mid-november updates

• okay, so jessie STILL HASN'T HAD THAT BABY. grrrr. aunty melly is getting m-i-g-h-t-y impatient, let me tell you. but i suppose that kind of impatience pales in comparison to what jessie is going through. so i should probably keep my trap shut and wait.

• my birthday is rapidly approaching, and i haven't quite decided on the tone of the evening yet. i want to have some friends over to hang out, drinks some drinks, play some games - it will either be on my birthday (a thursday this year) or the day after, friday. i need to make a decision...

• i had the worst wendy's-related experience of my LIFE today at lunch. maybe even the worst fast food experience of anyone's life. i was busy down in the archives all morning, and totally forgot that i didn't pack my lunch today. i was planning on ordering sushi delivery, but i spazzed and forgot all about it. so at 1:00, when all my pals were gathering in the lunchrooom, i had to haul ass over to wendy's to buy some emergency lunch. before i left, jennifer asked that i buy her a junior cheeseburger - no tomato, no onion. so i cheerily speed off to the nearby wendy's, i waited in line at the drive-thru, and it came time for me to order:

lady: can i help you.
me: yes, um, can i get a ham and cheese sandwhich, no mayo... (pause)
lady: ham-n-cheese combo, what else?
me: no, actually, just the ham and cheese - no combo, and...
lady: [interrupts] that it?
me: i also need to get a small chili and a junior cheeseburger, no tomato, no onion
lady: so that's a ham and cheese, a small chili, and a junior cheeseburger no mayo no onion... that it?
me: well, um, no mayo on the ham and cheese, and the junior cheeseburger was no tomato, no onion...
lady: *big sigh* junior cheese, no mayo no onion. please pull around.
me: .... [thinking: this is going to be bad...]

• so i pulled up to the window, and my total was $6.59. i had some random change, so i started picking a coin up and she slammed the window in my face and started taking drive-thru orders from her headset. grrr. i waited there with my change ready, and she finally opened back up and took my money - i gave her $20.09. she took a few more orders, griping into her headset "you gonna have to just wait - YOU JUST GONNA HAVE TO WAIT!" to the poor ordering people behind me... she then shoved a pile of money into my hand and slammed the window. i counted $15.00. huh? i was expecting $13.50 - i needed the quarters. so i waited, and eventually she opened the window to say, whilst looking at me like i'm retarded, "what are you waiting on?" i said, "well, you gave me the wrong money... see.." she interrupted with, "YOU gave ME $20.59! i keyed in $20.59!" hmmm. i replied, politely, "no, i gave you a $20 bill, and 9 cents. i didn't have that much change, so i gave you a nickel and 4 pennies." to which she replied, with death in her eyes, "so THAT'S what you're waiting on - 4 CENTS?!?" double-huh? "no, actually, i need 50 cents and you gave me 2 extra dollars..." she stared at me, slammed the window shut and yelled for someone to open her drawer. then she opened back up, shoved 50 cents in my hand and slammed the window, once again. i took the money, then sat there trying to figure out the math of what just happened. i counted, recounted in my head, drew invisible math problems on the steering wheel... i was interupted by the nasty lady slamming open the window again, to say "WHAT are you WAITING for lady?" me: "um.... my food?" (hahaha) so she grumbled a bit, turned around and grabbed my sack of food and shoved it at me. i drove away, head reeling with money math. wtf? i got back to the lunchroom, and expressed my rage and puzzlement at the whole encounter and told the whole dumb story while i doled out everyone's orders. i laughingly said that i was certain that i would end up with mayo on my sandwich. which i did , of course. hardee har har, we all had a laugh at that. then jennifer looked puzzled and held up 2 strips of bacon - "i have bacon and tomato on mine!" when she asked for a regular cheeseburger, no tomato, no onion. i looked at the receipt and it said: junior bacon cheeseburger, the works, no mayo. HAHAHA! moron! but at least i got an extra $2 out of the whole thing... geez.

