« December 2008 | Main | February 2009 »

I had a dream last night:

My friend Adrienne invited me to the ballet (would never happen) at the CPA with our friend Crystal. I said yes, but then they ditched me at the elevator, and when I got downstairs they said there was no room in their taxi. So I hailed my own. After a while of driving I realized the driver was slowly driving around a deserted, dark industrial part of town. I told him to turn around and get me to the CPA or I was going to miss the ballet. Instead, he pulled into an empty lot and it was clear he was going to rape me. I wasn't scared. I just balled up my fist, slugged him in the nose as hard as I could, and told him to take me to the fucking CPA like I told him to. He started crying, but got me there anyway.

Later in the night I dreamed that I had made a bunch of cookies. I was riding my bike over by the college and found an apartment complex that catered to gay families. I walked through the halls to sell my cookies, wondering why if there was a whole community of gay families right here how come I never saw them around. One of the mothers asked if I worked at Saturday Night Live, because she thought that's what I said last time. I told her No, and she seemed disappointed. All the mothers did want to buy cookies from me though.

There was even more interesting stuff, but I can't quite remember what it was. Crazy dreams, eh?

The octuplets again

This story is getting stranger and stranger.

Bonnie Hunt does Kim Zolciak from "Real Housewives/Atlanta".

HI-larious.

At least someone's getting something accomplished.

All my Sims are very successful at work, have at least nine lovers each, are super educated and have high happiness levels. I am sitting in a messy house with no desire to get up and make something to eat. Something is wrong with this picture.

Varsity Swim Team

Buffy just called, she made the Varsity Swim Team for her high school, and for some reason she is surprised at this. Silly Girl. She turns 17 in less than three weeks, she's been swimming since she was three, and on a freakin swim team, winning all her races, since she was FOUR YEARS OLD. She's been on Varsity Water Polo since she was a freshmen. But for some reason making the Varsity Swim Team is a surprise.

Silly Girl.

Not graduated, HARDEHARHAR

The University sent me my Graduation Evaluation form, stating I didn't complete two required classes. However, the classes they want me to complete are not required. It appears that my university is dyslexic. These classes are not required and never were required, they are just one letter off of a class that IS required and that I DID take. It is obvious that they did not even look at what they were sending out. I'm not pissed, because I know I completed everything and more of what was required, and what they are asking for is silly - I'm just irritated that it will be up to me to clear up their carelessness and, well, stupidity. Because you don't fuck around and be careless with students' graduation evaluations. Other students might actually buy this silliness; I just gave the sheet an irritated eye-roll.

In other news, it's too damn hot in San Jose. I would like my winter back please.

Fourteen Kids. Congrats. Not.

Octuplets Mother has Six Other Children.

This is really disturbing news, to me. I'm sorry, but I just can't get behind this. The mother lives with her parents, ALREADY has six little children, and it sounds like there's no father around. Somewhere in here is a moral/ethics argument. The doctors say it's not up to them to tell a parent how many children they can have... but maybe we should require some proof of income before we give them a fertility treatment that allows them to have eight more kids, almost ENSURING that the rest of us are going to pay for them.

I think I'm getting sick, but I'm not sure. I think I feel okay, except I turned exceptionally crabby this evening, for no reason, and I was extremely tired all day. Like REALLY super extremely tired, and I did get enough sleep last night. I had told my supervisor today that yesterday I had worked so hard on a problem project of mine that I felt like my brain hurt and I wanted to work on something else. But now that I see more symptoms I wonder if I'm just dealing with a pre-sickness spell. You know how it is when you just feel wierd one day, and it's not until the sickness hits the next day that you realized that was it? So yeah, I don't know if I'm really getting sick, but something is really off anyway.

That's going to suck if I really do get sick tomorrow, because I have a lot of problem work to get done. I don't have time to get sick.

ZZZzzzz

Sleepy.

School and Cinequest

I had my first Theatre class today, it's going to be fun. Just four students total, we'll be doing all the background work for any productions the college puts on. I'll be learning how to work the lights, arranging costumes, painting scenery, really super hard stuff like that.
;-D

Tonight we sorted through some old costumes. Next week we're painting all the backdrops black so we can start over. So haaaaaard.

hehhehhehheh

We had to introduce ourselves and our interests in theater, including what shows we've ever seen. I'm like, uh, EVER seen? Because I can't even count all the shows we've seen this year.
1. 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
2. & 3. Midsummer Night's Dream (two productions)
4. Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde
5. Chicago
6. Taming of the Shrew
7. Man with the Plastic Sandwich

And that's only what I can remember for the last year. Then I told him I was a SJSU Grad student who killed her brain and was taking a semester off to recover. This professor has his BA in English, so he was happy to have me there. Well, considering the other three didn't even know their majors yet (and are freshmen in junior college and I'm a Super Important Grad Student at the University [HAHAHAHAHA]).

