Almost There

Hey, check out my new vacation countdown ticker in the sidebar there! I wanted one that would countdown the time right to the second, but the only one I found like that was very ugly. So there's this one instead, which is cute. And look, it's a little J and Denise, heading into vacationland together! Aww. :)

Last night J called me and asked me if I wanted to meet him at Pizza Hut for dinner. I had just gotten home from getting my haircut and I was already in my pajamas. I had planned on eating cereal for dinner. Did I want pizza with my J instead? Heck yes. So I threw my jeans on and went and met him at the Hut. It may not sound like anything special, but any time spent with J is special, so I loved it.

Oh, and my hair came out cute! I wasn't sure how I felt about it last night, but J liked it, and I liked it after my shower this morning, so I'm happy. I do have one thing I'll change next time, though. I asked for long layers, which she did. But she put the layers in while my hair was parted in the middle, but I always part my hair on my left side. So when I flipped it back over to its proper part, the shortest layer on the right side is a LOT shorter than the shortest layer on the left. And I think it looks kind of choppy on the right side because of that. Next time I'll have her do the layers while it's parted the way I wear it.

Okay, I've got to get to writing a press release. One day and 44 minutes until vacation! Woo!

Countdown Day Two

Work is crazy busy this week. Why is it I always get slammed with work the week before a vacation? It's like instead of getting a week off from work, I just have to do two weeks worth of work in one week. Which is the same for everyone, I'm sure. It sucks, doesn't it? On the other hand, I did help to handle a small crisis (one of the problems mentioned yesterday), and got a "thanks" from the boss, so that's nice. He doesn't hand the thanks out very often.

Also, in very exciting news, I'm getting a haircut today! Woo! I'm very excited about this, because my hair has gotten very long, and it's kind of annoying the heck out of me. I'm not going to do anything drastic to it, and it'll still be semi-long, but I'm still excited to finally get it done. Sometimes the little things are the most exciting things.

My friend Sarah, who is also taking off next week, liked my countdown yesterday. Therefore I am going to give you today's official countdown:

There are now two days and 42 minutes until J and I (and Sarah and Jeff) will be on vacation. Separately, but during the same week, which is the week that rules - my birthday week. :)

The Countdown Begins

This work day is trying to wear me down. I am NOT going to let it. I am on vacation as of Friday at 4:00 - I will not let one crappy afternoon sink my mood. My eyes are on the (vacation) prize, baby.

So, yeah, a couple of minor sucks at work this afternoon - well, one minor one and one possibly major one, but people are working on fixing that one. So it should still be okay.

But! My spirits are still flying from finding out Gracie was going to be okay, and that I won't have to spend any more money on vet bills right now (knock on wood). I should actually be able to still help out with house stuff this summer, AND still have enough to get brakes for my car and tires this fall, and to get my haircut and my eyes examined. I'm going to get contacts, oh yes I am.

Also, J is taking me to see his favorite performer - Alice Cooper - in October. I'm really looking forward to sharing that with him.

And my vacation starts in exactly three days, two hours and ten minutes, so it's all good. I heart vacation oh so very much.

The BEST News

I just got back from the vet, and other than the visit not being free, it went as well as it possibly could have gone.

Gracie - has a fatty deposit caused by the subcutaneous stitches she had when she was spayed. It doesn't have to be removed, she's fine.

Bernie - had an ear infection, so his ears were cleaned and he has medicine to take once a day. His leg is most likely being bothered by arthritis, and I can give him some glucosamine pills to help with it, if I want - they can be purchased through them (too expensive) or over the counter in the grocery store (which I'll check out).

I feel like a million pounds of weight has just been taken off my shoulders. Woo! Now I'll be able to start vacation next week and actually ENJOY it! Excellent. :) Maybe July won't totally suck after all.

Suck

Well, I already missed a day of updating, so there goes the every day in July thing, huh? Sigh. Oh well. I just couldn't have updated yesterday. Here is yesterday in one word: suck.

