August 2006 Archives

Last Thursday Flounder and I had a blog worthy evening, but the experience was so tiring and exasperating that I didn't want to relive it via blog. Last night's events changed all that.

Thursday evening Flounder was waiting for me at the Metro Kiss & Ride as per usual. To save money in these expensive times, he turned off the engine while he waited. Upon my arrival, he tried to start the car repeatedly. If he reall revved the engine we could get into motion, but only for a few seconds. We gave up moving on our own and called AAA at 6:15. So we sit in the humid summer air periodicly asserting to the commuters around us that NO we can't move our car and Yes, you are welcome to pull around us. Bastards. At 9:15 the tow truck finally arrived. What does Flounder do? He trys to start the engine and as if my magic is starts up and continues to run (in the past the car would quickly lose power). Amazing! We apologise to the tow truck drive and drive off to the dealership to have it looked at while I begin to scratch my already rising number of mosquito bites.
Mi Mama oh-so-kindly meets us at the dealership to ferry is home.

On Friday we pick up the car after the mechanic has swapped out the fuel pump! Hurrah, problem solved! The fuel pump was even covered by warranty. Lovely.

The weekend flew by. No Problems. Fast forward to Monday night.

Again, Flounder is waiting for me at the Kiss & Ride. Again he has turned the engine off to conserve gas. AGAIN the damned machine will turn over, but not don't power! WTF?!? This time AAA only took 1.5 hours to come to our rescue. This time, Flounder tried re-starting the car now and then as we sat there waiting and discussing when we could afford to DITCH this vehicle. The tow truck arrives, the tow truck driver tries to start the car and what do you know?, that's right! It started right up, held it's power and we again drive the car to the dealership. This time Mi Mama's co-worker (who was going our way) picked us to take us home. Good man, that one.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Little Ford Focus, your days are numbered.

Quote of the Day:
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.
Hyman Rickover

After several weekends in a row of sluggish, non=productive behavior, this weekend I found my stride. I was able to visit the local community college campus and completed several To-Do list items including buying my books for the comming semester and procuring the necessary parking sticker. I then waiting 45 minutes at the bank to change the name on my bank accounts. I zipped down to the beltway to pickup some items for my delightfully old sewing machine. I picked up food to take to Maryment and Yoda's party later that day.

Flounder and I had a great time at M&Y's place. It was a great way to end a well spent day.

Sunday I did equally as well. In our home Flounder and I were experiencing a laundry crisis. We have a terrible tendency to wash and dry our clothes, not never fold them or put them away. As a result we travel all over the house in the morning to collect a complete outfit. Is that green top on the table in the laundry room? On the guest bed? In the baskets at the foot of our bed? Yes, it was that bad. Compounding the problem is my bursting closet. I have bunches of clothes, most of them I can't wear due to my ever thinkening frame. What's a girl to do? Time to sort, edit and organize. I went through my closet (any few drawers) and pulled out all the too small clothes that I would never choose to wear again even when I am that size again. They I reordered my hanging clothes from smallest to latest with tags marking the sizes. They I did the same with my folding clothes. While I worked away I was happy to see Flounder join me in the effort by working on his own closet. Teamwork! After we whipped the closet into shape we began folding and hanging all those deglected clothes that were scattered around the house. What a difference a few hours can make. After taking our cast-offs to a donation site, I started to put out the fabric for my first quilting project.

Ms. RBT's Mama (from here on out known as Mrs. J) is a quilting wiz and had agreed to teach me the basics. I am making a set of checkerboard placemats for our dining room. I feel a little intimidated by all of the steps that go into quilting, but Mrs. J is such a doll, I feel confident she can pull me through it. I hope to take more formal classes in the future if this first project is within my reach. Yay for new hobbies.

One of the most fun parts of quilting fabric shopping. Trolling the web for fun is my new obsession. This is one of the odder fabrics I dug up -- don't expect to see this one in any project I work on:

They call it "Romance Novel"!?!

Quote of the day:
In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.
-Carl Sagan

My dream house is on sale. I have been in love with this deceptively large cottage-style house ever since I was a little girl. Alas, with a pricetag of $975,000, it shant be mine any time soon. Sad. Maybe the next time it goes on the market. I think I will drag Flounder over to look at it anyway.

