Maine Pics, not taken by me

Well, blogger still won't let me add more pictures to my last post, but for some reason I was able to add them to a new post, so here they are. Sigh. Blogger, you make my life difficult sometimes.

This is a view of a Bar Harbor street. I'll be walking down this street in about two weeks! I hope the shops have some cute stuff.

A Maine lighthouse. We hope to get to tour one of these while we're there.

Views of the beauty that is Acadia National Park. It's pictures like these that made me fall in love with Maine in the first place. I couldn't care less about lobster, but give me a rocky sea coast and I'm in love. I am so looking forward to this vacation.

All of these pictures were taken from a brochure that is available in PDF form from www.downeastregion.com.

Vacation!

My sister just came over, and we did the beginning stages of planning our vacation. We booked a room at a motel in Bar Harbor, Maine...and wait, it occurs to me that I never told anyone who reads this and doesn't know me in real life that our trip to Virginia is off. My sister couldn't afford the whole Busch Gardens trip, so we decided that instead of going away for a week to Virginia we'd go for a couple of days someplace else, and we've decided on Maine.

We're going to Mt. Desert Island, and staying in Bar Harbor, right close to Acadia National Park. We looked up some information online, and so far we've planned on going on a puffin and whale watching tour one day that we're there, my brother-in-law will go golfing one day while my sister and I go shopping, and we're of course going to go into Acadia and do some hiking/sightseeing. There is a 27 mile loop somewhere that you can drive that goes up a mountain, and we want to do that. We also want to go and watch the sunrise over the ocean one morning. It's going to be a great trip.

I haven't had a real vacation in a while. I went to Tennessee to visit my brother last year, but that was staying with him and just seeing a few things around his area. It was great, but it wasn't a going away, staying in a hotel and sightseeing all the time kind of trip. So this will be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to the trip. I've always wanted to see Maine. I feel like I've fallen in love with it just from pictures - it'll be great to see it in person. And my sister has been very stressed out from the family stuff that has been going on, so I know she needs the trip. It will be good for her and her husband to get away. And we're going in two weeks! Woo!

The only down part is that I am going to probably have to board my dogs, and I absolutely hate HATE the idea. I just don't have anyone to watch them at the house for me, though. Jamie doesn't want to stay here because he has cats of his own, and he doesn't want to leave them alone for that many days. Sarah has a dog of her own, and doesn't seem sure that my dogs would be okay with her staying with them in my absence (although I'm sure they'd be fine Sarah, and I'll pay you! I gave my nephew $150 last year!), and my niece is already dog/house sitting for someone else. My nephew who has done this in the past for me is living with someone now, and old enough that he probably doesn't want to house/dog sit for me, and my other nephew is allergic to cats. Sigh. I hate boarding my dogs. I know they're okay while they're there, but I always worry about them wondering why they're in such a strange, loud, uncomfortable place, and wondering where I am and if I'm abandoning them. And now I need to quit talking about it.

Anyway, short of the dog boarding stress, this is going to be a very fun trip, and it's going to be here in just two short weeks! I'm so excited!

Also: I had two more pictures that were supposed to be in this entry, but for some reason blogger isn't uploading them. It tells me it did, but they don't show up. What's up with that? How are you people going to be jealous about where I'm going if you can't see where I'm going? Sigh.

Ice Show

Tonight I went to an ice show with my sister, her husband, Jamie, my boss, her husband and two of their kids. The show was to benefit the Freedom Guide Dogs organization, which raises and trains guide dogs for vision impaired people. They had a bunch of local skaters of all ages, and four professional skaters. It was a fun show, made even more fun because I got these tickets as a gift for doing the ad layout for the program, and we got to sit in the expensive seats on the ice. These people were skating inches in front of me. It was fun.

Wanna see pictures? You know you do. I had to take the camera to get some pictures for work, so I might as well post a few here. Before I show them, though, you should be aware that I was taking them with a digital camera that does not handle action well, so any movements come out blurry. Have you ever been to an ice show? Skaters don't stand still very often. Also, of course we couldn't use flash, so the lighting isn't the best (not that a flash would have done much good in these circumstances, but still).

Jozef Sabovcik did some amazing moves on the ice, and you could tell that he is a fun guy to be around. He was up dancing on the ice at the end when all of the kid skaters were going out to get their applause.

Steven Cousins was pretty amazing too. It's incredible the moves these guys can do with apparently no effort.

John Zimmerman and (a blurry) Kyoko Ina. They did some breathtaking moves. I've seen things like the death spiral on TV, but it's so different seeing it in person somehow. I mean, if her head had crashed into the ice, it would have been so close to me when it happened! Scary. I was most excited to see John, because I watched Skating with Celebrities, so I actually knew who he was. The rest of the skaters I had never heard of, really (sorry guys, if you ever google yourselves and find this). They were all amazing to watch, though.

And this little guy I'm only putting on here because you can't really see his face, otherwise I wouldn't post his picture on the Internet. This kid stole the show! Since the benefit was for the guide dog organization, they had a bunch of their smaller skaters dress up in dog outfits, complete with doggy face make-up, and skate around the ice. They were extremely cute and funny to watch, but this little black doggy here stole the attention from everyone else. He was such a ham, mugging for the crowd. And he never fell once! Way to go, little kid!

Okay, and now it's past my bedtime, so I'm going to post this and hit the hay. I just had to share the good time that I had with everyone. The only thing missing was Sarah. Sarah? They had black lab puppies there. You would have fallen in love! You should have skipped your cousin's wedding and come with us instead. :) Good night everyone!

Update to Naps and Sims etc.

Okay, I just got back from the library, and first: I shouldn't have gone, because I am now exhausted and need to lie down (stupid cold). Second: I got SO MANY books. I started piling them into my arms and I got greedy - I wanted all of the books! But I settled for the following (no links to them on Amazon, because I'm too tired): Digging to America by Anne Tyler, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Getting Over Jack Wagner by Elise Juska, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

I'm never going to get all of those read in one month. But I don't care - I'm just happy to once again have a stack of library books waiting for me. And now I'm going to go lay down in my marginally cooler room and read.

Naps, and Sims and Books and Sickness

I called in sick today. That cold I started to get on Saturday hit a new peak of horribleness this morning. I woke up with a sore throat and a headache and feeling awful, so I called in. It's a good thing I did, too, because I'm still feeling very crappy and the day is more than half over. Sigh. Stupid cold.

I also went in and took a nap this morning. I've said before that I don't nap unless I'm sick, and that is true, and even when I'm sick, I'm not very good at it. I laid in bed for over two hours, and I slept for a good portion of that, but I was in and out of consciousness, my mind racing almost the whole time. I was lying there trying to rest and feel better, and I was thinking about my Sims game, and about writing an entry in here (I think I composed an entry while I was in bed, and I think it sounded a lot different than this one does. I hope it wasn't better), and I was thinking about something that I got into right before I went to lay down.

I was reading an entry of Mopie's book blog, and she linked to her escapades list, which is a list of things that she wants to do. In that list is reading all of the books on four or five best books lists, and I searched online and found some of those lists and some different ones, and suddenly I want to read them all too! I bookmarked a few of them (the BBC's list, Time's list, the Modern Library list and the Radcliffe Publishing Course's list), and I want to go to the library right now and start getting books. If I feel well enough later to get showered and dressed and go, I will be.

I reserve the right to change my mind on which ones I want to get before I go (especially if I don't go today), but right now these are the ones I've got written down: The Assistant by Bernard Malamud, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren (one of the lists was in alphabetical order - Time's, I think. And it includes Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, which I loved), His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (which is apparently a whole trilogy), To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It's a fun list, isn't it? Okay, now I really have to go to the library today.

And now I'm way too hot to keep working on this laptop (the temperatures are in the 80s, yuck), so that's it for this entry. If you have any other good reading suggestions, or if you loved or hated anything I've listed, write me a comment! I love talking about reading.

Feels like freedom to me

It's Monday - my last day off for this weekend, but somehow it doesn't feel like it. It feels more like a vacation to me - almost like I'll never have to go back to work. Tomorrow morning is so not going to be fun.

My cold didn't really hit me very hard - nowhere near as hard as it hit my boss or Jamie. I got a little stuffy, but not too bad because I'm always on a nose spray for allergies anyway, so it tends to keep my nose open even when I'm sick. I'm a little snotty, but mostly I'm just very low energy and kind of fuzzy headed. I don't ever nap, but when I'm sick, sometimes it just feels very good to go lay down in or on my bed and just rest. Especially on days like today, when the windows are open because it's nice out, and I can hear the wind blowing and the birds singing. It's very peaceful. I love holiday Mondays. I kind of wish that I could win the lottery so that I could quit working (because that or marrying rich is the only way I'm ever going to be able to stop working, and the lottery thing is much more likely, even though I don't even play it).

