Category Archives: life

I Love Our Landlords

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But (you knew this was coming)…but, they have a habit of doing stuff and never letting us know.  Sometimes this means we wake up to the sound of the world being torn apart at the wall where our heads lay (they were ripping out their old, outdoor stairs and replacing them).  Other times, like today, it means that I’ve got things to do that require water – showering, washing dishes, drinking – and they turn it off without giving any warning.

So here it is, noon, and I’ve got some place to be in a little over an hour and well, I can’t shower.   I don’t mind that they’re doing repairs or upgrading things, but would it hurt to give us a little advanced notice?  The time they ripped out the stairs it scared us so much (at 9:00am or so on a Saturday) that I’m surprised we didn’t have heart attacks.  Had they let us know in advance, we wouldn’t have shaved years off of our lives and we would have prepared for it.

Oh well, it’s the price we pay for renting and well, here in SoCal, there’s not much else to do with the crazy housing market we’ve got going on.

And speaking of SoCal…I found out – when we were up in Sonoma of all places – that neither Glendale or Burbank are considered to be in the Valley.  Why?  Merely because they don’t rely on LA to provide their services – we have our own libraries, fire departments and police.  Therefore, we’re not considered to be in the SFV.  Who knew?

Bring on the Thanks

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I also realized that while writing my posts day to day I’m always thankful for the activities or topics that I’m posting about (the positive ones anyway), but I often don’t state this gratitude outright. So to make up for what some may view as some lacking thankfulness or gratitude posts, here goes…

* I’m thankful for our home – I may complain about it from time to time, but we’ve got a good thing going here and the neighborhood is awesome (she says having just returned from a lovely evening walk).

* I’m thankful for the boys – it’s not always easy blending a four-legged family, but our guys have taken to it quite well. They’re also always looking out for each other (when the pupster wasn’t feeling well, the kitkat was right there snuggling close and giving him hugs). They’re also great napping mates (see yesterday’s post regarding my love for napping).

* I’m thankful for my darling, non-sports loving, geeky, mellow, moppet-haired hubby – he’s my dream come true and all I could ever hope for in a partner (even if does desperately need a haircut right now). I aspire to be as calm as he can be in stressful situations – I’m sure I’ve said it before, but he’s so go with the flow and mellow its enviable.

* I’m thankful for my car. It’s a very simple, very inexpensive, bargain-priced Hyundai Elantra, but I love it. It’s the perfect size and it has and does pretty much anything I’d ever want or need a car to do or have. Mind you, I’d love a little sporty 5-speed so I could whiz through those Hollywood Hills, but considering this car cost less than my old sporty car that I bought over 15 years ago, I’m just fine. But once we make it rich, a sporty weekend car will be mine! Bwahahaha!

* I’m thankful for modern medicine and awesome doctors – both for me and for the pupster. I’ll sing it to the world, our doctor is awesome – along with our vet! We get special appointments if we need them, we get follow up phone calls after treatment, but more importantly, we get heard. Our doctor heard my casual chatter about little thing that seemed off and immediately suggested that we check my thyroid and even though my numbers were relatively low, she got me on the meds and it’s made a world of difference. She totally rocks!

* I’m thankful for chocolate – okay, I might be PMSing here, but really, nothing beats good chocolate. My friend recently visited Japan and brought me back some KitKat bars (at my request since that’s a common search keyword here for the blog – blog post to follow in the near future) and man, they’re good! Even cooler still, she’s in London this week and will hopefully be able to bring me back some Cadbury Dairy Milks or Fruit & Nuts. How exactly does US chocolate manage to taste so crappy compared to European chocolate?

* I’m thankful for my Mac and the lacking blue screen of death. Ah, so nice and so simple to use. I’m thrilled that I made the switch without argument or dragging my feet. Now I just need to learn to use half of the fun programs.

* I’m thankful for my friends. I seem to have had some slight bumps in the road of friendship these past couple of months, but I’m moving on. I know that I’ve got a great batch of friends that have been in my life for years and seeing them again, or talking to them from time to time feels like slipping into the most comfortable pajamas…just right.

* I’m thankful for NaBloPoMo – it’s brought so many blogs and bloggers that I’d otherwise never have known about into my life. And that’s not counting the cool things you can learn – like yummy Mexican restaurant recommendations while visiting Tucson! So handy and helpful. Fussy totally rocks for starting this up.

* I’m thankful for the time I’ve been able to spend working from home. I know that I sometimes vent about my job – who doesn’t, right – but it’s nice to know that I can work from home, have fun, and be able to take off on a moment’s notice. I honestly believe that working a 9-5 sort of job would kill our relationship (the hubby being a workaholic that doesn’t go to bed before 2:00am), so I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work with something that’s so flexible and creative.

I could go on and on, but I feel comfortable leaving this at an even ten. Well, that plus the pupster is begging for his dinner (and his medicine) and I still have Thanksgiving stuff to research.  So I leave you with a pretty picture from my birthday getaway two years ago (San Juan Capistrano), just because pretty things to look at are just one more thing to be thankful for…

Capistrano_wagon.jpg

I love to Nap

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No, really.  If you were to call my house, anytime between 2:00 and 5:00 you’d likely wake me up.  Mind you, I don’t not sleep for three hours!!  It’s more like 30-45 minutes.  But it’s pretty much a daily occurrence.  A somewhat daily occurrence that the boys love.

