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.