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?

to the victor

...go the spoils

no... this isn't all she got, but it is definitely a version of it that makes me smile.

yes... my baby girl is a fan of Teletubbies, also of Sesame Street, and the story people from Boohbah as well (she's not all that interested in the boohbah's themselves). for her legal edification she occasionally watches Judge Judy, and from time to time in the evenings will study the whatnot and whoosie of American Justice and City Confidential on A&E.

she also likes ducks. so does her mother.

post holiday putty

Remember the really cool photo of the rather unorthodox Christmas tree? This is what that space looks like without it there - - - this is what that space looks like now.

I absolutely shudder to think of how bland, naked, boring... pedestrian everything seems when it's not decorated.

I've decided that I'm going to invest the random Target giftcards i've received in the purchase of a very nice 11x14 frame and some matboard so that I can properly decorate the wall of bland with my daughter's "artwork".

5 down

i started seriously dieting on December 12th... about two weeks before Christmas.

my best present to myself - through the bulk of the season i have lost 5 pounds

my best present from my loving and supportive family - not a single one of them has said a thing about "water weight"

yes, we all know where the five pounds fell from, but the absolute act of love in not voicing it it priceless to me.

the most amusing part - for me at least - is that all through this holiday season, while faced with cookies, treats from vendors, cakes, and a plethora of other sweets... the only things i found myself CRAVING to the point of almost cheating were a McDonald's Big Mac and an order of deep fried cheese curds from A&W. i didn't succumb to either... at least not yet.

my ultimate goal is to lose another 65 pounds.
i hope that none of the clothes i got for Christmas this year will fit me at Christmas next year.
i'd like to be smaller than i was when i started working for this company
(or at least the same size)
i would really really really like to fall into the realm of the "average American woman" rather than several dress sizes above it
ha - i would really really really like to be the size that many people profess to think i am!
most of all, though, i would like to be a healthy weight that will help me keep up with my wonderful daughter, that will help me make it into my 40's, 50's and 60's with a healthier self, and that will help me feel like the woman I know I am

nagging reminders

for a short but very meaningful time i lived in England - a few hours out of London in a city called Norwich (pronounced Norrich - or Norridge if you're a long time local).

apart from missing my family and friends and the fact that I had to drive an hour (albeit a lovely country-road hour) to see my cat (quarrantine) a couple of times a week, it was a very happy time in my life. i met some really wonderful people - some of whom I still send Christmas cards - and lived a fairly peaceful (if sometimes challenging) life. it wasn't idyllic - what life REALLY is? - but it was pleasant, fun, friendly, and it suited me very well.

lately there have been reminders of England all around me. last night while watching the Food Network Gingerbread House Challenge there was a commercial for some company offering up a Narnia sweepstakes to win a trip for 4 to London. one of the folks from another blog i stop in on now and again is spending her Christmas in London. even my company is focusing a lot of its attention on our UK operations in the coming year.

the thing is, i'm not really sure how it's making me feel.

for a long time after i came back, i was painfully "homesick".
for a few years after, i would find myself thinking of that home often and fondly, but not with the same longing.
it's been 10 years, now, and apart from the occasional reminder (and Christmas card) England has become mostly just another lovely country to put on the list of places i'd like my daughter to visit.
but lately with reminders and the sentimentality that is bred of holiday seasons, thoughts of England have been hitting me differently... with a definite hint of that long ago longing, and another hint of wonder...

i do know i'm leary of a visit for fear of finding myself once again miserable at the thought of leaving.

that's all... just my thoughts on it... incomplete as they are.

lifting my holiday spirits...

yesterday my husband asked me if anything wonderful had happened

it depends on how you define wonderful, I was thinking... if you mean full of wondering how the guy who had my job before me could have his head so far up his butt as to leave me a report so hackneyed that i couldn't possibly get meaningful data from it after working on the same report for no less than 12 hours over the course of 2 days, then yes, i indeed had a wonder-full day...

obviously that is not the type of wonderful my husband meant.

how do i know?

when i walked through the doors this morning, envious of the beautiful all white bouquet that was waiting at the security desk for some lucky girl, my security friends informed me that *I* was the lucky girl.

my loving husband, my dear M.T. had sent me a very spirited, completely white and green -
my A L L T I M E F A V O R I T E
- bouquet of:
* gerbera daisies,
* calla lilles,
* roses,
* Eastery looking lilies,
* a pretty flower that (much to my chagrin) i can't identify,
* some fluffly soft white stuff that looks something like a queen Anne's lace, but definitely isn't,
* baby's breath,
* and loads of long needled pine boughs
in a very pretty snowflake patterned vase!

it is exactly what i needed after yesterday's day of fiasco, and to help a slightly waning Christmas mood

i can't even tell you how wonderful (as in full of wonder that anything could lift my spirits after the day i had on wednesday) i feel

p.s. - it smells absolutely incredible in my office!

