Desert Sand Mica

Whatever, just crash it Bob...

5.31.2003

Oh, brother. Now the clothes dryer isn't working. Can I please have an appliance that works longer than a few weeks please? please?

I have a bajillion books to file and almost that many to still list. We did manage to lug about 7 boxes of discards up the stairs and to the patio, to be picked up by...someone.. Gotta arrange that.

I managed to make it to the post office before they closed at 2pm, but just barely. I hate walking in there so late with a bucket full of 40 books or so, but we've been busy and rushed. Now for the last hour I've laid on the couch watching..of course..Food Network.

This will be the last lazy weekend for a while. Gotta take advantage.



5.30.2003

We finally got the After Bite on, and she had to admit that it worked. heh.

We had a nice evening, me Emma and Mark laying on the bed watching "The Cooking Show Channel" as Emma calls it. We watched Emeril make ice cream with beer in it. Emma thought that was hilarious.

I'm sleepy and my contacts are blurry. Time for the couch.

Friday Five

1. What do you most want to be remembered for?
I want my kids to remember that they could tell me anything. And for the most part, I think they do.

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life?
"I'll sleep when I'm dead" ~Warren Zevon

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year?
I didn't freak out when I got laid off, but dove full force into selling books with Mark.

4. What about the past ten years?
Getting the guts to kick Dan to the curb finally.

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say?
You deserve what you accept. Speak up. Communicate.

***********

It's been kind of an emotional "let's get this shit worked out" day. Lots of things have been pushed under the rug lately, and well, the rug gets too lumpy to walk on after a while. I feel wrung out, but pretty good.

Emma's suffering with numerous skeeter bites, they really seem to be bugging her big time. I have some really good stuff called "After Bite" that you dab on the bites and they stop itching, but so far she's balking, saying "I need the pink stuff". You know, calamine. The stuff that doesn't work..?! Gah.


"That's not pink."
"I know, but it works really good"
"My mommy said the medicine for mosquito bites is pink"
"Well, why don't we try this and see."
"No".
"Please?"
"No."

*sigh.

My house is a mess. I did some laundry but it's sitting around waiting to be put away. A few days ago we thought the big freezer was broke and moved everything out of it and into my teeny tiny fridge freezer, some stuff didn't make it and we had to throw it away. Yesterday it was 97 fucking degrees and I cooked a turkey. I had to. Now we have figured out that the freezer isn't broken, it was self-defrosting or something.

I'm so glad that in 13 days I will be in Atlanta with 200 of my closest friends. I need a break from real life.

The shortest books ever written.


20. BEAUTY SECRETS -- by Janet Reno
19. HOME BUILT AIRPLANES -- by John Denver
18. HOW TO GET TO THE SUPER BOWL -- by Dan Marino
17. THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BILL -- by Hillary Clinton
16. MY LIFE'S MEMORIES -- by Ronald Reagan
15. THINGS I CAN'T AFFORD -- by Bill Gates
14. THINGS I WOULD NOT DO FOR MONEY -- by Dennis Rodman
13. THE WILD YEARS -- by Al Gore
12. AMELIA EARHART'S GUIDE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN
11. AMERICA'S MOST POPULAR LAWYERS
10. DETROIT -- A TRAVEL GUIDE
9. DR. KEVORKIAN'S COLLECTION OF MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES
8. EVERYTHING MEN KNOW ABOUT WOMEN
7. EVERYTHING WOMEN KNOW ABOUT MEN
6. ALL THE MEN I'VE LOVED BEFORE -- by Ellen DeGeneres
5. MIKE TYSON'S GUIDE TO DATING ETIQUETTE
4. SPOTTED OWL RECIPES -- by the Sierra Club
3. THE AMISH PHONE DIRECTORY
2. MY PLAN TO FIND THE REAL KILLERS -- by O. J. Simpson
1. MY BOOK OF MORALS -- by Bill Clinton

5.29.2003

It was 97 degrees today, with 60% humidity.

Shoot me.

Bob Hope is 100 years old today.

I can't think of anything funny or sarcastic to say. Your turn.

Next weekend (not this one) is the Capitol Hill People's Fair We can't wait. It's something of a tradition that we try to go to every year. It's soo much fun, and Emma really loves it. Pluuusss it's the Jefferson County Library Book Sale. Can't miss that. We'll probably show up late on Sunday and hope to get some deals.

And for anyone who knows anything of my recent past...

The Friends Foundation has ceased to exist. And it's about time.

"Ma'am, gimme the stick, that's right.. nice and easy. The horse is dead."

Night before last Mark and I both had dreams about earthquakes.

Mine was creepy and emotional..Mark, Emma and I were in a building and we knew an earthquake was coming. We looked out the window and saw the sidewalks buckling and ran for cover. I remember Mark going a different direction and I opened a door and pushed Emma inside, knowing (?) she'd be safe in there. The room was full of white and pastel colored blankets, thrown all over the place. I noted the room number was 666 but it wasn't ominous or alarming, I just remember thinking "I have to remember which room I put her in".

After the earthquake I found Mark, who was sprawled face up in a wagon (yea, like a Radio Flyer) with ash and dust all over him. We retrieved Emma (who happened to be a 7 year old Asian child) from the room I had put her in and left. Wild.

Mark dreamt he was having dinner with Gil Grissom from CSI and when the earthquake started they started rolling around the kitchen on their dining chairs. Afterwards, they talked about the earthquake.

Kooky.

Here is the IE Spellchecker for our buddy Sue. I love this tool, glad you like it too!

Our power was out from 8:30am-1:00pm. And oh, it's the hottest day of the year so far. When I called to check the time when I got up at 8:59am, it was 86 degrees. That's too hot, too soon. And yes, I will continually be complaining about the weather.

Emma day is tomorrow instead of today, new schedule is starting due to summer break and all. She'll be here for 8 days, then home to mom for about a week. That way she can stay in tumbling class. Should be fun.

I'm sleepy. I need a refrigerator big enough to sleep in.

Sorry no postings of fun and games and all that's horribly interesting. We're listing listing listing books. We got so backlogged, we had about 30 bags sitting to be listed. Bleh. We want to try and get everything listed and filed before we go to Hotlanta on June 12, cause Katie will be running the show then. eep!

There is laundry and dishes to be done, but it all has to wait.

5.28.2003

It's humid and gross and I'm miserable.

5.27.2003

It's sewer night.

The night Tom M. and I would meet at the sewer and talk about our plans for the summer. My friend Tom lived down the street when I was growing up and every year on the last night before school started and the last night before school was out each year we had a ritual of meeting at the manhole in the middle of the street between our houses. The last night of summer before school started would be spent reminiscing about the summer and all the fun stuff we did. This night, the night before school got out, we'd make plans and laugh about the school year.

I still talk to Tom all the time. He's my oldest friend, as they say.

Happy sewer night.

This or That Tuesday: Personal Habits, Quirks, Routines, etc.

1. Do you prefer silence or do you like background sound (music, TV, etc)?
I usually like it quiet. Especially when I'm trying to sleep. I do like to have music playing when I cook, however.

2. Bathe/shower in morning or evening?
Since I don't work "outside the home" I usually shower in the afternoon.

3. Sleeping in complete darkness, or with a night light on?
Dark dark dark and quiet. I don't even like the glow of the "num lock" button on my keyboard.

4. Lay out clothes the night before, or just grab what's closest in the morning?
Grab and go.

5. Hang up/fold clothes neatly, or just toss them wherever?
I live out of laundry baskets.

6. Work out at a gym, or at home on your own (or do you not bother with exercise)?
Foreign concept, does not compute. User error. beeep.

7. Talk on the phone, or via IM/e-mail?
I hate to talk on the phone. I live on-line.

8. Are you usually on time, or late?
Usually early. Unless it's someone else's fault.

9. Spendthrift or frugal?
Frugal to the bone.

10. Thought-Provoking Question of the Week: You work with someone who is not in the habit of bathing regularly. The smell seems to be getting worse and worse! Would you: 1. try to do something about it, or 2. try to grin and bear it? If you said 1, what would you do?
Hmm, I would say that 90% of the time I would say something. And I have. More than once.