• the christmas cactus in my office is blooming! i don't know how the hell those things work - i heard you were supposed to put them in the dark for a few months, like a poinsettia. but i never do... and yet, sometime in mid-november, the silly thing starts sprouting elaborate pick and white flowers! i'm not complaining, just wondering.

• scott started his new job and he is busy and loving it so far. his and eric's last music video was mentioned in the washington post today, in a feature on the band. cool! he was also approached by another local musician, carol bui, for a video... she just got a good review in pitchfork.

• it's almost 4:00 on a friday. woot! and i only have to work 2 days next week, then it's a nice long holiday at home in ohio.
  

• the memory card in our camera died and i have yet to buy a new one. thus, the lack of pictures in my posts. but! i think there are probably some new ones on my flickr page, in case you haven't see it in a while. actually, maybe not. i have some from chicago and other places on the computer, but i haven't uploaded them yet... oops. next time!

• our housemate, eric, is moving out in a few weeks and we have a new prospect lined up - she is coming by on monday to take a look-see. i hope she can see past the gouged walls and stained carpet of the bedroom (which we *are* painting before she would move in), and the occassional (okay, everyday) hallway-tinkles of the elderly bladder of an even more elderly cat. i hope.
  

• fall is officially here! the leaves are finally at their peak (mid november!!?? what they hey??!) and it is getting nice and chilly. still highs in the upper 40s, so not quite cold yet - but we're getting there!

• my hair is shameful. i need a cut, but am too lazy/forgetful

• i have learned to knit! and i am planning on doing some crafting/sewing with my friend ashby this weekend. don't worry everyone. you won't be getting popsicle picture frames and crocheted handbags with bobbles and tassles. but! i did make myself a pair of slippers the other day. and a scarf. amongst other secret things.

• i can't think of anything else to say. so i'll leave you with that. goodbye.
  

it's a two-fer!

as in, two-fer-the-price-o-one! two posts in one day! actually, that's cheating a bit. i wrote that last one a few weeks ago, and forgot to post it. it had been sitting in my "drafts" pile until i noticed it there this morning. oopsie.

well, i got back from chicago a few weeks ago. the SAA conference was a success - met some new folks, caught up with old pals, glad-handed and did some networking. drank too much at the swank closing party. all good times! i also did a lot of walking and sight-seeing - at least one of the days, my pedometer (which i didn't even have on me all the time) read 6.87 miles! for one day! that's a lot, for me. it stunk that scott couldn't go with me... but next year, the conference is being held in san fransicso - yahoo! i think he is going to make it a priority to come with me to CA. i mean, free hotel? comped meals? what more could you ask for...

in other news, i started bike commuting last week! i've been talkin'-big about doing it for a month or so, but i finally took the plunge last week. i'm going to try and bike in at least two days per week. last week i did two, this week so far i've done two. pretty good start! and it's getting a bit easier each time. the trip is about 9 miles each way - so that's 18 miles in one day! it sounds more staggering than it really is, but it's still more biking than i'd have the patience to do at the gym. the trip to work in the morning is mostly flat - several miles of gradual downhill (which is nice) and a few short steep hills. unfortunately, that means the trip home (when i am the most weary) ends with several miles of gradual incline. yuck. i am usually ready to kiss the ground by the time i get home. i really need a better bike though. mine (looks like this, but mint green) is so heavy and slow. i have mentally spent my tax return for next year - come spring 2008, melly is getting a new bike!