Cinequest starts in less than 30 days. I think I honestly did kill my brain last semester because just the thought of Cinequest is making me tired. I haven't sent in my donation (ticket money) yet because, you know, waiting for the economy to grow my money back again and it didn't happy, heh. I've been thinking about just buying individual tickets this year - first time in ten years. We'll see. I hear Kevin Pollack and Diablo Cody are going to be there, among others.

Boo. Boo to the economy. Please fix it so I can go to my first Cinequest with no school responsibilities. Gah, life is unfair, hahah.

Tonight is my theatre class. It might get canceled due to low enrollment, but I'm going to have fun whether I have a class or not.
:-)

My class this morning is taught by my music teacher from 1984-1986, a man who made a huge impression on me and the only professor I even remember from that time. It was a joy to see him today, truly a joy, although as a gay man he had too many heartbreaking tales from the last 20 years. I'm terribly sorry for all his losses, but so happy to see him happy and proud and exuberant and loving life even after all the sadness.

And we're going to watch movie clips, listen to music, and go to a play. And write a couple papers. That's it! I'm totally happy I took this class.

School starts today

My first class is today, Music Appreciation of American Music Theater. I feel strangely nonchalant about the whole thing. I mean, how hard can it be? And if it is, which I highly doubt, then I'll drop it. HAH! It's a strange feeling to have no expectations of one's self.

I start my first class of the semester tomorrow, I'm using that as an excuse for doing absolutely nothing productive this weekend.

Buffy has this love/hate relationship with Judge Judy. She hates that we have to watch every episode of Judge Judy every day (and she comes on five times a day), but she secretly loves Judge Judy herself. I catch her quoting Judge Judy all the time ("If it doesn't make sense, it's not TRUE!!"). And sometimes she'll have her back turned to the TV as she types away on MySpace, and suddenly she'll turn around and yell "You tell 'em, Judge Judy!" at the screen.

So when she found out about Judge Judy's book, "Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever", I wasn't surprised when she asked me to find it at the library. And I'm glad she did, because I'm reading it and it's a fantastic book for women to read, teens and grownups. She writes about everything any mother would want her daughter to know: Take care of yourself first, make sure you can support yourself without a man, don't give your boyfriend your credit card, don't co-sign a loan for anyone, and in general, don't put your own life in a position where you must depend on anyone else (man or not).

I love that Judge Judy is open about her own mistakes: her own first marriage which ended in divorce, the fact that she left everything to move to her first husband's city, that she takes full responsibility for the end of her second marriage (though she remarried that husband within the year).

We all make mistakes, we all have things to look back on and regret. But there are many things that we can learn without making the mistake first. So I'm glad that Buffy actually listens to what Judge Judy says and I'm glad she's reading this book. Because in reality, the Judge Judy show isn't about the individual court cases, it's about trying to teach the viewers how to live their lives in a smarter way. ("WHY don't you have a job? GET a job!", "Why aren't you in school? Go to school!", "Why did you believe him? He's a LIAR!" etc.)

We can say that these are obvious lessons, that we should know these things without Judge Judy, but the fact is that I would bet 100% of you women out there have done something stupid, made some stupid choice, that had to do with a man. So I hope for my daughter that she learns these lessons early, without first hand experience. And I hope that Judge Judy stays around for a long, long time.

A girl can't have too many good role models, that's what I say.

Also: get the book from your library and read it. It's hilarious and a good read, even if you think you're too smart for it, haha.

OMG this is the funniest thing I have read in a very very very long time. I was in tears laughing so hard, even though I haven't been able to identify every single Twitter ID yet:

Pretend Inauguration Day Twitter

I have to say, we now have one sexy president.
And he and his wife are so obviously in love. I mean, whenever you see Barack and Michelle anywhere near each other, much less dancing or kissing, you just KNOW those two are having sex. There's just no doubt about it. Those two are doing it, and doing it well.
Can't say I've ever thought that about any other president, like... ever.

Does that make him a better president? I don't know. But somehow knowing that the man in the White House is a happily married man with two beautiful kids, a man who loves his wife and is attracted to her and is probably doing it well all night long... well, he just seems very stable. You know, everything is going great at home so maybe he can concentrate really really hard at doing his job.

So yeah, I do think it will make him a better president. I guess we'll just all have to see.

Buffy and the new President

So I let her stay home to watch the inauguration, but she had to be glued to the couch with no MySpace, no texting, nothing but unauguration.

Her friend Mark just came over, after school, as I was in the middle of quizzing her on the events of the day. She was not allowed to go bike riding until I felt she had learned something from her "field trip".

"HA-HA," said Mark. "I told you it wouldn't be that easy. I knew your mom wouldn't let this be fun!"

"I already knew she was going to do this," said Buffy. "I can't even stay home for REAL sick without her making me write an essay on strep throat."

Heee.

