Thinks By Me

I got tagged by Mary to post 7 random things about myself, so here goes... 1) I was hit by a car while doing a bike-a-thon in high school. I was standing in the median waiting for traffic and an old lady pulled into the median behind me and knocked me off my bike. Her eyes got wide, she put her hand over her mouth and....peeled out into the road and took off! I was sore for weeks. 2) I often get in an eating rut and will eat the exact same thing for breakfast or lunch over and over again. Currently, I've been eating a brown sugar & cinnnamon Quaker Oatmeal-To-Go bar for breakfast for the last three months. Well, unless I go out to breakfast. 3) I read something in bed before I go to sleep ever single night, no matter how late it is. If I don't have a book, I'll read a magazine or newspaper. I much prefer fact to fiction and in desperate times, I've resorted to hunting magazines (belonging to guess who). In hotels, I've been known to read the little menu a...

YEAH, I'm pretty sure they'll notice...

DogSpot has completely an utterly gone back to her normal lifestyle, apparently not needing any recovery time from her ordeal on Tuesday. I could use the rest myself as I've vigilantly "watched and observed" as instructed by the vet and my eyes are tired. The only hint of limiting her activity is that I have not taken her on our daily 4 mile walk and I've kept her from jumping into the back of our Explorer for rides. That's about it. Also against orders, she has taken to licking and chewing at the stitches on her phantom back toes. I decided to put some vinegar on the stitches so that she wouldn't pull them out...kind of like when your mom put pepper polish on your nails to keep you from biting them. It didn't work. Apparently vinegar is like Hershey's syrup to dogs because she furiously licked it all off my hands before she started back in on her feet. That's just great--I've made the wound taste like food. She'll probably have her f...

DogSpot is back home where she belongs. It's clear that she is a different species from the human variety. One would never know that she had her female parts removed just 24 hours ago. She completely blew off the low activity advisory and began jumping and running around the minute I saw her. How nice it would be if human females bounced back this quickly. Another big difference between dog and man was the cost of the surgery(thankfully). Brainy Boy's recent double foot surgery cost over $20,000 when all was said & done and he didn't even have any extra toes removed! DogSpot cost me a mere $200 in comparison and that included the toes. MonsterPaw is back to her miffed self and has retreated once again to the comforts and safety of her loft apartment. She hasn't so much as poked her twisted whiskers over the balcony to check on the wicked step-sister. Fortunately for DogSpot the Short People were overjoyed to have her back, so she didn't even notice the c...

Poor DogSpot went in for her surgery and the house is now empty of her furriness and devoid of her activity. MonsterPaw would be in her glory if she would but come out from under my king-sized bed. It seems that all the activity of getting DogSpot's blankie and toys together made kittycat think that something was up. It was. But she hasn't yet realized that the activity was to her benefit. Generally when we take DogSpot out for the day, MonsterPaw prowls around the house sticking her feline tongue out at everything that DogSpot owns. Then when DogSpot comes back, MonsterPaw returns upstairs to the territory that she has claimed as her own. But today, it must be the eerie quiet that is freaking her out. Probably like two kids who fight constantly but then cry their eyes out when one of them goes on a sleepover. I wish. For four months I've had high hopes that MonsterPaw would eventually realize what a sweet one our DogSpot is. It seems not to be. I'm sure by th...

If you read Saturday's post, you know I was in the depths of despair...figuratively speaking, anyway. Hopefully I garnered a little sympathy from ya'll. After I realized that my dad was not going to see Garrison Keillor as I had promised, I decided that I had to have those tickets. I was prepared to beg, borrow or steal for them. Almost. That is until I realized that there were many tickets to be had by scalpers from all over town. I could easily get a $30 ticket for $150 or more. Then I got a little irked. Only a little. But mostly I got stubborn. I began to stew & fret, fuss & fume. It was a day of distraction. I did not get a lot done--in the productive sense anyway. I did get a lot done in the realm of surfing the web trying to get those tickets. I was on a mission. And I was not finding success. About 10pm I got the bright idea of checking Craig's List. I put down my magazine, crawled out of bed and booted up the computer. And there he was. Mr...

