Category Archives: whatnots

Who You Calling a Klutz?

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Oh, me.

sprinklers_at_rosemaryYeah, I guess that could be true.  I have been known to trip over my own two feet.  It seems I can’t go for a walk in the neighborhood without stumbling or tripping over something – usually uneven sidewalks, unseen curbs (don’t ask) or sprinkler heads. It’s gotten to the point that my husband just keeps walking figuring if I’m really hurt, I’ll let him know.

And yes, once I was really hurt and ended up in the ER late that night (but left because the wait was too insanely crazy long).  My doctor actually asked me if I felt “safe” at home (embarassingly more than once) considering I seem to have so many klutzy, clumsy injuries (and yes, she knows my husband well).

One time, back when I was a teacher, I was going to try my hand at roller blading.  Now you’d think that what I’m about to share would be an injury directly related to actually roller blading.

You’d think.

Um no…I wanted to safely (ha!) step down the curb, so I momentarily stepped into the pine straw so I wouldn’t be able to roll.  And yes, I’m sure you guessed it…I managed to immediately go down twisting my leg something fierce on the way down. I had to go to school with my leg in a temporary cast thingie and walk with crutches for a couple of days.  So not cool. And of course I’m too honest to come up with a great story instead of the truth.

Don’t even get me started on the time I fell off a tree stump and managed to break my elbow mere days after moving across the country.  Let’s just say that I  have stories a’plenty about my (seemingly) clumsy experiences doing everyday, normal things.

Not that I’m any safer inside the house mind you.  We’re talking about someone that seems to be more than capable to walk into doorways, trip over the coffee table and well, slice my fingers just as neatly as I slice my vegetables.  My mama would be so proud 😉

So the other night I figured I’d sit down and start to work on my toes and do a little DIY pedicure.  I get out the clippers to trim and hmmm…seems one of my toenails is a little ripped.  I proceed to take off the polish only to realize that I’ve somehow, through one of my (seemingly many and far too frequent) stumbles, managed to rip nearly half the toenail completely off from the bed.  You’d think that something this extreme would have to to have hurt, right?

You’d certainly think it would.  Only I can’t remember any recent bumps or stumbles of any significance outside of stubbing my foot on our bookshelf about a week ago.  Nothing more than an “ow! dammit!” though.  Nothing worthy of ripping off half my toenail.

So now I must figure out how to polish a half-there toenail (a barely there, light pink maybe – not too fun for summer if you ask me!) and still treat myself to the occasional pedicure from time to time.  I wonder just how long it will take for the damn thing to grow back – research says about 9 or so months.  Fun.

Are you considered klutzy by those who know and love you?  What’s your most recent or humbling injury?

Photo by TheSullys

Annnd We’re Out

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sunset in Santa Monica
It seems so wrong to even be posting this, but for those of you that know me (especially those lurkers from my past that still follow along for whatever reason) have heard some of my stories about the evil grumpy, angry, old lady that lived next door.  Our first couple years here she made our lives (and those of her family) an absolute hell on Earth.

She’d bang on the wall in the middle of the night with a 2×4, waking us out of a dead sleep telling her family (our landlords) that we woke her up.  Once late at night while my husband was working, she pushed aside the tree branches blocking our window to yell at him in Spanish (she didn’t speak English), wound up falling down her porch getting a mild concussion, only to tell the doctor that my husband did it.  She refused to eat for about three weeks the ONE time our landlords went on vacation (in like 25 years!).  She was NOT a happy woman, to say the least.  And trust me, there are so, so many more stories I could tell – and many more that I’m sure I have told.

Well, she finally (at 97) passed away and today was her funeral.  Lucky for her and especially for her family, it was quick.

I can’t help but be happy for my landlords though.  They’ve been through so much caring for this women.  She made their lives miserable and they pretty much put everything on hold for twenty or so years.  It’s not like you could to them that it’s a good thing the old lady died.

Or so I thought.

I just saw my landlord and his daughter while I was bringing in the laundry from the car.  He was all smiles as he said “it’s finally over.”  She was telling me how she told the priest how happy she is that she and her parents can all live again.  So thankfully, even though death is sad and my landlord lost her mother, knowing that the family can finally move on is wonderful news. And knowing that at least two out of the three people that I know who were really put out by this cranky women are happy, makes me happy (not to mention, we’ll no longer be accused of making noise we never made in the first place!!)

I wonder where their first vacation will be! 😉

I Can’t Believe it’s This Cold in June!

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Seriously, I’m sitting here in my slippers and a fleece sweater thingie.  Granted, there are still windows open here in the apartment as well, but most are closed.  My widget says it’s only 65 degrees out.  In June.  In Los Angeles.