In half an hour I leave work to go take Gracie and Bernie to the vet. I am stressing it big time. I am NOT ready to lose my cat, and I am NOT ready for Bernie to lose his leg, and I am NOT ready to pay the vets hundreds of more dollars. I just paid them off, for cripes sake.

I'll update later, to let you all know how the vet visit went.

Saturday, Bernie and Hopes

Good news about Bernie - his leg seems to be feeling better. He's still limping and whining when he first gets up, but he's walking around okay, albeit with more of a limp than before, so it looks like I won't have to worry about his leg right now - I can concentrate on getting Gracie checked out first. Here's hoping that Bernie stays on the road to recovery, too. Not only are my funds limited (extremely limited), but if he keeps having problems with the leg, it'll have to be amputated. Which is better than him living in constant pain, obviously, but I'm hoping for neither pain NOR amputation, thanks.

As for Gracie, she is still acting fine. She's eating and using the litter pan, and asking for lots of loving, just like usual. It's the one thing giving me a small ray of hope for her right now. Maybe I got lucky and found this mass in time for it to be taken out before it does any damage. I hope.

So, today was a busy one. J was at work - he had to leave late last night. So I spent the day mowing the lawn and doing other chores. Oh, and here's a tip from me to you. If you're mowing the lawn, and there is an extension cord running across the grass, say from the flagpole, which has been artfully decorated with lights, to the porch where it can be plugged in, unplug it and move it off the lawn before you mow over it! As you might be able to tell, I didn't do that. I mowed right over the cord, cut it into lots of pieces, and had to go buy replacements. I bet I won't forget to move the cord again for a long time.

And now I'm going to settle in to watch Animal Cops Houston - I love those animal rescue shows on Animal Planet - and play the Sims for the evening, while J catches up on some much needed sleep. Have a great Saturday night, peoples.

Fourth and Animals

On any other day, this would be a very bad thing.


Really, the parade was fun, but apparently not if you were on a float.


My favorite band.

So, July 4th was fun. I woke up still feeling kind of down about Gracie's potential health problems, but I went to my sister's and joined the holiday festivities anyway. We didn't get to walk the green the way we like to, because we got there late (for those who don't live in a small town, the green is a community park area, and on July 4th a lot of vendors set up there, selling everything from home grown produce to crafts, leather jackets and of course "fair food" - funnel cakes, sausage sandwiches, cotton candy, etc.), but we lined up for the parade and had fun hanging out waiting for and then watching it. The child in the first picture is my great-nephew, Sammy. He LOVED playing in the road. I think it was a bigger hit than the parade itself. If only roads were closed to traffic every day!

When the parade was over, we went back to my sister's house and hung out for a while, and then had hamburgers and other picnic food for dinner. Then I came home to see my J, who I hadn't seen since Wednesday night (stupid work). I missed him.

And my animals proved once again that they are determined to keep me worried. I already have Gracie's mysterious abdomen mass to worry about, and now tonight Bernie started whining in pain, and I had no idea what was wrong with him. Well, it turns out that his right front elbow was bothering him. This is the bone he had broken at some point before he was mine, that was never set. The elbow doesn't bend, because it healed badly. He's never shown any pain from it before tonight, though. I'm figuring he must have wrenched it. He kept trying to get up and walk around on it and crying, so I finally put a dog bed in his crate and locked him in to force him to be still and let it rest. I'm not looking forward to letting him out in a few minutes, though.

I have an appointment on Monday afternoon for Gracie to get her abdomen mass checked, and Bernie was going along anyway to have his ears cleaned and get some medicine for them (I think he has an ear infection), so I'll have them check his elbow while he's there.

Stupid animals. Why do they want to make me worry about them so much?

Happy July 4th, to all who are from here (and hi to those who aren't). You're already thinking good thoughts for Gracie - could you add Bernie to your list now, too? Thanks.