This is kinda fun, look what I found at the thrift store yesterday. For FIFTEEN dollars. All of it. Chairs, table, umbrella. Whee!

It's hot and humid and blech. Alan's dog died. I have at least 25 bags of books to list. And all I want to do is lay on the couch.

5.25.2003

We went to the Flea Market today and it was fun, fun, fun. There were soo many people there! It was just the right weather too, not too hot and a little breeze blowing through now and then. We hardly bought anything, but had a really fun day. Came home around 2, made hot dogs and took a nap. Im just now pulling myself together again, I just took a shower and the kitchen looks like a slum. gah.

Tomorrow we're gonna cook out at my moms, then Emma goes home in the evening. Soon the schedule will change and she'll be here a week at a time, and then gone for a week at a time. I'm looking forward to both. It will be nice to have a Saturday night to ourselves now and then, to go do ..whatever it is people do on Saturday nights. I've forgotten.

Tuesday is definately take care of lingering business day. There's a couple of personal things I need to follow up on, plus call around for better insurance rates (ooh, fun!) and a host of other niggly things to take care of. Hopefully we'll also hear that Mark's condo is officially sold.

Time to go make deviled eggs for tomorrow....

5.24.2003

Oh, and I got a "thanks but no thanks" letter from the loop-head that I interviewed with a couple of weeks ago. It's just as well. She drove me nutty just in the interview. I think I might waitress again. I'm a great waitress.

But not till my unemployment runs out. heh.


1. What brand of toothpaste do you use?
I've used Aquafresh in the stand-up tube for years and years. I found out when the kids were little that it was the only one that didnt make a mess everywhere.

2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer?
I'm not a tp snob. Whatever is cheapest.

3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear?
I don't have a brand of shoes either. I love my new flip flops I just got at Kmart. They're fab.

4. What brand of soda do you drink?
Diet Cola..Pepsi or Coke, but will drink almost any diet soda. Except fruit soda. Bleh. And generic diet cola isn't too great either.

5. What brand of gum do you chew?
I'm not a big gum chewer. But I do like the really really minty ones when I do.

Emma is discovering the world of being Amish, which is what my kids call it when they're grounded.

We came home from being out and about and I asked her if she had to go to the bathroom, she said no. About 5 minutes later she came out of her room and had peed her pants. Gah! Prior admonishments really haven't been working, so Mark's taken this next step and she's none too happy about it. No tv and no computer untill tomorrow.

We're afraid that she's still going to be having accidents when she starts kindergarten in the fall, which would be pretty detrimental I think. Kids are cruel..as they say. I would hate for her to be made fun of because of an accident. She's going to have a hard enough time because of her size, and this would just make it so much worse. She's been to preschool already and it hasn't been much of an issue I don't think, but I think kids in preschool are different from kids in public school. Seems like since preschool is "voluntary" for lack of a better word, the kids seem to be nicer, more well adjusted and generally sweet. Their parents are a cut above, I think. They've taken the time and effort to put their kids in preschool..when instead the kids could have been sitting in front of the tv or at a babysitter's all day. But everyone goes to kindergarten. Smart kids, mean kids, naughty kids...they're all there. It's only fair that Emma have every advantage and then some. A blow to her esteem would be a real setback this early in the game. So hopefully, we can nip this in the bud over the summer.

Today we went to tumbling, it was the last class for this session and there was only 3 kids there. It was nice cause the coach spent a lot of individual time with them on everything. We're going to sign her up for the next session of the same level, which starts in two weeks. She seems to really like it and it's really good for her. Daniel wanted to take something at the rec center too, so I signed him up for a weighlifting class. I hope it's fun.

We also went yardsaling, but didn't find too much. A couple of framed pictures for Emma's room, and a circular saw for Mark for $5. I thought that was pretty decent.

Mark's outside playing radio musical chairs. He's switching a bunch of the radios around in the cars, because the two cars that aren't running, the honda and the Corsica, had the best radios. He put the CD player form the Corsica in kt's car, she's gonna be thrilled with that. He's been out there for hours, once in a while I hear a four letter word, so Im just staying in here.

Tomorrow...the Flea Market! Whee!

5.23.2003

Mark and Emma made it home safe and sound this afternoon, tired but none the worse for wear. Poor Mark had to drive for 4 hours and then come home and look at the stack of books waiting for him to pack. He does all the packaging, because he's very good at it, and I just mess it all up. Plus it takes me 3x as long to pack as he does. So I do all the pulling and labeling, and most of the listing. Anyway..who cares.

I got a nice card from Mark and a card and a little sumthin sumthin from Laura and Denny. Very thoughtful, embarassingly so. Nothing I want to go into here. Suffice to say they were ultra thoughtful and kind.

What else. Oh, here's some big news. Mark got his hair cut while he was in Monte Vista. I wasn't exactly thrilled, but I suppose it will grow on me. He's still a cutie patootie no matter what. I'm just a bitchy anti-short hair person I guess. Hey, I got like 3 hours of sleep last night, what do you expect.

Here's a couple of other fun news bites..

Someone has made an offer on Mark's condo. He's made a counter offer, and it seems that it's going to fly. That would be so nice. I feel bad that he pays his share (and then some) here every month, and has a mortgage to take care of too. Bleh. Please sell, please sell, please sell.

And...it looks like Mark, Me and Emma will all be going to the UK in the fall. Fun in a big fat bun, eh?

What else...school is almost out and I'm so glad. I think it's going to be a fun summer. The kids go back to school so early though, I always feel bad about that. August 16! Ridiculous! I remember going back to school around Labor Day, for goodness sakes.

It's 3 weeks until the Blade Show and I'm so excited I could just spit. My little (little?! ha!) circle of knife knut buddies and I have all been chatting up a storm about how excited we are to see each other again. Nothing like hooking up with 200 or so knife obsessed online friends for the weekend.

Added to that, Amanda's wedding is like 7 weeks away. Gah!!

I was up till around 4:30 this morning, just reading and dinking around. Half.com has installed a new inventory management feature and I could not stop messing with it!

Then I had to get up at 8am, because Katie is leaving for New Mexico to go camping with some friends. I wanted to make sure she didn't need anything or forget anything. She was glad because she had forgotten to pack some baby wipes, essential for camping. Wash your face, wash your hands, wash your...you know. heh.

She was s upposed to leave at 8:45, but you know how it is when you are trying to coordinated several people at once to be in a certain place at a certain time. It's like juggling cats. So here we are at 9:34 and the folks haven't even left Northglenn yet to come and get her. I hope they have fun tho, looks like it will be a nice weekend.

I listened to Max's radio show this morning, I'm usually not up early enough to catch him. And although I really detest jazz with a passion, he's quite amusing on the air. It's fun to listen to a buddy do radio. I wanted to call and say hi, but they're in the middle of a pledge drive (aren't they always?) and I thought that might be in poor taste. It's too bad he can't get something permanent and profitable in radio so he can stay here in the US and work out his immigration issues. Bleh. INS=bad.

It's supposed to be like 80 something degrees today, which is fine except right now it is 64 degrees, with 67% humidity. That is a staggering number for Denver, we are usually in the teens somewhere. 67% humidity feels stifling and disgusting. Makes me want to go sit in the cool bathtub. Hey, not a bad idea...

I have no idea why, but I just had a coughing fit while I was putting away books and it got so bad I threw up. Disgusting. One of those throw ups that really burns your throat and the taste will not go away.

My mom frequently eats so much she has to throw up. She's not bulimic or anorexic by any means. I think she just doesn't know when to quit or something. Once she was out to dinner with Amanda and threw up in her plate at the table, cause she ate too much. Last Thanksgiving, soon after dinner she announced "You guys need to go, cause I'm gonna throw up." Then tonight, we went out to eat, and at the end of dinner, we asked her if she wanted to go to the thrift store with us and she said "No, I need to go home. I ate too much, I'm gonna throw up."

My family is freaking weird.