Tickety Boom

today is my dad's 60th birthday. i took him to a U of M game last month to celebrate... we both love the games... it was a nice surprise and a special treat. today, well, this morning, while he was still snoring away, i decorated the house (i.e. put up a scooby doo "happy birthday" banner) and left his "traditional" birthday gift on his chair.

my dad is really really bad about wrapping Christmas gifts. when i was younger, i used to do it for him - for extra cash. lately, though, my time has been scarce and i'm lucky to get my own gifts wrapped (more than half of my holiday giving this year is "wrapped" in holiday and seasonal themed lunch bags... and yes, i know how horrible that is, but i figured it's the last year before the baby REALLY notices how important the wrapping is and i should capitalize on it while i have the fleeting opportunity), and instead of tapping dad for a few spare bucks, every year, on his birthday, he gets a box (or in this case, 2) full of gift bags. this year i have added some adorable decorative boxes and a special treat of pretty little gift tags.

the first time i did it, i felt lame... that is until my dad's face lit up, knowing that he wouldn't be subjected to hours of back breaking gift wrapping. then i felt like a total rock star in the world of gifts. and my opinion is, if it works, let it work. so, every year now dad can hold off on much of his wrapping until after his birthday, and i have a safe, acceptable, and appreciated gift for my dad "in the bag"

happy birthday daddy...

Seasonal Update

decorating: done!

baking: 1 bread remaining

shopping: one stop left - this week - during the week

wrapping: fewer than 10 items remaining

visits: 1 confirmed, a few to plan

days of work left before Xmas: today + 2.5

days of work left in the year: today + 6.5

comfy hed weather

the color of a clear hed

blessed relief

my hedake has officially passed

what's uncanny to me is that the entire time we had sunshine and bright days, my head hurt. once it clouded over again, my head started feeling all normal again.

so maybe part of weather hed is just that i have a hard time with quick change weather... a deep storm in the middle of a beautifully sunny summer... a string of bright days in the middle of what's supposed to be the season of grey and snow.

no. i don't really believe that. i suspect part of my hed was stress, and part was possibly something wonky with the weather, and a big part was several nights of really piss-poor/interrupted sleep. it could also be the change in my diet (a concentrated and concerted effort to slim me down - yes, starting in the middle of the holidays) which also counts as a source of stress!

anywho... it's gone now... and i couldn't be happier. if only WNIC would stop playing Barry Manilow and i were somehow magically transported back home for the rest of the day!

crappity bleh

it snuck in on me yesterday afternoon.
it started out smallish, and easy enough to ignore, but by 3 i was ugly from it and by 4 almost passed out.
the Orudis helped for about an hour... maybe more, maybe 2. but right after it was back again. with a vengance.

i went to bed at 8:30 last night (the bath didn't help either) and got to sleep sometime after 10. i woke up again at 2 for another hour of trying to figure out how to make it stop. i think it was a matter of fatigue and the heating pad that got me back to sleep. and maybe the water.
it's almost 10 and i'm having a hard time concentrating. I have all but one light off in my office.

there's no fever, so i'm sure it's nothing crazy and lethal. it's just one of THOSE headaches... those debilitating headaches that make me desperately wish i had just one more sick day on the calendar... and no meetings scheduled for this afternoon.

it's not even a weather headache... it's 30.38 and rising.

today I am just broken.

as a point of comparison

what it looks like when not obscured by a gazillion little atmospheric invaders

part timer

Vacation time - not much of it - needed to be spent. So, rather than taking a couple of days, and being miserable the rest of them, I opted to have half day Fridays through the month of December.

As such I'm a once a week part-timer. I LOVE it. My only real worry about the whole thing was that I would end up hating having to drive all the way in, only to work halfway through the day and then make the long drive home (put it this way, my round trip commute is = 50% of my half day work day!)... but still, yep, I love it.