I am very happy that Flounderis coming home this evening. The amazing weather we are having right now has inspired me to air out the house and spiff it up a bit, infact I better get back to it!

I have fond memories of going away for a week to visit my grandparents and coming home to find my Mom had done something new or different to my room. I always enjoyed coming home to find my room freshly painted, super-duper clean or re-arranged. Especially since I always kept my room such a mess, a neat orderly space was a nice surprise. Because of that positive experience I like to do the same for Flounder when he goes out of town. Once or twice a year (he doesn't travel very much without me!) I will make a short project list and embark on a few home improvement to surprise him with when he returns. Not this time. I just couldn't rally the energy or motivation to drag my behind off the couch and get to work. Sad no? I know why too. I am not depressed or ill, I am unhealthy. I have been feeding my body crap fuel, and it doesn't want to run smoothly. My state of health is keeping me from doing the things I want to do, and I have only myself to blame.

Remember the recent hoopla about the South Beach diet? Yeah me too. I lasted about a week and a half. It was a work-intensive diet, but I felt better while I was working the program and it was a diet that was still do-able at social events. Why didn't it stick? I thought I could cheat the rules. You know that old jem from our friend Ben Franklin, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?" Well that is where I have been for quite sometime when it comes to my eating habits. I start a new program and it's effective, I start to lose, and then I start to fiddle. I add in foods I am not supposed to have, or change the portion size. Why must I futz with a good thing? Lather, rinse, repeat -- no matter which plan I am on I repeat the same behavior.

Lord, I am tired or thinking and planning and writing and obsessing about my weight. So what am I going to do about it? The broken refigerator was a blessing is disguise. I now have an empty, clean function fridge. I have been given the perfect opportunity to fill it with fresh, healthy summer produce and lean meats. It's back to South Beach for me, because it diet plan isn't flawed, I am. So while I am chopping an hour per day to keep our house full of prepared veggies I will also be thinking over why I repeatedly sabotage myself.

Quote of the Day:
We think fast food is equivalent to pornography, nutritionally speaking.
Steve Elbert

I never really thought of a refrigerator as a luxury item. You don't realize how the lack of refrigeration really puts a hitch in my food preperation get-along. I now have a working fridge full of spoilled food. I think I need to buy more trashbags.

Quote of the Day:
“It doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway”
Teilhard de Chardin

I don't know how the opossum has survived as a species. They are far too slow.*

*No opossums were harmed in the making of of this blog entry.

This weekend I reknewed an annual ritual. Flounder travels to San Francisco at least once a year. When he does, I take advantage of his absence and rent the movies he has no interest in watching. This time around I chose The Family Stone, In Her Shoes and Elizabethtown.

2 of these films were a delightful use of dvd technology, the third was a bust. Let's start with the bust.

Elizabethtown -- This movie was a turkey that didn't have to be. You could see that Cameron Crowe had a vision with a message he was trying to communicate but just couldn't get past the draft stage of the screenplay. It was a perfect waste of Paula Dean. I watched the film with Ms. RBT* and Ms. PNB who's company was what saved the evening.

In Her Shoes -- This movie was based on a book I loved of the same name. The essence of the book was totally captured by the film. The reviews for this one were more positive than most films get, but it was a box office flop. This is a perfect movie for sisters to watch together. Watching it witch Mi Mama was equally as good.

The Family Stone -- The reviews were pretty dismal on the this one, but I really like it anyway. I will admit that part of the pleasure I derived from the film was due to the resembelence between Sarah Jessica Parker's character and one of my co-workers. However, I really enjoyed Diane Keaton's atypical potrayal was as the acerbic mother. I found the entire family dynamic highly interesting. Some called it contrived, and I can see that, but I guess I didn't care.

*I neglected to mention the phenomenon that was Chuck & Cindy: The Wedding. This was a rather entertaining sub-plot which did nothing to move the story forward, but did distract us from how dull the rest of the film was. Chuck and Cindy forever!