My favorite part of the weekend, aside from finally having time to just hang out with the hubby, is what we refer to as snuggle time.   Snuggle time is when we all get back into bed, read a little, and love on the boys.  It’s also one of the few times that the boys will willingly snuggle together (or closer together than they’d normally be).

Sometimes, like today, snuggle time quickly escalates into sleepy time where everyone falls asleep – some for longer than others.  Today, ahhhh…today was a wonderful snuggle time turned sleepy time.  That makes this a perfect Saturday in my book.

And of course, it helps the healing energy to get to the right boy at the right time…Griffin is nearly all better – the ears are no longer swollen and he spends more time not flapping than flapping his ears.  See, there really is something to napping.

He Can’t Seem to Catch a Break

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This has been a tough week for the pupster.  First we’ve got his little bout of whatever after we picked him up at the boarders on Monday, then he’s stuck in a car ride from hell and back as we go to Tucson.  Then today, his ears inflate to the thickness of a checkbook and he scratches himself so badly, blood squirts everywhere.  he can’t walk two steps without shaking his head and flopping his ears.

So yeah, we just now got back from the vets.  And let me just say, I love our vet as much as I love our doctor.  They agreed to stay later on a Friday to squeeze the little guy in so they could see him.  So the hubby and I raced across town, mere minutes before rush-hour gets it’s start on the 101 and made it in record time.

The Doc just thinks that something bit him and he’s having an allergic reaction.  He gave him two shots and some meds and sent us on our way.  By the time we made it home, the swelling had already gone down a lot and the head shaking and flapping has also cut down.

We’re sure he’ll be fine.  We just need to set the timer to remind us to let him out to pee every hour or so (from the diuretic shot).  Mind you, as I was typing the line above, he threw up again.

*sigh*

Poor little guy.  I think I’ll go sit on the couch and cuddle him so he’ll stay still and rest some.

It’s Friday, Let’s Get Random

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No matter how long you try to be good, you can’t keep a bad girl down.

Man, I’m exhausted.  I mean too exhausted to even try to be a bad girl (but I’m lovin’ Gossip Girl and I love Kristin Bell’s narration on there and well, that’s just a great quote).  So let the randomness begin…

  • Man, I was in a bad mood when I wrote that last post.  Sorry, didn’t mean to be quite so pissy, but damn, freeway construction sucks!
  • Why is it that whenever we leave the kitkat home alone the entire house gets covered in cat hair?  I mean clumps of it on the floor when normally this doesn’t happen.  Weird.
  • My hands are crazy dry and I can’t seem to find the right hand lotion to magically fix me all up.
  • I’m tired of crappy restaurant or fast food.  This week had way too much crappy food eaten at horrible hours.
  • We’re (unfortunately) doing a family Thanksgiving with my hubby’s family.  I only say unfortunately because 1) the host home can’t cook – and they’re in charge of the turkey,  2) the rest of the family is expected to bring the side dishes but no one has created any sort of plan (and I have up on planning any and all family gatherings last big get together – for reasons explained here), 3) they’re rarely on time so you can bet that what food is around is now overcooked, cold or whatever else – this also screws with the order of things when the person that supposed to bring the appetizers shows up 2-4 hours later than the rest of the family, and 4) the family isn’t willing to try anything new or creative so that leaves some pretty standard, sub-par food selections.
  • That said, I actually enjoy visiting with my in-laws.  They’re good people and can be tons of fun.
  • So now I need to come up with side dishes that 1) won’t be duplicated (see lack of planning above), 2) will be something that’s not too strange or creative so others will actually try it and 3) that travels well since we’ll have to drive about an hour or so and who knows what access I’ll have to cooking/reheating options.  The hubby wants me to try some cornbread stuffing, I’d like to bring a salad and some veggies and maybe make some rolls or something.
  • Man, I’m so behind on reading everyone’s blogs AND on the DVR.  Not to mention that I have multiple blogs to write for my site and I have less than two weeks to read The History of Love.
  • Dude, I was running around today with somewhere between $100K – $200K of engagement rings (and a diamond tennis bracelet) in my purse.  Don’t be too impressed, I was just running an errand for a friend and returning some stuff to her friendly jeweler (as she was doing a favor for another friend looking for engagement rings).

And now I must get off the computer for a bit and find some lunch.  And oh yeah, I still need to unpack and vacuum up all that cat hair.  And open a week’s worth of mail.  You know…get back to life and all that.

Later y’all!

Yeah, Sure I’m Thankful

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Thankful to finally be out of that fucking car! What the hell were we thinking driving to Tucson and back?!?!

And who the fuck thought it was a good idea to close so many freeway exits without signs to show you where to go? Or, I don’t know, closing two freeways, at the intersection and at least 3-5 corresponding exits in each direction…good idea?!?! Fuck no!