That’s just insane.

And I think it might be giving me a migraine.  Or the overcast skies are.  Or maybe it’s all the coffee I had earlier at a brunch meeting.  Either way, I’m cold and feeling some migraine twitching.  And I seem to be having some challenges focusing – caffeine? migraine? Shivers?  Hell if I know the reason.

Of course, this totally messes up my whole wardrobe choices for tomorrow’s speaking gig.  I mean if it’s 65 here and it’s not going to be much warmer in Costa Mesa tomorrow. It’s typically about 5-10 degrees cooler when you head south and towards the ocean (though we only seem to be a couple of degrees off right now).  Either way, I’m so not looking forward to it.

Will that stop me from wearing my cute new outfit?  Hell no.  But it certainly won’t make me happy.

Now back to work…

School is OUT for Summer!

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It’s official, school is over for the semester.  Can I get a Woot!Woot! in the blogosphere?

Well, kinda over.  I still plan to attend their “art show” on Friday (once I figure out where on campus it is – there’s a reason I sent to a small school, big campuses freak me out).  But after that it’s officially over.  Yay!

I was actually pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed working with this batch of kids.  Saying goodbye to them a day early was odd.  I’m sure next year it will be even more [insert word here] considering I’ll have the kids for both semesters.

And of course, this is all fabulous for so many reasons…in no particular order:

  • I can sleep late and not worry that I’m waking my crazy ass husband up after he’s only been asleep for two hours (what a freak!)
  • I can go back to blogging more regularly and having a bit more fun with it all.  You know, I went to a blogger party about a month ago and I STILL haven’t written it up yet.  To say nothing of the fact that I had a gazillion or so some tabs open the other day to write some biz blog posts about and the hubs closed them all down.  He’s kind of anti-multi-tabs and was trying to make a point or something.  Either way, with three blogs (and one more I’m crazy insanely seriously considering starting up) that’s a lot to get busy on.
  • I can actually sit down and READ blogs.  I don’t think I’ve been in my google reader (except to do a clearing “mark all read” in at least 2-3 months).  I feel so out of the loop.  It will be nice to catch up again.
  • I can clear off my desk…again…and maybe just create some positive flow here.  I finally filed both last year’s and this year’s backed up stacks of files over the weekend and I’m continually surprised at how much I can now SEE on my desk.  But we’re still not done here.
  • I can do something about the seemingly ever growing, life of its own, pile in the middle of the office here that seems to be claiming more and still more of my personal space.  And yes, yet another box of ConstantChatter giveaway stuff showed up on my doorstep today (which I’ve yet to find a moment to open – oh, didn’t I mention, I just woke up from my nap about an hour ago now).
  • I can get the bookkeeping filed and up to date AND get cracking doing our extended ’08 taxes.
  • I can hopefully, please dear God, hang those damn shelves in the bathroom already.  I mean it’s only been about two years now.  Wait, it HAS been two years since I bought them when my friend’s little guy was still teeny and she was still home on leave (and now she’s on leave with wee little #2).  Wow, that’s crazy.  I blame it on the fact that I have no idea where this saw my husband tells me we have is hiding.  Well, and that I’d really like to use a stud finder and I don’t know if I should buy one or borrow my brother-in-law’s.  To summarize…I’m scared shitless to hang shelves.
  • I can get cracking with work.  I have my first ebook to polish up.  I have an idea for a pre-quel (so to speak – think more basics) and I have two tele-workshops I’d like to finalize and get going (I outlined them over lunch yesterday).  Of course, the one needs to be DONE tomorrow since I’ll be pitching it on Thursday at my speaking gig.
  • I can finally get the next quarter’s batch of contests set and designed and ready to go and then start working on our new plan for the 4th quarter.
  • I also finally got my wall art in and I’ll need to get the one up in our bedroom and the other here in the office.  Can’t wait.

Whew!

Come to think of it, I think I need another nap.  That’s one helluva lot of shit to get to.

Wish me luck and I’ll be seeing more of you starting Monday!

Update: 101 in 1001

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normal_barbedOkay, I just took a peek at my 101 in 1001 list and well, things aren’t looking too good.

I do believe that my time limit will end this year (should add figuring out exactly when to the damn list) and well, I still have quite a few things on there that haven’t been done. Not only have they not been done, but they might even be out of my control to get done.

Which is kind of interesting and makes me question to process a bit.

I mean, it’s not like a bucket list, yet some of the items on the list are things that might take a while.  Yet it’s more complex than just being a shopping or a to do list.  If it was that simple, I’d have (hopefully) been done that first month.

If I don’t complete everything on the list within the 1001 day time period, does that mean I’ve failed?