i had a really horribly day yesterday. i rode my bike to work, and i was about 3 miles from home when i realized i forgot my purse. :( and my lunch. too late to turn back, i just kept going. i was a few minutes late for work, then i got a call from the dentist reminding me that my cleaning appointment was that afternoon. my dentist is in downtown DC. !!! i couldn't just leave my bike at the office and take the metro downtown - since i left my purse at home, i had to go there first anyway. so i changed back into my sweaty clothes and rode home. halfway home, i ran through a huge length of fishing line that some jackass left laying around, and it wrapped all around my gears. without a pocketknife, i hacked away with pointy rocks for about 20 minutes in the blazing sun. i got my bike to pedal forward, but i couldn't coast or stop without my chain falling off. EVERY TIME. and i was stuck in the hardest gear. i almost got run over by two semi-trucks - at the same time. and it took me an hour and a half to get home. then i had to walk to the train, go downtown, walk about 6 blocks to the dentist... then repeat. i was BEAT last night, but had many chores to do and didn't get to bed until after midnight. :( good news being, i was able to remove the fishing line and my bike seems to be okay.

it's finally fall, here in the city... cool nights, warm sunny days. yay! everything is still green, but i imagine we'll start seeing some leaf-changes in a couple of weeks. september and october are already filling up with "events" - virginia state fair, renaissance festival, apple-picking, full moon hike at the arboretum... side trip to visit tammy in hershey, PA. and! jessie's baby shower is this coming weekend!!!!! i can't wait! i have some presents to wrap - i've been crafty lately... i hear there are cousins stay at mom and dad's, and a bonfire/wienie-roast on friday!

i'll post some pictures tomorrow or soon. i have chicago pictures and other assorted shots to put on my flickr page, and i need to empty the camera before i come home this weekend.

the blogs that i check daily

okay, so i've been slow (s-l-o-o-o-o-w) about catching on to this whole "blogging" thing. I still don't really get it all the way, and as you can tell from my own "blog" that I just treat it as a place to update my family and friends and tell them where to find my vacation pictures. stuff like that. but there are a few blogs and websites out there that i check every so often, and i thought you might like to check them out too:

http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com (this site is run by this guy in brooklyn - he knits the most beautiful things!)

http://lonecellotheory.livejournal.com/ (my friend ian's blog, who is an actual blogger about interesting things)

http://www.weheartprints.com/ (pretty things to look at, wish for, and possible buy - because mostly they are affordable!)

http://www.frymyerfamily.blogspot.com/ (bessie and david's blog...)

http://icanhascheezburger.com/ (i am a sucker for stupid cats)

http://princeofpetworth.blogspot.com/ (site run by the "prince of petworth" - just observations about my neighborhood...)

i'm sure there are more - i mean, how else to i waste the first half hour of every workday? c'mon. i just can't think of them right now.

been so long, been so long

so, hey, i've been away for way too long. i realize that. please don't judge me! i am easily distracted sometimes. instead of writing a novella about what i've been up to, i am just going to string together some bullet-points. in no particular order - just whatever i think of first. that way, if you get bored by a section, or if you've heard it before... you can just skip over that one! perfect. so here goes:

• jessie and david came to visit over the weekend! yahooie! i am sooo excited to be an aunt, and bess definitely has a firm, round baby-belly now. she looks very cute and excited. i know they are going to have to cutest baby in the universe. i have some projects planned for my future niece? nephew? nieph? but since bessie reads this occassionally, i can't get into details. :) we did some touristy stuff on saturday - went on a DC Ducks tour! which was fun, even for a DC resident. i learned all sorts of factoids - most of which i forget now. but it was still fun. and we had great weather. the rest of the time we just hung out and gabbed and relaxed. and took naps.
  

• scott and eric are working on two music videos this summer/fall: first, one for the DC band Georgie James kind of pop-y music - great sound. they signed on with Saddle Creek earlier this year, and starting up a tour in england and canada right around the time their album comes out - in september. scott was busy with the video shoot all weekend, and i think they are hoping to finish up this coming weekend. i can't wait to see the footage! it's for their song "need your needs." the other video is for Dead Meadow - who are based out in L.A. now. scott and eric did a video for them back in 2005 (or maybe 2006), for "at her open door." they shot that one here in DC and Maryland, but this next one they are going out to Big Sur, CA to get most of the shots. that doesn't start up until later this month, so i'll keep you posted. they got a mention on Brightest Young Things today - check it out here.