Worried

Last night I walked out to the kitchen, and Gracie was laying on her back in the dining room chair that sits under the picture window (the one she and Zelda are sitting in up there). So of course I walked over and scratched her belly, because how could I resist? And while I was petting her, I felt a mass in her abdomen. It's down low, about where her spaying incision was, and it's fairly large - a little smaller than a golf ball, I guess.

So now I'm worried about her again. I love all of my animals, and I hate having to start thinking about losing any of them. I love Gracie, and we've just been through so much with her leg, that it seems really unfair that now I have to be worrying about her possibly having cancer or something. I've had a lot of animals who have had cancer, and I've lost every single one of them. Gracie is only 7 1/2 - I'm not ready to even think about that with her, and yet here I am, worried about losing her.

And of course I'm worried about money, too. I was so excited yesterday, because I was going to be able to pay off the vet bill and my dentist bill and a couple of other bills are gone, and I was going to be able to actually contribute some money towards the house! And I'd still have money left over to spend on myself, which I'm never able to do! And now I have the knowledge of this future vet bill hanging over my head. If it turns out to be cancer, I won't go to extreme measures to try to save her. I'll pay for them to remove the mass, if it's operable, but I won't do anything else. Still, just a blood test (which I'm assuming they'll have to do) and an exam and maybe x-rays and then possibly surgery are going to take all of my extra money once again.

I guess I'm just never supposed to have cash in my pocket at any time. It's just not meant for me.

Okay, money aside, send me good thoughts about Gracie, would you? I need all the good thoughts I can get right now, because I'm not feeling any in my own head.

(Also, the money that I was expecting to show up yesterday still hasn't. I called them, and they said they sent it to the bank yesterday. So why the fuck isn't it in my account? Stupid effing bank.)

Good and Bad Things

Good Things
I got my economic stimulus check from the government yesterday. Woo! They took out the little bit of money that I still owed from my taxes from 2006 and 2007, but I still have a respectable amount left.

I called the vet's office this morning and told them I had found the copy of my first bill for taking in Gracie with her broken leg - the one that said there was no charge for the recheck office visits (they charged me $25 each for her last two visits). Once they knew I had the proof of that statement in my hands, they took the $50 off my bill without even making me fax it to them. The girl was so nice that I almost decided to give them a second chance at taking care of my animals. And then I remembered the half an hour drive to get there, and how they treated me her last two visits (not the vets, who were always great, but the office staff), and I said screw them. I'm trying the people down the road when I take Bernie and/or Willow to the vet next week (they both have dirty ears, and probably ear infections).

I have a yearly (small) payout from an old account that is supposed to show up on or about July 1st every year. It hadn't shown up in my account as of this morning, so I called to check on it, and was told it was in processing, and would be in my account today. This money will enable me to pay my school taxes and my homeowner's insurance and (combined with the economic stimulus money) will enable me to pay off the vet and my dentist this month. Less bills, yay!

I got up and exercised this morning. I took it easy on the aerobic part, because my calf is still sore, but I still felt like I got a decent workout.

I measured my waist after my workout, and it was 1 1/2 inches smaller than it was in early May. Woohoo!

I bought two more quarts of strawberries today. One more batch of strawberry shortcake before the end of the season! Excellent.

J will be home with me tonight. His coworker is on vacation, so he's working a LOT. But he'll be home tonight, which makes me happy.

Bad Things

It's now almost 3:00, and that money I spoke of earlier, that is supposed to show up in my account today? Isn't here yet. Did the guy mean it would show up at 11:59 p.m.?

I went to the bank during lunch to deposit my economic stimulus check, and got $20 cash back. They put a hold on $20 that I had in my account, so now it only shows me having $8 in there (I guess they don't trust a government check?). I have to wait to get gas now until the check shows up in my balance. I have less than an eighth of a tank. Sigh. (So close to having so much money, but for right now I'm cash poor.) (Also, I long for the days when $8 would almost fill my tank - they weren't that long ago!)