Jamie, Sarah and I are probably going to go roller skating in the gym at work today, and maybe out to lunch too. I'm not sure how much skating I'll be able to do, what with the low energy thing, but I want to go anyway. I may have to keep sitting down, but how often do I get the chance to do something fun with my two good friends on a holiday Monday? Not all that often, and I'm looking forward to it. If we go. Which I think we probably will, as long as everyone can get up and going and decide on when and all that.

And I guess that's all I have to write for right now. I hope you all are having fabulous holidays out there (if you're in the U.S. - otherwise, um, happy Monday! I hope your work doesn't suck!).

Currently watching: the season finale of Medium, which I recorded last week. I also just finished watching House.

Currently reading: nothing, because I just finished Marley & Me, which was an enjoyable read about a family and their hyper, incorrigible, but lovable and loyal dog Marley. Very sweet, and made me miss my Bo a lot, for some reason, even though he was neither hyper nor incorrigible. He was, however, very lovable and loyal, and he very much had a piece of my heart.

Currently listening: to the sound of my college Sims writing their term papers and complaining because they're tired or hungry or whatever. They're on free will and can therefore do whatever they want, so I don't know why they're yelling at me.

Currently eating: an English muffin. And I have two very interested dogs watching me and waiting for their pieces, which I'm about to give them. Willow is a drooler, in case you wondered. They both had baths yesterday. I didn't really have enough energy to give them both baths, and yet I did it anyway, and now they are both clean and pretty. Especially Bernie - the bath really brought out a beautiful shine in his coat. And now I really have typed enough for one day so that's all. Happy Monday!

Illness shouldn't be allowed on holiday weekends

Okay, so a tip for all of you workaholics out there - if you're sick, and may be contagious - STAY HOME! You may have a lot of work to do, but you know what? It will still be there when you feel better, and staying home has the wonderful benefit of making you someone who is sparing his or her colleagues from catching the dread disease that has you feeling so low.

And as you may have guessed, someone at my work (my boss) was sick last week, and instead of staying home, she came in anyway because she - you guessed it - had too much to do! And that's all well and good if she was the only one to suffer, but when I wake up on Saturday morning, which happens to be the first day of a three day holiday weekend, and have a sore throat which quickly turns into the beginning of a beauty of a cold, then suddenly I'm suffering too, and I'm not happy about it. She is SO going to hear about this on Tuesday morning.

Of course, Jamie was sick, too, but he only worked half a day in his sick state, and he stayed home the next day, so I don't blame him. :)

Anyway, I got up this morning and went to the grocery store right away and got drugs (and groceries), so I'm currently medicated. My Dayquil is wearing off, although it didn't seem to do much to begin with, and my Advil are kicking in, so I'm not feeling too bad at this moment. I'm well enough to play my Sims, but not well enough to go to my sister's cookout today. Oh well. Maybe I'll feel well enough by Monday to go roller skating with Jamie and Sarah on our day off.

Oh, and one more thing. I think someone needs to remind me from time to time that when I get up at 12:45 to use the bathroom, I am going to be far too fuzzy headed to think clearly. Especially when my throat was already hurting then. 'Cause I got up this morning at 12:45, and used the bathroom, washed my hands and was getting ready to stumble back to bed when I heard water running, and it sounded like it was in the basement. So I put on my boots (my basement is not finished, and the first half has a dirt floor) and my jacket with the hood up (to shield me from spiders, of course), and I go downstairs to investigate. I was worried that I had pipes leaking, or that the water pump was broken again, and was wondering what in the world I was going to do about it at 1:00 in the morning. Well. It was just the water softener backwashing, like it does every night about that time, only I'm usually asleep and can't hear it. I absolutely hate my basement, and don't even like to go down there in the daylight, much less at 1:00 in the morning. I put some salt in the water softener while I was down there, because it was almost empty, and since I was there, why not? Then I came back upstairs, washed my hands again to get the basement yuck off of them, and went to bed, where I laid in bed for half an hour imagining that there were crawly things on me from the basement before I finally went back to sleep.

Sigh. My vacation is not starting well. And now I need to get back to playing my Sims. I hope you are having a much better Saturday than I am.

Holiday Weekend...Almost

It's the Friday before a holiday weekend! Monday is Memorial Day, and we get it off, and I am very happy about that. Of course, most of the people who work on campus seem to have taken today off in order to get a jump start on the weekend, so it's like a ghost town around here. But that's okay. I'll only miss one of them (Sarah, I'm giving you a big exaggerated Dale sigh complete with puppy dog droopy eyes over here). And my weekend gets to start at 4:00 today, so that isn't too bad.

* * *

So I think Bernie is teaching Willow some new tricks. I've had her for 9 months now, and for the first time in all of those months she rolled on her back in the grass yesterday. Bernie does that at least twice every single time I take the dogs out, but Willow never had. But yesterday she did it twice. And of course I didn't have my camera with me either time, dangit. I took the camera out with me the third time, and she didn't do it. Of course. Anyway, it was very cute. She was a very insecure, neurotic dog when I got her (and okay, she still is a bit neurotic), but it seems like she is finally starting to relax and figure out what it's like to be a happy, well cared for dog who can sometimes enjoy life, and I love that. Now if only Bernie could teach her to be a bit quieter. I'll have to get him working on that.

* * *

Sarah and I started roller skating during lunch again. Yay! It's a very fun way to get some exercise and I'm very happy that she likes it as much as I do. And, even more good news, Jamie finally got himself some skates too! Sarah called in sick today (still sad about that, by the way), but Jamie is here, so we'll be skating around the gym today without her. And it's his first day on these skates, so she's missing some serious comedic potential. Sigh. I think we'll manage to have fun without her, though. :)

* * *

Okay, I should get back to work. I hope you all have a great holiday weekend! I'll be spending part of it at my sister's house for a picnic, and will of course be spending a large chunk of it playing my Sims, so I'll love every minute of it.

* * *

Currently reading: Marley & Me, by John Grogan (borrowed from Sarah)
Currently listening: Yahoo radio. They're playing "Bad" by U2 at this second
Current watch (you know I'm still excited about those): I'm wearing a Tigger watch today. It is very cute.
Currently watching: nothing, 'cause I'm at work, but I got to start watching this last season of Smallville last night, which was very exciting. Clark is such a cutie
Last webpage visited: www.boolprop.com, the best Sims forum around

Why it's crazy to live in central NY

Central New York. May 21st. It's snowing - see the photographic evidence below.


It isn't sticking to the grass in my yard, but it is sticking to the plowed fields across the street. And then, according to the weather channel website, it's supposed to be in the high 70s or low 80s by mid-week. It's weather insanity! And a typical spring for us here in central New York. Sigh.

I am a lost cause with money

So, you know when I told you (I think I told you) that when I got the money for my first editing job a couple of months ago, I saved out the money for the trip my sister and I are going to take in June, and I gave it to her to hold for me? I was a smart woman for doing that. I got paid for a second editing job a week or so ago, and I've been good with the money up to now (all of my May bills are paid, and the rest is in my checking account). And then I went to Walmart yesterday to get groceries. And I took about half of my dead watches with me. I don't think I've ever mentioned in here that I collect watches, so you may not know that about me unless you're someone who knows me in real life, but I do. I have 39 of them (it was 40, but I left my Tazmanian Devil watch in class a couple of weeks ago, and someone took it. Bastard. I hope it dies on them), and before yesterday, only four of them had working batteries. Now 21 of them have working batteries. And I bought a new watch while I was waiting for the good jewelry people at Walmart to put in all of those batteries. I'm not mentioning any dollar amounts here, but you can do the math. The batteries cost about $3 a piece. The watch cost $22. Yup. I have a serious problem. But my watches are pretty, and I can't wait until I get to choose one to wear tomorrow.

See? Pretty, right? Okay, you may have to be a watch loving person like me to appreciate them. But trust me, they're making me happy. And I don't just collect watches, I collect fun watches, so mixed in there you will see (if you look closely enough) Sylvester the cat, Tigger, Spiderman, Bugs Bunny, Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola and lots of other fun most likely cartoon characters. The new one I bought yesterday is the red banded one on the bottom left - next to the butterfly. It's an antinque looking Mickey Mouse, and very cool (it might win the contest for which one I wear tomorrow).

Okay, and now that I have completely bored you, I'll move on past the watch obsession. I am having a great weekend, even though all of that oldness stuff that I've been talking about apparently comes with an inability to sleep in (which probably goes along with the inability to stay up late). I have gotten up both yesterday and today at 6:30. Sigh. I used to be able to sleep in, I swear I did. Oh well. Getting up early just means I get to start playing my Sims earlier. And doing my laundry earlier. So it's not all bad.

And now I guess that's all I have to say for today. So since I forgot to do this last entry, I'll tell you the following:

Watching: Re-runs of the Gilmore Girls that I tape everyday on ABC Family Channel. I am currently watching the episode that was shown on Monday. I'm a little behind.