• i finally got a bike! i've gotten to ride it a few times, but i took a long ride and hurt my back and messed up my knee somehow. my back is nearly mended, but my knee is still twinging a bit. but i am planning to bike to work once a week, after the weather turns not-so-ovenly-hot.

• i've re-started crocheting, and my friend jennifer has promised to teach me to knit - starting this thursday after work! i'm pretty pumped about that. there is a swell yarn store near my work, and it seems a pleasant place to hang out.

• the big SAA annual meeting is being held in chicago this year - i'm pumped about that! i went to chicago last fall for jennifer's wedding, and it was such a lovely city that i can't wait to see it again - this time on AIPs dime, not mine! :) i mean, sure i'll have to sit through days of workshops and sessions that aren't nearly as fascinating as the descriptions promised... but i'll also get to see some old grad school buddies and hang out and visit cool places in the evening - right? you betcha. i missed the block of rooms held for the conference, but i snagged a room at the spartan "club quarters" - itchy towels, tiny rooms, but great location and great price. plus, i won't have to continually dodge folks at the conference hotel. those folks who has been to a large conference know what i mean there.

• we went camping back in july - at assateague again. and we're going again in october! i think cliff and courtney are coming with us for the next trip, that that'll be particularly fun. i plan to dribble cheez-its all over their tent and watch the ponies come flocking. :)

• i let my gym membership slide since springtime, but i am going over there TONIGHT to re-up. sheer laziness that i let it slide, since it's pretty cheap. they are raising the rates - again - but it still works out to be $26/month. which is a steal.
  

• well, it's almost time to leave for the day, so i'll stop now. check out my flickr albums, to catch up on some pictures....

~mel

do not put your trash here...ever.

BIG NEWS! there's a feature on scott and eric in the washington city paper this week:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1773

the lovely picture was taken in the alley behind our house, as some of you might recognize. (thanks for the location suggestion, dad - the photographer ended up picking your shot!) they are also having a screening of their last few projects - saturday night at the DC arts council in adams-morgan. come one, come all! they are showing both sexy stories, as well as the premiere of "the purgatory all-stars."

in other news:

• we went to a nationals game on wednesday night - i'm going to miss RFK stadium when they tear it down. i have a feeling that the new stadium will be much fancier and probably a little bit awful.

• i need to have a party! we had so many parties last year, and the year before. why not this year? i can't figure it out, except for maybe laziness and lack of money. i'll work on it.

• i also need to take more pictures. one of my co-workers said that she was sick of looking at my flickr site and that i needed to get on the ball. i couldn't agree more. :)

• i "won" a breadmaker on freecycle.com yesterday! yahooie! i pick it up tomorrow morning, and i can't wait to try it out.

• i've been running again, for the first time in 5 or so years. yikes! has it really been that long? anyway. i've been doing just-okay. i've been going twice a week, but i'd like to up it to three times a week if i can. so far, i'm running a half mile then walking for a while, then repeating that two more times. so that's a mile and a half total? sounds lame, but i've only been at it for two weeks and i'm pretty proud of it.

• i have lots of work to do today, so i'm not sure why i'm fooling around on my blog... and jennifer is having a BBQ tonight after work, so i can't stay late. off to do real job-like things!

Friday, King of days...

various updates:

• so a week or so ago, i "won" a huge stack of patio bricks from freecycle.com. i won!! i won!! i've been trying to snag some bricks for a long long time, and i guess patience and perseverance pay off because dammit if i didn't get them in the end. i ended up with about 220 bricks, which took two trips in my car, because i feared for the heath of my suspension (and tires) if i took them all in one load. i stashed the bricks under the deck to tempt the folks who wander the alley stealing my stuff... then i started digging. and digging. and digging. i knew that our yard was composed mostly of rocks, broken glass, chunks of brick, and trash - all held together by a little dirt. i knew all this, but i didn't realize how difficult the digging would be until i began. yowza. it was hard work, and took several tries before i got down 4" or so. i should have dug deeper, and i should have leveled it out more. but i declared that i wanted a more "natural" patio so i quit and moved on to the next steps: cloth, sand, then bricks. after the hard part (digging) was over, the weed-proofing cloth layer took... oh, say about 5 minutes. the sand took a few more minutes, because i did a little smoothing and tamping. then the bricks! aside from the hellish beginning (digging), the rest of the patio took about 2 hours to complete. yahoo! i am waiting for a few more bricks to make the path from the deck steps. but at least this is a start. once i locate the camera charger, i will put up some pictures.

• i just bought two new swimsuits online! a blue retro two-piece and a brown ruffled one-piece. they should arrive next week. that give me plenty of time - 2 weeks - to make sure they actually fit before the brown family vacation at the beach. unfortunately, i have to ship them to the office. i'll have some 'splaining to do, and hopefully there will be no forced fashion shows.
  

• scott's brother, kevin, is visiting from arizona this weekend... i have no idea what the plans for entertainment are, but i hope they aren't much. i am tired of running around.
  

• speaking of running, this is going to be the Big Weekend for me to try my hand at running again. i used to do it so often, and so well. maybe not "well," as those who have witness my pitiful form can vouch for... but i want to try it again.

• duchess had a check-up yesterday, and is doing much better. she has gained a half of a pound, and her thyroid levels (whatever that means) are getting closer to normal. she'll be 19 in july, and we will throw a big party for her if she makes it. that's pretty old for a tiny little tabby cat.

• enough is enough. i need to go back to doing real work.
  

mayday - one day late...

i think yesterday was may day? or did i just make that up... in any case, it was a pretty nice day. the weather was beautiful, i was wearing a cute outfit, we ate dinner outside on the deck, we watched spiderman 2 (in preparation for watching spiderman 3 on friday night...).

tonight i MUST clean my bedroom. there are massive shivery drifts of clothes all over the floor, and they are starting to make me mad. plus, i plan to haul out all my summer clothes tonight. this will probably entail a temper tantrum over winter-belly growth, and a crying jag of self-pity. i've been putting it off for far too long now, with the thought of "maybe i'll lose weight before i try that stuff on!" but it's getting hot out. and there's no way i am losing 20 pounds by friday. so there you have it. time to face the music... maybe i'll work out *before* trying on the clothes. then at least i might feel like it's not too late.

oh damn! i was going to make an eye appointment today. grrr... i guess it's only 4:00. there's still time. i thought i could sit here a while longer, leisurely writing some nonsense. hey! the phone just rang, and it was a lady from the library in ohio where my mom used to work! saved by the bell. she needs some advice on removing the moldy old smell from papers in a donation they just received! i have a mission to fill the last 20 minutes of my day...

the unveiling...

follow the picture below to my flickr album! you can view them as a slideshow, or you can click through each one separately to read my descriptions...

Mr. MacGregor's garden

we had a delicious fresh salad of baby garden leaves last night... pale green, purple-y green, speckled like robins' eggs, striped, tender, sweet and bitter... ALL PICKED FROM MY VERY OWN GARDEN. i felt like skipping over the clouds. finally! growing things from seeds *does* work.

now i am impatiently waiting for the peas to appear.


while i'm waiting, however, i am preparing the house for painting. scott and i picked out colors last night at home depot - and we didn't even fight about it! we picked "mood indigo" for the brick part of the house, "black suede" for the shutters, plain ole white for the trim, and "purple blanket" for the door. i am prittee excited to see what it looks like. hopefully not too too dark. or else people might confuse our house with Chez Munster.