Random Thoughts = 12.16.05
Today, "after work", I'm going to stop off and have Elliott's oil changed.
This morning I had "breakfast chocolate - 50 calories of it!
Without external assistance tea has a "window of drinkability" of about 5 minutes.

1000 words

This is the view of downtown Detroit from Windsor this morning (note the date / time tag in the bottom right corner). Normally this webcam shows a bright and shining Renaissance Center.

The view down the hall and out the window of one of the hoo-hahs on my floor is remarkably similar. Usually at this time of day, looking out his window, I can see a stream of headlights and taillights from the cars going up and down the busy street that leads into the city of my workplace. Today, it's all grey. The whole outside is nothing but grey.

Admittedly, it's probably easier to see things in detail from one of the lower floors of my building (i work on 9), but HOH - LEE - COW!

have i ever mentioned that that is one of my favorite phrases in the whole world? If you happen to know how to say it - the words "holy cow" not the meaning behind the expression - in another language, I'd love it if you'd share. Please, though, spell it phoenetically (i.e. sock-rah-vahsh - phoenetic for sacre vache - french for sacred cow) so that I can figure out how to say it too.

in other news (ha!) my lips are SEVERELY chapped/cracking/miserable. I'm on a STRONG course of Neosporin LT (Lip Treatment) to see if it will help. I tried Carmex, it only burned.

barometer hed

yesterday afternoon it started getting really bad.
the headache grew from just my sinusey places to cover the back of my head. by evening, it had reached past my shoulders, down my back, and into my hips.

we have "weather" coming... and from the pain, i'd say a fairly decent amount of it. the forecast calls for a couple of inches of snow tonight and another 1 or 2 tomorrow. that feels about right.
just for the record, the worst weather headaches come from fast moving fronts... the ones that sneak up on us like anything.
i had one right after my daughter was born when a spring thunderstorm barreled through our county and others in record time... but man was it a doozie.
the other, and i think most horrible (though it could be just because of the timing), was Christmas Eve 2002. there was absolutely NO snow forecasted. we thought for sure it was going to be one of those miserable brown Christmases... after work that day (yes, I used to work on Christmas Eve - it was a half day) a few co-workers and i went out for a quick lunch before embarking on our more filial plans. by the time i left the restaurant my head was roaring. by the time i got home to get ready to go to my aunt's house, i was thinking i shouldn't. half way through dinner i had to go upstairs and have a lie down because everything was blurry. i left early that night... went home and soaked my head in a hot bath until the water got cold... went to bed, over medicated and in tears. i woke up at about 7 the next morning to no less than 5 inches of snow that had fallen between midnight and 4 in the morning... a regular DUMP of snow... a fast moving front.

not to say that it doesn't have its advantages. i CAN fairly accurately predict if we have "weather" coming, and usually how severe it will be.

in today's case, i knew before i heard the news that we could expect snow within 30 hours of the onset of my headache.

still... given the choice, i'd prefer to rely on the weatherman.

esoteric

it's how irefer to my insulated little life

i have a very small circle of friends - whom i rarely see because i prefer to stay home, close to the fireplace, and the stove on which i feel comfortable making hot cocoa, and my daughter and all her familiar toys and all her familar dangers.

i know (on a purely intellectual level) that it wouldn't hurt me - at all - to get out more, to do things, to have a good time with grownups.

but you know what? it doesn't hurt me - at all - to have friends come 'round, and do things, and have a good time with grownups, and my daughter.

i find myself, from time to time, feeling the pressure of external guilt that i don't want to do any of the 'fun' stuff that i used to.

i find myself feeling like i'm supposed to wish that i felt like going out for a drink, or to see a movie

(though i haven't ever really liked going OUT
to see movies because the big
screen and loud LOUD speakers and throngs of
strangers and even, yes even the
popcorn haven't nearly as much appeal as
being able to use the toilet without
interrupting a slew of strangers and
missing the best part (because it's ALWAYS
the best part) because of my
walnut sized bladder),

or out for a nice meal. like i'm less a person because these things don't hold the charm for me that hot dogs and bathtime with the baby do.

but i like my little world.
and until i'm pulled out of it like an unfortunate hermit crab, i'm going to stay for a while.
you're welcome to visit!

