for me.)  As I was pondering this my brain jumped to the very "unhealthy" genes I'm probably carrying.  Over the past 10 years I've had several relatives on both sides die.  Two of them very unexpectedly and at young ages. 

Because of health problems in my family I've always tried to keep on top of getting all the appropriate health tests on a regular basis - ex. blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid and even arthritis indicators.  It occurred to me that even though I bitch and complain that since I've hit 30 I put in weight sooo easily it's probably a blessing in disguise.  If I was a naturally skinny bitch I wouldn't give two thoughts to my health.  I probably wouldn't work out at all.  And then I'd probably end up dead at a young age of some hereditary disease that I could have prevented if I had exercised regularly and/ or been on top of my game and always made sure I had the basics checked out by my doctor.

That said I want y'all to make sure you're getting everything checked out.  Especially if you are having a specific problem.  Even if it scares you to do it.  Even if you don't think you have the time.  Because there are people out there counting on you so you have to take good care of yourself you can take care of everyone else!!

WOW!

Have you played around yet with the new backgrounds that blogger offers??  I know MH has 'cuz I saw her background as I was going through them.

I'll stick with this for a while until I get bored with it.

Um... excuse me.

The hubby is out of town this week.  Which means 1) my dinner last night consisted of beef jerky and a gin & tonic and 2) Nikki dog sleeps in the bed with me all night.

We have a HUGE king bed.  But this is how I woke up this morning:

(please excuse my bodonkadonk in the picture.  It was very awkward trying to get these shots by myself..
..  and I was getting the evil eye from Nikki because this flash-thingy kept going off while she was trying to get some beauty sleep...)

Note in these first two image my ass hangin' off the edge of the bed, the body pillow between us, acting like Nikki's bolster:

In this picture please note aaaalllllll  that bed space that is empty.  (except for Karl Kat grooming himself on the far edge.)

What you can't tell is that I'm kinda wrapped around the upper corner of the bed too.  I'm essentially spooning with my dog.  Would have been better if my butt didn't hang off.  She's such a bed hogger....

P.S.  see that green blanket that she's not on???  That's supposed to be the dog blanket....

End of an era

Funny lady is retiring.    She gave us her notice last week and her last day will be August 18th.  She's worked here 18 years.

So please forgive me if I go bat-crazy in August.

She looks and acts like she's in her 50's.  The oldest someone thought she was was 63.  Truth is she's 70 and a half.  She deserves to kick back and enjoy the rest of her life.

She's worked her whole life and retiring was a big decision for her.  She told me and my boss at the same time that she was retiring.  She cried three times during our conversation.  I think she's a little mixed about it.

My boss:  So , what are you going to do with all your new free time??
FL:  (without skipping a beat, and through tears...) oh, I think I'll start pole dancing! 
(and continues to smile, laugh and cry at the same time.)

I'm going to miss that sense of humor!!!

Oh!! That's why!!!!

Ever have something blatantly obvious in front of you but you just don't figure it out at the moment?  And then later it dawns on you and you think what an idiot you are for not realizing it sooner??

Nope??  Just me then, I guess.

The last few days I've been feeling especially bloated.  Right now I'm eating lunch at my desk and it hits me.

DUH!  I've been packing myself full of salads for the past few days! 

Uh, ever heard of fiber???

The hubby and I belong to a CSA (food co-op kinda thing) and in the past two weeks I've gotten lots of salad greens.  The hubby really doesn't eat it and it's been piling up so yesterday I brought in all the greens and any other salad fixin's I had.  I even stopped at the grocery and bought a few things to round the bar out.  And we've been having "Office-Kitchen Salad Bar" for lunch.  ("we" as in my office.)

As I'm sitting here with my plate full-o-salad it occurred to me that I'm eating a lot of raw veggies... more than I have in a looong time.  Duh.  (insert V-8 head smack here...)

Must run in the family...

Today's funny story is actually from my brother.  Apparently I'm not the only one in the family that is prone to moments of super-stupiddom...

My brother is in CA and is starting school next month.  Until then he is trying to get better acquainted with his surrounds.  By "surroundings" I mean Orange County.  Now he doesn't have a car - which is both by choice and financial reasons.  But the OC has an extensive bus system so he was never worried that he wouldn't be able to get where he needed to go.