Playing: the Sims, of course. The house I'm playing has two teenagers in it (twins), and the girl went on a date the other night, and her date came and brought her a poker table in the middle of the night as a gift. Why didn't any of my dates ever do that for me? Sigh. Also, the guy is - okay, this is hard to explain to any non-Sim playing people, but I'll do it anyway because I know at least two people reading this play the Sims. I created a family in my game that is my family from when I was a kid. My Mom, Dad and my four older siblings. My siblings and I are all currently teens in the game. The teenage girl in the family I'm playing went on a date with the Sim patterned after the brother closest to me in age. In real life he's a bit of an ass, and I could never see him buying a poker table for a girl, so it made me laugh. Okay, I'm ending the Sims talk now.

Reading: Just finished reading Child of My Heart, which was decent. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars. I was going to read a book called Marley and Me (I think is the title) that Sarah lent me, but it's at work. So I'm just starting Good Faith by Jane Smiley. I may switch to the other one when I get to work tomorrow though. Maybe.

And that's all I'm doing right now (unless you want to know that I am drinking a Diet Pepsi, and am therefore a little wired - yes, you can blame this entry on the caffeine), so that's all I'm writing. I hope you all are having a great Sunday!

Friday! Woo!

Remember when I posted that entry about my new glasses, and how they were a sign of me being old? Well, sign number two came last night, when I went to bed at...ready for this?...8:30! What the heck? I have two excuses: 1, I was still tired from earlier this week when I stayed up too late watching the Grey's Anatomy season finale; and 2, I had a wicked headache, and going to bed brought the possibility of it going away before I woke up (which it did).

Also, I didn't actually go to sleep at 8:30. I watched the end of the Will & Grace retrospective thing first. Then I shut the TV off and went to sleep at 9:00. Ahem.

Anyway. Today is Friday! Woo! I have big plans of doing nothing this weekend, which I am very happy about. Also, I might go to Pizza Hut and get pizza and breadsticks one of the two days, because I've been wanting some Pizza Hut for a couple of weeks now. And I need to get groceries. I sure do live an exciting life, huh? :)

It is also my first entirely school free weekend, because my last exam was this last Wednesday, and I got my grades today. I did exactly as I figured in my accounting class (which was well) and as good as I hoped in my Flash class. They both could have been better, but you know what? I just overextended myself. There are only so many hours in the week, and between work and attending classes and doing my freelance copyediting work, there wasn't much left for homework. So oh well. And it's not like I did bad - just not as good as I could have done. And the money that I took in working all that time was absolutely needed, so I'm okay with the trade-off.

And now I must leave work and go home and start all that relaxing that I have scheduled, so see you later! I hope you have a great weekend! I might pop in this weekend and update again. If the mood strikes.

Why I don't stay up late watching TV

I stayed up until 11:00 last night to watch the Grey's Anatomy season finale. I say stayed up, but I was in bed watching it, so really I mean stayed awake. And this is why I don't do that normally - I am the walking dead this morning. I need to go back to bed and get at least another hour or two of sleep. But I can't, because I'm at work. Sigh.

The show was kind of worth it, though. If you watch the show and haven't done so yet, come back and read me after you watch it, because I'm going to talk about what happened. Okay? Did you leave? If not, then I hope you watched it! Cause here we go.

I knew Denny was going to die. He had to. I didn't know it was going to make me cry big fat headache inducing tears, though (yes, I am a sap). And I didn't know that Alex was going to make me kind of like him again by picking Izzie (or however you would spell her name) up off Denny's bed and holding her while she cried. Bastard, making me like him again. Also? When they got to the whole Meredith/Dr. McDreamy sex scene, I really couldn't have cared less. Why is the character that the show is named after the least interesting one on the whole show? I love Patrick Dempsey, but I really couldn't care less if he and Meredith get together.

As for the rest of the show, I wanted to hit Yang for not being strong enough to be there for Burke, but I was happy when she went in at the end and held his hand. I'm glad she realized before it was too late what she was doing.

And I guess that's enough talking about a TV show. It's really good, though, and I'm going to miss it until next season. And now I may need to go get a soda to wake me up.

Sleeping Bernie

I took this picture of Bernie last night. My school bookbag is laying on the floor next to my desk, and I looked down to see that he was sleeping with his head on it. Awww. He's so sweet. A bit of a dufus head sometimes, but so sweet.

I just got done mowing my back and side yards for the first time this year. Man, were they high! I had a regular hay field going out there. I would have had them cut last weekend, but my mower blades were rusted in place and wouldn't turn. The mower got left outside for a while last year, and it rusted. Oops. But my brother-in-law came over Wednesday night and got it fixed up for me, so it's all good to go now. Thrilling story, right? I knew you'd love it. lol. I did keep finding things in the yard as I was mowing, though. Weird things, too. I found a dog dish under the tree. Not too weird - I must have had one of the dogs out there at the end of the year. Then I found a beach towel in the side grass. That was weird. Then I found the top of my propane tank (the lid of it, I mean) in the back. It's a good thing I look around while I'm mowing.

So this is my first mostly school free weekend. Yay! I have to do a little bit of studying tomorrow for my accounting final, which is on Monday, but mostly I have the whole weekend to do whatever I want. Which will of course involve a lot of Sim playing, plus I need to sweep up the Bernie hair that is everywhere. Yuck. You know what? I'm going to show you a picture of that, too, just so you can feel my pain (you lucky people). This picture is TWO DAYS worth of hair, just from my living room floor. This doesn't include what was on my dining room, kitchen, bathroom or bedroom floors. TWO DAYS! Look at this humongous pile of hair:

The broom I put there for scale, and Zelda walked up as I was taking the picture. Isn't that horrible? That's just two days of hair - imagine what he could do to this house if I left it any longer than that between sweepings! **shudder**

And that's all I have for now, I guess. I am going to start a new little section at the bottom of my entries for a while, I think. I'm not saying I'll do it every time I post, but if I feel like it I will. :) I hope you all are having wonderful weekends!

Currently reading: Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott

Currently listening: nothing but my Sim humming along with his mp3 player

Currently watching: nothing. My TV is off right now.

Last talked to: Sarah, on IM right now.

Wrap it up

You may as well wrap this semester up, because it's all done for me. Well, technically I have two exams left to take, but I'm not stressing over those. I was stressing over my final project for my flash class. Let me emphasize that more: STRESSING. There, that's better. I worked on it for 8 1/2 hours over the last two days (that's in addition to working both days and spending four hours in my classes), and there were still two things that I couldn't get to work. I shut it down at 10:30 last night because my brain was fried - I just couldn't think straight anymore. This morning I did a few things that I had to do to it (small cosmetic things) and then I e-mailed my professor to see if he could help me with the two problems that I couldn't fix. I went to his office, and it took him, no lie, ten minutes to help me fix what I had spent 8 1/2 hours trying to fix on my own. Sigh. And then he gave me chocolate! So I officially love him.

And now that the stress is gone from my life, I will once again have free time! It's so exciting I can barely stand it. Imagine, time to spend doing whatever I want. Even if that will need to include a lot of sweeping to get rid of the explosion of hair that Bernie is sending all over my house, not to mention the rest of the housework that I have been neglecting lately, it will still be fantastic. I see a lot of Simming in my future.

A stress free life is a wonderful thing, oh yes it is.

And since the stress of this project and the release of it today are all that I have on my mind, I guess this is all I have for an entry today. I hope you all are enjoying stress free days too!

p.s. Cathy? If you're still reading me, would you mind e-mailing me with the link to your blog? I can't find it, and gmail has cleared your previous e-mails out of my mailbox, so I can't go through there to find it. Thanks!

Poll Pics

Okay, here are the pictures of my three B generation girls, along with descriptions (if you missed it, the entry below this one gives the background of the family leading up to these three, along with pics of their parents and grandparents). You can vote by e-mailing me at avidreader7@gmail.com or by going to boolprop.com and voting in the heir poll that I (will) have posted there. Also, I apologize for the picture quality. I couldn't get the pictures that I had saved in the game to show up large enough to really show the girls' faces, so I took pictures of the monitor with my digital camera. Anyway, here they are.

First up, the first born, Bella.

Bella is an Aries, with the following personality points: 6 neat, 9 outgoing, 8 active, 3 serious and 7 nice. She is a popularity Sim with the wish to be a celebrity chef. She recently was asked on a date by a new OFB townie named Jake Danaher, who I had no idea she even knew, and they fell in love. They have two bolt chemistry. Whether she is the heiress or not, she will end up marrying him, because he's cute and he was a big help to the founders of the family when they were having their ten kids, so I already loved him before they went on their date.

Next up is second born, Brinly.