I stopped at Subway on my way back to work and got a turkey sub for lunch. Healthy, but I got a whole one instead of a half. I need help - I can't help over ordering if I'm eating by myself.

(I also ate a Hershey's candy bar. I seem to be having a weak self-control day.)


I think I'm out of things. Which is good, because this entry is long enough. Sometimes I talk too much.

Nablopomo and other news

I signed up to post every day in July. Woo! :) I'll try to remember to post at least a small entry every day, even when I'm on vacation in two weeks for my birthday.

Have I mentioned here yet that my birthday is two weeks from Friday? Because it is. I love my birthday, so I'm very much looking forward to that day. J and I will both be on vacation (not going anywhere, just enjoying not being at work), so it should be a really fun day.

So, I don't think I mentioned in my super long Saturday post that when I was exercising that morning, my calves started hurting a LOT. Like, so much that I had to keep stopping during the workout, they hurt so bad. So I've taken a few days off from working out, and I've realized that I need to start increasing the amount of protein I need to eat. My muscles are recovering slowly, and I think I'll be ready to start working out again tomorrow. I'm afraid to go too long without doing it, because it's just so easy to fall out of the habit! And I don't want to do that. I like that I'm starting to transform my body (slowly - if only it were a quicker process!).

Anyway. So that's really all I have to say for now. Just check back in here daily, or as often as you can, because I'll be here everyday now until the end of the month. And I'll leave you with some kitty pictures. :)


When Gracie was still in her crate, and I'd hold on to her and carry her through the house, the other cats acted like they had no idea who she was. Lucy, who had always acted as a Mom to Gracie and Zelda, hissed at her. I was afraid that they would never accept her again in quite the same way. I'm happy to say I was wrong. Even J, who isn't exactly a cat lover like me, called me in to show me how cute it was when he saw Lucy washing Gracie's head. :) I'm glad to see my girls sleeping all cuddled up together again.


My Sable is a beautiful, sweet little girl. Still skittish from her time as a stray, but so loving. She loves to snuggle up into my neck and rub her chin on my cheek. :) Also, please ignore my cluttered desk (and yes, that is the Sims on my desktop monitor behind her. Hee).

Blah

It's been a strange couple of days. Let's go in order, shall we?

Wednesday
I get home from work to find something leaking from under my car. After searching the Internet futiley in an attempt to find out what it could be, I called my brother-in-law and described it to him. He thought it might be a brake fluid leak, so he told me not to drive it. I arranged a ride into work on Thursday morning and left the key in the car where he could find it - he said he would come over on Thursday to take a look.

Thursday
Somehow, miraculously, I get up at 5:17 in the morning. I take care of the animals, I put on my workout gear (which at this point is just old pajamas, plus good sneakers), and I do my aerobics tape. In the morning! I was so proud of myself. I felt like it was the best exercise I had done since I started working out a week before. I did the whole tape, I only stopped a couple of times, and I felt like it was actually beneficial.

Then I got ready for work, early, and I sat in the living room and waited until my ride came to pick me up, which she did at about 7:15. And I had so much energy all morning! I was on fire, getting so much done, and I didn't really get tired until about 2:30 or so. Then I pretty much crashed that night.

When I got home, I had a message from my brother-in-law, telling me it had been a gas line leak. He has replaced the damaged section, and I owed him $7. Woo! Thanks, B-I-L.

That night J and I watched the new Futurama DVD, and I was so exhausted that I basically half slept through the end. Exercising in the morning made me feel great in the beginning of the day, but I was wiped out at the end!

Friday
My day off from exercising, so I slept until the normal time, then had an unremarkable workday. Well, unremarkable except that I got my yearly raise. Woo! I love that. Of course, it all went on bills, just like normal.

Friday afternoon/evening. J gets home, and we decide to put off getting groceries until Sunday, but, since it's cheat day (the one day per week when we can eat fattening stuff) how does pizza sound? Well, it sounds pretty freaking great, so I call in our order, put Willow in my car, and she and I go to get it.