But I'm confident she'll remember this day now. She knows the names of everyone important involved, she knows the First Children's names, she knows who got sick at the Senate lunch, she knows about the Secret Service, "The Beast", and where the Vice President is going to live.

We also each have a copy of today's paper, and we're ready for the next four years.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Set the alarm today and got up at 6:45 to make sure I was ready for the inauguration. Turned the TV to CNN just before 7am, just in time to see Joe Biden and wife get out of their limo. I ran down the hall to wake up Buffy, then we ran back to watch Barack Obama and Michelle get out of their limo. The tears started coming immediately.

What an amazing day! I'm not going to believe any of it is real until that oath is taken. I do pray that everything goes perfectly today, and that we all have some brighter futures in the next four years.

Happy Inauguration Day Everyone!

Today is the first day I've been able to talk to my son since I read the news about Circuit City. He has a pretty upbeat attitude about it. His store will probably remain open for sixty days more, and he said they are REALLY busy now with the sales. I gave him Ipek's suggestion of applying to Trader Joes, which he thought was good, and he's thought of lots of other places to apply to. I'm glad to see him still positive, and hopefully he'll find another job soon.

Aw.
Circuit City has decided to close all their stores. My poor son is going to lose his job. I feel so sad for him. He did really, really well there and actually liked his job. I hope he can find another job soon.

Just an observation

I love that my company makes logging my hours the absolutely most complicated, non-sensical process that is humanly possible. Oh, and don't forget the six hour window that I have to get it done or else forfeit my next paycheck.

I take back any qualms I had about Tom Wopat playing in Chicago, because the man can SING. He has a beautiful voice and was a PERFECT Billy Flynn. It was a really good show and I'm glad we got to see it - Buffy and Mark had a great time too.

CHICAGO!!!

Buffy and I (and her ever-present friend Mark) are going to see "Chicago" tonight at the Center for Performing Arts! All three of us are so excited. And I just found out that the show stars...

Tom Wopat!

HAHAHahahaahaaaaaa. I think that's kind of hilarious. He better be good, haha, I don't want that good ole boy ruining one of my favorite musicals!

So. Buffy likes the Beatles. Which is great, I mean really, it's better than Marilyn Manson. I'm thrilled, really, because I love the Beatles too.

But Buffy is like, INSANE in love with them, Paul in particular. She's never gone all crazy about any rockstars or celebrities before, but the girl is INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE right now. She turns 17 next month, and she sends me 15 emails a day with links to Beatles gear that she wants for her birthday, each one more important than the one before.

I taped The View this morning because Paul McCartney was on, and she hadn't really seen him in current times yet. I thought maybe this would cure her idea that he's her future husband.

Not so lucky. She sat in the chair facing the television with a look of complete rapture on her face for 45 minutes. "Oh my god, I could just fall asleep to the sound of his voice," she sighed. "And DON'T ERASE THIS SHOW!!!" A glare of death came with that demand.

"Thank gosh you're not all in love with the Jonas Brothers," I told her, "I don't know if I could take that."

"GAWD Mom," came the incredulous reply. "That's not even the SAME. The JONAS Brothers??? You can't compare them to THE BEATLES. GAWD. I mean, come ON."

She's right of course, but I'm still sort of boggled by her level of interest. Or... I'm boggled one day, and then she multiplies it by ten the next day. And then the next day it multiplies again. I may have to keep an eye on the bus stations around here in case she tries to buy a bus ticket to Great Britain.

Because that's the kind of thing she'd be likely to do, heh.

I just finished this movie, and sorry, but it did NOT pass the movie review, haha. It wasn't QUITE as bad as House Bunny, but it was headed in that direction. I thought the acting was okay, and I always like Jason Segal and Johah Hill, but the writing was pretty bad even for this type of comedy.

Saving graces: Russell Brand's character "Aldous Snow", and by far my favorite part, the Dracula puppet show. I would rather have seen 2 hours of Dracula puppet show than this movie.

I want to rent a movie I've seen many times, but I cannot remember the name of it. Please help me if you remember!

It's a spanish language movie, a fairy-tale type, about a girl whose grandmother taught her to put love into her cooking. She falls in love with a boy but cannot marry him (I think he marries her sister) and she marries someone else too. In the end of course, they end up together, but tragically. I don't know if this is good enough for you. It's making me crazy! But it is in Spanish, and putting love into your cooking played a big part of the story.

Does anyone remember it?

Soup was goooood....ZZZzzzzzzz

I had leftover Mulligatawney Soup for lunch today and now I just want a nice nap. I better go make some coffee before I fall asleep at work...

Recipe needed!

I want to make homemade stuffing tonight but I need a good recipe for the chicken. I'm just making chicken thighs, not a whole chicken. Ideas? Easy and simple isn't appealing to me anymore, haha, I would love something with lots of ingredients or spices especially.

Allrecipes.com isn't doing it for me in this case.

