Happiness

I so desperately want to feel like this...



Though, I do worry that I would have to take up a drug habit to get results like that.

Current Music: You just heard it...

Stress Ball

Yep, that's me - a little wound up ball of stress! Have been all week.

So why am I stressed you say (besides the obvious - no money, dirty house, laundry not done, behind at work)?

Well I've got this thing to go to tomorrow - it's a charity "luncheon" for the local hospital. Doesn't sound all that bad right? My friend invited me since she had an extra ticket plus she figured it would be a good "networking" opportunity. At first it sounded like fun, but then I thought about who was really going to be there - all the doctor's wives, the rich stay at home moms and all the other "ladies of leisure" in town (in short, all of the rich folk that I don't hang out with).

So that got me stressing out about what to wear and since I don't do "luncheons" (I'm more of a casual brunch girl or a hang out after work with friends girl). Off I went to the mall - trying on skirts and suits and slacks and all sorts of other things I would never wear in my normal day to day life. But if I was going to be hanging with this crowd I needed something more than my standard nice top, dressy jeans and cute shoes ensemble. I finally found a cute skirt that went with a sweater I already had - cute and dressy, but could be casual for later use.

Then I realized I didn't have the right shoes. I felt quite strongly that my normal selection of boots, Sketchers, ballet flats or flip-flops just weren't going to cut it. So I went shopping again - I've bought five pairs of shoes this week (admittedly two pairs were not for the outfit)! But after multiple trips to the mall I know have skirt and shoes - oh and a new handbag (cause you can't buy new shoes and not a new purse).

That got me thinking about the state of hair and nails and toes (they're peep-toe shoes after all). So I checked the roots and the half gown out bangs and called in for an appointment with my stylist. The hair was the easiest part all things considered, well, except for the evil bangs but I can work with them. The toes are done, though I'm a bit worried that the color is too bright - but screw them if they can't appreciate a sassy summer color. The nails may have to go as they are since I don't see a manicure happening between now and 11:30 tomorrow.

And of course during this shopping frenzy I've been wondering where the money is going to come from for these purchases. I've tried to keep my purchases reasonable and I think that I should be able to wear all of this stuff more than just this time - so that's good. And I do have a fair number of things to return, that's money back in the bank.

I should be relatively stress free at this point, I'm all ready and I should be able to breath easily. But now I'm worried about the even it's self - will I know anyone? Will I see someone I don't want to run into? Will I somehow embarrass my self?

I suppose the question that I should be worried about more is will I be bored out of my skull and be sorry for spending all the time and money?

Current Music: Picture Perfect - Chris Brown

It's Never Been Done Before

Never in all my born days have I seen something like this. Well, not to this impeccable level of care and detail. There has never been anyone on earth who has done such a spectacular job... of cleaning the bathroom.

Apparently that's what I was supposed to say, anyway.

I came home the other day and Scott announced (with all due pomp and circumstance) that he had finally** cleaned the bathroom. I said "thanks" and went on my merry way - unloading groceries, changing my clothes and cooking dinner. He sat down and read a book for a bit, then the following conversation happened:

Scott: Well did you even look?
Me: Look at what?
Scott: The bathroom, did you look at the clean bathroom.
Me: No, is there something special about it, aside from it being clean?
Scott: Yeah, I really cleaned it. I mean really, I even wiped down the baseboards.
Me: Wow, it must be cleaner than ever. (Do you sense the sarcasm here?)
Scott: Well it's just really clean and you should go look at it, that's all.

Later I went to inspect his handy work. The bathroom was indeed clean, no cleaner than I leave it, but nice and clean. Then I noticed a few minor details...

1. He only cleaned one of the bathrooms, the one he uses.
2. There is no way he could have washed the floor - the mop was dry, the swiffer was still in the closet and I know he didn't do it by hand.
3. The shower was still dirty.

So I guess what I'm saying is if anyone would like to see a really clean bathroom, they should not come to my house.