5.22.2003

Well, it's not as bad as I thought it was. It will be about $2500 to get all my teeth fixed. I need about 4 crowns, a deep cleaning (bleh) and he's gonna throw in a bleaching for no cost. That's kind fun.

We're getting ready to go get some birthday foodie. My mom and Charlie are coming too, we just called Cindi but she's not home! poopy doo.

My mom just gave me her CC # to use to get some books on amazon, that's even better than having someone else buy them! Maybe I'll order a stereo, a big screen tv and a bunch of other stuff. Heh.

It's been a decent day, had to run some errands and go to the post office. Typical. I got a couple of cards in the mail from Cindi and Cyndi, that was fun. Thanks you sillies! Plus, I got a fair amount of phone calls and emails, also very nice. Also, the forum I frequent started a thread telling me Happy Birthday, so that was fun.

'S been a good day.

All I want for my birthday is my two front teeth....

I have a dentist appointment today, for a consultation to see what all work I need done and how much it's going to cost. Yikes. It's not going to be a pleasant surprise, guaranteed.

Well, so far so good today, tho. I got up this morning feeling a little blue about being an old lady. I went downstairs and saw that Katie had obviously gotten up very early to clean the kitchen and bake brownies, all before she went to school. It was so thoughtful, I cried about it! Daniel picked some purple iris and had them in a vase. That was so sweet. He said he picked them out of someone's yard {cringe}. What's funny is the mental picture I have of this rough, tough 15 year old boy walking down the street with these iris'. What a nice boy.

Mark is gearing up to go to Monte Vista for the night. It's Emma's pre-school graduation,, so he's going to trek down there so he can attend. He'll leave around noon to get there in time for some dinner and the ceremony, then probably leave there around the same time tomorrow.

Gonna go bother him relentlessly before he has to go.

Do you ever get part-way through a book and then find yourself saying..

"Wow, this book sucks.."

I hate that. I have books lined up to read one after the other. I was looking forward to this one. It's called "Bedlam; a Year In The Life of a Mental Hospital". Right up my alley. But no. The writer explicitly said in the forward that the book contained his observations during a year he spent interviewing mental patients, parents, and doctors. Sounds good, eh? No.

Instead of stories about events, incidents and life in general in a mental hospital, the author has filled the books with paragraphs as such:

"Dr. Hondel drove slowly to the hospital. The night was brisk, the weather taking a turn for the cool in these late October days. The sky was a rich, but light orange hue with wisps of grey clouds dotting the surface. The mid-day rain was still wet on the road, though not yet frozen, though it probably would later. He liked taking the long way to the work, it gave him the fresh perspective he needed every morning before arriving at the hospital. He parked and climbed the stone steps. As he approached his office, he hoped the day would prove uneventful. Though he never dealt directly with patients since becoming administrator, once in a while a seasoned clinician would approach him for advice."

I just made that up, but it is spot-on to how this author writes. There has been very little reference to life in a mental hospital or any of it's patients. It's insane. No pun intended. I'm not sure he read this book himself before publishing it.

So I'm on page 43 and I'm hating it. I hate giving up on a book, but I know when it's a hopeless cause. Next up: "Seven From Heaven." It's the story of the MacCaughey septuplets. I think it will be good. My mom is getting me some books off my wishlist and I'm so excited, I scrolled throught them tonight and hoped she'd pick certain ones.

Damn, I'm freaking old. I can't believe how old I am. I still feel like a kid.

I'm tired and I'm 41. Both very good reasons to close up the house and cuddle with someone soft and sweet.

5.21.2003

I forgot to put up the link for the Six Flags pics. Here ya go. Once you're in the albums, click on Six Flags 03.

As always, view as a slide show to see it best.

7 minutes until I'm 41 years old. I'm not ready!

No post yesterday. Weirdness. I can't remember what we did. Don't ask me.

Today was our fun-filled day at Six Flags! Whee-litches! (Wonder who gets that). Anyway...





They were only open from 9-4 today, so we got up at 7am (yes, 7am) and high tailed it out of here by 8:10. We had to go to the post office, two banks, and the grocery store before we went. When we got there we thought it was closed, cause there were about 4 people in the whole place! But they were open, and it was hella fun. We felt like we had the place to ourselves. We got right on every ride till about 1pm, then we only had to wait for maybe one or two go rounds before we got on something. I put some pictures up, you can see how empty the park is. We had a really really fun time, and it was a great idea for Katie to treat me to this for my birthday.

And true to form, Katie and I always find the funniest signs.



More later...

5.19.2003

Ok, so to continue the 247 cats story from the comments section..

Laura, The house most certainly would have to have been condemned. I dunno, the guy was living there, but I really don't know how. Everything was completely falling down and falling apart. There didn't seem to be any creature comforts that you'd normally see, except all the creatures! The drawers didn't have anything in them except cats, nothing in the cupboards or on the counters. There were litter boxes, but they were way full. He said he'd been feeding them, said it was costing him $1200 a month, but he also said that he was unemployed..so... you figure it out! heh. Amazing tho that they only found one dead one, though they said many were sick.

I know some people don't like watching shows like that because it's depressing, or it makes you upset..but I like it, because it shows that the Humane Society and the ASPCA are out there, taking care of these idiots. These people aren't getting off scott free, to be sure. They are hunted down, arrested in front of their neighbors (I love that) and severely prosecuted. That's the part I love! Emma said that's why she likes the show, because "people who are mean to animals get in trouble!!"

************

So anyway, collectively we did 3 bookstores today, and filled a lot of orders. Then tonight I went to Amanda's house to address wedding invitations. That was pretty fun. She had "stations" set up for each person. It sounds anal, but it was kind of nice because it was precise and organized. We all had everything we needed right in front of us. The lists were typed and concise, and it went really fast. She insisted on mailing mine. Silly girl. One of her bridesmaids was in the doghouse for some off handed remarks that Amanda didn't know about but found out about. Typical 21 year old bride/bridesmaids stuff going on there. All in all, it was a good evening. Pics to follow...

I gotta go do...something else..

Hmm, I'm a Gemini.

sagittarius
You should be a Sagittarius, Independent, honest,
optimistic, friendly, driven, freewheeling,
free spirit, good-humored, casual, forthright,
philosophical, restless, un-inhibited, ,
adventurous, intuitive, but can be self-
righteous, rebellious, irresponsible, careless,
inaccurate, superficial, impulsive, outspoken,
candid,


~*What is your TRUE Zodica sign?*~
brought to you by Quizilla

I have to mention..

Last night Mark and I were watching Animal Precinct (Hi Laura!) and this one guy had 247 cats in his house! It was insanity. The neighbors had complained about the smell of cat urine, which prompted the Humane Society to investigate. Can you imagine how bad the house was if the neighbors were complaining?

The house was completely and totally overrun with wild cats. The owner had actually started living in the garage. It took 8 workers two 8-hour days to get them all, and they probably still didn't. The guys house was completely trashed. Layers and layers of cat hair coated everything. Every surface was covered in cat hair. Feces, food and god knows what else was ankle deep. The workers skin was actually burning from the ammonia in the air, and they had protective suits on, like a beekeeper would wear.

The owner said he started out with just a couple of cats, and before he knew it things were out of control. He had to have been mental somehow to consent to those conditions. It was a small house too, maybe 1000 sq feet or so. There were cats in the rafters, in drawers, everywhere. Mark and I sat there watching with our mouths gaped open.

I think out of everything the thing that grossed me out the most was the cat hair. I have a total aversion to cat hair, even though I own a cat. But you won't find cat hair layering any surface in this house. I vacuum the back of the couch (where schatze lays) almost every day. If I see cat hairs on something, I get really disgusted and grossed out. I won't buy clothes, blankets or pillows at thrift stores that have cat hair on them. It's just a "thing" with me, yanno? God, I can still picture the mounds and layers of cat hair in that house. Blech.

See what you're missing Stacey?

5.18.2003

Just a quick note cause Im pooped.

The yard cleanup went well, cause there was a lot of us there. Me, Cindi, Amanda, Katie and Charlie. Took us about 2 hours. It wasn't so bad, but I still hate anything remotely connected to yardwork.