Presidential Inauguration

For some reason I thought the inauguration was in the evening. I just found out (luckily, in time!) that it's at 7am on Tuesday. This makes me happy because I can sit and watch the whole thing, but sad because the kids will be in school. Maybe the schools will show it in class. Not that big of a deal, but it would be nice if they could watch.

Response to Leslie

Yes, that was Phoebe who steals the show in the blooper reel of Buffy's film.

Phoebe had her fourth dose of medication this evening; she finally decided the fight wasn't worth it and just let me shoot the medicine down her throat. This morning's dose didn't go so well. After I squirted the first medicine I had to put her down so I could prepare the next dose. So she decided to take off, through the two rooms that Buffy had just mopped ("MOMM! Does she have MUD ON HER PAWWWS???") but Buffy chased her through the house, Phoebe ran out my bedroom door and sat on the patio in the sun and I watched through another window as Buffy ran out the same door, Phoebe took one look at her and sprinted around the corner of the house, with Buffy right on her heals.

It was pretty funny.

I guess Phoebe got caught over by the gate where a bunch of bikes were parked and blocked her way ("Drats! Foiled again!!"). So anyway, tonight's dose was much easier.

She is definitely showing signs of change though. She has stopped peeing on the walls, but only because she has to immediately squat down when she jumps off her spot on the desk. Luckily her first stop is the lid of a very large Rubbermaid container so I just put some puppy training pads there. No blood though, just regular urine, but it's obvious when she does this that she doesn't have any control over it. It's only the second day of meds though, so I expect this will end soon, like it did last time. The good news though is that she definitely seems improved overall. I told the vet that I couldn't quite put my finger on how she was acting funny, that someone who didn't know her would think she was fine, but I could tell she wasn't quite right. Now that she's feeling better I can see the difference. During the day now she's taking off and spending her time in the backyard, like she always used to, instead of lounging around on the desk. And when she gets down from the desk, after peeing on the Rubbermaid container, she takes a GIANT LEAP to land on the kitchen floor. She's grooming better and looking much fluffier and cleaner, even since Friday.

Tomorrow we get word on her new pet food. I'm just glad she's feeling better and isn't going to require surgery for now.

Buffy hasn't come up with any of her lamebrained gems of the tongue recently, but today she made up for it with two of them.

We were walking on the sidewalk around an outdoor mall today having lots of discussions about random things. And at some point she started asking about a famous saying, but she couldn't remember exactly how it went.

"Was it, a big jump for man and a... large jump for... men? Or, um, one giant step for man... how does it go?"

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind," I told her. "Do you know where that saying is from?"

She thought for a minute.

"Mallrats?"

Honestly, this one stopped me in my tracks, hands over my eyes, as I shook with laughter for a very long time. I couldn't move I was laughing so hard.

Buffyism #2

Buffy is obsessed with the Beatles and the obsession has gotten bigger in the last couple months. We were at Barnes & Noble today and she was looking at all the Beatles photo books, asking questions about them, and generally pointing out at every chance she got that she was going to marry Paul McCartney. Even after figuring in her head that he is now close to 70.

So then, in the dramatic fashion that only a 16 year old girl can muster, she said that she couldn't even imagine being married to Paul, because that would be like "waking up next to God every morning. Like waking up and Jesus is just laying there next to you."

"So who would that make you," I asked, "Mary Magdalene?"

"Who?" she asked. I had to explain to her, you know, the female disciple of Jesus, they used to hang out together, you remember?

"Oh." she said. And got the most confused expression on her face. "And she used to hang out with the Beatles too?"

Time for Meds!

Picked up Phoebe's medicine, I asked for liquids because Phoebe is 100% against swallowing pills and she is serious about it.

So I prepared the first dropper, looked up and saw Phoebe hightailing it out the front door. I found her sitting on the porch so I sat next to her. "Hi Phoebe," I said, "Let's hang out together." She looked at me. I grabbed her. Struggle ensued. Got her in a deathgrip and squirted the first dropper down her throat right before she leapt from my arms and ran.

One down, one to go.

I went inside and prepared the other one. Held it behind my back and went back outside. "Phoebe!" I yelled. She came out from under my car, her little pea-brain having already forgotten the incident from five minutes ago. I swooped her up with one hand keeping my other one behind my back, and sat back down on the porch. Major struggle. She almost managed to crawl over my shoulder and down my back (me carefully holding the dropper without spilling any) when Buffy came out and helped me. So I sat on the porch with Phoebe in a ball in my lap, one of my hands holding the dropper, the other hand holding all four of her feet while Buffy kept her head in a vice grip. I pried her mouth open with the dropper, squirted it in, and awayyyyyy she went.

Mission accomplished.

Now we just have to do it again before bed.

Phoebe-Cat, Part Two

The good news is, maybe she's not a faker after all.
The best news is, she may have saved me a couple thousand bucks.

So... good kitty, for now.