I spent way too much time exploring the Inland Empire and Orange County tonight. Way too much fucking time.

I’m sleepy…must go to sleep. So, so, SO happy to be home and staying home for the next however long. Traveling by car, with just a quick overnight and then back on the road…yeah, that sucks. Big time!

Happier thoughts once I wake up late, late, late tomorrow!

PS – Geggie you rock! Cafe Poca Cosa was awesome! 😀

NaBloPoMo: Welcome to the Half Way Point

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I’m sure by now a few of you (myself included) are wondering what in the world is left to write about. Well, as I’m always trying to improve my writing and my blogging (both here and for my site), I’ve found that there’s some great information out there.

* The folks over at Blogging Bits offer up A No-nonsense Guide To Clearer, Sharper, and Better Writing as well as suggestions for Overcoming Writer’s Block (check out there blog for other great writing & blogging topics – truly a great resource).

* SEO 2.0 also has a post chock full of good ideas – in fact they’ve got 101 ideas for things to blog about (many of them linking back to great posts with even more ideas).

* Problogger is a great resource with a wealth of information for the professional (and not quite so professional) blogger. Did you know that there are 20 Types of Blog Posts?

* There’s also plenty of info out there at NewBlogger (formerly Blogging Made Devilishly Simple) and my goto guy Andy Wibbels from Blog Wild (he is my blogging hero!).

* And let’s not forget Mighty Girl‘s book, No One Cares What you Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog. There’s some great info there, especially if you need suggestions or prompts for something to write about. I speak from experience here and I mean no harm, but if you can, order it direction from Amazon or through your local bookstore – online processing is not their forte and it doesn’t seem that things have improved much since the book first came out.

When all is said and done, I do hope that the folks at Blog World put up some audio from last week’s conference in Vegas. It sounds like there was some really good information out there. Now if I can just stop traveling long enough to actually write about something already.

My First Meme Here…

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Anitra over at I Love a Kiwi has tagged me for my very first (non-LJ) meme.  The name of the game is coming up with 7 Random and/or Weird Facts about myself, then tagging seven other bloggers to do the same. (I don’t think I know seven other bloggers to tag – so if you’re interested, just feel free to do this on your own).

  1. While in grad school, I worked as a phone sex gal telephone actress – super easy work and good money.
  2. I’ve only kept in touch with one friend from high school (though I did just track down another friend a few weeks back) and have no desire to attend any of my class reunions (including our 20th next week).
  3. I only add salt to 4 things (without first tasting it) – anything egg, anything Mexican, homemade chicken noodle soup and anything potatoes – otherwise, I could care less about salt.
  4. I seem to have a pretty horrible memory for people – I’ve been known to meet people  2+ times and never, ever recall the previous time I met them.  Worse still, I would up living with a guy (roommate) that I went out with and fooled around with once 2-3 years prior to meeting him again.  Five years later, as I was driving across country, I finally (FINALLY!) realized that they were one and the same person.   Talk about being fucked up.
  5. I can easily read a book in one day – especially if it’s anything chick lit – but rarely will I remember a thing about the book I just finished.  Which also means I’d more than likely repurchase or reread the book and not figure it out until I’m nearly finished (see above).
  6. I have a purse fetish.  Lucky for me, I recognize it and can avoid going crazy.  Thing is, you’ll often find me petting purses when I’m out shopping (it seems that the more expensive it is, the more I cuddle and pet).
  7. I love, love, LOVE children, but I honestly have no real desire to have any of my own.  That said, since I’ve been around kids since I was 12 or so, I go crazy when I go longer than a month without loving some kids – luckily I have friends that need babysitters 😉

This Just Might Take All the Tea in China

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The thing about leaving town for a bit and having very limited internet time (or in my case, horrible connectivity) is that you come home feeling so behind.  My Google Reader has 145 posts for me to read!  That’s one HUNDRED and forty-five!!  And it was only for a few days.

Something tells me I might need more than just one cup of  tea to catch up..and that’s not counting my own updating that needs to get done.  Plus tonight we have the Feist show and then first thing Tuesday, it looks like we’ll be driving to Tuscon (with the pupster) to shoot Herbie’s show.  Again Since we didn’t get to shoot his Santa Barbara show last night.

But let me just say, no matter how comfy those Heavenly Beds are over at the Westin (and woowee are they comfy!) nothing beats coming home to sleep in your own bed.   Too bad the kitcat decided that we needed to get up around 7:30 to feed him and go get the pupster.  Needless to say, I told him to hush and just kept sleeping – well, as well as I could with his damn meowing for three hours *sigh*  But really, it’s good to be home.

Repeat After Me…

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…while business trips can often times be pleasurable; business trips are not guaranteed to be pleasurable.  Business does not always equal pleasure.  And yes, I learned this the hard way.

Of course, I’m far too tired to fill you in.  But there’s always tomorrow.

~*~*~*~*~

I’m thankful for being able to sleep in my own bed tonight and to finally be out of the car (too much driving today for my own kind of fun).   I’m also thankful that my husband is so very tolerant and able to go with the flow so easily (and just thrilled that I was able to hold back the tears earlier).