Brinly is a Gemini, with the following personality: 1 sloppy, 10 outgoing, 10 active, 7 playful and 2 grouchy. She is a family Sim who wants to be Captain Hero. Brinly has not found love yet, even though we've been looking all over campus. I like my Sims to have at least two lightning bolt chemistry, and the only people she's liked have only been one bolt. So we're still looking.

Next is the youngest of the family, Beckett.

Beckett is an Aries, with the following personality: 6 neat, 9 outgoing, 8 active, 3 serious and 7 nice. She is a pleasure Sim who wants to be Celebrity Chef. She has just fallen in love with one of her professors, but I don't think they have a future - he has a very large nose and he's a romance Sim. Which might make them a good match, and I wouldn't mind playing it, but I really don't want his nose in the family. So if she becomes heiress, we might find a different guy for her.

Anyway, those are the three girls. I can't choose between them, because I love them all, so I'll be happy whoever you choose. And the other two will get played anyway, because I want to see all of their genetics play out.

Okay, now vote! E-mail me at avidreader7@gmail.com with your pick or go to boolprop.com and vote there in the heir poll (I think you have to be registered there to do that, but if you play the Sims you should do that anyway, because it's a great place to hang out online). Thank you for helping me pick my heiress!

Help me pick my heiress

Hello! I am having a little trouble picking the next heiress of my Sims 2 legacy family, so I'm enlisting the help of my readers here and the good people at boolprop. Hi boolpropians! Thanks for stopping by to check out my Sim's pictures.

Okay, so for those of you who are just here to read me, and don't know about Sims, or if you know about Sims and don't know about legacies, then here's the deal. The Sims, of course, is the best computer game ever, that steals many, many hours of my life. Managing the life of simulated people is surprisingly fun. Legacies are a challenge invented by someone on the Sims 2 website, where you have to play a family, without cheats, for ten generations. In another twist on this challenge, someone else came up with the concept of an alphabet legacy, which is the same as a legacy, only you go for 26 generations, not counting the founder, naming the first generation with A names, the second with B names and so on. I am doing an alphabet legacy, and am currently on the B generation. One of the three children from this family needs to move back into the family house and conceive generation C, and I can't pick which one should do it. So I'm asking you to help me.

First I'm going to show you pictures of the founders and their heiress, and then I'll show you the three girls you have to choose between (this way you can make a more informed choice for me).

This is the founding Sim, Mary Rhodes. She was a family Sim who along with her husband raised ten children.

This is her husband, Samuel. He's chugging some elixir of life - having ten kids takes a long time! A little help is necessary.

This is their daughter, Ainsley. She was their fifth born and one of the most attractive (quite a few of the ten kids inherited their Dad's unfortunate brow ridge/mouth combo, poor things). She is a knowledge Sim who achieved her lifetime aspiration of becoming a mad scientist. She met and fell in love with a college student named Christopher during her years at Sim State. His picture is below.

I don't know why his picture came in so little - sorry about that. Anyway, he is a fortune Sim who achieved his lifetime aspiration of becoming chief of staff on the day that he turned elder. There is a red faux-hawk under that graduation cap. And here are their three kids, in order of birth!

Okay, blogger isn't letting me load anymore pictures in this entry, so please see the next one for the girls' pics. Thanks!

Hi Sis!

I sent the link to this journal to my sister today. She's the only family I've told about it. Hi sister whose name I won't use unless you tell me its okay to do so! I hope you enjoy reading what I've written here, and don't think I'm too weird for posting this stuff online.

My classes will be over in one week and one day, and I CANNOT WAIT. I am so looking forward to not having classes to take for a while. I need the break so desperately, I can't even tell you. Although of course, I might be giving that free time right back away, because I'm up for an editing job for a quarterly journal. But that would only be about 20 or 30 hours per issue, so that's not bad. And the money I would make would cover my fuel oil bills for the year, so cross your fingers for me on it. Also, thank you, Sally, for putting my name in for it! I appreciate it so much. You rule.

So, my water pump broke the other night. I have had problems with it before (that I may have written about here, I'm not sure), and I'm getting so sick of it! I have been showering at my sister's house for the last couple of days, and I've been using bottled water to fill the animals' water dishes, and it is just so inconvient not to have water for two days! I mean, I just want to turn on the tap and have water come out. Is that too much to ask? Also, I'm pretty broke right now (at least until I get my editing money, but that's already earmarked for home improvements of other kinds, like a roof and/or windows), so I'm not looking forward to seeing this repair bill. I love my house, but I would love it a lot more if I didn't need to keep putting money into it.

In fact, just for fun, I'm going to list out what I've done to my house already, and what still needs to be done. Feel free to zone out if you don't care.

What I've done: replaced the water softener, replaced the pool liner, had insulation blown in to the walls, replaced the floor in the living room, replaced four windows and done general painting/cleaning up.

What still needs to be done, in order of importance: new roof on the living room extension and the porch, replace the porch, replace the rest of the windows, replace the main roof, replace the siding, re-replace the living room floor and level it first this time, remove the panelling in the living room and dining room and put up wallboard, replace the flooring in the kitchen/dining room/bathroom, replace the carpet in my bedroom, gut and re-do the room that I used to sleep in upstairs, remove the paneling in the upstairs hallway and put in wallboard and redecorate/clean out the storage room at the top of the stairs.

Whew, that's quite a list. And I could also include: insulate the garage, have the stump removed from the front yard, have the half dead trees taken down out front, before they fall on my house, and clean up and beautify the area around my pool. And open the pool. And add a second bathroom upstairs.

Yeah, that might all be done sometime before I die. Or if I ever (start to play and then) win the lottery. But I love my house! Really, I do!

Ducks

Picture of the day, taken late last week. A mallard and his girl hang out in my (disgustingly dirty, hasn't been opened in a couple of years) pool. They are very pretty, and I was happy to get a shot of them. Also, I'm hoping to get that pool open this year. Somehow. If I can find the money to do it. (Must win that lottery.) The black and blue things floating in the pool are the water bags that once held the cover on the pool. The dark shape under the water is the cover. The bags did their job well, didn't they? Oh, the sarcasm. Also, there's a new post under this one, about my weekend. For some reason blogger wouldn't let me upload a picture at the bottom of the entry. I tried three times and then quit. So scroll there once you're done here. :)

The Other Side of the Weekend

I had a very relaxing weekend for a change. I finished my editing job on Friday night, and while I have some homework deadlines looming, none of them were close enough to make me work on them all weekend. So I didn't. Well, that's not completely true - I did some research on my Flash project, and figured out how I might be able to do parts of it, but the actual execution is going to wait until probably tonight. The rough draft is due Wednesday.

So, with no editing work to do and no homework that absolutely had to be done, I decided to - big surprise coming here - relax and play the Sims. It's not even funny how addicted I am to that game. The hours it eats up! Simming took pretty much all of my Saturday, but it didn't get to take all of it, because when I went to bed on Friday night, I remembered that I had forgotten to print some advertising table tents for the dining hall, and since the event they were advertising is on Tuesday, they kind of needed to be on the tables all weekend. So I went in to work about lunchtime, printed them out, cut them out, and delivered them to the dining hall. And I didn't even clock in to do it, because I had plenty of time to do them on Friday, if I had only remembered.

Going in on a Saturday sucked a bit of ass, but it was something that was quick to do, so I was in and out in 20 minutes or so, so it wasn't too bad. And I was right back to Simming afterward, so that's all good. :)

Sunday I woke up early and relaxed for a couple of hours, and then Jamie came over and picked me up. He got a new (to him) Chevy Malibu on Friday, and we had made plans to go out on Sunday so that he could show it off and I could get a ride. We went shopping. I was supposed to get a vacuum cleaner and two dog beds. I got the dog beds, but instead of the vacuum, I ended up with Quantum Leap season four and The Sweetest Thing. I still need the vacuum, but I love my DVDs, so it all balances out somehow.

I needed the dog beds, though, because...I kicked the dogs off my bed! I had been letting them sleep on my bed at night, but I was just getting sick of it. They take up most of the room, Willow gets jealous of Bernie and growls most of the night when they're both up there, and to top it all off, Bernie has decided that he doesn't need that winter coat anymore, and he's going to shed it all. All over my house, all over my lawn, all over my bedroom floor (hence the need for the new vacuum cleaner) and all over my bed. Only not on the bed anymore, because he's sleeping on his own not-so-little dog bed. Ha! I foiled that one.

And then the weekend was over, all too quickly, and it is once again Monday. Sarah called in sick today, so I'm chat buddy-less, but the day is going pretty quickly anyway. Every Monday morning, though, without fail, I wish that I could win the lottery and never have to work again. I think this whole two days off, five days of working thing is backwards. I wouldn't mind working two days a week, but five? With only two days to relax and do what you want/need to do in your off time? It's a horrible system. And yet I need the money, so I continue to show up. Sigh.