Oh and in case you were wondering, the vacuum cleaner is still sitting in the middle of the dining room, in homage to all the hard work he did last time he "cleaned" the house.

Current Music: Scotty Doesn't Know - Lustra

** When he says finally he means because on my one day off in the last two weeks I should have cleaned it. When I say finally it means, he's been home for almost two weeks and it's taken him this long.

Dream On

I had two stress/work dreams in the early morning hours:

1. One of my bosses was yelling at me for missing an 8:30am meeting, a meeting that she had scheduled for me to meet with a client - but hadn't told me about. Now anyone who knows anything about me knows that I don't do much at 8:30am except use monosyllabic words and get ready for work. So I was yelling back that it was totally unfair of her to be mad at me when she a) knows I don't do 8:30am meetings, b) didn't tell me and c) since she rarely comes in before 10am who was she to tell me when to come in. The fight got so heated, the yelling so intense that I woke up sweating and seriously pissed off.

That was at about 4:30am and though I tried, I couldn't get back to sleep for a while. Around 4:45am I gave up and read for a bit. At some point I managed to get back to sleep again and had this dream:

2. My boss' mom needed a ride to the shop in her motor home (strange for many reasons, one of which is that she doesn't actually have one), but she wanted to drive and just have me ride with her. Once we got there I realized that I couldn't get back home to change (I had left the house without make-up or hair done or clothes on) so went in to ask the boss if I could drive his van back to my house to get ready for work. Since it was well before the time I usually get to work I figured I had time to go home and get suited up for real. But he said no, since I was there he expected me to work, I said I couldn't since I didn't have make-up on or any clothes. At that point I realized that not only was I not wearing work clothes, I wasn't wearing any clothes at all(though they did eventually re-appear)! I looked around the show room and there were a ton of people that needed help (even though none of them wanted kitchens - I'm not really sure what they wanted), so I started helping people with their questions - naked and grumbling all the way. A few clients later (and with my clothes back on) I said I was going home to change. Just as I was walking away, that person (really not sure who it was) bit or stabbed me in the back (left shoulder blade to be exact). The stabbing pain was enough to wake me up again and for good.

The odd thing is the shoulder pain bothers me when I am at work, I rarely have a problem with it anywhere else. But just dreaming about work made me the pain come back!

Not that these two dreams aren't so hard to decipher. As you know I've not been exactly pro-work. I drag my ass in here every day doing as little work as I can get away with and try not to listen to my bosses whining about sales being down (I'm making my sales so there's not much more I can do for that). But theses dreams have got me thinking that I may need to re-evaluate my job or at least how much longer I want to work for these folks.

In any event I think I see a mental health day in my future...

Current Music: Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather

How Many Licks Does It Take?*

My house is a serious mess, but I haven't had time to clean it - and when I have had time I've been so tired all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV or read a book. I know that the house is past gross, but I'm past caring recently.

So when Scott told me that he was going to be home all week I thought, "Great, the house won't get clean, but maybe he'll do some laundry or clean up his mess on the table". Well, that hasn't been the case, all week I've come home to piles of laundry, dishes in the sink, etc. Until today...

I just got off the phone with Scott, he said that he couldn't stand another minute in the dirty house and he was in the midst of cleaning the house! Holy Mary, hell has actually frozen over!

So now we know the number of days my husband can sit around doing nothing in a filthy house before he has to clean it is 4. (May I throw in a snotty comment that if I had taken a week off and the house wasn't clean by day one that he would have started in on the snide comments by day two.)

* Alternate title is How Gross Can My House Get Before My Husband Will Clean?

Current Music: Housework - The B-52's

**UPDATE** Got home at 6 to find out the "cleaning" meant that he had vacuumed. Yep the house sure is clean...

Open Letter

To the Angry Lady in the Cosmetics Isle in Target:

If your daughter is going to throw a full on temper tantrum (throwing herself down on the floor, kicking and screaming, serious slobbery crying) in Target, then she is not old enough to wear make-up. You should not be trying to reason with her about why she doesn't need the loose powder that she wants to buy. You should not be yelling that the lip gloss she thinks she wants to buy is really concealer. You should be telling her that she isn't old enough to have any of it. You should be telling her that she is way past the age of full blown temper tantrums. And then you should take her home so that the rest of us can shop in peace.

