scribble brain

contribution:
i have a square in the office superbowl pool. one square. my numbers are appalling. i should just send an email to the office now, acknowledging how pleased i am to have been able to assist someone in his or her compilation of a really kick-butt weekend-fun fund

anticipation:
i'm having my friends over again tonight for our once-a-month foray into the world of "the evil around us" and above and beyond the "gifts" i have for two of them, i'm also just really really excited to see them all and share some fun and laughter

addiction:
my daughter is utterly addicted to Frofy the Sneman (translation - Frosty the Snowman). her stuffed snowman is her all time favorite toy (you know, the one she has to have with her or at least in her line of sight at all times, the one she can't sleep without...), she makes at least one member of the household (usually no fewer than two) sing the song at least 3 times a day, and at 21 months she knows most of the lyrics and can sing them with enough clarity that just about anyone listening would know them as well as she does.
fortunately her addiction isn't so full-blown as to be exclusive, as she still enjoys making mama sing pretty much all the kid songs i can dredge from my memory cells on a fairly regular basis as well

sacrifice:
in spite of some recent contraindicators from my body, i have tentatively scheduled myself to donate blood this Thursday. there is still the chance that something like a non-sinking blood drop will disqualify me from sacrifice, but this time, for some reason, i actually feel compelled to participate. when i get a gut feeling like this, i comply.

temptation:
there are 5 errant sandies (escaped from a 100 calorie snack pack) sitting on my desk. i was unable to find their bag this morning, so I threw them in my pocket and headed out the door. i don't know how many calories they contain, but the little devil on my left shoulder keeps telling me that if they're not in a bag, they're calorie free

distraction:
i have been passing time over the last week "shopping" for a really awesome valentine's day gift for my husband. i have a couple of things that i think he'll like, but i'm still struggling against that one gift that is bound to make him really happy. ... well, other than that.

resolution:
i have resolved that this year i am going to send my last three years' history (probably a la pictogramicon mini photo album) to my friend Mausi in Germany. i miss her more than i can frame in words, and i feel like a serious jerk/loser/crumb for not having resumed contact sooner

that's all for today...

but...

i wanted to blog again over the weekend, but... i spent the best part of saturday cutting and splitting over a cord of firewood

and

i was going to go to the drugstore to collect the insulin and accoutrements for my cat over the weekend, but... my oh so thoughtful husband ran the errand for me, so that Sunday could actually be a flat-out pajama-Sunday

i need to take more pictures
(fortunately the phrase "need to take" reminded me to take my daily vitamin (a habit i don't participate in on the weekends, so Mondays are always tough for me)

i fell asleep and awakened with a headache
i feel rather sleepy, and still suffer the monday morning blues when it means kissing the baby goodbye in the morning

short

BB&T Bank is in my book of heros... right beside Marketplace for spreading the good word.

i like businesses that practice ethical behaviour

i might try to post again this weekend, but if not, perhaps that little nugget of joy will keep you glowing too.

lincoln mc sunnyvale and francey pants

today my tea tastes great... i have had a very decent day

work-wise
i completed two major projects that i didn't think would be as easy as they seemed once i got into them

crossover
during lunch (which is technically personal time, but dang doesn't it still feel like you're at work) i blew up my surge protector power strip. no, there weren't any pyrotechnics, but all at once (the same once when the heater, the fridge, the computer, both lights, and the space heater were running at the same time) all things electric stopped, and the mortal silence of non-working machines fell across the office. my first thought was that i had popped a circuit breaker. so, yeah, i had to call the facilities staff (this is a very risky proposition, because if you don't get the right guy, they take away all your "fire hazards"). the guy came up and worked for many minutes on trying to reset the breaker, which yielded no real results. so i asked, in that "pardon-my-ignorance-about-all-things-electrical-but-i'm-a-girl-so-you-have-to" voice if he thought it might be the surge strip. no, he didn't think so, but to humor me he said he'd check just to see. it was the power strip. i could have fixed it myself, without involving "the man".
bah - i don't care... at least my kitchen is up and running again.