And now that my blog has been updated, I once again feel better. I also just went and bought a Diet Pepsi, so hopefully I'll be waking up for good soon, and then this week can really get started. Oh, have I mentioned lately that school is almost over? Yup, this week and next week, and then classes are over. I have two finals in the beginning of the following week (two weeks from right now), and then I'm done. I SOOOOO can't wait. And now I need to go do some work to keep the boss happy, so that's all from me for now. I hope everyone out there is having (had) a great Monday!

Smustle Face

Hello! I just spent the evening playing Sims and had to share the smustle face, for all of you who aren't Sims people. Because it's funny. And because everyone should be a Sims person, and if a Smustle face can't help to convince you to be one, then nothing will.

Isn't that a fantastic face? That's Ainsley Rhodes, who is currently in college studying something science related. She's super shy, but even she can't resist a good smustle (which is a group line dance kind of thing. Think the dance from Michael Jackson's Thriller video and you won't be far off). Ah, I love the Sims.

Anyway, for all of you who don't care about the Sims, I apologize for this boring post. And shame on you, because you should play it - it's fun. Also, it's almost 10:00 and I am still up and on the computer, which Sarah could tell you is very unusual for me on a weeknight (because I'm a wuss who needs at least 8 hours of sleep a night), and that probably explains this weird mood I'm in. Don't worry - I'll be back to normal tomorrow. Whew!

Also, before I go, my friend Jamie is getting a new car this week. Yay! And I get to receive one of the first rides. Fun!

Okay, I'm off to bed now. Next time I'll post something when I'm not feeling all weird from impending sleep deprivation. Later!

Six Years Ago

Six years ago last night, at about 11:55 p.m., I was woken up to the phone ringing. It was the pastor (or reverend or whatever he was called) from the nursing home where my Mom was living, telling me that she had died. This wasn't unexpected, because she had brain tumors and she had slipped out of consciousness, so we knew it was coming - otherwise my phone would have been downstairs, instead of upstairs on my end table. I held it together long enough to call my sister and tell her (actually, I spoke to her husband), and then my oldest brother, and when I hung up, I remember doubling over like someone had just stabbed me in the gut. About ten minutes later, my sister and her husband, and my oldest brother and his daughter, showed up at my house, because I was alone and they didn't want me to be. To this day, that remains the one thing that they have done that I will always remember. They didn't let me be alone on the night our mother died.

That whole next week was seven kinds of hell, from going to the funeral home and talking about the service and the casket and the whole arrangment deal, to the days between then and the actual funeral to, of course, the funeral itself on Thursday, followed by the internment of her ashes (she wanted to be cremated, and had picked out her urn herself - a green marble one) on Friday. She died on a Saturday night, and that hellish week lasted until Friday. I don't know how I made it through.

Also, the Sunday after she died was Easter, so you can imagine the rotten associations I had with that day for a while. But Easter moves around every year, and even though the 22nd was again on a Saturday this year, Easter was the week before. So I have mostly lost my bad associations with the holiday. I can go to my sister's house for dinner now without feeling like I need to hide in my house and grieve instead, so that's good.

Anyway, it's the first thing in the morning and I'm writing this before I'm fully awake, which is not a good thing, so I'm just going to wrap it up here and say: I love you Mom. I think about you every single day of my life, and although the pain finally lessened enough where I can live with your loss, there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't wish my phone could ring with you on the other end, or that I could go pick you up on a Saturday, like I used to, and bring you home to spend the day with me. You were my mother and my best friend, and I feel your loss always.

And since I don't have a more recent picture of her in electronic form, here is her graduation picture, which you already saw on her birthday.

Old Now

A concrete sign that I am officially old:

I have to wear these all the time. I had glasses before, but I'm near sighted and it wasn't bad last time I was at the eye doctor, so I only had to wear them for distance things - mostly driving. These I have to wear ALL THE TIME! Sigh. And I already have gray hair, and greasy things make me burp - what's next?

Being old is going to suck, huh.

Flowers

Apparently blogger just wanted me to split my pictures up into two posts. Ooookay. So here, for your enjoyment, are my confused Christmas cactus and my pretty yellow Daffodils.

Pictures of Now

Here are pictures of some things that I did today or that are making me happy today:

I gave blood today, so be nice to me. The Red Cross says you have to!

It's a good thing these are only around at Easter, because yum. But wow, are they fattening.

My flannel pajama pants have monkey heads on them. I love my monkey head pajamas.

I got the Sims 2 family fun stuff pack today. Fun!

And I immediately set to redecorating my Sims' kids' rooms. First up - the castle theme for their little boy's room. Cute!

Next up, an underwater themed nursery. Aww! I love the waves and the fish.

I want a jellyfish lamp. I wonder if they make them for real people?

How did my Sims repay me for buying all the cool stuff for their kids' rooms? They had twins. Sigh. And now they both want to have TEN kids. And I think I'm going to let them try. I am insane.

Okay, I also wanted to show you pictures of my daffodils (of which there are more than there were last time I posted pictures), because they make me happy, and of my Christmas cactus, which is confused and blooming, even though it is four months past Christmas, but blogger isn't actually uploading pictures anymore. So you'll have to imagine those.

And now I'm off. I have Sims to play and papers to edit. Happy Tuesday!

Way Too Busy

I'm sorry I haven't been updating here lately. I've just been so busy, I can't even describe. Working, editing, going to class, doing a metric ton of homework - yuck. It's taking all of my time, and none of it is fun (but at least the editing, when I somehow manage to get it done by next Friday, will bring me some extra money). And I have a large project to do for my animation class that is due on Monday, and I haven't even started it yet, so guess what I'm going to be doing the rest of the day? Sigh. And I can tell how much I don't want to do it, because suddenly I would rather do so many other things, such as...cleaning. Yuck. I am the queen of procrastinators.

Anyway, since this entry could be considered another thing that I am doing to put off my homework, I am going to end this sorry excuse for an entry with a few pictures from the last couple of days. Enjoy! And think of me, when you're off doing your fun Saturday things, and I'm sitting here doing my horrible homework.

Daffodils are my favorite spring flower. These are sitting on my desk, and they smell heavenly.

The weeds in front of my porch are being taken over by ladybugs. There are a ton of them out there!

Bernie, laying in the grass next to my house (next to a piece of siding that fell down over the winter and needs to be put back on the house).

Willow standing on the side lawn, looking gorgeous (this is my new favorite picture of her).

Oddities

Sarah and I were talking before we finished our lunch break today, and the conversation turned to strange things we do, and I thought it might be interesting to list some of my oddities here. You can read them and maybe go, "Hey, I do that too!" Or "Wow, she's weird." Whichever. Enjoy!

I count stairs whever I'm going up or down them. It's not a conscious thing, it just happens. Sometimes it'll get worse than that and I'll start counting all of the steps that I take on the ground or floor once I'm off the stairs. Then I have to make myself think of something else so that I'll stop.

This started when I was a kid: I thought for some reason that it was bad luck to turn the light out at night if the (digital) clock was on an odd number. Except if it ended in a 5 - that was safe. So if I was going to bed and the time was 9:03, I'd have to wait until 9:04 before I could shut the light off. For some reason I still do that, even though I know it's not bad luck. (Yes, I know I'm weird.)

I trace things in my mind. Not everything - only certain shapes. The worst are jackets or shirt collars. For jackets I'll trace the line of the lapel from one side of the jacket to the other, then down to the bottom of the jacket and back around to the front, where I'll start again. For shirt collars (like a dress shirt collar), I'll trace it from the top of the front, down to the corner, around the back and back up to the other side. Again, once I start, I have to make myself stop. It's not just those things that I trace in my mind, but those are the worst. I'll also trace rectangles and odd shapes.

Not as odd as those, but the next one I thought of is that I twirl my hair with my left hand, usually only when I'm bored or stressed. I've also been known to bite my bottom lip when I'm nervous.

I also can't stand to have the windshield wipers going faster than they need to be. The wipers scraping against a mostly dry windshield drive me nuts.

And those are all I can think of right now, although I'm sure there are more! If anyone reading this wants to share their own oddities with me, or tell me, hey! They do that too! I'd love to hear about it - comment away! (Please comment? Your silence is deafening out there. And when you're done, go read Sarah's blog and comment to her. She's getting a deafening silence on her site too.)

Happy Birthday Wayne

Today is (would be) my step-father's birthday. He would have been 70 years old today. Man, I can't believe that. I also can't believe that he's been gone since 1993. I love you Wayne, and I miss you everyday.