This past Friday he got on the bus to visit a friend north of him in Huntington Beach.  He consulted the bus system's website to get his route.  And he got there Friday just fine.  Problem was, when he went to leave on Saturday he realized not all the buses that run during the week run during the weekend.  Therefore the buses he took to get there he couldn't take to get home.  So he had to wing it. 

Apparently he's not good at "winging it".

I'll spare you the long version.  The short version:

He got on a bus at 9AM Huntington Beach.  He didn't actually get home until almost 8PM that evening.  He lives 25 miles from Huntington Beach.  Even considering terrible traffic it obviously shouldn't have taken him ALL DAY to get home.    Also, within that time frame he went back and forth through Huntington Beach a few times.  Correct me if I'm wrong but going back and forth thru your original destination is usually not the most direct route to take...

Note for travelers heading to CA and planning on using the bus system.  When they give the direction the bus is going they do not say "north", "south", "east" or "west".  It'll say something like "Los Alamos Hwy".  If you don't know where that is in relation to where you are you're screwed.  Which apparently he was....

Alas, after talking to him Saturday night I promptly got on the internet and sent him a copy of the Thomas Guide for the OC.  If you're heading to CA for any extended period of time I suggest you get one for your area.  You'll need it.  Especially if you're relying on the bus system.

wish I was more tech savvy so I could share...

Wednesday I drove to Plattsburgh for a work meeting.  It's actually quite beautiful.  It's on Lake Champlain, 30 miles from Montreal and the weather Wed and Thurs was absolutely gorgeous!

Plus I opt to drive through the Adirondacks to get there instead of an all-interstate route.  Again - gorgeous!  And this time I drove the hubby's Civis si... a little zippy 6-speed with low profile tires and almost 200 HP!!  Oh yeah - MUCH more fun than driving my Jeep!!

Since Platts. is so close to Quebec they get all sorts of Canadian radio stations.  Including the French ones.  Which totally made me laugh in my car.  This is where I wish I were more tech savvy to insert an audio file from a station so you would know what I'm talking about.

I don't speak French.  I didn't take it in HS.  I've only been to Paris once, briefly, as in only a day or so, over 15 years ago.   So to me French is a silky, sexy, romantic language.  It's easy on the ears.  And the few times I've ever heard it spoken that's how it sounds to me.  But I was channel surfing in the car and apparently tuned into a French rock station.  And they were in the middle of some contest or something.  Something NOT sexy.  The DJ was shouting on and on in French.  I could only imagine something like:

"Hurry and call in now!!!  Be caller 10 and win a deluxe trip for two to Hawaii!!!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?  A TRIP TO HAWAII!!!"

Actually I'm sure the DJ was yelling, not shouting.  It was French all right, but it was coarse and hard and just sounded... funny.  Not right at all!!

I wish I could share it with you so you could understand how ridiculous it sounded.  Alas, I can't so I'll share some photos I took instead.

Dinner overlooking the boats on Lake Champlain

Beautiful sunet over the lake

Fields of sunflowers!!!

I forgot to take picutres!

We had RR's "nuptial cookout" last Thursday at my house.  And of course I forgot to take pictures!!  (which is why it's probably a good thing I didn't go into professional photography...  forgetting to take pictures would hamper my income, I'm sure of it!)

But there was sooo much food that I brought more in the office on Friday and we continued the celebration with leftovers in the office kitchen.  I DID get a picture of this.  (That's Funny Lady in there.)

Here's some pie.  This picutre is for you Tif!!

The cookout at the house was good... unfortunately is was so DARN HOT that we could all barley stand to sit under the umbrella out on the deck.  Everyone lingered inside (in the AC) for a while before heading outside and talking.  When I mentioned going back in to get chips and other munchies everyone got up and went inside and ate everything while standing in the kitchen.  (I only have a "one butt" kitchen so I was cramped with 8 of us in there...)  While we were inside enjoying the comforts of the air the hubby was outside yelling at the grill to start properly.  Luckily finally getting it to cooperate.  The only reason everyone went back outside was because he brought the burgers inside and everyone filled their plate.  The reasonable next step was to go outside and sit and the table and eat. 

Again - hotter'n hell outside still.  No breeze.  We sat around talking for a while and then I suggested we get dessert and to do the champagne toast for the newlyweds!  I didn't have to ask twice!  Everyone was back in the kitchen.  We stayed inside for the toast and to enjoy FL's homemade strawberry pie.  YUM!!!  After dessert was over everyone left. 