life
the title of the post is to pay the nod to my readers who i don't know who they are... except you Allison, but i liked the sound of francey pants so much that i had to use it. especially because i think that some of your scrapping looks like it goes remarkably well with the phrase "francey pants" (yes, i really do like it that much). i like that i have anonymous friends... i like my not so anonymous ones too... i'd feel utterly miserable if i omitted anyone.
anywho... tonight is the relative end of a rather long period of staying at home and vegging with myself and the baby for a while. no, i'm not running out and around every night like a long long time ago, but the next few weeks have really busied themselves up... friends over on tuesday, a visit to another friend sometime that week, the following week is a witches playing bingo night with my husband (who doesn't know yet that i have decided to go) and a trip to see elmo's coloring book, and a visit from a globe-trotting friend, and probably a weekend birthday party (which means a trip to hallmark sometime sooner than then) and on and on the list goes on... all the way up to valentine's day (for which i hope to have a handmade gift or two already done) and the week after that is my husband's birthday (which means, at the very least, a decadent cake for dessert) and then the month is over already and heck, who knows HOW much time i'll have to kick back in my jammies and relax!

ok - purge complete.

three on a match

i've never done this before, but it's been a slow week (lots of work, not a lot of fun-time) and i'd been feeling a little uninspired until i read Katrina's purse blog hot on the heels of Kassi's purse blog .

this is my purse

it's a very pragmatic tool.

i've been addicted to messenger-type bags for several years now. my cat peed in the first and best one i ever owned, it was just the right size, black, and said "Get Over It" on the outside. i still have it - - hoping, i suppose, for the day when they come up with a fully functioning version of "piss-be-gone; feline".

the last one i had was too big, and got too heavy with everything i wanted to cram into it all the time. it's currently serving double duty as the baby's toys-for-the-trip bag and my backup, should something horrible befall the new bag (above). while i'm not totally keen on the color; the size, construction, and ease of everything with this bag is unsurpassed.

-the small pouch on the front holds things like stamps, shout wipes, my badge for work, breath strips and a lip gloss.

-the zippered pouch of the same size on the inside holds the absolutely indispensible foundation, powder, and mini-mirror.

- there's a zippered pocket on the inside for check book and other seldom-used but important to have stuff.

- there's a pocket for my cell phone on one side and a pen/pencil pocket on the other.

- the two larger flaps on the outside are perfectly sized for papers that i need to take to or from work and for teabags and coupons, respectively.

- and the main cavity is large enough to accomodate a journal, two wallets (one for cards one for cash), an emergency kit, and my camera with plenty of room to spare (as in i could probably fit spare pairs of socks and underwear in there if i needed to). i usually use the extra space for a bottle of diet coke.

- and the strap is FULLY adjustable.

i think the best part, though, is that it (like Katrina's) was a super bargain find. while shopping for holiday wear for my daughter (at Old Navy) it was on the "we-really-have-to-get-rid-of-this-stuff" rack and i think i paid something insane like $3 for it.

When it falles apart, i'm using it for a pattern for it's replacement.

down 10

i did it. i'm down ten more... with only 25 pounds until i hit my first goal

i hippity hopped like mad on friday and saturday and even a little on monday (which would have been more, but the difficulty is significantly increased when your hopping with your 25+ pound daughter on your lap).

my birthday weekend was full of lovely spoiling - from a Sunday Evening comfort dinner at my favorite restaurant (whose website, admittedly, could use some serious upgrading), to a half a day off from work and shopping with the family and a fun "we made it together dinner" and me and mom and baby made cupcakes and strawberry frozen yogurt for dinner... not to mention earrings galore (ok, just two pairs, but they're two really wonderful pairs) and a train case suitcase that i SHALL use for my new jewelry box, and the beginning of my savings for my butt-kick wish-list ice cream machine, and some spending cash.

and what's more - work today has been mostly kind, keeping me busy but not crazy.

Weighting for Godot

it's been almost a month since i've weighed myself. i've been fairly diligent about what I'm eating, and increasing my activity - though I still don't do what anyone in the fitness industry would call exercise. I've had a few slip-ups here and there, nothing major, but enough to put me at the top end of (or even slightly over) my strictly regulated caloric intake for the day. I've had some really good days, too, though, when my will to slim was high enough to conquor the "i could still have another 300 calories today, what's in the freezer" moments.

long story short - i'm sort of afraid of what i'm going to see when i get on the scale on monday morning.

my hope is to have lost about 10 pounds. i still don't know what to expect.