Biggest Loser

One of my coworkers had a brain storm a couple weeks ago. She thought it would be a good idea to have a weight loss challenge at work, modeled after the biggest loser TV show, modified for office use. Basically, people would pay $5 to enter, they would weigh in with the receptionist in our office, and would set a goal for how much they want to lose over a two month period. At the end of that time, the person who loses the highest percentage of their goal (including going over, so if you set a goal to lose 10 pounds and lose more than that, than your percentage would be over 100%) will win the money. We had 17 people sign up, so the pot is at $70. Not bad.

I signed up.

I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to. I want to lose weight, for sure - for those of you who don't know me, I won't post a before picture (unless maybe I get brave when I'm done losing the weight), but know that I want to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 pounds (maybe more) (oh, and not in two months - overall. In two months, I set a goal of 18 pounds). Fun.

So yes, I wanted to lose the weight, and I wasn't doing very well at it on my own (the call of junk food was much more powerful than the desire to once again be thin). But if I joined this challenge I would have to weigh in with someone I work with. Meaning they would know how much I currently weigh. (shudder) But I thought about it for a few days, and I finally bit the bullet, paid my $5 and joined. Whew. The first weigh in is done, and that one is the worst - from here on out the number will only get smaller.

And I'm one day into the challenge, and so far I'm doing great. Here's hoping I keep it up.

And don't worry - this isn't going to become a weight loss blog. It is in the forefront of my mind, though, so I will mention it from time to time. And for some reason now I feel compelled to tell you how I gained all this weight in the first place.

I've always had to fight to keep a reasonable weight. When I was in high school, I was a slim 135 or so (only about ten pounds over my ideal), but I thought I was oh so fat. The dramatics of teenager-dom. Once I got out of school and started working for a living, the weight went up a bit, peaking at 165. When I got there I joined Nutri-System, paid a small fortune and lost 40 pounds to get to my ideal of 125. I was a size 4! It was great. And I managed to maintain for a while - not 125, but I stayed at or under 140 for a long while, which was fine with me.

Then my mother started getting sick, and eventually she developed brain tumors and was going to die. Stress is not a friend to weight loss, let me tell you. Neither is depression, and when my Mom died, I went into a depression that it took me 2 1/2 years to climb out of. And I ate my way through it, so woo! That 140 didn't stay for long, and it hasn't been seen in about seven years.

Well, the bad stuff is in the past, and I am happier now than I have been since my Mom started getting sick in about 1996. There is no longer any reason to hold on to the weight, no longer any stress or depression reason to keep overeating. Now it's just habit. And that habit is going to be broken. I have a ways to go, and I'm going to do it right, so it's going to take a while to get back to that comfortable 125-140 range. Like I said, this is not going to become a weight loss blog, but I will probably be posting small updates from time to time (hopefully one of those posts won't be that I quit working toward my goal). I did great yesterday (and lost two pounds overnight, woo! I know that was just water weight and that I won't continue to lose something everyday, but it was great to see it this morning), and I am going to work hard to do great most everyday from here on out, and if Jamie and Sarah don't mind, I will be bugging them to tell me no when I want to eat something I shouldn't. They saved me from scarfing a bunch of angel food cake last night, for which I am very grateful.

And when the weight is all off, maybe I'll post an after picture. I can't promise a before, though. We'll see. And if any of my three or four readers (I love you all! Thanks for reading me!) want to give me support through my comments from time to time, I would appreciate it more than you know.

Fridayness

At left: the face currently staring down at me from the top of my work computer screen. I love the Cheshire Cat. You gotta love that grin. (And those are his feet behind his head, not ears - he's leaning against the wall behind my monitor.)

Wow, this week has been crazy. I've been wanting desperately to stop taking classes after this semester - at least for one semester, if not for good. I just feel like I need a break. And we had spring break last week, which was wonderful, but then I had to come back to my busy schedule on Monday, and it sucked. I hated work, I hated school and I wished I could quit both of them. Horrible. Then Wednesday everything turned around for some reason. I had a good day at work and started liking my job again, and I went to class and my professor was in great form, and I actually enjoyed class, and I thought, "Hmm, maybe I wouldn't mind taking classes again next semester." Just shoot me. So now I'm going back and forth on it again. But really, I just need to talk to my advisor (who happens to be the same professor from Wednesday, and let me just tell you that he fueled more than one fantasy back in my first semester in school - he's a cutie) and see what classes I have left to take. If I can take something that will help me in my job, then I might take them. If all I have left is the crap stuff, like algebra (shudder), then I won't. One way or the other, though, I need to decide, because if I am going to go back, I need to sign up for financial aid and register for classes. Ugh.

I really do want a semester off, though. I hate indecision.

So my sister and I are starting to make plans for our trip in June. We haven't booked anything yet, but it's become a definite instead of a maybe. I gave her a check on Wednesday, so that she could save my trip money for me. That sounds stupid, but I don't have a savings account, and I don't want to open one just for a few months, and if I leave the money in my checking account, it will be long gone by June. And she's completely trustworthy, so this is the safest way to save it. And yes, I am pathetic for not having a savings account. Oh well. I suck at the money management thing, and I really don't see the need for a savings account when all of my money goes towards paying bills anyway.

The people at work started a weight loss challenge, and I actually joined it. It costs $5 to join, and the person who loses the highest percentage of weight wins all the money at the end. So far the pot is up to $70, and I want to win. I need new clothes for my trip to Virginia. That won't buy much, but it'll buy a couple of summer outfits. The challenge lasts for two months, so we'll see how well I do. I set myself a goal of losing 18 pounds in 9 weeks and two days. I really want to lose more than that, but I'll be happy if I hit that goal. And I'll be really happy if I win that money!

What a random entry this has been. Sorry about that! And now it's almost time to go home for the weekend, so this is where the randomness ends. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekend Update

I know I never told details about my brother's situation, but I just got a call from him, and it seems to be resolving itself the best way it could. It sounds like he really might have been innocent of the charges against him, like I had hoped, and I am very glad. He is back home and sounds incredibly happy to be there. And I'm left feeling a little horrible for mistrusting him enough to not know whether to think he was innocent or not, but I really couldn't help it. With the history that I have seen from him, and with the things that I have seen a drunk version of him do that a sober version would never do, I just had to doubt. Sorry, brother. And I'm glad that everything is working out, and I hope it continues to.

And with the brother news out of the way, I have one thing to say: vacation rules! I love it. I want to always be on vacation. And even if I do have to go back to work (which, obviously, I do), I want to never go back to school. Of course, I have to, but man. I want so badly to quit. Or at least to take a break. Oh well. I have summer vacation to look forward to, and that means three months of no classes at all. I can hold on until then.

I've had fun so far on my vacation. It's funny - I took the time off, figuring that I would end up going places maybe one or two days, and would sit here and not leave the house the rest of the time, but it hasn't worked out that way. Wednesday I went after groceries and got a haircut and went to my sister's for dinner and to hang out for a while. Thursday I took Sable to the vet. Yesterday I went shopping with my sister to a couple of little gift type stores and we went to lunch and then we went to Walmart and she got groceries and I somehow managed to spend $100 even though I didn't buy much. And today, if he doesn't cancel, Jamie and I are going to go to the mall and walk around and maybe I'll buy some TV on DVD like I wanted to yesterday but couldn't because Walmart sucks and didn't have anything I wanted. So, out of five days off, I think I'll have one where I just sit here and not leave the house. Not bad!

So when I was at Walmart yesterday, I did buy myself some curtains and rods for my bedroom. I had shades in there, but they don't block the sun at all, and Bernie has been waking me up every morning at 6:30. And I'm on vacation, damn it! I don't want to get up at the same time that I would if I were going to work. So I hung up some curtains to darken the room, which works pretty well. He still tried to wake me up early, but I rolled over and put the pillow over my eyes, and he laid back down. I got up today just before 8:00, which is a vast improvement. So the curtains are officially a success. I think. We'll see if that remains true tomorrow.

Also, I haven't seen any dead mice since the other day! Which is great. Here's hoping that's a trend that continues. Stay outside, mice! I don't want to pick up your corpses if you come inside!

Oh, also - cross your fingers that the weather here turns warm and stays that way soon, because I ran out of heating fuel last night, and I am NOT buying anymore. I have spent enough money on heat for one year, and I'm not adding to that now, when it's already spring as far as the calendar is concerned. It's a bit chilly in here - 57 degrees as of right now - so if the temperature outside would be agreeable and go up to the 50s sometime soon, I would be very grateful.

Okay, that's enough posting for a Saturday morning. I've got laundry running and I need to shower and I need to continue watching this week's episodes of General Hospital while I play the Sims. Have a great weekend!

I have no words

The title is true. I'm out of words. Mouse number seven was dead in front of my door this morning. My cats are working it, and the mice don't even know what's hitting them when they make the mistake of finding their way into my house. SEVEN mice. Seven. Can spring come now, so that the mice will stop coming in? Please?

Enough with the mice already!

