Random Stuff...

It seems like I did so much last week. I was constantly working at the house or going to the gym. Then Rommel came home with a fever Thursday, I caught whatever he had, and everything stopped. Of course I still got a few things done here and there, but I was mostly recovering when I was not at work.

One thing that I did get done was putting up our new bird feeding station. Rommel and I try to always have food out for the birds, believing it is good karma,etc, but we have had some trouble with feeders, etc. First I made the mistake of getting a wooden bird feeder, which the squirrels chewed holes in. I hoped moving it from the palm tree to a shepherd's hook would help keep them away from it, knowing the whole time it probably wouldn't. We finally bought a "squirrel proof" feeder that uses a weight system. It does work, but is so heavy we had to hang it from a hook on the side of the house instead of the shepherd's hook. This means that all the excess bird seed falls in a pile next to the house which I absolutely hate because I know it attracts rats. Yuck.

I finally found this bird feeding station that would hold up to three feeders, a water dish, and a mesh tray for nuts, etc. It was only $30 which was definitely appealing, but you never know how sturdy the poles will be. Surprisingly it is really, really nice. I did place a wooden dowel through the hollow pole to make it extra strong since the bird seed can weigh a lot. It is the perfect solution to all our bird feeding problems. Eventually I will make a base of some sort with rock or mulch because the birds will kill the grass underneath the feeders.


Since I moved the feeder away from the house, we have be getting a lot of new visitors, including larger birds like blue jays. One of the birds we have seen is the black-headed grosbeak pictured below. It is a gorgeous bird with a vibrant orange chest.

(picture from Whatbird.com)

I also had my first "harvest" from my vegetable garden, which was some sugar snap peas. Only a few vines are producing anything ready to pick, so there were not very many, but Rommel said they are really good. Of course, almost anything that comes from your own organic garden is pretty good.

Jen Lancaster Rocks!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Jen Lancaster's new book, Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart Ass Phase, comes out today! I loved her first three books, which were about her experiences with unemployment, live in the big city, and weight loss. She is a wonderful writer with a fabulous sense of humor who you will absolutely fall in love with.

In other words, go buy the book!!!

Sick Day

I spent my whole day off in bed sick after catching the flu from my husband (thanks for that honey!). My mind was not quite in top form, so instead of reading I decided to watch TV all day. Luckily there was a Rob & Big marathon on MTV and I just love Rob and Big Black. How can you not like two guys with lots of time on their hands and money to spend on stupid things who have a bulldog and a mini horse? My favorite episode is the one where they are driving in Hollywood and a spider man look-a-like stops in the middle of the road. They keep honking at him and he gets angry and throws his big gulp at their car. They end up buying a net gun and chasing him down. Obviously you have to see it to understand just how hilarious it is because my story telling does not do it any justice.

There were also several episodes of Made showing. I cannot help but watch it when it is on. Maybe I just like to see that other people had a miserable time in high school like I did. But I am also happy to see things turn out well for them. There was this one episode on yesterday that kind of pissed me off though. This girl Carrie wanted to have more confidence and be more girly. She could be kind of catty and annoying but that was probably because she was constantly being compared to her older brother who did not even go to school there anymore. Her coach was going to help her be more confident and find her "passion", which was acting. She was also supposed to find a date to her winter formal. This dumbass found out that she was going to be on the show and basically acted like he was into her so that he could get time on TV. Eventually she finds out that he really doesn't care for her and she finds someone else who is cute and totally into her, but more importantly she realizes that she is not her brother and can make her own place in school. (Hopefully the other guy will always be known as the asshole who tried to get face time on Made.)

You cannot watch that show without thinking about your own high school experience. I would like to say that I did not hate high school, but I did. I really hated high school, like with a passion. I went to an extremely small high school with a graduating class of one hundred people, most of which I had known since kindergarten. It was the type of school that was centered around the athletic department, which I stayed as far away from as I possibly could. I was not popular, but I was not an outcast or anything of that nature. I was pretty involved, participating in choir, plays, yearbook, math club, etc. But I was always focused on what was after high school. My hometown was so small there was no diversity or culture, just corn fields. I hated high school because of the lack of opportunity and the fact that everyone knew who you were. I think one of the happiest days of my life was when I graduated because I knew there were bigger and better things waiting for me in the world.

Of course I have a few good memories of high school, but I have blocked out most of those four years. It's great that people are excited about their class reunions and stuff like that, but I am not someone who looks forward to getting wasted in the town park.

Naked Ass (just warning you)

The other day I decided that Mondays will be “kick my own ass” day at the gym. In other words, it will be the day I work out the hardest because it is the only day of the week when I do not work and I can actually drive there instead of walk.

So this Monday the alarm went off at 9 am and I reset it for 10. Instead of falling back to sleep my mind kept going over all the reasons I should be getting up. I finally threw off the sheets, ate a quick breakfast and headed to the Y.

I first headed for the exercise bike because it is the easiest to use and read at the same time. I put the bike on the random hill setting and cranked it up to three (out of twenty). Twenty minutes later my legs were tired and I had only burned 74 calories! I mean, come on, only 74? They should throw in some extra ones when you break a sweat or at least riding until your ass hurts too much to continue. Then I jumped on the treadmill where you can make some actual progress. Problem is that I was too tired from burning those 74 calories that I did not last very long on the treadmill. Apparently when you have not been to the gym in six years and you put on A LOT of weight, you lose stamina. Who would have thought?

So I head back to the locker room to grab my stuff. I wash my face and turn into the row of lockers where I believe my locker is and OH MY GOD! Yes, that is a naked ass in front of me. A naked ass! After a second or two trying to figure out who I am and what I am doing standing in front of someone’s naked ass, I realize that my locker is in the next row. Thank god or I would have had to stand next to naked woman while I tried to open my combination lock, if I even would have remembered the numbers with the words “naked ass, naked ass” going through my mind.

And here’s the thing, I appreciate a beautiful woman. I think Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston are absolutely gorgeous. But I appreciate them in the “I wish I looked like them” sort of way, not the “I want to see them naked” sort of way (although I am sure I would wish I looked like them naked if I did see them naked). I do not care if you look like Angelina in Wanted or Kristie Alley in Fat Actress, I do NOT want to see your naked ass staring back at me when I turn the corner! And I should mention that most of the women using the locker room when I seem to be there are older women wearing bathing suits, so the chance of seeing Angelina-like ass is very, very slim.

Anyway, I am just hoping for no naked ass next time.

A Legitimate Excuse, I Think

I didn't work out yesterday, but I felt justified because I was severely injured. Okay, maybe not severely, but I was injured. Rommel and I were trying to put a window screen in and he knocked over our old fashioned ironing board, which is extremely heavy and has no padding on it. It hit the side of my leg and slammed into my ankle. Blood was flowing from my leg and curse words were flowing from my mouth. I totally blame Rommel because he hadn't put the ironing board back where it should have been, which was neatly tucked behind a door on the other side of the room far from my delicate ankle.

Between my damaged toes from the previous night and my swollen ankle, I decided I was allowed to skip the gym if I a) worked on a bunch of stuff at home and b) went to the gym tonight. I cleaned our bedroom, filed a stack of paperwork that had been building for weeks, and took the dogs for a long walk.

It is an absolutely beautiful day today and I even brought my gym bag to work so that I could head straight there at 4:30. That is if they still let injury prone people into a building with dangerous equipment.

Update - I am never taking my gym bag to work with me again because it is just that much more weight I have to carry while I drag, and I mean drag, my ass home.