We get there fine, I find a parking space not too horribly far away, and I pick up our pizza and cheese sticks. I go back to the car and get in, start her up, and start to drive home. I get just outside of the town where the pizza place is, and suddenly my car starts acting weird. I step on the gas pedal, and it doesn't accelerate. I can't get it past 35, and then when it does go past 35, it won't go past 45 at all, and when I come to a small hill, it won't make the top because it doesn't have any power. So I turn around and limp my way to a public ball park, where I park in their lot and call J to come get me. Then I call AAA to come tow my car away. Sigh.

J gets there while I'm on the phone with AAA, and once the arrangements are made (after a few phone calls to various places), we stand outside of the car and eat our cheese sticks, and J has some pizza (I didn't have any, because my stomach is a little upset from nerves - stupid car). The tow truck comes, it takes my little red car away, and J and I drive home, where I spend the evening in a funk, because who knows what's wrong with my car, or how much it's going to cost to fix it, and damn it! I was just going to have my first month where I'd be able to catch up. All of my little bills are going to be paid off, and I was going to actually be able to have some extra left at the end of the month to help with household things. And now the freaking car is broken down. I don't know why life has to work this way (or at least my life), but I hate it.

But J is really nice and comforting, which I really appreciate, and I'm feeling okay by the time we go to bed. (Thanks, J.)

Saturday morning
I'm here at home, waiting for the garage to call me to tell me what's wrong with my car and how much it's going to cost to fix it. I have about $90 in my checking account. What are the odds of it costing less than that? Pretty damn slim. My only ray of hope is that I'm supposed to be getting my economic stimulus check - here's hoping it comes today.

Update
I just got done working out, and I am covered and sweat and need a shower, but Rosebud is outside, so while I wait for her to come in, here's an update on the car.

The mechanic called when I was just starting my workout, and told me that my fuel pump was bad. It was going to cost me $362 plus labor and probably plus a fuel filter to get the car back on the road. Crap! I took that in, started my exercise tape back up, only to have him call back about five minutes after his first call. I had told him about my BIL replacing part of the fuel line, so he put the car up on the lift. My BIL had clamped off the fuel line and not taken the clamp off. My car is fine and the mechanic is only charging me $50 for his time.

Whew!

And how much do I trust this mechanic now? A less honest man would have charged me for the fuel pump anyway, but he didn't. Love it! So now I'm going to go shower, and since J is at work, I'm going to see if my sister can pick me up, take me to an ATM to get $50, and then take me to pick up my car. Yay! Thanks, honest repairman!

And now I must go shower. The sweat is annoying. Later!

Updates

So, I'm still exercising. I decided to do every other day until my body adjusted, so I've only actually done the workout three times, but I really do feel like I'm about ready to start doing it every day. Yesterday was my day off from working out, but in the middle of the afternoon I was very high energy and would have done it anyway, if I'd been home. Of course, by the time I got home from work, the urge had passed. :)

I think I want to try getting the workout in before work, though - it just depends on two things. One: can I get myself out of bed at 5:30 (no later, or I'll be late for work) to do it? Two: can I do it without bothering J, who would still be in bed sleeping at 5:30? Sure, I can turn the sound down on the TV, and I can not clap along when they do, but I'll still be bouncing around and gasping for air and stuff. I'll talk to him about it.

I've also been doing fairly well in eating less overall, and I've done really well in eating less junk food. I still have work to do in this area, though. Yesterday I was really good at lunchtime - they had cheese sticks at work, but I ate my turkey sandwich instead, and I had enough money to buy a candy bar, but I didn't. But then when I got home, I ate dinner without J, because he was at work, and I just can't be trusted to eat at home alone. I had some leftover angel hair pasta, which was fine, except that I took twice as much as I should have. Still, not too bad. But then I had two pieces of bread and butter. And an ice cream bar. And, since I forgot to put the bread back, and it was right in front of me, and I love bread, I had a piece (dry, no margarine). WAY too much food. So I'm going to try to do better with that today.

