My mother and sister cleaned every speck of dust, every cobweb, every random bit of funk that the cats have drug into the house. Every closet is cleaned out, organized. Every cabinet is sparkling and every floor is cleaner than it was at the beginning of time. There’s not a surface that hasn’t seen clorox or magic eraser or pledge polish.
I took a car load–LOAD–of clothes, furniture, knicknacks and general useless crap to Goodwill and gave my sister the rest of the clothes, she’s my goal weight. It feels amazing to have all the excess out of the house and to know what I DO have.
We shopped at the new outlet mall and bought some new clothes, and bought Wonderbaby every character in Toy Story 3. No kidding. It was one hella sale.
What a blessing…I’m so thankful.
I’m exhausted.
Tomorrow is Joe’s dad’s funeral. I’ll miss my first class but will be able to get to the night class.
We’ll get up and putz around in the morning and then have to say goodbye.
It goes by all too quick.
Also—
I’m coughing up a storm and praying this inhaler will work it’s magic.
There’s a lot going on this weekend. For all of us. I’ve got family coming to visit, something I’ve been looking forward to for months. I’m feeling better, still a little snotty but much better. The last thing I wanted was to feel awful all weekend. So that’s good.
I managed to put the house into some sort of order, so that’s good, too.
So, I wrote to the director of the documentary I watched a few weeks ago asking if she would answer a few questions for my teaching assignment. She tweeted a response to my tweet about it (and here’s where I’ve lost all of you non social-networkers but hang with me) so I used that as an opening to just jump in and ask. I’m anxiously awaiting a response. We’ll see.
It’s the first day of Fall.
This makes me happy. Our Summer season was brutal. Horrible and brutal. Fires. Drought. Unbelievable electric bills we’re all still paying off. . . I’m glad this one is over. I’m ready to be outside, by the fire pit, in the hammock. I’m ready for the windows to be open and the breeze to flow through the house. I’m ready for the long sleeve t-shirt days. I’m happy about it.
I hope your Friday is full of blessings. I hope you can take a moment to just enjoy and feel a bit of peace through all of the crazy. After all, this is the last first day of Fall we get this year.
I suspect it’s the schedule and coming off of a breakneck weekend and the stress of the test and work and bills and life and bla bla bla. Same shit ya’ll are dealing with. The only reason it’s special to me is because it’s mine. My stress. My schedule. My life.
We’re all rolling along, juggling, cha-cha-ing, one foot in front of the other.
But yesterday, after I finished the early morning meeting, then working at the oil and gas office until I had no work left, I came home to do some homework before I went to the salon for some clients last night. I wound up falling asleep and waking with a sneezing attack and that icky feeling in my nose/sinus area.
It could be just the allergies that have been plaguing everyone around here, or the fact that I’m living in a house that hasn’t been vacuumed in a week or dusted in two weeks. Or the cats. Or all of it. Whatever the reason, I woke up with that sinus pressure, the tickling in the ears, all the symptoms that go with the beginnings of the funk.
I took some nighttime cold meds, got amazing sleep, and got back on my zyrtek and fired up the neti pot* and other than a little sinus pressure I feel much better today. It’s just a reminder that I have zero time to go down. And I must take extra care with myself and rest and the right fuel for my body (more whole foods less jr mints).
Mom and Sis and at least one child will be here for the weekend. We’re going to hang out and make soup and hit the big new shiny outlet mall that opened a few months ago and just enjoy each other. After that, I’ve got one bartending shift on the book next weekend and then it’s really just work and school. I’m looking forward to that.
It’s all about time management and learning some lessons about my limits. I’m ok with that. And knowing that if I don’t get off of the computer and get ready, I’ll be late for class.
Peaceout ya’ll.
**oh yeah. I guess I’m going to go buy the special distilled water for the neti pot. People are freaking me out with the threat of an amoeba in my brain. Also, I’m out of the prepackaged salt packs…so this morning I just threw in some Kosher Salt I had in the kitchen. Holy shit the bed Batman! Pretty sure I used too much. My sinus cavity is still burning. I didn’t know I could move that fast first thing in the morning.