I am so irked right now. My dad just had his birthday. And as you probably know, dads are hard to buy gifts for. Especially once you hit the 50 or 60 year old age. I mean, hey, they've had an eternity to basically buy whatever they want for themselves. So I was feeling smug when I realized that A Prairie Home Companion was going to be broadcasting live from Charlotte, NC in October. That's just a hop, skip & a jump away from Dad-e-o. He listens to the show faithfully on NPR but has never been to a live show. Perfect gift. Hero daughter. Cause for smugness. The tickets didn't go on until sale today. I had my laptop at the ready and logged on to buy two tickets this morning. And they've sold out. Of everything. How is that possible?! There are no tickets available in any seat? What is wrong with all these people who are prepared to buy the tickets out from under me. Don't they know that Saturdays are for sleeping in?! My next stop was the local NP...

In my OCD style, I've been watching the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic TV like a maniac. I don't know why I do this to myself, as if I don't have enough psychoanalyzing to do on the Short People in my life. Now DogSpot is subjected to my regular experimentation in the practices of studying dog behavior. Since watching this new favorite show of mine, I've convinced myself that I need to take my proper place as the leader of my pack. DogSpot was vying for this position by jumping on the furniture, chewing on the kids and basically calling the shots around the homestead. In the last couple of weeks, I've been assertively claiming my territory. So far I have resisted peeing on the carpet but I am making her follow me in to and out of the house (rather than bolting in front to knock us all down) as well as taking her on walks with her heeling. Of course, she doesn't take to this at all since we have 2 acres where she to roams free. After the most recent...

Mom calls her "Sweet Pea", Dad calls her "Chickadee", you know her as Little Chic. She turned the big 1-0 today! She's kind of past the toy stage and she didn't really have any big wishes for her birthday. But I remembered that the last few times we've been in Lowe's, she has drooled over a cute little chandelier for her bedroom. "Sensible Mom" has always told her that chandeliers are for entryways and great rooms. "Desperate-for-a-'WOW' gift-Mom" thought this would be just the ticket to mark the entry to the tween years. Muh Main Man came to the handyman rescue and installed it at lunch time while the Short People were still at school. Little Chic was duly impressed when she finally figured out what looked different in her bedroom! Excuse me now...I'm gonna go cry into my latte'. Actually, that won't be necessary. Friendly's serves a killer Jim Dandy Ice Cream Sundae. That's where the birt...

....I'm not pregnant! Nah, I didn't really think I was -- but that was the official verdict at my appointment for the Flu Vaccine research study that I'm doing again this year. The other good news is I got $100 for participating! I suppose the only bad news is that I don't know whether I got the flu shot or a placebo, but since I don't usually get a flu shot anyway, it's not a big deal to me. The rest of the day was spent running around preparing for Little Chic to turn the big 1-0 tomorrow. She hasn't let us forget for a minute that her big day is coming up. Seriously, is it even possible that I'm old enough for my youngest to be ten?

As a mom of two, I travel the road of parenting pretty much like any other parent--kind of "winging" it as I go. Of course I hope that I've gained some wisdom and insight from my own life experience and from watching others who have done a successful job of parenting. But times are a-changin' and there's a lot out there that my mom didn't have to deal with when I was a kid. Enter the book Logged On and Tuned Out to offer some 21st century practical advice to parents of kids growing up in this technologically booming society. When I received the book, I recognized the author as one I've read before. Vicki Courtney has authored several books on parenting and is the founder of Virtuous Reality , an organization that encourages girls to develop a heart and character that reflects moral excellence, worth, purity and strength. Vickie has also been featured on CNN and Fox News discussing child safety on the internet. Now, although I don't consider m...

Today was a day that Little Chic has been living for. We registered her to participate at a local clothing store in their annual fashion show. The deal was that she could choose any two outfits she wanted to model. As compensation, whatever we bought for the day was 40% off. When we arrived, we were just as excited as we were when we showed up last Saturday. We didn't get the date of the show wrong or anything like that. It's just we wanted a dry run. Little Chic stood in the massive line of excited people and waited her turn to get her show clothes on. When she was done we realized that shoes and accessories were included in the show so I convinced her to find some shoes to go along with her outfit. I had seen some cute ballet flats over on the racks. She was reluctant until she saw another girl teetering around on a pair of 3-inch heel boots. When she discovered they had that kind of shoe, she made a beeline and found a pair that were only 2 sizes too big. They rea...

....and what is she doing in my kitchen? Hey, ya'll! I've apparently undergone a cooking personality change. Now I am one that cooks for my family every night. Pretty much. And I don't like it one bit. I am not one who easily plans meals, gets then ready and serves them to my family in my apron with Betty Crocker's flair. No--I am one who pours over the Kraft magazine each and every time it comes, painstakingly makes out meal plans and grocery lists, and religiously adheres to each and every recipe I've selected. Believe me. It's necessary. So when my pastor called to verify that someone was assigned to bring snack for tonight's Leadership Team meeting, panic set in. Not only did I not remember who was assigned for tonight, they certainly didn't get the reminder I was to send. Because I didn't send one. This is not typically me. But then, I haven't been typically me the last few weeks what with the special projects and all. So never ...

