Category Archives: life lessons

The Squirrels Must Die!

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No really.

I was going to do a sweet post about Earth Day and all the ways we can be more green and all the ways I’ve embraced being green. But um, yeah…the squirrels messed that all up.

So I’ve mentioned the varmints living in the wall, the ceiling and the floors a time or two (too lazy to link back, sorry). Well, I called our landlord the other day, but I don’t think she believes me. She figures the squirrels are on the roof and well, end of story.

Thing is, it’s so NOT the end of the story. They’ve managed to find a way to go in and out of the roof (yes, I believe I found it, it’s even hinged and easily, accessibly right off of the cable for their convenience believe it or not). The thing is, our war with the squirrels goes on even longer than this rooftop dancing and scratching they’ve taken to.

You see, they taunt my dog. No, seriously. They get on the brick wall, face either the screen door or any of the three windows and well, taunt him by making their annoying little clicking noises all while shaking their bushy tails at him. And yes, as expected, he goes ballistic! But wait…there’s more.

On the front of the house, the lower part, just below the windows is brick. For purely aesthetic reasons I’m sure, there is a brick-wide ledge just below the windows. So what do you think happens? We (the cat, the dog and myself) will be innocently sitting on the couch watching TV, surfing the net, talking on the phone, reading, what have you, and POP! up comes a squirrel head looking in the front window. Repeat this about five times until someone notices him and all hell breaks loose.

Mind you, he only picks the window where the cat’s tower is at, not the one where we have a chair blocking most of the window. No, these guys know what they’re doing. They’re focused little buggers! At the rate they’re going, I’m going to be less inclined to stop my car while they cross the street from here on out.

Long story short, aside from the annoying rooftop scampering parties, ceiling scratchings, and intentional instigating, the boys are in non-stop stress mode now. The cat can’t move about the house without the dog trying to attack him. Neither seems to be able to rest during the day since they’re both on guard. And me, well, I’m ready to kill anything with four legs! By 8:00PM they’re both passed out exhausted on the couch barely functioning. Its sad really.

Something must be done! Any suggestion for this poor, work-at-home gal being driven crazy by furry animals? I’m tempted to blast them with the hose, but to do that puts me awfully close to them (right along the cinder blocked wall they love to use to achieve total dog taunting mode). Hell, I’ll start with any good suggestions for just getting the landlords to believe me since by the time they get home the squirrels have left for the day.

Really, We’re all at wit’s end here.

F*ck a Duck!

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My girlfriend just sent me a series of emails while I was out regarding an October women’s retreat that we wanted to do. It’s in Ashville, NC and absolutely beautiful out there any time of the year.  We were so excited.  And I’d actually, finally, get to visit the Biltmore!

First we wanted March, but realized it was too soon for us to make the arrangements.  Then we settled on June until I remembered my friend’s wedding and realized it was the same weekend.  So lastly, October was our target.  It took some work on her part to talk her husband into watching the boys – especially with it being so close to their anniversary.

She decided that we should pay for it now to secure our spot (and so she wouldn’t spend her bonus money on something else).  So we agreed to get online and do just that.  Then I headed out to Trader Joe’s…and come home to six emails from her.  The last one…”well damn!”

Turns out the October retreat is booked.  Mind you, there are still spots in the June session (of course!).  So now we’re both bummed that we don’t get to do the whole female bonding in the woods with massage, meditation and song thing.  Needless to say, we will be following Ms. Christine Kane very, very closely for her posting of the ’09 retreat schedule (thanks to my handy, dandy Reader!)

And now, I must finally start working on tomorrow’s workshop presentation!  Back to work for me!

Life Lesson – Spa Time

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When partaking in spa time, be it a massage or body scrub, or well, anything involving oil or lotion to your body and your feet, be sure not to wear leather insoled flip flops.  My feet hurt worse than when walking at the beach.  No comfortable sand to soften your steps.  I really think the instep of my left foot might be broken.  Is that even possible?