Her regular vet called me today, the one who took care of her last year. And boy, did she remember that whole mess last year! She kept saying, "Remember that whole thing with her last year? REMEMBER??? Remember how WIERD that was??" I think poor Phoebe had her traumatized that she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, much less fix her.

So all the tests are coming back normal, but what I love about this vet is that she's not buying any of it. She knows Phoebe well, she knows something was tragically wrong last year that was never diagnosed, and she knows if Phoebe is peeing all over the floor and walls, then something is not right.

She took a look at the new X-rays AND the old X-rays (they had to be retrieved from storage) and I was right, Phoebe had a big-ass bladder stone last year. This year she doesn't. BUT, she does have some crystals in her bladder (those crystals often turn into stones) and those crystals may be causing her some problems, which is why she can't seem to make it to the litter box.

So she's getting an antibiotic ready for her, for just in case, and some prednisone again, because it seemed to have helped a lot last year. And then she's going to call her medical pet food company on Monday to see what they recommend for her crystals. And also let them know we have another cat who will probably want to eat whatever yummy medicated food that Phoebe is eating, so it has to be safe for her too. But this all means that there is no surgery needed! So it will only costs me several hundred dollars this time, instead of a couple thousand. Yay?

I love this vet. All tests come back negative, but she knows that sudden changes in behavior mean that something is WRONG. I trust that she won't give up until Phoebe is well again, just like last year. Thank goodness this time it isn't nearly as serious as last time.

I had a very long work day, then a kitchen full of teens making cookies, and then made a very awful apple soup for dinner. Played Sims2 for awhile, no one was behaving well, so I shut it off.

Now I'm going to bed. I'm tirrrrrred.

So Phoebe has been having some problems again, remember last year when she had the huge bladder stone? But they could not do the surgery then because she was so sick from her stroke (or whatever imaginary thing it was she had...). So she had to completely recover from that first, then they were going to deal with the stone.

So in December I noticed she was spraying the walls with clear urine, and it didn't appear that she could stop herself. She would get up off the table or the desk (where she likes to sleep), run over to the wall, and shake her little butt up against it. At first I tried to kick her over to the litter box, or grab her and throw her over to the box, but she always acted like she couldn't stop herself. So I thought maybe the bladder stone was causing her problems again. But I didn't want to deal with the surgery during Christmas time, and she seemed fine otherwise, so I wanted to wait until this month.

So this morning I get up and it looks like she had diarrhea overnight, as there was a puddle in near the litter box and a... gross mess on the lid of the Rubbermaid container near where she sleeps. So I knew it was probably time to take her in. Later in the morning I noticed that it looked like she had actually even had an accident right where she sleeps. I felt really bad for her, because it looked like she was completely losing control of her bowels, and I hoped that I had not waited too long to get the stone fixed. It would kill me to find out that I caused her problems to get worse.

So I called up the vet and took her in this afternoon, I had to leave her there for awhile so they could take Xrays and do tests, all to the tune of $450. They also gave her those shots of liquid under her skin again as it looked like she was dehydrated. The vet said we would look at the surgery expenses once she found out exactly what was wrong. So I went back to the vet at 4:30 to pick her up, and the vet says "Well, the good news is that we can't find anything wrong with her."

She described the tests' results that were already in, and they were all negative, and then we looked at her new X-ray and she showed me this little teeny tiny sliver and said that was the stone. Last year the stone was the size of a walnut. What happened to it?? There are still test results to come back tomorrow, but otherwise, the vet believed Phoebe just has a stomach-ache today, causing her to vomit (the diarrhea turned out to be a furball in a lot of gastric liquid [gross]), and the spraying of walls turns out to be...

Behavioral.

Phoebe is mad at her kitty litter, or something new in the house, or perhaps the way we look at her, I don't know, but the vet thinks that after more than five years of living here and peeing where she's supposed to pee, now she just has a kitty hair up her butt and wants to pee on the walls.

Lovely. That is just lovely.

Of course, there are still test results, so there could be something wrong afterall, but the vet said all looks good from what she can see today.

"So what's the bad news?" I asked. "You said the good news was the tests were okay, but what was the bad news?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, "there IS no bad news. It's just good news!"

"So... the bad news is that it's costing me $450 to find out my cat is a big, fat faker."

"Yes. It looks like it."

Just for the record, the father of my children has not paid one dime of child support since October 2008. Has not held medical insurance for them, as required by the judgement, in years, has not paid for any medical bills. But most importantly, has not paid a dime in child support.

So all you local readers out there who think he's such a great guy because he throws fantastic parties and invites you to them, and you know who you are, you think about where that alcohol and food came from. He lives in a house he owns, with his wife and mother-in-law, both who have jobs, but he leaves me to support BOTH of our children without a dime of help.

And don't think I'm not planning to do something about it. This time I have money for a lawyer. We're going to get this shit taken care of this time, for good.