snowfix

for those of you who just can't get enough try the make a flake game from the folks at look and feel new media (on my list of kick butt companies)

um.

yeah - that's all

flannel sheets season

i've been holding out on putting the flannel sheets on my bed.

in the past i've jumped the gun, desperate for the soft cuddley feeling of sleepus hibernus without regard to the fact the sooner you flannel coat your bed, the weaker the impact when the weather turns really ugly cold.

i'm putting forth a concerted effort to wait until january before i sheathe the bed in the most comfortable bedclothes imaginable.

i was really tempted there for a while when we were having days of degrees under 20.

lucky for me the forecast is looking warmer for the next week or so anyway...

that's it for this morning.

i'm going to go catch some flakes

hed

one of the silly buggers on my office tree

for the record

This is my home-version of the holiday/Christmas tree.
See how pretty and traditional it is?
You should see it in person - it's glittery and glowey and all full of everything beautiful that the season should be... all captured in lovingly hung ornaments and twinkley lights.

I particularly like the red curtains in the back and the tinly little hand that's helping her daddy to put the topper (i.e. halo-less, wingless angel) on the tree.

** Note - mutilated angel is NOT any sort of religio-political statement, merely the sad side effects of a bad summer in storage.

Holiday Spirit

This is my office Christmas Tree.

It used to be my Halloween Tree.

Yes, I have received a LOT of commentary about the changing seasons and all the whatnot and hooplah.

I prefer to think of it more along the lines of being socially responsible and recycling/repurposing.

What you fortunately cannot discern from this photo is how amazingly ORANGE the tree still looks (in spite of the slew of sugarplum colored lights i almost killed myself stringing on the darned thing). The down side is that you also cannot see how charming the litthe snowman heads are all over it (because you can't see them).

I don't typically deocorate for Christmas in blue and white (perferring to leave some colors sacred for my Jewish friends) but my artistic sensibilities got the better of me and i decided that one way to offset the orange from Halloween would be to use the complementary blue...
My mom recommended going with red ... but I thought with red and orange being so close on the color wheel they'd blend together and my tree (and office) would look like "Holidays at the Abattoir".

viral

EDIT: I thought of something else, significantly more interesting than most of everything I already entered:
item -- when i wear underwear, i wear them inside out, because my under-areas are covered in very sensitive skin that becomes irritable when abraded by elastic and other non-cotton materials.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I've been infected with a virus [tagged by PinkDot] to reveal 10 things about myself that are otherwise unknown. This is particularly useful, as prior to reading this tag, I was wondering what I would write this morning... I mean I could have come up with something, but probably nothing as interesting.

-- i like Christmas almost as well as Halloween
-- i have never (and still do not) liked my handwriting
-- when i was half my current age, i was also half my current weight
-- until my 2nd year in college i didn't drink cola
-- i hate going to the bathroom
-- i haven't bought myself a pair of shoes in over a year
-- i wanted to be an editor for a living
-- i almost failed h.s. algebra
-- i prefer triangles to any other shape
-- i still take prenatal vitamins

i know, they're lame... but honestly, for the most part, so am i.

i guess i'm going to be cursed or something because i have to break the chain. i don't know enough bloggers (who weren't on the pinkdot list) to tag anyone else.

lame...

quickie

not a lot of time
not a lot to say

going to an adoption party this evening... it's nice to have something other than "just a Christmas party" to attend at this time of year

ended up getting about 6" of snow last night - at least. it's beautiful, but WHAT a pain in the neck getting down the street this morning.

and don't EVEN get me started on what a turd my Elliott was this morning... apparently the auto lock happens even when you DON'T use the remote start... had to wake my peacefully sleeping hubby to get the spare keys so i could get to work. grrr.

weekend will probably be wood working (i.e. cutting, splitting, stacking) and gift wrapping... oh and putting up the Christmas tree. i can't wait to see the baby's face when she sees it this year, knowing what it is.

i have a doc appt this afternoon, EARLY this afternoon, so i'm skipping work at 11 (that's a half day for me) and am going to (unfortunately) miss our holiday potluck lunch, as well as the big finale to the secret Santa events of the week. double sigh. still, it will be good to have the doctor crap out of the way AND to have the whole afternoon with my mother and daughter.

maybe it's that she hasn't hit the "terrible twos" yet, maybe it's just part and parcel of getting into motherhood later than most of my friends, probably it's alot to do with working away from home, but i CANNOT get enough time with my daughter. i cherish every minute.