This week is a once a year opportunity for residents of Arvada to throw away anything they want. It's a free service the city offers so people can get rid of their junk. We took a drive around, and went NUTS!

We came home twice to unload. We found 2 bikes for Emma, one is a trike and one is a bigger bike for later, we found a nearly new portable heater, a big roll of bubble wrap, a waterbed heater, and tons and tons and tons of wood. If anyone was looking for building materials, it was heaven on earth. Wood, siding, chicken wire, fence, carpet, padding...seriously..everything!

There were traffic jams on the streets of people doing slow drive bys looking at people's junk. Sometimes it seemed like a race to get to the stuff. This one house we drove by had some really nice plywood Mark wanted so we started to slow down. Just then this lady drove up out of nowhere and practically mowed me down to get to a microwave. It was insane! Every house has crap piled in the driveway like nothing you've ever seen. We were laughing so hard at how funny it all was. We've never seen so many hot water heaters on the sidewalk in one day. Crazy! But it was hella fun.

AND - the most exciting news is that while we were "dumpster diving" we found a cute little Subaru GL for sale. It had a sign on it that said $900. Exactly how much money Katie had saved for a car. We took it for a drive, called Katie, and her and Charlie came and looked at it. And guess what..Katie has a new car! We signed sealed and delivered all in about an hour. AND the lady took $750 for it. It's in really good shape, needs a little this and that but basically is gonna be a fantastic car for Katie. I'll take a picture tomorrow. Whee!

We came home and watched Six Feet Under and got Taco Bell. Twas a good day.

Tomorrow is book buying day, Katie has a dentist appointment, and then Amanda is having a Wedding Invitation addressing party tomorrow night. Plus I need to sort out Katie's insurance and temporary plates. Gah. Tuesday I have a dentist appointment, Wednesday we are going to Six Flags, Thursday is my birthday and Mark will be in Monte Vista, then Friday...well...Friday might be free after all. Whew.

Here's some photos from our Mother's Day brunch. No one spilled gravy on their lap that day. View them as a slideshow.

Here ya go.

5.17.2003

It's not looking good. It's not my day. Or my month, or year. Or life.

Remember that concert I wanted to go to for my birthday, but it was sold out? Well I put out some feelers here and there, and may have gotten a bite. I don't wanna jinx it. Cross your fingers. I'm waiting for a return email right this minute. Tick, tick, tick.

It pisses me off so much that there is no standardized health care in America. I have not had diabetic supplies or the daily meds I was taking for 8 months, and yet I can tell by the way I feel sometimes that I am having blood sugar problems. Sometimes it's alarming. Sometimes it's just annoying.

I had a wound recently (I don't want to discuss it), but it was a serious wound for over 9 weeks. It was smaller than a dime, but it debilitated me to the couch and to bed for 4 or 5 days sporadically over the 9 weeks, in pain so severe I couldn't walk. It was small, but just wouldn't heal. Typical for a diabetic. It was painful every single day. No one could even brush against me in that area or I would cringe in pain. I went through boxes of bandaids. I used the best antibiotic ointment I could buy, cleaned it and changed the bandaid every day.
For 9 fucking weeks.
I didn't mention it here because..well..just because.

I cut myself pretty severely today, at the Spyderco sale. Idiot. I know how damn sharp they are, believe me. I used to sharpen them myself when I worked there. But one slipped a little and I got a pretty nasty cut on my finger. I started to get upset, Mark thought because it was just hurting and bleeding so bad, but I was upset cause all I kept thinking was.."God..what if this doesn't heal?"

And heaven forbid I should injure my feet. They'll just lop one of those off at Denver General and send me on my way with some extra socks stuffed in my shoe.

I was turned down for Medicaid, without a reasonable explanation. (Oh, believe me, I asked.) The American Diabetes Assn. can't or won't help me because I'm not elderly. 15 more years tho, and I'm golden. My county health department only has free care for well adults. Now doesn't that make sense! They probably had a meeting to decide how to cut health care costs. "I know, lets only provide care to people who aren't sick. Yea, that's the ticket."

My old doctor won't even call me in a prescription for a rash that I develop periodically due to the diabetes. It's a refill for a cream, that's all. It's not Percocet or crack cocaine, for God's sakes. But no, he wants to see me. Well, darlin, I don't have any health insurance and a doctor visit would cost me $93. Then you'd give me the same Rx anyway, which I would go fill at full price. Gah. I can no where near afford a $93 Dr. visit, plus $35 for the cream. Sheesh. That's two weeks of groceries, folks.

I need a girlie exam, a mammogram and probably a host of other things.

What? Get a job? I have a job. There is not a "employed outside the home" adult in this household yet we make enough to survive, and a little bit more. We are working. We aren't sitting on our ass whining about being laid off. We got handed lemons. We certainly made lemonade.

That's all for now. Just my whining and ranting about how I wish I could control this disease and not sit back and watch as it wrecks through my body at will. Most diabetics die from some compication from their disease, eventually. I would just like to be able to live with it for a while.

Pass the Nutrasweet. And stay the hell away from my feet.

Emma is completely obsessed with the Discovery Health Channel. Baby Story, Adoption Story, Wedding Story, The People Who Are Just Plain Odd Story (ok, I made that one up.) She loves loves loves "discovery healf". She has abandoned many of her standby favorites, SpongeBob, Olie, etc in favor of Rescue 911 and "The Critical Hour". Sometimes there's invaluable lessons in these shows. This evening, I told her about a Rescue 911 show that I saw earlier today where a little boy who was 5 years old (I stressed that..heh) who was messing around and fell into a swimming pool and nearly drowned. His 8 year old sister called 911 and he was ok.

She was completely fascinated by the story and wanted to know all about his outcome. She will ask the same question in 10 different forms. I think it's because she is just so intent on understanding, and is so genuinely interested that she wants to make sure she has every fact. And if she doesn't understand what you've said, she'll ask it a different way..

Why did he fall in the pool?
He was messing around, I said....Remember, I told you he was being dangerous and jumped in the pool without an adult nearby.
Why?
He was just being naughty.
And he fell in the pool?
Yup.
Did he have injuries? (she loves that word)
I'm not sure, but he did stop breathing
Why?
Because people can't stay under the water very long, we need to breathe air.
Why?
Because.
How did he get out?
Remember, I told you his sister called 911
Why?
So the police would come and get him out of the pool so he could breathe air again.
Who did his sister call? (See, here she's getting curious about 911. heh. Perfect moment)

So we spent the next few minutes talking about 911. How to do it, what to say and how to listen carefully. I don't think she's quite got it yet, but almost.

But on a side note...
She has now become enamored with...The Food Network. She knows who Emeril is, who Martha Stewart is, and who Tyler Florence is. She loves the Food Network. If it's Martha, she always makes me stop the remote if we're cruising channels. Months ago, if I turned off her cartoons to watch Martha, she would throw a fit and I would say "Let's just see what she's doing"... and now she uses that same line on me! Today it was a particular Martha I'd seen at least twice, but she said.."ooh! Martha!" and I said "I've already seen this one" and sure enough she said: Let's just see what she's doing.."

She gets very annoyed that Mark does not know who Emeril is, when she tries to relay what the days recipe was.

She's starting to get into Iron Chef, but it's a long slow show, and the most interesting parts are the one's only adults who love dry subtle humor can appreciate. Other than the occasional interesting ingredient, the show doesn't hold much attention for her. If you don't know the show - Iron Chef poses two expert Asian chefs against each other in a one-hour race and taste contest. They are both given one ingredient that they must incorporate into - I think - 4 dishes. Ingredients like... yogurt. Or...eggs, or something more exotic like Octopus. It is completely over the top hilarious, the judges, the chefs, (cheves?) and the announcer even, are all so completely wired up on adrenaline, you can't help but get wrapped up in the frenzy.

And then the comments from the 4 judges at the end send me right over the edge. The comments are dubbed, and the interpretation is choppy. The translator's voice is too syruppy pleasant for the comment being made. Expressionless, too.