The hubby commented that they were there for exactly 3 hours.  To the minute!  But in that heat I'm surprised they stayed that long!!!  Ugh! 

The heat wave is supposedly over - but it's suppose to get up to 90 today.  (which is cooler than last week!)  And I'm now making sure I take full advantage of my pool!!

How could I forget?!?!?!?

The weekend was so long that I forgot to update you on an "incident" we had Friday afternoon.  Don't worry.  KVeg has already been told this story so no one needs to worry about her sensitive nature being traumatized.  Besides, there's a happy ending.

Friday my boss let the office out early at 3 so I headed home home to do a little shrub trimming.  I did just a bit and was so zonked that I went inside to "rest" for a bit and fell sound asleep on the sofa.  While I was sleeping the hubby was trimming our tall evergreen trees with the electric hedge trimmers. 

I woke up from a deep, groggy sleep because the hubby was yelling at me to come outside.  Once I got out there he looked helplessly at me and said "I don't know what to do!"  I walked over to find three baby sparrows, with feathers but still little tufts of fuzz, on the ground, their nest above in the tree, in tatters.  Apparently the nest and the birds did not beat the match with the hedge trimmers. 

The hubby was devastated.  Two of the birds appeared fine but the third one...  well, the hubby accidentally cut one of it's legs off with the trimmers at the "knee".  I told him I wasn't sure he was going to make it.  I was pretty certain he was going to bleed to death.  After assessing the situation in another 10 minutes the bleeding appeared to stop.  The sparrow parents were on the fence behind us, I'm sure shouting obscenities at us for hurting their children and their house.

I told the hubby we need to step away and let the parents do their thing.  While we were hanging out on the deck I got online and searched what to do in this situation.  If they babies are healthy and the parents are around it says let the parents take care of it.  Since one was injured I looked up wildlife rehab in our area and found Devine Nature Wildlife Rehab Center.  Actually, the farm itself is called BMR Acres.    I called up, explained the situation and Mary Ellen told me to come on over.  So we packed up our little bird in a plastic bowl lined with tissue and set off.

Once there Mary Ellen took the bird and agreed it may or may not live.  She was going to have to feed it every 30 -60 minutes for the next few days.  We also got a tour of their facility.  It's quite the set up!!  They have a "Wish List" so the hubby and I are going to gather up some stuff and take over to them.  They're always looking for donations and items from their wish list.  So if you're cleaning out and have those things to throw away please send it to them instead.  Or send it to me and I'll make sure it gets there.

And for an even better ending...
Mary Ellen just called me to let me know that the Pegleg is doing great!!!  He's able to stand and balance on both legs.  She anticipates she'll be able to release him soon!  Thanks Mary Ellen!!!

A looong weekend

The hubby and I had a great weekend!  Sort of...

Saturday we went to Canada to visit my BFF (Rx) from junior high.  Rx, her hubby and their little girl rented a house for the weekend along with another couple they know in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Yes, that IS the name of the town.  It's a cutesy winery region so there are lots of things to do.  Since we were just up for the afternoon/ evening we just went out to dinner and hung out at the house drinking wine until we had to kick it on home.   (rather, we all drank except the hubby as he had to drive us 3 hours home...)
Good times, good times.

Sunday we went to the hubby's Aunt and Uncle's "camp" on Lake Ontario.  There were a million people there!!  Family and friends galore!  It was a good time - partly because we were able to bring the dogs so I didn't worry about them home alone nor did we have to leave early to get back to them.  There were only two minor setbacks to the day.  The hubby's cousin brought their 9 month-old baby boy.  Needless to say my MIL kept jabbing kid comments my way all day.  She even went so far as to say "you just have them and I'll raise them for you!"  Um...  if you want more kids that badly why don't you adopt???   Needless to say she still hasn't gotten the message to drop the child issue.  But at least I'm to "a place" that I don't get as worked up about it anymore.  But I still find it hard not to throw some snarky comment back at her about it.  As all DIL's know - the MIL can dish it out but they can't take it.  At least not without starting a huge fight.  So I keep my mouth shut.  And no, seeing a cute infant did not change my mind about my baby-making plans.  So for all my friends out there that are still hoping I'll change my mind - sorry.  Not happenin'.