When I look back over the past couple of years, I realized that I’ve accomplished quite a bit.  In some ways, many would say that I’ve accomplished quite an impressive list of things.

They weren’t goals that I’d set for myself.  They were things that I just went and did.  Things that life presented to me all wrapped up in a pretty bow.  So it’s not like it’s something that I could cross of my list.

Then there were those things that changed – you, best laid plans and all that.  I’d planned for our first trip to Europe to be to visit my friend in Spain.  Instead, she came back stateside and visited us in Sonoma and we headed out to Ireland instead.  The knitting thing…yeah, I think until I get some central AC, I won’t be spending any time soon learning to knit as much as I might think I want to.

And what about those things that I did get to…like cleaning off my desk and cleaning out the fridge, only to have them look like a heap o’mess again?  Does that mean I can’t cross it off my list as done? There are also those things that I think I already did, but never bothered to stop and take notice – blogging daily for 60 days? one new photo a week? I think I did them, but I’m not exactly sure.  Do I cross them off anyway?

I will say, some of the things on that list crack me up.  I mean it’s been five years and I STILL haven’t put my wedding photos in an album.  I’m going on three years and I still haven’t put up damn shelves in the bathroom (though I still HAVE them sitting under my desk).  What’s holding me back?

So yeah, not quite sure what to make of this whole 101 things in 1001 days.  Maybe I should just call it quits.  Or maybe I should just know that I won’t finish each list, but I’ll always have something to aspire to.  St. Augustine does warn us…

“You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones.”

Talk About What Not to Wear

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Did you ever have one of those days where you were totally focused at home, working like a worker bee, lounging about in well, lounge wear? I had no intention of leaving the house. I mean, I had work to do so it didn’t really matter what I was wearing, right?

I’m sure you see where this is about to go…

Then it was time take a late afternoon lunch break (and I was given shit for my bowl of Spaghetti O’s from quite a few). What a pleasant surprise to find yet another Real Housewives NYC waiting for me. Woohoo! I think to myself that this would be so much more enjoyable with a chai latte from Starbucks.

So off to the ‘Buckies I go. All is fine all is good. My chai is yummy. I get settled into the car to head back home and look down at my shirt.

Holy Shit!! It’s covered in schmutz and stains!

I was so focused on working all day (I set up a website and wrote an eBook) and I don’t think that I ever actually looked at myself in the mirror. I was all about being comfortable and focused. I did remember to at least brush my teeth, but no, not my hair.

What the hell.

All those fashionista-types tell us that even when working from home (or being a stay-at-home mom), you should still look good and you know, dressed. It’s like they knew that at some point we’d actually leave the house and be seen in public at some point.

Why oh why didn’t I listen?!?!

I keep telling myself that I’m just thankful that I don’t know all that many people that I’d be likely to run into accidentally. But considering I’m doing a lot more local networking, I could have easily, I mean FAR too easily been seen by someone I know and think how embarrassing that could’ve been.

So I’m going to tell myself that I learned a lesson in all of this and will 1) find comfortable clothes that actually look decent and 2) will be sure to look in the mirror before I even consider walking out the door. Better yet, maybe I’ll actually look in the mirror when I put clothes on!

Have you ever done something like this? Surely I can’t be alone here.

I’m not talking about looking back at old photos from the 80’s and thinking WTF – although who among us hasn’t done that before? But what about that whole having gone on with your day only to at some point look at yourself and have a “how the hell did I think this worked?” kind of moment?

Lying on a Massage Table Gives a Gal Plenty of Time to Think

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Now if only I could telepathically write my blog posts.  Just imagine all the posts I could get done.  I mean, I may not be sitting down to write much lately, but that doesn’t stop my mind from writing while I’m away from the computer.  Of course, that doesn’t seem to get my posts online or even in draft form.  But if I could do it telepathically…well baby, I’d be writin’ books I tell ya!

But speaking of being on the massage table…what’s with this push-shake thing?  I always feel like they’re wasting my valuable massage time when they do that.  I mean, I’ve had some folks that have done that push-shake thing for at least five minutes.  That’s five minutes you could be working on my shoulders…or better yet, my scalp!

And why do you insist on going out of your way to awkwardly keep you hand on me at all times?  It’s quite obvious it’s not the easiest move to walk around the table while keeping pressure on me.  I mean, I know you’ll be back.  You will be back, right?

Yeah, some of the stuff I think about while getting a massage.  Relaxing, huh?

I Want My Money Back!

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Well, I think I have to call this what it is…a blogging schlump. Funny thing, I’m not completely blocked.  I’m still writing at my other site and I’m full of things to write about on my biz blog.  But for some odd reason, I don’t have much to say here.