of course if it's significantly less than i hope, it will be a great inspiration to forego the somewhat extravagant birthday meal i have planned for myself, in favor of something more like chicken. ;0) not that anyone knows this yet, but the whole reason i'm waiting until monday to make my birthday cupcakes (only 125 calories each, w/o frosting) is because if i haven't lost enough to feel moderately successful, i'm making a chocoloate cake - which I won't eat - at least not more than a bite or two).

drawing blanks

which i suppose it better than shooting them

i just don't have much to say today. i think it's because it's not friday... i'd really like friday today. it's been a long week.

yawn - - -

ultra-quick

i got some solid sleep last night

i'm debating on a new pay as you go cell phone plan

and i'm more than just a little bit struggling against the urge to pop and eat an entire bag of popcorn, just to have something more interesting than work to do with my hands.

bookplates and napping

i napped again last night. not good considering the day i had and the day ahead. 2 hours of sleep to face the monster of a broken report, the additional monster of a report that needs updating, and the third monster (or perhaps just the third head of the one monster?) being all of the remaining reports that i absolutely, positively must deliver by c.o.b. Friday.

no... graciously i do not have to do them all today

depending on how the day pans out, there is a good chance that i will (and i mean WILL) get a couple of the other reports out of the way... even though monster (head) number one looms (with venomous ooze dangling from rows of razor teeth above my head an ever-present but unmentioned threat...).

on the bright side, i woke this morning to find a gift attached to my keys... mildly frustrating not to be able to just push the button and start my car, but i LOVE presents. this one had lustery silver wrapping and a delicious black silky ribbon and - best of all - a book plate on the front. i LOVE bookplates. they're little testaments to permanence. they're mini-deeds. they're delightful yet serious reminders that not only is the book YOURS, but it's so very yours that you didn't even have to sully the page with scrawled initials, or the always smudged scribble of your signature of ownership on one of the leading pages.

my friend K (funny, here i was keen to write KG, which makes me smile because it's one of those license plate words for cagey, which is something she is not... at least not with her friends) sent it home for me with my husband. it was one of the best timed early birthday gifts i have ever received. partly because when i got home yesterday i very plainly wondered when my birthday was coming (and for the first time since my pre-teen years wished the week between then and then away). what's more, even better than the timing, is the book itself - beautifully packaged, and perfectly chosen. it's Memoirs of a Geisha. a book i know i have to read before seeing the movie i - with my passion for production values - desperately want to see.

i'm going to try to get some work done. if i manage enough, i'm thinking i might make it a sick day afternoon and go home and read until my eyes blur and slip into a nap

in short

the weekend was good -
good food, good company, good times

in spite of the fact that most of the world is not working today, i'm a bit buried and might feel better about posting more later, or tomorrow.

a quick aside... i am trying to convince myself that celery is better than ice cream.

fri-diddley-day

harsh reality:
work is the last thing on my mind right now.

oh sure, I'll be struggling on Monday, but right now i want to be with my family on a nice warm sunny beach with the crashing of waves and salt in the air. i want carribean blue in sea and sky and the whispering of palms up above. while i'm at it, i wouldn't mind someone from the resort to bring me a heahtly and fulfilling breakfast, lunch, dinner, and random snacks.


shuddersome thought:
i will likely be 38 years old before i hit my goal weight... IF i hit my goal weight.

diggin' the moment:
in less than 8 hours i'll be on my way home for the weekend.

feeling forever young

just a quick comment.

while listening to the radio today i heard something about thousands of michigan seniors, and my first thought was about a bunch of 17 and 18 year old kids who are already thinking about may and june...

the story continued on to the new Prescription Drug "benefits" (i just can't write it without cringing) and it actually took me a while to ir-reconcile the two images, and actually get the idea of senior citizens in my head.

it made me laugh at myself... in the best possible way.

i love it when i crack me up!

switcharoo

early in 2003 when we started dating, i used to be the one who would stay up all night - mostly driving, or wanting to talk - and then nap for an hour or so and get up to start my day.

i kept this up the entire time we were dating... almost.

then we got married.
and suddenly - along with the advancement of the pregnancy - in which nothing happened suddenly - i was utterly unable to stay awake at night (except of course the night before the induction, which, i believe, was the last night i willingly stayed up all night and then after a short nap started the next day, which WAS ridiculous, because after all, you're supposed to ENSURE that you get buttloads of sleep the night before you have your baby and all...)