I didn’t wake up late, but I didn’t wake up as early as I wanted.
Traffic was a surly bitch this morning.
I walked into class not at my usual 10 of time slot but right on the second. . . so no mental prep time.
The first few multiple choice questions on the test were more like trivia questions. . . so with each question it became not about what bits of knowledge I’d gleaned from lecture, but about how good of a guesser I am.
The second part was matching a specific bit of text to the actual story and the author. I will be amazed if I got any wrong on this part.
The final section was two essay questions.
In the back of my mind I could hear Roger and Ma saying, “if you don’t know the what they’re asking you, tell them what you know.”
Hopefully she’ll have them graded by class on Thursday. We’ll see.
I had lunch with Kathy and we talked and laughed and tried to get caught up a little bit. We’ll be doing more of the lunching and the socializing as time permits. She loaned me seasons one through five of The West Wing. Lord. I am in heaven.
I’ve watched a few (side one of disc one) episodes, all the while picking up the house, rescuing another live bird courtesy of Sammy, folding a few clothes and sipping on some apple cider. I’m about to go get more school work organized and read some pages for Thursday’s class while I wait for Parenthood to come on. AND I just remembered I need to take out the trash and recycle for pickup tomorrow!
This is precisely why I cut my cable. The things (save a few stories) I watch are on basic channels.
How I Met Your Mother! Barney Stinson…Oh lord its been too long since I’ve had fresh Barney! SO happy.
The new Two Broke Girls, Michael Patrick King’s new show…I liked it. I laughed.
Ashton Kutcher I think did just a fine job with the premiere of 2 1/2 Men. I’m ready for the show to get away from Charlie Sheen’s character and get on with the fun stuff. I think it’s going to be a good fit.
I’m watching Castle this morning…new Chief, and of course no forward motion on Beckett and Castle but I love this show.
I have my dvr set for most all the new stuff I want to see…the time to see it? I have no idea where it’s going to come from. But it’ll save till I get to it.
It’s time for me to get up, get ready and go take my first big test in Women in Literature. I’m nervous. She’s known for asking random facts and stuff…gah. herewego.
I just came off of what will go down in history as one of the best Girlfriend Weekends ever. In the history of ever. What’s that you say?
Why YES! Yes I will tell you about it!
Friday night I went back to Batshitcrazytown for the first All Class Reunion/Homecoming. Darci, Delbert, Mindi and I all met and saw our classmates and hung out at the football game until halftime. We laughed so much in that first hour that if I had to go home, it would have been a successful night. Alas, we did NOT go home until the lights came up at the VFW around 1:30 am.
WHAAAAAAAT????
Lord. Yes. I saw so many friends, older classes, younger classes, people I’ve become reacquainted with through social networking. . . it was awesome. The weather was damp and cool, it just FELT like a football game/5th Quarter night. I realize not everyone is a lover of a reunion and nostalgia like I am…but I AM. And so are several of my friends. And we recognize how LUCKY we were to have grown up in the time that we did, with the people that we did to become the people that we are. And we had the best time.
The. Best. Time.
I didn’t even care that I had a four hour nap before getting up to do bridal hair for Dawn the next morning.
Because that’s what I did.
At 7:30 the next morning, I had the priviledge of styling the hair for one of my dearest friends who got married Saturday morning to a man that she has loved for many years. She and I have been through it together. First marriages/weddings. The birth of her son. The death of her parents and my grandparents. Divorces. She and I have been through it together. Since her family joined the First Baptist Church sometime along the 3rd grade, she and I have been a witness to each others life. I can get choked up thinking about it. How blessed we are to have each other. I helped her get ready, placed the tiara and veil on her head, zipped the dress, hugged her and sent her on her way with a sweet prayer.
Heading back to the salon, I banged out one haircut, cleaned up another one of my favorite guys who was getting married that day then headed home for a NAP.
I met Trish at our commuter parking lot and we loaded up and hit the turnpike for the rest of the weekend!
Oh yes. There was more to come.