Thank you,
Irritated Lady Trying to Buy Mascara

Current Music: Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

Back to the Shallow End

Things have been a bit deep around here lately - and while I can be deep, shallow is so much more fun, so everyone out of the deep end!

A couple of shallow things I have been pondering:

1. I think I'm going to by Dance Dance Revolution tonight on the way home. It looks like fun and I just realized that I'm going to have to get into a bikini soon - maybe it will help. And if nothing less I'll probably be able to laugh my ass off.

2. Can lotion make you static-y? The last couple of nights at the restaurant I have had a serious issue with static. It's the same cotton/poly blend pants and a cotton apron we always wear (and yes there is a shirt) but ever since I've switched to this new lotion I can't keep my apron from clinging to my pants - and let me tell you, it's not a good look. So as of now I'm blaming the windy and warmer weather, not the lotion, but I wonder...

3. I'm trying to decide on my summer toe color. Not that only wear one color all summer long, but I tend to like to get a new color and really wear it a lot during the season. So, I've got to get that done.

4. Bangs - oh yes, they're still here, evil as ever. I just can't decide what to do with them - keep them, let them grow out? And then there's the rest of the hair - should I go shorter for summer? I'll have to pick up some trashy celeb magazines and get some inspiration.

5. Zebra print flats. There's a cute pair at target and I'm thinking I might have to have them - though buying the video game might put a crimp in that plan.

Alrighty, I guess that's it for now, but I'm sure I can come up with more shallowness soon!

Current Music: Summer's Gone - Aberfeldy

Phoning It In

Well, not literally - not this time anyway. Though I have been known to text in my posts during NaBloPoMo (it does help when it comes to not being near a computer a little before midnight).

Anywho, today I'm speaking metaphorically, talking about the phrase "Phoned It In". Sadly, I think that's what I've done with this month of blogging, not exactly giving it my best. I had high hopes for NaBloPoMo this month, hoped that it would help me to get my groove back, but it didn't. However, I'm not so sure it's because of or in spite of NaBloPoMo - I'm beginning to think it's me.

I think I've been "phoning in" a lot of things lately:
- My job, to be sure. I think it's a fair bet that I only really work for 4 to 5 hours of an 8 hour day. And sadly, I don't really care all that much - and that can't be good. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm burnt-out, I do like my job, just not lately.

- My friends, sadly. I try to keep up, and email helps, but there are a couple of my friends that I've not seen for a couple of years - and I hate that. And really, email isn't the same - but I don't seem to make the time to call. I'm more in tune with my blogging peeps than anyone else, not that it's bad, but it does make me a bad friend to the others.

- My marriage to a degree. We all go through phases - times when we're less into each other, and we've been through this before, but lately it seems that this phase is taking a lot longer to come out of than before. Of course, the whole baby-making thing puts a crimp in our relationship, but there must be a way to make it good again.

I guess this is a moment that it's good I don't have kids, it would break my heart to put "my child" on that list.

Maybe I should take this moment as a wake up call. So realizing all this and the need for me to make some changes, the next question is how.

Happy last day of NaBloPoMo anyway.

Current Music: Fall Apart Again - Brandi Carlile

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

We've been blissfully plumbing problem free for two weeks now, well until last night that is.

Oh sure, the plumbing got taken care of a while back, we were able to return to normal. There were long showers, laundry, cooking - it was wonderful! But when Scott arrived home from work yesterday the alarm was going off and the pump wasn't working. We called the plumber, set up an appointment for this morning, then went out as planned (no sense letting a little plumbing problem get in the way of dinner with friends right?).

The plumbers spent most of the late morning and early afternoon trying to figure out the problem, which seems to be some metal blockage - which may mean another new pump. We'll know more tomorrow.