"I don't care for the octopus ice cream."
"I've never swallowed anything that tasted quite like that."
"It is bursting in my mouth."
"I could eat some more of this".

The Iron Chef message board this week lists these topics:

"Yogurt battle, he should've gone indian"
"Now there was a nasty ingredient"
"Least Favorite Ingredients"
"Did you think Sakai would have won?"

It's sheer insanity.

I feel like the weekend is already gone and it hasn't even started yet. Tomorrow is tumbling, then off to a big sale that Spyderco (knives) is having at their factory in Golden. A yearly event that's not to be missed for a knife collector. Then, I have to take Daniel to his dad's in Conifer. By then I'll be ready for a long nap.

Sunday is yardwork at my moms. That's enough bleh to fill a whole day.

I went to that interview today, I think she really liked me, although Im certain she's certifiable. The job sounds kinda blah, but it's only 6 hours/one day a week and I can also do a lot of the web stuff from home. The pay will amount to about $450 a month or so, so I guess it's worth it. I just worry about how weird this woman is. She's disorganized, discombobulated and primarily confused.

I think Im gonna go sit in the tub.

5.16.2003

Friday Five


1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.?
We have a Britta pitcher in the fridge, and we use it like MAD.
2. What are your favorite flavor of chips?
Salt and Vinegar
3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most?
Hmm, this is hard. I suppose barbequed chicken or pork
4. How do you have your eggs?
Scrambled, over easy (if I have toast), or fried in a sandwich
5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out?
I guess my mom, on Easter. Let's not go there. Pass the gravy? Oops, it's in mom's lap.

I knew I didn't trust this guy.

'Salam Pax' plays Americans for fools in Iraq
~The star of the blog 'Where is Raed?' is part of an anti-Western conspiracy

From the Ottawa Citizen.

Oh, and Raul called today. *sigh.

He's in town, well Vail actually. He might have to go home to Mexico City tomorrow, but he might be able to stay one more night, and if he can, we're gonna try to hook up for a beer. Yea, all 3 of us. Weirdness.

Lots of melancholy there. It's a place I try not to let my mind go to too often. But it was so nice to talk to him. *sigh. again.

Well, that little moment of bliss didn't last long.

My mom called at about 10:30 and said:


Mom: I'm in trouble over here
Me: What's wrong?
Mom: My basement is full of water, and I've been bailing it for a long time and I think I'm having a heart attack.
::Click::

Ooh boy, That conversation was like a shot of espresso. Mark and I went over there, I called Cindi on the way and we all met over there to see what was going on. She was feeling better when we got there, but still winded and heart racing. Why the hell would she try to bail out all that water by herself? Martyr be thy name.

So we got all the water mopped up (that basement has been a water seeping/leaking/sopping problem since we were kids.) This time it looks like the sprinkler maintenance guys did something they weren't supposed to, or the aerator guy did something..or I dunno what. We stayed for quite a while and chatted about anything and everything, ate her Milanos and just got home.

She says she's calling a realtor. I'll believe it when I see it. -Or- she says she'd like to take out a reverse mortgage (which means she can borrow the full value of the house, about $180K and never pay it back.) What will happen, is when she passes away, the house will have to be sold to pay for the reverse mortgage, and there will be no money left anywhere after that. I don't like that idea. Not that I'm expecting to get filthy rich off of an inheritance or anything, I'm just sayin...

Oh by the way, Cindi. She wants your stuff out of there. heh.

5.15.2003

Dinner's cooking, I've been to the thrift store, Emma and Mark are home safe and all is right with the world. For now.

Dy wrote that Emma possibly wasn't feeling well, but we haven't seen any indication of that yet. She did insist of having her temperature taken several times, I know it's just cause she likes my whizzy thermometer. It's one that takes the temp really fast, and beeps! She loves the beeps. But alas, no temp. She's got no throat spots indicating strep, and her throat isn't red so I dunno what the matter might be.

No Survivor tonight. That's gonna be weird, and it might suck. Maybe I'll commandeer the remote and watch the food network all night.

See if this doesn't have you bouncing in your chair in about 4 seconds...

I have a strange and mysterious interview tomorrow. It's for some sort of personal assistant, for this woman who seems very nice..yet very..um private. That's the best way to put it. The adverstisement I originally answered went to one name, I got an email back from soneone with another name, and now tomorrow I am meeting this woman, who has an extremely fake sounding name.

She claims to be very influencial in the community, yet I can find no reference to her name online anywhere. And we're not meeting at her house, we're meeting at her church. Her voice would imply that she is quite aged, but we'll see. The job is allegedly for 1 day a week, plus some errands running. She wants someone that is experienced with the internet, and ecommerce. Hey, I can do that. She sent me this nice note after receiving my resume:

Thank you for your beautifully-presented application for part time work as clerical/internet/microsoft Word expert sent to Mr and Mrs Warren. We were impressed, in comparison to the numerous pieces of mis-spelled, and incomplete "junk" we receive "in lieu" of the required documents.

I'm looking forward to the interview, will keep ya posted of course.

We didn't go to the post office yesterday, we were just so tired after getting up early and running around (we went car shopping for Katie and then book buying after the breakfast) that we took 3 hours naps in the afternoon and said Hell with the post office. lol. So today, you can imagine what's waiting to mail. At least 50 books, plus 4 big big boxes. And *I* get to go today, since Mark is doing the Emma drive. GAH! It's going to take me 3 trips at least to get all this in the po, then I get to face the glares and knives at my back while I take up 45 minutes of one clerks time.

Katie lost her cell phone. Bleh.

Time to go - I have to get things ready for Mark to leave for Fairplay. I always pack him a little cooler for the drive. Sodas, snacks, and apple juice for The Emster.

Later Gators..

I feel better, I hadn't eaten in a while and blah blah blah.

Also feeling poorly cause Im kinda broke. Feast or famine, know what I mean?

Also dreading going to my mom's on Sunday to do yardwork. I hate yardwork, with a passion, you all know that. Why does she still need to live in a big old house with a big yard to take care of? Bundling branches, weeding, getting the dead stuff from beneath the bushes. God, it's gonna suck.

I need to go read and go to bed. It's like 4am. Bleh.

5.14.2003

Im in a really touchy pissed off mood..so this will be short.

Katie's breakfast was really nice today. Lots of good things said about this upper echelon of students. She also got her ACT scores back today, 26. That's excellent. I read online that a score of 26 is only attained by 15% of HS students. Go Katie.

Im in such a bad mood, Im crying. Ever get like that? I better go.



5.13.2003

Got up late, went to the post office and the grocery store. Wow, I'm exciting.

Tomorrow Mark and I have to get up at the ungodly hour of 6am to go to a breakfast sponsored by Katie's school. She's had straight A's all year! The breakfast starts at 7:15. Gah. Maybe we should just stay up. We didn't have to go, but it's a great accomplishment. It'll be fun. I wonder if I'll be able to eat that early in the morning. Ha. Who am I kidding.

I love the food network. I really do. I don't cook like that, but it's great fun. When there's nothing else on tv, (frequently) I have the food network on in the background.

And I love "Hot Off The Grill with Bobby Flay". Fun, entertaining.
But that woman. People.

Have you seen this show? Have you seen this woman? Jacqui Malouf.

First of all that name. What is that? Canadian? She's the un-coolest Canadian I've ever seen. The Canadians I know are very down-to-earth and unpretentious. (Well, except Celine Dion but c'mon.)

She is the most annoying person ever to appear in my 27 inch.

The looks she gives Bobby Flay is so flagrantly sexual and in turn she's trying to tell us something. I don't what it is, but she's the type of person that always has some look on her face that speaks volumes.

"I'm sooo much cuter than you"
"Me and Bobby...we're tight"
"I'm too sexy for this show"
"I have no body fat"
"Look at my teeth"

Bobby Flay responds in kind to the sexual innuendos and smirks. He looks so foolish.

Oh my gosh, I just read where she is a comedic actress from Ontario. And what makes a comedic actress qualified to side-kick a cooking show?