It's kind of frustrating, though. I know I've only done three workouts so far, and I know that muscles retain water for a while when you first start working out, but I can't help but be disapppointed that the scale not only doesn't show a loss, but it is still showing a gain. I wasn't letting it bother me, but now it kind of is. I don't expect miracles, but I would just like to see the number come down a little. Maybe it will start to once I'm working out every day (and when I get myself more in control at home at night).

In non-weight loss/exercise related news, my spider bite is still there. J said it looked a bit better last night. Also, when I went to bed last night, I checked my room over carefully looking for that spider. I checked the walls, the ceiling, the wall behind the bed, and of course I pulled back the sheet and looked there. There was no sign of the stupid thing. Sigh. Of course, that didn't stop me from dreaming about it last night (in my dream it was caught and killed).

Okay, that's all for now. Later, taters!

(Behind) My Left Knee

I discovered something unusual on the back of my left knee this morning. When I got out of the shower, it hurt to run the towel over it. It's kind of hard to see the back of my own knee, so I twisted my leg and craned my head and saw a circle of red, angry looking skin - a bump, really. I don't know why, but my mind instantly decided it might be a blood clot just under the skin.

I went to the bedroom, where J was just getting up (I knew this, because McDuff had started barking a minute before). I asked him to look at my leg. "It hurt when I ran my towel over the back of my leg, so I looked and saw this red bump, and it looked like a blood clot!" He told me of course it wasn't a blood clot, and took a look.

"It looks like a bug bite," he said. "It's raised up and red and there is a black dot in the middle of it." The s word may have been used, but I instantly cringed and shook my head. No, it can't be.

I came into work, and looked up "large bug bites" on Google. I found an exact description of my bump - it's a spider bite. Which means a spider was in my BED with me, while I was sleeping, crawling around on me. *shudder*

I'd almost rather it was a blood clot.

Beauty

This was the view of the hay field across the street while I was mowing the lawn today. It would be a better shot if I had finished mowing the lawn in front of me before I took the picture, but still. Sometimes the countryside around me just takes my breath away. There is beauty everywhere you look.

Strawberries!

This morning I drove to the farm stand and bought three quarts of the most delicious strawberries in the world. What makes them better than the ones in the store? Well, I don't know, but I think it's the fact that they get to ripen on the vine, before they're picked and carried to the stand, where I go and buy them. They aren't picked early, they aren't driven across the country in the back of a truck - they go directly from the field to the stand to my mouth. Mmm. I love them a lot. In fact, I think they may just be my favorite food in the world, made all the more special because they're only around for a short time in June. Yum yum yum.

So, before I drove to the farm stand, I got up this morning at about 8:00 (after a very weird dream) and took care of the dogs, and then I got myself ready and I worked out! I didn't do my exercise tape last night, because I was too sore and tired, but I think the rest did me good, because I did it this morning, and I am already much better. I stopped four times instead of the five times I stopped the first time, and I did the whole tape, whereas last time I didn't do the highest energy jumping around stuff. Also, I think I wasn't as close to dying in those four times that I stopped as I was the first time, so I really am getting better. (And actually, the first time I stopped was only for water - I didn't feel like I was dying yet at all.)

I'm really glad to be doing this workout thing again, too. I hate doing it, but I sure do love how I feel while I'm doing it and then after. I feel better about myself, I feel physically better and I feel stronger. It's a very rewarding thing. It's just too bad that usually the rewards are hard to see through the hatred.

Anyway. So I'm having a good day so far. I've got berries (one quart for eating and two for shortcake, yum), I worked out and feel good, and now I'm having a lunch of strawberries and Melba Toast and I'm starting to relax and play the Sims. I still need to vacuum and do some laundry and eventually I need to force myself to go out and mow the lawn, but for now I can relax. It's a good Saturday.