So we're back to short showers till tomorrow - or perhaps we'll be schlepping laundry down the street and running back and forth for showers for another week. The only good news is that they've assured us that this is all under warranty and there won't be any charge. March has been pretty crappy, and I'm not speaking metaphorically!

Current Music: Liar - 8mm

More About Me - the Picture Book

Here's what I tried to post yesterday:


I found this over at may-b's, seems like fun...

Here’s how it works:
1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com/
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box
3. Insert the picture into your Blog



What is your relationship status?


What is your current mood?


What is your favorite movie?


What kind of pets do you have?


Where do you live?


Where do you work?


What do you look like?


What is your favourite TV show?


Describe yourself


What are you going to do tomorrow?


What is your name?


What is your favorite candy?

Working really late

Working really late - and Blogger ate my earlier post - this is just going to have to do it for NaBloPoMo!

Nobody Likes a Tease

I hate to say bad things about my girl, Mother Nature. I love her, but she is a serious tease.

This was Monday, all was right with the world:



And then Tuesday happened:



Wednesday was the bringer of all things spring, the sun was out, the birds were chirping, there were signs of green in the lawn and the piles of snow were melting. I was absolutely sure that spring was here for good.

And this is what I found when I left the office tonight...



Seriously - I am a California girl, when you promise good weather, you can't mean for the next ten minutes!!!!

Current Music: California Sun - Jem

Stars Upon Thars

Look what's in my new Target jeans:


I feel like a Sneetch!

And yes - it's a bit rough on the tushy. Also not sure how it's going to wash up yet.

Current Music: Superstar - Tegan and Sara

Wardrobe Malfunction

The other day as I got ready to go to my Girl's Night I suddenly decided I wanted a new hand bag. So I left work earlier than I had planned so that I could run into Macy's and buy a cute new bag. It had to be colorful and big, something up to date and fun. The only ones I could find were well over the budget I had set for myself (given our household budget, and the fact that there is no monthly allowance for handbags, the budget was slim). Sadly I left the store empty handed, pouted my way home and took my old handbag with me for the night.

So that started off a chain reaction of unhappiness about my budget wardrobe and lack of nice clothes. (Now I don't need really nice clothes because of what I do, but it doesn't mean that every once and a while I don't need to dress up a bit.)

The next step in the chain was on Sunday. I had a cute outfit all planned out in my head for Easter dinner. But between the PMS bloat and the fact that the pants that were so cute in my head turned out to be so uncute - I ended up having a complete melt-down fifteen minutes before we had to leave. I dug through dirty "nice" jeans and checked over all of my worn out sweaters to find something acceptable (thank goodness dinner was casual).

The final straw came on Monday when I found all but my scariest jeans dirty, all of my long-sleeved t-shirts either faded or stained and my shoes just weren't doing it for me.

So Monday afternoon I left work a bit early to check out Target and see if there was anything that could make me feel better. One pair of jeans and a cute pair of "denim" slacks later I was starting to feel a bit better. But I still wasn't there - two pairs of pants was not going to fix the major problem that is my wardrobe. So I continued on and found my new favorite store...

Steve & Barry's. It just opened in town, and between the prices and the clothes those boys have found room in my budget, closet and heart. Nine items and only $80 later I found a cute little dress, another pair of jeans, a cute vest and a few other things.

After a day in my new jeans, I am a bit happier - and Scott isn't too unhappy with the expenditures. Not a bad day's work.

Now I need to work on my shoe selection...

Current Music: New Shoes - Paolo Nutini

I Love My Friends

I'm lucky, our good friends have a great family. That great family has taken us in - we love hanging out with them for holiday dinners, on the beach, girl's nights, weekend getaways. Of course we knew we liked them before we moved, but we didn't realize that they would be so very great over time.