Jacqui has lived all over the world, cultivating her affinity for good food in such places as Brazil, Europe and the Caribbean.

So what are they saying? She's "eaten a lot of different stuff?" Ridiculous.

And this:
"She's working on a cookbook at the moment and appears in two independent films due out next year."

Cookbook? Let's call it "Here's some stuff I've eaten that someone else cooked."

Sorry. It's late, Im tired.

btw, Iron Chef rules.

I've been so lazy today. We did get up early so we could go to Northglenn for book buying before Mark had to drive south to deliver the midget. I came home and took a nap, went to the post office, watched Fear Factor and then took another nap. See? Lazy!

I've spent the last couple of hours editing pictures, from the May Day project and also from Mother's Day. I'm tired of it now. Maybe put it all together tomorrow. Here's a funny one tho, from lunch out on Mother's Day:



5.12.2003

And again, if you've been following along...

Will and his dad are finishing their trek tomorrow. They are the duo (a 9 year old and his dad) that are riding their bikes from Los Angeles to Jacksonville Florida. Tomorrow they will culminate this incredible adventure, a couple of days ahead of schedule:

"I would like to stretch this trip even longer, but tomorrow we only have 32 miles to go to Micklers Landing Beach Park, where we will dip our front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean 69 days after dipping our rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean. We anticipate celebrating the conclusion of this wonderful journey with great emotion."


Yay them. It's been a fun read.

5.11.2003

Survivor -

I'm disappointed that Jenna won, I was really rooting for Matt. And damn, did he look different at the reunion show or *what?!* And what was all that hanging all over each other him and Jenna were doing?

HeiDDi is still a bitch. Forever and ever, Amen.

It must suck to have your birthday close to Christmas...

I've been told in the last week -

"Danngg..your birthday is so close to Mother's Day.."

Like that's my fault. Like the two days have anything to do with each other! Dual-duty gifts certainly do not apply. Hurumpf.

Oh man I'm still soo full. I'm ready to put on the coffee and wait for the season finale of Survivor tonight. I'm gonna say Matt wins.

We had a huge Mother's Day brunch at CB & Potts today. Food, food and more food. And then a little bit more. Eggs, omelettes, belgian waffles, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, eggs benedict, jack daniels chicken, pork, prime rib, hash browns, and on and on and on. The spread was impressive. You can't imagine the food. And the desserts, oh my goodness, the desserts. Fruit, eclairs, choclate covered strawberries, cake, apple goop, cheescake, tarts, danish...and a lot more.

We ate until we wondered if we could get up from the table and waddle to our cars. I also got some very cute and thoughtful gifts.

Im soo full....

I'm gonna call Mary's mom tho and tell her I'll be eating later again tonight.

Happy Mother's Day all -

And even if you're not a mother in the traditional sense, I send the same wishes. All of us are mothering something.

Here's my favorite poem for mothers:

Wet Oatmeal Kisses

One of these days you'll explode
and shout to all the kids,
"Why don't you just grow up
and act your age!"

And they will...

Or, "You guys get outside
and find something to do --
without hurting each other
And don't slam the door!"

And they don't.

You'll straighten their bedrooms
until it's all neat and tidy,
toys displayed on the shelf,
hangers in the closet,
animals caged.
You'll yell,
"Now I want it to stay this way!"

And it will...

You will prepare a perfect dinner
with a salad that hasn't
had all the olives picked out
and a cake with
no finger traces in the icing
and you'll say,
"Now this is a meal for company."

And you will eat it alone...

You'll yell,
"I want complete privacy on the phone.
No screaming,
Do you hear me?"

And no one will answer.

No more plastic tablecloths stained
No more dandelion bouquets.
No more iron-on patches.
No more wet, knotted shoelaces,
muddy boots or
rubber bands for ponytails.

Imagine.... a lipstick with a point,
no babysitters for New Years Eve,
washing clothes only once a week,
no PTA meetings or silly school plays
where your child is a tree,
no car pools,
blaring stereos or
forgotten lunch money.

No more Christmas presents made
of paste and toothpicks,
no wet oatmeal kisses,
no more tooth fairy,
no more giggles in the dark,
scraped knees to kiss
or sticky fingers to clean

Only the ghost of your voice asking,
"Why don't you grow up?"

And the silence echoes:
"I did"

5.10.2003

Just in time to fill the Survivor void, it's time for the Amazing Race! If you've never seen it, the basic premise is that 12 Teams of 2 people, each with a pre-existing relationship, race around the world to compete for one million dollars. The last team to arrive at the final checkpoint each week is eliminated. (Of course!)

I think Mark and I enjoy it more than Survivor, because we like to disect all the situations these people are put in, and determine how we would react together in the same situation.

And, I'm also deliciously looking forward to the Martha Inc. movie on May 19. It's a good thing.

Ohh, I just sniped me a purdy little dress on ebay. yeehaw. Thought I blew it, waited till 30 seconds left then put in my bid. Arg! My password had timed out...got it just in time tho. Makes your heart race. Ok, makes your heart race if you're an insane ebay addicted weirdo like me. heh.

Hey, I saw Laura and Derbs did my Last But Not Least meme dealio. I made that up yanno. Yea, I was that bored this afternoon.

I have, however been diligently documenting my day for the May Day project. Ohh, just wait. It's riveting stuff!

For those of you following along -

Jennifer Weiner is finally having her baby!

- Last But Not Least -


Last web page you visited before this: half.com
Last person you spoke to in person: Emma
You said: Are you going to watch this movie or not?
Last person you heard talking: Mark
They said: I'm going to take a nap
Last song you heard: Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe
Last person who called you on the phone: Amanda
They said: She told me what I needed to buy for Daniel to be an usher at her wedding
Last person you called on the phone: Katie
You said: Did you hide the Nintendo controllers? (she did)
Last time you showered/bathed: Yesterday afternoon
Last time you shaved anything: Not yesterday afternoon
Last time you took medicine: About 30 mins ago
What was it? An antacid
Last time you took a vitamin: Today, and everyday
Last time you stayed up past 2am: Last night, and everyday
Last time you slept till noon: Yesterday
Last tv show you watched - hmm, I guess Survivor. I haven't watched TV since Thursday night
Last thing you read (not online): A chapter in the book Im reading, "Dropped Threads"
Last thing you ate: an egg sandwich
Last thing you cooked for someone else: an egg sandwich
Last thing you drank: Diet Coke (still drinking it)
Last time you got money in the mail: Today, for an ebay auction of books
Last time you mailed money to someone: Wow, I dunno. Not for a long time. I pay all my bills online. All of them. I don't even mail a rent check every month, at the beginning of our lease we gave the landlord 12 rent checks, she cashes one a month.
Last time you got a package in the mail: Today, A knife I ordered
Last time you mailed a package to someone else: Today, and everyday (well, cept Sunday)
Last time you stayed in a hotel/motel: Umm, September when we drove the Elantra back from Washington DC after winning it on ebay.
Where was it?: Oh, Im not sure. Kansas?
Last person's house you visited: I guess my moms on Easter. I can't remember, I never go to anyone's house.
Last place you drove to: Arc, last night
Last place you were driven: You mean besides insane? - Tumbling, this morning
Last thing you got in trouble for: I wasn't listening when Mark explained something to me and he got irritated. (Actually, he was mumbling)
Last thing you said, to someone else in trouble: "Daniel, get those knives off your waterbed"
Last time you went outside: A few minutes ago to get the mail
Last person you spoke to outside of your family: A lady at tumbling
You said: "Have a nice Mother's Day tomorrow."
Last thing you said outloud that no one could hear except you: "C'mon, you idiot" (a web page was loading too slow for my liking)
Last thing that annoyed you: Daniel is using a Dremel right now, and the sound is grating on my nerves.
Last time you said "I Love You": About 10 minutes ago

Now you go do it. C'mon, what else do you have to do?



PS - It's freaking snowing.

I signed up some weeks ago to participate in the May Day Project.

