Happy Birthday Me

Today is my birthday and it makes me happy.

I'm spreading out the celebrations for five days, an extravaganza. 

The puppy and I even had a mini-party.

Yesterday my marmy took me out for lunch and a pedicure.

Today we had a birthday potluck at work.

Tonight Tom will give me my birthday present.

Tomorrow, dinner with friends.

Saturday luncheon with my ladies, followed by a late night house party.

Ending the birthday fun with Sunday dinner with the family.

So grateful for the wonderful people in my life.

I am loved.

Blessed.

Amazed.

And I Quote

"That it will never come again

is what makes life so sweet."
-- Emily Dickinson

My loves

Done!

What we accomplished today:

1. Tom swept and cleaned floors
2. contained blankets in nice new basket
3. gave the puppy a bath
4. cleaned the puppy's ears
5. Tom cleaned the toilet/bathtub/mirror
6. cleaned the bathroom sink, including surrounding sink accessories i.e., soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, q-tip jar, and mini-mirror
7. planned Monday dinner
8. scored 9 out of 10 on my accounting quiz
9. studied for Thursday's accounting midterm
10. bought puppy food
11. watched 3 or 4 episodes of The Sopranos
12. ate tomato soup
13. went to lunch with mom and dad
14. stopped @ Costco for cleaning wipes, laundry detergent, and avocados
15. took a nap

I love productive yet relaxing days.

Grumpy Gills

SO.
I started my period yesterday and it turned me into a mean monster.

Usually my time of the month comes and goes with nothing more than a slight disruptance in my love life. I tend to be tired and a generic cloud of ennui follows me around. But I have noticed that when I'm not eating much and exercising hard (like I am now), the hormonal changes seem to effect me more.

The morning started out with cramps but I managed to do my hour of cardio okay. Oh but wait -- mid-workout I had to make an emergency trip to the bathroom because I had begun menstruating which jumpstarted a day filled with things that annoyed me.

• the movie theatre was cold
• my husband kept getting up to pee during the movie -- a record THREE times
• I didn't/shouldn't/couldn't get fries at In N Out
• Target no longer carries the pet carpet cleaner I like
• I was hungry all day
• when we laid down to take a nap, the puppy kept making a throw up noise
• which made me have to take the puppy outside but not before she threw up on the carpet
• and I have no good pet carpet cleaner (see item four)
• friends came over for the basketball finals ... enough said
• friends brought over red wine which I don't like
• on period and couldn't have sex
• didn't sleep well; had a crick in my neck

And now it's morning. I'm at work. I'm feeling better. But man oh man. Yesterday was one of those days when I should have just quarantined myself away from all humans and read a book. I hated everything and everything pissed me off. Thank all the gods my husband is understanding and has a sense of humor. Before our nap he told the puppy: "you and mom have one thing in common: you're both bitches."

And I actually laughed a little before I rolled my eyes and kept being one.

Sometimes it's therapeutic to be a bitch.

Image

Invader Day #2

All right. The mouse traps are set, complete with peanut butter, which the mouse trap instructions tell us is best. We have one mouse but we put out two in different places. The traps say "100% Guarantee!" so how can we go wrong?

Nothing caught.



I was really looking forward to a dead mouse this morning. If we don't catch the bastard by tomorrow morning, we're switching to the glue traps. I know I'm a vegetarian and I get caught up in ethics causes but I don't care if you hate me for using them or if the world thinks I'm a terrible person; mice do not belong in my house infecting us all with the hantavirus (which I didn't know was one word until I googled it -- ha!). I will use whatever I can to get rid of them. Invaders beware, if you come to my house, you will get fucked up.

Worst of all, the puppy ran in, saw the peanut butter and tried to eat it which made the trap close on her widdle lip.

Poor puppy.

Asshole mouse.





Hantavirus Image

 

The Youth List

Things I will do today to keep me young for tomorrow:

1. Sleep on my back
2. Moisturize
3. Drink half my weight in ounces of water
4. Hug my puppy
5. Love my husband
6. Eat an apple
7. Read a good book
8. Gab and cackle with my friends
9. Organize my time
10. Forgive my shortcomings
11. Drive fast with the radio loud
12. Wear sunglasses
13. Laugh heartily at anything I find funny
14. Take a nap and then go to the gym
15. Sing show tunes
16. Brush and floss my teeth
17. Daydream

Widowed

My husband is gone to a training summit up some stupid canyon until Friday.
My stupid knee is hurting me so I don't think I'll go to ballet tonight.
Instead, I'm going to take myself out to dinner @ Happy Sumo.
Followed by some 'Closer.'
And some in-bed reading.
For the rest of the week:
    Ballet
    Cold sleeping

For some reason when Tom is not in the bed, I can never get warm. Hopefully it will be better with the puppy there. She's never been alone with just me for so long and I'm sure she'll start to become despondent and make her sad face. But I'll be making a sad face too. It's not that I hate being alone, and really, this is a very short amount of time (last time he went to China for 6 weeks ... ick) but I start to get bored with no one to talk to. I start to become jumpy and scared to run the water because I'm listening for killers. Who is going to laugh at commercials with me? And pat my back when the scary sprinklers turn on at 5AM?