OH - and the best news about my doctor's visit this afternoon - it's not the one i thought it was, and I DON'T HAVE TO SHAVE MY LEGS!!! likely there are people out there cringing at the thought that i'm rejoicing in hairy legs, but shaving (especially in the winter) makes me dry, itchy, flakey, scaley, hideous and miserable. certainly, if i were more froufrou or girlie girlish i could slather myself in lotion or oil to keep my hairless legs soft and pretty (ha ha ha the idea of MY legs being pretty is just about farcical) but i'm not froufrou or girlie girlish... i flipping cut and split firewood for my weekend kick and giggles...

ok - so maybe lumberjacking isn't all fun and games, but truth be told, i'd rather spend an afternoon doing that than shaving and lotioning my legs and painting my toe nails... or
{shudder}
shopping
{shudder}

though i wouldn't be entirely opposed to a nice facial... mmm.

ok - enough of this.
have a great weekend... cuddles to y'all and your loved ones!

can you spar(row) a willy?

watched W.Wonka with my hubby, mom, and daughter last night.

weird weird weird

i can confidently say that i prefer Jack Sparrow over W. Wonka ANY DAY

weekend is fast approaching. have a half day tomorrow - need to see the doc for a shot.

shudder

just realised that yesterday while i was dilligently purchasing the insulin for the cat, i was neglectful in getting the prescription for my shot filled. this wouldn't be bad if it weren't for the fact that i will likely be driving in the first phases of the winter storm to collect the prescription after the work day.

yes, you read right... winter storm. at least that's what they were saying this morning.
snow (glorious snow) is supposed to start falling this evening and by sunrise tomorrow morning we can expect to see something between 4 and 8 inches of fluffy (?) white on the ground.

of course that means that right now i have to go elsewhere and refill my script.

more later... likely

euromercian holiday sensibilities (linkalicious)

just wolfed down a "tiny" Sanders chocolate santa, followed by a clementine, chased with a "drop-the-tablet-in-your-bottle-of-water-and-watch-it-fizz" diet helper drink.

i fell victim, earlier, to two patently american forms of mass hysteria and responded to an email advertisement and bought some additional stocking stuffers for my husband and mom. after, while reading Metro Parent, i felt utterly compelled to get at least one item off the NAPPA gold medal winners list. fortunately, it was something i'd been planning on buying once before, and then forgot, so it was a nice reminder. i got the cd/dvd combo set (not sure what it really combines - though i'm thinking it's one disc playable either way, and not two disks...) from Kassi's Devil Store... through my Clubmom account - yummy points! (I'm saving up to get my mom a Barnes and Nobel $25 gift card... just as a thank you for all she does for us, and the baby.

i listen to wnic through my windows media player... I had to suffer (miserably) through the Charlie Brown version of O' Christmas Tree - ugh... the other day it was dental drills over italian muzak (Chipmunks Christmas song). generally a little Christmas music is nice... uplifting and spirit brightening and just what it takes to make it through the freezing Michigan winter weather... but when you can't control it... sigh...

happy Wednesday

blazy...

sorry to have been lazy with blogging this morning...

either it was waking up before 4:00 or the fact that I still haven't had my diet coke for the day, but i've been out of whack and sort of addled all day... not to mention i have a significant hedake.

whatever

it's F R I G I D outside today... 22 deg - not even factoring in the wind chill.
brr

cold enough, even, to stop me from going out at lunch and finishing my Christmas shopping - yes - only one trip left... happy happy me

i'd be happier if it were done - eh - que sera, sera

my friend bo came up to my office today to see the holiday tree. she had to sit down for laughing... not, she said, because it's pathetic (which sort of it is) but because she thought it was so me (does this mean me=pathetic?)

we went to see Santa last night... so the baby could ask for "TOYS!" - she didn't really... she got rather weirded out when push finally came to shove and she had to see "the man" but...

*** WARNING - PROUD MAMA MOMENT APPROACHING ***

she did great... NO tears at all
happy baby
chattered a little
smiled a little
and while we didn't get a good smile in the photo, I saw it with my own eyes.