Edited to add: What do you know, Buffy just mentioned that her dad HAS a job, is WORKING, getting a PAYCHECK. So you know what? Fuck you Armando Corral. Really. You're an ass of even bigger proportions than I imagined.

No movies for today?

I had to send back Run Lola Run because it was skipping.
I watched 10 unimpressive minutes of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the DVD froze, then the DVD player kept spitting it out.
I don't know if it's a problem with my player or the movies. I'm going to be mad if my DVD player isn't working.
I just put in Burn After Reading, but I have to start work in 30 minutes and I'm not much in the mood for a movie anymore.

BOO! BOO to scratched DVDs and possibly broken DVD players!!!

Buffy and her Hair

So last weekend Buffy wanted a hair cut. We drove to the hairdresser which is right by the farmers market, and she went inside while I sat on a bench outside to have a snack. When I finished, I walked around for a few minutes.

Then I went to see if she was ready. I stood at the tinted window and peeked in but I couldn't see her. At the hairdressing stations I saw the backs of a man, a short-haired person, and a little kid. I looked over at the sitting area, no Buffy. "Where the heck did she go?" I wondered. I stepped inside to find her because there was no way she could have left without me seeing her. I saw the man, the short-haired person, the little kid, and a bunch of people waiting. No Buffy. But... she HAD to be there! I looked around again. Man, short-haired person, little kid... OMG. OMG OMG OMG. The back of that short-haired person looks awfully familiar...

"BUFFY!!" I exclaimed. The entire establishment looked up at me. Including Buffy. "YOU CUT OFF ALL YOUR HAIR????" She looked up at her hairdresser, "I told you my mom would freak out," and gave us all the hugest smile ever.

I wasn't mad at her, I was just shocked. I thought she was going in for a trim, probably because she's always whining about wanting her hair LONGER. Stupid kids, haha. But the truth was, she looked GREAT. It really was just the SHOCK of not being able to find her when I KNEW she was there, and then finally realizing all that hair piled on the floor belonged to her, haha.

Anyway, she has turned into quite the little model since then.
Do you all like it too?

So, you'll never hear me admit this again, I hope, but I'm watching Bret Michael's stupid new show and WHO would have ever believed they could find so many slutty, brainless women? As many episodes of Rock of Love and Charm School I have watched (Rock on, Sharon Osbourne), I cannot believe they found this many women who are even dumber and sluttier than the previous women.

Again I ask - how do you get through life like that? I can't even imagine living their lives.

And Bret - is he not EXHAUSTED dealing with all the drama with these women? I'm exhausted just watching the show.

That's it. You'll never hear again that I wasted a minute on this show. Because I won't admit it, haha.

Food Food Food

You all are being very helpful and enthusiastic with the food and cooking comments. I know, I know, it's much more interesting than four years of hearing about Dante and Homer and various obscure 16th century playwrights. Looks like things are going to start getting interesting again, eh?

One thing I haven't mentioned, that Kate reminded me of, is that Scott is an excellent cook and cooks ALL meals when I am in Aptos. In fact, it had been about two years since I had cooked him a meal, in the middle of my stressed out and don't know how to deal with it stressed out mess of four years, haha. So he was shocked at how good the New Years Eve dinner was, and really appreciated it. In fact, he tried to duplicate my soup recipe this weekend, haha. He even made it better by adding sausage to it.

So anyway, I just wanted to make sure Scott got his props, because he's been a very helpful, supportive boyfriend who really loves to cook and create recipes. He would be the Last person to sit and wait for me to cook dinner - actually I couldn't keep him out of the kitchen and stop him from stirring the soup when I was cooking, haha. I think cooking together is going to open a whole new time of fun for us.

Turning my thumb green again

As soon as the rain stops I think I'll make another addition to the hobby list: Gardening!
That's right, get ready for a vegetable garden this year!

I even thought about getting some houseplants this weekend to practice with - but then I remembered the reason I have no houseplants is that both cats love to eat them. So we'll just wait for the rain to stop.

Cucumbers! Peas! Tomatoes! Peppers!!!

The lost art

I don't know when I stopped liking to cook. Last week, after I made the first soup from my new cookbook, I had really relaxed, nice, cozy feelings. It had taken some work to make that soup: there was chopping and sauteing and boiling and cutting and much watching of the pot. But I had fun making it and just felt so great after.

And the next day, when I had a craving for cookies and none of my kids felt like making some for me (ungrateful buggers, haha) I decided... why not? And again, I had a good time baking.

I tried to remember the last time I actually made cookies myself, and the last time I remember for sure was Christmas 1988. Before I had kids. I tried to remember if I ever enjoyed cooking dinner (because in the last four years it's been whatever was the fastest thing I could throw together and toss in the oven, I had NO desire to get into any complicated recipe), and I remembered back when I was first married I had cookbooks that I loved and would ALWAYS try new recipes. In fact, I received the "365 ways to cook chicken" book as a shower gift, and by the time we got divorced my husband had declared he would never eat chicken again. Heh.