We talked and laughed and talked as the miles flew past us, got to Tulsa and got checked into our hotel. It was a big big night in T-Town, OSU was playing there, Katy Perry was in concert there, and the concert we were in town for. Thank GOD she got our room when she did or we would have been screw-ew-ewd.
The concert was fabulous. Amazing. Awesome. Both bands were brilliant. We were smiley and happy and didn’t even care that it was raining and we were soaking wet on our walk back to the hotel. The rain was pretty awesome. Lot’s of lightening, cool breeze. We got back to our room and got changed and ordered room service and then turned out the light and talked and laughed forever. If we had been at camp, we would have totally been in trouble.
We slept in, got up and got checked out and found some brunch at our new favorite place in Tulsa. The Brady Tavern (which we dubbed the Brady Pub ala Days of our Lives) was perfect. Great bloody marys, I had steak hash, she had the grilled cheese of the day and soup. Brilliant. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Barns & Noble. I had to get some study time in. So we sipped lates. Studied. Read. People watched. Then we went back to the Brady Pub for dinner…Oh that dinner.
We had bacon popcorn. Popcorn with butter and maple syrup covered with bacon. Holy balls.
We had the deviled egg trifecta. The wasabi egg was our favorite.
We had the family style catfish dinner. Catfish so delicious. Asparagus that was perfect. Stone ground grits. Biscuits.
Seriously.
What the hell.
While we were eating, this guy walked in and sat at the bar for dinner. I called him immediatly.
‘That one’s my boyfriend. Sorry. I saw him first.”
Long hair ala Jesus. Bright purple shirt that was unbuttoned to almost his belly button. Several necklaces. Dark jeans. Shiny belt buckle.
Ohhhh yeaaaaah.
Then he pulled out a big ole book to read and we were both intrigued. We commented and made merry about my purple shirt overly jeweled boyfriend.
“Maybe he’s Armenian,” Trisha says.
“That would make perfect sense.” I say.
We finish up and get to the second concert/same venue as last night and decide that we maybe don’t love so much the opening band so go sit down and wait for them to finish and our 5 hour energy drinks to kick in. Finally we go up, the band files onto stage, neither one of us have ever seen them before so we’re taking it all in. There’s the guy who looks like Crabman that we saw riding his bike while we were eating brunch! There’s horns! A trumbone! Taking it all in. They start up, the energy is rolling across the crowd, and all of a sudden:
OH MY GOD.
That trumbone player is my sexy Armenian boyfriend. Right there. Onstage.
All of a sudden the necklaces and the unbuttoned shirt is WORKING.
Seriously.
It was a perfect way to end the weekend. Laughing so hard, dancing ourselves sweaty, watching the shitstorm of a show that was the crowd.
After driving through every bit of construction that Tulsa had to offer, we got back on the turnpike and headed home.
We got a new market in town. Sunflower Farmers Market to be exact. It’s fresh and shiny and new and yes…it’s a bit of an effort to get parked and get inside and yes…inside is a small space so you’re navigating all kind of crazy people just like you trying to find the new flavor, grab that container of fresh delish hummus, get over to the produce OR like me, get your mits on as many containers of Roasted New Mexico Hatch Chilies as you can.
The chilies are seasonal, and there’s only about another week left, so I’ve been grabbing and grabbing and freezing for the winter. Big containers of fresh roasted chilies, the big turning roaster outside in the parking lot. It’s awesome. I chopped some up for my posole last week. They have amazing flavor.
It’s nice to have that option here. The produce and meat specials at the market are amazing. Other items are pricey, or comparative to our only other organic/health food market in the area until Whole Foods opens. I got some interesting things today, we’ll see how I like it. The Sunflower Market brand is really affordable, and good. I bought the most amazing tasting hot dogs for Labor Day weekend, I kid you not my hand to God the best tasting hot dogs in the world. If you get the chance, I know, the price, but the TASTE is stupid. STUPID GOOD
You won't even believe the taste
SO. That’s what I did today after class and a lunch date with Hillz and MGirl. Hit the grocery, then got a pedi, then dropped off the last of Mandrea’s stuff at her place then came home and now I’m in. Time to settle in, have some nosh, do some homework and get ready for my story. . .
Misti Ridiculous 