And tomorrow J will be home from work, and we're going to go to see
Get Smart, which I'm looking forward to, so all in all I think it is going to be a great weekend. I hope you all have great ones, too. And go eat some fresh strawberries if you can.

Oh, and I wanted to leave you with one more picture. Sorry about the weird angle, but you all know that while Gracie was wearing her cast, she was living in a dog crate. She spent three months in it, so you'd think now that she's free, she wouldn't want anything to do with the crate, right? Wrong. Check it out - sometimes she goes into Bernie's crate just to hang out (actually, so does Lucy).

Update to the Previous (see below)

I did it! I came home (after going to the dump to drop off the recyclables, only to find that they close at 3:00! What the heck), let the dogs out and in, fed them, changed my clothes and worked out. Woo! I did the beginner's aerobics tape that I mentioned - the Jane Fonda one - and I feel great! Of course, I had to stop five times, and I couldn't do all of the higher energy aerobics part (yes, I am that out of shape), but I did it! I sweated, I panted, Zelda and McDuff were all over me when I was doing the floor exercises (Zelda apparently likes the smell of sweat, and Duff was wondering why the heck I was on the floor and wanted to kiss me), and when I got done I had to take a shower so I would stop smelling.

But I did it. Woo! I'm going to be so sore tomorrow.

Girly Revisited

Yesterday I left work half an hour early to run some errands, one of which included going to Walmart to get cat litter, cat food and cat treats (I hate when they run out of everything in the same week). And while I was there, I finally bought a bottle of nail polish and some polish remover! So when I got home, after the dogs had been out and in and fed and the water dish had been refilled a couple of times, I painted my nails. Amazing!

I don't feel like taking pictures, and you probably don't care that much anyway, so I'll just tell you that the color I got is called Cocoa Motion (you'll find it in the browns, if you follow the link to see it), and it doesn't look nearly as purple on my nails as it looks on screen. I like it. Now I'm thinking I may have to buy some other colors, too.

And look at that, I really am a girl! :D

So this isn't a girly thing really, but while I was at Walmart I was also looking for a product that I used to eat years ago, but had forgotten all about, and I couldn't find it anywhere in that whole huge store. Do people still eat Melba Toast? Apparently people who shop at Walmart don't, but I did find it at P&C, woo! I'm trying to watch what I eat and maybe lose a few pounds before my birthday, and Melba Toast is a low calorie, low fat snack. It's dry and bland, but you know what? I like plain stuff, so I like it anyway.

Does eating Melba Toast mean I'm secretly an old woman? Because I swear, I'm only 38 (almost 39), and I don't feel old at all.

Also, I keep meaning to get out my old Jane Fonda aerobics tape, and I keep not doing it. Maybe tonight's the night. Leslie Lillian can sing to me while I curse her name under the breath that I won't have because I'm so out of shape.

It may or may not happen tonight, but I will be getting that tape out soon. I'm already doing better at not snacking so freaking much, so I'm getting there. I have a desire to be even more girly by starting to wear dresses and skirts again. The only problem is, I won't show my legs to anyone other than J right now. Sigh. I can do it, right? Yeah. I've done it before, so I know I have it in me to be good and lose the weight. And the one time I did successfully lose a significant amount of weight (40 pounds, which at the time put me down to a positively skinny size 4), I did this tape at least five days a week, so I know it works. I just hate exercising so much! (In fact at the time I was doing the hour long advanced portion of the tape. I couldn't last five minutes in that portion now.) Oh well.

I'll just keep the image of the girly skirts and dresses in my mind, and see if it gets me through.

Dear Joe Bonamassa

Dear Joe:

I am tired today. I'm just not built for staying up late and getting up early in the morning. I can do it, but not well. But you know what? It was worth it. You were great in concert last night.