my boss is away for the day. we celebrated by having egg-n-bagel sandwiches in the library. food in the library!! scandalous. now i am fooling around on the interwebs, entertaining myself. every once in a while I stare out my enormous office windows at the little sculpture garden outside. the grass is so green that i get butterflies in my stomach. the white azaleas are peeking out of their leaves, just barely blooming. tree trunks are dark with rain and bright with moss. i can't believe we finally have spring, after such a fucked up winter!

i just filed my taxes last week, but i have my DC return in my checking account already. huh??!! that was fast, alrighty. but even faster, i have it spent already. i ordered a pushy-clippy-old-fashioned lawn mower from amazon! on sale ($119) and free shipping; got pages of rave reviews from folks. it'll get here by may 15, and boy i can't wait. i've been using a weed wacker to mow the grass and it's a royal pain in the ass. i hope this works as well as promised.

maybe i'll wander around the building and kill some time until lunch. i mean, it's after 11:00? how can i start a new project now? :) it's nice to have a lazy day at work. they are so few and far between.

painterly things

so! out of the clear blue sky, our neighbors (who occasionally say mildly racists things, and occasionally put their garbage in our yard...) approached us with a house-painting deal. ??? Odd, yes. But considering the cheapness of the offer, and the looseness of my morals, we shook hands with the devil and picked out some colors for the outside of the house. i am PSYCHED! let me just tell you. i hate the current boring color of the house, and now that the boring color is flaking off and turning all moldy (and not in a romantic grey gardens way) i hate it even more. we hardly have time to think of color, but right now we are settled on dusty-blue + black + eggplant. sounds gloomy, but looks pretty. at least in the mind's eye. my mind's eye, that is.

it also makes me feel sad and weird to get so excited over the color of my house. aren't there other, better things to get so excited over? i'm sure there are. like the paintings i keep intending to paint. the knitting i keep thinking of learning. the exercising i should be doing... ahhhh, me. the days, they do slip by.

it's so beautimous outside today - breezy blue air, skippy clouds, sunshine, and the leaves are all unfurling. these are the days that i wish i was back in school, babysitting during the day. swinging at the kalorama park playground. petting the cows at the zoo.

here is my current favorite picture. i have it on my desk at work, to remind myself that there was a time when i was not aware of my own image, when i was industrious and curious:

nonsense; twaddle.

hey! look at me! twice in one week! you are the luckiest person in the world to be reading this drivel. speaking of "drivel," i wasn't sure if i spelled that correctly so i checking teh internets and this is what i got:

driv·el /ˈdrɪvəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[driv-uhl] -eled, -el·ing or (especially British) -elled, -el·ling.
–noun

1.	saliva flowing from the mouth, or mucus from the nose; slaver.

2.	childish, silly, or meaningless talk or thinking; nonsense; twaddle.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to let saliva flow from the mouth or mucus from the nose; slaver.

4.	to talk childishly or idiotically.

5.	Archaic. to issue like spittle.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to utter childishly or idiotically.

7.	to waste foolishly.

so maybe i should change the name of this blog to something more drivel-y. because, honestly, i don't like talking about "issues" and current events. i listen to NPR every morning and every afternoon. i read US weekly at the grocery, and i read the funnies on sunday. that's about all the news i like to hear. i used to be more embarrassed about that, especially living in washington. but now... nyah, i don't care so much. people can suck my toe. i like to gossip about celebrities sometimes, and i will step up my news coverage during times of elections and big ticket items. but i can only stand discussing my views on partial-birth abortions for so long before i just want to give up.

so don't read on, thinking you will be expanding your world view. you'll be sorely disappointed if you do. instead, i prefer to pretend that no one is reading this (since, probably, no one is...) and that i am talking to myself! how pleasant. on the plus side, if i keep posting more regularly... think of how nice it will be, about ten years from now, for me to have a record of the minutiae of my days. my memory being what it is, i will have likely forgotten most of the details.

mi·nu·ti·a /mɪˈnuʃiə, -ʃə, -ˈnyu-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mi-noo-shee-uh, -shuh, -nyoo-] plural -ti·ae /-ʃiˌi/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[-shee-ee
–noun