Okay, the mouse thing has got to stop. I got up this morning and went into the litter room to scoop the pans, and saw what I thought was a hairball on the floor. In a house full of cats, this is not an unusual thing. But - it was bloody. Oh man. Is someone bleeding internally? How am I going to figure out who? This is all going through my mind, along with wondering how in the world I was going to get all five of my cats to the vet at once to be checked out if I couldn't figure out who it came from, and man! What the heck! Then, when I scooped it up and put it in the cat litter trash bag, I noticed weird things in it, yellowy colored things, including one thing that kind of looked like a larval form of something. So I actually got my camera out and took pictures of it, thinking that since I had to work today, maybe I could e-mail the pictures to the vet so that they could try to tell me what in the world it was, and if my cat was going to die or what.

Then I walked out to the dining room, and found a mouse head on the floor. Someone (presumably Sable, since she is the ex-barn cat) had caught and killed a mouse, and then torn its head off and eaten its body. Then threw it up. Yuuuuuuck! But at least no one is dying (well, except for the mice). And Sable is going to the vet Thursday to have her shots updated so that she doesn't catch anything from all these mice she's killing. (And the larval looking thing was actually a stomach, I think. It was the right shape, anyway.)

And, in less ooky news - I'm on vacation! Woo hoo! Five whole days of not going to work! It's going to be incredible. Oh, the Sims I will be playing. And the papers I will be editing, but that's less fun, so we'll ignore that for now.

Bye! Think of me and be jealous when you're on your way to work tomorrow, and I'm not!

Picture entry

Man, first I don't write in here for almost a week, and then you can't shut me up. I'm not really writing an entry this time, though, merely sharing some pictures that I just took off my camera.If critter pictures are not your thing, feel free to skip this one. But really, if critters aren't your thing, you're probably not reading me anyway. So here we go:

Willow wants to play. Bernie isn't so sure.

"C'mon, Bernie! Play with me!"

"Please? C'mon!"

Four out of five cats agree - this chair is great for napping.

Cat number five, however, prefers the solitude of her little house, thank you very much. :)

And that's it for today, I swear. I'm shutting up now.

New Link Bar!

Thanks to Sarah, who gave me a link to help about how to do it, I now have a links bar! And man, when they're all laid out like that, it really looks like I read a lot of blogs/journals. And that isn't even all of them - it's just the ones I read daily or whenever they have new entries! I think I need a blogger intervention :). And of course I had to add a Sims 2 link to the bottom, because I go there a lot; it really helps feed my sims addiction. If any of you are simmers yourselves (and I know at least two of you are), and you go to the site, I'm avidreader2466 on there as well. Stop by my sim page and say hi!

So today I am having the perfect Saturday - nice and relaxing (even though I did get some editing work sent to me this morning - thanks Sally!). I have been playing the Sims, of course. I started a new legacy family last night, because my old one was on generation nine, and I was getting sick of them (legacies are when you start a sim on a lot by him- or herself and play that Sim's family for ten generations without cheating, for those of you who care, and I'm sorry for those of you who don't), so I'm having fun playing them this morning. And I've been IMing with Sarah (whose link is now in my sidebar, yay!), and talking to Sally about the work, and watching Elizabethtown, which I haven't finished yet, but so far it's really surprisingly good. And I've also been doing laundry, but that's the only productive thing I've done so far - I haven't even showered yet, and it's 1:15! Ah, the life of decadence.

Right now all of the animals are napping, and my Sims are paused and the only noise in the house is the hum of the furnace and the computer, and my keys clicking away as I type. It's very peaceful. I love weekends.

And now I need to go fold clothes, and maybe shower. Have a great weekend!

Friday Randomness

It feels like it's been so long since I updated in here. I'm not ignoring the site, I've just had a crazy week. Busy at work, busy with school, lots of homework including my first animation, which was kind of fun. Interesting and a little frustrating. Hopefully the frustrating will go away once I learn more about Flash.

I just came in here and decided my template needed to change, too, so how's the new look? One of these days I'm going to figure out how to customize it for myself. I'd love to put a picture across the top. I'm not quite that web savvy, though, so for now it is what it is. Although if anyone can tell me how to do a links section on the side, I would love to add one.

So SU lost in the first round of the NCAA tournaments last night. My man Gerry didn't play much - he had a groin injury that apparently got aggravated in the beginning of the game, and sidelined him. I was sad that his last game for SU was a first round loss in the tournament, but that boy has had an incredible career. He's still tops in my book.

Okay, I've shown incredible restraint so far this entry, and it ends now. I'm on spring break! I love it. No homework or classes for over a week. It's great! I'll be Simming pretty much full-time while I'm home. Cleaning? Reading? Being productive in any sort of way? Nope. I'm Simming. They're so addictive.

And wow, this is the most boring entry ever, because I really don't have anything to say. So that's all! And because she has been on my desktop all week and I love her little furry face, I'm going to leave you with a picture of my Sable, on the upstairs landing. I took the picture from the bottom of the stairs, looking up - Sable was up there because Bernie had just come to live with us, and she was a little freaked out.

Big East Champions, Baby!

SU is the Big East men's basketball champion, for the second year in a row! Woo! It was a very close game, and I almost had a heart attack probably no less than five times, but they did it! That team really kicks ass when they have it together, and they have had for four games in a row.

I heart Gerry McNamara, and I'm already sad at the thought of SU basketball without him next year.

The Best Horrible Day Ever

So, yesterday. Friday, the normal best day of the week, right? I LOVE Fridays, because they mean Saturday is next, which means no work and no classes for two whole days. But yesterday I was having a crappy day. Actually, it was more of a roller coaster day. Let me lay it out for you like a roller coaster, because it really is the best analogy.

Morning. At work early, it's Friday, there's no stress, I'm feeling fine - I'm cresting up to the top of the hill and having a great time.

Mid-morning. My body decides that it's time to clean house and the icky feeling that women everywhere know starts to take over my body. I crested that hill and started down the other side.

Just before lunchtime. I find out that something I was working on for someone at work has been finished up by her, without any further input from me and in fact without me even knowing about it until after the fact. The roller coaster is suddenly speeding to the bottom, and bam, I crash.

Lunchtime. Sarah spends a half an hour with me, cheering me up. You saved my sanity, Sarah, you really did.

After lunch. Started feeling really crappy, like physically going to be ill crappy. Light headed, weak, clammy - my mood plummets back down after that short rise Sarah gave it.

Mid-afternoon. I talked to my supervisor about the work thing, and felt a little better, but was still on the down side of the coaster. Then I went out across campus to hang up some posters, and when I was walking back to the office, I found out from someone that a press release that I wrote a week ago appeared in the paper. The coaster started to climb back up. And then I saw the article and realized that they put a byline with my name on it in the article. That coaster soared right back to the top of the hill. A byline! With my name! It's my first ever, and I loved it.

After work. I was still riding pretty high on the byline thing, but the hormonal coaster was slipping back downhill. And my phone and Internet service went out and stayed out for a while, and I was expecting a call from a friend (Hi Sally!) who had no idea that it was out, so the coaster was speeding back down that hill.

Short time later. I was playing the Sims, and the woman in the family I was playing was stargazing with the telescope, and suddenly she was abducted by aliens! It's the first abduction I've ever had in the game, and I've been playing a lot of hours and for over a year now. That coaster started climbing the hill again for sure.

8:30 last night, or so. The SU/Georgetown game is on ESPN. SU has been behind the whole game, and it really looked like they were going to lose. At halftime, they were behind by 15 points. Sucky. Coaster sliding down again. But! Don't count my Orangemen out! Gerry sunk a couple of threes, he fed a nice pass to another player for a 2, and suddenly they were up by 1 point with seconds to go (and it was the first time they led all night). And they managed to hang on to the lead and win the game, advancing in the Big East championship. That coaster sailed back to the top of the hill, and frankly this time it stayed there. There's nothing that raises my spirits quite like a good game of basketball where SU wins.

So, crazy huh? Overall it felt like a crappy day, but the best things managed to happen inside of it. Still, thank goodness this coaster ride only happens once a month. Otherwise I would surely lose my mind.

Mice and Cats and Dogs and Work

Okay, this really needs to stop, because I am feeling bad for the mice who live around my house. I found dead mouse number five (5!) in my bathroom this morning. It was another tiny baby looking one, and please let that be the last for a while? I love that the cats are being such good hunters, but I'm starting to feel very bad about having to pick up these cute little dead mice.

But, thanks kitties. I may feel bad for the mice, but I'm glad they aren't in my house tearing things up.

So I bought a crate for Bernie on Saturday, because he just wasn't getting the "don't poop or pee in the house, even when I'm not there" thing, and he was in it for his first long day yesterday. I worried about him all day and felt so guilty that I couldn't stand it, and I ran out of my class at 6:45 and tore ass home to let him out because I just had to SET HIM FREE! And of course, he was fine, and it bothered me way more than it bothered him, and it was all good, because for the first time since I adopted him, he didn't go to the bathroom in my house while I was gone! Woo! I find it much easier to love his big mug when I don't have to pick up his waste after a long day of work and school. So he's in it again today, and I felt guilty as soon as I put him in there. Sigh. It's going to be a long week.