So I tried to figure out what happened, because obviously it wasn't just school that did it; I couldn't remember really being happy in the kitchen since the very early years of my marriage. And this is what I realized:

After those first two years of marriage I was in charge of taking care of two kids who were both babies, all by myself. ALL by myself. I remember actually holding Spike over my shoulder with one arm while I tried to cook dinner with my other arm. No, the husband would not even hold the baby while I cooked dinner. Later on, when they were old enough to walk, it became more difficult to cook because they wanted to help, and I was never skilled in that kind of patience. Later, when the husband left (hurray!) there was no food to cook. And finally, when the kids were old enough to leave me alone in the kitchen and I should have been able to cook some great meals, I went back to school. Thus began our four year association with the cereal box, heh.

But now here I am, no school to worry about, no little kids running underfoot trying to burn themselves or me, and a kitchen full of food. I can finally get in there, alone, pull out ingredients I need, and have time to make something delicious.

I finally GET it, when I hear women talking about how they love to cook. I haven't felt that love in 18 years because it was either a chore or an impossibility (cooking with a baby in one arm, can you BELIEVE THAT???), or there was no food to cook or zero time to cook it. Dinner has been a stress inducer for 18 years. Now it's finally a time for me to take for myself, to put some love into the food and make something really good and nutritious for my family. In fact, I think that's why last night's soup didn't turn out so well - I was furious with my son while I was cooking it. There wasn't a lot of love put into that soup.

Today Spike is going to the store to pick up ingredients for more cookies, and then we're making a beef/chili soup tonight. I saved the beef soup for a day he didn't have to work, so he can eat it fresh. It's topped with tortilla chips and monterey jack. And then we'll have cookies for dessert.

Maybe later we'll move on to pies or even a turkey. Maybe. Maybe even for Easter I'll try some tamales. Who knows. But it's a new love for me, and a welcome one. I wish I could have been that cookie-making mom when the kids were little, but I did okay with what I had, and they're certainly enjoying themselves now.

Movie Monday!

My Netflix movies this morning are:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Burn After Reading
Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run is one of my all time favorite movies and always gets me back in the mood to run again. Hopefully a viewing of Lola today and the premiere of Biggest Loser tomorrow will get me back into things. Damn final papers! They forced me to quit the best running of my life and I've been out of habit ever since! But now it's time to get back into it...

Where are the spoons????

It's Monday morning and I finally get some quiet time. Buffy went back to school today, Spike is home but he doesn't wake before noon if he can help it. I don't have to work until 11am so I'm free. Yeah, I was supposed to go to the gym this morning, but it was cold and dark when I woke up, so, ummm... tomorrow.

I have a feeling Spike is going to be extra good and helpful today. He got yelled at yesterday by me, and he HATES getting in trouble. But honestly, I'm tired of dealing with this 18 year old boy. If it were only the messes he leaves behind him like a trail of horse poop in a parade, I could probably live with that. But it's the fact that everything he touches in this house DISAPPEARS. We are down to three spoons again. Since my mother died three years ago and we took home three sets of her silverware, WE HAVE LOST ALMOST EVERY SPOON. I've started going to the Goodwill to pick up replacements so I can stir sugar into my coffee or have some cereal. I refuse to buy any new utensils until that boy is out of the house. At least all the cups and mugs that go missing can be found stacked up, filled with moldy old coffee, in his bedroom. But the SPOONS??? Where are the spoons???

Anyway, I lost it when I came home Sunday and his mess was all over the kitchen, two of my mother's Japanese crystal shot glasses were sitting on the sink, various stinky cups and mugs sitting on counter, and there were NO SPOONS in the drawer. I bet a bunch of them mysteriously appear today. Everything tends to get "fixed" after he gets yelled at, for around 48 hours at least.

It's 8am, time for me to go read a book.

I finished New Moon this weekend, and I'm glad you all commented in agreement about it because if this had been the first book of the series I would never have read the next one, if I had even finished this one. The last 100 pages were okay - well, until the last ten pages when Bella is being Bella again, and like Lanie said, I just want to smack the crap out of that girl.

I really liked her in the first book, but from the beginning of this book I disliked her - rude, thoughtless, EMO, thoughtless, willing to lead people on to get what she wants, wanting what SHE wants regardless of the effect on others. Did I mention thoughtless and rude? She's just not a role model. And she annoys the crap out of me. I don't know why this series didn't go down in flames after book 2.

So I guess I'll try book 3, but I'm not going to buy it, I'll just wait until the library has it and I'll read other good books until then. I'm over halfway into my second reading of Kitchen Confidential, and then it's back to Middlesex. I have two books on hold for me at the library, don't remember which they are, and another ("Girls" that Ipek recommended) that Amazon might deliver to me sometime in my lifetime. Seriously, I've already received two other things that I ordered AFTER that order.