I have recently joined a fabulous web-based organization called Freecycle. Freecycle is a nonprofit community based "movement" that facilitates individuals and organizations giving away unwanted stuff who those in their community who need it.

I have gotten rid of a number of many perfectly good items which I no longer needed through this organization. The Yahoo Freecycle group in my town is very active. I have yet to get anything from another freecycler, but that is mostly because I am trying to rid myself of stuff.

Why use Freecycle instead of donating to the Salvation Army? or Goodwill? Because the tax deduction doesn't help me,(selfish I know!) I have never made enough money to itemize taxes. Secondly, I like knowing people in my community are making use of things the items I can't use. Thirdly, people come to you and pick up the items you are offering. No takers? Then drive them over to the SA or Goodwill. It's win-win people! Win-win!

Flounder and I recenty visited a financial advisor. We walked away invigorated by the money we found in our budget to start a serious savings plan. Just as we started to think of ways to track our spending and streamline our use of money, the proverbial sh*t hit the fan.

First Flounders car needed repairs (it was leaking water into the car) and then a week later my car needed repairs (replaced oil gasket and stablizer bar that keeps the muffler attached to the car). Unexpected costs, but no biggie.

Then we adopt an adorable cat -- who knew taking in a cat who needed a home would be so costly? Let's call this an early birthday gift.

And then we discover that HOA mandated repairs to our chimey will cost $700 (cash only of course) and finally the last straw, our refrigerator is on the fritz! Our ice is now water and the milk is slowly warming. We can't get anyone to come out and look at it until Wednesday. Minimum cost? $100. Max? New Fridge.

Oy vey! Did I mention that Flounder needs new tires and my car will need new brakes in the next few months? Tuition for my fall class will be due in a week or so. Looks like it's pouring.

Don't worry we won't be asking for personal loans anytime soon -- we can handle all that comes our way, but did it really have to come all at once? Seriously?

Quote of the Day:
"The buck stops with the guy who signs the checks."
-Rupert Murdoch

I wish I were...

**do not read if you have not seen the Fourth episode**

Ha ha! I said Keith didn't I? Didn't I?!? You are right to point out that I was wrong about why he was kicked off, but so what. On to the fashion -- Mr. WAS and I agree that Kayne is probably wearing a little makeup (Tinted moistureize? Bronzer?) and that Bonnie's outfit was truly horrible last night. Goodbye Bonnie!

My final note on last nights show, Laura and Michael totally saved Angela's A*S! That jacket would have been top to bottom rosettes if L&M hadn't been involved. Angela got lucky this time.

Quote of the Day:
I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing.
Johnny Carson

We have our cat. Her name is Josie and she is very quickly becoming the queen of our little castle. We have been advised by the cat rescue organization that our new companion would feel more secure if we kept her confined to one room for a few days while she gets used to her new home. Great idea right? Not for our feline. We let her do a little exploring outside of her designated room and now she is very indignant that she doesn't have the run of the house. Once the lovely men working on our new shed and back steps have completed their mission she will be free to move as she choses, but since they need access to the inside of the house she will have to stay put for the moment.

I can't wait to see what she does when I let her roam free this evening. Needless to say, her every-move is a delight. I have become a cat lover but I sware I won't succumb to the itching desire to don knitware featuring cat themed appliques.

Quote of the Day:
No one can have experienced to the fullest the true sense of achievement
and satisfaction who have never pursued and successfully caught his tail.
- Rosalind Welcher

This evening the kind soul who is currently boarding the cat we met on Sunday will be coming by for a house visit. In preperation we have purchased $200 worth of cat related goods in hopes of impressing the nice lady and the little kitty. If all goes we will be allowed to take custody this evening. There is some question as to whether or not she is spayed -- so there might be some (gasp!) exploritory surgery in her future -- but I hope that the tell-tale signs of "heat" will either show themselves or be clearly absent. It would be sad to cut the little thing open for no reason.

Flounder is already in absolute LOVE with the little feline so for his sake at least I am hoping it will all work out. Keep your fingers crossed!

Quote of the Day:
Cats names are more for human benefit. They give one a certain degree more confidence that the animal belongs to you.
Alan Ayckbourn