1.	precise details; small or trifling matters: the minutiae of his craft.

so! that said, on to the drivel!

i am FINALLY moving my indoor wundergarten to the great outdoors, where it belongs. this creepy awful cold miserable weather is finally over, so it's safe for my little plantlings to go outside and stop dirtying up my house. my peas and lettuce are still doing fine outside, but soon (read: tonight and sunday) they will be joined by poppies, bells of scotland, hollyhocks, marigolds, cosmos, parsley, dill, basil, chives, spring onion! probably more, but i can't remember... i am pretty excited about it all. i also want to go pick out our hedge plants sometime soon.

the sugar-caffeine diet continues: i cheated twice - scott brought home cadbury creme eggs and i ate two. i am trying to not eat refined flour, but i haven't been good about advanced planning for that. today, for instance, i ate soup that contained noodles. it's only been 4 days, so i am going to wait a week or two before judging any results.

i am attempting to kill the last 40 minutes before i can safely leave. *technically* i shouldn't leave until 4:30... but my boss is gone for the afternoon... and it's friday, dammit. i am leaving at 4:00, and no one can stop me.

yesterday, two of my co-workers were leaving a little early to go to a wine-tasting festival thingie downtown. i was working on the reference desk, and julie was stopping by to talk before she left. we chatted for a bit, then she said quite loudly "well, i'm off to go drink some wine!", then stomped into her office - just as our boss walked by with a puzzled look on his face. the thought-bubble over his head said "julie? wine? in your office?" i am still laughing on the inside about that one.

well, i've managed to whittle my time down to a half hour. one last time-draining thought to share: play this game. it's so peaceful and addictive.

Success... then failure.

The sisters have returned to their homeland (Florida) and Scott and I are left to pick up the bloated, hollow shreds of our bodies and wallets. Well, bloated bodies and hollow wallets anyway. As their farewell meal, the girls requested Meskerem. I love Ethiopian food. I had it for the first time back in August, when mom and Jess were visiting to paint... that's when I found out that Ethiopian food gives me the loudest braying-est burps known to man. I sound like Homer Simpson at his best. I thought it was an isolated incident, possibly unrelated to Ethiopian food. But after last night, I know better. But will I still eat the mushy good stuff with my hands? Yes, by golly, I will.

Today was also the first day of my self-imposed restriction on refined flour, caffeine and sugar. I had decaf coffee this morning (i know, i know it has trace amounts, but lets not split hairs or food particles over this...). Jennifer brought in celebratory danishes and left a platter of them on the reference desk to taunt me through the bleak pre-lunch hours of 11:00 to 1:00... but I resisted! Then I ate my lunch like a good girl, doin fine. Then the snacking/witching hour of 3:30 hit and I blithely ate a square of cherry and a square of apple. DUR. i am so weak. But I console myself with the face that the squares were very small (they were! i swear!) and that I only ate two. by this time last monday, under similar circumstances, i would have consume far far far (read: lots, perhaps 6) more. So the danish killed sugar and flour, but instead of feeling pissed and worthless, I feel like I still made a good start

It's ass-cold and extremely wind-ey out there today, and i'm not looking forward to the breathtaking dash to my car parked out in the paved tundra.

Speaking of the tundra, the gerbils are doing fine! I still haven't taken more pictures.... and on an unrelated note, I still haven't done my taxes. surprised? you shouldn't be.

oh yeah, and....

i forgot to mention that STARTING MONDAY (i swear) i am starting the no-caffeine-no-sugar-no-refined-flour restriction again. i would like to say that i am starting now, but i can't set myself up to fail like that. scott's sisters are still visiting and we have lots of eating-in-restaurants to do this weekend so i know it won't work. but! starting monday, by god and by golly, the magic begins again.

seriously. i lost... like.... 5 or more pounds in a month just by avoiding those evil/delicious things for a mere 30 days! but that was last fall. and i tried to start it up again once, but my heart just wasn't in it. but this time! we'll see.