Okay, back to reading I go!

I'm doing laundry and then I'll be off to Aptos. With my books, haha.
I'm now reading, at the same time, New Moon, Kitchen Confidential AND Middlesex. Fun!

To Mariel: Yeah, Anthony Bourdain IS hot. When I first read his book I barely kind of knew who he was. Now I'm so hooked on his "No Reservations" show (I watched a BUNCH of episodes last night!) that I decided to read his book again.

Scott wants to see a movie today but we can't agree on anything. I want to see Doubt or Milk, he doesn't. He wants to see Benjamin Buttons, which I hear is great, but I don't want to sit for three hours in a dark theater (I have to save up my vampire life for Cinequest, haha). We both want to see The Wrestler, but I can't find it at any theaters so I'm assuming it hasn't come out yet. Sigghhhh.'

But there are always books to read!

I started the New Moon book, #2 of the Twilight series. And though I'm only about 150 pages in, I definitely don't like it as much as the first book. First of all, Edward is nowhere to be found, heh. And Bella is just moping moping moping. At first, I wanted to just smack her, "GET OVER IT ALREADY", heh, but I remembered back to high school when my first love broke my heart, and okay, I reacted in the exact same way that Bella did. So... I GET it. But I don't want to READ about it, okay? I'm assuming Edward must reappear somewhere in this book, and it better be sooner rather than later, because I can't take more of this moping.

Okay, rant over. I'm also reading Middlesex, which is awesome, but when New Moon arrived yesterday I knew I could get through it quickly so I decided to do that one first. I'm still in the mindset that I only have a very short period of time to get in "fun" reading, so I'm still unconsciously trying to whiz through the books at ungodly speeds. After these two I want to re-read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, and Scott got me a book called Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. And Ipek recommended "Girls" to me, which Amazon is taking its sweet time sending me. If anyone else has any suggestions, please send them on! Despite what my brain has been trained to believe, I actually have all the time in the world to get through a zillion books. I wonder how many I'll get through this year?

Ignore the entry right below this, it's just a marker for my "What am I reading?" page.

My Fabulous Book List - 2009

The shortest list ever due to no school:

Finished 2009
Y the Last Man Books 1-6 Brian K. Vaughan
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
The Annotated Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
Transformed by Triathlon: The Making of an Improbable Athlete Jane Booth
The World is Flat Thomas L. Friedman
The Woman Triathlete Christina Gandolfo
Triathlons for Women Sally Edwards
Naturally Thin Bethenny Frankel
Why We Suck Denis Leary
Between the Bridge and the River Craig Ferguson
Gingerbread Girl Stephen King (Audiobook)
The Strain Guillermo del Toro
The Great Train Robbery Michael Crichton
Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever Judge Judy Sheindlin
Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle For Workers' Rights At Wal-Mart Liza Featherstone
Cell Stephen King
Girls: a paean Nic Kelman
Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain
New Moon Stephenie Meyer

Other Years
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2002-2004

Happy New Year 2009

We had a very nice, quiet, happy evening last night. I made Greek-style quesadillas and mulligatawney soup, and Scott LOVED them both. I kept his bloody mary glass filled, as he's had a hard week, and they did seem to make him happy, haha. Then for dessert I went for simple since dinner was quiet an elaborate cooking extravaganza: Chocolate pudding with Cool Whip and fresh strawberries. It was delicious.

While I cooked Scott watched the "House" episode about his father's funeral, which I had taped for him. Then we watched a couple movies on HBO: Bourne Ultimatum and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. We went to bed just before midnight, but heard the celebrations outside right at midnight. We said Happy New Year and went to sleep.

Woke up around 7am. I made coffee and we watched lots of my music videos on iTunes (he loved the OK-Go treadmill video). Then we watched Chuck and Larry on TV, went to breakfast at the bakery, and he drove on home. I'm spending the day relaxing and waiting for Buffy to come home from her friend's house. Spike is in and out with his friends. Tomorrow I'll head over to Scott's house.

It's a good day so far. No stress (I'm still learning how to deal with it, or with not having it), lots of quiet, and just... rest.

Site
Diary
Running Diary
Pictures
Guestbook
Pischina-Ku
books

Recent Entries
Analyze this:
The octuplets again
I love Bonnie Hunt
At least someone's getting something accomplished.
Varsity Swim Team
Not graduated, HARDEHARHAR
Fourteen Kids. Congrats. Not.
Sick...?
ZZZzzzz
School and Cinequest

Categories
Blogger Idol
Books
Computer People
Diary Update
eBay
Family
Food
Friday Five
Happy!
Health
Interesting
Kids
Lara Croft
Movies
Music
News
Nothing Special
Old Blogger Entries
Pets and Pets and Pets
Politics
Quiz
Reasons for Love
Recipes
Running
School
Scott
Site Maintenance
Sports
Television
Theatre
Vehicles
Work
Writing