Whoa, stop the merry-go-round! In the last 2 days, I've crammed in about as much as humanly possible to the waking hours of the day. I started yesterday morning by taking a walk with poor DogSpot in the torrential rain. I would have persevered, but the poor dog couldn't figure out why she was being punished. She was dashing under every tree she could find so I took pity on her and we stopped after a block. I came home to find I was called to fill in as a substitute receptionist for the district office of my children's school. I've always thought I was cut out to thrive under pressure. Apparently my humdrum mom-life of the last few years has ill-equipped me to answer switchboards and transfer calls to people for whom there is no telephone listing. And it was a bit heavy a responsibility to decide who looked suspicious and whether or not they deserved getting "buzzed" into the building. That done, I dashed home to fix a less than stellar dinner for my c...

Here lies evidence to the only talent I have. My only claim to fame. And I only took the test once. You Scored an A You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes. The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Now isn't this just the most ingenious idea? Bookswim is like Netflix, but for books. For those of you who do not have a Barnes & Noble obsession, maybe this will seem like fodder to you. The library would seem easier. But for those of you who, like me, work largely to fulfill your bookstore cravings, then this may be something to check out. By the way, the word "Bookswim" is a link, but must be my background color doesn't highlight the word until you mouse over it.

Believe me, Bloggies (like a Groupie, only for blogs--don't you feel special?!), when I tell you that I have done more up and down painting fence action than Mr. Miyagi ever required of Daniel in the Karate Kid. I totally deserve a black belt from him. Or at least one of those cool headbands with the sunrise painted on it. My OCD keeps kicking in and I run back down to the cleaned paint bucket and brushes to touch up spots and put more coats over layers of paint that are already adequate. I'm driving myself nuts and proving to myself why I do not undertake such tasks more often. I'm enough to drive Monk crazy. But I have gotten a lot done and that's a good thing. It's also a good thing that the kickboxing posse is meeting for dinner tonight. That'll be just in time for our classes to resume on Monday so I can kick some of that butt I've accumulated over the summer. Other than that, I the Short People will be enjoying a late morning tomorrow. Tha...

The best laid plans go awry, as they say. I intended to spend the day eating bon-bons since the kids headed to 5th and 6th grade yesterday. At least a pedicure seemed in order. But alas, I made do with our annual moms back to school celebration consolation breakfast, skipped the pedicure and continued the Labor Day tasks that Muh Main Man went to France to escape. It's sad that one's beloved would be so determined to get out of a little sprucing the home front, but that's my lot in life, I suppose. I would stop eliciting sympathy long enough to post some first day of school pictures, but it seems Muh Main Man must have packed my camera USB cord in his bag and taken it to France with him. That's a better story than saying it's buried somewhere under laundry that did not get done while I am tending to the outside. So I'm sticking to the world-traveling camera accessory story. Not only did I maintain enough motivation to accomplish a respectable amount yeste...

(((sigh))) I'm smiling at the productive weekend, so here's the scoop. Being married to a fellow firstborn person is not always a convenient thing. We both have priorities and a perfectly formed plan on how to accomplish them. Thing is, they don't always mesh. After 18 years, the two of us have managed to come to a truce and have developed a system that generally works for us. In the process, I have identified the primary factor in my procrastination habits. I am what is called a "frustrated perfectionist." In simple terms, I want everything done precisely, exactly right. Perfectly. Flawlessly. Every. Thing. **Newsflash** I'm a regular everyday kinda person with a regular everyday kinda schedule with a regular everyday kinda family. So perfection is impossible. Acceptable is barely doable. Therefore, if I can't get everything perfect, I just won't mess with it. It saves frustration that way. Well, only temporarily. I did put this litt...

Muh Main Man and I are tackling some long-awaited tasks this weekend in full honor of Labor Day. We pressure washed our front deck and are getting ready to seal it and add a fresh coat of paint to the front door, thus the lack of finger thumping on the computer keyboard (my fingers are otherwise engaged). I may check in to brag, whine or simply update you this weekend but if not, assume that I am taking advantage of Muh Main Man's present motivation to short the Honey-Do list a bit. After Monday, he'll be occupied by more noble affairs so I gotta go cheerlead....