*** I HAVE THE COOLEST BABY IN THE WORLD ***

We went out for dinner afterwards (a good eater) and then some quick shopping (she spent most of this time with her dad who wasn't obliged (as I was) to actually shop, and got to watch cartoons and drive around the cool green car-buggy-stroller) and home at bedtime. Of course this meant having to have almost an hour to unwind, do teeth, and settle in to sleep...

so you see, 4:00 came even sooner, because I lost about an hour of sleep on the front end too. eh - i'll get it back. she's only a smidge for so long

on a side note:
back pre-baby... pre-hubby even... way back in 1999 and 2000 i had this ABSOLUTE fascination with beige, cream, tan, black, brown clothes. I used to wear, on a regular basis, some combo of them, and EVERY time I wore them i felt incredibly well-put-together. I still absolutely adore the combination, but back then I was also a good 3 or 4 dress sizes smaller than I am now, and for the most part, no matter WHAT I wear these days, I never feel well-put-together, so I've more or less abandoned wearing my favorite colors - at least in the way I used to. I'm beginning to think that I might need to change that strategy and see if I can't make some snappier outfits out of what I have kicking around in my closet. (am still loathe to buy ANYTHING new clothing wise)

secret santa-ing is going well, though I'm not doing for my family (as I had intended) and i feel a right ass for thinking that I'd be able to... not because I'm physically unable to, but because I'm just a blazy slacker and haven't put any time into getting the little things that would make them pre-tree smile... at least nothing i'm willing to use now instead of saving for a stocking stuffer (cos I have nowhere near enough of them)

time to put my thinking cap on...

glorious snow

oh my the pain
i have something of a barometer head
when the weather changes, or more accurately, is about to change, drastically i suffer an extreme headache (sometimes neck and shoulders and back as well) that increases in intensity at about the same rate as the weather.

i should have known something big was going to happen Saturday night/Sunday morning

oh my the pain
crying pain
nearly immobilizing

but WHAT a reward

i awakened at about 2:30 Sunday morning to the wonderfully pain-free view of near blizzard conditions outside my bedroom window. the entire scene was covered in white - including the air, filled with falling snow.

at about 3:00 i got back to sleep, comfortably, and thrilled beyond words at the WoW that was out there waiting for morning

Rise and Shine

I'm virtually the first one up everywhere I regularly hang out.

At home, I rise just after the cat, usually between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning. On weekends, I can usually push this back till 8:00 for waking (as long as I try really hard to stay up the night before) and 9:00 for getting out of bed and starting breakfast. I have learned the hard way that my family does NOT like to eat much before 10:00AM.

At work, now that I'm in a different department, I'm the first one in on my floor - every day. I come in, turn on the coffee machine; though not being a coffee drinker, I daren't actually make the coffee, I'm fairly certain NO ONE would drink it. Since we have our tree up now I plug it in as well, and then I come to my office for about 2 hours of relatively quiet work. Before I came to this department I used to be able to say "relatively quiet and uninterrupted work" but no one here really interrupts me... isn't a change of scenery lovely?

Of course (and especially now that I'm older), first up usually means first down as well.

I leave the office at 3:30 most days (though now that it's the last month of the year and I have some vacation time to burn, I'm taking half days on Fridays - so today I'll be leaving at 11:00). It's a great plan for me... and I'm grateful beyond words that my bosses allow me to do it. Because I get here between 6:30 and 7:00 every morning, I am able to leave early enough that I have some REAL time to spend (in big chunks) with my daughter every afternoon/evening. I'd wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 every day forever if it meant extra hours with my little one.

My regular night bedtime is between 9:00 and 10:00 (except on Fridays and Saturdays when I desperately attempt to stay awake long enough to ensure I won't wake up before 8:00 the next morning) and one Tuesday a month - when I have a roomful of friends who can generally manage to keep me awake until sometime around midnight... even later if my husband and I want to talk about how things went.

ugh. I started writing about being up early for a reason... probably something about peace and quiet... but now I've forgotten, for sure, what the reason was, and I feel rather the dolt.

I think forgetfulness before caffeine is a side effect of being an early riser.

flakey flakey flakey

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forecast says 1 to 2 inches today
and another one tonight
i'm so geeked.

coming from behind

new sore
office - 2
porch - 2

(did i mention all scores are out of a possible 3?)

(why 3?)

(because 3 is a magic number... anyone who's ever Schoolhouse Rocked knows what I'm talking about)