there have been times, of course, when the woeful crying of my daughter has kept me up all night, or for the better part of the night... and times since then when her somnabatics and bad dreams have done the same... but for the most part, these days, i'm in bed by 9:30 or 10, and asleep by 10 or 10:30. I usually get a good 7 to 8 hours of sleep on weeknights, more on weekends if the baby complies (which she usually does). i can function with less... usually, especially on weekends.

last night my darling husband, who used to be the one drifting off by 10pm - in the middle of conversations no less - stayed up until my alarm went off this morning. he'll be awake in another hour or maybe an hour and a half to go on with his work day. it's not the first time he's done this, and i have the very distinct feeling that it won't be the last.

certainly i could blame the baby for my change in sleep pattern, but that doesn't explain away my husbands. so, just this once, rather than pinning it all on the smidge, i'm going to go out on a limb and say, with almost absolute confidence, that my beloved mate went and pulled a switcheroo on me, stole my nocturnal me, and gave me the powers of sleep-amoeba.

tom dooley

not that i'm going to die or anything, but i'm definitely hanging my head in shame.

i didn't do any laundry last night.

instead i aired up my grownup hippity hop, and spent some serious hopping time with my daughter last night (i got her hoppity horse for Christmas, and my mom got me the hippity hop).
the best part was that it was totally as much fun as i remembered from my childhood, though significantly more work!

still, it was WAY better than doing laundry.

mo' doe

i have some extra minutes

i thought i'd regale you all with a little more about me.

diet and weightloss:
for the last almost 4 weeks i have been eating salads for the majority of my lunches. plain salads, no meat, no cheese, and ultra-low-fat salad dressing. every now and again, to fill the occasional void, lunch is accompanied by a cup of ultra-nothing chicken broth and knudles (my krab spelling for what they expect to pass as noodles in this "soup"). on the whole, my average daily lunch rings in at about 50 calories. it's how i'm dealing with the urge to lose weight AND have a healthy, normal looking dinner with my daughter nightly. (breakfast - at least for the winter - is oatmeal, an ounce of 2% milk, and 1/2 teaspoon of splenda brown sugar - which is something like 200 calories all told) i take a lot of vitamins, calcium supplement, and have a couple of low cal snaks during the rest of the day between now and dinner. i still don't work out. mostly because i'm lazy, though i like to blame it on the baby and how i already spend enough time away from her... let's none of us mention that i work on the 9th floor of a building equipped with stairways and a parking lot big enough that i could easily rack up several hundred steps a day getting to and from my car. to "make up for" this laziness, i fidget and prohibit the use of the back of my office chair... the latter only until i can sort through the detritus of the garage and find my yoga ball (what i've previously used as a chair until the people who think they know what's best for me came and took it away).

results of the weekend:
i have two burns on my left hand courtesy of the elements at the top of the little oven while attempting to retrieve toast
i have a fairly deep bruise on my right knee - a gift from mother nature who apparently diapproved of my participation in the hacking apart of her well-wrought trees
i discovered that with a little help my husband can make a particularly butt-kickin' pot roast

self discovery:
i like lip-gloss... again, i suppose. i used to use it in gradeschool - even some in high school, come to think of it. then after discovering the wonders of rum-raisin and british red coat and anything else dark or red lipsticks , i decided that the translucence and usual gooiness of shiney weren't really for me. a "Tarte" sample pack (a holiday gift from my mom) led me to believe otherwise lately. point to ponder - this could be merely because lately i've been going absolutely makeup free, and lipgloss might actually be my gateway cosmetic...

pensive, pending:
a little over a year ago i arrived at the conclusion that an old friend and i had little enough in common and that we were moving in such opposite directions that it would be best if i simply absented myself from her life. there are still some things that keep me from contacting her - cheif among them being my increasing desire to keep my social level on my own terms (as much as possible) - but i still think of her and there are some occasions when i find myself almost wanting to let her know. i don't think we'll ever be friends again - almost certainly never the kind of friends we were "way back when..." - but i have a candle burning for her.

laundry update:
i am wearing my christmas clothes, primarily because i don't have all that many clean clothes left in my wardrobe. tonight is laundry night. my husband is bringing dinner home with him so i don't have to cook, and i'm swearing off tv until i get at least one load of laundry taken care of. fortunately my daughter enjoys doing laundry (you should see how she folds a towel - um, something like folding anyway) and i can keep her occupied with me while i'm doing it.