Friday the 13th?

So the weather has really let me down this spring. I got excited, early, and bought a shit load of seeds and greenhousey trays... and I planted and I tended and I watered and I loved. And I almost moved the seedlings outside. Thanks be to Johhny Appleseed, or who(m?)ever was guiding my hand... because at the last minute I changed my mind and kept the baby plantlings inside the house. Then the bottom dropped out of the thermometer over the next day or so, and they all would have surely perished. And boy, would I have been p-i-s-s-e-d. So now i am stuck with a miniature greenhouse in our sun room. I just checked the weather, and it looks like it'll get warm enough by the middle of next week. NEXT WEEK. arg. I think it's warm enough for shrubbery, though, and i have this really scraggly hibiscus bush in my office... i think i'll throw caution to the blustery April wind, and stick in the ground this weekend. I am tired of seeing it's tired old leaves and pot-bound roots in my office.

on an unrelated note, some fool hit my car last night! i walked over to my car this morning, started to unlock the driver's door... then I noticed that my side-mirror was dangling by its gruesome stalk of an electrical cord. just slumped there, limply, on the side of my car. THEN i noticed the long grey stripe of either: a) schmutz from the culprit's own side mirror, as it scraped down the length of my car, or 2) the color of the body of my car shining through a hideous scratch running the length of my car. either way, it's unattractive. Scott brought up a good point, that maybe my insurance would cover it, but then I remembered that when I changed agents last spring I never had him take pictures of my car. I was scheduled to take the car over there for pictures... then I got that awful stomach virus and was too weak to get out of bed. then i forgot. i guess i will think about it later. it could be worse - the side of my car could've gotten all smashed up. i suppose i should be thankful for that.

speaking things avoided, then forgotten - it's my last chance to do my taxes! I told my co-worker this morning "yeah, i think i will do them tonight while scott is at a movie"... but i knew in my heart that was a huge lie. but even just now, as I typed the words "that was a huge lie" I thought, "no, really! I will! I swear!" but i probably won't. sigh.

mostly because it is sunny right now, and the workday is nearly over (well, okay, 2:00 is not that nearly over...) and i can't wait to go home for the day.

i need to recharge the digital camera and add some pictures.

and it begins anew...

okay, so it's been a month. it's just a month! i was busy, okay?

• busy stuffing my face with cheesy delicious goodies and guzzling beers in the name of santa and the baby jesus. but seriously. i need to get back on track. i am considering giving my anti-sugar/anti-flour diet another 30-day trial. it seemed to work last time, but with the quadruple-whammy of halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and new years... it's no wonder i lost all ground that i had gained. and then gained a few extra, just for kicks.
  

• so i went back to the gym yesterday, and i am going back today. and i went to the grocery store and stocked up on things that i can pack for snacks and lunch at work. eating healthy requires a lot of advance thought and planning, gol-darnit.

• speaking of planning, i am also doing a lot of considering. about 2007, and what i want to accomplish. not that i need goals, necessarily. i don't normally set goals. (which, some might argue, is the root of my personal brand of evil...) but i am caught up in yearly goal-setting for work, and i thought: what the hey! i might as well extend that frame of mind into my personal life and see what shakes loose. like further improving my credit score. like getting a credit card. like making a business plan for my pie-in-the-sky home business. like sewing clothes. saving some money. things i've been meaning to do for quite some time. comprende?
  

• betty and virginia are growing like little wild weeds. they've probably doubled in size - they started off like little round walnuts with tails. i'd say they've moved on to the size of Pilsbury crescent roll each. still deliciously cute, no matter what. i think they are getting cramped in their house, so i might get them a second house - for a "playhouse" - and keep the first one just for sleeping and such.

• i can't think of anything else to report. i should have some pictures up soon, from the holidays.

listening to right now: "wolf among wolves" bonnie prince billy