I knew I should have just gone home and relaxed instead of trying to score a bargain at the Macy’s liquidation sale.  It wasn’t even all that great of a sale (though I did pick up one cute top).

Off to the couch to give me precious tootsies a little break.  Oh and after our 95 degree weekend, we’re 85ish today with a high of 65 (!!!!) tomorrow.  No rain, just 65 degrees.  How does one drop 30 degrees in two days without rain???

I Want to be All a’Twitter

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Really I do. But um, well, I just don’t really get it. And let me just say, I feel like a failure for even admitting that. I mean, I consider myself a bit of a techno-geek.

I remember last year at SXSWi there were Twitter boards placed in the halls and well, I didn’t get it then. And now, right before most of the bloggers went to SXSWi ’08 everyone was all a’twitter about Twitter and again, still nothing on my part.

Many of the business blogs I read rave about Twitter. Even quite a few of the fun, non-biz blogs I read also rave about it. What am I missing? I don’t want to go to BlogHer and be the only one not Twittering. I mean that’s just wrong (not that I’m a sheep that needs to follow the herds, blah, blah – make that bah, bah). But if this is some brilliant form of new networking technology then I need to get a grasp of it. I need to educate the masses (well, at least the masses within the LWL network).

So please, can someone please explain to me, in easy, simple terms…why do I need to get on Twitter and what it will do for me? Is it more than just a waste of time? Oh and where does one find Twitter pals?

I’m a total newbie, I admit it. So I ask you, can anyone please help a blogger gal out?

This is Only a Test

I got an email from Robin yesterday telling me that she couldn’t leave a comment. I looked through my settings and I didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t be able to leave a comment. But having recently installed some plugins I’m not surprised.

So I ask you, my dear bloggie friends (and readers I’ve yet to chat with), would you mind trying to leave me a comment? If you can’t leave one, would you mind shooting me an email (info -@- labloggergal -.- com) and let me know what error message you get (if any)?

Thanks dahlings…

Happy Monday!

ETA: fixed it!  I had to deactivate my spam-free plug in.  Guess it doesn’t play well with the upgrade.

We Have My Wedding Ring!!

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Not that I was hoping for a new one or anything (heck, I barely wear this one), but was a part of me thinking an upgrade would be nice. Shameless, I know. But really, the landlord just laughed and said it happens. I just needed to clarify that while I did actually throw it down the sink, I wasn’t intending for it to go down into the pipes.

I was actually trying to put it someplace safe (ha!) and threw it over the glass doors knowing it would land in the sink. Too bad I forgot until a couple of hours later that we don’t have our drain covered! So yep, down the drain and into the elbow it went. I’m sure if I wasn’t so sick and therefore halfway out of it, I’d probably have been fuming, cursing mad. But hey, it happens. The hubs misplaced his a while back too (when he dad was in the hospital with cancer) so now we’re even. So to speak.

And yes, I’m sick. Again. I was so proud of myself for not getting my husband sick those four weeks I had the sinus infection. Of course, he can back from SXSW with a cold. And of course, my body said “what fun!” and turned it into yet another sinus infection. Joy of joys!

We’re trying a different antibiotic this round since it had only been a week and a half since my last two and a half weeks worth of meds. Here’s hoping this round kicks it out ASAP. ‘Cuz let me tell you, I’m sick of being sick dammit! And tonight I have a LWL meeting that I’m really hoping I’ll feel better for. Until then, it’s nap time!

Life Lesson: Sad Movies & Dinner

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Yeah.  Um.  I’d strongly suggest against watching sad movies where mothers are dying on Christmas eve while eating dinner.

Just um, say No.  Yeah, just say no and don’t do it.

Something to keep in mind…if the stupid song about mama needing shoes to meet Jesus makes you tear up, well, imagine what happens nearly two hours into watching a movie knowing it’s based on said stupid Christmas song.

Don’t Do It!!! Don’t Go Out There!