But last night I was loving them for a different reason, M's brother in law is a chef - a serious kick-ass Chef. My Easter dinner included:

Salmon Mousse
Foie Gras
Duck Confit
Champagne
Braised Lamb
Mushroom Soup
Truffled Mashed Potatoes
Spanish Coffee

It was a long and spectacular dinner - but I still have the urge to have a good old-fashioned Easter ham, maybe this weekend?

Current Music: Flavor of the Weak - American Hi-Fi

I Miss Easter

Easter was always one of my favorite holidays. I suppose it still is in some ways, but now it's lacking a bit.

I used to love getting dressed up, including those shinny white patent leather shoes. We used to go to church with my Grandmother - it was the only time that we ever went to church, she always liked to show us off. Sometimes we would go to place Easter Lilies at my Great-Grandparent's crypt. Then we would go home, or to our Grandparent's apartment, or out to our Aunt and Uncle's (it varied by year) and we'd have an Easter egg hunt. We'd hunt for the eggs we had dyed the night before or the really bright plastic ones that were filled with candy (courtesy of our Grandmother) - and of course, the Easter basket itself! Usually the Easter Bunny filled our baskets with a giant chocolate bunny or maybe a See's Easter Egg, coloring books, little toys and some years a beautiful Sugar Egg with a spring scene inside.

Of course Easter hasn't been that way for a number of years, but it was an easy holiday. No gifts, no days worth of cooking or decorating. Basically, just a day to get together with family and eat dinner - something that didn't happen regularly once my sister and I grew up. It was always a good afternoon, good food and wine and company.

The Easter after my Grandmother died, there was no family dinner - and the year after that. As it turned out that it had been my Grandmother that kept us all together at Easter. We did finally get back to it, but it wasn't the same.

Since we've moved to Michigan, I've made Easter dinner for friends, been invited to friends, and made Easter dinner for just us - but it's not the same. Today we're going over to some friend's for dinner, but I miss seeing my family.

Two of my favorite bloggers have recently lost their Grandmothers (Leah over at More Ways to Waste Time and Ali Edwards a scrapbooking superstar). Maybe their loss got me thinking about my Grandmother, or maybe it was Easter, either way I miss them both.

Current Music: Hey Beautiful Day - Bedouin Soundclash

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know

Thanks to Laura, for doing this the other day (and letting me steal it) - I was in need of a simple (yet fun) post for today!

1. What color is your bra? Not wearing one, but earlier it was black, not very racy, but cute.

2. Do you straighten your hair everyday? It's straight every day when I wake up, so no - but I do curl it with a curling iron frequently.

3. Do you worry about the size of your boobs? Nope.

4. What’s your favorite girly magazine? Um, does Real Simple count, cause I don't really read any girly magazine regularly.

5. Would you kill for chocolate? No, I love it, but there are other things I'd be more willing to kill for.

6. Jeans or Skirts? Jeans

7. Do you wear clothes/shoes/jewelry that’s uncomfortable? Yep, but if I do it's cute!

8. Did you ever spend all day/night getting pretty for a guy? Oh yes.

9. Did you ever cry during a romantic movie? Duh

10. Would you leave the house without makeup on? Nope, minimum is concealer, mascara, eyebrows and lipstick/gloss.

11. Do you consider making out “unladylike”? Nope

12. On a scale of 1-10, how fun is shopping? If I'm finding stuff I like 10, if I can't find what I'm wanting 2.

13. Are you spoiled? Sort of, not lately though.

14. Do you think lip gloss is the best? No, I usually prefer lipstick.

15. Do you freak out if you miss your favorite show? Yep

16. Do you yell a lot? Sadly yes, but it really does go in phases (say monthly:-)

17. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? It probably only takes me an hour to actually get ready, but I like to take at least an hour and a half to two hours so that I can really feel "ready".