The other setback was that Niki fell down the stairs.  But not just any stairs...  The house is built into a hill.  To get down to the water you can walk down the side of the house, down the hill or you can take the very looong, steep stairs off the back deck.  I'd been walking around with the dogs all day but apparently Niki decided she was going to give the stairs a try.  I only saw her flop down the last 4 or 5 stairs to the ground but other people said she started her fall about one-third of the way down.  Everyone ran over to her because she was just lying there.  The hubby's 11 year-old cousin even started crying because she thought she was dead!  (she wasn't the only one who thought that.)  She laid there a bit with all of us around her as I was gently poking and prodding to see where she was injured.  I couldn't find any tender spots.  After a few minutes she got up and walked off like nothing had happened!!

Faker.  She's such an attention hog!

In other news....

Have you heard the Northeast has been getting a heat wave??  The worst of it started Monday and I think should end today.  So what did I do on Monday and Tuesday??  I did lots of hard, demanding outdoor physical labor!  (of course...)

I'm hosting a cookout tonight for my office to celebrate the recent wedding of one of our staff.  This event got me to finally do something about our deck that is slowly falling apart.  Falling apart because 1) it's old and 2) the original owners didn't build it correctly and now it sags.  I do not have the time, energy or money to rebuild the deck right now (which is what's going to have to eventually happen.)  Our big "house project" this year was buying new windows so the deck is just going to have to wait.   So to by myself some time I used a product called "Restore" from Lowes.  It's not a stain and it's not necessarily a paint.  It has the consistency of a grout slurry and comes with a special roller for application.  It eventually will form a hard, non-skid surface over the deck wood.  I wouldn't use it on a new deck or anything.  But it's great as a "last resort".  Which is where we currently are....

My goal was just to refinish the walking surface prior to the cookout.  I figured we'd replace the railing (which needs to be replaced - can't wait on that one.) and paint the vertical surfaces in the next few weekends.  So on Monday I went to work removing the existing paint with a power sprayer, etc and asked the hubby to start removing the lattice insert pieces that made up the "guts" of the railing since we'll be replacing those anyway.  I looked up later and realized he removed ALL the railing.  He said he did it because it would be easier to for me to paint.  Wasn't that sweet???  It was.  Except now I have to figure out what to do for railings for our cookout since I don't want anyone accidentally falling off the side of the deck....

So all day Tuesday (which I took as a vacation day.  Some vacation.....)  I painted.  And painted more.

Did I mention we're in a heat wave???   Did I mention we have a HUGE deck???  (almost 500 sqft!!)

Yes I wore sunscreen (70+, no less) and a hat, shorts and a bathing suit top.  My cheeks still got pink!!  (yes, I reapplied throughout the day.)  And Tuesday when the hubby went to put the sunscreen on me he noticed - well, it's kind of hard not to notice - that my back had broken out terribly from all the sweat and sunscreen the day before.  When I say "broken out" I don't mean a few blocked pores here and there.  It's like a rash!  I'm covered!! It's quite disgusting, actually.  I'm not burnt at all.  But I think that was my body trying to tell me not to do physical outdoor labor in a HEAT WAVE!!!  Needless to say I will not be wearing a tank top this evening at the cookout. 

I'll try and take some pictures of the Par-tay this evening to share.  And I'll try not to make it so long until my next post!!

I'm home!

Sorry to be so delinquent in posting but dad doesn't have internet or internet access of any kind.  But that's ok because I had the worst head cold (or allergies - still TBD) while I was with him. 

For those of you who caringly asked - Dad is doing great.  He had a protruding disc that needed fixin'.  Originally they were going to just "trim it" but the night before the doc called and said he'd changed his mind - he was going to remove it.  Dad has this same surgery about 7-8 years ago and was in the hospital a week.  This time the doctor was able to do it less invasively and he only had to spend the night.    Can I just say Dad on Percoset is a hoot!

As expected Dad was flirting with all the nurses even in pre-op.  (He'd say he was just being nice but I call it flirting...)  He even had the Chaplin crackin up.  He was still crackin 'em up after surgery in his room when he was all high on Percoset (and lord knows what else they gave him.)  Funny guy, as usual!

I stayed all week and didn't end up leaving until Saturday.  I made an overnight pit stop in VA and then got home around 9pm Sunday night.  Needless to say I was pooped yesterday and not in the mood to start blogging. 

But there's more to this story (there always is...) and I'll fill in some details more later today or tomorrow.