i think that's it, end of update... at least for now.

john doe day

it's been an average day since it started.
woke up rested, but a little bit late
hair and wardrobe functional but nothing noteworthy
got in to work on time
got some work done
didn't get some other work done
sky is kinda sunny kinda hazey

just finished oatmeal for brunch

i don't have any great expectations for the afternoon

and when i get home, i'm likely to be making chicken for dinner

so tired

the baby had a rough night last night - - - right after the cat ratcheted up a real hum-dinger of a hairball

the cat started just after 1am, and i was just drifting back to sleep at about 2 when the baby started in

i didn't really get to sleep, originally, until close to 11 and i didn't really ever get back to sleep after the hairball

i spent most of my early-morning-awake-in-bed time thinking about the ramifications of shaving the cat vs. getting him one of those vet-cones to wear at all times (except while eating).

no - i can't give him laxatone or anything like that... they're all full of corn syrup (to make the cat want to eat them) and my G-man is a diabetic. sigh...

noisesome

but first a word from my stomach
which reminds us that forgetting the mere 2oz of milk for your morning weight control oatmeal changes "breakfast" to "slightly cinnamon flavored wallpaper paste eating event"

we now return to normal programming
maybe I shouldn't have asked during a football game. maybe i should have just decided to do it myself all along... i'm fairly adept at most things mechanical if i set my mind to it. whatever maybe i should have listened to, i should have listened.

last week my dad changed the utterly mankified air filter on my car (when i took elliot for an oil change earlier in the month, the guy at my favorite oil change place demonstrated how filthy it was by shaking the leaves and debris all over the floor of his nicely maintained shop). my car is new. the engine is full of wonderful new-fangled contraptions, devices, and otherwise stated - booby traps.

the last two days i have been driving around in a car that sounds like it has a muffler crack in the engine block. (my original thought was to say that it sounded like an old man on a cabbage and chili diet, but i thought it was too graphic - then i changed my mind, cos i sort of like graphic sometimes)

loud.

noisesome.

utterly painful for me, as i could actually hear my fuel efficiency slipping away as i drove the 50 or so mile route to and from work. i put two and two together yesterday and decided to check on the air filter contraption.

sure - changing an air filter is one of those wonderful few things you can generally do on your own with a little patience (evil evil evil clippy things) and only the tiniest bit of mechanical ability. but getting the lid back on has almost always (except in the BIG old cars when/where it was nothing more than the flippity flip spinning of a wing nut) been something of a trick.

elliot is very tricky... and quite frankly, a little tough.

i'll spare you the gory details - short story - dad didn't put the lid back on correctly. i spent about a half an hour, in the cold and wet struggling with figuring out how to eliminate the gap between the cover and the base, and then, once i got that squared away, another 10 minutes romancing the clips into seating themselves properly.

at least i don't have any bruises from the endeavour.

and wonderful elliot is purring down the road once again.

SNAFU

i had the blessed good fortune of having my husband need to come all the way out to where I work this week... today even. he brought my refrigerator (mini) and microwave up to my office for me, and opened and "installed" them as well.

that was when the good luck ended.

my original thought with the fridge was to stash it under my desk, where the plugs are, and no extension cordage would be required. no room for knees, and hubby had to relocate it to the across the room spot... where there is no cord, and i have no extension cord, so coolness is on hold.

the microwave was, unbeknownst to us, a casualty of careless handlers, and after what we construed to be a horrendous fall, was dented seriously enough that the door didn't open. back in the box, back downstairs to the car, and back to the store where hopefully the understanding folk will accept it as a return and a suitable replacement can be acquired at a similarly reasonable price.

finally with the boxes cleared away and the desk cleaned off and the morning well underway, i decided to put the v. lovely frame i purchased for my daughter's artwork to work. i think it has missing pieces. i had to tape the picture to the mat, and pack the back with a rubber-banded collection of rolodex cards to keep the glass from slipping/tilting back through the almost 1 inch gap between the front of the frame and the back. This is the finished product (complete with flash-back because I didn't have a good shot without the flash on...) :

it's come back now... the luck... i made it good again. at least for a while. and it's not like i can't bring in an extension cord. right?

btw - isn't she GREAT with violet?