"Over one day in may, people all over the world will be taking a photograph an hour to illustrate a day in their life. The may day project is about collecting glimpses into people's lives through photographs. whether they be self portraits, landscapes or macros, candid or posed, snapshots or something more creative - we want to see what your day was like saturday may 10th 2003."

Should be fun, I'm charging up my camera batteries as we speak. It'll be fun to put together a webpage of the photos. You should do it too.

Well, I had a helluva time finding somewhere that still had reservations open for a Mother's Day Brunch. Good Lord, I had no idea it would be such an ordeal. I would have done it days ago, but I didn't think it would be a problem. We managed to squeak in at CB & Potts at 2:30pm for their buffet brunch, should be nice. (Note to self, call Cindi and let her know before she reads this). Emma brought me a surprise for Mother's Day, and keeps asking us every day if it's time to open it yet. "Is it time to open your present yet?! It's a birdfeeder!"

Speaking of Emma-isms, I had mentioned to her that we were having barbequed chicken for dinner, and while we were out and about today, she asked "Are we still having garbage-chewed chicken for dinner?" HA!

More funny stuff - one thing that is annoying when we go book buying is trying to keep people out of our cart of books. It's so loaded up, people assume it's just another stash of books that Salvation Army didn't have time or inclination to put away. So one of us always stays close by so we can fend off the buggy robbers. It's constant, really. At least twice every book buying trip we have to tell people that "Sorry, those are our books." Emma caught on to this some time ago, as a matter of fact, around Christmas, we had set aside a 17" monitor for my mom while we were book shopping and someone came up to look at it. Emma jumped up from her seat and said "That's Gramma Maxines!" heh. So anyway, today..we didn't have a buggy cause this particular Sally only has one. So we were piling books up off to the side, on the floor and Emma was sitting nearby on a bed that had been set up. Apparently someone started pilfering the books, cause I heard Mark go over there and say "Oh, those are ours" and Emma piped up "I told her, but she wouldn't listen!" lol - So evidently she's our new book monitor. Also today, I stepped out of her line of sight for a moment and I heard her loudly say "Someone needs to be looking after me!" Damn, she makes me laugh.

I didn't go to bed last night until the sun was coming up this morning, it was about 5:30am. I got going on straightening and filing in the "library" and didn't want to stop, knowing the momentum would be gone today. (It was). Funny, for two nights in a row I've been outside smoking a cigarette when the paper-guy came to throw papers. Yikes.

I guess that's about it. Booksales are still very busy, for a variety of reasons. the program Mark wrote has enabled us to lower our prices of books that we had been undercut on, and also half.com had a bug for sometime that neglected to show about 600 books of ours. With both of those things in place, it's stepped up sales quite a bit. Fun, but crazy. We're training Katie to "do the books" while we're in Atlanta. Lordy.


5.08.2003

We're so busy we can't think straight. 22 orders so far today, and it's not even 5pm. 4 ebay auctions ended, 3 already paid, so those have to go out today too. We're rushing to the Post Office. Mercy, mercy me.

I'm pretty sure the ebay picture is a hoax. Planted, planned. Notice how the two pictures are different? The reflections would have been the same had he just absent-mindedly taken a picture while naked. He must have photoshopped the photos into the circles. People are weird.

I finished another book last night at 3am, called "Truth or Dairy". It was forgettable. Am just today starting "Dropped Threads" and have really been looking forward to it. I have two lined up behind it - "Bedlam, A Year In The Life Of A Mental Hospital" and "Seven From Heaven - The Miracle of the McCaughey Septuplets." I find myself stealing away more and more reading time lately, even though we are busier than ever.

I am remiss, I never did say what Mark got me for my birthday. It's this huge, enormous monster of a desk that I had admired at Sally for weeks. It's giant. I don't even know how big. Let me go measure it. Ok, it's 3.5 feet x 7 feet. Big, deep dual drawers on each side. The wood is lovely, I don't know what it is..(except heavy). When we get it up and situated, I will take a picture. We need to do a little rearranging in the bedroom first. Thank goodness the bedrooms in this house are so big. Im so excited, to get it up and functioning.

Mark has left to pick up the midget, an extended weekend this time because Emma doesn't have preschool on Monday for some reason. This is the last quiet weekend before things get a little crazy for a while. We have plans for the next two weekends, then it will be Memorial Day, then my mom's birthday, then Atlanta.
Calgon! Shoot me in the head!

5.07.2003

It's getting nicer out, I can't wait for summer.

I am doing my public service duty to remind everyone to please please please keep a can of insect repellant by the door of your house and douse up when you go out. The predictions for the West Nile Virus this year are so scary. They are anticipating many many deaths, with the elderly and the young being particularly prone. One article I just read said even one bite on your toddler should alarm you, and should alert you that you are not being careful enough. I have a good brand of repellant, and it sits right in the window by the front door. Get used to smelling "wood scented", all.

Make sure you have no standing water in your yard, including dog bowls. And for goodness sakes, stay as far away as possible from dead birds.

Other than that little tidbit, I'm not in the mood to write.

5.06.2003

I'm certain the knife convention I'm attending in June won't be anything like the PTA one Derbs just went to. lol - and thank god for that! A few of us knife knuts were just chatting about what we want to do on Friday night (Saturday night is always drinks and other imbibery at the Waverly hotel bar). We have some pretty good ideas, none of the legal. Im kidding!!

Seriously, it's going to be great fun. I love these guys. There's nothing like being online buddies with 200 or so knife wielding individuals, and then meeting in person to party for 3 days. Last year was awesome, this year promises to be even better. I'm being more frugal than ever, so we don't have to worry about how much money we're spending while we're down there. (Although I did just buy a new knife last night..eep! - but it's one I've wanted for a long time! and it's rare! And it was a good deal! agh!!)

Hotlanta, watch out. We're comin to getcha.

I saw this several places, so won't credit anyone individually, but this is insane.

Remember the kettle guy?
People, people...do not take ebay auction pictures in the nude.



This is a live auction. His phone number is posted. This guy is gonna wish he could go to sleep and never wake up.



An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison.

The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Bubba,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love, Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son:

Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, Dad! Please don't dig up that garden! That's where I buried the bodies!
Love, Bubba

At 4 am the next morning, FBI agents and local police showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son:

Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love, Bubba

I keep hearing weird noises through the house while I'm typing this. What is that? There is a definite scratching noise and then the bags of books behind me on the floor are settling or something and making grocery sack noises. Freeeeaaaky.

ANYway -

A necessary shout-out...that no one else will appreciate except Trent. But it bears explaining, just in case someone reads on after being warned.

Trent will appreciate knowing that after all this time, that that thing, the thing we were doing..you know? Mark has finally done it. It's magnificent. It's like we just discovered electricity. Thanks for the advice.

Hard-core geeks can read on for the story - - everyone else just move along. There is nothing to see here.

One of the main focuses (focuses? Dy?) of selling books on half.com is remaining competitive. It's like the most important thing. When you bring up a book for sale on half, you get a list of the 4 sellers with the lowest price in one of 5 categories. Brand New, Like New, etc.. Only the 4 lowest priced books will appear on the first page. As a rule, people are looking for the book in the best condition for very little money. We always strive to be the lowest price in any category. Like this book. We are the lowest priced seller in any category, even the ones with books in lesser condition. Ours is "very good" at $2.20, while someone in only "good" condition has it at $2.50. But as other sellers come along, they undercut you, and you slip down the list. A buyer will likely pick the person at the top of the list, who has the lowest price.

So....the point is maintaining that place in the que is very important. We constantly have to go back manually through 8000+ listings to monitor if anyone has undercut us. If so, we -again- manually have to go in and edit the price. Several minutes and a few clicks later, we're the lowest priced again. That is till someone comes along and prices below us. Which we won't know about until the next time we check prices. It's horrible, we do it only when we notice sales go way down. I've only done it once. Ever.

Do you know how much time this takes? It's grueling. It sucks. It's the most boring part of what we do, and yet it's completely necessary to survive. We have to continually monitor, or we won't sell anything. We always notice a rush of sold books after we do a thorough sweep, because suddenly we are the lowest priced seller again.