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I just got back from running a few last minute Christmas errands and great balls of Santa! Do not go out there! Everything, even the grocery store is a crazy mess. There are lines of cars just trying to enter the shopping centers! People are cutting each other off and not saying thank you (and you just know how that irks me!). They’re bumping into you and pushing and shoving, and well, downright rude. It’s mid-day, mid-week people – what the hell?!?

Luckily my first stop was at a small, local shoe repair and luggage shop – new luggage for the pre-teen nieces. That only left my nephew so I headed over to Tilly’s. Of course I had a helluva time just getting anywhere near Tilly’s. I finally found parking and headed in to find yep, you guessed it, a line. Not just any line mind you, but a long line with people with their arms full. Slow moving lines. Which of course meant a gift card. Which is fine since we got the HIM CD the other day so we’ll just hand it off to him and he’ll be fine.

So now, I am officially finished. This of course is great news since I’m not sure how much more abuse my credit card can take (stupid Amex is still acting up so we’re not using it while it sorts itself out). Tomorrow I’ll wrap and maybe take a photo or two and whooorah! I’m done.

Mind you, I haven’t yet heard from any of the in-laws as to which house we’ll be meeting at or how we’re divvying up the food prep. No worries for us though, I’ve got at least our Christmas morning taken care of – eggs, sausage & cinnamon bun-like strips. Just the right amount of protein and sweet 😀

I was still hoping to pick up a decanter for this awesome bottle of wine that our friend gave us so we could enjoy it either Christmas Eve or Christmas night, but I’m not about to deal with parking at the local mall or strip mall just for that. We have a bottle of prosceco we can enjoy instead 😉

So consider yourself warned & stay away, far away from any store, mall or strip! You can thank me later!

Next up…Wordless (or Not-So-Wordless) Wednesday – it may take a while to get them out of my camera, uploaded and published, but I assure you, it’ll be soon-ish.

Lessons Learned: White Sheets

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I like high thread count sheets. I don’t like to ruin my high thread count sheets. So, I buy them all in white so that my acne meds won’t otherwise bleach them. Which of course means some of my sheet sets resemble other of my sheet sets.

Because I have to use the laundromat, I tend to wait and wash about 2-4 sets at once so I can add blueing stuff and bleach and vinegar and whatnot (doesn’t help, they’re still far too yellow for my tastes, but hanging the pillow cases outside did help). My local, ghetto inexpensive laundromat is in a tiny, corner strip of sorts – six storefronts, two of which are restaurants (one Japanese, one Chinese). Needless to say, I can’t do laundry between 11:00 and 2:00 or I’ll never find parking.

Lesson I: Don’t over pack the washing machine or things just won’t get washed so well – no matter if the sign says it will fit two loads.

Lesson II: Don’t over pack the dryer or things won’t dry so well – even after an hour and a half and even if the signs say it fits three loads.

Lesson III: Don’t pin your sheets together so you’ll know which pieces belong to which set – they will twist in the dryer and will come out in such a knot you’ll be left screaming…and with wet bedding.

Lesson IV: Don’t wait until too late in day to do laundry – if they don’t get fully dry in the drier you’ll be left strewing them all across your apartment and will have NOTHING to put on the bed for that night!

*sigh*

Holy Close Call Batman!!

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I just now got back from dropping my clothes at the laundromat.  While they were going through the wash cycle, I ran errands – the dry cleaner, the grocery store, etc.  I pulled up to the curb, gathered my bags and clothes and realized that the front door was open!  Not wide open, but let’s just open wide enough with plenty of room for a kitkat and a pupster to escape and search for their mama!

I call out to the pupster and there he is, snuggled in on the pile of coats that we sometimes use as a chair.  I ask him where the kitkat man is (and yes, I do talk to my boys!) and there he was on his tower just looking out the window like he was waiting for me to return.  Talk about lucky!

Mind you, I’m sure they both went outside and did a little exploring.  I was gone for nearly an hour.  But I’m so thankful to know that they’re right at home as if they’re the bestest, most well behaved boys in the world.  They must’ve been speaking with Santa recently! 😉