Well, me and the puppers will have to tough it out.
We'll go for runs in the park and catch up on our trash TV.
I'm going to paint my fingernails.
Read all my library books.
But still miss him.

Puppy Party Planning

The puppy will be turning ONE on July 17th.

And, of course, we're throwing a birthday party.

The only problem with throwing a party is that it requires me to plan it.

I have yet to pick a park,

pick a time, 

invite people,

choose food,

and get a dog-friendly birthday cake.

But at least her one year old pictures are taken care of.

Photo by J&J Wright

(My very good friends)

Isn't she a little love bug?

Where O Where

Where have I been? Well, I've been busy. As you know, my birthday was Monday the 19th. Here's what's happened since:

• Shopping excursion with Mr. Tom which resulted in some great finds for him and me, most especially, my nude heels. Ultra fab.
• Bad headache which made me miss ballet.
• Discovered a yummy Thai restaurant close to home.
• Learned my new job ... which I love.
• Got a mani-pedi. The pedicure was great, as always; I won't be getting a manicure again. Apparently I hate it when other people work on my hands. Weird.
• Went to Cass's and Michael's wedding, which was beautiful.
• Went to a birthday party.
• Went to lunch @ Thaifoon with my sister-in-law. Yum-O.
• Bought the most wonderful headband.
• Mom made me a yummy birthday dinner and cake.
• The Cowboy Brothers came in 1st on Amazing Race.
• I bought a pink iron.
• The puppy barked at the ironing board. Hilarious.

And now I'm busy with work and finding a new apartment. Where does time go?

A Charmed Life

Today was possibly the best Monday in the history of Mondays.

It started out early early in the morning. On Sunday night we tried to make a frozen lasagna; we set the oven, we set the timer, we went upstairs to veg out. Ding ding! And then downstairs for some yummy eats ... oh, but we forgot to turn on the oven. So now we wait for another TWO hours. In the meantime we enjoy a glass of wine and watch 'Mallrats' (never before seen in our lifetime) and as Sunday passes into Monday, we enjoy our lasagna in bed together. Before we go to sleep, Tom wishes me a happy birthday.

3 hours later, I wake up to go to work. Time to start my new and improved job. Can I just say: I am going to love it. Best job ever. My friends helped me celebrate my birthday with some treats and a 24 pack of Diet Coke. Friends at work make work survivable.

Then it's time to hop in my sunny but old car. I love the smell of the old car on hot days. It reminds me of the first time Tom and I took it out for a ride. We rolled down the windows and drove fast on deserted roads. Plus, the car's evil spirits disappear when the sun comes out; no squeaking, no squealing, no scraping of windshields. I stopped by the PO Box to pick up my newly arrived leotards (hooray!) and chuckled to myself at the jam packed PO Box ... they know I work for the Postal Service and must hate me. My new InStyle is here and 3 Pottery Barn catalogues.

And then I arrive at my mom and dad's house. My mom is sitting outside on a lawn chair and she waves to me as I drive up. The dogs are running around with my puppy. Dad joins us, sitting right on the grass and playing with the dogs. I'm worried my dog will overheat and DIE from chasing the dogs, so I get her a few ice cubes and we all laugh at how she collapses into the cool grass. My family wishes me a happy birthday, hugs all around, before I leave for home.

Ballet later tonight.

Life is good.
Life is happy.
Life is simply wonderful.

Puppy Love

Warning: this post may make you vomit.

Our puppy is 9 months old and she is the best puppy in the world.

Marie Antoinette (big name, little dog) is our Frenchie.

She loves racing Tom up the stairs,

rolling around on the floor,

licking Tom's feet,

sleeping in the middle of the bed,

and she loves pants for some weird reason

-- I think she likes it when our feet pop out the legs.

When we are home together we sometimes lay on the floor with her and let her crawl all over us,

snorting and sniffing and kissing our faces.

When we wake up in the morning,

she stretches on the floor and rolls over so we can pet her belly.

When we drive in the car,

she sits facing the back of the seat so she can rest her head.

All of these things make her nothing but lovable.

And make her nothing but ours.

Accomplishment Is...

working for 8 hours

changing the sheets on the bed

tidying the bathroom counter

cleaning the bedside tables

organizing the hubs' desk

organizing my desk

hiding the unsightly mail pile

two loads of laundry washed, dried, and put away

taking all the garbage out

feeding the puppy

making love

sleeping at peace

Perfection

Bonjour, Marie Antoinette.

You are perfectly lovely.

You seem to have been made

just for us.