So....(my point and I do have one) is that I talked to Trent some time ago about some databases we were trying to build. He had a lot of good suggestions, and his advice eventually led to the Books for Sale link that is always up over there.....That document was no easy task to produce, let me tell you. But after it was done we could see the potential for a program to do what we really wanted it to do, which was take the "details" info (link) on the left side of the excel document and constantly "call" half.com and monitor the 4 lowest priced sellers on every single page for us.

And after all this time, Trent...he finally cracked it. Just now. Mark Has been working hard on this for a long time, trying to write a program that does exactly what we need. And he did it!! It's amazing. It scrolls through the entire inventory list (the excel doc) and lets us know which books we have been undercut on. Going back into edit them takes less than half the time. We're so jazzed. We're excited that this could make a nice difference in time spent, and maybe make a difference in sales. (which are doing quite well anyway, but hey..) So I just have to say a big thanks to Trent for planting the seeds that eventually led to this fun tool we have to play with now.

*wink.



Oh goody.

My celebrity dream date (surmised from my answers to this quiz.) is

Pierce Brosnan......

Who can guess what's so funny about that?

heh.

You know who he looks like though? Brock. I was just thinking about Brock. Oh, lordy. Good times.

5.05.2003

I really have nothing to say. We're very busy, because there has been a bug in half.com's system for months, and we had about 600 books in limbo. They were listed, but didnt show up when people searched. Well, they've been released and we're running around like crazy people. It's like we've just added 8% or so more books to our inventory, which means the numbers of orders coming in increases a bit.

The "Books for Sale" list over there has been updated also, and it is a mere 1.5mg now. Very slim, so now it's fast and easy to find that certain book you've been looking for. Plus, we've started selling bulk lots of books on ebay. Danielle Steel, Tom Clancy, Goosebumps...go look!!! Plug plug plug.

See? That's how boring my life is.

My dad, stepmom and my sister came over for dinner. Pretty fun. They didn't stay too late, as Cindi didn't feel good, and my dad and Marla have to get up at 4:30am. eek! Told them if they ever need a wake up call to let me know, cause I'm often still up.

Had a nice chat with Denny online, and wished he didn't have to go to bed so early. We have good chat.

Mark says tomorrow morning we have to go pick up my birthday present. He said it wont fit in the Nissan. Yowsah. What could it be? I have an idea, but will wait for the surprise.

I went to the grocery store during the day again today. You guessed it. Retirees. Everywhere. I noticed that when they get in line, they are very reluctant to leave their buggies and go around the counter where you pay. They prefer to stand behind their buggies, even while the clerk is checking them out. They need to be up there writing their check and whatnot, but they don't. The lady in front of me waited until the clerk said her total then she finally moved around to the counter, and started digging for her checkbook. Meanwhile, we all stand around and wait while she tries to remember what year to write. I felt like saying, "get up there, be ready. I'm not gonna steal your fucken SOS pads."

Katie and I decided at Arc the other day that we are the best "payers" around. I fold all the clothes I buy so that the price tag is right there, face up for the clerk. I've got my money or card out and ready, we bag our own stuff if no ones around, and we are outta there post haste. I guess if you have to be good at something...

From the CBS website..this week on Vivor:
The Survivors react to Butch's bizarre behavior when he obsessively stacks firewood everywhere throughout the camp.
Returning to their camp, the Survivors find devastation after a fire rages through their shelter and belongings, leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Believing they are on the chopping block, Jenna and Heidi refuse to help in rebuilding the camp. Will this seal their fate?
One Survivor is worn out and sick, and begs to be voted out. Will the others comply?

I'm so suscited!

5.04.2003

I'm not sure why I wasn't invited to Mary's blogger party shindig in Icky town, but it might have been fun. It is after all, going to be my birthday! gah!

So, instead of Mary's fun party Katie and I have decided we're all going to go to Six Flags for my birthday instead of the sold-out concert-that-I-really-wanted-to-go-to-but-cant. That'll be fun anyway. Not as fun as Mary's party, but ah well...I've never been known to be a crasher.

Nothing's going on. Tomorrow my dad and his wife and Cindi are coming over for dinner. I need to tidy. And buy the food. And go book buying tomorrow. Agh. I gotta go to bed.

I love this little add-on! Courtesy of the Presurfer, I added a Web Fire Escape button. It will take you to a work suitable website, should you be caught -or nearly so- reading my blog while you're at work! (I picked bbc news as an alternative to the default google.com redirect). It's the little green button just to the right of where you're reading now. Someone slinks up behind you at work, hit the Web Fire Escape button and bam! You look like an informed intellectual, instead of the blog-addicted time waster that you are.

5.03.2003

No matter how much passion and love there is in a household, there are problems. Always.

I feel like I've wasted the entire day being sullen and silent. Sometimes being silent is better than not being heard.

On the plus side, if you could call it that, is I've read nearly an entire book in one day. I just started it yesterday, after finishing "Fatal North" which was about a failed 1871 attempt to reach the North Pole. The ship, "Polaris" suffered the probable murder of it's Captain by his mates, and the eventual abandonment of 19 crew members on an ice floe in the Arctic. They survived there for 6 months before being rescued. Completely engrossing. I sent it home with Dy and started reading this one, called "Runaway Me", which is an absorbing true account of Evan Cutler, who ran away after being abused at 15 and suffered everything from hunger, homelessness, arrest, molestation, rape, drug use and prostitution. All in the name of survival. He used his own money to publish 7000 copies of the book.

I just finished it a few minutes ago and spent the next few minutes searching the internet to see if Evan's dream of starting a National Resource called "The Fifteen Fund" ever came to fruition. It looks like not only did that never get off the ground, his self-made publishing company appears to have disappeared, and the last online presence I can find of him is from the year 2000. Interesting, isn't it?

So that's about it. An entire day and evening spent reading. I could have done worse.

5.02.2003

I'm in a crabby mood, which sucks because it's Mark's birthday. (Happy 36! woot!)

We went out for a nice dinner at the Cheshire Cat, and just as we were finishing up I got in this really rotten cranky mood. Some of it was sparked by conversation, most of it just came out of nowhere.

I'm just gonna sit in my room with the door shut and listen to some Saves The Day, that'll make me feel better. Except that it will make me mad that Im not going to see Good Charlotte, who are gonna be on Letterman Monday night. It's all connected, believe me.

Bleh.

A disappointing day. Katie had offered to take me to a concert I really wanted to see, but now it's sold out. I had promised Daniel he could go too, and he was really jazzed. I don't know why, but Im really depressed about it now.

5.01.2003

Ok, the actual result isn't too bad. But I'm dangerously close to being much, much worse. See all those "Very High"s? eek. Courtesy of Alan.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
LevelScore
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)Extreme
Level 3 (Gluttonous)High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Long Virginia Nights, Savanah Surrender, Garters and Spurs, Ruby Tears.

Yes, I am listing books. Romance books. We've picked up a buttload of brand spanking new romance books, never read, never had even the spine cracked open. The titles are drippy and invoke an eye roll with each listing. I dunno how you people read that stuff....but I'm glad some of you do.

I need some water. I'm dehydrated. I'm tired. I have nothing interesting to say. Nothing.

Tomorrow is already Emma day, but Mark doesn't have to go get her cause mommy has some business in Denver. Yay. She's gonna stay here overnight and do Vivor with us. That'll be hella fun. I hope she knows we don't speak during the show. lol.

I'm watching the food network and they're making some wonderful chocolate thingie on a crepe with drizzled carmel. I need one.

Oh, here's something. There's this damn raccoon that's hanging around our house at night. He's really scary. It's a wild animal! Two nights ago we saw him for the first time, and he didn't even run away when we went outside. Daniel saw him and then I saw him and I screamed like I was being mauled by a bear. Then stupid us we threw him some cake and a hot dog. Idiots. Now I can't even go outside to throw trash away at night, he's always there. I'm going to have to do something mean to get rid of him. Some things I've read say to spray your garbage with ammonia. Clean City Sanitation company is gonna love us.

Now they're making trout on the food network. I'm not hungry anymore. But damn I need some water.