When J told me that he was getting us tickets to see you in concert, I'll be honest here - I had never heard of you. But J has the best taste in music of anyone I know, so I knew if he liked you enough to want to see you live, then you would put on a great show. But, I wanted to be familiar with you, so I added you to my Pandora radio station, and what do you know? I found out that I had already given some of your songs a thumbs up without even knowing who you were. So I was already on my way to liking you - I just didn't know it.

(Also, Had To Cry Today just came on my Pandora while I was writing this. Cool, huh?)

So anyway, I found that in the time since I became aware of you, I was liking your stuff more and more, so I was really excited for your show. Of course, I would have been excited anyway, because I just love doing fun things with J, and I love how excited he gets about good music. But I was especially excited to see you live because I was liking your music so much.

I have to tell you, Joe - you did not disappoint. I'm no musician (I played flute from 4th - 8th grade, but that's as close as I ever came to that title, and I think you'll agree it's still light years away), but I have to say, you are a phenomenal guitar player. I can see why you were voted Best Blues Guitarist for 2008 by Guitar Players' readers. You were amazing.

Oh, and hey - congratulations on losing 35 pounds. I'm trying to lose some weight myself, so I know how hard it is.

Anyway, I just wanted to say - great show. I really enjoyed it. And I may get to catch up on some of the sleep I missed tonight, after J and I watch Hell's Kitchen (our favorite TV show to watch together - it's a lot of fun). And yes, I know, your show wasn't that late, so I shouldn't be this tired. But I'm a wuss about sleep, okay? I need a certain amount per night, and even getting an hour less makes me tired all the next day. It's a fact about myself that I accepted years ago.

Okay. I'll sign off now. Thanks again. And J? Thanks for taking me to the show last night. I love you.

Signed,

Denise, a new fan of Joe's, who will definitely be drinking a soda this afternoon in an attempt to wake up.


Photo by J :)

Girly

I haven't painted my fingernails in years. Like, it's been so long that I can't even remember the last time I did it. I've thrown all of my nail polish away. And yet suddenly, over the last couple of days, I've been struck by the urge to paint my nails. I blame it on the fact that my index fingernail is actually a decent length - those nails always break really easily, so they're normally really short.

If the urge doesn't pass, I may be picking up a bottle of nail polish and some polish remover when I go to the drugstore later this week to get a prescription refilled.

Weird. It's like some part of my brain has suddenly remembered I'm a girl. Next thing you know, I'll be wearing make-up again. :)

Catching Up and Oh Man It's Hot Out There

Wow, long time no update, huh? That entry I wrote while I was out of town has been the most recent entry for so long, I figured I should finally get around to writing a new one.

Of course, I don't really have much to say. :) It's been crazy hot here the last few days, which sucks whenever you have to be outside. But J put a window air conditioner in the bedroom, so now we have someplace to go cool off when the rest of the house gets too hot. It was very nice to be able to turn it on at 4:00 this morning, when I woke up sweating. Of course, I about froze J right out of the bed, though. Hee. Sorry about that, J. We might just have to switch sides of the bed from now on whenever the AC needs to be on (it's in the window on his side of the bed).

Do you like the picture up there? I was sitting at my desk on Saturday, playing the Sims, and looked over to see Rosie and Duff laying down side by side, in the exact same position. It would be perfect if Duff's head was down on the floor like Rosie's (or if hers was up like his), but I thought it was still pretty darn cute.

The dogs spent a lot of Saturday in this position, although they mostly did it on the cooler floors. I don't know why they chose to lay on the rug, but I'm sure they had their reasons.

As for me, I spent a lot of Saturday sitting at my desk, playing the Sims. I wasn't a complete lazy slug, though - I also did a lot of laundry, and stripped and made the bed, and did the dishes, and cleaned the counters, and vacuumed a ton of Bernie hair (and some other animal hair) off the floors. It makes me feel better, on those lazy days, to at least do something of value.

And okay, it may be a week and a half since I've posted, but I'm still out of things to say, so that's all from me for now. Later, taters!