18. Do you wear sweatpants/pajama pants to school/work? Absolutely not

19. Accessories make the outfit; true or false? True

20. Is pink truly the best color in the entire universe? Nope

21. Lip gloss a must? Nope

22. Status? Very tired, stiff neck, heading to bed.

23. Have you ever dressed unlike yourself to impress a guy? Sadly, yes.

24. Do you often wish there was something you could change about yourself? Of course

25. Gold or silver? Yes Please!

26. The guy that you like/love/whatever, what does his name begin with? S

27. Do you dress up too much for holidays? Not any more, I'd like to more often though.

28. Do you like wearing dresses? As long as it's causal, they are ok in summer, but dresses aren't my favorite.

29. Do you write a lot of mushy love poems? Nope

30. What makeup could you not live without? Benefit "Boi-ing" concealer.

Current Music: Call and Answer - Barenaked Ladies

Girl's night

I gotta go...

Current Music: Teenage Wasteland - The Who

Happy First Day

...of March Madness!

It's crazy - I don't like basketball, but when it comes to the NCAA finals, I just love it! Scott and I fill in our brackets and bet who will win. Of course it's not for anything serious, last year it was for a full body rub (which I still have not gotten from last year!).

Now I've already said that I don't like basketball so that makes picking the winners a bit difficult. But I have a fool-proof system:

1. I always pick any UC (University of California) team to go as far as possible
2. Then I pick any other California team to go as far as possible - until they run into a UC team
3. I always pick a northern California team to go farther than a southern California team (we northern Californians have a bit of a chip on our shoulder when it comes to southern California)
4. Then I pick any Michigan teams to go as far as possible - until they run into a California/UC team - in deference to my friends I route for State before UofM (but since UofM rarely makes it, it's never really been an issue).
5. After that I always pick one last seed to go kind of far
6. As far as the fillers go, I pick teams that I like the name of!

So not very scientific, but it works for me!

Here's your random factoid for the day:
1.2 billion - is the estimated dollar amount employers nationwide could lose in productivity during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, as employees direct their attention to filling out the perfect bracket. (thank you Real Simple)

(See I barely wasted anytime, not only do I have a perfect system, but it's sort of like pin the tail on the donkey, never really takes too long!)

Oh right, and happy first day of Spring!

Current Music: Going the Distance - Cake

Is That Your Final Answer?

Hey it's Q&A (No, the T&A is another website!) with Mandy Lou!

Here are the answers to all the movie quotes:

1. Oh, we're going to talk about me again, are we? Goody. - The Philadelphia Story
   


2. Unleash the fury! - Road Trip (guessed by Mer)


3. Oh, l'amour, l'amour, how it can let you down. Hmm. How it can pick you up again. - The Women
   


4. We're not low! - Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (guessed by Mer)


5. It's cozier, isn't it? Boy, girl, boy, girl. - White Christmas (guessed by May-B)


6. All I'm saying is, there's a reason why Sporty Spice is the only one without a fella! - Bend It Like Beckham
   


7. Mischief managed. - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (guessed by Jenni)


8. When a man is wrestling a leopard in the middle of a pond, he's in no position to run. - Bringing Up Baby (guessed by Mer)


9. Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler... - Office Space (guessed by Scoobers)


10. Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. - You've Got Mail (guessed by Scoobers)


11. A woman happily in love, she burns the souffle. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven. - Sabrina, the original
    


12. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? - Animal House (guessed by Mer)


13. Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death! - Auntie Mame
    


14. Oh, he's so happy being Teddy Roosevelt. - Arsenic and Old Lace
    


15. Mr. Allen, this may come as a surprise to you, but there are some men who don't end every sentence with a proposition. - Pillow Talk (guessed by Mer)

And the title/bonus quote:
Listen to me, you great big bubble-headed baboon! - His Girl Friday

In answer to Lori's questions...
My sister found my blog. She was searching for my photoblog and the user name is the same, so... I knew it was just a matter of time after I gave her the name of my photoblog.

As for Scott not knowing that I blog, I'll let you all pick the answer:
A. he's a man - he's oblivious
B. he thinks of the laptop as a poor video game substitute
C. I blog at work frequently
D. yes I am very clever
E. all of the above

Any more questions?

Current Music: Question - Old 97s