Speaking of that long ass day yesterday, is it time for spring break yet? Because I need one. I was up at 7:00 yesterday, and between work, class and homework, I wasn't done doing stuff until 9:30 last night. I need relaxation time! Man. I had to work on animating a logo last night, to have it ready to turn in today. I actually got it to work, too! I wanted to make it a little fancier (it's an open book, with my initials on the pages, which pop up one at a time, and the book flies in from the left first, and it's great, but I wanted to make the pages turn), but there was just no way. If the day was maybe 36 hours long instead of 24, maybe then I could have done all that. But as it is, I was lucky to get it to do everything required for the assignment. And I've never animated anything before, so I was pretty proud of it.

And I know that there is no segue between these two paragraphs, but this is where my mind is now, so it's what I have to say next - I am so glad to have two dogs again. I've had dogs ever since I moved out of my Mom's house in 1989, and for most of that time, I've had two at once. I love Willow, and I was happy to have her by herself, but now that I have Bernie, and he and Willow are getting along so well, and especially now that I can get through the day without having to pick up his poop, I feel whole again, somehow. Which is stupid, but my house feels right again. That's really all I'm trying to say. It went from full to all but empty when my dogs died over the summer, and it is now, for the first time since June, back to normal, and it feels great. And now that Willow is not only getting used to him but is making friends with him, I think he may even be calming her down a bit. Maybe.

I do have to tell you something funny, though. The other night I was in bed watching an episode of M*A*S*H before going to sleep, and Willow and Bernie were both on the other side of the bed. Willow usually sleeps up by my upper body, but she was closer to the foot of the bed and he was up top. I was laying there watching TV, winding down and getting ready to go to sleep, when I heard a bang, and looked over to find that Willow had fallen off the bed! (Go ahead, laugh - I did!) Crazy dog. I made sure she was okay, and I petted her a bit, and laughed my butt off at her. Who's ever heard of a dog falling off the bed? Hysterical.

Okay, I have to go get breakfast, and maybe do some work since I'm here and all. I hope you all are having a great week!

Box Seats!

My sister ended up not going to the game with me yesterday. Her husband called me at about 8:00 yesterday morning to tell me that she had gotten sick, and wasn't going to be able to go. I couldn't get anyone to go on such short notice (Sarah? I thought of calling you and talking you into going with me, but I didn't think you'd appreciate your phone ringing at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. You're welcome), so we tried my sister's sons, and while they all wanted to go, none of them could, either because they're being ruled by their girlfriends and couldn't, or in the case of one of them, because of church commitments. Although who would pick church over press box seats to a Syracuse/Villanova game? Especially if you love basketball and would love to go? I think just one person, and he happens to be my nephew. Sigh. So I called my brother-in-law back and basically talked him into going with me because he felt bad that my sister had to stay home on such short notice. I felt a little bad about commandeering his Sunday, but I didn't feel bad for long, because it was a fantastic experience.

Imagine going to a game, and getting to walk up into this semi-private box area, getting fed from a line of chaffing dishes, including salmon (which I tried for the first time in my life, and actually liked) and carved roast beef, and a dessert table that included mini cheesecakes of all flavors and a large tiramisu cake, which is what I had, and it was heaven. And then getting to your table to find that you have gifts! A Nextel thermos and an Otto the Orange (the SU mascot) bobblehead. Cool! And getting to watch the game without being surrounded by the masses, but instead sitting over top of them, and having a pretty great view of the court. It was great. And it was Gerry McNamara's last game in the Dome, and it was very emotional, and I almost cried, I admit. Almost. And even though they lost, it was a lot of fun, and I clapped so hard that my arms hurt later, and still ache now.

And I'm sad that my sister didn't go with me, because even though she doesn't watch basketball, we would have had fun together, but I'm glad that her husband did go with me, because he's a cool guy and he's very fun to hang out with.

The body count is up to four

That's right, I came home today from work to find that my cats had killed yet another mouse today. And now I'm afraid that anyone who doesn't know me is going to think that I live in a rodent infested hovel, but really, I don't! I just live in the country, just up the road from a farm and surrounded by corn fields, and you combine that with the fact that it's been really cold this week, and you have a bunch of field mice who think they're going to find a warmer living environment inside my house. And then they get themselves killed. Sorry mice! But you kitties are fantastic!

So I get to go to the Syracuse/Villanova game on Sunday! And not only that, but I get to sit in the press box and get fed lunch first! The perks of this new job are fantastic. Of course, I was the fifth person who was asked if I would like the tickets, and I just have to say, I'm very grateful to those first four people for saying no. It's going to be fantastic! My sister is going to go with me, and we are going to eat free food and we are going to watch Gerry McNamara play his last home game at the Syracuse Dome, and we are going to have lots of fun. I can't wait.

Also? When I buy groceries tomorrow, I'm buying Bernie a dog crate, because he JUST WON'T STOP POOPING IN MY MUDROOM! I can't take it, and it's making me very mad at him, and I can't get it through his thick skull that it isn't allowed, so he's going to be crated. Stupid dog - it's a good thing he's so stinking cute.

Okay, I'm off to play my Sims now. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Cats 3, Mice 0

I came home from work yesterday to find a small, dead mouse on the floor in the living room, near my shoes. Then when I was getting ready for bed last night I noticed Sable hanging out in that same area, and when I came back in from letting the dogs out, there was a second small dead mouse on the floor in the same spot. She is definitely earning her keep this week. What a good kitty! Here's my little mouser:

I should feel bad that she is apparently taking out a family of mice, one by one, but I don't. I have a live and let live attitude until they enter my house, and then they're fair game. And I have five cats, so as has been proven this week, my house is no save haven from the cold for the rodents of the world. And it's a good thing that the cats are good mousers, because the dogs apparently couldn't care less. My old dogs, Bo and Bailey, could sniff out a mouse and corral it before it even knew what happened. Willow and Bernie don't even seem to notice they're there. What use are these dogs, anyway? Oh yeah, they're good at giving and receiving affection. Okay.

Speaking of the dogs, Willow's ear is healing well, and she and Bernie are getting comfortable enough that they're starting to play with each other. They were trying to play last night, which was kind of interesting to watch - they're very silent when they play together, and there is a lot of climbing on top of each other and mouthing at each other with jaws wide open; they were having fun. I, however, was way too tense to let them enjoy it for long, because Bernie's teeth were way too close to her poor ears, and I just can't go through that ear bleeding thing again! Not this soon, anyway. So I kept stopping them. I'll relax about that after the stitches are out of her ear and some time has passed, I'm sure.

Also, Bernie is cute as can be, but I seriously need to break him of a couple of bad habits before I'll be happy. First, he's 2 or 3 years old, but he was a stray who apparently had horrible owners before he became a stray (as is obvious by the bum leg), and I don't think they left him inside much, because he isn't totally house trained. He's fine when I'm there - he holds it until I let him out, and he's even asked to go out a time or two. And he holds it all night, too, because he sleeps in my room with me, and I've never seen any messes in there. But when I'm at work during the day, he thinks nothing of "messing" on the mudroom floor - both liquid and solid. And it's driving me crazy. There is one thing that I will not stand for in a dog, and that's messing in my house. He's an adult dog, he is perfectly capable of holding his waste until I get home (Willow does, and both dogs before her did), and yet he doesn't. I yell at him about going in the mudroom, I praise him when he goes outside, and it doesn't seem to be sinking through his thick head yet. It better soon, though. C'mon Bernie! If you stop going in the house and if you stop trying to eat the cat food, you'll be the perfect dog! You can do it!

Anyway, that's enough animal talk for one day. This is totally becoming a dog/cat blog lately, isn't it? Sorry about that. If you like it, good, but I don't want to bore anyone who doesn't. They're just what's happening in my life recently.

Well, them and the brother situation, which hasn't gotten any better since I alluded to it in an earlier entry. I still won't go into details, but I will say that the words "jail" and "extradition" are involved, and the story broke in his hometown newspaper the other day, and things are going from bad to worse. His girlfriend has been calling me to tell me all the news, but frankly I wish she would stop, because I really don't want to hear anymore. I had written him out of my life a long time ago, albeit sadly, and this isn't making me want to let him back in. She has talked to a relative of someone who was there when the supposed crime was supposed to have taken place, and they say he didn't do anything, and I sincerely hope that is true, and that he'll be found innocent and all of this will go away. In the meantime, though, I would really prefer to hide my head in the proverbial sand and ignore it all.

And that's enough for this entry, I think. I hope you all are having wonderful weeks!