Even odder still, I’ve been busy.  Both with work stuff (I did hire an assistant and have client work to keep me busy) and with personal stuff (I think we’ve been to a show or two every week now).  I’ve been to fun events (like the Got Milk party on Thursday). I’ve even been taking some pictures.  But when it comes down to write something, I just get a brain freeze fart and really have nothing much to say.

I want to be witty.  I want to write something that will bring in tons of traffic (who knew folks were so interested in RSVP protocol).  But right now I can’t seem to be able to do either.  No worries.  I’ll be back when I have something worth saying here.

Until then…Just Enjoy The Show!

I’ve got to let it go and just enjoy the show…I want my money back…Just enjoy the show…I want my money back.

Cutting My Losses

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Okay, I’m just doing to cut my losses while I can.  I’ve stared at this screen on and off for two hours now.  I’ve written emails.  I’ve playing around in a biz forum I belong to.  I added like 15 new  people to my twitter list (while simultaneously ignoring the 40+ sitting in my email waiting to be added  – that’s far too obvious a procrastination tool in my book). I chatted with friends on Twitter. I’ve even done some online shopping.

And all in all, no blog post has come out of me.  So I’m just going to cut my losses.  We have another show tonight, so maybe I’ll have something more exciting to report tomorrow.  Or not.

Have a wonderful weekend and well, why don’t you enjoy this amazing Dr. Horrible episode (no, it’s not new…but dayum it’s good!)

Some Random Thoughts After Birth-iversary Week

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Man, what a week it’s been.  It’s officially over though, so don’t worry.  No more talk of anniversaries or birthdays (though there is still the family  celebration to come in June or so).  It has been wonderful though.  Five fun-filled years with the coolest of cool guys and celebrating forty and sharing it all with friends.  Just awesome, I tell ya. I may get some photos up later today, it all depends on how much work I can get done.

On to the randomish thoughts…

  • I got my nails done on Friday so I’d have pretty nails for my dinner.  It worked, they looked amazing.  As you know, manicures don’t seem to last too long on me, so I actually showered on Saturday wearing rubber gloves.  I woke up this morning and yes, you guessed it, three of my nails are already chipped.  It was fun while it lasted I guess.
  • I had a very odd dream about tea last night.  For some reason, there were timers set up to cups of tea and no one else knew why.  I’m sure there was more than that, but it was just such an odd dream overall, I’ll just g’head and blame Naja over at Naja Tea for posting about her tea on her Facebook page (and trust me, it IS some yummy tea).
  • It’s surprisingly cool today.  Though I was wasn’t expecting it, I’m actually quite enjoying it.  It made for a pleasant, if not chilly night last night too.  But I’ll take it over those 100+ days that I just know are right around the corner.
  • To finish up the birth-iversary celebrations, we went to McCabe’s last night to see Carrie Rodriquez.  She was incredible!  She added some attitude and sass to a couple of her songs that I just loved.  If you haven’t heard her yet, check out the LiveDaily Session she did with my husband last summer when her album came out.
  • Watching Carrie play her violin and other four-stringed, guitar-like instruments makes me wish that I’d continued playing violin when I was younger.  I wasn’t a fan of playing the classical stuff, but I used to love playing Blondie on my violin.  I I’d known then that there are ways I could have play the violin and still rocked out, I think I would have kept going with it.  To this day, I love watching both violinists and fiddle players doing their stuff.  When it’s classical, it’s pure beauty.  When it’s more rockin’ it’s the energy behind the song.  Either way, I love it.
  • I’m not really enjoying our book club book this month.  It’s a British book called The Reading Group.  It has far too many characters to keep straight and well, to be honest, I find it to be a bit too boring, bordering on depressing.  I just can’t really get into it.
  • I’m going to be getting an assistant soon (and once I said this out loud, the annoying twitching immediately stopped – love that).  My plan is to have the assistant work on the contests and updating the blog and then I can focus on my clients and my other two blogs (including this one). It should also help me to find the energy to finally do the redesign on the CC homepage.  Overall, it should work out well.
  • I don’t think I’ve ready ANY blogs in the past two or so weeks.  Wait, that’s not completely true, I subscribe to 3 business blogs and I read those when they come in.  But that’s about it.  I really need to pop on over and see what you all have been up to (especially if I don’t follow you on Facebook).

I’m sure I have much more pointless crap sheer geniusness just swimming around in my head to bore you to tears with share, but I’ve got tons to get to today.  So as much as I’d like to hang out and chat blog, I must step away.

Feel free to give me a twitterized version (I won’t hold you to a 140 character limit) of what you’ve been up to in the comments 😉

PS – I haven’t reread this post for typos or poor grammar so I apologize in advance.